華嚴五十要問答 1.16

1.16

Question: What is the difference between becoming a buddha in a single thought-moment and becoming a buddha over many kalpas?

Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, one is definitely able to become a buddha only when the great kalpas of cosmic formation and destruction fulfill three asaṃkhyeyas; there is no becoming a buddha in a single thought-moment. According to the triyāna teaching, one may become a buddha in a single thought-moment. This has two meanings: first, because the moment the stage of awakening to the principle is fulfilled is only a single thought-moment; second, when converging conditions into reality, the nature of dharmas has neither much nor little, long nor short—one's attainment is the attainment of all, and the attainment of all is one's attainment. If based on a single trichiliocosm, becoming a buddha definitely takes three asaṃkhyeyas; this relies on the meaning of asaṃkhyeya according to the one hundred and twenty numbers of the Avataṃsaka. If extended to other worlds, it is also not definitely three asaṃkhyeyas, as spoken in the Suvikrāntavikrāmiparipṛcchā-sūtra. According to the Ekayāna meaning, the time periods for becoming a buddha are all indeterminate, because the time periods in the worlds of the ten directions, such as the Indra-net worlds, are different; all are spoken based on the respective saṃbhoga-stages, where conditioned kalpas mutually create and interpenetrate one another, so there is no fixed time, yet this does not contradict the dharma of time.