新華嚴經論 37.5

37.5

In the first [part], directly entering the Dharma-gate of the present stage, from "At that time, Sudhana..." down to "I only know this practice of the banner of great compassion; if there are any who see me, hear me, live together with me, or remember me, none are ever in vain," within this passage there are five divisions: first, being mindful of the kalyāṇamitra's teaching and contemplating advancement; second, gradually journeying to reach that city; third, seeing the ship captain staying on the seashore outside the city gate; fourth, paying homage with joined palms and declaring what he seeks; fifth, the ship captain imparting to Sudhana the Dharma-gate of his own practice. Explaining the meaning following the text: seeing the ship captain staying on the seashore outside the city gate, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of merchants and other multitudes, has two meanings: first, such an activity truly exists, guiding merchants entering the sea and treasure-seekers, for the sea is perilous, and without noble wisdom one cannot know it. Second, it expresses the Dharma: having attained the true gate oneself, emerging from entanglements and parting from suffering, through one's vows and practices one forms the ocean of great compassion, constantly overlooking the shore of the ocean of birth-and-death to guide and receive sentient beings. The hundreds of thousands of merchants represent the full perfection of the myriad practices within the morality pāramitā. The immeasurable great multitude represents the practice being everywhere pervasive, fulfilling all practices. The sūtra says, "The cause of going to the great jewel-island of omniscience, bringing to accomplishment the indestructible cause of the Mahāyāna": 'mahā' means great, and 'yāna' means vehicle; the teaching upon which one mounts is collectively called the Great Vehicle teaching. Far removed from the two vehicles' fear of birth-and-death, abiding in the tranquil samādhi and turning back—this praises Sudhana's practice, showing that by means of tranquil samādhi he abides in birth-and-death, turning back to benefit sentient beings without departing. [The sūtra says:] "Good son! I know in this ocean all jewel-islands, all jewel-places, all jewel-categories, all jewel-species, and all jewel-vessels." Such jewels are all worldly phenomena known by noble wisdom. As for expressing the Dharma: "I know all jewel-islands in the ocean" explains arriving at the island of omniscience. "All jewel-places" means being skilled at distinguishing the sharp and dull faculties of the worthy and able. "All jewel-categories" means being skilled at knowing the categories of shared practices and distinctive practices. "All jewel-species" means being skilled at knowing the distinct lineages of the Great and Lesser Vehicles. "I know all jewel-vessels" means knowing the capacities of sentient beings' large and small faculties, and what Dharma they can be given to bring them to accomplishment. "All jewel-uses" means responding to faculties and giving the Dharma, enabling them to exercise their function. "All jewel-realms" means the realms of the Three Vehicles and the Three Jewels. "All jewel-radiance" means the large and small radiances of wisdom of the Three Vehicles and the One Vehicle. "I know the purification of all jewels" refers to the expedients of the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment, the ten pāramitās, and the contemplations of the fivefold stilling of the mind. As for the expedient of purifying the jewel of omniscience, "boring into all jewels" refers to the two gates of śamatha and vipaśyanā; "producing all jewels" means being skilled at causing the jewel of wisdom to appear according to faculties and instructions; "making all jewels" means arising discriminating wisdom from signless wisdom, and through the wind of great vows stirring up the cloud of great benevolence to rain down all jewel-rains, transforming all sentient beings, harmonising mind and object so that they are without reliance, so that they can naturally manifest all jewels of omniscience. "Perilous places of all dragon palaces": pure-land bodhisattvas are like dragons, possessing partial benevolence and compassion, wandering in the air with supernatural feet and partial mastery. Yakṣas are a metaphor for śrāvakas being able to destroy the three poisons and also attaining supernormal powers. "The perilous places of rākṣasas' harm" is a metaphor for pratyekabuddhas dwelling in the ocean of nirvāṇa, because they can harm ignorance and cause all the Buddha-seeds of omniscience not to manifest. Such perils as these are all shared with them in birth-and-death through the vow-power of dedication of merit. Not destroying ignorance and the twelve links of becoming, penetrating ignorance to accomplish manifold wisdoms, dwelling in the gate of sovereignty of dependent origination in the dharmadhātu—this is termed completely evading and avoiding those perils. "Also skilled in distinguishing the depth of whirlpools" refers to the depth of the karma of craving, grasping, and becoming. "The distance of billows" refers to the greater or lesser extent of sensory cognition, thinking, and mental clinging. "The good and bad colours of water" refers to the good and bad in the mind of craving. "Also skilled in distinguishing the movements, degrees, and calculations of the sun, moon, and stars, and the expansion and contraction of day and night, dawn and dusk, sundials and waterclocks": in understanding worldly affairs, he completely knows the mysterious signs of yin and yang, the degrees of the five planets' courses, the times winds arise, and the expansion and contraction of the waterclock across the four seasons. In expressing the Dharma, this explains the cultivation and progress through the three stages, as well as the practice gates of the distinct teachings of the Three Vehicles, completely knowing the rules of shifting according to practices and faculties, the methods and times of maturity, the days, months, years, and kalpas traversed, and their extent. "The strength and fragility of the ship's iron and wood, the stiffness and smoothness of the mechanisms, the volume of water, and the favorability or adversity of the wind—all such signs of safety and peril are completely understood": he truly knows these matters. In expressing the Dharma, this explains being skilled at knowing whether those of the Three Vehicles who have turned their minds are capable of entering birth-and-death or incapable of entering birth-and-death, and whether the grades of their faculties are mature or not yet mature. In the One Vehicle, when a bodhisattva reaches the sixth abode and sixth ground, dwelling in birth-and-death, they attain the mind that departs from birth-and-death and the wisdom-mind of the three emptinesses, with the quiescent wisdom of the three emptinesses manifesting before them. Bodhisattvas of the seventh abode and seventh ground, while departing from birth-and-death, constantly dwell in birth-and-death. At the eighth abode and eighth ground, attaining the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas manifests before them, and the bodhisattva's effortless wisdom manifests before them, spontaneously benefiting sentient beings. At the ninth abode and ninth ground, they train in the Buddha's ten powers and four fearlessnesses. At the tenth abode and tenth ground, they are fully on par with the Tathāgata's supramundane wisdom and knowledge-and-vision of liberation, abiding in the stage of the Buddha's consecration. Only at the eleventh ground do they learn Samantabhadra's wonderful supernormal practices, which conclude only with the "Chapter on Samantabhadra's Practices". In the "Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata", the three dharmas of the Buddha-fruit, Mañjuśrī, and Samantabhadra—the dharmakāya, fundamental wisdom, and discriminating wisdom—only then do principle and wisdom, great benevolence and compassion, fulfill their prior vows and achieve complete fruition according to their aspirations. Just as in the Three Vehicles teaching there is post-attainment wisdom that uses Samantabhadra's practices to edify sentient beings, the teaching in this One Vehicle speaks of these as if they were before and after, yet such advancement does not depart from the span of a single kṣaṇa. In the Three Vehicles, cause comes before and effect comes after, the path taking three asaṃkhyeya kalpas to complete; in the One Vehicle, seeing the path is in the abode of the first generating of the aspiration, while the practices of application and the causal practice are in the ten practices, the ten dedications of merit, the ten grounds, and the eleventh ground. Thus, he completely knows the safety, peril, stiffness, and smoothness of the ship's iron and wood, even down to knowing whether faculties are slow or fast, stopping where one should stop. Within the Three Vehicles and the human and heavenly dharmas, down to the contemplations of the fivefold stilling of the mind, if faculties are mature, one should proceed where one should proceed, enabling them to advance into the One Vehicle Dharma, because the twelve links of the nature of birth-and-death are taken directly as the grand wisdom-function of Dharma activities. Such is the general meaning below. [The sūtra says:] "Good son! I take a good ship to transport the merchant hosts to the peaceful path, and lead them to the jewel-island, giving them precious jewels to make them all fully satisfied, and then guide them back to Jambudvīpa": this is the phenomenon. In expressing the Dharma, this explains that from the abode of the first generating of the aspiration one attains the Buddha's fundamental wisdom, and from this point onward through the subsequent stages, one expounds the wondrous Dharma to them, until at the tenth ground the precious jewels of omniscience are complete, and at the eleventh ground one must bring them back to their original, former dwelling within the ocean of birth-and-death, widely benefiting inexhaustible sentient beings with these attained precious jewels of omniscience. This is spoken in terms of cultivation and advancement to make it easy to understand, yet without departing from the ocean of birth-and-death one becomes the great jewel-island. The rest is fully detailed in the text itself. These are all explained in terms of phenomena, relying on phenomena to express the Dharma, in order to make sentient beings easily understand. This is the kalyāṇamitra of the second, indestructible dedication of merit, the ship captain, who says: "I take a great ship and travel back and forth like this without letting a single one be damaged; if any sentient beings see my body and hear my Dharma, I cause them never to fear the ocean of birth-and-death, and they will certainly enter the ocean of omniscience." This is the meaning of indestructible dedication, taking the morality pāramitā as primary and the other nine as accompaniments. In terms of wisdom, it applies across all stages; in terms of stages, it accomplishes the morality of great compassion, because the ship captain in the ocean represents travelling back and forth without ever departing from the ocean of birth-and-death. From accomplishing the practice of the banner of great compassion downward, it recommends his virtues and directs advancement.