大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 83.26

83.26

The commentary's 'taking seven steps in each of the ten directions' is as stated in the fourth fascicle of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, 'Chapter on the Tathāgata-Nature': 'Good sons! In this Jambudvīpa, in the Lumbinī Grove, he manifested birth from his mother Māyā. Having been born, he was immediately able to walk seven steps to the east and make this declaration: "Among humans, devas, and asuras, I am the most honored and most supreme." Seeing this, his parents, devas, and humans were astonished and delighted, conceiving a sense of wonder. But people thought they saw an infant; yet this body of mine has long been free from defiled phenomena for immeasurable kalpas. Such a body is precisely the dharmakāya, not something formed of flesh, blood, sinews, vessels, bones, and marrow; conforming to the worldly phenomena of sentient beings, he manifested as an infant. Walking seven steps to the south manifests the desire to serve as a supreme field of merit for immeasurable sentient beings. Walking seven steps to the west manifests that birth is exhausted and old age and death are forever ended; this is the final body. Walking seven steps to the north manifests having already crossed over the saṃsāra of all realms of existence. Walking seven steps to the east manifests acting as a leader for sentient beings. Walking seven steps in the four intermediate directions manifests the eradication of the lineages of various defilements and the four māras, becoming a Tathāgata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha. Walking seven steps upward manifests being unstained by impure things, like empty space. Walking seven steps downward manifests the rain of Dharma extinguishing the fires of hell, causing those sentient beings to experience peace and happiness; to those who break the precepts, it manifests as frost and hail.'