大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 1.9

1.9

Regarding 'A sovereign king of great pavilions produced through the tathāgata's play of spiritual transformations in resolute faith, lofty without middle or edge, variously adorned with kings of great exquisite jewels, with the bodies of bodhisattvas serving as lion thrones': the great assembly having gathered, there must be a place for preaching the Dharma; hence it next explains the pavilion where he dwells and the lion throne. 'Resolute faith' refers to the stage generally called the ground of resolute faith, from the initial true arousal of the mind up to attaining buddhahood. In Sanskrit it is vikrīḍita, which means leaping, sporting, and spiritual transformation; it means that from the initial arousal of the mind onward, having deeply planted good roots and raised diverse vows and practices, adorning buddha-lands and bringing sentient beings to maturity, constantly advancing with supreme progress without resting, this is the sense of ascending and leaping up. Just as a person dances and gestures vigorously, able with skillful three karmas to bring universal joy to the minds of the multitude, so this leaping is called 'play'. Such play is precisely the bodhisattva's sovereign spiritual powers. This means that when Vairocana originally practiced the bodhisattva path, through the samādhi of the single-essence swift power, he made offerings to immeasurable good spiritual friends and universally practiced immeasurable pāramitā gateways; the phenomena of benefiting oneself and benefiting others were fully complete, enabling him to attain this pavilion of the dharmadhātu, esoterically adorned and assembled from the jewels of tathāgata-wisdom. Among everything produced by true retributive reward, it is foremost, just as the cintāmaṇi is the king among all jewels; hence it is called 'a sovereign king of great pavilions produced through the play of spiritual transformations'. Its height is endless, and one should know its breadth is also boundless, because its edges cannot be found. Nor is there a middle; as this is the dwelling place of the body that pervades all places, one should know that such a pavilion likewise pervades all places. Next it clarifies the marks of the pavilion's adornment: just as someone adorns vajra with various multi-colored vajras, yet their nature has no distinction. Now it is also like this: it still adorns the sovereign king of pavilions with the sovereign kings of the tathāgata's diverse jewels of merits. Why? Because there is no other phenomenon that exceeds such jewel-nature. Yet these foremost marks of quiescence, through the tathāgata's power of adhiṣṭhāna, cause those who should be saved to follow the symbolic images of various Dharma-gateways: if they can be seen, heard, touched, or known, they use this as a gateway to enter the dharmadhātu, like the story of the youth Sudhana entering Maitreya's palace. Here it should be explained at length that 'the bodies of bodhisattvas serve as lion thrones': as stated above, the Vajradharmadhātu Palace is precisely the tathāgata's body. Next, the sovereign king of great pavilions is also the tathāgata's body. Now, the lion throne should be known to be likewise. The reason it says 'bodhisattvas' bodies' is that when originally practicing the bodhisattva path, one successively practiced the bhūmi-pāramitās up to the eleventh bhūmi. One should know that each subsequent bhūmi takes the preceding bhūmi as its foundation; hence it is said that the tathāgata takes bodhisattvas' bodies as his lion throne. The Śāstra states: 'Just as a lion walks alone among the beasts without fear, so too the Buddha completely subdues the ninety-six kinds of non-Buddhists without fear; hence he is called the lion among men. The place where he sits, whether a couch or the ground, is called a lion throne.' Now in this tradition, expounding the meaning: 'lion' refers to the courageous bodhicitta. From the initial resolve onward, having obtained the great power of vigor without cowardice, just as whatever a lion seizes it captures without fail, so it is the sovereign saving of people without running in vain. If explained in a shallow and brief manner, it means that the bodhisattvas revere the Dharma with a profound mind, even carrying the Buddha's lion throne upon their bodies; hence it is said that 'the bodies of bodhisattvas serve as lion thrones'.