大華嚴經略策 1.13

1.13

Sixth: the time of the sūtra's preaching. Question: When the Tathāgata appeared in the world for nearly fifty years, throughout his teaching from beginning to end there were distinctions between the three periods and the five periods. At what time was this sūtra preached? We respectfully request that you state the time in full so as to dispel doubts and obstacles. Answer: When the mind is merged with the ultimate truth, past and present are unified as one; the dharmadhātu is unproduced and fundamentally lacks divisions of time. How much more so is the boundless preaching in which moments and eons are completely interfused! In truth, when right awakening was first achieved, the perfect and wondrous was suddenly revealed. From narrow to broad, there are briefly ten levels of distinction: 1. only a single thought-moment; 2. the full seven days; 3. pervading the three periods of time; 4. subsuming eons of the same kind; 5. gathering eons of different kinds; 6. subsuming eons into a single thought-moment; 7. re-gathering eons and thought-moments; 8. the times of different kinds of realms; 9. mutually entering each other; 10. gathering the branches into the root, that is, non-eons as eons. Briefly describing the ten levels, to cite one is to encompass all completely; it is neither long nor short, yet can be long and can be short. Respectfully answered.