大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 4.49

4.49

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.