新華嚴經論 9.38

9.38

Tenth, now I, Tongxuan, determine the time of preaching according to this Avataṃsaka dharmadhātu approach: I still determine its time based on the fundamental teaching itself, completely unlike the above [theories]. Relying on the real, the Tathāgata appears in the world to benefit beings, also causing them to reach the real. If everyone follows their own sentiments, they will be endlessly bewildered in the painful destinies for eternal kalpas, going against the real and chasing after the false. The Buddha's intent was not like that. The sūtra itself has clear text; why must one contradict the teaching? Chasing the provisional and turning away from the ultimate, when would obstructive karma cease? As the "Chapter on the Ten Samādhis" says, "The Tathāgata appears in the world and enters nirvāṇa at the limit of a kṣaṇa"—there is no time at all. Speaking of the "limit of a kṣaṇa" is merely borrowing words. Because there is no time, he appears at all times, preaches the Dharma at all times, and enters nirvāṇa at all times; this is because quiescence and function are unobstructed, and because he manifests in accordance with the minds of sentient beings. Furthermore, as the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says, "Since I attained Buddhahood, immeasurable asaṃkhyeya kalpas have passed." Because there is no time that can be measured, it is called "immeasurable." This is the time when the Buddha preached the Dharma, and taking this as definitive, one does not follow worldly sentiment in conceiving distant thoughts of immeasurability. Because no time is the time of the Buddha's preaching, the fundamental time is spoken of in terms of the fundamental teaching. The "fundamental time" is the timelessness of the dharmadhātu. As for "appearing in the world and entering nirvāṇa at the limit of a kṣaṇa" in the "Chapter on the Ten Samādhis," the meaning is that time cannot be moved, just as the limit of a kṣaṇa; it entirely clarifies that the dharmadhātu is a time that cannot be shifted. Now, determining the time of preaching this sūtra is simply that the sentiments regarding past, present, and future, ancient and modern, are exhausted—this is taken as the fundamental time of preaching, and one must not rely on the previous provisional teachings that follow sentiments to guide and receive [beings].