華嚴經 品四 世界成就品Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Formation of the Worlds
世界不是舞台，是答案。
普賢在這一品裡開了十件事：世界從什麼緣成、依什麼住、什麼形狀、拿什麼作體、怎麼莊嚴、怎麼清淨、佛怎麼出現、住多久、怎麼變、以及在這一切差別之上什麼是不變的。九件講差別，一件講平等。
最要緊的是第六與第九。第六說世界怎麼變乾淨，所列的十條卻全是菩薩的行——親近善知識、修波羅蜜、觀諸地而入住。第九說世界怎麼轉變，所列的十條多半是誰住在裡面——染污眾生住則染污，眾生發菩提心則純清淨，佛出世則廣博嚴淨。剎土不在心外，所以淨土的因在行者的地上。
「一切諸國土，皆隨業力生，汝等應觀察，轉變相如是。」
末了那一事不是說差別沒有了。差別在，而體性平等、佛力融攝——澄觀說得極穩：無差別不是諸剎相望互同，是染剎淨剎一概皆具。
一微塵中容得下多剎海，而「一一區分無雜越」。
The world is not a stage. It is an answer.
In this chapter Samantabhadra opens ten things: from what conditions a world is formed, upon what it abides, what shape it has, what it takes for its substance, how it is adorned, how it becomes pure, how a buddha appears in it, how long it lasts, how it changes, and — above all this difference — what does not differ. Nine of them speak of difference; one speaks of sameness.
The most important are the sixth and the ninth. The sixth tells how a world becomes clean, and yet the ten items it lists are all the conduct of a bodhisattva — drawing near to good friends, cultivating the pāramitās, contemplating the grounds and entering to abide in them. The ninth tells how a world is transformed, and most of the ten items it lists are a matter of who is living in it — where defiled beings abide it is defiled; where beings give rise to the mind of awakening it is wholly pure; where a buddha appears in the world it is broadly and vastly adorned and purified. The land is not outside the mind, and so the cause of a pure land lies on the ground where the practitioner stands.
“All the many lands are all born following the power of karma; you should contemplate this, for the aspect of their transformation is just so.”
That last thing does not say that difference has disappeared. Difference remains, and yet the substance and nature are equal and the Buddha’s power gathers all in — Chengguan states it with great steadiness: freedom from differentiation does not mean that the lands are all alike when set beside one another; it means that defiled lands and pure lands alike are held complete.
Within a single atom many oceans of lands find room, and yet “each one is set apart with no confusion or overstepping.”
〔T10 0034〕
爾時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩以佛神力，遍觀察一切世界海、一切眾生海、一切諸佛海、一切法界海、一切眾生業海、一切眾生根欲海、一切諸佛法輪海、一切三世海、一切如來願力海、一切如來神變海；如是觀察已，普告一切道場眾海諸菩薩言：「佛子！諸佛世尊知一切世界海成壞清淨智不可思議，知一切眾生業海智不可思議，知一切法界安立海智不可思議，說一切無邊佛海智不可思議，入一切欲解根海智不可思議，一念普知一切三世智不可思議，顯示一切如來無量願海智不可思議，示現一切佛神變海智不可思議，轉法輪智不可思議，建立演說海不可思議，清淨佛身不可思議，無邊色相海普照明不可思議，相及隨好皆清淨不可思議，無邊色相光明輪海具足清淨不可思議，種種色相光明雲海不可思議，殊勝寶焰海不可思議，成就言音海不可思議，示現三種自在海調伏成熟一切眾生不可思議，勇猛調伏諸眾生海無空過者不可思議，安住佛地不可思議，入如來境界不可思議，威力護持不可思議，觀察一切佛智所行不可思議，諸力圓滿無能摧伏不可思議，無畏功德無能過者不可思議，住無差別三昧不可思議，神通變化不可思議，清淨自在智不可思議，一切佛法無能毀壞不可思議。如是等一切法，我當承佛神力，及一切如來威神力故，具足宣說。為令眾生，入佛智慧海故；為令一切菩薩，於佛功德海中得安住故；為令一切世界海，一切佛自在所莊嚴故；為令一切劫海中，如來種性恒不斷故；為令於一切世界海中，顯示諸法真實性故；為令隨一切眾生無量解海，而演說故；為令隨一切眾生諸根海，方便令生諸佛法故；為令隨一切眾生樂欲海，摧破一切障礙山故；為令隨一切眾生心行海，令淨修治出要道故；為令一切菩薩，安住普賢願海中故。」
是時，普賢菩薩復欲令無量道場眾海生歡喜故，令於一切法增長愛樂故，令生廣大真實信解海故，令淨治普門法界藏身故，令安立普賢願海故，令淨治入三世平等智眼故，令增長普照一切世間藏大慧海故，令生陀羅尼力持一切法輪故，令於一切道場中盡佛境界悉開示故，令開闡一切如來法門故，令增長法界廣大甚深一切智性故，即說頌言：
「智慧甚深功德海，普現十方無量國，
隨諸眾生所應見，光明遍照轉法輪。
十方剎海叵思議，佛無量劫皆嚴淨，
為化眾生使成熟，出興一切諸國土。
佛境甚深難可思，普示眾生令得入，
其心樂小著諸有，不能通達佛所悟。
若有淨信堅固心，常得親近善知識，
一切諸佛與其力，此乃能入如來智。
離諸諂誑心清淨，常樂慈悲性歡喜，
志欲廣大深信人，彼聞此法生欣悅。
安住普賢諸願地，修行菩薩清淨道，
觀察法界如虛空，此乃能知佛行處。
此諸菩薩獲善利，見佛一切神通力，
修餘道者莫能知，普賢行人方得悟。
眾生廣大無有邊，如來一切皆護念，
轉正法輪靡不至，毘盧遮那境界力。
一切剎土入我身，所住諸佛亦復然，
汝應觀我諸毛孔，我今示汝佛境界。
普賢行願無邊際，我已修行得具足，
普眼境界廣大身，是佛所行應諦聽。」
〔T10 0035〕
爾時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩告諸大眾言：
「諸佛子！世界海有十種事，過去、現在、未來諸佛，已說、現說、當說。何者為十？所謂：世界海起具因緣，世界海所依住，世界海形狀，世界海體性，世界海莊嚴，世界海清淨，世界海佛出興，世界海劫住，世界海劫轉變差別，世界海無差別門。諸佛子！略說世界海，有此十事；若廣說者，與世界海微塵數等，過去、現在、未來諸佛，已說、現說、當說。
「諸佛子！略說以十種因緣故，一切世界海已成、現成、當成。何者為十？所謂：如來神力故，法應如是故，一切眾生行業故，一切菩薩成一切智所得故，一切眾生及諸菩薩同集善根故，一切菩薩嚴淨國土願力故，一切菩薩成就不退行願故，一切菩薩清淨勝解自在故，一切如來善根所流及一切諸佛成道時自在勢力故，普賢菩薩自在願力故。諸佛子！是為略說十種因緣；若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。」
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「所說無邊眾剎海，毘盧遮那悉嚴淨，
世尊境界不思議，智慧神通力如是。
菩薩修行諸願海，普隨眾生心所欲，
眾生心行廣無邊，菩薩國土遍十方。
菩薩趣於一切智，勤修種種自在力，
無量願海普出生，廣大剎土皆成就。
修諸行海無有邊，入佛境界亦無量，
為淨十方諸國土，一一土經無量劫。
眾生煩惱所擾濁，分別欲樂非一相，
隨心造業不思議，一切剎海斯成立。
佛子剎海莊嚴藏，離垢光明寶所成，
斯由廣大信解心，十方所住咸如是。
菩薩能修普賢行，遊行法界微塵道，
塵中悉現無量剎，清淨廣大如虛空。
等虛空界現神通，悉詣道場諸佛所，
蓮華座上示眾相，一一身包一切剎。
一念普現於三世，一切剎海皆成立，
佛以方便悉入中，此是毘盧所嚴淨。」
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！一一世界海有世界海微塵數所依住。所謂：或依一切莊嚴住，或依虛空住，或依一切寶光明住，或依一切佛光明住，或依一切寶色光明住，或依一切佛音聲住，或依如幻業生大力阿脩羅形金剛手住，或依一切世主身住，或依一切菩薩身住，或依普賢菩薩願所生一切差別莊嚴海住。諸佛子！世界海有如是等世界海微塵數所依住。」
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「遍滿十方虛空界，所有一切諸國土，
如來神力之所加，處處現前皆可見。
或有種種諸國土，無非離垢寶所成，
清淨摩尼最殊妙，熾然普現光明海。
或有清淨光明剎，依止虛空界而住，
或在摩尼寶海中，復有安住光明藏。
如來處此眾會海，演說法輪皆巧妙，
諸佛境界廣無邊，眾生見者心歡喜。
有以摩尼作嚴飾，狀如華燈廣分布，
香焰光雲色熾然，覆以妙寶光明網。
或有剎土無邊際，安住蓮華深大海，
廣博清淨與世殊，諸佛妙善莊嚴故。
或有剎海隨輪轉，以佛威神得安住，
諸菩薩眾遍在中，常見無央廣大寶。
或有住於金剛手，或復有住天主身，
毘盧遮那無上尊，常於此處轉法輪。
或依寶樹平均住，香焰雲中亦復然；
或有依諸大水中，有住堅固金剛海。
或有依止金剛幢，或有住於華海中，
廣大神通無不周，毘盧遮那此能現。
或脩或短無量種，其相旋環亦非一，
妙莊嚴藏與世殊，清淨修治乃能見。
如是種種各差別，一切皆依願海住；
或有國土常在空，諸佛如雲悉充遍。
或有在空懸覆住，或時而有或無有；
或有國土極清淨，住於菩薩寶冠中。
十方諸佛大神通，一切皆於此中見，
諸佛音聲咸遍滿，斯由業力之所化。
或有國土周法界，清淨離垢從心起，
如影如幻廣無邊，如因陀網各差別。
或現種種莊嚴藏，依止虛空而建立，
諸業境界不思議，佛力顯示皆令見。
一一國土微塵內，念念示現諸佛剎，
數皆無量等眾生，普賢所作恒如是。
為欲成熟眾生故，是中修行經劫海，
廣大神變靡不興，法界之中悉周遍。
法界國土一一塵，諸大剎海住其中，
佛雲平等悉彌覆，於一切處咸充滿。
如一塵中自在用，一切塵內亦復然，
諸佛菩薩大神通，毘盧遮那悉能現。
一切廣大諸剎土，如影如幻亦如焰，
十方不見所從生，亦復無來無去處。
滅壞生成互循復，於虛空中無暫已，
莫不皆由清淨願，廣大業力之所持。」
〔T10 0036〕
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！世界海有種種差別形相。所謂：或圓，或方，或非圓方，無量差別；或如水漩形，或如山焰形，或如樹形，或如華形，或如宮殿形，或如眾生形，或如佛形……。如是等，有世界海微塵數。」
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「諸國土海種種別，種種莊嚴種種住，
殊形共美遍十方，汝等咸應共觀察。
其狀或圓或有方，或復三維及八隅，
摩尼輪狀蓮華等，一切皆由業令異。
或有清淨焰莊嚴，真金間錯多殊好，
門闥競開無壅滯，斯由業廣意無雜。
剎海無邊差別藏，譬如雲布在虛空，
寶輪布地妙莊嚴，諸佛光明照耀中。
一切國土心分別，種種光明而照現，
佛於如是剎海中，各各示現神通力。
或有雜染或清淨，受苦受樂各差別，
斯由業海不思議，諸流轉法恒如是。
一毛孔內難思剎，等微塵數種種住，
一一皆有遍照尊，在眾會中宣妙法。
於一塵中大小剎，種種差別如塵數，
平坦高下各不同，佛悉往詣轉法輪。
一切塵中所現剎，皆是本願神通力，
隨其心樂種種殊，於虛空中悉能作。
一切國土所有塵，一一塵中佛皆入，
普為眾生起神變，毘盧遮那法如是。」
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！應知世界海有種種體。所謂：或以一切寶莊嚴為體，或以一寶種種莊嚴為體，或以一切寶光明為體，或以種種色光明為體，或以一切莊嚴光明為體，或以不可壞金剛為體，或以佛力持為體，或以妙寶相為體，或以佛變化為體，或以日摩尼輪為體，或以極微細寶為體，或以一切寶焰為體，或以種種香為體，或以一切寶華冠為體，或以一切寶影像為體，或以一切莊嚴所示現為體，或以一念心普示現境界為體，或以菩薩形寶為體，或以寶華蘂為體，或以佛言音為體。」
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「或有諸剎海，妙寶所合成，
堅固不可壞，安住寶蓮華。
或是淨光明，出生不可知，
一切光莊嚴，依止虛空住。
或淨光為體，復依光明住，
光雲作嚴飾，菩薩共遊處。
或有諸剎海，從於願力生，
猶如影像住，取說不可得。
或以摩尼成，普放日藏光，
珠輪以嚴地，菩薩悉充滿。
有剎寶焰成，焰雲覆其上，
眾寶光殊妙，皆由業所得。
或從妙相生，眾相莊嚴地，
如冠共持戴，斯由佛化起。
或從心海生，隨心所解住，
如幻無處所，一切是分別。
或以佛光明，摩尼光為體，
諸佛於中現，各起神通力。
或普賢菩薩，化現諸剎海，
願力所莊嚴，一切皆殊妙。」
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！應知世界海有種種莊嚴。所謂：或以一切莊嚴具中出上妙雲莊嚴，或以說一切菩薩功德莊嚴，或以說一切眾生業報莊嚴，或以示現一切菩薩願海莊嚴，或以表示一切三世佛影像莊嚴，或以一念頃示現無邊劫神通境界莊嚴，或以出現一切佛身莊嚴，或以出現一切寶香雲莊嚴，或以示現一切道場中諸珍妙物光明照耀莊嚴，或以示現一切普賢行願莊嚴……。如是等，有世界海微塵數。」
〔T10 0037〕
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「廣大剎海無有邊，皆由清淨業所成，
種種莊嚴種種住，一切十方皆遍滿。
無邊色相寶焰雲，廣大莊嚴非一種，
十方剎海常出現，普演妙音而說法。
菩薩無邊功德海，種種大願所莊嚴，
此土俱時出妙音，普震十方諸剎網。
眾生業海廣無量，隨其感報各不同，
於一切處莊嚴中，皆由諸佛能演說。
三世所有諸如來，神通普現諸剎海，
一一事中一切佛，如是嚴淨汝應觀。
過去未來現在劫，十方一切諸國土，
於彼所有大莊嚴，一一皆於剎中見。
一切事中無量佛，數等眾生遍世間，
為令調伏起神通，以此莊嚴國土海。
一切莊嚴吐妙雲，種種華雲香焰雲，
摩尼寶雲常出現，剎海以此為嚴飾。
十方所有成道處，種種莊嚴皆具足，
流光布逈若彩雲，於此剎海咸令見。
普賢願行諸佛子，等眾生劫勤修習，
無邊國土悉莊嚴，一切處中皆顯現。」
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！應知世界海有世界海微塵數清淨方便海。所謂：諸菩薩親近一切善知識同善根故，增長廣大功德雲遍法界故，淨修廣大諸勝解故，觀察一切菩薩境界而安住故，修治一切諸波羅蜜悉圓滿故，觀察一切菩薩諸地而入住故，出生一切淨願海故，修習一切出要行故，入於一切莊嚴海故，成就清淨方便力故……。如是等，有世界海微塵數。」
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「一切剎海諸莊嚴，無數方便願力生，
一切剎海常光耀，無量清淨業力起。
久遠親近善知識，同修善業皆清淨，
慈悲廣大遍眾生，以此莊嚴諸剎海。
一切法門三昧等，禪定解脫方便地，
於諸佛所悉淨治，以此出生諸剎海。
發生無量決定解，能解如來等無異，
忍海方便已修治，故能嚴淨無邊剎。
為利眾生修勝行，福德廣大常增長，
譬如雲布等虛空，一切剎海皆成就。
諸度無量等剎塵，悉已修行令具足，
願波羅蜜無有盡，清淨剎海從此生。
淨修無等一切法，生起無邊出要行，
種種方便化群生，如是莊嚴國土海。
修習莊嚴方便地，入佛功德法門海，
普使眾生竭苦源，廣大淨剎皆成就。
力海廣大無與等，普使眾生種善根，
供養一切諸如來，國土無邊悉清淨。」
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！應知一一世界海有世界海微塵數佛出現差別。所謂：或現小身，或現大身，或現短壽，或現長壽，或唯嚴淨一佛國土，或有嚴淨無量佛土，或唯顯示一乘法輪，或有顯示不可思議諸乘法輪，或現調伏少分眾生，或示調伏無邊眾生……。如是等，有世界海微塵數。」
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「諸佛種種方便門，出興一切諸剎海，
皆隨眾生心所樂，此是如來善權力。
諸佛法身不思議，無色無形無影像，
能為眾生現眾相，隨其心樂悉令見。
或為眾生現短壽，或現住壽無量劫，
法身十方普現前，隨宜出現於世間。
或有嚴淨不思議，十方所有諸剎海；
或唯嚴淨一國土，於一示現悉無餘。
或隨眾生心所樂，示現難思種種乘；
或有唯宣一乘法，一中方便現無量。
或有自然成正覺，令少眾生住於道；
或有能於一念中，開悟群迷無有數。
或於毛孔出化雲，示現無量無邊佛，
一切世間皆現覩，種種方便度群生。
或有言音普周遍，隨其心樂而說法，
不可思議大劫中，調伏無量眾生海。
或有無量莊嚴國，眾會清淨儼然坐，
佛如雲布在其中，十方剎海靡不充。
諸佛方便不思議，隨眾生心悉現前，
普住種種莊嚴剎，一切國土皆周遍。」
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！應知世界海有世界海微塵數劫住。所謂：或有阿僧祇劫住，或有無量劫住，或有無邊劫住，或有無等劫住，或有不可數劫住，或有不可稱劫住，或有不可思劫住，或有不可量劫住，或有不可說劫住……。如是等，有世界海微塵數。」
〔T10 0038〕
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「世界海中種種劫，廣大方便所莊嚴，
十方國土咸觀見，數量差別悉明了。
我見十方世界海，劫數無量等眾生，
或長或短或無邊，以佛音聲今演說。
我見十方諸剎海，或住國土微塵劫，
或有一劫或無數，以願種種各不同。
或有純淨或純染，或復染淨二俱雜，
願海安立種種殊，住於眾生心想中。
往昔修行剎塵劫，獲大清淨世界海，
諸佛境界具莊嚴，永住無邊廣大劫。
有名種種寶光明，或名等音焰眼藏，
離塵光明及賢劫，此清淨劫攝一切。
有清淨劫一佛興，或一劫中無量現，
無盡方便大願力，入於一切種種劫。
或無量劫入一劫，或復一劫入多劫，
一切劫海種種門，十方國土皆明現。
或一切劫莊嚴事，於一劫中皆現覩，
或一劫內所莊嚴，普入一切無邊劫。
始從一念終成劫，悉依眾生心想生，
一切剎海劫無邊，以一方便皆清淨。」
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！應知世界海有世界海微塵數劫轉變差別。所謂：法如是故，世界海無量成壞劫轉變；染污眾生住故，世界海成染污劫轉變；修廣大福眾生住故，世界海成染淨劫轉變；信解菩薩住故，世界海成染淨劫轉變；無量眾生發菩提心故，世界海純清淨劫轉變；諸菩薩各各遊諸世界故，世界海無邊莊嚴劫轉變；十方一切世界海諸菩薩雲集故，世界海無量大莊嚴劫轉變；諸佛世尊入涅槃故，世界海莊嚴滅劫轉變；諸佛出現於世故，一切世界海廣博嚴淨劫轉變；如來神通變化故，世界海普清淨劫轉變……。如是等，有世界海微塵數。」
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「一切諸國土，皆隨業力生，
汝等應觀察，轉變相如是。
染污諸眾生，業惑纏可怖，
彼心令剎海，一切成染污。
若有清淨心，修諸福德行，
彼心令剎海，雜染及清淨。
信解諸菩薩，於彼劫中生，
隨其心所有，雜染清淨見。
無量諸眾生，悉發菩提心，
彼心令剎海，住劫恒清淨。
無量億菩薩，往詣於十方，
莊嚴無有殊，劫中差別見。
一一微塵內，佛剎如塵數，
菩薩共雲集，國土皆清淨。
世尊入涅槃，彼土莊嚴滅，
眾生無法器，世界成雜染。
若有佛興世，一切悉珍好，
隨其心清淨，莊嚴皆具足。
諸佛神通力，示現不思議，
是時諸剎海，一切普清淨。」
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！應知世界海有世界海微塵數無差別。所謂：一一世界海中，有世界海微塵數世界無差別；一一世界海中，諸佛出現所有威力無差別；一一世界海中，一切道場遍十方法界無差別；一一世界海中，一切如來道場眾會無差別；一一世界海中，一切佛光明遍法界無差別；一一世界海中，一切佛變化名號無差別；一一世界海中，一切佛音聲普遍世界海無邊劫住無差別；一一世界海中，法輪方便無差別；一一世界海中，一切世界海普入一塵無差別；一一世界海中，一一微塵，一切三世諸佛世尊廣大境界皆於中現無差別。諸佛子！世界海無差別，略說如是；若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。」
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛威力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「一微塵中多剎海，處所各別悉嚴淨，
如是無量入一中，一一區分無雜越。
一一塵內難思佛，隨眾生心普現前，
一切剎海靡不周，如是方便無差別。
一一塵中諸樹王，種種莊嚴悉垂布，
十方國土皆同現，如是一切無差別。
一一塵內微塵眾，悉共圍遶人中主，
出過一切遍世間，亦不迫隘相雜亂。
一一塵中無量光，普遍十方諸國土，
悉現諸佛菩提行，一切剎海無差別。
一一塵中無量身，變化如雲普周遍，
以佛神通導群品，十方國土亦無別。
一一塵中說眾法，其法清淨如輪轉，
種種方便自在門，一切皆演無差別。
一塵普演諸佛音，充滿法器諸眾生，
遍住剎海無央劫，如是音聲亦無異。
剎海無量妙莊嚴，於一塵中無不入，
如是諸佛神通力，一切皆由業性起。
一一塵中三世佛，隨其所樂悉令見，
體性無來亦無去，以願力故遍世間。」
〔卷8〕
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
承力遍觀：普賢先觀十海，然後開口
那時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩以佛的神力，普遍觀察一切世界海、一切眾生海、一切諸佛海、一切法界海、一切眾生業海、一切眾生根欲海（眾生的根性與樂欲）、一切諸佛法輪海、一切三世海、一切如來願力海、一切如來神變海。這樣觀察完畢，就普遍告訴一切道場眾海之中的諸位菩薩說——
牒問略歎：二十九句歎佛智之不可思議
「佛子！諸佛世尊了知一切世界海成、壞、清淨的智慧，不可思議；了知一切眾生業海的智慧，不可思議；了知一切法界安立海（法界如何安立布置）的智慧，不可思議；宣說一切無邊佛海的智慧，不可思議；深入一切眾生欲樂勝解與根性之海的智慧，不可思議；一念之間普遍了知一切三世的智慧，不可思議；顯示一切如來無量願海的智慧，不可思議；示現一切佛神通變化之海的智慧，不可思議；轉法輪的智慧，不可思議；建立並演說法海，不可思議。
「清淨的佛身，不可思議；無邊色相之海普遍照明，不可思議；相好都清淨，不可思議；無邊色相光明輪海具足清淨，不可思議；種種色相光明雲海，不可思議；殊勝的寶焰之海，不可思議；成就言音之海，不可思議；示現三種自在之海而調伏成熟一切眾生，不可思議；勇猛調伏諸眾生海而沒有一個空過的，不可思議。
「安住於佛地，不可思議；入於如來的境界，不可思議；以威力護持，不可思議；觀察一切佛智所行之處，不可思議；諸力圓滿而無人能摧伏，不可思議；無畏功德無人能超過，不可思議；安住於無差別三昧，不可思議；神通變化，不可思議；清淨自在的智慧，不可思議；一切佛法無人能毀壞，不可思議。
許說分齊：我當承佛神力具足宣說
「像這樣種種的一切法，我當承佛的神力，以及一切如來的威神力的緣故，具足地為你們宣說。
說所成益：為十件事而說
「為了使眾生入於佛的智慧海的緣故；為了使一切菩薩能在佛的功德海中得以安住的緣故；為了使一切世界海都由一切佛的自在所莊嚴的緣故；為了使一切劫海之中如來的種性恆常不斷絕的緣故；為了在一切世界海之中顯示諸法真實體性的緣故；為了隨順一切眾生無量的勝解之海而為之演說的緣故；為了隨順一切眾生的諸根之海、以方便令他們生起諸佛之法的緣故；為了隨順一切眾生的樂欲之海、摧破一切障礙之山的緣故；為了隨順一切眾生的心行之海、令他們清淨修治出離要道的緣故；為了使一切菩薩安住於普賢願海之中的緣故。」
讚勝誡聽：十一句說偈之緣起
這時，普賢菩薩又想要使無量道場眾海生起歡喜的緣故，想要使他們對於一切法增長愛樂的緣故，想要使他們生起廣大真實的信解之海的緣故，想要使他們清淨修治普門法界藏之身的緣故，想要使他們安立普賢願海的緣故，想要使他們清淨修治入於三世平等智慧之眼的緣故，想要使他們增長那普照一切世間藏的大慧之海的緣故，想要使他們生起陀羅尼（總持）之力而任持一切法輪的緣故，想要在一切道場之中把佛的境界全部開示出來的緣故，想要開闡一切如來法門的緣故，想要使他們增長法界廣大甚深的一切智性的緣故——就說了頌：
「智慧甚深如功德之海，普遍顯現於十方無量國土，隨順眾生所應當見到的樣子，以光明遍照而轉動法輪。十方剎海不可思議，佛經無量劫都在嚴淨它們，為了教化眾生使之成熟，出興於一切國土之中。（頌·佛智普現與嚴淨剎海）
「佛的境界甚深而難以思量，普遍開示眾生使他們得以趣入；那些心中樂於小法、執著諸有的人，不能通達佛之所悟。若有清淨信心堅固的人，常能得以親近善知識，一切諸佛都給他力量，這樣才能入於如來的智慧。（頌·佛境難思與淨信能入）
「遠離種種諂曲欺誑而心地清淨，常樂於慈悲、性情歡喜，志願廣大而深具信心的人，他聽聞這個法會生起欣悅。安住於普賢的諸願之地，修行菩薩的清淨之道，觀察法界猶如虛空——這樣才能知道佛所行之處。這些菩薩獲得了大善利，見到佛的一切神通之力；修其他道的人不能知道，唯有修普賢行的人才能領悟。（頌·深信者生欣與普賢行人能悟）
「眾生廣大沒有邊際，如來一切都護念他們，轉正法輪沒有不到之處——這是毘盧遮那的境界之力。（頌·如來護念與遮那境界力）
「一切剎土都入於我的身中，所安住的諸佛也是這樣；你們應當觀察我的諸毛孔，我現在就示現給你們看佛的境界。普賢的行與願沒有邊際，我已經修行而得以具足；普眼所見的境界、廣大之身，這是佛之所行，你們應當諦聽。（頌·剎入我身與普眼境界）
十事總標：世界海有十種事
那時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩告訴諸位大眾說：
「諸佛子！世界海有十種事，過去、現在、未來的諸佛，已經說過、現在正說、將來當說。是哪十種呢？就是：世界海的起具因緣（成起所須具備的因緣），世界海的所依住（依何而住），世界海的形狀，世界海的體性，世界海的莊嚴，世界海的清淨，世界海的佛出興，世界海的劫住（住世的時劫），世界海的劫轉變差別，世界海的無差別門。諸佛子！略說世界海，有這十件事；若要廣說，則與世界海微塵數相等，過去、現在、未來的諸佛，已經說過、現在正說、將來當說。
事一 起具因緣：十種因緣故世界海成
「諸佛子！略說由於十種因緣的緣故，一切世界海已經成、現在成、將來成。是哪十種呢？就是：由於如來神力的緣故；由於法本來應當如此的緣故；由於一切眾生行業的緣故；由於一切菩薩成就一切智所得的緣故；由於一切眾生以及諸菩薩共同積集善根的緣故；由於一切菩薩嚴淨國土之願力的緣故；由於一切菩薩成就不退行願的緣故；由於一切菩薩清淨勝解自在的緣故；由於一切如來善根之所流出、以及一切諸佛成道時自在勢力的緣故；由於普賢菩薩自在願力的緣故。諸佛子！這就是略說的十種因緣；若要廣說，則有世界海微塵數那麼多。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「所說的無邊眾多剎海，毘盧遮那都已嚴淨；世尊的境界不可思議，智慧與神通之力就是這樣。菩薩修行諸多願海，普遍隨順眾生心中所欲；眾生的心行廣大無邊，菩薩的國土也就遍於十方。（頌·剎海嚴淨與菩薩願行）
「菩薩趣向於一切智，勤修種種自在之力，無量願海普遍出生，廣大剎土都得成就。修習諸行之海沒有邊際，入於佛的境界也是無量；為了清淨十方諸國土，一一國土都經歷無量劫。（頌·趣一切智而淨諸土）
「眾生被煩惱所擾動渾濁，分別與欲樂不只一種樣子，隨心造業不可思議——一切剎海就這樣成立起來。佛子啊，剎海的莊嚴之藏，是離垢的光明寶所合成，這是由於廣大的信解之心，十方所住的剎海都是如此。（頌·業成剎海與信解所成）
「菩薩能修普賢之行，遊行於法界微塵之道，塵中都顯現無量剎土，清淨廣大猶如虛空。等同虛空界而現起神通，一一前往道場諸佛的處所，在蓮華座上示現眾多的相，一一身中包含著一切剎。（頌·普賢行遍塵道）
「一念之間普遍顯現於三世，一切剎海都得以成立；佛以方便全都入於其中——這是毘盧遮那所嚴淨的。（頌·一念現三世）
事二 所依住：世界海依何而住
那時，普賢菩薩又告訴大眾說：「諸佛子！一一世界海有世界海微塵數那麼多的所依住。就是：或依一切莊嚴而住，或依虛空而住，或依一切寶光明而住，或依一切佛光明而住，或依一切寶色光明而住，或依一切佛的音聲而住，或依如幻業所生的大力阿脩羅形金剛手而住，或依一切世主之身而住，或依一切菩薩之身而住，或依普賢菩薩願力所生的一切差別莊嚴海而住。諸佛子！世界海有像這樣世界海微塵數那麼多的所依住。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「遍滿十方虛空界，所有的一切國土，都由如來神力之所加持，處處現前都可以見到。或有種種國土，無不是離垢之寶所成，清淨的摩尼最為殊妙，熾然普現光明之海。（頌·神力所加與離垢寶成）
「或有清淨光明之剎，依止虛空界而住；或在摩尼寶海之中，又有安住於光明藏的。如來處在這樣的眾會之海中，演說法輪都巧妙無比；諸佛的境界廣大無邊，眾生見到的心生歡喜。（頌·依虛空與摩尼寶海）
「有的以摩尼作為嚴飾，形狀像華燈一樣廣為分布，香焰光雲之色熾然，上面覆蓋著妙寶光明之網。或有剎土沒有邊際，安住於蓮華深廣的大海，廣博清淨而與世間迥異，這是諸佛微妙善巧莊嚴的緣故。（頌·摩尼嚴飾與蓮華大海）
「或有剎海隨著輪而轉，以佛的威神得以安住，諸菩薩眾遍布其中，常見到無數廣大的寶。或有安住於金剛手的，或又有安住於天主之身的；毘盧遮那無上尊，常在這些地方轉法輪。（頌·隨輪轉與住金剛手天主身）
「或依寶樹平均而住，在香焰雲中也是這樣；或有依在諸大水之中的，有安住於堅固金剛之海的。或有依止金剛幢的，或有住於華海之中的；廣大神通無所不周，毘盧遮那能夠顯現這一切。（頌·寶樹香焰水輪金剛幢華海）
「或修長或短小有無量種類，它們的相狀旋繞環曲也不只一樣；微妙莊嚴之藏與世間迥異，清淨修治的人才能見到。像這樣種種各各差別，一切都依願海而住；或有國土常在虛空之中，諸佛如雲一般全都充遍。（頌·形量各異而皆依願海）
「或有懸在空中覆蓋而住的，或有時存在或有時沒有；或有國土極為清淨，安住於菩薩的寶冠之中。十方諸佛的大神通，一切都可以在這裡見到；諸佛的音聲全都遍滿——這是由業力之所變化。（頌·懸覆住與菩薩寶冠中）
「或有國土周遍法界，清淨離垢從心而起，如影如幻廣大無邊，如同因陀羅網（帝釋天的寶網）各各差別。或現種種莊嚴之藏，依止虛空而建立；諸業的境界不可思議，佛力顯示使人都能見到。（頌·周法界從心起如帝網）
「一一國土的微塵之內，念念示現諸佛的剎土，數目都無量而等同眾生——普賢所作恆常如此。為了成熟眾生的緣故，在其中修行經歷劫海；廣大神變無不興起，法界之中全都周遍。（頌·塵內念念現剎）
「法界國土的一一微塵，諸大剎海就住在其中；佛雲平等地全都彌覆，於一切處全都充滿。如同一塵之中的自在作用，一切塵內也是這樣；諸佛菩薩的大神通，毘盧遮那全都能現。（頌·塵中住剎與佛雲彌覆）
「一切廣大的諸剎土，如影如幻也如陽焰；十方之中不見它從何處生，也沒有來處沒有去處。壞滅與生成互相循環往復，在虛空之中不曾暫停——沒有一樣不是由清淨之願、廣大業力之所任持。（頌·如影如幻而願業所持）
事三 形狀：世界海種種差別形相
那時，普賢菩薩又告訴大眾說：「諸佛子！世界海有種種差別的形相。就是：或圓，或方，或非圓非方而有無量差別；或如水漩渦之形，或如山焰之形，或如樹之形，或如華之形，或如宮殿之形，或如眾生之形，或如佛之形……。像這樣的形狀，有世界海微塵數那麼多。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「諸國土海種種有別，種種莊嚴、種種安住，殊異的形狀共成其美而遍於十方，你們都應當一同觀察。它們的形狀或圓或方，或又是三維與八隅，摩尼輪的形狀、蓮華等等，這一切都是由業使之各異。（頌·殊形共美與業令異）
「或有清淨的焰所莊嚴，真金間錯而多有殊好，門闥競相開啟沒有壅滯——這是由於業廣大而心意無雜。剎海是無邊差別之藏，譬如雲布在虛空之中；寶輪布地微妙莊嚴，諸佛的光明照耀其中。（頌·焰嚴門闥與雲布寶輪）
「一切國土由心分別，種種光明而照現出來；佛在這樣的剎海之中，各各示現神通之力。或有雜染或有清淨，受苦受樂各各差別——這是由於業海不可思議，諸流轉之法恆常如此。（頌·心分別與染淨受報）
「一毛孔內有難以思量的剎土，等同微塵數而種種安住，一一都有遍照之尊，在眾會之中宣說妙法。在一微塵之中有大剎小剎，種種差別如微塵之數，平坦高下各各不同，佛全都前往而轉法輪。（頌·毛孔塵中大小剎）
「一切塵中所顯現的剎土，都是本願神通之力；隨他們心中所樂而種種殊異，在虛空之中都能造作。一切國土所有的微塵，一一塵中佛都入於其內，普遍為眾生現起神變——毘盧遮那之法就是這樣。（頌·本願神通與佛入諸塵）
事四 體性：世界海種種體
那時，普賢菩薩又告訴大眾說：「諸佛子！應當知道世界海有種種體。就是：或以一切寶莊嚴為體，或以一種寶的種種莊嚴為體，或以一切寶光明為體，或以種種色光明為體，或以一切莊嚴光明為體，或以不可壞的金剛為體，或以佛力任持為體，或以妙寶之相為體，或以佛的變化為體，或以日摩尼輪為體，或以極微細的寶為體，或以一切寶焰為體，或以種種香為體，或以一切寶華冠為體，或以一切寶的影像為體，或以一切莊嚴之所示現為體，或以一念心普遍示現的境界為體，或以菩薩形之寶為體，或以寶華之蘂為體，或以佛的言音為體。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「或有諸剎海，是妙寶所合成，堅固不可破壞，安住於寶蓮華。或是清淨的光明，出生之處不可知，一切光明所莊嚴，依止虛空而住。（頌·妙寶合成與淨光明）
「或以淨光為體，又依光明而住，光雲作為嚴飾，菩薩共同遊處其中。或有諸剎海，是從願力而生，猶如影像而住，要取要說都不可得。（頌·淨光為體與願力所生）
「或以摩尼寶所成，普遍放出日藏之光，以珠輪嚴飾其地，菩薩全都充滿其中。有的剎土是寶焰所成，焰雲覆蓋在它上面，眾寶的光明殊勝微妙——這都是由業之所得。（頌·摩尼日藏與寶焰雲覆）
「或從妙相而生，眾相莊嚴其地，如同寶冠共同持戴——這是由佛的變化而起。或從心海而生，隨心所解而住，如幻而無有處所，一切都是分別。（頌·從妙相生與從心海生）
「或以佛的光明、摩尼的光為體，諸佛在其中顯現，各各現起神通之力。或是普賢菩薩變化顯現的諸剎海，願力之所莊嚴，一切都極為殊妙。（頌·佛光摩尼與普賢化現）
事五 莊嚴：世界海種種莊嚴
那時，普賢菩薩又告訴大眾說：「諸佛子！應當知道世界海有種種莊嚴。就是：或以一切莊嚴具中所出的上妙之雲為莊嚴，或以宣說一切菩薩功德為莊嚴，或以宣說一切眾生業報為莊嚴，或以示現一切菩薩願海為莊嚴，或以表示一切三世佛的影像為莊嚴，或以一念之頃示現無邊劫神通境界為莊嚴，或以出現一切佛身為莊嚴，或以出現一切寶香雲為莊嚴，或以示現一切道場中諸珍妙之物光明照耀為莊嚴，或以示現一切普賢行願為莊嚴……。像這樣的莊嚴，有世界海微塵數那麼多。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「廣大剎海沒有邊際，都是由清淨之業所成；種種莊嚴、種種安住，一切十方都得遍滿。無邊色相的寶焰之雲，廣大莊嚴不只一種，十方剎海常常出現，普遍演出妙音而說法。（頌·淨業所成與寶焰雲說法）
「菩薩有無邊的功德之海，種種大願之所莊嚴；這片國土同時發出妙音，普遍震動十方諸剎網。眾生的業海廣大無量，隨他們所感的果報各各不同；在一切處的莊嚴之中，都由諸佛能為之演說。（頌·菩薩功德海與眾生業報）
「三世所有的諸位如來，以神通普遍顯現於諸剎海；一一事中都有一切佛——這樣的嚴淨你們應當觀察。過去、未來、現在之劫，十方一切的國土，在那裡所有的大莊嚴，一一都能在剎中見到。（頌·三世如來普現與三世劫土）
「一切事中有無量佛，數目等同眾生而遍於世間，為了使眾生調伏而現起神通——以此莊嚴國土之海。一切莊嚴吐出妙雲，種種華雲、香焰之雲，摩尼寶雲常常出現，剎海以此作為嚴飾。（頌·無量佛遍世間與妙雲嚴飾）
「十方所有的成道之處，種種莊嚴都得具足，流動的光布散在遠處猶如彩雲，在這剎海之中都令人見到。普賢願行的諸佛子，等同眾生劫數地勤加修習，無邊國土全都莊嚴，一切處中都得顯現。（頌·成道處莊嚴與普賢願行）
事六 清淨：世界海微塵數清淨方便海
那時，普賢菩薩又告訴大眾說：「諸佛子！應當知道世界海有世界海微塵數的清淨方便海。就是：由於諸菩薩親近一切善知識而同修善根的緣故；由於增長廣大功德之雲遍於法界的緣故；由於清淨修習廣大的諸勝解的緣故；由於觀察一切菩薩的境界而安住其中的緣故；由於修治一切諸波羅蜜使之全都圓滿的緣故；由於觀察一切菩薩諸地而入住其中的緣故；由於出生一切清淨願海的緣故；由於修習一切出離要道之行的緣故；由於入於一切莊嚴之海的緣故；由於成就清淨方便之力的緣故……。像這樣的清淨方便，有世界海微塵數那麼多。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「一切剎海的諸般莊嚴，是無數方便與願力所生；一切剎海常常光耀，是無量清淨業力所起。久遠以來親近善知識，共同修習善業都得清淨，慈悲廣大遍及眾生——以此莊嚴諸剎海。（頌·方便願力與久近善知識）
「一切法門與三昧等，禪定解脫的方便之地，在諸佛的處所全都清淨修治——以此出生諸剎海。發生無量的決定勝解，能夠了解如來與己平等無異，忍海方便已經修治——所以能夠嚴淨無邊之剎。（頌·三昧禪定與決定勝解）
「為利益眾生而修殊勝之行，福德廣大而常常增長，譬如雲布等同虛空——一切剎海都得成就。諸波羅蜜無量等同剎塵，全都已經修行使之具足，願波羅蜜沒有窮盡——清淨的剎海從此而生。（頌·福德如雲與諸度願度）
「清淨修習無等的一切法，生起無邊的出離要行，種種方便教化群生——這樣莊嚴國土之海。修習莊嚴的方便之地，入於佛功德的法門之海，普遍使眾生竭盡苦的根源——廣大清淨之剎都得成就。（頌·出要行與莊嚴方便地）
「力海廣大無與倫比，普遍使眾生種下善根，供養一切諸如來——國土無邊全都清淨。（頌·力海供佛而國土清淨）
事七 佛出興：一一世界海佛出現差別
那時，普賢菩薩又告訴大眾說：「諸佛子！應當知道一一世界海有世界海微塵數的佛出現差別。就是：或現小身，或現大身；或現短壽，或現長壽；或唯獨嚴淨一個佛國土，或有嚴淨無量佛土；或唯獨顯示一乘法輪，或有顯示不可思議的諸乘法輪；或現調伏少分眾生，或示現調伏無邊眾生……。像這樣的差別，有世界海微塵數那麼多。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「諸佛種種的方便法門，出興於一切諸剎海，都隨順眾生心中所樂——這是如來善巧權宜之力。諸佛的法身不可思議，無色、無形、無影像，卻能為眾生示現眾多的相，隨他們心中所樂全都使之得見。（頌·善權之力與法身現相）
「或為眾生示現短壽，或示現住壽無量劫；法身在十方普遍現前，隨所應宜出現於世間。或有嚴淨不可思議的十方所有諸剎海；或唯獨嚴淨一個國土，在這一個之中示現而無所遺餘。（頌·壽之短長與嚴淨一土多土）
「或隨順眾生心中所樂，示現難以思量的種種乘；或有唯獨宣說一乘之法，在這一乘之中以方便現出無量。或有自然而成正覺，使少分眾生安住於道；或有能在一念之中，開悟迷惑的群生而無有數量。（頌·種種乘與一乘・少眾與一念開悟）
「或於毛孔之中出現化佛之雲，示現無量無邊的佛，一切世間都能現前看見，以種種方便度脫群生。或有言音普遍周遍，隨他們心中所樂而說法，在不可思議的大劫之中，調伏無量的眾生海。（頌·毛孔化雲與言音說法）
「或有無量莊嚴的國土，眾會清淨而儼然安坐，佛如雲一般布在其中，十方剎海無不充滿。諸佛的方便不可思議，隨眾生之心全都現前，普遍安住於種種莊嚴之剎，一切國土都得周遍。（頌·莊嚴國眾會與方便普現）
事八 劫住：世界海微塵數劫住
那時，普賢菩薩又告訴大眾說：「諸佛子！應當知道世界海有世界海微塵數的劫住。就是：或有阿僧祇劫（無數劫）而住，或有無量劫而住，或有無邊劫而住，或有無等劫而住，或有不可數劫而住，或有不可稱劫而住，或有不可思劫而住，或有不可量劫而住，或有不可說劫而住……。像這樣的劫住，有世界海微塵數那麼多。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「世界海中種種的劫，是廣大方便之所莊嚴；十方國土都能觀見，數量的差別全都明了。我見到十方世界海，劫數無量而等同眾生，或長或短或無邊——以佛的音聲如今為你們演說。（頌·種種劫與劫數無量）
「我見到十方諸剎海，或住國土微塵那麼多的劫，或有一劫或有無數劫，以願力的種種不同而各異。或有純淨的，或有純染的，或又是染淨二者俱雜的；願海安立種種殊異，安住於眾生的心想之中。（頌·住劫長短與純淨純染）
「往昔修行剎塵那麼多的劫，獲得了大清淨的世界海；諸佛的境界具足莊嚴，永住於無邊廣大之劫。有名叫種種寶光明的，或名叫等音焰眼藏的，還有離塵光明以及賢劫——這清淨之劫攝盡一切。（頌·往昔修行與諸劫之名）
「有清淨之劫唯一佛出興，或有一劫之中無量佛出現；以無盡方便的大願之力，入於一切種種之劫。或無量劫入於一劫，或又一劫入於多劫；一切劫海的種種法門，十方國土都能明白顯現。（頌·一佛多佛與劫入劫）
「或把一切劫的莊嚴之事，於一劫之中都得現見；或一劫之內所有的莊嚴，普遍入於一切無邊之劫。從一念開始終至成劫，全都依眾生的心想而生；一切剎海之劫無有邊際——以一種方便就都得清淨。（頌·一劫攝多與心想生劫）
事九 劫轉變：世界海微塵數劫轉變差別
那時，普賢菩薩又告訴大眾說：「諸佛子！應當知道世界海有世界海微塵數的劫轉變差別。就是：由於法本來如此的緣故，世界海有無量成壞的劫轉變；由於染污的眾生住在其中的緣故，世界海成為染污的劫轉變；由於修廣大福德的眾生住在其中的緣故，世界海成為染淨的劫轉變；由於信解位的菩薩住在其中的緣故，世界海成為染淨的劫轉變；由於無量眾生發起菩提心的緣故，世界海成為純清淨的劫轉變；由於諸菩薩各各遊行諸世界的緣故，世界海成為無邊莊嚴的劫轉變；由於十方一切世界海的諸菩薩雲集的緣故，世界海成為無量大莊嚴的劫轉變；由於諸佛世尊入涅槃的緣故，世界海成為莊嚴滅盡的劫轉變；由於諸佛出現於世的緣故，一切世界海成為廣博嚴淨的劫轉變；由於如來神通變化的緣故，世界海成為普遍清淨的劫轉變……。像這樣的劫轉變，有世界海微塵數那麼多。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「一切諸國土，都隨業力而生；你們應當觀察，轉變之相就是這樣。染污的諸眾生，被業與惑纏縛而可怖畏；他們的心使剎海一切成為染污。（頌·隨業力生與染污眾生）
「若有清淨之心，修習諸多福德之行，他們的心使剎海雜染與清淨並存。信解位的諸菩薩，生在那樣的劫中，隨他們心中所有，見到雜染或清淨。（頌·清淨心與信解菩薩）
「無量的諸眾生，全都發起菩提之心；他們的心使剎海住劫恆常清淨。無量億的菩薩，前往於十方，莊嚴沒有差殊，卻在劫中見到差別。（頌·發菩提心與菩薩往十方）
「一一微塵之內，佛剎如微塵之數；菩薩共同雲集，國土全都清淨。世尊入於涅槃，那片國土的莊嚴就滅了；眾生沒有法器之量，世界成為雜染。（頌·塵內雲集與世尊涅槃）
「若有佛出興於世，一切都珍好起來；隨他們的心清淨，莊嚴全都具足。諸佛的神通之力，示現不可思議；這時候諸剎海，一切普遍清淨。（頌·佛興於世與神通普淨）
事十 無差別：世界海微塵數無差別
那時，普賢菩薩又告訴大眾說：「諸佛子！應當知道世界海有世界海微塵數的無差別。就是：一一世界海之中，有世界海微塵數的世界無差別；一一世界海之中，諸佛出現所有的威力無差別；一一世界海之中，一切道場遍於十方法界無差別；一一世界海之中，一切如來的道場眾會無差別；一一世界海之中，一切佛的光明遍於法界無差別；一一世界海之中，一切佛的變化名號無差別；一一世界海之中，一切佛的音聲普遍世界海、無邊劫住無差別；一一世界海之中，法輪方便無差別；一一世界海之中，一切世界海普遍入於一微塵無差別；一一世界海之中，一一微塵裡，一切三世諸佛世尊廣大的境界都在其中顯現無差別。諸佛子！世界海的無差別，略說就是這樣；若要廣說，則有世界海微塵數那麼多。」
那時，普賢菩薩想要重新宣明這個義理，承佛的威力，觀察十方而說頌：
「一微塵中有許多剎海，處所各各有別而全都嚴淨；像這樣無量剎海入於一塵之中，一一區分而沒有雜亂踰越。一一塵內有難以思量的佛，隨眾生之心普遍現前；一切剎海無不周遍——這樣的方便沒有差別。（頌·一塵多剎與塵內難思佛）
「一一塵中有諸樹王，種種莊嚴全都垂布；十方國土都同時顯現——這樣的一切沒有差別。一一塵內有微塵那麼多的大眾，全都共同圍繞人中之主；超出一切而遍於世間，也不逼迫狹隘、不相雜亂。（頌·塵中樹王與圍遶人中主）
「一一塵中有無量的光，普遍照及十方諸國土，全都顯現諸佛的菩提之行——一切剎海沒有差別。一一塵中有無量的身，變化如雲一般普遍周遍，以佛的神通引導群品——十方國土也沒有分別。（頌·塵中無量光與無量身）
「一一塵中演說眾多之法，那法清淨如輪之運轉；種種方便自在的法門，一切都得演說而沒有差別。一微塵普遍演出諸佛之音，充滿於堪為法器的諸眾生；遍住剎海無數之劫——這樣的音聲也沒有差異。（頌·塵中說法與一塵演佛音）
「剎海無量的微妙莊嚴，在一微塵之中無不入內；這樣的諸佛神通之力，一切都是由業性而起。一一塵中有三世佛，隨他們所樂全都使之得見；體性沒有來也沒有去，以願力的緣故遍於世間。（頌·妙莊嚴入一塵與塵中三世佛）
Contemplating Universally by the Power Received: Samantabhadra First Contemplates the Ten Oceans, and Only Then Speaks
At that time Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, by the Buddha’s spiritual power, contemplated universally all the oceans of worlds, all the oceans of sentient beings, all the oceans of the buddhas, all the oceans of the Dharma realm, all the oceans of the karma of sentient beings, all the oceans of the faculties and desires of sentient beings (the faculties and the delights of sentient beings), all the oceans of the wheels of Dharma of the buddhas, all the oceans of the three times, all the oceans of the power of the vows of the tathāgatas, all the oceans of the spiritual transformations of the tathāgatas. Having contemplated in this way, he then addressed universally the bodhisattvas within all the oceanic assemblies of the place of enlightenment, saying —
Restating the Question and Praising Summarily: Twenty-Nine Clauses Praising the Inconceivability of the Buddha’s Wisdom
“Sons of the Buddha! The wisdom whereby the buddhas, the world-honored ones, know the forming, the destroying, and the purity of all the oceans of worlds is inconceivable; the wisdom whereby they know the oceans of the karma of all sentient beings is inconceivable; the wisdom whereby they know all the oceans of the establishing of the Dharma realm (how the Dharma realm is established and set in place) is inconceivable; the wisdom whereby they proclaim all the boundless oceans of buddhas is inconceivable; the wisdom whereby they enter deeply into the oceans of the desires, the delights, the resolute understanding, and the faculties of all sentient beings is inconceivable; the wisdom whereby in a single thought they know universally all the three times is inconceivable; the wisdom whereby they reveal all the oceans of the measureless vows of the tathāgatas is inconceivable; the wisdom whereby they display the ocean of the spiritual penetrations and transformations of all the buddhas is inconceivable; the wisdom of turning the wheel of Dharma is inconceivable; the establishing and expounding of the ocean of Dharma is inconceivable.
“The pure buddha-body is inconceivable; the universal illumination of the boundless ocean of forms and marks is inconceivable; that the marks and signs are all pure is inconceivable; that the boundless ocean of wheels of light of forms and marks is complete in purity is inconceivable; the ocean of clouds of light of every kind of form and mark is inconceivable; the surpassing ocean of jeweled flames is inconceivable; the perfecting of the ocean of speech and sound is inconceivable; the displaying of the ocean of the three kinds of sovereign mastery whereby all sentient beings are subdued and brought to maturity is inconceivable; the valorous subduing of the oceans of sentient beings, with not one of them passed over in vain, is inconceivable.
“Abiding in the buddha-ground is inconceivable; entering the realm of the Tathāgata is inconceivable; the upholding and protecting by majestic power is inconceivable; the contemplating of all that the wisdom of a buddha ranges over is inconceivable; that the powers are complete and that none can crush them is inconceivable; that the merit of fearlessness is such that none can surpass it is inconceivable; abiding in the samādhi without differentiation is inconceivable; the spiritual penetrations and transformations are inconceivable; the pure and sovereign wisdom is inconceivable; that none can destroy any of the dharmas of a buddha is inconceivable.
Granting the Exposition and Its Extent: I Shall Expound It in Full by the Buddha’s Spiritual Power
“All the various dharmas such as these I shall, by the Buddha’s spiritual power and by reason of the majestic spiritual power of all the tathāgatas, expound to you in full.
The Benefits the Exposition Accomplishes: He Speaks for the Sake of Ten Things
“For the sake of causing sentient beings to enter the ocean of the Buddha’s wisdom; for the sake of causing all bodhisattvas to gain an abiding within the ocean of the merit of the buddhas; for the sake of causing all the oceans of worlds to be adorned by the sovereign mastery of all the buddhas; for the sake of causing the lineage of the Tathāgata never to be cut off throughout all the oceans of kalpas; for the sake of revealing, within all the oceans of worlds, the true nature of all dharmas; for the sake of expounding in accord with the oceans of the measureless resolute understanding of all sentient beings; for the sake of according with the oceans of the faculties of all sentient beings and causing them by skillful means to give rise to the dharmas of the buddhas; for the sake of according with the oceans of the delights and desires of all sentient beings and crushing all the mountains of obstruction; for the sake of according with the oceans of the mental conduct of all sentient beings and causing them to purify and cultivate the essential road of deliverance; for the sake of causing all bodhisattvas to abide within the ocean of Samantabhadra’s vows.”
Praising the Excellence and Enjoining Attention: Eleven Clauses as the Occasion of the Verses
At this time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, further wishing to cause the measureless oceanic assemblies of the place of enlightenment to give rise to joy, wishing to cause them to increase their love and delight in all dharmas, wishing to cause them to give rise to the ocean of vast and true resolute understanding, wishing to cause them to purify and cultivate the body that is the treasury of the Dharma realm of the universal gate, wishing to cause them to establish the ocean of Samantabhadra’s vows, wishing to cause them to purify and cultivate the eye of wisdom that enters into the sameness of the three times, wishing to cause them to increase that ocean of great insight which illumines universally the treasury of all the worlds, wishing to cause them to give rise to the power of dhāraṇī (total retention) and so uphold all the wheels of Dharma, wishing within all the places of enlightenment to disclose entirely the realm of the Buddha, wishing to throw open all the Dharma-gates of the tathāgatas, wishing to cause them to increase the nature of omniscience, vast and most profound, that is the Dharma realm — thereupon spoke these verses:
“Wisdom most profound, an ocean of merit, appearing universally throughout the measureless lands of the ten directions, according with what sentient beings ought to see, illumining everywhere and turning the wheel of Dharma. The oceans of lands in the ten directions are inconceivable; the Buddha for measureless kalpas has been adorning and purifying them; in order to teach and bring sentient beings to maturity, he arises and appears within all the lands. (Verse · The Buddha’s wisdom appearing universally and the adorning and purifying of the oceans of lands)
“The realm of the Buddha is most profound and hard to fathom; he discloses it universally to sentient beings so that they may enter; but those whose minds delight in the lesser and who cling to the forms of existence cannot penetrate what the Buddha has awakened to. If there be one whose mind of pure faith is firm, who can constantly draw near to good friends, then all the buddhas lend him their power, and only so can he enter the wisdom of the Tathāgata. (Verse · The realm of the Buddha hard to fathom and pure faith able to enter)
“One who is far from every kind of flattery and deceit and whose mind is pure, who constantly delights in kindness and compassion and is by nature joyful, whose aspiration is vast and whose faith is deep — such a one, hearing this Dharma, gives rise to gladness. Abiding in the ground of the vows of Samantabhadra, cultivating the pure path of a bodhisattva, contemplating the Dharma realm as being like space — only so can one know the place where the Buddha ranges. These bodhisattvas have gained a great and good benefit and have seen all the powers of the Buddha’s spiritual penetrations; those who cultivate other paths cannot know it; only those who practice the conduct of Samantabhadra come to comprehend it. (Verse · The one of deep faith gives rise to gladness, and the practitioner of Samantabhadra’s conduct comes to comprehend)
“Sentient beings are vast and without limit; the Tathāgata is mindful and protective of every one of them; he turns the true wheel of Dharma and there is no place it does not reach — this is the power of Vairocana’s realm. (Verse · The Tathāgata’s mindful protection and the power of Vairocana’s realm)
“All the lands enter into my body, and so likewise do the buddhas who abide in them; you should contemplate the pores of my body, for I now display for you the realm of the Buddha. The conduct and vows of Samantabhadra are without limit; I have cultivated them and gained their fulfillment; the realm seen by the universal eye and the vast body — this is where the Buddha ranges, and you should listen attentively. (Verse · The lands entering my body and the realm of the universal eye)
The General Statement of the Ten Things: The Ocean of Worlds Has Ten Things
At that time Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, addressed the great assembly, saying:
“Sons of the Buddha! The ocean of worlds has ten things, which the buddhas of the past, the present, and the future have already spoken of, are now speaking of, and will speak of. What are the ten? They are: the causes and conditions by which the ocean of worlds is furnished into being (the causes and conditions that must be furnished for its forming), that upon which the ocean of worlds depends and abides (what it abides upon), the shapes of the ocean of worlds, the substance of the ocean of worlds, the adornments of the ocean of worlds, the purity of the ocean of worlds, the arising of buddhas in the ocean of worlds, the kalpa-abiding of the ocean of worlds (the length of time it abides), the differences in the kalpa-transformations of the ocean of worlds, and the gate of the ocean of worlds’ freedom from differentiation. Sons of the Buddha! Stated summarily, the ocean of worlds has these ten things; were they to be stated at length, they would equal the number of atoms in an ocean of worlds — and the buddhas of the past, the present, and the future have already spoken of them, are now speaking of them, and will speak of them.
Thing One, the Causes and Conditions of Being Furnished: By Ten Causes and Conditions the Ocean of Worlds Is Formed
“Sons of the Buddha! Stated summarily, by reason of ten causes and conditions all the oceans of worlds have been formed, are being formed, and will be formed. What are the ten? They are: by reason of the spiritual power of the Tathāgata; by reason of the Dharma being of necessity thus; by reason of the deeds and karma of all sentient beings; by reason of what all bodhisattvas gain in perfecting omniscience; by reason of all sentient beings together with the bodhisattvas amassing roots of goodness in common; by reason of the power of the vow of all bodhisattvas to adorn and purify the lands; by reason of all bodhisattvas perfecting non-retrogressive conduct and vows; by reason of the pure resolute understanding and sovereign mastery of all bodhisattvas; by reason of what flows forth from the roots of goodness of all the tathāgatas together with the sovereign force of all the buddhas at the time of their attaining the path; by reason of the power of the sovereign vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Sons of the Buddha! These are the ten causes and conditions stated summarily; were they to be stated at length, they would be as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“The boundless and numerous oceans of lands of which he has spoken, Vairocana has adorned and purified them all; the realm of the World-Honored One is inconceivable, and such are the powers of his wisdom and his spiritual penetration. Bodhisattvas cultivate the many oceans of vows, according universally with what is desired in the minds of sentient beings; the mental conduct of sentient beings is vast and without limit, and so the lands of the bodhisattvas pervade the ten directions. (Verse · The oceans of lands adorned and purified, and the vows and conduct of bodhisattvas)
“Bodhisattvas turn toward omniscience, diligently cultivating the many kinds of sovereign power; measureless oceans of vows arise universally, and vast lands are all brought to completion. The oceans of practice they cultivate are without limit; their entering into the realm of the Buddha is likewise measureless; in order to purify the lands of the ten directions, they pass through measureless kalpas for each single land. (Verse · Turning toward omniscience and purifying the many lands)
“Sentient beings are stirred and made turbid by the afflictions; their discriminations and delights are not of one kind alone; following their minds they make karma inconceivably — and thus do the oceans of lands come to be established. Sons of the Buddha, the treasury of the adornments of the oceans of lands is formed of stainless luminous jewels; it comes about through the vast mind of resolute understanding, and such are the oceans of lands abiding in the ten directions. (Verse · Karma forming the oceans of lands, and their being formed by resolute understanding)
“Bodhisattvas are able to cultivate the conduct of Samantabhadra, roaming the paths that lie within the atoms of the Dharma realm; within the atoms measureless lands appear, pure and vast, like space itself. Equal to the realm of space they manifest spiritual penetration, going one by one to the places of the buddhas at the seats of enlightenment, upon the lotus thrones displaying many forms, and within each single body containing all the lands. (Verse · The conduct of Samantabhadra pervading the paths within the atoms)
“In a single thought he appears universally throughout the three times, and all the oceans of lands are brought to establishment; the Buddha by skillful means enters into them all — these are what Vairocana has adorned and purified. (Verse · Appearing throughout the three times in a single thought)
Thing Two, That Upon Which They Depend and Abide: What the Ocean of Worlds Abides Upon
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: “Sons of the Buddha! Each single ocean of worlds has as many supports upon which it depends and abides as there are atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: some abide depending on all adornments, some abide depending on space, some abide depending on the light of all jewels, some abide depending on the light of all buddhas, some abide depending on the light of the colors of all jewels, some abide depending on the voices of all buddhas, some abide depending on a Vajra-Bearer in the form of a mighty asura born of illusion-like karma, some abide depending on the bodies of all the rulers of the worlds, some abide depending on the bodies of all bodhisattvas, some abide depending on the ocean of all the differentiated adornments born of the power of the vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Sons of the Buddha! The ocean of worlds has supports upon which it depends and abides such as these, as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“Filling the realm of space in the ten directions, all the lands that there are, are all sustained by the spiritual power of the Tathāgata and may be seen present in place after place. There are lands of many kinds, and there is none not formed of stainless jewels; the pure maṇi is the most excellent and marvelous, and blazing it manifests everywhere an ocean of light. (Verse · Sustained by spiritual power and formed of stainless jewels)
“Some are lands of pure light, abiding in dependence on the realm of space; some are within an ocean of maṇi jewels, and there are also those abiding in a treasury of light. The Tathāgata dwells within such oceanic assemblies, expounding the wheel of Dharma with unsurpassed skill; the realms of the buddhas are vast and without limit, and sentient beings who see them give rise to joy in their minds. (Verse · Depending on space and on the ocean of maṇi jewels)
“Some take maṇi for their adornment, their shapes like flowering lamps spread widely abroad, the colors of their fragrant flames and clouds of light ablaze, and above them covering nets of light of marvelous jewels. Some lands are without limit, abiding in the deep and vast ocean of the lotus, broad and pure and set apart from the world — this is because the buddhas have adorned them with subtle and skillful art. (Verse · Adornment with maṇi and the great ocean of the lotus)
“Some oceans of lands turn along with a wheel, abiding by the majestic spirit of the Buddha, the assemblies of bodhisattvas spread throughout them, constantly seeing innumerable and vast jewels. Some abide upon the Vajra-Bearer, and there are again those abiding upon the body of the lord of the gods; Vairocana, the unsurpassed and honored one, constantly turns the wheel of Dharma in these places. (Verse · Turning with the wheel, and abiding on the Vajra-Bearer and on the body of the lord of the gods)
“Some abide evenly depending on jeweled trees, and so likewise within clouds of fragrant flame; some depend upon the many great waters, and there are those abiding upon an ocean of firm vajra. Some depend upon a banner of vajra, and some abide within an ocean of flowers; their vast spiritual penetration reaches everywhere, and Vairocana is able to manifest it all. (Verse · Jeweled trees, fragrant flames, water-wheels, vajra banners, and oceans of flowers)
“Some are long, some are short, of measureless kinds, and the aspects in which they whirl and coil about are likewise not of one kind alone; treasuries of subtle adornment set apart from the world, they can be seen only by those who have purified and cultivated themselves. Various and each different in this way, they all abide depending on the ocean of vows; some lands are constantly within space, and buddhas like clouds fill them all completely. (Verse · Shapes and measures each differing, yet all depending on the ocean of vows)
“Some hang in the air, abiding overturned; some at times exist and at times do not; some lands are utterly pure, abiding within the jeweled crown of a bodhisattva. The great spiritual penetrations of the buddhas of the ten directions may all be seen here; the voices of the buddhas pervade them all — this is what the power of karma transforms. (Verse · Abiding hung and overturned, and abiding within a bodhisattva’s jeweled crown)
“Some lands pervade the Dharma realm, pure and stainless, arising from the mind, like a shadow and like an illusion, vast and without limit, each differing like Indra’s net (the jeweled net of the god Śakra). Some manifest treasuries of adornment of many kinds, established in dependence on space; the realms of the many kinds of karma are inconceivable, and the Buddha’s power reveals them so that all may see. (Verse · Pervading the Dharma realm, arising from the mind, like Indra’s net)
“Within each single atom of each single land, thought after thought the lands of the buddhas are displayed, measureless in number and equal to sentient beings — what Samantabhadra does is constantly thus. For the sake of bringing sentient beings to maturity, he cultivates therein through oceans of kalpas; his vast spiritual transformations arise without exception, and within the Dharma realm they are everywhere complete. (Verse · Thought after thought displaying lands within an atom)
“Within each single atom of the lands of the Dharma realm the great oceans of lands abide; clouds of buddhas cover them all equally and completely, and in every place they are entirely filled. Just as within a single atom the functioning is sovereign, so likewise is it within all atoms; the great spiritual penetration of the buddhas and bodhisattvas — Vairocana is able to manifest it all. (Verse · Lands abiding within atoms and clouds of buddhas covering them)
“All the vast lands of every kind are like shadows, like illusions, and like a mirage as well; in the ten directions one does not see whence they are born, nor is there any coming and any going. Destruction and formation follow round upon each other in turn, never for a moment resting within space — and there is not one of them that is not sustained by pure vows and by vast power of karma. (Verse · Like a shadow and like an illusion, yet sustained by vows and karma)
Thing Three, Shape: The Many Differing Shapes and Forms of the Ocean of Worlds
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: “Sons of the Buddha! The ocean of worlds has shapes and forms of many kinds and differences. They are: some round, some square, some neither round nor square with measureless differences; some in the shape of a whirlpool of water, some in the shape of a mountain flame, some in the shape of a tree, some in the shape of a flower, some in the shape of a palace, some in the shape of a sentient being, some in the shape of a buddha … . Shapes such as these are as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“The oceans of lands differ in many kinds, in the many kinds of their adornment and the many kinds of their abiding; their differing shapes together make up their beauty and pervade the ten directions, and you should all alike contemplate them. Their shapes are some round and some square, and again three-dimensional and eight-cornered, the shape of a maṇi wheel, of a lotus, and so on — all of these are made to differ by karma. (Verse · Differing shapes together making beauty, and karma making them differ)
“Some are adorned with pure flames, inlaid with true gold and abounding in special beauties, their gates and portals opening one after another with nothing to block them — this comes about because the karma is vast and the mind unmixed. The oceans of lands are treasuries of boundless difference, like clouds spread out within space; wheels of jewels spread over the ground in subtle adornment, and the light of the buddhas shines within them. (Verse · Flaming adornment and gates and portals; clouds spread out and wheels of jewels)
“All the lands are discriminated by mind, and by lights of many kinds are they made to appear; the Buddha within such oceans of lands manifests one by one the power of his spiritual penetration. Some are defiled and some are pure, and the suffering and pleasure undergone in each differ — this comes about because the ocean of karma is inconceivable, and the dharmas of the many kinds of flowing on are constantly thus. (Verse · Discriminated by mind, and the defiled and the pure receiving their recompense)
“Within a single pore are lands beyond fathoming, equal to the number of atoms and abiding in many kinds, and in each single one there is an honored one of universal illumination expounding the marvelous Dharma within the assembly. Within a single atom there are great lands and small lands, of many kinds and differences like the number of atoms, level and high and low, each one unlike another, and the Buddha goes to them all and turns the wheel of Dharma. (Verse · Great and small lands within a pore and within an atom)
“The lands that appear within all atoms are all the power of the original vow and of spiritual penetration; according with what is delighted in within their minds they differ in many kinds, and within space all of them can be made. All the atoms that the lands possess — within each single atom the Buddha enters, and universally for sentient beings he manifests spiritual transformations — such is the Dharma of Vairocana. (Verse · The original vow and spiritual penetration, and the Buddha entering all the atoms)
Thing Four, Substance: The Many Kinds of Substance of the Ocean of Worlds
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: “Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has substances of many kinds. They are: some take the adornment of all jewels for their substance, some take the many kinds of adornment of a single jewel for their substance, some take the light of all jewels for their substance, some take light of many kinds of color for their substance, some take the light of all adornments for their substance, some take indestructible vajra for their substance, some take the sustaining by the Buddha’s power for their substance, some take the marks of marvelous jewels for their substance, some take the transformations of the Buddha for their substance, some take a sun-maṇi wheel for their substance, some take exceedingly subtle jewels for their substance, some take the flames of all jewels for their substance, some take fragrances of many kinds for their substance, some take the flowering crowns of all jewels for their substance, some take the reflected images of all jewels for their substance, some take what is displayed by all adornments for their substance, some take the realm universally displayed by a single thought of mind for their substance, some take jewels in the shape of a bodhisattva for their substance, some take the stamens of jeweled flowers for their substance, some take the speech and sound of the Buddha for their substance.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“Some oceans of lands are formed of marvelous jewels, firm and indestructible, abiding upon jeweled lotuses. Some are pure light, and whence they are born cannot be known; adorned by every kind of light, they abide depending on space. (Verse · Formed of marvelous jewels and of pure light)
“Some take pure light for their substance and again abide depending on that light, with clouds of light for their adornment, and bodhisattvas roam together within them. Some oceans of lands are born from the power of vows, abiding like reflected images, and neither the grasping of them nor the telling of them can be had. (Verse · Pure light as substance and birth from the power of vows)
“Some are formed of maṇi jewels, universally emitting the light of the sun-treasury, their ground adorned with wheels of pearls, and bodhisattvas fill them all completely. There are lands formed of jeweled flame, with clouds of flame covering over them, and the light of the many jewels surpassingly subtle — all this is what is gained through karma. (Verse · Maṇi and the sun-treasury, and jeweled flame with clouds of flame covering)
“Some are born from marvelous marks, the many marks adorning their ground, held and worn in common like a jeweled crown — this arises through the transformations of the Buddha. Some are born from an ocean of mind, abiding according to what the mind understands, illusion-like and without location, all of it discrimination. (Verse · Born from marvelous marks and born from an ocean of mind)
“Some take the light of the Buddha or the light of maṇi for their substance, and the buddhas appear within them, manifesting one by one the power of spiritual penetration. Some are oceans of lands transformed and manifested by Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, adorned by the power of vows, and all of them are exceedingly marvelous. (Verse · The Buddha’s light and maṇi, and the manifestation by Samantabhadra)
Thing Five, Adornment: The Many Kinds of Adornment of the Ocean of Worlds
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: “Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has adornments of many kinds. They are: some take for adornment the surpassingly marvelous clouds that come forth from among all the implements of adornment, some take for adornment the proclaiming of the merit of all bodhisattvas, some take for adornment the proclaiming of the karmic recompense of all sentient beings, some take for adornment the displaying of the ocean of the vows of all bodhisattvas, some take for adornment the setting forth of the reflected images of all the buddhas of the three times, some take for adornment the displaying in the space of a single thought of the realms of spiritual penetration through boundless kalpas, some take for adornment the appearing of the bodies of all buddhas, some take for adornment the appearing of all clouds of jeweled fragrance, some take for adornment the displaying of the shining light of all the precious and marvelous things within all the places of enlightenment, some take for adornment the displaying of all the conduct and vows of Samantabhadra … . Adornments such as these are as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“The vast oceans of lands are without limit, and all of them are formed by pure karma; the many kinds of their adornment and the many kinds of their abiding fill all the ten directions completely. Clouds of jeweled flame of boundless form and mark, vast in adornment and not of one kind alone, constantly appear in the oceans of lands of the ten directions, universally sending forth marvelous sounds and expounding the Dharma. (Verse · Formed by pure karma, and clouds of jeweled flame expounding the Dharma)
“Bodhisattvas have boundless oceans of merit adorned by the many kinds of their great vows; these lands at the same moment send forth marvelous sounds that universally shake the nets of lands of the ten directions. The oceans of the karma of sentient beings are vast and measureless, and the recompense they feel differs in each case; within the adornments in every place, it is the buddhas who are able to expound them. (Verse · The bodhisattvas’ ocean of merit and the karmic recompense of sentient beings)
“All the tathāgatas of the three times by their spiritual penetration appear universally throughout the oceans of lands; within each single thing there are all the buddhas — such adorning and purifying you should contemplate. The kalpas past, future, and present, the lands of all the ten directions, and all the great adornments that are there — each one of them can be seen within the lands. (Verse · The tathāgatas of the three times appearing universally, and the lands and kalpas of the three times)
“Within each single thing are measureless buddhas, equal in number to sentient beings and pervading the world, who for the sake of subduing sentient beings manifest spiritual penetration — and with this the oceans of lands are adorned. All the adornments send forth marvelous clouds, clouds of flowers and clouds of fragrant flame of many kinds, and clouds of maṇi jewels constantly appear, with which the oceans of lands are adorned. (Verse · Measureless buddhas pervading the world, and adornment with marvelous clouds)
“In all the places of the attaining of the path in the ten directions the adornments of many kinds are all complete, and flowing light spreads far abroad like colored clouds, and within these oceans of lands all are made to see it. The sons of the Buddha with the conduct and vows of Samantabhadra cultivate diligently through kalpas equal in number to sentient beings; boundless lands are all adorned, and in every place they are made to appear. (Verse · The adornment of the places of attaining the path, and the conduct and vows of Samantabhadra)
Thing Six, Purity: Oceans of Skillful Means of Purity as Many as the Atoms in an Ocean of Worlds
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: “Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has oceans of skillful means of purity as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: by reason of the bodhisattvas drawing near to all good friends and cultivating roots of goodness in common with them; by reason of increasing the vast clouds of merit until they pervade the Dharma realm; by reason of purifying and cultivating the many kinds of vast resolute understanding; by reason of contemplating the realms of all bodhisattvas and abiding therein; by reason of cultivating all the pāramitās until they are complete; by reason of contemplating all the grounds of the bodhisattvas and entering and abiding therein; by reason of bringing forth all the oceans of pure vows; by reason of cultivating the conduct of all the essential roads of deliverance; by reason of entering into all the oceans of adornment; by reason of perfecting the power of pure skillful means … . Skillful means of purity such as these are as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“The many adornments of all the oceans of lands are born of innumerable skillful means and the power of vows; the oceans of lands constantly shine, arisen from measureless pure power of karma. Long ago they drew near to good friends and cultivated good karma in common until all was pure, and their kindness and compassion, vast, reached to sentient beings — with this are the oceans of lands adorned. (Verse · Skillful means and the power of vows, and the good friends of long ago and of near at hand)
“All the Dharma-gates, the samādhis, and the rest, the grounds of skillful means in dhyāna and liberation, are all purified and cultivated in the presence of the buddhas — and with this are the oceans of lands brought forth. Giving rise to measureless settled resolute understanding, able to understand that the Tathāgata and oneself are equal and not different, having cultivated the skillful means of the ocean of forbearance — thus are they able to adorn and purify boundless lands. (Verse · Samādhi and dhyāna, and settled resolute understanding)
“Cultivating surpassing conduct for the benefit of sentient beings, their merit vast and constantly increasing, like clouds spread out equal to space — all the oceans of lands are brought to completion. The pāramitās, measureless and equal to the atoms of the lands, have all been cultivated to fulfillment, and the pāramitā of vows is without exhaustion — from this are the pure oceans of lands born. (Verse · Merit like clouds, and the many perfections and the perfection of vows)
“Purifying and cultivating the unequalled dharmas of every kind, giving rise to boundless essential conduct of deliverance, and by skillful means of many kinds teaching the multitude of the living — thus are the oceans of lands adorned. Cultivating the grounds of the skillful means of adornment, entering into the oceans of the Dharma-gates of the merit of the buddhas, and universally causing sentient beings to exhaust the root of suffering — vast and pure lands are brought to completion. (Verse · The conduct of deliverance and the ground of the skillful means of adornment)
“The ocean of powers is vast and without compare, universally causing sentient beings to plant roots of goodness, and making offerings to all the tathāgatas — the lands are boundless and all of them pure. (Verse · The ocean of powers offering to the buddhas, and the lands made pure)
Thing Seven, the Arising of Buddhas: The Differences in the Appearing of Buddhas in Each Single Ocean of Worlds
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: “Sons of the Buddha! You should know that each single ocean of worlds has differences in the appearing of buddhas as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: some manifest a small body, some manifest a great body; some manifest a short life span, some manifest a long life span; some adorn and purify a single buddha-land alone, some adorn and purify measureless buddha-lands; some reveal the wheel of Dharma of the One Vehicle alone, some reveal the inconceivable wheels of Dharma of the many vehicles; some manifest the subduing of a small portion of sentient beings, some display the subduing of boundless sentient beings … . Differences such as these are as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“The many kinds of Dharma-gates of skillful means of the buddhas arise and appear within all the oceans of lands, and all of them accord with what is delighted in within the minds of sentient beings — this is the power of the Tathāgata’s skill in expedients. The dharma-body of the buddhas is inconceivable, without color, without shape, and without reflected image, and yet it is able to display for sentient beings many forms, causing them all to see according to what is delighted in within their minds. (Verse · The power of skill in expedients, and the dharma-body manifesting forms)
“Some manifest for sentient beings a short life span, and some manifest an abiding of measureless kalpas; the dharma-body appears present universally in the ten directions, coming forth in the world according to what is fitting. Some adorn and purify the inconceivable oceans of lands of all the ten directions; some adorn and purify a single land alone, and within that one they make their display with nothing left out. (Verse · The shortness and length of life, and the adorning of one land and of many lands)
“Some accord with what is delighted in within the minds of sentient beings and display the many kinds of vehicle beyond fathoming; some proclaim the Dharma of the One Vehicle alone, and within that one vehicle by skillful means bring forth measureless ones. Some spontaneously accomplish right awakening and cause a small portion of sentient beings to abide upon the path; some are able, within a single thought, to awaken the multitude of the deluded without number. (Verse · The many vehicles and the One Vehicle; the few beings and the awakening in a single thought)
“Some within a pore bring forth clouds of transformation-buddhas, displaying measureless and boundless buddhas, so that all the worlds can see them present and by skillful means of many kinds the multitude of the living is delivered. Some have speech and sound pervading everywhere, expounding the Dharma according to what is delighted in within their minds, and within inconceivable great kalpas they subdue measureless oceans of sentient beings. (Verse · Clouds of transformation within a pore, and the expounding of Dharma by speech and sound)
“Some are lands of measureless adornment, their assemblies pure and seated in dignity, with buddhas spread like clouds within them, filling without exception the oceans of lands of the ten directions. The skillful means of the buddhas are inconceivable, appearing present in accordance with the minds of sentient beings, universally abiding in lands of the many kinds of adornment, and pervading all the lands completely. (Verse · The adorned lands and their assemblies, and skillful means appearing universally)
Thing Eight, Kalpa-Abiding: Kalpa-Abidings as Many as the Atoms in an Ocean of Worlds
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: “Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has kalpa-abidings as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: some abide for asaṃkhyeya kalpas (innumerable kalpas), some abide for measureless kalpas, some abide for boundless kalpas, some abide for unequalled kalpas, some abide for uncountable kalpas, some abide for unnameable kalpas, some abide for unthinkable kalpas, some abide for immeasurable kalpas, some abide for unspeakable kalpas … . Kalpa-abidings such as these are as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“The many kinds of kalpa within the ocean of worlds are adorned by vast skillful means; the lands of the ten directions can all be contemplated, and the differences of their measures are all made plain. I have seen the oceans of worlds of the ten directions, their kalpas measureless and equal to sentient beings, some long, some short, and some without limit — and with the Buddha’s speech and sound I now expound them for you. (Verse · The many kinds of kalpa and the measureless number of kalpas)
“I have seen the oceans of lands of the ten directions, some abiding for kalpas as many as the atoms of a land, some for a single kalpa and some for innumerable kalpas, differing one from another by the many kinds of the power of vows. Some are wholly pure, some wholly defiled, and some again are mixed with both defiled and pure; the ocean of vows sets them up in many differing kinds, abiding within the thinking of the minds of sentient beings. (Verse · The length and shortness of the kalpas of abiding, and the wholly pure and the wholly defiled)
“Cultivating in ages past for kalpas as many as the atoms of a land, they gained the greatly purified oceans of worlds; the realms of the buddhas are complete in adornment, abiding forever through boundless and vast kalpas. There are those named the light of jewels of many kinds, and some named the treasury of the eye of the flame of equal sound, and further Stainless Light and the Worthy Kalpa — these pure kalpas gather in all the rest. (Verse · The cultivation of ages past and the names of the kalpas)
“There are pure kalpas in which a single buddha arises, and there are single kalpas within which measureless buddhas appear; by the power of great vows of inexhaustible skillful means they enter into all the kalpas of many kinds. Some enter measureless kalpas into a single kalpa, and some again a single kalpa into many kalpas; the Dharma-gates of the many kinds of the oceans of kalpas are made plain and manifest in the lands of the ten directions. (Verse · One buddha and many buddhas, and kalpas entering kalpas)
“Some cause the adornments of all the kalpas to be seen present within a single kalpa; some cause all the adornments within a single kalpa to enter universally into all boundless kalpas. Beginning from a single thought and ending in the completing of a kalpa, all of them are born depending on the thinking of the minds of sentient beings; the kalpas of all the oceans of lands are without limit — and by a single skillful means they are all made pure. (Verse · One kalpa gathering many, and kalpas born of the mind’s thinking)
Thing Nine, Kalpa-Transformation: Differences in Kalpa-Transformation as Many as the Atoms in an Ocean of Worlds
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: “Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has differences in kalpa-transformation as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: by reason of the Dharma being of necessity thus, the ocean of worlds has measureless kalpa-transformations of formation and destruction; by reason of defiled sentient beings abiding therein, the ocean of worlds becomes a defiled kalpa-transformation; by reason of sentient beings who cultivate vast merit abiding therein, the ocean of worlds becomes a defiled-and-pure kalpa-transformation; by reason of bodhisattvas of the stage of resolute understanding abiding therein, the ocean of worlds becomes a defiled-and-pure kalpa-transformation; by reason of measureless sentient beings giving rise to the mind of awakening, the ocean of worlds becomes a wholly pure kalpa-transformation; by reason of the bodhisattvas each roaming through the many worlds, the ocean of worlds becomes a boundlessly adorned kalpa-transformation; by reason of the bodhisattvas of all the oceans of worlds of the ten directions gathering like clouds, the ocean of worlds becomes a measurelessly and greatly adorned kalpa-transformation; by reason of the buddhas, the world-honored ones, entering nirvāṇa, the ocean of worlds becomes a kalpa-transformation in which the adornments are extinguished; by reason of the buddhas appearing in the world, all the oceans of worlds become a broadly and vastly adorned and purified kalpa-transformation; by reason of the spiritual penetrations and transformations of the Tathāgata, the ocean of worlds becomes a universally purified kalpa-transformation … . Kalpa-transformations such as these are as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“All the many lands are all born following the power of karma; you should contemplate this, for the aspect of their transformation is just so. The many defiled sentient beings are bound and made fearful by karma and by delusion; their minds cause the oceans of lands to become defiled in every part. (Verse · Born following the power of karma, and defiled sentient beings)
“If there be minds that are pure, cultivating the many kinds of conduct of merit, their minds cause the oceans of lands to hold defilement and purity side by side. The bodhisattvas of the stage of resolute understanding are born within such kalpas, and according to what is within their minds they see either defilement or purity. (Verse · The pure mind and the bodhisattva of resolute understanding)
“Measureless sentient beings all give rise to the mind of awakening; their minds cause the oceans of lands to abide through kalpas constantly pure. Measureless koṭis of bodhisattvas go forth to the ten directions; the adornments are without difference, and yet within the kalpas differences are seen. (Verse · Giving rise to the mind of awakening, and the bodhisattvas going to the ten directions)
“Within each single atom are buddha-lands as many as the atoms; bodhisattvas gather there together like clouds, and the lands are all pure. When the World-Honored One enters nirvāṇa, the adornments of that land are extinguished; sentient beings lack the measure of a vessel for the Dharma, and the world becomes defiled. (Verse · The gathering within the atoms, and the World-Honored One entering nirvāṇa)
“If a buddha arises and appears in the world, all becomes precious and fine; according as their minds are pure, the adornments are all complete. The power of the spiritual penetrations of the buddhas displays what is inconceivable; at this time the oceans of lands become in every part universally pure. (Verse · The buddha arising in the world, and universal purity through spiritual penetration)
Thing Ten, Freedom from Differentiation: Freedoms from Differentiation as Many as the Atoms in an Ocean of Worlds
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: “Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has freedoms from differentiation as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation among worlds as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds; within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation in all the majestic power of the appearing of the buddhas; within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation in all the places of enlightenment pervading the Dharma realm of the ten directions; within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation in the oceanic assemblies at the places of enlightenment of all the tathāgatas; within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation in the light of all the buddhas pervading the Dharma realm; within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation in the names of the transformations of all the buddhas; within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation in the speech and sound of all the buddhas pervading the ocean of worlds and abiding through boundless kalpas; within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation in the skillful means of the wheel of Dharma; within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation in all the oceans of worlds entering universally into a single atom; within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation in the fact that within each single atom the vast realms of all the buddhas, the world-honored ones, of the three times all appear therein. Sons of the Buddha! Such, stated summarily, is the freedom from differentiation of the ocean of worlds; were it to be stated at length, it would be as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.”
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to set forth this meaning once again, and by the Buddha’s majestic power, contemplated the ten directions and spoke these verses:
“Within a single atom are many oceans of lands, their places each differing and all of them adorned and purified; measureless oceans of lands such as these enter into a single atom, and each one is set apart with no confusion or overstepping. Within each single atom are buddhas beyond fathoming, appearing present universally according to the minds of sentient beings; there is no ocean of lands they do not pervade — such skillful means are without differentiation. (Verse · Many lands within one atom, and the buddhas beyond fathoming within the atoms)
“Within each single atom are kings of trees, adorned in many kinds and all of them hanging down; the lands of the ten directions all appear at the same moment — all such things as these are without differentiation. Within each single atom are great assemblies as many as the atoms, all of them surrounding together the lord among humans; they go beyond all things and pervade the world, and yet they are not crowded or confined, nor do they mingle in confusion. (Verse · The kings of trees within the atoms, and the surrounding of the lord among humans)
“Within each single atom are measureless lights universally illumining the lands of the ten directions, and all of them display the conduct of awakening of the buddhas — all the oceans of lands are without differentiation. Within each single atom are measureless bodies, transformed like clouds and pervading everywhere, guiding the multitudes of the living by the Buddha’s spiritual penetration — and the lands of the ten directions are likewise without distinction. (Verse · Measureless lights and measureless bodies within the atoms)
“Within each single atom the many dharmas are expounded, and that Dharma is pure as the turning of a wheel; the Dharma-gates of the many kinds of sovereign skillful means are all expounded and are without differentiation. A single atom universally sends forth the sound of the buddhas, filling the sentient beings who are fit vessels for the Dharma; it abides pervading the oceans of lands through innumerable kalpas — and this speech and sound too is without difference. (Verse · The expounding of Dharma within the atoms, and one atom sending forth the sound of the buddhas)
“The measureless subtle adornments of the oceans of lands enter without exception into a single atom; the power of the spiritual penetrations of the buddhas such as this all arises from the nature of karma. Within each single atom are the buddhas of the three times, and according to what is delighted in they are all made to be seen; their substance and nature neither come nor go, and by the power of vows they pervade the world. (Verse · The subtle adornments entering one atom, and the buddhas of the three times within the atoms)
為什麼佛法要花一整品講世界怎麼成的
一部講成佛的經，開講到第四品，講的卻是世界從哪裡來、依什麼住、長什麼樣、拿什麼作體、住多久、怎麼變。讀者最容易起的疑心是：這不是宇宙論嗎，與修行何干？
疑心其實問錯了位置。看它擺在哪裡就明白了——前一品是〈普賢三昧品〉，普賢入定；這一品一開頭，普賢出定而遍觀。澄觀對舉這兩品說得很直：前品入三昧是「內契其源」，此品遍觀是「外審其相」。定是往裡深，觀是往外遍；沒有前品那個深，這一品的遍就只是見聞之廣。
再看它答的是什麼。澄觀判此品「總明果相、別答法界安立海問」——第二會〈如來現相品〉中諸菩薩心念所問的三十句果問裡，有一句問「法界安立海」，這一品就是答那一句的。李通玄判得更寬，說此品是「答前世主三十七問」而一時總答。二家所繫的問目不同，並存不判；但共同點是：這一品不是宇宙論，是答問。有人問了，所以有人說。
落到讀者身上：你看見的這個世界是什麼樣，取決於什麼因緣把它組成、你的心以什麼為體。這一品把這件事攤開來給你看——澄觀在宗趣門裡把這層意思說盡了：「剎由心異，當淨自心及他心故」。
普賢先觀十海，然後才開口
經文第一句就交代了說法的資格：普賢菩薩摩訶薩「以佛神力」，遍觀察十個海——一切世界海、一切眾生海、一切諸佛海、一切法界海、一切眾生業海、一切眾生根欲海、一切諸佛法輪海、一切三世海、一切如來願力海、一切如來神變海；觀察完了，才「普告一切道場眾海諸菩薩」。
這裡有兩件事值得停一下。第一，說法之前先觀，而且不是憑自己的智力觀，是承佛神力觀。第二，所觀的十海，不是十個題目，是一個結構：世界（器）、眾生（有情）、諸佛（能化）、法界（所依理）、業（成因）、根欲（機）、法輪（教）、三世（時）、願力（佛因）、神變（佛用）。器與有情、因與果、時與教，一次收齊，才有資格說世界是怎麼成的。
排一個誤解：不要把「遍觀」讀成瀏覽。澄觀說前品入定是內契其源，這裡遍觀是外審其相——源與相是同一件事的兩面，觀相之所以可靠，是因為先契了源。落到自己：一個人若沒有靜下來的功夫，他所看見的世界只是被業推著看到的樣子，不是觀。
二十九句不可思議：歎的是智，說的是海
普賢開口第一段不說世界，先讚佛智。經文以「不可思議」結句者，逐句實計二十九句，可分三疊來讀。
第一疊十句，就佛智說——知一切世界海成壞清淨的智；知一切眾生業海的智；知一切法界安立海的智；說一切無邊佛海的智；入一切欲解根海的智；一念普知一切三世的智；顯示一切如來無量願海的智；示現一切佛神變海的智；轉法輪的智；建立演說海。十句與前面所觀的十海一一相望——觀的是海，歎的是能知這海的智。
第二疊九句，就佛之色身言音說——清淨佛身；無邊色相海普照明；相及隨好皆清淨；無邊色相光明輪海具足清淨；種種色相光明雲海；殊勝寶焰海；成就言音海；示現三種自在海調伏成熟一切眾生；勇猛調伏諸眾生海無空過者。前一疊約智說難思，這一疊直就法體說難思：身相之無邊、光明之無盡、言音之成就，以及調伏眾生「無空過者」——沒有一次是白費的。
第三疊十句，就德用圓備說——安住佛地；入如來境界；威力護持；觀察一切佛智所行；諸力圓滿無能摧伏；無畏功德無能過者；住無差別三昧；神通變化；清淨自在智；一切佛法無能毀壞。
這裡要問一句：既然要說世界海，何以先歎佛智？澄觀答得極好，他說觀與歎是「反覆相成」的：因為海難思，所以能盡知它的佛智難思；因為佛智難思，所以那海才顯得深廣。他又自問：那何不直接說智？答：「智離海境，安知其相？」——離開所知的境，智無從顯。所以說海即是說智。
排一個誤解：這二十九句不是頌讚辭令。它是先立所知之量——不先知道所要說的東西有多大，接下來的十事就會被讀成十條知識。落到自己：讀這一品若讀出了『原來宇宙這麼大』，只讀到一半；讀出『能知這一切的心是這樣的』，才算讀到普賢的意思。
我當承佛神力具足宣說
歎畢，普賢說：「如是等一切法，我當承佛神力，及一切如來威神力故，具足宣說。」這一句是許說——承諾要說，並且交代所憑。
這裡古德留下一個難題，澄觀自己提出來：既說「具足」，何以下文只說了安立與世界海兩事？他答有二：一是「經來不盡故」——傳到漢地的本節本非全帙；二是雖只說二世界海，其實已通具三十句問，因為有界必有生，界依住故、有佛出現故、安立差異故、行業所感故，其餘可以類推而得。
排一個誤解：「承佛神力」不是謙辭。前面遍觀是承佛神力，這裡宣說也是承佛神力——普賢的位置自始至終是代佛而說，不是自出己意。這正是這部經最特別的地方：說法的多是菩薩，而所說皆佛境界。
為十件事而說：說法的十個目的
許說之後，普賢列出十個「為令……故」，這是全品的說意，也是讀者該拿來檢查自己讀後所得的十把尺。
一、為令眾生入佛智慧海——說世界的最終目的是入智，不是知世界。二、為令一切菩薩於佛功德海中得安住——說給已發心者的，是要他們住得下來。三、為令一切世界海一切佛自在所莊嚴——顯剎土非偶然堆成，是佛之自在所嚴。四、為令一切劫海中如來種性恆不斷——時間再長，佛種不斷，這是對「劫住」一事的預告。五、為令於一切世界海中顯示諸法真實性——講形狀體性不是為滿足好奇，是為顯真實性。六、為令隨一切眾生無量解海而演說——隨勝解之異而說法。七、為令隨一切眾生諸根海方便令生諸佛法——隨根性之異而下方便。八、為令隨一切眾生樂欲海摧破一切障礙山——隨樂欲之異而破障。九、為令隨一切眾生心行海令淨修治出要道——隨心行之異而示出離之道。十、為令一切菩薩安住普賢願海中——最後歸到普賢願。
澄觀把這十句攝為五對：證智成福對、嚴剎紹種對（亦即時處對）、顯義演教對、生善滅惡對、淨業普願對。他還說了一句要緊的話：這十句「亦通為一經教起之所因」——不只是這一品的說意，是整部經興起的緣由。
落到自己：第六至第九這四句是同一個模型的四面——解、根、欲、心行。說法之所以要應機，不是遷就，是因為障礙的形狀因人而異。
十一句歡喜：說偈之前的鋪墊
長行說完，經文說普賢「復欲令」如何如何，共十一句，然後才說頌。澄觀判這十一句：初一總標，說令聞法必生歡喜；餘十別顯歡喜之義，也可攝為五對——樂法生信對、證性立願對、了真入俗對、持法示佛對、開法增智對。
十句逐一是：令於一切法增長愛樂；令生廣大真實信解海；令淨治普門法界藏身；令安立普賢願海；令淨治入三世平等智眼；令增長普照一切世間藏大慧海；令生陀羅尼力持一切法輪；令於一切道場中盡佛境界悉開示；令開闡一切如來法門；令增長法界廣大甚深一切智性。
要問的是：何以說法之前要先講『令生歡喜』？因為這一品所說的境界大到會壓人。廣大之法對未熟的心是負擔，對熟的心才是歡喜。所以普賢先鋪十一句歡喜，再說十頌。落到自己：讀華嚴若讀出壓迫感而非歡喜，多半是把「無量無邊」讀成了數量，而不是讀成了佛的悲願之廣。
十頌讚勸：誰能聽這個法
接著的十頌，澄觀判為「初八讚、後二勸」；八讚之中，初二明佛出現之意，後六辨定法器——其中初一揀非器、次四示法器、後一結歸佛力。
佛智甚深——首頌說「智慧甚深功德海，普現十方無量國」，次頌說十方剎海不可思議而佛無量劫皆嚴淨，出興國土只為化眾生令成熟。這兩頌是把後面十事的結論先給出來：剎海之所以嚴淨，因是佛的化度。
佛境難思與揀非器——第三頌說佛境甚深，普示眾生令入，而「其心樂小著諸有，不能通達佛所悟」——這是揀非器，非器不在智力，在樂小與著有。
示法器四頌——有淨信堅固心、常近善知識、諸佛與力，才能入如來智；離諂誑、心清淨、常樂慈悲、志欲廣大而深信的人，聞此法生欣悅；安住普賢願地、修菩薩清淨道、觀察法界如虛空的人，才能知佛行處；這些菩薩獲善利、見佛神通力，而「修餘道者莫能知，普賢行人方得悟」。
結歸佛力——「眾生廣大無有邊，如來一切皆護念」，轉法輪無所不至，這是毘盧遮那的境界之力。
後二勸聽——「一切剎土入我身，所住諸佛亦復然」，普賢請眾觀他的毛孔，說我今示汝佛境界；末頌說普賢行願無邊際而我已修行得具足，普眼境界廣大身，是佛所行應諦聽。
排一個誤解：「一切剎土入我身」不是神通表演。它是這一品全部十事的縮影——若剎土有實體，就不能入身；能入，正因為體性本空而業願能成。澄觀與李通玄都引第五頌那四句作為本品的意趣所在，可見古德讀這一段，讀的是誰能受這個法，不是誰有本領。
世界海十事：一張總目
正說開始。普賢告諸大眾：「世界海有十種事，過去、現在、未來諸佛，已說、現說、當說。」十事是：起具因緣、所依住、形狀、體性、莊嚴、清淨、佛出興、劫住、劫轉變差別、無差別門。末了結一句：略說有此十事，若廣說則與世界海微塵數等。
先解一個字。何以叫「海」？澄觀釋得極簡：「積剎成種、積種成海，海無別體，世界都名。」——一個個剎土積成剎種，一個個剎種積成剎海；海不是另有一物，就是世界的總名。法藏在六十本那邊釋十名，說它們「皆繁多深奧，同名海也」，並判此名為持業釋——世界即是海，海是從喻立名。
澄觀又逐目給了十事各自的義：一是攬緣成立，二是成已依住，三是外狀區分，四是內體差別，五是寶等莊校，六是垢穢不生，七是佛出差殊，八是劫住修短，九是隨業改變，十是包容必均。這十個義是讀下面十段的鑰匙——前八說差別，第九說變動，第十說平等。
再看『三世諸佛已說、現說、當說』一句。澄觀說這是「彰其要勝」，又顯「說決定，無改易也」。落到自己：一件事若三世諸佛都說，它就不是一時方便，是法應如此。
事一 起具因緣：世界從十種緣成
第一事問的是：世界海怎麼成的？經文標「略說以十種因緣故，一切世界海已成、現成、當成」，然後列十緣。
一、如來神力故——首緣不在眾生而在佛，這與世人設想的『世界由眾生業造』正好倒過來說一次；智儼在六十本判此目為「佛神力即勝進力」。二、法應如是故——法本來如此，不必另尋所以然；智儼判為「緣起理然」。三、一切眾生行業故——這才是通常說的業感，居第三而不居首。四、一切菩薩成一切智所得故——菩薩趣求一切智，剎土隨之而成。五、一切眾生及諸菩薩同集善根故——注意這一目把眾生與菩薩並列：淨土不是菩薩一邊的事，是共業。六、一切菩薩嚴淨國土願力故——嚴淨國土是願，不是副產品。七、一切菩薩成就不退行願故——願要不退才成得了土。八、一切菩薩清淨勝解自在故——勝解清淨而得自在，土隨解現。九、一切如來善根所流及一切諸佛成道時自在勢力故——如來善根所流出，加上成道那一刻的自在勢力。十、普賢菩薩自在願力故——末目歸普賢，與全品說者相應。
要排一個誤解：這十緣不是十個獨立的原因並排，而是佛力、法性、眾生業、菩薩願四類交織。世界既非純由業造（否則佛神力無所施），亦非純由佛造（否則眾生行業一目為虛設）。澄觀說得直：這一事是「攬緣成立」——攬，是聚合多緣。
落到自己：若問『我的處境是誰造的』，這十緣給的答案是：你的業在其中，別人的業在其中，發願者的願在其中，法本來如此也在其中。看清這一點，才不至於全推給命，也不至於全攬給自己。
事二 所依住：世界依什麼站著
第二事問：世界成了以後，靠什麼住？經文標「一一世界海有世界海微塵數所依住」——注意這裡不說十，說微塵數，下列十目只是舉例。
十目是：或依一切莊嚴住；或依虛空住；或依一切寶光明住；或依一切佛光明住；或依一切寶色光明住；或依一切佛音聲住；或依如幻業生大力阿脩羅形金剛手住；或依一切世主身住；或依一切菩薩身住；或依普賢菩薩願所生一切差別莊嚴海住。
逐目看一遍就會發現一個梯次：前五目所依是物（莊嚴、虛空、寶光、佛光、寶色光）——其中依虛空住一目最堪玩味，因為虛空非物，是無所依之依。中間一目所依是聲（佛音聲）：世界靠聲音住著，這在常識裡不可解，卻正是此經一貫的義——名言能現土。後三目所依是身（金剛手、世主身、菩薩身）：世界住在某位護法、某位世主、某位菩薩的身上。末目所依是願（普賢願所生差別莊嚴海）。
澄觀對此有一句要緊的判：這一事「其次七事各各唯一，謂依空住者，非依光等故」——就一一剎土說，依住是唯一的，依空就不依光。所以十目不是同一剎土的十種依，是不同剎土各有各的依。
排一個誤解：不要把「依虛空住」讀成科學意義上的懸浮，也不要讀成什麼都不靠。虛空在此是無礙義——無所礙故能容一切。落到自己：一個人的心依什麼住，他的世界就依什麼住；依物則隨物遷，依願則隨願立。末目把十目收在普賢願上，就是這個意思。
事三 形狀：世界長什麼樣
第三事問：世界海是什麼形相？經文標「世界海有種種差別形相」，列十目：或圓，或方，或非圓方而無量差別；或如水漩形，或如山焰形，或如樹形，或如華形，或如宮殿形，或如眾生形，或如佛形。末以省文號收，結言有世界海微塵數。
前三目是幾何之形——圓、方、非圓非方；後七目是象物之形——水漩（漩渦）、山焰、樹、華、宮殿、眾生、佛。這個次第值得注意：從最抽象的圓方，一路走到最具體的佛形。世界的形狀可以是一尊佛的樣子——這句話在其他經裡難得一見，而法藏正是以此立一乘攝化處之第一類：從須彌山界及樹形等，乃至一切眾生形世界海。
排一個誤解：這不是說有一顆星球長得像佛。澄觀判此事為「外狀區分」，是就相說；形之所以千差萬別，頌文自己給了理由——「一切皆由業令異」。形是果，業是因。落到自己：處境的樣子由業定，這一目只是把個人的道理放大到世界的尺度說一遍。
事四 體性：世界拿什麼作體
第四事問：世界海以什麼為體？這一事在十事中列目最多，經文逐目實計二十體，且長行末不像其他各事那樣結一句「有世界海微塵數」——據實記之，不強解。
二十體是：一切寶莊嚴；一寶種種莊嚴；一切寶光明；種種色光明；一切莊嚴光明；不可壞金剛；佛力持；妙寶相；佛變化；日摩尼輪；極微細寶；一切寶焰；種種香；一切寶華冠；一切寶影像；一切莊嚴所示現；一念心普示現境界；菩薩形寶；寶華蘂；佛言音。
可以分四類讀。寶類（寶莊嚴、一寶種種莊嚴、妙寶相、極微細寶、寶焰、寶華冠、寶華蘂、菩薩形寶、日摩尼輪、不可壞金剛）——最多，說明剎土以堅淨之物為體者眾。光類（寶光明、種種色光明、莊嚴光明、寶影像）——以光與影為體，體已近於無實。佛力類（佛力持、佛變化、佛言音）——以佛的持、化、語為體。心類（一念心普示現境界、一切莊嚴所示現）——以一念心所現的境界為體，這是二十體中最徹底的一目。另有種種香一目，以氣為體。
從寶到光、從光到佛力、從佛力到一念心，這個梯次是本事的骨。頌文把它說得更明白：「或從心海生，隨心所解住，如幻無處所，一切是分別。」
古德於此有一段極重要的分判，須明繫。法藏在六十本疏中就「名體」一門分教立體：小乘以極微與四大實色為體；三乘凡小地前以賴耶識為體，地上若二智所現則以唯識智為體，並引《攝論》為證；終教以如來藏真如為體；一乘則「以無盡法界通三世間，人法理事等諸行相即互為其體」。智儼也在六十本那邊以十名對《攝論》十八相圓淨立同異。這是華嚴宗與唯識宗在土體一義上的分際：一乘不以識為體，而以相即互為體。這一判是古德所立，錄其原判，不判高下。
排一個誤解：說「以佛言音為體」不是修辭。若體性可以是聲音、可以是一念心所現的境界，那麼「體」在這裡就不是實有的質料，是所依之義。落到自己：你以什麼為自己的體——身、名、財、或一念心，你的世界就以那個為體。
事五 莊嚴：世界怎麼被裝點
第五事問：世界海的莊嚴從哪來？經文列十目：或以一切莊嚴具中出上妙雲莊嚴；或以說一切菩薩功德莊嚴；或以說一切眾生業報莊嚴；或以示現一切菩薩願海莊嚴；或以表示一切三世佛影像莊嚴；或以一念頃示現無邊劫神通境界莊嚴；或以出現一切佛身莊嚴；或以出現一切寶香雲莊嚴；或以示現一切道場中諸珍妙物光明照耀莊嚴；或以示現一切普賢行願莊嚴。
十目裡有兩目最特別：第二與第三——以說菩薩功德為莊嚴、以說眾生業報為莊嚴。裝飾一個世界的，竟然是言說；而且所說的內容之一是眾生的業報，並不美觀。這就把「莊嚴」二字從裝飾拉回本義：莊嚴是令其顯，把該顯的顯出來就是莊嚴。餘八目分別以雲、願、佛影、劫境、佛身、香雲、道場珍物、普賢行願為莊嚴；澄觀判此事為「寶等莊校」。
排一個誤解：不要把莊嚴讀成華麗。經文既以說業報為莊嚴，可見顯出真相也是莊嚴。落到自己：一個人的莊嚴不在他添了什麼，在他把什麼顯了出來。
事六 清淨：世界怎麼變乾淨
第六事問：世界海如何得清淨？經文標「世界海有世界海微塵數清淨方便海」——特別加了「方便」二字，可見所答的是方法，不是狀態。十目全是「故」字句：
一、諸菩薩親近一切善知識同善根故——首目是善知識，這與全經一貫（善財歷參之根在此）。二、增長廣大功德雲遍法界故。三、淨修廣大諸勝解故。四、觀察一切菩薩境界而安住故。五、修治一切諸波羅蜜悉圓滿故。六、觀察一切菩薩諸地而入住故。七、出生一切淨願海故。八、修習一切出要行故。九、入於一切莊嚴海故。十、成就清淨方便力故。
這十目排出來就是一條完整的道路：親近善知識（起）→ 積功德、修勝解（資糧）→ 觀菩薩境界而住、修波羅蜜圓滿、觀諸地而入住（正行）→ 出生淨願、修出要行（願與行）→ 入莊嚴海、成清淨方便力（果用）。澄觀判此事為「垢穢不生」——不是把髒的洗掉，是使它不生。
要排一個大誤解：這一目講的是世界的清淨，而所列全是菩薩的行。世界怎麼會因為某人修波羅蜜而變乾淨？這正是本品要教的：剎土非外物，是共業與願行所成，所以淨土的因在行者的地上。澄觀在宗趣門說「剎由心異，當淨自心及他心故」，這一事就是那句話的經據。落到自己：想要環境變好而只想改造環境，這一目說的是另一條路。
事七 佛出興：佛在世界裡怎麼出現
第七事問：佛出現於世界海，有什麼差別？經文列十目，恰成五對：或現小身，或現大身；或現短壽，或現長壽；或唯嚴淨一佛國土，或有嚴淨無量佛土；或唯顯示一乘法輪，或有顯示不可思議諸乘法輪；或現調伏少分眾生，或示調伏無邊眾生。
五對分別就身量、壽量、剎量、教量、機量說。每一對都是一多相對：小與大、短與長、一土與無量土、一乘與諸乘、少分與無邊。澄觀判此事為「佛出差殊」。
要問一句：佛何以要現小身、現短壽、只淨一土、只說一乘、只度少分？頌文自己答了：「皆隨眾生心所樂，此是如來善權力。」小不是不能大，是那裡的眾生只堪受小。
排一個誤解：不要以現量之大小判佛之高下。頌說「諸佛法身不思議，無色無形無影像」——法身無相，所現皆隨機。落到自己：法門的大小、道場的大小，不是判勝劣的尺；能不能對上那裡眾生的心，才是。
事八 劫住：世界住多久
第八事問：世界海住多少時？經文標「世界海有世界海微塵數劫住」，下列九目：或有阿僧祇劫住，或有無量劫住，或有無邊劫住，或有無等劫住，或有不可數劫住，或有不可稱劫住，或有不可思劫住，或有不可量劫住，或有不可說劫住。
此處要據實記一件事：這一段長行實計九目，與前後諸事列十目之例不同——據實標記，不強解。
九目全是『說不出多久』的九種說法：阿僧祇（無數）、無量、無邊、無等、不可數、不可稱、不可思、不可量、不可說。九個詞其實在做同一件事——把「久」逼到語言的邊界之外。澄觀判此事為「劫住修短」。
排一個誤解：這不是誇飾。頌文緊接著給了兩個關鍵句：「或無量劫入一劫，或復一劫入多劫」，以及「始從一念終成劫，悉依眾生心想生」。劫之所以能互入，正因為它不是實有的一段長度；劫之所以有長短，是依眾生心想而生。落到自己：時間的長短是心的分位，這一目把這件事放到世界的尺度說一遍。
事九 劫轉變：世界怎麼變
第九事問：世界海如何轉變？這是十事中唯一講變動的一事，十目皆是『由某緣故，世界海成某種劫轉變』：
一、法如是故，世界海無量成壞劫轉變——首目仍是法應如此，成與壞本是常態。二、染污眾生住故，成染污劫轉變。三、修廣大福眾生住故，成染淨劫轉變。四、信解菩薩住故，成染淨劫轉變。五、無量眾生發菩提心故，成純清淨劫轉變。六、諸菩薩各各遊諸世界故，成無邊莊嚴劫轉變。七、十方一切世界海諸菩薩雲集故，成無量大莊嚴劫轉變。八、諸佛世尊入涅槃故，成莊嚴滅劫轉變。九、諸佛出現於世故，成廣博嚴淨劫轉變。十、如來神通變化故，成普清淨劫轉變。
這十目排成一條清楚的線：住的是誰，世界就變成什麼樣。染污眾生住則染污；修福者住則染淨相雜；信解菩薩住則仍是染淨（尚未純淨）；直到眾生發菩提心，才成純清淨。再上去是菩薩遊行、菩薩雲集，莊嚴愈廣。最後三目繫於佛：佛涅槃則莊嚴滅，佛出世則廣博嚴淨，佛現神變則普清淨。澄觀判此事為「隨業改變」。
第三、第四兩目值得特別停一下：修廣大福的眾生與信解位的菩薩，所感竟同是「染淨劫轉變」——福與信解都還不足以令剎土純淨，要到發菩提心才純。頌文說得直：「無量諸眾生，悉發菩提心，彼心令剎海，住劫恒清淨。」
排一個誤解：第八目「諸佛世尊入涅槃故，世界海莊嚴滅劫轉變」，不是說佛的涅槃是壞事。頌自己解釋了：「世尊入涅槃，彼土莊嚴滅，眾生無法器，世界成雜染」——莊嚴之滅，因在眾生已無法器可受，佛乃示滅。落到自己：環境的好壞是住在裡面的人心的顯影，這一事是全品最能落到日用的一段。
事十 無差別：一切差別之上的平等
第十事問：說了九事的差別，那麼有沒有不差別的？經文標「世界海有世界海微塵數無差別」，列十目，每目皆以「一一世界海中」起：
一、有世界海微塵數世界無差別。二、諸佛出現所有威力無差別。三、一切道場遍十方法界無差別。四、一切如來道場眾會無差別。五、一切佛光明遍法界無差別。六、一切佛變化名號無差別。七、一切佛音聲普遍世界海、無邊劫住無差別。八、法輪方便無差別。九、一切世界海普入一塵無差別。十、一一微塵中，一切三世諸佛世尊廣大境界皆於中現無差別。
十目由外而內：從世界本身，到佛的威力、道場、眾會、光明、名號、音聲、法輪，最後兩目落到「一塵」——一切世界海入於一塵，一塵中現三世諸佛廣大境界。澄觀判此事為「包容必均」。
這一目最容易誤讀，古德早已立揀。澄觀說：無差別的意思是「約體性平等、佛力融攝故說無差，所以染淨皆具也」；他並駁一種舊說——有人說「一切世界相望互同」叫無差別，澄觀判此違經文，因為經明說「一一世界海有世界海塵數，無差別故。」——無差別之事本身是可數的；若依相望互同之解，則如澄觀所斷「無有差別之事」，這一目就沒有可數之物了。
這個揀非常關鍵：無差別不是說諸剎長得一樣。前九事講盡了差別，第十事若說差別消失，前九事就白說了。無差別是說：在這一切差別之上，體性是平等的，佛力是融攝的，所以染剎淨剎一概皆具。
排一個誤解：不要把「一切世界海普入一塵」讀成縮小。頌文說「一微塵中多剎海，處所各別悉嚴淨，如是無量入一中，一一區分無雜越」——入一塵而處所各別、區分不亂，這才是華嚴義。落到自己：平等不是抹平差別，是在差別上見得平等。這一事收全品，也開下一品的華藏世界。
十一段重頌之對位
本品體例是十事各段先長行、後重頌，加上本分讚勝一段的十頌，共十一段偈，實計一百二十頌。澄觀所立的通例是「十事不同則為十段，一一皆有長行與偈。長行中各三，謂標、釋、結。」。
頌與長行的關係是對位而不重教：長行已教的義，頌只換一種說法再現一次，兼補長行未及的譬喻。所以本品的譬喻幾乎全在頌中——如影如幻如焰、譬如雲布在虛空、如因陀羅網各差別、猶如影像住取說不可得、其法清淨如輪轉。長行十段之中，唯形狀一事以水漩、山焰、樹、華、宮殿、眾生、佛七喻狀其形；餘九事長行大體直陳法目，唯所依住一事有「如幻」一語（「或依如幻業生大力阿脩羅形金剛手住」），不另設喻。
十一段偈的量並不齊：依次為十、九、二十二、十、十、十、九、十、十、十、十頌——所依住一段獨多至二十二頌，是全品最長的一段偈。長行說依住只列十目，偈卻鋪陳最廣，可見古德所謂「以廣顯略」。
承衍
本品之義為四家所承，並錄不判。澄觀一系：立來意、釋名、宗趣、釋文四門，判本品答〈如來現相品〉三十句果問中的法界安立海一問，與〈華藏世界品〉合為「初二品明果」；他以「積剎成種、積種成海」釋海名，以十義配十事，並於結略顯廣句下辨十事在一一剎中多少不定——具緣一種或一或多，清淨一種或有或無（因為有純穢剎），其餘七事各各唯一。他又斥前人以「一剎一緣」釋「有剎海塵數」為未當，並揀「相望互同」之無差別說。這些都是逐文論定的疏家軌。
法藏一系：於六十本〈盧舍那佛品〉內判此段，其十名以「說世界海」為首、以「壞方便世界海」為末，與八十本之無「說」而有「劫轉變差別」「無差別門」正相開合；他釋首目「說世界海」有四義，其一即「由名言熏識現土，故名說也」。他另立十門通釋世界海——種類、居人、名體、染淨、漏無漏、共不共、世間涅槃、依正、人法、無礙，並判一乘攝化處三類：須彌樹形眾生形等世界海為第一類，三千界外十重世界為第二類，十蓮華藏莊嚴世界海具足主伴如帝網為第三類。《華嚴一乘教義分齊章》所判與此全同，是華嚴宗承本品「世界海」一名而立的教相判釋。他並判六十本第十「壞方便」由〈華藏〉一段釋之，取義為「成即是壞」。
智儼一系：於六十本判為三段，並自設問答——何以本分觀海說智，此說分卻廢智而但論世界海？他答：立文者但成信解智而未盡海源；且世界由智成，說海即是智。他又取六十本十名對《攝大乘論》十八相圓淨立同異，判首目與末目「列名不釋」，並判起具因緣一段別中有八——與六十本實列八緣相合。
李通玄一系：以業果報與願力二源釋品名——眾生世界海從自業果報起，佛菩薩世界海從大願力、自體清淨法性力、波羅蜜諸行海、大慈悲智力起。他立五意明來意，其重心全在初發心菩薩：若無此品，初心菩薩無從知如來攝生行門與眾生業行世界廣狹之相，也就無從發心。他並揀三乘所說淨土在於他方、菩薩願生其中之見，判那樣讀則「心常染淨而有限礙」。他與澄觀同引本品第五頌「離諸諂誑心清淨」四句自證其判。
四家並行，皆古德成說，誌錄之，不判高下。至於六十本與八十本之異——十名之開合、諸事列目之多寡（體性二十對五、莊嚴十對三、所依住十對七）、譯語之異（水漩對水洄澓、毘盧遮那對盧舍那）——二本並錄，不判優劣。
本品之後即〈華藏世界品〉。澄觀判二品之分工說得最清楚：此品「通辯諸佛及諸眾生所有剎海」，後品「別明本師之所嚴淨」；此品明成剎之緣，後品別辯果相。所以這一品讀完不是結束——十事是總相的一張圖，下一品要拿這張圖去看一個具體的世界：毘盧遮那本修菩薩行時所嚴淨的華藏莊嚴世界海。
Why the Buddha’s Dharma Spends a Whole Chapter on How the World Came to Be
A sūtra about becoming a buddha, having reached its fourth chapter, speaks instead of where the world comes from, upon what it abides, what it looks like, what it takes for its substance, how long it lasts, and how it changes. The doubt a reader most readily raises is this: is this not cosmology, and what has it to do with practice?
The doubt is in fact asking in the wrong place. Look at where the chapter stands and it becomes plain — the chapter before it is the Samādhi of Samantabhadra, where Samantabhadra enters concentration; at the opening of this chapter Samantabhadra rises from concentration and contemplates universally. Chengguan sets the two chapters side by side and speaks very directly: the entering of samādhi in the earlier chapter is “inwardly to be in accord with the source,” and the universal contemplating in this chapter is “outwardly to examine the aspects.” Concentration goes inward and deep; contemplation goes outward and wide. Without that depth in the earlier chapter, the wideness of this one would be no more than a breadth of things seen and heard.
Look next at what it answers. Chengguan judges that this chapter “sets forth in general the aspects of the fruit and answers in particular the question about the ocean of the establishing of the Dharma realm” — among the thirty clauses of questions about the fruit that the bodhisattvas raised in their minds in the chapter on the Manifestation of the Tathāgata in the second assembly, there is one clause that asks about “the ocean of the establishing of the Dharma realm,” and this chapter is the answer to that one clause. Li Tongxuan judges more broadly, saying that this chapter “answers the thirty-seven questions of the rulers of the worlds raised earlier,” answering them all at one stroke. The two masters attach it to different questions; both readings stand side by side without adjudication. But what they hold in common is this: this chapter is not cosmology, it is an answer. Someone asked; therefore someone speaks.
Brought down to the reader: what this world you see is like depends on what causes and conditions have put it together and on what your mind takes for its substance. This chapter spreads that matter out for you to look at — and Chengguan, in the gate of the tenet and aim, says the whole of this: “because lands differ according to mind, one should purify one’s own mind and the minds of others.”
Samantabhadra First Contemplates the Ten Oceans, and Only Then Speaks
The very first sentence of the sūtra text states the qualification for expounding: Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, “by the Buddha’s spiritual power,” contemplated universally ten oceans — all the oceans of worlds, all the oceans of sentient beings, all the oceans of the buddhas, all the oceans of the Dharma realm, all the oceans of the karma of sentient beings, all the oceans of the faculties and desires of sentient beings, all the oceans of the wheels of Dharma of the buddhas, all the oceans of the three times, all the oceans of the power of the vows of the tathāgatas, all the oceans of the spiritual transformations of the tathāgatas; and only when the contemplating was finished did he “address universally the bodhisattvas of all the oceanic assemblies of the place of enlightenment.”
Two things here are worth pausing over. First, before expounding there is contemplating — and the contemplating is not done by his own power of intellect, but is received from the Buddha’s spiritual power. Second, the ten oceans contemplated are not ten topics; they are one structure: worlds (the vessel), sentient beings (the sentient), the buddhas (those who can transform), the Dharma realm (the principle relied upon), karma (the cause of formation), faculties and desires (capacity), the wheel of Dharma (the teaching), the three times (time), the power of vows (the buddhas’ causes), spiritual transformation (the buddhas’ function). Vessel and sentient, cause and fruit, time and teaching — gathered in all at once; only then is there the standing to say how a world comes to be formed.
Set one misreading aside: do not read “contemplating universally” as browsing. Chengguan says that the entering of concentration in the earlier chapter is inwardly to accord with the source and that the universal contemplating here is outwardly to examine the aspects — source and aspect are two faces of one thing, and the contemplating of aspects is reliable precisely because the source has first been accorded with. Brought down to oneself: if a person has no capacity for stillness, the world he sees is only what karma has pushed him into seeing; it is not contemplation.
Twenty-Nine Clauses of the Inconceivable: What Is Praised Is Wisdom, What Is Spoken Of Is the Ocean
The first thing Samantabhadra says when he opens his mouth is not about worlds; he first praises the Buddha’s wisdom. Counting the sūtra text clause by clause, those that close with “inconceivable” come to twenty-nine, and they may be read as falling into three folds.
The first fold, ten clauses, speaks with respect to the Buddha’s wisdom — the wisdom that knows the forming, destroying, and purity of all the oceans of worlds; the wisdom that knows the oceans of the karma of all sentient beings; the wisdom that knows the ocean of the establishing of the Dharma realm; the wisdom that proclaims all the boundless oceans of buddhas; the wisdom that enters the oceans of the desires, understanding, and faculties; the wisdom that in a single thought knows universally all the three times; the wisdom that reveals the oceans of the measureless vows of all the tathāgatas; the wisdom that displays the ocean of the spiritual transformations of all the buddhas; the wisdom of turning the wheel of Dharma; and the establishing and expounding of the ocean. These ten clauses stand one to one over against the ten oceans contemplated earlier — what is contemplated is the ocean, and what is praised is the wisdom that can know that ocean.
The second fold, nine clauses, speaks with respect to the Buddha’s form-body and speech — the pure buddha-body; the universal illumination of the boundless ocean of forms and marks; that the marks together with the secondary signs are all pure; that the boundless ocean of wheels of light of forms and marks is complete in purity; the ocean of clouds of light of every kind of form and mark; the surpassing ocean of jeweled flames; the perfecting of the ocean of speech and sound; the displaying of the ocean of the three kinds of sovereign mastery whereby all sentient beings are subdued and matured; the valorous subduing of the oceans of sentient beings “with not one passed over in vain.” The first fold said the inconceivable with respect to wisdom; this fold says the inconceivable directly with respect to the body of the Dharma: the boundlessness of the bodily marks, the inexhaustibility of the light, the perfecting of speech and sound, and the subduing of sentient beings “with not one passed over in vain” — not once is it spent for nothing.
The third fold, ten clauses, speaks with respect to the completeness of virtue and function — abiding in the buddha-ground; entering the realm of the Tathāgata; upholding and protecting with majestic power; contemplating all that the wisdom of a buddha ranges over; the powers complete and none able to crush them; the merit of fearlessness that none can surpass; abiding in the samādhi without differentiation; the spiritual penetrations and transformations; the pure and sovereign wisdom; that none can destroy any of the dharmas of a buddha.
One question has to be put here: if the ocean of worlds is to be spoken of, why praise the Buddha’s wisdom first? Chengguan answers this beautifully. He says that the contemplating and the praising “complete each other in turn”: because the ocean is hard to fathom, the buddha-wisdom that can know it exhaustively is hard to fathom; and because the buddha-wisdom is hard to fathom, that ocean shows itself as deep and vast. He then asks himself: in that case why not simply speak of the wisdom? He answers, “apart from the objects of the ocean, how would one know its aspects?” — apart from the object known, wisdom has no way of showing itself. Therefore to speak of the ocean is to speak of the wisdom.
Set one misreading aside: these twenty-nine clauses are not phrases of laudatory rhetoric. They are first establishing the measure of what is to be known — if one does not first know how large the thing to be spoken of is, the ten things that follow will be read as ten items of information. Brought down to oneself: if in reading this chapter what one comes away with is ‘so the universe is this big,’ one has read only half; if one comes away with ‘the mind that can know all this is like this,’ only then has one read what Samantabhadra means.
I Shall Expound It in Full by the Buddha’s Spiritual Power
The praising done, Samantabhadra says: “All the various dharmas such as these I shall, by the Buddha’s spiritual power and by the majestic spiritual power of all the tathāgatas, expound in full.” This sentence is the granting of the exposition — a promise to speak, together with a statement of what that speaking rests upon.
Here the ancient worthies left a difficulty, which Chengguan himself raises: since he says “in full,” why does the text below speak only of the two matters of the establishing and the ocean of worlds? He gives two answers: first, “because the sūtra as transmitted is not complete” — the text that reached the Han lands is not the whole of it; second, that although only the two oceans of worlds are spoken of, the thirty clauses of questions have in fact all been covered, since where there is a realm there must be beings, and it abides upon something, and buddhas appear in it, and its establishing differs, and deeds and karma bring it about — the rest may be inferred in kind.
Set one misreading aside: “by the Buddha’s spiritual power” is not a modest formula. The universal contemplating earlier was by the Buddha’s spiritual power, and the expounding here is by the Buddha’s spiritual power — Samantabhadra’s position from beginning to end is to speak on the Buddha’s behalf, not to put forth a meaning of his own. This is exactly what is most distinctive about this sūtra: those who expound are mostly bodhisattvas, and what is expounded is throughout the realm of a buddha.
He Speaks for the Sake of Ten Things: The Ten Purposes of the Exposition
After granting the exposition, Samantabhadra sets out ten clauses of “for the sake of causing … .” These are the intent of the whole chapter, and they are also the ten measuring rods a reader should take up to check what he has gained by reading.
One, for the sake of causing sentient beings to enter the ocean of the Buddha’s wisdom — the final purpose of speaking of worlds is to enter wisdom, not to know worlds. Two, for the sake of causing all bodhisattvas to gain an abiding within the ocean of the merit of the buddhas — it is spoken to those who have already raised the mind, that they may be able to settle there. Three, for the sake of causing all the oceans of worlds to be adorned by the sovereign mastery of all the buddhas — showing that lands are not heaped up by chance but adorned by the buddhas’ mastery. Four, for the sake of causing the lineage of the Tathāgata never to be cut off throughout the oceans of kalpas — however long the time, the buddha-lineage is not cut off; this foretells the thing of kalpa-abiding. Five, for the sake of revealing within all the oceans of worlds the true nature of all dharmas — speaking of shape and substance is not to satisfy curiosity but to reveal the true nature. Six, for the sake of expounding in accord with the measureless oceans of understanding of all sentient beings — expounding according to the differences of resolute understanding. Seven, for the sake of according with the oceans of the faculties of all sentient beings and by skillful means causing the dharmas of the buddhas to arise — laying down expedients according to the differences of faculty. Eight, for the sake of according with the oceans of the delights and desires of all sentient beings and crushing all the mountains of obstruction — breaking obstructions according to the differences of delight and desire. Nine, for the sake of according with the oceans of the mental conduct of all sentient beings and causing them to purify and cultivate the essential road of deliverance — showing the road of deliverance according to the differences of mental conduct. Ten, for the sake of causing all bodhisattvas to abide within the ocean of Samantabhadra’s vows — at the last it comes home to Samantabhadra’s vow.
Chengguan gathers these ten clauses into five pairs: realizing wisdom and completing merit; adorning lands and continuing the lineage (which is also the pair of time and place); revealing the meaning and setting forth the teaching; producing good and extinguishing evil; purifying karma and the universal vow. And he says one thing that matters greatly: these ten clauses “are also in common the cause from which the teaching of the whole sūtra arises” — they are not the intent of this chapter only, but the occasion for the arising of the entire sūtra.
Brought down to oneself: clauses six through nine are four faces of a single model — understanding, faculty, desire, mental conduct. That the exposition must meet capacity is not a concession; it is because the shape of the obstruction differs from person to person.
Eleven Clauses of Joy: The Ground Laid Before the Verses
The prose section finished, the sūtra says that Samantabhadra “further wished to cause” this and that, eleven clauses in all, and only then spoke the verses. Chengguan judges these eleven clauses thus: the first one is the general heading, saying that hearing the Dharma will surely give rise to joy; the remaining ten set forth in particular the senses of that joy, and they too may be gathered into five pairs: delighting in the Dharma and giving rise to faith; realizing the nature and establishing the vow; understanding the real and entering the conventional; upholding the Dharma and showing the Buddha; opening the Dharma and increasing wisdom.
The ten clauses one by one are: causing them to increase love and delight in all dharmas; causing them to give rise to the ocean of vast and true resolute understanding; causing them to purify and cultivate the body that is the treasury of the Dharma realm of the universal gate; causing them to establish the ocean of Samantabhadra’s vows; causing them to purify and cultivate the eye of wisdom that enters the sameness of the three times; causing them to increase the ocean of great insight that illumines universally the treasury of all the worlds; causing them to give rise to the power of dhāraṇī and uphold all the wheels of Dharma; causing the realm of the Buddha to be entirely disclosed within all the places of enlightenment; causing all the Dharma-gates of the tathāgatas to be thrown open; causing them to increase the nature of omniscience, vast and most profound, that is the Dharma realm.
What has to be asked is: why, before expounding, must one first speak of ‘causing joy to arise’? Because the realm this chapter speaks of is so large that it can press down upon a person. A vast Dharma is a burden to a mind not yet ripened, and only to a ripened mind is it joy. So Samantabhadra first lays down eleven clauses of joy, and then speaks the ten verses. Brought down to oneself: if in reading the Avataṃsaka one comes away feeling pressed rather than joyful, it is most often because “measureless and boundless” has been read as a quantity rather than as the breadth of the Buddha’s compassionate vow.
Ten Verses of Praise and Exhortation: Who Can Hear This Dharma
The ten verses that follow Chengguan judges as “the first eight praising, the last two exhorting”; and among the eight of praise, the first two set forth the intent of the Buddha’s appearing, and the latter six distinguish the vessel of the Dharma — of which the first one distinguishes what is not a vessel, the next four show what is a vessel, and the last one brings it home to the Buddha’s power.
The Buddha’s wisdom is most profound — the first verse says “wisdom most profound, an ocean of merit, appearing universally throughout the measureless lands of the ten directions”; the second says that the oceans of lands of the ten directions are inconceivable and that the Buddha has adorned and purified them for measureless kalpas, arising and appearing in the lands only to teach sentient beings and bring them to maturity. These two verses give at the outset the conclusion of the ten things that follow: the reason the oceans of lands are adorned and pure is the Buddha’s work of transforming.
The realm of the Buddha hard to fathom, and the distinguishing of what is not a vessel — the third verse says that the Buddha’s realm is most profound and that he discloses it universally to sentient beings so that they may enter, and yet “those whose minds delight in the lesser and cling to the forms of existence cannot penetrate what the Buddha has awakened to” — this distinguishes what is not a vessel, and what is not a vessel lies not in intellect but in delighting in the lesser and clinging to existence.
Four verses showing what is a vessel — only one who has a firm mind of pure faith, who constantly draws near to good friends, and to whom the buddhas lend their power can enter the Tathāgata’s wisdom; one who is far from flattery and deceit, whose mind is pure, who constantly delights in kindness and compassion, whose aspiration is vast and whose faith is deep, gives rise to gladness on hearing this Dharma; one who abides in the ground of Samantabhadra’s vows, cultivates the pure path of a bodhisattva, and contemplates the Dharma realm as being like space can know where the Buddha ranges; these bodhisattvas gain a good benefit and see the power of the Buddha’s spiritual penetrations, while “those who cultivate other paths cannot know it; only those who practice the conduct of Samantabhadra come to comprehend it.”
Bringing it home to the Buddha’s power — “sentient beings are vast and without limit; the Tathāgata is mindful and protective of every one of them”; he turns the wheel of Dharma and there is nowhere it does not reach — this is the power of Vairocana’s realm.
The last two verses exhorting them to listen — “all the lands enter into my body, and so likewise do the buddhas who abide in them”; Samantabhadra asks the assembly to contemplate his pores and says that he now displays for them the realm of the Buddha; the last verse says that the conduct and vows of Samantabhadra are without limit and that he has cultivated them to fulfillment, and that the realm of the universal eye and the vast body are where the Buddha ranges and should be attentively heard.
Set one misreading aside: “all the lands enter into my body” is not a display of spiritual powers. It is the whole of the ten things of this chapter in miniature — if lands had substance of their own they could not enter a body; that they can enter is precisely because their substance and nature are empty and karma and vow are able to bring them about. Chengguan and Li Tongxuan both cite the four lines of the fifth verse as the very place where the intent of this chapter lies, which shows that what the ancient worthies read in this passage was who can receive this Dharma, not who has the powers.
The Ten Things of the Ocean of Worlds: A Single Table of Contents
The exposition proper begins. Samantabhadra addresses the great assembly: “The ocean of worlds has ten things, which the buddhas of the past, the present, and the future have already spoken of, are now speaking of, and will speak of.” The ten things are: the causes and conditions of being furnished, that upon which it abides, shape, substance, adornment, purity, the arising of buddhas, kalpa-abiding, the differences of kalpa-transformation, and the gate of freedom from differentiation. At the end he concludes with one sentence: stated summarily there are these ten things; were they stated at length they would equal the number of atoms in an ocean of worlds.
First a single word must be explained. Why is it called an “ocean”? Chengguan explains it with the utmost economy: “lands amassed make a seed, seeds amassed make an ocean; the ocean has no separate substance, it is simply the general name of worlds.” — land upon land amassed makes a world-seed, seed upon seed amassed makes an ocean of worlds; the ocean is not another thing, it is the general name for worlds. Fazang, over on the side of the sixty-fascicle text, explains the ten names by saying that they are “all numerous and profound, and so alike are named oceans,” and judges the name to be a compound of coincidence — the world simply is the ocean, and “ocean” is a name established from the simile.
Chengguan further gives, item by item, the sense proper to each of the ten things: the first is being established by the gathering of conditions; the second is abiding once formed; the third is the distinction of outward aspect; the fourth is the difference of inward substance; the fifth is the ornamenting with jewels and the like; the sixth is that defilement does not arise; the seventh is the differing of the buddhas’ appearing; the eighth is the length and shortness of kalpa-abiding; the ninth is changing in accordance with karma; the tenth is that the containing is of necessity even. These ten senses are the key to reading the ten sections below — the first eight speak of difference, the ninth of change, and the tenth of sameness.
Look once more at the clause ‘the buddhas of the three times have already spoken, now speak, and will speak.’ Chengguan says this “makes plain its importance and excellence,” and further shows that “the speaking is settled, with no alteration.” Brought down to oneself: if a thing is spoken by the buddhas of all three times, then it is not an expedient of one moment; it is the Dharma being of necessity thus.
Thing One, the Causes and Conditions of Being Furnished: The World Is Formed from Ten Conditions
The first thing asks: how is the ocean of worlds formed? The sūtra text heads it with “stated summarily, by reason of ten causes and conditions all the oceans of worlds have been formed, are being formed, and will be formed,” and then lists ten conditions.
One, by reason of the spiritual power of the Tathāgata — the first condition lies not with sentient beings but with the Buddha, which states things once in exactly the reverse of the common supposition that ‘the world is made by the karma of beings’; Zhiyan, on the sixty-fascicle side, judges this item to be “the Buddha’s spiritual power, that is, the power of advancing.” Two, by reason of the Dharma being of necessity thus — the Dharma is originally so, and no further reason need be sought; Zhiyan judges this to be “the principle of dependent origination being so.” Three, by reason of the deeds and karma of all sentient beings — this is what is usually called the impelling of karma, and it stands third, not first. Four, by reason of what all bodhisattvas gain in perfecting omniscience — the bodhisattvas press toward omniscience, and lands are formed along with it. Five, by reason of all sentient beings together with the bodhisattvas amassing roots of goodness in common — note that this item sets sentient beings and bodhisattvas side by side: a pure land is not the affair of the bodhisattva’s side alone, it is karma held in common. Six, by reason of the power of the vow of all bodhisattvas to adorn and purify the lands — the adorning and purifying of lands is a vow, not a by-product. Seven, by reason of all bodhisattvas perfecting non-retrogressive conduct and vows — the vow must be non-retrogressive if a land is to be formed at all. Eight, by reason of the pure resolute understanding and sovereign mastery of all bodhisattvas — resolute understanding being pure, mastery is gained, and the land appears according to that understanding. Nine, by reason of what flows forth from the roots of goodness of all the tathāgatas together with the sovereign force of all the buddhas at the time of their attaining the path — what flows forth from the tathāgatas’ roots of goodness, together with the sovereign force of that moment of attaining the path. Ten, by reason of the power of the sovereign vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva — the last item comes home to Samantabhadra, answering to the expounder of the whole chapter.
One misreading must be set aside: these ten conditions are not ten independent causes laid side by side; they are the interweaving of four kinds — the Buddha’s power, the nature of the Dharma, the karma of beings, and the vows of bodhisattvas. The world is neither made purely by karma (else the Buddha’s spiritual power would have nothing to do) nor made purely by the Buddha (else the item of the deeds and karma of beings would be set down for nothing). Chengguan says it plainly: this thing is “being established by the gathering of conditions” — gathering, that is, the drawing together of many conditions.
Brought down to oneself: if one asks ‘who made the situation I am in,’ the answer these ten conditions give is: your karma is in it, the karma of others is in it, the vow of those who vow is in it, and the Dharma being originally thus is in it as well. Seeing this clearly, one will neither hand it all over to fate nor take it all upon oneself.
Thing Two, That Upon Which It Abides: What the World Stands On
The second thing asks: once the world is formed, upon what does it abide? The sūtra text heads it with “each single ocean of worlds has as many supports upon which it depends and abides as there are atoms in an ocean of worlds” — note that here it does not say ten, it says the number of atoms; the ten items listed below are only instances.
The ten items are: some abide depending on all adornments; some abide depending on space; some abide depending on the light of all jewels; some abide depending on the light of all buddhas; some abide depending on the light of the colors of all jewels; some abide depending on the voices of all buddhas; some abide depending on a Vajra-Bearer in the form of a mighty asura born of illusion-like karma; some abide depending on the bodies of all the rulers of the worlds; some abide depending on the bodies of all bodhisattvas; some abide depending on the ocean of all the differentiated adornments born of the power of Samantabhadra’s vows.
Going through the items one by one, a gradation appears. The first five depend on things (adornments, space, the light of jewels, the light of buddhas, the light of the colors of jewels) — and of these the item of abiding in dependence on space most repays turning over, since space is not a thing, but the dependence that is a dependence on nothing. The middle item depends on sound (the voices of the buddhas): that a world should abide by sound is unintelligible to common sense, and yet it is precisely the constant meaning of this sūtra — name and speech are able to make a land appear. The last three depend on bodies (a Vajra-Bearer, the bodies of the rulers of the worlds, the bodies of bodhisattvas): the world abides upon the body of some guardian, some ruler of a world, some bodhisattva. And the final item depends on a vow (the ocean of differentiated adornments born of Samantabhadra’s vows).
Chengguan has one judgment here that matters: of this thing he says “the next seven things are in each case only one — that is, one that abides depending on space does not depend on light and the rest” — with respect to any one land, that upon which it abides is single; depending on space, it does not depend on light. Hence the ten items are not ten dependencies of a single land, but the several dependencies of different lands, each with its own.
Set one misreading aside: do not read “abiding in dependence on space” as suspension in the scientific sense, nor as depending on nothing at all. Space here has the sense of unobstructedness — because nothing obstructs it, it can contain everything. Brought down to oneself: upon whatever a person’s mind abides, upon that his world abides; depending on things, one shifts with things; depending on a vow, one stands by that vow. That the last item gathers the ten upon Samantabhadra’s vow means exactly this.
Thing Three, Shape: What the World Looks Like
The third thing asks: what are the shapes and forms of the ocean of worlds? The sūtra text heads it with “the ocean of worlds has shapes and forms of many kinds and differences” and lists ten items: some round, some square, some neither round nor square with measureless differences; some in the shape of a whirlpool of water, some in the shape of a mountain flame, some in the shape of a tree, some in the shape of a flower, some in the shape of a palace, some in the shape of a sentient being, some in the shape of a buddha. It closes with a mark of elision and concludes that there are as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.
The first three items are geometric shapes — round, square, neither round nor square; the latter seven are shapes taken from things — whirlpool (a vortex of water), mountain flame, tree, flower, palace, sentient being, buddha. The order is worth noting: from the most abstract round and square it walks all the way to the most concrete, the shape of a buddha. The shape of a world may be the shape of a buddha — a sentence rarely met with in other sūtras, and it is on exactly this that Fazang establishes the first class of the places of transformation on the One Vehicle: from the world-realms of Sumeru and the shapes of trees and the rest, on to the oceans of worlds in the shapes of all sentient beings.
Set one misreading aside: this does not say that some planet is shaped like a buddha. Chengguan judges this thing to be “the distinction of outward aspect,” which is spoken with respect to aspect; and the verses themselves give the reason why shapes differ by the thousand — “all of these are made to differ by karma.” Shape is the fruit; karma is the cause. Brought down to oneself: the look of one’s situation is settled by karma, and this item merely states at the scale of a world the same principle that holds for a person.
Thing Four, Substance: What the World Takes for Its Substance
The fourth thing asks: what does the ocean of worlds take for its substance? Of the ten things, this one lists the most items — counting the sūtra text item by item there are twenty substances — and at the end of its prose it does not, as the other things do, close with the sentence “as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds.” It is recorded as it stands, without forcing an explanation.
The twenty substances are: the adornment of all jewels; the many kinds of adornment of a single jewel; the light of all jewels; light of many kinds of color; the light of all adornments; indestructible vajra; the sustaining by the Buddha’s power; the marks of marvelous jewels; the transformations of the Buddha; a sun-maṇi wheel; exceedingly subtle jewels; the flames of all jewels; fragrances of many kinds; the flowering crowns of all jewels; the reflected images of all jewels; what is displayed by all adornments; the realm universally displayed by a single thought of mind; jewels in the shape of a bodhisattva; the stamens of jeweled flowers; the speech and sound of the Buddha.
They may be read in four classes. The jewel class (the adornment of jewels, the many adornments of a single jewel, the marks of marvelous jewels, exceedingly subtle jewels, jeweled flame, jeweled flowering crowns, the stamens of jeweled flowers, jewels in the shape of a bodhisattva, the sun-maṇi wheel, indestructible vajra) — the largest, showing that lands taking firm and pure things for their substance are many. The light class (the light of jewels, light of many colors, the light of adornments, the reflected images of jewels) — taking light and shadow for substance, the substance is already close to being unreal. The buddha-power class (the sustaining by the Buddha’s power, the transformations of the Buddha, the speech and sound of the Buddha) — taking the Buddha’s sustaining, transforming, and speaking for substance. The mind class (the realm universally displayed by a single thought of mind, what is displayed by all adornments) — taking for substance the realm displayed by a single thought of mind, which is the most thoroughgoing item among the twenty. There is besides the single item of fragrances of many kinds, which takes vapor for substance.
From jewel to light, from light to buddha-power, from buddha-power to a single thought of mind — this gradation is the backbone of this thing. The verses say it still more plainly: “some are born from an ocean of mind, abiding according to what the mind understands, illusion-like and without location, all of it discrimination.”
Here the ancient worthies made a distinction of the first importance, and the attribution must be made plain. Fazang, in his commentary on the sixty-fascicle text, establishes the substance according to the teachings under the gate of “name and substance”: the Lesser Vehicle takes the finest particles and the real form of the four great elements for substance; in the three vehicles, ordinary beings and those of the Lesser Vehicle and those before the grounds all take the ālaya consciousness for substance, while on the grounds, if it is what the two wisdoms display, then consciousness-only wisdom is taken for substance, and he cites the Shedacheng lun in evidence; the final teaching takes the suchness of the Tathāgata-womb for substance; and the One Vehicle takes “the inexhaustible Dharma realm pervading the three kinds of world, with person and dharma, principle and phenomenon, and all such aspects of practice mutually identical and mutually serving as one another’s substance.” Zhiyan too, over on the sixty-fascicle side, sets up sameness and difference by matching the ten names against the eighteen aspects of perfect purity in the Shedacheng lun. This is where the Huayan school and the consciousness-only school stand apart on the single question of the substance of a land: the One Vehicle does not take consciousness for substance, but takes mutual identity as mutually being substance. This adjudication was established by the ancient worthies; their own adjudications are recorded, without judging their relative merit.
Set one misreading aside: to say “taking the speech and sound of the Buddha for substance” is not a figure of speech. If substance can be a sound, and can be the realm displayed by a single thought of mind, then “substance” here is not a really existent material; it is the sense of that upon which a thing rests. Brought down to oneself: whatever you take for your own substance — body, name, wealth, or a single thought of mind — your world takes that for its substance.
Thing Five, Adornment: How the World Is Decked Out
The fifth thing asks: whence come the adornments of the ocean of worlds? The sūtra text lists ten items: some take for adornment the surpassingly marvelous clouds that come forth from among all the implements of adornment; some take for adornment the proclaiming of the merit of all bodhisattvas; some take for adornment the proclaiming of the karmic recompense of all sentient beings; some take for adornment the displaying of the ocean of the vows of all bodhisattvas; some take for adornment the setting forth of the reflected images of all the buddhas of the three times; some take for adornment the displaying in the space of a single thought of the realms of spiritual penetration through boundless kalpas; some take for adornment the appearing of the bodies of all buddhas; some take for adornment the appearing of all clouds of jeweled fragrance; some take for adornment the displaying of the shining light of all the precious and marvelous things within all the places of enlightenment; some take for adornment the displaying of all the conduct and vows of Samantabhadra.
Two of the ten items are the most remarkable: the second and the third — taking the proclaiming of the merit of bodhisattvas for adornment, and taking the proclaiming of the karmic recompense of sentient beings for adornment. What adorns a world turns out to be speech; and one of the things spoken is the karmic recompense of beings, which is not beautiful. This pulls the two words “adornment” back from decoration to their root sense: adornment is causing a thing to show — to bring out what ought to be brought out is adornment. The remaining eight items take, respectively, clouds, vows, the images of buddhas, the realms of kalpas, the bodies of buddhas, clouds of fragrance, the precious things of the places of enlightenment, and the conduct and vows of Samantabhadra for adornment; Chengguan judges this thing to be “the ornamenting with jewels and the like.”
Set one misreading aside: do not read adornment as splendor. Since the sūtra text takes the proclaiming of karmic recompense for adornment, it is plain that to bring out the truth of a thing is also adornment. Brought down to oneself: a person’s adornment does not lie in what he has added, but in what he has brought out.
Thing Six, Purity: How the World Becomes Clean
The sixth thing asks: how does the ocean of worlds attain purity? The sūtra text heads it with “the ocean of worlds has oceans of skillful means of purity as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds” — the two words “skillful means” are specially added, from which it is plain that what is answered is a method, not a state. The ten items are all clauses ending in “by reason of”:
One, by reason of the bodhisattvas drawing near to all good friends and cultivating roots of goodness in common with them — the first item is the good friend, which is of a piece with the whole sūtra (the root of Sudhana’s successive visits lies here). Two, by reason of increasing the vast clouds of merit until they pervade the Dharma realm. Three, by reason of purifying and cultivating the many kinds of vast resolute understanding. Four, by reason of contemplating the realms of all bodhisattvas and abiding therein. Five, by reason of cultivating all the pāramitās until they are complete. Six, by reason of contemplating all the grounds of the bodhisattvas and entering and abiding therein. Seven, by reason of bringing forth all the oceans of pure vows. Eight, by reason of cultivating the conduct of all the essential roads of deliverance. Nine, by reason of entering into all the oceans of adornment. Ten, by reason of perfecting the power of pure skillful means.
Set out in a row, these ten items are a complete road: drawing near to a good friend (the beginning) → amassing merit and cultivating resolute understanding (the provisions) → contemplating the realms of bodhisattvas and abiding there, cultivating the pāramitās to completeness, contemplating the grounds and entering to abide in them (the practice proper) → bringing forth pure vows and cultivating the conduct of deliverance (vow and practice) → entering the ocean of adornment and perfecting the power of pure skillful means (the function of the fruit). Chengguan judges this thing to be “defilement not arising” — it is not that the dirty is washed away, but that it is caused not to arise.
One great misreading must be set aside: what this item speaks of is the purity of a world, and yet everything it lists is the conduct of a bodhisattva. How should a world become clean because someone cultivates the pāramitās? This is exactly what the chapter means to teach: a land is not an external thing but is formed by karma held in common and by vow and practice, and therefore the cause of a pure land lies on the ground where the practitioner stands. Chengguan says in the gate of the tenet and aim, “because lands differ according to mind, one should purify one’s own mind and the minds of others,” and this thing is the scriptural ground of that sentence. Brought down to oneself: to want the environment to improve while thinking only of remaking the environment — this item speaks of another road.
Thing Seven, the Arising of Buddhas: How a Buddha Appears Within the World
The seventh thing asks: when buddhas appear in the ocean of worlds, what differences are there? The sūtra text lists ten items, which fall exactly into five pairs: some manifest a small body, some a great body; some manifest a short life span, some a long life span; some adorn and purify a single buddha-land alone, some adorn and purify measureless buddha-lands; some reveal the wheel of Dharma of the One Vehicle alone, some reveal the inconceivable wheels of Dharma of the many vehicles; some manifest the subduing of a small portion of sentient beings, some display the subduing of boundless sentient beings.
The five pairs speak, respectively, with respect to the measure of the body, the measure of life, the measure of the land, the measure of the teaching, and the measure of capacity. Each pair sets one over against many: small and great, short and long, one land and measureless lands, one vehicle and many vehicles, a small portion and the boundless. Chengguan judges this thing to be “the differing of the buddhas’ appearing.”
One question must be put: why should a buddha manifest a small body, manifest a short life, purify only one land, expound only the One Vehicle, deliver only a small portion? The verses answer for themselves: “all of them accord with what is delighted in within the minds of sentient beings; this is the power of the Tathāgata’s skill in expedients.” Smallness is not an inability to be great; it is that the beings there can bear only the small.
Set one misreading aside: do not judge the height of a buddha by the size of what is manifested. The verse says, “the dharma-body of the buddhas is inconceivable, without color, without shape, and without reflected image” — the dharma-body is without aspect, and all that is manifested accords with capacity. Brought down to oneself: the size of a Dharma-gate or of a place of practice is no measuring rod for excellence; whether it can meet the minds of the beings there is.
Thing Eight, Kalpa-Abiding: How Long the World Lasts
The eighth thing asks: for how much time does the ocean of worlds abide? The sūtra text heads it with “the ocean of worlds has kalpa-abidings as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds,” and lists nine items below: some abide for asaṃkhyeya kalpas, some for measureless kalpas, some for boundless kalpas, some for unequalled kalpas, some for uncountable kalpas, some for unnameable kalpas, some for unthinkable kalpas, some for immeasurable kalpas, some for unspeakable kalpas.
Here one thing must be recorded as it stands: the prose of this section counts out to nine items, unlike the ten items listed in the things before and after it — it is recorded as it stands, without forcing an explanation.
The nine items are all nine ways of saying ‘one cannot say how long’: asaṃkhyeya (innumerable), measureless, boundless, unequalled, uncountable, unnameable, unthinkable, immeasurable, unspeakable. The nine words are in fact doing one and the same thing — driving “long” out past the border of language. Chengguan judges this thing to be “the length and shortness of kalpa-abiding.”
Set one misreading aside: this is not hyperbole. The verses immediately give two key lines: “some enter measureless kalpas into a single kalpa, and some again a single kalpa into many kalpas,” and “beginning from a single thought and ending in the completing of a kalpa, all of them are born depending on the thinking of the minds of sentient beings.” Kalpas can interpenetrate precisely because a kalpa is not a really existent stretch of length; and kalpas are long or short because they are born depending on the thinking of the minds of beings. Brought down to oneself: the length and shortness of time is a station of the mind, and this item states that fact once at the scale of a world.
Thing Nine, Kalpa-Transformation: How the World Changes
The ninth thing asks: how is the ocean of worlds transformed? This is the one thing among the ten that speaks of change, and all ten of its items are of the form ‘by reason of such a condition, the ocean of worlds becomes such a kalpa-transformation’:
One, by reason of the Dharma being of necessity thus, the ocean of worlds has measureless kalpa-transformations of formation and destruction — the first item is again the Dharma being of necessity so; formation and destruction are the ordinary state. Two, by reason of defiled sentient beings abiding therein, it becomes a defiled kalpa-transformation. Three, by reason of sentient beings who cultivate vast merit abiding therein, it becomes a defiled-and-pure kalpa-transformation. Four, by reason of bodhisattvas of resolute understanding abiding therein, it becomes a defiled-and-pure kalpa-transformation. Five, by reason of measureless sentient beings giving rise to the mind of awakening, it becomes a wholly pure kalpa-transformation. Six, by reason of the bodhisattvas each roaming through the many worlds, it becomes a boundlessly adorned kalpa-transformation. Seven, by reason of the bodhisattvas of all the oceans of worlds of the ten directions gathering like clouds, it becomes a measurelessly and greatly adorned kalpa-transformation. Eight, by reason of the buddhas, the world-honored ones, entering nirvāṇa, it becomes a kalpa-transformation in which the adornments are extinguished. Nine, by reason of the buddhas appearing in the world, it becomes a broadly and vastly adorned and purified kalpa-transformation. Ten, by reason of the spiritual penetrations and transformations of the Tathāgata, it becomes a universally purified kalpa-transformation.
Set out in a row, these ten items make one clear line: as is the one who abides there, so does the world become. Where defiled beings abide it is defiled; where those who cultivate merit abide, defilement and purity are mixed; where bodhisattvas of resolute understanding abide it is still defiled-and-pure (not yet wholly pure); and only when beings give rise to the mind of awakening does it become wholly pure. Above that come the roaming of bodhisattvas and the gathering of bodhisattvas, and the adornment grows ever broader. The last three items are attached to buddhas: when a buddha enters nirvāṇa the adornments are extinguished; when a buddha appears in the world it is broadly and vastly adorned and purified; when a buddha manifests spiritual transformation it is universally pure. Chengguan judges this thing to be “changing in accordance with karma.”
The third and fourth items especially repay a pause: sentient beings who cultivate vast merit and bodhisattvas of the stage of resolute understanding are felt to bring about the very same “defiled-and-pure kalpa-transformation” — merit and resolute understanding are alike still not enough to make a land wholly pure; it must come to the giving rise of the mind of awakening before it is wholly pure. The verses say it directly: “measureless sentient beings all give rise to the mind of awakening; their minds cause the oceans of lands to abide through kalpas constantly pure.”
Set one misreading aside: the eighth item, “by reason of the buddhas, the world-honored ones, entering nirvāṇa, the ocean of worlds becomes a kalpa-transformation in which the adornments are extinguished,” does not say that a buddha’s nirvāṇa is a bad thing. The verses explain it themselves: “when the World-Honored One enters nirvāṇa, the adornments of that land are extinguished; sentient beings lack the measure of a vessel for the Dharma, and the world becomes defiled” — the extinguishing of the adornments has its cause in the fact that beings no longer have the vessel to receive, and so the Buddha displays his passing. Brought down to oneself: the good or ill of an environment is the developed image of the minds of those who live in it, and this thing is the passage in the whole chapter that comes down most closely to daily life.
Thing Ten, Freedom from Differentiation: The Sameness Above All Difference
The tenth thing asks: nine things of difference having been spoken, is there then anything that does not differ? The sūtra text heads it with “the ocean of worlds has freedoms from differentiation as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds” and lists ten items, each beginning with “within each single ocean of worlds”:
One, there is no differentiation among worlds as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. Two, there is no differentiation in all the majestic power of the appearing of the buddhas. Three, there is no differentiation in all the places of enlightenment pervading the Dharma realm of the ten directions. Four, there is no differentiation in the oceanic assemblies at the places of enlightenment of all the tathāgatas. Five, there is no differentiation in the light of all the buddhas pervading the Dharma realm. Six, there is no differentiation in the names of the transformations of all the buddhas. Seven, there is no differentiation in the speech and sound of all the buddhas pervading the ocean of worlds and abiding through boundless kalpas. Eight, there is no differentiation in the skillful means of the wheel of Dharma. Nine, there is no differentiation in all the oceans of worlds entering universally into a single atom. Ten, there is no differentiation in the fact that within each single atom the vast realms of all the buddhas, the world-honored ones, of the three times all appear therein.
The ten items move from without to within: from the worlds themselves, to the majestic power of the buddhas, the places of enlightenment, the assemblies, the light, the names, the speech and sound, and the wheel of Dharma, and at the last the final two items come down upon “a single atom” — all the oceans of worlds entering into one atom, and within one atom the vast realms of the buddhas of the three times appearing. Chengguan judges this thing to be “the containing being of necessity even.”
This item is the most easily misread, and the ancient worthies long ago set up a distinction. Chengguan says that freedom from differentiation means “with respect to the sameness of substance and nature and the gathering-in by the Buddha’s power it is said to be without differentiation, and therefore the defiled and the pure are alike held complete”; and he refutes an older explanation — some said that “all worlds being alike when set beside one another” is what is called freedom from differentiation, and Chengguan judges this to run against the sūtra text, because the sūtra plainly says “each single ocean of worlds has, as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds, freedoms from differentiation.” — the freedoms from differentiation are themselves countable things; and if one followed the reading of being alike when set side by side, then, as Chengguan concludes, “there would be no such thing as differentiation,” and this item would have nothing countable left in it.
This distinction is exceedingly important: freedom from differentiation does not say that the lands look alike. The first nine things have spoken out difference to the full; if the tenth thing said that difference disappears, the first nine would have been spoken for nothing. Freedom from differentiation says this: above all this difference, the substance and nature are the same and the Buddha’s power gathers all in, and therefore defiled land and pure land alike are held complete.
Set one misreading aside: do not read “all the oceans of worlds entering universally into a single atom” as a shrinking. The verses say, “within a single atom are many oceans of lands, their places each differing and all of them adorned and purified; measureless oceans of lands such as these enter into a single one, and each one is set apart with no confusion or overstepping” — entering into one atom while the places remain each its own and the distinctions are not thrown into confusion: this is the Huayan meaning. Brought down to oneself: sameness is not the flattening of difference; it is seeing sameness upon difference. This thing closes the whole chapter, and it also opens the Flower-Treasury world of the chapter that follows.
The Correspondence of the Eleven Sections of Repeated Verse
The form of this chapter is that each of the ten things has prose first and repeated verse after, and with the ten verses of the section praising the excellence in the root portion added, there are eleven sections of verse in all, counting out to one hundred and twenty verses. The general rule Chengguan lays down is that “where the ten things differ they make ten sections, and each one alike has prose and verse. Within the prose there are in each case three, namely the heading, the explanation, and the conclusion.”
The relation of verse to prose is correspondence without repeating the teaching: what the prose has already taught, the verse simply sets forth once more in another way, while supplying besides the similes the prose did not reach. Hence the similes of this chapter lie almost entirely within the verses — like a shadow, like an illusion, and like a mirage; like clouds spread out within space; like Indra’s net each differing; abiding like reflected images with neither grasping nor telling to be had; that Dharma pure as the turning of a wheel. Among the ten sections of prose, only the thing of shape describes its shapes with the seven similes of whirlpool, mountain flame, tree, flower, palace, sentient being, and buddha; the prose of the remaining nine things sets forth the items of the Dharma directly, and only the thing of that upon which they abide has the single word “illusion-like” (“some abide depending on a Vajra-Bearer in the form of a mighty asura born of illusion-like karma”), setting up no further simile.
The measures of the eleven sections of verse are not even: in order they are ten, nine, twenty-two, ten, ten, ten, nine, ten, ten, ten, and ten verses — the section on that upon which they abide alone reaches twenty-two verses and is the longest section of verse in the chapter. The prose on abiding lists only ten items, and yet the verse spreads out most widely of all, which shows what the ancient worthies called “making the summary plain by breadth.”
Lineage
The meaning of this chapter was carried on by four masters, and all is recorded without adjudication. The line of Chengguan: he sets up the four gates of the reason for its coming, the explanation of the name, the tenet and aim, and the explanation of the text; he judges this chapter to answer the one question about the ocean of the establishing of the Dharma realm among the thirty clauses of questions about the fruit in the chapter on the Manifestation of the Tathāgata, and takes it together with the chapter on the Flower-Treasury World as “the first two chapters setting forth the fruit”; he explains the name “ocean” by “lands amassed make a seed, seeds amassed make an ocean,” matches ten senses to the ten things, and under the clause concluding the summary and showing the breadth distinguishes how the ten things are of indeterminate number within any one land — the one of the conditions furnished may be one or many, the one of purity may be present or absent (since there are wholly defiled lands), and the remaining seven things are in each case only one. He further refutes as unfitting the earlier explanation of “as many as the atoms in an ocean of lands” by “one land, one condition,” and distinguishes the reading of freedom from differentiation as “being alike when set beside one another.” All these belong to the commentarial method of settling the meaning phrase by phrase.
The line of Fazang: he judges this section within the chapter on Vairocana of the sixty-fascicle text, where the ten names begin with “speaking of the ocean of worlds” and end with “the ocean of worlds of the means of destruction,” standing exactly in the relation of opening and combining with the eighty-fascicle text, which lacks “speaking” and has “the differences of kalpa-transformation” and “the gate of freedom from differentiation.” He explains the first item, “speaking of the ocean of worlds,” in four senses, of which one is “because a land appears through name and speech perfuming consciousness, it is called speaking.” He further sets up ten gates for a general explanation of the ocean of worlds — class, inhabitants, name and substance, defilement and purity, the tainted and the untainted, the shared and the unshared, the mundane and nirvāṇa, the supported and the supporting, person and dharma, and unobstructedness — and judges three classes of places of transformation on the One Vehicle: the oceans of worlds of Sumeru, tree shapes, and the shapes of sentient beings as the first class; the tenfold worlds beyond the three-thousandfold world as the second class; and the ocean of worlds of the adornments of the ten lotus treasuries, complete with host and companions like Indra’s net, as the third class. What is judged in the Huayan yicheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang is entirely the same as this, and is the doctrinal classification the Huayan school established by carrying on the single name “ocean of worlds” from this chapter. He also judges that the tenth item of the sixty-fascicle text, “the means of destruction,” is explained by the section on the Flower-Treasury, taking the sense that “forming is precisely destroying.”
The line of Zhiyan: he judges the sixty-fascicle text into three sections, and himself sets up a question and answer — why is it that the root portion contemplates the ocean and speaks of wisdom, while this expository portion sets wisdom aside and speaks only of the ocean of worlds? He answers: the one who set up the text was only completing the wisdom of faith and understanding and had not exhausted the source of the ocean; and moreover worlds are formed by wisdom, so that to speak of the ocean is precisely wisdom. He further takes the ten names of the sixty-fascicle text and sets up sameness and difference against the eighteen aspects of perfect purity of the Shedacheng lun, judges the first and last items to be “listed by name and not explained,” and judges the section on the causes and conditions of being furnished to have “eight within the particular” — which agrees with the eight conditions actually listed in the sixty-fascicle text.
The line of Li Tongxuan: he explains the name of the chapter from the two sources of karmic recompense and the power of vows — the ocean of worlds of sentient beings arises from the recompense of their own karma, and the ocean of worlds of buddhas and bodhisattvas arises from the power of great vows, the power of the pure Dharma-nature of their own substance, the ocean of the many practices of the pāramitās, and the power of great compassion and wisdom. He sets up five senses to make plain the reason for its coming, and their whole weight lies with the bodhisattva who has first raised the mind: were there no such chapter, the beginner would have no way of knowing the Tathāgata’s gate of practice for gathering beings in, nor the aspects of the breadth and narrowness of the worlds of the deeds and karma of beings, and so would have no way of raising the mind. He further distinguishes the view that the pure lands spoken of in the three vehicles lie in another quarter and that bodhisattvas vow to be born there, judging that reading to leave the mind “constantly defiled and pure, with limit and obstruction.” He and Chengguan alike cite the four lines of the fifth verse of this chapter, “far from every kind of flattery and deceit and the mind pure,” in evidence of their judgments.
The four masters proceed side by side; all are settled sayings of the ancient worthies, and they are recorded without judging their relative height. As for the differences between the sixty-fascicle and the eighty-fascicle texts — the opening and combining of the ten names, the difference in the number of items listed under the several things (twenty substances against five, ten adornments against three, ten supports against seven), and the differences of rendering (whirlpool against eddy, Vairocana against Rocana) — the two texts are recorded side by side, without judging their relative merit.
After this chapter comes the chapter on the Flower-Treasury World. Chengguan states the division of labor between the two chapters most clearly: this chapter “sets forth in general the oceans of lands possessed by all the buddhas and all sentient beings,” while the later chapter “sets forth in particular what our own Master has adorned and purified”; this chapter makes plain the conditions by which lands are formed, while the later chapter distinguishes separately the aspects of the fruit. So the reading of this chapter is not an ending — the ten things are one map of the general aspect, and the next chapter is to take that map and look with it at one particular world: the ocean of worlds of the adornments of the Flower-Treasury, which Vairocana adorned and purified when he was of old cultivating the conduct of a bodhisattva.
考據Apparatus
世界成就品＝第一會菩提場中，普賢菩薩承佛神力，遍觀十海已，為道場眾海諸菩薩開演『世界海十事』：起具因緣、所依住、形狀、體性、莊嚴、清淨、佛出興、劫住、劫轉變差別、無差別門。十事各先長行標釋、後重頌對顯，全品說者唯普賢一人。澄觀判此品答〈如來現相品〉三十句果問中之『法界安立海』一問，與次品〈華藏世界品〉合為『初二品明果』；法藏《探玄記》、智儼《搜玄記》則就六十本〈盧舍那佛品〉立十名，其第一作「說世界海」、第十作「壞方便世界海」，與八十本之第九劫轉變、第十無差別二目開合互異，是為本品最大之異譯諍點。
一、科判定位
| 科判系統 | 此品之位 |
|---|---|
| 底本 T279 三十九品 | 品四 世界成就品（第一會 菩提場 · 卷七〔T10n0279 0034b09〕起–品五〈華藏世界品〉〔0039a15〕前訖） |
| 澄觀《華嚴經疏》 | 世界成就品疏〔T35n1735 0573b20〕起；開四門：來意・釋名・宗趣・釋文 |
| 澄觀《隨疏演義鈔》 | 世界成就品鈔〔T36n1736 0191c27〕起；逐句演義來意・釋名二門，並會梵本 |
| 法藏《探玄記》（六十華嚴疏） | 〈盧舍那佛品第二〉內「第十正陳法海分」〔T35n1733 0157c12〕起；六十本無獨立世界成就品 |
| 智儼《搜玄記》（六十華嚴疏） | 「第二正說廣文」〔T35n1732 0023b06〕起；分三：總明十種事義・集起因緣狀相・偈頌 |
| 李通玄《新華嚴經論》 | 世界成就品〔T36n1739 0801a22〕起；三門分別：釋品名目・釋品來意・隨文釋義 |
來意——澄觀繫此品於前三品之後，以前為說緣、此為正說：
「初來意者。前說緣既具，此下正陳所說，總明果相、別答法界安立海問，故此品來。」〔T35n1735 0573b20〕
《演義鈔》分此句為二意，並誌其一為古德舊解、一為澄觀自意：
「一明分來，對前二品以為說緣，生下三品，為正所說。二『總明果相』下，別明品來。此句對下華藏為別，別明本師之所嚴淨，故指此品以為總明諸佛果相。是古德意。下句指前答安立問，二問不同，故二品別答，後品自答世界海問。此是疏意。然答問雖異，總別無違，故雙存二義。」〔T36n1736 0191c28〕
李通玄以「答前世主三十七問」立來意，並開五意：
「二釋品來意者，大意有五：一答前世主三十七問，佛海、眾生海、波羅蜜海等。」〔T36n1739 0801b02〕
其第三至第五意，皆繫於始發心菩薩之所須知：「三令始發心菩薩，知眾生業報同異差別，由心造故。」〔0801b12〕「四令始發心者，知眾生界廣大，等法界虛空界，如影相入重重無盡，依住各別，佛菩薩行悉充滿故。」〔0801b14〕「五令始發心菩薩，知諸佛菩薩境界海、眾生境界海一異不可得故，隨眾生自業轉變剎海轉變故，隨自業成壞剎海成壞故。」〔0801b16〕
釋名——澄觀分訓世、界、成就三名，並會六釋、會梵本：
「二釋名者，世謂三世，墮去來今故。界謂方分，有彼此故。又世謂隱覆、界亦分齊，謂諸有為可破壞。世即隱覆無為不可壞。」〔T35n1735 0573b21〕
「成就者，即能成之緣，謂十緣等，能所合目。若以世界之成就，即依主釋也。」〔T35n1735 0573b27〕
會梵本一節，《疏》云：「準梵本中云世界海成就。下文辯海，譯人略也。」〔T35n1735 0573b29〕《鈔》具出其梵語並迴文：
「疏會一海字，若具梵云：嚕迦馱都三慕達羅濕第奢匿縛怛囊三牟陀儉摩娜𭑬鉢里勿多。若依迴文，總云『觀察十方世界海演說合集名品』。今經譯家存略太甚，餘言可略，海字切要，故疏會取。」〔T36n1736 0192a14〕
李通玄之釋品名目，則直就業果與願力二源立名：
「一釋品名目者，為明世界海依住形相、苦樂淨穢，皆是眾生自業果報之所莊嚴，不從他有。佛菩薩世界海，依大願力、依自體清淨法性力……以不思議變化力之所成就故，名世界成就品。」〔T36n1739 0801a25〕
宗趣——「三宗趣者，標列無邊勝德，廣釋所知世界海為宗。」〔T35n1735 0573c03〕其趣則多種，首舉發信解悟入：「一令諸菩薩發大信解悟入為趣。」〔0573c04〕澄觀並引本品頌自證此趣：「故下頌云『離諸諂誑心清淨，常樂慈悲性歡喜，志欲廣大深信人，彼聞此法生欣悅。』」〔0573c12〕——李通玄引同一頌以立來意〔T36n1739 0801b23〕，二家所引經文相同。
釋文——澄觀先總判三品，次分本品為本分・說分：
「四釋文者，三品正陳法海。於中分二：初二品明果、後一品辯因。」〔T35n1735 0573c17〕
「今初分二：先總標綱要，即為本分；後正陳本義，即是說分。前中亦二：先承力遍觀、後牒問許說。」〔T35n1735 0573c27〕
牒問許說一段復分四科：「於中分四：一牒問略歎、二許說分齊、三說所成益、四讚勝誡聽。」〔T35n1735 0574a04〕；讚勝誡聽段之十一句，澄觀判「初一總標，謂令聞法必生喜故；餘十別顯喜義」〔0574c07〕——底本此段實計「令」字十一〔T10n0279 0035a01 段〕，與疏合。
說分之科：「第二廣陳本義分中分二：初結集生起、二『諸佛子』下普賢顯說。」〔T35n1735 0574c16〕；標舉章門分三：「一立數顯同、二徵數列異、三結略顯廣。」〔0574c20〕；依章別釋之通例：
「第二依章別釋者，十事不同則為十段，一一皆有長行與偈。長行中各三，謂標、釋、結。」〔T35n1735 0575b02〕
底本實計與此科相扣：十事各段皆長行在前、重頌在後，計十一段偈頌（本分讚勝一段偈＋十事各一段偈），偈數依次為十、九、二十二、十、十、十、九、十、十、十、十，合一百二十頌。
六十本科判（法藏）——探玄記於〈盧舍那佛品〉內判：
「文中二：初廣辨世界海，答前果問；二從『乃往過去』下答前因問。初中二：先散說世界、後偈頌總持。前中二：初通論十世界；後別辨華藏界，亦是釋第十壞世界，以成即是壞故。前中二：先標列章門、二依門別解。初中三：先總告引證、二正列十名、三結其無盡。」〔T35n1733 0157c19〕
六十本科判（智儼）——搜玄記判為三段，並自設問答明何以但論世界海：
「三：一總明世界因緣等莊嚴十種事義；二『爾時普賢菩薩欲分別』下，明此世界海集起因緣之狀相；三『法界不可壞』下，以偈頌上二段文。」〔T35n1732 0023b13〕
「問：何故本分觀海說智，此說分廢智說海而不具明，但論世界海者，何也？答：此為立文者但成信解智而未盡海源。又世界由智成，說海即是智。」〔T35n1732 0023b16〕
二、術語
| 漢 | 所徵 | 精義 |
|---|---|---|
| 世界海 | 澄觀：「世界廣深目之為海，謂積剎成種、積種成海，海無別體，世界都名。」〔T35n1735 0574c22〕 | 積剎為種、積種為海；海非別有一體，即世界之總名 |
| 世（二釋） | 澄觀：「世謂三世，墮去來今故。」又「世謂隱覆」〔T35n1735 0573b23〕 | 一約三世遷流，二約隱覆——後釋為令華藏剎同無為而不可破壞 |
| 界 | 澄觀：「界謂方分，有彼此故」；又「界亦分齊」〔T35n1735 0573b23〕 | 方位之分、彼此之限；故「世各不相雜，是其分齊」〔0573b25〕 |
| 成就 | 澄觀：「成就者，即能成之緣，謂十緣等，能所合目。」〔T35n1735 0573b27〕 | 能成之緣與所成之界合為一名；若作『世界之成就』則是依主釋 |
| 世界海微塵數 | 澄觀：「言世界海塵者，智猶難測，言豈具陳？」〔T35n1735 0575a01〕 | 全品十事之結量詞；表所列十目為略，廣則不可具陳 |
| 起具因緣 | 底本「世界海起具因緣」〔T10n0279 0035a19〕；智儼配《攝論》：「今此起具因緣，是彼因圓淨」〔T35n1732 0023c03〕 | 世界海攬緣而成之因；澄觀釋為「一明攬緣成立」〔T35n1735 0574c26〕 |
| 劫轉變 | 底本「世界海有世界海微塵數劫轉變差別」〔T10n0279 0038a24〕 | 澄觀釋為「九隨業改變」〔T35n1735 0574c28〕；十目皆以某緣故成某劫轉變 |
| 無差別 | 澄觀：「其無差別，一切皆具，以約體性平等、佛力融攝故說無差，所以染淨皆具也。」〔T35n1735 0575a08〕 | 十事之末目；非謂諸剎相望互同，而是體性平等佛力融攝 |
| 世界性・世界海・世界輪（十重世界） | 法藏：「三千界外別有十世界：一世界性、二世界海、三世界輪、四世界圓滿、五世界分別、六世界旋、七世界轉、八世界蓮華、九世界須彌、十世界相」〔T35n1733 0158b02〕 | 攝化處三類中之第二類；《五教章》同列〔T45n1866 0498b17〕 |
| 毘盧遮那（vairocana） | 底本頌「毘盧遮那境界力」〔T10n0279 0035a12〕・「此是毘盧所嚴淨」〔0035b24 段內〕 | 本品十一段頌中六段舉此名為所嚴淨之主；六十本作「盧舍那佛」 |
| 普賢（samantabhadra） | 底本「普賢菩薩自在願力故」〔T10n0279 0035b03〕・「或依普賢菩薩願所生一切差別莊嚴海住」〔0035c02〕 | 說者即普賢；十因緣之末、十依住之末、十莊嚴之末皆歸普賢願行 |
| 法性土・受用土・化身土 | 澄觀：「然佛土之義雖有多種，不出其三：一法性土、二受用土」〔T35n1735 0575b05〕；法藏三土說〔T35n1733 0158a10〕 | 古德以三土義釋世界海之體；本品經文不立此三名，是疏家所加 |
三、譬喻·修辭
(一) 海喻（全品之綱）——本品凡言世界、眾生、業、願、劫、莊嚴、音聲，一律繫一「海」字：開篇十觀「一切世界海、一切眾生海、一切諸佛海、一切法界海、一切眾生業海……」〔T10n0279 0034b10〕。
- 喻依：海之繁多深廣，不可測量。
- 喻體：世界之積剎成種、積種成海。
- 所顯義：澄觀直釋此喻之取義——「海無別體，世界都名」〔T35n1735 0574c23〕；法藏釋十名同歸一喻：「皆繁多深奧，同名海也」〔T35n1733 0158a04〕，並判其為持業釋：「世界即海從喻，持業釋也。」〔T35n1733 0158b23〕
(二) 因陀羅網喻——底本所依住頌：「或有國土周法界，清淨離垢從心起，如影如幻廣無邊，如因陀網各差別。」〔T10n0279 0036a05 段內〕
- 喻依：帝釋寶網，珠珠互現。
- 喻體：周法界之國土各各差別而互相涉入。
- 所顯義：差別不礙相入。此喻於本品僅一見，而為華嚴宗十玄之所本；法藏於《探玄記》舉第三類世界海云「十蓮華藏莊嚴世界海，具足主伴如帝網等，是佛境界」〔T35n1733 0158b06〕。
(三) 如影如幻如焰喻——所依住頌末：「一切廣大諸剎土，如影如幻亦如焰，十方不見所從生，亦復無來無去處。」〔T10n0279 0036a17 段內〕；體性頌：「或從心海生，隨心所解住，如幻無處所，一切是分別。」〔0036c17 段內〕
- 喻依：影・幻・陽焰三者，現而無實。
- 喻體：剎海雖現廣大而無所從生、無來無去。
- 所顯義：現相不礙無生。李通玄以同一義釋眾生界：「如影相入重重無盡，依住各別」〔T36n1739 0801b15〕。
(四) 雲喻——形狀頌「剎海無邊差別藏，譬如雲布在虛空」〔T10n0279 0036b05 段內〕；佛出興頌「佛如雲布在其中」〔0037c22 段內〕；清淨頌「譬如雲布等虛空」〔0037b16 段內〕。
- 喻依：雲之遍布虛空，無定形而能普覆。
- 喻體：剎海之差別藏、諸佛之普現、福德之增長。
- 所顯義：遍而無所住。本品用雲喻凡三處，分屬形狀・清淨・佛出興三事。
(五) 光影喻——體性段「或從妙相生，眾相莊嚴地，如冠共持戴，斯由佛化起」〔T10n0279 0036c15 段內〕之外，別有「猶如影像住，取說不可得」〔0036c10 段內〕。
- 喻依：影像現而不可執取。
- 喻體：從願力生之剎海。
- 所顯義：願所成之土非可以言取。
(六) 輪喻——無差別頌「一一塵中說眾法，其法清淨如輪轉」〔T10n0279 0038c29 段內〕；體性段「或以日摩尼輪為體」〔0036b25〕。以輪之運轉不住喻法之清淨無滯。
(七) 塵中現剎（非喻而為本品之標誌句式）——「一一國土微塵內，念念示現諸佛剎」〔T10n0279 0036a09 段內〕・「一毛孔內難思剎，等微塵數種種住」〔0036b11 段內〕・「一微塵中多剎海，處所各別悉嚴淨」〔0038c17〕。〔據實標記：此三句皆長行外之頌文，本品長行未以譬喻語說之，唯無差別事之第九第十目直陳「一切世界海普入一塵無差別」〔0038c11〕、「一一微塵，一切三世諸佛世尊廣大境界皆於中現無差別」〔0038c12〕。〕
(八) 本品長行之喻極省〔據實標闕〕——十事長行十段之中，唯形狀事以「或如水漩形，或如山焰形，或如樹形，或如華形，或如宮殿形，或如眾生形，或如佛形」〔T10n0279 0036a23〕連設七喻狀其形；餘長行大體直陳法目，唯所依住一事有「如幻業生」一語〔T10n0279 0035b29〕。喻語集中於十一段重頌之中。
四、異譯對勘
本品之漢譯校本：實叉難陀 T279（底本·〈世界成就品第四〉）· 佛馱跋陀羅 T278（晉譯六十華嚴·無獨立世界成就品，其對位文在〈盧舍那佛品第二〉內〔T09n0278 0409c10〕起–〔0412a19〕訖）。本品無別行經、無牒經論釋〔查無〕。四十華嚴 T293 唯譯品三十九，與本品無涉〔查無〕。以下逐句全錄不判。
句一 十事標列
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 世界海有十種事，過去、現在、未來諸佛，已說、現說、當說。何者為十？所謂：世界海起具因緣，世界海所依住，世界海形狀，世界海體性，世界海莊嚴，世界海清淨，世界海佛出興，世界海劫住，世界海劫轉變差別，世界海無差別門。 | T10n0279 0035a18 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 有十種事，去、來、今佛之所演說，所謂：說世界海、起具因緣世界海、住世界海、形世界海、體世界海、莊嚴世界海、清淨世界海、如來出世世界海、劫世界海、壞方便世界海。 | T09n0278 0409c11 |
異文所繫：(甲) 名序倒置——80 皆作『世界海某某』，60 皆作『某某世界海』。(乙) 十目開合互異：60 之第一「說世界海」為 80 所無；60 之第十「壞方便世界海」，80 作「無差別門」；80 之第九「劫轉變差別」，60 無對應目。故二本雖同為十名，實有二目不共。(丙) 「過去、現在、未來諸佛，已說、現說、當說」↔「去、來、今佛之所演說」——80 三時三說開為六言，60 合為一句。(丁) 結量 80 作「若廣說者，與世界海微塵數等」〔0035a23〕，60 作「乃至有世界海塵數種事」〔0409c15〕。
古德於此二目之釋——法藏判 60 之第十「壞方便」由〈華藏〉一段釋之：「後別辨華藏界，亦是釋第十壞世界，以成即是壞故。」〔T35n1733 0157c22〕智儼判 60 之首尾二目列名不釋：「二別十中，後一初一列名不釋。何故爾？由說通餘九。今約不明，欲成蓮華世界，略不明壞。亦可成即壞也。」〔T35n1732 0023b23〕法藏並釋 60 首目「說世界海」有四義：「一以土體絕相、由言方成，故云說世界……二由名言熏識現土，故名說也；三土中言音，如下頌中辯；四世界立名不同，故云說也。」〔T35n1733 0157c25〕
句二 起具因緣
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！略說以十種因緣故，一切世界海已成、現成、當成。 | T10n0279 0035a25 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 諸佛子！當知一切世界海，有世界海塵數因緣具故成，已成、今成、當成 | T09n0278 0409c16 |
因緣逐目對勘：
| # | 實叉 T279〔0035a27–0035b04〕 | 佛馱 T278〔0409c18–0409c22〕 |
|---|---|---|
| 一 | 如來神力故 | 如來神力故 |
| 二 | 法應如是故 | 法應如是故 |
| 三 | 一切眾生行業故 | 眾生行業故 |
| 四 | 一切菩薩成一切智所得故 | 一切菩薩應得無上道故 |
| 五 | 一切眾生及諸菩薩同集善根故 | 普賢菩薩善根故 |
| 六 | 一切菩薩嚴淨國土願力故 | 菩薩嚴淨佛土願行解脫自在故 |
| 七 | 一切菩薩成就不退行願故 | 如來無上善根依果故 |
| 八 | 一切菩薩清淨勝解自在故 | 普賢菩薩自在願力故 |
| 九 | 一切如來善根所流及一切諸佛成道時自在勢力故 | 〔60 無對應目〕 |
| 十 | 普賢菩薩自在願力故 | 〔60 無對應目〕 |
異文所繫：80 標「十種因緣」而列十目，60 標「世界海塵數因緣」而列八目。智儼於 60 本此段判「三別中有八：一佛神力即勝進力，攝成即佛後智也；二緣起理然；三是因得；四行業果感；五普行攝成；六共因所得，為生取土攝成故；七是佛依果；八普願所感。」〔T35n1732 0023c06〕——其判目數與 60 本實列八目相合。偈頌之量二本亦異：智儼云 60 此段「偈有二十，文有三：初一總、次十八以廣顯略、三後一偈結之」〔T35n1732 0023c10〕；底本 80 此段實計十八行、九頌。
句三 所依住
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！一一世界海有世界海微塵數所依住。所謂：或依一切莊嚴住，或依虛空住，或依一切寶光明住，或依一切佛光明住，或依一切寶色光明住，或依一切佛音聲住，或依如幻業生大力阿脩羅形金剛手住，或依一切世主身住，或依一切菩薩身住，或依普賢菩薩願所生一切差別莊嚴海住。 | T10n0279 0035b25 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！一一世界海所依住，如世界微塵數，所謂：依一切莊嚴住、或依虛空住、或依一切寶住、或依佛光明住、或依幻業住、或依摩訶那伽金剛力士掌中住、或依普賢菩薩願力住。 | T09n0278 0410a22 |
異文所繫：80 列十目、60 列七目。60 之「或依摩訶那伽金剛力士掌中住」↔ 80 之「或依如幻業生大力阿脩羅形金剛手住」——60 存梵音「摩訶那伽」，80 譯作「大力阿脩羅形金剛手」，且 80 於其上加「如幻業生」四字，故 60 別出之「或依幻業住」一目，80 已攝入此句。80 別有「或依一切寶色光明住」「或依一切佛音聲住」「或依一切世主身住」「或依一切菩薩身住」四目為 60 所無。偈量：80 四十四行、二十二頌；60 二十六行有奇。
句四 形狀
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！世界海有種種差別形相。所謂：或圓，或方，或非圓方，無量差別；或如水漩形，或如山焰形，或如樹形，或如華形，或如宮殿形，或如眾生形，或如佛形……。 | T10n0279 0036a21 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！諸世界海有種種形，或方、或圓、或非方圓、或如水洄澓、或復如華形、或種種眾生形者。 | T09n0278 0410c03 |
異文所繫：(甲) 80 十目、60 六目；80 別有山焰形、樹形、宮殿形、佛形四目。(乙) 「或如水漩形」↔「或如水洄澓」。(丙) 圓方之序 80 作「或圓，或方」、60 作「或方、或圓」。二本頌中「三維及八隅」一句同出（80〔0036a30 段內〕・60〔T09n0278 0410c10〕）。
句五 體性
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！應知世界海有種種體。所謂：或以一切寶莊嚴為體，或以一寶種種莊嚴為體，或以一切寶光明為體…… | T10n0279 0036b19 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！諸世界海有種種體，悉應當知，所謂：一切寶莊嚴體、或一寶體、或金剛堅固地體、或眾香體、或日珠輪體。 | T09n0278 0411a04 |
異文所繫：80 逐目實計二十體，60 唯列五體。60 之「金剛堅固地體」↔ 80 之「或以不可壞金剛為體」；60 之「眾香體」↔ 80 之「或以種種香為體」；60 之「日珠輪體」↔ 80 之「或以日摩尼輪為體」。80 別有佛力持・妙寶相・佛變化・極微細寶・寶焰・寶華冠・寶影像・一念心普示現境界・菩薩形寶・寶華蘂・佛言音等目為 60 所無。80 此段長行末無「如是等，有世界海微塵數」之結句，與餘八事之體例不同——據實標記，不強解。
句六 莊嚴
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！應知世界海有種種莊嚴。所謂：或以一切莊嚴具中出上妙雲莊嚴，或以說一切菩薩功德莊嚴，或以說一切眾生業報莊嚴…… | T10n0279 0036c23 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！諸世界海有世界海微塵等莊嚴，悉應當知，所謂：一切境界種種雲莊嚴、一切世界眾生行業莊嚴、三世諸佛及普賢菩薩願力莊嚴，有如是等世界海微塵數莊嚴。 | T09n0278 0411a28 |
異文所繫：80 十目、60 三目。60 之第三目「三世諸佛及普賢菩薩願力莊嚴」一句合攝 80 之「或以示現一切菩薩願海莊嚴」「或以表示一切三世佛影像莊嚴」「或以示現一切普賢行願莊嚴」三目。
句七 清淨
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！應知世界海有世界海微塵數清淨方便海。所謂：諸菩薩親近一切善知識同善根故，增長廣大功德雲遍法界故…… | T10n0279 0037a26 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！當知諸世界海有世界塵數清淨，所謂：菩薩親近善知識，成就諸善根等，利一切眾生，淨滿一切諸波羅蜜，安住一切行地，有如是等世界塵數清淨。 | T09n0278 0411b25 |
異文所繫：80 標「清淨方便海」而列十目，60 標「清淨」而列五目。60 之「淨滿一切諸波羅蜜」↔ 80 之「修治一切諸波羅蜜悉圓滿故」；60 之「安住一切行地」↔ 80 之「觀察一切菩薩諸地而入住故」。二本首目同以親近善知識為始。
句八 佛出興
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！應知一一世界海有世界海微塵數佛出現差別。所謂：或現小身，或現大身，或現短壽，或現長壽…… | T10n0279 0037b25 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！當知一一世界海有世界海塵數諸佛出興于世，所謂：有佛興世，色身示現遍滿法界，或有短壽，或無量劫，如是一一世界海有世界海塵數佛出興于世。 | T09n0278 0411c19 |
異文所繫：80 十目、60 三目。二本共有短壽長壽一對；80 別有小身大身・嚴淨一土與無量土・一乘法輪與諸乘法輪・調伏少分與無邊眾生四對，60 唯以「色身示現遍滿法界」一句該之。
句九 劫住
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！應知世界海有世界海微塵數劫住。所謂：或有阿僧祇劫住，或有無量劫住，或有無邊劫住，或有無等劫住，或有不可數劫住，或有不可稱劫住，或有不可思劫住，或有不可量劫住，或有不可說劫住…… | T10n0279 0037c25 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！當知世界海有世界海微塵等劫住，所謂：佛剎海，或住不可數劫，或住可數劫，有如是等世界海微塵數劫住。 | T09n0278 0412a16 |
異文所繫：80 此段長行實計九目（阿僧祇・無量・無邊・無等・不可數・不可稱・不可思・不可量・不可說），非十目——與前後諸事十目之例不同，據實標記，不強解。60 唯二目（不可數劫・可數劫）。60 本〈盧舍那佛品〉此段之後，即〔T09n0278 0412a21〕轉入「當知此蓮華藏世界海是盧舍那佛本修菩薩行時」一段，逕入八十本〈華藏世界品〉之對位內容，故 80 本第九「劫轉變差別」、第十「無差別門」二事之長行與偈，60 本此處無對位文。此與智儼所判「後一初一列名不釋」〔T35n1732 0023b24〕、法藏所判「後別辨華藏界，亦是釋第十壞世界」〔T35n1733 0157c22〕相合。
句十 劫轉變・無差別（80 獨有）
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！應知世界海有世界海微塵數劫轉變差別。所謂：法如是故，世界海無量成壞劫轉變…… | T10n0279 0038a24 |
| 實叉 T279 | 諸佛子！應知世界海有世界海微塵數無差別。所謂：一一世界海中，有世界海微塵數世界無差別…… | T10n0279 0038c01 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 〔查無對位文〕 | — |
異文所繫：此二事之長行與偈，六十本無對位段落。依〈§六 跨本負命題〉之律，此非以八十本之詞搜六十本未見之推定，而是六十本〈盧舍那佛品〉於劫住段後場景已轉入華藏世界之教（誰說、對誰說、所說何事三者俱轉），故據實記其無對位。
全錄不判：以上諸句之異，或十名開合之異（說世界海／無差別門・壞方便／劫轉變差別）、或列目多寡之異（體性二十對五・莊嚴十對三）、或譯語之異（水漩／水洄澓・摩訶那伽／大力阿脩羅形金剛手・毘盧遮那／盧舍那），二本並錄，不判優劣。
五、宗義之經據〔眼〕
(一) 世界海即積剎成種、積種成海——澄觀釋十事總標之「海」字：
「先告佛子者，使時情注其耳目也。世界廣深目之為海，謂積剎成種、積種成海，海無別體，世界都名。然事類廣多，略舉其十以表無盡，三世同說彰其要勝。」〔T35n1735 0574c21〕
此為本品與次品〈華藏世界品〉之樞紐：本品說總相之世界海，次品別說本師所嚴淨之華藏。
(二) 十事之義各有所主——澄觀於徵數列異段逐目立義：
「二徵列中，一明攬緣成立、二成已依住、三外狀區分、四內體差別、五寶等莊校、六垢穢不生、七佛出差殊、八劫住修短、九隨業改變、十包容必均。此十亦攝十八圓滿，後品當會。」〔T35n1735 0574c26〕
法藏於六十本十名亦逐目立義，其序與 60 名相應：「初一說即世界，後三說之界；二攬緣界；三依故得久；四外狀區分；五內體盈滿；六德相嚴麗；七離垢用淨；八器淨佛興；九經時多少。十緣散離作皆繁多深奧，同名海也。凡一世界即具此十。」〔T35n1733 0157c29〕
(三) 一乘世界海三類——法藏判攝化處三類，其第三為華嚴之極：
「三依一乘，有二：一約果，分十佛自體國土海，此當不可說，寄緣說十，如第二會說；二約攝化處，有三類：一、從須彌山界及樹形等已去，乃至一切眾生形世界海，為第一類；二、三千界外別有十世界……為第二類；三、十蓮華藏莊嚴世界海，具足主伴如帝網等，是佛境界，為第三類。此上三類通有十事，為首成世界。」〔T35n1733 0158a27〕
《五教章》所判全同：「二世界海有三類。一蓮華藏莊嚴世界海。具足主伴通因陀羅等。當是十佛等境界。」〔T45n1866 0498b14〕；「三無量離類世界皆遍法界。如一類須彌樓山世界數量邊畔。即盡虛空遍法界。又如一類樹形世界。乃至一切眾生形等。悉亦如是皆遍法界互不相礙。」〔T45n1866 0498b20〕——本品長行「或如樹形」「或如眾生形」二目，即此第一類、第三位之經據。
(四) 世界海以何為體：五教之判——法藏就「名體」一門分教立體：
「若小乘，以子母七微及色等四塵并能造四大實色為體。若三乘中，凡小地前俱以賴耶識為體；地上二義，報土亦同賴耶識為體，若二智所現即以唯識智為體。故《攝論》云『菩薩及如來唯識智乃至為淨土體故。』若依終教，俱以如來藏真如為體。若一乘，以無盡法界通三世間，人法理事等諸行相即互為其體，准思可知。」〔T35n1733 0158b23〕
此段即本品第四事「世界海體性」之古德判釋，並為華嚴宗與唯識宗於土體一義之分際所在——一乘不以識為體，而以無盡法界相即互為體。
(五) 剎由心異，當淨自心——澄觀於宗趣門列本品之意趣，其一直指修證：
「謂令知佛及菩薩大悲行海廣覆無邊盡眾生界，倣而行故；世界無邊悉嚴淨故；眾生無邊悉化度故；剎由心異，當淨自心及他心故；世界重重無盡無盡，以大行願悉充滿故；佛界生界非一非異，能正了知成大智故」〔T35n1735 0573c05〕
本品經文之經據在劫轉變事十目——「染污眾生住故，世界海成染污劫轉變」〔T10n0279 0038a26〕、「無量眾生發菩提心故，世界海純清淨劫轉變」〔0038a29〕；及其頌「一切諸國土，皆隨業力生」〔0038b10〕、「始從一念終成劫，悉依眾生心想生」〔0038a22 段內〕。
(六) 無差別非相望互同——澄觀於此立揀，並引經自證：
「其無差別，一切皆具，以約體性平等、佛力融攝故說無差，所以染淨皆具也。有云：一切世界相望互同名無差者，則違下經文。經云『一一世界海有世界海塵數，無差別故。』若依相望互同，則無有差別之事。」〔T35n1735 0575a08〕
(七) 十事於一一剎多少不定——澄觀就結略顯廣句辨十事之數量分齊：
「然上十事，於一一剎多少不定。具緣一種，或一、或二、或三、或多、或成四句，謂一成一，一成一切等。清淨一種，或一或多、或亦無之，以有純穢剎故。其次七事各各唯一，謂依空住者，非依光等故。」〔T35n1735 0575a03〕
又就十事望剎海立分齊：「若以此十獨望剎海，形體依住莊嚴等四許其唯一，餘必兼多故，經云『一一世界海有種種形』故。今言有世界海塵數者，約融攝無盡之說也。」〔T35n1735 0575a18〕
六、諸家異釋（古德·標宗）
澄觀《華嚴經疏》T35n1735 ·《演義鈔》T36n1736（八十華嚴逐文·主）
觀與歎之反覆相成——澄觀釋何以觀十海而歎十智：
「觀乃觀海、歎乃歎智者，智之與海反覆相成，謂前自智觀海微細難知，知唯佛智方能究盡，海難思故佛智難思，佛智難思故海為深廣。若爾，何不說智而但說海？智離海境，安知其相？又表唯所證知，故但說海。」〔T35n1735 0574a09〕
牒問三十句之三段科——澄觀判本分讚佛一段為牒前〈如來現相品〉果問三十句，分三段：「初十句，牒上世界海等十問。」〔T35n1735 0574a08〕「二『清淨』下十句，牒上六根三業十問。」〔0574b08〕「三『安住佛地』下十句，牒上最初德用圓備十問。」〔0574b20〕並誌前問與此牒之開合：「前問中略無變化及自在二句，以攝在無能攝取句中，義如前會。」〔0574b21〕〔據實標記：底本此段以「不可思議」結句者實計二十九句，澄觀所判三十句係就所牒之問而言，其開合之異疏文已自誌之「與問開合小異，名或小差」〔0574a14〕，此處錄疏之判與底本之實計，不判。〕
許說具足而下文唯說二事之難——澄觀自設問答：
「若言具者，何以下文唯說安立及世界海耶？經來不盡故。又雖說二世界海，亦已通具三十句問。謂界必有生，而依住故、有佛現故、安立異故、行業感故，餘可意求。」〔T35n1735 0574b25〕
斥「一剎一緣」之計——澄觀於結略顯廣句下，對前人以一剎一因釋「有剎海塵數」者，判為未當：
「有云：約一一剎海中所有諸剎各各一因等故，有剎海塵數者，孟浪之甚。何者？且如剎海中剎雖多，豈如剎海盡末為塵之多？若欲相同，即一塵一緣方得相似。」〔T35n1735 0575a21〕
十事攝十八圓滿，後品當會——「此十亦攝十八圓滿，後品當會。」〔T35n1735 0574c29〕；復於佛土義開三土之判：「然佛土之義雖有多種，不出其三：一法性土、二受用土」〔0575b05〕。
智儼《搜玄記》T35n1732（六十華嚴疏）
十名對《攝論》十八圓淨之會通——智儼取 60 之十名逐一對《攝大乘論》十八相圓淨：
「今將此十名，對《攝論》十八相圓淨對辨同異。彼文攝佛別住處合有十九也，佛別住大寶重閣，上已明故，此中略無，即是彼論別住處也。今此起具因緣，是彼因圓淨，亦通第一色相淨及三量圓淨，故偈云『眾寶成及無邊際』故知。」〔T35n1732 0023b29〕
三乘淨土四種與一乘二種——「凡依三乘淨土，有四種：一性、二報、三事、四化可知。若依此部，一乘但有二種，謂世界海及國土海。或十種，如下瞿夷說。」〔T35n1732 0023b26〕
何以但說世界海而不具明智——見上§一所引〔T35n1732 0023b17〕之問答：「此為立文者但成信解智而未盡海源。又世界由智成，說海即是智。復此略明，顯互為詮相故也。」
法藏《探玄記》T35n1733 ·《五教章》T45n1866（六十華嚴疏·判教）
十門通釋世界海——法藏於釋十名後，另立十門總釋：「今通釋諸世界海，略作十門：一種類、二居人、三名體、四染淨、五漏無漏、六共不共、七世間涅槃、八依正、九人法、十無礙。」〔T35n1733 0158a05〕
所居人之分齊——「二所居人者，若小乘，唯有有餘依聖及凡位居也；三乘，三中初二通有凡夫二乘及地前菩薩并佛化身居也；後一，初地上菩薩及佛報身居也。」〔T35n1733 0158b12〕並會二經之異說：「《解深密經》中三地菩薩生佛淨土者，彼約七地明義，即初地當彼第三也。又《起信論》中許地前菩薩見報身佛者，彼約終教，依三昧見也。」〔0158b15〕
一乘三處佛身同是十佛——「一乘三中，多分論時：初見聞位、次解行位、後向果位。通即可知，三處佛身同是十佛也。」〔T35n1733 0158b19〕
名體之釋——「三名體者，世是時、界是分齊，謂於時中分齊顯現，從相得名。繁多奧積、深廣難窮，同名海也。世界即海從喻，持業釋也。」〔T35n1733 0158b21〕
能說人之異——法藏於本分之前先辨諸會能說人：「先明諸會能說人異，唯〈僧祇〉、〈小相〉二品是佛說，餘竝菩薩說」〔T35n1733 0157c12〕，並引《智論》五說與本經五說對舉：「又有五說，如下云『佛說、菩薩說、剎說、眾生說、三世一切說。』此通三世間等一切法，約一乘也。」〔T35n1733 0157c17〕——本品說者為普賢而非佛，其所以然在此。
李通玄《新華嚴經論》T36n1739（表法異軌）
業果報與願力二源——見上§一釋品名目所引〔T36n1739 0801a25〕：眾生世界海從自業果報起，佛菩薩世界海從大願力・自體清淨法性力・波羅蜜諸行海・大慈悲智力起。
若無此品，初心無由發——
「以此眾因緣故，此品須來，發初蒙故。若無此品，初心菩薩云何知其如來攝生如來行門，及以眾生行業世界廣狹之相。若不知者，依何發心，乘佛大悲普濟願行廣度？」〔T36n1739 0801b18〕
揀三乘淨土在他方之說——
「若不說眾生界、法界、佛界、菩薩境界，虛空無二無盡，如影重重依住者，所有發心者設不入二乘道，修菩薩行但得權教菩薩，心常染淨而有限礙，不入佛境界故，有自佛他佛及以國剎分劑，有往來所依處故。如三乘中所說淨土在於他方，菩薩願生其中是也。」〔T36n1739 0801b26〕
誌錄不判：澄觀依論軌逐文科釋，以牒問三十句、十事十義、無差別揀相望互同為其骨；智儼於六十本以十名對《攝論》十八圓淨，並判首尾二目列名不釋；法藏於六十本立十門通釋世界海，以三類世界海、五教土體判其分齊，並釋六十本首目「說世界海」四義；李通玄以業果報與願力二源釋品名，以初心菩薩之所須知立來意，並揀三乘淨土在他方之見。四家並行，皆古德成說，誌錄之，不判高下。六十本與八十本十名之開合異、諸事列目之多寡異，二本並錄，不判優劣。
七、互讀·承衍
- 前後品之繫：本品承〈普賢三昧品第三〉、下接〈華藏世界品第五〉。澄觀繫此三品為一組：「三品正陳法海。於中分二：初二品明果、後一品辯因。」〔T35n1735 0573c17〕並判本品與次品之分工：「初品通辯諸佛及諸眾生所有剎海，後品別明本師之所嚴淨。又此品明成剎之緣，後品別辯果相故。」〔T35n1735 0573c23〕
- 答問之繫：澄觀判本品答〈如來現相品〉之「法界安立海」問——「此品答安立之問，其中雖明形等亦是緣故。」〔T35n1735 0573c26〕；李通玄則判為總答三十七問——「三十七問一時總答，令大眾海悟佛所行，入普賢菩薩所行也，故號佛華嚴經。」〔T36n1739 0801b06〕。二家所繫之問目異，並錄。
- 與〈普賢三昧品〉之繫：澄觀對舉入定與遍觀：「今初。上入三昧，內契其源；今云遍觀，外審其相。」〔T35n1735 0573c29〕——前品之三昧為本品遍觀十海之所依。
- 《攝大乘論》之繫：法藏於土體一門引《攝論》為三乘唯識智土體之證：「故《攝論》云『菩薩及如來唯識智乃至為淨土體故。』」〔T35n1733 0158b27〕；智儼則以 60 之十名對《攝論》十八相圓淨立同異〔T35n1732 0023b29〕。此為本品第四事『世界海體性』與唯識學土體說之交接處，二家皆以之為三乘義而別立一乘義，錄其原判。
- 《解深密經》《起信論》之繫：法藏於所居人一門引二典會通地前見報身之異說〔T35n1733 0158b15〕，並自判《解深密》約七地明義、《起信論》約終教依三昧見。
- 《五教章》之承：《華嚴一乘教義分齊章》T45n1866〔0498b13–0498b24〕三類世界海、十重世界之文，與《探玄記》〔0158a27–0158b12〕全同，是華嚴宗論承本品「世界海」一名而立之教相判釋，誌錄之。
- 〔查無〕：《成唯識論》《瑜伽師地論》於澄觀《疏》《鈔》・《探玄記》・《新華嚴經論》本品段落內未見，記闕。本品無牒經論釋之別行論（不同於〈十地品〉之有《十地經論》），記闕。四十華嚴 T293 唯譯〈入不思議解脫境界普賢行願品〉，與本品無對位文，記闕。
八、校本定位
- 實叉 T279（底本）：〈世界成就品第四〉〔T10n0279 0034b09〕起（卷七內）–〈華藏世界品第五〉〔0039a15〕前訖。本分承力遍觀 0034b10 · 牒問略歎 0034b12 · 許說分齊 0034c07 · 說所成益 0034c08 · 讚勝誡聽長行 0035a01 · 讚勝十頌 0035a02 · 十事標列 0035a19 · 事一起具因緣長行 0035a25（偈 0035b06）· 事二所依住長行 0035b25（偈 0035c05）· 事三形狀長行 0036a21（偈 0036a28）· 事四體性長行 0036b19（偈 0036c03）· 事五莊嚴長行 0036c22（偈 0037a05）· 事六清淨長行 0037a27（偈 0037b07）· 事七佛出興長行 0037b26（偈 0037c04）· 事八劫住長行 0037c25（偈 0038a02）· 事九劫轉變長行 0038a24（偈 0038b09）· 事十無差別長行 0038c01（偈 0038c15）。
- 佛馱 T278（晉譯主對校）：〈盧舍那佛品第二〉內對位段〔T09n0278 0409c10〕起–〔0412a19〕訖。十名標列 0409c11 · 起具因緣 0409c16（偈 0409c23）· 所依住 0410a22（偈 0410a27）· 形 0410c03（偈 0410c06）· 體 0411a04（偈 0411a07）· 莊嚴 0411a28（偈 0411b03）· 清淨 0411b25（偈 0411b29）· 如來出世 0411c19（偈 0411c23）· 劫住 0412a16（無偈）。次段〔0412a20〕起轉入蓮華藏世界海之教，為八十本〈華藏世界品〉之對位。
- 澄觀《疏》T35n1735：世界成就品疏 0573b20 起（來意 0573b20 · 釋名 0573b21 · 會梵本 0573b29 · 宗趣 0573c03 · 引本品頌 0573c12 · 釋文三品判 0573c17 · 本分說分 0573c27 · 遍觀 0573c29 · 牒問四科 0574a04 · 初十句 0574a08 · 觀歎相成 0574a09 · 清淨下十句 0574b08 · 安住佛地下十句 0574b20 · 許說分齊 0574b24 · 說所成益五對 0574c01 · 讚勝十一句 0574c06 · 十頌分二 0574c10 · 廣陳本義分 0574c17 · 標舉章門三 0574c20 · 海之釋 0574c22 · 徵列十義 0574c26 · 攝十八圓滿 0574c29 · 結略顯廣 0575a01 · 十事多少不定 0575a03 · 無差別揀 0575a08 · 斥一剎一緣 0575a21 · 依章別釋通例 0575b02 · 三土 0575b05）。
- 澄觀《鈔》T36n1736：世界成就品鈔 0191c27 起（分來品來二意 0191c28 · 釋名四分 0192a05 · 二釋世 0192a07 · 釋成就 0192a11 · 會六釋 0192a13 · 會梵文 0192a14 · 梵語具出 0192a15 · 迴文品名 0192a17 · 海言切要 0192a19）–0192a22 前訖。
- 法藏《探玄記》T35n1733：〈盧舍那佛品〉正陳法海分 0157c12 起（能說人異 0157c12 · 智論五說 0157c14 · 本經五說 0157c17 · 科文骨架 0157c19 · 標列章門 0157c23 · 說世界海四義 0157c25 · 十名逐義 0158a01 · 十門總釋 0158a05 · 種類三乘三土 0158a09 · 一乘三類 0158a27 · 十重世界 0158b02 · 三類通有十事 0158b08 · 十名列 0158b09 · 所居人 0158b12 · 解深密起信會 0158b15 · 三處十佛 0158b19 · 名體 0158b21 · 五教土體 0158b23 · 攝論引 0158b27 · 一乘無盡法界為體 0158b29）–0158c02 訖。
- 智儼《搜玄記》T35n1732：〈盧舍那佛品〉第二正說廣文 0023b06 起（三段科 0023b13 · 但論世界海之問答 0023b16 · 列十名別解 0023b21 · 後一初一列名不釋 0023b24 · 三乘四土一乘二種 0023b26 · 對攝論十八圓淨 0023b29 · 起具因緣配因圓淨 0023c03 · 別中有八 0023c06 · 偈二十之科 0023c10 · 住中三十半偈 0023c11）。
- 法藏《五教章》T45n1866：十佛境界所依二種 0498b12 · 世界海三類 0498b14 · 十重世界 0498b17 · 無量離類世界 0498b20。
- 李通玄《論》T36n1739：世界成就品 0801a22 起（三門 0801a23 · 釋品名目 0801a25 · 釋品來意五意 0801b02 · 第二意 0801b08 · 第三意 0801b12 · 第四意 0801b14 · 第五意 0801b16 · 若無此品 0801b18 · 引本品頌 0801b23 · 揀三乘他方淨土 0801b26 · 重重無礙無盡 0801c04）–0801c07 前訖。
- 異讀：本單元 T279 範圍〔0034b09〕–〔0039a14〕內大正校記 9 條，逐條照錄不判（底本【大】｜他本異讀；多本異讀以／分列）：〔0035b06〕觀察十方【大】｜無此字【宮】 · 〔0035c25〕通【大】｜變【宋】【明】【宮】 · 〔0036a23〕漩【大】｜旋【宋】【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0036b04〕壅【大】｜擁【宮】 · 〔0037c03〕觀察【大】｜普觀【宮】 · 〔0038a01〕住【大】｜住或有不可說不可說劫住（凡11字）【明】 · 〔0038b17〕見【大】｜者【元】【明】 · 〔0038c15〕數【大】｜數無差別【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0038c16〕威力【大】｜威神【宮】。夾注（音注·校注）已於原典層剝除誌錄。原典層
□缺字符未見。 - 異讀補記：CBETA 回改 2 條（不入上列大正校記之數）：〔0034b09〕【CB】｜大方廣佛華嚴經【大】／無此字【明】 · 〔0036b11〕住【CB】｜主【大】／住【宋】【元】【明】【宮】。
- 實計備誌：本品十事之長行列目數實計為——起具因緣十・所依住十・形狀十・體性二十・莊嚴十・清淨十・佛出興十・劫住九・劫轉變十・無差別十；重頌十一段，偈數依次十・九・二十二・十・十・十・九・十・十・十・十，合一百二十頌。牒問讚佛段以「不可思議」結句者二十九。
The Formation of the Worlds = in the place of enlightenment at the site of awakening, in the first assembly, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, sustained by the Buddha’s spiritual power, having contemplated universally the ten oceans, sets forth for the bodhisattvas of the oceanic assemblies of the place of enlightenment the ‘ten things of the ocean of worlds’: the causes and conditions of being furnished, that upon which it abides, shape, substance, adornment, purity, the arising of buddhas, kalpa-abiding, the differences of kalpa-transformation, and the gate of freedom from differentiation. Each of the ten things is first set out and explained in prose and then set over against it in repeated verse; the expounder throughout the chapter is Samantabhadra alone. Chengguan judges this chapter to answer the one question about the ‘ocean of the establishing of the Dharma realm’ among the thirty clauses of questions about the fruit in the chapter on the Manifestation of the Tathāgata, and takes it together with the next chapter, the Flower-Treasury World, as ‘the first two chapters setting forth the fruit’; Fazang’s Tanxuan ji and Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji, for their part, establish ten names with respect to the chapter on Rocana Buddha in the sixty-fascicle text, of which the first is 「說世界海」 tr. “speaking of the ocean of worlds” and the tenth is 「壞方便世界海」 tr. “the ocean of worlds of the means of destruction” — which stand in a relation of opening and combining, differing from the eighty-fascicle text’s ninth item of kalpa-transformation and tenth item of freedom from differentiation. This is the greatest point of contention over the parallel translations in this chapter.
I. Doctrinal Outline and Placement
| Outline system | The place of this chapter within it |
|---|---|
| The base text T279, in thirty-nine chapters | Chapter 4, The Formation of the Worlds (the first assembly, the place of enlightenment · beginning in fascicle 7 〔T10n0279 0034b09〕 and ending before chapter 5, the Flower-Treasury World 〔0039a15〕) |
| Chengguan, Huayan jing shu | The commentary on the Formation of the Worlds begins at 〔T35n1735 0573b20〕; it opens four gates: the reason for its coming, the explanation of the name, the tenet and aim, and the explanation of the text |
| Chengguan, Yanyi chao | The subcommentary on the Formation of the Worlds begins at 〔T36n1736 0191c27〕; it expounds phrase by phrase the two gates of the reason for its coming and the explanation of the name, and collates the Sanskrit text |
| Fazang, Tanxuan ji (commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka) | Within chapter 2, on Rocana Buddha, the 「第十正陳法海分」 tr. “tenth section, the direct setting forth of the ocean of Dharma” begins at 〔T35n1733 0157c12〕; the sixty-fascicle text has no separate chapter on the Formation of the Worlds |
| Zhiyan, Souxuan ji (commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka) | The 「第二正說廣文」 tr. “second, the extended text of the exposition proper” begins at 〔T35n1732 0023b06〕; it is divided into three: the general setting forth of the ten kinds of thing and their sense, the causes and conditions and aspects of the arising of the gathering, and the verses |
| Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun | The Formation of the Worlds begins at 〔T36n1739 0801a22〕; it is distinguished under three gates: the explanation of the name of the chapter, the explanation of the reason for the chapter’s coming, and the explanation of the meaning as the text runs |
The reason for its coming — Chengguan attaches this chapter to what follows the three chapters before it, taking those as setting forth the occasion and this as the exposition proper:
「初來意者。前說緣既具，此下正陳所說，總明果相、別答法界安立海問，故此品來。」 tr. “As for the first, the reason for its coming: the occasion of the exposition having already been furnished in what precedes, from here on what is to be expounded is set forth directly, making plain in general the aspects of the fruit and answering in particular the question about the ocean of the establishing of the Dharma realm — therefore this chapter comes.” 〔T35n1735 0573b20〕
The Yanyi chao divides this sentence into two senses, and records that the one is an older master’s reading and the other Chengguan’s own:
「一明分來，對前二品以為說緣，生下三品，為正所說。二『總明果相』下，別明品來。此句對下華藏為別，別明本師之所嚴淨，故指此品以為總明諸佛果相。是古德意。下句指前答安立問，二問不同，故二品別答，後品自答世界海問。此是疏意。然答問雖異，總別無違，故雙存二義。」 tr. “First, it makes plain the coming of the section: set over against the two chapters before, they serve as the occasion of the exposition, and they give rise to the three chapters below, which are what is properly expounded. Second, from ‘making plain in general the aspects of the fruit’ onward, it makes plain in particular the coming of the chapter. This clause, set over against the Flower-Treasury below, is the particular: that one makes plain in particular what our own Master has adorned and purified, and so it points to this chapter as making plain in general the aspects of the fruit of all the buddhas. This is the sense of the ancient worthies. The following clause points back to the answering of the question about the establishing: the two questions differ, and so the two chapters answer them separately, the later chapter answering of itself the question about the ocean of worlds. This is the sense of the commentary. Yet although the answering of the questions differs, the general and the particular do not conflict, and so both senses are kept side by side.” 〔T36n1736 0191c28〕
Li Tongxuan sets up the reason for its coming as 「答前世主三十七問」 tr. “answering the thirty-seven questions of the rulers of the worlds raised earlier,” and opens five senses:
「二釋品來意者，大意有五：一答前世主三十七問，佛海、眾生海、波羅蜜海等。」 tr. “Second, as for the explanation of the reason for the chapter’s coming, the general sense is fivefold. First, it answers the thirty-seven questions of the rulers of the worlds raised earlier — the ocean of buddhas, the ocean of sentient beings, the ocean of the pāramitās, and the rest.” 〔T36n1739 0801b02〕
His third through fifth senses are all attached to what the bodhisattva who has first raised the mind must know: 「三令始發心菩薩，知眾生業報同異差別，由心造故。」 tr. “Third, it causes the bodhisattva who has first raised the mind to know the samenesses and differences of the karmic recompense of sentient beings, because they are made by mind.” 〔0801b12〕 「四令始發心者，知眾生界廣大，等法界虛空界，如影相入重重無盡，依住各別，佛菩薩行悉充滿故。」 tr. “Fourth, it causes one who has first raised the mind to know that the realm of sentient beings is vast, equal to the Dharma realm and to the realm of space, entering one into another like shadows, layer upon layer without end, each abiding upon its own support, and that the practice of the buddhas and bodhisattvas fills them all.” 〔0801b14〕 「五令始發心菩薩，知諸佛菩薩境界海、眾生境界海一異不可得故，隨眾生自業轉變剎海轉變故，隨自業成壞剎海成壞故。」 tr. “Fifth, it causes the bodhisattva who has first raised the mind to know that of the ocean of the realms of the buddhas and bodhisattvas and the ocean of the realms of sentient beings neither sameness nor difference can be had; that as the beings’ own karma is transformed the oceans of lands are transformed; and that as their own karma forms and destroys the oceans of lands are formed and destroyed.” 〔0801b16〕
The explanation of the name — Chengguan explains separately the three names world, realm, and formation, collating the six compounds and the Sanskrit text:
「二釋名者，世謂三世，墮去來今故。界謂方分，有彼此故。又世謂隱覆、界亦分齊，謂諸有為可破壞。世即隱覆無為不可壞。」 tr. “Second, the explanation of the name: ‘world’ means the three times, because it falls into past, future, and present. ‘Realm’ means a division of directions, because there is a this and a that. Again, ‘world’ means concealing, and ‘realm’ too is a demarcation — that is to say, all that is conditioned can be broken and destroyed; ‘world’ is thus concealing, and the unconditioned cannot be destroyed.” 〔T35n1735 0573b21〕
「成就者，即能成之緣，謂十緣等，能所合目。若以世界之成就，即依主釋也。」 tr. “‘Formation’ is the conditions that are able to form, that is, the ten conditions and the rest; that which is able and that which is formed are jointly named. If it be taken as the formation of the worlds, then it is a dependent-determinative compound.” 〔T35n1735 0573b27〕
In the passage collating the Sanskrit text, the Shu says: 「準梵本中云世界海成就。下文辯海，譯人略也。」 tr. “According to the Sanskrit text it reads ‘the formation of the ocean of worlds.’ Since the text below distinguishes the ocean, the translator abridged it.” 〔T35n1735 0573b29〕 The Chao sets out the Sanskrit in full together with the reversed word order:
「疏會一海字，若具梵云：嚕迦馱都三慕達羅濕第奢匿縛怛囊三牟陀儉摩娜𭑬鉢里勿多。若依迴文，總云『觀察十方世界海演說合集名品』。今經譯家存略太甚，餘言可略，海字切要，故疏會取。」 tr. “The commentary collates the single word ‘ocean.’ If given in full in Sanskrit it reads: lu-jia-tuo-du san-mu-da-luo shi-di-she-ni-fu-da-nang san-mou-tuo-jian mo-na-nan bo-li-wu-duo. If one follows the reversed word order, the whole reads: ‘the chapter named the contemplating of the oceans of worlds of the ten directions and the expounding and gathering together thereof.’ In the present sūtra the translator has kept far too much abridgement; the other words may be abridged, but the word ‘ocean’ is of the essence, and so the commentary collates and takes it up.” 〔T36n1736 0192a14〕
Li Tongxuan’s explanation of the name of the chapter establishes the name directly from the two sources of the fruit of karma and the power of vows:
「一釋品名目者，為明世界海依住形相、苦樂淨穢，皆是眾生自業果報之所莊嚴，不從他有。佛菩薩世界海，依大願力、依自體清淨法性力……以不思議變化力之所成就故，名世界成就品。」 tr. “First, the explanation of the name of the chapter: it is in order to make plain that the supports, the abiding, the shapes and aspects, the suffering and pleasure, the purity and foulness of the oceans of worlds are all adorned by the recompense of the beings’ own karma and do not come from another. The oceans of worlds of the buddhas and bodhisattvas rest upon the power of great vows and upon the power of the pure Dharma-nature of their own substance … and because they are formed by the power of inconceivable transformation, it is named the chapter on the Formation of the Worlds.” 〔T36n1739 0801a25〕
The tenet and aim — 「三宗趣者，標列無邊勝德，廣釋所知世界海為宗。」 tr. “Third, the tenet and aim: the setting out and listing of boundless surpassing virtues and the extended explaining of the ocean of worlds that is to be known are the tenet.” 〔T35n1735 0573c03〕 Its aims are of several kinds, the first being to give rise to faith and understanding and to awaken and enter: 「一令諸菩薩發大信解悟入為趣。」 tr. “First, causing the bodhisattvas to give rise to great faith and understanding and to awaken and enter is the aim.” 〔0573c04〕 Chengguan further cites a verse of this very chapter in evidence of that aim: 「故下頌云『離諸諂誑心清淨，常樂慈悲性歡喜，志欲廣大深信人，彼聞此法生欣悅。』」 tr. “Therefore the verse below says: ‘One far from every kind of flattery and deceit and pure in mind, constantly delighting in kindness and compassion and joyful by nature, of vast aspiration and deep faith — such a one, hearing this Dharma, gives rise to gladness.’” 〔0573c12〕 — Li Tongxuan cites the very same verse in establishing the reason for the chapter’s coming 〔T36n1739 0801b23〕; the scriptural passage cited by the two masters is the same.
The explanation of the text — Chengguan first judges the three chapters as a whole, then divides this chapter into the root portion and the expository portion:
「四釋文者，三品正陳法海。於中分二：初二品明果、後一品辯因。」 tr. “Fourth, the explanation of the text: the three chapters set forth directly the ocean of Dharma. Within them there is a twofold division: the first two chapters make plain the fruit, and the last one chapter distinguishes the cause.” 〔T35n1735 0573c17〕
「今初分二：先總標綱要，即為本分；後正陳本義，即是說分。前中亦二：先承力遍觀、後牒問許說。」 tr. “Now the first is divided in two: first the general setting out of the essential outline, which is the root portion; afterward the direct setting forth of the meaning proper, which is the expository portion. Within the former there are likewise two: first, contemplating universally by the power received; afterward, restating the question and granting the exposition.” 〔T35n1735 0573c27〕
The single section of restating the question and granting the exposition is further divided into four: 「於中分四：一牒問略歎、二許說分齊、三說所成益、四讚勝誡聽。」 tr. “Within it there is a fourfold division: first, restating the question and praising summarily; second, granting the exposition and its extent; third, the benefits the exposition accomplishes; fourth, praising the excellence and enjoining attention.” 〔T35n1735 0574a04〕; of the eleven clauses in the section praising the excellence and enjoining attention, Chengguan judges 「初一總標，謂令聞法必生喜故；餘十別顯喜義」 tr. “the first one is the general heading, namely that hearing the Dharma will surely give rise to joy; the remaining ten set forth in particular the senses of joy” 〔0574c07〕 — and in the base text this passage counts eleven occurrences of the word 「令」 tr. “cause” 〔the passage at T10n0279 0035a01〕, which agrees with the commentary.
The outline of the expository portion: 「第二廣陳本義分中分二：初結集生起、二『諸佛子』下普賢顯說。」 tr. “Second, within the section extensively setting forth the meaning proper there is a twofold division: first, the compiler’s introduction; second, from ‘Sons of the Buddha’ onward, Samantabhadra’s manifest exposition.” 〔T35n1735 0574c16〕; the setting out of the chapter-headings is divided into three: 「一立數顯同、二徵數列異、三結略顯廣。」 tr. “First, establishing the number and showing the sameness; second, calling for the number and listing the differences; third, concluding the summary and showing the breadth.” 〔0574c20〕; and the general rule for the explanation section by section:
「第二依章別釋者，十事不同則為十段，一一皆有長行與偈。長行中各三，謂標、釋、結。」 tr. “Second, as for the separate explanation according to the headings: since the ten things differ they make ten sections, and each one alike has prose and verse. Within the prose there are in each case three, namely the heading, the explanation, and the conclusion.” 〔T35n1735 0575b02〕
The actual count in the base text interlocks with this outline: each of the ten sections has prose first and repeated verse after, making eleven sections of verse (the one section of verse in the root portion praising the excellence, plus one section of verse for each of the ten things), the number of verses being in order ten, nine, twenty-two, ten, ten, ten, nine, ten, ten, ten, ten — one hundred and twenty verses in all.
The outline of the sixty-fascicle text (Fazang) — the Tanxuan ji judges within the chapter on Rocana Buddha:
「文中二：初廣辨世界海，答前果問；二從『乃往過去』下答前因問。初中二：先散說世界、後偈頌總持。前中二：初通論十世界；後別辨華藏界，亦是釋第十壞世界，以成即是壞故。前中二：先標列章門、二依門別解。初中三：先總告引證、二正列十名、三結其無盡。」 tr. “Within the text there are two: first, the extended distinguishing of the ocean of worlds, answering the earlier question about the fruit; second, from ‘in ages long past’ onward, the answering of the earlier question about the cause. Within the first there are two: first the scattered exposition of the worlds, afterward the total retention in verse. Within the former there are two: first the general treatment of the ten worlds; afterward the separate distinguishing of the Flower-Treasury realm, which is also the explanation of the tenth item, the destroying of worlds, since forming is precisely destroying. Within the former there are two: first the setting out and listing of the chapter-headings, second the separate explanation according to the headings. Within the first there are three: first the general address and the citing of evidence, second the listing proper of the ten names, third the conclusion as to their inexhaustibility.” 〔T35n1733 0157c19〕
The outline of the sixty-fascicle text (Zhiyan) — the Souxuan ji judges it into three sections and sets up for himself a question and answer as to why only the ocean of worlds is treated:
「三：一總明世界因緣等莊嚴十種事義；二『爾時普賢菩薩欲分別』下，明此世界海集起因緣之狀相；三『法界不可壞』下，以偈頌上二段文。」 tr. “Three: first, the general setting forth of the sense of the ten kinds of thing — the causes and conditions and the adornments of worlds and the rest; second, from ‘at that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to distinguish’ onward, the making plain of the aspects of the causes and conditions of the gathering and arising of this ocean of worlds; third, from ‘the Dharma realm cannot be destroyed’ onward, the putting of the two foregoing sections into verse.” 〔T35n1732 0023b13〕
「問：何故本分觀海說智，此說分廢智說海而不具明，但論世界海者，何也？答：此為立文者但成信解智而未盡海源。又世界由智成，說海即是智。」 tr. “Question: why is it that in the root portion he contemplates the ocean and expounds wisdom, while in this expository portion wisdom is set aside and the ocean expounded without being fully made plain, so that only the ocean of worlds is treated? Answer: this is because the one who set up the text was only completing the wisdom of faith and understanding and had not exhausted the source of the ocean. Moreover, worlds are formed by wisdom, and to expound the ocean is precisely wisdom.” 〔T35n1732 0023b16〕
II. Terminology
| Term | Attestation | Essential sense |
|---|---|---|
| the ocean of worlds | Chengguan: 「世界廣深目之為海，謂積剎成種、積種成海，海無別體，世界都名。」 tr. “Worlds being broad and deep are called an ocean, that is, lands amassed make a seed and seeds amassed make an ocean; the ocean has no separate substance, it is simply the general name of worlds.” 〔T35n1735 0574c22〕 | Lands amassed make a seed, seeds amassed make an ocean; the ocean is not another substance but the general name of worlds |
| world (two explanations) | Chengguan: 「世謂三世，墮去來今故。」 tr. “‘World’ means the three times, because it falls into past, future, and present.” and 「世謂隱覆」 tr. “‘world’ means concealing” 〔T35n1735 0573b23〕 | One takes it with respect to the flowing on of the three times, the other with respect to concealing — the latter explanation serves to make the Flower-Treasury lands the same as the unconditioned and so indestructible |
| realm | Chengguan: 「界謂方分，有彼此故」 tr. “‘Realm’ means a division of directions, because there is a this and a that”; and 「界亦分齊」 tr. “‘realm’ too is a demarcation” 〔T35n1735 0573b23〕 | The division of directions and the limit of this and that; hence 「世各不相雜，是其分齊」 tr. “the worlds are each unmingled with the others, and this is their demarcation” 〔0573b25〕 |
| formation | Chengguan: 「成就者，即能成之緣，謂十緣等，能所合目。」 tr. “‘Formation’ is the conditions that are able to form, that is, the ten conditions and the rest; that which is able and that which is formed are jointly named.” 〔T35n1735 0573b27〕 | The conditions able to form and the realm formed are joined in one name; taken as ‘the formation of the worlds’ it is a dependent-determinative compound |
| as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds | Chengguan: 「言世界海塵者，智猶難測，言豈具陳？」 tr. “As for saying ‘the atoms of an ocean of worlds’ — wisdom can hardly fathom it; how should words set it forth in full?” 〔T35n1735 0575a01〕 | The concluding measure-term for the ten things of the whole chapter; it shows that the ten items listed are a summary and that at length they cannot be set forth in full |
| the causes and conditions of being furnished | The base text: 「世界海起具因緣」 tr. “the causes and conditions by which the ocean of worlds is furnished into being” 〔T10n0279 0035a19〕; Zhiyan matches it to the Shedacheng lun: 「今此起具因緣，是彼因圓淨」 tr. “the causes and conditions of being furnished here are the perfect purity of cause there” 〔T35n1732 0023c03〕 | The cause by which the ocean of worlds is formed by gathering conditions; Chengguan explains it as 「一明攬緣成立」 tr. “the first makes plain the being established by the gathering of conditions” 〔T35n1735 0574c26〕 |
| kalpa-transformation | The base text: 「世界海有世界海微塵數劫轉變差別」 tr. “the ocean of worlds has differences in kalpa-transformation as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds” 〔T10n0279 0038a24〕 | Chengguan explains it as 「九隨業改變」 tr. “the ninth is changing in accordance with karma” 〔T35n1735 0574c28〕; all ten items say that by reason of some condition it becomes some kalpa-transformation |
| freedom from differentiation | Chengguan: 「其無差別，一切皆具，以約體性平等、佛力融攝故說無差，所以染淨皆具也。」 tr. “As for its freedom from differentiation, all is held complete: it is said to be without differentiation with respect to the sameness of substance and nature and the gathering-in by the Buddha’s power, and therefore the defiled and the pure are alike held complete.” 〔T35n1735 0575a08〕 | The last of the ten things; it does not mean that the lands are alike when set beside one another, but that substance and nature are the same and the Buddha’s power gathers all in |
| world-nature · ocean of worlds · world-wheel (the tenfold worlds) | Fazang: 「三千界外別有十世界：一世界性、二世界海、三世界輪、四世界圓滿、五世界分別、六世界旋、七世界轉、八世界蓮華、九世界須彌、十世界相」 tr. “Beyond the three-thousandfold realm there are separately ten worlds: first world-nature, second ocean of worlds, third world-wheel, fourth world-fullness, fifth world-distinction, sixth world-whirl, seventh world-turning, eighth world-lotus, ninth world-Sumeru, tenth world-aspect” 〔T35n1733 0158b02〕 | The second of the three classes of places of transformation; the Wujiao zhang lists the same 〔T45n1866 0498b17〕 |
| Vairocana (vairocana) | The base text’s verse 「毘盧遮那境界力」 tr. “the power of Vairocana’s realm” 〔T10n0279 0035a12〕 and 「此是毘盧所嚴淨」 tr. “these are what Vairocana has adorned and purified” 〔within the passage at 0035b24〕 | Among the eleven sections of verse in this chapter, six raise this name as the lord who adorns and purifies; the sixty-fascicle text has 「盧舍那佛」 tr. “Rocana Buddha” |
| Samantabhadra (samantabhadra) | The base text: 「普賢菩薩自在願力故」 tr. “by reason of the power of the sovereign vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva” 〔T10n0279 0035b03〕 and 「或依普賢菩薩願所生一切差別莊嚴海住」 tr. “some abide depending on the ocean of all the differentiated adornments born of the vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva” 〔0035c02〕 | The expounder is Samantabhadra himself; the last of the ten causes and conditions, the last of the ten supports, and the last of the ten adornments all come home to Samantabhadra’s vow and practice |
| the land of the Dharma-nature · the land of enjoyment · the land of the transformation body | Chengguan: 「然佛土之義雖有多種，不出其三：一法性土、二受用土」 tr. “Now although the sense of a buddha-land is of many kinds, it does not go beyond three: first the land of the Dharma-nature, second the land of enjoyment” 〔T35n1735 0575b05〕; Fazang’s doctrine of the three lands 〔T35n1733 0158a10〕 | The ancient worthies explain the substance of the ocean of worlds by the sense of the three lands; the sūtra text of this chapter does not establish these three names, which are added by the commentators |
III. Similes and Rhetoric
(1) The simile of the ocean (the outline of the whole chapter) — wherever this chapter speaks of worlds, sentient beings, karma, vows, kalpas, adornments, or speech and sound, it attaches without exception the single word 「海」 tr. “ocean”: the ten contemplations at the opening, 「一切世界海、一切眾生海、一切諸佛海、一切法界海、一切眾生業海……」 tr. “all the oceans of worlds, all the oceans of sentient beings, all the oceans of the buddhas, all the oceans of the Dharma realm, all the oceans of the karma of sentient beings … ” 〔T10n0279 0034b10〕.
- The vehicle of the simile: the ocean’s multitude, depth, and breadth, beyond all measuring.
- What it figures: the amassing of lands into seeds and of seeds into an ocean.
- The meaning shown: Chengguan explains directly what the simile takes — 「海無別體，世界都名」 tr. “the ocean has no separate substance, it is simply the general name of worlds” 〔T35n1735 0574c23〕; Fazang explains the ten names as all coming home to one simile: 「皆繁多深奧，同名海也」 tr. “all are numerous and profound, and so alike are named oceans” 〔T35n1733 0158a04〕, and judges it to be a compound of coincidence: 「世界即海從喻，持業釋也。」 tr. “The world is precisely the ocean, taken from the simile; it is a compound of coincidence.” 〔T35n1733 0158b23〕
(2) The simile of Indra’s net — the base text’s verse on that upon which they abide: 「或有國土周法界，清淨離垢從心起，如影如幻廣無邊，如因陀網各差別。」 tr. “Some lands pervade the Dharma realm, pure and stainless, arising from the mind, like a shadow and like an illusion, vast and without limit, each differing like Indra’s net.” 〔within the passage at T10n0279 0036a05〕
- The vehicle of the simile: the jeweled net of Śakra, jewel appearing within jewel.
- What it figures: the lands pervading the Dharma realm, each differing and yet entering one into another.
- The meaning shown: difference does not obstruct mutual entering. This simile appears only once in the chapter, and yet it is the ground of the ten mysteries of the Huayan school; Fazang, raising the third class of oceans of worlds in the Tanxuan ji, says 「十蓮華藏莊嚴世界海，具足主伴如帝網等，是佛境界」 tr. “the oceans of worlds of the adornments of the ten lotus treasuries, complete with host and companions like Indra’s net and the rest, are the realm of a buddha” 〔T35n1733 0158b06〕.
(3) The simile of a shadow, an illusion, and a mirage — at the end of the verses on that upon which they abide: 「一切廣大諸剎土，如影如幻亦如焰，十方不見所從生，亦復無來無去處。」 tr. “All the vast lands of every kind are like shadows, like illusions, and like a mirage as well; in the ten directions one does not see whence they are born, nor is there any coming and any going.” 〔within the passage at T10n0279 0036a17〕; and the verses on substance: 「或從心海生，隨心所解住，如幻無處所，一切是分別。」 tr. “Some are born from an ocean of mind, abiding according to what the mind understands, illusion-like and without location, all of it discrimination.” 〔within the passage at 0036c17〕
- The vehicle of the simile: shadow, illusion, and mirage — the three that appear and yet are unreal.
- What it figures: that the oceans of lands, though appearing vast, are born from nowhere and neither come nor go.
- The meaning shown: appearing does not obstruct unbornness. Li Tongxuan explains the realm of sentient beings by the same sense: 「如影相入重重無盡，依住各別」 tr. “entering one into another like shadows, layer upon layer without end, each abiding upon its own support” 〔T36n1739 0801b15〕.
(4) The simile of clouds — the verses on shape, 「剎海無邊差別藏，譬如雲布在虛空」 tr. “the oceans of lands are treasuries of boundless difference, like clouds spread out within space” 〔within the passage at T10n0279 0036b05〕; the verses on the arising of buddhas, 「佛如雲布在其中」 tr. “buddhas like clouds are spread within them” 〔within the passage at 0037c22〕; the verses on purity, 「譬如雲布等虛空」 tr. “like clouds spread out equal to space” 〔within the passage at 0037b16〕.
- The vehicle of the simile: clouds spreading throughout space, without fixed shape and yet able to cover universally.
- What it figures: the treasury of difference of the oceans of lands, the universal appearing of the buddhas, and the increase of merit.
- The meaning shown: pervading while abiding nowhere. The simile of clouds is used in three places in this chapter, belonging respectively to the three things of shape, purity, and the arising of buddhas.
(5) The simile of light and shadow — besides the section on substance, 「或從妙相生，眾相莊嚴地，如冠共持戴，斯由佛化起」 tr. “Some are born from marvelous marks, the many marks adorning their ground, held and worn in common like a crown — this arises through the transformations of the Buddha” 〔within the passage at T10n0279 0036c15〕, there is separately 「猶如影像住，取說不可得」 tr. “abiding like reflected images, and neither the grasping of them nor the telling of them can be had” 〔within the passage at 0036c10〕.
- The vehicle of the simile: a reflected image, appearing and yet not to be grasped.
- What it figures: the oceans of lands born from the power of vows.
- The meaning shown: a land accomplished by vows is not to be taken hold of in words.
(6) The simile of a wheel — the verses on freedom from differentiation, 「一一塵中說眾法，其法清淨如輪轉」 tr. “within each single atom the many dharmas are expounded, and that Dharma is pure as the turning of a wheel” 〔within the passage at T10n0279 0038c29〕; the section on substance, 「或以日摩尼輪為體」 tr. “some take a sun-maṇi wheel for their substance” 〔0036b25〕. By the turning of a wheel that does not rest is figured the purity and unimpededness of the Dharma.
(7) The appearing of lands within an atom (not a simile, but the signature phrasing of this chapter) — 「一一國土微塵內，念念示現諸佛剎」 tr. “within each single atom of each single land, thought after thought the lands of the buddhas are displayed” 〔within the passage at T10n0279 0036a09〕 · 「一毛孔內難思剎，等微塵數種種住」 tr. “within a single pore are lands beyond fathoming, equal to the number of atoms and abiding in many kinds” 〔within the passage at 0036b11〕 · 「一微塵中多剎海，處所各別悉嚴淨」 tr. “within a single atom are many oceans of lands, their places each differing and all of them adorned and purified” 〔0038c17〕. (Recorded as it stands: all three of these lines are verse outside the prose; the prose of this chapter does not state the matter in the language of simile, and only the ninth and tenth items of the thing of freedom from differentiation set it forth directly — 「一切世界海普入一塵無差別」 tr. “there is no differentiation in all the oceans of worlds entering universally into a single atom” 〔0038c11〕 and 「一一微塵，一切三世諸佛世尊廣大境界皆於中現無差別」 tr. “within each single atom, the vast realms of all the buddhas, the world-honored ones, of the three times all appear therein without differentiation” 〔0038c12〕.)
(8) The similes in the prose of this chapter are exceedingly sparing (recorded as absent, as it stands) — among the ten sections of prose of the ten things, only the thing of shape sets up seven similes in a row to describe its shapes, 「或如水漩形，或如山焰形，或如樹形，或如華形，或如宮殿形，或如眾生形，或如佛形」 tr. “some in the shape of a whirlpool of water, some in the shape of a mountain flame, some in the shape of a tree, some in the shape of a flower, some in the shape of a palace, some in the shape of a sentient being, some in the shape of a buddha” 〔T10n0279 0036a23〕; the rest of the prose for the most part sets forth the items of the Dharma directly, and only the thing of that upon which they abide has the single expression 「如幻業生」 tr. “born of illusion-like karma” 〔T10n0279 0035b29〕. The language of simile is concentrated within the eleven sections of repeated verse.
IV. Collation with Parallel Translations
The Chinese versions collated for this chapter: Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text · “The Formation of the Worlds, chapter four”) · Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin translation of the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · it has no separate chapter on the Formation of the Worlds, its corresponding text standing within “Rocana Buddha, chapter two,” beginning at 〔T09n0278 0409c10〕 and ending at 〔0412a19〕). This chapter has no separate circulating sūtra and no treatise that lemmatizes it 〔not found〕. The forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T293 renders only chapter thirty-nine and has no bearing on this chapter 〔not found〕. What follows records every clause in full, without adjudication.
Clause One The Listing of the Ten Things
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | The ocean of worlds has ten things, which the buddhas of the past, the present, and the future have already spoken of, are now speaking of, and will speak of. What are the ten? They are: the causes and conditions by which the ocean of worlds is furnished into being, that upon which the ocean of worlds depends and abides, the shapes of the ocean of worlds, the substance of the ocean of worlds, the adornments of the ocean of worlds, the purity of the ocean of worlds, the arising of buddhas in the ocean of worlds, the kalpa-abiding of the ocean of worlds, the differences in the kalpa-transformations of the ocean of worlds, the gate of the ocean of worlds’ freedom from differentiation. | T10n0279 0035a18 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | There are ten things, expounded by the buddhas past, future, and present, namely: speaking of the ocean of worlds, the ocean of worlds of the causes and conditions of being furnished, the ocean of worlds of abiding, the ocean of worlds of shape, the ocean of worlds of substance, the ocean of worlds of adornment, the ocean of worlds of purity, the ocean of worlds of the Tathāgata’s appearing in the world, the ocean of worlds of kalpas, the ocean of worlds of the means of destruction. | T09n0278 0409c11 |
Where the variants lie: (a) The order of the names is inverted — the eighty-fascicle text throughout reads ‘the such-and-such of the ocean of worlds,’ the sixty-fascicle text throughout ‘the ocean of worlds of such-and-such.’ (b) The opening and combining of the ten items differ: the first item of the sixty, 「說世界海」 tr. “speaking of the ocean of worlds,” is absent from the eighty; the tenth item of the sixty, 「壞方便世界海」 tr. “the ocean of worlds of the means of destruction,” stands where the eighty has 「無差別門」 tr. “the gate of freedom from differentiation”; and the ninth item of the eighty, 「劫轉變差別」 tr. “the differences of kalpa-transformation,” has no counterpart in the sixty. Thus, although both texts have ten names alike, two items are in fact not shared. (c) 「過去、現在、未來諸佛，已說、現說、當說」 tr. “the buddhas of the past, the present, and the future have already spoken, are now speaking, and will speak” ↔ 「去、來、今佛之所演說」 tr. “expounded by the buddhas past, future, and present” — the eighty opens the three times and the three speakings into six terms, while the sixty combines them into a single clause. (d) The concluding measure in the eighty reads 「若廣說者，與世界海微塵數等」 tr. “were they to be stated at length, they would equal the number of atoms in an ocean of worlds” 〔0035a23〕, and in the sixty 「乃至有世界海塵數種事」 tr. “on to things as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds” 〔0409c15〕.
The ancient worthies on these two items — Fazang judges the tenth item of the sixty, 「壞方便」 tr. “the means of destruction,” to be explained by a section of the Flower-Treasury: 「後別辨華藏界，亦是釋第十壞世界，以成即是壞故。」 tr. “Afterward the Flower-Treasury realm is distinguished separately, which is also the explanation of the tenth item, the destroying of worlds, since forming is precisely destroying.” 〔T35n1733 0157c22〕 Zhiyan judges that the first and last items of the sixty are listed by name and not explained: 「二別十中，後一初一列名不釋。何故爾？由說通餘九。今約不明，欲成蓮華世界，略不明壞。亦可成即壞也。」 tr. “Second, among the particular ten, the last one and the first one are listed by name and not explained. Why is this? Because the speaking of them runs through the other nine. Here, with respect to what is not made plain: wishing to form the Lotus world, he abridges and does not make plain the destroying. It may also be that forming is precisely destroying.” 〔T35n1732 0023b23〕 Fazang further explains the first item of the sixty, 「說世界海」 tr. “speaking of the ocean of worlds,” in four senses: 「一以土體絕相、由言方成，故云說世界……二由名言熏識現土，故名說也；三土中言音，如下頌中辯；四世界立名不同，故云說也。」 tr. “First, because the substance of a land is cut off from aspects and is accomplished only through speech, it is said to speak of worlds … second, because name and speech perfume consciousness and a land appears, it is called speaking; third, the speech and sound within the lands, as distinguished in the verses below; fourth, because worlds are given names differently, it is said to speak.” 〔T35n1733 0157c25〕
Clause Two The Causes and Conditions of Being Furnished
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! Stated summarily, by reason of ten causes and conditions all the oceans of worlds have been formed, are being formed, and will be formed. | T10n0279 0035a25 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that all the oceans of worlds, by reason of causes and conditions as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds being furnished, are formed — have been formed, are now formed, and will be formed | T09n0278 0409c16 |
The causes and conditions collated item by item:
| # | Śikṣānanda T279 〔0035a27–0035b04〕 | Buddhabhadra T278 〔0409c18–0409c22〕 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | by reason of the spiritual power of the Tathāgata | by reason of the spiritual power of the Tathāgata |
| 2 | by reason of the Dharma being of necessity thus | by reason of the Dharma being of necessity thus |
| 3 | by reason of the deeds and karma of all sentient beings | by reason of the deeds and karma of sentient beings |
| 4 | by reason of what all bodhisattvas gain in perfecting omniscience | by reason of all bodhisattvas being due to gain the unsurpassed path |
| 5 | by reason of all sentient beings together with the bodhisattvas amassing roots of goodness in common | by reason of the roots of goodness of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva |
| 6 | by reason of the power of the vow of all bodhisattvas to adorn and purify the lands | by reason of the bodhisattvas’ adorning and purifying the buddha-land, and of the sovereign mastery of their vows, practice, and liberation |
| 7 | by reason of all bodhisattvas perfecting non-retrogressive conduct and vows | by reason of the unsurpassed roots of goodness of the Tathāgata and the fruit that rests upon them |
| 8 | by reason of the pure resolute understanding and sovereign mastery of all bodhisattvas | by reason of the power of the sovereign vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva |
| 9 | by reason of what flows forth from the roots of goodness of all the tathāgatas together with the sovereign force of all the buddhas at the time of their attaining the path | (no corresponding item in the sixty) |
| 10 | by reason of the power of the sovereign vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva | (no corresponding item in the sixty) |
Where the variants lie: the eighty heads the passage with 「十種因緣」 tr. “ten causes and conditions” and lists ten items; the sixty heads it with 「世界海塵數因緣」 tr. “causes and conditions as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds” and lists eight. Zhiyan judges this passage of the sixty thus: 「三別中有八：一佛神力即勝進力，攝成即佛後智也；二緣起理然；三是因得；四行業果感；五普行攝成；六共因所得，為生取土攝成故；七是佛依果；八普願所感。」 tr. “Third, within the particular there are eight: first, the Buddha’s spiritual power, that is, the power of advancing, and what it gathers and forms is the wisdom subsequent to buddhahood; second, the principle of dependent origination being so; third, what is gained by cause; fourth, what is felt as fruit from deeds and karma; fifth, what the universal practice gathers and forms; sixth, what is gained by a cause held in common, since it is for the sake of beings that a land is taken up and gathered and formed; seventh, the fruit upon which the Buddha rests; eighth, what is felt from the universal vow.” 〔T35n1732 0023c06〕 — the number of items he judges agrees with the eight items actually listed in the sixty. The measure of the verses also differs in the two texts: Zhiyan says that in this passage of the sixty 「偈有二十，文有三：初一總、次十八以廣顯略、三後一偈結之」 tr. “there are twenty verses, and the text is threefold: the first one is general, the next eighteen make the summary plain by breadth, and third the last one verse concludes it” 〔T35n1732 0023c10〕; the base text of the eighty in this passage counts eighteen lines, nine verses.
Clause Three That Upon Which They Abide
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! Each single ocean of worlds has as many supports upon which it depends and abides as there are atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: some abide depending on all adornments, some abide depending on space, some abide depending on the light of all jewels, some abide depending on the light of all buddhas, some abide depending on the light of the colors of all jewels, some abide depending on the voices of all buddhas, some abide depending on a Vajra-Bearer in the form of a mighty asura born of illusion-like karma, some abide depending on the bodies of all the rulers of the worlds, some abide depending on the bodies of all bodhisattvas, some abide depending on the ocean of all the differentiated adornments born of the vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. | T10n0279 0035b25 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Sons of the Buddha! The supports upon which each single ocean of worlds depends and abides are as many as the atoms of a world, namely: abiding depending on all adornments, or abiding depending on space, or abiding depending on all jewels, or abiding depending on the light of a buddha, or abiding depending on illusion-like karma, or abiding depending on the palm of the vajra-strongman Mahānāga, or abiding depending on the power of the vows of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. | T09n0278 0410a22 |
Where the variants lie: the eighty lists ten items, the sixty seven. The sixty’s 「或依摩訶那伽金剛力士掌中住」 tr. “abiding depending on the palm of the vajra-strongman Mahānāga” ↔ the eighty’s 「或依如幻業生大力阿脩羅形金剛手住」 tr. “abiding depending on a Vajra-Bearer in the form of a mighty asura born of illusion-like karma” — the sixty keeps the Sanskrit sound 「摩訶那伽」 tr. “Mahānāga,” the eighty renders it 「大力阿脩羅形金剛手」 tr. “a Vajra-Bearer in the form of a mighty asura,” and the eighty further adds above it the four words 「如幻業生」 tr. “born of illusion-like karma,” so that the sixty’s separate item 「或依幻業住」 tr. “abiding depending on illusion-like karma” has already been taken up into this clause in the eighty. The eighty has besides four items absent from the sixty: 「或依一切寶色光明住」 tr. “abiding depending on the light of the colors of all jewels,” 「或依一切佛音聲住」 tr. “abiding depending on the voices of all buddhas,” 「或依一切世主身住」 tr. “abiding depending on the bodies of all the rulers of the worlds,” and 「或依一切菩薩身住」 tr. “abiding depending on the bodies of all bodhisattvas.” The measure of the verses: the eighty has forty-four lines, twenty-two verses; the sixty twenty-six lines and something over.
Clause Four Shape
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! The ocean of worlds has shapes and forms of many kinds and differences. They are: some round, some square, some neither round nor square, with measureless differences; some in the shape of a whirlpool of water, some in the shape of a mountain flame, some in the shape of a tree, some in the shape of a flower, some in the shape of a palace, some in the shape of a sentient being, some in the shape of a buddha … . | T10n0279 0036a21 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Sons of the Buddha! The oceans of worlds have shapes of many kinds: some square, some round, some neither square nor round, some like an eddy of water, or again like the shape of a flower, or in the shapes of sentient beings of many kinds. | T09n0278 0410c03 |
Where the variants lie: (a) the eighty has ten items, the sixty six; the eighty has besides four items — the shape of a mountain flame, of a tree, of a palace, and of a buddha. (b) 「或如水漩形」 tr. “some in the shape of a whirlpool of water” ↔ 「或如水洄澓」 tr. “some like an eddy of water.” (c) In the order of round and square, the eighty reads 「或圓，或方」 tr. “some round, some square,” the sixty 「或方、或圓」 tr. “some square, some round.” The line 「三維及八隅」 tr. “again three-dimensional and eight-cornered” appears alike in the verses of both texts (the eighty 〔within the passage at 0036a30〕 · the sixty 〔T09n0278 0410c10〕).
Clause Five Substance
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has substances of many kinds. They are: some take the adornment of all jewels for their substance, some take the many kinds of adornment of a single jewel for their substance, some take the light of all jewels for their substance … | T10n0279 0036b19 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Sons of the Buddha! The oceans of worlds have substances of many kinds, all of which should be known, namely: the substance of the adornment of all jewels, or the substance of a single jewel, or the substance of a ground of firm vajra, or the substance of the many fragrances, or the substance of a wheel of sun-pearls. | T09n0278 0411a04 |
Where the variants lie: the eighty, counted item by item, has twenty substances; the sixty lists only five. The sixty’s 「金剛堅固地體」 tr. “the substance of a ground of firm vajra” ↔ the eighty’s 「或以不可壞金剛為體」 tr. “some take indestructible vajra for their substance”; the sixty’s 「眾香體」 tr. “the substance of the many fragrances” ↔ the eighty’s 「或以種種香為體」 tr. “some take fragrances of many kinds for their substance”; the sixty’s 「日珠輪體」 tr. “the substance of a wheel of sun-pearls” ↔ the eighty’s 「或以日摩尼輪為體」 tr. “some take a sun-maṇi wheel for their substance.” The eighty has besides the items of the sustaining by the Buddha’s power, the marks of marvelous jewels, the transformations of the Buddha, exceedingly subtle jewels, jeweled flame, jeweled flowering crowns, jeweled reflected images, the realm universally displayed by a single thought of mind, jewels in the shape of a bodhisattva, the stamens of jeweled flowers, and the speech and sound of the Buddha, which are absent from the sixty. At the end of the prose of this section the eighty has no concluding sentence 「如是等，有世界海微塵數」 tr. “such things as these are as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds”, unlike the form of the other eight things — recorded as it stands, without forcing an explanation.
Clause Six Adornment
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has adornments of many kinds. They are: some take for adornment the surpassingly marvelous clouds that come forth from among all the implements of adornment, some take for adornment the proclaiming of the merit of all bodhisattvas, some take for adornment the proclaiming of the karmic recompense of all sentient beings … | T10n0279 0036c23 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Sons of the Buddha! The oceans of worlds have adornments as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds, all of which should be known, namely: the adornment of clouds of many kinds from all realms, the adornment of the deeds and karma of the sentient beings of all worlds, the adornment of the power of the vows of the buddhas of the three times and of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva — there are adornments such as these as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. | T09n0278 0411a28 |
Where the variants lie: the eighty has ten items, the sixty three. The third item of the sixty, 「三世諸佛及普賢菩薩願力莊嚴」 tr. “the adornment of the power of the vows of the buddhas of the three times and of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva,” combines in one clause three items of the eighty: 「或以示現一切菩薩願海莊嚴」 tr. “some take for adornment the displaying of the ocean of the vows of all bodhisattvas,” 「或以表示一切三世佛影像莊嚴」 tr. “some take for adornment the setting forth of the reflected images of all the buddhas of the three times,” and 「或以示現一切普賢行願莊嚴」 tr. “some take for adornment the displaying of all the conduct and vows of Samantabhadra.”
Clause Seven Purity
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has oceans of skillful means of purity as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: by reason of the bodhisattvas drawing near to all good friends and cultivating roots of goodness in common with them, by reason of increasing the vast clouds of merit until they pervade the Dharma realm … | T10n0279 0037a26 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the oceans of worlds have purities as many as the atoms of a world, namely: the bodhisattvas draw near to good friends, perfect the many roots of goodness and the rest, benefit all sentient beings, purify and fulfill all the pāramitās, and abide in all the grounds of practice — there are purities such as these as many as the atoms of a world. | T09n0278 0411b25 |
Where the variants lie: the eighty heads the passage with 「清淨方便海」 tr. “oceans of skillful means of purity” and lists ten items; the sixty heads it with 「清淨」 tr. “purity” and lists five. The sixty’s 「淨滿一切諸波羅蜜」 tr. “purify and fulfill all the pāramitās” ↔ the eighty’s 「修治一切諸波羅蜜悉圓滿故」 tr. “by reason of cultivating all the pāramitās until they are complete”; the sixty’s 「安住一切行地」 tr. “abide in all the grounds of practice” ↔ the eighty’s 「觀察一切菩薩諸地而入住故」 tr. “by reason of contemplating all the grounds of the bodhisattvas and entering and abiding therein.” Both texts alike begin with the item of drawing near to good friends.
Clause Eight The Arising of Buddhas
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that each single ocean of worlds has differences in the appearing of buddhas as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: some manifest a small body, some manifest a great body, some manifest a short life span, some manifest a long life span … | T10n0279 0037b25 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that each single ocean of worlds has buddhas arising in the world as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds, namely: there are buddhas who arise in the world and whose form-body is displayed filling the Dharma realm, or some of short life, or some of measureless kalpas; thus does each single ocean of worlds have buddhas arising in the world as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. | T09n0278 0411c19 |
Where the variants lie: the eighty has ten items, the sixty three. Both texts share the one pair of short life and long life; the eighty has besides the four pairs of small body and great body, adorning and purifying one land and measureless lands, the wheel of Dharma of the One Vehicle and the wheels of Dharma of the many vehicles, and subduing a small portion and boundless sentient beings, while the sixty covers them with the single clause 「色身示現遍滿法界」 tr. “whose form-body is displayed filling the Dharma realm.”
Clause Nine Kalpa-Abiding
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has kalpa-abidings as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: some abide for asaṃkhyeya kalpas, some abide for measureless kalpas, some abide for boundless kalpas, some abide for unequalled kalpas, some abide for uncountable kalpas, some abide for unnameable kalpas, some abide for unthinkable kalpas, some abide for immeasurable kalpas, some abide for unspeakable kalpas … | T10n0279 0037c25 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has kalpa-abidings equal to the atoms in an ocean of worlds, namely: the oceans of buddha-lands, some abiding for uncountable kalpas, some abiding for countable kalpas; there are kalpa-abidings such as these as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. | T09n0278 0412a16 |
Where the variants lie: the prose of this section in the eighty counts nine items (asaṃkhyeya · measureless · boundless · unequalled · uncountable · unnameable · unthinkable · immeasurable · unspeakable), not ten — unlike the form of ten items in the things before and after it; recorded as it stands, without forcing an explanation. The sixty has only two items (uncountable kalpas · countable kalpas). After this passage in the sixty’s chapter on Rocana Buddha, the text at 〔T09n0278 0412a21〕 turns straight into the passage 「當知此蓮華藏世界海是盧舍那佛本修菩薩行時」 tr. “you should know that this ocean of worlds of the Flower Treasury is what Rocana Buddha, when of old he cultivated the conduct of a bodhisattva …” , entering directly upon the content that corresponds to the eighty’s chapter on the Flower-Treasury World; hence for the prose and verse of the eighty’s ninth thing, 「劫轉變差別」 tr. “the differences of kalpa-transformation,” and its tenth thing, 「無差別門」 tr. “the gate of freedom from differentiation,” the sixty has no corresponding text here. This agrees with Zhiyan’s judgment that 「後一初一列名不釋」 tr. “the last one and the first one are listed by name and not explained” 〔T35n1732 0023b24〕 and with Fazang’s judgment that 「後別辨華藏界，亦是釋第十壞世界」 tr. “afterward the Flower-Treasury realm is distinguished separately, which is also the explanation of the tenth item, the destroying of worlds” 〔T35n1733 0157c22〕.
Clause Ten Kalpa-Transformation and Freedom from Differentiation (peculiar to the eighty)
| Edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has differences in kalpa-transformation as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: by reason of the Dharma being thus, the ocean of worlds has measureless kalpa-transformations of formation and destruction … | T10n0279 0038a24 |
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! You should know that the ocean of worlds has freedoms from differentiation as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds. They are: within each single ocean of worlds, there is no differentiation among worlds as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds … | T10n0279 0038c01 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | (no corresponding text found) | — |
Where the variants lie: for the prose and verse of these two things the sixty-fascicle text has no corresponding section. In accordance with the rule of §VI on negative propositions across editions, this is not an inference drawn from searching the sixty with the wording of the eighty and failing to find it; rather, in the sixty’s chapter on Rocana Buddha the scene has already turned, after the passage on kalpa-abiding, into the teaching of the Flower-Treasury world (the one who speaks, the one addressed, and the matter spoken of having all three turned), and so the absence of a corresponding text is recorded as it stands.
Recorded in full without adjudication: the differences in the foregoing clauses — whether of the opening and combining of the ten names (speaking of the ocean of worlds / the gate of freedom from differentiation · the means of destruction / the differences of kalpa-transformation), or of the number of items listed (twenty substances against five · ten adornments against three), or of the renderings (whirlpool / eddy · Mahānāga / a Vajra-Bearer in the form of a mighty asura · Vairocana / Rocana) — are recorded from both texts side by side, without judging their relative merit.
V. Scriptural Grounds of Sectarian Doctrine (the doctrinal eye)
(1) The ocean of worlds is lands amassed into seeds and seeds amassed into an ocean — Chengguan explains the word 「海」 tr. “ocean” in the general listing of the ten things:
「先告佛子者，使時情注其耳目也。世界廣深目之為海，謂積剎成種、積種成海，海無別體，世界都名。然事類廣多，略舉其十以表無盡，三世同說彰其要勝。」 tr. “That he first addresses them as sons of the Buddha is to make the feeling of the moment fix their ears and eyes upon it. Worlds being broad and deep are called an ocean, that is, lands amassed make a seed and seeds amassed make an ocean; the ocean has no separate substance, it is simply the general name of worlds. Yet the kinds of thing are broad and many, and ten are raised summarily to signify their inexhaustibility; that the three times alike speak of them makes plain their importance and excellence.” 〔T35n1735 0574c21〕
This is the pivot between this chapter and the next, the Flower-Treasury World: this chapter expounds the ocean of worlds in its general aspect, and the next expounds in particular the Flower Treasury that our own Master adorned and purified.
(2) Each of the ten things has its own governing sense — Chengguan establishes a sense for each item in the section calling for the number and listing the differences:
「二徵列中，一明攬緣成立、二成已依住、三外狀區分、四內體差別、五寶等莊校、六垢穢不生、七佛出差殊、八劫住修短、九隨業改變、十包容必均。此十亦攝十八圓滿，後品當會。」 tr. “Second, within the calling for the number and the listing: the first makes plain the being established by the gathering of conditions; the second, abiding once formed; the third, the distinction of outward aspect; the fourth, the difference of inward substance; the fifth, the ornamenting with jewels and the like; the sixth, that defilement does not arise; the seventh, the differing of the buddhas’ appearing; the eighth, the length and shortness of kalpa-abiding; the ninth, changing in accordance with karma; the tenth, that the containing is of necessity even. These ten also subsume the eighteen perfections, which the later chapter will collate.” 〔T35n1735 0574c26〕
Fazang likewise establishes a sense for each of the ten names of the sixty-fascicle text, his order answering to the sixty’s names: 「初一說即世界，後三說之界；二攬緣界；三依故得久；四外狀區分；五內體盈滿；六德相嚴麗；七離垢用淨；八器淨佛興；九經時多少。十緣散離作皆繁多深奧，同名海也。凡一世界即具此十。」 tr. “The first one, speaking, is the world itself; the latter three are the realms of that speaking. The second is the realm of the gathering of conditions; the third, having a support it endures long; the fourth, the distinction of outward aspect; the fifth, the fullness of inward substance; the sixth, the majesty and beauty of the aspects of virtue; the seventh, being free of defilement its function is pure; the eighth, the vessel being pure a buddha arises; the ninth, the length of the time passed through; the tenth, the conditions scattering and coming apart. All are numerous and profound, and so alike are named oceans. Every single world possesses these ten.” 〔T35n1733 0157c29〕
(3) The three classes of the oceans of worlds of the One Vehicle — Fazang judges three classes of places of transformation, of which the third is the ultimate of the Huayan:
「三依一乘，有二：一約果，分十佛自體國土海，此當不可說，寄緣說十，如第二會說；二約攝化處，有三類：一、從須彌山界及樹形等已去，乃至一切眾生形世界海，為第一類；二、三千界外別有十世界……為第二類；三、十蓮華藏莊嚴世界海，具足主伴如帝網等，是佛境界，為第三類。此上三類通有十事，為首成世界。」 tr. “Third, according to the One Vehicle there are two. First, with respect to the fruit: the ocean of the lands of the own-substance of the ten buddhas, which is properly unspeakable, and ten are spoken of by resting upon conditions, as is expounded in the second assembly. Second, with respect to the places of transformation there are three classes: first, from the world-realms of Mount Sumeru and the shapes of trees and the rest on to the oceans of worlds in the shapes of all sentient beings, as the first class; second, beyond the three-thousandfold realm there are separately ten worlds … as the second class; third, the oceans of worlds of the adornments of the ten lotus treasuries, complete with host and companions like Indra’s net and the rest, which are the realm of a buddha, as the third class. These three classes above all alike have the ten things, and it is with them that a world is first formed.” 〔T35n1733 0158a27〕
What the Wujiao zhang judges is entirely the same: 「二世界海有三類。一蓮華藏莊嚴世界海。具足主伴通因陀羅等。當是十佛等境界。」 tr. “Second, the oceans of worlds are of three classes. First, the ocean of worlds of the adornments of the lotus treasury, complete with host and companions and running through Indra’s net and the rest, which should be the realm of the ten buddhas and the rest.” 〔T45n1866 0498b14〕; 「三無量離類世界皆遍法界。如一類須彌樓山世界數量邊畔。即盡虛空遍法界。又如一類樹形世界。乃至一切眾生形等。悉亦如是皆遍法界互不相礙。」 tr. “Third, measureless worlds of separate classes all pervade the Dharma realm. Just as the number and the bounds of the worlds of one class, that of Mount Sumeru, exhaust space and pervade the Dharma realm, so likewise the worlds of one class, that of the shapes of trees, on to the shapes of all sentient beings and the rest — all of these likewise pervade the Dharma realm and do not obstruct one another.” 〔T45n1866 0498b20〕 — the two items in the prose of this chapter, 「或如樹形」 tr. “some in the shape of a tree” and 「或如眾生形」 tr. “some in the shape of a sentient being,” are the scriptural ground of this first class and third position.
(4) What the ocean of worlds takes for its substance: the judgment according to the five teachings — Fazang, under the single gate of 「名體」 tr. “name and substance,” establishes the substance by distinguishing the teachings:
「若小乘，以子母七微及色等四塵并能造四大實色為體。若三乘中，凡小地前俱以賴耶識為體；地上二義，報土亦同賴耶識為體，若二智所現即以唯識智為體。故《攝論》云『菩薩及如來唯識智乃至為淨土體故。』若依終教，俱以如來藏真如為體。若一乘，以無盡法界通三世間，人法理事等諸行相即互為其體，准思可知。」 tr. “In the Lesser Vehicle, the seven fine particles of mother and child, together with form and the other four objects of sense and the real form of the four great elements that are able to produce them, are taken as substance. In the three vehicles, ordinary beings and those of the Lesser Vehicle and those before the grounds all take the ālaya consciousness for substance; on the grounds there are two senses, the land of recompense likewise taking the ālaya consciousness for substance, while what is displayed by the two wisdoms takes consciousness-only wisdom for substance. Therefore the Shedacheng lun says, ‘the consciousness-only wisdom of the bodhisattvas and of the tathāgatas, on up, is the substance of a pure land.’ According to the final teaching, both alike take the suchness of the Tathāgata-womb for substance. In the One Vehicle, the inexhaustible Dharma realm pervading the three kinds of world, with person and dharma, principle and phenomenon, and all such aspects of practice mutually identical and mutually serving as one another’s substance — this may be known by weighing it accordingly.” 〔T35n1733 0158b23〕
This passage is the ancient worthies’ judgment and explanation of the fourth thing of this chapter, 「世界海體性」 tr. “the substance of the ocean of worlds,” and it is where the Huayan school and the consciousness-only school stand apart on the single question of the substance of a land — the One Vehicle does not take consciousness for substance, but takes the inexhaustible Dharma realm, mutually identical and mutually serving as one another’s substance.
(5) Lands differ according to mind; one should purify one’s own mind — Chengguan, listing the aims of this chapter under the gate of the tenet and aim, points one of them straight at realization:
「謂令知佛及菩薩大悲行海廣覆無邊盡眾生界，倣而行故；世界無邊悉嚴淨故；眾生無邊悉化度故；剎由心異，當淨自心及他心故；世界重重無盡無盡，以大行願悉充滿故；佛界生界非一非異，能正了知成大智故」 tr. “That is to say: causing them to know that the ocean of the great compassionate conduct of the buddhas and bodhisattvas covers broadly and without limit to the end of the realm of sentient beings, so that they may imitate it and so practice; that worlds are boundless and all are to be adorned and purified; that sentient beings are boundless and all are to be transformed and delivered; that because lands differ according to mind, one should purify one’s own mind and the minds of others; that worlds are layer upon layer, endless and endless, and are all to be filled with great practice and vow; that the realm of buddhas and the realm of beings are neither one nor different, and by being able rightly to understand this great wisdom is accomplished.” 〔T35n1735 0573c05〕
The scriptural ground for this in the text of the chapter lies in the ten items of the thing of kalpa-transformation — 「染污眾生住故，世界海成染污劫轉變」 tr. “by reason of defiled sentient beings abiding therein, the ocean of worlds becomes a defiled kalpa-transformation” 〔T10n0279 0038a26〕 and 「無量眾生發菩提心故，世界海純清淨劫轉變」 tr. “by reason of measureless sentient beings giving rise to the mind of awakening, the ocean of worlds becomes a wholly pure kalpa-transformation” 〔0038a29〕; and in its verses, 「一切諸國土，皆隨業力生」 tr. “all the many lands are all born following the power of karma” 〔0038b10〕 and 「始從一念終成劫，悉依眾生心想生」 tr. “beginning from a single thought and ending in the completing of a kalpa, all are born depending on the thinking of the minds of sentient beings” 〔within the passage at 0038a22〕.
(6) Freedom from differentiation is not a likeness of lands set beside one another — Chengguan sets up the distinction here and cites the sūtra in evidence:
「其無差別，一切皆具，以約體性平等、佛力融攝故說無差，所以染淨皆具也。有云：一切世界相望互同名無差者，則違下經文。經云『一一世界海有世界海塵數，無差別故。』若依相望互同，則無有差別之事。」 tr. “As for its freedom from differentiation, all is held complete: it is said to be without differentiation with respect to the sameness of substance and nature and the gathering-in by the Buddha’s power, and therefore the defiled and the pure are alike held complete. Some say that all worlds being alike when set beside one another is what is called freedom from differentiation; but this runs against the sūtra text below. The sūtra says, ‘each single ocean of worlds has, as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds, freedoms from differentiation.’ If one follows the reading of being alike when set beside one another, then there would be no such thing as differentiation.” 〔T35n1735 0575a08〕
(7) The ten things are of indeterminate number in any one land — Chengguan, under the clause concluding the summary and showing the breadth, distinguishes the number and demarcation of the ten things:
「然上十事，於一一剎多少不定。具緣一種，或一、或二、或三、或多、或成四句，謂一成一，一成一切等。清淨一種，或一或多、或亦無之，以有純穢剎故。其次七事各各唯一，謂依空住者，非依光等故。」 tr. “Yet the ten things above are of indeterminate number within any one land. The one of the conditions furnished may be one, or two, or three, or many, or may make up four propositions, namely one forming one, one forming all, and so on. The one of purity may be one or many, or may also be absent, since there are wholly foul lands. The next seven things are in each case only one — that is, one that abides depending on space does not depend on light and the rest.” 〔T35n1735 0575a03〕
He further establishes their demarcation by setting the ten things over against the ocean of lands: 「若以此十獨望剎海，形體依住莊嚴等四許其唯一，餘必兼多故，經云『一一世界海有種種形』故。今言有世界海塵數者，約融攝無盡之說也。」 tr. “If these ten alone be set over against the ocean of lands, then in the four of shape, substance, support, adornment and the like one may allow that each is only one, while the rest must include many — for the sūtra says, ‘each single ocean of worlds has shapes of many kinds.’ To say now that there are as many as the atoms in an ocean of worlds is a manner of speaking with respect to the inexhaustibility of mutual gathering-in.” 〔T35n1735 0575a18〕
VI. Divergent Interpretations of the Commentators
Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735 · Yanyi chao T36n1736 (following the eighty-fascicle text phrase by phrase · principal)
The contemplating and the praising complete each other in turn — Chengguan explains why he contemplates the ten oceans and yet praises the ten wisdoms:
「觀乃觀海、歎乃歎智者，智之與海反覆相成，謂前自智觀海微細難知，知唯佛智方能究盡，海難思故佛智難思，佛智難思故海為深廣。若爾，何不說智而但說海？智離海境，安知其相？又表唯所證知，故但說海。」 tr. “That the contemplating is a contemplating of the ocean while the praising is a praising of wisdom — wisdom and the ocean complete each other in turn. That is: earlier, by his own wisdom he contemplated the ocean, so fine and hard to know, and knew that only a buddha’s wisdom can exhaust it. Because the ocean is hard to fathom, the buddha-wisdom is hard to fathom; and because the buddha-wisdom is hard to fathom, the ocean is deep and vast. If so, why not speak of the wisdom instead of only of the ocean? Apart from the objects of the ocean, how would one know its aspects? Moreover it signifies that it is known only by realization, and therefore he speaks only of the ocean.” 〔T35n1735 0574a09〕
The three-section outline of the thirty clauses restating the question — Chengguan judges the one section of the root portion praising the Buddha to be a restatement of the thirty clauses of questions about the fruit in the earlier chapter on the Manifestation of the Tathāgata, and divides it into three sections: 「初十句，牒上世界海等十問。」 tr. “The first ten clauses restate the ten questions above concerning the ocean of worlds and the rest.” 〔T35n1735 0574a08〕 「二『清淨』下十句，牒上六根三業十問。」 tr. “Second, the ten clauses from ‘pure’ onward restate the ten questions above concerning the six faculties and the three kinds of action.” 〔0574b08〕 「三『安住佛地』下十句，牒上最初德用圓備十問。」 tr. “Third, the ten clauses from ‘abiding in the buddha-ground’ onward restate the ten questions at the very beginning concerning the completeness of virtue and function.” 〔0574b20〕 And he records the opening and combining between the earlier questions and this restatement: 「前問中略無變化及自在二句，以攝在無能攝取句中，義如前會。」 tr. “In the earlier questions the two clauses of transformation and of sovereign mastery are summarily absent, being subsumed within the clause ‘none can take hold of it,’ the sense being as collated earlier.” 〔0574b21〕 (Recorded as it stands: in the base text this passage counts twenty-nine clauses closing with 「不可思議」 tr. “inconceivable”; the thirty clauses Chengguan judges are spoken with respect to the questions restated, and the difference of opening and combining is itself recorded in the commentary’s words 「與問開合小異，名或小差」 tr. “it differs slightly from the questions in opening and combining, and the names may differ slightly” 〔0574a14〕. Here the commentary’s judgment and the actual count of the base text are both recorded, without adjudication.)
The difficulty that the exposition is granted in full while the text below expounds only two things — Chengguan sets up his own question and answer:
「若言具者，何以下文唯說安立及世界海耶？經來不盡故。又雖說二世界海，亦已通具三十句問。謂界必有生，而依住故、有佛現故、安立異故、行業感故，餘可意求。」 tr. “If he says ‘in full,’ why does the text below expound only the establishing and the ocean of worlds? Because the sūtra as transmitted is not complete. Moreover, although only the two oceans of worlds are expounded, the thirty clauses of questions have already been covered in common. That is: where there is a realm there must be beings, and it abides upon a support, and buddhas appear in it, and its establishing differs, and deeds and karma bring it about; the rest may be sought out by inference.” 〔T35n1735 0574b25〕
The refuting of the reckoning of “one land, one condition” — Chengguan, under the clause concluding the summary and showing the breadth, judges as unfitting those before him who explained by 「一剎一緣」 tr. “one land, one condition” the phrase 「有剎海塵數」 tr. “there are as many as the atoms in an ocean of lands”:
「有云：約一一剎海中所有諸剎各各一因等故，有剎海塵數者，孟浪之甚。何者？且如剎海中剎雖多，豈如剎海盡末為塵之多？若欲相同，即一塵一緣方得相似。」 tr. “Some say that it is with respect to each single land within each ocean of lands having each its one cause and the like that there are as many as the atoms of an ocean of lands. This is exceedingly rash. Why? Because although the lands within an ocean of lands are many, how should they be as many as an ocean of lands ground entirely into atoms? If one would have them alike, then only one condition per atom would make them resemble each other.” 〔T35n1735 0575a21〕
The ten things subsume the eighteen perfections, which the later chapter will collate — 「此十亦攝十八圓滿，後品當會。」 tr. “These ten also subsume the eighteen perfections, which the later chapter will collate.” 〔T35n1735 0574c29〕; and further, under the sense of a buddha-land, he opens the judgment of three lands: 「然佛土之義雖有多種，不出其三：一法性土、二受用土」 tr. “Now although the sense of a buddha-land is of many kinds, it does not go beyond three: first the land of the Dharma-nature, second the land of enjoyment” 〔0575b05〕.
Zhiyan, Souxuan ji T35n1732 (commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka)
The collating of the ten names with the eighteen perfect purities of the Shedacheng lun — Zhiyan takes the ten names of the sixty and matches them one by one against the eighteen aspects of perfect purity of the Shedacheng lun:
「今將此十名，對《攝論》十八相圓淨對辨同異。彼文攝佛別住處合有十九也，佛別住大寶重閣，上已明故，此中略無，即是彼論別住處也。今此起具因緣，是彼因圓淨，亦通第一色相淨及三量圓淨，故偈云『眾寶成及無邊際』故知。」 tr. “Now taking these ten names and setting them against the eighteen aspects of perfect purity of the Shedacheng lun, I distinguish their sameness and difference. That text, including the Buddha’s separate dwelling place, comes to nineteen in all; the Buddha’s separate dwelling in the great jeweled storied pavilion having been made plain above, it is summarily absent here — that is, it is that treatise’s separate dwelling place. The causes and conditions of being furnished here are the perfect purity of cause there, and also run through the first, the purity of form and mark, and the perfect purity of the three measures, for the verse says ‘formed of the many jewels and without limit,’ whereby it is known.” 〔T35n1732 0023b29〕
The four kinds of pure land in the three vehicles and the two kinds in the One Vehicle — 「凡依三乘淨土，有四種：一性、二報、三事、四化可知。若依此部，一乘但有二種，謂世界海及國土海。或十種，如下瞿夷說。」 tr. “In general, according to the three vehicles, pure lands are of four kinds: first nature, second recompense, third phenomenon, fourth transformation, as may be known. According to this section, in the One Vehicle there are only two kinds, namely the ocean of worlds and the ocean of lands. Or there are ten kinds, as Gopī expounds below.” 〔T35n1732 0023b26〕
Why he expounds only the ocean of worlds without fully making plain the wisdom — see the question and answer cited above in §I 〔T35n1732 0023b17〕: 「此為立文者但成信解智而未盡海源。又世界由智成，說海即是智。復此略明，顯互為詮相故也。」 tr. “This is because the one who set up the text was only completing the wisdom of faith and understanding and had not exhausted the source of the ocean. Moreover, worlds are formed by wisdom, and to expound the ocean is precisely wisdom. Again, this summary making-plain is in order to show that they serve as one another’s expression of aspect.”
Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 · Wujiao zhang T45n1866 (commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · doctrinal classification)
Ten gates for a general explanation of the oceans of worlds — after explaining the ten names, Fazang sets up ten further gates for a general explanation: 「今通釋諸世界海，略作十門：一種類、二居人、三名體、四染淨、五漏無漏、六共不共、七世間涅槃、八依正、九人法、十無礙。」 tr. “Now, in explaining the oceans of worlds in general, I make ten gates summarily: first class, second inhabitants, third name and substance, fourth defilement and purity, fifth the tainted and the untainted, sixth the shared and the unshared, seventh the mundane and nirvāṇa, eighth the supported and the supporting, ninth person and dharma, tenth unobstructedness.” 〔T35n1733 0158a05〕
The demarcation of those who dwell there — 「二所居人者，若小乘，唯有有餘依聖及凡位居也；三乘，三中初二通有凡夫二乘及地前菩薩并佛化身居也；後一，初地上菩薩及佛報身居也。」 tr. “Second, as for those who dwell there: in the Lesser Vehicle, only noble ones with a remainder of support and those in the position of ordinary beings dwell there; in the three vehicles, the first two of the three have in common ordinary beings, those of the two vehicles, and bodhisattvas before the grounds, together with the Buddha’s transformation body dwelling there; in the last one, bodhisattvas above the first ground and the Buddha’s recompense body dwell there.” 〔T35n1733 0158b12〕 And he collates the divergent sayings of two sūtras: 「《解深密經》中三地菩薩生佛淨土者，彼約七地明義，即初地當彼第三也。又《起信論》中許地前菩薩見報身佛者，彼約終教，依三昧見也。」 tr. “As for the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra saying that a bodhisattva of the third ground is born in a buddha’s pure land, that makes its meaning plain with respect to seven grounds, so that the first ground answers to its third. And as for the Awakening of Faith allowing that a bodhisattva before the grounds sees the recompense-body buddha, that is with respect to the final teaching, seeing in dependence on samādhi.” 〔0158b15〕
In the three of the One Vehicle the buddha-body is alike the ten buddhas — 「一乘三中，多分論時：初見聞位、次解行位、後向果位。通即可知，三處佛身同是十佛也。」 tr. “Among the three of the One Vehicle, when treated for the most part: first the position of seeing and hearing, next the position of understanding and practice, last the position of turning toward the fruit. Taken in general it may be known that in all three places the buddha-body is alike the ten buddhas.” 〔T35n1733 0158b19〕
The explanation of name and substance — 「三名體者，世是時、界是分齊，謂於時中分齊顯現，從相得名。繁多奧積、深廣難窮，同名海也。世界即海從喻，持業釋也。」 tr. “Third, name and substance: ‘world’ is time and ‘realm’ is demarcation, that is, appearing in demarcation within time, taking its name from the aspect. Numerous and profoundly heaped up, deep and broad and hard to exhaust, they are alike named oceans. The world is precisely the ocean, taken from the simile; it is a compound of coincidence.” 〔T35n1733 0158b21〕
The difference among those able to expound — before the root portion, Fazang first distinguishes those able to expound in the several assemblies: 「先明諸會能說人異，唯〈僧祇〉、〈小相〉二品是佛說，餘竝菩薩說」 tr. “First he makes plain the difference in those able to expound in the several assemblies: only the two chapters on the Incalculable and on the Lesser Marks are expounded by the Buddha, and the rest are all expounded by bodhisattvas” 〔T35n1733 0157c12〕, and he sets the five kinds of exposition in the Zhilun over against the five in this sūtra: 「又有五說，如下云『佛說、菩薩說、剎說、眾生說、三世一切說。』此通三世間等一切法，約一乘也。」 tr. “Again there are five kinds of exposition, as it says below: ‘the Buddha expounds, bodhisattvas expound, lands expound, sentient beings expound, all of the three times expounds.’ This runs through all dharmas of the three kinds of world and the rest, and is with respect to the One Vehicle.” 〔T35n1733 0157c17〕 — that the expounder of this chapter is Samantabhadra and not the Buddha has its reason here.
Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739 (a differing track of symbolic interpretation)
The two sources of the fruit of karma and the power of vows — see what is cited above in §I on the explanation of the name of the chapter 〔T36n1739 0801a25〕: the oceans of worlds of sentient beings arise from the recompense of their own karma, and the oceans of worlds of the buddhas and bodhisattvas arise from the power of great vows, the power of the pure Dharma-nature of their own substance, the ocean of the many practices of the pāramitās, and the power of great compassion and wisdom.
Were there no such chapter, the beginner would have no way of raising the mind —
「以此眾因緣故，此品須來，發初蒙故。若無此品，初心菩薩云何知其如來攝生如來行門，及以眾生行業世界廣狹之相。若不知者，依何發心，乘佛大悲普濟願行廣度？」 tr. “By reason of these many causes and conditions this chapter must come, in order to enlighten the first beginnings. Were there no such chapter, how should the bodhisattva of first mind know the Tathāgata’s gathering-in of beings and the Tathāgata’s gate of practice, and the aspects of the breadth and narrowness of the worlds of the deeds and karma of beings? And not knowing them, upon what should he raise the mind and, riding the Buddha’s great compassion and universal succor, vow and practice a broad deliverance?” 〔T36n1739 0801b18〕
The distinguishing of the doctrine that the pure lands of the three vehicles lie in another quarter —
「若不說眾生界、法界、佛界、菩薩境界，虛空無二無盡，如影重重依住者，所有發心者設不入二乘道，修菩薩行但得權教菩薩，心常染淨而有限礙，不入佛境界故，有自佛他佛及以國剎分劑，有往來所依處故。如三乘中所說淨土在於他方，菩薩願生其中是也。」 tr. “If it were not expounded that the realm of sentient beings, the Dharma realm, the realm of buddhas, and the realm of bodhisattvas are, like space, non-dual and inexhaustible, abiding one upon another layer upon layer like shadows, then all who raise the mind, even if they did not enter the path of the two vehicles, would in cultivating the conduct of a bodhisattva attain only the bodhisattvahood of the provisional teaching, their minds constantly defiled and pure and having limit and obstruction; for not entering the realm of a buddha, there would be a demarcation of one’s own buddha and another’s buddha and of the lands, and there would be a place of support for coming and going. This is like the pure lands expounded in the three vehicles as lying in another quarter, in which bodhisattvas vow to be born.” 〔T36n1739 0801b26〕
Recorded without adjudication: Chengguan explains the text phrase by phrase according to the track of the treatises, with the thirty clauses restating the question, the ten senses of the ten things, and the distinguishing of freedom from differentiation from likeness set beside one another as his backbone; Zhiyan, on the sixty-fascicle text, matches the ten names against the eighteen perfect purities of the Shedacheng lun and judges the first and last items to be listed by name and not explained; Fazang, on the sixty-fascicle text, sets up ten gates for a general explanation of the oceans of worlds, judging their demarcation by the three classes of oceans of worlds and the substance of a land according to the five teachings, and explains in four senses the first item of the sixty, 「說世界海」 tr. “speaking of the ocean of worlds”; Li Tongxuan explains the name of the chapter by the two sources of the fruit of karma and the power of vows, establishes the reason for its coming by what the bodhisattva of first mind must know, and distinguishes the view that the pure lands of the three vehicles lie in another quarter. The four masters proceed side by side; all are settled sayings of the ancient worthies, and they are recorded without judging their relative height. The differences between the sixty-fascicle and the eighty-fascicle texts in the opening and combining of the ten names and in the number of items listed under the several things are recorded from both texts side by side, without judging their relative merit.
VII. Cross-Reading and Lineage
- Its connection with the chapters before and after: this chapter follows the Samādhi of Samantabhadra, chapter three, and is followed by the Flower-Treasury World, chapter five. Chengguan connects these three chapters as one group: 「三品正陳法海。於中分二：初二品明果、後一品辯因。」 tr. “The three chapters set forth directly the ocean of Dharma. Within them there is a twofold division: the first two chapters make plain the fruit, and the last one chapter distinguishes the cause.” 〔T35n1735 0573c17〕 And he judges the division of labor between this chapter and the next: 「初品通辯諸佛及諸眾生所有剎海，後品別明本師之所嚴淨。又此品明成剎之緣，後品別辯果相故。」 tr. “The first chapter distinguishes in general the oceans of lands possessed by all the buddhas and all sentient beings; the later chapter makes plain in particular what our own Master has adorned and purified. Moreover this chapter makes plain the conditions by which lands are formed, while the later chapter distinguishes separately the aspects of the fruit.” 〔T35n1735 0573c23〕
- Its connection with the answering of the question: Chengguan judges this chapter to answer the question about the 「法界安立海」 tr. “ocean of the establishing of the Dharma realm” in the chapter on the Manifestation of the Tathāgata — 「此品答安立之問，其中雖明形等亦是緣故。」 tr. “This chapter answers the question about the establishing; and although shape and the rest are made plain within it, these too are its conditions.” 〔T35n1735 0573c26〕; Li Tongxuan, for his part, judges it a general answering of the thirty-seven questions — 「三十七問一時總答，令大眾海悟佛所行，入普賢菩薩所行也，故號佛華嚴經。」 tr. “The thirty-seven questions are all answered at one stroke, causing the oceanic great assembly to awaken to what the Buddha practices and to enter what Samantabhadra Bodhisattva practices; hence it is called the Buddha-Flower-Ornament Sūtra.” 〔T36n1739 0801b06〕. The two masters attach it to different questions; both are recorded.
- Its connection with the Samādhi of Samantabhadra: Chengguan sets entering concentration and contemplating universally over against each other: 「今初。上入三昧，內契其源；今云遍觀，外審其相。」 tr. “Now the first. Above, the entering of samādhi was inwardly to accord with its source; here, ‘contemplating universally’ is outwardly to examine its aspects.” 〔T35n1735 0573c29〕 — the samādhi of the earlier chapter is that upon which the universal contemplating of the ten oceans in this chapter rests.
- Its connection with the Shedacheng lun: Fazang, under the gate of the substance of a land, cites the Shedacheng lun in evidence that consciousness-only wisdom is the substance of a land in the three vehicles: 「故《攝論》云『菩薩及如來唯識智乃至為淨土體故。』」 tr. “Therefore the Shedacheng lun says, ‘the consciousness-only wisdom of the bodhisattvas and of the tathāgatas, on up, is the substance of a pure land.’” 〔T35n1733 0158b27〕; Zhiyan, for his part, sets up sameness and difference by matching the ten names of the sixty against the eighteen aspects of perfect purity of the Shedacheng lun 〔T35n1732 0023b29〕. This is where the fourth thing of this chapter, ‘the substance of the ocean of worlds,’ joins with the consciousness-only teaching on the substance of a land; both masters take it as the sense of the three vehicles and establish separately the sense of the One Vehicle, and their original judgments are recorded.
- Its connection with the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra and the Awakening of Faith: Fazang, under the gate of those who dwell there, cites the two texts to collate the divergent sayings about seeing the recompense body before the grounds 〔T35n1733 0158b15〕, and judges for himself that the Saṃdhinirmocana makes its meaning plain with respect to seven grounds and that the Awakening of Faith is with respect to the final teaching, seeing in dependence on samādhi.
- What the Wujiao zhang carries on: the text of the Huayan yicheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang T45n1866 〔0498b13–0498b24〕 on the three classes of oceans of worlds and the tenfold worlds is entirely the same as that of the Tanxuan ji 〔0158a27–0158b12〕; it is the doctrinal classification the Huayan treatises established by carrying on the single name 「世界海」 tr. “ocean of worlds” from this chapter, and it is recorded here.
- (Nothing found): the Cheng weishi lun and the Yogācārabhūmi are not met with within the passages of Chengguan’s Shu and Chao, the Tanxuan ji, and the Xin Huayan jing lun on this chapter; the absence is recorded. This chapter has no separate circulating treatise that lemmatizes it (unlike the Ten Grounds, which has the Shidi jing lun); the absence is recorded. The forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T293 renders only the chapter on Entering the Inconceivable Realm of Liberation, the Conduct and Vows of Samantabhadra, and has no text corresponding to this chapter; the absence is recorded.
VIII. Edition Location Register
- Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text): “The Formation of the Worlds, chapter four,” beginning at 〔T10n0279 0034b09〕 (within fascicle 7) and ending before “The Flower-Treasury World, chapter five” 〔0039a15〕. The root portion: contemplating universally by the power received 0034b10 · restating the question and praising summarily 0034b12 · granting the exposition and its extent 0034c07 · the benefits the exposition accomplishes 0034c08 · the prose of praising the excellence and enjoining attention 0035a01 · the ten verses of praising the excellence 0035a02 · the listing of the ten things 0035a19 · thing one, the causes and conditions of being furnished, prose 0035a25 (verse 0035b06) · thing two, that upon which they abide, prose 0035b25 (verse 0035c05) · thing three, shape, prose 0036a21 (verse 0036a28) · thing four, substance, prose 0036b19 (verse 0036c03) · thing five, adornment, prose 0036c22 (verse 0037a05) · thing six, purity, prose 0037a27 (verse 0037b07) · thing seven, the arising of buddhas, prose 0037b26 (verse 0037c04) · thing eight, kalpa-abiding, prose 0037c25 (verse 0038a02) · thing nine, kalpa-transformation, prose 0038a24 (verse 0038b09) · thing ten, freedom from differentiation, prose 0038c01 (verse 0038c15).
- Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin translation, the principal parallel collated): the corresponding passage within “Rocana Buddha, chapter two,” beginning at 〔T09n0278 0409c10〕 and ending at 〔0412a19〕. The listing of the ten names 0409c11 · the causes and conditions of being furnished 0409c16 (verse 0409c23) · that upon which they abide 0410a22 (verse 0410a27) · shape 0410c03 (verse 0410c06) · substance 0411a04 (verse 0411a07) · adornment 0411a28 (verse 0411b03) · purity 0411b25 (verse 0411b29) · the Tathāgata’s appearing in the world 0411c19 (verse 0411c23) · kalpa-abiding 0412a16 (no verse). The following section, beginning at 〔0412a20〕, turns into the teaching of the ocean of worlds of the lotus treasury, which corresponds to the eighty’s chapter on the Flower-Treasury World.
- Chengguan, Shu, T35n1735: the commentary on the Formation of the Worlds begins at 0573b20 (the reason for its coming 0573b20 · the explanation of the name 0573b21 · the collating of the Sanskrit text 0573b29 · the tenet and aim 0573c03 · the citing of a verse of this chapter 0573c12 · the judgment of the three chapters in explaining the text 0573c17 · the root portion and the expository portion 0573c27 · contemplating universally 0573c29 · the four sections of restating the question 0574a04 · the first ten clauses 0574a08 · the contemplating and the praising completing each other 0574a09 · the ten clauses from “pure” onward 0574b08 · the ten clauses from “abiding in the buddha-ground” onward 0574b20 · granting the exposition and its extent 0574b24 · the five pairs of the benefits the exposition accomplishes 0574c01 · the eleven clauses of praising the excellence 0574c06 · the division of the ten verses in two 0574c10 · the section extensively setting forth the meaning proper 0574c17 · the three of setting out the chapter-headings 0574c20 · the explanation of “ocean” 0574c22 · the calling for and listing of the ten senses 0574c26 · the subsuming of the eighteen perfections 0574c29 · concluding the summary and showing the breadth 0575a01 · the indeterminate number of the ten things 0575a03 · the distinguishing of freedom from differentiation 0575a08 · the refuting of “one land, one condition” 0575a21 · the general rule for the explanation section by section 0575b02 · the three lands 0575b05).
- Chengguan, Chao, T36n1736: the subcommentary on the Formation of the Worlds begins at 0191c27 (the two senses of the coming of the section and the coming of the chapter 0191c28 · the four divisions of the explanation of the name 0192a05 · the second explanation of “world” 0192a07 · the explanation of “formation” 0192a11 · the collating of the six compounds 0192a13 · the collating of the Sanskrit 0192a14 · the Sanskrit set out in full 0192a15 · the name of the chapter in reversed word order 0192a17 · the word “ocean” as of the essence 0192a19) and ends before 0192a22.
- Fazang, Tanxuan ji, T35n1733: the section of the direct setting forth of the ocean of Dharma within the chapter on Rocana Buddha begins at 0157c12 (the difference in those able to expound 0157c12 · the five kinds of exposition in the Zhilun 0157c14 · the five kinds of exposition in this sūtra 0157c17 · the skeleton of the textual outline 0157c19 · the setting out and listing of the chapter-headings 0157c23 · the four senses of “speaking of the ocean of worlds” 0157c25 · the sense of each of the ten names 0158a01 · the ten gates of the general explanation 0158a05 · class, and the three lands of the three vehicles 0158a09 · the three classes of the One Vehicle 0158a27 · the tenfold worlds 0158b02 · the three classes alike having the ten things 0158b08 · the listing of the ten names 0158b09 · those who dwell there 0158b12 · the collating of the Saṃdhinirmocana and the Awakening of Faith 0158b15 · the ten buddhas in the three places 0158b19 · name and substance 0158b21 · the substance of a land according to the five teachings 0158b23 · the citing of the Shedacheng lun 0158b27 · the inexhaustible Dharma realm as substance in the One Vehicle 0158b29) and ends at 0158c02.
- Zhiyan, Souxuan ji, T35n1732: the extended text of the exposition proper within the chapter on Rocana Buddha begins at 0023b06 (the three-section outline 0023b13 · the question and answer on treating only the ocean of worlds 0023b16 · the listing of the ten names and their separate explanation 0023b21 · the last one and the first one listed by name and not explained 0023b24 · the four lands of the three vehicles and the two kinds of the One Vehicle 0023b26 · the matching against the eighteen perfect purities of the Shedacheng lun 0023b29 · the matching of the causes and conditions of being furnished with the perfect purity of cause 0023c03 · eight within the particular 0023c06 · the outline of the twenty verses 0023c10 · the thirty and a half verses within the section on abiding 0023c11).
- Fazang, Wujiao zhang, T45n1866: the two kinds upon which the realm of the ten buddhas rests 0498b12 · the three classes of oceans of worlds 0498b14 · the tenfold worlds 0498b17 · measureless worlds of separate classes 0498b20.
- Li Tongxuan, Lun, T36n1739: the Formation of the Worlds begins at 0801a22 (the three gates 0801a23 · the explanation of the name of the chapter 0801a25 · the five senses of the explanation of the reason for the chapter’s coming 0801b02 · the second sense 0801b08 · the third sense 0801b12 · the fourth sense 0801b14 · the fifth sense 0801b16 · were there no such chapter 0801b18 · the citing of a verse of this chapter 0801b23 · the distinguishing of the pure lands of the three vehicles in another quarter 0801b26 · layer upon layer, unobstructed and without end 0801c04) and ends before 0801c07.
- Variant readings: within the range of T279 covered by this unit, 〔0034b09〕–〔0039a14〕, the Taishō base text carries 9 collation notes, recorded one by one without adjudication (base reading 【大】｜variant readings of other witnesses, several witnesses separated by ／): 〔0035b06〕觀察十方【大】｜無此字【宮】 · 〔0035c25〕通【大】｜變【宋】【明】【宮】 · 〔0036a23〕漩【大】｜旋【宋】【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0036b04〕壅【大】｜擁【宮】 · 〔0037c03〕觀察【大】｜普觀【宮】 · 〔0038a01〕住【大】｜住或有不可說不可說劫住（凡11字）【明】 · 〔0038b17〕見【大】｜者【元】【明】 · 〔0038c15〕數【大】｜數無差別【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0038c16〕威力【大】｜威神【宮】. The interlinear notes (phonetic and collation glosses) were stripped and recorded at the level of the original-text layer; the original-text layer carries no
□lacuna marks. - A further note upon the variant readings: 2 CBETA emendations (not counted among the Taishō collation notes listed above): 〔0034b09〕【CB】｜大方廣佛華嚴經【大】／無此字【明】 · 〔0036b11〕住【CB】｜主【大】／住【宋】【元】【明】【宮】.
- A record of the actual counts: the number of items listed in the prose of the ten things of this chapter counts out as — the causes and conditions of being furnished, ten · that upon which they abide, ten · shape, ten · substance, twenty · adornment, ten · purity, ten · the arising of buddhas, ten · kalpa-abiding, nine · kalpa-transformation, ten · freedom from differentiation, ten; the repeated verses come in eleven sections, the number of verses being in order ten · nine · twenty-two · ten · ten · ten · nine · ten · ten · ten · ten, one hundred and twenty verses in all. In the passage of praising the Buddha that restates the question, the clauses closing with 「不可思議」 tr. “inconceivable” number twenty-nine.