大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 48.52

48.52

Regarding the commentary's "However, based on the Yogācāra[-bhūmi] and Xianshou, both explain the offering of lamps": The text of the Yogācāra is extensive, and its matter is also known. Xianshou's verse states: "Furthermore, emitting light is named the purification of the eyes, / enabling the blind to see various forms. / Because lamps were offered to the Buddha and stūpas of the Buddha, / one is therefore able to accomplish this radiance." As for the commentary's "Sūtra on the Merit of Burning Lamps": it is also titled The Merit of Offering Lamps and consists of only one fascicle. Earlier, it extensively explains the merits gained from offering lamps, and towards the end, a verse states: "Having offered lamps at that Buddha's stūpa, / that person's bodily radiance is like the shining sun; / the pure eyes of the sage, the bull among men, / with fine lamp light illuminating that stūpa, / they attain the undefiled unsurpassed path, / their bodily radiance illuminating the ten directions; / seeing the four noble truths and endowed with the ten powers, / they also consummate the unshared dharmas; / gaining the all-seeing eye, they become a Sugata— / these fruits all stem from donating lamps." Explanation: This clarifies the ultimate merit. Next, there is a verse of evaluation, which states: "Suppose all sentient beings / had formerly made offerings to immeasurable Buddhas, / possessing great majesty and seeing the real truth, / for a hundred million kalpas attaining the path of the pratyekabuddha; / and throughout all worlds in the ten directions, / lamps were spread everywhere without remainder: / if someone with a faithful mind offered those garlands of lamps of the worlds to them, / and that person thus cultivated offerings / constantly without interruption for immeasurable kalpas; / yet if someone offers a single lamp to the Buddha, / the merit gained surpasses the former beyond measure. / If the lamp oil were like the great ocean water, / and its wick like Mount Sumeru, / and someone were able to light such a lamp, / illuminating all worlds everywhere; / and that person cherished reverent faith in their deep mind, / with an aspiration solely seeking the path of the pratyekabuddha, / placing such lamps everywhere in the ten directions, / making offerings with single-minded reverence; / yet if someone arouses the bodhicitta / and, holding a torch of grass in hand, temporarily makes an offering to the Buddha, / that person's merit surpasses that— / seeing the real truth, I declare this." Explanation: Examining the above sūtra text, because the Buddha's virtue is inconceivable, it adduces the extensive offerings to pratyekabuddhas as not equaling [an offering to] a Buddha's stūpa, not to induce the making of vows. Now, drawing upon the later seventy-eight great vows as the wick, great compassion as the oil, and so forth, as an analogy, one should extensively make vows so that both phenomena and principle become vast.