華嚴五十要問答 1.18

1.18

Question: According to the characteristics of the various teachings, what is the nature of the responsive transformations of the buddhas of other regions?

Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, there are no buddhas of other regions. Even if there were, it would be this world's Buddha going there to manifest transformations. According to the triyāna teaching, all the buddhas in the pure lands of the ten directions are true saṃbhoga[kāyas] without transformations. If provisionally manifested, indeterminate in beginning or end, causing the capacities of sentient beings to recognize them as transformations, they belong to the scope of transformation. If contrasting the two buddhas at the Akaniṣṭha and under the Bodhi tree, there are two meanings: first, using the transformation to reveal the saṃbhoga—namely, beneath the Bodhi tree revealing that the Buddha in the Ocean of the Padmagarbha-lokadhātu is the saṃbhoga; second, using the saṃbhoga to reveal the transformation—adducing the lofty and vast body attained at the Akaniṣṭha to reveal that [the Buddha] beneath the Bodhi tree is the transformation. According to the Ekayāna, there are only the ten buddhas; spoken according to the division of practice, it does not distinguish between the meanings of arising through cultivation and fundamentally existent. If one fundamentally understands the Great Way, essence is the essence of all kinds, marks are the marks of all kinds, and function is the function of all kinds. The manifestation of buddhas in all directions, whether in name or meaning, are all manifested based on Śākyamuni's sāgara-mudrā-samādhi; there are no separate buddhas.