華嚴經 品二十五 十迴向品 · 瑞應·結通·證成·偈讚勸修·校量功德分Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Ten Dedications · The Auspicious Responses, the Concluding Extension, the Attestation, the Verses of Praise and Exhortation, and the Comparative Measure of Merit

Why the great earth quakes at just this moment

The ten great dedications have run all the way from the rescuing and guarding of all sentient beings while free of the mark of sentient beings to the measureless dedication equal to the Dharma realm; and the moment the closing sentence of the tenth dedication has fallen, the scripture does not go on to the next station. It first records one event: “At that time, by the spiritual power of the Buddha, worlds as many as the dust motes of a million buddha-lands in each of the ten directions quaked in six ways.”

Ask first: for whose sake is this quaking?

The scripture itself gives two reasons side by side, in the sentence that follows: “by the spiritual power of the Buddha, and because the Dharma is so.” The former belongs to the spiritual power of the Buddha, the latter to the way the Dharma of itself is — the Dharma is simply so, and therefore, when the exposition has come this far, the ten directions quake just in this way. Of the two reasons, the second is the crux.

The aspects of the quaking the scripture is not willing to dispose of with the two words “six kinds”; it unfolds them one by one: “quaking, quaking throughout, quaking throughout equally; rising, rising throughout, rising throughout equally; surging, surging throughout, surging throughout equally; shaking, shaking throughout, shaking throughout equally; roaring, roaring throughout, roaring throughout equally; striking, striking throughout, striking throughout equally.” Six events, each opening into three aspects — the aspect itself, the aspect that goes throughout, and the aspect that goes throughout equally — eighteen in all. Li Tongxuan explains this quaking as having three senses: first, that it is summoned by the majestic force of the teaching expounded; second, that it is brought about by the great assembly's joy at hearing the Dharma; third, that it is referred back to the divine virtue of the Buddha and so brought about. None of the three senses means ‘there was a portent in the heavens.’

Here a misreading should be set right: reading the quaking of the earth as a reward or a seal of approval, as though, because the exposition was good, a token of it were granted. The scripture's own account is “because the Dharma is so” — in between there is no step of evaluation, only correspondence. Chengguan writes at this outline heading only five graphs, “first the quaking of the earth, which gives rise to faith,” and by them fixes its function once for all: the quaking of the earth is for the sake of giving rise to faith, not for the sake of honoring the one who expounds.

Landing it: when you meet a passage of auspicious signs in a scripture, look first for the sentence in which the scripture gives its own reason. If the reason falls upon the Dharma, there is no need to read it as a marvel.

What are all those things rained down from the heavens for

After the quaking comes a long string of offerings: “there rained down a multitude of heavenly flowers, heavenly garlands, heavenly powdered incense, heavenly incenses of every kind, heavenly garments, heavenly precious things, heavenly adornments, heavenly maṇi jewels, heavenly aloeswood incense, heavenly candana incense, heavenly canopies of surpassing excellence, heavenly banners of every kind, heavenly pennants of mingled colors,” and at the end there is added “asaṃkhya bodies of the gods.”

Ask first: since this is a matter belonging to the Dharma, why should it be laid out with so many objects?

Chengguan places this passage under the heading “the raising of offerings, which betokens the practice” — the offerings are there to betoken the practice. He then divides it further into three: first the cause of the offerings, second the offering of outer things, third the offering of inner things by the three kinds of action, beginning from the sentence with “asaṃkhya.” That is to say, this string of flowers, incense, garments, and canopies belongs to the “offering of outer things,” which betokens by means of things outside the body; while from “asaṃkhya bodies of the gods” onward it turns into the offering of inner things, betokening by means of the three kinds of action of body, speech, and mind. The former is what can be seen; the latter is the aspect of the practice.

The misreading to be set right here is to read it as scene-painting. This string of names is set out item by item and not summarized because each item answers to a kind of thing that can be brought out and given — flower, incense, garment, jewel, canopy, banner, pennant; and what the chapter of dedication teaches is precisely ‘turning over what one already has,’ and so here the completeness of the list of things betokens the completeness of the practice.

Landing it: when reading a passage of offerings, do not go counting how great the numbers are; look only at whether what is listed is ‘what one has’ or ‘what is on one's own person.’ In this passage there are both, and the order is outer first, inner after.

The offering of inner things by the three kinds of action: sound, mindfulness, bowing, music, light — none of the five adds anything to the Buddha's credit

The passage on inner things lists five kinds: heavenly sounds of the Dharma, sounds of praising the Buddha, sounds of rejoicing, “all crying out ‘good indeed’”; “measureless asaṃkhya hundreds of thousands of nayutas of gods reverently bowed down”; “numberless sons of gods constantly called the buddhas to mind, longing for the measureless merits of the Tathāgata, and in mind would not let go of them”; “numberless sons of gods made all manner of music, singing praises and making offerings to the Tathāgata”; “hundreds of thousands of asaṃkhya gods sent forth a great radiance, illumining everywhere all the buddha-lands to the ends of space and throughout the Dharma realm, and manifesting measureless asaṃkhya realms of the buddhas.”

Ask first: sound, bowing, mindfulness, music, light — why should these five count as “the three kinds of action”?

Chengguan places this passage only under the heading “the offering of inner things by the three kinds of action,” and does not assign each item to its action; but if one does match the events to the actions, it may be done thus: verbal action holds the sounds and the singing of praises; bodily action holds the reverent bowing and the sending forth of light that illumines everywhere; and mental action is the sentence “constantly called the buddhas to mind, longing for the measureless merits of the Tathāgata, and in mind would not let go of them.” Of the three actions, the one most worth stopping over is this sentence of mental action — it does not merely say “call the Buddha to mind”; it says also what the mindfulness holds (longing for the measureless merits of the Tathāgata) and how long the mindfulness lasts (in mind would not let go of them). The first part is easy to do; the latter part is the practice.

Set right a misreading: do not read “made offerings to the Tathāgata” as though the Buddha needed these things. Why the heavenly offerings appear the scripture has already told us — because the Dharma is so. Offering is here an aspect of correspondence within the Dharma realm; it is not a transaction.

Landing it: of these five kinds of offering, the only one that anyone can do this very moment is “in mind would not let go of them.” The other four require conditions; this one does not.

The emanation body rises beyond all the gods · the concluding extension to the ten directions: what is expounded in one assembly is what is expounded in all assemblies

At the end of the passage of offerings the scripture joins on two short sentences: “the emanation body of the Tathāgata rose beyond all the gods,” and then, “just as in the palace of the Tuṣita Heaven of this world such a Dharma is expounded, so throughout the ten directions, in the palaces of the Tuṣita Heaven of all the worlds, it is likewise so.”

Ask first: what is the relation of this sentence about the emanation body to the heavenly offerings before it?

Li Tongxuan sets down here one weighty determination: “this is the virtue manifested by the expounding of the Dharma; it appears because the Dharma and its object answer to one another, and not by reason of the offerings of the gods.” The appearing of the emanation body is a virtue manifested by the expounding of the Dharma itself, and not a result summoned by the offerings of the gods. Though the two events are written one next to the other, their causes are different.

As for the second sentence, Chengguan does not merge it into the auspicious responses but sets up a separate division called “the concluding extension to the ten directions,” and gives his reason himself: “taking the several assemblies above as the standard, they sometimes conclude with the auspicious responses; here the conclusion is of the exposition, and so a separate section is opened.” In the assemblies before, what was concluded was the auspicious responses; here what is concluded is the “exposition” — it is this occasion of expounding the Dharma that is concluded, and not this occasion of auspicious signs; therefore a separate section is opened.

The misreading to be set right here is to read “it is likewise so” as a rhetorical exaggeration. In this scripture it is said literally: the ten dedications expounded here are being expounded in the same way and at the same time in every palace of the Tuṣita Heaven of the ten directions. The bodhisattvas who come in the next passage to bear witness are bearing witness to precisely this sentence.

Landing it: when you come upon a concluding sentence of the sort “it is likewise so,” read it as a declaration of the range of what has gone before — everything said above holds good over just that range.

Who comes to bear witness: bodhisattvas as many as the dust motes of a million buddha-lands in each of the ten directions

The narrative sentence of the passage of attestation is: “At that time, again by the spiritual power of the Buddha, beyond worlds as many as the dust motes of a million buddha-lands in each of the ten directions, there were in each bodhisattvas as many as the dust motes of a million buddha-lands who came together to the assembly, filling the ten directions, and all said this.”

Ask first: who is it that comes?

The scripture reads, word for word, “the bodhisattvas.” This point must be seen clearly: their status is that of bodhisattvas, while their name and title they declare themselves in the next sentence to be Vajra Banner, and the place they come from is the presence of the buddha Vajra Banner in the world Vajra Light. Those who bear witness have the same name as the one who expounds; this is the singular feature of this passage — it is not the Buddha coming in person to bear witness.

Ask again: why “a million”?

Chengguan gives only four graphs: “that it says ‘a million’ is because this station surpasses the ones before.” The number increases along with the station; this station is higher than the stations before, and therefore its number surpasses theirs. Li Tongxuan fills out this line of thought: “the ten abodes a hundred, the ten practices a hundred thousand, this station a million, making clear the ascent of knowing and seeing, the measure of the enlarging of knowledge being such.” The assembly of the ten abodes has a hundred, the assembly of the ten practices a hundred thousand, and by the ten dedications it is a million — the number here is not a quantity but a mark of the ascent of the stations. He explains further the sentence ‘coming from beyond the worlds,’ saying: “that where delusion lies is not reached is called ‘beyond’; that by ascending one awakens, understands, and enters the station is called ‘coming.’”

Set right a misreading: do not take these numbers for a description of cosmic scale and marvel at them. They are the graduations of the stations.

Landing it: wherever in this scripture the numbers suddenly grow large, look back first to see which assembly and which station this is; most of the time that resolves it.

The three sentences of the words of attestation: praising the Dharma, expounding alike, bearing witness

What the bodhisattvas who have come together say can be taken apart into three sentences.

The first is praise of the Dharma together with a declaration of themselves: “Good indeed! Good indeed! Son of the Buddha! You are well able to expound these great dedications. Son of the Buddha! We are all of one and the same name, called Vajra Banner, and all have come to this land from the presence of the buddha Vajra Banner in the world Vajra Light.” Ask first: why should those who bear witness have the same name as the one who expounds? Li Tongxuan's reading is: “it makes clear that where the knowledges meet the path is the same, and that therefore the names too are the same; it also makes clear that the meeting of knowledges in the present time accords with the ancient and the present alike.” The sameness of name is because the knowledge is the same and the path is the same — sameness of name is not a coincidence but the mark of one and the same wisdom brought to accomplishment severally in every quarter of the ten directions. He says further, “all of it is vajra-knowledge, being without delusion. The world is named Vajra, and the Light is likewise so,” so that even the name of the world follows suit.

The second sentence says that the ten directions expound alike: “in those worlds too, all by the spiritual power of the Buddha, this Dharma is expounded, and the assemblies and their retinues, the words and the sense of the sentences, are likewise so, neither increased nor diminished.” The misreading to be set right is to read “neither increased nor diminished” as a polite murmur of agreement. It is strict — not ‘the general purport is the same,’ but that the words and the sense of the sentences are not one part more and not one part less. What is expounded in the ten directions is what is expounded here, and therefore what is expounded in this one assembly has already exhausted this Dharma.

The third sentence is the bearing of witness itself: “we have all, sustained by the spiritual power of the Buddha, come from those lands to bear witness for you. Just as I have come to this assembly to bear witness for you, so it is likewise with the multitudes of bodhisattvas who come to bear witness in the jeweled and adorned halls of the palaces of the Tuṣita Heaven in all the worlds there are in the ten directions.” The bearing of witness is itself also a matter of “likewise so” — not only is there someone here who has come to bear witness, but in every one of the ten directions there is the same company bearing witness for the same one Vajra Banner.

Landing it: when reading a passage of the “attestation” sort, look at what it is that is being attested. What is attested here is not the qualification of the one who expounds; it is the sameness of what is expounded throughout the ten directions.

Before the verses, the compilers of the scripture write nine things about Vajra Banner

Before the verses have begun, the compilers of the scripture write of Vajra Banner in one long sentence: “sustained by the spiritual power of the Buddha, having contemplated all the assemblies of the ten directions and reached to the Dharma realm, he knew well the sense of the words, enlarged his vast mind, with great compassion covered over all sentient beings everywhere, bound his mind and abode securely in the lineage of the buddhas of the three times, entered well into the merit-dharmas of all the buddhas, accomplished the sovereign body of the buddhas, contemplated what the minds of sentient beings delight in and knew discerningly all the roots of goodness they have planted, and, according with the dharma-body, manifested for them a body of pure and wondrous form.”

Ask first: it is only a passage of verse he is to speak — why should the ground-laying be so long?

Because what this passage writes is the state of mind of the expositor before he expounds. Item by item: first the contemplating (of the assemblies and of the Dharma realm); next the knowing well (of the sense of the words); next the enlarging (of the vast mind); next the arising of great compassion; next the abiding securely in the lineage of the buddhas of the three times; next the entering well into the merit-dharmas of the buddhas; next the accomplishing of the sovereign body; next the knowing throughout of what the minds of sentient beings delight in and of their roots of goodness; and only at the end “according with the dharma-body, he manifested a body of pure and wondrous form.” The first eight items are inward, the last one outward — the manifesting of a body of form is so that the Dharma may be spoken for people to hear. Li Tongxuan counts the lines one by one, saying, “from ‘at that time’ onward there are six lines of scripture, making clear the praise of the virtue of the bodhisattva Vajra Banner in speaking the verses.”

The misreading to be set right is to read the last sentence as a display of supernatural transformation. “According with the dharma-body, he manifested a body of pure and wondrous form” says that the body of form manifested is manifested in dependence upon the dharma-body and in accord with the dharma-body; it does not say that another body was conjured up.

Landing it: in the preparation before expounding, the scripture places ‘contemplating what the hearers delight in and what roots of goodness they have planted’ last, in the position nearest to the opening of the mouth. That item can be learned.

The first nine verses: that dedication is possible depends first on standing firm on the side of “Dharma”

The first section of the forty-seven verses Chengguan places under the heading “versifying the roots of goodness dedicated” — nine verses that first make clear what the roots of goodness dedicated are.

Not one sentence of the nine verses leaves the one graph “Dharma.” The first verse sets up the whole: “the bodhisattva accomplishes wisdom in the Dharma, and awakens to and understands the boundless gates of the true Dharma,” and with “he is a tamer who is the light of Dharma” makes clear that he can be a teacher to others. The second verse turns to the guide's function: “revealing the Dharma that is profound and hard to obtain,” and “leading measureless multitudes of the ten directions,” coming to rest on “causing them all to abide in the true Dharma” — the aim of teaching is abiding, not comprehension. The third verse strings three similes together: drinking the ocean of the Buddha's Dharma is receiving, the cloud of Dharma raining everywhere is giving, the sun of Dharma appearing is illumining, and the last line, “expounding the wondrous Dharma and benefiting sentient beings,” gathers them up. The fourth verse speaks of how hard the giving of Dharma is to meet with and of its fearlessness: “he is constantly a hard-to-meet lord of the giving of Dharma,” “he expounds the Dharma in the world constantly and without fear,” with one line set in between, “the light of Dharma, pure, illumines his mind” — he illumines himself first, and only then is he without fear. The fifth verse speaks of sovereignty: “he cultivates well a mind sovereign in the Dharma, and is able to awaken into and enter all the gates of the Dharma,” and closes with “everywhere for sentient beings he beats the drum of Dharma” — the use of sovereignty still lies with sentient beings. The sixth verse speaks of nourishing and of displaying: “with the Dharma he nourishes every kind of merit, and is complete in a pure mind of delight in the Dharma”; delight in the Dharma is here something “nourished” into being, not something come by chance. The seventh verse is the highest: “he is anointed on the crown by the buddhas, the Dharma kings, and has accomplished a body that is the treasury of the wisdom of the nature of dharmas, and is able to understand fully the real mark of all dharmas,” and yet its last line still falls back to “he abides in all the dharmas of the multitude of good things” — after understanding the real mark, one does not leave the multitude of good things, but abides within it. The eighth verse marks the giving of Dharma as foremost: “the bodhisattva cultivates the foremost giving, which all the tathāgatas praise and rejoice in,” “all that he does receives the Buddha's approval.” The ninth verse closes with birth by transformation and with becoming a lamp: “born of transformation directly from the Dharma of the buddhas, for the benefit of sentient beings he becomes a lamp of Dharma.”

Ask first: why are these nine verses called “the roots of goodness dedicated”?

Because for dedication to be a dharma at all, one must first have something to dedicate. The wisdom in the Dharma, the ocean of Dharma, the sun of Dharma, the drum of Dharma, the treasury of Dharma, and the lamp of Dharma listed in the first nine verses are the capital that this section is to dedicate. Without this section, the later “all of it he dedicates with wisdom” would have no subject.

Set right a misreading: do not read “lord of the giving of Dharma” and “the foremost giving” as though above the giving of goods there were a giving of a higher grade, and so make light of the giving of goods. Here “foremost” is said with respect to its power to make people obtain the Dharma; the givings of outer wealth and inner wealth expounded in the sixty gates above are not thereby disparaged.

Landing it: examining whether one has any roots of goodness to dedicate is more basic than examining whether one has the will to dedicate.

The middle seven verses: how the three destinations of dedication are said in the verses

The second section of seven verses Chengguan places under the heading “versifying the practice of dedication,” and divides it further into three: the first two verses versify in general the nine passages of dedication in the text above, the next one verse versifies the dedication that adorns the lands, the last four verses versify what the dedication in the two passages is for.

The first two verses: verse ten, “following upon the wondrous giving of Dharma that he cultivates, he then contemplates those roots of goodness; every kind of goodness he does is for the sake of sentient beings, and all of it he dedicates with wisdom” — note that middle line, “he then contemplates those roots of goodness”: before dedication there is an act of contemplating; it is not that having finished cultivating one simply pushes it along. Verse eleven, “all the merit-dharmas of accomplishing buddhahood he dedicates and gives over entirely to sentient beings, wishing to cause all to attain purity, and to reach the further shore of the adornment of the Buddha” — even the merit-dharmas of accomplishing buddhahood are taken and given over; this is the most thoroughgoing sentence among the ten dedications.

The next one verse versifies the adorning of the lands: verse twelve, “the buddha-lands of the ten directions are without limit, and all are complete in measureless great adornments; adornments such as these are beyond thought, and all of them are taken to adorn one single land.” Ask first: to gather the adornments of measureless buddha-lands into one land — what does this mean? As regards dedication, it is to bring the goodness of every place into one place without diminishing its quantity; the adornments of the ten directions enter one land and yet the ten directions are not thereby left empty, which is exactly the principle of “neither increased nor diminished” above, stated in terms of things.

The last four verses versify what it is for: verse thirteen wishes that sentient beings may be complete in the pure wisdom of the Tathāgata and so be “like Samantabhadra, a true son of the Buddha”; verse fourteen wishes that all sentient beings may be “caused to cultivate the bodhisattva path”; verse fifteen wishes that the sentient beings of the ten directions may “all be like Samantabhadra”; verse sixteen wishes that all the differentiated merits accomplished by the buddhas and bodhisattvas may “cause sentient beings all to be fulfilled in them.” The sentence-pattern of the four verses is uniform: the goodness dedicated comes first, the sentient beings it is for come after.

The misreading to be set right is to read “like Samantabhadra” as a distant figure of speech. Within these verses Samantabhadra is the actual content of what is wished for, and the forty-fifth verse at the end says outright that one who abides well in this dedication “is named Samantabhadra” — the name is within reach.

Landing it: if the words of a dedication say only ‘may all sentient beings be free of suffering,’ it does no harm to fill out the second half after the pattern of these four verses: what kind of practice is it that one wishes them to obtain.

The first verse of the fruit of the station: only when one is oneself sovereign does one see the buddhas' sovereignty

The third section of twenty verses versifies the fruit of the station, and Chengguan first marks off one verse as “seeing the buddhas' sovereignty,” namely verse seventeen: “the bodhisattva is complete in the power of sovereignty, and wherever he ought to learn he goes and learns; he displays all the great spiritual penetrations, and goes everywhere to the measureless lands of the ten directions.”

Ask first: this verse plainly speaks of the bodhisattva's own sovereignty; why does Chengguan head it “seeing the buddhas' sovereignty”?

He supplies the reason himself: “for it is by one's own sovereignty that one sees the buddhas' sovereignty” — the order is here; it is not that one first sees the buddhas' sovereignty and afterward is oneself sovereign, but that having oneself attained sovereignty one then sees the buddhas' sovereignty. This one sentence fixes how the whole section on the fruit of the station is to be read: the various matters beyond thought written of in the seventeen verses below are all the unfolding of ‘one's own sovereignty,’ and not marvels seen as a bystander.

The misreading to be set right is to pass over “wherever he ought to learn he goes and learns.” Spiritual penetration stands in the third line of this verse; the line before it is “goes and learns” — one complete in the power of sovereignty is still learning.

Landing it: whenever you read of matters beyond thought and admiration arises in the mind, look back at this line: before sovereignty there is a “goes and learns.”

The seventeen verses on the attainment of purity (part one): a single thought, a single hair-tip, a single pore

Chengguan places verse eighteen and the seventeen verses that follow under the heading “versifying the attainment of purity,” and points out that what they versify is “the purity of the knowledge that in a single thought enters everywhere the assemblies and sites of awakening of all the buddhas of the three times,” adding one limiting sentence: “this is a capacity of power; it cannot be a versifying of what the vows above were to accomplish.” — these seventeen verses speak of the capacity of power upon the fruit of the station, and are not a repeated versifying of what the vows in the text above accomplished.

Verse eighteen sets up its basis: “the bodhisattva is able, within a single thought, to attend upon numberless buddhas equal in number to sentient beings; and again, within a single hair-tip, he gathers in all dharmas entirely and sees them all clearly.” A single thought and a single hair-tip, one a time and one a place, each raising up what is utmost small and holding within it what is utmost great. Verse nineteen turns to the objects known: “the sentient beings of the world are without limit, and the bodhisattva is able to know them all discerningly; the buddhas are measureless and equal to sentient beings, and with a vast mind he makes offerings until they are all exhausted” — sentient beings and buddhas are here raised together and their numbers are equal. Verse twenty enters upon the matter of offering: “every kind of famed incense and surpassing flower, garments made of the multitude of jewels, and pennants and canopies, spread throughout the Dharma realm until all is filled; he gives rise to the mind to make offerings everywhere to the buddhas of the ten directions.” Verse twenty-one returns to the pore: “within a single pore he sees clearly and entirely measureless buddhas of a number beyond thought, and so it is with every pore; he bows everywhere to all the lamps of the world” — first one pore, then every pore. Verse twenty-two speaks of bowing and of praising: “raising his whole body he bows reverently in due order” is bodily action, “and with words too he extols and praises them everywhere” is verbal action, and “to the exhaustion of all the kalpas of the future” is time.

Ask first: why do these several verses keep passing back and forth between “one” and “all”?

Because what is obtained in the “attainment of purity” is precisely this kind of unobstructedness — a single thought pervading the three times, a single hair-tip holding all dharmas, a single pore seeing measureless buddhas. Chengguan says that this outline heading is “the purity of the knowledge that in a single thought enters everywhere the assemblies and sites of awakening of all the buddhas of the three times,” and the key lies in the two words “enters everywhere.”

The misreading to be set right is to read the hair-tip and the pore as an art of shrinking space. What the scripture says is “gathers in all dharmas entirely and sees them all clearly” — the weight falls on the clear seeing, not on the containing.

Landing it: what may be taken from this section is the line of verse nineteen, “is able to know them all discerningly.” To know sentient beings throughout and then to make offerings — the order may not be reversed.

The seventeen verses on the attainment of purity (part two): why offering has to be spoken of so many times over

From verse twenty-three through verse thirty-four, twelve verses speak of offering without a break, and each verse changes the angle.

Verse twenty-three speaks of quantity: “the offerings set out in the presence of one tathāgata are measureless in number and equal to sentient beings; as he makes such offerings to one tathāgata, so it is also with all the tathāgatas” — from one buddha he takes the case of all buddhas. Verse twenty-four speaks of time: “the number of the world's kalpas may come to an end, but the bodhisattva's offering knows no rest or slackening,” setting what may be exhausted against what does not rest. Verse twenty-five speaks of practice and offering going together: “through so many kalpas he cultivates every kind of practice, reverently making offerings to one tathāgata, and to the exhaustion of all kalpas gives rise to no satiety.” Verse twenty-six is the weightiest: “as with measureless kalpas he makes offerings to one buddha, so it is also with all the buddhas; nor does he discriminate what number of kalpas these are, nor toward what he offers give rise to weariness” — he makes offerings without discriminating the number of kalpas, and therefore gives rise to no weariness; and the source of weariness is precisely the counting.

Verse twenty-seven makes offering with lotus flowers: “the Dharma realm is vast and without bound; the bodhisattva contemplates it and knows it all clearly; with great lotus flowers spread throughout it, he offers to measureless buddhas equal in number to sentient beings”; verse twenty-eight speaks of the fineness of the jeweled flowers: “in all the world there is nothing that can be likened to them; he takes them to offer to the honored one among men”; verse twenty-nine speaks of jeweled canopies: “measureless lands equal in number to sentient beings, with every kind of wondrous jeweled canopy filling them”; verse thirty speaks of unguent incense: “with this he makes offering to the teacher of gods and men, to the exhaustion of kalpas equal in number to sentient beings”; verse thirty-one speaks in sum of powdered incense, burning incense, flowers, and garments: “joyfully serving them and giving rise to no satiety”; verse thirty-two turns to making offering with verses: “lamps that light the world, equal in number to sentient beings, in thought after thought accomplish great awakening; and with boundless verses too he extols and sets them forth” — besides the things offered, words of praise are also an offering; verse thirty-three raises the number of buddhas and the number of kalpas together: “buddhas, world-honored ones, as many as the number of sentient beings … such praising has no exhaustion”; and verse thirty-four gathers it up: “at the time when he makes such offerings to the buddhas, by the spiritual power of the Buddha it reaches everywhere; he sees entirely the measureless buddhas of the ten directions, abiding in the practice of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra” — that the offering can reach everywhere is still referred back to the spiritual power of the Buddha, and the last line falls back upon the practice of Samantabhadra.

Ask first: to speak of one and the same matter in twelve verses — is this not repetition?

Chengguan has already given the reason for the extended treatment of this section: “where above it said eight, these must lie in making offerings, and so here it is displayed at length.” The eight listed in the text above must be accomplished in the one matter of offering, and so here it is unfolded. He says also, “yet the divisions above are made merely according to the coarse aspect. The bodhisattva gives free rein to his eloquence, and the body and momentum of it gather all in together; the great purport is not different, and so it is not discussed in detail” — he himself acknowledges that the division of the outline is only a coarse aspect, and that one need not seek a difference in every sentence.

The misreading to be set right is to read these twelve verses as a heap of laudatory phrases. They change the angle item by item: quantity, time, practice, non-discrimination, flowers, jewels, canopies, incense, powdered incense, praise in verse, the number of buddhas and of kalpas, and reaching everywhere — twelve verses, twelve faces.

Landing it: verse twenty-six may be taken away by itself — not discriminating the number of kalpas, and therefore no weariness. This line is the remedy for that mind of counting the days which is the commonest thing in practice.

The two verses gathering up the tenth dedication: staking the roots of goodness of the three times upon the practice of Samantabhadra

Chengguan marks: “afterward, from ‘past’ onward, two verses gather up the tenth dedication as a whole,” that is, verses thirty-five and thirty-six.

Verse thirty-five: “all the roots of goodness there are, past, future, and present — may they cause me constantly to cultivate the practice of Samantabhadra, and swiftly to come to abide on the ground of Samantabhadra.” The roots of goodness of the three times are gathered in entire, and the place they are dedicated to is one only: the practice of Samantabhadra, the ground of Samantabhadra. Verse thirty-six turns toward others: “the measureless sentient beings of the world that all the tathāgatas know and see — may they all be complete in being like Samantabhadra, and be praised by those who have understanding.”

Ask first: the former verse says “cause me,” the latter says “may they all,” of sentient beings — is dedication not supposed to be not for oneself?

Look at what is dedicated. What verse thirty-five seeks for oneself is “constantly to cultivate the practice of Samantabhadra”: what is sought is the practice, not the fruit; and the very next verse, thirty-six, wishes the same content to all sentient beings. Seeking one's own cultivation and wishing others to be complete stand side by side, and this is just how the sense of the three destinations of dedication comes to rest in the verses.

The misreading to be set right is to read the two words “cause me” as a private interest contrary to dedication. If the place dedicated to is the practice itself, then self and other are not at odds.

Landing it: in making vows one may follow the order of these two verses — first wish that oneself may cultivate without break, then wish that sentient beings may attain the same. Said the other way round, it is often empty.

The six verses praising its excellence: why this dedication is called most unsurpassed

Chengguan marks: “second, from ‘this is’ onward, is the praising of its excellence and the exhortation to practice, which runs through all ten dedications” — note the words “runs through all ten dedications”: the first thirty-six verses versify the tenth dedication alone, and only the nine verses below speak generally of all ten. Within the praising of its excellence come six verses first, and Chengguan says the reason for the praise is “namely, that it is what the bodhisattvas practice and what the Tathāgata expounds, the six perfections and the like being practices that follow marks, the Dharma realm and the like being practices free of marks, and therefore it is surpassingly excellent.”

Verse thirty-seven raises up the persons and raises up the exposition: “this is the practice of dedication that the great beings of the ten directions cultivate and perfect together; the buddhas, the tathāgatas, have expounded it for me: this practice of dedication is the most unsurpassed” — that it is unsurpassed is, first, because the great beings of the ten directions cultivate it together, and second, because the buddhas expound it. Verse thirty-eight speaks of the breadth of what it covers: “in the worlds of the ten directions nothing is left out, and of all the sentient beings within them, there is not one whom it does not cause to attain awakening and understanding, and it causes them all to be constantly like the practice of Samantabhadra.”

Verses thirty-nine and forty are the six perfections: “as he dedicates, so he practices giving, and likewise firmly upholds the precepts; with vigor through long ages he does not shrink back; in patience he is gentle and his mind unmoved” and “concentration holds his mind constantly upon one object; wisdom fully knows the object and is one with samādhi; past, future, and present he penetrates without obstruction; in the world there is none who can reach his bound.” The six perfections come one after another, each matched with an aspect: giving that is dedicated, precepts that are firmly upheld, vigor that does not shrink back, patience that is gentle and unmoved, concentration that is constantly upon one object, wisdom that fully knows the object and is one with samādhi. Verse forty-one speaks of the three actions: “the bodily action of the bodhisattva, and his mind and his verbal action — all that he does in this way is pure, and of all his cultivation nothing is left out; it is all equal to that of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra.” Verse forty-two turns all at once: “just as the Dharma realm is without discrimination, and frivolous talk and defiled attachment are forever exhausted; and just as nirvāṇa is without obstruction, so is the mind constantly, apart from all graspings.”

Ask first: the practices of the six perfections that follow marks have only just been spoken of; why does this verse at once speak of freedom from marks?

This is exactly the two levels raised together that Chengguan points out — “the six perfections and the like being practices that follow marks, the Dharma realm and the like being practices free of marks” — and only the two taken together are the reason for its surpassing excellence. If there were only the following of marks, the practice would have something it clings to; if there were only freedom from marks, the practice would have nothing to give. That the praise of excellence calls it excellent lies in this, that within one passage both are present.

The misreading to be set right is to read the verse on freedom from marks as overturning the two verses before it. What the scripture uses is “just as” and “just as also” — it says that the look of the mind is like the Dharma realm and like nirvāṇa; it does not say that the giving and the upholding of precepts before are to be dropped.

Landing it: examine which side your own practice leans to. Those who lean toward following marks should take verse forty-two; those who lean toward freedom from marks should take verses thirty-nine and forty.

The three verses concluding the praise and exhorting to practice: from “has already revealed” to “is named Samantabhadra”

Chengguan marks: “afterward, from ‘what the wise have’ onward, three verses conclude the praise and exhort to practice.”

Verse forty-three speaks of where the Dharma comes from and what it does: “the dedication-dharma that the wise have, the buddhas, the tathāgatas, have already revealed; every kind of root of goodness is wholly dedicated, and therefore he is able to accomplish the bodhisattva path” — the dharma of dedication is not self-devised; it is what the buddhas have already revealed; and its fruit is the accomplishing of the bodhisattva path. Verse forty-four speaks of what the learning of it accomplishes: “sons of the Buddha who learn well this dedication fulfill measureless practices and vows entirely; they gather in the Dharma realm to the last remainder, and therefore are able to accomplish the power of the Well-Gone.” Verse forty-five at the last confers a name: “if you would accomplish what the Buddha has expounded, the vast and surpassing practice of a bodhisattva, you should abide well in this dedication; such sons of the Buddha are named Samantabhadra.”

Ask first: the verbs of the three verses change one after another — “wholly dedicated,” “learn well,” “abide well.” Is this a casual changing of words?

It is not. The first verse speaks of doing this thing, the second of learning this thing, the third of abiding in this thing. Doing, learning, abiding are three depths within one and the same matter. And the “named Samantabhadra” given at the end is not a compliment but a name conferred — one who abides in this dedication the scripture simply calls so.

The misreading to be set right is to read “named Samantabhadra” as a merging with the bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Here the name is set up with respect to the practice: since what is practiced is the practice of Samantabhadra, this title too is obtained. Verse thirteen above said “like Samantabhadra,” and verses fifteen and thirty-six said “like Samantabhadra” — this is one and the same road.

Landing it: the most substantial thing in the three verses is the two words “abide well.” If dedication is only a sentence said after the event, that is doing; to abide first in this mind before each undertaking, that is abiding.

The last two verses on the comparative measure of merit: using what can be counted to set off what cannot

Chengguan sets up here a separate division: “the tenth great division is the last two verses, the comparative measure of merit. Since the merit is without limit, it is fitting to practice it.” — the intent of the comparison lies in the last words, not in the comparison itself.

Verse forty-six raises two things that can be known: “all sentient beings may yet be counted, and the measure of the mind's thoughts in the three times may be known,” and then says, “but of such sons of the Buddha, of Samantabhadra, the bound of their merit none can fathom.” Verse forty-seven raises two more: “a single hair measuring space may reach its bound, and the multitude of lands ground to dust may have its number known,” and then says, “but of such sons of the Buddha, great seers, the practices and vows in which they dwell none can measure.” The four things — the number of sentient beings, the measure of the mind's thoughts in the three times, the measuring of space by a hair, the grinding of lands to dust — are all things that ordinary people take to be impossible, and yet the scripture says that these may still be done, and that only the virtue of dedication may not.

Ask first: put this way, will the reader not feel all the more that it is beyond reach?

Chengguan gives, at just this place, a passage guarding against that misreading: “that the virtue here is displayed as deep, excellent, high and far-reaching is, first, because this is the teaching of perfect interfusion, and second, because it is spoken with reference to the power of surpassing vows. From the ascent to the grounds upward, the stations are provisionally set out with their gradations, and so at each conclusion it says, ‘if it be by the power of surpassing vows, it goes yet further than this, beyond what can be counted or known; do not, because this is deep, say that the grounds are inferior.’” He says it very plainly — that this passage is spoken so loftily is, first, because this scripture is the teaching of perfect interfusion, and second, because it is spoken with reference to the power of surpassing vows; and one may not, because the stations before the grounds are spoken of thus deeply, turn about and think the stations upon the grounds shallow.

The misreading to be set right is to read the comparative measure as a display. What immediately follows the comparison is the “it is fitting to practice it” that Chengguan points out — to speak of what cannot be fathomed is to make people practice, not to make them shrink back.

Landing it: having read these two verses, the mind that ought to arise is not amazement but the verb of verse forty-four: learn well.

Lineage

• Three systems of outline divisions standing together: Chengguan determines this chapter into ten divisions, and this passage answers to his sixth, the auspicious responses; his seventh, the concluding extension to the ten directions; his eighth, the attestation; his ninth, the verses of praise and exhortation to practice; and his tenth, the comparative measure of merit; at the end he writes “the fifth assembly is finished.” Fazang's Tanxuan ji, going by the sixty-fascicle text, takes this passage as ‘the division of attestation’ and ‘the verses,’ placing the passage of auspicious responses under “the benefit of the exposition” and setting up no separate division of concluding extension. Li Tongxuan's Xin Huayan jing lun simply marks it with his own numbering as “the twenty-fourth section,” and sets up no names of divisions. The systems of headings of the three are each distinct; recorded without adjudication.
• The counting of the verses: Chengguan makes them forty-seven, and his divisions added together are thirty-six verses versifying the tenth dedication, nine verses of praise and exhortation to practice, and two verses of the comparative measure of merit; Li Tongxuan makes them “ninety-four lines of verse, two lines to a verse,” and the verse text of this passage in the base edition is ninety-four lines, two lines to a verse, the same number as Chengguan's. Fazang makes them “ninety-four verses,” dividing them into fourteen on the substance of the practice, sixty-eight on the vast dedication, two on the profound dedication, and ten on concluding the praise and displaying its excellence — what he explains is the sixty-fascicle text, in which these verses are of four graphs and four lines to a verse, so that the actual number is ninety-four; and his manner of cutting the outline differs from Chengguan's ten-division outline; recorded without adjudication.
• The two systems of the outline of the verses are wholly different: Chengguan sets up his headings by “the roots of goodness dedicated / the practice of dedication / the fruit of the station,” and Fazang his by “the substance of the practice / the vast dedication / the profound dedication / concluding the praise and displaying its excellence”; and the opening sentences of their divisions differ too — Fazang's second division begins at the verse “the bodhisattva's giving of Dharma” in the sixty-fascicle text, his third at “just as suchness is,” and his fourth at “such an excellent.” Both are recorded without adjudication.
• Whether or not there is a division of the comparative measure of merit: Chengguan sets up for the last two verses of the eighty-fascicle text a separate tenth division; Fazang, on the sixty-fascicle text, gathers them under “concluding the praise and displaying its excellence” in ten verses, and does not set out this name of the division separately. Both are recorded without adjudication.
• The two knowledges of principle and measure in the Yanyi chao: on this passage Chengguan's Suishu yanyi chao explains at length only the Shu's words “substance and function, principle and measure, are alike unobstructed,” explaining them by the knowledge that accords with principle and the knowledge that accords with measure, and citing the cultivation according with principle and the cultivation according with measure of the third fascicle of the Fodi lun; he then sets out the two aspects of the two knowledges (without attachment, without obstruction) and their two senses of cause and fruit. What this passage is attached to is the outline heading of the attainment of purity in the versifying of the fruit of the station. Its closing sentence, “in the text above the two knowledges of principle and measure have come again and again, and only here are they explained at length. The fifth assembly is finished,” is the same as the closing sentence of the Shu, which is evidence that the two texts run on from one another.
• The divergences of the sixty-fascicle text: in this passage of chapter twenty-one of the sixty-fascicle text, The Bodhisattva Vajra Banner's Ten Dedications, the matter of the quaking reads only “quaked in six ways” and does not list the names of the eighteen aspects; among the heavenly offerings it sets out separately the three names heavenly agaru incense, heavenly bāraganda incense, and heavenly firm incense, which the eighty-fascicle text lacks; the name of the heavenly palace reads “the palace of the king of the Saṃtuṣita Heaven”; and the verses are of four graphs to the line, eight lines answering to one verse of the eighty-fascicle text. In both witnesses those who come together to bear witness are called bodhisattvas. All is recorded without adjudication.
• The adducing of the treatises of the Huayan school 〔not found〕: the Huayan jing kongmu zhang has “Vajra Banner” in one place only, and that belongs to a list of the chapter titles of the sixty-fascicle text and is not an explanation of this passage; in the three books Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang, Huayan jing zhigui, and Huayan yisheng shixuan men, mechanical searches on the terms of this passage yield no hits at all.
• The examination of the treatises of the lineage 〔not found〕: in the four works Cheng weishi lun, She dacheng lun, Yuqie shidi lun, and Jie shenmi jing, mechanical searches on the terms of this passage yield no hits at all; that there are no hits does not constitute evidence that those treatises have nothing bearing upon it, and the lack is recorded as it stands.
• The Shidi jing lun 〔not found〕: that treatise explains only the chapter “The Ten Grounds”; this passage belongs to the end of the chapter of the ten dedications and does not fall within the range of its explanation.