華嚴經 品三十五 如來隨好光明功德品Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Merit of the Light of the Secondary Signs of the Tathāgata

This chapter carries on from the preceding Chapter on the Ocean of Marks of the Ten Bodies of the Tathāgata and distinguishes the 「好」 tr. “sign”: beyond the marks a secondary sign is separately set up, and the virtue of the sign is inferior to that of the marks, while its working accomplishes a great benefit all at once — from within one secondary sign beneath the feet, one light shines through worlds as many as the dust motes of a koṭi of nayutas of buddha-lands, and the beings of Avīci who undergo the utmost suffering, upon meeting it, at once end their lives there and are born in heaven. Having been born in heaven, a heavenly drum gives forth its sound and expounds the Dharma for them: the sound does not come from the ten quarters, the recompense of karma does not come from the ten quarters, and the hell-body too does not come from the ten quarters; the images within a crystal mirror neither enter nor go out, and therefore all deeds, though able to bring forth their fruits of recompense, have no place they come from and no place they go to — and to know this is true repentance. Chengguan judges this chapter to be 「劣德之用，用成頓益，翻顯大相德難思」 tr. “a working of inferior virtue, whose working accomplishes an immediate benefit, and which turns back to display that the virtue of the great marks is hard to conceive”, while Li Tongxuan takes the method of repenting and removing spoken by the heavenly drum in this chapter as his warrant for obtaining the ten grounds in three lives.

I. Doctrinal Outline and Placement

The reason for its coming — Chengguan ties this chapter to the preceding Chapter on the Ocean of Marks of the Ten Bodies of the Tathāgata:

「初來意者，前品明相、此品辨好，相好雖殊，俱用嚴身，以答前身及眼等兼自在問。好依相有，德劣於相，故次明之。劣德之用，用成頓益，翻顯大相德難思矣。」 tr. “First, the reason for its coming: the preceding chapter makes clear the marks, and this chapter distinguishes the signs. Marks and signs, though they differ, both serve to adorn the body, and thus answer the earlier questions upon the body and the eye and the rest, together with sovereign mastery. The signs depend upon the marks and their virtue is inferior to the marks, and so they are made clear next. A working of inferior virtue, whose working accomplishes an immediate benefit, turns back to display that the virtue of the great marks is hard to conceive.” 〔T35n1735 0866c28〕

The explanation of the name —

「二釋名者，如來標人表德，隨好等顯德依人。隨好是體，隨逐大相，益姿好故。光明者用，功德者德，謂從好發光，光能益物，顯好之德故以為名。如來之隨好等，亦如來有隨好等，通二釋也。」 tr. “Second, the explanation of the name: ‘Tathāgata’ marks out the person and betokens the virtue, and ‘secondary signs’ and the rest display that the virtue rests upon the person. The secondary sign is the substance, following upon the great marks, because it adds to the comeliness of the form. ‘Light’ is the function, and ‘merit’ is the virtue — that is, from the sign light goes forth, and the light is able to benefit beings, and because it displays the virtue of the sign it is taken for the name. ‘The secondary signs of the Tathāgata,’ and also ‘the Tathāgata has secondary signs’ — both explanations run through it.” 〔T35n1735 0867a02〕

The tenet and aim — 「三宗趣者，明好勝德為宗，令物敬修為趣。」 tr. “Third, the tenet and aim: to make clear the excellent virtue of the signs is the tenet; to make beings revere and cultivate is the aim.” 〔T35n1735 0867a07〕

The great outline in explaining the text — 「次釋文，中二：先略、後廣。略中二：先標果好、二「佛子我為」下舉因對顯。」 tr. “Next, explaining the text, wherein there are two: first the summary, afterward the full. Within the summary there are two: first, marking out the signs of the fruition; second, from ‘Sons of the Buddha, when I was’ onward, raising the causal stage to set it over against them and display them.” 〔T35n1735 0867a09〕

The outline of the heavenly-drum passage (Chengguan, rank by rank · cited by the first words of each clause) — from 「時諸天子」 tr. “then the sons of the gods” onward, having heard, they give rise to doubt 〔T35n1735 0867b18〕; third, from 「是時天鼓」 tr. “at that time the heavenly drum” onward, the general showing 〔the same passage〕; from 「今者」 tr. “now” onward, the exhortation to go and increase goodness 〔0867c06〕; fifth, 「諸天子如我天鼓非男……」 tr. “sons of the gods, it is as with me, this heavenly drum, neither male …” 〔the same passage〕; from 「天子眾」 tr. “the host of the sons of the gods” onward, they raise the mind and wish to go, and fifth, from 「時天鼓中出聲告」 tr. “then from within the heavenly drum a sound came forth telling them” onward 〔0867c14〕; third, from 「爾時天鼓」 tr. “at that time the heavenly drum” onward, the right teaching according to the Dharma, and the right teaching of contemplating sin 〔0868b03〕; second, from 「諸天子如我天鼓」 tr. “sons of the gods, it is as with me, this heavenly drum” onward, contemplating the four obstructions altogether 〔0868b12〕.

II. Terminology

III. Similes and Rhetoric

(1) The simile of the heavenly drum (the chief simile of this chapter, in three faces) — 「如我說我，而不著我，不著我所」 tr. “it is as when I say ‘I’ and yet do not cling to a self, nor cling to what belongs to a self”, 「如我音聲不從東方來，不從南西北方、四維上下來」 tr. “it is as with my sound, which does not come from the east, nor come from the south, the west, the north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, or the nadir” 〔T10n0279 0256a04・0256a07〕; 「如我天鼓，非男非女，而能出生無量無邊不思議事」 tr. “it is as with me, this heavenly drum, neither male nor female, and yet able to bring forth measureless, boundless, inconceivable things” 〔0256b04〕:

• The ground of the simile: the heavenly drum declaring for itself the nature of its own sound.
• The body of the simile: the buddhas say of themselves that they are buddhas and yet do not cling to a self · the becoming of a buddha through the recompense of karma does not come from the ten quarters · the sons and daughters of the gods are neither male nor female and yet enjoy palaces and gardens.
• The sense displayed: the speaker is the ground of the simile, and to expound the Dharma is to expound himself — herein lies what is singular in this chapter: the heavenly drum that can speak takes its own self for the simile, and therefore what it says of having no place to come from is, in that very moment, verified in itself.

(2) The simile of the hell-body — 「譬如汝等昔在地獄，地獄及身非十方來，但由於汝顛倒惡業愚癡纏縛，生地獄身，此無根本、無有來處」 tr. “it is as with your being in the hells in former times: that hell and that body did not come from the ten quarters; it was only through your inverted evil deeds and the entanglement of delusion that a hell-body was born, and this body has no root and no place it comes from” 〔T10n0279 0256a09〕: the sense displayed: the hearers’ own past experience is taken for the ground of the simile, so as to prove that 「無根本、無有來處」 tr. “no root and no place it comes from” is no abstruse talk.

(3) The simile of the palaces and instruments of pleasure of Sumeru — 「譬如須彌山王有三十三天上妙宮殿種種樂具，而此樂具非十方來」 tr. “it is as with the exquisite palaces and manifold instruments of pleasure of the Thirty-Three Gods upon Sumeru, king of mountains: those instruments of pleasure do not come from the ten quarters” 〔0256a16〕: the sense displayed: the surroundings called forth by the recompense of karma appear, and yet have no place they come from.

(4) The simile of the kalpa-fire burning Sumeru — 「譬如劫火燒須彌山，悉令除盡，無餘可得；貪欲纏心亦復如是，終不能生念佛之意」 tr. “it is as when the fire at the end of the kalpa burns Sumeru, causing it to be wholly done away with so that nothing at all is left; the entanglement of greed and desire about the mind is likewise — in the end the intention of mindfulness of the Buddha cannot arise” 〔0256a27〕: the sense displayed: greed and desire are to the mind of mindfulness of the Buddha as the kalpa-fire is to Sumeru — it does not diminish it but exhausts it.

(5) The simile of the crystal mirror — 「如有玻瓈鏡，名為：能照，清淨鑒徹，與十世界其量正等……彼諸影像可得說言來入鏡中、從鏡去不」 tr. “suppose there were a crystal mirror, named Able to Shine, pure and reflecting through and through, exactly equal in measure to ten worlds … can those reflected images be said to enter into the mirror and to go out from the mirror?” 〔0256c21〕:

• The ground of the simile: the images within the mirror neither enter from without nor go out from the mirror.
• The body of the simile: all deeds, though able to bring forth the fruits of recompense of karma, have no place they come from and no place they go to.
• The sense displayed: the ground of repentance — because deeds have no coming and going, they can be repented; because deeds are not annihilated, they must be repented.

(6) The simile of the illusionist — 「譬如幻師幻惑人眼，當知諸業亦復如是。若如是知，是真實懺悔」 tr. “it is as when an illusionist deludes the eyes of men: know that the manifold deeds are likewise. If one knows in this way, this is true repentance” 〔0256c28〕: the sense displayed: with illusion the foregoing similes are gathered up, and the whole comes home to the definition of 「真實懺悔」 tr. “true repentance”.

(7) The simile of a monk entering the fourth dhyāna — 「若有眾生身蒙香者，其身安樂，譬如比丘入第四禪，一切業障皆得銷滅」 tr. “if there are beings whose bodies receive that incense, their bodies are at ease, as when a monk enters the fourth dhyāna, and all obstructions of karma are melted away” 〔0257a16〕: the sense displayed: the benefit of the clouds of incense is measured by the joy of a state of concentration.

(8) The simile of the Tathāgata Moon Wisdom of the world Bright Mirror — 「譬如明鏡世界月智如來，常有無量諸世界中比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷等化現其身而來聽法」 tr. “it is as with the Tathāgata Moon Wisdom of the world Bright Mirror: there are ever monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen from measureless worlds who manifest their bodies and come to hear the Dharma” 〔0257a26〕: the sense displayed: that hearing the name assures birth in that land figures how meeting the light of the golden-net wheel-turning king assures the tenth ground.

(9) The simile of seeing the Brahmā palaces upon the first dhyāna — 「如得初禪，雖未命終，見梵天處所有宮殿而得受於梵世安樂」 tr. “it is as with one who has obtained the first dhyāna: though he has not yet ended his life, he sees all the palaces in the place of Brahmā and is able to receive the ease and joy of the Brahmā world” 〔T10n0279 0257b04〕: the sense displayed: not yet arrived and yet already receiving its joy — figuring how one who meets the light has not yet arrived at the tenth ground and yet already obtains the portion of that station.

(10) The simile of the dust motes and the eighty turns — 「假使有人以億那由他佛剎碎為微塵……如是次第展轉乃至經八十返」 tr. “suppose a man were to crush a koṭi of nayutas of buddha-lands into dust motes … and thus in due order, turn after turn, even to the passing of eighty turns” 〔0257b10・0257b25〕: the sense displayed: by a number beyond all reckoning is displayed the compass of what the pure fleshly eye sees clearly within a single thought.

IV. Collation with Parallel Translations

The Chinese witnesses for this chapter: Śikṣānanda, T279 (the base text · the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Secondary Signs of the Tathāgata, chapter thirty-five) · Buddhabhadra, T278 (the Jin rendering of the sixty-fascicle text · the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Lesser Marks of the Buddha, chapter thirty · fascicles thirty-two and thirty-three 〔T09n0278 0605a04–0607a05〕). The forty-fascicle T293 has only the Chapter on Entering the Inconceivable Realm of Liberation, the Practices and Vows of Samantabhadra, and has no parallel rendering of this chapter; it is set down as lacking according to the fact.

Passage One　The Chapter Title and the Opening

What the variants are tied to: (a) The chapter title in the eighty-fascicle text is 「如來隨好光明功德品」 tr. “the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Secondary Signs of the Tathāgata”, and in the sixty-fascicle text 「佛小相光明功德品」 tr. “the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Lesser Marks of the Buddha” — 「隨好」 tr. “secondary sign” against 「小相」 tr. “lesser mark”, both pointing to the fine excellences that lie beyond the marks; a difference of the systems of rendering. (b) In the opening clause the eighty-fascicle text has 「世尊」 tr. “the World-Honored One” and the sixty-fascicle text 「佛」 tr. “the Buddha”; the one addressed in the asking of the Dharma is in both the bodhisattva Jewel Hand. (c) The titles of the Tathāgata in the eighty-fascicle text are 「如來、應、正等覺」 tr. “the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Awakened One”, and in the sixty-fascicle text 「如來、應供、等正覺」 tr. “the Tathāgata, the One Worthy of Offerings, the Rightly and Perfectly Awakened One” 〔T09n0278 0605a06〕.

Passage Two　The Cross-Witness Alignment of the Heavenly-Drum Passage (a note upon method)

In the eighty-fascicle text, from 「天中有鼓，名：甚可愛樂」 tr. “in that heaven there is a drum, named Most Delightful” 〔T10n0279 0255c20〕 to 「一切罪惡悉得清淨」 tr. “and all sins and evils are made pure” 〔0256c29〕 stands the whole exposition of the heavenly drum, sounding five times. Within the compass of this chapter in the sixty-fascicle text the word 「鼓」 tr. “drum” yields zero hits (a search of the interval 0605a04–0607a05).

This zero of hits belongs to the difference of the rendering-terms, and does not constitute evidence that ‘the sixty-fascicle text lacks this scene’. Cross-witness alignment is in every case taken by the structure of the scene — who speaks · to whom · what is asked · upon what it rests · what is gained: within this chapter the sixty-fascicle text likewise has the Tathāgata telling Jewel Hand, a sound within the Tuṣita Heaven telling the sons of the gods, and the sons of the gods gaining benefit upon hearing it; only the rendering-term 「天鼓」 tr. “heavenly drum” is not set up (the sixty-fascicle text puts it as words of a sound within the heaven). To search the sixty-fascicle text with the words of the eighty-fascicle text must yield a false zero, and this is a criterion already established in this edition (in a cross-witness negative proposition it is forbidden to search one witness with the words of another). This section therefore records only the alignment of the two witnesses by the structure of the scene, and makes no judgment of presence or absence.

Passage Three　The Chapter’s Closing Return

What the variants are tied to: the two witnesses take different grounds for the simile in the closing passage (the eighty-fascicle text the dust motes carried through eighty turns, the sixty-fascicle text the crystal pearl of lamp-light), while the structure of the scene is the same (both, with a quantity hard to conceive, come home to the merit and roots of goodness of the samādhi of the station of the wheel-turning king). Recorded in full without adjudication.

V. Scriptural Grounds of Sectarian Doctrine (the doctrinal eye)

(1) An immediate benefit from an inferior virtue — the eye of this chapter lies in the 「好」 tr. “sign”, whose virtue, though inferior to that of the marks, has a working that accomplishes a great benefit all at once: among the forty lights of the secondary sign of the thousand-spoked wheel beneath the feet there is 「有一光，名：清淨功德，能照億那由他佛剎微塵數世界」 tr. “one light, named Pure Merit, able to shine through worlds as many as the dust motes of a koṭi of nayutas of buddha-lands” 〔T10n0279 0255c25〕, and 「阿鼻地獄極苦眾生，遇斯光者，皆悉命終生兜率天」 tr. “those beings in the Avīci hell who undergo the utmost suffering, upon meeting this light, all end their lives there and are born in the Tuṣita Heaven” 〔0255c28〕; and so on to 「若有眾生遇斯光者，皆得菩薩第十地位」 tr. “if there are beings who meet this light, they all obtain the station of the bodhisattva’s tenth ground” 〔0257b07〕. Chengguan judges its sense outright: 「劣德之用，用成頓益，翻顯大相德難思矣。」 tr. “a working of inferior virtue, whose working accomplishes an immediate benefit, turns back to display that the virtue of the great marks is hard to conceive.” 〔T35n1735 0867a01〕

(2) Not coming from the ten quarters (the principle that runs throughout) — this chapter runs 「非十方來」 tr. “it does not come from the ten quarters” through five things: the sound of the heavenly drum 〔0256a06〕・the becoming of a buddha through the recompense of karma 〔0256a06〕・the hell and the body 〔0256a08〕・the light sent forth by the awesome virtue of the bodhisattva 〔0256a14, the passage〕・the palaces and instruments of pleasure of the Thirty-Three Gods 〔0256a14〕. And the powers upon which it rests are marked out positively: 「但以三昧善根力故，般若波羅蜜威德力故，出生如是清淨音聲」 tr. “it is only by the power of the roots of goodness of samādhi, and by the awesome power of prajñā-pāramitā, that a pure sound such as this is brought forth” 〔0256a14, the passage〕 — having no place it comes from is not being without a cause; the cause lies in the roots of goodness of samādhi and in prajñā.

(3) The definition of true repentance — 「菩薩知諸業不從東方來，不從南西北方、四維上下來，而共積集，止住於心；但從顛倒生，無有住處」 tr. “the bodhisattva knows that the manifold deeds do not come from the east, nor come from the south, the west, the north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, or the nadir, but are gathered together in common and come to rest within the mind; they are born only of inversion and have no place where they abide” 〔T10n0279 0256c05〕; 「諸所作業、六趣果報，十方推求悉不可得」 tr. “the manifold deeds that are done and the fruits of recompense in the six destinies, sought for throughout the ten quarters, are altogether not to be found” 〔0256c11〕; the images in the crystal mirror neither enter nor go out, and 「一切諸業亦復如是，雖能出生諸業果報，無來去處」 tr. “all the manifold deeds are likewise: though able to bring forth the fruits of recompense of karma, they have no place they come from and no place they go to” 〔0256c26〕; and the conclusion, 「若如是知，是真實懺悔，一切罪惡悉得清淨」 tr. “if one knows in this way, this is true repentance, and all sins and evils are made pure” 〔0256c29〕. What is repented are the four obstructions: 「悔除一切業障、煩惱障、報障、見障」 tr. “repent and remove all obstructions of karma, obstructions of afflictions, obstructions of recompense, and obstructions of views” 〔0256b27〕, and the form this takes is 「以盡法界眾生數等身……善身業、善語業、善意業，悔除所有諸障過惡」 tr. “with bodies as many as the number of the beings of the whole Dharma realm … good deeds of body, good deeds of speech, and good deeds of mind, repent and remove all the manifold obstructions and faults” 〔0256b28〕.

(4) Deeds are neither annihilated nor permanent — 「一切諸業亦復如是，非生非滅，隨有修集則受其報」 tr. “all the manifold deeds are likewise: neither arising nor ceasing, and according to whoever has cultivated and gathered them, that one undergoes their recompense” 〔0256c14〕; 「若有去來則有斷常，一切諸佛終不演說有斷常法，除為方便成熟眾生」 tr. “if there were a going and a coming, there would be annihilation and permanence; the buddhas in the end do not expound a dharma that has annihilation or permanence, save as a skillful means for bringing beings to ripeness” 〔0256c17〕 — no coming and going, and yet no loss of recompense: this is the guarded border of this chapter’s doctrine of repentance.

(5) The aggregates neither arise nor cease, and the samādhi of the seal of no reliance — 「如我天鼓不生不滅，色、受、想、行、識亦復如是不生不滅。汝等若能於此悟解，應知則入無依印三昧」 tr. “as with me, this heavenly drum, which neither arises nor ceases, so form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness likewise neither arise nor cease. If you are able to awaken and understand herein, know that this is to enter the samādhi of the seal of no reliance” 〔T10n0279 0256b07〕 — from the soundlessness of any place the sound comes from, this chapter points directly to the neither arising nor ceasing of the five aggregates, and gathers it up with the name of a concentration.

(6) The immediate obtaining of a station of fruition — when this Dharma was spoken, the sons of the Tuṣita gods 「得無生法忍」 tr. “obtained the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas” 〔0257a02〕, the sons of the gods of the six heavens of desire gave rise to the mind of awakening, and the daughters of the gods 「皆捨女身，發於無上菩提之意」 tr. “all forsook the body of a woman and gave rise to the intention set upon unsurpassed awakening” 〔0257a04〕; and having heard the vast dedication of Samantabhadra, 「得十地故，獲諸力莊嚴三昧故，以眾生數等清淨三業悔除一切諸重障故」 tr. “because they obtained the ten grounds, because they gained the samādhi adorned with the manifold powers, and because with pure deeds of the three kinds as many as the number of beings they repented and removed all the heavy obstructions” 〔0257a06〕, they thereupon saw the seven-jeweled lotus flowers, the bodhisattvas’ secondary signs sending forth light, and buddhas within the light expounding the Dharma — 「而猶未現離垢三昧少分之力」 tr. “and yet the power of the samādhi of parting from defilement was not displayed even in small part” 〔0257a12〕 — what appears, vast as it is, does not yet reach a small part of that concentration; this clause is the utmost of the measures taken in this chapter.

(7) The number of the eighty-four thousand afflictions — 「其內具有五百煩惱，其外亦有五百煩惱，貪行多者二萬一千，瞋行多者二萬一千，癡行多者二萬一千，等分行者二萬一千，了知如是悉是虛妄」 tr. “within them there are five hundred afflictions, and without them there are five hundred afflictions as well; those in whom the practice of greed is much have twenty-one thousand, those in whom the practice of anger is much have twenty-one thousand, those in whom the practice of delusion is much have twenty-one thousand, and those in whom the three are in equal parts have twenty-one thousand; and they know that all of this is empty and false” 〔0257a19〕 — the four sorts at twenty-one thousand each, eighty-four thousand in all; and what the text of the sūtra enjoins is only 「了知如是悉是虛妄」 tr. “to know that all of this is empty and false”, and having known it, one accomplishes the 「香幢雲自在光明清淨善根」 tr. “roots of goodness of the pure light of the sovereign mastery of the cloud of incense-banners”.

VI. Divergent Interpretations of the Commentators (the ancient masters · with their tenets marked)

Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735 · Yanyi chao T36n1736 (following the text of the eighty-fascicle recension · the principal commentary)

The three gates that open his tenet are as recorded under section I: the reason for its coming is tied to the preceding chapter’s making clear the marks and this chapter’s distinguishing the signs 〔0866c27〕; the explanation of the name divides substance, function, and virtue in three senses, and allows both 「如來之隨好」 tr. “the secondary signs of the Tathāgata” and 「如來有隨好」 tr. “the Tathāgata has secondary signs” as two explanations running through it 〔0867a06〕; the tenet and aim, 「明好勝德為宗，令物敬修為趣」 tr. “to make clear the excellent virtue of the signs is the tenet, to make beings revere and cultivate is the aim” 〔0867a07〕. In explaining the text, the summary comes first and the full afterward, and within the summary the signs of the fruition are marked out first, and next, from 「佛子我為」 tr. “Sons of the Buddha, when I was” onward, the causal stage is raised and set over against them 〔0867a09〕.

Chengguan’s outline of the heavenly-drum passage: first, 「聞已生疑」 tr. “having heard, they give rise to doubt” 〔0867b18〕; afterward, from 「諸天子」 tr. “sons of the gods” onward, the exhortation is explained, 「於中有六」 tr. “wherein there are six” 〔T35n1735 0867c03〕 — the exhortation to go and increase goodness 〔0867c06〕・raising the mind and wishing to go 〔0867c14〕・the right teaching according to the Dharma・the right teaching of contemplating sin 〔0868b03〕・contemplating the four obstructions altogether 〔0868b12〕, and the rest, which are not a level series of one rank. At the chapter’s end he concludes: 「差別因果竟。此品之末，經來未盡。」 tr. “the differentiated causes and fruits are finished. At the end of this chapter the scripture did not come down complete.” 〔T35n1735 0869c11〕 The Chao opens this at the place of the explanation of the name: 「疏「二釋名」，中二：先辨得名」 tr. “in the commentary’s ‘second, the explanation of the name,’ there are two: first, distinguishing how the name is had” 〔T36n1736 0609c05〕.

Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (the commentary upon the sixty-fascicle text)

The three gates of the explanation of the name, the reason for its coming, and the tenet and aim:

「佛者標人表德，小相者形大辨體，光明者依體起用，功德者用所成益。此則依人顯德，體用為名。二來意者，前品大相各有光明皆照法界，而未顯所照利益之相，故今此品正明益事。為大相難明故辨小相，小相復多但論一相，一相有多時之益且說一時，此一時益復難明，故佛自說也。」 tr. “‘Buddha’ marks out the person and betokens the virtue; ‘lesser marks’ sets them beside the great and distinguishes their substance; ‘light’ is the function raised upon the substance; ‘merit’ is the benefit accomplished by the function. Thus the virtue is displayed upon the person, and substance and function make the name. Second, the reason for its coming: in the preceding chapter the great marks each had their light and all shone upon the Dharma realm, but the aspect of the benefit conferred by that shining was not yet displayed, and so this chapter now makes plain the matter of the benefit. Because the great marks are hard to make clear, the lesser marks are distinguished; and the lesser marks being many, only one mark is discussed; and one mark having benefits at many times, only one time is spoken of; and this benefit of one time being again hard to make clear, the Buddha therefore speaks of it himself.” 〔T35n1733 0400c06〕

The two gates of the tenet and aim:

「三宗趣者，宗明如來相德利用。略作二門：一定分齊者，既三十二相有八十隨好以嚴，則知十蓮花藏微塵數相一一各有塵數等好。……二辨業用者，如八十隨好但嚴形佛生淨信。今此明小相，佛為菩薩時相輪隨好最下位處用，謂放一光照十世界塵數剎，地獄眾生皆得生天，成就十地十眼耳等。即此天子毛孔香普熏眾生，亦得十地白淨輪王。又此輪王放光，復令無量眾生復得十地十眼等。」 tr. “Third, the tenet and aim: the tenet makes clear the beneficial working of the Tathāgata’s virtue of marks. It is opened summarily in two gates. First, settling the compass: since the thirty-two marks are adorned with eighty secondary signs, one knows that each single one of the marks as many as the dust motes of ten lotus-treasuries has signs as many as dust motes. … Second, setting forth the working: the eighty secondary signs merely adorn the form so that beings give rise to pure faith. Here now the lesser marks are made clear — the working, when the Buddha was a bodhisattva, of the secondary sign of the wheel-mark at the lowest of its stations: that is, it sends forth one light shining upon lands as many as the dust motes of ten worlds, and the beings of the hells all obtain birth in heaven and accomplish the ten grounds and the ten kinds of eye and ear and the rest. And the fragrance of the pores of these sons of the gods perfumes beings everywhere, and they too obtain the ten grounds and become white and pure wheel-turning kings. And again this wheel-turning king sends forth light, and causes measureless beings again to obtain the ten grounds and the ten kinds of eye and the rest.” 〔T35n1733 0400c15〕

Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739 (a differing track of betokening the Dharma)

The place of this chapter in Li Tongxuan’s own order of chapters:

「第九〈隨好光明功德品〉於手中放光，照惡道苦，明道滿大悲接俗光也。」 tr. “Ninth, the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Secondary Signs: he sends forth light within his hand, shining upon the sufferings of the evil destinies — this makes clear the light of the fullness of the path and of great compassion gathering in the worldly.” 〔T36n1739 0876a16〕

Taking the method of repenting and removing spoken by the heavenly drum in this chapter as the warrant for obtaining the ten grounds in three lives:

「此福不難即得，如〈隨好光明功德品〉天鼓所說悔除法，以盡法界眾生數等善身口意舌，悔除所有業障。諸天問言：『云何悔除？』天鼓云：『觀業不從東西南北四維上下來，而共積集身心，乃至十方推求悉不可得。』乃至廣說如經。」 tr. “This merit is not hard to obtain at once, as with the method of repenting and removing spoken by the heavenly drum in the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Secondary Signs: with good bodies, mouths, minds, and tongues as many as the number of the beings of the whole Dharma realm, one repents and removes all obstructions of karma. The gods asked: ‘How does one repent and remove?’ The heavenly drum said: ‘Contemplate that deeds do not come from the east, west, south, north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, or the nadir, but are gathered together in common upon body and mind, and, seeking them throughout the ten quarters, they are altogether not to be found.’ And so on at length, as in the sūtra.” 〔T36n1739 0871c03〕

「如上諸天子，總是過去修十信中十勝解業，為中有作惡業墮地獄中，蒙毘盧遮那光照其身，得生兜率天上，得天鼓說法，一時得十地離垢三昧。此為三生得十地果。若信解無作惡業者，一生成佛，如善財是也。」 tr. “The sons of the gods spoken of above are in every case those who in the past cultivated the deeds of the ten excellent understandings within the ten faiths; because in the intermediate state they made evil deeds they fell into the hells, and being shone upon in body by the light of Vairocana they obtained birth in the Tuṣita Heaven, and there had the heavenly drum expound the Dharma, and at one time obtained the ten grounds and the samādhi of parting from defilement. This is obtaining the fruit of the ten grounds in three lives. If one has faith and understanding and makes no evil deeds, one becomes a buddha in one life, as Sudhana did.” 〔T36n1739 0871c10〕

Recorded without adjudication: Chengguan explains this chapter by the sense of substance and function in marks and signs, judging it an immediate benefit from an inferior virtue that turns back to display that the great marks are hard to conceive (the gate of doctrinal sense); Fazang opens the two gates of compass and working, settling the quantity by each of the dust-mote-many marks having dust-mote-many signs (the gate of compass); Li Tongxuan sets up no outline chapter by chapter, but takes the heavenly drum’s method of repenting and removing into his own judgment of becoming a buddha in three lives (the gate of betokening the Dharma) — three tracks running side by side, all of them settled sayings of the ancient masters; they are recorded, and no judgment is made of which is higher.

VII. Cross-Reading and Lineage

• This chapter and the preceding one: the Chapter on the Ocean of Marks of the Ten Bodies of the Tathāgata makes clear the marks and this chapter distinguishes the signs, and Chengguan ties the two chapters together as a pair of marks and signs 〔T35n1735 0866c27〕; this chapter’s judgment that 「好依相有，德劣於相」 tr. “the signs depend upon the marks, and their virtue is inferior to the marks” 〔0866c29〕 must be looked at together with the preceding chapter before the sense of 「翻顯」 tr. “turning back to display” is seen.
• This chapter and the Chapter on the Practice of Samantabhadra: the text of this chapter ties it itself — 「諸天子聞說普賢廣大迴向，得十地故」 tr. “because the sons of the gods heard the vast dedication of Samantabhadra spoken, they obtained the ten grounds” 〔T10n0279 0257a05〕, the power of the dedication being the cause of obtaining the ten grounds; and Chengguan says at the chapter’s end 「差別因果竟。此品之末，經來未盡」 tr. “the differentiated causes and fruits are finished. At the end of this chapter the scripture did not come down complete” 〔T35n1735 0869c11〕, making clear that this chapter is the gathering up of the differentiated causes and fruits, with the practice of Samantabhadra joining on below.
• This chapter and the Chapter on Asaṃkhyeya: in his explanation of the outline of the Chapter on Asaṃkhyeya, Li Tongxuan cites expressly the heavenly-drum passage on repenting and removing from this chapter as his warrant for obtaining the ten grounds in three lives 〔T36n1739 0871c03〕 — this is Li Tongxuan’s own judgment and not what the text of this chapter says outright; his ascription is set down as such.
• The guiding outlines of the Huayan house: a check of the Wujiao zhang T45n1866 · the Shi xuan men T45n1868 · the Fajie xuanjing T45n1883 finds 「天鼓」 tr. “heavenly drum” and 「隨好光明」 tr. “the light of the secondary signs” alike yielding zero hits 〔not found〕. These three books do not take this chapter as a scriptural ground for their guiding outlines; it is set down according to the fact, and nothing is tied on by force.
• Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun T26n1522: 〔not found〕. That treatise explains the Chapter on the Ten Grounds alone, and does not answer to this chapter in structure. Though this chapter repeatedly says 「得菩薩第十地位」 tr. “obtaining the station of the bodhisattva’s tenth ground” 〔T10n0279 0257b08〕, what it makes clear is a benefit obtained all at once upon meeting the light, and not an explanation of the graded aspects of practice of the ten grounds; that treatise is therefore not used to force an explanation of this text.

VIII. Edition Location Register

• Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text): the chapter beginning 〔T10n0279 0255c11〕 – the chapter ending 〔0257c02〕 (from the end of fascicle forty-eight to the beginning of fascicle forty-nine; fascicle forty-eight closes at 0257c03 · fascicle forty-nine opens at 0257c06). The secondary sign Perfect Fullness King 0255c13 · the light sent forth in Tuṣita, Light-Banner King 0255c14 · the beings of the hells leaving suffering, born in heaven, ten kinds of pure eye 0255c16 · the heavenly drum Most Delightful 0255c20 · the drum’s first sounding 0255c21 · the thousand-spoked wheel beneath the feet and the forty lights 0255c24 · the beings of Avīci born in heaven 0255c28 · the drum’s second sounding 0255c29 · the sons of the gods give rise to doubt 0256a03 · the drum declares itself 0256a04 · the sound does not come from the ten quarters 0256a06 · the simile of the hell-body 0256a08 · the simile of the instruments of pleasure upon Sumeru 0256a14 · the exhortation to go and to forsake the five desires 0256a20 · knowing kindness and repaying kindness 0256a24 · neither male nor female · the five aggregates neither arising nor ceasing · the samādhi of the seal of no reliance 0256a27 · seen with the heavenly eye, the descent to birth 0256b12 · a sound comes forth from within the heavenly drum 0256b20 · raising the mind and repenting and removing the four obstructions 0256b25 · the asking how one repents and removes 0256c03 · deeds do not come from any quarter 0256c05 · the simile of the crystal mirror 0256c20 · the benefit of the teaching 0257a01 · the seeing of the seven-jeweled lotus flowers 0257a05 · the clouds of flowers, incense, and canopies 0257a13 · the roots of goodness of the golden-net wheel-turning king 0257a24 · abiding in the station of the wheel-turning king and transforming beings 0257a25 · the simile of the first dhyāna 0257b04 · the light of the maṇi topknot and the obtaining of the tenth ground 0257b06 · the simile of the dust motes 0257b09 · Jewel Hand’s answer 0257b15 · the Buddha speaks and confers a prediction 0257b20 · the eighty turns · the pure fleshly eye 0257b25 · the chapter’s closing 0257c02.
• Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin rendering, the principal parallel for collation): the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Lesser Marks of the Buddha, chapter thirty, the chapter beginning 〔T09n0278 0605a04〕 – ending 〔0607a05〕 (fascicles thirty-two and thirty-three); the opening clause 0605a06 · the simile of the crystal pearl of lamp-light 0606c23.
• Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735: the commentary upon this chapter beginning 0866c27 (the reason for its coming · the explanation of the name · the tenet and aim · the great outline in explaining the text all in the same passage) · having heard, they give rise to doubt 0867b18 · the exhortation to go and increase goodness 0867c06 · raising the mind and wishing to go 0867c14 · the right teaching according to the Dharma 0868b03 · contemplating the four obstructions altogether 0868b12 · the chapter’s closing 0869c11. The Chao T36n1736: the sub-commentary upon this chapter beginning 0609c05.
• Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (the commentary upon the sixty-fascicle text): the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Lesser Marks of the Buddha, chapter thirty, beginning 0400c05 – 0403a13.
• Li Tongxuan, Lun T36n1739: the order of chapters upon this chapter 0876a16 · the citation of the heavenly-drum passage on repenting and removing 0871c01–0871c21.
• The forty-fascicle T293: this chapter has no parallel rendering 〔not found〕.
• Variant readings: within the range of T279 covered by this unit, 〔0255c11〕–〔0257c08〕, the Taishō base text carries 6 collation notes, recorded one by one without adjudication (base reading 【大】｜variant readings of other witnesses, several witnesses separated by ／): 〔0255c22〕善【大】｜菩【宮】 · 〔0256c21〕玻瓈【大】＊｜頗梨【宋】【元】【明】＊（＊同校並繫〔0257b29〕之玻瓈字） · 〔0256c27〕業【大】｜善【宋】【聖】 · 〔0257a18〕銷【大】｜消【宋】【元】【明】 · 〔0257b19〕諭【大】＊｜喻【宋】【元】【明】【宮】＊（＊同校並繫〔0257b21〕〔0257b25〕之諭字） · 〔0257c08〕于【大】｜唐于【明】. (＊ ＝ a Taishō asterisked collation: the same note also governs the remaining occurrences of that graph in the text; for notes of this class the T279 XML supplies no corresp for the recurrences, so the asterisk alone is shown and no second anchor is created.)
• Notes of the original printing, recorded for the record: 1 item (notes of the original Taishō printing / CBETA editorial remarks, carrying no <app> collation and not counted among the Taishō collation notes listed above): 〔0257b19＋〕卷首少缺【聖】.
• A further note upon the variant readings: 2 CBETA emendations (not counted among the Taishō collation notes listed above): 〔0255c11〕【CB】｜大方廣佛華嚴經【大】 · 〔0257b13〕許【CB】｜諸【大】／許【宋】【元】【明】【宮】.
• A further note upon the variant readings: the interlinear notes (notes upon sound and upon collation) were stripped away and recorded at the layer of the source text.