新華嚴經論 8.59

8.59

The seventh assembly is spoken in the Third Dhyāna; this single assembly explains one million koṭis of gāthās, but the text that has arrived here is incomplete. As the Yingluo benye jing states in detail: "After converting the people of the three vehicles, the Tathāgata led them beneath the bodhi tree and retrospectively explained the sequence of assemblies of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra at the time he first achieved Buddhahood." That sūtra states in detail: "Counting this one assembly, there are altogether ten locations, ten assemblies, and forty chapters of the sūtra, because the tens upon tens of teachings in this sūtra are all perfected." This clarifies that within the Three Dhyānas, the First Dhyāna eliminates sorrow, and the Second Dhyāna extinguishes suffering; sorrow and suffering having been eliminated, the Third Dhyāna consists solely of the joyful bliss of the Dharma. Still, because of this Dharma bliss, the movement of joy still remains; because the movement of joy remains, form and mind still persist. This form and mind are forms of non-conceptual joy in the bliss of dhyāna, not like the forms of the desire realm. Because the mind has forms of non-conceptual dhyāna bliss, the in-and-out breaths still remain; having obtained a pure body as retribution, the body is like gleaming snow, the garments are like golden color, exceeding the body by double; when moving, they roam in space without their feet touching the ground. In the First Dhyāna the body is two and a half li; in the Second Dhyāna the body is five li; in the Third Dhyāna the body is ten li; the garments are twice the size of the body, as will be explained in detail when reaching the text. Explaining the teaching of the eleventh ground in this heaven symbolizes that in the stage of equal awakening, one accords with the dharmakāya to practice its myriad practices, teaching and transforming sentient beings throughout the dharmadhātu, constantly experiencing Dharma bliss. Arriving at the Fourth Dhyāna is lodged as being identical to the Buddha stage; therefore, matching the true Dharma-nature, there are no in-and-out breaths, and it universally pervades in accordance with principle; sentient beings see that the ignorance of karmic habits and delusion regarding phenomena is entirely extinguished all at once; worldly and transworldly phenomena are exhausted in every aspect; hence it is called the meaning of "Various Radiance Pervading Everywhere." Because wisdom is perfected, the Dharma is symbolized in this way; it does not mean an actual ascending and descending, coming and going like this. It is simply that the dharmakāya's great wisdom—the sun of all-knowledge in empty space—manifests a physical body, universally manifesting all images throughout the dharmadhātu in accordance with the water of their capacities. This single assembly surpasses the preceding ten grounds and transcends the two heavens of the First and Second Dhyānas, clarifying that the wisdom of this eleventh ground increases manifold. Using the ascent to heaven to lodge the location symbolizes that the advancement of the Dharma becomes progressively free and unhindered; it is not that the Dharma belongs to that heaven, for it pervades all places.