華嚴經 品三十九 入法界品 · 海幢比丘（寄正心住）Avataṃsaka Sūtra · Entering the Dharma Realm · The Monk Ocean Banner (Assigned to the Abode of the Rectified Mind)

When Sudhana Arrived, This Good Friend Did Not Open His Mouth

With the previous five good friends, Sudhana could ask when he arrived and could obtain an answer. By the time he came to the sixth, the monk Ocean Banner, the case had changed: when Sudhana arrived, the man was already within concentration—“entered within samādhi, apart from the breathing out and in, without any separate thought or awareness, his body settled and unmoving.” There was no asking to be done, and he could only stand and look. For how long? Six months and six days more.

A misunderstanding has to be set aside: this is not that Sudhana had bad luck and came at a bad time. Of the three thousand nine hundred characters of this whole section, more than half write out just this ‘looking’—what he saw was that at fourteen places upon the body in concentration measureless assemblies came forth, and throughout the Dharma realm they did their work. That is to say, the way this good friend confers the Dharma is to let a man look at his concentration. When Chengguan outlines this section he marks this point out by itself, saying that this stretch is “slightly different from what has come before, in that one sees at once the substance and function of his entering concentration”—what is unlike the several before is that Sudhana first sees the substance and function and only afterward asks the name.

Brought down to the ground: in reading this section, if one only waits to read the dialogue, one will feel that the first two thousand words and more are preparation. In fact they are the main text.

Holding in Mind the Teaching of the Previous Good Friend: Why He Must Keep Holding It in Mind upon the Road

This section does not begin with walking; it begins with holding in mind. Sudhana “with a single mind rightly held in mind that elder's teaching, observed that elder's teaching,” and then eleven sentences of “that inconceivable”—the gate of liberation, the light of wisdom, the gate of the Dharma realm, the gate of universal entering, the spiritual transformation of the Tathāgatas, the universal entering into the Buddha-fields, the adornment of the powers of the Buddhas, the division and station of the objective realm of samādhi and liberation, the ultimate absence of obstruction among the differing worlds, the firm and deep mind, and the pure work of great vows.

These eleven sentences are not one and the same sentence told eleven times. Each carries a verb of its own, and the verbs themselves make a sequence: first he “holds in mind” the gate of liberation, which is to keep what has been gained; next he “ponders” the light of wisdom, which is to turn upon what has been kept; next he “enters deeply” into the gate of the Dharma realm and “turns toward” the gate of universal entering, which is to enter by pondering and to turn by entering; next he “sees clearly” the spiritual transformations of the Tathāgatas, “understands” the universal entering into the Buddha-fields, and “distinguishes” the adornment of the powers of the Buddhas, where what is seen grows wider and its differences grow finer; next he “ponders” again the division and station of the objective realm of samādhi and liberation and “fully reaches” the ultimate absence of obstruction among the differing worlds, which is to mark off stations and absence of obstruction within that width; and last he “cultivates” the firm and deep mind and “gives rise to” the pure work of great vows, where understanding comes down into practice and vow. What is held in mind is throughout the Dharma of the previous good friend, and yet the holding in mind has its own shallow and deep—this is the sequence a mind ought to have upon the road.

Why hold it in mind in this way? Because what the previous Elder Liberation showed was an objective realm of the “inconceivable”; an inconceivable objective realm cannot be understood on the spot by listening, but only by being carried the whole way along. Fazang outlines this stretch very finely, saying “in the holding in mind, the first two sentences are the general; the ten below are the particulars,” and he judges their order to be the wisdom that enters, the principle that is realized, the virtue that is gathered, and the function that is aroused, then four sentences of fully knowing the ocean of fields, and the last two sentences of receiving and holding the practice of vows.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that study by visiting is a changing of the subject at each station. The sequence of the sūtra text is precisely the reverse—what was gained at the previous station is the provision for walking to the next. Brought down to the ground: what one holds in mind upon that stretch of road after leaving a good friend decides what one will be able to see when one reaches the next.

The Mark of Seeing Him in Concentration: The Side of the Walking Ground Is a Place of Movement

When Sudhana found the man, he saw him “seated cross-legged at the side of the walking ground.” The walking ground is a place for walking about, and yet he sat there in concentration, unmoving. Chengguan set down two layers of turning words upon just this sentence, saying “further, the side of the walking ground is a place of movement. That he has extinguished thought and awareness signifies that it is at once movement and stillness. And that it says ‘the side’ is that he does not abide in walking.”

Within one sentence there are two senses: to sit in a place of movement and be still is to be at once moving and still; to sit at the ‘side’ and not upon the path is not to abide in walking. Put together, this is the doctrine that this good friend would show—that stillness and function are not two stretches of time. Li Tongxuan reads this sentence in the same direction and his words are more direct, saying “it signifies that stillness and function are sovereign; since the walking ground is function and samādhi is stillness, it signifies that upon function there is stillness.”

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that entering concentration is to put the world down for a stretch of time. If it were so, then sitting in a quiet room would be right—why sit at the edge of the walking path? Brought down to the ground: to examine one's own stillness, one need not look at how long one sits; look at whether it can be parted from that road one walks upon.

Which Kind of Concentration Is This: Chengguan Takes Two Readings Together

“Apart from the breathing out and in, without any separate thought or awareness” is the description of the mark of concentration; then what concentration is this? Chengguan sets down no sole judgment, but takes two readings together. One is the concentration of the cessation of feeling and perception—he says “one is the concentration of the cessation of feeling and perception, that is, without any separate thought or awareness, the seven evolving consciousnesses already stilled, the eighth consciousness alone sustaining the body, and because of the power of the vow of the preparatory practice before the concentration, it causes the many workings to arise from the body in concentration”; the other is the fourth dhyāna—“the second is the fourth dhyāna, because the arousing of function mostly relies upon it,” the reason being that in the fourth dhyāna there is no breathing out and in and no thought or examination, and that the arousing of function mostly relies upon this concentration.

Now the concentration of extinction ought not of itself to arouse function, and just here Chengguan cites a scripture as evidence, saying that the Jingming says “not rising from the concentration of extinction and yet manifesting the many bearings,” and judges “this is precisely it.” And he adds a layer of gloss upon the round teaching: “if it be within the round teaching, because it fuses and gathers the Dharma realm sovereign and unobstructed, its working is without a fixed quarter and has never given rise to a thought.”

Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle text, judges the substance of the concentration by first setting up the substance—“his body is settled and unmoving, his mind still and without awareness; the seven evolving consciousnesses are already stilled, and the eighth alone sustains the body”—and yet he does not stop there, but goes on to make clear by two senses whence the workings come: first, by the power of the vow in the preparatory practice before the concentration, which “causes the many workings of karma to arise upon the body in concentration”; second, that if it be within the round teaching, the fusing and gathering in of the Dharma realm being sovereign and unobstructed, “the workings are without fixed direction and yet no thought has ever arisen.” Chengguan takes two readings together, while Fazang first sets up the substance of the concentration and after that makes clear its workings: each house keeps its own track.

Brought down to the ground: this stretch is the key to the whole section. The fourteen places from which assemblies come forth below look like a display of spiritual powers, but in fact they are playing out one matter—that where stillness is utter, function does not wait to be aroused.

The General Mark of the Assemblies Coming Forth from Fourteen Places: From Below Upward, Growing Ever More Surpassing

From here on the sūtra text has fourteen stretches, thirteen of them beginning with “from his” such and such a place, and the one stretch of the svastika mark beginning with “from the breast.” Chengguan judges these fourteen stretches in general, saying “in the first, in all there are fourteen places whose workings are not the same. Stated in terms of the general mark, from below upward they grow gradually more surpassing. In the particular, each signifies something different.”

This one judgment gives two measuring rods. One is the rod of the general mark: the soles of the feet, the two knees, the waist … on to the head and the crown, which is the body from below upward; and the assemblies that come forth likewise rise from the worthy men of the world up to the body of a Tathāgata, the two orders answering to each other. The other is the rod of the particular mark: each place has its own sense taken from it, and one sense may not be run through them all.

As to the number, the three houses differ. Fazang likewise counts fourteen, his words reading “in all there are fourteen gates,” and he judges the sense of the first place to be “making clear that at the beginning of cultivation giving is taken for the head”; Zhiyan makes it fifteen places, saying “the light of the body has fifteen places, and the transforming of those Tathāgatas is upon the crown alone.” The difference between fourteen and fifteen does not lie in the sūtra text having more or less, but in the differing ways of dividing the places—it is recorded, and which is right is not judged.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that these fourteen stretches are one and the same matter repeated fourteen times, so that reading one stretch lets one infer the rest. If it were so, Chengguan would not have needed to set down a gloss at each place. Brought down to the ground: in reading these fourteen stretches, two things must be seen at once—where it stands high or low within the whole sequence, and the sense taken from that one place of its own.

From the Soles of the Feet Come Elders · Householders · Brahmins: The Head of the Myriad Practices

The first place is the soles of the feet; what comes forth are elders, householders, and brahmins; what is done is the raining of jewels to rescue the poor and the comforting of the suffering and afflicted. Why the feet? Chengguan gives two senses, saying “the foot has two senses: one, that it is the very first, and it mostly displays the practice of giving, being the head of the myriad practices; two, the sense of walking and abiding, the elder being the elder of walking, the householder obtaining a place to dwell securely, the brahmin being pure in practice, and the accomplishing of awakening being the practice of benefit.”

The first sense is the very first in order of place—of the fourteen places the foot is the head, and so the practice manifested there is likewise the head of the myriad practices, which is giving. The second sense takes the senses of ‘walking’ and ‘abiding’—the elder is the elder among those who walk, the householder obtains a place to abide, and the brahmin is one of pure practice.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that giving stands first because it is the easiest. What is rained down in this stretch of the sūtra text is not wealth and goods only; the last sentence is “to accomplish the path of unsurpassed awakening”—giving in the end is a drawing of men toward the path. Brought down to the ground: if giving does not run through toward the path, it is only half of the first sense.

From the Two Knees Come Kṣatriyas · Brahmins: Bending and Stretching at Will, and Therefore Kindly Speech and Shared Work

The second place is the two knees; what come forth are kṣatriyas and brahmins; what is done is “with kindly speech and with shared work they gathered beings in,” and below it are listed the poor caused to be filled, the sick caused to be healed, those in danger caused to be secure, those in fear caused to be stilled, and those who have grief and suffering all caused to be happy.

Chengguan glosses the sense taken from the knee, saying “the lord of the land and the fields bends and stretches at will. Walking proceeds from the knee, and so pure practice comes forth. It follows next upon the two gatherings before, and so it tells of kindly speech and shared work.” Three layers: the kṣatriya is the lord of the land and the fields, taking the knee's bending and stretching at will; walking is set going by the knee, and so the pure practice of the brahmin comes forth; and the words “it follows next upon the two gatherings before” carry on from the two gatherings already told at the soles of the feet—for at the soles Chengguan has said both “it chiefly displays the practice of giving” and “accomplishing awakening is the practice of benefit,” so that giving and the practice of benefit are both already there at the feet—and so what is told here are the remaining two, kindly speech and shared work.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that gathering beings in is the giving of things. Of the five matters listed in this stretch—poverty, sickness, danger, fear, grief and suffering—only the first is wealth; the other four require that a person be present. Brought down to the ground: the difference between kindly speech and shared work is that the former requires that the right thing be said, and the latter that a person be at one's side.

From the Waist Come Seers: The Place of Breathing Out the Old and Drawing In the New

The third place is the waist; what come forth are “measureless seers equal in number to beings,” some wearing garments of grass and some garments of bark, all of them holding washing-pitchers, and in the open sky they praise the Tathāgatas and expound the dharmas.

Chengguan glosses the waist, saying “third, that from the waist come forth seers: the waist is below the wheel of the navel and between the sea of breath, and it is the place of breathing out the old and drawing in the new, the place from which seers come forth,” and he records its Sanskrit name: “the Sanskrit text says Nabimantuoluo, which here is the wheel of the navel.” The sense taken lies in this, that the waist is the place where the breath is regulated, and that the way of the seers takes the regulating of the breath for its root.

It is to be noticed that the Dharma told in this stretch has four layers: pure brahmacarya, that the dharmas are without intrinsic nature, the rules of the world's discourse, and the essential skillful means by which the knowledge of all-knowledge comes forth and away. The form and appearance of a seer is upon the outside, and yet the Dharma told goes straight to the absence of intrinsic nature and to the knowledge of all-knowledge. Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that to manifest the appearance of one outside the way is to be able to tell only the dharma of those outside the way. Brought down to the ground: the appearance is manifested according with what suits the occasion, and the Dharma is still one's own.

From the Two Sides Come Dragons and Dragon Maidens: The Place of What Is Born Sideways

The fourth place is the two sides; what come forth are inconceivable dragons and inconceivable dragon maidens; what is done is the raining of fourteen kinds of clouds as adornment and offering. Chengguan glosses here most briefly, in one sentence only: “fourth, that from the sides come forth dragons is because they are born sideways.” The sides are at the side of the body, and the dragon is of the kind born sideways, and so the sense of the side is taken.

Li Tongxuan takes another sense, saying “it signifies that the two sides have the sense of covering and sheltering. From within them come forth dragons, because they rain down and moisten beings”—the sides are a covering and sheltering, and the dragon is able to send down rain, and so the sense of moistening is taken. The two glosses each have their own track.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that this stretch is only a laying out of adorned appearances. Of the fourteen kinds of clouds rained down, the last are “clouds of the bodies of gods” and “clouds of serving women,” and yet the whole comes down upon “made offering within the places of awakening of the Buddhas, causing all beings to give rise to joy.” Brought down to the ground: the adorned appearance here is not enjoyed by oneself; it is two matters—offering to the Buddhas, and causing beings to rejoice.

From the Svastika Mark upon the Breast Come Asura Kings: The Place Where Pride and Arrogance Are Born and Extinguished

The fifth place is the svastika mark upon the breast; what come forth are asura kings; what is done is the manifesting of sovereign powers of illusion, the shaking of a hundred worlds, the crushing and subduing of the hosts of Māra, and the causing of beings to cast off pride and arrogance, to take away anger and harming, and to break the mountain of the afflictions.

Chengguan glosses this place, saying “fifth, that from the mark of virtue upon the breast asuras come forth: the breast is the place where pride and arrogance and the art of illusion can be born and can be extinguished; and further, it makes clear that the mark of virtue is able to subdue the Māras.” Two senses: the breast is the place from which pride and arrogance and illusion arise and by which they are likewise put down, and so there come forth the asuras, who are renowned for pride and arrogance and illusion; and the svastika being the Buddha's mark of virtue, the mark of virtue is able to subdue the Māras. Li Tongxuan takes a slightly different sense, saying “the breast has the sense of valor, and the svastika has the sense of coolness.”

The awakening in the latter half is set out by the sūtra text in ten sentences, and they are one line running upward: first “causing them to extinguish and take away offenses and evils,” which takes away the evil already done; next “causing them to dread birth-and-death” and “causing them to come forth and away from the destinies of birth,” which is to give rise to weariness with the three realms; next “causing them to be far from defilement and clinging,” which is not to stick to objective realms; and at “causing them to abide securely in the mind of unsurpassed awakening” it turns into the Great Vehicle; below this, “causing them to cultivate all the practices of the bodhisattvas,” “causing them to abide securely in all the pāramitās,” and “causing them to enter all the grounds of the bodhisattvas” are three layers rising—practice, perfection, ground; and last “causing them to observe all the subtle and wondrous dharma gates” and “causing them to fully know the skillful means of all the Buddhas” pass from practice into understanding and from understanding into the skillful means of a Buddha. Awakening is done by the power of illusion, and what is opened up is these ten sentences—illusion is only the place of entry, not the place of abiding.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that to manifest the appearance of an asura is to master evil by evil. What is done in this stretch of the sūtra text is plainly in two halves: the former half shakes and crushes and subdues, and the latter half “again with the power of illusion awakened beings.” Brought down to the ground: what is done by the power of illusion comes down at the last upon “causing them to abide in the mind of unsurpassed awakening”—the means may be illusion, but what it is aimed at may not be.

From the Back Come Śrāvakas · Pratyekabuddhas: Because They Turn Their Backs on the Great Vehicle

The sixth place is the back; what come forth are śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, with the reason plainly marked—“for the sake of those who ought to be delivered by the two vehicles.” Chengguan glosses this place in four words only: “sixth, that from the back come forth the two vehicles is because they turn their backs on the Great Vehicle.” The back is behind the body, and the two vehicles turn their backs on the Great Vehicle, and so the sense of the back is taken. Li Tongxuan is of the same direction and his words are more extended, saying “it signifies that the back is the quarter in which one turns one's back upon beings.”

The teaching of this stretch lies in its eight counteractings: for those who cling to a self it tells that there is no self; for those who cling to permanence it tells impermanence; for those in whom the conduct of greed is heavy it tells the contemplation of impurity; for those in whom the conduct of hatred is heavy it tells the contemplation of the mind of kindness; for those in whom the conduct of delusion is heavy it tells the contemplation of dependent origination; for those in whom the conducts are in equal portion it tells the dharma of the objective realm that answers to wisdom; for those who love and cling to objective realms it tells the dharma in which there is nothing at all; and for those who love and cling to places of quiet stillness it tells the dharma of giving rise to great vows and universally benefiting all beings.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that “turning the back on the Great Vehicle” is a disparagement. The sūtra text says plainly that this comes forth “for the sake of those who ought to be delivered by the two vehicles”—the capacity to be governed is here, and so the appearance that comes forth is here. Brought down to the ground: the last two sentences are especially to be looked at—for those who love and cling to places of quiet stillness, what is told is the giving rise to great vows; even the craving for stillness is a sickness to be counteracted.

From the Two Shoulders Come Yakṣas · Rākṣasa Kings: Dreadful, and Bearing a Burden

The seventh place is the two shoulders; what come forth are yakṣas and rākṣasa kings, dreadful in form and appearance, and yet what is done is guarding—guarding the beings who practice goodness, and the worthies and sages and the assemblies of bodhisattvas, or appearing as vajra-holding spirits guarding the Buddhas and the places where the Buddhas dwell.

Chengguan glosses the two senses of the shoulder, saying “seventh, that from the shoulders come forth yakṣas and the rest: the shoulder is the place of dreadful and valiant strength; and further, it is the place that bears a burden, and so the work is guarding.” The dreadfulness is stated in terms of appearance, and the bearing of a burden in terms of function; the dreadful appearance is matched to the dreadful assembly, and the function of bearing a burden is matched to the work of guarding.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that a dreadful appearance goes against the work of guarding the Dharma. This stretch of the sūtra text lists “those who had fear, they caused to obtain peace and security”—the one who manifests the dreadful appearance is precisely the one who makes men unafraid. Brought down to the ground: the last sentence of this stretch is “cast off the wheel of birth-and-death and turn the wheel of the right Dharma”; guarding does not stop at keeping men safe—it must turn upon the wheel of the Dharma.

From the Belly Come Kiṃnara · Gandharva Kings: The Place of the Drumming Belly and the Sounding String

The eighth place is the belly; what come forth are kiṃnara kings and gandharva kings together with their women; what is done is the playing of heavenly music and the singing of praise. Chengguan glosses the belly, saying “eighth, that from the belly come forth kiṃnaras and the rest is because it is the place of the drumming belly and the sounding string and of music”—taking the belly to be the place where sound is sent forth and the breath drummed up, and so the spirits of music come forth.

What is sung in this stretch is seven matters, and what is opened up and expounded is seven gates, fourteen sentences in all. The seven of the singing: the real nature of the dharmas, all the Buddhas, giving rise to the mind of awakening, cultivating the practice of a bodhisattva, the gate of accomplishing right awakening, the gate of turning the wheel of the Dharma, and the gate of manifesting spiritual transformation. The seven of the opening up and expounding: the gate of parinirvāṇa, the gate of guarding the teaching of the Buddhas, the gate of causing beings to rejoice, the gate of adorning and purifying the fields of the Buddhas, the gate of displaying the subtle and wondrous dharmas, the gate of casting off obstructions, and the gate of bringing forth roots of goodness.

These fourteen sentences do not stop at a list of names. In the seven of “singing in praise,” what is sung is first “the real nature of the dharmas,” next “all the Buddhas” who realize it, next “giving rise to the mind of awakening” and “cultivating the practice of a bodhisattva,” which belong to the causal ground, and the last three sing three matters of a Buddha—the gate of accomplishing right awakening, the gate of turning the wheel of the Dharma, the gate of manifesting spiritual transformation: from the Dharma to the person, from the cause to the fruit, from the fruit to its function. In the seven of “opening up and expounding,” it begins from the Buddha's “gate of parinirvāṇa,” and next “the gate of guarding the teaching of all the Buddhas”—the passing of the Dharma and the abiding of the Dharma; next “the gate of causing all beings to rejoice” and “the gate of adorning and purifying all the fields of the Buddhas,” two matters, beings and fields; next “the gate of displaying all the subtle and wondrous dharmas,” which is the Dharma told; and last “the gate of casting off and leaving all obstructions” and “the gate of bringing forth all roots of goodness,” one taking away and one giving rise, both coming down upon beings. What is sung is the objective realm praised, and what is told is the gate to be practiced—singing gathers in their delight and desire, telling confers upon them the dharma gate.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that music is fit for praising only and not for telling the Dharma. The sūtra text here sets “singing in praise” and “opening up and expounding” side by side in one and the same stretch. Brought down to the ground: praising and telling the Dharma are here two faces of one matter, the former gathering in their delight and desire, the latter conferring upon them the dharma gate.

From the Face-Gate Come Wheel-Turning Sage Kings: Spreading the Ten Good Deeds to Turn Men Toward the Buddha-Dharma

The ninth place is the face-gate; what come forth are wheel-turning sage kings, complete in the seven jewels and surrounded by the four kinds of army. Chengguan glosses this place, saying “ninth, that from the face-gate come forth wheel-turning kings is because they spread the ten good deeds and turn men toward the Buddha-dharma,” and the Yanyi chao rehearses this saying, “as for the commentary's ‘because they spread the ten good deeds and turn men toward the Buddha-dharma,’ the sūtra text furnishes it of itself, and searching it finely one may know it.”

What is called the sūtra text furnishing it of itself is that the items of the ten good deeds are set out one by one in the sūtra text: cutting off the taking of what is not given, cutting off wrong sexual conduct, not cutting off life (not killing), always speaking words that are real (not lying), not practicing division (no double-tongued speech), being without coarseness or harshness (no harsh speech), not making ornamented speech (no idle talk), and below this the taking away of greed and love, the taking away of anger, and the drawing out of the thorn of wrong views—the three of body, the four of speech, and the three of mind, the ten branches complete.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that the wheel-turning king's practice of the ten good deeds is the governing of the world. Chengguan's judgment has a second half—“to turn men toward the Buddha-dharma.” Brought down to the ground: the ten good deeds here do not stop at the good recompense of men and of gods; they are a stair into the Buddha-dharma.

From the Two Eyes Come Sun-Orbs: The Eye Is Equal to the Sun's Shining

The tenth place is the two eyes; what come forth are sun-orbs; what is done is the shining upon the hells and the evil destinies to make them leave suffering, the shining upon the spaces between the worlds to take away darkness, and the shining upon the beings of the ten directions to make them cast off the film of delusion. Chengguan glosses it most briefly: “tenth, that from the eyes come forth sun-orbs is because the eye is equal to the sun's shining.” The eye and the sun are alike able to shine, and so the sense of their equality is taken.

What is most worth beholding in this stretch is its latter half—upon filthy and turbid lands pure light is sent forth, upon lands of white silver light of the color of yellow gold, upon lands of yellow gold light of the color of white silver, and so with lapis lazuli and crystal, tridacna and agate, Indra-blue and the maṇi king Sun Treasury, red pearl and the maṇi king Moonlight Net Treasury, each pair sending forth to the other; and it closes with “upon lands made of one jewel they sent forth light of the colors of every sort of jewel, and upon lands made of every sort of jewel they sent forth light of the color of one jewel.”

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that the light must follow the substance it rests upon. The sūtra text here sends it forth crosswise on purpose, and this is precisely to display that what is shone upon does not follow what it rests upon. Brought down to the ground: the last sentence, in which one and many send forth to each other, is where this stretch truly comes down.

From the White Hair Between the Brows Come Śakras: The Most Honored and Surpassing among Those Who Dwell upon the Ground

The eleventh place is the mark of the white hair between the brows; what come forth are Śakras, all of them sovereign over objective realms. Chengguan glosses this place with three senses, saying “eleventh, that from between the brows come forth Śakras is because among those who dwell upon the ground he is the most honored and surpassing; because the wisdom of the Middle Way transforms beings; and because it causes them to leave the five desires and to obtain the pure Dharma.” Between the brows lies in the middle of the two eyes, and so the Middle Way is taken; Śakra is the lord of the gods who dwell upon the ground, and so the most honored and surpassing is taken.

What is done in this stretch falls into two parts: first the six powers—praising the power of merit, proclaiming the power of wisdom, giving rise to their power of delight, upholding their power of aspiration, purifying their power of mindfulness, and making firm the power of the mind of awakening they had given rise to; and after that the three praisings and three causings—praising the delight of seeing the Buddha and causing them to take away the desires of the world, praising the delight of hearing the Dharma and causing them to weary of the objective realms of the world, and praising the delight of contemplating knowledge and causing them to cut off the defilements of the world.

After the three praisings and three causings, the sūtra text sets out six further acts, the last stretch of what is done at this place: “stilled the wars of the asuras” stills strife without, “cut off the quarrels and strife of the afflictions” cuts off strife within; “extinguished the mind that fears death” takes away their dread, “gave rise to the vow to subdue the Māras” raises their vow; “raised up the Sumeru mountain king of the right Dharma” builds the Dharma high, “brought to completion all the work of beings” completes what beings need. The six acts pair two by two—within and without, taking away and raising up, Dharma and beings. The six powers before are the powers given, and these six acts are the work done: powers first, and then work.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that what the lord of the gods transforms still lies within heavenly pleasure. What the three praisings of the sūtra text counteract are precisely the three matters of desire, objective realm, and defilement. Brought down to the ground: the sense taken in this stretch lies in the four words “the wisdom of the Middle Way”—the white hair lies between the two eyes, and that is precisely the sign of not falling to either side.

From the Forehead Come Brahmās: The Place of Bowing the Brow and Requesting the Dharma

The twelfth place is the forehead; what come forth are Brahmās, upright and adorned in color and mark, quiet and still in bearing, beautiful and wondrous in word and sound; what is done is “exhorting the Buddhas to tell the Dharma and praising the merits of the Buddhas.” Chengguan glosses the two senses of the forehead, saying “twelfth, that from the forehead come forth Brahmā kings is because the Brahmā king passes beyond desire and so stands next above the brows; and further, because it is the place of bowing the brow and requesting the Dharma.”

The first sense is a sense of order in place—the Brahmās pass beyond the realm of desire, and so their place stands above that of Śakra between the brows, the lord of the gods who dwell upon the ground. The second sense is a sense taken from the appearance—the forehead is the place that bows and knocks upon the ground, and the very work of the Brahmās is to request the Buddhas to tell the Dharma.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that this stretch is the shortest and therefore the lightest. What is manifested at this one place the sūtra text lists as four—exhorting the Buddhas to tell the Dharma, praising the merits of the Buddhas, causing the bodhisattvas all to rejoice, and being able to bring to completion the measureless work of beings—and the requesting of the Dharma stands first among them. And that the Buddha-dharma should abide in the world hangs precisely upon there being someone who requests. Brought down to the ground: of the fourteen places this one alone has ‘requesting’ for its work, and it is a place in the whole stretch that cannot be dispensed with.

From the Head Come Assemblies of Bodhisattvas: Telling the Practice of the Ten Perfections

The thirteenth place is the head; what come forth are assemblies of bodhisattvas as many as the dust motes of measureless Buddha-fields, sending forth boundless light and telling every sort of practice. Chengguan glosses it, saying “thirteenth, that from the head come forth bodhisattvas is because it is the highest and the head. The telling of the practice of the ten perfections is displayed and may be known.” The head is the highest and the head of the body, and so bodhisattvas come forth; and what is told he judges to be the practice of the ten perfections.

Those that the sūtra text marks with their names of itself are six: praising giving, extolling and praising the merit of keeping the precepts, telling the power of patience, praising the practice of vigor, praising the pāramitā of dhyāna, and expounding the prajñā-pāramitā. The four stretches of the sūtra text after these do not bring out the names of the perfections, and yet the marks of the matters are plain—expounding the every sort of work that accords with the world; manifesting spiritual powers and transformations and telling of sovereignty over the span of life so as to make them give rise to great vows; expounding the four powers; and expounding the four knowledges.

Though the last four stretches do not bring out the names of the perfections, the marks of their matters may not be passed over. The first expounds the every sort of work that accords with the world, causing beings, “though they leave birth-and-death behind, to be able to take birth sovereignly within the destinies of birth.” The second manifests spiritual powers and transformations and proclaims sovereignty over the span of life, causing them to give rise to great vows. The third expounds the four powers and the fourth expounds the four knowledges, and the sūtra text brings each of them out by name: the four powers are “the accomplishing of the power of holding-entire,” “the bringing forth of the power of great vows,” “the purifying and governing of the power of samādhi,” and “the power of sovereign birth”; the four knowledges are “the knowledge that universally understands the faculties of beings,” “the knowledge that universally understands all mind-conduct,” “the knowledge that universally understands the ten powers of the Tathāgatas,” and “the knowledge that universally understands the sovereignty of the Buddhas.” The powers are stated in terms of what one can do, the knowledges in terms of what one knows; the four powers and the four knowledges are each a perfection of its own, and the forty-fascicle text sets out the pāramitā of power and the pāramitā of knowledge separately.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that when the six perfections have been told the matter is done. The end of this stretch is the four knowledges, and the end of the four knowledges is “the knowledge that universally understands the sovereignty of the Buddhas.” Brought down to the ground: the practice of the ten perfections closes with knowledge, and if the first nine perfections do not arrive at knowledge, they are still upon the road.

From the Crown of the Head Comes the Body of a Tathāgata: Honored to the Utmost and Unsurpassed

The fourteenth place is the crown; what comes forth is the body of a Tathāgata, “those bodies had no equal, the marks and the accompanying signs pure and adorned,” raining down the rain of Dharma everywhere for all the worlds. Chengguan glosses it in a sense of five words only: “fourteenth, that from the crown comes forth a Buddha is because it is honored to the utmost and unsurpassed.” The crown is the utmost of the body, and so what comes forth is a Buddha.

Chengguan judges the text of this one stretch to be threefold, saying “within the text there are three: first, the general display of the marks of the body and speech that come forth; next, from ‘that is to say’ onward, the separate setting out of the different rains of Dharma; and after that, from ‘in this way’ onward, one sentence gathering it up in general.” The general mark is the two matters of body and speech—the body being blazing in majestic light, and the speech sending forth a wondrous voice filling the Dharma realm; the particular mark is the thirty-two kinds of the rain of Dharma below; and it closes with the one sentence “the work done in this way filled the Dharma realm.”

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that because the fourteen places reach their highest here, this is the hardest to understand. In fact this stretch has the clearest sequence—the general of body and speech, the particular of the rain of Dharma, and the one sentence that closes, three parts plainly set. Brought down to the ground: in reading this stretch, first divide the three parts and then read the thirty-two particulars, and one will not be drowned by the number.

The Thirty-Two Kinds of the Rain of Dharma: The First Twelve for Bodhisattvas, and Ten among Them Are the Ten Abodes

Upon the separate setting out of the rains of Dharma from the body of the Buddha that comes forth from the crown, Chengguan reckons their number and judges to whom they belong, saying “within the separate setting out of the rains of Dharma, in all there are thirty-two kinds; the first twelve rains of Dharma are for bodhisattvas, and the rest are for the mixed classes.” The first and the last of the first twelve each belong somewhere of their own: the first, universal knowing and equality, Chengguan judges to obtain the three equalities and so to “turn into wondrous awakening”; and of the last he says “the twelfth is the bodhisattvas of the ten faiths.”

Of the ten in the middle Chengguan plainly marks their stage, saying “second, from ‘the rain of Dharma of the universal gate’ onward, the ten rains of Dharma are the ten abodes,” and he glosses the reason for it—“because within the stages of the round teaching, when the stage of the ten abodes is full one becomes a Buddha, and before this there is no separate stage. This is stated in terms of a stage gathering in the stages, which, apart from the One Vehicle school, none of the others states.” And he says as well that these ten are all an exhorting to study and to advance in what surpasses: “the ten dharmas already abide in one's own portion, and so it exhorts them to advance in what surpasses.”

For the first twelve Chengguan attaches a sense to each, and not one is passed over. The first is the universal knowing and equality for the bodhisattvas at the place of awakening, of which he says it “has in brief three equalities”—initial awakening the same as original, equality with the Buddhas, and beings and the Buddha of one nature—and obtaining these three equalities one “turns into wondrous awakening.” The ten in the middle are the ten abodes, counted backward and upward station by station, and every sentence exhorts to advance in what surpasses: the entering of the universal gate for the station of consecration is “the ten kinds of knowledge, equality with the three times and the rest,” and it “exhorts the Buddhas' consecration and causes them to advance in cultivation”; the universal adornment for the station of the prince of the Dharma King is “causing them universally to study the skillful means of the Dharma King and the rest, for the sake of adornment”; the firm mountain for the station of the youth is “causing them to study the knowing of fields and the shaking of fields and the rest, none of which can be broken, for it stands highest”; the ocean treasury for the station of non-retrogression is “causing them to study the ten kinds of vast and deep dharmas—telling that one is many, telling that many are one, and the rest—and so it is named the ocean treasury”; the universal objective realm for the station of accomplishing the rectified mind is “causing them to study that all dharmas are markless and without substance and the rest; since all are so, it is named the universal objective realm”; the gate of self-nature for the station of skillful means fully endowed is “knowing that beings are boundless, on to knowing that beings are without self-nature—all of this is the gate of self-nature”; the according with the world for the station of noble birth is “because the fully knowing of the Dharma of the Buddhas of the three times, complete, is all an according with the world”; the universal compassion and pity for the station of cultivation is “because the observing everywhere of the realm of beings and the rest is for the sake of compassion and pity”; the treasury that gathers and accumulates for those newly in study is “because reciting and studying, much hearing, emptiness and quiet and stillness, drawing near to good friends and the rest are all for the gathering and holding of the practice of the Dharma,” and the reason for the name ‘newly in study’ is that they are “first governing the ground of the mind”; and the gathering in of beings for those who have first given rise to the mind is “causing them diligently to make offering to the Buddhas and to lead the world, for the gathering in of beings.” The last, the inexhaustible objective realm appearing everywhere for faith and understanding, Chengguan judges to be “the bodhisattvas of the ten faiths,” its sense being “causing them universally to take as object the inexhaustible objective realm of the Tathāgata and of Samantabhadra and to give rise to the mind of faith, because it appears before them distinctly and they advance and enter the stage.” The first belongs to wondrous awakening, the last to the ten faiths, and the ten in the middle fall precisely upon the ten abodes—such is the bone of the first twelve of the thirty-two rains of Dharma.

What is to be looked at is the order of these ten sentences: the station of consecration, the station of the prince of the Dharma King, the station of the youth, the station of non-retrogression, the station of accomplishing the rectified mind, the station of skillful means fully endowed, the station of noble birth, the station of cultivation, those newly in study, and those who have first given rise to the mind—counted backward from above downward. And as for that to which Ocean Banner himself is assigned, Chengguan outlines it as “the sixth, Ocean Banner, assigned to the abode of the rectified mind,” which falls precisely upon the sentence “the station of accomplishing the rectified mind” among them.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that the rain of Dharma coming down according with the stage is a giving to each of his own. Chengguan says it plainly: these ten dharmas are all an “exhorting to study” and an “advancing in what surpasses”—they are not a comforting of the stage already reached, but an urging upward. Brought down to the ground: the stage here is not a record of seniority; it is the starting point from which one is exhorted.

The Latter Twenty Rains of Dharma Are for the Mixed Classes: Each Class Has What It Counteracts

The latter twenty rains of Dharma are universally for the mixed classes of men and gods, and Chengguan glosses one by one what each counteracts; all twenty have their gloss, and not one is passed over. The universal gate for the beings of the form realm is “in general, for the beings of the form realm, the casting off of the outer and abiding in the inner, causing them to obtain mind and objective realm unobstructed”; the universal treasury for the Brahmās is “it speaks in particular of the first dhyāna: because by long habit they have much kindness, and yet incline toward their own retinue, it now makes their kindness universal, and the merit it holds is without end”; the bringing forth of power for the Sovereign gods is “that is, the gods of Delight in Others' Emanations turn worldly sovereignty into the sovereignty of the ten powers”; the banner of the mind for the hosts of Māra is “from within the gods of Delight in Others' Emanations the hosts of Māra are set apart: the Māra loves to crush others and to raise himself high, and it now makes him obtain the Dharma banner of the mind of kindness, crushing his own false arrogance”; pure mindfulness for the gods of Delight in Emanations is “following their mindfulness they delight in emanations, which only defiles their own minds, and so it turns them to pure mindfulness”; the bringing forth of intent for the gods of Tuṣita is “though they are content within worldly pleasure, it is fitting that the intent to come forth from the world arise”; joy for the gods of Yāma is “worldly pleasure calls itself glad from time to time, and does not reach the gladness of the joy of the Dharma”; the swift adorning of the realm of open space for the gods of the Thirty-Three is “they are the utmost of those who dwell upon the ground, and they envy the dwellers in space as surpassing, and yet this does not reach the adorning of the emptiness of the nature of dharmas by merit and knowledge”; joy for the yakṣas is “the yakṣa is by nature much given to violence and harm, and so it makes him joyful toward what holds life”; the vajra wheel for the gandharvas is “because they are skilled at playing the sounds of music, and even śrāvakas of high virtue are crushed by it, it now makes them obtain the vajra knowledge, which crushes all and leaves nothing unfulfilled”; the great objective realm for the asuras is “they rely upon their great bodies and give rise to arrogance, and it makes them see the dharma-body, answering to the objective realm of the Dharma realm”; boundless light for the garuḍas is “with pure eyes they watch the sea, minded to swallow the dragons, and it makes them shine everywhere upon what stirs them with the knowing light of kindly eyes”; the surpassing knowledge of all the worlds for the kiṃnaras is “following their skill in song, it makes them obtain the surpassing worldly knowledge that is at once emptiness and passes through existence”; the taking of no delight for the human kings is “the human king clings to pleasure, and so it counteracts that in particular”; the banner of joy for the dragons is “the dragon has much anger and venom, and so joy is told for him,” and further “there is the dread of burning sand and the rest, and the banner of the Dharma is told as able to crush it”; great rest for the mahoragas is “the python has much venom and harm, and is besides gnawed by worms without rest, and so it tells of the inner resting of the venomous mind and the outward resting of suffering”; the adornment of right mindfulness for the beings of the hells is “their bodies feel boundless suffering and their minds hold boundless evil, and if right mindfulness of the Three Jewels be their adornment, then all at once they are freed from the many sufferings”; the treasury of wisdom for the animals is “because animals have much delusion”; fearlessness for the beings of the realm of King Yama is “the demon-officers of Yama dread one another, and even the body of the king has the dread of hot iron and molten copper and the rest”; and universal comforting for those in places of distress and hardship is “that is to say, the eight difficult conditions, and among men those held bound in prison and the like, who are for the most part not at peace, and so it comforts them everywhere and causes them all to obtain entrance into the assemblies of the worthies and sages, overturning that place of hardship.”

Within the twenty sentences there are two places that Chengguan marks off in particular. The one is that the joy for the yakṣas and the joy for the gods of Yāma share a name and differ in sense, of which he says “this states joy in terms of counteracting, while the gods of Yāma before were stated in terms of what suits them”—the one is set up against a sickness, the other given according to what is fitting. The other is that the banner of joy for the dragons holds two matters together: the joy answers to their anger and venom, and the banner answers to their dread of the burning sand; within one name both senses stand.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that to counteract is to press down. Look at Chengguan's one sentence upon the hosts of Māra—it is not to strip away his power of crushing others; it is to “make him obtain the Dharma banner of the mind of kindness,” still a banner, still able to crush, and what is crushed is changed into his own false arrogance. Brought down to the ground: the dharma that counteracts is mostly a turning of direction, not a cutting off.

The Nets of Light from the Pores: One Sentence Gathering Up the Fourteen Places Before

When the fourteen places have been told, the sūtra text gathers them up in one sentence: the monk Ocean Banner again, from all the pores upon his body, sends forth from each and every one of them nets of light as many as the dust motes of asaṃkhyeya Buddha-fields, and each and every net of light is possessed of asaṃkhyeya colors and marks, adornments, objective realms, and works. Chengguan here only judges its place and does not gloss its marks, saying “second, the general display of the working of the light of the pores, which may be known. Thus far the seeing of the marks and function of the concentration is done.”

Why must there be this one sentence? The fourteen places before are “the separate making clear that the workings of the parts of the body differ by place,” and place differs from place; this one sentence is the “general display,” which no longer divides by place. Li Tongxuan reads this sentence and takes its sense to lie in pervading, saying “it signifies that the whole body is entirely the wondrous wisdom of the prajñā-pāramitā of the Dharma realm, the liberation unobstructed in the three emptinesses, and that the light by which beings are taught is layer upon layer without end.”

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that this sentence is only a courteous closing. Each of the fourteen places before has a sense taken from it, and so each has its bound and limit; this sentence takes the pores for its measure, and then there is no place that does not send forth and no place that is not the same. Brought down to the ground: the particular mark displays the differences of what suits the occasion, and the general mark displays that there is no place that is not it.

What Sudhana Looked At: The Ten Sentences of Gazing with Reverence and Entering by Realization

What Sudhana looked at was not a spectacle. From the sūtra text's “with a single mind observed the monk Ocean Banner, and there arose in him a deep thirsting and longing” onward there are nine sentences of pondering, which with the sentence before make ten. Chengguan judges their inner divisions very finely, saying “the first sentence is the pondering of the person and the realizing of the Dharma realm of persons; the remaining sentences are the pondering of the Dharma and the realizing of the Dharma realm of dharmas,” and among the remaining nine he divides again: “the first one sentence is general, that is, samādhi is the substance and liberation is the function, substance and function being made clear together. The second separately ponders that substance. The next two sentences separately ponder that function, the one being the wide and many benefiting of beings, the other being the thoughtless universal pervading, which is at once function and stillness. The next two sentences ponder the causes of the substance and function before, the one being that the inner knowledge is pure, the other being that the outer condition sustains. The last three sentences ponder his advance in what surpasses.”

By this judgment the order of what Sudhana ponders is: first he ponders the person; next he ponders substance and function in general; next he ponders the substance separately; next he ponders two kinds of function (the ocean of skillful means for benefiting beings being the wide and many, and the gate of universal adornment without any making being the thoughtless universal pervading); next he ponders two kinds of cause (the pure knowledge that adorns the Dharma realm being the inner, and the knowledge that receives the sustaining of the Buddhas being the outer); and last he ponders three kinds of advance (the power of sovereignty, the power of great vows, and the power of the many practices).

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that to look at a good friend is to admire him. Of these ten sentences not one is an exclamation; every sentence is an analysis—what the substance is, how many kinds the function has, whether the cause lies within or without, and toward what the advance goes. Brought down to the ground: true gazing with reverence has a structure, and only when the structure can be seen is it called entering by realization.

Six Months and Six Days: Why This Number

Sudhana stood in this way and passed one day and one night, seven days and seven nights, half a month, one month, and on to six months, and passed six days more. Chengguan attaches this number to a stage and to a perfection, saying “as for six months and six days: because within the sixth abode he fulfills the sixth perfection, and because the savor of the Dharma nourishes the spirit, body and mind are wholly forgotten and he does not feel that the time is long”—six months signifying the sixth abode and six days the sixth perfection, and the reason he does not feel the time long being “because the savor of the Dharma nourishes the spirit.”

Li Tongxuan matches them stretch by stretch, and what he matches differs from Chengguan: one day and one night makes clear the pāramitā of giving; seven days and seven nights make clear the precepts of the seven branches; half a month makes clear the pāramitā of patience (“to make clear that patience benefits oneself only and does not benefit others, half a month signifies it”); one month makes clear vigor (“to make clear that vigor benefits both oneself and others”); six months are the sixth abode; and the passing of six days more is the sixth pāramitā. The two statements both stand, each having its own track.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that this is written to show that Sudhana had patience. What the sūtra text lists is an increasing order—one day, seven days, half a month, one month, six months, six days; it is a sequence, not a measure of long and short. Brought down to the ground: to stand and look for six months and six days more and yet have “body and mind wholly forgotten” rests not upon patience but upon the savor of the Dharma.

The Ten Sentences of General Praise After the Coming Out of Concentration

Ocean Banner came out of the samādhi, and only then did Sudhana open his mouth. The first stretch is ten sentences of general praise, every sentence beginning with “such a samādhi as this”: the most deep, the most vast, a measureless objective realm, a spiritual power hard to fathom, a light without equal, numberless adornments, a majestic power hard to master, an equal objective realm, shining everywhere upon the ten directions, and benefit without limit.

Chengguan judges the structure of this stretch, saying “first the praising, and after that the asking. In the first, it divides into two: first the marking of the praise of its depth and surpassingness, and after that, from ‘because it is able to extinguish and take away’ onward, the setting out of the grounds of the praise.” The ten sentences are the marking, and the twenty sentences below them are the grounds.

Zhiyan counts the praising of this stretch as eleven sentences, saying “the first eleven sentences praise the virtue of the concentration,” and only below that comes the praising of its working; Chengguan makes it ten, and takes what follows from “because it is able to extinguish and take away” as the grounds. The difference between ten and eleven lies in where the sentences are cut, and each house keeps its own division.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that praise is a word of courtesy. Every one of these ten sentences points at a stretch that Sudhana has just seen with his own eyes—the measureless objective realm answers to the fourteen places, the shining everywhere upon the ten directions answers to the sun-orbs and the rain of Dharma, and the majestic power hard to master answers to the shaking and crushing and subduing of the asuras. Brought down to the ground: praise must come out of what is seen, not out of what is heard; when praise will not come out, it is that one has not yet seen.

The Twenty Sentences of the Grounds of the Praise: From Leaving the Suffering of Poverty to Abiding in the Knowledge of All-Knowledge

After the ten sentences of general praise, the sūtra text leads with “that is to say” into twenty sentences of grounds, all closing with “because.” Their order runs from the coarse to the fine: leaving the suffering of poverty, coming forth from the hells, being spared from the animals, shutting the gates of the many distresses, opening the paths of men and of gods, making men and gods glad, making them love and delight in the objective realms of dhyāna, making the pleasures of the conditioned increase, displaying the pleasure of coming forth from the three kinds of existence, drawing forth the mind of awakening, making the practice of merit and knowledge increase, making the mind of great compassion increase, making the power of great vows arise, making the path of a bodhisattva clear, making the ultimate knowledge adorned, turning toward and entering the objective realm of the Great Vehicle, understanding and illumining the practice of Samantabhadra, realizing the light of the wisdom of the grounds of the bodhisattvas, accomplishing the practice of all the vows of the bodhisattvas, and abiding securely within the objective realm of the knowledge of all-knowledge.

Upon two of these sentences Chengguan sets down a particular note, saying “as for the sentence within it that says ‘it is able to make the pleasures of the conditioned increase,’ it is because he does not cast off the conditioned. ‘The pleasure of coming forth from existence’ is because he is not defiled by existence. Further, the sentence above is for the ordinary man, and the sentence next to it is for the two vehicles. Below it says ‘drawing forth awakening,’ which is for the great vessel.” Three sentences, three capacities, divided most clearly.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that “making the pleasures of the conditioned increase” is not of definitive meaning and ought to be passed over. Chengguan says it plainly: what this sentence attaches to is “he does not cast off the conditioned”—and with the sentence below it, “he is not defiled by existence,” it makes a pair. Brought down to the ground: these twenty sentences are one complete stair, and one may not begin reading from the middle.

The Three Names of the Samādhi: Set Up upon Knowledge · Taking Objective Realm and Knowledge Together · Fusing Both

Sudhana asked the name, and Ocean Banner answered with three names: Universal Eye Relinquishing and Obtaining, Prajñā-pāramitā Objective Realm Pure Light, and Universal Adornment Pure Gate. Chengguan judges that the three names each rest upon something of their own, saying “that there are three names: the first is set up upon knowledge, the next takes objective realm and knowledge together, and the last is named by fusing objective realm and knowledge together.”

The gloss upon the first name: “because the knowledge of wisdom shines upon all dharmas it is named universal eye, and because in all there is nothing obtained it is said relinquishing and obtaining.” Chengguan glosses these two words, relinquishing and obtaining, precisely by there being nothing obtained, saying “if there were something obtained, one could not be at once still and functioning; since there is nothing obtained, there is nothing not obtained.” Below this he further sets out a gloss of the men of old—“of old it was said: that there is no obstruction not stilled is called relinquishing, and that there is no principle not realized is called obtaining”—and himself sets down a judgment upon it: “it is not that this principle is absent, but that it has not reached the profound.” The old gloss is not without its reason; it has only not arrived at the profound. Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle text, makes a separate gloss of the same two words, saying “that there is no obstruction not exhausted is said to be relinquishing, and that there is no principle not realized is named obtaining.” Three statements stand together—Chengguan's own sense, the gloss of the men of old, and Fazang's separate gloss—and the express judgment is set down upon the statement of the men of old alone. The second name names objective realm and knowledge together, “because wisdom is pure the objective realm is pure.” The third is the fusing of both, “wisdom understands the objective realm, and there is no objective realm that is not wisdom—what then is not adorned?”, and he cites the Zhilun, which says “to tell of knowledge and of the place of knowledge, both are named wisdom.”

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that Sudhana had already cultivated and entered, so why ask the name at all. Chengguan first sets up this difficulty and then unties it himself, saying “it is as when a man of the world obtains the great king's feast; though he eats the surpassing savor, why must he know its name?”—savor and name are two matters to begin with. Brought down to the ground: the asking of the name is not for the sake of knowing, but for the sake of setting what has been realized in its place within the teaching.

Sudhana Asks Again: Is It in the End Only Thus

Sudhana's second question is exceedingly short: “Holy one! Is the objective realm of this samādhi in the end only thus?” Why ask again? Chengguan glosses the reason of this question, saying “as for the question saying ‘only thus,’ what was beheld above he has already in good part cultivated and entered, and beyond seeing and hearing he further hopes for something else to hear”—what he has seen is already much, and so he wishes the more to know what there is beyond what he has seen.

And of Ocean Banner's answer Chengguan judges its character, saying “in the answer that follows, all of it shows what the foregoing did not reach”—what is answered is wholly that portion which could not be seen before.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that this question is a want of contentment. The former question asked the name, so as to set in place what has been seen; this question asks the working, so as to search out what has not been seen. Brought down to the ground: the difference between Sudhana's two questions is very clear—the first faces what he has already seen, and the second faces what his seeing and hearing have not yet reached.

The Twenty-Two Sentences upon the Working: The Three Worlds, and in All of Them No Obstruction

Ocean Banner answers upon the working in twenty-two sentences, every sentence closing with “there is no obstruction.” Chengguan judges its text to be threefold, and this is precisely the division of the three worlds, saying “within it there are three: first the making clear that there is no obstruction in the world of vessels; next, from ‘he sees all the Buddhas’ onward, that there is no obstruction in the world of right awakening and knowledge; and after that, from ‘gathers in with great compassion’ onward, that there is no obstruction in the world of beings,” and he adds one sentence, “and the seeing of the Buddhas within it is likewise for the sake of gathering in beings.”

By this judgment the first six sentences are the world of vessels—fully knowing, going to, passing beyond, adorning, cultivating and governing, and adorning and purifying all worlds; the middle ten sentences are the world of right awakening and knowledge—seeing the Buddhas, observing the majestic virtue of the Buddhas, knowing the spiritual power of the Buddhas, realizing the vast powers of the Buddhas, entering the ocean of the merits of the Buddhas, receiving the wondrous Dharma of the Buddhas, cultivating wondrous practice within the Dharma of the Buddhas, realizing the equal knowledge by which the Buddhas turn the wheel of the Dharma, entering the ocean of the assemblies and places of awakening of the Buddhas, and observing the Dharma of the Buddhas of the ten directions; and the last six sentences are the world of beings—gathering in with great compassion, constantly giving rise to great kindness, being never satiated in seeing the Buddhas, entering the ocean of beings, knowing the ocean of the faculties of beings, and the knowledge of the differences among the faculties of beings.

Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle text, likewise divides by the three worlds, and yet his number is twenty-three sentences: “the first six sentences make clear his sovereignty in the world of vessels,” “eleven sentences below make clear his sovereignty in the world of right awakening and knowledge,” “six sentences below make clear his sovereignty in the world of beings.” Six, eleven, six as against the eighty-fascicle text's six, ten, six—a difference of one sentence in the middle; while Li Tongxuan, upon the eighty-fascicle text, says plainly that he “tells twenty-two kinds of unobstructed dharmas.” The number of each house attaches to the text it rests upon; recorded without judgment.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that “there is no obstruction” is a boasting of ability. The verbs set out in the twenty-two sentences are fully knowing, going to, adorning, seeing, realizing, entering, receiving, and gathering in—all of them words of doing work. Brought down to the ground: to be unobstructed is not to be unlimited; it is to do work within these three fields and not be blocked.

Humbling Himself and Deferring to the Superior: I Know Only This One

After the answer upon the working, Ocean Banner says at once, “Son of good family! I know only this one light of the samādhi of prajñā-pāramitā.” This is a stretch that most of the good friends of this assembly have. Chengguan judges its structure, saying “third, within humbling oneself and deferring to the superior: first the humbling of oneself as knowing one; after that, from ‘as for the’ onward, the deferring to the superior, within which there are two: first the raising of what they know, and after that, from ‘how then could I’ onward, the displaying that he cannot fathom it.”

Fazang gathers from writing of this kind two sorts, saying “now the looking up and deferring in all these passages is of two kinds: one, that within one's own dharma gate there is something deeper and finer that one cannot oneself know, as in this passage and in the stages before it; two, deferring to a dharma gate of a different kind that one cannot oneself know.” The example Fazang raises for himself is “this passage and the stages before it,” and below it he says further that “all the passages above and below are to be known by this,” without separately marking to which kind Ocean Banner belongs. Such is the dividing of the two kinds; it is recorded without judgment.

The text of deferring to the superior falls into two halves, each with its own number. First it raises what they know, and the sūtra text sets out ten matters: “entering the ocean of wisdom,” “purifying the objective realm of the Dharma realm,” “reaching every destiny,” “pervading measureless fields,” “sovereign in holding-entire,” “pure in samādhi,” “vast in spiritual penetration,” “inexhaustible in eloquence,” “skilled in telling the grounds,” “a reliance for beings”—from the substance of knowledge to its objective realm, to the destinies and fields it pervades, to the holding-entire and samādhi it keeps, to the penetration and eloquence it uses, to the grounds it tells, and last coming down upon being a reliance for beings. Next it displays what he cannot do, and the sūtra text sets out eleven matters: to know their wondrous practices, to distinguish their merits, to understand what they practice, to make clear their objective realms, to exhaust their power of vows, to enter their essential gate, to reach what they realize, to tell their portion of the path, to abide in their samādhi, to see their mind and objective realm, and to obtain the equal wisdom that they have—the verbs run from “knowing” to “obtaining,” and the last, “to obtain the equal wisdom that they have,” gathers it up in equal wisdom. Ten matters of their virtue and eleven matters he cannot do: the numbers are unequal, and they need not be forced to match.

Fazang divides this further into three stretches—the first one sentence general, next the particular, third the conclusion that he cannot know—and says “since he does not know even the practice by which virtue is built up through accumulated practice, how much less the virtue so built.” Zhiyan for his part sets up a question here: “since the bodhisattva already has the virtues complete, why must he look up and defer?” and answers it with two senses—“one, that the assigning of the stages does not answer to one another, and therefore he must defer; two, that the gates of samādhi assigned are separate, and it gives rise to a surpassing aspiration.” The one is the reason of the assigned stage, the other the reason of arousing aspiration: deferring to the superior is not mere courtesy, but something the dharma gate of assigned stages itself requires.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that this is a courteous self-effacement. If it were self-effacement, why should there follow eleven sentences of “how then could I know their wondrous practices, distinguish their merits …”—every one of which points out one particular thing he cannot do. Brought down to the ground: to know which one it is that one knows is harder than to know a great deal.

Pointing to the Next Friend: The Place Named Ocean Tide, the Grove Named Universal Adornment, the Friend Named Fulfilled Vow

Ocean Banner points Sudhana southward and shows three names: the dwelling place Ocean Tide, the grove Universal Adornment, and the laywoman Fulfilled Vow. Chengguan has a gloss upon each of the three names. Of the name of the place, Ocean Tide, he first says “it only says that there is a place, and so it is still the former land,” and then glosses its sense: “as for saying Ocean Tide, that is, the place the tide reaches, displaying that skillful means, meeting what suits the occasion, does not pass beyond its bound.” The tide has a place it reaches and places it does not reach, which signifies exactly that the answering of skillful means to what suits the occasion has its bound. And he adds one sense further: “it is likewise because he is about to enter the ocean of birth-and-death so as to save things.”

Of the name of the grove, Universal Adornment, Chengguan divides it in terms of appearance and in terms of signification: “stated in terms of appearance, it is because there are widely many adornments; stated in terms of signification, it is because birth-and-death is taken for the garden and the myriad practices for the adornment.” Of the name of the friend, Fulfilled Vow, he transmits three renderings: “this here means intent and delight, and it is also said hoping, and it is also said fulfilling the vow, that is, because the intent and delight and hoping of beings obtain fulfillment.”

In glossing the name of the place, Ocean Tide, Chengguan has one further sentence that matters: “displaying that the practice of skillful means is not apart from wisdom.” The Yanyi chao sets out the reason for this, saying “since the understanding of the conventional comes by realizing the true, therefore subsequent knowledge is spoken of, making clear that it is not apart”—skillful means is subsequent knowledge, and the reason subsequent knowledge is not apart from wisdom is precisely that the power to understand the conventional comes from realizing the true; a telling of the conventional cut off from the realizing of the true would not be subsequent knowledge at all. Chengguan says further of Ocean Tide that it is “because he is able to know the ocean of the Dharma of the Buddhas of the three times,” and therefore the dharma gate of the section above is named “the ocean treasury”; and here the Chao rehearses a text from elsewhere in this sūtra as its ground: this bodhisattva should be exhorted to study ten kinds of vast dharmas, and those dharmas are set out as five pairs—“telling that one is many and telling that many are one” is the pair of one and many; “the letter following upon the sense and the sense following upon the letter” is the pair of letter and sense; “what is not existent is existent and what is existent is not existent” is the pair of existent and not existent; “the markless is the mark and the mark is the markless” is the pair of mark and markless; “what is without nature is nature and nature is without nature” is the pair of nature and without nature. All five pairs are two ends that are at once each other, and for that reason it is named the vast ocean of the Dharma—and from this the name “ocean treasury” is set up.

And as for why this stage is a monk and the next stage a laywoman, Chengguan sets down one sentence directly: “because the wisdom before understands the true, it is assigned to a monk; because this one enters the common world by the skillful means of a kindly mind, it is assigned to a laywoman.” The judgment of what a stage is assigned to is Chengguan's outline received from the ancient worthies, and is not marked by the sūtra text of itself. Brought down to the ground: this one turn from monk to laywoman is a turn from understanding the true to entering the common world.

Cherishing His Virtue, Bowing, and Taking Leave: What He Obtained from This One

The last stretch is Sudhana's taking of leave. The sūtra text first lists what he obtained—obtaining a firm body, gaining the wealth of the wondrous Dharma, entering deep objective realms, his wisdom bright and clear, his samādhi shining, abiding in a pure understanding, getting sight of the deep Dharma, his mind abiding securely in the many pure gates, and the light of his wisdom filling the ten directions; next it lists the acts of respect he performed—casting the five parts of his body to the ground, bowing to his feet, circling him measureless times, and gazing up with reverence; and last it lists what he held—holding his name, calling to mind his bearing, holding in mind his voice, pondering his samādhi and the objective realm practiced by his great vows, and receiving the pure light of his wisdom.

Chengguan's outline of this section stops at the pointing to the next friend, and for this stretch he sets up no separate heading.

Set aside a misunderstanding: the notion that cherishing his virtue, bowing, and taking leave is a set phrase. What is held in this stretch is five matters, and their order is the name, the bearing, the voice, the samādhi and the objective realm of the great vows, and the pure light of wisdom—from the outward appearance inward to what is realized. Brought down to the ground: what one carries away when leaving a good friend decides whether he still counts as a good friend upon oneself.

Lineage

The text of this section opens five lines of flow onward.

The first is the line of a stage gathering in the stages. Fazang's Huayan jing zhigui takes this section for an example, saying that within the ten abodes and the rest each gathers in all the stages and each is possessed of two gates. As for the two gates, the Zhigui marks their names itself: the one is “the gate in which the whole mark of a stage is it,” that is, one stage is wholly every stage, and therefore “where the ten faiths are full one becomes a Buddha at once”; the other is “the gate in which the stages support one another,” that is, within one stage every stage is possessed, “as within the ten faiths there are the ten abodes and on to the ten grounds.” The former tells identity, the latter possession: with identity there is no order of stages to divide, with possession stage supports stage—both are a gathering in of stages, but the one is told crosswise and the other upright. And Chengguan, among the thirty-two rains of Dharma, judges ten rains of Dharma to be the ten abodes, and says that this is stated in terms of a stage gathering in the stages. What the two houses set up is one and the same axis—that within one stage all stages are gathered in, and this is the most essential sentence for reading this section in the line of the Huayan house.

The second is the line of distinguishing the śrāvakas. Fazang's Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang discusses why śrāvakas are present in the ninth assembly, and what its base text tells is that the six thousand monks gathered in outside the assembly by Mañjuśrī are not the assembly cited before, that all of them are already within the three vehicles, and that they are turned toward the One Vehicle; while other witnesses keep at the same place a further reading, that these are not those śrāvakas and are to be measured by such as the monk Ocean Banner—taking the śrāvakas that come forth from his back as the standard of the distinguishing. What the base text points to is the six thousand monks gathered in outside the assembly by Mañjuśrī, and what the variant reading points to is the śrāvakas that come forth from the back of Ocean Banner, taken as the standard of the distinguishing: the two do not point to the same thing. Its context above and below belongs to a different stretch of discussion and is not a gloss upon this section; both readings are recorded, and which is right is not judged.

The third is the line of the divergent glosses of the several houses, each having its own track, recorded without judgment. As to the outline of this section, Chengguan marks “the text has but five,” and yet within his gloss he separately names four—holding the teaching in mind and seeking on; seeing, paying respect, and inquiring (divided into the seeing and paying respect first and the inquiring after, this latter half being what is called “second, the direct making clear of the inquiring”); humbling oneself and deferring to the superior; and pointing to the next friend. The fifth heading, upon the last stretch, Chengguan does not separately name within his gloss upon this section; this is recorded as it stands, and is not supplied in his stead. Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle text, opens seven gates under “the right receiving of samādhi”; Zhiyan makes three stretches and within the right realization opens five again; and Li Tongxuan marks off word for word the beginning and end of this stretch of the sūtra text and “divides it in brief into five gates,” opening five further gates for the advancing upward, and setting up twenty-three dharma gates upon the ocean of assemblies coming forth from the body. As to the gloss upon the name Ocean Banner, Fazang transmits two statements of the men of old, one saying that the concentration is deep as an ocean and the knowledge surpassing as a banner, and one saying that the body in concentration standing out alone is named a banner and its workings being many is called an ocean; and Li Tongxuan says “to make clear that, stated in terms of virtue, the wisdom is like an ocean, and that it is able to break the place of the karma and confusion of beings, it is named a banner. A banner has the sense of crushing and ruining.” As to the judgment of the substance of the concentration, Chengguan takes together the two readings of the concentration of the cessation of feeling and perception and of the fourth dhyāna, while Li Tongxuan says directly “it is not like the two vehicles, who make a realization of quiescent extinction,” and does not divide two concentrations. As to what six months and six days signify, Chengguan attaches them to the one sense of fulfilling the sixth perfection within the sixth abode, and Li Tongxuan matches them stretch by stretch to six items. As to the number of the sentences upon the working, Li Tongxuan calls them twenty-two kinds of unobstructed dharmas. Li Tongxuan further sets up a statement in terms of principal and companions, holding that at this stage “the prajñā-pāramitā is principal and the other nine are companions,” and that the counteracting of principal and companions has two gates: “stated in terms of the gate of knowledge, all the stages counteract in common,” so that told from the side of knowledge every stage counteracts the sickness; “the sixth pāramitā counteracts in particular the obstruction by which stillness and function are not sovereign, whether in the world or beyond it,” so that told from the side of the stages this one perfection counteracts in particular the obstruction of stillness and function not being sovereign. He points out as well that the kindness and compassion of this stage has its bound—“he obtains only the kindness of pure practice undefiled, and does not obtain the doing of the same practice as beings and the same affairs as beings without a single thing going against them”—and therefore the next stage takes a laywoman to signify the kindness that enters the common world, while this stage takes a monk to signify the undefiled kindness beyond the world. These divergent glosses are all settled statements of the ancient worthies.

The fourth is a line of judgment upon the concentration of cessation, and it comes from Zhiyan. The chapter on the concentration of cessation in his Huayan jing kongmu zhang divides that concentration into three: the One Vehicle, the three vehicles, and the lesser vehicle. In judging the sense of the One Vehicle he takes this very section as his evidence, saying “as when the monk Ocean Banner entered the concentration of cessation and, upon his own body, sent forth clouds of Dharma-realm bodies benefiting beings”—function accomplished upon the substance of his own body, without waiting to transform into a different body. For the three vehicles, “upon one's own body the accomplishing of function is not spoken of; rather one transforms into a different body,” and a different body must be borrowed before the function of benefiting others is accomplished. For the lesser vehicle there is “no mark of going together and benefiting others,” and even that mark is absent. What divides the three judgments is precisely whether function can be accomplished upon the substance itself—and the assemblies coming forth at fourteen places in this section and doing their work throughout the Dharma realm are exactly the pattern of function accomplished upon the substance. In the same chapter Zhiyan further divides the substance and the stage of obtaining. As to the substance: the concentration of cessation of the One Vehicle takes the Dharma realm for its substance, while the substance of the concentration of the three vehicles is suchness, the real nature. As to the obtaining: if stated in terms of the stages of the lesser vehicle, twelve persons obtain it; in the round teaching it is obtained at six stations; if stated in terms of those who advance straight on in the initial teaching and the like and turn the mind about, it is obtained as at the seventh ground; and if it be those who turn the mind about from the mature teaching and the like, then according to the marks of the stations of the separate ten grounds of the round teaching it is obtained at the eighth ground, obtaining that concentration of cessation of the One Vehicle—the ground of which is that the concentration of cessation of the three vehicles has already been obtained before. Thus the stage of obtaining in each teaching is told bound to its own condition, and not as one rule for all.

The fifth is the line in which the three translations are read against one another. This section is preserved in full in the forty-fascicle text as well, and it and the eighty-fascicle text have each what the other has not. The village he comes to reads in the forty-fascicle text “the village Without Defilement.” After the entering of concentration the forty-fascicle text sets up a separate stretch marking in general the ground of the body-clouds, which the eighty-fascicle text has not. In the counteractings of the two vehicles from the back the forty-fascicle text has nine pairs, more than the eight of the eighty. In the ten perfections told from the head, the eighty-fascicle text brings out the names of six and leaves the last four stretches without the names, while the forty-fascicle text marks all ten one by one, its text several times broader. In the stretch of the nets of light from the pores the forty-fascicle text opens a further stretch, in which Sudhana sees within the nets of light the practice of the ten perfections that Ocean Banner cultivated of old, which the eighty-fascicle text likewise has not. The third name of the samādhi reads in the forty-fascicle text “the Equal and Pure Universal Adornment Gate,” two graphs longer. And the name of the next friend is not Fulfilled Vow in the forty-fascicle text but the king's consort, the laywoman Īśānā, though the grove is alike named Universal Adornment. Among the thirty-two rains of Dharma those who receive the Dharma differ as well—the first of the heavenly classes is the beings of the form realm in the eighty-fascicle text, and the gods of the formless realm in the forty-fascicle text: not only are the names of what is rained broader, but the capacities that are reached differ. Each of the three keeps what is its own, and none is altered to match another.

Of the text of one section, the former half is looking and the latter half is asking. Only after looking six months and six days more could those two sentences be asked—the sequence of this section lies wholly upon this one word ‘only.’