華嚴經 品三十七 如來出現品 · 第一義 出現之相Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Appearance of the Tathāgata · The First Sense: The Marks of the Appearance
一場雨落下來，沒有人數得清有幾滴。
人總想找出那一個原因——佛為什麼出現在世間？普賢一開口就把這條路堵死了：「非以一緣，非以一事」。不是某一刻促成的，是無量劫的發心、慈悲、行願、福智，十種無量都圓滿了，才「成於如來」。
十個譬喻，喻的全是一個世界如何從一場大雨中成立：雲、雨、四種風輪、大地、山海、宮殿。而收尾的那句最硬——「無有生者，無有作者，無有知者，無有成者」，然而世界確實成立了。
所以當眾生說『這是佛的神力造的』，經文立刻回答：「此非如來神力所造。」不是佛不出力，是根本沒有一個在後面拍板的人。把功勞全推給佛，就丟了因緣。
那我能做什麼？頌裡只有一句：「當淨其意如虛空。」不是把心擦亮，是不再往上添。
十個譬喻說完，經文自己承認：這件事本來『無譬諭中說其譬』。
A rain comes down, and no one can count how many drops there are.
People always want to find the one cause — why did a Buddha appear in the world? Samantabhadra, in his first breath, blocks that road: not by one condition, not by one thing. It was not brought about at some single moment; it was measureless eons of rousing the mind, of compassion, of practice and vow, of merit and wisdom — ten measureless things brought to fullness, and only then is a Tathāgata accomplished.
Ten similes, and every one of them likens how a world comes to stand out of one great rain: cloud, rain, four wheels of wind, the great earth, mountains and seas, palaces. And the sentence that closes them is the hardest — there is none that gives birth, none that makes, none that knows, none that accomplishes; and yet the world did indeed come to stand.
So when beings say, this is made by the Buddha’s divine power, the sūtra answers at once: this is not made by the divine power of the Tathāgata. Not that the Buddha lends no strength, but that there is simply no one behind it making the decision. To credit it all to the Buddha is to lose causes and conditions.
Then what is there for me to do? The verses have only one line: make your mind pure as empty space. Not to polish the mind, but to stop adding to it.
The ten similes finished, the sūtra admits it of itself: this matter is, from the first, a simile spoken where no simile can be.
〔T10 0263〕
「佛子！此處不可思議，所謂如來、應、正等覺以無量法而得出現。何以故？非以一緣，非以一事，如來出現而得成就；以十無量百千阿僧祇事而得成就。何等為十？所謂：過去無量攝受一切眾生菩提心所成故，過去無量清淨殊勝志樂所成故，過去無量救護一切眾生大慈大悲所成故，過去無量相續行願所成故，過去無量修諸福智心無厭足所成故，過去無量供養諸佛教化眾生所成故，過去無量智慧方便清淨道所成故，過去無量清淨功德藏所成故，過去無量莊嚴道智所成故，過去無量通達法義所成故。佛子！如是無量阿僧祇法門圓滿，成於如來。佛子！譬如三千大千世界，非以一緣，非以一事，而得成就，以無量緣、無量事，方乃得成。所謂：興布大雲，降霔大雨，四種風輪相續為依。其四者何？一名：能持，能持大水故；二名：能消，能消大水故；三名：建立，建立一切諸處所故；四名：莊嚴，莊嚴分布咸善巧故。如是皆由眾生共業及諸菩薩善根所起，令於其中一切眾生各隨所宜而得受用。佛子！如是等無量因緣乃成三千大千世界，法性如是，無有生者，無有作者，無有知者，無有成者，然彼世界而得成就。如來出現亦復如是，非以一緣，非以一事，而得成就；以無量因緣，無量事相，乃得成就。所謂：曾於過去佛所聽聞受持大法雲雨，因此能起如來四種大智風輪。何等為四？一者念持不忘陀羅尼大智風輪，能持一切如來大法雲雨故；二者出生止觀大智風輪，能消竭一切煩惱故；三者善巧迴向大智風輪，能成就一切善根故；四者出生離垢差別莊嚴大智風輪，令過去所化一切眾生善根清淨，成就如來無漏善根力故。如來如是成等正覺，法性如是，無生無作而得成就。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第一相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
「復次，佛子！譬如三千大千世界將欲成時，大雲降雨，名曰：洪霔，一切方處所不能受、所不能持，唯除大千界將欲成時。佛子！如來、應、正等覺亦復如是，興大法雲，雨大法雨，名：成就如來出現，一切二乘心志狹劣所不能受、所不能持，唯除諸大菩薩心相續力。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第二相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
「復次，佛子！譬如眾生以業力故，大雲降雨，來無所從，去無所至。如來、應、正等覺亦復如是，以諸菩薩善根力故，興大法雲，雨大法雨，亦無所從來，無所至去。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第三相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
「復次，佛子！譬如大雲降霔大雨，大千世界一切眾生，無能知數，若欲算計，徒令發狂；唯大千世界主——摩醯首羅，以過去所修善根力故，乃至一滴無不明了。佛子！如來、應、正等覺亦復如是，興大法雲，雨大法雨，一切眾生、聲聞、獨覺所不能知，若欲思量，心必狂亂；唯除一切世間主——菩薩摩訶薩，以過去所修覺慧力故，乃至一文一句，入眾生心，無不明了。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第四相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
「復次，佛子！譬如大雲降雨之時，有大雲雨，名為：能滅，能滅火災；有大雲雨，名為：能起，能起大水；有大雲雨，名為：能止，能止大水；有大雲雨，名為：能成，能成一切摩尼諸寶；有大雲雨，名為：分別，分別三千大千世界。佛子！如來出現亦復如是，興大法雲，雨大法雨，有大法雨，名為：能滅，能滅一切眾生煩惱；有大法雨，名為：能起，能起一切眾生善根；有大法雨，名為：能止，能止一切眾生見惑；有大法雨，名為：能成，能成一切智慧法寶；有大法雨，名為：分別，分別一切眾生心樂。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第五相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
「復次，佛子！譬如大雲雨一味水，隨其所雨，無量差別。如來出現亦復如是，雨於大悲一味法水，隨宜說法，無量差別。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第六相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
〔T10 0264〕
「復次，佛子！譬如三千大千世界初始成時，先成色界諸天宮殿，次成欲界諸天宮殿，次成於人及餘眾生諸所住處。佛子！如來出現亦復如是，先起菩薩諸行智慧，次起緣覺諸行智慧，次起聲聞善根諸行智慧，次起其餘眾生有為善根諸行智慧。佛子！譬如大雲雨一味水，隨諸眾生善根異故，所起宮殿種種不同。如來大悲一味法雨，隨眾生器而有差別。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第七相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
「復次，佛子！譬如世界初欲成時，有大水生，遍滿三千大千世界；生大蓮華，名：如來出現功德寶莊嚴，遍覆水上，光照十方一切世界。時，摩醯首羅、淨居天等見是華已，即決定知於此劫中有爾所佛出興于世。佛子！爾時，其中有風輪起，名：善淨光明，能成色界諸天宮殿。有風輪起，名：淨光莊嚴，能成欲界諸天宮殿。有風輪起，名：堅密無能壞，能成大小諸輪圍山及金剛山。有風輪起，名：勝高，能成須彌山王。有風輪起，名：不動，能成十大山王。何等為十？所謂：佉陀羅山、仙人山、伏魔山、大伏魔山、持雙山、尼民陀羅山、目真隣陀山、摩訶目真隣陀山、香山、雪山。有風輪起，名為：安住，能成大地。有風輪起，名為：莊嚴，能成地天宮殿、龍宮殿、乾闥婆宮殿。有風輪起，名：無盡藏，能成三千大千世界一切大海。有風輪起，名：普光明藏，能成三千大千世界諸摩尼寶。有風輪起，名：堅固根，能成一切諸如意樹。佛子！大雲所雨一味之水，無有分別；以眾生善根不同故，風輪不同；風輪差別故，世界差別。佛子！如來出現亦復如是，具足一切善根功德，放於無上大智光明，名：不斷如來種不思議智，普照十方一切世界，與諸菩薩一切如來灌頂之記：當成正覺出興於世。佛子！如來出現復有無上大智光明，名：清淨離垢，能成如來無漏無盡智。復有無上大智光明，名：普照，能成如來普入法界不思議智。復有無上大智光明，名：持佛種性，能成如來不傾動力。復有無上大智光明，名：逈出無能壞，能成如來無畏無壞智。復有無上大智光明，名：一切神通，能成如來諸不共法、一切智智。復有無上大智光明，名：出生變化，能成如來令見聞親近所生善根不失壞智。復有無上大智光明，名：普隨順，能成如來無盡福德智慧之身，為一切眾生而作饒益。復有無上大智光明，名：不可究竟，能成如來甚深妙智，隨所開悟，令三寶種永不斷絕。復有無上大智光明，名：種種莊嚴，能成如來相好嚴身，令一切眾生皆生歡喜。復有無上大智光明，名：不可壞，能成如來法界、虛空界等殊勝壽命無有窮盡。佛子！如來大悲一味之水無有分別，以諸眾生欲樂不同、根性各別，而起種種大智風輪，令諸菩薩成就如來出現之法。佛子！一切如來同一體性，大智輪中出生種種智慧光明。佛子！汝等應知，如來於一解脫味出生無量不可思議種種功德，眾生念言：『此是如來神力所造。』佛子！此非如來神力所造。佛子！乃至一菩薩，不於佛所曾種善根，能得如來少分智慧，無有是處。但以諸佛威德力故，令諸眾生具佛功德，而佛如來無有分別，無成無壞，無有作者，亦無作法。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第八相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
「復次，佛子！如依虛空起四風輪，能持水輪。何等為四？一名：安住，二名：常住，三名：究竟，四名：堅固。此四風輪能持水輪，水輪能持大地令不散壞。是故說：地輪依水輪，水輪依風輪，風輪依虛空，虛空無所依。雖無所依，能令三千大千世界而得安住。佛子！如來出現亦復如是，依無礙慧光明起佛四種大智風輪，能持一切眾生善根。何等為四？所謂：普攝眾生皆令歡喜大智風輪，建立正法令諸眾生皆生愛樂大智風輪，守護一切眾生善根大智風輪，具一切方便通達無漏界大智風輪。是為四。佛子！諸佛世尊，大慈救護一切眾生，大悲度脫一切眾生，大慈大悲普遍饒益。然大慈大悲依大方便善巧，大方便善巧依如來出現，如來出現依無礙慧光明，無礙慧光明無有所依。佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第九相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
「復次，佛子！譬如三千大千世界既成就已，饒益無量種種眾生。所謂：水族眾生得水饒益，陸地眾生得地饒益，宮殿眾生得宮殿饒益，虛空眾生得虛空饒益。如來出現亦復如是，種種饒益無量眾生。所謂：
〔T10 0265〕
見佛生歡喜者，得歡喜益；住淨戒者，得淨戒益；住諸禪定及無量者，得聖出世大神通益；住法門光明者，得因果不壞益；住無所有光明者，得一切法不壞益。是故說言：『如來出現，饒益一切無量眾生。』佛子！是為如來、應、正等覺出現第十相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩知如來出現，則知無量，知成就無量行故；則知廣大，知周遍十方故；則知無來去，知離生住滅故；則知無行、無所行，知離心、意、識故；則知無身，知如虛空故；則知平等，知一切眾生皆無我故；則知無盡，知遍一切剎無有盡故；則知無退，知盡後際無斷絕故；則知無壞，知如來智無有對故；則知無二，知平等觀察為、無為故；則知一切眾生皆得饒益，本願迴向自在滿足故。」
爾時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩欲重明此義而說頌言：
「十力大雄最無上，譬如虛空無等等，
境界廣大不可量，功德第一超世間。
十力功德無邊量，心意思量所不及，
人中師子一法門，眾生億劫莫能知。
十方國土碎為塵，或有算計知其數；
如來一毛功德量，千萬億劫無能說。
如人持尺量虛空，復有隨行計其數，
虛空邊際不可得，如來境界亦如是。
或有能於剎那頃，悉知三世眾生心，
設經眾生數等劫，不能知佛一念性。
譬如法界遍一切，不可見取為一切；
十力境界亦復然，遍於一切非一切。
真如離妄恒寂靜，無生無滅普周遍；
諸佛境界亦復然，體性平等不增減。
譬如實際而非際，普在三世亦非普；
導師境界亦如是，遍於三世皆無礙。
法性無作無變易，猶如虛空本清淨；
諸佛性淨亦如是，本性非性離有無。
法性不在於言論，無說離說恒寂滅；
十力境界性亦然，一切文辭莫能辯。
了知諸法性寂滅，如鳥飛空無有迹，
以本願力現色身，令見如來大神變。
若有欲知佛境界，當淨其意如虛空，
遠離妄想及諸取，令心所向皆無礙。
是故佛子應善聽，我以少譬明佛境，
十力功德不可量，為悟眾生今略說。
導師所現於身業，語業心業諸境界，
轉妙法輪般涅槃，一切善根我今說。
譬如世界初安立，非一因緣而可成，
無量方便諸因緣，成此三千大千界。
如來出現亦如是，無量功德乃得成，
剎塵心念尚可知，十力生因莫能測。
譬如劫初雲澍雨，而起四種大風輪，
眾生善根菩薩力，成此三千各安住。
十力法雲亦如是，起智風輪清淨意，
昔所迴向諸眾生，普導令成無上果。
如有大雨名洪澍，無有處所能容受，
唯除世界將成時，清淨虛空大風力。
如來出現亦如是，普雨法雨充法界，
一切劣意無能持，唯除清淨廣大心。
譬如空中澍大雨，無所從來無所去，
作者受者悉亦無，自然如是普充洽。
十力法雨亦如是，無去無來無造作，
本行為因菩薩力，一切大心咸聽受。
譬如空雲澍大雨，一切無能數其滴，
唯除三千自在王，具功德力悉明了。
善逝法雨亦如是，一切眾生莫能測，
唯除於世自在人，明見如觀掌中寶。
譬如空雲澍大雨，能滅能起亦能斷，
一切珍寶悉能成，三千所有皆分別。
十力法雨亦如是，滅惑起善斷諸見，
一切智寶皆使成，眾生心樂悉分別。
譬如空中雨一味，隨其所雨各不同，
豈彼雨性有分別，然隨物異法如是。
如來法雨非一異，平等寂靜離分別，
然隨所化種種殊，自然如是無邊相。
譬如世界初成時，先成色界天宮殿，
次及欲天次人處，乾闥婆宮最後成。
如來出現亦如是，先起無邊菩薩行，
次化樂寂諸緣覺，次聲聞眾後眾生。
諸天初見蓮華瑞，知佛當出生歡喜；
水緣風力起世間，宮殿山川悉成立。
如來宿善大光明，巧別菩薩與其記；
所有智輪體皆淨，各能開示諸佛法。
譬如樹林依地有，地依於水得不壞，
水輪依風風依空，而其虛空無所依。
一切佛法依慈悲，慈悲復依方便立，
方便依智智依慧，無礙慧身無所依。
譬如世界既成立，一切眾生獲其利，
地水所住及空居，二足四足皆蒙益。
法王出現亦如是，一切眾生獲其利，
若有見聞及親近，悉使滅除諸惑惱。
如來出現法無邊，世間迷惑莫能知，
為欲開悟諸含識，無譬諭中說其譬。
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
出現第一相（一）：非一緣一事，十無量法門所成
（普賢菩薩摩訶薩對如來性起妙德等大眾說）
「佛子！這件事不可思議——所謂如來、應供、正等覺，是以無量之法而得出現的。為什麼呢？如來的出現，不是靠一個緣、也不是靠一件事就能成就；是以十種無量百千阿僧祇（極大之數）的事而得成就的。
「哪十種呢？所謂：過去無量劫中攝受一切眾生的菩提心所成就的緣故，過去無量清淨而殊勝的志願樂欲所成就的緣故，過去無量救護一切眾生的大慈大悲所成就的緣故，過去無量相續不斷的修行與誓願所成就的緣故，過去無量修集諸多福德智慧而心無厭足所成就的緣故，過去無量供養諸佛、教化眾生所成就的緣故，過去無量智慧方便的清淨之道所成就的緣故，過去無量清淨功德之藏所成就的緣故，過去無量莊嚴道法之智所成就的緣故，過去無量通達法義所成就的緣故。佛子！像這樣無量阿僧祇的法門圓滿了，才成就如來。
出現第一相（二）：大千興造喻——四風輪與四大智風輪
「佛子！譬如三千大千世界，不是靠一個緣、也不是靠一件事就能成就的，是以無量的緣、無量的事，才得以成就。所謂：興起遍布的大雲，降下滂沱的大雨，四種風輪相續而為所依。
「這四種是哪四種呢？第一名叫『能持』，因為它能承持大水的緣故；第二名叫『能消』，因為它能消減大水的緣故；第三名叫『建立』，因為它能建立一切處所的緣故；第四名叫『莊嚴』，因為它莊嚴、分布得樣樣善巧的緣故。像這樣，都是由眾生的共業（眾多有情共同感召的業力）以及諸菩薩的善根所生起的，使其中的一切眾生各自隨其所宜而得受用。
「佛子！像這樣無量的因緣，才成就三千大千世界；法的體性就是如此——沒有一個能生的，沒有一個能作的，沒有一個能知的，沒有一個能成的，然而那個世界卻得以成就。
「如來的出現也是這樣，不是靠一個緣、也不是靠一件事就能成就；是以無量的因緣、無量的事相，才得以成就。所謂：曾經在過去諸佛之處聽聞、受持廣大的法雲法雨，因此能生起如來四種大智風輪。
「哪四種呢？第一是『念持不忘陀羅尼（總持而不失）大智風輪』，因為它能承持一切如來的大法雲雨的緣故；第二是『出生止觀大智風輪』，因為它能消竭一切煩惱的緣故；第三是『善巧迴向大智風輪』，因為它能成就一切善根的緣故；第四是『出生離垢差別莊嚴大智風輪』，因為它能令過去所教化的一切眾生善根清淨，成就如來無漏善根之力的緣故。如來就是這樣成就等正覺的——法的體性就是如此，無生、無作而得成就。
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第一相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第一相·大千興造喻·總喻）
出現第二相：洪霔大雨喻——唯大心能受
「再者，佛子！譬如三千大千世界將要形成的時候，有大雲降下大雨，名叫『洪霔』（滂沱極盛之雨）；一切方所都承受不了、承持不住，唯除大千世界將要形成的時候。
「佛子！如來、應供、正等覺也是這樣，興起大法雲，降下大法雨，名叫『成就如來出現』；一切二乘（聲聞、緣覺）心志狹小低劣，承受不了、承持不住，唯除諸大菩薩心相續之力（一念接一念相續不斷的堪受之力）。
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第二相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第二相·洪霔大千喻）
出現第三相：雲雨無從喻——無來無去
「再者，佛子！譬如眾生因為業力的緣故，大雲降下雨來——它來時沒有從哪裡來，去時沒有到哪裡去。
「如來、應供、正等覺也是這樣，因為諸菩薩善根之力的緣故，興起大法雲，降下大法雨；也是沒有從哪裡來，沒有到哪裡去。
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第三相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第三相·雲雨無從喻）
出現第四相：大雨難知喻——唯世間主能明了
「再者，佛子！譬如大雲降下滂沱大雨，大千世界的一切眾生，沒有誰能知道雨滴的數目；若想去算計，只會使他發狂。唯有大千世界之主——摩醯首羅（大自在天）——因為過去所修善根之力的緣故，乃至一滴雨也沒有不明明了了的。
「佛子！如來、應供、正等覺也是這樣，興起大法雲，降下大法雨；一切眾生、聲聞、獨覺都不能了知，若想去思量，心必定狂亂。唯除一切世間之主——菩薩摩訶薩——因為過去所修覺悟智慧之力的緣故，乃至一文一句進入眾生心中，沒有不明明了了的。
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第四相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第四相·大雨難知喻）
出現第五相：大雨成敗喻——五種法雨之名
「再者，佛子！譬如大雲降雨的時候，有一種大雲雨名為『能滅』，能滅火災；有一種大雲雨名為『能起』，能起大水；有一種大雲雨名為『能止』，能止大水；有一種大雲雨名為『能成』，能成一切摩尼（寶珠）諸寶；有一種大雲雨名為『分別』，能分別三千大千世界。
「佛子！如來的出現也是這樣，興起大法雲，降下大法雨——有一種大法雨名為『能滅』，能滅一切眾生的煩惱；有一種大法雨名為『能起』，能起一切眾生的善根；有一種大法雨名為『能止』，能止一切眾生的見惑（由邪見而起之惑）；有一種大法雨名為『能成』，能成一切智慧法寶；有一種大法雨名為『分別』，能分別一切眾生的心之所樂。
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第五相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第五相·大雨成敗喻）
出現第六相：一雨隨別喻——一味法水而說法無量
「再者，佛子！譬如大雲所雨的是一味之水，隨其所雨之處，卻有無量的差別。
「如來的出現也是這樣，降下大悲一味的法水，隨其所宜而說法，有無量的差別。
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第六相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第六相·一雨隨別喻）
出現第七相：勝處先成喻——先菩薩次緣覺次聲聞次餘眾生
「再者，佛子！譬如三千大千世界初初形成的時候，先成就色界諸天的宮殿，其次成就欲界諸天的宮殿，其次成就人以及其餘眾生的種種住處。
「佛子！如來的出現也是這樣，先生起菩薩諸行的智慧，其次生起緣覺諸行的智慧，其次生起聲聞善根諸行的智慧，其次生起其餘眾生有為善根諸行的智慧。
「佛子！譬如大雲所雨是一味之水，只因諸眾生善根不同的緣故，所生起的宮殿種種不同。如來大悲一味的法雨，也隨眾生根器而有差別。
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第七相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第七相·勝處先成喻）
出現第八相（一）：事別由因喻——蓮華表佛、十風輪成器
「再者，佛子！譬如世界初初將要形成的時候，有大水生起，遍滿三千大千世界；水上生出大蓮華，名叫『如來出現功德寶莊嚴』，遍覆水面，光照十方一切世界。那時，摩醯首羅天、淨居天等看見這朵華，就決定知道：在這一劫之中將有那麼多佛出興於世。
「佛子！那時，其中有風輪生起，名叫『善淨光明』，能成就色界諸天的宮殿。有風輪生起，名叫『淨光莊嚴』，能成就欲界諸天的宮殿。有風輪生起，名叫『堅密無能壞』，能成就大小諸輪圍山以及金剛山。有風輪生起，名叫『勝高』，能成就須彌山王。有風輪生起，名叫『不動』，能成就十座大山王。
「哪十座呢？所謂：佉陀羅山、仙人山、伏魔山、大伏魔山、持雙山、尼民陀羅山、目真隣陀山、摩訶目真隣陀山、香山、雪山。
「有風輪生起，名叫『安住』，能成就大地。有風輪生起，名叫『莊嚴』，能成就地天的宮殿、龍的宮殿、乾闥婆（天樂神）的宮殿。有風輪生起，名叫『無盡藏』，能成就三千大千世界的一切大海。有風輪生起，名叫『普光明藏』，能成就三千大千世界的諸摩尼寶。有風輪生起，名叫『堅固根』，能成就一切如意樹。
「佛子！大雲所雨的一味之水，本身並沒有分別；只因眾生善根不同的緣故，所以風輪不同；因為風輪有差別的緣故，所以世界有差別。
出現第八相（二）：無上大智光明（一光復有十見）
「佛子！如來的出現也是這樣，具足一切善根功德，放出無上大智光明，名叫『不斷如來種不思議智』，普照十方一切世界，給予諸菩薩一切如來灌頂之記——當成正覺，出興於世。
「佛子！如來出現，又有無上大智光明，名叫『清淨離垢』，能成就如來無漏無盡之智。又有無上大智光明，名叫『普照』，能成就如來普入法界的不思議智。又有無上大智光明，名叫『持佛種性』，能成就如來不傾動之力。又有無上大智光明，名叫『逈出無能壞』，能成就如來無畏無壞之智。又有無上大智光明，名叫『一切神通』，能成就如來諸不共法（唯佛獨有之法）與一切智智。又有無上大智光明，名叫『出生變化』，能成就如來令見者聞者親近者所生善根不失壞之智。又有無上大智光明，名叫『普隨順』，能成就如來無盡福德智慧之身，為一切眾生而作饒益。又有無上大智光明，名叫『不可究竟』，能成就如來甚深妙智，隨其所開悟，令三寶種永不斷絕。又有無上大智光明，名叫『種種莊嚴』，能成就如來相好莊嚴之身，令一切眾生都生歡喜。又有無上大智光明，名叫『不可壞』，能成就如來與法界、虛空界相等的殊勝壽命，沒有窮盡。
出現第八相（三）：此非如來神力所造
「佛子！如來大悲一味之水本無分別，只因諸眾生欲樂不同、根性各別，因而生起種種大智風輪，令諸菩薩成就如來出現之法。
「佛子！一切如來同是一個體性，於大智輪中出生種種智慧光明。
「佛子！你們應當知道：如來在一個解脫之味中，出生無量不可思議的種種功德。眾生心裡念道：『這是如來神力所造的。』佛子！這不是如來神力所造的。
「佛子！乃至一位菩薩，若不曾在佛處種下善根，卻能得如來少分智慧——沒有這樣的事。但因諸佛威德之力的緣故，令諸眾生具足佛的功德；而佛如來並沒有分別，無成、無壞，沒有能作者，也沒有所作之法。
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第八相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第八相·事別由因喻）
出現第九相：四輪相依喻——無礙慧光明無所依
「再者，佛子！譬如依著虛空生起四種風輪，能承持水輪。哪四種呢？第一名叫『安住』，第二名叫『常住』，第三名叫『究竟』，第四名叫『堅固』。這四種風輪能承持水輪，水輪能承持大地使它不散壞。所以說：地輪依著水輪，水輪依著風輪，風輪依著虛空，而虛空沒有所依。雖然沒有所依，卻能令三千大千世界得以安住。
「佛子！如來的出現也是這樣，依著無礙慧光明而生起佛的四種大智風輪，能承持一切眾生的善根。哪四種呢？所謂：普攝眾生皆令歡喜大智風輪，建立正法令諸眾生皆生愛樂大智風輪，守護一切眾生善根大智風輪，具一切方便通達無漏界大智風輪。這就是四種。
「佛子！諸佛世尊，以大慈救護一切眾生，以大悲度脫一切眾生，大慈大悲普遍饒益。然而大慈大悲依著大方便善巧，大方便善巧依著如來出現，如來出現依著無礙慧光明，而無礙慧光明沒有所依。
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第九相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第九相·四輪相依喻）
出現第十相：大千饒益喻——各隨其住而得益
「再者，佛子！譬如三千大千世界既已成就，就饒益無量種種眾生。所謂：水族眾生得水的饒益，陸地眾生得地的饒益，宮殿眾生得宮殿的饒益，虛空眾生得虛空的饒益。
「如來的出現也是這樣，種種饒益無量眾生。所謂：見佛而生歡喜的，得歡喜之益；安住淨戒的，得淨戒之益；安住諸禪定以及無量的，得聖者出世的大神通之益；安住法門光明的，得因果不壞之益；安住無所有光明的，得一切法不壞之益。所以說：『如來出現，饒益一切無量眾生。』
「佛子！這就是如來、應供、正等覺出現的第十相，菩薩摩訶薩應當這樣了知。（第十相·大千饒益喻）
總結成益：十一句知
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩了知如來出現，就知道它無量——因為知道它是成就無量行而來的緣故；就知道它廣大——因為知道它周遍十方的緣故；就知道它無來無去——因為知道它離於生、住、滅的緣故；就知道它無行、無所行——因為知道它離於心、意、識的緣故；就知道它無身——因為知道它如同虛空的緣故；就知道它平等——因為知道一切眾生都沒有我的緣故；就知道它無盡——因為知道它遍一切剎土而沒有窮盡的緣故；就知道它無退——因為知道它窮盡未來際而無有斷絕的緣故；就知道它無壞——因為知道如來之智沒有能與之相對的緣故；就知道它無二——因為知道它平等觀察有為與無為的緣故；就知道一切眾生都得饒益——因為本願迴向自在滿足的緣故。」（結成十一句）
重頌（一）：歎深難量·總歎與別歎十義
那時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩想要重新闡明這個義理，而說偈頌道：
「具十力的大雄最為無上，譬如虛空，無與等者；境界廣大而不可測量，功德第一而超出世間。（總歎）
「十力的功德無邊無量，不是心意思量所能企及；人中師子（佛）的一個法門，眾生經億劫也無法知曉。（一·無量義）
「十方國土碎為微塵，或許還有人能算計而知其數；如來一毛的功德之量，千萬億劫也無人能說盡。（二·廣大義）
「如同有人拿著尺去量虛空，又有人隨他所行而計算其數；虛空的邊際終不可得，如來的境界也是這樣。（三·無生義）
「或許有人能在剎那之頃，盡知三世眾生的心；縱使經過與眾生數相等的劫數，也不能知曉佛一念的體性。（四·離心識義）
「譬如法界遍於一切，卻不可見取它為一切；十力的境界也是如此，遍於一切而又非一切。（五·如空義）
「真如離於虛妄，恆常寂靜，無生無滅而普遍周遍；諸佛的境界也是如此，體性平等，不增不減。（六·平等無我義）
「譬如實際而又非有際限，普在三世而又非是普遍；導師（佛）的境界也是這樣，遍於三世而皆無障礙。（七·遍三世義）
「法性無作、無變易，猶如虛空本來清淨；諸佛性淨也是這樣，本性非性，離於有無。（八·無變易義）
「法性不在言論之中，無說、離說而恆常寂滅；十力境界之性也是如此，一切文辭都不能辯說。（九·離言無對義）
「了知諸法之性寂滅，如同鳥飛虛空而沒有痕跡；以本願之力示現色身，令眾生得見如來的大神變。（十·本願現身成益義）
重頌（二）：誡聽許說
「若有人想要知道佛的境界，應當淨其心意，如同虛空；遠離妄想以及種種執取，令心之所向都無障礙。（誡聽）
「所以佛子應當好好諦聽，我要以少分譬喻來明示佛的境界；十力的功德不可測量，為了開悟眾生，今且略說。
「導師所示現的身業，以及語業、心業種種境界，轉妙法輪、示現般涅槃，一切善根我今為你們說。（許說分齊）
重頌（三）：頌十喻
「譬如世界初初安立，不是一個因緣就可以成就的；要有無量方便的種種因緣，才成就這三千大千世界。
「如來的出現也是這樣，要無量功德才得成就；剎土微塵般的心念尚且可以知曉，十力生起之因卻無人能測。
「譬如劫初大雲降下大雨，因而生起四種大風輪；眾生的善根與菩薩之力，成就這三千世界各各安住。
「十力的法雲也是這樣，生起智慧風輪與清淨之意；往昔所迴向的諸眾生，普皆引導令成無上之果。（初喻·四頌）
「如有大雨名叫洪澍，沒有一處能夠容受；唯除世界將要形成之時，清淨虛空中的大風之力。
「如來的出現也是這樣，普降法雨充滿法界；一切劣弱之意都承持不住，唯除清淨廣大之心。（第二喻）
「譬如空中降下大雨，無所從來、無所至去；能作者、能受者也全都沒有，自然如此而普遍霑洽。
「十力的法雨也是這樣，無去、無來、無所造作；以本行為因、以菩薩之力，一切大心之人咸能聽受。（第三喻）
「譬如空雲降下大雨，沒有誰能數其雨滴；唯除三千世界的自在之王，具功德力而全都明了。
「善逝（佛）的法雨也是這樣，一切眾生都不能測度；唯除於世自在之人，明明白白如觀掌中之寶。（第四喻）
「譬如空雲降下大雨，能滅、能起、也能斷絕；一切珍寶都能成就，三千世界所有都能分別。
「十力的法雨也是這樣，滅煩惱、起善根、斷諸邪見；一切智慧之寶都使成就，眾生心之所樂全都分別。（第五喻）
「譬如空中所雨是一味，隨其所雨之處各各不同；豈是那雨的體性有分別呢，只是隨物有異，法就是這樣。
「如來的法雨非一非異，平等寂靜而離於分別；然而隨所教化的種種差殊，自然如此而有無邊之相。（第六喻）
「譬如世界初成之時，先成就色界天的宮殿；其次及於欲界諸天、其次人的住處，乾闥婆的宮殿最後成就。
「如來的出現也是這樣，先生起無邊的菩薩行；其次教化樂於寂靜的諸緣覺，其次聲聞大眾，最後其餘眾生。（第七喻）
「諸天初見蓮華之瑞相，知道佛當出世而生歡喜；水為緣、風為力而生起世間，宮殿、山川全都成立。
「如來以宿世善根放大光明，善巧分別菩薩而給予授記；所有智慧之輪體性皆清淨，各各能開示諸佛之法。（第八喻）
「譬如樹林依著大地而有，大地依著水輪而得不壞；水輪依著風輪，風輪依著虛空，而那虛空沒有所依。
「一切佛法依著慈悲，慈悲又依方便而立；方便依著智，智依著慧，而無礙慧之身沒有所依。（第九喻）
「譬如世界既已成立，一切眾生都獲得利益；地上水中所住的以及居於空中的，兩足的、四足的都蒙受饒益。
「法王的出現也是這樣，一切眾生都獲得利益；若有人得見、得聞以及親近，都使他滅除諸般惑惱。（第十喻）
重頌（四）：結說——無譬諭中說其譬
「如來出現之法無有邊際，世間迷惑之人無能知曉；為了要開悟諸有情識之類，才在本無譬喻可說之中，為他們說了譬喻。」（結說無盡）
The First Mark of the Appearing (1): Not by One Condition and Not by One Thing — Accomplished by Ten Measureless Gateways of Dharma
(Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, speaks to the great assembly, to the bodhisattva Wondrous Virtue of the Tathāgata’s Nature-Arising and the rest)
“Sons of the Buddha! This matter is inconceivable — that is to say, the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One appears by way of measureless dharmas. Why is this? The appearance of the Tathāgata cannot be accomplished by relying on one condition, nor by relying on one thing; it is accomplished by ten kinds of measureless hundreds of thousands of asaṃkhyeyas (an exceedingly great number) of things.
“Which are the ten? They are these: because it is accomplished by the mind of awakening that gathered in all beings throughout measureless eons in the past; because it is accomplished by the measureless pure and surpassing aspiration and delight of the past; because it is accomplished by the measureless great kindness and great compassion of the past that rescued and guarded all beings; because it is accomplished by the measureless practice and vow of the past continuing unbroken; because it is accomplished by the measureless cultivating and gathering of much merit and wisdom in the past with a mind that never had enough; because it is accomplished by the measureless making of offerings to the Buddhas and teaching of beings in the past; because it is accomplished by the measureless pure path of wisdom and skillful means of the past; because it is accomplished by the measureless treasury of pure merit of the past; because it is accomplished by the measureless wisdom that adorned the dharmas of the Way in the past; because it is accomplished by the measureless penetration of the sense of the Dharma in the past. Sons of the Buddha! When measureless asaṃkhyeyas of gateways of Dharma such as these are brought to fullness, only then is a Tathāgata accomplished.
The First Mark of the Appearing (2): The Simile of the Raising Up of the Great Thousand — Four Wheels of Wind and Four Great Wisdom Wheels of Wind
“Sons of the Buddha! It is as with a three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system: it cannot be accomplished by relying on one condition, nor by relying on one thing; it is by measureless conditions and measureless things that it comes to be accomplished. That is to say: a great cloud rises and spreads abroad, a great rain comes pouring down, and four kinds of wheels of wind follow one upon another as its support.
“Which are these four? The first is named ‘the upholder,’ because it is able to bear up the great waters; the second is named ‘the reducer,’ because it is able to diminish the great waters; the third is named ‘the establisher,’ because it is able to establish all places; the fourth is named ‘the adorner,’ because it adorns and distributes them, every one of them with skill. In this way they all arise from the shared deeds of beings (the force of deeds summoned together by many sentient beings) and from the roots of goodness of the bodhisattvas, so that all the beings within them each gain the use of them as befits them.
“Sons of the Buddha! It is by measureless causes and conditions such as these that a three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system is accomplished; the nature of dharmas is just so — there is none that gives birth to it, none that makes it, none that knows it, none that accomplishes it, and yet that world does come to be accomplished.
“The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: it cannot be accomplished by relying on one condition, nor by relying on one thing; it is by measureless causes and conditions and measureless marks of things that it comes to be accomplished. That is to say: because in the presence of the Buddhas of the past he heard and upheld the vast cloud and rain of Dharma, he is able thereby to give rise to the Tathāgata’s four great wisdom wheels of wind.
“Which are the four? The first is the great wisdom wheel of wind of the dhāraṇī that holds in mind and does not forget (a total holding that does not lose), because it is able to bear up the great cloud and rain of Dharma of all Tathāgatas; the second is the great wisdom wheel of wind that brings forth stopping and contemplating, because it is able to dry up all the afflictions; the third is the great wisdom wheel of wind of skillful dedication, because it is able to accomplish all roots of goodness; the fourth is the great wisdom wheel of wind that brings forth the adornment free of defilement and distinguished in kind, because it is able to make pure the roots of goodness of all the beings taught in the past and to accomplish the power of the Tathāgata’s undefiled roots of goodness. It is in just this way that the Tathāgata accomplishes full and right awakening — the nature of dharmas is just so, and without birth and without making it comes to be accomplished.
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the first mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The first mark · the simile of the raising up of the great thousand · the general simile)
The Second Mark of the Appearing: The Simile of the Deluging Great Rain — Only a Great Mind Can Receive It
“Again, sons of the Buddha! It is as when a three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system is about to be formed: there is a great cloud that sends down a great rain, named ‘the deluge’; no place whatever can receive it or bear it up, save only the time when the great thousand world is about to be formed.
“Sons of the Buddha! The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One is likewise: he raises a great cloud of the Dharma and sends down a great rain of Dharma, named ‘the accomplishing of the appearance of the Tathāgata’; those of the two vehicles (the śrāvakas and the pratyekabuddhas), narrow and low in aim, cannot receive it or bear it up, save only for the power of continuity of mind in the great bodhisattvas (the power of bearing it that continues unbroken, thought after thought).
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the second mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The second mark · the simile of the deluge upon the great thousand)
The Third Mark of the Appearing: The Simile of Cloud and Rain from Nowhere — No Coming and No Going
“Again, sons of the Buddha! It is as when, by reason of the force of the deeds of beings, a great cloud sends down rain — in coming it comes from nowhere, and in going it arrives nowhere.
“The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One is likewise: by reason of the power of the roots of goodness of the bodhisattvas he raises a great cloud of the Dharma and sends down a great rain of Dharma; and it too comes from nowhere and arrives nowhere.
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the third mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The third mark · the simile of cloud and rain from nowhere)
The Fourth Mark of the Appearing: The Simile of the Great Rain That Cannot Be Known — Only the Lord of the World Knows It Clearly
“Again, sons of the Buddha! It is as when a great cloud sends down a pouring great rain: of all the beings in the great thousand world there is none who can know the number of the raindrops; and should one wish to reckon them, it would only drive him mad. Only the lord of the great thousand world — Maheśvara (the god Great Sovereign) — by reason of the power of the roots of goodness cultivated in the past, is not unclear about so much as a single drop.
“Sons of the Buddha! The Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One is likewise: he raises a great cloud of the Dharma and sends down a great rain of Dharma; and all beings, the śrāvakas, and the pratyekabuddhas are unable to know it, and should they wish to think it through their minds would surely fall into disorder. Only the lord of all the world — the bodhisattva-mahāsattva — by reason of the power of the awakened wisdom cultivated in the past, is not unclear about so much as a single line or a single phrase that enters the mind of a being.
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the fourth mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The fourth mark · the simile of the great rain that cannot be known)
The Fifth Mark of the Appearing: The Simile of the Great Rain That Forms and Ruins — The Names of the Five Rains of Dharma
“Again, sons of the Buddha! It is as when a great cloud sends down its rain: there is a rain of the great cloud named ‘the extinguisher,’ which is able to extinguish the calamity of fire; there is a rain of the great cloud named ‘the raiser,’ which is able to raise the great waters; there is a rain of the great cloud named ‘the stayer,’ which is able to stay the great waters; there is a rain of the great cloud named ‘the accomplisher,’ which is able to accomplish all the maṇi jewels (precious pearls) and every kind of treasure; there is a rain of the great cloud named ‘the divider,’ which is able to divide the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system.
“Sons of the Buddha! The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: he raises a great cloud of the Dharma and sends down a great rain of Dharma — there is a great rain of Dharma named ‘the extinguisher,’ which is able to extinguish the afflictions of all beings; there is a great rain of Dharma named ‘the raiser,’ which is able to raise the roots of goodness of all beings; there is a great rain of Dharma named ‘the stayer,’ which is able to stay the delusions of view in all beings (the delusions that arise out of false views); there is a great rain of Dharma named ‘the accomplisher,’ which is able to accomplish all the Dharma jewels of wisdom; there is a great rain of Dharma named ‘the divider,’ which is able to divide what the minds of all beings delight in.
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the fifth mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The fifth mark · the simile of the great rain that forms and ruins)
The Sixth Mark of the Appearing: The Simile of One Rain Differing as It Falls — Dharma Water of One Taste, and Measureless Teaching of the Dharma
“Again, sons of the Buddha! It is as when what the great cloud rains down is water of one taste, and yet, according to the place upon which it rains, there are measureless differences.
“The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: he sends down the Dharma water of the one taste of great compassion, and teaches the Dharma as is fitting, with measureless differences.
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the sixth mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The sixth mark · the simile of one rain differing as it falls)
The Seventh Mark of the Appearing: The Simile of the Superior Places Formed First — First the Bodhisattvas, Then the Pratyekabuddhas, Then the Hearers, Then the Remaining Beings
“Again, sons of the Buddha! It is as when a three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system is first being formed: first the palaces of the gods of the form realm are accomplished, next the palaces of the gods of the desire realm are accomplished, and next the various dwelling places of humans and of the remaining beings are accomplished.
“Sons of the Buddha! The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: first there arises the wisdom of the practices of the bodhisattvas, next there arises the wisdom of the practices of the pratyekabuddhas, next there arises the wisdom of the practices of the roots of goodness of the śrāvakas, and next there arises the wisdom of the practices of the conditioned roots of goodness of the remaining beings.
“Sons of the Buddha! It is as when what the great cloud rains down is water of one taste, and it is only because the roots of goodness of beings are unlike that the palaces which arise are of many kinds. The rain of Dharma of the Tathāgata’s one taste of great compassion likewise has its differences according to the capacity of beings.
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the seventh mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The seventh mark · the simile of the superior places formed first)
The Eighth Mark of the Appearing (1): The Simile That Things Differ by Their Causes — The Lotus Displays the Buddhas, and Ten Wheels of Wind Form the Vessel World
“Again, sons of the Buddha! It is as when a world is first about to be formed: a great water arises and fills the whole three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system; and upon the water there is born a great lotus, named ‘the jeweled adornment of the merit of the appearance of the Tathāgata,’ which covers the face of the water everywhere, and whose light illumines all the worlds of the ten directions. At that time Maheśvara, the gods of the Pure Abodes, and the rest see this flower, and they know for certain: within this eon so many Buddhas will arise in the world.
“Sons of the Buddha! At that time a wheel of wind arises among them, named ‘well-purified light,’ which is able to accomplish the palaces of the gods of the form realm. A wheel of wind arises, named ‘pure light and adornment,’ which is able to accomplish the palaces of the gods of the desire realm. A wheel of wind arises, named ‘firm and dense, that none can ruin,’ which is able to accomplish the great and small encircling mountains and the adamantine mountains. A wheel of wind arises, named ‘surpassingly high,’ which is able to accomplish Sumeru, king of mountains. A wheel of wind arises, named ‘immovable,’ which is able to accomplish the ten great kings among mountains.
“Which are the ten? They are these: the Khadira mountain, the mountain of the seers, the mountain that subdues demons, the mountain of the great subduing of demons, the twin-holding mountain, the Nimindhara mountain, the Mucilinda mountain, the great Mucilinda mountain, the fragrant mountain, and the snow mountain.
“A wheel of wind arises, named ‘settled abiding,’ which is able to accomplish the great earth. A wheel of wind arises, named ‘adornment,’ which is able to accomplish the palaces of the earth gods, the palaces of the dragons, and the palaces of the gandharvas (the gods of heavenly music). A wheel of wind arises, named ‘the inexhaustible treasury,’ which is able to accomplish all the great oceans of the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system. A wheel of wind arises, named ‘the treasury of universal light,’ which is able to accomplish the maṇi jewels of the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system. A wheel of wind arises, named ‘firm roots,’ which is able to accomplish all the wish-granting trees.
“Sons of the Buddha! The water of one taste that the great cloud rains down has in itself no discrimination; it is only because the roots of goodness of beings are unlike that the wheels of wind are unlike; and because there are differences among the wheels of wind, therefore there are differences among the worlds.
The Eighth Mark of the Appearing (2): The Unsurpassed Great Wisdom-Light (One Light Having Ten Sights in Turn)
“Sons of the Buddha! The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: furnished with all roots of goodness and merit, he sends forth an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘the inconceivable wisdom that does not cut off the seed of the Tathāgatas,’ which universally illumines all the worlds of the ten directions and confers upon the bodhisattvas the prophecy of the consecration of all Tathāgatas — that they shall accomplish right awakening and shall arise in the world.
“Sons of the Buddha! In the appearing of the Tathāgata there is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘pure and free of defilement,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s undefiled and inexhaustible wisdom. There is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘universal illumining,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s inconceivable wisdom that enters universally into the Dharma realm. There is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘upholding the seed-nature of the Buddhas,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s power that cannot be tilted or moved. There is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘standing far out, that none can ruin,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s wisdom that is without fear and without ruin. There is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘all the spiritual penetrations,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s exclusive dharmas (the dharmas that a Buddha alone possesses) and the wisdom of omniscience. There is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘bringing forth transformations,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s wisdom whereby the roots of goodness born in those who see him, hear him, and draw near to him are not lost or ruined. There is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘universal compliance,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s body of inexhaustible merit and wisdom, working benefit for all beings. There is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘that cannot be exhausted,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s deep and wondrous wisdom, so that, according to what he opens and awakens, the seed of the Three Jewels is never cut off. There is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘adornments of every kind,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s body adorned with the marks and signs, making all beings give rise to joy. There is again an unsurpassed great wisdom-light, named ‘that cannot be ruined,’ which is able to accomplish the Tathāgata’s surpassing span of life, equal to the Dharma realm and to the realm of empty space, without any exhausting.
The Eighth Mark of the Appearing (3): This Is Not Made by the Divine Power of the Tathāgata
“Sons of the Buddha! The water of one taste of the Tathāgata’s great compassion has in itself no discrimination; it is only because the desires and delights of beings are unlike and their capacities are severally different that there arise great wisdom wheels of wind of every kind, making the bodhisattvas accomplish the dharma of the appearance of the Tathāgata.
“Sons of the Buddha! All Tathāgatas are alike of one nature, and within the wheel of great wisdom they bring forth wisdom-lights of every kind.
“Sons of the Buddha! You should know: within one taste of liberation the Tathāgata brings forth measureless and inconceivable merits of every kind. In their minds beings think: ‘This is made by the divine power of the Tathāgata.’ Sons of the Buddha! This is not made by the divine power of the Tathāgata.
“Sons of the Buddha! That so much as a single bodhisattva who has never planted roots of goodness in the presence of a Buddha should yet be able to gain a small share of the Tathāgata’s wisdom — there is no such thing. But because of the power of the majestic virtue of the Buddhas, beings are made to be furnished with the merits of a Buddha; and yet the Buddha, the Tathāgata, has no discrimination, no accomplishing and no ruining, no one that makes, and no dharma that is made.
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the eighth mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The eighth mark · the simile that things differ by their causes)
The Ninth Mark of the Appearing: The Simile of the Four Wheels in Mutual Dependence — The Light of Unobstructed Wisdom Depends on Nothing
“Again, sons of the Buddha! It is as when, in dependence upon empty space, four kinds of wheels of wind arise that are able to bear up the water wheel. Which are the four? The first is named ‘settled abiding,’ the second is named ‘constantly abiding,’ the third is named ‘ultimate,’ the fourth is named ‘firm.’ These four wheels of wind are able to bear up the water wheel, and the water wheel is able to bear up the great earth so that it does not scatter or ruin. Therefore it is said: the earth wheel depends upon the water wheel, the water wheel depends upon the wind wheel, the wind wheel depends upon empty space, and empty space has nothing upon which it depends. Though it has nothing upon which it depends, it is yet able to make the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system come to abide.
“Sons of the Buddha! The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: in dependence upon the light of unobstructed wisdom there arise the Buddha’s four great wisdom wheels of wind, which are able to bear up the roots of goodness of all beings. Which are the four? They are these: the great wisdom wheel of wind that gathers in beings universally and makes them all rejoice; the great wisdom wheel of wind that establishes the true Dharma and makes all beings give rise to love and delight; the great wisdom wheel of wind that guards the roots of goodness of all beings; the great wisdom wheel of wind that is furnished with all skillful means and penetrates the undefiled realm. These are the four.
“Sons of the Buddha! The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, rescue and guard all beings with great kindness and deliver all beings with great compassion, and their great kindness and great compassion work benefit universally. Yet the great kindness and great compassion depend upon great skillfulness in means, great skillfulness in means depends upon the appearance of the Tathāgata, the appearance of the Tathāgata depends upon the light of unobstructed wisdom, and the light of unobstructed wisdom has nothing upon which it depends.
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the ninth mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The ninth mark · the simile of the four wheels in mutual dependence)
The Tenth Mark of the Appearing: The Simile of the Benefiting of the Great Thousand — Each Gains Benefit According to Where It Dwells
“Again, sons of the Buddha! It is as when a three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system has been accomplished: it then benefits measureless beings of every kind. That is to say: the beings of the waters gain the benefit of water, the beings of the land gain the benefit of land, the beings of the palaces gain the benefit of palaces, the beings of open space gain the benefit of open space.
“The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: in every kind of way he benefits measureless beings. That is to say: those who see the Buddha and give rise to joy gain the benefit of joy; those who abide in pure discipline gain the benefit of pure discipline; those who abide in the meditations and in the measureless states gain the benefit of the great spiritual penetrations of the noble ones beyond the world; those who abide in the light of the gateway of Dharma gain the benefit of the unruined relation of cause and fruit; those who abide in the light of nothing-whatever gain the benefit of the unruinedness of all dharmas. Therefore it is said: ‘The appearance of the Tathāgata benefits all measureless beings.’
“Sons of the Buddha! This is the tenth mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. (The tenth mark · the simile of the benefiting of the great thousand)
Concluding the Benefit: Eleven Clauses of Knowing
“Sons of the Buddha! When the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, knows the appearance of the Tathāgata, he then knows it to be measureless — because he knows that it comes of accomplishing measureless practices; he then knows it to be vast — because he knows that it pervades the ten directions; he then knows it to be without coming and without going — because he knows that it is apart from birth, from abiding, and from ceasing; he then knows it to be without practice and without anything practiced — because he knows that it is apart from mind, from thought, and from consciousness; he then knows it to be without a body — because he knows that it is like empty space; he then knows it to be equal — because he knows that in all beings there is no self; he then knows it to be inexhaustible — because he knows that it pervades all lands and is never exhausted; he then knows it to be without retreat — because he knows that it exhausts the future limit and is never cut off; he then knows it to be unruinable — because he knows that the wisdom of the Tathāgata has nothing that can stand against it; he then knows it to be not two — because he knows that it regards the conditioned and the unconditioned with equality; he then knows that all beings gain benefit from it — because the original vow and its dedication are sovereign and brought to fullness.” (Concluded in eleven clauses)
The Repeated Verses (1): Praising the Depth Beyond Measure · The General Praise and the Ten Senses of the Particular Praise
At that time Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, wishing to set forth this sense once more, spoke in verse, saying:
“The great hero of the ten powers is the most unsurpassed; he is like empty space, and none is his equal; his realm is vast and cannot be measured, his merit is foremost and passes beyond the world. (The general praise)
“The merit of the ten powers is without bound and without measure, and is not to be reached by the reckoning of thought; one single gateway of Dharma of the lion among men, beings cannot know in a koṭi of eons. (One · the sense of the measureless)
“Though the lands of the ten directions were ground to fine dust, there might yet be one who could reckon and know their number; but the measure of the merit of a single hair of the Tathāgata, in a thousand myriad koṭis of eons none could tell to the end. (Two · the sense of the vast)
“As if a man were to take a rule and measure empty space, and another were to follow where he went and count his steps; the bound of empty space can never be found, and so it is with the realm of the Tathāgata. (Three · the sense of no birth)
“Perhaps there might be one who in the space of an instant could know entirely the minds of the beings of the three times; yet though eons passed equal in number to those beings, he could not know the nature of a single thought of a Buddha. (Four · the sense of being apart from mind and consciousness)
“It is as when the Dharma realm pervades all things, and yet cannot be seen and grasped as all things; the realm of the ten powers is likewise, pervading all things and yet not being all things. (Five · the sense of being like space)
“Suchness is apart from the false, constantly still, without birth and without ceasing and pervading everywhere; the realm of the Buddhas is likewise, its nature equal, neither increasing nor decreasing. (Six · the sense of equality and no self)
“It is as with the real limit, which is yet no bounded limit, universally in the three times and yet not universal; the realm of the guide (the Buddha) is likewise, pervading the three times and everywhere unobstructed. (Seven · the sense of pervading the three times)
“The nature of dharmas is without making and without alteration, like empty space that is pure from the first; the purity of the nature of the Buddhas is likewise, its very nature not a nature, apart from being and non-being. (Eight · the sense of no alteration)
“The nature of dharmas does not lie within words and discussion; it is unspoken, apart from speech, and constantly still; the nature of the realm of the ten powers is likewise, and no words or phrases can set it forth. (Nine · the sense of being apart from words and without opposite)
“Knowing the nature of dharmas to be still, as a bird flying in space leaves no track behind, by the power of the original vow he displays a form-body, making beings behold the great transformations of the Tathāgata. (Ten · the sense of displaying a body by the original vow and accomplishing benefit)
The Repeated Verses (2): The Admonition to Listen and the Granting of the Telling
“If there be one who would know the realm of the Buddhas, let him make his mind pure as empty space; let him put far from him false imaginings and every grasping, and make all that his mind turns toward unobstructed. (The admonition to listen)
“Therefore, sons of the Buddha, listen well: I shall display the realm of the Buddhas by a small measure of simile; the merit of the ten powers cannot be measured, but in order to open and awaken beings I shall now tell it in brief.
“The deeds of body that the guide displays, and his deeds of speech and deeds of mind, the realms of every kind, the turning of the wondrous wheel of the Dharma, the displaying of the entry into parinirvāṇa — all the roots of goodness I shall now tell you. (The granting of the telling and its compass)
The Repeated Verses (3): The Verses on the Ten Similes
“It is as when a world is first set up: it cannot be accomplished by one cause and condition; it takes measureless skillful means and causes and conditions of every kind to accomplish this three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system.
“The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: it takes measureless merit to come to be accomplished; the thoughts of mind as many as the dust-motes of the lands might yet be known, but the cause from which the ten powers arise none can sound.
“It is as when at the eon’s beginning a great cloud sends down a great rain, whereby four kinds of great wheels of wind arise; the roots of goodness of beings and the power of the bodhisattvas accomplish this world of three thousand, each part abiding in its place.
“The cloud of the Dharma of the ten powers is likewise: it gives rise to the wheel of wind of wisdom and to a pure intent; the beings to whom in the past it was dedicated are all universally led on to accomplish the unsurpassed fruit. (The first simile · four stanzas)
“It is as with a great rain named the deluge, which not a single place is able to receive; save only at the time when a world is about to be formed, by the power of the great wind within the pure empty space.
“The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: universally he sends down the rain of Dharma, filling the Dharma realm; every low and weak intent cannot bear it up, save only the mind that is pure and vast. (The second simile)
“It is as when a great rain comes down from the sky, coming from nowhere and going nowhere; neither is there any that makes it nor any that receives it, and yet of itself it moistens everywhere.
“The rain of Dharma of the ten powers is likewise: without going, without coming, and without anything made; by the practices of old as its cause and the power of the bodhisattvas, all those of the great mind are able to hear and receive it. (The third simile)
“It is as when a cloud in the sky sends down a great rain, and there is none who can number its drops; save only the sovereign king of the world of three thousand, who is furnished with the power of merit and knows them all clearly.
“The rain of Dharma of the Well-Gone One (the Buddha) is likewise: no being at all is able to sound it; save only the one who is sovereign over the world, who sees it plainly as one beholds a jewel in the palm of the hand. (The fourth simile)
“It is as when a cloud in the sky sends down a great rain that is able to extinguish, able to raise, and able also to cut off; all precious things it is able to accomplish, and all that is in the world of three thousand it is able to divide.
“The rain of Dharma of the ten powers is likewise: it extinguishes the afflictions, raises the roots of goodness, cuts off every false view; all the jewels of wisdom it makes to be accomplished, and all that the minds of beings delight in it divides. (The fifth simile)
“It is as when what is rained down from the sky is of one taste, and yet, according to the place upon which it rains, each is different; how should it be that the nature of that rain has discrimination? It is only that it differs according to the thing, and the dharma is just so.
“The rain of Dharma of the Tathāgata is neither one nor different, equal and still and apart from discrimination; and yet, according to the differences of every kind among those it teaches, of itself it takes on boundless marks. (The sixth simile)
“It is as when a world is first being formed: first the palaces of the gods of the form realm are accomplished; next it reaches the gods of the desire realm, next the dwelling places of humans, and the palaces of the gandharvas are accomplished last.
“The appearance of the Tathāgata is likewise: first there arise the boundless practices of the bodhisattvas; next he teaches the pratyekabuddhas who delight in stillness, next the multitude of śrāvakas, and last the remaining beings. (The seventh simile)
“The gods, first seeing the auspicious mark of the lotus, know that a Buddha shall appear in the world and give rise to joy; water as the condition and wind as the power give rise to the world, and palaces, mountains, and streams are all established.
“The Tathāgata, by the roots of goodness of former lives, sends forth a great light, and with skill distinguishes the bodhisattvas and confers prophecy upon them; every wheel of wisdom is pure in its nature, and each is able to open and display the dharmas of the Buddhas. (The eighth simile)
“It is as when a grove of trees is there in dependence upon the great earth, and the great earth in dependence upon the water wheel is not ruined; the water wheel depends upon the wind wheel, the wind wheel depends upon empty space, and that empty space has nothing upon which it depends.
“All the dharmas of the Buddha depend upon kindness and compassion, and kindness and compassion in turn are set up in dependence upon skillful means; skillful means depends upon wisdom, and wisdom depends upon insight, and the body of unobstructed insight has nothing upon which it depends. (The ninth simile)
“It is as when a world has been established, and all beings gain benefit from it; those dwelling on the land and in the water and those abiding in the air, the two-footed and the four-footed all receive its benefiting.
“The appearing of the King of the Dharma is likewise: all beings gain benefit from it; if there be those who see him, who hear him, and who draw near to him, he makes them all extinguish every delusion and vexation. (The tenth simile)
The Repeated Verses (4): The Concluding Telling — A Simile Spoken Where No Simile Can Be
“The dharma of the Tathāgata’s appearing is without bound, and the deluded of the world are unable to know it; and it was in order to open and awaken every kind of conscious being that, where from the first no simile could be spoken, a simile was spoken for them.” (Concluding the telling as endless)
這一問，問的不是佛的傳記
如來出現品要答十個問題，第一個就是「出現之相」。什麼叫「相」？不是佛的長相，也不是佛降生的年月與地點——若只問這個，讀完傳記就結束了。這裡問的是：佛的出世，是怎麼一回事？它像什麼樣的事情發生？
普賢一開口就下了斷語：這件事不可思議，如來、應供、正等覺是「以無量法而得出現」的。緊接著他自己設問又自己答：為什麼不可思議？因為「非以一緣，非以一事」——不是某一個條件、某一件事情湊巧成熟，佛就出來了。
先排除一個最容易的誤讀：這不是說佛的出現沒有原因，恰恰相反，是說原因多到不能數。世間人想事情，習慣找『那一個』原因——某位聖者出世，總得有個決定性的契機。經文一開始就把這種找法擋掉了。落到讀者身上是這樣：凡你眼前看到的一件大事，若你以為它是某一刻促成的，你就把它前面無量的積累看漏了；佛的出現是這一類事情裡最極端的一例。
十個無量：因不是一條線，是一整片
排除了「一緣一事」，普賢正面給出「十無量」：過去無量攝受一切眾生的菩提心、無量清淨殊勝的志樂、無量救護眾生的大慈大悲、無量相續不斷的行與願、無量修福修智而心不厭足、無量供養諸佛與教化眾生、無量智慧方便的清淨之道、無量清淨功德之藏、無量莊嚴道法之智、無量通達法義——這十樣都圓滿了，「成於如來」。
要問的是：為什麼是十個，不是三個或百個？澄觀在疏裡先擋掉一種算法。經文說「十無量百千阿僧祇」，古人曾用相乘來解——十無量各入十喻成百，再以結文十句各結百門成千。澄觀不取這種算術：他說下面所列十門，門門自身就說「無量」，不必再互相涉入湊數，所以「百千之言，但是數之總稱耳」。這一句是讀華嚴數目字的一把鑰匙：華嚴的數目常常不是計數，是形容那個『說不完』。
排一個常見的誤會：十無量不是十個階段，不是先修完第一再修第二。看它的內容——發心、志樂、慈悲、行願、福智、供佛化生、方便、功德、莊嚴、達義——這是同一個菩薩道從十個角度看過去的一整片。澄觀順著逐條點過：一是最初發大心而誓期出現，二是向上求的勝志，三是向下化的慈悲，四是以行接續其願，五是福智不出此外，六別顯福之莊嚴，七別顯智之莊嚴，八淨前之功德，九嚴前之智慧，十窮究法源的真實之智。你若在其中找自己的位置，會發現每一條都還在做，一條也沒有做完——這正是「無量」的落處。
為什麼要用世界的成立來比喻佛的出現
法說完了，接著是十個譬喻，而十個譬喻取的都是同一個場景：一個三千大千世界如何從無到有地成立。雲、雨、風輪、大地、山、海、宮殿——喻的全是器世界。
為什麼偏取這個？澄觀答得很深：一品之內多以「依」喻「正」（以眾生所依的國土，喻能依的佛身佛智），不只是因為兩者義類相似，「實則外由內變，故令外器全似於內」——外面的器世界本來就是內心所變現，所以它成立的樣子，才會處處像佛出現的樣子。這句話值得停一下：譬喻在這裡不是修辭上的方便，是因為喻與法本是同一件事的表裡。
排一個誤讀：這不是說『世界怎麼成，佛就怎麼成』的機械類比。澄觀提醒，十喻各有三分——喻、合、結，喻是回答「譬如」，合是回答「因緣」；而且法說多就過去之因說，合文多就現前之緣說。讀十喻時要盯住「合」的那一段，喻只是入口。
第一喻：四種風輪與四種大智
第一喻叫「大千興造喻」，澄觀判它是總喻，底下九個都在這一喻所降的雨裡。世界要成，先興大雲、降大雨，再有四種風輪相續為依：能持（承住大水）、能消（消減大水）、建立（建起一切處所）、莊嚴（分布善巧）。
這四個為什麼是這個次序？澄觀釋得極具體：沒有第一輪，雨水無處停住；水若不減，就會妨礙天宮生起；水雖已減，還須第三輪假之成立——減一節水就起一重天，像嚴冬裡急流層層結凍；雖起了大處所，卻無別別的莊嚴，所以要第四。次第是『有處—騰空—成形—成美』，一步不能顛倒。
合文四種大智風輪：念持不忘陀羅尼（總持不失，能持一切法雲雨）、出生止觀（能消竭煩惱）、善巧迴向（能成就善根）、出生離垢差別莊嚴（令所化眾生善根清淨）。澄觀判：前三是因，後一是自利利他二果圓滿——因圓果滿，佛乃出現。落到修行上，這四個就是聞法之後的完整循環：記得住、消得掉、轉得出、莊嚴得起來；缺任何一環，聽再多法也不成器。
「無有作者」而世界仍然成立
第一喻的收尾是一句硬話：「法性如是，無有生者，無有作者，無有知者，無有成者，然彼世界而得成就。」合文同樣收在「法性如是，無生無作而得成就」。
這一句最容易讀成虛無：既然沒有能作的，那說這麼多因緣做什麼？澄觀的讀法把兩邊都保住了。他先說「法性」這個詞在此通於性與相，是總句；接著別顯性空，而且點明它同時在遮破外道的妄計——不是冥性微塵那類東西生的，不是自在天梵王那類主宰作的，也沒有一個神我在知；這三句破的是「能作」之空，「無有成者」破的是「所作」之空。然後關鍵的一轉：能所俱空，卻不礙相有，所以經文才接著說「而得成就」。
所以這句不是取消因緣，是取消因緣背後那個『主使者』。世界確實成立了，佛確實出現了；只是找不到一個在後面拍板的人。這正是前面『非一緣一事』的另一面：因為沒有主使者，才必須是無量因緣；因為是無量因緣，才更顯出沒有主使者。
第二、第三、第四喻：受得住、無來去、測不透
第二喻，洪霔。世界將成時那場雨叫「洪霔」，任何方所都承受不住，只有大千將成之際才受得起。合文說：法雨名叫「成就如來出現」，二乘心志狹劣承受不住，唯除諸大菩薩的「心相續力」。
「心相續力」怎麼講？澄觀給了寬窄兩讀，並存不判：若只約「信受」說，是圓機之人堅固種性相續不斷，能受得起深旨；若約「具受」說，要八地以上得無盡陀羅尼力才真能受持，乃至十地方受如來雲雨說法。他自己說明經文之所以只說「除大菩薩」，是取前一義，所以此處只是揀去二乘。這對讀者是個台階：不必先問自己是不是八地，先問自己的信心接不接得住。
第三喻，雲雨無從。雨來時不從哪裡來，去時不到哪裡去。澄觀說得乾淨：法雲法雨是機感而現的，不是先有一個地方存放著、時候到了從那裡來、機緣謝了又回到舊處去，所以它的體「無生滅」。排一個誤會：這不是說佛的說法是幻覺，是說它沒有一個可以存放的倉庫——感則現，不感則不現，而現與不現都不動其體。
第四喻，大雨難知。一場大雨落下，誰數得清幾滴？想去算，只會把自己算瘋了；唯有大千世界主摩醯首羅，因宿世善根之力，連一滴也不含糊。合文：法雨一切眾生、聲聞、獨覺都不能知，思量必致心亂，唯除菩薩摩訶薩，「乃至一文一句，入眾生心，無不明了」。澄觀判此喻是「喻深，非心境故」——不是知識不夠，而是這件事根本不落在思量的領域裡。注意合文那句最動人的地方：菩薩明了的不是雨滴的數目，而是哪一文哪一句進了哪一個眾生的心。
第五、第六喻：法雨有五種功用，而水只有一味
第五喻並列五種雨名：能滅（滅火災）、能起（起大水）、能止（止大水）、能成（成摩尼諸寶）、分別（分別三千大千世界）。合文一一對過去：滅一切眾生煩惱、起一切眾生善根、止一切眾生見惑、成一切智慧法寶、分別一切眾生心樂。
澄觀的釋法值得學。他先看喻：第一是壞界之時，第三是「以水止水」——同是水，能起也能止。再看合：前二是滅惑而成智福，第三是滅障成智即止觀雙運，最後一是權智照機。然後他反過來設問，把五者缺一的後果排出來：沒有第二，就同二乘（只滅不起）；沒有第三，就同外道（起而不止）；沒有第四，反增無明；沒有第五，不成種智。這一排，五種法雨就不是五個好聽的名字，是一條缺不得的線。
第六喻極短：一味水而所雨無量差別；如來雨大悲一味法水，隨宜說法，無量差別。澄觀說它「喻佛一味隨器」。這一喻是前一喻的底：五種功用如此不同，源頭卻只有一味。差別在受者那邊，不在水這邊。
第七、第八喻：次第先後與『這不是神力所造』
第七喻，勝處先成。世界初成先成色界天宮，次欲界天宮，次人與餘眾生的住處。合文：先起菩薩諸行智慧，次緣覺，次聲聞，次其餘眾生有為善根諸行智慧。澄觀判為「喻佛勝緣先濟德」。
這裡經文自己察覺到一個矛盾，於是自設牒釋：既然是一味法水，怎麼會有先後？答案在下半段——一味之水而宮殿種種不同，是因眾生善根有異；法雨隨眾生根器而有差別。澄觀點明：先成是由業力，法有異是由機殊，並不違背第六喻的一味。所以次第不是佛心裡有高下，是機感的先後。
第八喻最長，也是本段的眼目。喻分三段：大水中生大蓮華，名「如來出現功德寶莊嚴」，光照十方，摩醯首羅與淨居天見華即知此劫將有多少佛出世；接著十種風輪次第成就天宮、山、地、海、寶、如意樹；最後結成一句——一味之水無有分別，因眾生善根不同故風輪不同，風輪差別故世界差別。合文則是如來無上大智光明（一光復有十見），一一成就如來的一種德。
而後面那一問一答，是全段最要緊的地方。眾生看見如來於一解脫味中出生無量功德，心裡念道：『這是如來神力所造的。』經文立刻否掉：「此非如來神力所造。」接著補正：不曾在佛處種善根而能得如來少分智慧，沒有這回事；但也確實是因諸佛威德之力，眾生才具佛功德；而佛如來無有分別，無成無壞，無有作者，亦無作法。
澄觀把這段判得極清楚。他說感應之道略有三義：一是因緣互相成，二是互相奪，三是緣成性空。眾生的毛病在「以緣奪因」——把功勞全推給佛力，於是丟掉了因緣義。所以經文先「以因奪緣」，一向說非，把偏執的一邊打掉；再說正義，令因緣相成；最後歸到性空——緣成故無成，無成故無壞，所成既然是空的，哪裡還有能成的作者和所作之法。
這一段落到人身上，是修行裡最實的一個平衡：把一切歸功於佛，是懶；把一切歸功於自己，是慢。經文兩邊都不許，而且不是折衷，是往下再穿一層——因緣既然相成，就沒有一個可以獨自居功的東西存在。
第九、第十喻：一路依到「無所依」，一成就便是饒益
第九喻，四輪相依。虛空起四風輪（安住、常住、究竟、堅固），持水輪，水輪持大地。於是說：地輪依水輪，水輪依風輪，風輪依虛空，虛空無所依——雖無所依，卻能令三千大千世界安住。
合文的四種大智風輪是：普攝眾生皆令歡喜、建立正法令生愛樂、守護眾生善根、具一切方便通達無漏界。澄觀不取把它們配四攝的舊解（他說那樣配一合到「如來出現」上就成了局限），而別立一條隨機的次第：未信入的，以四攝普攝而示以正理；已信受的，為他建立教法；已入法的，令其成行；已成行的，令其得果。這條線比四攝更貼合「出現」的度生次第。
再往下，經文把依持關係整條排出：大慈大悲依大方便善巧，大方便善巧依如來出現，如來出現依無礙慧光明，而無礙慧光明無有所依。澄觀逐一合過去：慈悲合地（能厚載）、方便合水（曲隨器）、出現合風（力能持）、無礙合空（如空無礙）。他還注意到頌文比長行多一重——頌在慈悲之前加了「一切佛法」以況樹林，成五重相依。
要點在最後那個「無所依」。凡是有所依的都可以被抽掉所依而壞；到了無所依處，就沒有東西可抽。佛法的根不是踩在另一樣東西上，而是踩在『無可踩』上——這不是懸空，正因為無所依，才持得住一切。
第十喻收尾最樸實：世界既成，就饒益眾生——水族得水益、陸地得地益、宮殿得宮殿益、虛空得虛空益。合文：見佛生歡喜者得歡喜益，住淨戒者得淨戒益，住諸禪定及無量者得聖出世大神通益，住法門光明者得因果不壞益，住無所有光明者得一切法不壞益。澄觀依次合之：見佛生喜如魚得潤，戒如平地而萬善由之而生，定如宮室而得安息，慧如虛空而不可壞；最後兩句他還分出不壞事與不壞理。世界成立本身就是饒益，不必另做一件事；佛之出現亦然。
十一句總結：把十個喻收回一句「知」
十喻說完，經文用一段「知」來收：菩薩摩訶薩知如來出現，則知無量、知廣大、知無來去、知無行無所行、知無身、知平等、知無盡、知無退、知無壞、知無二、知一切眾生皆得饒益。
澄觀點出這裡是十一句，比十門多一句，原因是第九門用了兩句（無壞、無二）來結。他並逐句對回十喻：多因故出現，廣故難受，無生故無從來，非心識故思量必狂，如空故惑見雙亡，平等無我故一味，由無盡故諸乘遍化，後際無斷故佛種不斷，無對即無礙慧，為無為平等即攝三輪歸於無礙慧，本為眾生故今利益滿足。他還加了一句誡：若把每一句都通配前十門，就「未為得意」——這是提醒讀者，對帳要對得住，不要把整齊當成深刻。
注意這一段的動詞全是「知」。十喻講的是佛那邊的事，這一段講的是菩薩這邊的事：所謂「知如來出現」，不是記住十個譬喻，是這十一種「知」在心裡站住了。
三十七頌：頌的重點在「淨其意如虛空」
長行之後有三十七頌。澄觀分三段：前十四頌歎深許說，中二十二頌頌上十喻（初喻是總故用四頌，其餘九喻各二頌），最後一頌結說無盡而不頌前文。頌十喻的部分與長行對位，義理已在長行說盡，此處不重講。
要單獨提的是誡聽那一頌：「若有欲知佛境界，當淨其意如虛空，遠離妄想及諸取，令心所向皆無礙。」澄觀在此下了本段最重的一筆。他說下兩句是別顯：一是離妄取，如淨空無雲翳，這就是真止；二是觸境無滯，如淨空無障礙，這就是真觀。而後他把這個止觀的特別處點出來——這個觀不作意去照境，所以所照無涯；這個止是體性本離而息妄，所以諸取皆寂。到這裡，「不拂不瑩而自淨」，無淨之淨，就暗合佛境了。澄觀自己標明：「此為心要，謂後學思行。」
這一頌是十喻的落腳處。十個譬喻說了半天佛的出現如何不可思量，讀者難免要問：那我能做什麼？答案不是去思量，是把意淨得像虛空——不是擦亮它，是不再往上添。
末後一頌收得極誠實：如來出現之法無邊，世間迷惑莫能知；為了開悟眾生，才「無譬諭中說其譬」。十個譬喻不是因為這件事像那些東西，是因為它本來無可譬喻，而人非從譬喻不能入門。讀完十喻仍覺得沒說盡，那不是讀漏了，那正是經文自己承認的事。
承衍
本段最大的承衍，在一個譯名上。六十華嚴此品名〈寶王如來性起品〉，八十改譯〈如來出現品〉；六十經文一路作「如來性起法雨」，八十一路作「如來出現」。澄觀在頌科處點出這個名的來歷：長行十喻是性相雙明，而頌文多就性說，所以古譯稱「性起」，「彌復有由」。華嚴宗後來大談的性起一義，其經據即在此段——不是另立一套玄理，是從『無有作者而世界得成』「此非如來神力所造」這些句子裡長出來的。
古德三軌並行，誌錄不判。澄觀依八十逐文立十喻之名，判性相雙明而頌多就性說；法藏於六十疏中判其偈頌六十五、以十喻配佛之十德（末塵喻佛無限德、量空喻佛廣大德，乃至鳥跡喻佛體用德），並存另一讀法，說這十即是頌前結文十句，只是第九門却頌前第七句；李通玄則以表法讀之，說這十段經是普賢說如來出現身境界及所行行十事之法，並以文殊為法身妙理現根本智之門、普賢為差別智萬行大悲之門，二法圓滿即名自佛出現，末後歸到眾生本有——他那首「智珠無價在衣中，秖欲長貧住門外」的頌，是把整品的意思說回到讀者身上。
異譯的差別也一併誌錄。八十以「相」立目（出現第一相乃至第十相），六十以「因緣」立目（第一最勝法門、第二因緣成等正覺出興于世）；第五喻第三名，八十作「能止」而合『止見惑』，六十作「能壞」而合『壞諸惡邪見』；第八喻蓮華之名，八十作「如來出現功德寶莊嚴」，六十作「如來起」；頌數八十三十七、六十六十五。兩本開合互異，全錄不判。
至於論典一路的承衍，據實標闕：所檢的成唯識、攝論、瑜伽諸論，於本段之義未見繫屬之明文，不以他處之文充之——闕就是闕，這也是本段「無譬諭中說其譬」之誠實的一種延續。
This Question Is Not Asking for the Buddha’s Biography
The Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata has ten questions to answer, and the first of them is the marks of the appearance. What does mark mean here? Not what the Buddha looked like, and not the year and the place of his birth — if that were all we were asking, the reading would be over as soon as the biography was finished. What is being asked here is this: the Buddha’s coming forth into the world, what kind of event is it? What does it resemble, that such a thing should happen at all?
Samantabhadra passes judgment in his very first breath: this matter is inconceivable, and the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One appears by way of measureless dharmas. Then he at once puts the question to himself and answers it himself: why inconceivable? Because it is not by one condition, and not by one thing — it is not that some single circumstance, some one event, happened to ripen and out came a Buddha.
Let us clear away first the easiest misreading. This is not saying that the Buddha’s appearance has no cause. It is saying exactly the opposite: that the causes are too many to be counted. When people in the world think a thing through, they are in the habit of hunting for the one cause — a sage comes into the world, so there must have been some decisive occasion. The sūtra blocks that way of hunting in its opening sentence. Brought down to the reader, it comes to this: whenever some great matter stands before your eyes, if you take it to have been brought about at one moment, you have overlooked the measureless accumulation that lies behind it; and the appearance of a Buddha is the most extreme instance of that whole class of events.
Ten Measureless Things: The Cause Is Not a Line, It Is a Whole Expanse
Having ruled out the one condition and the one thing, Samantabhadra gives the positive side, the ten measureless things: the measureless mind of awakening in the past that gathered in all beings, the measureless pure and surpassing aspiration and delight, the measureless great kindness and great compassion that rescued and guarded beings, the measureless practice and vow continuing unbroken, the measureless gathering of merit and wisdom with a mind that never had enough, the measureless offerings made to the Buddhas and teaching given to beings, the measureless pure path of wisdom and skillful means, the measureless treasury of pure merit, the measureless wisdom that adorns the dharmas of the Way, and the measureless penetration of the sense of the Dharma — when these ten are brought to fullness, then a Tathāgata is accomplished.
The question worth asking is: why ten, and not three or a hundred? Chengguan, in his commentary, first blocks off one way of counting. The sūtra says ten measureless hundreds of thousands of asaṃkhyeyas, and the ancients once explained this by multiplication — the ten measureless things entering the ten similes make a hundred, and then the ten clauses of the concluding passage, each concluding a hundred gateways, make a thousand. Chengguan does not take that arithmetic: he says that the ten gateways set out below already speak of the measureless in themselves, so that they need not be made to enter one another to make up a sum, and therefore the words hundred thousand are only a general name for number. That one sentence is a key for reading the numbers of this sūtra: in the Avataṃsaka the numbers are very often not a count but a way of saying there is no end to this.
Clear away one common misunderstanding: the ten measureless things are not ten stages, and it is not that one finishes the first and then cultivates the second. Look at what they contain — rousing the mind, aspiration, compassion, practice and vow, merit and wisdom, offering to the Buddhas and teaching beings, skillful means, merit, adornment, penetration of the sense — this is one single bodhisattva path seen from ten sides, a whole expanse. Chengguan goes down the list one by one: the first is rousing the great mind at the outset and vowing to appear; the second is the surpassing aspiration that seeks upward; the third is the compassion that transforms downward; the fourth is continuing the vow by practice; the fifth is that merit and wisdom fall nowhere outside this; the sixth displays separately the adornment of merit; the seventh displays separately the adornment of wisdom; the eighth purifies the merit that went before; the ninth adorns the wisdom that went before; and the tenth is the true wisdom that exhausts the source of the Dharma. If you look for your own place among them, you will find that every one of them is still being done and not one of them is finished — and this is precisely where the word measureless comes to ground.
Why the Founding of a World Is Used as the Simile for a Buddha’s Appearing
The dharma has been stated; what follows is ten similes, and all ten take the same scene: how one three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system comes to stand out of nothing. Cloud, rain, wheels of wind, the great earth, mountains, seas, palaces — what is likened is, in every case, the world as vessel.
Why just this scene? Chengguan’s answer goes deep: within this one chapter, that which is depended upon is generally used to liken that which depends (the lands upon which beings depend liken the Buddha’s body and the Buddha’s wisdom), and this is not merely because the two are similar in kind — in truth the outer is transformed out of the inner, and so the outer vessel is made wholly to resemble the inner. That sentence is worth pausing over: the simile here is not a convenience of rhetoric; it is that the simile and the dharma are the outside and the inside of one and the same thing.
Clear away one misreading: this is not the mechanical analogy that as a world comes to be, so a Buddha comes to be. Chengguan cautions that each of the ten similes has three parts — the simile, the joining, and the conclusion; the simile answers to it is as though, and the joining answers to causes and conditions. Moreover the statement of the dharma speaks mostly of causes in the past, while the joining passage speaks mostly of conditions present now. In reading the ten similes, keep your eye fixed on the joining; the simile is only the doorway.
The First Simile: Four Wheels of Wind and Four Great Wisdoms
The first simile is called the simile of the raising up of the great thousand, and Chengguan judges it the general simile, with the nine below all lying within the rain that this one sends down. For a world to come to be, a great cloud must first rise and a great rain fall, and then four wheels of wind must follow one upon another as its support: the upholder (bearing up the great waters), the reducer (diminishing the great waters), the establisher (setting up all places), and the adorner (distributing them with skill in every particular).
Why are these four in this order? Chengguan’s explanation is wonderfully concrete: without the first wheel the rainwater would have nowhere to rest; if the waters were not reduced they would hinder the arising of the heavenly palaces; even when the waters have been reduced, the third wheel is still needed to establish things by them — as one measure of water recedes, one tier of heaven arises, like a swift current freezing layer upon layer in the depth of winter; and though great places have arisen, they have no adornment in particular, and so the fourth is required. The order is: a place, then rising into the air, then taking form, then coming to beauty — and not one step may be inverted.
In the joining passage the four great wisdom wheels of wind are these: the dhāraṇī that holds in mind and does not forget (a total holding that loses nothing, able to uphold all the cloud and rain of Dharma), the bringing forth of stopping and contemplating (able to dry up the afflictions), skillful dedication (able to accomplish all roots of goodness), and the bringing forth of the adornment that is free of defilement and distinguished in kind (making pure the roots of goodness of the beings taught in the past). Chengguan judges that the first three are cause and the last is the fullness of the twofold fruit, benefiting oneself and benefiting others — the cause being full and the fruit complete, a Buddha then appears. Brought down to practice, these four are the complete cycle that follows upon hearing the Dharma: to be able to hold it, to be able to dissolve what obstructs it, to be able to turn it outward, to be able to bring it to adornment. Let any one of the four be missing, and no amount of Dharma heard will come to a vessel.
There Is None That Makes, and Yet the World Still Comes to Stand
The first simile closes with a hard sentence: the nature of dharmas is such that there is none that gives birth, none that makes, none that knows, none that accomplishes, and yet that world does come to be accomplished. The joining passage closes in the same way: the nature of dharmas is such that without birth and without making it comes to be accomplished.
This sentence is the easiest of all to read as nihilism: if there is nothing that makes, then what was the point of speaking of all those causes and conditions? Chengguan’s reading preserves both sides. He says first that the phrase the nature of dharmas runs here through both nature and mark, and is the general clause; then he displays separately the emptiness of nature, and he points out that it is at the same time refuting the false reckonings of the outside ways — it is not born of some subtle nature or of atoms, it is not made by some sovereign lord or Brahmā, and there is no self-soul that knows. Those three clauses empty that which makes; there is none that accomplishes empties that which is made. And then the crucial turn: though maker and made are alike empty, this does not hinder the being of marks, and therefore the sūtra goes straight on to say that it does come to be accomplished.
So the sentence does not cancel causes and conditions; it cancels the one who is supposed to be pulling the strings behind them. The world really did come to stand, and the Buddha really did appear; it is only that no one can be found who made the decision from behind. This is the other face of not by one condition, not by one thing: because there is no one pulling the strings, the causes must be measureless; and because the causes are measureless, it is all the plainer that there is no one pulling the strings.
The Second, Third, and Fourth Similes: What Can Bear It, What Neither Comes Nor Goes, What Cannot Be Sounded
The second simile: the deluging rain. The rain that falls when a world is about to be formed is called the deluge, and no place whatever can bear it; only the moment when the great thousand is about to be formed can receive it. The joining passage says: the rain of Dharma is called the accomplishing of the appearance of the Tathāgata; those of the two vehicles, narrow and low in their aim, cannot bear or uphold it, save only for the power of continuity of mind in the great bodhisattvas.
What is meant by that power of continuity of mind? Chengguan gives two readings, a broad and a narrow, and lets them stand side by side without adjudicating. If it is taken only as receiving in faith, then it is those of perfect capacity, whose firm seed continues unbroken and can receive the deep purport. If it is taken as receiving in full, then one must be at the eighth ground or above and have gained the power of the inexhaustible dhāraṇī truly to be able to uphold it, and only at the tenth ground does one receive the Tathāgata’s teaching of the Dharma as cloud and rain. He explains for himself that the sūtra says only save for the great bodhisattvas because it takes the former sense, so that here it is merely sorting out the two vehicles. For the reader this is a step to stand on: you need not first ask whether you are at the eighth ground; ask first whether your own faith can catch what is falling.
The third simile: cloud and rain from nowhere. The rain, in coming, comes from nowhere; in going, it arrives nowhere. Chengguan puts it cleanly: the cloud and rain of Dharma appear at the stirring of capacity, and it is not that there is first some place where they are stored, from which they come when the time arrives and to which they return to their old lodging when the occasion has passed; and so their substance is without birth and without cessation. Clear away one misunderstanding: this is not saying that the Buddha’s teaching of the Dharma is an illusion. It is saying that there is no warehouse in which it can be stored — stirred, it appears; unstirred, it does not appear; and neither its appearing nor its not appearing moves its substance at all.
The fourth simile: the great rain that cannot be known. A great rain comes down — who can count how many drops? Try to reckon it, and you will only drive yourself mad; only Maheśvara, lord of the great thousand world, by the power of the roots of goodness cultivated in former lives, is not in the least unclear about so much as a single drop. The joining passage: the rain of Dharma cannot be known by any being, by the śrāvakas, or by the pratyekabuddhas; to try to think it through must bring the mind to disorder, save only for the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, for whom, down to a single line and a single phrase entering the mind of a being, there is nothing not clearly known. Chengguan judges this simile to liken depth, since it is not the object of the mind — it is not that one’s knowledge falls short, but that this matter does not fall within the province of discursive thought at all. And notice the most moving thing in the joining passage: what the bodhisattva knows clearly is not the number of the raindrops, but which line and which phrase has entered which being’s mind.
The Fifth and Sixth Similes: The Rain of Dharma Has Five Functions, and the Water Has Only One Taste
The fifth simile sets five names of rain side by side: the extinguisher (which puts out the calamity of fire), the raiser (which raises the great waters), the stayer (which stays the great waters), the accomplisher (which accomplishes all the maṇi jewels), and the divider (which divides the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system). The joining passage matches them one by one: extinguishing the afflictions of all beings, raising the roots of goodness of all beings, staying the delusions of view in all beings, accomplishing all the Dharma jewels of wisdom, and dividing what the minds of all beings delight in.
Chengguan’s way of explaining is worth learning. He looks first at the simile: the first is at the time of the world’s ruin, and the third is water stayed by water — the same water can both raise and stay. Then he looks at the joining: the first two extinguish delusion and accomplish wisdom and merit; the third extinguishes hindrance and accomplishes wisdom, which is stopping and contemplating practiced as a pair; and the last is the wisdom of expedients illumining capacity. Then he turns the matter around and sets out, by way of a question, what would follow if any one of the five were missing: without the second, one would be the same as the two vehicles (extinguishing but not raising); without the third, the same as the outside ways (raising but not staying); without the fourth, ignorance would be increased; without the fifth, the wisdom of all modes would not be accomplished. Set out that way, the five rains of Dharma are no longer five agreeable names; they are a line from which nothing can be spared.
The sixth simile is very short: water of one taste, and yet what it rains is measurelessly different; the Tathāgata rains the Dharma water of the one taste of great compassion, and teaches as is fitting, with measureless differences. Chengguan says it likens the Buddha’s one taste following the vessel. This simile is the ground of the one before it: the five functions differ so greatly, yet the source has only one taste. The difference lies on the side of the receiver, not on the side of the water.
The Seventh and Eighth Similes: Order and Priority, and This Is Not Made by Divine Power
The seventh simile: the superior places formed first. When a world is first formed, the palaces of the gods of the form realm are formed first, then the palaces of the gods of the desire realm, then the dwelling places of humans and the remaining beings. The joining passage: first arises the wisdom of the practices of the bodhisattvas, then that of the pratyekabuddhas, then that of the śrāvakas, then the wisdom of the practices of conditioned roots of goodness in the remaining beings. Chengguan judges it to liken the virtue by which the Buddha succors the superior conditions first.
Here the sūtra itself notices a contradiction, and so raises and resolves the objection on its own: if it is water of one taste, how can there be a before and an after? The answer lies in the latter half — water of one taste, and yet the palaces are of different kinds, because the roots of goodness in beings differ; the rain of Dharma has its differences according to the capacity of beings. Chengguan makes it plain: what is formed first is so by the power of deeds, and the dharma differs by the disparity of capacity, and this does not run counter to the one taste of the sixth simile. So the order is not a high and a low within the Buddha’s mind; it is the before and after of the stirring of capacity.
The eighth simile is the longest, and it is the eye of this section. The simile falls into three stretches: within the great waters a great lotus is born, named the jeweled adornment of the merit of the appearance of the Tathāgata, whose light illumines the ten directions, and Maheśvara and the gods of the Pure Abodes, seeing the flower, know at once how many Buddhas will appear in this eon; then ten wheels of wind in order accomplish the heavenly palaces, the mountains, the earth, the seas, the jewels, and the wish-granting trees; and last it is concluded in a sentence — the water of one taste has no discrimination in it, and because the roots of goodness in beings differ the wheels of wind differ, and because the wheels of wind differ the worlds differ. The joining passage is the Tathāgata’s unsurpassed great wisdom-light (one light having ten sights in turn), each accomplishing one of the Tathāgata’s virtues.
And the question and answer that follow are the most important thing in the whole section. Beings see the Tathāgata bringing forth measureless merits within one taste of liberation, and the thought arises in their minds: this is made by the divine power of the Tathāgata. The sūtra immediately denies it: this is not made by the divine power of the Tathāgata. Then it sets the matter right: that one who has never planted roots of goodness in the presence of a Buddha should gain even a small share of the Tathāgata’s wisdom — there is no such thing; and yet it is indeed by the power of the majestic virtue of the Buddhas that beings come to be furnished with the merits of a Buddha; and the Buddha, the Tathāgata, has no discrimination, no accomplishing and no ruining, no maker, and no dharma made.
Chengguan judges this stretch with great clarity. He says that the way of stirring and response has, in brief, three senses: that cause and condition complete one another, that they take one another away, and that what conditions complete is empty of nature. The disease in beings is that they let the condition take away the cause — crediting the whole of it to the Buddha’s power, and so losing the sense of causes and conditions. Therefore the sūtra first lets the cause take away the condition, saying not so outright, striking down the side that is clung to; then it states the right sense, so that cause and condition complete one another; and last it comes home to emptiness of nature — because it is completed by conditions there is no completing, and because there is no completing there is no ruining; and since what is completed is empty, where could there be a maker that completes it or a dharma that is made?
Brought down to a person, this stretch is the most practical balance in the whole of practice: to credit everything to the Buddha is laziness; to credit everything to oneself is conceit. The sūtra permits neither side, and it is not a compromise — it pierces one layer further down: since cause and condition complete one another, there exists nothing that could take the credit by itself.
The Ninth and Tenth Similes: Depending All the Way Down to What Depends on Nothing; To Be Accomplished Is Already to Benefit
The ninth simile: the four wheels in mutual dependence. Out of empty space four wheels of wind arise (abiding, constantly abiding, ultimate, and firm), and they uphold the water wheel, and the water wheel upholds the great earth. Hence it is said: the earth wheel depends upon the water wheel, the water wheel upon the wind wheel, the wind wheel upon empty space, and empty space depends upon nothing — and though it depends upon nothing, it can make the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system abide.
The four great wisdom wheels of wind in the joining passage are these: gathering in all beings and making them rejoice, establishing the true Dharma and making beings delight in it, guarding the roots of goodness of beings, and being furnished with all skillful means and penetrating the undefiled realm. Chengguan does not take the old explanation that matches them to the four means of gathering (he says that once so matched they would become a limitation when joined to the appearance of the Tathāgata), and sets up instead an order that follows capacity: for those who have not yet entered faith, they are gathered in by the four means and shown the right principle; for those who have received in faith, the teaching is established for them; for those who have entered the Dharma, they are made to complete the practice; for those who have completed the practice, they are made to gain the fruit. This line fits the order of delivering beings within an appearing better than the four means of gathering.
Further down, the sūtra sets out the whole chain of dependence: great kindness and great compassion depend upon great skillfulness in means, great skillfulness in means depends upon the appearance of the Tathāgata, the appearance of the Tathāgata depends upon the light of unobstructed wisdom, and the light of unobstructed wisdom depends upon nothing. Chengguan joins them one by one: compassion joins the earth (able to bear a heavy load), skillful means joins the water (bending to the vessel), the appearing joins the wind (whose force can uphold), and the unobstructed joins empty space (unobstructed as space is). He notices too that the verses have one tier more than the prose — the verses set all the dharmas of the Buddha before compassion, to be likened to the grove of trees, making five tiers of dependence.
The point is in that last depends upon nothing. Whatever depends upon something can have its support drawn away and be ruined; where nothing is depended upon, there is nothing to draw away. The root of the Buddha-dharma does not stand upon some further thing; it stands upon nothing to stand on — and this is not being left hanging in the air: precisely because it depends upon nothing, it can uphold everything.
The tenth simile closes most plainly: once the world is formed, it benefits beings — those of the waters gain the benefit of water, those of the land gain the benefit of land, those of the palaces gain the benefit of palaces, those of open space gain the benefit of open space. The joining passage: those who see the Buddha and rejoice gain the benefit of joy; those who abide in pure discipline gain the benefit of pure discipline; those who abide in the meditations and the measureless states gain the benefit of the great spiritual penetrations of the noble ones beyond the world; those who abide in the light of the gateway of Dharma gain the benefit of the unruined relation of cause and fruit; those who abide in the light of nothing-whatever gain the benefit of the unruinedness of all dharmas. Chengguan joins them in order: seeing the Buddha and rejoicing is like a fish gaining moisture; discipline is like level ground, from which the ten thousand goods are born; concentration is like a chamber in which one gains rest; wisdom is like empty space, which cannot be ruined. For the last two he further distinguishes the unruined phenomenon and the unruined principle. The founding of a world is itself the benefiting; no further act is needed. So it is with a Buddha’s appearing.
The Concluding Eleven Clauses: Gathering Ten Similes Back into a Single Word, Knows
The ten similes finished, the sūtra concludes with a passage of knowing: the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, knowing the appearance of the Tathāgata, then knows it as measureless, knows it as vast, knows it as neither coming nor going, knows it as without practice and without anything practiced, knows it as without a body, knows it as equal, knows it as inexhaustible, knows it as without retreat, knows it as unruinable, knows it as not two, and knows that all beings gain benefit from it.
Chengguan points out that there are eleven clauses here, one more than the ten gateways, the reason being that the ninth gateway is concluded with two clauses (unruinable, not two). And he matches them back to the ten similes one by one: because the causes are many, there is an appearing; because it is vast, it is hard to receive; because it is without birth, it comes from nowhere; because it is not the mind or consciousness, thinking it through must bring on madness; because it is like space, both delusion and view fall away; because it is equal and without self, it is of one taste; because it is inexhaustible, the vehicles are transformed universally; because there is no cutting off at the later limit, the Buddha-seed is not cut off; without opposite is precisely unobstructed wisdom; the equality of the conditioned and the unconditioned is precisely the gathering of the three wheels back into unobstructed wisdom; and because it was from the first for the sake of beings, benefit is now brought to fullness. He adds a caution as well: to match every clause through to all ten gateways would be to miss the sense — which is a reminder to the reader that a reckoning must be one that holds, and that tidiness must not be mistaken for depth.
Notice that every verb in this passage is knows. The ten similes speak of matters on the Buddha’s side; this passage speaks of matters on the bodhisattva’s side. To know the appearance of the Tathāgata is not to have the ten similes by heart; it is for these eleven kinds of knowing to have taken their stand in the mind.
The Thirty-Seven Stanzas: The Weight of the Verses Falls on Make Your Mind Pure as Empty Space
After the prose come thirty-seven stanzas. Chengguan divides them into three: the first fourteen praise the depth and grant the telling; the middle twenty-two put the ten similes above into verse (the first simile, being general, takes four stanzas, and the remaining nine two each); and the last one stanza concludes that the telling is endless and does not put the foregoing into verse. The part that versifies the ten similes matches the prose position by position, and since the sense has been fully stated in the prose it is not taught again here.
What deserves separate mention is the stanza that admonishes the hearer: if there be one who would know the realm of the Buddhas, let him make his mind pure as empty space, put far from him false imaginings and every grasping, and make all that his mind turns toward unobstructed. Here Chengguan sets down the weightiest stroke in the section. He says the latter two lines display it separately: the first is departing from false grasping, like a pure sky without cloud or film, and this is true stopping; the second is meeting objects without stagnation, like a pure sky without obstruction, and this is true contemplating. And then he brings out what is special about this stopping and contemplating — this contemplating does not stir the intent in order to illumine its object, and so what it illumines has no shore; this stopping is a substance from the first apart, and so it lays false things to rest, and every grasping falls silent. At that point, without wiping and without burnishing it is pure of itself, and purity that is not made pure is already in secret accord with the realm of the Buddhas. Chengguan marks it out himself: this is the heart’s essential, for those who come after to ponder and to practice.
This one stanza is where the ten similes come to ground. Ten similes have gone on at length about how unthinkable a Buddha’s appearing is, and the reader can hardly help asking: then what is there for me to do? The answer is not to think it through; it is to make the mind pure as empty space — not to polish it, but to stop adding to it.
The last stanza closes with great honesty: the dharma of the Tathāgata’s appearing has no bound, and the deluded of the world cannot know it; and it is in order to awaken every kind of conscious being that a simile has been spoken where no simile can be. The ten similes are not there because this matter resembles those things; they are there because it is from the first beyond all likening, and yet people cannot enter except through likeness. If, having read the ten similes, you still feel that it has not been fully said, you have not read carelessly — that is exactly what the sūtra admits of itself.
Lineage
The largest matter of lineage in this section rests on a single rendering of a name. The sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka calls this chapter the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata; the eighty-fascicle changes the rendering to the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata. Throughout the sixty-fascicle text the phrase is the rain of Dharma of the nature-arising of the Tathāgata; throughout the eighty it is the appearance of the Tathāgata. Chengguan, at the outline of the verses, points out where this name comes from: the prose and its ten similes make nature and mark clear together, while the verses speak mostly with regard to nature, and so the old rendering nature-arising has all the more reason behind it. The doctrine of nature-arising, of which the Huayan school later made so much, has its scriptural ground precisely in this section — it is not a separate body of abstruse principle set up alongside, but something grown out of sentences like there is none that makes, and yet the world comes to be accomplished and this is not made by the divine power of the Tathāgata.
Three tracks of the ancient masters run side by side; they are recorded without adjudication. Chengguan follows the eighty-fascicle text, sets up the names of the ten similes passage by passage, and judges that nature and mark are made clear together while the verses speak mostly with regard to nature (the track of following the text). Fazang, in his commentary on the sixty-fascicle text, judges its verses to be sixty-five and matches the ten similes to ten virtues of the Buddha (the simile of the motes of dust likening the Buddha’s virtue of having no limit, the simile of measuring space likening his virtue of vastness, and so on down to the simile of the bird’s track likening his virtue of substance and function); and he lets a second reading stand alongside, saying that these ten are the verses upon the ten clauses of the concluding passage, except that the ninth gateway instead versifies the seventh clause. Li Tongxuan reads by way of the display of principle through phenomena: he says that these ten stretches of scripture are Samantabhadra’s telling of the realm of the body of the appearance of the Tathāgata and of the dharma of the ten matters that his practice performs, and he takes Mañjuśrī as the gateway in which the wondrous principle of the dharma-body of all Buddhas manifests the fundamental wisdom, and Samantabhadra as the gateway of the differentiating wisdom, the myriad practices, and great compassion, the two dharmas being complete together being what is named one’s own Buddha appearing; and at the end he comes home to what beings already possess — his stanza on the priceless wisdom-pearl within the robe, and the man who for all his long poverty would rather stand outside the gate, brings the sense of the whole chapter back to the reader.
The differences between the two translations are recorded here as well. The eighty-fascicle text sets up its headings by mark (the first mark of the appearing down to the tenth mark), while the sixty sets up its headings by cause and condition (the first and most surpassing gateway of Dharma; the second cause and condition by which right and full awakening is accomplished and there is an arising in the world). In the third name of the fifth simile, the eighty has the stayer and joins it to the staying of the delusions of view, while the sixty has the ruiner and joins it to the ruining of every evil and false view. In the name of the lotus in the eighth simile, the eighty has the jeweled adornment of the merit of the appearance of the Tathāgata and the sixty has the arising of the Tathāgata. The stanzas number thirty-seven in the eighty and sixty-five in the sixty. The two texts differ in what they open out and what they draw together; all is recorded without adjudication.
As for lineage along the line of the treatises, the lack is recorded as it stands: in the treatises examined — the Cheng weishi lun, the She dasheng lun, and the Yogācārabhūmi — no explicit passage was found that attaches to the sense of this section, and nothing from elsewhere is put in its place. What is lacking is simply lacking; and this too is a continuation of the honesty of a simile spoken where no simile can be.
考據Apparatus
如來出現十門之第一門「出現之相」：普賢答如來出現非以一緣一事而成，先以十無量法門總標，次以十喻（大千興造・洪霔難受・雲雨無從・大雨難知・大雨成敗・一雨隨別・勝處先成・事別由因・四輪相依・大千饒益）別顯，後以十一句總結成益，末繫三十七頌。澄觀判此段「喻則性相雙明，此中多就性說，古稱性起，彌復有由」〔T35n1735 0874c12〕——六十華嚴同段品名即〈寶王如來性起品〉，八十改譯「如來出現」，性起與出現之名異，正是本品宗義之樞。第八喻「此非如來神力所造」〔T10n0279 0264c03〕一問一答，為華嚴感應因緣之正義所在。
一、科判定位
| 科判系統 | 此段之位 |
|---|---|
| 底本 T279 三十九品 | 品三十七 如來出現品（第七會 重會普光明殿）；第一義 出現之相＝〔T10n0279 0263a19〕–〔0266a04 前〕 |
| 澄觀《華嚴經疏》 | 本節疏文〔T35n1735 0873a05〕–〔0875a08〕；長行分三「標、釋、結」，次「第二喻明深廣」十喻，次總結十一句，後偈頌三十七 |
| 法藏《探玄記》（六十華嚴疏） | 〈32 寶王如來性起品〉科起〔T35n1733 0405a06〕；本段所涉疏文〔0406b17〕–〔0408b24〕 |
| 李通玄《新華嚴經論》 | 本段所涉論文〔T36n1739 0939a27〕–〔0941c19〕；以文殊普賢二法表理智體用 |
| 異譯 六十華嚴 T278 | 〈寶王如來性起品〉對位段〔T09n0278 0612b26〕–〔0616a09 前〕 |
長行三分——澄觀開章即判：
「分三，謂標、釋、結。今初。總標多因，成出現果。」〔T35n1735 0873a05〕
釋分之下再開二重：「二「何以」下釋，於中二：先徵以總釋、後「何等為」下徵數別明。」〔0873a06–07〕十無量之數，澄觀誌古人之說而以總稱收之：
「此十無量，皆遍十喻。言百千者，古人云：以十無量入中，十喻成百。以後結中十句，一一結前百門為千。……是知百千之言，但是數之總稱耳。」〔T35n1735 0873a10–15〕
十喻科——
「十喻各三，謂喻、合、結。喻酬譬喻，合酬因緣」〔T35n1735 0873a24–25〕
十喻之名依澄觀逐段標目：一大千興造喻〔0873a27〕・二洪霔大千喻〔0873c02〕・三雲雨無從喻〔0873c08〕・四大雨難知喻〔0873c12〕・五大雨成敗喻〔0873c15〕・六一雨隨別喻〔0873c20〕・七勝處先成喻〔0873c21〕・八事別由因喻〔0873c24〕・九四輪相依喻〔0874a27〕・十大千饒益喻〔0874b20〕。初喻為總：
「十中，一大千興造喻，此喻為總，總喻眾緣以成出現，故云以無量緣等。下說雲雨，皆此所霔。」〔T35n1735 0873a27–29〕
結成十一句——
「第三總結成益中有十一句，各別結上十門，以九十二句結第九門，故有十一。」〔T35n1735 0874b25–27〕
偈頌科——
「第二偈頌，三十七頌，分三：初十四頌歎深許說；次二十二頌頌上十喻；後一頌結說無盡、不頌上文。」〔T35n1735 0874c05–07〕
頌上十喻之配：「第二頌前十喻，即為十段。初喻四頌，以是總故；餘九各二。」〔0875a02–03〕——四加十八，適足二十二。歎深十四頌又分：「今初，分二：前十一頌歎深難量、後三頌誡聽許說。」〔0874c07–09〕十一頌又分「初偈總歎，頌前標告不思議言；後十別歎，即次第頌前總結十一句，亦第九偈頌九十二句。」〔0874c09–11〕
二、術語
| 漢 | 古德傳梵（羅馬字·發音輔助） | 所徵 | 精義 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 如來出現 | —（八十譯語） | 本品品名·本段結相語「是為如來、應、正等覺出現第一相」〔T10n0279 0263b24〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | 佛之出興於世；六十譯作『性起』，澄觀云「古稱性起，彌復有由」〔T35n1735 0874c12〕 |
| 性起 | — | 六十本品名「寶王如來性起品」·經文「演說如來性起法雨」〔T09n0278 0613a05–06〕 | 六十譯語；八十改譯「出現」，二名所繫詳目四·目六 |
| 洪霔 | — | 本品第二喻「大雲降雨，名曰：洪霔」〔T10n0279 0263b26〕 | 極盛之雨；六十作『洪澍』〔T09n0278 0613a03〕 |
| 風輪 | — | 第一喻四風輪·第八喻十風輪·第九喻四風輪 | 世界成立之能持力；喻如來大智之能持能成 |
| 摩醯首羅 | maheśvara（音寫即古傳） | 第四喻『唯大千世界主——摩醯首羅』〔T10n0279 0263〕 | 大千世界主；喻中唯彼能知雨滴之數 |
| 陀羅尼 | dhāraṇī（音寫即古傳） | 第一喻合文「念持不忘陀羅尼大智風輪」〔T10n0279 0263b17〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | 總持；四大智風輪之第一 |
| 阿僧祇 | asaṃkhyeya（音寫即古傳） | 「以十無量百千阿僧祇事而得成就」〔T10n0279 0263a21〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | 大數名；出現之因量 |
| 乾闥婆 | gandharva（音寫即古傳） | 第八喻「能成地天宮殿、龍宮殿、乾闥婆宮殿」〔T10n0279 0264a28〕〔T10n0279 0264〕 | 天龍八部之一；莊嚴風輪所成之處 |
| 摩尼 | maṇi（音寫即古傳） | 第五喻「能成一切摩尼諸寶」〔T10n0279 0263c21〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | 寶珠；喻一切智慧法寶 |
| 十大山王 | 佉陀羅・尼民陀羅・目真隣陀 等音寫即古傳 | 第八喻「不動」〔T10n0279 0264a23〕風輪所成〔T10n0279 0264〕 | 器界骨幹；喻如來德之峻立 |
| 無礙慧光明 | — | 第九喻「如來出現依無礙慧光明，無礙慧光明無有所依」〔T10n0279 0264c22〕〔T10n0279 0264〕 | 出現之最後所依而自無所依；澄觀合虛空 |
| 一解脫味 | — | 第八喻「如來於一解脫味出生無量不可思議種種功德」〔T10n0279 0264c01〕〔T10n0279 0264〕 | 一味之體；澄觀云「水具二義，悲及解脫」〔T35n1735 0874a18〕 |
| 心相續力 | — | 第二喻「唯除諸大菩薩心相續力」〔T10n0279 0263c01〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | 堪受大法之機；澄觀開信受・具受二釋（目六） |
三、譬喻·修辭
本段以十喻連環為體，喻依皆取器世界之成壞，喻體皆歸如來出現。澄觀通判其所以：
「一品之內多以依喻正者，非唯義類相似，實則外由內變，故令外器全似於內。」〔T35n1735 0873b28–29〕
(一) 大千興造喻（總喻）——「譬如三千大千世界，非以一緣，非以一事，而得成就」〔T10n0279 0263b03〕〔T10n0279 0263〕：
- 喻依：興布大雲、降霔大雨、四種風輪（能持・能消・建立・莊嚴）相續為依，皆由眾生共業及菩薩善根所起。
- 喻體：如來曾於過去佛所聽聞受持大法雲雨，因此能起四種大智風輪（念持不忘陀羅尼・出生止觀・善巧迴向・出生離垢差別莊嚴）。
- 所顯義：出現之果非一因所成。澄觀釋四風輪之次第曰：「一能持者，若無此輪，雨無停處；二水若不減，礙起天宮；三水雖已減，假此成立，謂減一節水起一重天，如嚴冬急流重重水結；四雖起總處，無別莊嚴，故須第四。」〔T35n1735 0873b04–08〕合文四輪，澄觀判「前三是因、後一二利果滿」〔T35n1735 0873b27–27〕。
(二) 洪霔大千喻——「大雲降雨，名曰：洪霔，一切方處所不能受、所不能持」〔T10n0279 0263b26〕：
- 喻依：唯大千將成時能受洪霔之雨。
- 喻體：法雨名「成就如來出現」，二乘心志狹劣不能受持，唯諸大菩薩心相續力。
- 所顯義：法之廣大難受。
(三) 雲雨無從喻——「大雲降雨，來無所從，去無所至」〔T10n0279 0263c04〕〔T10n0279 0263〕：
- 所顯義：法雲法雨機感而現，體無生滅。澄觀：「非先有一方所，從彼而來、機謝而去，亦非歸至舊所，故體無生滅。」〔T35n1735 0873c10–11〕
(四) 大雨難知喻——「一切眾生，無能知數，若欲算計，徒令發狂；唯大千世界主——摩醯首羅……乃至一滴無不明了」〔T10n0279 0263c09〕〔T10n0279 0263〕：
- 喻體：法雨唯菩薩摩訶薩以覺慧力「乃至一文一句，入眾生心，無不明了」〔T10n0279 0263c15〕。
- 所顯義：法之深不可測，非心境所行。澄觀：「第四大雨難知喻，喻深，非心境故。」〔T35n1735 0873c12〕
(五) 大雨成敗喻——五雨之名：能滅・能起・能止・能成・分別〔T10n0279 0263〕：
- 喻體：法雨五名——滅眾生煩惱・起眾生善根・止眾生見惑・成一切智慧法寶・分別一切眾生心樂。
- 所顯義：澄觀：「況佛滅惑成德。喻中，初一即壞界之時、三即以水止水。合中，初二滅惑成智福、次一滅障成智，即止觀雙運。後一權智照機。」〔T35n1735 0873c15–18〕又反顯五者缺一之失：「又無二同二乘，無三同外道，無四增無明，無五非種智。」〔0873c18–19〕
(六) 一雨隨別喻——「大雲雨一味水，隨其所雨，無量差別」〔T10n0279 0264a01〕〔T10n0279 0263〕：
- 所顯義：大悲一味法水而隨宜說法。澄觀：「喻佛一味隨器，隨器即合前差別。」〔T35n1735 0873c20–21〕
(七) 勝處先成喻——「先成色界諸天宮殿，次成欲界諸天宮殿，次成於人及餘眾生諸所住處」〔T10n0279 0264a05〕〔T10n0279 0264〕：
- 喻體：先起菩薩諸行智慧，次緣覺、次聲聞、次其餘眾生有為善根諸行智慧。
- 所顯義：勝緣先濟。經文自設牒釋以遣疑（一味水而宮殿不同），澄觀：「先成由業力、法異由機殊，不乖第六一味。」〔T35n1735 0873c23–24〕
(八) 事別由因喻——大水生大蓮華，名「如來出現功德寶莊嚴」〔T10n0279 0264a16〕，遍覆水上，光照十方；十風輪次第成器〔T10n0279 0264〕：
- 喻體：如來放無上大智光明（一光復有十見）（不斷如來種不思議智・清淨離垢・普照・持佛種性・逈出無能壞・一切神通・出生變化・普隨順・不可究竟・種種莊嚴・不可壞），成如來十種德。
- 所顯義：德殊由智。澄觀：「第八事別由因喻，喻佛成辦大事德，亦是德殊由智喻。」〔T35n1735 0873c24–25〕蓮華表佛，澄觀誌其所準：「而言大者，準五卷《大悲經》第三云有千葉故。」〔0873c26–27〕又「光照十方者，金色光也。言爾所佛者，有千枚華，表千佛故。故劫名賢，賢善多故。」〔0873c28–29〕
- 段末一問一答為本段眼目：眾生念言此是如來神力所造，經自遣之曰「此非如來神力所造」〔T10n0279 0264c03〕。澄觀判其失在偏執：「然感應之道略有三義：一互相成、二互相奪、三緣成性空。今眾生以緣奪因，純推佛力，失因緣義。」〔T35n1735 0874a20–22〕釋文則「初以因奪緣，一向言非」〔0874a23〕，後乃雙成，終歸性空：「緣成故無成，無成故無壞。所成既空，何有能成作者及作法耶？」〔0874a26–27〕
(九) 四輪相依喻——虛空起四風輪（安住・常住・究竟・堅固），持水輪，水輪持大地〔T10n0279 0264〕：
- 喻體：依無礙慧光明起四種大智風輪（普攝眾生皆令歡喜・建立正法令生愛樂・守護眾生善根・具一切方便通達無漏界），大慈大悲依大方便善巧，依如來出現，依無礙慧光明，而無礙慧光明無有所依。
- 所顯義：體用依持而終無所依。澄觀合之曰：「一慈悲，合地能厚載故。二方便，合水曲隨器故。出現，合風力能持故。無礙，合空如空無礙故。」〔T35n1735 0874b15–17〕四大智風輪之次第，澄觀不取四攝配而別立：「今謂一未信入者，以四攝普攝，示以正理；二已信受者，建立教法；三已入法者，令其成行；四已成行者，令其得果。」〔0874b12–14〕又誌頌文多一重：「若準偈中，慈悲之前有一切佛法以況樹林，則五重相依。」〔0874b19–20〕
(十) 大千饒益喻——世界既成，水族得水饒益、陸地得地饒益、宮殿得宮殿饒益、虛空得虛空饒益〔T10n0279 0264〕：
- 喻體：見佛生歡喜者得歡喜益・住淨戒者得淨戒益・住諸禪定及無量者得聖出世大神通益・住法門光明者得因果不壞益・住無所有光明者得一切法不壞益。
- 所顯義：澄觀次第合之：「見佛生喜如魚得潤故，戒如平地萬善由生故，定如宮室得安息故，慧如虛空不可壞故。」〔T35n1735 0874b22–25〕末二句復開「初不壞事、後不壞理」〔0874b25〕。
(十一) 頌中三喻——量空喻「如人持尺量虛空」・鳥跡喻「如鳥飛空無有迹」・掌寶喻「明見如觀掌中寶」〔T10n0279 0265c06〕〔T10n0279 0265〕：所顯義：境界不可量・現而無迹・唯自在人能明見。
四、異譯對勘
本段之校本：實叉難陀 T279（底本·品三十七 如來出現品）· 佛馱跋陀羅 T278（晉譯六十華嚴·品三十二 寶王如來性起品·全本主對校）。四十華嚴 T293 唯有品三十九，本段無對校本，據實標闕。
句一 開章標告
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 佛子！此處不可思議，所謂如來、應、正等覺以無量法而得出現。何以故？非以一緣，非以一事，如來出現而得成就 | T10n0279 0263 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！如來、應供、等正覺性起正法不可思議，所以者何？非少因緣，成等正覺出興于世。 | T09n0278 0612b27–29 |
異文所繫：(甲) 80「如來出現」↔ 60「性起正法……成等正覺出興于世」——名之根本異，全段一貫。(乙) 80「應、正等覺」↔ 60「應供、等正覺」。(丙) 60 於段首具說者：「爾時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩告如來性起妙德菩薩等諸大眾言」〔T09n0278 0612b26–27〕，80 於本節內承前不重出。
句二 結相定型語
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 是為如來、應、正等覺出現第一相，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。 | T10n0279 0263 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 是為第一最勝法門，成等正覺出興于世，菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。 | T09n0278 0612c29–02 |
異文所繫：80 十段皆作『出現第N相』，60 初段作「第一最勝法門」、二段以下作「是為第二因緣成等正覺出興于世」〔T09n0278 0613a07〕等——80 以「相」立目，60 以「因緣」立目，開合異。
句三 第五喻五雨之名
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 有大雲雨，名為：能滅，能滅火災……名為：能起……名為：能止，能止大水……名為：能成……名為：分別 | T10n0279 0263 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 譬如大雲降雨，名滅熾然、或名能起、或名能壞、或名成寶、或名分別大千世界 | T09n0278 0613a24–26 |
異文所繫：80 第三名「能止」（合文「能止一切眾生見惑」〔T10n0279 0263c26〕）↔ 60 第三名「能壞」（合文「能壞眾生諸惡邪見」〔T09n0278 0613a29–b01〕）。止與壞之別，澄觀於 80 讀作「三即以水止水」〔T35n1735 0873c16〕。
句四 第八喻蓮華之名
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 生大蓮華，名：如來出現功德寶莊嚴，遍覆水上，光照十方一切世界 | T10n0279 0264 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 生大蓮華名如來起，諸功德寶以為莊嚴，遍覆三千大千世界，光照十方一切國土 | T09n0278 0613b19–21 |
異文所繫：(甲) 華名 80「如來出現功德寶莊嚴」〔T10n0279 0264a16〕↔ 60「如來起」。(乙) 80「遍覆水上」↔ 60「遍覆三千大千世界」〔T09n0278 0613b20〕。(丙) 見華之天，80 作「摩醯首羅、淨居天等」〔T10n0279 0264a17〕，60 同作「摩醯首羅淨居天等」〔T09n0278 0613b21〕；所決定知者，80 作「有爾所佛出興于世」〔T10n0279 0264a18〕，60 作「如蓮華數諸佛興世」〔0613b22–23〕。
句五 第七喻之次第
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 先起菩薩諸行智慧，次起緣覺諸行智慧，次起聲聞善根諸行智慧，次起其餘眾生有為善根諸行智慧 | T10n0279 0264 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 先起菩薩諸行智慧，次起緣覺、聲聞及餘眾生一切善根 | T09n0278 0613b12–13 |
異文所繫：80 四重各繫「諸行智慧」，60 後三合為一句——80 開、60 合。
句六 第九喻頌之依持次第
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 一切佛法依慈悲，慈悲復依方便立，方便依智智依慧，無礙慧身無所依。 | T10n0279 0265 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 智輪依如來，慈悲依智慧，功德依方便，法身無所依。 | T09n0278 0615c27–28 |
異文所繫：80 頌五重相依（佛法→慈悲→方便→智→慧）而終於「無礙慧身無所依」；60 頌四重而終於「法身無所依」。澄觀讀 80 頌正取五重（見目三之九）。
句七 頌數
| 校本 | 頌數與科 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279（澄觀科） | 三十七頌·分三（十四歎深許說・二十二頌十喻・一結說） | T35n1735 0874c05–07 |
| 佛馱 T278（法藏科） | 六十五頌·分二（二十八歎深許說・三十七頌十喻） | T35n1733 0408a26–28 |
異文所繫：60 頌倍於 80，頌喻之配亦異——法藏判 60「初有九頌頌初喻，於中初五頌總、後四頌別」〔T35n1733 0408b18–19〕，澄觀判 80「初喻四頌，以是總故；餘九各二」〔T35n1735 0875a03–03〕。二本頌量開合之異，全錄不判。
五、宗義之經據〔眼〕
(一) 性起與出現之名——本段為華嚴宗『性起』一義之經據所在。六十本品名〈寶王如來性起品〉，八十改譯〈如來出現品〉；澄觀於頌科處直指二名之所以：
「喻則性相雙明，此中多就性說，古稱性起，彌復有由。」〔T35n1735 0874c12–13〕
——謂長行十喻性相雙明，而頌文多就性說，故古譯稱『性起』自有其據。二名並存，誌錄不判。
(二) 非一緣非一事——「非以一緣，非以一事，如來出現而得成就；以十無量百千阿僧祇事而得成就」〔T10n0279 0263a21〕〔T10n0279 0263〕。此為全段之綱：果不孤起，因必無量。澄觀釋緣事之別：「緣即因緣，如眾生業及風雨等。事即事相，謂如所持水及宮殿等。」〔T35n1735 0873b02–03〕
(三) 法性如是·無有作者——「法性如是，無有生者，無有作者，無有知者，無有成者，然彼世界而得成就」〔T10n0279 0263b11〕〔T10n0279 0263〕；合文「如來如是成等正覺，法性如是，無生無作而得成就」〔T10n0279 0263b22〕。澄觀判此句「此句為總，此法性言通於性相」〔T35n1735 0873b20〕，別顯性空而不礙相有：
「謂非冥性微塵等生，非自在梵王等作，無神我能知，上三顯能作空。無有成者，顯所作空。雖能所俱空，不礙相有，故云而得成就。」〔T35n1735 0873b21–24〕
(四) 此非如來神力所造——第八喻末，經自破偏執：「眾生念言：『此是如來神力所造。』佛子！此非如來神力所造。……但以諸佛威德力故，令諸眾生具佛功德，而佛如來無有分別，無成無壞，無有作者，亦無作法。」〔T10n0279 0264c02〕〔T10n0279 0264〕澄觀以感應三義判之（目三之八），並歸於「緣成故無成，無成故無壞」〔T35n1735 0874a26〕——此即華嚴感應因緣義與性空義之合流處。
(五) 無礙慧光明無有所依——第九喻「如來出現依無礙慧光明，無礙慧光明無有所依」〔T10n0279 0264c22〕〔T10n0279 0264〕；喻依處作「風輪依虛空，虛空無所依。雖無所依，能令三千大千世界而得安住」〔T10n0279 0264c12〕。無所依而能持一切，即體用依持之極則。
(六) 淨意如空之修門——頌云「若有欲知佛境界，當淨其意如虛空，遠離妄想及諸取，令心所向皆無礙」〔T10n0279 0265b10〕〔T10n0279 0265〕。澄觀判此二句即真止真觀，並自標為心要：
「一離妄取，如彼淨空無雲翳故，斯即真止；二觸境無滯，如彼淨空無障礙故，斯即真觀。此觀不作意以照境，則所照無涯；此止體性離；而息妄，故諸取皆寂。若斯，則不拂不瑩而自淨矣，無淨之淨則闇蹈佛境矣。此為心要，謂後學思行。」〔T35n1735 0874c23–28〕
(七) 無譬諭中說其譬——末頌「如來出現法無邊，世間迷惑莫能知，為欲開悟諸含識，無譬諭中說其譬」〔T10n0279 0266a02〕；澄觀判此一頌「結說無盡、不頌上文」〔T35n1735 0874c07〕——十喻之所以立，正因其本不可喻。
六、諸家異釋（古德·標宗）
澄觀《華嚴經疏》T35n1735（八十華嚴逐文·主）
判十喻總別：初喻為總，餘九皆此所霔〔0873a27–29〕；合文之際「略不合第三顯彼所因，以次下二喻自別合故」〔0873b25–26〕。
釋共業：
「言共業者，謂多有情應生此界，共業同變。於中有四句，謂共中共等。二菩薩善根，此有二意：一約同居，謂地前菩薩；二約能化，謂隨諸眾生。」〔T35n1735 0873b10–13〕
釋心相續力（二乘不受之界）：
「言心相續力者，若約信受，但是圓機，堅種相續能受深旨。若約具受，則八地已上，得無盡陀羅尼力，方能受持乃至十地，方受如來雲雨說法」〔T35n1735 0873c04–07〕
——復自結曰「由初義故，但揀二乘」〔0873c08〕：二釋並存，寬狹兩通。
引《俱舍》釋風輪：
「假使有一大諾健那，以金剛輪奮威懸擊，金剛有碎，風輪無損。其量廣無數，厚十六洛叉。」〔T35n1735 0874b02–04〕
——復誌其不同：「彼但有一，與此不同。」〔0874b04–05〕又誌世界輪數之異說：「或說三輪成，謂風、水、金。或說五輪，謂下加虛空、上加大地。今欲稱法，合成四輪，則地中含金，金亦地故。」〔T35n1735 0874b08–10〕
引《淨名》釋無礙慧：「其無礙慧，無若干故。」〔T35n1735 0874b17–18〕
結成十一句之配：
「一多因出現故、二廣故難受、三無生故無從、四非心識故思必發狂、五如空故惑見雙亡、六平等無我故一味、七由無盡故諸乘遍化、八後際無斷故佛種不斷、九無對即無礙慧、十為無為平等即攝三輪歸無礙慧、十一本為眾生故今利益滿足。」〔T35n1735 0874b27–0874c04〕
——並誡曰：「若將一一通前十門，未為得意。」〔0874c04–05〕
頌中別歎十義之配：「一無邊量，即無量義；二一毛叵量，即廣大義；三空際叵得，即無生義。」〔0874c13–14〕「四不能知者，離心識故。五遍於一切非一切者，即如空義。六體性平等，即平等無我義。七前遍諸剎，此遍三世，文綺互耳。八無變易故盡後際。九離言說故，無二無對。十本願現身故能成益。」〔0874c16–21〕又自誌其不齊處：「然唯此第三偈，似頌第五如空。第六偈，似頌第三無生滅。然取義不同，故皆案次。」〔0874c15–16〕
法藏《探玄記》T35n1733（六十華嚴疏）
判 60 頌之十喻十德：
「二末塵喻，喻佛無限德。三量空喻，喻佛廣大德。四數心喻，喻佛無量德。五法界喻，喻佛甚深德。六如如喻，喻佛離相德。七無際喻，喻佛無礙德。八性空喻，喻佛性淨德。九離言喻，喻佛無比德。十鳥跡喻，喻佛體用德。」〔T35n1733 0408b06–11〕
——復存第二讀：「又釋：此十即是頌前結文十句，於中唯第九門却頌前第七句，餘並依次配釋可知。」〔0408b11–13〕
判 60 頌總量：「第二偈頌中有六十五頌，分二：初二十八頌歎深許說，頌上總答」〔T35n1733 0408a26–28〕。
李通玄《新華嚴經論》T36n1739（表法異軌）
判十段之屬：
「有十段經，普賢菩薩說如來出現身境界，及所行行十事之法分。」〔T36n1739 0939a27–29〕
以文殊普賢表理智體用：
「明文殊是十方一切諸佛之法身妙理現根本智慧之門、普賢是十方一切諸佛差別智萬行大悲之門。」〔T36n1739 0939b21–23〕
歸於眾生本有：「性自法界無有內外中間，應如是知、如是觀察」〔T36n1739 0941c06–07〕；論主頌曰：「一切眾生菩提界，白淨無垢智無壞，智珠無價在衣中，秖欲長貧住門外。」〔0941b26–27〕
誌錄不判：澄觀依 80 逐文立喻名、判性相雙明而多就性說（文軌）；法藏依 60 判頌之十喻十德並存兩配（會通軌）；李通玄以文殊普賢二法表理智體用、歸眾生本有（表法軌）——三軌並行，皆古德成說，誌錄之，不判高下。
七、互讀·承衍
經內互讀——第一喻「眾生共業及諸菩薩善根所起」〔T10n0279 0263b09〕一義，澄觀指其前文已開：「是以上云菩薩善根所起，眾生共業所生等，〈華藏品〉中已略開顯。」〔T35n1735 0873c01–02〕又世界成立之次第，澄觀指其論據在毘曇：「謂先成器界，後起眾生依之而住，如《俱舍》、《婆沙》等辨。」〔0873b15–17〕
古德引論——澄觀本段所引唯《俱舍》（風輪量·輪數異說〔0874b02–10〕）與《淨名》（無礙慧〔0874b17–18〕），皆已錄於目六。
承衍〔標闕〕——所檢承衍論典（成唯識論 T31n1585・攝大乘論 T31n1594・瑜伽師地論 T30n1579）未見繫屬本段之『性起』或「如來出現」明文；《五教章》T45n1866 帶品名稱引「性起品」五處，除〔0478a20〕實引經文外餘四處皆泛引而不繫特定義科，已錄於本品序分之部，此不重出。故本義之論典承衍據實標闕，不以他處之文充之。
八、校本定位
- 實叉 T279（底本）：品三十七 如來出現品·第一義 出現之相〔T10n0279 0263a19〕起–〔0266a04 前〕訖（第七會 重會普光明殿）。頁界內部：十無量法門・第一至第六相〔0263〕・第七至第十相〔0264〕・總結十一句及三十七頌〔0265〕。本目 T279 引文一律繫頁錨（行級出處未定者不推定·俟補）。
- 佛馱 T278（晉譯主對校）：品三十二 寶王如來性起品，對位段〔T09n0278 0612b26〕–〔0616a09 前〕。段首說者 0612b26–27 · 十無量因緣 0612c01–09 · 四風輪 0612c12–15 · 四智風輪 0612c22–29 · 第一結 0613a01–02 · 第二喻 0613a02–08 · 第三喻 0613a09–14 · 第四喻 0613a14–23 · 第五喻 0613a24–b04 · 第六喻 0613b04–08 · 第七喻 0613b09–17 · 第八喻起 0613b18 · 頌起 0614c03 前 · 頌末 0616a09。
- 澄觀《疏》T35n1735：本節疏〔0873a05〕–〔0875a08〕。長行三分 0873a05 · 十喻科 0873a24–25 · 初喻四科 0873a29–b01 · 共業 0873b10–13 · 性相結成 0873b19–24 · 依喻正 0873b28–29 · 二喻 0873c02–08 · 三喻 0873c08–11 · 四喻 0873c12–14 · 五喻 0873c15–20 · 六喻 0873c20–21 · 七喻 0873c21–24 · 八喻 0873c24–0874a27 · 九喻 0874a27–b20 · 十喻 0874b20–25 · 總結十一句 0874b25–c05 · 頌科 0874c05–11 · 別歎十配 0874c13–21 · 誡聽心要 0874c21–28 · 頌十喻科 0875a02–03。
- 法藏《探玄記》T35n1733（六十疏）：〈寶王如來性起品〉科起 0405a06；本段所涉 0406b17–0408b24（60 頌總量 0408a26–28 · 十喻十德 0408b06–11 · 頌喻之配 0408b17–24）。
- 李通玄《論》T36n1739：本段所涉 0939a27–0941c19（十段之屬 0939a27–29 · 文殊普賢表法 0939b21–23 · 論主頌 0941b26–27 · 結歸 0941c03–18）。
- 四十華嚴 T293：唯存品三十九，本段無對校本——據實標闕。
- 異讀：本單元 T279 範圍〔0263a19〕–〔0266a03〕內大正校記 6 條，逐條照錄不判（底本【大】｜他本異讀；多本異讀以／分列）：〔0263a19〕謂【大】｜說【聖】 · 〔0263c15〕句【大】｜向【聖】 · 〔0264a19〕于【大】｜於【明】 · 〔0264b01〕大【大】｜無此字【聖】 · 〔0265c14〕相【大】｜際【宮】 · 〔0265c28〕蒙【大】｜家【聖】。夾注已於原典層剝除誌錄。
The first of the ten gateways of the appearance of the Tathāgata is 「出現之相」 tr. “the marks of the appearance”: Samantabhadra answers that the appearance of the Tathāgata is not accomplished by one condition or one thing, marking it first in general by ten measureless gateways of Dharma, displaying it next in particular by ten similes (the raising up of the great thousand · the deluge hard to receive · cloud and rain from nowhere · the great rain that cannot be known · the great rain that forms and ruins · one rain differing as it falls · the superior places formed first · things differing by their causes · the four wheels in mutual dependence · the benefiting of the great thousand), concluding the benefit afterward in eleven clauses, and attaching thirty-seven stanzas at the end. Chengguan judges this section thus: 「喻則性相雙明，此中多就性說，古稱性起，彌復有由」 tr. “the similes make nature and mark clear together, and here it is mostly with regard to nature that the telling goes; the old name was nature-arising, and it has all the more reason behind it” 〔T35n1735 0874c12〕 — the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka names this same chapter the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata, and the eighty changes the rendering to 「如來出現」 tr. “the appearance of the Tathāgata”; the difference between the names nature-arising and appearance is precisely the pivot of the tenet of this chapter. The question and answer of the eighth simile, 「此非如來神力所造」 tr. “this is not made by the divine power of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0264c03〕, is where the right sense of stirring and response, of cause and condition, lies for the Huayan school.
I. Doctrinal Outline and Placement
| Outline system | The place of this section within it |
|---|---|
| The base text T279, in thirty-nine chapters | Chapter thirty-seven, the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata (the seventh assembly, the second gathering in the Hall of Universal Light); the first sense, the marks of the appearance = 〔T10n0279 0263a19〕–〔0266a04 前〕 |
| Chengguan, Huayan jing shu | the commentary upon this section, 〔T35n1735 0873a05〕–〔0875a08〕; the prose divides into three, 「標、釋、結」 tr. “the marking, the explaining, and the concluding,” then the ten similes under 「第二喻明深廣」 tr. “the second, the similes making clear the depth and the breadth,” then the concluding eleven clauses, and last the thirty-seven stanzas |
| Fazang, Tanxuan ji (commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka) | the outline of the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata, chapter thirty-two, begins at 〔T35n1733 0405a06〕; the commentary touching this section is 〔0406b17〕–〔0408b24〕 |
| Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun | the treatise passage touching this section is 〔T36n1739 0939a27〕–〔0941c19〕; he displays principle and wisdom, substance and function, by the two dharmas of Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra |
| The parallel translation, the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T278 | the corresponding stretch of the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata, 〔T09n0278 0612b26〕–〔0616a09 前〕 |
The three divisions of the prose — Chengguan judges at the very opening of the section:
「分三，謂標、釋、結。今初。總標多因，成出現果。」 tr. “It divides into three, namely the marking, the explaining, and the concluding. Here is the first. It marks in general the many causes that complete the fruit of the appearing.” 〔T35n1735 0873a05〕
Beneath the explaining two further tiers are opened: 「二「何以」下釋，於中二：先徵以總釋、後「何等為」下徵數別明。」 tr. “Second, from ‘why is this’ onward is the explaining, and within it there are two: first the question is raised and answered in general, and afterward, from ‘which are the’ onward, the number is asked and set out in particular.” 〔0873a06–07〕 As for the number of the ten measureless things, Chengguan records what the ancients said and gathers it up under a general name:
「此十無量，皆遍十喻。言百千者，古人云：以十無量入中，十喻成百。以後結中十句，一一結前百門為千。……是知百千之言，但是數之總稱耳。」 tr. “These ten measureless things all pervade the ten similes. As to the words hundred thousand, the ancients said: the ten measureless things entering within, the ten similes make a hundred; and the ten clauses of the concluding passage that follows, each concluding the hundred gateways before it, make a thousand. … Know then that the words hundred thousand are only a general name for number.” 〔T35n1735 0873a10–15〕
The outline of the ten similes —
「十喻各三，謂喻、合、結。喻酬譬喻，合酬因緣」 tr. “Each of the ten similes has three parts, namely the simile, the joining, and the conclusion. The simile answers to ‘it is as though,’ and the joining answers to ‘causes and conditions.’” 〔T35n1735 0873a24–25〕
The names of the ten similes follow Chengguan’s headings passage by passage: one, the simile of the raising up of the great thousand 〔0873a27〕 · two, the simile of the deluge upon the great thousand 〔0873c02〕 · three, the simile of cloud and rain from nowhere 〔0873c08〕 · four, the simile of the great rain that cannot be known 〔0873c12〕 · five, the simile of the great rain that forms and ruins 〔0873c15〕 · six, the simile of one rain differing as it falls 〔0873c20〕 · seven, the simile of the superior places formed first 〔0873c21〕 · eight, the simile that things differ by their causes 〔0873c24〕 · nine, the simile of the four wheels in mutual dependence 〔0874a27〕 · ten, the simile of the benefiting of the great thousand 〔0874b20〕. The first simile is the general one:
「十中，一大千興造喻，此喻為總，總喻眾緣以成出現，故云以無量緣等。下說雲雨，皆此所霔。」 tr. “Among the ten, the first is the simile of the raising up of the great thousand, and this simile is the general one, likening in general the many conditions whereby the appearing is completed; hence it says, by measureless conditions, and so forth. The cloud and rain spoken of below are all what this one sends down.” 〔T35n1735 0873a27–29〕
The concluding of the benefit in eleven clauses —
「第三總結成益中有十一句，各別結上十門，以九十二句結第九門，故有十一。」 tr. “In the third part, the concluding of the benefit, there are eleven clauses, each separately concluding one of the ten gateways above; and because the ninth gateway is concluded by two clauses, the ninth and the tenth, there are eleven.” 〔T35n1735 0874b25–27〕
The outline of the verses —
「第二偈頌，三十七頌，分三：初十四頌歎深許說；次二十二頌頌上十喻；後一頌結說無盡、不頌上文。」 tr. “Second, the verses, thirty-seven stanzas, divide into three: the first fourteen stanzas praise the depth and grant the telling; the next twenty-two versify the ten similes above; the last one stanza concludes that the telling is endless and does not versify what went before.” 〔T35n1735 0874c05–07〕
The matching of the verses to the ten similes: 「第二頌前十喻，即為十段。初喻四頌，以是總故；餘九各二。」 tr. “Second, the versifying of the ten similes above makes ten stretches. The first simile has four stanzas, since it is the general one; the remaining nine have two each.” 〔0875a02–03〕 — four and eighteen make just twenty-two. The fourteen stanzas praising the depth divide again: 「今初，分二：前十一頌歎深難量、後三頌誡聽許說。」 tr. “Here is the first, dividing into two: the first eleven stanzas praise the depth beyond measure, and the last three admonish the hearer and grant the telling.” 〔0874c07–09〕 The eleven stanzas divide again: 「初偈總歎，頌前標告不思議言；後十別歎，即次第頌前總結十一句，亦第九偈頌九十二句。」 tr. “The first stanza is the general praise, versifying the words above that marked and announced the inconceivable; the latter ten are the particular praise, versifying in order the eleven clauses of the concluding passage above, and the ninth stanza versifies the two clauses, the ninth and the tenth.” 〔0874c09–11〕
II. Terminology
| Term | Sanskrit as transmitted by the ancient masters (romanized · a help to pronunciation) | What is attested | Essential sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| the appearance of the Tathāgata | —(the rendering of the eighty-fascicle text) | the name of this chapter · the closing formula of each mark in this section, 「是為如來、應、正等覺出現第一相」 tr. “this is the first mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One” 〔T10n0279 0263b24〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | a Buddha’s arising in the world; the sixty-fascicle text renders it ‘nature-arising,’ and Chengguan says 「古稱性起，彌復有由」 tr. “the old name was nature-arising, and it has all the more reason behind it” 〔T35n1735 0874c12〕 |
| nature-arising | — | the name of this chapter in the sixty-fascicle text, 「寶王如來性起品」 tr. “the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata” · the words of that scripture, 「演說如來性起法雨」 tr. “setting forth the rain of Dharma of the nature-arising of the Tathāgata” 〔T09n0278 0613a05–06〕 | the rendering of the sixty-fascicle text; the eighty changes the rendering to 「出現」 tr. “appearance,” and what attaches to the two names is set out in sections IV and VI |
| the deluge | — | the second simile of this chapter, 「大雲降雨，名曰：洪霔」 tr. “a great cloud sends down rain, named: the deluge” 〔T10n0279 0263b26〕 | a rain of the utmost abundance; the sixty-fascicle text has ‘the deluging flood’ 〔T09n0278 0613a03〕 |
| wheel of wind | — | the four wheels of wind of the first simile · the ten wheels of wind of the eighth · the four wheels of wind of the ninth | the upholding power whereby a world is established; it likens the Tathāgata’s great wisdom, able to uphold and to accomplish |
| Maheśvara | maheśvara (the transcription is itself what was transmitted of old) | the fourth simile, ‘only the lord of the great thousand world — Maheśvara’ 〔T10n0279 0263〕 | lord of the great thousand world; in the simile he alone can know the number of the raindrops |
| dhāraṇī | dhāraṇī (the transcription is itself what was transmitted of old) | the joining passage of the first simile, 「念持不忘陀羅尼大智風輪」 tr. “the great wisdom wheel of wind of the dhāraṇī that holds in mind and does not forget” 〔T10n0279 0263b17〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | a total holding; the first of the four great wisdom wheels of wind |
| asaṃkhyeya | asaṃkhyeya (the transcription is itself what was transmitted of old) | 「以十無量百千阿僧祇事而得成就」 tr. “it is accomplished by ten measureless hundreds of thousands of asaṃkhyeyas of things” 〔T10n0279 0263a21〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | a name for a great number; the measure of the causes of the appearing |
| gandharva | gandharva (the transcription is itself what was transmitted of old) | the eighth simile, 「能成地天宮殿、龍宮殿、乾闥婆宮殿」 tr. “able to accomplish the palaces of the earth gods, the palaces of the dragons, and the palaces of the gandharvas” 〔T10n0279 0264a28〕〔T10n0279 0264〕 | one of the eight kinds of gods and dragons; what the wheel of wind of adornment accomplishes |
| maṇi | maṇi (the transcription is itself what was transmitted of old) | the fifth simile, 「能成一切摩尼諸寶」 tr. “able to accomplish all the maṇi jewels” 〔T10n0279 0263c21〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | a precious pearl; it likens all the Dharma jewels of wisdom |
| the ten great kings among mountains | Khadira · Nimindhara · Mucilinda and the rest — the transcriptions are themselves what was transmitted of old | what the wheel of wind of the eighth simile, 「不動」 tr. “immovable” 〔T10n0279 0264a23〕, accomplishes 〔T10n0279 0264〕 | the skeleton of the vessel world; it likens the steep standing of the Tathāgata’s virtues |
| the light of unobstructed wisdom | — | the ninth simile, 「如來出現依無礙慧光明，無礙慧光明無有所依」 tr. “the appearance of the Tathāgata depends upon the light of unobstructed wisdom, and the light of unobstructed wisdom has nothing upon which it depends” 〔T10n0279 0264c22〕〔T10n0279 0264〕 | the last support of the appearing, itself depending upon nothing; Chengguan joins it to empty space |
| the one taste of liberation | — | the eighth simile, 「如來於一解脫味出生無量不可思議種種功德」 tr. “within one taste of liberation the Tathāgata brings forth measureless and inconceivable merits of every kind” 〔T10n0279 0264c01〕〔T10n0279 0264〕 | the substance of the one taste; Chengguan says 「水具二義，悲及解脫」 tr. “water has two senses, compassion and liberation” 〔T35n1735 0874a18〕 |
| the power of continuity of mind | — | the second simile, 「唯除諸大菩薩心相續力」 tr. “save only for the power of continuity of mind in the great bodhisattvas” 〔T10n0279 0263c01〕〔T10n0279 0263〕 | the capacity able to bear the great Dharma; Chengguan opens two explanations, receiving in faith and receiving in full (section VI) |
III. Similes and Rhetoric
This section has for its body ten similes linked in a chain; the ground of every simile is taken from the forming and the ruining of the vessel world, and the body of every simile comes home to the appearance of the Tathāgata. Chengguan judges in general why this should be:
「一品之內多以依喻正者，非唯義類相似，實則外由內變，故令外器全似於內。」 tr. “That within this one chapter what is depended upon is largely used to liken what depends is not only because the two are similar in kind; in truth the outer is transformed out of the inner, and so the outer vessel is made wholly to resemble the inner.” 〔T35n1735 0873b28–29〕
(1) The simile of the raising up of the great thousand (the general simile) — 「譬如三千大千世界，非以一緣，非以一事，而得成就」 tr. “it is as with a three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system: it is not by one condition and not by one thing that it comes to be accomplished” 〔T10n0279 0263b03〕〔T10n0279 0263〕:
- The ground of the simile: a great cloud rises and spreads abroad, a great rain pours down, and four kinds of wheels of wind (the upholder · the reducer · the establisher · the adorner) follow one upon another as its support, all of them raised by the shared deeds of beings and by the roots of goodness of the bodhisattvas.
- The body of the simile: the Tathāgata, having in the presence of the Buddhas of the past heard and upheld the great cloud and rain of Dharma, is thereby able to raise four great wisdom wheels of wind (the dhāraṇī that holds in mind and does not forget · the bringing forth of stopping and contemplating · skillful dedication · the bringing forth of the adornment free of defilement and distinguished in kind).
- The sense displayed: the fruit of the appearing is not accomplished by a single cause. Chengguan explains the order of the four wheels of wind, saying: 「一能持者，若無此輪，雨無停處；二水若不減，礙起天宮；三水雖已減，假此成立，謂減一節水起一重天，如嚴冬急流重重水結；四雖起總處，無別莊嚴，故須第四。」 tr. “First, the upholder: were this wheel wanting, the rain would have nowhere to rest. Second, were the waters not reduced, they would hinder the arising of the heavenly palaces. Third, though the waters have been reduced, it is by this that they are established — as one measure of water recedes, one tier of heaven arises, as a swift current in the depth of winter freezes layer upon layer. Fourth, though the general places have arisen, they have no adornment in particular, and so a fourth is required.” 〔T35n1735 0873b04–08〕 Of the four wheels in the joining passage, Chengguan judges 「前三是因、後一二利果滿」 tr. “the first three are the cause, and the last is the fullness of the twofold fruit of benefit” 〔T35n1735 0873b27–27〕.
(2) The simile of the deluge upon the great thousand — 「大雲降雨，名曰：洪霔，一切方處所不能受、所不能持」 tr. “a great cloud sends down rain, named: the deluge, which no place whatever can receive and no place can bear up” 〔T10n0279 0263b26〕:
- The ground of the simile: only when the great thousand is about to be formed can the rain of the deluge be received.
- The body of the simile: the rain of Dharma named 「成就如來出現」 tr. “the accomplishing of the appearance of the Tathāgata,” which those of the two vehicles, narrow and low in aim, cannot receive and uphold, save only by the power of continuity of mind in the great bodhisattvas.
- The sense displayed: the vastness of the Dharma, hard to receive.
(3) The simile of cloud and rain from nowhere — 「大雲降雨，來無所從，去無所至」 tr. “a great cloud sends down rain: in coming it comes from nowhere, in going it arrives nowhere” 〔T10n0279 0263c04〕〔T10n0279 0263〕:
- The sense displayed: the cloud and rain of Dharma appear at the stirring of capacity, and their substance is without birth and without cessation. Chengguan: 「非先有一方所，從彼而來、機謝而去，亦非歸至舊所，故體無生滅。」 tr. “It is not that there is first some place whence it comes and whither it goes when the occasion has passed, nor that it returns to its former lodging; and so its substance is without birth and without cessation.” 〔T35n1735 0873c10–11〕
(4) The simile of the great rain that cannot be known — 「一切眾生，無能知數，若欲算計，徒令發狂；唯大千世界主——摩醯首羅……乃至一滴無不明了」 tr. “of all beings there is none who can know the number, and should one wish to reckon it, it would only drive him mad; only the lord of the great thousand world — Maheśvara … is not unclear about so much as a single drop” 〔T10n0279 0263c09〕〔T10n0279 0263〕:
- The body of the simile: of the rain of Dharma, only the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, by the power of awakened wisdom, 「乃至一文一句，入眾生心，無不明了」 tr. “down to a single line and a single phrase entering the mind of a being, is not unclear about any of it” 〔T10n0279 0263c15〕.
- The sense displayed: the depth of the Dharma cannot be sounded, and it is not the province of the mind. Chengguan: 「第四大雨難知喻，喻深，非心境故。」 tr. “The fourth, the simile of the great rain that cannot be known, likens depth, since it is not the object of the mind.” 〔T35n1735 0873c12〕
(5) The simile of the great rain that forms and ruins — the names of the five rains: the extinguisher · the raiser · the stayer · the accomplisher · the divider 〔T10n0279 0263〕:
- The body of the simile: the five names of the rain of Dharma — extinguishing the afflictions of beings · raising the roots of goodness of beings · staying the delusions of view in beings · accomplishing all the Dharma jewels of wisdom · dividing what the minds of all beings delight in.
- The sense displayed. Chengguan: 「況佛滅惑成德。喻中，初一即壞界之時、三即以水止水。合中，初二滅惑成智福、次一滅障成智，即止觀雙運。後一權智照機。」 tr. “It likens the Buddha extinguishing delusion and completing virtue. In the simile, the first is at the time of the world’s ruin, and the third is water stayed by water. In the joining, the first two extinguish delusion and complete wisdom and merit; the next extinguishes hindrance and completes wisdom, which is stopping and contemplating practiced as a pair; the last is the wisdom of expedients illumining capacity.” 〔T35n1735 0873c15–18〕 And he displays in reverse what would be lost were any one of the five wanting: 「又無二同二乘，無三同外道，無四增無明，無五非種智。」 tr. “Again, without the second one would be the same as the two vehicles; without the third, the same as the outside ways; without the fourth, ignorance would be increased; without the fifth, there would be no wisdom of all modes.” 〔0873c18–19〕
(6) The simile of one rain differing as it falls — 「大雲雨一味水，隨其所雨，無量差別」 tr. “the great cloud rains water of one taste, and according to the place upon which it rains there are measureless differences” 〔T10n0279 0264a01〕〔T10n0279 0263〕:
- The sense displayed: the Dharma water of the one taste of great compassion, and the teaching of the Dharma as is fitting. Chengguan: 「喻佛一味隨器，隨器即合前差別。」 tr. “It likens the Buddha’s one taste following the vessel; following the vessel is precisely the joining to the differences spoken of before.” 〔T35n1735 0873c20–21〕
(7) The simile of the superior places formed first — 「先成色界諸天宮殿，次成欲界諸天宮殿，次成於人及餘眾生諸所住處」 tr. “first the palaces of the gods of the form realm are accomplished, next the palaces of the gods of the desire realm, next the several dwelling places of humans and of the remaining beings” 〔T10n0279 0264a05〕〔T10n0279 0264〕:
- The body of the simile: first arises the wisdom of the practices of the bodhisattvas, then that of the pratyekabuddhas, then that of the śrāvakas, then the wisdom of the practices of the conditioned roots of goodness of the remaining beings.
- The sense displayed: the superior conditions are succored first. The scripture itself raises and resolves an objection to dispel a doubt (water of one taste, and yet the palaces differ), and Chengguan: 「先成由業力、法異由機殊，不乖第六一味。」 tr. “What is formed first is so by the power of deeds, and the dharma differs by the disparity of capacity; this does not run counter to the one taste of the sixth simile.” 〔T35n1735 0873c23–24〕
(8) The simile that things differ by their causes — within the great waters a great lotus is born, named 「如來出現功德寶莊嚴」 tr. “the jeweled adornment of the merit of the appearance of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0264a16〕, covering the face of the water everywhere, its light illumining the ten directions; and ten wheels of wind in order accomplish the vessel world 〔T10n0279 0264〕:
- The body of the simile: the Tathāgata sends forth an unsurpassed great wisdom-light (one light having ten sights in turn) (the inconceivable wisdom that does not cut off the seed of the Tathāgatas · pure and free of defilement · universal illumining · upholding the seed-nature of the Buddhas · standing far out, that none can ruin · all the spiritual penetrations · bringing forth transformations · universal compliance · that cannot be exhausted · adornments of every kind · that cannot be ruined), accomplishing ten kinds of virtue of the Tathāgata.
- The sense displayed: the virtues differ by wisdom. Chengguan: 「第八事別由因喻，喻佛成辦大事德，亦是德殊由智喻。」 tr. “The eighth, the simile that things differ by their causes, likens the Buddha’s virtue of bringing great matters to accomplishment, and it is also the simile that the virtues differ by wisdom.” 〔T35n1735 0873c24–25〕 That the lotus displays the Buddhas — Chengguan records the authority he follows: 「而言大者，準五卷《大悲經》第三云有千葉故。」 tr. “That it is called great follows the third fascicle of the five-fascicle Sūtra of Great Compassion, which says that it has a thousand petals.” 〔0873c26–27〕 And again, 「光照十方者，金色光也。言爾所佛者，有千枚華，表千佛故。故劫名賢，賢善多故。」 tr. “As to the light illumining the ten directions, it is a golden light. As to the words so many Buddhas, there are a thousand flowers, displaying a thousand Buddhas; hence the eon is named the Worthy, because the worthy and the good are many.” 〔0873c28–29〕
- The question and the answer at the end of the stretch are the eye of this section: beings think in their minds that this is made by the divine power of the Tathāgata, and the scripture removes it of itself, saying 「此非如來神力所造」 tr. “this is not made by the divine power of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0264c03〕. Chengguan judges their fault to lie in a one-sided clinging: 「然感應之道略有三義：一互相成、二互相奪、三緣成性空。今眾生以緣奪因，純推佛力，失因緣義。」 tr. “Now the way of stirring and response has, in brief, three senses: first, that they complete one another; second, that they take one another away; third, that what conditions complete is empty of nature. Here beings let the condition take away the cause, pushing the whole of it onto the power of the Buddha, and so they lose the sense of causes and conditions.” 〔T35n1735 0874a20–22〕 In the explanation, then, 「初以因奪緣，一向言非」 tr. “first the cause takes away the condition, saying outright that it is not so” 〔0874a23〕, and afterward the two are completed together, and it comes home at last to emptiness of nature: 「緣成故無成，無成故無壞。所成既空，何有能成作者及作法耶？」 tr. “Because it is completed by conditions there is no completing, and because there is no completing there is no ruining. Since what is completed is empty, how should there be a maker that completes it or a dharma that is made?” 〔0874a26–27〕
(9) The simile of the four wheels in mutual dependence — out of empty space four wheels of wind arise (settled abiding · constantly abiding · ultimate · firm), which uphold the water wheel, and the water wheel upholds the great earth 〔T10n0279 0264〕:
- The body of the simile: in dependence upon the light of unobstructed wisdom there arise four great wisdom wheels of wind (gathering in beings universally and making them all rejoice · establishing the true Dharma and making beings give rise to love and delight · guarding the roots of goodness of beings · being furnished with all skillful means and penetrating the undefiled realm); great kindness and great compassion depend upon great skillfulness in means, which depends upon the appearance of the Tathāgata, which depends upon the light of unobstructed wisdom, and the light of unobstructed wisdom has nothing upon which it depends.
- The sense displayed: substance and function depend and are upheld, and at the last there is nothing depended upon. Chengguan joins them, saying: 「一慈悲，合地能厚載故。二方便，合水曲隨器故。出現，合風力能持故。無礙，合空如空無礙故。」 tr. “First, compassion joins the earth, because it can bear a heavy load. Second, skillful means joins the water, because it bends and follows the vessel. The appearing joins the wind, because its force can uphold. The unobstructed joins space, because it is unobstructed as space is.” 〔T35n1735 0874b15–17〕 As for the order of the four great wisdom wheels of wind, Chengguan does not take the matching to the four means of gathering, and sets up another instead: 「今謂一未信入者，以四攝普攝，示以正理；二已信受者，建立教法；三已入法者，令其成行；四已成行者，令其得果。」 tr. “Now I say: first, those who have not yet entered faith are gathered in universally by the four means and shown the right principle; second, those who have received in faith have the teaching established for them; third, those who have entered the Dharma are made to complete the practice; fourth, those who have completed the practice are made to gain the fruit.” 〔0874b12–14〕 And he records that the verses have one tier more: 「若準偈中，慈悲之前有一切佛法以況樹林，則五重相依。」 tr. “If we follow the verses, before compassion there stand all the dharmas of the Buddha, likened to the grove of trees, making five tiers of dependence.” 〔0874b19–20〕
(10) The simile of the benefiting of the great thousand — the world once accomplished, the beings of the waters gain the benefit of water, the beings of the land the benefit of land, the beings of the palaces the benefit of palaces, the beings of open space the benefit of open space 〔T10n0279 0264〕:
- The body of the simile: those who see the Buddha and give rise to joy gain the benefit of joy · those who abide in pure discipline gain the benefit of pure discipline · those who abide in the meditations and the measureless states gain the benefit of the great spiritual penetrations of the noble ones beyond the world · those who abide in the light of the gateway of Dharma gain the benefit of the unruined relation of cause and fruit · those who abide in the light of nothing-whatever gain the benefit of the unruinedness of all dharmas.
- The sense displayed. Chengguan joins them in order: 「見佛生喜如魚得潤故，戒如平地萬善由生故，定如宮室得安息故，慧如虛空不可壞故。」 tr. “Seeing the Buddha and giving rise to joy is as a fish gaining moisture; discipline is as level ground, whence the ten thousand goods are born; concentration is as a chamber wherein rest is gained; wisdom is as empty space, which cannot be ruined.” 〔T35n1735 0874b22–25〕 For the last two clauses he opens further: 「初不壞事、後不壞理」 tr. “the first is the unruined phenomenon, the latter the unruined principle” 〔0874b25〕.
(11) Three similes within the verses — the simile of measuring space, 「如人持尺量虛空」 tr. “as if a man took a rule and measured empty space” · the simile of the bird’s track, 「如鳥飛空無有迹」 tr. “as a bird flying in space leaves no track behind” · the simile of the jewel in the palm, 「明見如觀掌中寶」 tr. “he sees it plainly as one beholds a jewel in the palm of the hand” 〔T10n0279 0265c06〕〔T10n0279 0265〕: the sense displayed: the realm cannot be measured · it appears and yet leaves no track · only the sovereign one can see it plainly.
IV. Collation with Parallel Translations
The collation witnesses for this section: Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text · chapter thirty-seven, the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata) · Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin rendering, the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · chapter thirty-two, the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata · the principal witness for the whole text). The forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T293 holds only chapter thirty-nine, and there is no witness there for this section; the lack is recorded as it stands.
Sentence One — The Opening Announcement
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Sons of the Buddha! This matter is inconceivable — that is to say, the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One appears by way of measureless dharmas. Why is this? It is not by one condition and not by one thing that the appearance of the Tathāgata comes to be accomplished | T10n0279 0263 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Sons of the Buddha! The true Dharma of the nature-arising of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Rightly and Fully Awakened One is inconceivable. Why so? It is not by few causes and conditions that right and full awakening is accomplished and there is an arising in the world. | T09n0278 0612b27–29 |
What the variants attach to: (a) the eighty 「如來出現」 tr. “the appearance of the Tathāgata” ↔ the sixty 「性起正法……成等正覺出興于世」 tr. “the true Dharma of the nature-arising … right and full awakening is accomplished and there is an arising in the world” — a root difference of the name, running consistently through the whole section. (b) the eighty 「應、正等覺」 tr. “the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One” ↔ the sixty 「應供、等正覺」 tr. “the Worthy of Offerings, the Rightly and Fully Awakened One.” (c) the sixty gives the speaker at the head of the stretch: 「爾時，普賢菩薩摩訶薩告如來性起妙德菩薩等諸大眾言」 tr. “At that time Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, addressed the great assembly, the bodhisattva Wondrous Virtue of the Tathāgata’s Nature-Arising and the rest, saying” 〔T09n0278 0612b26–27〕; the eighty, within this section, carries on from what went before and does not repeat it.
Sentence Two — The Set Formula Concluding Each Mark
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | This is the first mark of the appearing of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Fully and Rightly Awakened One, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. | T10n0279 0263 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | This is the first and most surpassing gateway of Dharma, whereby right and full awakening is accomplished and there is an arising in the world, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, should know it in this way. | T09n0278 0612c29–02 |
What the variants attach to: in the eighty all ten stretches read ‘the Nth mark of the appearing’; in the sixty the first stretch reads 「第一最勝法門」 tr. “the first and most surpassing gateway of Dharma,” and from the second stretch onward it reads 「是為第二因緣成等正覺出興于世」 tr. “this is the second cause and condition whereby right and full awakening is accomplished and there is an arising in the world” 〔T09n0278 0613a07〕 and so forth — the eighty sets up its headings by 「相」 tr. “mark,” the sixty by 「因緣」 tr. “cause and condition,” and they differ in what they open out and what they draw together.
Sentence Three — The Names of the Five Rains in the Fifth Simile
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | There is a rain of the great cloud named: the extinguisher, able to extinguish the calamity of fire … named: the raiser … named: the stayer, able to stay the great waters … named: the accomplisher … named: the divider | T10n0279 0263 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | It is as when a great cloud sends down rain, named the extinguisher of the blaze, or named the raiser, or named the ruiner, or named the accomplisher of jewels, or named the divider of the great thousand world | T09n0278 0613a24–26 |
What the variants attach to: the third name in the eighty is 「能止」 tr. “the stayer” (the joining passage: 「能止一切眾生見惑」 tr. “able to stay the delusions of view in all beings” 〔T10n0279 0263c26〕) ↔ the third name in the sixty is 「能壞」 tr. “the ruiner” (the joining passage: 「能壞眾生諸惡邪見」 tr. “able to ruin every evil and false view in beings” 〔T09n0278 0613a29–b01〕). As to the difference between staying and ruining, Chengguan reads the eighty as 「三即以水止水」 tr. “the third is water stayed by water” 〔T35n1735 0873c16〕.
Sentence Four — The Name of the Lotus in the Eighth Simile
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | there is born a great lotus, named: the jeweled adornment of the merit of the appearance of the Tathāgata, covering the face of the water everywhere, its light illumining all the worlds of the ten directions | T10n0279 0264 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | there is born a great lotus named the arising of the Tathāgata, adorned with all the jewels of merit, covering the whole three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system, its light illumining all the lands of the ten directions | T09n0278 0613b19–21 |
What the variants attach to: (a) the name of the flower, the eighty 「如來出現功德寶莊嚴」 tr. “the jeweled adornment of the merit of the appearance of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0264a16〕 ↔ the sixty 「如來起」 tr. “the arising of the Tathāgata.” (b) the eighty 「遍覆水上」 tr. “covering the face of the water everywhere” ↔ the sixty 「遍覆三千大千世界」 tr. “covering the whole three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system” 〔T09n0278 0613b20〕. (c) the gods who see the flower: the eighty has 「摩醯首羅、淨居天等」 tr. “Maheśvara, the gods of the Pure Abodes, and the rest” 〔T10n0279 0264a17〕, and the sixty likewise has 「摩醯首羅淨居天等」 tr. “Maheśvara and the gods of the Pure Abodes and the rest” 〔T09n0278 0613b21〕; as to what they know for certain, the eighty has 「有爾所佛出興于世」 tr. “so many Buddhas shall arise in the world” 〔T10n0279 0264a18〕, and the sixty has 「如蓮華數諸佛興世」 tr. “Buddhas shall arise in the world to the number of the lotus flowers” 〔0613b22–23〕.
Sentence Five — The Order in the Seventh Simile
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | first arises the wisdom of the practices of the bodhisattvas, next arises the wisdom of the practices of the pratyekabuddhas, next arises the wisdom of the practices of the roots of goodness of the śrāvakas, next arises the wisdom of the practices of the conditioned roots of goodness of the remaining beings | T10n0279 0264 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | first arises the wisdom of the practices of the bodhisattvas, next arise all the roots of goodness of the pratyekabuddhas, the śrāvakas, and the remaining beings | T09n0278 0613b12–13 |
What the variants attach to: the eighty attaches 「諸行智慧」 tr. “the wisdom of the practices” to each of the four tiers, while the sixty draws the last three into a single clause — the eighty opens out, the sixty draws together.
Sentence Six — The Order of Dependence in the Verses of the Ninth Simile
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | All the dharmas of the Buddha depend upon kindness and compassion; kindness and compassion in turn are set up in dependence upon skillful means; skillful means depends upon wisdom and wisdom upon insight; the body of unobstructed insight has nothing upon which it depends. | T10n0279 0265 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | The wheel of wisdom depends upon the Tathāgata; kindness and compassion depend upon wisdom; merit depends upon skillful means; the dharma-body has nothing upon which it depends. | T09n0278 0615c27–28 |
What the variants attach to: the verses of the eighty give five tiers of dependence (the dharmas of the Buddha → kindness and compassion → skillful means → wisdom → insight) and end in 「無礙慧身無所依」 tr. “the body of unobstructed insight has nothing upon which it depends”; the verses of the sixty give four tiers and end in 「法身無所依」 tr. “the dharma-body has nothing upon which it depends.” Chengguan, reading the verses of the eighty, takes the five tiers precisely (see (9) of section III).
Sentence Seven — The Number of the Stanzas
| Witness | The number of the stanzas and the outline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 (Chengguan’s outline) | thirty-seven stanzas · divided into three (fourteen praising the depth and granting the telling · twenty-two versifying the ten similes · one concluding the telling) | T35n1735 0874c05–07 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 (Fazang’s outline) | sixty-five stanzas · divided into two (twenty-eight praising the depth and granting the telling · thirty-seven versifying the ten similes) | T35n1733 0408a26–28 |
What the variants attach to: the stanzas of the sixty are double those of the eighty, and the matching of the verses to the similes differs as well — Fazang judges of the sixty 「初有九頌頌初喻，於中初五頌總、後四頌別」 tr. “the first nine stanzas versify the first simile, and within them the first five versify the general and the latter four the particular” 〔T35n1733 0408b18–19〕, while Chengguan judges of the eighty 「初喻四頌，以是總故；餘九各二」 tr. “the first simile has four stanzas, since it is the general one; the remaining nine have two each” 〔T35n1735 0875a03–03〕. The difference between the two texts in the quantity of the stanzas and in what they open out and draw together is recorded in full without adjudication.
V. Scriptural Grounds of Sectarian Doctrine (the doctrinal eye)
(1) The names nature-arising and appearance — this section is where the scriptural ground lies for the Huayan school’s sense of ‘nature-arising.’ The sixty names this chapter the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata, and the eighty changes the rendering to the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata; at the outline of the verses Chengguan points directly to the reason for the two names:
「喻則性相雙明，此中多就性說，古稱性起，彌復有由。」 tr. “The similes make nature and mark clear together, and here it is mostly with regard to nature that the telling goes; the old name was nature-arising, and it has all the more reason behind it.” 〔T35n1735 0874c12–13〕
— that is, the ten similes of the prose make nature and mark clear together, while the verses speak mostly with regard to nature, and so the old rendering ‘nature-arising’ has its own ground. The two names stand together; recorded without adjudication.
(2) Not by one condition and not by one thing — 「非以一緣，非以一事，如來出現而得成就；以十無量百千阿僧祇事而得成就」 tr. “it is not by one condition and not by one thing that the appearance of the Tathāgata comes to be accomplished; it is accomplished by ten measureless hundreds of thousands of asaṃkhyeyas of things” 〔T10n0279 0263a21〕〔T10n0279 0263〕. This is the cord of the whole section: the fruit does not arise alone, and the causes must be measureless. Chengguan explains the difference between condition and thing: 「緣即因緣，如眾生業及風雨等。事即事相，謂如所持水及宮殿等。」 tr. “Condition is cause and condition, such as the deeds of beings and the wind and the rain. Thing is the mark of a thing, such as the waters that are upheld and the palaces.” 〔T35n1735 0873b02–03〕
(3) The nature of dharmas is just so · there is none that makes — 「法性如是，無有生者，無有作者，無有知者，無有成者，然彼世界而得成就」 tr. “the nature of dharmas is just so: there is none that gives birth, none that makes, none that knows, none that accomplishes, and yet that world does come to be accomplished” 〔T10n0279 0263b11〕〔T10n0279 0263〕; and the joining passage, 「如來如是成等正覺，法性如是，無生無作而得成就」 tr. “thus does the Tathāgata accomplish right and full awakening; the nature of dharmas is just so, and without birth and without making it comes to be accomplished” 〔T10n0279 0263b22〕. Chengguan judges this sentence to be 「此句為總，此法性言通於性相」 tr. “this clause is the general one, and the words the nature of dharmas here run through both nature and mark” 〔T35n1735 0873b20〕, displaying separately the emptiness of nature while not hindering the being of marks:
「謂非冥性微塵等生，非自在梵王等作，無神我能知，上三顯能作空。無有成者，顯所作空。雖能所俱空，不礙相有，故云而得成就。」 tr. “That is, it is not born of a subtle nature or of atoms and the like, not made by a sovereign lord or Brahmā and the like, and there is no self-soul that can know: these three display the emptiness of that which makes. There is none that accomplishes displays the emptiness of that which is made. Yet though maker and made are alike empty, this does not hinder the being of marks, and hence it says, and it does come to be accomplished.” 〔T35n1735 0873b21–24〕
(4) This is not made by the divine power of the Tathāgata — at the end of the eighth simile the scripture breaks the one-sided clinging of itself: 「眾生念言：『此是如來神力所造。』佛子！此非如來神力所造。……但以諸佛威德力故，令諸眾生具佛功德，而佛如來無有分別，無成無壞，無有作者，亦無作法。」 tr. “Beings think in their minds: ‘This is made by the divine power of the Tathāgata.’ Sons of the Buddha! This is not made by the divine power of the Tathāgata. … But it is by the power of the majestic virtue of the Buddhas that beings are made to be furnished with the merits of a Buddha; and yet the Buddha, the Tathāgata, has no discrimination, no accomplishing and no ruining, no one that makes, and no dharma that is made.” 〔T10n0279 0264c02〕〔T10n0279 0264〕 Chengguan judges it by the three senses of stirring and response (section III, (8)), and comes home to 「緣成故無成，無成故無壞」 tr. “because it is completed by conditions there is no completing, and because there is no completing there is no ruining” 〔T35n1735 0874a26〕 — and this is where the Huayan sense of stirring and response, of cause and condition, flows together with the sense of emptiness of nature.
(5) The light of unobstructed wisdom has nothing upon which it depends — the ninth simile, 「如來出現依無礙慧光明，無礙慧光明無有所依」 tr. “the appearance of the Tathāgata depends upon the light of unobstructed wisdom, and the light of unobstructed wisdom has nothing upon which it depends” 〔T10n0279 0264c22〕〔T10n0279 0264〕; and at the ground of the simile it reads 「風輪依虛空，虛空無所依。雖無所依，能令三千大千世界而得安住」 tr. “the wind wheel depends upon empty space, and empty space has nothing upon which it depends; though it has nothing upon which it depends, it can make the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system come to abide” 〔T10n0279 0264c12〕. To depend upon nothing and yet uphold all things is the utmost of the dependence of substance and function.
(6) The gateway of practice, making the mind pure as space — the verse says 「若有欲知佛境界，當淨其意如虛空，遠離妄想及諸取，令心所向皆無礙」 tr. “if there be one who would know the realm of the Buddhas, let him make his mind pure as empty space, put far from him false imaginings and every grasping, and make all that his mind turns toward unobstructed” 〔T10n0279 0265b10〕〔T10n0279 0265〕. Chengguan judges these two lines to be precisely true stopping and true contemplating, and marks them out himself as the heart’s essential:
「一離妄取，如彼淨空無雲翳故，斯即真止；二觸境無滯，如彼淨空無障礙故，斯即真觀。此觀不作意以照境，則所照無涯；此止體性離；而息妄，故諸取皆寂。若斯，則不拂不瑩而自淨矣，無淨之淨則闇蹈佛境矣。此為心要，謂後學思行。」 tr. “First, departing from false grasping, as that pure sky has neither cloud nor film — this is true stopping. Second, meeting objects without stagnation, as that pure sky is without obstruction — this is true contemplating. This contemplating does not stir the intent in order to illumine its object, and so what it illumines has no shore; this stopping is a substance from the first apart, and it lays false things to rest, and so every grasping falls silent. Being thus, then without wiping and without burnishing it is pure of itself, and purity that is not made pure treads in secret upon the realm of the Buddhas. This is the heart’s essential, for those who come after to ponder and to practice.” 〔T35n1735 0874c23–28〕
(7) A simile spoken where no simile can be — the last stanza reads 「如來出現法無邊，世間迷惑莫能知，為欲開悟諸含識，無譬諭中說其譬」 tr. “the dharma of the Tathāgata’s appearing is without bound, and the deluded of the world are unable to know it; and in order to open and awaken every kind of conscious being, where no simile can be a simile was spoken for them” 〔T10n0279 0266a02〕; Chengguan judges this one stanza to be 「結說無盡、不頌上文」 tr. “concluding that the telling is endless, and not versifying what went before” 〔T35n1735 0874c07〕 — the reason the ten similes are set up at all is precisely that the matter is from the first beyond likening.
VI. Divergent Interpretations of the Commentators
Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735 (following the text of the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · principal)
Judging the general and the particular among the ten similes: the first simile is the general one, and the nine that follow are all what it sends down 〔0873a27–29〕; and at the joining he says 「略不合第三顯彼所因，以次下二喻自別合故」 tr. “the third, which displays what causes it, is passed over and not joined, because the two similes next below join it separately of themselves” 〔0873b25–26〕.
Explaining the shared deeds:
「言共業者，謂多有情應生此界，共業同變。於中有四句，謂共中共等。二菩薩善根，此有二意：一約同居，謂地前菩薩；二約能化，謂隨諸眾生。」 tr. “As to the words shared deeds: many sentient beings are due to be born into this realm, and by their shared deeds they transform it together. Within this there are four clauses, namely the shared within the shared and the rest. Second, the roots of goodness of the bodhisattvas: this has two senses, one with regard to their dwelling together, namely the bodhisattvas before the grounds; the other with regard to their power to transform, namely as they follow after beings.” 〔T35n1735 0873b10–13〕
Explaining the power of continuity of mind (the bound within which those of the two vehicles do not receive):
「言心相續力者，若約信受，但是圓機，堅種相續能受深旨。若約具受，則八地已上，得無盡陀羅尼力，方能受持乃至十地，方受如來雲雨說法」 tr. “As to the words the power of continuity of mind: if taken with regard to receiving in faith, it is only those of perfect capacity, whose firm seed continues and can receive the deep purport. If taken with regard to receiving in full, then from the eighth ground upward, having gained the power of the inexhaustible dhāraṇī, one is able to uphold it, and only at the tenth ground does one receive the Tathāgata’s teaching of the Dharma as cloud and rain” 〔T35n1735 0873c04–07〕
— and he concludes for himself, 「由初義故，但揀二乘」 tr. “it is by the former sense that it merely sorts out the two vehicles” 〔0873c08〕: the two explanations stand together, and both the broad and the narrow hold good.
Citing the Abhidharmakośa to explain the wheel of wind:
「假使有一大諾健那，以金剛輪奮威懸擊，金剛有碎，風輪無損。其量廣無數，厚十六洛叉。」 tr. “Suppose there were one great Nārāyaṇa who, with a wheel of adamant, should rouse his might and strike it down from on high: the adamant would be shattered, and the wheel of wind unharmed. Its breadth is measureless, and its thickness sixteen lakhs.” 〔T35n1735 0874b02–04〕
— and he further records that they are not the same: 「彼但有一，與此不同。」 tr. “there it has but one, which is not the same as here” 〔0874b04–05〕. And he records the divergent accounts of the number of the wheels of a world: 「或說三輪成，謂風、水、金。或說五輪，謂下加虛空、上加大地。今欲稱法，合成四輪，則地中含金，金亦地故。」 tr. “Some say a world is formed of three wheels, namely wind, water, and gold. Some say five wheels, adding empty space below and the great earth above. Here, wishing to accord with the dharma, they are gathered into four wheels, for gold is contained within earth, gold being earth as well.” 〔T35n1735 0874b08–10〕
Citing the Vimalakīrti to explain unobstructed wisdom: 「其無礙慧，無若干故。」 tr. “his unobstructed wisdom, being without any several-ness” 〔T35n1735 0874b17–18〕
The matching of the concluding eleven clauses:
「一多因出現故、二廣故難受、三無生故無從、四非心識故思必發狂、五如空故惑見雙亡、六平等無我故一味、七由無盡故諸乘遍化、八後際無斷故佛種不斷、九無對即無礙慧、十為無為平等即攝三輪歸無礙慧、十一本為眾生故今利益滿足。」 tr. “First, because the causes are many there is an appearing. Second, because it is vast it is hard to receive. Third, because it is without birth it comes from nowhere. Fourth, because it is not the mind or consciousness, thinking upon it must bring on madness. Fifth, because it is like space, both delusion and view fall away. Sixth, because it is equal and without self, it is of one taste. Seventh, because it is inexhaustible, the vehicles are transformed universally. Eighth, because there is no cutting off at the later limit, the seed of the Buddhas is not cut off. Ninth, being without opposite is precisely unobstructed wisdom. Tenth, the equality of the conditioned and the unconditioned is precisely the gathering of the three wheels home to unobstructed wisdom. Eleventh, because it was from the first for the sake of beings, benefit is now brought to fullness.” 〔T35n1735 0874b27–0874c04〕
— and he admonishes as well: 「若將一一通前十門，未為得意。」 tr. “to match each one of them through to all ten gateways above would be to miss the sense” 〔0874c04–05〕
The matching of the ten senses of the particular praise within the verses: 「一無邊量，即無量義；二一毛叵量，即廣大義；三空際叵得，即無生義。」 tr. “First, without bound or measure, which is the sense of the measureless. Second, that a single hair cannot be measured, which is the sense of the vast. Third, that the bound of space cannot be found, which is the sense of no birth.” 〔0874c13–14〕 「四不能知者，離心識故。五遍於一切非一切者，即如空義。六體性平等，即平等無我義。七前遍諸剎，此遍三世，文綺互耳。八無變易故盡後際。九離言說故，無二無對。十本願現身故能成益。」 tr. “Fourth, that it cannot be known, because it is apart from mind and consciousness. Fifth, that it pervades all things and is not all things, which is the sense of being like space. Sixth, that its substance and nature are equal, which is the sense of equality and no self. Seventh, the former pervades all lands and this pervades the three times, the wording being interwoven. Eighth, because it is without alteration it exhausts the later limit. Ninth, because it is apart from words there is neither two nor opposite. Tenth, because by the original vow he displays a body, benefit can be accomplished.” 〔0874c16–21〕 And he records for himself where they do not match evenly: 「然唯此第三偈，似頌第五如空。第六偈，似頌第三無生滅。然取義不同，故皆案次。」 tr. “Yet this third stanza alone seems to versify the fifth, being like space; and the sixth stanza seems to versify the third, without birth or cessation. But the sense taken is not the same, and so they are all set down in order.” 〔0874c15–16〕
Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka)
Judging the ten similes and ten virtues of the verses of the sixty:
「二末塵喻，喻佛無限德。三量空喻，喻佛廣大德。四數心喻，喻佛無量德。五法界喻，喻佛甚深德。六如如喻，喻佛離相德。七無際喻，喻佛無礙德。八性空喻，喻佛性淨德。九離言喻，喻佛無比德。十鳥跡喻，喻佛體用德。」 tr. “Second, the simile of the motes of dust, likening the Buddha’s virtue of having no limit. Third, the simile of measuring space, likening the Buddha’s virtue of vastness. Fourth, the simile of counting minds, likening the Buddha’s virtue of the measureless. Fifth, the simile of the Dharma realm, likening the Buddha’s virtue of profundity. Sixth, the simile of suchness, likening the Buddha’s virtue of being apart from marks. Seventh, the simile of the limitless, likening the Buddha’s virtue of the unobstructed. Eighth, the simile of emptiness of nature, likening the Buddha’s virtue of purity of nature. Ninth, the simile of being apart from words, likening the Buddha’s virtue of being beyond compare. Tenth, the simile of the bird’s track, likening the Buddha’s virtue of substance and function.” 〔T35n1733 0408b06–11〕
— and he lets a second reading stand: 「又釋：此十即是頌前結文十句，於中唯第九門却頌前第七句，餘並依次配釋可知。」 tr. “Explained again: these ten are the versifying of the ten clauses of the concluding passage above, and within them only the ninth gateway instead versifies the seventh clause above, the rest being matched and explained in order, as may be known.” 〔0408b11–13〕
Judging the total number of the stanzas of the sixty: 「第二偈頌中有六十五頌，分二：初二十八頌歎深許說，頌上總答」 tr. “Second, among the verses there are sixty-five stanzas, dividing into two: the first twenty-eight praise the depth and grant the telling, versifying the general answer above” 〔T35n1733 0408a26–28〕.
Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739 (the divergent track of displaying principle through phenomena)
Judging what the ten stretches belong to:
「有十段經，普賢菩薩說如來出現身境界，及所行行十事之法分。」 tr. “There are ten stretches of scripture, the part in which Samantabhadra tells of the realm of the body of the appearance of the Tathāgata and of the dharma of the ten matters that his practice performs.” 〔T36n1739 0939a27–29〕
Displaying principle and wisdom, substance and function, by Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra:
「明文殊是十方一切諸佛之法身妙理現根本智慧之門、普賢是十方一切諸佛差別智萬行大悲之門。」 tr. “It makes clear that Mañjuśrī is the gateway wherein the wondrous principle of the dharma-body of all the Buddhas of the ten directions manifests the fundamental wisdom, and that Samantabhadra is the gateway of the differentiating wisdom, the myriad practices, and the great compassion of all the Buddhas of the ten directions.” 〔T36n1739 0939b21–23〕
Coming home to what beings already possess: 「性自法界無有內外中間，應如是知、如是觀察」 tr. “the nature is of itself the Dharma realm, having neither inside nor outside nor middle; so should one know it, and so should one contemplate it” 〔T36n1739 0941c06–07〕; and the author of the treatise says in verse: 「一切眾生菩提界，白淨無垢智無壞，智珠無價在衣中，秖欲長貧住門外。」 tr. “The realm of awakening of all beings, white and pure, without defilement, its wisdom unruinable; the priceless pearl of wisdom is within the robe, and yet he would stay long in poverty, standing outside the gate.” 〔0941b26–27〕
Recorded without adjudication: Chengguan follows the eighty, sets up the names of the ten similes passage by passage, and judges that nature and mark are made clear together while the verses speak mostly with regard to nature (the track of following the text); Fazang follows the sixty, judges the ten similes and ten virtues of its verses, and lets two matchings stand together (the track of reconciling); Li Tongxuan reads by the display of principle through phenomena, using the two dharmas of Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra for principle and wisdom, substance and function, and coming home to what beings already possess (the track of displaying by phenomena) — three tracks running side by side, all of them settled teachings of the ancient masters, recorded here without judging one above another.
VII. Cross-Reading and Lineage
Cross-reading within the scripture — as to the sense of the first simile, 「眾生共業及諸菩薩善根所起」 tr. “raised by the shared deeds of beings and the roots of goodness of the bodhisattvas” 〔T10n0279 0263b09〕, Chengguan points out that the text before it has already opened this: 「是以上云菩薩善根所起，眾生共業所生等，〈華藏品〉中已略開顯。」 tr. “hence it says above, raised by the roots of goodness of the bodhisattvas, born of the shared deeds of beings, and the rest, which was already opened out in brief in the Chapter on the Flower Treasury” 〔T35n1735 0873c01–02〕 And as to the order in which a world is established, Chengguan points out that the ground for it lies in the Abhidharma: 「謂先成器界，後起眾生依之而住，如《俱舍》、《婆沙》等辨。」 tr. “that is, the vessel realm is formed first, and beings arise afterward and dwell in dependence upon it, as the Abhidharmakośa and the Mahāvibhāṣā and the rest set forth” 〔0873b15–17〕
The treatises cited by the ancient master — in this section Chengguan cites only the Abhidharmakośa (the measure of the wheel of wind · the divergent accounts of the number of the wheels 〔0874b02–10〕) and the Vimalakīrti (unobstructed wisdom 〔0874b17–18〕), both already recorded in section VI.
Lineage (recorded as lacking) — in the treatises of the lineage examined (the Cheng weishi lun T31n1585 · the She dasheng lun T31n1594 · the Yogācārabhūmi T30n1579) no explicit passage was found attaching to this section’s sense of ‘nature-arising’ or of 「如來出現」 tr. “the appearance of the Tathāgata”; the Wujiao zhang T45n1866 cites the chapter by name, 「性起品」 tr. “the Chapter on Nature-Arising,” in five places, of which, apart from 〔0478a20〕 where the scripture is actually quoted, the remaining four are general citations not attached to any particular doctrinal division, and these have already been recorded in the part treating the prologue of this chapter and are not repeated here. Therefore the lineage of this doctrine in the treatises is recorded as lacking, as it stands, and nothing from elsewhere is put in its place.
VIII. Edition Location Register
- Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text): chapter thirty-seven, the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata · the first sense, the marks of the appearance, beginning at 〔T10n0279 0263a19〕 and ending at 〔0266a04 前〕 (the seventh assembly, the second gathering in the Hall of Universal Light). Within the page bounds: the ten measureless gateways of Dharma and the first through the sixth marks 〔0263〕 · the seventh through the tenth marks 〔0264〕 · the concluding eleven clauses and the thirty-seven stanzas 〔0265〕. In this section the citations from T279 all carry page anchors (where the line-level source is not settled it is not presumed; it awaits supply).
- Buddhabhadra T278 (the principal witness, the Jin rendering): chapter thirty-two, the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata, the corresponding stretch 〔T09n0278 0612b26〕–〔0616a09 前〕. The speaker at the head of the stretch 0612b26–27 · the ten measureless causes and conditions 0612c01–09 · the four wheels of wind 0612c12–15 · the four wisdom wheels of wind 0612c22–29 · the first conclusion 0613a01–02 · the second simile 0613a02–08 · the third simile 0613a09–14 · the fourth simile 0613a14–23 · the fifth simile 0613a24–b04 · the sixth simile 0613b04–08 · the seventh simile 0613b09–17 · the eighth simile begins 0613b18 · the verses begin before 0614c03 · the verses end 0616a09.
- Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735: the commentary upon this section 〔0873a05〕–〔0875a08〕. The three divisions of the prose 0873a05 · the outline of the ten similes 0873a24–25 · the four parts of the first simile 0873a29–b01 · the shared deeds 0873b10–13 · the concluding of nature and mark 0873b19–24 · likening what depends by what is depended upon 0873b28–29 · the second simile 0873c02–08 · the third simile 0873c08–11 · the fourth simile 0873c12–14 · the fifth simile 0873c15–20 · the sixth simile 0873c20–21 · the seventh simile 0873c21–24 · the eighth simile 0873c24–0874a27 · the ninth simile 0874a27–b20 · the tenth simile 0874b20–25 · the concluding eleven clauses 0874b25–c05 · the outline of the verses 0874c05–11 · the matching of the ten particular praises 0874c13–21 · the admonition to listen and the heart’s essential 0874c21–28 · the outline of the verses on the ten similes 0875a02–03.
- Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (commentary on the sixty): the outline of the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata begins 0405a06; the passage touching this section 0406b17–0408b24 (the total number of the stanzas of the sixty 0408a26–28 · the ten similes and ten virtues 0408b06–11 · the matching of the verses to the similes 0408b17–24).
- Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739: the passage touching this section 0939a27–0941c19 (what the ten stretches belong to 0939a27–29 · the display of Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra 0939b21–23 · the treatise author’s verse 0941b26–27 · the concluding return 0941c03–18).
- The forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T293: only chapter thirty-nine survives, and there is no witness there for this section — the lack is recorded as it stands.
- Variant readings: within the range of T279 covered by this unit, 〔0263a19〕–〔0266a03〕, 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 ／): 〔0263a19〕謂【大】｜說【聖】 · 〔0263c15〕句【大】｜向【聖】 · 〔0264a19〕于【大】｜於【明】 · 〔0264b01〕大【大】｜無此字【聖】 · 〔0265c14〕相【大】｜際【宮】 · 〔0265c28〕蒙【大】｜家【聖】. The interlinear notes (phonetic and collation glosses) were stripped and recorded at the level of the original-text layer.