新華嚴經論 7.41

7.41

Seventh, explaining the accumulation of cultivation into perfected virtue: this is the single chapter, the 'Chapter on the Ten Grounds', preached in the sixth assembly upon ascending to the palace of the Paranirmitavaśavartin heaven, where light—named 'The Bodhisattva's Blazing Radiance of Power'—was emitted from between the Tathāgata's eyebrows. This light returned to the original locus, completing a cycle with the light emitted from between the Tathāgata's eyebrows in the first assembly. That there is no 'Chapter on Ascending to the Palace of the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven' and no 'Chapter of Verses of Praise' is to explain that at the culmination of the fruit of the ten grounds, one abides in the original palace of the Dharma, eternally pervading everything; the work is finished, practice has reached its utmost, and there is no further ascent or advancement. This is likewise true even up to the Third Dhyāna and the worlds of the ten directions. This is to signify that with the culmination of the fruit, the wisdom of the ten grounds is complete and there is no further cultivation, that one is constantly before all Buddhas manifested before oneself, and that because it is not a new arrival, there is no praise. In this gate of the ten grounds, one merely accumulates merit within the ten abodes, ten practices, and ten dedications of merit to make it seasoned and mature; there is nothing further to dwell on, it is accomplished spontaneously, and it naturally brings all dharmas to complete fullness. Why is the Dharma gate of the ten grounds taught in this heavenly place? Because this heaven takes creations transformed by others to create its own pleasure, it is named the Heaven of Mastering Transformations by Others (Paranirmitavaśavartin). The bodhisattva of this stage acts with compassion and wisdom for the sake of sentient beings, raising clouds of various practices and raining down rains of various dharmas to make this their joy, without any mark of self-mind while performing all marks of practice. Because the place expresses the Dharma, the Dharma gate of the ten grounds had to be taught in this place. According to Master Zang (Fazang), when this chapter was taught there were three empowerments and five requests. Examining the meaning of the sūtra, however, the Buddha granted thirteen kinds of empowerment, and Bodhisattva Vimukticandra and the other bodhisattvas made four requests. That the Buddha granted thirteen kinds of empowerment to Bodhisattva Vajragarbha consists of: first, the Buddhas of other directions gave twelve kinds of empowerment to Bodhisattva Vajragarbha, bidding him to speak; second, Vairocana Tathāgata emitted light from between his eyebrows that illuminated Bodhisattva Vajragarbha's body, and within the light uttered verses urging him to speak. This is the empowerment of light, making thirteen in total. The twelve kinds of empowerment given by the Buddhas of the ten directions are: 1. all Buddhas manifested before him and, with words of praise and comfort, bidded him preach the Dharma; 2. they bestowed ten kinds of wisdom and their own roots of goodness, which is the empowerment according with the Dharma; 3. the Buddhas of the ten directions stroked his crown with their hands, granting permission for him to preach. The praise and comfort with words is the empowerment of vocal karma; the bestowal of the ten kinds of wisdom is the empowerment of wisdom karma; stroking the crown with their hands is the empowerment of bodily karma; Vairocana's illumination from between the eyebrows and preaching the Dharma within the light is the empowerment of Dharma power. In all, combining the vocal praise, the ten wisdoms, the stroking of the crown, and the illumination of light, there are thirteen kinds of empowerment. Bodhisattva Vajragarbha's fourfold request consists of: 1. Vimukticandra raising the doubts of the assembly; 2. requesting Bodhisattva Vajragarbha to preach the Dharma for the assembly; 3. the repeated request; and 4. all the great bodhisattvas requesting together simultaneously, making four requests in all. It is unknown where the 'three empowerments and five requests' came from. If one merely took bodily, vocal, and mental karma as the three empowerments, then when combined with the ten wisdoms, the illumination of Vajragarbha's body from between the eyebrows, and the preaching within the light, those empowerments would be redundant. If one took all the words of praise from the Buddhas of the ten directions bidding him to speak as five requests, the Buddha's station is supremely honored, and according to proper propriety it is inappropriate for him to be considered as making a request. By this principle, there are altogether thirteen kinds of empowerment and a fourfold request. Although the bestowed karma of the ten kinds of wisdom does not differ in wisdom-essence, in order not to be confused about the characteristics of phenomena and to form discriminating wisdom, their functions at the time of application are distinct, and one cannot simply take them as an identical category. Because within the one sameness there are thirteen distinct empowerments and the four repeated requests are all different, the meaning of ascending has already been explained above.