新華嚴經論 36.17

36.17

第一正入當位法門中，從「爾時善財童子」已下至「我唯知此菩薩大慈為首隨順世間三昧門」，於此一段經約分為十五門：一念善知識教思惟昇進；二漸次遊行人間城邑；三然後乃至妙光大城；四問人求覓所居，人咸報言今此城是；五善財得聞城所居住處，歡喜踊躍；六明善財入妙光城，所見依果報境眾寶莊嚴；七明善財見如上妙境及男女諸六塵境界皆無愛著，但一心思惟究竟之法；八漸次遊行見大光王所住之處；九見王依正二報身土莊嚴；十善財五體投地頂禮其足；十一正申所求；十二王告善財所行之行名菩薩大慈幢行；十三妙光城隨心所見淨穢不同；十四王入大慈為首隨順世間三昧門，時所有報嚴寶地宮殿皆六種震動，樹林低首泉涌歸王，萬姓天人龍神恭敬，夜叉羅剎咸起慈心，八部諸王無不頂敬，皆生歡喜發起善根，以此大慈為首三昧之力法如是故；十五推德令善財昇進。隨文釋義者，漸次遊行或至人間城邑聚落曠野巖谷，然後乃至妙光大城者，明周巡觀照，治前位中智劣、大悲不圓滿習，治令智悲均平、智悲自在，方至第八無功妙用之行城故。問眾人言妙光城今在何處者，明以觀照之力智悲齊等猶不自識，是故須問舊住之人，表無功之位智悲難會。眾人咸報言妙光城者，今此城是大光王之所住處者，明善財契會智悲自在如王之門。善財歡喜者，入法樂也。作如是念已下，自念必當更聞勝法菩薩所行。作如是十種念已入妙光城，明以前第七行中修世間慈悲之行，入第八無功智之城，名入妙光城，為明達智朗然、大慈增廣。已下入城所見寶嚴地樹宮閣臺觀池沼等，皆明入此行門約智非報生，一不虛來，皆以慈宮、智殿、觀樓、種種智閣、法性行花、七菩提塹、八正道水、隨菩提行樹、防護一切眾生身口意業以為垣牆，一如十迴向初配當。埤堄者是垣，上傾看之孔也，皆以寶嚴。此七重，以七菩提行之所報成，舉七數倣此。其城縱廣一十由旬，由旬者，若約《佛本行集經》第十二云「以七微塵成一窓牖塵，七窓牖塵成一兔毫頭塵，七兔毫頭塵成一羊毛頭塵，七羊毛頭塵成一牛毛頭塵，七牛毛頭塵成一蟣，七蟣成一虱，七虱成一芥子，七芥子成一大麥，七大麥成一指節，七指節成半尺，二半尺成一肘，四肘成一弓，五弓成一丈，二十丈名一息，八十息成一俱盧舍，八俱盧舍成一由旬。」計此方尺量，二里餘八十步當一俱盧舍。八俱盧舍為一由旬，一由旬合有一十七里。其城一十由旬者，合東西南北一百七十里。若准其城內有十億衢道，一一道間皆有無量萬億眾生於中止住者，即非是此世間小由旬量之所能容，即是以根本智為大城，一即十故，體用徹也。差別智為衢道，十智之中一中有一億同別之用，乃至無盡。八正道為八門，四八三十二，明十波羅蜜、七覺分、八正道分共為進修十住、十行、十迴向，和合圓融智悲二行令使自在，號根本智。曰大光王之隨諸眾生根品上中下見，名妙光大城廣狹不同、淨穢差別。所有眾寶莊城及地樹宮殿，總約智悲報生，如文自具。此城有一樓閣名正法藏，大光王常處其中者，此是差別智之報境，根本智自在王常處其中。善財見大光王去所住樓閣不遠，於四衢道中坐如意摩尼寶蓮華藏廣大莊嚴師子之座者，此明四智、四無量、四攝法引接眾生為四衢。以南北東西通過大道名為四衢，此一四衢攝多道路乃至百千，總以一四衢收故，以隨意接生皆令無垢故。以如意離垢寶以為其座，以行無染故號。蓮花瑠璃為座足者，明智隨萬行明淨無障。金繒為帳者，表智隨慈含育眾生。寶網者，以約妙說教網報生也。天衣以為茵蓐者，以智無依為座體。茵蓐者，有文綵蓐也。以智無依，具足四無礙辯之文章，引接眾生故。其王於上結跏趺坐者，智悲二業交徹自在。二十八種大人之相者，明十住、十行二位智悲已修，猶有十迴向未滿，以此未具三十二相，明以三賢位極方成轉輪王之三十二相故。此約智境不動念而和會諸位同異總別之義也。必不得作如情延促量也，即全虧經意、設此經教。金輪王，即如〈隨好光明功德品〉中所說金網轉輪王。此轉輪王於百千億那由他佛剎微塵數世界中教化眾生，此王放摩尼髻中清淨光明，若有眾生遇斯光者，皆得菩薩十地位，成無量智慧光明，得十種清淨眼、十種清淨意。八十隨好者，以隨好上界梵天王同得，是世間好故，非同三賢位滿三十二相八十種好。如頂生王等是轉輪王，以凌帝釋，便失神通，仍居退墜。此是三乘中一四天下小金輪王也，亦有三十二相八十種好，皆具福相。就中不同，如此十行中大光王是人王攝化境界，周滿十方百千萬億那由他世界，悉皆化現普資引接故。如三乘中金輪王，但化四天下人，不及諸天。此十行中第八難得行為人王，攝化十方無邊境界及上界天王人天六道，無不遍攝故，以得佛智故。已下歎王福智二業，如文具明。經云「亦如虛空顯現種種法門星象」者，明主方神以方隅成法，即八卦九宮是也。上方乾像其中二十八宿及十二時支幹，及日月五星諸列宿等，皆有法則。其世人王法之以施德令，佛以取之用表說法自除，如文自具。其座前種種珍寶周滿衢路者，是王所施之物，如經廣明。其王身如金山者，應真色也，以淨智內明行慈祐物之所感也。端正女人皆具六十四能，未詳。我淨修菩薩大慈幢行者，明從十行之初至第六行修行出世智慧之門，從第七行至此第八行前修處世慈悲起智之行，至此第八行處世無功用智現前，常以大慈悲為首，智隨破惑，名之為幢。從此已去至於第十行中，遍行外道，以大慈悲行，乃為九十六種外道身我皆為之，接諸邪見，是一終行滿故。《淨名經》云「彼外道六師所墮，汝亦隨墮，乃可取食。」王言我於無量百千佛所問難此法思惟觀察修習莊嚴者，意斷善財疑也。前十住中第八童真住見毘目瞿沙仙人亦五體投地，於此第八行中見大光王亦五體投地者何也？意明此位修悲至智，總五位通該，以表智悲普遍故，以此表之。但五位中第八位皆明菩薩行圓，從此第八位已去皆修如來十種力用自在，以五位中第十位皆是智波羅蜜為主，餘九為伴故。從此已去，後位任運自成。其大光王入菩薩大慈為首三昧，顯所行慈心業用饒益自在，令後學者倣之。以明無依之智入等眾生心，與之同體無有別性，有情無情皆悉同體入此三昧所感業故，令一切眾生及以樹林涌泉悉皆歸流、悉皆低枝、悉皆稽首。夜叉羅剎悉皆息惡，以明智隨一切眾生，皆與同其業用，一性無二。如世間帝王有慈悲於人，龍神順伏、鳳集驎祥，何況人焉而不歸仰？況此大光王智徹真源、行齊法界，慈心為首、神會含靈，與眾物而同光、為萬有之根本，如摩尼寶與物同色而本色不違，如聖智無心以物心為心而物無違也。明同體大慈悲心與物同用，對現色身而令發明故。山原及諸草樹無不迴轉向王禮敬，陂池泉井及以河海悉皆騰溢流注王前者，以智境大慈，法合如此。若眾生情識所變之境，即眾生不能為之。如蓮華藏世界中境界盡作佛事，以是智境非情所為故。聖者以智歸情，令有情眾生報得無情草木山泉河海悉皆隨轉，以智迴轉以末為本故。如世間有至孝於心，氷池涌魚、冬竹抽笋尚自如斯，況真智從慈者歟。此第八行中明智從悲行用故，以是列眾之中先標十千龍王以為眾首者，表智恒遊空垂慈雨法，以龍遊空興雲注雨表之。次如他化自在天王已下諸眾，皆明以大慈為首三昧業用所招之眾，如文具明。從「頂禮於王」已下有四行半經，明攝化廣狹及推德善財昇進。此是第八難得行善知識，以願波羅蜜為主，餘九為伴。約智門中，諸位通治；約位門中，治第八行中智悲不自在障令得自在。大慈為首，智為先導，已前以慈修智，已後第九十二位以智行悲。前十住中亦如是，後十向十地亦倣此，意明以無功之智用成慈悲等眾生之業用，無自功可成，如來十力、四無畏任運自至。

In the first section, on directly entering the Dharma-gate of the current stage, from "At that time the youth Sudhana" down to "I only know this bodhisattva samādhi gate of great compassion taking the lead and according with the worldly realm," this passage of the sūtra is divided into roughly fifteen headings: first, recollecting the kalyāṇamitra's teaching, contemplating, and advancing; second, gradually traveling through the cities and towns of the human world; third, then reaching the great city of Wondrous Light; fourth, inquiring of people to seek out his dwelling, and all the people replying that this very city is it; fifth, Sudhana, upon hearing of the city where he dwells, rejoices and leaps with joy; sixth, explaining Sudhana's entry into the city of Wondrous Light, where the circumstantial fruitional realm he beholds is adorned with myriad jewels; seventh, explaining that Sudhana, beholding the aforementioned wondrous realm and the six sense-realms of men and women, feels no clinging attachment to any of them, but single-mindedly contemplates the ultimate Dharma; eighth, gradually journeying and beholding the place where King Mahāprabha dwells; ninth, beholding the king's circumstantial and primary fruitions, the adornments of his body and land; tenth, Sudhana throwing his five limbs to the ground and prostrating at his feet; eleventh, directly presenting what he seeks; twelfth, the king informing Sudhana that the practice he carries out is named the bodhisattva practice of the banner of great compassion; thirteenth, the city of Wondrous Light being seen as pure or defiled differently according to the mind; fourteenth, the king entering the samādhi gate of great compassion taking the lead and according with the worldly realm, at which time all the fruitional adornments, the jeweled ground, palaces, and halls, all shake in six ways, the groves of trees bow their heads, the gushing springs flow toward the king, the ten thousand commoners, gods, humans, dragons, and spirits show reverence, the yakṣas and rākṣasas all give rise to minds of compassion, and none among the kings of the eight classes fails to bow in reverence—all give rise to joy and generate wholesome roots, because by the power of this samādhi of great compassion taking the lead, the principle of things is naturally thus; fifteenth, deferring virtue and bidding Sudhana to advance.

To explain the meaning following the text: "Gradually traveling, sometimes reaching human cities, towns, villages, wildernesses, crags, and valleys, and then reaching the great city of Wondrous Light" explains traversing and contemplating to remedy the habit of inferior wisdom and unfulfilled great compassion from the preceding stage, remedying them so that wisdom and compassion are equalized and wisdom and compassion attain mastery, only after which does he reach the city of the practice of effortless wondrous function in the eighth [stage].

Inquiring of the crowd, "Where is the city of Wondrous Light now?" explains that through the power of contemplation, wisdom and compassion are equalized, yet he still does not recognize it himself; therefore, he must ask long-standing residents, symbolizing that in the stage of effortlessness, wisdom and compassion are difficult to integrate. The crowd all replying, "The city of Wondrous Light—this very city is where King Mahāprabha dwells," explains Sudhana's accord and union with the mastery of wisdom and compassion, like [entering] the king's gate.

Sudhana's joy represents entering the joy of the Dharma. From "Having had such a thought" onward, he reflects to himself that he must surely hear further superior Dharmas and the practices of bodhisattvas. Having had these ten kinds of thoughts, he enters the city of Wondrous Light; this explains that having previously cultivated worldly compassion in the seventh practice, he now enters the city of the effortless wisdom of the eighth, which is called entering the city of Wondrous Light, because his understanding of wisdom is brilliant and his great compassion is vastly expanded.

From this point onward, his entry into the city and the jeweled adornments of the ground, trees, palaces, pavilions, terraces, towers, ponds, and pools he beholds all clarify that entering this practice-gate concerns wisdom rather than karmic rebirth: none of it is in vain, all being adorned with the palace of compassion, the hall of wisdom, the tower of contemplation, the pavilions of diverse wisdoms, the flowers of dharmatā practices, the moat of the seven factors of enlightenment, the water of the eightfold noble path, the trees of practicing in accord with bodhi, and the defensive wall of protecting the physical, verbal, and mental karma of all sentient beings, exactly corresponding to the beginning of the ten dedications of merit. The "crenels" (pīnī) are the openings on top of the wall through which to lean and look out, all adorned with jewels. These seven layers are the karmic fruition of the practices of the seven factors of enlightenment; citing the number seven is modeled on this.

The city is ten yojanas in length and breadth. As for a yojana, according to fascicle twelve of the Fo benxing ji jing, it says: "Seven subtle dust particles make one dust particle in a window's lattice-light; seven window-dust particles make one dust particle on the tip of a hare's hair; seven hare-hair dust particles make one dust particle on the tip of a sheep's hair; seven sheep-hair dust particles make one dust particle on the tip of an ox's hair; seven ox-hair dust particles make one nit; seven nits make one louse; seven lice make one mustard seed; seven mustard seeds make one barley grain; seven barley grains make one finger-joint; seven finger-joints make half a foot; two half-feet make one cubit; four cubits make one bow; five bows make one zhang; twenty zhang are called one breath (xi); eighty breaths make one krośa; eight krośas make one yojana." Calculating by the standard of local feet, two li and eighty-odd paces correspond to one krośa. Eight krośas make one yojana; one yojana amounts to seventeen li. That this city is ten yojanas means it measures one hundred and seventy li east, west, south, and north. If, according to the text, the city has one billion avenues, and between every single avenue there are immeasurable myriad kotis of sentient beings dwelling within, then this is not something that the measure of the small yojanas of this worldly realm can accommodate; that is, taking fundamental wisdom as the great city, because the one is the ten, essence and function penetrate completely. Discriminating wisdom serves as the avenues; within the ten wisdoms, each contains one hundred million identical and distinct functions, continuing thus to infinity. The eightfold noble path serves as the eight gates: four times eight is thirty-two, explaining that the ten pāramitās, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the eightfold noble path together constitute the progressive cultivation of the ten abodes, ten practices, and ten dedications of merit, harmoniously fusing the two practices of wisdom and compassion and rendering them sovereign, which is called fundamental wisdom. It is called King Mahāprabha; according to how sentient beings of superior, middling, and inferior faculties perceive it, it is called the great city of Wondrous Light, differing in breadth and narrowness, purity and defilement. All its jewels, adornments, grounds, trees, and palaces are generally the fruitional production of wisdom and compassion, as the text itself fully sets forth.

In this city there is a multistoried pavilion named Repository of the True Dharma, and King Mahāprabha constantly abides therein: this is the fruitional realm of discriminating wisdom, in which the sovereign king of fundamental wisdom constantly abides. Sudhana sees King Mahāprabha not far from the pavilion where he dwells, seated on a vast and adorned lion throne of the lotus treasury of wish-fulfilling maṇi jewels in the midst of a crossroads: this explains that the four wisdoms, four immeasurables, and four means of embracing guide and receive sentient beings as the four thoroughfares. Because the great roads passing through from south to north and east to west are called the four thoroughfares, this single crossroads gathers many paths, up to hundreds of thousands, all subsumed under the single crossroads, because it receives beings at will and causes them all to become undefiled. It takes the wish-fulfilling undefiled jewel as its seat, and because practice is unstained, it is called a lotus. Lapis lazuli serving as the legs of the throne explains that wisdom follows myriad practices, brilliantly pure and unobstructed. The canopy of gold silk symbolizes wisdom following compassion to nurture sentient beings. The jeweled net represents the fruitional production of the net of teachings through wondrous exposition. Heavenly garments serving as the cushion takes wisdom's lack of reliance as the substance of the seat. The cushion (yīnru) is a mat with patterned colors; because wisdom has no reliance, it possesses the patterned elegance of the four unobstructed eloquences, so as to guide and receive sentient beings. The king sitting cross-legged upon it means the two karmas of wisdom and compassion interpenetrate with sovereignty.

The twenty-eight marks of a great man explain that the wisdom and compassion of the two stages of the ten abodes and ten practices have already been cultivated, but the ten dedications of merit are not yet fulfilled; because of this, he does not yet possess the thirty-two marks, explaining that only when the stage of the three stages of sagehood is brought to the utmost does one achieve the thirty-two marks of a wheel-turning king. This harmonizes the shared, distinct, general, and specific meanings of the various stages without stirring a thought regarding the realm of wisdom. One must never assess them with ordinary temporal notions of lengthening and shortening; to do so would entirely undermine the sūtra's intent in establishing this sūtra teaching.

A gold wheel-turning king is like the gold-net wheel-turning king described in the "Chapter on the Merit of the Radiance of the Secondary Characteristics." This wheel-turning king transforms and guides sentient beings in worlds as numerous as the dust particles of hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of Buddha lands; this king emits pure radiance from the maṇi topknot, and if any sentient beings encounter this light, they all attain the bodhisattva stage of the ten grounds, accomplish immeasurable radiance of wisdom, and attain ten kinds of pure eyes and ten kinds of pure minds. As for the eighty secondary characteristics, because the secondary characteristics are attained in common with the Brahmā kings of the upper realms, they are worldly marks, unlike the thirty-two marks and eighty secondary characteristics that are fulfilled at the culmination of the three stages of sagehood. Kings such as Māndhātṛ are wheel-turning kings who, because of slighting Śakra, promptly lost their supernatural powers and still fell back. This is the minor gold wheel-turning king of a single world of four continents within the Three Vehicles; he also possesses the thirty-two marks and eighty secondary characteristics, all complete with marks of blessing. Among them there are differences: King Mahāprabha here in the ten practices is a human king whose realm of embracing and transforming beings fills the worlds of the ten directions across hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas, manifesting everywhere to generally nourish, guide, and receive them. A gold wheel-turning king in the Three Vehicles transforms only the humans of the four continents, not reaching the various heavens. Here, the eighth practice, the practice difficult to attain, acts as a human king, embracing and transforming the boundless realms of the ten directions, the heavenly kings of the upper realms, and the six destinies of gods and humans—there is none he does not embrace everywhere, because he has attained the Buddha's wisdom. Below, the text praises the king's two karmas of blessing and wisdom, as fully explained in the text.

The sūtra says: "Also, like space, it manifests constellations and asterisms of various Dharma-gates": this explains that the spirits who preside over the directions establish Dharmas according to the directions, which are the eight trigrams and nine palaces. In the celestial Qian imagery above, the twenty-eight lunar lodges, the twelve earthly branches and heavenly stems, the sun, moon, five planets, and various clustered stars all have their standard patterns. Worldly human kings emulate them to dispense virtuous orders, while the Buddha adopts them to symbolize expounding the Dharma to dispel [delusion], as the text itself fully sets forth.

The various precious jewels filling the avenues before his seat are the items distributed by the king, as the sūtra broadly explains. The king's body being like a mountain of gold accords with the true color, evoked by inner clarity of pure wisdom and the practice of compassion to protect beings. The graceful women all possess the sixty-four arts—[this is] not yet clear. "I purely cultivate the bodhisattva practice of the banner of great compassion": this explains that from the beginning of the ten practices up to the sixth practice, one cultivates the gate of supramundane wisdom; from the seventh practice up to this eighth practice, one previously cultivated worldly compassion to arouse wisdom; reaching this eighth practice, effortless wisdom abiding in the world appears before one, constantly taking great compassion as the lead, with wisdom following to smash delusions, which is called a banner. From this point forward up to the tenth practice, one walks universally among non-Buddhists, using the practice of great compassion, even assuming the bodies of ninety-six kinds of non-Buddhists—all of which I manifest to receive those with erroneous views, because this represents the full completion of a practice. The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra states: "Whatever the six non-Buddhist masters fall into, you fall into as well; only then may you take food."

The king says: "At the places of immeasurable hundreds of thousands of Buddhas, I inquired about and examined this Dharma, contemplating, observing, cultivating, and adorning it": the intent is to sever Sudhana's doubts. Previously, in the eighth abode of the ten abodes, the Youthful Abode, when he saw the ṛṣi Bhīṣmottaranirghoṣa, he also cast his five limbs to the ground; why does he also cast his five limbs to the ground here in this eighth practice upon seeing King Mahāprabha? The intent is to explain that in this stage, cultivating compassion reaches wisdom, universally covering all five stages, so as to symbolize that wisdom and compassion are all-pervading; therefore, he symbolizes it thus. The eighth stage within each of the five stages always explains that the bodhisattva practices are perfected, and from this eighth stage onward, one always cultivates the sovereign power and function of the Tathāgata's ten powers, because the tenth stage in each of the five stages always takes the wisdom pāramitā as primary and the other nine as companions. From here onward, the subsequent stages are naturally accomplished on their own.

King Mahāprabha enters the bodhisattva samādhi of great compassion taking the lead, displaying the sovereignty of his compassionate karma and function in benefiting beings, so that later students may emulate it. This explains that wisdom without reliance enters equally into the minds of sentient beings, being of the same essence with them without any distinct nature; sentient and insentient beings are all of the same essence, and through the karma evoked by entering this samādhi, he causes all sentient beings, as well as the groves of trees and gushing springs, to flow toward him, bow their branches, and prostrate their heads. The yakṣas and rākṣasas all cease their evil, explaining that wisdom follows all sentient beings, sharing the same karma and function with them, one nature without duality. Just as worldly emperors who possess compassion toward people cause dragon spirits to submit in obedience, and phoenixes and auspicious qilin to gather, how much more so would humans not return in reverence? How much more so this King Mahāprabha, whose wisdom penetrates the true source and whose practice equals the dharmadhātu, with a compassionate mind taking the lead and his spirit communing with living beings, sharing light with myriad things and serving as the root of all existence! Like a maṇi jewel sharing the color of things without contravening its original color, like sage wisdom being mindless and taking the minds of things as its mind without things contravening it. This explains that the great compassionate mind of identical essence shares the same function with things, manifesting bodily forms before them to enlighten them. The mountains, plains, and all grasses and trees all turn toward the king to pay homage, and the ponds, springs, wells, rivers, and oceans all surge and flow before the king, because in the realm of wisdom, great compassion is naturally like this. If it were a realm transformed by the emotional consciousness of sentient beings, sentient beings could not do it. Just as in the Lotus Treasury World all realms perform Buddha-work because it is a realm of wisdom and not made of ordinary emotion, the sage, by returning wisdom to emotion, causes the insentient grasses, trees, mountains, springs, rivers, and oceans karmically received by sentient beings to all turn in accord, turning them through wisdom, taking the branches as the root. Just as in the world, when there is utmost filial piety in the mind, fish surge from an icy pond and winter bamboo shoots sprout—even such things occur, how much more so when true wisdom proceeds from compassion? In this eighth practice, it explains that wisdom proceeds from the functional application of compassion; therefore, among the assembled crowd, ten thousand dragon kings are first designated as the leaders of the assembly, symbolizing that wisdom constantly roams space and bestows the Dharma rain of compassion, symbolized by dragons roaming space, raising clouds, and pouring rain. Next, the multitudes from the Paranirmitavaśavartin heavenly kings downward all explain the assemblies drawn by the karma and function of the samādhi of great compassion taking the lead, as the text itself fully sets forth.

From "Prostrating to the king" downward, there are four and a half lines of the sūtra explaining the breadth and narrowness of his embracing and transforming beings, and deferring virtue to bid Sudhana advance. This is the kalyāṇamitra of the eighth practice, the practice difficult to attain, who takes the vow pāramitā as primary and the other nine as companions. In terms of wisdom, it universally remedies all stages; in terms of stages, it remedies the obstacle of lack of mastery in wisdom and compassion in the eighth practice, enabling one to attain mastery. Great compassion takes the lead, and wisdom acts as the guide: prior to this, one cultivated wisdom through compassion; from here on, in the ninth and tenth stages, one practices compassion through wisdom. It was also like this previously in the ten abodes, and the subsequent ten dedications of merit and ten grounds are also modeled on this, meaning that using effortless wisdom to accomplish the karmic function of compassion toward sentient beings requires no self-effort to accomplish; the Tathāgata's ten powers and four fearlessnesses arrive naturally on their own.