華嚴經 品二十六 十地品 · 序請分Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Ten Grounds · Prologue and Request
他說出十個名字，然後就不說了。
大眾等著解釋，等到的是沉默。於是有人問、有人再問、有人第三次問，最後所有菩薩一起問；連佛也出面了——不開口，只從眉間放出一道光。
金剛藏這才答應。可他開口的第一件事，仍是說這法有多難說：『如空中鳥迹，難說難可示。』末了只肯承認：『我今說少分。』
一部大經最深的一段，是這樣被請出來的。且看他們如何請。
He spoke ten names, and then he stopped speaking.
The assembly waited for the explanation; what came was silence. So one asked, and asked again, and asked a third time, and at last all the bodhisattvas asked together; and even the Buddha came forward — not opening his mouth, but sending out a single light from between his brows.
Only then did Vajragarbha consent. Yet the first thing he did on opening his mouth was to say again how hard this Dharma is to speak: ‘Like the track of a bird in the sky, hard to set forth and hard to point out.’ And at the end he would grant only this: ‘I now speak of only a small portion.’
The deepest passage of a great sūtra was drawn forth in this way. Watch, then, how they asked for it.
〔T10 0178〕
爾時，世尊在他化自在天王宮摩尼寶藏殿，與大菩薩眾俱。其諸菩薩皆於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提不退轉，悉從他方世界來集；住一切菩薩智所住境，入一切如來智所入處；勤行不息，善能示現種種神通諸所作事，教化調伏一切眾生而不失時；為成菩薩一切大願，於一切世、一切劫、一切剎，勤修諸行，無暫懈息；具足菩薩福智助道，普益眾生而恒不匱；到一切菩薩智慧方便究竟彼岸，示入生死及以涅槃而不廢捨；修菩薩行，善入一切菩薩禪定、解脫三昧、三摩鉢底、神通明智，諸所施為皆得自在；獲一切菩薩自在神力，於一念頃無所動作，悉能往詣一切如來道場眾會，為眾上首，請佛說法，護持諸佛正法之輪；以廣大心供養承事一切諸佛，常勤修習一切菩薩所行事業；其身普現一切世間，其音普及十方法界，心智無礙，普見三世；一切菩薩所有功德悉已修行而得圓滿，於不可說劫說不能盡。其名曰：金剛藏菩薩、寶藏菩薩、蓮華藏菩薩、德藏菩薩、蓮華德藏菩薩、日藏菩薩、蘇利耶藏菩薩、無垢月藏菩薩、於一切國土普現莊嚴藏菩薩、毘盧遮那智藏菩薩、妙德藏菩薩、栴檀德藏菩薩、華德藏菩薩、俱蘇摩德藏菩薩、優鉢羅德藏菩薩、天德藏菩薩、福德藏菩薩、無礙清淨智德藏菩薩、功德藏菩薩、那羅延德藏菩薩、無垢藏菩薩、離垢藏菩薩、種種辯才莊嚴藏菩薩、大光明網藏菩薩、淨威德光明王藏菩薩、金莊嚴大功德光明王藏菩薩、一切相莊嚴淨德藏菩薩、金剛焰德相莊嚴藏菩薩、光明焰藏菩薩、星宿王光照藏菩薩、虛空無礙智藏菩薩、妙音無礙藏菩薩、陀羅尼功德持一切眾生願藏菩薩、海莊嚴藏菩薩、須彌德藏菩薩、淨一切功德藏菩薩、如來藏菩薩、佛德藏菩薩、解脫月菩薩……。如是等無數無量、無邊無等、不可數、不可稱、不可思、不可量、不可說諸菩薩摩訶薩眾，金剛藏菩薩而為上首。
〔T10 0179〕
爾時，金剛藏菩薩承佛神力，入菩薩大智慧光明三昧。入是三昧已，即時十方各過十億佛剎微塵數世界外，各有十億佛剎微塵數諸佛，同名：金剛藏，而現其前，作如是言：
「善哉善哉！金剛藏！乃能入是菩薩大智慧光明三昧。善男子！此是十方各十億佛剎微塵數諸佛共加於汝，以毘盧遮那如來、應、正等覺本願力故，威神力故，亦是汝勝智力故，欲令汝為一切菩薩說不思議諸佛法光明故。所謂：令入智地故，攝一切善根故，善揀擇一切佛法故，廣知諸法故，善能說法故，無分別智清淨故，一切世法不染故，出世善根清淨故，得不思議智境界故，得一切智人智境界故；又令得菩薩十地始終故，如實說菩薩十地差別相故，緣念一切佛法故，修習分別無漏法故，善選擇觀察大智光明巧莊嚴故，善入決定智門故，隨所住處次第顯說無所畏故，得無礙辯才光明故，住大辯才地善決定故，憶念菩薩心不忘失故，成熟一切眾生界故，能遍至一切處決定開悟故。善男子！汝當辯說此法門差別善巧法。所謂：承佛神力如來智明所加故，淨自善根故，普淨法界故，普攝眾生故，深入法身、智身故，受一切佛灌頂故，得一切世間最高大身故，超一切世間道故，清淨出世善根故，滿足一切智智故。」
爾時，十方諸佛與金剛藏菩薩無能映奪身，與無礙樂說辯，與善分別清淨智，與善憶念不忘力，與善決定明了慧，與至一切處開悟智，與成道自在力，與如來無所畏，與一切智人觀察分別諸法門辯才智，與一切如來上妙身、語、意具足莊嚴。何以故？得此三昧法如是故，本願所起故，善淨深心故，善淨智輪故，善積集助道故，善修治所作故，念其無量法器故，知其清淨信解故，得無錯謬總持故，法界智印善印故。
爾時，十方諸佛各伸右手摩金剛藏菩薩頂。摩頂已，金剛藏菩薩從三昧起，普告一切菩薩眾言：「諸佛子！諸菩薩願善決定，無雜不可見，廣大如法界，究竟如虛空，盡未來際遍一切佛剎，救護一切眾生，為一切諸佛所護，入過去、未來、現在諸佛智地。佛子！何等為菩薩摩訶薩智地？佛子！菩薩摩訶薩智地有十種，過去、未來、現在諸佛，已說、當說、今說；我亦如是說。何等為十？一者歡喜地，二者離垢地，三者發光地，四者焰慧地，五者難勝地，六者現前地，七者遠行地，八者不動地，九者善慧地，十者法雲地。佛子！此菩薩十地，三世諸佛已說、當說、今說。佛子！我不見有諸佛國土，其中如來不說此十地者。何以故？此是菩薩摩訶薩向菩提最上道，亦是清淨法光明門，所謂：分別演說菩薩諸地。佛子！此處不可思議，所謂諸菩薩隨證智。」
爾時，金剛藏菩薩說此菩薩十地名已，默然而住，不復分別。是時，一切菩薩眾聞菩薩十地名，不聞解釋，咸生渴仰，作如是念：「何因何緣，金剛藏菩薩唯說菩薩十地名而不解釋？」
解脫月菩薩知諸大眾心之所念，以頌問金剛藏菩薩曰：
「何故淨覺人，念智功德具，
說諸上妙地，有力不解釋？
一切咸決定，勇猛無怯弱，
何故說地名，而不為開演？
諸地妙義趣，此眾皆欲聞，
其心無怯弱，願為分別說！
眾會悉清淨，離懈怠嚴潔，
能堅固不動，具功德智慧。
相視咸恭敬，一切悉專仰，
如蜂念好蜜，如渴思甘露。」
爾時，大智無所畏金剛藏菩薩聞說是已，欲令眾會心歡喜故，為諸佛子而說頌言：
「菩薩行地事，最上諸佛本，
顯示分別說，第一希有難。
微細難可見，離念超心地，
出生佛境界，聞者悉迷惑。
持心如金剛，深信佛勝智，
知心地無我，能聞此勝法。
如空中彩畫，如空中風相，
牟尼智如是，分別甚難見。
我念佛智慧，最勝難思議，
世間無能受，默然而不說。」
爾時，解脫月菩薩聞是說已，白金剛藏菩薩言：「佛子！今此眾會皆悉已集，善淨深心，善潔思念，善修諸行，善集助道，善能親近百千億佛，成就無量功德善根，捨離癡惑，無有垢染，深心信解，於佛法中不隨他教。善哉佛子！當承佛神力而為演說，此諸菩薩於如是等甚深之處皆能證知。」
〔T10 0180〕
爾時，解脫月菩薩欲重宣其義而說頌曰：
「願說最安隱，菩薩無上行，
分別於諸地，智淨成正覺。
此眾無諸垢，志解悉明潔，
承事無量佛，能知此地義。」
爾時，金剛藏菩薩言：「佛子！雖此眾集善淨思念，捨離愚癡及以疑惑，於甚深法不隨他教；然有其餘劣解眾生，聞此甚深難思議事，多生疑惑，於長夜中受諸衰惱。我愍此等，是故默然。」
爾時，金剛藏菩薩欲重宣其義而說頌曰：
「雖此眾淨廣智慧，甚深明利能決擇，
其心不動如山王，不可傾覆猶大海。
有行未久解未得，隨識而行不隨智，
聞此生疑墮惡道，我愍是等故不說。」
爾時，解脫月菩薩重白金剛藏菩薩言：「佛子！願承佛神力分別說此不思議法，此人當得如來護念而生信受。何以故？說十地時，一切菩薩法應如是，得佛護念。得護念故，於此智地能生勇猛。何以故？此是菩薩最初所行，成就一切諸佛法故。譬如書字、數說，一切皆以字母為本、字母究竟，無有少分離字母者。佛子！一切佛法皆以十地為本，十地究竟修行成就，得一切智。是故，佛子！願為演說！此人必為如來所護，令其信受。」
爾時，解脫月菩薩欲重宣其義而說頌曰：
「善哉佛子願演說，趣入菩提諸地行！
十方一切自在尊，莫不護念智根本。
此安住智亦究竟，一切佛法所從生，
譬如書數字母攝，如是佛法依於地。」
爾時，諸大菩薩眾一時同聲向金剛藏菩薩而說頌言：
「上妙無垢智，無邊分別辯，
宣暢深美言，第一義相應。
念持清淨行，十力集功德，
辯才分別義，說此最勝地。
定戒集正心，離我慢邪見，
此眾無疑念，唯願聞善說！
如渴思冷水，如飢念美食，
如病憶良藥，如蜂貪好蜜；
我等亦如是，願聞甘露法！
善哉廣大智，願說入諸地，
成十力無礙，善逝一切行！」
爾時，世尊從眉間出清淨光明，名：菩薩力焰明，百千阿僧祇光明以為眷屬，普照十方一切世界靡不周遍，三惡道苦皆得休息；又照一切如來眾會，顯現諸佛不思議力；又照十方一切世界，一切諸佛所加說法菩薩之身；作是事已，於上虛空中成大光明雲網臺而住。時，十方諸佛悉亦如是，從眉間出清淨光明，其光名號、眷屬、作業悉同於此，又亦照此娑婆世界佛及大眾，并金剛藏菩薩身、師子座已，於上虛空中成大光明雲網臺。時，光臺中，以諸佛威神力故而說頌言：
「佛無等等如虛空，十力無量勝功德，
人間最勝世中上，釋師子法加於彼。
佛子當承諸佛力，開此法王最勝藏，
諸地廣智勝妙行，以佛威神分別說。
若為善逝力所加，當得法寶入其心，
諸地無垢次第滿，亦具如來十種力。
雖住海水劫火中，堪受此法必得聞，
其有生疑不信者，永不得聞如是義。
應說諸地勝智道，入住展轉次修習，
從行境界法智生，利益一切眾生故。」
爾時，金剛藏菩薩觀察十方，欲令大眾增淨信故而說頌曰：
「如來大仙道，微妙難可知，
非念離諸念，求見不可得。
無生亦無滅，性淨恒寂然，
離垢聰慧人，彼智所行處。
自性本空寂，無二亦無盡，
解脫於諸趣，涅槃平等住。
非初非中後，非言辭所說，
出過於三世，其相如虛空。
寂滅佛所行，言說莫能及；
地行亦如是，難說難可受。
智起佛境界，非念離心道，
非蘊界處門，智知意不及。
如空中鳥迹，難說難可示；
如是十地義，心意不能了。
慈悲及願力，出生入地行，
〔T10 0181〕
次第圓滿心，智行非慮境。
是境界難見，可知不可說，
佛力故開演，汝等應敬受。
如是智入行，億劫說不盡，
我今但略說，真實義無餘。
一心恭敬待，我承佛力說，
勝法微妙音，譬諭字相應。
無量佛神力，咸來入我身，
此處難宣示，我今說少分。
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
序分（一）：處會——世尊在他化自在天王宮
那時，世尊在他化自在天王的宮殿、摩尼寶藏殿中，與大菩薩眾同在一處。
序分（二）：與會菩薩之德
這些菩薩，都已於無上正等正覺（阿耨多羅三藐三菩提）得不退轉，全都是從其他方位的世界前來聚集的；他們安住在一切菩薩之智所安住的境界，契入一切如來之智所契入的處所；勤修不息，善於示現種種神通與種種所應作的事，教化調伏一切眾生而不錯過時機；為了成就菩薩的一切大願，在一切世、一切劫、一切佛剎當中，勤修諸行，沒有片刻懈怠休息；具足菩薩的福德與智慧兩種助道之資，普遍利益眾生而恆常不匱乏；到達一切菩薩智慧方便的究竟彼岸，示現進入生死、也示現進入涅槃，而始終不曾廢捨；修菩薩之行，善於契入一切菩薩的禪定、解脫三昧、三摩鉢底（等至·定之異名）、神通與明智，凡有所作為都能得自在；獲得一切菩薩自在的神力，在一念之間身形無所動作，卻能悉數前往一切如來的道場法會，作大眾的上首，請佛說法，護持諸佛正法之輪；以廣大之心供養承事一切諸佛，常常勤加修習一切菩薩所行的事業；他們的身普遍顯現於一切世間，他們的音聲普遍傳及十方法界，心與智無有障礙，普遍見到過去、現在、未來三世；一切菩薩所有的功德，他們都已修行而得圓滿——這樣的功德，縱使經不可說劫來說，也說不能盡。
序分（三）：菩薩眾名列——金剛藏為上首
他們的名字是：金剛藏菩薩、寶藏菩薩、蓮華藏菩薩、德藏菩薩、蓮華德藏菩薩、日藏菩薩、蘇利耶藏菩薩（蘇利耶即日）、無垢月藏菩薩、於一切國土普現莊嚴藏菩薩、毘盧遮那智藏菩薩、妙德藏菩薩、栴檀德藏菩薩、華德藏菩薩、俱蘇摩德藏菩薩（俱蘇摩即花）、優鉢羅德藏菩薩（優鉢羅即青蓮）、天德藏菩薩、福德藏菩薩、無礙清淨智德藏菩薩、功德藏菩薩、那羅延德藏菩薩（那羅延即大力）、無垢藏菩薩、離垢藏菩薩、種種辯才莊嚴藏菩薩、大光明網藏菩薩、淨威德光明王藏菩薩、金莊嚴大功德光明王藏菩薩、一切相莊嚴淨德藏菩薩、金剛焰德相莊嚴藏菩薩、光明焰藏菩薩、星宿王光照藏菩薩、虛空無礙智藏菩薩、妙音無礙藏菩薩、陀羅尼功德持一切眾生願藏菩薩（陀羅尼即總持）、海莊嚴藏菩薩、須彌德藏菩薩、淨一切功德藏菩薩、如來藏菩薩、佛德藏菩薩、解脫月菩薩……。像這樣無數無量、無邊無等、不可數、不可稱、不可思、不可量、不可說的諸菩薩摩訶薩眾，以金剛藏菩薩作為上首。
三昧分：金剛藏入菩薩大智慧光明三昧
那時，金剛藏菩薩承佛的神力，進入了「菩薩大智慧光明三昧」。入這三昧之後，隨即在十方各各超過十億佛剎微塵數那麼多的世界之外，各有十億佛剎微塵數那麼多的諸佛，同一個名號、都名為金剛藏，顯現在他的面前，這樣說道——
加分（一）：十方諸佛嘉許——所為之十事
「善哉善哉！金剛藏！你竟能進入這菩薩大智慧光明三昧。善男子！這是十方各十億佛剎微塵數的諸佛，共同加持於你——因為毘盧遮那如來、應（應供）、正等覺本願之力的緣故，因為威神力的緣故，也因為你自己殊勝智力的緣故；為的是要令你為一切菩薩宣說不可思議的諸佛法之光明。所謂：為令契入智地的緣故，為攝取一切善根的緣故，為善加揀擇一切佛法的緣故，為廣知諸法的緣故，為善能說法的緣故，為無分別智得清淨的緣故，為一切世間之法不能染污的緣故，為出世的善根得清淨的緣故，為得不可思議智慧境界的緣故，為得一切智之人的智慧境界的緣故——」
加分（二）：所為之十事（續）——十地始終
「又為令你得知菩薩十地的始與終的緣故，為如實宣說菩薩十地差別之相的緣故，為緣念一切佛法的緣故，為修習分別無漏之法的緣故，為善加選擇觀察大智光明、巧妙莊嚴的緣故，為善入決定智之門的緣故，為隨所安住之處次第顯說而無所畏懼的緣故，為得無礙辯才之光明的緣故，為安住大辯才之地而善得決定的緣故，為憶念菩薩之心不忘失的緣故，為成熟一切眾生界的緣故，為能普遍到達一切處、決定開悟眾生的緣故。」
加分（三）：令說——身心加之十句
「善男子！你應當辯說這個法門差別善巧之法。所謂：因為承佛神力、為如來智慧光明所加持的緣故，因為淨治自己善根的緣故，因為普遍淨治法界的緣故，因為普遍攝受眾生的緣故，因為深入法身與智身的緣故，因為領受一切佛的灌頂的緣故，因為得一切世間最高大之身的緣故，因為超越一切世間之道的緣故，因為清淨出世善根的緣故，因為滿足一切智智的緣故。」
加分（四）：十方諸佛所與之十德
那時，十方諸佛給予金剛藏菩薩無人能掩奪的身，給予無障礙的樂說辯才，給予善加分別的清淨之智，給予善能憶念而不忘失之力，給予善能決定、明白了達的智慧，給予到達一切處而開悟眾生之智，給予成道自在之力，給予如來的無所畏，給予一切智之人觀察分別諸法門的辯才之智，給予一切如來上妙的身業、語業、意業具足莊嚴。
加分（五）：所以與之——十種因由
為什麼給予這些呢？因為得此三昧之法本來如是的緣故，因為本願所發起的緣故，因為深心已善加清淨的緣故，因為智慧之輪已善加清淨的緣故，因為善於積集助道之資的緣故，因為善於修治所應作之事的緣故，因為念他是無量之法器的緣故，因為知他的信解清淨的緣故，因為得無錯誤謬失之總持的緣故，因為以法界之智印善加印定的緣故。
加分（六）與起分：摩頂·出定告眾
那時，十方諸佛各各伸出右手，摩金剛藏菩薩的頭頂。摩頂之後，金剛藏菩薩從三昧中起身，普遍告訴一切菩薩眾說——
「諸位佛子！諸菩薩的大願善能決定，沒有雜染、不可以形相見，廣大猶如法界，究竟猶如虛空，窮盡未來之際，遍於一切佛剎，救護一切眾生，為一切諸佛所護念，能契入過去、未來、現在諸佛的智地。」
本分（一）：問智地·答十地名
「佛子！什麼是菩薩摩訶薩的智地呢？佛子！菩薩摩訶薩的智地有十種——過去、未來、現在諸佛，已經說過、將要宣說、現在正說；我也是這樣說。哪十種呢？一是歡喜地，二是離垢地，三是發光地，四是焰慧地，五是難勝地，六是現前地，七是遠行地，八是不動地，九是善慧地，十是法雲地。」
本分（二）：三世同說·諸佛必說
「佛子！這菩薩十地，三世諸佛已經說過、將要宣說、現在正說。佛子！我不曾見有哪個諸佛的國土，其中的如來不說這十地的。為什麼呢？因為這是菩薩摩訶薩趣向菩提的最上之道，也是清淨法的光明之門——所謂分別演說菩薩的諸地。佛子！這個地方不可思議，所謂諸菩薩隨其所證而得的智慧。」
請分（一）：默然而住·大眾渴仰
那時，金剛藏菩薩說完這菩薩十地之名，就默然而住，不再作分別解說。這時，一切菩薩眾聽到了菩薩十地的名目，卻聽不到解釋，全都生起渴望仰慕之心，這樣想著——「是什麼因、什麼緣，使金剛藏菩薩只說菩薩十地的名目而不加解釋呢？」
請分（二）：解脫月初請——五偈
解脫月菩薩知道諸大眾心中所想，就以偈頌問金剛藏菩薩說——
「為什麼這位清淨覺悟之人，念力、智慧、功德都已具足，說出了那些上妙的諸地，明明有力量卻不加解釋？ 一切人都已心得決定，勇猛而無有怯弱，為什麼只說地的名目，而不為大眾開演？ 諸地微妙的義趣，這一會大眾都想聽聞，他們的心沒有怯弱，願您為我們分別宣說！ 與會大眾全都清淨，遠離懈怠、莊嚴潔淨，能夠堅固而不動搖，功德與智慧都已具足。 彼此相視都很恭敬，一切人都專心仰望——像蜜蜂思念好蜜，像口渴的人思念甘露。」
請分（三）：金剛藏初止——五偈·法深難受
那時，大智無所畏的金剛藏菩薩聽了這番話，為了要令與會大眾心生歡喜，就為諸位佛子而說偈頌道——
「菩薩行地之事，是最上諸佛的根本，要把它顯示分別而說，是第一等的希有難事。 它微細而難以得見，離於念、超出心地之外，能出生佛的境界，聽聞的人全都迷惑。 要持心堅固如金剛，深信佛的殊勝智慧，了知心地本來無我——這樣的人才能聽聞這殊勝之法。 如同在虛空中作彩畫，如同虛空中的風相，牟尼（寂默·佛）之智也是這樣，要分別解說實在甚難得見。 我思念佛的智慧，最殊勝而難以思議，世間無人能夠領受——所以我默然而不宣說。」
請分（四）：解脫月二請——長行歎眾德
那時，解脫月菩薩聽了這番說法之後，向金剛藏菩薩說——
「佛子！如今這一會大眾都已聚集，深心善加清淨，思念善加潔淨，諸行善加修治，助道之資善加積集，善能親近百千億佛，成就無量的功德善根，捨離了愚癡與疑惑，沒有垢染，深心信解，在佛法之中不隨他人的教導而轉。善哉佛子！應當承佛神力而為大眾演說——這些菩薩對於這樣等等甚深之處，都能證知。」
請分（五）：解脫月二請頌——二偈
那時，解脫月菩薩想要重新宣明這個意思，就說偈頌道——
「願您宣說最安隱的、菩薩無上的行持，為我們分別諸地，智慧清淨而成就正覺。 這一會大眾沒有諸般垢染，志向與勝解都明白潔淨，曾承事無量諸佛，能夠了知這諸地之義。」
請分（六）：金剛藏二止——長行·愍餘劣解眾生
那時，金剛藏菩薩說——
「佛子！雖然這一會聚集的大眾思念善淨，捨離了愚癡以及疑惑，對甚深之法不隨他人的教導而轉；然而還有其餘勝解低劣的眾生，聽到這甚深難以思議之事，多會生起疑惑，於長夜之中承受種種衰損惱害。我憐愍這一類人，所以默然不說。」
請分（七）：金剛藏二止頌——二偈
那時，金剛藏菩薩想要重新宣明這個意思，就說偈頌道——
「雖然這一會大眾清淨而智慧廣大，甚深明利而能決斷抉擇，他們的心不動搖猶如山王，不可傾覆猶如大海； 但有些人修行未久、勝解未得，隨著識而行、不隨著智而行，聽了這法會生疑而墮惡道——我憐愍這一類人，所以不說。」
請分（八）：解脫月三請——長行·佛護念與字母喻
那時，解脫月菩薩再次向金剛藏菩薩說——
「佛子！願您承佛神力，分別宣說這不可思議之法——聽的人自當得如來的護念而生起信受。為什麼呢？因為宣說十地之時，一切菩薩之法理應如此，都得到佛的護念；因為得護念的緣故，對於這智地能生起勇猛之心。又為什麼呢？因為這是菩薩最初所行之處，能成就一切諸佛之法的緣故。譬如世間的書寫文字與計數言說，一切都以字母為根本、以字母為究竟，沒有絲毫一分能離開字母的。佛子！一切佛法也都以十地為根本，十地究竟修行成就，就得一切智。所以，佛子！願您為大眾演說！聽的人必定為如來所護念，使他們生起信受。」
請分（九）：解脫月三請頌——二偈
那時，解脫月菩薩想要重新宣明這個意思，就說偈頌道——
「善哉佛子，願您演說趣入菩提的諸地之行！十方一切自在之尊（諸佛），沒有不護念這智慧根本的。 這安住之智也是究竟的，是一切佛法所從出生之處；譬如書寫與計數都為字母所攝，佛法也是這樣依於諸地。」
請分（十）：諸大菩薩同聲請——五偈
那時，諸大菩薩眾一時同聲，向金剛藏菩薩而說偈頌道——
「上妙無垢的智慧，無邊分別的辯才，宣揚暢達深美的言辭，與第一義相應。 念持清淨之行，十力所集的功德，以辯才分別義理——請說這最殊勝的諸地。 以定與戒集起正心，遠離我慢與邪見，這一會大眾沒有疑念，唯願聽聞善說！ 如同口渴思念冷水，如同飢餓思念美食，如同疾病憶念良藥，如同蜜蜂貪愛好蜜； 我們也是這樣，願聞甘露之法！ 善哉廣大之智，願您宣說契入諸地，成就十力而無礙，圓滿善逝的一切行！」
請分（十一）：如來放光加——世尊眉間放光
那時，世尊從眉間放出清淨的光明，名叫「菩薩力焰明」，有百千阿僧祇的光明作為它的眷屬，普遍照耀十方一切世界，沒有不周遍的；三惡道的苦都得以止息；又照耀一切如來的法會大眾，顯現諸佛不可思議之力；又照耀十方一切世界中，一切諸佛所加持的說法菩薩之身；作完這些事之後，就在上方的虛空之中，結成大光明的雲網之臺而安住。這時，十方諸佛也全都是這樣，從眉間放出清淨光明，那光的名號、眷屬、作業都與此處相同；又同樣照耀這個娑婆世界的佛與大眾，以及金剛藏菩薩之身、師子之座，然後在上方虛空中結成大光明的雲網之臺。
請分（十二）：光臺說頌——五偈
這時，光臺之中，以諸佛威神之力的緣故，而說偈頌道——
「佛無與等而等同虛空，十力無量而有殊勝功德，在人間最為殊勝、於世中最上——釋迦師子之法，加持於他（金剛藏）。 佛子應當承受諸佛之力，開啟這法王最殊勝的寶藏；諸地廣大智慧的殊勝妙行，就以佛的威神之力分別宣說。 若為善逝之力所加持，就當得法寶進入他的心中；諸地無垢而次第圓滿，也具足如來的十種力。 縱使身處海水之中、劫火之中，堪能領受此法的人必定得聞；那些生疑不信的人，永遠不得聽聞這樣的義理。 應當宣說諸地殊勝智慧之道——入地、住地、輾轉次第修習，從行、境界而生出法智，為的是利益一切眾生。」
請分（十三）：金剛藏許說——觀察十方而說十二偈
那時，金剛藏菩薩觀察十方，為了要令大眾增長清淨信心，就說偈頌道——
「如來大仙之道，微妙而難以了知，非是意念、離於諸念，想要求見卻不可得。 它無生也無滅，體性清淨而恆常寂然；離垢的聰慧之人，那才是他的智慧所行之處。 自性本來空寂，無二也無有窮盡，於諸趣中得解脫，於涅槃平等而住。 它非初、非中、非後，不是言辭所能宣說，超出三世之外，它的相狀猶如虛空。 寂滅是佛之所行，言說不能企及；地行也是這樣，難以宣說、難以領受。 智慧生起佛的境界，非是意念、離於心的道路，不是蘊、界、處之門所攝——智所知者，意識不能企及。 如同空中鳥飛之迹，難以宣說、難以指示；這樣的十地之義，心與意都不能了達。 慈悲以及願力，出生趣入諸地之行，次第圓滿其心，這智慧之行不是思慮所及的境界。 這境界難以得見，可以證知而不可言說——因佛力的緣故而為開演，你們應當恭敬領受。 這樣的智所入之行，經億劫來說也說不盡；我如今只略略而說，真實之義並無遺餘。 請一心恭敬等待，我承佛力而說；殊勝之法微妙之音，與譬諭、文字相應。 無量佛的神力，全都來入我身；此處的境界難以宣示，我如今只說少分。」
Preface (1): The Place and the Gathering — the World-Honored One in the Palace of the King of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations
At that time the World-Honored One was in the Hall of the Treasury of Maṇi Jewels, in the palace of the king of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations, together in one place with a great assembly of bodhisattvas.
Preface (2): The Virtues of the Bodhisattvas in the Gathering
These bodhisattvas had all attained non-retrogression with respect to unsurpassed perfect awakening (anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi), and had all come together from worlds in other quarters; they dwelt in the realm in which the wisdom of every bodhisattva dwells, and entered into the place into which the wisdom of every tathāgata enters; they cultivated diligently without cease, and were skilled at manifesting every kind of spiritual power and every kind of deed that ought to be done, teaching and taming all sentient beings without ever missing the right moment; for the sake of accomplishing all the great vows of a bodhisattva, in all worlds, all kalpas, and all buddha-lands they cultivated the practices diligently, without a moment’s sloth or rest; they were furnished with the two provisions that aid the path of a bodhisattva, merit and wisdom, and benefited sentient beings universally without ever running short; they had reached the far shore, the ultimate limit of every bodhisattva’s wisdom and skillful means, and manifested entering birth-and-death and manifested entering nirvāṇa, yet never once cast the work aside; they cultivated the practice of a bodhisattva and were skilled at entering all the meditative concentrations of a bodhisattva, the samādhis of liberation, the samāpattis (the attainments · another name for concentration), the spiritual powers and the clear knowledges, and in whatever they did they gained mastery; they had obtained the masterful spiritual might of every bodhisattva, so that in a single thought, without their bodies stirring at all, they could yet go in their entirety to the sites of awakening and the Dharma gatherings of all the tathāgatas, act as the foremost of the assemblies, request the Buddha to preach the Dharma, and guard and uphold the wheel of the true Dharma of the buddhas; with vast minds they made offerings to and served all the buddhas, and constantly and diligently cultivated all the works that a bodhisattva practices; their bodies appeared universally throughout all worlds, their voices carried universally to the Dharma realm of the ten directions, their minds and their wisdom were without obstruction, and they saw universally the three times, past, present, and future; every merit that any bodhisattva possesses they had already cultivated and brought to fullness — and of such merits as these, though one were to speak for kalpas beyond telling, the speaking could not be brought to an end.
Preface (3): The Roll of the Bodhisattva Assembly — Vajragarbha as Their Foremost
Their names were these: the bodhisattva Vajragarbha, the bodhisattva Ratnagarbha (Jewel-Treasury), the bodhisattva Lotus-Treasury, the bodhisattva Virtue-Treasury, the bodhisattva Lotus-Virtue-Treasury, the bodhisattva Sun-Treasury, the bodhisattva Sūrya-Treasury (Sūrya is the sun), the bodhisattva Stainless-Moon-Treasury, the bodhisattva Treasury of Adornments Appearing Universally in All Lands, the bodhisattva Vairocana-Wisdom-Treasury, the bodhisattva Wondrous-Virtue-Treasury, the bodhisattva Sandalwood-Virtue-Treasury, the bodhisattva Flower-Virtue-Treasury, the bodhisattva Kusuma-Virtue-Treasury (kusuma is a flower), the bodhisattva Utpala-Virtue-Treasury (utpala is the blue lotus), the bodhisattva Divine-Virtue-Treasury, the bodhisattva Merit-Virtue-Treasury, the bodhisattva Treasury of the Virtue of Unobstructed Pure Wisdom, the bodhisattva Treasury of Merit, the bodhisattva Nārāyaṇa-Virtue-Treasury (Nārāyaṇa is great strength), the bodhisattva Stainless-Treasury, the bodhisattva Treasury of Freedom from Defilement, the bodhisattva Treasury Adorned with Every Kind of Eloquence, the bodhisattva Treasury of the Net of Great Radiance, the bodhisattva Treasury of the King of the Light of Pure Majestic Virtue, the bodhisattva Treasury of the King of the Light of the Great Merit of Golden Adornment, the bodhisattva Treasury of the Pure Virtue Adorned with All Marks, the bodhisattva Treasury Adorned with the Marks of the Virtue of Adamantine Flame, the bodhisattva Treasury of the Flame of Light, the bodhisattva Treasury Illumined by the Light of the King of the Constellations, the bodhisattva Treasury of the Unobstructed Wisdom of Space, the bodhisattva Treasury of Unobstructed Wondrous Sound, the bodhisattva Treasury of the Dhāraṇī That Holds the Merit and the Vows of All Sentient Beings (a dhāraṇī is a total retention), the bodhisattva Treasury of the Adornment of the Ocean, the bodhisattva Sumeru-Virtue-Treasury, the bodhisattva Treasury That Purifies All Merit, the bodhisattva Tathāgata-Treasury, the bodhisattva Treasury of the Virtue of a Buddha, the bodhisattva Vimukticandra … Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas such as these, numberless, measureless, boundless, without equal, beyond counting, beyond reckoning, beyond thinking, beyond weighing, beyond telling, had Vajragarbha as their foremost.
The Part of Samādhi: Vajragarbha Enters the Samādhi of the Light of a Bodhisattva’s Great Wisdom
At that time the bodhisattva Vajragarbha, by the spiritual power of the Buddha, entered the “samādhi of the light of a bodhisattva’s great wisdom.” Once he had entered this samādhi, straightaway, in the ten directions, beyond worlds each exceeding the number of the dust motes of ten koṭis of buddha-lands, there were in each direction buddhas as many as the dust motes of ten koṭis of buddha-lands, all bearing one and the same name, all named Vajragarbha, who appeared before him and spoke in this way —
The Part of Empowerment (1): The Buddhas of the Ten Directions Give Their Praise — the Ten Things It Is For
“Excellent, excellent, Vajragarbha! That you have been able to enter this samādhi of the light of a bodhisattva’s great wisdom! Good man! This is the buddhas of the ten directions, as many in each direction as the dust motes of ten koṭis of buddha-lands, jointly empowering you — because of the power of the original vow of the Tathāgata Vairocana, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly Awakened One; because of the power of majestic spiritual might; and also because of the power of your own surpassing wisdom; and it is in order that you may set forth for all bodhisattvas the light of the inconceivable Dharma of the buddhas. Namely: for the sake of entering into the ground of wisdom; for the sake of gathering in all roots of goodness; for the sake of discerning well all the teachings of the Buddha; for the sake of knowing widely all dharmas; for the sake of being able to preach the Dharma well; for the sake of the purity of non-discriminating wisdom; for the sake of not being defiled by any dharma of the world; for the sake of the purity of the roots of goodness that transcend the world; for the sake of gaining the realm of inconceivable wisdom; for the sake of gaining the realm of wisdom of one who has omniscience —”
The Part of Empowerment (2): The Ten Things It Is For, Continued — the Beginning and End of the Ten Grounds
“And furthermore, for the sake of your coming to know the beginning and the end of the bodhisattva’s ten grounds; for the sake of setting forth, as they truly are, the characteristics that distinguish the bodhisattva’s ten grounds; for the sake of calling to mind all the teachings of the Buddha; for the sake of cultivating and discerning the dharmas that are without outflows; for the sake of selecting and contemplating well the great light of wisdom and its subtle adornment; for the sake of entering well the gate of settled wisdom; for the sake of setting forth in due order, according to the place where one dwells, without any fear; for the sake of gaining the light of unobstructed eloquence; for the sake of dwelling on the ground of great eloquence and gaining what is well settled; for the sake of keeping in mind the bodhisattva mind without ever losing it; for the sake of bringing to ripeness the whole realm of sentient beings; for the sake of being able to reach everywhere universally and awaken sentient beings with certainty.”
The Part of Empowerment (3): The Charge to Speak — the Ten Clauses of the Empowerment of Body and Mind
“Good man! You should expound this Dharma-gate, this dharma of distinctions and skillfulness. Namely: because you are borne by the spiritual power of the Buddha and empowered by the light of the Tathāgata’s wisdom; because you have purified your own roots of goodness; because you have universally purified the Dharma realm; because you universally gather in sentient beings; because you have entered deeply into the dharma-body and the wisdom-body; because you have received the consecration of all the buddhas; because you have gained the body that is highest and greatest in all the world; because you have passed beyond the path of all the world; because you have purified the roots of goodness that transcend the world; because you have fulfilled the wisdom of omniscience.”
The Part of Empowerment (4): The Ten Virtues Given by the Buddhas of the Ten Directions
At that time the buddhas of the ten directions gave the bodhisattva Vajragarbha a body that none could outshine or take away; gave him unobstructed eloquence in delighted speech; gave him the pure wisdom that discerns well; gave him the power of recalling well and never forgetting; gave him the wisdom that settles well and understands clearly; gave him the wisdom that reaches everywhere and awakens sentient beings; gave him the power of mastery in accomplishing the path; gave him the fearlessness of a tathāgata; gave him the eloquent wisdom of one who has omniscience for contemplating and discerning all the Dharma-gates; and gave him the perfect adornment of the excellent and wondrous acts of body, speech, and mind of all the tathāgatas.
The Part of Empowerment (5): Why They Gave Them — the Ten Reasons
Why did they give these? Because the dharma of gaining this samādhi is originally such; because it is what his original vow set in motion; because his deep mind has been well purified; because the wheel of his wisdom has been well purified; because he has amassed well the provisions that aid the path; because he has cultivated well the work that ought to be done; because they were mindful that he is a vessel of the Dharma beyond measure; because they knew that his faith and understanding are pure; because he has gained the total retention that is free of error and mistake; and because he has been well sealed by the wisdom-seal of the Dharma realm.
The Part of Empowerment (6) and the Part of Arising: The Rubbing of the Crown · Rising from Samādhi and Addressing the Assembly
At that time the buddhas of the ten directions each stretched out his right hand and rubbed the crown of the bodhisattva Vajragarbha’s head. When they had rubbed his crown, the bodhisattva Vajragarbha rose from the samādhi and addressed all the assembly of bodhisattvas universally, saying —
“Sons of the Buddha! The great vows of the bodhisattvas are well settled, unmixed and not to be seen as a form; vast as the Dharma realm, ultimate as space, reaching to the very end of the future, pervading all buddha-lands, rescuing and protecting all sentient beings, guarded and kept in mind by all the buddhas, and able to enter the ground of wisdom of the buddhas of the past, the future, and the present.”
The Part of the Root (1): The Question about the Ground of Wisdom · The Answer of the Ten Ground-Names
“Sons of the Buddha! What is the ground of wisdom of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva? Sons of the Buddha! The grounds of wisdom of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva are ten in number — the buddhas of the past, the future, and the present have already spoken them, will speak them, and are speaking them now; and I too speak in this way. Which ten? The first is the Joyful Ground, the second the Stainless Ground, the third the Luminous Ground, the fourth the Flaming-Wisdom Ground, the fifth the Hard-to-Conquer Ground, the sixth the Manifest Ground, the seventh the Far-Reaching Ground, the eighth the Immovable Ground, the ninth the Excellent-Wisdom Ground, the tenth the Dharma-Cloud Ground.”
The Part of the Root (2): The Buddhas of the Three Times Speak Alike · Every Buddha Must Speak Them
“Sons of the Buddha! These bodhisattva ten grounds the buddhas of the three times have already spoken, will speak, and are speaking now. Sons of the Buddha! I have never seen any buddha-land in which the Tathāgata does not speak these ten grounds. Why is this? Because this is the highest path by which a bodhisattva-mahāsattva heads toward awakening, and it is also the gate of the light of pure dharmas — namely, the discerning exposition of the bodhisattva’s grounds. Sons of the Buddha! This place is inconceivable — namely, the wisdom that the bodhisattvas attain according to what they have realized.”
The Part of Request (1): He Remains Silent · The Great Assembly Thirsts and Longs
At that time the bodhisattva Vajragarbha, having finished speaking the names of these bodhisattva ten grounds, remained silent and made no further discerning explanation. Then all the assembly of bodhisattvas, having heard the names of the bodhisattva ten grounds but not hearing them explained, all gave rise to a mind of thirsting and longing, and thought in this way — “What cause and what condition is it that makes the bodhisattva Vajragarbha speak only the names of the bodhisattva ten grounds and add no explanation?”
The Part of Request (2): Vimukticandra’s First Request — Five Verses
The bodhisattva Vimukticandra, knowing what was in the minds of the great assembly, questioned the bodhisattva Vajragarbha in verse, saying —
“Why is it that this one of pure awakening, fully endowed with the power of recollection, wisdom, and merit, having spoken of those excellent and wondrous grounds, has the power and yet gives no explanation? All here have gained settled minds, valiant and without timidity — why speak only the names of the grounds and not set them forth for the assembly? The subtle and wondrous meaning of the grounds — this whole gathering wishes to hear it; their minds are without timidity: may you discern and set it forth for us! The assembled gathering is wholly pure, far from sloth, adorned and clean, able to stand firm and unmoved, furnished with both merit and wisdom. Looking upon one another they are all reverent, and all with concentrated minds gaze up — like bees that long for good honey, like a thirsty man who longs for sweet dew.”
The Part of Request (3): Vajragarbha’s First Withholding — Five Verses · The Dharma Is Deep and Hard to Receive
At that time the bodhisattva Vajragarbha, of great wisdom and without fear, having heard these words, and wishing to make the assembled gathering glad at heart, spoke verses for the sons of the Buddha, saying —
“The matter of the bodhisattva’s practice of the grounds is the root of the buddhas, who are highest; to display it, discern it, and speak of it is the foremost of rare and difficult things. It is subtle and hard to see, apart from thought and beyond the ground of mind; it can give birth to the realm of a buddha, and those who hear it are all bewildered. One must hold the mind firm as adamant, believe deeply in the surpassing wisdom of the Buddha, and know that the ground of the mind is from the first without a self — only such a one is able to hear this surpassing Dharma. Like painting colors in empty space, like the shape of the wind in empty space, so is the wisdom of the Muni (the Silent One · the Buddha): to discern and explain it is truly most hard to see. When I call to mind the wisdom of the buddhas, most surpassing and hard to conceive, there is no one in the world who can receive it — and therefore I remain silent and do not speak.”
The Part of Request (4): Vimukticandra’s Second Request — Prose Praising the Virtues of the Assembly
At that time the bodhisattva Vimukticandra, having heard these words, said to the bodhisattva Vajragarbha —
“Son of the Buddha! This great gathering is now fully assembled; their deep minds are well purified, their thoughts are well cleansed, their practices are well cultivated, the provisions that aid the path are well amassed, they have been able to draw near to a hundred thousand koṭis of buddhas, they have perfected measureless merits and roots of goodness, they have cast off folly and doubt, they are without stain or defilement, their deep minds have faith and understanding, and in the Buddha’s Dharma they are not turned about by the instruction of another. Excellent, son of the Buddha! You should, borne by the spiritual power of the Buddha, set it forth for the assembly — for these bodhisattvas are able to realize and know places as deep as these.”
The Part of Request (5): The Verses of Vimukticandra’s Second Request — Two Verses
At that time the bodhisattva Vimukticandra, wishing to state this meaning over again, spoke in verse, saying —
“May you set forth what is most secure, the unsurpassed practice of a bodhisattva; discern the grounds for us, that wisdom may be pure and perfect awakening accomplished. This gathered assembly is without any stain, their aspiration and their understanding clear and clean; they have served measureless buddhas, and are able to know the meaning of these grounds.”
The Part of Request (6): Vajragarbha’s Second Withholding — Prose · Pity for the Remaining Beings of Inferior Understanding
At that time the bodhisattva Vajragarbha said —
“Son of the Buddha! Although the great assembly gathered here has thoughts well purified, has cast off folly and doubt, and in the deep Dharma is not turned about by the instruction of another; nevertheless there are still other sentient beings whose understanding is inferior, and when they hear this deep matter, hard to conceive, they will for the most part give rise to doubt, and through the long night will undergo every kind of ruin and harm. I have pity on this kind of being, and therefore I remain silent and do not speak.”
The Part of Request (7): The Verses of Vajragarbha’s Second Withholding — Two Verses
At that time the bodhisattva Vajragarbha, wishing to state this meaning over again, spoke in verse, saying —
“Although this gathering is pure and their wisdom vast, deep, clear, and sharp, able to settle and discern, their minds unshaken like the king of mountains, not to be overturned like the great ocean; yet there are those whose practice is not long, whose understanding is not yet gained, who follow consciousness in their course and do not follow wisdom; hearing this they would give rise to doubt and fall into the evil destinies — I have pity on this kind of being, and therefore I do not speak.”
The Part of Request (8): Vimukticandra’s Third Request — Prose · The Buddhas’ Protective Mindfulness and the Simile of the Letters
At that time the bodhisattva Vimukticandra again said to the bodhisattva Vajragarbha —
“Son of the Buddha! May you, borne by the spiritual power of the Buddha, discern and set forth this inconceivable Dharma — those who hear it will surely gain the protective mindfulness of the Tathāgata and give rise to faith and acceptance. Why is this? Because when the ten grounds are being set forth, the dharma of all bodhisattvas ought to be thus, and they all gain the protective mindfulness of the Buddha; and because through gaining that protective mindfulness they can give rise to a valiant mind toward this ground of wisdom. And why further? Because this is the place where a bodhisattva first practices, and because it is able to accomplish all the teachings of the buddhas. It is like the writing of letters and the reckoning of numbers and speech in the world: all of these take the letters as their root and the letters as their end, and there is not the least part of them that is apart from the letters. Son of the Buddha! All the teachings of the Buddha likewise take the ten grounds as their root; when the ten grounds are ultimately cultivated and accomplished, one gains omniscience. Therefore, son of the Buddha, may you set it forth for the assembly! Those who hear it will surely be held in the protective mindfulness of the Tathāgata, and will be made to give rise to faith and acceptance.”
The Part of Request (9): The Verses of Vimukticandra’s Third Request — Two Verses
At that time the bodhisattva Vimukticandra, wishing to state this meaning over again, spoke in verse, saying —
“Excellent, son of the Buddha, may you set forth the practice of the grounds that head into awakening! Of all the masterful lords of the ten directions (the buddhas), there is none who does not hold in protective mindfulness this root of wisdom. This wisdom in which one abides is likewise ultimate, the place from which all the teachings of the Buddha are born; just as writing and reckoning are gathered up by the letters, so too do the teachings of the Buddha rest upon the grounds.”
The Part of Request (10): The Great Bodhisattvas Request with One Voice — Five Verses
At that time the whole assembly of great bodhisattvas, with one voice at one time, spoke in verse to the bodhisattva Vajragarbha, saying —
“Wisdom excellent, wondrous, and without stain, eloquence boundless and discerning, proclaiming and setting forth deep and beautiful words that accord with the ultimate meaning. Recollecting and upholding the practice of purity, the merits gathered by the ten powers, discerning the meaning with eloquence — pray speak of these most surpassing grounds. By concentration and by the precepts they have gathered up an upright mind, and have left behind conceit and wrong views; this gathering is without a thought of doubt: our only wish is to hear you speak well! As a thirsty man longs for cool water, as a hungry man longs for fine food, as a sick man calls to mind good medicine, as bees crave good honey; so is it with us — may we hear the Dharma of sweet dew! Excellent, you of vast wisdom, may you set forth the entering of the grounds, the accomplishing of the ten powers without obstruction, the fulfilling of every practice of the Well-Gone One!”
The Part of Request (11): The Tathāgata Empowers by Sending Forth Light — the World-Honored One Sends Forth Light from between His Brows
At that time the World-Honored One sent forth from between his brows a pure light named “the bright flame of a bodhisattva’s power,” which had a hundred thousand asaṃkhyeyas of lights as its retinue, and which universally illumined all the worlds of the ten directions so that there was nowhere it did not reach; the suffering of the three evil destinies was all brought to rest; it illumined moreover the gathered assemblies of all the tathāgatas, displaying the inconceivable power of the buddhas; and it illumined moreover, in all the worlds of the ten directions, the bodies of the bodhisattvas who preach the Dharma empowered by all the buddhas; and when it had accomplished these deeds, it formed into a terrace of the net of clouds of great light in the space above, and remained there. Then the buddhas of the ten directions all did likewise, sending forth pure light from between their brows, and the name of that light, its retinue, and its work were all the same as here; and they likewise illumined the buddha and the great assembly of this Sahā world, and the body and the lion seat of the bodhisattva Vajragarbha, and then formed into a terrace of the net of clouds of great light in the space above.
The Part of Request (12): The Terrace of Light Speaks Verses — Five Verses
Then, from within the terrace of light, by the majestic spiritual power of the buddhas, verses were spoken, saying —
“The Buddha is without peer, yet equal to space; his ten powers are measureless and his merits surpassing; among humankind he is the most surpassing, in the world the highest — the Dharma of the Śākya Lion empowers him (Vajragarbha). Son of the Buddha, you should receive the power of the buddhas and open this most surpassing treasury of the Dharma King; and as for the vast wisdom and surpassing wondrous practice of the grounds, discern and set it forth by the majestic spiritual power of the Buddha. If one is empowered by the power of the Well-Gone One, one will gain the jewel of the Dharma entering into one’s mind; the grounds are without stain and are fulfilled in due order, and one is furnished as well with the ten powers of a tathāgata. Even though one dwell amid the waters of the ocean or amid the fire at the kalpa’s end, whoever is able to receive this Dharma will surely get to hear it; but those who give rise to doubt and do not believe will never get to hear a meaning such as this. One should set forth the path of the surpassing wisdom of the grounds — entering the grounds, dwelling on them, and cultivating them in turn and in due order; from practice and from its objects the wisdom of the Dharma is born, and this is for the benefit of all sentient beings.”
The Part of Request (13): Vajragarbha Consents to Speak — He Surveys the Ten Directions and Speaks Twelve Verses
At that time the bodhisattva Vajragarbha surveyed the ten directions, and wishing to make the assembly grow in pure faith, spoke in verse, saying —
“The path of the Tathāgata, the great sage, is subtle and hard to know; it is not an object of thought and is apart from all thoughts; one may wish to see it, but it cannot be found. It is without arising and also without ceasing; its nature is pure and constantly still; only the wise who are free of defilement — theirs is the field in which that wisdom moves. Its own nature is from the first empty and still, without duality and without exhaustion; in the destinies it gains liberation, and in nirvāṇa it dwells in equality. It is neither beginning, nor middle, nor end; it is not what words can set forth; it passes beyond the three times, and its mark is like space. Stillness and cessation are what the Buddha practices, and speech cannot reach so far; the practice of the grounds is likewise, hard to set forth and hard to receive. Wisdom gives rise to the realm of a buddha, which is not an object of thought and is apart from the path of the mind, and which is not encompassed by the gates of the aggregates, the elements, and the sense-fields — what wisdom knows, the mental consciousness cannot reach. Like the track of a bird in the sky, hard to set forth and hard to point out; such is the meaning of the ten grounds, which mind and thought cannot fathom. Kindness and compassion together with the power of vows give birth to the practice that heads into the grounds; step by step the mind is fulfilled, and this practice of wisdom is no field of deliberation. This field is hard to see; it may be realized and known but cannot be told — through the power of the Buddha it is set forth, and you should receive it reverently. Such is the practice into which wisdom enters that though one spoke for koṭis of kalpas the speaking could not be finished; I now speak of it only in summary, yet of the true meaning nothing is left out. Wait, all of you, single-minded and reverent, while I speak, borne by the power of the Buddha; the surpassing Dharma, a wondrous sound, accords with parables and with letters. The spiritual powers of measureless buddhas all come and enter into my body; this field is hard to display, and I now speak of only a small portion.”
一部大經的開場，為什麼值得單獨讀
十地品是《華嚴》的心臟，而它的開場——從世尊坐在他化自在天王宮，到金剛藏終於答應開講——竟佔了整整一大段，沒有講到任何一地的內容。急著讀十地的人多半跳過它。可這一段其實在回答一個更前面的問題：這樣的法，憑什麼能說、由誰說、對誰說、在什麼條件下才說得出口。
世親在《十地經論》裡把初地判為八分——序分、三昧分、加分、起分、本分、請分、說分、校量勝分。前六分全在這裡。澄觀承這個科，把十地品開為十段，逐地各具八分；到了這一段的請分，他又細開為三科：先默住，次三家五請，末許說分齊。所以這不是鋪陳，是結構：說法之前的一整套條件，被經文一件一件擺了出來。
序分：法要在什麼樣的場所、對什麼樣的人說
開場先交代四件事：時、主、處、眾。澄觀說本品攝在大部之中，因此六成就裡少了信、聞二成就，只餘這四件；而論所以特別校量時與處，是要顯此法之勝——最初之時、最勝之處，說最勝之法。
處是他化自在天王宮的摩尼寶藏殿。法藏於此處讀出表法之意：「他化作樂具，自得受用，顯非己力」——所證真如不是自己造作出來的；澄觀更進一層說「證如無心，不礙後得而起用」：證真如時無心可用，卻不妨礙後得智起用。
眾的功德，經文一連鋪了許多句：不退轉、從他方來集、住菩薩智所住境、入如來智所入處、勤行不息、神通化生不失時、為成大願於一切世一切劫一切剎勤修無懈、福智助道具足而普益不匱、到智慧方便究竟彼岸而示入生死涅槃不廢捨、善入諸定神通而所作自在、一念之頃能詣一切道場為眾上首請佛說法護持法輪、以廣大心供養承事諸佛、身普現世間而音普及法界、心智無礙普見三世、一切功德修行圓滿而不可說劫說不能盡。這一長串不是客套。它在說一件事：能坐在這裡聽十地的，是已經把三賢位走完、正要跨入聖位的人。法不是對誰都說的——聽眾的資格，本身就是說法的條件之一。
接著是名列。三十九位菩薩，名字幾乎個個帶一個「藏」字——金剛藏、寶藏、蓮華藏、德藏、日藏、無垢月藏、毘盧遮那智藏……直到最後一位解脫月菩薩。「藏」是含攝而未發之義；一場要講「地」的法會，出場的全是「藏」。而列首與列末這兩個名字，正是接下來整段戲的兩位主角：金剛藏說，解脫月請。
三昧分：說法之前，先入一場定
金剛藏並不是被請了才開口。他先做的一件事是入定——「入菩薩大智慧光明三昧」。這個定的名字就是它的內容：大智慧之光明。
為什麼說法要先入定？因為所說的不是他自己想出來的東西。八分之中三昧分獨立成一分，就是要標明這一點：地之義出於證，不出於思——能說者先要進到那個證裡去，話才有出處。法藏與澄觀在約教的判法上，甚至把三昧分判為整段的正宗——因為入了這個定，實證才顯現出來。
加分：十方諸佛為什麼要來加持
入定之後，十方各過十億佛剎微塵數世界之外，各有十億佛剎微塵數諸佛現前——而且全都同名金剛藏。同名，是說加持者與被加持者在法上同一。
諸佛先讚許，再說明加持的三種來由：毘盧遮那如來的本願力、諸佛的威神力，以及金剛藏自己的勝智力。三力缺一不可——外加、內證，兩邊都要有。
然後是十句「所謂」，說明加持所為何事：令入智地、攝一切善根、善揀擇一切佛法、廣知諸法、善能說法、無分別智清淨、一切世法不染、出世善根清淨、得不思議智境界、得一切智人智境界。這十句是從能說者的內在條件說的——先有這樣的智，才有可說之法。
接著再翻一層，十句轉向所說之法與所化之眾：令得菩薩十地始終、如實說十地差別相、緣念一切佛法、修習分別無漏法、善選擇觀察大智光明巧莊嚴、善入決定智門、隨所住處次第顯說無所畏、得無礙辯才光明、住大辯才地善決定、憶念菩薩心不忘失，乃至成熟一切眾生界、遍至一切處決定開悟。前十句是『他能懂』，後十句是『他能講、講得完、講得對、講給人聽得進去』。
第三批十句，說的是加持所依之身心：承佛神力如來智明所加、淨自善根、普淨法界、普攝眾生、深入法身智身、受一切佛灌頂、得一切世間最高大身、超一切世間道、清淨出世善根、滿足一切智智。
再往下，經文從「令」轉為「與」——十方諸佛實際給了他什麼：無能映奪身、無礙樂說辯、善分別清淨智、善憶念不忘力、善決定明了慧、至一切處開悟智、成道自在力、如來無所畏、觀察分別諸法門辯才智，以及如來上妙身語意具足莊嚴。
最後經文自設一問：「何以故？」——憑什麼給他？答案又是十句：得此三昧法如是、本願所起、善淨深心、善淨智輪、善積集助道、善修治所作、念其無量法器、知其清淨信解、得無錯謬總持、法界智印善印。這十句最要緊的是「念其無量法器」與「知其清淨信解」二句：加持不是恩賜，是相應——器堪受，才傾注。
諸佛的加持最後落在一句委任上：「汝當辯說此法門差別善巧法」。不是泛泛地鼓勵，而是點名要說的內容——十地法門的差別與善巧；說者從這一句起，同時得到了說的權與說的題。
起分：摩頂，然後從定裡出來
十方諸佛各伸右手摩金剛藏頂。這是身加，也是加分之末。世親於此特別點出摩頂之力屬如意通，非餘通所能——遠處諸佛不離本處而能摩此處之頂。
摩頂已，金剛藏從三昧起，普告一切菩薩眾——起分至此完成。定中受加，出定而說：整段結構在這裡合攏。
本分：他先說願，再問地
出定第一句話不是十地，是願：「諸菩薩願善決定，無雜不可見，廣大如法界，究竟如虛空」，盡未來際遍一切佛剎，救護一切眾生，為一切諸佛所護，入三世諸佛智地。先立願再說地，次第是有意的——地是願走出來的路，不是知識。
然後他自問自答：「佛子！何等為菩薩摩訶薩智地？」——問的是「智地」，不是「地」。地之為地，在於它是智所住之處。答則有十：歡喜、離垢、發光、焰慧、難勝、現前、遠行、不動、善慧、法雲。
說完十名，他隨即為這十名作三重擔保。其一，三世諸佛「已說、當說、今說」，我也如是說——不是新說。其二，「我不見有諸佛國土，其中如來不說此十地者」——不是別說。其三，何以故？因為這是「菩薩摩訶薩向菩提最上道，亦是清淨法光明門」——不是小說。三重之後，卻收在一句轉折上：「此處不可思議，所謂諸菩薩隨證智。」擔保它最要緊，同時說它不可思議——這一句就是下面整段默然的伏筆。
值得一記的是：十地之名，經文只列而不釋。地名的義釋要到世親《十地經論》才補出來——初證聖處多生歡喜故名歡喜，離犯戒垢故名離垢，聞思修照法顯現故名明地，燒煩惱薪故名焰地，能度難度故名難勝，般若現前故名現前，過二乘道故名遠行，報行純熟無相無間故名不動，無礙力說法故名善慧，得大法身自在故名法雲。論並在名前先設一問：何故定說十地？答曰為對治十種障——從凡夫我相障，直到於諸法中不得自在障。經舉其名，論釋其義，這是本段考據上最清楚的一條分工。
請分之一：說了名字就不說了
接著是全段最奇特的一幕：「金剛藏菩薩說此菩薩十地名已，默然而住，不復分別。」大眾聞名而不聞釋，「咸生渴仰」，心裡起了一個疑：何因何緣，只說名而不解釋？
這個默然不是冷場，是法。世親設問而答得極直白：默然是為了令大眾渴仰請說，又為增長菩薩對法的尊敬。澄觀說得更足：「所以默者，將欲演之，必固默之」——將要演說，所以先固執地不說。他還補了第二層意思：本分中已舉地歎勝，令眾生樂；此處默而俟請，是要令這一請之中生起正解——由請，才問得出默的理由；由默的理由，才顯出地體甚深、離於言念。眾先有了這個理解，後面聽說分時才不會隨聲取義而落入謬解。
於是這個默然的功能就清楚了：它不是拖延，是先把讀者的期待從『聽一段知識』調成『接一件難事』。
請分之二：三家五請——一個被反覆推辭的請法結構
澄觀把接下來的整段判為「三家五請」。三家，是三批請法者：解脫月請、大眾請、如來請。為什麼要三家？他說：顯法深妙，令人得聞而解——眾首出面顯揚，當機者渴仰，化主親自加勸，這件事才算周全。
三家的次第也有理由：解脫月是眾中上首，由他先問，餘人才不亂；大眾之所以不亂搶問，是因為前面的止與請已經抑揚了時眾，心已調伏；最後如來勸說，是因為聽者之理已窮——人請到無可再請，佛才出面。
五請，則是止與請相乘而成的五段：一怪默騰疑請，二法深難受止，三歎眾堪聞請，四不堪有損止，五雙歎人法請。請一次，止一次；止不是拒絕，是把法的深度再標高一層，逼出下一次更有力的請。
第一請，解脫月以五偈問：既然念智功德具足，為何有力而不解釋？諸地妙義此眾皆欲聞，其心無怯弱。他歎說者無過，也歎聽者無過，末偈以喻收——「如蜂念好蜜，如渴思甘露」。
第一止，金剛藏以五偈答，而經文特別交代他說偈的動機是「欲令眾會心歡喜故」——止而不失慈。他說此事「第一希有難」，微細難見、離念超心地，聞者悉迷惑；能聞的人要「持心如金剛，深信佛勝智，知心地無我」；又以喻明其難說——「如空中彩畫，如空中風相」；末句歸到自己：世間無能受，所以默然。
第二請，解脫月改以長行歎眾：此會已集，深心善淨、思念善潔、諸行善修、助道善集、親近百千億佛、功德善根無量、捨離癡惑、深心信解、於佛法中不隨他教。世親於此設問：解脫月為何又歎這一眾？答曰因為前面說世間能證信者難得，所以要示現此眾正是堪能之器。歎眾即是舉證。隨後又以二偈重宣。
第二止，金剛藏承認此眾確實堪聞，卻轉出一個新的理由：「然有其餘劣解眾生」，聞此甚深難思議事多生疑惑，於長夜中受諸衰惱——我憐愍這些人，所以默然。世親說得準：金剛藏是領受了解脫月所歎的功德之後，於所說之法中不見法器。他的二偈把兩造分得很清楚：此眾其心「不動如山王，不可傾覆猶大海」；而那些人「有行未久解未得，隨識而行不隨智」。所以這一止的對象根本不是眼前這一眾——止與請並不對立。
第三請，解脫月拿出了最有力的一件理據：說十地時，一切菩薩法應如是，得佛護念；得護念故，於此智地能生勇猛。換句話說，怕人生疑墮惡道，正是佛護念所解決的事。接著他用了那個著名的譬喻：書字與數說，一切皆以字母為本、字母究竟，無有少分離字母者；一切佛法也一樣，皆以十地為本，十地究竟修行成就而得一切智。這個喻把十地從『一個階位表』提到『佛法的字母表』——不說十地，等於不教識字。世親於此也設問：為何要重請？因為疑惑不可迴避，不說則有多過。
第四止已含在前，第五請則由諸大菩薩眾一時同聲而發：歎其智、歎其辯、歎其定戒正心離我慢邪見，並連舉四喻——如渴思冷水、如飢念美食、如病憶良藥、如蜂貪好蜜。從一人請到眾人同聲請，情勢已無可再推。
三請以頌收束。前一偈「善哉佛子願演說，趣入菩提諸地行！十方一切自在尊，莫不護念智根本」——請的理由由『眾已清淨』轉為十方諸佛護念這智慧的根本，說法的擔子從說者一人移到諸佛共許之上。後一偈「此安住智亦究竟，一切佛法所從生，譬如書數字母攝，如是佛法依於地」——以書數字母為喻重申：字母攝盡一切書數，地攝盡一切佛法。
請分之三：如來以光請法
到這裡，人已經請盡了。於是世尊親自出面——但不是說話，是放光。眉間出清淨光明，名「菩薩力焰明」，百千阿僧祇光明為眷屬，普照十方，三惡道苦皆得休息；又照一切如來眾會、照十方一切諸佛所加說法菩薩之身；作是事已，於上虛空中成大光明雲網臺而住。十方諸佛也同樣放光，光名、眷屬、作業悉同，並照此娑婆世界的佛與大眾、照金剛藏之身與師子座。
世親於此設問：如來為何現神通力放光同請？他的答案指出這裡的關節——如來先前已作意加，尚未身、口加，與其餘諸佛不同，所以此時以光補之。澄觀則把這一段判為三家中的第三家「如來請」。佛不開口而請，這是全段最耐讀的一筆：法之當說與否，最後由化主定奪，而化主以光表意。
光臺中復以諸佛威神力而說五偈：先歎佛無等等如虛空、十力無量；次正勸「佛子當承諸佛力，開此法王最勝藏」；三說受法之益——若為善逝力所加，當得法寶入其心，諸地無垢次第滿；四判堪受與不堪——雖住海水劫火中，堪受此法必得聞，其有生疑不信者，永不得聞如是義；五結勸所應說者：入住展轉次修習，從行境界法智生，利益一切眾生。第四偈尤其要看：金剛藏所憂的「生疑者」，佛在這裡承認了——他們確實聞不到；但這不構成不說的理由。憂與勸，在此得解。
請分之四：許說十二偈——先講清楚它有多難講
金剛藏終於許說，卻不是立刻開講，而是先觀察十方，再說十二偈。世親問：何故觀察十方？答曰示無我慢、無偏心。澄觀把這十二偈判為兩段：前七顯義大、後五明說大——先說所說之義有多大，再說能說之說有多大。
前七偈說地體：如來大仙道微妙難知，非念離諸念，求見不可得；無生亦無滅，性淨恒寂然；自性本空寂，無二亦無盡，解脫於諸趣，涅槃平等住；非初非中後，非言辭所說，出過於三世，其相如虛空；寂滅佛所行，言說莫能及——而「地行亦如是，難說難可受」。再進一步：智起佛境界，非念離心道，「非蘊界處門」——不是五蘊十八界十二處那一套所能框住的境界。末以喻收：「如空中鳥迹，難說難可示」，十地之義也是這樣，心意不能了。
然後是關鍵的一轉：慈悲及願力，出生入地行，次第圓滿心——地行雖非慮境，卻是從慈悲與願力裡長出來的。所以它不是無門可入，只是不從思議之門入。
後五偈說「說」本身：是境界難見，「可知不可說」——可以證知，不可言傳；然而「佛力故開演，汝等應敬受」。既然如此，說者的態度也就定了：億劫說不盡，「我今但略說」；而略說並不失真，因為「真實義無餘」。他要聽者一心恭敬待，並自陳所憑——「我承佛力說」；末偈更把加持之義收回開頭：「無量佛神力，咸來入我身，此處難宣示，我今說少分。」
整段開場到此結束，下一句就進入初地。回頭看，這一整段其實只做了一件事：把『十地可說』這件事，從默然、推辭、再請、放光，一路推到『承佛力說少分』——說者始終沒有把這法說成自己的。
唯識鏡對讀：十地之名，兩軸共出於此
這一段對唯識一系有特殊分量，因為十地的名列在整部大經裡以此處為首出（品末法雲地結說與十山王喻再歷舉十名），而唯識諸論所講的十地行位，其名目皆本於此。
成唯識論在講十勝行、十重障、十真如時，先舉十地之名，初地作「極喜地」，並釋為初獲聖性、具證二空、能益自他而生大喜——與本段「一者歡喜地」是同一地的兩個譯名。攝大乘論舉十地亦以「極喜地」為首，並逐地釋其得名之由。瑜伽師地論則從另一路對接：它以十三住攝菩薩行位，於極喜住處自明「彼十地經廣所宣說菩薩十地」即是此中之住——是用十三住的架子去容十地之目；〈攝決擇分〉更引解深密經觀自在菩薩之問，列極喜、離垢、發光、焰慧諸地之名。
要注意兩件事。其一，玄奘系譯「極喜」，本經譯「歡喜」，二名同地而異譯，並錄不判。其二，這一段裡真正被唯識軸繼承的，是「名」與『地體＝智所住處』這個定義，而不是三家五請的敘事——請說的場景屬於一經一會之體，論書不採。世親《十地經論》逐句釋這段敘事，也正因為如此，它成了華嚴疏家的科判之本：華嚴宗從論裡取科，唯識宗從經裡取名，兩軸各取所需，而共出於這一段。
承衍
本段之承衍有兩條線。華嚴一線：世親所立初地八分，經澄觀承之而開為十段各具八分，成為《華嚴》十地品科判的骨架；澄觀復於請分細開三家五請、止請相乘五段。法藏於《探玄記》另以約教三分判之，以序分為由序、三昧分為證正宗、加分以下為流通——與澄觀「分為序、三昧分為正宗」之語幾乎同軌，二疏此段用字近同，孰先孰承，誌錄不判。李通玄則走第三條路，不從八分入手，而以如來普光明智為地體、以地前三十心已竟為此品來意——表法之軌與科判之軌並行，皆古德成說，誌錄之而不判高下。
唯識一線：本段十地名列為成唯識論、攝大乘論、瑜伽師地論所同承，並各以己宗之行位系統重述之——十地成為兩宗共同的骨幹。一段沒有講任何一地的開場，卻同時是華嚴科判之所出與唯識行位之所本；讀十地品的人若跳過它，跳過的正是這兩條源流交會的地方。
Why the Opening of a Great Sūtra Is Worth Reading on Its Own
The Ten Grounds is the heart of the Avataṃsaka, and its opening — from the World-Honored One seated in the palace of the king of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations, all the way to Vajragarbha finally agreeing to begin — takes up one whole long stretch of text without touching the content of a single ground. Readers in a hurry to get to the ten grounds mostly skip it. Yet this passage is in fact answering a question that comes even earlier: on what grounds can a Dharma like this be spoken at all, by whom, to whom, and under what conditions does it become sayable?
Vasubandhu, in the Shidi jing lun, divides the first ground into eight parts — the part of the preface, the part of samādhi, the part of empowerment, the part of arising, the part of the root, the part of request, the part of exposition, and the part of the comparison of excellence. The first six are all here. Chengguan takes over this outline and opens the Ten Grounds chapter into ten sections, each ground possessing the eight parts; and when he comes to the part of request in this passage, he opens it further into three: first remaining silent, next the five requests from three quarters, and last the consent that sets the bounds of what is to be said. So this is not padding. It is structure: the whole set of conditions that must be in place before the Dharma is spoken, laid out by the sūtra one item at a time.
The Part of the Preface: In What Sort of Place, and to What Sort of People, Is the Essential Dharma Spoken
The opening first settles four matters: the time, the host, the place, and the assembly. Chengguan says that because this chapter is subsumed within the great compilation, two of the six perfections of the setting — faith and hearing — are absent, and only these four remain; and the reason the treatise weighs the time and the place in particular is to show the surpassing excellence of this Dharma — at the earliest time and in the most surpassing place, the most surpassing Dharma is spoken.
The place is the Hall of the Treasury of Maṇi Jewels in the palace of the king of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations. Fazang reads a symbolic import out of this place: “others fashion the instruments of pleasure and one obtains the enjoyment of them oneself, which shows that it is not by one’s own power” — the suchness that is realized is not something one has manufactured oneself; and Chengguan goes a step further, saying, “in realizing suchness there is no mind, and yet this does not obstruct the subsequently attained wisdom from arising into function”: at the moment of realizing suchness there is no mind to be employed, and yet this is no obstacle to the arising into function of the wisdom attained afterward.
As for the virtues of the assembly, the sūtra lays out a whole run of clauses: non-retrogression; having come together from other quarters; dwelling in the realm in which a bodhisattva’s wisdom dwells; entering the place into which a tathāgata’s wisdom enters; cultivating diligently without cease; teaching beings by spiritual powers without missing the moment; cultivating without sloth in all worlds, all kalpas, and all lands for the sake of accomplishing the great vows; being furnished with the provisions of merit and wisdom that aid the path, and benefiting all universally without running short; having reached the far shore, the ultimate limit of wisdom and skillful means, and manifesting entry into birth-and-death and into nirvāṇa without casting the work aside; entering well the concentrations and spiritual powers, with mastery in whatever is done; being able in a single thought to go to every site of awakening, to act as the foremost of the assembly, to request the Dharma and guard the wheel of the Dharma; making offerings to and serving the buddhas with a vast mind; their bodies appearing universally in the world while their voices carry universally through the Dharma realm; their minds and wisdom unobstructed and universally seeing the three times; every merit cultivated to fullness, such that kalpas beyond telling would not exhaust the telling. This long string is not a courtesy. It is saying one thing: those who are able to sit here and listen to the ten grounds are people who have already walked the three worthy stages to the end and are just about to step across into the position of a noble one. The Dharma is not spoken to just anyone — the qualification of the listeners is itself one of the conditions for the speaking.
Next comes the roll of names. Thirty-nine bodhisattvas, and almost every name carries the word “treasury” — Vajragarbha, Jewel-Treasury, Lotus-Treasury, Virtue-Treasury, Sun-Treasury, Stainless-Moon-Treasury, Vairocana-Wisdom-Treasury … down to the last of them, the bodhisattva Vimukticandra. “Treasury” means what is held within and not yet brought forth; and at a Dharma gathering that is about to speak of the “grounds,” everyone who appears is a “treasury.” And the first name in the list and the last are precisely the two protagonists of the whole drama that follows: Vajragarbha speaks, Vimukticandra requests.
The Part of Samādhi: Before Speaking the Dharma, First Enter a Concentration
Vajragarbha does not open his mouth only after being asked. The first thing he does is to enter a concentration — he “enters the samādhi of the light of a bodhisattva’s great wisdom.” The name of this concentration is its content: the light of great wisdom.
Why must the speaking of the Dharma begin with entering a concentration? Because what is spoken is not something he thought up himself. That the part of samādhi stands as one part on its own among the eight is meant to mark exactly this point: the meaning of the grounds comes out of realization, not out of thinking — one who is able to speak must first go inside that realization, and only then do the words have a source. Fazang and Chengguan, in their way of judging the passage with respect to the teaching, even judge the part of samādhi to be the main body of the whole passage — because it is by entering this concentration that actual realization is made manifest.
The Part of Empowerment: Why the Buddhas of the Ten Directions Come to Empower Him
After he enters the concentration, in the ten directions, beyond worlds each exceeding the number of the dust motes of ten koṭis of buddha-lands, there appear in each direction buddhas as many as the dust motes of ten koṭis of buddha-lands — and every one of them bears the name Vajragarbha. Bearing the same name says that the one who empowers and the one empowered are one and the same in the Dharma.
The buddhas first give their praise, and then state the three sources of the empowerment: the power of the original vow of the Tathāgata Vairocana, the majestic spiritual power of the buddhas, and Vajragarbha’s own power of surpassing wisdom. Not one of the three can be missing — empowerment from without and realization from within, both sides are required.
Then come ten clauses of “namely,” stating what the empowerment is for: entering the ground of wisdom; gathering in all roots of goodness; discerning well all the teachings of the Buddha; knowing widely all dharmas; being able to preach the Dharma well; the purity of non-discriminating wisdom; not being defiled by any dharma of the world; the purity of the roots of goodness that transcend the world; gaining the realm of inconceivable wisdom; gaining the realm of wisdom of one who has omniscience. These ten clauses speak from the side of the inner conditions of the one who is to speak — only when there is wisdom such as this is there a Dharma that can be spoken.
Then the text turns over another layer, and ten clauses face toward the Dharma to be spoken and the beings to be taught: coming to know the beginning and end of the bodhisattva’s ten grounds; setting forth as they truly are the characteristics that distinguish the ten grounds; calling to mind all the teachings of the Buddha; cultivating and discerning the dharmas without outflows; selecting and contemplating well the great light of wisdom and its subtle adornment; entering well the gate of settled wisdom; setting forth in due order according to the place where one dwells, without fear; gaining the light of unobstructed eloquence; dwelling on the ground of great eloquence and gaining what is well settled; keeping the bodhisattva mind in mind without losing it; and on to bringing the whole realm of sentient beings to ripeness, and reaching everywhere universally to awaken beings with certainty. The first ten clauses say ‘he is able to understand it’; the second ten say ‘he is able to speak it, to speak it through to the end, to speak it rightly, and to speak it so that people can take it in.’
The third set of ten clauses states the body and mind upon which the empowerment rests: being borne by the spiritual power of the Buddha and empowered by the light of the Tathāgata’s wisdom; purifying one’s own roots of goodness; universally purifying the Dharma realm; universally gathering in sentient beings; entering deeply into the dharma-body and the wisdom-body; receiving the consecration of all the buddhas; gaining the body that is highest and greatest in all the world; passing beyond the path of all the world; purifying the roots of goodness that transcend the world; fulfilling the wisdom of omniscience.
Further on, the sūtra turns from “causing” to “giving” — what the buddhas of the ten directions actually gave him: a body none can outshine or take away; unobstructed eloquence in delighted speech; the pure wisdom that discerns well; the power of recalling well and not forgetting; the wisdom that settles well and understands clearly; the wisdom that reaches everywhere and awakens beings; the power of mastery in accomplishing the path; the fearlessness of a tathāgata; the eloquent wisdom that contemplates and discerns all the Dharma-gates; and the perfect adornment of the excellent and wondrous acts of body, speech, and mind of the tathāgatas.
Last, the sūtra puts a question to itself: “Why is this?” — on what grounds do they give these to him? The answer is again ten clauses: because the dharma of gaining this samādhi is thus; because his original vow set it in motion; because his deep mind is well purified; because the wheel of his wisdom is well purified; because he has amassed well the provisions that aid the path; because he has cultivated well the work to be done; because they are mindful that he is a vessel of the Dharma beyond measure; because they know that his faith and understanding are pure; because he has gained the total retention free of error; because he has been well sealed by the wisdom-seal of the Dharma realm. The weightiest of these ten are the two clauses “mindful that he is a vessel of the Dharma beyond measure” and “knowing that his faith and understanding are pure”: empowerment is not a favor bestowed, it is a correspondence — the vessel must be able to receive before anything is poured in.
The buddhas’ empowerment comes to rest at last in a single clause of commission: “You should expound this Dharma-gate, this dharma of distinctions and skillfulness.” This is not vague encouragement but a naming of the content to be spoken — the distinctions and the skillfulness of the Dharma-gate of the ten grounds; from this one clause the speaker receives at once the authority to speak and the topic to speak on.
The Part of Arising: The Rubbing of the Crown, and Then Coming Out of the Concentration
The buddhas of the ten directions each stretch out a right hand and rub the crown of Vajragarbha’s head. This is the empowerment of the body, and also the end of the part of empowerment. Vasubandhu points out here in particular that the power of rubbing the crown belongs to the supernormal power of will and to no other — the buddhas at a distance do not leave their own places, and yet are able to rub a crown in this place.
When the rubbing of the crown is done, Vajragarbha rises from the samādhi and addresses all the assembly of bodhisattvas universally — and with this the part of arising is complete. Receiving the empowerment within the concentration, and speaking upon coming out of it: the structure of the whole passage closes here.
The Part of the Root: He Speaks the Vow First, and Then Asks about the Ground
His first words on coming out of the concentration are not the ten grounds but the vow: “the great vows of the bodhisattvas are well settled, unmixed and not to be seen as a form, vast as the Dharma realm, ultimate as space,” reaching to the end of the future and pervading every buddha-land, rescuing all sentient beings, guarded by all the buddhas, entering the ground of wisdom of the buddhas of the three times. Setting up the vow first and speaking of the grounds after is a deliberate order — the ground is a road that a vow has walked out, not a piece of knowledge.
Then he asks himself and answers himself: “Sons of the Buddha! What is the ground of wisdom of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva?” — what is asked about is the “ground of wisdom,” not simply the “ground.” What makes a ground a ground is that it is the place where wisdom dwells. And the answer has ten: Joyful, Stainless, Luminous, Flaming-Wisdom, Hard-to-Conquer, Manifest, Far-Reaching, Immovable, Excellent-Wisdom, Dharma-Cloud.
Having spoken the ten names, he immediately gives three guarantees for them. First, the buddhas of the three times “have already spoken them, will speak them, and are speaking them now,” and I too speak thus — this is not a new teaching. Second, “I have never seen any buddha-land in which the Tathāgata does not speak these ten grounds” — this is not a special teaching. Third, why is this? Because it is “the highest path by which a bodhisattva-mahāsattva heads toward awakening, and it is also the gate of the light of pure dharmas” — this is not a minor teaching. And after these three, he closes on a turn: “This place is inconceivable — namely, the wisdom that the bodhisattvas attain according to what they have realized.” Guaranteeing that it is of the utmost weight, and in the same breath saying that it is inconceivable — this one clause is the seed of the whole silence that follows.
Worth noting is this: of the names of the ten grounds, the sūtra gives only the list and no explanation. The explanation of the meaning of the names has to wait for Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun to supply it — because on first realizing the place of a noble one much joy is born, it is named Joyful; because it is free of the defilement of breaking the precepts, it is named Stainless; because hearing, reflection, and cultivation illumine and make the Dharma manifest, it is named the Bright ground; because it burns the fuel of the afflictions, it is named the Flaming ground; because it can cross what is hard to cross, it is named Hard-to-Conquer; because prajñā is present before one, it is named Manifest; because it passes beyond the path of the two vehicles, it is named Far-Reaching; because the practice of the fruit is fully ripened, markless and without interruption, it is named Immovable; because it preaches the Dharma with unobstructed power, it is named Excellent-Wisdom; because it gains the great dharma-body and mastery, it is named Dharma-Cloud. And before the names the treatise sets a question: why is it settled that there are ten grounds? The answer is: in order to counteract ten kinds of obstruction — from the obstruction of the ordinary person’s notion of a self, all the way to the obstruction of not gaining mastery in the dharmas. The sūtra gives the names, the treatise explains the meanings: this is the clearest division of labor in the whole textual record of this passage.
The Part of Request, One: He Spoke the Names and Then Stopped
Then comes the strangest scene in the whole passage: “the bodhisattva Vajragarbha, having finished speaking the names of these bodhisattva ten grounds, remained silent and made no further discerning explanation.” The assembly hears the names but not the explanation, and “all gave rise to a mind of thirsting and longing,” and a doubt arises in them: for what cause, for what condition, does he speak the names and give no explanation?
This silence is not an awkward pause; it is Dharma. Vasubandhu poses the question and answers it with great directness: the silence is in order to make the great assembly thirst and long and request the teaching, and further to increase the bodhisattvas’ reverence for the Dharma. Chengguan says it more fully: “as for why he is silent — being about to expound it, he must first hold firmly to silence” — being about to set it forth, he first stubbornly withholds it. And he adds a second layer: in the part of the root the grounds have already been raised and praised as surpassing, so that the assembly delights in them; here the silence that waits for a request is meant to give rise, within this very request, to right understanding — it is through the requesting that the reason for the silence can be asked out, and it is through the reason for the silence that the substance of the grounds is shown to be most profound and apart from words and thoughts. Once the assembly has this understanding beforehand, they will not, when they later hear the part of exposition, take the meaning by the sound and fall into mistaken understanding.
So the function of this silence becomes clear: it is not a delay, it is a first adjustment of the reader’s expectation from ‘listening to a piece of knowledge’ to ‘receiving something difficult.’
The Part of Request, Two: Five Requests from Three Quarters — a Structure of Requesting Repeatedly Declined
Chengguan judges the whole stretch that follows to be “the five requests from three quarters.” The three quarters are three sets of requesters: Vimukticandra requests, the great assembly requests, the Tathāgata requests. Why must there be three quarters? He says: to show that the Dharma is deep and wondrous, and to make people hear it and understand — the foremost of the assembly comes forward to set it out, those for whom it is timely thirst and long, and the lord of the teaching himself urges it; only so is the matter complete.
The order of the three quarters also has its reason: Vimukticandra is the foremost of the assembly, and by his asking first the rest are kept from disorder; the reason the great assembly does not scramble to ask is that the earlier withholdings and requests have already raised and lowered the assembly of that hour, so that their minds are tamed; and last the Tathāgata urges the speaking, because the listeners’ reasoning has been exhausted — when people have asked to the point where there is nothing left to ask with, the Buddha comes forward.
The five requests are five sections formed by withholding and requesting multiplied together: first, the request that wonders at the silence and raises the doubt; second, the withholding that the Dharma is deep and hard to receive; third, the request that praises the assembly as fit to hear; fourth, the withholding that those unfit would be harmed; fifth, the request that praises both the persons and the Dharma. One request, one withholding; and the withholding is not a refusal — it raises the depth of the Dharma one notch higher and forces out a stronger request next time.
In the first request, Vimukticandra asks in five verses: since the merits of recollection and wisdom are complete, why is there power and yet no explanation? The whole assembly wishes to hear the wondrous meaning of the grounds, and their minds are without timidity. He praises the speaker as being without fault, and praises the listeners as being without fault, and the last verse closes with a simile — “like bees that long for good honey, like a thirsty man who longs for sweet dew.”
In the first withholding, Vajragarbha answers in five verses, and the sūtra takes particular care to state that his motive in speaking the verses is “wishing to make the assembled gathering glad at heart” — he withholds without losing kindness. He says that this matter is “the foremost of rare and difficult things,” subtle and hard to see, apart from thought and beyond the ground of mind, so that those who hear it are all bewildered; one who can hear it must “hold the mind firm as adamant, believe deeply in the surpassing wisdom of the Buddha, and know that the ground of the mind is without a self”; and he uses a simile again to show how hard it is to speak — “like painting colors in empty space, like the shape of the wind in empty space”; and the last line comes back to himself: there is no one in the world who can receive it, and therefore he is silent.
In the second request, Vimukticandra changes to prose and praises the assembly: this gathering is fully assembled, their deep minds well purified, their thoughts well cleansed, their practices well cultivated, the aids to the path well amassed, having drawn near a hundred thousand koṭis of buddhas, their merits and roots of goodness measureless, having cast off folly and doubt, their deep minds having faith and understanding, and in the Buddha’s Dharma not turned about by the instruction of another. Vasubandhu poses a question here: why does Vimukticandra praise this assembly again? The answer: because it was said earlier that those in the world who can realize and have faith are hard to find, and so it must be shown that this assembly is precisely a vessel that is able. Praising the assembly is the producing of evidence. He then states it over again in two verses.
In the second withholding, Vajragarbha grants that this assembly is indeed fit to hear, but brings out a new reason: “nevertheless there are still other sentient beings whose understanding is inferior,” who on hearing this deep matter, hard to conceive, will mostly give rise to doubt and through the long night undergo every kind of ruin and harm — I have pity on these people, and therefore I am silent. Vasubandhu puts it precisely: Vajragarbha, having taken in the pure merits of the assembly that Vimukticandra praised, still does not see, with respect to the Dharma to be spoken, a vessel for it. His two verses distinguish the two parties very clearly: this assembly is of minds “unshaken like the king of mountains, not to be overturned like the great ocean”; whereas those others are ones “whose practice is not long, whose understanding is not yet gained, who follow consciousness in their course and do not follow wisdom.” So the object of this withholding is not the assembly in front of him at all — withholding and requesting are not opposed.
In the third request, Vimukticandra brings out the most forceful piece of reasoning: when the ten grounds are spoken, the dharma of all bodhisattvas ought to be thus, and they gain the protective mindfulness of the Buddha; and because they gain that protective mindfulness, they can give rise to a valiant mind toward this ground of wisdom. In other words, the fear that people will doubt and fall into the evil destinies is exactly the thing that the buddhas’ protective mindfulness takes care of. Then he uses that famous simile: in the writing of letters and the reckoning of numbers, all of it takes the letters as its root and the letters as its end, and there is not the least part of it apart from the letters; and all the teachings of the Buddha are likewise, all taking the ten grounds as their root, and when the ten grounds are ultimately cultivated and accomplished, omniscience is gained. This simile lifts the ten grounds from ‘a table of stages’ to ‘the alphabet of the Buddha’s teaching’ — not to speak the ten grounds is not to teach the letters. Vasubandhu also poses a question here: why must the request be repeated? Because the doubt cannot be avoided, and not to speak would have many faults.
The fourth withholding has already been given above, and the fifth request is uttered by the whole assembly of great bodhisattvas with one voice at one time: they praise his wisdom, praise his eloquence, praise their own upright minds gathered by concentration and the precepts and free of conceit and wrong views, and they raise four similes in a row — like a thirsty man longing for cool water, like a hungry man longing for fine food, like a sick man calling to mind good medicine, like bees craving good honey. From one person’s request to the whole assembly requesting with one voice, the pressure of the situation leaves nothing further to push back against.
The third request closes with verses. The first of them — “Excellent, son of the Buddha, may you set forth the practice of the grounds that head into awakening! Of all the masterful lords of the ten directions, there is none who does not hold in protective mindfulness this root of wisdom” — shifts the reason for the request from ‘the assembly is already pure’ to the buddhas of the ten directions holding this root of wisdom in protective mindfulness, so that the burden of the speaking moves from the single speaker onto what the buddhas jointly allow. The second — “This wisdom in which one abides is likewise ultimate, the place from which all the teachings of the Buddha are born; just as writing and reckoning are gathered up by the letters, so too do the teachings of the Buddha rest upon the grounds” — restates the case with the simile of writing, reckoning, and the letters: the letters gather up all writing and reckoning, the grounds gather up all the teachings of the Buddha.
The Part of Request, Three: The Tathāgata Requests the Dharma with Light
By this point the people have asked all they can ask. So the World-Honored One comes forward himself — but not to speak; he sends out light. From between his brows issues a pure light named “the bright flame of a bodhisattva’s power,” with a hundred thousand asaṃkhyeyas of lights as its retinue, universally illumining the ten directions, and the suffering of the three evil destinies is all brought to rest; it illumines moreover the gathered assemblies of all the tathāgatas, and illumines the bodies of the Dharma-preaching bodhisattvas empowered by all the buddhas of the ten directions; and when these deeds are done, it forms into a terrace of the net of clouds of great light in the space above and remains there. The buddhas of the ten directions likewise send forth light, the name of the light, its retinue, and its work all the same, and they illumine as well the buddha and the great assembly of this Sahā world, and the body and the lion seat of Vajragarbha.
Vasubandhu poses a question here: why does the Tathāgata manifest his spiritual power and send forth light to join in the request? His answer points out the joint of the matter — the Tathāgata had earlier given the empowerment of mind, but not yet that of body or of speech, unlike the other buddhas, and so at this point he makes it up with light. Chengguan for his part judges this stretch to be the third of the three quarters, “the Tathāgata’s request.” That the Buddha requests without opening his mouth is the most rewarding stroke in the whole passage: whether or not a Dharma ought to be spoken is settled in the end by the lord of the teaching, and the lord of the teaching signifies his intent with light.
Within the terrace of light, by the majestic spiritual power of the buddhas, five verses are then spoken: the first praises the Buddha as without peer yet equal to space, his ten powers measureless; the second urges directly, “Son of the Buddha, you should receive the power of the buddhas and open this most surpassing treasury of the Dharma King”; the third states the benefit of receiving the Dharma — if one is empowered by the power of the Well-Gone One, one will gain the jewel of the Dharma entering one’s mind, and the grounds, stainless, are fulfilled in due order; the fourth judges who is fit to receive and who is not — though one dwell amid the waters of the ocean or the fire at the kalpa’s end, whoever is able to receive this Dharma will surely get to hear it, while those who doubt and do not believe will never get to hear such a meaning; the fifth concludes by urging what ought to be spoken: entering, dwelling, and cultivating in turn and in due order, the wisdom of the Dharma born from practice and its objects, for the benefit of all sentient beings. The fourth verse in particular deserves attention: the “ones who give rise to doubt” whom Vajragarbha was worried about are here acknowledged by the Buddha — they will indeed not get to hear it; but that does not constitute a reason for not speaking. The worry and the urging are here resolved.
The Part of Request, Four: The Twelve Verses of Consent — First Making Clear How Hard It Is to Speak
Vajragarbha at last consents to speak, yet he does not begin at once; he first surveys the ten directions, and then speaks twelve verses. Vasubandhu asks: why does he survey the ten directions? The answer: to show that he is without conceit and without partiality of mind. Chengguan judges these twelve verses into two sections: the first seven display the greatness of the meaning, the last five make clear the greatness of the speaking — first how great is the meaning that is spoken, then how great is the speaking that can speak it.
The first seven verses speak of the substance of the grounds: the path of the Tathāgata, the great sage, is subtle and hard to know, not an object of thought and apart from all thoughts, and though one wish to see it, it cannot be found; it is without arising and without ceasing, its nature pure and constantly still; its own nature is from the first empty and still, without duality and without exhaustion, gaining liberation in the destinies and dwelling in equality in nirvāṇa; it is neither beginning, nor middle, nor end, not what words can set forth, passing beyond the three times, its mark like space; stillness and cessation are what the Buddha practices and speech cannot reach so far — and “the practice of the grounds is likewise, hard to set forth and hard to receive.” Then a step further: wisdom gives rise to the realm of a buddha, which is not an object of thought and is apart from the path of the mind, and which is “not encompassed by the gates of the aggregates, the elements, and the sense-fields” — it is not a realm that can be framed by the five aggregates, the eighteen elements, and the twelve sense-fields. The section closes with a simile: “like the track of a bird in the sky, hard to set forth and hard to point out,” and so it is with the meaning of the ten grounds, which mind and thought cannot fathom.
Then comes the crucial turn: kindness and compassion together with the power of vows give birth to the practice that heads into the grounds, and step by step the mind is fulfilled — the practice of the grounds, though no field of deliberation, is nevertheless something that grows out of kindness, compassion, and vows. So it is not that there is no gate by which to enter; it is only that one does not enter by the gate of conceiving and deliberating.
The last five verses speak about the “speaking” itself: this field is hard to see, it “may be realized and known but cannot be told” — it can be realized and known, but not conveyed in words; and yet “through the power of the Buddha it is set forth, and you should receive it reverently.” That being so, the speaker’s attitude is settled too: koṭis of kalpas would not exhaust the telling, and “I now speak of it only in summary”; and speaking in summary loses nothing of the truth, because “of the true meaning nothing is left out.” He asks the listeners to wait single-mindedly and reverently, and states what he relies upon — “while I speak, borne by the power of the Buddha”; and the last verse gathers the sense of empowerment back to the beginning: “The spiritual powers of measureless buddhas all come and enter into my body; this field is hard to display, and I now speak of only a small portion.”
Here the whole opening ends, and the next sentence enters the first ground. Looking back, this whole stretch has really done just one thing: it has taken the matter of ‘the ten grounds can be spoken’ and pushed it, by way of silence, declining, requesting again, and the sending forth of light, all the way to ‘borne by the power of the Buddha, I speak a small portion’ — the speaker has never once made this Dharma his own.
A Reading in the Mirror of Consciousness-Only: The Names of the Ten Grounds, from Which Both Lines Alike Issue
This passage carries a particular weight for the consciousness-only line, because the list of the names of the ten grounds appears here first in the whole great sūtra (the closing statement of the Dharma-Cloud Ground at the end of the chapter and the simile of the ten mountain kings run through the ten names again), and the stages of the ten grounds spoken of in the treatises of that line take their names from here.
The Cheng weishi lun, in setting out the ten surpassing practices, the ten heavy obstructions, and the ten kinds of suchness, first raises the names of the ten grounds, giving the first ground as “the Ground of Utmost Joy” and explaining it as first gaining the nature of a noble one, fully realizing the two emptinesses, and being able to benefit both self and others, whence great joy arises — which is the same ground under two renderings as this passage’s “the first is the Joyful Ground.” The She dacheng lun likewise heads its ten grounds with “the Ground of Utmost Joy” and explains ground by ground the reason for each name. The Yuqie shidi lun joins the passage from another direction: it subsumes the bodhisattva stages under thirteen abodes, and at the abode of utmost joy it states of itself that “what the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds extensively sets forth as the bodhisattva’s ten grounds” is precisely the abode here — using the framework of the thirteen abodes to hold the list of the ten grounds; and its Section of Ascertainment quotes further the question of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara from the Jieshenmi jing, listing the names of the grounds Utmost Joy, Stainless, Luminous, Flaming-Wisdom.
Two things are to be noted. First, the Xuanzang line translates “Utmost Joy” and this sūtra translates “Joyful”: two names for the same ground in different renderings, and both are recorded without judgment between them. Second, what is genuinely inherited by the consciousness-only line out of this passage is the “names,” and the definition ‘the substance of a ground is the place where wisdom dwells’ — not the narrative of the five requests from three quarters; the scene of requesting the teaching belongs to the shape of one sūtra and one assembly, and the treatises do not take it up. That Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun explains this narrative clause by clause is exactly why it became the source of the outlines of the Huayan commentators: the Huayan line takes its outline from the treatise, the consciousness-only line takes its names from the sūtra, each taking what it needs, and both alike issuing from this one passage.
Lineage
The carrying forward of this passage runs along two lines. On the Huayan line: the eight parts of the first ground established by Vasubandhu were taken over by Chengguan and opened out into ten sections each possessing the eight parts, becoming the skeleton of the outline of the Ten Grounds chapter of the Avataṃsaka; and Chengguan further opened the part of request into the five requests from three quarters and the five sections of withholding and requesting multiplied together. Fazang, in the Tanxuan ji, judges it otherwise with respect to the teaching in three divisions, taking the part of the preface as the introductory preface, the part of samādhi as the main body of realization, and the part of empowerment onward as the dissemination — which runs almost along the same track as Chengguan’s words, “the part of the preface is the preface, and the part of samādhi is the main body”; the wording of the two commentaries in this passage is close to identical, and which came first and which follows is recorded without a judgment. Li Tongxuan takes a third road, not entering by way of the eight parts at all, but taking the universally luminous wisdom of the Tathāgata as the substance of the grounds and the completion of the thirty minds before the grounds as the reason for this chapter’s coming — the track of symbolic import and the track of the outline run side by side, both are the settled accounts of the ancient worthies, and they are recorded without judging one above the other.
On the consciousness-only line: the list of the names of the ten grounds in this passage is inherited alike by the Cheng weishi lun, the She dacheng lun, and the Yuqie shidi lun, and each restates it within its own school’s system of stages — the ten grounds become the shared spine of both schools. An opening that speaks of not one single ground is at the same time the source of the Huayan outline and the root of the consciousness-only stages of practice; and one who reads the Ten Grounds chapter and skips it has skipped exactly the place where these two streams meet.
考據Apparatus
序請分＝十地品未說一地之前的整個開場：世尊在他化自在天宮，金剛藏入「菩薩大智慧光明三昧」，十方同名金剛藏諸佛現前意加、身加、摩頂，金剛藏出定唯說十地之名而默然不釋，大眾渴仰，解脫月三請三止、諸菩薩同聲請、如來放光加請，金剛藏終許說。世親《十地經論》立初地八分，前六分（序·三昧·加·起·本·請）即此段所當；澄觀、法藏、李通玄之十地品開章四門亦皆繫於此。十地之名列在此段首出（品末法雲地結說與十山王喻復歷舉十名），成華嚴、唯識兩軸共引之本文。
一、科判定位
| 科判系統 | 此段之位 |
|---|---|
| 底本 T279 三十九品 | 品二十六 十地品（第六會 他化自在天宮）之開端；序請分＝〔T10n0279 0178b28〕起–〔0181a09〕訖，下接第一地歡喜地〔0181a10〕 |
| 世親《十地經論》 | 「十地法門，初地所攝八分」〔T26n1522 0123b23〕之前六分；訖界句「已說請分，自此以後正說初地」〔0134b25〕 |
| 澄觀《華嚴經疏》 | 十地品疏開章四門（來意·釋名·宗趣·釋文）〔T35n1735 0735a06 起〕；序分科起〔0736c21〕；請分科起〔0744a27〕；說分科起〔0756a05〕 |
| 法藏《探玄記》（六十華嚴疏） | 十地品第二十二〔T35n1733 0277a06 起〕四門同前；約教三分之判〔0278a01·0278a05〕 |
| 李通玄《新華嚴經論》 | 十地品四門分別〔T36n1739 0869c16 起〕；品名目〔0869c18〕·品來意〔0870b06〕 |
初地八分科（世親立·澄觀承之）——
「十地法門，初地所攝八分：一、序分；二、三昧分；三、加分；四、起分；五、本分；六、請分；七、說分；八、校量勝分。」〔T26n1522 0123b23–25〕
前六分即本單元所當，訖於「已說請分，自此以後正說初地。」〔T26n1522 0134b25〕；第七說分以下屬本帙〈第一地 歡喜地〉。
澄觀承此八分而開十段——
「依十地即為十段。初歡喜地，文有八分」〔T35n1735 0736c19〕
序分之釋——澄觀以六成就校之，明本品攝在大部故闕二成就：
「今初序分。論經別行具六成就，今攝在大部，故闕信聞，但有餘四，謂一時、二主、三處、四眾。」〔T35n1735 0736c21–23〕
時勝之義：「今初爾時者，時勝，以是初時得名為勝。」〔T35n1735 0736c27〕
請分之科（澄觀開三）——
「此下請分，中三：初說已默住」〔T35n1735 0744a27〕
三科即：初說已默住·二三家五請·三許說分齊。默之所以：
「所以默者，將欲演之，必固默之，欲令大眾渴仰請說故。」〔T35n1735 0744a29–b01〕
俟請之二意：「一增諸菩薩尊敬法故；二前本分中舉地歎勝為增樂，欲令此請中生正解故。」〔T35n1735 0744b02–04〕；所以生解者，「顯地體甚深離於言念，令眾先解；後聞說分不隨聲取，離謬解故。」〔T35n1735 0744b05–06〕；初科則「初默可知。」〔T35n1735 0744b07〕
三家五請——
「三家請殊，即分三段，謂初解脫月請、二大眾請、三如來請。」〔T35n1735 0744b08–09〕
所以要三家者：「所以要三家者，顯法深妙，令聞解故。眾首顯揚，當機渴仰，化主加勸，事方周故。」〔T35n1735 0744b09–10〕；三請之次第：「又三請次第者，初解脫月者，彼眾上首故，餘問則亂。」〔T35n1735 0744b20–21〕、「何緣大眾不亂問耶？眾調伏故，由前二止三請抑揚時眾故。」〔T35n1735 0744b21–22〕、「次眾請以表虔誠，然非爭起，依前請儀同聲齊請，故亦不亂。後聽說理窮，故如來勸說。」〔T35n1735 0744b22–24〕
眾首三請之故：「今初眾首請中，總有三請。所以三者，順世儀式，少不殷重、多則繁亂，正得中故」〔T35n1735 0744b24–26〕；「二家助成各唯一請」〔T35n1735 0744b27〕。止與請相乘乃成五段：
「以前默住之止，通為五請之本，不可唯屬於初，故止請相乘且為五段。一怪默騰疑請；二法深難受止；三歎眾堪聞請；四不堪有損止，謂雖有堪者，亦有不堪故；五雙歎人法請，謂不堪聞者以法深故，亦得佛護，固應為說，於是剛藏理窮，更無違請。」〔T35n1735 0744b28–c05〕
請分內部之細科（澄觀·逐段科文）——初請五偈之科：「第二歎聽者無過中四偈分三：初二歎同生眾」〔T35n1735 0745a05〕、「第二一偈歎異生眾。」〔0745b04〕、「第三一偈雙歎二眾，云一切故。」〔0745b13〕；金剛藏初止之科：「文中二：先敘意、後偈酬前中令眾歡喜，是總酬答相。」〔0745b21–22〕、「第二一偈顯難聞者」〔0746a07〕、「第三一偈喻難說聞中，上半喻、下半法合。」〔0746a29〕；二請之科：「第三解脫月歎眾堪聞請。」〔0746c29〕；大眾同請之科：「第二大眾同請者，上來眾首請說，顯眾堪聞樂聞」〔0748a09–10〕；如來放光之科：「二十方佛放光照此者，正為照此，然其作業亦周十方」〔0749a14–15〕、「第二偈頌明請業中二：初偈所依，望前猶屬於身；後正偈請。」〔0749a18–19〕、「第二舉益請者，顯所說法利他，有三時益故。」〔0749b23–24〕、「第二一偈教說分齊中，應說諸地者，總勸說也。」〔0750a08–09〕；許說分齊之科：「自下第三許說分齊，謂所說不過義說二大是地分齊。」〔0750b09–10〕、「第二正顯偈詞。有十二偈，大分為二：前七顯義大、後五明說大。」〔0751a26–27〕、「第二彰己無過誡眾除失」〔0755a01〕、「第三廣承力者」〔0755b18〕、「第三示說分齊者，但是說因耳。」〔0755b21〕。訖界＝「自下大文第七明說分中」〔T35n1735 0756a05〕。
科界句之闕（如實標闕）——《十地經論》於序分、三昧分二分未設『已說某分』之過渡句，論以「經曰：如是我聞」直接續接；澄觀於說分之前亦未見「已說請分」句，而直標「自下大文第七明說分中」——體例與加分／起分／本分之過渡句不同，誌錄之。
二、術語
| 漢 | 古德傳梵（羅馬字·發音輔助） | 所徵 | 精義 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 他化自在天 | —（音寫從闕） | 底本「爾時，世尊在他化自在天王宮摩尼寶藏殿」 | 欲界第六天；第六會說十地之處。法藏「他化作樂具，自得受用，顯非己力」〔T35n1733 0277a07〕；澄觀「證如無心，不礙後得而起用」〔T35n1735 0735a16〕 |
| 三昧 | samādhi（音寫即古傳） | 底本「入菩薩大智慧光明三昧」 | 定；此定名「菩薩大智慧光明」，八分中之三昧分即由此立 |
| 佛剎微塵數 | — | 底本「十方各過十億佛剎微塵數世界外」 | 以一佛剎碎為微塵，塵數為量；華嚴表數之常法 |
| 毘盧遮那 | vairocana（音寫即古傳） | 底本「以毘盧遮那如來、應、正等覺本願力故」 | 光明遍照；本經教主。加持之本願力所從出 |
| 阿耨多羅三藐三菩提 | anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi（音寫即古傳） | 底本「皆於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提不退轉」 | 無上正等正覺 |
| 三摩鉢底 | samāpatti（音寫即古傳） | 底本「善入一切菩薩禪定、解脫三昧、三摩鉢底、神通明智」 | 等至；與三昧並舉而別立，定之異門 |
| 陀羅尼 | dhāraṇī（音寫即古傳） | 底本「陀羅尼功德持一切眾生願藏菩薩」 | 總持；菩薩名中所含之德目 |
| 摩訶薩 | mahāsattva（音寫即古傳） | 底本「何等為菩薩摩訶薩智地」 | 大有情；地之所屬者 |
| 智地 | — | 底本「入過去、未來、現在諸佛智地」 | 地之體＝智所住處；本分之所問即「何等為菩薩摩訶薩智地」 |
| 十地 | —（十地經論作十地·瑜伽系他經譯十三住對配） | 論「十地法門，初地所攝八分」〔T26n1522 0123b23〕 | 歡喜乃至法雲十位；三世諸佛已說當說今說 |
| 加（意加·身加·摩頂） | — | 論八分之第三分「三、加分」〔T26n1522 0123b24〕 | 佛以神力加被說者；本段具意加十句、身加十句、摩頂三相 |
| 本分 | — | 論八分之第五分「五、本分」〔T26n1522 0123b24〕 | 舉地名而未釋之分；本段十地名列即在此分 |
| 請分 | — | 論八分之第六分「六、請分」〔T26n1522 0123b24〕 | 三家五請之分；訖於「已說請分」〔0134b25〕 |
| 薩婆若／一切智智 | —（本段作「滿足一切智智故」） | 底本「滿足一切智智故」 | 佛之一切種智；加分十句所趣之極 |
| 蘊界處 | — | 底本「非蘊界處門，智知意不及」 | 五蘊十八界十二處；許說頌以之明地行非三科所攝之境 |
| 牟尼 | muni（音寫即古傳） | 底本「牟尼智如是，分別甚難見」 | 寂默；佛之通稱 |
三、譬喻·修辭
(一) 蜂蜜·甘露喻（初請頌）——底本「相視咸恭敬，一切悉專仰，如蜂念好蜜，如渴思甘露」：
- 喻依：蜂之念蜜、渴者之思甘露。
- 喻體：大眾聞十地名而不聞解釋，專仰渴望之心。
- 所顯義：渴仰乃請法之機；澄觀判此偈為「第三一偈雙歎二眾，云一切故。」〔T35n1735 0745b13〕
(二) 空中彩畫·空中風相喻（金剛藏初止頌）——底本「如空中彩畫，如空中風相，牟尼智如是，分別甚難見」：
- 喻依：虛空中作畫、虛空中之風相——有而不可執，可知而不可示。
- 喻體：牟尼之智、地行之體。
- 所顯義：法深難受之所以；澄觀科此為「第三一偈喻難說聞中，上半喻、下半法合。」〔T35n1735 0746a29〕
(三) 字母喻（解脫月三請）——底本「譬如書字、數說，一切皆以字母為本、字母究竟，無有少分離字母者」：
- 喻依：世間書字與算數，無一不以字母為本、以字母為究竟。
- 喻體：一切佛法皆以十地為本，「十地究竟修行成就，得一切智」。
- 所顯義：十地非佛法之一分，乃佛法之所依；此為三請中最有力之理據。《十地經論》牒經同喻作「譬如一切書字數說皆初章所攝、初章為本，無有書字數說不入初章者」〔T26n1522 0129c13–15〕，以「初章」對「字母」。
(四) 四喻齊舉（諸大菩薩同聲請頌）——底本「如渴思冷水，如飢念美食，如病憶良藥，如蜂貪好蜜」：
- 喻依：渴·飢·病·蜂四事。
- 喻體：大眾求法之切。
- 所顯義：由一人之請進至大眾同請，情益迫；論釋此段偈云「初偈歎證力辯才成就。」〔T26n1522 0130a13〕
(五) 山王·大海喻（金剛藏二止頌）——底本「雖此眾淨廣智慧，甚深明利能決擇，其心不動如山王，不可傾覆猶大海」：
- 喻依：山王之不動、大海之不可傾覆。
- 喻體：現前之眾。
- 所顯義：金剛藏所止者非此眾，乃「有行未久解未得」之餘眾——止之對象與請之對象異，故止而不違請。
(六) 空中鳥迹喻（許說頌）——底本「如空中鳥迹，難說難可示；如是十地義，心意不能了」：
- 喻依：鳥飛虛空而無迹可指。
- 喻體：十地之義。
- 所顯義：地義離言離念，唯佛力故得開演——與許說頌末「佛力故開演，汝等應敬受」相應。
(七) 光明雲網臺（如來放光加）——底本「作是事已，於上虛空中成大光明雲網臺而住」；十方諸佛亦同。所顯義：如來不以言請而以光請；論釋云「何故如來現神通力放光同請？」〔T26n1522 0131a15〕，澄觀判為三家請中之「如來請」。
四、異譯對勘
本單元要句之漢譯校本：實叉難陀 T279（底本·八十華嚴）· 佛馱跋陀羅 T278（晉譯六十華嚴·十地品第二十二·卷二十三起）· 世親《十地經論》T1522 牒經（別行《十地經》文·菩提流支等譯）。
句一 開場處會句
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 爾時，世尊在他化自在天王宮摩尼寶藏殿，與大菩薩眾俱 | T10n0279 0178b29 起 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 爾時，世尊在他化自在天王宮摩尼寶殿上， | T09n0278 0542a06 |
異文所繫：80 作「摩尼寶藏殿」，60 作「摩尼寶殿上」——80 多一「藏」字而 60 多一「上」字，處名開合異。
句二 十地名列
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 一者歡喜地，二者離垢地，三者發光地，四者焰慧地，五者難勝地，六者現前地，七者遠行地，八者不動地，九者善慧地，十者法雲地。 | T10n0279 0179b22 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 一曰歡喜，二曰離垢，三曰明，四曰焰，五曰難勝，六曰現前，七曰遠行，八曰不動，九曰善慧，十曰法雲 | T09n0278 0542c27–0543a01 |
| 《十地經論》牒經 | 一名歡喜地；二名離垢地；三名明地；四名焰地；五名難勝地；六名現前地；七名遠行地；八名不動地；九名善慧地；十名法雲地。 | T26n1522 0126c05–07 |
異文所繫：(甲) 序數詞 80 作「一者」、60 作「一曰」、論作「一名」。(乙) 第三地 80「發光地」↔ 60「明」↔ 論「明地」；第四地 80「焰慧地」↔ 60「焰」↔ 論「焰地」。(丙) 60 於十地皆不綴「地」字，論則地地綴之。全錄不判。
句三 三世同說句
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 此菩薩十地，三世諸佛已說、當說、今說 | T10n0279 0179b25 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 是十地者，三世諸佛已說、今說、當說 | T09n0278 0543a01 |
異文所繫：三時之序 80 作「已說、當說、今說」，60 作「已說、今說、當說」——當、今二時前後互易。
句四 解脫月初請頌（首二偈）
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279（偈一） | 何故淨覺人，念智功德具，說諸上妙地，有力不解釋？ | T10n0279 0179c07 |
| 《十地經論》牒經（偈一） | 何故淨覺人，念智功德具，說諸上妙地，有力不解釋？ | T26n1522 0127c01–02 |
| 實叉 T279（偈二） | 一切咸決定，勇猛無怯弱，何故說地名，而不為開演？ | T10n0279 0179c09 |
| 《十地經論》牒經（偈二） | 決定此一切，菩薩大名稱，何故說地名，而不演其義？ | T26n1522 0127c03–04 |
異文所繫：首偈二本逐字全同——同一偈頌二譯而字不移，於漢譯異本中罕見，誌錄之。次偈則異：80「一切咸決定，勇猛無怯弱」↔ 論「決定此一切，菩薩大名稱」；80「而不為開演」↔ 論「而不演其義」。
句五 諸大菩薩同聲請頌（首偈）
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 上妙無垢智，無邊分別辯，宣暢深美言，第一義相應 | T10n0279 0180b10 |
| 《十地經論》牒經 | 上妙無垢智，堪無量義辯，演說美妙言，真實義相應 | T26n1522 0130a02–03 |
異文所繫：「無邊分別辯」↔「堪無量義辯」·「宣暢深美言」↔「演說美妙言」·「第一義相應」↔「真實義相應」——句句對而字字異，唯首句全同。
句六 許說頌之鳥迹偈
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 如空中鳥迹，難說難可示；如是十地義，心意不能了 | T10n0279 0180c27 |
| 《十地經論》牒經 | 如空中鳥跡，難說不可見；十地義如是，不可得說聞。 | T26n1522 0132b18–19 |
異文所繫：「迹」↔「跡」（字形異）·「難說難可示」↔「難說不可見」·「心意不能了」↔「不可得說聞」。
句七 解脫月三請（60 對位）
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 佛馱 T278 | 願承佛力，善分別此不可思議法，佛所護念事，令易信解 | T09n0278 0543c01–02 |
| 《十地經論》牒經 | 願承佛神力，善分別此不可思議法佛所護念事，令人易信解。 | T26n1522 0129c09–11 |
異文所繫：60「願承佛力」↔ 論「願承佛神力」；60「令易信解」↔ 論「令人易信解」——80 本此處作長行「願承佛神力分別說此不思議法，此人當得如來護念而生信受」，三本開合各異，全錄不判。
60 對位之已知缺口（誠實記）——本考據於 T09n0278 之 0542a05–0544c04 段只核首尾兩截與各頁首二行之骨架，中段（十方佛十句意加全文·摩頂文·渴仰文·解脫月三請偈全文）未逐字全錄；故 60 本是否亦具「三家五請」『諸大菩薩同聲請』『世尊放光加』之逐段對位，本考據不作論斷，如實記為待補。已可據場景結構確認者：60 具入定〔0542a17 起〕·十句意加〔0542c01 起〕·摩頂〔0542c18〕·十地名列〔0542c27–0543a01〕·三世同說〔0543a01〕·解脫月請〔0543c01〕·頌喻「譬病思良醫，如飢思美膳。」〔0544a01〕·「利一切世間，願說勿令斷。」〔0544b02〕·「我之所說者，如大海一渧。」〔0544c02〕·告眾轉入正說〔0544c03〕。
五、宗義之經據〔眼〕
(一) 地體＝智所住處——本分之問「佛子！何等為菩薩摩訶薩智地」，答則舉十名而不釋義；地之所以為地，在「入過去、未來、現在諸佛智地」。許說頌復以「智起佛境界，非念離心道，非蘊界處門，智知意不及」明地體離三科之境。此為十地一品之總眼：地非階級之名，是智之所住。
(二) 十地為一切佛法之本——三請之字母喻結云「一切佛法皆以十地為本，十地究竟修行成就，得一切智」。華嚴以十地攝盡佛法之量，其經據即此。
(三) 三世諸佛必說十地——「我不見有諸佛國土，其中如來不說此十地者」——十地非一佛一土之教，是諸佛之通軌；故下文判之為「菩薩摩訶薩向菩提最上道，亦是清淨法光明門」。
(四) 地體不可思議·唯隨證智——「此處不可思議，所謂諸菩薩隨證智」；金剛藏之默、之止、之許說頌，通為此一義作註腳：「是境界難見，可知不可說，佛力故開演，汝等應敬受」——可知而不可說，故須佛力加而後說。
(五) 加持義（承佛神力）——說者非以自力說。十方同名金剛藏諸佛之十句意加，明所為之十事（「所謂：令入智地故，攝一切善根故……」）；十句身加，明所與之十德；復以十因釋其所以（「得此三昧法如是故，本願所起故，善淨深心故……」）。末頌總收之曰「無量佛神力，咸來入我身」。澄觀判如來放光為三家請之第三家，即以佛之加被為請法結構之一環。
(六) 對治十障之經據（論釋·並錄）——《十地經論》於十地名前先立問答：「何故定說菩薩十地？對治十種障故。」〔T26n1522 0127a11–12〕；十障之列「一者凡夫我相障；二者邪行於眾生身等障」〔0127a12–13〕以下十條。復逐地釋名：「何故十地初名歡喜乃至十名法雲？」〔0127a17〕，答云「成就無上自利利他行，初證聖處多生歡喜，故名歡喜地。」〔0127a18–19〕、「離能起誤心犯戒煩惱垢等，清淨戒具足，故名離垢地。」〔0127a19–20〕、「隨聞思修等照法顯現，故名明地。」〔0127a20–21〕、「不忘煩惱薪智火能燒，故名焰地。」〔0127a21〕、「得出世間智方便善巧，能度難度，故名難勝地。」〔0127a22–23〕、「般若波羅蜜行有間大智現前，故名現前地。」〔0127a23–24〕、「善修無相行功用，究竟能過世間二乘出世間道，故名遠行地。」〔0127a24–26〕、「報行純熟無相無間，故名不動地。」〔0127a26〕、「無礙力說法，成就利他行，故名善慧地。」〔0127a26–27〕、「得大法身具足自在，故名法雲地。」〔0127a27–28〕——十地名之義釋，經文本身未出，全由論補；後世疏家釋名多依此論。
(七) 唯識橋（十地名之共本）——本段十地名列一出，即為唯識諸論所承：成唯識論「一、極喜地，初獲聖性，具證二空」〔T31n1585 0051a22〕；攝大乘論「菩薩十地。何等為十？一、極喜地，二、離垢地」〔T31n1594 0145b21〕；瑜伽師地論「從此無間，當知菩薩入極喜住」〔T30n1579 0554b27〕、「彼十地經廣所宣說菩薩十地」〔0556b14〕、「如佛所說菩薩十地，所謂極喜地、離垢地、發光地、焰慧地」〔0729a20〕。玄奘系譯初地作「極喜」，本經作「歡喜」，異譯並錄不判；詳目七承衍。
六、諸家異釋（古德·標宗）
澄觀《華嚴經疏》T35n1735（八十華嚴逐文·主）
來意——
「初來意者，為答普光十地問故。」〔T35n1735 0735a06〕
約教三分之判——澄觀以序分為序、三昧分為正宗、加分以下為流通：
「分為序、三昧分為正宗，因入此定顯實證故」〔T35n1735 0736a22–23〕
「加分已去皆是流通，由說自所得令信行菩薩證入地故。」〔T35n1735 0736a23–25〕
此判與八分科分屬二系——八分科依《十地經論》，約教三分則另以序·正宗·流通判之，同一段文於二系中所屬不同，並錄不判。
法藏《探玄記》T35n1733（六十華嚴疏·判釋淵藪）
四門——「將釋此文，四門同前。」〔T35n1733 0277a06〕
約教三分之判——
「就教三者，初至起分是其由序」〔T35n1733 0278a01〕
「初一序分判為由序。」〔T35n1733 0278a05〕
「若從此義，加分已去」〔T35n1733 0278a08〕
復以請分為令生正解之處：「眾樂欲、三請分之中彰地出言令生正解」〔T35n1733 0278a17〕。
誌錄：法藏「初一序分判為由序」與澄觀「分為序、三昧分為正宗……加分已去皆是流通」句意幾乎同軌，二疏此段用語近同，並錄不判孰先孰承。
李通玄《新華嚴經論》T36n1739（表法異軌）
四門分別——
「約釋此品，以四門分別：一釋品名目、二釋品來意、三敘其昇進次第、四隨文解釋。」〔T36n1739 0869c16–17〕
以普光明智為地體——
「第一釋品名目者，何故名為十地品？」〔T36n1739 0869c18〕
「以明如來普光明智以成地體。」〔T36n1739 0869c18–19〕
品來意——
「第二釋品來意者，為明已說地前三十心竟，以十迴向方法和會理智大悲及廣興大願竟此十地。」〔T36n1739 0870b06–08〕
「但依前法則以積行蘊修，令使功成滿前智願，令使大悲深厚功畢，以是此品須來。」〔T36n1739 0870b08–10〕
第三門「第三敘其昇進次第者，」〔T36n1739 0870b23〕以下敘三乘一乘十地同異，非本段科判所直接繫，存目不展。
世親《十地經論》T26n1522（釋默然·三請之所以）
論於請分逐節設問而釋：
「何故默然住？欲令大眾渴仰請說故，復增菩薩尊敬法故。」〔T26n1522 0127c11–12〕
「何故解脫月菩薩初請？彼眾上首故，餘問則亂眾調伏故。」〔T26n1522 0127c12–13〕
歎眾之所以：「聖者解脫月何故復歎此眾？上言世間證信者難得，示現此眾有堪能故。」〔T26n1522 0129b06–07〕；金剛藏二止之所以：「是聖者金剛藏領彼解脫月菩薩所歎眾清淨功德已，於所說法中不見法器」〔T26n1522 0129c02–03〕；三請之所以：「聖者解脫月何故復重請？示彼疑惑此不可避，若不說者有多過咎」〔T26n1522 0129c19–20〕；如來放光之所以：「何故如來現神通力放光同請？」〔T26n1522 0131a15〕；觀察十方之所以：「何故觀察十方？示無我慢、無偏心故。」〔T26n1522 0132c01〕
摩頂之所以：「不離本處而摩此者，顯示殊勝神力，若來此處則非奇異。是如意通力，非餘通等。」〔T26n1522 0126b19–21〕；如來放光加請之所以：「何故如來現神通力放光同請？是如來前已意加，未身口加，異於餘佛，是故今欲具身口加。」〔T26n1522 0131a15–17〕
誌錄不判：澄觀依《十地經論》立八分科而別出「三家五請」『止請相乘五段』之細判（論軌加疏軌）；法藏以約教三分判序·正宗·流通（教軌）；李通玄以普光明智為地體、以三十心竟為品來意（智軌）；世親則逐節設問而以「渴仰」「法器」「無我慢」釋默、止、觀察之意（論軌）。四軌並行，皆古德成說，誌錄之，不判高下。
七、互讀·承衍
本段十地名列一出，即成華嚴、唯識兩軸共引之本文；世親《十地經論》為此品逐文之釋，其八分科復為華嚴諸疏所承。承衍繫鏈皆本編既鎖考據出處直回鏈（零新考據·引前回核）：
- 《十地經論》→ 華嚴科判：初地八分〔T26n1522 0123b23–25〕為澄觀「依十地即為十段。初歡喜地，文有八分」〔T35n1735 0736c19〕所直承；十地釋名十條〔T26n1522 0127a18–28〕為後世諸疏釋地名之所本。
- 成唯識論〈修習位〉〈通達位〉（本編《成唯識論》 第二五章·第二四章考據）：〈修習位〉章逐字直引本段十地名列；極喜地釋名「一、極喜地，初獲聖性，具證二空」〔T31n1585 0051a22〕。
- 攝大乘論〈彼修差別〉（本編《攝大乘論》 分六考據）：「菩薩十地。何等為十？一、極喜地，二、離垢地」〔T31n1594 0145b21〕以下逐地釋名，三系譯名鼎異而皆本本品之名列。
- 瑜伽師地論〈本地分·菩薩地〉〈攝決擇分〉（本編《瑜伽師地論》 十二住考據）：「從此無間，當知菩薩入極喜住」〔T30n1579 0554b27〕；「彼十地經廣所宣說菩薩十地」〔0556b14〕明本經十地即彼論十三住中之菩薩十住（續文「即是此中菩薩藏攝摩怛理迦略所宣說菩薩十住」）；〈攝決擇分〉「如佛所說菩薩十地，所謂極喜地、離垢地、發光地、焰慧地」〔0729a20〕引解深密經觀自在菩薩問。
- 華嚴宗論：法藏《五教章》T45n1866 判教綱領、《探玄記》約教三分之判，皆以本段之序·三昧·加·起·本·請結構為所判之文——宗義承衍之起點。
待補之項（誠實記）——十地名之最初出典《解深密經》T16n0676 原段，本考據未逐字核，非零命中，列為待補，本考據不引未見之文。
八、校本定位
- 實叉 T279（底本）：序請分〔T10n0279 0178b28〕起–〔0181a09〕訖（第六會他化自在天宮·卷三十四）；下接第一地歡喜地〔0181a10〕。段內序次：序分處會眾德〔0178〕· 菩薩眾名列〔0178〕· 入三昧〔0179〕· 十方同名佛現前嘉許〔0179〕· 十句意加〔0179〕· 十句身加與十因〔0179〕· 摩頂〔0179〕· 出定告眾〔0179〕· 本分願善決定〔0179〕· 十地名列〔0179〕· 默然〔0179〕· 解脫月初請五偈〔0179〕· 金剛藏初止五偈〔0179〕· 解脫月二請長行〔0179〕與頌二偈〔0180〕· 金剛藏二止長行與頌二偈〔0180〕· 解脫月三請長行與頌二偈〔0180〕· 諸大菩薩同聲請五偈〔0180〕· 世尊放光加與光臺頌五偈〔0180〕· 金剛藏觀察十方許說十二偈〔0181〕。
- 佛馱 T278（晉譯主對校）：十地品第二十二品起〔T09n0278 0542a05〕；處會句 0542a06 · 入定 0542a17 起 · 十句意加 0542c01 起 · 摩頂 0542c18 · 十地名列 0542c27–0543a01 · 三世同說 0543a01 · 解脫月請 0543c01 · 頌喻 0544a01 · 0544b02 · 0544c01–02 · 告眾轉入正說 0544c03（＝d01 對位起點 0544c04 前）。中段逐字未全錄（已知缺口·見目四）。
- 《十地經論》T1522（世親）：卷首 0123b15 起 · 八分科 0123b23–25 · 「經曰：如是我聞」序分起 0123b26 · 加分訖·起分起 0126b21 附近 · 起三昧已告諸菩薩 0126b27 · 十地名列 0126c05–07 · 十障 0127a11–17 · 十地釋名 0127a17–29 · 本分訖·請分起 0127b22 · 請分牒經起 0127b23 · 解脫月初請五偈 0127c01–10 · 論釋默然 0127c11 起 · 歎眾請 0129a28 起（論釋 0129b06）· 金剛藏二止 0129b24 起（論釋 0129c02）· 三請 0129c08 起（論釋 0129c19）· 大眾同聲請 0129c29–0130a12（論釋 0130a13）· 放光 0130c20–0131a14（論釋 0131a15）· 許說十二偈 0132b05–29（論釋 0132c01）· 請分訖 0134b25。
- 澄觀《疏》T35n1735：十地品疏 0735a05 起（來意 0735a06）· 約教三分 0736a22–25 · 十段八分 0736c19 · 序分 0736c21–27 · 請分科起 0744a27–b07 · 三家五請 0744b08–24 · 五段判 0744b28–c05 · 請分細科 0745a05–0755b21 · 說分科起 0756a05。
- 法藏《探玄記》T35n1733（六十疏）：十地品 0277a05 起（四門 0277a06）· 約教三分 0278a01–08 · 請分令生正解 0278a17。
- 李通玄《論》T36n1739：十地品 0869c14 起（四門 0869c16–17 · 品名目 0869c18–19 · 品來意 0870b06–10 · 昇進次第 0870b23）。
- 承衍論：成唯識論 T31n1585 0051a22 · 攝大乘論 T31n1594 0145b21 · 瑜伽師地論 T30n1579 0554b27 · 0556b14 · 0729a20。
- 判教綱領：《五教章》T45n1866 · 《法界玄鏡》T45n1883 · 《還源觀》T45n1876——名繫總目，材入卷首緒論（誌錄不判）。
- 夾注：夾注（音注）已於原典層剝除誌錄。
- 異讀：本單元 T279 範圍〔0178b28〕–〔0181a09〕內大正校記 4 條，逐條照錄不判（底本【大】｜他本異讀；多本異讀以／分列）：〔0179a17〕揀【大】｜簡【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】 · 〔0179c25〕彩【大】｜采【宋】 · 〔0180c14〕曰【大】｜言【宮】 · 〔0181a07〕諭【大】｜喻【宋】【元】【明】【宮】。
- 異讀補記：CBETA 回改 1 條（不入上列大正校記之數）：〔0180b15〕唯【CB】【麗-CB】｜惟【大】／唯【宮】。
The prologue-and-request section is the whole opening of the Ten Grounds chapter before a single ground is spoken: the World-Honored One is in the palace of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations; Vajragarbha enters the 「菩薩大智慧光明三昧」 tr. “samādhi of the light of a bodhisattva’s great wisdom” ; buddhas of the ten directions, all bearing the name Vajragarbha, appear before him and empower him in mind, empower him in body, and rub the crown of his head; Vajragarbha rises from the samādhi and speaks only the names of the ten grounds, then falls silent and gives no explanation; the assembly thirsts and longs; Vimukticandra requests three times and is three times withheld from, the bodhisattvas request with one voice, and the Tathāgata joins the request by sending forth light; and at last Vajragarbha consents to speak. Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun establishes eight parts for the first ground, and the first six of them (preface · samādhi · empowerment · arising · root · request) are what this section corresponds to; the four gates with which Chengguan, Fazang, and Li Tongxuan open the Ten Grounds chapter are likewise all fastened here. The list of the names of the ten grounds is first set out in this section (the closing statement of the Dharma-Cloud Ground at the end of the chapter and the simile of the ten mountain kings run through the ten names again), and so becomes the text cited in common by the two lines, Huayan and consciousness-only.
I. Doctrinal Outline and Placement
| Outline system | The place of this section within it |
|---|---|
| The base text T279, in thirty-nine chapters | The opening of chapter 26, The Ten Grounds (the sixth assembly, in the palace of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations); the prologue-and-request section = from 〔T10n0279 0178b28〕 to 〔0181a09〕, followed immediately by the first ground, Joyful 〔0181a10〕 |
| Vasubandhu, Shidi jing lun | The first six of the parts named in 「十地法門，初地所攝八分」 tr. “the Dharma-gate of the ten grounds: the eight parts subsumed under the first ground” 〔T26n1522 0123b23〕; the closing boundary sentence 「已說請分，自此以後正說初地」 tr. “the part of request has been stated; from here onward the first ground is properly expounded” 〔0134b25〕 |
| Chengguan, Huayan jing shu | The commentary on the Ten Grounds chapter opens with four gates (the reason for its coming · the explanation of the name · the tenet and aim · the explanation of the text) 〔T35n1735 0735a06 起〕; the outline of the part of the preface begins 〔0736c21〕; the outline of the part of request begins 〔0744a27〕; the outline of the part of exposition begins 〔0756a05〕 |
| Fazang, Tanxuan ji (commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka) | The Ten Grounds, chapter 22 〔T35n1733 0277a06 起〕, with the same four gates as above; the judgment of three divisions with respect to the teaching 〔0278a01·0278a05〕 |
| Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun | The Ten Grounds distinguished in four gates 〔T36n1739 0869c16 起〕; the name of the chapter 〔0869c18〕 · the reason for the chapter’s coming 〔0870b06〕 |
The outline of the first ground in eight parts (established by Vasubandhu, taken over by Chengguan) —
「十地法門，初地所攝八分：一、序分；二、三昧分；三、加分；四、起分；五、本分；六、請分；七、說分；八、校量勝分。」 tr. “The Dharma-gate of the ten grounds: the eight parts subsumed under the first ground are (1) the part of the preface, (2) the part of samādhi, (3) the part of empowerment, (4) the part of arising, (5) the part of the root, (6) the part of request, (7) the part of exposition, (8) the part of the comparison of excellence.” 〔T26n1522 0123b23–25〕
The first six parts are what the present unit corresponds to, ending at 「已說請分，自此以後正說初地。」 tr. “The part of request has been stated; from here onward the first ground is properly expounded.” 〔T26n1522 0134b25〕; the seventh part, the part of exposition, and what follows it belong to 〈The First Ground, Joyful〉 in this volume.
Chengguan takes over these eight parts and opens the chapter into ten sections —
「依十地即為十段。初歡喜地，文有八分」 tr. “Following the ten grounds, it makes ten sections. In the first, the Joyful Ground, the text has eight parts” 〔T35n1735 0736c19〕
The explanation of the part of the preface — Chengguan weighs it against the six perfections of the setting, and makes clear that because this chapter is subsumed within the great compilation two of them are absent:
「今初序分。論經別行具六成就，今攝在大部，故闕信聞，但有餘四，謂一時、二主、三處、四眾。」 tr. “Now, first, the part of the preface. The sūtra of the treatise, circulating separately, has the six perfections complete; here, being subsumed within the great compilation, faith and hearing are lacking, and only the remaining four are present, namely (1) the time, (2) the host, (3) the place, (4) the assembly.” 〔T35n1735 0736c21–23〕
On the surpassing excellence of the time: 「今初爾時者，時勝，以是初時得名為勝。」 tr. “Now, first, ‘at that time’ means that the time is surpassing, for being the first time it comes to be called surpassing.” 〔T35n1735 0736c27〕
The outline of the part of request (Chengguan opens it into three) —
「此下請分，中三：初說已默住」 tr. “What follows here is the part of request, and within it there are three: first, having spoken, he remains silent” 〔T35n1735 0744a27〕
The three are: first, having spoken, he remains silent; second, the five requests from three quarters; third, the consent that sets the bounds of what is to be said. As for why he is silent:
「所以默者，將欲演之，必固默之，欲令大眾渴仰請說故。」 tr. “As for why he is silent: being about to set it forth, he must first hold firmly to silence, wishing to make the great assembly thirst and long and request the speaking.” 〔T35n1735 0744a29–b01〕
The two purposes of waiting for a request: 「一增諸菩薩尊敬法故；二前本分中舉地歎勝為增樂，欲令此請中生正解故。」 tr. “First, in order to increase the bodhisattvas’ reverence for the Dharma; second, since in the earlier part of the root the grounds were raised and praised as surpassing so as to increase delight, it is in order that right understanding may arise within this request.” 〔T35n1735 0744b02–04〕; and as for why understanding is to arise, 「顯地體甚深離於言念，令眾先解；後聞說分不隨聲取，離謬解故。」 tr. “it is to show that the substance of the grounds is most profound and apart from words and thoughts, so that the assembly understands beforehand; and so that later, on hearing the part of exposition, they do not take it by the sound and are free of mistaken understanding.” 〔T35n1735 0744b05–06〕; and as for the first of the three, 「初默可知。」 tr. “The first, the silence, may be understood.” 〔T35n1735 0744b07〕
The five requests from three quarters —
「三家請殊，即分三段，謂初解脫月請、二大眾請、三如來請。」 tr. “The requests from the three quarters differ, and so it divides into three sections, namely, first the request of Vimukticandra, second the request of the great assembly, third the request of the Tathāgata.” 〔T35n1735 0744b08–09〕
Why three quarters are required: 「所以要三家者，顯法深妙，令聞解故。眾首顯揚，當機渴仰，化主加勸，事方周故。」 tr. “The reason three quarters are required is to show that the Dharma is deep and wondrous and to make it heard and understood. The foremost of the assembly sets it forth, those for whom it is timely thirst and long, and the lord of the teaching adds his urging — only so is the matter complete.” 〔T35n1735 0744b09–10〕; the order of the three requests: 「又三請次第者，初解脫月者，彼眾上首故，餘問則亂。」 tr. “Further, as for the order of the three requests: the first is Vimukticandra, because he is the foremost of that assembly; were the rest to ask, there would be disorder.” 〔T35n1735 0744b20–21〕, 「何緣大眾不亂問耶？眾調伏故，由前二止三請抑揚時眾故。」 tr. “On what account does the great assembly not ask in disorder? Because the assembly is tamed, since the two withholdings and three requests before this have lowered and raised the assembly of that hour.” 〔T35n1735 0744b21–22〕, 「次眾請以表虔誠，然非爭起，依前請儀同聲齊請，故亦不亂。後聽說理窮，故如來勸說。」 tr. “Next the assembly requests, to show their earnest sincerity; yet they do not rise up in contention, but request together with one voice following the manner of the earlier request, and so here too there is no disorder. Last, the reasoning of the listeners is exhausted, and therefore the Tathāgata urges the speaking.” 〔T35n1735 0744b22–24〕
Why the foremost of the assembly requests three times: 「今初眾首請中，總有三請。所以三者，順世儀式，少不殷重、多則繁亂，正得中故」 tr. “Now, first, within the request of the foremost of the assembly there are three requests in all. The reason for three is that it accords with the forms of the world: fewer would not be earnest enough, more would be confused and disorderly, and three hits the mean exactly” 〔T35n1735 0744b24–26〕; 「二家助成各唯一請」 tr. “the two other quarters, which help bring it about, have only one request each” 〔T35n1735 0744b27〕. Withholding and requesting multiplied together make five sections:
「以前默住之止，通為五請之本，不可唯屬於初，故止請相乘且為五段。一怪默騰疑請；二法深難受止；三歎眾堪聞請；四不堪有損止，謂雖有堪者，亦有不堪故；五雙歎人法請，謂不堪聞者以法深故，亦得佛護，固應為說，於是剛藏理窮，更無違請。」 tr. “The withholding of the earlier silence serves throughout as the root of the five requests and cannot be assigned to the first alone; therefore withholding and requesting, multiplied together, make five sections. First, the request that wonders at the silence and raises the doubt; second, the withholding that the Dharma is deep and hard to receive; third, the request that praises the assembly as fit to hear; fourth, the withholding that those unfit would be harmed — that is, although there are those who are fit, there are also those who are not; fifth, the request that praises both the persons and the Dharma — that is, those unfit to hear, precisely because the Dharma is deep, also gain the Buddha’s protection, and so it certainly ought to be spoken, whereupon Vajragarbha’s reasoning is exhausted and he no longer goes against the request.” 〔T35n1735 0744b28–c05〕
The finer outline within the part of request (Chengguan, section by section on the text) — on the five verses of the first request: 「第二歎聽者無過中四偈分三：初二歎同生眾」 tr. “Second, within the four verses praising the listeners as being without fault, it divides into three: the first two praise the assembly of those born together” 〔T35n1735 0745a05〕, 「第二一偈歎異生眾。」 tr. “Second, one verse praises the assembly of those born otherwise.” 〔0745b04〕, 「第三一偈雙歎二眾，云一切故。」 tr. “Third, one verse praises both assemblies together, since it says ‘all.’” 〔0745b13〕; on the outline of Vajragarbha’s first withholding: 「文中二：先敘意、後偈酬前中令眾歡喜，是總酬答相。」 tr. “Within the text there are two: first the statement of intent, then the verses that answer what came before; the making of the assembly glad is the general characteristic of the answering reply.” 〔0745b21–22〕, 「第二一偈顯難聞者」 tr. “Second, one verse displays what is hard to hear” 〔0746a07〕, 「第三一偈喻難說聞中，上半喻、下半法合。」 tr. “Third, within the one verse that likens what is hard to speak and hear, the upper half is the simile and the lower half joins it to the Dharma.” 〔0746a29〕; on the outline of the second request: 「第三解脫月歎眾堪聞請。」 tr. “Third, Vimukticandra praises the assembly as fit to hear and requests.” 〔0746c29〕; on the outline of the assembly’s joint request: 「第二大眾同請者，上來眾首請說，顯眾堪聞樂聞」 tr. “Second, as for the great assembly requesting together: above, the foremost of the assembly requested the speaking, showing that the assembly is fit to hear and delights to hear” 〔0748a09–10〕; on the outline of the Tathāgata’s sending forth of light: 「二十方佛放光照此者，正為照此，然其作業亦周十方」 tr. “Second, the buddhas of the ten directions sending forth light and illumining here: it is precisely in order to illumine here, yet its work also reaches throughout the ten directions” 〔0749a14–15〕, 「第二偈頌明請業中二：初偈所依，望前猶屬於身；後正偈請。」 tr. “Second, within the verses that make clear the work of requesting there are two: the first verse is what it rests upon, which, looking back, still belongs to the body; the latter is properly the verse of request.” 〔0749a18–19〕, 「第二舉益請者，顯所說法利他，有三時益故。」 tr. “Second, requesting by raising the benefit: it shows that the Dharma spoken benefits others, since there is benefit in the three times.” 〔0749b23–24〕, 「第二一偈教說分齊中，應說諸地者，總勸說也。」 tr. “Second, within the one verse on the bounds of what is taught and spoken, ‘one should speak of the grounds’ is the general urging to speak.” 〔0750a08–09〕; on the outline of the consent that sets the bounds: 「自下第三許說分齊，謂所說不過義說二大是地分齊。」 tr. “What follows is the third, the consent that sets the bounds of what is to be said: that is, what is spoken goes no further than the two greatnesses, of meaning and of speaking, which are the bounds of the grounds.” 〔0750b09–10〕, 「第二正顯偈詞。有十二偈，大分為二：前七顯義大、後五明說大。」 tr. “Second, the verses proper are displayed. There are twelve verses, broadly divided into two: the first seven display the greatness of the meaning, the last five make clear the greatness of the speaking.” 〔0751a26–27〕, 「第二彰己無過誡眾除失」 tr. “Second, he makes manifest that he himself is without fault and admonishes the assembly to remove their failings” 〔0755a01〕, 「第三廣承力者」 tr. “Third, he extensively states the power he is borne by” 〔0755b18〕, 「第三示說分齊者，但是說因耳。」 tr. “Third, showing the bounds of what is to be said: it is only the cause of the speaking.” 〔0755b21〕. The closing boundary = 「自下大文第七明說分中」 tr. “what follows is the seventh of the main divisions of the text, making clear the part of exposition” 〔T35n1735 0756a05〕.
The absence of boundary sentences in the outline (recorded as it stands) — for the part of the preface and the part of samādhi the Shidi jing lun sets no transitional sentence of the form ‘the such-and-such part has been stated’, but continues directly with 「經曰：如是我聞」 tr. “the sūtra says: thus have I heard”; and before the part of exposition Chengguan likewise has no sentence 「已說請分」 tr. “the part of request has been stated”, but marks it directly with 「自下大文第七明說分中」 tr. “what follows is the seventh of the main divisions of the text, making clear the part of exposition” — the practice differs from the transitional sentences for the part of empowerment, the part of arising, and the part of the root, and this is recorded.
II. Terminology
| Term | Sanskrit as transmitted by the ancient worthies (roman letters · pronunciation aid) | Attestation | Essential sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations | — (no transliteration transmitted) | the base text: 「爾時，世尊在他化自在天王宮摩尼寶藏殿」 tr. “at that time the World-Honored One was in the Hall of the Treasury of Maṇi Jewels in the palace of the king of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations” | The sixth heaven of the desire realm; the place where the sixth assembly speaks the ten grounds. Fazang: 「他化作樂具，自得受用，顯非己力」 tr. “others fashion the instruments of pleasure and one obtains the enjoyment of them oneself, which shows that it is not by one’s own power” 〔T35n1733 0277a07〕; Chengguan: 「證如無心，不礙後得而起用」 tr. “in realizing suchness there is no mind, and yet this does not obstruct the subsequently attained wisdom from arising into function” 〔T35n1735 0735a16〕 |
| samādhi | samādhi (the transliteration is itself what was transmitted) | the base text: 「入菩薩大智慧光明三昧」 tr. “he entered the samādhi of the light of a bodhisattva’s great wisdom” | Concentration; this concentration is named 「菩薩大智慧光明」 tr. “the light of a bodhisattva’s great wisdom”, and the part of samādhi among the eight parts is established from it |
| dust motes of buddha-lands | — | the base text: 「十方各過十億佛剎微塵數世界外」 tr. “in the ten directions, beyond worlds each exceeding the number of the dust motes of ten koṭis of buddha-lands” | A buddha-land is pulverized into dust motes and the number of the motes taken as the measure; the regular way of stating numbers in the Avataṃsaka |
| Vairocana | vairocana (the transliteration is itself what was transmitted) | the base text: 「以毘盧遮那如來、應、正等覺本願力故」 tr. “because of the power of the original vow of the Tathāgata Vairocana, the Worthy of Offerings, the Perfectly Awakened One” | Light shining everywhere; the teaching lord of this sūtra. The source from which the power of the original vow of empowerment comes |
| unsurpassed perfect awakening | anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi (the transliteration is itself what was transmitted) | the base text: 「皆於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提不退轉」 tr. “all had attained non-retrogression with respect to unsurpassed perfect awakening” | Unsurpassed perfect and complete awakening |
| samāpatti | samāpatti (the transliteration is itself what was transmitted) | the base text: 「善入一切菩薩禪定、解脫三昧、三摩鉢底、神通明智」 tr. “skilled at entering all the meditative concentrations of a bodhisattva, the samādhis of liberation, the samāpattis, the spiritual powers and the clear knowledges” | Attainment; raised alongside samādhi yet established separately from it, another gate of concentration |
| dhāraṇī | dhāraṇī (the transliteration is itself what was transmitted) | the base text: 「陀羅尼功德持一切眾生願藏菩薩」 tr. “the bodhisattva Treasury of the Dhāraṇī That Holds the Merit and the Vows of All Sentient Beings” | Total retention; a rubric of virtue contained within a bodhisattva’s name |
| mahāsattva | mahāsattva (the transliteration is itself what was transmitted) | the base text: 「何等為菩薩摩訶薩智地」 tr. “what is the ground of wisdom of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva” | A great being; the one to whom the grounds belong |
| the ground of wisdom | — | the base text: 「入過去、未來、現在諸佛智地」 tr. “entering the ground of wisdom of the buddhas of the past, the future, and the present” | The substance of a ground = the place where wisdom dwells; what the part of the root asks is precisely 「何等為菩薩摩訶薩智地」 tr. “what is the ground of wisdom of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva” |
| the ten grounds | — (the Shidi jing lun has the ten grounds; other sūtras of the Yogācāra line correlate them with the thirteen abodes) | the treatise: 「十地法門，初地所攝八分」 tr. “the Dharma-gate of the ten grounds: the eight parts subsumed under the first ground” 〔T26n1522 0123b23〕 | The ten positions from Joyful to Dharma-Cloud; the buddhas of the three times have spoken them, will speak them, and speak them now |
| empowerment (empowerment of mind · empowerment of body · rubbing the crown) | — | the third of the eight parts of the treatise, 「三、加分」 tr. “(3) the part of empowerment” 〔T26n1522 0123b24〕 | The Buddha empowers the speaker with his spiritual power; this section has the ten clauses of the empowerment of mind, the ten clauses of the empowerment of body, and the three aspects of the rubbing of the crown |
| the part of the root | — | the fifth of the eight parts of the treatise, 「五、本分」 tr. “(5) the part of the root” 〔T26n1522 0123b24〕 | The part in which the names of the grounds are raised but not explained; the list of the names of the ten grounds in this section falls within this part |
| the part of request | — | the sixth of the eight parts of the treatise, 「六、請分」 tr. “(6) the part of request” 〔T26n1522 0123b24〕 | The part of the five requests from three quarters; it ends at 「已說請分」 tr. “the part of request has been stated” 〔0134b25〕 |
| Sarvajñā / the wisdom of omniscience | — (this section has 「滿足一切智智故」 tr. “because he has fulfilled the wisdom of omniscience”) | the base text: 「滿足一切智智故」 tr. “because he has fulfilled the wisdom of omniscience” | The omniscience of all modes belonging to a buddha; the utmost point toward which the ten clauses of the part of empowerment tend |
| the aggregates, the elements, and the sense-fields | — | the base text: 「非蘊界處門，智知意不及」 tr. “it is not encompassed by the gates of the aggregates, the elements, and the sense-fields; what wisdom knows, the mental consciousness cannot reach” | The five aggregates, the eighteen elements, the twelve sense-fields; the verses of consent use them to make clear that the practice of the grounds is no object encompassed by the three rubrics |
| Muni | muni (the transliteration is itself what was transmitted) | the base text: 「牟尼智如是，分別甚難見」 tr. “so is the wisdom of the Muni: to discern and explain it is truly most hard to see” | The Silent One; a general title of the Buddha |
III. Similes and Rhetoric
(1) The simile of the bee and the sweet dew (the verses of the first request) — the base text: 「相視咸恭敬，一切悉專仰，如蜂念好蜜，如渴思甘露」 tr. “looking upon one another they are all reverent, and all with concentrated minds gaze up — like bees that long for good honey, like a thirsty man who longs for sweet dew”:
- The vehicle of the simile: a bee’s longing for honey, a thirsty man’s longing for sweet dew.
- What it figures: the mind of concentrated gazing and thirsting longing in an assembly that has heard the names of the ten grounds but not their explanation.
- The meaning shown: thirsting and longing is the occasion for requesting the Dharma; Chengguan judges this verse to be 「第三一偈雙歎二眾，云一切故。」 tr. “third, one verse praises both assemblies together, since it says ‘all.’” 〔T35n1735 0745b13〕
(2) The simile of painting in space and the shape of the wind in space (the verses of Vajragarbha’s first withholding) — the base text: 「如空中彩畫，如空中風相，牟尼智如是，分別甚難見」 tr. “like painting colors in empty space, like the shape of the wind in empty space, so is the wisdom of the Muni: to discern and explain it is truly most hard to see”:
- The vehicle of the simile: painting in empty space, and the shape of the wind in empty space — present, yet not to be grasped; knowable, yet not to be shown.
- What it figures: the wisdom of the Muni, and the substance of the practice of the grounds.
- The meaning shown: why the Dharma is deep and hard to receive; Chengguan outlines this as 「第三一偈喻難說聞中，上半喻、下半法合。」 tr. “third, within the one verse that likens what is hard to speak and hear, the upper half is the simile and the lower half joins it to the Dharma.” 〔T35n1735 0746a29〕
(3) The simile of the letters (Vimukticandra’s third request) — the base text: 「譬如書字、數說，一切皆以字母為本、字母究竟，無有少分離字母者」 tr. “it is like the writing of letters and the reckoning of numbers and speech: all of these take the letters as their root and the letters as their end, and there is not the least part of them that is apart from the letters”:
- The vehicle of the simile: writing and reckoning in the world, not one part of which fails to take the letters as its root and the letters as its end.
- What it figures: all the teachings of the Buddha take the ten grounds as their root — 「十地究竟修行成就，得一切智」 tr. “when the ten grounds are ultimately cultivated and accomplished, one gains omniscience”.
- The meaning shown: the ten grounds are not one part of the Buddha’s teaching but that on which the Buddha’s teaching rests; this is the most forceful piece of reasoning among the three requests. The Shidi jing lun, citing the sūtra, has the same simile as 「譬如一切書字數說皆初章所攝、初章為本，無有書字數說不入初章者」 tr. “it is like all writing of letters and reckoning of numbers, which are all gathered up by the primer and take the primer as their root, and there is no writing of letters or reckoning of numbers that does not enter into the primer” 〔T26n1522 0129c13–15〕, setting 「初章」 tr. “the primer” over against 「字母」 tr. “the letters”.
(4) Four similes raised together (the verses of the joint request of the great bodhisattvas) — the base text: 「如渴思冷水，如飢念美食，如病憶良藥，如蜂貪好蜜」 tr. “as a thirsty man longs for cool water, as a hungry man longs for fine food, as a sick man calls to mind good medicine, as bees crave good honey”:
- The vehicle of the simile: the four cases of thirst · hunger · sickness · bees.
- What it figures: the urgency of the assembly’s seeking of the Dharma.
- The meaning shown: from one person’s request the matter advances to the assembly requesting together, and the feeling grows more pressing; the treatise says of the verses of this section 「初偈歎證力辯才成就。」 tr. “the first verse praises the accomplishment of the power of realization and of eloquence.” 〔T26n1522 0130a13〕
(5) The simile of the king of mountains and the great ocean (the verses of Vajragarbha’s second withholding) — the base text: 「雖此眾淨廣智慧，甚深明利能決擇，其心不動如山王，不可傾覆猶大海」 tr. “although this gathering is pure and their wisdom vast, deep, clear, and sharp, able to settle and discern, their minds unshaken like the king of mountains, not to be overturned like the great ocean”:
- The vehicle of the simile: the unshakability of the king of mountains, the great ocean that cannot be overturned.
- What it figures: the assembly present before him.
- The meaning shown: what Vajragarbha withholds from is not this assembly but the remaining beings 「有行未久解未得」 tr. “whose practice is not long and whose understanding is not yet gained” — the object of the withholding and the object of the request are different, and so he withholds without going against the request.
(6) The simile of the bird’s track in the sky (the verses of consent) — the base text: 「如空中鳥迹，難說難可示；如是十地義，心意不能了」 tr. “like the track of a bird in the sky, hard to set forth and hard to point out; such is the meaning of the ten grounds, which mind and thought cannot fathom”:
- The vehicle of the simile: a bird flies through empty space and leaves no track to point to.
- What it figures: the meaning of the ten grounds.
- The meaning shown: the meaning of the grounds is apart from words and apart from thought, and it is only through the power of the Buddha that it comes to be set forth — corresponding to the close of the verses of consent, 「佛力故開演，汝等應敬受」 tr. “through the power of the Buddha it is set forth, and you should receive it reverently”.
(7) The terrace of the net of clouds of light (the Tathāgata empowers by sending forth light) — the base text: 「作是事已，於上虛空中成大光明雲網臺而住」 tr. “when it had accomplished these deeds, it formed into a terrace of the net of clouds of great light in the space above, and remained there”; and the buddhas of the ten directions do likewise. The meaning shown: the Tathāgata requests not with words but with light; the treatise explains, 「何故如來現神通力放光同請？」 tr. “why does the Tathāgata manifest his spiritual power and send forth light to join in the request?” 〔T26n1522 0131a15〕, and Chengguan judges it to be the 「如來請」 tr. “request of the Tathāgata” among the requests from three quarters.
IV. Collation with Parallel Translations
The Chinese witnesses collated for the key sentences of this unit: Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text · the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka) · Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin-dynasty sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · The Ten Grounds, chapter 22 · from fascicle 23 onward) · the sūtra text as cited in Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun T1522 (the separately circulating text of the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds, translated by Bodhiruci and others).
Sentence 1 · The opening sentence on the place and the gathering
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | At that time the World-Honored One was in the Hall of the Treasury of Maṇi Jewels in the palace of the king of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations, together with a great assembly of bodhisattvas | T10n0279 0178b29 onward |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | At that time the World-Honored One was upon the Hall of Maṇi Jewels in the palace of the king of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations, | T09n0278 0542a06 |
Where the variants lie: the 80 has 「摩尼寶藏殿」 tr. “the Hall of the Treasury of Maṇi Jewels”, the 60 has 「摩尼寶殿上」 tr. “upon the Hall of Maṇi Jewels” — the 80 has one graph more, 「藏」 tr. “treasury”, and the 60 has one graph more, 「上」 tr. “upon”; the naming of the place is expanded in the one and compressed in the other.
Sentence 2 · The list of the names of the ten grounds
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | The first is the Joyful Ground, the second the Stainless Ground, the third the Luminous Ground, the fourth the Flaming-Wisdom Ground, the fifth the Hard-to-Conquer Ground, the sixth the Manifest Ground, the seventh the Far-Reaching Ground, the eighth the Immovable Ground, the ninth the Excellent-Wisdom Ground, the tenth the Dharma-Cloud Ground. | T10n0279 0179b22 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | The first is called Joyful, the second Stainless, the third Bright, the fourth Flaming, the fifth Hard to Conquer, the sixth Manifest, the seventh Far-Reaching, the eighth Immovable, the ninth Excellent Wisdom, the tenth Dharma-Cloud | T09n0278 0542c27–0543a01 |
| The Shidi jing lun, citing the sūtra | The first is named the Joyful Ground; the second the Stainless Ground; the third the Bright Ground; the fourth the Flaming Ground; the fifth the Hard-to-Conquer Ground; the sixth the Manifest Ground; the seventh the Far-Reaching Ground; the eighth the Immovable Ground; the ninth the Excellent-Wisdom Ground; the tenth the Dharma-Cloud Ground. | T26n1522 0126c05–07 |
Where the variants lie: (a) The ordinal word: the 80 has 「一者」 tr. “the first is”, the 60 has 「一曰」 tr. “the first is called”, the treatise has 「一名」 tr. “the first is named”. (b) For the third ground the 80 has 「發光地」 tr. “the Luminous Ground” ↔ the 60 「明」 tr. “Bright” ↔ the treatise 「明地」 tr. “the Bright Ground”; for the fourth ground the 80 has 「焰慧地」 tr. “the Flaming-Wisdom Ground” ↔ the 60 「焰」 tr. “Flaming” ↔ the treatise 「焰地」 tr. “the Flaming Ground”. (c) The 60 appends no 「地」 tr. “ground” to any of the ten, while the treatise appends it to each. All are recorded without judgment.
Sentence 3 · The sentence that the buddhas of the three times speak alike
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | These bodhisattva ten grounds the buddhas of the three times have already spoken, will speak, and are speaking now | T10n0279 0179b25 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | These ten grounds the buddhas of the three times have already spoken, are speaking now, and will speak | T09n0278 0543a01 |
Where the variants lie: the order of the three times — the 80 has 「已說、當說、今說」 tr. “have already spoken, will speak, and are speaking now”, the 60 has 「已說、今說、當說」 tr. “have already spoken, are speaking now, and will speak” — the future and the present exchange places.
Sentence 4 · The verses of Vimukticandra’s first request (the first two verses)
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 (verse 1) | Why is it that this one of pure awakening, furnished with the merits of recollection and wisdom, having spoken of those excellent and wondrous grounds, has the power and yet gives no explanation? | T10n0279 0179c07 |
| The Shidi jing lun, citing the sūtra (verse 1) | Why is it that this one of pure awakening, furnished with the merits of recollection and wisdom, having spoken of those excellent and wondrous grounds, has the power and yet gives no explanation? | T26n1522 0127c01–02 |
| Śikṣānanda T279 (verse 2) | All here have gained settled minds, valiant and without timidity; why speak only the names of the grounds and not set them forth for the assembly? | T10n0279 0179c09 |
| The Shidi jing lun, citing the sūtra (verse 2) | Settled are all of these, bodhisattvas of great renown; why speak only the names of the grounds and not set forth their meaning? | T26n1522 0127c03–04 |
Where the variants lie: the first verse is verbatim identical in the two witnesses — one and the same verse in two translations with not a graph shifted, which is rare among the Chinese parallel versions, and this is recorded. The second verse differs: the 80 has 「一切咸決定，勇猛無怯弱」 tr. “all here have gained settled minds, valiant and without timidity” ↔ the treatise 「決定此一切，菩薩大名稱」 tr. “settled are all of these, bodhisattvas of great renown”; the 80 has 「而不為開演」 tr. “and not set them forth for the assembly” ↔ the treatise 「而不演其義」 tr. “and not set forth their meaning”.
Sentence 5 · The verses of the joint request of the great bodhisattvas (the first verse)
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Wisdom excellent, wondrous, and without stain, eloquence boundless and discerning, proclaiming and setting forth deep and beautiful words that accord with the ultimate meaning | T10n0279 0180b10 |
| The Shidi jing lun, citing the sūtra | Wisdom excellent, wondrous, and without stain, eloquence equal to measureless meanings, expounding fine and wondrous words that accord with the true meaning | T26n1522 0130a02–03 |
Where the variants lie: 「無邊分別辯」 tr. “eloquence boundless and discerning” ↔ 「堪無量義辯」 tr. “eloquence equal to measureless meanings” · 「宣暢深美言」 tr. “proclaiming and setting forth deep and beautiful words” ↔ 「演說美妙言」 tr. “expounding fine and wondrous words” · 「第一義相應」 tr. “accord with the ultimate meaning” ↔ 「真實義相應」 tr. “accord with the true meaning” — clause answers to clause and yet graph differs from graph, only the first line being wholly identical.
Sentence 6 · The verse of the bird’s track among the verses of consent
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Like the track of a bird in the sky, hard to set forth and hard to point out; such is the meaning of the ten grounds, which mind and thought cannot fathom | T10n0279 0180c27 |
| The Shidi jing lun, citing the sūtra | Like the track of a bird in the sky, hard to set forth and not to be seen; the meaning of the ten grounds is thus, and cannot be had by speaking or hearing. | T26n1522 0132b18–19 |
Where the variants lie: 「迹」 tr. “track” ↔ 「跡」 tr. “track” (a difference of graph form) · 「難說難可示」 tr. “hard to set forth and hard to point out” ↔ 「難說不可見」 tr. “hard to set forth and not to be seen” · 「心意不能了」 tr. “which mind and thought cannot fathom” ↔ 「不可得說聞」 tr. “cannot be had by speaking or hearing”.
Sentence 7 · Vimukticandra’s third request (the correspondence in the 60)
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Buddhabhadra T278 | May you, borne by the power of the Buddha, discern well this inconceivable Dharma, the matter held in the protective mindfulness of the buddhas, and make it easy to believe and understand | T09n0278 0543c01–02 |
| The Shidi jing lun, citing the sūtra | May you, borne by the spiritual power of the Buddha, discern well this inconceivable Dharma, the matter held in the protective mindfulness of the buddhas, and make it easy for people to believe and understand. | T26n1522 0129c09–11 |
Where the variants lie: the 60 has 「願承佛力」 tr. “may you, borne by the power of the Buddha” ↔ the treatise 「願承佛神力」 tr. “may you, borne by the spiritual power of the Buddha”; the 60 has 「令易信解」 tr. “make it easy to believe and understand” ↔ the treatise 「令人易信解」 tr. “make it easy for people to believe and understand” — while the 80 has prose here, 「願承佛神力分別說此不思議法，此人當得如來護念而生信受」 tr. “may you, borne by the spiritual power of the Buddha, discern and set forth this inconceivable Dharma; such a person will gain the protective mindfulness of the Tathāgata and give rise to faith and acceptance”; the three witnesses expand and compress differently, and all are recorded without judgment.
A known gap in the correspondence with the 60 (recorded honestly) — within the stretch of T09n0278 at 0542a05–0544c04 this apparatus has collated only the two ends and the skeleton of the first two lines of each page; the middle stretch (the full text of the ten clauses of the empowerment of mind by the buddhas of the ten directions · the text of the rubbing of the crown · the text of the thirsting and longing · the full text of the verses of Vimukticandra’s three requests) has not been recorded verbatim throughout; therefore whether the 60 likewise possesses the section-by-section correspondence of 「三家五請」 tr. “the five requests from three quarters”, of ‘the joint request of the great bodhisattvas’, and of ‘the World-Honored One empowering by sending forth light’ is a matter on which this apparatus makes no determination, and it is recorded as it stands as pending. What can already be confirmed from the structure of the scenes: the 60 possesses the entering of the concentration 〔0542a17 onward〕 · the ten clauses of the empowerment of mind 〔0542c01 onward〕 · the rubbing of the crown 〔0542c18〕 · the list of the names of the ten grounds 〔0542c27–0543a01〕 · the sentence that the buddhas of the three times speak alike 〔0543a01〕 · Vimukticandra’s request 〔0543c01〕 · the verse-simile 「譬病思良醫，如飢思美膳。」 tr. “as a sick man longs for a good physician, as a hungry man longs for fine fare.” 〔0544a01〕 · 「利一切世間，願說勿令斷。」 tr. “for the benefit of all the world, may you speak and not let it be cut off.” 〔0544b02〕 · 「我之所說者，如大海一渧。」 tr. “what I speak is as one drop of the great ocean.” 〔0544c02〕 · the addressing of the assembly that turns into the exposition proper 〔0544c03〕.
V. Scriptural Grounds of Sectarian Doctrine (the doctrinal eye)
(1) The substance of a ground = the place where wisdom dwells — the question of the part of the root, 「佛子！何等為菩薩摩訶薩智地」 tr. “Sons of the Buddha! What is the ground of wisdom of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva?”, is answered by raising the ten names without explaining their meaning; what makes a ground a ground lies in 「入過去、未來、現在諸佛智地」 tr. “entering the ground of wisdom of the buddhas of the past, the future, and the present”. The verses of consent make clear once more, with 「智起佛境界，非念離心道，非蘊界處門，智知意不及」 tr. “wisdom gives rise to the realm of a buddha, which is not an object of thought and is apart from the path of the mind, and which is not encompassed by the gates of the aggregates, the elements, and the sense-fields — what wisdom knows, the mental consciousness cannot reach”, that the substance of a ground is apart from the objects of the three rubrics. This is the general eye of the whole Ten Grounds chapter: a ground is not the name of a rank, it is that in which wisdom dwells.
(2) The ten grounds are the root of all the teachings of the Buddha — the simile of the letters in the third request concludes, 「一切佛法皆以十地為本，十地究竟修行成就，得一切智」 tr. “all the teachings of the Buddha likewise take the ten grounds as their root; when the ten grounds are ultimately cultivated and accomplished, one gains omniscience”. That the Huayan school takes the ten grounds to gather up the whole measure of the Buddha’s teaching has its scriptural ground precisely here.
(3) The buddhas of the three times must speak the ten grounds — 「我不見有諸佛國土，其中如來不說此十地者」 tr. “I have never seen any buddha-land in which the Tathāgata does not speak these ten grounds” — the ten grounds are not the teaching of one buddha or one land, they are the common rule of all buddhas; hence what follows judges them to be 「菩薩摩訶薩向菩提最上道，亦是清淨法光明門」 tr. “the highest path by which a bodhisattva-mahāsattva heads toward awakening, and also the gate of the light of pure dharmas”.
(4) The substance of a ground is inconceivable and follows realizing wisdom alone — 「此處不可思議，所謂諸菩薩隨證智」 tr. “this place is inconceivable — namely, the wisdom that the bodhisattvas attain according to what they have realized”; Vajragarbha’s silence, his withholdings, and his verses of consent all serve together as annotation upon this one sense: 「是境界難見，可知不可說，佛力故開演，汝等應敬受」 tr. “this field is hard to see, it may be realized and known but cannot be told; through the power of the Buddha it is set forth, and you should receive it reverently” — knowable yet not to be told, and therefore it must be empowered by the Buddha before it is spoken.
(5) The sense of empowerment (being borne by the spiritual power of the Buddha) — the speaker does not speak by his own power. The ten clauses of the empowerment of mind by the buddhas of the ten directions, all bearing the name Vajragarbha, make clear the ten things it is for (「所謂：令入智地故，攝一切善根故……」 tr. “namely: for the sake of entering into the ground of wisdom; for the sake of gathering in all roots of goodness …”); the ten clauses of the empowerment of body make clear the ten virtues that are given; and ten reasons are then given for why they are given (「得此三昧法如是故，本願所起故，善淨深心故……」 tr. “because the dharma of gaining this samādhi is thus; because his original vow set it in motion; because his deep mind is well purified …”). The closing verse gathers it all up: 「無量佛神力，咸來入我身」 tr. “the spiritual powers of measureless buddhas all come and enter into my body”. Chengguan judges the Tathāgata’s sending forth of light to be the third of the requests from three quarters — that is, he takes the Buddha’s empowering to be one link in the very structure of requesting the Dharma.
(6) The scriptural ground for counteracting the ten obstructions (the treatise’s explanation · recorded alongside) — the Shidi jing lun, before the names of the ten grounds, first sets a question and answer: 「何故定說菩薩十地？對治十種障故。」 tr. “Why is it settled that there are the bodhisattva’s ten grounds? Because they counteract ten kinds of obstruction.” 〔T26n1522 0127a11–12〕; and the list of the ten obstructions, 「一者凡夫我相障；二者邪行於眾生身等障」 tr. “the first is the obstruction of the ordinary person’s notion of a self; the second is the obstruction of wrong conduct toward the bodies of sentient beings and the like” 〔0127a12–13〕, continues through ten items. It then explains the names ground by ground: 「何故十地初名歡喜乃至十名法雲？」 tr. “Why is the first of the ten grounds named Joyful, and so on to the tenth being named Dharma-Cloud?” 〔0127a17〕, answering 「成就無上自利利他行，初證聖處多生歡喜，故名歡喜地。」 tr. “because he perfects the unsurpassed practice of benefiting himself and benefiting others, and on first realizing the place of a noble one much joy is born, it is named the Joyful Ground.” 〔0127a18–19〕, 「離能起誤心犯戒煩惱垢等，清淨戒具足，故名離垢地。」 tr. “because he is free of the defilement of the afflictions that give rise to a mistaken mind and to the breaking of the precepts, and pure precepts are complete in him, it is named the Stainless Ground.” 〔0127a19–20〕, 「隨聞思修等照法顯現，故名明地。」 tr. “because in accordance with hearing, reflection, and cultivation the illumining of the Dharma becomes manifest, it is named the Bright Ground.” 〔0127a20–21〕, 「不忘煩惱薪智火能燒，故名焰地。」 tr. “because the fire of wisdom can burn the unforgotten fuel of the afflictions, it is named the Flaming Ground.” 〔0127a21〕, 「得出世間智方便善巧，能度難度，故名難勝地。」 tr. “because he gains skillfulness in the means of world-transcending wisdom and can cross what is hard to cross, it is named the Hard-to-Conquer Ground.” 〔0127a22–23〕, 「般若波羅蜜行有間大智現前，故名現前地。」 tr. “because in the practice of the prajñā-pāramitā, which still has intervals, great wisdom is present before him, it is named the Manifest Ground.” 〔0127a23–24〕, 「善修無相行功用，究竟能過世間二乘出世間道，故名遠行地。」 tr. “because he cultivates well the effortful function of markless practice and can ultimately pass beyond the world and the world-transcending path of the two vehicles, it is named the Far-Reaching Ground.” 〔0127a24–26〕, 「報行純熟無相無間，故名不動地。」 tr. “because the practice of the fruit is fully ripened, markless and without interval, it is named the Immovable Ground.” 〔0127a26〕, 「無礙力說法，成就利他行，故名善慧地。」 tr. “because he preaches the Dharma with unobstructed power and perfects the practice of benefiting others, it is named the Excellent-Wisdom Ground.” 〔0127a26–27〕, 「得大法身具足自在，故名法雲地。」 tr. “because he gains the great dharma-body and is complete in mastery, it is named the Dharma-Cloud Ground.” 〔0127a27–28〕 — the explanation of the meaning of the names of the ten grounds is not given by the sūtra itself but is supplied entirely by the treatise, and the later commentators mostly follow this treatise in explaining the names.
(7) The bridge to consciousness-only (the ten ground-names as a shared root) — once the list of the names of the ten grounds appears in this section, it is at once inherited by the treatises of the consciousness-only line: the Cheng weishi lun has 「一、極喜地，初獲聖性，具證二空」 tr. “first, the Ground of Utmost Joy: he first gains the nature of a noble one and fully realizes the two emptinesses” 〔T31n1585 0051a22〕; the She dacheng lun has 「菩薩十地。何等為十？一、極喜地，二、離垢地」 tr. “the bodhisattva’s ten grounds. What are the ten? First, the Ground of Utmost Joy; second, the Stainless Ground” 〔T31n1594 0145b21〕; the Yuqie shidi lun has 「從此無間，當知菩薩入極喜住」 tr. “immediately following this, know that the bodhisattva enters the abode of utmost joy” 〔T30n1579 0554b27〕, 「彼十地經廣所宣說菩薩十地」 tr. “the bodhisattva’s ten grounds extensively set forth in that Sūtra of the Ten Grounds” 〔0556b14〕, 「如佛所說菩薩十地，所謂極喜地、離垢地、發光地、焰慧地」 tr. “the bodhisattva’s ten grounds as the Buddha has spoken them, namely the Ground of Utmost Joy, the Stainless Ground, the Luminous Ground, the Flaming-Wisdom Ground” 〔0729a20〕. The Xuanzang line renders the first ground 「極喜」 tr. “Utmost Joy” while this sūtra has 「歡喜」 tr. “Joyful”; the parallel renderings are recorded together without judgment; see rubric VII on lineage for details.
VI. Divergent Interpretations of the Commentators (the ancient worthies · with their tenets marked)
Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735 (following the eighty-fascicle text section by section · the principal witness)
The reason for its coming —
「初來意者，為答普光十地問故。」 tr. “As for the first, the reason for its coming: it is in order to answer the question about the ten grounds raised in the Universal Light assembly.” 〔T35n1735 0735a06〕
The judgment of three divisions with respect to the teaching — Chengguan takes the part of the preface as the preface, the part of samādhi as the main body, and the part of empowerment onward as the dissemination:
「分為序、三昧分為正宗，因入此定顯實證故」 tr. “the part of the preface is the preface, and the part of samādhi is the main body, because by entering this concentration actual realization is displayed” 〔T35n1735 0736a22–23〕
「加分已去皆是流通，由說自所得令信行菩薩證入地故。」 tr. “from the part of empowerment onward all is the dissemination, because by speaking what he himself has gained he causes bodhisattvas of faith and practice to realize and enter the grounds.” 〔T35n1735 0736a23–25〕
This judgment and the outline in eight parts belong to two different systems — the outline in eight parts follows the Shidi jing lun, whereas the three divisions with respect to the teaching judge by preface · main body · dissemination; one and the same stretch of text belongs differently within the two systems, and both are recorded without judgment.
Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (commentary on the sixty-fascicle text · the wellspring of judgments and explanations)
The four gates — 「將釋此文，四門同前。」 tr. “In taking up the explanation of this text, the four gates are the same as before.” 〔T35n1733 0277a06〕
The judgment of three divisions with respect to the teaching —
「就教三者，初至起分是其由序」 tr. “Taken with respect to the teaching there are three: from the beginning to the part of arising is the introductory preface” 〔T35n1733 0278a01〕
「初一序分判為由序。」 tr. “The first, the single part of the preface, is judged to be the introductory preface.” 〔T35n1733 0278a05〕
「若從此義，加分已去」 tr. “If one follows this sense, then from the part of empowerment onward” 〔T35n1733 0278a08〕
He further takes the part of request as the place where right understanding is made to arise: 「眾樂欲、三請分之中彰地出言令生正解」 tr. “in the assembly’s delight and wish and in the three requests of the part of request, the grounds are made manifest and words are brought forth so as to make right understanding arise” 〔T35n1733 0278a17〕.
Recorded: Fazang’s 「初一序分判為由序」 tr. “the first, the single part of the preface, is judged to be the introductory preface” and Chengguan’s 「分為序、三昧分為正宗……加分已去皆是流通」 tr. “the part of the preface is the preface, and the part of samādhi is the main body … from the part of empowerment onward all is the dissemination” run along almost the same track in sense, and the wording of the two commentaries in this passage is close to identical; which came first and which follows is recorded without judgment.
Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739 (the track of symbolic import)
Distinguished in four gates —
「約釋此品，以四門分別：一釋品名目、二釋品來意、三敘其昇進次第、四隨文解釋。」 tr. “In taking up the explanation of this chapter, it is distinguished by four gates: (1) explaining the name of the chapter, (2) explaining the reason for the chapter’s coming, (3) setting out the order of its ascent and advance, (4) explaining it as the text goes.” 〔T36n1739 0869c16–17〕
The universally luminous wisdom as the substance of the grounds —
「第一釋品名目者，何故名為十地品？」 tr. “As for the first, explaining the name of the chapter: why is it named the Ten Grounds chapter?” 〔T36n1739 0869c18〕
「以明如來普光明智以成地體。」 tr. “It is to make clear that the universally luminous wisdom of the Tathāgata constitutes the substance of the grounds.” 〔T36n1739 0869c18–19〕
The reason for the chapter’s coming —
「第二釋品來意者，為明已說地前三十心竟，以十迴向方法和會理智大悲及廣興大願竟此十地。」 tr. “As for the second, explaining the reason for the chapter’s coming: it is to make clear that, the thirty minds before the grounds having been spoken to the end, and the principle, wisdom, and great compassion having been harmonized by the method of the ten dedications and great vows extensively raised, these ten grounds come to completion.” 〔T36n1739 0870b06–08〕
「但依前法則以積行蘊修，令使功成滿前智願，令使大悲深厚功畢，以是此品須來。」 tr. “Relying only on the earlier dharmas, one amasses practice and cultivates in aggregate, causing the merit to be accomplished and the earlier wisdom and vows to be fulfilled, and causing great compassion to be deep and thick and the work to be finished — and for this reason this chapter must come.” 〔T36n1739 0870b08–10〕
The third gate, 「第三敘其昇進次第者，」 tr. “as for the third, setting out the order of its ascent and advance,” 〔T36n1739 0870b23〕, sets out below it the sameness and difference of the ten grounds in the three vehicles and the one vehicle, which is not directly fastened to the outline of this section; it is listed and not opened out.
Vasubandhu, Shidi jing lun T26n1522 (explaining the silence · the reasons for the three requests)
Within the part of request the treatise sets a question at each juncture and explains:
「何故默然住？欲令大眾渴仰請說故，復增菩薩尊敬法故。」 tr. “Why does he remain silent? Because he wishes to make the great assembly thirst and long and request the speaking, and further to increase the bodhisattvas’ reverence for the Dharma.” 〔T26n1522 0127c11–12〕
「何故解脫月菩薩初請？彼眾上首故，餘問則亂眾調伏故。」 tr. “Why does the bodhisattva Vimukticandra request first? Because he is the foremost of that assembly; were the rest to ask there would be disorder, and because the assembly is tamed.” 〔T26n1522 0127c12–13〕
Why the assembly is praised: 「聖者解脫月何故復歎此眾？上言世間證信者難得，示現此眾有堪能故。」 tr. “Why does the holy one Vimukticandra praise this assembly again? Because it was said above that those in the world who realize and have faith are hard to find, and so it is shown that this assembly is able.” 〔T26n1522 0129b06–07〕; why Vajragarbha withholds a second time: 「是聖者金剛藏領彼解脫月菩薩所歎眾清淨功德已，於所說法中不見法器」 tr. “this holy one Vajragarbha, having taken in the pure merits of the assembly that the bodhisattva Vimukticandra praised, still does not see a vessel of the Dharma with respect to the Dharma to be spoken” 〔T26n1522 0129c02–03〕; why there is a third request: 「聖者解脫月何故復重請？示彼疑惑此不可避，若不說者有多過咎」 tr. “Why does the holy one Vimukticandra request yet again? To show that their doubt cannot be avoided, and that if it were not spoken there would be many faults” 〔T26n1522 0129c19–20〕; why the Tathāgata sends forth light: 「何故如來現神通力放光同請？」 tr. “Why does the Tathāgata manifest his spiritual power and send forth light to join in the request?” 〔T26n1522 0131a15〕; why the ten directions are surveyed: 「何故觀察十方？示無我慢、無偏心故。」 tr. “Why does he survey the ten directions? To show that he is without conceit and without partiality of mind.” 〔T26n1522 0132c01〕
The reason for the rubbing of the crown: 「不離本處而摩此者，顯示殊勝神力，若來此處則非奇異。是如意通力，非餘通等。」 tr. “That they rub this one’s crown without leaving their own places displays a surpassing spiritual power; had they come to this place, it would be nothing remarkable. This is the power of the supernormal faculty of will, not that of the other faculties.” 〔T26n1522 0126b19–21〕; the reason the Tathāgata joins the request by emitting light: 「何故如來現神通力放光同請？是如來前已意加，未身口加，異於餘佛，是故今欲具身口加。」 tr. “Why does the Tathāgata display his spiritual power and emit light to join in the request? Because this Tathāgata had earlier empowered him in mind but not yet in body and speech, unlike the other buddhas; therefore he now wishes to complete the empowerment in body and speech.” 〔T26n1522 0131a15–17〕
Recorded without judgment: Chengguan establishes the outline in eight parts following the Shidi jing lun and additionally brings out the finer judgments of 「三家五請」 tr. “the five requests from three quarters” and ‘the five sections of withholding and requesting multiplied together’ (the track of the treatise plus the track of the commentary); Fazang judges preface · main body · dissemination by the three divisions with respect to the teaching (the track of the teaching); Li Tongxuan takes the universally luminous wisdom as the substance of the grounds and the completion of the thirty minds as the reason for the chapter’s coming (the track of symbolic import); and Vasubandhu sets a question at each juncture and explains the silence, the withholdings, and the surveying by 「渴仰」 tr. “thirsting and longing”, 「法器」 tr. “a vessel of the Dharma”, and 「無我慢」 tr. “without conceit” (the track of the treatise). Four tracks run side by side, all of them settled accounts of the ancient worthies; they are recorded, and no judgment is made among them.
VII. Cross-Reading and Lineage
Once the list of the names of the ten grounds appears in this section, it becomes the text cited in common by the two lines, Huayan and consciousness-only; Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun is the phrase-by-phrase explanation of this chapter, and its outline in eight parts is in turn taken over by the Huayan commentators. Every link of lineage below leads straight back to a source already fixed in this apparatus (no new textual research; the citations are checked back against what precedes):
- The Shidi jing lun → the Huayan outlines: the eight parts of the first ground 〔T26n1522 0123b23–25〕 are directly taken over by Chengguan in 「依十地即為十段。初歡喜地，文有八分」 tr. “following the ten grounds, it makes ten sections; in the first, the Joyful Ground, the text has eight parts” 〔T35n1735 0736c19〕; and the ten items explaining the names of the ten grounds 〔T26n1522 0127a18–28〕 are what the later commentators take as their basis in explaining the names of the grounds.
- The Cheng weishi lun — the chapters on the stage of cultivation and the stage of penetration (this edition’s apparatus, the Cheng weishi lun, chapters 25 and 24): the chapter on the stage of cultivation cites the list of the names of the ten grounds of this section verbatim; and the explanation of the name of the Ground of Utmost Joy, 「一、極喜地，初獲聖性，具證二空」 tr. “first, the Ground of Utmost Joy: he first gains the nature of a noble one and fully realizes the two emptinesses” 〔T31n1585 0051a22〕.
- The She dacheng lun — the section on the distinctions in that cultivation (this edition’s apparatus for Part Six of the She dacheng lun): 「菩薩十地。何等為十？一、極喜地，二、離垢地」 tr. “the bodhisattva’s ten grounds. What are the ten? First, the Ground of Utmost Joy; second, the Stainless Ground” 〔T31n1594 0145b21〕 and the explanation of the name of each ground following; the three systems of rendering the names stand apart from one another and yet all take the list of names of this chapter as their root.
- The Yuqie shidi lun — the Bodhisattva Stage of the Basic Section and the Section of Ascertainment (this edition’s apparatus, the Yuqie shidi lun, on the twelve abodes): 「從此無間，當知菩薩入極喜住」 tr. “immediately following this, know that the bodhisattva enters the abode of utmost joy” 〔T30n1579 0554b27〕; 「彼十地經廣所宣說菩薩十地」 tr. “the bodhisattva’s ten grounds extensively set forth in that Sūtra of the Ten Grounds” 〔0556b14〕 makes clear that the ten grounds of this sūtra are the bodhisattva’s ten abodes among the thirteen abodes of that treatise (the text continuing 「即是此中菩薩藏攝摩怛理迦略所宣說菩薩十住」 tr. “these are precisely the bodhisattva’s ten abodes summarily set forth in the mātṛkā subsumed under the bodhisattva collection here”); and the Section of Ascertainment, 「如佛所說菩薩十地，所謂極喜地、離垢地、發光地、焰慧地」 tr. “the bodhisattva’s ten grounds as the Buddha has spoken them, namely the Ground of Utmost Joy, the Stainless Ground, the Luminous Ground, the Flaming-Wisdom Ground” 〔0729a20〕, cites the question of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the Jieshenmi jing.
- The treatises of the Huayan school: Fazang’s Wujiao zhang T45n1866, the outline of his classification of the teachings, and the judgment of three divisions with respect to the teaching in the Tanxuan ji, both take the structure of preface · samādhi · empowerment · arising · root · request of this section as the text they judge — the starting point of the carrying forward of the school’s tenets.
Items pending (recorded honestly) — the original passage of the Jieshenmi jing T16n0676, the earliest locus for the names of the ten grounds, has not been checked verbatim in this apparatus; this is not a case of nothing being found, and it is listed as pending; this apparatus does not cite a text it has not seen.
VIII. Edition Location Register
- Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text): the prologue-and-request section runs from 〔T10n0279 0178b28〕 to 〔0181a09〕 (the sixth assembly, in the palace of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations · fascicle 34), followed immediately by the first ground, Joyful 〔0181a10〕. The order within the section: the preface, the place and gathering and the virtues of the assembly 〔0178〕 · the roll of the bodhisattva assembly 〔0178〕 · entering the samādhi 〔0179〕 · the buddhas of the same name appearing before him with praise 〔0179〕 · the ten clauses of the empowerment of mind 〔0179〕 · the ten clauses of the empowerment of body and the ten reasons 〔0179〕 · the rubbing of the crown 〔0179〕 · rising from the samādhi and addressing the assembly 〔0179〕 · the part of the root, the vows well settled 〔0179〕 · the list of the names of the ten grounds 〔0179〕 · the silence 〔0179〕 · Vimukticandra’s first request in five verses 〔0179〕 · Vajragarbha’s first withholding in five verses 〔0179〕 · Vimukticandra’s second request in prose 〔0179〕 and in two verses 〔0180〕 · Vajragarbha’s second withholding in prose and in two verses 〔0180〕 · Vimukticandra’s third request in prose and in two verses 〔0180〕 · the joint request of the great bodhisattvas in five verses 〔0180〕 · the World-Honored One’s empowerment by sending forth light and the five verses of the terrace of light 〔0180〕 · Vajragarbha surveying the ten directions and consenting to speak in twelve verses 〔0181〕.
- Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin-dynasty translation · the principal witness for collation): the Ten Grounds, chapter 22, begins 〔T09n0278 0542a05〕; the sentence on the place and the gathering 0542a06 · entering the concentration 0542a17 onward · the ten clauses of the empowerment of mind 0542c01 onward · the rubbing of the crown 0542c18 · the list of the names of the ten grounds 0542c27–0543a01 · the sentence that the buddhas of the three times speak alike 0543a01 · Vimukticandra’s request 0543c01 · the verse-similes 0544a01 · 0544b02 · 0544c01–02 · the addressing of the assembly that turns into the exposition proper 0544c03 (= just before 0544c04, the point at which the correspondence for
d01begins). The middle stretch has not been recorded verbatim throughout (a known gap · see rubric IV). - The Shidi jing lun T1522 (Vasubandhu): the head of the first fascicle 0123b15 onward · the outline in eight parts 0123b23–25 · the part of the preface begins with 「經曰：如是我聞」 tr. “the sūtra says: thus have I heard” 0123b26 · the part of empowerment ends and the part of arising begins around 0126b21 · rising from the samādhi and addressing the bodhisattvas 0126b27 · the list of the names of the ten grounds 0126c05–07 · the ten obstructions 0127a11–17 · the explanation of the names of the ten grounds 0127a17–29 · the part of the root ends and the part of request begins 0127b22 · the citation of the sūtra in the part of request begins 0127b23 · Vimukticandra’s first request in five verses 0127c01–10 · the treatise’s explanation of the silence 0127c11 onward · the request praising the assembly 0129a28 onward (the treatise’s explanation 0129b06) · Vajragarbha’s second withholding 0129b24 onward (the treatise’s explanation 0129c02) · the third request 0129c08 onward (the treatise’s explanation 0129c19) · the joint request of the assembly 0129c29–0130a12 (the treatise’s explanation 0130a13) · the sending forth of light 0130c20–0131a14 (the treatise’s explanation 0131a15) · the twelve verses of consent 0132b05–29 (the treatise’s explanation 0132c01) · the part of request ends 0134b25.
- Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735: the commentary on the Ten Grounds chapter begins 0735a05 (the reason for its coming 0735a06) · the three divisions with respect to the teaching 0736a22–25 · the ten sections and eight parts 0736c19 · the part of the preface 0736c21–27 · the outline of the part of request begins 0744a27–b07 · the five requests from three quarters 0744b08–24 · the judgment into five sections 0744b28–c05 · the finer outline of the part of request 0745a05–0755b21 · the outline of the part of exposition begins 0756a05.
- Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (commentary on the sixty-fascicle text): the Ten Grounds chapter begins 0277a05 (the four gates 0277a06) · the three divisions with respect to the teaching 0278a01–08 · the part of request as making right understanding arise 0278a17.
- Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739: the Ten Grounds chapter begins 0869c14 (the four gates 0869c16–17 · the name of the chapter 0869c18–19 · the reason for the chapter’s coming 0870b06–10 · the order of ascent and advance 0870b23).
- The treatises of the carrying forward: the Cheng weishi lun T31n1585 0051a22 · the She dacheng lun T31n1594 0145b21 · the Yuqie shidi lun T30n1579 0554b27 · 0556b14 · 0729a20.
- Outlines of the classification of the teachings: the Wujiao zhang T45n1866 · the Fajie xuanjing T45n1883 · the Huanyuan guan T45n1876 — listed by name in the general register, with the material entering the introduction at the head of the volume (recorded without judgment).
- Interlinear notes: the interlinear (phonetic) notes have been stripped at the source layer and recorded there.
- Variant readings: within the range of T279 covered by this unit, 〔0178b28〕–〔0181a09〕, the Taishō base text carries 4 collation notes, recorded one by one without adjudication (base reading 【大】｜variant readings of other witnesses, several witnesses separated by ／): 〔0179a17〕揀【大】｜簡【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】 · 〔0179c25〕彩【大】｜采【宋】 · 〔0180c14〕曰【大】｜言【宮】 · 〔0181a07〕諭【大】｜喻【宋】【元】【明】【宮】.
- A further note upon the variant readings: 1 CBETA emendation (not counted among the Taishō collation notes listed above): 〔0180b15〕唯【CB】【麗-CB】｜惟【大】／唯【宮】.