新華嚴經論 5.2

5.2

The reason the Buddhas of the ten directions share the same name is that this teaching of the ten abodes realizes the Dharma-stream of the noble stages, has already entered the great ocean of the dharmadhātu, and is identical with the wisdom of the Buddha's noble stage. Therefore, the Buddha and the Bodhisattva Dharmamati share the same name in order to express that their Dharma is identical, and furthermore to clarify that cause and effect are equal in the teaching of the ten abodes. The stage of Buddhahood is the fruition virtue, while the bodhisattva is the cause; because cause and fruition are not different in essence, they share the same name. When this Dharma of the ten abodes was expounded, [the Lord] ascended to the summit of Mount Sumeru; there are six chapters of the sūtra that together establish the active practices of the teaching of the ten abodes: first, the "Chapter on Ascending to the Summit of Mount Sumeru"; second, the "Chapter of Praises in Verse"; third, the "Chapter on the Ten Abodes"; fourth, the "Chapter on Brahmacarya"; fifth, the "Chapter on the Merit of the Initial Aspiration"; and sixth, the "Chapter on Elucidating the Dharma." If one cultivates, studies, awakens to, and enters the teaching of understanding and practice relying on these six chapters of the sūtra, one will surely be able to accomplish the teaching of the ten abodes, abide in the Buddha's lineage, be born into the house of the Tathāgata, and become a true child of the Buddha. This is unlike the provisional teaching, where a bodhisattva of the first ground is just newly born into the Buddha's house, or where it is said that bodhisattvas of the three grades of worthies attain Buddhahood through vows. This Avataṃsaka Sūtra directly discusses the stage of actual realization and does not discuss vows, because this teaching is entirely of one time and one moment, with no disparate thoughts in the dharmadhātu; past and future sentiments are extinguished, ordinary and noble share one nature, and it does not discuss sentimental attachments. It should be seen by illuminating it through the gate of the dharmadhātu of non-thought and non-action; if one establishes sentimental views, it cannot be believed. Even if one gives rise to faith, it is merely remote faith in the Buddha's words and is not one's own vision. If it is one's own vision, then only when sentiments are cut off and thoughts perish, the mind accords with principle, and wisdom merges with its object, will one know that all objects, both in nature and characteristic, are universally embraced. If one is not like this, the mind will always distinguish between self and other, right and wrong will contend with each other, and when will defilement and purity ever cease? If one accords with nature and sentiments perish, one will spontaneously reach the gate of profound profundity of the dharmadhātu: the one and the many, the pure and the mixed, freely encompass one another; the gates of the universal and the particular are perfectly interfused and unobstructed; regarding the methods for benefiting sentient beings, one skillfully penetrates all faculties, and in accordance with what they are capable of, all are brought to benefit, so that whoever reveres, serves, and approaches can be befriended. As when ascending to the Yama Heaven Palace to expound the "Chapter on the Ten Practices," the Tathāgata emitted hundreds of thousands of wondrous-colored rays of light from his two feet to signify that only by establishing practice based on emptiness can principle and phenomena become unobstructed. This clarifies that the stage of the ten abodes realizes the fundamental wisdom of the dharmakāya, and in the stage of the ten practices, because the fundamental wisdom of the dharmakāya is unobstructed, the myriad practices are performed, and practice is also unobstructed. If one does not see the fundamental wisdom of the dharmakāya, all the myriad practices one performs pertain to human and heavenly cause and effect and are all conditioned, arising-and-perishing merits. Employing the dharmakāya's own wisdom-function to cure all afflictions and relying on the myriad practices to compassionately save sentient beings, the dharmakāya and the wisdom-body spontaneously employ non-active great compassion all at once. Although this is lodged in the active aspects of increasing compassion on the seventh ground and increasing wisdom on the eighth ground, in this Avataṃsaka dharmadhātu gate, the initial stage of the ten abodes completely encompasses all stages; at the initial gate of the ten abodes, the stage is identical with the Buddha-fruition because it is the essence and function of a single dharmadhātu, and because a single stage contains the ten pāramitās and all ten dharmas, which can be seen by illuminating them through the gate of profound profundity of all dharmas. This is entirely the whirlpool teaching of the ocean of worlds of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva as the body of the tathāgatagarbha. It is like the sun and moon shining down: that the blind do not see is not the fault of the sun and moon. One should reprove oneself, cultivate virtue, and observe it with a bowed head through samādhi and wisdom. The body of the tathāgatagarbha is the dharmakāya; because the oceans of all merit and wisdom reside within it, it is called a "garbha" (treasury). If one does not see the dharmakāya, all merit, wisdom, great benevolence, and great compassion cannot be accomplished and entirely belong to arising and perishing. As for the "whirlpool of the ocean of worlds": compassion and wisdom observe faculties, permeating the conventional body, land, and karma through winding paths; for layers upon layers of sentient beings and layers upon layers of karma, distinct great compassion universally rescues them until their faculties are completely exhausted, which is why it is called the "ocean whirlpool." A "whirlpool" means a profound vortex. A bodhisattva in this stage of Buddha-fruition, having once entered the gate of the dharmadhātu, completely gathers in the faculties and karma of layers upon layers of sentient beings; thus there is no mind aiming to transcend the world, and they remain submerged forever in the swirling currents of the great ocean of saṃsāra, without emerging or submerging. These ten practice-gates are identical with the practice of Samantabhadra, while the preceding ten abode-gates are identical with Mañjuśrī's signless fundamental wisdom of the dharmakāya. The two share an identical essence and serve as each other's lord and companion, while the non-active wisdom between them is the Buddha-fruition. The three share one essence, which is provisionally lodged within the five stages to receive the deluded ordinary people. If an ordinary person's faith is fulfilled and they generate the aspiration, at the beginning of the ten abodes the three bodies share the same virtue: Mañjuśrī is the Buddha's dharmakāya, Samantabhadra is the Buddha's practice-body, and the fruit of non-active wisdom is the Buddha's saṃbhogakāya. They always take Mañjuśrī's signless wondrous wisdom of the dharmakāya as the forerunner; though sequential when expounded, when realized the three bodies are simultaneous. The Dharma must be like this; not one of them can be discarded. If one discards Mañjuśrī and keeps Samantabhadra, all practice-gates will pertain to the conditioned; if one discards Samantabhadra and keeps Mañjuśrī, the tranquil samādhi realized will be that of the two vehicles; if one discards the Buddha and keeps Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra—since "Buddha" means awakened—there will be no awakened one. For this reason, not one of the three can be discarded, because if one is discarded, the three cannot be established. Therefore, in the provisional teachings of the three vehicles, these three persons do not remain inseparable from beginning to end; because those teaching gates are not yet ultimate, they are entirely nirmāṇakāya, provisionally accommodating inferior capacities and temporarily laid out as expedient devices, waiting until they mature before shifting toward the ultimate. For example, the Lotus and Nirvāṇa sūtras are gradual transitions toward the ultimate teaching. In this sūtra, the initial stage of the ten abodes is itself the stages of the ten practices, the ten dedications, the ten grounds, and equal awakening; it entirely attains the beginning and the end, which mutually penetrate each other. In a single stage one attains fifty Dharma gates because they thoroughly penetrate one another; in each single stage, the two thousand five hundred universal and particular meanings appear simultaneously, up to the endless gradations and stages of progress in cultivation, which do not discard the gradual yet are simultaneous, and do not discard the simultaneous yet contain the gradual. In this stage of the ten practices, according to the ten directions, one great bodhisattva arrives from each direction at the Buddha's dwelling, each bringing an assembly of bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust motes in ten Buddha-lands. The lower component of the names of the ten leader bodhisattvas is identical: all are named "Forest" (Vana). The lower component of the names of the lands from which they originally came is identical: all are named "Wisdom" (Mati). The lower component of the names of the Buddhas they originally served is identical: all are named "Eye" (Cakṣus). The lower component of the names of the ten leader bodhisattvas is identical: all are named "Forest." A forest possesses five virtues: first, the virtue of establishment; second, the virtue of non-arising through the mutual conditioned arising of trunks, branches, and twigs; third, the virtue of producing benefit through flowers, leaves, and fruits; fourth, the virtue of blocking intense heat and providing coolness; fifth, the virtue of being a refuge for humans, dragons, birds, beasts, ghosts, and spirits.