華嚴經 品五 華藏世界品 · 所持剎網差別一·世界種總標·十海之首Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Flower-Treasury World · The Differentiated Net of Lands It Sustains, Part One: The World-Seeds Summarized and the First of the Ten Seas
普賢問了一句：這裡頭到底住著什麼樣的世界。然後他開始數。
先數十義，再數依止十例、形狀二十例、體性二十例。體性的後十例全是音聲——眾生的業音、菩薩的願音、佛的功德音。世界不是石頭做的，是業與願做的。
十首偈把這一切差別收攏成一句：「雖見十方普入中，而實無來無所入。」
然後鏡頭推到中央那一顆當心之珠：無邊妙華光香水海，海上一朵大蓮華，華上一個世界種，種裡二十層世界一層一層往上。
第十三層，經文換了說法。二十層之中十九層都作『佛號某某』，唯獨這一層寫「其佛即是毘盧遮那如來世尊」。這一層叫娑婆，也是沒有「純一清淨」四字的那幾層之一。
所以這一大段不可說的莊嚴，最後落在很近的地方——你正住在第十三層，本師就在這裡。
Samantabhadra asked one question: what sort of worlds dwell in here. And then he began to count.
First he counts the ten senses, then ten instances of resting, twenty of shape, twenty of substance. The latter ten instances of substance are all sound — the sound of the deeds of beings, the sound of the vows of bodhisattvas, the sound of the merit of the buddhas. Worlds are not made of stone; they are made of deeds and vows.
Ten verses gather all this difference into one line: “Though one sees the ten directions entering universally within, in truth there is no coming and nothing entered.”
Then the lens moves in upon the one pearl at the centre: the fragrant-water sea Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance, upon the sea one great lotus, upon the flower one world-seed, and within the seed twenty tiers of worlds rising one above another.
At the thirteenth tier the sūtra changes its wording. Of the twenty tiers, nineteen say ‘the buddha there is titled such-and-such’; this one alone says “its buddha is precisely Vairocana Tathāgata, the World-Honoured One.” This tier is named Sahā, and it is also one of the few tiers that lack the four words “purely and solely pure”.
So this whole vast stretch of inexpressible adornment comes to rest somewhere very near — you are living on the thirteenth tier, and the root teacher is right here.
〔T10 0041〕
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：
「諸佛子！此中有何等世界住？我今當說。諸佛子！此不可說佛剎微塵數香水海中，有不可說佛剎微塵數世界種安住；一一世界種，復有不可說佛剎微塵數世界。諸佛子！彼諸世界種，於世界海中，各各依住，各各形狀，各各體性，各各方所，各各趣入，各各莊嚴，各各分齊，各各行列，各各無差別，各各力加持。
「諸佛子！此世界種，或有依大蓮華海住，或有依無邊色寶華海住，或有依一切真珠藏寶瓔珞海住，或有依香水海住，或有依一切華海住，或有依摩尼寶網海住，或有依漩流光海住，或有依菩薩寶莊嚴冠海住，或有依種種眾生身海住，或有依一切佛音聲摩尼王海住……。如是等，若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。
〔T10 0042〕
「諸佛子！彼一切世界種，或有作須彌山形，或作江河形，或作迴轉形，或作漩流形，或作輪輞形，或作壇墠形，或作樹林形，或作樓閣形，或作山幢形，或作普方形，或作胎藏形，或作蓮華形，或作佉勒迦形，或作眾生身形，或作雲形，或作諸佛相好形，或作圓滿光明形，或作種種珠網形，或作一切門闥形，或作諸莊嚴具形……。如是等，若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。
「諸佛子！彼一切世界種，或有以十方摩尼雲為體，或有以眾色焰為體，或有以諸光明為體，或有以寶香焰為體，或有以一切寶莊嚴多羅華為體，或有以菩薩影像為體，或有以諸佛光明為體，或有以佛色相為體，或有以一寶光為體，或有以眾寶光為體，或有以一切眾生福德海音聲為體，或有以一切眾生諸業海音聲為體，或有以一切佛境界清淨音聲為體，或有以一切菩薩大願海音聲為體，或有以一切佛方便音聲為體，或有以一切剎莊嚴具成壞音聲為體，或有以無邊佛音聲為體，或有以一切佛變化音聲為體，或有以一切眾生善音聲為體，或有以一切佛功德海清淨音聲為體……。如是等，若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。」
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛神力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「剎種堅固妙莊嚴，廣大清淨光明藏，
依止蓮華寶海住，或有住於香海等。
須彌城樹壇墠形，一切剎種遍十方，
種種莊嚴形相別，各各布列而安住。
或有體是淨光明，或是華藏及寶雲，
或有剎種焰所成，安住摩尼不壞藏。
燈雲焰彩光明等，種種無邊清淨色，
或有言音以為體，是佛所演不思議。
或是願力所出音，神變音聲為體性，
一切眾生大福業，佛功德音亦如是。
剎種一一差別門，不可思議無有盡，
如是十方皆遍滿，廣大莊嚴現神力。
十方所有廣大剎，悉來入此世界種，
雖見十方普入中，而實無來無所入。
以一剎種入一切，一切入一亦無餘，
體相如本無差別，無等無量悉周遍。
一切國土微塵中，普見如來在其所，
願海言音若雷震，一切眾生悉調伏。
佛身周遍一切剎，無數菩薩亦充滿，
如來自在無等倫，普化一切諸含識。」
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：
「諸佛子！此不可說佛剎微塵數香水海，在華藏莊嚴世界海中，如天帝網分布而住。諸佛子！此最中央香水海，名：無邊妙華光，以現一切菩薩形摩尼王幢為底；出大蓮華，名：一切香摩尼王莊嚴；有世界種而住其上，名：普照十方熾然寶光明，以一切莊嚴具為體，有不可說佛剎微塵數世界於中布列。其最下方有世界，名：最勝光遍照，以一切金剛莊嚴光耀輪為際，依眾寶摩尼華而住；其狀猶如摩尼寶形，一切寶華莊嚴雲彌覆其上，佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，種種安住，種種莊嚴，佛號：淨眼離垢燈。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：種種香蓮華妙莊嚴，以一切莊嚴具為際，依寶蓮華網而住；其狀猶如師子之座，一切寶色珠帳雲彌覆其上，二佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：師子光勝照。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：一切寶莊嚴普照光，以香風輪為際，依種種寶華瓔珞住；其形八隅，妙光摩尼日輪雲而覆其上，三佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：淨光智勝幢。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：種種光明華莊嚴，以一切寶王為際，依眾色金剛尸羅幢海住；其狀猶如摩尼蓮華，以金剛摩尼寶光雲而覆其上，四佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，純一清淨，佛號：金剛光明無量精進力善出現。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：普放妙華光，以一切寶鈴莊嚴網為際，依一切樹林莊嚴寶輪網海住；其形普方而多有隅角，梵音摩尼王雲以覆其上，五佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：香光喜力海。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：淨妙光明，以寶王莊嚴幢為際，依金剛宮殿海住；其形四方，摩尼輪髻帳雲而覆其上，六佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：普光自在幢。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：眾華焰莊嚴，以種種華莊嚴為際，依一切寶色焰海住；其狀猶如樓閣之形，一切寶色衣真珠欄楯雲而覆其上，七佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，純一清淨，佛號：歡喜海功德名稱自在光。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：出生威力地，以出一切聲摩尼王莊嚴為際，依種種寶色蓮華座虛空海住；其狀猶如因陀羅網，以無邊色華網雲而覆其上，八佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：廣大名稱智海幢。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：出妙音聲，以心王摩尼莊嚴輪為際，依恒出一切妙音聲莊嚴雲摩尼王海住；其狀猶如梵天身形，無量寶莊嚴師子座雲而覆其上，九佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：清淨月光明相無能摧伏。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：金剛幢，以無邊莊嚴真珠藏寶瓔珞為際，依一切莊嚴寶師子座摩尼海住；其狀周圓，十須彌山微塵數一切香摩尼華須彌雲彌覆其上，十佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，純一清淨，佛號：一切法海最勝王。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：恒出現帝青寶光明，以極堅牢不可壞金剛莊嚴為際，依種種殊異華海住；其狀猶如半月之形，諸天寶帳雲而覆其上，十一佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：無量功德法。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：光明照耀，以普光莊嚴為際，依華旋香水海住；狀如華旋，種種衣雲而覆其上，十二佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：超釋梵。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，至此世界，名：娑婆，以金剛莊嚴為際，依種種色風輪所持蓮華網住；狀如虛空，以普圓滿天宮殿莊嚴虛空雲而覆其上，十三佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，其佛即是毘盧遮那如來世尊。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：寂靜離塵光，以一切寶莊嚴為際，依種種寶衣海住；其狀猶如執金剛形，無邊色金剛雲而覆其上，十四佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：遍法界勝音。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：眾妙光明燈，以一切莊嚴帳為際，依淨華網海住；其狀猶如卐字之形，摩尼樹香水海雲而覆其上，十五佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，純一清淨，佛號：不可摧伏力普照幢。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：清淨光遍照，以無盡寶雲摩尼王為際，依種種香焰蓮華海住；其狀猶如龜甲之形，圓光摩尼輪栴檀雲而覆其上，十六佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：清淨日功德眼。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：寶莊嚴藏，以一切眾生形摩尼王為際，依光明藏摩尼王海住；其形八隅，以一切輪圍山寶莊嚴華樹網彌覆其上，十七佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：無礙智光明遍照十方。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：離塵，以一切殊妙相莊嚴為際，依眾妙華師子座海住；狀如珠瓔，以一切寶香摩尼王圓光雲而覆其上，十八佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，純一清淨，佛號：無量方便最勝幢。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：清淨光普照，以出無盡寶雲摩尼王為際，依無量色香焰須彌山海住；其狀猶如寶華旋布，以無邊色光明摩尼王帝青雲而覆其上，十九佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，佛號：普照法界虛空光。此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界，名：妙寶焰，以普光明日月寶為際，依一切諸天形摩尼王海住；其狀猶如寶莊嚴具，以一切寶衣幢雲及摩尼燈藏網而覆其上，二十佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，純一清淨，佛號：福德相光明。
〔T10 0043〕
「諸佛子！此遍照十方熾然寶光明世界種，有如是等不可說佛剎微塵數廣大世界，各各所依住，各各形狀，各各體性，各各方面，各各趣入，各各莊嚴，各各分齊，各各行列，各各無差別，各各力加持，周匝圍遶。所謂：十佛剎微塵數迴轉形世界、十佛剎微塵數江河形世界、十佛剎微塵數漩流形世界、十佛剎微塵數輪輞形世界、十佛剎微塵數壇墠形世界、十佛剎微塵數樹林形世界、十佛剎微塵數樓觀形世界、十佛剎微塵數尸羅幢形世界、十佛剎微塵數普方形世界、十佛剎微塵數胎藏形世界、十佛剎微塵數蓮華形世界、十佛剎微塵數佉勒迦形世界、十佛剎微塵數種種眾生形世界、十佛剎微塵數佛相形世界、十佛剎微塵數圓光形世界、十佛剎微塵數雲形世界、十佛剎微塵數網形世界、十佛剎微塵數門闥形世界……。如是等，有不可說佛剎微塵數。此一一世界，各有十佛剎微塵數廣大世界周匝圍遶。此諸世界，一一復有如上所說微塵數世界而為眷屬。如是所說一切世界，皆在此無邊妙華光香水海及圍遶此海香水河中。」
〔卷9〕
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.
許說與十義：世界種各各不同的十個方面
（這時候，普賢菩薩又一次告訴在座的大眾說：）
「諸位佛子！這座華藏莊嚴世界海當中，究竟有些什麼樣的世界安住在裡面呢？我現在就要說。諸位佛子！在這不可說佛剎微塵數（多到說不出數目、其數如同把無量佛國土磨成微塵那麼多）的香水海當中，有不可說佛剎微塵數的世界種（許多世界聚在一處而成的一大類）安住在裡面；而每一個世界種裡面，又有不可說佛剎微塵數的世界。諸位佛子！那許許多多的世界種，在世界海當中，各有各的依止安住，各有各的形狀，各有各的體性（構成它的質地），各有各的方位處所，各有各的趣入之門，各有各的莊嚴，各有各的分齊（範圍與界限），各有各的行列排布，各有各的無差別，各有各的力所加持。
依止十例：世界種依止在什麼上面
「諸位佛子！這些世界種，有的是依止著大蓮華海而安住，有的是依止著無邊色寶華海而安住，有的是依止著一切真珠藏寶瓔珞海而安住，有的是依止著香水海而安住，有的是依止著一切華海而安住，有的是依止著摩尼寶網海（摩尼是能隨意出生所須之物的寶珠）而安住，有的是依止著漩流光海而安住，有的是依止著菩薩寶莊嚴冠海而安住，有的是依止著種種眾生身海而安住，有的是依止著一切佛音聲摩尼王海而安住……。像這樣的種種，若是廣說起來，其數有世界海微塵數（多到如同把世界海磨成微塵那麼多）之多。
形狀二十例：世界種現作什麼樣子
「諸位佛子！那一切的世界種，有的作須彌山的形狀，有的作江河的形狀，有的作迴轉的形狀（像衣褶那樣往來摺疊之形），有的作漩流的形狀，有的作輪輞（車輪外圈）的形狀，有的作壇墠的形狀（築起土來叫作壇，清除出地面來叫作墠），有的作樹林的形狀，有的作樓閣的形狀，有的作山幢的形狀，有的作普方的形狀（整體看去是方的，而一面之中又有許多角隅），有的作胎藏的形狀，有的作蓮華的形狀，有的作佉勒迦的形狀（佉勒迦是梵語的音，此地叫作竹篅，即盛穀的圓竹囤），有的作眾生身的形狀，有的作雲的形狀，有的作諸佛相好的形狀，有的作圓滿光明的形狀，有的作種種珠網的形狀，有的作一切門闥（門與門樓）的形狀，有的作諸莊嚴具的形狀……。像這樣的種種，若是廣說起來，其數有世界海微塵數之多。
體性二十例：世界種以什麼為體
「諸位佛子！那一切的世界種，有的以十方摩尼雲為體，有的以眾色焰為體，有的以諸般光明為體，有的以寶香焰為體，有的以一切寶莊嚴的多羅華（一種高大的樹所開之華）為體，有的以菩薩的影像為體，有的以諸佛的光明為體，有的以佛的色相為體，有的以一顆寶珠之光為體，有的以眾多寶珠之光為體，有的以一切眾生福德海的音聲為體，有的以一切眾生諸業海的音聲為體，有的以一切佛境界清淨的音聲為體，有的以一切菩薩大願海的音聲為體，有的以一切佛方便的音聲為體，有的以一切剎莊嚴具成壞的音聲為體，有的以無邊佛的音聲為體，有的以一切佛變化的音聲為體，有的以一切眾生善的音聲為體，有的以一切佛功德海清淨的音聲為體……。像這樣的種種，若是廣說起來，其數有世界海微塵數之多。」
重頌十首：把上面的義理再說一遍
這時候，普賢菩薩想要把上面所說的義理再宣說一遍，便承著佛的神力，觀察十方而說出偈頌來：
「剎種（世界種）堅固而妙好莊嚴，廣大清淨，是光明之藏， 它依止在蓮華寶海上安住，也有的安住在香水海等處。
有的作須彌形、有的作城形、有的作樹形、有的作壇墠形， 一切的剎種遍滿十方， 種種莊嚴而形相各別， 各自布列開來而安住。
有的以清淨的光明為體，有的是華藏，有的是寶雲， 有的剎種是由焰所成， 安住在摩尼不壞之藏上。
燈、雲、焰彩、光明等等，是種種無邊的清淨顏色， 也有的以言音作為體性， 那是佛所演說的不可思議之音。
有的是願力所發出之音，以神變的音聲為體性， 一切眾生的大福業之音、佛功德之音，也都同樣可以為體。
剎種一一各別的門，不可思議而沒有窮盡， 像這樣遍滿十方一切處， 廣大的莊嚴之中顯現神力。
十方所有的廣大剎土，全都來入於這一個世界種當中， 雖然看見十方普遍入於其中， 而其實沒有來者，也沒有所入。
以一個剎種入於一切剎種，一切剎種入於一個剎種也沒有剩餘， 體與相如同本來一樣沒有差別， 無可等比、無有限量而全都周遍。
在一切國土的每一微塵當中，都普遍看見如來在那裡， 願海所發的言音好像雷震一般， 一切眾生全都被調伏。
佛身周遍在一切剎土之中，無數的菩薩也充滿其中， 如來的自在沒有可與相比的， 普遍度化一切含識（有心識的眾生）。」
香水海如天帝網：先說總的布局
這時候，普賢菩薩又一次告訴大眾說：
「諸位佛子！這不可說佛剎微塵數的香水海，都在華藏莊嚴世界海當中，好像天帝的寶網那樣分布而安住。
中央的無邊妙華光香水海：海、華、世界種
「諸位佛子！這最中央的香水海，名叫無邊妙華光，是以現出一切菩薩形像的摩尼王幢作它的底；從中出生一朵大蓮華，名叫一切香摩尼王莊嚴；有一個世界種安住在這朵大蓮華之上，名叫普照十方熾然寶光明，以一切莊嚴具為體，有不可說佛剎微塵數的世界在其中布列開來。
二十重之一至五：從最下一層數起
「這個世界種的最下方有一個世界，名叫最勝光遍照，以一切金剛莊嚴光耀輪為它的邊際，依止著眾寶摩尼華而安住；它的形狀好像摩尼寶的樣子，有一切寶華莊嚴雲彌覆在它上面，有佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞著它，種種安住，種種莊嚴，那裡的佛號叫作淨眼離垢燈。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫種種香蓮華妙莊嚴，以一切莊嚴具為它的邊際，依止著寶蓮華網而安住；它的形狀好像師子之座，有一切寶色珠帳雲彌覆在它上面，有二佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作師子光勝照。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫一切寶莊嚴普照光，以香風輪為它的邊際，依止著種種寶華瓔珞而住；它的形狀是八個角隅，有妙光摩尼日輪雲覆蓋在它上面，有三佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作淨光智勝幢。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫種種光明華莊嚴，以一切寶王為它的邊際，依止著眾色金剛尸羅幢海而住；它的形狀好像摩尼蓮華，以金剛摩尼寶光雲覆蓋在它上面，有四佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，這個世界是純一清淨的（沒有雜染），那裡的佛號叫作金剛光明無量精進力善出現。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫普放妙華光，以一切寶鈴莊嚴網為它的邊際，依止著一切樹林莊嚴寶輪網海而住；它的形狀大體是方的而又多有角隅，有梵音摩尼王雲覆蓋在它上面，有五佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作香光喜力海。
二十重之六至十：往上再數五層
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫淨妙光明，以寶王莊嚴幢為它的邊際，依止著金剛宮殿海而住；它的形狀是四方的，有摩尼輪髻帳雲覆蓋在它上面，有六佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作普光自在幢。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫眾華焰莊嚴，以種種華莊嚴為它的邊際，依止著一切寶色焰海而住；它的形狀好像樓閣之形，有一切寶色衣真珠欄楯雲覆蓋在它上面，有七佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，是純一清淨的，那裡的佛號叫作歡喜海功德名稱自在光。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫出生威力地，以出生一切聲的摩尼王莊嚴為它的邊際，依止著種種寶色蓮華座虛空海而住；它的形狀好像因陀羅網（天帝的珠網），以無邊色華網雲覆蓋在它上面，有八佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作廣大名稱智海幢。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫出妙音聲，以心王摩尼莊嚴輪為它的邊際，依止著恒常出生一切妙音聲莊嚴雲的摩尼王海而住；它的形狀好像梵天的身形，有無量寶莊嚴師子座雲覆蓋在它上面，有九佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作清淨月光明相無能摧伏。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫金剛幢，以無邊莊嚴真珠藏寶瓔珞為它的邊際，依止著一切莊嚴寶師子座摩尼海而住；它的形狀是周圓的，有十須彌山微塵數的一切香摩尼華須彌雲彌覆在它上面，有十佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，是純一清淨的，那裡的佛號叫作一切法海最勝王。
二十重之十一至十五：娑婆世界就在其中
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫恒出現帝青寶光明，以極堅牢不可壞的金剛莊嚴為它的邊際，依止著種種殊異華海而住；它的形狀好像半月之形，有諸天寶帳雲覆蓋在它上面，有十一佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作無量功德法。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫光明照耀，以普光莊嚴為它的邊際，依止著華旋香水海而住；形狀如同華的旋轉，有種種衣雲覆蓋在它上面，有十二佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作超釋梵。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，就到了這一個世界，名叫娑婆（堪忍，即我們所住的世界），以金剛莊嚴為它的邊際，依止著種種色風輪所執持的蓮華網而住；形狀如同虛空，以普遍圓滿的天宮殿莊嚴虛空雲覆蓋在它上面，有十三佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛就是毘盧遮那如來世尊。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫寂靜離塵光，以一切寶莊嚴為它的邊際，依止著種種寶衣海而住；它的形狀好像執金剛的樣子，有無邊色金剛雲覆蓋在它上面，有十四佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作遍法界勝音。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫眾妙光明燈，以一切莊嚴帳為它的邊際，依止著淨華網海而住；它的形狀好像卐字之形，有摩尼樹香水海雲覆蓋在它上面，有十五佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，是純一清淨的，那裡的佛號叫作不可摧伏力普照幢。
二十重之十六至二十：數到最上一層
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫清淨光遍照，以無盡寶雲摩尼王為它的邊際，依止著種種香焰蓮華海而住；它的形狀好像龜甲之形，有圓光摩尼輪栴檀雲覆蓋在它上面，有十六佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作清淨日功德眼。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫寶莊嚴藏，以一切眾生形的摩尼王為它的邊際，依止著光明藏摩尼王海而住；它的形狀是八個角隅，以一切輪圍山寶莊嚴華樹網彌覆在它上面，有十七佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作無礙智光明遍照十方。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫離塵，以一切殊妙相莊嚴為它的邊際，依止著眾妙華師子座海而住；形狀如同珠瓔，以一切寶香摩尼王圓光雲覆蓋在它上面，有十八佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，是純一清淨的，那裡的佛號叫作無量方便最勝幢。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫清淨光普照，以出生無盡寶雲的摩尼王為它的邊際，依止著無量色香焰須彌山海而住；它的形狀好像寶華旋轉布列，以無邊色光明摩尼王帝青雲覆蓋在它上面，有十九佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，那裡的佛號叫作普照法界虛空光。
「從這裡再往上，經過佛剎微塵數的世界，有一個世界，名叫妙寶焰，以普光明日月寶為它的邊際，依止著一切諸天形的摩尼王海而住；它的形狀好像寶莊嚴具，以一切寶衣幢雲以及摩尼燈藏網覆蓋在它上面，有二十佛剎微塵數的世界四周圍繞，是純一清淨的，那裡的佛號叫作福德相光明。
結分之一：十義再說一遍
「諸位佛子！這個遍照十方熾然寶光明世界種，有像上面所說這樣的不可說佛剎微塵數的廣大世界，各有各的所依安住，各有各的形狀，各有各的體性，各有各的方面，各有各的趣入之門，各有各的莊嚴，各有各的分齊，各有各的行列排布，各有各的無差別，各有各的力所加持，四周圍繞著。
結分之二：十八類形狀的世界
「就是說：有十佛剎微塵數的迴轉形世界、十佛剎微塵數的江河形世界、十佛剎微塵數的漩流形世界、十佛剎微塵數的輪輞形世界、十佛剎微塵數的壇墠形世界、十佛剎微塵數的樹林形世界、十佛剎微塵數的樓觀形世界、十佛剎微塵數的尸羅幢形世界、十佛剎微塵數的普方形世界、十佛剎微塵數的胎藏形世界、十佛剎微塵數的蓮華形世界、十佛剎微塵數的佉勒迦形世界、十佛剎微塵數的種種眾生形世界、十佛剎微塵數的佛相形世界、十佛剎微塵數的圓光形世界、十佛剎微塵數的雲形世界、十佛剎微塵數的網形世界、十佛剎微塵數的門闥形世界……。像這樣的種種，有不可說佛剎微塵數之多。
結分之三：眷屬與所在
「這每一個世界，各有十佛剎微塵數的廣大世界四周圍繞著。這許多世界，每一個又都有像上面所說微塵數那麼多的世界作它的眷屬。像這樣所說的一切世界，全都在這座無邊妙華光香水海之中，以及圍繞這座海的香水河之中。」
The Promise to Speak and the Ten Senses: The Ten Aspects in Which World-Seeds Differ
(At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva once again addressed the assembly gathered there, saying:)
“Sons of the Buddha! Within this sea of Flower-Treasury adorned worlds, what sort of worlds are there dwelling? I shall now speak of them. Sons of the Buddha! Within these fragrant-water seas — inexpressibly many, numbering the dust-motes of buddha-lands (so many that the number cannot be told; their number is as if measureless buddha-lands were ground into dust) — there dwell world-seeds numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands (a world-seed is one great class formed of many worlds gathered in one place); and within each single world-seed there are again worlds numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands. Sons of the Buddha! Those very many world-seeds, within the sea of worlds, each have their own resting place, each their own shape, each their own substance (the stuff of which they are made), each their own quarter and place, each their own gate of entry, each their own adornment, each their own extent (their range and their bounds), each their own ranked array, each their own non-difference, each their own sustaining power.
Ten Instances of Resting: What the World-Seeds Rest Upon
“Sons of the Buddha! Of these world-seeds, some rest upon a sea of great lotuses and so abide, some rest upon a sea of boundlessly coloured jewelled flowers and so abide, some rest upon a sea of jewelled necklaces from the treasury of all pearls and so abide, some rest upon a sea of fragrant waters and so abide, some rest upon a sea of all flowers and so abide, some rest upon a sea of maṇi-jewel nets and so abide (a maṇi is a jewel that can produce at will whatever is needed), some rest upon a sea of whirling and streaming radiance and so abide, some rest upon a sea of jewelled crowns adorning bodhisattvas and so abide, some rest upon a sea of the bodies of manifold beings and so abide, some rest upon a sea of maṇi-kings of the voices of all buddhas and so abide … . Such kinds as these, if one were to speak of them at length, are as many as the dust-motes of a sea of worlds (so many as if a sea of worlds were ground into dust).
Twenty Instances of Shape: What Shapes the World-Seeds Take
“Sons of the Buddha! Of all those world-seeds, some take the shape of Mount Sumeru, some take the shape of a river, some take the shape of a turning round (a shape that folds back and forth like the pleats of a robe), some take the shape of a whirling stream, some take the shape of a wheel-rim (the outer ring of a cartwheel), some take the shape of an altar-mound and a cleared ground (to heap up earth is called an altar-mound, to clear away the ground is called a cleared ground), some take the shape of a grove of trees, some take the shape of a storeyed pavilion, some take the shape of a mountain banner, some take the generally square shape (square when seen as a whole, yet with many corners within a single side), some take the shape of a womb-treasury, some take the shape of a lotus, some take the shape of a qulejia (qulejia is the sound of a Sanskrit word; in this land it is called a bamboo bin, that is, the round bamboo container in which grain is stored), some take the shape of the body of a being, some take the shape of a cloud, some take the shape of the marks and signs of the buddhas, some take the shape of perfect radiance, some take the shape of manifold pearl-nets, some take the shape of all manner of gates and gate-towers (the gate and the tower above it), some take the shape of all manner of ornaments … . Such kinds as these, if one were to speak of them at length, are as many as the dust-motes of a sea of worlds.
Twenty Instances of Substance: What the World-Seeds Have for Their Substance
“Sons of the Buddha! Of all those world-seeds, some have for their substance maṇi-clouds of the ten directions, some have for their substance flames of many colours, some have for their substance radiances of every kind, some have for their substance flames of jewelled fragrance, some have for their substance tāla flowers adorned with all jewels (the flower borne by a certain lofty tree), some have for their substance the reflected images of bodhisattvas, some have for their substance the radiance of the buddhas, some have for their substance the form and marks of a buddha, some have for their substance the light of a single jewel, some have for their substance the light of many jewels, some have for their substance the sound of the sea of merit of all beings, some have for their substance the sound of the sea of the deeds of all beings, some have for their substance the pure sound of the realm of all buddhas, some have for their substance the sound of the sea of the great vows of all bodhisattvas, some have for their substance the sound of the skilful means of all buddhas, some have for their substance the sound of the forming and breaking up of the ornaments of all lands, some have for their substance the voices of boundless buddhas, some have for their substance the sound of the transformations of all buddhas, some have for their substance the wholesome sound of all beings, some have for their substance the pure sound of the sea of merit of all buddhas … . Such kinds as these, if one were to speak of them at length, are as many as the dust-motes of a sea of worlds.”
Ten Repeating Verses: The Meaning Above Said Once More
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to proclaim once more the meaning spoken above, received the Buddha’s supernatural power, surveyed the ten directions, and uttered verses, saying:
“The land-seeds (the world-seeds) are firm and wondrously adorned, vast and pure, a treasury of radiance; they rest upon the sea of lotus jewels and so abide, and some abide upon seas of fragrant water and the like.
Some take the shape of Sumeru, some of a city, some of a tree, some of an altar-mound and cleared ground; all the land-seeds fill the ten directions, adorned in manifold ways, their forms each distinct, each spread out in its own array and so abiding.
Some have for their substance a pure radiance, some are flower-treasuries, some are jewelled clouds, some land-seeds are formed of flame, abiding upon an indestructible treasury of maṇi.
Lamps, clouds, flame-hues, radiances and the like are manifold and boundless pure colours, and some have speech and sound for their substance, the inconceivable voice that the Buddha proclaims.
Some are sounds put forth by the power of vow, with the voice of supernatural transformation for their substance; the sound of the great meritorious deeds of all beings and the sound of the Buddha’s merit can likewise be their substance.
The gates of the land-seeds, each distinct, are inconceivable and without end, and thus they fill every place in the ten directions, and within the vast adornment supernatural power appears.
All the vast lands of the ten directions come and enter into this one world-seed; though one sees the ten directions entering universally within, in truth there is no coming and nothing entered.
With one land-seed it enters all, and all enter one with nothing left over; substance and characteristic, as they originally are, are without difference, beyond compare, beyond measure, and all-pervading.
Within every dust-mote of every land the Tathāgata is universally seen dwelling there; the speech and sound of the sea of vows is like a thunderclap, and all beings are wholly tamed.
The Buddha’s body pervades all lands, and numberless bodhisattvas fill them too; the Tathāgata’s sovereign freedom is without peer, and he universally converts all that bear consciousness (beings that have mind and consciousness).”
The Fragrant-Water Seas Like Indra’s Net: The General Arrangement First
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva once again addressed the assembly, saying:
“Sons of the Buddha! These fragrant-water seas, numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands, are all within the sea of Flower-Treasury adorned worlds, spread out and abiding like the jewelled net of Indra, lord of the gods.
The Central Fragrant-Water Sea, Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance: The Sea, the Flower, the World-Seed
“Sons of the Buddha! This innermost fragrant-water sea is named Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance, and it has for its floor a maṇi-king banner that manifests the forms of all bodhisattvas; from within it a great lotus is born, named the Adornment of the Maṇi-King of All Fragrances; and a world-seed dwells upon that great lotus, named the Blazing Jewel Radiance Universally Illumining the Ten Directions, having all manner of ornaments for its substance, with worlds numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands spread out within it.
Tiers One to Five of the Twenty: Counting from the Lowest
“At the lowest point of this world-seed there is a world named Supreme Radiance Pervadingly Illumining, having for its bounding limit a shining wheel adorned with every kind of vajra, and resting upon maṇi flowers of many jewels; its shape is like that of a maṇi jewel, and clouds adorned with all jewelled flowers cover it over above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land encircle it all around, abiding in manifold ways and adorned in manifold ways; the buddha there is titled Pure Eye, Lamp Apart from Defilement.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named the Wondrous Adornment of Manifold Fragrant Lotuses, having all manner of ornaments for its bounding limit, and resting upon a net of jewelled lotuses; its shape is like a lion’s seat, and clouds of pearl-curtains of every jewelled colour cover it over above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of two buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Lion Radiance of Supreme Illumination.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named the Radiance of Universal Illumination Adorned with All Jewels, having a wheel of fragrant wind for its bounding limit, and resting upon manifold jewelled flowers and necklaces; its shape has eight corners, and clouds of wondrously radiant maṇi sun-discs cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of three buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Pure Radiance, Banner of Supreme Wisdom.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named the Adornment of Manifold Radiant Flowers, having all jewel-kings for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of śīla banners of vajra in many colours; its shape is like a maṇi lotus, and clouds of vajra and maṇi jewel-light cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of four buddha-lands encircle it all around; this world is purely and solely pure (with nothing defiled mixed in); the buddha there is titled Vajra Radiance, Measureless Power of Vigour, Well Appearing.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named Universally Emitting Wondrous Flower Radiance, having a net adorned with all jewelled bells for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of jewelled wheel-nets adorned with all groves of trees; its shape is generally square yet with many corners, and clouds of maṇi-kings of the sound of Brahmā cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of five buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Sea of Fragrant Radiance, Joy, and Power.
Tiers Six to Ten of the Twenty: Five More Tiers Upward
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named Pure and Wondrous Radiance, having a banner adorned with jewel-kings for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of vajra palaces; its shape is four-square, and clouds of maṇi wheel-topknot curtains cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of six buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Universal Radiance, Banner of Sovereign Freedom.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named the Adornment of the Flame of Many Flowers, having manifold flower-adornments for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of flames of every jewelled colour; its shape is like that of a storeyed pavilion, and clouds of pearl balustrades and robes of every jewelled colour cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of seven buddha-lands encircle it all around; it is purely and solely pure; the buddha there is titled Sea of Joy, Radiance of Sovereign Freedom in Merit and Renown.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named the Ground That Gives Birth to Majestic Power, having for its bounding limit an adornment of maṇi-kings that give forth every sound, and resting upon a sea of open space bearing lotus seats of every jewelled colour; its shape is like Indra’s net, and clouds of boundlessly coloured flower-nets cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of eight buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Vast Renown, Banner of the Sea of Wisdom.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named Putting Forth Wondrous Sounds, having a wheel adorned with mind-king maṇi for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of maṇi-kings that constantly give forth clouds adorned with all wondrous sounds; its shape is like the body of Brahmā, and clouds of measureless jewel-adorned lion seats cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of nine buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Pure Moon Radiance, Mark Invincible.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named Vajra Banner, having boundlessly adorned jewelled necklaces from the treasury of pearls for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of maṇi with all-adorned jewelled lion seats; its shape is round, and Sumeru-clouds of all fragrant maṇi flowers numbering the dust-motes of ten Mount Sumerus cover it over above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands encircle it all around; it is purely and solely pure; the buddha there is titled Supreme King of the Sea of All Dharmas.
Tiers Eleven to Fifteen of the Twenty: The Sahā World Is Among Them
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named the Radiance of the Sapphire Jewel Constantly Appearing, having a vajra adornment utterly firm and indestructible for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of manifold rare and distinct flowers; its shape is like that of a half-moon, and clouds of the jewelled curtains of the gods cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of eleven buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Dharma of Measureless Merit.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named Radiance Shining Forth, having universal radiant adornment for its bounding limit, and resting upon a fragrant-water sea of whirling flowers; its shape is like the whirling of a flower, and clouds of manifold robes cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of twelve buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Surpassing Śakra and Brahmā.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, one reaches this very world, named Sahā (the Endurable, that is, the world in which we dwell), having vajra adornment for its bounding limit, and resting upon a net of lotuses upheld by wind-wheels of every colour; its shape is like empty space, and clouds of space adorned with universally perfect heavenly palaces cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of thirteen buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is precisely Vairocana Tathāgata, the World-Honoured One.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named the Radiance of Stillness Apart from Dust, having all jewelled adornment for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of manifold jewelled robes; its shape is like that of a vajra-holder, and clouds of boundlessly coloured vajra cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of fourteen buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Supreme Sound Pervading the Dharma Realm.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named the Lamp of Many Wondrous Radiances, having all adorned curtains for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of pure flower-nets; its shape is like that of the svastika graph, and clouds of maṇi trees and fragrant-water seas cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of fifteen buddha-lands encircle it all around; it is purely and solely pure; the buddha there is titled Invincible Power, Banner of Universal Illumination.
Tiers Sixteen to Twenty of the Twenty: Counting to the Topmost
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named Pure Radiance Pervadingly Illumining, having maṇi-kings of inexhaustible jewelled clouds for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of lotuses of manifold fragrant flame; its shape is like that of a tortoise-shell, and clouds of sandalwood and maṇi wheels of round halo cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of sixteen buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Pure Sun, Eye of Merit.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named the Treasury of Jewelled Adornment, having maṇi-kings in the forms of all beings for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of maṇi-kings of the treasury of radiance; its shape has eight corners, and nets of jewel-adorned flowering trees of all the encircling mountain ranges cover it over above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of seventeen buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Unobstructed Wisdom-Radiance Pervadingly Illumining the Ten Directions.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named Apart from Dust, having the adornment of all rare and wondrous marks for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of lion seats of many wondrous flowers; its shape is like a string of pearls, and clouds of round halo of maṇi-kings of all jewelled fragrance cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of eighteen buddha-lands encircle it all around; it is purely and solely pure; the buddha there is titled Measureless Skilful Means, Supreme Banner.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named Pure Radiance Universally Illumining, having maṇi-kings that give birth to inexhaustible jewelled clouds for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of Mount Sumerus of measureless coloured fragrant flame; its shape is like the whirling spread of jewelled flowers, and sapphire clouds of maṇi-kings of boundlessly coloured radiance cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of nineteen buddha-lands encircle it all around; the buddha there is titled Radiance Universally Illumining the Dharma Realm and Space.
“Above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world named Wondrous Jewel Flame, having sun-and-moon jewels of universal radiance for its bounding limit, and resting upon a sea of maṇi-kings in the forms of all the gods; its shape is like that of a jewelled ornament, and clouds of banners of all jewelled robes together with nets of maṇi lamp-treasuries cover it above, and worlds numbering the dust-motes of twenty buddha-lands encircle it all around; it is purely and solely pure; the buddha there is titled Radiance of the Marks of Merit.
The Concluding Portion, One: The Ten Senses Said Once More
“Sons of the Buddha! This world-seed, the Blazing Jewel Radiance Pervadingly Illumining the Ten Directions, has vast worlds such as those spoken of above, numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands, each with its own place of resting, each with its own shape, each with its own substance, each with its own direction, each with its own gate of entry, each with its own adornment, each with its own extent, each with its own ranked array, each with its own non-difference, each with its own sustaining power, encircling it all around.
The Concluding Portion, Two: Worlds of Eighteen Classes of Shape
“That is to say: there are worlds of the turning-round shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the river shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the whirling-stream shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the wheel-rim shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the altar-mound and cleared-ground shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the grove-of-trees shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the storeyed-tower shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the śīla-banner shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the generally square shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the womb-treasury shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the lotus shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the qulejia shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the shape of manifold beings numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the buddha-mark shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the round-halo shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the cloud shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the net shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, worlds of the gate-and-gate-tower shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands … . Such kinds as these are as many as the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands.
The Concluding Portion, Three: Retinue and Whereabouts
“Each single one of these worlds has vast worlds numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands encircling it all around. And each one of these many worlds again has worlds as many as the dust-motes spoken of above for its retinue. All the worlds thus spoken of are within this fragrant-water sea Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance, and within the fragrant-water rivers that encircle this sea.”
先看清楚這一段在答什麼
前面兩段說的是華藏世界海自己——它的因、它的體、它上上下下的安布莊嚴。到這裡，普賢轉了一個方向：不再說這個海是什麼，而說這個海裡裝著什麼。澄觀科這一整品為三段，第三段就叫『所持剎網差別』，本段是它的頭。
段一開口就是一問一許：『此中有何等世界住？我今當說。』這是澄觀所科的第一節「告眾許說」。接著兩句立下全段的骨架——不可說香水海中有不可說世界種，一一世界種中又有不可說世界。澄觀科這兩句為「雙標二章」，所標的兩章就是種與剎。他把三者的寬窄一句說盡：剎種依剎海，諸剎依剎種。海最寬，種次之，剎最細。後文所有的名目，不出這三層。
排誤：不要把「世界種」讀成種子。澄觀釋名說得明白，是積多世界共在一處，攝諸流類，所以叫種；這樣的種類又多到深廣無邊，所以叫海。他還舉了一個很家常的譬喻：許多魚聚成一類，魚龍龜鼈山泉島嶼各成一類，而全都收在一個大海裡。至於「世界無邊」怎麼講？他說海外有海，海海無窮。落地：讀本段不必去畫星圖，先把海、種、剎這三個層級記住，後面二十層才不會讀亂。
種到底有沒有自己的體
先問：既然世界種只是『許多世界聚在一起』的一個總名，那它就沒有自己的體了；可下文偏偏說它有形狀、有體性，這不是自相矛盾嗎？
這一難是澄觀自己設的，他也自己通：雖然是依著種類而立「種」這個名，卻不妨這個種另外有它自己的體。譬喻換了一個——許多蜂孔共成一個蜂窠，難道這個窠就不能另有它自己的體嗎？他還特別交代一句：前面舉魚龍，只是分喻，不能全比。
接著他出第二義：依這一層意思，也可以叫作「種性」——依著這個種能生出世界來，好像依著一根禾能結出許多穀粒。這句話還帶出一段譯史：舊本譯作「性」，取的正是這個能生的意思；後來怕跟「體性」混淆，所以改譯作「種」。落地：一個名相底下常疊著兩層意思——一層是『聚攏』，一層是「能生」。八十本取前者作名，六十本取後者作名，兩本並不打架。
十義總標：十不是定數
經文列出世界種各各不同的十個方面：依住、形狀、體性、方所、趣入、莊嚴、分齊、行列、無差別、力加持。
先問：為什麼恰好是十？澄觀答得斬釘截鐵：皆顯十者，俱表無盡。十不是清單的長度，是『說不完』的表法。他還做了一件很細的事：把這十義拿去跟前面〈世界成就品〉的十事逐條對勘，結果是互有互無——起具因緣、清淨佛出、劫住轉變三事是那邊有這邊無；方所、分齊、行列、趣入、力持五事是那邊無這邊有；依住、形體、莊嚴三事兩邊名同。前後互出，合起來共有十五。
排誤：既然合起來有十五，那「十」就更不是定數了。澄觀對此也有交代——所以各說十者，是要顯無盡；所以彼此有異，是要彰顯義門的多端；所以又留幾條相同，是怕人誤以為兩處全然無關。
落地：以後凡在本經見到「十種」，先問一句這十是不是定數。多數時候不是。
十義中的五義，疏家怎麼講
經文對十義只列名而不解釋。澄觀說，其中五義前段已釋，此處另釋這五個：方所、趣入、分齊、行列、力加持。
方所有兩讀。若是圓滿的方所，就是周滿法界、無處不有，不即三界也不離三界；若是隨宜的方所，就是十方之中各有向背。趣入是依門而入；就法門說，指的是三解脫門，又有互相現入而無來去的意思。分齊也是兩讀：就事說，隨宜而有廣狹的差別；就佛說，則十方無際。行列就是道路；就事可以直接看懂，就法則指大念慧行作為所遊之路。力加持也是兩讀：就食來說，是能令世界得住；就法來說，是廣大法味喜樂之所任持。
排誤：不要把這五義讀成五種物理性質。澄觀每一義都給了「約事」與「約法」兩面——事上是布局，法上是行門。落地：讀依報而只見布局，是讀了一半。
依止十例：世界種站在什麼上面
經文舉了十個例：大蓮華海、無邊色寶華海、一切真珠藏寶瓔珞海、香水海、一切華海、摩尼寶網海、漩流光海、菩薩寶莊嚴冠海、種種眾生身海、一切佛音聲摩尼王海。列完之後收一句：像這樣的種種，廣說起來有世界海微塵數之多。
先問：為什麼所依的一律是「海」？澄觀在後段點出關鍵——雖然前面只標了種與剎兩章，可是釋依住的時候句句都說依海，所以下文才要另列海數。十例之中，前七是器物與光色之海，第八是菩薩寶冠之海，第九是眾生身之海，第十是佛音聲之海——由物而人、由人而佛，等次自見。
排誤：『依止眾生身海』不是說世界壓在誰身上。它與『依止佛音聲摩尼王海』是一對——依報之所依，可以是色，可以是身，也可以是聲。這正是下一段體性二十例中『以音聲為體』的先聲。落地：十例是十扇門，不是十個地基。
形狀二十例：世界種現什麼樣子
二十形依次是：須彌山、江河、迴轉、漩流、輪輞、壇墠、樹林、樓閣、山幢、普方、胎藏、蓮華、佉勒迦、眾生身、雲、諸佛相好、圓滿光明、種種珠網、一切門闥、諸莊嚴具。
先問：這一長串裡有幾個是今人讀不懂的？澄觀正好挑出三個來解。迴轉形，是像衣褶那樣往來摺疊之形。壇墠形，築起土來的叫壇，清除出地面的叫墠——一凸一凹，兩件事。佉勒迦是梵語的音，此地叫作竹篅，就是盛穀的圓竹囤。至於普方，他在後文釋二十重時另有一解：整體望去是方的，而一面之中又有許多角隅。
排誤：二十形不是二十種幾何圖形的分類。留意它的次第——從山川器物起，經樹林樓閣，到胎藏蓮華，再到眾生身、諸佛相好、圓滿光明，最後收在門闥與莊嚴具。由粗至細、由物至佛、由閉至開。落地：形狀之所以要「約陳」，李通玄說得最直白——為的是化眾生，令眾生把狹劣的心撐開。
體性二十例：前十是色，後十是聲
二十體依次是：十方摩尼雲、眾色焰、諸光明、寶香焰、一切寶莊嚴多羅華、菩薩影像、諸佛光明、佛色相、一寶光、眾寶光；以下轉入音聲——一切眾生福德海音聲、一切眾生諸業海音聲、一切佛境界清淨音聲、一切菩薩大願海音聲、一切佛方便音聲、一切剎莊嚴具成壞音聲、無邊佛音聲、一切佛變化音聲、一切眾生善音聲、一切佛功德海清淨音聲。
先問：二十個體性有沒有內在的分界？有，而且分得極整齊。澄觀一句點破：前十色相、後十是聲。前十都是可見之色，後十都是可聞之音。
排誤：『以音聲為體』不是說世界由聲波構成。細看後十之中，眾生福德海音、眾生諸業海音、眾生善音三條屬於眾生，佛境界清淨音、佛方便音、無邊佛音、佛變化音、佛功德海清淨音五條屬於佛，菩薩大願海音一條屬於菩薩，剎莊嚴具成壞音一條屬於器界——換句話說，這十條講的是業、願、法音之所成。落地：這正是本經依報不作物質讀的地方。世界是什麼做的？是眾生的業與佛的願做的。
重頌十首：疏家怎麼分段
長行說完，普賢承佛神力，觀察十方而說十首偈。澄觀把這十首分作六段：第一首頌依住；第二首頌形狀以及布列安住；第三、四、五三首頌體性；第六、七、八三首頌五事——其中第六首的前二句頌所入之門、第三句頌方所、第四句頌莊嚴，後兩首則是廣大剎之本相，也就是分齊的廣狹與此彼相入；第九首頌無差別，就是一微塵能容佛海而無有差等；第十首頌力加持，主與伴都是神力之所任持，而「普化」一語又兼含法味。
第七第八兩首最要緊。經文說十方廣大剎全都來入這一個世界種，卻又說「而實無來無所入」；又說一入一切、一切入一而沒有剩餘，體相如同本來一樣沒有差別。澄觀釋此云：這兩首都是頌趣入，前一首是以多入一、後一首是一多互入；而所謂入，是入而無入——若真有一個東西搬進來，就壞了緣起；若說完全不入，又壞了性之作用。所以他下一句斷語：要由不入方能入。何以能互入？就體說本來是空，所以無來無入；就相說並不壞相，所以宛然十方；如同本來無差，以性融相，故得互入。
排誤：不要把『十方入此』讀成空間的塞入。落地：這十首偈是全段唯一直接講法界義的地方，前面的十義、二十形、二十體到這裡才收得住——差別無盡，而相入無礙。第九首「一切國土微塵中，普見如來在其所」與第十首「佛身周遍一切剎」，是把這個道理落在佛身上說：所以要講這麼多世界，是為了說一件事——佛在每一處。
帝網分布：中央一海與右旋十海的布局
長行第二番開講，先給一句總的布局：不可說香水海都在華藏莊嚴世界海中，如天帝網分布而住。
先問：帝網是什麼樣子？澄觀釋此云：大體的分布像個車輪；細看則不同——帝釋殿上的網是貫穿天珠而成，以一顆大珠當心，再用次一等的大珠貫穿匝繞，如此展轉遞繞經百千匝，從上下四面四角望去，行伍都相當。他還特別交代兩層：一是今此香海雖在地面，其分布相似；二是又有涉入重重之義，故云如也。
排誤：帝網在這裡有兩用，不要混。此處用的是「布列」——一顆當心、餘者匝繞，正是下文中央一海與右旋十海的格局；而重重涉入之義是它的第二層。二十重之中另有一個世界「其狀猶如因陀羅網」，那是說某一剎的形狀，與此處說香海的布列又是一事。落地：先把『一顆當心』記住，本段所講的，就是那一顆當心之珠。
中央的無邊妙華光海：海、華、種三個名
經文給出中央一海的四件事：海名無邊妙華光，以現一切菩薩形摩尼王幢為底；海中出大蓮華，名一切香摩尼王莊嚴；華上有世界種，名普照十方熾然寶光明，以一切莊嚴具為體，其中布列著不可說佛剎微塵數的世界。
先問：這三個名字有沒有意思，還是只是名號？澄觀對三個名都給了「約事」與「約法」兩解。海名：就事說，是因為多華發光；就法說，是由菩薩的行華作它的因。華名：因為以香摩尼莊嚴此華，又從摩尼底而出生；就法說，即是萬行圓明之所成。他還順手解了一個小疑——海能生華所以受華之名，華依於海所以取海底之稱。種名：就事說，是寶光遠照；就法說，這個世界種正是所含的種子，一一皆有大智光明遍照法界之義，又是性德互相莊嚴之故。
排誤：不要把「以一切莊嚴具為體」讀成建材清單。對照前段體性二十例就明白，「體」在本品從來是就法而說。落地：華藏世界的每一個名號，都可以往回讀成一句行門——這是本品不落地理之學的分際所在。
二十層的通法：七事、八事、九事
經文自「其最下方有世界」起，一層一層往上說，直到「二十佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶」為止。
先問：一層要說幾件事？澄觀數得很清楚。最下一層有七事：一舉名、二辯際（即世界所據之際，好比金剛際）、三依住、四形狀、五上覆、六眷屬、七佛號。第二層以上或有八事，多出來的是去此遠近，也就是「此上過佛剎微塵數世界」那一句。或有九事，再多出「純一清淨」一語；他隨即補一句判準——若無此語，即是通於染淨。
再問：既說二十重，經文的眷屬數為什麼看去只有十九個數目？澄觀正面答之：別辯之中但列十九佛剎塵數而成二十重。原因在第一層只說「佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶」而不繫數目，自第二層起才「二佛剎微塵數」一路遞增到「二十佛剎微塵數」。所以能繞之剎總計二百一十佛剎塵數——一到二十逐數相加即是。
排誤：不要把「二十重」當作經文自己的話。經文自始至終沒有「重」字，這是澄觀之科：二十層，即分二十段。落地：讀下面二十層，只須盯住七件事——名、際、依、形、覆、眷、佛號；多出來的兩件是遠近與純淨。
二十層之一至五
第一層名最勝光遍照，以金剛莊嚴光耀輪為際，依眾寶摩尼華而住，形如摩尼寶，佛號淨眼離垢燈。澄觀於此有兩處交代。一是形——摩尼之狀有八楞，似方不方、似圓不圓，所以與下文的「八隅」不同。二是佛號——他把「淨眼離垢燈」展開成一句話：離二障垢、智眼清淨、照世如燈；隨即補一句「然佛德無邊，各隨一義」，提醒讀者佛號只是隨取一義而立。至於第一層依什麼，他存舊釋而另出己見：舊釋說是在無邊香海所出之華上另有一華持此一界，為的是與上諸層各有依住相例；澄觀則說，最下一層依於總華，又有何妨。
第二層名種種香蓮華妙莊嚴，形如師子之座，佛號師子光勝照——形與號相應。第三層名一切寶莊嚴普照光，其形八隅，佛號淨光智勝幢。第四層名種種光明華莊嚴，形如摩尼蓮華，是純一清淨的，佛號金剛光明無量精進力善出現。第五層名普放妙華光，形是普方而多有隅角，佛號香光喜力海。
先問：這些名字要不要一個個記？不必。要看的是三件事的相應：世界之名、世界之形、佛之號往往互相映帶。落地：第四層第一次出現「純一清淨」，正是澄觀所說「或有九事」的那一事——從此以後，有這四字的是純淨之土，沒有的則通於染淨。娑婆在不在其中，下一節見分曉。
二十層之六至十
第六層名淨妙光明，依金剛宮殿海住，其形四方，佛號普光自在幢。第七層名眾華焰莊嚴，形如樓閣，純一清淨，佛號歡喜海功德名稱自在光。第八層名出生威力地，形如因陀羅網，佛號廣大名稱智海幢。第九層名出妙音聲，依恒出一切妙音聲莊嚴雲摩尼王海住，形如梵天身形，佛號清淨月光明相無能摧伏。第十層名金剛幢，其狀周圓，純一清淨，佛號一切法海最勝王。
先問：這五層有沒有可以連起來讀的線？有。第八層的形是帝網——與前面說香海布列所用的譬喻同依而異用，可見帝網之象在本品既用於總布局，也用於一剎之形。第九層由名到依到形，一路都在「音聲」上：世界名出妙音聲、所依之海恒出妙音、形如梵天之身——而梵天正是清淨音聲之表。這與前段體性二十例中後十以音聲為體，是同一條線。
排誤：第十層「其狀周圓」四字極短，不要讀漏。周圓與第三層的八隅、第六層的四方是一組對照：形之為義，在顯差別，不在定優劣。落地：五層之中兩層有「純一清淨」（第七·第十），三層無——有無之間，正是澄觀所說通於染淨的分際。
二十層之十一至十五：娑婆就在第十三層
第十一層名恒出現帝青寶光明，形如半月，佛號無量功德法。第十二層名光明照耀，依華旋香水海住，狀如華旋，佛號超釋梵。第十三層就是娑婆，依種種色風輪所持蓮華網住，狀如虛空，那裡的佛就是毘盧遮那如來世尊。第十四層名寂靜離塵光，形如執金剛，佛號遍法界勝音。第十五層名眾妙光明燈，形如卐字，純一清淨，佛號不可摧伏力普照幢。
先問：娑婆這一層與別層有什麼不同？有兩件不同，而且都不是小事。第一，二十層之中十九層都作『佛號某某』，唯獨這一層直說「其佛即是毘盧遮那如來世尊」——不作號而直指本師。澄觀只用一句繫定：第十三主剎即此娑婆。第二，這一層沒有「純一清淨」四字；依他所立的判準，無此語即通於染淨——我們所住的這一界正是染淨相雜之土，而它一樣在華藏之中，一樣有本師在。
排誤：不要把『娑婆在第十三層』讀成方位的巧合。落地：本段講了那麼多不可說的世界，講到這裡才落到讀者腳下——你就住在其中一層。這是本段全部莊嚴的著地處，也是下一品要說毘盧遮那本因的伏筆。
娑婆的「狀如虛空」與第十五層的「卐字」
這兩處，古來有諍，澄觀都是先出他家、後出己通。
其一，虛空怎麼會有形狀？澄觀引靜法之說：大小乘經都說虛空體無形質、不可見相，如今卻說它有形，是迴文的人譯錯了；照梵本的語序，應當把「形狀」放在「周圓」之前、把「虛空」安在「天宮」之上，然後綴成「其形周圓以空居天宮莊嚴之具而覆其上」。澄觀縱成之曰此說深有理致，隨即另出一通：空雖無形，可以隨俗而說——世俗典籍指空為天，說天是圓穹，其形如覆蓋之器，所以有「天勢圍平野」之語；正如《法華》說梵王是眾生之父，也是隨俗而說。
其二，卐字是字還是相？澄觀又引靜法：室離靺瑳本來不是字，而是有德者之相，正翻應作「吉祥海雲」——眾德深廣如海、益物如雲；古來三藏誤把一個梵語譯成了另一個，於是把相當成了字。澄觀通之曰：今義通此相為吉祥萬德之所集成，因而目之為萬，意在語略而義含，合起來應說「萬相」。
排誤：這兩處都不是澄觀在判誰對誰錯。他的作法是縱——承認他家有理，然後說依經文本身也通得過去。二說並存。落地：讀古德的疏，最要緊的是分清哪一句是破、哪一句是通；破與通並列而不判，正是本帙誌錄的體例。
二十層之十六至二十
第十六層名清淨光遍照，形如龜甲，佛號清淨日功德眼。第十七層名寶莊嚴藏，其形八隅，佛號無礙智光明遍照十方。第十八層名離塵，狀如珠瓔，純一清淨，佛號無量方便最勝幢。第十九層名清淨光普照，狀如寶華旋布，佛號普照法界虛空光。第二十層名妙寶焰，形如寶莊嚴具，有二十佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶，純一清淨，佛號福德相光明。
先問：走到最上一層，數目上有什麼變化？眷屬之數自第二層的二佛剎微塵數，一路遞增到這裡的二十佛剎微塵數——愈往上，圍繞愈多。李通玄正是照這個規律計出總數：從下向上轉轉倍增，上下通數共二百一十佛剎微塵數的廣大剎，才成一個世界種。
排誤：不要把『愈上愈多』讀成愈上愈高貴。二十層是一個世界種的內部結構，不是果位的階梯；第十三層的娑婆既非最下也非最上，而本師正在其中。落地：二十層走完，回頭看第一層與第二十層——一個是「佛剎微塵數」而不繫數，一個是「二十佛剎微塵數」；中間十八層逐數而增。這一路數上來的目的，李通玄說得最實在：令小狹劣眾生知佛攝化境界，發菩提心。
結分：十義重申與十八形類
經文最後回過頭來，把十義再說一遍——這個世界種中有不可說佛剎微塵數的廣大世界，各各所依住、各各形狀、各各體性、各各方面、各各趣入、各各莊嚴、各各分齊、各各行列、各各無差別、各各力加持，周匝圍遶。澄觀科這一段為「類結所餘」，說它不只是結數，還兼總顯上文的所依住等，並分作四節：一總結都數、二結形類、三結眷屬、四彰其所在。
結形類列出十八類形狀的世界：迴轉、江河、漩流、輪輞、壇墠、樹林、樓觀、尸羅幢、普方、胎藏、蓮華、佉勒迦、種種眾生、佛相、圓光、雲、網、門闥。澄觀對這十八事做了一件很細的比對：拿它去對前面世界種的二十形，闕須彌山形與莊嚴具形兩事，其餘全同，只是前面約種而說、這裡約剎而說。
再問：既然直上只有十九層剎，何以總結說有不可說？澄觀通之：因為是傍論而說。不然的話，難道一個剎種的最下方只有一個主剎嗎？所以主剎橫竪共論，其數不可說。結眷屬處他又指出有兩重主伴：前文主剎直上而繞數漸增，這裡是總相而說，所以說一一各有十剎塵；而「一一復有如上所說微塵數」一句，「如上」二字含兩義——一是總指前面能繞所繞之數，二是仍用十佛剎為能繞。他還順筆評了一句：依後義則像是譯人文繁而理隱，何不直說一一復有十佛剎塵數；依前義則是譯者之妙。彰所在是最末一句：一切世界都在無邊妙華光香水海及圍繞此海的香水河中——澄觀說，既言「及在香河」，可知是傍去而非直上。
排誤：不要把結分讀成重複。十義在總標處是「各各依住……各各方所」，在結分處是「各各所依住……各各方面」，用字微異；形狀在總標處有二十，在結分處只有十八。落地：一頭一尾兩次說十義，中間隔著二十層的具體——這正是本經由總而別、由別而總的說法之式。
承衍
本段之科名，古來兩系並存。世界種之數量結構，李通玄立一套具體的布置：於大蓮華中總有十不可說佛剎微塵數世界種，為著教文有限，且立一百二十一箇世界種——中心十一箇，各具上下二十重；此十一箇之外有一百箇一重的世界種圍繞；再外近金剛山處又有十箇四重的世界種。澄觀則不另立此數，但依經文說十海各管不可說佛剎塵數之海，總顯則有十不可說，而次第所說者但有一百一十一海，其餘皆略指。一作百二十一箇世界種、一作一百一十一海，所計之物與所依之文各異，二說並錄不判。
「十不可說」之有無，亦是兩系。底本本段但作「不可說佛剎微塵數香水海」，並無「十」字；澄觀據下文香海及種皆有十不可說，判為梵本原有而今脫一「十」字，多是傳寫之漏。李通玄所據之文則自有「十不可說」之語。二說並錄不判。
尺度之系統，古德別有兩套。李通玄舉三乘之說：數三千大千之剎至一恒河沙為一世界性，數性世界至恒河沙為一世界海，數海世界至恒河沙為一世界種；而此經則數一佛剎微塵、二佛剎微塵、三佛剎微塵，如是倍增，不以恒沙限其數。他說三乘多取恒河沙為量，此經則常取一佛剎塵、十佛剎塵，為的是表無盡。法藏於《探玄記》另立三千界外別有十世界之名——世界性、世界海、世界輪、世界圓滿、世界分別、世界旋、世界轉、世界蓮華、世界須彌、世界相；其中「世界性」是十類之首。法藏所立的這一套與本段華藏剎海之「世界種」同名而語境不同，並錄不判。
法藏《探玄記》與智儼《搜玄記》於本段皆無逐文之釋可徵，所檢得者僅品題目次與卷二通泛之名相段，據實標闕，不以他處之文充之。澄觀《演義鈔》於本段釋名句亦未見獨立展開，同樣據實標闕。
異譯之對讀，八十本與六十本此段詳略懸殊。六十本中央一海名「樂光明」而非「無邊妙華光」，最下一重之世界名「清淨寶網光明」而非「最勝光遍照」，佛號作「離垢淨眼廣入」而非「淨眼離垢燈」；更要緊的是體例——六十本此節但具所依海名、剎名、佛號三事，八十本則具七事，其形狀、所依、上覆、眷屬四事六十本皆闕。至於「世界種」與「世界性」之譯異，澄觀已自陳其由，見前文釋名一節。全錄不判。
順讀下去，本段之後即接右旋十海之列——普賢自無邊妙華光香水海之東說起，一海一海地說到第十海。澄觀於彼處只下一句：其下明種所持之剎有二十重，下九海例然。體例既於本段中央一海處立盡，餘九海但依此例而讀，這就是本段稱作十海之首的緣故。再往下是本品最末的重頌一段，共一百一偈，總結華藏自體與所持剎網。
First Be Clear What This Section Is Answering
The two preceding sections spoke of the sea of Flower-Treasury worlds itself — its cause, its substance, the arrangement and adornment of it above and below. Here Samantabhadra turns in another direction: he no longer says what this sea is, but says what is held inside this sea. Chengguan outlines the whole chapter in three sections, and the third is called ‘the differentiated net of lands it sustains’; the present section is its head.
The section opens with a question and a promise: ‘What sort of worlds dwell herein? I shall now speak of them.’ This is the first part in Chengguan’s outline, the address to the assembly and the promise to speak. Two sentences then lay down the framework of the whole section — within inexpressibly many fragrant-water seas there are inexpressibly many world-seeds, and within each single world-seed there are again inexpressibly many worlds. Chengguan outlines these two sentences as the paired setting-up of the two topics, and the two topics thus set up are the seed and the land. He states the breadth and narrowness of all three in a single sentence: the world-seeds rest upon the sea of lands, and the several lands rest upon the world-seeds. The sea is widest, the seed comes next, the land is finest. Every name that follows falls within these three levels.
Correcting a misreading: do not read ‘world-seed’ as a seed-grain. Chengguan’s explanation of the name says it plainly — it is many worlds heaped together in one place, gathering in all their kinds, and so it is called a seed; and of such kinds there are again so many, so deep and so broad, that it is called a sea. He also offers a very homely simile: many fish gather to make one kind, and fish, dragons, tortoises, turtles, mountains, springs and islands each make their own kind, yet all alike are held within one great sea. And how is ‘the worlds are boundless’ to be understood? He says: beyond a sea there is a sea, sea upon sea without end. Bringing it home: in reading this section there is no need to draw a star-map. Fix in mind first the three levels — sea, seed, land — and the twenty tiers that follow will not read as a tangle.
Does the Seed Have a Substance of Its Own?
First the question: if a world-seed is only a general name for ‘many worlds gathered together’, then it has no substance of its own; yet the text below says that it does have shape and substance. Is this not a self-contradiction?
This objection is one Chengguan raises himself, and he resolves it himself: although the name ‘seed’ is set up in dependence upon kinds, there is nothing to prevent this seed from having a substance of its own besides. He changes the simile — many bee-holes together make one nest; does that keep the nest from having a substance of its own? And he takes care to add one line: in citing fish and dragons above, it was only a partial simile and cannot be pressed all the way.
He then brings out a second sense: taking this sense, it may also be called ‘the seed-nature’ — resting upon this seed, worlds can be produced, as one stalk of grain bears many kernels. This sentence also carries a piece of translation history with it: the old edition rendered it ‘nature’, taking precisely this productive sense; later, for fear of confusion with ‘substance-nature’, the rendering was changed to ‘seed’. Bringing it home: beneath one term two senses are often folded together — one is ‘gathering’, one is ‘producing’. The eighty-fascicle took the former for its name, the sixty-fascicle took the latter; the two witnesses are not at odds.
The General Statement of the Ten Senses: Ten Is Not a Fixed Number
The sūtra lists ten aspects in which world-seeds each differ: resting, shape, substance, quarter and place, entry, adornment, extent, ranked array, non-difference, and sustaining power.
First the question: why exactly ten? Chengguan answers without hesitation: that both display ten is because both symbolize the inexhaustible. Ten is not the length of a list; it is the symbolic device for ‘more than can be told’. He also does something very fine-grained: he takes these ten senses and collates them item by item against the ten items of the earlier 〈Chapter of the Accomplishment of the Worlds〉, and the result is that each has what the other lacks — the conditions of arising and equipping, purity, the appearing of buddhas, abiding through kalpas and turning and changing are on that side and not on this; quarter and place, extent, ranked array, entry and sustaining power, five items, are on that side lacking and on this side present; resting, shape and substance, and adornment are named the same on both sides. Appearing now here, now there, they come in all to fifteen.
Correcting a misreading: since together they come to fifteen, ‘ten’ is all the less a fixed number. Chengguan accounts for this too — that both say ten is in order to display the inexhaustible; that they differ in some items is in order to set forth the many sides of the meaning; that a few items are left the same is for fear one should take the two places as wholly unrelated.
Bringing it home: hereafter, whenever ‘ten kinds’ is met with in this sūtra, first ask whether the ten is a fixed number. Most of the time it is not.
Five of the Ten Senses, and How the Commentator Explains Them
The sūtra only lists the ten senses by name and does not explain them. Chengguan says that five of them were explained in the preceding section, and here he separately explains the other five: quarter and place, entry, extent, ranked array, and sustaining power.
Quarter and place has two readings. If it is the perfect quarter and place, it fills the whole Dharma realm, there being no place where it is not, neither identical with the three realms nor apart from them; if it is the quarter and place suited to circumstance, then within the ten directions each faces one way and turns from another. Entry is entry through a gate; taken as a Dharma-gate, it means the three gates of liberation, and it also carries the sense of manifesting and entering one another with no coming or going. Extent likewise has two readings: taken as a matter of fact, it is suited to circumstance and so differs in breadth and narrowness; taken with respect to the Buddha, the ten directions are without limit. Ranked array means precisely the roads; taken as a matter of fact it can be understood directly, and taken as Dharma it means that great mindfulness, wisdom and practice serve as the road one travels. Sustaining power likewise has two readings: taken with respect to food, it is what enables a world to abide; taken as Dharma, it is what the joy and delight of the vast savour of Dharma upholds.
Correcting a misreading: do not read these five senses as five physical properties. Chengguan gives every one of them two faces, ‘taken as fact’ and ‘taken as Dharma’ — on the side of fact they are an arrangement, on the side of Dharma they are gates of practice. Bringing it home: to read the dependent recompense and see only an arrangement is to have read only half.
Ten Instances of Resting: What the World-Seeds Stand Upon
The sūtra gives ten instances: a sea of great lotuses, a sea of boundlessly coloured jewelled flowers, a sea of jewelled necklaces from the treasury of all pearls, a sea of fragrant waters, a sea of all flowers, a sea of maṇi-jewel nets, a sea of whirling and streaming radiance, a sea of jewelled crowns adorning bodhisattvas, a sea of the bodies of manifold beings, a sea of maṇi-kings of the voices of all buddhas. When the list is done it closes with one line: kinds such as these, spoken of at length, are as many as the dust-motes of a sea of worlds.
First the question: why is what they rest upon in every case a ‘sea’? Chengguan brings out the key point in the later section — although only the two topics of seed and land were set up above, every sentence explaining resting speaks of resting upon a sea, and this is why the text below must separately list the number of the seas. Among the ten instances, the first seven are seas of things and of light and colour, the eighth is a sea of bodhisattvas’ jewelled crowns, the ninth a sea of the bodies of beings, and the tenth a sea of the voices of buddhas — from thing to person, from person to buddha, the graded order shows itself.
Correcting a misreading: ‘resting upon a sea of the bodies of beings’ does not mean that a world is pressing down on somebody. It is paired with ‘resting upon a sea of maṇi-kings of the voices of all buddhas’ — what the dependent recompense rests upon may be form, may be body, and may also be sound. This is precisely the forerunner of ‘having sound for their substance’ in the twenty instances of substance in the next passage. Bringing it home: the ten instances are ten gates, not ten foundations.
Twenty Instances of Shape: What the World-Seeds Look Like
The twenty shapes are, in order: Mount Sumeru, a river, a turning round, a whirling stream, a wheel-rim, an altar-mound and cleared ground, a grove of trees, a storeyed pavilion, a mountain banner, the generally square, a womb-treasury, a lotus, a qulejia, the body of a being, a cloud, the marks and signs of the buddhas, perfect radiance, manifold pearl-nets, all manner of gates and gate-towers, all manner of ornaments.
First the question: how many in this long string are unreadable to a reader today? Chengguan picks out just three to explain. The turning-round shape is a shape that folds back and forth like the pleats of a robe. As for the altar-mound and cleared ground, to heap up earth is called an altar-mound and to clear away the ground is called a cleared ground — one raised, one levelled, two different things. Qulejia is the sound of a Sanskrit word; in this land it is called a bamboo bin, that is, the round bamboo container in which grain is stored. As for the generally square, he has another explanation further on, where he treats the twenty tiers: seen as a whole it is square, yet within a single side there are many corners.
Correcting a misreading: the twenty shapes are not a classification of twenty geometrical figures. Notice their sequence — from mountains, rivers and made things, through groves and pavilions, to womb-treasuries and lotuses, then on to the bodies of beings, the marks and signs of the buddhas, and perfect radiance, closing with gates and ornaments. From coarse to fine, from thing to buddha, from closed to open. Bringing it home: as to why the shapes have to be ‘set out’ at all, Li Tongxuan says it most plainly — it is for the converting of beings, to make beings stretch open a narrow and inferior mind.
Twenty Instances of Substance: The First Ten Are Form, the Latter Ten Are Sound
The twenty substances are, in order: maṇi-clouds of the ten directions, flames of many colours, radiances of every kind, flames of jewelled fragrance, tāla flowers adorned with all jewels, the reflected images of bodhisattvas, the radiance of the buddhas, the form and marks of a buddha, the light of a single jewel, the light of many jewels; and from here it turns to sound — the sound of the sea of merit of all beings, the sound of the sea of the deeds of all beings, the pure sound of the realm of all buddhas, the sound of the sea of the great vows of all bodhisattvas, the sound of the skilful means of all buddhas, the sound of the forming and breaking up of the ornaments of all lands, the voices of boundless buddhas, the sound of the transformations of all buddhas, the wholesome sound of all beings, the pure sound of the sea of merit of all buddhas.
First the question: is there an inner dividing line among the twenty substances? There is, and it is drawn with perfect neatness. Chengguan settles it in one line: the first ten are forms and colours, the latter ten are sounds. The first ten are all visible form, the latter ten are all audible sound.
Correcting a misreading: ‘having sound for their substance’ does not mean that worlds are built out of sound-waves. Look closely at the latter ten: the sound of the sea of beings’ merit, the sound of the sea of beings’ deeds, and the wholesome sound of beings — three belong to beings; the pure sound of the buddhas’ realm, the sound of the buddhas’ skilful means, the voices of boundless buddhas, the sound of the buddhas’ transformations, and the pure sound of the sea of the buddhas’ merit — five belong to the buddhas; the sound of the sea of bodhisattvas’ great vows — one belongs to bodhisattvas; the sound of the forming and breaking up of the ornaments of lands — one belongs to the vessel-world. In other words, what these ten are speaking of is what deeds, vows and the voice of Dharma have made. Bringing it home: this is exactly where this sūtra’s dependent recompense is not to be read as matter. What is a world made of? It is made of the deeds of beings and the vows of the buddhas.
The Ten Repeating Verses: How the Commentator Divides Them
The prose done, Samantabhadra receives the Buddha’s supernatural power, surveys the ten directions, and utters ten verses. Chengguan divides these ten into six sections: the first verse hymns resting; the second hymns shape together with the array and abiding; the third, fourth and fifth hymn substance; the sixth, seventh and eighth hymn the five items — within which the first two lines of the sixth verse hymn the gate of entry, the third line the quarter and place, and the fourth line adornment, while the last two verses give the root characteristic of the vast lands, which is to say extent, breadth and narrowness, and the mutual entering of this and that; the ninth hymns non-difference, that is, that a single dust-mote can hold a sea of buddhas without any inequality; the tenth hymns sustaining power, for both host and companions are upheld by supernatural power, while the phrase ‘universally converts’ further includes the savour of Dharma.
The seventh and eighth verses are the most important. The sūtra says that all the vast lands of the ten directions come and enter this one world-seed, and then says ‘in truth there is no coming and nothing entered’; and it says that one enters all and all enter one with nothing left over, substance and characteristic being, as they originally are, without difference. Chengguan explains this and says: both verses hymn entry, the former taking the many entering into one and the latter the mutual entering of one and many; and what is called entering is an entering that is a non-entering — for if something really moved in, dependent origination would be destroyed, and if it were said not to enter at all, the functioning of the nature would be destroyed. So he lays down the next line as a verdict: it is precisely by not entering that entering becomes possible. And why can they enter one another? Taken as substance they are originally empty, so there is no coming and no entering; taken as characteristic the characteristic is not destroyed, so the ten directions stand plain as ever; and as they are originally without difference, the nature fuses the characteristics, and so they gain mutual entry.
Correcting a misreading: do not read ‘the ten directions enter this’ as a stuffing of one space into another. Bringing it home: these ten verses are the one place in the whole section that speaks directly of the sense of the Dharma realm; the ten senses, twenty shapes and twenty substances that went before only come to rest here — difference is inexhaustible, and mutual entry is unobstructed. The ninth verse, ‘Within every dust-mote of every land the Tathāgata is universally seen dwelling there’, and the tenth, ‘The Buddha’s body pervades all lands’, set this principle down upon the Buddha’s own body: the reason for speaking of so many worlds is to say one thing — the Buddha is in every single place.
Spread Like Indra’s Net: The Arrangement of the One Central Sea and the Ten Seas That Turn to the Right
The prose begins a second round, and first gives one sentence of general arrangement: the inexpressibly many fragrant-water seas are all within the sea of Flower-Treasury adorned worlds, spread out and abiding like the net of Indra, lord of the gods.
First the question: what does Indra’s net look like? Chengguan explains it and says: the general spread of it is like a cartwheel; but looked at closely it differs — the net in Śakra’s palace is strung of heavenly pearls, with one great pearl at the centre, and then pearls of the next size strung and encircling it, so turning and encircling in succession through a hundred thousand rounds, and looked at from above and below, from the four sides and the four corners, the ranks all correspond. He takes care to add two points: first, that these fragrant seas, though they lie on the ground-surface, are spread out in a like manner; second, that there is also the sense of interpenetrating layer upon layer, and hence the word ‘like’.
Correcting a misreading: Indra’s net is put to two uses here and they are not to be confused. What is used here is the spread — one pearl at the centre and the rest encircling it, which is exactly the pattern of the one central sea and the ten seas that turn to the right in the text below; the sense of layer-upon-layer interpenetration is its second level. And among the twenty tiers there is another world whose ‘shape is like Indra’s net’ — that speaks of the shape of one particular land, which is again a different matter from the spread of the fragrant seas here. Bringing it home: fix ‘one pearl at the centre’ in mind first, for what this section speaks of is precisely that one central pearl.
The Central Sea Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance: Three Names — Sea, Flower, Seed
The sūtra gives four things about the one central sea: the sea is named Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance, and has for its floor a maṇi-king banner that manifests the forms of all bodhisattvas; within the sea a great lotus comes forth, named the Adornment of the Maṇi-King of All Fragrances; upon the flower there is a world-seed named the Blazing Jewel Radiance Universally Illumining the Ten Directions, which has all manner of ornaments for its substance, and within which worlds numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands are spread out.
First the question: do these three names carry a meaning, or are they merely labels? Chengguan gives each of the three names both a reading ‘taken as fact’ and a reading ‘taken as Dharma’. The name of the sea: taken as fact, it is because many flowers put forth radiance; taken as Dharma, it is because the flower of bodhisattva practice is its cause. The name of the flower: because this flower is adorned with fragrant maṇi, and because it is born from the maṇi floor; taken as Dharma, it is what the perfect brightness of the myriad practices accomplishes. He also resolves a small doubt in passing — the sea can produce the flower, and so receives the flower’s name; the flower rests upon the sea, and so takes the name of the sea-floor. The name of the seed: taken as fact, it is that the jewel-radiance illumines afar; taken as Dharma, this world-seed is precisely the seeds it contains, each and every one of which has the sense of a great wisdom-radiance universally illumining the Dharma realm, and again because the qualities of the nature adorn one another.
Correcting a misreading: do not read ‘having all manner of ornaments for its substance’ as a list of building materials. Set it beside the twenty instances of substance in the preceding passage and it becomes clear that ‘substance’ in this chapter is always spoken of with respect to Dharma. Bringing it home: every single name in the Flower-Treasury world can be read back into a gate of practice — this is where this chapter marks itself off from the study of geography.
The Common Rule of the Twenty Tiers: Seven Items, Eight Items, Nine Items
From ‘at its lowest point there is a world’ the sūtra speaks tier by tier upward, until ‘worlds numbering the dust-motes of twenty buddha-lands encircle it all around’.
First the question: how many items are told of one tier? Chengguan counts them out clearly. The lowest tier has seven items: first the giving of the name; second the distinguishing of the bounding limit (that is, the limit upon which the world is based, like the vajra-limit); third resting; fourth shape; fifth what covers it above; sixth the retinue; seventh the buddha-title. From the second tier up there are sometimes eight items, the added one being the distance from here, that is, the line ‘above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land’. Sometimes there are nine, adding further the words ‘purely and solely pure’; and he at once supplies a standard — where these words are absent, the land is common to the defiled and the pure.
A further question: if twenty tiers are spoken of, why do the retinue-numbers in the sūtra appear to be only nineteen? Chengguan answers it head-on: in the separate distinguishing only nineteen buddha-land dust-numbers are listed, and yet they make twenty tiers. The reason is that the first tier says only ‘worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land encircle it all around’ without attaching a number, and it is from the second tier that ‘two buddha-lands’ begins and increases in order up to ‘twenty buddha-lands’. Hence the encircling lands come in all to two hundred and ten buddha-land dust-numbers — the sum of one through twenty.
Correcting a misreading: do not take ‘twenty tiers’ for a phrase of the sūtra itself. From first to last the sūtra has no word for ‘tier’; this is Chengguan’s outline: twenty layers, that is, divided into twenty sections. Bringing it home: in reading the twenty tiers below, only seven things need watching — name, limit, resting, shape, covering, retinue, buddha-title; the two that may be added are distance and pure-and-solely-pure.
Tiers One to Five of the Twenty
The first tier is named Supreme Radiance Pervadingly Illumining; its bounding limit is a shining wheel of vajra adornment, it rests upon maṇi flowers of many jewels, its shape is like a maṇi jewel, and its buddha is titled Pure Eye, Lamp Apart from Defilement. Chengguan has two remarks here. The first concerns the shape — a maṇi’s form has eight facets, seeming square yet not square, seeming round yet not round, and so it differs from the ‘eight corners’ below. The second concerns the buddha-title — he opens ‘Pure Eye, Lamp Apart from Defilement’ into a sentence: apart from the defilement of the two obstructions, with the eye of wisdom pure, illumining the world like a lamp; and he at once adds ‘yet the qualities of a buddha are boundless, and each name follows but one sense’, reminding the reader that a buddha-title is set up by taking up one sense only. As to what the first tier rests upon, he preserves the old explanation while setting out his own view: the old explanation said that upon the flower put forth by the boundless fragrant sea there is a further flower which sustains this one world, and this was said so as to match the tiers above, each of which has its own resting place; Chengguan for his part says that there is nothing to prevent the lowest from resting upon the general flower.
The second tier is named the Wondrous Adornment of Manifold Fragrant Lotuses, its shape is like a lion’s seat, and its buddha is titled Lion Radiance of Supreme Illumination — shape and title answering one another. The third tier is named the Radiance of Universal Illumination Adorned with All Jewels, its shape has eight corners, and its buddha is titled Pure Radiance, Banner of Supreme Wisdom. The fourth tier is named the Adornment of Manifold Radiant Flowers, its shape is like a maṇi lotus, it is purely and solely pure, and its buddha is titled Vajra Radiance, Measureless Power of Vigour, Well Appearing. The fifth tier is named Universally Emitting Wondrous Flower Radiance, its shape is generally square with many corners, and its buddha is titled Sea of Fragrant Radiance, Joy, and Power.
First the question: must these names be memorized one by one? They need not. What is to be watched is the answering of three things to one another: the name of the world, the shape of the world, and the title of the buddha often echo one another. Bringing it home: the fourth tier is where ‘purely and solely pure’ first appears, and this is exactly the item Chengguan called ‘sometimes there are nine’ — from here on, a tier that carries those four words is a purely pure land, and one that lacks them is common to the defiled and the pure. Whether Sahā is among them will be seen in the next passage.
Tiers Six to Ten of the Twenty
The sixth tier is named Pure and Wondrous Radiance, rests upon a sea of vajra palaces, its shape is four-square, and its buddha is titled Universal Radiance, Banner of Sovereign Freedom. The seventh is named the Adornment of the Flame of Many Flowers, its shape is like a storeyed pavilion, it is purely and solely pure, and its buddha is titled Sea of Joy, Radiance of Sovereign Freedom in Merit and Renown. The eighth is named the Ground That Gives Birth to Majestic Power, its shape is like Indra’s net, and its buddha is titled Vast Renown, Banner of the Sea of Wisdom. The ninth is named Putting Forth Wondrous Sounds, rests upon a sea of maṇi-kings that constantly give forth clouds adorned with all wondrous sounds, its shape is like the body of Brahmā, and its buddha is titled Pure Moon Radiance, Mark Invincible. The tenth is named Vajra Banner, its shape is round, it is purely and solely pure, and its buddha is titled Supreme King of the Sea of All Dharmas.
First the question: is there a thread by which these five tiers may be read together? There is. The shape of the eighth tier is Indra’s net — the same vehicle as the simile used above for the spread of the fragrant seas, but put to a different use; from which it may be seen that the image of Indra’s net serves in this chapter both for the general arrangement and for the shape of one single land. The ninth tier runs along ‘sound’ the whole way, from name to resting to shape: the world is named Putting Forth Wondrous Sounds, the sea it rests upon constantly gives forth wondrous sound, and its shape is like the body of Brahmā — and Brahmā is precisely the emblem of pure sound. This is one thread with the latter ten of the twenty instances of substance in the preceding passage, which have sound for their substance.
Correcting a misreading: the four words ‘its shape is round’ at the tenth tier are very short and are not to be read past. Round, together with the eight corners of the third tier and the four-square of the sixth, makes one set of contrasts: the point of shape is to display difference, not to fix superiority and inferiority. Bringing it home: of these five tiers two carry ‘purely and solely pure’ (the seventh and the tenth) and three do not — and it is in that presence and absence that Chengguan’s dividing line of ‘common to the defiled and the pure’ lies.
Tiers Eleven to Fifteen of the Twenty: Sahā Is the Thirteenth Tier
The eleventh tier is named the Radiance of the Sapphire Jewel Constantly Appearing, its shape is like a half-moon, and its buddha is titled Dharma of Measureless Merit. The twelfth is named Radiance Shining Forth, rests upon a fragrant-water sea of whirling flowers, its shape is like the whirling of a flower, and its buddha is titled Surpassing Śakra and Brahmā. The thirteenth tier is Sahā itself, resting upon a net of lotuses upheld by wind-wheels of every colour, its shape like empty space, and its buddha is precisely Vairocana Tathāgata, the World-Honoured One. The fourteenth is named the Radiance of Stillness Apart from Dust, its shape is like a vajra-holder, and its buddha is titled Supreme Sound Pervading the Dharma Realm. The fifteenth is named the Lamp of Many Wondrous Radiances, its shape is like the svastika graph, it is purely and solely pure, and its buddha is titled Invincible Power, Banner of Universal Illumination.
First the question: how does this tier differ from the others? In two ways, and neither is a small matter. First, of the twenty tiers nineteen say ‘the buddha there is titled such-and-such’, and this one alone says outright ‘its buddha is precisely Vairocana Tathāgata, the World-Honoured One’ — no title is given, the root teacher is pointed to directly. Chengguan fixes it with a single line: the thirteenth principal land is precisely this Sahā. Second, this tier does not carry the four words ‘purely and solely pure’; by the standard he set up, where those words are absent the land is common to the defiled and the pure — the world we live in is precisely a land in which defilement and purity are mixed, and yet it is within the Flower-Treasury just the same, and the root teacher is here just the same.
Correcting a misreading: do not read ‘Sahā is the thirteenth tier’ as a coincidence of position. Bringing it home: this section has spoken of so many inexpressible worlds, and only here does it come down to the reader’s own feet — you are living on one of these tiers. This is where all the adornment of this section touches ground, and it is also the foreshadowing of the next chapter, which will set forth the root cause of Vairocana.
Sahā ‘Shaped Like Empty Space’ and the Svastika of the Fifteenth Tier
In both of these places there has been dispute of old, and in both Chengguan first sets out another’s account and then his own resolution.
First: how can empty space have a shape? Chengguan cites the account of Jingfa: the sūtras of both the great and the small vehicles say that the substance of empty space has no form or matter and that its characteristic cannot be seen; to say now that it has a shape is an error of the one who turned the text about, and by the word-order of the Sanskrit one ought to place ‘shape’ before ‘round’ and ‘empty space’ above ‘the heavenly palaces’, and then join them thus: ‘its shape is round, and it is covered above by the adornments of the palaces of the gods who dwell in space’. Chengguan grants this, saying that the account is deep and well-founded, and at once sets out another resolution: although space has no shape, it may be spoken of according to worldly convention — the worldly books point to space as heaven and say that heaven is a round vault, its shape like a covering vessel, whence the saying ‘heaven’s contour encircles the level plain’; just as the Lotus says that Brahmā is the father of beings, which is likewise spoken according to worldly convention.
Second: is the svastika a graph or a mark? Chengguan again cites Jingfa: śrīvatsa is in origin not a graph at all but the mark of one who has virtue, and is properly rendered ‘auspicious sea-cloud’ — his many virtues deep and vast as a sea, his benefiting of beings like a cloud; of old the tripiṭaka masters mistakenly rendered the one Sanskrit word by the other, and so took a mark for a graph. Chengguan resolves it, saying: the sense now resolves this mark as what the myriad auspicious virtues assemble to form, and hence it is styled ‘myriad’, the intent being that the word is terse while the sense is inclusive; taken together it should be called ‘the mark of the myriad’.
Correcting a misreading: in neither place is Chengguan adjudicating who is right and who is wrong. His procedure is to grant — he allows that the other account has its reason, and then says that on the sūtra’s own text it also goes through. The two accounts stand together. Bringing it home: in reading the commentaries of the ancient worthies, what matters most is to tell which sentence is the refutation and which is the resolution; setting refutation and resolution side by side without adjudicating is exactly the manner of recording adopted in the present series.
Tiers Sixteen to Twenty of the Twenty
The sixteenth tier is named Pure Radiance Pervadingly Illumining, its shape is like a tortoise-shell, and its buddha is titled Pure Sun, Eye of Merit. The seventeenth is named the Treasury of Jewelled Adornment, its shape has eight corners, and its buddha is titled Unobstructed Wisdom-Radiance Pervadingly Illumining the Ten Directions. The eighteenth is named Apart from Dust, its shape is like a string of pearls, it is purely and solely pure, and its buddha is titled Measureless Skilful Means, Supreme Banner. The nineteenth is named Pure Radiance Universally Illumining, its shape is like the whirling spread of jewelled flowers, and its buddha is titled Radiance Universally Illumining the Dharma Realm and Space. The twentieth is named Wondrous Jewel Flame, its shape is like a jewelled ornament, worlds numbering the dust-motes of twenty buddha-lands encircle it all around, it is purely and solely pure, and its buddha is titled Radiance of the Marks of Merit.
First the question: on reaching the topmost tier, what has changed in the numbers? The retinue-number has risen from the two buddha-land dust-numbers of the second tier all the way to the twenty buddha-land dust-numbers here — the higher one goes, the more encircle. It is by this very rule that Li Tongxuan reckons the total: doubling and increasing from below upward, counting through above and below, two hundred and ten buddha-land dust-numbers of vast lands are needed to make one world-seed.
Correcting a misreading: do not read ‘the higher the more’ as ‘the higher the nobler’. The twenty tiers are the inner structure of one world-seed, not a ladder of fruition-stages; Sahā at the thirteenth tier is neither lowest nor highest, and the root teacher is right there in it. Bringing it home: having walked through the twenty tiers, look back at the first and the twentieth — one has ‘dust-motes of a buddha-land’ with no number attached, the other has ‘dust-motes of twenty buddha-lands’, and the eighteen tiers in between increase by one at a time. The purpose of counting all the way up, Li Tongxuan states most plainly: to cause small, narrow and inferior beings to know the range of the Buddha’s gathering and converting, and to raise the mind of awakening.
The Concluding Portion: The Ten Senses Restated and the Eighteen Classes of Shape
The sūtra at the last turns back and says the ten senses once more — that within this world-seed there are vast worlds numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands, each with its own place of resting, each with its own shape, each with its own substance, each with its own direction, each with its own entry, each with its own adornment, each with its own extent, each with its own ranked array, each with its own non-difference, each with its own sustaining power, encircling it all around. Chengguan outlines this passage as ‘the concluding of the remainder by category’, saying that it is not merely the numbers that are concluded but that it also displays in general what was said above about what they rest upon and the rest; and he divides it into four parts: first the general conclusion of the total number, second the conclusion of the classes of shape, third the conclusion of the retinue, fourth the showing forth of where they are.
The conclusion of the classes of shape lists worlds of eighteen classes of shape: turning round, river, whirling stream, wheel-rim, altar-mound and cleared ground, grove of trees, storeyed tower, śīla banner, the generally square, womb-treasury, lotus, qulejia, manifold beings, buddha-mark, round halo, cloud, net, gate and gate-tower. On these eighteen items Chengguan makes a very fine comparison: setting them against the twenty shapes of the world-seeds above, it lacks the shape of Mount Sumeru and the shape of ornaments, and the rest are wholly the same, save that there they were taken with respect to seeds and here with respect to lands.
A further question: since straight upward there are only nineteen tiers of lands, how can the general conclusion say there are inexpressibly many? Chengguan resolves it: because it argues collaterally. Were it not so — could a single land-seed have but one principal land at its lowest point? Hence the principal lands taken together crosswise and lengthwise are inexpressibly many. At the conclusion of the retinue he further points out that there are two levels of host and companions: in the earlier text the principal lands rise straight up and the encircling numbers increase by degrees, while here it is stated in general terms and so it says that each one has ten land-dust-numbers; and in the line ‘each one again has dust-motes of worlds as stated above’, the words ‘as above’ contain two senses — first, they point in general to the earlier numbers of encircler and encircled; second, ten buddha-lands are again used as the encirclers. He also appraises this in passing: on the latter reading it looks as though the translator made the text long and the principle obscure, for why did he not say outright that each one again has dust-numbers of ten buddha-lands; but on the former reading it is the translator’s finesse. The showing forth of where they are is the very last line: all the worlds are within the fragrant-water sea Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance and within the fragrant-water rivers that encircle this sea — and Chengguan says that since it speaks of ‘and in the fragrant rivers’, one knows that they lie off to the side and not straight up.
Correcting a misreading: do not read the concluding portion as mere repetition. At the general statement the ten senses read ‘each with its own resting … each with its own quarter and place’, and at the concluding portion ‘each with its own place of resting … each with its own direction’, the wording slightly changed; and the shapes number twenty at the general statement and only eighteen at the concluding portion. Bringing it home: the ten senses spoken once at the head and once at the tail, with the concreteness of the twenty tiers between them — this is exactly this sūtra’s manner of exposition, from the general to the particular and from the particular back to the general.
Lineage
For the outline-name of this section two systems have stood together since ancient times. As to the numerical structure of the world-seeds, Li Tongxuan sets up a concrete arrangement: within the great lotus there are in all world-seeds numbering the dust-motes of ten inexpressible buddha-lands, and because the text of the teaching is limited he provisionally sets up one hundred and twenty-one world-seeds — eleven at the centre, each with twenty tiers above and below; outside these eleven, one hundred single-tiered world-seeds encircling them; and outside these again, near the vajra mountains, ten four-tiered world-seeds. Chengguan for his part does not set up such a number, but following the sūtra says that the ten seas each govern seas numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands, so that displayed in full there are ten inexpressible, while those set forth in order are only one hundred and eleven seas, the rest being merely indicated. The one gives one hundred and twenty-one world-seeds, the other one hundred and eleven seas; what is counted and the text relied on differ in each case. Both accounts are recorded without adjudication.
Whether ‘ten inexpressible’ is present is likewise a matter of two systems. The base text in this section reads only ‘fragrant-water seas numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands’, with no ‘ten’; Chengguan, going by the fact that the fragrant seas and the seeds in the text below both have ‘ten inexpressible’, judges that the Sanskrit originally had it and that a ‘ten’ has here dropped out, mostly an omission of the copyists. The text on which Li Tongxuan relied has ‘ten inexpressible’ of itself. Both accounts are recorded without adjudication.
As to systems of scale, the ancient worthies have two others besides. Li Tongxuan cites the account of the three vehicles: counting lands of a triple-thousand great-thousand up to one Ganges’ sands makes one world-nature; counting nature-worlds up to a Ganges’ sands makes one sea of worlds; counting sea-worlds up to a Ganges’ sands makes one world-seed. In this sūtra, by contrast, the count is by the dust-motes of one buddha-land, of two, of three, doubling and increasing thus, and the number is not bounded by Ganges’ sands. He says that the three vehicles mostly take Ganges’ sands for their measure, while this sūtra regularly takes the dust-motes of one buddha-land or of ten, in order to display the inexhaustible. Fazang, in the Tanxuan ji, separately sets up ten worlds beyond the triple-thousand — the world-nature, the sea of worlds, the world-wheel, the world-fullness, the world-distinction, the world-whorl, the world-turning, the world-lotus, the world-Sumeru, the world-mark — of which the ‘world-nature’ is the first of the ten classes. This system of Fazang’s shares the name ‘world-seed’ with the Flower-Treasury sea of lands of the present section but the context is different. Recorded without adjudication.
Neither Fazang’s Tanxuan ji nor Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji offers any phrase-by-phrase explanation of this section that can be cited; what has been found is only the listing of chapter titles in the tables of contents and the passage of general terms in fascicle two. Recorded as absent, as found, and the text of another place is not used to fill it. Chengguan’s Yanyi chao likewise shows no independent development of the explanation of the names and phrases of this section, and is likewise recorded as absent, as found.
As to the reading across the parallel translations, the eighty-fascicle and the sixty-fascicle differ greatly in fullness in this section. In the sixty-fascicle the central sea is named ‘Radiance of Delight’ and not ‘Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance’, the world of the lowest tier is named ‘Pure Jewel-Net Radiance’ and not ‘Supreme Radiance Pervadingly Illumining’, and the buddha-title is ‘Apart from Defilement, Pure Eye, Vast Entry’ and not ‘Pure Eye, Lamp Apart from Defilement’; and more importantly the format differs — in this passage the sixty-fascicle has only the three items of the name of the sea it rests upon, the name of the land, and the buddha-title, while the eighty-fascicle has seven, the sixty-fascicle lacking shape, resting place, what covers it above, and retinue. As to the divergence in rendering between ‘world-seed’ and ‘world-nature’, Chengguan has already stated the reason himself, as given in the passage on the explanation of the name above. Recorded in full without adjudication.
Read on, and what follows this section is at once the list of the ten seas that turn to the right — Samantabhadra begins from the east of the fragrant-water sea Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance and speaks of the seas one by one to the tenth. There Chengguan lays down a single line: below, it clarifies the lands sustained by the seed, which are of twenty tiers, and the nine seas below follow the same pattern. The format having been established in full at the one central sea of this section, the remaining nine seas are simply read by that same pattern — and this is why this section is called the first of the ten seas. Further on comes the closing passage of repeating verses of this chapter, one hundred and one verses in all, which gathers up both the own-substance of the Flower-Treasury and the net of lands it sustains.
考據Apparatus
華藏世界海之內，先辯所依之香水海與所持之剎網。本段起於普賢再告大眾之許說，總標世界種十義，例舉依止十事、形狀二十事、體性二十事，重頌十首，次別顯最中央無邊妙華光香水海所持之世界種二十重，末以結分收之。澄觀科此為一品三段之第三段所持剎網差別，其文自身又分三別。經文之「二十重」一語不見於底本，出於疏家之科；底本但列世界之上下相次二十層。八十本作「世界種」，六十本作「世界性」，澄觀自陳改譯之由。
一、科判定位
| 科判系統 | 此段之位 |
|---|---|
| 底本 T279 三十九品 | 品五 華藏世界品·所持剎網差別之首段（第一會 菩提場·卷八後半〔T10n0279 0041c22〕–〔0044a01〕訖）；起句「爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！此中有何等世界住？我今當說。」」〔T10n0279 0041c22〕，訖句「如是所說一切世界，皆在此無邊妙華光香水海及圍遶此海香水河中。」〔0043c29〕。次段自「爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！此無邊妙華光香水海東」」起，屬卷九，即次節之界 |
| 澄觀《華嚴經疏》品級總科 | 「一品分三：初明華藏因果自體、二明藏海安布莊嚴、三明所持剎網差別，三段如次。」〔T35n1735 0579a05〕——本段即第三段之首 |
| 澄觀《華嚴經疏》本段科 | 「前明本剎，今辯末界，故兼染淨。文分三別：第一告眾許說、二『諸佛子此不可說』下雙標二章、三『諸佛子彼諸世界種』下廣釋二章。」〔T35n1735 0581b04〕；科起〔0581b04〕–訖〔0583b10〕前 |
| 廣釋二章之再分 | 「三廣釋二章中，文分為二：初通明剎種不同，釋剎種章。二別明剎種香海，雙釋二章。二段各有長行與偈。」〔T35n1735 0581b22〕 |
| 別明種剎香海之科 | 「第二別明種剎香海。雙釋二章者，謂香海依剎海，剎種依香海，諸剎依剎種。亦有長行、偈頌。長行分三：初總舉諸海所依、二次第別顯海種及剎、第三總略結釋。」〔T35n1735 0582b05〕 |
| 中央一海之科 | 「今初，中央一海，文分為二：先明香海出華以持剎種、後『有不可說』下明所持世界。」〔T35n1735 0582b21〕；所持世界又三「初總舉大數、次『其最下方』下別辯二十層大剎、後『諸佛子』下類結所餘」〔0582c02〕 |
| 結分之科 | 「第三類結所餘。此中非唯結數，兼總顯上文所依住等。文分為四：一總結都數、二『各各所依』下結形類、三『此一一』下結眷屬、四『如是所說』下彰其所在。」〔T35n1735 0583a10〕 |
| 次節之科起 | 「第二明右旋十海，即繞處中之海有其十也，各有種剎。十海即為十段。」〔T35n1735 0583b05〕；「後『此中最下方』下明種所持剎，有二十重，下九海例然。」〔0583b09〕——本節訖於此前 |
| 法藏《探玄記》 | 〔查無〕本段之逐文牒經科釋。全論檢「世界種」惟一見〔T35n1733 0158a20〕，屬卷二通泛「十種世界」名相之列，非此卷之逐句釋 |
| 智儼《搜玄記》 | 〔查無〕本段逐文釋。檢「盧舍那佛品」二見皆卷首目次列名，「世界品」「世界成就」零見 |
| 李通玄《新華嚴經論》 | 有獨立釋段，起〔T36n1739 0760c02〕，釋世界種之總數與二十重之遞增結構，並對顯三乘恒河沙尺度 |
| 六十華嚴 T278 對位 | 〈盧舍那佛品〉同段·長行與偈頌〔T09n0278 0414b06〕起；中央海一段〔0414b27〕。六十本此段體例較略 |
| 四十華嚴 T293 | 〔查無〕。該譯唯出品三十九，於本段無對校 |
段名之所從來——本節稱「所持剎網差別」，出澄觀品級三分之第三科〔T35n1735 0579a05〕；稱「二十重」〔T35n1735 0582c06〕，出「二十層，即分二十段」〔0582c07〕。經文自身無「二十重」「二十層」之語，但以「其最下方有世界」起、「此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界」十九迭而成二十層。層數之名是科，不是經。
二、術語
| 漢 | 古德傳梵（羅馬字·發音輔助） | 所徵 | 精義 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 世界種 | — | 「有不可說佛剎微塵數世界種安住」〔T10n0279 0041c24〕 | 澄觀釋名曰「謂積多世界共在一處，攝諸流類，故名為種。如是種類復有眾多，深廣無邊，故名為海。」〔T35n1735 0581b09〕 |
| 世界海 | — | 「彼諸世界種，於世界海中」〔T10n0279 0041c26〕 | 同上條所釋；又「而言世界無邊者，海外有海，海海無窮也。」〔T35n1735 0581b13〕 |
| 種性 | — | 疏語，非經文 | 澄觀出世界種之第二義曰「即依後義，亦得名為種性。依於此種能生世界，如依一禾有多穀粒。舊經云性，多取此義。恐濫體性，故改為種。」〔T35n1735 0581b18〕——此即六十本作「世界性」而八十本改作「世界種」之所由 |
| 香水海 | — | 「此不可說佛剎微塵數香水海，在華藏莊嚴世界海中」〔T10n0279 0042b23〕 | 澄觀曰「此多香海，並在剎海地面，故云所依。」〔T35n1735 0582b10〕 |
| 天帝網 | — | 「如天帝網分布而住」〔T10n0279 0042b25〕 | 澄觀曰「言如帝網者，大都分布則似車輪。」〔T35n1735 0582b11〕；詳目三 |
| 佉勒迦 | 梵音之音寫（澄觀自標「梵音」） | 「或作佉勒迦形」〔T10n0279 0042a12〕 | 澄觀曰「佉勒迦者，梵音，此云竹篅也。」〔T35n1735 0582a15〕 |
| 壇墠 | — | 「或作壇墠形」〔T10n0279 0042a10〕 | 澄觀曰「壇墠形者，築土為壇，除地為墠。」〔T35n1735 0582a14〕 |
| 迴轉形 | — | 「或作迴轉形」〔T10n0279 0042a09〕 | 澄觀曰「迴轉形者，襵褻往來之形也。」〔T35n1735 0582a14〕 |
| 際 | — | 「以一切金剛莊嚴光耀輪為際」〔T10n0279 0042c02〕 | 澄觀曰「二辯際，謂世界所據之際，如金剛際。」〔T35n1735 0582c08〕 |
| 普方 | — | 「其形普方而多有隅角」〔T10n0279 0042c22〕 | 澄觀曰「五中云普方者，都望即方，而一面之中亦有多角隅。隅即是角，文體容爾。」〔T35n1735 0582c19〕 |
| 卐字之形 | 室離靺瑳（澄觀引靜法所傳音寫） | 「其狀猶如卐字之形」〔T10n0279 0043b10〕 | 靜法之說見目六；澄觀通之曰「今義通此相以為吉祥萬德之所集成，因目為萬，意在語略而義含，合云萬相耳。」〔T35n1735 0583a07〕 |
| 純一清淨 | — | 「純一清淨」〔T10n0279 0042c18〕 | 澄觀以之為層數事目之增減標識「或有九事，加純淨言故。準此，若無此言即通染淨。」〔T35n1735 0582c17〕 |
| 娑婆 | sahā（古傳音寫） | 「至此世界，名：娑婆」〔T10n0279 0043a29〕 | 澄觀曰「其第十三主剎即此娑婆。」〔T35n1735 0582c21〕 |
| 毘盧遮那 | vairocana（音寫即古傳） | 「其佛即是毘盧遮那如來世尊」〔T10n0279 0043b03〕 | 二十重之中唯此一重不作「佛號」而直指本師，餘十九重皆作「佛號」 |
三、譬喻·修辭
本段為依報莊嚴之敘述體，經文之喻多在「其狀猶如」一式之中；疏家別出三喻以釋名。今分三類錄之。
(一) 疏家釋名之三喻——皆澄觀所立，非經文之喻。
- 積魚成海喻——「如積多魚以成一種，魚龍龜鼈山泉島嶼乃有多種，並悉攝在一大海中。」〔T35n1735 0581b11〕。喻依為海納眾類，喻體為世界種與世界海之寬陜相攝。澄觀自限其喻曰「上舉魚龍，蓋分喻耳。」〔0581b17〕
- 蜂窠喻——「如多蠭孔共成一窠，豈妨此窠別有其體？」〔T35n1735 0581b16〕。所遮之難是「若爾，種無別體，攬界以成，何以下文說有形體？」〔0581b14〕。喻體為種雖攬界而成，仍別有其體。
- 禾穀喻——「依於此種能生世界，如依一禾有多穀粒。」〔T35n1735 0581b18〕。喻體為種性之能生義。
(二) 經文之帝網喻——「此不可說佛剎微塵數香水海，在華藏莊嚴世界海中，如天帝網分布而住。」〔T10n0279 0042b23〕。澄觀釋喻依與喻體極詳：
「言如帝網者，大都分布則似車輪。其有別者，謂帝釋殿網貫天珠成，以一大珠當心，次以其次大珠貫穿匝繞，如是展轉遞繞經百千匝。若上下四面四角望之，皆行伍相當。今此香海雖在地面，分布相似。又有涉入重重之義，故云如也。」〔T35n1735 0582b11〕
一大珠當心而諸珠匝繞，正是本段中央一海與右旋十海之布局；「涉入重重」則是喻之所歸。
(三) 經文「其狀猶如」之形喻——二十重之第四事即形狀，二十重之形句無一闕：以「其狀猶如」起者十二重、以「其形」起者四重、以「狀如」起者三重、第十重作「其狀周圓」，合二十重。取象於摩尼寶、師子座、八隅、摩尼蓮華、普方多隅、四方、樓閣、因陀羅網、梵天身、周圓、半月、華旋、虛空、執金剛、卐字、龜甲、寶華旋布、寶莊嚴具等。其中第八重「其狀猶如因陀羅網」〔T10n0279 0043a06〕與目三之(二)帝網喻同依而異用：彼喻香海之分布，此為一剎之形狀。第一重之形，澄觀別有一釋：「四形如摩尼者，為摩尼狀有於八楞，似方不方、似圓不圓，故異下八隅。」〔T35n1735 0582c13〕
(四) 句式之修辭——本段三大例舉皆用同一體例：標舉『彼一切世界種』或『此世界種』·以「或有依」「或作」「或有以」列例·以「……。如是等，若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。」收之。依止十例、形狀二十例、體性二十例，三段之收句逐字全同，於本段凡三見〔T10n0279 0042a07〕〔0042a15〕〔0042a29〕。二十重之列，第一重以「其最下方有世界」〔T10n0279 0042c01〕起，其後十九重皆以「此上過佛剎微塵數世界」起——故「此上過佛剎微塵數世界」於本段十九見，非二十見。眷屬之數自第二重「二佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶」遞增至第二十重「二十佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶」，第一重但作「佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶」而不繫數目；澄觀據此曰「其別辯中，但列十九佛剎塵數為二十重。」〔T35n1735 0582c05〕「純一清淨」一語於二十重中六見（第四·第七·第十·第十五·第十八·第二十重）。
四、異譯對勘
本段之漢譯校本二：實叉難陀 T279（底本·品五華藏世界品）·佛馱跋陀羅 T278（晉譯六十華嚴·品三〈盧舍那佛品〉）。四十華嚴 T293 唯譯品三十九，於本段無對校；世親《十地經論》唯釋品二十六，不涉本品。
句一 核心名相之譯異
| 名相 | 實叉 T279 | 佛馱 T278 |
|---|---|---|
| 世界種 | 世界種〔0041c25〕 | 世界性（本段「世界種」零見） |
| 中央香水海名 | 無邊妙華光〔0042b25〕 | 樂光明〔0414b27〕 |
| 最下一重世界名 | 最勝光遍照〔0042c01〕 | 清淨寶網光明〔0414b27〕 |
| 最下一重佛號 | 淨眼離垢燈〔0042c05〕 | 離垢淨眼廣入〔0414b27〕 |
譯異所繫——「世界種」與「世界性」之異，澄觀自陳其由：「舊經云性，多取此義。恐濫體性，故改為種。」〔T35n1735 0581b19〕。名相既異，則以八十本之語檢六十本必無所見；本段之六十對位一律取場景結構而定，不取詞檢。全錄不判。
句二 中央一海之首重
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 此最中央香水海，名：無邊妙華光，以現一切菩薩形摩尼王幢為底；出大蓮華，名：一切香摩尼王莊嚴；有世界種而住其上，名：普照十方熾然寶光明 | T10n0279 0042b25 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 爾時，普賢菩薩告諸菩薩言：佛子！彼眾香水海中有一香水海，名樂光明，有一切香摩尼寶王莊嚴蓮華；上有世界，名清淨寶網光明，佛號離垢淨眼廣入 | T09n0278 0414b27 |
體例之異——六十本此節但具『所依海名·剎名·佛號』三事；八十本二十重之列則具七事（名·際·依住·形狀·上覆·眷屬·佛號），六十本闕其形狀·所依·上覆·眷屬四事。此為二本詳略之大異，據實記，全錄不判。
句三 偈頌之對位
八十本重頌十首〔T10n0279 0042b03〕–〔0042b22〕；六十本同段偈頌〔T09n0278 0414b06〕–〔0414b26〕，起句「堅固清淨諸佛剎」〔0414b07〕，訖句「教化眾生無有量，佛現自在無倫匹」〔0414b26〕。二本之頌皆承前長行之依止·形狀·體性總標而作，非逐句對譯之關係。全錄不判。
句四 「十不可說」之有無
底本本段作「此不可說佛剎微塵數香水海中，有不可說佛剎微塵數世界種安住」〔T10n0279 0041c23〕，「十不可說」一語於本段零見。澄觀於此有校語：
「言有不可說者，若準下文香海及種，皆有十不可說。梵本亦有，今脫「十」字，多是傳寫之漏耳。」〔T35n1735 0581b20〕
李通玄所據之文則作十不可說：「於此大蓮華中，總言有十不可說佛剎微塵數世界種。」〔T36n1739 0760c04〕。二說並錄不判。
句五 底本內部之異形
本段同一世界種之名，總標處作「普照十方熾然寶光明」〔T10n0279 0042b28〕，結分處作「此遍照十方熾然寶光明世界種」〔0043c09〕，普·遍一字之異。又十義之名，總標作「各各依住……各各方所」〔0041c27〕，結分作「各各所依住……各各方面」〔0043c11〕，依住·所依住與方所·方面各一字之異。又形狀之名，總標作「或作樓閣形」「或作山幢形」〔0042a10〕，結分作「十佛剎微塵數樓觀形世界」「十佛剎微塵數尸羅幢形世界」〔0043c18〕；又總標作「或作諸佛相好形」「或作圓滿光明形」〔0042a13〕，結分作「十佛剎微塵數佛相形世界」〔0043c22〕「十佛剎微塵數圓光形世界」〔0043c23〕。本段大正校記六條見目八校記表。據實誌錄，不判。
五、宗義之經據〔眼〕
(一) 種依海·剎依種之三重能所——本段之骨在澄觀一句：「標二章者，謂種及剎。然剎種依剎海，諸剎依剎種，則寬陜可知。」〔T35n1735 0581b07〕。至別明香海處又足成之：「雙釋二章者，謂香海依剎海，剎種依香海，諸剎依剎種。」〔T35n1735 0582b05〕。海·種·剎三重相依，是華藏世界之依報結構，亦是本品由總入別之次第所在。
(二) 十者表無盡——十義之立，澄觀明言非定數而是表法：「皆顯十者，俱表無盡。而或異者，彰義多端。復有同者，恐濫全別。」〔T35n1735 0581c04〕。本段十義與〈世界成就品〉十事互出，澄觀逐條對勘曰「所列十事，與〈成就品〉都望全異，彼通一切海，此明一海中種故。」〔0581b27〕，又「若別別相望，互有互無，起具因緣。清淨佛出，劫住轉變，彼有此無。方所、分齊、行列、趣入、力持等五，彼無此有。依住、形體、莊嚴無別，彼此名同。前後互出，都有十五。」〔0581b29〕。十非定數，前後互出而都有十五，是本段讀十義之第一關。
(三) 五事之法釋——十義中前五既已於前段釋訖，澄觀於此段別釋其五：
「各各方所者，若圓滿方所，周滿法界，無處不有，不即三界、不離三界。若隨宜方所，隨十方中向背各別。各各趣入者，依門趣入。約法門者，謂三解脫。又互相現入而無來去等。各各分齊者，約事隨宜，廣陜異故。約佛分齊，則十方無際，各各行列即是道路。約事，可知；約法，謂大念慧行以為遊路。各各力加持者，即約食能令住，約法廣大法味喜樂所持。」〔T35n1735 0581c08〕
事與法雙釋，是澄觀於本段釋依報之通例。
(四) 十八圓滿之相攝——澄觀取佛淨土十八圓滿以攝此十義：「又此互出，顯佛淨土十八圓滿十五攝故。」〔T35n1735 0581c16〕，並逐條配之，「此具因緣即因圓滿。依住即是依持。形狀即當形色。」〔0581c20〕，體則「攝二種：一攝顯色，七寶光明為體性故；二攝果滿，隨類之果可知。」〔0581c21〕，並繫一句唯識義「約佛，大圓鏡智相應淨識之所變故」〔0581c22〕。末曰「劫住轉變，十八中無，義同於果及事業，攝亦可成二十圓滿，於理無違。」〔0582a03〕，又「又上諸文，一一段中具多圓滿，一一融攝，故異餘宗。」〔0582a09〕——此為澄觀判本經異於餘宗之處，繫屬疏家，非經文自判。
(五) 相入而無來無入——重頌第七第八兩首正明一多相入，澄觀釋之曰：
「亦頌趣入，初偈以多入一、後偈一多互入。皆入而無入，入則壞緣起、不入壞性用。又要由不入方能入耳。又約體本空故。無來無入，約相不壞故。如本無差以性融相，故得互入。」〔T35n1735 0582a22〕
經文「雖見十方普入中，而實無來無所入」〔T10n0279 0042b16〕與「以一剎種入一切，一切入一亦無餘，體相如本無差別」〔0042b17〕，是本段事事無礙之正據；澄觀之釋則出「以性融相」為其所以然。
(六) 世界種之法釋——中央世界種之名，澄觀約事約法雙釋：「三種名，約事，寶光遠照故。約法，其世界種正是所含種子一一皆有大智光明遍照法界義故、性德互嚴故。」〔T35n1735 0582b28〕。香海之名亦然：「初香海名，以多華發光故，亦由菩薩行華而為因故。」〔0582b24〕；華之名亦然：「約法即萬行圓明之所成故。」〔0582b26〕。依報之名相一一有法釋，是本品不作地理讀而作行願讀之依據所在。
六、諸家異釋（古德·標宗）
澄觀《華嚴經疏》T35n1735（八十華嚴逐文·主）
釋世界種之名——「名從何得？欲明世界無邊方便顯多，故立此名。」〔T35n1735 0581b08〕，繼以積魚成海喻（目三）。又設一難一通：「若爾，種無別體，攬界以成，何以下文說有形體？雖依種類以立種名，何妨此種別有其體。」〔0581b14〕
釋廣釋之詳略——「二隨門廣釋，但釋其三，謂依住、形、體。餘七雖略，義上已說。」〔T35n1735 0582a11〕。依住「初列、後結，文並可知」〔0582a12〕；形狀「初列二十種、後結塵數不同」〔0582a13〕；體「先列、後結。列中亦二十種，前十色相、後十是聲，會釋如前。」〔0582a16〕
釋頌之分段——「應頌有十，分為六段：初一頌依住；次一形狀及布列安住；次三體性；次三頌於五事，謂初偈初二句頌所入門、次句方所、第四句莊嚴。餘二偈中，廣大剎之本相，即是分齊廣陜此彼相入。」〔T35n1735 0582a17〕；末二頌「次一頌無差，謂塵容佛海等無差故。後一頌力持，主伴皆是神力任持。普化之言，兼於法味。」〔0582a26〕
釋二十重之事目增減——「最下層中，文有七事，一舉名。二辯際，謂世界所據之際，如金剛際。三依住……五上覆。六眷屬。七本界佛名離二障垢智眼清淨照世如燈。然佛德無邊，各隨一義。」〔T35n1735 0582c07〕；「二層已去或有八事，謂加去此遠近故。或有九事，加純淨言故。準此，若無此言即通染淨。此上眷屬漸加，剎數中間諸事可以準知。」〔0582c16〕。第一重之依住，澄觀存舊釋而別出己見：「若準此名大同剎種所依蓮華，而舊釋云於前無邊香海所出華上更有此華持此一界者，以例上諸層別有依住，故為此釋，何妨最下依於總華思之。」〔0582c09〕
釋第十三重娑婆之形如虛空——澄觀引靜法之說：
「其第十三主剎即此娑婆。言形如虛空者，靜法云：大小乘經並說虛空體無形質、不可見相，今云有形者，迴文者誤。梵本云三曼多第縛皤嚩曩伽伽那阿楞迦羅僧塞恒那，迴文應以形狀置周圓之前、虛空安天宮之上，然後合綴飾云其形周圓以空居天宮莊嚴之具而覆其上。」〔T35n1735 0582c21〕
澄觀縱成之而別存一通：「靜法此正深有理致，今依經通之亦有理在。謂空雖無形，隨俗說故，以俗典指空為天，謂天為圓穹，其形如𨫼，故說天勢圍平野。亦如《法華》云「梵王為眾生之父」，亦隨俗說耳。」〔T35n1735 0582c28–0583a03〕
釋第十五重之卐字——「第十五云形如卍字者，靜法云：室離靺瑳本非是字，乃是德者之相，正云吉祥海雲。眾德深廣如海，益物如雲。古來三藏誤譯洛剎曩為惡剎攞，遂以相為字，故為謬耳。」〔T35n1735 0583a03〕；澄觀通之曰「今義通此相以為吉祥萬德之所集成，因目為萬，意在語略而義含，合云萬相耳。餘並易了。」〔0583a07〕
釋結分之四科——結形類「二『所謂』下，廣說十門形狀有十八事。望前剎種形中，闕須彌山形及嚴具形，餘皆全同，但此約剎為異耳。」〔T35n1735 0583a20〕；結眷屬「然有兩重主伴。此一一者，指上不可說塵數也。若望前文，主剎直上繞數漸增，今總相說，故云一一各有十剎塵也。又是欲顯無盡義故。」〔0583a24〕；「一一復有如上所說微塵數者，如上之言文含二義：一即總指前能繞所繞之數繞一世界，不欲繁文，故云如上。二者如上，亦用十佛剎為能繞也。」〔0583a27〕，並自設一評「依此則似譯人文繁理隱，何不言一一復有十佛剎塵數耶？若依前義則譯者之妙。」〔0583b01〕。總結都數處又通一難：「其直上中間但有十九佛剎，而結有不可說者，以傍論故。不爾。豈一剎種最下唯一主剎，故知如向所說，主剎橫竪共論有不可說故。」〔0583a15〕
李通玄《新華嚴經論》T36n1739
釋二十重之數量結構——「於此大蓮華中，總言有十不可說佛剎微塵數世界種。為教文有限，且立其百二十一箇世界種，中心有十一箇世界種，上下各且二十重蓮華藏世界，最下重中有一佛世界微塵數廣大世界圍繞。」〔T36n1739 0760c04〕；「次上第二重，二佛世界微塵數。次上第三重，三佛世界微塵數。此十一箇世界種皆悉如是，從下向上轉轉倍增。最上重中，具足二十佛世界微塵數廣大剎，一一剎各有十佛剎微塵數諸小剎圍遶。」〔0760c08〕；外圍之布「其十一箇二十重世界外，有一百箇一重世界種，圍繞十一箇二十重世界。此一百箇世界種外，近金剛山復有十箇四重世界種」〔0760c12〕
對顯三乘之尺度——「如三乘中所說世界種者，數三千大千之剎至一恒河沙為一世界性，數性世界至恒河沙為一世界海數海世界至恒河沙為一世界種。」〔T36n1739 0760c18〕；「如此經世界並數一佛剎微塵、二佛剎微塵、三佛剎微塵，如是倍增至最上重中二十佛剎微塵數世界，如是上下通數總二百一十佛剎微塵數廣大剎始成一世界種，非為恒沙以限其數。」〔0760c21〕；「三乘之中多取恒河沙數為量。如此經中，常取一佛剎塵、十佛剎塵，為表無盡為其數。」〔0760c26〕
釋陳形狀之意——「界海，廣大無際與虛空法界等。但為化眾生故，約陳形狀，令眾生心廣大，發開狹劣心故。」〔T36n1739 0760c02〕；末歸於發心「如是增廣，令小狹劣眾生知佛攝化境界，發菩提心。」〔0760c28〕
法藏《探玄記》T35n1733
〔查無〕本段之逐文釋。全論所存者為卷二通泛之十種世界名相：「至恒沙為一世界性，數此性復至恒沙為一世界海，數此復至恒沙為一世界種，數此復至無量恒沙為一佛世界。所化分齊，其受用土……」〔T35n1733 0158a19〕；又「二、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……」〔0158b02〕。此為別立之尺度系統，與本段華藏剎海之世界種同名而語境異。據實標闕，不以他處之文充之。
智儼《搜玄記》T35n1732
〔查無〕。檢「盧舍那佛品」二見皆卷首目次列名，「世界品」「世界成就」零見，本段未見逐文展開。本帙於《搜玄記》唯六相相涉處誌錄，此段非其類，故不強列。
澄觀《演義鈔》T36n1736
〔查無〕本段釋名句之獨立展開。對應窗檢「世界種」等釋名語零直接命中，鈔於此段落未見逐句夾註。據實標闕。
誌錄不判
世界種之數量結構，李通玄立百二十一箇世界種之說，中心十一箇各二十重、外一百箇一重、近金剛山十箇四重〔T36n1739 0760c05〕；澄觀則於本段但據經文言「十海各管不可說佛剎塵數之海，總顯則有十不可說佛剎塵數。次第說者，但有一百一十一海，餘皆略指。」〔T35n1735 0582b19〕——一作百二十一世界種、一作一百一十一海，所計之物與所依之文各異。二說並錄不判。
「十不可說」之有無，澄觀判為傳寫脫「十」字〔T35n1735 0581b20〕，李通玄所據之文則自有「十不可說」〔T36n1739 0760c04〕。二說並錄不判。
第十三重「狀如虛空」〔T10n0279 0043b01〕之讀，靜法判為迴文之誤而當改綴〔T35n1735 0582c22〕，澄觀縱成之而別以隨俗說通之〔T35n1735 0582c28〕。第十五重「卐字之形」〔T10n0279 0043b10〕，靜法判為古來三藏誤譯以相為字〔0583a04〕，澄觀通之為萬德集成之相〔0583a07〕。二處皆一破一通，並錄不判。
世界種與世界性之名，六十本作性、八十本作種，澄觀自陳改譯之由在「恐濫體性」〔T35n1735 0581b20〕；法藏於《探玄記》所列十種世界則以「世界性」為十類之第一〔T35n1733 0158b02〕，其用又異。誌錄不判。
七、互讀·承衍
- 本品內互讀：本節上承同品前段〈華藏因果自體·藏海安布莊嚴〉（參見本帙〈華藏因果自體·藏海安布莊嚴〉），下接右旋十海之列（參見本帙〈所持剎網差別二〉，起句「爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！此無邊妙華光香水海東」」〔T10n0279 0044a09〕）與重頌一段（參見本帙〈所持剎網差別三·重頌〉）。澄觀科文以「第二明右旋十海」相接〔T35n1735 0583b05〕，並曰「下明種所持剎，有二十重，下九海例然」〔0583b10〕——十海之體例，於本段中央一海處已立盡，故本段稱十海之首。
- 與〈世界成就品〉互讀：本段十義與品四〈世界成就品〉之十事，澄觀逐條對勘而定其互有互無、都有十五〔T35n1735 0581b27〕。本編品四單元可對讀。
- 與品六〈毘盧遮那品〉互讀：本段第十三重「其佛即是毘盧遮那如來世尊」〔T10n0279 0043b03〕，於二十重之中獨不作佛號而直指本師；品六即說毘盧遮那之本因，二段相銜。
- 「世界種」「華藏世界」於本經之覆現：二詞於底本全經覆現甚廣，涉品二十六〈十地品〉·品二十七〈十定品〉·品三十九〈入法界品〉等後會諸品重舉華藏以顯依正無礙。因二詞詞頻過泛而非本段獨有之術語，本節但誌其覆現之廣度，不逐一羅列。
- 《華嚴一乘教義分齊章》T45n1866：檢「世界種」惟一見〔T45n1866 0498a15〕「數此又至無量恒河沙，為一世界種。數此又至無量十方恒河……」，屬十世界尺度之通泛教義段，非引本段經文。與本段之「世界種」同名而語境異，誌錄不判。
- 承衍之闕：《十玄門》T45n1868·《法界玄鏡》T45n1883·《妄盡還源觀》T45n1876 檢「世界種」皆零見；唯識諸論（成唯識 T31n1585·攝論 T31n1594·瑜伽 T30n1579·解深密 T16n0676）檢「世界種」「無邊妙華光」「香水海」亦皆零見。本段屬華嚴獨有之依報莊嚴敘事，非唯識橋段所涉，據實標闕，不強繫。
八、校本定位
- 實叉 T279（底本）：品五 華藏世界品·所持剎網差別之首段，卷八後半〔T10n0279 0041c22〕起–〔0044a01〕訖（卷八題行 0044a02·卷九題行 0044a05·次節經文起於 0044a09）。告眾許說 0041c22 · 雙標二章 0041c23 · 十義總標 0041c26 · 依止十例 0042a01 · 形狀二十例 0042a08 · 體性二十例 0042a16 · 說頌之緣起 0042b01 · 重頌十首 0042b03–0042b22 · 香水海帝網分布 0042b23 · 中央香水海及世界種 0042b25 · 二十重第一重 0042c01 · 第二重 0042c06 · 第三重 0042c10 · 第四重 0042c14 · 第五重 0042c19 · 第六重 0042c24 · 第七重 0042c28 · 第八重 0043a04 · 第九重 0043a09 · 第十重 0043a14 · 第十一重 0043a19 · 第十二重 0043a24 · 第十三重 0043a28 · 第十四重 0043b04 · 第十五重 0043b08 · 第十六重 0043b13 · 第十七重 0043b18 · 第十八重 0043b23 · 第十九重 0043b28 · 第二十重 0043c04 · 結分十義重申 0043c09 · 結分十八形類 0043c14 · 結眷屬 0043c26 · 收束句 0043c29。
- 佛馱 T278（晉譯主對校）：品三〈盧舍那佛品〉·同段偈頌〔T09n0278 0414b06〕–〔0414b26〕·中央一海〔0414b27〕。「世界種」「二十重」「無邊妙華光」三語於該本零見，其對位以場景結構定，不以詞檢定。
- 澄觀《疏》T35n1735：本節科起 0581b04 – 訖 0583b10 前。三別之科 0581b04 · 標二章 0581b07 · 釋種海二名 0581b08 · 積魚喻 0581b11 · 蜂窠喻 0581b16 · 禾穀喻與舊經云性 0581b18 · 脫十字之校 0581b20 · 廣釋二章再分 0581b22 · 與成就品十事對勘 0581b27 · 都有十五 0581c03 · 五事之釋 0581c08 · 十八圓滿相攝 0581c16 · 二十圓滿 0582a03 · 異餘宗 0582a09 · 隨門廣釋但釋其三 0582a11 · 形狀三名之釋 0582a14 · 體之前十後十 0582a16 · 頌分六段 0582a17 · 相入之釋 0582a22 · 疏卷十一訖 0582a29 · 疏卷十二起 0582b02 · 別明種剎香海 0582b05 · 帝網之釋 0582b11 · 次第別顯三分 0582b17 · 中央一海二分 0582b21 · 海華種三名 0582b23 · 所持世界三分 0582c01 · 十九剎塵為二十重 0582c04 · 二十層分二十段 0582c07 · 最下層七事 0582c07 · 八事九事 0582c16 · 普方之釋 0582c19 · 娑婆與靜法之說 0582c21 · 澄觀通之 0582c28 · 卐字之議 0583a03 · 類結所餘四科 0583a10 · 主剎之通難 0583a14 · 結形類十八事 0583a20 · 結眷屬兩重主伴 0583a24 · 譯人文繁理隱之評 0583b01 · 彰所在 0583b03 · 次科右旋十海 0583b05。品級總科「一品分三」0579a05。
- 李通玄《論》T36n1739：本段釋起 0760c02 – 訖 0761a02。陳形狀之意 0760c02 · 百二十一世界種 0760c05 · 逐重倍增 0760c08 · 外圍百箇與十箇 0760c12 · 三乘尺度 0760c18 · 二百一十佛剎微塵數 0760c24 · 表無盡之數 0760c26 · 發菩提心 0760c28。
- 法藏《探玄記》T35n1733：〔查無〕本段逐文釋；卷二通泛十種世界 0158a19·0158b02。
- 智儼《搜玄記》T35n1732：〔查無〕（所檢未見，見目六）。
- 澄觀《演義鈔》T36n1736：〔查無〕本段釋名之逐句夾註（見目六）。
- 四十華嚴 T293：〔查無〕。該譯唯品三十九，於本段無對校。
- 世親《十地經論》T26n1522：〔查無〕。唯釋品二十六，不涉本品。
- 異讀：本單元 T279 範圍〔0041c22〕–〔0044a04〕內大正校記 5 條，逐條照錄不判（底本【大】｜他本異讀；多本異讀以／分列）：〔0041c23〕此【大】｜此十【明】 · 〔0041c24〕有【大】｜有十【明】 · 〔0042a04〕漩【大】＊｜旋【宋】【宮】＊（＊同校並繫〔0042a09〕之漩字） · 〔0042b23〕此【大】｜此十【明】 · 〔0043b10〕卐【大】｜卍【宋】【元】【明】【宮】。（＊＝大正星號同校，該校並繫本文其餘同字處；T279 XML 於此類未出 corresp 重出位，故只呈星號、不另造錨）
- 異讀補記：CBETA 回改 2 條（不入上列大正校記之數）：〔0042c23〕界【CB】【麗-CB】【磧-CB】｜海【大】 · 〔0043b02〕空雲【CB】｜空【大】／空雲【元】【明】。
- 異讀補記：底本內部之異形（普照／遍照·依住／所依住·方所／方面·樓閣／樓觀·山幢／尸羅幢·諸佛相好／佛相·圓滿光明／圓光）已於目四句五誌錄。夾注已於原典層剝除。
Within the sea of Flower-Treasury worlds, the fragrant-water seas on which it rests and the net of lands it sustains are first distinguished. This section opens with Samantabhadra’s renewed address to the assembly and his promise to speak; it states in general the ten senses of the world-seed, and instances ten items of resting, twenty items of shape, and twenty items of substance; then ten repeating verses; then it displays separately the twenty tiers of the world-seed sustained by the innermost fragrant-water sea, Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance; and it closes with the concluding portion. Chengguan outlines this as the third of the three sections of the chapter, the differentiated net of lands it sustains, and that text is itself divided into three. The phrase 「二十重」 tr. “twenty tiers” is not found in the base text; it comes from the commentators’ outline — the base text merely lists twenty layers of worlds, one succeeding another above and below. The eighty-fascicle has 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” , the sixty-fascicle has 「世界性」 tr. “world-nature” , and Chengguan states himself the reason for the change of rendering.
I. Doctrinal Outline and Placement
| Outline system | The place of this section within it |
|---|---|
| The base text T279, in thirty-nine chapters | Chapter 5, The Flower-Treasury World · the first section of the differentiated net of lands it sustains (the first assembly, at the site of awakening · the latter half of fascicle 8, 〔T10n0279 0041c22〕–〔0044a01〕); the opening sentence 「爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！此中有何等世界住？我今當說。」」 tr. “At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: ‘Sons of the Buddha! What sort of worlds dwell herein? I shall now speak of them.’” 〔T10n0279 0041c22〕, the closing sentence 「如是所說一切世界，皆在此無邊妙華光香水海及圍遶此海香水河中。」 tr. “All the worlds thus spoken of are within this fragrant-water sea Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance and within the fragrant-water rivers that encircle this sea.” 〔0043c29〕. The next section begins from 「爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！此無邊妙華光香水海東」」 tr. “At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: ‘Sons of the Buddha! To the east of this fragrant-water sea Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance’”, which belongs to fascicle 9 and is the boundary of the next unit |
| Chengguan, Huayan jing shu, the outline at the level of the chapter | 「一品分三：初明華藏因果自體、二明藏海安布莊嚴、三明所持剎網差別，三段如次。」 tr. “The single chapter divides into three: first, the clarifying of the cause, the fruit, and the own-substance of the Flower-Treasury; second, the clarifying of the arrangement and adornment of the treasury-sea; third, the clarifying of the differentiated net of lands it sustains — the three sections in that order.” 〔T35n1735 0579a05〕 — the present section is the head of that third part |
| Chengguan, Huayan jing shu, the outline of this section | 「前明本剎，今辯末界，故兼染淨。文分三別：第一告眾許說、二『諸佛子此不可說』下雙標二章、三『諸佛子彼諸世界種』下廣釋二章。」 tr. “Earlier the root land was clarified; now the derivative worlds are distinguished, and hence both the defiled and the pure are included. The text divides into three: first, the address to the assembly and the promise to speak; second, from ‘Sons of the Buddha! This inexpressible’ onward, the paired setting-up of the two topics; third, from ‘Sons of the Buddha! Those world-seeds’ onward, the extended explanation of the two topics.” 〔T35n1735 0581b04〕; the outline begins 〔0581b04〕 and ends before 〔0583b10〕 |
| The further division of the extended explanation of the two topics | 「三廣釋二章中，文分為二：初通明剎種不同，釋剎種章。二別明剎種香海，雙釋二章。二段各有長行與偈。」 tr. “Within the third, the extended explanation of the two topics, the text divides into two: first, the general clarifying of how the world-seeds differ, explaining the topic of the world-seed; second, the separate clarifying of the world-seeds and the fragrant seas, explaining the two topics as a pair. Each of the two sections has prose and verse.” 〔T35n1735 0581b22〕 |
| The outline of the separate clarifying of the seeds, the lands, and the fragrant seas | 「第二別明種剎香海。雙釋二章者，謂香海依剎海，剎種依香海，諸剎依剎種。亦有長行、偈頌。長行分三：初總舉諸海所依、二次第別顯海種及剎、第三總略結釋。」 tr. “Second, the separate clarifying of the seeds, the lands, and the fragrant seas. To explain the two topics as a pair means that the fragrant seas rest upon the sea of lands, the world-seeds rest upon the fragrant seas, and the several lands rest upon the world-seeds. Here too there are prose and verses. The prose divides into three: first, the general statement of what all the seas rest upon; second, the successive separate display of the seas, the seeds, and the lands; third, the summary conclusion.” 〔T35n1735 0582b05〕 |
| The outline of the one central sea | 「今初，中央一海，文分為二：先明香海出華以持剎種、後『有不可說』下明所持世界。」 tr. “Now the first, the one central sea: the text divides into two — first the clarifying of how the fragrant sea puts forth a flower and thereby sustains the world-seed; then, from ‘there are inexpressible’ onward, the clarifying of the worlds it sustains.” 〔T35n1735 0582b21〕; the worlds sustained are again threefold, 「初總舉大數、次『其最下方』下別辯二十層大剎、後『諸佛子』下類結所餘」 tr. “first, the general statement of the great number; next, from ‘at its lowest point’ onward, the separate distinguishing of the great lands of twenty layers; then, from ‘Sons of the Buddha’ onward, the concluding of the remainder by category” 〔0582c02〕 |
| The outline of the concluding portion | 「第三類結所餘。此中非唯結數，兼總顯上文所依住等。文分為四：一總結都數、二『各各所依』下結形類、三『此一一』下結眷屬、四『如是所說』下彰其所在。」 tr. “Third, the concluding of the remainder by category. Here it is not the numbers alone that are concluded; it also displays in general what was said above about what they rest upon and the rest. The text divides into four: first, the general conclusion of the total number; second, from ‘each with its own resting place’ onward, the conclusion of the classes of shape; third, from ‘each one of these’ onward, the conclusion of the retinue; fourth, from ‘all the worlds thus spoken of’ onward, the showing forth of where they are.” 〔T35n1735 0583a10〕 |
| Where the outline of the next unit begins | 「第二明右旋十海，即繞處中之海有其十也，各有種剎。十海即為十段。」 tr. “Second, the clarifying of the ten seas that turn to the right, that is, the seas encircling the one at the centre, which are ten in number, each having its seeds and lands. The ten seas make ten sections.” 〔T35n1735 0583b05〕; 「後『此中最下方』下明種所持剎，有二十重，下九海例然。」 tr. “Then, from ‘at the lowest point within it’ onward, the clarifying of the lands sustained by the seed, which are of twenty tiers; and the nine seas below follow the same pattern.” 〔0583b09〕 — the present unit ends before this |
| Fazang, Tanxuan ji | 〔not found〕 no phrase-by-phrase outline and explanation of this section. Searching the whole treatise for 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” yields a single occurrence 〔T35n1733 0158a20〕, which belongs to the list of terms treated in general as the 「十種世界」 tr. “ten kinds of world” in fascicle 2, and is not a phrase-by-phrase explanation of this fascicle |
| Zhiyan, Souxuan ji | 〔not found〕 no phrase-by-phrase explanation of this section. A search for 「盧舍那佛品」 tr. “The Chapter of Rocana Buddha” yields two occurrences, both listings of the title in the table of contents at the head of a fascicle; 「世界品」 tr. “The Chapter of the World” and 「世界成就」 tr. “The Accomplishment of the Worlds” yield none |
| Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun | There is an independent section of explanation, beginning 〔T36n1739 0760c02〕, explaining the total number of the world-seeds and the incrementing structure of the twenty tiers, and setting against it the Ganges-sand scale of the three vehicles |
| The corresponding place in the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T278 | The same passage in 〈The Chapter of Rocana Buddha〉 · prose and verse from 〔T09n0278 0414b06〕; the passage on the central sea 〔0414b27〕. The sixty-fascicle is comparatively abbreviated in this passage |
| The forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T293 | 〔not found〕. That translation produced only chapter 39 and offers no collation for this section |
Whence the name of this unit — the present unit is called 「所持剎網差別」 tr. “the differentiated net of lands it sustains”, from the third of Chengguan’s three-fold division at the level of the chapter 〔T35n1735 0579a05〕; it is called 「二十重」 tr. “twenty tiers” 〔T35n1735 0582c06〕, from 「二十層，即分二十段」 tr. “twenty layers, that is, divided into twenty sections” 〔0582c07〕. The sūtra text itself has neither the phrase 「二十重」 tr. “twenty tiers” nor 「二十層」 tr. “twenty layers”, but with 「其最下方有世界」 tr. “at its lowest point there is a world” as its beginning and 「此上過佛剎微塵數世界，有世界」 tr. “above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land, there is a world” repeated nineteen times, twenty layers are formed. The name for the number of tiers is the outline, not the sūtra.
II. Terminology
| Chinese | Sanskrit as transmitted by the ancient worthies (roman letters · an aid to pronunciation) | Attested at | Essential sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| world-seed | — | 「有不可說佛剎微塵數世界種安住」 tr. “there dwell world-seeds numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands” 〔T10n0279 0041c24〕 | Chengguan explains the name thus: 「謂積多世界共在一處，攝諸流類，故名為種。如是種類復有眾多，深廣無邊，故名為海。」 tr. “That is to say, many worlds heaped together in one place, gathering in all their kinds — hence it is named a seed. And of such kinds there are again very many, deep and broad and boundless — hence it is named a sea.” 〔T35n1735 0581b09〕 |
| sea of worlds | — | 「彼諸世界種，於世界海中」 tr. “those world-seeds, within the sea of worlds” 〔T10n0279 0041c26〕 | Explained under the preceding entry; and again 「而言世界無邊者，海外有海，海海無窮也。」 tr. “And when it says that the worlds are boundless: beyond a sea there is a sea, sea upon sea without end.” 〔T35n1735 0581b13〕 |
| seed-nature | — | a phrase of the commentary, not of the sūtra | Chengguan brings out a second sense of the world-seed, saying 「即依後義，亦得名為種性。依於此種能生世界，如依一禾有多穀粒。舊經云性，多取此義。恐濫體性，故改為種。」 tr. “Taking that latter sense, it may also be named the seed-nature. Resting upon this seed, worlds can be produced, as one stalk of grain bears many kernels. The old sūtra says ‘nature’, mostly taking this sense; but for fear of confusion with ‘substance-nature’, it was changed to ‘seed’.” 〔T35n1735 0581b18〕 — this is why the sixty-fascicle has 「世界性」 tr. “world-nature” while the eighty-fascicle changed it to 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” |
| fragrant-water sea | — | 「此不可說佛剎微塵數香水海，在華藏莊嚴世界海中」 tr. “these fragrant-water seas numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands, within the sea of Flower-Treasury adorned worlds” 〔T10n0279 0042b23〕 | Chengguan says 「此多香海，並在剎海地面，故云所依。」 tr. “These many fragrant seas all lie upon the ground-surface of the sea of lands, and hence it says that they rest upon it.” 〔T35n1735 0582b10〕 |
| the net of Indra, lord of the gods | — | 「如天帝網分布而住」 tr. “spread out and abiding like the net of Indra, lord of the gods” 〔T10n0279 0042b25〕 | Chengguan says 「言如帝網者，大都分布則似車輪。」 tr. “When it says ‘like Indra’s net’: the general spread of it resembles a cartwheel.” 〔T35n1735 0582b11〕; treated in full under item III |
| qulejia (the bamboo grain-bin shape) | a transcription of a Sanskrit sound (Chengguan himself marks it 「梵音」 tr. “the Sanskrit sound”) | 「或作佉勒迦形」 tr. “some take the shape of a qulejia” 〔T10n0279 0042a12〕 | Chengguan says 「佉勒迦者，梵音，此云竹篅也。」 tr. “As for the qulejia, it is a Sanskrit sound; in this land it is called a bamboo bin.” 〔T35n1735 0582a15〕 |
| altar-mound and cleared ground | — | 「或作壇墠形」 tr. “some take the shape of an altar-mound and a cleared ground” 〔T10n0279 0042a10〕 | Chengguan says 「壇墠形者，築土為壇，除地為墠。」 tr. “As for the altar-mound and cleared-ground shape: to heap up earth makes an altar-mound, to clear away the ground makes a cleared ground.” 〔T35n1735 0582a14〕 |
| the turning-round shape | — | 「或作迴轉形」 tr. “some take the shape of a turning round” 〔T10n0279 0042a09〕 | Chengguan says 「迴轉形者，襵褻往來之形也。」 tr. “As for the turning-round shape, it is a shape that folds back and forth upon itself.” 〔T35n1735 0582a14〕 |
| bounding limit | — | 「以一切金剛莊嚴光耀輪為際」 tr. “having for its bounding limit a shining wheel adorned with every kind of vajra” 〔T10n0279 0042c02〕 | Chengguan says 「二辯際，謂世界所據之際，如金剛際。」 tr. “Second, the distinguishing of the bounding limit, that is, the limit upon which the world is based, like the vajra-limit.” 〔T35n1735 0582c08〕 |
| the generally square | — | 「其形普方而多有隅角」 tr. “its shape is generally square yet with many corners” 〔T10n0279 0042c22〕 | Chengguan says 「五中云普方者，都望即方，而一面之中亦有多角隅。隅即是角，文體容爾。」 tr. “In the fifth, where it says ‘generally square’: seen as a whole it is square, yet within a single side there are also many corners. A corner is precisely an angle; the manner of the text allows this.” 〔T35n1735 0582c19〕 |
| the shape of the svastika graph | śrīvatsa (a transcription transmitted by Jingfa and cited by Chengguan) | 「其狀猶如卐字之形」 tr. “its shape is like the svastika graph” 〔T10n0279 0043b10〕 | Jingfa’s account is given under item VI; Chengguan resolves it, saying 「今義通此相以為吉祥萬德之所集成，因目為萬，意在語略而義含，合云萬相耳。」 tr. “Now the sense resolves this mark as what the myriad auspicious virtues assemble to form, and hence it is styled ‘the myriad’, the intent being that the word is terse while the sense is inclusive; taken together one should say ‘the mark of the myriad’.” 〔T35n1735 0583a07〕 |
| purely and solely pure | — | 「純一清淨」 tr. “purely and solely pure” 〔T10n0279 0042c18〕 | Chengguan takes it as the marker of increase and decrease in the items counted for a tier: 「或有九事，加純淨言故。準此，若無此言即通染淨。」 tr. “Sometimes there are nine items, by the adding of the words ‘purely pure’. By this standard, where these words are absent the land is common to the defiled and the pure.” 〔T35n1735 0582c17〕 |
| Sahā | sahā (an anciently transmitted transcription) | 「至此世界，名：娑婆」 tr. “one reaches this world, named Sahā” 〔T10n0279 0043a29〕 | Chengguan says 「其第十三主剎即此娑婆。」 tr. “The thirteenth principal land is precisely this Sahā.” 〔T35n1735 0582c21〕 |
| Vairocana | vairocana (the transcription is itself the ancient transmission) | 「其佛即是毘盧遮那如來世尊」 tr. “its buddha is precisely Vairocana Tathāgata, the World-Honoured One” 〔T10n0279 0043b03〕 | Among the twenty tiers this one alone gives no 「佛號」 tr. “buddha-title” but points directly to the root teacher; the other nineteen tiers all give a 「佛號」 tr. “buddha-title” |
III. Similes and Rhetoric
This section is a narrative of the adornments of the dependent recompense, and the similes of the sūtra text lie for the most part within the single formula 「其狀猶如」 tr. “its shape is like”; the commentators set out three similes of their own in explaining the name. They are recorded here under three heads.
(i) The three similes by which the commentator explains the name — all of them established by Chengguan; they are not similes of the sūtra text.
- The simile of heaped fish making a sea — 「如積多魚以成一種，魚龍龜鼈山泉島嶼乃有多種，並悉攝在一大海中。」 tr. “As many fish are heaped together to make one kind, and there are many kinds — fish, dragons, tortoises, turtles, mountains, springs, islands and isles — and all alike are gathered within one great sea.” 〔T35n1735 0581b11〕. The vehicle of the simile is the sea’s holding of many kinds; what it figures is the mutual containment, wide and narrow, of the world-seed and the sea of worlds. Chengguan himself limits the simile, saying 「上舉魚龍，蓋分喻耳。」 tr. “In citing fish and dragons above, it is only a partial simile.” 〔0581b17〕
- The simile of the bees’ nest — 「如多蠭孔共成一窠，豈妨此窠別有其體？」 tr. “As many bee-holes together make one nest, what is to prevent this nest from having a substance of its own?” 〔T35n1735 0581b16〕. The objection it wards off is 「若爾，種無別體，攬界以成，何以下文說有形體？」 tr. “If so, then the seed has no separate substance, being formed by gathering worlds; why then does the text below say that it has shape and substance?” 〔0581b14〕. What it figures is that the seed, though formed by gathering worlds, still has a substance of its own.
- The simile of the grain-stalk — 「依於此種能生世界，如依一禾有多穀粒。」 tr. “Resting upon this seed, worlds can be produced, as one stalk of grain bears many kernels.” 〔T35n1735 0581b18〕. What it figures is the productive sense of the seed-nature.
(ii) The simile of Indra’s net in the sūtra text — 「此不可說佛剎微塵數香水海，在華藏莊嚴世界海中，如天帝網分布而住。」 tr. “These fragrant-water seas numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands are within the sea of Flower-Treasury adorned worlds, spread out and abiding like the net of Indra, lord of the gods.” 〔T10n0279 0042b23〕. Chengguan explains the vehicle and what it figures in the fullest detail:
「言如帝網者，大都分布則似車輪。其有別者，謂帝釋殿網貫天珠成，以一大珠當心，次以其次大珠貫穿匝繞，如是展轉遞繞經百千匝。若上下四面四角望之，皆行伍相當。今此香海雖在地面，分布相似。又有涉入重重之義，故云如也。」 tr. “When it says ‘like Indra’s net’: the general spread of it resembles a cartwheel. Where it differs is this — the net in Śakra’s palace is strung of heavenly pearls, with one great pearl at the centre, and then pearls of the next size strung and encircling it, and so turning and encircling in succession through a hundred thousand rounds. Looked at from above and below, from the four sides and the four corners, the ranks all correspond. Now these fragrant seas, though they lie upon the ground-surface, are spread out in a like manner. And there is also the sense of interpenetrating layer upon layer, and hence the word ‘like’.” 〔T35n1735 0582b11〕
One great pearl at the centre with all the pearls encircling it is precisely the arrangement of the one central sea and the ten seas that turn to the right in this section; 「涉入重重」 tr. “interpenetrating layer upon layer” is where the simile comes home.
(iii) The shape-similes of the sūtra’s 「其狀猶如」 tr. “its shape is like” — the fourth of the items of the twenty tiers is shape, and among the twenty tiers not one shape-sentence is lacking: twelve tiers begin with 「其狀猶如」 tr. “its shape is like”, four with 「其形」 tr. “its shape”, three with 「狀如」 tr. “shaped like”, and the tenth tier has 「其狀周圓」 tr. “its shape is round” — twenty tiers in all. The images taken are the maṇi jewel, the lion’s seat, eight corners, the maṇi lotus, the generally square with many corners, the four-square, the storeyed pavilion, Indra’s net, the body of Brahmā, the round, the half-moon, the whirling flower, empty space, the vajra-holder, the svastika, the tortoise-shell, the whirling spread of jewelled flowers, the jewelled ornament, and the like. Among them the eighth tier’s 「其狀猶如因陀羅網」 tr. “its shape is like Indra’s net” 〔T10n0279 0043a06〕 shares the same vehicle as the simile of Indra’s net in III(ii) but is put to a different use: there it figures the spread of the fragrant seas, here it is the shape of a single land. For the shape of the first tier Chengguan has a separate explanation: 「四形如摩尼者，為摩尼狀有於八楞，似方不方、似圓不圓，故異下八隅。」 tr. “The fourth, shaped like a maṇi: because the maṇi’s form has eight facets, seeming square yet not square, seeming round yet not round, and hence it differs from the eight corners below.” 〔T35n1735 0582c13〕
(iv) The rhetoric of the sentence-patterns — the three great enumerations of this section all use one and the same format: they announce the topic as ‘all those world-seeds’ or ‘these world-seeds’ · they list the instances with 「或有依」 tr. “some rest upon”, 「或作」 tr. “some take the shape of”, and 「或有以」 tr. “some have as their substance” · and they close with 「……。如是等，若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。」 tr. “… . Such kinds as these, if one were to speak of them at length, number the dust-motes of a sea of worlds.” The ten instances of resting, the twenty of shape, and the twenty of substance: the closing sentence of the three passages is word for word the same, and occurs three times in this section 〔T10n0279 0042a07〕〔0042a15〕〔0042a29〕. In the list of the twenty tiers the first tier begins with 「其最下方有世界」 tr. “at its lowest point there is a world” 〔T10n0279 0042c01〕, and the nineteen that follow all begin with 「此上過佛剎微塵數世界」 tr. “above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land” — hence 「此上過佛剎微塵數世界」 tr. “above this, past worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land” occurs nineteen times in this section, not twenty. The number of the retinue increases from the second tier’s 「二佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶」 tr. “worlds numbering the dust-motes of two buddha-lands encircle it all around” to the twentieth tier’s 「二十佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶」 tr. “worlds numbering the dust-motes of twenty buddha-lands encircle it all around”, while the first tier has only 「佛剎微塵數世界周匝圍遶」 tr. “worlds numbering the dust-motes of a buddha-land encircle it all around”, with no number attached to it; on which Chengguan says 「其別辯中，但列十九佛剎塵數為二十重。」 tr. “In the separate distinguishing it lists only nineteen buddha-land dust-numbers, and they make twenty tiers.” 〔T35n1735 0582c05〕 The phrase 「純一清淨」 tr. “purely and solely pure” occurs six times among the twenty tiers (the fourth, the seventh, the tenth, the fifteenth, the eighteenth, and the twentieth).
IV. Collation with Parallel Translations
Two Chinese witnesses are collated for this section: Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text · chapter 5, The Flower-Treasury World) · Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin-dynasty sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · chapter 3, 〈The Chapter of Rocana Buddha〉). The forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T293 translated only chapter 39 and offers no collation for this section; Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun explains only chapter 26 and does not touch this chapter.
Sentence 1 · Divergence in the rendering of the core terms
| Term | Śikṣānanda T279 | Buddhabhadra T278 |
|---|---|---|
| world-seed | world-seed 〔0041c25〕 | world-nature (「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” does not occur in this passage) |
| the name of the central fragrant-water sea | Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance 〔0042b25〕 | Radiance of Delight 〔0414b27〕 |
| the name of the world of the lowest tier | Supreme Radiance Pervadingly Illumining 〔0042c01〕 | Pure Jewel-Net Radiance 〔0414b27〕 |
| the buddha-title of the lowest tier | Pure Eye, Lamp Apart from Defilement 〔0042c05〕 | Apart from Defilement, Pure Eye, Vast Entry 〔0414b27〕 |
Where the divergence is anchored — as to the difference between 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” and 「世界性」 tr. “world-nature”, Chengguan states its reason himself: 「舊經云性，多取此義。恐濫體性，故改為種。」 tr. “The old sūtra says ‘nature’, mostly taking this sense; but for fear of confusion with ‘substance-nature’, it was changed to ‘seed’.” 〔T35n1735 0581b19〕. Since the terms differ, searching the sixty-fascicle with the wording of the eighty-fascicle must find nothing; the correspondences in the sixty-fascicle for this section are fixed throughout by the structure of the scene, and not by word-search. Recorded in full without adjudication.
Sentence 2 · The first tier of the one central sea
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | This innermost fragrant-water sea is named Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance, and has for its floor a maṇi-king banner that manifests the forms of all bodhisattvas; it puts forth a great lotus, named the Adornment of the Maṇi-King of All Fragrances; a world-seed dwells upon it, named the Blazing Jewel Radiance Universally Illumining the Ten Directions | T10n0279 0042b25 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva said to the bodhisattvas: Sons of the Buddha! Within those many fragrant-water seas there is a fragrant-water sea named Radiance of Delight, having a lotus adorned with the maṇi-jewel-king of all fragrances; upon it is a world named Pure Jewel-Net Radiance, and the buddha-title is Apart from Defilement, Pure Eye, Vast Entry | T09n0278 0414b27 |
The divergence of format — in this passage the sixty-fascicle has only the three items ‘the name of the sea it rests upon · the name of the land · the buddha-title’; the list of twenty tiers in the eighty-fascicle has seven items (name · bounding limit · resting · shape · what covers it above · retinue · buddha-title), and the sixty-fascicle lacks four of them, namely shape, resting, what covers it above, and retinue. This is the great difference in fullness between the two witnesses; recorded as found, in full and without adjudication.
Sentence 3 · The correspondence of the verses
The eighty-fascicle has ten repeating verses 〔T10n0279 0042b03〕–〔0042b22〕; the verses of the sixty-fascicle for the same passage are 〔T09n0278 0414b06〕–〔0414b26〕, beginning with 「堅固清淨諸佛剎」 tr. “Firm and pure, the buddha-lands” 〔0414b07〕 and closing with 「教化眾生無有量，佛現自在無倫匹」 tr. “Teaching and converting beings without measure, the Buddha manifests his sovereign freedom without peer” 〔0414b26〕. The verses of both witnesses are made upon the general statement of resting, shape, and substance in the preceding prose; they do not stand in the relation of a line-by-line rendering of one another. Recorded in full without adjudication.
Sentence 4 · Whether 「十不可說」 tr. “ten inexpressible” is present
The base text in this section reads 「此不可說佛剎微塵數香水海中，有不可說佛剎微塵數世界種安住」 tr. “within these fragrant-water seas numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands there dwell world-seeds numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands” 〔T10n0279 0041c23〕, and the phrase 「十不可說」 tr. “ten inexpressible” occurs nowhere in this section. Chengguan has a collation note here:
「言有不可說者，若準下文香海及種，皆有十不可說。梵本亦有，今脫「十」字，多是傳寫之漏耳。」 tr. “As to the words ‘there are inexpressible’: if one goes by the text below, both the fragrant seas and the seeds have ‘ten inexpressible’. The Sanskrit text has it as well; the graph ‘ten’ has here dropped out, and this is mostly an omission of the copyists.” 〔T35n1735 0581b20〕
The text on which Li Tongxuan relied does read ‘ten inexpressible’: 「於此大蓮華中，總言有十不可說佛剎微塵數世界種。」 tr. “Within this great lotus, in sum there are said to be world-seeds numbering the dust-motes of ten inexpressible buddha-lands.” 〔T36n1739 0760c04〕. The two accounts are recorded without adjudication.
Sentence 5 · Divergent graph-forms within the base text
In this section the name of one and the same world-seed appears at the general statement as 「普照十方熾然寶光明」 tr. “the Blazing Jewel Radiance Universally Illumining the Ten Directions” 〔T10n0279 0042b28〕 and at the concluding portion as 「此遍照十方熾然寶光明世界種」 tr. “this world-seed, the Blazing Jewel Radiance Pervadingly Illumining the Ten Directions” 〔0043c09〕 — a difference of one graph, ‘universally’ against ‘pervadingly’. Again, the names of the ten senses read at the general statement 「各各依住……各各方所」 tr. “each with its own resting … each with its own quarter and place” 〔0041c27〕 and at the concluding portion 「各各所依住……各各方面」 tr. “each with its own place of resting … each with its own direction” 〔0043c11〕 — a difference of one graph in each pair, ‘resting’ against ‘place of resting’ and ‘quarter and place’ against ‘direction’. Again, as to the names of shapes, the general statement reads 「或作樓閣形」 tr. “some take the shape of a storeyed pavilion” and 「或作山幢形」 tr. “some take the shape of a mountain banner” 〔0042a10〕, while the concluding portion reads 「十佛剎微塵數樓觀形世界」 tr. “worlds of the storeyed-tower shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands” and 「十佛剎微塵數尸羅幢形世界」 tr. “worlds of the śīla-banner shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands” 〔0043c18〕; and again the general statement reads 「或作諸佛相好形」 tr. “some take the shape of the marks and signs of the buddhas” and 「或作圓滿光明形」 tr. “some take the shape of perfect radiance” 〔0042a13〕, while the concluding portion reads 「十佛剎微塵數佛相形世界」 tr. “worlds of the buddha-mark shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands” 〔0043c22〕 and 「十佛剎微塵數圓光形世界」 tr. “worlds of the round-halo shape numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands” 〔0043c23〕. The Taishō base text has within the range of this section no collation note that can be cited. Recorded as found, without adjudication.
V. Scriptural Grounds of Sectarian Doctrine (the doctrinal eye)
(i) The three levels of supporter and supported: the seed rests upon the sea, the lands rest upon the seed — the backbone of this section lies in one sentence of Chengguan’s: 「標二章者，謂種及剎。然剎種依剎海，諸剎依剎種，則寬陜可知。」 tr. “To set up the two topics means the seeds and the lands. Now the world-seeds rest upon the sea of lands and the several lands rest upon the world-seeds, so that their breadth and narrowness may be known.” 〔T35n1735 0581b07〕. And where the fragrant seas are separately clarified he completes it: 「雙釋二章者，謂香海依剎海，剎種依香海，諸剎依剎種。」 tr. “To explain the two topics as a pair means that the fragrant seas rest upon the sea of lands, the world-seeds rest upon the fragrant seas, and the several lands rest upon the world-seeds.” 〔T35n1735 0582b05〕. Sea, seed, and land, three levels resting one upon another, is the structure of the dependent recompense of the Flower-Treasury world, and is also where the sequence of this chapter from the general to the particular lies.
(ii) Ten displays the inexhaustible — in setting up the ten senses Chengguan says plainly that it is not a fixed number but a device of symbolic display: 「皆顯十者，俱表無盡。而或異者，彰義多端。復有同者，恐濫全別。」 tr. “That both display ten is because both symbolize the inexhaustible. That some differ is because they set forth the many sides of the meaning. That some are the same is for fear one should take them as wholly separate.” 〔T35n1735 0581c04〕. The ten senses of this section and the ten items of 〈The Chapter of the Accomplishment of the Worlds〉 appear now in the one place and now in the other; Chengguan collates them item by item, saying 「所列十事，與〈成就品〉都望全異，彼通一切海，此明一海中種故。」 tr. “The ten items listed here, viewed as a whole against 〈the Chapter of Accomplishment〉, are entirely different, for that chapter treats all the seas in general while this clarifies the seeds within one sea.” 〔0581b27〕, and again 「若別別相望，互有互無，起具因緣。清淨佛出，劫住轉變，彼有此無。方所、分齊、行列、趣入、力持等五，彼無此有。依住、形體、莊嚴無別，彼此名同。前後互出，都有十五。」 tr. “If they are matched one against another, each has what the other lacks: the conditions of arising and equipping. Purity, the appearing of buddhas, abiding through kalpas and turning and changing — these that chapter has and this has not. Quarter and place, extent, ranked array, entry, and sustaining power, these five — that chapter has not and this has. Resting, shape and substance, and adornment are not different; in these the names are the same on both sides. Appearing now here and now there, in all there are fifteen.” 〔0581b29〕. Ten is not a fixed number; appearing now here and now there they come in all to fifteen — this is the first barrier in reading the ten senses of this section.
(iii) The Dharma-explanation of the five items — of the ten senses the first five have already been explained in the preceding section, and here Chengguan explains the other five separately:
「各各方所者，若圓滿方所，周滿法界，無處不有，不即三界、不離三界。若隨宜方所，隨十方中向背各別。各各趣入者，依門趣入。約法門者，謂三解脫。又互相現入而無來去等。各各分齊者，約事隨宜，廣陜異故。約佛分齊，則十方無際，各各行列即是道路。約事，可知；約法，謂大念慧行以為遊路。各各力加持者，即約食能令住，約法廣大法味喜樂所持。」 tr. “‘Each with its own quarter and place’: if it is the perfect quarter and place, it fills the whole Dharma realm, there being no place where it is not, neither identical with the three realms nor apart from the three realms. If it is the quarter and place suited to circumstance, then within the ten directions each faces one way and turns from another. ‘Each with its own entry’: they are entered through their gates. Taken as a Dharma-gate, this means the three liberations. And again, they manifest and enter one another with no coming or going, and so forth. ‘Each with its own extent’: taken as a matter of fact, they are suited to circumstance and so differ in breadth and narrowness; taken with respect to the Buddha, the ten directions are without limit. ‘Each with its own ranked array’ means precisely the roads. Taken as a matter of fact it may be understood directly; taken as Dharma, great mindfulness, wisdom and practice serve as the road one travels. ‘Each with its own sustaining power’: taken with respect to food, it is what enables them to abide; taken as Dharma, they are sustained by the joy and delight of the vast savour of Dharma.” 〔T35n1735 0581c08〕
The double explanation, by fact and by Dharma, is Chengguan’s regular manner in explaining the dependent recompense in this section.
(iv) The mutual containment of the eighteen perfections — Chengguan takes the eighteen perfections of a buddha’s pure land to gather in these ten senses: 「又此互出，顯佛淨土十八圓滿十五攝故。」 tr. “Again, their appearing now here and now there displays that the eighteen perfections of a buddha’s pure land gather in fifteen of them.” 〔T35n1735 0581c16〕, and he matches them item by item, 「此具因緣即因圓滿。依住即是依持。形狀即當形色。」 tr. “That it has the conditions is precisely the perfection of cause. Resting is precisely the perfection of support. Shape corresponds to form and colour.” 〔0581c20〕, while substance 「攝二種：一攝顯色，七寶光明為體性故；二攝果滿，隨類之果可知。」 tr. “gathers in two: first it gathers in manifest colour, since the radiance of the seven jewels is its substance-nature; second it gathers in the fullness of fruit, the fruit corresponding to each kind being understandable.” 〔0581c21〕, and he attaches one sentence of consciousness-only import, 「約佛，大圓鏡智相應淨識之所變故」 tr. “taken with respect to the Buddha, they are what the pure consciousness associated with the great mirror wisdom transforms” 〔0581c22〕. He concludes 「劫住轉變，十八中無，義同於果及事業，攝亦可成二十圓滿，於理無違。」 tr. “Abiding through kalpas and turning and changing are not among the eighteen; their sense is the same as fruit and as activity, and if these be gathered in one may also make twenty perfections, which does not conflict with reason.” 〔0582a03〕, and again 「又上諸文，一一段中具多圓滿，一一融攝，故異餘宗。」 tr. “Again, in the several passages above, each single section is furnished with many perfections, and each is fused into the others — hence it differs from the other schools.” 〔0582a09〕 — this is where Chengguan judges the present sūtra to differ from the other schools; it belongs to the commentator and is not a judgement made by the sūtra text itself.
(v) Mutual entry with no coming and nothing entered — the seventh and eighth of the repeating verses precisely clarify the mutual entry of one and many, and Chengguan explains them:
「亦頌趣入，初偈以多入一、後偈一多互入。皆入而無入，入則壞緣起、不入壞性用。又要由不入方能入耳。又約體本空故。無來無入，約相不壞故。如本無差以性融相，故得互入。」 tr. “These also hymn entry: the first verse takes the many entering into one, the second the mutual entering of one and many. In all of them entering is a non-entering: if they entered, dependent origination would be destroyed; if they did not enter, the functioning of the nature would be destroyed. And it is precisely by not entering that they are able to enter. Again, taken as substance they are originally empty, and hence there is no coming and nothing entered; taken as characteristic, the characteristic is not destroyed. As they are originally without difference, the nature fuses the characteristics, and so they gain mutual entry.” 〔T35n1735 0582a22〕
The sūtra’s 「雖見十方普入中，而實無來無所入」 tr. “though one sees the ten directions entering universally within, in truth there is no coming and nothing entered” 〔T10n0279 0042b16〕 and 「以一剎種入一切，一切入一亦無餘，體相如本無差別」 tr. “with one land-seed it enters all, and all enter one with nothing left over; substance and characteristic, as they originally are, are without difference” 〔0042b17〕 are the direct scriptural ground for the unobstructedness of phenomenon with phenomenon in this section; Chengguan’s explanation brings out 「以性融相」 tr. “the nature fuses the characteristics” as the reason why it is so.
(vi) The Dharma-explanation of the world-seed — for the name of the central world-seed Chengguan gives a double explanation, by fact and by Dharma: 「三種名，約事，寶光遠照故。約法，其世界種正是所含種子一一皆有大智光明遍照法界義故、性德互嚴故。」 tr. “Third, the name of the seed. Taken as fact, it is because the jewel-radiance illumines afar. Taken as Dharma, this world-seed is precisely the seeds it contains, each and every one of which has the sense of a great wisdom-radiance universally illumining the Dharma realm, and because the qualities of the nature adorn one another.” 〔T35n1735 0582b28〕. The name of the fragrant sea is likewise: 「初香海名，以多華發光故，亦由菩薩行華而為因故。」 tr. “First, the name of the fragrant sea: because many flowers put forth radiance, and also because the flower of bodhisattva practice is its cause.” 〔0582b24〕; and so is the name of the flower: 「約法即萬行圓明之所成故。」 tr. “taken as Dharma, it is what the perfect brightness of the myriad practices accomplishes.” 〔0582b26〕. Every single name of the dependent recompense has its Dharma-explanation — this is where the ground lies for reading this chapter not as geography but as vow and practice.
VI. Divergent Interpretations of the Commentators (the ancient worthies, marked by lineage)
Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735 (phrase by phrase on the eighty-fascicle · principal)
Explaining the name of the world-seed — 「名從何得？欲明世界無邊方便顯多，故立此名。」 tr. “Whence is the name got? Wishing to make clear that the worlds are boundless, he displays their multitude by a skilful device, and so sets up this name.” 〔T35n1735 0581b08〕, followed by the simile of heaped fish making a sea (item III). He also sets up one objection and one resolution: 「若爾，種無別體，攬界以成，何以下文說有形體？雖依種類以立種名，何妨此種別有其體。」 tr. “If so, then the seed has no separate substance, being formed by gathering worlds; why then does the text below say that it has shape and substance? Though the name of seed is set up in dependence upon kinds, what is to prevent this seed from having a substance of its own?” 〔0581b14〕
Explaining what is expounded at length and what is passed over — 「二隨門廣釋，但釋其三，謂依住、形、體。餘七雖略，義上已說。」 tr. “Second, the extended explanation following the gates: it explains only three of them, namely resting, shape, and substance. Although the other seven are passed over, their sense has already been stated above.” 〔T35n1735 0582a11〕. Of resting, 「初列、後結，文並可知」 tr. “first the list, then the conclusion; the text in both is plain enough” 〔0582a12〕; of shape, 「初列二十種、後結塵數不同」 tr. “first a list of twenty kinds, then a conclusion that their dust-numbers differ” 〔0582a13〕; of substance, 「先列、後結。列中亦二十種，前十色相、後十是聲，會釋如前。」 tr. “First the list, then the conclusion. In the list there are likewise twenty kinds: the first ten are forms and colours, the latter ten are sounds, and the explanation is as given before.” 〔0582a16〕
Explaining the divisions of the verses — 「應頌有十，分為六段：初一頌依住；次一形狀及布列安住；次三體性；次三頌於五事，謂初偈初二句頌所入門、次句方所、第四句莊嚴。餘二偈中，廣大剎之本相，即是分齊廣陜此彼相入。」 tr. “The repeating verses are ten, divided into six sections: the first one hymns resting; the next one, shape together with the array and abiding; the next three, substance; the next three hymn the five items — that is, in the first of them the first two lines hymn the gate of entry, the next line the quarter and place, and the fourth line adornment. In the remaining two verses, the root characteristic of the vast lands is precisely extent, breadth and narrowness, and the mutual entering of this and that.” 〔T35n1735 0582a17〕; and of the last two verses, 「次一頌無差，謂塵容佛海等無差故。後一頌力持，主伴皆是神力任持。普化之言，兼於法味。」 tr. “The next one hymns non-difference, since a dust-mote containing a sea of buddhas and the like is without difference. The last one hymns sustaining power, for both host and companions are upheld by supernatural power. And the words ‘universally converts’ include the savour of Dharma as well.” 〔0582a26〕
Explaining the increase and decrease of the items counted for the twenty tiers — 「最下層中，文有七事，一舉名。二辯際，謂世界所據之際，如金剛際。三依住……五上覆。六眷屬。七本界佛名離二障垢智眼清淨照世如燈。然佛德無邊，各隨一義。」 tr. “In the lowest tier the text has seven items: first, the giving of the name; second, the distinguishing of the bounding limit, that is, the limit upon which the world is based, like the vajra-limit; third, resting … fifth, what covers it above; sixth, the retinue; seventh, the buddha’s name in that world — apart from the defilement of the two obstructions, the eye of wisdom pure, illumining the world like a lamp. Yet the qualities of a buddha are boundless, and each name follows but one sense.” 〔T35n1735 0582c07〕; 「二層已去或有八事，謂加去此遠近故。或有九事，加純淨言故。準此，若無此言即通染淨。此上眷屬漸加，剎數中間諸事可以準知。」 tr. “From the second tier upward there are sometimes eight items, the added one being the distance from here. Sometimes there are nine, by the adding of the words ‘purely pure’. By this standard, where these words are absent the land is common to the defiled and the pure. From here the retinue increases by degrees, and the several items among the land-numbers in between may be known by the same rule.” 〔0582c16〕. For the resting of the first tier Chengguan preserves the old explanation while setting out a view of his own: 「若準此名大同剎種所依蓮華，而舊釋云於前無邊香海所出華上更有此華持此一界者，以例上諸層別有依住，故為此釋，何妨最下依於總華思之。」 tr. “If one goes by this name it is largely the same as the lotus upon which the world-seed rests; but the old explanation said that upon the flower put forth by the boundless fragrant sea above there is a further flower which sustains this one world, and this was said so as to match the tiers above, each of which has its own resting place. What is to prevent the lowest from resting upon the general flower? Consider it.” 〔0582c09〕
Explaining the shape of the thirteenth tier, Sahā, as being like empty space — Chengguan cites the account of Jingfa:
「其第十三主剎即此娑婆。言形如虛空者，靜法云：大小乘經並說虛空體無形質、不可見相，今云有形者，迴文者誤。梵本云三曼多第縛皤嚩曩伽伽那阿楞迦羅僧塞恒那，迴文應以形狀置周圓之前、虛空安天宮之上，然後合綴飾云其形周圓以空居天宮莊嚴之具而覆其上。」 tr. “The thirteenth principal land is precisely this Sahā. As for the words ‘its shape is like empty space’: Jingfa says that the sūtras of the great and the small vehicles alike state that the substance of empty space has no form or matter and that its characteristic cannot be seen; that it is now said to have a shape is the error of the one who turned the text about. The Sanskrit text reads 〔here the text gives a transcription in Chinese graphs: 三曼多第縛皤嚩曩伽伽那阿楞迦羅僧塞恒那〕, and in turning it about one should place ‘shape’ before ‘round’ and ‘empty space’ above ‘the heavenly palaces’, and then join and dress it thus: its shape is round, and it is covered above by the adornments of the palaces of the gods who dwell in space.” 〔T35n1735 0582c21〕
Chengguan grants it and yet sets out a resolution of his own: 「靜法此正深有理致，今依經通之亦有理在。謂空雖無形，隨俗說故，以俗典指空為天，謂天為圓穹，其形如𨫼，故說天勢圍平野。亦如《法華》云「梵王為眾生之父」，亦隨俗說耳。」 tr. “Jingfa’s point here is indeed deep and well-founded; yet to resolve it now in accordance with the sūtra also has its reason. That is: although space has no shape, it is spoken of according to worldly convention, for the worldly books point to space as heaven and call heaven a round vault, its shape like a covering vessel — hence the saying that heaven’s contour encircles the level plain. It is just as the Lotus says ‘Brahmā is the father of beings’, which is likewise spoken according to worldly convention.” 〔T35n1735 0582c28–0583a03〕
Explaining the svastika of the fifteenth tier — 「第十五云形如卍字者，靜法云：室離靺瑳本非是字，乃是德者之相，正云吉祥海雲。眾德深廣如海，益物如雲。古來三藏誤譯洛剎曩為惡剎攞，遂以相為字，故為謬耳。」 tr. “The fifteenth, where it says the shape is like the svastika graph: Jingfa says that śrīvatsa is not in origin a graph at all but the mark of one who has virtue, properly rendered ‘auspicious sea-cloud’ — his many virtues deep and vast as a sea, his benefiting of beings like a cloud. Of old the tripiṭaka masters mistakenly rendered lakṣaṇa as akṣara, and thereupon took a mark for a graph; this is the error.” 〔T35n1735 0583a03〕; Chengguan resolves it, saying 「今義通此相以為吉祥萬德之所集成，因目為萬，意在語略而義含，合云萬相耳。餘並易了。」 tr. “Now the sense resolves this mark as what the myriad auspicious virtues assemble to form, and hence it is styled ‘the myriad’, the intent being that the word is terse while the sense is inclusive; taken together one should say ‘the mark of the myriad’. The rest is all easily understood.” 〔0583a07〕
Explaining the four divisions of the concluding portion — for the conclusion of the classes of shape, 「二『所謂』下，廣說十門形狀有十八事。望前剎種形中，闕須彌山形及嚴具形，餘皆全同，但此約剎為異耳。」 tr. “Second, from ‘that is to say’ onward, it expounds at length the shapes of the ten gates, eighteen items in all. Set against the shapes of the world-seeds above, it lacks the shape of Mount Sumeru and the shape of ornaments; the rest are wholly the same, save that here they are taken with respect to lands.” 〔T35n1735 0583a20〕; for the conclusion of the retinue, 「然有兩重主伴。此一一者，指上不可說塵數也。若望前文，主剎直上繞數漸增，今總相說，故云一一各有十剎塵也。又是欲顯無盡義故。」 tr. “Yet there are two levels of host and companions. ‘Each one of these’ points to the inexpressible dust-numbers above. Set against the earlier text, where the principal lands rise straight up and the encircling numbers increase by degrees, here it is stated in general terms, and so it says that each one has ten land-dust-numbers. And this is also because it wishes to display the sense of inexhaustibility.” 〔0583a24〕; 「一一復有如上所說微塵數者，如上之言文含二義：一即總指前能繞所繞之數繞一世界，不欲繁文，故云如上。二者如上，亦用十佛剎為能繞也。」 tr. “As to ‘each one again has dust-numbers of worlds as stated above’: the words ‘as above’ contain two senses. First, they point in general to the earlier numbers of encircler and encircled, which encircle one world; not wishing to make the text long, it says ‘as above’. Second, ‘as above’ means that ten buddha-lands are again used as the encirclers.” 〔0583a27〕, and he sets down an appraisal of his own: 「依此則似譯人文繁理隱，何不言一一復有十佛剎塵數耶？若依前義則譯者之妙。」 tr. “On this reading it seems that the translator made the text long and the principle obscure; why did he not say that each one again has dust-numbers of ten buddha-lands? But on the former reading it is the translator’s finesse.” 〔0583b01〕. And at the general conclusion of the total number he resolves an objection: 「其直上中間但有十九佛剎，而結有不可說者，以傍論故。不爾。豈一剎種最下唯一主剎，故知如向所說，主剎橫竪共論有不可說故。」 tr. “Straight up in between there are only nineteen buddha-lands, and yet the conclusion says there are inexpressibly many, because it argues collaterally. Were it not so — how could a single world-seed have but one principal land at its lowest point? So one knows that, as was said just now, the principal lands taken together crosswise and lengthwise are inexpressibly many.” 〔0583a15〕
Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739
Explaining the numerical structure of the twenty tiers — 「於此大蓮華中，總言有十不可說佛剎微塵數世界種。為教文有限，且立其百二十一箇世界種，中心有十一箇世界種，上下各且二十重蓮華藏世界，最下重中有一佛世界微塵數廣大世界圍繞。」 tr. “Within this great lotus, in sum there are said to be world-seeds numbering the dust-motes of ten inexpressible buddha-lands. Because the text of the teaching is limited, he provisionally sets up one hundred and twenty-one world-seeds: at the centre there are eleven world-seeds, each provisionally with twenty tiers of lotus-treasury worlds above and below, and in the lowest tier there are vast worlds numbering the dust-motes of one buddha-world encircling it.” 〔T36n1739 0760c04〕; 「次上第二重，二佛世界微塵數。次上第三重，三佛世界微塵數。此十一箇世界種皆悉如是，從下向上轉轉倍增。最上重中，具足二十佛世界微塵數廣大剎，一一剎各有十佛剎微塵數諸小剎圍遶。」 tr. “Next above, the second tier, the dust-motes of two buddha-worlds. Next above, the third tier, the dust-motes of three buddha-worlds. These eleven world-seeds are all like this, doubling and increasing from below upward. In the topmost tier there are in full vast lands numbering the dust-motes of twenty buddha-worlds, and each single land has small lands numbering the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands encircling it.” 〔0760c08〕; and of the outer arrangement, 「其十一箇二十重世界外，有一百箇一重世界種，圍繞十一箇二十重世界。此一百箇世界種外，近金剛山復有十箇四重世界種」 tr. “Outside those eleven twenty-tiered worlds there are one hundred single-tiered world-seeds encircling the eleven twenty-tiered worlds. Outside these one hundred world-seeds, near the vajra mountains, there are again ten four-tiered world-seeds” 〔0760c12〕
Setting against it the scale of the three vehicles — 「如三乘中所說世界種者，數三千大千之剎至一恒河沙為一世界性，數性世界至恒河沙為一世界海數海世界至恒河沙為一世界種。」 tr. “As to the world-seed spoken of in the three vehicles: counting the lands of a triple-thousand great-thousand up to one Ganges’ sands makes one world-nature; counting nature-worlds up to a Ganges’ sands makes one sea of worlds; counting sea-worlds up to a Ganges’ sands makes one world-seed.” 〔T36n1739 0760c18〕; 「如此經世界並數一佛剎微塵、二佛剎微塵、三佛剎微塵，如是倍增至最上重中二十佛剎微塵數世界，如是上下通數總二百一十佛剎微塵數廣大剎始成一世界種，非為恒沙以限其數。」 tr. “In this sūtra the worlds are counted as the dust-motes of one buddha-land, of two buddha-lands, of three buddha-lands, doubling and increasing thus up to the worlds of the dust-motes of twenty buddha-lands in the topmost tier; counting thus through above and below, two hundred and ten buddha-land dust-numbers of vast lands in all first make one world-seed — it is not with Ganges’ sands that its number is bounded.” 〔0760c21〕; 「三乘之中多取恒河沙數為量。如此經中，常取一佛剎塵、十佛剎塵，為表無盡為其數。」 tr. “Within the three vehicles the measure taken is mostly the number of Ganges’ sands. In this sūtra the number regularly taken is the dust-motes of one buddha-land or of ten buddha-lands, in order to display the inexhaustible.” 〔0760c26〕
Explaining the intent of setting out the shapes — 「界海，廣大無際與虛空法界等。但為化眾生故，約陳形狀，令眾生心廣大，發開狹劣心故。」 tr. “The sea of worlds is vast and without bound, equal to empty space and the Dharma realm. But for the sake of converting beings the shapes are set out, so that beings’ minds may be made vast and their narrow and inferior minds opened up.” 〔T36n1739 0760c02〕; and it comes home to the raising of the mind: 「如是增廣，令小狹劣眾生知佛攝化境界，發菩提心。」 tr. “Increasing and broadening thus, it causes small, narrow and inferior beings to know the range of the Buddha’s gathering and converting, and to raise the mind of awakening.” 〔0760c28〕
Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733
〔not found〕 no phrase-by-phrase explanation of this section. What the treatise preserves is the general list of the ten kinds of world in fascicle 2: 「至恒沙為一世界性，數此性復至恒沙為一世界海，數此復至恒沙為一世界種，數此復至無量恒沙為一佛世界。所化分齊，其受用土……」 tr. “up to a Ganges’ sands makes one world-nature; counting these natures again up to a Ganges’ sands makes one sea of worlds; counting these again up to a Ganges’ sands makes one world-seed; counting these again up to measureless Ganges’ sands makes one buddha-world. As to the extent of what is converted, its land of enjoyment …” 〔T35n1733 0158a19〕; and again 「二、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. “Second, outside the triple-thousand worlds there are separately ten worlds: first the world-nature, second the sea of worlds, third the world-wheel, fourth the world-fullness, fifth the world-distinction, sixth the world-whorl, seventh the world-turning, eighth the world-lotus, ninth the world-Sumeru, tenth the world-mark …” 〔0158b02〕. This is a separately established system of scale; it shares the name with the world-seed of this section but the context differs. Recorded as absent, as found; the text of another place is not used to fill it.
Zhiyan, Souxuan ji T35n1732
〔not found〕. A search for 「盧舍那佛品」 tr. “The Chapter of Rocana Buddha” yields two occurrences, both listings of the title in the table of contents at the head of a fascicle; 「世界品」 tr. “The Chapter of the World” and 「世界成就」 tr. “The Accomplishment of the Worlds” yield none, and no phrase-by-phrase treatment of this section is found. In the present series the Souxuan ji is recorded only where the six characteristics are involved; this section is not of that kind, and so it is not forced into the list.
Chengguan, Yanyi chao T36n1736
〔not found〕 no independent development of the explanation of the names and phrases of this section. Searching the corresponding window for 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” and the like yields no direct hits upon the language of name-explanation, and the Chao shows no phrase-by-phrase interlinear note upon this passage. Recorded as absent, as found.
Recorded without adjudication
As to the numerical structure of the world-seeds, Li Tongxuan sets up one hundred and twenty-one world-seeds — eleven at the centre, each of twenty tiers; one hundred of a single tier outside them; and ten of four tiers near the vajra mountains 〔T36n1739 0760c05〕. Chengguan, for his part, keeps in this section to the sūtra text and says 「十海各管不可說佛剎塵數之海，總顯則有十不可說佛剎塵數。次第說者，但有一百一十一海，餘皆略指。」 tr. “The ten seas each govern seas numbering the dust-motes of inexpressibly many buddha-lands, so that displayed in full there are ten inexpressible buddha-land dust-numbers. Of those set forth in order there are only one hundred and eleven seas; the rest are merely indicated.” 〔T35n1735 0582b19〕 — the one gives one hundred and twenty-one world-seeds, the other one hundred and eleven seas; what is counted and the text relied upon differ in each case. The two accounts are recorded without adjudication.
As to whether 「十不可說」 tr. “ten inexpressible” is present, Chengguan judges that the graph 「十」 tr. “ten” dropped out in the copying 〔T35n1735 0581b20〕, while the text on which Li Tongxuan relied has 「十不可說」 tr. “ten inexpressible” of itself 〔T36n1739 0760c04〕. The two accounts are recorded without adjudication.
As to the reading of the thirteenth tier’s 「狀如虛空」 tr. “shaped like empty space” 〔T10n0279 0043b01〕, Jingfa judges it an error of the one who turned the text about and holds that the wording should be re-joined 〔T35n1735 0582c22〕, while Chengguan grants this and yet resolves it separately by speech according to worldly convention 〔T35n1735 0582c28〕. As to the fifteenth tier’s 「卐字之形」 tr. “the shape of the svastika graph” 〔T10n0279 0043b10〕, Jingfa judges that of old the tripiṭaka masters mistranslated and thereby took a mark for a graph 〔0583a04〕, while Chengguan resolves it as the mark formed by the assembling of the myriad auspicious virtues 〔0583a07〕. In both places there is one refutation and one resolution; both are recorded without adjudication.
As to the names of the world-seed and the world-nature, the sixty-fascicle has ‘nature’ and the eighty-fascicle ‘seed’, and Chengguan states himself that the reason for the change of rendering lies in 「恐濫體性」 tr. “for fear of confusion with substance-nature” 〔T35n1735 0581b20〕; while Fazang, in the ten kinds of world listed in the Tanxuan ji, makes 「世界性」 tr. “world-nature” the first of the ten classes 〔T35n1733 0158b02〕, where its use is again different. Recorded without adjudication.
VII. Cross-Reading and Lineage
- Cross-reading within this chapter: the present unit follows upon the preceding section of the same chapter, 〈The Cause, Fruit, and Own-Substance of the Flower-Treasury · The Arrangement and Adornment of the Treasury-Sea〉 (see 〈The Cause and Fruit of the Flower-Treasury Itself and the Arrayed Adornments of the Treasury Sea〉 in this volume), and is followed by the list of the ten seas that turn to the right (see 〈The Differentiated Net of Lands It Sustains, Part Two〉 in this volume, whose opening sentence is 「爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！此無邊妙華光香水海東」」 tr. “At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva again addressed the great assembly, saying: ‘Sons of the Buddha! To the east of this fragrant-water sea Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance’” 〔T10n0279 0044a09〕) and by the passage of repeating verses (see 〈The Differentiated Net of Lands It Sustains, Part Three: The Verses〉 in this volume). Chengguan’s outline joins them with 「第二明右旋十海」 tr. “second, the clarifying of the ten seas that turn to the right” 〔T35n1735 0583b05〕, and says 「下明種所持剎，有二十重，下九海例然」 tr. “below, the clarifying of the lands sustained by the seed, which are of twenty tiers, and the nine seas below follow the same pattern” 〔0583b10〕 — the format of the ten seas is established in full at the one central sea of this section, and this is why the present section is called the first of the ten seas.
- Cross-reading with 〈The Chapter of the Accomplishment of the Worlds〉: the ten senses of this section and the ten items of chapter 4, 〈The Accomplishment of the Worlds〉, are collated item by item by Chengguan, who fixes what each has and lacks and that in all there are fifteen 〔T35n1735 0581b27〕. The unit for chapter 4 in the present series may be read alongside it.
- Cross-reading with chapter 6, 〈Vairocana〉: in this section the thirteenth tier’s 「其佛即是毘盧遮那如來世尊」 tr. “its buddha is precisely Vairocana Tathāgata, the World-Honoured One” 〔T10n0279 0043b03〕 alone among the twenty tiers gives no buddha-title but points directly to the root teacher; chapter 6 then sets forth the root cause of Vairocana, and the two passages join.
- The recurrence of 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” and 「華藏世界」 tr. “Flower-Treasury world” in this sūtra: the two terms recur very widely throughout the base text, reaching into chapter 26, 〈The Ten Grounds〉, chapter 27, 〈The Ten Samādhis〉, chapter 39, 〈Entry into the Dharma Realm〉, and other chapters of the later assemblies, which again raise the Flower-Treasury in order to display the unobstructedness of the dependent and the proper recompense. Because the two terms are too widely frequent to be terms proper to this section alone, this item records only the breadth of their recurrence and does not list them one by one.
- The Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang T45n1866: a search for 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” yields a single occurrence 〔T45n1866 0498a15〕, 「數此又至無量恒河沙，為一世界種。數此又至無量十方恒河……」 tr. “Counting these again up to measureless Ganges’ sands makes one world-seed. Counting these again up to the measureless Ganges of the ten directions …”, which belongs to a general doctrinal passage on the scale of the ten worlds and does not cite the text of this section. It shares the name 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” with this section but the context differs. Recorded without adjudication.
- What the lineage lacks: a search of the Shixuan men T45n1868, the Fajie xuanjing T45n1883, and the Wangjin huanyuan guan T45n1876 for 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed” yields none in each; and a search of the consciousness-only treatises (Cheng weishi lun T31n1585 · She dacheng lun T31n1594 · Yuqie shidi lun T30n1579 · Jieshenmi jing T16n0676) for 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed”, 「無邊妙華光」 tr. “Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance”, and 「香水海」 tr. “fragrant-water sea” likewise yields none in each. This section belongs to the narrative of the adornments of the dependent recompense proper to this sūtra alone, and is not what the consciousness-only bridge passages touch upon; recorded as absent, as found, and not forced into a connection.
VIII. Edition Location Register
- Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text): chapter 5, The Flower-Treasury World · the first section of the differentiated net of lands it sustains, the latter half of fascicle 8, beginning 〔T10n0279 0041c22〕 and ending 〔0044a01〕 (the title-line of fascicle 8 at 0044a02 · the title-line of fascicle 9 at 0044a05 · the sūtra text of the next unit beginning at 0044a09). The address to the assembly and the promise to speak 0041c22 · the paired setting-up of the two topics 0041c23 · the general statement of the ten senses 0041c26 · the ten instances of resting 0042a01 · the twenty instances of shape 0042a08 · the twenty instances of substance 0042a16 · the occasion of the verses 0042b01 · the ten repeating verses 0042b03–0042b22 · the fragrant-water seas spread like Indra’s net 0042b23 · the central fragrant-water sea and the world-seed 0042b25 · the first tier 0042c01 · the second tier 0042c06 · the third tier 0042c10 · the fourth tier 0042c14 · the fifth tier 0042c19 · the sixth tier 0042c24 · the seventh tier 0042c28 · the eighth tier 0043a04 · the ninth tier 0043a09 · the tenth tier 0043a14 · the eleventh tier 0043a19 · the twelfth tier 0043a24 · the thirteenth tier 0043a28 · the fourteenth tier 0043b04 · the fifteenth tier 0043b08 · the sixteenth tier 0043b13 · the seventeenth tier 0043b18 · the eighteenth tier 0043b23 · the nineteenth tier 0043b28 · the twentieth tier 0043c04 · the restatement of the ten senses in the concluding portion 0043c09 · the eighteen classes of shape in the concluding portion 0043c14 · the conclusion of the retinue 0043c26 · the closing sentence 0043c29.
- Buddhabhadra T278 (the principal witness for collation, the Jin translation): chapter 3, 〈The Chapter of Rocana Buddha〉 · the verses of the same passage 〔T09n0278 0414b06〕–〔0414b26〕 · the one central sea 〔0414b27〕. The three expressions 「世界種」 tr. “world-seed”, 「二十重」 tr. “twenty tiers”, and 「無邊妙華光」 tr. “Boundless Wondrous Flower Radiance” yield nothing in that witness; its correspondences are fixed by the structure of the scene and not by word-search.
- Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735: the outline of the present unit begins 0581b04 and ends before 0583b10. The outline in three parts 0581b04 · the setting-up of the two topics 0581b07 · the explanation of the two names, seed and sea, 0581b08 · the simile of heaped fish 0581b11 · the simile of the bees’ nest 0581b16 · the simile of the grain-stalk and ‘the old sūtra says nature’ 0581b18 · the collation note on the dropped graph ‘ten’ 0581b20 · the further division of the extended explanation of the two topics 0581b22 · the collation against the ten items of the Chapter of Accomplishment 0581b27 · ‘in all there are fifteen’ 0581c03 · the explanation of the five items 0581c08 · the mutual containment of the eighteen perfections 0581c16 · the twenty perfections 0582a03 · differing from the other schools 0582a09 · the extended explanation following the gates explains only three 0582a11 · the explanation of the three names of shape 0582a14 · substance, the first ten and the latter ten 0582a16 · the verses divided into six sections 0582a17 · the explanation of mutual entry 0582a22 · the end of fascicle 11 of the commentary 0582a29 · the beginning of fascicle 12 of the commentary 0582b02 · the separate clarifying of the seeds, the lands, and the fragrant seas 0582b05 · the explanation of Indra’s net 0582b11 · the successive separate display in three parts 0582b17 · the one central sea in two parts 0582b21 · the three names, sea, flower, and seed, 0582b23 · the worlds sustained in three parts 0582c01 · nineteen land-dust-numbers making twenty tiers 0582c04 · twenty layers divided into twenty sections 0582c07 · the seven items of the lowest tier 0582c07 · eight items and nine items 0582c16 · the explanation of the generally square 0582c19 · Sahā and the account of Jingfa 0582c21 · Chengguan’s resolution 0582c28 · the discussion of the svastika 0583a03 · the concluding of the remainder by category in four parts 0583a10 · the resolution of the objection concerning the principal lands 0583a14 · the conclusion of the classes of shape, eighteen items, 0583a20 · the conclusion of the retinue, two levels of host and companions, 0583a24 · the appraisal that the translator made the text long and the principle obscure 0583b01 · the showing forth of where they are 0583b03 · the next outline, the ten seas that turn to the right, 0583b05. The outline at the level of the chapter, 「一品分三」 tr. “the single chapter divides into three”, 0579a05.
- Li Tongxuan, Lun T36n1739: the explanation of this section begins 0760c02 and ends 0761a02. The intent of setting out the shapes 0760c02 · the one hundred and twenty-one world-seeds 0760c05 · the doubling increase tier by tier 0760c08 · the one hundred and the ten of the outer ring 0760c12 · the scale of the three vehicles 0760c18 · two hundred and ten buddha-land dust-numbers 0760c24 · the number that displays the inexhaustible 0760c26 · the raising of the mind of awakening 0760c28.
- Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733: 〔not found〕 no phrase-by-phrase explanation of this section; the general list of the ten kinds of world in fascicle 2 at 0158a19 · 0158b02.
- Zhiyan, Souxuan ji T35n1732: 〔not found〕 (nothing found in what was searched; see item VI).
- Chengguan, Yanyi chao T36n1736: 〔not found〕 no phrase-by-phrase interlinear note on the explanation of the names of this section (see item VI).
- The forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T293: 〔not found〕. That translation produced only chapter 39 and offers no collation for this section.
- Vasubandhu, Shidi jing lun T26n1522: 〔not found〕. It explains only chapter 26 and does not touch this chapter.
- Variant readings: within the range of T279 covered by this unit, 〔0041c22〕–〔0044a04〕, the Taishō base text carries 5 collation notes, recorded one by one without adjudication (base reading 【大】｜variant readings of other witnesses, several witnesses separated by ／): 〔0041c23〕此【大】｜此十【明】 · 〔0041c24〕有【大】｜有十【明】 · 〔0042a04〕漩【大】＊｜旋【宋】【宮】＊（＊同校並繫〔0042a09〕之漩字） · 〔0042b23〕此【大】｜此十【明】 · 〔0043b10〕卐【大】｜卍【宋】【元】【明】【宮】. (＊ ＝ a Taishō asterisked collation: the same note also governs the remaining occurrences of that graph in the text; for notes of this class the T279 XML supplies no corresp for the recurrences, so the asterisk alone is shown and no second anchor is created.)
- A further note upon the variant readings: 2 CBETA emendations (not counted among the Taishō collation notes listed above): 〔0042c23〕界【CB】【麗-CB】【磧-CB】｜海【大】 · 〔0043b02〕空雲【CB】｜空【大】／空雲【元】【明】.
- A further note on variant readings: the divergent graph-forms within the base text (universally illumining ／ pervadingly illumining · resting ／ place of resting · quarter and place ／ direction · storeyed pavilion ／ storeyed tower · mountain banner ／ śīla banner · the marks and signs of the buddhas ／ buddha-mark · perfect radiance ／ round halo) have been recorded under item IV, sentence 5. The interlinear notes were already stripped away at the level of the source text.