華嚴五十要問答 2.9

2.9

Question: In the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, the dhāraṇī gate reveals all dharma gates; what are its characteristics? Answer: The treatise itself cites the Siddhaṃ syllabary: the twelve vowel sounds such as a (wu luo fan), and the thirty-six consonant half-graphs such as ka (jiu wo fan). By adding sounds to half-graphs, multiplying them successively, all full graphs are formed. Yet their graph forms still do not depart from their fundamental graph sounds: the one is within the many, for within the many there is one initial half-graph and initial sound, hence the many are within the one. Within the one there is the capacity for many graph sounds, hence the one is the many; because the half-graphs and sounds form the function of many graphs, the many are the one. Because full graphs and so forth are destroyed and formed through half-graphs and initial sounds, and because this dharma of graphs and dhāraṇī is understood by gods and humans alike, this is cited to establish the method of dhāraṇī; one should apply it accordingly. The ultimate application of this method is in the Ekayāna; its partial application is in the triyāna; in other vehicles it is not definitive.