大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 3.12

3.12

Regarding [the passage in] the Commentary beginning with "As for 'causes and conditions'": the commentary's text consists of two parts: first, a presentation of the general import; second, from "First the causes, then the conditions" onward, laying out the headings and explaining them individually. Within the former there are three parts: first, the direct explanation; second, citing proof texts; third, resolving an objection. Here, in the first part, there is first the exposition of principle; next, from "Just as Mount Sumeru" onward, an analogy; and finally, from "Now, shaking the Tathāgata's" onward, the application of the analogy: the Tathāgata corresponds to the mountain, and the wisdom corresponds to the ocean. The idea of this text derives from the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, here adapted and applied. In the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra it says: "Question: For what causes and conditions did the Buddha speak the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra? The Buddhas do not utter words spontaneously for no reason or for petty causes and conditions. Just as the king of mountains, Mount Sumeru, does not shake for no reason or for petty causes and conditions, now for what great cause and condition did he speak the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra?" In that treatise, the intent was to take speaking the Prajñāpāramitā as the shaking of Mount Sumeru. Here, opening up Mount Sumeru is applied to the person capable of preaching, while the ocean of wisdom encompasses both that which is capable of preaching and that which is preached. Shaking the Buddha's wisdom capable of preaching and speaking of the Tathāgata's ocean of wisdom both constitute the distinct [Mahāyāna] prajñā. Furthermore, within the sūtra, the Buddha's body and the Buddha's wisdom are extensively expounded; thus both the Buddha's body and his wisdom encompass what is preached. The Commentary's passage beginning "Hence a subsequent sūtra" is the second part, citing proof texts. The Commentary's passage beginning "The appearance [in the world] was fundamentally for" is the third part, resolving an objection. There is a hidden objection that states: "Passages such as 'not by a single condition' clarify the conditions for his appearance in the world. How could using them now to prove the preaching of the teaching be appropriate?" Hence it is now resolved by explaining that the appearance in the world was fundamentally for the sake of the one great cause and condition, and this one great cause and condition is none other than the Avataṃsaka's Buddha-wisdom. Thus one clearly knows that the conditions for his appearance are precisely the conditions for the Avataṃsaka.