大華嚴經略策 1.36

1.36

Twenty-ninth: Sudhana's seeking the south. Question: The Way is nowhere absent, and good friends are everywhere present; even in a hamlet of ten households there will certainly be loyalty and trustworthiness. Why must one go south to seek friends? Answer: Principle has no spatial directions, and persons are nowhere absent; when there is an intent to symbolize something, it is lodged in a particular direction. Seeking this through principle and phenomena, there are briefly five meanings: First, citing one illustrates the rest; since one direction is like this, the other directions are likewise so. Second, dwellings of people in the Western Regions mostly face east; turning from east to south follows the rotation of the sun and moon, symbolizing Sudhana's accord with persons and dharmas. Third, 'south' means uprightness, symbolizing departure from the two extremes and the crooked deviations of east and west. Fourth, 'south' means brightness, generating the myriad things; that the sage faces south has this intent. Fifth, 'south' has the meaning of arising: the north governs yin, symbolizing the complete extinction of dharmas; the south governs yang, and myriad virtues arise therefrom. It is called south to briefly symbolize the Dharma gate. Furthermore, going south is not strictly necessary: for instance, the night goddesses symbolize the signs of realization of the stages, being free from spatial location. Once the sages set forth their intention, the ocean-seal samādhi unfolds it; not a single dharma exists without something it symbolizes. Respectfully answered.