華嚴經 品一 世主妙嚴品 · 同生眾·菩薩眾得法讚佛Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the Worlds · The Assembly of the Same Birth: The Bodhisattvas Attain the Dharma and Praise the Buddha

First, See Clearly What This Fascicle Is Doing

The first fascicle of chapter one sets out, assembly by assembly, the rulers of the world and the spirits, gods and dragons who gathered like clouds at the place of awakening; it only lists their names, and does not yet say what gate each attained or give their verses. From the second fascicle onward the sūtra sets out, assembly by assembly, the gate of liberation each attained, and the foremost of each assembly, sustained by the Buddha's awesome power, speaks verses in praise of the Buddha — commonly ten members to an assembly and ten verses as well, though the base text plainly records exceptions: the assembly of the spirits of the place of awakening has eleven members, and the assembly of dragon kings has eleven verses. By this fifth fascicle, those set out are no longer gods or spirits or the eight classes of beings, but bodhisattvas. Chengguan classifies this stretch as the ‘assembly of the same birth’, and the preceding four fascicles as the ‘assembly of a different birth’ — two names of which the sūtra itself contains not one word; they are headings a commentator set up so that the reader could see the order of the assemblies. Chengguan further divides the stretch on the assembly of the same birth into three parts: first Samantabhadra alone attains all the gates of Dharma, next ten bodhisattvas whose names contain ‘Universal’ each attain one gate, and next ten bodhisattvas of differing names each attain one gate; and all three parts have prose first and verse after. There is besides one further part, in which bodhisattvas as many as the dust motes of a buddha-field are born from within the adornments of the Tathāgata's lion throne, and ten of them, as the foremost, each speak a set of verses; and at the end the Flower-Treasury world quakes, the rulers of the worlds raise up offerings, and the passage extends to the ten directions — and here Chengguan brings the whole chapter to its close, saying that with this the ten parts of the ‘portion setting out the causes and conditions of the teaching's arising’ are finished.

So the frame of this fascicle is four plus one: four groups who attain the Dharma and praise the Buddha, and one concluding extension. Of the four groups, the first three ‘attain gates’ and the fourth is a ‘bringing forth of an assembly’; all four have verses, and the number of verses is not uniform — the first three groups have ten verses each, while of the ten bodhisattvas born of the adorned throne, eight speak ten verses each and two, Universal Sound of the Dharma Realm and Cloud-Sound Pure Moon, speak eleven each. Those two sets of eleven are not a stray remainder: one is the ten perfections plus a general statement, the other the ten grounds plus a general statement, and each has its own reason for being eleven.

Set up one correction at the outset. Seeing the phrase “each attained one gate of liberation”, it is easy to read it as though each bodhisattva were allotted a tenth of the whole Dharma, like slicing a cake. It is precisely here that Chengguan lays down a sentence that matters: what is set out both before and after is ‘entering the whole by way of the particular’, and that is why it says each attained one gate of liberation, just like the hundred rivers. The hundred rivers are not each a tenth of the ocean; each is a road that walks into the ocean. Once this distinction stands, the thirty gates of the three groups that follow will not be read as thirty scattered accomplishments.

The Two Summary Lines of the Samantabhadra Passage: The Gate of Cause and the Ocean of Fruit

First the question. Before Samantabhadra speaks the ten gates, the sūtra gives two lines — he enters the ocean of skillful means that is the inconceivable gate of liberation, and he enters the ocean of the Tathāgata's merit. What is the relation between these two? Chengguan separates them with great clarity: the first line points out the substance of the Dharma, the second sets forth its function. What is the substance? He glosses “inconceivable” as that whose number exceeds all reckoning and whose principle cuts off speech and thought; he glosses “ocean of skillful means” as accomplishing activity without stirring the real, skillfully joining the gate of cause to the fruit, and therefore called skillful means. What is the function? He says it is realizing and entering the fullness of the cause and going forth into the ocean of the fruit.

These two lines taken together are the most important pair of boundary-stakes in this fascicle. The first stands on the side of cause, the second on the side of fruit; and what makes it possible to travel from cause to fruit lies in those six words, accomplishing activity without stirring the real — not putting suchness aside in order to act, nor finishing the act and then turning back to realize suchness, but the real not stirring at all while activity accomplishes itself.

A correction: “skillful means” here does not mean an expedient, nor a making-do. What the sūtra speaks of is entering an ocean of means, and an ocean is a measure without end; what Chengguan speaks of is skillfully joining the gate of cause to the fruit, and skill here is skillfulness, not cunning. Putting it to work: when you read the ten gates below, you can hold each one up against these two lines — by which cause does this gate enter, and to which portion of the ocean of fruit does it arrive?

Samantabhadra's Ten Gates: The Name of the Gate Is the Meaning of the Gate

First the question. Why do these ten gates have only names and no explanation? Because in the pattern of this sūtra the name of the gate is the meaning of the gate — ‘there is a gate of liberation named such-and-such’, and that ‘such-and-such’ says in one breath what is practised, what it is for, and where it arrives, so that no further gloss is required.

The first gate, adorning and purifying all buddha-lands, taming beings, and causing them to come forth once and for all: one gate holding three things, the land purified, beings tamed, and a coming forth at the last, gathering up both ends, land and being. The second gate, going everywhere to where all Tathāgatas are and cultivating the realm of their complete merit: this is not paying a visit; it is going to where all buddhas are and cultivating there the realm of their complete merit — the weight falls on cultivating, not on going. The third gate, establishing the oceans of great vows upon all the grounds of the bodhisattvas: the bodhisattva grounds are stations, the ocean of great vows is a measure of vowing, and this gate fastens station and vow together — one does not rise in station by seniority, one is established there by vow. The fourth gate, manifesting everywhere measureless bodies as many as the dust motes of the Dharma realm: the number of bodies takes the dust motes of the Dharma realm for its measure, and these are bodies that answer to capacity, not a trick of dividing the body. The fifth gate, expounding the differing names, inconceivable in number, that pervade all lands: what is expounded is names — the measureless differing names within all lands, each unlike the rest and every one of them speakable. The sixth gate, manifesting within every single dust mote the realm of the spiritual powers of boundless bodhisattvas: what is manifested is not the buddha-realm but the bodhisattva-realm; the practice of practitioners manifested within a dust mote is precisely an exhortation to cultivate. The seventh gate, manifesting within a single thought the forming and decaying of the eons of the three times: the utmost length of time enters the utmost brevity of a thought. The eighth gate, manifesting the ocean of the differing faculties of all bodhisattvas so that each enters his own realm: what is manifested is the ocean of the faculties of a great many practitioners, and each enters his own realm — they are not levelled into a row. The ninth gate, being able by the force of spiritual power to transform and manifest bodies of every kind pervading the boundless Dharma realm: read it together with the fourth, and the fourth is the measure of ‘manifesting bodies’ while this one is the reach of ‘transforming and manifesting’. The tenth gate, displaying the graded gateway of the practices the bodhisattvas cultivate and so entering the vast skillful means of omniscience: it gathers all ten gates with the two words ‘graded order’ — the first nine gates open with no aspect of gradation, and the last speaks of gradation on purpose, exactly so that one may know that within the endless there is still a road that can be walked.

A correction: the ten gates are not ten stages, and the tenth is not the last step. It stands alongside the first nine, and only displays that ‘gradation’ itself is also a gate. Putting it to work: these ten gates can serve as ten questions for examining oneself — at which gate does the place where I actually take hold of practice fall? If it falls at none of them, then for the most part the aspiration has not yet truly been raised.

Samantabhadra's Ten Verses: The Verses Do Not Repeat the Prose

First the question. The prose has already set out the ten gates, so why say them again in verse? Look at the verses and you will see that these ten are not a restatement of the ten gates one by one. The first verse speaks of the buddha-fields and the sons of the Buddha within them; the second, that seeing in one assembly is seeing within every dust mote, and that the Buddha's body neither comes nor goes; the third, that displaying the practice and speaking the principle causes entry into the Dharma realm; the fourth, transformation-buddhas answering to capacity; the fifth, that his names pervade the world and no means of his falls empty; the sixth, the manifesting of great spiritual power within the dust; the seventh, the forming and decaying of the three times manifested in thought after thought; the eighth, that the ground of the buddhas is hard to measure; the ninth, that the Buddha is like space, making no discrimination; the tenth, the subtle voice and the impartial Dharma.

Among these, the seventh verse answers to the seventh gate of the prose (a single thought manifesting the forming and decaying of the three times), the sixth verse to the sixth gate (manifesting within the dust motes), and the third verse to the tenth gate (displaying what is cultivated, the measureless means of entering the grounds) — the verses answer to the prose without matching it clause for clause. This is the ordinary practice of verse in this sūtra: the prose opens the gates, and the verses take another turn outside the gates, joining up the breath that runs between one gate and the next.

A correction: the second verse's “the Buddha's body neither goes nor comes” is not saying that the Buddha does not move. It stands in the same verse as “so is it within every dust mote”, and what it says is that he appears in every place without needing to come or go — the absence of coming and going is precisely the reason for appearing everywhere, not an exception to it. Putting it to work: the ninth verse is where these ten verses land — “the Buddha, like space, makes no discrimination, equal to the true Dharma realm and resting upon nothing.” After so much has been said about manifesting, a line about making no discrimination and resting on nothing must follow at the end, or else the manifesting will be read as something deliberately contrived.

The Ten Universal Bodhisattvas: Why a Name Has to Be Added Before There Are Ten

First the question. The names of these ten bodhisattvas all begin with the word ‘Universal’ — so why is it that the first alone, Pure Virtue Wondrous Light, did not appear when the names were listed earlier? Chengguan explains here a point of pattern that matters very much: among the ten Universal ones listed earlier, Samantabhadra was originally counted as one of them; now that Samantabhadra has been set apart in a passage of his own and speaks the ten gates alone, this group is one short, and so a further name is added to fill out the number ten — his own words are “added so as to make ten, thereby showing perfect completeness”.

That one sentence says everything about the character of the word ‘ten’ in this sūtra. Ten here is not the outcome of a count; it is the form in which the Dharma is displayed. So the person may be exchanged, but the number may not be short. One is missing, so one is supplied — and what is supplied is not a person but that aspect of ‘perfect completeness’.

A correction: do not therefore take Pure Virtue Wondrous Light to be a makeweight. The gate the sūtra gives him is “going everywhere to the assemblies of bodhisattvas in the ten directions and adorning the places of awakening” — going everywhere to all the assemblies of bodhisattvas and adorning the places of awakening is precisely the gate among the ten that best shows the sense of ‘universal’, and there is nothing forced about listing him first. Putting it to work: hereafter, whenever you meet the numbers ten, twenty, or a hundred thousand in this sūtra, ask first — is this counting, or is this a display of the Dharma? This passage has handed you a ready-made precedent.

The Ten Gates of the Ten Universal Ones: Where the ‘Universal’ Falls

First the question. All ten are named ‘Universal’, so must all ten gates be universal too? Look at them gate by gate and it becomes clear that the ‘universal’ falls in a different place each time.

In the gate of Pure Virtue Wondrous Light, the universal falls on “going everywhere” — all the bodhisattva assemblies of the ten directions, with not one left out. In the gate of Universal Virtue Supreme Lamplight Illumination, it falls on “a single thought” — within one thought he manifests the inexhaustible gates of accomplishing true awakening, and teaches and ripens the inconceivable realms of beings; the singleness of the moment and the endlessness of the measure are joined in one clause. In the gate of Universal Light Lion Banner, it falls on “bringing forth” — he cultivates the adornment of a bodhisattva's merit, and what is brought forth is all buddha-lands; the merit does not stop at his own enjoyment but issues directly as lands. In the gate of Universal Jewel-Flame Wondrous Light, it falls on “without confusion” — he contemplates the realm of the Buddha's spiritual powers and is not confused, and this is the universality of the beholder: however marvellous the realm, he is not thrown into disorder. In the gate of Universal Sound Merit-Ocean Banner, it falls on ‘manifesting all within one’ — within a single assembly at a single place of awakening he manifests the adornments of all buddha-lands, and this is the sūtra's sense of one being all, stated outright in the name of a gate. In the gate of Universal Wisdom Light Illumining the Tathāgata's Realm, it falls on “following after” — he follows after the Tathāgata and contemplates the profound and vast treasury of the Dharma realm; following after is not parting from him, contemplating is not being blind. In the gate of Universal Awakening Delightful Voice, it falls on “serving” — he draws near to and serves the treasury of offerings to all buddhas, and to speak of offering as a treasury is to say that making offerings is itself a gate one can enter. In the gate of Universal Purity Inexhaustible Merit Majestic Light, it falls on “sustaining power” — he brings forth the vast sustaining power of all spiritual transformations; transformation comes forth from that sustaining power, not from any boast of one's own strength. In the gate of Universal Jewel-Topknot Flower Banner, it falls on “entering the conduct of the world” — he enters everywhere into the conduct of all worlds and brings forth the boundless gates of bodhisattva practice; worldly conduct is not what must be avoided, it is the very place the gates of practice come forth from. In the gate of Universal Marks Supreme Light, it falls on ‘appearing within the markless’ — he is able, within the markless Dharma realm, to bring forth the realms of all buddhas.

A correction: the last gate is the easiest to read wrongly. “Bringing forth the realms of all buddhas within the markless Dharma realm” does not say that outside the markless there is some other realm to be manifested; it says that just because it is markless, all realms can appear without obstructing one another. Putting it to work: these ten gates set side by side actually give a map of the ‘universal’ — going everywhere, a single thought, bringing forth, no confusion, all within one, following after, serving, sustaining power, entering the world, the markless. Whichever square you are most lacking at this moment is your gate.

Pure Virtue Wondrous Light's Ten Verses: From Purity in an Instant to Suchness Manifesting a Body

First the question. The ten Universal bodhisattvas each attained one gate, so why does Pure Virtue Wondrous Light alone speak the verses? Such is the ordinary practice in the passages on the gathered assemblies in this sūtra — the foremost of an assembly is put forward, and sustained by the Buddha's awesome power he speaks verses on behalf of the whole assembly. The sūtra says plainly that he spoke only after he had, “sustained by the awesome power of the Buddha, looked everywhere upon the ocean of all the bodhisattvas' gates of liberation”: first he looks everywhere upon the ocean of all the bodhisattvas' gates, and then he opens his mouth; what he sets in verse is not his own gate alone.

The order of the ten verses can be read as a single line. The first verse says that in an instant the lands of the ten directions are all adorned and pure — this is the aspect of fruit. The second says that in one thought the Dharma realm is filled and within every dust mote a place of awakening is established — this is the pervasion of that fruit. The third and fourth look back to ages past and say that the World-Honoured One cultivated through a hundred thousand measureless eons and that his spiritual power has no limit. The fifth turns suddenly into an exhortation — “you should look upon the realm of the Buddha's spiritual powers”. The sixth follows by saying that looking will not obtain its measure, that not even the weight of a single hair can be taken. The seventh says that the Tathāgata served boundless buddhas in eons past, and therefore beings come racing to make offerings like a hundred rivers. The eighth says that the Tathāgata appears throughout the ten directions and within every dust mote are measureless lands. The ninth says that the Buddha cultivated an ocean of great compassion for beings and entered birth-and-death along with them. And the tenth closes upon “the Buddha abides in the treasury of the Dharma realm that is suchness, markless and formless and apart from every defilement”, while what beings behold is bodies of every kind, and by them their sufferings are extinguished.

A correction: the sixth verse's “not obtaining the measure of a single hair” is not an attack on contemplative practice. It comes immediately after the fifth verse's “you should look upon the Buddha” — first the exhortation to look, then the statement that looking does not reach the bottom; and that one still looks though the bottom is not reached is exactly what looking is. Putting it to work: the last verse is where the whole piece sets the heart at rest. The Buddha's substance is markless and formless, while what beings see is bodies of every kind — there is no need to be anxious over whether what you see is the ‘real Buddha’; that bodies of every kind are seen and suffering is extinguished is the proof of this gate working.

The Ten Differently Named Bodhisattvas: Where the Names Differ, the Gates Differ Too

First the question. The ten before were all named ‘Universal’, and this group of ten have names that all differ, which Chengguan classifies as “the third, the ten of differing names” — so is the difference of name arbitrary? Look at the gates and you will see it is not. The gates of this group hold closer to stations of practice and to concrete matters than those of the ten Universal ones.

The gate of Ocean-Moonlight Great Brightness is ‘bringing forth the grounds of the bodhisattvas and the perfections, teaching beings, and the means of adorning and purifying all buddha-lands’ — one gate gathering up four things, the grounds, the perfections, the teaching of beings, and the purifying of lands, which is why he is put forward as the foremost of this group. The gate of Cloud-Sound Ocean-Light Stainless Treasury is “entering everywhere, in thought after thought, into the differing places of the Dharma realm” — what he enters is the differing places, not an entering into sameness that leaves difference behind. The gate of Wisdom-Born Jewel Topknot is “manifesting, through inconceivable eons, pure and great merit before all beings” — the merit appears before beings, it is not kept hidden. The gate of Sovereign King of Merit Pure Light is “seeing everywhere the adornments of every kind at the moment when all the bodhisattvas of the ten directions first come to the place of awakening” — what is seen is that very moment of “first coming to the place of awakening”, for the aspect of the first arousing is the most worth treasuring. The gate of Well-Valiant Lotus Topknot is “following the ocean of the faculties and understandings of beings, and displaying to them everywhere all the Buddha's teachings” — he speaks according to their faculties, and what he speaks is still the whole of the Buddha's teaching, not a discounted Dharma. The gate of Universal Wisdom Cloud-Sun Banner is “accomplishing the wisdom of the Tathāgata and abiding forever through measureless eons” — the accomplishing of wisdom and the length of abiding in the world joined into one gate. The gate of Great Vigor Vajra is “entering everywhere into the power of all the boundless seals of Dharma” — a seal of Dharma is what fixes and certifies, and power is what can hold. The gate of Fragrant-Flame Light Banner is “displaying how all present buddhas first cultivated the bodhisattva practices and so came to accomplish the mass of wisdom” — what is displayed is the whole course of a buddha, from the earliest cultivation to wisdom gathered into a mass. The gate of Great Bright Virtue Deep Beautiful Voice is “abiding in all the oceans of great vows of Vairocana” — pointing straight at the ocean of vows of this sūtra's own teacher. The gate of Great Merit-Light Wisdom-Born is “displaying the Tathāgata's profound realm that pervades the Dharma realm” — closing with the display of the buddha-realm.

A correction: do not read these ten gates as ten kinds of supernormal power. Of the ten, those that genuinely speak of “displaying” and “manifesting” display the causal practice of a buddha and the realm of a buddha, and the purpose is to exhort cultivation and give rise to faith, not to show off marvels. Putting it to work: read this group together with the group of ten Universal ones, and one group speaks of the bearings of the ‘universal’ while the other speaks of the order of the stations of practice — the former answers ‘how far does it reach’, the latter answers ‘how does one walk’.

Ocean-Moonlight Great Brightness's Ten Verses: From the Perfections and Grounds to Realms Without End

First the question. Since the gate he attained is the bringing forth of the grounds and the perfections, do his verses then set the grounds and the perfections in verse? The first verse does indeed open by saying “the perfections together with the grounds are vast, past thinking, and wholly complete”, and goes on to say that beings are all tamed and the buddha-lands all adorned and pure — precisely the four things of that gate of his.

But from the second verse onward it opens out. The second verse says he teaches the realms of beings and turns the wheel of Dharma in one thought; the third, that through measureless eons the Buddha manifests everywhere before beings and shows them his cultivation of ages past; the fourth turns suddenly to the first person — “I have looked throughout the ten directions with nothing left over, and I have seen the buddhas raise up their spiritual powers” — the speaker steps forward as a witness. The fifth says the vast and radiant dharma-body can manifest in the world by skillful means and rain down the Dharma to match capacity; the sixth names three bodies in a row: the body of suchness, impartial and markless; the pure dharma-body of stainless radiance; and the body of wisdom, still and without limit. The seventh says the powers of the Dharma-King are pure and his wisdom like space, and that he opens all for beings, leaving nothing withheld or hidden. The eighth says that as the Buddha cultivated in ages past and so accomplished omniscience, he now emits a light that pervades the Dharma realm. The ninth says the Buddha raises up spiritual powers by his original vows and expounds all within a net of light. The tenth says the realms of the ten directions are without end, each and every one differing, and that the Buddha with unobstructed force sends out a great light making all the lands plainly manifest.

A correction: the “I” of the fourth verse is not the speaker boasting of the breadth of his own vision. Set among the other verses, its work is to turn the preceding ‘the Buddha is thus and thus’ into ‘I have indeed seen it’ — a verse of praise must have this turn, or it is only hearsay. Putting it to work: the three bodies of the sixth verse can serve as a measuring rod — does the Buddha you understand stop at the markless body and the pure dharma-body, or do you also recognize the still body of wisdom along with them? Only when all three are recognized will the word ‘buddha’ not be read too narrowly.

The Adorned Throne Brings Forth an Assembly: Bodhisattvas Who Come Out of the Adornments

First the question. The three groups before were already present at the assembly, but this group is born from within the adornments of the Tathāgata's lion throne — its many jewels, wondrous flowers, wheel-terraces, stepped base and lattices, and from within every single adornment there are born bodhisattvas as many as the dust motes of a buddha-field. What does this mean? The sūtra itself offers no explanation, but its being placed at the end of the four groups is already speaking: the first three groups are ‘those who have attained the Dharma coming to praise the Buddha’, and this group is ‘the Buddha's own adornment bringing forth those who praise him’. The adornment of the throne is not dead decoration; it gives birth to practitioners.

After they are born, the sūtra writes of three things. First, the raising of offerings: each raises up offering-clouds of every kind, ten cloud-names being listed and then gathered up with “such kinds as these”, their number as the dust motes of a buddha-world, rained down upon the ocean of assemblies at every place of awakening, continuously and unbroken. Second, the sitting down: they circle the World-Honoured One to the right through measureless hundreds of thousands of rounds, and each following his own quarter, at a place not far from the Buddha, conjures a lion throne of jewelled lotuses and sits upon it with legs crossed — first the circling, then the sitting; first the reverence, then the settling. Third, the praising of their virtues: it says that the practice of these bodhisattvas is pure and vast as the ocean, that they have attained the universal gateway of the Dharma which the light of wisdom illumines, that following the buddhas their practice is unobstructed, that they can enter the ocean of the Dharma of all eloquence, have attained the inconceivable gate of liberation, abide upon the Tathāgata's ground of the universal gateway, have already attained every gate of dhāraṇī, can receive and contain the whole ocean of the Dharma, are well established upon the ground of the wisdom impartial towards the three times, have attained deep faith, vast joy and delight, boundless accumulations of merit and the utmost excellence of purity, that there is no place in space or the Dharma realm they do not contemplate, and that wherever a buddha arises in any land of the ten directions they diligently make offerings.

Chengguan, glossing this praising of virtues, sets down a paired explanation under the two clauses “well established upon the ground of the wisdom impartial towards the three times” and “have attained deep faith, vast joy and delight”: first, that wisdom rests securely in both principle and phenomena, and so it says “well established”; second, that there is no merit they do not cultivate, and so faith and delight arise. And he adds a line: the single point of impartiality towards the three times has already been set out at the opening of the sūtra, and here it is only briefly shown again — stated from the side of the buddhas, it is that buddha and buddha are equal, because the dharma-body and the wisdom-body neither increase nor decrease.

A correction: “well established” does not mean sitting steadily. Chengguan's sense is that only when wisdom rests securely on both sides, principle and phenomena, is it well established; resting on principle alone and not on phenomena, or the reverse, is not it. Putting it to work: this string of virtues can serve as a practitioner's health check, and the order in which it is arranged is deliberate — practice first, then wisdom, then eloquence, then liberation, then the power that holds all together, then impartial wisdom, and only then faith and delight, merit and purity, and at the last it returns to making offerings to the buddhas. Faith and delight are placed late, which says that they are a fruit cultivated into being, not a threshold for entry.

Ocean-Wisdom Sovereign King of Spiritual Powers: The Virtue of the Throne

First the question. Since the ten bodhisattvas were born from the adornments of the throne, what will their verses set in verse? Look at the first of them and you will know — six of his ten verses praise the throne directly. The first two praise the Buddha as already knowing what the buddhas awakened to, his merit filling the ten directions and his sitting everywhere beneath every king of trees; the third says he manifests inexhaustible forms in a single thought and that each beholds according to his own liberation; the fourth looks back to oceans of eons of diligent cultivation and the taming of beings by skillful means. From the fifth verse onward it enters the throne: Vairocana complete in adornment and beauty seated on the lion throne of the lotus treasury; the maṇi treasuries sending out light while the Tathāgata sits above them; the auspicious gateways sending out lamplight unceasingly while the Sage of Stillness dwells above; the lovely lattices sounding a subtle music while the Buddha seated above them is especially manifest; the jewelled wheels bearing the throne in a half-moon with topknotted bodhisattvas circling it always; and transformations of every kind filling the ten directions while every image appears within.

A correction: this is not a description of furniture. The third verse has already set up a criterion — “each, according to his own liberation, is able to behold it”; the aspects of the throne appear according to the liberation of the beholder, and so the throne-aspects of verses six through ten are not the outward look of one throne but the gathered sum of what measureless beholders see. Putting it to work: whenever in reading this sūtra a long stretch of adornment begins to feel tedious, return to that one line, “each, according to his own liberation, is able to behold it”, and the tedium turns into a distinction — it is saying that there are as many kinds of seeing as there are kinds of liberation.

Thunder-Sound Universal Quaking: From the Throne to the Ground

First the question. The first bodhisattva set the throne in verse, so why does the second turn to the ground? His first four verses are still upon the throne — the World-Honoured One gathering the practice of awakening in ages past, so that nothing within the throne is unseen; fragrant-flame maṇi inlaying the lion throne of wondrous flowers; the Buddha's throne manifesting adorned forms everywhere, each seeing the Buddha seated upon it according to his own understanding; jewelled branches hanging in nets of lotuses, and bodhisattvas leaping forth as the flowers open to praise the Tathāgata seated upon the throne. The fifth verse is the pivot: “the measure of the Buddha's merit is like space, and every adornment is born from it” — one line accounting for where the adornment comes from; and so from the sixth verse the view drops from the throne to the ground: vajra as the ground that nothing can destroy; that ground boundless and distinctive in colour with true gold ground to powder; the earth spirits rejoicing and leaping and gazing constantly before the Buddha; jewelled lamps and fragrant flame with which the earth spirits make their offering; and the last verse saying that every adornment upon the grounds of all the fields of the ten directions is now, at this place of awakening, without exception manifest, and that this is by the Buddha's awesome spiritual power.

A correction: do not read “every adornment is born from it” as the Buddha arranging scenery. The lower half of that verse is “but the matter of the adornments within each single ground no being is able to comprehend” — the adornment is born from the measure of the Buddha's merit, while beings cannot comprehend how this is so; what is being said is that it is past conceiving, not that there is someone contriving it. Putting it to work: this turn from throne to ground is the prelude to the whole set of ten sets of verses in this fascicle — those who follow will turn from the ground to the tree, to the palace, to the Buddha's powers and perfections. The ten bodhisattvas are not each saying his own thing; they are passing the task along so that one place of awakening is spoken of entire.

Many-Jewels Radiant Topknot: How the Ground Expounds the Dharma

First the question. The ground is an insentient thing, so how can it expound? His ten verses answer this directly. The first verse says that when the World-Honoured One was cultivating in ages past he saw that the lands of the buddhas were all complete, and that the grounds so seen are without end and are now all made manifest at this place of awakening — first establishing the reason, that this ground is the total manifestation of all the buddha-lands seen in ages past. The second and third verses say that his spiritual power spreads out light and rains jewels, and that this ground together with the tree of awakening “gives out light and sound by turns and expounds the Dharma”. The fourth says that jewelled lamps rain down from the sky and “all of them give out subtle sounds and expound the voice of Dharma — this is what the earth spirits manifest”, fastening the act of expounding upon the earth spirits, not upon stones that talk by themselves. The fifth says the jewelled ground manifests clouds of wondrous light and jewelled nets cover it above. The sixth is the eye of the whole set: “look, all of you, upon this ground everywhere, adorned with wondrous jewels of every kind; it displays the ocean of the manifold deeds of beings, and causes them to comprehend the true nature of things.” The seventh through tenth say that the trees of awakening of the ten directions are all manifest here and expound the Tathāgata's pure Dharma, that the ground gives out a subtle sound according to what beings delight in, that the ground gives out constantly a light of fragrance so that those who hear have their afflictions extinguished, and that every single adornment is wholly complete and could not be exhausted in the telling through a koṭi eons.

A correction: the sixth verse matters most and is the easiest to slide past. It says that what the adornment of the ground displays is “the ocean of the manifold deeds of beings” — not a display case of the Buddha's merit, but the aspect brought on by the deeds of beings themselves; and the purpose of the display is to make them comprehend the true nature of things. So to see the adornment and merely feel admiration is to read this verse backwards. Putting it to work: when the ground of the place of awakening expounds the Dharma, what it expounds is your own deeds; and one who can hear it hears the nature of things.

Great Wisdom-Sun Valiant Insight: The Palace

First the question. After the throne and the ground, why the palace? The sūtra moves all along from the throne the Buddha sits upon and the ground he dwells upon out to the dwelling he inhabits — from the near to the far. The first of his ten verses says that the World-Honoured One, wholly composed and pure, dwells within the hall of Dharma and shines forth brilliantly within the palace, and that following what beings delight in his body manifests everywhere in the lands of the ten directions; the second, that the Tathāgata's palace is past conceiving and adorned with treasuries of maṇi; the third, the pillars, the bells, the jewelled stairways, the doors; the fourth, the curtains, the trees, the pendants, with “the ocean of wisdom sits within it, deep and still”; the fifth, the net, the banner, the lamplight, with “the one of right knowing who surpasses the world is seated here”; the sixth, that clouds of transformation appear throughout the ten directions and their expounding pervades the world, all manifested from the Buddha's palace; the seventh, that maṇi forms the tree putting forth wondrous flowers and that the adornments of the lands of the three times all cast their images within; the eighth, the heaps of maṇi, the doors and lattices, the beams and eaves; the ninth, that all palaces are manifest within it and in each a Tathāgata is seated; the tenth, that the Tathāgata's palace has no bound and the self-awakened one dwells within it, and that of all the assemblies of the ten directions there is not one that does not turn towards the Buddha and come to gather.

A correction: the ninth verse's “all palaces are manifest within it, and in each single one a Tathāgata is seated” does not say that there are a great many buddhas. Read it together with the first verse's “his body manifests everywhere in the lands of the ten directions” and it becomes plain — the body of one buddha manifests everywhere, and so within each single palace a Tathāgata is seated; this is a manifesting within manifesting, not a dividing into many bodies. Putting it to work: this set of verses enlarges ‘where the Buddha dwells’ layer upon layer to the boundless, and yet the last line closes upon “there is not one that does not turn towards the Buddha and come to gather” — however boundless the palace, it is still the place beings turn towards, not a lodging where the Buddha abides alone.

Inconceivable Merit Jewel Wisdom-Seal: The Tree of Awakening

First the question. What this bodhisattva sets in verse is the tree of awakening, so why does he begin by speaking of merit? The first verse says “the Buddha in ages past cultivated oceans of merit, as many as the dust motes of all the fields; born of spiritual power and the force of vows, the place of awakening is adorned and pure and free of every defilement” — the purity of the tree comes from the ocean of merit and the force of vows, and so the cause is established before the aspect is described. The second verse says the king of wish-fulfilling jewels is the root of the tree and vajra maṇi its trunk, with jewelled nets covering above and wondrous fragrance wreathing round; the third, that the branches are furnished with every jewel and maṇi forms the boughs, the twigs massed thick as banked cloud with the Buddha sitting beneath at the place of awakening; the fourth, that the place of awakening is vast and the tree covers all of it, dense leaves and thronging flowers sheltering one another and maṇi fruits forming within the flowers; the fifth, that a wondrous light comes forth from the branches and shines throughout the place of awakening, and that it is by the force of the Buddha's vows that it is seen so; the sixth, that treasuries of maṇi serve as its flowers and their fragrance is spread about the trunk; the seventh exhorts a looking upon the lotuses and jewelled nets, all pure, in the place of awakening of the Well-Gone One; the eighth, that of all the trees adorned with wondrous colour in the ten directions there is not one not manifest within the tree of awakening; the ninth, that the branches rain jewels without end and bodhisattvas appear from within the jewels and go to the ten directions to make offerings; the tenth, that the realm of the buddhas is past conceiving and everywhere causes that tree to send out the sound of music, and the assemblies hearing that sound all see the path of awakening he gathered in ages past.

A correction: the fifth verse says plainly “it is by the force of the Buddha's vows that it can be seen so” — to see such an aspect of the tree is granted by the force of the Buddha's vows, not because the beholder has good eyesight. And the ninth verse's “from within the jewels bodhisattvas appear” is the same pattern as the passage on the adorned throne bringing forth an assembly: practitioners are born from within the adornment. Putting it to work: the last verse makes the use of the tree's music plain — hearing that sound, one sees “the path of awakening he gathered in ages past”. The tree is adorned so that people may see the road the Buddha walked, not so that people may admire the tree.

Hundred-Eyed Lotus Topknot: Everything at the Place of Awakening Gives Out Sound

First the question. The one before has already set the tree in verse, so why does this one set the tree in verse again? Look closely and they differ: the one before set in verse the form and fruit of the tree, and this one sets in verse the sound and fragrance of the place of awakening. The first verse says that all the maṇi give out a wondrous sound extolling the names of the buddhas of the three times; the second, that the thronging flowers open in rivalry and clouds of light stream abroad, and that “the spirits of the tree of awakening hold them out towards the Buddha, and with single-minded gazing make their offering”; the third, that the flames of maṇi light form banners and a wondrous fragrance blazes within them perfuming the whole assembly; the fourth, that the lotuses hang out a golden light which expounds clouds of the Buddha's wondrous voice and quenches forever the fever of beings' afflictions; the fifth, that by the sovereign power of the king of trees of awakening a pure light is sent out constantly and the boundless assemblies of the ten directions all cast their images within the place of awakening; the sixth, that the flame of light from the jewelled branches is like a bright lamp and expounds a voice proclaiming the great vows; the seventh, that the spirits beneath the tree are as many as the dust motes of the fields and each, before the Tathāgata's tree of the path, “proclaims the gate of liberation in thought after thought”; the eighth, that the World-Honoured One cultivated in ages past and made offerings to all the Tathāgatas, and that his practice and his renown are all manifest within the maṇi jewels; the ninth, that everything at the place of awakening gives out a wondrous sound reaching the ten directions and that none able to receive the Dharma is left untamed and unpurified; the tenth, that the Tathāgata cultivated everywhere in ages past all the measureless matters of adornment, and that each single tree of awakening of the ten directions has adornments of measureless kinds.

A correction: the seventh verse's “proclaims the gate of liberation in thought after thought” is the very same term as the ten gates of liberation that Samantabhadra entered at the opening of this fascicle. Do not suppose that what the spirits beneath the tree proclaim is some other body of teaching — the sūtra uses one and the same name precisely to show that this fascicle from beginning to end is speaking of one single matter: the gate of Dharma is everywhere in all places, and anyone may proclaim it. Putting it to work: this set of verses pushes the range of ‘those who expound the Dharma’ to its widest — the maṇi, the flowers, the light, the fragrance, the tree spirits, the place of awakening, not one of which is not expounding. Not hearing it is a matter of the ear, not of the place.

Golden-Flame Perfect Light: The Ten Powers

First the question. Those before were all setting in verse the adornment of the place of awakening, so why does this one suddenly set in verse the Buddha's ten powers? This is the second pivot of the ten sets of verses in this fascicle — from the place that supports, to the inner virtue of the Buddha who is supported. His ten verses set the Buddha's ten powers in verse one by one, in orderly sequence: the power concerning what is and is not the case (“what is and what is not the case he knows purely and without doubt — this is the Tathāgata's first power of wisdom”); the power concerning deeds (contemplating impartially the nature of things so that all the oceans of deeds are clear); the power concerning faculties (guiding and drawing beings according to their faculties, and so accomplishing the power of knowing the faculties); the power concerning desires and understandings (as the understandings of beings differ, so he expounds according to what each should receive); the power concerning realms (throughout the oceans of fields and realms of beings of the ten directions, the Buddha's wisdom impartial as space); the power concerning the paths leading to all destinations (the practices of every place the Buddha wholly knows, and in a single thought the three times are exhausted with nothing left); the power concerning concentrations and liberations (“the power of his meditative concentrations and liberations is without bound, and so too his samādhis and his skillful means”); the power of recollecting former abodes (the Buddha's wisdom unobstructed and encompassing the three times, and all that is manifested coming by the power of his recollection); the power of the divine eye (“the Buddha's eye is vast as space, and sees the Dharma realm everywhere with nothing left over”); and the power of the exhaustion of the outflows (all beings possessed of every fetter, of their latent tendencies and habitual forces, and the Tathāgata appearing and causing them all to be removed by skillful means).

A correction: of the ten verses only the first says outright “this is the Tathāgata's first power of wisdom”; the remaining nine do not each carry a name. So to call this a set of verses on the ten powers is a determination made from the sense and sequence of the verses, not something the sūtra labels verse by verse. Putting it to work: the ten powers are easily read as a curriculum vitae of the Buddha. But the writing of this set of verses holds to beings throughout — knowing the faculties is for guiding, knowing desires and understandings is for expounding, knowing the exhaustion of the outflows is for causing removal. What makes a power a power is that it can be put to use.

Universal Sound of the Dharma Realm: The Ten Perfections

First the question. Why is this bodhisattva's set eleven verses rather than ten? Because the first verse is a general statement — “the Buddha's awesome spiritual power pervades the ten directions, manifesting vastly and without discrimination; the perfections that are the practice of great awakening, fulfilled by him in ages past, he causes all to see” — first stating in general that the perfections which are the practice of great awakening were fulfilled in ages past, and then ten verses setting the ten perfections in verse one by one: giving, pure discipline, patience, vigour, meditative concentration, prajñā, skillful means, vows, power, and wisdom. One general and ten particulars make precisely eleven.

The syntax of the ten verses is extremely regular, uniformly ‘because he cultivated thus in ages past, therefore he is thus now’. He cultivated giving, therefore his body is the most excellent and wondrous and those who see it rejoice; he cultivated pure discipline, therefore he obtained a pure body pervading the ten directions and everywhere quenches the heavy sufferings of the world; he cultivated patience and was pure, therefore his forms and marks are complete and he sends out light everywhere; he cultivated diligently through many eons and could turn away the heavy hindrances of beings' deeds, therefore he can divide his body throughout the ten directions; he cultivated the great ocean of meditative concentration, therefore those who see him rejoice deeply and the defilements of the hindrance of affliction are removed; he was complete in prajñā, therefore he spreads out his light shining clear and utterly destroys the darkness of delusion; by skillful means of every kind he teaches beings, therefore he goes everywhere throughout all the ten directions; he purified the perfection of the vows, therefore he appears pervading the world and rescues beings to the end of the future; he cultivated the power of all dharmas, therefore he can accomplish spontaneous power; he cultivated the wisdom of the universal gateway and the nature of omniscience is like space, therefore he came to accomplish unobstructed power.

A correction: of the ten verses, only six write out the three words ‘perfection’ in full — the practice of great awakening, giving, pure discipline, prajñā, the vows, and the power of dharmas; patience, vigour, meditative concentration and skillful means are set in verse by descriptive language, and the name of the perfection does not appear. So one cannot say ‘all ten verses carry the name of a perfection’. Putting it to work: the value of this set lies in its syntax of cause and effect. Every perfection is given a verifiable fruit — bodily form, a pure body, completeness, dividing the body, freedom from affliction, the breaking of delusion, going everywhere, rescuing beings, spontaneous power, unobstructed power. Cultivate a given perfection and watch for the corresponding fruit; there is no need to speculate.

Cloud-Sound Pure Moon: The Ten Grounds

First the question. This bodhisattva's set is also eleven verses — is the pattern the same as the one before? It is. The first verse is a general statement — “the realm of his spiritual powers is equal to space, and there is no being in the ten directions who does not see; and just as the ground was accomplished by his practice in ages past, so within the maṇi fruit it is all expounded in full” — pointing out that what is set in verse is ‘the ground accomplished by his practice’, and that it is expounded from within the maṇi fruit. The ten verses that follow set the ten grounds in verse in order.

But this must be stated precisely: of the ten verses, those that write out the name of the ground in full are only the Stainless Ground, the Ground of Brightness, the Ground Hard to Conquer, the Ground of Excellent Insight, and the last verse's “the vast Dharma-cloud, the tenth ground”; the remaining five grounds are given by descriptive language — the first ground as “entering the first ground and utterly joyful”, the fourth as “the unequalled ground of the blazing ocean of luminous insight”, the sixth as “the ground of the ocean of insight where practice is cultivated at large”, the seventh as “the far journey of ages past”, and the eighth as “this unequalled ground”. Each verse carries with it the aspect of practice belonging to that ground: the first ground brings forth the vast wisdom of the Dharma realm and sees everywhere the buddhas of the ten directions; the second keeps pure discipline in a measure equal to the number of beings; the third is the treasury of śamatha with its firm forbearance; the fourth understands well the objects of knowledge and gives rise to compassion; the fifth has movement and stillness according with one another without conflict; the sixth knows every gate of Dharma throughout; the seventh has every skillful means wholly pure; the eighth has no discrimination able to move it; the ninth has the power of the light that enters well the teaching; the tenth holds all within it and pervades space.

A correction: do not take these ten verses for a complete teaching of the ten grounds. The full exposition of the ten grounds lies in the later chapter on the ten grounds; here they are marked out as the sequence of stations of practice in passing, within verses of praise, and every line is of the barest brevity. Nor should the incompleteness of the names lead one to doubt that these are verses on the ten grounds — the sequence, the aspects of practice, and the last verse's “tenth ground” agree with one another, and that is enough. Putting it to work: that this sūtra already marks out once, in its first chapter, the names and the aspects of practice of the ten grounds, is itself a piece of news — the framework of the whole sūtra's stations of practice has already shown its bones in the earliest verses of praise.

Well-Valiant Light Banner: The Differences in What Beings See

First the question. Last of the ten bodhisattvas, why does this one set in verse neither the Buddha nor the place, but what beings see? Because it is time to gather up. The opening of his set of verses also differs from the nine before — they were “sustained by the awesome power of the Buddha, looked everywhere upon the ocean of assemblies at every place of awakening / the ocean of assemblies”, while he was “sustained by the awesome spirit of the Buddha, contemplated the ten directions”; not contemplating the place of awakening but contemplating the ten directions, exactly matching what he sets in verse.

Of the ten verses, the first two say that measureless beings dwell in the assembly with faith and understanding of every kind and pure in mind, that each has raised up pure vows and cultivated the practices, and that they are able to see the Tathāgata's true substance. From the third verse through the ninth, eight occurrences of the word “some” set out the differences in what is seen: some see the Buddha's dharma-body, into which the boundless natures of dharmas all enter; some see the Buddha's wondrous form-body, which changes according to the differing understandings of beings; some see the unobstructed body of wisdom, impartial towards the three times and like space; some comprehend the Buddha's voice, unobstructed according to what each ought to understand; some see the Tathāgata's lights of every kind; some, within the Buddha's radiance, see furthermore the buddhas raising up spiritual powers; some see the Buddha's ocean-cloud of light coming forth from his pores and manifesting the path of his practice in ages past; some see the Buddha's marks adorned by merit and see besides where that merit was born from. The last verse gathers all up: the Tathāgata's merit cannot be measured and fills the Dharma realm without bound, and as for his spiritual powers and every realm, “it is by the Buddha's power that they can be proclaimed”.

A correction: the eight occurrences of “some” do not say that there are eight kinds of people who see eight different buddhas, nor that any one of those seeings is the truer. Read together with the third verse of Ocean-Wisdom Sovereign King of Spiritual Powers, “each, according to his own liberation, is able to behold it”, one knows that the difference in what is seen lies in the liberation of the beholder, while the Buddha does not differ. Putting it to work: this set of verses is a mirror held up to the reader. Which is it that you see now — the marks, the radiance, the voice, or the dharma-body? See clearly which square you stand in and you will know what to cultivate next.

The Concluding Extension, One: The Earth Quakes

First the question. The assemblies have all finished their praises, so why does the sūtra have the earth quake? The sūtra says that it was “by the spiritual power of the Buddha” that “it quaked in its every ground with six kinds and eighteen aspects” — the six kinds being shaking, rising, surging, rumbling, roaring and striking, and each kind having three, making eighteen aspects. Chengguan, glossing these six kinds, says that rumbling is sound and shaking is form; on the side of sound it includes roaring and striking, and on the side of form it includes rising and surging, and so there are six. And he glosses each aspect in turn: unsteady swaying is called shaking, rising gradually from below is called rising, a sudden leaping upward is called surging, a muffled giving out of sound is called rumbling, a mighty pent-up sound is called roaring, and a crashing report is called striking. As for the unfolding of the eighteen aspects, he says that when one quarter alone shakes it is simply called shaking, when four quarters shake it is called shaking throughout, and when eight quarters shake it is called shaking universally throughout.

For what purpose is the quaking? Chengguan cites a sūtra which says there are seven occasions for it: to make the demons afraid, to keep the minds of the great assembly from scattering while the Dharma is expounded, to make the negligent become aware, to make beings know the character of things, to make beings look upon the place where the Dharma is expounded, to make those who are ripe attain liberation, and to make them accordingly ask after the true meaning; and he says that these seven occasions are precisely what is intended in the present sūtra, while the four occasions given in a certain treatise do not fit this passage. He adds a further line: the above is stated with reference to the outer vessel-world; and if stated with reference to the ground of mind, the ground of the noble and the wise, and the ground of the nature of things, there too the sense of quaking obtains, and may be sought out.

A correction: the quaking of the earth is neither a calamitous portent nor an atmosphere. Of the seven occasions, not one is for the display of marvels; every one of them falls upon beings' hearing of the Dharma. As for the place that quakes, the sūtra says it is the Flower-Treasury Adorned Ocean of Worlds, and Chengguan explains that although the land of Magadha is what is named, what quakes is the Flower-Treasury, because the defiled and the pure interfuse. Putting it to work: whenever in reading this sūtra you meet the words ‘the earth quaked’, go straight to the question of which of those seven occasions it is — the fear of demons, the unscattered mind, awareness, knowing the character of things, looking upon the place of expounding, attaining liberation, asking after the true meaning.

The Concluding Extension, Two: The Rulers of the Worlds Raise Up Offerings

First the question. After the earth quakes, why is it “these rulers of the worlds” who come forward to make offerings, and not the bodhisattvas who have just praised the Buddha? Chengguan has an important attribution here: he says that the reason the word ‘ruler’ is used where the number is stated is that the assembly of the same birth may also be called rulers of the worlds — because they are that upon which beings depend. So the rulers of the worlds here is a general term, gathering up both the assembly of a different birth of the four preceding fascicles and the assembly of the same birth of this one.

As for the aspect of the offerings, the sūtra lists eleven cloud-names — clouds of adornment of all fragrant flowers, clouds of the wondrous ornaments of all maṇi, clouds of nets of flowers and jewelled flame, clouds of the round light of maṇi jewels of boundless kinds, clouds of treasuries of pearls and jewels of every colour, clouds of the fragrance of all jewelled sandalwood, clouds of all jewelled canopies, clouds of maṇi-kings of pure and wondrous sound, clouds of wheels of sunlight maṇi pendants, clouds of the radiant treasuries of all jewels, clouds of adornments each and every one distinct — and then gathers them with “such kinds as these”, saying their number is measureless and past conceiving.

A correction: this list has eleven names and not ten, unlike the ten cloud-names listed earlier in the passage on the adorned throne; the listings of this sūtra do not make everything add up to ten, and there is no need to force them into line. Putting it to work: note that the last of the eleven names is “clouds of adornments each and every one distinct” — the words ‘each and every one distinct’ are the eye. The first ten names are all of one class and one aspect; the last takes ‘differing one from another’ itself and makes it a kind of offering. The completeness of an offering does not lie in uniformity but in being able to hold what is distinct.

The Concluding Extension, Three: Eleven Clauses of Benefit, and the Last of Them Is Still the Gate of Liberation

First the question. At the close of the whole chapter the sūtra uses eleven occurrences of “each and every one” — each has his own faith and understanding, each his own object, each his own gate of samādhi and skillful means, each cultivates his own dharmas that aid the path, each has his own accomplishment, each his own joy, each his own entering, each awakens to and understands the gates of Dharma, each enters the realm of the Tathāgata's spiritual powers, each enters the realm of the Tathāgata's powers, each enters the Tathāgata's gate of liberation. Why pile them up so? Chengguan counts them exactly: he says there are eleven clauses here, that they are the benefit gained from hearing the Dharma, and he divides them into three tiers — first the benefit of hearing, which is each having his own faith and understanding, believing his words and understanding their meaning; second the benefit of reflection, weighing carefully upon the object confronted; and third the benefit of cultivation, which opens further into seven — the gate of cultivation is samādhi and skillful means, the dharma of cultivation is the provisions that aid the path, the fruit of cultivation is accomplishment by according with principle, the benefit of cultivation is the joy in Dharma that comes with whatever is gained, the turning of cultivation is each entering the measureless gates of the vehicles and the realms of beings, the sameness of cultivation is awakening to and understanding the gates of Dharma so as to agree with the sages of old, and the utmost of cultivation has three — the utmost of great compassion is entering the realm of the Buddha's spiritual powers, which accomplishes the virtue of kindness; the utmost of great wisdom is entering the realm of the Buddha's powers, which accomplishes the virtue of a buddha's wisdom; and the utmost of sovereign freedom is entering the Tathāgata's gate of liberation, exhausting every obstruction so that mind and object are free, which accomplishes the virtue of a buddha's severance.

Chengguan puts a hook back at the very last clause: he says that “entering the Tathāgata's gate of liberation” is just those gates of liberation spoken of earlier. This fascicle opens with Samantabhadra entering the inconceivable gate of liberation, and this fascicle closes with all the rulers of the worlds each entering the Tathāgata's gate of liberation — beginning and end are one and the same gate.

A correction: do not read “each and every one” as each going his own way and each getting a one-sided portion. The eleven clauses are a single ascending line, walking from faith and understanding all the way to the virtue of severance; “each and every one” speaks of a difference in the place of entry, not a difference in what is entered. Putting it to work: these eleven clauses can be asked of oneself clause by clause — at which clause do I stop? Most people stop somewhere between the first clause and the sixth; the five that follow all require that one begin from “entering”.

The Concluding Extension, Four: Taking the Flower-Treasury as the Instance for the Dharma Realm

First the question. Is the final line, “just as it was within this Flower-Treasury Ocean of Worlds, so was it likewise within all the oceans of worlds throughout the ten directions, to the ends of the Dharma realm and the realm of space”, merely a formula? Chengguan does not see it so. He divides the concluding extension into two: first it concludes within the Flower-Treasury, then it concludes beyond the Flower-Treasury. In concluding within, he further accounts for the measure of the Flower-Treasury — that within the Flower-Treasury there are world-species as many as the dust motes of unspeakably many buddha-fields, and within each species there are again worlds as many as the dust motes of unspeakably, unspeakably many buddha-fields, and within all those worlds there are rulers of the worlds making offerings. In concluding beyond, he says that the Flower-Treasury is taken as the instance and extended to the Dharma realm, that everywhere throughout the Dharma realm there is each such an assembly, together making one great assembly of the Dharma realm — and it is only when he reaches this point that it is the endless exposition of this sūtra.

A correction: “so was it likewise” does not mean that the same thing is put on again elsewhere, like copying. Chengguan, in glossing the passage on the Buddha seated at the place of awakening, has already set up two senses: first, that those rulers of the worlds each make offerings to the buddha of their own place; second, that those rulers of the worlds also make offerings to this buddha, and that this buddha also sits at the place of awakening in their world — so it is not a great many parallel Dharma assemblies, but one assembly that pervades. Putting it to work: when the numbers in this sūtra grow so large as to feel unreal, return to these two senses. You are not asked to imagine measureless assembly halls; you are asked to recognize that this one assembly is those measureless ones.

Lineage

There are three lines of ancient classification for this passage. Chengguan sets up the division of same birth and different birth, taking this fascicle as the assembly of the same birth and dividing it internally into three — the passage on Samantabhadra, the passage on the ten Universal bodhisattvas, and the passage on the ten differently named bodhisattvas, each of the three having prose and verse; the bringing forth of an assembly from the adorned throne is given a heading of its own, while the quaking and the concluding extension are attached to the manifesting of verification and to the concluding of the endless, and at the last the ten parts of the ‘portion setting out the causes and conditions of the teaching's arising’ bring the whole chapter to a close.

What Fazang commented upon was the sixty-fascicle text. At the place of the gathered assemblies he first distinguishes same birth from different birth, and points out that the defining of these two terms varies with the teaching: on the terms of the Lesser Vehicle, the auditors are the same and bodhisattvas, spirits and the rest are all different; on the terms of the initial teaching, home-leaving bodhisattvas and auditors are the same; on the terms of the final teaching, bodhisattvas are the same and auditors different; there are further the two positions that only bodhisattvas above the grounds are the same, and that only those from the eighth ground upward are the same, which run through both the initial and the final teachings; there is further the position that only bodhisattvas are the same while gods and spirits are different; and at the last, on the terms of the One Vehicle, two senses are given — either bodhisattvas and spirits alike are the same, since the Dharma realm is not two; or both alike are different, since the Dharma realm is differentiated. Seven definitions for one and the same set of terms: this is Fazang's method of classifying the teachings, put to work upon this passage. He also lists the eight senses of ‘great’ in the assembly of the same birth (great in number, in virtue, in the work performed, in the reverence received, in excellence, in practice, in vows, and in time), cites three old explanations to gloss the term ‘bodhisattva’, and cites a treatise to gloss the word ‘together’.

Li Tongxuan does not use the division of same and different. He gathers Samantabhadra together with the ten bodhisattvas named ‘Universal’ under the single name ‘the assembly of ten Samantabhadras’, saying that this is the assembly which the buddhas of past and present practise Samantabhadra's practice in common, and he uses the simile of “like a great royal road” — all bodhisattvas take this as their substance and all ordinary beings take it as their conveyance; the road is of itself constant, and walking or not walking is no difference in the road. He sets up his own classification into five portions, taking this first assembly together with the assembly of ten Samantabhadras as the first portion, ‘the portion that manifests the fruit and forms the cause so that faith is born’, on the grounds that the Tathāgata is the fruit of true awakening, that Samantabhadra and the rest are the fruit of the Buddha's practice, and that the Flower-Treasury pure land is the recompensed support of the Buddha, and that beings, contemplating these three sorts of cause and fruit, give rise to faith; and he judges this first assembly, together with the second assembly down to a certain chapter, twelve chapters in all, to be in sum the portion that holds up the fruit and exhorts cultivation so that faith is born. As for the group of ten differently named bodhisattvas in this fascicle, he has already assigned them to his second portion — differing from Chengguan, who attaches them to the third part of the assembly of the same birth. But he himself explains at the same time: “Ocean-Moonlight Great Brightness too is of the assembly of Samantabhadra and the rest; the point of dividing them off as differently named is to show that it is still with the gate of Samantabhadra's practice within the station of the fruit of buddhahood that they enter the common world to benefit beings, and their names differ according to their practice”; and he says further, “the ten differently named bodhisattvas such as Ocean-Moonlight and the rest, within the assembly of Samantabhadra, are taken as forming the initial mind of the ten abodes”. So for him this group still belongs to the assembly of Samantabhadra, only that they are given differing names according to their practice, and are borrowed to show the initial mind of the ten abodes. The three lines of classification each form a system of their own, and are set down together without adjudication.

The sixty-fascicle text differs greatly from the eighty in the fullness and brevity of this passage. The sixty has only two groups: Samantabhadra's ten gates plus one set of verses, and the bringing forth from the adorned throne of bodhisattvas as many as the dust motes of one buddha-world with a listing of ten foremost names, plus one set of verses; the eighty's two groups of ten Universal bodhisattvas and ten differently named bodhisattvas, twenty gates in all with their two sets of verses, are absent from the sixty. Of the names of the ten bodhisattvas of the adorned throne, only Universal Sound of the Dharma Realm is wholly the same in the two texts, and the other nine all differ; the eighty has ten bodhisattvas each speaking one set of verses, while the sixty has only one speaker, and the name of that speaker differs again from the first of the listed names. The rendering of the name of the gate also differs as a system between the two texts: the eighty has “gate of liberation” uniformly, the sixty “gate of Dharma” uniformly. In the eighteen aspects of quaking, the number of the six kinds is the same in the two texts while their items are not; the eighty has ‘striking’ where the sixty has ‘awareness’, and in the third tier the eighty has ‘universally throughout’ where the sixty has ‘equally throughout’. All of this is set down word for word, without adjudging which is nearer the original.

Reading straight on, what follows this fascicle is the second chapter, on the Tathāgata's manifesting of his marks. This fascicle closes with all the rulers of the worlds each entering the Tathāgata's gate of liberation, and the next chapter opens with the bodhisattvas raising questions in their minds and the Tathāgata emitting light — a closing and an opening joined. The Flower-Treasury Adorned Ocean of Worlds named in this fascicle has its aspects set out at large in the fifth chapter, on the Flower-Treasury world; the names of the ten grounds marked out in the set of verses of Cloud-Sound Pure Moon in this fascicle are set out at large in the twenty-sixth chapter, on the ten grounds; the ten perfections marked out in the set of verses of Universal Sound of the Dharma Realm in this fascicle are set out at large in the ninth ground of the twenty-sixth chapter and in the thirty-eighth chapter, on leaving the world. The first chapter has already marked out, within verses of praise, the framework of several chapters to come — this is the sūtra's pattern of ‘the first assembly holding up the whole’, and it is also what Chengguan meant by taking the Flower-Treasury as the instance for the Dharma realm, together making one great assembly of the Dharma realm.