華嚴經內章門等雜孔目章 4.67

4.67

Within the text concerning the forty-five spiritual benefactors, the very first spiritual benefactor, relying on the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, speaks the ten great minds for those who have turned their hearts, and discriminates and extensively explains the ten correct teachings of all Buddhas for Sudhana, establishing the meaning of practice through faith, as extensively explained in the text. From here down are the teachings of the ten understandings. Within this text, the first spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, explains the meaning of seeing the Buddha. The second spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, contemplates the great ocean, attains correct pratītyasamutpāda, and the Buddha on the lotus explains the meaning of the perfect teaching. The third spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, explains the meaning of wish-fulfilling supernatural faculties. The fourth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, emits clouds of great light from his mouth, demonstrating the meaning of sovereign mastery in collecting and gathering. The fifth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, enters the immeasurable revolving dhāraṇī that gathers all Buddha-kṣetras, widely enacting benefit. The sixth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, enters the concentration of cessation, widely enacting benefit. The seventh spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, universally adorns parks and universally manifests his body, enacting benefit. The eighth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, descends from a higher rank to bestow grace below, taking the hand to manifest affairs, bringing about benefit. The ninth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, brings about the dharma of reversing the path, climbing the mountain of blades and leaping into the mass of fire, bringing about benefit. The tenth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, manifests his dharma hall and reveals the characteristics of his body, bringing about benefit; he attains the universal gate dhāraṇī and so forth, having one million asaṃkhyeya dhāraṇī gates as his retinue, bringing about the ultimate characteristics of liberation. From here down are the characteristics of the ten practices. The first spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, in cities, capitals, settlements, villages, hamlets, and markets, brings about his practice universally through the distinctive teaching, manifesting bodily characteristics, deportment, and articulation according to the distinctive teaching, so as to converge with the power of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva's vows and practices, bringing about the benefit of the inexhaustible practice of dhāraṇī; this is accomplished by intrinsic giving. The second spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, brings about the benefit of the expedient means of the text of the three groupings of precepts of distinctive practice; this is accomplished by intrinsic discipline. The third spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, manifests his physical body relying on the expedient gate of the four immeasurables, guiding with the support of material food, bringing about the benefit of cause and effect tallying with principle; this is accomplished by intrinsic patience. The fourth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, increases vigor, reveals his superior hall and extraordinary retinue, and brings about the affairs of benefit through the sovereign practice of great adornment; this is accomplished by intrinsic vigor. The fifth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, skillfully encounters and convenes [others], manifests his superior residence of ten tiers and eight gates, accords with, convenes, and guides [beings], bringing about affairs of benefit, which is an internal function of absorption; this is accomplished by intrinsic concentration. The sixth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, through real and superior wisdom, relies on the universal gate method to manifest prescriptions for curing illnesses, so as to clarify the function of wisdom, extinguishing delusion and producing virtue; he also makes expedient mixtures of incense to accord with self and others, bringing about benefit; this is accomplished by intrinsic wisdom. The seventh spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, skillfully and sovereignly manifests the dharma of contrary practice, bringing about the extraordinary expedient means of the virtue of advancing and retreating to accord with benefit; this is accomplished by the intrinsic function of the pāramitā of expedient means. The eighth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, through the vows and practices of the three times, brings about insentient and sentient environments, gathering beings for their benefit; this is accomplished by the intrinsic pāramitā of vows. The ninth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, manifests his household and the protection of parents and so forth, bringing about superior retinue and unimpeded wholesome roots to obtain superior benefit; this is accomplished by the intrinsic pāramitā of power. The tenth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, through wisdom manifests the dharma of reversing the path, bringing about benefit; this is accomplished by the intrinsic pāramitā of wisdom. From here down are the virtues of the expedients of the ten dedications. The first spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, sets the demarcation of the function of the incense of a spiritual benefactor who benefits sentient beings, so as to reveal the superior capacity and skillfulness of adapting to capacities to bestow benefit and eliminate harm, bringing about benefit through freedom from attachment. The second spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, manifests affairs of delivering sentient beings in the sphere of benefiting sentient beings, steering boats in the ocean back and forth at both times, bringing about the benefit of others. The third spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, gathers sentient beings everywhere for their benefit, bringing about the quality of being difficult to conquer. The fourth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, through pure vows and practices of compassion, establishes the dharma of inexhaustible wholesome roots, pervading everything and equaling all Buddhas, bringing about benefit. The fifth spiritual benefactor, relying on the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, through gentle skillfulness brings about the gate of contrary practice, manifesting his insentient and sentient environments to gather beings for their benefit. The sixth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, practices the expedient means of gathering sentient beings, bringing about benefits that are solid and hard to destroy from beginning to end. The seventh spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, skillfully responds to capacities to bring about affairs that benefit others, bringing about benefits in accordance with beings. The eighth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, acts in accordance with suchness, manifesting immediately following realization, bringing about swift benefit. The ninth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, brings about the four immeasurables to accord with the universal dharma, gathering and transforming sentient beings to sever evil and establish goodness. The tenth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, is an expedient means for attaining Buddhahood: realizing the fruition while on the causal stage, manifesting before sentient beings, bringing about the benefit of Buddhahood. From here down are the expedient means of the realized stage of the daśabhūmi. The first spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, communicates divine and miraculous virtues, manifests birth in the Buddha's family, and eliminates the eight faults, so as to respond to beings' dispositions and gather beings for their benefit. The second spiritual benefactor, relying on the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, at the place of achieving Buddhahood, is sovereignly free of defilement and gathers all virtues into a dharma-gate for benefiting sentient beings. The third spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, in close proximity to the Buddha, accords with reality, manifesting universal virtues into a dharma-gate for gathering and moistening sentient beings. The fourth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, at the place of achieving Buddhahood, manifests a dharma-gate of the sovereign dharma of awakening to benefit sentient beings. The fifth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, at the place of achieving Buddhahood, approaches the sage's intent, quietly responds to capacities, makes superior progress in expedient means, and with various skillfulness guards sentient beings in a dharma-gate of benefit. The sixth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, relying on the place of achieving Buddhahood, accomplishes pratītyasamutpāda within the virtues that accord with principle, in a dharma-gate of saving and protecting sentient beings. The seventh spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, at the place of achieving Buddhahood, through skillful expedient means simultaneously contemplates the real and the conventional, cultivating causes and obtaining fruitions in a sovereign dharma-gate. The eighth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, at the place of achieving Buddhahood, attains sovereignty in great vows, quickly accomplishing them, gathering sentient beings in an accomplishment of the same substance, in an uncommon dharma-gate that benefits sentient beings. The ninth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, among sentient beings who can be transformed, manifests birth in Jambudvīpa, roaming sovereignly in the Lumbinī Grove, manifesting a dharma-gate to benefit sentient beings. The tenth spiritual benefactor, in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, from Kapilavastu, the place of the Buddha's birth, manifests an agreeable dharma-gate of compassion, sovereignly teaching and transforming before sentient beings. The above are the characteristics of cultivating practice while correlated with stages. From here down is the spiritual benefactor who converges conditions to enter the true mark: in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, at Kapilavastu, the place of the Buddha's birth, the substance and function of the pratītyasamutpāda of the true mark are sovereign, giving birth to the dharma-gate of correct awakening. From here down is the spiritual benefactor who gathers virtues to bring about the causal stage: in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, according with correct characteristics, he is born in the south, bringing the causal stage to its culmination in the sovereign dharma-gate of the mind of bodhi. From here down is the spiritual benefactor whose wisdom illuminates non-duality: in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, signless auspicious contemplation and illumination, superior wisdom brave, decisive, fierce, and culminating, is the sovereignly practiced dharma-gate of Samantabhadra. From here down is the spiritual benefactor who reveals the vastness of the cause: in terms of the distinctive teaching of the Ekayāna, seeing and hearing the ultimate, vast, and sovereign vows and practices of universal virtue, this is the boundless dharma-gate that accords with the fruition. Furthermore, relying on Maitreya's text, where all Buddhas and bodhisattvas cultivate for immeasurable kalpas while Sudhana attains it all in a single lifetime: according to the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, swift attainment of Buddhahood has five varieties: 1. relying on an extraordinary body, it is attained in a single lifetime: from after the stage of seeing and hearing, in one lifetime up to the body following the vimalasamādhi, Buddhahood is immediately attained; 2. relying on seeing and hearing, through passing lives it is swiftly realized; 3. relying on a single time, Buddhahood is swiftly attained; 4. relying on a single thought, Buddhahood is swiftly attained; 5. relying on non-thought, Buddhahood is swiftly attained. The first meaning has four [cases]: First, relying on the nature of worlds and so forth, in a body of the ten worlds as the son of a cakravartin, attaining Buddhahood in the present body, like the youth Samantālaṃkāra and others. Second, relying on the superior body of a devaputra, emerging from the three evil destinies and being born in the Tuṣita heaven, attaining Buddhahood in the present body. Third, relying on the superior body of merit in Jambudvīpa, like Sudhana and others who in their present bodies culminate the practice of Samantabhadra and see the Buddha in the next life. Fourth, relying on the body of the nāga maiden in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra attaining Buddhahood in the south, which signifies attaining Buddhahood swiftly in a body that has retained afflictions. Second, 'relying on seeing and hearing, through passing lives it is swiftly realized': as stated in the prathamā-bhūmi, there are benefits of three times: 1. the benefit at the time of hearing; 2. the benefit at the time of cultivating practice; 3. the benefit at the time of transmigration. Therefore the Daśabhūmika-śāstra states: 'All these Tathāgatas bestow protection on the bodhisattvas; this person is able to hear and uphold such profound and subtle dharmas.' This is the benefit at the time of hearing. 'The stages are pure and undefiled, / Gradually perfected and fulfilled, / Realizing the ten powers of the Buddha, / Achieving anuttara-bodhi.' This is the benefit at the time of cultivating practice. 'Though in the midst of the great ocean / And the fire at the end of the kalpa, / With resolute faith devoid of doubt, / One will definitely hear this sūtra.' This is the benefit at the time of transmigration. Third, 'relying on a single time, Buddhahood is swiftly attained': as when the youth Sudhana at the spiritual benefactor's place obtained the dharma of Samantabhadra in a single time. Fourth, 'relying on a single thought, Buddhahood is swiftly attained': as when tallying with the dharma of Samantabhadra, one attains Buddhahood in a single thought; this relies on the thought of saṃvṛti-satya. Fifth, 'relying on non-thought, Buddhahood is swiftly attained': because 'all dharmas are unborn; all dharmas are unceasing. If one can understand thus, this person sees the true Buddha.'