新華嚴經論 20.9

20.9

The above is understandable from the text. In this section there are ineffable assemblies of bodhisattvas from other directions. In this section, the devas dwelling in the Tuṣita palace and the assemblies of bodhisattvas together total one hundred and fifty times a hundred million myriads. As for the bodhisattvas who come from other directions, they are ineffable. The types of colors of the tall seats and palaces adorned by the devas have one hundred and eighty kinds of differences, each category numbering a hundred million myriads. The adornments of the personal blessings of the Tathāgata and the bodhisattvas are boundless in number. That this assembly brings forth such great compassion, such wisdom, and such myriad practices is solely to nurture the wisdom and great compassion of the abode of initial aspiration when first born into the Buddha's house, making them practiced and sovereign. Time does not change, the Dharma is not different, and wisdom does not alter—just as bamboo shoots grow by relying on their original nature, from their initial sprouting to their end there is no coarse or fine. It is also like a small child growing: born as a child, he becomes an adult, with no difference in adulthood. This straightforwardly takes the ten practices, the ten dedications of merit, the ten grounds, and the eleventh ground as expedient means for nurturing the Path; the Buddha fruit lies in the initial aspiration. Furthermore, within the ten abodes, because a single abode possesses the function of all ten abodes, and because the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, and ten grounds are completely and totally contained within the ten abodes—just like a foal born to a divine dragon or a sovereign steed, when that divine foal is born on that ground, its speed is similar to its sire's, only its strength and function are not yet equal to its dam's. It is like a bodhisattva of initial aspiration: having mounted the Tathāgata's vehicle of all-knowledge and being newly born into the Buddha's house, their wisdom is identical to the Buddha's; only their supernormal powers and path strength are not yet equal, because they await the nurturing of great compassion and myriad practices. Although the nurturing work is completed, the Dharma is not different and time does not alter; in the end it does not go beyond the completion of strength and function at the time of initial aspiration. It is like the dragon girl attaining Buddhahood across three lives without leaving the moment of a single kṣaṇa; it is also like Sudhana attaining the Buddha fruit in a single lifetime. The meaning of "a single lifetime" is attaining non-arising. Now, briefly establishing non-arising, there are ten kinds: first, the non-arising of the intrinsic essence of the skandhas; second, the non-arising of the intrinsic essence of views; third, the non-arising of emptiness; fourth, the non-arising of nature; fifth, the non-arising of the unchanging of time and kalpas; sixth, the non-arising of nirvāṇa and saṃsāra; seventh, the non-arising of the silence of the sounds of expounding the Dharma; eighth, the non-arising of wisdom's discrimination; ninth, the non-arising of the intrinsic pervasiveness of supernormal powers; tenth, the non-arising of the body manifesting before all sentient beings throughout the past, present, future, and all kalpas ancient and modern without leaving the moment of a single kṣaṇa. Because of these ten kinds of meanings of non-arising, it is named "attaining bodhi in a single lifetime", which is the intent of this sūtra. Because the expedient practices of the ten practices, ten dedications of merit, ten grounds, and eleventh ground are used to nourish the Buddha fruit of initial aspiration, cutting off expectations of before and after, and because provisions and the Buddha fruit are simultaneous and mutually serve as essence and function to nourish each other, it is called "awakening and practice mutually adorning each other". This sūtra uses the fruit to nourish practice, causing practice to be free from attachment, and uses practice to nourish the fruit, so that the great function can be accomplished. As when the three vehicles speak of bodhisattvas of mind-made bodies who have not yet mounted the Buddha's vehicle of all-knowledge, they relegate the Buddha fruit to after the eleventh ground, at the end of three asaṃkhyeya kalpas. That is, the three stages of worthies before the grounds serve as the provisions, the ten grounds serve as the path of seeing, and the Buddha fruit is after the eleventh ground at the end of three asaṃkhyeya kalpas. How this teaching and the characteristics of practice in the five stages of the three vehicles are entirely reversed and different in their practice characteristics will be explained further below.