新華嚴經論 1.35

1.35

Ninth, the difference in the generation of the mind [for enlightenment] by the six thousand [beings]: As the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says, 'When the dragon girl attained Buddhahood, the bodhisattvas and śrāvakas of the Sahā world, the entire assembly, from afar saw the dragon girl attain Buddhahood and universally teach the Dharma to the humans and devas assembled at that time. Their minds were filled with great joy, and all paid homage from afar.' Furthermore, the text below states that three thousand sentient beings of the Sahā world came to abide on the stage of non-retrogression, and three thousand sentient beings realized the bodhicitta and received prediction. Bodhisattva Prajñākūṭa and Śāriputra, as well as the entire assembly, silently believed and accepted it. Although Bodhisattva Prajñākūṭa and Śāriputra were wise persons, they lodged among the deluded stream to inspire the uninitiated for their benefit; therefore, they deployed teaching and practice to assist ordinary trainees and establish an example for them. Since the multitude of the Sahā world paid homage from afar, the six thousand who resolved [their minds] had not eradicated [the duality of] this and that, all according with the conditioned bodhi of the provisional teachings of the three vehicles, and had not yet attained the universal-gate dharmadhātu's originally enlightened bodhi in which self and other share the same essence. For this reason, there was homage from afar. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra is not like this: it takes the Dharma portal of universal vision of the universal-gate dharmadhātu, the Dharma portal of the adornment of Indra's net of the samādhi-realm of the tathāgatagarbha-body, in which the multiple subtle wisdoms revolving throughout the ocean of worlds are simultaneously attained together, because one realization is all realizations, and one severance is all severances. Within one's own body there are the adornments of the oceans of kṣetras of the Buddhas of the ten directions; within the Buddha's body is the realm of one's own body, multiply concealed and revealed. The phenomena of the worlds of the ten directions are uniformly like this, just as the many streams return to the great ocean: although they have not yet entered the ocean, their moistening nature is without difference; once they enter the great ocean, all share the same salty taste. All sentient beings are also like this: although delusion and awakening are distinct, originally they have never departed from the original Buddha ocean. Why, then, in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, did the multitude of the Sahā world pay homage from afar? Because this ceremonial manner and norm is entirely different from the Avataṃsaka. Just as within the Chapter on Entering the Dharmadhātu, in an instant the ten eyes of the six thousand became ever clearer, and the five hundred boys all realized the ten bodies in a single lifetime, and the rest of the multitude did likewise. When Sudhana sought his friends in the south, the Buddha fruition of Maitreya was already perfected; when he further entered the body of Samantabhadra, the Dharma portals were fully provided, principle and phenomena were coextensively continuous, and no phenomenon was not manifest. Since the dharmadhātu abides within dust motes, how could there be homage from afar? Therefore, it is now said that there is a difference in the generation of the mind by the six thousand.