新華嚴經論 11.2

11.2

Third, from the crop-ruling spirits down to the day-ruling spirits, these ten assemblies of spirits clarify the cause and effect of the Dharma gate of the ten practices for benefiting sentient beings. This is because the crop-ruling spirits symbolize practice as provisions (saṃbhāra). Just as the mundane world uses crops as provisions to nourish conditioned bodies, the Buddhadharma uses the practices of the ten pāramitās as provisions to nourish the dharmakāya, causing mundane habitual tendencies to gradually diminish and supramundane habitual tendencies—great kindness, great compassion, and great wisdom—to be accomplished. As for the stage of provisions, according to the explanations of the Three Vehicles, the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, and ten dedications are the four kinds of provisions prior to the path; the first ground and above are the path of seeing and the preparatory stage (prayoga). For bodhisattvas prior to the grounds in the Three Vehicles, they cultivate conditioned and defiled practices over one great asaṃkhyeya kalpa, and on the first ground they see the path. In this sūtra, however, within the ten faiths one has total faith that one's own mind and the nature, characteristics, and great wisdom of the Buddhas of the ten directions are an undifferentiated essence. In the initial mind of the ten abodes, by the power of cultivating the samādhi of expedient means, one sees the path. From the abode of initial aspiration and all the abodes above it, these together constitute the stage of seeing the path. The ten practices, ten dedications, and ten grounds together constitute the preparatory stage, together constituting the preparation of provisions. Because they advance together with the Buddha's cause and effect, they are the preparatory stage; they are equal to the Buddha-fruit, are provided with Samantabhadra's functional practices, and are provided with the fulfillment of compassionate vows. By using the natural fruition of the principle-wisdom of the dharmakāya seen in the initial mind of the ten abodes as provisions for Samantabhadra's practice, they do not belong to conditioned and impermanent human and celestial realms. From the abode of initial aspiration, as one advances through the five stages in cultivating the natural fruition of the principle-wisdom of the Tathāgata's dharmakāya and the fruition of Samantabhadra's practice, they serve as provisions for one another within the one true dharmadhātu. If one is discarded, neither is accomplished, and a mind of either defilement or purity arises. Therefore, one adorns practice with the fruit of the Buddha's principle and wisdom, and adorns the fruit with practice; hence it is called the Buddha's Avataṃsaka. For this reason, in the stages of the ten abodes, ten practices, and ten dedications below, the Buddhas of the ten directions all share the same name with the bodhisattvas who enter the stages, bestow wisdom upon them, and rub their crowns, joining them in the wisdom of identical essence. Bodhisattvas of the Three Vehicles, on the other hand, are mostly born in other pure lands, and above the fourth dhyāna there is a separate bodhisattva pure land; or, if they remain in the desire realm, it is said that by the power of their compassionate vows they retain afflictions to moisten rebirth. This is not like the Dharma gate of this sūtra, where one mounts the vehicle of the Tathāgata's dharmadhātu, and from the abode of initial aspiration, using the natural fruition of the Tathāgata's great wisdom and dharmakāya and the fruition of Samantabhadra's practice, one universally pervades saṃsāra, making movement and quiescence equal, advancing universally in principle and phenomena, and curing remaining habitual tendencies through the essence and function of the dharmadhātu. In this Dharma there is no before or after, no old or new retributions. It is not like the separate teaching of the Three Vehicles, which speaks of other regions having separate pure lands while retaining afflictions in the Sahā world, where the preparatory stage is placed at the first ground, and the provisions at the beginning of the stages are placed in the ten faiths, ten abodes, and ten dedications. Since their five stages lack the Buddha-fruit, we clearly know that their seeing of the path on the tenth ground is not genuine. In this sūtra, within the mind of the ten faiths, one has faith that one's own mind possesses ten kinds of worlds—such as the Golden World, the Wondrous Color World, and the Lotus Color World; having ten such color worlds is because the ten minds of faith are conditioned, and therefore the realm of the Buddha in which they believe is form (rūpa). The Buddhas originally served—the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom, the Buddha of Unobstructed Wisdom, the Buddha of Liberation Wisdom—such ten Buddhas of wisdom are none other than one's own mind. This is because the ten kinds of fruits of wisdom of one's own mind in which one believes are taken as the names of the ten kinds of Buddha-fruits. When one ultimately realizes and cultivates to the fullness of all Buddhas, the wisdom accomplished is not different from this wisdom. Aside from this stage of the ten faiths where, with a mind of arising and ceasing, one has faith in the ten form worlds and the ten Tathāgatas of wisdom, when reaching the eleven grounds of the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, ten grounds, and equal awakening, there are altogether fifty causes and effects, all of which take Samantabhadra's practice as cause and the natural principle-wisdom of the Tathāgata's dharmakāya as fruit, or they mutually interpenetrate so as to support and stimulate each other. Through these two kinds of cause and effect, within the five stages there are altogether one hundred layers of the Buddha's cause and effect; taking broadly the five layers of cause and five layers of fruit on each of the five stages, there are altogether one hundred and ten layers of cause and effect. As for the Buddha's cause and effect in the stage of the ten abodes, they are the Indra Flower World, the Padma Flower World, and the Jewel Flower World, and the Buddhas are named Distinctive Moon Buddha, Inexhaustible Moon Buddha, and Immovable Moon Buddha. In this way, ten flower worlds and ten Buddhas identically named 'Moon' constitute the Buddha-fruit. The ten bodhisattvas of wisdom, such as Bodhisattva Dharmamati, constitute the cause of cultivating Samantabhadra's practice. For these ten abodes, through the power of entering the samādhi of expedient means, truly realize the wondrous wisdom of the dharmakāya; thus the worlds are named 'flower,' because flowers blossom to reveal the fruit. That the manifested Buddha-fruits are all named 'Moon' is to clarify that in the ten abodes, when the wondrous wisdom of the dharmakāya is newly seen and appears before one, there is no fever of affliction; one attains the Buddha's dharmakāya, which is refreshing and cool like the moon. Therefore, the place where the path seen eliminates afflictions is taken as the world. 'Indra flower' is translated here as 'flower capable of being sovereign,' clarifying that in the abode of initial aspiration, one is born into the Buddha's household and is capable of acting as the lord of the Dharma for sentient beings. 'Padma flower' is the red lotus flower, clarifying that in the abode of preparing the ground, one advances in cultivation with increasing excellence, brightly blooming in an admirable manner. In all cases, the cause and effect of the place where one enters the path according to the stage constitutes the names of the Buddhas, lands, worlds, and bodhisattvas; none are external, but all clarify one's own practice and what is practiced. Likewise, in the stage of the ten practices, the ten worlds of wisdom and the ten Buddha names are all called 'Eye,' which constitutes their Buddha-fruit. The ten Forest Bodhisattvas, such as Guṇavanna (Merit Forest), constitute the cause of their practice. The subsequent ten dedications and ten grounds can be known from the sūtra and will be clarified when reaching those stages. In general, the ten Buddhas of the corresponding stage are taken as the fruit of that basic stage, and the ten bodhisattvas of the corresponding stage are taken as the cause of cultivation for that stage. Thus in this initial assembly, the Tathāgata corresponds to the fruit of the five stages, and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva together with the various spirits, devas, and so forth, correspond to the cause of cultivating the five stages. Furthermore, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, the various spirits, devas, and so forth take Vairocana's fundamental wisdom as the fundamental cause for initiating cultivation, and take their own bodies of cultivation as the fruit of the Buddha's discriminating wisdom. Because they take the fruit of the Buddha's natural wisdom as the cause, and their currently cultivated bodies are precisely the natural fruit of principle and wisdom, they are mutually cause and effect, essence and function. Therefore, in the spirits' and devas' praises of virtue, they first praise the Buddha's virtue, and next praise their own possessing the same wisdom and virtue as the Buddha. This is the model for entering the dharmadhātu, causing all learners to realize that when deluded they are ordinary beings and when awakened they are Buddhas; hence wisdom and compassion advance together. For instance, the land where the kalyāṇamitra of the stage of joyful practice—the initial stage of the ten practices—resides, whom the youth Sudhana visits, is named Three Eyes; this is identical to the worlds where the bodhisattvas of the ten practices reside, named the World of Loving Wisdom, the World of Jewel Wisdom, and so forth, comprising the ten worlds of wisdom. As for the 'three eyes': first, mahāprajñā; second, liberation; third, dharmakāya. They are also taken as the three eyes of the wisdom eye, the insight eye, and the Dharma eye. They are like the character pin (品) in the mundane world, or like the three eyes on the face of the king of the Maheśvara heaven; for all Buddhadharmas do not depart from this great wisdom, great insight, and dharmakāya. The meaning of these ten worlds of wisdom applies to these three eyes. Therefore, the country of Sudhana's first kalyāṇamitra in the ten practices is named Three Eyes, and the monk is named Sudarśana (Good Sight), which corresponds to the stage of the ten practices. The Buddhas are named Permanently Abiding Eye Buddha and Invincible Eye Buddha. Being named 'Sudarśana' (Good Sight) means possessing the three eyes, because within the ten practices, one knows sentient beings' capacities with the wisdom eye and practices together with them. The Buddha is named 'Eye,' and the kalyāṇamitra is named 'Sudarśana' (Good Sight). Having dark blue eyes and hair, golden skin, a round halo of one fathom, and physical marks like a Buddha clarifies that the cause of the practice of the three eyes cultivated in the ten practices has the Buddha as its fruit. Walking in the forest clarifies that the dense forest of myriad practices provides protective shade for sentient beings, just as in the stage of the ten practices the bodhisattvas are named Merit Forest, Wisdom Forest, Superior Forest, and so on, the ten Forest Bodhisattvas. Sudhana's kalyāṇamitra in the ten practices uses the monk walking in the forest as the place of practice for the stage of the ten practices, just as below in the text the ten Forest Bodhisattvas such as Merit Forest constitute what is practiced. Now, in this initial assembly, the crop-ruling spirits serve as the provisions for the ten practices of the Buddha-fruit, so that sentient beings may enter the Buddha's stage and so that the provisions may nurture the bodhisattvas who have seen the path to expand their great compassion. In this way, the five stages of the Buddha-fruit in this assembly, the five stages progressively cultivated by the bodhisattvas in the second and third assemblies and thereafter, and the five stages demonstratively practiced by the youth Sudhana correspond to one another before and after with similar structures, collectively clarifying that the essence and function of the Buddha-fruit and the fruition of Samantabhadra's practice mutually support each other and are non-different from beginning to end. For this reason, the fifty kinds of provisions and the fifty kinds of Buddha-fruits across the five stages are mutually primary and companion, mutually cause and effect, and mutually essence and function. Because the Tathāgata's nature of principle and wisdom constantly supports Samantabhadra's practice to keep it undefiled, and Samantabhadra's practice constantly supports the Tathāgata's natural fruition so as to perfect compassion and wisdom, if either side is discarded, nothing is accomplished. Any practice gate [apart from this] is merely the cause and effect of humans and devas; or if it transcends the world, it is merely the two vehicles of śrāvakas, or supramundane pure land bodhisattvas, or retaining afflictions to moisten rebirth, and so forth. Therefore, they are not natural principle-wisdom, nor do they possess the sovereign, perfect interpenetration of mundane and supramundane, great compassion, motion and stillness, defilement and purity. These ten practices and the provisions of the Buddha-fruit are like a cucumber: the fruit and flower emerge together, and the flower and fruit support each other, acting with sovereignty through unconditioned merit; this is because natural principle and wisdom are fully present in practice.