華嚴經 品三十七 如來出現品 · 出現之意Avataṃsaka Sūtra · The Appearance of the Tathāgata · The Mind of the Appearance

This sense is the fourth of the ten senses of the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata, setting out ‘the mind of the appearance,’ that is, the mind of the Tathāgata. Samantabhadra first makes the general statement with respect to dharma with 「如來心、意、識俱不可得，但應以智無量故，知如來心」 tr. “the mind, the mentation, and the consciousness of the Tathāgata are all unobtainable; it is only because wisdom is measureless that one comes to know the mind of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0271a24〕; next he displays the ten kinds of great wisdom one by one by means of ten great similes; and at the end he concludes with the exhortation to know, with 「應以如是等無量無礙不可思議廣大相，知如來、應、正等覺心」 tr. “one should know the mind of the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Awakened One, by way of vast characteristics such as these, measureless, unobstructed, and inconceivable” 〔T10n0279 0273a04〕; after which come twenty-two verses in repetition. Chengguan judges this to be 「第四出現意業」 tr. “the fourth, the mental action of the appearance,” and Fazang judges it to be 「第四性起意業」 tr. “the fourth, the mental action of nature-arising,” Fazang ordering the sequence as 「先身語、次明意」 tr. “first body and speech, next the making clear of mind,” and Chengguan likewise placing body, speech, and mind in that order. The tenth simile, 「如來智慧無處不至」 tr. “there is no place the wisdom of the Tathāgata does not reach” 〔T10n0279 0272c04〕, together with ‘the great sūtra scroll within a single mote of dust,’ is where the scriptural ground lies for the Huayan school’s doctrine of nature-arising and for the doctrine that sentient beings originally possess the buddha-wisdom; and Chengguan says here outright 「非華嚴宗，無有斯理」 tr. “were it not the Huayan school, there would be no such principle” 〔T35n1735 0880a22〕. Fazang, in the section of the general statement, opens a fourfold classification of the teachings (the initial teaching · the final teaching · the sudden teaching · the perfect teaching) in explaining 「心意識俱不可得」 tr. “mind, mentation, and consciousness are all unobtainable,” which is the most important divergent interpretation of the ancient worthies on this sense.

I. Doctrinal Outline and Placement

Chengguan’s outline text, verbatim —

「第四出現意業，先身、次語、後意，義次第故。長行中二：先徵起、後正釋。釋中三：初約法總辨、二寄喻別顯、三總結勸知。」 tr. “The fourth, the mental action of the appearance: first the body, next the speech, last the mind, because such is the sequence of the sense. In the prose section there are two: first the raising of the question, then the proper explanation. In the explanation there are three: first the general treatment with respect to dharma, second the particular display lodged in similes, third the concluding exhortation to know.” 〔T35n1735 0878a07〕

Fazang’s outline text, verbatim —

「第四性起意業，先身語、次明意，故從麁漸細，明次第也。於中標門、釋義。釋義中，先約法總辨、二就喻別顯、三總結所知。」 tr. “The fourth, the mental action of nature-arising: first body and speech, next the making clear of mind, and thus it proceeds from the coarse gradually to the fine, making the sequence clear. Herein there are the setting up of the topic and the explanation of the sense. Within the explanation of the sense: first the general treatment with respect to dharma, second the particular display taken from similes, third the concluding summation of what is known.” 〔T35n1733 0410b16〕

The two houses give the outline the one name 「出現意業」 tr. “the mental action of the appearance” and the other 「性起意業」 tr. “the mental action of nature-arising,” and the grounds they give for the sequence they judge also differ: Chengguan says 「義次第故」 tr. “because such is the sequence of the sense,” while Fazang says 「從麁漸細」 tr. “from the coarse gradually to the fine.”

The general outline of the ten similes — Chengguan sets out the great rule of it in the section of 「寄喻別顯」 tr. “the particular display lodged in similes”:

「舉十大喻，以喻如來十種大智，十智體用非一非異。亦文各有三，謂喻、合、結。」 tr. “Ten great similes are raised, to figure the ten kinds of great wisdom of the Tathāgata, and the substance and function of the ten wisdoms are neither one nor different. Each also has three parts in the text, namely the simile, the conjoining, and the conclusion.” 〔T35n1735 0878c06〕

The general summation of the ten similes — Chengguan gathers the ten similes in ten phrases at the end of the prose section:

「上來十喻，初總明無依為依、二能出生、三能潛遍、四橫具四智、五豎具四能、六體廣包含、七用無終竟、八知無不盡、九巧能攝持、十處處具足。前九直語佛智，後一乃融自他。此十圓融，略顯佛智之相，寄顯如來之心，未盡佛心一毫，故應更以無量無礙等知也。」 tr. “Of the ten similes above: the first makes clear in general that resting on nothing it is what all rest upon; the second, that it is able to bring forth; the third, that it is able to flow hidden and pervade; the fourth, that it possesses the four wisdoms crosswise; the fifth, that it possesses the four capacities lengthwise; the sixth, that the substance is broad and contains all; the seventh, that the function is without end; the eighth, that its knowing leaves nothing unexhausted; the ninth, that it is skillfully able to gather and uphold; the tenth, that it is fully present in every place. The first nine speak directly of the Buddha’s wisdom, and the last merges self and other. These ten are perfectly interfused, and display in brief the characteristics of the Buddha’s wisdom, lodging therein a display of the mind of the Tathāgata, without exhausting a hair’s breadth of the Buddha’s mind; therefore one should further know it by way of the measureless and unobstructed and the rest.” 〔T35n1735 0880b21〕

The outline of the verses in repetition —

「第二偈頌。二十二偈，分二：初兩句約法總顯、餘頌上喻。於中，初喻一偈半、後一四偈、餘八各二偈，並顯可知。」 tr. “Second, the verses. Twenty-two verses, divided in two: the first two lines display the whole with respect to dharma, and the rest put the foregoing similes into verse. Therein, the first simile gets a verse and a half, the last one four verses, and the remaining eight two verses each; all is displayed so as to be understood.” 〔T35n1735 0880b27〕

What Fazang outlines are the verses of the sixty-fascicle text: 「頌中三十七頌，初一頌前總說；餘頌十喻」 tr. “among the verses there are thirty-seven; the first one puts into verse the general statement above, and the rest put the ten similes into verse” 〔T35n1733 0411c29〕 — the eighty-fascicle text has twenty-two verses and the sixty-fascicle text thirty-seven, folding and unfolding differently, each following the text commented upon; recorded here.

II. Terminology

III. Similes and Rhetoric

The main text of this sense is precisely the ten great similes. The names of the similes and the wisdoms they figure are marked and attributed one by one following Chengguan’s commentary (both the names of the similes and the wisdoms figured are Chengguan’s words), while the vehicle of the simile, what it figures, and the meaning shown follow the text of the base sūtra.

(1) The simile of space, which rests on nothing and is what all rest upon (the first characteristic of the mind) — 「譬如虛空為一切物所依，而虛空無所依。如來智慧亦復如是，為一切世間、出世間智所依，而如來智無所依。」 tr. “It is like space, which is what all things rest upon, while space rests upon nothing. So it is with the wisdom of the Tathāgata: it is what all worldly and world-transcending wisdom rests upon, while the wisdom of the Tathāgata rests upon nothing.” 〔T10n0279 0271a25〕

• Chengguan’s name for it: 「虛空無依為依喻，喻佛無依成事智。」 tr. “The simile of space, which rests on nothing and is what all rest upon, figuring the Buddha’s wisdom that rests on nothing and accomplishes affairs.” 〔T35n1735 0878c08〕
• Fazang’s name for it: 「一虛空無依喻，喻佛平等無依智，謂能與他作增上緣故，能為他依；自不依他，故無所依也。」 tr. “First, the simile of space resting on nothing, figuring the Buddha’s equal wisdom that rests on nothing: that is to say, because it can act as the dominant condition for others, it can be what others rest upon; and since it does not itself rest on another, it rests upon nothing.” 〔T35n1733 0410c12〕
• The meaning shown: the Buddha’s wisdom is what all wisdom rests upon while itself resting upon nothing. Chengguan explains why it rests upon nothing: 「良以佛智照極，無有智外如為智所依，故智體全如。若有所依，不名如智。」 tr. “It is because the Buddha’s wisdom illuminates to the utmost that there is no suchness outside of wisdom for wisdom to rest upon, and therefore the substance of wisdom is wholly suchness. If it had something to rest upon, it would not be called the wisdom of suchness.” 〔T35n1735 0878c12〕

(2) The simile of the Dharma realm, clear and still (the second characteristic of the mind) — 「譬如法界常出一切聲聞、獨覺、菩薩解脫，而法界無增減。如來智慧亦復如是，恒出一切世間、出世間種種智慧，而如來智無增減。」 tr. “It is like the Dharma realm, which constantly brings forth all the liberation of the śrāvakas, the pratyekabuddhas, and the bodhisattvas, while the Dharma realm neither increases nor decreases. So it is with the wisdom of the Tathāgata: it constantly brings forth all the various kinds of worldly and world-transcending wisdom, while the wisdom of the Tathāgata neither increases nor decreases.” 〔T10n0279 0271a29〕〔T10n0279 0271b〕

• Chengguan’s name for it: 「第二法界湛然喻，喻佛體無增減智，即轉釋前依。依者，依此出生故。雖出諸智，亦不減少。菩薩解脫成佛智時，亦不增足，以同體均故」 tr. “Second, the simile of the Dharma realm, clear and still, figuring the wisdom whose buddha-substance neither increases nor decreases; it is an explanation in turn of the resting spoken of before. As for resting: it is because from this they are brought forth. Though it brings forth the several wisdoms, it is not thereby lessened. When the liberation of a bodhisattva becomes the wisdom of a buddha, neither is it thereby increased, because they are even as one substance” 〔T35n1735 0878c17〕
• The meaning shown: it brings forth measurelessly while the substance neither increases nor decreases.

(3) The simile of the great ocean benefiting in hidden fashion (the third characteristic of the mind) — 「譬如大海，其水潛流四天下地及八十億諸小洲中，有穿鑿者無不得水，而彼大海不作分別：『我出於水。』」 tr. “It is like the great ocean, whose water flows hidden beneath the ground of the four continents and among the eighty koṭis of small islands; whoever digs never fails to get water, and yet that great ocean makes no discrimination: ‘The water comes forth from me.’” 〔T10n0279 0271b04〕〔T10n0279 0271b〕

• The vehicle of the simile: the water of the ocean flows hidden beneath the ground, and digging gets it, while the ocean makes no discrimination.
• What it figures: the ocean-water of the Buddha’s wisdom flows into the minds of all sentient beings, and when sentient beings contemplate the object before them and cultivate the gate of Dharma they obtain a wisdom pure and clear.
• The meaning shown: 「如來智平等無二、無有分別，但隨眾生心行異故，所得智慧各各不同」 tr. “the wisdom of the Tathāgata is equal and without a second, without discrimination; it is only because the workings of the minds of sentient beings are each different that the wisdom obtained is in each case different” 〔T10n0279 0271b09〕 — what is obtained differs, while what gives does not differ. Chengguan’s name for it: 「第三大海潛益喻，喻佛體均益生智，即雙釋前依及出生義。謂與眾生心同體，故義曰潛流。穿鑿自心得智慧時，即是見他佛智，是曰依之出生。」 tr. “Third, the simile of the great ocean benefiting in hidden fashion, figuring the wisdom by which the buddha-substance evenly benefits beings; it explains both the resting spoken of before and the sense of bringing forth. That is to say, because it is of one substance with the minds of sentient beings, its sense is called flowing hidden. When one digs one’s own mind and obtains wisdom, that is precisely to see the buddha-wisdom of another, and this is called the bringing forth from what is rested upon.” 〔T35n1735 0878c21〕

(4) The simile of the great jewels that bring forth (the fourth characteristic of the mind) — 「譬如大海有四寶珠，具無量德，能生海內一切珍寶」 tr. “It is like the four jewels within the great ocean, which are furnished with measureless virtues and are able to bring forth all the precious things within the ocean” 〔T10n0279 0271b12〕〔T10n0279 0271b〕

• The names of the four jewels in the vehicle of the simile: Accumulation · Inexhaustible Store · Far Removed from Blazing · Perfect Adornment; no ordinary person and none of the dragons and spirits can see them, because the dragon king Sāgara has set them in the deep and secret place within his palace.
• The names of the four wisdom-jewels figured: the great wisdom-jewel unstained and skilled in means · the great wisdom-jewel that discriminates well between conditioned and unconditioned dharmas · the great wisdom-jewel that discriminates and expounds measureless dharmas without spoiling the nature of dharmas · the great wisdom-jewel that knows what is the time and what is not the time and has never once let it slip; 「置於如來深密藏故」 tr. “because they are set in the deep and secret treasury of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0271b27〕, sentient beings of scant merit cannot see them.
• The meaning shown: 「若諸如來大智海中無此四寶，有一眾生得入大乘，終無是處。」 tr. “If these four jewels were not in the great ocean of wisdom of the tathāgatas, then for even one sentient being to enter the Great Vehicle would in the end be an impossibility.” 〔T10n0279 0271b24〕 Chengguan’s name for it: 「第四大寶出生喻，喻佛用興體密智，釋上能生。以何義故而能生耶？具四寶故。」 tr. “Fourth, the simile of the great jewels bringing forth, figuring the wisdom whose function flourishes while its substance is secret; it explains the being able to bring forth spoken of above. By what sense is it able to bring forth? Because it possesses the four jewels.” 〔T35n1735 0878c25〕 (For the two explanations, ancient and later, matching the four jewels to the four wisdoms, see rubric VI.)

(5) The simile of the jewels consuming the water of the ocean (the fifth characteristic of the mind) — 「譬如大海，有四熾然光明大寶布在其底，性極猛熱，常能飲縮百川所注無量大水，是故大海無有增減。」 tr. “It is like the great ocean, which has four blazing, light-emitting great jewels spread out on its floor; their nature is fierce and hot in the extreme, and they are constantly able to drink up and shrink the measureless great waters poured in by the hundred rivers, and so the great ocean neither increases nor decreases.” 〔T10n0279 0271c01〕〔T10n0279 0271c〕

• The names of the four jewels in the vehicle of the simile: Sun-Store · Free of Moisture · Flame-Light · Exhausting Without Remainder; the light of the four jewels shines and touches in sequence, the water of the ocean turning to milk, the milk to curds, the curds to butter, and the butter becoming ghee, 「如火熾然，悉盡無餘」 tr. “blazing like fire, all exhausted without remainder” 〔T10n0279 0271c10〕.
• The names of the four wisdom-jewels figured: extinguishing all the waves of scattered good · removing all attachment to the Dharma · the light of insight shining everywhere · equal to the Tathāgata, boundless and without effort; the light of the four jewels touches the bodhisattva in sequence, causing him to cast off the waves of scattered good and abide in samādhi, to cast off the relishing of samādhi and give rise to vast spiritual penetrations, to cast off the vast spiritual penetrations and abide in the practice of great brightness that involves effort, and to cast off the practice of great brightness with effort and reach the ground of equality with the Tathāgata, all effort coming to rest.
• The meaning shown: the light of the four wisdom-jewels is the dominant condition for the bodhisattva’s turning and casting off at position after position; 「若無如來此四智寶大光照觸，乃至有一菩薩得如來地，無有是處」 tr. “if there were no shining and touching by the great light of these four wisdom-jewels of the Tathāgata, then for even one bodhisattva to obtain the ground of the Tathāgata would be an impossibility” 〔T10n0279 0271c27〕. Chengguan’s name for it: 「第五珠消海水喻，喻佛滅惑成德智，由有前智，無智不生。由有此智，無惑不斷。又前則橫具四智，此則豎具四智，皆是釋前為依之義。」 tr. “Fifth, the simile of the jewels consuming the water of the ocean, figuring the wisdom by which the Buddha extinguishes delusion and completes virtue: because there is the former wisdom, there is no wisdom that is not brought forth; because there is this wisdom, there is no delusion that is not cut off. Again, the former possesses the four wisdoms crosswise, this one possesses the four wisdoms lengthwise, and both explain the sense of being what others rest upon, spoken of before.” 〔T35n1735 0879a25〕

(6) The simile of space containing and receiving (the sixth characteristic of the mind) — 「如從水際，上至非想非非想天，其中所有大千國土，欲、色、無色眾生之處，莫不皆依虛空而起、虛空而住……雖彼虛空，普容三界而無分別。」 tr. “It is like this: from the water-limit upward, all the way to the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, all the great-thousand lands therein, the places of the sentient beings of the desire, form, and formless realms, there is not one that does not arise in dependence on space and abide in dependence on space … and though that space universally contains the three realms, it makes no discrimination.” 〔T10n0279 0272a01〕〔T10n0279 0271c〕

• The meaning shown: all the wisdom of the śrāvakas · of the pratyekabuddhas · of the bodhisattvas · of conditioned practice · of unconditioned practice 「一切皆依如來智起、如來智住」 tr. “all of it arises in dependence on the wisdom of the Tathāgata and abides in dependence on the wisdom of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0272a06〕. Chengguan’s name for it, together with his distinguishing it from the first simile: 「第六虛空含受喻，喻佛依持無礙智，亦釋前依義。上但云依，猶通外依他力；今明體遍普容，是則五乘等智皆是如來大智中物。」 tr. “Sixth, the simile of space containing and receiving, figuring the Buddha’s unobstructed wisdom that is rested upon and upholds; it too explains the sense of resting spoken of before. Above it said only resting, which still allows of an outward resting on the power of another; now what is made clear is that the substance pervades and universally contains, and thus the wisdom of the five vehicles and the rest are all things within the great wisdom of the Tathāgata.” 〔T35n1735 0879b24〕 Chengguan further cites the words of Sengzhao to seal it: 「夫聖人虛心冥照，理無不統。懷六合於胸中，而靈鑒有餘；鏡萬有於方寸，而其神常虛。」 tr. “Now the sage, with a mind made empty, illuminates in the dark, and there is no principle he does not comprehend. He holds the six directions within his breast, and his numinous mirroring has yet to spare; he mirrors the myriad existents within a square inch, and his spirit is constantly empty.” 〔T35n1735 0879b27〕

(7) The simile of the king of medicine trees growing (the seventh characteristic of the mind) — 「如雪山頂有藥王樹，名：無盡根。彼藥樹根從十六萬八千由旬下盡金剛地水輪際生。」 tr. “On the summit of the Snow Mountains there is a king of medicine trees, named: Inexhaustible Root. The root of that medicine tree grows up from a hundred and sixty-eight thousand yojanas below, from the limit of the water-wheel at the adamantine ground.” 〔T10n0279 0272a09〕〔T10n0279 0272a〕

• The vehicle of the simile: when the root of the king of medicine trees grows, the roots of all the trees of Jambudvīpa grow, and so likewise with trunk · branches · leaves · flowers · fruit; the root can bring forth the trunk and the trunk the root, and the root has no exhausting, whence the name Inexhaustible Root; only in the deep pit of the hells and within the water-wheel can it not render the benefit of growth, 「然亦於彼初無厭捨」 tr. “and yet toward those it has never at any time felt aversion or forsaken them” 〔T10n0279 0272a17〕.
• The six limbs figured, matched one by one: the vow of great compassion is the root · the firm and unshakable skillful means is the trunk · the wisdom pervading the Dharma realm together with the perfections are the branches · meditative concentration, liberation, and the great samādhis are the leaves · dhāraṇī, eloquence, and the factors of awakening are the flowers · the ultimate and unchanging liberation of the buddhas is the fruit.
• The meaning shown: the ground of the name lies in 「究竟無休息故，不斷菩薩行故；菩薩行即如來性，如來性即菩薩行」 tr. “because it is ultimately without rest, and because it does not cut off the practice of the bodhisattva; the practice of the bodhisattva is the nature of the Tathāgata, and the nature of the Tathāgata is the practice of the bodhisattva” 〔T10n0279 0272a26〕 — cause and fruit interpenetrate, and hence the name Inexhaustible Root. The two places selected out are 「二乘墮於無為廣大深阬」 tr. “the vast deep pit of the unconditioned into which those of the two vehicles have fallen” 〔T10n0279 0272b08〕 and 「壞善根非器眾生溺大邪見貪愛之水」 tr. “the water of great wrong views and craving in which are drowned those sentient beings who have spoiled their roots of goodness and are not fit vessels” 〔T10n0279 0272b09〕, 「然亦於彼曾無厭捨」 tr. “and yet toward those it has never felt aversion or forsaken them” 〔T10n0279 0272b09〕. Chengguan’s name for it: 「第七藥王生長喻，喻佛窮劫利樂智。」 tr. “Seventh, the simile of the king of medicine trees growing, figuring the wisdom by which the Buddha benefits and gladdens to the end of kalpas.” 〔T35n1735 0879b29〕 (For Chengguan’s warning under ‘the selecting out of the places that are not’, see rubric VI.)

(8) The simile of the kalpa fire burning all away (the eighth characteristic of the mind) — 「譬如三千大千世界劫火起時，焚燒一切草木叢林，乃至鐵圍、大鐵圍山皆悉熾然無有遺餘。」 tr. “It is like the time when the kalpa fire of the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system blazes up, burning all grasses, trees, and thickets, and even the Iron Ring and Great Iron Ring Mountains are all burned blazing with nothing left over.” 〔T10n0279 0272b13〕〔T10n0279 0272a〕

• Rhetoric: this simile is the one passage of question and answer in the whole sense — 「假使有人手執乾草投彼火中，於意云何，得不燒不？」 tr. “Suppose there were a man who took dry grass in his hand and cast it into that fire — what do you think, could it fail to burn?” 〔T10n0279 0272b15〕 and the answer: 「不也。」 tr. “It could not.”
• The meaning shown: by way of ‘dry grass cast into the kalpa fire, which might perhaps not burn,’ it displays from the reverse side that 「如來智慧分別三世一切眾生、一切國土、一切劫數、一切諸法，無不知者；若言不知，無有是處」 tr. “the wisdom of the Tathāgata, discriminating all the sentient beings of the three times, all lands, all numbers of kalpas, and all dharmas, leaves nothing unknown; and to say that there is something it does not know would be an impossibility” 〔T10n0279 0272b17〕. Chengguan’s name for it: 「第八劫火燒盡喻，喻佛知無不盡智，由此佛智更無所依。」 tr. “Eighth, the simile of the kalpa fire burning all away, figuring the wisdom of the Buddha by which knowing leaves nothing unexhausted; by this the Buddha’s wisdom rests upon nothing further.” 〔T35n1735 0880a02〕

(9) The simile of the kalpa winds, the upholding and the destroying (the ninth characteristic of the mind) — 「譬如風災壞世界時，有大風起，名曰：散壞……復有大風，名為：能障，周匝三千大千世界障散壞風，不令得至餘方世界。」 tr. “It is like the time when the wind calamity destroys the world: a great wind arises, named: Scattering-Destruction … and there is again a great wind, named: Able to Block, which encircles the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system and blocks the Scattering-Destruction wind, not letting it reach the worlds of other quarters.” 〔T10n0279 0272b21〕〔T10n0279 0272b〕

• What it figures: the Tathāgata has the great wisdom-wind 「能滅」 tr. “Able to Extinguish,” which extinguishes the habitual tendencies of affliction of the great bodhisattvas, and the great wisdom-wind 「巧持」 tr. “Skillful Upholding,” which skillfully sustains bodhisattvas whose faculties are not yet ripened, not letting the wisdom-wind-wheel Able to Extinguish cut off all their habitual tendencies of affliction.
• The meaning shown: 「若無如來巧持智風，無量菩薩皆墮聲聞、辟支佛地」 tr. “were there no skillfully upholding wisdom-wind of the Tathāgata, measureless bodhisattvas would all fall into the stage of the śrāvakas and the stage of the pratyekabuddhas” 〔T10n0279 0272b29〕 — the skill of retaining delusion. Chengguan’s name for it: 「第九劫風持壞喻，喻佛巧令留惑智，非但能斷亦復能留。謂佛有斯巧，授與根未熟未具萬行菩薩，令留潤生之惑。」 tr. “Ninth, the simile of the kalpa winds, the upholding and the destroying, figuring the wisdom by which the Buddha skillfully causes delusion to be retained, not only able to cut off but also able to retain. That is to say, the Buddha has this skill and confers it upon bodhisattvas whose faculties are not yet ripened and whose myriad practices are not yet complete, causing them to retain the delusion that moistens rebirth.” 〔T35n1735 0880a04〕

(10) The simile of the dust containing the sūtra scroll (the tenth characteristic of the mind) — four parts: the dharma, the simile, the conjoining, and the conclusion.

• The dharma: 「如來智慧無處不至。何以故？無一眾生而不具有如來智慧，但以妄想顛倒執著而不證得；若離妄想，一切智、自然智、無礙智則得現前。」 tr. “There is no place the wisdom of the Tathāgata does not reach. Why is this so? Because there is not one sentient being who is not fully furnished with the wisdom of the Tathāgata; it is only on account of deluded thought, inversion, and attachment that they fail to realize it; and if they part from deluded thought, then the wisdom of omniscience, spontaneous wisdom, and unobstructed wisdom become present before them.” 〔T10n0279 0272c04〕〔T10n0279 0272b〕
• The simile: 「譬如有大經卷，量等三千大千世界，書寫三千大千世界中事，一切皆盡……此大經卷雖復量等大千世界，而全住在一微塵中；如一微塵，一切微塵皆亦如是。」 tr. “It is like a great sūtra scroll whose measure is equal to the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system, in which the affairs within the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system have all been written down without remainder … and though this great sūtra scroll is in measure equal to the great-thousand world-system, it abides entire within a single mote of dust; and as with this one mote of dust, so it is with all motes of dust.” 〔T10n0279 0272c07〕 There is a man of clear and penetrating wisdom, accomplished in the pure divine eye, who sees the sūtra scroll inside the mote of dust and thinks 「我當以精進力，破彼微塵，出此經卷，令得饒益一切眾生」 tr. “I ought, with the power of vigor, to break open that mote of dust and take out this sūtra scroll, so that it may enrich and benefit all sentient beings” 〔T10n0279 0272c19〕, and thereupon sets about the means, breaks the dust, and brings out the sūtra.
• The conjoining: the wisdom of the Tathāgata 「具足在於眾生身中；但諸凡愚妄想執著，不知不覺，不得利益」 tr. “is fully present within the bodies of sentient beings; it is only that those ordinary and foolish ones, by deluded thought and attachment, neither know it nor perceive it, and gain no benefit” 〔T10n0279 0272c24〕; and the Tathāgata, with the unobstructed and pure eye of wisdom, universally observes the Dharma realm and exclaims 「奇哉！奇哉！此諸眾生云何具有如來智慧，愚癡迷惑，不知不見？」 tr. “How marvelous! How marvelous! How is it that these sentient beings are fully furnished with the wisdom of the Tathāgata, and yet in their folly and confusion neither know it nor see it?” 〔T10n0279 0272c27〕, whereupon he teaches them to cultivate the noble path and to part from deluded thought.
• The meaning shown: Chengguan’s name for it: 「第十塵含經卷喻，喻佛性通平等智。」 tr. “Tenth, the simile of the dust containing the sūtra scroll, figuring the Buddha’s equal wisdom that runs through the nature.” 〔T35n1735 0880a09〕 He explains how the pervading is known: 「所以知佛智遍者，無一眾生不有本覺，與一切佛體無殊故。以上言潛流，則似佛智遍他眾生；今顯眾生自有，故云遍耳。」 tr. “The reason it is known that the Buddha’s wisdom pervades is that there is not one sentient being without original awakening, which is no different in substance from all the buddhas. Above, in speaking of flowing hidden, it seemed as though the Buddha’s wisdom pervaded other sentient beings; now what is displayed is that sentient beings have it of themselves, and so it says pervading.” 〔T35n1735 0880a10〕 He explains the sense of lying hidden in the dust: 「潛一塵者，略有三義：一妄覆真故、二小含大故、三一具多故。一切塵者，無一眾生不具佛智故。」 tr. “As for lying hidden in one mote: in brief there are three senses, first the deluded covering the true, second the small containing the large, third the one possessing the many. As for all motes: there is not one sentient being who is not furnished with the buddha-wisdom.” 〔T35n1735 0880b06〕 And again: 「大經卷者，佛智無涯，性德圓滿也。書各稱境者，智如理故。」 tr. “As for the great sūtra scroll: the Buddha’s wisdom is without shore, and the virtue of the nature is perfectly complete. As for each writing matching its object: because wisdom is as principle is.” 〔T35n1735 0880b05〕
• Fazang outlines this simile in five parts and the conjoining in six: 「喻中亦五：初塵藏經卷、二天眼見經、三傷無饒益、四作念破塵、五出經饒益。」 tr. “In the simile too there are five: first the dust storing the sūtra scroll, second the divine eye seeing the sūtra, third grieving that it gives no benefit, fourth forming the thought of breaking the dust, fifth bringing out the sūtra and enriching.” 〔T35n1733 0411c20〕 「合中六句：初智在眾生中，合塵內有經。一切塵者，是一切眾生也。以妄念無體細末如塵，性德圓滿如大經卷，迷妄覆真如塵藏經。」 tr. “In the conjoining there are six clauses: the first, that wisdom is within sentient beings, conjoins with there being a sūtra inside the dust. As for all motes, they are all sentient beings. Since deluded thought is without substance and fine as dust, the virtue of the nature perfectly complete like a great sūtra scroll, and confusion and delusion covering the true like the dust storing the sūtra.” 〔T35n1733 0411c22〕

IV. Collation with Parallel Translations

The Chinese witnesses for the key sentences of this sense: Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text · the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata) · Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin translation of the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · the third part of the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata, the thirty-second · the principal witness for collation throughout). The forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka T293 gives only chapter thirty-nine, and for the present chapter there is no collating witness.

A difference of format across the whole section: the closing clause in the sixty-fascicle text reads ‘this is the such-and-such surpassing practice of the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, by which he knows and sees the mind of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Rightly and Fully Awakened One’ (for the first simile it reads 「是為菩薩摩訶薩最初勝行，知、見如來、應供、等正覺心」 tr. “this is the first surpassing practice of the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, by which he knows and sees the mind of the Tathāgata, the Worthy of Offerings, the Rightly and Fully Awakened One” 〔T09n0278 0622b18〕, and the remaining nine similes read from the second to the tenth), while the eighty-fascicle text reads ‘this is the such-and-such characteristic of the mind of the Tathāgata, and the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should know it in this way’ — the one tied to the surpassing practice of the bodhisattva, the other to the characteristic of the mind of the Tathāgata: a difference of folding and unfolding. The order of the ten similes and what they figure are entirely the same.

Sentence 1　The General Statement (Mind, Mentation, and Consciousness)

What the variant is tied to: the eighty reads 「俱不可得」 tr. “are all unobtainable” (a negating statement), the sixty reads 「非即如來」 tr. “are not the Tathāgata” (a simple denial). Chengguan, in explaining this text, cites the Jin sūtra directly as an aid to the affirming statement: 「故晉經云『但知如來智無量，故知心無量。』」 tr. “therefore the Jin sūtra says, ‘it is only because one knows that the wisdom of the Tathāgata is measureless that one knows the mind is measureless.’” 〔T35n1735 0878b17〕 — from which it is known that the two texts differ in wording while Chengguan uses both.

Sentence 2　The First Simile (Space Resting on Nothing)

What the variant is tied to: (a) the eighty’s 「出世間智」 tr. “world-transcending wisdom” ↔ the sixty’s 「離世間智」 tr. “the wisdom that leaves the world.” (b) The eighty’s 「無所依」 tr. “rests upon nothing” ↔ the sixty’s 「無所依止」 tr. “has nothing it rests upon.”

Sentence 3　The Second Simile (The Dharma Realm Neither Increasing Nor Decreasing)

What the variant is tied to: (a) the eighty’s 「法界」 tr. “the Dharma realm” ↔ the sixty’s 「清淨法界」 tr. “the pure Dharma realm.” (b) The eighty reads 「常出……解脫」 tr. “constantly brings forth … liberation” (the sense of bringing forth), the sixty reads 「悉為……之所依止」 tr. “is entirely what … rests upon” (the sense of resting upon); and in the conjoining the sixty further adds one item, 「算數巧術一切眾智」 tr. “calculation, crafts, and all the wisdom of the multitude” 〔T09n0278 0622b22〕〔T09n0278 0622b22〕, which the eighty does not have. (c) The eighty’s ‘pratyekabuddha’ ↔ the sixty’s 「緣覺」 tr. “condition-awakened one,” consistently throughout the section.

Sentence 4　The Third Simile (The Ocean Flowing Hidden · Making No Discrimination)

What the variant is tied to: what the ocean does not discriminate is in the eighty 「我出於水」 tr. “the water comes forth from me” (it does not claim to be the source), and in the sixty 「我能資給諸眾生水」 tr. “I am able to supply water to sentient beings” 〔T09n0278 0622b28〕 (it does not claim to be the giver); and in the conjoining the sixty further has the clause 「而如來不作是念：『我能悉與眾生智慧。』」 tr. “and yet the Tathāgata does not form this thought: ‘I am able to give wisdom entirely to sentient beings.’” 〔T09n0278 0622c02〕, where the eighty reads instead 「而如來智平等無二、無有分別，但隨眾生心行異故，所得智慧各各不同」 tr. “and the wisdom of the Tathāgata is equal and without a second, without discrimination; it is only because the workings of the minds of sentient beings are each different that the wisdom obtained is in each case different” 〔T10n0279 0271b09〕 — the two texts fold and unfold differently.

Sentence 5　The Fourth Simile (The Names of the Four Jewels · the Names of the Four Wisdom-Jewels)

What the variant is tied to: (a) the third wisdom-jewel reads in the eighty 「不壞法性」 tr. “without spoiling the nature of dharmas” and in the sixty 「不壞法界」 tr. “without spoiling the Dharma realm.” (b) The fourth wisdom-jewel reads in the eighty 「知時非時未曾誤失」 tr. “knowing what is the time and what is not the time and never once letting it slip” 〔T10n0279 0271b24〕 and in the sixty 「應化眾生未曾失時」 tr. “in teaching and transforming sentient beings has never missed the time” 〔T09n0278 0622c16〕. (c) The name of the dragon king reads in the eighty 「娑竭龍王」 tr. “the dragon king Sāgara” 〔T10n0279 0271b17〕 and in the sixty 「娑伽羅龍王」 tr. “the dragon king Sāgara” (transliterated with three graphs) 〔T09n0278 0622c10〕.

Sentence 6　The Fifth Simile (What the Four Blazing Jewels Transform)

What the variant is tied to: the eighty’s four transformations run water → milk → curds → butter → ghee (five stages, four turnings), while the sixty’s four transformations run water → curds → butter → blazing butter → forever exhausted without remainder (without the two names 「乳」 tr. “milk” and 「醍醐」 tr. “ghee”). The names of the four jewels also differ: the eighty reads Sun-Store · Free of Moisture · Flame-Light · Exhausting Without Remainder, the sixty reads the great jewel of the light of Sun-Store · the great jewel of the light of Free of Moisture · the great jewel of the light of the Fire-Pearl · the great jewel of the light of Ultimately Without Remainder 〔T09n0278 0622c24–26〕. The names of the four wisdom-jewels also differ: the eighty’s first reads ‘extinguishing all the waves of scattered good,’ the sixty 「永息一切不善波浪」 tr. “forever stilling all the waves of what is not good” 〔T09n0278 0623a05〕 — the eighty tied to scattered good, the sixty to what is not good; the eighty’s third is 「慧光普照」 tr. “the light of insight shining everywhere,” while the sixty reads 「大慧智光大寶」 tr. “the great jewel of the light of the wisdom of great insight” 〔T09n0278 0623a07〕.

Sentence 7　The Verses in Repetition on the Tenth Simile (The Dust Containing the Sūtra Scroll · Teaching the Cultivation of the Noble Path)

What the variant is tied to: the eighty’s closing verse comes home to 「出現」 tr. “the appearance” (the eye of the chapter title) and to 「饒益諸菩薩」 tr. “enriching the host of bodhisattvas,” while the sixty’s closing verse comes home to 「修習八聖道」 tr. “cultivating the eightfold noble path” and to 「究竟成菩提」 tr. “ultimately accomplishing awakening”; in the prose section the eighty reads 「即教彼眾生修習聖道」 tr. “thereupon he taught those sentient beings to cultivate the noble path” 〔T10n0279 0273a01〕, while the sixty’s verse states 「八聖道」 tr. “the eightfold noble path” explicitly. The number of verses also differs: the eighty has twenty-two verses (Chengguan’s outline), the sixty thirty-seven (Fazang’s outline); see rubric I.

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

(1) Sentient beings originally possess the buddha-wisdom — the scriptural ground of the doctrine of nature-arising — the dharma part of the tenth simile: 「無一眾生而不具有如來智慧，但以妄想顛倒執著而不證得；若離妄想，一切智、自然智、無礙智則得現前。」 tr. “There is not one sentient being who is not fully furnished with the wisdom of the Tathāgata; it is only on account of deluded thought, inversion, and attachment that they fail to realize it; and if they part from deluded thought, then the wisdom of omniscience, spontaneous wisdom, and unobstructed wisdom become present before them.” 〔T10n0279 0272c05〕〔T10n0279 0272b〕 Chengguan opens three senses here, and judges the third outright to belong to the Huayan school alone:

「三彼因中之果智，即他佛之果智，以圓教宗自他因果無二體故。不爾，此說眾生有果，何名說佛智耶？斯則玄又玄矣。非華嚴宗，無有斯理。」 tr. “Third, the fruit-wisdom within their cause is precisely the fruit-wisdom of the buddhas, because in the tenet of the perfect teaching self and other, cause and fruit, are not two in substance. Were it not so, then in saying here that sentient beings have the fruit, how could it be called speaking of the buddha-wisdom? This then is profounder than the profound. Were it not the Huayan school, there would be no such principle.” 〔T35n1735 0880a19〕

The first sense breaks the view that there are those without the nature:

「此有三意：一明無一眾生不有，則知無性者非眾生數，謂草木等已過五性之見。」 tr. “Herein there are three senses. First, it makes clear that there is not one sentient being who does not have it, whence it is known that what has no nature is not counted among sentient beings — that is, grasses and trees and the like — and this has already passed beyond the view of the five natures.” 〔T35n1735 0880a13〕

The second sense makes clear that while still in bonds they already possess the fruit-dharma of being out of bonds: 「二者眾生在纏之因，已具出纏之果法，故云有如來智慧。非但有性，後方當成。亦非理先智後」 tr. “Second, the cause of sentient beings while still in bonds already fully possesses the fruit-dharma of being out of bonds, and so it says that they have the wisdom of the Tathāgata — not that they merely have the nature and will only afterward accomplish it, nor that principle comes first and wisdom after” 〔T35n1735 0880a15〕 Fazang too, on the same passage, uses this text to block the notion of sentient beings without the nature:

「既言無眾生身如來智不具足者，即知若有不具者，彼非眾生數，何得更有無性有情？」 tr. “Since it says that there is no body of a sentient being in which the wisdom of the Tathāgata is not fully present, it is thereby known that if there were any in which it is not present, they would not be counted among sentient beings — so how could there further be sentient beings without the nature?” 〔T35n1733 0411c14〕

(2) One mote of dust containing the great sūtra scroll — the scriptural ground of the small containing the large and the one possessing the many — 「此大經卷雖復量等大千世界，而全住在一微塵中；如一微塵，一切微塵皆亦如是。」 tr. “Though this great sūtra scroll is in measure equal to the great-thousand world-system, it abides entire within a single mote of dust; and as with this one mote of dust, so it is with all motes of dust.” 〔T10n0279 0272c15〕〔T10n0279 0272b〕 Chengguan explains the three senses of lying hidden in the dust: 「一妄覆真故、二小含大故、三一具多故。」 tr. “First, the deluded covering the true; second, the small containing the large; third, the one possessing the many.” 〔T35n1735 0880b07〕 — the latter two senses are precisely where the scriptural ground of the freedom of the broad and the narrow and of the mutual containment of one and many is tied.

(3) Cause and fruit interpenetrating — the practice of the bodhisattva is the nature of the Tathāgata — the ground of the name in the seventh simile: 「以究竟無休息故，不斷菩薩行故；菩薩行即如來性，如來性即菩薩行，是故得名為：無盡根。」 tr. “Because it is ultimately without rest, and because it does not cut off the practice of the bodhisattva; the practice of the bodhisattva is the nature of the Tathāgata, and the nature of the Tathāgata is the practice of the bodhisattva, and therefore it is given the name: Inexhaustible Root.” 〔T10n0279 0272a26〕〔T10n0279 0272a〕 Chengguan conjoins this and says: 「得果不捨因，故云不斷菩薩行，由此故得因果交徹展轉相生。」 tr. “Gaining the fruit he does not forsake the cause, and so it says that he does not cut off the practice of the bodhisattva; and by this, cause and fruit interpenetrate and bring each other forth in turn.” 〔T35n1735 0879c13〕

(4) The Buddha’s wisdom rests upon nothing and is what all rest upon — made clear by the first and sixth similes together: the Buddha’s wisdom 「為一切世間、出世間智所依，而如來智無所依」 tr. “is what all worldly and world-transcending wisdom rests upon, while the wisdom of the Tathāgata rests upon nothing” 〔T10n0279 0271a26〕, and 「一切皆依如來智起、如來智住」 tr. “all of it arises in dependence on the wisdom of the Tathāgata and abides in dependence on the wisdom of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0272a06〕〔0271c〕. Chengguan distinguishes its utmost: 「良以佛智照極，無有智外如為智所依，故智體全如。若有所依，不名如智。」 tr. “It is because the Buddha’s wisdom illuminates to the utmost that there is no suchness outside of wisdom for wisdom to rest upon, and therefore the substance of wisdom is wholly suchness. If it had something to rest upon, it would not be called the wisdom of suchness.” 〔T35n1735 0878c12〕 And again: 「況佛智外無法可得，以一切法即佛智故。」 tr. “How much more so since outside the Buddha’s wisdom no dharma can be obtained, because all dharmas are the Buddha’s wisdom.” 〔0878c16〕

(5) The twofold profundity of negating and affirming with respect to the mind — Chengguan’s passage settling the sense of the sūtra is the pivot of the doctrine of this sense:

「云何深玄？欲言其有，同如絕相；欲言其無，幽靈不竭。欲言其染，萬累斯亡；欲言其淨，不斷性惡。欲言其一，包含無外；欲言其異，一味難分。欲謂有情，無殊色性；欲謂無情，無幽不徹。口欲辯而辭喪、心將緣而慮亡，亦猶果分不可說故。」 tr. “How is it profound? Would you say it exists? It is the same as suchness, cut off from characteristics. Would you say it does not exist? The hidden spirit is not exhausted. Would you say it is defiled? The myriad encumbrances have perished. Would you say it is pure? It does not cut off the evil in the nature. Would you say it is one? It contains all with nothing outside. Would you say it is different? Being of one flavor, it is hard to divide. Would you call it sentient? It is no different from the nature of form. Would you call it insentient? There is no hidden thing it does not penetrate. The mouth would speak, and words are lost; the mind would take it as an object, and thinking perishes — just as the portion of the fruit cannot be spoken.” 〔T35n1735 0878b18〕

「是知佛心，即有即無、即事即理、即王即數、即一即多。心中非有意，亦非不有意，意中非有心，亦非不有心。」 tr. “Thus it is known that the Buddha’s mind is at once existent and non-existent, at once phenomena and principle, at once the king of the mind and the mental factors, at once one and many. Within the mind there is no mentation, nor is it that there is no mentation; within mentation there is no mind, nor is it that there is no mind.” 〔T35n1735 0878b24〕

(6) The format of lodging in wisdom to display the mind — Chengguan explains why the ten similes all figure wisdom and yet conclude as characteristics of the mind:

「既心不可以智知，且託智以稱歎。智是心所，尚以十喻明玄，則所依之心玄又玄矣，故十喻之末皆結為心之相。」 tr. “Since the mind cannot be known by way of wisdom, he lodges his praise in wisdom for the time being. Wisdom is a mental factor, and if even it takes ten similes to make its profundity clear, then the mind it rests upon is profounder than the profound; therefore the end of each of the ten similes concludes with a characteristic of the mind.” 〔T35n1735 0878c01〕

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

Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735 (following the eighty-fascicle text phrase by phrase · principal)

Three explanations of old on the section of the general statement — Chengguan first records the three explanations of his predecessors, then objects to each in turn, and afterwards sets out his own reconciliation.

The first (there is a pure part of mind and mental factors):

「一云：識等有二，一染、二淨，佛地無彼有漏染心心所，而有淨分心及心所，果位之中智強識劣，故於王上以顯染無，約彼智所以明無量。若必無王，所依何立？」 tr. “One says: consciousness and the rest are twofold, first defiled and second pure. On the ground of buddhahood there is no defiled mind and mental factors subject to outflows, but there is the pure part of mind and its mental factors. In the position of the fruit, wisdom is strong and consciousness weak, and so with respect to the king of the mind it displays the absence of the defiled, while with respect to that wisdom it makes clear the measureless. If the king of the mind necessarily were not there, upon what would what rests on it be established?” 〔T35n1735 0878a12〕

The evidence cited is the third fascicle of the Cheng weishi lun, citing the Sūtra of the Adornment of the Merits of the Tathāgata: 「如來無垢識，是淨無漏界，解脫一切障，圓鏡智相應。」 tr. “The undefiled consciousness of the Tathāgata is the pure realm without outflows, liberated from every obstruction and conjoined with the mirror-like wisdom.” 〔T35n1735 0878a17〕

The second (because there is no accumulating or deliberating, it is said to be unobtainable):

「一云：以無積集思量等義故，說心等叵得。就無分別智以顯無量，非無心體故。」 tr. “One says: because there is no meaning of accumulating or of deliberating and the like, it is said that mind and the rest cannot be obtained. It is with respect to non-discriminating wisdom that the measureless is displayed; it is not that there is no substance of mind.” 〔T35n1735 0878a19〕

The evidence cited is the eighth fascicle of the She dacheng lun: 「無分別智所依，非心非思義故。亦非非心為所依止，心種類故。以心為因，數習勢力引得此位，名心種類。」 tr. “What non-discriminating wisdom rests upon is neither mind nor of the nature of thinking. Nor again is what it rests upon non-mind, because it is of the kind of mind. Taking mind as cause, by the force of repeated cultivation this position is drawn forth, and this is called being of the kind of mind.” 〔T35n1735 0878a21〕

The third (on the fruition of buddhahood there truly is no mind, mentation, or mental consciousness):

「一云：佛果實無心意意識及餘心法，云不可得。唯有大智，故言智無量故知如來心。」 tr. “One says: on the fruition of buddhahood there truly is no mind, mentation, mental consciousness, or other mental factor, and so it says they cannot be obtained. There is only great wisdom, and so it says that because wisdom is measureless one knows the mind of the Tathāgata.” 〔T35n1735 0878a24〕

The evidence cited is the Sūtra of Golden Light and Paramārtha’s She dacheng lun: 「唯如如及如如智獨存佛地。」 tr. “Only suchness and the wisdom of suchness stand alone on the ground of buddhahood.” 〔T35n1735 0878a27〕

Chengguan’s own explanation — first the objections, then the reconciliation: 「上之二宗遍取皆妨，若依前有，未免增益，亦不能通不可得言……若依後義，未免損減，亦不能通知佛心言。」 tr. “To take up either of the two tenets above throughout is in each case an obstruction: if one follows the former, the existent, one does not escape adding something, nor can one make sense of the words ‘cannot be obtained’ … and if one follows the latter sense, one does not escape subtracting something, nor can one make sense of the words ‘knowing the Buddha’s mind.’” 〔T35n1735 0878a29〕 He then sets out his own method:

「今釋此義，先會前二宗、後消經意。」 tr. “Now in explaining this sense, I shall first reconcile the two foregoing tenets and afterward settle the sense of the sūtra.” 〔T35n1735 0878b09〕

「若後宗言唯如智者，以心即同真性，故曰唯如。照用不失，故曰如智。豈離心外而別有如？是則唯如，不乖於有。前宗以純如之體，故有淨心。心既是如，有之何失？是知即真之有與即有之真二義相成，有無無礙。」 tr. “As for the latter tenet’s saying ‘only suchness and the wisdom of suchness’: since the mind is itself the same as the true nature, it is said to be only suchness; and since the function of illuminating is not lost, it is said to be the wisdom of suchness. How could there be a suchness standing apart outside the mind? Thus ‘only suchness’ does not conflict with the existent. The former tenet, taking it as a substance of pure suchness, therefore has a pure mind. Since the mind is itself suchness, what harm is there in its being there? Thus it is known that the being that is itself the true, and the true that is itself the being, are two senses that bring each other about, and being and non-being are without obstruction.” 〔T35n1735 0878b10〕

The two explanations, ancient and later, matching the four jewels of the fourth simile to the four wisdoms — the ancient explanation (the masters of the Yanying line):

「衍英諸公皆云：初證道智斷惑障，二助道智斷智障，三不住道智捨於報障，上三自利；四利益眾生智，即利他行。此釋亦無大過。」 tr. “The masters of the Yanying line all say: the first is the wisdom of the path of realization, which cuts off the obstruction of the afflictions; the second the wisdom of the auxiliary path, which cuts off the obstruction to knowledge; the third the wisdom of the non-abiding path, which discards the obstruction of retribution — these three being for one’s own benefit; and the fourth, the wisdom of benefiting sentient beings, is the practice of benefiting others. This explanation too is without great fault.” 〔T35n1735 0878c29〕

Chengguan further sets up an explanation of his own, gathering them under the four wisdoms of awakening in the dharma-characteristics line:

「今更一解：若直就文，文自明顯。今以法相收之，即四智菩提：一大圓鏡智。以離諸分別，名無染著。所緣行相微細難知，不忘不愚一切境相，名巧方便。二即平等性智。觀一切法若為無為，自他平等，名善分別。三即妙觀察智。此智善觀諸法自相共相無礙而轉，故說無量法而不壞法性。」 tr. “Now one further explanation: if one goes straight by the text, the text is clear of itself. Now gathering it under the dharma-characteristics, it is the four wisdoms of awakening. First, the great mirror-like wisdom: because it is free of all discrimination, it is named unstained; and since the aspect of its object is subtle and hard to know, and it neither forgets nor is confused about any characteristic of any object, it is named skilled in means. Second, the wisdom of the equality of nature: it contemplates all dharmas, whether conditioned or unconditioned, as equal for self and other, and is named discriminating well. Third, the wisdom of marvelous contemplation: this wisdom contemplates well the own-characteristics and shared characteristics of dharmas and moves unobstructed, and so it expounds measureless dharmas without spoiling the nature of dharmas.” 〔T35n1735 0879a04〕

「四即成所作智。知機知時，作所應作故。」 tr. “Fourth, the wisdom of accomplishing what is to be done: because it knows the occasion and knows the time, and does what is to be done.” 〔T35n1735 0879a12〕

Chengguan again matches the four virtues separately to the four wisdoms, and at the end marks for himself that this is a separate matching and not a fixed one: 「此約別配。今以四智圓融故，四德亦該四寶。況四智乃十中之一，則永異餘宗。」 tr. “This is a matching taken separately. Now since the four wisdoms are perfectly interfused, the four virtues too run through all four jewels. How much more so since the four wisdoms are but one among ten, which differs forever from the other tenets.” 〔T35n1735 0879a23〕

The two explanations, ancient and later, matching the four wisdoms of the fifth simile to the four kinds of samādhi — the ancient worthies made a fixed matching, and Chengguan remarks upon its order:

「然此四智，古德有配四種三昧，初是大乘光明三昧智、二是集福德王、三是賢護、四是首楞嚴。此釋配定，理則可爾；案次乖理，以第三名智光普照故。若將初為三、以三為初，乃順文理。」 tr. “Now as for these four wisdoms, the ancient worthies matched them to four kinds of samādhi: the first is the wisdom of the samādhi of the light of the Great Vehicle, the second the King Who Gathers Merit, the third Worthy Protection, the fourth Śūraṃgama. This explanation makes a fixed matching, and in principle it may be so; but in following the order it goes against the principle, because the third is named the light of wisdom shining everywhere. If one took the first as the third and the third as the first, it would then accord with the text and the principle.” 〔T35n1735 0879b07〕

Chengguan further sets up an explanation of his own with a lengthwise matching to the several positions, marking for himself that it is not fixed: 「且約相顯為此豎配，不可遍局。」 tr. “For the present, with respect to what the characteristics display, I make this lengthwise matching; it is not to be applied throughout without exception.” 〔T35n1735 0879b23〕 And within the simile he distinguishes the sayings of the outer texts: 「此為極教了說，而《起世》、《婆沙》等說阿毘地獄在下，火氣上吞銷鑠海水，蓋是少分方便之說。」 tr. “This is the ultimate teaching stated definitively, whereas the Qishi and the Vibhāṣā and the rest say that the Avīci hell lies below and that its fiery vapor swallows upward and melts away the water of the ocean — which is a partial statement made as an expedient.” 〔T35n1735 0879a29〕

The warning on the selecting out of the places that are not, in the seventh simile — Chengguan first makes clear why they are selected out, and afterward why they are gathered in:

「後收言無厭捨者，上據現惡闕緣，令生厭怖，直進一乘，故除二處；而同有佛性，久久當成，故不厭捨。」 tr. “As for the later gathering in, where it says there is no aversion or forsaking: above, on the basis of present evil and lacking conditions, it is to make people give rise to aversion and dread and go straight on into the One Vehicle, and therefore the two places are excluded; yet they equally have the buddha-nature and will in the long course accomplish it, and therefore there is no aversion or forsaking.” 〔T35n1735 0879c21〕

The evidence cited: the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, 「一闡提人雖復斷善，猶有佛性。若能發心，非闡提也。」 tr. “Though the icchantika has cut off the good, he still has the buddha-nature. If he can raise the mind, he is no icchantika.” 〔T35n1735 0879c25〕 and the Lotus Sūtra, 「決了聲聞法，餘諸聲聞眾，亦當復如是。」 tr. “Having resolved the dharma of the śrāvakas, the rest of the host of śrāvakas shall likewise be so.” 〔T35n1735 0879c26〕 At the end he warns those who come after:

「有引向所揀證無佛性及定性義，不觀次後不捨之言，況第十喻平等共有。減損佛性，恐毀謗一乘。願諸後學當誡慎之，莫滯權說。」 tr. “Some cite what was selected out above to prove that there is no buddha-nature and to prove the sense of fixed natures, without looking at the words of not forsaking that follow immediately, still less at the tenth simile’s equal possession in common. This subtracts from the buddha-nature, and it is to be feared it slanders the One Vehicle. May all who come after take warning and be careful of this, and not be stuck in a provisional teaching.” 〔T35n1735 0879c28〕

The resolving of a doubt on the tenth simile — the doubter raises a difficulty from the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, 「佛性者名為智慧」 tr. “the buddha-nature is named wisdom”: when there is wisdom there are no afflictions, so if they now have the buddha-wisdom, how could they be sentient beings? Chengguan explains both directly and from the reverse:

「釋中，先順答前義，謂倒故不證，豈得言無？如壯士迷於額珠，豈謂膚中無寶？」 tr. “In the explanation, first he answers directly according to the foregoing sense: it is on account of inversion that they do not realize it — how then can one say it is not there? It is like a strong man deluded about the jewel in his forehead: shall we say there is no jewel beneath the skin?” 〔T35n1735 0880a25〕

「是以《涅槃》恐不修行，故云『言定有者則為執著』；恐不信有，故云『若言定無則為妄語』。乍可執著，不可妄語。」 tr. “Therefore the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, for fear that people will not cultivate, says, ‘to say that it definitely exists is to be attached’; and for fear that they will not believe it exists, says, ‘to say that it definitely does not exist is to speak falsely.’ Better to be attached than to speak falsely.” 〔T35n1735 0880a29〕

He further adduces the nine similes of the Tathāgatagarbha and other sūtras as collateral evidence:

「然《如來藏》等經說有九種喻喻如來藏，為如青蓮華在泥水中，未出泥水人無貴者。又如貧女而懷聖胎，如大價寶垢衣所纏，如摩尼珠落在深廁，如真金像弊衣所覆，如菴羅樹華實未成，亦如稻米在糠糩中，如金在鑛如像在模，皆是塵中有佛身義，與此大同也。」 tr. “Now the Tathāgatagarbha and other sūtras set out nine kinds of simile figuring the Tathāgata-womb: as a blue lotus in muddy water, which while it has not yet emerged from the mud and water no one prizes; and as a poor woman bearing a holy embryo; as a jewel of great price wrapped in a filthy garment; as a maṇi jewel fallen into a deep privy; as a true golden image covered by a worn-out garment; as a mango tree whose flower and fruit are not yet formed; and as a rice grain within the husk; as gold within the ore and as an image within the mould — all being the sense of there being a buddha-body within the dust, much the same as this.” 〔T35n1735 0880b14〕

Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (commentary on the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka · explanation by the fourfold classification of the teachings)

Fazang too, in the section of the general statement, records that 「釋有多義」 tr. “the explanations have several senses,” and matches each one to a classification of the teachings — the most important divergent interpretation of the ancient worthies on this sense:

The initial teaching:

「一云：理實佛地有淨八識，但云智者，就強勝說。論云『如來無垢識，圓鏡智相應故也。』言智無量故心亦無量者，約數例王，舉能依顯所依，《佛地論》等具明此義。當知此約初教辨。」 tr. “One says: in truth on the ground of buddhahood there are the eight pure consciousnesses; that it says only wisdom is said with respect to what is strong and superior. The treatise says, ‘the undefiled consciousness of the Tathāgata is conjoined with the mirror-like wisdom.’ As for saying that because wisdom is measureless the mind too is measureless, this takes the mental factors as an instance of the king of the mind, raising what rests upon in order to display what is rested upon; the Buddhabhūmi treatise and the rest make this sense fully clear. Know that this is treated with respect to the initial teaching.” 〔T35n1733 0410b27〕

The final teaching:

「一云：理實佛地唯是大智，不說八識及餘心法。經云『佛無心意識』等，論云『唯如如及如如智獨存，餘一切皆絕』等，并此經文及《攝論》等，同顯此義。當知此約終教而說。」 tr. “One says: in truth on the ground of buddhahood there is only great wisdom, and no eight consciousnesses or other mental factors are spoken of. A sūtra says, ‘the Buddha has no mind, mentation, or consciousness,’ and the rest; a treatise says, ‘only suchness and the wisdom of suchness stand alone, and all the rest is cut off,’ and the rest; and together with the text of this sūtra and the She dacheng lun and the rest, they display this same sense. Know that this is said with respect to the final teaching.” 〔T35n1733 0410c02〕

The sudden teaching:

「一云：佛地大智，內同真性，以照即寂故。〈十藏品〉中『如來大智不生不滅』等者，是此義。當知此約頓教說。」 tr. “One says: the great wisdom on the ground of buddhahood is inwardly the same as the true nature, since illuminating is itself quiescent. In the Chapter on the Ten Treasuries, ‘the great wisdom of the Tathāgata neither arises nor ceases,’ and the rest, is this sense. Know that this is said with respect to the sudden teaching.” 〔T35n1733 0410c06〕

The perfect teaching:

「一云：佛地大智，即理即智、即王即數，或開或合，以前三說不相離故、無障無礙具十智故。當知此就圓教說耳。」 tr. “One says: the great wisdom on the ground of buddhahood is at once principle and wisdom, at once the king of the mind and the mental factors, now unfolded and now folded together, because the three foregoing explanations are not apart from one another, and because without hindrance and without obstruction it possesses the ten wisdoms. Know that this is said with respect to the perfect teaching.” 〔T35n1733 0410c08〕

In the general statement Fazang also first settles the substance of the dharma: 「言心意識非即如來者，此辨定法體。謂此文中欲明佛心，然佛心等竝轉依成智，是故就智歎佛意業，故云但知智無量等也。此文意明佛無心意，但是智故。」 tr. “As for saying that mind, mentation, and consciousness are not the Tathāgata: this settles the substance of the dharma. That is to say, in this text it is wished to make clear the Buddha’s mind; but the Buddha’s mind and the rest have all turned about their basis and become wisdom, and therefore it is with respect to wisdom that the Buddha’s mental action is praised, and so it says that one only knows that wisdom is measureless, and the rest. The intent of this text is to make clear that the Buddha has no mind or mentation, but is only wisdom.” 〔T35n1733 0410b19〕

The explanation of the first simile (in the Tanxuan ji, one explanation plus three further explanations) — under 「無所依」 tr. “rests upon nothing” Fazang sets up four explanations in succession: because the position is full there is nothing further to rest upon · the wisdom of the cause rests upon the fruit, and the wisdom of the fruit rests upon nothing · worldly wisdom is the applied practice and the wisdom that leaves the world is the subsequently attained, both resting upon the root wisdom, while the root wisdom rests upon nothing; and he further poses himself the question 「何故不言依真如耶？」 tr. “why does it not say that it rests upon suchness?” 〔T35n1733 0410c17〕 and explains it: 「依是悕求義，證真圓滿，更無趣求，故名無依。」 tr. “Resting has the sense of seeking after; when the realization of the true is complete, there is nothing further to move toward or seek, and so it is named resting upon nothing.” 〔T35n1733 0410c18〕 And again: 「智性自離故，更無所依。」 tr. “Because the nature of wisdom is of itself free, there is nothing further it rests upon.” 〔T35n1733 0410c19〕

Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739

An outline section dedicated to this sense is not found (throughout the work, the more than ten hits for 「如來出現品」 tr. “the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata” are all scattered clauses cited as evidence in other chapters; no independent outline text explaining the fourth sense is to be seen) — recorded as lacking, in accordance with the facts, and not supplied from texts elsewhere.

Recorded Without Adjudication

On the one sentence of the general statement, 「心意識俱不可得」 tr. “mind, mentation, and consciousness are all unobtainable,” there were three explanations of old (there is a pure part of mind and mental factors · because there is no accumulating or deliberating they cannot be obtained · on the fruition of buddhahood there truly is no mind, mentation, or mental consciousness); Chengguan objects that each is one-sided and sets up 「即真之有與即有之真二義相成」 tr. “the being that is itself the true, and the true that is itself the being, are two senses that bring each other about” 〔T35n1735 0878b13〕 to reconcile them; Fazang, on the other hand, does not reconcile but judges, assigning the three explanations to the initial, final, and sudden teachings respectively, and setting up separately the perfect teaching’s 「即理即智、即王即數」 tr. “at once principle and wisdom, at once the king of the mind and the mental factors” 〔T35n1733 0410c09〕 as the ultimate. On the matching of the four jewels of the fourth simile to the four wisdoms, the masters of the Yanying line match them to the three paths and the one benefiting of others, while Chengguan further matches them to the four wisdoms of awakening and marks for himself 「此約別配」 tr. “this is a matching taken separately.” On the matching of the four wisdoms of the fifth simile to the four kinds of samādhi, the ancient worthies had a matching, and Chengguan remarks that 「案次乖理」 tr. “in following the order it goes against the principle,” setting up instead a lengthwise matching, and again marking for himself 「不可遍局」 tr. “it is not to be applied throughout without exception.” On the tenth simile’s sentient beings originally possessing the buddha-wisdom, Chengguan opens three senses and comes home to 「非華嚴宗，無有斯理」 tr. “were it not the Huayan school, there would be no such principle” 〔T35n1735 0880a22〕, while Fazang takes it as blocking the notion of sentient beings without the nature. The tracks of the three houses — Chengguan’s track of reconciling · Fazang’s track of classifying the teachings · the Yanying masters’ track of matching the paths — are recorded here, without adjudicating which stands higher.

VII. Cross-Reading and Lineage

(1) The treatises of the Huayan school — Fazang’s Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang T45n1866 cites this chapter’s ‘the chapter on nature-arising speaks of ten minds’ in a general way, to establish the sense of the ten virtues of the One Vehicle; there are four instances in the whole work, all scattered citations that do not take up the ten similes of this sense phrase by phrase, and they are recorded here as follows:

「起心亦具十德。如性起品說。此等據別教言。」 tr. “The raising of the mind too possesses ten virtues. As the chapter on nature-arising says. These are spoken with respect to the distinct teaching.” 〔T45n1866 0485b11〕

「如性起品說。二成解行位。」 tr. “As the chapter on nature-arising says. Second, the accomplishing of the positions of understanding and practice.” 〔T45n1866 0489c06〕

「此二句如性起品說。此約一乘辯。」 tr. “These two clauses are as the chapter on nature-arising says. This is treated with respect to the One Vehicle.” 〔T45n1866 0498c10〕

「然一心亦具足十種德。如性起品中說十心義等者。即其事也」 tr. “Now a single mind too fully possesses ten kinds of virtue. As for what is said in the chapter on nature-arising about the sense of the ten minds and the rest — that is the very thing” 〔T45n1866 0507a11〕

What the four instances cite is the sense of ‘the chapter on nature-arising speaks of ten minds,’ not the ten similes of this sense phrase by phrase; and it is the text running from this sense’s 「如來心第一相」 tr. “the first characteristic of the mind of the Tathāgata” to 「第十相」 tr. “the tenth characteristic” that the ten minds are tied to, so that all four general citations are tied to this indirectly — recorded, without adjudicating whether what they point to is these ten characteristics.

(2) Cross-reading within the chapter — what the tenth simile establishes, 「無一眾生而不具有如來智慧」 tr. “there is not one sentient being who is not fully furnished with the wisdom of the Tathāgata” 〔T10n0279 0272c05〕, together with the ten rounds of simile in this chapter’s first sense, the marks of the appearance, the buddha-body pervading the Dharma realm made clear in the second sense, the body of the appearance, and the buddha-voice universally responding made clear in the third sense, the speech of the appearance, are all different gates of the one sense of nature-arising; Chengguan distinguishes the sixth simile from the first (「上但云依，猶通外依他力；今明體遍普容」 tr. “above it said only resting, which still allows of an outward resting on the power of another; now what is made clear is that the substance pervades and universally contains” 〔T35n1735 0879b25〕), and the tenth from the third (「以上言潛流，則似佛智遍他眾生；今顯眾生自有，故云遍耳」 tr. “above, in speaking of flowing hidden, it seemed as though the Buddha’s wisdom pervaded other sentient beings; now what is displayed is that sentient beings have it of themselves, and so it says pervading” 〔T35n1735 0880a12〕) — the sequence of the ten similes is the gradual deepening of the sense, not an array side by side.

(3) The collateral citations of the ancient worthies made by Chengguan — what is cited within the commentary on this sense: the Cheng weishi lun 〔0878a16〕 · the eighth fascicle of the She dacheng lun 〔0878a21〕 · Paramārtha’s She dacheng lun together with the Sūtra of Golden Light 〔0878a27〕 · the Vimalakīrti 〔0878c14〕 · the Mañjuśrī Prajñā 〔0878c15〕 · the Lotus, the bright jewel in the topknot 〔0879a15〕 · the Nirvāṇa, the secret words and the secret treasury 〔0879a17〕 · the words of Sengzhao 〔0879b27〕 · the Qishi and the Vibhāṣā 〔0879b01〕 · the Nirvāṇa, the icchantika 〔0879c25〕 · the Lotus, the resolving of the dharma of the śrāvakas 〔0879c26〕 · the Nirvāṇa, definitely existing and definitely not existing 〔0880a29〕 · the nine similes of the Tathāgatagarbha and other sūtras 〔0880b14〕. All are citations within Chengguan’s commentary, not apparatus separately established here.

(4) Not found —

• The Dasheng qixin lun T32n1666: searching for 「無處不至」 tr. “there is no place it does not reach” and 「性起」 tr. “nature-arising” throughout the work gives 0 hits (the Qixin lun does not use the term nature-arising) — not found.
• Chengguan’s Yanyi chao T36n1736: within this range no independent titled outline heading is to be seen (the subcommentary annotates the commentary phrase by phrase and does not match section for section) — no independent outline section found.
• Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739: an outline section dedicated to this section is not found.
• The Cheng weishi lun T31n1585 · the She dacheng lun T31n1594 · the Yuqie shidi lun T30n1579: searching for the terms of the ten similes (the four jewels · the king of medicine trees · the dust containing the sūtra scroll) gives 0 hits — not found (these ten similes are a teaching-form proper to Huayan alone, and are not gathered into the consciousness-only treatises).

VIII. Edition Location Register

• Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text): the fourth sense, the mind of the appearance, begins 〔T10n0279 0271a23〕 and ends 〔0273c06〕 (exclusive) (the end of fascicle 51 through the beginning of fascicle 52). The general statement 0271a23 · simile one, space, 0271a23 · simile two, the Dharma realm, 0271b · simile three, the ocean flowing hidden, 0271b · simile four, the four jewels, 0271b–c · simile five, the four blazing jewels, 0271c · simile six, space containing and receiving, 0271c · simile seven, the king of medicine trees, 0272a · simile eight, the kalpa fire, 0272a–b · simile nine, the two winds, 0272b · simile ten, the dust containing the sūtra scroll, 0272b–c · the conclusion 0273a · the twenty-two verses in repetition 0273a–b · the fascicle boundary 〔fascicle 52〕. The opening sentence verbatim: 「佛子！諸菩薩摩訶薩應云何知如來、應、正等覺心？」 tr. “Sons of the Buddha! How should the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas go about knowing the mind of the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Awakened One?” 〔T10n0279 0271a23〕; the closing sentence verbatim: 「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩應以如是等無量無礙不可思議廣大相，知如來、應、正等覺心。」 tr. “Sons of the Buddha! The bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should know the mind of the Tathāgata, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Awakened One, by way of vast characteristics such as these, measureless, unobstructed, and inconceivable.” 〔T10n0279 0273a04〕
• Buddhabhadra T278 (the principal witness for collation, the Jin translation): the third part of the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata, the thirty-second · the section of the ten surpassing practices, begins 〔T09n0278 0622b13〕 and ends 〔0625a14〕 (exclusive). The opening sentence 0622b13 · simile one 0622b15 · simile two 0622b19 · simile three 0622b25 · simile four 0622c04 (the names of the jewels 0622c06–08 · the names of the wisdom-jewels 0622c13–17) · simile five 0622c22 (the names of the jewels 0622c24–26 · what is transformed 0622c28–0623a03 · the names of the wisdom-jewels 0623a05–07) · simile six 0623a19 · the end of the verses in repetition 0624b12–0625a13.
• Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735: the commentary on this sense begins 〔0878a07〕 and ends 〔0880c08〕 (exclusive) (the end of fascicle 49 through the beginning of fascicle 50; the fascicle titles are seen at 0880c02 · 0880c05 · 0880c07). The outline text 0878a07 · the explanation of the general statement 0878a10 · the three explanations of old 0878a12 · 0878a19 · 0878a24 · the reconciliation 0878b09 · the passage on profundity 0878b18 · lodging in wisdom to display the mind 0878c01 · the standard set for the ten similes 0878c06 · simile one 0878c08 · simile two 0878c17 · simile three 0878c21 · simile four 0878c25 (the Yanying masters 0878c29 · the four wisdoms 0879a04–0879a12 · the separate matching 0879a23) · simile five 0879a25 (the outer texts 0879a29 · the four samādhis 0879b07) · simile six 0879b24 (Sengzhao 0879b27) · simile seven 0879b29 (cause and fruit interpenetrating 0879c13 · the gathering in and the selecting out 0879c21 · the Nirvāṇa 0879c25 · the Lotus 0879c26 · the warning 0879c28) · simile eight 0880a02 · simile nine 0880a04 · simile ten 0880a09 (knowing the pervading 0880a10 · the three senses 0880a13 · the tenet of the perfect teaching 0880a19 · the resolving of the doubt 0880a25 · the Nirvāṇa on definitely existing and definitely not existing 0880a29 · spontaneous wisdom and unobstructed wisdom 0880b02 · the great sūtra scroll 0880b05 · the three senses of lying hidden in the dust 0880b06 · the nine similes of the Tathāgatagarbha 0880b14) · the summation of the ten similes 0880b21 · the outline of the verses 0880b27.
• The Yanyi chao T36n1736: within this range no independent titled outline heading is to be seen (no phrase-by-phrase matching).
• Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (the commentary on the sixty): the Chapter on the Nature-Arising of the Jewel-King Tathāgata, the thirty-second, is outlined from 0405a06; this sense begins 〔0410b16〕 and ends 〔0412a04〕 (exclusive). The outline text 0410b16 · the settling of the substance of the dharma 0410b19 · the initial teaching 0410b27 · the final teaching 0410c02 · the sudden teaching 0410c06 · the perfect teaching 0410c08 · the standard set for the ten similes 0410c11 · simile one 0410c12 (the question and answer on resting upon suchness 0410c17 · 0410c19) · simile two 0410c20 · the tenth simile, the cause possessing the fruit, 0411c14 · the explanation of the three wisdoms 0411c19 · the outline of the simile in five 0411c20 · the outline of the conjoining in six 0411c22 · the summation 0411c29 · the outline of the verses 0411c29 · the close 0412a04.
• Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739: an outline section dedicated to this sense is not found.
• The Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang T45n1866: four general citations, 0485b11 · 0489c06 · 0498c10 · 0507a11.
• Variant readings: within the range of T279 covered by this unit, 〔0271a23〕–〔0273c05〕, the Taishō base text carries 3 collation notes, recorded one by one without adjudication (base reading 【大】｜variant readings of other witnesses, several witnesses separated by ／): 〔0271c16〕習【大】｜集【宮】 · 〔0272b03〕葉【大】｜棄【聖】 · 〔0272c21〕大經【大】｜經卷【明】（明註曰經卷宋南藏作大經）.
• Supplementary note on variant readings: the interlinear notes were stripped and recorded at the level of the original-text layer.