華嚴經內章門等雜孔目章 2.98

2.98

When the Buddha arises to display virtues and extends transformation to gather sentient beings, the demarcations of the various schools are not the same. If relying on the Hīnayāna, the real Buddha is the reward body, born in the royal palace and attaining Buddhahood under the Bodhi tree; the transformative function and virtues that gather sentient beings are all contained within this. If relying on the Triyāna, the dharma body is directionless and pervades the dharma-nature, the reward body is accomplished in the Akaniṣṭha heaven (Akanistha / Rūpaprathama / Sejiujing chu), and the transformation body is manifested at the Bodhi tree; the transformative functions and virtues are none of them separate from these three stages. If it is the meaning of the Ekayāna, all virtues are not separate from two kinds of ten Buddhas: first, the ten Buddhas as objects of practice, meaning the Buddha of Non-attachment and so forth, as expounded in the 'Detachment from the World' chapter; second, the ten Buddhas as objects of understanding, meaning the Buddha-body, sentient-being-body, and so forth among the three realms in the eighth ground, fully as expounded there. Yet he manifests birth in the royal palace and at the Bodhi tree, and that dharma is situated in the culminating mind of the ten dedications. Question: Cultivating the path from causes, realizing the principle after the ten grounds, it should be at the final stage of the ten grounds that one directly manifests the Buddha under the Bodhi tree; why is it instead in the ten dedications? Answer: In the meaning of the Triyāna, there may be such an appearance. Now in the meaning of the Ekayāna, conforming to the doctrine of the six characteristics of the general and specific, the various stages have no before and after. The reason it is manifested in the ten dedications is that dedication is skillful wisdom, clarifying the marks of the Buddha's great skillfulness; hence it is manifested particularly in the ten dedications, which is why this is known. It is because the spirit of the Bodhi tree is in the tenth dedication. The remaining meanings can be known.