華嚴經 品十八 明法品Avataṃsaka Sūtra · Clarifying the Dharma

Where This Chapter Comes In Decides What It Asks

The preceding chapter, The Merit of the First Arousing of the Mind, measured the merit of that first arousing out to the very end of what human speech can say: the merit of a single arousing of the mind, compared by measureless kalpas and by similes as many as the dust-motes of measureless buddha-lands, still cannot be reached. Having read that chapter, one easily comes to rest in a place of satisfaction — so this is how great the arousing of the mind is. And this chapter asks the next question: since it is so great, what comes next?

Chengguan's determination of the reason this chapter comes is put with the utmost directness: what was set forth earlier is “the virtue accomplished at the present station,” what is discerned here is “the practice of pressing on excellently to what follows.” The preceding chapter says ‘what you already have’; this chapter says ‘what you are to do next’. Fazang's determination is exactly the same — earlier what was set forth was one's own portion, now what is displayed is the pressing on. Zhiyan puts it more practically: one takes the virtue of the practice already cultivated and cultivates further, and this serves as the skillful means for the grounds that come after. Li Tongxuan, for his part, attaches it not to one chapter but to five: Ascent to the Summit of Mount Sumeru, Verses of Praise, The Ten Abodes, The Practice of Brahmacarya, and The Merit of the First Arousing of the Mind — the Dharma-gates of those five chapters have now been set forth, and this chapter is to make what precedes clearer and to make what follows turn more excellent.

So the form of this chapter is not ‘to expound a principle’ but ‘to open a work-list’. The whole chapter has fourteen rounds of ten-dharma sets, one round after another, with the passage on teaching according to capacity, the passage on continuing and raising high the Three Jewels, and the simile of the medicine Well-Seen set among them. Some readers, halfway through, will find it list-like and be put off. That distaste should be cleared away first: the list is precisely the doctrinal form of this chapter — one whose merit is already accomplished needs least of all to hear once more how great that merit is, and needs most of all to know where the next footfall goes. Brought down to oneself: if the thought ‘I will become a buddha’ has already arisen in someone's heart, this chapter is written expressly for the morning after that thought.

Why the Chapter Is Named “Clarifying the Dharma”

The two graphs of the name have been read in four ways by four of the ancient masters, and the four do not agree with one another — a fact worth looking at before anything else.

Chengguan says that, rendered in accordance with the Sanskrit text, the chapter should be called ‘the chapter of the Light of the Dharma’; and he opens four senses. First, because the wisdom of the bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom illumines clearly the practices by which one presses on, “brightness” points to the Dharma that is known. Second, “brightness” is that which expresses and “the Dharma” is that which is expressed, and taken together this is called “because there is a Dharma that has brightness, and because it is the brightness of the Dharma.” Third, “brightness” is the function of wisdom and “the Dharma” is the object, principle, practice, and fruit, object and wisdom being spoken of together. Fourth, the substance of the practice cultivated is itself apart from ignorance, so that the Dharma just is brightness. Fazang's four senses run on a different track: he says that the dharma of practice of the later station sheds brightness upon the earlier station; then that brightness is the teaching and the Dharma is the sense; then that brightness is wisdom and the Dharma is the object; and last that when wisdom and practice are apart from defilement, that very aspect is named brightness. Zhiyan divides it into two senses: with respect to the teaching, the teaching illumines and makes principle appear, and so is named brightness; with respect to practice, by the growing excellence of practice the character of the later station appears. Li Tongxuan does not gloss the graphs at all, but states directly what this chapter does — it makes the dharmas of the preceding five chapters “clearer in the mind,” and makes the dharmas practiced afterward “turn more excellent and plain.”

Ask first: why should the name of one chapter open into so many senses? The answer is that the relation between “brightness” and “the Dharma” is by nature a living one. Brightness may be the wisdom that illumines and the Dharma the object illumined; brightness may also be that very Dharma which is lit up. The four masters have simply each taken their stand on one of these possibilities. Clear away one misreading: do not suppose that one of them is right and the other three are making do. They are handling different faces of the same pair of graphs, and the way of the ancient masters is that each states what he rests upon and all are allowed to stand. Brought down to how one reads: a name that can bear only one explanation is usually a name that is too narrow.

Diligent Wisdom's Question (1): What Is Asked Is ‘How to Do It’, Not ‘How Fine It Is’

The bodhisattva Diligent Wisdom opens by receiving the result of the preceding chapter — a bodhisattva who has first aroused the mind that seeks omniscience has already accomplished measureless merit, is furnished with vast adornment, has mounted the vehicle of omniscience, entered the correct station of a bodhisattva, forsaken the dharmas of the world and gained the dharmas that go beyond it, been taken in and sustained by the buddhas of the three times, and is certain to arrive at unsurpassed awakening. Chengguan outlines this section as “receiving the excellent virtue of one's own portion above,” and breaks it into seven clauses: receiving virtue, receiving the vehicle, receiving the station, receiving the path, receiving the excellent conditions by which one is sustained, and receiving one's fruit to come. He also honestly adds a limit: this is explained with respect to the present abode-station; if one were to take it as gathering in the higher stations, nothing in principle would fail to hold, but with respect to the sense of ‘seeking to press on excellently’ it would not be apt.

Only after the receiving comes the question. Chengguan determines that these ten clauses of question divide into three sections. The first five are for one's own benefit while including others — the first asks how one is to cultivate so as to make the buddhas rejoice; the second, complying with the Dharma and entering the station; the third, complying with practice; the fourth, complying with vows; the fifth, complying with virtue, since accumulated virtue forms a treasury. The next four benefit others while including oneself, and bind into two pairs — one pair is constantly to teach the Dharma without forsaking one's own practice; the other is, below, to be mindful of beings and, above, to spread abroad the Three Jewels. The last clause, “the roots of goodness and the skillful means are all not in vain,” concludes generally that the two benefits do not fall empty.

Where does the point of this outline lie? In the first clause. Chengguan singles it out: the word “cultivate” is both general and particular — generally it pervades the nine clauses that follow, particularly it means the spurring on of diligence, which is exactly the “non-negligence” of the answer below. In other words, the ten questions have in truth only one root to their answer, and all fourteen rounds of dharmas that follow grow out of “non-negligence.” Brought down to oneself: when a person asks ‘what should I cultivate’, he usually expects to be handed ten different things to do; the way this chapter answers is to give him one thing first, and then to let that one thing open into fourteen rounds.

Diligent Wisdom's Question (2): What Is Asked Is ‘By What Cause Is This Fruit Accomplished’

From “Furthermore” onward comes the second round of questioning. This section sets out a long string of characters of virtue: extinguishing the darkness of ignorance, subduing the hosts of Māra, restraining the followers of other paths, washing clean forever the afflictions and the stains of mind, accomplishing the roots of goodness, coming forth forever from the evil destinies and calamities, purifying the realm of great wisdom, accomplishing the grounds, the perfections, the retentions, the samādhis, the six superknowledges, the three clear knowledges, and the four fearlessnesses, adorning the buddha-lands and the marks and signs and the practice of body, speech, and mind, knowing well the powers, fearlessnesses, and exclusive dharmas of a tathāgata, taking up buddha-lands according to what beings delight in and teaching according to their faculties and the season, and even guarding the treasury of Dharma gathered by the buddhas so that the hosts of Māra and the other paths cannot ruin it.

Here the misunderstanding comes easiest: that Diligent Wisdom is listing the accomplishments of a bodhisattva by way of praise. Chengguan blocks that misunderstanding outright. He says this section has twelve matters, and that the manner of asking in every one of them is the same: “First, he is able to extinguish ignorance — but by cultivating what dharma of practice is he able to extinguish it? All the clauses are like this; the intent lies in asking after the cause.” What is asked is not ‘how excellent these virtues are’ but ‘what must one cultivate in order to have them’. This settles the form of the whole chapter's answering text: the fourteen rounds that Dharma Wisdom sets forth below are, clause by clause, causes, and not a display of the characters of the fruit.

Chengguan here also explains two terms in passing. The first is ignorance: he says ignorance is not ‘the empty place where brightness is absent’, but that “ignorance has a substance and darkness is its function” — there is a separate substance of delusion, and by it both phenomena and principle are obscured. The second is the stains of mind: “the stains of mind are just the knowable, and are also called the residual habits” — the stains of mind in “washing clean forever all the afflictions and the stains of mind” belong on the side of the obstruction of the knowable, and are not a repetition of the obstruction of the afflictions. Brought down to practice: these two together say that the thing to be extinguished really has a substance of its own, and cannot be extinguished by ‘not thinking about it’.

Diligent Wisdom Restates in Verse: Eleven Verses Asking the Question Again

The prose question finished, Diligent Wisdom restates it in verse. Chengguan determines these eleven verses to be “the first praises the one who speaks, the remaining ten restate the text above” — the first verse, “You of great renown are well able to expound,” praises Dharma Wisdom as fit to speak, and only the latter ten restate the preceding question. Of those ten, the first four restate the substance of the practice cultivated and the latter five the virtue accomplished by that practice; and of the five, the first three restate the virtue of the cause and the last two the concluding of cause into fruit.

What the verses have and the prose did not display are the three similes of the last two verses: “How is one to be fearless as a lion, his practice pure as the full moon? How is one to cultivate the merit of a buddha, like a lotus flower that does not cling to the water?” The prose asked “how is one to cultivate,” which is a plain manner of asking; here it is changed into three images — fearlessness should be like a lion, purity of practice like the full moon, being in the world like a lotus that does not cling to the water. Ask first: why should the last of the asking turn to simile? Because the nine verses before asked ‘what to do’, while these three ask ‘what it looks like once done’. A person needs a recognizable look before he can tell whether he has arrived. Clear away one misunderstanding: do not take these three similes as ornament. Although the answering text does not reply to them simile by simile, the fourteen rounds of dharmas run their course and the closing verses of the answer gather up five similes — elephant king, lion, mountain, ocean, great rain — and this is precisely the response to those three: the questioner asks for a character by three similes, the answerer displays a character by five.

Dharma Wisdom Consents to Speak: The Question Itself Is an Accomplishment

Dharma Wisdom's first sentence is not an answer but a confirmation. He says “Excellent! Son of the Buddha!” and then gives three reasons: this question is asked in order to bring much benefit, much ease and joy, much profit, and out of pity for the gods and men of the world, and it asks about the pure practice cultivated by the bodhisattvas. Then he confirms the standing of the questioner: “You abide in the real dharma, you have aroused great diligence, you have grown and do not turn back, and you have already gained liberation; that you can put such a question is the same as the Tathāgata.”

“That you can put such a question is the same as the Tathāgata” — this sentence is worth pausing over. It is not a compliment but a criterion: the quality of a question equals the position of the one who asks. What kind of person can ask ‘the merit is already accomplished, and then what?’ Only one who has already walked to that position and is unwilling to stop there. Chengguan and Fazang determine this in the same way. Fazang says that were it not a capacity that spurs itself on diligently and illumines principle, it would not be fit to bear the dharma of pressing on excellently and increasing further; and were it not one who possesses the dharma of penetrating the real with pure practice, he would have no ability to speak it — therefore Diligent Wisdom asks and Dharma Wisdom speaks. Zhiyan puts it more briefly: without diligent practice one cannot bear this dharma of pressing on; only a wisdom that accords with the Dharma can set forth this teaching.

Dharma Wisdom then says, “I now, sustained by the awesome spiritual power of the Buddha, will speak for you a small part of what is contained herein.” Two things stand in that sentence: first, what is spoken is sustained by the Buddha's awesome power and is not a display of the speaker's own eloquence; second, what is spoken is only a small part. The fourteen rounds of dharmas of the whole chapter, vast as they look, are in the speaker's own eyes still a “small part.” Brought down to the reader: this is a measure — the list you are reading is not the whole, only that portion of it which can be said.

The First of the Ten-Dharma Sets, Non-Negligence: The General Gate of the Whole Chapter

Dharma Wisdom's first sentence of proper answer is not the ten dharmas but a premise: “A bodhisattva-mahāsattva who has already aroused the mind of omniscience should keep far from the gloom of delusion, guard himself with diligence, and not let himself fall into negligence.” After the arousing of the mind the greatest danger is not falling away but letting go. So the first round of dharmas is non-negligence — which answers exactly to Chengguan's determination that the single word “cultivate” points particularly to the spurring on of diligence.

The ten dharmas, item by item: first, upholding the many precepts — the first character of non-negligence is not in the mind but at the boundaries of body and speech; without the guarding of the precepts, the guarding of thought is empty talk. Second, keeping far from delusion and purifying the mind of awakening — the mind of awakening can be defiled, and what defiles it is delusion; so the way to purify the mind is to remove delusion, not to add thoughts. Third, delighting in the heart in plainness and uprightness and keeping far from flattery and deceit — uprightness is not deceiving oneself and not decorating oneself before others; flattery and deceit are a form of negligence because they must keep fabricating, and what fabricates cannot rest. Fourth, diligently cultivating the roots of goodness without turning back — roots of goodness arise only when cultivated, and once cultivated they can recede, so non-negligence includes the sense of ‘not stopping’. Fifth, constantly thinking well upon the mind one aroused — looking back again and again at what mind it was that one first aroused; the arousing of the mind is not a single event but a coordinate that needs repeated confirmation. Sixth, not delighting to keep close company with any ordinary person, householder or renunciant — this is the harshest item and must be read exactly: what is set aside is the common ground of ‘being an ordinary person’, not the standing of householder or renunciant; to be among those not yet free of delusion and to delight in their closeness is to let the mind sink with them. Seventh, cultivating good deeds while not hoping for the fruits of reward in the world — one and the same good deed, if it seeks the reward of men and gods, becomes provision for further flowing on; non-negligence governs motive too. Eighth, forever leaving the two vehicles and walking the bodhisattva path — negligence is not only slackness; to take the small fruit and be satisfied is also a negligence, because it stops work early. Ninth, delighting to cultivate good works and to let them not be cut off — the word “delighting” matters: good propped up by will breaks off; good carried by delight continues. Tenth, constantly observing well the force of one's own continuum — the last item returns to inward looking: constantly examining whether the force with which one's thoughts follow one upon another is still there. These ten begin from the precepts and end in the observing of mind, moving from without inward, and they form one complete line of self-guarding.

The Second, the Ten Purities of Non-Negligence: The Ten Things That Grow Once Non-Negligence Is Established

The first round says how to be non-negligent; the second says what one gains once non-negligence is firmly established. This is the way this chapter joins its parts — the fruit of the former round is the cause of the next.

The ten purities, item by item: first, doing as one says — the unity of word and deed is the first purity, because what non-negligence purifies first is the seam between speech and act. Second, mindfulness and wisdom both accomplished — mindfulness is not forgetting, wisdom is being able to decide; when both are accomplished one both remembers and judges clearly. Third, abiding in deep concentration, neither sinking nor rising — the purity of concentration lies not in depth but in evenness: apart from both torpor and agitation. Fourth, delighting to seek the Buddha's Dharma without slackening — a mind that does not tire in seeking the Dharma is the attesting character of purity of mental strength. Fifth, observing the Dharma one has heard as principle requires, furnished with the birth of subtle and skillful wisdom — to hear without observing leaves the Dharma mere information; observation is the process that turns hearing into wisdom. Sixth, entering deep concentration and gaining the buddhas' spiritual penetrations — the penetrations come out of concentration, not out of wishing for them. Seventh, a mind even, without high or low — not to raise high and low toward objects is the character of self-conceit purified. Eighth, toward beings of the three classes a mind without barrier, benefiting them equally as the great earth does — the great earth does not choose between high and low but bears all universally; a mind unpartitioned toward beings of the three grades is just so. Ninth, honoring and serving as one's upādhyāya any being who has aroused even a single thought of awakening — the moment anyone stirs a single thought of awakening, one reveres him with the rite due to the master who confers the precepts; what is revered is not that person's present condition but the direction of that one thought. Tenth, constantly giving rise to reverence, service, and offerings toward the upādhyāya who conferred the precepts, the ācārya, all bodhisattvas, the good friends, and the masters of the Dharma — the ninth reveres one who has just aroused the mind, the tenth reveres those who have already taught one; the two together make one complete field of reverence.

This round has a closing passage as well: one who abides in non-negligence arouses great diligence, gives rise to right mindfulness, gives rise to excellent aspiration and delight, never ceases in what he practices, has no place upon which his mind leans among all dharmas, is able diligently to cultivate the most profound dharmas, enters the gate of non-contention, widens his vast mind, and is able to comply with and know the boundless Dharma of the Buddha, so as to make all the tathāgatas rejoice. Chengguan determines here that “the upper nine conclude what precedes and the tenth gives birth to what follows” — the nine clauses before conclude what came before, the tenth gives rise to what comes after, and so the next round takes up ‘making the buddhas rejoice’. The joinery of the scriptural text is plain here; it is not an arrangement of the compiler's.

The Third, Making the Buddhas Rejoice (1): Ten Things That Make the Buddhas Rejoice

“Making all the tathāgatas rejoice” was the first of the ten clauses of question; here the proper answer begins, and it answers in two rounds together.

The ten dharmas of the first round: first, diligence that does not turn back — the first cause of rejoicing is not a result but the very fact of not turning back. Second, not begrudging body or life — only when one is willing to hand over the last line does the Buddha know that this person is in earnest. Third, no hope of gain and offerings — if practice still has its eye on offerings, the direction has already gone astray. Fourth, knowing that all dharmas are like space — this item strips the first three of their merely moral color: not begrudging body and life, without “dharmas are like space” beneath it, is only heroism. Fifth, being well able to observe and to enter universally into the Dharma realm — observing is the particular, entering universally is the general; only by particular observation can one enter generally. Sixth, knowing the seal of the dharmas while the mind neither leans nor clings — to know the seal of the Dharma and yet not lean upon it: not even a correct view is to be made a handrail. Seventh, constantly arousing great vows — the vow is the line that carries wisdom back to beings; without it the first six would stop at one's own enjoyment. Eighth, accomplishing the light of pure forbearance and wisdom — forbearance and wisdom are spoken together: one can bear because one has seen clearly, not because one can hold out. Ninth, observing one's own good dharmas with a mind that neither increases nor decreases — looking at one's own goodness without gladness at its abundance or timidity at its scarcity; this is the hardest item, because it is here that a practitioner most easily rises and falls. Tenth, relying upon the gate of non-doing and cultivating pure practices — the last returns to non-doing: cultivating while seeing neither a cultivator nor a thing cultivated. The ten pass from practice into principle, from principle to the gathering of vows, and at last home to non-doing; it is one complete descending line.

Ask first: why should the buddhas rejoice at these? Not because a buddha needs anything. Rejoicing is another name for according — when these ten things are done, this person's mind is set in the same direction as a buddha's mind, and being in the same direction is called rejoicing.

The Fourth, Making the Buddhas Rejoice (2): Ten “Abidings”

The same matter is answered a second time, and this round does not use ‘first, second’ but “they are,” with all ten items beginning with “abiding.” The change of form is itself doctrine: the former round says ‘what to do’, this round says ‘where to stand’.

Item by item: abiding in non-negligence — the general gate of the first round has become here the first dwelling place, which shows that non-negligence is not a step at the entrance but the foundation throughout. Abiding in the forbearance of non-arising — patient acceptance of the principle that dharmas do not arise; this is an abiding in principle. Abiding in great kindness — the mind that gives joy as a dwelling. Abiding in great compassion — the mind that draws out suffering as a dwelling; kindness and compassion are listed apart and not merged, because giving joy and drawing out suffering are two different directions of exertion. Abiding in the fulfilling of the perfections — dwelling upon the fact that none of the ten is lacking; partial cultivation is not allowed. Abiding in the practices — dwelling in practice, not in the results of practice. Abiding in great vows — a vow is to be dwelt in long, not pitched high. Abiding in skillful means — skillful means is not an expedient but a wisdom one can dwell within. Abiding in the power of valor — power too is a dwelling place: not an occasional burst of courage but a constant being-in-courage. Abiding in wisdom, observing that all dharmas abide nowhere, like space — the last item turns over the “abiding” of the nine before it: abiding in “abiding nowhere.”

Clear away one misreading: do not suppose that the tenth negates the preceding nine. The nine are having somewhere to stand; the tenth is knowing that the standing place too is not real; only when both hold at once is it the abiding this chapter speaks of. Brought down to oneself: a person needs a footing before he can act, but if he takes the footing for solid ground, his acting will be bound by it.

The Fifth, Swift Entry into the Grounds: Ten Things That Bring One Quickly into the Grounds

This is the proper answer to the second question, “entering the place in which the bodhisattvas abide.” The “ground” here is what one proceeds toward, not what one abides in — this chapter is the practice of proceeding toward the grounds from before the grounds, and Zhiyan says it plainly in determining the reason this chapter comes: one takes the virtue of the earlier practice and cultivates further, as the skillful means for the grounds that follow.

Item by item: first, skillfully bringing to fullness the two practices of merit and wisdom — the provision for entering the grounds is the two legs of merit and wisdom; lacking one, one cannot walk. Second, being able with vast adornment to cultivate the path of the perfections — not cultivating a little of the perfections, but cultivating the perfections into an adornment. Third, wisdom clear and penetrating, not turned about by the words of others — by this step one must have judgment of one's own; whoever turns at whatever he is told cannot enter the grounds. Fourth, serving good friends and never forsaking them — this does not contradict the third: not to be turned by words is not to be moved about by speech; to serve good friends is not to leave the one who really shows the road. Fifth, constantly practicing diligence without slackness — between one ground and the next there is no shortcut. Sixth, being well able to abide in the spiritual power of the Tathāgata — to receive sustaining is itself an ability; one must be “well able to abide” in order to bear it. Seventh, cultivating the roots of goodness without growing weary — weariness is the most practical enemy on the road into the grounds. Eighth, profound mind and sharp wisdom, adorning oneself with the dharma of the Great Vehicle — Chengguan determines here that “profound mind accords with stillness and sharp wisdom penetrates throughout,” and that with these two one adorns the Dharma: profound mind goes down into stillness, sharp wisdom goes forward through the phenomenal. Ninth, toward the Dharma-gate of each ground the mind abiding in nothing — having passed one ground one does not linger over it; whoever stops at a result cannot go higher. Tenth, being of one and the same substance with the roots of goodness and skillful means of the buddhas of the three times — the last item joins one person's practice to the one substance of the buddhas of the three times, and that person's ground is then no longer his own alone.

The Transitional Passage, Observing Well When First Abiding in a Ground: Knowing That All Dharmas Are One's Own Mind

The ten dharmas finished, the scriptural text inserts a passage that lists no number. This is the place in the prose of the whole chapter that stands nearest to ‘principle’, and it is worth looking at by itself.

It says that when a bodhisattva first abides in a ground he should observe well: according to all the Dharma-gates there are, the most profound wisdom, the causes cultivated, the fruits gained, the realm, the power and function, the manifesting, the differentiating, and what is attained — all of it he should observe well. And then comes the sentence: “He knows that all dharmas are his own mind, and yet he clings to nothing; having known it thus, he enters the ground of a bodhisattva and is able to abide there well.”

Ask first: the nine “according to” items are observed one by one — why is the conclusion “they are all one's own mind”? Because at the end of observing one finds that of the causes and fruits, realms, and powers observed, not one has any place of establishment outside the mind. But the text immediately adds four graphs, “and yet he clings to nothing” — and these four guard against the very illness that “all is one's own mind” most easily breeds: setting “mind” up again as a substance that can be grasped. To know that it is one's own mind and at the same time not cling to mind — this is what enters the ground.

Then the bodhisattva makes a reflection of his own: we should swiftly enter the grounds; why? Because abiding in each ground one after another accomplishes vast merit; being furnished with merit one enters step by step the ground of a buddha; abiding in the ground of a buddha one can perform boundless and vast buddha-deeds; therefore one should constantly and diligently cultivate, without rest and without weariness. Reading the words “entering the grounds,” Li Tongxuan says that already in the station of the abode of the first arousing of the mind one knows throughout the Dharma-gates of the abodes, the practices, the dedications, and the grounds, “because one is all and all is one.” His reading runs on a track other than that of those who explain clause by clause according to the outline; he reads the sequence of the ten grounds as the layer-upon-layer inexhaustibility of the One Vehicle. This determination is Tongxuan's own, and is recorded here.

The Sixth, Purity of Practice: Ten Things That Make One's Practice Clean

This is the proper answer to the third question, “making all their vast practice pure.”

Item by item: first, giving away all one's goods and satisfying the wishes of beings — purity of practice begins from giving, and its standard lies in “satisfying the wishes of beings,” not in how much one has given away. Second, keeping the precepts purely without breach — right after giving comes the precepts, guarding against the slackness of ‘I have given already’. Third, gentleness and forbearance without end — for forbearance to be without end is to set no line saying ‘I bear this far and no further’. Fourth, diligently cultivating the practices and never turning back — diligence stands here. Fifth, by the power of right mindfulness a mind not confused — the power of mindfulness is the steering of practice. Sixth, distinguishing and knowing measureless dharmas — the discriminating power of wisdom; without it the first five would be blind cultivation. Seventh, cultivating every practice while clinging to nothing — cultivating without clinging is what makes practice clean; where there is clinging there is stain. Eighth, a mind that does not move, like the king of mountains — the mountain likens concentration: outer objects cannot shake it. Ninth, liberating beings far and wide, like a bridge — the bridge likens function: it lets itself be trodden upon and only sees people across. Tenth, knowing that all beings and all the tathāgatas are of one and the same substance — the last gives the preceding nine their reason: why liberate beings in this way? Because beings and the tathāgatas are of one substance, and so to liberate another is not to confer a favor.

The eighth and ninth similes standing side by side make the plainest place in this chapter for ‘substance and function are not two’: what does not move is the mind, and what can ferry is that same mind; the mountain and the bridge are not two things.

The Seventh, the Ten Dharmas of Increasing Excellence: The Ten Things Gained After the Practice Is Pure

The text says “since the bodhisattva has gained purity of practice, he gains besides ten dharmas of increasing excellence” — this round is fruit, not another set of practices to cultivate.

Item by item: first, the buddhas of other quarters all bear him in mind and protect him — the first attesting sign of purity of practice is that outward protection comes of itself. Second, roots of goodness growing more excellent and surpassing his peers — he naturally stands out among his fellows; it is not a deliberate standing out. Third, being well able to receive the sustaining power of a buddha — the sustaining was always there; being able to receive it is the newly gained ability. Fourth, constantly gaining good persons as those upon whom he relies — good companions appear. Fifth, abiding in diligence and never negligent — back to non-negligence, which shows that in this chapter non-negligence is both the starting point and the point of return in every round. Sixth, knowing that all dharmas are equal and without difference — increase in principle. Seventh, a mind constantly abiding in unsurpassed great compassion — compassion turns from occasional to constant. Eighth, observing dharmas as they really are and giving birth to subtle wisdom — wisdom comes out of observation, not out of speculation. Ninth, being able to cultivate well subtle and skillful means — only with wisdom is there true skillful means. Tenth, being able to know the power of the skillful means of a tathāgata — the last is to be able to recognize a buddha's skillful means: to know why he speaks so and appears so. Chengguan determines this round as an order of ten excellences — excellence of another's power, of one's own good, of deep concentration, of fellow practitioners, of what aids the path, of true wisdom, of intent and delight, of observing wisdom, of cultivation, and of advancing further — marking item by item where each is excellent, which shows that the ten are not a level list but layer upon layer of increase.

The Eighth, the Ten Pure Vows: A Bodhisattva's Ten Vows

This is the first half of the proper answer to the fourth question, “that all their great vows be fulfilled” — first what vows are made, and only in the next round how the vows are brought to fullness. The form of this round is distinctive, running from ‘the first vow, the second vow’ to “the tenth vow.”

Item by item: the first vow, bringing beings to maturity without weariness — the first business of the vow is people, not dharmas. The second vow, being furnished with the practice of the many goods and purifying the worlds — one cultivates the many goods oneself, yet the effect is the purifying of worlds; personal practice and the purity of lands are joined together. The third vow, serving the tathāgatas and constantly giving rise to reverence — reverence must be “constantly” given rise to, not a single moment's emotion. The fourth vow, upholding the true Dharma without begrudging body or life — the Dharma weighs more than life; this is where the weight of the vow lies. The fifth vow, by observing with wisdom entering the lands of the buddhas — entering the buddha-lands rests upon wisdom's observation, not upon travel. The sixth vow, being of one and the same substance with the bodhisattvas — of one substance with one's fellows, and not merely cooperating. The seventh vow, entering the gate of the Tathāgata and knowing all dharmas — entering by a gate, knowing dharmas rather than collecting them. The eighth vow, that those who see him give rise to faith and none fail to gain benefit — vowing to become an existence that ‘benefits by being seen’; this vow answers directly to the simile of the medicine Well-Seen further on. The ninth vow, by spiritual power abiding in the world to the end of the kalpas to come — the length of abiding in the world is measured by the kalpas to come. The tenth vow, being furnished with the practice of Samantabhadra and purifying the gate of the knowledge of all modes — the last comes home to the practice of Samantabhadra, and the gate of the knowledge of all modes is to be “purified,” not “acquired.”

The Ninth, the Fulfillment of the Great Vows: Ten Things That Keep the Great Vows from Falling Empty

Once a vow is made, will it fall empty? This round answers just that.

Item by item: first, a mind without weariness — the first killer of a vow is aversion. Second, being furnished with vast adornment — a vow must be held up by an adornment to match it, or the vow is great and the vessel small. Third, calling to mind the excellent power of the vows of the bodhisattvas — constantly thinking what vows others have made keeps one's own vow from shrinking. Fourth, hearing of the lands of the buddhas and vowing to be born in them all — wherever one hears of a buddha-land one vows to go; the vow sets no limit to its direction. Fifth, a profound mind that lasts long, to the end of the kalpas to come — depth and duration are raised together: what is not deep does not last. Sixth, vowing to bring all beings to accomplishment — choosing no object. Seventh, dwelling in all the kalpas and not counting it toil — length of time does not count as hardship. Eighth, undergoing all suffering and giving rise to no aversion — suffering does not count as suffering. Ninth, toward every pleasure a mind that does not covet — pleasure too does not count as pleasure; the seventh, eighth, and ninth together dismantle the three forces — time, suffering, and pleasure — that would deform a vow. Tenth, constantly and diligently guarding the unsurpassed Dharma-gate — the last comes back to guarding the Dharma-gate, and joins with the fourth vow, “upholding the true Dharma without begrudging body or life.”

The Tenth, the Ten Inexhaustible Treasuries: The Ten Treasuries Gained Once the Vows Are Fulfilled

The text says “when a bodhisattva fulfills vows such as these he gains ten inexhaustible treasuries.” This round uses no ordinal numbers but lists the ten names directly with “they are,” each name closing with “inexhaustible treasury.”

Item by item: the inexhaustible treasury of universally seeing the buddhas — the buddhas seen are inexhaustible. The inexhaustible treasury of retention without forgetting — the dharmas held in memory are inexhaustible. The inexhaustible treasury of resolving all dharmas — the senses of dharma decided are inexhaustible. The inexhaustible treasury of great compassion that rescues and protects — the beings rescued are inexhaustible. The inexhaustible treasury of the samādhis of every kind — the gates of concentration entered are inexhaustible. The inexhaustible treasury of the vast merit that satisfies the minds of beings — the merit able to satisfy beings' minds is inexhaustible. The inexhaustible treasury of the most profound wisdom that expounds all dharmas — the wisdom able to expound the Dharma is inexhaustible. The inexhaustible treasury of the spiritual penetrations gained as recompense — the penetrations that come of themselves by recompense of deeds are inexhaustible; the two graphs of “gained as recompense” must be watched, for this is not a display of wonders cultivated up. The inexhaustible treasury of dwelling for measureless kalpas — the time dwelt in is inexhaustible. The inexhaustible treasury of entering boundless worlds — the places entered are inexhaustible.

Ask first: why is what is gained after the vows are fulfilled a “treasury”? Because a treasury means what can be drawn upon without diminishing. The ten vows before were sent outward; these ten treasuries are received back — the fuller the vow sent out, the larger the capacity that returns. Reading this place, Li Tongxuan says that this is “in substance one is all, and without limit,” its inexhaustibility lying not in the number but in a substance that is limitless from the first. This determination is Tongxuan's own, and is recorded here. Clear away one misunderstanding: do not think of the inexhaustible treasuries as a stock. A stock runs out; the treasury is inexhaustible precisely because it was not amassed.

Teaching According to Capacity: Ten Kinds of Person, Ten Ways of Teaching

Having gained the treasuries, his merit complete and his wisdom pure, he is able to “teach the Dharma as befits them.” The text first gives the premise of teaching: knowing what they do, knowing their causes and conditions, knowing the movements of their minds, knowing what they delight in — four “knowings” first, and the teaching after.

Then it lists one by one the capacities faced and the dharmas taught: for one in whom greed is much, the impure — what counteracts greed is observing the body as impure. For one in whom hatred is much, great kindness — what counteracts hatred is the mind that gives joy. For one in whom delusion is much, being instructed to observe diligently — what counteracts delusion is not being given an answer but being taught to observe for himself. For one in whom the three poisons are equal, the Dharma-gate that accomplishes excellent wisdom — one in whom the three poisons are level and none preponderant needs no separate counteraction, and is given the gate of excellent wisdom directly. For one who delights in birth-and-death, the three sufferings — for one who covets the pleasures of birth-and-death, the suffering of pain, the suffering of decay, and the suffering of the formations are spread open before him. If one clings to a place, that the place is of itself empty and still — for one attached to some place (including a so-called place of practice), it is said that place is of itself empty. For one whose mind is slack, great diligence. For one who harbors self-conceit, that the Dharma is of itself equal — the remedy for conceit is to see that the Dharma itself has no high and low. For one in whom flattery and deceit are many, that the bodhisattva's mind is plain and upright — he is not rebuked for his flattery, but is given an upright figure to look at. For one who delights in stillness, the Dharma taught at length, so as to bring him to accomplishment — this item is the most interesting: for one who loves stillness the Dharma must on the contrary be taught “at length,” lest he stop inside the stillness and never come out.

Ten capacities and ten medicines, matched one to one and never repeated. Brought down to oneself: this section can be used as a mirror — one must first recognize which capacity one is, in order to know which stretch of Dharma one should hear first.

There is another string of rules for the time of teaching: the phrases following and belonging one to another with the meaning without error, observing what comes first and after in the Dharma and distinguishing it with wisdom, determining right and wrong without going against the seal of the Dharma, establishing boundless gates of practice in due order so that beings cut off doubt, knowing well their faculties so that they enter the Tathāgata's teaching, realizing the limit of the real and knowing that the Dharma is of itself equal, cutting off love for the dharmas and removing all grasping, constantly calling the buddhas to mind without setting them aside for a moment, knowing that the nature of sound is equal, clinging to nothing amid speech of every kind, and speaking similes with skill so that they do not contradict one another. This string is about the mind of the one who teaches: teaching the Dharma is not a matter of the hearer only, and if the speaker clings to speech or loves the dharmas, what he speaks is already diseased.

The Eleventh, the Purity of the Ten Perfections: After Teaching, He Turns Back to Purify His Own Ten

The text goes on to say that a bodhisattva who thus teaches beings “thereupon cultivates it himself, increases what is of profit and meaning, and does not forsake the perfections” — teaching the Dharma is not a spending of oneself but a part of one's own cultivation. Then it states one by one the character of purity of each of the ten.

The dāna-pāramitā — that the minds of beings may be satisfied, he gives away everything within and without and clings to nothing; he gives to the very end and does not remember that he has given. The śīla-pāramitā — being furnished with the keeping of the precepts while clinging to nothing, forever apart from self-conceit; the stain that most often grows out of keeping the precepts is the conceit of ‘I keep the precepts’. The pāramitā of forbearance — bearing with all evils, his mind toward beings even and unmoving, as the great earth bears all things; the look of forbearance is carrying, not suppressing. The pāramitā of diligence — universally undertaking many works and constantly cultivating without slackness, never turning back in what he does, with a valorous force none can subdue, neither taking up nor casting off any merit and yet able to fulfill the gate of omniscience; the four graphs “neither taking up nor casting off” are the purity of diligence — to take up is to grasp, to cast off is to abandon. The dhyāna-pāramitā — clinging to nothing in the realm of the five desires, able to accomplish the concentrations in their due order, constantly thinking rightly and “neither abiding nor coming forth,” entering the samādhis in reverse, forward, and due order, and within a single gate of samādhi entering boundless gates; not abiding is not sticking inside concentration, not coming forth is not falling outside it. The prajñā-pāramitā — in the presence of the buddhas hearing the Dharma and holding it, drawing near to good friends and serving them without weariness, thinking as principle requires upon what he hears, entering true samādhi and keeping far from views that are askew, observing dharmas well and gaining the seal of the real mark, knowing the Tathāgata's path of no contrivance, riding the wisdom of the universal gate and entering the gate of the wisdom of omniscience; Li Tongxuan explains “the wisdom of the universal gate” as the knowledge that knows throughout the faculties of beings, the knowledge of dharmas, and the knowledge of the differences within the wisdom of omniscience — this explanation is Tongxuan's, and is recorded. The pāramitā of skillful means — manifesting the works of the world, teaching and transforming beings without wearying, appearing now as an ordinary being and now as a noble one, now in birth-and-death and now in nirvāṇa, entering universally into the destinies to liberate beings; the purity of skillful means lies in ‘manifesting without coveting’. Chengguan determines that this single perfection has ten kinds of its own, and this is the place of ‘ten within the ten’. The pāramitā of vows — ten uses of the graph “exhaustively” in succession: exhaustively bringing beings to accomplishment, exhaustively adorning the worlds, exhaustively making offerings to the buddhas, exhaustively penetrating the unobstructed Dharma, exhaustively cultivating the practice that pervades the Dharma realm, the body abiding to the end of the kalpas to come, the knowledge exhaustively knowing all thoughts, exhaustively awakening to the flowing on and the returning, exhaustively manifesting all lands, exhaustively realizing the wisdom of a tathāgata; the character of purity of the vow is just this “exhaustively.” The pāramitā of powers — being furnished with the power of profound mind, of profound faith, of great compassion, of great kindness, of retention, of eloquence, of the perfections, of great vows, of the spiritual penetrations, and of sustaining, each with a “because” attached to state its reason; of the ten powers the first four are inward and the latter six are function. The pāramitā of knowledge — knowing those who course in greed, in hatred, in delusion, with the three poisons in equal parts, and in the ground of training; within a single thought knowing the courses of boundless beings, knowing their minds, knowing the reality of all dharmas, knowing the powers of all the tathāgatas, and awakening universally to the gate of the Dharma realm; the character of purity of knowledge is “knowing,” and what is known begins from the courses of beings and ends at the gate of the Dharma realm.

The ten perfections told, the text says the bodhisattva “abides within the greatly adorned bodhisattva vehicle.” Chengguan determines here that abiding in the great adornment concludes the ten perfections together as the adornment, and that this is the substance of the Great Vehicle. Ask first: why is “abiding in the Great Vehicle” said only after the ten perfections have been told? Because the Great Vehicle is not the name of a school but the carrying capacity that these ten things together make.

Teaching According to Thought: Ten Kinds of Being, Ten Ways of Liberating

The ten perfections purified, the bodhisattva “teaches the Dharma to all beings upon whom his thought is set.” Here is another set of ten pairs, differing from the ten capacities of the earlier passage on teaching according to capacity — the earlier set divides by the preponderance of affliction, this one by the condition in which beings stand.

Those fallen into the evil destinies are instructed to arouse the mind — already in the worst of places, the first thing is still to arouse the mind. Those in the midst of calamity are made to cultivate diligence — in calamity they are not urged to endure but urged to diligence. Beings in whom greed is much are shown the dharma of no greed. Beings in whom hatred is much are made to practice equality. Beings who cling to views are taught dependent origination — for one attached to a view, dependent origination is the medicine, because it shows that there is no fixed view to be held. Beings of the desire realm are instructed to keep far from desire, ill will, and the evil unwholesome dharmas. Beings of the form realm are expounded vipaśyanā — Li Tongxuan explains this, saying that because beings of the form realm abide in concentration they are instructed to give rise to observation; what one who dwells in the pleasure of concentration lacks is observation. Beings of the formless realm are expounded subtle and wondrous wisdom — Tongxuan says the formless realm, being given to the contemplation of the markless, is taught subtle and wondrous wisdom. Persons of the two vehicles are instructed in the practice of stillness. Those who delight in the Great Vehicle are taught the vast adornment of the ten powers.

The end of this passage looks back to the time when the bodhisattva first aroused the mind long ago: seeing measureless beings fallen into the evil destinies, he gave the great lion's roar and said, ‘With Dharma-gates of every kind I shall liberate them as befits them!’ — the ten ways of teaching now are the making good of that one sentence then.

Continuing and Raising High the Three Jewels: Why the Lineage of the Three Jewels Is Not Cut Off

This passage is the one the ancient masters valued most in the whole chapter. On its strength Fazang composed the separate Sanbao zhang, and in his commentary on the sixty-fascicle text he notes of himself, “Herein there is a chapter on the Three Jewels, as set forth separately” — commentary and separate chapter attesting one another, and within the Huayan house it is this chapter that shows it most conspicuously.

The text speaks of the three lineages not being cut off in four rounds. The first round, by teaching and transforming: he teaches beings to arouse the mind of awakening, and so the lineage of the Buddha is not cut off; he constantly opens up the treasury of Dharma for beings, and so the lineage of the Dharma is not cut off; he keeps the teaching well without going against it, and so the lineage of the Saṅgha is not cut off. The second round, by cultivation: because he praises all the great vows the lineage of the Buddha is not cut off; because he distinguishes and expounds the gate of causes and conditions the lineage of the Dharma is not cut off; because he constantly and diligently cultivates the dharmas of the six kinds of harmony and reverence the lineage of the Saṅgha is not cut off. Li Tongxuan explains the six kinds of harmony and reverence as the six matters of body, speech, mind, precepts, giving, and view; Zhiyan's explanation differs slightly, giving the deeds of body, speech, and mind together with the holding of view, precepts, and giving in common. The six items the two masters list are the same and their order differs; this is recorded. The third round, by shouldering the burden: because he sows the seed of buddhahood in the field of the minds of beings the lineage of the Buddha is not cut off — Tongxuan explains this as showing all beings the principle and wisdom of awakening and taking even the slightest root of goodness as an excellent condition; Chengguan on the same passage says the seed makes the wisdom of a buddha be accomplished, that is, one realizes suchness and accomplishes what is without outflows. The one explanation looks from the side of those transformed, the other from the side of what is accomplished; both are recorded. Because he upholds the true Dharma without begrudging body or life the lineage of the Dharma is not cut off; because he governs the assembly without weariness the lineage of the Saṅgha is not cut off. The fourth round, gathering all together: because toward the dharmas taught and the precepts laid down by the buddhas of the three times he upholds them all without setting them aside in his mind, the lineages of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha are never cut off.

Ask first: why should the Three Jewels be liable to being cut off? Because the way the Three Jewels exist in the world is “continuance,” not “installation.” The lineage of the Buddha continues because people keep arousing the mind; the lineage of the Dharma continues because people keep teaching it; the lineage of the Saṅgha continues because people keep being in concord. If no one does it, it is cut off in this generation. That this passage could become a separate chapter of its own lies exactly here: it reduces what looks like an institutional question to the daily work of every single practitioner.

The concluding words of the passage say: a bodhisattva who thus continues and raises high the Three Jewels is without fault in all that he practices, and whatever he does he dedicates and directs to the gate of omniscience, and therefore the three deeds are without flaw or stain; being without flaw or stain, the many goods he does, even for a single thought, are without error, and all accord with skillful means and wisdom, and none of it is passed in vain. Chengguan explains the graph for “in vain,” saying that the sense here also includes “without fault,” because all is pure and apart from the afflictions — so “not passing in vain” is not merely ‘nothing wasted’, but ‘nothing at fault’.

The Twelfth, the Ten Adornments: Ten Characters in Thought After Thought

“A bodhisattva who cultivates good dharmas in this way is furnished, in thought after thought, with ten adornments” — the adornment is not after the event but in thought after thought. Every item of this round carries a “because” stating its reason.

Item by item: the adornment of body, because he manifests according to what will discipline each being — the beauty of the body lies not in form but in being able to appear as the occasion requires. The adornment of speech, because he can cut off every doubt and make them rejoice — the beauty of speech lies in being able to cut off doubt. The adornment of mind, because within a single thought he enters the samādhis. The adornment of the buddha-land, because it is wholly pure and apart from the afflictions — the adornment of a land hangs upon being apart from delusion, not upon the seven jewels. The adornment of light, because he sends forth boundless light that shines universally upon beings. The adornment of the assembly, because he universally gathers the assembly and makes them all rejoice. The adornment of the spiritual penetrations, because he manifests them freely according to the minds of beings — the adornment of the penetrations lies in “according to the minds of beings,” not in their strangeness. The adornment of the right teaching, because it can take in all who are keen and wise — the attesting of a right teaching is that the keen and wise are willing to come. The adornment of the ground of nirvāṇa, because he attains the path in one place and yet pervades the ten directions with nothing left over — attaining the path in one place and yet nothing of the ten directions left out: this is where this scripture's sense of one and many interpenetrating comes to rest under the head of adornment. The adornment of skillful speech, because he teaches the Dharma according to the place, the time, and the faculties.

After the ten adornments the text says that the three deeds of body, speech, and mind “all pass not in vain, and are all dedicated and directed to the gate of omniscience.” Chengguan determines here that the text has the three parts of indication, asking, and explanation, and explains that “being without fault is just one's own deeds not being in vain, because it complies with stillness and cessation.”

Those Who See Him Pass Not in Vain, and the Simile of the Medicine Well-Seen: The Moment of Being Seen Is Already Dharma

After the ten adornments the text takes a turn — instead of saying what the bodhisattva does, it says what happens to others who meet him: if there is a being who sees this bodhisattva, it should be known that he too does not pass in vain, because that being is certain to accomplish unsurpassed perfect awakening. It then lists eleven ways of contact: hearing his name, making offerings, dwelling together, calling him to mind, leaving the household life following him, hearing him teach the Dharma, rejoicing in his roots of goodness, giving rise to esteem from afar, and even praising and extolling his name — all shall gain unsurpassed perfect awakening. The string runs from heavy to light: from deep association such as dwelling together and leaving home under him, down at last to “giving rise to esteem from afar” and ‘praising his name’ — even the very lightest of them counts.

Then comes the only independent simile of the whole chapter: “Son of the Buddha! Suppose there is a medicine named Well-Seen: beings who see it have every poison removed. So it is with a bodhisattva: having accomplished this dharma, if beings see him the poisons of all their afflictions are removed and extinguished and their good dharmas increase.” Zhiyan determines this passage to be complete in the three parts of dharma, simile, and joining.

The crux of the simile lies in the graph for “seeing.” Medicine ordinarily has to be swallowed to work; the medicine Well-Seen has only to be seen. Ask first: why choose a medicine of this kind? Because what the ten adornments before set forth is precisely “character” — the adornment of body, of speech, of light, of the assembly are all things that can be seen. When a person's whole way of existing has been put in order by the Dharma, his very presence is Dharma. Clear away one misunderstanding: this does not mean that someone can rely on gazing and not cultivate. The text says it plainly — what removes the poison is the medicine, not the cleverness of the one who looks; and this medicine became a medicine only because the fourteen rounds of dharmas before were cultivated one by one. Brought down to oneself: this simile is both a comfort and a demand — a comfort to those who meet a good friend, and a demand upon those whom others meet.

The Twelve Clauses of Accomplishing Virtue: By What, and What Is Brought About

After the simile of the medicine the text returns to the bodhisattva himself and, in a string of clauses beginning “by,” says how he brings about one by one the twelve matters asked about earlier. By actual count against the base text this passage has twelve clauses, ten of which are marked “power” while the remaining two run “by the clear light of wisdom” and “by the adamantine concentration” without the graph for power; unlike the sets of ten in the rounds before, it also sets up no “what are the ten” to mark a number.

Clause by clause: by the clear light of wisdom he extinguishes the gloom of delusion — answering the first matter of the question, “extinguishing the darkness of all ignorance.” By the power of kindness and compassion he crushes the army of Māra — what subdues Māra is kindness and compassion, not a greater force. By the power of great wisdom and of merit he restrains the followers of other paths — restraining the other paths takes wisdom and merit both. By the adamantine concentration he extinguishes all the stains of mind and the afflictions — the stains of mind are the knowable, and therefore the adamantine concentration is needed. By the power of diligence he gathers the roots of goodness. By the power of the roots of goodness that purify the buddha-land he keeps far from all the evil destinies and calamities. By the power of clinging to nothing he purifies the realm of wisdom — the purifying of the realm of wisdom rests upon not clinging. By the power of skillful means and wisdom he gives birth to the bodhisattva grounds, the perfections, the samādhis, the six superknowledges, the three clear knowledges, and the four fearlessnesses. By the power of all good dharmas he accomplishes and fulfills the pure lands of all the buddhas and the boundless marks and signs, and body, speech, and mind are furnished with adornment. By the power of observing freely with wisdom he knows that the powers, fearlessnesses, and exclusive dharmas of all the tathāgatas are all equal. By the power of vast wisdom he knows the realm of the wisdom of omniscience. By the power of the vows of old he manifests buddha-lands as befits those to be liberated, turns the great wheel of the Dharma, and liberates measureless and boundless beings.

These twelve clauses answer one for one to the twelve matters of Diligent Wisdom's second round of questioning — the question said ‘how is he able to extinguish ignorance’, the answer says “by the clear light of wisdom he extinguishes the gloom of delusion.” Chengguan's determination that “the intent lies in asking after the cause” is here made good most plainly: the weight of every clause falls upon the power that comes after the word “by.”

The Great Master of the Dharma: What Is Accomplished by Diligently Cultivating This Dharma

The last long passage speaks of fruit: a bodhisattva who diligently cultivates this dharma accomplishes the bodhisattva practices in due order and comes at last to be equal with the buddhas, acting as a great master of the Dharma in boundless worlds and upholding the true Dharma. Chengguan had already determined, back at the part of the request to speak, that because upholding the true Dharma is to be equal with the buddhas it is singled out and made plain — and this is the reason the closing passage of this chapter treats the great master of the Dharma alone at such length.

The characters of the great master of the Dharma the text states in several layers. First, what he gains: he is borne in mind and protected by the buddhas; he guards, receives, and holds the vast treasury of Dharma; he gains unobstructed eloquence; he enters deep into the Dharma-gates. Next, body and voice: amid the assemblies of boundless worlds he universally manifests his body according to the differences of their kinds, his form and marks complete, most excellent and beyond compare; because his voice is full and skillfully distributed he can make those who hear him enter the gate of inexhaustible wisdom; because the sounds of speech he sends forth are furnished with purity, a single voice sets forth the Dharma and makes all rejoice; because his body is upright and of great awesome power, amid the assembly none can surpass him. Then twelve clauses of “because” (nine of them marked “free,” while the three clauses “because he knows the minds of the multitude well,” “because he teaches the Dharma with skill,” and “because he has gained fearlessness” do not carry the word): because he knows the minds of the multitude well he can universally manifest his body; because he teaches with skill his voice is unobstructed; because he has gained freedom of mind he speaks the great Dharma with skill and none can ruin it; because he has gained fearlessness his mind is not timid; because he is free in regard to the Dharma none can surpass him; because he is free in regard to knowledge none can prevail over him; because he is free in the prajñā-pāramitā the marks of the dharmas he teaches do not contradict one another; because he is free in eloquence he teaches according to what they delight in without break; because he is free in the retentions he reveals with certainty the real mark of the dharmas; because he is free in eloquence he can open gates of simile of every kind in whatever he expounds; because he is free in great compassion he diligently instructs beings without slackening; because he is free in great kindness he sends forth a net of light that gladdens the minds of the multitude.

Then comes a sentence of great weight: seated upon a high and broad lion throne the bodhisattva expounds the great Dharma, and save only for the tathāgatas and those great bodhisattvas who possess the wisdom of excellent vows, among the remaining beings there is none who can prevail over him, none who can see the crown of his head, none who can eclipse his light; and to seek by difficult questions to make him give way is not possible. Ask first: is this boasting? The next passage gives the answer.

The text sets up an extreme scene: suppose there were a place of awakening as vast as worlds beyond speaking, filled with beings, and the awesome virtue and form of every single one of them were like that of a lord of a three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system; the bodhisattva, the moment he manifests his body, eclipses the whole assembly. But immediately it says what he does — “with great kindness and compassion he comforts their timidity, with profound wisdom he discerns what they delight in, and with fearless eloquence he teaches the Dharma for them, and is able to make them all rejoice.” The eclipsing is for the sake of comforting their timidity, not for overawing them. This turn gathers all the preceding “none can prevail over him” under compassion.

At the end the text asks itself “why is this?” and answers with eleven clauses of “because he has accomplished”: because he has accomplished measureless wheels of wisdom; measureless subtle and skillful distinguishing; the vast power of right mindfulness; inexhaustible skillful wisdom; the retention that resolves the real mark of the dharmas; the mind of awakening that has no farther limit; the wondrous eloquence that is without error; the profound faith and understanding that gains the sustaining of all the buddhas; the power of wisdom that enters universally into the assemblies and places of awakening of the buddhas of the three times; the pure mind that knows the buddhas of the three times to be of one substance; and, last, because he has accomplished the wisdom of all the tathāgatas of the three times and the wisdom of the great vows of all the bodhisattvas, so that he can act as a great master of the Dharma, opening up the treasury of the true Dharma of the buddhas and upholding it. The last clause is the longest, gathering the wisdom of the tathāgatas, the wisdom of the great vows of the bodhisattvas, and the opening up and upholding of the treasury of the true Dharma into one sentence — a great master of the Dharma is a great master of the Dharma not by his eloquence, but because what he carries is the wisdom of the buddhas of the three times and the vows of all the bodhisattvas.

The Verses of Restatement: Ten Verses That Gather Up the Answer

Dharma Wisdom, sustained by the Buddha's spiritual power, restates it in ten verses. Chengguan determines that these ten divide into two: the first six restate the substance of the practice accomplished in the ten kinds above, and the latter four restate the virtue accomplished by that practice. He also matches them verse by verse — the first two verses restate the buddhas' rejoicing, of which the first half-verse restates non-negligence and the rest the rejoicing; the third verse restates entering the grounds and the great practice and great vows; the fourth restates the bodhisattva treasury and the teaching of the Dharma as befits them; the fifth restates not forsaking one's own practice of the perfections and the bringing to liberation of all beings upon whom his thought is set; the upper half of the sixth restates the Three Jewels not being cut off and the lower half that the roots of goodness and skillful means are all not in vain.

What the verses have and the prose did not put in this form are the five similes of the last two verses: “In advancing and withdrawing his bearing is calm and unhurried as the king of elephants; valorous and fearless as a lion; unmoving as a mountain and his wisdom like the ocean; and like a great rain that removes the many torments of heat.” Chengguan matches the similes one by one to what precedes: the bearing of the body calm and sure restates the manifesting of the body; the discerning of virtue as awesome and valorous restates the fearless eloquence; the mind concentrated and unmoving restates the comforting of their timidity; wisdom deep as the ocean restates the profound wisdom; the rain of Dharma extinguishing obstruction restates the teaching of the Dharma for them.

Looking back: when Diligent Wisdom asked, he sought a character by three similes — lion, full moon, lotus; when Dharma Wisdom answered, he displayed a character by five — elephant king, lion, mountain, ocean, great rain. Between them lie fourteen rounds of dharmas. The one who asks wants a look; the one who answers first gives a road, and only when the road has been walked does he hand the look back. This is the way this chapter answers, and it is the deepest pedagogical sense of the chapter.

The Conclusion: According with Principle, Suiting the Capacity

The last sentence of the chapter: “At that time, when the bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom had finished speaking these verses, the Tathāgata rejoiced and the great assembly received it in practice.” Chengguan explains it thus: it accords with principle and suits the capacity, and therefore the Buddha rejoices and the assembly receives it in practice. Above it accords with principle, and so the Buddha rejoices; below it suits the capacity, and so the great assembly receives it in practice. The whole chapter began by asking ‘how are all the tathāgatas to be made to rejoice’ and ends with “the Tathāgata rejoiced” — the very thing asked about has been made good once already, in the act of teaching itself. Chengguan marks here “the third assembly is finished,” and Fazang marks the same on the sixty-fascicle text; the assembly in the palace of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven ends here.

Lineage

The sense of this chapter was carried on by three tracks in later ages; they are recorded together, without adjudication.

The line of Chengguan: he sets up the outline in the three parts of the request to speak, the proper exposition, and the conclusion, interlocking round by round with the ten-dharma sets of the scriptural text and setting up no divergent doctrine of his own; as for the name of the chapter, he does not use “clarifying the Dharma” but argues, in accordance with the Sanskrit text, for ‘the chapter of the Light of the Dharma’, opening four senses that cover both the possessive and the appositional. His explanation of the text has three distinctive features. First, he determines the ten clauses of question as the first five for one's own benefit while including others, the next four benefiting others while including oneself, and the last concluding generally that the two benefits are not in vain, and he points out that the single word “cultivate” is the non-negligence of the passage below, gathering the ten questions back into one root. Second, he determines that the twelve matters from “Furthermore” onward “lie in asking after the cause,” which settles the form of the whole chapter's answering text. Third, at the clause “together they anoint his crown” in the question text he argues, in accordance with the Sanskrit text, for turning the wording about, so as to read “all the tathāgatas together guard him and together anoint his crown.” These three determinations are Chengguan's own, and are recorded here.

The line of Fazang: what he explains is the sixty-fascicle “Clarifying the Dharma, chapter fourteen,” with the same four gates as before but each differing from Chengguan's — his four senses of the name take “the dharma of practice of the later station sheds brightness upon the earlier station” as the first; his four kinds of clarifying dharma in the tenet and aim plainly list the dharma of principle, of practice, of teaching, and of fruit, and he determines that this chapter “properly sets forth the dharma of practice, with the other three set forth along with it”; and his three parts of the explanation of the text are the part of the request, the part of the exposition, and the part of attesting faith, the name of the third differing from Chengguan's part of the conclusion. His weightiest act with respect to this chapter is that on the strength of the single passage on continuing and raising high the Three Jewels he composed the separate Huayan jing Mingfapin nei li sanbao zhang, noting in his commentary “herein there is a chapter on the Three Jewels, as set forth separately”; and further, in the Kongmu zhang, he set up the chapter on the five calming contemplations established at the beginning of this chapter, on the strength of the counteractions to greed, hatred, and delusion in the passage on teaching according to capacity, and set up also the chapter on determining the demarcation of gain and loss in understanding and practice in terms of the five vehicles. One chapter of scripture giving rise to two books and three chapters — within the Huayan house, this chapter is the most heavily composed upon. All this is Fazang's own, and is recorded here.

The line of Li Tongxuan: he does not follow the four gates, but makes three — explaining the title of the chapter, explaining the reason for the chapter's coming, and explaining the meaning following the text; and he explains the name not by glossing graphs but by attaching it to its working — making the dharmas of the preceding five chapters clearer in the mind, and making the dharmas practiced afterward turn more excellent and plain. His determination of the station is that this chapter is “the turning toward the cultivation of the ten practices, nourishing the dharma of the ten abodes of one's own station,” which differs from determining it by proceeding toward the grounds from before the grounds. His extended outline of the sense of the scripture counts lines and not clauses: the part of requesting the Dharma has thirty-three and a half lines of prose and fifty-five lines together with the verses; the part of consenting to speak has six lines; the part of the proper exposition runs to the end of the chapter. His explanations of meaning are mostly set up from the side of the inexhaustibility of the One Vehicle — explaining “swiftly entering the grounds” he says that already in the station of the abode of the first arousing of the mind one knows throughout the Dharma-gates of the abodes, the practices, the dedications, and the grounds, “because one is all and all is one”; explaining the ten inexhaustible treasuries he says “reckoned by substance, one is all, and without limit.” At the end he also determines the three parts of the third assembly: the chapter on Ascending to the Palace of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven is the introductory part, from the chapter of Verses of Praise onward is the part of the proper exposition, and the quaking of the earth and the raising of offerings is the part of the dissemination. This way of reading differs from those who divide the sense according to the outline; the ancients had this doctrine, and it is recorded here.

The line of Zhiyan: in discerning the name he divides it into the two senses of teaching and of practice; in discerning the text he makes not three parts but two parts of question and answer with a brief conclusion and dissemination at the end. His distinctive feature is that he counts clauses and himself marks the count as unsettled — the answering text “has one hundred and seventy clauses, or it may be one hundred and eighty”; the section on benefiting others “has forty, or it may be fifty clauses”; and again “the preceding twenty clauses may also be thirty clauses,” with his own note that “each of the texts of ten has four members: first the arising, next the question, third the answer, fourth the conclusion; there are also those that are unsettled, and one may think it through accordingly.” That an ancient master should leave himself room at the place of outlining and counting is one such instance; it is recorded here.

The divergence of the four masters with respect to this chapter gathers at three places: the explanation of the name (Chengguan changing the title in accordance with the Sanskrit text and opening four senses · Fazang setting up four senses of his own · Zhiyan two senses · Tongxuan not glossing the graphs but attaching it to its working), the outline of the text (Chengguan three parts · Fazang three parts with the last differently named · Tongxuan three sections counting lines · Zhiyan two parts of question and answer plus a brief conclusion), and the measure of the answering text (Zhiyan counting one hundred and seventy clauses while saying it may be one hundred and eighty · Fazang counting eighteen kinds of virtue accomplished by practice · Chengguan counting twenty clauses and determining the first ten as the beginning of cultivation and the latter ten as the completing of it · Tongxuan counting lines and not clauses). The four run side by side, all being established doctrines of the ancient masters; they are recorded, with no adjudication of higher or lower.

As for the textual authorities that carry this chapter on, it differs from the Ten Grounds chapter — this chapter has no separately circulating treatise that lemmatizes it clause by clause, Fazang's Sanbao zhang being a monograph composed on the strength of a single passage and not a lemmatized commentary on the whole chapter. In the guiding works of the Huayan house — the Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang, the Shi xuan men, the Huayan jing zhigui, the Fajie xuanjing, the Xiu Huayan aozhi wangjin huanyuan guan, and the Dasheng qixin lun yiji — “the chapter Clarifying the Dharma” has no occurrence at all; the absence is recorded as the facts stand.