大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 27.7

27.7

Regarding the commentary's: “Because the ocean can possess flowers, it receives the name of ‘flower’”: this is because the ocean is named Boundless Exquisite Flower Light. It is like a lotus pond: the pond takes the name of the flowers. “The flower relies on the ocean and takes the name of the ocean floor”: the ocean has the mani-king banner as its floor, so the flower is named Mani-King Adornment. It is like a flower in the mud: the flower takes the name of the mud. Regarding the commentary's: “There are only two hundred and ten”: in the first tier, there are worlds numbering the dust motes of one buddha-kṣetra. In the second tier, two buddha-kṣetras: adding two to one makes three. In the third tier, adding three makes six. In the fourth tier, adding four makes ten. In the fifth tier, adding five makes fifteen. In the sixth tier, adding six makes twenty-one. In the seventh tier, adding seven makes twenty-eight. In the eighth tier, adding eight makes thirty-six. In the ninth tier, adding nine makes forty-five. In the tenth, adding ten makes fifty-five. The lower ten [tiers] with additions have fifty-five; the upper ten tiers, each gradually added one by one, in calculation also have fifty-five, yet each has ten, namely eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and so on. The upper ten tiers further have one hundred, totaling one hundred and fifty-five. Combined with the lower tiers' fifty-five, there are therefore two hundred and ten. Question: Since there are twenty tiers, why does it only say that nineteen buddha-kṣetras are the principal kṣetras? Answer: Because the lowest tier only says “one world,” not worlds numbering the dust motes of one buddha-kṣetra. Therefore it says that going from this one realm, it says that passing above this by worlds numbering the fine dust motes of one buddha-kṣetra, one reaches the second tier; hence, the two tiers together have kṣetras numbering the dust motes of only one buddha-kṣetra. It is like stacking two thousand coins into twenty hundreds: at the very bottom, one takes one coin, like the lowest single kṣetra; passing above this by one hundred coins makes the second tier, only then totaling one hundred. Passing above this by one hundred to the third tier, it is only then two hundred. Reaching the twentieth tier, there are only then one thousand nine hundred coins. Therefore, twenty tiers constitute nineteen buddha-kṣetras; contemplate this. Regarding the commentary's: “This will be reconciled and explained below”: this is the third assembly's summary grouping of that which encircles and that which is encircled.