法苑珠林 20.23

20.23

敬惟。法身無相應現十方。謂四方四維上下。俗儒所說。唯據此洲。洲外有洲。古今未說。若依內典通窮無際。橫亘十方傍羅異域。今佛教中娑婆忍土。萬億日月四重圍輪大千世界名一佛土。此猶據化佛釋迦如來所王之域。故華嚴經云。盧舍那佛報身如來所王之土復過是數。盡十方界非凡所謀。故梵網經偈云。

We respectfully reflect: The Dharma-body is without form, yet it responds and manifests across the ten directions—meaning the four cardinal directions, the four intermediate directions, above, and below. What secular Confucians speak of relies solely on this continent; that there are continents outside of this continent has never been spoken of from ancient times to the present. If we rely on the internal scriptures, they comprehensively fathom the boundless, extending horizontally across the ten directions and flanking different realms. Now in the Buddhist teachings, the Sahā world of endurance, with its myriad koṭis of suns and moons and fourfold encircling rings comprising a great trichiliocosm, is called one Buddha land. This still relies on the domain ruled over by the transformation Buddha, Śākyamuni Tathāgata. Therefore, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says that the land ruled over by the reward-body Tathāgata Rocana Buddha exceeds even this number; exhausting the realms of the ten directions, it is beyond ordinary comprehension. Therefore, a verse in the Brahmajāla Sūtra says: