華嚴經 品十 菩薩問明品Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification
一整品沒有一句宣說，全是問。
文殊師利一連問了九位菩薩，九位各以偈答；最後諸菩薩反過來共問文殊，文殊也以偈答——十番問答，問的都是同一件事的十個面：一而多。心性是一，何以差別種種？眾生本空，佛何以教化？四大無我，何以苦樂不同？所悟一法，何以說無量法？福田等一，何以果報有異？佛教是一，何以不即出離？受持正法，何以煩惱不斷？智為上首，何以讚歎眾行？諸佛一道，何以佛土不同？最後——何等是佛境界？
覺首答得最早也最狠：「諸法無作用，亦無有體性，是故彼一切，各各不相知。」不是彼此冷漠，是本來就沒有一個誰在知誰。眼耳鼻舌身流轉不停，「而無能轉者」。
古德為這十番立名『十甚深』，並說它們是一條線：迷了緣起才須教化，違順教化才有業果，知業由說法，說法成善唯佛福田，順田須持教，教在勤行，行須助道，助必歸一道，得一道者當趣佛境。
問完了，經不作結論——佛以神力，把眾生的法差別、業差別乃至國土果差別當場現出來，娑婆如此，十方亦然。
問到底，然後親眼看。
A whole chapter without a single pronouncement: it is all questions.
Mañjuśrī questions nine bodhisattvas one after another, and the nine answer, each in verse; at the end the bodhisattvas turn about and question Mañjuśrī together, and Mañjuśrī too answers in verse — ten rounds of question and answer, and what they ask about is ten faces of one and the same matter: the one and the many. The nature of mind is one; why then are there all these differences? Beings are originally empty; why then does the Buddha teach and transform them? The four great elements have no self; why then are pain and pleasure not the same? What was awakened to is one dharma; why then are measureless dharmas spoken? The field of merit is equally one; why then do the fruits of reward differ? The Buddha's teaching is one; why then is there no immediate deliverance? They receive and uphold the right Dharma; why then are the afflictions not cut off? Wisdom is the foremost; why then are the various practices praised? The buddhas have one path; why then are the buddha-lands not the same? And last of all — what is the realm of the Buddha?
Foremost in Awakening answers earliest and most severely: “Dharmas have no operation, and they have no substantial nature either; for this reason all of them, each and every one, do not know one another.” It is not that they are cold to one another; it is that there was never anyone there knowing anyone. Eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body turn on without cease, “yet there is no one who turns.”
The ancient worthies gave these ten rounds the name ‘the ten profundities,’ and said that they are a single line: it is because one is deluded about dependent origination that teaching is needed; it is from going against or along with that teaching that there is the fruit of deeds; to know deeds one depends on the preaching of Dharma; preaching that perfects goodness rests on the Buddha alone as the field of merit; to accord with the field one must uphold the teaching; the teaching lies in diligent practice; practice needs its auxiliaries; the auxiliaries must come home to the one path; and whoever gains the one path is bound for the realm of the Buddha.
When the asking is done, the scripture draws no conclusion — the Buddha, by his spiritual power, makes the differences among beings in dharma, in deeds, and on down to the differences in the fruit that is their land, appear right there; so in this Sahā world, and so in the ten directions as well.
Ask it all the way down, and then see it with your own eyes.
〔T10 0066〕
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問覺首菩薩言：「佛子！心性是一。云何見有種種差別？所謂：往善趣、惡趣；諸根滿、缺；受生同、異；端正、醜陋；苦、樂不同；業不知心，心不知業；受不知報，報不知受；心不知受，受不知心；因不知緣，緣不知因；智不知境，境不知智。」
時，覺首菩薩以頌答曰：
「仁今問是義，為曉悟群蒙，
我如其性答，惟仁應諦聽。
諸法無作用，亦無有體性，
是故彼一切，各各不相知。
譬如河中水，湍流競奔逝，
各各不相知，諸法亦如是。
亦如大火聚，猛焰同時發，
各各不相知，諸法亦如是。
又如長風起，遇物咸鼓扇，
各各不相知，諸法亦如是。
又如眾地界，展轉因依住，
各各不相知，諸法亦如是。
眼耳鼻舌身，心意諸情根，
以此常流轉，而無能轉者。
法性本無生，示現而有生，
是中無能現，亦無所現物。
眼耳鼻舌身，心意諸情根，
一切空無性，妄心分別有。
如理而觀察，一切皆無性，
法眼不思議，此見非顛倒。
若實若不實，若妄若非妄，
世間出世間，但有假言說。」
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問財首菩薩言：「佛子！一切眾生非眾生。云何如來隨其時、隨其命、隨其身、隨其行、隨其解、隨其言論、隨其心樂、隨其方便、隨其思惟、隨其觀察，於如是諸眾生中，為現其身，教化調伏？」
時，財首菩薩以頌答曰：
「此是樂寂滅，多聞者境界，
我為仁宣說，仁今應聽受。
分別觀內身，此中誰是我，
若能如是解，彼達我有無。
此身假安立，住處無方所，
諦了是身者，於中無所著。
於身善觀察，一切皆明見，
知法皆虛妄，不起心分別。
壽命因誰起，復因誰退滅，
猶如旋火輪，初後不可知。
智者能觀察，一切有無常，
諸法空無我，永離一切相。
眾報隨業生，如夢不真實，
念念常滅壞，如前後亦爾。
世間所見法，但以心為主，
隨解取眾相，顛倒不如實。
世間所言論，一切是分別，
未曾有一法，得入於法性。
能緣所緣力，種種法出生，
速滅不暫停，念念悉如是。」
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問寶首菩薩言：「佛子！一切眾生，等有四大，無我、無我所。云何而有受苦、受樂，端正、醜陋，內好、外好，少受、多受，或受現報，或受後報？然法界中，無美、無惡。」
時，寶首菩薩以頌答曰：
「隨其所行業，如是果報生，
作者無所有，諸佛之所說。
譬如淨明鏡，隨其所對質，
現像各不同，業性亦如是。
亦如田種子，各各不相知，
自然能出生，業性亦如是。
又如巧幻師，在彼四衢道，
示現眾色相，業性亦如是。
如機關木人，能出種種聲，
彼無我非我，業性亦如是。
亦如眾鳥類，從㲉而得出，
音聲各不同，業性亦如是。
譬如胎藏中，諸根悉成就，
體相無來處，業性亦如是。
又如在地獄，種種諸苦事，
彼悉無所從，業性亦如是。
譬如轉輪王，成就勝七寶，
來處不可得，業性亦如是。
又如諸世界，大火所燒然，
此火無來處，業性亦如是。」
〔T10 0067〕
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問德首菩薩言：「佛子！如來所悟，唯是一法。云何乃說無量諸法，現無量剎，化無量眾，演無量音，示無量身，知無量心，現無量神通，普能震動無量世界，示現無量殊勝莊嚴，顯示無邊種種境界？而法性中，此差別相，皆不可得。」
時，德首菩薩以頌答曰：
「佛子所問義，甚深難可了，
智者能知此，常樂佛功德。
譬如地性一，眾生各別住，
地無一異念，諸佛法如是。
亦如火性一，能燒一切物，
火焰無分別，諸佛法如是。
亦如大海一，波濤千萬異，
水無種種殊，諸佛法如是。
亦如風性一，能吹一切物，
風無一異念，諸佛法如是。
亦如大雲雷，普雨一切地，
雨滴無差別，諸佛法如是。
亦如地界一，能生種種芽，
非地有殊異，諸佛法如是。
如日無雲曀，普照於十方，
光明無異性，諸佛法如是。
亦如空中月，世間靡不見，
非月往其處，諸佛法如是。
譬如大梵王，應現滿三千，
其身無別異，諸佛法如是。」
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問目首菩薩言：「佛子！如來福田，等一無異。云何而見眾生布施果報不同？所謂：種種色、種種形、種種家、種種根、種種財、種種主、種種眷屬、種種官位、種種功德、種種智慧；而佛於彼，其心平等，無異思惟。」
時，目首菩薩以頌答曰：
「譬如大地一，隨種各生芽，
於彼無怨親，佛福田亦然。
又如水一味，因器有差別，
佛福田亦然，眾生心故異。
亦如巧幻師，能令眾歡喜，
佛福田如是，令眾生敬悅。
如有才智王，能令大眾喜，
佛福田如是，令眾悉安樂。
譬如淨明鏡，隨色而現像，
佛福田如是，隨心獲眾報。
如阿揭陀藥，能療一切毒，
佛福田如是，滅諸煩惱患。
亦如日出時，照曜於世間，
佛福田如是，滅除諸黑暗。
亦如淨滿月，普照於大地，
佛福田亦然，一切處平等。
譬如毘藍風，普震於大地，
佛福田如是，動三有眾生。
譬如大火起，能燒一切物，
佛福田如是，燒一切有為。」
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問勤首菩薩言：「佛子！佛教是一，眾生得見，云何不即悉斷一切諸煩惱縛而得出離？然其色蘊、受蘊、想蘊、行蘊、識蘊，欲界、色界、無色界，無明、貪愛，無有差別，是則佛教。於諸眾生，或有利益？或無利益？」
時，勤首菩薩以頌答曰：
「佛子善諦聽，我今如實答，
或有速解脫，或有難出離。
若欲求除滅，無量諸過惡，
當於佛法中，勇猛常精進。
譬如微少火，樵濕速令滅，
於佛教法中，懈怠者亦然。
如鑽燧求火，未出而數息，
火勢隨止滅，懈怠者亦然。
如人持日珠，不以物承影，
火終不可得，懈怠者亦然。
譬如赫日照，孩稚閉其目，
怪言何不覩，懈怠者亦然。
如人無手足，欲以芒草箭，
遍射破大地，懈怠者亦然。
如以一毛端，而取大海水，
欲令盡乾竭，懈怠者亦然。
又如劫火起，欲以少水滅，
於佛教法中，懈怠者亦然。
如有見虛空，端居不搖動，
而言普騰躡，懈怠者亦然。」
〔T10 0068〕
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問法首菩薩言：「佛子！如佛所說：『若有眾生，受持正法，悉能除斷一切煩惱。』何故復有受持正法而不斷者？隨貪、瞋、癡，隨慢、隨覆、隨忿、隨恨、隨嫉、隨慳、隨誑、隨諂，勢力所轉，無有離心。能受持法，何故復於心行之內起諸煩惱？」
時，法首菩薩以頌答曰：
「佛子善諦聽，所問如實義，
非但以多聞，能入如來法。
如人水所漂，懼溺而渴死，
於法不修行，多聞亦如是。
如人設美膳，自餓而不食，
於法不修行，多聞亦如是。
如人善方藥，自疾不能救，
於法不修行，多聞亦如是。
如人數他寶，自無半錢分，
於法不修行，多聞亦如是。
如有生王宮，而受餧與寒，
於法不修行，多聞亦如是。
如聾奏音樂，悅彼不自聞，
於法不修行，多聞亦如是。
如盲繢眾像，示彼不自見，
於法不修行，多聞亦如是。
譬如海船師，而於海中死，
於法不修行，多聞亦如是。
如在四衢道，廣說眾好事，
內自無實德，不行亦如是。」
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問智首菩薩言：「佛子！於佛法中，智為上首。如來何故，或為眾生讚歎布施，或讚持戒，或讚堪忍，或讚精進，或讚禪定，或讚智慧，或復讚歎慈、悲、喜、捨？而終無有唯以一法，而得出離成阿耨多羅三藐三菩提者。」
時，智首菩薩以頌答曰：
「佛子甚希有，能知眾生心，
如仁所問義，諦聽我今說。
過去未來世，現在諸導師，
無有說一法，而得於道者。
佛知眾生心，性分各不同，
隨其所應度，如是而說法。
慳者為讚施，毀禁者讚戒，
多瞋為讚忍，好懈讚精進。
亂意讚禪定，愚癡讚智慧，
不仁讚慈愍，怒害讚大悲。
憂慼為讚喜，曲心讚歎捨，
如是次第修，漸具諸佛法。
如先立基堵，而後造宮室，
施戒亦復然，菩薩眾行本。
譬如建城廓，為護諸人眾，
忍進亦如是，防護諸菩薩。
譬如大力王，率土咸戴仰，
定慧亦如是，菩薩所依賴。
亦如轉輪王，能與一切樂，
四等亦如是，與諸菩薩樂。」
爾時，文殊師利菩薩問賢首菩薩言：「佛子！諸佛世尊，唯以一道，而得出離。云何今見一切佛土，所有眾事，種種不同？所謂：世界、眾生界、說法調伏、壽量、光明、神通、眾會、教儀、法住，各有差別。無有不具一切佛法，而成阿耨多羅三藐三菩提者。」
時，賢首菩薩以頌答曰：
「文殊法常爾，法王唯一法，
一切無礙人，一道出生死。
一切諸佛身，唯是一法身，
一心一智慧，力無畏亦然。
如本趣菩提，所有迴向心，
得如是剎土，眾會及說法。
一切諸佛剎，莊嚴悉圓滿，
隨眾生行異，如是見不同。
佛剎與佛身，眾會及言說，
如是諸佛法，眾生莫能見。
其心已清淨，諸願皆具足，
如是明達人，於此乃能覩。
隨眾生心樂，及以業果力，
如是見差別，此佛威神故。
佛剎無分別，無憎無有愛，
但隨眾生心，如是見有殊。
以是於世界，所見各差別，
非一切如來，大仙之過咎。
一切諸世界，所應受化者，
常見人中雄，諸佛法如是。」
〔T10 0069〕
爾時，諸菩薩謂文殊師利菩薩言：「佛子！我等所解，各自說已。唯願仁者，以妙辯才，演暢如來所有境界！何等是佛境界？何等是佛境界因？何等是佛境界度？何等是佛境界入？何等是佛境界智？何等是佛境界法？何等是佛境界說？何等是佛境界知？何等是佛境界證？何等是佛境界現？何等是佛境界廣？」
時，文殊師利菩薩以頌答曰：
「如來深境界，其量等虛空，
一切眾生入，而實無所入。
如來深境界，所有勝妙因，
億劫常宣說，亦復不能盡。
隨其心智慧，誘進咸令益，
如是度眾生，諸佛之境界。
世間諸國土，一切皆隨入，
智身無有色，非彼所能見。
諸佛智自在，三世無所礙，
如是慧境界，平等如虛空。
法界眾生界，究竟無差別，
一切悉了知，此是如來境。
一切世間中，所有諸音聲，
佛智皆隨了，亦無有分別。
非識所能識，亦非心境界，
其性本清淨，開示諸群生。
非業非煩惱，無物無住處，
無照無所行，平等行世間。
一切眾生心，普在三世中，
如來於一念，一切悉明達。」
爾時，此娑婆世界中，一切眾生所有法差別、業差別、世間差別、身差別、根差別、受生差別、持戒果差別、犯戒果差別、國土果差別，以佛神力，悉皆明現。如是，東方百千億那由他無數無量、無邊無等、不可數、不可稱、不可思、不可量、不可說，盡法界、虛空界、一切世界中，所有眾生法差別，乃至國土果差別，悉以佛神力故，分明顯現；南、西、北方，四維、上、下，亦復如是。
〔卷14〕
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.
問答一 文殊問覺首：心性是一，何以見有種種差別
那時，文殊師利菩薩問覺首菩薩說：
「佛子！心的體性只是一個。為什麼卻見到有種種差別呢？就是說：有的往生善趣、有的往生惡趣；有的諸根具足、有的諸根殘缺；受生的方式有相同的、有相異的；相貌有端正的、有醜陋的；所受的苦與樂各不相同。而且，業不知道心，心也不知道業；受不知道報，報也不知道受；心不知道受，受也不知道心；因不知道緣，緣也不知道因；智不知道境，境也不知道智。」
當時，覺首菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「仁者今天問這個道理，是為了讓昏昧的眾生開曉明悟。我依照法的本性如實回答，仁者應當仔細聽。
「一切法沒有能作能為的作用，也沒有實在的體性。因為這個緣故，那一切法彼此各各不相知曉。
「譬如河中的水，急流爭相奔湧而去，一波一波各各不相知曉，一切法也是這樣。
「又如同一大堆火，猛烈的火焰同時燃起，一焰一焰各各不相知曉，一切法也是這樣。
「又如長風吹起，遇到什麼東西都能鼓動吹扇，風與物各各不相知曉，一切法也是這樣。
「又如眾多的地界（構成大地的種種地層），一層一層輾轉相依而住，各各不相知曉，一切法也是這樣。
「眼、耳、鼻、舌、身，以及心意等種種情識之根，眾生憑著這些而長久流轉生死，可是其中並沒有一個能作流轉的主人。
「法的本性本來不曾生起，只是隨緣示現而彷彿有所生；在這示現之中，既沒有一個能示現的，也沒有一件所示現之物。
「眼、耳、鼻、舌、身，以及心意等種種情識之根，一切都是空的、沒有自性的，只因妄心分別才彷彿是有。
「若能如理如實地觀察，就見一切都沒有自性。這樣的法眼不可思議，這樣的見不是顛倒。
「說是實也好，說是不實也好；說是虛妄也好，說是不虛妄也好；說世間也好，說出世間也好——都只是假借言語的說法罷了。」
問答二 文殊問財首：眾生本非眾生，如來何以隨其種種而教化
那時，文殊師利菩薩問財首菩薩說：
「佛子！一切眾生本來並不是實有的眾生。為什麼如來卻隨著他們的時節、隨著他們的壽命、隨著他們的身形、隨著他們的行為、隨著他們的理解、隨著他們的言論、隨著他們心裡的愛樂、隨著他們的方便、隨著他們的思惟、隨著他們的觀察，在這樣種種眾生之中，為他們示現佛身，加以教化調伏呢？」
當時，財首菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「這是喜好寂滅、多聞之人所行的境界。我為仁者宣說，仁者現在應當領受聽取。
「分別觀察自己的身內，這裡面哪一樣是我呢？若能這樣理解，他就通達了我是有還是無。
「這個身體是假借眾緣而安立的，它所住的處所並沒有一定的方位。真能明白這身體的人，對它不會有所執著。
「對這個身體好好觀察，一切都看得分明；知道諸法都是虛妄的，就不再起心分別。
「壽命是因為什麼而生起？又是因為什麼而退失壞滅？它就像旋轉的火輪（把火把揮成圓圈時看見的假相），起頭和末後都無從得知。
「有智慧的人能夠觀察：一切的『有』都是無常的，一切法空而無我，於是永遠離開一切執取之相。
「眾多的果報隨著業力而生，像夢一樣不真實；它念念之間常在滅壞，前一念如此，後一念也是如此。
「世間所見的種種法，只以心為主宰；隨著各自的理解去取種種相，都是顛倒而不如實。
「世間所有的言說議論，一切都是分別；不曾有哪一個法，能靠著言說進入法性。
「能緣的心與所緣的境二力相合，種種法便出生；才生就迅速滅去、不曾暫停，念念之間都是這樣。」
問答三 文殊問寶首：眾生等有四大而無我，何以苦樂美惡不同
那時，文殊師利菩薩問寶首菩薩說：
「佛子！一切眾生同樣都由地水火風四大所成，其中沒有我、也沒有我所有的東西。為什麼卻有受苦的、受樂的，端正的、醜陋的，內在美好的、外表美好的，所受少的、所受多的，有的現世就受報、有的來世才受報呢？然而在法界之中，本來沒有美、也沒有惡。」
當時，寶首菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「隨著各人所造作的業，相應的果報就這樣生起；而其中並沒有一個實在的造作者——這是諸佛所說的。
「譬如清淨明亮的鏡子，隨著所照的物體不同，現出的影像便各各不同；業的體性也是這樣。
「又如田中的種子，一粒一粒各各不相知曉，卻自然而然能生長出來；業的體性也是這樣。
「又如善巧的幻術師，在那四通八達的大路口，變現出種種色相；業的體性也是這樣。
「又如機關操縱的木頭人，能發出種種聲音，而它既沒有我、也談不上非我；業的體性也是這樣。
「又如眾多的鳥類，從蛋殼裡孵出來，發出的音聲各各不同；業的體性也是這樣。
「譬如在母胎之中，諸根一一長成，而這身體的體相並沒有一個來處；業的體性也是這樣。
「又如在地獄之中，有種種苦事，那些苦事都無所從來；業的體性也是這樣。
「譬如轉輪聖王，成就殊勝的七寶，那七寶的來處了不可得；業的體性也是這樣。
「又如眾多的世界，被大火所焚燒，這火並沒有一個來處；業的體性也是這樣。」
問答四 文殊問德首：如來所悟唯是一法，何以說無量法現無量事
那時，文殊師利菩薩問德首菩薩說：
「佛子！如來所悟的，只是一個法。為什麼卻宣說無量的諸法，示現無量的佛剎，度化無量的眾生，演出無量的音聲，示現無量的身，了知無量的心，現起無量的神通，普遍能震動無量的世界，示現無量殊勝的莊嚴，顯示無邊種種的境界呢？而在法性之中，這些差別之相都是不可得的。」
當時，德首菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「佛子所問的義理，甚深而難以明了；有智慧的人能知道這個，就常常愛樂佛的功德。
「譬如大地的體性只是一個，眾生卻各自分別居住其上，大地並沒有『一』或『異』的念頭；諸佛之法也是這樣。
「又如火的體性只是一個，能燒一切的物，火焰本身並無分別；諸佛之法也是這樣。
「又如大海只是一個，波濤卻有千萬種差異，水本身並沒有種種不同；諸佛之法也是這樣。
「又如風的體性只是一個，能吹一切的物，風並沒有『一』或『異』的念頭；諸佛之法也是這樣。
「又如大雲雷雨，普遍降雨在一切大地上，雨滴本身並無差別；諸佛之法也是這樣。
「又如地界只是一個，能生出種種苗芽，並不是大地本身有什麼殊異；諸佛之法也是這樣。
「如同太陽沒有雲翳遮蔽，普照於十方，光明並沒有兩樣的體性；諸佛之法也是這樣。
「又如空中的月亮，世間沒有人看不見，卻不是月亮走到他那裡去；諸佛之法也是這樣。
「譬如大梵天王，應化示現遍滿三千大千世界，而他的身並沒有分成別異；諸佛之法也是這樣。」
問答五 文殊問目首：如來福田等一無異，何以布施果報不同
那時，文殊師利菩薩問目首菩薩說：
「佛子！如來這塊福田，平等如一而沒有差異。為什麼卻見到眾生布施的果報各不相同呢？就是說：得種種的色相、種種的形貌、種種的家世、種種的根性、種種的資財、種種的主上、種種的眷屬、種種的官位、種種的功德、種種的智慧；而佛對於他們，心是平等的，並沒有兩樣的思惟。」
當時，目首菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「譬如大地只是一個，隨著所下的種子各自生出苗芽，大地對它們沒有怨、也沒有親；佛這塊福田也是這樣。
「又如水只有一種味道，因為盛它的器皿不同才有差別；佛這塊福田也是這樣，是眾生的心不同的緣故。
「又如善巧的幻術師，能使眾人歡喜；佛這塊福田也是這樣，能令眾生敬仰喜悅。
「如同有才智的國王，能使大眾歡喜；佛這塊福田也是這樣，能令大眾全都安樂。
「譬如清淨明亮的鏡子，隨著顏色而現出影像；佛這塊福田也是這樣，隨著各人的心而獲得種種果報。
「如同阿揭陀藥（一種能解一切毒的良藥），能療治一切毒；佛這塊福田也是這樣，能滅除種種煩惱之患。
「又如太陽升起之時，照耀於世間；佛這塊福田也是這樣，能滅除種種黑暗。
「又如清淨的滿月，普照於大地；佛這塊福田也是這樣，在一切處都平等。
「譬如毘藍風（劫末所起的大風），普遍震動大地；佛這塊福田也是這樣，能震動三有之中的眾生。
「譬如大火燒起，能燒一切的物；佛這塊福田也是這樣，能燒盡一切有為之法。」
問答六 文殊問勤首：佛教是一，何以不即斷煩惱而出離
那時，文殊師利菩薩問勤首菩薩說：
「佛子！佛的教法只是一個，眾生也都得以見到，為什麼不能立即全部斷除一切煩惱的繫縛而得到出離呢？然而他們的色蘊、受蘊、想蘊、行蘊、識蘊，欲界、色界、無色界，以及無明、貪愛，並沒有什麼差別，這些也就是佛教所說的。對於眾生，這教法有時有利益、有時卻沒有利益，這是為什麼呢？」
當時，勤首菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「佛子好好仔細聽，我如今如實回答：有的人能迅速解脫，有的人卻難以出離。
「若想求得除滅無量的過失罪惡，就應當在佛法之中勇猛而常精進。
「譬如微小的一點火，柴薪潮濕就很快讓它熄滅；在佛的教法之中，懈怠的人也是這樣。
「如同鑽木取火，火還沒鑽出來就屢屢停手歇息，火勢便隨著停手而熄滅；懈怠的人也是這樣。
「如同人手持日珠（能引日光取火的寶珠），卻不用東西承接它的影，火終究得不到；懈怠的人也是這樣。
「譬如烈日照耀，小孩卻閉著自己的眼睛，還奇怪地問為什麼看不見；懈怠的人也是這樣。
「如同人沒有手腳，卻想用芒草作箭，遍射而擊破大地；懈怠的人也是這樣。
「如同用一根毫毛的尖端去取大海的水，想要使大海乾竭；懈怠的人也是這樣。
「又如劫末大火燒起，卻想用少許的水去撲滅；在佛的教法之中，懈怠的人也是這樣。
「如同有人見到虛空，自己端坐不動，卻說已經普遍騰躍履踐了虛空；懈怠的人也是這樣。」
問答七 文殊問法首：受持正法應斷煩惱，何以有受持而不斷者
那時，文殊師利菩薩問法首菩薩說：
「佛子！如佛所說：『若有眾生受持正法，都能除斷一切煩惱。』為什麼卻還有受持正法而煩惱不斷的人呢？他們隨著貪、隨著瞋、隨著癡，隨著慢、隨著覆（掩藏己過）、隨著忿、隨著恨、隨著嫉、隨著慳、隨著誑、隨著諂，被這些勢力所轉動，沒有出離之心。既然能受持法，為什麼在心行之內還起種種煩惱呢？」
當時，法首菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「佛子好好仔細聽，你所問的真實義是這樣：並不是單憑多聞，就能進入如來之法。
「如同人被大水沖漂，怕淹死而不敢喝水，結果渴死；對法不去修行，多聞也是這樣。
「如同人備辦了美好的飯菜，自己卻挨餓不吃；對法不去修行，多聞也是這樣。
「如同人精通藥方，自己生病卻不能救；對法不去修行，多聞也是這樣。
「如同人替別人數點財寶，自己連半文錢也沒有；對法不去修行，多聞也是這樣。
「如同有人生在王宮，卻挨著飢餓與寒冷；對法不去修行，多聞也是這樣。
「如同聾人演奏音樂，讓別人歡悅而自己聽不見；對法不去修行，多聞也是這樣。
「如同盲人繪畫種種形像，展示給別人看而自己見不到；對法不去修行，多聞也是這樣。
「譬如航海的船師，卻死在海中；對法不去修行，多聞也是這樣。
「如同在四通八達的大路口，廣說種種好事，自己內裡卻沒有真實德行；不修行也是這樣。」
問答八 文殊問智首：佛法中智為上首，如來何以讚歎種種行
那時，文殊師利菩薩問智首菩薩說：
「佛子！在佛法之中，智慧是最為上首的。如來為什麼有時為眾生讚歎布施，有時讚歎持戒，有時讚歎堪忍，有時讚歎精進，有時讚歎禪定，有時讚歎智慧，有時又讚歎慈、悲、喜、捨呢？而且始終沒有人只憑一個法，就能得到出離而成就無上正等正覺。」
當時，智首菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「佛子甚為希有，能知眾生的心。如仁者所問的義理，請仔細聽，我現在就說。
「過去世、未來世、現在世的諸位導師，沒有一位是說一個法就能使人得道的。
「佛知道眾生的心，各人的性分各不相同；隨著他們所應被度的方式，就這樣為他們說法。
「對慳吝的人便讚歎布施，對毀犯禁戒的人便讚歎持戒，對多瞋的人便讚歎忍辱，對好懈怠的人便讚歎精進。
「對心意散亂的人便讚歎禪定，對愚癡的人便讚歎智慧，對不仁的人便讚歎慈愍，對暴怒惱害的人便讚歎大悲。
「對憂愁悲慼的人便讚歎歡喜，對心思彎曲的人便讚歎捨；像這樣依次第修習，就漸漸具足諸佛之法。
「如同先立好牆基，然後才造宮室；布施與持戒也是這樣，是菩薩種種行的根本。
「譬如建造城牆，是為了守護眾人；忍辱與精進也是這樣，能防護諸位菩薩。
「譬如大有力的國王，全國都愛戴仰望；禪定與智慧也是這樣，是菩薩所依所賴的。
「又如轉輪聖王，能給與一切安樂；慈悲喜捨四無量心也是這樣，能給與諸位菩薩安樂。」
問答九 文殊問賢首：諸佛唯以一道出離，何以佛土眾事不同
那時，文殊師利菩薩問賢首菩薩說：
「佛子！諸佛世尊只以一條道路而得出離。為什麼如今見到一切佛土所有的眾多事相，種種都不相同呢？就是說：世界、眾生界、說法調伏的方式、壽量、光明、神通、法會大眾、教化的儀則、正法住世的久近，各有差別。而且沒有哪一位是不具足一切佛法而能成就無上正等正覺的。」
當時，賢首菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「文殊啊，法就是這樣：法中之王只有一個法，一切無所障礙的人，都由這一條道路出離生死。
「一切諸佛的身，只是一個法身；一心、一智慧，力與無畏也是這樣。
「如同他們本來趣向菩提之時，所發的種種迴向之心；於是得到相應的剎土、法會大眾以及說法的方式。
「一切諸佛的剎土，莊嚴都是圓滿的；只因隨著眾生的行為不同，所以見到的就不一樣。
「佛的剎土與佛的身，法會大眾以及言說，這樣的種種佛法，一般眾生是不能見到的。
「那心已經清淨、種種願都已具足的人，這樣明白通達的人，對這些才能得見。
「隨著眾生心中的愛樂，以及各人業果的力量，所見便有這樣的差別，這是佛的威神之力的緣故。
「佛的剎土本身沒有分別，沒有憎、也沒有愛；只是隨著眾生的心，所見才這樣有所不同。
「因為這個緣故，對於同一個世界，各人所見各有差別；這並不是一切如來這些大仙的過錯。
「一切諸世界之中，凡是應當受度化的人，都常常見到人中的英雄；諸佛之法就是這樣。」
問答十 諸菩薩共問文殊：何等是佛境界
那時，諸位菩薩對文殊師利菩薩說：
「佛子！我們各自所理解的，都已經說過了。唯願仁者以微妙的辯才，為我們演說暢述如來所有的境界！什麼是佛的境界？什麼是佛境界的因？什麼是佛境界的度？什麼是佛境界的入？什麼是佛境界的智？什麼是佛境界的法？什麼是佛境界的說？什麼是佛境界的知？什麼是佛境界的證？什麼是佛境界的現？什麼是佛境界的廣？」
當時，文殊師利菩薩以偈頌回答說：
「如來甚深的境界，它的量等同於虛空；一切眾生都在其中，而其實並沒有一個能入的入。
「如來甚深的境界，它所有殊勝微妙的因，即使億劫之中常常宣說，也仍然說不能盡。
「隨著眾生各自的心與智慧，誘導使他們前進而都得利益；這樣度化眾生，就是諸佛的境界。
「世間種種的國土，佛的智慧一切都隨之而入；然而智慧之身沒有形色，不是那些眾生所能見到的。
「諸佛的智慧自在，於過去現在未來三世都無所障礙；這樣的智慧境界，平等如同虛空。
「法界與眾生界，究竟並沒有差別；這一切都完全了知，這就是如來的境界。
「一切世間之中，所有的種種音聲，佛的智慧都能隨之了知，而又沒有分別。
「這不是識所能識別的，也不是心的境界；它的體性本來清淨，如今開示給眾生。
「它不是業、也不是煩惱，沒有一物、也沒有住處，不加照察、也無所行作，就這樣平等地行於世間。
「一切眾生的心，普遍存在於三世之中；如來在一念之間，一切都明明白白通達。」
現事（澄觀科）：佛神力令娑婆世界一切差別明現
那時，在這個娑婆世界之中，一切眾生所有的法差別、業差別、世間差別、身差別、根差別、受生差別、持戒果差別、犯戒果差別、國土果差別，都因為佛的神力，全部明明白白地顯現出來。
結通（澄觀科）：十方一切世界亦復如是
像這樣，東方百千億那由他那麼多、無數無量、無邊無等、不可數、不可稱、不可思、不可量、不可說，窮盡法界、虛空界的一切世界之中，所有眾生的法差別，乃至國土果差別，也都因為佛的神力，分明地顯現出來；南方、西方、北方，四維以及上方、下方，也都是這樣。
Round One · Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Awakening: the nature of mind is one, why is it that there are seen to be all kinds of differences
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned the bodhisattva Foremost in Awakening, saying:
“Son of the Buddha! The very substance and nature of mind is only one. Why then are there seen to be all kinds of differences? That is to say: some go on to a good destiny and some go on to an evil destiny; some have all their faculties complete and some have faculties that are defective; the manner in which they take birth is in some cases the same and in some cases different; their appearance is in some cases handsome and in some cases ugly; and the pain and the pleasure they undergo are each not the same. Moreover, deeds do not know mind, and mind does not know deeds either; what is undergone does not know its recompense, and the recompense does not know what is undergone either; mind does not know what is undergone, and what is undergone does not know mind either; the cause does not know the condition, and the condition does not know the cause either; wisdom does not know its object, and the object does not know wisdom either.”
At that time the bodhisattva Foremost in Awakening answered in verse, saying:
“The benevolent one asks this principle today in order to let beings who are in the dark be opened to clarity and awakened. I answer in accordance with the very nature of the Dharma, as it truly is; may the benevolent one listen closely.
“All dharmas have no operation by which they could act or do anything, nor do they have any substantial nature. For this very reason, all those dharmas, each and every one of them, do not know one another.
“It is like the water in a river: the swift current races and rushes onward, and one wave and another wave, each and every one, do not know one another; and all dharmas are just like this.
“It is also like one great mass of fire: the fierce flames blaze up all at the same time, and one flame and another flame, each and every one, do not know one another; and all dharmas are just like this.
“It is also like a long wind rising: whatever thing it meets it can stir and fan, and the wind and the things, each and every one, do not know one another; and all dharmas are just like this.
“It is also like the many earth-elements (the various strata of soil that make up the great earth): layer upon layer they rest depending one upon another, and each and every one they do not know one another; and all dharmas are just like this.
“Eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, together with mind and thought — these various faculties of sentient awareness — are what beings rely upon as they turn on and on through birth and death for a long time; and yet within them there is no master who does the turning.
“The nature of the Dharma has from the first never arisen; it is only in accordance with conditions that it manifests and so appears to have arisen. Within this manifesting there is neither anything that does the manifesting nor any thing that is manifested.
“Eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, together with mind and thought — these various faculties of sentient awareness — are all of them empty and without any nature of their own; it is only because a deluded mind discriminates that they seem to be there.
“If one can observe in accordance with principle and as things truly are, then one sees that nothing at all has a nature of its own. Such a Dharma-eye is inconceivable, and such a seeing is not an inverted seeing.
“Call it real, or call it unreal; call it false, or call it not false; call it worldly, or call it world-transcending — all of this is no more than a way of speaking, borrowed from words.”
Round Two · Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Wealth: beings are originally not beings, why then does the Tathāgata teach them in accordance with all their circumstances
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned the bodhisattva Foremost in Wealth, saying:
“Son of the Buddha! All beings are, from the first, not really existing beings. Why then does the Tathāgata, in accordance with their season, in accordance with their span of life, in accordance with their bodily form, in accordance with their conduct, in accordance with their understanding, in accordance with their speech and discourse, in accordance with what their minds delight in, in accordance with their skillful means, in accordance with their thinking, in accordance with their observing, manifest a buddha-body for them in the midst of beings of all these kinds, and so teach, transform, and discipline them?”
At that time the bodhisattva Foremost in Wealth answered in verse, saying:
“This is the domain traversed by those who delight in quiescence and who are widely learned. I expound it for the benevolent one; the benevolent one should now receive and hear it.
“Discriminate and observe within your own body: which thing here is the self? If one can understand it in this way, he has penetrated whether the self exists or does not exist.
“This body is set up by borrowing a host of conditions; the place where it dwells has no fixed direction. One who truly understands this body will have no attachment within it.
“Observe this body well, and everything is seen distinctly; knowing that all dharmas are false, one no longer gives rise to a mind that discriminates.
“Through what does the span of life arise? And through what does it fall away and perish? It is like a whirling wheel of fire (the false appearance one sees when a torch is swung in a circle): neither its beginning nor its end can be known.
“One who has wisdom is able to observe that everything that ‘exists’ is impermanent, that all dharmas are empty and without self, and so is forever parted from every mark that is grasped at.
“The many recompenses arise in accordance with the force of deeds; like a dream, they are not real; from moment to moment they are constantly perishing — as the moment before, so also the moment after.
“The various dharmas that the world sees take mind alone as their master; each grasps at all sorts of marks in accordance with his own understanding, and all of it is inverted and not as things truly are.
“All the talk and disputation in the world is, every bit of it, discrimination; there has never been a single dharma that could enter into the nature of the Dharma by means of speech.
“When the two forces — the mind that takes an object and the object that is taken — come together, all sorts of dharmas are born; and no sooner are they born than they swiftly perish and do not pause for a moment; from thought-moment to thought-moment it is always like this.”
Round Three · Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Jewels: beings equally have the four great elements and no self, why then are pain and pleasure, beauty and ugliness not the same
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned the bodhisattva Foremost in Jewels, saying:
“Son of the Buddha! All beings are alike made of the four great elements, earth, water, fire, and wind; within them there is no self and nothing belonging to a self. Why then are there those who undergo pain and those who undergo pleasure, those who are handsome and those who are ugly, those who are fine within and those who are fine without, those who undergo little and those who undergo much, and some who receive their recompense in this very life while others receive it only in a life to come? And yet within the Dharma realm there is from the first neither beauty nor ugliness.”
At that time the bodhisattva Foremost in Jewels answered in verse, saying:
“In accordance with the deeds each one has done, the corresponding fruit of recompense arises just so; and yet within it there is no real doer who does the deed — this is what the buddhas have declared.
“It is like a bright and spotless mirror: as the objects it reflects differ, the images that appear are each and every one different; and the nature of deeds is just like this.
“It is also like the seeds in a field: one seed and another, each and every one, do not know one another, and yet of themselves they are able to grow forth; and the nature of deeds is just like this.
“It is also like a skilled conjuror who, at that crossroads where many ways meet, conjures up all sorts of forms and colors; and the nature of deeds is just like this.
“It is also like a wooden man worked by a mechanism, able to give out all sorts of sounds, while it has neither a self nor anything that could be called a non-self; and the nature of deeds is just like this.
“It is also like the many kinds of birds that come out from within the eggshell and give out sounds each and every one different; and the nature of deeds is just like this.
“It is like being within the mother's womb, where the faculties one by one come to completion, and yet the substance and form of this body has no place from which it came; and the nature of deeds is just like this.
“It is also like being within the hells, where there are all sorts of painful things, and all those painful things have nowhere from which they came; and the nature of deeds is just like this.
“It is like a wheel-turning sage king who perfects the seven excellent treasures, and the place from which those seven treasures came is altogether unobtainable; and the nature of deeds is just like this.
“It is also like the many worlds being burned up by a great fire, and this fire has no place from which it came; and the nature of deeds is just like this.”
Round Four · Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Virtue: what the Tathāgata awakened to is only one dharma, why then does he speak measureless dharmas and manifest measureless things
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned the bodhisattva Foremost in Virtue, saying:
“Son of the Buddha! What the Tathāgata awakened to is only one dharma. Why then does he expound measureless dharmas, manifest measureless buddha-lands, bring measureless beings across, send forth measureless sounds, manifest measureless bodies, know measureless minds, call forth measureless spiritual powers, universally shake measureless worlds, manifest measureless surpassing adornments, and reveal boundless realms of every kind? And yet within the nature of the Dharma none of these marks of difference can be obtained.”
At that time the bodhisattva Foremost in Virtue answered in verse, saying:
“The principle the son of the Buddha asks about is profound and hard to understand; one who has wisdom and can know it will constantly delight in the merits of the Buddha.
“It is like the nature of the great earth, which is only one, while beings each dwell upon it separately, and the earth has no thought of ‘one’ or ‘different’; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this.
“It is also like the nature of fire, which is only one and can burn every thing, while the flames themselves have no discrimination; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this.
“It is also like the great sea, which is only one, while its waves and billows have a thousand and ten thousand differences, and the water itself has no such varieties; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this.
“It is also like the nature of wind, which is only one and can blow upon every thing, while the wind has no thought of ‘one’ or ‘different’; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this.
“It is also like a great cloud with thunder that rains universally upon all the earth, while the raindrops themselves have no difference; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this.
“It is also like the earth-element, which is only one and can bring forth all sorts of sprouts and shoots, and it is not that the earth itself has anything peculiar in it; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this.
“It is like the sun with no cloud to veil it, shining universally upon the ten directions, while the light has no two kinds of nature; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this.
“It is also like the moon in the sky, which there is no one in the world who does not see, and yet it is not that the moon goes to where he is; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this.
“It is like the great king of the Brahmā heaven, who manifests in response throughout the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system, and yet his body is not divided into separate ones; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this.”
Round Five · Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Vision: the Tathāgata as a field of merit is equally one and without difference, why then are the fruits of giving not the same
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned the bodhisattva Foremost in Vision, saying:
“Son of the Buddha! This field of merit that is the Tathāgata is equal as one and has no difference in it. Why then are the fruits of the giving of beings seen to be each not the same? That is to say: they obtain all sorts of complexion, all sorts of shape, all sorts of family standing, all sorts of faculties, all sorts of resources, all sorts of masters over them, all sorts of retinue, all sorts of official rank, all sorts of merit, all sorts of wisdom; and yet toward them all the Buddha's mind is equal and has no two kinds of thinking.”
At that time the bodhisattva Foremost in Vision answered in verse, saying:
“It is like the great earth, which is only one, while in accordance with the seeds that are sown each brings forth its own sprout, and the earth has toward them neither enmity nor affection; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this.
“It is also like water, which has only one taste and comes to have differences only because the vessels that hold it differ; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this, for it is because the minds of beings differ.
“It is also like a skilled conjuror who is able to make the multitude rejoice; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this, able to make beings revere him and be glad.
“It is like a king possessed of talent and wisdom who is able to make the great multitude rejoice; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this, able to make the great multitude all be at peace and at ease.
“It is like a bright and spotless mirror in which images appear in accordance with the colors before it; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this, for in accordance with each one's mind they obtain all sorts of recompense.
“It is like the agada medicine (a fine medicine able to neutralize every poison), which can cure every poison; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this, able to extinguish every sort of affliction and trouble.
“It is also like the sun at the hour of its rising, shining upon the world; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this, able to extinguish every sort of darkness.
“It is also like the pure full moon, shining universally upon the great earth; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this, equal in every place.
“It is like the Vairambhaka wind (the great wind that arises at the end of the kalpa), universally shaking the great earth; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this, able to shake the beings within the three realms of existence.
“It is like a great fire blazing up, able to burn every thing; and the Buddha as this field of merit is just like this, able to burn away everything conditioned.”
Round Six · Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Diligence: the Buddha's teaching is one, why is it that the afflictions are not cut off and deliverance attained at once
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned the bodhisattva Foremost in Diligence, saying:
“Son of the Buddha! The teaching of the Buddha is only one, and beings have all been able to see it; why then are they unable at once to cut off entirely all the bonds of affliction and obtain deliverance? And yet their aggregate of form, aggregate of feeling, aggregate of perception, aggregate of formations, and aggregate of consciousness, the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm, together with ignorance and craving, have no difference in them at all, and these too are what the Buddha's teaching speaks of. For beings, this teaching is at some times of benefit and at other times of no benefit — why is this?”
At that time the bodhisattva Foremost in Diligence answered in verse, saying:
“Let the son of the Buddha listen well and closely; I now answer as things truly are: there are some who are swiftly liberated, and there are some who find it hard to get free.
“If one wishes to seek the removal and extinction of measureless faults and evils, then within the Dharma of the Buddha he ought to be valiant and constantly vigorous.
“It is like a tiny bit of fire, which damp kindling very quickly puts out; and within the teaching-Dharma of the Buddha, one who is indolent is just like this.
“It is like drilling wood to get fire, where before the fire has come out one stops to rest again and again, so that the force of the fire dies away along with the stopping; and one who is indolent is just like this.
“It is like a man holding a sun-jewel (a gem able to draw down the sunlight and produce fire) who does not use anything to receive its cast image, so that in the end he gets no fire; and one who is indolent is just like this.
“It is like a fierce sun shining while a small child shuts his own eyes and then asks in wonder why he cannot see; and one who is indolent is just like this.
“It is like a man with no hands and no feet who wishes to make arrows out of blades of grass and, shooting them everywhere, to shatter the great earth; and one who is indolent is just like this.
“It is like taking the water of the great sea with the tip of a single hair, wishing thereby to make the sea run dry; and one who is indolent is just like this.
“It is also like the great fire at the end of the kalpa blazing up, and one wishes to put it out with a little water; and within the teaching-Dharma of the Buddha, one who is indolent is just like this.
“It is like a man who sees empty space and sits still without moving, and yet says that he has already leapt and trodden his way all through it; and one who is indolent is just like this.”
Round Seven · Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Dharma: receiving and upholding the right Dharma ought to cut off the afflictions, why then are there those who receive and uphold it and yet do not cut them off
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned the bodhisattva Foremost in Dharma, saying:
“Son of the Buddha! As the Buddha has said: ‘If there are beings who receive and uphold the right Dharma, they will all be able to remove and cut off every affliction.’ Why then are there still those who receive and uphold the right Dharma and yet whose afflictions are not cut off? They follow after greed, follow after anger, follow after delusion, follow after conceit, follow after concealment (the hiding of one's own faults), follow after wrath, follow after resentment, follow after envy, follow after stinginess, follow after deceit, follow after flattery, and are turned about by the force of these, with no mind to get free. Since they are able to receive and uphold the Dharma, why is it that within their mental conduct all sorts of afflictions still arise?”
At that time the bodhisattva Foremost in Dharma answered in verse, saying:
“Let the son of the Buddha listen well and closely; the true meaning of what you ask is this: it is not by wide learning alone that one can enter the Dharma of the Tathāgata.
“It is like a man being swept along by great waters who, for fear of drowning, dares not drink of them, and so dies of thirst; for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this.
“It is like a man who has prepared fine food and drink and yet himself goes hungry and does not eat; for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this.
“It is like a man well versed in prescriptions who, when he himself falls ill, is unable to save himself; for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this.
“It is like a man who counts out the treasures of another while he himself has not even half a coin; for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this.
“It is like someone born in a royal palace who yet suffers hunger and cold; for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this.
“It is like a deaf man performing music, giving delight to others while hearing nothing of it himself; for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this.
“It is like a blind man painting all sorts of images, displaying them for others to see while unable to see them himself; for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this.
“It is like a ship's pilot who sails the sea and yet dies in the midst of the sea; for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this.
“It is like one at that crossroads where many ways meet who discourses at length on all sorts of fine matters while within himself he has no real virtue; and one who does not practice is just like this.”
Round Eight · Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Wisdom: within the Dharma of the Buddha wisdom is the foremost, why then does the Tathāgata praise all sorts of practices
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned the bodhisattva Foremost in Wisdom, saying:
“Son of the Buddha! Within the Dharma of the Buddha, wisdom is the very foremost. Why then does the Tathāgata at some times praise giving for beings, at some times praise the keeping of the precepts, at some times praise forbearance, at some times praise vigor, at some times praise meditative concentration, at some times praise wisdom, and at some times also praise loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity? And moreover there has never been anyone who, by one dharma alone, was able to obtain deliverance and accomplish unsurpassed perfect awakening.”
At that time the bodhisattva Foremost in Wisdom answered in verse, saying:
“Most rare indeed is the son of the Buddha, who is able to know the minds of beings. As for the principle the benevolent one asks about, listen closely; I shall now speak of it.
“Among the guiding teachers of the past age, the age to come, and the present age, there is not one who said that by one dharma a person could gain the path.
“The Buddha knows the minds of beings, and that the portion of nature each has is not the same; and in accordance with the way in which each ought to be brought across, he preaches the Dharma to them just so.
“To one who is stingy he praises giving; to one who breaks and violates the precepts he praises the keeping of the precepts; to one with much anger he praises forbearance; to one who is fond of indolence he praises vigor.
“To one whose mind is scattered he praises meditative concentration; to one who is deluded he praises wisdom; to one who is unkind he praises loving-kindness and pity; to one who rages and does harm he praises great compassion.
“To one who is sorrowful and grieving he praises sympathetic joy; to one whose mind is crooked he praises equanimity; and cultivating in this way, in due sequence, one gradually comes to possess in full the dharmas of the buddhas.
“It is like first setting up the foundation wall and only then building the palace hall; giving and the keeping of the precepts are just like this, being the root of the bodhisattva's various practices.
“It is like building a city wall for the sake of guarding the multitude; forbearance and vigor are just like this, able to guard and protect the bodhisattvas.
“It is like a king of great strength on whom the whole land looks up in devotion; meditative concentration and wisdom are just like this, being what the bodhisattvas rely and depend upon.
“It is also like a wheel-turning sage king who is able to give every kind of ease and joy; and the four measureless minds of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity are just like this, able to give ease and joy to the bodhisattvas.”
Round Nine · Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Worthiness: the buddhas gain deliverance by one path alone, why then are the many things in the buddha-lands not the same
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned the bodhisattva Foremost in Worthiness, saying:
“Son of the Buddha! The buddhas, the world-honored ones, gain deliverance by one path alone. Why then are all the many things belonging to all the buddha-lands seen now to be of all kinds and not the same? That is to say: the world, the realm of beings, the manner of preaching the Dharma and disciplining, the span of life, the radiance, the spiritual powers, the assembly of the multitude, the standards by which they teach and transform, and how long the right Dharma abides — each of these has its differences. And moreover there is not one who, without possessing in full all the dharmas of the Buddha, was able to accomplish unsurpassed perfect awakening.”
At that time the bodhisattva Foremost in Worthiness answered in verse, saying:
“Mañjuśrī, the Dharma is just so: the king of the Dharma has only one dharma, and all who are without obstruction gain deliverance from birth and death by this one path.
“The bodies of all the buddhas are only one dharma-body; one mind, one wisdom, and their powers and fearlessnesses are just like this.
“It is in accordance with the various minds of dedication that they made when they first set out toward awakening that they obtain the land, the assembly of the multitude, and the manner of preaching the Dharma that correspond to it.
“In all the buddha-lands the adornments are perfectly complete; it is only because the conduct of beings differs that what they see is not the same.
“The land of the Buddha and the body of the Buddha, the assembly of the multitude and the words that are spoken — such dharmas of the Buddha as these, ordinary beings are unable to see.
“Those whose minds are already pure and whose every vow is already fulfilled — such clear and penetrating persons as these are able to obtain the sight of them.
“In accordance with what the minds of beings delight in and with the force of the fruit of each one's deeds, what they see comes to have differences such as these; and this is because of the majestic spiritual power of the Buddha.
“The land of the Buddha itself has no discrimination, has no hatred and has no love; it is only in accordance with the minds of beings that what they see comes to differ in this way.
“For this very reason, with regard to one and the same world, what each one sees has its differences; and this is not any fault of all the tathāgatas, those great sages.
“Within all the worlds, whoever ought to be brought across and transformed constantly sees the hero among men; and the dharmas of the buddhas are just so.”
Round Ten · The bodhisattvas together question Mañjuśrī: what is the realm of the Buddha
At that time the bodhisattvas said to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī:
“Son of the Buddha! What each of us understands, we have all already spoken. We only pray that the benevolent one, with subtle and wondrous eloquence, will expound and set forth for us all the realms of the Tathāgata! What is the realm of the Buddha? What is the cause of the realm of the Buddha? What is the bringing across of the realm of the Buddha? What is the entering of the realm of the Buddha? What is the wisdom of the realm of the Buddha? What is the dharma of the realm of the Buddha? What is the speaking of the realm of the Buddha? What is the knowing of the realm of the Buddha? What is the verifying of the realm of the Buddha? What is the manifesting of the realm of the Buddha? What is the breadth of the realm of the Buddha?”
At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī answered in verse, saying:
“The profound realm of the Tathāgata — its measure is equal to empty space; all beings are within it, and yet in truth there is no entering by which one enters.
“The profound realm of the Tathāgata — all its surpassing and subtle causes, though one should constantly expound them for koṭis of kalpas, still could not be exhausted in the telling.
“In accordance with the mind and the wisdom that each being has, he draws them forward so that all obtain benefit; to bring beings across in this way is the realm of the buddhas.
“The various lands of the world — the wisdom of the Buddha enters into every one of them in accordance with them; and yet the body of wisdom has no form or color, and is not what those beings are able to see.
“The wisdom of the buddhas is sovereign and free, unobstructed in the three times, past, present, and future; such a realm of wisdom is equal, like empty space.
“The Dharma realm and the realm of beings are ultimately without difference; that all of this is completely known — this is the realm of the Tathāgata.
“Within all the worlds, all the sounds there are — the wisdom of the Buddha is able to know them all in accordance with them, and yet has no discrimination.
“This is not what consciousness is able to be conscious of, nor is it the domain of mind; its nature is from the first pure, and it is now revealed and shown to beings.
“It is not deeds and it is not afflictions; there is no thing in it and no dwelling place; it does not examine and it has nothing it does — and just so it moves through the world in equality.
“The minds of all beings are present universally throughout the three times; and the Tathāgata, in a single thought, penetrates all of them clearly and distinctly.”
The manifesting of things (Chengguan's division): by the Buddha's spiritual power all the differences in the Sahā world are made to appear plainly
At that time, within this Sahā world, all the differences in dharma, differences in deeds, differences in world, differences in body, differences in faculty, differences in the taking of birth, differences in the fruit of keeping the precepts, differences in the fruit of violating the precepts, and differences in the fruit that is their land, belonging to all beings, were all of them, because of the spiritual power of the Buddha, made to appear plainly and distinctly.
The concluding extension (Chengguan's division): so also in all the worlds of the ten directions
Just so, within all the worlds of the eastern quarter — worlds as many as a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of them, numberless, measureless, boundless, incomparable, uncountable, unreckonable, unthinkable, immeasurable, unspeakable, exhausting the Dharma realm and the realm of empty space — all the differences in dharma belonging to all beings, and on down to the differences in the fruit that is their land, were likewise, because of the spiritual power of the Buddha, made to appear distinctly; and in the southern quarter, the western quarter, the northern quarter, the four intermediate directions, and the upper and lower quarters, it was likewise just so.
一品全是問答，這件事本身就是義理
一部經裡忽然出現整整一品的問答，前後沒有放光、沒有入定、沒有讚頌，只是文殊師利一個接一個地問，一個接一個的菩薩以偈頌回答——讀者第一個念頭多半是：這是在做什麼？
先看它擺在哪裡。前面〈如來名號品〉〈四聖諦品〉〈光明覺品〉三品，說的是佛的名號、諦的名目、光所照的境界，都是所信之境；這一品開始，轉入能信之解。澄觀判此品的來意就說得很直：上來三品已經回答了生解所依，這以下才正答主解的因果；而且三品之中，「三品明信有解行德，解為二本，此品先來」——信裡面有解、有行、有德，解是根本，所以先來。李通玄的判法從另一頭進：前品佛從足輪放光，開覺所照的佛境遠近，令信心的人一一觀之無礙；這一品接著來，就是明十信心的人「正修行之行及斷疑」。
兩家所繫的前緣不同，落點卻一樣：這一品是給已經聽見了、還沒有真懂的人設的。所以它的體不是宣說，是徵詰。澄觀辨品名時把這一點講得極清楚：問有兩種，一種是泛泛地相問，一種是「以理徵詰」的難問，本品是後者；答也有兩種，一種只是照著問回報，一種是「俱為解釋旁兼異義、美言讚述令理顯煥」，本品也是後者。所以叫「問明」不叫「問答」——明能破闇，因為它除掉的是發問者的疑闇。他還補一個從文體上看的理由：長行是起問，偈頌是解問，所以合稱問明。
落到自己身上：真正的疑不會被安慰解決，只會被徹底問完才解決。這一品示範的就是把疑問追到底的方法——不是把問題壓下去，是把它問成一個可以被回答的形狀。
「十甚深」是澄觀的科名，不是經文自標
讀這一品，最容易在第一步就錯認的是「十甚深」四個字。經文從頭到尾沒有出現這個名目，也沒有為十番問答編號。十甚深是澄觀《華嚴經疏》所立的科名，他一次列全：一緣起甚深、二教化甚深、三業果甚深、四說法甚深、五福田甚深、六正教甚深、七正行甚深、八正助甚深、九一道甚深、十佛境甚深。同一位疏主在後文逐番標舉時，第八又作「助道甚深」，兩名並見於同一部疏。
澄觀不只列名，還交代了這十番為什麼是這個次序：緣起的深理總攝一切法，是觀解的要領，所以先明；眾生迷了這個，所以須要教化；違背教化與順從教化，就有善惡之業；要知道這業，得靠說法而成；而說法成就善根，唯佛是福田；既然說到順田，就須要持守聖教；教在於勤行；行須要正道與助道；助必有正，殊途同歸；得一道的人自然當趣佛境。——十番不是十個並列的話題，是一條線。
排一個常見誤讀：不要以為經文本身分了十段。經文只是『爾時，文殊師利菩薩問某某菩薩言』這樣一路排下來。分十、命名、串次序，都是疏家的工作。李通玄讀同一品就不用十甚深之名，他數的是「十一段經」，並且把第一問算作二十問而非五對十事。同一段經文，古德有不同的分法，這正說明科名是讀法的鷹架，不是經文的骨頭。
落地處：讀華嚴而遇到整齊的數目名相時，先問一句『這是經自己說的，還是疏家給的』。這一問養成了，後面很多爭論就不必打。
甚深一 緣起：心性是一，怎麼會有種種差別
第一問是全品的地基。文殊立宗只有四個字：「心性是一。」然後推出難處：既然如此，何以見有種種差別？他列了五對——往善趣惡趣、諸根滿缺、受生同異、端正醜陋、苦樂不同。澄觀稱之為「十事五對」，並且指出這五對不是平列的：第一對是總報，說趣有善惡；下面四對都是別報，而且「前前皆具後後，後後必帶前前」——在善惡趣中各有根的滿缺，在滿缺中各有受生的同異，在同異的生處各有相貌的妍媸，在妍媸之上各有苦樂。層層相乘，才叫「種種」。
問還沒完。文殊接著推出第二層：業不知心，心不知業；受不知報，報不知受；心不知受，受不知心；因不知緣，緣不知因；智不知境，境不知智。澄觀說這一層是「結成前難」，並分出三重意思：一是直接問所以然——既有種種，何緣彼此不相知？既然不相知，是誰教它們種種？二是懷疑——既不相知，究竟是一性還是種種？三是作相違難——一性隨於種種就失了真諦，種種隨於一性就壞了俗諦，如今既見種種又見不相知，這兩邊怎麼並立？他把這叫作本末相違、理事相違、一異相違、真妄相違，一難而四重。
這裡必須揀清一件事：「心性是一」的心性指什麼。澄觀特別揀定：不可以說是第八識——「心性之言非第八故」；他判此處的心性即是如來藏，即是自性清淨心，並以空與不空二如來藏合說：妄心之性是無性之性，即空如來藏；真心之性是實性之性，即不空如來藏；二者平等無二，所以說「一」。至於《瑜伽》一系說異熟賴耶從業惑種辦體而生，與此如何會通？澄觀答以權實：對凡小約權教隨相假說，對大菩薩依實教盡理而說，機有大小、法有淺深、教有權實，所以不相違。——這是華嚴宗義在本品的第一次落點，是疏家之判，不是經文直說。
覺首的答共十一偈，比其餘九番各多一偈。第一偈不答問，是歎能問之人並勸聽：仁者問這個是為了開曉群蒙，我依法性如實答，請仔細聽。第二偈是全番的正答，也是全品最要緊的一句之一：「諸法無作用，亦無有體性，是故彼一切，各各不相知。」——不相知不是缺陷，是無自性的必然結果。若法有實體、有作用，才談得上誰知誰；本來無體，就沒有一個能知者站在那裡。
接著第三至第六偈是四個譬喻，喻依各異而結語相同。河中水，急流爭奔而一波不知一波；大火聚，猛焰同發而一焰不知一焰；長風起，遇物皆能鼓扇而風物互不相知；眾地界，層層輾轉相依而住，仍是各各不相知。四喻分別取水的相續、火的並起、風的作用、地的相依——把『相續而不相知』『同時而不相知』『有用而不相知』『相依而不相知』四種疑惑一一堵住。
第七偈回到六根：眼耳鼻舌身、心意諸情根，眾生憑此常流轉，「而無能轉者」——有流轉之事，沒有流轉之主。第八偈是澄觀據以判此品為實教之理的一句：「法性本無生，示現而有生，是中無能現，亦無所現物。」不但沒有所現之物，連能現者也沒有。第九偈再舉六根而說「一切空無性，妄心分別有」，與第七偈成對——一說無主，一說無體。第十偈轉到能觀之眼：如理觀察則見一切無性，這樣的法眼不可思議，這樣的見「非顛倒」。此句要緊在末三字：見無性不是斷見，判準在它不顛倒。第十一偈收得極闊：若實若不實、若妄若非妄、世間出世間，「但有假言說」——連前面十偈所立的名言，也一併鬆開。
排誤：不要把「各各不相知」讀成冷漠的機械論。它說的是諸法之間沒有一個誰主宰誰的實在關係，不是說因果不成立。因果在下一番、下下番還要正面講。
甚深二 教化：眾生本非眾生，佛還教化什麼
第二問接著第一問的結論走。既然諸法無性，眾生也就「非眾生」；那如來為什麼還要隨其時、隨其命、隨其身、隨其行、隨其解、隨其言論、隨其心樂、隨其方便、隨其思惟、隨其觀察，在這樣的眾生中現身教化調伏？——十個「隨」字排下去，愈細愈顯得吃力：所化本空，能化卻如此周到。澄觀說文殊此問是「躡前覺首八識皆空」而立宗，眾生即非眾生一事「彼此同許」，難處在後半：眾生既空，佛云何化？
文殊問財首，澄觀給的理由是「彼得此法財益生門故」——財首所得的門正是以法財利益眾生。
財首的答十偈，走的是一條看似岔開實則正對的路：他不直接說佛怎麼化，他說被化的那個身心到底是什麼。第一偈先標所屬：這是樂寂滅、多聞者的境界，請仁者聽受。第二偈入手處是觀身：分別觀察身內，「此中誰是我」——能這樣解，就通達了我之有無。第三偈說身是「假安立」的，住處無方所，明白這一點的人於中無所著。第四偈由身推到法：於身善觀察而一切明見，知法皆虛妄而不起心分別。第五偈問壽命：因誰而起、因誰退滅？答以旋火輪之喻——把火把揮成一圈，看似有輪，其實初後不可知。第六偈是總結式的觀行句：一切有皆無常，諸法空無我，永離一切相。
後四偈轉入所以能化的關鍵。第七偈：眾報隨業生，如夢不真實，念念常滅壞。——業果不礙空。第八偈：世間所見法但以心為主，隨解取眾相而顛倒不如實。第九偈：世間所言論一切是分別，「未曾有一法，得入於法性」。第十偈：能緣所緣二力相合而種種法出生，速滅不暫停。
把十偈連起來讀，答案就浮出來了：佛所隨的那些『時、命、身、行、解』，正是眾生自己以心為主、隨解取相所立的假相；佛不是在實有的眾生上動工，是就著眾生的顛倒處下手。所化本空，而顛倒宛然，所以教化不落空、也不成執。落到自己：教一個人，先要知道他此刻站在哪個假相上；不是先否定那個假相，是從那裡起步。
甚深三 業果：同是四大無我，何以苦樂美惡不同
第三問問得更近人情。眾生同樣是四大所成，其中無我、無我所，為什麼有受苦受樂、端正醜陋、內好外好、少受多受、現報後報之別？而且法界之中本無美惡。——這是把第一問的「差別」落到最切身的一格：命運。
文殊問寶首。答共十偈，結構極整齊：第一偈是法說，也是全番之綱——「隨其所行業，如是果報生，作者無所有，諸佛之所說。」有業有果而無作者。澄觀在此引《智度論》為聖教量，論中正說「有業亦有果，無作業果者。此第一甚深，是諸佛所說。」——業果無作者，古來即被稱為第一甚深。
第二至第十共九偈全是譬喻，皆以「業性亦如是」作結。澄觀說這九喻「顯通相而明，喻於業果從緣無性不壞事相」，同時又「別彰喻意，喻各不同」——共同處是從緣無性而事相不壞，分別處各治一種疑。淨明鏡隨質現像，治『無作者則不應有果』之疑；田種子各各不相知而自然出生，治『彼此不相知則不能感果』之疑；巧幻師在四衢道示現眾色，治『果報如此宛然豈能是假』之疑；機關木人能出種種聲而「彼無我非我」，治『有用即有我』之疑；眾鳥從蛋殼出而音聲各不同，治『同一因何以異果』之疑；胎藏中諸根悉成就而「體相無來處」，治『果從何處來』之疑；地獄種種苦事「彼悉無所從」，治『苦報必有施加者』之疑；轉輪王成就七寶而「來處不可得」，治『勝報必有所自』之疑。第十偈世界為大火所燒而此火無來處，澄觀特別揀出來另配一義：前八喻是有漏業果，「後偈喻無漏業果，無漏智火焚蕩有漏，智因漏發，故亦無來」——連出世間的無漏果，也一樣無來處。
排一個最要緊的誤解：「作者無所有」不是說沒有責任。經文說的是沒有一個常住不變的「我」在造業受報，不是說業與果之間沒有牽連——牽連正是九喻反覆在演示的。落到自己：把命運交給一個實體的我去承擔，只會生出怨與傲；看清是業性如此，才有改的餘地。
甚深四 說法：所悟唯一法，何以說無量法
第四問轉向佛邊。如來所悟唯是一法，為什麼卻說無量諸法、現無量剎、化無量眾、演無量音、示無量身、知無量心、現無量神通、震動無量世界、示現無量莊嚴、顯示無邊境界？而法性之中這些差別相皆不可得。
文殊問德首，澄觀給的理由簡明：「顯佛德故」；他並指出此番亦可名「應現甚深」，因為問與答通於身語意三業，只是說法之化最勝，所以從此立名。
德首的答第一偈是歎問並標難：所問之義甚深難了，智者知此則常樂佛功德。其後第二至第十共九偈全是譬喻，全部以「諸佛法如是」作結，並且喻依整齊得驚人——都取『一體而多用』的自然物。大地性一而眾生各別住，地無一異之念；火性一而燒一切物，火焰無分別；大海一而波濤千萬異，水無種種殊；風性一而吹一切物，風無一異之念；大雲雷普雨一切地，雨滴無差別；地界一而生種種芽，非地有殊異；日無雲翳而普照十方，光明無異性；空中月而世間靡不見，「非月往其處」；大梵王應現滿三千而「其身無別異」。
九喻可分三組讀。前六喻（地、火、海、風、雲雷、地界）說性一而所受者異——差別在受用的一邊，不在能施的一邊。第七第八喻（日、月）說遍而不動——尤其「非月往其處」一句最要緊：月現於千江，不是月分身跑到每一條江去；佛現於無量剎，也不是佛分成無量份。第九喻（大梵王）說應現而身無別異，把前面的自然物之喻提到有情之身上，直接對應「示無量身」。
排誤：不要把「一法」想成一條可以背下來的原理。澄觀在問端釋文時說佛所證的是「一味法界」，此是彼此共許之處；一味不是單調，是無差別而能容一切差別。落到自己：真懂一件事的人，話會變多而不是變少——因為對每個人要說的都不同；話多而心不亂，才是「一」還在。
甚深五 福田：田既等一，何以果報不同
第五問把第四問挪了一格：不問說法之異，問受報之異。如來福田等一無異，為什麼眾生布施的果報卻不同——種種色、形、家、根、財、主、眷屬、官位、功德、智慧十樣都各異？而佛於彼心平等無異思惟。
澄觀釋文殊何以問目首：「以福田是照導引生，又施為諸度之前導，故問目首也。」——目是引導身行的，福田也是引導眾生生福的，名與義相稱。他並釋「等一」二字：佛為生福之田，名為福田；田德無二，名為等一，此理彼此共許。
目首的答十偈全數設喻，無一直陳之偈，這在本品十番中是唯一的一番。前五喻回答『何以果異』：大地一而隨種各生芽，「於彼無怨親」——異在種子，不在田；水一味而因器有差別，經文直接點破「眾生心故異」；巧幻師能令眾歡喜，喻佛福田令眾生敬悅；才智王能令大眾喜，喻佛福田令眾悉安樂；淨明鏡隨色而現像，喻佛福田「隨心獲眾報」。——第一、第二、第五三喻共同指向一件事：差別的變數在受者，不在田。第三第四兩喻則轉說田之能感人。
後五喻轉答『這田究竟有什麼用』：阿揭陀藥能療一切毒，喻滅諸煩惱患；日出照曜世間，喻滅除諸黑暗；淨滿月普照大地，喻「一切處平等」；毘藍風普震大地，喻動三有眾生；大火能燒一切物，喻燒一切有為。五喻由淺入深——先除煩惱，再除無明之暗，再顯平等，再震動三有，最後燒盡有為。
排誤：福田不是一台按投入計息的機器。經文說得明白，佛心「平等，無異思惟」；果報之異全在「眾生心故異」。落到自己：同樣一件供養，起的心不同，得的就不同；求福的人若只計較供物的多寡，正是把田當成了機器。
甚深六 正教：佛教是一，何以不即斷煩惱
第六問是全品最貼近修行現場的一問。佛教是一，眾生也都見到了，為什麼不能立刻斷盡一切煩惱縛而出離？而且他們的五蘊、三界、無明貪愛並無差別，這些也就是佛教之所說。那麼對眾生而言，這教法有時有益、有時無益，何故？
澄觀釋文殊何以問勤首：「以破懈怠故問勤首」——名字就是答案。他並指出所立之宗「一」有二義：一是斷煩惱集、證出離滅，此義不殊；二是多人同見，所見不異。
勤首的答第一偈先給結論：「或有速解脫，或有難出離」——教一樣，人不一樣。第二偈給正面的處方：欲除滅無量過惡，「當於佛法中，勇猛常精進」。全番的正答其實就在這兩偈，後面八偈全是譬喻，而且八喻全部只喻一件事——懈怠，皆以「懈怠者亦然」作結（其中兩喻加上「於佛教法中」一句）。
八喻各治一種懈怠之相。微少火而柴薪潮濕，喻根基未固而外緣濕重；鑽燧求火「未出而數息」，喻功夫將成而中輟——這是八喻中最痛的一個，火勢隨止而滅，前功並非停在那裡等你。持日珠而不以物承影，喻具足工具而不備條件；赫日照而孩稚閉目、還怪問何不見，喻自蔽而責法；無手足而欲以芒草箭遍射破大地，喻器不稱事而志過大；以一毛端取大海水而欲令乾竭，喻方法與所求全不相當；劫火起而欲以少水滅，喻用力遠不及所對治之勢；見虛空而端居不動卻說已普遍騰躍，喻知而未行反自謂已至。最後一喻澄觀有直釋：這是「雖知性空，智未遊履而言遍證」，判為增上慢人。
八喻並非八種懈怠，是一種懈怠的八個面：緣不備、功中斷、條件缺、自蔽、志大而器小、法不相稱、力不敵勢、以解代行。落到自己：讀這一段最好的用法不是同情經中那些譬喻裡的人，是逐條對照自己是哪一個。
甚深七 正行：受持正法應斷煩惱，何以有受持而不斷者
第七問是第六問的推進。第六問問為什麼不即斷，這一問更尖：明明佛說受持正法就能除斷一切煩惱，為什麼有受持正法而不斷的人？而且他們隨貪、瞋、癡、慢、覆、忿、恨、嫉、慳、誑、諂十一種煩惱的勢力所轉，沒有離心。能受持法，何以心行之內還起煩惱？
澄觀釋文殊何以問法首：「問法首者，以行法故。」他並釋「受持」二字：「受謂心領義理，持謂憶而不忘」；又判此問的形狀是「佛言能斷，今有不斷，即教行相違」——先標相違，「隨貪」以下出所不斷者，「勢力」以下說其所以。
法首的答第一偈就把矛頭指出來：「非但以多聞，能入如來法。」——問的是受持，答的是受持不等於修行。其後九偈皆喻，前八喻同以「於法不修行，多聞亦如是」作結，末一喻改作「內自無實德，不行亦如是」——九喻之中八喻同結、末喻異結，並非齊一之式。
九喻可分三層。第一層四喻說擁有而不用：人被水漂而懼溺渴死，滿眼是水偏偏渴死；設美膳而自餓不食；善方藥而自疾不救；數他寶而自無半錢分。第二層兩喻說身在其中而不受用：生在王宮而受飢寒；聾人奏樂，悅彼而不自聞。第三層三喻說能示人而不能自度：盲人繢像，示彼而不自見；海船師死於海中；四衢道廣說眾好事而內無實德。三層是遞進的——先是有而不用，次是處其中而不得益，最後是能益人而不能自益。末喻異結而不言多聞，正因它已不只說多聞之失，而說一切『說得出、做不到』之失。
澄觀在此段之末特別加了兩句話：一是自明其意不在毀多聞，二是「此九偈亦可別對隨貪等義，如理應思」——九偈也可以逐一對治問中所列的貪瞋癡慢等，留給讀者自參。這一筆值得留意：疏家在這裡明白地把讀法交還給讀者，而不是把配對做完。
排誤：不要把這一番讀成反智。第八番緊接著就要說「於佛法中，智為上首」。此處所破的不是聞，是聞而不行。落到自己：檢驗自己的多聞有沒有變成第一層那四個人——最容易的自欺，是把讀過當成做過。
甚深八 正助：智為上首，何以讚歎種種行
第八問把上一問的餘勢接住。既然智慧在佛法中最為上首，如來為什麼有時讚布施、有時讚持戒、堪忍、精進、禪定、智慧，又讚慈悲喜捨？而且終究沒有人只憑一法就能出離成無上正等正覺。
澄觀釋文殊何以問智首：「問智首者，以顯智為正道之體，統其助故」——智是正道之體，統攝一切助道，所以此番名正助甚深，逐番標舉時又作助道甚深。他並判此問的形狀：既然智為上首，應當只讚智，何以也讚其餘？這是正助相違之難。
智首的答前六偈是法說。第一偈歎問並勸聽。第二偈給總答：過去未來現在諸導師，「無有說一法，而得於道者」。第三偈說所以然：「佛知眾生心，性分各不同，隨其所應度，如是而說法。」第四至第六偈把「隨所應度」具體化，成為一份對治表：慳者讚施、毀禁者讚戒、多瞋者讚忍、好懈者讚精進、亂意者讚禪定、愚癡者讚智慧、不仁者讚慈愍、怒害者讚大悲、憂慼者讚喜、曲心者讚捨。十病十藥，一一相對；第六偈末並補一句「如是次第修，漸具諸佛法」——對治之後還有次第。
後四偈是四個譬喻，各配一對。先立基堵而後造宮室，配施戒——「菩薩眾行本」，是根基。建城廓以護人眾，配忍進——「防護諸菩薩」，是護持。大力王率土戴仰，配定慧——「菩薩所依賴」，是依靠。轉輪王能與一切樂，配慈悲喜捨四無量——澄觀釋此末偈云「四等為因，自他安樂招果無盡故」，是與樂。四喻由基而牆、由牆而王、由王而輪王，愈後愈闊，正合「漸具諸佛法」之次第。
排誤：不要把「智為上首」與『說一法不得道』看成矛盾。上首是體，種種行是助；體不離助而立，助不離體而正。落到自己：對治要看病下藥，但別停在對治——十病十藥之後還有一句「如是次第修」。
甚深九 一道：諸佛唯一道，何以佛土眾事不同
第九問是十番中最闊的一問。諸佛世尊唯以一道而得出離，為什麼如今見一切佛土所有眾事種種不同——世界、眾生界、說法調伏、壽量、光明、神通、眾會、教儀、法住各有差別？而且沒有不具足一切佛法而能成佛的。
澄觀釋文殊何以問賢首：「至道柔順故。又賢猶直善，佛佛皆同一直道故。」他並釋「一道」之義：佛佛所乘同觀心性、萬行齊修，自始至終更無異徑，所以叫一道；此番亦名一乘。
賢首的答十偈全是法說，無一譬喻——本品十番之中，前八番皆設喻，逐番實計為四・二・九・九・十・八・九・四；第九一道番與第十佛境番則俱無譬喻，此番一喻也無。這件事本身就有意味：一道之義無可取喻，取喻就落在一邊。
第一偈直呼問者之名而立宗：「文殊法常爾，法王唯一法，一切無礙人，一道出生死。」第二偈把一道落到佛身上：一切諸佛身唯是一法身，一心一智慧，力與無畏也是如此。第三偈是全番的樞紐，說差別從哪裡來——「如本趣菩提，所有迴向心，得如是剎土，眾會及說法。」差別不在道，在因地的迴向心。第四偈接著說：一切佛剎莊嚴悉圓滿，「隨眾生行異，如是見不同」——剎土沒有欠缺，欠缺在見。
第五第六偈是一組：佛剎、佛身、眾會、言說這樣的佛法，「眾生莫能見」；能見的是「其心已清淨，諸願皆具足」的明達之人。第七第八偈再說所見之異的兩重原因：一是隨眾生心樂與業果力，且「此佛威神故」；二是佛剎本身「無分別，無憎無有愛」。第九偈下一句極重的斷語：所見各差別，「非一切如來，大仙之過咎」——差別的責任在見者，不在佛。第十偈收在不變的一面：一切世界中凡應受化者，「常見人中雄」。
十偈的線索是清楚的：一道不變（一、二偈）——差別出於因心（三、四偈）——見與不見在心淨與否（五、六偈）——所見之異有心業與佛力二緣（七、八偈）——不可歸咎於佛（九偈）——而應化之處佛未嘗不現（十偈）。排誤：不要把「隨眾生行異」讀成佛土是主觀幻覺。第九偈已經先堵住了反面——不是佛有過咎；第十偈又堵住另一面——應受化者常見。既非全在外，也非全在內。
甚深十 佛境：諸菩薩共問，文殊以偈答
第十番是全品的翻轉。前九番都是文殊問、一位菩薩答；這一番反過來——經文說「爾時，諸菩薩謂文殊師利菩薩言」，是諸菩薩共同發問，文殊回答。他們先交代理由：「我等所解，各自說已」，各人所得都講完了，如今請仁者以妙辯才演暢如來所有境界。然後一口氣列出十一問：何等是佛境界、境界因、境界度、境界入、境界智、境界法、境界說、境界知、境界證、境界現、境界廣。
澄觀對這個翻轉有兩層判釋。就結構說：「大眾同問者，攝別歸總，故總別無礙，六相圓融」——前九番各主一門是別，此番大眾同問是總，總別無礙。就人說：「問文殊者，佛境甚深，除般若妙德，無能達故」；並注意到此番與前九番的一個形式差異——前九問皆先舉法按定（「心性是一」「佛教是一」之類），此番「始信終智，皆託佛境，故無按定」，一上來就問，沒有先立宗。澄觀又從全品著眼，判十番有約行約法二義：約行，是文殊發問九菩薩答，明妙慧通於眾行；九菩薩問文殊為答，明眾行成於妙慧。約法，是初九顯差別義、後一顯差別同歸佛境。（此處疏文作「九菩薩問」，經文則作「諸菩薩」，疏語與經文之詞面不同，誌之。）
文殊的答十偈，正好把十一問攏成一片。第一偈答境界之量與入：「其量等虛空，一切眾生入，而實無所入」——一切眾生本來在其中，所以無所謂入。第二偈答境界因：勝妙之因億劫宣說不盡。第三偈答度：隨其心智慧而誘進令益，這樣度眾生即是佛境界。第四偈答入與現：世間諸國土一切皆隨入，而「智身無有色，非彼所能見」。第五偈答智：諸佛智自在，三世無礙，「平等如虛空」。第六偈答知與廣：法界眾生界究竟無差別而一切悉了知。第七偈答說與知之相：一切世間所有音聲佛智皆隨了，「亦無有分別」。第八偈答證：「非識所能識，亦非心境界，其性本清淨，開示諸群生」——所證非識所及，而仍可開示。第九偈答法之體：非業非煩惱，無物無住處，無照無所行，「平等行世間」。第十偈收在一念之上：一切眾生心普在三世中，「如來於一念，一切悉明達」。
十一問而十偈答，不是一一對號。文殊的答法是把十一個切面收回一個量——虛空——再由這個量說它如何遍、如何度、如何現、如何知。排誤：不要把「無所入」讀成沒有份。經文說的是眾生本已在其中，所以不存在一個從外面進去的入；這與第一番「無能轉者」是同一個手法——不是取消那件事，是取消那件事的主體。
落地處：這一番之所以放在最後，正如澄觀所判——十信觀圓便造佛境。前九番所解的都是差別，這一番說差別同歸；而歸處不是另一個地方，是「其量等虛空」的當處。
現事與結通：問答已畢，佛以神力當場示現
十番問答之後，經文轉為敘事；澄觀科此為二段。第一段是現事：在這娑婆世界中，一切眾生所有的法差別、業差別、世間差別、身差別、根差別、受生差別、持戒果差別、犯戒果差別、國土果差別，以佛神力，悉皆明現。第二段是結通：東方那樣不可說不可說、盡法界虛空界的一切世界中，所有眾生的法差別乃至國土果差別，也都以佛神力分明顯現；南西北方、四維上下，亦復如是。
澄觀為這兩段立科，稱之為「現事結通」，並先問一句：為什麼要現？他答：法光開曉眾生的身心，佛力暫現示相而答，「令其目驗而欣厭故」——前面十番是言說之答，這一段是示相之答；讓人親眼驗到，才生得起欣與厭。他並把所現之事數為十：法即所行之法、業即正行、集因苦果、身類不同、根機差別、四生非一、持戒則人天勝劣、犯戒則三塗重輕、國土則依處染淨，第十是說法之報——而此第十「此經文闕，晉本具之」，八十本無而六十本有。結通一段他分二：先結東方，後「南西」以下類餘九方；並說此處說法而現事通於十方，餘處說法亦應類此，「總為一法界大會」。
澄觀在此還另立了一個配屬：把所現十事配十甚深——一法首正教甚深、二寶首業果、三勤首懈怠難出、四財首觀內身等、五德首佛法一味隨根異說、六覺首往善惡趣、七智首六度順行、八目首佛田平等、九賢首隨心世界有差別等，第十以晉經有說法一目而配佛境界法。這個序次與經文十番問答的序次並不相同——經文是覺首在先、法首在第七，此配屬則法首居首、覺首居第六。它是疏家為示相之答另立的一套對應，不是經文說者次序的變動；讀時二者不可混。
落到全品之末回看：十番問答把差別問到了底，最後不是給一個結論，是把差別現出來給人看。問到底之後仍要親見，這是這一品收尾的方式。
承衍
本品之義為後世三軌所承，並錄不判。
澄觀一系：以十甚深立科，逐番先標『問某首者』之所以，把說者與所主之門扣合；於第一番以如來藏為「心性是一」之所指，明揀非第八識，並以空不空二如來藏合說其「一」；復設《瑜伽》異熟賴耶與《楞伽》《密嚴》如來藏隨緣之相違，答以權實二教而不相違，並判「兩宗不同，淺深可見」，又謂唯識後輩之釋「定言不變，失於隨緣」——此是華嚴宗義在本品最顯之落點。他又以十菩薩配十信十心（文殊當信心、勤首進心、財首念心、覺首定心、智首慧心、法首不退心、寶首戒心、德首護法心、目首願心、賢首迴向心），而自標「但不次耳」「亦明十心，不必次故」，不以配屬強齊經序。此判為澄觀所立，誌錄之。
法藏一系：所釋為六十本〈明難品〉，以明難四義釋名——約心境、約教義、約論道、約賓主，其中「約賓主」一義最切本品之體：長行中明設於難，偈中明釋於難。他於料簡門列因位之分有二、有三、有四、有五諸說，又別錄「光」師義分三、義分四之判，列諸說而不主一；於定位門則分教而判：十信在始教中自是位，引梁《攝論》地前四位為證；在終教中則但是十住之方便而自無別位，引《本業經》十心名字為證。其發心門亦分始教、終教、圓教、小乘、頓教而說。同一『十信是不是位』之問，法藏依教而各與其所，古有此說，誌錄之。
李通玄一系：不用十甚深之目，就經文分作十一段，判為文殊與覺首等十菩薩「互為主伴」，以菩薩之名表十信所行之行——文殊以名下之行相諮問，十菩薩各以自行之法頌答，「令信心者依而倣學」。他計第一問為「二十問」，或一字一問、或一句一問，與澄觀十事五對之科不同。釋覺首之名則就「真妄兩亡」立義：覺此隨流生死之業體本性恒真而無流轉，眼耳鼻舌身意恒如法，故名覺首；並以不動智佛等十智如來為十信位中自己之果，以金色世界等十色世界為十信所信之理，以文殊覺首財首等十菩薩為十信之行——佛名、世界名、菩薩名三事並為表法之具。此一讀法與依科分義者異，古有此說，誌錄之。
至於本品之承衍典據，皆出疏家之引而非經文自出：澄觀引《起信論》二處、《楞伽》《密嚴》《入楞伽》、《達磨經》頌與《攝論》《寶性論》之二釋、《智度論》第二；法藏引梁《攝論》《佛性論》《仁王經》《本業經》。本品與〈十地品〉不同，並無牒經而釋之別行論；華嚴宗綱領諸書於「問明」「明難」「十甚深」諸名亦無專釋，據實記闕。
A whole chapter of question and answer — and that fact is itself a point of doctrine
In the middle of a scripture there suddenly appears an entire chapter of questions and answers, with no emission of light before or after it, no entering into concentration, no hymns of praise — only Mañjuśrī asking one bodhisattva after another, and one bodhisattva after another answering in verse. A reader's first thought is most likely this: what is going on here?
Look first at where it is placed. The three chapters before it — “The Names of the Tathāgata,” “The Four Noble Truths,” and “Awakening by Light” — speak of the Buddha's names, the categories of the truths, and the realms illumined by the light; all of these are the object in which one has faith. With this chapter the text turns to the understanding by which one has faith. Chengguan, determining why this chapter comes where it does, says it very plainly: the three chapters above have already answered what the arising of understanding depends upon, and only from here on does the text properly answer the cause and fruit of the understanding that governs it; and further, among those three chapters, “the three chapters show that faith possesses understanding, practice, and virtue, and understanding is the root of the other two, and so this chapter comes first” — within faith there is understanding, there is practice, and there is virtue, and understanding is the root, so it comes first. Li Tongxuan's determination approaches from the other end: in the preceding chapter the Buddha emitted light from the wheels beneath his feet, opening to awakening the near and far of the buddha-realm that the light illumined, so that those with the mind of faith might contemplate each of them without obstruction; and this chapter follows in order to show the person of the ten faiths “the practice of right cultivation and the cutting off of doubt.”
The antecedents to which the two of them attach the chapter differ, but where they land is the same: this chapter is set up for the person who has already heard and does not yet truly understand. Its substance, then, is not proclamation but interrogation. Chengguan, when distinguishing the chapter's name, makes this point with the utmost clarity: there are two sorts of questioning, one a loose asking back and forth, the other a challenging question that “interrogates by means of principle,” and this chapter is the latter; and there are two sorts of answering, one that merely reports back in accordance with the question, the other that “interprets in full while taking in variant senses alongside, and with fine words praises and expounds so as to make the principle blaze forth,” and this chapter too is the latter. Hence it is called “asking for clarification” and not “question and answer” — clarity can break darkness, because what it removes is the darkness of doubt in the one who asks. He adds one further reason drawn from the form of the text: the prose passages raise the question and the verses resolve the question, so the two together are called asking for clarification.
Brought home to oneself: a real doubt is never resolved by being consoled; it is resolved only by being asked out to the end. What this chapter demonstrates is the method of pursuing a doubt all the way down — not pressing the question out of sight, but asking it into a shape that can be answered.
“The ten profundities” is Chengguan's sectional name, not the scripture's own label
In reading this chapter, the thing most easily mistaken at the very first step is the phrase “the ten profundities.” From beginning to end the scripture never produces this label, nor does it number the ten rounds of question and answer. “The ten profundities” is a sectional name established in Chengguan's Huayan jing shu, and he lists them all at once: first, the profundity of dependent origination; second, the profundity of teaching and transforming; third, the profundity of the fruit of deeds; fourth, the profundity of preaching the Dharma; fifth, the profundity of the field of merit; sixth, the profundity of right teaching; seventh, the profundity of right practice; eighth, the profundity of right and auxiliary; ninth, the profundity of the one path; tenth, the profundity of the realm of the Buddha. When the same commentator marks the rounds out one by one later in his text, the eighth also appears as “the profundity of the auxiliaries of the path,” and both names are found in one and the same commentary.
Chengguan not only lists the names; he also explains why these ten come in this order: the profound principle of dependent origination gathers up all dharmas entirely and is the essential of contemplative understanding, and so it is set forth first; beings are deluded about this, and so they must be taught and transformed; going against that teaching and going along with it, there are good and evil deeds; to know these deeds, one depends on the preaching of Dharma to accomplish it; and preaching that perfects goodness rests on the Buddha alone as the field of merit; once one has spoken of according with the field, one must uphold the holy teaching; the teaching lies in diligent practice; practice requires both the right path and its auxiliaries; the auxiliaries must have the right, and different roads come home to the same place; and one who has gained the one path is naturally bound for the realm of the Buddha. — The ten rounds are not ten topics set side by side; they are a single line.
Clearing away one common misreading: do not suppose that the scripture itself divided the text into ten sections. The scripture only runs on in the form ‘at that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī questioned such-and-such a bodhisattva, saying.’ Dividing them into ten, naming them, and threading them into a sequence are all the commentator's work. Li Tongxuan, reading the same chapter, does not use the name of the ten profundities at all; what he counts is “eleven sections of scripture,” and he reckons the first question as twenty questions rather than as five pairs and ten items. That the ancient worthies divide one and the same passage of scripture in different ways is exactly what shows that a sectional name is scaffolding for reading and not a bone of the scripture.
Where it lands: when reading the Avataṃsaka and coming upon a tidy set of numbered terms, first ask once, ‘Did the scripture say this itself, or did a commentator supply it?’ Once that one question becomes a habit, a great many later disputes need never be fought.
Profundity one, dependent origination: the nature of mind is one, how then can there be all these differences
The first question is the foundation of the whole chapter. Mañjuśrī's thesis is set down in four graphs only: “the nature of mind is one.” From this he presses out the difficulty: if that is so, why is it that there are seen to be all sorts of differences? He lists five pairs — going to good destinies or evil destinies, faculties complete or defective, sameness or difference in the manner of taking birth, comeliness or ugliness, and pain and pleasure not the same. Chengguan calls these “ten items in five pairs,” and points out that the five pairs are not simply laid side by side: the first pair is the general recompense, saying that destinies are good or evil; the four pairs below are all particular recompense, and moreover “each earlier one possesses all the later ones, and each later one necessarily carries the earlier ones with it” — within good and evil destinies there is in each case completeness or defect of the faculties; within completeness and defect there is in each case sameness or difference of birth; within the places of birth, same or different, there is in each case beauty or homeliness of appearance; and upon beauty and homeliness there is in each case pain or pleasure. Layer multiplied upon layer — only this deserves the name “all sorts.”
The question is not yet finished. Mañjuśrī then presses out a second layer: deeds do not know mind and mind does not know deeds; what is undergone does not know its recompense and the recompense does not know what is undergone; mind does not know what is undergone and what is undergone does not know mind; the cause does not know the condition and the condition does not know the cause; wisdom does not know its object and the object does not know wisdom. Chengguan says that this layer “brings the foregoing difficulty to completion,” and distinguishes three senses in it: first, a direct asking after the reason — given that there are all sorts, on what account do they not know one another; and if they do not know one another, who taught them to be all sorts? Second, an expression of doubt — if they do not know one another, is it after all one nature or is it all sorts? Third, the framing of a difficulty of mutual contradiction — one nature following upon all sorts loses the truth of ultimate meaning, and all sorts following upon one nature ruins the conventional truth; now that we see both all sorts and their not knowing one another, how can these two stand together? He calls this a contradiction of root and branch, a contradiction of principle and phenomena, a contradiction of one and many, a contradiction of true and false: one difficulty in four layers.
Here one thing must be sorted out: what the “nature of mind” in “the nature of mind is one” refers to. Chengguan singles it out for decision: it may not be said to be the eighth consciousness — “the words ‘nature of mind’ are not the eighth”; he determines that the nature of mind here is the Tathāgata-womb, is the mind that is pure in its own nature, and expounds it by joining the empty and the non-empty Tathāgata-womb: the nature of the deluded mind is a nature that is no nature, which is the empty Tathāgata-womb; the nature of the true mind is a nature that is real nature, which is the non-empty Tathāgata-womb; and the two are equal and not two, and so are called “one.” As for the Yuqie shidi lun line of texts, which says that the maturing store-consciousness is produced in its very substance from the seeds of deeds and defilements — how is that to be reconciled with this? Chengguan answers by the provisional and the real: for ordinary persons and those of the lesser vehicle he speaks by way of the provisional teaching, a conventional formulation that follows appearances; for the great bodhisattvas he speaks according to the real teaching, exhausting the principle. Capacities are great and small, dharmas are shallow and deep, teachings are provisional and real, and so there is no contradiction. — This is the first place in this chapter where the doctrine of the Huayan school comes down, and it is the commentator's determination, not something the scripture states outright.
Foremost in Awakening's answer runs to eleven verses, one more than each of the other nine rounds. The first verse does not answer the question but praises the one able to ask it and exhorts the hearing: the benevolent one asks this in order to open and enlighten the multitude in their dimness; I answer in accordance with the nature of the Dharma as it truly is, so listen closely. The second verse is the direct answer of the whole round, and is also one of the most crucial lines of the entire chapter: “Dharmas have no operation, and they have no substantial nature either; for this reason all of them, each and every one, do not know one another.” — Not knowing one another is not a defect; it is the necessary consequence of having no nature of one's own. Only if dharmas had real substance and real operation could there be talk of one knowing another; being without substance from the first, there is no knower standing there at all.
Then the third through the sixth verses are four similes, the vehicles of the simile differing while the concluding line is the same. The water in a river: the swift current races and rushes, and one wave does not know another wave. A great mass of fire: the fierce flames blaze up together, and one flame does not know another flame. A long wind rising: whatever it meets it can stir and fan, and wind and things do not know one another. The many earth-elements: layer upon layer they rest depending one upon another, and still, each and every one, they do not know one another. The four similes take up, respectively, the succession of water, the simultaneity of fire, the operation of wind, and the mutual dependence of earth — stopping up one by one the four doubts, ‘what is in succession must know,’ ‘what is simultaneous must know,’ ‘what has operation must know,’ ‘what is mutually dependent must know.’
The seventh verse returns to the six faculties: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and the faculties of mind and thought — beings rely on these and turn on constantly, “yet there is no one who turns” — there is the fact of turning, but no master of the turning. The eighth verse is the line on the strength of which Chengguan determines this chapter to be the principle of the real teaching: “The nature of the Dharma has from the first never arisen; it manifests and so appears to have arisen. Within this there is nothing that does the manifesting, nor any thing that is manifested.” Not only is there no thing manifested; there is not even one who manifests. The ninth verse raises the six faculties again and says “all is empty and without nature; the deluded mind discriminates and so they seem to be,” pairing with the seventh verse — the one saying there is no master, the other that there is no substance. The tenth verse turns to the eye that contemplates: observing in accordance with principle, one sees that nothing has a nature of its own; such a Dharma-eye is inconceivable, and such a seeing is “not inverted.” What is crucial in this line is its last three graphs: seeing that there is no nature is not the view of annihilation, and the criterion is that it is not inverted. The eleventh verse closes with the utmost breadth: real or not real, false or not false, worldly or world-transcending — “there is only a borrowed way of speaking” — even the names set up in the preceding ten verses are loosened along with the rest.
Clearing away a misreading: do not read “each and every one, they do not know one another” as a cold mechanism. What it says is that among dharmas there is no real relation of one presiding over another; it does not say that cause and effect do not hold. Cause and effect will be treated head-on in the next round and the round after that.
Profundity two, teaching and transforming: beings are originally not beings, what is there left for the Buddha to teach
The second question walks on from the conclusion of the first. Since dharmas have no nature, beings too are “not beings”; why then does the Tathāgata, in accordance with their season, their span of life, their body, their conduct, their understanding, their speech and discourse, what their minds delight in, their skillful means, their thinking, and their observing, manifest a body among beings such as these and teach, transform, and discipline them? — As the ten graphs of “in accordance with” are laid out one after another, the finer they grow the more strenuous it all appears: what is transformed is originally empty, and yet the one who transforms is as thorough as this. Chengguan says that Mañjuśrī frames this thesis by “treading upon the emptiness of all eight consciousnesses as given by Foremost in Awakening earlier,” and that the point that beings are precisely not beings is one “both sides equally grant”; the difficulty lies in the second half: beings being empty, how is it that the Buddha transforms them?
For Mañjuśrī's questioning Foremost in Wealth, the reason Chengguan gives is “because he has obtained this gate of benefiting beings with the wealth of Dharma” — the very gate that Foremost in Wealth has obtained is that of benefiting beings with the wealth of Dharma.
Foremost in Wealth's answer, in ten verses, takes a road that looks like a digression and is in fact directly on target: he does not say straight out how the Buddha transforms, but says what that body and mind which is transformed actually is. The first verse first states to whom it belongs: this is the domain of those who delight in quiescence and are widely learned; may the benevolent one hear and receive it. The second verse begins with contemplating the body: discriminate and observe within the body, “which thing here is the self” — one who can understand thus has penetrated whether there is a self or not. The third verse says the body is “set up by borrowing”: the place where it dwells has no fixed direction, and one who understands this has no attachment within it. The fourth verse goes from the body on to dharmas: observing the body well, all is seen distinctly; knowing that dharmas are all false, one does not give rise to a discriminating mind. The fifth verse asks about the span of life: through what does it arise, and through what does it fall away and perish? The answer is the simile of the whirling wheel of fire — swing a torch into a circle and there seems to be a wheel, but in truth its beginning and its end cannot be known. The sixth verse is a summarizing line of contemplative practice: everything that exists is impermanent, dharmas are empty and without self, and one is forever parted from all marks.
The last four verses turn to the key of how transforming is possible at all. The seventh verse: the many recompenses arise in accordance with deeds, are unreal as a dream, and from moment to moment are constantly perishing. — The fruit of deeds does not obstruct emptiness. The eighth verse: the dharmas the world sees take mind alone as their master; each grasps at marks in accordance with his understanding, and so is inverted and not as things truly are. The ninth verse: all the talk and disputation of the world is discrimination; “there has never been a single dharma that could enter into the nature of the Dharma.” The tenth verse: the two forces, that which takes an object and the object taken, come together and all sorts of dharmas are born, perishing swiftly without pausing for a moment.
Read the ten verses joined together, and the answer floats to the surface: those ‘seasons, spans of life, bodies, conducts, and understandings’ that the Buddha accords with are precisely the false appearances that beings themselves have set up, taking mind as master and grasping at marks in accordance with their understanding; the Buddha is not at work upon really existing beings, but sets to work right at the place where beings are inverted. What is transformed is originally empty, and yet the inversion is vividly there, and so teaching neither falls into emptiness nor becomes an attachment. Brought home to oneself: to teach a person, one must first know which false appearance he is standing on at this moment; the way to begin is not by first denying that appearance, but by starting from there.
Profundity three, the fruit of deeds: all alike are the four elements without a self, why then are pain and pleasure, beauty and ugliness not the same
The third question asks something still closer to human feeling. Beings are alike composed of the four great elements, and within them there is no self and nothing belonging to a self; why then is there the difference of undergoing pain and undergoing pleasure, of being handsome and being ugly, of being fine within and fine without, of undergoing little and undergoing much, of recompense in this life and recompense in a life to come? And moreover, within the Dharma realm there is from the first neither beauty nor ugliness. — This brings the “difference” of the first question down into the compartment nearest to the bone: one's lot in life.
Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Jewels. The answer runs to ten verses, and its structure is extremely tidy. The first verse is a statement of the dharma and also the guiding thread of the whole round — “In accordance with the deeds each has done, the fruit of recompense arises just so; and there is no doer at all — this is what the buddhas have declared.” There are deeds and there is fruit, and yet there is no doer. Chengguan here cites the Da zhidu lun as the authority of holy teaching, in which it is said precisely: “There are deeds and there is fruit, but no doer of the deed and the fruit. This is the first profundity, and it is what the buddhas have declared.” — That the fruit of deeds has no doer has been called the first profundity from of old.
The second through the tenth, all nine verses, are similes, and all conclude with “and the nature of deeds is just like this.” Chengguan says that these nine similes “set forth the common character in showing forth, giving a simile for how the fruit of deeds arises from conditions, is without nature, and yet does not ruin the character of phenomena,” and at the same time “severally display the intent of each simile, for the similes are each different” — what they have in common is that from conditions there is no nature and yet the character of phenomena is not ruined; what is several in them is that each cures one particular doubt. The bright and spotless mirror producing images in accordance with what stands before it cures the doubt ‘if there is no doer then there ought to be no fruit’; the seeds in a field, each not knowing another and yet of themselves coming forth, cure the doubt ‘if they do not know one another they cannot bring about a fruit’; the skilled conjuror manifesting all sorts of forms at the crossroads cures the doubt ‘the fruit of recompense is as vivid as this, how could it be unreal’; the wooden man worked by a mechanism able to give out all sorts of sounds while “it has neither self nor non-self” cures the doubt ‘where there is operation there is a self’; the many birds coming out from the eggshell with sounds each not the same cures the doubt ‘how can one and the same cause give a different fruit’; the faculties all coming to completion within the womb while “the substance and form has no place from which it came” cures the doubt ‘where does the fruit come from’; the all sorts of painful things in the hells that “have nowhere at all from which they came” cures the doubt ‘a painful recompense must have someone inflicting it’; the wheel-turning king perfecting the seven treasures whose “place from which they came is unobtainable” cures the doubt ‘a superior recompense must have some source of its own.’ The tenth verse, the worlds being burned by a great fire and this fire having no place from which it came, Chengguan singles out and assigns a further sense: the preceding eight similes concern the fruit of contaminated deeds, and “the last verse gives a simile for the fruit of uncontaminated deeds: the uncontaminated fire of wisdom burns away what is contaminated, and since wisdom is set off by the contaminations, it too has nowhere from which it comes” — even the uncontaminated, world-transcending fruit likewise has no place from which it came.
Clearing away the most crucial misunderstanding: “there is no doer at all” does not mean that there is no responsibility. What the scripture says is that there is no permanent, unchanging “self” doing the deeds and undergoing the recompense; it does not say that there is no connection between deeds and their fruit — that connection is exactly what the nine similes demonstrate over and over. Brought home to oneself: handing one's lot over to a substantial self to bear produces only resentment and arrogance; only when one sees clearly that this is how the nature of deeds works is there any room to change.
Profundity four, preaching the Dharma: what was awakened to is one dharma only, why then are measureless dharmas spoken
The fourth question turns toward the Buddha's side. What the Tathāgata awakened to is one dharma only; why then does he speak measureless dharmas, manifest measureless lands, transform measureless beings, send forth measureless sounds, manifest measureless bodies, know measureless minds, call forth measureless spiritual powers, shake measureless worlds, manifest measureless adornments, and reveal boundless realms? And yet within the nature of the Dharma none of these marks of difference can be obtained.
Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Virtue, and the reason Chengguan gives is plain and brief: “because it displays the virtue of the Buddha”; and he points out that this round may also be named “the profundity of responsive manifesting,” because both the question and the answer run through the three kinds of action, of body, speech, and mind, and it is only because transformation by preaching the Dharma is the most excellent among them that the name is taken from that.
Foremost in Virtue's answer, its first verse, praises the question and states the difficulty: the meaning asked about is profound and hard to understand, and one with wisdom who knows it will constantly delight in the merits of the Buddha. Thereafter the second through the tenth, all nine verses, are similes, all concluding with “and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this,” and the vehicles of the similes are startlingly uniform — every one of them a natural thing taken under the aspect of ‘one substance with many functions.’ The earth is one in nature while beings each dwell separately, and the earth has no thought of one or different; fire is one in nature and burns every thing, and the flame has no discrimination; the great sea is one while its waves and billows are ten million and various, and the water has no varieties; wind is one in nature and blows upon every thing, and the wind has no thought of one or different; the great cloud with thunder rains universally upon all the earth, and the raindrops have no difference; the earth-element is one and yet brings forth all sorts of sprouts, and it is not that the earth has anything peculiar; the sun, with no cloud to veil it, shines universally upon the ten directions, and the light has no differing nature; the moon in the sky is such that there is no one in the world who does not see it, and yet “it is not that the moon goes to where he is”; the great king of the Brahmā heaven manifests in response so as to fill the three-thousandfold world and yet “his body is not divided into separate ones.”
The nine similes may be read in three groups. The first six — earth, fire, sea, wind, cloud and thunder, and the earth-element — say that the nature is one while those who receive it differ: the difference lies on the side of what is used and received, not on the side of what bestows. The seventh and eighth similes, the sun and the moon, say that it is pervasive and yet unmoving — and here the line “it is not that the moon goes to where he is” is the most crucial: when the moon appears in a thousand rivers, the moon has not divided itself and run to each river; when the Buddha appears in measureless lands, the Buddha likewise is not divided into measureless portions. The ninth simile, the great king of the Brahmā heaven, says that he manifests in response while his body has no separate difference, lifting the similes of natural things onto the body of a sentient being and answering directly to “manifests measureless bodies.”
Clearing away a misreading: do not imagine “one dharma” as a single principle that could be memorized. Chengguan, when interpreting the text of the question, says that what the Buddha realizes is “the Dharma realm of one taste,” and that this is a point both sides grant; one taste is not monotony — it is the absence of difference that is able to contain every difference. Brought home to oneself: one who truly understands something will have more to say, not less — because what must be said to each person is different; and only when the words are many while the mind is not disordered is the “one” still there.
Profundity five, the field of merit: since the field is equally one, why are the fruits of recompense not the same
The fifth question shifts the fourth by one notch: it asks not about difference in preaching but about difference in the recompense received. The Tathāgata as a field of merit is equally one and without difference; why then are the fruits of beings' giving not the same — all ten of them differing, in complexion, shape, family standing, faculties, resources, masters, retinue, official rank, merit, and wisdom? And yet the Buddha's mind toward them is equal and has no two kinds of thinking.
Chengguan explains why Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Vision: “because the field of merit is what illumines and guides and draws forth production, and further because giving is the forerunner of all the perfections, he therefore questions Foremost in Vision.” — The eye is what guides the body's action, and the field of merit is likewise what guides beings into producing merit; name and sense answer to one another. He also explains the two graphs “equally one”: the Buddha is the field from which merit is produced and is therefore named a field of merit; the virtue of the field is not two, and this is named being equally one — and this principle both sides grant.
Foremost in Vision's answer sets up a simile in all ten of its verses, without a single verse of plain statement, and this is the only round in the chapter of which that is true. The first five similes answer ‘why do the fruits differ’: the great earth is one and yet in accordance with the seed each brings forth its sprout, and “toward them it has neither enmity nor affection” — the difference is in the seed, not in the field; water is of one taste and comes to differ because of the vessel, and the scripture points it out outright, “because the minds of beings differ”; the skilled conjuror is able to make the multitude rejoice, a simile for the Buddha's field of merit making beings revere him and be glad; the king of talent and wisdom is able to make the great multitude rejoice, a simile for the Buddha's field of merit making the multitude all be at ease; the bright and spotless mirror produces images in accordance with the colors before it, a simile for the Buddha's field of merit in which “in accordance with each one's mind they obtain all sorts of recompense.” — These three similes — the first, the second, and the fifth — point together at one thing: the variable that makes the difference lies in the receiver, not in the field. The third and the fourth similes turn instead to speak of the field's power to move people.
The last five similes turn to answer ‘what after all is this field good for’: the agada medicine can cure every poison, a simile for extinguishing the troubles of the afflictions; the sun rises and shines upon the world, a simile for extinguishing all the kinds of darkness; the pure full moon shines universally upon the great earth, a simile for being “equal in every place”; the Vairambhaka wind universally shakes the great earth, a simile for shaking the beings of the three realms of existence; the great fire can burn every thing, a simile for burning away everything conditioned. The five similes run from the shallow to the deep — first the removal of the afflictions, then the removal of the darkness of ignorance, then the display of equality, then the shaking of the three realms of existence, and last the burning away of all that is conditioned.
Clearing away a misreading: the field of merit is not a machine that pays interest on the size of the deposit. The scripture says it plainly: the Buddha's mind is “equal, with no two kinds of thinking,” and the difference in the fruit of recompense lies wholly in the fact that “the minds of beings differ.” Brought home to oneself: with one and the same offering, the mind that is roused is different, and so what is obtained is different; one who seeks merit and reckons only the quantity of what he offers has made the field into a machine.
Profundity six, right teaching: the Buddha's teaching is one, why is it that the afflictions are not cut off at once
The sixth question is the one in the whole chapter that stands closest to the actual scene of practice. The Buddha's teaching is one, and beings have all seen it; why then are they unable at once to cut off entirely all the bonds of affliction and get free? And moreover their five aggregates, the three realms, and ignorance and craving have no difference in them, and these too are what the Buddha's teaching speaks of. That being so, for beings this teaching is at some times of benefit and at other times of no benefit — why?
Chengguan explains why Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Diligence: “because it breaks indolence, he questions Foremost in Diligence” — the name is itself the answer. He also points out that the thesis set down, “one,” has two senses: first, that in cutting off the arising of affliction and realizing the cessation that is deliverance, this sense is not diverse; second, that many persons see it alike, and what they see is not different.
Foremost in Diligence's answer, in its first verse, gives the conclusion straightaway: “there are some who are swiftly liberated, and there are some who find it hard to get free” — the teaching is the same, the people are not. The second verse gives the positive prescription: wishing to remove and extinguish measureless faults and evils, “within the Dharma of the Buddha one should be valiant and constantly vigorous.” The direct answer of the whole round lies in fact in these two verses; the eight that follow are all similes, and moreover the eight similes all give a simile for one thing only — indolence, all concluding with “one who is indolent is just like this” (two of them adding the line “within the teaching-Dharma of the Buddha”).
The eight similes each cure one aspect of indolence. A tiny bit of fire with damp kindling is a simile for a foundation not yet firm while the outward conditions are heavy with damp; drilling wood for fire and “stopping to rest again and again before it comes out” is a simile for breaking off in the middle just as the work is about to succeed — this is the most painful of the eight, for the force of the fire dies away along with the stopping, and the work already done does not stand there waiting for you. Holding a sun-jewel and not using anything to receive its cast image is a simile for having the tool in full and not preparing the conditions; the fierce sun shining while the child shuts his eyes and then asks in wonder why he cannot see is a simile for blinding oneself and blaming the Dharma; having no hands or feet and wishing to shatter the great earth by shooting arrows of grass everywhere is a simile for an instrument unequal to the task and an ambition beyond it; taking the water of the great sea with the tip of a single hair and wishing to make it run dry is a simile for a method utterly disproportionate to what is sought; the fire at the end of the kalpa blazing up and wishing to put it out with a little water is a simile for applying a force far short of the momentum to be countered; seeing empty space and sitting still while saying one has already leapt and trodden all through it is a simile for understanding without practicing and then declaring oneself arrived. On this last simile Chengguan has a direct comment: this is one who, “though he knows that the nature is empty, has not yet travelled it with his wisdom and yet speaks of pervasive realization,” and he determines him to be a person of overweening pride.
The eight similes are not eight kinds of indolence; they are eight faces of one indolence: conditions not prepared, work broken off, a condition lacking, self-blinding, ambition great and instrument small, a method not answering to the Dharma, force unequal to the momentum, and understanding put in the place of practice. Brought home to oneself: the best use to make of this passage is not to sympathize with the people in its similes, but to check off, one by one, which of them one is.
Profundity seven, right practice: receiving and upholding the right Dharma ought to cut off the afflictions, why are there those who uphold it and do not cut them off
The seventh question presses the sixth further. The sixth asked why they are not cut off at once; this one is sharper still: the Buddha plainly says that receiving and upholding the right Dharma can remove and cut off every affliction, so why are there those who receive and uphold the right Dharma and do not cut them off? And moreover they are turned about by the force of eleven afflictions — greed, anger, delusion, conceit, concealment, wrath, resentment, envy, stinginess, deceit, and flattery — with no mind to get free. Being able to receive and uphold the Dharma, why is it that afflictions still arise within their mental conduct?
Chengguan explains why Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Dharma: “he questions Foremost in Dharma because it is a matter of practicing the Dharma.” He also explains the two graphs “receive and uphold”: “to receive is for the mind to take in the sense and principle; to uphold is to remember it and not forget”; and he determines the shape of this question to be that “the Buddha says it can cut them off, and now there are those who do not cut them off, which is a contradiction between teaching and practice” — first the contradiction is stated, then from “follow after greed” onward what is not cut off is set out, and from “the force of these” onward the reason for it is given.
Foremost in Dharma's answer, in its first verse, points at the target at once: “it is not by wide learning alone that one can enter the Dharma of the Tathāgata.” — The question was about receiving and upholding, and the answer is that receiving and upholding is not the same as practicing. Thereafter all nine verses are similes; the first eight all conclude with “for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this,” while the last changes to “within himself he has no real virtue, and one who does not practice is just like this” — of the nine similes, eight share a conclusion and the last differs, and it is not a uniform pattern.
The nine similes may be divided into three layers. The first layer, of four similes, speaks of having and not using: a man swept along by water who fears drowning and dies of thirst, with water filling his eyes and dying of thirst all the same; one who sets out fine food and starves himself rather than eat; one skilled in prescriptions who cannot save himself when ill; one who counts another's treasures while he himself has not half a coin. The second layer, of two similes, speaks of being within it and not receiving its use: born in a royal palace and suffering hunger and cold; a deaf man performing music, delighting others and not hearing it himself. The third layer, of three similes, speaks of being able to show others and unable to bring oneself across: a blind man painting images, showing them to others while unable to see them; the ship's pilot who dies in the midst of the sea; one at the crossroads discoursing at length on all sorts of fine matters while within he has no real virtue. The three layers advance in order — first having and not using; next being within it and gaining no benefit; last being able to benefit others and unable to benefit oneself. That the last simile has a differing conclusion and does not speak of wide learning is precisely because it no longer speaks only of the failing of wide learning, but of every failing of ‘able to say it, unable to do it.’
At the end of this passage Chengguan adds two remarks in particular: one, that he makes it clear his intent is not to disparage wide learning; two, that “these nine verses may also be matched severally against the senses of following after greed and the rest — one should think it through in accordance with principle,” leaving the matching to the reader. This stroke is worth noting: here the commentator openly hands the reading back to the reader instead of completing the pairings himself.
Clearing away a misreading: do not read this round as anti-intellectual. The eighth round, immediately following, will say that “within the Dharma of the Buddha, wisdom is the foremost.” What is broken here is not learning but learning without practice. Brought home to oneself: test whether your own wide learning has turned you into one of the four persons of the first layer — the easiest self-deception is to take having read for having done.
Profundity eight, right and auxiliary: wisdom is the foremost, why then are all sorts of practices praised
The eighth question catches the momentum left by the seventh. Since wisdom is the very foremost within the Dharma of the Buddha, why does the Tathāgata at some times praise giving, at some times the precepts, forbearance, vigor, meditative concentration, and wisdom, and further praise loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity? And moreover in the end no one, by one dharma alone, is able to get free and accomplish unsurpassed perfect awakening.
Chengguan explains why Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Wisdom: “he questions Foremost in Wisdom in order to display that wisdom is the substance of the right path and governs its auxiliaries” — wisdom is the substance of the right path and gathers in all the auxiliaries of the path, and so this round is named the profundity of right and auxiliary, while in the marking out of the rounds one by one it is also called the profundity of the auxiliaries of the path. He also determines the shape of the question: since wisdom is the foremost, only wisdom ought to be praised, so why are the rest praised as well? This is a difficulty of contradiction between the right and the auxiliary.
Foremost in Wisdom's answer has six verses of plain statement first. The first praises the question and exhorts the hearing. The second gives the general answer: among the guiding teachers of past, future, and present, “there is not one who said that by one dharma a person could gain the path.” The third gives the reason: “The Buddha knows the minds of beings, that the portion of nature each has is not the same; and in accordance with the way each ought to be brought across, he preaches the Dharma to them just so.” The fourth through the sixth make “in accordance with the way each ought to be brought across” concrete, forming a table of remedies: to the stingy he praises giving, to the breaker of precepts the precepts, to the angry forbearance, to the indolent vigor, to the scattered concentration, to the deluded wisdom, to the unkind loving-kindness and pity, to one who rages and harms great compassion, to the sorrowful sympathetic joy, and to the crooked in mind equanimity. Ten ailments and ten medicines, each answering to its own; and at the end of the sixth verse one line is added — “cultivating in this way, in due sequence, one gradually comes to possess the dharmas of the buddhas in full” — after the remedies there is still a sequence.
The last four verses are four similes, each matched to one pair. First set the foundation wall and only then build the palace hall, matched to giving and the precepts — “the root of the bodhisattva's various practices,” that is, the foundation. Build a city wall to guard the multitude, matched to forbearance and vigor — “guarding and protecting the bodhisattvas,” that is, the safeguard. A king of great strength on whom the whole land looks up in devotion, matched to concentration and wisdom — “what the bodhisattvas rely and depend upon,” that is, the support. A wheel-turning king able to give every ease and joy, matched to the four measureless minds of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity — on this last verse Chengguan says, “the last verse: the four equalities are the cause, and because the ease and joy of self and other summon a fruit without end,” that is, the giving of joy. The four similes move from the foundation to the wall, from the wall to the king, and from the king to the wheel-turning king, growing broader at each step, exactly matching the sequence of “gradually comes to possess the dharmas of the buddhas in full.”
Clearing away a misreading: do not take “wisdom is the foremost” and ‘by one dharma one does not gain the path’ to be in contradiction. The foremost is the substance, and the various practices are the auxiliaries; the substance is not established apart from the auxiliaries, and the auxiliaries are not made right apart from the substance. Brought home to oneself: remedies must be prescribed according to the ailment, but do not stop at the remedy — after the ten ailments and ten medicines there is still that one line, “cultivating in this way, in due sequence.”
Profundity nine, the one path: the buddhas have one path only, why then are the many things in the buddha-lands not the same
The ninth question is the broadest of the ten rounds. The buddhas, the world-honored ones, gain deliverance by one path alone; why then are all the many things belonging to all the buddha-lands now seen to be of all kinds and not the same — the world, the realm of beings, preaching the Dharma and disciplining, the span of life, the radiance, the spiritual powers, the assembly of the multitude, the standards of teaching, and how long the Dharma abides, each having its differences? And moreover there is no one who could accomplish buddhahood without possessing in full all the dharmas of the Buddha.
Chengguan explains why Mañjuśrī questions Foremost in Worthiness: “because the utmost path is yielding and compliant. And further, worthy is akin to upright and good, and buddha after buddha alike has this one upright path.” He also explains the sense of “one path”: what buddha after buddha rides upon is alike the contemplation of the nature of mind and the equal cultivation of the myriad practices, with no differing byway from beginning to end, and so it is called one path; and this round is also named the One Vehicle.
Foremost in Worthiness's answer is ten verses of plain statement with not a single simile — among the ten rounds of this chapter, the first eight all set up similes, the count for each round being four, two, nine, nine, ten, eight, nine, and four; while the ninth, the round of the one path, and the tenth, the round of the realm of the Buddha, have no similes at all, and in this round there is not one. This fact itself carries a meaning: the sense of the one path admits of no simile, and to take a simile is to fall to one side.
The first verse addresses the questioner by name and states the thesis: “Mañjuśrī, the Dharma is always so: the king of the Dharma has only one dharma, and all who are without obstruction gain deliverance from birth and death by one path.” The second verse brings the one path down onto the Buddha's own person: the bodies of all the buddhas are only one dharma-body, one mind and one wisdom, and their powers and fearlessnesses are so as well. The third verse is the pivot of the whole round, saying where the differences come from — “In accordance with the minds of dedication they had when they first set out toward awakening, they obtain a land such as this, an assembly, and a preaching of the Dharma.” The difference is not in the path but in the mind of dedication at the causal stage. The fourth verse goes on: in all the buddha-lands the adornments are perfectly complete, and “as the conduct of beings differs, so what they see is not the same” — the land lacks nothing; the lack is in the seeing.
The fifth and sixth verses form a group: buddha-land, buddha-body, assembly, and speech — dharmas of the Buddha such as these “beings are unable to see”; those able to see them are the clear and penetrating persons “whose minds are already pure and whose every vow is fulfilled.” The seventh and eighth verses state again the two reasons for difference in what is seen: first, that it accords with what the minds of beings delight in and with the force of the fruit of their deeds, and moreover “this is because of the majestic spiritual power of the Buddha”; second, that the buddha-land itself “has no discrimination, has no hatred and no love.” The ninth verse sets down a very weighty judgment: what each sees has its differences, and this “is no fault of all the tathāgatas, those great sages” — the responsibility for the difference lies with the seer, not with the Buddha. The tenth verse closes on the side of what does not change: within all the worlds, whoever ought to be transformed “constantly sees the hero among men.”
The thread of the ten verses is clear: the one path does not change (verses one and two) — difference issues from the mind at the causal stage (verses three and four) — seeing or not seeing turns on whether the mind is pure (verses five and six) — the difference in what is seen has two conditions, the mind and deeds, and the Buddha's power (verses seven and eight) — it may not be laid at the Buddha's door (verse nine) — and yet wherever there is one to be transformed, the Buddha has never failed to appear (verse ten). Clearing away a misreading: do not read “as the conduct of beings differs” as making the buddha-land a subjective hallucination. The ninth verse has already stopped up the opposite side — it is no fault of the Buddha's; and the tenth verse stops up the other side — whoever ought to be transformed constantly sees him. It is neither wholly outside nor wholly within.
Profundity ten, the realm of the Buddha: the bodhisattvas question together, and Mañjuśrī answers in verse
The tenth round is the turnabout of the whole chapter. In the first nine rounds Mañjuśrī asks and one bodhisattva answers; in this round it is the reverse — the scripture says “at that time the bodhisattvas said to the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī,” and it is the bodhisattvas questioning together, with Mañjuśrī answering. They first state their reason: “what each of us understands, we have all already spoken,” and now they ask the benevolent one, with subtle eloquence, to expound and set forth all the realms of the Tathāgata. Then in one breath they list eleven questions: what is the realm of the Buddha, its cause, its bringing across, its entering, its wisdom, its dharma, its speaking, its knowing, its verifying, its manifesting, and its breadth.
Chengguan has two layers of determination about this turnabout. As to structure: “that the great assembly questions together is the gathering of the particular back into the general, and so general and particular are unobstructed and the six characteristics are perfectly fused” — in the first nine rounds each presides over one gate, which is the particular; in this round the great assembly questions together, which is the general, and general and particular are unobstructed. As to person: “they question Mañjuśrī because the realm of the Buddha is profound, and apart from the wondrous virtue of prajñā none could reach it”; and he notices one formal difference between this round and the nine before it — the nine questions all first raise a dharma and fix it down (“the nature of mind is one,” “the Buddha's teaching is one,” and the like), whereas here “from the beginning of faith to the end in wisdom, all rest upon the realm of the Buddha, and so there is no fixing down”: the question comes at once, with no thesis set first. Chengguan further, taking the whole chapter into view, determines that the ten rounds have two senses, one in terms of practice and one in terms of dharma: in terms of practice, Mañjuśrī questions and nine bodhisattvas answer, showing that wondrous wisdom runs through the various practices, while nine bodhisattvas question and Mañjuśrī answers, showing that the various practices are perfected in wondrous wisdom; in terms of dharma, the first nine display the sense of difference and the last displays that difference comes home alike to the realm of the Buddha. (Here the commentary reads “nine bodhisattvas question,” while the scripture reads “the bodhisattvas”; the wording of the commentary and of the scripture differs on the face of it, and this is recorded.)
Mañjuśrī's answer in ten verses gathers the eleven questions into one piece exactly. The first verse answers the measure of the realm and the entering: “its measure is equal to empty space; all beings are within it, and yet in truth there is no entering” — all beings are within it from the first, and so there is no entering to speak of. The second verse answers the cause of the realm: its surpassing and subtle causes could not be exhausted though expounded for koṭis of kalpas. The third verse answers the bringing across: in accordance with each one's mind and wisdom he draws them forward so that they gain benefit, and to bring beings across in this way is the realm of the Buddha. The fourth verse answers the entering and the manifesting: the various lands of the world are all entered in accordance with them, and yet “the body of wisdom has no form or color, and is not what they are able to see.” The fifth verse answers the wisdom: the wisdom of the buddhas is sovereign and free, unobstructed in the three times, “equal, like empty space.” The sixth verse answers the knowing and the breadth: the Dharma realm and the realm of beings are ultimately without difference, and all of it is completely known. The seventh verse answers the aspect of speaking and knowing: all the sounds there are in all the world, the Buddha's wisdom knows them all in accordance with them, “and yet has no discrimination.” The eighth verse answers the verifying: “This is not what consciousness is able to be conscious of, nor is it the domain of mind; its nature is from the first pure, and it is revealed and shown to beings” — what is verified is beyond the reach of consciousness, and yet it can still be revealed. The ninth verse answers the substance of its dharma: it is not deeds and not afflictions, has no thing and no dwelling place, does not examine and has nothing it does, and “moves through the world in equality.” The tenth verse closes upon a single thought: the minds of all beings are present universally throughout the three times, and “the Tathāgata, in a single thought, penetrates all of them clearly.”
Eleven questions answered in ten verses is not a matching one to one. Mañjuśrī's way of answering is to draw the eleven facets back into a single measure — empty space — and then from that measure to say how it pervades, how it brings across, how it manifests, and how it knows. Clearing away a misreading: do not read “there is no entering” as meaning that one has no share in it. What the scripture says is that beings are already within it, and so there is no entering from outside; and this is the same stroke as “there is no one who turns” in the first round — it does not abolish the fact; it abolishes the subject of the fact.
Where it lands: the reason this round stands last is exactly as Chengguan determines — when the contemplation of the ten faiths is complete, one then reaches the realm of the Buddha. What the first nine rounds understood was all difference; this round says that difference comes home alike; and the place it comes home to is not some other place, but right here where “its measure is equal to empty space.”
The manifesting of things and the concluding extension: the asking done, the Buddha shows it on the spot by his spiritual power
After the ten rounds of question and answer, the scripture turns to narration, and Chengguan divides this into two passages. The first passage is the manifesting of things: within this Sahā world, all the differences in dharma, in deeds, in world, in body, in faculty, in the taking of birth, in the fruit of keeping the precepts, in the fruit of violating the precepts, and in the fruit that is their land, belonging to all beings, are by the Buddha's spiritual power all made to appear plainly. The second passage is the concluding extension: within all the worlds of the eastern quarter — unspeakably, unspeakably many, exhausting the Dharma realm and the realm of empty space — the differences in dharma belonging to all beings, and on down to the differences in the fruit that is their land, are likewise by the Buddha's spiritual power made to appear distinctly; and so also in the southern, western, and northern quarters, the four intermediate directions, and above and below.
Chengguan sets up a section for these two passages, calling it “the manifesting of things and the concluding extension,” and first asks one question: why is there this manifesting? He answers: the light of the Dharma opens and awakens the bodies and minds of beings, and the Buddha's power for a moment manifests and shows an appearance as its answer, “so that they may verify it with their own eyes and thereby be gladdened and repelled” — the ten rounds before were an answer by words, and this passage is an answer by showing an appearance; only when a person verifies with his own eyes can gladness and revulsion arise in him. He further numbers the things manifested at ten: dharma, that is, the dharma one practices; deeds, that is, right practice; the cause that is accumulated and the fruit that is suffering; the differing kinds of bodies; the differences of faculty and capacity; the four modes of birth, not one; keeping the precepts, hence the superior and inferior among humans and gods; violating the precepts, hence the heavy and light among the three evil destinies; the land, hence the defiled and pure among dwelling places; and the tenth is the recompense of preaching the Dharma — and this tenth is “missing from the text of this scripture, while the Jin edition has it in full”: absent from the eighty-fascicle text and present in the sixty-fascicle. The passage of concluding extension he divides in two: first the eastern quarter is concluded, and then from “the southern and the western” onward the remaining nine quarters are treated in kind; and he says that here, where the Dharma is preached, the manifesting of things extends through the ten directions, and where the Dharma is preached elsewhere it should be taken in the same way, “all of it being one great assembly of the Dharma realm.”
Chengguan here also sets up one further correlation, matching the ten things manifested to the ten profundities: first Foremost in Dharma, the profundity of right teaching; second Foremost in Jewels, the fruit of deeds; third Foremost in Diligence, indolence and the difficulty of getting free; fourth Foremost in Wealth, contemplating the body within and the rest; fifth Foremost in Virtue, the one taste of the Buddha's dharmas and the differing preaching that accords with capacity; sixth Foremost in Awakening, going to good and evil destinies; seventh Foremost in Wisdom, the six perfections practiced in accord; eighth Foremost in Vision, the equality of the Buddha's field; ninth Foremost in Worthiness, that in accordance with mind the worlds have their differences; and tenth, since the Jin scripture has the preaching of Dharma, this is the dharma of the realm of the Buddha as spoken. This order is not the same as the order of the ten rounds of question and answer in the scripture — in the scripture Foremost in Awakening comes first and Foremost in Dharma is seventh, while in this correlation Foremost in Dharma stands first and Foremost in Awakening sixth. It is a separate set of correspondences that the commentator sets up for the answer by showing an appearance; it is not an alteration of the order of speakers in the scripture, and in reading, the two may not be confounded.
Looking back from the end of the chapter: the ten rounds of question and answer asked difference all the way down, and at the last what is given is not a conclusion but difference manifested for people to see. After asking it all the way down one must still see for oneself, and this is how this chapter brings itself to a close.
Lineage
The sense of this chapter was carried on by three later channels, and they are recorded without adjudication.
The line of Chengguan: he sets up the sections by the ten profundities, and for each round first states the reason for “questioning such-and-such Foremost,” fastening the speaker to the gate he presides over; in the first round he takes the Tathāgata-womb as what “the nature of mind is one” refers to, expressly singling it out as not the eighth consciousness, and expounds its being “one” by joining the empty and the non-empty Tathāgata-womb; he further poses the contradiction between the maturing store-consciousness of the Yuqie shidi lun and the Tathāgata-womb that accords with conditions in the Lengqie jing and the Miyan jing, answering it by the two teachings, provisional and real, so that they do not contradict, and determining that “the two schools are not the same, and their shallowness and depth may be seen,” and further saying that the later followers' interpretation within consciousness-only, “fixedly speaking of the unchanging, loses the according with conditions” — this is the place where the doctrine of the Huayan school shows most plainly in this chapter. He also matches the ten bodhisattvas to the ten faiths and the ten minds (Mañjuśrī as the mind of faith, Foremost in Diligence the mind of vigor, Foremost in Wealth the mind of mindfulness, Foremost in Awakening the mind of concentration, Foremost in Wisdom the mind of wisdom, Foremost in Dharma the mind of non-retrogression, Foremost in Jewels the mind of the precepts, Foremost in Virtue the mind of guarding the Dharma, Foremost in Vision the mind of vows, Foremost in Worthiness the mind of dedication), while himself noting that “they are simply not in sequence” and that “this too shows the ten minds, and they need not be in sequence,” so that he does not force the correlation to line up with the scripture's order. This determination is Chengguan's own, and it is recorded.
The line of Fazang: what he interprets is the sixty-fascicle chapter “Clarifying the Difficulties,” and he explains the name by the four senses of clarifying difficulties — in terms of mind and object, in terms of teaching and meaning, in terms of the way of discourse, and in terms of guest and host, of which the sense “in terms of guest and host” bears most closely on the substance of this chapter: in the prose passages the setting of difficulties is shown, and in the verses the resolving of difficulties is shown. In his gate of critical assessment he lists the divisions of the causal stage into two, into three, into four, and into five, and further records separately the master “Guang's” division of the sense into three and into four, listing the several views without upholding one; in his gate of fixing the stage he divides by teaching in making his determination: within the initial teaching the ten faiths are of themselves a stage, and he cites the Liang She dacheng lun in evidence; within the final teaching they are only the expedient of the ten abodes and have no separate stage of their own, and he cites the Benye jing and its names for the ten minds in evidence. His gate of the arousing of the mind likewise speaks by dividing the initial teaching, the final teaching, the perfect teaching, the lesser vehicle, and the sudden teaching. On one and the same question, ‘are the ten faiths a stage or not,’ Fazang assigns each its own place according to the teaching; the ancients had this view, and it is recorded.
The line of Li Tongxuan: he does not use the rubric of the ten profundities, but divides the text of the scripture into eleven sections, determining that Mañjuśrī and the ten bodhisattvas beginning with Foremost in Awakening “are host and companion to one another,” and takes the bodhisattvas' names as displaying the practices carried out in the ten faiths — Mañjuśrī inquires by means of the practice that lies under his name, and the ten bodhisattvas each answer in verse with the dharma of their own practice, “so that those with the mind of faith may rely on them and learn by imitation.” He reckons the first question as “twenty questions,” with sometimes one graph making a question and sometimes one clause making a question, differing from Chengguan's section of ten items in five pairs. In interpreting the name Foremost in Awakening he establishes the sense on “both true and false having vanished”: awakening to the fact that the very substance of the deeds that flow along in birth and death is in its own nature ever true and does not flow at all, and that eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are ever such as the Dharma, he is therefore named Foremost in Awakening. He further takes the ten wisdom-tathāgatas, beginning with the Buddha of Unmoving Wisdom, as one's own fruit within the stage of the ten faiths; the ten worlds of color, beginning with the Golden-Colored World, as the principle believed in within the ten faiths; and the ten bodhisattvas, Mañjuśrī, Foremost in Awakening, Foremost in Wealth, and the rest, as the practices of the ten faiths — the names of the buddhas, the names of the worlds, and the names of the bodhisattvas being together the instruments by which the Dharma is displayed. This way of reading differs from those who divide the sense by sections; the ancients had this view, and it is recorded.
As for the textual authorities carried on in this chapter, they all issue from the commentators' citations and not from the scripture itself: Chengguan cites the Awakening of Faith in two places, the Lengqie jing, the Miyan jing, the Ru Lengqie jing, a verse of the Damo jing, and the two interpretations of the She dacheng lun and the Baoxing lun, and the Da zhidu lun, fascicle two; Fazang cites the Liang She dacheng lun, the Foxing lun, the Renwang jing, and the Benye jing. Unlike “The Ten Grounds,” this chapter has no separately circulating treatise that quotes and interprets the scripture; and the compendia of the Huayan school likewise have no dedicated interpretation of the terms “asking for clarification,” “clarifying the difficulties,” or “the ten profundities.” This absence is recorded as it stands.
考據Apparatus
菩薩問明品＝第二會普光明殿六品之第四。文殊師利先後問覺首・財首・寶首・德首・目首・勤首・法首・智首・賢首九菩薩，九菩薩各以偈頌答；末由諸菩薩共問文殊，文殊亦以偈答，合成十番問答。澄觀科此十番為「十甚深」——緣起・教化・業果・說法・福田・正教・正行・正助・一道・佛境。十番之後另有現事結通二段，以佛神力令娑婆及十方眾生之法差別乃至國土果差別悉皆明現。六十華嚴同品名〈菩薩明難品第六〉，法藏《探玄記》即釋彼本；李通玄《新華嚴經論》釋八十本，以菩薩名號表十信之行。
一、科判定位
| 科判系統 | 此品之位 |
|---|---|
| 底本 T279 三十九品 | 品十 菩薩問明品（第二會 普光明殿 · 卷十三〔T10n0279 0066a26〕起–下品〈淨行品第十一〉品題〔0069b19〕前訖） |
| 澄觀《華嚴經疏》 | 菩薩問明品疏〔T35n1735 0600c05〕起–下品科起〔0613a08〕前訖；開四門：來意・釋名・宗趣・釋文 |
| 澄觀《隨疏演義鈔》 | 對應段〔未錄〕——已知該檔含「緣起甚深」等相關文字，未逐字截錄，據實記闕，非〔查無〕 |
| 法藏《探玄記》（六十華嚴疏） | 明難品第六〔T35n1733 0175b18〕起–下品科起〔0184c12〕前訖；五門分別：來意・釋名・料簡・宗趣・釋文 |
| 李通玄《新華嚴經論》 | 菩薩問明品〔T36n1739 0820a01〕起–下品科起〔0823b29〕前訖；三門：釋品名目・釋品來意・隨文釋義 |
來意——澄觀繫此品於前三品之後，判為正答十信之首：
「釋此一品亦有四門。初來意中有通有別，通謂上來三品已答十句生解所依，此下正答主解因果，故次來也。生解因中，先答十住，住攬信成；將答所成，先辨能成。又正答十信，故下三品來也。後別者，三品明信有解行德，解為二本，此品先來。」〔T35n1735 0600c06〕
李通玄則繫於前品放光之後：「二釋品來意者，前品如來足下輪中放光，開覺所照佛境遠近，令信心者一一觀之無礙，令心行廣大稱法界故。」〔T36n1739 0820a07〕又云「此〈問明品〉即是明十信心者正修行之行及斷疑，故有此品來也。」〔0820a10〕
法藏於六十本〈明難品〉判來意有二：「初來意，有二：先分來者，前明所依果法，今辯依果所成因行故也。二品來者，所成行中，位前方便信行最初，信中解行及德明難辨解，居初故來。」〔T35n1733 0175b19〕
釋名——澄觀分訓「問」「明」二字，並辨問答各有二種：
「二釋名者，菩薩是人，問明是法。遮果表因，故云菩薩。問即是難，明即是答。然問有二種：一汎爾相問，梵云必理車；二者難問，謂以理徵詰，梵云鉢羅室囊，即今品意也。」〔T35n1735 0600c11〕
「答亦有二：一但依問詶報曰答；二若俱為解釋旁兼異義、美言讚述令理顯煥曰明，即今品意也。明亦破闇，能除問者之疑闇故。今文殊九首互為明難、遞作碪椎，研覈教理以悟群生，故以名也。」〔0600c15〕
「又長行明起於問，偈頌明解於問，故曰問明。不云答者，欲以明兼於問故。」〔0600c20〕
「又明即法明，以十菩薩問出十種法明，故曰問明。雖諸義不同，皆菩薩之問明，依主釋也。」〔0600c25〕
法藏釋六十本「明難」立四義：「明難有四義：一約心境。難謂真俗幽邃，明謂妙智朗照。二約教義。難謂十義甚深，明謂往復顯暢。三約論道。謂難問，明答，以通問答故名明難。何者？但舉法直諮曰問，非理詰責為難。隨問直陳曰答，委釋顯煥為明。四分賓主。約賓則長行中明設於難，約主則偈中明釋於難，故曰明難。」〔T35n1733 0175b23〕
李通玄釋名極簡：「一釋品名目者，為成十種信根，長十種信力，文殊師利、覺首等互為主伴，問十種法明故，故為〈問明品〉。」〔T36n1739 0820a04〕
宗趣——澄觀分通別，別中復分望當品與望後二品：
「三宗趣者，亦先通、後別。通復二義：一通分宗、二通會宗，並如會初。二別明此品，有其二義：一望當品，以十甚深為宗，依成觀解為趣。二望後二品，則以甚深觀解為宗，成後行德為趣。」〔T35n1735 0600c27〕
釋文四分之位——澄觀先判此下至〈菩薩住處〉之大科，次入本品：
「第四釋文。此下至〈菩薩住處〉明生解之因，配十句問。如前問中依文次第且分為六：初此下三品明未信令信、二第三會已信令解、三第四會已解令行、四第五會已行令起願、五第六會已起願令證入、六〈十定品〉至〈住處品〉已證入令等佛。今初三品即為三別：此品明正解理觀、次品明隨緣願行、〈賢首品〉明德用該收。」〔T35n1735 0601a02〕
「就初分二：先問答顯理、後示相結通。」〔0601a10〕
十甚深科名（澄觀一次列全）：
「前中以十菩薩各主一門顯十甚深，即為十段：一緣起甚深、二教化甚深、三業果甚深、四說法甚深、五福田甚深、六正教甚深、七正行甚深、八正助甚深、九一道甚深、十佛境甚深。」〔T35n1735 0601a10〕
十甚深之次第所以，澄觀自釋：
「此十甚深次第云何？緣起深理總該諸法觀解之要，故首明之。眾生迷此，故須教化。違化順化，有善惡業。欲知此業，由說法成。然說法成善，唯佛福田。既說順田，須持聖教。教在勤行。行須正道助道。助必有正，殊塗同歸。得一道者當趣佛境。故為此次。」〔T35n1735 0601a15〕
底本段界與十段一一相扣：問一覺首〔0066a27〕・問二財首〔0066b26〕・問三寶首〔0066c23〕・問四德首〔0067a19〕・問五目首〔0067b17〕・問六勤首〔0067c14〕・問七法首〔0068a11〕・問八智首〔0068b08〕・問九賢首〔0068c05〕・問十諸菩薩共問文殊〔0069a03〕・現事結通〔0069b02〕〔0069b05〕。
二、術語
| 漢 | 所徵 | 精義 |
|---|---|---|
| 問明 | 澄觀：「問即是難，明即是答。」〔T35n1735 0600c13〕又「又明即法明，以十菩薩問出十種法明，故曰問明。」〔0600c25〕 | 以理徵詰為問，委釋顯煥為明；品名依主釋，人是菩薩、法是問明 |
| 明難（六十本品名） | 法藏：「但舉法直諮曰問，非理詰責為難。隨問直陳曰答，委釋顯煥為明。」〔T35n1733 0175b27〕 | 六十本〈菩薩明難品〉之名所依；與八十本「問明」異名而同事 |
| 十甚深 | 澄觀：「一緣起甚深、二教化甚深、三業果甚深、四說法甚深、五福田甚深、六正教甚深、七正行甚深、八正助甚深、九一道甚深、十佛境甚深。」〔T35n1735 0601a12〕 | 疏家為十番問答所立之科名；經文自身不出「十甚深」之目 |
| 心性是一 | 本品「佛子！心性是一。云何見有種種差別？」〔T10n0279 0066a27〕；澄觀：「謂心之性故，是如來藏也。又心即性故，是自性清淨心也。」〔T35n1735 0602a10〕 | 第一問所立之宗；澄觀以空不空二如來藏會之「皆平等無二，故云一也」〔0602a13〕 |
| 十事五對 | 澄觀：「二「所謂」下別示相違，有十事五對」〔T35n1735 0602a16〕 | 善惡趣・根滿缺・受生同異・端正醜陋・苦樂——五對而成十事，第一問所列之差別相 |
| 法性 | 本品「法性本無生，示現而有生」〔T10n0279 0066b18〕；澄觀：「法性即是真如異名」〔T35n1735 0601c11〕 | 覺首答中之正義句；澄觀以此判文殊所難者為實教之理 |
| 業性 | 本品「隨其所行業，如是果報生，作者無所有」〔T10n0279 0066c28〕 | 第三業果甚深之樞紐語；九喻皆以「業性亦如是」結 |
| 福田 | 澄觀：「佛為生福之田，名為福田。田德無二，名為等一。」〔T35n1735 0608c17〕 | 第五番所問之法體；問在「田既是一」而果報不同 |
| 多聞 | 本品「非但以多聞，能入如來法」〔T10n0279 0068a18〕 | 第七正行甚深之所破；九喻中八喻同結，皆以「於法不修行，多聞亦如是」〔T10n0279 0068a20〕結，末喻異結 |
| 四等 | 本品「四等亦如是，與諸菩薩樂」〔T10n0279 0068c04〕 | 慈悲喜捨四無量心；智首答之末偈以轉輪王喻之 |
| 一道 | 澄觀：「第九一道甚深，亦名一乘。」〔T35n1735 0611a10〕又「謂佛佛所乘同觀心性、萬行齊修，自始至終更無異徑，故云一道」〔0611a12〕 | 第九番所立之宗；經文作「唯以一道，而得出離」〔T10n0279 0068c06〕 |
| 佛境界 | 澄觀：「第十佛境界甚深，十信觀圓便造佛境。」〔T35n1735 0612a06〕 | 第十番所問；問文列境界・因・度・入・智・法・說・知・證・現・廣十一問 |
| 現事結通 | 澄觀：「十甚深，即問答竟。自下第二現事結通。於中二：先現事、後結通。」〔T35n1735 0612c16〕 | 品末二段之科；現事在娑婆，結通遍十方 |
三、譬喻·修辭
本品之體為長行問・偈頌答，答中譬喻極密。逐番實計如下（喻依皆自底本逐字，末句之結語為各番所共）。
(一) 緣起甚深四喻（覺首答·〔T10n0279 0066b08〕–〔0066b14〕）——河中水・大火聚・長風・眾地界：
- 喻依：「譬如河中水，湍流競奔逝」〔T10n0279 0066b08〕「亦如大火聚，猛焰同時發」〔T10n0279 0066b10〕「又如長風起，遇物咸鼓扇」〔T10n0279 0066b12〕「又如眾地界，展轉因依住」〔T10n0279 0066b14〕。
- 喻體：四者皆以「各各不相知，諸法亦如是」為結。
- 所顯義：水波、火焰、風勢、地界層層相依而彼此不相知，以顯諸法「無作用」「無體性」而緣起不斷。
(二) 教化甚深二喻（財首答）——旋火輪〔0066c11〕・夢〔0066c15〕：
- 「猶如旋火輪，初後不可知」〔T10n0279 0066c12〕喻壽命之起滅無始終可得；「眾報隨業生，如夢不真實」〔T10n0279 0066c15〕喻報之非實。
- 此番十偈中唯此二偈設喻，餘八偈直陳觀身觀法之行，〔據實標闕〕。
(三) 業果甚深九喻（寶首答·〔0067a01〕–〔0067a17〕）——淨明鏡・田種子・巧幻師・機關木人・眾鳥出㲉・胎藏諸根・地獄苦事・轉輪王七寶・世界大火：
- 九喻皆以「業性亦如是」為結。
- 澄觀於此段標其數與意：「下九喻顯通相而明，喻於業果從緣無性不壞事相；別彰喻意，喻各不同」〔T35n1735 0607c05〕；又判末偈「後偈喻無漏業果，無漏智火焚蕩有漏，智因漏發，故亦無來。」〔0608b01〕
- 首偈非喻而為法說，澄觀引論證之：「後句是聖教量。《智論》第二云『有業亦有果，無作業果者。此第一甚深，是諸佛所說。』」〔T35n1735 0607c03〕
(四) 說法甚深九喻（德首答·〔0067a28〕–〔0067b15〕）——地性・火性・大海・風性・雲雷・地界・日・空中月・大梵王：
- 九喻皆以「諸佛法如是」為結。
- 所顯義：性一而用多。地一而眾生各住、火一而燒一切物、海一而波濤千萬、雨滴無差別而普潤、日無異性而普照十方、月不往其處而世間靡不見——以顯「如來所悟，唯是一法」〔T10n0279 0067a19〕而說無量法不相違。
(五) 福田甚深十喻（目首答·〔0067b23〕–〔0067c12〕）——大地・水一味・巧幻師・才智王・淨明鏡・阿揭陀藥・日出・淨滿月・毘藍風・大火：
- 此番十偈全數設喻，無一直陳之偈，皆以「佛福田」為合。
- 喻意分二路：前四與第五顯『田一而果異由眾生』（「因器有差別」「眾生心故異」「隨心獲眾報」），後五顯福田之能（滅煩惱患・滅除黑暗・一切處平等・動三有・燒一切有為）。
(六) 正教甚深八喻（勤首答·〔0067c24〕–〔0068a09〕）——微少火遇濕樵・鑽燧數息・持日珠不承影・赫日照而孩稚閉目・無手足而欲芒草箭射破大地・一毛端取大海水・劫火起而欲以少水滅・見虛空端居而言普騰躡：
- 八喻皆以「懈怠者亦然」為結（其中二喻作「於佛教法中，懈怠者亦然」）。
- 首二偈非喻：一標答式「或有速解脫，或有難出離」〔T10n0279 0067c21〕，一勸「當於佛法中，勇猛常精進」〔T10n0279 0067c23〕。
- 澄觀釋末喻云：「遍空喻，喻雖知性空，智未遊履而言遍證，亦增上慢人也。」〔T35n1735 0609c11〕
(七) 正行甚深九喻（法首答·〔0068a19〕–〔0068b06〕）——水漂而渴死・設美膳而自餓・善方藥而自疾不救・數他寶而自無半錢・生王宮而受餧寒・聾者奏樂・盲者繢像・海船師死於海中・四衢道廣說好事而內無實德：
- 前八喻皆以「於法不修行，多聞亦如是」〔T10n0279 0068a20〕為結，末喻作「內自無實德，不行亦如是」〔T10n0279 0068b07〕——九喻中八喻同結、末喻異結，非全同一式。
- 澄觀於此段末云：「又此九偈亦可別對隨貪等義，如理應思。」〔T35n1735 0610b10〕並自誌其意不在「毀多聞」〔0610b10 前句〕。
(八) 助道甚深四喻（智首答·〔0068b26〕–〔0068c03〕）——立基堵而後造宮室・建城廓以護人眾・大力王率土戴仰・轉輪王能與一切樂：
- 四喻各配二度：施戒配基堵、忍進配城廓、定慧配大力王、四等配轉輪王。
- 此番前六偈為法說（佛知眾生心性分不同而對治讚歎），後四偈方設喻。
- 澄觀釋末喻：「後一偈四等為因，自他安樂招果無盡故。」〔T35n1735 0611a09〕
(九) 一道甚深無譬喻〔據實標闕〕——賢首十偈全為法說，無一喻依。
(十) 佛境甚深之虛空為量（文殊答）——「如來深境界，其量等虛空」〔0069a11〕・「如是慧境界，平等如虛空」〔0069a20〕：非「譬如」句式之設喻，而以虛空為量之所齊，兩見。餘八偈直陳佛境之相，無別喻。
四、異譯對勘
本品之漢譯校本：實叉難陀 T279（底本·〈菩薩問明品第十〉）・佛馱跋陀羅 T278（晉譯六十華嚴·〈菩薩明難品第六〉〔T09n0278 0427a02〕起–下品〈淨行品第七〉品題〔0430a22〕前訖）。本品無別行經、無牒經論釋〔查無〕。以下逐句全錄不判。
句一 第一問之立宗與所列差別
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 佛子！心性是一。云何見有種種差別？所謂：往善趣、惡趣；諸根滿、缺；受生同、異；端正、醜陋；苦、樂不同 | T10n0279 0066a27 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！心性是一，云何能生種種果報？或至善趣，或至惡趣；或具諸根，或不具者；或生善處，或生惡處；端正醜陋，苦樂不同 | T09n0278 0427a03 |
異文所繫：(甲) 80「云何見有種種差別」〔T10n0279 0066a28〕↔ 60「云何能生種種果報」〔T09n0278 0427a04〕——所難之詞一在「見有」、一在「能生」。(乙) 80 之「受生同、異」↔ 60 之「或生善處，或生惡處」〔T09n0278 0427a05〕。(丙) 二本末對「智不知境，境不知智」〔T10n0279 0066b02〕↔「智不知法，法不知智」〔T09n0278 0427a08〕，所對之名一作境、一作法〔T09n0278 0427a08〕。
句二 覺首答之首偈
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 仁今問是義，為曉悟群蒙，我如其性答，惟仁應諦聽。 | T10n0279 0066b04 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 為化眾生故，乃能問斯義，諸法如實性，我說仁諦聽。 | T09n0278 0427a11 |
異文所繫：所歎之意同（歎能問之人並勸聽），語序與詞面全異；80 作「如其性答」、60 作「諸法如實性」。
句三 河水喻
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 譬如河中水，湍流競奔逝，各各不相知，諸法亦如是。 | T10n0279 0066b08 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 譬如駛水流，流流無絕已，二俱不相知，諸法亦如是。 | T09n0278 0427a15 |
異文所繫：80 作「各各不相知」、60 作「二俱不相知」——此為兩本四喻之通結語差異，四喻皆然。又 80 第二喻作「亦如大火聚，猛焰同時發」〔0066b10〕、60 作「亦如明燈焰，焰焰不暫停」〔T09n0278 0427a17〕，喻依由火聚易為燈焰。
句四 法性示現句
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 法性本無生，示現而有生，是中無能現，亦無所現物。 | T10n0279 0066b18 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 法性無所轉，示現故有轉，於彼無示現，示現無所有。 | T09n0278 0427a25 |
異文所繫：80 作「無生／有生」、60 作「無所轉／有轉」——所遮之相一在生、一在轉；上偈 80「以此常流轉，而無能轉者」〔0066b17〕、60「因此轉眾苦，而實無所轉」〔T09n0278 0427a24〕，轉義在 60 分屬二偈。
句五 第四問之立宗
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 佛子！如來所悟，唯是一法。云何乃說無量諸法 | T10n0279 0067a19 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！如來唯覺一法，云何乃說無量諸法音聲遍滿無量世界 | T09n0278 0427c26 |
異文所繫：80「所悟，唯是一法」↔ 60「唯覺一法」；80 結以「而法性中，此差別相，皆不可得」〔T10n0279 0067a23〕、60 結以「而法性分別實不可得」〔T09n0278 0428a02〕。
句六 業果九喻中之鳥㲉喻
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 亦如眾鳥類，從㲉而得出，音聲各不同，業性亦如是。 | T10n0279 0067a09 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 亦如眾鳥類，出㲉音不同，能作種種聲，業性亦如是。 | T09n0278 0427c16 |
異文所繫：喻依全同，後二句開合異。同番之胎藏喻 80 作「譬如胎藏中，諸根悉成就，體相無來處」〔0067a11〕、60 作「如親因緣會，受生無來者，諸根各別異」〔T09n0278 0427c18〕；世界喻 80 作「大火所燒然，此火無來處」〔0067a17〕、60 作「有成或有敗，成敗無來去」〔T09n0278 0427c24〕。
句七 第十問之十一問目
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 何等是佛境界？何等是佛境界因？何等是佛境界度？何等是佛境界入？何等是佛境界智？何等是佛境界法？何等是佛境界說？何等是佛境界知？何等是佛境界證？何等是佛境界現？何等是佛境界廣？ | T10n0279 0069a05 段內 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 何等是佛境界？何等是佛境界因？何等是佛境界所入？何等是佛境界所度？何等是佛境界隨順知？何等是佛境界隨順法？何等是佛境界分別知？何等是識佛境界？何等是決定知佛境界？何等是佛境界照？何等是佛境界廣？ | T09n0278 0429c10 |
異文所繫：二本皆十一問，問數同而問目之詞面與次第異——80 之『度・入・智・法・說・知・證・現』↔ 60 之『所入・所度・隨順知・隨順法・分別知・識・決定知・照』。又請語 80 作「唯願仁者，以妙辯才，演暢如來所有境界！」〔T10n0279 0069a04〕、60 作「仁者辯才深入，次應敷演」〔T09n0278 0429c10〕。
句八 文殊答之首偈
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 如來深境界，其量等虛空，一切眾生入，而實無所入。 | T10n0279 0069a11 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 如來深境界，其量齊虛空，一切眾生入，真實無所入。 | T09n0278 0429c17 |
異文所繫：唯「等／齊」「而實／真實」二處字異，全偈餘同——十番之中此偈兩本最近。
句九 現事結通
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 爾時，此娑婆世界中，一切眾生所有法差別、業差別、世間差別、身差別、根差別、受生差別、持戒果差別、犯戒果差別、國土果差別，以佛神力，悉皆明現。 | T10n0279 0069b02 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 爾時，此娑婆世界眾生，佛神力故，見此佛剎一切眾生，如所行法，如所行業，如世間行，隨身所行，隨根所行，隨其行報所生之處，持戒毀禁，說法果報，如是世界中事，一切悉見。 | T09n0278 0430a08 |
異文所繫：80 列九差別（法・業・世間・身・根・受生・持戒果・犯戒果・國土果），60 於相當之列中有「說法果報」一目而 80 無。澄觀已誌此闕：「十說法則近報淨居，聰明利智速具佛法，此經文闕，晉本具之。」〔T35n1735 0612c23〕
全錄不判：以上九句之異，或立宗之詞異（見有／能生・所悟一法／唯覺一法）、或喻依之異（大火聚／明燈焰）、或通結語之異（各各／二俱）、或開合之異（說法果報一目），二本並錄，不判優劣。
五、宗義之經據〔眼〕
(一) 第一問之所為在拂異見顯深理——澄觀判文殊何以最初問此：
「初所為者，有二義故，最初問之，一拂異見、二顯深理。拂見有三：一令諸菩薩知法從緣，異外道見；二知從心現，捨二乘見；三但心性起，不同權教。」〔T35n1735 0601b16〕
「二顯深理者，令諸菩薩於此實義發深信解，起行證真始終皆實，故問斯義。」〔0601b20〕
並引《起信論》為證：「有法能起摩訶衍信根，是故應說。所言法者，謂眾生心。依一心法，有真如門及生滅門。」〔T35n1735 0601b22〕
(二) 心性之難為本末・理事・一異・真妄四種相違——
「心性既一，事應不多；事法既多，性應非一。此是本末相違難，亦是理事相違，亦一異相違，亦真妄相違。」〔T35n1735 0601c03〕
(三) 心性所指之揀定——澄觀明「心性是一」非指第八識：
「三揀定所問者，準此問意，離如來藏不許八識能所熏等別有自體能生諸法，唯如來藏是所依生。亦不可言八識無二類故名心性一，以能生種種，非相違故。亦非第八而為性一熏成種種，非相違故，心性之言非第八故。」〔T35n1735 0601c05〕
「答中既言法性本無生，示現而有生。法性即是真如異名，正與報事相違，故成難耳。文殊欲顯實教之理，故以心性而為難本。」〔0601c10〕
(四) 空不空二如來藏之會——釋「是一」之義：
「今初。謂心之性故，是如來藏也。又心即性故，是自性清淨心也。又妄心之性，無性之性，空如來藏也。真心之性，實性之性，不空如來藏也。皆平等無二，故云一也。」〔T35n1735 0602a10〕
(五) 十事五對之相攝——澄觀釋第一問所列差別何以為五對：
「二「所謂」下別示相違，有十事五對：一、約總報明趣有善惡，善謂人天、惡謂三塗；下四對皆約別報。於中，二、謂於前善惡趣中各根有滿缺，謂眼等內根。三、於滿缺中各生有同異，謂四生不同勝劣處異。四、於上同異生處，各貌有妍媸。五、於上妍媸，各受有苦樂。」〔T35n1735 0602a16〕
「上之五對，前前皆具後後，後後必帶前前，展轉異同成多差別，故云種種不同。」〔0602a22〕
(六) 結成前難之三意——澄觀分「業不知心」以下一段之意有三：
「一直問所以，故今結云非但本性是一，我細推現事各不相知，既有種種，何緣不相知？既不相知，誰教種種？」〔T35n1735 0602a28〕
「二者懷疑，故結云既不相知，為是一性？為是種種？三作相違難，結云一性隨於種種即失真諦，種種隨於一性即失俗諦。今見種種，又不相知，此二互乖，云何並立？」〔0602b04〕
(七) 十甚深亦可配十信——澄觀以十菩薩配十心，並自標「不必次」：
「又此十種亦可配於十信，但不次耳。文殊佛境即當信心，文殊主信故。」〔T35n1735 0601a21〕
「勤首即進心，財首為念心，明四念故。覺首定心，能觀心性為上定故。智首則慧心，慧為上首兼己莊嚴故有十度。法首即不退心，如說修行得不退故。寶首即戒心，三聚無缺如寶珠故，業果甚深戒所招故。德首即護法心，說法甚深是所護故。目首即願心，福田等一由願異故，目能將身如願導行故。賢首即迴向心，以歸一道即迴向真如」〔0601a24〕
(八) 約行約法二義判十番之結構——
「然有二義：一約行、二約法。言約行者，文殊發問、九菩薩答，明妙慧通於眾行；九菩薩問、文殊為答，明眾行成於妙慧。言約法者，初九顯差別義、後一顯差別同歸佛境。此二不二，成信中之觀解。」〔T35n1735 0601b07〕
(九) 第十番之總別無礙・六相圓融——澄觀釋何以由大眾同問：
「初標能所問人。大眾同問者，攝別歸總，故總別無礙，六相圓融。問文殊者，佛境甚深，除般若妙德，無能達故。始信終智，皆託佛境，故無按定。」〔T35n1735 0612a08〕
(十) 現事結通之所現有十——
「今初。因何而現上來十首？法光開曉眾生身心故。佛力暫現示相而答，令其目驗而欣厭故。所現有十：第一法，即所行之法，謂三學等殊；二業，謂正行，漏無漏等；三集因苦果；四身類不同；五根機差別；六四生非一；七持戒則人天勝劣；八犯戒則三塗重輕；九國土則依處染淨；十說法則近報淨居，聰明利智速具佛法，此經文闕，晉本具之。」〔T35n1735 0612c17〕
「第二「如是」下結通廣遍。於中二：初結東方、後「南西」下類餘九方。亦現十事，以此處說法則現事通於十方，餘處說法亦應類此，總為一法界大會，思之。」〔T35n1735 0613a03〕
六、諸家異釋（古德·標宗）
澄觀《華嚴經疏》T35n1735（八十華嚴逐文·主）
四會相違之權實判——澄觀自設《瑜伽》與《楞伽》《密嚴》相違之難而答：
「四會相違者，問：若爾，《瑜伽》等中異熟賴耶從業惑種辦體而生，非如來藏隨緣所成，如何會釋？答：《瑜伽》等中對於凡小，約就權教隨相假說。《楞伽》、《密嚴》對大菩薩，依於實教盡理而說。既機有大小、法有淺深、教有權實，故不相違。」〔T35n1735 0601c15〕
所引諸文：《密嚴》「佛說如來藏，以為阿賴耶。惡慧不能知，藏即賴耶識。」〔0601c20〕・「如來清淨藏，世間阿賴耶，如金與指環，展轉無差別。」〔0601c22〕・《入楞伽》「如來藏名阿賴耶識，而與無明七識共俱。」〔0601c27〕・《起信論》「不生不滅與生滅和合，非一非異，名阿賴耶識。」〔0601c28〕・《達磨經》頌「無始時來界，為諸法等依。」〔0602a01〕。
兩宗淺深之誌——澄觀於引《攝論》「界者因義，即種子識」〔T35n1735 0602a02〕與《寶性論》「性者謂如來藏性」二釋之後云：
「以此等文，故知兩宗不同，淺深可見。又唯識等亦說真如是識實性，但後釋者定言不變，失於隨緣，過歸後輩耳。」〔T35n1735 0602a05〕
結成前難有古德別解——澄觀誌前人之釋而後別出己解：
「第三結成前難中，此文意稍難見，略為二解：一依古德作遮救重難，如前第二問意中辨；二直結成前難。」〔T35n1735 0602a25〕
逐番標問人之意——澄觀於每番先釋文殊何以問此菩薩：
「問覺首者，彼得此門故，緣起深義不覺則流轉故。」〔T35n1735 0601b13〕 「告財首者，彼得此法財益生門故。」〔0605c24〕 「第四說法甚深，亦可名應現甚深，問及答中通三業故，以說法化勝故，從此立名。」〔0608b03〕 「第五福田甚深。問中，初標告。以福田是照導引生，又施為諸度之前導，故問目首也。」〔0608c15〕 「第六正教甚深。問中，初標問人，以破懈怠故問勤首。」〔0609a15〕 「第七正行甚深。問法首者，以行法故。」〔0609c12〕 「第八助道甚深。問智首者，以顯智為正道之體，統其助故。」〔0610b11〕 「第九一道甚深，亦名一乘。問中，標問賢首者，至道柔順故。又賢猶直善，佛佛皆同一直道故。」〔0611a10〕 「第十佛境界甚深，十信觀圓便造佛境。」〔0612a06〕
現事配十甚深之另一序次——澄觀於結通處別立一配屬，其菩薩次第與經文問答次第不同：
「又此亦可配十甚深，以是示相答故。一法首，正教甚深；二寶首，業果；三勤首，懈怠難出；四財首，觀內身等；五德首，佛法一味，隨根異說等；六覺首，往善惡趣；七智首，六度順行，通為持戒之果；八目首，佛田平等，但犯戒布施得果差別；九賢首，隨心世界有差別等；十晉經既有說法，即是說佛境界法也。」〔T35n1735 0612c25〕
法藏《探玄記》T35n1733（六十華嚴疏〈明難品〉）
因位分科之四說——法藏於料簡門列諸家分因位之異，不主一說：
「三料簡者，就此因中或分二：初比位，謂此品下至〈迴向〉；二證位，謂〈十地品〉下證位。或分三：初三品是位前方便，〈昇天品〉下十三品明三賢正位，〈十地〉下六品明十聖真位。或分四：初從此盡第三會為十解，以信是住之方便無正位故，攝屬十住中；二第四會十行；三第五會十迴向；四第六會十地等。或分五：開信異住故。」〔T35n1733 0175c01〕
光統之義分二說——法藏別錄「光」師之判：
「又光云：義分或三。初三品明始起於先際；二從〈昇天〉下明善修於中際；三〈不思法品〉等明終顯於後際。或分四：初未信者令信；二第三會下已信者令入，謂解行也；三〈十地品〉下已入者令純熟；四〈不思品〉下已純熟者令解脫。」〔T35n1733 0175c09〕
十信是位與非位之二判——法藏依教分判，明二說各有所依：
「四定位者，此十信法於始教中自是位，如梁《攝論》云「如須陀桓道前四位謂燸等，菩薩地前四位亦如是，謂十信、十解、十行、十迴向。」」〔T35n1733 0175c25〕
「若約終教，此信但是十住位之方便，自無別位，故《本業經》云「未上住前有此十心名字，謂一信心、二念心、三精進心、四慧心、五定心、六不退心、七迴向心、八護心、九戒心、十願心。」」〔T35n1733 0176a07〕
其發心門亦分教而說：「三發心者，謂始從具縛不識三寶名字等，創起一念信等，此約始教，如《本業經》。終教，如《起信論》修行信心分。圓教，如〈賢首品〉初。以小乘非此，故不約說。頓教無位，故亦不說。」〔T35n1733 0175c17〕
李通玄《新華嚴經論》T36n1739（表法異軌）
十一段經之分——李通玄不用十甚深之名，以段數分文：
「三隨文釋義者，於此品一段文中，有十一段經，明文殊師利、覺首等十菩薩互為主伴，問十種法，明各以菩薩之名即表十信所行之行。文殊還以名下之行以相諮問，十菩薩等各以自行法以頌答之，令信心者依而倣學。其十問十頌，其文如下，最下一段都結十方同此。」〔T36n1739 0820a13〕
第一問為二十問——其問數之計與澄觀十事五對之科不同：
「第一「爾時文殊師利菩薩」已下六行經，是文殊菩薩起二十問。善惡因果，或一字問、或一句一問，總有二十問。向下十一行頌，是覺首菩薩答。初一行頌是歎能問之人及勸聽，後十行頌是答所問之法。」〔T36n1739 0820a20〕
以真妄兩亡釋覺首名——
「二釋菩薩名者，為明覺此隨流生死業體，本性恒真而無流轉，眼耳鼻舌身意恒如法，知非流轉生死性故。」〔T36n1739 0820b07〕
「為以此當體無明諸業因果上自覺覺他，令知法界自性真理真妄兩亡，名為覺首。以信此法初，名之為首。」〔0820b12〕
以佛名・世界名・菩薩名三事配十信——
「此明十信初心，全信自身眼耳鼻舌身意及以一切眾生全體真妄兩亡，唯佛智海故，故以不動智佛等十智如來為十信位中自己果故。金色世界、妙色世界、蓮華色世界等十色世界，是十信之中所信之理。文殊師利、覺首、財首等十菩薩眾，是十信之行以行立名。」〔T36n1739 0820b14〕
「三配隨位因果者，常以自心本不動智佛，為本信心之因，以進修得此無礙智佛，是隨位佛果。此乃但依問答及菩薩名號、佛名號、世界形色取其意趣，理自分明，勿須疑也。」〔T36n1739 0820b25〕
誌錄不判：澄觀以十甚深立科，逐番標問人之所以，並以如來藏隨緣會權實二教之相違；法藏於六十本以明難四義釋名，於料簡門列因位二三四五之分而不主一，於定位門判十信始教是位・終教非位；李通玄不用甚深之目，以十一段經分文，計第一問為二十問，並以佛名・世界名・菩薩名三事表十信之因果。三家並行，皆古德成說，誌錄之，不判高下。澄觀於結成前難處誌「古德作遮救重難」一解而別出己釋，其取捨為澄觀自有之判，錄其原判，不另評騭。
七、互讀·承衍
- 前後品之繫：本品承〈光明覺品第九〉、下接〈淨行品第十一〉。澄觀合三品為一組：「今初三品即為三別：此品明正解理觀、次品明隨緣願行、〈賢首品〉明德用該收。」〔T35n1735 0601a08〕李通玄繫於前品之放光：「前品如來足下輪中放光，開覺所照佛境遠近」〔T36n1739 0820a07〕。
- 答問之繫：澄觀判此下諸品為答第二會十句之問——「此下至〈菩薩住處〉明生解之因，配十句問」〔T35n1735 0601a02〕。
- 與〈賢首品〉之繫：法藏判圓教發心之相「如〈賢首品〉初」〔T35n1733 0175c20〕；澄觀亦以〈賢首品〉為三品之第三「明德用該收」〔T35n1735 0601a09〕。
- 論典之承：澄觀於本品引《起信論》二處〔0601b22〕〔0601c28〕・《楞伽》《密嚴》〔0601c14〕〔0601c20〕・《達磨經》頌與《攝論》《寶性論》之二釋〔0602a01〕・《智度論》第二〔0607c03〕；法藏引梁《攝論》《佛性論》《仁王經》《本業經》〔T35n1733 0175c25〕–〔0176a07〕。皆疏家所引，非本品經文自出。
- 〔查無〕：《華嚴一乘教義分齊章》T45n1866 ·《十玄門》T45n1868 ·《還源觀》T45n1876 三書『問明・明難・十甚深・緣起甚深』零命中，記闕；《法界玄鏡》T45n1883 一處字面「明難」〔T45n1883 0676c08〕核為「明・難」二字偶合之泛語，非釋本品，記〔非本品相涉〕。承衍論典《成唯識論》T31n1585 ·《攝大乘論》T31n1594 ·《瑜伽師地論》T30n1579 ·《解深密經》T16n0676 於『十甚深・緣起甚深・明難・問明』亦零命中，記〔查無〕——本品無牒經論釋之別行論，不同於〈十地品〉之有《十地經論》。
八、校本定位
- 實叉 T279（底本）：〈菩薩問明品第十〉〔T10n0279 0066a26〕起–下品〈淨行品第十一〉品題〔0069b19〕前訖，跨卷十三至卷十四之界。問一覺首 0066a27（答偈起 0066b04・十一偈）・問二財首 0066b26（答偈起 0066c03・十偈）・問三寶首 0066c23（答偈起 0066c28・十偈）・問四德首 0067a19（答偈起 0067a26・十偈）・問五目首 0067b17（答偈起 0067b23・十偈）・問六勤首 0067c14（答偈起 0067c20・十偈）・問七法首 0068a11（答偈起 0068a17・十偈）・問八智首 0068b08（答偈起 0068b14・十偈）・問九賢首 0068c05（答偈起 0068c12・十偈）・問十諸菩薩共問文殊 0069a03（答偈起 0069a11・十偈）・現事 0069b02 ・結通 0069b05。答偈實計一百零一偈（首番十一偈，餘九番各十偈）。
- 佛馱 T278（晉譯主對校）：〈菩薩明難品第六〉〔T09n0278 0427a02〕起–下品品題〔0430a22〕前訖。問一覺首 0427a03（答偈起 0427a11）・問二財首 0427b04（答偈起 0427b09）・問三寶首 0427b29（答偈起 0427c06）・問四德首 0427c26（答偈起 0428a04）・問十諸菩薩共問文殊 0429c09（答偈起 0429c17）・現事結通 0430a08。
- 澄觀《疏》T35n1735：菩薩問明品疏 0600c05 起（來意 0600c06 ・釋名 0600c11 ・二種問 0600c13 ・二種答 0600c15 ・長行偈頌之分 0600c20 ・宗趣 0600c27 ・第四釋文 0601a02 ・三品之分 0601a08 ・十甚深名列 0601a10 ・十甚深次第 0601a15 ・配十信 0601a21 ・約行約法二義 0601b06 ・問覺首之所以 0601b13 ・略啟五門 0601b15 ・拂異見顯深理 0601b16 ・引起信論 0601b22 ・述問意 0601b25 ・四種相違 0601c02 ・揀定所問 0601c05 ・會相違權實 0601c15 ・引密嚴楞伽起信 0601c20 ・引達磨經攝論寶性論 0602a01 ・兩宗淺深 0602a05 ・五釋文者 0602a08 ・二如來藏 0602a10 ・十事五對 0602a16 ・結成前難二解 0602a25 ・結難三意 0602a28 ・正釋文十事五對 0602b08 ・第二教化甚深 0605c23 ・引智論第一甚深 0607c03 ・九喻通別 0607c05 ・無漏業果喻 0608b01 ・第四說法甚深 0608b03 ・第五福田甚深 0608c15 ・第六正教甚深 0609a15 ・遍空喻 0609c11 ・第七正行甚深 0609c12 ・九偈別對隨貪 0610b10 ・第八助道甚深 0610b11 ・四等因果 0611a09 ・第九一道甚深 0611a10 ・第十佛境界甚深 0612a06 ・六相圓融 0612a08 ・現事結通科 0612c16 ・所現有十 0612c19 ・晉本具說法 0612c23 ・配十甚深 0612c25 ・結通廣遍 0613a03 ・「問明品辨信中解竟」〔T35n1735 0613a06〕0613a06）–下品科起 0613a08 前訖。
- 澄觀《鈔》T36n1736：對應段〔未錄〕——已知該檔含相關文字，未逐字截錄，據實記闕。
- 法藏《探玄記》T35n1733：〈明難品第六〉0175b18 起（五門分別 0175b19 ・來意二義 0175b19 ・釋名 0175b22 ・明難四義 0175b23 ・料簡分位諸說 0175c01 ・光師義分 0175c09 ・宗趣八門 0175c14 ・發心分教 0175c17 ・定位始教 0175c24 ・四黑障 0175c29 ・四德因種 0176a02 ・仁王四輪王 0176a04 ・終教非位 0176a05 ・本業十心名 0176a07）–下品科起 0184c12 前訖（本品所錄範圍至 0176a16）。
- 李通玄《論》T36n1739：菩薩問明品 0820a01 起（三門 0820a02 ・釋品名目 0820a04 ・釋品來意 0820a07 ・隨文釋義十一段 0820a13 ・第一段二十問 0820a20 ・頌義分三 0820a29 ・科頌意 0820b03 ・釋菩薩名 0820b07 ・十智如來十色世界 0820b16 ・配隨位因果 0820b25 ・第二段財首 0820b29）–下品科起 0823b29 前訖（本品所錄範圍至 0820c02）。
- 異讀：本單元 T279 範圍〔0066a26〕–〔0069b18〕內大正校記 7 條，逐條照錄不判（底本【大】｜他本異讀；多本異讀以／分列）：〔0066c04〕聽【大】｜諦【元】【明】 · 〔0067a22〕震【大】＊｜振【宮】＊（＊同校並繫〔0067c10〕之震字） · 〔0067c06〕曜【大】｜耀【宋】【元】【明】 · 〔0068a27〕餧【大】｜餒【宋】【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0068b19〕度【大】｜受【明】 · 〔0068b23〕怒【大】｜好【宮】／好【南藏】（明註曰怒南藏作好） · 〔0069a23〕世間【大】｜世界【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）夾注（音注・校注）已於原典層剝除誌錄。原典層
□缺字符零命中。 - 異讀補記：CBETA 回改 1 條（不入上列大正校記之數）：〔0066a26〕【CB】｜大方廣佛華嚴經【大】。
The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification is the fourth of the six chapters of the second assembly, in the Hall of Universal Light. Mañjuśrī questions in turn the nine bodhisattvas Foremost in Awakening, Foremost in Wealth, Foremost in Jewels, Foremost in Virtue, Foremost in Vision, Foremost in Diligence, Foremost in Dharma, Foremost in Wisdom, and Foremost in Worthiness, and the nine each answer in verse; at the end the bodhisattvas together question Mañjuśrī, and Mañjuśrī too answers in verse, making ten rounds of question and answer in all. Chengguan sections these ten rounds as 「十甚深」 tr. “the ten profundities” — dependent origination, teaching and transforming, the fruit of deeds, preaching the Dharma, the field of merit, right teaching, right practice, right and auxiliary, the one path, and the realm of the Buddha. After the ten rounds there are two further passages, the manifesting of things and the concluding extension, in which by the Buddha's spiritual power the differences among the beings of this Sahā world and of the ten directions, in dharma and on down to the fruit that is their land, are all made to appear plainly. The sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka names the same chapter “The Bodhisattvas Clarify the Difficulties, Sixth”; Fazang's Tanxuan ji interprets that recension; Li Tongxuan's Xin Huayan jing lun interprets the eighty-fascicle text, taking the bodhisattvas' names as displaying the practices of the ten faiths.
I. Doctrinal Outline and Placement
| Sectional system | Where this chapter stands |
|---|---|
| The base text T279, in thirty-nine chapters | Chapter Ten, The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification (the second assembly, the Hall of Universal Light · beginning in fascicle thirteen at 〔T10n0279 0066a26〕 and ending before the chapter title of the following chapter, Pure Conduct, Eleventh, at 〔0069b19〕) |
| Chengguan, Huayan jing shu | The commentary on The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification, beginning at 〔T35n1735 0600c05〕 and ending before the section on the following chapter begins at 〔0613a08〕; it opens four gates: the reason for its coming, the explanation of the name, the tenet and aim, and the interpretation of the text |
| Chengguan, Yanyi chao | The corresponding passage is 〔not excerpted〕 — the text is known to contain related wording such as 「緣起甚深」 tr. “the profundity of dependent origination”, but it has not been excerpted verbatim; the lacuna is recorded as it stands, and this is not 〔not found〕 |
| Fazang, Tanxuan ji (the commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka) | The Bodhisattvas Clarify the Difficulties, Sixth, beginning at 〔T35n1733 0175b18〕 and ending before the section on the following chapter begins at 〔0184c12〕; five gates of distinction: the reason for its coming, the explanation of the name, critical assessment, the tenet and aim, and the interpretation of the text |
| Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun | The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification, beginning at 〔T36n1739 0820a01〕 and ending before the section on the following chapter begins at 〔0823b29〕; three gates: the explanation of the chapter's title, the explanation of the chapter's coming, and the interpretation of the meaning as the text runs |
The reason for its coming — Chengguan attaches this chapter to what follows the three chapters before it, determining it to be the first of the direct answers concerning the ten faiths:
「釋此一品亦有四門。初來意中有通有別，通謂上來三品已答十句生解所依，此下正答主解因果，故次來也。生解因中，先答十住，住攬信成；將答所成，先辨能成。又正答十信，故下三品來也。後別者，三品明信有解行德，解為二本，此品先來。」 tr. “In interpreting this one chapter there are likewise four gates. In the first, the reason for its coming, there is a general and a particular. The general: the three chapters above have already answered the ten clauses on what the arising of understanding depends upon, and from here on the text properly answers the cause and fruit of the understanding that governs; and so it comes next. Within the cause of the arising of understanding, the ten abodes are answered first, for the abodes are formed by taking up faith; and when what is formed is about to be answered, what forms it is distinguished first. Further, it properly answers the ten faiths, and so the three chapters below come. As for the particular: the three chapters show that faith possesses understanding, practice, and virtue, and understanding is the root of the other two, and so this chapter comes first.” 〔T35n1735 0600c06〕
Li Tongxuan, for his part, attaches it to the emission of light in the preceding chapter: 「二釋品來意者，前品如來足下輪中放光，開覺所照佛境遠近，令信心者一一觀之無礙，令心行廣大稱法界故。」 tr. “Second, in explaining the chapter's coming: in the preceding chapter the Tathāgata emitted light from within the wheels beneath his feet, opening to awakening the near and far of the buddha-realm that was illumined, causing those with the mind of faith to contemplate each one of them without obstruction, and causing the mind's activity to be vast and to answer to the Dharma realm.” 〔T36n1739 0820a07〕 And again: 「此〈問明品〉即是明十信心者正修行之行及斷疑，故有此品來也。」 tr. “This chapter, The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification, is precisely the showing forth, for one with the ten faiths in mind, of the practice of right cultivation and the cutting off of doubt; and so this chapter comes.” 〔0820a10〕
Fazang, on the sixty-fascicle text's The Bodhisattvas Clarify the Difficulties, determines the reason for its coming in two ways: 「初來意，有二：先分來者，前明所依果法，今辯依果所成因行故也。二品來者，所成行中，位前方便信行最初，信中解行及德明難辨解，居初故來。」 tr. “First, the reason for its coming, of which there are two. As to the coming of the division: what was set forth earlier is the fruit-dharma that is depended upon; what is now distinguished is the causal practice that is formed in dependence on that fruit. As to the coming of the chapter: within the practice thus formed, the practice of faith that is the expedient before the stages comes first of all; and within faith, understanding, practice, and virtue, the clarifying of difficulties distinguishes understanding, which stands first, and so it comes.” 〔T35n1733 0175b19〕
The explanation of the name — Chengguan glosses the two graphs 「問」 tr. “asking” and 「明」 tr. “clarification” separately, and distinguishes two sorts each of question and of answer:
「二釋名者，菩薩是人，問明是法。遮果表因，故云菩薩。問即是難，明即是答。然問有二種：一汎爾相問，梵云必理車；二者難問，謂以理徵詰，梵云鉢羅室囊，即今品意也。」 tr. “Second, the explanation of the name: bodhisattvas are the persons, asking for clarification is the dharma. Blocking the fruit and displaying the cause, it therefore says bodhisattvas. Asking is challenging, and clarification is answering. Now questioning is of two sorts: first, a loose asking back and forth, in Sanskrit bili che; second, a challenging question, that is, interrogating by means of principle, in Sanskrit boluoshinang, and this is what the present chapter means.” 〔T35n1735 0600c11〕
「答亦有二：一但依問詶報曰答；二若俱為解釋旁兼異義、美言讚述令理顯煥曰明，即今品意也。明亦破闇，能除問者之疑闇故。今文殊九首互為明難、遞作碪椎，研覈教理以悟群生，故以名也。」 tr. “Answering too is of two sorts: first, merely reporting back in accordance with the question is called answering; second, when it both interprets in full while taking in variant senses alongside and, with fine words, praises and expounds so as to make the principle blaze forth, it is called clarifying, and this is what the present chapter means. Clarity also breaks darkness, since it is able to remove the darkness of doubt in the one who asks. Now Mañjuśrī and the nine Foremost ones clarify difficulties for one another, taking turns as anvil and hammer, examining and testing the teaching and its principle so as to awaken the multitude of beings; and so it is named thus.” 〔0600c15〕
「又長行明起於問，偈頌明解於問，故曰問明。不云答者，欲以明兼於問故。」 tr. “Further, the prose passages show the raising of the question and the verses show the resolving of the question, and so it is called asking for clarification. It does not say answering because it wishes the clarifying to take in the asking as well.” 〔0600c20〕
「又明即法明，以十菩薩問出十種法明，故曰問明。雖諸義不同，皆菩薩之問明，依主釋也。」 tr. “Further, clarification is the clarity of dharma: because the ten bodhisattvas by their asking bring out ten kinds of clarity of dharma, it is called asking for clarification. Although the several senses are not the same, all of them are the bodhisattvas' asking for clarification, and it is a determinative compound.” 〔0600c25〕
Fazang, explaining the sixty-fascicle name 「明難」 tr. “clarifying the difficulties”, sets up four senses: 「明難有四義：一約心境。難謂真俗幽邃，明謂妙智朗照。二約教義。難謂十義甚深，明謂往復顯暢。三約論道。謂難問，明答，以通問答故名明難。何者？但舉法直諮曰問，非理詰責為難。隨問直陳曰答，委釋顯煥為明。四分賓主。約賓則長行中明設於難，約主則偈中明釋於難，故曰明難。」 tr. “Clarifying the difficulties has four senses. First, in terms of mind and object: difficulty means that the true and the conventional are deep and hidden, and clarity means that wondrous wisdom shines brightly. Second, in terms of teaching and meaning: difficulty means that the ten meanings are profound, and clarity means that the going back and forth makes them manifest and free. Third, in terms of the way of discourse: it means challenging in the question and clarifying in the answer, and because it runs through both question and answer it is named clarifying the difficulties. How so? Merely to raise a dharma and inquire straightforwardly is called asking; to reprove and press on the ground of principle is a difficulty. To set forth directly in accordance with the question is called answering; to interpret in detail so that it blazes forth is clarifying. Fourth, dividing guest and host: in terms of the guest, in the prose the setting of difficulties is shown; in terms of the host, in the verses the resolving of difficulties is shown; and so it is called clarifying the difficulties.” 〔T35n1733 0175b23〕
Li Tongxuan's explanation of the name is of the utmost brevity: 「一釋品名目者，為成十種信根，長十種信力，文殊師利、覺首等互為主伴，問十種法明故，故為〈問明品〉。」 tr. “First, in explaining the chapter's title: in order to perfect the ten kinds of root of faith and to grow the ten kinds of power of faith, Mañjuśrī and Foremost in Awakening and the rest are host and companion to one another and ask about ten kinds of clarity of dharma; and so it is The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification.” 〔T36n1739 0820a04〕
The tenet and aim — Chengguan divides general from particular, and within the particular divides again what looks to the present chapter from what looks to the two chapters after it:
「三宗趣者，亦先通、後別。通復二義：一通分宗、二通會宗，並如會初。二別明此品，有其二義：一望當品，以十甚深為宗，依成觀解為趣。二望後二品，則以甚深觀解為宗，成後行德為趣。」 tr. “Third, the tenet and aim: here too the general comes first and the particular after. The general has two senses again: first, the tenet of the general division; second, the tenet of the general gathering — both as at the opening of the assembly. Second, in setting forth this chapter in particular, there are two senses: first, looking to the present chapter, it takes the ten profundities as its tenet and the forming of contemplative understanding in dependence on them as its aim; second, looking to the two chapters after it, it takes profound contemplative understanding as its tenet and the perfecting of the practice and virtue that follow as its aim.” 〔T35n1735 0600c27〕
The place of this chapter in the fourfold division of the interpretation of the text — Chengguan first determines the great section running from here down to The Dwelling Places of the Bodhisattvas, and then enters the present chapter:
「第四釋文。此下至〈菩薩住處〉明生解之因，配十句問。如前問中依文次第且分為六：初此下三品明未信令信、二第三會已信令解、三第四會已解令行、四第五會已行令起願、五第六會已起願令證入、六〈十定品〉至〈住處品〉已證入令等佛。今初三品即為三別：此品明正解理觀、次品明隨緣願行、〈賢首品〉明德用該收。」 tr. “Fourth, the interpretation of the text. From here down to The Dwelling Places of the Bodhisattvas sets forth the cause of the arising of understanding, matched to the ten clauses of the question. As in the earlier question, following the sequence of the text, it is divided for the present into six: first, the three chapters from here set forth causing those who have not yet believed to believe; second, the third assembly, causing those who have believed to understand; third, the fourth assembly, causing those who have understood to practice; fourth, the fifth assembly, causing those who have practiced to raise vows; fifth, the sixth assembly, causing those who have raised vows to realize and enter; sixth, from The Ten Concentrations to The Dwelling Places, causing those who have realized and entered to be equal to the buddhas. Now the first three chapters are made three distinct parts: this chapter sets forth right understanding and the contemplation of principle; the next chapter sets forth vow and practice in accordance with conditions; The Foremost in Worthiness sets forth virtue and function gathered in entire.” 〔T35n1735 0601a02〕
「就初分二：先問答顯理、後示相結通。」 tr. “Within this first part there are two: first, question and answer displaying the principle; after that, the showing of appearances and the concluding extension.” 〔0601a10〕
The sectional names of the ten profundities (Chengguan listing them all at once):
「前中以十菩薩各主一門顯十甚深，即為十段：一緣起甚深、二教化甚深、三業果甚深、四說法甚深、五福田甚深、六正教甚深、七正行甚深、八正助甚深、九一道甚深、十佛境甚深。」 tr. “In the first, by the ten bodhisattvas each presiding over one gate, the ten profundities are displayed, and so there are ten sections: first, the profundity of dependent origination; second, the profundity of teaching and transforming; third, the profundity of the fruit of deeds; fourth, the profundity of preaching the Dharma; fifth, the profundity of the field of merit; sixth, the profundity of right teaching; seventh, the profundity of right practice; eighth, the profundity of right and auxiliary; ninth, the profundity of the one path; tenth, the profundity of the realm of the Buddha.” 〔T35n1735 0601a10〕
The reason for the sequence of the ten profundities Chengguan explains himself:
「此十甚深次第云何？緣起深理總該諸法觀解之要，故首明之。眾生迷此，故須教化。違化順化，有善惡業。欲知此業，由說法成。然說法成善，唯佛福田。既說順田，須持聖教。教在勤行。行須正道助道。助必有正，殊塗同歸。得一道者當趣佛境。故為此次。」 tr. “What is the sequence of these ten profundities? The profound principle of dependent origination gathers up all dharmas entire and is the essential of contemplative understanding, and so it is set forth first. Beings are deluded about it, and so they must be taught and transformed. Going against the transforming and going along with it, there are good and evil deeds. Wishing to know these deeds, one depends on the preaching of Dharma to accomplish it. But preaching that perfects goodness rests on the Buddha alone as the field of merit. Once one has spoken of according with the field, one must uphold the holy teaching. The teaching lies in diligent practice. Practice requires the right path and the auxiliary path. The auxiliary must have the right, and different roads come home together. One who has gained the one path is bound for the realm of the Buddha. Such, then, is this sequence.” 〔T35n1735 0601a15〕
The section boundaries of the base text lock one to one onto the ten sections: question one, Foremost in Awakening 〔0066a27〕 · question two, Foremost in Wealth 〔0066b26〕 · question three, Foremost in Jewels 〔0066c23〕 · question four, Foremost in Virtue 〔0067a19〕 · question five, Foremost in Vision 〔0067b17〕 · question six, Foremost in Diligence 〔0067c14〕 · question seven, Foremost in Dharma 〔0068a11〕 · question eight, Foremost in Wisdom 〔0068b08〕 · question nine, Foremost in Worthiness 〔0068c05〕 · question ten, the bodhisattvas together question Mañjuśrī 〔0069a03〕 · the manifesting of things and the concluding extension 〔0069b02〕〔0069b05〕.
II. Terminology
| Term | What it rests on | Its precise sense |
|---|---|---|
| Asking for clarification | Chengguan: 「問即是難，明即是答。」 tr. “Asking is challenging, and clarification is answering.” 〔T35n1735 0600c13〕 And again: 「又明即法明，以十菩薩問出十種法明，故曰問明。」 tr. “Further, clarification is the clarity of dharma: because the ten bodhisattvas by their asking bring out ten kinds of clarity of dharma, it is called asking for clarification.” 〔0600c25〕 | Interrogating by means of principle is the asking; interpreting in detail so that it blazes forth is the clarifying. The chapter's name is a determinative compound: the person is the bodhisattvas, the dharma is asking for clarification |
| Clarifying the difficulties (the chapter's name in the sixty-fascicle text) | Fazang: 「但舉法直諮曰問，非理詰責為難。隨問直陳曰答，委釋顯煥為明。」 tr. “Merely to raise a dharma and inquire straightforwardly is called asking; to reprove and press on the ground of principle is a difficulty. To set forth directly in accordance with the question is called answering; to interpret in detail so that it blazes forth is clarifying.” 〔T35n1733 0175b27〕 | What the name of the sixty-fascicle chapter The Bodhisattvas Clarify the Difficulties rests on; a different name from the eighty-fascicle 「問明」 tr. “asking for clarification” for one and the same matter |
| The ten profundities | Chengguan: 「一緣起甚深、二教化甚深、三業果甚深、四說法甚深、五福田甚深、六正教甚深、七正行甚深、八正助甚深、九一道甚深、十佛境甚深。」 tr. “First, the profundity of dependent origination; second, the profundity of teaching and transforming; third, the profundity of the fruit of deeds; fourth, the profundity of preaching the Dharma; fifth, the profundity of the field of merit; sixth, the profundity of right teaching; seventh, the profundity of right practice; eighth, the profundity of right and auxiliary; ninth, the profundity of the one path; tenth, the profundity of the realm of the Buddha.” 〔T35n1735 0601a12〕 | A sectional name established by the commentator for the ten rounds of question and answer; the scripture itself never produces the rubric 「十甚深」 tr. “the ten profundities” |
| The nature of mind is one | This chapter: 「佛子！心性是一。云何見有種種差別？」 tr. “Son of the Buddha! The nature of mind is one. Why then are there seen to be all kinds of differences?” 〔T10n0279 0066a27〕; Chengguan: 「謂心之性故，是如來藏也。又心即性故，是自性清淨心也。」 tr. “It is because it is the nature of mind that it is the Tathāgata-womb; and because mind is precisely nature, it is the mind pure in its own nature.” 〔T35n1735 0602a10〕 | The thesis set down in the first question; Chengguan reconciles it by the empty and the non-empty Tathāgata-womb: 「皆平等無二，故云一也」 tr. “both being equal and not two, it is therefore called one” 〔0602a13〕 |
| Ten items in five pairs | Chengguan: 「二「所謂」下別示相違，有十事五對」 tr. “Second, from ‘that is to say’ onward the contradiction is severally shown, and there are ten items in five pairs” 〔T35n1735 0602a16〕 | Good and evil destinies · faculties complete or defective · sameness or difference in taking birth · comeliness or ugliness · pain and pleasure — five pairs making ten items, the marks of difference listed in the first question |
| The nature of the Dharma | This chapter: 「法性本無生，示現而有生」 tr. “The nature of the Dharma has from the first never arisen; it manifests and so appears to have arisen” 〔T10n0279 0066b18〕; Chengguan: 「法性即是真如異名」 tr. “the nature of the Dharma is another name for suchness” 〔T35n1735 0601c11〕 | The line of right doctrine within Foremost in Awakening's answer; on this Chengguan determines that what Mañjuśrī raises as a difficulty is the principle of the real teaching |
| The nature of deeds | This chapter: 「隨其所行業，如是果報生，作者無所有」 tr. “In accordance with the deeds each has done, the fruit of recompense arises just so; and there is no doer at all” 〔T10n0279 0066c28〕 | The pivot term of the third profundity, the fruit of deeds; all nine similes conclude with 「業性亦如是」 tr. “and the nature of deeds is just like this” |
| The field of merit | Chengguan: 「佛為生福之田，名為福田。田德無二，名為等一。」 tr. “The Buddha is the field from which merit is produced, and is therefore named a field of merit. The virtue of the field is not two, and this is named being equally one.” 〔T35n1735 0608c17〕 | The substance of the dharma asked about in the fifth round; the question lies in this, that 「田既是一」 tr. “the field being one” the fruits of recompense yet differ |
| Wide learning | This chapter: 「非但以多聞，能入如來法」 tr. “it is not by wide learning alone that one can enter the Dharma of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0068a18〕 | What the seventh profundity, right practice, breaks; among the nine similes eight share a conclusion, all closing with 「於法不修行，多聞亦如是」 tr. “for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this” 〔T10n0279 0068a20〕, while the last simile concludes differently |
| The four equalities | This chapter: 「四等亦如是，與諸菩薩樂」 tr. “the four equalities are just like this, giving joy to the bodhisattvas” 〔T10n0279 0068c04〕 | The four measureless minds of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; the last verse of Foremost in Wisdom's answer gives the simile of the wheel-turning king for them |
| The one path | Chengguan: 「第九一道甚深，亦名一乘。」 tr. “Ninth, the profundity of the one path, also named the One Vehicle.” 〔T35n1735 0611a10〕 And again: 「謂佛佛所乘同觀心性、萬行齊修，自始至終更無異徑，故云一道」 tr. “that is, what buddha after buddha rides upon is alike the contemplation of the nature of mind and the equal cultivation of the myriad practices, with no differing byway from beginning to end, and so it is called the one path” 〔0611a12〕 | The thesis set down in the ninth round; the text of the scripture reads 「唯以一道，而得出離」 tr. “by one path alone they gain deliverance” 〔T10n0279 0068c06〕 |
| The realm of the Buddha | Chengguan: 「第十佛境界甚深，十信觀圓便造佛境。」 tr. “Tenth, the profundity of the realm of the Buddha: when the contemplation of the ten faiths is complete, one then reaches the realm of the Buddha.” 〔T35n1735 0612a06〕 | What the tenth round asks about; the text of the question lists eleven: the realm and its cause, bringing across, entering, wisdom, dharma, speaking, knowing, verifying, manifesting, and breadth |
| The manifesting of things and the concluding extension | Chengguan: 「十甚深，即問答竟。自下第二現事結通。於中二：先現事、後結通。」 tr. “With the ten profundities the question and answer are done. From here on is the second part, the manifesting of things and the concluding extension. Within it there are two: first the manifesting of things, then the concluding extension.” 〔T35n1735 0612c16〕 | The section for the two passages at the chapter's end; the manifesting of things is in the Sahā world, and the concluding extension reaches through the ten directions |
III. Similes and Rhetoric
The substance of this chapter is question in prose and answer in verse, and the similes within the answers are extremely dense. The count for each round, actually reckoned, is as follows (the vehicles of the similes are all taken verbatim from the base text, and the concluding line of each is shared across a round).
(1) The profundity of dependent origination, four similes (Foremost in Awakening's answer · 〔T10n0279 0066b08〕–〔0066b14〕) — the water in a river, a great mass of fire, a long wind, the many earth-elements:
- The vehicles of the similes: 「譬如河中水，湍流競奔逝」 tr. “It is like the water in a river, whose swift current races and rushes onward” 〔T10n0279 0066b08〕; 「亦如大火聚，猛焰同時發」 tr. “It is also like a great mass of fire, whose fierce flames blaze up all at the same time” 〔T10n0279 0066b10〕; 「又如長風起，遇物咸鼓扇」 tr. “It is also like a long wind rising, which stirs and fans whatever thing it meets” 〔T10n0279 0066b12〕; 「又如眾地界，展轉因依住」 tr. “It is also like the many earth-elements, which rest depending one upon another in turn” 〔T10n0279 0066b14〕.
- The substance of the similes: all four conclude with 「各各不相知，諸法亦如是」 tr. “each and every one, they do not know one another; and all dharmas are just like this”.
- The sense displayed: waves of water, flames of fire, the force of wind, and the earth-elements resting layer upon layer in dependence, all without knowing one another — thereby displaying that dharmas are 「無作用」 tr. “without operation” and 「無體性」 tr. “without substantial nature”, while dependent origination is unbroken.
(2) The profundity of teaching and transforming, two similes (Foremost in Wealth's answer) — the whirling wheel of fire 〔0066c11〕 and the dream 〔0066c15〕:
- 「猶如旋火輪，初後不可知」 tr. “It is like a whirling wheel of fire, whose beginning and end cannot be known” 〔T10n0279 0066c12〕 gives a simile for the arising and perishing of the span of life having no beginning or end that can be obtained; 「眾報隨業生，如夢不真實」 tr. “The many recompenses arise in accordance with deeds and, like a dream, are not real” 〔T10n0279 0066c15〕 gives a simile for the unreality of recompense.
- Among the ten verses of this round only these two set up a simile, the other eight setting forth directly the practice of contemplating the body and contemplating dharmas 〔recorded as the lacuna it is〕.
(3) The profundity of the fruit of deeds, nine similes (Foremost in Jewels' answer · 〔0067a01〕–〔0067a17〕) — the bright and spotless mirror, the seeds in a field, the skilled conjuror, the wooden man worked by a mechanism, the birds coming out of the eggshell, the faculties within the womb, the painful things in the hells, the seven treasures of the wheel-turning king, the great fire of the worlds:
- All nine similes conclude with 「業性亦如是」 tr. “and the nature of deeds is just like this”.
- Chengguan marks their number and their intent at this passage: 「下九喻顯通相而明，喻於業果從緣無性不壞事相；別彰喻意，喻各不同」 tr. “the nine similes below set forth the common character in showing forth, giving a simile for how the fruit of deeds arises from conditions, is without nature, and yet does not ruin the character of phenomena; and severally they display the intent of each simile, for the similes are each different” 〔T35n1735 0607c05〕; and he determines of the last verse: 「後偈喻無漏業果，無漏智火焚蕩有漏，智因漏發，故亦無來。」 tr. “the last verse gives a simile for the fruit of uncontaminated deeds: the uncontaminated fire of wisdom burns away what is contaminated, and since wisdom is set off by the contaminations, it too has nowhere from which it comes.” 〔0608b01〕
- The first verse is not a simile but a statement of the dharma, and Chengguan cites a treatise in evidence of it: 「後句是聖教量。《智論》第二云『有業亦有果，無作業果者。此第一甚深，是諸佛所說。』」 tr. “The last line is the authority of holy teaching. The Zhilun, fascicle two, says: ‘There are deeds and there is fruit, but no doer of the deed and the fruit. This is the first profundity, and it is what the buddhas have declared.’” 〔T35n1735 0607c03〕
(4) The profundity of preaching the Dharma, nine similes (Foremost in Virtue's answer · 〔0067a28〕–〔0067b15〕) — the nature of earth, the nature of fire, the great sea, the nature of wind, cloud and thunder, the earth-element, the sun, the moon in the sky, the great king of the Brahmā heaven:
- All nine similes conclude with 「諸佛法如是」 tr. “and the dharmas of the buddhas are just like this”.
- The sense displayed: the nature is one while the functions are many. Earth is one and beings each dwell upon it; fire is one and burns every thing; the sea is one and its waves and billows are ten million and various; the raindrops have no difference and yet moisten universally; the sun has no differing nature and yet shines upon the ten directions; the moon does not go to where he is and yet there is none in the world who does not see it — thereby displaying that 「如來所悟，唯是一法」 tr. “what the Tathāgata awakened to is one dharma only” 〔T10n0279 0067a19〕 and that the speaking of measureless dharmas is not in contradiction with it.
(5) The profundity of the field of merit, ten similes (Foremost in Vision's answer · 〔0067b23〕–〔0067c12〕) — the great earth, water of one taste, the skilled conjuror, the king of talent and wisdom, the bright and spotless mirror, the agada medicine, the rising sun, the pure full moon, the Vairambhaka wind, the great fire:
- This round sets up a simile in all ten of its verses, without a single verse of direct statement, and all of them are joined to 「佛福田」 tr. “the Buddha's field of merit”.
- The intent of the similes runs along two roads: the first four and the fifth display that ‘the field is one while the fruits differ because of beings’ (「因器有差別」 tr. “because the vessels that hold it differ”, 「眾生心故異」 tr. “because the minds of beings differ”, 「隨心獲眾報」 tr. “in accordance with each one's mind they obtain all sorts of recompense”); the last five display the field's power (extinguishing the troubles of the afflictions · extinguishing the darkness · being equal in every place · shaking the three realms of existence · burning away everything conditioned).
(6) The profundity of right teaching, eight similes (Foremost in Diligence's answer · 〔0067c24〕–〔0068a09〕) — a tiny fire meeting damp kindling, drilling wood and stopping again and again, holding a sun-jewel without receiving its cast image, a fierce sun shining while the child shuts his eyes, having no hands or feet and wishing to shatter the earth with arrows of grass, taking the water of the sea with the tip of a hair, the fire at the end of the kalpa and wishing to put it out with a little water, seeing empty space and sitting still while saying one has leapt through it all:
- All eight similes conclude with 「懈怠者亦然」 tr. “one who is indolent is just like this” (two of them reading 「於佛教法中，懈怠者亦然」 tr. “within the teaching-Dharma of the Buddha, one who is indolent is just like this”).
- The first two verses are not similes: one states the form of the answer, 「或有速解脫，或有難出離」 tr. “there are some who are swiftly liberated, and there are some who find it hard to get free” 〔T10n0279 0067c21〕, and one exhorts, 「當於佛法中，勇猛常精進」 tr. “within the Dharma of the Buddha one should be valiant and constantly vigorous” 〔T10n0279 0067c23〕.
- Chengguan explains the last simile: 「遍空喻，喻雖知性空，智未遊履而言遍證，亦增上慢人也。」 tr. “The simile of pervading space gives a simile for one who, though he knows that the nature is empty, has not yet travelled it with his wisdom and yet speaks of pervasive realization; and he too is a person of overweening pride.” 〔T35n1735 0609c11〕
(7) The profundity of right practice, nine similes (Foremost in Dharma's answer · 〔0068a19〕–〔0068b06〕) — swept by water and dying of thirst, setting out fine food and starving oneself, skilled in prescriptions and unable to save oneself when ill, counting another's treasures and having not half a coin, born in a royal palace and suffering hunger and cold, a deaf man performing music, a blind man painting images, a ship's pilot dying in the midst of the sea, discoursing at the crossroads on fine matters while within having no real virtue:
- The first eight similes all conclude with 「於法不修行，多聞亦如是」 tr. “for one who does not put the Dharma into practice, wide learning is just like this” 〔T10n0279 0068a20〕, while the last reads 「內自無實德，不行亦如是」 tr. “within himself he has no real virtue, and one who does not practice is just like this” 〔T10n0279 0068b07〕 — of the nine similes, eight share a conclusion and the last differs, and it is not one uniform pattern.
- At the end of this passage Chengguan says: 「又此九偈亦可別對隨貪等義，如理應思。」 tr. “Further, these nine verses may also be matched severally against the senses of following after greed and the rest; one should think it through in accordance with principle.” 〔T35n1735 0610b10〕 And he notes of himself that his intent is not to 「毀多聞」 tr. “disparage wide learning” 〔0610b10 in the line preceding〕.
(8) The profundity of the auxiliaries of the path, four similes (Foremost in Wisdom's answer · 〔0068b26〕–〔0068c03〕) — setting the foundation wall and then building the palace hall, building a city wall to guard the multitude, a king of great strength on whom the whole land looks up, a wheel-turning king able to give every joy:
- The four similes are each matched to two perfections: giving and the precepts to the foundation wall, forbearance and vigor to the city wall, concentration and wisdom to the king of great strength, the four equalities to the wheel-turning king.
- In this round the first six verses are statements of the dharma (the Buddha knows the minds of beings and that the portion of nature each has is not the same, and praises the remedy accordingly), and only the last four set up similes.
- Chengguan explains the last simile: 「後一偈四等為因，自他安樂招果無盡故。」 tr. “The last verse: the four equalities are the cause, and because the ease and joy of self and other summon a fruit without end.” 〔T35n1735 0611a09〕
(9) The profundity of the one path has no simile 〔recorded as the lacuna it is〕 — the ten verses of Foremost in Worthiness are wholly statements of the dharma, without a single vehicle of simile.
(10) The profundity of the realm of the Buddha takes empty space as its measure (Mañjuśrī's answer) — 「如來深境界，其量等虛空」 tr. “The profound realm of the Tathāgata: its measure is equal to empty space” 〔0069a11〕 and 「如是慧境界，平等如虛空」 tr. “such a realm of wisdom is equal, like empty space” 〔0069a20〕: these are not similes in the form of 「譬如」 tr. “it is like”, but empty space taken as the measure to which the realm is equal, and it occurs twice. The other eight verses set forth the marks of the realm of the Buddha directly, with no separate simile.
IV. Collation with Parallel Translations
The Chinese collation editions for this chapter: Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text · The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification, Tenth) and Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin translation, the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · The Bodhisattvas Clarify the Difficulties, Sixth, beginning at 〔T09n0278 0427a02〕 and ending before the chapter title of the following chapter, Pure Conduct, Seventh, at 〔0430a22〕). For this chapter there is no separately circulating scripture and no treatise that quotes and interprets it 〔not found〕. What follows records each passage in full without adjudication.
Passage one · The thesis of the first question and the differences it lists
| Collation edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Son of the Buddha! The nature of mind is one. Why then are there seen to be all kinds of differences? That is to say: going to a good destiny or an evil destiny; faculties complete or defective; taking birth in the same way or in different ways; comely or ugly; pain and pleasure not the same | T10n0279 0066a27 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Son of the Buddha! The nature of mind is one; how then can it produce all kinds of fruit of recompense? Some reach a good destiny, some reach an evil destiny; some have all the faculties, some do not have them; some are born in a good place, some are born in an evil place; comely or ugly, pain and pleasure not the same | T09n0278 0427a03 |
Where the variants lie: (a) The eighty-fascicle 「云何見有種種差別」 tr. “why then are there seen to be all kinds of differences” 〔T10n0279 0066a28〕 against the sixty-fascicle 「云何能生種種果報」 tr. “how then can it produce all kinds of fruit of recompense” 〔T09n0278 0427a04〕 — the wording of what is raised as a difficulty is in the one case 「見有」 tr. “are seen to be” and in the other 「能生」 tr. “can produce”. (b) The eighty-fascicle's 「受生同、異」 tr. “taking birth in the same way or in different ways” against the sixty-fascicle's 「或生善處，或生惡處」 tr. “some are born in a good place, some are born in an evil place” 〔T09n0278 0427a05〕. (c) The last pair of the two editions: 「智不知境，境不知智」 tr. “wisdom does not know its object, and the object does not know wisdom” 〔T10n0279 0066b02〕 against 「智不知法，法不知智」 tr. “wisdom does not know dharmas, and dharmas do not know wisdom” 〔T09n0278 0427a08〕, what is paired being in the one case the object and in the other dharmas 〔T09n0278 0427a08〕.
Passage two · The first verse of Foremost in Awakening's answer
| Collation edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | The benevolent one now asks this meaning in order to enlighten and awaken the multitude in their dimness; I answer in accordance with its nature, and may the benevolent one listen closely. | T10n0279 0066b04 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | It is for the sake of transforming beings that you are able to ask this meaning; the nature of dharmas as it truly is, I speak of it — benevolent one, listen closely. | T09n0278 0427a11 |
Where the variants lie: what is praised is the same in sense (praising the one able to ask and exhorting the hearing), while the order of the words and the face of the wording differ entirely; the eighty-fascicle reads 「如其性答」 tr. “I answer in accordance with its nature” and the sixty-fascicle 「諸法如實性」 tr. “the nature of dharmas as it truly is”.
Passage three · The simile of the river water
| Collation edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | It is like the water in a river, whose swift current races and rushes onward; each and every one, they do not know one another, and all dharmas are just like this. | T10n0279 0066b08 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | It is like a swift stream of water, flow upon flow with never an end; the two together do not know one another, and all dharmas are just like this. | T09n0278 0427a15 |
Where the variants lie: the eighty-fascicle reads 「各各不相知」 tr. “each and every one, they do not know one another” and the sixty-fascicle 「二俱不相知」 tr. “the two together do not know one another” — this is the difference in the shared concluding line of the four similes in the two editions, and it holds for all four. Again, the eighty-fascicle's second simile reads 「亦如大火聚，猛焰同時發」 tr. “It is also like a great mass of fire, whose fierce flames blaze up all at the same time” 〔0066b10〕 while the sixty-fascicle reads 「亦如明燈焰，焰焰不暫停」 tr. “It is also like the flame of a bright lamp, flame upon flame not pausing for a moment” 〔T09n0278 0427a17〕, the vehicle of the simile being changed from a mass of fire to the flame of a lamp.
Passage four · The line on the nature of the Dharma manifesting
| Collation edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | The nature of the Dharma has from the first never arisen; it manifests and so appears to have arisen. Within this there is nothing that does the manifesting, nor any thing that is manifested. | T10n0279 0066b18 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | The nature of the Dharma has nothing that turns; it manifests and so there appears to be turning. In that there is no manifesting, and the manifesting has nothing at all. | T09n0278 0427a25 |
Where the variants lie: the eighty-fascicle reads 「無生／有生」 tr. “never arisen / appears to have arisen” and the sixty-fascicle 「無所轉／有轉」 tr. “nothing that turns / there appears to be turning” — what is negated is in the one case arising and in the other turning; and in the verse above, the eighty-fascicle reads 「以此常流轉，而無能轉者」 tr. “by these they turn on constantly, and yet there is no one who turns” 〔0066b17〕 while the sixty-fascicle reads 「因此轉眾苦，而實無所轉」 tr. “through this the many sufferings turn, and yet in truth there is nothing that turns” 〔T09n0278 0427a24〕, so that in the sixty-fascicle the sense of turning belongs to two separate verses.
Passage five · The thesis of the fourth question
| Collation edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Son of the Buddha! What the Tathāgata awakened to is one dharma only. Why then does he speak measureless dharmas | T10n0279 0067a19 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Son of the Buddha! The Tathāgata awakened to one dharma only; why then does he speak measureless dharmas, with sounds filling measureless worlds | T09n0278 0427c26 |
Where the variants lie: the eighty-fascicle's 「所悟，唯是一法」 tr. “what he awakened to is one dharma only” against the sixty-fascicle's 「唯覺一法」 tr. “awakened to one dharma only”; the eighty-fascicle concludes with 「而法性中，此差別相，皆不可得」 tr. “and yet within the nature of the Dharma these marks of difference are all unobtainable” 〔T10n0279 0067a23〕 and the sixty-fascicle with 「而法性分別實不可得」 tr. “and yet within the nature of the Dharma discrimination is truly unobtainable” 〔T09n0278 0428a02〕.
Passage six · The simile of the birds and the eggshell among the nine similes of the fruit of deeds
| Collation edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | It is also like the many kinds of birds that come out from the eggshell, their sounds each not the same; and the nature of deeds is just like this. | T10n0279 0067a09 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | It is also like the many kinds of birds coming out of the eggshell with unlike sounds, able to make all sorts of cries; and the nature of deeds is just like this. | T09n0278 0427c16 |
Where the variants lie: the vehicle of the simile is wholly the same, while the last two lines are divided and joined differently. In the same round the simile of the womb reads in the eighty-fascicle 「譬如胎藏中，諸根悉成就，體相無來處」 tr. “It is like being within the mother's womb, where the faculties all come to completion, and the substance and form has no place from which it came” 〔0067a11〕 and in the sixty-fascicle 「如親因緣會，受生無來者，諸根各別異」 tr. “It is like the meeting of intimate causes and conditions, where in taking birth there is no one who comes, and the faculties are each separate and different” 〔T09n0278 0427c18〕; the simile of the worlds reads in the eighty-fascicle 「大火所燒然，此火無來處」 tr. “burned up by a great fire, and this fire has no place from which it came” 〔0067a17〕 and in the sixty-fascicle 「有成或有敗，成敗無來去」 tr. “there is forming and there is decay, and forming and decay have no coming and no going” 〔T09n0278 0427c24〕.
Passage seven · The eleven items of the tenth question
| Collation edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | What is the realm of the Buddha? What is the cause of the realm of the Buddha? What is the bringing across of the realm of the Buddha? What is the entering of the realm of the Buddha? What is the wisdom of the realm of the Buddha? What is the dharma of the realm of the Buddha? What is the speaking of the realm of the Buddha? What is the knowing of the realm of the Buddha? What is the verifying of the realm of the Buddha? What is the manifesting of the realm of the Buddha? What is the breadth of the realm of the Buddha? | T10n0279 0069a05, within the passage |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | What is the realm of the Buddha? What is the cause of the realm of the Buddha? What is that into which the realm of the Buddha is entered? What is that which the realm of the Buddha brings across? What is the knowing in accord of the realm of the Buddha? What is the dharma in accord of the realm of the Buddha? What is the discriminating knowledge of the realm of the Buddha? What is it to be conscious of the realm of the Buddha? What is it to know the realm of the Buddha with certainty? What is the illumining of the realm of the Buddha? What is the breadth of the realm of the Buddha? | T09n0278 0429c10 |
Where the variants lie: both editions have eleven questions, the number being the same while the face of the wording and the sequence of the items differ — the eighty-fascicle's ‘bringing across, entering, wisdom, dharma, speaking, knowing, verifying, manifesting’ against the sixty-fascicle's ‘that which is entered, that which is brought across, knowing in accord, dharma in accord, discriminating knowledge, being conscious of, knowing with certainty, illumining.’ Again, the words of request read in the eighty-fascicle 「唯願仁者，以妙辯才，演暢如來所有境界！」 tr. “We only pray that the benevolent one, with subtle and wondrous eloquence, will expound and set forth all the realms of the Tathāgata!” 〔T10n0279 0069a04〕 and in the sixty-fascicle 「仁者辯才深入，次應敷演」 tr. “The benevolent one's eloquence enters deep; you should expound it next” 〔T09n0278 0429c10〕.
Passage eight · The first verse of Mañjuśrī's answer
| Collation edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | The profound realm of the Tathāgata: its measure is equal to empty space; all beings are within it, and yet in truth there is no entering. | T10n0279 0069a11 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | The profound realm of the Tathāgata: its measure is level with empty space; all beings are within it, truly with no entering. | T09n0278 0429c17 |
Where the variants lie: the graphs differ in two places only, 「等／齊」 tr. “equal to / level with” and 「而實／真實」 tr. “and yet in truth / truly”, the rest of the verse being the same throughout — of the ten rounds, this is the verse in which the two editions stand closest.
Passage nine · The manifesting of things and the concluding extension
| Collation edition | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | At that time, within this Sahā world, all the differences in dharma, differences in deeds, differences in world, differences in body, differences in faculty, differences in the taking of birth, differences in the fruit of keeping the precepts, differences in the fruit of violating the precepts, and differences in the fruit that is their land, belonging to all beings, were by the Buddha's spiritual power all made to appear plainly. | T10n0279 0069b02 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | At that time the beings of this Sahā world, by the Buddha's spiritual power, saw of all the beings of this buddha-land: the dharma as each practiced it, the deeds as each did them, the conduct as each went on in the world, what each did in accordance with the body, what each did in accordance with the faculties, the place of birth produced in accordance with the recompense of each one's conduct, the keeping of the precepts and the breaking of the prohibitions, and the fruit of recompense of preaching the Dharma — such matters within the world they saw, every one. | T09n0278 0430a08 |
Where the variants lie: the eighty-fascicle lists nine differences (dharma · deeds · world · body · faculty · taking birth · the fruit of keeping the precepts · the fruit of violating the precepts · the fruit that is the land), while the sixty-fascicle has among the corresponding items one item, 「說法果報」 tr. “the fruit of recompense of preaching the Dharma”, which the eighty-fascicle does not. Chengguan has already recorded this lacuna: 「十說法則近報淨居，聰明利智速具佛法，此經文闕，晉本具之。」 tr. “Tenth, preaching the Dharma, that is, the near recompense of the Pure Abodes, where intelligence and sharp wisdom swiftly bring the dharmas of the Buddha to completion; this is missing from the text of this scripture, while the Jin edition has it in full.” 〔T35n1735 0612c23〕
Recorded in full without adjudication: the differences in the nine passages above are either differences in the wording of a thesis (are seen to be / can produce; what he awakened to is one dharma / awakened to one dharma), or differences in the vehicle of a simile (a great mass of fire / the flame of a lamp), or differences in a shared concluding line (each and every one / the two together), or differences in dividing and joining (the one item of the fruit of preaching the Dharma). Both editions are recorded, and no judgment of superiority is made between them.
V. Scriptural Grounds of Sectarian Doctrine (the doctrinal eye)
(1) What the first question is for lies in sweeping away divergent views and displaying the profound principle — Chengguan determines why Mañjuśrī asks this at the very beginning:
「初所為者，有二義故，最初問之，一拂異見、二顯深理。拂見有三：一令諸菩薩知法從緣，異外道見；二知從心現，捨二乘見；三但心性起，不同權教。」 tr. “As for what it is for, it is asked first of all because of two senses: first, to sweep away divergent views; second, to display the profound principle. The sweeping away of views is threefold: first, causing the bodhisattvas to know that dharmas come from conditions, which differs from the view of the outsiders; second, to know that they appear from mind, which sets aside the view of the two vehicles; third, that it is only the arising of the nature of mind, which is not the same as the provisional teaching.” 〔T35n1735 0601b16〕
「二顯深理者，令諸菩薩於此實義發深信解，起行證真始終皆實，故問斯義。」 tr. “Second, as for displaying the profound principle: it causes the bodhisattvas to give rise to deep faith and understanding in this real meaning, so that in raising practice and realizing the true, from beginning to end all is real; and so he asks this meaning.” 〔0601b20〕
And he cites the Awakening of Faith in evidence: 「有法能起摩訶衍信根，是故應說。所言法者，謂眾生心。依一心法，有真如門及生滅門。」 tr. “There is a dharma able to give rise to the root of faith in the Mahāyāna, and therefore it should be spoken. As for what is called the dharma, it is the mind of beings. In dependence on the dharma of the one mind there are the gate of suchness and the gate of arising and perishing.” 〔T35n1735 0601b22〕
(2) The difficulty about the nature of mind is a fourfold contradiction — of root and branch, of principle and phenomena, of one and many, of true and false —
「心性既一，事應不多；事法既多，性應非一。此是本末相違難，亦是理事相違，亦一異相違，亦真妄相違。」 tr. “The nature of mind being one, phenomena ought not to be many; and phenomenal dharmas being many, the nature ought not to be one. This is the difficulty of the contradiction of root and branch, and it is also the contradiction of principle and phenomena, also the contradiction of one and many, also the contradiction of true and false.” 〔T35n1735 0601c03〕
(3) The singling out of what the nature of mind refers to — Chengguan makes it clear that 「心性是一」 tr. “the nature of mind is one” does not refer to the eighth consciousness:
「三揀定所問者，準此問意，離如來藏不許八識能所熏等別有自體能生諸法，唯如來藏是所依生。亦不可言八識無二類故名心性一，以能生種種，非相違故。亦非第八而為性一熏成種種，非相違故，心性之言非第八故。」 tr. “Third, as for singling out what is asked about: according to the intent of this question, apart from the Tathāgata-womb it is not allowed that the eighth consciousness, with its perfuming and what is perfumed and the rest, has some separate substance of its own able to produce dharmas; it is the Tathāgata-womb alone that is depended upon in their production. Nor may it be said that the eighth consciousness, having no two kinds, is therefore called the nature of mind being one, since its producing all sorts is not a contradiction. Nor again is it the eighth that as one nature is perfumed into all sorts, since that is not a contradiction; for the words ‘nature of mind’ are not the eighth.” 〔T35n1735 0601c05〕
「答中既言法性本無生，示現而有生。法性即是真如異名，正與報事相違，故成難耳。文殊欲顯實教之理，故以心性而為難本。」 tr. “Since the answer says that the nature of the Dharma has from the first never arisen and manifests and so appears to have arisen — the nature of the Dharma being another name for suchness — this stands precisely in contradiction with the phenomena of recompense, and so the difficulty is formed. Mañjuśrī wishes to display the principle of the real teaching, and therefore takes the nature of mind as the root of his difficulty.” 〔0601c10〕
(4) The joining of the empty and the non-empty Tathāgata-womb — interpreting the sense of 「是一」 tr. “is one”:
「今初。謂心之性故，是如來藏也。又心即性故，是自性清淨心也。又妄心之性，無性之性，空如來藏也。真心之性，實性之性，不空如來藏也。皆平等無二，故云一也。」 tr. “Now the first. It is because it is the nature of mind that it is the Tathāgata-womb; and because mind is precisely nature, it is the mind pure in its own nature. Again, the nature of the deluded mind, a nature that is no nature, is the empty Tathāgata-womb; the nature of the true mind, a nature that is real nature, is the non-empty Tathāgata-womb. Both are equal and not two, and it is therefore called one.” 〔T35n1735 0602a10〕
(5) The mutual inclusion of the ten items in five pairs — Chengguan explains why the differences listed in the first question make five pairs:
「二「所謂」下別示相違，有十事五對：一、約總報明趣有善惡，善謂人天、惡謂三塗；下四對皆約別報。於中，二、謂於前善惡趣中各根有滿缺，謂眼等內根。三、於滿缺中各生有同異，謂四生不同勝劣處異。四、於上同異生處，各貌有妍媸。五、於上妍媸，各受有苦樂。」 tr. “Second, from ‘that is to say’ onward the contradiction is severally shown, and there are ten items in five pairs. First, in terms of the general recompense, it sets forth that destinies are good or evil — good meaning humans and gods, evil meaning the three evil ways; the four pairs below are all in terms of particular recompense. Within them: second, within the aforesaid good and evil destinies the faculties are in each case complete or defective, that is, the inward faculties, the eye and the rest. Third, within completeness and defect, birth is in each case the same or different, that is, the four modes of birth are not the same and the places, superior and inferior, differ. Fourth, in the places of birth, whether same or different, the appearance is in each case beautiful or homely. Fifth, upon that beauty or homeliness, what is undergone is in each case pain or pleasure.” 〔T35n1735 0602a16〕
「上之五對，前前皆具後後，後後必帶前前，展轉異同成多差別，故云種種不同。」 tr. “Of these five pairs above, each earlier one possesses all the later ones and each later one necessarily carries the earlier ones with it; turning about, difference and sameness form many differences, and so it says that they are all sorts and not the same.” 〔0602a22〕
(6) The three senses in which the foregoing difficulty is brought to completion — Chengguan distinguishes three senses in the passage from 「業不知心」 tr. “deeds do not know mind” onward:
「一直問所以，故今結云非但本性是一，我細推現事各不相知，既有種種，何緣不相知？既不相知，誰教種種？」 tr. “First, a direct asking after the reason; so it now concludes: not only is the root nature one — I examine present phenomena closely and they do not know one another; given that there are all sorts, on what account do they not know one another? And if they do not know one another, who taught them to be all sorts?” 〔T35n1735 0602a28〕
「二者懷疑，故結云既不相知，為是一性？為是種種？三作相違難，結云一性隨於種種即失真諦，種種隨於一性即失俗諦。今見種種，又不相知，此二互乖，云何並立？」 tr. “Second, harboring a doubt; so it concludes: if they do not know one another, is it one nature, or is it all sorts? Third, framing a difficulty of contradiction; it concludes: one nature following upon all sorts loses the truth of ultimate meaning, and all sorts following upon one nature loses the conventional truth. Now we see all sorts, and again they do not know one another; these two run against each other — how can they stand together?” 〔0602b04〕
(7) The ten profundities may also be matched to the ten faiths — Chengguan matches the ten bodhisattvas to the ten minds, and himself notes that they are 「不必次」 tr. “not necessarily in sequence”:
「又此十種亦可配於十信，但不次耳。文殊佛境即當信心，文殊主信故。」 tr. “Further, these ten kinds may also be matched to the ten faiths, only they are not in sequence. Mañjuśrī and the realm of the Buddha answer to the mind of faith, since Mañjuśrī presides over faith.” 〔T35n1735 0601a21〕
「勤首即進心，財首為念心，明四念故。覺首定心，能觀心性為上定故。智首則慧心，慧為上首兼己莊嚴故有十度。法首即不退心，如說修行得不退故。寶首即戒心，三聚無缺如寶珠故，業果甚深戒所招故。德首即護法心，說法甚深是所護故。目首即願心，福田等一由願異故，目能將身如願導行故。賢首即迴向心，以歸一道即迴向真如」 tr. “Foremost in Diligence is the mind of vigor; Foremost in Wealth is the mind of mindfulness, since it sets forth the four mindfulnesses. Foremost in Awakening is the mind of concentration, since being able to contemplate the nature of mind is the highest concentration. Foremost in Wisdom, then, is the mind of wisdom, since wisdom is foremost and adorns oneself besides, and so there are the ten perfections. Foremost in Dharma is the mind of non-retrogression, since practicing as it is taught one gains non-retrogression. Foremost in Jewels is the mind of the precepts, since the three collections without defect are like a jewel-pearl, and since the profundity of the fruit of deeds is what the precepts summon. Foremost in Virtue is the mind of guarding the Dharma, since the profundity of preaching the Dharma is what is guarded. Foremost in Vision is the mind of vows, since the field of merit being equally one it is by vows that they differ, and since the eye leads the body as the vow guides practice. Foremost in Worthiness is the mind of dedication, since coming home to the one path is dedication to suchness” 〔0601a24〕
(8) The determination of the structure of the ten rounds by the two senses, in terms of practice and in terms of dharma —
「然有二義：一約行、二約法。言約行者，文殊發問、九菩薩答，明妙慧通於眾行；九菩薩問、文殊為答，明眾行成於妙慧。言約法者，初九顯差別義、後一顯差別同歸佛境。此二不二，成信中之觀解。」 tr. “Now there are two senses: first in terms of practice, second in terms of dharma. Speaking in terms of practice: Mañjuśrī raises the questions and nine bodhisattvas answer, showing that wondrous wisdom runs through the various practices; nine bodhisattvas question and Mañjuśrī gives the answer, showing that the various practices are perfected in wondrous wisdom. Speaking in terms of dharma: the first nine display the sense of difference and the last one displays that difference comes home alike to the realm of the Buddha. These two being not two, they form the contemplative understanding within faith.” 〔T35n1735 0601b07〕
(9) The tenth round: general and particular unobstructed, the six characteristics perfectly fused — Chengguan explains why the questioning is done by the great assembly together:
「初標能所問人。大眾同問者，攝別歸總，故總別無礙，六相圓融。問文殊者，佛境甚深，除般若妙德，無能達故。始信終智，皆託佛境，故無按定。」 tr. “First it marks out the persons who ask and who are asked. That the great assembly questions together is the gathering of the particular back into the general, and so general and particular are unobstructed and the six characteristics are perfectly fused. That they question Mañjuśrī is because the realm of the Buddha is profound and, apart from the wondrous virtue of prajñā, none could reach it. From the beginning in faith to the end in wisdom, all rest upon the realm of the Buddha, and so there is no fixing down.” 〔T35n1735 0612a08〕
(10) The things manifested in the manifesting of things and the concluding extension are ten —
「今初。因何而現上來十首？法光開曉眾生身心故。佛力暫現示相而答，令其目驗而欣厭故。所現有十：第一法，即所行之法，謂三學等殊；二業，謂正行，漏無漏等；三集因苦果；四身類不同；五根機差別；六四生非一；七持戒則人天勝劣；八犯戒則三塗重輕；九國土則依處染淨；十說法則近報淨居，聰明利智速具佛法，此經文闕，晉本具之。」 tr. “Now the first. On what account is there this manifesting after the ten Foremost ones above? Because the light of the Dharma opens and awakens the bodies and minds of beings. The Buddha's power for a moment manifests and shows an appearance as its answer, so that they may verify it with their own eyes and thereby be gladdened and repelled. What is manifested is tenfold: first, dharma, that is, the dharma one practices, the three trainings and the rest being diverse; second, deeds, that is, right practice, contaminated and uncontaminated and the rest; third, the cause that is accumulated and the fruit that is suffering; fourth, the kinds of body not being the same; fifth, the differences of faculty and capacity; sixth, the four modes of birth not being one; seventh, keeping the precepts, hence the superior and inferior among humans and gods; eighth, violating the precepts, hence the heavy and light among the three evil ways; ninth, the land, hence the defiled and pure among dwelling places; tenth, preaching the Dharma, that is, the near recompense of the Pure Abodes, where intelligence and sharp wisdom swiftly bring the dharmas of the Buddha to completion — this is missing from the text of this scripture, while the Jin edition has it in full.” 〔T35n1735 0612c17〕
「第二「如是」下結通廣遍。於中二：初結東方、後「南西」下類餘九方。亦現十事，以此處說法則現事通於十方，餘處說法亦應類此，總為一法界大會，思之。」 tr. “Second, from ‘just so’ onward is the concluding extension, broad and pervasive. Within it there are two: first the eastern quarter is concluded; then from ‘the southern and the western’ onward the remaining nine quarters are treated in kind. Here too the ten things are manifested, for since the Dharma is preached in this place the manifesting of things extends through the ten directions, and where the Dharma is preached elsewhere it should be taken in the same way — all of it being one great assembly of the Dharma realm. Think it through.” 〔T35n1735 0613a03〕
VI. Divergent Interpretations of the Commentators
Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735 (following the text of the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · principal)
The determination by the provisional and the real in reconciling the fourth contradiction — Chengguan poses for himself the contradiction between the Yuqie shidi lun and the Lengqie jing and Miyan jing, and answers it:
「四會相違者，問：若爾，《瑜伽》等中異熟賴耶從業惑種辦體而生，非如來藏隨緣所成，如何會釋？答：《瑜伽》等中對於凡小，約就權教隨相假說。《楞伽》、《密嚴》對大菩薩，依於實教盡理而說。既機有大小、法有淺深、教有權實，故不相違。」 tr. “Fourth, reconciling the contradiction. Question: if so, then in the Yuqie shidi lun and the rest the maturing store-consciousness is produced in its very substance from the seeds of deeds and defilements, and is not formed by the Tathāgata-womb according with conditions — how are these to be reconciled and interpreted? Answer: in the Yuqie shidi lun and the rest, for ordinary persons and those of the lesser vehicle, it is a conventional formulation following appearances in terms of the provisional teaching. The Lengqie and the Miyan, for the great bodhisattvas, speak according to the real teaching, exhausting the principle. Since capacities are great and small, dharmas are shallow and deep, and teachings are provisional and real, there is no contradiction.” 〔T35n1735 0601c15〕
The texts he cites: the Miyan jing, 「佛說如來藏，以為阿賴耶。惡慧不能知，藏即賴耶識。」 tr. “The Buddha spoke of the Tathāgata-womb as being the store-consciousness. Those of evil wisdom are unable to know that the womb is the store-consciousness.” 〔0601c20〕 · 「如來清淨藏，世間阿賴耶，如金與指環，展轉無差別。」 tr. “The pure womb of the Tathāgata and the worldly store-consciousness are like gold and a finger-ring: turning about, there is no difference between them.” 〔0601c22〕 · the Ru Lengqie jing, 「如來藏名阿賴耶識，而與無明七識共俱。」 tr. “The Tathāgata-womb is named the store-consciousness, and it is together with ignorance and the seven consciousnesses.” 〔0601c27〕 · the Awakening of Faith, 「不生不滅與生滅和合，非一非異，名阿賴耶識。」 tr. “The unarising and unperishing joined together with arising and perishing, neither one nor different, is named the store-consciousness.” 〔0601c28〕 · a verse of the Damo jing, 「無始時來界，為諸法等依。」 tr. “The realm that has been there since beginningless time is the equal support of all dharmas.” 〔0602a01〕.
The recording of the shallowness and depth of the two schools — after citing the She dacheng lun's 「界者因義，即種子識」 tr. “realm has the sense of cause, that is, the seed-consciousness” 〔T35n1735 0602a02〕 and the Baoxing lun's 「性者謂如來藏性」 tr. “nature means the nature of the Tathāgata-womb”, these two interpretations, Chengguan says:
「以此等文，故知兩宗不同，淺深可見。又唯識等亦說真如是識實性，但後釋者定言不變，失於隨緣，過歸後輩耳。」 tr. “By such passages as these it is known that the two schools are not the same, and their shallowness and depth may be seen. Further, the consciousness-only school and the rest also say that suchness is the real nature of consciousness; only, the later interpreters fixedly speak of the unchanging and lose the according with conditions, and the fault comes home to the later followers.” 〔T35n1735 0602a05〕
The bringing of the foregoing difficulty to completion has a separate interpretation by an ancient worthy — Chengguan records a predecessor's interpretation and then sets out his own separately:
「第三結成前難中，此文意稍難見，略為二解：一依古德作遮救重難，如前第二問意中辨；二直結成前難。」 tr. “Third, in the bringing of the foregoing difficulty to completion, the intent of this text is somewhat hard to see; briefly there are two interpretations. One follows an ancient worthy in making it a blocking rescue and a renewed difficulty, as distinguished earlier in the intent of the second question; the other simply brings the foregoing difficulty to completion.” 〔T35n1735 0602a25〕
The marking out, round by round, of the intent in the person questioned — Chengguan, in each round, first explains why Mañjuśrī questions that bodhisattva:
「問覺首者，彼得此門故，緣起深義不覺則流轉故。」 tr. “That he questions Foremost in Awakening is because he has obtained this gate, and because the profound meaning of dependent origination, unawakened to, is what makes one flow on.” 〔T35n1735 0601b13〕 「告財首者，彼得此法財益生門故。」 tr. “That he addresses Foremost in Wealth is because he has obtained this gate of benefiting beings with the wealth of Dharma.” 〔0605c24〕 「第四說法甚深，亦可名應現甚深，問及答中通三業故，以說法化勝故，從此立名。」 tr. “Fourth, the profundity of preaching the Dharma; it may also be named the profundity of responsive manifesting, since both question and answer run through the three kinds of action, and since transformation by preaching the Dharma is the most excellent, the name is set up from this.” 〔0608b03〕 「第五福田甚深。問中，初標告。以福田是照導引生，又施為諸度之前導，故問目首也。」 tr. “Fifth, the profundity of the field of merit. In the question, first is the marking and the addressing. Because the field of merit is what illumines and guides and draws forth production, and further because giving is the forerunner of all the perfections, he therefore questions Foremost in Vision.” 〔0608c15〕 「第六正教甚深。問中，初標問人，以破懈怠故問勤首。」 tr. “Sixth, the profundity of right teaching. In the question, first is the marking of the person questioned: because it breaks indolence, he questions Foremost in Diligence.” 〔0609a15〕 「第七正行甚深。問法首者，以行法故。」 tr. “Seventh, the profundity of right practice. He questions Foremost in Dharma because it is a matter of practicing the Dharma.” 〔0609c12〕 「第八助道甚深。問智首者，以顯智為正道之體，統其助故。」 tr. “Eighth, the profundity of the auxiliaries of the path. He questions Foremost in Wisdom in order to display that wisdom is the substance of the right path and governs its auxiliaries.” 〔0610b11〕 「第九一道甚深，亦名一乘。問中，標問賢首者，至道柔順故。又賢猶直善，佛佛皆同一直道故。」 tr. “Ninth, the profundity of the one path, also named the One Vehicle. In the question, that he marks out Foremost in Worthiness as the one questioned is because the utmost path is yielding and compliant. And further, worthy is akin to upright and good, and buddha after buddha alike has this one upright path.” 〔0611a10〕 「第十佛境界甚深，十信觀圓便造佛境。」 tr. “Tenth, the profundity of the realm of the Buddha: when the contemplation of the ten faiths is complete, one then reaches the realm of the Buddha.” 〔0612a06〕
A further sequence in the matching of the manifesting of things to the ten profundities — at the concluding extension Chengguan sets up a separate correlation whose order of bodhisattvas differs from the order of question and answer in the scripture:
「又此亦可配十甚深，以是示相答故。一法首，正教甚深；二寶首，業果；三勤首，懈怠難出；四財首，觀內身等；五德首，佛法一味，隨根異說等；六覺首，往善惡趣；七智首，六度順行，通為持戒之果；八目首，佛田平等，但犯戒布施得果差別；九賢首，隨心世界有差別等；十晉經既有說法，即是說佛境界法也。」 tr. “Further, this too may be matched to the ten profundities, since it is an answer by showing an appearance. First, Foremost in Dharma, the profundity of right teaching; second, Foremost in Jewels, the fruit of deeds; third, Foremost in Diligence, indolence and the difficulty of getting free; fourth, Foremost in Wealth, contemplating the body within and the rest; fifth, Foremost in Virtue, the one taste of the dharmas of the Buddha and the differing preaching that accords with capacity, and the rest; sixth, Foremost in Awakening, going to good and evil destinies; seventh, Foremost in Wisdom, the six perfections practiced in accord, taken generally as the fruit of keeping the precepts; eighth, Foremost in Vision, the equality of the Buddha's field, only that in violating the precepts and in giving the fruits obtained differ; ninth, Foremost in Worthiness, that in accordance with mind the worlds have their differences, and the rest; tenth, since the Jin scripture has the preaching of the Dharma, this is precisely the speaking of the dharma of the realm of the Buddha.” 〔T35n1735 0612c25〕
Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (the commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka, The Bodhisattvas Clarify the Difficulties)
Four views on the sectioning of the causal stage — in his gate of critical assessment Fazang lists the several houses' differing divisions of the causal stage, upholding no one of them:
「三料簡者，就此因中或分二：初比位，謂此品下至〈迴向〉；二證位，謂〈十地品〉下證位。或分三：初三品是位前方便，〈昇天品〉下十三品明三賢正位，〈十地〉下六品明十聖真位。或分四：初從此盡第三會為十解，以信是住之方便無正位故，攝屬十住中；二第四會十行；三第五會十迴向；四第六會十地等。或分五：開信異住故。」 tr. “Third, critical assessment. Within this cause it is divided by some into two: first the comparative stages, that is, from this chapter down to The Dedications; second the stages of realization, that is, from The Ten Grounds down, the stages of realization. Some divide it into three: the first three chapters are the expedient before the stages; from The Ascent to the Heaven down, thirteen chapters set forth the right stages of the three worthy ranks; from The Ten Grounds down, six chapters set forth the true stages of the ten holy ranks. Some divide it into four: first, from here to the end of the third assembly is the ten understandings, since faith is the expedient of the abodes and has no right stage, and so is taken as belonging within the ten abodes; second, the fourth assembly, the ten practices; third, the fifth assembly, the ten dedications; fourth, the sixth assembly, the ten grounds and the rest. Some divide it into five, opening faith apart from the abodes.” 〔T35n1733 0175c01〕
The two views of the sense-division of master Guang — Fazang separately records the determination of the master 「光」 tr. “Guang”:
「又光云：義分或三。初三品明始起於先際；二從〈昇天〉下明善修於中際；三〈不思法品〉等明終顯於後際。或分四：初未信者令信；二第三會下已信者令入，謂解行也；三〈十地品〉下已入者令純熟；四〈不思品〉下已純熟者令解脫。」 tr. “Again, Guang says: the sense-division is by some made three. First, the three chapters set forth the initial arising at the prior limit; second, from The Ascent to the Heaven down sets forth the good cultivation at the middle limit; third, The Inconceivable Dharma and the rest set forth the final display at the later limit. Or it is divided into four: first, causing those who have not yet believed to believe; second, from the third assembly down, causing those who have believed to enter, that is, understanding and practice; third, from The Ten Grounds down, causing those who have entered to ripen fully; fourth, from The Inconceivable down, causing those who have ripened fully to be liberated.” 〔T35n1733 0175c09〕
The two determinations, that the ten faiths are a stage and that they are not — Fazang makes his determination by dividing according to the teaching, showing that the two views each have what they rest upon:
「四定位者，此十信法於始教中自是位，如梁《攝論》云「如須陀桓道前四位謂燸等，菩薩地前四位亦如是，謂十信、十解、十行、十迴向。」」 tr. “Fourth, fixing the stage: this dharma of the ten faiths, within the initial teaching, is of itself a stage, as the Liang She dacheng lun says, ‘As the four stages before the path of the stream-enterer are the heat and the rest, so also are the four stages before the bodhisattva grounds, that is, the ten faiths, the ten understandings, the ten practices, and the ten dedications.’” 〔T35n1733 0175c25〕
「若約終教，此信但是十住位之方便，自無別位，故《本業經》云「未上住前有此十心名字，謂一信心、二念心、三精進心、四慧心、五定心、六不退心、七迴向心、八護心、九戒心、十願心。」」 tr. “If in terms of the final teaching, this faith is only the expedient of the stage of the ten abodes and has no separate stage of its own; and so the Benye jing says, ‘Before ascending to the abodes there are these ten minds by name, that is, first the mind of faith, second the mind of mindfulness, third the mind of vigor, fourth the mind of wisdom, fifth the mind of concentration, sixth the mind of non-retrogression, seventh the mind of dedication, eighth the mind of guarding, ninth the mind of the precepts, tenth the mind of vows.’” 〔T35n1733 0176a07〕
His gate of the arousing of the mind likewise speaks by dividing according to the teaching: 「三發心者，謂始從具縛不識三寶名字等，創起一念信等，此約始教，如《本業經》。終教，如《起信論》修行信心分。圓教，如〈賢首品〉初。以小乘非此，故不約說。頓教無位，故亦不說。」 tr. “Third, the arousing of the mind: that is, beginning from one wholly bound who does not know even the names of the three jewels and the rest, who for the first time raises a single thought of faith and the rest — this is in terms of the initial teaching, as in the Benye jing. The final teaching, as in the Awakening of Faith, the part on cultivating the mind of faith. The perfect teaching, as at the opening of The Foremost in Worthiness. Since the lesser vehicle is not of this sort, it is not spoken of; and since the sudden teaching has no stages, it too is not spoken of.” 〔T35n1733 0175c17〕
Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739 (a differing track of displaying the Dharma)
The division into eleven sections of scripture — Li Tongxuan does not use the rubric of the ten profundities but divides the text by the count of sections:
「三隨文釋義者，於此品一段文中，有十一段經，明文殊師利、覺首等十菩薩互為主伴，問十種法，明各以菩薩之名即表十信所行之行。文殊還以名下之行以相諮問，十菩薩等各以自行法以頌答之，令信心者依而倣學。其十問十頌，其文如下，最下一段都結十方同此。」 tr. “Third, interpreting the meaning as the text runs: within this one stretch of text of this chapter there are eleven sections of scripture, setting forth that Mañjuśrī and the ten bodhisattvas, Foremost in Awakening and the rest, are host and companion to one another and ask about ten kinds of dharma, and that each by the bodhisattva's name displays the practice carried out in the ten faiths. Mañjuśrī in turn inquires by the practice that lies under his name, and the ten bodhisattvas each answer in verse with the dharma of their own practice, so that those with the mind of faith may rely on them and learn by imitation. The ten questions and ten sets of verses are as given below, and the last section altogether concludes that the ten directions are the same as this.” 〔T36n1739 0820a13〕
The first question as twenty questions — his reckoning of the number of questions differs from Chengguan's section of ten items in five pairs:
「第一「爾時文殊師利菩薩」已下六行經，是文殊菩薩起二十問。善惡因果，或一字問、或一句一問，總有二十問。向下十一行頌，是覺首菩薩答。初一行頌是歎能問之人及勸聽，後十行頌是答所問之法。」 tr. “The first, the six lines of scripture from ‘At that time the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī’ onward, is the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī raising twenty questions. Good and evil, cause and fruit — sometimes one graph makes a question, sometimes one clause makes a question, and altogether there are twenty questions. The eleven lines of verse below are the bodhisattva Foremost in Awakening's answer. The first line of verse praises the one able to ask and exhorts the hearing; the ten lines of verse after it answer the dharma asked about.” 〔T36n1739 0820a20〕
The interpretation of the name Foremost in Awakening by both true and false having vanished —
「二釋菩薩名者，為明覺此隨流生死業體，本性恒真而無流轉，眼耳鼻舌身意恒如法，知非流轉生死性故。」 tr. “Second, interpreting the bodhisattva's name: it is to set forth awakening to this, that the very substance of the deeds that flow along in birth and death is in its own nature ever true and does not flow on, and that eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are ever such as the Dharma, since one knows that they are not of the nature of flowing on in birth and death.” 〔T36n1739 0820b07〕
「為以此當體無明諸業因果上自覺覺他，令知法界自性真理真妄兩亡，名為覺首。以信此法初，名之為首。」 tr. “Because upon this very substance, upon the cause and fruit of ignorance and the deeds, he awakens himself and awakens others, causing them to know that in the true principle of the Dharma realm's own nature both true and false have vanished, he is named Foremost in Awakening. Because it is at the beginning of faith in this dharma, it is named foremost.” 〔0820b12〕
The matching of the ten faiths by the three things, the buddhas' names, the worlds' names, and the bodhisattvas' names —
「此明十信初心，全信自身眼耳鼻舌身意及以一切眾生全體真妄兩亡，唯佛智海故，故以不動智佛等十智如來為十信位中自己果故。金色世界、妙色世界、蓮華色世界等十色世界，是十信之中所信之理。文殊師利、覺首、財首等十菩薩眾，是十信之行以行立名。」 tr. “This sets forth that in the first mind of the ten faiths one believes entirely that one's own eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, together with the whole substance of all beings, have both true and false vanished and are only the wisdom-sea of the Buddha; and therefore the ten wisdom-tathāgatas, the Buddha of Unmoving Wisdom and the rest, are one's own fruit within the stage of the ten faiths. The Golden-Colored World, the Wondrous-Colored World, the Lotus-Colored World and the rest, the ten worlds of color, are the principle believed in within the ten faiths. Mañjuśrī, Foremost in Awakening, Foremost in Wealth and the rest, the ten hosts of bodhisattvas, are the practices of the ten faiths, named after the practice.” 〔T36n1739 0820b14〕
「三配隨位因果者，常以自心本不動智佛，為本信心之因，以進修得此無礙智佛，是隨位佛果。此乃但依問答及菩薩名號、佛名號、世界形色取其意趣，理自分明，勿須疑也。」 tr. “Third, matching the cause and fruit that accord with the stage: one constantly takes the Buddha of Original Unmoving Wisdom of one's own mind as the cause of the root mind of faith, and by advancing in cultivation obtains this Buddha of Unobstructed Wisdom, which is the buddha-fruit that accords with the stage. This is simply to take the intent from the questions and answers and from the names of the bodhisattvas, the names of the buddhas, and the shapes and colors of the worlds; the principle is clear of itself, and there is no need to doubt.” 〔T36n1739 0820b25〕
Recorded without adjudication: Chengguan sets up his sections by the ten profundities, marks out round by round the reason for the person questioned, and reconciles the contradiction of the provisional and real teachings by the Tathāgata-womb according with conditions; Fazang, on the sixty-fascicle text, explains the name by the four senses of clarifying the difficulties, in his gate of critical assessment lists the divisions of the causal stage into two, three, four, and five without upholding one, and in his gate of fixing the stage determines that within the initial teaching the ten faiths are a stage and within the final teaching they are not; Li Tongxuan does not use the rubric of the profundities, divides the text into eleven sections of scripture, reckons the first question as twenty questions, and takes the three things, the names of the buddhas, of the worlds, and of the bodhisattvas, as displaying the cause and fruit of the ten faiths. The three houses run side by side, and all are established views of the ancient worthies; they are recorded, and no ranking is made among them. That Chengguan, at the bringing of the foregoing difficulty to completion, records the one interpretation of 「古德作遮救重難」 tr. “an ancient worthy making it a blocking rescue and a renewed difficulty” and then sets out his own interpretation separately is a choice of his own; his original determination is recorded, and no further appraisal is added.
VII. Cross-Reading and Lineage
- The tie to the chapters before and after: this chapter carries on from Awakening by Light, Ninth, and is followed by Pure Conduct, Eleventh. Chengguan joins the three chapters into one group: 「今初三品即為三別：此品明正解理觀、次品明隨緣願行、〈賢首品〉明德用該收。」 tr. “Now the first three chapters are made three distinct parts: this chapter sets forth right understanding and the contemplation of principle; the next chapter sets forth vow and practice in accordance with conditions; The Foremost in Worthiness sets forth virtue and function gathered in entire.” 〔T35n1735 0601a08〕 Li Tongxuan ties it to the emission of light in the preceding chapter: 「前品如來足下輪中放光，開覺所照佛境遠近」 tr. “in the preceding chapter the Tathāgata emitted light from within the wheels beneath his feet, opening to awakening the near and far of the buddha-realm that was illumined” 〔T36n1739 0820a07〕.
- The tie to the answering of the questions: Chengguan determines the chapters from here on to be the answer to the ten clauses of the second assembly's question — 「此下至〈菩薩住處〉明生解之因，配十句問」 tr. “from here down to The Dwelling Places of the Bodhisattvas sets forth the cause of the arising of understanding, matched to the ten clauses of the question” 〔T35n1735 0601a02〕.
- The tie to The Foremost in Worthiness: Fazang determines the character of the arousing of the mind in the perfect teaching to be 「如〈賢首品〉初」 tr. “as at the opening of The Foremost in Worthiness” 〔T35n1733 0175c20〕; and Chengguan likewise takes The Foremost in Worthiness as the third of the three chapters, 「明德用該收」 tr. “setting forth virtue and function gathered in entire” 〔T35n1735 0601a09〕.
- The treatises carried on: within this chapter Chengguan cites the Awakening of Faith in two places 〔0601b22〕〔0601c28〕 · the Lengqie jing and the Miyan jing 〔0601c14〕〔0601c20〕 · a verse of the Damo jing and the two interpretations of the She dacheng lun and the Baoxing lun 〔0602a01〕 · the Da zhidu lun, fascicle two 〔0607c03〕; Fazang cites the Liang She dacheng lun, the Foxing lun, the Renwang jing, and the Benye jing 〔T35n1733 0175c25〕–〔0176a07〕. All are the commentators' citations and do not issue from the text of this chapter itself.
- 〔Not found〕: the Wujiao zhang T45n1866 · the Shixuan men T45n1868 · the Huanyuan guan T45n1876, in these three works ‘asking for clarification, clarifying the difficulties, the ten profundities, the profundity of dependent origination’ have zero occurrences, and the lacuna is recorded; in the Fajie xuanjing T45n1883 one occurrence of the graphs 「明難」 tr. “clarifying the difficulties” 〔T45n1883 0676c08〕 has been examined and found to be the chance coincidence of the two graphs 「明・難」 tr. “clarify · difficulty” in a general remark, not an interpretation of this chapter, and it is recorded as 〔not bearing on this chapter〕. In the treatises carried on — the Cheng weishi lun T31n1585 · the She dacheng lun T31n1594 · the Yuqie shidi lun T30n1579 · the Jieshenmi jing T16n0676 — ‘the ten profundities, the profundity of dependent origination, clarifying the difficulties, asking for clarification’ likewise have zero occurrences, and this is recorded as 〔not found〕 — this chapter has no separately circulating treatise that quotes and interprets the scripture, unlike The Ten Grounds with its Shidi jing lun.
VIII. Edition Location Register
- Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text): The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification, Tenth, beginning at 〔T10n0279 0066a26〕 and ending before the chapter title of the following chapter, Pure Conduct, Eleventh, at 〔0069b19〕, crossing the boundary between fascicle thirteen and fascicle fourteen. Question one, Foremost in Awakening 0066a27 (the answering verses begin 0066b04 · eleven verses) · question two, Foremost in Wealth 0066b26 (the answering verses begin 0066c03 · ten verses) · question three, Foremost in Jewels 0066c23 (the answering verses begin 0066c28 · ten verses) · question four, Foremost in Virtue 0067a19 (the answering verses begin 0067a26 · ten verses) · question five, Foremost in Vision 0067b17 (the answering verses begin 0067b23 · ten verses) · question six, Foremost in Diligence 0067c14 (the answering verses begin 0067c20 · ten verses) · question seven, Foremost in Dharma 0068a11 (the answering verses begin 0068a17 · ten verses) · question eight, Foremost in Wisdom 0068b08 (the answering verses begin 0068b14 · ten verses) · question nine, Foremost in Worthiness 0068c05 (the answering verses begin 0068c12 · ten verses) · question ten, the bodhisattvas together question Mañjuśrī 0069a03 (the answering verses begin 0069a11 · ten verses) · the manifesting of things 0069b02 · the concluding extension 0069b05. The answering verses actually reckoned come to one hundred and one (eleven verses in the first round, ten in each of the remaining nine).
- Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin translation, principal collation): The Bodhisattvas Clarify the Difficulties, Sixth, beginning at 〔T09n0278 0427a02〕 and ending before the following chapter's title at 〔0430a22〕. Question one, Foremost in Awakening 0427a03 (the answering verses begin 0427a11) · question two, Foremost in Wealth 0427b04 (the answering verses begin 0427b09) · question three, Foremost in Jewels 0427b29 (the answering verses begin 0427c06) · question four, Foremost in Virtue 0427c26 (the answering verses begin 0428a04) · question ten, the bodhisattvas together question Mañjuśrī 0429c09 (the answering verses begin 0429c17) · the manifesting of things and the concluding extension 0430a08.
- Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735: the commentary on The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification begins 0600c05 (the reason for its coming 0600c06 · the explanation of the name 0600c11 · the two sorts of question 0600c13 · the two sorts of answer 0600c15 · the division of prose and verse 0600c20 · the tenet and aim 0600c27 · fourth, the interpretation of the text 0601a02 · the division of the three chapters 0601a08 · the listing of the names of the ten profundities 0601a10 · the sequence of the ten profundities 0601a15 · the matching to the ten faiths 0601a21 · the two senses in terms of practice and in terms of dharma 0601b06 · the reason for questioning Foremost in Awakening 0601b13 · the brief opening of five gates 0601b15 · sweeping away divergent views and displaying the profound principle 0601b16 · the citation of the Awakening of Faith 0601b22 · the setting out of the intent of the question 0601b25 · the four contradictions 0601c02 · the singling out of what is asked about 0601c05 · reconciling the contradiction by the provisional and the real 0601c15 · the citation of the Miyan, the Lengqie, and the Awakening of Faith 0601c20 · the citation of the Damo jing, the She dacheng lun, and the Baoxing lun 0602a01 · the shallowness and depth of the two schools 0602a05 · fifth, the interpretation of the text 0602a08 · the two Tathāgata-wombs 0602a10 · the ten items in five pairs 0602a16 · the two interpretations of the bringing of the foregoing difficulty to completion 0602a25 · the three senses of the concluding difficulty 0602a28 · the direct interpretation of the text on the ten items in five pairs 0602b08 · second, the profundity of teaching and transforming 0605c23 · the citation of the Zhilun on the first profundity 0607c03 · the common and several senses of the nine similes 0607c05 · the simile of the fruit of uncontaminated deeds 0608b01 · fourth, the profundity of preaching the Dharma 0608b03 · fifth, the profundity of the field of merit 0608c15 · sixth, the profundity of right teaching 0609a15 · the simile of pervading space 0609c11 · seventh, the profundity of right practice 0609c12 · the nine verses severally matched to following after greed 0610b10 · eighth, the profundity of the auxiliaries of the path 0610b11 · the cause and fruit of the four equalities 0611a09 · ninth, the profundity of the one path 0611a10 · tenth, the profundity of the realm of the Buddha 0612a06 · the six characteristics perfectly fused 0612a08 · the section of the manifesting of things and the concluding extension 0612c16 · what is manifested is tenfold 0612c19 · the Jin edition has the preaching of the Dharma in full 0612c23 · the matching to the ten profundities 0612c25 · the concluding extension, broad and pervasive 0613a03 · 「問明品辨信中解竟」 tr. “The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification, distinguishing understanding within faith, is done” 〔T35n1735 0613a06〕 0613a06) — ending before the section on the following chapter begins 0613a08.
- Chengguan, Yanyi chao T36n1736: the corresponding passage is 〔not excerpted〕 — the text is known to contain related wording, but it has not been excerpted verbatim; the lacuna is recorded as it stands.
- Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733: The Bodhisattvas Clarify the Difficulties, Sixth, begins 0175b18 (five gates of distinction 0175b19 · the two senses of the reason for its coming 0175b19 · the explanation of the name 0175b22 · the four senses of clarifying the difficulties 0175b23 · critical assessment, the several views on dividing the stages 0175c01 · master Guang's sense-division 0175c09 · the tenet and aim, eight gates 0175c14 · the arousing of the mind divided by teaching 0175c17 · fixing the stage, the initial teaching 0175c24 · the four black hindrances 0175c29 · the seeds of the cause of the four virtues 0176a02 · the four wheel-turning kings of the Renwang 0176a04 · the final teaching, not a stage 0176a05 · the names of the ten minds in the Benye 0176a07) — ending before the section on the following chapter begins 0184c12 (the range excerpted for this chapter runs to 0176a16).
- Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739: The Bodhisattvas Ask for Clarification begins 0820a01 (three gates 0820a02 · the explanation of the chapter's title 0820a04 · the explanation of the chapter's coming 0820a07 · the interpretation of the meaning as the text runs, eleven sections 0820a13 · the first section, twenty questions 0820a20 · the sense of the verses divided in three 0820a29 · the sectioning of the intent of the verses 0820b03 · the interpretation of the bodhisattva's name 0820b07 · the ten wisdom-tathāgatas and the ten worlds of color 0820b16 · the matching of the cause and fruit that accord with the stage 0820b25 · the second section, Foremost in Wealth 0820b29) — ending before the section on the following chapter begins 0823b29 (the range excerpted for this chapter runs to 0820c02).
- Variant readings: within the range of T279 covered by this unit, 〔0066a26〕–〔0069b18〕, the Taishō base text carries 7 collation notes, recorded one by one without adjudication (base reading 【大】｜variant readings of other witnesses, several witnesses separated by ／): 〔0066c04〕聽【大】｜諦【元】【明】 · 〔0067a22〕震【大】＊｜振【宮】＊（＊同校並繫〔0067c10〕之震字） · 〔0067c06〕曜【大】｜耀【宋】【元】【明】 · 〔0068a27〕餧【大】｜餒【宋】【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0068b19〕度【大】｜受【明】 · 〔0068b23〕怒【大】｜好【宮】／好【南藏】（明註曰怒南藏作好） · 〔0069a23〕世間【大】｜世界【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.) The interlinear notes (phonetic and collation glosses) were stripped and recorded at the level of the original-text layer; the original-text layer carries no
□lacuna marks. - A further note upon the variant readings: 1 CBETA emendation (not counted among the Taishō collation notes listed above): 〔0066a26〕【CB】｜大方廣佛華嚴經【大】.