新華嚴經論 6.18

6.18

Second, regarding the difference in the time of attaining buddhahood: In the provisional teachings, after the Buddha was born, the time when he leapt over the city walls to go forth from the household life and attained equal, correct awakening beneath the bodhi tree is taken as the time. In the case of Vairocana Buddha, the reality is not like this. The Tathāgata established transformed marks so that, in order to cross over sentient beings of the three vehicles, they should see such going forth and attaining buddhahood. In the real dharmadhātu ocean of the Avataṃsaka, it is not like this. As the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: 'Since I attained buddhahood, immeasurable asaṃkhyeya kalpas have passed.' This is turning those people of the three vehicles toward the ultimate to speak of it. This Vairocana Buddha, relying on the original dharmadhātu, attains great bodhi and remains reliant on the original dharmadhātu: without beginning and without end, neither emerging nor submerging, neither formed nor destroyed, without temporal distinctions. This sūtra says: 'The Tathāgata does not appear in the world, nor does he enter nirvāṇa.' This is the ultimate explanation. Furthermore, wearing a flower crown upon his head, fundamentally he did not go forth from the household life, and there are entirely no matters of the eight marks. If one can know that the Tathāgata neither emerges nor submerges, is neither formed nor destroyed, then one knows that the Tathāgata constantly abides in the world and constantly turns the wheel of the Dharma; this is Vairocana's appearance in the world. Furthermore, descending from Tuṣita Heaven, sending down his spirit into his mother's womb, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and entering nirvāṇa do not exceed the boundary of a single instant (kṣaṇa). Before he has even descended from that heaven, before he has even emerged from the mother's womb, here he has already entered nirvāṇa, and all matters are entirely completed.