西方合論 10.11

10.11

四、花輪大小者，小本曰：「池中蓮華，大如車輪。」《觀經》云：「一一池中有六十億七寶蓮華，團圓正等，十二由旬。」大本云：「池中蓮華，或一由旬，乃至百由旬千由旬。」夫人世車輪，大不逾丈，縱復輪王千輻金輪，縱廣不過一由旬，何得大小相懸乃爾？釋：「花輪大小亦如身城，以眾生機有大小故，身城水樹現有大小，蓮華亦然。如初地化百佛剎，見佛百葉花；二地化千佛剎，即見千葉；三地萬葉；四地億葉；五地千億；六地百千億；七地百千億那由他；八地百千萬三千大千世界微塵數；九地百千萬億阿僧祇國土微塵數；十地十不可說百千億那由他佛微塵數。以自受用身有大小故，見花亦爾，非是花有大小故。甞聞僧言：『海邊有阿育王舍利塔，眾生見者光明各異，有見無光者，有見光如細豆許者，有見如棗炬者，有見如指頂大者，有見大如斗者，如斗者千不一見。』眾生同一肉眼所見尚異，何況菩薩聲聞乃至人天等，功用懸絕，所感花輪，焉得不殊。如此土中剎利貴種，飛樓傑閣遍滿城邑；寒微煢子，敝茅土窟乃至不得，不應難言大小懸殊。何故？是自福德所招故。寶池花相，應亦如是。」

Fourth, regarding the size of the flower-wheels: The shorter recension says, "The lotus blossoms in the ponds are as large as carriage wheels." The Guan jing says, "In each pond there are sixty billion seven-jeweled lotus blossoms, perfectly round and equal, twelve yojanas [across]." The longer recension says, "The lotus blossoms in the ponds are perhaps one yojana, up to a hundred yojanas or a thousand yojanas [across]." Now, the carriage wheels of the human world do not exceed a zhang in size; even the thousand-spoked golden wheel of a wheel-turning sage king is no more than one yojana in extent. How can there be such a vast disparity in size? Explanation: The size of the flower-wheels is also just like the bodies and the cities. Because the capacities of sentient beings are large or small, the bodies, cities, waters, and trees appear large or small; the lotus blossoms are also like this. For example, upon the first ground, one transforms a hundred Buddha-realms and sees the Buddha's hundred-petaled flower; upon the second ground, one transforms a thousand Buddha-realms and thus sees a thousand petals; upon the third ground, ten thousand petals; upon the fourth ground, a hundred million petals; upon the fifth ground, a hundred billion; upon the sixth ground, a hundred thousand billion; upon the seventh ground, a hundred thousand billion nayutas; upon the eighth ground, as many as the dust motes of a hundred thousand million trichiliocosm worlds; upon the ninth ground, as many as the dust motes of a hundred thousand million billion asaṃkhyeya lands; upon the tenth ground, as many as the dust motes of ten inexpressible hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of Buddhas. Because the sambhogakāya has greatness and smallness, one's viewing of the flower is also like this; it is not that the flower itself has greatness and smallness. I have heard a monk say: "By the sea there is a relic stūpa of King Aśoka. When sentient beings view it, the radiance is different for each: some see no light; some see a light the size of a tiny bean; some see it like a date-torch; some see it the size of a fingertip; some see it as large as a bushel. Those who see it as large as a bushel do not amount to one in a thousand." When sentient beings viewing with the same fleshy eyes still see differences, how much more so with bodhisattvas, śrāvakas, and even humans and devas, whose capacities and functions are vastly distinct—how could the flower-wheels they evoke not differ? Just as in this land, among the noble kṣatriya clans, soaring towers and towering pavilions fill the cities, while the impoverished, humble, and orphaned do not even obtain dilapidated thatched huts or earthen caves—one should not raise the objection that the disparity between large and small is vast. Why is this? Because it is brought about by one's own merit. The appearance of the flowers in the jeweled ponds should be understood in the same way.