華嚴經 品二十六 十地品 · 第九地 善慧地Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Ten Grounds · The Ninth Ground, Excellent Wisdom

Only When the Assembly Has Been Made Pure Can This Ground Be Asked For

When the eighth ground has been expounded, the sūtra does not go straight on to the ninth. It sets down first a long passage of offerings: the Tathāgata displays great spiritual penetration and shakes the ten directions; bodhisattvas leap up and stand in empty space; the Great Sovereign King and the king of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others’ Emanations set out offerings with one mind; thousands of myriads of koṭis of goddesses play music and speak in praise. And in the verses of that praise sung by the music of the gods, half of what the ninth ground is going to say has already been let out: “If there are sentient beings whose minds are low and mean, then for them he expounds the practice of the śrāvakas” — expounding the three vehicles and the four according to the occasion; “his voice and his thought wholly quiesced, like the echo in a valley, which answers to everything” — answering, and yet with no mind in it; “just as a conjuror conjures up all manner of things” — displaying, and yet not attached. When the praise is done, the many musics “abide in silence”, and only then does Vimukticandra say his one sentence: “Now that the great assembly has become pure, may you expound the path of practice of the ninth ground!”

That short request is worth stopping over. The requests on the earlier grounds mostly praise Vajragarbha’s virtue or set forth the wish of the assembly; here one word alone is raised — pure. The great assembly has become pure, and therefore the ground can be asked for. Why must the assembly be pure before it may be expounded? Because what the ninth ground speaks of is the very business of expounding the Dharma: the accomplishing of an exposition lies half in the unobstructed knowledge of the one who expounds and half in the fitness of those who hear. The sūtra first washes the hearers clean with twenty-six lines of verse, and only then opens its mouth upon the ground of the master of the Dharma; and that sequence is itself a teaching. One misreading to guard against is to take the offerings and the praise for mere ceremony. They are not: they are the preparatory practice of the ninth ground, and to count ‘getting the hearers ready’ as part of the business of expounding the Dharma is precisely the eye of this ground. Brought down to oneself, this sentence is a reminder: before you wish to understand a hard teaching, ask whether your own mind is pure.

The Gate into the Ninth Ground: Not One Step Further, but a Change of Strength

Vajragarbha’s first passage is the cause of entering the ground. The bodhisattva “weighs and contemplates with measureless wisdom such as this” — “such as this” pointing to the wisdom heaped up over the eight grounds before; and out of that he seeks further the turn to the surpassing quiescent liberation, cultivates again the wisdom of a Tathāgata, enters the secret dharma of a Tathāgata, contemplates the nature of the inconceivable great wisdom, purifies the gates of the dhāraṇīs and the samādhis, is complete in vast spiritual penetration, enters the worlds of every difference, cultivates the powers, the fearlessnesses, and the dharmas not shared with others, turns the wheel of the Dharma in accord with the buddhas, and does not forsake the strength of the original vow of great compassion. Only when these ten things are all present does he “gain entry to the ninth ground of the bodhisattvas, the Excellent-Wisdom Ground”.

What is easily misread here is to read it as ‘working a little harder’. Vasubandhu, in the Shidi jing lun, states the boundary between the ninth ground and the eighth very plainly: on the eighth ground he only purifies the buddha-land and transforms sentient beings, whereas on the ninth, “by the strength of eloquence, he transforms sentient beings and accomplishes every aspect” — because he is able to transform, this ground surpasses that one. Put otherwise: what the eighth ground gains is the mastery that requires no effort; what the ninth ground gains is the ability to say it. To realize a thing oneself and to be able to bring others to realize it are two different matters; on the eighth ground he already goes without exerting strength, and only on the ninth does he begin to turn what he has realized without exerting strength into words that another can catch. So among the ten things by which the ground is entered, one end is “entering the secret dharma of a Tathāgata” (self-realization gone deeper), and the other end is “turning the wheel of the Dharma in accord with the buddhas” and “not forsaking the strength of the original vow of great compassion” (the transforming of others gone wider) — both ends drawn taut at once, and that is the gate of this ground.

The Ten Courses of Dharmas: One Who Expounds the Dharma Must First Tell ‘Dharma’ Apart

The first sentence of the exposition proper, once the ground has been entered, is the knowing “as they really are” of the courses of ten kinds of dharmas: good, bad, and indeterminate; with outflows and without outflows; worldly and world-transcending; conceivable and inconceivable; settled and unsettled; śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha; the practice of the bodhisattvas; the ground of a Tathāgata; the conditioned; the unconditioned.

Why is this said at the very outset? Because the first stock-in-trade of a master of the Dharma is being able to tell the classes of dharmas apart. Vasubandhu, explaining this passage, puts it with the utmost brevity: this is the “accomplishing of wisdom”, and it asks, “in dependence upon what dharmas does he expound the Dharma?”, and the answer is that “those dharmas are pure and defiled, not two” — both sides, the defiled and the pure, fall within the range of what he knows, and only then, within the pure dharmas, does he divide those with outflows from those without. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is the supposition that a noble one knows only pure dharmas. Quite the contrary: one who expounds the Dharma must know as they really are even the bad, the indeterminate, the outflowing, the worldly, the inconceivable, and the unsettled, because the people he must deliver are steeped in just those dharmas. Brought down to the ground, this is the basic skill of one who expounds: which class of dharmas is the person before you now standing in? If you judge that wrongly, nothing you say will meet him.

The Eleven Dense Thickets: Sentient Beings Are Not One Noun but a Whole Wood

Then the angle shifts: not the dividing of dharmas, but the knowing of persons. The sūtra uses one very heavy simile — the dense thicket. The minds of sentient beings are a dense thicket; and their afflictions, their deeds, their faculties, their faith and understanding, their dispositions, their delights and desires, their latent tendencies, their taking of birth, the continuance of their habit-energies, and the differences of the three groups are each a dense thicket, eleven in all.

The two words “dense thicket” must first be made clear. What marks a wood is that it is close-grown, that it is tangled, that it is hard to get out of, and that from outside it looks like one single stretch, whereas once you walk in you find that no two trees are the same. Vasubandhu explains this as the “accomplishing of the entry into conduct” — the entry into conduct being the entering deep into the aspects of the conduct of the beings to be transformed; and he points out that the frame of this wood is “the shared dependence of the afflictions, deeds, and birth”: afflictions, deeds, and the taking of birth support one another, and the remaining items unfold around them. The misreading to guard against is to take “dense thicket” for a word of blame. It is not a scolding of sentient beings for being in disorder; it states a fact: the inside of a person is not one line but a whole tangled and rooted ecology, and whoever thinks to deliver a person with one sentence does not know a wood for a wood. Brought down to the ground, this passage counters the arrogance of ‘I understand people already’ — the bodhisattva of the ninth ground must know them aspect by aspect out to eighty-four thousand before he dares to say that he knows people.

The Ten Aspects of Mind: First See Clearly How a Single Mind Moves

The first of the eleven thickets is mind. The sūtra lists the ten aspects of mind: arising in a jumble, swift turning, breaking down and not breaking down, being without form or substance, being without bound or limit, purity, being stained and unstained, being bound and unbound, being made as a conjuring is made, and being born following the several destinies.

These ten aspects are set out in a sequence: first the movement of mind (arising all in a jumble, changing with speed), then the substance of mind (without form or substance, without bound or limit), then the two faces of mind, defiled and pure (the aspect of purity together with the aspect of being stained and unstained, being bound and not bound), and last the falsity and the flowing on of mind (made as a conjuring is made, taking birth following the six destinies). Vasubandhu, explaining this passage, says that the many aspects of mind are of eight kinds, the first being the “aspect of difference”, because mind, mentation, and consciousness have six differences. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: if it says “the aspect of purity” and also “the aspect of being stained and unstained”, is that not self-contradictory? It is not. One and the same mind can be pure in its nature and stained in its activity; and if one who expounds the Dharma acknowledges only one side, his remedy falls wide: speak only of purity and the person will not consent to change; speak only of stain and he will not dare to cultivate. Brought down to the ground, in looking at a person’s mind one must see both faces at once, and this is what decides whether an exposition can give hope and a place to start at the same time.

The Nine Aspects of the Afflictions: Why They Are So Hard to Uproot

For the aspects of the afflictions the sūtra lists: following along from far back, drawing forth without bound, being born together and not let go, lying dormant and rising up being of one sense, being and not being associated with the mind, abiding by taking birth according to the destinies, the differences of the three realms, the fault of craving, views, delusion, and conceit entering deep as arrows do, and the causes and conditions of the three kinds of deeds not being cut off — told in brief, on to eighty-four thousand.

Among these, the four words “lying dormant and rising up being of one sense” are the eye. Lying dormant and becoming active are two states of one and the same thing, not two things. People commonly suppose that when an affliction is not active it is gone; the sūtra says that it is only asleep. Vasubandhu opens the thicket of the afflictions with “three matters”: the first is “entering far”, far as the Summit of Existence; the second is “being hard to know”, hard to know in that it runs along with the practice by which measureless roots of goodness are cultivated and gathered. The misreading to guard against is to take the afflictions for occasional incidents. The sūtra says they “follow along from far back” and that “the causes and conditions of the three kinds of deeds are not cut off” — they are one long line that has never been broken. Brought down to the ground: the countering of the afflictions cannot be busy only when they are active; one must cultivate while they lie asleep. And this too is the foreshadowing of the later passage on the latent tendencies, that they are “drawn out only by the noble path”.

The Ten Aspects of Deeds: The Cause Perishes in an Instant, Yet the Fruit Is Not Lost

Among the aspects of deeds, the weightiest single clause is “the aspect of the intrinsic nature of the cause breaking down in an instant while the fruit is gathered in due sequence and not lost”. The sūtra lists together with it: good, bad, and indeterminate; manifest and not manifest; born together with the mind and not parting from it; having recompense and having no recompense; receiving the many recompenses of the black and the black and the rest; being measureless as a field is; the difference between the common man and the sage; receiving in the present, upon birth, and afterward; vehicle and not-vehicle, settled and unsettled.

Ask first a common doubt: if the cause that is a deed perishes in the very instant, upon what is the fruit preserved? The sūtra’s answer lies in that one clause — the intrinsic nature does break down in an instant, and yet “the fruit is gathered in due sequence and not lost”; and the verses gather it again as “though the cause breaks down, its recompense is gathered — all this he clearly knows”. This sets side by side in a single sentence two things that seem to be at odds: impermanence and the not-losing of deeds. There are two misunderstandings to clear away: one, that because things are impermanent one may default upon one’s deeds; two, that a deed requires some permanently abiding thing to store it if it is not to be lost. The sūtra takes neither side; it says only that the fruit is gathered up in due sequence. Look next at “manifest and not manifest” — some deeds show outwardly and some do not; and at “receiving in the present, upon birth, and afterward” — recompense is received in three times, this life, the next life, and later lives. Brought down to the ground: this passage lets one who expounds the Dharma speak to people of cause and fruit without falling into fatalism and without falling into annihilationism.

The Ten Aspects of the Faculties: Why the Same Sentence Profits One Man and Not Another

For the aspects of the faculties the sūtra lists: weak, middling, and surpassing; the difference and non-difference of the earlier limit and the later limit; superior, middling, and inferior; being born together with the afflictions and not parting from them; vehicle and not-vehicle, settled and unsettled; ripening to fullness and becoming pliant; turning and breaking down easily according to the net of the faculties; being ascendant and unable to be broken down; the difference between falling back and not falling back; following along at a distance and being born together and yet not being the same.

“Faculty” is the capacity to receive the Dharma. The sūtra sets side by side, in particular, “the aspect of turning and breaking down easily according to the net of the faculties” and “the aspect of being ascendant and unable to be broken down”: some people’s faculties are like a net, and a light touch breaks them; some people’s faculties have grown so ascendant that no one can break them. It lists also “the difference between falling back and not falling back”. The misreading to guard against is to take the character of the faculties for a label fixed by fate. The sūtra says plainly that the faculties have a process of “ripening to fullness and becoming pliant”, and that there is a difference between falling back and not falling back — the faculties do change, and expounding the Dharma is precisely the means of ripening them. Brought down to the ground: when one who expounds the Dharma meets a person who will not receive it, he does not conclude that the man has no faculty, but knows in which grade the man’s faculty now stands and what should be used to ripen it by degrees.

Faith and Understanding, Dispositions, Delights and Desires: Three Lines, Each in Three Grades

This passage of the sūtra is of the utmost brevity: “He knows also the faith and understanding of beings as weak, middling, and superior; their dispositions as weak, middling, and superior; their delights and desires as weak, middling, and superior — all told in brief on to eighty-four thousand kinds.”

Faith and understanding is conviction; disposition is habitual character; delights and desires are what one likes and longs for. These three stand alongside the faculties, and each is divided into the three grades of weak, middling, and superior. Why should they be listed separately? Because these three lines are where ‘whether he wants to listen, and what he can take in’ lies, which is not the same as the faculties, which are ‘whether he is able to receive’. A man whose faculties are keen but whose delights and desires are low and mean will not want a profound teaching even so; a man whose delights are high but whose power of understanding is weak cannot catch a profound teaching. The sūtra divides them into three grades just so that one who expounds the Dharma may fix the hearer’s position on all three axes at once. Brought down to the ground: this is the concrete content of the two words ‘discerning the occasion’ — not looking at people by feel, but looking at them axis by axis and grade by grade.

The Twelve Aspects of the Latent Tendencies: Concentration Can Only Press Them Down; Only the Noble Path Can Uproot Them

The passage on the latent tendencies is the longest, with twelve aspects: born together with the profound mind; born together with the mind; the difference between being and not being associated with the mind; following along from far back; never drawn out since the beginningless; at odds with all the meditative concentrations, the liberations, the samādhis, the samāpattis, and the spiritual penetrations; the bondage of taking birth in continuance within the three realms; causing boundless minds to arise in continuance; opening the gates of the several bases; being solid and hard to cure; the place of the ground being accomplished and not accomplished; being drawn out only by the noble path.

Vasubandhu explains the sense of the “fetter” (the latent tendency) as “the sense of following in pursuit and binding”, and asks, “where does it follow in pursuit? by what does it follow in pursuit?” — and that is exactly what the twelve aspects answer. Two of the clauses are the most crucial: one is “the aspect of being at odds with all the meditative concentrations, the liberations, the samādhis, the samāpattis, and the spiritual penetrations”, the other “the aspect of being drawn out only by the noble path”. The former says that the latent tendencies run counter to every realm of concentration and every penetration — however deep the concentration and however great the penetration, the latent tendencies remain; the latter says that what can uproot them is the noble path alone. The verses gather this sense up still more sharply: “the realms of concentration can only push them off and one still falls back — it is the cessation by the adamantine path that is final.” What concentration can do is only to “push” — to push the realm aside — and what is pushed aside will come back; for the final cutting off one must come to the adamantine path. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is the very one that a practitioner falls into most easily: supposing that to be without affliction within concentration is to have cut off affliction. Here the sūtra shuts the matter. Brought down to the ground: this passage is the mirror that shows up every phantom for one who prides himself on the realms of concentration, and it is also the ground on which the bodhisattva of the ninth ground dares to say “only by the noble path”.

The Nine Aspects of the Taking of Birth: Deeds Are the Field, Craving the Water, Consciousness the Seed

For the aspects of the taking of birth the sūtra lists: taking birth according to deeds; the differences of the six destinies; the difference between having form and being formless; the difference between having perception and being without perception; deeds as the field, the water of craving moistening it, the darkness of ignorance covering it, and consciousness as the seed, so that the sprout of further existence is born; name-and-form born together and not parting; the seeking of delusion and craving continuing existence on; desiring to receive and desiring to be born and clinging with delight from time without beginning; falsely supposing oneself out of the three realms while still seeking greedily.

That one long clause in the middle is a whole simile drawn from farming: deeds are like a field, craving like the water that moistens the field, ignorance like the darkness that covers it, consciousness like a seed, and out of these there grows the sprout of further existence. This is of the same track of simile as the first ground’s contemplation of the common man, “within the field of the three realms the sprout of suffering is born again”; and on this ground it becomes one of the dense thickets that are known. The four requisites cannot lack even one — and this is a misunderstanding to be guarded against: the supposition that to cut off the round of birth one need only cut off deeds. The sūtra lists plainly the water of craving and the covering darkness of ignorance; cut off the water, and the seed too will not grow. The last clause, “the aspect of falsely supposing oneself out of the three realms while still seeking greedily”, is especially piercing: there are those who suppose that they are already out of the three realms, while what they do is still a greedy seeking. Brought down to the ground: this aspect warns the practitioner that the most dangerous cause of birth is supposing oneself already delivered.

The Ten Aspects of the Habit-Energies: The Active Is Cut Off, and the Aftertaste Remains

The habit-energies are listed in ten aspects: the difference between what is active and what is not; perfuming according to the destinies; perfuming according to the conduct of sentient beings; perfuming according to deeds and afflictions; perfuming as good, bad, and indeterminate; perfuming according to entry into further existence; perfuming in due sequence; perfuming by afflictions that are not cut off, that travel far, and that are not let go; perfuming by the real and the unreal; perfuming by seeing, hearing, and drawing near to śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and Tathāgatas.

Vasubandhu, explaining this passage, says plainly that the differences of the dense thicket of the conduct of the habit-energies are of ten kinds, the first being “the difference of the fruit as present and not present”, the second “the difference of the perfuming of the path” — answering one by one to the sūtra’s “aspect of the difference between what is active and what is not” and “aspect of perfuming according to the destinies”. The teaching point here is the word “perfuming”: a habit-energy is not one event but a continuing manner of being dyed. The last aspect deserves particular notice: “the aspect of perfuming by seeing, hearing, and drawing near to śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and Tathāgatas” — perfuming is not only bad; drawing near to noble ones is a perfuming too. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is to regard habit-energies wholesale as things to be removed; the sūtra shows plainly that good perfuming is among them as well. Brought down to the ground: since a person cannot but be perfumed, then let him choose what perfumes him — and this is the doctrinal ground, on this ground, of “drawing near to the good friend”.

The Three Groups: People Are Not Two Heaps, the Good and the Bad

The aspects of the three groups are listed in twelve clauses: right view and being fixed in rightness, wrong view and being fixed in wrongness, and being neither of the two and so unfixed, as one set; the five acts of immediate retribution and being fixed in wrongness, the five faculties and being fixed in rightness, and being neither of the two and so unfixed, as one set; the eight wrong factors and being fixed in wrongness, the right nature and being fixed in rightness, and doing neither of the two and being apart from both and so unfixed, as one set; deep attachment to wrong dharmas and being fixed in wrongness, practicing the noble path and being fixed in rightness, and casting off both and so unfixed, as one set. The four sets are of one and the same pattern: one clause fixed in rightness, one clause fixed in wrongness, one clause unfixed.

Why should the same matter be spoken of in four sets? Because the ground on which right and wrong are determined differs: now by view (right view or wrong view), now by deeds and faculties (the five acts of immediate retribution or the five faculties), now by path (the eight wrong factors or the right nature), now by practice (deep attachment to wrong dharmas or the practicing of the noble path). One and the same person need not fall into the same group upon different axes. The misreading to guard against is to use the three groups to paste labels upon people. The sūtra sets out “unfixed” four times over, precisely to make plain that most people fall among the unfixed — and it is with the unfixed that the expounding of the Dharma can do its work. Brought down to the ground: if one who expounds the Dharma sorts people into two heaps, there is nothing left for him to do; the teaching of the three groups is for finding out that great multitude who can be turned.

Called Abiding on the Excellent-Wisdom Ground: The Name of the Ground Is Gained from This Stretch of Wisdom

With the eleven thickets expounded, the sūtra concludes of itself: “Son of the Buddha! When a bodhisattva accords with wisdom such as this, it is called: abiding on the Excellent-Wisdom Ground; and having come to abide on this ground, he knows the differences in the several kinds of conduct of sentient beings, transforms and subdues them, and causes them to gain liberation.”

Note the build of the sentence: the name of the ground is not gained from spiritual penetration, nor gained from concentration, but gained from “according with wisdom such as this” — that is, from the whole stretch of wisdom that knows the aspects of the conduct of sentient beings. And upon the knowing there follows immediately “transforms and subdues them, and causes them to gain liberation” — the knowing is not for the sake of knowing but for the sake of delivering. This sentence gathers up the whole of the first half and begins the second half (the acting as a great master of the Dharma): only what is clearly known can be rightly expounded. Brought down to the ground: this sentence gives the two words “excellent wisdom” a definition from the sūtra’s own hand, more direct than any explanation in the treatises.

Well Able to Expound the Four Vehicles: To Whom One Says What

After the concluding sentence, the first thing the sūtra does is to expound the Dharma: he is “well able to expound the dharma of the śrāvaka vehicle, the dharma of the pratyekabuddha vehicle, the dharma of the bodhisattva vehicle, and the dharma of the ground of a Tathāgata”, and it makes plain why — “because in every place of practice his wisdom turns along with what is being practiced” — so that he can expound in accord with the faculties of sentient beings, their desires and understanding, the differences of what they practice, and the differences of the several groups, and in accord too with their taking of birth, their afflictions, their latent tendencies, their bonds, their deeds, and their habit-energies, causing them “each within the vehicle that is his own to gain liberation”.

This passage takes back item by item all the thickets known before: faculties, desires and understanding, the groups, the taking of birth, the afflictions, the latent tendencies, the bonds, deeds, and habit-energies are all names listed in the earlier text. So one sees that the great stretch before this was not a display of knowledge but the support upon which the expounding of the Dharma rests. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is the supposition that a bodhisattva should expound only the Great Vehicle. The sūtra lists all four vehicles plainly and says “each within the vehicle that is his own to gain liberation” — to set a man upon the road he can walk at this moment is also to deliver him. Brought down to the ground: this is the scriptural attestation for ‘giving the medicine that fits the illness’, and the reason the prescription is written so exactly is that the illness has already been seen in eighty-four thousand aspects.

Acting as a Great Master of the Dharma: A Master of the Dharma Is Not a Title but a Kind of Conduct

“A bodhisattva abiding on this Excellent-Wisdom Ground acts as a great master of the Dharma, is complete in the conduct of a master of the Dharma, is well able to guard the Dharma-treasury of the Tathāgata, and with measureless skillful wisdom gives rise to the four unobstructed eloquences, expounding the Dharma in a bodhisattva’s words.”

Four clauses, four matters: acting as a great master of the Dharma (the station), being complete in the conduct of a master of the Dharma (the practice), guarding the Dharma-treasury of the Tathāgata (the charge), giving rise to the four unobstructed eloquences (the capacity). Vasubandhu, explaining this place, says that “the one who expounds and the one who holds are set forth in two clauses”, and says of one who abides within the deep and wondrous meaning of a great master of the Dharma that “there are twenty kinds of doing of the work of a master of the Dharma” — a master of the Dharma must be complete in conduct, not merely hold the name. The misreading to guard against is to understand “master of the Dharma” as meaning one who can talk. The sūtra puts “well able to guard the Dharma-treasury of the Tathāgata” before eloquence: only one who can guard is fit to expound. Brought down to the ground: this sentence lays down the sequence of the master of the Dharma — guarding first, expounding after; an eloquence that cannot guard the Dharma-treasury is not the eloquence of this ground.

The Four Unobstructed Knowledges: Constantly Turning Along with Them, Never for a Moment Letting Them Go

The four unobstructed knowledges are set out in one general clause: “This bodhisattva constantly turns along with the four unobstructed knowledges, and does not for a moment let go of them. Which are the four? They are: the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas, the unobstructed knowledge of meaning, the unobstructed knowledge of language, and the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech.”

First let the four names be made clear: the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas, unhindered with respect to the names, phrases, and syllables of the dharmas; the unobstructed knowledge of meaning, unhindered with respect to the meaning that the dharmas convey; the unobstructed knowledge of language, unhindered with respect to words and sounds; the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech, unhindered with respect to the unbroken inexhaustibility of delighted speech. Fazang in the Tanxuan ji marks them as the four of “dharma, meaning, wording, and eloquence”, and says that by the unobstructedness in dharma one knows with mastery every name and phrase, that by the unobstructedness in meaning one penetrates with mastery every principle of meaning, that by the unobstructedness in wording one discerns with mastery every kind of speech, and that by the unobstructedness in eloquence one expounds with mastery throughout the ten directions as is fitting in each case — four in a well-ordered sequence: knowing dharma, penetrating meaning, forming speech, and expounding inexhaustibly. Vasubandhu for his part explains this as the “accomplishing of the karma of speech”, and explains “not broken down” as “because it does not move”. What must be noticed are the words “not for a moment let go”: they are not raised up when needed but constantly turn along with him. Brought down to the ground: eloquence upon this ground is not a technique but a part of the ground itself.

The Ten Gates of the Four Unobstructed Knowledges (1 · 2): The Own-Aspect and the Intrinsic Nature

The sūtra opens the four unobstructed knowledges by ten rounds of “again”. The first round: with the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas he knows the own-aspect of the dharmas; with the unobstructed knowledge of meaning he knows the aspect of difference of the dharmas; with the unobstructed knowledge of language he expounds without error; with the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech he expounds without exhaustion. The second round: with the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas he knows the intrinsic nature of the dharmas; with the unobstructed knowledge of meaning he knows the arising and ceasing of the dharmas; with the unobstructed knowledge of language he establishes all dharmas and proclaims them without break; with the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech he makes, according to what has been established, a boundless exposition that cannot be broken down.

Vasubandhu gives each of these ten rounds a name. The first round he names the “own-aspect”, and opens it into four: the own-aspect of the arising of dharmas, the own-aspect of difference, the own-aspect of the firmness of conception, and the own-aspect of the difference of those conceptions. The second round he names the “common aspect”, and opens it into the common aspect of all dharmas, the common aspect of all conditioned dharmas, the common aspect of all dharmas as designations, and the common aspect of designation upon designation. What is to be looked at here is the pattern: every round is a fourfold unity of ‘dharma knowing the substance, meaning knowing the differences, language being able to expound, delighted speech being able to go on inexhaustibly’, while the object that the ten rounds face widens step by step. The first round faces the own-aspect and the aspect of difference of the dharmas (the most basic discrimination); the second turns to intrinsic nature and to arising and ceasing (substance and change). The misreading to guard against is to take the ten rounds for ten different sets of knowledge; they are not — they are the same four knowledges working upon ten levels. Brought down to the ground: the way to read these ten rounds is to ask of each in turn, ‘which level of object is this round speaking of?’

The Ten Gates of the Four Unobstructed Knowledges (3 · 4): Time, and Dharma and Meaning

The third round: with the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas he knows the differences of present dharmas; with the unobstructed knowledge of meaning he knows the differences of past and future dharmas; with the unobstructed knowledge of language he expounds past, future, and present dharmas without error; with the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech he expounds boundless dharmas with full clarity within each single time — the object of this round being time. Vasubandhu names it the “aspect of conduct”, and opens it into the aspect of the conduct of arising, the aspect of the conduct of what has arisen and what has not yet arisen, the aspect of the conduct of things and designations, and the aspect of the conduct of the matter expounded. The fourth round: with the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas he knows the differences of dharma; with the unobstructed knowledge of meaning he knows the differences of meaning; with the unobstructed knowledge of language he expounds according to the speech-sounds of beings; with the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech he expounds according to what their minds delight in — the object of this round being dharma and meaning, speech-sounds and what the mind delights in; and Vasubandhu names it the “aspect of exposition”, opening it into the aspect of the exposition of the sūtras, the aspect of the exposition that explains them, the aspect of the exposition that accords, and the aspect of the exposition that resembles.

Set side by side, the two rounds are of much interest: the third takes the three times into itself, so that one who expounds the Dharma is not bounded by time; the fourth takes the hearer into itself, so that one who expounds the Dharma is not bounded by speech-sound. The two clauses “expounds according to their speech-sounds” and “expounds according to what their minds delight in” are precisely the foreshadowing of the later answering of all with a single sound. Brought down to the ground: discerning the occasion is not only the choosing of content but also the choosing of language and the choosing of the moment.

The Ten Gates of the Four Unobstructed Knowledges (5 · 6): The Four Knowledges and the Absence of Self-Conceit

The fifth round apportions four knowledges: the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas knows differences as not at variance by the knowledge of dharma; the unobstructed knowledge of meaning knows differences as they really are by inferential knowledge; the unobstructed knowledge of language discerns and expounds by worldly knowledge; the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech expounds with skill by the knowledge of the highest meaning. Vasubandhu names this the “aspect of knowledge”, opening it into the knowledge that sees directly, inferential knowledge, the knowledge of the means of obtaining what is sought, and the knowledge that is obtained. The sixth round: the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas knows the dharmas as of one aspect and not broken down; the unobstructed knowledge of meaning knows with skill the aggregates, elements, bases, truths, and dependent origination; the unobstructed knowledge of language expounds with beautiful and wondrous sounds and letters that all the world finds easy to understand; the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech expounds with a boundless light of the Dharma that turns ever more surpassing. Vasubandhu names this the “aspect of the absence of self-conceit”, opening it into the absence of self-conceit with respect to the truth of the highest meaning, the absence of self-conceit with respect to the worldly truth, the absence of self-conceit in expounding beautifully, and the absence of self-conceit in expounding what is unsurpassed.

The name of the sixth round, “absence of self-conceit”, is worth stopping over. To expound the Dharma without raising self-conceit rests upon knowing that “the dharmas are of one aspect and not broken down” — in the one who expounds, in what is expounded, and in the one who hears there is fundamentally nothing that can be seized upon as a self. And the clause “expounds with beautiful and wondrous sounds and letters that all the world finds easy to understand” counts ‘expounding so that people can understand’ as one part of the absence of self-conceit as well: to be willing to accommodate the hearer’s language is itself a lessening of self-conceit. Brought down to the ground: to judge whether an exposition of the Dharma has self-conceit in it, look at whether it means people to understand or means them to admire.

The Ten Gates of the Four Unobstructed Knowledges (7 · 8): The Vehicles and the Grounds

The seventh round: the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas knows the nature of the One Vehicle as being the same throughout; the unobstructed knowledge of meaning knows the nature of the several vehicles as different; the unobstructed knowledge of language proclaims that all the vehicles are without difference; the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech proclaims for each single vehicle boundless dharmas. Vasubandhu names this the “aspect of the Lesser Vehicle and the Great Vehicle”, opening it into the aspect of contemplation, the aspect of nature, the aspect of liberation, and the aspect of mindfulness. The eighth round: the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas knows all the practice of the bodhisattvas, the practice of wisdom, and the practice of dharma, entering into realization according to wisdom; the unobstructed knowledge of meaning knows the differences of meaning among the stations and divisions of the ten grounds; the unobstructed knowledge of language proclaims that the grounds and the path are of an aspect without difference; the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech proclaims for each single ground boundless aspects of practice. Vasubandhu names this the “aspect of the ground of the bodhisattvas”, opening it into the aspect of knowledge, the aspect of exposition, the aspect of the giving of skillful means, and the aspect of entering measureless gates.

The pattern shared by these two rounds is this: the unobstructedness in dharma sees their sameness and absence of difference, the unobstructedness in meaning sees their differences and their divisions, the unobstructedness in language proclaims their absence of difference, and the unobstructedness in delighted speech proclaims the boundlessness of each one. Only when sameness and difference are both held fast can the vehicles and the grounds be expounded at all. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is the supposition that to speak of the One Vehicle one must wipe out the three, or that to speak of the ten grounds one must wipe out sameness. The sūtra wants both sides. Brought down to the ground: one who can really expound the Dharma can in a single breath both speak of the stairway and speak of there being nothing other than it beyond the stairway.

The Ten Gates of the Four Unobstructed Knowledges (9 · 10): The Ground of a Tathāgata and the Sustaining of the Dharma

The ninth round: the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas knows that all the Tathāgatas accomplish right awakening within a single thought; the unobstructed knowledge of meaning knows the several times, the several places, and the like, each with its differences; the unobstructed knowledge of language proclaims the differences of the accomplishing of right awakening; the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech proclaims for measureless kalpas within each single phrase of Dharma and does not exhaust it. Vasubandhu names this the “aspect of the ground of a Tathāgata”, opening it into the aspect of the dharma-body, the aspect of the form-body, the aspect of right awakening, and the aspect of exposition. The tenth round: the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas knows all the Tathāgatas’ speech, powers, fearlessnesses, and dharmas of a buddha not shared with others, their great kindness and great compassion, their eloquence and skillful means, their turning of the wheel of the Dharma, and the wisdom of omniscience, all entered into realization according to wisdom; the unobstructed knowledge of meaning knows the sounds the Tathāgata sends forth in accord with the differences of the minds and conduct, the faculties, and the understanding of eighty-four thousand sentient beings; the unobstructed knowledge of language expounds with the differences of a Tathāgata’s sounds in accord with the conduct of all sentient beings; the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech expounds with the fullness of the pure practice of a Tathāgata’s wisdom in accord with the faith and understanding of sentient beings. Vasubandhu names this the “aspect of the doing of the sustaining”, opening it into the aspect of awakening, the aspect of difference, the aspect of exposition, and the aspect of the measurelessness of these.

At the tenth the rounds close upon the Tathāgata: the object known has been pushed all the way from the own-aspect of the dharmas to the fruit-virtues of a Tathāgata and his sustaining of the Dharma. In the ninth round, “accomplishing right awakening within a single thought” and “the several times, the several places, and the like, each with its differences” stand side by side, and this is that pattern of sameness and difference carried to its utmost. The tenth round takes up the eighty-four thousand once again: the sounds of a Tathāgata differ according to the minds and conduct of eighty-four thousand sentient beings — buckling together, head and tail, with the earlier “told in brief, on to eighty-four thousand” of the thickets of sentient beings. Eighty-four thousand aspects known, eighty-four thousand sounds expounded: this is the full breadth of the Excellent-Wisdom Ground. Brought down to the ground: read the ten rounds through and then look back at the name of the ground, and the two words “excellent wisdom” are no longer abstract.

The Ten Gates of Dhāraṇī: Only What Can Be Held Can Be Expounded Inexhaustibly

After the four unobstructed knowledges comes the all-holding: he gains the ten dhāraṇīs of meaning, dharma, wisdom, illumining light, excellent wisdom, many riches, awesome virtue, the unobstructed gate, what has no bound or limit, and the several meanings; “gates of dhāraṇī such as these, to the number of a million asaṃkhyeyas, are all made full in him”; and with a million asaṃkhyeyas of gates of skillful sound and eloquence he expounds the Dharma. Chengguan outlines these ten names as the “ten holdings”, and says that they are all “named from the work and function that they raise up” — every one of the names is taken from the work that it does.

Dhāraṇī in the old translation is “all-holding”, and its sense is the ability to hold without losing and to bar what should not arise. Why must the all-holding be spoken of after the four unobstructed knowledges? Because eloquence is empty unless there is something held. The misreading to guard against is to imagine a dhāraṇī as a secret spell. Here the sūtra lists the ten names itself — meaning, dharma, wisdom, illumining light, and the rest — all of them set up with respect to the receiving and holding of the Dharma, and none of them touching upon spells. Brought down to the ground: the power of expounding the Dharma stands upon two feet, one eloquence and one holding; with eloquence alone and no power to hold, what is spoken is forgotten as soon as it is spoken, and one telling is one telling and no more.

Hearing and Holding beyond the Great Śrāvakas: Measureless Gates of Dharma in the Space of a Single Bow

The sūtra then says something very concrete: this bodhisattva, in the presence of measureless buddhas, hears the Dharma by a million asaṃkhyeyas of gates of dhāraṇī, and “having heard it he does not lose it”, and expounds it for others through measureless gates of difference; moreover “when he first sees a buddha and bows his head in reverence, he gains at once in the presence of that buddha measureless gates of Dharma”, and those gates of Dharma so gained are “not what those great śrāvakas renowned for hearing much and holding it fast could receive in a hundred thousand kalpas”.

The contrast here is very sharp: even those among the śrāvakas famed as foremost in hearing much could not in a hundred thousand kalpas receive what this bodhisattva gains at a single bow of the head. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is to read this as a belittling of the śrāvakas. The sūtra is marking a difference in the measure of the all-holding — not who is diligent and who is not, but that the vessels that can hold are fundamentally of different size. Brought down to the ground: this passage explains why the bodhisattva of the ninth ground dares to act as a great master of the Dharma — his Dharma-treasury is not something scraped together but something that fills the moment the gate of holding is opened.

Sitting upon the Seat of the Dharma: Only the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas Who Have Received Consecration Excepted

“He sits upon the seat of the Dharma and expounds the Dharma; and for all the sentient beings that fill the great-thousand world-system he expounds according to the differences of what their minds delight in. Only the buddhas and the bodhisattvas who have received consecration are excepted; among all the rest of that assembly there is none whose awesome virtue and light can be compared with his.”

This sentence draws the standing of this ground within a Dharma assembly: apart from the buddhas and the bodhisattvas who have received consecration (those who, the ten grounds being near their fullness, receive the anointing of the station), there is none in the assembly whose awesome virtue and light can match him. Note “expounds according to the differences of what their minds delight in” — to sit upon the seat of the Dharma is not to make an announcement but to meet each person in turn. The misreading to guard against is to read “none can be compared with him” as a word of arrogance. It is a plain statement of standing, and the sūtra itself writes the “only … excepted” first, which is precisely not to hide and not to overstate. Brought down to the ground: the virtue of the seat of the Dharma lies in being able to expound to the delights of the minds of a whole great-thousand world-system, and not in the height of the seat.

The Ten Wishes of the Mind: How Far the Mastery in Expounding Goes

Then comes the most unbridled passage of this ground: seated upon the seat of the Dharma, if he wishes with a single sound to cause the great assembly all to gain understanding, they gain it at once; or with sounds of every kind to cause the great assembly all to be awakened; or to send forth a great light and expound the gates of Dharma; or that within every single pore upon his body the sound of the Dharma be sent forth; or that all things of whatever kind within the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system, having form or without form, send forth the wondrous words and sounds of the Dharma; or to send forth a single word and sound that reaches everywhere throughout the Dharma realm; or that all words and sounds become sounds of the Dharma, abiding constantly and not perishing; or that the flutes and pipes, bells, drums, and singing of all worlds, all the sounds of music, send forth the sounds of the Dharma; or that within a single letter all the differences of the phrases, words, and sounds of the Dharma be complete; or that of all the dust-motes within the gatherings of the four great elements — earth, water, fire, and wind — in unspeakably many measureless worlds, each single dust-mote send forth unspeakably many gates of Dharma. The last clause gathers it all up: “Everything he thus keeps in mind is accomplished according to his mind, and there is nothing that is not gained.”

The ten clauses go from the simple to the manifold: from a single sound and sounds of every kind (sound), to light (form), to pores, to the ten thousand things, to the Dharma realm (place), to abiding constantly and not perishing (time), to the sounds of music, a single letter, and a single dust-mote (the exceedingly many held within the exceedingly small). This passage is often read as a laying out of miracles; in truth it says one thing: the medium of the expounding of the Dharma has been utterly set free — wherever there is sound, form, shape, or dust-mote, there the sound of the Dharma may be. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is to suppose this an exaggeration. The sūtra’s point of landing is “everything he thus keeps in mind is accomplished according to his mind”, and what it says is that between the mind and the sound of the Dharma there is no longer any partition at all. Brought down to the ground: for one who truly expounds without obstruction, the ten thousand appearances of the world have all become his language.

Answering All with a Single Sound: The Hard Questions of the Three-Thousandfold World-System and on to Unspeakably Many Worlds

Then comes the most famous passage of all: suppose all the sentient beings of the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system were to come before him, each raising hard questions with measureless words and sounds, and no one of those hard questions the same as another — the bodhisattva “within a single thought is able to receive them all, and still with a single sound explains for them all together, causing each of them, according to what his mind delights in, to gain gladness”; and on to the sentient beings of unspeakably many worlds questioning all at once within a single instant, it is likewise.

Fazang, in the Tanxuan ji, cites the Zhuangyan lun in explaining the name “excellent wisdom”, and it is just this sense that he takes: that within a single instant, when all the gods and men and the kinds unlike them within the three-thousandfold world-system ask with differing sounds and differing meanings, this bodhisattva is able with a single sound to answer all their questions and to cut off all their doubts everywhere, and is for this named excellent wisdom. So one sees that this passage is the direct scriptural attestation of the name of the ground. The misreading to guard against is to imagine the “single sound” as a common language. What the sūtra says is a “single sound” that yet “causes each, according to what his mind delights in”: one sound is sent forth, and each person hears what he should hear. Brought down to the ground: this is no miracle of philology but the necessary outcome of unobstructed knowledge — since what is known has already reached everywhere out to eighty-four thousand aspects, the sound sent forth answers to each of them of itself.

Everywhere Becoming a Support and Refuge for All

After the passage on the hard questions, the sūtra presses one layer further: “And on to the sentient beings that fill unspeakably unspeakably many worlds, the bodhisattva is able to expound the Dharma for them all in accord with what their minds delight in, in accord with their faculties, and in accord with their faith and understanding; and taking up the Buddha’s spiritual power he does the work of a buddha at large, and everywhere becomes a support and refuge for all.”

The three occurrences of “in accord with” hook back to the three axes of delights and desires, faculties, and faith and understanding set out earlier; and the four words “taking up the Buddha’s spiritual power” mark that the capacity of this ground does not stand up alone by its own strength. And the landing point is in the words “support and refuge”: the last thing in expounding the Dharma is not the answering of questions but the becoming of a place upon which sentient beings can lean. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is to regard the expounding of the Dharma as the passing on of information. What the sūtra speaks of is a place of reliance. Brought down to the ground: what makes a master of the Dharma a master of the Dharma is that a person can commit body and mind to the Dharma he transmits.

The Assemblies of Buddhas within a Single Hair-Tip: Receiving Them and Forgetting Nothing

A further step: suppose within a single hair-tip there were assemblies of buddhas as many as the dust-motes of unspeakably many worlds, and within each assembly sentient beings as many as the dust-motes of unspeakably many worlds, and each single being with dispositions and delights as many as the dust-motes of unspeakably many worlds, and those buddhas each gave gates of Dharma according to those dispositions and delights; “as it is within a single hair-tip, so it is likewise in all places throughout the Dharma realm”. Measureless gates of Dharma such as these the bodhisattva “is able within a single thought to receive them all, and nothing is forgotten”.

The passage before spoke of ‘being able to expound’; this one speaks of ‘being able to hear it all’. The two complete one another: only one who can receive all that the whole Dharma realm expounds can expound what the whole Dharma realm needs. The sentence “as it is within a single hair-tip, so it is likewise in all places throughout the Dharma realm” is a text of the great appearing within the small; and when Li Tongxuan reads the symbolism of this ground and says “wisdom is layer upon layer without end”, it is upon this that he has his eye. The misreading to guard against is to read it as mere exaggeration of number — the weight of the sūtra falls upon “nothing is forgotten”, that is, upon the utmost of the all-holding. Brought down to the ground: this passage is the fruit of the ten gates of dhāraṇī and the enlargement of the earlier “having heard it he does not lose it”.

Diligent by Day and Night: No Other Thought at All

With the capacity for expounding told, the sūtra turns back to the bodhisattva’s own practice: “He is single-mindedly diligent by day and by night and has no other thought at all; he only enters the realm of the buddhas and draws near to the Tathāgatas, enters the profound liberation of the bodhisattvas, is constantly within samādhi, constantly sees the buddhas, and has never once forsaken them.” Within each single kalpa he sees measureless buddhas and on to measureless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of buddhas, reveres, honors, attends upon, and makes offerings to them, asks and seeks instruction with hard questions of every kind in the presence of those buddhas, gains the dhāraṇī of the expounding of the Dharma, and his roots of goodness turn ever more to brightness and purity.

See where this passage stands: it comes immediately after the most magnificent mastery in expounding. The one who can answer with a single sound the questions of unspeakably many worlds spends his days “with no other thought at all”, drawing near to the Tathāgatas and asking hard questions. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is the supposition that having come to this ground one is already self-sufficient. The sūtra says plainly that he still asks hard questions and still receives the Dharma. Brought down to the ground: the provisions of one who expounds the Dharma come from being taught without cease — and this passage is the fixed star for everyone whose work is the expounding of the Dharma.

The Simile of the Goldsmith’s Jeweled Crown: The Gold Has Now Been Made a Crown

“It is as with true gold: a skillful goldsmith takes it and makes of it a jeweled crown, and a wheel-turning sage king uses it to adorn his head, and among the four continents none of the many adornments of the lesser kings, the ministers, and the common people can be its equal. So it is with the roots of goodness of the bodhisattva of this ninth ground: none of the roots of goodness of any śrāvaka, any pratyekabuddha, or any bodhisattva of a lower ground can be their equal.”

On the first ground the goldsmith was spoken of as refining the gold, putting it into the fire again and again so that it grew brighter with every turn — at that time the gold was still in the fire. By this ground the goldsmith has made the gold into a jeweled crown, and it is worn upon the head of a wheel-turning king, and not one of the adornments of a whole realm can match it. The grade of the simile has turned from “refining” to “adorning”: the former speaks of purification, the latter of having become a vessel and taken an honored place. The misreading to guard against is to read “none can be their equal” as a boast that measures high against low; the point of the simile falls upon “use” — gold refined to this pitch can now be made a crown, and is now fit to adorn the head of a realm. Brought down to the ground: only roots of goodness cultivated to the point of being able to shoulder the charge of a master of the Dharma count as having become a vessel.

The Simile of the Radiance of the Great Brahmā Heaven King: What Is Illumined Is the Minds of Sentient Beings

“It is as with a great Brahmā heaven king, lord of two thousand worlds: he sends forth radiance from his body, and the deep and distant places within those two thousand worlds are all able to be illumined by it, and the darkness there is removed. So it is with all the roots of goodness of the bodhisattva of this ground: they are able to send forth radiance that illumines the minds of sentient beings, causing the darkness of the afflictions all to come to rest and be extinguished.”

This simile buckles onto the passage of the fruit of recompense: the bodhisattva of this ground “mostly becomes a great Brahmā heaven king, lord of two thousand worlds”, so that the thing likened and the station of the fruit are one and the same. Note what is illumined: not the world, but “the minds of sentient beings”; and what darkness is removed: not the darkness of night, but “the darkness of the afflictions”. And the four words “the deep and distant places” are the most worth turning over — what the light must reach is precisely the farthest and most hidden place, just as what the expounding of the Dharma must arrive at is precisely the corner of a person’s heart that he is least willing to show. Brought down to the ground: this simile turns the virtue of expounding the Dharma from ‘speaking well’ into ‘reaching what is to be reached’.

The Preeminence of the Perfection of Power: What This Ground Rests Upon

“Among the ten perfections, in this bodhisattva the perfection of power is the most excellent; the remaining perfections are not that he does not cultivate them, but only that he does so as strength and measure allow.”

Among the ten perfections, what is ascendant upon this ground is power. Li Tongxuan judges the same, that this ground “takes the cultivation of the perfection of power as its principal and the other nine as its companions”. Why power and not wisdom? Because what has been lacking was never the view but the strength to carry the view into effect — to be able to hold eighty-four thousand gates of Dharma, to receive in a single thought the questions of the unspeakably many, to answer all with a single sound: what these rest upon is power. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is the supposition that ‘the other perfections are not cultivated’. The sūtra says plainly “not that he does not cultivate them, but only as strength and measure allow”, and this is the standing rule of the ten grounds. Brought down to the ground: this sentence tells the reader that the weight of practice upon this ground lies in the raising up of a strength able to shoulder the charge.

Brief Exposition and Full Exposition: Measureless Kalpas Would Not Exhaust It

“Son of the Buddha! This is called: the brief exposition of the ninth ground of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, the Excellent-Wisdom Ground; but were it to be expounded at length, measureless kalpas would not exhaust it.”

The concluding form ‘this is called the brief exposition of such a ground’ is present on all ten grounds (on the third ground the wording differs a little, reading “this is called the bodhisattva’s third ground, the Luminous”); the latter half, ‘were it expounded at length … it would not be exhausted’, belongs only to the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth. This conclusion falls with particular fitness upon the ninth ground: what this ground expounds is precisely the inexhaustibility of expounding, and when it comes to speak of this very ground it still says, “were it to be expounded at length, measureless kalpas would not exhaust it.” The misreading to guard against is to take it for a set phrase. It is a demonstration of what was said before — “with the unobstructed knowledge of delighted speech, within each single phrase of Dharma he proclaims for measureless kalpas and does not exhaust it” — the speaker bearing witness with his own person. Brought down to the ground: to finish reading this ground and feel that one has understood it already is exactly what this sentence guards against.

The Fruit of Pliancy: He Mostly Becomes a Great Brahmā Heaven King, Lord of Two Thousand Worlds

“A bodhisattva-mahāsattva abiding on this ground mostly becomes a great Brahmā heaven king, lord of two thousand worlds; he is good at governing, and with mastery he benefits sentient beings; he is able for all śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas to discern and expound the practice of the perfections; and in accord with the minds of sentient beings, there is none who can make him yield in any hard question at all.”

Every ground has its answering fruit of recompense in a royal station, and this ground’s is the great Brahmā heaven king, lord of two thousand worlds — which tallies with the simile of the Brahmā king’s radiance above. What is to be looked at is what this king does: not govern, but “discern and expound the practice of the perfections”, and further, “there is none who can make him yield in any hard question at all”. The station of recompense still takes the expounding of the Dharma for its work, and this is the mark of the Excellent-Wisdom Ground. Brought down to the ground: the station of recompense of a ground displays precisely the virtue of that ground.

The Four Means of Gathering, Never Apart from Mindfulness of the Buddha: In All He Does, the Mind Is Tied to the Buddha

“Giving, kind speech, beneficial conduct, and working alongside them — all the works he does, such as these, are never apart from mindfulness of the Buddha, and on to never apart from mindfulness of all modes and of the wisdom of omniscience.”

The four means of gathering are the four devices by which sentient beings are drawn in; the weight here does not lie upon the four means themselves but upon “never apart from mindfulness of the Buddha”. This clause is present upon every ground, and is a fixed form of the ten grounds. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is the supposition that a bodhisattva upon a high ground need no longer be mindful of the Buddha. The sūtra says the very opposite: the wider what he does, the less his mindfulness departs. Brought down to the ground: every act done for the good of beings, if it is parted from mindfulness of the Buddha and of the wisdom of omniscience, becomes a worldly good deed — and this sentence is the watershed.

The Ascendant Vow: To Be Foremost, To Be Most Excellent, To Be the Support

“And he thinks further in this way: ‘Among all sentient beings I should be the foremost, the most excellent, and on to being the place of support of the wisdom of omniscience.’”

The three terms advance layer by layer: to be foremost (to stand first and lead), to be most excellent (highest in virtue), and to be the place of support of the wisdom of omniscience (to become that to which beings entrust themselves). The misreading to guard against is to read “to be foremost and most excellent” as a mind bent on winning. Look where it lands: it comes at last to “the place of support” — the high station sought is sought so that people may have somewhere to lean. It is one and the same vow as the earlier “everywhere becomes a support and refuge for all”. Brought down to the ground: what a bodhisattva seeks in seeking to excel is the qualification to shoulder the charge.

Raising Up Diligent Vigor: The Number of the Samādhis and of the Retinue

“If this bodhisattva raises up diligent vigor, then within a single thought he gains samādhis as many as the dust-motes of a million asaṃkhyeyas of lands, and on to displaying bodhisattvas as his retinue as many as the dust-motes of a million asaṃkhyeyas of lands; and if by the excellent strength of a bodhisattva’s vows he displays them with mastery, it goes beyond even this number, so that on through a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of kalpas one could not reckon and know it.”

All ten grounds mark the measure of the ground by this same form: on the first ground it is “a hundred”, and upon this ground it is “the dust-motes of a million asaṃkhyeyas of lands”. And every ground has the same supplementary clause: if displayed by the strength of the vow, it goes beyond this number past all reckoning. Note what this supplementary clause does — it keeps the reader from taking the number for a ceiling. What the number marks is the ordinary portion gained by “raising up diligent vigor”, while the strength of the vow has no portion or limit. Brought down to the ground: every number that measures a ground is to be read together with this clause, and only so does one avoid the view that fixes a quantity.

The Verses in Repetition and Their Correspondence: What the Prose Has Said, the Verses Only Gather Up in Outline

The prose being finished, Vajragarbha, “wishing to declare this meaning over again, spoke in verse”, and the forty-eight lines of verse answer passage by passage to the prose without setting up any new sense. Chengguan judges these verses in repetition to be “verses upon the four parts above” — the first two verses upon the skillful means of the master of the Dharma, the next two upon the accomplishing of wisdom, the next seven upon the accomplishing of the entry into conduct, and thereafter by degrees upon the accomplishing of exposition, the fruit of the station, and the concluding praise.

Set them passage against passage. The first two verses sing the causes of entering the ground (contemplating well with the strength of measureless wisdom · the all-holdings and samādhis gained with mastery · powers, wisdom, fearlessnesses, and the dharmas not shared with others · entering the ninth ground by the strength of vows and the mind of compassion), answering to the ten things of the prose by which the ground is entered; next comes the verse on upholding the Dharma-treasury and knowing the ten courses of dharmas (abiding on this ground he upholds the Dharma-treasury, and knows the good, the bad, and the indeterminate … whether dharmas be settled or unsettled, all that the three vehicles do he is able to contemplate), answering to the ten courses of dharmas; next the verse on the many aspects of the minds of sentient beings (the many aspects of mind, its swift turning, its breaking down and not breaking down, its being without substance or resistance and without bound or limit, and aspects of every kind), answering to the ten aspects of mind; next the verses on the afflictions, deeds, the faculties, and faith and understanding, dispositions, and delights and desires (the afflictions are boundless and constantly keep company with him, lying dormant and rising up are of one sense and carry on through the destinies · the substance of deeds is of many kinds, each with its differences, and though the cause breaks down, its recompense is gathered — all this he clearly knows · the faculties are of many kinds, inferior, middling, and superior · and so it is too with faith and understanding, dispositions, and delights and desires, and of the eighty-four thousand kinds there is none he does not know), answering one by one to the nine aspects of the afflictions, the ten aspects of deeds, the ten aspects of the faculties, and the three grades of faith and understanding, dispositions, and delights and desires; next the verses on the thicket and the latent tendencies (the delusion and views of sentient beings constantly follow and bind them, the dense thicket from time without beginning has never been cut away … the realms of concentration can only push them off and one still falls back — it is the cessation by the adamantine path that is final), answering to the general statement of the thickets and to the twelve aspects of the latent tendencies — and here the words of the verse are sharper than the prose, saying outright as “the cessation by the adamantine path is final” what the prose said as “drawn out only by the noble path”; next the verses on the taking of birth, the habit-energies, and the three groups (the taking of birth in the six destinies has its several differences, deeds are the field, craving the moistening, ignorance the covering, consciousness is the seed and the sprout of name-and-form is born … delusion, deeds, and the habit-energies of mind give birth within the destinies … sentient beings are all of them within the three groups, some sunk in evil views, some walking the right path), answering to the nine aspects of the taking of birth, the ten aspects of the habit-energies, and the twelve aspects of the three groups.

From here the verses turn into the accomplishing of exposition: the verse on unobstructed eloquence expounding with differences as is fitting answers to the ten gates of the four unobstructed knowledges; the verse on the four similes of the seat of the Dharma (like a lion, like a bull-king and a king of jeweled mountains, like a dragon king spreading dense clouds and pouring down a rain of sweet dew) and on knowing well the nature of the Dharma and its deep meaning answers to the sitting upon the seat of the Dharma and expounding; the verse on a million asaṃkhyeyas of all-holdings, with the great sea receiving the many rains for its simile, answers to the ten gates of dhāraṇī; the verse on the samādhis being pure, on seeing many buddhas in a single thought and hearing the Dharma in the presence of each, answers to the diligence by day and night in seeing buddhas and hearing the Dharma; the verses on transforming the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system as clouds are spread wide, on the buddha-assemblies at a hair-tip and their gates of Dharma, and on vigor in hearing and holding as the earth holds all seeds, answer severally to the answering of all with a single sound, the assemblies of buddhas within a single hair-tip, and the accomplishing of the light of wisdom; the verse on the beings of the ten directions seated in the assembly and questioning, and a single sound answering all and satisfying them fully, answers to the hard questions of the three-thousandfold and on to unspeakably many worlds; the verse on being a king of the Dharma, teaching and drawing them on as the occasion asks, and by day and night seeing buddhas and entering the profound and quiescent wisdom and liberation, answers to the station of the master of the Dharma and to the diligence by day and night; the verse on making offerings to the buddhas so that his roots of goodness grow bright as the wondrous jeweled crown upon a king’s head, and on causing besides the afflictions of sentient beings to be extinguished as the radiance of the Brahmā king illumines everywhere, answers exactly to the two similes of the goldsmith’s jeweled crown and of the radiance of the great Brahmā heaven king, one verse gathering two similes; the verse on abiding here and mostly becoming a great Brahmā king who transforms sentient beings with the dharma of the three vehicles answers to the fruit of pliancy; the verse on the samādhis entered within a single thought being as the dust-motes of asaṃkhyeyas of buddha-fields, and on what is done by the strength of the vows going beyond this, answers to the number of the samādhis and the retinue and to the supplementary clause on the vow surpassing the number. The last verse concludes of itself: “This is the ninth ground, Excellent Wisdom, the place of practice of bodhisattvas of great wisdom, profound and subtle and hard to see; for the sons of the Buddha I have now expounded it.” — closing the depth of this ground with “hard to see”, and handing it back to the sons of the Buddha with “I have now expounded it”.

Read Against the Mirror of Consciousness-Only: The Unobstructed Understandings and Mastery in Expounding

This ground has, within the consciousness-only line, a definition that fits it exactly. The Cheng weishi lun, explaining the ninth of the ten grounds, says that upon it one “accomplishes the subtle and wondrous four unobstructed understandings”, and is able throughout the ten directions to expound the Dharma well — tying the name of the ground directly to the four unobstructed understandings, not a word apart from this chapter’s “gives rise to the four unobstructed eloquences” and “acts as a great master of the Dharma”. The Yuqie shidi lun, in the section on the abodes, explains the name of this ground by saying: because upon this ground the intent toward the benefit and ease of all sentient beings is pure, he attains a bodhisattva’s wisdom of unobstructed understanding, and by this is well able to proclaim the true Dharma, and therefore this ground is named Excellent Wisdom — and it says one thing more: that the precondition of unobstructed understanding is “purity of intent”, that is, that only when the mind for sentient beings has first been made pure is the eloquence a bodhisattva’s eloquence. The section on the determining of meanings likewise marks, in listing the ten grounds, “the ninth is named the Excellent-Wisdom Ground”; and the Jie shenmi jing marks the same name and says of this ground that “the body of coarse heaviness is vast as empty space, and the dharma-body is full”. The She dacheng lun, in listing the ten grounds, also gives “ninth, the Excellent-Wisdom Ground”; and both Chengguan and Fazang, in explaining the name of this ground, first cite the words of the She dacheng lun, “because he gains the most excellent unobstructed knowledge”, upon which Vasubandhu comments, “because it is by unobstructed understanding-knowledge that it is called wisdom, and this wisdom is wondrously excellent, it is named excellent wisdom”, and Asvabhāva comments, “that is to say, he gains the most excellent four unobstructed understandings; the knowledge of unobstructed understanding is the most surpassing among all knowledges. Knowledge is just wisdom, and so it is named excellent wisdom.”

The deeper bridge of consciousness-only upon this ground is Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun — the sentence-by-sentence explanation of this whole passage comes from his hand: the outline in four parts (the accomplishing of the skillful means of the master of the Dharma · the accomplishing of wisdom · the accomplishing of the entry into conduct · the accomplishing of exposition), the opening and combining of the several aspects of the thickets, and the four kinds opened out within each of the ten rounds of the four unobstructed knowledges, all come from this treatise; the outline in four parts is carried on by Chengguan, while the names of the ten aspects are not set up gate by gate in his commentary. Setting the two mirrors against each other, one can see this: what this chapter of the Avataṃsaka expounds is ‘how one bodhisattva becomes a person able to expound the Dharma’, while what the treatises of consciousness-only expound is ‘what this one has realized in the sequence of stations, and why his name is established as it is’. The one is a scene, the other a criterion; put together, the name “excellent wisdom” comes down to a real place.

Lineage

The text of this ground is carried on by two lines in later times. On the side of consciousness-only: Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun, fascicle eleven, explains this ground sentence by sentence and sets up the outline in four parts and the ten aspects of the four unobstructed knowledges, and is the root of all later explanations of the meaning of the Excellent-Wisdom Ground; and the explanations of the name of the Excellent-Wisdom Ground in the Cheng weishi lun, the She dacheng lun, the Yuqie shidi lun, and the Jie shenmi jing are all attached to the unobstructed understandings and to mastery in expounding the Dharma, and are of one succession with the text of this chapter. On the side of the Huayan school: Chengguan sets up the reason for the coming of this ground upon the Yuqie — that although upon the preceding ground effort has been let go within the markless abiding and mastery over marks has been gained, the strength of expounding the Dharma is not yet full, and therefore this ground comes; and in explaining the name he gathers nine houses and lists them, while the Yanyi chao further marks the source and fascicle of each one by one — this is the track of collating and reconciling. Fazang’s Tanxuan ji judges by “upon this ground he first realizes the knowledge of unobstructed understanding not obtained before, and therefore it is named excellent wisdom”, and cites the Zhuangyan lun’s text on answering all with a single sound as the authority for the name of the ground — this is the track of demonstration. Li Tongxuan for his part reads it by the symbolism of the sequence of stations: the practice of this ground is the same as the ninth abode among the ten abodes, that of the prince of the Dharma-king, and it is the same as the ninth position among the five positions, the station of the master of the Dharma, and because he knows the many dharmas well it is named excellent wisdom; and he further takes the Lumbinī grove and the deity Wondrous Virtue Complete whom Sudhana visited as symbols of the virtue of this ground — wisdom setting up the teaching as a wood does, spreading wide and covering with shade, layer upon layer without end, the wondrous wisdom of the station of the master of the Dharma being complete; and he sets up of himself a long outline in seven passages (the verses of praise and request · entering the ninth ground in cultivation · the expounding of the Dharma by the four unobstructed knowledges · the gates of the million koṭis of all-holdings · the expounding of the Dharma and the hard questions by a single sound · seeing buddhas, making offerings, and receiving the station · the verses in repetition) — this is the track of symbolism. The three tracks run side by side, each with its own authority; here what they say is recorded, and no judgment is made as to which stands higher.