華嚴經 品二十七 十定品 · 第七 了知一切世界佛莊嚴大三昧Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Ten Samādhis · The Seventh, the Great Samādhi of Fully Knowing the Buddha-Adornments of All Worlds

Why This Round of Samādhi Has to Be Asked About Twice

The ten great samādhis run through one after another, and every one of them opens with the same sentence — ‘what is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s such-and-such samādhi.’ At the seventh round, however, one question more comes out: having asked “what is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s samādhi of fully knowing the buddha-adornments of all worlds,” it goes straight on to ask ‘why is this samādhi named fully knowing the buddha-adornments of all worlds.’ Two questions one after another in the same passage — at first glance the reader will take it for a repetition. Chengguan glosses this by saying that the ground of the repeated questioning lies in the difference of what is questioned: the first question questions this one samādhi in general, while the latter question questions in particular the two graphs ‘adornment.’ This distinction matters: it settles that the answer below is not describing the depth or shallowness of a state of samādhi, but laying out what the adornment that is seen actually is. So the first misreading to be guarded against, in reading this passage, is to read it as a piece of description of a meditative state. It is in fact a catalogue of ‘what is seen’: what buddhas are seen, what assemblies are seen, what body is seen, and what the mind is like at the moment of seeing. Brought down to use: whenever you ask what a gate of Dharma is called, ask along with it where the most substantial graph in its name comes to rest. In this round of samādhi the most substantial graph is ‘adornment.’

Entering the Ten Directions in Due Order: Why Only the Ten Directions Are Spoken of and Not the Three Times

The answer begins from ‘entering’ — one who dwells in this samādhi is able to enter in due order the worlds of the east, and likewise the south, the west, the north, the four intermediate points, the zenith and the nadir, all worlds he is able to enter in due order. Two words here have to be taught clearly. The first is ‘in due order’: not a single blanket covering all at once, but an entering that has sequence, and where the sequence is not confused the seeing is not confused. The second is why only the ten directions are listed and not the three times set beside them. Chengguan glosses this by saying that what is being explained is ‘all worlds,’ and worlds are a present matter, and so it says only the ten directions. This one sentence clears away a misunderstanding that arises very easily — the notion that wherever ‘all’ is said, breadth and length must both be taken in. The ‘all worlds’ here is a pervading of space, not a pervading of time; the pervading of time has its own passage further on (within the seals of the dharma below there is the clause “the contemplation of the measureless realms of the three times as all equal”). Brought down to use: when you read the word ‘all’ in the Huayan, look closely at which dimension it is measuring here.

The Ten Matters of Seeing the Buddhas: The General Rubric of Adornment

The first layer of what is seen after the entering is the buddhas. The sūtra text lists nine clauses in a row, and with “he also sees the assemblies of the buddhas gathered like clouds” they make ten: seeing the buddhas arising in the world, seeing all the spiritual powers of those buddhas, seeing all the disporting of the buddhas, seeing the vast awesome virtue of the buddhas, seeing the most surpassing sovereignty of the buddhas, seeing the great lion’s roar of the buddhas, seeing all the practices the buddhas cultivate, seeing the adornments of every kind of the buddhas, seeing the transformations wrought by the buddhas’ bases of supernormal power. These ten clauses are not a scattered list; Chengguan judges them to be ‘the general listing of ten gates, all of which are adornment’ — that is to say, all ten of these count as the Buddha’s adornment, and not only the eighth, the one that carries the two graphs ‘adornment.’ The misreading to be cleared away lies exactly here: the notion that adornment means specifically outward ornament of the sort of marks and signs and jeweled garlands. Chengguan points out expressly, under the eighth clause, that the reason that clause is separately marked ‘adornment’ is that it is spoken with respect to the two adornments, inner and outer — merit and wisdom adorning his mind, form and marks and radiance adorning his body. With this one sentence, the two very long enumerations below (the measureless light and color, the measureless shape and measure) find where they belong: they are the extended exposition of the single branch of ‘adorning the body.’ Brought down to use: when you look at the adornment of one who cultivates, look not only at what marks he displays, but at what his mind takes for its ornament.

The Ten Marks of the Assemblies: The Second Layer of What Is Seen

The second layer of what is seen is the assemblies. The sūtra text lists the assemblies gathered like clouds, pure, vast, of one mark, of many marks, their place, their dwelling, their ripening, their taming, their awesome virtue, closing with “all of these he sees clearly” (the clause ‘the assemblies gathered like clouds’ Chengguan has already counted as the last of the former ten gates; here the ten are listed as the sūtra’s own ten clauses on the assemblies). The way these ten clauses are arranged has to be seen clearly: the first three speak of the gathering of the assembly, its quality, and its extent; the pair in the middle, ‘of one mark · of many marks,’ is the most worth turning over — one and the same assembly may be seen as one and may be seen as many, and they are not two different assemblies; the four clauses after that turn to the standing of the assembly and to the degree of its being taught (ripening · taming), and the last clause comes home to awesome virtue. The misreading to be cleared away here is to read ‘assembly’ as the pomp of a Dharma gathering. It is in fact the whole condition and appearance of those who are being taught: half of a buddha’s adornment shows itself in his assembly. Chengguan judges the text below this to be ‘the marks of adornment separately displayed so as to extend the former two’ — the extended treatment of the assemblies and the extended treatment of the adornment, each a branch of its own. Brought down to use: to see whether a teaching flourishes or declines, look at what sort of people it gathers.

The Measure of the Assemblies: Why the Numbers Are Pushed to the Unspeakably Unspeakable

Next comes a long string laying out measure: the measure of the assemblies equal to Jambudvīpa, equal to the four continents, equal to a small thousand, equal to a middling thousand, equal to a three-thousandfold great thousand; then it turns to the language of ‘filling’ — filling a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands, asaṃkhyeya buddha-lands, on to filling as many buddha-lands as the dust motes of unspeakably unspeakable buddha-lands. The reader is most likely to skip over this place, taking it for mere hyperbole. One question has to be put: why not simply say ‘measureless’ and be done? Because ‘measureless’ is one word, whereas this string is a process. It forces the one who reads to walk up one degree at a time, and as he mounts degree by degree that boundary within him of ‘I can still picture it’ has already been burst open — which is exactly what the string is there to do. The numbers of the Huayan are not there to be remembered; they are there to exhaust the calculating mind. Chengguan judges this to be the single branch of ‘making clear the seeing of their measure,’ standing as one of three together with ‘seeing the substance and marks of the assemblies’ before it and ‘seeing the working of the buddhas’ after it. Brought down to use: if you read a great number and your mind does not open along with it, the number has been read for nothing.

The Manifestations of the Buddhas Within the Place of Awakening: The Third Layer of What Is Seen

After the seeing of the assemblies, the sūtra text returns to the buddhas — “he also sees the buddhas, within the places of awakening of those assemblies, manifesting marks of every kind, times of every kind, lands of every kind, transformations of every kind, spiritual penetrations of every kind, adornments of every kind, sovereignties of every kind, shapes and measures of every kind, and undertakings of every kind.” Chengguan judges this to be ‘seeing the working of the buddhas.’ These nine ‘of every kind’ have to teach one thing clearly: the ten matters of seeing the buddhas above spoke of the Buddha’s virtue, while here it speaks of the Buddha’s working, and working is manifested with respect to the assembly — one and the same buddha manifests, in this assembly, this mark and this time and this land, and in that assembly, that mark and that time and that land. The misreading to be cleared away is to take the Buddha’s manifesting for the Buddha’s wanting to change his dress. That the manifesting is of every kind is because those whose capacities it meets are of every kind. Brought down to use: do not take the one buddha-mark you happen to have seen for the Buddha’s fixed mark.

The Nineteen Clauses of Seeing One’s Own Body: In Seeing the Buddha One Also Sees Oneself

This section is the most peculiar: the bodhisattva does not only see buddhas and assemblies, he also sees himself. The sūtra text gives nineteen clauses in a row, saying that he also sees his own body going to those assemblies, preaching the Dharma there, receiving and upholding the words of the Buddha, well knowing dependent origination, dwelling in space, dwelling in the dharma-body, giving rise to no defiling attachment, not abiding in discrimination, without weariness, on to entering universally into all kinds of wisdom, all kinds of meaning, all the grounds, all the destinies, all kinds of skillful means, standing before the buddhas, all the powers, suchness, non-contention, all dharmas. One question has to be put: seeing one’s own body — is that not the view of a self? Look at the way it is arranged and it becomes clear — the first few clauses are still marks of action (going, preaching, receiving and upholding), the middle turns to what is dwelt in (space, the dharma-body), then it turns to what is absent (no defiling attachment, no discrimination, no weariness), and the last ten clauses make ‘entering universally’ seven times and ‘knowing universally’ and ‘dwelling universally’ three times (knowing universally all kinds of meaning · knowing universally all kinds of skillful means · dwelling universally before the buddhas). That is to say, the more this ‘own body’ is spoken of, the less it is a self standing there, and the more it is one entering after another. Chengguan here judges only ‘it makes clear the seeing of oneself, and may be understood as it stands,’ and does not explain in detail, precisely because the shape of the text is plain in itself. The misreading to be cleared away is to read it as the satisfaction of a self-visualization brought off. Brought down to use: if in cultivation you see yourself doing something, look at whether that ‘self’ is growing more solid or growing more open.

No Discrimination in the Seeing: Dharmas Do Not Say of Themselves That They Express or Are Expressed

After the nineteen clauses the sūtra text suddenly draws in: “when he sees in this way, he does not discriminate lands, he does not discriminate sentient beings, he does not discriminate buddhas, he does not discriminate dharmas; he is not attached to the body, he is not attached to the deeds of the body, he is not attached to mind, he is not attached to mentation.” Four not-discriminatings and four not-being-attacheds wash over all the ‘seeing’ that has gone before at one stroke. One question has to be put: if there is no discriminating, can there still be any seeing? The sūtra text gives its own simile — it is as with all dharmas: they do not discriminate their own nature, nor do they discriminate sound, and yet their own nature is not abandoned and their names do not perish. Chengguan glosses this by saying that this simile makes clear that which expresses and that which is expressed: dharmas do not say of themselves ‘we are that which expresses and that which is expressed,’ and yet they have never let go of that which expresses and that which is expressed, and by this it is a simile for knowing by way of non-discrimination. At the place of joining, the sūtra text puts it with the utmost precision — he does not abandon practice, he does what accords with the world, and yet toward these two he has no attachment at all. So the misreading to be cleared away is to read non-discrimination as failing to distinguish, as not knowing. Non-discrimination is not raising a reckoning of taking and rejecting upon what is seen; it is not wiping out what is seen. Brought down to use: to do a work and yet not set up a self upon what is done — this is the bottom of every graph ‘see’ in this whole passage.

The Setting Out of the Chapter-Headings: Four Kinds of Adornment Clear All at Once

From this section on, the writing turns into the single branch of ‘the extended treatment of the adornment.’ The sūtra text first sets up one sentence of general statement — “the bodhisattva-mahāsattva sees the Buddha’s measureless light and color and measureless shape and marks, perfectly accomplished, equal and pure; each and every one present before him, clearly and distinctly witnessed and known.” Chengguan judges this to be ‘first the setting out of the chapter-headings, briefly raising four kinds of adornment, all clearly witnessed and known,’ and points out that the text below explains them separately according to these four headings: first explaining the measureless light and color, second the measureless shape and marks, third the perfect accomplishment, fourth the equal purity. With this table of headings in hand, the two great enumerations below, daunting as they look, have a skeleton, and are no longer a boundless spreading-out. What has to be taught clearly here is the four graphs ‘clearly and distinctly witnessed and known’: not seen in a haze, but each and every one present before him and distinctly so. The misreading to be cleared away is the notion that what is seen in deep samādhi must be a blur. What is seen in this samādhi is on the contrary clearer than what ordinary people see. Brought down to use: the depth of samādhi is measured by how clearly one sees, not by how strangely one sees.

Measureless Light and Color and Measureless Shape and Measure: From One Fathom to the Unspeakably Unspeakable

The first heading explains the measureless light and color: or he sees radiance of every kind, the halo one fathom, the color of the sun at its height, a subtle and wondrous light and color, a pure color, the color of yellow gold, the color of adamant, a deep blue color, a boundless color, the color of a great blue maṇi jewel. The second heading explains the measureless shape and marks: from seven cubits, eight cubits, nine cubits, ten cubits, to twenty cubits, thirty cubits, on to a hundred cubits and a thousand cubits; then it turns to the measures of the krośa and the yojana; then it turns to Jambudvīpa, the four continents, the small thousand, the middling thousand, the great thousand; then it turns to a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of great-thousand world-systems, on to the measure of unspeakably unspeakable great-thousand world-systems. The teaching of these two headings lies in their ‘starting point’: the light and color start from ‘the halo one fathom’ — the length of a man’s two arms outstretched; the shape and measure start from ‘seven cubits’ — no more than a little taller than an ordinary man. One question has to be put: since the Buddha’s body can be as great as unspeakably unspeakable worlds, why start from seven cubits? Precisely because what is to be said is not how great the Buddha’s body is, but that the Buddha’s body has no fixed measure. Starting from the smallest and pushing to the greatest, neither end is the truth of the Buddha’s body, and neither is any single degree in between. The third heading explains the perfect accomplishment, and the fourth explains the equal purity — the sūtra text closes with the net of radiance equalling the Dharma realm, illumining everything without exception, and with seeing again the Buddha’s body to be without defiling attachment, without obstruction, supremely wondrous and pure. Chengguan points out that the fourth heading ‘also takes in the two inner adornments,’ answering back to the earlier sense of ‘merit and wisdom adorning his mind.’ Brought down to use: the buddha-mark that you see is your measure, not the Buddha’s measure.

The Simile of Space and the Simile of the Moon’s Orb: The Dharma-Nature Body and the Truly Constant Form-Body

The four headings having been explained, it turns to the three similes. The first simile takes space: within the hole of a mustard seed eaten by a worm space does not become the less, and within numberless worlds it does not become the broader; and the Buddha’s body is likewise, when seen as great nothing is added, when seen as small nothing is taken away. Chengguan glosses this by saying that this is a simile for the dharma-nature body’s having nothing that can be increased or decreased — the greatness or smallness of space is spoken of with respect to the world and to the mustard seed, and not that the substance of space itself has greatness or smallness, just as the dharma-nature body takes on difference according to the vessel. The second simile takes the orb of the moon: the people of Jambudvīpa see the moon’s shape as small and the moon does not decrease, those who dwell within the moon see its shape as great and the moon does not increase. Chengguan glosses this by saying that this is a simile for the substance of the truly constant form-body not altering, there being nearness and farness in the witnessing and the seeing differing according to mind; and he points out expressly that the former simile is a simile only for the Buddha’s body, while this simile is a simile also for the light and color and for the perfect accomplishment. The division of labor between the two similes has to be taught clearly: the simile of space speaks of the nature-body, the simile of the moon speaks of the form-body; the one clears away the clinging that ‘the Buddha’s body has size,’ the other clears away the doubt that ‘if what is seen differs then there must be two buddhas.’ The misreading to be cleared away is to take the two similes for a repetition. Brought down to use: of one and the same buddha, what you see and what I see differ, and there is no need to contend over whose seeing is the true one — what is contended over is mind, not the Buddha.

The Simile of the Realm Manifested According to Mind: Purity and Defilement Lie in the Mind That Sees

The third simile takes the receiving of birth: after a sentient being’s life has ended, when he is about to receive birth, what is seen is not apart from mind and what is seen is pure; the bodhisattva is not apart from this very deep samādhi, and what is seen is likewise pure. This simile is the shortest, and yet it is where the three similes come to rest. Chengguan glosses this by saying that it is a simile for the ‘purity’ above — if the bodhisattva’s mind is pure then the buddhas he sees are pure; as for the Tathāgata himself, what purity is there and what defilement? This one question turns the whole passage’s graph ‘see’ over on its bottom: after so much has been said of the adornment that is seen, here it is pointed out that the purity or impurity of the adornment hangs upon the mind that sees. The misreading to be cleared away is to read it as mind-only with no object at all — the sūtra text says ‘not apart from mind,’ it does not say that there is no buddha to be seen. Brought down to use: if one who cultivates sees the buddha-realm as coarse and poor, he need not first doubt the Buddha; let him first look at his mind.

The First and Second of the Samādhi’s Seven Benefits: The Swift Dharmas and the Seals of the Dharma

From here on is the second great part of the whole passage, which Chengguan judges to be ‘making clear the benefits of the samādhi,’ raising seven benefits in all, each of which is set off at its head by a ‘Sons of the Buddha.’ The first benefit is the swift accomplishing of practice and vow: ten kinds of swift dharma — swiftly increasing all the practices and bringing the great vows to fullness, swiftly illumining the world with the light of the Dharma, swiftly turning the wheel of the Dharma by skillful means and delivering sentient beings, swiftly manifesting buddha-lands in accord with the deeds of sentient beings, swiftly entering into the ten powers by the wisdom of equality, swiftly dwelling together with all the Tathāgatas, swiftly crushing the armies of Māra by the power of great loving-kindness, swiftly cutting off the doubts of sentient beings and causing gladness to arise, swiftly manifesting spiritual transformations in accord with their superior understanding, swiftly purifying all the worlds with the words of wondrous dharmas. The ‘swift’ of these ten clauses has to be taught clearly: it is not haste, it is unimpededness. Since there is already no discriminating and no attachment, the practice naturally does not wait to be pushed. The second benefit is the seals of the dharma being the same as the Buddha’s: the ten clauses all open with ‘the same as all the buddhas past, future, and present’ or ‘the same as the Tathāgatas,’ and Chengguan judges them as ten clauses in five pairs — the first two are sameness in merit and wisdom (the equal roots of goodness and the dharma-body of wisdom), the next two sameness in the objects and knowledge of the two truths (dwelling in the dharma of non-duality and contemplating the realms of the three times as equal), the next two sameness in substance and function (penetrating the Dharma realm unobstructedly and the exercise of the ten powers unobstructed), the next two sameness in the two benefits (forever cutting off the two practices and dwelling in non-contention, and teaching and transforming sentient beings without ceasing), the last two sameness in skillfulness and in equality (skillfulness in wisdom and in meaning, and equality without duality with all buddhas). With these five pairs in hand, the ten clauses are no longer ten matters set side by side, but five groups standing over against each other. Brought down to use: the ‘seal’ of sealing all dharmas seals whether one is the same as the Buddha, not whether one differs from other people.

The Third of the Seven Benefits: The Ten Names of Forming the Person by Virtue

The third benefit Chengguan names ‘the benefit of forming the person by virtue.’ The sentence-pattern of the sūtra text is a string of ‘he is one who is such-and-such, because of such-and-such’ — he is one without a teacher, because he enters of himself into all the dharmas of the buddhas without being taught by another; he is a man of stature, because he can awaken all sentient beings; he is one who is pure, because he knows that the nature of mind is fundamentally pure; he is one who is foremost, because he can deliver all the worlds; he is one who comforts, because he can open the understanding of all sentient beings; he is one who dwells firmly, because he causes those who do not yet dwell in the lineage of a buddha to come to dwell there; he is one who knows what is real, because he enters the gate of omniscience; he is one without any differing thought, because what he says has no duality in it; he is one who dwells in the treasury of the Dharma, because he vows to know fully all the dharmas of the buddhas; he is one who can rain down the rain of Dharma, because he satisfies all in accord with what their minds delight in. What has to be taught clearly is where these ten names come from — every clause gives first the name and then the ground, and not one of the grounds given is ‘because he has cultivated for a long time’; all of them are what he can do. This is establishing a name by virtue, not conferring a name by station. Among them the clause ‘he is one who is pure, because he knows that the nature of mind is fundamentally pure’ matters most: purity is established not in having washed something clean, but in knowing what is fundamentally clean. The misreading to be cleared away is to read these ten clauses as words of praise. They are in fact a standard of judgement. Brought down to use: to ask whether you deserve these names is to ask whether the things after those graphs ‘because’ can be done or not.

The Fourth of the Seven Benefits: The Simile of Śakra’s Jewel and the Ten Vast Treasuries of Wisdom

The fourth benefit Chengguan names ‘the benefit of the comprehending of the wisdom-virtue,’ and it is the only one of the benefits in the whole passage that raises simile and joining together. The simile takes Śakra: the god-king sets a maṇi jewel within his topknot, and by the power of the jewel his awesome light grows the more blazing; at the first obtaining of this jewel he obtains ten dharmas — form and marks, bodily shape, manifestation, retinue, the goods that sustain life, voice, spiritual penetration, sovereignty, understanding by insight, the functioning of wisdom — all of which go beyond all the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. At the place of joining it says that at the first obtaining of this samādhi the bodhisattva obtains ten kinds of vast treasury of wisdom: the wisdom that illumines all buddha-lands, the wisdom that knows the receiving of birth by all sentient beings, the wisdom that universally works transformations throughout the three times, the wisdom that universally enters the bodies of all buddhas, the wisdom that penetrates all the dharmas of the buddhas, the wisdom that universally gathers in all pure dharmas, the wisdom that universally causes all sentient beings to enter the dharma-body, the wisdom that sees all dharmas present before it with the universal eye made pure, the wisdom of complete sovereignty that has reached the far shore, the wisdom that dwells in all vast dharmas and exhausts them universally with nothing left over. Chengguan here matches them clause by clause: first, the buddha-lands join to form and marks; second, sentient beings join to bodily shape; third, transformation joins to manifestation; fourth, entering the buddhas joins to retinue — because they are host and guest to one another as a retinue is; fifth, penetrating the Dharma of the buddhas is the goods that sustain life and aid the path; sixth, gathering in the pure dharmas universally is the perfect voice displayed to people; seventh, causing all to enter the Dharma is precisely spiritual penetration; eighth, the purity of the universal eye joins, surpassingly, to understanding by insight; ninth, sovereignty joins back to sovereignty; tenth, dwelling in the dharmas joins to the functioning of wisdom; and he points out that the eighth and ninth clauses are out of order because, though the substance of wisdom is one, it differs according to what is known. The four graphs ‘at the first obtaining he then obtains’ within the simile have to be taught clearly: it is not that after obtaining the jewel the awesome light grows slowly, but that at one obtaining he surpasses at once. The misreading to be cleared away is to read the treasuries of wisdom as learning piled up. A treasury comprehends; it does not store. Brought down to use: to truly obtain one dharma is to change one’s standing on the instant, without waiting for accumulation.

The Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh of the Seven Benefits: The Body of Awesome Virtue · Bringing Others to Fullness · Turning and Doing the Buddha’s Work

The fifth benefit is the body’s awesome power surpassing: ten kinds of body of utmost pure awesome virtue, every clause of which opens with ‘for the sake of such-and-such’ and closes with the deed done — for the sake of illumining unspeakably unspeakable worlds he sends forth wheels of light; for the sake of making the worlds all pure he sends forth wheels of light of measureless forms and marks; for the sake of taming sentient beings he sends forth wheels of light; for the sake of drawing near to the buddhas he conjures bodies; for the sake of serving and making offerings he rains down clouds of incense and flowers; for the sake of making offerings to the buddhas and taming sentient beings he conjures music within each and every pore; for the sake of ripening sentient beings he manifests sovereign spiritual transformations; for the sake of asking about the Dharma he passes beyond unspeakably unspeakable worlds in a single step; so that seeing and hearing may not be in vain he manifests a body of pure forms and marks whose crown none can see; for the sake of disclosing the secret dharmas he sends forth unspeakably unspeakable sounds and words. Note that not one of these ten clauses is for himself. The sixth benefit is the bringing of others to fullness: he can cause sentient beings to get to see the Buddha, to believe deeply in the Buddha, to hear the Dharma, to know that there are buddha-worlds, to see the spiritual transformations of the Buddha, to call to mind the deeds they have amassed, to have the mind of concentration made full, to enter the purity of the Buddha, to give rise to the mind of awakening, to bring the wisdom of a buddha to fullness. The sequence of these ten clauses is one whole path — from getting to see, to believing deeply; from hearing the Dharma, to knowing that there are buddha-lands; from seeing the spiritual transformations, to reflecting upon one’s own deeds; and then to concentration of mind, entering purity, giving rise to the mind of awakening, and fullness. The seventh benefit is the turning and doing of the Buddha’s work: doing the Buddha’s work by voice, by form and shape, by calling to mind, by shaking the worlds, by awakening through skillful means, by manifesting marks within a dream, by sending forth great radiance, by cultivating the practice of a bodhisattva, by accomplishing perfect awakening, by turning the wondrous wheel of the Dharma, by displaying a life-span spent dwelling in the world, by displaying parinirvāṇa — and every clause has attached to it a ground that is for the sake of sentient beings. The last two clauses in particular have to be taught clearly: dwelling in the world is the Buddha’s work, and nirvāṇa is the Buddha’s work too — the ground for displaying parinirvāṇa is ‘because he knows that sentient beings will give rise to weariness.’ Chengguan judges both the sixth and the seventh benefits to be ‘first taking up what precedes and raising what follows, afterward questioning and listing the names and marks,’ from which it may be seen that these three benefits issue forth layer upon layer: first there is the body, and only then can others be brought to fullness; others having been brought to fullness, only then is the doing of the Buddha’s work spoken of. The misreading to be cleared away is to read the Buddha’s work as the ritual of a Dharma assembly. Whatever can turn sentient beings about is the Buddha’s work. Brought down to use: even a leaving of the stage can be a teaching.

The Concluding Name: Skillful Wisdom

The whole passage closes with one sentence: this is what is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s skillful wisdom of the seventh great samādhi of fully knowing the buddha-adornments of all worlds. Looking back over the whole passage it comes clear — entering the ten directions in due order is the gate of the skillfulness, seeing the buddhas and seeing the assemblies and seeing one’s own body is the field of the skillfulness, not discriminating and not being attached in the seeing is the marrow of the skillfulness, the three similes are the showing forth of the skillfulness, and the seven benefits are the effect of the skillfulness. And that ‘fully knowing the buddha-adornments of all worlds’ can serve as the name of the samādhi is just as was pointed out at the repeated questioning: the weight lies not on ‘fully knowing all worlds’ but on the three graphs ‘the buddha-adornments’ — since the adornment that is seen runs through both the inner and the outer adornments, what this samādhi accomplishes is the power to see the whole adornment of the mind and body of every buddha, while oneself is not bound by the marks that are seen.

Lineage

Two tracks of divergent explanation stand side by side upon this passage. Chengguan, following the sequence of the sūtra text, sets up an outline of two parts — first making clear the substance and function of the samādhi, afterward making clear the benefits of the samādhi — and beneath the substance and function opens the questioning and explanation, the ten gates of adornment, the extended treatment of the assemblies (seeing others · seeing oneself · the seeing itself) and the extended treatment of the adornment (the four headings explained separately · the three similes), and beneath the benefits opens seven benefits, and under the fourth benefit matches clause by clause the ten matters within the simile with the ten wisdoms within the joining, explaining of himself the ground where the order does not follow. Li Tongxuan, on the other hand, does not enter into the outline at all but takes only the ground of the establishing of the name, explaining this samādhi thus: it makes clear that this bodhisattva can enter everywhere into all the worlds of the ten directions and see all the teaching and transforming adornment that all the buddhas possess, that he can see it all to the very end and serve and make offerings, and that the Dharma he hears he enters universally into all the destinies, and so forth, all of it to the very end — and by this the name is established; while as for the sense of the text within the passage, he declares that the sūtra itself sets it forth in full and does not explain it over again. The one judges the structure by following the text; the other explains the sense of the name by setting forth the Dharma; and the two are far apart in fullness and brevity. The two tracks run side by side; both are the settled sayings of the ancient masters, and they are recorded without adjudication.

The sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka has no Chapter on the Ten Samādhis, and therefore neither Fazang’s Tanxuan ji nor Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji has any outline-explanation of this chapter; Chengguan’s Yanyi chao likewise has no text citing and explaining this passage; and in the treatises of the kind that cite the sūtra separately, such as the Shidi jing lun, this chapter is not found. In this unit, both the parallel translations and these several houses are honestly marked as lacking — and this itself is worth setting down: the Chapter on the Ten Samādhis is a chapter newly added in the eighty-fascicle text, and the weight of its commentarial explanation falls almost entirely upon Chengguan alone; one who reads this chapter should know that the foundation of its apparatus is of an altogether different kind from the layered multiplicity of houses that attends the Chapter on the Ten Grounds.