新華嚴經論 3

English (machine translation) 3

Language: English

Second, explaining the classification of the teachings according to doctrinal tenets: when the Great Awakened One emerges, He acts freely in accord with true wisdom; the dharmakāya has no boundary, taking all sorts of beings as having the same body. Appearing in forms according to the vessels [of beings] and dispensing teachings in response to their capacities, [He is] like an echo in an empty valley which sounds upon being struck. An echo in a valley has no mind and no fixed location; it simply responds everywhere according to conditions. The Tathāgata's establishing of teachings is likewise: matching their capacities and conditions, [beings] obtain the Dharma of their own minds, and He brings them to maturity as they increase and expand. There are also no permanent tenets by which He establishes teachings; He dispenses medicine in response to illness, and once the illness is cured, the medicine is discarded. Within a single thought, He rains down immeasurable Dharmas, matching and pervading the dharmadhātu, manifesting physical bodies in response. Since the Dharma is inexhaustible, the doctrinal teachings are infinite; without anterior or posterior limits, they universally provide for all faculties. It is only sentient beings who distinguish before and after for themselves. Moreover, the teaching of Vairocana has no beginning and no end; matching the nature, it has no fixed direction and is without interruption or cessation. According to their kinds of faculties, [beings] see for themselves entering the womb and leaving home, teaching the practices of beginning and end, and entering into quiescent nirvāṇa; but in truth the Tathāgata was never like this from the beginning. Even the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says, "Since I attained buddhahood, immeasurable asaṃkhyeya kalpas have passed." Because of the perfect wisdom of the nature-ocean, a single thought is itself immeasurable kalpas. In such perfect wisdom, how could there be before and after? This sūtra says: "Entering the samādhi of the limit of a kṣaṇa, He manifests the initial birth and nirvāṇa." Moreover, as in the sūtra, the son of heaven in Tuṣita underwent three births and the ten grounds; in his second birth he still came from the evil destinies, and upon receiving the illumination of light on his body, he was born up into Tuṣita heaven, attained the Defilement-Free Samādhi, and immediately saw the Tathāgata abiding on the diamond-jeweled ground transforming great bodhisattvas, while in Jambudvīpa He was just entering His mother's womb. Furthermore, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: "When sentient beings see the kalpa end and it is consumed by a great fire, this land of mine is tranquil." How could there be any distinction of earlier and later teachings? They merely accord with a single period, being both identical and different. Drawing upon the teachings established by ten masters of former virtuous ones as a standard, the rest may be inferred.

3.3

First: Bodhiruci of the Later Wei established the teaching of one sound.

3.4

Second: Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha of the Chen dynasty established two teachings.

3.5

Third: Vinaya Master Guangtong of the Later Wei established three teachings.

3.6

Fourth: Dharma Master Dayan of the Qi dynasty established four teachings.

3.7

Fifth: Dharma Master Hushen established five teachings.

3.8

Sixth: Dhyāna Master Si of Nanyue, Zhizhe, and others of the Chen dynasty established four teachings.

3.9

Seventh: Dharma Master Wonhyo of the kingdom of Silla, in composing a commentary on this sūtra, also established four teachings.

3.10

Eighth: Dharma Master Jizang of the Tang dynasty established three teachings.

3.11

Ninth: Dharma Master Yun of Guangzhai Monastery of the Liang dynasty established four teachings.

3.12

Tenth: Dharma Master Yin of Jiangnan of the Tang dynasty established two teachings.

3.13

First, as for Bodhiruci of the Later Wei establishing the teaching of one sound: it means that all sacred teachings are solely the Tathāgata's single perfect-sound teaching, yet because they accord with differences in faculties, there are various distinctions, as in the sūtra's "moistened by a single rain" and so forth. A sūtra says: "The Buddha expounds the Dharma with a single sound, and sentient beings each obtain understanding according to their kind."

3.14

Second, as for Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha of the Chen dynasty establishing two teachings: they are, first, the gradual, and second, the sudden. With regard to gradual-awakening bodhisattvas, where the great arises from the small, the teaching established possesses the three vehicles and is named the gradual, namely sūtras such as the Mahāparinirvāṇa. If with regard to direct-proceeding, sudden capacities, where the great does not arise from the small, the teaching established is solely the Bodhisattva Vehicle, hence it is named sudden, which is the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra. Dharma Master Dayuan also shared this view.

3.15

Third, as for Vinaya Master Guangtong of the Later Wei, inheriting the tradition of Tripiṭaka Master Buddhasānta, establishing three teachings: first, gradual; second, sudden; third, perfect. Master Guang's explanation was: first, for those whose faculties are not yet mature, He first speaks of impermanence and only later speaks of permanence, first speaks of emptiness and later speaks of non-emptiness, and so on; being sequential like this, it is called the gradual teaching. Second, for those whose faculties are mature, within a single phenomenon He fully expounds all phenomena, namely fully speaking of the teachings of permanence and impermanence, emptiness and non-emptiness, and so forth, with no further reliance on stages; hence it is called sudden. Third, for persons of superior attainment who partially accord with the Buddha's realm, He speaks of the Tathāgata's ultimate fruit-virtues of unimpeded liberation, the perfectly ultimate, esoteric, and sovereign Dharma gate; hence it is called the perfect teaching. Above the previous two teachings, they are divided into three teachings.

3.16

Fourth, as for Dharma Master Dayan of the Qi dynasty establishing four teachings: first, the teaching of causes and conditions, referring to the Hīnayāna Sarvāstivāda and other schools; second, the teaching of provisional names, referring to the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra, Sautrāntika, and others; third, the teaching of untruth, referring to the Prajñā expounding the principle of identity with emptiness, clarifying that all things are unreal, and so forth; fourth, the true tenet, referring to the true principle of the dharmadhātu, Buddha-nature, and so forth in the Buddhāvataṃsaka and Mahāparinirvāṇa.

3.17

Fifth, as for Dharma Master Hushen establishing five teachings: within the previous four teachings, he took tathatā and Buddha-nature as the true teaching, which is the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra; fifth is the dharmadhātu teaching, which is the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra, clarifying the gate of the sovereign and unimpeded dharmadhātu.

3.18

Sixth, as for Dhyāna Master Si of Nanyue, Dhyāna Master Zhizhe, and others of the Chen dynasty establishing four teachings: first is the Tripiṭaka teaching, also called the Hīnayāna teaching, as the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: "Nor does he associate closely with scholars who are attached to the Hīnayāna Tripiṭaka," and in the *Upadeśa, the Hīnayāna is the Tripiṭaka while the Mahāyāna is the Mahāyāna basket; second is called the common teaching, also called the gradual teaching, referring to Mahāyāna sūtras commonly expounding the three vehicles and commonly providing for the three faculties, and also as in the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, where the ground of dry wisdom and so forth are common to the three vehicles; third is called the distinct teaching, also called the sudden teaching, referring to suddenly expounding the principles and Dharma gates spoken in Mahāyāna sūtras that are not shared with the Hīnayāna; fourth is called the perfect teaching, also called the esoteric teaching, expounding the sovereign, complete, and consummate dharmadhātu, the unimpeded Dharma gate of one-is-all and all-is-one, which is the Buddhāvataṃsaka, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, and the like.

3.19

Seventh, as for Dharma Master Wonhyo of Silla in Haedong under the Tang dynasty, who composed a commentary on this sūtra and also established four teachings: first, the distinct teaching of the three vehicles, referring to teachings such as the four truths and the Pratītyasamutpāda Sūtra; second, the common teaching of the three vehicles, referring to sūtras such as the Prajñā and Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra; third, the partial teaching of the One Vehicle, as in the Yingluo jing, the Brahmajāla Sūtra, and the like; fourth, the complete teaching of the One Vehicle, referring to teachings such as the Samantabhadra teaching of the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra. The explanations of these four distinctions are as in his commentary.

3.20

Eighth, as for Dharma Master Jizang of the Tang dynasty establishing three teachings: they refer to the three wheels of Dharma. First, the root wheel of Dharma, which is the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra, expounded at the very beginning; second, the branch wheel of Dharma, which is the three vehicles and so forth, expounded subsequently; third, the wheel of Dharma that gathers the branches back to the root, which is the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, expounding after forty years the teaching of turning back the three to enter the one.

3.21

Ninth, as for Dharma Master Yun of Guangzhai Monastery of the Liang dynasty establishing four teachings: it refers to how in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra the three carts at the gate are the three vehicles, and the great white-ox cart conferred at the crossroads is the fourth vehicle, because the ox-cart at the gate was not obtained, just like the goat and deer carts. If this were not so, when the elder enticed his sons inside the house, saying that these three carts were outside the gate, the sons should have obtained the carts upon leaving the house. Why then, having exited, did they seek the carts originally indicated and fail to obtain them, so that they sought again afterward? Thus we know that it was provisional, the same as the goat and deer [carts], being an expedient expounding as the provisional Mahāyāna teaching. The full explanation is as in his commentary on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka.

3.22

Tenth, as for Dharma Master Yin of Jiangnan of the Tang dynasty establishing two teachings: first, the sūtras of Śākyamuni, named the circuitous teaching, because they were expounded according to the capacities and conforming to assumptions; second, the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra, the equal teaching of the ten bodies of Rocana. That Dharma master established two teachings, which briefly have four distinctions: first, difference in lord, meaning the former was spoken by Śākyamuni's nirmāṇakāya, while this was spoken by Rocana's ten bodies; second, difference in place, meaning the former was spoken under a wooden tree upon a grass seat in the sahā world, while this was spoken under a jeweled tree upon a golden seat in the Lotus Store World; third, difference in assembly, meaning the former was spoken to śrāvakas and bodhisattvas, while this was spoken exclusively to bodhisattvas of the ultimate stage together; fourth, difference in preaching, meaning the former was merely expounded in a single direction, while this must be expounded simultaneously in the ten directions, as expounded in the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra.

3.23

The explanations of the ten masters above are all based on what was collected by Master Zang of the present Tang dynasty. Their similarities and differences each constitute a school, and all of them were the outstanding talents of their age, their wisdom surpassing all sorts of people. All were Dharma generals who commanded the worthy and spiritual, bright lamps that unveiled the Buddha-sun. One cannot apply praise or blame to their names; one can only revere their lofty intentions. Consider how the two virtuous ones, Si and Zhi, had already ascended to the inner hall; Master Yun expounded the Dharma beneath the Flower Rain Pavilion, awakened to the Vulture Peak that very evening, his Dharma eye shining ever brighter; ascending to the fruit stage today, their Dao equals that of remote antiquity. Consider when the Buddha spoke the words concerning the internal, external, and intermediate, and thereupon entered samādhi. Afterward, five hundred arhats each understood these words; after the Buddha emerged from samādhi, they asked the World-Honoured One together, "Who accords with the Buddha's intention?" The Buddha said: "None accord with my intention." The men asked the Buddha: "Since none accord with the Buddha's intention, will there not be fault?" The Buddha said: "Although not my intention, each conforms to correct principle and can serve as sacred teaching; there is merit and no fault." How much more so the expositions of these virtuous masters, which each possess canonical authority.

3.24

Now, Master Zang of the present Tang dynasty, who inherited the tradition as a disciple of Master Yan, established teachings that possess deep principle, and their import may also be related: first, the Hīnayāna teaching; second, the initial teaching of the Mahāyāna; third, the final teaching; fourth, the sudden teaching; fifth, the perfect teaching. First, the Hīnayāna is understandable. Second, regarding the initial teaching: in the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, the third-period teaching was established, which equally allowed that those of determined nature in the two vehicles both do not become buddhas; thus now they are gathered together into one teaching. This explanation does not exhaust the principles of the Mahāyāna Dharma, and is therefore established as the initial teaching of the Mahāyāna. Third, the final teaching: those of determined nature in the two vehicles without Buddha-nature, and even icchantikas, will all attain buddhahood; only this exhausts the ultimate exposition of the Mahāyāna, and is therefore established as the final teaching. However, the above initial and final teachings are both cultivated and achieved sequentially according to stages, and are both gradual teachings. Fourth, the sudden teaching: simply when not a single thought arises, that is called Buddha, not spoken sequentially according to stages; hence it is established as the sudden teaching. As the Viśeṣacintibrahmaparipṛcchā Sūtra says: "Those who attain the correct nature of all phenomena do not proceed from ground to ground." The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says: "The first ground is itself the eighth ground, and so on up to having nothing; what sequence could there be?" Moreover, regarding the ten grounds in the Chapter on the Ten Grounds below, they are like the tracks of a bird in the sky; how could there be any distinction? This is fully as spoken in the Sarvadharmāpravṛtti-nirdeśa and other sūtras. Fifth, the perfect teaching: because attaining one stage is itself all stages, and all stages are themselves one stage. The fulfillment of mind in the ten faiths encompasses the six stages and perfects right awakening, and so on; relying on Samantabhadra's dharmadhātu, Indra's net layer upon layer, host and companion fully complete, it is therefore called the perfect teaching. This is as spoken in this sūtra and others. Master Zang harmonized and integrated [the teachings] in this manner.

3.25

Furthermore, Śīlabhadra of the Western Regions—tracing his lineage remotely from Maitreya and Asaṅga, and proximately from Dharmapāla and Nanda—established three kinds of teachings based on the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, and other works. When the Buddha first taught the Hīnayāna Dharma in the Deer Park, although he explained the emptiness of the person, he had not yet explained the true principle of the emptiness of phenomena; since it was not of definitive meaning, this refers to texts such as the four Āgamas. In the second period, although he explained the emptiness of all phenomena based on the conceptually imagined nature (parikalpitasvabhāva), he had not yet explained the Consciousness-Only principle of the dependent (paratantra) and fully perfected (pariniṣpanna) natures; therefore, this too was not of definitive meaning, referring to the teachings of the various Prajñāpāramitā texts. In the third period, only then did he fully explain the two truths of Consciousness-Only, such as the three natures and three non-natures, in accordance with the correct principle of the Mahāyāna, which was truly of definitive meaning; this refers to the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and so forth. Moreover, each of these three stages is explained by three criteria: first, the capacities embraced; second, the teachings expounded; third, the principles revealed. The first exclusively embraces the śrāvakas, exclusively expounds the Hīnayāna, and exclusively reveals the emptiness of the person. The second exclusively embraces the bodhisattvas, exclusively expounds the Mahāyāna, and exclusively reveals the twofold emptiness. The third universally embraces all capacities, comprehensively expounds all vehicles, and fully reveals both emptiness and existence. Therefore, the first two each have deficiencies in the capacities embraced and the principles revealed, and hence are not of definitive meaning. The latter leaves no capacity unembraced, lacks no teaching, and leaves no principle unperfected, and hence is of definitive meaning.

3.26

Second, the Dharma master Jñānaprabha—tracing his lineage remotely from Mañjuśrī and Nāgārjuna, and proximately receiving it from Āryadeva and Bhāviveka—also established three teachings based on the Prajñāpāramitā and other sūtras, and the Madhyamaka and other treatises. That is to say, when the Buddha was first in the Deer Park, he spoke the Hīnayāna Dharma for those of inferior faculties, clarifying that mind and objects both exist. In the second period, for those of intermediate faculties, he taught the Mahāyāna of phenomenal characteristics (dharmalakṣaṇa), clarifying the Consciousness-Only principle that objects are empty while mind exists. Because their faculties were still inferior, they were unable to enter fully into the equal, true emptiness; hence he gave this teaching. In the third period, for those of superior faculties, he taught the Mahāyāna of signlessness, discerning that mind and objects are both empty and of one equal taste, which is truly of definitive meaning. Moreover, these three stages are also explained by three criteria. First, regarding the capacities embraced: the first period embraces only the capacities of the two vehicles; the second comprehensively embraces both the greater and lesser capacities, because this school maintains that a portion of the two vehicles never proceeds toward the fruit of buddhahood; the third exclusively embraces bodhisattvas, spanning both gradual and sudden, because all those of the two vehicles proceed toward the fruit of buddhahood, with no other path remaining. Second, regarding the teachings: the first expounds the Hīnayāna; the second expounds what is common to the three [vehicles]; and the last expounds exclusively the One Vehicle. Third, regarding the principles revealed: the first refutes the innate nature of external paths and therefore teaches that conditioned phenomena are definitely real existents; the second gradually refutes the two vehicles' attachment to conditioned phenomena as real existents, and therefore teaches that these conditioned phenomena are provisional existents—retaining provisional existence to guide them because they fear this true emptiness; in the final period, only then, with reference to the ultimate Mahāyāna, does he teach that these conditioned phenomena are identical to emptiness of nature, of one equal taste, without obstructing the two truths. Therefore, the Mahāyāna of phenomenal characteristics, having something to attain and so forth, belongs to the second teaching and is not truly of definitive meaning. The sequence of these three teachings is as master Jñānaprabha explained.

3.27

These were the formulations of the teachings by the Dharma generals of the Western Regions; each took a particular approach, yet all interpreted the sacred teachings. Within that realm they serve as models; contemplating their lofty purposes, one should not lightly sit in judgment. Yet I, Tongxuan, having personally examined the sacred teachings, view heaven through a reed to express my own thoughts, presenting them for future sages. In accordance with the purport of the teachings, I provisionally establish ten kinds of teachings, comprehensively encompassing the intention of the teaching throughout the rising and setting of the Buddha-sun. What are the ten?

3.28

The teaching of the first period, which expounds the Hīnayāna of pure existence.

3.29

The teaching of the second period, which expounds the Prajñāpāramitā, refuting existence and clarifying emptiness.

3.30

The teaching of the third period, which expounds the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra to harmonize emptiness and existence, clarifying neither emptiness nor existence.

3.31

The teaching of the fourth period, which expounds the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, clarifying that the provisional is identical to the true.

3.32

The teaching of the fifth period, which expounds the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra, clarifying that the mundane is ever the true.

3.33

The teaching of the sixth period, which expounds the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, clarifying the guiding of the provisional back to the ultimate and giving rise to faith.

3.34

The teaching of the seventh period, which expounds the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, causing all three vehicles to relinquish the provisional and turn toward the ultimate.

3.35

The teaching of the eighth period, which expounds the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, completely embracing the ten time periods within a single kṣaṇa, harmonious and unobstructed, with neither beginning nor end, comprehensively encompassing anterior and posterior.

3.36

The ninth: the teaching shared and unshared.

3.37

The tenth: the teaching unshared and shared.

3.38

Regarding the teaching of the first period, which expounds the Hīnayāna of pure existence: because ordinary beings cling to worldly phenomena as truly existent, they perform various unwholesome deeds following after sensory forms; and because of these unwholesome deeds, they fall into the painful destinies. The Buddha reined in their minds with phenomena of existence, guarding them with precepts to restrain various unwholesome deeds; hence it is called the teaching of pure existence. Within the Hīnayāna, he likewise taught the unmanifest nature precepts and so forth, which broadly apply to its general framework, but their practical application differs according to their faculties. As with the two vehicles, so too with bodhisattvas. The sūtra says: 'If a person receives the Buddha's precepts, they immediately enter the stage of all buddhas.' This is also discussed in terms of nature precepts. It also says: 'Thus in thousands of millions [of worlds], each receiving atom-like multitudes, they all come to my place'; here, he initially guides them with the saṃbhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya, and subsequently leads them to return to the dharmakāya and true saṃbhogakāya. For those of superior faculties, the dharmakāya, phenomena, and principle are simultaneously the foundational support.

3.39

Regarding the teaching of the second period, which expounds the Prajñāpāramitā to refute existence and clarify emptiness: having already taught Hīnayāna real existence to establish rules that restrain body, speech, and mind so that they could abide in wholesome dharmas, he then taught contemplations such as the emptiness of the person, and only then taught the doctrine of the emptiness of phenomena to break their attachments and gradually guide them toward the dharmakāya.

3.40

Regarding the teaching of the third period, which expounds the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra to harmonize emptiness and existence: in order to harmonize the preceding two teachings of emptiness and existence so that those with extreme views would not stagnate in the two gates of emptiness and existence, he established the teaching of neither emptiness nor existence. Because persons of the two vehicles extinguish consciousness to realize quiescent cessation and abide in quiescence devoid of knowing, in order to redirect them, he provisionally spoke of the ninth, ādānavijñāna, as the purely undefiled consciousness. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses constantly rely on that ninth consciousness as their support. Ordinary, foolish beings fail to understand this and falsely grasp it as a self. Just as a torrential waterflow is not separate from the substance of water, and the various waves and ripples rely on water, so the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses constantly rely on the pure consciousness. Thus he gradually turned the minds of the two vehicles, enabling them to comprehend consciousness and accomplish wisdom. Why did he establish the ninth consciousness as the pure consciousness? Because persons of the two vehicles have long harbored dread toward the karmic seeds of birth-and-death in the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses. Fearing that it would be difficult for them to believe, he expediently posited a pure consciousness apart from the seeds of birth-and-death to guide them gradually, wishing to have them retain afflictions without extinguishing them, so that compassion and wisdom could gradually arise. The Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra says: 'Thus the bodhisattva, although abiding by phenomena, relies on wisdom as support, gradually causing those holding views of emptiness to comprehend consciousness and accomplish wisdom.'

3.41

Regarding the teaching of the fourth period, which expounds the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra to clarify that the provisional is identical to the true: as in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, directly for those of Mahāyāna capacity who are capable of it, he suddenly taught that the eighth consciousness of karmic seeds is named the tathāgatagarbha-consciousness. It also says: 'That which grasps characteristics is consciousness; that which does not grasp characteristics is wisdom.' The sūtra also says: 'The ocean of the storehouse-consciousness is constantly abiding, stirred by the winds of external realms.' This sūtra directly illuminates the gate of wisdom right within the karmic seeds of ignorance, clarifying that illumination and ignorance are non-dual in their nature. The Awakening of Faith also shares this explanation. Although this teaching explains that the karmic seeds of ignorance accomplish wisdom, it still aspires to transcend the mundane, not yet displaying co-existence within entanglement.

3.42

Regarding the teaching of the fifth period, which expounds the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra to clarify that the mundane is ever the true: because in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra, the śrāvakas of the two vehicles and the bodhisattvas of the three vehicles are not regarded as those who understand the Dharma. For this reason, the ten great disciples stopped their speech in Vaiśālī, and Maitreya and Prabhāvyūha silenced their fragrant words on that evening of the Dharma. This sūtra refutes the notion in the preceding four teachings where bodhisattvas and śrāvakas have not yet eliminated [the duality of] defilement and purity, and constantly delight in transcending the mundane. Using Vimalakīrti's dwelling as a lay householder, it clarifies that the mundane is ever the true, breaking their notion of purity and habitual thoughts of defilement and purity; therefore, it states that 'ignorance and craving are the seeds of the Tathāgata,' and so forth, causing the assemblies of the three vehicles to lose the mind that clings to characteristics of purity, so that transcending the mundane and entering entanglement are equal and unobstructed, only then clarifying true virtue. Because it possesses the ultimate doctrine, it also manifests the pure land of true fruition, like the land manifested when the Buddha touched the earth with his toe. Because the faculties of the three vehicles were inferior, they relied on the Buddha's supernatural powers; when their faith faltered, the land vanished, as it was not their own realization. The remaining purports have already been explained in the earlier section on classifying teachings and distinguishing tenets. Therefore, this Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra is called the teaching that the mundane is ever the true. Hence it takes Mañjuśrī as the dharmakāya and Vimalakīrti as the practice of entering entanglement—taking the dharmakāya as essence and the practice as function—causing essence and function to engage in dialogue with each other. For those of the three vehicles who delight in studying the empty principle of suchness, reviling the provisional to cultivate the true and accumulating practices over many lifetimes before attaining buddhahood, it causes them to return to the simultaneous coexistence of nature and characteristics, principle and phenomena, and cause and effect in the dharmadhātu. The convergences and divergences of this sūtra have already been explained in the earlier section on classifying teachings and distinguishing tenets.

3.43

Regarding the teaching of the sixth period, which expounds the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra to guide the provisional back to the ultimate: because the arhats follow emptiness and converge into quiescence, and the pratyekabuddhas understand that the twelve links of conditioned arising all lack intrinsic nature, and that the six sense-consciousnesses, name-and-form, mind and objects—these three things—are unarisen by intrinsic nature. Such two types of persons have both extinguished mind and consciousness, extinguished the karma of the three realms, and neither wisdom nor compassion arises. Furthermore, for those who analyze phenomena to clarify emptiness, use emptiness to break afflictions, delight in being born in a pure land, and the bodhisattvas who retain afflictions to foster rebirth, none of them understand that the ignorance and afflictions of all sentient beings all arise from the fundamental, naturally pure, universally luminous, centerless-and-boundless wisdom of all tathāgatas; they all harbor various heterodox views of pure lands and defiled lands, of one's own Buddha and other Buddhas, of delight and revulsion, which do not accord with the real obstruction. In order to guide these three types of faculties back to their fundamental wisdom, the sūtra uses the wondrous lotus flower to make them understand that the nature of ignorance and birth-and-death is fundamentally nothing other than wisdom, its essence being naturally free of defilement, with only delusion and awakening differing without having two distinct natures; it uses the lotus flower as an emblem to guide those three faculties back to the source. Therefore, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: 'The characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.' This is entirely as explained in the earlier section on classifying teachings and distinguishing tenets.

3.44

Regarding the teaching of the seventh period, which expounds the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra to cause all three vehicles to relinquish the provisional and turn toward the ultimate: because in the teachings of the other three vehicles, in order to reprove arrogance or address lack of faith, it was said that some sentient beings ultimately cannot attain buddhahood, so as to induce them to give rise to faith and advance in practice. In this sūtra, it is clarified that all sentient beings possess the buddha-nature, no different from the Buddha, but because they are obscured by ignorance, they do not see it. What preceded were the three provisional [teachings], and what comes at the end is the ultimate. In the three vehicles, cultivating provisional suchness and fulfilling the ultimate of three asaṃkhyeya kalpas in the teaching of emptiness is the initial gate to seeing the nature. In it, the dialogue between the Buddha and Bodhisattva Kāśyapa also harmonizes with the principle when he first attained perfect enlightenment and taught the Dharma-gate of the dharmadhātu for the great bodhisattvas. The further purports regarding convergences and divergences have already been explained in the earlier section on classifying teachings and distinguishing tenets. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra is the gate within the three vehicles of relinquishing the provisional to take up the ultimate, where characteristics are exhausted and nature is seen; the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra is the gate of relinquishing the provisional to take up the ultimate, of the dharmadhātu's pratītyasamutpāda, principle and phenomena, nature and characteristics. Both sūtras belong to the sixth-period teaching within the three vehicles; it is merely due to the chronological order of exposition within the gate of teaching phases that the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra is distinguished as the seventh-period teaching. However, its realm of wisdom knows no sequential order, nor distinction between past and present.

3.45

Eighth, the teaching expounding the Avataṃsaka Sūtra which at the limit of a kṣaṇa completely subsumes the three times and the ten times into identical, perfect fusion: As the sūtra states, 'Entering the samādhi of the limit of a kṣaṇa, descending in spirit, taking birth, fulfilling the eight phases of achieving the Way, and entering nirvāṇa, overall without shifting time.' This is because it relies on the principle-wisdom of original nature, where fundamentally there is no time; it is not provisionality relying on the origin, hence it is called 'entering.' It is not that within original dharma-nature there is entering and emerging from samādhi; these are expedient words applied in accordance with the rules of transformative teaching. One must not cling to his traces of transformation according to the words, causing all classes of beings to have nowhere to return. Therefore, wise persons must not follow those words. When it says the one person of the Buddha, the World-Honoured One, enters the samādhi of the limit of a kṣaṇa, the Buddhas, World-Honoured Ones, constantly in the wisdom-ocean of the dharmakāya, adapt to the sights of sentient beings through samādhi gates equal in number to sentient beings; fundamentally there is no emerging or entering. One should know the Tathāgata's marks of emerging and entering samādhi in this way. The doctrinal gate of this sūtra has neither beginning nor end; it is the perfect completeness of the nature and marks of the Buddha's true fruit-virtue of retribution. If one seeks its beginning and end, length and shortness, the path of beginning and end is severed. It embraces all teachings and all practices, all worldly realms, and all practices and understandings, fundamentally making them altogether the dharma-gate of a single time and a single limit, because fundamentally it is thus. It embraces those various times of the three times into the time of a single limit and a single kṣaṇa, just as many streams all return to the sea. Outside this dharma, giving rise to separate mental calculations is entirely provisional gates, not the ultimate exposition. In a dharma-gate such as this, the Buddha does not appear in the world, nor is there nirvāṇa, because it relies on the fundamental dharma and is not a teaching of sentiment. Because it relies on the fundamental dharma, there is no emerging or entering; relying on provisional learning, one speaks of appearing in the world and entering parinirvāṇa. From the initial generation of the mind at the head of the ten abodes, through the power of samādhi it suddenly seals the three realms: the three times are of a single limit, all dharmas of a single flavor, liberation and nirvāṇa of the flavor of constant quiescence, with no further beginning or end. Cause and effect are of a single limit, all natures are of a single nature, all wisdoms of a single wisdom, all marks of a single mark, all practices of a single practice; the three times are in a single thought-moment, a single thought-moment is in the three times, and so forth up to the ten times—such dharmas are unobstructed and sovereign. The dharma-gate of this sūtra has neither beginning nor end; it is called the constantly turning wheel of the Dharma. Therefore, the doctrinal gate of this sūtra is established relying on the origin to provide for those of great capacity; relying on the single limit of the origin, it establishes neither beginning nor end, because it is not an erroneous view. Entering one, one completely attains the rest, because the dharmadhātu is of a single limit, unlike provisional learners whose views are not yet exhausted. Entering the rest, one completely attains the one, because the essence of the dharmadhātu is unobstructed—like a round pearl having no fixed direction, like a bright mirror illuminating suddenly, like empty space without barrier, like an echo having no reliance, like a shadow presenting no obstruction, because they are born like phantom persons. This dharma-gate embraces beginning and end into a single limit, perfectly complete and unobstructed, without creation or destruction, without emerging or sinking, constantly turning the wheel of the Dharma. If a person thoroughly realizes this dharma-gate, the Buddha-wisdom, spontaneous wisdom, and unlearned wisdom become manifest before them; because this dharma has no emerging or sinking, one also is naturally able to attain it through the spontaneous wisdom that has no emerging or sinking, and it cannot be attained through emotional reckoning or calculation. The dharma-gates of all provisional teachings are entirely expounded within it at one time, because all provisional teachings do not go beyond the dharmadhātu's absence of the three times; each conforms to their own view, with immeasurable differences. This One Vehicle teaching was expounded when he first achieved right awakening; if according to sentiment, it was expounded when he first achieved buddhahood, but if according to wisdom, it is expounded without beginning or end.

3.46

Ninth, the shared and unshared teaching: When the various Mahāyāna sūtras are expounded, humans, devas, and the three vehicles hear them together, yet their benefits gained are distinct. Furthermore, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra states: 'On the tip of a single hair, and within a single speck of dust, Buddhas turn the wheel of the Dharma, and sentient beings understand differently.' The sūtra also states: 'A bodhisattva achieves equal, right awakening within the body of a tiny sentient being, and turns the wheel of the Dharma to deliver immeasurable sentient beings, yet that tiny sentient being neither knows nor perceives it.' This is to be constantly shared with sentient beings, and for the great and small vehicles to be together within the Buddha-ocean. Body and mind are fundamentally without distinction, yet seeing the Buddha or not seeing the Buddha, hearing the Dharma or not hearing the Dharma, the size of liberation and knowledge and vision, and suffering and pleasure are each different; therefore, it is called the shared and unshared teaching. Again, the sūtra states: 'Entering the samādhi of the limit of a kṣaṇa, he manifests descending in spirit from the Tuṣita heaven into the mother's womb, appearing, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and entering nirvāṇa.' This means that within that which has no time, sentient beings themselves obtain divisions of time, seeing beginning, middle, and end. Within the dharma of a single sound, they themselves obtain human and deva [states], the Small Vehicle, the Great Vehicle, and the Buddha Vehicle, and themselves obtain the fruits of the Way, each different. Seeing the Buddha abide for kalpas and receive a lifespan, long or short, each is distinct. Yet in reality the Tathāgata's nature is without fabrication, without birth and without death; but through the inherently pure wisdom of the unconditioned, stainless, pure white dharma-nature, which is fundamentally identical in essence with all sentient beings, he matches what sentient beings ought to hear without contravening their thoughts. Because the wisdom of dharma-nature is fundamentally without fabrication, through the sovereignty of the wisdom of dharma-nature it can match their thoughts, allowing no loss of time. In this way the Buddha is shared, the Dharma is shared, wisdom is shared, time is shared, the body is shared, the mind is shared, and the vehicle is shared; yet because knowledge, vision, and liberation are each unshared, it is called the shared and unshared teaching. It is also like the five hundred śrāvakas being together in the Avataṃsaka assembly yet being like the deaf and the blind—this is that matter.

3.47

Tenth, the unshared and shared teaching: As in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the bodhisattvas and Buddha-lands gathering like clouds from the ten directions differ and are distinct in the directions from which they come, yet what they together expound in one voice is entirely the same, and in hearing the Dharma and obtaining benefit they can be the same and can be distinct. Furthermore, within the assembly, the eight classes of devas and nāgas, humans, non-humans, and so forth are each distinct, yet together they obtain the hearing of the dharma-gate of Vairocana's fruit-virtues, sovereign in having both sameness and difference. The other three vehicles also have such an unshared and shared teaching; by analogy it can be known. These ten teachings are altogether the Tathāgata in the fundamental dharmadhātu, at the limit of a single kṣaṇa, at one time and with one voice, suddenly sealing [all] like an echo, according to sentient beings' own capacities and powers, which differ as gradual or sudden. Therefore, at present, based on the perfect number, they are briefly divided into ten kinds of doctrinal gates to reveal the differences in progressive cultivation, understanding, and practice. The ten-period doctrinal gates as above are altogether expounded at one time by the Tathāgata from the mindless wisdom-ocean of the three times. Due to the hearing by their faculties, the distinctions of great, small, and divisions of time arise from their own faculties.

3.48

Section three, clarifying the differences in doctrinal meanings: The Great Hero of the three realms accords with reality and is quiescent; body, mind, nature, and marks have no doing whatsoever. Yet through nature-origination great compassion accords with the identical essence of dharmas, arising from unconditioned wisdom and teachings according with conditions. Just as a single rain universally nourishes, letting growth be distinct, sometimes the names are identical but the meanings differ—namely, the ten grounds of the gradual teaching and the ten grounds of the perfect teaching, and so forth. Sometimes the words differ but the meanings are identical—the dharma-gates of the worlds of the ten directions are all the dharma-gate of the four truths. Sometimes principle and phenomena mutually diverge; sometimes essence and function thoroughly penetrate each other; sometimes they are initial, gradual, sudden, or perfect. The Dharma is not bestowed of itself; it is established as teachings according to capacities. If the capacity is weak, the dharma is inferior; if the vessel is broad, the Way is complete. Matching what is fitting for beings, great and small are seen according [to them]. Sometimes they have identical words but different understandings; sometimes they have different words and equal knowledge. According to what their class can bear, provisions are made to meet the time. Sometimes they delight in the carriages outside the gate, abandoning the vehicle that roams in the open ground. Now, roughly speaking of the topmost followers and the gradual assembly, I shall briefly set forth the distinctions of principles and meanings in ten dharmas, so that beginning learners will not be hindered from the ultimate by clinging to the provisional. The ten gates are:

3.49

First, the distinction of the teacher of the teaching as the Buddha-sun appears and arises; second, the distinction of manifesting marks by which light expresses the Dharma; third, the distinction of host and companion in what is explained in questions and answers; fourth, the distinction of the demonstrated fullness of cause and completeness of fruit; fifth, the distinction of the marks of practice carried out across the stages; sixth, the distinction of causing Sudhana again to verify the Dharma; seventh, the distinction of the arriving assemblies of bodhisattvas of the six stages; eighth, the distinction of principle and phenomena in the bestowed dharma-gates; ninth, the distinction of fruits obtained together with the three vehicles; tenth, the distinction of transmitting the Dharma treasury for circulation.

3.50

First, regarding the distinction of the teacher of the teaching as the Buddha-sun appears and arises: this teaching takes Vairocana as the teacher of the teaching. 'Vai' here means 'various'; 'rocana' here means 'universal illumination with light.' Also, 'vai' means 'universal,' illuminating the faculties of sentient beings with the various lights of great wisdom. This takes the compassion and wisdom of the dharmakāya as the name, unlike provisional teachings which take a clan name as the title. 'Muni' here means 'silent and quiescent'; it merely praises the essence of the Dharma as without exposition, and does not speak of compassion and wisdom. He has only the thirty-two marks and eighty minor characteristics, not fully possessing the ocean of boundless marks. Furthermore, he is one whose hair and beard are shaved, not a Buddha wearing a flower crown on his head. This is because he accords with the three vehicles leaving secular life, unlike this teaching where secular is immediately ultimate and there is no emerging or entering. As for Vairocana Tathāgata, generally speaking, with ninety-seven kinds of marks of a great person, the flower crown on his head is completely adorned and fine, thirty-two kinds of jewel kings transform into immeasurable jewels in various adornments, his hands wear bracelets, and his neck is strung with necklaces, as extensively expounded in the sūtra where his minor characteristics are unending.

3.51

Second, regarding the distinction of manifesting marks by which light expresses the Dharma: excluding the lights emitted from the ninety-seven kinds of marks in the 'Chapter on the Ocean of Marks of the Tathāgata's Ten Bodies,' and also excluding the lights emitted in the Yāma heaven and so forth, merely discussing directly the lights expressing the Dharma, there are ten from beginning to end. Each expresses the sequence of cause and effect, the stages of the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, ten grounds, and so forth. The marks of practice within them have no confusion, unlike other teachings where the transformation Buddha emits light: sometimes emitting a single light without having ten, sometimes emitting [light] entirely from the whole body without sequence, sometimes emitting fruit-light without cause, or emitting cause-light without fruit. For instance, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra directly emits the fruit-light of the curl of white hair between the eyebrows without having the cause-light of the stage of faith under the wheels of the feet. In the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the Buddha emits light under the wheels of the feet, and also emits light all at once from the whole body, universally embracing the causes and effects of the three vehicles at once. It emits light directly from below moving upward, thereby forming a gradual sequence. From the ordinary to the noble, accumulating cultivation through many kalpas, only after practices are fulfilled does one achieve the fruit-virtue. It is not like this sūtra's emitting of light: fulfilling the cause from the fruit, and fulfilling the fruit through the cause; cause and effect are one essence, without destroying progressive cultivation.

3.52

First, he initially emits ten kinds of light from between his teeth, adorning all bodhimaṇḍas of the dharmadhātu, so that upon first ascending to right awakening, he announces to the assemblies in the ten directions, causing them all to gather, as extensively clarified in the sūtra. This is the light that adorns and announces to the assemblies to gather like clouds.

3.53

Second, he emits the fruit-light between the eyebrows, entering into the wheels of the feet, fulfilling the cause by means of the fruit, as the beginning of giving rise to faith.

3.54

Third, again from beneath the wheels of the feet he emits the entered fruit-light, using it to illuminate the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom of the Golden World. That is still the fruit Buddha, and is also the fundamental essence of vajra-wisdom. Mañjuśrī is the mother from the initial mind up to the ultimate fulfillment of the fruit, through which the awakened fundamental dharmakāya becomes wisdom. In that the fruit-light between the eyebrows enters into the wheels of the feet, that is fulfilling the cause by means of the fruit. Again using the entered fruit-light from beneath the wheels of the feet to re-emerge and illuminate the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom of the Golden World, that is using the cause to fulfill the fruit. Using the fruit to fulfill the cause, suddenly demonstrating it by means of the fruit, serves to accomplish the gate of initial faith, whereupon through the ten 'Head' bodhisattvas such as Wisdom Head, the stage of faith is fulfilled. The marks of practice of that stage will be clarified extensively later.

3.55

Fourth, when the 'Chapter on the Ten Abodes' is expounded, ascending to the summit of Mount Sumeru, the Tathāgata emits light from the tips of his toes to clarify the beginning of setting out on foot and the start of seeing the Way; through the power of samādhi he abides at the summit of dharmas, entering true verification from the previous stage of faith. Mount Sumeru clarifies that because of stopping, wisdom becomes clear; to enter into the noble stages of the ten abodes, one definitely requires concentration to be able to have true wisdom shine clearly. Therefore, the bodhisattvas of the stage of the ten abodes all share 'Wisdom' as the final part of their names.

First 55 of 64 passages. Read on

Linked texts (1)

新華嚴經論 — Classical Chinese