大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 4.49

4.49

經云「又祕密主」以下，廣演漫荼羅義，釋除疑妨。復分為三：初明法界圓壇普門無限、次明限人簡眾生所由、末句勸囑阿闍梨令興平等悲願。就初文中，「哀愍無邊眾生界，是大悲胎藏生漫荼羅廣義」者，若行人自見中胎藏時，即知一切眾生悉有成佛因緣，故其所起大悲漫荼羅亦周法界。且如十世界微塵數諸執金剛菩薩眾等，隨以一門作漫荼羅主，餘為眷屬，則成一種漫荼羅。如是旋轉無窮已，非算數譬喻之所能及。何況是中各以無量門莊嚴、種種方便引攝眾生，又可勝紀乎？若行者於此一字法門中，攝廣為略、衍略為廣，出生法財遍施一切常無斷盡，乃名善解漫荼羅廣義也。次云「祕密主！如來於無量劫，積集阿耨多羅三藐三菩提之所加持，是故具無量德。當如是知」者，此釋廣義所由也。如《花嚴》入法界諸善知識，各各於一門中所通達法深廣無際，然亦互不相知。如來昔行菩薩道時，普門親近如是等佛剎微塵數諸善知識，於彼一一功德藏皆到極無等比無過上味。以如是內證之德無量無邊故，其所加持現作法門眷屬亦復無量無邊。彼真言門行者，當通泰其心作如是解也。已知內德無限，次明本地漫荼羅度人無限。何以故？以副大悲願故。故經文次云「祕密主！非為一眾生故，如來成正等覺。亦非二非多，為憐慜無餘記及有餘記諸眾生故，如來成正等覺。以大悲願力，於無量眾生界，如其本性而演說法。」此中發菩提心義，如〈入法界品〉及《智度》摩訶薩論議中廣說也。無餘記者，如佛現前授決：某甲眾生於某劫中作佛，號某如來，有如是國土眷屬等。以了了記故，名無餘記也。有餘記者，如告眾生言：「汝於未來某佛時當畢是罪，某甲如來為汝授記。」之類是也。復次如世尊說：「若我在世或滅度後，諸有聞《法華經》一句一偈，我皆為授無上菩提記。」是名無餘記。若言一切眾生悉有佛性，彼生善根相續不斷，當至無上菩提。是名有餘記也。我本為此等眾生來成等正覺，況今所願以滿，開眾生自心之寶，如其本性而給與之，當有何限耶？且據惡世弘經淺行之一迹，故云一期法事劑至十人耳。從此以下第二句，即釋此限人簡眾所由。

From where the sūtra says, "Furthermore, Lord of Secrets," onward, it broadly expounds the meaning of the maṇḍala to resolve doubts and difficulties. It is again divided into three parts: first, explaining that the round altar of the dharmadhātu is universally accessible without limit; second, explaining the reason for restricting people and screening the assembly; and the final phrase exhorts and entrusts the ācārya to arouse an equal vow of compassion. In the first section, where it says, "Having pity on the boundless realm of sentient beings is the broad meaning of the Maṇḍala Born of the Great Compassion Womb": when practitioners themselves see the central womb, they immediately know that all sentient beings possess the causes and conditions to become buddhas; thus the maṇḍala of mahākaruṇā they arouse also pervades the dharmadhātu. Take, for example, the assembly of vajradhara bodhisattvas, as numerous as dust motes in ten worlds: if each uses a single gateway as the lord of the maṇḍala and the rest as the retinue, this forms one kind of maṇḍala. Revolving endlessly in this manner, it is beyond the reach of calculation and metaphor. How much more so when each is adorned with immeasurable gateways, using various upāyas to attract and gather sentient beings—how could they ever be fully recorded? If a practitioner, in this single-syllable Dharma gateway, gathers the broad into the concise and expands the concise into the broad, producing the Dharma wealth and bestowing it universally upon all without ever ending, this is called possessing a good understanding of the broad meaning of the maṇḍala. Next, where it says, "Lord of Secrets! The Tathāgata, through immeasurable kalpas, has accumulated that which is empowered by anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and therefore possesses immeasurable virtues. You should know it thus": this explains the reason for the broad meaning. Just as with the good spiritual friends in the Avataṃsaka who entered the dharmadhātu, each penetratively reached a Dharma in a single gateway that was unfathomably deep and boundless, yet they did not know each other. When the Tathāgata formerly practiced the bodhisattva path, he universally approached such good spiritual friends, as numerous as the dust motes of buddha-lands, and in each of their treasuries of merit, he attained the ultimate, incomparable flavor that has none superior. Because such internally realized virtues are immeasurable and boundless, the retinues of Dharma gateways manifested by his adhiṣṭhāna are also immeasurable and boundless. Practitioners of the mantra gateway should broaden their minds and understand it in this way. Having understood that the internal virtues are limitless, it next explains that the maṇḍala of the fundamental ground liberates people without limit. Why? Because it accords with the vow of mahākaruṇā. Therefore, the sūtra text next says: "Lord of Secrets! Not for the sake of a single sentient being did the Tathāgata achieve complete awakening. Nor for two, nor for many; for the sake of pitying those sentient beings who have received prophecies without remainder and those with remainder, the Tathāgata achieved complete awakening. Through the power of his vow of mahākaruṇā, he expounds the Dharma in the immeasurable realms of sentient beings according to their original nature." Here, the meaning of generating the bodhicitta is expounded at length in the 'Chapter on Entering the Dharmadhātu' and in the discussion of mahāsattvas in the Da zhidu lun. 'Prophecy without remainder' refers to when the Buddha confers a prophecy in person: such-and-such a sentient being in such-and-such a kalpa will become a buddha named such-and-such a Tathāgata, with such lands and retinues, and so forth. Because it is a distinct prophecy, it is called a 'prophecy without remainder'. 'Prophecy with remainder' refers to telling a sentient being: 'In the future, at the time of such-and-such a buddha, you will exhaust this sin, and such-and-such a Tathāgata will bestow a prophecy upon you'—this is of that sort. Furthermore, it is as the World-Honoured One said: 'Whether I am in the world or after my passing, all who hear a single phrase or a single verse of the Lotus Sūtra, I confer upon them all the prophecy of unsurpassed bodhi.' This is called a prophecy without remainder. If one says that all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature, and that their arising wholesome roots will continue without interruption and will eventually reach unsurpassed bodhi, this is called a prophecy with remainder. I originally came to achieve equal, complete awakening for the sake of such sentient beings; how much more so now that my vow has been fulfilled, opening the jewel of sentient beings' own minds and giving it to them according to their original nature—what limit could there be? It is merely based on one trace of propagating the sūtra through shallow practice in an evil age that it is said the ritual for one period is limited to ten people. From here onward, the second section explains the reason for restricting the people and screening the assembly.