新華嚴經論 40.3

40.3

First, regarding the Dharma gate of directly entering this stage, the text from "At that time, the youth Sudhana" onward is extensively divided into eleven sections: 1. From "At that time, the youth Sudhana" down to "obtained the wisdom observing the realm of the Buddha" consists of one and a half lines of the sūtra, explaining the section on Sudhana's superior advancement into the gate of the eleventh ground. 2. From "He had this thought" down to "having had this thought" consists of eleven and a half lines of the sūtra, explaining the section on Sudhana praising the sovereign essence and characteristics of Lady Māyā's body. 3. From "There was a city-guarding deity named Jewel Eye" down to "up to definitely attaining Buddhahood" consists of thirty-six lines of the sūtra, explaining the section where the city-guarding deity expounds for Sudhana the Dharma gate of governing the city of the mind. 4. From "At that time there were deities of the host of physical bodies" down to "because of seeing the appearance of the Buddhas in all lands" consists of fourteen and a half lines of the sūtra, explaining the section where the deities of the physical body praise Lady Māyā's body, and Lady Māyā emits light from her earrings that enters Sudhana's body. 5. From "At that time there was a rākṣasa demon king who guarded the bodhisattva's Dharma hall, named Good Eye" down to "these are the ten," explaining the section where the rākṣasa king speaks of the ten ways of drawing close to a kalyāṇamitra for Sudhana. 6. From "Son of the Buddha" down to "When this speech was uttered" consists of eleven lines of the sūtra, explaining the section where the rākṣasa king expounds the thirteen samādhis for Sudhana, causing Sudhana to constantly draw close to kalyāṇamitras. 7. From "The youth Sudhana gazed upward into the sky" down to "the Tathāgata's inconceivable, subtle and wondrous merit" consists of twenty-seven lines of the sūtra, explaining the section where Sudhana sees the rākṣasa king speak of the method of paying homage to the ten directions and seeking kalyāṇamitras, and further expound the method of contemplating body and mind as dream-like and illusion-like, whereupon he beholds Lady Māyā's lotus flower and the adornment of the seat and tower. The three hosts of deities above serve as the preliminary expedients for entering this eleventh ground. The expedients are three: first, skillfully guarding the city of the mind; second, skillfully knowing that the nature of sound pervades the ten directions; third, that the rākṣasa king is named 'Guardian of the Hall' means that through the thirteen samādhi gates and the contemplation of knowing body and mind to be like dreams and illusions, this signifies guarding the hall of the dharmadhātu. 'Rākṣasa king' is translated here as 'fearsome'. 'King' means sovereignty. This refers to observing and guarding the Dharma hall of body and mind through samādhi, so that deceitful, evil spirits are broken and scattered. Lady Māyā's earrings emitting light into Sudhana's body explains the samādhi of entering the light of teaching. The ear governs the sound of teaching. Relying on these three dharmas as the preliminary expedients for the eleventh ground, one can then genuinely enter the gate of the eleventh ground. 8. From "At that time, Sudhana, seeing such a seat" down to "because of having already accomplished the quiescent body" consists of thirty-one and a half lines of the sūtra, explaining the section where Sudhana sees Lady Māyā's illusion-like form body pervading before all sentient beings in the ten directions. 9. From "At that time, the youth Sudhana saw Lady Māyā" down to "how does one train in the bodhisattva practice and attain accomplishment?" consists of thirty-seven and a half lines of the sūtra, explaining the section where Māyā manifests a body surpassing all physical forms that pervades the oceans of lands, and Sudhana also manifests an equal number of bodies before her, joining his palms, paying homage, requesting what he seeks, and obtaining entry into the gates of various samādhis. 10. From "She replied: 'Son of the Buddha, I have already accomplished the bodhisattva's liberation of the illusory birth of the great vow wisdom'" down to "if there are those who cultivate the practices and vows of Samantabhadra to transform all sentient beings, I manifest my body to be their mother in all cases" consists of one hundred and seven lines of the sūtra, generally explaining the Dharma gate that Māyā answered to Sudhana's question. 11. From "At that time, the youth Sudhana addressed Lady Māyā: 'How long has it been since you realized this liberation?'" down to "I only know this liberation gate of the bodhisattva's illusory birth through great vow wisdom" consists of twenty-seven lines of the sūtra, explaining the section answering Sudhana's question about how long ago she attained this liberation. In explaining the meaning following the text: Lady Māyā, in terms of general characteristics, is accomplished through three dharmas, while in terms of particular characteristics, she derives her name from the gates of practice equal in number to the Buddhas and sentient beings. The three dharmas are: 1. Taking the wondrous principle of the self-nature pure dharmakāya, which is equal and formless across all Buddhas and sentient beings, as the essence; 2. Taking the universally luminous, uncreated, non-abiding wisdom within the equal principle of all Buddhas and sentient beings as the essence; 3. Taking the uncreated nature within the uncreated principle and wisdom equal to all Buddhas and sentient beings—nurturing all sentient beings, benefiting them with great kindness and great compassion, originally of one essence with all sentient beings, where the distinction of self and other has vanished, constantly providing benefit without seeking recompense—as the essence. This is natural and inherent, possessed in common by sentient beings; if one acts in reliance on these three dharmas, one attains it. Although it is shared in common by sentient beings, because sentient beings are confused about it, they must possess the practical gates of expedient means to initiate and reveal it before it can be attained. What are the expedient means? The expedient means consist of ten gates of great vows, to be cultivated and learned according to the vows: 1. The vow that at the initial arousal of the aspiration, one gives rise to great vows of kindness and compassion equal in number to all sentient beings, to rescue and deliver all sentient beings, causing them to escape the suffering of the three realms and causing them all to attain Buddhahood. 2. The vow to serve, revere, and make offerings to all Buddhas in the ten directions without passing over any in vain. 3. The vow that in all places of rebirth throughout the realms, wherever there are those whose virtue and skills surpass one's own, one serves and learns from them; though learning various skills and wisdom that surpass humans and devas, one gives rise to no arrogance, constantly placing great kindness and great compassion foremost. 4. The vow to constantly heal according to illness through the contemplation of the four stations of mindfulness, and to establish the four right efforts to accomplish the faculties and powers. 5. The vow to constantly not let the seven factors of enlightenment depart from the head of the mind, nurturing all right wisdom, and illuminating the twelve links of dependent origination to form a great ocean of wisdom. 6. The vow to constantly practice the eightfold noble path, having no beginning and no end, constantly manifest before oneself. 7. The vow that with one's own noble path manifest, one constantly abides in the world to benefit humans, devas, and all sentient beings of the six destinies, without personally delighting in seeking other pure lands. Clearly seeing the gates of all dharmadhātus, one deeply understands that defilement and purity originally arise from delusion, and based on the true, they originally do not exist. 8. The vow to clearly know the rules and methods regarding the bodhisattva's five stages of practical gates, so that with respect to all expedients and various samādhis for benefiting humans and devas within the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, ten grounds, and the eleventh ground, one skillfully understands their import in a single thought and cultivates them in sequence. 9. The vow to constantly be mindful of the wind-wheel of original vows in order to sustain fundamental wisdom, stirring up boundless pāramitā practices, manifesting form bodies matching the realms of the ten directions, and guiding all sentient beings according to their capacities. 10. The vow to constantly give rise to all-knowledge through the body of great kindness and great compassion, the great wisdom that accords with principle and pervades the dharmadhātu, shining universally without omission, all equal Samantabhadra. These are the practices accomplished by Lady Māyā's body; if practitioners cultivate, they should cultivate like this. There is no Buddha who is not born from the ocean of great vows and the wisdom of great compassion. Therefore the sūtra says: 'Those who simply practice the vows of Samantabhadra are all born from me.' This indicates that in this eleventh ground, wisdom arises from compassion. Prior to the ten grounds, the practices of great kindness and great compassion were all based on the original vows and born from fundamental wisdom, involving cultivation, study, and nurturing; on the eleventh ground, when all effort ends, it is purely great compassion as the essence of the dharmadhātu. Using compassion to generate wisdom and illusory births equal to the number of sentient beings, constantly benefiting them without ever resting, is called 'giving birth to Buddhas'—it does not require obtaining the thirty-two marks up to the ninety-seven marks. Rather, if at the time of initial arousal of aspiration one accords with truth to some degree, wisdom and compassion arise together, and though one has not yet obtained the sovereign dharmas of supernatural transformations, it is because of identical insight into truth. Cultivating and learning like this, awakening and entering like this, is precisely called 'attaining right awakening at the very time of initial aspiration'. It is also called demonstrating and awakening sentient beings with the Buddha's vision and knowledge, wishing to lead sentient beings to enter the Buddha's vision and knowledge. From here, Lady Māyā represents the initial gate of the eleventh ground; the nine kalyāṇamitras thereafter collectively illustrate taking great compassion as the maternal essence, all proceeding from the mother's practice, where through the illusory birth of wisdom, compassion and wisdom universally pervade the ten directions and manifest everywhere, without constructing stages, sequences, or antidotes. Although the subsequent kalyāṇamitras also say, 'I only know this Dharma gate, and cannot know the rest,' this is to show that within identity there is distinction, representing Samantabhadra's discriminating wisdom pervading universally in accord with worldly conventions, not being blocked and hindered as before the ten grounds. This eleventh ground simply shows that practitioners who cultivate the practices of the eleventh ground fulfill this eleventh stage of Samantabhadra, manifesting that having perfected practices across the defiled world, they seek no world-transcendence. From King Right Mindfulness onward, they are all ordinary mortals in the world, not marked by divine signs or distinct forms, being identical to worldly people, only possessing the Dharma to benefit others. This clarifies that prior to the ten grounds, one cultivates compassion and wisdom as world-transcending noble path gates, whereas the eleventh ground is the gate of personally meeting conventions to save beings through great kindness and compassion. It represents that having perfected the world-transcending path, one no longer seeks liberation; although one is free from the mind of defilement and detachment, one merely rides the ship of the Dharma nature, unfurls the sail of great compassion, takes great wisdom as the helmsman, follows the wind of original vows to cast the net of the pāramitās, constantly wanders the ocean of saṃsāra, scoops up the attached fish of all sentient beings, places them on the shore of unattached universally luminous wisdom, and constantly gives birth to all illusion-abiding myriad-practice merits in the jewel hall of the unhindered dharmadhātu, like the tower in which Maitreya resides below. For example, when Sudhana encountered the rākṣasa king, who expounded for him the method of seeking kalyāṇamitras, causing Sudhana to pay universal homage to the ten directions, mindfully contemplate all realms, roam the ten directions boldly and sovereignly, and seek kalyāṇamitras by contemplating body and mind as like a dream, illusion, and shadow, at that time Sudhana received and practiced his teaching, and immediately contemplated and beheld a great jewel lotus emerging from the earth. Seeking kalyāṇamitras in the ten directions means examining with Dharma truth what essence one's own body and mind, internal and external, and the ten directions have, so as to tally with the dharmakāya. Furthermore, causing him to contemplate body and mind as like a dream and shadow means causing him to penetrate the teaching, penetrating nature and characteristics as like shadows, identical and non-dual, whereupon he enters the gate of the illusory birth of wisdom—this is seeing Lady Māyā. Initially seeing the lotus emerging from the earth means taking the naturally pure dharmakāya as the substance of the earth, from which the lotuses of all myriad practices are born. Taking diamond as the stem represents fundamental wisdom, explaining that all differentiated practices and differentiated wisdoms arise from the fundamental wisdom of the dharmakāya. Even if such adornment of the realm exists, it is also this circumstantial fruitions; there are ultimately no other retributions, nor any cause and effect of other retributions. The wondrous treasure storehouse is the fruition generated by the maternal nurturing of kindness and compassion. The mani jewels serving as leaves are the fruition generated by undefiled practice. The luminous jewel king serving as its dais is the fruition generated by the sovereign illumination and functioning manifested through fundamental wisdom. The scents and colors of varied jewels serving as its stamens are the fruition generated by the fragrance of precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation. The countless jewel nets covering it above are the fruition generated by the capacity to bestow the net of teaching. The towers and pavilions above are the fruition generated by discriminating wisdom. Universally containing the treasury of the dharmadhātu of the ten directions is the fruition generated by the net of teaching pervading everywhere with great wisdom. The marvelous jewel ornaments are the fruition adorning wondrous practice. Taking diamond as the ground is the fruition born from the dharmakāya. The thousand pillars arranged in rows signify that the practices number in the thousands and tens of thousands. All being formed of mani jewels signifies that there is no defilement within practice after practice. Jambūnada gold serving as its walls is the fruition generated by gentle forbearance. The varied jewel necklaces hanging down on all four sides are the fruition generated by the practices of the four means of embracing extending kindness to receive beings. The rest should be understood by analogy with this; the teaching is vast and the text is extensive, so it cannot be detailed completely. Below, Lady Māyā manifesting bodies pervading the dharmadhātu, bodies identical to the activities of all sentient beings, and bodies giving birth to all Tathāgatas, is clear from the text itself.