大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 5.47

5.47

Regarding the commentary's passage beginning "Now, the ocean of the teaching is vast and deep": The second part generally distinguishes its profound mystery, containing the proposition, explanation, and conclusion. Now, the first: "The ocean of the teaching" holistically encompasses depth and breadth; its text is concise while its expression is profound. The cloud of dharma and light of wisdom concisely clarify depth and breadth. Later, the sūtra states: "All Buddhas expound the Dharma like clouds and rain; only a bodhisattva of the tenth bhūmi is capable of resting in it, receiving it, gathering it, and holding it, because it is an ocean of dharma-doors as numerous as the dust motes of Buddha-lands, and because the Dharma is expounded like clouds and rain." In the "Chapter on the Gāthās of Praise in the Yāma [Heaven]," Bodhisattva Jayavana states: "Just as in the first month of summer, / the sky is pure and free of cloud-veils, / the blazing sun shines with radiance, / and there is nowhere in the ten directions it does not fill. / Its light is limitless, / and none is capable of measuring or knowing it; / even for those with eyes this is so, / how much more so for the blind and darkened. / The Buddhas are also like this: / their merit is boundless; / throughout inconceivable kalpas, / none is able to discriminate and know it." Thus it is said that the light of wisdom is boundless. Regarding "wondrous eloquence cannot be exhausted": the Lotus Sūtra states: "The characteristic of the quiescent cessation of all dharmas / cannot be declared in words. / This dharma cannot be demonstrated; / the characteristic of words is quiescently ceased." Therefore, the four unhindered eloquences and the eight voices cannot express its form. The "Practices and Vows of Samantabhadra" states: "The merit of the Tathāgata, even if all Buddhas of the ten directions were to expound it continuously for kalpas as numerous as the dust motes of ineffable-ineffable Buddha-lands, could never be exhausted."