新華嚴經論 8

English (machine translation) 8

Language: English

Bowing my head to the pure ocean of the ten directions,
To the true saṃbhogakāya of the dharmadhātu, Rocana,
To the bodhisattvas of cause and effect across the six stages,
To Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and the vast oceanic assembly,
To the pure ocean of the dharma-gates they expounded,
And to the diamond verses of consummate fruitional virtue.
I now explain this subtle and profound scripture,
Wishing to broadly benefit all sentient beings,
So that they may be unhindered in the dharma-gates,
And all who see or hear it may gain great benefit.
I only pray that all the holy ones bestow their protection,
So that all may unite in the pure ocean of Rocana.

8.3

In elucidating the teaching and propagating the sutra, one must distinguish four points: first, broadly dividing the outline of the sutra's meaning; second, explaining the main theme of the sutra; third, explaining the essence of the teaching; fourth, comprehensively presenting the number of assemblies.

8.4

First, regarding broadly dividing the outline of the sutra's meaning, it is briefly divided into ten sections with a thousand subheadings: first, explaining the initial attainment of correct awakening; second, explaining presenting the fruit to encourage practice; third, explaining using the fruit to establish faith; fourth, explaining entering true realization; fifth, explaining generating practice and cultivating; sixth, explaining the mutual penetration of wisdom and compassion; seventh, explaining accumulating cultivation to accomplish virtue; eighth, explaining benefiting sentient beings without hindrance; ninth, explaining how the worthy ones are assigned to stages; tenth, explaining causing ordinary beings to attain actual realization.

8.5

First, explaining the initial attainment of correct awakening refers to the 'Chapter on the Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the World'.

8.6

Second, presenting the fruit to encourage practice refers to the five chapters in total from the 'Chapter on the Manifestation of Marks' down to the 'Chapter on Vairocana', as well as the 'Chapter on the Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the World', which presents the fruit attained by the Buddha to encourage people to practice.

8.7

Third, explaining using the fruit to establish faith refers to the six chapters from the 'Chapter on the Names of the Tathāgata' down to the 'Chapter on the Foremost of the Worthy'. It also comprehensively incorporates everything up to this point from the previous 'Chapter on the Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the World'. It takes the ten wisdom buddhas as the fruit of one's own mind, headed by the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom, explaining that the wisdom of one's own mind is unmoved according to its discriminating nature.

8.8

Fourth, explaining entering true realization refers to the six chapters from the 'Chapter on Ascending to the Peak of Mount Sumeru' downwards, taking the ten abodes as their essence, because one is born into the family of the Buddha's wisdom.

8.9

Fifth, explaining generating practice and cultivating refers to the four chapters from the 'Chapter on Ascending to the Yāma Heavenly Palace' downwards, taking the ten practices as their essence, because one performs the Buddha's practices.

8.10

Sixth, explaining the mutual penetration of wisdom and compassion refers to the three chapters from the 'Chapter on Ascending to the Tuṣita Heavenly Palace' downwards, taking the ten dedications of merit as their essence, because their essence integrates the true and conventional to accomplish great compassion.

8.11

Seventh, explaining accumulating cultivation to accomplish virtue refers to the 'Chapter on the Ten Grounds' in the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, which accumulates and cultivates the preceding three dharmas to bring familiarity and perfection.

8.12

Eighth, explaining the unobstructed benefiting of sentient beings: the eleven chapters from the "Ten Grounds Chapter" on through the "Samantabhadra's Practices Chapter" are this altogether. Because virtue is accumulated and success is achieved across the ten grounds, and the practices that benefit sentient beings are fulfilled in the eleventh ground, one is only then called a Buddha of perfected dharmic practice. From beginning to end, the unconditioned nature of the essence does not shift by the hair of a thought. Taking the nature of the perfectly luminous great wisdom of the dharmadhātu as the inception of the path of seeing in the ten abodes, because there are no temporal thoughts, because the three periods of time lack [intrinsic] nature, and because it is all a single time—this is not something known by emotional consciousness; it is understood solely by wisdom.

8.13

Ninth, explaining that the noble ones are lodged in stages: this refers to the various bodhisattvas along with the Buddha in the preceding thirty-seven chapters, as well as the "Appearance in the World Chapter". All of them expediently manifest their bodies from within the realm of the great wisdom of the ocean of nature, lodging in stages to establish the Dharmic approaches of the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, ten grounds, and the eleventh ground of equal enlightenment, so as to cause ordinary beings to enter with faith, emulate their practice, and rely on their traces without being deluded about phenomena.

8.14

Tenth, explaining the causing of ordinary beings to achieve actual realization: within the nature of the dharmadhātu, the six stages including the ten faiths are established, wherein one advances in the practice of expedient means. Across the ten grounds, one does not depart from essence and function, nor does one discard expedient means; the higher one's wisdom, the lowlier one's conduct, and because practices are fulfilled according to capacities, this is called advancing in practice. In accordance with one's capacity and capability, the various stages are established, and through knowing and practicing in accordance with the stages, one is made not to be deluded about cause and effect, enabling learners to clearly understand the universal and the particular, and to achieve success by relying on the traces, without getting stuck in the beginning and without departing from the start. As in the text below, the assemblies of upāsakas, upāsikās, boys, and girls around Sudhana are listed as five hundred each, fully clarifying the five stages of the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, ten grounds, and the eleventh ground—each stage having ten, totaling five hundred. Just as the six thousand monks, universally penetrating faith, also do not regress, they are generally called six thousand. The ten thousand nāgas are used to illustrate the myriad practices. Such assemblies are all ordinary beings, who, because they all believe in this approach to the realm of wisdom of the Buddha-fruit of the dharmadhātu, ascend to the ten abodes and ten grounds; hence it is called causing ordinary beings to achieve actual realization. The long outline of the sūtra's purport in ten sections above is concluded; its broader purport will only become clear as we reach the text. The single "Dharmadhātu Chapter" universally runs through the preceding and following forty chapters of the sūtra, because it comprehends the dharmadhātu as a whole, explaining that the phenomena of the three periods of time are entirely the dharmadhātu. Because of this, this single "Dharmadhātu Chapter" is the fruit of all Buddhas and of all sentient beings. Within this single sūtra, there are altogether five meanings of the omnipresence of cause and effect.

8.15

First, showing the omnipresence of the cause and effect of achieving perfect enlightenment: this is the "Chapter on the Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the World" running through the five chapters below it.

8.16

Second, the omnipresence of the cause and effect of the stages of faith and advancing in practice: from the "Chapter on the Names of the Tathāgata" on through the six chapters below, running through the stages of the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, and ten grounds, totaling ten chapters.

8.17

Third, the omnipresence of the essence of samādhi: this refers to such chapters as the "Ten Samādhis", "Ten Supernormal Knowledges", and "Ten Tolerances".

8.18

Fourth, the omnipresence of the ocean of practices: this refers to the "Samantabhadra's Practices Chapter" and the "Detachment from the World Chapter".

8.19

Fifth, the omnipresence of the ocean of the inconceivable, great, and perfectly luminous wisdom of the dharmadhātu: this refers to the "Dharmadhātu Chapter". Because of these five meanings of omnipresence, this single sūtra has five sections. Within the five sections, each begins with "At that time the World-Honoured One was in the country of Magadha" as the chapter's opening, in order to clarify that these five Dharmas are one single time, one dharmadhātu, the boundary of a single kṣaṇa, one essence and function, the common Dharma of all Buddhas, and a single cause and effect, which are equally omnipresent and perfected without any notion of before and after. All Buddhas are like this. Such a Dharma does not depart from the boundary of a single kṣaṇa within the ten samādhis: descending spiritually to enter the womb, manifesting the achievement of Buddhahood, and entering nirvāṇa do not depart from the boundary of a single kṣaṇa, shifting no further. Because of this, this single scripture has five occurrences of "At that time the World-Honoured One was in the country of Magadha", differing only in the "Dharmadhātu Chapter", generally clarifying that the main theme and purport of this single sūtra is the great, perfectly luminous wisdom of the one dharmadhātu, which possesses these five kinds of omnipresent cause and effect. From the initial mind of faith through advancing in the practice of the various deeds, cause and effect and practice are fulfilled from beginning to end; ultimately they do not go beyond the essence of the ten samādhis and the nature devoid of time, ordinary beings and sages being completely equal, fundamentally like this. Due to emotional delusion, temporal measures arise accordingly; due to delusive attachment, birth and old age thereupon exist. If within the fundamental gate of the dharmadhātu one gives rise to views of extension and contraction [of time], these are all deluded views of one's own emotions, not being real existents. Those who, being thus deluded about the principle of lacking [intrinsic] nature, contravene the Dharmic approach to the realm of wisdom fundamentally devoid of time, and following emotion and pursuing delusion view time and kalpas as extended or contracted, do not form the seed of faith within the Buddha's true Dharma. One should know that even if such a person cultivates and achieves the fruit of transcending the three realms, because they do not yet have the seed of achieving Buddhahood, they are precisely the bodhisattvas of the six supernormal knowledges, the śrāvakas, and the pratyekabuddhas of the provisional teachings. Just as the non-regressing bodhisattvas in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra also cannot know this. This clarifies non-regression in emerging from saṃsāra, not yet achieving non-regression while abiding within saṃsāra. Furthermore, they merely use the contemplation of emptiness to subdue active afflictions and enter the stage of the path of seeing on the first ground; it is not non-regression within fundamental wisdom achieved by penetrating fundamental ignorance. Such path-of-seeing practitioners of the three vehicles are all bodhisattvas of the three kinds of mind-made bodies; none of them are capable of non-regression such as achieving Buddhahood in the ten directions within the abode of initial aspiration of the great, perfectly luminous wisdom of the fundamental dharmadhātu. As for the three kinds of mind-made bodies: on the first, second, and third grounds it is called the mind-made body delighting in samāpatti; on the fourth, fifth, and sixth grounds it is called the mind-made body awakened to the self-nature of dharmas; on the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth grounds it is called the mind-made body born of its kind, innate and inactive. Such bodhisattvas of the three kinds of mind-made bodies are all expedient provisions outside the gate of the burning house, the three carts of the ocean of the great, perfectly luminous wisdom of the dharmadhātu, set up so that the children might temporarily escape the peril of the fire. As the text of this sūtra states below: "The śrāvakas in the assembly were like the deaf. Even if bodhisattvas of the six supernormal knowledges hear this sūtra, they cannot give rise to faith," as the sūtra fully explains. Because from beginningless time, even if they were able to give rise to faith in the Buddha Dharma, they merely produced faith in accordance with emotion, being deluded about their own realm of wisdom, and therefore did not accord with actual wisdom themselves to cultivate true faith. If they do not turn their minds, they will ultimately not achieve Buddhahood. Even if they further instruct and transform sentient beings, they can still only produce the seeds of the three vehicles and of humans and devas, abiding only in a pure land of a single direction, lacking the great function of the boundless wisdom equal to empty space in measure, like a vast ocean realm. In manifesting physical forms facing dust-mote lands of the ten directions and guiding sentient beings in accordance with their capacities, the three vehicles have no share; they only speak of seeing a realm of the trichiliocosm. As this sūtra says: "There are ocean realms of worlds, natures of worlds, and seeds of worlds, all being extremely profound, vast, and great, equal to the dharmadhātu and empty space," just as fully explained in the "Chapter on the World of Flower Adornment". Just as in the three vehicles, even if they see the thirty-two major marks and eighty minor signs of the Tathāgata's body, or even if enlarged to eighty-four thousand, they do not see the Tathāgata's physical marks and minor signs which are as numerous as dust motes in ten Buddha lands. The lineage of the three vehicles only sees the Tathāgata's practices filling a trichiliocosm, but does not see the Tathāgata's practices filling inexhaustible dust motes of Buddha lands. All that is done by the lineage of the three vehicles has bounds and measures; they do not see that within each single dust mote of the dharmadhātu, the measureless Dharmas and the practices of Samantabhadra interpenetrate without obstruction.

8.20

Second, explaining the sūtra's main theme and purport: its meaning has six points: first, explaining the sūtra's main theme and purport; second, which canon includes this sūtra; third, distinguishing its introductory section; fourth, determining its main section; fifth, explaining to whom this sūtra is entrusted; sixth, explaining where this sūtra circulates.

8.21

First, in explaining the central purport of the sūtra: this sūtra takes as its central theme the original true essence of the dharmadhātu of Vairocana's great wisdom, complete in stillness and function, unimpeded in principle and mark between the fruition virtues of the dharmakāya and saṃbhogakāya, which is the vehicle ridden by the Buddha himself. As the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: 'Riding this jewel carriage, one goes straight to the bodhimaṇḍa.' And as this sūtra says: 'For those who joyfully seek the Buddha fruition, it explains the most supreme vehicle, the higher vehicle, the unexcelled vehicle, the inconceivable vehicle, and so on,' causing those who first generate the mind [for awakening], because their aspiration is vast and great, to also attain such fruition of the Tathāgata's great wisdom, unified as one without duality with their own wisdom. The central purport of this sūtra is profoundly deep and difficult to believe. If there is one who has faith, it surpasses the merit obtained by serving as many Buddhas as dust motes in ten Buddha-lands for the entirety of an eon; yet it does not compare to having faith in the gate of the dharmadhātu of the Buddha fruition, the realm of the Tathāgata's great wisdom in this sūtra, possessing it within oneself—the merit of such faith is superior to that. As the verses below in the 'Chapter on the Worthy Head' state: 'If one were to lift ten Buddha-lands with one's hand / And abide in the air for the duration of an eon, / That deed would not yet be difficult; / Being able to believe this Dharma is extremely difficult. / If one were to provide all pleasing necessities for an eon / To beings as numerous as the dust motes of ten lands, / That blessing and merit would not yet be superior; / One who believes this Dharma is the most superior. / If one were to serve as many Tathāgatas / As the dust motes of ten lands for an entire eon, / If one can recite and uphold this chapter, / One's merit is most superior, surpassing that.' And an earlier verse says: 'Among all the living beings of all worlds, / Few seek the Śrāvaka Vehicle; / Those who seek the Pratyekabuddha [Vehicle] are still fewer, / And those who aspire to the Great Vehicle are extremely rare. / Yet aspiring to the Great Vehicle is still easy; / Being able to believe this Dharma is twice as difficult.' This is to make clear that the central purport of this sūtra is profoundly deep and difficult to believe. Those who cultivate the contemplation of emptiness calm false thinking and cultivate dhyāna, but their sentiments of defilement and purity remain. Śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas with the six supernormal powers who have not turned their minds have no share in this. As the sūtra states below: 'Even if a bodhisattva cultivates the six pāramitās and attains the six supernormal powers for immeasurable hundreds of thousands of nayutas of eons, they are still called a nominal bodhisattva, not a true bodhisattva.' Even if they hear this sūtra, they neither believe nor enter it. Just as with the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, it is also for the sake of turning the people of the three vehicles back so they return to the One Vehicle—turning those children who were provisionally led by the three carriages outside the gate so they return to the true gate of the Tathāgata's dharmadhātu of Mahāyāna wisdom; breaking the dharmas relied upon as a small table, so that they attain the original natural freedom of the Tathāgata's unattached and non-abiding wisdom. The Avataṃsaka was spoken suddenly for those of superior faculties right when [the Buddha] first accomplished true awakening, whereas the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra was spoken in the forty years after the Buddha appeared in the world to turn back those of the three vehicles. Furthermore, the Buddha Vehicle and the three vehicles were all spoken simultaneously; merely in accord with faculties they responded naturally: within the Dharma gate of a single sound, each had its differences, and thus the meanings of the general and the particular arose. Because the true essence is timeless, there can be no before or after. As the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: 'In the Buddha lands of the ten directions, / There is only the Dharma of the One Vehicle, / Neither a second nor a third, / Except when the Buddha speaks with expedient means, / Merely using provisional designations / To guide living beings.' It also says: 'Only this one matter is real; / The other two are not true.' As for 'the other two': it is only the gate commonly ridden by all Buddhas of the ten directions that is the real, and the three vehicles are 'the other two.' Only the provisional setups that are not yet real are 'the other two'; therefore, taking the one real against all the provisionals, they are all 'the other two.' This is because the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra reproaches the three vehicles—the śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and non-retrogressing bodhisattvas—since they are all not yet able to believe the Dharma of the One Vehicle. Because bodhisattvas of the provisional teachings, although they possess a portion of the mind seeking bodhi, still have fear of saṃsāra, they attain the non-retrogression of detachment from defilement, but have not attained the non-retrogression of the equality of defilement and purity that accords with reality. Just like the bodhisattvas who cultivate the contemplation of emptiness, who delight in the superior power of emptiness, and those who cultivate provisional suchness to solely separate from bondage—they all have delight and aversion. And assemblies of bodhisattvas who delight in being born in a pure land, and so forth, are all able to leave saṃsāra and attain non-retrogression from escaping bondage, but because they do not enter the single-true gate free from delight and aversion of the dharmadhātu's nature-ocean, when looked at from this Buddha Vehicle, both those who delight in saṃsāra and those who feel aversion to saṃsāra have retrogressed. Even if they contemplate the superior power of emptiness, cultivate the gate of provisional suchness, practice the six pāramitās, and attain the six supernormal powers, this is the non-retrogression of leaving saṃsāra, not the non-retrogression within the single nature of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. For this reason, the Avataṃsaka and the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra speak of bodhisattvas who have attained the six supernormal powers as not hearing and not believing this scripture. As the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: 'If one were to uphold eighty-four thousand treasuries of Dharma and the twelve divisions of scriptures, and expound them to people so that the listeners attain the six supernormal powers, that would not yet be difficult; to hear and accept this sūtra is what is difficult.' Only this realm of wisdom contradicts what is understood by worldly sentiments, and hence it is extremely difficult to believe. The faith and understanding of the three vehicles accords with what sentiments delight in. Why is this? They say that the Buddha fruition is after three asaṃkhyeya [eons], they say that the Buddha's pure land is in another direction and this Sahā [world] is an impure land. Those who cultivate bodhi feel aversion to defilement, delight in the true, and rejoice in being born in a pure land. Even if there are bodhisattvas who abide in the world, they also say that they retain afflictions to nourish rebirth in order to save living beings, not that it must naturally be like this through the unhindered power of fundamental wisdom. Such bodhisattvas are all [following] dharmas that accord with sentiments, and such dharmas are easy to believe. It is not like this sūtra, which says that entering the Buddha fruition does not exceed a kṣaṇa and is separated only by delusion and awakening, and says that immeasurable eons do not move away from a single moment at all. It says that from the worldly stage when one first sees the Way, cause and effect are simultaneous without before or after; one does not see a time when one had not yet become a Buddha, nor does one see a time of becoming fully awakened; one does not see afflictions severed, nor does one see bodhi realized; ultimately without shifting a hair's breath of a thought, one fully cultivates the fifty stages and all-knowledge is completely achieved. The general and particular, sameness and difference, integration and disintegration, are all simultaneous and unhindered; none of this is what worldly sentiments perceive, and therefore it is difficult to believe. As for what is believed: like the stage of the ten faiths below in the sūtra, in the Golden World there is the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom (Akṣobhya), whose foremost bodhisattva is named Mañjuśrī, translated here as Wondrous Virtue. 'Golden' means clear, pure, and without defilement, which is the principle of the dharmakāya. The 'Buddha of Immovable Wisdom' is wisdom within principle, shared equally by the bodies of all ordinary people and sages. Everywhere is Mañjuśrī, everywhere is the Golden World, everywhere is the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom. Those who have faith today must believe that their own mind's wondrous wisdom and liberation, whose nature has no reliance or abode, is their own Mañjuśrī. Within the mind's non-reliance and non-abiding, the wondrous principle of naturelessness has unhindered discrimination, and because naturelessness cannot be moved, it is named the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom. Principle and wisdom are non-dual and their wondrous function is unimpeded, which is why he is called Wondrous Virtue Bodhisattva. Therefore all Buddhas are born from this faith; hence Mañjuśrī is called the mother of all Buddhas of the ten directions. Mañjuśrī is also called the Kumārabhūta Bodhisattva, because all are newly born with faith as their beginning. When faithful mind is perfected, one seals and tallies with it through the power of the contemplative wisdom of concentration and discernment; in a single moment of thought of corresponding union, one is named as having newly entered the ten abodes and immediately accomplishes true awakening. Taking where it is capable of practice, it is called Samantabhadra. Taking where wondrous wisdom is without reliance, it is called Wondrous Virtue. Taking the wisdom that is skillful at discriminating and knowing faculties, it is called the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom. When one self-tallies and corresponds, it is called true awakening. Meanwhile, taking where one is capable of faith, it is called the faithful mind. When one self-tallies and corresponds, it is called the abiding mind, for it abides in the wondrous wisdom where the Buddhas abide, where marks of liberation are exhausted and dharmas are unproduced. If there is a Buddha outside the mind, it is not called a faithful mind, but is called a person of wrong view. All Buddhas are identical with one's own mind, and all living beings are identical with one's own nature; because nature has no reliance, essence has no difference, and wisdom has a single nature. One should understand it in this way. Using this wondrous wisdom of identical essence to know the minds of the Buddhas and the minds of living beings, one should have faith and understanding in this way, without deceiving oneself. Therefore, as for the central purport of this sūtra: for the sake of living beings of great mind it sets forth such a Dharma, the gate ridden by the Buddhas themselves, the marvelous scripture of the One Vehicle, and the principle of the dharmadhātu, to cause living beings of great mind to enter the Tathāgata's fundamental wisdom and the Buddha fruition, so that tallying with the true in a single thought, principle and wisdom appear together and one is immediately a Buddha. Because according to the principle of the dharmadhātu, when it is seen there is no beginning, middle, or end; it is different from those of inferior understanding in the three vehicles, for whom it is suitable to hear of ascending to the Buddha fruition after three incalculable eons, and for whom it is suitable to say that Śākyamuni's pure land is in another direction and this Sahā [world] is an impure land. Therefore, in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, in order to turn those of inferior understanding in the three vehicles around, it caused the dragon girl, an unsuitable vessel, to become a Buddha in a kṣaṇa, making clear that the faithful mind is vast and great, not a provisional establishment, but revealing the actual teaching, and that the actual teaching cultivated is not delayed or obstructed. Saying that the dragon girl's age was just eight years old symbolizes that one newly begins learning in this present life, not from ancient study. Being the female of an animal makes clear that it was not accumulated cultivation from the past; this clarifies that faith in the Dharma gate's principle in this life is direct and without obstruction. The essence of the dharmadhātu is not subsumed under the three times; when a single thought corresponds to the true, sentiments regarding the three times are exhausted, and wisdom without rising and setting is itself the Buddha fruition. Therefore the sūtra says: 'For the sake of saving living beings of inferior understanding, I manifest deeds such as the eight phases.' As for the entire assembly of the Sahā world seeing from afar that the dragon girl immediately went to the Southern Undefiled World to become a Buddha, the explanation is: 'South' means bright and correct, because it corresponds to the Li [trigram]. Li represents brightness, the sun, and empty nothingness, which is 'undefiled.' The entire assembly seeing from afar makes clear that the provisional learners of the three vehicles had faith but had not personally realized it, and therefore it says 'saw from afar.' In the single reality of the dharmadhātu, self and other completely penetrate one another; if one had personally attained it, how could it be called 'seeing from afar'? This sūtra directly causes Sudhana to attain Buddhahood in a single lifetime. 'A single lifetime' means that after giving rise to faith from the stage of an ordinary person, one tallies with the unproduced at the initial mind of the ten abodes. This is to be born by giving free rein to the wisdom of the dharmadhātu, not to be born through karma, which will be extensively explained when we reach the text. Now, having briefly brought up the Buddha fruition Dharma gate to which the central theme of this sūtra tends, gentlemen of broad attainment may thoroughly reflect upon it.

8.22

Second, explaining which repository subsumes this sūtra: This sūtra is subsumed by what is called the Vairocana dharmadhātu repository, because it completely encompasses and stores all dharma gates of the ocean of the dharmadhātu, and because this sūtra does not permit the beings embraced by the provisional teachings of the nirmāṇabuddhas of the three vehicles to understand or comprehend it. Bodhisattvas and members of the two vehicles within the teachings of the nirmāṇabuddha cannot comprehend the saṃbhogabuddha dharma gate of the single true dharmadhātu, knowing only their own share of the dharmas of the three vehicles. Even if they are bodhisattvas, they only know a great trichiliocosm as the sphere of a single saṃbhogabuddha, with the hundreds of billions of Śākyamunis being nirmāṇakāyas; they do not comprehend the dharma gates expounded by the saṃbhogabuddha of the real reward dharmadhātu of this One Vehicle. Therefore, this sūtra is also designated as belonging to the Vairocana dharmadhātu, subsumed by the ocean of wisdom of the Buddha fruition, and is not the same as being subsumed under the provisional bodhisattva repository within the teachings of the nirmāṇabuddha for the bodhisattvas of the three vehicles. Therefore, in the subsequent 'Chapter on Entering the Dharmadhātu', the multi-storied pavilion in which Maitreya resides is called the Vairocana Adornment Repository; after Sudhana enters it, he sees only the immeasurable dharma repositories of all buddhas, the gates of practice, the adorned marks of reward, and the infinite marks of merit, all numbering in the asaṃkhyeyas, each fully as expounded in the sūtra. This is the reward of the palaces and multi-storied pavilions where one resides attained through the cause of practicing the Dharma in accordance with the Dharma taught by Vairocana Buddha—a cause and effect accomplished entirely in accordance with the practices of the dharmadhātu repository; so too are the cause and effect of the reward-attained adornments of all buddhas. 'Repository' means containment, because it contains all dharma gates and dharmas of cause and effect throughout the dharmadhātu, all being inexhaustible. The sūtras of the three vehicles mostly use the sands of the Ganges as a measure for the number of dharma gates to establish the meaning of vastness; this One Vehicle sūtra mostly uses the dust motes of a single buddha realm, the dust motes of ten buddha realms, up to the dust motes of immeasurable buddha realms as the measure for the number of dharmas. Furthermore, as for the dharma characteristics of the three vehicles, they take one, two, three, or seven, eight, nine, and ten as numbers; the dharma gates of this sūtra, however, each fully possess ten as their number, in order to clarify that the dharma gates of the Buddha fruition are consummate. Since the scope of the expressive names is different, the dharmas of the Dharma repository must certainly be distinguished. For this reason, this sūtra is subsumed by the Vairocana repository, not by the bodhisattva repository of the three vehicles. This sūtra always takes the Buddha fruition as the path-traces for advancing practice; it is the ancient trace of the Buddha's fundamental great wisdom. Because it cultivates discriminating wisdom, if there is advancing practice that diverges from the Buddha's ancient traces, there is no principle of attaining Buddhahood. As for the three vehicles, they merely escape one portion of the suffering of coarse saṃsāra; they do not cultivate the Buddha Vehicle by according with the ancient traces of the essence of the Buddha's wisdom. Therefore, this sūtra is subsumed by the Vairocana repository, not by the bodhisattva repository of the three vehicles.

8.23

Third, explaining the division of its introductory section: It is divided into two approaches: first, that which encompasses the entire work; second, that which is intrinsic to each chapter. First, that which encompasses the entire work is the 'Chapter on the Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the World'. Second, each chapter has its own introductory section: as within each chapter and each assembly of the sūtra there is always 'at that time, such...', introducing the intention within that chapter in this manner. Furthermore, throughout this entire sūtra, the location of the bodhimaṇḍa where the World-Honoured One resides is introduced five times.

8.24

Question: Why is this so?

8.25

Answer: From the very first fascicle, 'Thus have I heard: at one time the Buddha was in the country of Magadha...', it clarifies that the place where he first attained Buddhahood was within an araṇya. Next, in the second assembly, it also states: 'At that time, the World-Honoured One in the country of Magadha, in the bodhimaṇḍa of the Dharma of the araṇya, having first realized right awakening...', clarifying that without moving from his original place, he resided in the residence of reward, which is the Hall of Universal Light. This clarifies the residence attained as reward through the practice of principle and wisdom; it is provisionally equated with a worldly araṇya, so that only upon realization does one go to reside in this residence. From here on, in ascending to the heavenly palaces, it always states: 'without leaving the original place, his body sat universally in all bodhimaṇḍas,' or states: 'and ascended to such-and-such heaven.' Ascending to the heavens clarifies the advancing practice through the array of stages. Not moving from the original place clarifies the principle of the dharmadhātu, because the wondrous principle of the Dharma-nature has no coming or going, interior or exterior, and because the essence of great wisdom is naturally all-pervasive. Next, in the fortieth fascicle, the 'Chapter on the Ten Samādhis' also states: 'At that time, the World-Honoured One in the country of Magadha, in the bodhimaṇḍa of the Dharma of the araṇya, having first realized right awakening, in the Hall of Universal Light entered the samādhi of the limit of a kṣaṇa,' clarifying that it takes the dharmakāya of the dharmadhātu as the essence of samādhi, having no nature of the three times. From descending from Tuṣita heaven, descending his spirit, to entering nirvāṇa, dwelling in the world for forty years, and turning all wheels of the Dharma, it never departs from the limit of a kṣaṇa, because this samādhi completely penetrates beginning and end and is not the past and present of the three times. Speaking generally of such introductory presentations, all buddhas of past, present, and future attain Buddhahood simultaneously in a single moment, and the birth and death of sentient beings also do not depart from a kṣaṇa; it is only that due to the deluded attachments of sentient beings there are lengths of years. As the Buddha stated, instant birth and instant death do not depart from time. Therefore the sūtra states: 'In a single thought universally viewing immeasurable kalpas, / With no going, no coming, and no staying; / Thus comprehensively knowing the affairs of the three times, / Transcending all expedients to accomplish the ten powers.' In this way, this single chapter of the sūtra comprehensively encompasses the intervals of beginning and end, past and present: there is no coming or going, and the nature of present and past is exhausted. It clarifies that from the stage of an ordinary person, in a single thought generating the resolve, suddenly seeing the Path, advancing to cultivate the dharmas of the five stages—the ten abodes, the ten practices, the ten dedications of merit, the ten grounds, and the eleventh ground—attaining Buddhahood, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and entering nirvāṇa, all do not depart from a kṣaṇa. Because it uses the gate of the dharmadhātu for opening, demonstrating, awakening, and entering, it clarifies that the dharma of the One Vehicle dharmadhātu gate of the ultimate teaching is thus. Therefore, it is elucidated under the name of a samādhi. This chapter entirely brings forth this gate of the quiescence and function of the fundamental dharmadhātu of the One Vehicle; beginning and end are a single interval, with no time-divisions of root and branch, and it is therefore taken as the head of attaining Buddhahood. Next, the 'Chapter on Transcending the World' is also like this: the introductory presentation stating 'having first realized right awakening, up to the Hall of Universal Light' is because Samantabhadra Bodhisattva entered the Buddha-Flower Samādhi. 'Buddha-flower' is the Buddha-practice that is cultivated; 'samādhi' clarifies that quiescence and function are unobstructed. Again being identical to the location of the previous introductory presentation clarifies that the cultivation of the essence and function of Buddha-practice has no beginning or end, is constantly consummate, and has no three times. This chapter clarifies that cultivating with the practices of Samantabhadra also takes the great wisdom of the essence of the dharmadhātu to constantly accompany all practices, completely encompassing the three times while still not departing from the limit of a kṣaṇa, clarifying that all practices are precisely the essence and function of the dharmadhātu. Introductory presentations such as these all clarify that time does not move, nor does place move, because the bodhimaṇḍa has no middle or edge. The myriad practices cultivated are always equally such, with the kṣaṇa and the three times neither increasing nor decreasing, having no going and no coming. Next, the 'Chapter on Entering the Dharmadhātu' states: 'At that time, the World-Honoured One was in Śrāvastī, in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍada's Park...'—this brings forth the main principle. What the Tathāgata rides penetrates front and back; the heavens, the human realm, and the worlds of the ten directions all take the dharmadhātu as their essence, not an unreal essence. Because sentient beings follow delusion and do not comprehend it, this chapter entirely brings forth the sovereign quiescence and function of the essence of the completely inconceivable dharmadhātu in the heavens, the human realm, and the worlds of the ten directions, causing sentient beings to awaken and enter. Therefore, in this single chapter, the Tathāgata expounds solely by means of inconceivable spiritual power without relying on spoken words, clarifying that the world is entirely true and entirely spiritual, with no arising or disappearing, in order to clarify that the dharmadhātu universally encompasses all, and that front and back are fundamentally a single interval. It need not introduce the bodhimaṇḍa identically [to the others], because bodhi is precisely the dharmadhātu, and because the previous assemblies are entirely within the assembly of the dharmadhātu; therefore, it is introduced in this manner. The essence and function of the ten assemblies are comprehensively encompassed entirely by this chapter, because it is the fundamental matrix of a single essence, a single time, a single nature, and a single wisdom. Introducing his first realization of right awakening five times comprehensively clarifies that this dharmadhātu is expounded at one time without before or after. In this way, within this single sūtra, the 'Chapter on the Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the World', the 'Chapter on the Names of the Buddha', the 'Chapter on the Ten Samādhis', and the 'Chapter on Transcending the World' four times reiteratively introduce first realizing right awakening in the Hall of Universal Light, while the 'Chapter on Entering the Dharmadhātu' only speaks of Anāthapiṇḍada's Park. As for the general import of these five chapters of the sūtra, there are five kinds of pervasion of the Buddha fruition, which comprehensively encompass the remaining chapters. The import of these five chapters is a reiterative narration, simply because for these five kinds of pervasion of the cause and effect of the dharmadhātu, within the limit of a single kṣaṇa the five affairs are manifested at once, encompassing and subsuming all stages entirely within them, accomplishing the great wisdom fruition of the dharmadhātu. Because of this, there are five chapter headings that resemble one another, and only the 'Chapter on Entering the Dharmadhātu' speaks uniquely of Anāthapiṇḍada's Park. What are the five kinds of pervasive cause and effect?

8.26

First, the 'Chapter on the Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the World' clarifies the pervasion of the realization of the Buddha fruition; the sūtra states: 'Without moving from the original place, his body sat universally in all bodhimaṇḍas.'

8.27

Second, the 'Chapter on the Names of the Buddha', expounded in the Hall of Universal Light, clarifies that the saṃbhogakāya, the names of the lands, and the dharma gates manifest transformation and benefit beings pervasively. In this assembly six chapters are expounded, accomplishing the Buddha fruition of the stage of faith; this clarifies that the mind of faith is pervasive.

8.28

Third, the 'Chapter on the Ten Samādhis': the Tathāgata enters the samādhi of the limit of a kṣaṇa; by means of this samādhi, he universally encompasses this sūtra, and the immeasurable kalpas of the three times are entirely a single time, fundamentally being thus. Because the Buddha accords with the Way, he naturally manifests his fundamental Dharma to attain Buddhahood and expound the sūtra, and the time of entering extinction has no movement; this clarifies that the quiescence and function of the fundamental nature and essence of the Buddha's great wisdom, as the essence of samādhi, is pervasive. Even up to entering nirvāṇa, dwelling in the world for forty years to expound the Dharma, he has not yet emerged while in the mother's womb, and has not yet descended while in Tuṣita heaven; because the essence of the limit of true reality is thus, having no nature of coming or going, past or present.

8.29

Fourth, the 'Chapter on Transcending the World' clarifies taking the great wisdom of the fundamentally quiescent samādhi of the dharmadhātu's own essence as the essence of Samantabhadra's practice, which precisely clarifies that enlightened practice is pervasive. 'Buddha-flower' is enlightened practice; 'samādhi' is the essence of original awakening.

8.30

Fifth, the "Chapter on Entering the Dharmadhātu" clarifies the all-pervasiveness of the Buddha-fruit of great wisdom that is the fundamental essence of the dharmadhātu. These five kinds of all-pervasiveness all take the dharmadhātu as their essence and are universally one single teaching gate of all-pervasiveness. Because these five kinds of all-pervasiveness completely encompass all stages and all distinctions, fearing that people would fail to understand and thereby lose its intended import, the preface and design are set in five places within the single sūtra, their titles linked and mutually subsuming front and back, in order to clarify that because this sūtra takes the essence of phenomena as originally devoid of sequence, root and branch, two extremes and the middle, or length of duration, it is like a king's precious seal stamping all at once, without forming characters in sequence. Stamping all stages with the precious seal of the Dharma merely clarifies that because the habits of practice in the five stages, the ten abodes, the ten practices, and so forth differ, their nature is without distinction; through the principle of the six characteristics of the ten mysteries—totality and particularity, identity and difference, formation and disintegration—harmoniously merging, the principle becomes self-evident. The meaning of these six characters forms three pairs of pratītyasamutpāda, and the six characters completely encompass the myriad phenomena: first, the pair of totality and particularity; second, the pair of identity and difference; third, the pair of formation and disintegration. Totality is not separated from them; one cannot discard one and retain the other, nor can one establish both or abandon both. All views of annihilationism, eternalism, arising, ceasing, the middle, and the extremes are mental reckonings; they fail to realize that phenomena are self-naturally born from conditions. This can only be understood through the power of unreflective correct wisdom; to know it by conceptual thought is merely faithful mind. This is the first-ground bodhisattva's contemplation of all conditioned phenomena in the world: although entirely simultaneous, they are not bound to co-existence; although entirely possessing particulars, none have self-nature. One cannot bind phenomena to mutual nonexistence. The other two pairs are also like this. They are all bounds imposed by the sentiments of existence, nonexistence, neither existence nor nonexistence, co-existence, non-coexistence, permanence, and impermanence. Like all conditionally arisen phenomena, they are like an echo in the empty sky, originally unconditioned of themselves, yet producing sound in response to things. It is like an expert diviner with yarrow stalks and tortoise shells: without thought and without action, neither ghostly nor divine, yet responding to conditions he is able to know the myriad existences and tell people of good and bad fortune, past and present, as clearly as pointing to his own palm. One should understand it in this way. Spontaneous conditioned arising of phenomena is not like mental conceptions. The gates of the one and the many, totality and particularity, and all identities and differences, as well as all formation and disintegration, are not bound to sequence, simultaneity, or the like. The principle of the teaching gate of the dharmadhātu is also like this: none are sequence, existence, nonexistence, or simultaneity; co-existence or non-coexistence, whether extinguished or retained, are bounds imposed by sentiment. They are all the nature-origination of great compassion and unconditioned great vows, following the conditioned arising of phenomena, matching unconditioned wisdom, neither old nor new. Setting forth the turning of the wheel of the true Dharma, and manifestations of arising and ceasing, cannot be understood through [notions of] old, new, coming, or going; they are all due to the sovereign power of the Tathāgata's wisdom free of arising and ceasing. Although distinct from the Two Vehicles' personal quiescence and grasping of realization—which extinguish sentiments and annihilate wisdom—they immediately give rise to great vows and the like to benefit all sentient beings without notions of vows; although using great loving-kindness and great compassion to benefit sentient beings, they are without notions of attachment; although entering birth and death, they are not submerged in the mire; although abiding in nirvāṇa, they benefit people in the worlds of the ten directions without cessation. These are all the wisdom-power of the Tathāgata that is without self-nature, without reliance, and unconditioned, and none of it can be understood through concepts of past, future, present, ancient, or modern.

8.31

Fourth, determining its main teaching: there are three kinds of main teaching: first, the main teaching according to stage; second, the main teaching according to chapter; third, the main teaching according to the overall essence.

8.32

First, if it is the main teaching according to stage, the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, ten grounds, and eleventh ground each have their main teaching. The ten faiths take the Buddha's fundamental immovable wisdom as their main teaching. The ten abodes take the wondrous wisdom of the principle-essence of the Tathāgata's fruitional virtues, which is the wisdom of realizing and entering the dharmadhātu, as their main teaching. The ten practices take the cultivation of giving rise to Samantabhadra's practices based on the Buddha's fundamental wisdom as their main teaching. The ten dedications take the harmonious merging of principle and wisdom, ultimate and conventional, giving rise to great vows to accomplish compassion and wisdom, and causing principle and wisdom, great compassion, to be balanced and even, leaning neither to quietude nor disturbance, as their main teaching. The ten grounds take the accumulated cultivation of compassion and wisdom, making them habitual so that their efficacy delivers [beings], as their main teaching. The eleventh ground takes Samantabhadra's practices being equal to the stream of sentient beings' feelings, permeating the ocean of the dharmadhātu, and spontaneous function to benefit living beings, as its main teaching. This is the main teaching according to stage.

First 32 of 63 passages. Read on

Linked texts (1)

新華嚴經論 — Classical Chinese