新華嚴經論 6.2

6.2

That a bodhisattva of the first ground mostly becomes a king of a hundred illumination-entrances to the Dharma and transforms a hundred buddha worlds, and a bodhisattva of the second ground mostly becomes a king of a thousand illumination-entrances to the Dharma and transforms a thousand buddha worlds, is not like [the teachings of] the provisional teaching where there are truly delimited boundaries; rather, as with the previously discussed numerical methods, they mutually interpenetrate. It is also like a person who draws in space with a finger, creating hundreds of thousands of fine-dust counts, and then with a hand wipes them away until they are gone, yet in that space there is neither increase nor decrease. It is because of subjective ideation that one sees numerical increase or decrease in that empty space. This is also like that: all the increases and decreases in the Dharma-entrances of the grounds established for bodhisattvas are also like this. They are made for the sake of bringing sentient beings to completion, causing them to advance in cultivation; if all were uniformly equal, there would be no mind to advance. Ordinary persons have no mind to advance in cultivation; only when they generate the mind [to cultivate] and cultivate up to the point of non-cultivation do they first know that the myriad dharmas are without cultivation. But bodhisattvas of the ultimate teaching attain all upon attaining one, because in accord with the essence of the Dharma there is no before and after, just as the light and reflections in Indra's net interpenetrate and mutually enter one another, without earlier or later limits. It is also like hundreds of thousands of jewelled mirrors simultaneously facing a wondrous image: within each and every mirror the reflections enter one another, and their forms and images are uniformly equal. It is like the bodhisattvas in the stage of the buddha fruit: because they arise from the nature as the fundamental wisdom of the dharmakāya, and because they first realize this mind within the ten abodes. All their realms of Dharma-entrances completely rely upon the fundamental; because essence and function universally subsume [all] and completely interpenetrate, they return to being equal through the nature, being immediately equal. That there should still be any other unequal dharma is impossible. It is not like provisional learners whose emotional obstacles have not yet perished: from the ninth ground downward they have not yet seen the buddha nature, so the stages they establish all have fixed measures and can truly be attained, because not having seen the buddha nature, they possess the reflection of provisional suchness. Therefore the sūtra says: 'The distinctions among the ten grounds are like bird tracks in the sky.' The provisional establishment of increases and decreases in the Dharma-entrances of the stages is done to follow the sentiments of sentient beings. For one who embodies the Dao, the absolute and the conventional are immediately the absolute, because when one is absolute, all are absolute; there are no provisional dharmas at all. One must not form views of increase and decrease regarding this perfect teaching, assimilating it to gradual teachings. In this sūtra, all the oceans of assemblies of bodhisattvas, devas, dragons, various deities, and so forth are all assemblies of bodhisattvas in the ocean of the stage of the buddha fruit, not ordinary persons; for [the sūtra] wishes that those who enter become immediately identical to sages, making clear that the realm of Vairocana's embracing and transforming is as vast and pervasive as sentient beings. They are all assemblies of the stage of the buddha fruit, by virtue of the transformative protocol of host and companions. In this way, the assemblies of the stage of fruit-virtue congregate to establish the Dharma and reveal awakening to sentient beings. After establishing the Dharma, entering the 'Chapter on the Dharmadhātu', Mañjuśrī takes this Dharma-entrance of fruit-virtue out beyond the assembly in the Jeta Grove and travels eastward, wishing to benefit and gladden people in the city of Dhanyākara. On the road Śāriputra and six thousand monks generate the mind [for bodhi] and obtain ten ears and ten eyes. In the eastern assembly of the city of Dhanyākara, Sudhana universally seeks various spiritual friends, and in a single lifetime the fruit of buddhahood becomes roundly luminous. Five hundred upāsakas, five hundred upāsikās, five hundred boys, and five hundred girls are all like Sudhana; the text of the sūtra cannot describe them one by one in full detail, but all those in the same assembly are completely like this. If one lacks the causal conditions, one will not hear it at all, just as the arhats, monks, and others in the Jeta Grove, though in the same assembly, neither heard nor saw the Tathāgata preach this Avataṃsaka scripture. These five assemblies gathered together at the place of Mañjuśrī, heard this Dharma together, and were entirely of the class who realized it together. Therefore the sūtra says: 'This sūtra does not fall into the hands of other sentient beings.' As for those who can have deep faith, their state surpasses the class of provisional learners of the Three Vehicles, to say nothing of those who can realize it. Hence in the 'Chapter on the Leader of the Wise' this sūtra says: 'Among all classes of living beings in the world, / Few wish to seek the Śrāvaka Vehicle; / Those who seek the Pratyekabuddha [Vehicle] are fewer still; / Those who seek the Great Vehicle are extremely rare. / Seeking the Great Vehicle is still relatively easy; / To be able to have faith in this Dharma is exceedingly difficult.' Therefore one should know that in the sea-like assembly properly gathered, there were not yet any ordinary persons among humans; it was purely a gathering of bodhisattvas in the stage of the fruit of the buddhas to establish its doctrinal teaching. Mañjuśrī's transformation in the city of Dhanyākara first made clear the intention to use this doctrinal teaching to benefit and gladden sentient beings in Jambudvīpa. Sudhana and the other five assemblies collectively represent those who truly attain this Dharma; the remaining meanings are as explained above. The assemblies arriving in this way are purely arriving bodhisattvas of the stage of the fruit, making clear that fruit-virtues and functions are prepared for the superior capacity; there are no provisional-teaching bodhisattvas, Hīnayāna, humans, devas, or ordinary persons of cause and effect congregating in this assembly. Bodhisattvas of the provisional teaching up to the ninth ground do not participate in this assembly, to say nothing of ordinary persons. Why is this? Because they practice the six pāramitās. Even if there are those who practice the ten pāramitās, because they accomplish the fruit-virtue of the Dao through three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, this is not like this teaching, where one time is immediately all times, beyond what can be grasped by conceptual sentiment. In leaving the assembly in the Jeta Grove and Mañjuśrī travelling east, that the six thousand monks generated the mind on the road makes clear that it is allowed that śrāvakas also have the highest capacity, capable of entering this Supreme Vehicle. Moreover, those six thousand monks were all newly ordained under Śāriputra, had not yet rejoiced in the lesser fruit, and because of the sharpness of their capacity were only then able to generate the mind to reach this stream of stages. For those who have already ascended to the lesser fruit, sudden turning is difficult to achieve. As for Śāriputra, he is an echo-śrāvaka, not a real śrāvaka. That is to say, he had already ascended to the stage of buddhahood and entered the stream to receive ordinary persons. On account of this meaning, the arriving assemblies in this sūtra are not the same as those in the provisional teachings. Even if there are places where a transformed buddha gathers purely bodhisattvas without a lesser assembly, they are also not the same as this teaching. Why is this? Because some teachings state that if one accomplishes buddhahood directly from the cause, one does not traverse the five stages; or their marks of practice, essence, and function of the five stages are different, as has already been stated previously. By following these analogies, none are the same. Since the Dharma is not the same, the assemblies are also completely distinct. Furthermore, the arriving assemblies in this sūtra possess ten kinds of shared Dharmas, unlike the arriving assemblies in other sūtras: first, identity of physical body; second, identity of the fundamental wisdom of the dharmakāya; third, identity of compassionate wisdom; fourth, identity of the spoken wheel of Dharma; fifth, identity of place of origin; sixth, identity of the established principles; seventh, identity with the Buddha's cause and effect; eighth, identity in the master-disciple service of the Buddha; ninth, identity in the perfection of the saṃbhogakāya and lands; tenth, identity in harbouring doubts and obtaining benefit.