大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 6.158

6.158

Where the sūtra states, "Then the Buddha entered the samādhi of the single essence swift power of all tathāgatas," it means that upon entering this samādhi, one directly realizes and knows that all tathāgatas share the same jñāna essence of the dharmadhātu. In a single instant of thought, one can successively observe the samādhi gateways, which are as numerous as the fine dust particles in oceans of immeasurable worlds, knowing that such-and-such numbers of sentient beings should attain entrance to the path in those respective samādhi gateways; knowing that such-and-such spiritual benefactors have already created the causes and conditions of the seed for such-and-such sentient beings, or have not yet created the causes and conditions of the seed for such-and-such sentient beings; or that there are sentient beings who, by entering such a Dharma gateway, can transcend and attain buddhahood, while by entering another Dharma gateway, they will be delayed for a long time and unable to attain buddhahood. Because their various faculties and dispositions are thus different, their expedients for advancing also vary accordingly; and even playing within them, successively cultivating, entering, leaving, and transcending the world, in each single gateway one is able to bring immeasurable sentient beings to fulfillment; hence it is named "the samādhi of the single essence swift power." At that time, after the Bhagavat had observed comprehensively, he completely understood that the various samādhi paths equally return to a single essence and are all the Buddha vehicle; and for the sake of the Vajradhara, he further expounded the mudrā of realizing bodhi within all samādhi paths. First, there are two verses clarifying the external traces of realizing buddhahood, which means: When I first sat at the bodhimanda, through this samādhi of the single essence swift power, I subdued the host of heavenly māras. Yet herein there was that which was even harder to subdue—namely, the māras such as afflictions, which have no shape, direction, or footprints and are difficult to detect—and in a single instant of thought, these too were utterly extinguished; hence it says "subduing the four māras." As for "with the voice of great diligence," it means that the Buddha spoke truthful words to Māra Pāpīyān: "For immeasurable and incalculable eons, in order to tame sentient beings, I discarded my bodily life in numbers beyond reckoning, and now all have been brought to fulfillment. Because there is the capacity to enter the path, I am about to realize bodhi and open the pure eye for those sentient beings. How could your power create any obstacle?" As soon as he uttered this sound, all the terrors of sentient beings were entirely removed; the heavenly māras were bewildered, threw themselves to the ground, and immediately retreated and scattered. If there are sentient beings who receive and uphold such a triangular mudrā, it removes even the immeasurable terrors in the Avīci hell, not to speak of the terrors of heavenly māras, ghosts, spirits, and the like. Therefore it says, "With the voice of great diligence, / he removes the terrors of sentient beings." At that time the earth deities rejoiced and successively proclaimed it, until the sound reached the Śuddhāvāsa. At that time sentient beings of the eight classes, such as the Mahābrahmā heavens, merely saw these external traces of subduing māras; therefore renown arose, and he was titled "the Great Diligent One." Yet the place where I truly realized buddhahood cannot be fathomed by them; hence there follow two verses clarifying the real meaning of bodhi. As for "I awakened to the originally unborn," it means that awakening to one's own mind being from the origin unborn is itself realizing buddhahood, yet in reality there is nothing awakened and nothing realized. All sentient beings, not understanding this eternal quiescence, form conceptual discriminations and falsely claim there is birth, sinking and revolving in the six destinies, unable to escape on their own. Now, even though they hear the sound of the true Dharma, they still search, calculate, and hope to realize buddhahood within various conditioned events and traces—how could there be any principle of attaining it? As for "transcending the path of language," from here onward it further explains the syllable A gateway. Awakening to the originally unborn is the Dharma personally realized by buddha after buddha; it cannot be reached by cogitation or discrimination, nor can it be transmitted to others. The Dazhidulun calls it the place where "language is exhausted and the mind does not function." As for "liberated from all faults," all false thoughts and discriminations are called "faults"—namely, the various kinds of prapañca such as arising and ceasing, annihilation and permanence, coming and going, unity and difference. Because they do not know the dharmatā of all phenomena, these can all be refuted and overturned. If one understands that all phenomena are originally without any limit of arising, one is liberated from all such faults; therefore the vajra body is far removed from the hundred negations. As for "far removed from all causes and conditions," if the essence of the dharmadhātu had the characteristics of arising and ceasing, then there would be causes and conditions that could be expounded. But now, phenomena arise from conditions and thus have no intrinsic nature; if they have no intrinsic nature, they are originally unborn; when causes and conditions assemble, nothing arises, and when causes and conditions disperse, nothing is exhausted; therefore, like the pure open sky, it is eternally changeless. The Great Sūtra also says that only the Tathāgata is free from all causes and conditions. As for "knowing that emptiness is equal to open sky," being originally unborn is the meaning of ultimate emptiness; because it is naturally pure, limitless, and free from discrimination, it is identical with the great void; therefore, through the emptiness easily understood in the world, the inconceivable emptiness is illustrated. As for "knowledge of the dharmatā arises," the dharmatā of the mind is Vairocana pervading all places. When the Buddha sat at the bodhimaṇḍa and understood in accordance with the characteristics of reality, the various views not in accord with reality were all extinguished without remainder; therefore sarvajña-wisdom is equal to the open sky. As for "already free from all darkness," not knowing all characteristics of phenomena in accord with reality is avidya. Therefore, when one awakens to the originally unborn, the light that pervades the dharmadhātu arises, observing all phenomena with all aspects, so that there is nothing not seen, heard, touched, or known. As for "supreme, real, and immaculate," this most real reality has nothing superior to it and is called the supreme limit of reality. That is to say, the naturally pure mind, being free from all darkness, leaves the Buddha's knowledge and vision without any further defilement; all these further explain the meaning of the originally unborn. Next, two lines conclude: "The destinies are merely conceptual names, / and the marks of the Buddha are also like this." This means that sentient beings of the six destinies and Vairocana originally do not have two essences; it is merely that in accordance with the various false imaginations of sentient beings, various names are established. The Buddha is also like this: all the world merely sees the traces of my subduing māras, realizing the path, and saving people through expedients, and they praise and speak of them according to the marks of their own minds, calling him "Great Śramaṇa" or "Great Diligent One," up to the immeasurable different names in a single world expounded in the Avataṃsaka; it does not mean that within the Dharma personally realized, it can be denoted as they speak of it. The next verse further explains and connects with conventional truth, clarifying the origin from which the teaching arises. Therefore it says, "This supreme limit of reality, / by the power of adhiṣṭhāna, / is expounded in letters / for the sake of crossing over the worlds." It means that when viewed with the Buddha eye, such various names and words do not exceed the supreme limit of reality; yet because the causes and conditions for sentient beings to enter the path are manifold, if they should be delivered through letters and language, the Tathāgata, without moving from the limit of reality, empowers those sounds and letters with sovereign spiritual power and expounds them. If sentient beings cultivate in accordance with the Dharma and attain correspondence with the three mysteries, they will know that conventional truth is not different from ultimate truth.