華嚴經 品十五 十住品Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Ten Abodes

Why the ten abodes follow upon the praises in verse

Only here does the third assembly enter its main exposition. The two chapters before it — one telling how the Buddha ascended the summit of Sumeru without leaving the tree of awakening, one in which the bodhisattvas of the ten directions praise the Buddha in verse — are still setting the stage. In this chapter the bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom enters concentration, receives the sustaining power, comes out of concentration, and opens his mouth; and what he speaks is ten kinds of abode. Chengguan states the occasion of this chapter very plainly: since the merits of the Buddha have now been made clear above, the main doctrine ought to be brought out; and further, what was distinguished before was the merit of the Buddha, which is what is depended upon, whereas what is distinguished here is the ten abodes, which are what depend on it. Li Tongxuan takes it up from the other end: the previous chapter was the gate of praise in verse and exhortation to cultivate, and only this chapter properly sets forth the practice of cultivating the ten abodes, and therefore this chapter had to come. Zhiyan puts it most sparely: “Why does it come? Because it is the main exposition.”

Put together, the three amount to one thing: praise is a looking up, and after the looking up there must be somewhere to set one's feet. This chapter is that place. Brought home to oneself: after a person has been moved by the Dharma, the easiest thing is to stop inside the being moved; the sūtra does not permit stopping there, and immediately gives you ten steps.

The word “abide”: to stand firm, not to stop

The “abide” of the ten abodes is most easily read as ‘lingering.’ Not one of the ancient masters reads it so.

Chengguan glosses it: “Wisdom abides in the principle and the station gained is not retrogressed from; hence it is called abiding.” — it is by wisdom that one abides in the principle, and therefore the station does not retrogress, and so it is called abiding. He further cites the lower fascicle of the Benye: “One first enters the realm of emptiness and abides in the station of the nature of emptiness; hence it is called abiding.” Fazang glosses it more tightly: “Because the station gained is not retrogressed from, it is said to abide.” Li Tongxuan speaks from the side of what is abided in: “As for the ten abodes, one abides born within the great wisdom of the Buddhas, and having entered this abiding one never again retrogresses; hence it is named abiding.” Zhiyan in one sentence: “To abide is the station of non-retrogression.”

All four masters put the weight on the two words “not retrogressing.” So abiding is not standing still but standing firm; not that one goes no further, but that having come this far one will not slip back. Clear away a common misunderstanding: do not imagine the ten abodes as ten resting stations. They are ten heights ‘from which one will no longer fall.’ Here is where it lands: what is truly rare in practice is not a burst of fierceness but not going backward.

As for the number “ten,” Chengguan says, “the meaning of abiding is of many kinds; ten is spoken as an entrustment of the round,” and Fazang says, “the dharma of abiding ought to be round, and as it is depended upon, ten are spoken, which is the number-bearing analysis” — ten is not a literal count but an entrustment of ten to display completeness. So there is no need to ask ‘why not nine or eleven.’

Chengguan's seven portions: how this chapter is assembled

Chengguan divides this chapter into seven portions: the portion of samādhi, of sustaining, of rising, the main portion, the portion of speaking, the portion of corroboration, and the portion of repeated verses. Fazang, over on the side of the sixty-fascicle text, divides it in exactly the same way, only calling the seventh the portion of verses. Zhiyan, following the pattern of the chapter on the Ten Grounds, divides it into six portions, the last called the portion of benefit — the number and the names of the portions the three masters give differ slightly; the ancients had this divergence, and it is recorded.

What use is it to a reader to know these seven portions? The use is this: this chapter is not a stretch of talk but a whole rite. Entering concentration (the portion of samādhi), the Buddhas sustaining him (the portion of sustaining), coming out and opening his mouth (the portion of rising), properly speaking the ten abodes (the main portion), heaven and earth bearing witness (the portion of speaking), the ten directions bearing witness (the portion of corroboration), and saying it over again (the portion of repeated verses). Not one of these steps is ornament, and each is taken up below in turn.

Why he must enter concentration before speaking

Chengguan lists six reasons: first, this samādhi is itself the very substance of the dharma to be spoken; second, without personal realization it cannot be spoken; third, to display that this dharma is not a sphere that thinking can reach; fourth, to observe capacities and weigh the medicine of the Dharma; fifth, in order to receive the Buddha's sustaining power; sixth, to accomplish a rite. The six purposes Fazang lists on the side of the sixty-fascicle text are wholly the same in the first five; his last is “in order to display that the Buddhas speak it alike.”

The weightiest of these six are the first and the second. The first says: concentration is not a preparatory act performed before speaking the Dharma — concentration is the very thing to be spoken; Chengguan cites the treatise to say that the samādhi is the substance of the dharma. The second says: without realization there is no speaking. Clear away a misunderstanding: do not suppose that entering concentration is a matter of ‘gathering one's attention so as to speak well.’ What the sūtra means is that this dharma cannot be taken out of thinking at all; it can only flow out of realization.

Then why is it Dharma Wisdom who enters concentration and not another? Chengguan answers with three things: he is the foremost of the assembly; were another to enter, the assembly's minds would be stirred and untamed; and it is to display that the dharma of the ten abodes is precisely what “Dharma Wisdom” is able to speak. The name here simply is the doctrine: only one whose wisdom can carry the Dharma can speak of a station of abiding by wisdom.

The name of the samādhi too has its meaning word by word. Chengguan takes it apart: it is called “bodhisattva” in order to set aside the concentration of the fruit of Buddhahood; it is called “skillful means” because it can know according to its own nature and is skilled in contemplative understanding; it is called “measureless” because each of the ten abodes gathers in many gates of skill; and it is called “entering” because the mind goes toward the Dharma. He also turns over the three aspects of entering, abiding, and coming out and reads them at a further depth: “Now, it is the stillness of that very illumining that is named entering; it is the illumining of that very stillness that is named coming out; and having entered and not yet risen is named abiding.” — illumining that is still is called entering, and stillness that illumines is called coming out. This is a different reading from that of the provisional and lesser teachings, which take entering concentration to be ‘drawing the six consciousnesses inward.’

The portion of sustaining: what the Buddhas gave

Buddhas as many as the dust motes of a thousand Buddha-lands in each of the ten directions appear before him, all bearing the same name, Dharma Wisdom. This passage has three things in it: the commendation, the account of the grounds of the sustaining, and the conferring of knowledge and the stroking of his crown.

As to the grounds of the sustaining, the sūtra lists three powers: the spiritual power of the Buddhas, the past vows and the majestic and spiritual power of the Tathāgata Vairocana, and the power of the roots of goodness that Dharma Wisdom himself has cultivated. The three powers are raised together and no one of them may be taken alone: assign it wholly to the Buddha's power and the practitioner has nothing to do; assign it wholly to his own power and one does not know whence the Dharma comes. Then follow ten clauses each ending in “because,” setting out what the sustaining is for: to increase the Buddha's wisdom, to enter deeply into the Dharma realm, well to know the realm of beings, to be unobstructed in what is entered, unhindered in what is practiced, to gain incomparable skillful means, to enter the nature of omniscience, to awaken to all dharmas, to know the faculties of all beings, and to be able to uphold and expound all dharmas — and only when the ten are finished is the proper theme to be spoken pointed out: “to arouse the bodhisattvas' ten kinds of abode.” Zhiyan divides this passage into eleven clauses, saying that one is general, nine are particular, and the last completes the station.

The ten kinds of knowledge conferred are: unobstructed knowledge, unattached knowledge, unbroken knowledge, undeluded knowledge, unvarying knowledge, unfailing knowledge, measureless knowledge, unsurpassed knowledge, untiring knowledge, and unseizable knowledge. All ten names are stated by negation — they do not say what is given but what obstruction is taken away. And the sūtra itself explains why they are given: “by the power of this samādhi, because the Dharma is just so.” The Dharma is originally like this; it is not an extra favor from the Buddhas.

The stroking of the crown is the sustaining by the deed of the body. The three kinds of sustaining — by speech (the commendation and the charge to speak), by mind (the conferring of the ten knowledges), and by body (the stroking of the crown) — Zhiyan distinguishes clearly. Where it lands: when a person is truly able to speak a profound dharma, he generally does not feel it to be his own accomplishment; and this passage is that very thing written up as a rite.

The general statement of the main portion: the place of abiding is vast, equal to the Dharma realm and to space

The first thing Dharma Wisdom says on coming out of concentration is: “The place where a bodhisattva abides is vast, equal to the Dharma realm and to space.” The second: “A bodhisattva abides in the house of the Buddhas of the three times.”

Chengguan divides these two sentences: the two words “place of abiding” display its substance in general, what follows from “vast” briefly shows its mark, and “abides in the house of the Buddhas of the three times” concludes by pointing to the place of abiding. He says further that the substance of the ten abodes is briefly of three kinds: first, in terms of what is depended upon, namely the samādhi above; second, in terms of the root, namely the ten abodes distinguished below; and third, the substance in its own nature — which, in terms of the object apprehended, is the two spheres of the real and the conventional, and in terms of the apprehending, the two practices of compassion and wisdom; and since the two spheres are already fused and compassion and wisdom are not separate, sphere and knowledge silently accord and are one and the same Dharma realm.

It is best to put a question to this passage first: since it says “abiding,” why does it begin by speaking of “vast”? The answer lies in the six words “equal to the Dharma realm and to space.” Whatever abiding has a place has a boundary; and where there is a boundary there is somewhere to retrogress to. The reason this abiding does not retrogress is precisely that it is so large as to have no outside. Clear away a misunderstanding: do not read “the place of abiding is vast” as meaning that the Buddha-land is very large. What the sūtra speaks of is the substance abided in, not the ground dwelt on.

The sixty-fascicle text has here “the bodhisattva's seed-nature is profound and vast, equal to the Dharma realm and to space,” setting up the text with “seed-nature”; and Zhiyan accordingly judges it to be the substance of the two seed-natures, the innate and the cultivated. The eighty-fascicle text has “place of abiding,” and Chengguan accordingly judges the place of abiding to be the general and all the rest to be particular. The text depended on differs, and so the outline set up differs; each of the two judgments has its own basis, and it is recorded.

The names of the ten abodes and the Buddhas of the three times speaking alike

“The abodes of a bodhisattva are of ten kinds, which the Buddhas of the past, the future, and the present have spoken, will speak, and now speak.” — Chengguan here draws a comparison: there is no fruit of Buddhahood in the three times that is not accomplished by the cause of these ten abodes, just as with the great king's road, which is the constant rule of the way things are; and therefore the three times' Buddhas speak them alike.

The great king's road is the public highway of a country, and whoever would travel takes this one road. This sentence settles the doubt a reader is most likely to raise: are the ten abodes some special arrangement of a particular sūtra or a particular Buddha? They are not. They are the highway.

The names of the ten abodes: the abode of first arousing the mind, of preparing the ground, of cultivation, of noble birth, of perfected skillful means, of the rectified mind, of non-retrogression, of childlike purity, of the prince, and of consecration. Within the ten names there is one very clear thread — the first three are setting out on one's own (arousing the mind, preparing the ground, cultivating contemplation), the middle three are a change of station (birth into the house of the Buddha, skillful means made complete, the mind rectified and unmoved), and the last four are ripening toward succession (non-retrogression, childlike purity, princehood, consecration). The imagery this thread uses is that of succession in a royal house: born into the king's house, grown to a youth, established as prince, and consecrated as successor.

One thing often confused should be noted in passing: “the ten abodes” is a name the sūtra itself has; but the placing of the ten abodes after the ten faiths and before the ten practices, and the saying that they belong to the lower of the three worthies — this matching of stations is the outline of Chengguan and the other ancient masters, and the sūtra itself does not mark it so. In reading one must keep clear which layer is sūtra and which is commentary.

Under the ten abodes, each abode is divided into two portions: first the ten things accomplished in the present abode, then the “ten dharmas he should be exhorted to learn.” Chengguan judges the former portion to be the proper portion and the latter the advancing portion — the proper portion is what has already been stood firm in at this abode, and the advancing portion is what must be learned in order to go up a step. Li Tongxuan reckons the total: within each and every abode there are twenty dharma-gates, ten dharmas accomplishing the present station and ten serving as the practice of ascent, so that the ten abodes together come to two hundred dharma-gates. A word-by-word count of the base text agrees.

Each abode is now taken up in turn, clause by clause.

Abode one, first arousing the mind: the conditions of arousing, and the ten powers taken as object

First a question: the “arousing the mind” of the abode of first arousing the mind — what mind is aroused? The sūtra says it plainly — “he arouses the mind of awakening and seeks omniscience.” It is not the vow to be a good person; it is the seeking of omniscience.

The conditions of arousing the mind. The sūtra first lists six marks of seeing the Buddha: upright and adorned in form, complete and full in color and mark, delightful for all to behold, hard to encounter, possessed of great majestic power, and seeing the spiritual feet; then three conditions of hearing the Dharma: hearing predictions conferred, receiving instruction and admonition, hearing the Tathāgata's vast Buddha-Dharma; and one further condition that is adverse: seeing beings undergoing severe suffering. Chengguan divides these ten clauses, saying: “The text lists ten conditions, and in meaning it holds four causes, namely faith, compassion, wisdom, and the seed-nature.” — the first three contemplate the outer marks, the fourth, “hard to encounter,” runs through both inner and outer, the fifth, “possessed of great majestic power,” makes plain the inner virtue, and the sixth, “spiritual feet,” is outer function alone; while the clause about seeing beings suffer is the cause that is compassion.

Clear away a misunderstanding: is it not too shallow to arouse the mind because the Buddha is fine to look at? Chengguan answers well: among the six above, upon seeing any one thing pure faith is born and the mind aspires upward in seeking, thinking within, ‘if this may be cultivated, I too shall surely be thus’ — the starting point is in the mark, and the landing point is in the seeking. Entering by way of the shallow is not the same as being shallow.

The ten hard-to-obtain dharmas taken as object (the ten things of the proper portion). These ten dharmas are the Tathāgata's ten powers, and Chengguan judges plainly, at the repeated verses, that “the first ten verses are about arousing the mind in dependence on the ten powers, one verse to one power.” Clause by clause:

First, the knowledge of what is and is not so — knowing what does and does not stand to reason. The repeated verses put it most clearly: “The causes and fruits of the three times are called ‘what is so,’ and to grasp a self and an own-nature is called ‘what is not so’”; cause and fruit are what is so, and grasping a self and an own-nature is what is not so; if this one thing is not distinguished, the other nine powers cannot even be spoken of. Second, the knowledge of the retribution of good and evil deeds — knowing all good and evil deeds and their fruits with nothing left out; to arouse the mind without knowing deeds and their retribution is to let compassion decline into sentiment. Third, the knowledge of the superiority and inferiority of the faculties — knowing that beings' faculties are keen or dull; this is the root of whether teaching can meet its mark. Fourth, the knowledge of the differences among the various understandings — knowing that beings' views and delights each differ, which the repeated verses render “the loves and desires of their minds each differing”; only by knowing the differences does one know where to begin. Fifth, the knowledge of the differences among the various elements — knowing the differences of kind and constitution among beings, which the repeated verses render “beings' manifold constitutions and elements each differ”; the elements are a classification deeper down than the understandings and harder to alter. Sixth, the knowledge of the paths that lead to every destination — knowing to what each gate of practice leads, which the repeated verses render “each and every one having its own destination”; what a learner most fears is to walk a long way without knowing where it leads. Seventh, the knowledge of the concentrations, liberations, and samādhis — knowing the defilement and purity of all concentrations, liberations, and samādhis and their entering, abiding, and coming forth; states of concentration may be deviant or right, and this knowledge is precisely the sorting of them. Eighth, the unobstructed knowledge of former lives — recollecting without obstruction the natures and marks of past ages; only by knowing the past does one know where the present came from. Ninth, the unobstructed knowledge of the heavenly eye — seeing without obstruction how beings drift along with their deeds; the repeated verses say “they drift along with their deeds without a moment's rest,” and what the heavenly eye illumines is deeds, not marvels. Tenth, the knowledge of the universal exhaustion of the outflows of the three times — knowing that the afflictions and residual habits of the three times are universally cut off, which the repeated verses render “arising in succession together with the residual habits; wishing to know them completely and to make them utterly exhausted”; the first nine are knowing beings, and this one is knowing where cutting off happens, and so it is listed last.

The reason the ten powers are “hard-to-obtain dharmas” is precisely that they are the Buddha's own sphere. One at the first arousing of the mind takes the Buddha's sphere as object and thereby arouses the mind; this is the very style of this chapter — what is taken as object being high, what is aroused is great.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). Chengguan says these ten dharmas “do not go beyond compassion and wisdom. Making offerings to the Buddhas is the general clause, running through both goods and Dharma; the nine below are particular.” Clause by clause:

First, diligently making offerings to the Buddhas — this is the general clause, running through offerings of goods and of Dharma; only when the nine things below are done is it a true offering. Second, delighting to abide in birth-and-death — Chengguan glosses: with great compassion foremost he therefore delights to abide, and with wisdom penetrating its emptiness he therefore has no dread; it is not craving for birth-and-death but not fearing it. Third, acting as the guiding lord of the world and causing evil deeds to be extinguished — abiding and acting as lord, he guides the people of the world to remove evil. Fourth, constantly instructing by the supreme and subtle Dharma — that is, the principle and teaching by which he can guide. Fifth, praising the unsurpassed Dharma — displaying the fruit so that people aspire to it, which is where the teaching arrives. Sixth, learning the merits of the Buddhas — learning the Buddha's virtue as the cause by which one can arrive. Seventh, being born before the Buddhas and constantly receiving their embrace — the completing of virtue depends on conditions, and so he vows to be born before the Buddhas. Eighth, expounding the tranquil samādhis by skillful means — stilling the stir of the seeking above and the transforming below. Ninth, praising departure from the round of birth-and-death — stillness necessarily departs from the round. Tenth, being a refuge for beings who suffer — not losing the mind of compassion, and so being ever what beings rely on.

The order of these ten clauses has been considered: it begins from making offerings, passes through the tempering of the mind on actual affairs, gathers into stillness, and from stillness returns to beings. The last clause returning to suffering beings is precisely what prevents the eighth and ninth from being read as a turning away. The concluding sentence, “in order to make the bodhisattva's mind turn ever broader within the Buddha-Dharma,” shows that the purpose of the exhortation is not to add items but to enlarge the mind.

Abode two, preparing the ground: putting the ground of the mind in order

First a question: the mind having been aroused, why must the ground still be “prepared”? Chengguan answers: “it is to temper and prepare the ground of the mind so that compassion and wisdom grow bright; hence it is named the abode of preparing the ground.” — arousing the mind is the seed falling to the ground, and preparing the ground is putting the ground in order, without which the seed will not grow. He says further that this abode is one in which “constantly following the mind of emptiness one is pure, and the eighty-four thousand gates of Dharma are pure and clean,” that is, washing the ground of the mind with the wisdom of emptiness.

Arousing ten kinds of mind toward beings (the proper portion). Chengguan says these ten minds have two meanings: first, that toward each and every being one arouses these ten minds; second, that in order to distinguish differences they are matched to eight kinds of being. Clause by clause:

First, the mind of benefit — Chengguan gives the instance: toward hostile beings one not only does not think of requital but goes on to bestow benefit. Second, the mind of great compassion — toward beings poor and suffering, wishing them to be free of it, one arouses compassion. Third, the mind of ease and joy — toward beings in peril and dread and without joy, causing them to gain the means of joy inexhaustibly. Fourth, the mind of settling them — toward beings of evil conduct, causing them to be settled in good conduct. Fifth, the mind of pity — toward beings who have gained joy, with a mind of commiseration not letting them grow negligent; those who have gained joy most easily forget and lose it, and so this mind is needed. Sixth, the mind of taking them in — toward outsiders who have not yet aroused the mind, gathering them so that right faith is born. Seventh, the mind of guarding them — those in whom faith has been born, upholding them so that they do not fall away. Eighth, the mind that treats them as oneself — regarding another as oneself, whereby the partition between foe and kin dissolves. Ninth, the mind of a teacher — treating beings with the mind of an elder teacher, without contempt. Tenth, the mind of a guide — leading beings with the mind of a guide, not stopping at instruction but bringing them onto the road.

The ten minds begin from “benefit” and conclude with “a guide,” a single line running from giving to leading. Clear away a misunderstanding: these ten minds are not ten emotions; they are ten positions from which beings are met.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). Clause by clause:

First, reciting, rehearsing, and wide learning — preparing the ground first requires materials, and so wide learning comes first. Second, empty, leisured stillness — wide learning without a still place in which to digest it becomes mere piling up. Third, drawing near to good friends — looking at oneself easily goes crooked, and so good friends are needed. Fourth, speaking gently and pleasingly — the repeated verses add a phrase, “apart from harshness”; when speech is coarse the Dharma does not enter people. Fifth, speaking knowing the right time — the repeated verses render it “speaking always knowing the right time and without dread”; a true word out of season is also an obstruction. Sixth, the mind without timidity or dread — timid, one dares neither speak nor act. Seventh, penetrating the meaning — not stopping at the letter. Eighth, practicing in accord with the Dharma — understanding of the meaning must come down into practice. Ninth, departing from folly and confusion — removing dullness. Tenth, abiding unshaken — the repeated verses render it “departing from folly and confusion with the mind unshaken”; the unshaken gathers up the nine before it.

The concluding sentence says “in order to make the bodhisattva's great compassion grow toward all beings” — the ten clauses all appear to be a putting of oneself in order, yet the purpose is the growth of compassion toward beings. Chengguan points this out here: “it is compassion that is made to grow.” Where it lands: the ground is prepared for the sake of planting a tree, not for the ground's own good looks.

Abode three, cultivation: contemplating all dharmas by ten kinds of practice

First a question: the mind has been aroused and the ground prepared; why is only this one called “cultivation”? Because the two abodes before are the setting of the aim and the making ready, and only at this abode does contemplation properly begin. Chengguan divides this abode into two portions: the proper portion is the practice that guards against the afflictions, and the advancing portion is the practice that guards against the lesser vehicle — the former guards against falling into the ordinary, the latter against falling into the lesser. This is a weighty sentence: one who cultivates contemplation has two pits, one of failing in contemplation and retreating into the afflictions, the other of succeeding in contemplation and falling into the biased emptiness of the two vehicles.

Contemplating all dharmas by ten kinds of practice (the proper portion). Chengguan says these ten impermanences are largely the same as what is distinguished at the third ground of the chapter on the Ten Grounds, and cites the treatise's “the going on of life does not stay: this in general is named impermanence” as the general clause, further dividing it into impermanence from moment to moment and impermanence over one term of life. Clause by clause:

First, contemplating that all dharmas are impermanent — this is the general clause: the going on of life does not stay. Second, that all dharmas are suffering — in dependence on the five blazing aggregates there is the mark of oppression, and therefore it is suffering; Chengguan cites the Yuqie shidi lun: taking attention to the practice of impermanence as prior, one enters upon the practice of suffering. Third, that all dharmas are empty — from suffering, since nothing is obtained, one thereupon enters upon the practice of emptiness. Fourth, that all dharmas are without self — being empty, they are not sovereign, and there is no ruler. Fifth, that all dharmas are without doing — there is no doer standing behind them. Sixth, that all dharmas are without savor — the repeated verses render it “all dharmas are not to be delighted in”; it is not that they taste bad but that they have no truly covetable savor. Seventh, that all dharmas are not as their names — the repeated verses render it “not as their names”; name and dharma do not answer to each other, and this clause breaks precisely the disease of taking dharmas by their names. Eighth, that all dharmas are without location — dharmas have no fixed place to be. Ninth, that all dharmas are apart from discrimination — dharmas are of themselves apart from discrimination; it is not that we go and part them from it. Tenth, that all dharmas are without solid reality — the repeated verses render it “without discrimination and without reality,” and by having no solid reality the nine before are gathered up.

These ten clauses have an order: from impermanence one enters suffering, from suffering emptiness, from emptiness no-self; and the five after that strip away layer by layer the residual notion that ‘there is still something there.’ Clear away a misunderstanding: contemplating impermanence is not for the sake of pessimism but so as no longer to guard the false as though it were true.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). The syntax of this passage is peculiar — it does not make ten separate items but three groups of contemplation:

First, contemplating the realm of beings; second, contemplating the Dharma realm; third, contemplating the world — these three are the three layers of the sentient, the normative, and the receptacle. Fourth, contemplating the earth element; fifth, the water element; sixth, the fire element; seventh, the wind element — these four are the four great elements that form a world. Eighth, contemplating the realm of desire; ninth, the realm of form; tenth, the formless realm — these three are the levels of the three existences. Together they come to exactly ten.

The repeated verses touch on these three groups again: “Next make him contemplate the realm of beings, and exhort him to contemplate the Dharma realm, and the differences among worlds exhaustively with nothing left,” and “The worlds of the ten directions and space as well, all the earth, the water, the fire, and the wind, the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm”; and at the end they add the crucial line, “Contemplating the differences among those realms one by one, and their natures too all fully clarified” — not only the marks of their differences are contemplated, but their very natures. The concluding sentence, “in order to make the bodhisattva's wisdom clear and penetrating,” shows that what is sought in this passage is the clarity of wisdom, not breadth of knowledge.

Abode four, noble birth: born into the house of the Buddha

First a question: what is “noble birth”? Chengguan says: “As for being born out of the teaching of the sages, it is that by the perfuming of wide learning the outflowing and outflow-free dharma of teaching gives birth to his wisdom.” — by hearing the teaching of the sages there is perfumed an outflow-free wisdom, and this wisdom is born of the teaching, and so it is called birth. He further cites two lines of this chapter's repeated verses in evidence: “When a son of the Buddha contemplates dharmas in this way, he is born of the Buddha himself and so is named a son of the Buddha,” which is spoken with reference to the person who speaks; and “Penetrating that the existences have nothing possessed, he passes beyond those dharmas and is born into the Dharma realm,” which is spoken with reference to the principle. Teaching, person, and principle — all three can give birth to this station, and so it is noble.

Born from the teaching of the sages, accomplishing ten dharmas (the proper portion). Chengguan says these ten things are the same as the ten dharma-knowledges of the fourth ground of the chapter on the Ten Grounds, differing only in how they are opened out or drawn together. Clause by clause:

First, never retrogressing in the presence of the Buddhas — this is the knowledge of one's own place of abiding: since the station does not retrogress, it is also what he is born into. Second, giving rise to deep and pure faith — this is the knowledge of like reverence, for pure faith in the Buddha must come before birth. Third, well contemplating dharmas — faith without contemplation becomes blind faith. Fourth, knowing beings — one born into the Buddha's house must first recognize those to be delivered. Fifth, knowing lands — recognizing the places to be transformed. Sixth, knowing worlds — recognizing the forming and destruction of the receptacle realm. Seventh, knowing deeds — recognizing the cause. Eighth, knowing retribution — recognizing the fruit. Ninth, knowing birth-and-death — recognizing the side of flowing and turning. Tenth, knowing nirvāṇa — recognizing the side of returning and ceasing.

Among the ten clauses, the first three are one's own standing place and the latter seven are the spheres known. To be born into the Buddha's house is not to have gained a status but to have exchanged one's eyes: from now on, in looking at beings, lands, worlds, deeds, retribution, birth-and-death, and nirvāṇa, one looks by one and the same Dharma.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). This passage too is in groups:

First through third, knowing all the Buddha-dharmas of past, future, and present — first the seeking to know. Fourth through sixth, cultivating and gathering all the Buddha-dharmas of past, future, and present — next the seeking to gather. Seventh through ninth, fulfilling all the Buddha-dharmas of past, future, and present — then the seeking to fulfill. And the tenth, knowing that all Buddhas are equal — which gathers the nine before into one.

Knowing, gathering, and fulfilling, three layers multiplied by the three times, come to nine; and the last clause returns the Buddhas of the three times to equality. The repeated verses restate this structure just as it stands: “In the past, the future, and the present ages, the manifold Buddha-dharmas that are therein — knowing them, gathering them, and fulfilling them,” and “All the Tathāgatas of the three times — being able to contemplate along with them and know them wholly equal, so that the manifold differences are not to be found.” The concluding sentence, “in order to advance him, so that within the three times his mind attains equality” — Chengguan says, “only when the times are not made separate does one know equality.” Where it lands: having been born into the Buddha's house, one should no longer be making calculations about ‘this one life of mine’; the three times are one household's affair.

Abode five, perfected skillful means: the roots of goodness cultivated are all given away

First a question: why is this abode called “perfected skillful means”? Chengguan answers deftly: “As for the fifth, the abode of perfected skillful means, the ten minds of the proper portion are also skillful means, and the ten minds of the advancing portion are also perfected.” — the two words of the abode's name belong severally to the two portions, and yet the two portions are furnished with each other. The former portion is the skillful use of the roots of goodness upon beings; the latter is the perfect knowing of the emptiness of beings.

One fact about the base text should also be pointed out first: of the ten abodes, the proper portion of this abode alone has neither the question “which ten?” nor the concluding “these are the ten”; the sūtra simply sets down ten clauses beginning “all beings.” The other nine abodes all have both question and conclusion, and this one abode alone is the exception.

The roots of goodness cultivated are all for beings (the ten things of the proper portion). Chengguan says the first clause is general, and that the two matters of rescuing from suffering and guarding the good divide the rest between them. Clause by clause:

First, rescuing and guarding all beings — this is the general clause, and everything is for its sake. Second, benefiting all beings — bestowing the cause of joy. Third, giving ease and joy to all beings — causing them to gain the fruit of joy. Fourth, having pity on all beings — pitying their false joys, and not letting them be engrossed in them. Fifth, delivering all beings — delivering them from suffering so that they gain liberation. Sixth, making all beings depart from every calamity — what they are parted from is present suffering of the sort of the three calamities and the eight difficulties. Seventh, making all beings come out from the suffering of birth-and-death — what they come out from is the two births-and-deaths, that of apportioned segments and that of transformation. Eighth, making all beings give rise to pure faith — the first step of rescue is to teach them to give rise to faith. Ninth, making all beings be wholly tamed — from faith they come to be tamed. Tenth, making all beings all realize nirvāṇa — being tamed, they arrive at the ultimate.

The ten clauses begin from rescue and conclude with nirvāṇa, and in between there is a very fine sequence: first giving joy, then drawing out suffering, then breaking false joy, and thereafter carrying them all the way from faith and taming to the ultimate. The repeated verses compress it into four lines: “The manifold merits that the bodhisattva cultivates are all in order to rescue and guard the multitude of the living,” and “For all the world he removes the many calamities, leading them out of the existences and making them rejoice; taming them one by one with none left out, he makes them all furnished with virtue and turned toward nirvāṇa.”

Clear away a misunderstanding: this passage is often read as a text of vows. It is not a vow; it states the actual destination of the “roots of goodness cultivated” by this bodhisattva — all that he has cultivated is given away, with not a portion kept for himself, and this is what is called skillful means made perfect.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). All ten clauses are “knowing beings”:

First, knowing that beings are without bound — there is no boundary. Second, knowing that beings are without measure — they cannot be delimited. Third, knowing that beings are beyond counting — they cannot be reckoned. Fourth, knowing that beings are inconceivable — they exceed thinking. Fifth, knowing that beings' forms are measureless — the kinds of shape and color are measureless. Sixth, knowing that beings are not to be weighed — they cannot be weighed. Seventh, knowing that beings are empty — from the ‘so many as to be inexhaustible’ of the first six it turns into ‘originally empty of themselves,’ and this is the pivot of the whole passage. Eighth, knowing that beings are without any doing — there is no doer. Ninth, knowing that beings are without anything possessed — originally nothing is possessed. Tenth, knowing that beings are without own-nature — they have no own-nature.

The first six speak of multitude and the latter four of emptiness, and this order is the doctrinal eye of the passage. One must first know that beings are so many as to be inexhaustible, for only then is the mind that delivers them aroused thoroughly; and one must then know that beings are originally empty, for only then will the practice of delivering them not be stuck to ‘how many people I have delivered.’ The concluding sentence, “in order to make his mind turn to be ever more excellent, without anything defiling it,” is precisely the effect of the two layers together. One line of the repeated verses gathers it all: “All beings are without any bound, measureless, numberless, inconceivable, and not to be weighed and not to be measured”

Abode six, the rectified mind: unshaken by whatever is heard

First a question: the five abodes before have already been delivering beings; why should there still be a problem of the mind being shaken? Because what the five before face is affairs, whereas what this one faces is “what is said” — hearing how others speak of the Buddha, of the Dharma, of bodhisattvas, of beings, of the Dharma realm. People who are not thrown by affairs are often thrown by argument.

Chengguan says that the reason this abode is unshaken is that “within the proper portion, because he has accomplished the wisdom that understands the nature and marks of dharmas, he is in all cases unshaken, and this is named the rectified mind.” It is not that he holds himself still by force; it is that after understanding dharmas he cannot be stirred.

Hearing ten kinds of dharma, the mind is settled and unshaken (the proper portion). The sūtra sets them out as ten pairs of opposed sayings. Clause by clause:

First, hearing the Buddha praised or maligned — Chengguan says the first four pairs are with reference to the Three Jewels that are revered: “because he understands that dharmas are equal and that sound is like an echo in a valley, he gives rise to neither delight nor grief at praise or malignment.” Second, hearing the Dharma praised or maligned — the Dharma is not increased by a man's praise nor decreased by his malignment. Third, hearing bodhisattvas praised or maligned — he adds a further remark: spoken of in terms of attachment they should be maligned, spoken of in terms of principle they should be praised, and each of the two sayings has its own share. Fourth, hearing the dharmas practiced by bodhisattvas praised or maligned — from the person on to the dharmas the person practices, which is the advance upon the third pair. Fifth, hearing it said that beings are limited or unlimited — from here three pairs are with reference to the beings who are pitied; Chengguan judges: limited and unlimited are the two extremes of annihilation and permanence, into which the bodhisattva does not fall. Sixth, hearing it said that beings are defiled or undefiled — these are the two extremes of increase and decrease, from which the bodhisattva departs. Seventh, hearing it said that beings are easy or hard to deliver — these are the two extremes of suffering and pleasure, in which the bodhisattva does not dwell. Eighth, hearing it said that the Dharma realm is limited or unlimited — from here three pairs are with reference to the Dharma realm that is known. Ninth, hearing it said that the Dharma realm is formed or destroyed — sayings of forming and destruction cannot shake him. Tenth, hearing it said that the Dharma realm either exists or does not exist — sayings of existence and non-existence cannot shake him either.

Of the ten pairs, the first four are what is revered, the middle three what is pitied, and the last three what is known — only when reverence, pity, and knowing have all three been tested is it called settled. Clear away a misunderstanding: to be unshaken is not to have no position; it is not to be dragged along by the sayings of either extreme. Chengguan, at the fifth through the seventh pairs, points out the three sorts of extreme view — annihilation and permanence, increase and decrease, suffering and pleasure — showing that what is called being unshaken is precisely not falling into either of two extremes. As for what the Shangzhu tianzi jing says, “there is none who, without being maligned in speech, is able to arrive within that liberation” — Chengguan cites this in order to show that being maligned is something that must be passed through on the road of cultivation, and need not be taken for a mishap.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). All ten clauses are “all dharmas”:

First, all dharmas are without mark; second, all dharmas are without substance; third, all dharmas cannot be cultivated — this clause is the most easily misread: it does not say there is no need to cultivate, but that there is no real dharma to be cultivated and grasped. Fourth, all dharmas are without anything possessed; fifth, all dharmas are without reality; sixth, all dharmas are empty; seventh, all dharmas are without nature; eighth, all dharmas are like an illusion; ninth, all dharmas are like a dream; tenth, all dharmas are without discrimination.

The first seven are negations, the eighth and ninth present the matter by the two similes of illusion and dream, and the tenth gathers it up with non-discrimination. The repeated verses compress the ten clauses into two lines: “All dharmas are wholly without mark, without substance, without nature, empty and without reality, like an illusion and like a dream and apart from discrimination; he ever delights to hear a meaning such as this.” The last line, “ever delights to hear,” is of great weight — one who is unshaken is not one who no longer listens, but one who listens the more gladly. The concluding sentence says that what is sought is “to gain the non-retrogressive forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas,” and this joins this abode to the next.

Abode seven, non-retrogression: not even ‘whether or not it exists’ can move him

First a question: the abode of the rectified mind is already unshaken; is the abode of non-retrogression not a repetition? Chengguan has distinguished this very question, and answers it most finely:

Although all ten clauses speak of not retrogressing, they are “largely the same as the previous station”; but at this station he has already entered the non-arising and knows that the dharmas he hears are ultimately empty. The previous station gathers affairs into principle and thereby makes the mind unshaken; this station has affairs and principle both present and yet the mind does not retrogress; the station after goes from principle toward affairs, following affairs in practice and growing ever more seasoned. Moreover, at the previous station what was heard was only praise or malignment of the Three Jewels, and to bear that was still easy; at this station what is heard is ‘whether or not,’ where what is at stake goes deeper, so that to accomplish forbearance is hard, and therefore it surpasses the previous station. He adds a further mark of division: the previous station spoke of being unshaken, which is only being able to rectify the mind; this station speaks of not retrogressing, which carries the sense of advancing onward.

This piece of analysis is worth reading over and over. Praise and malignment wound the feelings; existence and non-existence move the root. A person may be able to bear another's cursing the Dharma he believes in, and yet may not be able to bear someone telling him ‘there is no such thing at all.’

Hearing ten kinds of dharma and being firm and not retrogressing (the proper portion). Chengguan divides them: the first three are the Three Jewels, the next two severally display the foregoing dharma, the next three severally make plain the first, the Buddha, and the last two are with reference to the Buddha's sphere and knowledge. Clause by clause:

First, hearing that there is or is not a Buddha — the Jewel of the Buddha. Second, hearing that there is or is not a Dharma — the Jewel of the Dharma. Third, hearing that there are or are not bodhisattvas — the Jewel of the Saṅgha. Fourth, hearing that there is or is not bodhisattva practice — from bodhisattvas on to the practice of bodhisattvas. Fifth, hearing that a bodhisattva's cultivation does or does not bring forth deliverance — from practice on to the fruit of practice, and this clause wounds most of all: having cultivated, does one in the end get out or not. Sixth, hearing that in the past there were or were not Buddhas; seventh, hearing that in the future there will or will not be Buddhas; eighth, hearing that in the present there are or are not Buddhas — the three times severally make plain the existence or non-existence of a Buddha. Ninth, hearing that the Buddha's knowledge is exhaustible or inexhaustible — with reference to the Buddha's knowledge. Tenth, hearing that the three times are one mark or not one mark — with reference to the Buddha's sphere.

The ten clauses push from the Three Jewels on to practice, on to the fruit, on to the three times, on to the Buddha's knowledge and the Buddha's sphere, questioning all the way down to the root. By the last clause what is asked is already whether time itself is one or many. To be able not to retrogress here is what is called being firm.

The ten vast dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). Note that the heading clause here differs from that of the other abodes: the sūtra specially calls them “ten kinds of vast dharma.” The ten clauses are five pairs of doubly returning sentences:

First, to speak of one is to speak of many; second, to speak of many is to speak of one — the first pair is mutual identity in number. Third, the words follow upon the meaning; fourth, the meaning follows upon the words — the second pair is the mutual following of words and meaning. Fifth, non-existence is existence; sixth, existence is non-existence — the third pair is mutual identity of existence and non-existence. Seventh, the markless is the marked; eighth, the marked is the markless — the fourth pair is mark and marklessness. Ninth, naturelessness is nature; tenth, nature is naturelessness — the fifth pair is nature and naturelessness.

The repeated verses gather it into one crucial line: “that all such things are thus accomplished by turns: this should be expounded for the one who does not retrogress.” — why may such words be spoken only to one who does not retrogress? Because “one is many,” to one who has not yet entered the non-arising, sounds only like a contradiction, and hearing it he instead retrogresses. That the sūtra deliberately places these ten dharmas at the abode of non-retrogression is thus a matter of measure. The concluding sentence, “in order to advance him, so that in all dharmas he is well able to come forth” — the dharma of mutual identity is not abstruse talk but a gate of coming forth.

Abode eight, childlike purity: the three deeds without fault

First a question: having come to the eighth abode, why on the contrary is it called “childlike”? What childlike purity takes is the meaning of being pure and undefiled, not yet having received admixture. Chengguan says that the first three clauses of this abode's proper portion, the three deeds being without fault and the residual habits forever departed from, are properly what a Buddha attains, and that to be effortless and spontaneous belongs to the eighth ground; this abode is “largely the same as the eighth ground,” and because he can practice without outflows he therefore attains the absence of fault — neither the fault of the ten unwholesome deeds nor the fault of error.

Abiding in ten kinds of deed (the proper portion). Chengguan divides them: the first three are the three deeds without fault, and are also the substance of transforming others; the fourth is the body that can transform; the next four are the knowledge that can transform; the next one is the place of transforming; and the last is the dharma of transforming. Clause by clause:

First, what the body does is without fault — the deed of body is pure. Second, what speech does is without fault — the deed of speech is pure. Third, what the mind does is without fault — the deed of mind is pure; the three deeds being without fault is the real meaning of purity, and the name childlike is established from this. Fourth, taking birth according to his own intention — Chengguan says this is the body that can transform: the bodhisattva of sudden awakening takes birth according to his vow, valuing the benefit of others, and does not choose between pure land and defiled. Fifth, knowing the manifold desires of beings — what they desire. Sixth, knowing the manifold understandings of beings — what they understand. Seventh, knowing the manifold elements of beings — the elemental nature they depend on. Eighth, knowing the manifold deeds of beings — the deeds they do; these four clauses are precisely four of the knowledges among the ten powers, and are the knowledge that can transform. Ninth, knowing the forming and destruction of worlds — this is the place of transforming. Tenth, spiritual feet sovereign, where he goes without obstruction — this is the proper practice of the dharma of transforming.

The structure of the ten clauses is very clear: being clean oneself (the first three), being able to manifest a body (the fourth), recognizing people (the fifth through the eighth), recognizing the place (the ninth), and being able to get there (the tenth). Where it lands: what is called purity is not being cut off from the world but not being stained anywhere in it.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). Chengguan says this passage is the practice of the immovable, the first six being sovereignty over lands and the latter four sovereignty in the three deeds. Clause by clause:

First, knowing all Buddha-lands — knowing them first. Second, shaking all Buddha-lands — being able to shake them. Third, upholding all Buddha-lands — being able to sustain them. Fourth, contemplating all Buddha-lands — being able to contemplate them. Fifth, going to all Buddha-lands — being able to go to them. Sixth, roaming through numberless worlds — roaming without obstruction; these six are sovereignty over lands. Seventh, receiving numberless Buddha-dharmas — which the repeated verses render “asaṃkhyeya dharmas he can inquire into,” and which is sovereignty in the deed of mind. Eighth, manifesting a body of sovereign transformation — which the repeated verses render “the bodies he wishes to receive he attains in sovereignty,” and which is sovereignty in the deed of body. Ninth, sending forth a vast and pervading voice — which the repeated verses render “his speech-sounds are skillful and pervade all things,” and which is sovereignty in the deed of speech. Tenth, in a single kṣaṇa serving and making offerings to numberless Buddhas — which the repeated verses render “he serves numberless Buddhas,” gathering up the three deeds by the serving of the Buddhas.

The concluding sentence: “in order to advance him, so that in all dharmas he gains skill.” Clear away a misunderstanding: these ten clauses read like a list of spiritual powers, but the landing point of every one of them is in “transforming” — knowing lands is for going there, going is for delivering, and manifesting a body and sending forth a voice are for expounding the Dharma. Spiritual power here is not a feat but the natural function of a childlike and pure mind.

Abode nine, the prince: learning to be the one who succeeds

First a question: since he is named a prince, what does he learn? The answer: he learns to succeed. What the abodes before learn is how to walk oneself; what this abode learns are the rules of the house of the Dharma King.

Note: Chengguan's commentary on the outline of this abode does not fall within the framework that was taken up, and the lack is recorded; what follows treats it clause by clause according to the sūtra and the repeated verses.

Well knowing ten kinds of dharma (the proper portion). Clause by clause:

First, well knowing how beings take birth — which the repeated verses render “he can see the differences in beings' taking birth,” knowing whence beings come. Second, well knowing how the afflictions arise — knowing under what conditions the afflictions come into activity. Third, well knowing how the residual habits continue on — knowing the remaining momentum left after activity has passed; the afflictions are easy to cut off but the residual habits are hard to exhaust, and so a separate clause is set up. Fourth, well knowing the skillful means of what is practiced — knowing where the counteragent takes hold. Fifth, well knowing measureless dharmas — the dharmas known are measureless. Sixth, well understanding the manifold deportments — which the repeated verses render “dharmas each differ and the deportments are distinct”; deportment is the outward display of station, and a son of the Dharma King must understand it. Seventh, well knowing the differences among worlds — knowing that the places to be transformed are not the same. Eighth, well knowing the affairs of the earlier and later limits — knowing the affairs of past and future. Ninth, well knowing how to expound the conventional truth — being able to speak the words of the conventional truth. Tenth, well knowing how to expound the truth of the highest meaning — being able to speak the words of the truth of the highest meaning.

The ten clauses fall into three sections: the first four know beings' sickness and its medicine, the middle three know dharmas and deportment and place, and the last three know time and the speaking of the two truths. The weightiest are the last two — a son of the Dharma King's competence lies in ‘being able to say it,’ and in being able to say both truths. The repeated verses join them in one line: “as the conventional truth and the truth of the highest meaning have it, he is well able to know it all with nothing left over.”

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). All ten of these clauses take the “Dharma King” as the ground of the figure, and they are a whole set of royal usages:

First, the skillfulness of the place of the Dharma King — the skillful devices of the king's place. Second, the rule and measure of the place of the Dharma King — the laws and regulations of the royal house. Third, the palace of the place of the Dharma King — where the king dwells. Fourth, the entering in to the place of the Dharma King — how one enters the king's place. Fifth, the contemplation at the place of the Dharma King — what is contemplated and seen once entered. Sixth, the consecration of the Dharma King — the royal house's dharma of consecration. Seventh, the sustaining power of the Dharma King — the king's sustaining by spiritual power. Eighth, the fearlessness of the Dharma King — the king's having no timidity. Ninth, the reposing rest of the Dharma King — the king's chamber of repose. Tenth, the praises of the Dharma King — the king's honor and praise.

The repeated verses work these ten clauses into four lines: “The place where the Dharma King skillfully sets things up, and the dharmas belonging to that place, how one enters the palace of the Dharma King, and what is contemplated and seen therein. The dharmas of consecration that the Dharma King has, the sustaining of his spiritual power without any timidity, the chamber of his reposing rest and the matter of praise and honor — by these he gives instruction to the son of the Dharma King.” — this passage is the most complete single figure in the whole chapter. The separately circulating Pusa benye jing has at the same place “he learns the Dharma King's right conduct, learns the Dharma King's rites” down to “learns the Dharma King's touring of the lands”: the ground of the figure is wholly the same while the items differ slightly, which shows how ancient this figure is.

Clear away a misunderstanding: this is not teaching anyone to put on airs. What the prince learns is to take up the burden — that even how the king rests is to be learned says that the successor's every bearing is within the rule of law. The concluding sentence: “in order to advance him, so that in his mind there is no obstruction”; and the repeated verses add a line of still greater weight: “and making his mind attached to nothing.” Having learned a whole set of royal usages, he is yet to be attached to nothing — this is where the measure of the passage lies.

Abode ten, consecration: the station full and not to be fathomed

First a question: what does consecration mean? Li Tongxuan gives it two layers: first as a figure — “as when pure water is poured from the crown and runs down over the whole body” — the bodhisattva at this station, with the knowledge of the Dharma realm, meets and matches whatever is fitting for all beings and rains down the rain of Dharma equally at one time, so that there is nothing not poured through, and therefore it is named consecration; second in actual fact — when he ascends to this station, the Buddhas of the ten directions with their hands pour upon his crown, and this too is called consecration. The two glosses stand together.

Chengguan divides the proper portion of this abode into two passages: first ten clauses on the virtues and functions accomplished, then ten clauses praising its excellence as hard to fathom — because it is the end of the stations, this latter passage is specially added.

Accomplishing ten kinds of knowledge (the ten things of the proper portion). Chengguan says the first five are the unobstructed knowledge that understands worlds and the latter five the unobstructed knowledge that brings beings to accomplishment. Clause by clause:

First, shaking numberless worlds — able to shake. Second, illumining numberless worlds — able to illumine. Third, sustaining numberless worlds — able to sustain. Fourth, going to numberless worlds — able to arrive. Fifth, adorning and purifying numberless worlds — able to purify; these five are all sovereignty over the receptacle world. Sixth, revealing the teaching to numberless beings — revealing it for them. Seventh, contemplating numberless beings — examining their capacities. Eighth, knowing the faculties of numberless beings — knowing their faculties. Ninth, making numberless beings enter — drawing them into the Dharma. Tenth, making numberless beings be tamed — finally causing them to be tamed; these five are all sovereignty over the sentient.

The first five face worlds and the latter five face beings, and these are precisely the two sides of “because the perfection of wisdom is full.” The repeated verses have a verse for each of them: “The numberless manifold worlds of the ten directions he is able wholly to shake, and light universally illumines them. Sustaining them and going to them too with nothing left over, purity and adornment all complete, the beings to whom he reveals the teaching are without number, and contemplating and knowing their faculties he can exhaust them all,” and “Making them arouse the mind and taming them too without any bound, he makes them all turn toward the great awakening.”

The passage praising its excellence as hard to fathom. The sūtra says that this bodhisattva's body and the deeds of his body, his spiritual penetrations and manifestations, his knowledge of the past, of the future, and of the present, the Buddha-lands he accomplishes, and the sphere of his mind and the sphere of his knowledge — all ten clauses cannot be known, not even by a bodhisattva who is a prince of the Dharma. Chengguan divides this passage: the first four are sovereignty in deeds that cannot be known — one, the body; two, the body's function; three, the ten penetrations; four, the penetrations' function; and the latter six are sovereignty in mind and knowledge that cannot be known — the first three being the knowledge of the three clear knowledges in their full brightness, the fourth the knowledge that is sovereign in knowing the receptacle world, the fifth the sphere manifested by the mind in concentration, and the sixth the sphere known by great wisdom. Because it is deep and wide, the lower station does not know it.

This one sentence, “not even by a bodhisattva who is a prince of the Dharma,” is of great weight: the ninth abode cannot know the tenth. The reality of the sequence of stations is seen in this one sentence.

The ten kinds of knowledge of the Buddhas he should be exhorted to learn (the advancing portion). Note that the heading clause changes again — it does not say “should be exhorted to learn ten dharmas” but “should be exhorted to learn the ten kinds of knowledge of the Buddhas,” because the station has come to its end and what is learned is directly the Buddha's knowledge. Chengguan says: this is learning the Buddha's omniscience and knowledge of all modes, since with the present station full one is consecrated and becomes a Buddha, and it gathers all the stations as being complete within this. Clause by clause:

First, the knowledge of the three times — that is, the knowledge of the three clear knowledges. Second, the knowledge of the Buddha-Dharma — which the repeated verses render “the knowledge that makes plain the dharmas of the Buddhas.” Third, the knowledge of the unobstructedness of the Dharma realm — unstagnating in the Dharma realm. Fourth, the knowledge of the boundlessness of the Dharma realm — knowing that the Dharma realm has no bound. Fifth, the knowledge that fills all worlds — the knowledge pervades and fills. Sixth, the knowledge that universally illumines all worlds — which the repeated verses render “illumines worlds.” Seventh, the knowledge that sustains all worlds — which the repeated verses render “the knowledge that sustains.” Eighth, the knowledge of all beings — knowing the sentient. Ninth, the knowledge of all dharmas — knowing dharmas; the repeated verses join the eighth and ninth into “the knowledge that knows beings and dharmas.” Tenth, the knowledge of the boundless Buddhas — which the repeated verses render “the boundless knowledge that knows the rightly awakened,” gathering up everything by the knowing of the Buddhas.

The concluding sentence: “in order to increase in him the knowledge of all modes.” The ten abodes having come this far, what is learned is already what a Buddha knows; the station is full, and thereafter the practice of the next chapter is opened.

The portion of speaking and the portion of corroboration: heaven and earth bear witness, the ten directions bear witness

The ten abodes having been spoken, the sūtra does not simply stop there but appends two passages of proof.

The portion of speaking. By the Buddha's spiritual power, worlds as many as the dust motes of ten thousand Buddha-lands in each of the ten directions quaked in six ways — shaking, rising, surging, quaking, roaring, striking — each of these having in turn the three layers of throughout and throughout uniformly, making eighteen aspects in all. Li Tongxuan divides this passage into seven sections, the first being precisely “the great earth shaking in six ways and eighteen aspects,” and the second “the heavens raining down ten kinds of offering.” From the heavens rained subtle flowers, powdered incense, flower garlands, mixed incense, jeweled garments, jeweled clouds, and ornaments; the heavenly music sounded of itself without being struck; and great radiance and lovely sound were sent forth. And then the weightiest sentence of all: “Just as here, above the palace of Śakra on the summit of Mount Sumeru in these four continents, the dharma of the ten abodes was expounded and the manifold spiritual transformations were displayed, so too was it in every one of all the worlds of the ten directions.”

Clear away a misunderstanding: the quaking and the heavenly flowers are not for the sake of spectacle. They are the seal of ‘the Dharma being true’ — what is spoken is the dharma of the public highway, and so the Dharma realm responds at the same moment.

The portion of corroboration. In each of the ten directions, beyond worlds as many as the dust motes of ten thousand Buddha-lands, there were bodhisattvas as many as the dust motes of ten Buddha-lands who came to this assembly, all named Dharma Wisdom, the lands they came from all named Dharma Cloud, and the Tathāgatas of those lands all named Wondrous Dharma. They said: there too the ten abodes are being spoken, and “the assembly and retinue, the words and the meaning, are all likewise, with nothing added and nothing taken away.”

This passage carries “speaking alike” to its furthest point: not only is the Dharma the same, but even the retinue of the assembly, the words, and the meaning are not increased or decreased by a single word. Li Tongxuan, among his seven sections, points out in particular the sense of the sixth — “the sixth makes plain that the fruit of Buddhahood in the ten directions is named Wondrous Dharma, and this shows that this dharma is spoken from wondrous wisdom.” The name here is again the doctrine: it is from Dharma Wisdom that the ten abodes are spoken, and the fruit of that is Wondrous Dharma.

The outline of the repeated verses: how the hundred verses are matched

Dharma Wisdom, sustained by the Buddha's majestic power, contemplates the ten directions and the Dharma realm and speaks in verse. Chengguan judges: there are one hundred verses in all, divided into two — the first ninety-one properly repeat the foregoing dharma, and the last nine conclude in praise and exhort to cultivation; and within the former, each of the ten abodes forms a section.

For the number of verses to each abode Chengguan judges: forty-six verses to the abode of first arousing the mind, and thereafter in order five, five, six, five, four, four, five, five, six. The forty-six verses of the abode of first arousing the mind are divided again into four sections: the first three verses repeat the conditions of arousing the mind, the next thirty-two repeat the arousing of the mind in dependence on the objects taken, the next ten repeat the dharmas learned in the advancing portion, and the last one sums up. And within those thirty-two verses, the first ten are the arousing of the mind in dependence on the ten powers, one verse to one power; while the latter twenty-two severally display what is sought, which Chengguan, following out the kinds, gathers into ten knowledges: the knowledge of the conventional truth, of the real truth, of the spiritual penetrations, of liberation, of kalpas and lands, of the three vehicles, of the three secrets (two verses on the secret of the body, three on the secret of speech, two on the secret of the mind), of mind-only, of the unobstructedness of one and many, and of the paired practice of the provisional and the real.

The nine concluding verses of praise Chengguan divides into three: the first one verse praises the ten abodes in general, the next six praise the abode of first arousing the mind in particular, and the last two use the first mind to bring out what follows by comparison.

Why does the abode of first arousing the mind alone take forty-six verses while the nine abodes after it come together to only forty-five? This is not a loss of balance but the very intent of the chapter: the difficulty of the ten abodes lies in the first step; and since the first step is both what the ten powers take as object and what omniscience seeks, it is repeated in verse most fully. The last sentence of the concluding praise says it plainly: “The merit of arousing the mind cannot be measured; it fills the whole realm of beings; the multitude of the wise, expounding it together, cannot exhaust it — how much less the remaining manifold subtle practices!”

Lineage

The doctrine of this chapter was carried on by four later lineages, which are recorded without adjudication. The lineage of Chengguan: it divides the text clause by clause after the manner of exegesis that goes back to the Dilun, setting up the four gates of the occasion, the name, the doctrinal aim, and the exposition of the text, together with the seven portions of samādhi, sustaining, rising, the main portion, speaking, corroboration, and repeated verses; it glosses abiding as “wisdom abides in the principle and the station gained is not retrogressed from,” takes the great king's road as the figure by which the ten abodes are the common cause of the Buddhas of the three times, and explains the main portion by taking the place of abiding as substance and vastness as mark; between the abodes it further sets up the common pattern of the two portions, proper and advancing, and takes as comparisons the knowledges of the third ground, the fourth ground, the eighth ground, and the portion of great exhaustion in the chapter on the Ten Grounds, judging the abode of cultivation to be largely the same as the third ground, the abode of noble birth the same as the ten dharma-knowledges of the fourth ground, the abode of childlike purity largely the same as the eighth ground, and the abode of consecration largely the same as the exposition of the accomplishment of the knowledge of the portion of great exhaustion; and at the repeated verses it judges the three kinds of non-retrogression, adding one sentence on the judgment of the round teaching in respect of the present station — “from faith one enters the abodes and gains a station that is not retrogressed from, for at the first arousing of the mind one accomplishes right awakening.”

The lineage of Fazang: on the side of the sixty-fascicle text's chapter on the Ten Abodes, it glosses the name by four analyses (the number-bearing, the possessive, the dependent, and the appositional), and sets two questions to distinguish why the three worthies are named jointly by person and dharma and why the ten abodes alone raise the general name, its answer being “a mark of the gradual increase of what is set up”; it also sets a question distinguishing why this assembly has a separate advancing portion where the previous assembly had none, and why after the chapter on the Dedications there is no advancing portion. Its matching of the repeated verses to the stations differs from Chengguan's: six verses to the second abode, four and a half to the fifth, three to the ninth, and eight to the tenth, and of the nine concluding verses those that praise the first abode in particular are seven. The text depended on differs, and so the numbers judged differ.

The lineage of Li Tongxuan: beyond the four gates of the common pattern it sets up a separate gate, “a general reckoning of the sequence of cutting off delusion,” matching the first three abodes to the breaking of the afflictions of the world, listing ten root afflictions and six secondary afflictions, and stating for himself why the five views are not discussed — “when the inner mind becomes wisdom, the views are of themselves liberation”; he further reckons the ten abodes in total as two hundred dharma-gates and the repeated verses as two hundred lines of verse, and takes “as when pure water is poured from the crown and runs down over the whole body” to present the meaning of consecration. This lineage is chiefly one of presenting by figure, and its track differs from that of dividing the text clause by clause; the ancients had this account, and it is recorded.

The lineage of Zhiyan: on the side of the sixty-fascicle text it sets up five gates — glossing the name, which is at once the distinguishing of the occasion; making plain what is counteracted, what is gained, what is accomplished, and the exposition of the text; it judges what is counteracted to be “the hundred obstructions above, to be cut off according to station,” and what is gained to be “the concentration of increasing light and the roots of goodness at the summit”; it also cites Master Guang's judgment of the eight prefaces, and following the pattern of the chapter on the Ten Grounds divides the text into six portions (the last named the portion of benefit, unlike the seven-portion division whose last is named the portion of repeated verses); following the sixty-fascicle text's word “seed-nature,” it judges the substance of the two seed-natures; and it reckons the repeated verses as two hundred and three stanzas, with ninety verses to the first abode, matching the abodes by the two divisions of “understanding” and “practice.”

The four masters' judgments of the number of portions, the number of verses, and the substance of the stations each diverge; all are settled accounts of the ancient masters, and they are recorded without adjudicating which is superior. As for the compendia of the doctrinal outline of the Huayan school: the Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang in three places raises the ten abodes as an item in the doctrinal classification of the sequence of stations, in one of which it cites the ten abodes of the Pusa benye jing to establish that the station of abiding does not retrogress; and the Huayan jing zhigui uses this chapter in two places — in one citing this chapter's repeated verse about the encircling mountains entering a pore to establish the meaning of the great and small containing each other, and in the other raising this chapter as scriptural ground for “within the ten abodes and the rest each gathers all the stations.” Both are matters of listing names in doctrinal comparison rather than commentary upon the text of this chapter, and they too are recorded without adjudication.

Outside this chapter, as regards the name and the practice of the ten abodes, the separately circulating Pusa benye jing expounds the same dharma-gate under the ten ancient names ‘arousing the intention, preparing the ground, responsive practice, noble birth, accomplishment by cultivation, ascent in practice, non-retrogression, childlike purity, understanding birth, and the station of one more birth,’ and there too each abode has its ten things and its ten learnings — the names differing between ancient and later while the dharma is the same, and this is the most ancient side-witness to this chapter. And the doctrine of this chapter's abode of first arousing the mind is taken up next by the chapter on Pure Conduct: ‘at the first arousing of the mind one at once gains unsurpassed perfect awakening’; Chengguan had already cited this meaning when glossing non-retrogression in this chapter. The root of the ten abodes is the arousing of the mind, and the utmost of the arousing of the mind is the accomplishing of right awakening: this one line has already been drawn out by this chapter, and the next chapter takes it up.