華嚴一乘教義分齊章 4.48

4.48

Fourth is the approach of the realm of Indra's net. This merely differs from the former by adopting a metaphor. The substances and characteristics of the various meanings above are unfettered, mutually manifesting through concealment and revelation, multilayered and inexhaustible. Therefore, this sūtra says: 'In a single fine dust particle, / They each display nayutas / Of innumerable billions of buddhas, / Who expound the Dharma therein. / In a single fine dust particle, / They manifest immeasurable buddha-lands, / Sumeru, and the iron encircling mountains, / Without crowding the world. / In a single fine dust particle, / There appear the three miserable destinies, / Gods, humans, and asuras, / Each experiencing their retribution.' These three verses are precisely the three worlds. It also says: 'Equal to the fine dust particles of all buddha-lands, / That many buddhas sit within a single pore; / They all have immeasurable assemblies of bodhisattvas, / To each of whom they fully expound the Samantabhadra conduct. / Immeasurable oceans of lands dwell in a single hair[-pore], / All seated upon bodhi lotus thrones, / Pervading all Dharma-realms, / Manifesting unfettered in every pore.' It also says: 'Just as it is manifested in a single fine dust particle, / So it is in all fine dust particles.' Boundless other statements like this are detailed in the sūtra. All of these are real meanings, not created by magical transformation. This is the realm of the measure of things within gnosis that accords with principle. Other magical transformations and so forth do not enter this category. Why is that? Because all of these are real virtues of the household of the Dharma-nature, naturally like this; they are not the sphere of discursive emotional consciousness. One should reflect on this, casting off ordinary sentiment.
Question: 'The manifestation of immeasurable buddha-lands and so forth within a single dust particle above is merely a single layer of manifestation; why then do you say it manifests multilayered?'
Answer: 'When this region expounds the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra*, it says that it is also expounded like this in all fine dust particles. When the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* is expounded within that fine dust particle, it also says that it is also expounded like this in all fine dust particles. Unfolding in this way from one to the next, it is multilayered and inexhaustible; one should consider it accordingly.'
Question: 'According to this text, what is the demarcation of being multilayered and inexhaustible? How does one explain its beginning, end, and so forth?'
Answer: 'According to what wisdom apprehends, whichever is raised becomes the primary, and the rest become its companions. The one taken as the primary is placed in the center, and the rest are the retinue surrounding it. The teachings, meanings, and so forth above are all unfettered and accomplished in this way. In turn, the aforementioned unfettered mutual identity, mutual interpenetration, and so forth all subsume all phenomena in this way, and the inexhaustible Dharma-realm is entirely accomplished through Indra['s net].'