新華嚴經論 8.21

8.21

一明經宗趣者，此經名毘盧遮那大智法界本真自體寂用圓滿、果德法報性相無礙，佛自所乘為宗。如《法華經》云「乘此寶乘直至道場」。又此經云「有樂求佛果者，說最勝乘、上乘、無上乘、不思議乘」等是，還令初發心者為志樂廣大故，還得如是如來大智之果，與自智合一無二故。此經宗趣甚深難信，若有信者，勝過承事十佛剎微塵數諸佛盡於一劫所得功德，不如信此經中如來大智境界佛果法界門而自有之，信此福勝於彼。如〈賢首品〉下文頌云「有以手擎十佛剎，盡於一劫空中住；彼之所作未為難，能信此法為甚難。十剎塵數眾生所，悉施樂具經一劫；彼之福德未為勝，信此法者為最勝。十剎塵數如來所，悉皆承事盡一劫；若於此品能誦持，其福最勝過於彼。」又前頌云「一切世界諸群生，少有欲求聲聞乘，求獨覺者轉復少，趣大乘者甚希有。趣大乘者猶為易，能信此法倍甚難。」為明此經宗趣甚深難信。修空觀者，息妄修禪、垢淨情存。聲聞獨覺六通菩薩未迴心者，無如是分。如經下文云「設有菩薩經無量百千那由他劫行六波羅蜜得六神通，猶名假名菩薩，不真菩薩。」設聞此經不信不入，如《法華經》，亦是為迴三乘人令歸一乘故，迴彼門外三車權引諸子，令歸如來大乘智法界真實門故。破几案所依法故，令得如來無依住智本自在故。《華嚴》即是始成正覺時頓為上根者說，《法華經》即是佛出世後四十年中為迴三乘者說。又佛乘三乘一時總說，但隨根自應，一音法門各有差別，總別義生。為真體無時，無可作前後故。如《法華經》云「十方佛土中，唯有一乘法，無二亦無三。除佛方便說，但以假名字，引導於眾生。」又云「唯此一事實，餘二即非真。」餘二者，但以十方諸佛共所乘門為實，三乘為餘二。但權施未真者是餘二，故以一實對諸權，皆是餘二，為《法華經》責聲聞、緣覺、不退菩薩三乘等，皆未能信一乘法故。為權教菩薩雖有一分求菩提之心，猶有怖生死故，得離染不退，未得稱真染淨平等不退。如修空觀菩薩，樂空增勝，及假真如觀一向離纏，皆有欣厭。及樂生淨土等諸菩薩眾，皆能離生死、出纏不退，不入法界性海一真無欣厭門故，望此佛乘，樂生死者及厭生死者二俱是退。設觀空增勝、修假真如門，行六波羅蜜得六神通，是離生死不退，非是生死涅槃一性中不退故。以是義故，《華嚴》及《法華經》說得六神通菩薩不聞不信此經典故。如《法華經》云「若持八萬四千法藏、十二部經，為人演說，令諸聽者得六神通，亦未為難，聽受此經是則為難。」唯此智境界違情所解，故甚難信也。三乘信解，順情所忻。何以故？說佛果即在三僧祇之後，說佛淨土在於他方，此娑婆是穢土。修菩提者，厭垢欣真樂生淨國。設有住世菩薩，亦言留惑潤生，為濟眾生故，非由法爾根本智自在力合如斯故。如是菩薩皆是順情之法，法易信故。非如此經，說入佛果不逾剎那但隔迷悟，說無量劫總不移一時故。說從凡夫地創見道時，因果一時無前後際，不見未成佛時、不見成正覺時，不見煩惱斷、不見菩提證，畢竟不移毫念，修習五十位滿，一切種智悉皆成就。總別同異成壞一時自在，皆非世情所見故，是故難信也。其所信者，如經下文十信之位，金色世界不動智佛，上首菩薩名文殊師利，此云妙德。云金色者，明白淨無垢，即法身之理。不動智佛者，即理中智也，一切凡聖身等共有之故。一切處文殊師利，一切處金色世界，一切處不動智佛。今之信者，當信自心無依住性妙慧解脫，是自文殊。於心無依住中，無性妙理有自在分別，無性可動，名不動智佛。理智無二妙用自在，是故號曰妙德菩薩。是故一切諸佛從此信生，故號文殊為十方諸佛之母。亦號文殊為童子菩薩，為皆以信為初生故。信心成就，即以定慧觀智力印之相契，一念相應，名十住初心便成正覺。取能行處，號曰普賢。取妙慧無依處，號曰妙德。取善能分別知根之智，號之為不動智佛。自契相應，名為正覺。且能信處，號曰信心。自契相應名為住心，為住佛所住妙慧，解脫相盡，無生法故。若心外有佛，不名信心，名為邪見人也。一切諸佛皆同自心，一切眾生皆同自性，性無依故，體無差別，智慧一性。應如是知。以此同體妙慧，知諸佛心及眾生心，應如是信解，不自欺誑。是故此經宗趣，為大心眾生設如斯法，諸佛自所乘門一乘妙典法界道理，令大心眾生入佛根本智佛果故，一念契真理智同現即便佛故。為法界道理，見則無初中後故，異彼三乘劣解者，宜聞三無數劫登佛果故，宜說釋迦淨土在於他方、此娑婆是穢土故。是故《法華經》內為迴三乘劣解者，令龍女非器剎那成佛，明信心廣大，非權施設，現實教故，所修實教不迂滯故。言龍女年始八歲者，表今生成始學，非舊學故。畜生女者，明非過去積修，此明此生信法門理直無滯故。法界體性非三世收，一念應真三世情盡，智無出沒即佛果故。是故經云「為度劣解眾生，興八相等事。」娑婆世界舉眾遙見龍女即往南方無垢世界成佛者，解云：南方者，為明、為正，以主离故。离為明、為日、為虛無，即無垢也。舉眾遙見者，明三乘權學信而未自證，故言遙見。夫法界一真，自他相徹，若當自得，焉得稱遙見？此經即令善財一生得佛。云一生者，從凡夫地起信之後，十住初心契無生也。即任法界智生，非業生也，至文廣釋。今且略舉此經宗之所趣佛果法門竟，博達君子熟可思焉。

First, in explaining the central purport of the sūtra: this sūtra takes as its central theme the original true essence of the dharmadhātu of Vairocana's great wisdom, complete in stillness and function, unimpeded in principle and mark between the fruition virtues of the dharmakāya and saṃbhogakāya, which is the vehicle ridden by the Buddha himself. As the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: 'Riding this jewel carriage, one goes straight to the bodhimaṇḍa.' And as this sūtra says: 'For those who joyfully seek the Buddha fruition, it explains the most supreme vehicle, the higher vehicle, the unexcelled vehicle, the inconceivable vehicle, and so on,' causing those who first generate the mind [for awakening], because their aspiration is vast and great, to also attain such fruition of the Tathāgata's great wisdom, unified as one without duality with their own wisdom. The central purport of this sūtra is profoundly deep and difficult to believe. If there is one who has faith, it surpasses the merit obtained by serving as many Buddhas as dust motes in ten Buddha-lands for the entirety of an eon; yet it does not compare to having faith in the gate of the dharmadhātu of the Buddha fruition, the realm of the Tathāgata's great wisdom in this sūtra, possessing it within oneself—the merit of such faith is superior to that. As the verses below in the 'Chapter on the Worthy Head' state: 'If one were to lift ten Buddha-lands with one's hand / And abide in the air for the duration of an eon, / That deed would not yet be difficult; / Being able to believe this Dharma is extremely difficult. / If one were to provide all pleasing necessities for an eon / To beings as numerous as the dust motes of ten lands, / That blessing and merit would not yet be superior; / One who believes this Dharma is the most superior. / If one were to serve as many Tathāgatas / As the dust motes of ten lands for an entire eon, / If one can recite and uphold this chapter, / One's merit is most superior, surpassing that.' And an earlier verse says: 'Among all the living beings of all worlds, / Few seek the Śrāvaka Vehicle; / Those who seek the Pratyekabuddha [Vehicle] are still fewer, / And those who aspire to the Great Vehicle are extremely rare. / Yet aspiring to the Great Vehicle is still easy; / Being able to believe this Dharma is twice as difficult.' This is to make clear that the central purport of this sūtra is profoundly deep and difficult to believe. Those who cultivate the contemplation of emptiness calm false thinking and cultivate dhyāna, but their sentiments of defilement and purity remain. Śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas with the six supernormal powers who have not turned their minds have no share in this. As the sūtra states below: 'Even if a bodhisattva cultivates the six pāramitās and attains the six supernormal powers for immeasurable hundreds of thousands of nayutas of eons, they are still called a nominal bodhisattva, not a true bodhisattva.' Even if they hear this sūtra, they neither believe nor enter it. Just as with the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, it is also for the sake of turning the people of the three vehicles back so they return to the One Vehicle—turning those children who were provisionally led by the three carriages outside the gate so they return to the true gate of the Tathāgata's dharmadhātu of Mahāyāna wisdom; breaking the dharmas relied upon as a small table, so that they attain the original natural freedom of the Tathāgata's unattached and non-abiding wisdom. The Avataṃsaka was spoken suddenly for those of superior faculties right when [the Buddha] first accomplished true awakening, whereas the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra was spoken in the forty years after the Buddha appeared in the world to turn back those of the three vehicles. Furthermore, the Buddha Vehicle and the three vehicles were all spoken simultaneously; merely in accord with faculties they responded naturally: within the Dharma gate of a single sound, each had its differences, and thus the meanings of the general and the particular arose. Because the true essence is timeless, there can be no before or after. As the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: 'In the Buddha lands of the ten directions, / There is only the Dharma of the One Vehicle, / Neither a second nor a third, / Except when the Buddha speaks with expedient means, / Merely using provisional designations / To guide living beings.' It also says: 'Only this one matter is real; / The other two are not true.' As for 'the other two': it is only the gate commonly ridden by all Buddhas of the ten directions that is the real, and the three vehicles are 'the other two.' Only the provisional setups that are not yet real are 'the other two'; therefore, taking the one real against all the provisionals, they are all 'the other two.' This is because the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra reproaches the three vehicles—the śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and non-retrogressing bodhisattvas—since they are all not yet able to believe the Dharma of the One Vehicle. Because bodhisattvas of the provisional teachings, although they possess a portion of the mind seeking bodhi, still have fear of saṃsāra, they attain the non-retrogression of detachment from defilement, but have not attained the non-retrogression of the equality of defilement and purity that accords with reality. Just like the bodhisattvas who cultivate the contemplation of emptiness, who delight in the superior power of emptiness, and those who cultivate provisional suchness to solely separate from bondage—they all have delight and aversion. And assemblies of bodhisattvas who delight in being born in a pure land, and so forth, are all able to leave saṃsāra and attain non-retrogression from escaping bondage, but because they do not enter the single-true gate free from delight and aversion of the dharmadhātu's nature-ocean, when looked at from this Buddha Vehicle, both those who delight in saṃsāra and those who feel aversion to saṃsāra have retrogressed. Even if they contemplate the superior power of emptiness, cultivate the gate of provisional suchness, practice the six pāramitās, and attain the six supernormal powers, this is the non-retrogression of leaving saṃsāra, not the non-retrogression within the single nature of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. For this reason, the Avataṃsaka and the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra speak of bodhisattvas who have attained the six supernormal powers as not hearing and not believing this scripture. As the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: 'If one were to uphold eighty-four thousand treasuries of Dharma and the twelve divisions of scriptures, and expound them to people so that the listeners attain the six supernormal powers, that would not yet be difficult; to hear and accept this sūtra is what is difficult.' Only this realm of wisdom contradicts what is understood by worldly sentiments, and hence it is extremely difficult to believe. The faith and understanding of the three vehicles accords with what sentiments delight in. Why is this? They say that the Buddha fruition is after three asaṃkhyeya [eons], they say that the Buddha's pure land is in another direction and this Sahā [world] is an impure land. Those who cultivate bodhi feel aversion to defilement, delight in the true, and rejoice in being born in a pure land. Even if there are bodhisattvas who abide in the world, they also say that they retain afflictions to nourish rebirth in order to save living beings, not that it must naturally be like this through the unhindered power of fundamental wisdom. Such bodhisattvas are all [following] dharmas that accord with sentiments, and such dharmas are easy to believe. It is not like this sūtra, which says that entering the Buddha fruition does not exceed a kṣaṇa and is separated only by delusion and awakening, and says that immeasurable eons do not move away from a single moment at all. It says that from the worldly stage when one first sees the Way, cause and effect are simultaneous without before or after; one does not see a time when one had not yet become a Buddha, nor does one see a time of becoming fully awakened; one does not see afflictions severed, nor does one see bodhi realized; ultimately without shifting a hair's breath of a thought, one fully cultivates the fifty stages and all-knowledge is completely achieved. The general and particular, sameness and difference, integration and disintegration, are all simultaneous and unhindered; none of this is what worldly sentiments perceive, and therefore it is difficult to believe. As for what is believed: like the stage of the ten faiths below in the sūtra, in the Golden World there is the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom (Akṣobhya), whose foremost bodhisattva is named Mañjuśrī, translated here as Wondrous Virtue. 'Golden' means clear, pure, and without defilement, which is the principle of the dharmakāya. The 'Buddha of Immovable Wisdom' is wisdom within principle, shared equally by the bodies of all ordinary people and sages. Everywhere is Mañjuśrī, everywhere is the Golden World, everywhere is the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom. Those who have faith today must believe that their own mind's wondrous wisdom and liberation, whose nature has no reliance or abode, is their own Mañjuśrī. Within the mind's non-reliance and non-abiding, the wondrous principle of naturelessness has unhindered discrimination, and because naturelessness cannot be moved, it is named the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom. Principle and wisdom are non-dual and their wondrous function is unimpeded, which is why he is called Wondrous Virtue Bodhisattva. Therefore all Buddhas are born from this faith; hence Mañjuśrī is called the mother of all Buddhas of the ten directions. Mañjuśrī is also called the Kumārabhūta Bodhisattva, because all are newly born with faith as their beginning. When faithful mind is perfected, one seals and tallies with it through the power of the contemplative wisdom of concentration and discernment; in a single moment of thought of corresponding union, one is named as having newly entered the ten abodes and immediately accomplishes true awakening. Taking where it is capable of practice, it is called Samantabhadra. Taking where wondrous wisdom is without reliance, it is called Wondrous Virtue. Taking the wisdom that is skillful at discriminating and knowing faculties, it is called the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom. When one self-tallies and corresponds, it is called true awakening. Meanwhile, taking where one is capable of faith, it is called the faithful mind. When one self-tallies and corresponds, it is called the abiding mind, for it abides in the wondrous wisdom where the Buddhas abide, where marks of liberation are exhausted and dharmas are unproduced. If there is a Buddha outside the mind, it is not called a faithful mind, but is called a person of wrong view. All Buddhas are identical with one's own mind, and all living beings are identical with one's own nature; because nature has no reliance, essence has no difference, and wisdom has a single nature. One should understand it in this way. Using this wondrous wisdom of identical essence to know the minds of the Buddhas and the minds of living beings, one should have faith and understanding in this way, without deceiving oneself. Therefore, as for the central purport of this sūtra: for the sake of living beings of great mind it sets forth such a Dharma, the gate ridden by the Buddhas themselves, the marvelous scripture of the One Vehicle, and the principle of the dharmadhātu, to cause living beings of great mind to enter the Tathāgata's fundamental wisdom and the Buddha fruition, so that tallying with the true in a single thought, principle and wisdom appear together and one is immediately a Buddha. Because according to the principle of the dharmadhātu, when it is seen there is no beginning, middle, or end; it is different from those of inferior understanding in the three vehicles, for whom it is suitable to hear of ascending to the Buddha fruition after three incalculable eons, and for whom it is suitable to say that Śākyamuni's pure land is in another direction and this Sahā [world] is an impure land. Therefore, in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, in order to turn those of inferior understanding in the three vehicles around, it caused the dragon girl, an unsuitable vessel, to become a Buddha in a kṣaṇa, making clear that the faithful mind is vast and great, not a provisional establishment, but revealing the actual teaching, and that the actual teaching cultivated is not delayed or obstructed. Saying that the dragon girl's age was just eight years old symbolizes that one newly begins learning in this present life, not from ancient study. Being the female of an animal makes clear that it was not accumulated cultivation from the past; this clarifies that faith in the Dharma gate's principle in this life is direct and without obstruction. The essence of the dharmadhātu is not subsumed under the three times; when a single thought corresponds to the true, sentiments regarding the three times are exhausted, and wisdom without rising and setting is itself the Buddha fruition. Therefore the sūtra says: 'For the sake of saving living beings of inferior understanding, I manifest deeds such as the eight phases.' As for the entire assembly of the Sahā world seeing from afar that the dragon girl immediately went to the Southern Undefiled World to become a Buddha, the explanation is: 'South' means bright and correct, because it corresponds to the Li [trigram]. Li represents brightness, the sun, and empty nothingness, which is 'undefiled.' The entire assembly seeing from afar makes clear that the provisional learners of the three vehicles had faith but had not personally realized it, and therefore it says 'saw from afar.' In the single reality of the dharmadhātu, self and other completely penetrate one another; if one had personally attained it, how could it be called 'seeing from afar'? This sūtra directly causes Sudhana to attain Buddhahood in a single lifetime. 'A single lifetime' means that after giving rise to faith from the stage of an ordinary person, one tallies with the unproduced at the initial mind of the ten abodes. This is to be born by giving free rein to the wisdom of the dharmadhātu, not to be born through karma, which will be extensively explained when we reach the text. Now, having briefly brought up the Buddha fruition Dharma gate to which the central theme of this sūtra tends, gentlemen of broad attainment may thoroughly reflect upon it.