華嚴經 品三十九 入法界品 · 守護一切城夜神（寄現前地）Avataṃsaka Sūtra · Entering the Dharma Realm · The Night Goddess Guardian of All Cities (Assigned to the Manifest Ground)
這一位善知識所得的法門，名叫「甚深自在妙音解脫」。
六個字，三重義。長行三段業用，澄觀科為次第釋此三語節——十種觀察法界說『甚深』，十種陀羅尼輪說『自在』，二十三句說法說『妙音』。名是綱，三段是目。
善財問他：您得這個法門多久了？
他答的不是一個數字，是一段往事。很久以前有一個劫，法要滅的時候，一位出了家的王對那些終日談論王事賊事的比丘說：「奇哉！苦哉！佛於無量諸大劫海集此法炬，云何汝等而共毀滅？」說完便上昇虛空，放大光明。他的女兒聽見這句話，看見這道光，就發了心——那位比丘尼，就是今天說話的這位夜神。
所以他自陳的時候說：「於生死夜無明昏寐諸眾生中而獨覺悟。」
生死是夜，無明是睡。她令眾生對三座城各做一事——守護心城，捨三界城，住一切智的無上法城。
法根有多深，說不出來。只能講一段往事。
且看到此地。
The Dharma gate this good friend has gained is named 「甚深自在妙音解脫」 tr. “the liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound.”
Six graphs, three senses. The three passages of the working in the prose Chengguan outlines as glossing these three in turn — the ten contemplations of the Dharma realm expound the profound, the ten dhāraṇī wheels expound the sovereign, the twenty-three clauses of expounding the Dharma expound the wondrous sound. The name is the net-rope, and the three passages are the meshes.
Sudhana asked her: how long is it since you gained this Dharma gate?
What she answered was not a number but a stretch of the past. Very long ago there was a kalpa, and when the Dharma was about to perish a king who had gone forth said to the monks who talked all day of the affairs of kings and of thieves: 「奇哉！苦哉！佛於無量諸大劫海集此法炬，云何汝等而共毀滅？」 tr. “How strange! How bitter! Through measureless great seas of kalpas the Buddha gathered together this torch of Dharma; how is it that you would destroy it together?” Having spoken, he rose into the sky and sent out a great light. His daughter heard that sentence and saw that light, and raised the mind — and that nun is the night goddess who is speaking today.
And so when she tells of herself she says: 「於生死夜無明昏寐諸眾生中而獨覺悟。」 tr. “amid the sentient beings who lie in the night of birth and death and in the slumber of ignorance, I alone am awake.”
Birth and death are the night, ignorance is the sleep. She causes beings to do one thing with each of three cities — to guard the city of the mind, to forsake the city of the three realms, and to abide in the unsurpassed Dharma city of all-knowledge.
How deep the root of the Dharma is cannot be told. It can only be told as a stretch of the past.
Let us look this far for now.
〔T10 0388〕
爾時，善財童子隨順寂靜音海夜神教，思惟觀察所說法門，一一文句皆無忘失，於無量深心、無量法性、一切方便神通智慧，憶念思擇，相續不斷；其心廣大，證入安住。
行詣守護一切城夜神所，見彼夜神坐一切寶光明摩尼王師子之座，無數夜神所共圍遶，現一切眾生色相身，現普對一切眾生身，現不染一切世間身，現一切眾生身數身，現超過一切世間身，現成熟一切眾生身，現速往一切十方身，現遍攝一切十方身，現究竟如來體性身，現究竟調伏眾生身。
善財見已，歡喜踊躍，頂禮其足，遶無量匝，於前合掌而作是言：「聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩修菩薩行時，云何饒益眾生？云何以無上攝而攝眾生？云何順諸佛教？云何近法王位？唯願慈哀，為我宣說！」
時，彼夜神告善財言：
「善男子！汝為救護一切眾生故，汝為嚴淨一切佛剎故，汝為供養一切如來故，汝欲住一切劫救眾生故，汝欲守護一切佛種性故，汝欲普入十方修諸行故，汝欲普入一切法門海故，汝欲以平等心遍一切故，汝欲普受一切佛法輪故，汝欲普隨一切眾生心之所樂雨法雨故，問諸菩薩所修行門。
「善男子！我得菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫，為大法師，無所罣礙，善能開示諸佛法藏故；具大誓願、大慈悲力，令一切眾生住菩提心故；能作一切利眾生事，積集善根無有休息故；為一切眾生調御之師，令一切眾生住薩婆若道故；為一切世間清淨法日，普照世間，令生善根故；於一切世間其心平等，普令眾生增長善法故；於諸境界其心清淨，除滅一切諸不善業故；誓願利益一切眾生，身恒普現一切國土故；示現一切本事因緣，令諸眾生安住善行故；恒事一切諸善知識，為令眾生安住佛教故。
「佛子！我以此等法施眾生，令生白法，求一切智，其心堅固猶如金剛那羅延藏，善能觀察佛力、魔力，常得親近諸善知識，摧破一切業惑障山，集一切智助道之法，心恒不捨一切智地。
「善男子！我以如是淨法光明饒益一切眾生，集善根助道法時，作十種觀察法界。何者為十？所謂：我知法界無量，獲得廣大智光明故；我知法界無邊，見一切佛所知見故；我知法界無限，普入一切諸佛國土，恭敬供養諸如來故；我知法界無畔，普於一切法界海中，示現修行菩薩行故；我知法界無斷，入於如來不斷智故；我知法界一性，如來一音，一切眾生無不了故；我知法界性淨，了如來願普度一切諸眾生故；我知法界遍眾生，普賢妙行悉周遍故；我知法界一莊嚴，普賢妙行善莊嚴故；我知法界不可壞，一切智善根充滿法界不可壞故。善男子！我作此十種觀察法界，集諸善根辦助道法，了知諸佛廣大威德，深入如來難思境界。
「又，善男子！我如是正念思惟，得如來十種大威德陀羅尼輪。何者為十？所謂：普入一切法陀羅尼輪、普持一切法陀羅尼輪、普說一切法陀羅尼輪、普念十方一切佛陀羅尼輪、普說一切佛名號陀羅尼輪、普入三世諸佛願海陀羅尼輪、普入一切諸乘海陀羅尼輪、普入一切眾生業海陀羅尼輪、疾轉一切業陀羅尼輪、疾生一切智陀羅尼輪。善男子！此十陀羅尼輪，以十千陀羅尼輪而為眷屬，恒為眾生演說妙法。
「善男子！我或為眾生說聞慧法，或為眾生說思慧法，或為眾生說修慧法，或為眾生說一有法，或為眾生說一切有法，或為說一如來名海法，或為說一切如來名海法，或為說一世界海法，或為說一切世界海法，或為說一佛授記海法，或為說一切佛授記海法，或為說一如來眾會道場海法，或為說一切如來眾會道場海法，或為說一如來法輪海法，或為說一切如來法輪海法，或為說一如來修多羅法，或為說一切如來修多羅法，或為說一如來集會法，或為說一切如來集會法，或為說一薩婆若心海法，或為說一切薩婆若心海法，或為說一乘出離法，或為說一切乘出離法。善男子！我以如是等不可說法門，為眾生說。
「善男子！我入如來無差別法界門海，說無上法，普攝眾生，盡未來劫，住普賢行。善男子！我成就此甚深自在妙音解脫，於念念中增長一切諸解脫門，念念充滿一切法界。」
〔T10 0389〕
時，善財童子白夜神言：「奇哉！天神！此解脫門如是希有！聖者證得，其已久如？」
夜神言：
「善男子！乃往古世，過世界轉微塵數劫，有劫名：離垢光明，有世界名：法界功德雲，以現一切眾生業摩尼王海為體，形如蓮華，住四天下微塵數香摩尼須彌山網中，以出一切如來本願音蓮華而為莊嚴，須彌山微塵數蓮華而為眷屬，須彌山微塵數香摩尼以為間錯，有須彌山微塵數四天下，一一四天下有百千億那由他不可說不可說城。
「善男子！彼世界中，有四天下，名為：妙幢；中有王都，名：普寶華光；去此不遠，有菩提場，名：普顯現法王宮殿。須彌山微塵數如來於中出現，其最初佛，名：法海雷音光明王。彼佛出時，有轉輪王，名：清淨日光明面，於其佛所，受持一切法海旋修多羅。佛涅槃後，其王出家，護持正法。法欲滅時，有千部異眾千種說法。近於末劫，業惑障重；諸惡比丘多有鬪諍，樂著境界，不求功德，樂說王論、賊論、女論、國論、海論，及以一切世間之論。
「時，王比丘而語之言：『奇哉！苦哉！佛於無量諸大劫海集此法炬，云何汝等而共毀滅？』作是說已，上昇虛空，高七多羅樹，身出無量諸色焰雲，放種種色大光明網，令無量眾生除煩惱熱，令無量眾生發菩提心。以是因緣，彼如來教，復於六萬五千歲中而得興盛。
「時，有比丘尼，名：法輪化光，是此王女，百千比丘尼而為眷屬，聞父王語及見神力，發菩提心永不退轉，得三昧，名：一切佛教燈，又得此甚深自在妙音解脫；得已，身心柔軟，即得現見法海雷音光明王如來一切神力。
「善男子！於汝意云何？彼時轉輪聖王隨於如來轉正法輪，佛涅槃後興隆末法者，豈異人乎？今普賢菩薩是。其法輪化光比丘尼，即我身是。我於彼時，守護佛法，令十萬比丘尼於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提得不退轉，又令得現見一切佛三昧，又令得一切佛法輪金剛光明陀羅尼，又令得普入一切法門海般若波羅蜜。
「次有佛興，名：離垢法光明；次有佛興，名：法輪光明髻；次有佛興，名：法日功德雲；次有佛興，名：法海妙音王；次有佛興，名：法日智慧燈；次有佛興，名：法華幢雲；次有佛興，名：法焰山幢王；次有佛興，名：甚深法功德月；次有佛興，名：法智普光藏；次有佛興，名：開示普智藏；次有佛興，名：功德藏山王；次有佛興，名：普門須彌賢；次有佛興，名：一切法精進幢；次有佛興，名：法寶華功德雲；次有佛興，名：寂靜光明髻；次有佛興，名：法光明慈悲月；次有佛興，名：功德焰海；次有佛興，名：智日普光明；次有佛興，名：普賢圓滿智；次有佛興，名：神通智光王；次有佛興，名：福德華光燈；次有佛興，名：智師子幢王；次有佛興，名：日光普照王；次有佛興，名：須彌寶莊嚴相；次有佛興，名：日光普照；次有佛興，名：法王功德月；次有佛興，名：開敷蓮華妙音雲；次有佛興，名：日光明相；次有佛興，名：普光明妙法音；次有佛興，名：師子金剛那羅延無畏；次有佛興，名：普智勇猛幢；次有佛興，名：普開法蓮華身；次有佛興，名：功德妙華海；次有佛興，名：道場功德月；次有佛興，名：法炬熾然月；次有佛興，名：普光明髻；次有佛興，名：法幢燈；次有佛興，名：金剛海幢雲；次有佛興，名：名稱山功德雲；次有佛興，名：栴檀妙月；次有佛興，名：普妙光明華；次有佛興，名：照一切眾生光明王；次有佛興，名：功德蓮華藏；次有佛興，名：香焰光明王；次有佛興，名：波頭摩華因；次有佛興，名：眾相山普光明；次有佛興，名：普名稱幢；次有佛興，名：須彌普門光；次有佛興，名：功德法城光；次有佛興，名：大樹山光明；次有佛興，名：普德光明幢；次有佛興，名：功德吉祥相；次有佛興，名：勇猛法力幢；次有佛興，名：法輪光明音；次有佛興，名：功德山智慧光；次有佛興，名：無上妙法月；次有佛興，名：法蓮華淨光幢；次有佛興，名：寶蓮華光明藏；次有佛興，名：光焰雲山燈；次有佛興，名：普覺華；次有佛興，名：種種功德焰須彌藏；次有佛興，名：圓滿光山王；次有佛興，名：福德雲莊嚴；次有佛興，名：法山雲幢；次有佛興，名：功德山光明；次有佛興，名：法日雲燈王；次有佛興，名：法雲名稱王；次有佛興，名：法輪雲；次有佛興，名：開悟菩提智光幢；次有佛興，名：普照法輪月；次有佛興，名：寶山威德賢；次有佛興，名：賢德廣大光；次有佛興，名：普智雲；次有佛興，名：法力功德山；次有佛興，名：功德香焰王；次有佛興，名：金色摩尼山妙音聲；次有佛興，名：頂髻出一切法光明雲；次有佛興，名：法輪熾盛光；次有佛興，名：無上功德山；次有佛興，名：精進炬光明雲；次有佛興，名：三昧印廣大光明冠；次有佛興，名：寶光明功德王；次有佛興，名：法炬寶蓋音；次有佛興，名：普照虛空界無畏法光明；次有佛興，名：月相莊嚴幢；次有佛興，名：光明焰山雲；次有佛興，名：照無障礙法虛空；次有佛興，名：開顯智光身；次有佛興，名：世主德光明音；次有佛興，名：一切法三昧光明音；次有佛興，名：法音功德藏；次有佛興，名：熾然焰法海雲；次有佛興，名：普照三世相大光明；次有佛興，名：普照法輪山；次有佛興，名：法界師子光；次有佛興，名：須彌華光明；次有佛興，名：一切三昧海師子焰；次有佛興，名：普智光明燈。
〔T10 0390〕
「善男子！如是等須彌山微塵數如來，其最後佛，名：法界城智慧燈，並於離垢光明劫中，出興于世。我皆尊重，親近供養，聽聞受持所說妙法；亦於彼一切諸如來所，出家學道，護持法教，入此菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫，種種方便教化成熟無量眾生。從是已來，於佛剎微塵數劫，所有諸佛出興於世；我皆供養，修行其法。
「善男子！我從是來，於生死夜無明昏寐諸眾生中而獨覺悟；令諸眾生，守護心城，捨三界城，住一切智無上法城。
「善男子！我唯知此甚深自在妙音解脫，令諸世間，離戲論語，不作二語，常真實語，恒清淨語。如諸菩薩摩訶薩，能知一切語言自性，於念念中自在開悟一切眾生，入一切眾生言音海，於一切言辭悉皆辨了，明見一切諸法門海，於普攝一切法陀羅尼已得自在，隨諸眾生心之所疑而為說法，究竟調伏一切眾生，能普攝受一切眾生，巧修菩薩諸無上業，深入菩薩諸微細智，能善觀察諸菩薩藏，能自在說諸菩薩法。何以故？已得成就一切法輪陀羅尼故。而我云何能知能說彼功德行？
「善男子！此佛會中，有主夜神，名：開敷一切樹華。汝詣彼問：菩薩云何學一切智？云何安立一切眾生住一切智？」
爾時，守護一切城主夜神，欲重宣此解脫義，為善財童子而說頌言：
「菩薩解脫深難見，虛空如如平等相，
普見無邊法界內，一切三世諸如來。
出生無量勝功德，證入難思真法性，
增長一切自在智，開通三世解脫道。
過於剎轉微塵劫，爾時有劫名淨光，
世界名為法焰雲，其城號曰寶華光。
其中諸佛興於世，量與須彌塵數等；
有佛名為法海音，於此劫中先出現；
乃至其中最後佛，名為法界焰燈王；
如是一切諸如來，我皆供養聽受法。
我見法海雷音佛，其身普作真金色，
諸相莊嚴如寶山，發心願得成如來。
我暫見彼如來身，即發菩提廣大心，
誓願勤求一切智，性與法界虛空等。
由斯普見三世佛，及以一切菩薩眾；
亦見國土眾生海，而普攀緣起大悲。
隨諸眾生心所樂，示現種種無量身，
普遍十方諸國土，動地舒光悟含識。
見第二佛而親近，亦見十方剎海佛，
乃至最後佛出興，如是須彌塵數等。
於諸剎轉微塵劫，所有如來照世燈；
我皆親近而瞻奉，令此解脫得清淨。」
爾時，善財童子得入此菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫故，入無邊三昧海，入廣大總持海，得菩薩大神通，獲菩薩大辯才；心大歡喜，觀察守護一切城主夜神，以偈讚曰：
「已行廣大妙慧海，已度無邊諸有海，
長壽無患智藏身，威德光明住此眾。
了達法性如虛空，普入三世皆無礙；
念念攀緣一切境，心心永斷諸分別。
了達眾生無有性，而於眾生起大悲；
深入如來解脫門，廣度群迷無量眾。
觀察思惟一切法，了知證入諸法性；
如是修行佛智慧，普化眾生令解脫。
天是眾生調御師，開示如來智慧道，
普為法界諸含識，說離世間眾怖行。
已住如來諸願道，已受菩提廣大教，
已修一切遍行力，已見十方佛自在。
天神心淨如虛空，普離一切諸煩惱，
了知三世無量剎，諸佛菩薩及眾生。
天神一念悉了知，晝夜日月年劫海；
亦知一切眾生類，種種名相各差別。
十方眾生生死處，有色無色想無想，
隨順世俗悉了知，引導使入菩提路。
已生如來誓願家，已入諸佛功德海，
法身清淨心無礙，隨眾生樂現眾色。」
時，善財童子說此頌已，禮夜神足，遶無量匝，慇懃瞻仰，辭退而去。
〔卷72〕
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
念前友之教：一一文句都不忘失
那時候，善財童子隨順著寂靜音海夜神所給的教，思惟觀察他所說的法門，一句一句的文句都沒有忘失，對於無量的深心、無量的法性、一切的方便神通智慧，都憶念著、思量抉擇著，前後相續不曾中斷；他的心廣大起來，證入而安住其中。
趣求與見十身（澄觀科）：十種身，起於眾生而極於如來
他走到守護一切城夜神那裡，見到那位夜神坐在一切寶光明摩尼王的師子座上，有無數的夜神一同圍繞著。那位夜神現出一切眾生色相的身，現出普遍面對一切眾生的身，現出不被一切世間所染的身，現出與一切眾生數目相等的身，現出超過一切世間的身，現出成熟一切眾生的身，現出迅速前往一切十方的身，現出普遍攝取一切十方的身，現出究竟如來體性的身，現出究竟調伏眾生的身。
見敬諮問（澄觀科）：他問了四句
善財見了之後，歡喜踊躍，頂禮他的足，繞了無量匝，在他面前合掌，這樣說：「聖者！我已經先發起了阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心（求無上正等正覺的心），卻還不知道菩薩在修菩薩行的時候，要怎樣饒益眾生？要怎樣用無上的攝法來攝取眾生？要怎樣隨順諸佛的教？要怎樣親近法王之位？但願您慈悲哀愍，為我宣說！」
夜神先讚善財：你是為了十件事而問
那時候，那位夜神告訴善財說：
「善男子！你是為了救護一切眾生的緣故，你是為了嚴淨一切佛剎的緣故，你是為了供養一切如來的緣故，你是想要住在一切劫中救眾生的緣故，你是想要守護一切佛種性的緣故，你是想要普遍進入十方修習諸行的緣故，你是想要普遍進入一切法門海的緣故，你是想要用平等心遍於一切的緣故，你是想要普遍領受一切佛法輪的緣故，你是想要普遍隨順一切眾生心中所喜樂的而降下法雨的緣故——為了這些，才問諸菩薩所修的行門。
標名體與法施十德（澄觀科）：我所得的法門叫什麼
「善男子！我得到了菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫。我作大法師，沒有罣礙，因為善能開示諸佛的法藏；我具足大誓願、大慈悲力，因為要令一切眾生安住在菩提心；我能作一切利益眾生的事，因為積集善根不曾休息；我作一切眾生的調御之師，因為要令一切眾生安住在薩婆若（一切智）之道；我作一切世間清淨的法日，普遍照耀世間，因為要令他們生起善根；我對於一切世間其心平等，因為要普遍令眾生增長善法；我對於種種境界其心清淨，因為要除滅一切諸不善業；我發誓願利益一切眾生，因為身常普遍現於一切國土；我示現一切本事的因緣，因為要令諸眾生安住在善行；我常事奉一切諸善知識，因為要令眾生安住在佛教。
法施之意：這樣布施法，是要人心堅固如金剛
「佛子！我用這些法布施眾生，令他們生起白淨之法，追求一切智，他們的心堅固得就像金剛那羅延藏（那羅延是大力士之名，此取其堅固不壞），善能觀察佛的力與魔的力，常能親近諸善知識，摧破一切業惑的障山，積集一切智的助道之法，心裡恆常不捨棄一切智之地。
顯業用（澄觀科）（一）釋甚深：十種觀察法界
「善男子！我用這樣的淨法光明饒益一切眾生，在積集善根、辦助道法的時候，作十種觀察法界。哪十種呢？就是說：我知道法界無量，因為獲得了廣大的智光明；我知道法界無邊，因為見到一切佛之所知所見；我知道法界無限，因為普遍進入一切諸佛國土，恭敬供養諸如來；我知道法界無畔，因為普遍在一切法界海中，示現修行菩薩行；我知道法界無斷，因為進入了如來不斷之智；我知道法界是一性，因為如來的一音，一切眾生沒有不明了的；我知道法界性淨，因為明了如來的願是普度一切諸眾生；我知道法界遍於眾生，因為普賢的妙行都周遍；我知道法界是一莊嚴，因為普賢的妙行善能莊嚴；我知道法界不可壞，因為一切智的善根充滿法界不可壞。善男子！我作了這十種觀察法界，積集諸善根、辦助道之法，明了知道諸佛的廣大威德，深入如來難以思議的境界。
顯業用（二）釋自在：十種大威德陀羅尼輪
「又，善男子！我這樣正念思惟，得到了如來十種大威德陀羅尼輪（陀羅尼是總持，輪是能轉之義）。哪十種呢？就是說：普入一切法陀羅尼輪、普持一切法陀羅尼輪、普說一切法陀羅尼輪、普念十方一切佛陀羅尼輪、普說一切佛名號陀羅尼輪、普入三世諸佛願海陀羅尼輪、普入一切諸乘海陀羅尼輪、普入一切眾生業海陀羅尼輪、疾轉一切業陀羅尼輪、疾生一切智陀羅尼輪。善男子！這十種陀羅尼輪，還以十千陀羅尼輪作為它們的眷屬，恆常為眾生演說妙法。
顯業用（三）釋妙音：二十三句說法
「善男子！我有時為眾生說聞慧之法，有時為眾生說思慧之法，有時為眾生說修慧之法，有時為眾生說一個『有』的法，有時為眾生說一切『有』的法，有時為他們說一位如來名海之法，有時說一切如來名海之法，有時說一個世界海之法，有時說一切世界海之法，有時說一佛授記海之法，有時說一切佛授記海之法，有時說一位如來眾會道場海之法，有時說一切如來眾會道場海之法，有時說一位如來法輪海之法，有時說一切如來法輪海之法，有時說一位如來修多羅（經）之法，有時說一切如來修多羅之法，有時說一位如來集會之法，有時說一切如來集會之法，有時說一個薩婆若心海之法，有時說一切薩婆若心海之法，有時說一乘出離之法，有時說一切乘出離之法。善男子！我用這樣一些不可說的法門，為眾生演說。
結益（澄觀科）：住在普賢行裡
「善男子！我進入如來無差別法界之門海，宣說無上之法，普遍攝取眾生，盡未來劫，住在普賢行中。善男子！我成就了這個甚深自在妙音解脫，在念念之中增長一切諸解脫門，念念充滿一切法界。」
辨法根深（澄觀科）：善財問，您得這個法門有多久了
那時候，善財童子對夜神說：「奇特啊！天神！這個解脫門竟這樣希有！聖者證得它，已經有多久了呢？」
夜神說：
本生（一）：那時有一個劫，有一個世界
「善男子！往古之世，經過世界轉微塵數那麼多的劫，有一個劫名叫離垢光明，有一個世界名叫法界功德雲。那個世界以現一切眾生業的摩尼王海為體，形狀像蓮華，安住在四天下微塵數那麼多的香摩尼須彌山網之中，以出生一切如來本願之音的蓮華作為莊嚴，有須彌山微塵數的蓮華作為它的眷屬，有須彌山微塵數的香摩尼間雜錯落其中，有須彌山微塵數的四天下，每一個四天下都有百千億那由他不可說不可說那麼多的城。
本生（二）：最初的那位佛，與那位轉輪王
「善男子！那個世界之中，有一個四天下名叫妙幢；其中有一座王都，名叫普寶華光；離這裡不遠，有一個菩提場，名叫普顯現法王宮殿。有須彌山微塵數的如來在那裡出現，其中最初的一位佛，名叫法海雷音光明王。那位佛出世的時候，有一位轉輪王，名叫清淨日光明面，他在那位佛那裡，受持了一切法海旋修多羅。佛涅槃之後，那位王就出家，護持正法。
本生（三）：法要滅的時候，王比丘上昇虛空
「法將要滅的時候，有一千部不同的眾、一千種不同的說法。接近末劫，業與惑的障礙深重；許多惡比丘常有鬪諍，樂於執著境界，不追求功德，喜歡談論王家之論、盜賊之論、女人之論、國事之論、大海之論，以及一切世間之論。
「這時候，那位出了家的王比丘就對他們說：『奇怪啊！可痛啊！佛在無量的諸大劫海之中積集了這支法炬，你們怎麼可以一同把它毀滅呢？』這樣說了之後，他上昇虛空，高七棵多羅樹那麼高，身上出現無量種種顏色的焰雲，放出種種顏色的大光明網，令無量眾生除去煩惱的熱惱，令無量眾生發起菩提心。因為這個因緣，那位如來的教法，又在六萬五千年之中重新興盛起來。
本生（四）：王的女兒出家為比丘尼，因此得法
「那時候，有一位比丘尼，名叫法輪化光，是這位王的女兒，有百千位比丘尼作為她的眷屬。她聽到父王的話、又見到那樣的神力，就發起菩提心永不退轉，得到一種三昧，名叫一切佛教燈，又得到了這個甚深自在妙音解脫；得到之後，身心柔軟，隨即能夠現前見到法海雷音光明王如來的一切神力。
結會古今（澄觀科）：那時的人，就是現在的誰
「善男子！你的意思怎麼樣？那時候的轉輪聖王隨順如來轉正法輪、在佛涅槃之後興隆末法的那一位，難道是別人嗎？就是今天的普賢菩薩。那位法輪化光比丘尼，就是我這個身。我在那個時候，守護佛法，令十萬位比丘尼在阿耨多羅三藐三菩提上得到不退轉，又令她們得到現前見一切佛的三昧，又令她們得到一切佛法輪金剛光明陀羅尼，又令她們得到普入一切法門海的般若波羅蜜。
本生（五）：那一劫中接著出世的諸佛
「接著有佛出興，名叫離垢法光明；接著有佛出興，名叫法輪光明髻；接著有佛出興，名叫法日功德雲；接著有佛出興，名叫法海妙音王；接著有佛出興，名叫法日智慧燈；接著有佛出興，名叫法華幢雲；接著有佛出興，名叫法焰山幢王；接著有佛出興，名叫甚深法功德月；接著有佛出興，名叫法智普光藏；接著有佛出興，名叫開示普智藏；接著有佛出興，名叫功德藏山王；接著有佛出興，名叫普門須彌賢；接著有佛出興，名叫一切法精進幢；接著有佛出興，名叫法寶華功德雲；接著有佛出興，名叫寂靜光明髻；接著有佛出興，名叫法光明慈悲月；接著有佛出興，名叫功德焰海；接著有佛出興，名叫智日普光明；接著有佛出興，名叫普賢圓滿智；接著有佛出興，名叫神通智光王；接著有佛出興，名叫福德華光燈；接著有佛出興，名叫智師子幢王；接著有佛出興，名叫日光普照王；接著有佛出興，名叫須彌寶莊嚴相；接著有佛出興，名叫日光普照；接著有佛出興，名叫法王功德月；接著有佛出興，名叫開敷蓮華妙音雲；接著有佛出興，名叫日光明相；接著有佛出興，名叫普光明妙法音；接著有佛出興，名叫師子金剛那羅延無畏；接著有佛出興，名叫普智勇猛幢；接著有佛出興，名叫普開法蓮華身；接著有佛出興，名叫功德妙華海；接著有佛出興，名叫道場功德月；接著有佛出興，名叫法炬熾然月；接著有佛出興，名叫普光明髻；接著有佛出興，名叫法幢燈；接著有佛出興，名叫金剛海幢雲；接著有佛出興，名叫名稱山功德雲；接著有佛出興，名叫栴檀妙月；接著有佛出興，名叫普妙光明華；接著有佛出興，名叫照一切眾生光明王；接著有佛出興，名叫功德蓮華藏；接著有佛出興，名叫香焰光明王；接著有佛出興，名叫波頭摩華因；接著有佛出興，名叫眾相山普光明；接著有佛出興，名叫普名稱幢；接著有佛出興，名叫須彌普門光；接著有佛出興，名叫功德法城光；接著有佛出興，名叫大樹山光明；接著有佛出興，名叫普德光明幢；接著有佛出興，名叫功德吉祥相；接著有佛出興，名叫勇猛法力幢；接著有佛出興，名叫法輪光明音；接著有佛出興，名叫功德山智慧光；接著有佛出興，名叫無上妙法月；接著有佛出興，名叫法蓮華淨光幢；接著有佛出興，名叫寶蓮華光明藏；接著有佛出興，名叫光焰雲山燈；接著有佛出興，名叫普覺華；接著有佛出興，名叫種種功德焰須彌藏；接著有佛出興，名叫圓滿光山王；接著有佛出興，名叫福德雲莊嚴；接著有佛出興，名叫法山雲幢；接著有佛出興，名叫功德山光明；接著有佛出興，名叫法日雲燈王；接著有佛出興，名叫法雲名稱王；接著有佛出興，名叫法輪雲；接著有佛出興，名叫開悟菩提智光幢；接著有佛出興，名叫普照法輪月；接著有佛出興，名叫寶山威德賢；接著有佛出興，名叫賢德廣大光；接著有佛出興，名叫普智雲；接著有佛出興，名叫法力功德山；接著有佛出興，名叫功德香焰王；接著有佛出興，名叫金色摩尼山妙音聲；接著有佛出興，名叫頂髻出一切法光明雲；接著有佛出興，名叫法輪熾盛光；接著有佛出興，名叫無上功德山；接著有佛出興，名叫精進炬光明雲；接著有佛出興，名叫三昧印廣大光明冠；接著有佛出興，名叫寶光明功德王；接著有佛出興，名叫法炬寶蓋音；接著有佛出興，名叫普照虛空界無畏法光明；接著有佛出興，名叫月相莊嚴幢；接著有佛出興，名叫光明焰山雲；接著有佛出興，名叫照無障礙法虛空；接著有佛出興，名叫開顯智光身；接著有佛出興，名叫世主德光明音；接著有佛出興，名叫一切法三昧光明音；接著有佛出興，名叫法音功德藏；接著有佛出興，名叫熾然焰法海雲；接著有佛出興，名叫普照三世相大光明；接著有佛出興，名叫普照法輪山；接著有佛出興，名叫法界師子光；接著有佛出興，名叫須彌華光明；接著有佛出興，名叫一切三昧海師子焰；接著有佛出興，名叫普智光明燈。
本生（六）：最後的那位佛，與我在其中所作
「善男子！像這樣須彌山微塵數的如來，其中最後的一位佛，名叫法界城智慧燈，都在離垢光明劫中出興於世。我對他們都尊重、親近、供養，聽聞受持他們所說的妙法；也在那一切諸如來那裡出家學道，護持法教，進入這個菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫，用種種方便教化成熟無量眾生。從那時以來，在佛剎微塵數的劫中，所有出興於世的諸佛，我都供養，修行他們的法。
類顯多劫（澄觀科）：在生死的長夜裡獨自覺悟
「善男子！我從那時以來，在生死的長夜、無明的昏睡之中的諸眾生裡，獨自覺悟；令諸眾生守護自己的心城，捨離三界之城，安住在一切智的無上法城。
謙己推勝（澄觀科）：我只知道這一個
「善男子！我只知道這個甚深自在妙音解脫，能令諸世間離開戲論之語，不作前後兩截之語，常說真實之語，恆說清淨之語。至於諸位菩薩摩訶薩，他們能夠知道一切語言的自性，在念念之中自在地開悟一切眾生，進入一切眾生的言音海，對於一切言辭全都辨別明了，明明白白見到一切諸法門海，對於普攝一切法的陀羅尼已經得到自在，隨著諸眾生心中所疑惑的而為他們說法，究竟調伏一切眾生，能普遍攝受一切眾生，善巧地修習菩薩諸無上之業，深入菩薩諸微細之智，能善於觀察諸菩薩藏，能自在地宣說諸菩薩法。為什麼呢？因為已經成就了一切法輪陀羅尼。而我又怎麼能夠知道、能夠說出他們的功德之行呢？
指示後友（澄觀科）：你去問開敷一切樹華
「善男子！這個佛的會中，有一位主夜神，名叫開敷一切樹華。你到他那裡去問：菩薩要怎樣學一切智？要怎樣安立一切眾生住於一切智？」
夜神重頌（一）：讚這解脫甚深
那時候，守護一切城主夜神想要重新宣說這個解脫的義理，就為善財童子而說頌說：
「菩薩的解脫深奧難見，如虛空、如如一般的平等之相，普遍見到無邊法界之內一切三世的諸如來。
夜神重頌（二）：頌前面的體與用
「出生無量殊勝的功德，證入難以思議的真法性，增長一切自在之智，開通三世的解脫之道。
夜神重頌（三）：牒本生的劫與世界
「經過剎轉微塵那麼多的劫，那時候有一個劫名叫淨光，世界名叫法焰雲，那城號稱寶華光。
夜神重頌（四）：那一劫中先出現的佛
「那裡諸佛出興於世，數量與須彌山微塵數相等；有一位佛名叫法海音，在這一劫之中先出現；
夜神重頌（五）：最後的那位佛
「乃至那裡最後的一位佛，名叫法界焰燈王；像這樣一切的諸如來，我都供養、聽受他們的法。
夜神重頌（六）：見最初佛而發心
「我見到法海雷音佛，他的身普遍作真金之色，眾相莊嚴如同寶山，我便發心願得成如來。
夜神重頌（七）：一見便發廣大心
「我暫時見到那位如來之身，就發起菩提的廣大之心，誓願勤求一切智，其性與法界虛空相等。
夜神重頌（八）：由此普見三世佛
「由這個緣故普遍見到三世諸佛，以及一切菩薩之眾；也見到國土海與眾生海，於是普遍攀緣而起大悲。
夜神重頌（九）：隨眾生所樂而現身
「隨著諸眾生心中所喜樂的，示現種種無量之身，普遍遍於十方諸國土，震動大地、舒放光明，令含識覺悟。
夜神重頌（十）：第二佛以下，乃至最後佛
「見到第二位佛而親近他，也見到十方剎海之佛，乃至最後一位佛出興，像這樣有須彌山微塵數之多。
夜神重頌（十一）：類顯多劫，此解脫得清淨
「在諸剎轉微塵數的劫中，所有的如來都是照世之燈；我都親近而瞻仰奉事，令這個解脫得以清淨。」
善財得益：他得入了這個解脫
那時候，善財童子因為得入了這個菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫的緣故，進入無邊三昧海，進入廣大總持海，得到菩薩的大神通，獲得菩薩的大辯才；心中大為歡喜，觀察守護一切城主夜神，用偈頌讚歎說：
善財讚偈（一）：讚他福智超絕
「您已經行於廣大的妙慧之海，已經度過無邊的諸有之海，長壽無患而為智藏之身，以威德光明住在這個眾會之中。
善財讚偈（二）：了達法性而永斷分別
「您明了通達法性如同虛空，普遍進入三世都無障礙；念念攀緣一切境界，心心永遠斷除諸分別。
善財讚偈（三）：知眾生無性而起大悲
「您明了通達眾生沒有自性，而對眾生生起大悲；深入如來的解脫門，廣度無量迷惑的群生。
善財讚偈（四）：觀察一切法而普化眾生
「您觀察思惟一切法，明了知道、證入諸法之性；這樣修行佛的智慧，普遍教化眾生令他們解脫。
善財讚偈（五）：讚他為調御師
「天神您是眾生的調御之師，開示如來智慧之道，普遍為法界的諸含識，宣說離開世間種種怖畏之行。
善財讚偈（六）：讚他已住願道
「您已經安住在如來的諸願之道，已經領受菩提的廣大之教，已經修習一切遍行之力，已經見到十方諸佛的自在。
善財讚偈（七）：讚他心淨如空
「天神您的心清淨如同虛空，普遍離開一切諸煩惱，明了知道三世無量的剎土、諸佛菩薩以及眾生。
善財讚偈（八）：讚他一念悉知
「天神您一念之間全都明了知道晝夜、日月、年劫之海；也知道一切眾生之類種種的名相各各差別。
善財讚偈（九）：讚他引導眾生入菩提路
「十方眾生的生死之處，有色的、無色的、有想的、無想的，您都隨順世俗而全都明了知道，引導他們使之進入菩提之路。
善財讚偈（十）：讚他生如來家
「您已經生在如來的誓願之家，已經進入諸佛的功德之海，法身清淨而心無障礙，隨著眾生的喜樂現出種種色身。」
戀德禮辭（澄觀科）
那時候，善財童子說完這些頌之後，禮拜夜神的足，繞了無量匝，慇懃地瞻仰，辭別而去。
Calling to Mind the Teaching of the Friend Before: Not One Phrase Forgotten
At that time, Sudhana the youth, according with the teaching that the night goddess Ocean of Tranquil Sound had given him, pondered and contemplated the Dharma gate she had expounded, and of its phrases, one by one, not one was forgotten; upon the measureless deep minds, the measureless natures of dharmas, and all the skillful means, spiritual powers, and wisdom, he called them to mind and pondered and chose among them, one following upon another and never breaking off; his mind grew vast, and he realized it and abode within it.
Seeking and the Seeing of the Ten Bodies (Chengguan’s Outline): Ten Bodies, Rising from Sentient Beings and Reaching Their Utmost in the Tathāgata
He went on to where the night goddess Guardian of All Cities was, and saw that night goddess seated upon a lion seat of maṇi kings of the light of all jewels, with numberless night goddesses encircling her together. That night goddess manifested a body of the form and appearance of all sentient beings, manifested a body facing all sentient beings everywhere, manifested a body undefiled by any world, manifested a body equal in number to all sentient beings, manifested a body surpassing all worlds, manifested a body ripening all sentient beings, manifested a body swiftly going to all the ten directions, manifested a body gathering in everywhere all the ten directions, manifested a body of the ultimate substance and nature of the Tathāgata, manifested a body ultimately subduing sentient beings.
Seeing, Paying Respect, and Inquiring (Chengguan’s Outline): He Asked Four Clauses
Having seen her, Sudhana rejoiced and leapt for joy, bowed to her feet, circled her measureless times, joined his palms before her, and spoke thus: “Holy one! I have already raised the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi (the mind that seeks unsurpassed, right, and universal awakening), and yet I do not know how a bodhisattva, when cultivating the bodhisattva practice, is to benefit sentient beings; how he is to gather sentient beings in with the unsurpassed gathering-in; how he is to accord with the teaching of the buddhas; how he is to draw near to the station of the Dharma king. Would that of your kindness and pity you would tell it out for me!”
The Night Goddess First Praises Sudhana: You Ask for the Sake of Ten Things
At that time, that night goddess said to Sudhana:
“Son of good family! It is because you would rescue and guard all sentient beings; it is because you would adorn and purify all buddha-lands; it is because you would make offerings to all the Tathāgatas; it is because you wish to abide in all kalpas and rescue sentient beings; it is because you wish to guard the lineage of all buddhas; it is because you wish to enter everywhere into the ten directions and cultivate the practices; it is because you wish to enter everywhere into the sea of all Dharma gates; it is because you wish with a mind of equality to pervade all things; it is because you wish to receive everywhere all the Dharma wheels of the buddhas; it is because you wish everywhere, according to what the minds of all sentient beings delight in, to rain down the rain of Dharma — for these things you ask after the gate of practice that the bodhisattvas cultivate.
Setting Forth the Name and Substance, and the Ten Virtues of the Giving of Dharma (Chengguan’s Outline): What the Dharma Gate I Have Gained Is Called
“Son of good family! I have gained the bodhisattva liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound. I am a great master of Dharma with nothing to obstruct me, because I am well able to reveal the Dharma treasuries of the buddhas; I am furnished with great vows and with the power of great kindness and compassion, because I would have all sentient beings abide in the mind of awakening; I am able to do all that benefits sentient beings, because I gather roots of good together without ever resting; I am the tamer and guide of all sentient beings, because I would have all sentient beings abide in the way of Sarvajñā (all-knowledge); I am the pure sun of Dharma for all the worlds, shining everywhere upon the world, because I would have them bring forth roots of good; toward all the worlds my mind is equal, because I would everywhere make sentient beings increase and grow in good dharmas; toward the several objects my mind is pure, because I would wipe out all unwholesome deeds; I vow to benefit all sentient beings, because my body appears everywhere in all lands without ceasing; I display the causes and conditions of all former deeds, because I would have sentient beings abide in good practice; I ever serve all good friends, because I would have sentient beings abide in the teaching of the Buddha.
The Intent of the Giving of Dharma: To Give Dharma Thus Is to Make the Mind Firm as Vajra
“Son of the Buddha! With these dharmas I give Dharma to sentient beings, causing them to bring forth white dharmas and to seek all-knowledge, their minds firm as the vajra treasury of Nārāyaṇa (Nārāyaṇa is the name of a mighty man, and what is taken here is his firmness and indestructibility), well able to contemplate the power of the Buddha and the power of Māra, ever able to draw near to the good friends, breaking down the mountain of obstruction that is deeds and afflictions, gathering together the dharmas that aid the way of all-knowledge, their minds never for a moment forsaking the ground of all-knowledge.
Displaying the Working (Chengguan’s Outline) (One), the Gloss upon “Profound”: Ten Contemplations of the Dharma Realm
“Son of good family! With such light of pure Dharma as this I benefit all sentient beings, and when I gather roots of good and prepare the dharmas that aid the way, I make ten contemplations of the Dharma realm. What are the ten? They are these: I know that the Dharma realm is measureless, because I have obtained the vast light of knowledge; I know that the Dharma realm is boundless, because I have seen all that the buddhas know and see; I know that the Dharma realm is without limit, because I enter everywhere into all the lands of the buddhas and reverently make offerings to the Tathāgatas; I know that the Dharma realm is without shore, because everywhere within all the seas of the Dharma realm I display the cultivation of the bodhisattva practice; I know that the Dharma realm is unbroken, because I have entered the unbroken knowledge of the Tathāgata; I know that the Dharma realm is of one nature, because at the one voice of the Tathāgata there is no sentient being that does not understand; I know that the nature of the Dharma realm is pure, because I understand that the vow of the Tathāgata is to deliver all sentient beings everywhere; I know that the Dharma realm pervades sentient beings, because the wondrous practice of Samantabhadra is everywhere pervading; I know that the Dharma realm is one adornment, because the wondrous practice of Samantabhadra adorns it well; I know that the Dharma realm cannot be destroyed, because the roots of good of all-knowledge fill the Dharma realm and cannot be destroyed. Son of good family! I have made these ten contemplations of the Dharma realm, gathering the roots of good and preparing the dharmas that aid the way, understanding the vast majestic virtue of the buddhas and entering deeply into the realm of the Tathāgata that is hard to conceive.
Displaying the Working (Two), the Gloss upon “Sovereign”: Ten Dhāraṇī Wheels of Great Majestic Virtue
“Again, son of good family! Pondering with right mindfulness in this way, I gained the ten dhāraṇī wheels of the great majestic virtue of the Tathāgata (a dhāraṇī is a holding-together, and a wheel carries the sense of what can turn). What are the ten? They are these: the dhāraṇī wheel of entering everywhere into all dharmas, the dhāraṇī wheel of holding everywhere all dharmas, the dhāraṇī wheel of expounding everywhere all dharmas, the dhāraṇī wheel of calling to mind everywhere all the buddhas of the ten directions, the dhāraṇī wheel of expounding everywhere the names of all buddhas, the dhāraṇī wheel of entering everywhere into the sea of the vows of the buddhas of the three times, the dhāraṇī wheel of entering everywhere into the sea of all the vehicles, the dhāraṇī wheel of entering everywhere into the sea of the deeds of all sentient beings, the dhāraṇī wheel of swiftly turning all deeds, the dhāraṇī wheel of swiftly bringing forth all-knowledge. Son of good family! These ten dhāraṇī wheels have besides ten thousand dhāraṇī wheels for their retinue, ever expounding the wondrous Dharma for sentient beings.
Displaying the Working (Three), the Gloss upon “Wondrous Sound”: Twenty-Three Clauses of Expounding the Dharma
“Son of good family! At times I expound for sentient beings the Dharma of the wisdom that comes of hearing, at times I expound for sentient beings the Dharma of the wisdom that comes of thinking, at times I expound for sentient beings the Dharma of the wisdom that comes of cultivating, at times I expound for sentient beings the Dharma of one existence, at times I expound for sentient beings the Dharma of all existences, at times I expound for them the Dharma of the sea of the name of one Tathāgata, at times the Dharma of the sea of the names of all Tathāgatas, at times the Dharma of one sea of worlds, at times the Dharma of the seas of all worlds, at times the Dharma of one sea of the prophecies of a buddha, at times the Dharma of the seas of the prophecies of all buddhas, at times the Dharma of one sea of the assembly and the place of the Way of a Tathāgata, at times the Dharma of the seas of the assemblies and the places of the Way of all Tathāgatas, at times the Dharma of one sea of the Dharma wheel of a Tathāgata, at times the Dharma of the seas of the Dharma wheels of all Tathāgatas, at times the Dharma of one sūtra of a Tathāgata (a sūtra is a scripture), at times the Dharma of the sūtras of all Tathāgatas, at times the Dharma of one gathering of a Tathāgata, at times the Dharma of the gatherings of all Tathāgatas, at times the Dharma of one sea of the mind of Sarvajñā, at times the Dharma of the seas of the mind of all Sarvajñā, at times the Dharma of the going forth of one vehicle, at times the Dharma of the going forth of all vehicles. Son of good family! With such unspeakable Dharma gates as these do I expound for sentient beings.
Concluding the Benefit (Chengguan’s Outline): Abiding within the Practice of Samantabhadra
“Son of good family! I enter the sea of the gates of the undifferentiated Dharma realm of the Tathāgata, expound the unsurpassed Dharma, gather in sentient beings everywhere, and to the end of the kalpas to come abide in the practice of Samantabhadra. Son of good family! I have accomplished this liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound, and in thought after thought I increase all the gates of liberation, and thought after thought fills all the Dharma realm.”
Distinguishing How Deep the Root of the Dharma Is (Chengguan’s Outline): Sudhana Asks How Long Since She Gained This Dharma Gate
At that time, Sudhana the youth said to the night goddess: “How marvelous, deva-spirit! This gate of liberation is rare indeed! How long is it since the holy one realized it?”
The night goddess said:
The Former Life (One): At That Time There Was a Kalpa, and There Was a World
“Son of good family! In an ancient age gone by, past kalpas as many as the dust motes of the turnings of worlds, there was a kalpa named Undefiled Light, and there was a world named Cloud of the Merit and Virtue of the Dharma Realm. That world had for its substance a sea of maṇi kings that manifested the deeds of all sentient beings; its shape was like a lotus flower; it abode within a net of fragrant maṇi Sumeru mountains as many as the dust motes of a set of four continents; it was adorned with lotus flowers that gave forth the sound of the original vows of all the Tathāgatas, with lotus flowers as many as the dust motes of Mount Sumeru for their retinue, and with fragrant maṇi jewels as many as the dust motes of Mount Sumeru set in among them; and there were sets of four continents as many as the dust motes of Mount Sumeru, and every set of four continents had within it hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of unspeakably unspeakable cities.
The Former Life (Two): The First Buddha of All, and That Wheel-Turning King
“Son of good family! Within that world there was a set of four continents named Wondrous Banner; within it there was a royal city named Light of the Universal Jewel Flower; not far from there was a site of awakening named Palace of the Dharma King Universally Made Manifest. Tathāgatas as many as the dust motes of Mount Sumeru appeared there, and the first buddha of all was named King of the Light of the Thunder-Sound of the Sea of Dharma. When that buddha appeared in the world there was a wheel-turning king named Pure Countenance of Sunlight, who in the presence of that buddha received and upheld the sūtra of the Whirling of the Sea of All Dharmas. After the Buddha’s nirvāṇa, that king went forth from the household life and guarded the true Dharma.
The Former Life (Three): When the Dharma Was about to Perish, the King Who Was a Monk Rose into the Sky
“When the Dharma was about to perish, there were a thousand divisions of differing assemblies and a thousand kinds of expounding. Near to the final kalpa, the obstruction of deeds and afflictions was deep and heavy; the many evil monks were often quarrelling, delighting in clinging to objects, not seeking merit and virtue, delighting to talk the talk of kings, the talk of thieves, the talk of women, the talk of the state, the talk of the great sea, and all the talk of the world.
“At that time, that king who had gone forth and become a monk said to them: ‘How strange! How bitter! Through measureless great seas of kalpas the Buddha gathered together this torch of Dharma; how is it that you would destroy it together?’ Having spoken thus, he rose into the sky to the height of seven tāla trees, and from his body there came forth clouds of flames of measureless colors, and he sent out nets of great light of every color, causing measureless sentient beings to be rid of the fever of the afflictions and causing measureless sentient beings to raise the mind of awakening. Through these causes and conditions, the teaching of that Tathāgata flourished again for sixty-five thousand years.
The Former Life (Four): The King’s Daughter Went Forth as a Nun, and So Gained the Dharma
“At that time there was a nun named Light of the Transformations of the Dharma Wheel, who was this king’s daughter, with a hundred thousand nuns for her retinue. Hearing her father the king’s words and seeing such spiritual power, she raised the mind of awakening never to turn back from it, and gained a samādhi named Lamp of the Teaching of All Buddhas, and gained besides this liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound; and having gained it, her body and mind became soft and pliant, and straightway she was able to see before her all the spiritual powers of the Tathāgata King of the Light of the Thunder-Sound of the Sea of Dharma.
Bringing Together Past and Present (Chengguan’s Outline): Who the People of That Time Are Now
“Son of good family! What do you think? That wheel-turning sage king who accorded with the Tathāgata in turning the wheel of the true Dharma and who, after the Buddha’s nirvāṇa, made the last age of the Dharma flourish — could he be another? He is the bodhisattva Samantabhadra of today. And that nun Light of the Transformations of the Dharma Wheel is this very body of mine. At that time I guarded the Buddha-Dharma, and caused a hundred thousand nuns to reach the point of no turning back from anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, and caused them further to gain the samādhi of seeing all buddhas before them, and caused them further to gain the dhāraṇī of the vajra light of the Dharma wheel of all buddhas, and caused them further to gain the prajñā-pāramitā of entering everywhere into the sea of all Dharma gates.
The Former Life (Five): The Buddhas Who Appeared Next within That Kalpa
“Next a buddha arose, named Undefiled Light of the Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Topknot of the Light of the Dharma Wheel; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Merit of the Sun of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named King of the Wondrous Sound of the Sea of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Lamp of Wisdom of the Sun of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Banner of the Dharma Flower; next a buddha arose, named King of the Banner of the Mountain of Dharma Flames; next a buddha arose, named Moon of the Merit of the Profound Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Treasury of the Universal Light of the Knowledge of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Treasury of Universal Knowledge Revealed; next a buddha arose, named King of the Mountain of the Treasury of Merit; next a buddha arose, named Worthy Sumeru of the Universal Gate; next a buddha arose, named Banner of Vigor in All Dharmas; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Merit of the Jewel Flower of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Topknot of Tranquil Light; next a buddha arose, named Moon of the Kindness and Compassion of the Light of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Sea of the Flames of Merit; next a buddha arose, named Universal Light of the Sun of Knowledge; next a buddha arose, named Perfect Knowledge of Samantabhadra; next a buddha arose, named King of the Light of the Knowledge of Spiritual Powers; next a buddha arose, named Lamp of the Flower-Light of Merit; next a buddha arose, named King of the Banner of the Lion of Knowledge; next a buddha arose, named King of the Universal Shining of Sunlight; next a buddha arose, named Mark of the Jeweled Adornment of Sumeru; next a buddha arose, named Universal Shining of Sunlight; next a buddha arose, named Moon of the Merit of the Dharma King; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Wondrous Sound of the Opening Lotus; next a buddha arose, named Mark of the Light of the Sun; next a buddha arose, named Sound of the Wondrous Dharma of Universal Light; next a buddha arose, named Fearlessness of the Lion, the Vajra, the Nārāyaṇa; next a buddha arose, named Banner of the Valor of Universal Knowledge; next a buddha arose, named Body That Opens Everywhere the Lotus of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Sea of the Wondrous Flowers of Merit; next a buddha arose, named Moon of the Merit of the Place of the Way; next a buddha arose, named Moon of the Blazing Torch of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Topknot of Universal Light; next a buddha arose, named Lamp of the Banner of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Banner of the Vajra Sea; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Merit of the Mountain of Renown; next a buddha arose, named Wondrous Moon of Sandalwood; next a buddha arose, named Flower of Universal Wondrous Light; next a buddha arose, named King of the Light That Shines upon All Sentient Beings; next a buddha arose, named Treasury of the Lotus of Merit; next a buddha arose, named King of the Light of Fragrant Flames; next a buddha arose, named Cause of the Padma Flower; next a buddha arose, named Universal Light of the Mountain of the Many Marks; next a buddha arose, named Banner of Universal Renown; next a buddha arose, named Light of the Universal Gate of Sumeru; next a buddha arose, named Light of the Dharma City of Merit; next a buddha arose, named Light of the Mountain of the Great Tree; next a buddha arose, named Banner of the Light of Universal Virtue; next a buddha arose, named Auspicious Mark of Merit; next a buddha arose, named Banner of the Valiant Power of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Sound of the Light of the Dharma Wheel; next a buddha arose, named Light of the Wisdom of the Mountain of Merit; next a buddha arose, named Moon of the Unsurpassed Wondrous Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Banner of the Pure Light of the Dharma Lotus; next a buddha arose, named Treasury of the Light of the Jeweled Lotus; next a buddha arose, named Lamp of the Mountain of Clouds of Light-Flames; next a buddha arose, named Flower of Universal Awakening; next a buddha arose, named Treasury of Sumeru of the Flames of Every Kind of Merit; next a buddha arose, named King of the Mountain of Perfect Light; next a buddha arose, named Adornment of the Cloud of Merit; next a buddha arose, named Banner of the Clouds of the Mountain of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Light of the Mountain of Merit; next a buddha arose, named King of the Lamp of the Clouds of the Sun of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named King of the Renown of the Dharma Cloud; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Dharma Wheel; next a buddha arose, named Banner of the Light of the Knowledge of Awakening That Enlightens; next a buddha arose, named Moon of the Dharma Wheel Shining Everywhere; next a buddha arose, named Worthy of the Majestic Virtue of the Jewel Mountain; next a buddha arose, named Vast Light of Worthy Virtue; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of Universal Knowledge; next a buddha arose, named Mountain of the Merit of the Power of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named King of the Fragrant Flames of Merit; next a buddha arose, named Wondrous Sound of the Golden Maṇi Mountain; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Light of All Dharmas Issuing from the Crown-Topknot; next a buddha arose, named Blazing Light of the Dharma Wheel; next a buddha arose, named Unsurpassed Mountain of Merit; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Light of the Torch of Vigor; next a buddha arose, named Crown of the Vast Light of the Seal of Samādhi; next a buddha arose, named King of the Merit of the Jewel Light; next a buddha arose, named Sound of the Jeweled Canopy of the Torch of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Light of the Fearless Dharma Shining Everywhere upon the Realm of Empty Space; next a buddha arose, named Banner Adorned with the Mark of the Moon; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Mountain of Flames of Light; next a buddha arose, named Shining upon the Unobstructed Dharma Space; next a buddha arose, named Body of the Light of Knowledge Opened and Revealed; next a buddha arose, named Sound of the Light of the Virtue of the Ruler of the World; next a buddha arose, named Sound of the Light of the Samādhi of All Dharmas; next a buddha arose, named Treasury of the Merit of the Sound of Dharma; next a buddha arose, named Cloud of the Sea of Dharma of Blazing Flames; next a buddha arose, named Great Light Shining Everywhere upon the Marks of the Three Times; next a buddha arose, named Mountain of the Dharma Wheel Shining Everywhere; next a buddha arose, named Light of the Lion of the Dharma Realm; next a buddha arose, named Light of the Flowers of Sumeru; next a buddha arose, named Lion-Flame of the Sea of All Samādhis; next a buddha arose, named Lamp of the Light of Universal Knowledge.
The Former Life (Six): The Last Buddha of All, and What I Did among Them
“Son of good family! Of such Tathāgatas as these, as many as the dust motes of Mount Sumeru, the last buddha of all was named Lamp of the Wisdom of the City of the Dharma Realm, and they all arose in the world within the kalpa Undefiled Light. Toward them all I was reverent, drew near to them, made offerings to them, and heard and received and upheld the wondrous Dharma they expounded; and in the presence of all those Tathāgatas I too went forth from the household life and studied the way, guarded the teaching of the Dharma, entered this bodhisattva liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound, and with every kind of skillful means taught and ripened measureless sentient beings. From that time onward, through kalpas as many as the dust motes of a buddha-land, all the buddhas who have arisen in the world I have made offerings to, and I have cultivated their Dharma.
Displaying the Like through Many Kalpas (Chengguan’s Outline): Alone Awake in the Long Night of Birth and Death
“Son of good family! From that time onward, amid the sentient beings who lie in the night of birth and death and in the slumber of ignorance, I alone am awake; and I cause sentient beings to guard the city of their own mind, to forsake the city of the three realms, and to abide in the unsurpassed Dharma city of all-knowledge.
Humbling Herself and Pointing to the Superior (Chengguan’s Outline): I Know Only This One
“Son of good family! I know only this liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound, which can cause the worlds to leave off frivolous talk, not to make talk that is split in two, the latter half at odds with the former, ever to speak true talk, and always to speak pure talk. But as for the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, they are able to know the own-nature of all speech, and in thought after thought sovereignly to awaken all sentient beings, and to enter the sea of the sounds and speech of all sentient beings, and to distinguish and understand all forms of speech, and clearly to see the sea of all the Dharma gates, and to have gained sovereignty in the dhāraṇī that gathers in all dharmas everywhere, and to expound the Dharma for sentient beings according to what their minds doubt, and ultimately to subdue all sentient beings, and to gather in and receive all sentient beings everywhere, and skillfully to cultivate all the unsurpassed deeds of a bodhisattva, and to enter deeply into all the subtle knowledge of a bodhisattva, and well to contemplate the treasuries of the bodhisattvas, and sovereignly to expound the dharmas of the bodhisattvas. Why is this so? Because they have already accomplished the dhāraṇī of the wheel of all dharmas. And how then could I know or tell of their practices of merit and virtue?
Pointing Out the Next Friend (Chengguan’s Outline): Go and Ask Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees
“Son of good family! Within this assembly of the Buddha there is a night goddess named Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees. Go to her and ask: how is a bodhisattva to study all-knowledge? How is he to establish all sentient beings in abiding in all-knowledge?”
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (One): Praising the Profundity of This Liberation
At that time, the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, wishing to state again the sense of this liberation, spoke verses for Sudhana the youth, saying:
“The bodhisattva’s liberation is deep and hard to see, a mark equal like empty space and like suchness, seeing everywhere within the boundless Dharma realm all the Tathāgatas of the three times.
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Two): Restating the Substance and the Working Above
“It brings forth measureless surpassing merit and virtue, and realizes the true nature of dharmas that is hard to conceive; it increases all sovereign knowledge and opens through the way of liberation of the three times.
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Three): Rehearsing the Kalpa and the World of the Former Life
“Past kalpas as many as the dust motes of the turnings of lands, at that time there was a kalpa named Pure Light, and the world was named Cloud of Dharma Flames, and that city was called Light of the Jewel Flower.
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Four): The Buddhas Who Appeared First within That Kalpa
“Buddhas arose in the world therein, in number equal to the dust motes of Sumeru; and there was a buddha named Sound of the Sea of Dharma, who appeared first within this kalpa;
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Five): The Last Buddha of All
“and so on to the last buddha therein, named King of the Lamp of the Flames of the Dharma Realm; and to all such Tathāgatas as these I made offerings and heard and received their Dharma.
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Six): Seeing the First Buddha and Raising the Mind
“I saw the Buddha Thunder-Sound of the Sea of Dharma, his body everywhere of the color of true gold, the many marks adorning him like a mountain of jewels, and I raised the mind and vowed to become a Tathāgata.
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Seven): One Glimpse, and the Vast Mind Was Raised
“For but a moment I saw that Tathāgata’s body, and straightway raised the vast mind of awakening, vowing to seek all-knowledge with diligence, its nature equal to the Dharma realm and to empty space.
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Eight): Thereby Seeing Everywhere the Buddhas of the Three Times
“By this I saw everywhere the buddhas of the three times, and all the assemblies of bodhisattvas; I saw too the seas of lands and the seas of sentient beings, and so laid hold of them everywhere and raised great compassion.
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Nine): Manifesting Bodies According to What Beings Delight In
“According to what the minds of sentient beings delight in, I display bodies of every kind and measureless, pervading everywhere the lands of the ten directions, shaking the earth and spreading light, awakening the beings that bear consciousness.
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Ten): From the Second Buddha Down to the Last
“I saw the second buddha and drew near to him, and saw too the buddhas of the seas of lands of the ten directions, and so on to the arising of the last buddha, such being their number as the dust motes of Sumeru.
The Night Goddess’s Verses Restating (Eleven): Displaying the Like through Many Kalpas, and This Liberation Made Pure
“Through kalpas as many as the dust motes of the turnings of lands, all the Tathāgatas are lamps that shine upon the world; toward them all I drew near and gazed up and served, causing this liberation to be made pure.”
Sudhana Gains the Benefit: He Entered This Liberation
At that time, because Sudhana the youth had entered this bodhisattva liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound, he entered the boundless sea of samādhis, entered the vast sea of holding-together, gained the great spiritual powers of a bodhisattva, and obtained the great eloquence of a bodhisattva; his mind greatly rejoiced, and contemplating the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, he praised her in verses, saying:
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (One): Praising Her Merit and Knowledge as Beyond All
“You have walked the vast sea of wondrous wisdom, and have crossed the boundless sea of the several existences, long-lived and without ill, a body that is the treasury of knowledge, with light of majestic virtue abiding in this assembly.
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (Two): She Understands the Nature of Dharmas and Has Cut Off Discrimination Forever
“You understand the nature of dharmas as like empty space, and enter everywhere into the three times without obstruction; thought after thought you lay hold of every object, and mind after mind you cut off forever the discriminations.
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (Three): Knowing That Beings Are without Nature, She Raises Great Compassion
“You understand that sentient beings have no nature, and yet toward sentient beings you raise great compassion; you enter deeply the Tathāgata’s gate of liberation, and widely deliver the measureless multitudes who are lost.
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (Four): Contemplating All Dharmas and Converting Beings Everywhere
“You contemplate and ponder all dharmas, and understand and realize and enter the nature of the dharmas; cultivating in this way the wisdom of a buddha, you convert sentient beings everywhere and set them free.
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (Five): Praising Her as the Tamer and Guide
“Deva-spirit, you are the tamer and guide of sentient beings, revealing the way of the wisdom of the Tathāgata, and everywhere for the beings that bear consciousness in the Dharma realm you expound the practice that leaves behind the many fears of the world.
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (Six): Praising Her as Abiding in the Way of the Vows
“You already abide in all the ways of the vows of the Tathāgata, you have already received the vast teaching of awakening, you have already cultivated the power of all the practices that pervade, you have already seen the sovereignty of the buddhas of the ten directions.
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (Seven): Praising Her Mind as Pure as Space
“Deva-spirit, your mind is pure as empty space, everywhere apart from all the afflictions, understanding the measureless lands of the three times, the buddhas and bodhisattvas and the sentient beings.
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (Eight): Praising How in One Thought She Knows It All
“Deva-spirit, in one thought you understand it all — day and night, the sun and moon, the years, the sea of kalpas; and you know too all the kinds of sentient beings, their names and marks of every kind, each one different from the rest.
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (Nine): Praising How She Leads Beings into the Road of Awakening
“Where sentient beings of the ten directions are born and die, those with form and those without, those with perception and those without, according with the worldly you understand them all, and lead them so that they enter the road of awakening.
Sudhana’s Verses of Praise (Ten): Praising Her as Born into the Family of the Tathāgata
“You are already born into the family of the vows of the Tathāgata, you have already entered the sea of the merit and virtue of the buddhas; your Dharma body is pure and your mind unobstructed, and according to what sentient beings delight in you manifest bodies of every color.”
Cherishing Her Virtue and Taking Leave (Chengguan’s Outline)
At that time, Sudhana the youth, having spoken these verses, bowed to the night goddess’s feet, circled her measureless times, gazed up at her earnestly, took his leave, and departed.
這一節在講什麼：一名三義
善財第三十六位善知識，是守護一切城夜神。他所授的法門叫「甚深自在妙音解脫」。這一節的長行為什麼那樣整齊？因為它先標名，再以三段業用次第說之，末後一句總收；而這三段各釋名中之何字，是澄觀的科文所配——他科別顯業用一分云「於中三：初釋甚深、次釋自在、後釋妙音」，於是十種觀察法界配『甚深』，十種大威德陀羅尼輪配『自在』，二十三句說法配『妙音』。
澄觀在標名處逐字下釋，說「即事契理，故曰甚深。權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在。依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音」。
要排一個誤解：以為法門名只是個標籤，讀過就算。這一節偏偏不是——名是綱，下面三大段是目，不循名去讀，那三段就成了三堆並列的名相。落到地上：讀這一節，手裡先握住這六個字，每讀一段就問一次『這是在釋哪一個字』。
澄觀把這一位判在現前地，這個判是怎麼來的
本會善知識配十地之位，是澄觀承古德而立，不是經文自己說的。
澄觀明判
澄觀在總論這一品的地方，把兩種讀法都擺出來，末後明判其取捨：「六分五相者，若意法師及臺山論，但隨文散釋，更無別配；光統等師皆配地位。二皆有理，謂隨一一位具多法門，豈容凡心不得習求善友之法，故不配有理。然無次位中不礙次位，顯位是常規，配亦無失。」——二途皆有其理，故取古德之配而不廢另一途。
到了這一位，澄觀繫的是第六現前地，說「第六守護一切城夜神，寄現前地」。他在《演義鈔》裡申明理由，說「住緣起智，引無分別最勝般若令現前故」。
要排一個誤解：以為「寄現前地」是經文的判語。經文從頭到尾沒有地名。落到地上：讀寄位之說，要記得它是古德為讀者搭的階梯，不是經文自己立的門檻。
念前友之教：他是帶著上一站走到這一站的
這一節起手不是走路，是念。善財「隨順寂靜音海夜神教，思惟觀察所說法門」，而且「一一文句皆無忘失」。
為什麼要這樣寫？因為前一位夜神名寂靜音海，所授之法門名「念念出生廣大喜莊嚴解脫門」；本節起手所作的，正是「隨順寂靜音海夜神教，思惟觀察所說法門」，而且「一一文句皆無忘失」——帶著前一站所受之教，一句不落地走到這一站。經文更說他「於無量深心、無量法性、一切方便神通智慧，憶念思擇，相續不斷」——念不是回憶，是相續。
要排一個誤解：以為一位善知識的教，在辭別的時候就交割完畢了。經文的次第正相反：前一站的所得，正是走向下一站的資糧。落到地上：離開一位老師之後那段路上心裡在轉什麼，決定了到下一位那裡能聽見什麼。
十身現化：起於眾生，極於如來，還歸眾生
善財見到這位夜神時，經文不寫他說了什麼，先寫他現了什麼——十個「現……身」句。從「現一切眾生色相身」起，中經普對眾生、不染世間、與眾生身數相等、超過世間、成熟眾生、速往十方、遍攝十方，到「現究竟如來體性身」，末以「現究竟調伏眾生身」收。
這十句的次第有一個回環：起處是眾生的色相，極處是如來的體性，而收處又回到調伏眾生。上得去，還要下得來。
要排一個誤解：以為十身是十種神通表演。經文所現的每一身都繫著一件事——或對機、或不染、或成熟、或速往。落到地上：看一位善知識，不必先聽他說什麼，先看他的身安在什麼位置上。
善財的四個問句：問的是行，不是理
善財設敬之後所問的，是四句：「云何饒益眾生？云何以無上攝而攝眾生？云何順諸佛教？云何近法王位？」
為什麼問這四句？因為他自陳「我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩修菩薩行時」——心已發，行未知。四問由外而內：先問利他之事，次問攝受之法，再問順教，末問近位。所問的全是行門，沒有一句在問理。
要排一個誤解：以為參學是求解。這一節的問法明明白白是求行。落到地上：發了心而不知道明天早上該做什麼，這正是善財在這裡問的那件事。
夜神先不答，先讚：你是為十件事來問的
夜神開口不是說法，是先把善財的來意數了一遍——十個「汝為」「汝欲」句：為救護眾生、為嚴淨佛剎、為供養如來，欲住一切劫救眾生、欲守護佛種性、欲普入十方修行、欲普入法門海、欲以平等心遍一切、欲普受佛法輪、欲隨眾生所樂雨法雨。末後才說「問諸菩薩所修行門」。
澄觀科這一段為稱讚授法之前分，說是「先讚發心之相」。
要排一個誤解：以為這是客套。十句所讚的不是善財已有的功德，是他問句底下的用心——把一個問句還原成十重願。落到地上：一個問題值不值得答，先看提問的人是站在哪裡問的。
標名體：甚深·自在·妙音，六個字三重義
夜神自陳所得，是「我得菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫」。這六字如何解？澄觀逐字下釋：「即事契理，故曰甚深」——在事上就與理相契，不必離事求理，所以叫甚深；「權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在」——權巧與真實兩不相礙，含攝著妙辯，所以叫自在；「依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音」——依這樣的甚深自在來說法，普遍應合各種根機，所以叫妙音。
要排一個誤解：以為甚深是境、自在是心、妙音是口，三件事。澄觀的釋是一路貫下來的：甚深故能自在，自在故成妙音——是一件事的三個面。落到地上：說法之所以能應機，根子不在辯才，在能不能於事上契理。
法施十德：十句都以「故」字結尾
標名之後緊接十句，句句先陳其德、後以「故」字說出所以然。一、為大法師無所罣礙，是因為「善能開示諸佛法藏故」——所為在開藏，不在能說。二、具大誓願大慈悲力，是因為「令一切眾生住菩提心故」——願與悲之所向是眾生之發心。三、能作一切利眾生事，是因為「積集善根無有休息故」——利生之力從不間斷的積集來。四、為一切眾生調御之師，是因為「令一切眾生住薩婆若道故」——調御不是管束，是把人放到一切智之道上。五、為一切世間清淨法日而普照世間，是因為「令生善根故」——日之為用在生長，不在照耀本身。六、於一切世間其心平等，是因為「普令眾生增長善法故」——平等之心所以要平等，是為了普令而不是偏令。七、於諸境界其心清淨，是因為「除滅一切諸不善業故」——對境不染，正是為了替眾生斷不善業。八、誓願利益一切眾生，是因為「身恒普現一切國土故」——願要兌現，得有身到得了的地方。九、示現一切本事因緣，是因為「令諸眾生安住善行故」——說自己的往事不是敘舊，是給人一條可走的行路。十、末句「恒事一切諸善知識，為令眾生安住佛教故」——事師也是為眾生。
澄觀判此為顯業用之總明，說「先十句彰法施之德」。
要排一個誤解：以為這十句是在誇自己。每一句的重心都在「故」字之後——那是所為，不是所是。落到地上：檢驗一件善行，看它後面接不接得上一個「為令眾生」的句子。
法施之意：法施是要把人的心變成金剛
十德之後，夜神換了一個稱呼，叫「佛子」，說出法施的用意：「我以此等法施眾生，令生白法，求一切智，其心堅固猶如金剛那羅延藏。」
為什麼要用金剛那羅延來比？因為法施若只令人歡喜，風一吹就散；要令人「善能觀察佛力、魔力」，能分得出佛的力與魔的力，才叫堅固。下文所列也全是硬功夫——親近善知識、摧破業惑障山、集助道之法、心恆不捨一切智地。
要排一個誤解：以為布施法就是把道理講給人聽。經文說的是令他生白法、求一切智、心如金剛——是要在對方身上長出東西來。落到地上：一場法施有沒有效，看聽的人第二天分不分得清什麼在推他往前、什麼在拉他回頭。
十種觀察法界：這十句是行，不是十個結論
釋甚深的一段，是十句『我知法界某某』。乍看是十個關於法界的結論，澄觀偏不這樣讀。他說「列法界中十種別義，約十種行顯之，以行必稱理、理由行顯故」——十種別義是理，而經文是用十種行把它顯出來。
證據在句式：每一句『我知法界某某』之後，都接一個以「故」字結的行。如「我知法界無限，普入一切諸佛國土，恭敬供養諸如來故」——無限是理，普入而供養是行。理不是想出來的，是走出來的。
澄觀又逐一標其前五之義，說「謂一無分量、二無邊際、三無齊限、四無涯畔、五豎無斷絕，餘可知」——前四就橫說，第五之無斷就豎說，五者同是就量之無盡說。
澄觀所云「餘可知」的後五句，經文自身把理與行都寫明了，可逐句對讀：第六「我知法界一性，如來一音，一切眾生無不了故」——一性是理，如來一音而眾生皆了是行；法界之所以是一，驗在一音能普被。第七「我知法界性淨，了如來願普度一切諸眾生故」——性淨是理，而所以知之者在了佛之普度願；願不揀人，正見性本來淨。第八「我知法界遍眾生，普賢妙行悉周遍故」——遍是理，普賢妙行之周遍是行；法界遍不遍，看行到不到。第九「我知法界一莊嚴，普賢妙行善莊嚴故」——一莊嚴是理，仍以普賢妙行為能莊嚴者；八、九兩句同以普賢行為因由，而所顯之義一是遍、一是嚴。第十「我知法界不可壞，一切智善根充滿法界不可壞故」——不可壞是理，一切智善根之充滿是行；善根充滿到哪裡，不可壞就顯到哪裡。
要排一個誤解：以為觀察法界是打坐時的一種觀想。落到地上：想知道法界有多寬，辦法是往前多走一步，不是閉眼多想一層。
十種大威德陀羅尼輪：總持而能轉
釋自在的一段，是十種陀羅尼輪。陀羅尼是總持，加一個「輪」字是能轉之義。十輪之名，前三就法立（普入·普持·普說一切法），次三就佛立（普念十方佛·普說佛名號·普入三世佛願海），再次三就所化立（普入諸乘海·普入眾生業海·疾轉一切業），末一就果立（疾生一切智）。
澄觀釋此段云「釋自在義，謂總持權實故，各就所持立名」——自在之所以成立，在於權與實都持得住；而每一輪的名字，就是從它所持的那一分立的。
要排一個誤解：以為總持是記性好。經文說這十輪還「以十千陀羅尼輪而為眷屬，恒為眾生演說妙法」——總持是為了說，不是為了存。落到地上：真記住一件法的標誌，是你能在別人需要的時候把它取出來。
二十三句說法：前三是三慧，後二十是十對
釋妙音的一段最長，是二十三句「或為眾生說……」。澄觀分得極清楚：「今初，有二十三句：初三約三慧；後二十句為十對，約廣略辨。」
前三句是聞慧、思慧、修慧——就聽者所處的階段說。後二十句兩兩成對，每一對都是「一」與「一切」相望，十對各有其分際：第一對「一有法」與「一切有法」，就法之總體說；第二對就佛之名說，是「一如來名海法」與「一切如來名海法」；第三對就處說，是世界海法；第四對就時說，是佛授記海法——授記者，記其何時成佛；第五對就眾說，是如來眾會道場海法；第六對就所轉之教說，是如來法輪海法；第七對就教之成文說，是如來修多羅法；第八對就會眾之聚說，是如來集會法；第九對就心說，是薩婆若心海法；第十對就所乘之出離說，是「一乘出離法」與「一切乘出離法」。十對之序由法而佛、而處、而時、而眾、而教、而文、而會、而心，末以乘之出離收——說法之事，起於一個法，終於一條出去的路。澄觀就第一對舉例，說「理一有者，二十五有理無二故。事一有者，同一有為故」——一個「一有」可以就理讀，也可以就事讀。
要排一個誤解：以為說「一切」比說「一」高。廣略只是應機的兩種取法，不是深淺的兩層。落到地上：對著一個人講，說一就夠；對著一群人講，才須說一切。
結益：住普賢行，念念充滿法界
三段業用說完，夜神以兩句收：一句別結甚深——「我入如來無差別法界門海，說無上法，普攝眾生，盡未來劫，住普賢行」；一句通結自在與妙音——「我成就此甚深自在妙音解脫，於念念中增長一切諸解脫門，念念充滿一切法界」。
澄觀就這兩句下判，說「先別結甚深益，由入無差別故，住劫而不疲；後「我成就」下通結妙音自在總持故增長解脫，妙音故充滿法界」。入無差別，所以住無量劫也不疲——這是甚深之益；總持故解脫增長，妙音故遍滿法界——這是自在與妙音之益。
要排一個誤解：以為「盡未來劫」是誇張的時間量。它是接在「無差別」下面的，因為無差別才不疲，不疲才說得出盡未來劫。落到地上：能不能久做一件事，取決於做的時候心裡分不分別。
善財問久如：這一問問出了整段本生
法說完了，善財問的不是義理，是時間：「奇哉！天神！此解脫門如是希有！聖者證得，其已久如？」
為什麼問這個？澄觀科這一分為「辨法根深」——法之根有多深，靠說是說不出來的，只能靠一段往事來顯。所以善財這一問，問出了本節最長的一段本生。
要排一個誤解：以為問『多久』是好奇心。在這一品裡，久近之問是有定法的——它是求法者確認一個法門份量的方式。落到地上：聽一句教之前先問它從哪裡來，這不是懷疑，是敬重。
本生（一）：劫名離垢光明，世界名法界功德雲
夜神的回答從最遠處起：「乃往古世，過世界轉微塵數劫，有劫名：離垢光明，有世界名：法界功德雲。」
「世界轉微塵數劫」是什麼量？澄觀解得很細：「言世界轉者，謂世界為塵，一塵一剎，復末為塵，故亦猶無量。」把世界碎為微塵，一粒塵算一個剎，再把那些剎碎為塵——如此輾轉，所以說猶如無量。而那個世界的莊嚴，經文說它以現眾生業的摩尼王海為體，形如蓮華，一一四天下有百千億那由他不可說不可說城。
要排一個誤解：以為這些數字是修辭上的鋪張。它們是為下文那一個「久」字鋪的底——不先把時間拉開，「其已久如」就得不到回答。落到地上：城多，所以下文那位「守護一切城」的名號才有分量。
本生（二）：最初那位佛，與那位受持經而後出家的王
在那個世界的一個四天下裡，有王都名普寶華光，有菩提場名普顯現法王宮殿，須彌山微塵數的如來在那裡出現，「其最初佛，名：法海雷音光明王」。那時有一位轉輪王，名清淨日光明面，在那位佛那裡「受持一切法海旋修多羅」；佛涅槃之後，「其王出家，護持正法」。
澄觀科本生為六分，此為前二分——「一標佛現；二「彼佛出時」下父王出家」。
要排一個誤解：以為轉輪王出家是捨位求安。經文接的是「護持正法」四字——他出家不是為退，是為守。落到地上：一個人放下手上的位置，要看他放下之後接手了什麼。
本生（三）：法要滅的時候，有人上昇虛空說了一句話
接著是惡世之相：「法欲滅時，有千部異眾千種說法」，「諸惡比丘多有鬪諍，樂著境界，不求功德」，所樂談的是王論、賊論、女論、國論、海論以及一切世間之論。
於是那位王比丘說了一句話：「奇哉！苦哉！佛於無量諸大劫海集此法炬，云何汝等而共毀滅？」說完便上昇虛空，高七多羅樹，「身出無量諸色焰雲，放種種色大光明網」，令無量眾生除煩惱熱、發菩提心。因為這個因緣，那一代教法「復於六萬五千歲中而得興盛」。
澄觀科此二分為「三「法欲滅」下惡世過興；四「時王比丘」下滅過弘闡」。
要排一個誤解：以為他是靠神通鎮住了場面。經文寫得清楚：光所作的事是除煩惱熱、發菩提心——是在人心上作用，不是在場面上作用。落到地上：法炬是集起來的，也是一句一句被丟掉的；接住它的辦法，往往只是有人肯先說那一句話。
本生（四）：王的女兒，因聞父語見神力而得此法門
那位王比丘的女兒，是比丘尼法輪化光，有百千比丘尼為眷屬。她「聞父王語及見神力，發菩提心永不退轉」，得三昧名一切佛教燈，「又得此甚深自在妙音解脫」；得了之後身心柔軟，隨即能現前見到那位如來的一切神力。
澄觀特別指出，這一分才是善財那一問的正答——「五「時有比丘尼」下王女見聞發心得法，即正答得法久近也」。
要排一個誤解：以為得法的關鍵在她是王女。經文所繫的因緣是兩件事：聞語、見神力——一件是聽見，一件是看見。落到地上：一個法門傳到你手上，通常也就是這樣兩件事的合力，不會更神祕。
結會古今：那時的兩個人，就是今天的兩位
本生的收束是一問一答：「善男子！於汝意云何？彼時轉輪聖王隨於如來轉正法輪，佛涅槃後興隆末法者，豈異人乎？今普賢菩薩是。其法輪化光比丘尼，即我身是。」
澄觀科此為「六「於汝意云何」下結會古今成益」。夜神接著自陳當時所作——令十萬比丘尼於無上菩提得不退轉，令得現見一切佛三昧，令得一切佛法輪金剛光明陀羅尼，令得普入一切法門海般若波羅蜜。
要排一個誤解：以為結會古今只是身分的揭曉。它的作用是把「久如」一問落到實處——法門不是憑空得的，是在那一場護法之中得的。落到地上：一個人今天能給出什麼，多半等於他當年在最難的地方守住了什麼。
百佛列名：一個「次有佛興」重複到底
本生之後是一長段佛名，句式全同——『次有佛興，名：某某』。經文此句九十八見，連同最初的法海雷音光明王與最後的法界城智慧燈，成一劫之中的佛序。澄觀不逐名而釋，只以一句總判，說這是「略舉次前百佛」。
為什麼要列這麼多？因為上文說的是「須彌山微塵數如來」，若一名不舉，那個數就只是個數；舉了近百名，那個數才落成了序列。而這近百名之中，多以法·智·光·雲·幢為構詞——法海妙音王、法日智慧燈、法焰山幢王、法界師子光——名之所繫，仍在一個「法」字。
要排一個誤解：以為這一段可以跳過。近百個佛名一個一個列出來，正是「我皆尊重，親近供養」那一句所指的實事；名不列出來，那一句就落不到地上。落到地上：所謂供養一切佛，落實下來就是這樣一個一個地遇、一個一個地事奉。
最後那位佛，與其後無量劫的相續
列名畢，經文收：「善男子！如是等須彌山微塵數如來，其最後佛，名：法界城智慧燈，並於離垢光明劫中，出興于世。」夜神說他對這些如來都尊重親近供養，聽聞受持，並且「亦於彼一切諸如來所，出家學道，護持法教」，以種種方便教化成熟無量眾生。其後又說「從是已來，於佛剎微塵數劫，所有諸佛出興於世；我皆供養，修行其法」。
澄觀科此以下為類顯多劫成益，說「後「從是已來」下類顯多劫成益」。
要排一個誤解：以為初劫得法之後就完了。經文明說得法之後仍是出家學道、護持法教——得法不是終點，是換一種身分繼續作同一件事。落到地上：一個人真得了什麼，看他得了之後還肯不肯做原來那些瑣碎的事。
生死是夜，無明是睡：夜神之名的落處
類顯多劫的收句，是本節最好認的一句：「善男子！我從是來，於生死夜無明昏寐諸眾生中而獨覺悟；令諸眾生，守護心城，捨三界城，住一切智無上法城。」
這一句把整個名號安放好了。生死是夜，無明是昏睡，所以他是夜神；而經文所說的三重城，是他「令諸眾生」去作的三件事——令眾生守護心城，令眾生捨三界城，令眾生住於一切智的無上法城。守·捨·住三個動作各配一城，一句之內三轉；作者是眾生，使之者是夜神。
李通玄就這位善友的名號說「表常守護一切眾生心城」，與經文此句同一落處。
要排一個誤解：以為「守護一切城」是說他管著很多城池。經文自己給出的城是心城、三界城、法城。落到地上：守城的第一件事，是先認出自己要守的是哪一座。
謙己推勝：他先說自己只知道一個
到了謙己一分，夜神說「我唯知此甚深自在妙音解脫」，隨即舉出這解脫的四種語業——「令諸世間，離戲論語，不作二語，常真實語，恒清淨語」。
這四句怎麼讀？澄觀給了兩門。就妙音而釋，是四種語善業——「若約妙音釋，則不綺、不離間、不妄、不惡口，如次配之」：不綺語、不離間語、不妄語、不惡口，四者各離一種語惡；就甚深而釋，則標準提高了一層——「若約甚深釋者，不與理合皆名戲論，理外發言即是二語」。前一門是不說壞話，後一門是凡不與理相合的話都算戲論。
要排一個誤解：以為第二門太苛。它正是這一位所授之法門的自然結論——名為甚深，故連話都要以理為準。落到地上：先做到前一門，再拿後一門當鏡子。
推勝知多：菩薩所知的，是言語的自性
自陳一分之後是推勝。夜神所推的不是別的神通，仍是語——諸菩薩「能知一切語言自性」，由知語言之性而「於念念中自在開悟一切眾生」，能「入一切眾生言音海，於一切言辭悉皆辨了」；由辨了言辭而「明見一切諸法門海」，由明見法門而「於普攝一切法陀羅尼已得自在」，由總持自在而能「隨諸眾生心之所疑而為說法」，由應疑說法而「究竟調伏一切眾生」、「能普攝受一切眾生」，由攝受而「巧修菩薩諸無上業」「深入菩薩諸微細智」「能善觀察諸菩薩藏」，末乃「能自在說諸菩薩法」——自知言語之自性起，至自在說菩薩法止，這一串不是並列的十三件事，是一條線：前一句是後一句所以可能的原因。末後自問自答一句：「何以故？已得成就一切法輪陀羅尼故。」
推勝之語的方向很值得看：他所推的仍在自己這一門之內，只是更深更廣——知言音是一層，知言語之自性是另一層。
要排一個誤解：以為謙己推勝是禮節。經文的作法是把自己所得的那一門推到極致，然後說我到不了那裡。落到地上：知道自己這一門的頂在哪裡，比知道自己會多少門重要。
指示後友：去問開敷一切樹華
末後指路：「善男子！此佛會中，有主夜神，名：開敷一切樹華。汝詣彼問：菩薩云何學一切智？云何安立一切眾生住一切智？」
澄觀於後友之名下了兩重釋，說「開敷樹華者，約事，在香樹閣內故。約位，七地是有行有開發，無相住故」。就事，是因為那位夜神在香樹閣中；就位，第七遠行地是有行有開發而住於無相，所以以華之開敷為名。
要排一個誤解：以為指示後友只是換場。所指的兩問——學一切智、安立眾生住一切智——正好是本節未盡之處：本節說的是說法之門，後友要說的是學與安立之門。落到地上：一位老師最後那句『你去問誰』，往往就是他對自己邊界的自白。
夜神十一偈：前二頌體用，其餘頌根深
指路之後有頌。澄觀分得清楚：「十一偈，分二：初二偈頌前體用、餘頌顯法根深。」
前二偈頌前面的體與用——首偈說「菩薩解脫深難見，虛空如如平等相」，是頌其體；次偈說「出生無量勝功德」而至「開通三世解脫道」，是頌其用。其餘九偈則回頭頌本生，澄觀再分：「初頌初劫、後一偈頌類顯多劫。」
要排一個誤解：以為重頌只是把長行再說一遍。此處的頌有一件長行沒有的事——它把本生初劫一段壓成八偈，讓那一段極長的往事在二百餘字之內走完一遍。落到地上：能把一件長事說短，是真記住了它的次第。
頌本生的三層：通頌·別頌·頌百佛
頌本生的八偈，澄觀又分三層：「前中三：初三通頌初後、次四別頌於初佛得法、後一頌中間百佛及後結文。」
初三偈通頌初後——牒出劫名淨光、世界法焰雲、城號寶華光，說「有佛名為法海音，於此劫中先出現」，又說「乃至其中最後佛，名為法界焰燈王」，一舉便把最初與最後兩端都收了。次四偈別頌於初佛得法——「我見法海雷音佛，其身普作真金色」，「我暫見彼如來身，即發菩提廣大心」，其下由發心而普見三世佛、而起大悲、而現種種身。後一偈頌中間百佛及結——「見第二佛而親近，亦見十方剎海佛，乃至最後佛出興。」
要排一個誤解：以為長行說過的頌裡就不必再看。頌裡的劫名·世界名·城名與長行不盡相同——這是同一本節之內長行與重頌之間的出入，本帙並錄而不判，不必強令歸一。落到地上：兩處不同的時候，先各自看清楚，再說要不要合。
末偈與善財之得益
夜神的末偈是「於諸剎轉微塵劫，所有如來照世燈；我皆親近而瞻奉，令此解脫得清淨」——這是澄觀所說「後一偈頌類顯多劫」。
頌畢，善財得益。經文說他「得入此菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫故，入無邊三昧海，入廣大總持海，得菩薩大神通，獲菩薩大辯才」。澄觀就此下一轉語，說善財之得益「雖通由前文，亦近由此」——遠因在前面所有的長行，近因就在這一段頌。
要排一個誤解：以為聽頌是散場前的餘興。此處經文的次第是：頌畢，然後得入。落到地上：一段話反覆說到能唱出來的時候，聽的人才真接得住。
善財十偈（一）：初一讚福智，次四歎悲智
善財的讚偈十首，澄觀分四。初一讚福智超絕——「已行廣大妙慧海，已度無邊諸有海」，慧與有兩海並舉，一行一度。
次四歎悲智甚深，是第二偈至第五偈。澄觀在此下了本節最精采的一段釋。第二偈說「念念攀緣一切境，心心永斷諸分別」，看起來自相衝突，澄觀說「念念攀緣一切境，不礙分別事故。心心永斷諸分別，常契理故」，又說「上句約觀、下句約止，即止觀雙運了達無性，成無分別而起大悲」。末後補一句要緊的話：「攀緣即分別耳，不唯屬妄。」
要排一個誤解：以為攀緣一定是病。澄觀明說攀緣就是分別，而分別不專屬於妄——上句攀緣事，下句斷妄分別，兩句合起來正是止觀雙運。落到地上：心裡分得清事情，同時不被事情分割，這才是這兩句要人做到的。
善財十偈（二）：次四總顯德圓離障攝益
澄觀判此十偈之第三分曰「次四總顯德圓離障攝益」，所指是第六偈至第九偈。第六偈「已住如來諸願道，已受菩提廣大教」四「已」句，可提挈為『行滿』；第七偈「天神心淨如虛空，普離一切諸煩惱」，可提挈為『離障』；第八偈「天神一念悉了知，晝夜日月年劫海」，是於時無礙；第九偈「十方眾生生死處，有色無色想無想」而至「引導使入菩提路」，是『攝益』。澄觀此分唯總言德圓·離障·攝益三事，逐偈之細配是就這四偈之文所作的提挈，不是疏文明立之目。
要排一個誤解：以為第五偈「天是眾生調御師」也在這一分裡。澄觀的四分是初一·次四·次四·後一，第五偈是「歎悲智甚深」那一分的末偈；由調御師一句轉入「已住如來諸願道」，才是德圓一分的起處。落到地上：讀分科的偈頌，先數清楚偈次，再看科名。
善財十偈（三）：後一成行入位
澄觀之末分曰「後一成行入位」，指第十偈：「已生如來誓願家，已入諸佛功德海，法身清淨心無礙，隨眾生樂現眾色。」生如來家·入功德海是所成之行，法身清淨而隨眾生所樂現色是所入之位——十偈至此收束。
要排一個誤解：以為讚偈是客氣話。這十偈的次第是有骨的——福智·悲智·德圓·入位，一層一層往上收，末偈之生家入海正是這一路的落處。落到地上：會讚歎一個人，等於已經看清楚他所行的次第。
戀德禮辭
末段極短：「時，善財童子說此頌已，禮夜神足，遶無量匝，慇懃瞻仰，辭退而去。」
說頌，禮足，繞匝，瞻仰，辭去——五個動作，沒有一句話。這一節起手是「隨順」前一位之教而來，收處是慇懃瞻仰而去；來時帶著上一位的教，去時帶著這一位的。
要排一個誤解：以為禮辭是格式。本會所見諸友，其來與去多是同一套動作，正因為它大體同一套，讀者才看得出每一節中間那段各不相同的內容。落到地上：形式相同的地方，恰好是用來量出不同的尺。
承衍
這一節之文，向後所開之流，其線有三。
其一是寄位之線。澄觀繫此友於現前地，《演義鈔》申其所以，說是住緣起智而引無分別最勝般若令現前。澄觀又在〈世主妙嚴品〉釋主夜神眾的地方跨品對讀，說「五即現前地善友，彼云守護一切城增長威力」；就其梵名，他說「偈云尸利，以梵音含於二義：一云吉祥、二翻為守故」，又以法門之名相會，說「妙音故悅意，悅則意淨，即寂能演，故名自在」——梵音含二義之說是澄觀所傳。
法藏就六十本標「第六現前地知識中」，智儼就六十本標「即六地菩薩位也」，李通玄則於本友正入之末自明「此是第六現前地」，又於神名之下說「表常守護一切眾生心城，增長第六地中及一切眾生智慧威力，使三空現前」。他又於正入之末立主伴與所治：「以般若波羅蜜為王，餘九為伴。此治三空智慧寂用不自在障，令得自在」——第六地以般若為主，所治者是三空之智寂而不能用、用而不能寂的那一分不自在；而本生的劫與世界，他一併以表法讀：劫名離垢光明表般若中三空寂滅之理體，世界名法界功德雲表智慧為說教之功德雲，當時的轉輪王是今普賢，明智；比丘尼是夜神自身，明悲——一段本生，在他讀來是智與悲的兩支。李通玄還在〈十地品〉第六地之下以善財表法申之：所見夜神即「守護一切城增長威力」，其座之摩尼「表智慧離染自他垢故」，無數夜神圍繞「表行遍周也」，而此十地之中「明長養慈悲，即第六地及餘地，以女天表之」——以女天表長養慈悲，是李通玄自有之表法軌。四家所由之語各不相同，而所歸之地同是第六。誌錄不判。
其二是科分之線。澄觀作五分——依教趣求·見敬諮問·稱讚授法·謙己推勝·指示後友（疏自「第二」起數，第一分即念前友教·趣求見身一段；辨法根深不與此五平列，是稱讚授法之下正授法界所開三子科之第三，與標名體·顯業用同層）；法藏就六十本作示己法界之四分——標法名體·顯法義用·辨法根深淺·結唯自分；智儼就六十本作正入之三分——歎發心能問·說自分所得·仰推勝分；李通玄則不依經文之教相，於本友之正入長科為十段，末以推德昇進六門指後友。他所以舉本友之名、示本友之所在，是在前友寂靜音海段末的推德昇進五門裡說的，所以那五門的第四門仍以前友之名稱述善財之頌——那一門本來就不屬本節。四家所依之骨各異：澄觀依經文之教相，法藏·智儼依六十本之文，李通玄依表法之次第。又善知識所在一事，經文本身未別立城名，澄觀依經作「此佛會中」而不別釋，李通玄則明點在菩提場如來會中。誌錄不判。
其三是異譯之線。此友之名，六十本作妙德守護諸城夜天，八十本作守護一切城夜神，四十本作守護一切城增長威德主夜神；法門之名，六十本作甚深妙德自在音聲法門，八十本作甚深自在妙音解脫。三本並錄不判。（長行與重頌之間劫名·世界名·城名之出入，屬同本內部之事，已見上文，不繫於異譯之線。）
法藏《探玄記》與智儼《搜玄記》所釋的是六十本，名形作「妙德守護諸城」，二家各有本友之專釋。法藏釋這個名字說「妙德守護諸城者，依證智總持，智名妙德。常入一切城，故云守護。又以觀智守護心城，令離妄念故名也」——妙德繫於證智之總持，守護有二義：常入一切城是一義，以觀智守心城而令離妄念是另一義。六十本的法門名是「甚深妙德自在音聲」，所以法藏也把它分成三義，說「正證法界名曰甚深，後智蘊辯名為妙德。宣教隨機，廣略無礙，名自在音聲」；智儼則標其位說「即六地菩薩位也，入甚深妙德自在音聲法門」。六十本之名形與法門名既與八十本不同，二家所分之義也自成一軌，與澄觀就八十本所立之甚深·自在·妙音三義不必相配，並錄不判。
一節之文，前半說法門之名，後半說得名之由。名有六字而成三語節，故法分三段；由在一段往事，故答一個「久如」之問。所謂法根深者，深不在理上，在那一場末法之中有人肯上昇虛空說一句話。
What This Section Expounds: One Name, Three Senses
Sudhana's thirty-sixth good friend is the night goddess Guardian of All Cities. The Dharma gate she confers is called the liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound. Why is the prose of this section laid out so evenly? Because it first sets forth the name, then expounds it in three passages of the working in order, and gathers it up at the last in a single sentence; and which graph of the name each of these three passages glosses is the matching made by Chengguan's outline — he outlines the one part that is the particular displaying of the working, saying that within it there are three, first glossing the profound, next glossing the sovereign, and last glossing the wondrous sound, and so the ten contemplations of the Dharma realm are matched to profound, the ten dhāraṇī wheels of great majestic virtue to sovereign, and the twenty-three clauses of expounding the Dharma to wondrous sound.
At the place where the name is set forth, Chengguan glosses it graph by graph, saying that to be in accord with the principle upon the very thing is what is called profound; that provisional and real being unobstructed, and wondrous eloquence being held within, is what is called sovereign; and that expounding the Dharma in reliance upon this, answering everywhere to the capacities of the many, is what is meant by wondrous sound.
A misreading to set aside: that the name of a Dharma gate is only a label, to be read past and done with. This section is precisely otherwise — the name is the net-rope and the three great passages below are the meshes, and if one does not read by following the name, those three passages become three heaps of terms lying side by side. Set upon the ground: in reading this section, hold these six graphs in hand first, and at every passage ask once which of them is being glossed here.
Chengguan Assigns This Friend to the Manifest Ground, and How That Judgment Came to Be
That the good friends of this assembly are matched to the stations of the ten grounds is set up by Chengguan following the ancient worthies; it is not said by the scripture itself.
Chengguan’s Explicit Judgment
At the place where he discusses this chapter as a whole, Chengguan sets out both readings and at the last judges plainly which he takes: as for the sixth, the division into five aspects, Dharma Master Yi and the treatise of Terrace Mountain merely gloss as the text runs and make no separate matching, while Guangtong and the masters of his sort all match them to the stations of the grounds; both have their reason, for since each single station is furnished with many Dharma gates, how should the mind of an ordinary person be forbidden to practice and seek the dharmas of the good friends — and so not matching has its reason; yet within there being no sequence of stations the sequence of stations is not obstructed, and to display the stations is the usual rule, so that matching too is not amiss — both paths have their reason, and so he takes the matching of the ancient worthies without discarding the other path.
When he comes to this friend, what Chengguan fastens her to is the sixth, the Manifest Ground, saying that the sixth, the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, is assigned to the Manifest Ground. In the Yanyi chao he sets forth the reason, saying that it is because she abides in the knowledge of dependent origination and draws forth the most excellent wisdom that is without discrimination and causes it to be manifest.
A misreading to set aside: that assigned to the Manifest Ground is a judgment of the scripture. From beginning to end the scripture has no name of a ground in it. Set upon the ground: in reading the doctrine of assigned stations, remember that it is a stair built by the ancient worthies for the reader, not a threshold set up by the scripture itself.
Calling to Mind the Teaching of the Friend Before: He Comes to This Station Carrying the Last One
This section begins not with walking but with calling to mind. Sudhana accords with the teaching of the night goddess Ocean of Tranquil Sound, pondering and contemplating the Dharma gate she expounded, and moreover of its phrases, one by one, not one is forgotten.
Why is it written so? Because the night goddess before was named Ocean of Tranquil Sound, and the Dharma gate she conferred was named the liberation gate of Bringing Forth Vast Joy and Adornment in Thought after Thought; and what this section does at its opening is exactly to accord with the teaching of the night goddess Ocean of Tranquil Sound, pondering and contemplating the Dharma gate she expounded, and of its phrases, one by one, not one forgotten — he walks to this station carrying what he received at the last one, and not one sentence is dropped on the way. The scripture says further that upon the measureless deep minds, the measureless natures of dharmas, and all the skillful means, spiritual powers, and wisdom, he called them to mind and pondered and chose among them, one following upon another and never breaking off — calling to mind is not recollection; it is continuity.
A misreading to set aside: that a good friend's teaching is delivered up and done with at the moment of taking leave. The order of the scripture is exactly the reverse: what was gained at the station before is the very provision for walking toward the next. Set upon the ground: what turns in the heart along that stretch of road after leaving a teacher decides what one is able to hear on reaching the next.
The Ten Bodies Manifested: Rising from Sentient Beings, Reaching Their Utmost in the Tathāgata, Returning to Sentient Beings
When Sudhana sees this night goddess, the scripture does not write what she said; it writes first what she manifested — ten clauses of manifesting a body. From manifesting a body of the form and appearance of all sentient beings it passes through facing all beings everywhere, being undefiled by any world, being equal in number to sentient beings, surpassing the worlds, ripening beings, swiftly going to the ten directions, and gathering in everywhere the ten directions, to manifesting a body of the ultimate substance and nature of the Tathāgata, and closes with manifesting a body ultimately subduing sentient beings.
The order of these ten clauses has a turning in it: the place it rises from is the form and appearance of sentient beings, the place of its utmost is the substance and nature of the Tathāgata, and the place it closes at returns again to subduing sentient beings. One must be able to go up, and one must also be able to come down.
A misreading to set aside: that the ten bodies are ten displays of spiritual power. Every body the scripture manifests is fastened to a thing done — to meeting a capacity, to being undefiled, to ripening, to going swiftly. Set upon the ground: in looking at a good friend one need not first listen to what she says; look first at where her body is set.
Sudhana's Four Questions: What He Asks After Is Practice, Not Principle
What Sudhana asks after having paid respect is four clauses: how is a bodhisattva to benefit sentient beings? How is he to gather sentient beings in with the unsurpassed gathering-in? How is he to accord with the teaching of the buddhas? How is he to draw near to the station of the Dharma king?
Why does he ask these four? Because he states of himself that he has already raised the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi and yet does not know how a bodhisattva is to act when cultivating the bodhisattva practice — the mind is raised, the practice is not known. The four questions run from the outer to the inner: first the matter of benefiting others, next the method of gathering in, then according with the teaching, and last drawing near to the station. What is asked after is wholly the gate of practice; not one clause asks after principle.
A misreading to set aside: that studying under friends is seeking understanding. The manner of asking in this section is plainly a seeking of practice. Set upon the ground: to have raised the mind and yet not to know what one ought to do tomorrow morning — this is the very thing Sudhana asks after here.
The Night Goddess Does Not Answer First but Praises First: You Have Come to Ask for the Sake of Ten Things
The night goddess opens her mouth not to expound the Dharma but first to count over the intent with which Sudhana has come — ten clauses of for your sake and because you wish: for the sake of rescuing and guarding beings, for the sake of adorning and purifying buddha-lands, for the sake of making offerings to the Tathāgatas; because you wish to abide in all kalpas and rescue beings, because you wish to guard the lineage of the buddhas, because you wish to enter everywhere the ten directions and cultivate the practices, because you wish to enter everywhere the sea of Dharma gates, because you wish with a mind of equality to pervade all things, because you wish to receive everywhere the Dharma wheels of the buddhas, because you wish to rain down the rain of Dharma according to what beings delight in. Only at the last does she say that he asks after the gate of practice the bodhisattvas cultivate.
Chengguan outlines this passage as the earlier part of praising and conferring the Dharma, saying that it first praises the marks of the raising of the mind.
A misreading to set aside: that this is a courtesy. What the ten clauses praise is not the merit and virtue Sudhana already has; it is the intent underneath his question — a single question restored to ten layers of vow. Set upon the ground: whether a question is worth answering is seen first from where the one asking it stands.
Setting Forth the Name and Substance: Profound, Sovereign, Wondrous Sound — Six Graphs, Three Senses
What the night goddess states of what she has gained is that she has gained the bodhisattva liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound. How are these six graphs to be understood? Chengguan glosses them graph by graph: to be in accord with the principle upon the very thing is what is called profound — upon things themselves one is in accord with principle, and one need not depart from things to seek principle, and so it is called profound; provisional and real being unobstructed, and wondrous eloquence being held within, is what is called sovereign — skillful means and the real do not obstruct one another, and wondrous eloquence is contained within, and so it is called sovereign; expounding the Dharma in reliance upon this, answering everywhere to the capacities of the many, is what is meant by wondrous sound — expounding the Dharma in reliance upon such profundity and sovereignty, answering everywhere to capacities of every kind, and so it is called wondrous sound.
A misreading to set aside: that the profound is the object, the sovereign the mind, and the wondrous sound the mouth — three separate things. Chengguan's gloss runs straight through: because it is profound it can be sovereign, and because it is sovereign it becomes wondrous sound — three faces of one thing. Set upon the ground: that expounding the Dharma can answer to capacities has its root not in eloquence but in whether one can be in accord with principle upon things themselves.
The Ten Virtues of the Giving of Dharma: Ten Clauses That All End with a Because
Straight after the setting forth of the name come ten clauses, each of which states a virtue first and then says the reason for it with a because. First, she is a great master of Dharma with nothing to obstruct her, because she is well able to reveal the Dharma treasuries of the buddhas — what it is for is the opening of the treasury, not the speaking. Second, she is furnished with great vows and the power of great kindness and compassion, because she would have all beings abide in the mind of awakening — what the vow and the compassion are turned toward is the raising of the mind in beings. Third, she can do all that benefits beings, because she gathers roots of good without ever resting — the strength to benefit comes of gathering that never breaks off. Fourth, she is the tamer and guide of all beings, because she would have all beings abide in the way of Sarvajñā — taming is not curbing; it is setting a person upon the way of all-knowledge. Fifth, she is the pure sun of Dharma for all the world, shining everywhere upon it, because she would have roots of good brought forth — the use of a sun is the growing of things, not the shining itself. Sixth, her mind is equal toward all the world, because she would have beings everywhere increase in good dharmas — the reason an equal mind must be equal is that it may reach everyone and not some. Seventh, her mind is pure amid all objects, because she would have all unwholesome deeds destroyed — to be undefiled before objects is precisely so that beings’ unwholesome deeds may be cut off. Eighth, she vows to benefit all beings, because her body ever manifests everywhere in all lands — a vow that is to be made good needs a body that can reach the place. Ninth, she displays all the causes and conditions of her former deeds, because she would have beings abide in good practice — telling of one’s own past is not reminiscence; it is giving another a road he can walk. Tenth, the last clause, that she ever serves all good friends, because she would have beings abide in the teaching of the Buddha — serving a teacher, too, is for the sake of beings.
Chengguan judges this to be the general statement of the displaying of the working, saying that ten clauses first set out the virtues of the giving of Dharma.
A misreading to set aside: that these ten clauses are praise of herself. The weight of every clause lies after the because — that is what it is for, not what it is. Set upon the ground: to test a good deed, see whether a clause beginning so that beings may can be joined on behind it.
The Intent of the Giving of Dharma: Giving Dharma Is to Turn a Person's Mind into Vajra
After the ten virtues the night goddess changes her form of address, calling him son of the Buddha, and states the intent of the giving of Dharma: with these dharmas she gives Dharma to beings, causing them to bring forth white dharmas and to seek all-knowledge, their minds firm as the vajra treasury of Nārāyaṇa.
Why take the vajra and Nārāyaṇa for a simile? Because if the giving of Dharma only makes people glad, a breath of wind scatters it; only when it makes them well able to contemplate the power of the Buddha and the power of Māra, able to tell the one power from the other, is it called firm. What is listed below is likewise all hard work — drawing near to good friends, breaking down the mountain of obstruction that is deeds and afflictions, gathering the dharmas that aid the way, the mind never forsaking the ground of all-knowledge.
A misreading to set aside: that giving Dharma is telling people the doctrine. What the scripture says is causing them to bring forth white dharmas, to seek all-knowledge, and to have minds like vajra — something is to grow in the other person. Set upon the ground: whether a giving of Dharma has taken effect is seen from whether the hearer can tell the next day what is pushing him forward and what is pulling him back.
The Ten Contemplations of the Dharma Realm: These Ten Clauses Are Practices, Not Ten Conclusions
The passage that glosses the profound is ten clauses of I know that the Dharma realm is thus and thus. At first sight they are ten conclusions about the Dharma realm; Chengguan will not read them so. He says that within the Dharma realm ten distinct senses are listed, and that they are displayed by way of ten kinds of practice, since practice must accord with principle and principle is displayed by practice — the ten distinct senses are the principle, and the scripture uses ten practices to display it.
The proof lies in the form of the clauses: after every I know that the Dharma realm is thus there follows a practice ending with a because. Thus, I know that the Dharma realm is without limit, because I enter everywhere into all the lands of the buddhas and reverently make offerings to the Tathāgatas — without limit is the principle, entering everywhere and making offerings is the practice. Principle is not thought out; it is walked out.
Chengguan further marks the sense of the first five one by one, saying that the first is without measure, the second without bound, the third without limit, the fourth without shore, the fifth vertically without breaking off, and that the rest may be known — the first four are spoken crosswise and the fifth, the unbroken, uprightly, and all five are spoken by way of quantity without end.
The latter five, of which Chengguan says only that the rest may be known, the scripture itself writes out with both principle and practice, and they may be read clause by clause. The sixth: I know that the Dharma realm is of one nature, because with the one voice of the Tathāgata there is not one sentient being that does not understand — the one nature is the principle, and the one voice understood by all is the practice; that the Dharma realm is one is proved in the one voice reaching everyone. The seventh: I know that the nature of the Dharma realm is pure, because I understand the Tathāgata’s vow to deliver all sentient beings everywhere — the purity of nature is the principle, and what one knows it by is the understanding of the buddha’s universal vow; a vow that chooses no one is where the original purity shows. The eighth: I know that the Dharma realm pervades sentient beings, because the wondrous practice of Samantabhadra is everywhere complete — pervasion is the principle and the completeness of that practice is the practice; whether the Dharma realm pervades is seen from whether the practice arrives. The ninth: I know that the Dharma realm is of one adornment, because the wondrous practice of Samantabhadra adorns it well — the one adornment is the principle, and again it is Samantabhadra’s practice that does the adorning; the eighth and the ninth take the same practice for their reason, and what they display is in the one case pervasion and in the other adornment. The tenth: I know that the Dharma realm cannot be destroyed, because the roots of good of all-knowledge fill the Dharma realm and cannot be destroyed — indestructibility is the principle and the filling by roots of good is the practice; as far as the roots of good fill, so far does the indestructible show.
A misreading to set aside: that contemplating the Dharma realm is a kind of visualization done while sitting. Set upon the ground: if one wishes to know how wide the Dharma realm is, the way is to walk one step further forward, not to think one layer deeper with the eyes shut.
The Ten Dhāraṇī Wheels of Great Majestic Virtue: A Holding-Together That Can Turn
The passage that glosses the sovereign is ten dhāraṇī wheels. A dhāraṇī is a holding-together, and the added graph wheel carries the sense of what can turn. Of the names of the ten wheels, the first three are set up upon dharmas — entering everywhere, holding everywhere, expounding everywhere all dharmas; the next three upon the buddhas — calling to mind everywhere the buddhas of the ten directions, expounding everywhere the names of the buddhas, entering everywhere the sea of the vows of the buddhas of the three times; the next three upon those to be converted — entering everywhere the sea of the vehicles, entering everywhere the sea of the deeds of beings, swiftly turning all deeds; and the last upon the fruit — swiftly bringing forth all-knowledge.
Chengguan glosses this passage, saying that it glosses the sense of sovereign, that is, because it holds together both the provisional and the real, and that each name is set up from what it holds — the standing of the sovereign lies in this, that both the provisional and the real can be held; and the name of each wheel is set up from that portion which it holds.
A misreading to set aside: that a holding-together is a good memory. The scripture says that these ten wheels have besides ten thousand dhāraṇī wheels for their retinue and ever expound the wondrous Dharma for beings — a holding-together is for expounding, not for storing. Set upon the ground: the mark of really having kept hold of a dharma is that you can take it out when another person has need of it.
The Twenty-Three Clauses of Expounding the Dharma: The First Three Are the Three Kinds of Wisdom, the Latter Twenty Are Ten Pairs
The passage that glosses the wondrous sound is the longest, twenty-three clauses of at times I expound for beings. Chengguan divides it with great clarity: now the first, there are twenty-three clauses; the first three are by way of the three kinds of wisdom, and the latter twenty clauses make ten pairs, distinguished by way of broad and brief.
The first three clauses are the wisdom that comes of hearing, of thinking, and of cultivating — spoken by way of the stage at which the hearer stands. The latter twenty clauses make pairs two by two, and every pair sets one against all, each of the ten pairs having its own province: the first pair, the Dharma of one existence against the Dharma of all existences, is spoken by way of dharmas as a whole; the second is spoken by way of the names of the buddhas, the Dharma of the sea of the name of one Tathāgata against that of all Tathāgatas; the third by way of place, the Dharma of the seas of worlds; the fourth by way of time, the Dharma of the seas of the prophecies of the buddhas — a prophecy records when one will become a buddha; the fifth by way of the assembly, the Dharma of the seas of the assemblies and places of the Way of the Tathāgatas; the sixth by way of the teaching that is turned, the Dharma of the seas of the Dharma wheels of the Tathāgatas; the seventh by way of the teaching set down in writing, the Dharma of the sūtras of the Tathāgatas; the eighth by way of the gathering of the assembly, the Dharma of the gatherings of the Tathāgatas; the ninth by way of the mind, the Dharma of the seas of the mind of Sarvajñā; the tenth by way of the going forth upon a vehicle, the Dharma of the going forth of one vehicle against that of all vehicles. The order of the ten pairs runs from dharmas to buddhas, to place, to time, to assembly, to teaching, to writing, to gathering, to mind, and closes with the going forth upon a vehicle — the expounding of Dharma begins with a single dharma and ends with a road out. Chengguan takes the first pair for an example, saying that the one existence read by way of principle is because the twenty-five existences are not two in principle, and the one existence read by way of things is because they are alike in being conditioned — one one existence may be read by way of principle and may also be read by way of things.
A misreading to set aside: that to say all is higher than to say one. Broad and brief are only two ways of taking up a matter to suit a capacity; they are not two levels of depth. Set upon the ground: speaking to one person, to say one is enough; only in speaking to a crowd must one say all.
Concluding the Benefit: Abiding in the Practice of Samantabhadra, Thought after Thought Filling the Dharma Realm
The three passages of the working being expounded, the night goddess closes with two sentences: one concludes the profound in particular — she enters the sea of the gates of the undifferentiated Dharma realm of the Tathāgata, expounds the unsurpassed Dharma, gathers in beings everywhere, and to the end of the kalpas to come abides in the practice of Samantabhadra; and one concludes the sovereign and the wondrous sound in general — she has accomplished this liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound, and in thought after thought increases all the gates of liberation, and thought after thought fills all the Dharma realm.
Chengguan judges these two sentences, saying that first the benefit of the profound is concluded in particular, since by entering the undifferentiated one abides through kalpas without weariness; and that afterward, from I have accomplished onward, the wondrous sound and the sovereign are concluded in general, since by the holding-together liberation is increased and by the wondrous sound the Dharma realm is filled. Entering the undifferentiated, therefore abiding measureless kalpas without weariness — this is the benefit of the profound; the holding-together, therefore liberation increases, and the wondrous sound, therefore the Dharma realm is pervaded — this is the benefit of the sovereign and the wondrous sound.
A misreading to set aside: that to the end of the kalpas to come is an exaggerated quantity of time. It follows upon the undifferentiated, for only because there is no differentiation is there no weariness, and only because there is no weariness can one speak of the end of the kalpas to come. Set upon the ground: whether one can do a thing for long depends on whether the mind discriminates while doing it.
Sudhana Asks How Long: This One Question Draws Out the Whole Account of the Former Life
The Dharma being expounded, what Sudhana asks after is not the doctrine but the time: how marvelous, deva-spirit! This gate of liberation is rare indeed! How long is it since the holy one realized it?
Why does he ask this? Chengguan outlines this part as distinguishing how deep the root of the Dharma is — how deep the root of a dharma goes cannot be told by telling; it can be displayed only by a stretch of the past. And so this one question of Sudhana's draws out the longest passage of this section, the account of the former life.
A misreading to set aside: that asking how long is curiosity. Within this chapter the question of how long ago has a settled rule to it — it is the way a seeker of the Dharma makes sure of the weight of a Dharma gate. Set upon the ground: to ask where a teaching comes from before hearing it is not doubt but respect.
The Former Life (One): The Kalpa Named Undefiled Light, the World Named Cloud of the Merit and Virtue of the Dharma Realm
The night goddess's answer begins at the furthest point: in an ancient age gone by, past kalpas as many as the dust motes of the turnings of worlds, there was a kalpa named Undefiled Light, and there was a world named Cloud of the Merit and Virtue of the Dharma Realm.
What quantity is kalpas as many as the dust motes of the turnings of worlds? Chengguan unravels it very finely: as for saying the turnings of worlds, it means that a world is made into dust motes, that one dust mote is one land, and that these are ground into dust motes again, and so it too is as though measureless. A world is crushed into dust motes, one grain of dust counts as one land, and those lands are crushed into dust motes again — turning about in this way, and so it is said to be as though measureless. As for the adornment of that world, the scripture says it has for its substance a sea of maṇi kings manifesting the deeds of beings, that its shape is like a lotus flower, and that every set of four continents has hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of unspeakably unspeakable cities.
A misreading to set aside: that these numbers are a rhetorical lavishness. They lay the ground for the one word long below — without first drawing the time out, the question how long is it gets no answer. Set upon the ground: because the cities are many, the title Guardian of All Cities below carries its weight.
The Former Life (Two): The First Buddha of All, and the King Who Received the Sūtra and Afterward Went Forth
Within one set of four continents of that world there was a royal city named Light of the Universal Jewel Flower and a site of awakening named Palace of the Dharma King Universally Made Manifest; Tathāgatas as many as the dust motes of Mount Sumeru appeared there, and the first buddha of all was named King of the Light of the Thunder-Sound of the Sea of Dharma. At that time there was a wheel-turning king named Pure Countenance of Sunlight, who in the presence of that buddha received and upheld the sūtra of the Whirling of the Sea of All Dharmas; and after the Buddha's nirvāṇa that king went forth from the household life and guarded the true Dharma.
Chengguan outlines the former life in six parts, and these are the first two — first, the raising of the buddha's appearing; second, from when that buddha appeared onward, the father king going forth from the household life.
A misreading to set aside: that the wheel-turning king's going forth was a laying down of his station in search of ease. What the scripture joins on is the four graphs guarded the true Dharma — he went forth not to withdraw but to guard. Set upon the ground: when a person lays down the position in his hands, look at what he took up after laying it down.
The Former Life (Three): When the Dharma Was about to Perish, Someone Rose into the Sky and Said a Sentence
Next come the marks of an evil age: when the Dharma was about to perish there were a thousand divisions of differing assemblies and a thousand kinds of expounding; the many evil monks were often quarrelling, delighting in clinging to objects, not seeking merit and virtue; and what they delighted to talk of was the talk of kings, of thieves, of women, of the state, of the great sea, and all the talk of the world.
Thereupon that king who was a monk said a sentence: how strange! How bitter! Through measureless great seas of kalpas the Buddha gathered together this torch of Dharma; how is it that you would destroy it together? Having spoken, he rose into the sky to the height of seven tāla trees, and from his body there came forth clouds of flames of measureless colors and he sent out nets of great light of every color, causing measureless beings to be rid of the fever of the afflictions and to raise the mind of awakening. Through these causes and conditions the teaching of that age flourished again for sixty-five thousand years.
Chengguan outlines these two parts as the third, from when the Dharma was about to perish onward, the rising of the faults of an evil age; and the fourth, from at that time that king who was a monk onward, the putting down of the faults and the spreading abroad of the Dharma.
A misreading to set aside: that he held down the scene by spiritual power. The scripture writes it plainly: what the light did was to rid beings of the fever of the afflictions and to make them raise the mind of awakening — it worked upon people's minds, not upon the scene. Set upon the ground: the torch of Dharma is gathered together, and it is also thrown away one sentence at a time; and the way to catch it is often only that someone is willing to say the first sentence.
The Former Life (Four): The King's Daughter, Who Gained This Dharma Gate by Hearing Her Father's Words and Seeing the Spiritual Power
That king who was a monk had a daughter, the nun Light of the Transformations of the Dharma Wheel, with a hundred thousand nuns for her retinue. She heard her father the king's words and saw his spiritual power, raised the mind of awakening never to turn back, gained a samādhi named Lamp of the Teaching of All Buddhas, and gained besides this liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound; and having gained it, her body and mind became soft and pliant and straightway she was able to see before her all the spiritual powers of that Tathāgata.
Chengguan points out in particular that this part is the direct answer to that question of Sudhana's — the fifth, from at that time there was a nun onward, the king's daughter seeing and hearing, raising the mind and gaining the Dharma, which is the direct answer to how long since the Dharma was gained.
A misreading to set aside: that the key to her gaining the Dharma was her being a king's daughter. The causes and conditions the scripture fastens it to are two things: hearing the words and seeing the spiritual power — one a hearing and one a seeing. Set upon the ground: when a Dharma gate comes into your hands, it is usually just such two things working together, and nothing more mysterious than that.
Bringing Together Past and Present: The Two People of That Time Are the Two of Today
The account of the former life closes with a question and an answer: son of good family! What do you think? That wheel-turning sage king who accorded with the Tathāgata in turning the wheel of the true Dharma and who, after the Buddha's nirvāṇa, made the last age of the Dharma flourish — could he be another? He is the bodhisattva Samantabhadra of today. And that nun Light of the Transformations of the Dharma Wheel is this very body of mine.
Chengguan outlines this as the sixth, from what do you think onward, the bringing together of past and present and the accomplishing of benefit. The night goddess goes on to state what she did at that time — causing a hundred thousand nuns to reach the point of no turning back from unsurpassed awakening, causing them to gain the samādhi of seeing all buddhas before them, causing them to gain the dhāraṇī of the vajra light of the Dharma wheel of all buddhas, causing them to gain the prajñā-pāramitā of entering everywhere the sea of all Dharma gates.
A misreading to set aside: that the bringing together of past and present is only a disclosure of identities. Its work is to set the one question of how long upon solid ground — the Dharma gate was not gained out of the air; it was gained within that one guarding of the Dharma. Set upon the ground: what a person is able to give today is mostly equal to what he held fast in the hardest place back then.
The Listing of a Hundred Buddha-Names: One Next a Buddha Arose Repeated to the End
After the former life comes a long passage of buddha-names, all of one form — next a buddha arose, named such and such. This clause appears ninety-eight times in the scripture, and together with the first buddha of all, King of the Light of the Thunder-Sound of the Sea of Dharma, and the last, Lamp of the Wisdom of the City of the Dharma Realm, they make the order of the buddhas within one kalpa. Chengguan does not gloss them name by name but judges them with a single sentence, saying that this is a brief raising of the hundred buddhas that come next before.
Why list so many? Because what was said above was Tathāgatas as many as the dust motes of Mount Sumeru, and if not one name were raised, that number would be only a number; with nearly a hundred names raised, the number falls into a sequence. And among these nearly hundred names, most are built of Dharma, knowledge, light, cloud, and banner — King of the Wondrous Sound of the Sea of Dharma, Lamp of Wisdom of the Sun of Dharma, King of the Banner of the Mountain of Dharma Flames, Light of the Lion of the Dharma Realm — and what the names are fastened to is still the one graph Dharma.
A misreading to set aside: that this passage may be skipped. That nearly a hundred buddha-names are set out one by one is the very substance of the sentence toward them all I was reverent, drew near to them, made offerings to them; without the names set out, that sentence never comes down to the ground. Set upon the ground: what is called making offerings to all buddhas, brought down to the ground, is just such meeting of them one by one and serving them one by one.
The Last Buddha of All, and the Continuity of Measureless Kalpas Thereafter
The listing ended, the scripture closes: son of good family! Of such Tathāgatas as these, as many as the dust motes of Mount Sumeru, the last buddha of all was named Lamp of the Wisdom of the City of the Dharma Realm, and they all arose in the world within the kalpa Undefiled Light. The night goddess says that toward all these Tathāgatas she was reverent, drew near, made offerings, heard and received and upheld, and moreover that in the presence of all those Tathāgatas she too went forth from the household life and studied the way and guarded the teaching of the Dharma, and with every kind of skillful means taught and ripened measureless beings. She says further that from that time onward, through kalpas as many as the dust motes of a buddha-land, all the buddhas who have arisen in the world she has made offerings to, and has cultivated their Dharma.
Chengguan outlines what follows here as the displaying of the like through many kalpas and the accomplishing of benefit, saying that afterward, from that time onward, the like is displayed through many kalpas and benefit accomplished.
A misreading to set aside: that once the Dharma was gained in the first kalpa the matter was finished. The scripture says plainly that after gaining the Dharma she still went forth and studied the way and guarded the teaching of the Dharma — gaining the Dharma is not the terminus; it is going on doing the same thing in another capacity. Set upon the ground: whether a person has really gained anything is seen from whether, having gained it, he is still willing to do the same small tasks as before.
Birth and Death Are the Night, Ignorance Is the Sleep: Where the Night Goddess's Name Comes Down
The closing sentence of the displaying of the like through many kalpas is the most recognizable sentence of this section: son of good family! From that time onward, amid the sentient beings who lie in the night of birth and death and in the slumber of ignorance, I alone am awake; and I cause sentient beings to guard the city of their own mind, to forsake the city of the three realms, and to abide in the unsurpassed Dharma city of all-knowledge.
This sentence sets the whole title in its place. Birth and death are the night and ignorance is the slumber, and therefore she is a night goddess; and the three cities the scripture speaks of are three things she causes sentient beings to do — she causes beings to guard the city of the mind, causes beings to forsake the city of the three realms, causes beings to abide in the unsurpassed Dharma city of all-knowledge. Guarding, forsaking, and abiding, three acts each matched to one city, three turns within a single sentence; the doers are the beings, and she is the one who causes them to do it.
Li Tongxuan says of this good friend's title that it signifies ever guarding the city of the mind of all sentient beings — the same place where the scripture's sentence comes down.
A misreading to set aside: that Guardian of All Cities means she has many walled cities in her charge. The cities the scripture itself gives are the city of the mind, the city of the three realms, and the Dharma city. Set upon the ground: the first business of guarding a city is to make out which city it is that you are to guard.
Humbling Herself and Pointing to the Superior: She Says First That She Knows Only One
Coming to the part of humbling herself, the night goddess says that she knows only this liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound, and straightway raises the four kinds of verbal action of this liberation — causing the worlds to leave off frivolous talk, not to make two-tongued talk, ever to speak true talk, and always to speak pure talk.
How are these four clauses to be read? Chengguan gives two gates. Read by way of the wondrous sound, they are the four good verbal deeds — if read by way of the wondrous sound, then not flowery, not divisive, not false, not harsh, matched to them in order: not flowery speech, not divisive speech, not false speech, not harsh speech, each of the four leaving off one kind of verbal evil; read by way of the profound, the standard is raised a level — if read by way of the profound, then whatever does not join with principle is called frivolous talk, and to utter speech outside principle is two-tongued talk. The first gate is not to speak ill; the latter gate counts as frivolous every word that does not join with principle.
A misreading to set aside: that the second gate is too severe. It is precisely the natural conclusion of the Dharma gate this friend confers — being named profound, even speech must take principle for its measure. Set upon the ground: first come up to the former gate, and then take the latter for a mirror.
Pointing to the Superior and Its Breadth: What the Bodhisattvas Know Is the Own-Nature of Speech
After the part of stating her own comes the pointing to the superior. What the night goddess points to is no other spiritual power but still speech — the bodhisattvas are able to know the own-nature of all speech, and from knowing the nature of speech “in thought after thought freely awaken all sentient beings,” able to enter the sea of the sounds and speech of all beings and to distinguish and understand all forms of speech; from distinguishing speech they see clearly the seas of all Dharma gates; from seeing the Dharma gates clearly they gain sovereignty in the dhāraṇī that gathers in all dharmas everywhere; from that sovereignty of holding-together they can expound the Dharma according to what beings’ minds doubt; from expounding according to doubt they utterly subdue all beings and gather in all beings everywhere; and from that gathering in they skillfully cultivate the unsurpassed works of a bodhisattva, enter deeply the subtle knowledges of a bodhisattva, and contemplate well the treasuries of the bodhisattvas, until at the last they can expound the dharmas of a bodhisattva sovereignly — from knowing the own-nature of speech to expounding the bodhisattva dharmas sovereignly, these are not thirteen matters lying side by side but one line, each clause being what makes the next one possible; and at the last she asks and answers herself in a sentence: why is this so? Because they have already accomplished the dhāraṇī of the wheel of all dharmas.
The direction of these words of pointing to the superior is worth looking at: what she points to is still within her own gate, only deeper and broader — to know sounds and speech is one layer, to know the own-nature of speech is another.
A misreading to set aside: that humbling oneself and pointing to the superior is a matter of manners. What the scripture does is to push the gate one has gained to its very utmost and then say that one cannot reach there. Set upon the ground: to know where the top of one's own gate is matters more than knowing how many gates one has.
Pointing Out the Next Friend: Go and Ask Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees
At the last comes the pointing of the road: son of good family! Within this assembly of the Buddha there is a night goddess named Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees. Go to her and ask: how is a bodhisattva to study all-knowledge? How is he to establish all beings in abiding in all-knowledge?
Chengguan gives a twofold gloss upon the name of the friend to come, saying that as for Who Opens the Blossoms of Trees, by way of the thing it is because she is within the pavilion of fragrant trees, and by way of the station it is because the seventh ground has practice and has opening forth, and abides in the markless. By way of the thing, it is because that night goddess is within the pavilion of fragrant trees; by way of the station, the seventh, the Far-Reaching Ground, has practice and has opening forth while abiding in the markless, and so takes the opening of blossoms for a name.
A misreading to set aside: that pointing out the next friend is only a change of scene. The two questions pointed to — studying all-knowledge and establishing beings in all-knowledge — are exactly what this section leaves unexhausted: this section expounds the gate of expounding the Dharma, and the friend to come is to expound the gate of studying and of establishing. Set upon the ground: a teacher's last sentence telling you whom to go and ask is often his own statement of where his boundary lies.
The Night Goddess's Eleven Verses: The First Two Restate the Substance and the Working, the Rest Restate the Deep Root
After the pointing of the road come verses. Chengguan divides them clearly: eleven verses, divided in two — the first two verses restate the substance and the working above, and the rest restate the displaying of how deep the root of the Dharma is.
The first two verses restate the substance and working above — the first verse says that the bodhisattva's liberation is deep and hard to see, a mark equal like empty space and like suchness, which restates its substance; the second says that it brings forth measureless surpassing merit and virtue, and so on to that it opens through the way of liberation of the three times, which restates its working. The remaining nine verses turn back to restate the former life, and Chengguan divides again: first restating the first kalpa, and the last one verse restating the displaying of the like through many kalpas.
A misreading to set aside: that verses restating are only the prose said over again. The verses here do something the prose does not — they press the long passage of the first kalpa of the former life into eight verses, so that that very long past runs through once within some two hundred graphs. Set upon the ground: to be able to tell a long matter short is to have really kept hold of its order.
The Three Layers of the Restating of the Former Life: General, Particular, and the Hundred Buddhas
The eight verses that restate the former life Chengguan divides again into three layers: within the former there are three — the first three restate first and last in general, the next four restate in particular the gaining of the Dharma at the first buddha, and the last one restates the hundred buddhas in between and the concluding text after.
The first three verses restate first and last in general — rehearsing the kalpa named Pure Light, the world Cloud of Dharma Flames, and the city called Light of the Jewel Flower, saying that there was a buddha named Sound of the Sea of Dharma who appeared first within this kalpa, and saying further that so on to the last buddha therein, named King of the Lamp of the Flames of the Dharma Realm — at one stroke gathering up both ends, the first and the last. The next four verses restate in particular the gaining of the Dharma at the first buddha — I saw the Buddha Thunder-Sound of the Sea of Dharma, his body everywhere of the color of true gold; for but a moment I saw that Tathāgata's body, and straightway raised the vast mind of awakening — and below this, from the raising of the mind to seeing everywhere the buddhas of the three times, to raising great compassion, to manifesting bodies of every kind. The last verse restates the hundred buddhas in between and the conclusion — I saw the second buddha and drew near to him, and saw too the buddhas of the seas of lands of the ten directions, and so on to the arising of the last buddha.
A misreading to set aside: that what the prose has already said need not be looked at again in the verses. The kalpa-name, the world-name, and the city-name in the verses are not wholly the same as in the prose — this is a divergence between prose and verses restating within one and the same section, and this work records both without adjudicating, and there is no need to force them into one. Set upon the ground: where two places differ, first see each of them clearly, and only then say whether they are to be joined.
The Last Verse, and Sudhana's Gaining of Benefit
The night goddess's last verse is: through kalpas as many as the dust motes of the turnings of lands, all the Tathāgatas are lamps that shine upon the world; toward them all I drew near and gazed up and served, causing this liberation to be made pure — this is what Chengguan calls the last one verse restating the displaying of the like through many kalpas.
The verses ended, Sudhana gains the benefit. The scripture says that because he had entered this bodhisattva liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound, he entered the boundless sea of samādhis, entered the vast sea of holding-together, gained the great spiritual powers of a bodhisattva, and obtained the great eloquence of a bodhisattva. Upon this Chengguan sets down a turning phrase, saying that Sudhana's gaining of benefit, though it runs in general from the text before, is also proximately from this — the far cause lies in all the prose above, and the near cause lies in this one passage of verses.
A misreading to set aside: that listening to verses is an entertainment before the breaking up of the gathering. The order of the scripture here is: the verses ended, and then he entered. Set upon the ground: only when a saying has been repeated until it can be sung does the hearer really catch it.
Sudhana's Ten Verses (One): The First Praises Merit and Knowledge, the Next Four Sigh at Compassion and Knowledge
Sudhana's ten verses of praise Chengguan divides into four. The first praises her merit and knowledge as beyond all — you have walked the vast sea of wondrous wisdom, and have crossed the boundless sea of the several existences — wisdom and existences, two seas raised together, one walked and one crossed.
The next four sigh at the profundity of compassion and knowledge, that is, the second verse through the fifth. Here Chengguan sets down the finest gloss of this section. The second verse says: thought after thought you lay hold of every object, and mind after mind you cut off forever the discriminations — which looks self-contradictory; and Chengguan says that thought after thought laying hold of every object does not obstruct the discriminating of things, and that mind after mind cutting off forever the discriminations is because one ever accords with principle; and he says further that the upper line is by way of contemplation and the lower line by way of stillness, which is stillness and contemplation carried on together, understanding the absence of nature, becoming without discrimination and thereupon raising great compassion. And at the last he adds a sentence of importance: laying hold is simply discriminating, and does not belong to the deluded alone.
A misreading to set aside: that laying hold is necessarily a disease. Chengguan says plainly that laying hold is discriminating, and that discriminating does not belong to the deluded alone — the upper line lays hold of things, the lower line cuts off deluded discrimination, and the two lines together are exactly stillness and contemplation carried on as one. Set upon the ground: to tell things apart in the mind and at the same time not be cut apart by them is what these two lines would have one do.
Sudhana's Ten Verses (Two): The Next Four Generally Display Virtue Full, Obstruction Left Behind, and Benefit Gathered In
Chengguan judges the third division of these ten verses to be the next four generally displaying virtue full, obstruction left behind, and benefit gathered in, and what he points to is the sixth verse through the ninth. The sixth verse, with its four clauses of you already — you already abide in all the ways of the vows of the Tathāgata, you have already received the vast teaching of awakening — may be taken up as practice fulfilled; the seventh verse, deva-spirit, your mind is pure as empty space, everywhere apart from all the afflictions, may be taken up as obstruction left behind; the eighth verse, deva-spirit, in one thought you understand it all — day and night, the sun and moon, the years, the sea of kalpas, is unobstructedness with respect to time; and the ninth verse, from where sentient beings of the ten directions are born and die, those with form and those without, those with perception and those without, down to and lead them so that they enter the road of awakening, is benefit gathered in. Chengguan in this division speaks only in general of the three matters, virtue full, obstruction left behind, and benefit gathered in; the fine matching of them verse by verse is a taking-up made upon the text of these four verses, and is not a heading he sets out in so many words.
A misreading to set aside: that the fifth verse, deva-spirit, you are the tamer and guide of sentient beings, also belongs to this division. Chengguan's four divisions are the first one, the next four, the next four, and the last one, and the fifth verse is the last verse of the division that sighs at the profundity of compassion and knowledge; it is from the sentence about the tamer and guide that the text turns into you already abide in all the ways of the vows of the Tathāgata, and there the division of virtue full begins. Set upon the ground: in reading verses that have been outlined, count the verses clearly first, and then look at the name of the division.
Sudhana's Ten Verses (Three): The Last One Accomplishes the Practice and Enters the Station
Chengguan's last division is the last one accomplishing the practice and entering the station, and it points to the tenth verse: you are already born into the family of the vows of the Tathāgata, you have already entered the sea of the merit and virtue of the buddhas; your Dharma body is pure and your mind unobstructed, and according to what sentient beings delight in you manifest bodies of every color. To be born into the family of the Tathāgata and to enter the sea of merit and virtue are the practice accomplished; to have a pure Dharma body and to manifest colors according to what beings delight in is the station entered — and here the ten verses are gathered up.
A misreading to set aside: that verses of praise are polite words. The order of these ten verses has a bone to it — merit and knowledge, compassion and knowledge, virtue full, entering the station, gathered up layer upon layer; and the being born into the family and entering the sea of the last verse is exactly where this road comes down. Set upon the ground: to be able to praise a person is already to have seen clearly the order of what she practices.
Cherishing Her Virtue and Taking Leave
The last passage is very short: at that time, Sudhana the youth, having spoken these verses, bowed to the night goddess's feet, circled her measureless times, gazed up at her earnestly, took his leave, and departed.
Speaking the verses, bowing to her feet, circling her, gazing up, taking his leave — five acts, and not one word. This section begins with according with the teaching of the friend before and closes with gazing up earnestly and departing; he comes carrying the teaching of the one before and goes carrying the teaching of this one.
A misreading to set aside: that paying respect and taking leave is a formality. Among the friends seen in this assembly, the coming and the going are mostly the same set of acts; and precisely because they are broadly the same set, the reader can make out how the content in the middle of each section differs. Set upon the ground: the places where the form is the same are exactly the rule by which difference is measured.
Lineage
Of the text of this section, the streams opened below it run in three lines.
The first is the line of the assigned station. Chengguan fastens this friend to the Manifest Ground, and the Yanyi chao sets forth the reason, saying that it is abiding in the knowledge of dependent origination and drawing forth the most excellent wisdom that is without discrimination and causing it to be manifest. Chengguan reads her across the chapters besides: where he glosses the assembly of presiding night deities in the chapter Wondrous Adornments of the Lords of the Worlds, he says that the fifth is the friend of the Manifest Ground, whom that chapter calls Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Might; upon her Sanskrit name he says that the verse says śrī, because the Sanskrit sound holds two senses within it, one called auspicious and the second rendered as guarding; and bringing the name of her Dharma gate together with it he says that because of the wondrous sound the mind is gladdened, and being gladdened the mind is pure, and being still and yet able to expound it is called sovereign — that the Sanskrit sound holds two senses is what Chengguan transmits.
Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle, marks it as within the friend of the sixth ground, the Manifest Ground; Zhiyan, upon the sixty-fascicle, marks it as a bodhisattva of the sixth ground; and Li Tongxuan states of himself, at the end of the true entering upon this friend, that this is the sixth, the Manifest Ground, and under the name of the goddess says that it signifies ever guarding the city of the mind of all sentient beings, increasing the wisdom and might within the sixth ground and of all sentient beings, and causing the three emptinesses to be manifest. At the end of the true entering he further sets up principal and companion and what is cured: “with the prajñā-pāramitā as king and the other nine as companions; this cures the hindrance whereby the stillness and the working of the wisdom of the three emptinesses are not sovereign, and causes sovereignty to be gained” — the sixth ground has prajñā as principal, and what it cures is that portion of unsovereignty in which the wisdom of the three emptinesses is still but cannot work, or works but cannot be still; and the kalpa and the world of the former life he reads together as signs: the kalpa named Stainless Light signifies the substance of principle of the three emptinesses, originally still, within prajñā; the world named Cloud of the Merit of the Dharma-realm signifies wisdom as the cloud of merit that expounds the teaching; the wheel-turning king of that time is now Samantabhadra, making clear knowledge, and the nun is the night goddess herself, making clear compassion — one former life, read by him as the two branches of knowledge and compassion. Li Tongxuan sets it forth once more under the sixth ground of the chapter of the Ten Grounds, by the dharmas Sudhana signifies: the night goddess seen there is the Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Might; the maṇi of her seat signifies that wisdom departs from defilement, from the stains of self and of others; the numberless night goddesses surrounding her signify that the practice is everywhere complete; and within these ten grounds the nourishing of kindness and compassion is made clear, and so the sixth ground and the remaining grounds are signified by a female deity — that a female deity should signify the nourishing of compassion is a track of signifying that is Li Tongxuan’s own. The words the four houses proceed by are each different, and yet the ground they come home to is alike the sixth. Recorded without adjudication.
The second is the line of the outlining. Chengguan makes five parts — seeking in accord with the teaching · seeing, paying respect, and inquiring · praising and conferring the Dharma · humbling herself and pointing to the superior · pointing out the next friend (the commentary counts from the second, so that the first part is the passage of calling to mind the teaching of the friend before and seeking and seeing the bodies; and distinguishing how deep the root of the Dharma is does not stand level with these five, being the third of the three sub-parts opened under the true conferring of the Dharma realm within praising and conferring the Dharma, of the same layer as setting forth the name and substance and displaying the working); Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle, makes four parts of the showing forth of her own Dharma realm — setting forth the name and substance of the Dharma · displaying the sense and working of the Dharma · distinguishing how deep or shallow the root of the Dharma is · concluding that it is only her own portion; Zhiyan, upon the sixty-fascicle, makes three parts of the true entering — praising that he has raised the mind and is able to ask · telling of what she has gained as her own portion · looking up and pointing to the superior; and Li Tongxuan, not depending upon the marks of the teaching in the scripture text, outlines the true entering upon this friend at length into ten passages and closes with six gates of ascending by ascribing virtue that point to the friend to come. His raising of the name of this friend and his showing of where she is are said within the five gates of ascending by ascribing virtue at the end of the passage of the friend before, Ocean of Tranquil Sound, and that is why the fourth of those five gates still states Sudhana’s verses under the name of the friend before — that gate never belonged to this section. The bone the four houses depend upon is different in each: Chengguan upon the marks of the teaching in the scripture text, Fazang and Zhiyan upon the text of the sixty-fascicle, Li Tongxuan upon the sequence of signifying dharmas. Again, as to where the good friend is, the scripture itself sets up no name of a city; Chengguan follows the scripture in saying within this assembly of the Buddha and does not gloss the place separately, while Li Tongxuan points out expressly that it is within the assembly of the Tathāgata at the site of awakening. Recorded without adjudication.
The third is the line of the parallel translations. As for the name of this friend, the sixty-fascicle has the night deva Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities, the eighty-fascicle has the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, and the forty-fascicle has the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Majestic Virtue; as for the name of the Dharma gate, the sixty-fascicle has the Dharma gate of the Profound Wondrous Virtue and Sovereign Sound and Voice, and the eighty-fascicle has the liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound. All three witnesses are recorded without adjudication. (The divergences of the kalpa-name, the world-name, and the city-name between prose and verses restating belong to a matter internal to one and the same witness, and have been seen above; they are not fastened to the line of the parallel translations.)
What Fazang’s Tanxuan ji and Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji gloss is the sixty-fascicle, whose form of the name is Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities, and each of them has a gloss upon this friend in particular. Fazang glosses the name thus: as for Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities, in reliance upon the holding-together of the knowledge of realization the knowledge is named wondrous virtue; she ever enters all cities, and so it says guarding; and again, with the knowledge of contemplation she guards the city of the mind and causes it to leave off deluded thought, and it is from this that she is named — wondrous virtue is fastened to the holding-together of the knowledge of realization, and guarding has two senses, the ever entering of all cities being one and the guarding of the city of the mind by contemplative knowledge, so that deluded thought is left off, being the other. The name of the Dharma gate in the sixty-fascicle is the Profound Wondrous Virtue and Sovereign Sound and Voice, and so Fazang too divides it into three senses, saying that the true realization of the Dharma realm is named profound, that the eloquence held within the subsequent knowledge is named wondrous virtue, and that proclaiming the teaching according to capacity, unobstructed in the broad and in the brief, is named sovereign sound and voice; while Zhiyan marks her station, saying that she is a bodhisattva of the sixth ground who enters the Dharma gate of the Profound Wondrous Virtue and Sovereign Sound and Voice. Since the form of the name and the name of the Dharma gate in the sixty-fascicle are not those of the eighty-fascicle, the senses these two houses divide out likewise run upon a track of their own and need not be matched with the three senses of profound, sovereign, and wondrous sound that Chengguan sets up upon the eighty-fascicle. Recorded without adjudication.
Of the text of one section, the former half expounds the name of the Dharma gate and the latter half expounds how the name was come by. The name has six graphs forming three members, and so the Dharma is divided into three passages; the coming by it lies in a stretch of the past, and so it answers a single question of how long. What is called the deepness of the root of the Dharma is deep not in principle but in this, that within that age of the last Dharma there was someone willing to rise into the sky and say one sentence.
考據Apparatus
善財第三十六友守護一切城夜神，是入法界品八位夜神友中的第六位。此段經文四千八百七十字，長行之骨在「甚深自在妙音」六字——澄觀就這一名立三義：「即事契理，故曰甚深」「權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在」「依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音」，其下十種觀察法界釋甚深、十種大威德陀羅尼輪釋自在、二十三句說法釋妙音，一名三義，三段逐段對應。本生一段獨長：王比丘上昇虛空呵責惡世比丘，其女法輪化光比丘尼因聞父語見神力而發心得法，末以結會古今收之——轉輪王即今普賢，比丘尼即夜神己身。本節有雙頌，夜神十一偈、善財十偈，合二十一偈四十二行。寄現前地之判繫澄觀（《演義鈔》申其所以云「住緣起智，引無分別最勝般若令現前故」）；李通玄不舉城名而釋神名「表常守護一切眾生心城」，二家並錄。法藏《探玄記》與智儼《搜玄記》則就六十本之名形「妙德守護諸城」別有本友之專釋，科與釋名自成一軌，並錄於下。
一、科判定位
| 科判系統 | 此節經文 之位 |
|---|---|
| 底本 T279 三十九品 | 品三十九 入法界品（第九會 逝多林）；守護一切城夜神＝卷七十一末–卷七十二初〔T10 0388a10〕–〔0391a06 前〕 |
| 澄觀《華嚴經疏》 | 本節正釋起〔T35n1735 0945c08〕「第六守護一切城夜神，寄現前地」，訖於第七開敷一切樹華夜神前〔0946b13〕 |
| 澄觀《演義鈔》 | 釋「寄現前地」之所以〔T36n1736 0683b13–0683b17〕 |
| 法藏《探玄記》 | 本友專釋起〔T35n1733 0478b07〕「第六現前地知識中」，訖〔0479a07〕「現前地竟」；所釋為六十本，名形作「妙德守護諸城」〔0478b08〕 |
| 李通玄《新華嚴經論》 | 本友正入起〔T36n1739 0992c28〕「第一正入當位法門中」，〔0993a01〕「長科為十段」，訖於〔0994b05〕「第二推德昇進中」之六門；其前〔0992c08〕「第二推德昇進中」一段屬前友寂靜音海段末之科，於彼舉本友之名與所在 |
| 智儼《搜玄記》 | 本友釋起〔T35n1732 0099c14〕「第六夜天名妙德守護諸城，即六地菩薩位也，入甚深妙德自在音聲法門」，訖〔0100a13〕「後述己非分，可知」 |
澄觀之五分科——本節之骨：五分者，『依教趣求』·見敬諮問·稱讚授法·謙己推勝·指示後友。澄觀疏文自「第二」起數，第一分（念前友教·趣求見身）在本節科起之前，疏無別立之名，此依經文之事而標。稱讚授法一分之下，正授法界復開三：標名體·顯業用·辯法根深——此三為子科，非與上五分平列。
〔T35n1735 0945c08–0945c11〕「第六守護一切城夜神，寄現前地。第二「見彼夜神」〔0945c09〕下見敬諮問，可知。第三「時彼夜神」〔0945c10〕下稱讚授法，先讚發心之相、後「善男子我得」〔0945c11〕下正授法界。」
正授法界一分復開三：
「於中三：初標名體、二顯業用、三辯法根深。」〔T35n1735 0945c11〕
標名體之三義，即本節法門名之逐字釋：
「即事契理，故曰甚深。權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在。依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音。」〔T35n1735 0945c13–0945c15〕
顯業用一分又開三，而別顯之三與法門名之三義相應：
〔T35n1735 0945c15–0945c17〕「二「為大法師」〔0945c15〕下顯其業用。於中三：初總明、次別顯、後結益。初中二：先十句彰法施之德、後「佛子我以此等」〔0945c17〕下顯法施之意。」
〔T35n1735 0945c17–0945c19〕「第二「善男子我以如是淨法」〔0945c17〕下別顯業用。於中三：初釋甚深、次釋自在、後釋妙音。」
辨法根深以下三分：
〔T35n1735 0946a06–0946a08〕「第三「時善財童子」〔0946a06〕下辨法根深，先問、後答。答中二：先辨初劫修行、後「從是已來」〔0946a07〕下類顯多劫成益。」
〔T35n1735 0946a20–0946a21〕「第四「我唯知」〔0946a20〕下謙己推勝中，先顯己知一，略顯四種業用。」
「第五指示後友，分三：初指後位、次頌前法、後善財得益。」〔T35n1735 0946a26〕
李通玄之科——本友之正入長科為十段，末以推德昇進六門指後友。其前一段係前友寂靜音海段末之推德昇進五門，於彼段中舉本友之名、示本友之所在，非本友自身之科（界外參照）：
〔T36n1739 0992c08–0992c13〕「第二推德昇進中，從「諸菩薩摩訶薩」〔0992c08〕已下至「辭退而去」〔0992c09〕，并頌有十八行經，約立五門：一推德昇進；二示善知識所在，云在此菩提場如來會中；三舉神之名，名守護一切城增長威力；四善財說頌讚寂靜音海之德；五禮敬辭去。」
本友之正入別起於〔T36n1739 0992c28〕「第一正入當位法門中」，其下〔0993a01〕「長科為十段」——念前法·現差別身·申請所求·歎善財所求·自說行門·十種觀察·說法自在·答初佛得法·供養諸佛數量·推德昇進。十段之末，李通玄自明其所寄之地：
〔T36n1739 0994b02–0994b04〕「此是第六現前地，為一切智慧皆現前故。以般若波羅蜜為王，餘九為伴。此治三空智慧寂用不自在障，令得自在。」
推德昇進一門，別開六門以指後友開敷一切樹華：
〔T36n1739 0994b06–0994b10〕「約立六門：一推德勝進；二示善知識所在，云在此佛會中；三舉善知識主夜神名開敷一切樹花；四有二十二行頌是主城神重頌前法，如文自具；五善財以二十行頌歎主城神德，如文具明；六禮敬辭去。」
二、術語
| 漢 | 古德傳梵（羅馬字·發音輔助） | 所徵 | 精義 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 守護一切城夜神 | — | 本節「行詣守護一切城夜神所，見彼夜神坐一切寶光明摩尼王師子之座」〔T10n0279 0388a13〕 | 第三十六善友之名；六十本作「妙德守護諸城夜天」〔T09n0278 0738a03〕，四十本作「守護一切城增長威德主夜神」〔T10n0293 0760b26〕 |
| 甚深自在妙音解脫 | — | 本節「我得菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫，為大法師，無所罣礙」〔T10n0279 0388b04〕 | 本節所授之法門；澄觀就名立三義〔T35n1735 0945c13–c15〕；六十本作「甚深妙德自在音聲法門」〔T09n0278 0738a20〕 |
| 現前地 | — | 澄觀「第六守護一切城夜神，寄現前地」〔T35n1735 0945c08–c09〕 | 十地之第六；《演義鈔》申云「住緣起智，引無分別最勝般若令現前故」〔T36n1736 0683b14–b15〕 |
| 陀羅尼輪 | dhāraṇī（「陀羅尼」本即古傳音寫） | 本節「普入一切法陀羅尼輪、普持一切法陀羅尼輪」〔T10n0279 0388c06〕 | 總持而能轉之義；澄觀釋此段為「釋自在義，謂總持權實故，各就所持立名」〔T35n1735 0945c25〕 |
| 薩婆若 | sarvajña（「薩婆若」本即古傳音寫） | 本節「令一切眾生住薩婆若道故」〔T10n0279 0388b08〕 | 一切智 |
| 那羅延 | nārāyaṇa（「那羅延」本即古傳音寫） | 本節「其心堅固猶如金剛那羅延藏」〔T10n0279 0388b16〕 | 堅固不壞之力士名，此取其堅 |
| 多羅樹 | tāla（「多羅」本即古傳音寫） | 本節「上昇虛空，高七多羅樹」〔T10n0279 0389a24〕 | 高度之計量；本生中王比丘現神力之相 |
| 法海旋修多羅 | sūtra（「修多羅」本即古傳音寫） | 本節「受持一切法海旋修多羅」〔T10n0279 0389a18〕 | 轉輪王於最初佛所受持之經名 |
| 世界轉微塵數劫 | — | 本節「乃往古世，過世界轉微塵數劫」〔T10n0279 0389a05〕 | 劫量之名；澄觀釋「言世界轉者，謂世界為塵，一塵一剎，復末為塵，故亦猶無量」〔T35n1735 0946a08–a10〕 |
| 二十五有 | — | 澄觀「二十五有理無二故」〔T35n1735 0945c29〕 | 三界生處之總數；《演義鈔》補其所依偈「四洲四惡趣，梵王六欲天，無想五那含，四空并四禪」〔T36n1736 0683b16–b17〕 |
| 法輪化光 | — | 本節「名：法輪化光，是此王女」〔T10n0279 0389a28〕 | 本生中比丘尼之名，即夜神前身；四十本作「法輪變化光」〔T10n0293 0762a01〕 |
| 法海雷音光明王 | — | 本節「其最初佛，名：法海雷音光明王」〔T10n0279 0389a16〕 | 本生初劫最初佛之名；六十本頌作「初佛號法海，雷音光明王」〔T09n0278 0740b15〕 |
| 法界城智慧燈 | — | 本節「其最後佛，名：法界城智慧燈」〔T10n0279 0390a14〕 | 本生初劫最後佛之名；六十本頌作「後佛法界城，明淨智慧燈」〔T09n0278 0740b16〕 |
| 心城·三界城·法城〔三城〕 | — | 本節「令諸眾生，守護心城，捨三界城，住一切智無上法城」〔T10n0279 0390a22〕 | 三重城之轉語，與友名「守護一切城」相應；李通玄「表常守護一切眾生心城」〔T36n1739 0992c18〕 |
三、譬喻·修辭
(一) 十身現化之列句——善財見夜神之時，經文以十個「現……身」句成一列：現一切眾生色相身·現普對一切眾生身·現不染一切世間身·現一切眾生身數身·現超過一切世間身·現成熟一切眾生身·現速往一切十方身·現遍攝一切十方身·現究竟如來體性身·現究竟調伏眾生身〔T10n0279 0388a15–0388a20〕（十句，底本逐字計）。其序自「一切眾生色相」而至「究竟如來體性」，復以「究竟調伏眾生」收束——起於眾生、極於如來、還歸眾生。
(二) 一名三義之對應修辭——法門名「甚深自在妙音」三字組，其下三段業用逐段對應：十種觀察法界釋甚深、十種大威德陀羅尼輪釋自在、二十三句說法釋妙音。此三段之配出澄觀之科文——〔T35n1735 0945c17–0945c19〕「第二「善男子我以如是淨法」〔0945c17〕下別顯業用。於中三：初釋甚深、次釋自在、後釋妙音」；經文自身唯次第出此三段，未明言某段釋名中之某字。
(三) 廣略十對之修辭——釋妙音之二十三句中，前三句為聞·思·修三慧，其後二十句以「一」與「一切」兩兩相對而下：一有法／一切有法·一如來名海法／一切如來名海法·一世界海法／一切世界海法·一佛授記海法／一切佛授記海法·一如來眾會道場海法／一切如來眾會道場海法·一如來法輪海法／一切如來法輪海法·一如來修多羅法／一切如來修多羅法·一如來集會法／一切如來集會法·一薩婆若心海法／一切薩婆若心海法·一乘出離法／一切乘出離法〔T10n0279 0388c15–0388c26〕（十對，底本逐字計）。澄觀判此式云「後二十句為十對，約廣略辨」〔T35n1735 0945c28–c29〕。
(四) 法炬之喻——本生中王比丘責惡世比丘之語，以「法炬」喻佛所集之法：「奇哉！苦哉！佛於無量諸大劫海集此法炬，云何汝等而共毀滅？」〔T10n0279 0389a23〕。炬者可傳可滅，故下文以放光續其明——「身出無量諸色焰雲，放種種色大光明網」〔0389a25〕，光即炬之相續。
(五) 佛名之疊句——本生列名一段，以「次有佛興，名：……」為句式反覆而下，經文「次有佛興」九十八見（底本逐字計），並其最初佛法海雷音光明王與最後佛法界城智慧燈，成一劫中之佛序；澄觀總以「三略舉、四結廣及類顯成益，文並可知」〔T35n1735 0946a19–a20〕收之，判此段為「略舉次前百佛」〔0946a14〕。
(六) 夜之修辭——夜神之名與其自敘之語相應：「於生死夜無明昏寐諸眾生中而獨覺悟」〔T10n0279 0390a21〕。生死為夜，無明為寐，而此神獨醒——名與義於此一句合。
(七) 三城之轉語——見上『三城』一條。守護·捨·住三動詞各配一城，一句之中三轉：所守者心、所捨者三界、所住者一切智之法。
四、異譯對勘
本節經文要句之漢譯校本：實叉難陀 T279（底本·卷七十一末–卷七十二初）· 佛馱跋陀羅 T278（晉譯六十華嚴〈入法界品第三十四〉·卷五十三–五十四）· 般若 T293（四十華嚴〈入法界品〉·貞元本）。四十本中段之要句別出如下：法門之名作「我得菩薩甚深自在可愛妙音解脫門」〔T10n0293 0760c20〕，較 80 多「可愛」二字而以「解脫門」收；惡世之後，其教「千歲而得興盛」〔0762a01〕，上承「彼如來教復於六十」〔0761c29〕之數，80 則作六萬五千歲；比丘尼一段，40 別出眷屬所得——「諸比丘尼各得三昧，名現見如來平等出生；及得陀羅尼，名一切如來轉法輪金剛光明；及得般若波羅蜜，名普入一切法門海」〔0762a04〕，其後法輪變化光比丘尼乃「即得三昧，名出生一切佛教光明燈，又得此甚深自在可愛妙音解脫」〔0762a08〕；百佛列名之末佛作「次有佛興，名普智慧光明法城燈」〔0763a08〕。
句一 趣求與見身
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 行詣守護一切城夜神所，見彼夜神坐一切寶光明摩尼王師子之座 | T10n0279 0388a13 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 往詣妙德守護諸城夜天所。見彼夜天處普照一切宮殿寶師子座 | T09n0278 0738a02 |
| 般若 T293 | 漸行往詣守護一切城增長威德主夜神所，見彼夜神坐光明普照一切宮殿摩尼寶王大蓮華藏師子之座 | T10n0293 0760b25 |
| 實叉 T279 | 現一切眾生色相身 | T10n0279 0388a15 |
| 般若 T293 | 現普應一切眾生色相身，現普對一切眾生 | T10n0293 0760b29 |
異文所繫：(甲) 友名三本三形——80「守護一切城夜神」·60「妙德守護諸城夜天」·40「守護一切城增長威德主夜神」；40 較 80 多「增長威德」四字，又多一「主」字，凡五字之差；60 則以「妙德」冠首而作「諸城」。神／天之稱亦異，80·40 作「夜神」，60 作「夜天」。(乙) 座之莊嚴，80 作「一切寶光明摩尼王師子之座」，60 作「普照一切宮殿寶師子座」，40 作「光明普照一切宮殿摩尼寶王大蓮華藏師子之座」——40 兼取 60 之「普照一切宮殿」與 80 之「摩尼」而復加「大蓮華藏」。(丙) 十身之逐句三本互異，80 首句作「現一切眾生色相身」，40 作「現普應一切眾生色相身」，60 則作「隨方面身、一切眾生色身」〔T09n0278 0738a04–a05〕而不用「現」字句式。誌錄不判。
句二 設敬諮問
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 聖者！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩修菩薩行時，云何饒益眾生 | T10n0279 0388a21 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 天神！我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩道，饒益眾生 | T09n0278 0738a10 |
| 般若 T293 | 聖者！我已先發阿耨多 | T10n0293 0760c07 |
| 般若 T293 | 云何利益安樂眾生 | T10n0293 0760c09 |
異文所繫：(甲) 呼格，80·40 作「聖者」，60 作「天神」。(乙) 問之句數，80 四問（云何饒益眾生·云何以無上攝而攝眾生·云何順諸佛教·云何近法王位〔T10n0279 0388a23–a25〕）；40 六問（云何利益安樂眾生·云何以無上攝攝取眾生·云何學菩薩道·云何住菩薩業·云何順諸佛教·云何近法王位〔T10n0293 0760c09–c11〕），較 80 多「學菩薩道」「住菩薩業」二問；60 以一「云何」統領所請之事，作「我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩道，饒益眾生；以無上攝法，攝取眾生，順如來業，親近法王」〔T09n0278 0738a11–a13〕，四事一問而下，且「順諸佛教」作「順如來業」。誌錄不判。
句三 標名體·法門名
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 我得菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫，為大法師，無所罣礙 | T10n0279 0388b04 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 我已成就甚深妙德自在音聲法門 | T09n0278 0738a20 |
異文所繫：法門名二本異形——80「甚深自在妙音解脫」，60「甚深妙德自在音聲法門」；60 多「妙德」二字而以「音聲」代「妙音」，以「法門」代「解脫」。又 80 於此處即標得法（「我得」），60 則作「我已成就」，其下以「是故」承之而說法用（「是故，佛子！我為勝大法師」〔T09n0278 0738a20〕）——二本皆先標法門之名、後說其法用，次第不異，所異者唯得法之語與名之形。誌錄不判。
句四 十種觀察法界
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 我知法界無量，獲得廣大智光明故 | T10n0279 0388b21 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 知法界無量，智慧無量故 | T09n0278 0738b11 |
| 實叉 T279 | 我知法界不可壞 | T10n0279 0388c01 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 知法界不可滅一切智善根 | T09n0278 0738b20 |
異文所繫：(甲) 段名，80 作「作十種觀察法界」〔T10n0279 0388b20〕，60 作「我以十行觀察法界，隨順法界，攝取法界」〔T09n0278 0738b09–b10〕——60 多「隨順」「攝取」二義，且以「十行」代「十種」。(乙) 十門之逐句二本互異：80 之次第為無量·無邊·無限·無畔·無斷·一性·性淨·遍眾生·一莊嚴·不可壞；60 為無量·無量無邊·無量無邊（佛法界）·無分齊·不可壞·一如來妙音·自然清淨·遍至眾生·一切莊嚴·不可滅。80 之第五「無斷」對 60 之第五「不可壞」，而 80 之第十「不可壞」對 60 之第十「不可滅」——同一名相於二本異位。(丙) 澄觀就八十本釋其前五云「謂一無分量、二無邊際、三無齊限、四無涯畔、五豎無斷絕，餘可知」〔T35n1735 0945c22–c23〕。誌錄不判。
句五 陀羅尼輪
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 普入一切法陀羅尼輪、普持一切法陀羅尼輪 | T10n0279 0388c06 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 攝取一切諸法圓滿陀羅尼 | T09n0278 0738b24 |
| 般若 T293 | 羅尼輪，普演一切如來名號音聲陀羅尼輪 | T10n0293 0761b01 |
| 實叉 T279 | 此十陀羅尼輪，以十千陀羅尼輪而為眷屬 | T10n0279 0388c12 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 以一萬陀羅尼 | T09n0278 0738b23 |
異文所繫：(甲) 名之異——80 通作「陀羅尼輪」，60 通作「圓滿陀羅尼」（無「輪」字而有「圓滿」二字），40 同 80 作「陀羅尼輪」。(乙) 數之立法異——80 立十輪，而以「十千陀羅尼輪而為眷屬」〔T10n0279 0388c13〕；60 則不分主伴，直云「以一萬陀羅尼，為眾生說法」〔T09n0278 0738b23–b24〕，十名列於其下。十千與一萬，數同而立名之法異。(丙) 逐名亦異，如 80「普說一切佛名號陀羅尼輪」對 60「轉一切佛名號輪圓滿陀羅尼」對 40「普演一切如來名號音聲陀羅尼輪」。誌錄不判。
句六 妙音二十三句
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 或為眾生說一有法，或為眾生說一切有法 | T10n0279 0388c15 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 或說一有、或說一切有海 | T09n0278 0738c12 |
| 實叉 T279 | 或為說一乘出離法，或為說一切乘出離法 | T10n0279 0388c26 |
異文所繫：(甲) 句數，80 之「或為眾生說」五見·「或為說」十八見，合二十三句（底本逐字計），與澄觀「有二十三句」〔T35n1735 0945c27〕合；60 亦二十三句〔T09n0278 0738c11–0738c20〕而句式較簡，多以「海」字收尾（一切有海·一切佛名號海·一切世界海·一切記海·一切佛眷屬海·一切佛法輪海·一切佛修多羅海·一切會海·一切菩提心海·一切乘海）。(乙) 末對之名，80 作「一乘出離法／一切乘出離法」，60 作「一乘／一切乘海」，無「出離」二字。(丙) 澄觀就八十本判其分云「初三約三慧；後二十句為十對，約廣略辨」〔T35n1735 0945c28〕。誌錄不判。
句七 本生·劫與世界
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 有劫名：離垢光明，有世界名：法界功德雲 | T10n0279 0389a06 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子！乃往古世，過轉世界微塵等劫，有劫名離垢光明 | T09n0278 0738c28 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 時有世界，名法界妙 | T09n0278 0738c29 |
| 實叉 T279 | 中有王都，名：普寶華光 | T10n0279 0389a14 |
| 般若 T293 | 時有劫名無垢光 | T10n0293 0763b13 |
| 般若 T293 | 剎號法光吉祥雲，城名普寶拘蘇摩 | T10n0293 0763b14 |
異文所繫：(甲) 劫名，80·60 同作「離垢光明」，40 之頌作「無垢光」，而 80 之頌自作「淨光」〔T10n0279 0390b14〕——同一劫名於長行與重頌之間已異，非獨三本之異。(乙) 世界名，80 作「法界功德雲」，60 作「法界妙德雲」（「妙」「功」一字之異），40 之頌作「法光吉祥雲」，而 80 之頌自作「法焰雲」〔T10n0279 0390b15〕。(丙) 王都名，80 作「普寶華光」，80 之頌作「寶華光」，40 之頌作「普寶拘蘇摩」，而其長行作「普寶拘蘇摩光」〔T10n0293 0761c12〕——拘蘇摩即華之音寫，所對者 80 之「華」字；80 之頌「寶華光」別有「光」字而 40 之頌無之，是「光」之有無為二本頌文之別，非二名形義全同。三本之名相皆長行與重頌互有出入，並錄不判。
句八 謙己推勝與指示後友
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 而我云何能知能說彼功德行 | T10n0279 0390b05 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 我當云何能知、能說彼功德行 | T09n0278 0740b03 |
| 實叉 T279 | 汝詣彼問：菩薩云何學一切智 | T10n0279 0390b06 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 汝詣彼問云何菩薩學一切智，安 | T09n0278 0740b05 |
| 般若 T293 | 此菩提場佛眾會中，有主夜神名能 | T10n0293 0763b03 |
異文所繫：(甲) 後友之名三本異形——80「開敷一切樹華」·60「開敷樹華」·40「能開敷一切樹華安樂」。(乙) 後友所在，80 作「此佛會中」〔T10n0279 0390b05〕，60 作「此佛眾中」，40 作「此菩提場佛眾會中」——40 明點菩提場，與李通玄於前友推德昇進段所立之「二示善知識所在，云在此菩提場如來會中」〔T36n1739 0992c10–c11〕一門相應。(丙) 所問之事，80 二問（云何學一切智·云何安立一切眾生住一切智），60 二問（云何菩薩學一切智·安立眾生於薩婆若〔T09n0278 0740b05–b06〕），40 三問（云何學一切智·云何修一切智·云何引導一切眾生令其悟入一切智城〔T10n0293 0763b04–b06〕）。誌錄不判。
句九 雙頌首偈與偈數
| 校本 | 逐字 | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 實叉 T279 | 虛空如如平等相 | T10n0279 0390b10 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 佛子深法門，虛空如如性 | T09n0278 0740b08 |
| 般若 T293 | 菩薩解脫深難見，虛空如如平等際 | T10n0293 0763b09 |
| 實叉 T279 | 已行廣大妙慧海，已度無邊諸有海 | T10n0279 0390c07 |
| 佛馱 T278 | 智慧海成滿，永度生死海 | T09n0278 0740c13 |
| 般若 T293 | 已行廣大深智海，已度無邊諸有海 | T10n0293 0763c08 |
異文所繫：(甲) 偈之字數，80·40 皆七言，60 作五言——故 60 之句與 80·40 不能逐字對，唯可就義對。(乙) 夜神偈首句，80「菩薩解脫深難見」與 40 全同，60 作「佛子深法門」；第二句 80「虛空如如平等相」·40「虛空如如平等際」·60「虛空如如性」——「相」「際」「性」三字之異。(丙) 善財讚偈首句，80「已行廣大妙慧海」·40「已行廣大深智海」，唯「妙慧」「深智」二字之異，餘全同；60 作「智慧海成滿」〔T09n0278 0740c13〕。(丁) 偈之細數三本互異，逐本分欄實列（偈行·句·四句偈）：80 夜神偈行二十二·句四十四·十一偈〔T10n0279 0390b10–0390c02〕·善財偈行二十·句四十·十偈〔0390c07–0390c26〕；60 夜天偈行二十九·句五十八·十四偈半〔T09n0278 0740b08–0740c07〕·善財偈行二十八·句五十六·十四偈〔0740c13–0741a11〕；40 夜神偈行二十三·句四十六·十一偈半〔T10n0293 0763b09–0763c02〕·善財偈行二十·句四十·十偈〔0763c08–0763c27〕。60 之夜天段與 40 之夜神段偈行皆奇數，其末各餘半偈，不併為全偈。誌錄不判。
五、宗義之經據〔眼〕
(一) 一名三義，一體三用——本節之宗全在法門名之三字組。經文自身先標名（「我得菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫」〔T10n0279 0388b04〕），次以三段業用逐段釋之，末以一句總收（「我成就此甚深自在妙音解脫，於念念中增長一切諸解脫門，念念充滿一切法界」〔0389a01〕）。澄觀於標名處逐字下釋：
「即事契理，故曰甚深。權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在。依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音。」〔T35n1735 0945c13–0945c15〕
甚深繫理事、自在繫權實、妙音繫應機——三義非三事，是一解脫之三面。澄觀於結益處復申此意，說〔T35n1735 0946a03–0946a05〕「先別結甚深益，由入無差別故，住劫而不疲；後「我成就」〔0946a04〕下通結妙音自在總持故增長解脫，妙音故充滿法界」。
(二) 法界十義，以行顯理——十種觀察法界一段，澄觀不以之為十種所知之境，而判為以行顯理：
「列法界中十種別義，約十種行顯之，以行必稱理、理由行顯故。」〔T35n1735 0945c20–0945c22〕
經文十句之句式正是此判之據：每句皆『我知法界某某』在前、『某某故』在後，前為所知之義，後為能知之行。如「我知法界無限，普入一切諸佛國土，恭敬供養諸如來故」〔T10n0279 0388b23〕——無限是理，普入供養是行。
(三) 語業四種，繫於妙音——謙己推勝一段，經文自舉四種語業：「令諸世間，離戲論語，不作二語，常真實語，恒清淨語」〔T10n0279 0390a24〕。澄觀於此立二釋門：
「若約妙音釋，則不綺、不離間、不妄、不惡口，如次配之。若約甚深釋者，不與理合皆名戲論，理外發言即是二語。既與理乖，則非真非淨。反此可知。」〔T35n1735 0946a22–0946a25〕
一釋就事——四語即語四善業；一釋就理——凡不與理合者皆戲論。二釋皆澄觀所立，並存。
(四) 三城之守——名與行相應——夜神名「守護一切城」，而其自敘之行正落在三城上：「令諸眾生，守護心城，捨三界城，住一切智無上法城」〔T10n0279 0390a22〕。守護之所以為此友之號，經文自身即與之相應，非注家之配。李通玄於前友推德昇進段舉本友之名而申此義，說「表常守護一切眾生心城，增長第六地中及一切眾生智慧威力，使三空現前」〔T36n1739 0992c18–0992c19〕。
(五) 結會古今——本生之收束處——本生一段之要，不在劫遠佛多，而在末後一問一答：「善男子！於汝意云何？彼時轉輪聖王隨於如來轉正法輪，佛涅槃後興隆末法者，豈異人乎？今普賢菩薩是。其法輪化光比丘尼，即我身是。」〔T10n0279 0389b04–0389b07〕。澄觀判此為〔T35n1735 0946a18–0946a19〕「六「於汝意云何」〔0946a19〕下結會古今成益」，而於得法久近一問之正答，繫在其前之比丘尼段——〔T35n1735 0946a17–0946a18〕「五「時有比丘尼」〔0946a17〕下王女見聞發心得法，即正答得法久近也」。
六、諸家異釋（古德·標宗）
澄觀《華嚴經疏》T35n1735 ·《演義鈔》T36n1736（八十華嚴逐文·主）
科：「第六守護一切城夜神，寄現前地」〔T35n1735 0945c08–c09〕
標名體三義：「即事契理，故曰甚深。權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在。依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音。」〔T35n1735 0945c13–0945c15〕
釋甚深之判：「列法界中十種別義，約十種行顯之，以行必稱理、理由行顯故，謂一無分量、二無邊際、三無齊限、四無涯畔、五豎無斷絕，餘可知。」〔T35n1735 0945c20–0945c23〕
釋自在之判：「釋自在義，謂總持權實故，各就所持立名，可知。」〔T35n1735 0945c25–0945c26〕
釋妙音之判：「今初，有二十三句：初三約三慧；後二十句為十對，約廣略辨。略言一者，通理通事。理一有者，二十五有理無二故。事一有者，同一有為故。餘可思準。」〔T35n1735 0945c27–0946a02〕
劫量之釋：「言世界轉者，謂世界為塵，一塵一剎，復末為塵，故亦猶無量；無量為一，無量轉等。若取迴轉形世界塵者，何以偏取此形？」〔T35n1735 0946a08–0946a11〕
本生六分：〔T35n1735 0946a15–0946a19〕「二中，分六：一標佛現；二「彼佛出時」〔0946a15〕下父王出家；三「法欲滅」〔0946a16〕下惡世過興；四「時王比丘」〔0946a16〕下滅過弘闡；五「時有比丘尼」〔0946a17〕下王女見聞發心得法，即正答得法久近也；六「於汝意云何」〔0946a19〕下結會古今成益。」
後友之表位：「開敷樹華者，約事，在香樹閣內故。約位，七地是有行有開發，無相住故。」〔T35n1735 0946a27–0946a29〕
夜神十一偈之分：「十一偈，分二：初二偈頌前體用、餘頌顯法根深。於中亦二：初頌初劫、後一偈頌類顯多劫。前中三：初三通頌初後、次四別頌於初佛得法、後一頌中間百佛及後結文。」〔T35n1735 0946b01–0946b05〕
善財十偈之分：「十偈分四：初一讚福智超絕。次四歎悲智甚深，念念攀緣一切境，不礙分別事故。心心永斷諸分別，常契理故。又上句約觀、下句約止，即止觀雙運了達無性，成無分別而起大悲，成上攀緣。攀緣即分別耳，不唯屬妄。次四總顯德圓離障攝益。後一成行入位」〔T35n1735 0946b06–0946b12〕
《演義鈔》釋寄位之所以：〔T36n1736 0683b13–0683b15〕「「第六守護一切城增長威力主夜神寄現前地」〔0683b13〕者，謂住緣起智，引無分別最勝般若令現前故。」
〈世主妙嚴品〉主夜神釋之跨品對讀——澄觀於〈世主妙嚴品〉列主夜神眾處，逐一以〈入法界品〉之夜神善友對配，本友即其第五：
〔T35n1735 0552a01–0552a02〕「五即現前地善友，彼云守護一切城增長威力」
其下就名之梵音而釋，並會其法門之名：
〔T35n1735 0552a02–0552a03〕「偈云尸利，以梵音含於二義：一云吉祥、二翻為守故」
〔T35n1735 0552a05–0552a06〕「若以義會，增長威力即是普現吉祥，正當次第法門」
〔T35n1735 0552a06–0552a08〕「又同彼云甚深自在妙音解脫。妙音故悅意，悅則意淨，即寂能演，故名自在。」
澄觀明判（寄位之配當·品科段·非本友窗）
寄位之配當出於古德，非經文自標。澄觀於〈入法界品〉末會五相分別段先舉古來二途，次明二途各有其理，末乃取古德之配——本節寄位之判即自此出：
「六分五相者，若意法師及臺山論，但隨文散釋，更無別配；光統等師皆配地位。二皆有理，謂隨一一位具多法門，豈容凡心不得習求善友之法，故不配有理。然無次位中不礙次位，顯位是常規，配亦無失。橫竪無礙，且依古德配為五相」〔T35n1735 0918b02–0918b08〕
李通玄《新華嚴經論》T36n1739（表法異軌）
前友推德昇進段之五門（其科屬前友寂靜音海段末，於彼舉本友之名與所在）：〔T36n1739 0992c09–0992c13〕「約立五門：一推德昇進；二示善知識所在，云在此菩提場如來會中；三舉神之名，名守護一切城增長威力；四善財說頌讚寂靜音海之德；五禮敬辭去。」
本友正入之十段：〔T36n1739 0992c28〕「第一正入當位法門中」，其下〔0993a01〕「長科為十段」——念前法·現差別身·申請所求·歎善財所求·自說行門·十種觀察·說法自在·答初佛得法·供養諸佛數量·推德昇進。
寄第六地之自明：〔T36n1739 0994b02–0994b04〕「此是第六現前地，為一切智慧皆現前故。以般若波羅蜜為王，餘九為伴。此治三空智慧寂用不自在障，令得自在。」
本生表法：「以劫名離垢光明者，表般若中本三空寂滅理體故。世界名法界功德雲者，明智慧是法界中說教功德雲故。」〔T36n1739 0993b09–0993b12〕「當時轉輪王者今普賢菩薩是，此明智也。比丘尼者我身是，此明悲也。」〔T36n1739 0994a26–0994a28〕
本友推德昇進之六門：〔T36n1739 0994b06–0994b10〕「約立六門：一推德勝進；二示善知識所在，云在此佛會中；三舉善知識主夜神名開敷一切樹花；四有二十二行頌是主城神重頌前法，如文自具；五善財以二十行頌歎主城神德，如文具明；六禮敬辭去。」
夜神之表：「明菩提性真如中妙理智慧為神。能破一切眾生無明執著，為主夜神，常不離生死大夜起發一切眾生大明生故。」〔T36n1739 0992c15–0992c17〕
神名之釋：「名守護一切城增長威力者，表常守護一切眾生心城，增長第六地中及一切眾生智慧威力，使三空現前，寂滅定力、世間出世間智慧悉現前力，永超生死海、常住世間，得一切出世間智慧海力，如下文具明。」〔T36n1739 0992c17–0992c22〕
〈十地品〉第六現前地之善財表法——李通玄釋〈十地品〉第六地時，以本友之事為此地之表法：
〔T36n1739 0895c03–0895c07〕「三明善財表法者，善財於此位中，見夜天號守護一切城增長威力，在菩提場如來會中，坐一切寶摩尼王師子之座，無數夜神所共圍繞」
〔T36n1739 0895c15–0895c16〕「摩尼，表智慧離染自他垢故」
〔T36n1739 0895c17–0895c18〕「無數夜神圍繞者，表行遍周也」
〔T36n1739 0895c24–0895c26〕「此十地中明長養慈悲，即第六地及餘地，以女天表之」
互指二處——李通玄別於二處以本友為第六地之表——一在〈世主妙嚴品〉釋天王眾處：〔T36n1739 0794c29〕「以夜神名守護一切城增長勝力是也」（神名作「增長勝力」，與本段之「增長威力」異形）；一在〈十地品〉第六地本位：〔T36n1739 0894c14–0894c16〕「此十地第六地位中，即以守護一切城夜天神表，以明出世間中世間智慧心城無有邪思惡賊所入，一切邪念總成智慧城故」。
法藏《探玄記》T35n1733（六十本逐文·名形「妙德守護諸城」）
科位：起〔T35n1733 0478b07〕「第六現前地知識中」，訖〔0479a07〕「現前地竟」。
釋名：〔T35n1733 0478b08–0478b10〕「妙德守護諸城者，依證智總持，智名妙德。常入一切城，故云守護。又以觀智守護心城，令離妄念故名也。」
示己法界之四分：〔T35n1733 0478b23–0478b24〕「於中有四：一標法名體、二顯法義用、三辨法根深淺、四結唯自分。」
法門名之三義：〔T35n1733 0478b24–0478b26〕「初中，正證法界名曰甚深，後智蘊辯名為妙德。宣教隨機，廣略無礙，名自在音聲。」
十行顯理：〔T35n1733 0478c06–0478c08〕「別中，舉法界中十種義，約十種行顯之，以行必稱理、理由行顯故也。」
總持之釋：〔T35n1733 0478c09–0478c10〕「總持勝智，妙德備具，故名圓滿」
二十三句之分：〔T35n1733 0478c11–0478c13〕「初別顯有二十三句：初三句約三慧辨法、後二十句以十法約廣略辨法」
得法久近：〔T35n1733 0478c18–0478c19〕「辨得法久近明法根深淺，於中先問、後答」
仰推十句：〔T35n1733 0479a04–0479a06〕「第五仰推中十句：一了語、二知心、三入語音、四善設語、五分別法、六攝總持、七巧出法、八攝眾生、九順淨智、十吼法施。」
智儼《搜玄記》T35n1732（六十本·名形「妙德守護諸城」）
標名與寄位：〔T35n1732 0099c14–0099c15〕「第六夜天名妙德守護諸城，即六地菩薩位也，入甚深妙德自在音聲法門。」
正入之三分：〔T35n1732 0099c23–0099c24〕「三正入中有三：初歎發心能問」
自分之四：〔T35n1732 0099c25〕「自分中有四：初辨法門體」
科訖：〔T35n1732 0100a12–0100a13〕「仰推有二：略、廣。後述己非分，可知。」
誌錄不判
本節之科，澄觀作五分（『依教趣求』·見敬諮問·稱讚授法·謙己推勝·指示後友；澄觀自「第二」起數，第一分即本節之首段念前友教·趣求見身，其下稱讚授法之正授法界一分復開三：標名體·顯業用·辯法根深），法藏《探玄記》就六十本作示己法界之四分（標法名體·顯法義用·辨法根深淺·結唯自分），智儼《搜玄記》就六十本作正入之三分（歎發心能問·說自分所得·仰推勝分），李通玄則不依經文之教相，於本友正入長科為十段，末以推德昇進六門指後友；其舉本友之名、示本友之所在者，在前友寂靜音海段末之推德昇進五門中，故彼五門之第四仍以前友之名稱述善財之頌——四家所依之骨各異。善知識所在一事，澄觀依經文作「此佛會中」而不別釋其處，李通玄則明點「在此菩提場如來會中」；城名一事，經文本身未別立城名，李通玄之科亦不舉城名而唯舉神名。寄位之判，澄觀繫現前地，《演義鈔》申以「住緣起智，引無分別最勝般若令現前故」，李通玄則自明「此是第六現前地」而就神名釋為「增長第六地中及一切眾生智慧威力，使三空現前」，法藏標「第六現前地知識中」，智儼標「即六地菩薩位也」——四家皆通向第六地之義而所由之語不同。名相之異形，三本各異：友名 60「妙德守護諸城夜天」·80「守護一切城夜神」·40「守護一切城增長威德主夜神」；法門名 60「甚深妙德自在音聲法門」·80「甚深自在妙音解脫」；比丘尼名 80「法輪化光」·40「法輪變化光」。雙頌之偈數三本互異。（長行與重頌之間劫名·世界名·城名亦互有出入者，屬同本內部長行重頌之異，非三本異譯之異，別見上。）此諸異釋與異形皆古德成說與古譯成文，誌錄之。
七、互讀·承衍
本節之文，承衍繫鏈皆自古德已行之互讀直回：
- 《演義鈔》T36n1736 自舉之偈：釋疏文「二十五有理無二故」一語時，鈔補其所依之偈——〔T36n1736 0683b15–0683b17〕「偈云「四洲四惡趣，梵王六欲天，無想五那含，四空并四禪。」〔0683b16〕」。此為鈔自補疏未引全之偈，非另掘他典。
- 澄觀《疏》之本科段內：〔T35n1735 0945c08–0946b13〕逐字窗內檢「《」零命中——澄觀於本節科段內未自舉他經他論，據實標闕。
- 《華嚴經孔目章》T45n1870（智儼·就六十本）：本友之名見於該章善知識之列名，作〔T45n1870 0589b05〕「三十七夜天名妙德守護諸城」——其自序之數為三十七，與本帙第三十六友之序不同，照錄不改；第六知識之義釋別作〔T45n1870 0585b13–0585b15〕「第六知識。約一乘別教。依成佛處。順理德中。成就緣起。救護眾生法門義。」名列與義釋二事分存，不以名列冒充專釋。
- 華嚴宗論（其餘四典）：《華嚴經旨歸》T45n1871 ·《華嚴一乘教義分齊章》T45n1866 ·《華嚴一乘十玄門》T45n1868 ·《華嚴法界玄鏡》T45n1883 四典，全檔檢「守護一切城」皆零命中〔查無〕——本節未見被此四論引用。
- 唯識軸：成唯識論 T31n1585 · 攝大乘論 T31n1594 · 瑜伽師地論 T30n1579 · 解深密經 T16n0676 · 十地經論 T26n1522 五典，全檔檢「守護一切城」皆零命中〔查無〕。本節非〈十地品〉，不另立唯識繫鏈。
八、校本定位
- 實叉 T279（底本）：守護一切城夜神子〔T10n0279 0388a10〕起（卷七十一末）–〔0391a06 前〕訖（卷七十二初）。念前友教 0388a10–a13 · 趣求見十身 0388a13–a20 · 設敬諮問四句 0388a20–a25 · 讚善財十願句 0388a25–0388b03 · 標名體與法施十德 0388b03–b15 · 法施之意 0388b15–b19 · 十種觀察法界 0388b19–0388c04 · 十陀羅尼輪 0388c04–c14 · 妙音二十三句 0388c14–c28 · 結益 0388c28–0389a03 · 善財問久如 0389a03–a05 · 本生劫世界 0389a05–a13 · 最初佛與轉輪王 0389a13–a19 · 惡世與王比丘 0389a19–a27 · 比丘尼發心得法 0389a27–0389b04 · 結會古今 0389b04–b11 · 百佛列名 0389b11–0390a13 · 最後佛與結供養 0390a13–a20 · 類顯多劫 0390a20–a23 · 謙己推勝 0390a23–0390b05 · 指示後友 0390b05–b08 · 夜神十一偈 0390b08–0390c02 · 善財得益與讚偈十偈 0390c02–0390c27 前 · 戀德禮辭 0390c27–0390c28。偈行四十二（二十一偈）。
- 佛馱 T278（晉譯主對校）：本節〔T09n0278 0738a01〕起（卷五十三末）–〔0741a14 前〕訖（卷五十四）。趣求見身 0738a01–a10 · 設敬 0738a10–a14 · 讚善財 0738a14–a19 · 標名體 0738a19–b03 · 法施之意 0738b03–b09 · 十行觀察法界 0738b09–b23 · 萬陀羅尼 0738b23–0738c03 · 妙音二十三句 0738c11–c22 · 結益 0738c22–c26 · 善財問久如 0738c26–c28 · 本生 0738c28–0740b01 前 · 謙己推勝 0740b01–b04 · 指示後友 0740b04–b06 · 夜天偈 0740b06–0740c07 · 善財得益與讚偈 0740c08–0741a11 · 辭退 0741a12–a13。〔0738c04–0738c10〕為卷末卷首題記行，非正文。
- 般若 T293（貞元本對校）：本節〔T10n0293 0760b21〕起 –〔0763c29〕訖（0764a01 起次友念前法趣求，不入本節）。念前友教 0760b21–b25 · 趣求見身 0760b25–0760c05 · 設敬諮問六句 0760c05–c11 · 夜神告 0760c11 起 · 標名體與法門名 0760c20 · 陀羅尼輪段 0761b01 見 · 善財問久如 0761c01 見 · 王都名 0761c12 · 王比丘呵責 0761c25 見 · 其教六十千歲興盛 0761c29–0762a01 · 比丘尼與眷屬得法 0762a01–a11 · 結會古今 0762a12 見 · 百佛列名 0762a21–0763a08 · 最後佛 0763a09 見 · 謙己推勝 0763b01–b02 · 指示後友 0763b03–b06 · 夜神偈二十三行 0763b06–0763c02 · 善財得益與讚偈二十行 0763c03–c27 · 辭退 0763c28–c29。場景結構與 80·60 同構。
- 澄觀《疏》T35n1735：本節正釋 0945c08 起 · 五分科 0945c08–c12 · 標名體三義 0945c12–c15 · 顯業用之分 0945c15–c19 · 釋甚深 0945c19–c24 · 釋自在 0945c24–c26 · 釋妙音 0945c26–0946a02 · 結益 0946a02–a06 · 辨法根深 0946a06–a08 · 劫量之釋 0946a08–a11 · 別彰遇佛四分 0946a11–a15 · 本生六分 0946a15–a19 · 略舉結廣 0946a19–a20 · 謙己推勝 0946a20–a26 · 指示後友 0946a26–a29 · 夜神十一偈之分 0946a29–0946b05 · 善財得益與十偈之分 0946b05–b12 · 訖於第七開敷一切樹華前 0946b13。寄位通則段（末會五相分別）別在 0918b02–0918b08，十門略啟之第六門在 0917c07–0917c10。〈世主妙嚴品〉主夜神一段之跨品對讀，本友之文在 0552a01–0552a08（所在之窗 0551c20–0552a18）。
- 澄觀《鈔》T36n1736：本節專釋 0683b13–0683b17（寄現前地之所以 0683b13–b15 · 補疏所引二十五有偈 0683b15–b17）。
- 李通玄《論》T36n1739：本友正入 0992c28–0994b04（正入之標 0992c28 · 長科十段 0993a01–a23 · 表法隨釋 0993a24–0994a29 · 寄第六地之自明 0994b02–b04），推德昇進六門 0994b05–b10 指後友開敷一切樹華。其前 0992c08–0992c27 屬前友寂靜音海段末之推德昇進（五門 0992c08–c13 · 隨文釋義 0992c13–c15 · 夜神之表 0992c15–c17 · 神名之釋 0992c17–c22 · 頌歎前友之義 0992c22–c27），於彼舉本友之名與所在，為界外之參照。別見〈十地品〉第六現前地之善財表法 0895c03–0895c26，及互指二處 0794c29 · 0894c14–0894c16。
- 法藏《探玄記》T35n1733：本友專釋 0478b07–0479a07（科位標 0478b07 · 釋名 0478b08–b10 · 依教趣入 0478b11–b18 · 見敬申請 0478b18–b21 · 示己法界四分 0478b21–0478c17 · 得法久近 0478c18–0479a03 · 結自分 0479a03–a04 · 仰推十句 0479a04–a07 · 科訖 0479a07）；所釋為六十本，名形作「妙德守護諸城」。
- 智儼《搜玄記》T35n1732：本友釋 0099c14–0100a13（標名寄位 0099c14–c15 · 三科 0099c15–c17 · 依教趣入七事 0099c17–c23 · 正入三分 0099c23–0100a12 · 仰推與述己非分 0100a12–a13）；所釋為六十本，名形作「妙德守護諸城」。
- 異讀：本單元 T279 範圍〔0388a10〕–〔0391a05〕內大正校記 10 條，逐條照錄不判（底本【大】｜他本異讀；多本異讀以／分列）：〔0390a28〕辭【大】｜詞【宮】 · 〔0390a28〕辨【大】｜辯【宋】【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0390b16〕量與【大】｜無量【明】 · 〔0390b17〕先【大】｜光【聖】 · 〔0391a02〕第【大】｜無此字【聖】 · 〔0391a02〕大方廣佛華嚴經卷第七十二（凡12字）【大】｜大方廣佛華嚴……卷七十二（凡22字）【聖乙】 · 〔0391a04〕三藏【大】｜三藏沙門【宋】【元】【明】／三藏法師【宮】 · 〔0391a04〕奉制【大】｜無此字【宋】【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0391a04〕于闐國三藏實叉難陀奉制譯（凡12字）【大】｜新譯【聖】／無此字【聖乙】 · 〔0391a05〕入法界品第三十九之十三（凡11字）【大】｜無此字【聖乙】。
- 異讀補記：CBETA 回改 2 條（不入上列大正校記之數）：〔0389a19〕異眾【CB】｜異【大】／異眾【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0390b25〕土【CB】【麗-CB】｜王【大】／土【宮】（明註曰王流通本作土）。
- 異讀補記：夾注已於原典層剝除誌錄。
- 查無條目：《華嚴經旨歸》T45n1871 ·《華嚴一乘教義分齊章》T45n1866 ·《華嚴一乘十玄門》T45n1868 ·《華嚴法界玄鏡》T45n1883 · 成唯識論 T31n1585 · 攝大乘論 T31n1594 · 瑜伽師地論 T30n1579 · 解深密經 T16n0676 · 十地經論 T26n1522——共九部，檢「守護一切城」皆零命中。《華嚴經孔目章》T45n1870 別有本友之名列與第六知識之義釋，《探玄記》T35n1733 ·《搜玄記》T35n1732 別有本友之專釋，並見上，不入此列。
Sudhana’s thirty-sixth friend, the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, is the sixth of the eight night-goddess friends of the chapter Entering the Dharma Realm. The whole unit runs to four thousand eight hundred and seventy graphs, and the bone of the prose lies in the six graphs 「甚深自在妙音」 tr. “profound and sovereign wondrous sound” — upon this one name Chengguan sets up three senses, 「即事契理，故曰甚深」 tr. “to be in accord with the principle upon the very thing, and so it is called profound,” 「權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在」 tr. “provisional and real being unobstructed, and wondrous eloquence held within, is called sovereign,” 「依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音」 tr. “expounding the Dharma in reliance upon this, answering everywhere to the capacities of the many, is what is meant by wondrous sound”; and below these the ten contemplations of the Dharma realm gloss the profound, the ten dhāraṇī wheels of great majestic virtue gloss the sovereign, and the twenty-three clauses of expounding the Dharma gloss the wondrous sound — one name, three senses, three passages answering to them passage by passage. The one passage of the former life is uncommonly long: the king who was a monk rose into the sky and rebuked the monks of an evil age, and his daughter, the nun Light of the Transformations of the Dharma Wheel, hearing her father’s words and seeing his spiritual power, raised the mind and gained the Dharma; and it closes with the bringing together of past and present — the wheel-turning king is the Samantabhadra of today, and the nun is the night goddess’s own body. This section has a double set of verses, eleven verses of the night goddess and ten of Sudhana, twenty-one verses and forty-two lines in all. The judgment that assigns her to the Manifest Ground is fastened to Chengguan (the Yanyi chao sets forth the reason for it, saying 「住緣起智，引無分別最勝般若令現前故」 tr. “because she abides in the knowledge of dependent origination and draws forth the most excellent wisdom that is without discrimination and causes it to be manifest”); Li Tongxuan does not raise the name of a city but glosses the name of the goddess as 「表常守護一切眾生心城」 tr. “signifying the ever guarding of the city of the mind of all sentient beings,” and both houses are recorded. Fazang’s Tanxuan ji and Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji, for their part, do have a gloss upon this friend in particular, made upon the sixty-fascicle and its form of the name 「妙德守護諸城」 tr. “Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities,” with an outline and a glossing of the name that run upon a track of their own, and both are recorded below.
I. Doctrinal Outline and Placement
| Outline system | The place of this section’s scripture text within it |
|---|---|
| The base text T279, in thirty-nine chapters | Chapter 39, Entering the Dharma Realm (the ninth assembly, in the Jeta Grove); the night goddess Guardian of All Cities = from the end of fascicle seventy-one to the beginning of fascicle seventy-two 〔T10 0388a10〕–〔0391a06 前〕 |
| Chengguan, Huayan jing shu | The direct gloss on this section begins 〔T35n1735 0945c08〕 「第六守護一切城夜神，寄現前地」 tr. “sixth, the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, assigned to the Manifest Ground,” and ends before the seventh, the night goddess Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees 〔0946b13〕 |
| Chengguan, Yanyi chao | Glosses the reason for 「寄現前地」 tr. “assigned to the Manifest Ground” 〔T36n1736 0683b13–0683b17〕 |
| Fazang, Tanxuan ji | The gloss upon this friend in particular begins 〔T35n1733 0478b07〕「第六現前地知識中」 tr. “within the friend of the sixth ground, the Manifest Ground,” and ends 〔0479a07〕「現前地竟」 tr. “the Manifest Ground is finished”; what he glosses is the sixty-fascicle, whose form of the name is 「妙德守護諸城」 tr. “Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities” 〔0478b08〕 |
| Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun | The true entering upon this friend begins 〔T36n1739 0992c28〕「第一正入當位法門中」 tr. “within the first, the true entering upon the Dharma gate of the present station,” and 〔0993a01〕「長科為十段」 tr. “is outlined at length into ten passages,” ending at the six gates of 〔0994b05〕「第二推德昇進中」 tr. “within the second, the ascending by ascribing virtue”; the passage before it, 〔0992c08〕「第二推德昇進中」 tr. “within the second, the ascending by ascribing virtue,” belongs to the outline at the end of the passage of the friend before, Ocean of Tranquil Sound, where the name of this friend and where she is are raised |
| Zhiyan, Souxuan ji | The gloss upon this friend begins 〔T35n1732 0099c14〕「第六夜天名妙德守護諸城，即六地菩薩位也，入甚深妙德自在音聲法門」 tr. “the sixth god of the night is named Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities, who is a bodhisattva of the sixth ground, and who enters the Dharma gate of the Profound Wondrous Virtue and Sovereign Sound and Voice,” and ends 〔0100a13〕「後述己非分，可知」 tr. “afterward she states what is not her own portion, which may be known” |
Chengguan’s outline in five parts — the bone of this section: the five parts are ‘seeking in accord with the teaching’ · seeing, paying respect, and inquiring · praising and conferring the Dharma · humbling herself and pointing to the superior · pointing out the next friend. The text of the commentary counts from 「第二」 tr. “the second,” and the first part (calling to mind the teaching of the friend before · seeking and seeing the bodies) falls before the outline of this section begins, and the commentary sets up no separate name for it, so that it is marked here from the matter of the scripture text itself. Under the one part that is praising and conferring the Dharma, the true conferring of the Dharma realm is opened again into three: setting forth the name and substance · displaying the working · distinguishing how deep the root of the Dharma is — these three are sub-parts and do not stand level with the five above.
〔T35n1735 0945c08–0945c11〕「第六守護一切城夜神，寄現前地。第二「見彼夜神」〔0945c09〕下見敬諮問，可知。第三「時彼夜神」〔0945c10〕下稱讚授法，先讚發心之相、後「善男子我得」〔0945c11〕下正授法界。」 tr. “Sixth, the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, assigned to the Manifest Ground. Second, from ‘seeing that night goddess’ onward is the seeing, paying respect, and inquiring, which may be known. Third, from ‘at that time that night goddess’ onward is the praising and conferring of the Dharma: first the marks of the raising of the mind are praised, and afterward, from ‘son of good family, I have gained’ onward, the Dharma realm is truly conferred.”
The one part that is the true conferring of the Dharma realm is opened again into three:
「於中三：初標名體、二顯業用、三辯法根深。」 tr. “Within it there are three: first setting forth the name and substance, second displaying the working, third distinguishing how deep the root of the Dharma is.” 〔T35n1735 0945c11〕
The three senses of the setting forth of the name and substance are the graph-by-graph gloss upon the name of this section’s Dharma gate:
「即事契理，故曰甚深。權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在。依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音。」 tr. “To be in accord with the principle upon the very thing, and so it is called profound. Provisional and real being unobstructed, and wondrous eloquence held within, is called sovereign. Expounding the Dharma in reliance upon this, answering everywhere to the capacities of the many, is what is meant by wondrous sound.” 〔T35n1735 0945c13–0945c15〕
The one part that is the displaying of the working is opened again into three, and the three of the particular displaying answer to the three senses of the name of the Dharma gate:
〔T35n1735 0945c15–0945c17〕「二「為大法師」〔0945c15〕下顯其業用。於中三：初總明、次別顯、後結益。初中二：先十句彰法施之德、後「佛子我以此等」〔0945c17〕下顯法施之意。」 tr. “Second, from ‘I am a great master of Dharma’ onward, her working is displayed. Within it there are three: first the general statement, next the particular displaying, and last the concluding of the benefit. Within the first there are two: first ten clauses set out the virtues of the giving of Dharma, and afterward, from ‘son of the Buddha, with these dharmas I’ onward, the intent of the giving of Dharma is displayed.”
〔T35n1735 0945c17–0945c19〕「第二「善男子我以如是淨法」〔0945c17〕下別顯業用。於中三：初釋甚深、次釋自在、後釋妙音。」 tr. “Second, from ‘son of good family, with such light of pure Dharma as this I’ onward, the working is displayed in particular. Within it there are three: first glossing the profound, next glossing the sovereign, and last glossing the wondrous sound.”
The three parts from the distinguishing of how deep the root of the Dharma is onward:
〔T35n1735 0946a06–0946a08〕「第三「時善財童子」〔0946a06〕下辨法根深，先問、後答。答中二：先辨初劫修行、後「從是已來」〔0946a07〕下類顯多劫成益。」 tr. “Third, from ‘at that time Sudhana the youth’ onward is the distinguishing of how deep the root of the Dharma is: first the asking, afterward the answering. Within the answer there are two: first the cultivation in the first kalpa is distinguished, and afterward, from ‘from that time onward’ onward, the like is displayed through many kalpas and benefit accomplished.”
〔T35n1735 0946a20–0946a21〕「第四「我唯知」〔0946a20〕下謙己推勝中，先顯己知一，略顯四種業用。」 tr. “Fourth, within the humbling of herself and pointing to the superior, from ‘I know only’ onward: first it is displayed that she knows one, and four kinds of working are displayed in brief.”
「第五指示後友，分三：初指後位、次頌前法、後善財得益。」 tr. “Fifth, the pointing out of the next friend, divided into three: first pointing to the station to come, next restating the Dharma before in verses, and last Sudhana’s gaining of benefit.” 〔T35n1735 0946a26〕
Li Tongxuan’s outline — the true entering upon this friend is outlined at length into ten passages, and closes with six gates of ascending by ascribing virtue that point to the friend to come. The passage before it is the five gates of ascending by ascribing virtue at the end of the passage of the friend before, Ocean of Tranquil Sound; it is there that the name of this friend and where she is are raised, and it is not the outline of this friend herself (a reference from outside the window):
〔T36n1739 0992c08–0992c13〕「第二推德昇進中，從「諸菩薩摩訶薩」〔0992c08〕已下至「辭退而去」〔0992c09〕，并頌有十八行經，約立五門：一推德昇進；二示善知識所在，云在此菩提場如來會中；三舉神之名，名守護一切城增長威力；四善財說頌讚寂靜音海之德；五禮敬辭去。」 tr. “Within the second, the ascending by ascribing virtue: from ‘as for the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas’ onward down to ‘took his leave and departed,’ together with the verses there are eighteen lines of scripture, and five gates are set up in brief — first, ascending by ascribing virtue; second, showing where the good friend is, saying that she is within the assembly of the Tathāgata at this site of awakening; third, raising the name of the goddess, named Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Might; fourth, Sudhana speaking verses in praise of the virtue of Ocean of Tranquil Sound; fifth, paying respect and taking leave.”
The true entering upon this friend begins separately at 〔T36n1739 0992c28〕「第一正入當位法門中」 tr. “within the first, the true entering upon the Dharma gate of the present station,” and below it 〔0993a01〕「長科為十段」 tr. “it is outlined at length into ten passages” — calling to mind the Dharma before · manifesting bodies of difference · setting forth what he seeks · praising what Sudhana seeks · telling of her own practice · the ten contemplations · sovereignty in expounding the Dharma · answering with the first buddha at whose place she gained the Dharma · the number of buddhas served · ascending by ascribing virtue. At the end of the ten passages Li Tongxuan states of himself the ground to which she is assigned:
〔T36n1739 0994b02–0994b04〕「此是第六現前地，為一切智慧皆現前故。以般若波羅蜜為王，餘九為伴。此治三空智慧寂用不自在障，令得自在。」 tr. “This is the sixth, the Manifest Ground, because all wisdom is made manifest. It takes the prajñā-pāramitā for its lord and the other nine for its companions. This cures the obstruction whereby the stillness and the working of the wisdom of the three emptinesses are not sovereign, and causes sovereignty to be gained.”
The one gate of ascending by ascribing virtue is opened again into six gates, pointing to the friend to come, Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees:
〔T36n1739 0994b06–0994b10〕「約立六門：一推德勝進；二示善知識所在，云在此佛會中；三舉善知識主夜神名開敷一切樹花；四有二十二行頌是主城神重頌前法，如文自具；五善財以二十行頌歎主城神德，如文具明；六禮敬辭去。」 tr. “Six gates are set up in brief: first, ascending by ascribing virtue; second, showing where the good friend is, saying that she is within this assembly of the Buddha; third, raising the name of the good friend, the night goddess Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees; fourth, there are twenty-two lines of verse in which the goddess who guards the cities restates the Dharma before, as the text itself sets out; fifth, Sudhana in twenty lines of verse sighs at the virtue of the goddess who guards the cities, as the text makes fully clear; sixth, paying respect and taking leave.”
II. Terminology
| Term | Sanskrit as transmitted by the ancient worthies (roman letters · pronunciation aid) | Attestation | Essential sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| the night goddess Guardian of All Cities | — | this unit: 「行詣守護一切城夜神所，見彼夜神坐一切寶光明摩尼王師子之座」 tr. “he went on to where the night goddess Guardian of All Cities was, and saw that night goddess seated upon a lion seat of maṇi kings of the light of all jewels” 〔T10n0279 0388a13〕 | The name of the thirty-sixth good friend; the sixty-fascicle has 「妙德守護諸城夜天」 tr. “the night deva Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities” 〔T09n0278 0738a03〕, the forty-fascicle 「守護一切城增長威德主夜神」 tr. “the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Majestic Virtue” 〔T10n0293 0760b26〕 |
| the liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound | — | this unit: 「我得菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫，為大法師，無所罣礙」 tr. “I have gained the bodhisattva liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound; I am a great master of Dharma with nothing to obstruct me” 〔T10n0279 0388b04〕 | The Dharma gate conferred in this section; upon the name Chengguan sets up three senses 〔T35n1735 0945c13–c15〕; the sixty-fascicle has 「甚深妙德自在音聲法門」 tr. “the Dharma gate of the Profound Wondrous Virtue and Sovereign Sound and Voice” 〔T09n0278 0738a20〕 |
| the Manifest Ground | — | Chengguan: 「第六守護一切城夜神，寄現前地」 tr. “sixth, the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, assigned to the Manifest Ground” 〔T35n1735 0945c08–c09〕 | The sixth of the ten grounds; the Yanyi chao sets it forth, saying 「住緣起智，引無分別最勝般若令現前故」 tr. “because she abides in the knowledge of dependent origination and draws forth the most excellent wisdom that is without discrimination and causes it to be manifest” 〔T36n1736 0683b14–b15〕 |
| dhāraṇī wheel | dhāraṇī (「陀羅尼」 tr. “dhāraṇī” is itself a transcription transmitted from of old) | this unit: 「普入一切法陀羅尼輪、普持一切法陀羅尼輪」 tr. “the dhāraṇī wheel of entering everywhere into all dharmas, the dhāraṇī wheel of holding everywhere all dharmas” 〔T10n0279 0388c06〕 | A holding-together that is able to turn; Chengguan glosses this passage as 「釋自在義，謂總持權實故，各就所持立名」 tr. “glossing the sense of sovereign, that is, because it holds together both the provisional and the real, and each name is set up from what it holds” 〔T35n1735 0945c25〕 |
| Sarvajñā | sarvajña (「薩婆若」 tr. “Sarvajñā” is itself a transcription transmitted from of old) | this unit: 「令一切眾生住薩婆若道故」 tr. “because I would have all sentient beings abide in the way of Sarvajñā” 〔T10n0279 0388b08〕 | All-knowledge |
| Nārāyaṇa | nārāyaṇa (「那羅延」 tr. “Nārāyaṇa” is itself a transcription transmitted from of old) | this unit: 「其心堅固猶如金剛那羅延藏」 tr. “their minds firm as the vajra treasury of Nārāyaṇa” 〔T10n0279 0388b16〕 | The name of a mighty man, firm and indestructible; what is taken here is his firmness |
| tāla tree | tāla (「多羅」 tr. “tāla” is itself a transcription transmitted from of old) | this unit: 「上昇虛空，高七多羅樹」 tr. “he rose into the sky to the height of seven tāla trees” 〔T10n0279 0389a24〕 | A measure of height; a mark of the spiritual power displayed by the king who was a monk in the former life |
| the sūtra of the Whirling of the Sea of All Dharmas | sūtra (「修多羅」 tr. “sūtra” is itself a transcription transmitted from of old) | this unit: 「受持一切法海旋修多羅」 tr. “received and upheld the sūtra of the Whirling of the Sea of All Dharmas” 〔T10n0279 0389a18〕 | The name of the scripture the wheel-turning king received and upheld in the presence of the first buddha |
| kalpas as many as the dust motes of the turnings of worlds | — | this unit: 「乃往古世，過世界轉微塵數劫」 tr. “in an ancient age gone by, past kalpas as many as the dust motes of the turnings of worlds” 〔T10n0279 0389a05〕 | The name of a quantity of kalpas; Chengguan glosses it: 「言世界轉者，謂世界為塵，一塵一剎，復末為塵，故亦猶無量」 tr. “as for saying the turnings of worlds, it means that a world is made into dust motes, that one dust mote is one land, and that these are ground into dust motes again, and so it too is as though measureless” 〔T35n1735 0946a08–a10〕 |
| the twenty-five existences | — | Chengguan: 「二十五有理無二故」 tr. “because the twenty-five existences are not two in principle” 〔T35n1735 0945c29〕 | The total number of the places of birth in the three realms; the Yanyi chao supplies the verse it depends upon, 「四洲四惡趣，梵王六欲天，無想五那含，四空并四禪」 tr. “the four continents and the four evil destinies, Brahmā the king and the six heavens of desire, the heaven of no perception and the five Anāgāmin heavens, the four formless and the four dhyāna heavens” 〔T36n1736 0683b16–b17〕 |
| Light of the Transformations of the Dharma Wheel | — | this unit: 「名：法輪化光，是此王女」 tr. “named Light of the Transformations of the Dharma Wheel, who was this king’s daughter” 〔T10n0279 0389a28〕 | The name of the nun of the former life, that is, the night goddess’s former body; the forty-fascicle has 「法輪變化光」 tr. “Light of the Transformation of the Dharma Wheel” 〔T10n0293 0762a01〕 |
| King of the Light of the Thunder-Sound of the Sea of Dharma | — | this unit: 「其最初佛，名：法海雷音光明王」 tr. “the first buddha of all was named King of the Light of the Thunder-Sound of the Sea of Dharma” 〔T10n0279 0389a16〕 | The name of the first buddha of the first kalpa of the former life; the verses of the sixty-fascicle have 「初佛號法海，雷音光明王」 tr. “the first buddha was called Sea of Dharma, King of the Light of the Thunder-Sound” 〔T09n0278 0740b15〕 |
| Lamp of the Wisdom of the City of the Dharma Realm | — | this unit: 「其最後佛，名：法界城智慧燈」 tr. “the last buddha of all was named Lamp of the Wisdom of the City of the Dharma Realm” 〔T10n0279 0390a14〕 | The name of the last buddha of the first kalpa of the former life; the verses of the sixty-fascicle have 「後佛法界城，明淨智慧燈」 tr. “the last buddha, City of the Dharma Realm, Bright and Pure Lamp of Wisdom” 〔T09n0278 0740b16〕 |
| the city of the mind · the city of the three realms · the Dharma city 〔the three cities〕 | — | this unit: 「令諸眾生，守護心城，捨三界城，住一切智無上法城」 tr. “I cause sentient beings to guard the city of their own mind, to forsake the city of the three realms, and to abide in the unsurpassed Dharma city of all-knowledge” 〔T10n0279 0390a22〕 | A turning of phrase upon three cities, answering to the friend’s name 「守護一切城」 tr. “Guardian of All Cities”; Li Tongxuan has 「表常守護一切眾生心城」 tr. “signifying the ever guarding of the city of the mind of all sentient beings” 〔T36n1739 0992c18〕 |
III. Similes and Rhetoric
(1) The series of clauses upon the manifesting of ten bodies — when Sudhana sees the night goddess, the scripture makes a series of ten clauses of the form 「現……身」 tr. “manifested a body …”: manifesting a body of the form and appearance of all sentient beings · manifesting a body facing all sentient beings everywhere · manifesting a body undefiled by any world · manifesting a body equal in number to all sentient beings · manifesting a body surpassing all worlds · manifesting a body ripening all sentient beings · manifesting a body swiftly going to all the ten directions · manifesting a body gathering in everywhere all the ten directions · manifesting a body of the ultimate substance and nature of the Tathāgata · manifesting a body ultimately subduing sentient beings 〔T10n0279 0388a15–0388a20〕 (ten clauses, counted graph by graph in the base text). Their order runs from 「一切眾生色相」 tr. “the form and appearance of all sentient beings” to 「究竟如來體性」 tr. “the ultimate substance and nature of the Tathāgata,” and closes again with 「究竟調伏眾生」 tr. “ultimately subduing sentient beings” — rising from sentient beings, reaching its utmost in the Tathāgata, and returning to sentient beings.
(2) The rhetoric of one name answered by three senses — the name of the Dharma gate is the set of three words 「甚深自在妙音」 tr. “profound, sovereign, wondrous sound,” and the three passages of the working below answer to them passage by passage: the ten contemplations of the Dharma realm gloss the profound, the ten dhāraṇī wheels of great majestic virtue gloss the sovereign, the twenty-three clauses of expounding the Dharma gloss the wondrous sound. This matching of the three passages comes from Chengguan’s outline — 〔T35n1735 0945c17–0945c19〕「第二「善男子我以如是淨法」〔0945c17〕下別顯業用。於中三：初釋甚深、次釋自在、後釋妙音」 tr. “second, from ‘son of good family, with such light of pure Dharma as this I’ onward, the working is displayed in particular; within it there are three: first glossing the profound, next glossing the sovereign, and last glossing the wondrous sound”; the scripture text itself only brings out these three passages in order and does not say which passage glosses which graph of the name.
(3) The rhetoric of ten pairs of the broad and the brief — of the twenty-three clauses that gloss the wondrous sound, the first three are the three kinds of wisdom, of hearing, of thinking, and of cultivating, and the twenty that follow run in pairs, setting 「一」 tr. “one” against 「一切」 tr. “all”: the Dharma of one existence / the Dharma of all existences · the Dharma of the sea of the name of one Tathāgata / the Dharma of the sea of the names of all Tathāgatas · the Dharma of one sea of worlds / the Dharma of the seas of all worlds · the Dharma of one sea of the prophecies of a buddha / the Dharma of the seas of the prophecies of all buddhas · the Dharma of one sea of the assembly and the place of the Way of a Tathāgata / the Dharma of the seas of the assemblies and the places of the Way of all Tathāgatas · the Dharma of one sea of the Dharma wheel of a Tathāgata / the Dharma of the seas of the Dharma wheels of all Tathāgatas · the Dharma of one sūtra of a Tathāgata / the Dharma of the sūtras of all Tathāgatas · the Dharma of one gathering of a Tathāgata / the Dharma of the gatherings of all Tathāgatas · the Dharma of one sea of the mind of Sarvajñā / the Dharma of the seas of the mind of all Sarvajñā · the Dharma of the going forth of one vehicle / the Dharma of the going forth of all vehicles 〔T10n0279 0388c15–0388c26〕 (ten pairs, counted graph by graph in the base text). Chengguan judges this form, saying 「後二十句為十對，約廣略辨」 tr. “the latter twenty clauses make ten pairs, distinguished by way of broad and brief” 〔T35n1735 0945c28–c29〕.
(4) The simile of the torch of Dharma — in the former life, the words with which the king who was a monk rebuked the monks of an evil age take 「法炬」 tr. “the torch of Dharma” as a simile for the Dharma the Buddha gathered together: 「奇哉！苦哉！佛於無量諸大劫海集此法炬，云何汝等而共毀滅？」 tr. “How strange! How bitter! Through measureless great seas of kalpas the Buddha gathered together this torch of Dharma; how is it that you would destroy it together?” 〔T10n0279 0389a23〕. A torch may be handed on and may be put out, and so the text below continues its brightness by sending forth light — 「身出無量諸色焰雲，放種種色大光明網」 tr. “from his body there came forth clouds of flames of measureless colors, and he sent out nets of great light of every color” 〔0389a25〕; the light is the continuing of the torch.
(5) The repeated clause of the buddha-names — in the passage listing the names of the former life, the form 「次有佛興，名：……」 tr. “next a buddha arose, named …” runs over and over; the scripture’s 「次有佛興」 tr. “next a buddha arose” appears ninety-eight times (counted graph by graph in the base text), and together with the first buddha, King of the Light of the Thunder-Sound of the Sea of Dharma, and the last buddha, Lamp of the Wisdom of the City of the Dharma Realm, they make the order of the buddhas within one kalpa; Chengguan gathers it up in general with 「三略舉、四結廣及類顯成益，文並可知」 tr. “third, the brief raising; fourth, the concluding of the broad and the displaying of the like and the accomplishing of benefit — the text may be known in both” 〔T35n1735 0946a19–a20〕, and judges this passage to be 「略舉次前百佛」 tr. “a brief raising of the hundred buddhas that come next before” 〔0946a14〕.
(6) The rhetoric of the night — the name of the night goddess answers to the words in which she tells of herself: 「於生死夜無明昏寐諸眾生中而獨覺悟」 tr. “amid the sentient beings who lie in the night of birth and death and in the slumber of ignorance, I alone am awake” 〔T10n0279 0390a21〕. Birth and death are the night, ignorance is the slumber, and this goddess alone is awake — name and sense meet here in a single sentence.
(7) The turning of phrase upon three cities — see the entry upon ‘the three cities’ above. Guarding, forsaking, and abiding, three verbs each matched to one city, three turns within a single sentence: what is guarded is the mind, what is forsaken is the three realms, what is abided in is the Dharma of all-knowledge.
IV. Collation with Parallel Translations
The Chinese witnesses for collating the principal clauses of this section’s scripture text: Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text · from the end of fascicle seventy-one to the beginning of fascicle seventy-two) · Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin translation, the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka, chapter thirty-four, Entering the Dharma Realm · fascicles fifty-three to fifty-four) · Prajñā T293 (the forty-fascicle Avataṃsaka, Entering the Dharma Realm, the Zhenyuan recension). The principal clauses of the middle portion of the forty-fascicle are set out here: the name of the Dharma gate reads 「我得菩薩甚深自在可愛妙音解脫門」 tr. “I have gained the bodhisattva liberation gate of the Profound, Sovereign, Lovely and Wondrous Sound” 〔T10n0293 0760c20〕, two graphs more than the eighty-fascicle, 「可愛」 tr. “lovely,” and closing with 「解脫門」 tr. “gate of liberation”; after the evil age, the teaching 「千歲而得興盛」 tr. “flourished again for a thousand years” 〔0762a01〕, carrying on from 「彼如來教復於六十」 tr. “the teaching of that Tathāgata again for sixty” 〔0761c29〕, where the eighty-fascicle has sixty-five thousand years; in the passage of the nun, the forty-fascicle sets out besides what the retinue gained — 「諸比丘尼各得三昧，名現見如來平等出生；及得陀羅尼，名一切如來轉法輪金剛光明；及得般若波羅蜜，名普入一切法門海」 tr. “the nuns each gained a samādhi named Seeing before Them the Equal Arising of the Tathāgatas; and gained a dhāraṇī named the Vajra Light of the Turning of the Dharma Wheel by All Tathāgatas; and gained a prajñā-pāramitā named Entering Everywhere the Sea of All Dharma Gates” 〔0762a04〕, and only afterward does the nun Light of the Transformation of the Dharma Wheel 「即得三昧，名出生一切佛教光明燈，又得此甚深自在可愛妙音解脫」 tr. “thereupon gain a samādhi named Lamp of the Light That Brings Forth the Teaching of All Buddhas, and gain besides this liberation of the Profound, Sovereign, Lovely and Wondrous Sound” 〔0762a08〕; and the last of the listed hundred buddha-names reads 「次有佛興，名普智慧光明法城燈」 tr. “next a buddha arose, named Lamp of the City of Dharma of the Light of Universal Wisdom” 〔0763a08〕.
Clause One The Seeking and the Seeing of the Bodies
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | He went on to where the night goddess Guardian of All Cities was, and saw that night goddess seated upon a lion seat of maṇi kings of the light of all jewels | T10n0279 0388a13 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | He went on to where the night deva Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities was. He saw that night deva upon a jeweled lion seat of the palace that shines everywhere upon all | T09n0278 0738a02 |
| Prajñā T293 | Going on by stages he came to where the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Majestic Virtue was, and saw that night goddess seated upon a lion seat of the treasury of the great lotus of maṇi jewel kings of the light that shines everywhere upon all the palaces | T10n0293 0760b25 |
| Śikṣānanda T279 | manifested a body of the form and appearance of all sentient beings | T10n0279 0388a15 |
| Prajñā T293 | manifested a body answering everywhere to the form and appearance of all sentient beings, manifested a facing everywhere of all sentient beings | T10n0293 0760b29 |
What the variants are fastened to: (a) The friend’s name has three forms in the three witnesses — the eighty-fascicle 「守護一切城夜神」 tr. “the night goddess Guardian of All Cities,” the sixty-fascicle 「妙德守護諸城夜天」 tr. “the night deva Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities,” the forty-fascicle 「守護一切城增長威德主夜神」 tr. “the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Majestic Virtue”; the forty-fascicle has four graphs more than the eighty-fascicle, 「增長威德」 tr. “increasing majestic virtue,” and one graph more besides, 「主」 tr. “presiding,” five graphs of difference in all; while the sixty-fascicle sets 「妙德」 tr. “wondrous virtue” at the head and reads 「諸城」 tr. “the cities.” The word for the deity differs too: the eighty-fascicle and the forty-fascicle read 「夜神」 tr. “night goddess,” the sixty-fascicle 「夜天」 tr. “night deva.” (b) As to the adornment of the seat, the eighty-fascicle reads 「一切寶光明摩尼王師子之座」 tr. “a lion seat of maṇi kings of the light of all jewels,” the sixty-fascicle 「普照一切宮殿寶師子座」 tr. “a jeweled lion seat of the palace that shines everywhere upon all,” the forty-fascicle 「光明普照一切宮殿摩尼寶王大蓮華藏師子之座」 tr. “a lion seat of the treasury of the great lotus of maṇi jewel kings of the light that shines everywhere upon all the palaces” — the forty-fascicle takes in both the sixty-fascicle’s 「普照一切宮殿」 tr. “shining everywhere upon all the palaces” and the eighty-fascicle’s 「摩尼」 tr. “maṇi,” and adds besides 「大蓮華藏」 tr. “the treasury of the great lotus.” (c) The clauses of the ten bodies differ among the three witnesses: the eighty-fascicle’s first clause reads 「現一切眾生色相身」 tr. “manifested a body of the form and appearance of all sentient beings,” the forty-fascicle 「現普應一切眾生色相身」 tr. “manifested a body answering everywhere to the form and appearance of all sentient beings,” while the sixty-fascicle reads 「隨方面身、一切眾生色身」 tr. “a body according with the quarters, a body of the form of all sentient beings” 〔T09n0278 0738a04–a05〕 and does not use the clause-form with 「現」 tr. “manifested.” Recorded without adjudication.
Clause Two Paying Respect and Inquiring
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Holy one! I have already raised the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, and yet I do not know how a bodhisattva, when cultivating the bodhisattva practice, is to benefit sentient beings | T10n0279 0388a21 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Deva-spirit! I have already raised the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, and yet I do not know how a bodhisattva is to study the bodhisattva way and benefit sentient beings | T09n0278 0738a10 |
| Prajñā T293 | Holy one! I have already raised anuttara | T10n0293 0760c07 |
| Prajñā T293 | How is he to benefit and bring ease to sentient beings | T10n0293 0760c09 |
What the variants are fastened to: (a) As to the form of address, the eighty-fascicle and the forty-fascicle read 「聖者」 tr. “holy one,” the sixty-fascicle 「天神」 tr. “deva-spirit.” (b) As to the number of questions, the eighty-fascicle has four (how is he to benefit sentient beings · how is he to gather sentient beings in with the unsurpassed gathering-in · how is he to accord with the teaching of the buddhas · how is he to draw near to the station of the Dharma king 〔T10n0279 0388a23–a25〕); the forty-fascicle has six (how is he to benefit and bring ease to sentient beings · how is he to gather sentient beings in with the unsurpassed gathering-in · how is he to study the bodhisattva way · how is he to abide in the bodhisattva work · how is he to accord with the teaching of the buddhas · how is he to draw near to the station of the Dharma king 〔T10n0293 0760c09–c11〕), two questions more than the eighty-fascicle, 「學菩薩道」 tr. “studying the bodhisattva way” and 「住菩薩業」 tr. “abiding in the bodhisattva work”; the sixty-fascicle gathers what is asked after under a single 「云何」 tr. “how,” reading 「我已先發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，而未知菩薩云何學菩薩道，饒益眾生；以無上攝法，攝取眾生，順如來業，親近法王」 tr. “I have already raised the mind of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, and yet I do not know how a bodhisattva is to study the bodhisattva way and benefit sentient beings; to gather sentient beings in with the unsurpassed dharma of gathering in, to accord with the work of the Tathāgata, to draw near to the Dharma king” 〔T09n0278 0738a11–a13〕, four matters asked under one question; and moreover it reads 「順諸佛教」 tr. “according with the teaching of the buddhas” as 「順如來業」 tr. “according with the work of the Tathāgata.” Recorded without adjudication.
Clause Three Setting Forth the Name and Substance · The Name of the Dharma Gate
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | I have gained the bodhisattva liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound; I am a great master of Dharma with nothing to obstruct me | T10n0279 0388b04 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | I have already accomplished the Dharma gate of the Profound Wondrous Virtue and Sovereign Sound and Voice | T09n0278 0738a20 |
What the variants are fastened to: the name of the Dharma gate has two forms in the two witnesses — the eighty-fascicle 「甚深自在妙音解脫」 tr. “the liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound,” the sixty-fascicle 「甚深妙德自在音聲法門」 tr. “the Dharma gate of the Profound Wondrous Virtue and Sovereign Sound and Voice”; the sixty-fascicle has the two graphs 「妙德」 tr. “wondrous virtue” besides, and puts 「音聲」 tr. “sound and voice” for 「妙音」 tr. “wondrous sound,” and 「法門」 tr. “Dharma gate” for 「解脫」 tr. “liberation.” Again, the eighty-fascicle marks the gaining of the Dharma at this very place (「我得」 tr. “I have gained”), while the sixty-fascicle reads 「我已成就」 tr. “I have already accomplished” and carries it on below with 「是故」 tr. “therefore” into the working of the Dharma (「是故，佛子！我為勝大法師」 tr. “therefore, son of the Buddha, I am a surpassing great master of Dharma” 〔T09n0278 0738a20〕) — both witnesses set forth the name of the Dharma gate first and speak of its working after, and in this their order does not differ; what differs is only the wording of the gaining and the form of the name. Recorded without adjudication.
Clause Four The Ten Contemplations of the Dharma Realm
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | I know that the Dharma realm is measureless, because I have obtained the vast light of knowledge | T10n0279 0388b21 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Knowing that the Dharma realm is measureless, because wisdom is measureless | T09n0278 0738b11 |
| Śikṣānanda T279 | I know that the Dharma realm cannot be destroyed | T10n0279 0388c01 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Knowing that the Dharma realm is inextinguishable — the roots of good of all-knowledge | T09n0278 0738b20 |
What the variants are fastened to: (a) As to the name of the passage, the eighty-fascicle reads 「作十種觀察法界」 tr. “makes ten contemplations of the Dharma realm” 〔T10n0279 0388b20〕, the sixty-fascicle 「我以十行觀察法界，隨順法界，攝取法界」 tr. “with ten practices I contemplate the Dharma realm, accord with the Dharma realm, and gather in the Dharma realm” 〔T09n0278 0738b09–b10〕 — the sixty-fascicle has the two senses of 「隨順」 tr. “according with” and 「攝取」 tr. “gathering in” besides, and puts 「十行」 tr. “ten practices” for 「十種」 tr. “ten kinds.” (b) The clauses of the ten gates differ between the two witnesses: the order in the eighty-fascicle is measureless · boundless · without limit · without shore · unbroken · of one nature · pure in nature · pervading sentient beings · one adornment · indestructible; in the sixty-fascicle it is measureless · measureless and boundless · measureless and boundless (of the buddha Dharma realm) · without division · indestructible · the one wondrous sound of the Tathāgata · naturally pure · reaching everywhere to sentient beings · all adornment · inextinguishable. The eighty-fascicle’s fifth, 「無斷」 tr. “unbroken,” faces the sixty-fascicle’s fifth, 「不可壞」 tr. “indestructible,” while the eighty-fascicle’s tenth, 「不可壞」 tr. “indestructible,” faces the sixty-fascicle’s tenth, 「不可滅」 tr. “inextinguishable” — one and the same term standing at different places in the two witnesses. (c) Chengguan, upon the eighty-fascicle, glosses the first five, saying 「謂一無分量、二無邊際、三無齊限、四無涯畔、五豎無斷絕，餘可知」 tr. “that is, first without measure, second without bound, third without limit, fourth without shore, fifth vertically without breaking off; the rest may be known” 〔T35n1735 0945c22–c23〕. Recorded without adjudication.
Clause Five The Dhāraṇī Wheels
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | the dhāraṇī wheel of entering everywhere into all dharmas, the dhāraṇī wheel of holding everywhere all dharmas | T10n0279 0388c06 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | the perfect dhāraṇī that gathers in all dharmas | T09n0278 0738b24 |
| Prajñā T293 | āraṇī wheel, the dhāraṇī wheel of proclaiming everywhere the sound and voice of the names of all Tathāgatas | T10n0293 0761b01 |
| Śikṣānanda T279 | These ten dhāraṇī wheels have ten thousand dhāraṇī wheels for their retinue | T10n0279 0388c12 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | with ten thousand dhāraṇīs | T09n0278 0738b23 |
What the variants are fastened to: (a) The name differs — the eighty-fascicle reads throughout 「陀羅尼輪」 tr. “dhāraṇī wheel,” the sixty-fascicle throughout 「圓滿陀羅尼」 tr. “perfect dhāraṇī” (without the graph 「輪」 tr. “wheel” and with the two graphs 「圓滿」 tr. “perfect”), and the forty-fascicle agrees with the eighty-fascicle in reading 「陀羅尼輪」 tr. “dhāraṇī wheel.” (b) The way of setting up the number differs — the eighty-fascicle sets up ten wheels and has 「十千陀羅尼輪而為眷屬」 tr. “ten thousand dhāraṇī wheels for their retinue” 〔T10n0279 0388c13〕; the sixty-fascicle does not divide host from companions but says straight out 「以一萬陀羅尼，為眾生說法」 tr. “with ten thousand dhāraṇīs she expounds the Dharma for sentient beings” 〔T09n0278 0738b23–b24〕, listing the ten names below it. Ten thousand and a myriad are the same number, but the way of setting up the name differs. (c) The several names differ too, as the eighty-fascicle’s 「普說一切佛名號陀羅尼輪」 tr. “the dhāraṇī wheel of expounding everywhere the names of all buddhas” against the sixty-fascicle’s 「轉一切佛名號輪圓滿陀羅尼」 tr. “the perfect dhāraṇī that turns the wheel of the names of all buddhas” against the forty-fascicle’s 「普演一切如來名號音聲陀羅尼輪」 tr. “the dhāraṇī wheel of proclaiming everywhere the sound and voice of the names of all Tathāgatas.” Recorded without adjudication.
Clause Six The Twenty-Three Clauses of the Wondrous Sound
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | At times I expound for sentient beings the Dharma of one existence, at times I expound for sentient beings the Dharma of all existences | T10n0279 0388c15 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | At times expounding one existence, at times expounding the sea of all existences | T09n0278 0738c12 |
| Śikṣānanda T279 | At times I expound for them the Dharma of the going forth of one vehicle, at times I expound for them the Dharma of the going forth of all vehicles | T10n0279 0388c26 |
What the variants are fastened to: (a) As to the number of clauses, the eighty-fascicle’s 「或為眾生說」 tr. “at times I expound for sentient beings” appears five times and its 「或為說」 tr. “at times I expound for them” eighteen times, twenty-three clauses in all (counted graph by graph in the base text), agreeing with Chengguan’s 「有二十三句」 tr. “there are twenty-three clauses” 〔T35n1735 0945c27〕; the sixty-fascicle likewise has twenty-three clauses 〔T09n0278 0738c11–0738c20〕, but its clause-form is briefer and mostly closes with the graph 「海」 tr. “sea” (the sea of all existences · the sea of the names of all buddhas · the sea of all worlds · the sea of all prophecies · the sea of the retinues of all buddhas · the sea of the Dharma wheels of all buddhas · the sea of the sūtras of all buddhas · the sea of all gatherings · the sea of all minds of awakening · the sea of all vehicles). (b) As to the name of the last pair, the eighty-fascicle reads 「一乘出離法／一切乘出離法」 tr. “the Dharma of the going forth of one vehicle / the Dharma of the going forth of all vehicles,” the sixty-fascicle 「一乘／一切乘海」 tr. “one vehicle / the sea of all vehicles,” without the two graphs 「出離」 tr. “going forth.” (c) Chengguan, upon the eighty-fascicle, judges its division, saying 「初三約三慧；後二十句為十對，約廣略辨」 tr. “the first three are by way of the three kinds of wisdom; the latter twenty clauses make ten pairs, distinguished by way of broad and brief” 〔T35n1735 0945c28〕. Recorded without adjudication.
Clause Seven The Former Life · The Kalpa and the World
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | There was a kalpa named Undefiled Light, and there was a world named Cloud of the Merit and Virtue of the Dharma Realm | T10n0279 0389a06 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Son of the Buddha! In an ancient age gone by, past kalpas equal to the dust motes of the turning of worlds, there was a kalpa named Undefiled Light | T09n0278 0738c28 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | At that time there was a world named Wondrous of the Dharma Realm | T09n0278 0738c29 |
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Within it there was a royal city named Light of the Universal Jewel Flower | T10n0279 0389a14 |
| Prajñā T293 | At that time there was a kalpa named Stainless Light | T10n0293 0763b13 |
| Prajñā T293 | The land was called Auspicious Cloud of the Light of Dharma, and the city was named Universal Jewel Kusuma | T10n0293 0763b14 |
What the variants are fastened to: (a) As to the name of the kalpa, the eighty-fascicle and the sixty-fascicle both read 「離垢光明」 tr. “Undefiled Light,” the verses of the forty-fascicle read 「無垢光」 tr. “Stainless Light,” while the verses of the eighty-fascicle itself read 「淨光」 tr. “Pure Light” 〔T10n0279 0390b14〕 — one and the same name of a kalpa already differing between the prose and the verses restating, and not among the three witnesses alone. (b) As to the name of the world, the eighty-fascicle reads 「法界功德雲」 tr. “Cloud of the Merit and Virtue of the Dharma Realm,” the sixty-fascicle 「法界妙德雲」 tr. “Cloud of the Wondrous Virtue of the Dharma Realm” (a difference of one graph, 「妙」 tr. “wondrous” for 「功」 tr. “merit”), the verses of the forty-fascicle 「法光吉祥雲」 tr. “Auspicious Cloud of the Light of Dharma,” while the verses of the eighty-fascicle itself read 「法焰雲」 tr. “Cloud of Dharma Flames” 〔T10n0279 0390b15〕. (c) As to the name of the royal city, the eighty-fascicle reads 「普寶華光」 tr. “Light of the Universal Jewel Flower,” the verses of the eighty-fascicle 「寶華光」 tr. “Light of the Jewel Flower,” the verses of the forty-fascicle 「普寶拘蘇摩」 tr. “Universal Jewel Kusuma,” while its prose reads 「普寶拘蘇摩光」 tr. “Light of the Universal Jewel Kusuma” 〔T10n0293 0761c12〕 — kusuma being the transcription of the word for flower, what it answers to is the eighty-fascicle’s 「華」 tr. “flower”; the verses of the eighty-fascicle, 「寶華光」 tr. “Light of the Jewel Flower,” have the graph 「光」 tr. “light” besides, which the verses of the forty-fascicle do not, so that the presence or absence of 「光」 tr. “light” is what divides the verses of the two witnesses, and the two forms of the name are not wholly one in sense. The names in all three witnesses have discrepancies between the prose and the verses restating, and all are recorded without adjudication.
Clause Eight Humbling Herself and Pointing to the Superior, and Pointing Out the Next Friend
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | And how then could I know or tell of their practices of merit and virtue | T10n0279 0390b05 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | How should I be able to know or to tell of their practices of merit and virtue | T09n0278 0740b03 |
| Śikṣānanda T279 | Go to her and ask: how is a bodhisattva to study all-knowledge | T10n0279 0390b06 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Go to her and ask how a bodhisattva is to study all-knowledge, and to estab | T09n0278 0740b05 |
| Prajñā T293 | Within this assembly of the Buddha at this site of awakening there is a night goddess named Able | T10n0293 0763b03 |
What the variants are fastened to: (a) The name of the next friend has three forms in the three witnesses — the eighty-fascicle 「開敷一切樹華」 tr. “Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees,” the sixty-fascicle 「開敷樹華」 tr. “Who Opens the Blossoms of Trees,” the forty-fascicle 「能開敷一切樹華安樂」 tr. “Able to Open the Blossoms of All Trees, Bringing Ease.” (b) As to where the next friend is, the eighty-fascicle reads 「此佛會中」 tr. “within this assembly of the Buddha” 〔T10n0279 0390b05〕, the sixty-fascicle 「此佛眾中」 tr. “within this multitude of the Buddha,” the forty-fascicle 「此菩提場佛眾會中」 tr. “within this assembly of the multitude of the Buddha at the site of awakening” — the forty-fascicle names the site of awakening expressly, answering to the gate Li Tongxuan sets up in the passage of ascending by ascribing virtue of the friend before, 「二示善知識所在，云在此菩提場如來會中」 tr. “second, showing where the good friend is, saying that she is within the assembly of the Tathāgata at this site of awakening” 〔T36n1739 0992c10–c11〕. (c) As to what is asked after, the eighty-fascicle has two questions (how is a bodhisattva to study all-knowledge · how is he to establish all sentient beings in abiding in all-knowledge), the sixty-fascicle two (how is a bodhisattva to study all-knowledge · to establish sentient beings in Sarvajñā 〔T09n0278 0740b05–b06〕), the forty-fascicle three (how is he to study all-knowledge · how is he to cultivate all-knowledge · how is he to lead all sentient beings and cause them to awaken and enter the city of all-knowledge 〔T10n0293 0763b04–b06〕). Recorded without adjudication.
Clause Nine The First Verse of Each of the Two Sets of Verses, and the Number of Verses
| Witness | Verbatim, rendered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Śikṣānanda T279 | a mark equal like empty space and like suchness | T10n0279 0390b10 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | Son of the Buddha, the profound Dharma gate, the nature that is like empty space and like suchness | T09n0278 0740b08 |
| Prajñā T293 | The bodhisattva’s liberation is deep and hard to see, a bound equal like empty space and like suchness | T10n0293 0763b09 |
| Śikṣānanda T279 | You have walked the vast sea of wondrous wisdom, and have crossed the boundless sea of the several existences | T10n0279 0390c07 |
| Buddhabhadra T278 | The sea of wisdom is fulfilled, the birth and death are crossed forever | T09n0278 0740c13 |
| Prajñā T293 | You have walked the vast and deep sea of knowledge, and have crossed the boundless sea of the several existences | T10n0293 0763c08 |
What the variants are fastened to: (a) As to the number of graphs in a verse line, the eighty-fascicle and the forty-fascicle are both of seven graphs and the sixty-fascicle of five — and so the lines of the sixty-fascicle cannot be set graph for graph against those of the eighty-fascicle and the forty-fascicle, but only by sense. (b) As to the first line of the night goddess’s verses, the eighty-fascicle’s 「菩薩解脫深難見」 tr. “the bodhisattva’s liberation is deep and hard to see” is wholly the same as the forty-fascicle’s, while the sixty-fascicle reads 「佛子深法門」 tr. “son of the Buddha, the profound Dharma gate”; and in the second line the eighty-fascicle has 「虛空如如平等相」 tr. “a mark equal like empty space and like suchness,” the forty-fascicle 「虛空如如平等際」 tr. “a bound equal like empty space and like suchness,” the sixty-fascicle 「虛空如如性」 tr. “the nature that is like empty space and like suchness” — a difference of the three graphs 「相」 tr. “mark,” 「際」 tr. “bound,” and 「性」 tr. “nature.” (c) As to the first line of Sudhana’s verses of praise, the eighty-fascicle has 「已行廣大妙慧海」 tr. “you have walked the vast sea of wondrous wisdom” and the forty-fascicle 「已行廣大深智海」 tr. “you have walked the vast and deep sea of knowledge,” differing only in the two graphs 「妙慧」 tr. “wondrous wisdom” and 「深智」 tr. “deep knowledge,” the rest being wholly the same; the sixty-fascicle reads 「智慧海成滿」 tr. “the sea of wisdom is fulfilled” 〔T09n0278 0740c13〕. (d) The fine numbers of the verses differ among the three witnesses, and are set out witness by witness in columns (verse lines · clauses · four-clause verses): the eighty-fascicle, twenty-two verse lines, forty-four clauses, eleven verses of the night goddess 〔T10n0279 0390b10–0390c02〕 · twenty verse lines, forty clauses, ten verses of Sudhana 〔0390c07–0390c26〕; the sixty-fascicle, twenty-nine verse lines, fifty-eight clauses, fourteen and a half verses of the night deva 〔T09n0278 0740b08–0740c07〕 · twenty-eight verse lines, fifty-six clauses, fourteen verses of Sudhana 〔0740c13–0741a11〕; the forty-fascicle, twenty-three verse lines, forty-six clauses, eleven and a half verses of the night goddess 〔T10n0293 0763b09–0763c02〕 · twenty verse lines, forty clauses, ten verses of Sudhana 〔0763c08–0763c27〕. The verse lines of the sixty-fascicle’s night deva and of the forty-fascicle’s night goddess are both odd in number, and half a verse is left over at the end of each, which is not joined up into a whole verse. Recorded without adjudication.
V. Scriptural Grounds of Sectarian Doctrine (the doctrinal eye)
(1) One name with three senses, one substance with three workings — the doctrine of this section lies wholly in the set of three words in the name of the Dharma gate. The scripture text itself first sets forth the name (「我得菩薩甚深自在妙音解脫」 tr. “I have gained the bodhisattva liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound” 〔T10n0279 0388b04〕), next glosses it passage by passage with three passages of the working, and at the last gathers it up in a single sentence (「我成就此甚深自在妙音解脫，於念念中增長一切諸解脫門，念念充滿一切法界」 tr. “I have accomplished this liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound, and in thought after thought I increase all the gates of liberation, and thought after thought fills all the Dharma realm” 〔0389a01〕). At the place where the name is set forth Chengguan glosses it graph by graph:
「即事契理，故曰甚深。權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在。依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音。」 tr. “To be in accord with the principle upon the very thing, and so it is called profound. Provisional and real being unobstructed, and wondrous eloquence held within, is called sovereign. Expounding the Dharma in reliance upon this, answering everywhere to the capacities of the many, is what is meant by wondrous sound.” 〔T35n1735 0945c13–0945c15〕
The profound is fastened to principle and things, the sovereign to the provisional and the real, the wondrous sound to answering to capacities — three senses that are not three matters but three faces of one liberation. At the concluding of the benefit Chengguan sets forth this intent again, saying 〔T35n1735 0946a03–0946a05〕「先別結甚深益，由入無差別故，住劫而不疲；後「我成就」〔0946a04〕下通結妙音自在總持故增長解脫，妙音故充滿法界」 tr. “first the benefit of the profound is concluded in particular, since by entering the undifferentiated one abides through kalpas without weariness; afterward, from ‘I have accomplished’ onward, the wondrous sound and the sovereign are concluded in general, since by the holding-together liberation is increased, and by the wondrous sound the Dharma realm is filled”.
(2) The ten senses of the Dharma realm, principle displayed by practice — of the passage of the ten contemplations of the Dharma realm, Chengguan does not take it for ten objects known but judges it as displaying principle by practice:
「列法界中十種別義，約十種行顯之，以行必稱理、理由行顯故。」 tr. “Within the Dharma realm ten distinct senses are listed, and they are displayed by way of ten kinds of practice, since practice must accord with principle and principle is displayed by practice.” 〔T35n1735 0945c20–0945c22〕
The form of the scripture’s ten clauses is the very ground of this judgment: every clause has ‘I know that the Dharma realm is thus and thus’ before and ‘because of such and such’ after, the former being the sense known and the latter the practice by which it is known. Thus 「我知法界無限，普入一切諸佛國土，恭敬供養諸如來故」 tr. “I know that the Dharma realm is without limit, because I enter everywhere into all the lands of the buddhas and reverently make offerings to the Tathāgatas” 〔T10n0279 0388b23〕 — without limit is the principle, entering everywhere and making offerings is the practice.
(3) The four kinds of verbal action, fastened to the wondrous sound — in the passage of humbling herself and pointing to the superior, the scripture itself raises four kinds of verbal action: 「令諸世間，離戲論語，不作二語，常真實語，恒清淨語」 tr. “causing the worlds to leave off frivolous talk, not to make two-tongued talk, ever to speak true talk, and always to speak pure talk” 〔T10n0279 0390a24〕. Chengguan here sets up two gates of glossing:
「若約妙音釋，則不綺、不離間、不妄、不惡口，如次配之。若約甚深釋者，不與理合皆名戲論，理外發言即是二語。既與理乖，則非真非淨。反此可知。」 tr. “If it be glossed by way of the wondrous sound, then not flowery, not divisive, not false, not harsh, matched to them in order. If it be glossed by way of the profound, then whatever does not join with principle is called frivolous talk, and to utter speech outside principle is two-tongued talk; and being at odds with principle, it is neither true nor pure. The reverse of this may be known.” 〔T35n1735 0946a22–0946a25〕
The one gloss is by way of things — the four kinds of speech are the four good verbal deeds; the other is by way of principle — whatever does not join with principle is frivolous talk. Both glosses are set up by Chengguan, and both stand.
(4) The guarding of three cities — the name answering to the practice — the night goddess is named 「守護一切城」 tr. “Guardian of All Cities,” and the practice she tells of herself comes down precisely upon three cities: 「令諸眾生，守護心城，捨三界城，住一切智無上法城」 tr. “I cause sentient beings to guard the city of their own mind, to forsake the city of the three realms, and to abide in the unsurpassed Dharma city of all-knowledge” 〔T10n0279 0390a22〕. That guarding should be this friend’s title is answered to by the scripture text itself, and is not a matching made by the commentators. Li Tongxuan, raising the name of this friend in the passage of ascending by ascribing virtue of the friend before, sets forth this sense, saying 「表常守護一切眾生心城，增長第六地中及一切眾生智慧威力，使三空現前」 tr. “signifying the ever guarding of the city of the mind of all sentient beings, increasing the wisdom and might within the sixth ground and of all sentient beings, and causing the three emptinesses to be manifest” 〔T36n1739 0992c18–0992c19〕.
(5) The bringing together of past and present — where the former life is gathered up — the point of the one passage of the former life lies not in the remoteness of the kalpas or the multitude of the buddhas but in the one question and answer at the last: 「善男子！於汝意云何？彼時轉輪聖王隨於如來轉正法輪，佛涅槃後興隆末法者，豈異人乎？今普賢菩薩是。其法輪化光比丘尼，即我身是。」 tr. “Son of good family! What do you think? That wheel-turning sage king who accorded with the Tathāgata in turning the wheel of the true Dharma and who, after the Buddha’s nirvāṇa, made the last age of the Dharma flourish — could he be another? He is the bodhisattva Samantabhadra of today. And that nun Light of the Transformations of the Dharma Wheel is this very body of mine.” 〔T10n0279 0389b04–0389b07〕. Chengguan judges this to be 〔T35n1735 0946a18–0946a19〕「六「於汝意云何」〔0946a19〕下結會古今成益」 tr. “sixth, from ‘what do you think’ onward, the bringing together of past and present and the accomplishing of benefit”, while the direct answer to the one question of how long ago the Dharma was gained he fastens to the passage of the nun before it — 〔T35n1735 0946a17–0946a18〕「五「時有比丘尼」〔0946a17〕下王女見聞發心得法，即正答得法久近也」 tr. “fifth, from ‘at that time there was a nun’ onward, the king’s daughter seeing and hearing, raising the mind and gaining the Dharma, which is the direct answer to how long ago the Dharma was gained”.
VI. Divergent Interpretations of the Commentators (the ancient worthies · with their houses marked)
Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735 · Yanyi chao T36n1736 (glossing the eighty-fascicle as the text runs · the principal house)
The outline: 「第六守護一切城夜神，寄現前地」 tr. “sixth, the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, assigned to the Manifest Ground” 〔T35n1735 0945c08–c09〕
The three senses of the setting forth of the name and substance: 「即事契理，故曰甚深。權實無礙，蘊攝妙辯，稱為自在。依此演法，普應群機，是為妙音。」 tr. “To be in accord with the principle upon the very thing, and so it is called profound. Provisional and real being unobstructed, and wondrous eloquence held within, is called sovereign. Expounding the Dharma in reliance upon this, answering everywhere to the capacities of the many, is what is meant by wondrous sound.” 〔T35n1735 0945c13–0945c15〕
The judgment upon the glossing of the profound: 「列法界中十種別義，約十種行顯之，以行必稱理、理由行顯故，謂一無分量、二無邊際、三無齊限、四無涯畔、五豎無斷絕，餘可知。」 tr. “Within the Dharma realm ten distinct senses are listed, and they are displayed by way of ten kinds of practice, since practice must accord with principle and principle is displayed by practice; that is, first without measure, second without bound, third without limit, fourth without shore, fifth vertically without breaking off; the rest may be known.” 〔T35n1735 0945c20–0945c23〕
The judgment upon the glossing of the sovereign: 「釋自在義，謂總持權實故，各就所持立名，可知。」 tr. “Glossing the sense of sovereign, that is, because it holds together both the provisional and the real, and each name is set up from what it holds; this may be known.” 〔T35n1735 0945c25–0945c26〕
The judgment upon the glossing of the wondrous sound: 「今初，有二十三句：初三約三慧；後二十句為十對，約廣略辨。略言一者，通理通事。理一有者，二十五有理無二故。事一有者，同一有為故。餘可思準。」 tr. “Now the first: there are twenty-three clauses; the first three are by way of the three kinds of wisdom, and the latter twenty clauses make ten pairs, distinguished by way of broad and brief. To say one in brief is to run through both principle and things. The one existence by way of principle is because the twenty-five existences are not two in principle. The one existence by way of things is because they are alike in being conditioned. The rest may be reckoned by thought.” 〔T35n1735 0945c27–0946a02〕
The gloss upon the quantity of kalpas: 「言世界轉者，謂世界為塵，一塵一剎，復末為塵，故亦猶無量；無量為一，無量轉等。若取迴轉形世界塵者，何以偏取此形？」 tr. “As for saying the turnings of worlds, it means that a world is made into dust motes, that one dust mote is one land, and that these are ground into dust motes again, and so it too is as though measureless; the measureless taken as one, and turned about measurelessly, and so forth. If one were to take it as the dust motes of worlds of a whirling shape, why should this one shape alone be taken?” 〔T35n1735 0946a08–0946a11〕
The six parts of the former life: 〔T35n1735 0946a15–0946a19〕「二中，分六：一標佛現；二「彼佛出時」〔0946a15〕下父王出家；三「法欲滅」〔0946a16〕下惡世過興；四「時王比丘」〔0946a16〕下滅過弘闡；五「時有比丘尼」〔0946a17〕下王女見聞發心得法，即正答得法久近也；六「於汝意云何」〔0946a19〕下結會古今成益。」 tr. “Within the second, six parts: first, the raising of the buddha’s appearing; second, from ‘when that buddha appeared’ onward, the father king going forth from the household life; third, from ‘when the Dharma was about to perish’ onward, the rising of the faults of an evil age; fourth, from ‘at that time the king who was a monk’ onward, the putting down of the faults and the spreading abroad of the Dharma; fifth, from ‘at that time there was a nun’ onward, the king’s daughter seeing and hearing, raising the mind and gaining the Dharma, which is the direct answer to how long ago the Dharma was gained; sixth, from ‘what do you think’ onward, the bringing together of past and present and the accomplishing of benefit.”
The signified station of the next friend: 「開敷樹華者，約事，在香樹閣內故。約位，七地是有行有開發，無相住故。」 tr. “As for Who Opens the Blossoms of Trees: by way of the thing, it is because she is within the pavilion of fragrant trees. By way of the station, the seventh ground has practice and has opening forth, and abides in the markless.” 〔T35n1735 0946a27–0946a29〕
The division of the night goddess’s eleven verses: 「十一偈，分二：初二偈頌前體用、餘頌顯法根深。於中亦二：初頌初劫、後一偈頌類顯多劫。前中三：初三通頌初後、次四別頌於初佛得法、後一頌中間百佛及後結文。」 tr. “Eleven verses, divided in two: the first two verses restate the substance and the working before, and the rest restate the displaying of how deep the root of the Dharma is. Within these there are again two: first restating the first kalpa, and the last one verse restating the displaying of the like through many kalpas. Within the former there are three: the first three restate first and last in general, the next four restate in particular the gaining of the Dharma at the first buddha, and the last one restates the hundred buddhas in between and the concluding text after.” 〔T35n1735 0946b01–0946b05〕
The division of Sudhana’s ten verses: 「十偈分四：初一讚福智超絕。次四歎悲智甚深，念念攀緣一切境，不礙分別事故。心心永斷諸分別，常契理故。又上句約觀、下句約止，即止觀雙運了達無性，成無分別而起大悲，成上攀緣。攀緣即分別耳，不唯屬妄。次四總顯德圓離障攝益。後一成行入位」 tr. “Ten verses divided into four: the first praises her merit and knowledge as beyond all. The next four sigh at the profundity of compassion and knowledge — thought after thought laying hold of every object does not obstruct the discriminating of things; mind after mind cutting off forever the discriminations is because she ever accords with principle. Again, the upper line is by way of contemplation and the lower line by way of stillness, which is stillness and contemplation carried on together, understanding the absence of nature, becoming without discrimination and thereupon raising great compassion, which completes the laying hold above. Laying hold is simply discriminating, and does not belong to the deluded alone. The next four generally display virtue full, obstruction left behind, and benefit gathered in. The last one accomplishes the practice and enters the station.” 〔T35n1735 0946b06–0946b12〕
The Yanyi chao upon the reason for the assigned station: 〔T36n1736 0683b13–0683b15〕「「第六守護一切城增長威力主夜神寄現前地」〔0683b13〕者，謂住緣起智，引無分別最勝般若令現前故。」 tr. “As for ‘sixth, the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Might, assigned to the Manifest Ground’ — it is because she abides in the knowledge of dependent origination and draws forth the most excellent wisdom that is without discrimination and causes it to be manifest.”
The cross-chapter reading of the gloss upon the presiding night deities in the chapter Wondrous Adornments of the Lords of the Worlds — where Chengguan lists the assembly of presiding night deities in that chapter, he matches them one by one with the night-goddess friends of the chapter Entering the Dharma Realm, and this friend is the fifth of them:
〔T35n1735 0552a01–0552a02〕「五即現前地善友，彼云守護一切城增長威力」 tr. “the fifth is the friend of the Manifest Ground, whom that chapter calls Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Might”
Below this he glosses the Sanskrit sound of the name, and brings the name of her Dharma gate together with it:
〔T35n1735 0552a02–0552a03〕「偈云尸利，以梵音含於二義：一云吉祥、二翻為守故」 tr. “the verse says śrī, because the Sanskrit sound holds two senses within it: one is called auspicious, and the second is rendered as guarding”
〔T35n1735 0552a05–0552a06〕「若以義會，增長威力即是普現吉祥，正當次第法門」 tr. “if they be brought together by sense, increasing might is just the universal manifesting of what is auspicious, which answers exactly to the Dharma gate in its order”
〔T35n1735 0552a06–0552a08〕「又同彼云甚深自在妙音解脫。妙音故悅意，悅則意淨，即寂能演，故名自在。」 tr. “and likewise that chapter says the liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound. Because of the wondrous sound the mind is gladdened, and being gladdened the mind is pure; being still and yet able to expound, it is therefore called sovereign.”
Chengguan’s Explicit Judgment (the matching of assigned positions · the chapter outline passage · not the window of this friend)
The matching of assigned positions comes from the ancient worthies and is not set forth by the scripture text itself. In the passage of the five aspects of the final assembly of the chapter Entering the Dharma Realm, Chengguan first raises the two paths of old, then makes clear that both have their reason, and last takes the matching of the ancient worthies — whence the judgment of this section’s assigned station comes:
「六分五相者，若意法師及臺山論，但隨文散釋，更無別配；光統等師皆配地位。二皆有理，謂隨一一位具多法門，豈容凡心不得習求善友之法，故不配有理。然無次位中不礙次位，顯位是常規，配亦無失。橫竪無礙，且依古德配為五相」 tr. “As for the sixth, the division into five aspects: Dharma Master Yi and the treatise of Terrace Mountain merely gloss as the text runs and make no separate matching, while Guangtong and the masters of his sort all match them to the stations of the grounds. Both have their reason: since each single station is furnished with many Dharma gates, how should the mind of an ordinary person be forbidden to practice and seek the dharmas of the good friends — and so not matching has its reason. Yet within there being no sequence of stations the sequence of stations is not obstructed, and to display the stations is the usual rule, so that matching too is not amiss. The horizontal and the vertical being unobstructed, we follow the ancient worthies for the present and match them as five aspects.” 〔T35n1735 0918b02–0918b08〕
Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739 (a different track of signifying dharmas)
The five gates of the passage of ascending by ascribing virtue of the friend before (this outline belongs to the end of the passage of the friend before, Ocean of Tranquil Sound, where the name of this friend and where she is are raised): 〔T36n1739 0992c09–0992c13〕「約立五門：一推德昇進；二示善知識所在，云在此菩提場如來會中；三舉神之名，名守護一切城增長威力；四善財說頌讚寂靜音海之德；五禮敬辭去。」 tr. “Five gates are set up in brief: first, ascending by ascribing virtue; second, showing where the good friend is, saying that she is within the assembly of the Tathāgata at this site of awakening; third, raising the name of the goddess, named Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Might; fourth, Sudhana speaking verses in praise of the virtue of Ocean of Tranquil Sound; fifth, paying respect and taking leave.”
The ten passages of the true entering upon this friend: 〔T36n1739 0992c28〕「第一正入當位法門中」 tr. “within the first, the true entering upon the Dharma gate of the present station,” and below it 〔0993a01〕「長科為十段」 tr. “it is outlined at length into ten passages” — calling to mind the Dharma before · manifesting bodies of difference · setting forth what he seeks · praising what Sudhana seeks · telling of her own practice · the ten contemplations · sovereignty in expounding the Dharma · answering with the first buddha at whose place she gained the Dharma · the number of buddhas served · ascending by ascribing virtue.
His own statement of the assignment to the sixth ground: 〔T36n1739 0994b02–0994b04〕「此是第六現前地，為一切智慧皆現前故。以般若波羅蜜為王，餘九為伴。此治三空智慧寂用不自在障，令得自在。」 tr. “This is the sixth, the Manifest Ground, because all wisdom is made manifest. It takes the prajñā-pāramitā for its lord and the other nine for its companions. This cures the obstruction whereby the stillness and the working of the wisdom of the three emptinesses are not sovereign, and causes sovereignty to be gained.”
The signifying of the former life: 「以劫名離垢光明者，表般若中本三空寂滅理體故。世界名法界功德雲者，明智慧是法界中說教功德雲故。」 tr. “That the kalpa is named Stainless Light signifies that within prajñā the substance of principle of the three emptinesses is originally still and extinguished; that the world is named Cloud of the Merit of the Dharma-realm makes clear that wisdom is the cloud of the merit of expounding the teaching within the Dharma-realm.” 〔T36n1739 0993b09–0993b12〕 「當時轉輪王者今普賢菩薩是，此明智也。比丘尼者我身是，此明悲也。」 tr. “The wheel-turning king of that time is now the bodhisattva Samantabhadra: this makes clear knowledge. The nun is I myself: this makes clear compassion.” 〔T36n1739 0994a26–0994a28〕
The six gates of the ascending by ascribing virtue of this friend: 〔T36n1739 0994b06–0994b10〕「約立六門：一推德勝進；二示善知識所在，云在此佛會中；三舉善知識主夜神名開敷一切樹花；四有二十二行頌是主城神重頌前法，如文自具；五善財以二十行頌歎主城神德，如文具明；六禮敬辭去。」 tr. “Six gates are set up in brief: first, ascending by ascribing virtue; second, showing where the good friend is, saying that she is within this assembly of the Buddha; third, raising the name of the good friend, the night goddess Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees; fourth, there are twenty-two lines of verse in which the goddess who guards the cities restates the Dharma before, as the text itself sets out; fifth, Sudhana in twenty lines of verse sighs at the virtue of the goddess who guards the cities, as the text makes fully clear; sixth, paying respect and taking leave.”
What the night goddess signifies: 「明菩提性真如中妙理智慧為神。能破一切眾生無明執著，為主夜神，常不離生死大夜起發一切眾生大明生故。」 tr. “It makes clear that the wondrous principle and wisdom within the suchness of the nature of awakening is the goddess. She is able to break the ignorance and clinging of all sentient beings, and is a night goddess because she never departs from the great night of birth and death and raises up in all sentient beings the birth of a great brightness.” 〔T36n1739 0992c15–0992c17〕
The gloss upon the name of the goddess: 「名守護一切城增長威力者，表常守護一切眾生心城，增長第六地中及一切眾生智慧威力，使三空現前，寂滅定力、世間出世間智慧悉現前力，永超生死海、常住世間，得一切出世間智慧海力，如下文具明。」 tr. “As for the name Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Might: it signifies the ever guarding of the city of the mind of all sentient beings, the increasing of the wisdom and might within the sixth ground and of all sentient beings, the causing of the three emptinesses to be manifest, the power whereby the concentration of quiescence and the wisdom both of the world and beyond the world are all made manifest, the crossing forever beyond the sea of birth and death while ever abiding in the world, and the gaining of the power of the sea of all wisdom beyond the world, as the text below makes fully clear.” 〔T36n1739 0992c17–0992c22〕
The signifying of dharmas by Sudhana in the sixth, the Manifest Ground, of the chapter of the Ten Grounds — glossing the sixth ground of that chapter, Li Tongxuan takes the matter of this friend for the signifying of that ground:
〔T36n1739 0895c03–0895c07〕「三明善財表法者，善財於此位中，見夜天號守護一切城增長威力，在菩提場如來會中，坐一切寶摩尼王師子之座，無數夜神所共圍繞」 tr. “third, making clear the dharmas Sudhana signifies: in this station Sudhana sees a god of the night titled Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Might, within the assembly of the Tathāgata at the site of awakening, seated upon a lion seat of maṇi kings of all jewels, surrounded by numberless night goddesses together”
〔T36n1739 0895c15–0895c16〕「摩尼，表智慧離染自他垢故」 tr. “the maṇi signifies that wisdom departs from defilement, from the stains of self and of others”
〔T36n1739 0895c17–0895c18〕「無數夜神圍繞者，表行遍周也」 tr. “that numberless night goddesses surround her signifies that the practice is everywhere complete”
〔T36n1739 0895c24–0895c26〕「此十地中明長養慈悲，即第六地及餘地，以女天表之」 tr. “within these ten grounds the nourishing of kindness and compassion is made clear, and so the sixth ground and the remaining grounds are signified by a female deity”
Two places of cross-reference — in two other places Li Tongxuan takes this friend for the signifying of the sixth ground — one in the Chapter on the Adornments of the World-Lords, glossing the hosts of kings of gods: 〔T36n1739 0794c29〕「以夜神名守護一切城增長勝力是也」 tr. “it is the night goddess named Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Surpassing Power” (the name reads 「增長勝力」 tr. “increasing surpassing power,” a form differing from 「增長威力」 tr. “increasing might” of the present passage); the other in the Chapter on the Ten Grounds, at the sixth ground itself: 〔T36n1739 0894c14–0894c16〕「此十地第六地位中，即以守護一切城夜天神表，以明出世間中世間智慧心城無有邪思惡賊所入，一切邪念總成智慧城故」 tr. “within the station of the sixth of these ten grounds it is the night deity Guardian of All Cities who signifies it, to make clear that into the city of the mind of the worldly wisdom within the world-transcending there enters no evil thief of wrong thought, and that all wrong thoughts become altogether a city of wisdom.”
Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733 (glossing the sixty-fascicle as the text runs · the form of the name 「妙德守護諸城」 tr. “Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities”)
The place in the outline: from 〔T35n1733 0478b07〕「第六現前地知識中」 tr. “within the friend of the sixth ground, the Manifest Ground,” to 〔0479a07〕「現前地竟」 tr. “the Manifest Ground is finished.”
The glossing of the name: 〔T35n1733 0478b08–0478b10〕「妙德守護諸城者，依證智總持，智名妙德。常入一切城，故云守護。又以觀智守護心城，令離妄念故名也。」 tr. “As for Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities: in reliance upon the holding-together of the knowledge of realization, the knowledge is named wondrous virtue. She ever enters all cities, and so it says guarding. Again, with the knowledge of contemplation she guards the city of the mind and causes it to leave off deluded thought, and it is from this that she is named.”
The four parts of the showing forth of her own Dharma realm: 〔T35n1733 0478b23–0478b24〕「於中有四：一標法名體、二顯法義用、三辨法根深淺、四結唯自分。」 tr. “Within it there are four: first setting forth the name and substance of the Dharma, second displaying the sense and working of the Dharma, third distinguishing how deep or shallow the root of the Dharma is, fourth concluding that it is only her own portion.”
The three senses of the name of the Dharma gate: 〔T35n1733 0478b24–0478b26〕「初中，正證法界名曰甚深，後智蘊辯名為妙德。宣教隨機，廣略無礙，名自在音聲。」 tr. “Within the first: the true realization of the Dharma realm is named profound; the eloquence held within the subsequent knowledge is named wondrous virtue. Proclaiming the teaching according to capacity, unobstructed in the broad and in the brief, is named sovereign sound and voice.”
Principle displayed by practice: 〔T35n1733 0478c06–0478c08〕「別中，舉法界中十種義，約十種行顯之，以行必稱理、理由行顯故也。」 tr. “Within the particular: ten senses within the Dharma realm are raised, and they are displayed by way of ten kinds of practice, since practice must accord with principle and principle is displayed by practice.”
The glossing of the holding-together: 〔T35n1733 0478c09–0478c10〕「總持勝智，妙德備具，故名圓滿」 tr. “the surpassing knowledge that holds all together is furnished with wondrous virtue, and so it is named perfect”
The division of the twenty-three clauses: 〔T35n1733 0478c11–0478c13〕「初別顯有二十三句：初三句約三慧辨法、後二十句以十法約廣略辨法」 tr. “the first, the particular displaying, has twenty-three clauses: the first three clauses distinguish the Dharma by way of the three kinds of wisdom, and the latter twenty clauses distinguish the Dharma by way of ten dharmas in the broad and in the brief”
How long ago the Dharma was gained: 〔T35n1733 0478c18–0478c19〕「辨得法久近明法根深淺，於中先問、後答」 tr. “distinguishing how long ago the Dharma was gained makes clear how deep or shallow the root of the Dharma is; within it there is first the asking and afterward the answering”
The ten clauses of looking up and pointing to the superior: 〔T35n1733 0479a04–0479a06〕「第五仰推中十句：一了語、二知心、三入語音、四善設語、五分別法、六攝總持、七巧出法、八攝眾生、九順淨智、十吼法施。」 tr. “Fifth, within the looking up and pointing to the superior there are ten clauses: first understanding speech, second knowing minds, third entering the sounds of speech, fourth setting forth speech well, fifth distinguishing dharmas, sixth gathering in the holding-together, seventh bringing forth the Dharma skillfully, eighth gathering in sentient beings, ninth according with pure knowledge, tenth roaring the giving of Dharma.”
Zhiyan, Souxuan ji T35n1732 (the sixty-fascicle · the form of the name 「妙德守護諸城」 tr. “Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities”)
The setting forth of the name and the assigned station: 〔T35n1732 0099c14–0099c15〕「第六夜天名妙德守護諸城，即六地菩薩位也，入甚深妙德自在音聲法門。」 tr. “The sixth god of the night is named Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities, who is a bodhisattva of the sixth ground, and who enters the Dharma gate of the Profound Wondrous Virtue and Sovereign Sound and Voice.”
The three parts of the true entering: 〔T35n1732 0099c23–0099c24〕「三正入中有三：初歎發心能問」 tr. “third, within the true entering there are three: first, praising that he has raised the mind and is able to ask”
The four of her own portion: 〔T35n1732 0099c25〕「自分中有四：初辨法門體」 tr. “within her own portion there are four: first, distinguishing the substance of the Dharma gate”
The close of the outline: 〔T35n1732 0100a12–0100a13〕「仰推有二：略、廣。後述己非分，可知。」 tr. “The looking up and pointing to the superior has two, the brief and the broad. Afterward she states what is not her own portion, which may be known.”
Recorded without Adjudication
As to the outline of this section, Chengguan makes five parts (‘seeking in accord with the teaching’ · seeing, paying respect, and inquiring · praising and conferring the Dharma · humbling herself and pointing to the superior · pointing out the next friend; Chengguan counts from 「第二」 tr. “the second,” so that the first part is the opening passage of this section, the calling to mind of the teaching of the friend before and the seeking and seeing of the bodies; and under praising and conferring the Dharma the one part of the true conferring of the Dharma realm is opened again into three, setting forth the name and substance · displaying the working · distinguishing how deep the root of the Dharma is), while Fazang’s Tanxuan ji, upon the sixty-fascicle, makes four parts of the showing forth of her own Dharma realm (setting forth the name and substance of the Dharma · displaying the sense and working of the Dharma · distinguishing how deep or shallow the root of the Dharma is · concluding that it is only her own portion), Zhiyan’s Souxuan ji, upon the sixty-fascicle, makes three parts of the true entering (praising that he has raised the mind and is able to ask · telling of what she has gained as her own portion · looking up and pointing to the superior), and Li Tongxuan, not following the marks of the teaching in the scripture text, outlines the true entering upon this friend at length into ten passages and closes with six gates of ascending by ascribing virtue that point to the friend to come; his raising of the name of this friend and his showing of where she is stand within the five gates of ascending by ascribing virtue at the end of the passage of the friend before, Ocean of Tranquil Sound, and so the fourth of those five gates states Sudhana’s verses under the name of the friend before — the bone the four houses depend upon differs in each. As to where the good friend is, Chengguan follows the scripture text in reading 「此佛會中」 tr. “within this assembly of the Buddha” and does not gloss the place separately, while Li Tongxuan points out expressly 「在此菩提場如來會中」 tr. “within the assembly of the Tathāgata at this site of awakening”; as to the name of a city, the scripture text itself sets up no separate name of a city, and Li Tongxuan’s outline likewise raises no name of a city but only the name of the goddess. As to the judgment of the assigned station, Chengguan fastens her to the Manifest Ground and the Yanyi chao sets it forth as 「住緣起智，引無分別最勝般若令現前故」 tr. “abiding in the knowledge of dependent origination and drawing forth the most excellent wisdom that is without discrimination and causing it to be manifest,” while Li Tongxuan states of himself 「此是第六現前地」 tr. “this is the sixth, the Manifest Ground,” and upon the name of the goddess glosses it as 「增長第六地中及一切眾生智慧威力，使三空現前」 tr. “increasing the wisdom and might within the sixth ground and of all sentient beings, and causing the three emptinesses to be manifest,” Fazang marks it 「第六現前地知識中」 tr. “within the friend of the sixth ground, the Manifest Ground,” and Zhiyan marks it 「即六地菩薩位也」 tr. “who is a bodhisattva of the sixth ground” — all four houses run toward the sense of the sixth ground, but the words they proceed by are not the same. As to the differing forms of the terms, the three witnesses each differ: the friend’s name is 「妙德守護諸城夜天」 tr. “the night deva Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities” in the sixty-fascicle, 「守護一切城夜神」 tr. “the night goddess Guardian of All Cities” in the eighty-fascicle, 「守護一切城增長威德主夜神」 tr. “the night goddess Guardian of All Cities, Increasing Majestic Virtue” in the forty-fascicle; the name of the Dharma gate is 「甚深妙德自在音聲法門」 tr. “the Dharma gate of the Profound Wondrous Virtue and Sovereign Sound and Voice” in the sixty-fascicle and 「甚深自在妙音解脫」 tr. “the liberation of Profound and Sovereign Wondrous Sound” in the eighty-fascicle; the nun’s name is 「法輪化光」 tr. “Light of the Transformations of the Dharma Wheel” in the eighty-fascicle and 「法輪變化光」 tr. “Light of the Transformation of the Dharma Wheel” in the forty-fascicle. The number of verses in the two sets of verses differs among the three witnesses. (Where the kalpa-name, the world-name, and the city-name differ between the prose and the verses restating, this belongs to a divergence internal to one and the same witness between prose and verses, and not to a divergence among the three witnesses; it is seen separately above.) All these divergent interpretations and differing forms are settled statements of the ancient worthies and settled texts of the ancient translations, and they are recorded.
VII. Cross-Reading and Lineage
For the text of this section, the fastenings of lineage all run straight back to cross-readings already made by the ancient worthies:
- The verse the Yanyi chao T36n1736 raises of itself: in glossing the commentary’s words 「二十五有理無二故」 tr. “because the twenty-five existences are not two in principle,” the sub-commentary supplies the verse it depends upon — 〔T36n1736 0683b15–0683b17〕「偈云「四洲四惡趣，梵王六欲天，無想五那含，四空并四禪。」〔0683b16〕」 tr. “the verse says, ‘the four continents and the four evil destinies, Brahmā the king and the six heavens of desire, the heaven of no perception and the five Anāgāmin heavens, the four formless and the four dhyāna heavens.’”. This is the sub-commentary supplying a verse the commentary did not quote in full, and not the digging out of another text.
- Within Chengguan’s Huayan jing shu upon this outlined passage: searching graph by graph within the window 〔T35n1735 0945c08–0946b13〕 for 「《」 tr. “the opening mark of a work-title” gives no hit — within the outlined passage of this section Chengguan raises no other scripture or treatise of his own, and the lack is recorded as it stands.
- The Huayan jing kongmu zhang T45n1870 (Zhiyan · upon the sixty-fascicle): the name of this friend stands in that work’s listing of the good friends, as 〔T45n1870 0589b05〕「三十七夜天名妙德守護諸城」 tr. “the thirty-seventh, the god of the night named Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities” — its own numbering is thirty-seven, which differs from this work’s thirty-sixth friend, and it is recorded as it stands without change; the glossing of the sense of the sixth friend stands separately, as 〔T45n1870 0585b13–0585b15〕「第六知識。約一乘別教。依成佛處。順理德中。成就緣起。救護眾生法門義。」 tr. “The sixth friend. By way of the distinct teaching of the one vehicle. In reliance upon the place of becoming a buddha. Within the virtue that accords with principle. Accomplishing dependent arising. The sense of the Dharma gate of rescuing and guarding sentient beings.” The listing of the name and the glossing of the sense stand as two separate things, and a listing of the name is not passed off as a gloss upon this section in particular.
- The treatises of the Huayan lineage (the remaining four): in the four works Huayan jing zhigui T45n1871 · Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang T45n1866 · Shixuan men T45n1868 · Fajie xuanjing T45n1883, searching the whole of each for 「守護一切城」 tr. “Guardian of All Cities” gives no hit in any 〔not found〕 — this section is not seen to be cited by these four treatises.
- The Yogācāra axis: in the five works Cheng weishi lun T31n1585 · She dasheng lun T31n1594 · Yogācārabhūmi T30n1579 · Jieshenmi jing T16n0676 · Shidi jing lun T26n1522, searching the whole of each for 「守護一切城」 tr. “Guardian of All Cities” gives no hit in any 〔not found〕. This section is not the chapter of the Ten Grounds, and no separate Yogācāra fastening is set up.
VIII. Edition Location Register
- Śikṣānanda T279 (the base text): the unit of the night goddess Guardian of All Cities begins 〔T10n0279 0388a10〕 (at the end of fascicle seventy-one) and ends 〔0391a06 前〕 (at the beginning of fascicle seventy-two). Calling to mind the teaching of the friend before 0388a10–a13 · seeking and seeing the ten bodies 0388a13–a20 · paying respect and the four clauses of inquiring 0388a20–a25 · the ten clauses of vow in praise of Sudhana 0388a25–0388b03 · setting forth the name and substance and the ten virtues of the giving of Dharma 0388b03–b15 · the intent of the giving of Dharma 0388b15–b19 · the ten contemplations of the Dharma realm 0388b19–0388c04 · the ten dhāraṇī wheels 0388c04–c14 · the twenty-three clauses of the wondrous sound 0388c14–c28 · the concluding of the benefit 0388c28–0389a03 · Sudhana asking how long ago 0389a03–a05 · the kalpa and world of the former life 0389a05–a13 · the first buddha and the wheel-turning king 0389a13–a19 · the evil age and the king who was a monk 0389a19–a27 · the nun raising the mind and gaining the Dharma 0389a27–0389b04 · the bringing together of past and present 0389b04–b11 · the listing of the hundred buddha-names 0389b11–0390a13 · the last buddha and the concluding of the offerings 0390a13–a20 · the displaying of the like through many kalpas 0390a20–a23 · humbling herself and pointing to the superior 0390a23–0390b05 · pointing out the next friend 0390b05–b08 · the night goddess’s eleven verses 0390b08–0390c02 · Sudhana’s gaining of benefit and his ten verses of praise 0390c02–0390c27 (exclusive) · cherishing her virtue and taking leave 0390c27–0390c28. Verse lines forty-two (twenty-one verses).
- Buddhabhadra T278 (the Jin translation, the principal witness collated against): this section begins 〔T09n0278 0738a01〕 (at the end of fascicle fifty-three) and ends 〔0741a14 前〕 (in fascicle fifty-four). Seeking and seeing the bodies 0738a01–a10 · paying respect 0738a10–a14 · praising Sudhana 0738a14–a19 · setting forth the name and substance 0738a19–b03 · the intent of the giving of Dharma 0738b03–b09 · contemplating the Dharma realm with ten practices 0738b09–b23 · the ten thousand dhāraṇīs 0738b23–0738c03 · the twenty-three clauses of the wondrous sound 0738c11–c22 · the concluding of the benefit 0738c22–c26 · Sudhana asking how long ago 0738c26–c28 · the former life 0738c28–0740b01 (exclusive) · humbling herself and pointing to the superior 0740b01–b04 · pointing out the next friend 0740b04–b06 · the night deva’s verses 0740b06–0740c07 · Sudhana’s gaining of benefit and his verses of praise 0740c08–0741a11 · taking leave 0741a12–a13. 〔0738c04–0738c10〕 are the lines of the colophon at the end of one fascicle and the head of the next, and are not the text proper.
- Prajñā T293 (the Zhenyuan recension, collated against): this section begins 〔T10n0293 0760b21〕 and ends 〔0763c29〕 (0764a01 begins the next friend’s calling to mind of the Dharma before and his seeking, and does not fall within this section). Calling to mind the teaching of the friend before 0760b21–b25 · seeking and seeing the bodies 0760b25–0760c05 · paying respect and the six clauses of inquiring 0760c05–c11 · the night goddess speaking from 0760c11 onward · setting forth the name and substance and the name of the Dharma gate 0760c20 · the passage of the dhāraṇī wheels seen at 0761b01 · Sudhana asking how long ago seen at 0761c01 · the name of the royal city 0761c12 · the king who was a monk rebuking, seen at 0761c25 · his teaching flourishing again for sixty thousand years 0761c29–0762a01 · the nun and her retinue gaining the Dharma 0762a01–a11 · the bringing together of past and present, seen at 0762a12 · the listing of the hundred buddha-names 0762a21–0763a08 · the last buddha of all, seen at 0763a09 · humbling herself and pointing to the superior 0763b01–b02 · pointing out the next friend 0763b03–b06 · twenty-three verse lines of the night goddess 0763b06–0763c02 · Sudhana’s gaining of benefit and twenty verse lines of praise 0763c03–c27 · taking leave 0763c28–c29. The scene-structure is of one build with the eighty-fascicle and the sixty-fascicle.
- Chengguan, Huayan jing shu T35n1735: the direct gloss on this section begins at 0945c08 · the outline in five parts 0945c08–c12 · the three senses of the setting forth of the name and substance 0945c12–c15 · the division of the displaying of the working 0945c15–c19 · glossing the profound 0945c19–c24 · glossing the sovereign 0945c24–c26 · glossing the wondrous sound 0945c26–0946a02 · the concluding of the benefit 0946a02–a06 · distinguishing how deep the root of the Dharma is 0946a06–a08 · the gloss upon the quantity of kalpas 0946a08–a11 · the four parts of the particular setting out of the meeting with buddhas 0946a11–a15 · the six parts of the former life 0946a15–a19 · the brief raising and the concluding of the broad 0946a19–a20 · humbling herself and pointing to the superior 0946a20–a26 · pointing out the next friend 0946a26–a29 · the division of the night goddess’s eleven verses 0946a29–0946b05 · the division of Sudhana’s gaining of benefit and his ten verses 0946b05–b12 · ending before the seventh, Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees, at 0946b13. The passage of the general rule upon assigned stations (the five aspects of the final assembly) stands separately at 0918b02–0918b08, and the sixth of the ten gates raised in brief at 0917c07–0917c10. The cross-chapter reading in the passage upon the presiding night deities of the chapter Wondrous Adornments of the Lords of the Worlds has the text upon this friend at 0552a01–0552a08 (within the window 0551c20–0552a18).
- Chengguan, Yanyi chao T36n1736: the gloss upon this section in particular, 0683b13–0683b17 (the reason for the assignment to the Manifest Ground 0683b13–b15 · the supplying of the verse upon the twenty-five existences quoted by the commentary 0683b15–b17).
- Li Tongxuan, Xin Huayan jing lun T36n1739: the true entering upon this friend, 0992c28–0994b04 (the setting forth of the true entering 0992c28 · the ten passages of the long outline 0993a01–a23 · the glossing of the signified sense as the text runs 0993a24–0994a29 · his own statement of the assignment to the sixth ground 0994b02–b04), with the six gates of ascending by ascribing virtue 0994b05–b10 pointing to the friend to come, Who Opens the Blossoms of All Trees. What stands before it, 0992c08–0992c27, belongs to the ascending by ascribing virtue at the end of the passage of the friend before, Ocean of Tranquil Sound (the five gates 0992c08–c13 · glossing the sense as the text runs 0992c13–c15 · what the night goddess signifies 0992c15–c17 · the gloss upon the name of the goddess 0992c17–c22 · the sense of the verses in praise of the friend before 0992c22–c27), where the name of this friend and where she is are raised, and it is a reference from outside the window. See besides the signifying of dharmas by Sudhana in the sixth, the Manifest Ground, of the chapter of the Ten Grounds, 0895c03–0895c26, and the two places of cross-reference, 0794c29 · 0894c14–0894c16.
- Fazang, Tanxuan ji T35n1733: the gloss upon this friend in particular, 0478b07–0479a07 (the setting forth of the place in the outline 0478b07 · the glossing of the name 0478b08–b10 · seeking and entering in accord with the teaching 0478b11–b18 · seeing, paying respect, and making request 0478b18–b21 · the four parts of the showing forth of her own Dharma realm 0478b21–0478c17 · how long ago the Dharma was gained 0478c18–0479a03 · the concluding of her own portion 0479a03–a04 · the ten clauses of looking up and pointing to the superior 0479a04–a07 · the close of the outline 0479a07); what he glosses is the sixty-fascicle, whose form of the name is 「妙德守護諸城」 tr. “Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities.”
- Zhiyan, Souxuan ji T35n1732: the gloss upon this friend, 0099c14–0100a13 (the setting forth of the name and the assigned station 0099c14–c15 · the three parts of the outline 0099c15–c17 · the seven matters of seeking and entering in accord with the teaching 0099c17–c23 · the three parts of the true entering 0099c23–0100a12 · the looking up and the stating of what is not her own portion 0100a12–a13); what he glosses is the sixty-fascicle, whose form of the name is 「妙德守護諸城」 tr. “Wondrous Virtue Guarding the Cities.”
- Variant readings: within the range of T279 covered by this unit, 〔0388a10〕–〔0391a05〕, the Taishō base text carries 10 collation notes, recorded one by one without adjudication (base reading 【大】｜variant readings of other witnesses, several witnesses separated by ／): 〔0390a28〕辭【大】｜詞【宮】 · 〔0390a28〕辨【大】｜辯【宋】【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0390b16〕量與【大】｜無量【明】 · 〔0390b17〕先【大】｜光【聖】 · 〔0391a02〕第【大】｜無此字【聖】 · 〔0391a02〕大方廣佛華嚴經卷第七十二（凡12字）【大】｜大方廣佛華嚴……卷七十二（凡22字）【聖乙】 · 〔0391a04〕三藏【大】｜三藏沙門【宋】【元】【明】／三藏法師【宮】 · 〔0391a04〕奉制【大】｜無此字【宋】【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0391a04〕于闐國三藏實叉難陀奉制譯（凡12字）【大】｜新譯【聖】／無此字【聖乙】 · 〔0391a05〕入法界品第三十九之十三（凡11字）【大】｜無此字【聖乙】.
- A further note upon the variant readings: 2 CBETA emendations (not counted among the Taishō collation notes listed above): 〔0389a19〕異眾【CB】｜異【大】／異眾【元】【明】【宮】 · 〔0390b25〕土【CB】【麗-CB】｜王【大】／土【宮】（明註曰王流通本作土）.
- A further note upon variant readings: interlinear notes were stripped and recorded at the layer of the original text.
- Entries not found: Huayan jing zhigui T45n1871 · Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang T45n1866 · Shixuan men T45n1868 · Fajie xuanjing T45n1883 · Cheng weishi lun T31n1585 · She dasheng lun T31n1594 · Yogācārabhūmi T30n1579 · Jieshenmi jing T16n0676 · Shidi jing lun T26n1522 — nine works in all, in which searching for 「守護一切城」 tr. “Guardian of All Cities” gives no hit in any. The Huayan jing kongmu zhang T45n1870 has besides the listing of this friend’s name and the glossing of the sense of the sixth friend, and the Tanxuan ji T35n1733 · the Souxuan ji T35n1732 have besides a gloss upon this friend in particular; all are seen above and do not enter this list.