華嚴經 義疏通講 · 冊13Avataṃsaka Sūtra · Exposition Throughout · Vol. 13

The Word ‘Forbearance’ — First One Must Change One’s Eyes

Hearing ‘the ten forbearances,’ most people take it that what is being spoken of is endurance — swallowing a wrong rather than answering it. Yet read the chapter through and one finds that from beginning to end there is not one sentence in it about swallowing an insult. The first forbearance speaks of hearing the profound Dharma without fright or terror; the second of pondering and examining; the third of seeing not the least particle of a dharma arise or cease; and the latter seven are all of them ‘knowing that all worlds are like an illusion, like a heat-haze, like a dream.’ Where in this is there endurance? Chengguan, explaining the name of this chapter, puts it with the greatest exactness: forbearance means bearing with, understanding, and setting one’s seal upon — that is, wisdom illumining and contemplation penetrating. When a man has seen a thing through, has granted it, and rests in it, that granting is what is called forbearance. Fazang says it more plainly still: this forbearance has wisdom for its nature. So the ten forbearances are not ten tempers but ten ways of seeing; they are not the pressing down of what is uncomfortable, but the seeing clearly that the uncomfortable thing was never what it seemed. The misunderstanding to be cleared away lies just here: take forbearance for repression and one will read the whole chapter as a moral exhortation; know forbearance to be wisdom’s illumining and one will understand why the latter seven forbearances are all similes — because they are ten pairs of spectacles, not ten commandments. Brought down to use: with what one cannot bear in daily life, holding it down by force is the first level, and seeing it clearly as an illusion so that one is unmoved of oneself is the second — and it is the second that this chapter speaks of.

The Opening Clause: Gaining This Forbearance, One Reaches the Ground of Unobstructed Forbearance

Samantabhadra, opening his mouth, first declares the prize: a bodhisattva-mahāsattva has ten kinds of forbearance, and gaining them he reaches the ground of unobstructed forbearance of all bodhisattvas, where all the Buddha’s teachings are unobstructed and unexhausted; and at once he lists the ten names — sound, conformity, the non-arising of dharmas, what is like an illusion, like a heat-haze, like a dream, like an echo, like a reflection, like a transformation, like space; and then he adds a guarantee: these ten kinds of forbearance the buddhas of the three times have already declared, now declare, and will declare. Why must it be said at the very opening that the buddhas of the three times have already declared them, now declare them, and will declare them? Because the ten forbearances are not a new saying of Samantabhadra’s for the occasion, but a Dharma declared by the buddhas in common, and the hearer may take it with confidence for a constant rule. Chengguan divides this passage into two: first the raising of the number, and afterward, from ‘if he gains’ onward, the praising of its excellence; only below this comes the listing of the names and the displaying of their import. The misunderstanding to be set aside is this: taking ‘the ground of unobstructed forbearance’ for some further station outside the ten forbearances. What the scriptural text says is ‘gaining these forbearances he then reaches’ — the forbearance is itself the ground, and it is not that when the forbearing is done there is another place to go to. The place where it comes down is this: reading the ten passages that follow, one should hold this measure in mind — ‘the ground of unobstructed forbearance’ is the general marking of the ten forbearances (and among the ten passages, before the concluding of the names, only the eighth, the forbearance of what is like a reflection, has ‘by skillful means he penetrates without obstruction’); if what one reads out of them is tighter and more strained, then one has read them backward.

The Forbearance of Sound: The First Barrier Is Not the Doing, but the Being Able to Listen

Why is the first forbearance ‘sound’? Because the first threshold of cultivation is not doing but listening. The definition in the scriptural text is clean: hearing the Dharma declared by the buddhas he is not startled, not terrified, not afraid; he believes it deeply and comprehends it, loves it and delights in it and turns toward it, holds it in memory single-mindedly, cultivates it and rests in it. Seven stages are set out in a row — first three ‘nots,’ then believing and understanding, loving and delighting, holding in memory, and resting. The weight of those three ‘nots’ deserves notice: the profound Dharma frightens a man because it takes away the things he leans upon for his own ease (no self, no arising, nothing gained), and an ordinary man, hearing it, draws back by instinct. To be able not to draw back — with that, this forbearance is accomplished. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: taking ‘the forbearance of sound’ for good hearing and a good memory. What the scriptural text says is ‘not startled, not terrified, not afraid’ — this is a matter of the measure of the mind, not of the faculty of the ear. Li Tongxuan reads it from the side of the One Vehicle and says that at the first mind of the ten abidings one gains the gate of the light of the wisdom of holding the buddhas in memory and is born into the house of the Buddha’s wisdom, and that this is called gaining the forbearance of sound — he reads this forbearance very early, which amounts to saying that although the threshold is low, whoever has crossed it has already entered the Buddha’s house. Where it comes down: to judge whether one has entered the gate, do not count how much one has recited; look rather at whether, the first time one hears ‘there is no self at all,’ the mind shrinks or opens.

The Verses on the Forbearance of Sound: The Simile of the Treasure Store and the Simile of the Store of True Gold

When the verses in repetition sing this forbearance they use two similes that the prose does not have; they belong to the verses alone. The first is the simile of the treasure store: a man in the world hears that in a certain place there is a treasure store, and because that treasure may be got, there arises in his mind a great gladness; the bodhisattva, hearing the Buddha’s profound Dharma, gains ease and quiet of mind, is not startled and not terrified, nor does dread arise in him. What this simile points at is the causal order of ‘hearing’ and ‘gladness’ — it is not that gladness is first cultivated up and then one hears, but that first one hears that a treasure may be got and is glad, and being glad is able to bear. The second is the simile of the store of true gold: as a man of great merit obtains a store of true gold and, according to what befits his station, makes of it every kind of adornment; so the bodhisattva, hearing this profound sense, ponders it and the ocean of his wisdom grows, and thereby he cultivates the dharma of conformity. This simile says everything about what comes after hearing: having got the gold, one does not set it up to be looked at, but beats it into adornments to be worn — hearing the Dharma is not collecting, it is putting to use. The verses add further the clauses ‘hearing the Dharma he grows the more valiant, and he makes offerings to the buddhas and causes the buddhas to rejoice’ and ‘vigorous and not falling back, not casting off the yoke of the manifold goods,’ carrying the first forbearance all the way from ‘being able to listen’ to ‘being able to walk.’ The misunderstanding to be guarded against is reading these two similes as set phrases for exhorting the raising of the mind — they are in fact explaining the mechanism of the first forbearance: because he sees that it may be got, his mind is not startled.

The Forbearance of Conformity: To Conform Is Not to Agree

Of the second forbearance the scriptural text has but one sentence: toward dharmas he ponders and examines, is level toward them and goes against them in nothing, and conforming with them understands them clearly; he causes his mind to become pure, rests in them rightly and cultivates them, and enters into them and comes to accomplishment. The hinge is in the four words ‘level toward them and going against them in nothing.’ The hardest thing when a man contemplates dharmas is not to lean — the dharma that suits him he turns toward, the dharma that does not suit him he goes against. The forbearance of conformity is the taking away of this partiality: whatever the Dharma is, so does one grant it to be. There is a clause in the verses that says the thing outright: where dharmas are, he knows in conformity; where dharmas are not, he knows in conformity; whatever those dharmas may be, just so does he know dharmas. Where they are, he conforms with that; where they are not, he conforms with that too — this is not vagueness, it is the refusal to correct the Dharma by one’s own settled opinion. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is taking ‘conformity’ for compliance, for the refusal to distinguish right from wrong. The verses say it still more plainly from the other side: as the Peerless One has declared it, he contemplates dharmas levelly — not that forbearance which is not level, but that forbearance which is able to accomplish the level wisdom. What accomplishes the level wisdom is precisely that level forbearance, and not the forbearance that is unlevel. So the forbearance of conformity does choose: what it strikes out is one’s own partiality, not the differences among dharmas. Where it comes down: reading a sūtra and meeting a passage not to one’s taste, that instant of resistance is the ‘going against’; being able to halt the resistance and read the passage to the end is the first step of the forbearance of conformity.

The Forbearance of the Non-arising of Dharmas: The Chain of Eleven Members Is the Tightest Frame of This Chapter

The third forbearance is the pivot of the whole chapter. The setting up of its sense is only two clauses: he sees not the least particle of a dharma arising, nor does he see the least particle of a dharma ceasing. Then it presses with a ‘why is this,’ and what follows is a chain of eleven members — if there is no arising then there is no ceasing, if there is no ceasing then there is no exhausting, if there is no exhausting then there is separation from defilement, if there is separation from defilement then there is no difference, if there is no difference then there is no place, if there is no place then there is quiescence, if there is quiescence then there is separation from craving, if there is separation from craving then there is no doing, if there is no doing then there is no wish, if there is no wish then there is no dwelling, if there is no dwelling then there is no going and no coming. This string is not a heaping up of rhetoric; it is one line of reasoning: from the single footing of ‘no arising’ it presses all the way to the point where even going and coming cannot be spoken of. Why must it press so far? Because when a man has let go of ‘arising’ he will still catch at ‘exhausting’; letting go of ‘exhausting’ he will catch at ‘purity’; letting go of ‘purity’ he will catch at ‘difference’ — these eleven members shut off, one after another, every hiding place that comes after. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is reading ‘no arising’ as though nothing at all existed: what the scriptural text says is ‘he sees not the least particle of a dharma arising’ — it is that arising is not seen, not that there is asserted to be a thing called ‘nothing.’ In the Jin rendering this chain has ten members, the three in the middle running ‘no breaking down · no motion · the ground of quiescent extinction,’ and the last stretch turning from separation from craving into ‘nothing practiced — it is the great vow — he dwells in adornment,’ so that where it tends differs from the eighty’s coming home to ‘no going and no coming’ — the one gathering into the absoluteness of quiescent extinction, the other into the adornment of the great vow. Both recensions are recorded side by side without adjudication. Where it comes down: to test whether one has truly let a thing go, watch whether, having let it go, the mind at once catches hold of a second thing.

The Verses on the Forbearance of the Non-arising of Dharmas: The Thirty-Three Gods, One Vessel and Differing Food

When the verses in repetition speak of this forbearance they set out a simile the prose does not have: within the Heaven of the Thirty-Three all the gods’ sons eat from one and the same vessel, and yet what each eats is not the same; the manifold foods they eat do not come from the ten directions, but according to the deeds each has cultivated, of themselves they are all there within the vessel. One vessel, and the savor each man tastes is different; and those foods have not been carried in from anywhere outside — each man’s deeds appear of themselves within the vessel. What this simile means to say is: what is called ‘a dharma arising’ is in truth only deeds coming to bear and appearing, and there is no thing that truly arises out of somewhere else. The verses then sing the prose’s chain over again: all of them arise from causes and conditions; because there is no arising there is no ceasing, because there is no ceasing there is no exhausting, because there is no exhausting there is no defilement; toward the dharmas of the world that alter and change, he understands that in truth there is no altering; where there is no altering there is no place, and where there is no place there is quiescence. Here ‘no defilement’ answers to the prose’s ‘separation from defilement,’ and ‘no place’ to ‘no place’ — the verses are not repetition, they are another way in. The verses also have the clause ‘deeds arise from mind, and therefore it is said that mind is like an illusion,’ gathering deeds and mind too into what is like an illusion. Where it comes down: when one complains that his circumstances are unjust, the simile of one vessel and differing food is the most direct remedy — at one and the same table, what one tastes is what one brought.

The Forbearance of What Is Like an Illusion: Within One Dharma Understanding Many, Within Many Understanding One

From the fourth forbearance onward, all the latter seven go by way of simile. The sense set up for the forbearance of what is like an illusion is: he knows that all dharmas are altogether like an illusion, arising from causes and conditions; within one dharma he understands many dharmas, and within many dharmas he understands one dharma. Anyone can say the first half; the second half is the eye — it is precisely because dharmas are like an illusion and without own-nature that one and many do not obstruct each other: within one dharma many dharmas can be understood, and within many dharmas one dharma can be understood. Were dharmas to have a fixed substance, one would be one and many would be many, and they could by no means be understood through each other. After the bodhisattva knows dharmas to be like an illusion, the scriptural text lists seven penetrations: he penetrates the lands, sentient beings, the Dharma realm, the levelness of the world, the levelness of the buddhas’ appearing, the levelness of the three times, and accomplishes every kind of spiritual penetration and transformation. Spiritual penetration is placed last, being fruit and not cause — because he has seen through the illusion, displaying becomes possible. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is taking ‘like an illusion’ for ‘false, and not to be bothered with’: the scriptural text goes straight on to say that when the bodhisattva contemplates the world as an illusion he still delivers sentient beings and still turns the wheel of the Dharma. Where it comes down: one and many being understood through each other is no abstruse talk but an actual ability in reading a sūtra — to read a whole body of doctrine out of a single sentence, and to gather the whole body of doctrine back into that one sentence.

The Simile of the Forbearance of What Is Like an Illusion: The Manifold Things Are Not the Illusion, the Illusion Is Not the Manifold Things

The ordering of the simile of illusion is worth looking at closely. The scriptural text lays down in one breath more than forty ‘nots’ — not an elephant, not a horse; not a man, not a woman; not a tree, not a leaf; not earth, water, fire, wind; not daytime, not night; not one kalpa, not many kalpas; not concentration, not distraction; not the same, not other; not many, not few; not coarse, not fine — striking out one by one everything that the illusion displays; and then it gives its conclusion: the manifold things are not the illusion, nor is the illusion the manifold things; and yet it is because of the illusion that the manifold differentiated affairs are displayed. These two clauses are the hinge of the whole simile: what is displayed is not the illusion itself, nor is the illusion itself those manifold things — and yet apart from the illusion the manifold things could not be displayed at all. The displayer and what is displayed are neither one nor other. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is reading ‘not an elephant, not a horse’ as ‘there is nothing at all’ — the scriptural text says in the very next breath that the manifold differentiated affairs are displayed, and difference stands there plain. Chengguan divides the first three forbearances as being in terms of dharmas and the latter seven as being in terms of similes, and this simile is the first of those ‘in terms of similes,’ so that the way of reading the six similes after it is fixed here: first block the real, then display the plain. Where it comes down: to see an affair as ‘like an illusion’ is not to see it as nonexistent, but to see that its existing is not in its own keeping.

The Forbearance of What Is Like an Illusion: The Ten Worlds Contemplated · the Things Not Seen · the Nine Rounds of Accomplishing

The forbearance of what is like an illusion is the longest of the ten, because it pushes ‘like an illusion’ out into the gate of practice. First comes the object contemplated: the world made by deeds, the world made by afflictions, the world of lands, the world of dharmas, the world of times, the world of destinies, the world of forming, the world of decaying, the world of motion, the world of contriving — ten worlds, counting from deeds and delusion all the way to forming, decaying and motion, so that everything a man stands within is spread out in ten layers. Next come the marks of the time of contemplating: he does not see sentient beings arising or ceasing, does not see lands arising or ceasing, does not see dharmas arising or ceasing, does not see the past as something that can be discriminated, does not see the future as having anything set going, does not see the present as having a single thought that stays, and on to not seeing buddhas appear, not seeing buddhas enter nirvāṇa, not seeing a resting in the great vow, not seeing an entering of the right dwelling. Even ‘buddhas appearing’ and ‘resting in the great vow’ are not seen — this puts into the contemplation the very things the cultivator holds most precious. Most weighty is the third section: though he accomplishes buddha-lands, he knows the lands have no differences; though he accomplishes the realm of sentient beings, he knows sentient beings have no differences; though he contemplates the Dharma realm everywhere, he rests in the nature of dharmas, quiescent and unmoving; though he penetrates the levelness of the three times, he does not go against the dharma of discriminating the three times; though he accomplishes the aggregates and sense-fields, he has forever cut off any leaning upon them; though he delivers sentient beings, he understands that the Dharma realm is level; though he knows dharmas cannot be spoken, he constantly declares the Dharma with unexhausted eloquence; though he does not grasp at the transforming of sentient beings, he does not forsake great compassion; though he reveals for them the causes and conditions of the past, he knows that the nature of causes and conditions has no shifting. Nine clauses of ‘though,’ of which seven run ‘though … and yet …’ and the first two run ‘though …, he knows …’; and every one of them stands on both feet at once. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: supposing that once one has seen through, one ought to stop working. The scriptural text’s answer is exactly the opposite — it is precisely because there are no sentient beings to be delivered that great compassion never wearies. This passage concludes its name as the fourth, the forbearance of what is like an illusion. Where it comes down: doing a thing without clinging to the thing — these nine clauses are the best checklist there is.

The Verses on the Forbearance of What Is Like an Illusion: The Simile of the Master of Illusion and the Limit of What Is Like an Illusion

The verses on the forbearance of what is like an illusion supply a simile the prose does not have: it is as with a skillful master of illusion, who displays everywhere every kind of form and image, causing the multitude in vain to crave and delight, while in the end there is nothing gained at all. The prose’s simile of illusion rests its weight on the ‘nots’; the verses’ simile of the master of illusion rests its weight on ‘craving’ — the illusionist displays his images not in order to cheat, but men crave of themselves and so are cheated; the world is like an illusion and sentient beings suffer, and the suffering is not in the illusion but in the craving. The verses have further four clauses — he delivers sentient beings and causes them to know that dharmas are like an illusion; sentient beings are not other than the illusion, and when the illusion is penetrated there are no sentient beings to be found — which buckle delivering and being-like-an-illusion together: those delivered are themselves within the illusion, and when the illusion is penetrated there is no real sentient being delivered by me. This is just the verse answering to the prose’s ‘though he delivers sentient beings, he understands clearly that the Dharma realm is level.’ There is also ‘entering into the limit of what is like an illusion, he depends upon them in nothing’ and ‘thus he gains skillfulness, quiescent and without frivolous talk, and dwelling in the ground of non-obstruction he displays everywhere his great awesome power’ — being like an illusion is not the terminus; dwelling in the ground of non-obstruction and displaying awesome power everywhere is. The misunderstanding to be guarded against: reading ‘in the end there is nothing gained at all’ as a counsel of passivity. The very next clause of the verses is ‘he displays everywhere his great awesome power’ — nothing gained and great awesome power are two faces of one thing.

The Forbearance of What Is Like a Heat-Haze: The World Dwells Within Conceiving

The fifth forbearance is the shortest and the sharpest. Its sense is set up as knowing that all worlds are the same as a heat-haze; and the simile is: it is just as with a heat-haze, which has no quarter or place, is not within, not without, not existent, not nonexistent, not cut off, not lasting, not a single color, not manifold colors, nor yet without color, and is displayed only according to the speech of the world. It comes to rest on that last clause — a heat-haze ‘is’ only by force of speech and of looking from afar, and the world ‘is’ in just the same way. The scriptural text then gathers it in a single clause: thus does the bodhisattva contemplate in accordance with reality, understanding dharmas clearly, realizing all things on the spot, and causing all to be brought to fullness. The verses spread this forbearance wider than the prose does, and name its core word besides: the false conceiving of sentient beings is like a heat-haze, and causes them to understand invertedly; the world is like a heat-haze, and by conceiving there are differences; knowing that the world dwells within conceiving, one departs far from the three inversions. And again: it is just as with the heat-haze in the hot season, which men of the world see and take to be water, while the water in truth is nothing at all, and the wise man ought not to go seeking it. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is reading the forbearance of what is like a heat-haze as ‘the world does not exist’ — the appearance of the heat-haze truly is there, only that appearance is not water. The appearance of the world is truly there too, only that appearance is not real. Where it comes down: when an affliction rises, ask one question — is this water, or is it the haze of the hot season? The difference is not in the object but in one’s own conceiving.

The Forbearance of What Is Like a Dream: The Substance of a Dream Has No Arising or Ceasing

The sixth forbearance sets up its simile with a dream. The ordering of the simile is of the same pattern as the simile of the heat-haze: it is just as with a dream — not the world, not apart from the world; not the realm of desire, not the realm of form, not the formless realm; not birth, not dying away; not defiled, not pure — and yet there is display. After blocking everything it keeps one clause, ‘and yet there is display,’ and this is the clause-pattern held in common by the latter seven similes. Then come nine clauses of ‘dreamlike … therefore’: because there is no alteration, because their own-nature is dreamlike, because the clinging is dreamlike, because their being of themselves apart is dreamlike, because their root nature is dreamlike, because what they display is dreamlike, because their having no difference is dreamlike, because their being discriminated by conceiving is dreamlike, because the time of waking is dreamlike. The nine clauses run from own-nature to the time of waking, and the last is the weightiest — a dream is known for a dream only upon waking, and the world is known to be like a dream only upon awakening. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is taking ‘like a dream’ to mean that one ought here and now to deny everything before one’s eyes: a man in a dream cannot get out of the dream by denying it, but only by waking. The verses sing this forbearance thus: the substance of a dream has no arising and no ceasing, nor has it any quarter or place; the three realms are all of them just so, and he who sees this gains liberation of mind; and again, he who dwells in the samādhi of the dream penetrates that the world is altogether like a dream — it is not the same, nor yet is it other; it is not one, nor yet is it manifold; and it closes with, this is called the forbearance of what is like a dream, and thereby he penetrates the dharmas of the world, swiftly accomplishes unobstructed wisdom, and delivers at large the multitudes of beings — being like a dream is not a fleeing away, it is the road to ‘swiftly accomplishing unobstructed wisdom.’ Where it comes down: the most real thing in a dream is the feeling, and the first thing to scatter on waking is the feeling too — and this much one can use now.

The Forbearance of What Is Like an Echo: The Mechanism of Declaring with Nothing Declared

The seventh forbearance speaks of sound. Its sense is set up in two layers: first, knowing that all sounds are altogether the same as an echo, with no coming and no going; second, contemplating the Tathāgata’s voice as not issuing from within, not issuing from without, nor issuing from the two together. The second layer is the hard place — the Tathāgata declared the Dharma for forty-nine years; where in the end did that voice come from? The answer is that it is none of the three places, and yet ‘he is able to display skillful names and phrases and to accomplish every kind of exposition.’ The simile of the echo in a valley explains just this sense: it is just as with the echo in a valley, which arises from conditions and yet does not go against the nature of dharmas, and which causes sentient beings, each according to his kind, to understand it in his own way and thereby to learn and cultivate. The echo comes neither out of the mountain nor out of the man’s mouth, but out of ‘conditions’; and so it is with the Buddha’s voice. The scriptural text then adds the simile of Śacī: the consort of Śakra, the daughter of the asuras, named Śacī, who within one sound sends forth a thousand kinds of sound, and yet has no thought in her mind that it should come forth so — the hinge is in the four words ‘has no thought in her mind’: without any intending, the thousand sounds come of themselves. Therefore the bodhisattva ‘enters the realm where there is no discriminating, and accomplishes the skillful voice that goes forth according to the kinds of sentient beings.’ The closing passage gathers it into a pair: though he knows that sound has no arising, yet he displays sound everywhere; though he knows there is nothing that can be said, yet he declares dharmas at large. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is reading ‘sound is like an echo’ as meaning that the Buddha’s declaring of the Dharma has no effect — what the scriptural text says is that it is without own-nature and yet has effect. Where it comes down: what a declarer of the Dharma has most to fear is taking himself for the source of the voice; once that is there, each kind understanding in its own way turns into forcing others to be like oneself.

The Forbearance of What Is Like a Reflection: Displayed and Yet Undefiled, Difference Is Itself Not Difference

The eighth forbearance sets up its simile with a reflection, and puts first nine rounds (eighteen rubrics) of ‘not’: not born in the world, not dying away in the world; not within the world, not outside the world; not travelling in the world, not failing to travel in the world; not the same, not other; not going, not failing to go; not resting, not failing to rest; not a worldly dharma, not a world-transcending dharma; not practicing the bodhisattva practice, not forsaking the great vow; not real, not unreal. These eighteen rubrics block off entirely the relation between the bodhisattva and the world, and there follows at once a clause of positive statement: though he constantly upholds all the Buddha’s teachings, he is able to bring to completion all the affairs of the world; he is not carried along in the current of the world, nor does he come to a stop within the current of the Dharma — that he does not rest even in the current of the Dharma is a very weighty clause. The simile of the reflection then follows: the sun and moon, men and women, houses, mountains and forests, rivers and springs, display their reflections within oil, water, a body, a jewel, a bright mirror and other pure things; the reflection and the oil and the rest are not one, not other, not apart, not joined; within a running stream it is not washed away, within a pool or a well it does not sink, and though displayed therein it is nowhere defiled. Three sentences say the whole of ‘being inside a thing without belonging to it.’ The scriptural text then adds two layers: though things far and near can all display reflections, the reflection does not become far or near according as the thing is far or near; and, as within a seed there is no root, sprout, stem, joint, branch or leaf, and yet such things as these can arise from it — the former breaks the grasping at space, the latter displays the skillfulness of discriminating two marks within a dharma that has no two. The misunderstanding to be cleared away: a reflection is not another name for a false appearance; it is the very sample of ‘arising in dependence upon another, and displayed without being defiled.’ After this forbearance concludes its name there is a further passage on the virtue of accomplishing it, and its weightiest clause is this — this difference is right there not difference, and being other and not being other obstruct one another in nothing: difference, in its very substance, is not difference. Where it comes down: for entering the world and doing its work without being stained by it, a reflection is the aptest image a man can have of himself.

The Verses on the Forbearance of What Is Like a Reflection: The Reflection in Water, Neither Within Nor Without

When the verses sing this forbearance, clause after clause buckles upon ‘neither within nor without’: it is just as with a reflection in water, which is neither within nor without; the bodhisattva, taking hold of awakening, penetrates that the world is not a world at all; and again: he neither dwells in the world nor goes forth from it, because the world cannot be spoken; nor is he within or without, but like a reflection is displayed within the world. The prose blocks it off entirely with nine rounds (eighteen rubrics) of ‘not’; the verses gather it into the single pair ‘neither within nor without’ — and this is the convention of the verses: what the prose has already taught, the verses only answer to. What the verses alone have is a section on the conduct of mind after entering this forbearance: entering into this profound sense, apart from defilement and wholly clear through, he does not cast away the mind of his original vow, and everywhere he shines the lamp of wisdom; the world has no boundary, and his wisdom enters and is wholly level with it; everywhere he transforms the multitudes of beings and causes them to cast off their manifold clingings. Note ‘he does not cast away the mind of his original vow’ — the prose said ‘not practicing the bodhisattva practice, not forsaking the great vow,’ and the verses bring the second half out into the open on the positive side: what is blocked is the grasping, not the vow itself. Where it comes down: for the man who reads ‘not practicing the bodhisattva practice’ and feels his heart draw back, this clause of the verses is the remedy.

The Forbearance of What Is Like a Transformation: The Ten Transformations, the Seven Knowings, and the Man of Transformation

The ninth forbearance gathers everything under ‘transformation.’ First it lists ten kinds of transformation: the mental deeds of sentient beings are a transformation (arising from conceiving and thinking); the manifold practices of the worlds are a transformation (arising from discriminating); inverted views of pleasure and pain are a transformation (arising from false grasping); unreal dharmas are a transformation (displayed by speech); afflictions and discriminations are a transformation (arising from thought and conception); purification and taming are a transformation (displayed by non-discrimination); not being carried along in the three times is a transformation (no arising and levelness); the power of the bodhisattva’s vows is a transformation (brought about by vast cultivation); the great compassion of the Tathāgata is a transformation (displayed by skillful means); the skillful means of turning the wheel of the Dharma is a transformation (declared by wisdom, fearlessness and eloquence). The first five are on the defiled side, the latter five on the pure — and that even the Tathāgata’s great compassion and the turning of the wheel of the Dharma are counted as transformation is the fiercest stroke in this forbearance: not one corner is left where one may say ‘this one is real.’ Next it lists six knowings: a knowing that realizes it before him, a vast knowing, a boundless knowing, a knowing according to the thing itself, a sovereign knowing, a truly real knowing, together with ‘not something that the views of falsity can shake.’ Then comes the simile of transformation, with more than twenty pairs of ‘not’ in a row — not arising from mind, not undergoing the fruit of deeds, not dwelling long and not dwelling for a moment, not ordinary and not holy, not defiled and not pure, not wise and not foolish, not birth-and-death and not nirvāṇa, not existent and not nonexistent. The misunderstanding to be cleared away: reading ‘the Tathāgata’s great compassion too is a transformation’ as a belittling of the Buddha — the scriptural text’s meaning is that the Buddha’s compassion and his declaring of the Dharma are alike without own-nature, and therefore can answer everywhere without ever running dry. After the name is concluded there follow the simile of the man of transformation and the five names (one who is liberated, one who is tamed, one of spiritual penetration, one who does not fall back, one who is unobstructed), which fix the virtue of accomplishing this forbearance. Where it comes down: put the good deed you prize most into ‘transformation’ and look at it once — the place where you find yourself unwilling is the place where the grasping still is.

The Verses on the Forbearance of What Is Like a Transformation: By the Strength of Transformation He Declares the Dharma

When the verses sing this forbearance, their weightiest clauses are: all the buddhas of the three times are likewise, all of them, like a transformation; upon their original vow they cultivate the several practices, and by transformation they become tathāgatas; and: the Buddha, with great loving-kindness and compassion, delivers sentient beings who are like a transformation; and the delivering too is like a transformation, and by the strength of transformation he declares the Dharma for them. The prose said that the ten transformations include the Tathāgata’s great compassion; the verses push it to the bottom: the Buddha too is like a transformation, the delivering too is like a transformation, and the very strength by which he delivers is the strength of transformation. The misunderstanding to be guarded against is reading this as nihilism — the verses say next: knowing that the world is altogether like a transformation, he does not discriminate the world; the affairs of transformation are of every kind and differ from each other, and all of them are owing to the differences of deeds. Difference still stands plain, upon deeds. The verses have also: cultivating the practice of awakening, he adorns the store of transformation, and with measureless goodness he well adorns it, as deeds make the world — cultivation is not a getting away from transformation, it is adorning within transformation. And they close with: the dharma of transformation is apart from discriminating, nor does it go about discriminating dharmas; these two are both of them quiescent — and just so is the bodhisattva’s practice; and: the ocean of transformation he penetrates by wisdom, and by the nature of transformation he seals the world — penetrating the ocean of transformation by wisdom, and sealing the world by the nature of transformation. Where it comes down: doing a good deed without feeling that one is doing a good deed is what is called practicing the practice that is like a transformation; and the words ‘in the end he never forsakes it’ are the guarantee that this will not slide into doing nothing at all.

The Forbearance of What Is Like Space: The Nine Clauses of Being Like Space

The tenth forbearance is the utmost of the whole chapter. It opens with nine clauses laid down in one breath: the whole Dharma realm is like space, because it is markless; all world-systems are like space, because there is no rising; all dharmas are like space, because there is no duality; the practice of all sentient beings is like space, because there is nothing practiced; all buddhas are like space, because there is no discriminating; all the powers of the buddhas are like space, because there is no difference; all concentrations are like space, because the three limits are level; all the dharmas that are declared are like space, because they cannot be spoken; the bodies of all buddhas are like space, because there is no attachment and no obstruction. The order of the nine clauses counts from the Dharma realm all the way to the bodies of the buddhas, gathering into space that which is depended upon (the realm, the world-systems, dharmas), that which practices (the practice of sentient beings), and that toward which all tends (the buddhas, their powers, the concentrations, the dharmas declared, the buddha-bodies). Each clause brings its own reason with it — it is not a matter of saying ‘they are all empty’ and having done, but of giving item by item the wherefore: markless, no rising, no duality, nothing practiced, no discriminating, no difference, the three limits level, cannot be spoken, no attachment and no obstruction. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is taking ‘like space’ for empty of everything — space can serve as a simile precisely because it is markless and can therefore contain, not because it is nothing whatever. The closing clause says: by a skillful means that is like space he understands clearly that all dharmas are wholly without anything whatever — and the words ‘skillful means’ are the important ones: space is the method, not the conclusion. Where it comes down: these nine clauses can serve as a checklist gone through item by item, to see which item one is still guarding as a thing with marks.

The Forbearance of What Is Like Space: The Eleven Rounds of Contemplating in Pairs, ‘It Is Just as with Space’

What comes next is the most evenly ordered passage in the chapter: eleven rounds of ‘it is just as with space … so likewise is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva.’ Space is what all dharmas depend upon and yet neither arises nor dies away; the bodhisattva’s dharma-body of all dharmas neither arises nor dies away. Space cannot be destroyed; the bodhisattva’s wisdom and powers cannot be destroyed. Space is what the world depends upon while itself depending upon nothing; the bodhisattva is what dharmas depend upon while himself depending upon nothing. Space has no arising and no ceasing and yet sustains the arising and ceasing of the world; the bodhisattva has no turning toward and no gaining and yet can reveal turning toward and gaining. Space has no quarter and no corner and yet displays boundless quarters and corners; the bodhisattva has no deeds and no fruits of deeds and yet reveals every kind of deed and fruit. Space is neither travelling nor resting and yet displays every deportment; the bodhisattva is neither travelling nor resting and yet discriminates all practices. Space is neither form nor non-form and yet displays every kind of form; the bodhisattva is neither worldly form nor world-transcending form and yet displays all forms. Space is neither far nor near and yet abides long and displays all things; the bodhisattva too is neither far nor near and yet abides long and reveals the practices that bodhisattvas practice. Space is neither pure nor foul and is not apart from purity and foulness; the bodhisattva is neither obstructed nor unobstructed and is not apart from obstruction and non-obstruction. Before space all worlds appear, while it does not appear before the world; before the bodhisattva all dharmas appear, while he does not appear before dharmas. Space enters everywhere into all and has no boundary; the bodhisattva enters everywhere into dharmas and his mind has no boundary. The formula of the eleven rounds is one and the same: on the side of space a ‘no’ is set up, and on the side of practice an ‘able’ — being able because there is no. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is reading the two sides as a rhetoric of contradiction: it is not ‘though there is nothing, yet he is able,’ but ‘because there is nothing, therefore he is able.’ Where it comes down: when a thing will not move, it is generally because a mark was already there in the mind first; take the mark away and the ability comes out of itself.

The Forbearance of What Is Like Space: Why Is This — One Substance, One Savor, One Kind

After the eleven rounds of contemplating in pairs, the scriptural text sets itself a question: why is this? And it answers: because what the bodhisattva does is like space. It then spreads out the reason: all his cultivating, all his adorning and purifying, all his accomplishing are wholly level, of one substance, of one savor, of one kind, of a measure like space, pure and pervading everywhere. The six words ‘of one substance, of one savor, of one kind’ are the eye of this passage — cultivating, adorning-and-purifying and accomplishing look to an ordinary man like three different pieces of work, and here they are three names for one and the same thing. There follow eleven clauses of positive statement about what is thus accomplished: he realizes and knows all dharmas while making no discrimination toward any dharma; he adorns and purifies all the buddha-lands; he brings to fullness every body that depends upon nothing; he understands all quarters without confusion; he is possessed of all powers that cannot be broken down; he brings to fullness all boundless merit; he has reached the place of all the profoundest dharmas; he penetrates the way of all the perfections; he sits everywhere upon all the adamantine seats; he sends forth everywhere all voices that go according to kind; he turns the wheel of the Dharma for all worlds without ever missing its time. The last clause, ‘without ever missing its time,’ is the most worth turning over: no discriminating, and yet never wrong about the season. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is reading ‘no discriminating’ as a failure to tell what suits the occasion — the scriptural text places ‘without ever missing its time’ precisely after ‘no discriminating,’ which shows that non-discrimination is the most exact sense of measure there is. After this passage the name is concluded as the tenth, the forbearance of what is like space. Where it comes down: one supposes that one must first discriminate clearly in order not to miss the moment; the scriptural text says the reverse — the less the discriminating, the truer the timing.

The Fruit of the Forbearance of What Is Like Space: Twenty Kinds of Body

For one who has accomplished the forbearance of what is like space, the scriptural text lists twenty bodies, each body carrying a reason closed with ‘because,’ and the reasons of the latter ten all fastened upon ‘like space’: the body without coming (because there is no going), the body without arising (because there is no ceasing), the body without motion (because there is no breaking down), the body that is not real (because it is apart from what is false), the body of one mark (because it is markless), the measureless body (because the powers of the buddhas are measureless), the level body (because it is the same as the mark of suchness), the body without difference (because he contemplates the three times as level), the body that reaches everywhere (because his pure eye beholds levelly without obstruction), the body at the limit of separation from craving (because he knows dharmas have no joining and no scattering), the body boundless as space (because his store of merit is inexhaustible like space), the body of eloquence unbroken and unexhausted and level with the nature of dharmas, the body of measureless and unobstructed voice, the body possessed of every skillful and pure bodhisattva practice, the body wherein the ocean of all the Buddha’s teachings follows on in due order, the body that within all buddha-fields displays measureless buddha-fields, the body that displays all sovereign dharmas without resting, the body of all indestructible and firm strength, the body whose faculties are bright and keen, firm and indestructible as adamant, the body that sustains the strength of all worlds. The twenty bodies begin from ‘without coming’ and end with ‘sustaining the strength of all worlds’ — walking from the emptiest sense to the most sustaining function, and the order is itself doctrine. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is taking these twenty bodies for a spreading out of the names of spiritual powers: every one of them is given a reason — the first ten with such reasons as ‘because there is no going’ and ‘because it is apart from what is false,’ and the latter ten fastened one by one upon ‘like space’ — which shows that this is not a table of functions but twenty facets of one and the same sense of emptiness. When the verses sing this forbearance they say: wisdom and voice, and the bodhisattva’s body — their nature is like space, and all of them are wholly quiescent, gathering body, speech and mind together into the nature of emptiness. Where it comes down: what one cultivates to at the last is not a heap of new abilities, but the losing of one partition between the grasper and the grasped.

The Conclusion: Why It Must Be Told Out to Ten

The last sentence of the prose is a single line: Sons of the Buddha! These are called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s ten kinds of forbearance. The end of the verses is the same: that the bodhisattva is able to accomplish these ten kinds of forbearance — his wisdom and the practice he practices, sentient beings have no power to fathom. Two conclusions, one long and one short, look ordinary enough, and yet they answer the raising of the number at the opening. Fazang, explaining this chapter’s name, says that ‘ten’ is the perfect number, without exhausting; Chengguan says that lodging them in the perfect he displays ten — in the Huayan ‘ten’ is not a counting but a betokening of the inexhaustible. So the ten forbearances are not ten steps of a stair but one and the same illumining wisdom appearing ten times over upon ten kinds of object: upon sound, upon dharmas, upon arising and ceasing, upon illusion, heat-haze, dream, echo, reflection, transformation and space. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is reading the ten forbearances as a table of stages that must be filled out one grade at a time — the scriptural text never says that the first forbearance must be finished before the second can begin; rather, each forbearance says of itself, complete in itself, ‘this is called the such-and-such forbearance.’ The verses’ last words, ‘his wisdom and the practice he practices, sentient beings have no power to fathom,’ carry on from the clause before them, ‘sentient beings and the dust motes of the fields — the number of these may yet be known; but the manifold merits of the bodhisattva — there is no one who can fathom their limit’: the number of dust motes may be reckoned, this virtue cannot be measured. Where it comes down: what one ought most to carry away from reading the ten forbearances is not ten technical names but one sentence — the look of the world is settled by the eyes that look at it.

Lineage

The ‘forbearance’ of this chapter and the ‘forbearance’ of the consciousness-only line share a name but differ in their opening and combining. The Yuqie shidi lun and the Cheng weishi lun both gather the perfection of forbearance under three forbearances — the forbearance that bears with the harm done by foes, the forbearance that accepts suffering with equanimity, the forbearance that examines dharmas with discernment; this chapter opens ten gates, the first three in terms of dharmas and the latter seven in terms of similes, and the two do not gather one another in. Again, the one name ‘the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas’ is used by both axes: this chapter lists it as the third forbearance and attaches it to no station of the grounds, while the Yuqie attaches it to the abiding of the eighth, the Immovable Ground, that is without exertion, without effort and without marks. The name is the same and the station attached to it is not the same; each follows the judgement of its own house, and it is recorded without adjudication. On the side of the treatises of the Huayan house, in the whole of Fazang’s Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang the term ‘the ten forbearances’ does not occur, and there are only two places with ‘the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas,’ both belonging to the sense of the stations of the five teachings and the vehicles they are lodged in, and not an explanation of this chapter passage by passage. As to the one question, at what station the ten forbearances belong, three sayings of the ancient masters run side by side: Chengguan sets it up by ‘lodging them in the perfect, he displays ten’; Fazang divides two judgements, the gradual teaching (lodged in the station of equal awakening after the ten grounds) and the perfect teaching (running through all five stations everywhere); Li Tongxuan, by ‘setting up the name according to practice,’ runs it from the first mind of the ten abidings as far as the skillful means of benefiting beings after the fruit of buddhahood. As to the number of the gate of forbearance, Fazang records the unmatched openings and combinings of the several houses — one forbearance (the forbearance of non-arising), two forbearances (the forbearance of the two selflessnesses), the forbearance of the three non-natures, three forbearances (faith, conformity, non-arising), the four kinds of non-arising, five forbearances; and Chengguan, in the passage of listing the names, also records the differing matchings of the similes by four houses, Guangtong, the ancient masters, the Shedacheng lun and Master Yuan, of which Master Yuan’s taking of the simile of space as a simile for the unconditioned dharma is appraised by Chengguan as ‘not that there is no principle in it, but it goes against the sūtra below.’ These are settled sayings of the several houses; they are recorded side by side, without judging which is higher and which lower.

Why Should a Sūtra Stop and Talk About Arithmetic

A sūtra that speaks of the realm of a buddha suddenly gives over a whole chapter to setting out numbers — is this not off the subject? What Mind-King Bodhisattva asks about is precisely this matter: throughout the earlier chapters the Buddha has been saying, at every turn, “asaṃkhyeya” and “unspeakably unspeakable” — what do these words actually mean? In one breath he cites out ten of the number-names — asaṃkhyeya, measureless, boundless, unequalled, uncountable, unnameable, unthinkable, immeasurable, unspeakable, unspeakably unspeakable — and then asks only one thing: what are they? The misreading is to take this question for curiosity, as though the Buddha were about to teach a system of calculation. Chengguan glosses this by saying that the reason Mind-King is the one who comes to ask is that he “symbolizes that number is not apart from mind, and that number and non-number are alike unimpeded”; the Yanyi chao takes the two words “Mind-King” apart and explains them further: the mind is what gathers and holds all dharmas, most excellent among all things; the king is what governs the four seas, and is therefore most excellent. Fazang likewise takes Mind-King to “symbolize that the dharma of number depends upon mind.” The three point to one and the same place: number is not something outside; it is the graduation-mark of the measure of mind. Brought down to use: this chapter is not a lesson in arithmetic, it is the taking of numbers to measure the capacity of a mind.

Why Ask About Only Ten, and Not About the Hundred and More in Between

Mind-King cites ten names and asks about not one of the hundred and more rungs that precede them. Is this an omission? Chengguan glosses this by saying that it is a case of “raising the later so as to take in the earlier, thereby showing the inexhaustible” — ask about the last, and all that comes before is of itself contained within; and besides, what the sūtra says is “what the Tathāgatas expound,” so that in asking about these root numbers he has already taken in the “turned” forms and the rest along with them. The misreading is to suppose that the ten names are ten separate matters, when in fact they are ten graduation-marks along one single line, and every mark has a “turned” following after it, so that ten gates are in truth twenty names. Brought down to use: in reading a string of number-names one need not chase after each one; it is enough to see which way the string is going — and it goes the whole way toward ‘what cannot be said.’

Why Does the Buddha Answer in Person Instead of Having a Bodhisattva Answer

In the Avataṃsaka, for the most part it is bodhisattvas who speak, sustained by the Buddha’s spiritual power; in this chapter, however, the Buddha answers with his own mouth. Why so? The three commentators answer to one and the same point, each in his own words. Chengguan glosses this by saying, “the reason the Buddha answers in person is precisely to show that it is beyond thought,” and says further that this chapter states in summary the final virtues of the causal stages, and so the Buddha speaks it; Fazang holds that “this is a number of no limit, known to buddhas alone, and therefore the Buddha speaks it himself”; Li Tongxuan puts the question more bluntly still — why does the Tathāgata speak this chapter himself? Because “this dharma of number is vast, beyond the reach of the wisdom of the lower positions, and only a buddha can exhaust it.” The misreading is to treat who-speaks as a small matter of format. Who speaks is the first clue to how hard a thing is: by whose mouth it is spoken, there is marked out whose realm this dharma lies in. Brought down to use: when you see the Buddha speaking in person, set your reading strength to its heaviest.

One Hundred and Twenty-Three Rungs: What Multiplying by Itself Actually Means

The first sentence of the Buddha’s answer is “a hundred lakṣas make one koṭi,” and thereafter one single format is used throughout: such-and-such such-and-suches make one so-and-so. What kind of calculation is this? The key lies in “the number counted is equal to the number counting” — it is not a matter of adding on by tens, but of taking the previous number and multiplying it once by itself. So the second rung is koṭi times koṭi, the third is ayuduo times ayuduo, and thus for one hundred and twenty-three rungs. The misreading is to read it as a decimal table of large numbers. Li Tongxuan glosses this by saying that in this land there are three grades of calculation, lower, middle, and upper — “the lower changes by tens, the middle changes by ten-thousands, the upper changes by hundred-millions” — and that the present chapter uses the upper grade. Brought down to use: this string of numbers does not grow longer, it turns itself over whole at every step — and so within a very few steps there is no longer any language able to carry it.

Do These Sanskrit-Sounding Names Have to Be Explained One by One

Most of the number-names are transcriptions of sound: ayuduo, nayuta, pinpoluo, jinjieluo, piluoga, daluobutuo… A reader easily conceives the thought that each of these names must carry some profound sense. Chengguan here spares his successors a great deal of labor, judging outright that “among them many preserve the Sanskrit sound, but they are merely names of numbers and have no separate principle.” What Li Tongxuan supplies at this passage is likewise only fanqie phonetic notation, not an explanation of meaning. The misreading is to take number-names for doctrinal categories and try to fathom them. Brought down to use: the names are no more than house numbers; the place to spend one’s strength is the line they lay out, not the numbering on the doors.

Is a Lakṣa Ten Thousand or a Hundred Million: The Ancient Worthies Assign Them Differently

Of the one word “lakṣa,” Chengguan says “a lakṣa is ten thousand, a koṭi is a hundred million,” while Li Tongxuan says “one lakṣa means here one hundred million, one koṭi means here one trillion.” Which then is right? There is no need to hurry to a choice here — Chengguan has himself recorded one alternative assignment: if one follows the Abhidharmakośa in taking the lakṣa as a hundred million, then the koṭi answers to a trillion. Clearly there was in the Han lands no fixed rendering, and the assignment varied with the treatise one followed. The misreading is to suppose that the sūtra has one uniquely correct table of conversions. Brought down to use: a conversion table is there to give a person a feel for the thing, not to balance an account; once the feel has come, the table may be set down.

Why the Two Words “Once More” at the Very End

At the end of the series the sūtra says, “this again, unspeakably unspeakable unspeakably-unspeakables, makes one unspeakably unspeakable-turned.” Why do the words “this again” suddenly appear? Chengguan glosses this by saying that if the earlier format were followed and the terms cited out in full, four occurrences of “unspeakably unspeakable” would have to be written here in a row, and that the translator’s using two words to stand in place of one set is “the deftness of the translating.” The Yanyi chao restores one by one the four occurrences that were left out, and records that an earlier writer had faulted these two words as prolix. The misreading is to take it for a slip of the translator’s brush. Brought down to use: language can no longer bear the weight at this point — the translator’s abbreviation is itself the very thing this chapter is about.

The First Step of the Verses: Piling Up “Unspeakable” Once More

The prose section has already counted to the end; why do the verses count again? The verses open with “the unspeakable unspeakable fills full every unspeakable” — taking the number that was already the terminus and using it to fill another terminus. Chengguan divides the piling up of numbers in these verses into ten stages, and explains why it is “unspeakable” that is taken up rather than the final “unspeakably unspeakable-turned”: first, because it is the easier to say; second, because it stands for the number beyond the reach of speech. The misreading is to feel that the verses merely restate the prose. What the verses do is what the prose cannot do: the prose gives a ladder that has a topmost rung, and the verses take that topmost rung and make it the new first step. Brought down to use: true inexhaustibility does not lie in the highest rung of the ladder, but in the fact that ‘the highest rung can be multiplied once again.’

Lands Ground to Dust, Dust Holding Lands: Two Directions at Once

The verses go on: unspeakably many buddha-lands are all ground into dust motes, and within a single dust mote there are again unspeakably many lands; and this grinding happens wholly within a single thought, thought after thought in succession, so through unspeakably many kalpas without end; and the lands within the dust so ground are ground into dust again, which is harder still to speak of. Is this mere heaping up? Look at the direction and it becomes plain: on one side it is ground toward the small, on the other it contains toward the great, both directions travelled at once, so that the two can never be brought to meet. The misreading is to take it for literary exaggeration. Chengguan has already set out these steps one by one in his outline — the third, that all these unspeakably many lands are every one ground to dust; the fourth, that in every single dust mote there are unspeakably many lands; the fifth, that the lands within all those dust motes are ground to dust everywhere in one thought; the sixth, that the grinding thought after thought exhausts many kalpas; the seventh and eighth, that the dust so ground has again many lands, and those many lands are again ground to dust. Brought down to use: this is a calculation, not a figure of speech; every line is the multiplier of the line before it.

One Samantabhadra, and the Praise Cannot Be Finished

All that number was piled up in front — to what use is it to be put? The answer is in this verse: “taking these dust motes as the count of kalpas, one dust mote a hundred thousand unspeakables; through such kalpas to laud one Samantabhadra, none could exhaust the measure of his merit.” It turns out that the whole accumulation is only a denominator, set there to set off one thing — that to praise a single Samantabhadra is more than can be finished. Chengguan here records three stages in the breadth of what is counted: that the kalpas above do not suffice to praise one Samantabhadra; that within one dust mote there are many Samantabhadras; that in the dust motes filling the Dharma realm there are many of them everywhere. And he adds a hard saying: if one does not consider it with a mind that accords with the nature, the mind is confounded and runs wild. The misreading is to read it as a passage of praise. Brought down to use: this number is not for the head to reckon, it is for the measure of the mind to bear up under — chase it with thinking and there will only be confusion; put the mind out to the size of the Dharma realm and it can be received.

Unspeakably Many Samantabhadras at One Hair-Tip

“At the place of one fine hair-tip there are unspeakably many Samantabhadras” — how can they stand upon the point of a hair? The answer to this question does not lie in space, but in what the two words “hair-tip” are being used for. The sūtra goes straight on to say, “so likewise at every hair-tip, and thus on to filling the whole Dharma realm”: the hair-tip is the smallest unit and the Dharma realm is the largest compass, and what the two of them hold is the same in amount. The misreading is to picture a crowd packed into a picture. Brought down to use: what has to be changed here is not the imagination but the system of measurement — once it is granted that the smallest place too can hold the inexhaustible, the ruler of great-and-small has failed.

The Lands upon the Hair-Tip: Of a Kind and Not of a Kind, Pure and Adorned

The next three verses set out in detail the lands the hair-tip holds: the lands at the place of one hair-tip are measureless in number, and so it is at every hair-tip throughout the whole of space; those lands dwell there in measureless differences of kind, and there are unspeakably many lands not of a kind and unspeakably many lands of a kind; at every hair-tip there are pure lands and every sort of adornment and rare marvel. Why distinguish those of a kind from those not of a kind? Because if only “measureless” were said, the reader would easily read it as one indistinct mass; only when same and different are set apart is it known that within the measureless each is still distinctly itself. The misreading is to suppose that so many together can no longer be told apart. Brought down to use: inexhaustible does not mean chaotic — this is the proportion this chapter keeps hold of all the way through.

The Hair-Tip Expounds Buddha-Names, the Buddha-Body Manifests Pores

“At every one of those hair-tips are expounded unspeakably many names of buddhas, and under every single name there are Tathāgatas” — what comes forth from the hair-tip is not lands only but the names of buddhas, and under the names there are Tathāgatas; and upon the body of every one of those buddhas there appear again unspeakably many pores, and within the pores appear manifold colors and forms. Is this not going back on itself? Going back on itself is exactly the point: from hair-tip to buddha, and from the buddha-body back again to the pores, one round enclosed within another. Chengguan’s outline names this passage “within the dependent there appears the proper” — within the realm of the dependent recompense there appears the buddha-body of the proper recompense. The misreading is to read it as two matters set side by side. Brought down to use: there is no wall between the proper and the dependent, and this verse is the pulling down of the wall before your eyes.

Light, Lotus, Petal, Moon, Sun: Generated Layer upon Layer

From “unspeakably many pores all send forth light” the sūtra runs on through several verses in a row: within the light appear lotus flowers, within the flowers are manifold petals, within the petals appear colors and forms, within the colors appear petals again, within the petals is light, within the light are colors, within the colors appears light, within the light appears the moon, within the moon appears the moon again, within the moon appears light, within the light appears the sun, within the sun appear colors, within the colors appears light once more. Is this a display of skill? Chengguan’s outline names this passage “within the proper there appears the dependent” — upon the body of the proper recompense come forth the realms of the dependent, and upon those realms come forth realms again. The misreading is to try to count the layers through one by one. Brought down to use: this passage was never meant for you to count clearly; it is meant so that, at the point where the counting fails, you may loosen your grip on the habit of ‘taking them one at a time.’

The Lion Throne and the Wondrous Jewel Great as Sumeru

After the layer-upon-layer generating, the sūtra comes down upon two concrete things: within the light appear unspeakably many lion thrones, with unspeakably many ornaments and unspeakably many lights to each; wondrous colors within the light and pure light within the colors come forth from one another without ceasing, and within each sort of light there appears a wondrous jewel as great as Sumeru; the jewels appearing within each single jewel are again unspeakably many, and that one wondrous jewel like Sumeru manifests a multitude of lands. Why do a throne and a jewel suddenly appear? Because the throne is the place where the Dharma is spoken and the jewel is adornment at its height — if inexhaustibility only spins in the void, there is nowhere to set one’s foot; once there is a throne, someone is there speaking the Dharma. Brought down to use: here one may draw a breath of relief — at the end of endless mutual containment, there is someone speaking the Dharma.

Jewels Exhausted, Lands Ground to Dust, Dust-Marks Sending Forth Light

“Exhausting those Sumeru-like jewels with none remaining, so are all the lands they manifest” — take those jewels like Sumeru and use them up, and the lands they manifest are all thus; then take one land and grind it into dust motes, and the colors and forms of one dust mote are unspeakably many; the many lands become dust, every dust mote has its mark, and all the manifold dust-marks send forth light. Why should there be an “exhausting”? Because up to here everything has been generating, and now suddenly it says used up — which is to show that even when the examples that can be raised are exhausted, the matter shown is still not exhausted. The misreading is to suppose that “exhausted” means the closing of the passage. Brought down to use: the “exhausting” here is the handing over of all the material in hand, not the finishing of what there is to say.

Within the Light Buddhas Appear and Speak the Dharma; Hearing the Verses, Understanding Is Gained

Within the light sent forth by the dust-marks buddhas appear, and the dharmas those buddhas speak are unspeakably many, the wondrous verses within the dharmas unspeakably many, and those who hear the verses and gain understanding unspeakably many as well; and within those unspeakably many understandings, thought after thought, the true truths made manifest are unspeakably many, and there is shown besides how all the buddhas of the future constantly expound the Dharma without end; every single buddha-dharma is unspeakably many, and the manifold purities, the wondrous sounds, and the wheels of Dharma are each unspeakably many too. Why should ‘those who understood’ also be counted in? Because if the Dharma has no one who gains understanding of it, the inexhaustible is nothing but scenery. Chengguan’s outline names this “within the dependent there appears the proper, speaking the Dharma.” Brought down to use: this passage rewrites “inexhaustible” from a landscape into a teaching — those who speak are unspeakably many, and those who understand are unspeakably many too.

The Sūtras within the Wheel of Dharma, and the Dharma-Gates within the Sūtras

Next comes the most orderly set of derivations in the whole chapter: within every wheel of Dharma unspeakably many sūtras are expounded; within every sūtra unspeakably many dharma-gates are distinguished; within every dharma-gate unspeakably many dharmas are again spoken; within every dharma unspeakably many sentient beings are tamed. The four layers come down the whole way to “taming sentient beings.” Is this heaping up again? See where it comes to rest and you will know it is not: the first three layers are the unfolding of the Dharma, and the fourth is the deliverance of persons. The misreading is to see only the number of layers. Brought down to use: however many dharma-gates are opened, what fills the last square is that someone has been tamed by them — this is the scale of this chapter, and what it weighs is not quantity but benefit.

Dwelling at One Hair-Tip for Unspeakably Many Kalpas

“Or again, at the place of one hair-tip, constantly dwelling for unspeakably many kalpas” — what came before spoke of containment in space, and here it suddenly speaks of abiding in time: at one hair-tip he abides for unspeakably many kalpas, and so it is at all the other hair-tips. Why add this line? Because if only space were spoken of, it would be easily read as a motionless picture. Chengguan’s outline names this single verse “making clear the constant abiding in what is manifested.” The misreading is to take it for a repetition of what has gone before. Brought down to use: the inexhaustible is not a wonder lasting an instant, it is something one can settle into — and only what is settled into long can be worked with.

The Mind Unobstructed, Emanated Buddhas Emanating Again

Once settled in, what is done? “His mind unobstructed, unspeakably many; the buddhas he emanates, unspeakably many; and every single emanated Tathāgata manifests emanations again, unspeakably many” — the buddhas emanated can emanate once more. Then come the dharma-body, the divided bodies, the adornments, the going to the ten directions, the coursing everywhere through the lands, the observing of sentient beings, the purifying of sentient beings, the taming of sentient beings, set out one after another; then adornments, spiritual powers, masteries, spiritual transformations; then the penetrations, the realms, the sustaining power, and the abiding in the world. Chengguan’s outline names this whole passage “making clear the taming of beings in mastery.” The misreading is to take these words for synonyms said over again. They have in fact their sequence: only when there is an unobstructed mind are there emanations; only when there is an emanated body are there the coursing, the observing, the purifying, and the taming. Brought down to use: spiritual power in this chapter is never a performance, it is for catching people up one by one.

Pure Real Marks, and That One Word “Settled”

The second round of derivation is of nearly the same shape as the first, except that it has one square more: within every dharma-gate dharmas are again spoken, within every dharma “all that is settled” is unspeakably many, and within every settled thing the sentient beings tamed are unspeakably many. What is this added “settled”? It is the stroke that fixes the matter where the Dharma has been spoken all the way through — without this square, however many dharma-gates there are, it is only speaking of the Dharma. Then are listed dharmas of a kind, minds of a kind, dharmas not of a kind, minds not of a kind, faculties not of a kind, and speech not of a kind, taming sentient beings thought after thought in every place of practice. The misreading is to take the two rounds of derivation for a repetition of the brush. Brought down to use: the difference between the two rounds lies in that one word “settled” — only what the Dharma can settle can tame a person.

The Bodhisattva Can Set It Out Distinctly, and the Clever Reckoner Cannot Make It Out

At this point in the chapter a line of contrast is suddenly inserted: “the bodhisattva is able to set them all out distinctly, and the clever reckoners can none of them make them out.” Why bring in the men of calculation for comparison? Because everything up to here has been number, and the reader can hardly help supposing this to be a matter that can be reckoned out. The sūtra draws a line here: the man skilled at calculation cannot make it out, whereas the bodhisattva can set out each one distinctly. It goes straight on to say that at the place of one hair-tip there are great lands and small lands, defiled and pure lands, coarse and fine lands, all such things unspeakably many, and yet “every one is clearly made out and set apart.” The misreading is to take the bodhisattva’s knowing for a faster reckoning. Brought down to use: that is no superiority of computing power, it is a wholly different kind of knowing — reckoning goes through them one by one, while clear seeing has them all at once before the eye.

Lands as Many as Dust Motes Gathered on a Hair-Tip, and the Hair-Tip Grows No Larger

“Taking one land and grinding it to dust, those dust motes are measureless, unspeakably many; boundless lands as many as those dust motes come together and gather upon one hair-tip” — and then the most important line in the whole chapter: “gathered on the hair-tip, they are not pressed for room; it does not make the hair-tip any larger, and yet those lands do all come and gather.” Not crowded, not swollen, and yet they really have all come. How can this be? Chengguan glosses this by saying that it is “the one hair that accords with the nature of dharmas” and therefore receives many lands with nothing left outside, and “the many lands whose marks are not destroyed” and therefore each abides in its own mark; the Yanyi chao takes the sense of dependent arising further: because they are not identical, there is that which enters and that which is entered; because they are not apart, mutual entering is obtained. The sūtra itself adds a line: the lands within it keep their shapes and marks as they were, without confusion, and as one land does not disorder the rest, so it is with all lands. The misreading is to imagine it as a compression of space. Brought down to use: on the one side, according with the nature, therefore nothing outside; on the other, marks not destroyed, therefore distinct — when the Huayan speaks of mutual entering, what it speaks of has always been these two statements holding good at once.

Space Filled with Hair-Tips, and the Bodhisattva Can Speak Them in One Thought

“The realm of space is without bound; spread hair-tips throughout it and fill it full; the lands upon such hair-tips the bodhisattva can speak them all in one thought.” Before, it was that they can be held; here, it is that they can be spoken. Why add “can speak them all in one thought”? Because if it were only said that the realm is inexhaustible while no one is able to speak it, this chapter would not have answered Mind-King’s question — what Mind-King asked was precisely “what are they?” The misreading is to read this line as praise. Brought down to use: the inexhaustible realm needs someone standing beside it able to speak it, and only then has this chapter finished answering the question.

The Pore Can Receive the Lands, and the Lands Cannot Fill the Pore

“Within one fine pore, unspeakably many lands enter in due order; the pore is able to receive those lands, and those lands are not able to fill that pore.” At first sight the statement looks unbalanced: if they can be held, why can they not fill it? What Chengguan explains as “the one hair that accords with the nature of dharmas” is just what resolves this place — of the hair, the sense of according with the nature is taken, and so it is like the nature of dharmas with nothing outside it; of the lands, the sense of marks not destroyed is taken, and so they cannot fill that hair which has nothing outside it. It goes on to say that the kalpas of the entering and the kalpas of the receiving are unspeakably many, and that at the time of their standing ranged and abiding, none can speak all the kalpas. The misreading is to read “cannot fill” as the lands being small and the hair large. Brought down to use: it is not a difference of great and small, it is a difference of nature and mark — this line is the finest square in the chapter, and only when it is understood do all the endless mutual containments before it cease to be exaggeration.

After the Taking In and the Abiding: Everything from Skillful Means to Knowing Sentient Beings

Once he has settled in, what is done? The sūtra sets out forty paired clauses one after another: the skillful means at the time of entering, what is done after entering, the clarity of the faculty of mind, the ranging through the quarters, valorous vigor, mastery in spiritual transformation, all his thinking, all his great vows, all his realms, his penetration of everything; the purity of the three karmas of body, speech, and mind, the purity of faith and understanding, the purity of wondrous knowledge and wondrous wisdom; the fathoming of the real marks of things, the cutting off of doubts, the leaving behind of birth-and-death, the ascending to the position of a noble one, the profound samādhis, the fathoming of all; and then it comes down upon sentient beings — knowing the bodies of sentient beings, what their minds delight in, their karmic fruits, their understandings, their classes, their lineages, the bodies they receive, their places of birth, their being born, their having been born, their comprehension, their courses, their speech, and the karma they do. Chengguan’s outline names this “the practice of vigor in the three karmas” and “the practice of gathering in beings according to their vessels.” Why list it out so finely? Because if “unspeakable” does not come down upon one matter and then another, it is an empty word. The misreading is to skim quickly through this long stretch. Brought down to use: this passage takes the inexhaustible apart into a list of items — and the last fourteen items in the list are all ‘knowing what about sentient beings.’

The Ten Perfections of Great Compassion

The longest stretch begins from “the bodhisattva, with great compassion such as this, benefits all the worlds”: manifesting his body everywhere, entering the buddha-lands, seeing the bodhisattvas, giving rise to wisdom, asking after the true Dharma, spreading and setting forth the Buddha’s teaching; manifesting bodies and going to lands, showing forth spiritual penetrations, reaching everywhere through the ten directions, dividing his body and drawing near; making offering-implements, pure jewels, lotuses fine and rare, garlands of the most excellent fragrance, and making offerings to the Tathāgatas; pure faith, the most excellent understanding, surpassing aspiration and delight, reverence for the buddhas; and then the ten perfections — practising giving, giving to all who ask, giving away everything; purity in the precepts, purity of thought; the accomplishing of the forbearances, the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas; rousing great vigor, the non-retrogressive mind, the unshakable mind; all the treasuries of concentration, being still within concentration, fathoming the meditations; penetration in wisdom, mastery in samādhi, fathoming the dharmas, clearly seeing the buddhas… and so on to the nets of light manifesting colors and illumining the buddha-lands everywhere, to the purity of the three karmas, the accomplishing of the jewel of wisdom, and the deep entering of the Dharma realm, to the lauding of the buddhas and the praise without end, to the three times being like space and the accomplishing of awakening, to the wide expounding of the true Dharma and the pity taken upon the world. Chengguan here sets out in his outline the practice of going to the quarters and making offerings to the buddhas, the practice of widely cultivating the ten perfections, the practice of mastery in ranging the lands, the practice of taming sentient beings, the practice of deep purity in the three karmas, and the practice of mastery in vow and wisdom. The misreading is to be daunted by the length and read it lightly. Brought down to use: this stretch is the one place in the whole chapter where “unspeakable” is converted, all of it, into the daily work of a bodhisattva — one line to a matter, and every one of them can be done.

Kalpas May Be Exhausted, Virtue Cannot

After the long stretch the sūtra draws to a close with one verse: “through unspeakably many of all the kalpas, praising unspeakably many merits: unspeakably many kalpas may yet be exhausted, but unspeakably much virtue cannot be exhausted.” Here appears the first “may be exhausted” in the whole chapter. Why speak suddenly of what may be exhausted? Because there must be something exhaustible for the inexhaustible to be set off against. Chengguan’s outline names this one verse “concluding that the virtues are inexhaustible.” The misreading is to take “the kalpas may yet be exhausted” as the sūtra contradicting itself. Brought down to use: however long time is, it is still a quantity, and merit is not a quantity — this line divides the two for the first time.

Tongues That Praise the Buddha: One Body, One Head, One Tongue, One Voice

Next the matter is pressed to its extreme: unspeakably many Tathāgatas, unspeakably many tongues, praising the Buddha’s unspeakably many virtues, and through unspeakably many kalpas the praise still cannot be finished; all the sentient beings of the ten directions accomplish right awakening at one and the same time, and among them one buddha can manifest everywhere unspeakably many bodies of every kind; and of these unspeakably many, one body manifests unspeakably many heads, one head manifests unspeakably many tongues, one tongue manifests unspeakably many voices, and one voice abides through unspeakably many kalpas; and as with one, so with all buddhas, all bodies, all heads, all tongues, all voices, praising the Buddha constantly through unspeakably many kalpas — the kalpas may yet be exhausted, and the praising of the Buddha’s merit can by none be exhausted. Why should the organs of praising also be multiplied? Because what was multiplied before was the virtue praised, and what is multiplied here is the mouth that praises — both sides multiplied to their limit, and still there is no exhausting. Brought down to use: in reading this passage there is no need to picture the scene; it is enough to keep the conclusion — the side that can speak runs out first, and the side that is spoken of is still there.

The Tathāgata Chief in Goodness and the Lotus Worlds

“Within one dust mote there can be contained entirely unspeakably many lotus worlds, and within every single lotus world the Tathāgatas Chief in Goodness are unspeakably many” — this is the one place in the whole set of verses where the name of a buddha is given. It goes on to say that reaching everywhere through the Dharma realm, among all the dust motes therein, the worlds forming, abiding, or decaying are measureless in number; that the place of one dust mote is without bound, that measureless lands all come and enter it, and that the differences of the ten directions and the spread of the ocean of lands are alike unspeakable. Why give a name at this point? Because everything through the chapter is “unspeakable,” and the reader easily loses his footing; the raising of one buddha-name gives the inexhaustible a face that can be addressed. Brought down to use: within the inexhaustible there must be one who has a name, or it turns into empty talk.

Within Every Single Land There Is a Tathāgata

“Within every single land there is a Tathāgata, the kalpas of whose life-span are unspeakably many” — and then the buddhas’ practices, the profound and wondrous dharmas, the great strength of spiritual penetration, the unobstructed wisdom, the entering into pores, the causes and conditions of the pores, the accomplishing of the ten powers, the awakening to bodhi, the entering into the pure Dharma realm, and the gaining of the profound treasury of wisdom, each of them unspeakably many. Why should “the causes and conditions of the pores” be listed among the virtues of a buddha? Because after so much has been said about pores holding lands, some account must be given that this is not a clever trick but a matter of causes and conditions. The misreading is to read this string as no more than a list of buddha-virtues. Brought down to use: this passage brings all the ‘wonders of the hair-tip’ that went before home to the wisdom and the power of a buddha — a wonder that has an owner is not a conjuring trick.

Entering by the Virtues of the Cause: From Knowing the Numbers to Going to the Buddhas

The last stretch of the verses turns to the bodhisattva: the manifold quantities are unspeakably many and he knows them all; the manifold measures of shape are unspeakably many and there is none he does not penetrate; the manifold samādhis are unspeakably many and he can abide within them through kalpas; and in the presence of unspeakably many buddhas his practice is pure. He gains unspeakably many unobstructed minds; and the going to the ten directions, the showing forth by spiritual power, the practice without bound, the going to the manifold lands, the fathoming of the buddhas, the vigor and valor, and the penetration of wisdom are each unspeakably many. Before, what was asked was ‘how many’; here what is answered is ‘he knows them all, and he can get to them all.’ Chengguan’s outline names this passage the practice of one’s own portion in entering by the virtues of the cause. The misreading is to take it for an abridgement of what has gone before. Brought down to use: at the end of the chapter the weight shifts from ‘how large the realm is’ to ‘the person can get there.’

Neither Practising nor Not Practising with Regard to Dharmas

“With regard to dharmas neither practising nor not practising, the realms he enters unspeakably many” — this line is suddenly unlike any line before it. What is it saying? Everything before has been ‘how much has been done,’ and here it says: with regard to dharmas it is not that there is something practised, nor that there is nothing practised. The misreading is to read this as a withdrawal. It is the setting of all the practice before it back upon the ground of nothing attained — for if there were an ‘I who am practising,’ these inexhaustible gates of practice would at once become an inexhaustible burden. Then the wisdom of skillful means, the wisdom of the real, the wisdom of spiritual penetration, and the manifesting thought after thought are each unspeakably many; and of unspeakably many buddha-dharmas he knows each one, unspeakably many, and yet “he can realize awakening at one time, or enter into realization at manifold times.” Brought down to use: he can realize it at one time and he can realize it at manifold times — time too is loosened here.

Going to All the Buddha-Lands of the Hair-Tip, Penetrating the One Real

“The buddha-lands of the hair-tip unspeakably many, the buddha-lands within the dust unspeakably many; to all such buddha-lands he goes, seeing the Tathāgatas unspeakably many”; “penetrating the one real, unspeakably many; well entering the buddha-lineage, unspeakably many; the lands of the buddhas unspeakably many, and to all of them he can go and accomplish awakening.” Why set “the one real” at the end of the counting? Because what has been multiplied all the way up is the many, and the ground of the many is the one. The misreading is to read “the one real” as yet another number. Brought down to use: counting from a hundred lakṣas to the unspeakably unspeakable-turned, the terminus of number is not a larger number, it is that one which is no longer a number.

The Differences of Substance Cannot Be Spoken, and the Bodhisattva Sees Them All with Clarity

The last verse of the chapter: “lands, sentient beings, and all the buddhas — the differences of their very substance cannot be spoken; the three times such as these are without bound, and the bodhisattva sees them all with clarity.” The question returns to the one Mind-King asked at the beginning — what is the unspeakable? The answer is not in the series of numbers, it is in these last words: sees them all with clarity. The differences cannot be spoken, and yet they are seen plainly; the three times are without bound, and yet they are all at once before the eye. The misreading is to read “cannot be spoken” as ‘cannot be known.’ Brought down to use: unspeakable is said with respect to language, not with respect to seeing — and the one thing this chapter has been doing from beginning to end is to pull ‘cannot be said’ apart from ‘cannot be seen.’

Lineage

The reason for this chapter’s coming and its place in the outline are tied differently by each of the ancient worthies, and they are recorded here without adjudication. Chengguan ties it to the profundity of the stage of equal awakening, taking the three chapters from here on as setting forth respectively the numberlessness of surpassing virtue, the exhausting of all time, and the pervading of all places, with this chapter standing first; Fazang states plainly that this chapter is “not an answer to the earlier question,” its reason for coming lying in the comparing of the measure of the virtues of practice, and in explaining as well the quantities found in all the earlier chapters; Li Tongxuan sets up another track, taking the eight chapters from this one to the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata as together setting forth the vastness and mastery of the three karmas of the fruit of buddhahood, this chapter setting forth the vastness and mastery of the Tathāgata’s karma of mind. The totals of the numbers differ as well: Chengguan, going by the eighty-fascicle text, says a hundred and twenty-four numbers; Fazang, going by the sixty-fascicle text, says a hundred and twenty turns; Li Tongxuan, going by the eighty-fascicle text, says a hundred and twenty great numbers. As for the count of the verses, Chengguan judges a hundred and twenty verses, while Fazang, going by the sixty-fascicle text, judges a hundred and twenty-two and a half. For the Chinese numbers assigned to the lakṣa and the koṭi, Chengguan gives ten thousand and a hundred million, and Li Tongxuan a hundred million and a trillion. Each of the four items follows its own text and its own track; they are recorded and not adjudicated.

As to the parallel translations, the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka titles this chapter “The Chapter on Mind-King Bodhisattva’s Question about the Asaṃkhyeya,” with the five words “Mind-King Bodhisattva’s Question” in addition; Chengguan has already recorded this as a case of raising both the person and the dharma. The scene in the two texts is entirely the same — Mind-King asks, the Buddha assents in person, the number-names are listed, the long verses are spoken — while the systems of graphs used for the number-names are wholly different, the sixty-fascicle text reading “a hundred thousand hundred thousands are named one juli” and the eighty-fascicle text “a hundred lakṣas make one koṭi”; the reading of the two texts against each other should therefore be taken by the structure of the scene, and the number-names of the eighty ought not to be searched for graph by graph in the sixty.

The two senses this chapter establishes — that a hair-tip holds lands without being pressed for room, and that a pore can receive the lands while the lands cannot fill the pore — were explained by Chengguan through the two gates of according with the nature and of marks not destroyed, and the Yanyi chao set out their dependent arising further with “because they are not identical, there is that which enters and that which is entered; because they are not apart, mutual entering is obtained”; they thus became the scriptural ground within this chapter for the Huayan school’s doctrine of mutual entering. Chengguan’s outline also names the opening stretch of the verses on the thorough exhausting of the causal position as the bodies and lands of Indra’s net, so that this chapter is likewise the source of the figure for endless mutual containment. As for the setting of this chapter’s series of number-names against the sixty numbers of the Lesser Vehicle, Chengguan, Fazang, and Li Tongxuan all alike, in explaining this chapter, cite the sixty numbers of the Sūtra of Liberation quoted in the Abhidharmakośa as the foil, so as to show that the numbers of this chapter are beyond the reach of the Lesser Vehicle — the three cite the same thing while each judges its own gate of teaching, and this too is recorded without adjudication.

What This Chapter Is Asking — Life, and Measure

How long is the Buddha's life? The question sounds as though it were asking after years, but it is not. Chengguan, explaining the name of this chapter, sets the direction straight in two clauses: “life means the life of recompense; measure is the allotted bound.” Life is the life received as recompense within one span; measure is the allotted bound — the line that has been drawn. He goes on to say that this is “the life of recompense in a defiled or a pure land, the allotted bound seen according to capacity,” and that it is used to display “the life without end, the measure without limit.”

One common misreading must be cleared away: this chapter is not saying that the Buddha's life is long in one place and short in another, nor that the buddha of Ultimate Bliss lives longer than the buddha of the Sahā world. Length and shortness are the bound allotted to what sentient beings see; they are not a bound upon the Buddha himself. Fazang, explaining the name of the chapter in the sixty-fascicle text, keeps closer to the letter: the fruit of recompense drawn on by past deeds is called life, and the holding on of form and mind without break is called the living. Yet under the gate of tenet and aim he at once divides the buddhas' life into three senses — with respect to virtue, with respect to the real, with respect to the provisional: with respect to the real, the faculty of life is without end and exhausts the whole of the future; only with respect to the provisional is it “shown long or short according to what capacities call forth.” Li Tongxuan closes the matter most sharply of all in a single clause: in truth the Tathāgata has no long or short life, for the nature is without birth and cessation.

So in reading this chapter the eye is to be set on the word ‘measure,’ not on the word ‘life.’ What it means to teach is this: the scale of time you see is itself the mark of the place where you stand.

Why It Is Mind-King Bodhisattva Who Speaks

This chapter has only one speaker throughout — Mind-King Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva, addressing the bodhisattvas in the midst of the great assembly. There is no empowerment by the Tathāgata, no one who asks, no repeated verses: one voice from beginning to end. Why should it be he?

Three of the ancient masters each give a reason, agreeing in direction and differing in the door by which they enter. Chengguan says: “because he apprehends the purport, and because the Buddha's life-span is sovereign” — Mind-King can apprehend the Buddha's purport, and the Buddha's life-span is of itself sovereign, and so it is he who speaks it. Fazang says that Mind-King Bodhisattva speaks it because it “displays the sovereignty of the consciousness of the world, and hence there are numbers of kalpas” — the times and kalpas of the world are set up by consciousness, and if consciousness is sovereign, the length and shortness of kalpas turns with it. Li Tongxuan takes it straight from the symbolizing of dharmas: that Mind-King Bodhisattva speaks it makes clear that the Buddha's span of life has mind for its substance, and that the mind-king symbolizes the sovereignty of life.

Set out one misunderstanding: this is not saying that Mind-King Bodhisattva understands life-spans better than others do. It is saying that the speaker is himself a part of the doctrine. The stretching and shrinking of times and kalpas is not settled by anything outside; it is settled by mind — and therefore the chapter that speaks of that stretching and shrinking is given to a bodhisattva whose name is Mind-King. Brought down to practice, the weight of this is: whether your days feel long or short has never been a matter of the calendar.

The First Layer: One Kalpa of the Sahā World Is One Day and Night of Ultimate Bliss

The very first clause overturns the scale: “one kalpa in the land of Śākyamuni Buddha in this Sahā world is one day and one night in the land of Amitābha Buddha in the world Ultimate Bliss.” One entire kalpa of this world of ours that bears with suffering — a stretch of time so long that sentient beings cannot count it and the scriptures must move it by simile — is over there, in Ultimate Bliss, only daybreak to dusk and back to dawn.

Be careful of one misreading here: this is not saying that the people of Ultimate Bliss ‘pass their time more slowly.’ Kalpa and day-and-night are two different scales laid on one and the same stretch of time; they are not two different lengths under one scale. The Jin rendering, the sixty-fascicle text, has here the world Peace and Bliss, which with the eighty-fascicle text's world Ultimate Bliss points to the one land of Amitābha Buddha; the difference is one of rendered names, and it is set down.

Fazang sets a question at this point: what do the world Peace and Bliss and the rest take for their day and night? He gives two explanations: one, that the opening and closing of the lotus marks off day from night, one opening and one closing answering to a kalpa of the Sahā world; two, that one takes the whole sum of days and nights within one kalpa of the Sahā world, and counts by that number, taking one kalpa as one day and night. This is a reckoning set up by a commentator; the scriptural text has no such passage, and in reading it one must remember to tie it to Fazang's name.

Where it comes home is here: one and the same stretch of light and shade is a different unit within a different measure of mind. A stretch of your life that you feel to be long and hard to bear may, seen from another position, not amount to a single day.

The Second Layer: One Kalpa of Ultimate Bliss Is One Day and Night of Kāṣāya Banner

“One kalpa of the world Ultimate Bliss is one day and one night in the land of the Buddha Vajra-Firm in the world Kāṣāya Banner.” The first layer was already startling; the second compresses the startlement itself once more: that world Ultimate Bliss which was just now serving as ‘one day and night’ has an entire kalpa of its own, and in the world Kāṣāya Banner that kalpa is again only one day and night.

What must be cleared away here is the idea of ‘addition.’ The ten layers are not stretches of time joined end to end; they are layer upon layer taken as a base and multiplied up again. This is why Chengguan says “taking a kalpa for a day, before one has passed through the ten layers, the kalpas are already unspeakable” — the ten layers are not yet walked and the number has already gone past all saying.

Kāṣāya Banner is a buddha-land named from a monastic robe raised as a banner; the buddha's name, Vajra-Firm, means firm and indestructible. The sixty-fascicle text has at this layer the world Holy Robe Banner and the Buddha Vajra; the choice of graphs differs in both world-name and buddha-name while the thing pointed to is one, and both are recorded without adjudication.

Where it comes home: a practitioner is most easily satisfied at the first layer — ‘so there is a scale far larger than mine.’ This chapter will not let you stop at the first layer. It means to shake you a second time at the very place where you have just been shaken.

The Third Layer: One Kalpa of Kāṣāya Banner Is One Day and Night of the Wheel of the Non-Retrogressive Sound

“One kalpa of the world Kāṣāya Banner is one day and one night in the land of the Buddha Excellent and Supreme Light, Lotus Blossoming Open, in the world Wheel of the Non-Retrogressive Sound.”

The world-name of this layer is worth pausing over: the Wheel of the Non-Retrogressive Sound. A wheel is what turns without stopping; that the wheel of sound does not fall back says that in this buddha-land the sound of the Dharma continues on without any break. The buddha's name, Excellent and Supreme Light, Lotus Blossoming Open, displays the manifesting of the Dharma by the blossoming open of the lotus. The sixty-fascicle text has the Buddha Good and Joyful Light, Pure Blossoming Open; ‘excellent and supreme’ and ‘good and joyful,’ ‘lotus’ and ‘pure,’ stand over against each other, and both are recorded without adjudication.

The misreading to be set out is this: these names are not decoration. Within one and the same sentence-pattern the scripture changes only two things — the name of the world and the name of the buddha — and the names are the entire content of the layer. Since the pattern holds constant, the reader's attention is driven of necessity onto the virtue that the names symbolize.

Where it comes home: in a place where the sound of the Dharma does not fall back, one day and night is worth the whole kalpa of the layer before. This is saying that only where the Dharma continues unbroken does time become truly ‘dense.’ Practice taken up and dropped and taken up again passes through thin time.

The Fourth Layer: One Kalpa of the Wheel of the Non-Retrogressive Sound Is One Day and Night of Stainless

“One kalpa of the world Wheel of the Non-Retrogressive Sound is one day and one night in the land of the Buddha Dharma Banner in the world Stainless.”

Stainless: the defilement of stain has been left behind. The buddha's name, Dharma Banner, takes the Dharma for a banner, raised high so that the multitude looks up to it. At this layer the world-name and the buddha-name are wholly the same in the eighty-fascicle and the sixty-fascicle texts — among the ten layers, the only two in which both world-name and buddha-name agree are the fourth and the fifth, all the rest differing (at the eighth layer the sixty has the buddha-name Light of All Clarity, the eighty Light of All Spiritual Penetrations). This is one clean fact of the collation, and it is set down.

The misunderstanding to be set out is this: reading thus far, one easily conceives a picture of rank, ‘the further on, the higher the grade.’ But Chengguan has already set a limit under the gate of tenet and aim: with respect to the common teaching, this is “a heaping of the lesser toward the greater”; with respect to the distinct teaching, then “length and shortness are fused in perfect roundness” — length and shortness are of themselves fused, not ranged in a file of high and low. Fazang's gate of ‘displaying the order’ is likewise threefold: with respect to the gradual teaching, to the common teaching, to the distinct teaching, each reading forms its own track, and all are recorded without adjudication.

Where it comes home: ‘Stainless’ is set in the middle stretch and not at the last place. Cleanness is not the end; it is only the condition of being able to go further.

The Fifth Layer: One Kalpa of Stainless Is One Day and Night of Good Lamp

“One kalpa of the world Stainless is one day and one night in the land of the Buddha Lion in the world Good Lamp.”

Good Lamp — a lamp breaks the dark; the Buddha Lion — the lion's roar is the fearless preaching of the Dharma. At this layer too the world-name and buddha-name are wholly the same in both recensions.

At the fifth layer one has come exactly halfway. Here a misreading of a psychological kind must be set out: readers often begin at this point to go numb, feeling that the sentences are repeating. But the scripture's repetition is precisely its method. Chengguan judges this whole passage to be “severally raising the ten lands in mutual regard” — the two words ‘mutual regard’ are the eye of it: it is not that ten worlds are each introduced in turn, but that one after another they look upon each other, and each looking swallows the result of the last one whole. The numbness is exactly the feeling of being swallowed before it has fully arrived.

Where it comes home: a lamp breaks the dark of one room, the lion's roar breaks the doubt of one assembly. That this layer sets ‘breaking the dark’ midway is to say that darkness is not broken through all at once — one layer broken, and only then does the dark of the next become visible.

The Sixth Layer: One Kalpa of Good Lamp Is One Day and Night of Wondrous Light

“One kalpa of the world Good Lamp is one day and one night in the land of the Buddha Treasury of Light in the world Wondrous Light.”

From Good Lamp to Wondrous Light, from one lamp to a treasury of light: a lamp is the brightness of one place, a treasury is a brightness that gathers in without end. The sixty-fascicle text has at this layer the world Good Light and the Buddha Rocana Treasury — taking Rocana for the buddha-name, where the eighty-fascicle text has Treasury of Light, which is just the rendering of the sense of Rocana. The two recensions stand over against each other, and both are recorded without adjudication.

The misreading to be set out is that of taking ‘light’ for a figure of speech. In the pattern of this chapter the buddha's name is itself the reason why the times and kalpas of this layer are denser: where light has become a treasury, one day and night naturally holds up against a whole kalpa of the layer before.

Where it comes home: the ‘lamp’ of practice is lit one time and one time again; the ‘treasury’ is what is lit once and needs no further lighting. The distance from lamp to treasury is the distance from a kalpa to a day.

The Seventh Layer: One Kalpa of Wondrous Light Is One Day and Night of Hard to Surpass

“One kalpa of the world Wondrous Light is one day and one night in the land of the Buddha Light of the Dharma, Lotus Blossoming Open, in the world Hard to Surpass.”

The world-name suddenly changes its tone: Hard to Surpass. The names of the first six layers all said what that buddha-land is; this one says that it is hard to get past. The buddha's name, Light of the Dharma, Lotus Blossoming Open, means that the light of the Dharma manifests as a lotus blossoming open. The sixty-fascicle text has the world Surpassing Beyond and the Buddha Light of the Dharma, Pure Blossoming Open, Lotus — the sixty names it from ‘surpassing beyond,’ the eighty from ‘hard to surpass,’ the one turn of speech positive and the other negative, and both are recorded without adjudication.

The misunderstanding to set out: ‘hard to surpass’ does not amount to ‘cannot be surpassed.’ The scripture goes straight on to an eighth and a ninth layer, so it is plainly surpassed. What the name marks is the steepness near the utmost place — the closer to the utmost station, the harder the crossing of each layer.

Where it comes home: in the later stretch of practice, progress looks as though it had slowed; in fact the scale has grown dense. It is slow because you are in a place where one day and night is worth the whole kalpa before.

The Eighth Layer: One Kalpa of Hard to Surpass Is One Day and Night of Adorned Wisdom

“One kalpa of the world Hard to Surpass is one day and one night in the land of the Buddha Light of All Spiritual Penetrations in the world Adorned Wisdom.”

Adorned Wisdom — adorned with wisdom, and not decked out with anything else; the buddha's name is Light of All Spiritual Penetrations. The sixty-fascicle text has the same world-name, Adorned Wisdom, wholly agreeing; its buddha-name is the Buddha Light of All Clarity, standing over against the eighty's Light of All Spiritual Penetrations.

What this layer means to teach is a matter of order of station: on reaching a world named for wisdom, all the light and dark-breaking and blossoming that came before at last has somewhere to belong. The misunderstanding to set out is the reading of spiritual penetration as a strange ability — the scripture joins penetration and light into one name and sets it within a world named Adorned Wisdom, and its sense is plain: spiritual penetration is the light of wisdom, not some accomplishment outside wisdom.

Where it comes home: anyone who takes marvels for the index of his progress will be put to shame by this layer — even spiritual penetration is only one of the adornments of wisdom.

The Ninth Layer: One Kalpa of Adorned Wisdom Is One Day and Night of Mirror Light

“One kalpa of the world Adorned Wisdom is one day and one night in the land of the Buddha Moon Wisdom in the world Mirror Light.”

The last of the named members of the ten in mutual regard. Mirror Light — a mirror's being bright is not its shining of itself, but its reflecting and displaying of things; the buddha's name, Moon Wisdom, is a wisdom cool as the moon and reflected everywhere. The sixty-fascicle text has the Buddha Awakened Moon, standing over against the eighty's Moon Wisdom, and both are recorded without adjudication.

There is an important error to set out here: having gone through nine layers, the names look less and less like ‘stronger’ the further on they go, and more and more like ‘stiller’ — from lamp, from treasury of light, to mirror, to moon. The nearer the utmost station, the less it is addition and the more it is subtraction: a mirror is not bright of itself, a moon is not hot of itself. This answers to the reading of the distinct teaching that Chengguan called “length and shortness fused in perfect roundness” — at the utmost place it is not the longest, but the place where long and short no longer stand opposed.

Where it comes home: the high ground of practice does not grow into a brighter thing; it grows into a cleaner mirror.

Raising the Brief to Display the Vast: In This Order, on to Passing Beyond a Million Asaṃkhyeya Worlds

The named members stop at the ninth layer. The scripture then says: “Sons of the Buddha! In this order, on to passing beyond a million asaṃkhyeya worlds, one kalpa of the last world is one day and one night in the land of the Buddha Worthy and Supreme in the world Supreme Lotus.” Chengguan judges this to be “raising the brief to display the vast” — raising the brief of the ten layers so as to display the vastness of a million asaṃkhyeyas.

The misreading to be set out is the supposition that the scripture has ‘left something out.’ It has not left out; it has handed over. The first ten layers make you convert the scale nine times with your own hands, until the feel of it stands; and only once that feel stands do the words ‘a million asaṃkhyeyas’ carry any real weight. Chengguan's saying that “taking a kalpa for a day, before one has passed through the ten layers, the kalpas are already unspeakable” is exactly this order — without first passing through the ten layers, any larger number spoken is only a figure. Fazang carries the reckoning on as well: one kalpa of the last world, looked back upon from the first world, answers to unspeakably unspeakable kalpas.

One matter of the letter is also to be set out: the sixty-fascicle text has ‘on to a million asaṃkhyeya worlds,’ while the eighty has one graph more, ‘passing,’ giving ‘on to passing beyond a million asaṃkhyeya worlds’; both are recorded without adjudication.

Where it comes home: faith is not persuaded by a large number, but by a ratio one has converted with one's own hands.

Raising the Profound Ultimate: Samantabhadra Bodhisattva and the Great Bodhisattvas Who Practise Along with Him Fill the Whole of It

The last clause of the chapter suddenly stops speaking of time and speaks instead of persons: “Samantabhadra Bodhisattva together with the great bodhisattvas who practise along with him fill the whole of it.” Chengguan judges this to be “raising its profound ultimate,” and explains: “raising the filling by Samantabhadra and the rest makes clear what the utmost station dwells in.”

Why does the comparison halt at the tenth layer? The reason Chengguan gives is that, “sunk through a million asaṃkhyeyas, the last of the lands already borders upon the sameness of the ocean of lands.” Fazang says: “after the land of Worthy Head, the ocean of lands is the same, and there is neither better nor worse” — beyond this there is no ‘longer’ left to compare, because the scale itself has gone. So the tenth layer is not the largest grade; it is the last grade: past it one enters sameness. Fazang further explains why Samantabhadra alone is raised: because, looked at from below, he is the utmost; and taking Samantabhadra as the measure, looked at from above he is still within number, and so it is not spoken of.

The misunderstanding to be set out: this clause is not adding one still better place to go, over and above the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. By putting ‘who lives there’ in place of ‘how long it is there,’ the scripture gathers the question of measure up into a person — the utmost station is not a longer stretch of time but a kind of practice. The sixty-fascicle text has ‘Samantabhadra Bodhisattva and the great bodhisattvas fill the whole of it,’ while the eighty brings out the two graphs ‘practising along with him’; both are recorded without adjudication.

Where it comes home: a whole chapter has spoken out the unfathomable depth of times and kalpas, and at the end it gives you only one thing you can imitate — the practice of Samantabhadra. Time you will never overtake; practice you can begin today.

Lineage

The sense of this chapter is tied to what comes before and after. Chengguan judges the reason for its coming and ties it to the chapter before: the preceding Chapter on Asaṃkhyeya “displayed its real virtue,” while this chapter sets forth the allotted bound seen according to capacity — the one the real, the other the capacity, each displayed by contrast with the other. Fazang judges this same near intent, and ties on the chapter after as well: the Chapter on the Dwelling Places severally sets forth the bodhisattvas' use of the Dharma, making clear with respect to capacity the differences among their dwelling places; the Buddha's virtue having been spoken, next comes what the bodhisattvas dwell in. Li Tongxuan takes only the convenience of the order: the preceding chapter being Asaṃkhyeya, it is fitting that here there should follow the span of life. The three houses tie it differently, and all are recorded without adjudication.

Fazang further gives a far intent: this chapter answers from afar the question about the ten summits in the Hall of Universal Light, since the ten layers in mutual regard are each an utmost end and so get the name of summit. He also records the ancients' explanation, which took this chapter to answer the question about the Buddha's life-span, and says of it himself that “the momentum of the text does not go that way,” his reason being that the question about the life-span stands before the ten grounds and the rest, and it is not fitting that the answer should come in this place — a judgement the ancient masters made of themselves, recorded verbatim without any appraisal added.

A single separately circulating scripture of this chapter is set down by the ancient masters in two places: Chengguan says that the separately circulating scripture is named Boundless Buddha-Lands, and that the scripture thus displays the persons by the place; Fazang says that the Dharma-master Xuanzang separately rendered one fascicle named the Scripture of the Displaying of Boundless Buddha-Lands, which is this chapter, and records as well that it is also said in the Da foming jing that the buddhas alone fill these worlds. This edition records their names, and has not taken them as witnesses.

As for the six aspects and the ten profound gates of the Huayan house, the scriptural text of this chapter has no direct passage on them; and Vasubandhu's Shidi jing lun is an explanation devoted to the Chapter on the Ten Grounds and does not touch upon this chapter either — in both cases the lack is set down as the facts stand, without filling it from the text of other chapters. What this chapter leaves behind is a reckoning of the utmost plainness and the utmost unforgettableness: one kalpa taken as one day, ten layers in mutual regard, and past this the ocean of lands is the same.

Why the Sūtra Points Out ‘Where There Are Bodhisattvas’

A sūtra that speaks of the Dharma realm without end suddenly opens out a list of place-names — which mountain in the east, which mountain in the south, which land, which city — and the reader’s first reaction is mostly this: does that even count as doctrine? The sūtra gives its own answer in the chapter’s name: the dwelling places of the bodhisattvas. Chengguan, explaining that name, says that bodhisattvas dwell out of great compassion according to the capacities they meet, and that those who can dwell are not one alone and the places dwelt in are not one quarter alone, and so they are called ‘the many’; the dwelling places of the many bodhisattvas — that is the title of this chapter.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: that the chapter is a Buddhist geography. Chengguan, at the head of the chapter, has already made two layers plain — if it be spoken as it really is, at every hair-tip in the Dharma realm there are measureless Samantabhadras, so why point to a quarter at all? But the minds of sentient beings must have somewhere to come to rest, and so, following what suits their conditions, quarters and places are pointed out, that men may raise up longing and lift their heads toward a home. To point to a place is for the sake of those who still need a direction before they will rouse their minds; and once you know that the bodhisattvas who dwell hold oceans of lands within a hair and that the places they dwell in take in the boundless within a mote of dust, you will understand that there is no quarter which is not a dwelling place of bodhisattvas.

So the use of this list is this: first it lets you believe that there really are such; then it lets you understand that there is nowhere they are not. Brought down to oneself, it comes to this — do not first ask where the noble ones are; ask first whether you are willing to raise your own mind toward that direction.

The One Who Speaks: the Bodhisattva Mind King

The speaker of this chapter is not Samantabhadra, nor Dharma Wisdom, but the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Mind King, who within the great assembly tells the bodhisattvas. Why is it he?

The three ancient masters tie it in one way. Chengguan says that the reason it is also the Mind King who speaks is that whatever governs and rules is thereby sovereign, and that it also displays how mind dwells in accordance with wisdom and has no obstruction. Fazang says it is because, as regards ‘place,’ consciousness has attained sovereignty, and so it is the Mind King who speaks. Li Tongxuan says that the bodhisattva’s practice of gathering in, transforming, and upholding is precisely the Mind King’s practice of being sovereign and following wisdom, and so the bodhisattva Mind King is made to speak this chapter of dwelling places.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take the speaker for a mere change of announcer. Whom the compilers of the sūtra appoint to speak is itself doctrine. What this chapter speaks of is ‘place,’ and the reason a place can be dwelt in, can be pervaded, can be unobstructed, is tied to mind. If the mind is not sovereign, then wherever one goes is a cage; if the mind attains sovereignty, then wherever it dwells according to wisdom there is no going without ease. That is why a list of place-names must be recited by the Mind King.

Brought down to oneself: in reading this chapter, do not use the eyes alone to hunt for a map; follow the speaker back and look at your own mind — in the place where you stand at this moment, is it the mind-king that dwells there, or the afflictions?

The East · Mount of the Seers

The first place is in the east, named Mount of the Seers. The sūtra’s sentence pattern is fixed here, and the eight places that follow are all cast in this mould: in such a quarter there is such a place, and from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt therein; and now too there is such a bodhisattva, with a retinue of so many, ever within it expounding the Buddha’s Dharma; while the remaining thirteen places say only “dwelling therein.” The one now dwelling here is the bodhisattva Vajra Excellence, with a retinue of three hundred.

First ask: why does it begin by saying “from of old”? Because this clause speaks of the antiquity of the transmission — it is not that someone has only today begun to practise there, but that generation upon generation has gone on unbroken. A bodhisattva’s dwelling place is nobody’s private property; it is a relay. Ask again: are three hundred many or few? The sūtra gives a number of retinue for each of nine places (three hundred · five hundred · three hundred · three thousand · ten thousand · one thousand two hundred · one thousand · three thousand · five thousand), and the numbers themselves are not a ranking; they display that the fitness of what each place gathers in and transforms is different.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take “Mount of the Seers” for the abode of non-Buddhist seers and so unrelated to the Buddha’s Dharma. Chengguan reports the tradition that this mountain is Mount Penglai in the eastern sea, and that if so, then it takes in the sea as well — the name is borrowed from an old worldly usage, but the ones dwelling there are bodhisattvas. To bring it home in a sentence: do not slight a place on account of its old name, when the question is who is expounding the Dharma there now.

The South · Mount Excellent Peak

The second place is in the south, named Mount Excellent Peak; the one now dwelling there is the bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom, with a retinue of five hundred, ever within it expounding the Buddha’s Dharma.

First ask: why does the name Dharma Wisdom look familiar? The chapters of the ten abodes earlier on were spoken by the bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom, upheld by the Buddha’s awesome spiritual power. Here the sūtra sets a great being who once mounted the seat and expounded the Dharma back into a particular mountain — the one who expounds is not only upon the high seat of a Dharma assembly; when the assembly disperses, he is still in some mountain expounding day after day. This one stroke is the best undoing of the illusion that ‘the Buddha’s Dharma is only in the great gatherings.’

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take “Excellent Peak” for a merely ornamental epithet. Chengguan ties this place to the mountain where Cloud of Virtue dwelt, which in the Jin recension is named Mount Tower-Pavilion, the abode of Poshiluo — that is, actual ground upon the road of the youth Sudhana’s study. The name in the sūtra, the investigation in the commentary, and the footsteps of the practitioner are one and the same line.

Brought down to oneself: the places where Sudhana studied are on this very list; and the list is not for roaming over from one’s couch, but for walking.

The West · Mount Vajra Flame

The third place is in the west, named Mount Vajra Flame; the one now dwelling there is the bodhisattva Fearless Practice of Vigor, with a retinue of three hundred, ever within it expounding the Buddha’s Dharma.

First ask: why does the mountain’s name pile ‘vajra’ upon ‘flame’? The vajra displays what is firm and cannot be broken; the flame displays the breaking through of what is dim and dark. The two senses joined answer exactly to the name of the bodhisattva now dwelling there — Fearless Practice of Vigor. Vigor is the unbreakable; fearlessness is the undimmed. Name and person answer to one another, and this is a formal usage that appears again and again in this chapter: the place displays a virtue, the person shows forth a practice.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take a bodhisattva’s name for a mere label. In this chapter the name of the place and the name of the bodhisattva often illuminate each other, and in reading it does no harm to glance from one to the other. Chengguan here only ties the quarter, saying that Vajra Flame is on the shore of the western sea, and adds no further sense. The ancient masters do not force an explanation, and neither do we.

Brought down to oneself: vigor that quails is empty bustle; fearlessness that slackens is empty talk. What is set up here is vigor and fearlessness joined into one practice.

The North · Mount Heaped Fragrance

The fourth place is in the north, named Mount Heaped Fragrance; the one now dwelling there is the bodhisattva Fragrant Elephant, with a retinue of three thousand, ever within it expounding the Buddha’s Dharma.

First ask: what does ‘heaped fragrance’ mean? Read plainly, it is the mountain where fragrance is heaped and gathered. Chengguan sets down the old saying that it ought to be the Fragrant Mountain north of the Snow Mountains. To be named for fragrance is to use fragrance as a simile for virtue — virtue perfumes men as fragrance is smelt from afar. And the one now dwelling there is named Fragrant Elephant: the elephant is the sort of creature great in strength and steady in gait, and ‘fragrant elephant’ together is the fragrance of virtue and the strength of practice held both at once.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take these explanations of mountain names for the far-fetchings of later men. The ancient masters are extremely careful in their wording here; Chengguan says only “the old saying is that it ought to be,” which is to transmit without deciding. What can be investigated in a name, investigate; what cannot, leave standing — this is the measure that reading an apparatus ought to have.

Brought down to oneself: fragrance need not proclaim itself, nor practice praise itself; that a bodhisattva with three thousand of retinue is ever here and the expounding never breaks off is just the fragrance of virtue heaped up long until of itself it gathers men.

The Northeast · Mount Clear and Cool

The fifth place is in the northeast, named Mount Clear and Cool; the one now dwelling there is the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, with a retinue of ten thousand, ever within it expounding the Buddha’s Dharma.

First ask: how does this place differ from the four before it? Two things are most evident — first, that the one now dwelling there is Mañjuśrī, foremost among the great bodhisattvas in displaying wisdom; second, that the retinue is ten thousand, the greatest of all the twenty-two places in the chapter. The sūtra adds not one word of praise here, and lets the person and the number show forth the weight of it of themselves.

Ask again: why is it called Clear and Cool? Chengguan explains the name: because ice lies there heaped through the years and snow still flies in high summer, and there has never been sweltering heat, it is named Clear and Cool. In the Buddha’s Dharma, coolness has never been merely a matter of climate: heat and vexation are the marks of affliction, and coolness is the virtue of being apart from heat. That Mañjuśrī dwells in Clear and Cool is wisdom dwelling where there is no heat of affliction.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to read “the northeast” as a vague word for a quarter and slide past it. Chengguan felt precisely that to say only ‘the northeast’ left the wording still too loose, and therefore cited a scripture to attest at length where this mountain lies — that long passage of investigation belongs to what the several masters tie, and this text places it under Lineage as a record, and does not adjudicate it here.

Brought down to oneself: whoever seeks wisdom must first be willing to depart from heat and vexation; while there is a fire burning inside, Mañjuśrī is not expounding the Dharma there.

In the Sea · Mount Vajra

The sixth place is not upon land in the eight quarters but in the sea, named Mount Vajra; the one now dwelling there is the bodhisattva Dharma Arising, with a retinue of one thousand two hundred, ever within it expounding the Buddha’s Dharma.

First ask: why insert a mountain in the sea among the first ten places? Chengguan notes it himself in his outline: among these ten, the sixth is a mountain in the sea and the tenth is a cave in the sea, and the rest are all mountains. Plainly the sūtra means to have mountain and sea both. Explaining what the first ten places display, he says that mountains and seas can enfold and can store, and are where the humane and the wise take their rest, displaying the height and depth of great wisdom, and displaying too that they can settle and can illumine. The mountain displays height and depth, the sea displays enfolding; to be able to settle is concentration, to be able to illumine is wisdom.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to think that there can be no dwelling place in the sea, and so this clause is a fiction. The sūtra says it with the plainest fact — from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt therein. A bodhisattva’s dwelling place does not pick and choose its terrain; what it picks is whether one can settle and whether one can illumine.

Brought down to oneself: the name Dharma Arising is the most worth turning over — that in the sea the Dharma arises is precisely that in the place of surge and unrest the Dharma is able to arise.

The Southeast · Mount Zhiti

The seventh place is in the southeast, named Mount Zhiti; the one now dwelling there is the bodhisattva Heavenly Crown, with a retinue of one thousand, ever within it expounding the Buddha’s Dharma.

First ask: what does ‘Zhiti’ mean? The name is a transcription, and the sense transmitted by the ancient masters has two readings, both of which appear under Lineage, recorded without adjudication. What can be read from the sūtra’s text itself is this: the mountain is named for Zhiti, while the one dwelling there is named Heavenly Crown — a crown is an ornament worn on the head, and a thing of the Zhiti sort is likewise something looked up to by all and set on high; the one name and the other reflect each other.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to think that a transcribed name carries no doctrine worth speaking of, and so to skip it. Wherever there is a transcription is precisely where the ancient masters spent most labour; the reader need not guess at the sense himself, but ought to know that the ancients have contended and investigated over this.

Brought down to oneself: a bodhisattva with a retinue of one thousand is ever within it expounding the Dharma — however the mountain’s name be explained, the expounding has never broken off, and that is what the sūtra would have you remember.

The Southwest · Mount Light

The eighth place is in the southwest, named Mount Light; the one now dwelling there is the bodhisattva Worthy Excellence, with a retinue of three thousand, ever within it expounding the Buddha’s Dharma.

First ask: what do the two graphs ‘light’ display here? Before there was Clear and Cool, displaying departure from heat; here there is Light, displaying the breaking of darkness; the one a departure from heat, the other a breaking of darkness — which is just the counteraction of the hindrance of affliction and the hindrance to what is to be known, cast as a shadow upon a place-name. And the one now dwelling there is named Worthy Excellence: ‘worthy’ is a designation of virtuous conduct, and ‘excellence’ is the sense of surpassing; one whose virtuous conduct surpasses dwells within Mount Light, and again person and place are one sense.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take ‘light’ for a mere description of a bright-looking range. This chapter everywhere displays virtue by names, and to read it only as scenery is to read it thin. Yet neither may one go too far: the ancient masters have not explained much of this mountain, and so we stop at the mutual reflection of name and sense, and do not set up doctrine on the ancients’ behalf.

Brought down to oneself: a bodhisattva with a retinue of three thousand is ever within it expounding the Dharma — light is not shone for the mountain to look at, but for men to walk by.

The Northwest · Mount Fragrant Wind

The ninth place is in the northwest, named Mount Fragrant Wind; the one now dwelling there is the bodhisattva Fragrant Light, with a retinue of five thousand, ever within it expounding the Buddha’s Dharma.

First ask: how does Fragrant Wind differ from Heaped Fragrance before it? Heaped Fragrance is a gathering and thickening; Fragrant Wind is a flowing and a reaching afar. The thickness of virtue lies in its heaping, the covering of virtue in its flowing. The sūtra sets the two mountains over against each other from afar, the one still and the one moving, and so both faces of virtue, its substance and its function, are spoken of. Chengguan makes only a single conjecture about this mountain, that it may be the western side of the Fragrant Mountain, and his words are extremely careful.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take the words “it may be” for a sign that the ancient master was careless. Quite the reverse — to investigate what can be investigated and to leave standing what is doubtful is the rule of the commentators. If the reader takes “it may be” for a settled statement, he ruins the ancients’ sense of measure.

Brought down to oneself: a bodhisattva with a retinue of five thousand is ever here expounding the Dharma. The teaching of the fragrant wind is to let the fragrance of the Dharma blow to places where the sound of the sūtra cannot be heard.

Within the Great Sea · the Cave of Adornment

The tenth place is within the great sea, named the Cave of Adornment. Here the sūtra’s sentence pattern suddenly changes: it says only that from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt therein, and no longer says that there is now such a bodhisattva, no longer says how great the retinue, no longer says that he is ever within it expounding the Dharma.

First ask: why is the pattern abridged? Chengguan offers a clue: the Cave of Adornment is spoken with reference to the sea of the sixth place above, and so the sūtra uses the words “there is yet another” — within the great sea there is ‘also’ a place. The first nine places call the roll quarter by quarter; this one adds a further place with reference to the sea, and the momentum of the wording naturally turns brief; and from here on the twelve places in cities and towns likewise say only that they are dwelt in.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to think that not naming a bodhisattva now dwelling there amounts to there being no bodhisattva, or to the bodhisattvas being inferior. The sūtra says plainly that hosts of bodhisattvas dwell therein; it merely does not list name and number. Not to list names is in fact the nearer to this chapter’s tenet: you are not being asked to remember a few celebrated persons, but to know that everywhere there are people.

Brought down to oneself: what really holds this world up is mostly those who are not on any list.

City One · South of Pishali · Well-Dwelling Root

From here on for twelve places the sūtra turns from mountains and seas into cities and towns. The first place is south of the city of Pishali, named Well-Dwelling Root, where from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: why the turn from mountains and seas into cities and towns? Chengguan outlines these latter twelve places as ‘dwellings mixed among cities and towns,’ and explains their sense: they exhaust to the last bend the capacities of sentient beings, displaying that great compassion leaves nothing out, whereby one may know that there is nowhere the bodhisattvas are not. The first ten places dwell in mountains and seas, displaying the height and depth of great wisdom; the latter twelve dwell in cities and towns, displaying the compassion that does not abandon. Wisdom and compassion, the one high and the other low, are together the dwelling place of a bodhisattva.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to think that those who dwell in cities and towns are less lofty than those who dwell in the mountains. Neither the sūtra nor the commentators make such a judgement — mountains and seas can settle and can illumine, cities and towns exhaust to the last bend the capacities of beings; these are two kinds of practice, not two grades.

As for the name of the place, Well-Dwelling Root: to dwell well is to abide steadily, and the root is the base upon which one relies. Brought down to oneself — to dwell in the press of people and yet have the root unmoved is far harder to come by than to hide oneself away in the mountains.

City Two · the City of Modulo · the Cave of Fulfillment

The second place is in the city of Modulo, where there is a dwelling place named the Cave of Fulfillment, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: what sort of place is Modulo? Li Tongxuan, explaining this city’s name, says that in this land it is rendered the City of Peacocks, and is also named Secret Canopy, and that both are names set up on account of affairs of old. This reminds us that the places listed in the sūtra were all cities and towns really existing at the time, and not made-up place-names.

Ask again: what does the name Cave of Fulfillment mean? A cave is a grotto or a chamber of stone, the shelter of one who practises; and to be named Fulfillment is spoken with regard to the virtue accomplished — to dwell in the barest of places and yet have the mind lack nothing. The sūtra adds no explanation here, and neither do we say more on its behalf.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take ‘cave’ for a mark of bitter poverty and something to be pitied. To take a cave for one’s dwelling and to name it Fulfillment is precisely to turn the world’s whole judgement of poverty and wealth upside down.

Brought down to oneself: whether the place one dwells in can be fulfilling does not lie in the place but in the one who dwells.

City Three · the City of Juzhenna · the Dharma Seat

The third place is in the city of Juzhenna, where there is a dwelling place named the Dharma Seat, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: whence comes this city’s name? Li Tongxuan explains that this city is also named Juchenna, and that ‘juchen’ in this land is rendered ‘a great basin’; the tradition is that in ancient times a man kept water in a great basin like a pool, and beside that basin constantly practised the arts of the seers, and constantly expounded for men the books of guarding purity and nourishing life, and that those who studied under him all took their master’s method as a surname, and the city therefore got its name. That an ancient master should tell the origin of a place-name in such detail is to have men know this: the places where bodhisattvas dwell are often just those places in the human world that have a story and a line of teachers.

Ask again: why is the place named the Dharma Seat? A Dharma seat is the seat from which the Dharma is expounded. That within one city there is a place named the Dharma Seat where bodhisattvas have long dwelt says something very plain — the expounding here has never broken off.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to think that a Dharma seat must be in the great hall of a monastery. The sūtra sets the Dharma seat upon a dwelling place within a city; where there is someone willing to speak and someone willing to hear, there is the Dharma seat.

City Four · the City of the Pure Far Shore · the Cave of Muzhenlinta

The fourth place is in the city of the Pure Far Shore, where there is a dwelling place named the Cave of Muzhenlinta, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: what is Muzhenlinta? Li Tongxuan, explaining this name, says that Muzhenlinta in this land is rendered ‘liberation,’ and is the name of a dragon; and that ‘linta’ in this land is ‘place,’ because a dragon here heard the Dharma and attained liberation, and so it was named thereby. A dragon heard the Dharma here and attained liberation, and this place-name became a monument.

Ask again: does the city’s name, the Pure Far Shore, answer to the cave’s name? The far shore is the sense of crossing over birth-and-death, and liberation is precisely the fruit of arriving at the far shore; the city’s name and the cave’s name are the one a cause and the other a fruit, answering to each other from afar.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take a dragon’s attaining liberation for a tale of marvels with nothing to do with oneself. The ancient master records it in order to make plain that the benefit of hearing the Dharma does not pick and choose its kind — even a dragon is thus, how much more a man.

Brought down to oneself: a place is worth remembering most often because someone really turned about there.

City Five · the Land of Molanta · Established by the Unobstructed Dragon King

The fifth place is in the land of Molanta, where there is a dwelling place named Established by the Unobstructed Dragon King, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: where is the land of Molanta? Li Tongxuan sets down word for word here that it is not rendered — the ancient master marks it himself as a name not yet translated, and does not supply a conjecture on its behalf. This one stroke shows the commentators’ honesty best: explain what can be explained, and where it cannot be explained, say according to the fact that one does not know.

Ask again: why is the place’s name tied to a dragon king? The place is named Established by the Unobstructed Dragon King, which is to say that this dwelling place was built by a dragon king named Unobstructed. The place before was a dragon hearing the Dharma and gaining liberation; this place is a dragon establishing a place of the Way — dragons appear twice in this chapter, once as a receiver of the Dharma and once as a guardian of it.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to think that what a dragon king established could not be a dwelling place of bodhisattvas. The sūtra says plainly that hosts of bodhisattvas dwell therein; who built it is one matter and who dwells in it is another.

Brought down to oneself: one who brings a place of the Way to completion need not be one who expounds the Dharma; both sorts of merit count.

City Six · the Land of Ganputuo · Producing Loving-Kindness

The sixth place is in the land of Ganputuo, where there is a dwelling place named Producing Loving-Kindness, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: can this land’s name be explained? Li Tongxuan likewise sets it down as not rendered. Two places in succession not rendered, and the ancient master takes it for no embarrassment — not to know and to say so is a trustworthy attitude.

Ask again: what does the place-name Producing Loving-Kindness mean? To produce is to bring forth; loving-kindness is the mind that gives joy. To name a dwelling place ‘Producing Loving-Kindness’ is to say that this is a ground where the mind of loving-kindness is brought forth. Most of the places before got their names from the shape of a range, from an appearance, or from a story; this one is named straight from a virtue, and stands out for it.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take loving-kindness for a merely mild disposition. Loving-kindness is here spoken of as needing to be ‘produced’ — it is not a feeling one has from the outset, but a practice that must be brought forth and nourished.

Brought down to oneself: to ask whether the place one dwells in produces loving-kindness matters far more than to ask at what point of the map it lies.

City Seven · the Land of Cīnasthāna · the Cave of Nārāyaṇa

The seventh place is in the land of Cīnasthāna, where there is a dwelling place named the Cave of Nārāyaṇa, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: where is Cīnasthāna? Li Tongxuan explains it with perfect plainness: Cīnasthāna is also called Cīna, and also Zhendan, and in this land it is rendered ‘thinking and considering,’ because the people of that country think and consider and calculate much, and it was named thereby — that is to say, the land of Han. Here the sūtra points to the very soil beneath the reader’s own feet.

Ask again: what does Nārāyaṇa mean? Li Tongxuan explains that Nārāyaṇa in this land is ‘firm and solid.’ A cave of the firm and solid, in a land of thinking and considering — a place named for its much thinking has set up within it a dwelling place named for firmness and solidity. Between the one name and the other there is a certain flavour of counteraction.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to think that the holy regions the Huayan speaks of are all in the distant west. The sūtra lists Cīnasthāna plainly and the ancient master explains it plainly as the land of Han: this quarter of ours is on the list.

Brought down to oneself: to think and consider much is no crime, but one who thinks and considers much has all the more need of a firm and solid place in which to settle.

City Eight · the Land of Shule · Mount Ox-Head

The eighth place is in the land of Shule, where there is a dwelling place named Mount Ox-Head, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: how stands the name Shule? Li Tongxuan explains that the correct sound ought to be Qielushudanle, and that this land keeps an abbreviation of it and says only Shule. What the ancient master does here is the work of restoring a transcription, so that later men may know whence the current short form came.

Ask again: what does the name Mount Ox-Head mean? Neither the sūtra nor the ancient masters cited set up any separate explanation of this mountain, and this text therefore stops here and does not speak on their behalf. What can be investigated in a name, investigate; what cannot, do not piece out — this is the consistent measure of reading this chapter.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to think that every name must yield up a doctrine before one has read it aright. Among the twenty-two places there are those that can be explained, those not rendered, and those left in doubt, and the sūtra treats them all alike with one and the same sentence pattern: from of old, hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt therein.

Brought down to oneself: whether it can be explained or not does not hinder the fact that someone is practising there.

City Nine · the Land of Jiashemiluo · In Due Order

The ninth place is in the land of Jiashemiluo, where there is a dwelling place named In Due Order, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: where is Jiashemiluo? Li Tongxuan explains that it was anciently called the land of Jibin, and that in this land it is rendered ‘who indeed may enter’; and he records the reason its statehood was established — that in ancient times, when no state had yet been set up there, there was a great dragon pool which men dared not approach, and afterward an arhat, seeing that the lie of the land was excellent and fit for men to dwell in, begged of the dragon room enough for a single knee; the dragon consented, and the arhat transformed his body and made it large, and his knee gradually filled the pool, and the dragon kept faith and departed; the arhat then by his spiritual power made the water of the pool dry up, and had the common folk dwell there and build their houses, and all men said that but for the holy master, who indeed could have entered this place — and the country’s name was set up from that saying.

Ask again: what does the place-name “In Due Order” mean? To be in due order is to have sequence and no confusion. The ancient masters set up no separate explanation here; read from the name alone, it says that practice has its order.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to read an affair of old as a myth and pass over its sense. The bone of this record is in the “begging room enough for a single knee” — what the holy one took was the least possible, and what he accomplished was a ground for the dwelling of the many.

City Ten · the City of Increasing Joy · the Cave of the Venerable One

The tenth place is in the city of Increasing Joy, where there is a dwelling place named the Cave of the Venerable One, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: what do the city’s name and the place’s name severally display? The city’s name, Increasing Joy, is spoken with regard to the benefit produced; the place’s name, the Cave of the Venerable One, is spoken with regard to the person dwelling there. That a dwelling place is named for a venerable one is because there was once a man worthy of reverence dwelling within it; and that the city it stands in is named Increasing Joy — where a venerable one dwells, the joy of a whole city will increase.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to think that joy comes from surroundings and things. This city’s joy is tied to there being someone dwelling in that cave; men make a place produce joy, not the place men.

Ask again: how does this join with what the preceding chapter said? The Chapter on the Span of Life of the Tathāgata before spoke of the length of time; this chapter speaks of the pervading of places; and whether the joy of a whole city can increase falls precisely upon whether there is anyone willing to dwell long within it.

Brought down to oneself: if in the place where you are there is anyone whose joy increases because of you, then there is a cave of the venerable one there.

City Eleven · the Land of Anfulimo · Seeing the Light of the Treasury of Koṭis

The eleventh place is in the land of Anfulimo, where there is a dwelling place named Seeing the Light of the Treasury of Koṭis, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: why is this place’s name so long? Seeing, the treasury of koṭis, the light — it is the most elaborate place-name in the chapter. Seeing is to see; the treasury of koṭis is a treasury measureless in number; the light is the mark that appears — put together it is: here may be seen the light of measureless treasure. Most of the twenty-two places get their names from an appearance or a story; this one is named straight from what is seen there.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take the light that is seen for some outward marvel. The name says ‘seeing’ first, from which it is plain that the weight lies upon the one who can see; if the one who can see is impure, then a treasury of koṭis set before him will not become light either.

Ask again: do the ancient masters have an explanation here? The several masters cited set up no separate explanation of this land and this place, and this text according to the fact does not speak on their behalf.

Brought down to oneself: whether in one lifetime a man can see that treasury depends upon the eye, not upon the treasury.

City Twelve · the Land of Qiantuoluo · the Cave of Shanpoluo

The twelfth place is also the last place in the chapter: in the land of Qiantuoluo there is a dwelling place named the Cave of Shanpoluo, in which from of old hosts of bodhisattvas have dwelt.

First ask: what does the name Qiantuoluo mean? Li Tongxuan explains that in this land it is ‘upholding the earth,’ because in that country many worthy and holy ones dwell, and it is therefore not invaded and harmed by other countries; and by another reading ‘qiantuo’ is fragrance and ‘luo’ means tuoluo, which in this land is ‘pervading,’ that is, that within that country fragrance grows abundantly and pervades. Upholding the earth and not suffering invasion; fragrance and pervading — both senses are good.

Ask again: what is Shanpoluo? Li Tongxuan explains that Shanpoluo is the name of a fragrant flowering tree, and that beside this cave such trees grow in abundance, and it was named thereby. The chapter closes with a stone cave overgrown with fragrant flowering trees.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to take the sūtra’s breaking off here as the regret of something lost. How it comes to a close is a matter the several masters have discussed, and is to be found under Lineage as a record. Read from the sūtra’s own text: the twenty-two places once spoken, it makes no closing sigh and no general gathering-up, just as this list was never going to have a day on which it was exhausted.

Brought down to oneself: having read through to the last place, what ought to be asked is not whether there is a twenty-third, but whether the place where one stands at this moment counts as one of them.

Lineage

Which question is answered from afar — Chengguan takes this chapter to answer from afar the question about the ocean of the span of life in the preceding Chapter on the Span of Life of the Tathāgata, because bodhisattvas dwell according to the capacities they meet and their life-spans differ; and he points out plainly that the old reading which took this chapter to answer from afar the ten clauses of questioning at the opening of the second assembly differs in doctrinal intent and does not join up in the order of the text either. Fazang, for his part, takes this chapter to have two reasons for its coming: one, to answer from afar the ten clauses of questioning about the mind of rejoicing and the rest in the Hall of Universal Light; two, to display more nearly where bodhisattvas are according to the capacities they meet. The questions to which the two masters tie it are different, each with its own ground in the ordering of the outline, and both are recorded without adjudication.

The investigation of Mount Clear and Cool — Chengguan sets up here the longest passage of investigation in the chapter: he ties Mount Clear and Cool to Mount Wutai in the commandery of Yanmen in Daizhou, within which there is now the Clear and Cool Monastery, named Clear and Cool because ice lies heaped through the years, snow flies in high summer, and there has never been sweltering heat; and named Five Terraces further because five peaks rise up, with no forest on their summits, in the shape of terraces of heaped earth, and he takes the five terraces as displaying that the five wisdoms are already round and the five eyes already pure. Since he held that the sūtra’s saying only ‘the northeast’ left the wording still too loose, he cited what the Baozang tuoluoni jing says — that in the northeast of the continent of Jambu there is a country named Great Zhenna, and within it a mountain called Five Peaks, where the youth Mañjuśrī roams and dwells and expounds the Dharma for hosts of bodhisattvas — as attestation, and pronounced that these words are exact; and he further tells how in his youth he sought out this text, and how, whenever he read as far as this passage, he closed the scroll and sighed long, and thereupon went ten thousand miles without counting them and committed his life to lodging in the holy region for ten years. Fazang likewise ties Mount Clear and Cool to Mount Wutai in Daizhou, within which there is now the old Clear and Cool Monastery, named from the snow heaped there winter and summer, and he points out that of this mountain and of Mañjuśrī’s numinous responses there are three fascicles of records apart. The two readings are set side by side, recorded without adjudication.

The sense of the name Mount Zhiti — Fazang, collating the Sanskrit text, holds that this name ought properly to be Mount Zhiduo, which in this land is ‘returning to the source,’ and is of the sort of a stūpa; Li Tongxuan for his part explains Mount Zhiti as in this land ‘pure faith,’ because those who see this mountain are able to produce pure faith. The two explanations are set side by side without adjudication.

What Mount Excellent Peak is tied to — Chengguan ties this mountain to the mountain where Cloud of Virtue dwelt, which in the Jin recension is named Mount Tower-Pavilion, the abode of Poshiluo; Fazang for his part ties it to the abode of the sovereign sea-master beside the city of Tower-Pavilion on the shore of the southern sea, spoken of further on, and says that on collating the Sanskrit text it ought to be named Mount Excellent Peak. The two tyings are set side by side without adjudication.

The variants of the two recensions and the number of places — the Jin rendering, the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka, has this same chapter, and the speaker is likewise the bodhisattva Mind King. The mountain names of the eight quarters and the bodhisattvas now dwelling there mostly agree, while the graphs of the renderings differ from one another (Mount Where the Seers Arise against Mount of the Seers, Mount Fragrance-Gathered against Mount Heaped Fragrance, Firm Branch against Mount Zhiti, Fearless Lion Practice against Fearless Practice of Vigor); for the one place in the sea, the eighty-fascicle text has Mount Vajra, with Dharma Arising now dwelling there and a retinue of one thousand two hundred, while the sixty-fascicle text has Zhida within the four great seas, with Tanwujie now dwelling there and a retinue of twelve thousand, and the position in the order differs as well; as to the places in cities and towns, the eighty-fascicle text has twelve and the sixty-fascicle text thirteen, the sixty-fascicle text having one more, the saṃghārāma of the Golden Lamp at the town of Balianfu. Chengguan outlines the eighty-fascicle text as ten before and twelve after, twenty-two places in all; Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle text, outlines it as the eight quarters, the four seas, and thirteen places in the several countries. All is recorded in full without adjudication; the choice between recensions belongs to the translator.

The chapter’s ending without a conclusion — Chengguan sets down that at the end of this text there is no conclusion at all, and that perhaps the scripture did not come down complete; and he says that since Jambudvīpa is thus, the remaining quarters and remaining realms and the realms of other kinds may be taken after this pattern, and the body-cloud of the Dharma realm is then neither present nor absent anywhere. Fazang, at the end of the sixty-fascicle text, sets down that what has been made clear above is the dwelling places of the bodhisattvas of this Jambudvīpa, that the remaining four continents may be taken accordingly, and so on to the remaining Sumeru worlds and the tree-shaped worlds and the rest, all taken accordingly, endlessly and endlessly. Li Tongxuan for his part says that the great intent of this one chapter is to make clear the bodhisattvas’ practice of gathering in beings, upholding them, and not cutting off the Three Jewels, and that in raising only this one Jambudvīpa it displays that the lands of the ten quarters and all the Jambudvīpas are wholly to be taken after this pattern. The three are recorded side by side, without adjudication.

Outside this chapter — Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun and the books that are the guiding outlines of the Huayan house are alike found to have no citation or explanation of this chapter (a mechanical check of the whole yields zero hits); it is set down as lacking according to the fact, and nothing is tied on their behalf.

A Thought Stirs in the Mind, and Someone Has Already Asked It for You

Carried far enough, practice always runs into one question: what, after all, is a buddha like? The question cannot be got out of the mouth — because whatever can be got out of the mouth has already fallen into speech. What the chapter writes at its opening is precisely this strait: among the great assembly there were bodhisattvas who “thought thus,” and merely by a turn taken in the mind, before a sound was uttered, ten matters were asked through and through — lands, original vows, lineage-nature, appearing, body, voice, wisdom, mastery, unobstructedness, liberation — and every one of them hung upon the same phrase: how is it inconceivable.

The three words “thought thus” deserve notice. In the requests of the earlier chapters someone usually steps out of the ranks, bows his head, and asks; here there is none of that. Chengguan points out the principle at work: it is not that they dared not ask, but that cause and fruit are sundered, and “the virtue of the cause is already deep, and the fruit must be more mysterious still, and therefore the request is made in thought alone” — the virtue of the position of the cause is already too deep to be told, and the position of the fruit must be more mysterious yet, so that a thought can be raised and speech cannot. Fazang, in his commentary on the sixty-fascicle recension, sets the same question more finely: since it was already asked in the second assembly, why ask again? He gives three answers: the distance is too great and so it is raised anew; the earlier chapters were alike of the position of the cause while here the dharmas of the fruit are set forth, so the positions are sundered; and this is “holding the dharma in thought and longing for it to be spoken,” not a separate request. The three answers stand together, and all are the settled teachings of the ancient worthies.

From this the reader may set up a standard at the outset: this chapter speaks from beginning to end of the inconceivable, and its way of doing so is not to make the inconceivable plain but to let you see thirty-two gates, gate after gate with no exhausting what is said — and that it cannot be exhausted is itself the answer.

The World-Honored One Empowers in the Three Activities, and Blue-Lotus Treasury Speaks Sustained by That Power

The thought was never uttered; who then answers? The text goes on: the World-Honored One “knew what the bodhisattvas were thinking in their minds,” and thereupon empowered with spiritual power, gathered in with wisdom, illumined with light, and filled with majestic force — Chengguan judges this to be “the empowering in the three activities,” and says that the first phrase is the general and the rest are the particulars, belonging severally to mind, speech, and body. So the Buddha did not speak this chapter with his own mouth; what the Buddha did was to empower one bodhisattva and let that bodhisattva speak for him.

Why Blue-Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva? Chengguan says it most beautifully: “the fruit-virtues are apart from speech and are set forth by borrowing the cause, and cause and fruit are simultaneous; and the virtue of the nature is undefiled and most surpassing, and one virtue contains all virtues.” The virtue of the position of the fruit is of itself apart from speech, and must borrow a person of the position of the cause to be set forth at all; and the blue lotus, coming out of the mud undefiled, precisely signifies the undefiledness of the virtue of the nature. Li Tongxuan reads it instead from the side of wisdom: the blue lotus signifies the fundamental wisdom, round, bright, pure, and undefiled, and “treasury” signifies that the fundamental wisdom is able to complete the differentiating wisdom. One reading takes the purity of the symbol, the other the root and branch of wisdom; both stand, and no judgment is passed.

And the one whom Blue-Lotus Treasury addresses is Lotus Treasury Bodhisattva. Chengguan adds one further remark: “if one’s mind were not the same as the Buddha’s, there would be no receiving the virtues of a buddha.” The one addressed must be of the same ground of mind as the Buddha before he can catch what is handed him. That sentence is in truth for the reader: this chapter is not spoken for onlookers.

1. The Measureless Abidings: Where a Buddha Abides

The first of the thirty-two gates answers first of all where a buddha abides. The text does not list ten phrases but nine, each with the graph “abide” at its head: abiding always in great compassion, abiding in doing the deeds of a buddha with bodies of every kind, abiding in turning the pure wheel of the Dharma with an impartial mind, abiding in expounding measureless dharmas with the four kinds of eloquence — and so on down to abiding in being able to reveal for sentient beings that ultimate dharma which is without obstruction.

What is easily misread is to take “abide” for a place. Chengguan judges this gate to “make clear the gate of the Dharma of their constant abiding,” set over against the next gate, “abiding throughout the Dharma realm” — so the abiding here is constancy, not a dwelling place; what a buddha abides in is great compassion, is the deeds of a buddha, is the wheel of the Dharma, is eloquence, is the most profound Dharma realm. To put it another way: a buddha has no place called ‘the place where the Buddha lives’; a buddha lives inside the things he does.

Nine phrases are laid out, and the first is “abiding always in great compassion.” This is the fixed star of the whole chapter: all the spiritual penetrations, powers, masteries, and adornments of the thirty-one gates that follow come out of that one phrase. If, having read the chapter through, one remembers only pores that hold worlds and a single thought that pervades the ten directions, and forgets that the first phrase is great compassion, then one has read the fruit-virtues as a set of uncanny abilities.

2. The Ten Dharmas Pervading the Dharma Realm: The Six Faculties and the Three Activities, All Without Bound

The second gate still answers the same question about the lands, but from another side: not where a buddha abides, but where a buddha pervades. The text lists ten — body, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, liberation, worlds, and practices and vows — and each of them is crowned with the words “without bound.”

One misunderstanding must be cleared away: this is not saying that a buddha has a very large body. The text supplies its own qualification — the body without bound “enters everywhere into the six destinies without defilement or attachment,” and the pure worlds without bound are such that “within them he gives rise to no defilement or attachment.” To pervade is to reach everywhere without sticking anywhere; it is not bulk. Chengguan, explaining this gate, says that in the heading “the measureless is the Dharma realm of phenomena, and the boundless is the principle,” and that the two are unobstructed, together with the Dharma realm in which phenomena and phenomena are unobstructed, and “all of these are what is pervaded” — what is pervaded is the fourfold Dharma realm, not space.

Brought home to the reader: that a buddha’s eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind are all without bound means that a buddha’s six faculties are not six windows but one surface of contact pervading the Dharma realm. When the eighth of the dharmas of mastery below says that the sense-field of the eye can do the deeds of a buddha of the sense-field of the ear, the seed of it is planted here.

3. The Wisdom That Brings Forth Thought after Thought: A Whole Life Walked through within a Single Thought

The third gate begins to answer the question about the original vows. The text lists ten phrases, each of them “within a single thought, able to manifest in measureless worlds” — the descent from the heavens, a bodhisattva’s taking birth, leaving the household life to study the path, accomplishing perfect awakening beneath the tree, turning the subtle wheel of the Dharma — the entire sequence of the eight aspects of the accomplishing of the path, all within a single thought.

What is most easily misread here is to take “a single thought” for great speed. Chengguan gives an important correction: “yet the vow has subsequently attained wisdom for its substance, and from that wisdom of vow the eight aspects and the rest are born; it is not that wisdom is born.” What the wisdom that brings forth thought after thought brings forth is the eight aspects, not wisdom; the wisdom is the already accomplished wisdom of vow, and the eight aspects are the function that flows out of that wisdom. So it is not that a buddha moves with miraculous speed, but that a buddha simply need not walk that life through in the sequence of time.

From this the reader may understand one thing: the birth, the leaving of home, and the awakening that a buddha manifests are, for the buddha, not a curriculum vitae but marks manifested to fit the occasion. The eight aspects are laid out for those who are watching; they are not a road the buddha himself walked.

4. The Ten Not Missing the Time: What Ought to Come Surely Comes

The fourth gate still answers the original vows, shifting to the matter of timing: not missing the time in accomplishing perfect awakening, not missing the time in ripening those who have the affinity, not missing the time in conferring the prediction upon bodhisattvas, and on to not missing the time in taming evil beings and manifesting inconceivable spiritual penetrations.

Chengguan’s gloss holds the measure of this gate with great exactness: “going and stopping lie with the conditions: when the faculties are ripe he transforms and appears, and when they are not yet ripe he sets it aside — it is not that the vow is not all-encompassing; but if the occasion is ripe and the time is missed, that would run counter to the original vow.” Whether a buddha comes or does not come hangs upon whether the faculties of sentient beings are ripe, not upon whether the buddha’s vow is complete. That one sentence clears away two misunderstandings: first, that a buddha’s long absence means some defect in the power of the vow; second, that a buddha ought to come whenever called. To force the transformation before ripeness is to miss the time; to withhold it after ripeness is also to miss the time.

Brought home to practice, this gate is in truth spoken for those who wait: to the question ‘when will the Buddha come,’ the real answer is ‘when will you be ripe.’ The original vow has never missed its time, and the missing of time has never been on that side.

5. The Incomparable and Inconceivable Realms: Within One There Is All

The fifth gate begins to answer the question about the lineage-nature. The text has ten phrases, each beginning from the word “one”: sitting once cross-legged and filling the ten directions, speaking one phrase of the meaning and revealing all the dharmas of a buddha, sending forth one light and illumining all worlds, within one body manifesting all bodies, within one place manifesting all worlds, within one wisdom deciding and knowing all dharmas.

This is one of the most central of the eyes of the Avataṃsaka — one is all. The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: it is not one divided into many, nor is it a simile of seeing the great in the small. The last two phrases of the text give the ground: “within a single thought, taking as their object universally the buddhas and the sentient beings of the three times, and yet their minds are not disordered”; “within a single thought, of one substance with all the buddhas past, future, and present, without duality.” That one can contain all is because the substance is from the first without duality, not because some spiritual power has stretched the one out large. Chengguan judges this gate to be such that “its substance and mark transcend speech and thought, and hence it says inconceivable; the lower positions do not reach it, and hence it says incomparable.”

One sentence is enough for the reader to keep: it is not that a buddha makes one sitting very large, but that “one” never shut “all” outside itself in the first place.

6. Bringing Forth Ten Kinds of Wisdom: Knowing That It Is Not There Is What Makes It Possible to Bring It Forth

The sixth gate still answers the lineage-nature, and its sentence-form is the strangest in the chapter: nine of its ten phrases run “knowing that all dharmas are without … and yet able to bring forth the wisdom of …,” while the sixth runs “knowing that all worlds have neither forming nor decay, and yet able to bring forth the wisdom that fully understands forming and decay” — knowing that all dharmas have no place toward which they tend and bringing forth the wisdom of dedicating and directing the vow, knowing that all dharmas have no body and bringing forth the wisdom of the pure body, knowing that all dharmas are from the first without duality and bringing forth the wisdom that awakens others, and so on to knowing that there is neither arising nor ceasing and bringing forth the wisdom that fully understands arising and ceasing.

The easiest way to misread this is as a contradiction: if it is not there, how is it brought forth? Chengguan breaks the difficulty open by saying that what this gate answers is the lineage-nature of the dharma-body: “it makes clear that the dharma-body is the lineage-nature. Out of what has no nature its wisdom comes forth,” and he points out that the ten phrases “are each in two phrases: the upper phrase in every case knows the nature — the nature that is no nature being what is able to give birth; the latter phrase brings forth the function of wisdom.” So the first half of each phrase is not a denial but a statement that the substance known has no nature of its own; and the second half is not an addition but the function that arises from that natureless nature.

Brought home to the reader: this is the deepest section of the chapter and also the most practical — whatever truly brings forth a function does so only after its lack of intrinsic nature is known. Grasp a thing as real and no wisdom comes of it; only opinions do.

7. The Ten Dharmas of Universal Entering: What One Must Bring in Order to Get In

The seventh gate begins to answer the question about appearing. The text lists a pure and subtle body entering everywhere into the three times, three kinds of mastery teaching sentient beings everywhere, the dhāraṇīs able everywhere to receive and uphold, the four kinds of eloquence turning everywhere the wheel of the Dharma, impartial great compassion never abandoning, the most profound meditative concentration always contemplating everywhere — eight of the ten phrases carry the word “everywhere,” only the fifth, “never abandoning any sentient being,” and the seventh, “taming sentient beings without rest,” doing without it.

What must be made clear is this: universal entering is not getting in unconditionally. Look closely at the structure of the ten phrases: in the first half of each, nine of the ten say “are complete in” such and such a virtue (the first says “have a pure and subtle body”), and only then does the second half say “everywhere” do such and such — complete in the dhāraṇīs and therefore able everywhere to receive and uphold; complete in great compassion and therefore never abandoning. Pervasiveness is not an empty pervasiveness; it is what naturally follows upon fullness of virtue. Chengguan judges this gate to “make clear that appearing is constant appearing, without any coming out and going in — only so is it truly appearing”: real appearing is constant appearing, and the sort that comes and goes does not count.

Brought home to practice: before wishing to be ‘everywhere at once,’ ask what you are complete in. To want pervasiveness without completeness is only distraction.

8. The Vast Dharmas Hard to Believe and Accept: The Dust Mote Does Not Grow Large, the Worlds Do Not Grow Small

The eighth gate still answers appearing, and its very name is “hard to believe and accept” — the ancient worthies do not conceal that what is said here is hard to take on faith. The first seven phrases are still manageable: crushing the demons, subduing the outsiders, taming beings, going to all worlds, realizing and entering the Dharma realm with wisdom. The last three turn abruptly deep: within a single pore there appear buddhas and worlds equal in number to the dust motes; within a single dust mote a multitude of lands are manifested and within them the wheel of the Dharma is turned and sentient beings taught, and yet “the dust mote does not grow large and the worlds do not grow small.”

“The dust mote does not grow large and the worlds do not grow small” is the one sentence in the chapter most to be watched. It blocks a misunderstanding in advance: it is not that the mote has been stretched out, nor that the worlds have been shrunk down. To explain it by expansion and contraction is to fall back upon quantity, which is still a realm that can be thought. The text supplies its own reason — “they abide always in the Dharma realm with the wisdom of realization.” Mutual entering does not come about by any change of bulk; it comes about because the place where the wisdom of realization abides has from the first no this and that.

What the reader can carry away from this gate is a standard: whoever would understand the mutual identity and mutual entering of the Avataṃsaka by enlarging and shrinking has not entered its gate.

9. The Great Merits, Apart from Faults and Pure: Ten Places without Fault

The ninth gate begins to answer the question about the body, and five gates run on together. This gate has ten phrases, each closing with “apart from faults and pure”: complete in great majestic virtue, apart from faults and pure; born in the house of the tathāgatas of the three times with a family gentle and good, apart from faults and pure; to the end of the future dwelling nowhere in mind, apart from faults and pure — and so on.

What must be distinguished is the direction of “apart from faults.” Chengguan judges this gate to stand at the head of the five, “setting forth in general the absence of fault, since the three activities of the Tathāgata proceed in accord with wisdom,” and says that “the matters of the three activities and the rest do not go beyond the body.” So the absence of fault spoken of here is not a matter of not erring in conduct; it is that the three activities wholly proceed in accord with wisdom, so that there is no place from which a fault could arise. The last two phrases are deeper still: after entering nirvāṇa, “sentient beings who hear his name obtain measureless merit, no different from the merit obtained while the Buddha was present in the world”; and though far off in unspeakable worlds, “if there are sentient beings who single-mindedly hold him in right recollection, they all obtain sight of him.”

Brought home to the reader: a buddha’s being apart from faults has, on your side, this as its effect — recollect his name, make your recollection right, and the merit is no different from the merit of his being in the world. This is not a consolation; it is the express text of this gate.

10. Ultimate Purity: Ten Places Pure to the Very End

The tenth gate still answers the body, changing the words to “ultimate”: the great vows of former times, the pure conduct upheld, being apart from the delusions of the world, the adorning of the lands, the retinue, the family, the form-body with its marks and signs, the undefiled dharma-body, the wisdom of all-knowing wisdom, and liberation and mastery — each of them ultimately pure.

One misunderstanding must be cleared away: do not read these ten phrases as a checklist of ten finished tasks. Chengguan points out that the measure of this gate lies in the two words “ultimately”: “it makes clear that faults do not arise; distinguishing it from the purity of the cause, it says ultimate, since the defilements of delusion and obstruction never rise again.” The purity of the position of the cause is the washing away of defilement; the ultimate purity of the position of the fruit is that the defilement never rises again. The former is a result; the latter is a nature.

He further divides out what the ten phrases belong to: the first five are the purity of the body of merit, the next two of the form-body, the next one of the dharma-body, the next one of the body of wisdom, and the last of the mind-made body and the rest. Plainly this gate is still speaking of body — it is dividing the body into layers and carrying each layer through to the end.

11. Ten Deeds of a Buddha at All Times: The Ten Things Done at Every Moment

The eleventh gate still answers the body, and yet it is the plainest of all the gates of the chapter in its sentence-form: if a being single-mindedly holds him in recollection, he appears before him; if a being’s mind is unruly, he expounds the Dharma for him; if a being can give rise to pure faith, he surely causes him to obtain measureless roots of good — and on to abiding in the Dharma realm and being able to contemplate it everywhere. The first four phrases are all “if there are sentient beings” who do thus and so; the latter six speak directly of the buddha’s own constant conduct.

The teaching value of this gate is that it pulls what has gone before back down to the ground. Chengguan judges this gate to “make clear the activity and function of the body,” and says its list largely agrees with the marks of the body in the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata. What is called a deed of a buddha need not be the sending forth of light and the shaking of the earth; “single-mindedly hold him in recollection, and he appears before him” is a deed of a buddha, and “great compassion that does not forsake a single sentient being” is a deed of a buddha.

The misunderstanding to be cleared away is this: to suppose that “appears before him” means that a form must be seen. Look closely and the only condition the text gives is the four words “single-mindedly hold in recollection”; it does not say that a form-body is seen. Brought home to the reader: this gate is the door the chapter leaves open for beginners, and the threshold is only the word single-minded.

12. The Dharmas of the Inexhaustible Ocean of Wisdom: Why Wisdom Cannot Be Used Up

The twelfth gate still answers the body, taking “the ocean of wisdom” for its name: the dharma-body without bound, measureless deeds of a buddha, the realm of the buddha-eye, roots of good hard to reckon, the raining down everywhere of the sweet-dew subtle Dharma, the praising of the merits of a buddha, the vows and practices cultivated in former times, the doing of the deeds of a buddha always to the end of the future, the knowing of the mental conduct of beings, and the adornment of merit and wisdom that none can surpass — all ten are “dharmas of the inexhaustible ocean of wisdom.”

Chengguan explains it exhaustively in a single sentence: “that is, the six faculties and three activities of the Tathāgata all correspond to a wisdom deep and broad; and it is also the body of wisdom set forth at length in particular, as may be known.” So this gate is still speaking of body, and the body it speaks of is the body of wisdom — not one of the six faculties or three activities but corresponds to a wisdom deep and broad.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: the ocean of wisdom is not a large reserve. The ocean as a simile is taken for its depth and breadth that cannot be drained, not for its capacity. Among the ten items of the text is “the vows and practices of every kind cultivated in former times” — plainly this ocean is not deep out of nowhere; it is a depth built up by vow and practice. Brought home to the reader: when wisdom runs dry, it is usually not that one has not thought enough, but that one has not vowed enough.

13. The Ten Constant Dharmas: What a Buddha Never Alters

The thirteenth gate is the last of the five that answer the body. Nine phrases have the word “constantly” for their spine: constantly cultivating the perfections, constantly apart from delusion with regard to all dharmas, constantly complete in great compassion, constantly possessing the ten powers, constantly turning the wheel of the Dharma, constantly manifesting for beings the accomplishing of right awakening, constantly delighting in taming beings, the mind constantly in right recollection of the non-dual dharma, and, having finished teaching beings, constantly manifesting entering the nirvāṇa in which no basis remains.

Chengguan judges this gate to “make clear that the activity of mind within the body is constant, its function being unbroken.” The measure of the last phrase deserves notice: “having finished teaching sentient beings, constantly manifesting entering the nirvāṇa in which no basis remains” — even entering nirvāṇa stands in the ranks of the constant. So nirvāṇa is not the ending of the constant; it is one item of the constant. The text glosses its own reason: “because the realm of the buddhas is without bound.”

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to suppose that after buddhahood a buddha’s practices are all finished. This gate says expressly that he constantly cultivates the perfections and constantly turns the wheel of the Dharma — buddhahood is not the terminus of practice; it is practice become constant. Brought home to the reader: the real work lies not in having done it, but in its becoming constant.

14. Expounding Measureless Gates of the Dharma: How Many Gates the Speaking Has

The fourteenth gate begins to answer the question about the voice. The text lists the gate of the realm of sentient beings, the gate of the conduct of sentient beings, the gate of the deeds and fruits of sentient beings, the gate of delivering beings, the gate of purifying beings, the gate of the practice of the bodhisattvas, the gate of the vows of the bodhisattvas, the gate of the kalpas of the forming and decay of worlds, the gate of the bodhisattvas’ purifying of buddha-lands with the deep mind, and the gate of the successive appearing of the buddhas of the three times, closing with the gate of the wisdom of all the buddhas.

The order of these ten gates is worth noticing: it begins from sentient beings, passes through the bodhisattvas, reaches the worlds and the buddhas, and ends by returning to the wisdom of a buddha. The ordering of the gates of the expounding of the Dharma is a road laid upward from where the hearer stands. Chengguan judges this gate to “make clear that by voice he sets forth in eloquence, and so also answers the question about eloquence at the Hall of Universal Light” — voice is eloquence, the two names being of narrower and wider compass while the drift of the sense is much the same.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to suppose that the many gates of the Buddha-dharma exist merely to cope with the mixture of capacities. Look closely at these ten gates and each of them genuinely has its own realm (the realm of sentient beings really is a realm; the kalpas of forming and decay really are kalpas); they are not provisional contrivances. Brought home to the reader: measureless gates of the Dharma does not mean saying one thing ten thousand times; it means that this world has ten thousand real entrances to begin with.

15. Doing the Deeds of a Buddha for Sentient Beings: Even Silence Counts

The fifteenth gate still answers the voice, and yet it stretches the compass of “speaking” wide open: manifesting a form-body and doing the deeds of a buddha, sending forth a subtle voice and doing the deeds of a buddha, having that which is received and doing the deeds of a buddha, having nothing that is received and doing the deeds of a buddha, taking earth, water, fire, and wind and doing the deeds of a buddha, taking names of every kind, taking the realms of the buddha-lands, adorning and purifying buddha-lands — and the last phrase is the strangest: “taking silence without words and doing the deeds of a buddha for sentient beings.”

Chengguan points out precisely here the difference between this gate and the one before: the earlier gate is the expounding of the Dharma by voice, while this gate “makes clear the expounding of the Dharma in every kind of way — that is, the six dusts, the four great elements, movement and gesture, all are able to set forth the Dharma and accomplish benefit, and there is none that is not a deed of a buddha; not voice alone.” He also explains the pair of receiving and not receiving: to receive offerings is to bring the giver’s perfection of giving to accomplishment, and not to receive them is to let others take the lesson of few desires — a pair of opposite courses of action, each with its own teaching.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to suppose that where there is no speaking there is no teaching. Brought home to the reader: the true sound of the Dharma is not confined to sound; earth, water, fire, and wind, a single gesture, and even silence without words are all speaking. If you do not hear it, it is usually not that nothing was said.

16. The Most Surpassing Dharmas: Wherein a Buddha Is Most Surpassing

The sixteenth gate begins to answer the question about wisdom. What its ten phrases list are not spiritual penetrations but movements of the mind: great vows firm and unbreakable, cultivating the bodhisattva practice to the end of the kalpas of the future without sloth or weariness, going to unspeakable worlds for the sake of taming one single being, contemplating with impartial great compassion the two kinds of beings, those who believe and those who slander, never losing the mind of awakening from the first giving rise to it until buddhahood, amassing merit and dedicating and directing it all to the nature of all-knowing wisdom, cultivating the three activities in the presence of the buddhas and practicing only what a buddha practices — and the last phrase, “reaching the ground of the ten powers.”

The most moving things in this gate are the third phrase and the fourth: for the sake of taming one single being, going to unspeakably unspeakable worlds; and toward those who believe him and those who slander him, contemplating everywhere with great compassion, impartially and without difference. What is called most surpassing is surpassing here, not in what can be done. Chengguan judges this gate to “set forth in general the wisdom of the provisional and the real, of cause and fruit, and so also to answer the question about the most surpassing at the Hall of Universal Light, since wisdom is the most surpassing,” and points out that its closing phrase, “abiding in the ground of the ten powers,” also answers the question about the ground of a buddha.

Brought home to the reader: if you would find in yourself one place that answers to a buddha, do not look for spiritual penetrations; look for these two phrases — willingness to walk a long road for one person, and willingness to have no second mind toward one who slanders you.

17. Abiding without Obstruction: The Ten Places One Can Abide In

The seventeenth gate still answers wisdom. Its ten phrases all close with “abiding without obstruction”: able to go to all worlds, able to abide in all worlds, able within all worlds to walk, stand, sit, and lie down, able within all worlds to expound the true Dharma, able within all worlds to abide in the palace of the Tuṣita heaven, able to enter all the three times of the Dharma realm, able to sit at all the seats of awakening of the Dharma realm, able thought after thought to contemplate the mental conduct of beings and to teach and tame them with the three kinds of mastery, able with a single body to abide in the presence of measureless buddhas and to benefit beings in all places, able to reveal the true Dharma spoken by measureless buddhas.

Chengguan points out in a single phrase why this gate hangs under wisdom: “it makes clear that wisdom is apart from obstruction; since what wisdom does is unobstructed, everything is unobstructed.” Unobstructedness is not a strength great enough to break through barriers; it is that wisdom is from the first apart from obstruction, so that there is no barrier to obstruct.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to read “without obstruction” as overcoming difficulties. Not one of the ten phrases of this gate speaks of overcoming; all of them speak of being of itself able to go and of itself able to abide. Brought home to the reader: in practice the real checkpoint has never been the wall outside, but one’s own conviction that there is a wall.

18. The Most Surpassing and Unsurpassed Adornments: Body, Speech, Mind, Light, Smile, Dharma-Body, Form, Family, and Great Kindness

The eighteenth gate is the last of the three that answer wisdom, and it is also the most sumptuous in language of any gate in the chapter. The ten adornments in order are: the adornment of body (the marks and the signs that accompany the form), the adornment of speech (the sixty kinds of tone, each tone with five hundred parts), the adornment of mind (the ten powers, the great samādhis, the eighteen exclusive dharmas), the adornment of light, the adornment of the manifesting of a smile, the adornment of dharma-body, the adornment of constant subtle light, the adornment of subtle form, the adornment of family, and the adornment of the merit of great kindness and great compassion.

Chengguan explains this gate as “the completing of benefit by wisdom: because within there is the adornment of wisdom, therefore without there are all the adornments” — every adornment outside is the overflow of the wisdom within. Upon the sixth, the adornment of dharma-body, he opens several layers: suchness come forth from its wrapping is the dharma-body of the nature of the Dharma; wisdom tallying with the Dharma realm is the dharma-body of wisdom; from “though present within the world, not mingled with the world” onward is the dharma-body of response and emanation; from “fully understanding the real nature of the world” onward is the dharma-body of merit; and “the path of speech cut off” is the dharma-body of space, and also the dharma-body of the real mark.

What may least be passed over is the tenth — the adornment of the merit of great kindness and great compassion, which the text closes with “the foremost field of merit, the unsurpassed receiver of offerings.” Nine adornments are spoken, and at the last the foot comes down upon being able to receive the offerings of others and thereby make them meritorious. Chengguan puts it through to the bone: “being the foremost field, among the receivers of gifts there is none above him.” The end of adornment is not to be good to look at; it is to be able to catch and hold the minds of sentient beings.

19. The Dharmas of Mastery: The Function of the Ten Kinds of Mastery

The nineteenth gate begins to answer the question about mastery, and eight gates run on together — the largest group in the chapter. The ten kinds of mastery of this gate are, in order: mastery with regard to all dharmas (clearly penetrating the bodies of phrases and bodies of syllables, eloquence unobstructed), teaching without missing the time, causing worlds to quake in six ways without harming a single being, manifesting within a single thought the adornments of all worlds, remaining in the world and extending the lifespan for unspeakable kalpas for the sake of one being, going everywhere to all the places in which the tathāgatas walk, accomplishing perfect awakening thought after thought and yet neither already awakened nor about to awaken, the six faculties doing one another’s deeds of a buddha, the pores containing all sentient beings, and manifesting within a single thought buddhas as many as the dust motes.

Chengguan judges these ten to be “wholly the same as the ten kinds of mastery of the eighth ground, only deeper and broader and not in the same order,” and allots them one by one to mastery of the Dharma, of mind, of resolute understanding, of wealth, of life, of what one wishes, of wisdom, of activity, of birth, and of vow. This is an important cross-reading: the eighth of the ten grounds, in the position of the cause, already has these ten names, and the position of the fruit says them over again, the difference lying in depth and breadth.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: the third phrase says that he can make the worlds quake and yet “has never harmed a single sentient being, and the sentient beings within them neither feel it nor know it” — mastery is not doing as one pleases; it is moving without disturbing. On the eighth phrase, the six faculties doing one another’s work, Chengguan adds a further remark: “yet this is no altering or turning about; not one faculty is changed, since it is originally complete.” It is not that the eye is made into an ear; it is complete so from the first. Brought home to the reader: mastery is mastery in that it costs no effort, and also in that it injures no one.

20. The Perfect Dharmas of a Buddha: Perfection Added on Top of Mastery

The twentieth gate still answers mastery. Eleven phrases run through in one breath: every pure mark complete with a hundred merits, accomplishing all the dharmas of a buddha, all roots of good, all merits, able to teach all beings, able to be a lord upon whom beings rely, accomplishing pure buddha-lands, accomplishing the wisdom of all-knowing wisdom, accomplishing a form-body with marks and signs so that those who see it obtain benefit, complete in the impartial true Dharma of the buddhas, and, the deeds of a buddha being done, without exception manifesting entering nirvāṇa.

Since the gate before has already spoken of the ten kinds of mastery, why speak of perfection as well? Chengguan gives the reason: “that is, the previous ten kinds of mastery the eighth ground may also have, and so the ten kinds of perfection of the Tathāgata are set forth. Again, since there is no single dharma with regard to which there is not mastery, it is therefore called perfection.” A bodhisattva of the eighth ground may already have those ten kinds of mastery, and so a further gate must be raised to set forth what is not held in common in the position of the fruit; and what is called perfection has for its sense that there is no single dharma with regard to which there is not mastery.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: perfection is not a matter of making up the numbers. The last phrase — “the deeds of a buddha being done, without exception manifesting entering nirvāṇa” — shows that the mark of perfection falls upon the willingness to close, not upon endless unfolding. Brought home to the reader: having finished, to be willing to rest is also a portion of perfection.

21. Skillfulness in Means: Knowing Its Emptiness and Yet Not Abandoning the Speaking

The twenty-first gate still answers mastery, and it is the densest gate of the chapter in doctrine. The ten kinds of skillfulness in means all have one and the same structure: knowing that dharmas are apart from frivolous talk and yet able to reveal the roots of good; knowing that all dharmas are without anything seen, that they do not know one another, that they are without bond and without release, without anything accomplished, and yet reaching mastery and the far shore and knowing them truly and without difference; being forever apart from all marks with a mind dwelling nowhere and yet able to know them all without confusion or error; not dwelling in the three times and yet able to expound the appearing of the buddhas of the three times; the three activities constructing nothing and yet becoming a treasury of the multitude of dharmas; knowing that all dharmas cannot be seen, are not one and not different, and yet not running counter to the dharmas of the world; within a single time knowing all times and yet manifesting day and night, kalpas and years; always abiding in the Dharma realm and yet accomplishing the fearlessnesses and the ten eloquences; knowing that all dharmas are from the first without names and yet making utterances of every kind in accord with worldly convention; knowing that all dharmas are in their own nature quiescent, not form, not feeling, not perception, not formations, not consciousness, and yet not breaking down any of the dharmas.

Chengguan sums it up in a phrase: “that is, mastery with regard to the dharmas, since the provisional and the real and the rest are all unobstructed” — skillfulness is skillful in that neither end, the real or the provisional, is lost. And upon the eighth, “good in the beginning, the middle, and the end,” he cites the three goods of the Yogācārabhūmi by way of explanation: good in the beginning is that gladness arises at the time of hearing; good in the middle is that at the time of cultivating one is far from the two extremes and walks by the Middle Way; good in the end is being ultimately apart from defilement.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to suppose that to expound the Dharma after knowing emptiness is a step backward, a concession. The sentence-form of the text says exactly the opposite — every phrase first establishes its emptiness and then raises its function; the function does not retreat out of emptiness, the function grows out of emptiness. Brought home to the reader: only one who has truly let go can say anything that moves; one who is still holding on says everything on his own behalf.

22. The Ten Vast Deeds of a Buddha: Every Step of a Life Is a Deed of a Buddha

The twenty-second gate still answers mastery, and in length it is the greatest in the chapter. The text takes as its ten the taking of birth in Tuṣita, the descending in spirit into the mother’s womb, dwelling in the womb and being born and living in the palace, forsaking the palace and leaving the household life, accomplishing right awakening beneath the tree, turning the wheel of the Dharma that does not turn back, entering the royal capitals and cities, dwelling in the araṇya, bringing forth the treasury of pure roots of good, and entering nirvāṇa — precisely the one life of the eight aspects of the accomplishing of the path, and yet every step of it is marked as a “vast deed of a buddha.”

To see the intent of this gate clearly one must catch the qualification at the head of the text: these ten matters “none of the gods and humans of all the worlds can know,” nor can the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, “save only by the majestic spiritual power of the Tathāgata.” So this life, which to onlookers is a biography, is here declared to be not a career but ten occasions of expounding the Dharma. Chengguan explains this gate as “making clear the mastery of spiritual power,” and says that “within the eight aspects and the rest there is in every case a great function, since the subtle and the coarse contain one another. By this beings are gathered in, and hence they are called the deeds of a buddha.”

Three places in it are especially worth turning over. First, the section on dwelling in the womb says that “the Tathāgata at that time, while within the mother’s womb,” already manifests being newly born, being a boy, being within the palace, leaving the household life, accomplishing perfect awakening, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and entering parinirvāṇa — the whole course of a life is already manifested within the womb, which shows that the sequence is laid out for those who watch. Second, the section on entering the royal capitals and cities writes that when he enters the city gate “the blind gain sight, the deaf gain hearing, the deranged regain their own minds, the naked gain clothing” — the deeds of a buddha at their most solid are that a person’s suffering is here and now undone. Third, the section on nirvāṇa writes that after the Buddha’s passing his body is crushed into relics, stūpas are raised, and those who see them are made mindful of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, and the last sentence says that the buddhas, “though they have already entered parinirvāṇa, are still for sentient beings an inconceivable pure field of merit” — even his going is one occasion of the deeds of a buddha.

Brought home to the reader: this gate thoroughly alters the definition of “the deeds of a buddha.” It is not that a buddha performs religious services; it is that every step of a buddha’s life is teaching. And the one step the reader can learn is the step taken at the city gate — that wherever one arrives, someone’s suffering is one measure less.

23. The Dharmas of Mastery in the Practice without Duality: Once Said, It Is Not Altered

The twenty-third gate still answers mastery. Its ten phrases all close with “decided and without duality”: skillfully proclaiming the words of the prediction, decided and without duality; according with the thoughts of beings and fulfilling their intent, decided and without duality; awakening before them to all dharmas and expounding the meaning, decided and without duality; complete in the wisdom of the buddhas of the three times, decided and without duality; knowing that all the kṣaṇas of the three times are one kṣaṇa; knowing that all the buddha-lands of the three times enter one buddha-land; knowing that all the speech of the buddhas of the three times is the speech of one buddha; knowing that the buddhas and the beings they deliver are of an impartial substance and nature; knowing that the dharmas of the world and the dharmas of the buddhas are without difference in nature; knowing that all the roots of good of the buddhas of the three times are one and the same root of good.

Chengguan takes “without duality” and “mastery” apart in explaining: “in matters they are clear and searching, decided and without doubt, and hence it says without duality; not fearing the objections of others is called mastery.” Without duality is that one has no doubt oneself; mastery is that one does not fear being questioned. He further divides the ten phrases: the first four may be known as they stand; the next three run through the two senses of ‘melting marks by principle’ and ‘phenomena and phenomena entering one another’; the next two are of principle alone; and the last has the three senses of sameness of nature and cultivation, mutual dedication, and the mutual play of host and guest.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: the first four phrases speak of the non-duality of word and deed (what is said is surely done, and the answer fits the occasion), while the latter six speak of a kṣaṇa being one kṣaṇa and buddha-lands entering buddha-lands — seemingly two different matters. In truth they are one matter: because the three times have from the first no two substances, what is said and what is done are likewise not two. Brought home to the reader: word and deed come apart because the moment of speaking and the moment of doing are, in your mind, two different worlds.

24. The Ten Abidings · Abiding in All Dharmas: Where a Buddha’s Mind Comes to Rest

The twenty-fourth gate still answers mastery. Its ten phrases all begin with “abiding”: abiding in awakening to the whole Dharma realm, abiding in the speech of great compassion, abiding in the original great vows, abiding in not forsaking the taming of beings, abiding in the dharma without any nature of its own, abiding in impartial benefit, abiding in the dharma of never forgetting, abiding in a mind without obstruction, abiding in a mind constantly in right concentration, abiding in entering impartially into all dharmas without running counter to the mark of the real limit.

It is most interesting read alongside the first gate, “the measureless abidings”: there it was the general heading, here the particular listing; there it answered the lands, here it answers mastery. Chengguan explains this gate as “making clear the mastery of samādhi, and so also answering the question about samādhi at the Hall of Universal Light. There is nothing in which the Tathāgata abides that is not samādhi, and hence he abides everywhere in all” — so the “abiding” of this gate is concentration: every abiding of a buddha is a samādhi.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to suppose that to abide is to be motionless. Look closely and among the ten abidings are “abiding in not forsaking the taming of sentient beings” and “abiding in impartial benefit” — both of these are motion. So to abide is not to come to a stop; it is that the mind has a settled place while nothing is left undone. Brought home to the reader: the evidence of concentration is not how long one can sit, but that while acting the mind is still in that place.

25. Knowing All Dharmas Exhaustively with Nothing Left Over: Knowing until Nothing Remains

The twenty-fifth gate still answers mastery. Eleven phrases push outward one after another: knowing all the dharmas of past, future, and present exhaustively with nothing left over; knowing all the dharmas of speech, all the ways of the world, the minds of all beings, the higher, middling, and lower stations of the roots of good of all bodhisattvas, the perfect wisdom of all buddhas and their roots of good neither increasing nor decreasing, that all dharmas arise from causes and conditions, all the kinds of worlds — and the last phrase is the deepest: “knowing within the whole Dharma realm the differentiated matters of every kind, like the net of Indra, exhaustively with nothing left over.”

Chengguan judges this gate to “make clear the mastery of the ten powers,” saying that “the wisdom of the ten powers illumines its objects without remainder.” What deserves weight is the closing phrase: the net of Indra is the jeweled net of Śakra, lord of the gods, its pearls reflecting one another, image containing image. The first ten phrases exhaust the objects already known; the last says that even the mutual reflecting that is layer upon layer without exhausting is known exhaustively with nothing left over — this pushes “exhaustively” all the way onto the inexhaustible.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to suppose that “knowing exhaustively” means completeness of information. The text says expressly, “knowing that all dharmas arise from causes and conditions, exhaustively with nothing left over” — what is known is dependent arising, not an inventory of items. Brought home to the reader: to know exhaustively in truth is not to remember everything, but to see through where everything comes from.

26. The Listing of the Names of the Ten Powers and the Nārāyaṇa Banner: One Heading, One Explaining, Making One Gate

The two stretches of scripture that are the twenty-sixth and the twenty-seventh the ancient worthies judge to be one gate. The text first lists the names of the ten powers — vast power, highest power, measureless power, power of great majestic virtue, power hard to obtain, power that does not turn back, firm power, power that cannot be broken down, power inconceivable to all the worlds, power that no sentient being can move — and thereupon explains them with the ten segments of “the ten kinds of dharma of the valor of the great Nārāyaṇa banner”; and it closes with “these dharmas of the valor of the great Nārāyaṇa banner of all the buddhas are measureless and boundless.” Chengguan outlines it in just this way: “within the text there are likewise three: first the heading, next the raising and explaining from ‘which are they’ onward, third the conclusion.”

What is the relation between the ten powers and the Nārāyaṇa banner? Chengguan says: “the ten powers are the particular names, and the great Nārāyaṇa and the rest are the general appellation.” The ten powers are ten names; the Nārāyaṇa banner is the general appellation. As for the allotment, he first records the saying of the ancient worthies — allotting the ten powers of the heading, in due order, to the ten segments below — and then at once points out its defect: this would “make one gate of the particular fail to gather in the preceding ten and fail to make a hundred gates, and would also leave the remaining gates without the sense of vastness”; and he gives an allotment in reverse order of his own (the first segment allotted to the power that cannot be moved, the second to the inconceivable, the third to the unbreakable, and so on). Both sayings are recorded together, and no judgment is passed.

Brought home to the reader: here is a demonstration of how to read. The allotment of one set of names to another may have more than one solution, and the ancient worthies do not conceal their differences; what matters is not who allotted them rightly, but seeing clearly that heading and explaining are one thing and may not be pulled apart into two gates.

27. The Ten Segments of the Nārāyaṇa Banner: Wherein the Power of Valor Is Actually Valorous

The ten segments of the dharmas of valor are, in order: the body that cannot be broken and the life that cannot be cut off; holding the worlds within a single pore to the end of the kalpas of the future; taking within a single thought unspeakable steps while the mind is always in concentration; having once sat down and eaten, sitting cross-legged through the kalpas of the prior and later limits; within a single body manifesting numberless heads and tongues and turning the wheel of the Dharma without exhausting; the breast adorned with the mark of virtue, subduing the demons unmoved; having an unobstructed voice that pervades the ten directions with nothing able to block it; the mind without obstruction, of one and the same substance and nature; one and the same dharma-body, listed as twenty-five bodies; awakening equally and cultivating equally all the dharmas of the buddhas.

Of the ten segments, three especially call for an eye. First, the first segment says that adamantine masses like Sumeru fall all at once over the three-thousandfold world-system and yet of the Buddha “not so much as a single hair is shaken,” and its last sentence turns to sentient beings: “if there are sentient beings who are guarded by the Buddha and who are sent by the Buddha, even they cannot be harmed — how much less the body of the Tathāgata!” The evidence of unbreakable power falls upon the person who is guarded. Second, the second segment takes space for its simile: “it is as when space universally holds all the worlds within the whole Dharma realm and yet is not wearied” — to hold without being wearied is because there was never any standing over against what is held. Chengguan says upon this, “because, though he holds many great mountains, body and mind suffer no weariness or injury.” Third, the ninth segment lists twenty-five bodies, and Chengguan judges of them: “the ten bodies in perfect fusion are the body of one and the same Dharma realm, and cannot be allotted to the reward and emanation bodies, and hence it says highest and most subtly secret” — these twenty-five names are not twenty-five kinds of body; they are twenty-five faces of one and the same dharma-body.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to read these ten segments as the limits of a buddha’s physical strength. The text supplies its own line of defense — the third segment says “his mind is always in concentration without being scattered,” and the eighth says “the mind without obstruction … fully understanding that the marks of the realms are empty and still, and not giving rise to false imagining.” The substance of the power of valor is concentration and quiescent emptiness, not force. Brought home to the reader: what truly cannot be broken has never been hardness; it is not standing over against.

28. The Decided Dharmas: The Ten Matters That Are Necessarily So

The twenty-eighth gate begins to answer the question about unobstructedness. Its ten phrases have the word “decided” for their spine: decidedly descending to be born when the Tuṣita lifespan is exhausted, decidedly manifesting the taking of birth and dwelling in the womb ten months, decidedly wearying of the worldly and delighting in leaving the household life, decidedly sitting beneath the tree of awakening and accomplishing perfect awakening, decidedly awakening to all dharmas within a single thought, decidedly able to turn the subtle wheel of the Dharma at the fitting time, decidedly able according to the roots of good planted to expound the Dharma at the fitting time and confer the prediction, decidedly able to do the deeds of a buddha at the fitting time, decidedly able to confer the prediction upon bodhisattvas already brought to accomplishment, decidedly able within a single thought to answer everywhere all that beings ask.

Chengguan sets an important limit under this gate: “first, it makes clear that what is done is decided and nothing can obstruct it; this is spoken of one class of worlds, and hence it says decided, while in worlds of a different class it is not necessarily so. Again, it is spoken in terms of what a buddha is decidedly able to do, and hence it says decided.” What is called decided is, first, said of worlds of one and the same class, and second, said of what a buddha is surely able to do; it is not that the buddhas of all the worlds of the ten directions must walk this same course.

This is the gate of the chapter most easily read to death, and the ancient worthies loosen the knot for the reader in advance. Brought home to the reader: the eight aspects are a decided pattern, not a decided lock. Whoever sees one pattern and supposes it must be so has usually read what fits the occasion as what must be.

29. The Swift Dharmas: The Ten Benefits Swiftly Obtained by One Who Sees a Buddha

The twenty-ninth gate still answers unobstructedness. Eight of its ten phrases take the form “whoever sees them swiftly …,” while the sixth runs “if one who has already given rise to the mind of awakening sees them” and the seventh “if one who has not yet entered the right station sees them”: swiftly becoming far removed from all evil destinies, swiftly fulfilling surpassing merit, swiftly able to accomplish vast roots of good, swiftly gaining birth in the pure and subtle heavens, swiftly able to cut off all doubts, one who has given rise to the mind swiftly accomplishing vast faith and understanding never to turn back while one who has not yet given rise to it swiftly gives rise to the mind of awakening, one who has not yet entered the right station swiftly entering it, swiftly able to purify all the faculties worldly and world-transcending, swiftly obtaining the extinguishing of all obstructions, swiftly able to obtain fearless eloquence.

Chengguan explains this gate as “making clear the making of others unobstructed. As with the wish-fulfilling jewel, to see it is swiftly to obtain the benefit; but the thin in merit do not behold it,” and he divides the ten phrases into five pairs: leaving the evil destinies and fulfilling surpassing virtue; accomplishing the cause of good and drawing the fruit of joy; cutting off doubt and fulfilling the great mind; first entering the position and finally becoming pure; purifying the two obstructions and being complete in the four eloquences.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to suppose that “seeing” is seeing with the eyes. Read this gate against the eleventh, “single-mindedly hold him in recollection, and he appears before him,” and the point is plain: the seeing is what the mind touches, not necessarily a form standing before the eye. And the ancient worthies add a further phrase, “the thin in merit do not behold it”: the wish-fulfilling jewel is right there, and one thin in merit does not see it though it stand before him. Brought home to the reader: it is not that a buddha is hard to see; it is that the condition of seeing lies on one’s own side.

30. The Pure Dharmas That Ought Always to Be Held in Recollection: The Ten Matters a Bodhisattva Should Keep in Mind

The thirtieth gate is the last of the three that answer unobstructedness, and it is the only gate in the chapter that plainly speaks to bodhisattvas: the causes and conditions of the buddhas in the past, their pure and surpassing practice, their fulfilling of the perfections, their accomplishing of the great vows, their amassing of roots of good, their completing of pure conduct, their accomplishing of right awakening before them, their measureless form-bodies, their measureless spiritual penetrations, and their ten powers and fearlessnesses — these ten “all bodhisattvas ought always to hold in recollection.”

Chengguan explains this gate as “raising up the twofold unobstructedness of a buddha, and exhorting beings to hold it in recollection and uphold it” — to raise up the unobstructedness of a buddha is done in order to exhort people to recollect and uphold it.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to suppose that recollection is a kind of fond remembering. Look closely at the order of the ten matters: it begins from the buddhas’ causes and conditions in the past, passes through surpassing practice, the perfections, the great vows, roots of good, and pure conduct, and only then reaches the accomplishing of right awakening and the form-body, spiritual penetrations, and ten powers — the first six are all matters of the position of the cause. So what is recollected is not a buddha’s fruit but how a buddha came to be. Brought home to the reader: to be mindful of a buddha and be mindful only of his light and his marks is to be mindful of a result; to take in as well how he first made his vow and how he amassed his roots of good is the recollection this gate speaks of.

31. The Abidings of All-Knowing Wisdom: Knowing Sentient Beings Entirely within a Single Thought

The thirty-first gate begins to answer the question about liberation, and is the first of the last three. Its ten phrases all begin with “within a single thought”: knowing entirely the minds and mental conduct of all the beings of the three times; knowing entirely the deeds they have amassed and the fruits of those deeds; knowing entirely what is fitting for them and teaching and taming them with the three wheels; knowing exhaustively all the marks of their minds and manifesting everywhere the arising of a buddha; manifesting the expounding of the Dharma everywhere according to their wishes and understandings; knowing what their minds delight in and manifesting spiritual power for them; pervading all places, manifesting his arising and expounding that the body of a buddha is not to be grasped; reaching everywhere every place of the Dharma realm and every destiny of every being; going and responding wherever there are those who hold him in recollection; knowing entirely their understandings and wishes and manifesting measureless forms for them.

Chengguan judges this gate to “make clear liberation from the obstruction to wisdom. Wisdom rests upon phenomena and principle, and hence it is called abiding. Because he is apart from the obstruction, he is able to know all” — so the “abiding” of this gate is not an abiding that does not move; it is wisdom resting upon phenomena and principle, and it is because the obstruction to wisdom is left behind that all can be known.

Among the ten phrases the seventh is especially to the point: he manifests his arising everywhere, and immediately there follows “and expounds for them that the body of a buddha is not to be grasped or clung to.” He has just manifested a body, and at once he says that this body is not to be grasped — manifesting and not grasping at one and the same time: this is liberation. Brought home to the reader: whoever sees a mark and grasps that mark is still obstructed, even with a buddha standing before him.

32. The Samādhis of a Buddha: Always in Right Concentration and Yet Pervading All Places

The thirty-second gate still answers liberation. Its ten phrases share one sentence-form, six of them running “always in right concentration, within a single thought pervading all places” and four (the third, eighth, ninth, and tenth) running “always abiding in right concentration, within a single thought pervading all places,” after which each says what is done — expounding the subtle Dharma at length, expounding the limit in which there is no self, entering the three times everywhere, entering the vast buddha-lands of the ten directions everywhere, manifesting measureless buddha-bodies everywhere, manifesting body, speech, and mind according to the understandings of the mind, expounding the true limit in which all dharmas are apart from desire, expounding the nature of dependent origination, manifesting vast adornments worldly and world-transcending, and causing beings to penetrate the dharmas of a buddha and measureless liberations and ultimately to reach the unsurpassed far shore.

Chengguan explains this gate as “making clear liberation from the obstruction to concentration; because he is apart from the obstruction, the function is broad and measureless and the substance deep and inconceivable,” and points out that in these ten “each first makes clear the being in concentration, and afterward the pervading function within a single thought” — every phrase has the first half in concentration and the second half raising its function.

A misunderstanding must be cleared away: to suppose that entering concentration and exercising a function are two stretches of time. The sentence-form of this gate has already written the answer into its structure: it is not that one is first in concentration and then comes out of it to act; it is that always within concentration the function pervades all places. Brought home to the reader: the mark of work become continuous is not how long one can stay in, but that in the midst of action concentration has not been left.

33. Unobstructed Liberation: Within a Single Dust Mote All Is Manifested

The last gate of the chapter still answers liberation. Its ten phrases all run “able within a single mote to manifest …”: manifesting unspeakably unspeakable buddhas arising in the world, buddhas turning the pure wheel of the Dharma, beings receiving deliverance and being tamed, buddha-lands, bodhisattvas receiving the prediction, all the buddhas gone, come, and now, all the kinds of worlds gone, come, and now, all the spiritual penetrations gone, come, and now, all the sentient beings gone, come, and now, and all the deeds of a buddha gone, come, and now.

Chengguan explains this gate as “making clear the wisdom of liberation in the function of activity,” and cites the words of a treatise in evidence: “bodhisattvas have an inconceivable liberation, and the buddhas have an unobstructed liberation: what they do is without obstruction, since they are freed from all fettering and hindrance, and therefore each of them, within a single mote, all at once performs the subtle function.” The liberation of a bodhisattva is still named inconceivable, while the liberation of the buddhas is named unobstructed; the dividing line lies in “what they do is without obstruction.”

That the chapter closes with this gate is by design. The last of the ten questions raised at the opening was liberation, and at the close it is liberation that is answered; and what is answered is not a leaving of anything behind, but the ability within a single dust mote to manifest all of the three times. Chengguan further notices at the end of the chapter that here “the text has little of a conclusion, as though the scripture had come and not been finished” — this chapter has no closing verses of the usual kind, and he judges it to be “perhaps to show that the virtues of a buddha have no exhausting.”

Brought home to the reader: having read the thirty-three gates, if one asks what a buddha’s liberation finally is, the answer of this gate is that one need not go elsewhere — within a single dust mote the three times are manifested entire. What is called the inconceivable is not somewhere far off.

Lineage

The placement of this chapter hangs upon a question that an ancient worthy long ago set. Zhiyan asks himself, in the Ten Mysterious Gates: since the Chapter on the Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas and its like set forth the fruit-virtues, why may they be spoken within an assembly of the gate of the cause? He answers himself: though these are fruit-virtues, they are ‘a fruit set forth in relation to conditions,’ not the fruit of ultimate perfect quiescence, and therefore they may be spoken in one and the same assembly with the cause. That question and answer set this chapter in the position of speaking the fruit-virtues within an assembly of the cause: what is spoken is a fruit set forth to fit the occasion, not the fruit of ultimate perfect quiescence — and here lies the ground on which this chapter may be spoken in the return to the Hall of Universal Light.

Why do the thirty-two gates come to bear the name “inconceivable”? Two houses of the ancient worthies say things that agree in sense and differ in words. Chengguan says that this chapter “sets forth thirty-two gates in brief, and each gate is complete with ten, making three hundred and twenty virtues, so as to show that there is no exhausting,” and gathers it up at the end of the chapter in a single sentence: “since following any one gate all ten questions are answered, there is containing and gathering in, and it is therefore named the inconceivable.” Li Tongxuan says it by way of the net of the god, calling these thirty-two gates “the gate of the net of Indra — measureless, universally pervading, unobstructed, of the whole and the part, of sameness and difference, of forming and decay, and masterly,” and arrives at the same number of three hundred and twenty. The former says it from the mutual containing of gate within gate, the latter by the names of the six marks and the net of the god — the two houses are recorded together, and no judgment is passed between them. And the names of the six marks (whole and part, sameness and difference, forming and decay) come from the fourth great vow of the first ground in the Chapter on the Ten Grounds; the text of this chapter does not itself raise those names, and it is the ancient worthies who read the one by the other — a lineage of reading, and it is recorded as such.

As to the explanation of the name, the three houses each make a track of their own. Fazang says, “the dharmas of the fruit of the Tathāgata far transcend speech and thought, and hence the name,” and Chengguan takes it up as “the fruit-dharmas of the Tathāgata far transcend speech and thought, and hence the name” — the two masters alike establish the sense upon the failure of speech and thought to reach. Li Tongxuan opens another road: “the thought of feeling and consciousness cannot reach it, and hence ‘not thought’ … when consciousness ceases and feeling is dark, right wisdom appears before one, and this is named the inconceivable” — establishing the sense by distinguishing consciousness from wisdom. Of one and the same chapter title, the one takes the transcending of speech by what is expressed, the other the turning of consciousness into wisdom in what knows; both stand, and no judgment is passed.

The joining of this chapter with what comes before and after has its express text as well. Chengguan judges the five chapters here as one group: this chapter sets forth in general the substance and function of the virtues of a buddha, the Chapter on the Ocean of Marks of the Ten Bodies of the Tathāgata and the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Secondary Signs set forth in particular the marks and the signs of those surpassing virtues, and the last two chapters set forth in particular the benefit of their function; and he says at the end of the chapter, “the Ocean of Marks and the rest still answer the earlier questions” — the unfinished momentum of this chapter runs straight into the chapters that follow. And the ten dharmas of mastery of this chapter the ancient worthies judge to be “wholly the same as the ten kinds of mastery of the eighth ground, only deeper and broader and not in the same order” — the eighth of the ten grounds, in the position of the cause, already lists these ten names, and the position of the fruit lists them over again, differing only in depth and breadth. Only when the two places are read together do the words “deeper and broader” come to rest upon something solid.

As for the lineage of this chapter within the treatises, what must be recorded is its absence, as the facts stand: Vasubandhu’s Shidi jing lun explains only the Chapter on the Ten Grounds and has no bearing upon this chapter; Fazang’s Huayan jing zhigui, the Cheng weishi lun, and the Mahāyānasaṃgraha have no text citing this chapter; and the relevant hits in the Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang all belong to Taishō records of variant witnesses, not doctrinal citations from Xianshou’s own text. A zero-hit is likewise an honest result — the lineage of this chapter lies chiefly within the doctrinal classification and the commentaries of the Huayan house itself, and not upon the axis of the treatises.

The Chapter Before Finished Speaking the Buddha’s Inconceivable Dharmas — Why Speak the Bodily Marks Over Again

Reading into this chapter, the doubt that most readily arises is this: the Chapter on the Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas has already spoken the fruit-dharmas of the Buddha over in sum; why then set up another chapter that counts from the crown of the head down to the tips of the toes, listing ninety-seven bodily marks one after another? Is that not repetition, or even mere fussiness?

Chengguan, adjudging the reason for this chapter’s coming, answers very directly: the preceding chapter makes the fruit-dharmas clear in sum, and this chapter displays the virtue of the marks in particular — what has been said in sum must still be said in particular; near at hand it answers the question about the ‘body’ left over from the preceding chapter, and far off it answers the old question, raised at the second gathering in the Hall of Universal Light, about the six sense-faculties of the Buddha, the eyes and the rest. Fazang adjudges it along the same track: taken far off, this chapter and the preceding one alike repay the question about the fruit-virtues of a buddha at the gathering of Universal Light; taken near at hand, the preceding chapter makes the fruit-dharmas clear in sum, and this chapter displays the virtue of the marks in particular, and therefore this chapter comes.

Put another way, this chapter is not an afterword; it is a making good. Earlier it was said that the merit of the Buddha is inconceivable, and that was the import; now that inconceivability has to be brought down upon a body one can see — the eyes, the nose, the tongue, the fangs, the teeth, the lips, the neck, the shoulders, the breast, the hands, the thighs, the calves, the feet — telling place by place what light each emits, what buddhas each shows forth, what Dharma each expounds. If the import does not come down upon the marks, it easily hangs in the air and turns into airy talk; if the marks are not tied to the import, they are no more than a description of a buddha-image. The weight of this chapter lies exactly in its nailing the two together.

Here is a common misreading to be cleared away: taking ‘ocean of marks’ for a figure of exaggeration. Chengguan, in explaining the chapter’s name, says it plainly — the ten bodies of the Tathāgata raise up the person and display the virtue, and the ocean of marks rests upon the person and displays the marks; a superior form brought about by the recompense of merit and plainly to be told apart is therefore called a mark, and because the virtue of the marks is deep and vast it is called an ocean. ‘Ocean’ is not an adjective; it is a criterion: the substance of the marks is vast, the function of the marks is all-pervading, and mark and mark fuse into one another beyond conceiving — only so do they deserve the name of ocean. The tenet and aim follow from this: to display the inexhaustible ocean of marks is the tenet, and to make men cultivate the inexhaustible practices by which such marks are displayed and brought about is the aim — speaking of marks is, in the end, meant to send people to the practice that can bring such marks about.

Why Samantabhadra Speaks, and Not the Buddha Himself

From beginning to end this chapter has only one speaker: the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Samantabhadra. His first words are the enjoining of the hearing and the granting of the telling — Sons of the Buddha, I shall now expound for you all the ocean of marks of the Tathāgata. After the compilers’ one narrating clause at the opening, ‘at that time the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Samantabhadra told the bodhisattvas,’ there is no further interjection by the compilers. This is a fact of the chapter’s pattern, not a missing passage.

Why, then, should the Buddha’s marks be spoken by Samantabhadra? Chengguan gives two layers of reason: one is fittingness — the ocean of marks pervades the whole Dharma realm, and Samantabhadra is precisely the man of universal practice; only by making men practice the universal practice can the universal marks be obtained, and so it is most fitting that Samantabhadra should speak. The other is the order of the assembly — Samantabhadra is the host of this gathering, what he had to say before has been said out, and so he goes on to speak this chapter. Li Tongxuan brings out a further sense: this ocean of marks is brought about by the recompense of practice, and Samantabhadra is that practice; hence it is the practitioner himself who is made to speak the fruit of the recompensed virtue of his own practice.

None of the three masters takes the speaker for an accident. Herein lies the way to read this chapter: the marks are the fruit, and practice is the cause; to have Samantabhadra speak the marks is to have the cause speak the fruit. If you read the ninety-seven marks as an inventory of the Buddha’s outward appearance, this chapter is left with nothing but ornate phrasing; if you remember that the speaker is Samantabhadra, these ninety-seven marks turn at once into ninety-seven dedications — every single light points back to some practice that can be cultivated.

Reading a Single Mark: Which Five Places to Look At

Ninety-seven marks look fussy, but every one of them is written upon the same frame. Chengguan adjudges that the text properly setting out the states of the marks has five parts throughout: first, the place of support; second, the listing of the name; third, the adornment of the substance; fourth, the function in action; fifth, the concluding number. Sometimes a part is abridged and not complete, and one knows it on reaching the text; sometimes a clause about the benefit brought about is added, and this is still gathered under the function in action.

These five places are the five joints for reading this chapter. The place of support — where upon the body this mark grows (the crown of the head, between the brows, the right hand, the left heel); the listing of the name — what this mark is called (most often named with ‘cloud’); the adornment of the substance — what jewels are its substance and its ornament (maṇi, beryl, the gold of Jambūnada, the net of Indra); the function in action — what its emitted light does (illumining the Dharma realm everywhere, showing forth the buddhas, expounding the wondrous Dharma, making sentient beings pure); the concluding number — that this is the such-and-such mark.

Chengguan further accounts for the relation between the name and the substance and function: the name is established in dependence upon the substance and the function, and so the name is always explained by substance and function — sometimes taken from substance alone, sometimes from function alone, sometimes from both together, to be pondered as the text runs; and where the name and the sense of the substance and function are not alike, that is a case where the text is abridged while the sense is contained, and no forcing is called for. This clause is a safeguard: when you come upon a mark whose name does not square with its content, do not go inventing a match.

Most important of all is his one general rule about the adornment of the substance: what is called jeweled adornment displays throughout the adornment of the substance; taken as phenomena, it is said that maṇi and the rest serve as adornment, and it also displays the jewel of wisdom, adorning by its perfect purity; in every single mark there are both the adornment of phenomena and the adornment of principle, to be explained as is fitting. This one clause rescues the whole chapter from being a ‘jewel catalogue’ — jewels are phenomena, wisdom is principle, and one and the same sentence of the sūtra can be read on both faces. Brought down to the reader, it comes to this: when you read of maṇi, beryl, and adamant, do not see only gemstones; that is at the same time speaking of the brightness, the keenness, and the undefiledness of wisdom.

Why a Single Place, the Crown of the Head, Holds Thirty-Two Marks

The first place of support is the crown of the head, and the sūtra says at its very opening: upon the crown of the Tathāgata’s head there are thirty-two great-man marks adorned with all manner of jewels. Of the ninety-seven marks, a third of them are crowded upon one crown of the head — this is the most conspicuous imbalance in the whole chapter, and also the most important footing that the Huayan school’s tenet has here.

Chengguan does not evade it; he adjudges straight out: that this one place alone has thirty-two is because, in principle, there ought to be more still, and it is in order to display that in perfect fusion one is all that a single crown is made to hold the number thirty-two of the provisional teaching. The provisional teaching says a buddha has thirty-two marks, and that is the number of marks for the whole buddha; this sūtra sets a full thirty-two marks upon a single place of support. This step is not addition; it is conversion — within one part all parts are complete. When Huayan speaks of one and many containing each other, of principal and companion each complete, the scriptural warrant need not be sought far off: it is here in this first summarizing clause.

Why, then, precisely the crown? Chengguan sets a question to himself and answers it: if so, why are the remaining places of support not likewise? Answer: in order to display the honor and excellence of the crown. He cites the Shansheng jing comparing the marks and the excellences, saying that all the merit of the world does not come up to the merit of a single hair of the Tathāgata, that the merit of all the hairs does not come up to the merit of a single excellence, that all the excellences do not come up to one mark, that all the marks do not come up to the white tuft, and that the white tuft in turn does not come up to the invisible crown. The crown is the utmost among the marks, and so it is most fitting that this sense of one being all should be displayed upon the crown.

The thirty-two marks upon the crown may be read in several layers by following their functions in action. The first mark, Light Illumining Every Quarter and Everywhere Emitting Measureless Great Nets of Light, has wondrous jewels for its adornment and jewel-made hair spread everywhere, soft and finely close-set, every strand emitting maṇi light and showing the Buddha’s body perfect in color and mark — this is the opening mark of the whole chapter, and it establishes first the rule that ‘a mark can show forth buddhas.’ Li Tongxuan here betokens the sense word by word: ‘quarter’ is dharma, the dharma by which the fundamental wisdom brings about the wisdom of differentiation; the net of light is what is born as recompense from the setting up of teachings according to capacity and the drawing out of all sentient beings within the wisdom of differentiation, and taken with respect to cause it is named a net of light; and the thirty-two jewels are matched to the three kinds of action and the two wisdoms. This is one track of betokening the sense; it is set down. The second mark, Cloud of the Light of the Buddha-Eye, adorned with maṇi-kings and sending out a golden light like that emitted by the tuft between the brows — Chengguan points out how to read this mark: the adornment of the substance explains its sense of light, and the function in action explains its sense of the buddha-eye, because the buddha-eye illumines all without exception; and the matter of the tuft-mark emitting light has already been spoken of in the Chapter on the Manifestation of the Tathāgata at the first assembly. The third mark, Cloud Filling the Dharma Realm, adorned with jewel-wheels, sending out the lamplight of merit and wisdom, illumining the world-oceans of the Dharma realm in the ten directions and showing forth buddhas and bodhisattvas everywhere — the sense that a mark can show forth buddhas is here spread over the whole Dharma realm. The fourth mark, Cloud Manifesting Universal Illumination, adorned with true gold and maṇi, shining through inconceivable buddha-lands, with all buddhas appearing therein. The fifth mark, Cloud Emitting Jeweled Light, with beryl for its flower-stamens, showing spiritual transformations everywhere in its light and praising the wisdom and merit of the practices the Tathāgata performed of old — this is the first time the ‘mark’ is pointed back to the ‘causal practice.’

The sixth mark, Cloud Manifesting the Tathāgata’s Great Sovereignty Pervading the Dharma Realm, with flaming jewel maṇi for its crown and the flaming jewel-wheel of light that awakens all for its garland, showing in its light all Tathāgatas seated within the place of the Way and a cloud of all-knowledge filling empty space and the Dharma realm. The seventh mark, Cloud of the Tathāgata’s Universal Lamp, adorned with the great sovereign jewel-ocean that can shake the lands of the Dharma realm, showing in its light the oceans of merit of the bodhisattvas of the ten directions and the ocean of banners of the wisdom of the buddhas of the three times — the ocean of cause and the ocean of fruit appear together in a single mark. The eighth mark, Vast Cloud Universally Illumining the Buddhas, adorned with Indra jewels, wish-king jewels, and maṇi-king jewels, ever emitting the light of the flaming lamps of bodhisattvas and showing the oceans of the manifold colors and marks of the buddhas, their oceans of great voice, and their oceans of pure power. Chengguan here distinguishes a single word: the maṇi spoken of in the adornment has the sense of ‘intent,’ and is not the same as the wish-fulfilling jewel — jewels of the same name differ in sense as the text differs, and this is the caution to be kept in reading names. The ninth mark, Cloud of Perfect Light, with the manifold jewels spreading great nets of flame filling the ten directions, so that all sentient beings see the Tathāgata appearing seated before them, praising the merit of the dharma-bodies of buddhas and bodhisattvas and causing them to enter the Tathāgata’s pure state — here for the first time the function of a mark plainly says ‘causing to enter’: it is not merely showing forth, it is drawing in. The tenth mark, Cloud of Light Universally Illumining the Treasury of All Bodhisattva Practice, with jeweled flames covering all lands everywhere, the Dharma realm of the ten directions penetrated without obstruction, and the Buddha’s voice sounding out and proclaiming the ocean of the Dharma.

The eleventh mark, Cloud of Universal Light Shining Forth, adorned with beryl, Indra jewels, and adamantine maṇi, sending out a wondrous sound that fills the Dharma realm. Chengguan singles out the closing clause of this mark: all of this is conjured forth by the great ocean of merit that is the wisdom of the buddhas — this is a distinguishing of the cause of the function in action, and is still gathered under the function in action. This clause is the pivot of the whole chapter: the marks are not ornaments that grew of themselves, they are conjured forth by the ocean of merit that is wisdom. The twelfth mark, Cloud of Perfect Awakening, with jeweled flowers emitting light in which there are Tathāgatas seated within the place of the Way, causing all worlds to attain purity and cutting off forever all false discrimination. The thirteenth mark, Cloud of Light Shining Forth, adorned with the mind-king maṇi of the ocean of the treasury of jeweled flames, showing in its light measureless bodhisattvas and the practices they cultivate, and the wisdom-bodies, dharma-bodies, and oceans of color and mark of all Tathāgatas filling the Dharma realm — the three senses of ‘body’ appear together in one mark. The fourteenth mark, Cloud of Adornment Universally Illumining, with a great jeweled lotus seat in its light covering the Dharma realm and of itself expounding the four bodhisattva practices. These four bodhisattva practices are not a phrase hanging in the air; Chengguan explains them by citing the Yuqie shidi lun, the Bodhisattva Ground: bodhisattvas have, in brief, four practices — first, the practice of the perfections; second, the practice of the factors of awakening; third, the practice of spiritual penetrations; fourth, the practice of ripening sentient beings. The Dharma that the mark expounds is a gate of practice one can point to item by item.

The fifteenth mark, Cloud Manifesting the Practice of the Ocean of the Buddha’s Samādhis, showing within a single thought the Tathāgata’s measureless adornments and adorning everywhere the Dharma realm and the inconceivable world-oceans — one thought and the measureless: this mark displays the perfection of time in particular. The sixteenth mark, Cloud of the Ocean of Transformations Universally Illumining, adorned with wondrous jeweled lotuses as great as Mount Sumeru, the light of the manifold jewels born of the Buddha’s vows, showing transformations without end — the four words ‘born of the Buddha’s vows’ push the cause of the marks back from practice to vow. The seventeenth mark, Cloud of the Liberation of All Tathāgatas, its light adorning the lion thrones of all buddhas and showing the color-images of the buddhas together with measureless buddha-dharmas and oceans of buddha-lands. The eighteenth mark, Cloud of Sovereign Skillful Means Universally Illumining, adorned with beryl flowers, true-gold lotuses, maṇi-king lamps, and clouds of the flames of the wondrous Dharma, showing everywhere all the beautiful articles of adornment. The nineteenth mark, Cloud of Awakening to the Buddha-Lineage, complete with a thousand wheels, pure within and without, born of the roots of goodness of former times, sending out the light of the sun of wisdom and proclaiming the ocean of the Dharma. Chengguan here collates the Sanskrit text: where the nineteenth says ‘complete with a thousand wheels,’ the Sanskrit text says ‘complete with wheels of a thousand spokes’ — a thousand wheels is the wheel of a thousand spokes, not some other thing. What is most worth noting in this mark is the phrase ‘born of the roots of goodness of former times’: a mark is a recompense, and a recompense must have a cause.

The twentieth mark, Cloud of Sovereignty Manifesting the Marks of All Tathāgatas, spreading great jeweled flames that fill the Dharma realm and showing everywhere buddhas of the three times as many as the motes of dust of the buddha-lands, valiant and fearless as the lion king, complete in color and mark and in wisdom. The twenty-first mark, Cloud Pervadingly Illumining the Whole Dharma Realm, showing forth the wondrous treasuries of wisdom of measureless and boundless buddhas and bodhisattvas; Chengguan adjudges that this mark shows the two lights of body and wisdom, alike displaying wisdom — light has the two senses of bodily light and wisdom-light, and in this mark both senses are displayed. The twenty-second mark, Cloud of the Marks of Vairocana Tathāgata, adorned with wondrous jeweled flowers and the pure wondrous moon of beryl, emitting the light of hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of maṇi jewels filling empty space and the Dharma realm, with measureless buddha-lands appearing therein, each with a Tathāgata seated with legs crossed — in the whole chapter this alone takes a buddha’s name for its mark-name, and the sense of pervading all places is plainly pointed out here. The twenty-third mark, Cloud of Light Universally Illumining All Buddhas, showing all buddhas turning the wheel of the Dharma. The twenty-fourth mark, Cloud Universally Manifesting All Adornments, in thought after thought ever showing unspeakably and unspeakably many buddhas and bodhisattvas seated within the places of the Way. The twenty-fifth mark, Cloud Sending Forth the Sounds of the Whole Dharma Realm, adorned with the ocean of maṇi jewels and superb sandalwood, sending out a subtle and wondrous sound everywhere and revealing to sentient beings the whole ocean of deeds — the function of this mark is not to show forth buddhas but to let beings see their own deeds.

The twenty-sixth mark, Cloud of the Wheel of Transformations Universally Illumining the Buddhas, adorned with the Tathāgata’s pure eyes. Chengguan explains this one most finely: that the pure eyes serve as adornment runs through the ten eyes; what follows from ‘its light illumines’ displays the function in action, and this too runs through the two lights of body and wisdom; the pure eyes and the light are just what explain the two words ‘universally illumining’ in the mark’s name; and the articles of adornment shown in the light are the sense of ‘wheel’ above, that is, the wheel of the Dharma. Name, substance, and function are here buckled together, and this is the exemplar of the chapter’s explaining of names. The twenty-seventh mark, Cloud of Light Illumining the Ocean of Buddhas, its light illumining all worlds everywhere, exhausting the Dharma realm without obstruction, with a Tathāgata seated with legs crossed in place after place. The twenty-eighth mark, Cloud of the Jeweled Lamp, showing everywhere all buddhas and bodhisattvas and the inconceivable oceans of sentient beings. The twenty-ninth mark, Cloud of the Dharma Realm Without Difference, emitting the light of the Tathāgata’s great wisdom, illumining the buddha-lands and the measureless oceans of the Dharma of the assemblies at the bodhisattva places of the Way, expounding according to what the minds of sentient beings love and delight in the practices and vows of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra and causing them to dedicate and direct them — this mark joins the marks directly to the practices and vows of Samantabhadra. The thirtieth mark, Cloud Abiding in All World-Oceans and Universally Illumining, showing everywhere the pure and beautiful places of the Way and the adorned bodily marks of buddhas and bodhisattvas, causing those who see to attain the seeing of nothing at all. The thirty-first mark, Cloud of the Pure Flaming Light of All Jewels, showing everywhere the oceans of bodhisattvas, not one of whom lacks the Tathāgata’s spiritual power, ever roaming the nets of lands of the ten directions to the ends of empty space.

From the twenty-seventh through the thirty-first, these five marks all leave out the section on adornment in the text of the sūtra. Chengguan does not take this for a dropped passage; he adjudges it thus: they all alike leave out the adornment, and this too is because the name already contains it — since it is contained in the name, it is left out in the text. The general rule of the fivefold outline, that a part ‘may be abridged and not complete,’ here finds a case in point.

The thirty-second mark, Cloud of Adornment Universally Illumining the Whole Dharma Realm, lying at the very center and rising up by degrees, adorned with the gold of Jambūnada and the net of Indra. Chengguan adjudges the position of this mark to be the most important: this mark occupies the utmost of the crown, and its place is displayed as being distinct, and therefore it is said to lie at the center; from this one may know that the remaining thirty-one marks all encircle this one, though the text abridges and does not say so. The clause ‘rising up by degrees’ is precisely what displays the shape of this mark, and he cites the fifth fascicle of the Zhi lun saying that the Tathāgata’s crown has a bony topknot like a clenched fist, and the Guanfo sanmei jing saying that it is like a joined fist, as his warrant. As for why the marks of the crown are first summarized as thirty-two and then concluded as an adorning excellence — Sons of the Buddha, upon the crown of the Tathāgata’s head there are thirty-two great-man marks such as these, serving as its adorning excellence — a summary at the head and a conclusion at the close gather the thirty-two marks of this one place into a single whole.

The One Mark Between the Brows: Why the White Tuft Is the Noblest of the Marks

The second place of support is between the brows, and it has only one mark: the thirty-third mark, Cloud of Light Pervading the Dharma Realm, adorned with maṇi jeweled flowers, emitting a great light complete in the colors of the manifold jewels, clear through and pure like the sun and the moon, illumining everywhere the lands of the ten directions, showing all buddha-bodies within it, and further sending out a wondrous sound that proclaims and sets forth the ocean of the Dharma.

Chengguan here accounts for a matter of pattern: from this point onward every mark has its clause of the place of support, and so the texts all have five parts — first the place of support, second the displaying of the name, third the adornment of the substance, fourth the function in action, fifth the concluding number; whereas for the crown, because the place of support had already been given in the summarizing clause, the texts of those thirty-two marks each have four parts only. If a reader feels that the later text has one clause more than the earlier, this is the reason.

As to the mark of the white tuft, the commentary explains the adornment of its substance most finely: this mark, when rolled up, whorls to the right like an overturned beryl bowl, and when spread out is complete with ten ridges and has a great light; its adornment uses a single jewel only, while its light is complete in many colors, and both the middle and the surface are empty — this is what the sūtra means by ‘clear through.’ Brought down to the import: one jewel and many colors is precisely substance being one while function is many; middle and surface both empty is precisely a mark that has no intrinsic nature. And so the name of this mark is Light Pervading the Dharma Realm — the name is established from the function, since the sūtra’s closing clause about further sending out a wondrous sound is already the light of the Dharma, and hence the name of this light is established from its function.

The Eyes and the Nose: Seeing Without Obstruction, Conjured Buddhas Issuing from the Nose

The third place of support is the eyes and the fourth is the nose, each with one mark. Chengguan adjudges them together in a single clause: the third, the eyes, and the fourth, the nose, have one mark each.

The thirty-fourth mark, Cloud of Sovereign Universal Seeing, adorned with manifold wondrous jewels, its maṇi jewel-light pure and shining clear through, seeing all everywhere with no obstruction at all. The function of the mark of the eyes lies not in being seen but in being able to see — seeing all everywhere without obstruction. This answers precisely the earlier question about the six sense-faculties pervading the Dharma realm in the preceding chapter.

The thirty-fifth mark, Cloud of All Spiritual Penetrations and Wisdom, adorned with pure and wondrous jewels, the color-light of manifold jewels covering it over, with measureless conjured buddhas appearing within it seated upon jeweled lotuses, going to all the worlds and expounding for all bodhisattvas and all sentient beings the inconceivable ocean of the buddha-dharmas. The function of the mark of the nose is to send out conjured buddhas who expound the Dharma — and this is a general rule of the chapter: no part of the body is a static ornament; every one of them is sending out buddhas, emitting light, and expounding the Dharma. If one asks, ‘why should buddhas issue from a nose,’ the answer lies not in physiology but in doctrine: the marks of the ten bodies are, place by place, gates of the Dharma realm.

The Four Marks of the Tongue: From Breadth and Length to Rolling Up and Spreading Out

The fifth place of support is the tongue, with four marks, the head-region place of support having the most marks after the crown.

The thirty-sixth mark, Cloud Manifesting Sounds and Images, adorned with jewels of manifold colors and wondrous kinds, brought to completion by the roots of goodness of former lives, its tongue broad and long and far-reaching, covering over all the world-oceans; and if the Tathāgata is glad and smiles, he must emit maṇi jewel-light illumining the Dharma realm of the ten directions everywhere, able to make every mind attain coolness, with the buddhas of the three times appearing plainly within that light, all sending forth vast and subtly wondrous sounds that reach every buddha-land and abide for measureless kalpas. Chengguan adjudges that this is the mark of the broad and long tongue, and he points out in particular: that within the adornment of the substance it is said to be brought to completion by the roots of goodness of former lives is a raising up of the ‘cause’ as adornment; and why is the cause spoken of in this mark alone? For the sake of praising and setting forth the One Vehicle. He further compares the measure of the tongue-marks: a man of merit has a tongue reaching to the nose, a buddha of the provisional teaching to the hairline, and in the remaining Mahāyāna it is said that when spiritual penetrations are displayed it reaches to the Brahmā world or covers the three thousandfold world; whereas this sūtra says straight out that its substance covers all. This one comparison shows best the height and depth of the teachings: the breadth and length in other scriptures are manifested by spiritual power, while the breadth and length in this sūtra are the very substance of the mark. The function in action then divides in two: the expounding of the Dharma explains ‘sounds’ in the mark’s name, and the showing forth of buddhas explains ‘images’ in the mark’s name — two words of the name, two matters of the function, buckled with great precision.

The thirty-seventh mark, Cloud of the Dharma Realm, its palm level and settled, adorned with manifold jewels, emitting a wondrous jeweled light perfect in color and mark like the light emitted from between the brows, that light illumining all buddha-lands everywhere — made only of motes of dust, having no intrinsic nature — and measureless buddhas further appearing in the light, all sending out a wondrous sound expounding all dharmas. Chengguan explains the word ‘palm’: the palm means near the root, that is, the part of the tongue near its root; and the function in action is that its light illumines the lands so that those who ought to be delivered need make no further effort at contemplating and breaking down aggregations, but understand of themselves that all dharmas are but the joining of dust — and what intrinsic nature could they have? This mark is one of the rare places in the whole chapter where emptiness is spoken outright: the lands illumined are made only of dust and have no intrinsic nature — within the ocean of marks there is an eye of wisdom of its own.

The thirty-eighth mark, Cloud of Light Illumining the Dharma Realm, and the thirty-ninth mark, Cloud Shining Forth upon the Dharma Realm, both at the tip of the tongue. The former is adorned with wish-king jewels, constantly sending out golden jeweled flames within which all the oceans of buddhas are reflected, and further sounding a wondrous voice filling boundless worlds, every one of its sounds complete in all sounds, so that hearers are glad at heart and savor them for measureless kalpas without forgetting; the latter is ornamented with maṇi jewel-kings, sending forth the marks of manifold colors and subtle and wondrous light, filling measureless lands in the ten directions, nothing in the Dharma realm left unpurified, with measureless buddhas and bodhisattvas within it each uttering a wondrous sound with all manner of revealing, and all bodhisattvas present before them to hear and receive it. Chengguan adjudges the difference between the two marks with a fine turn of words: the latter two are both at the tip of the tongue, whether to left and right or above and below; and looking at their functions in action, there is only the difference of spreading out and rolling up — the former rolls the ocean of buddhas into the tip of the tongue, the latter spreads the buddhas out over the Dharma realm. One rolling up and one spreading out, and both are the one tongue. This answers the doubt, ‘why are these two marks so alike?’ — alike but not repetitious; the difference lies in the posture of gathering in and letting out.

The One Mark of the Upper Palate: A Missing Passage Set Down as It Is

The sixth place of support is the upper palate, with one mark: the fortieth mark, Cloud Manifesting the Inconceivable Dharma Realm, adorned with Indra jewels and beryl jewels, emitting pure clouds of light from the flames of incense-lamps that fill the Dharma realm of the ten directions, showing forth all manner of spiritual penetrations and skillful means, and setting forth everywhere throughout the world-oceans the profound and inconceivable Dharma.

Here the ancient master left a note of collation worth transmitting as it stands. Chengguan says: since there is a mark of the upper palate, by rights there should be one of the lower as well; perhaps the Sanskrit text has dropped it. He neither supplies a mark for the sūtra nor works up a rationale for the missing one; he simply leaves the doubt standing. This is the proper measure in reading a scripture: what is missing is missing; set it down, and do not fill it in.

The Four Marks of the Fangs: The Four Great Fangs and the Threefold Virtue of Nirvāṇa

The seventh place of support is the fangs, with four marks. Chengguan first explains the place of support: that the fangs have four marks means the four great fangs, left and right, upper and lower; when the Buddha entered nirvāṇa the four fangs were not shattered, and these are meant. He further glosses the word for ‘beside’ in the sūtra: it means the cheek, also called the cheekbone.

The forty-first mark, Cloud of the Buddha’s Fang (the lower fang beside the right cheek), adorned with manifold jeweled maṇi and the wheel of the svastika sign, emitting a great light that illumines the Dharma realm everywhere, showing everywhere all buddha-bodies, spreading through the ten directions and awakening the multitudes. The forty-second mark, Cloud of the Treasury of Jeweled Flames of Meru (the upper fang beside the right cheek), adorned with the treasury of maṇi jewels, emitting the pure light of adamantine incense-flames, every single light filling the Dharma realm, showing forth the spiritual power of the buddhas, and further showing the pure and beautiful places of the Way in the worlds of the ten directions. Chengguan explains this name: that the upper fang beside the right is named Meru is because it displays the lofty and high — Meru is the name of the mountain that is lofty and high, and the height of the mountain displays the excellence of this mark. The forty-third mark, Cloud of the Jeweled Lamp Universally Illumining (the lower fang beside the left cheek), adorned with wondrous jewels spreading out blossoms and sending out fragrance, emitting the pure light of clouds of lamp-flames, filling the world-oceans, showing buddhas seated upon lion thrones of the lotus treasury with the hosts of bodhisattvas surrounding them together.

The forty-fourth mark, Cloud Illumining and Manifesting the Tathāgatas (the upper fang beside the left cheek), adorned with pure light, the gold of Jambūnada, jeweled nets, and jeweled flowers, emitting great wheels of flame that fill the Dharma realm, showing everywhere all buddhas who by spiritual power spread abroad within empty space the milk of the Dharma, the lamp of the Dharma, and the jewel of the Dharma, teaching and transforming all the hosts of bodhisattvas. Chengguan matches the three matters of this mark into one set of doctrine: within the fourth there are the three, the milk of the Dharma and the rest, which are alike one and the same matter of expounding the Dharma — with respect to nourishing the dharma-body it is named milk, with respect to illumining and knowing the myriad objects it is called a lamp, and with respect to making them perfect and pure it is the third; that is, they expound the Dharma of the threefold virtue of nirvāṇa, and they also bring about the benefit of the threefold virtue of nirvāṇa. The three matters are not three kinds of treasure; they are the three functions of one occasion of expounding the Dharma: nourishing, illumining, and bringing to completion. Brought down to the reader, the benefit of hearing the Dharma is likewise these three layers — being nourished, being illumined, and being brought to completion.

The Teeth and the Lips: Smiling and Emitting Light, Colored Like a Red Lotus

The eighth place of support is the teeth and the ninth the lips, each with one mark. Chengguan here sets down another note of collation: the two above ought each to be divided into upper and lower — the teeth and the lips ought by rights to be divided into upper and lower too, and the sūtra has spoken of them together.

The forty-fifth mark, Cloud Universally Manifesting Light, with an ocean of marks adorning the space between each tooth and the next, so that when he smiles they all emit light complete in the colors of the manifold jewels, the maṇi jeweled flames whorling to the right and turning about plainly, spreading through the Dharma realm and filling it all, and sending forth the Buddha’s speech and sound expounding the practice of Samantabhadra. The function of the mark of the teeth is tied to a smile — this is the warmest clause in the whole chapter: the Buddha’s smile is not an expression, it is the occasion of the Dharma being spoken. And what is spoken is precisely the practice of Samantabhadra, so that speaker and thing spoken are here made one.

The forty-sixth mark, Cloud Reflecting All Jeweled Light, emitting a vast light of the color of the true gold of Jambūnada, of the color of the lotus, and of the colors of all jewels, shining through the Dharma realm and causing it all to be pure. Chengguan explains the adornment of its substance: because the color of the lips is red and fine, like the leaf of a red lotus at the sun’s first rising. Here the shape and color of the mark answer to the color it emits — the sūtra says it emits a light of the lotus color precisely because the lips are themselves like a lotus.

The One Mark of the Neck: The Dark-Blue Reed, Soft and Smooth

The tenth place of support is the neck, with one mark: the forty-seventh mark, Cloud Universally Illumining All Worlds, adorned with maṇi jewel-kings, brought to completion as the dark-blue reed, soft and fine and smooth, emitting the pure light of Vairocana, filling all the worlds of the ten directions, and showing all buddhas within it. Chengguan gives no separate explanation at this place of support, adjudging only ‘the tenth, the neck, has one mark.’ The dark-blue reed is the mark of a deep blue and glossy sheen; and the light of this mark takes Vairocana itself for its name, answering to the twenty-second mark — the light that pervades all places is not on the crown alone, but on the neck as well.

The Five Marks of the Shoulders: The Unevenness of Two on the Right and Three on the Left

The eleventh place of support is the shoulders, with five marks: two on the right shoulder and three on the left. Chengguan does not cover over the unevenness, but records it straight out: the eleventh, the shoulders, has five marks, two on the right and three on the left — perhaps one has been dropped. Leaving the doubt standing rather than forcing an explanation, this is the same measure as in the note on the upper palate.

The forty-eighth mark, Cloud of the Buddha’s Vast and Universal Jewels (right shoulder), emitting a light of the colors of all jewels, of true gold, and of the lotus, forming a net of jeweled flames illumining the Dharma realm everywhere, showing all bodhisattvas within it. The forty-ninth mark, Cloud of the Supreme Jewel Universally Illumining (right shoulder), its color pure like the gold of Jambū, emitting a maṇi light filling the Dharma realm, showing all bodhisattvas within it. The function of both marks is to show forth bodhisattvas — the shoulder is where a burden is borne, and what it shows forth being bodhisattvas, the sense answers to itself.

The fiftieth mark, Cloud of Supreme Light Illumining the Dharma Realm (left shoulder), like the manifold adornments of the crown and of the space between the brows, emitting a light of the manifold jewels of the gold of Jambūnada and of the lotus color, forming great nets of flame filling the Dharma realm, and showing forth within it every spiritual power. This mark compares itself with the crown and the brows, and is one of the rare places in the chapter where mark points to mark — a glimpse of the marks of the ocean fusing into one another. The fifty-first mark, Cloud of Light Pervadingly Illumining (left shoulder), the mark whorling to the right, adorned with maṇi jewel-kings of the color of the gold of Jambūnada, emitting the light of manifold jeweled flowers and incense-flames pervading the Dharma realm, showing everywhere all buddhas and the adorned and purified lands. The fifty-second mark, Cloud Universally Shining Forth (left shoulder), the mark whorling to the right, finely close-set and adorned, emitting the pure light of clouds of the Buddha’s lamp-flames pervading the Dharma realm, showing all the manifold adornments of the bodhisattvas, every one of them beautiful. The two words ‘whorling to the right’ are used in two marks running — the whorl is not an ornament but the posture of the mark; it turns with the whorl and not against it, and this precisely displays turning in accord with the Dharma realm.

The Eleven Marks of the Breast: The Svastika at the Center, with Five on Each Side

The twelfth place of support is the breast, with eleven marks. Chengguan adjudges their positions: the first one is at the center, with five on each side.

The fifty-third mark, Cloud of the Auspicious Ocean, shaped like the svastika sign, adorned with maṇi jeweled flowers, emitting the manifold flaming wheels of light of the colors of all jewels, filling the Dharma realm and causing it all to be pure, and further sending out a wondrous sound proclaiming and setting forth the ocean of the Dharma. Chengguan has a nicety about this name: the svastika sign properly translated is just ‘cloud of the auspicious ocean,’ and because the name is established in dependence upon the shape, the clause about the shape ought by rights to be placed back under the name, whereas the sūtra has set the shape first; yet since the shape is gathered under the adornment of the substance, writing it thus is not amiss either. This looks like a matter of textual order, but it teaches a way of reading: name, shape, and substance are at bottom one thing, and the order may shift while the sense does not.

The five on the right: the fifty-fourth mark, Cloud Manifesting Illumining Light, adorned with the net of Indra, emitting a great wheel of light filling the Dharma realm, showing everywhere measureless buddhas. The fifty-fifth mark, Cloud Universally Manifesting the Tathāgatas, adorned with the maṇi jeweled crowns of the bodhisattvas, emitting a great light illumining the ten directions everywhere and making them all pure, showing forth the buddhas of the three times seated within the places of the Way, manifesting spiritual power everywhere and proclaiming the ocean of the Dharma at large. The fifty-sixth mark, Cloud of Blossoming Flowers, adorned with maṇi jeweled flowers, emitting the pure light of jeweled incense-flames and lamps, shaped like a lotus and filling the worlds. The fifty-seventh mark, Cloud of Delightful Golden Color, adorned with the maṇi-king of the treasury of the mind-king of all jewels, emitting a pure light shining through the Dharma realm, showing within it maṇi jewel-treasuries with a vast light like that of the Buddha’s eyes. The fifty-eighth mark, Cloud of the Ocean of Buddhas, adorned with beryl jewels, incense-lamps, and flower-garlands, emitting the pure light of the great flames of maṇi jewel-king incense-lamps that fill empty space, pervading the lands of the ten directions, and showing everywhere the assemblies at the places of the Way.

The five on the left: the fifty-ninth mark, Cloud Manifesting Light, adorned with numberless bodhisattvas seated upon jeweled lotuses, emitting the light of the manifold intermingled jeweled flames of the maṇi-kings, purifying everywhere all the oceans of the Dharma realm, and showing forth measureless buddhas together with the buddhas expounding all dharmas with a wondrous sound. The sixtieth mark, Cloud Manifesting Light Pervading the Dharma Realm, adorned with the ocean of maṇi jewels, emitting a great light reaching every buddha-land, showing everywhere the hosts of bodhisattvas. The sixty-first mark, Cloud of Universal Excellence, adorned with the jeweled wheels and flower-garlands of the maṇi-kings of sunlight, emitting great flames of light filling the many world-oceans of the Dharma realm, showing forth all worlds, all Tathāgatas, and all sentient beings. The sixty-second mark, Cloud of the Wondrous Sound of Turning the Wheel of the Dharma, adorned with all the lamps of the Dharma and pure fragrant stamens, emitting a great light filling the Dharma realm, showing everywhere all the oceans of marks and oceans of mind belonging to all buddhas. The sixty-third mark, Cloud of Adornment, adorned with all the oceans of buddhas of the three times, emitting a pure light that adorns and purifies all buddha-lands, showing everywhere all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions together with the practices those buddhas and bodhisattvas cultivate.

Among the eleven marks, the sixty-first shows forth the three — worlds, Tathāgatas, and sentient beings; the sixty-second shows everywhere the ocean of marks and the ocean of mind; the sixty-third takes the ocean of buddhas for its adornment and shows forth buddhas and practices — the nearer the end, the more comprehensive. The breast is where the svastika lies, that to which good fortune is tied, and so the marks of this one place mostly have ‘showing everywhere’ and ‘showing forth’ for their function: good fortune is not an auspiciousness enjoyed for oneself; it is a showing forth for others.

The Thirteen Marks of the Hands: Five on the Right and Four on the Left, Two of the Fingers and Two of the Palms

The thirteenth place of support is the hands, with the most marks, thirteen. Chengguan divides them into three sections: the first nine speak of the hand-marks directly, the next two are the fingers of the left and right, and the last two are the palms of the left and right.

The five of the right hand: the sixty-fourth mark, Cloud of Ocean-Illumination, adorned with manifold jewels, ever emitting a pure light like the flame of the moon, filling all the worlds of empty space, and sending out a great voice praising all the practices of the bodhisattvas. The sixty-fifth mark, Cloud of Reflected Shining, adorned with beryl, sapphire, and maṇi jeweled flowers, emitting a great light illumining everywhere the worlds in which bodhisattvas dwell, the lotus treasury, the maṇi treasury, and the rest, showing measureless buddhas therein seated beneath the tree of awakening with pure dharma-bodies, and shaking the lands of the ten directions. The sixty-sixth mark, Cloud of Garlands of Lamp-Flames Universally Adorning and Purifying, adorned with Vairocana jewels, emitting a great light that forms a net of transformations, showing everywhere the hosts of bodhisattvas all wearing jeweled crowns and expounding the oceans of the practices; Chengguan explains the clause ‘forms a net of transformations’: it means the light turns into a net. The sixty-seventh mark, Cloud Universally Manifesting All Maṇi Jewels, adorned with lotuses and flaming lamps, emitting the light of the ocean-treasury pervading the Dharma realm, showing everywhere measureless buddhas seated upon lotus seats. The sixty-eighth mark, Cloud of Light, adorned with the ocean of maṇi flames, emitting the pure light of manifold jeweled flames, incense-flames, and flower-flames, filling all the nets of the worlds, and showing everywhere the places of the Way of the buddhas.

The four of the left hand: the sixty-ninth mark, Cloud of the Pure Beryl Lamp, adorned with the wondrous colors of the jeweled ground, emitting the Tathāgata’s golden light, in thought after thought ever showing all superb articles of adornment. The seventieth mark, Cloud of the Sound of the Lamp of Wisdom of All Lands, adorned with the net of Indra and adamantine flowers, emitting the pure light of the gold of Jambūnada, illumining everywhere all the worlds of the ten directions. The seventy-first mark, Cloud of the Light of the Abiding Jeweled Lotus, adorned with manifold jeweled and wondrous flowers, emitting a great light like the lamp of Sumeru, illumining everywhere the worlds of the ten directions. The seventy-second mark, Cloud Pervadingly Illumining the Dharma Realm, adorned with wondrous jeweled garlands, jeweled wheels, jeweled vases, the net of Indra, and manifold wondrous marks, emitting a great light illumining everywhere the lands of the ten directions, showing forth the whole Dharma realm, the world-oceans, and all Tathāgatas seated upon lotus seats. It is upon this mark that Chengguan points out the deepest word in the whole chapter: that the seventy-second on the left says the net of Indra serves as adornment means it is the mark of a net drawn taut, because they interpenetrate one another. Here the net of Indra stands not in the place of a simile but in the place of the adornment of the substance — it is not said that the mark is ‘like’ the net of Indra, but that the substance of the mark is of itself a net interpenetrating layer upon layer. The Huayan sense of the inexhaustibility of the ten profundities finds its footing upon the bodily marks of the Buddha just here.

As for the unevenness of five marks on the right hand and four on the left, Chengguan again leaves both explanations standing: as to five on the right and four on the left, either one has been dropped on the left, or it displays that the right hand is the one in constant use; and whereas the earlier shoulder-marks were two on the right and three on the left, taken together the two places come out exactly equal. This clause is a fine demonstration — when you meet an unevenness of number, first look whether some other explanation is available, and do not rush to judge it an error.

The fingers and the palms: the seventy-third mark, Cloud of the Whirling of the Ocean of Lands Through All Kalpas (the fingers of the right hand), adorned with the maṇi-kings of the treasury of water-moon flames and all jeweled flowers, emitting a great light filling the Dharma realm, ever sending out a subtle and wondrous sound that fills the buddha-lands of the ten directions. The seventy-fourth mark, Cloud Abiding in All Jewels (the fingers of the left hand), adorned with sapphire and adamantine jewels, emitting the light of the manifold jewels of the maṇi-kings filling the Dharma realm, showing everywhere all buddhas and all bodhisattvas. The seventy-fifth mark, Cloud of Shining Forth (the palm of the right hand), adorned with the maṇi-king jeweled wheel of a thousand spokes, emitting a jeweled light that whorls to the right and fills the Dharma realm, showing everywhere all buddhas, the body of each blazing with flaming light, expounding the Dharma and delivering people, and purifying the worlds. The seventy-sixth mark, Cloud of the Flame-Wheel Universally Increasing and Conjuring Forth the Places of the Way in the Dharma Realm (the palm of the left hand), adorned with the thousand-spoked wheel of the maṇi-kings of sunlight, emitting a great light filling the world-oceans, showing forth all bodhisattvas, expounding all the oceans of practice belonging to Samantabhadra, entering everywhere into all the buddha-lands, and awakening measureless sentient beings in each.

Both palms have the thousand wheels. Chengguan explains them: the hub, the spokes, and the rim of the wheel are complete in all three, brought to completion of themselves without waiting upon human labor. This clause comes down to the ground best of all — the perfection of a mark is not something contrived; it is practice fulfilled and self-completed. The hand is the instrument by which work is done, and that the wheel in the palm is completed of itself says just this: when the practice arrives, the mark appears of itself.

The One Mark of the Sheathed Organ: Even the Hidden Place Expounds the Dharma

The fourteenth place of support is the sheathed organ, with one mark: the seventy-seventh mark, Cloud Universally Pouring Forth the Buddha’s Voice, adorned with all wondrous jewels, emitting the light of the flames of maṇi lamps and flowers, that light blazing and complete in the colors of the manifold jewels, illumining everywhere all empty space and the Dharma realm, and showing everywhere all buddhas roaming and coming and going, reaching everywhere in place after place. Chengguan passes over the place of support in six words: the fourteenth, the sheathed organ, one mark, like that of the horse king — explaining it by the mark of concealment of the horse king as transmitted in the ancient science of marks.

What is to be noticed is the function of this mark: in the most hidden place of all, what is emitted is a cloud of the Buddha’s voice, and what is shown forth is buddhas roaming and coming and going, reaching everywhere in place after place. Hidden and pervading are here not at odds with each other. If anyone doubts whether this place ought to be listed among the marks of adornment, this very mark answers him: within the ocean of marks there is not one place that does not expound the Dharma.

The Two Marks of the Place of Sitting: One Mark with Empty Space, Yet Able to Give Birth to All Marks

The fifteenth place of support is the place of sitting, with two marks. The seventy-eighth mark, Cloud of Garlands of Jeweled Lamps Universally Illumining (the right hip), adorned with all manner of maṇi jewels, emitting an inconceivable light of jeweled flames spread over the whole Dharma realm of the ten directions, being one mark together with empty space and the Dharma realm and yet able to bring forth all marks, with the sovereign spiritual transformations of the buddhas appearing in every single mark. The seventy-ninth mark, Cloud Manifesting the Light of the Ocean of the Whole Dharma Realm Overspreading Empty Space (the left hip), like a lotus, ornamented with pure and wondrous jewels, emitting a net of light shining throughout the Dharma realm of the ten directions and showing everywhere all manner of clouds of marks.

The seventy-eighth mark has one sentence of the first importance: it is one mark together with empty space and the Dharma realm, and yet can bring forth all marks. That it is one mark says that its substance is undivided and cannot be cut apart; that it can bring forth all marks says that its function is inexhaustible and its differences stand out plainly. The oneness of substance and the manyness of function stand side by side within one and the same sentence — this is the master key to reading the marks in this chapter. All the emitting of light and showing forth everywhere in the marks before are the unfolding of this one sentence; and the adjudging afterward that the number ninety-seven cannot be matched to dharmas follows from it of necessity.

The Two Marks of the Thighs: Upper and Lower in Proportion, Fit to Go Far

The sixteenth place of support is the thighs, with two marks. The eightieth mark, Cloud of Universal Manifestation (the right thigh), adorned with maṇi jewels of manifold colors, the thigh and the calf in proportion above and below, emitting the wondrous Dharma-light of maṇi flames, able within a single thought to show forth everywhere the ocean of marks of the stepping and pacing of all jewel-kings. The eighty-first mark, Cloud Manifesting the Measureless Ocean of Marks of All Buddhas (the left thigh), adorned with all the oceans of jewels abiding in accord with what is fitting, roaming far and wide, emitting a pure light illumining sentient beings everywhere and causing them all to seek after the unsurpassed Buddha-dharma. Chengguan explains the adornment of the left thigh: that the left is said to abide in accord is because the thigh moves much, and so many jewels are needed to adorn it in accord with it.

The eye of doctrine in these two marks is ‘going’: proportion above and below is the shape fit for going, the ocean of marks of stepping and pacing is the function able to go, roaming far and wide is the distance of the going, and causing sentient beings to seek after the unsurpassed Buddha-dharma is where the going comes home. What the leg-marks of the Buddha expound is the gate of practice itself.

The Three Marks of the Calves: The Calves of the Deer King and the Hair of the Whole Body

The seventeenth place of support is the calves, with three marks. The eighty-second mark, Cloud of All Empty Space and the Dharma Realm (the right calf like that of the aiṇeya deer king), adorned with bright and wondrous jewels, its mark round and upright and straight, able to roam and pace well, emitting the pure light of the color of the gold of Jambū illumining the buddha-worlds throughout, sending out a great voice that shakes everything everywhere, and further showing all buddha-lands abiding in empty space adorned with jeweled flames, from within which measureless bodhisattvas are conjured forth. The eighty-third mark, Cloud of the Ocean of Adornment (the left calf like that of the aiṇeya deer king), its color like true gold, able to roam throughout all buddha-lands, emitting the pure light of all jewels, filling the Dharma realm and performing buddha-deeds.

The eighty-fourth mark, Cloud Universally Manifesting the Images of the Dharma Realm (the hair upon the jeweled calves), that hair whorling to the right, every single hair-tip emitting a jeweled light filling the Dharma realm of the ten directions, showing forth the spiritual power of all buddhas, the pores too all emitting light, and all buddha-lands appearing therein. Chengguan has an important note of collation here: the third, the hair, runs through both calves; and if one goes by the Jin sūtra, which says only ‘hair-tips,’ then it would be all the hair of the whole body, and the sense ought to follow the old rendering, in which case the places of support come to nineteen. This note is the provenance of the number nineteen of the places of support in this chapter — the eighteen places are the text of this sūtra, and the nineteenth is separately established from the Jin sūtra as the hair of the whole body. That an ancient master should set up an outline without concealing what he took it from is what scholarship actually looks like.

The Thirteen Marks of the Feet: From the Soles to the Tips of the Toes, Divided Throughout into Seven

The eighteenth place of support is the feet, with thirteen marks. Chengguan divides them throughout into seven: first the soles of the feet, second the upper sides of the feet, third between the toes, fourth the heels, fifth the insteps, sixth all around the feet, seventh the tips of the toes; and the last six each divide into left and right, as the text plainly shows.

The eighty-fifth mark, Cloud of the Abiding of the Ocean of All Bodhisattvas (the soles of the feet), its color like adamant, like the gold of Jambūnada, and like the pure lotus, emitting a jeweled light illumining everywhere the many world-oceans of the ten directions, clouds of jeweled incense-flames reaching everywhere in place after place, the fragrance flowing about when he lifts his foot and is about to step, complete in the colors of the manifold jewels and filling the Dharma realm. Chengguan explains the name: it is named Abiding because the soles of the feet are level and settled, touching the ground at every point, with no room for a needle. This mark does not divide into left and right, and he sets down a further note of collation alongside: in the Jin sūtra, after the insteps of the feet there is separately a mark of the thousand-spoked wheel upon the soles, and this sūtra must have it too, which is why the following chapter says that the wheel-mark upon the soles is named Universally Illumining King; the words about a thousand wheels in this sūtra fall instead between the toes, perhaps because the wheel upon the soles is what everyone knows, while a wheel between the toes is unusual, and therefore it is singled out. This is a demonstration by an ancient master of cross-verifying by means of a parallel translation and a later chapter.

The eighty-sixth mark, Cloud of Light Universally Illumining All (the upper side of the right foot), adorned with all the manifold jewels, emitting a great light filling the Dharma realm and showing forth all buddhas and bodhisattvas. The eighty-seventh mark, Cloud Universally Manifesting All Buddhas (the upper side of the left foot), adorned with treasury-maṇi jewels, emitting a jeweled light, in thought after thought showing the spiritual transformations of all buddhas together with their oceans of the Dharma and the places of the Way in which they sit, to the end of the kalpas of the future without interruption.

The eighty-eighth mark, Cloud of Light Illumining the Ocean of the Whole Dharma Realm (between the toes of the right foot), with the thousand-spoked wheels of flame of the maṇi-kings of the lamp of Sumeru for its manifold adornment, emitting a great light filling the many world-oceans of the Dharma realm of the ten directions, showing everywhere all the manifold jeweled and adorned marks belonging to all buddhas. The eighty-ninth mark, Cloud Manifesting the Ocean of All Buddhas (between the toes of the left foot), adorned with maṇi jeweled flowers, incense-flames, garlands of lamps, and all jeweled wheels, ever emitting the pure light of the ocean of jewels filling empty space and reaching throughout the worlds of the ten directions, showing forth all buddhas and bodhisattvas, their perfect voices, the svastika sign and marks of that sort, and benefiting measureless sentient beings.

The ninetieth mark, Cloud of Sovereign Shining Forth (the heel of the right foot), adorned with sapphire and jewel-dust, ever emitting the light of the Tathāgata’s wondrous jewels, that light beautiful and filling the Dharma realm, all of it one and the same mark without difference, showing forth all buddhas seated within the places of the Way expounding the wondrous Dharma. The ninety-first mark, Cloud Manifesting the Wondrous Sound That Expounds the Ocean of Dharmas (the heel of the left foot), adorned with the maṇi jewels of the ocean of transformations, the maṇi jewels of the Sumeru flowers of the ocean of incense-flames, and beryl, emitting a great light filling the Dharma realm and showing everywhere the spiritual powers of the buddhas.

The ninety-second mark, Cloud Manifesting the Light of All Adornments (the instep of the right foot), made of manifold jewels and adorned most beautifully, emitting the pure light of the color of the gold of Jambūnada illumining everywhere the Dharma realm of the ten directions, the mark of that light like a great cloud spreading over and covering all the places of the Way of the buddhas. The ninety-third mark, Cloud Manifesting the Marks of Manifold Colors (the instep of the left foot), adorned with the Vairocana jewels of the treasury of all moon-flames and with indranīla jewels, in thought after thought roaming the oceans of the Dharma realm, emitting the light of the incense-flames of maṇi lamps that fills the Dharma realm throughout. Chengguan here glosses a name: indranīla is called in the language of Han ‘Śakra-blue.’

The ninety-fourth mark, Cloud of the Universal Treasury (all around the right foot), adorned with indranīla adamantine jewels, emitting a jeweled light filling empty space, showing forth all buddhas seated within the places of the Way upon lion thrones of maṇi jewel-kings. The ninety-fifth mark, Cloud of Light Pervadingly Illumining the Dharma Realm (all around the left foot), adorned with maṇi jeweled flowers, emitting a great light filling the Dharma realm as one equal mark, showing forth the sovereign spiritual powers of all buddhas and bodhisattvas, and expounding with a great and wondrous sound the inexhaustible Dharma-gates of the Dharma realm.

The ninety-sixth mark, Cloud Manifesting Adornment (the tips of the toes of the right foot), adorned with the most delightful pure and true gold of Jambūnada, emitting a great light filling the Dharma realm of the ten directions, showing forth all the manifold merits and spiritual transformations of the inexhaustible ocean of the Dharma of all buddhas and bodhisattvas. The ninety-seventh mark, Cloud Manifesting the Spiritual Transformations of All Buddhas (the tips of the toes of the left foot), adorned with the inconceivable light of the buddhas, the universal fragrance of moon-flames, and the flaming wheels of maṇi jewels, emitting the pure light of the colors of the manifold jewels filling the world-oceans, showing forth all buddhas and bodhisattvas expounding the ocean of the Dharma of all buddhas.

From the crown of the head to the feet, the ninety-seven marks are here listed out. It is worth remarking that what the very last mark of the chapter shows forth is still buddhas and bodhisattvas expounding the ocean of the Dharma — beginning with the showing forth of buddha-bodies upon the crown and ending with the expounding of the ocean of the Dharma at the tips of the toes; at both ends of the ocean of marks alike, it is the expounding of the Dharma.

The Number Ninety-Seven Is Not to Be Taken and Matched to Dharmas

Having listed the ninety-seven marks, the next thought that most readily arises is this: what deep meaning has this number? Which ninety-seven dharmas should the ninety-seven be matched to?

Chengguan lays down a sentence upon this, and it is the most important guardrail in the whole chapter. He first sets out the doubt: the ninety-seven marks listed above, their order and the naming of their number, were put in place by the translator; and since it is said that they cannot be told out in full, how does it happen that they fall just short of a hundred? A mark is missing from the soles of the feet, and the lips and the palate are not divided; if those two places were reckoned in, the six sense-faculties would all be told out — why should the ears alone be lacking? And if the two ears and the one mark of the soles were added besides, the number would come round to a hundred and so display the inexhaustible — would that not be fine? And he asks in return: moreover, what is listed here has not even told out in full the thirty-two marks of the provisional teaching; could the power of Samantabhadra be unable to speak so much as a hundred?

Then the conclusion falls: the Jin sūtra has omissions and has only ninety-four, and it has no numbering of the order either, and so one may know that the number ninety-seven does not lie in matching dharmas to it out of one’s own fancy.

This sentence deserves reading over and over. It guards against two maladies: the first is forced construction — seeing a number and matching dharmas to it, taking an accidental number in a rendering for the very frame of a Dharma-gate; the second is slighting — supposing that since the number is not matched to dharmas it does not matter, and so reading the marks themselves into confusion as well. The right reading lies in the middle: the number is what the translator put in place, and the marks are what the Buddha’s virtue displays; the number may be indefinite, but the pervading of the Dharma realm by the marks is not to be moved.

Chengguan uses the same measure upon the reconciling of the provisional and the real thirty-two marks: since the thirty-two marks differ in the provisional and the real teachings, each having what the other has not, therefore no reconciling explanation is made — the thirty-two upon one crown in this sūtra are not forced into a set with the thirty-two of a whole buddha in the provisional teaching. Not to reconcile is not to fail to understand; it is to know what cannot be forced into sameness.

Raising the Brief to Display the Vast: Even at Ninety-Seven, It Is Still Only the Brief Telling

At the end Samantabhadra concludes for himself: Sons of the Buddha, Vairocana Tathāgata has great-man marks such as these, as many as the motes of dust of ten Flower-Treasury world-oceans; and upon every single part of his body there are manifold jeweled and wondrous marks serving as adornment.

Chengguan adjudges this as raising the brief to display the vast, and explains why: to speak of them one by one can hardly reach them all, and so a brief conclusion is needed; and yet the brief cannot exhaust what is really so, and so the vast must be displayed. He then reckons it up: the marks as many as the motes of dust of a single Flower-Treasury world-ocean are already boundless, how much more ten Flower-Treasuries — that is the inexhaustible upon the inexhaustible; and who but one possessed of the universal eye could ever behold it?

This conclusion sets the standing of the foregoing ninety-seven marks straight at one stroke: ninety-seven is not the total, it is a specimen. The sūtra says at its opening, ‘I shall now expound for you all the ocean of marks of the Tathāgata,’ it lists ninety-seven in the middle, and at the end it says ‘as many as the motes of dust’ — set the beginning against the end and it is plain that the listing in the middle was from the first a raising of the brief to display the vast. Li Tongxuan outlines this chapter as ninety-nine sections, which is precisely to count out in three the summarizing at the head, the ninety-seven in the middle, and the general conclusion at the end; and his intent is the same.

Brought down to the reader, this conclusion is an exhortation: do not stop at the number. The lesson actually laid upon us is that one clause of the tenet and aim — to display the inexhaustible ocean of marks is the tenet, and to make men cultivate the inexhaustible practices by which such marks are displayed and brought about is the aim. The marks are the fruit, and one looks at the fruit in order to recognize the cause; what the ninety-seven lights illumine is in truth ninety-seven places where practice can be set going.

Lineage

The import of this chapter has three layers of lineage within the Huayan school, all of them settled sayings of the ancient masters, set down without adjudication.

First, its placement within the classification of the teachings. In the Tanxuan ji, under the gate of substance, Fazang distinguishes the thirty-two marks as having form and shape for their substance in the Lesser Vehicle; in the section on distinguishing the marks with respect to the teachings in the Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang, he adjudges them for the initial teaching as gathered under the merits entering the dharma-body, and for the final teaching as suchness itself, the dharma-body; while if one goes by the One Vehicle, then there are marks as many as the motes of dust of ten Lotus-Treasury world-oceans, and both the marks and their functions in action pervade the Dharma realm, so that ten is spoken of in order to display the inexhaustible — and he points directly to this as what the Chapter on the Ocean of Marks speaks. He further cites the threefold adjudging of marks and excellences in the Guanfo sanmei hai jing: the thirty-two marks of the briefest of brief tellings answer to men and gods and the two vehicles, the eighty-four thousand marks of the brief telling answer to the bodhisattvas of the three vehicles, and the true marks and excellences of a buddha in the vast telling, as spoken in the Zahua jing, are precisely this Huayan Chapter on the Ocean of Marks, the marks of the distinct teaching of the One Vehicle. Chengguan in his Huayan jing shu cites the same and adjudges the same, and notes besides that the Zahua is another name for this sūtra. The place of this chapter within the classification into five teachings is thereby settled.

Second, the divergent explanations of its substance. In the Tanxuan ji Fazang sets up eight gates of separate explanation, and his one gate of substance has five layers in order: the Lesser Vehicle takes form and shape for the substance; the initial teaching, going by the Yuqie, takes four of the twenty-two faculties — the eye, the tongue, the male organ, and the body — for the substance; the final teaching, going by the Duifa lun, takes concentration and wisdom for the substance; gathering the marks back to the root, it is pure consciousness alone that is the substance; reducing conditions to the real, it is suchness alone that is the nature; and if it be the ocean of marks of the perfect teaching, then the inexhaustible Dharma realm is its nature. His one gate on the issuing cause gathers further the sayings of seven houses — giving, keeping the precepts, forbearance, great compassion, the nature of the Tathāgata-womb, the ten good deeds, and separate causes for each — and he runs them together by the perfect fusion of the myriad virtues of the buddha-fruit: whether one practice draws many marks in response, or the myriad practices together bring about one mark. Chengguan for his part explains all the marks throughout by the twofold adornment of phenomena and principle, and Li Tongxuan betokens their sense by the recompense brought about by the three kinds of action and the two wisdoms, outlining the chapter as ninety-nine sections. Three tracks run side by side; they are set down without adjudication.

Third, the mutual completion of the two chapters on the marks and the excellences. This chapter lists the marks, and the following chapter, the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Secondary Signs of the Tathāgata, lists the excellences; Chengguan, in explaining the wheel-mark upon the soles of the feet, has already tied it beforehand to the Universally Illumining King of the following chapter, since marks and excellences are made clear over against each other and their import is complete only when the two chapters are read together. And this chapter takes up in turn the general clarifying of the fruit-dharmas in the Chapter on the Inconceivable Dharmas of the Buddhas before it, and repays from afar the question about the fruit-virtues of a buddha at the second gathering in the Hall of Universal Light — the structure of question and answer at the seventh assembly, the second gathering in the Hall of Universal Light, has here completed its one portion concerning the bodily marks.

As for the treatises of the three vehicles, searching the Chengweishi lun, the She dacheng lun, the Yuqie shidi lun, and the Jieshenmi jing under the name ‘ocean of marks’ yields nothing at all. The ninety-seven great-man marks and the ocean of marks of the ten bodies are a heading separately set up by the perfect teaching of the One Vehicle, and no heading of the same name answering to it is to be seen in the scriptures of the three vehicles — this is a difference of pattern, set down as lacking according to the fact, and not filled in with texts from elsewhere.

Beyond the Marks, Why Speak of a ‘Sign’ Besides

The bodily marks of the Buddha were exhausted in the preceding chapter — the ocean of marks of the ten bodies, each single mark with its own light shining through the Dharma realm. That being so, why does this chapter set up yet another thing called a secondary sign?

A secondary sign is a fine excellence that follows upon the great marks; reckoned by rank, it stands a degree below the marks. It is precisely upon that ‘degree below’ that Chengguan founds the reason for this chapter’s coming: marks and signs differ, yet both alike serve to adorn the Buddha’s body; but the signs depend upon the marks and their virtue is inferior to the marks, and so they are set forth after the marks — and just because they are inferior, when their working is once displayed it turns back and displays instead that the virtue of the great marks is hard to conceive. This is a way of speaking: to say a thing that is inconceivable, one begins not from the highest place but from the lowest — if even the lowest portion is like this, the highest may be surmised. So in reading this chapter, if one reads no further than ‘the Buddha’s signs are majestic,’ one has read past it; what the sūtra really asks you to reckon is a ratio.

Can One Light Really Save the Beings of the Hells

The sūtra gives that ratio in its opening breath. The Tathāgata says of himself: there is a secondary sign named Perfect Fullness King, from within which a great light goes forth named Blazing, with seven million asaṃkhyeyas of lights besides for its retinue — and this is one sign only. Then further down: within the mark of the thousand-spoked wheel beneath the bodhisattva’s feet there is a secondary sign, which ever sends forth forty kinds of light, and among them one named Pure Merit, able to shine through worlds as many as the dust motes of a koṭi of nayutas of buddha-lands. One light within one sign shines upon that many worlds.

Before the light of the Perfect Fullness King, the Tathāgata first speaks of a light belonging to the causal stage: “When I was still a bodhisattva, in the palace of the Tuṣita Heaven I sent forth a great light, named Light-Banner King, which shone through worlds as many as the dust motes of ten buddha-lands.” What it shone upon were the beings of the hells — “those who met this light had their manifold sufferings brought to rest, and obtained ten kinds of pure eye, and their ears, noses, tongues, bodies, and minds likewise; they all gave rise to joy and leapt up rejoicing, and when their lives there ended they were born in the Tuṣita Heaven.” Two things are to be watched in this passage. First, the owner of the light is still a bodhisattva and not yet a buddha: the light of the secondary signs of the fruition stage was already shining from the causal stage. Second, what is gained is first the ten kinds of purity in each of the six faculties, and only afterward the birth in heaven — first the organs of seeing and hearing are exchanged, and then the dwelling place.

What did this light do? “Those beings in the Avīci hell who undergo the utmost suffering, when they meet this light, all end their lives there and are born in the Tuṣita Heaven.” Do not read this as a stroke of luck. The sūtra itself supplies the condition: the light, “following upon the manifold deeds and the manifold desires and delights of beings, brings them all to ripeness” — it ripens, it does not substitute. The roots of goodness the beings already had were ripened by the light, and only then were their painful recompenses spent; and further on the sūtra says outright of those who obtain a station upon meeting the light that it is “by the power of the roots of goodness of his former practice.” The light is the condition, not the cause. If this portion is not kept distinct, the chapter becomes a tale of marvels; kept distinct, what it states is the principle of stimulus and response.

The One Who Expounds Is Not the Buddha but a Drum

And after the birth in heaven? The sūtra sets up a most singular expounder of the Dharma: “In that heaven there is a drum, named Most Delightful.” The drum sounds of itself, and tells these gods just come up out of the hells: it is because your minds were not heedless, because you planted roots of goodness in the presence of the Tathāgata and in former times drew near to a multitude of good friends, and because of the great awesome spiritual power of Vairocana, that your lives there ended and you came to be born in this heaven.

Why should a drum be made to speak, rather than the Buddha with his own mouth? First look at what the drum does. Its first utterance is not consolation but a statement of provenance handed to these gods: the pleasure you have today is no accident; it is the cause you yourself planted, together with the Buddha’s sustaining power. The illness gods are likeliest to fall into is to revel in pleasure and forget the cause; the drum, in its first words, points the cause out. Its second sounding goes a step further: the bodhisattva Vairocana has entered the samādhi of parting from defilement, and you should pay him homage — turning their eyes away from their own pleasure and toward a bodhisattva sitting in concentration.

“How Strange and Rare It Is! By What Cause Is So Subtle and Wondrous a Sound Sent Forth?”

The response of the sons of the gods is the starting point of the whole doctrine of this chapter: they gave rise to a doubt — a sound so subtle and wondrous as this, from where exactly is it sent forth?

The question is well asked. Had they merely listened in gratitude, the Dharma would have stopped at exhortation to goodness. Because they pressed after where the sound came from, the drum was able to open up the whole matter of ‘coming from.’ From here the sūtra enters its body: not first the principle and then the example, but the expounder taking himself for the example. This is the point most worth noting in the chapter’s manner — what can speak and what is spoken of are one and the same thing.

I Say “I,” and Yet Do Not Cling to a Self

The drum’s first answer is: the sound I send forth is accomplished by the power of the manifold roots of goodness. Then: “It is as when I say ‘I’ and yet do not cling to there being a self, nor cling to there being anything that belongs to a self; and all the buddhas are likewise — they say of themselves ‘I am the Buddha,’ and yet do not cling to a self, do not cling to what belongs to a self.”

This is first of all the untying of a ready difficulty. If there is no self, why does the Buddha say “I” everywhere? The answer: to say ‘I’ is a convenience of speech, to cling to a self is a grasping in the mind, and the two are not one thing. When a drum says “I,” everyone knows there is no drum there setting itself up as somebody; and the Buddha’s saying ‘I am the Buddha’ is a saying just of that kind. To understand no-self as ‘one may not say I’ is to reduce a doctrine to a rule of grammar. Brought down to daily use, this section comes to: there is no need to shrink from saying ‘I’; what is to be watched is whether, in the saying, a self is being set up in the mind.

Does the Sound Come from the East

Next comes the sentence that runs through this whole chapter: “It is as with my sound: it does not come from the east, nor does it come from the south, the west, the north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, or the nadir.” If the sound does not come from the ten quarters, then where does it come from? The drum does not say ‘from no cause’; it gives a positive answer: it is by the power of the roots of goodness of samādhi, and by the awesome power of prajñā-pāramitā, that a pure sound such as this is brought forth.

To have no place one comes from is not to have no cause. This is the chapter’s most guarded-against swerve. A man who hears ‘it does not come from the ten quarters’ slips easily into ‘then it is out of thin air, then it is random’; and the sūtra takes care to name the powers plainly. To have no place one comes from means that it is not a thing carried over from somewhere else, which might be intercepted on the road; it is the immediate arising, when the conditions are complete. The same principle is said over again with the palaces and instruments of pleasure of the Thirty-Three Gods: those instruments of pleasure too do not come from the ten quarters — they are what deeds have called forth, not goods fetched out of a storehouse.

That Hell-Body of Yours Has No Place It Came From Either

Then the drum turns this blade upon the hearers themselves: “It is as with your being in the hells in former times: that hell and that hell-body did not come from the ten quarters; it was only through your inverted evil deeds and the entanglement of delusion that a hell-body was born. That body has no root, and there is no place it comes from.”

This stroke falls very heavily. While it was sounds and instruments of pleasure, the hearers could still take it for a principle observed from the side; once it is ‘that hell-body you wore yesterday,’ there is no dodging. That the hells are really suffered the sūtra does not deny — what it denies is that there is a hell ready-made in some place, waiting for you. The hell is born from inverted evil deeds and the entanglement of delusion, and therefore it “has no root.” To have no root means that it has no substrate standing independent of conditions; and therefore, once the entanglement is loosened, it is gone. This is precisely the foreshadowing of the doctrine of repentance below — for if deeds had a root, repentance would have nothing to lay hold of.

The Five Desires Stand in Front of Mindfulness of the Buddha

The principle having been carried this far, the drum turns to admonition: you should go to that bodhisattva’s place to draw near and make offerings, and no longer be greedily attached to the instruments of the five desires, for “to be greedily attached to the pleasure of the five desires screens off the manifold roots of goodness.” Then a simile: “It is as when the fire at the end of the kalpa burns Sumeru: it burns it away utterly, so that nothing at all is left; and the entanglement of greed and desire about the mind is likewise — in the end the intention of mindfulness of the Buddha cannot arise.”

The force of the simile must be seen clearly. It does not say that greed makes mindfulness of the Buddha weaker; it says that while greed entangles the mind, the intention of mindfulness of the Buddha cannot be brought forth at all — as after the fire at the end of the kalpa nothing at all of Sumeru is left. This bears most sharply upon men just born into heaven: they are in the very midst of the finest enjoyment. The sūtra is not telling them to practice austerities; it is reminding them that a state of pleasure does not of itself injure a man — it is the being entangled that injures him.

To Know Kindness and Repay It Is Not a Matter of Courtesy

The drum says further: “You should know kindness and repay kindness,” and adds a heavy word: beings who do not know how to repay kindness for the most part meet with untimely death and are born in the hells.

This is easily read as a worldly homily upon gratitude. Set back into the chapter’s own context it is nothing of the kind: the whole situation of these gods was given them by another — a single light drew them up out of Avīci. To know kindness is to know truly upon what stretch of causes and conditions one is standing at this moment; not to know kindness is to take one’s recompense as something owed to one by nature, and so to fall back into heedlessness and make deeds anew. Hence the drum at once gives the concrete way of repaying: now you should quickly dedicate and direct what you have gained, and increase your roots of goodness. To repay kindness is not to return a gift; it is to turn over what one has received.

Neither Male nor Female, Neither Arising nor Ceasing

After the admonition the drum comes back to itself for a last simile: “It is as with me, this heavenly drum: I am neither male nor female, and yet I am able to bring forth measureless, boundless, inconceivable things” — and you sons of the gods and daughters of the gods are likewise, neither male nor female, and yet able to enjoy the manifold exquisite palaces and gardens. Then it presses one layer further: “And as with me, this heavenly drum, which neither arises nor ceases, so form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are likewise, neither arising nor ceasing. If you are able to awaken and understand herein, know that this is to enter the samādhi of the seal of no reliance.”

From a drum’s having no sex to the aggregates’ neither arising nor ceasing, the joint in the middle lies in the words ‘no fixed substance’: the drum is neither male nor female, and yet it functions; the aggregates neither arise nor cease, and yet they undergo pain and pleasure. The concentration entered upon awakening here is named ‘the seal of no reliance’ — no reliance, precisely because there is no fixed substance to lean upon. This section closes the first half of the chapter: from the soundlessness of a place the sound comes from, all the way home to the aggregates having no place they come from.

The Bodhisattva Who Cannot Be Seen

The sons of the gods, having heard this, gained what they had never had before, and conjured up ten thousand clouds of flowers, ten thousand clouds of incense, ten thousand clouds of music, ten thousand clouds of banners, ten thousand clouds of canopies, and ten thousand clouds of songs of praise, and went together to the palace of the bodhisattva Vairocana — and yet they “wished to look up and behold him, and could not see him.” One son of the gods said: the bodhisattva has already passed away from here and been born among men in the house of King Śuddhodana. The sons of the gods looked with the heavenly eye, and sure enough saw him in the house of King Śuddhodana, with Brahmā and the gods of desire attending upon him and making offerings.

Thereupon a thought stirred in them: if we do not go to ask after his welfare, and if there be so much as a single thought of clinging attachment to this heavenly palace, that would be greatly unfitting — and this thought is their second advance: from seeking to see him, they turn to being alert to their own indulgence. Then the drum, sounding a fourth time, corrects their understanding of ‘seeing’: “The bodhisattva-mahāsattva did not end his life in this place and go to be born over there; it is only by the power of spiritual penetration that, according to what suits the minds of beings, he lets them see him.” It is not a removal of household, but a responsive manifestation. And the drum again takes itself for witness: I now am not what the eye is able to see, and yet I am able to give forth sound; the bodhisattva entering the samādhi of parting from defilement is likewise — not what the eye can see, and yet able to display his taking of birth in place after place.

Repenting and Removing the Four Obstructions: First Raise the Mind, Then Ask the Method

Next comes the proper instruction of this chapter. The drum teaches them: they should give rise to the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening, purify and order their minds, abide in good deportment, and repent and remove all obstructions of karma, obstructions of afflictions, obstructions of recompense, and obstructions of views; and further, with bodies, heads, and tongues as many as the number of the beings of the whole Dharma realm, and with good deeds of body, speech, and mind as many as the number of the beings of the whole Dharma realm, repent and remove all obstructions and faults. Chengguan places his outline heading ‘contemplating the four obstructions altogether’ only at the later passage of the drum’s exposition; this passage simply sets out the four obstructions as the sūtra has them.

Note the order: first the raising of the mind of awakening, and afterward the speaking of repentance. Repentance not set upon the mind of awakening is only a seeking to be rid of calamity; set upon the mind of awakening, it becomes the clearing away of the obstructions on a road one has taken. And the phrase ‘bodies as many as the number of the beings of the whole Dharma realm’ is not a rhetorical exaggeration either — it stretches the quantity of the repentance until it answers to the quantity of the deeds that were done. The response of the sons of the gods is exactly the response this section should have: their minds greatly rejoiced, and they asked, “How is it that the bodhisattva-mahāsattva repents and removes all faults?” — what they ask for is a method.

Deeds Come to Rest upon the Mind, and Are Born Only of Inversion

The drum’s answer is the heart of the chapter: “The bodhisattva knows that the manifold deeds do not come from the east, nor come from the south, the west, the north, the four intermediate quarters, the zenith, or the nadir, but are gathered together in common and come to rest within the mind; they are born only of inversion, and have no place where they abide. The bodhisattva sees this with decisive clarity, and has no doubt.”

The three clauses are to be taken apart. First, deeds do not come from the ten quarters — they are not outward things. Second, they are gathered together in common and come to rest within the mind — they really are there, and they are upon the mind. Third, they are born only of inversion and have no place where they abide — their place of birth is inversion, not any real location. The three together are the entire reason why repentance is possible: were deeds outward things, repentance could not reach them; were deeds nothing at all, repentance would be unnecessary; because deeds are upon the mind and yet have no real place of abiding, they can be turned by the mind. The drum adds one more word to guard the border: it speaks of a self and of what belongs to a self, speaks of greed and anger and delusion and the manifold deeds, “and yet in truth there is no self, nor is there anything that belongs to a self,” and the deeds and their fruits of recompense, sought for throughout the ten quarters, are altogether not to be found.

Deeds Neither Arise nor Cease, and Yet There Is No Loss of Recompense

The misunderstanding likeliest to arise just here is: since there is no coming and going, is there then no recompense either? The drum stops it at once: “All the manifold deeds are likewise: neither arising nor ceasing, but only, according to whoever has cultivated and gathered them, does that one undergo their recompense.” And again: “If there were a coming and a going, one would fall into the view of annihilation and the view of permanence; the buddhas in the end do not expound a dharma that has annihilation or permanence, save as a skillful means for bringing beings to ripeness.”

This section cuts away both sides. To say deeds really come and go is to fall into the view of permanence; to say deeds are nothing at all is to fall into the view of annihilation; and the Buddha does not expound a dharma of annihilation or permanence. Neither arising nor ceasing, and yet no loss of recompense — this is the kind of deed that can be repented. So the repentance of this chapter is not a wiping away of sin; it is a seeing through of the inversion that sin has a substance of its own. Once the inversion is broken, the sin that was established upon the inversion has nothing left to cling to.

Did the Images in the Mirror Ever Come

To settle this principle in place, the drum raises the most famous simile of the chapter: there is a crystal mirror named Able to Shine, pure and reflecting through and through, exactly equal in measure to ten worlds; within measureless lands all the mountains and rivers and beings, and even the hells, the animals, and the hungry ghosts, all have their images appearing within it. Then it puts a question: “Can those reflected images be said to enter into the mirror and to go out from the mirror?” The sons of the gods answer: “They cannot.”

This one question and answer is one of the two places in the chapter where the hearers make the reply (the other is at the chapter’s end, where Jewel Hand answers “It cannot be conceived”), and its position is at the very summit of the doctrine. The images appear plainly, and yet have never entered and never gone out. All deeds are likewise: they are able to bring forth their fruits of recompense, and yet have no place they come from and no place they go to. Then the simile of the illusionist closes it off — the illusionist deludes the eyes of men, and the manifold deeds are the same; “if one is able to know in this way, this is true repentance, and all sins and evils are made pure.” Here the sūtra lays down a definition: true repentance is a kind of knowing, not a kind of transaction.

The Benefit of the Teaching: The Fruit of One Dharma Assembly

The Dharma spoken, the fruit appears. The sons of the Tuṣita gods within worlds as many as the dust motes of a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands obtained the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas; measureless sons of the gods of the six heavens of desire gave rise to the mind of awakening; and all the daughters of the gods within the six heavens of desire forsook the body of a woman and gave rise to the intention set upon unsurpassed awakening.

Then comes a wider layer: because the sons of the gods had heard the vast dedication of Samantabhadra, because they had obtained the ten grounds, because they had gained the samādhi adorned with the manifold powers, and because with pure deeds of the three kinds as many as the number of beings they had repented and removed the heavy obstructions, they thereupon saw seven-jeweled lotus flowers as many as the dust motes of a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands, upon each flower a bodhisattva seated cross-legged sending forth light, each single secondary sign of those bodhisattvas sending forth lights as many as the number of beings, and within the lights again buddhas as many as the number of beings, seated cross-legged and expounding the Dharma according to the minds of beings. And yet at the very height of this abundance the sūtra gathers it up in one clause: “and yet all of this did not yet display even a small part of the power of the samādhi of parting from defilement.” — seeing so much, and it does not reach a small part of that concentration. Every one of the great numbers in this chapter must come to rest upon this clause before it is read rightly.

The Clouds of Incense and the Number of the Afflictions

After the benefit comes the offering. The sons of the gods conjured within each and every pore of their bodies clouds of wondrous flowers as many as the number of beings, and made offering to Vairocana Tathāgata, scattering them upon the Buddha, and they all came to rest there; the clouds of incense rained down everywhere upon worlds as many as the dust motes of measureless buddha-lands. Of those whose bodies received that incense, “their bodies were at ease, as when a monk enters the fourth dhyāna, and all their obstructions of karma were melted away” — with the joy of a state of concentration as the measure, one may see that this incense is no worldly incense.

And what those who smelled it gained goes one layer deeper. Here the sūtra sets out the number of the afflictions: as regards form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, there are five hundred afflictions within and five hundred without; those in whom the practice of greed is much have twenty-one thousand, those in whom the practice of anger is much have twenty-one thousand, those in whom the practice of delusion is much have twenty-one thousand, and those in whom the three are in equal parts have twenty-one thousand. The four sorts together make eighty-four thousand. The sūtra does not tell a man to cut them off one by one; it says only, “they know that all of this is empty and false”; and having known it in this way, one accomplishes the roots of goodness of the pure light of the sovereign mastery of the cloud of incense-banners. Those who see the cloud of canopies plant roots of goodness as many as the sands of one Gaṅgā of a pure golden-net wheel-turning king. The numbers are set out so that a man may see that they are empty and false, not so that he may count them over and grow anxious.

The Pure Golden-Net Wheel-Turning King

The latter half of the chapter turns to the station of fruition. The bodhisattva abiding in this station of the wheel-turning king teaches and transforms beings within worlds as many as the dust motes of a hundred thousand koṭis of nayutas of buddha-lands. The sūtra speaks of the working of this station with two similes: one is the Tathāgata Moon Wisdom of the world Bright Mirror, to whom the fourfold assembly come by manifested bodies to hear the Dharma, and who expounds at length the affairs of his former births without ever an interval of a single thought, so that if there are beings who hear the name of that buddha they will surely be born in that land; the other is the first dhyāna — “It is as with one who has obtained the first dhyāna: though he has not yet ended his life, he already sees all the palaces in the place of Brahmā and is able to receive the ease and joy of the Brahmā world.”

Each simile has its own point. Moon Wisdom Tathāgata figures the benefit of hearing a name, and so what follows is: whoever for a moment meets the light of the golden-net wheel-turning king will surely obtain the station of the bodhisattva’s tenth ground. The first dhyāna figures a receiving beforehand of what one has not yet reached, and so one knows that the tenth ground gained upon meeting the light is a receiving in advance of the portion of that station, and not a leaping over of practice — the sūtra says plainly, “this is by the power of the roots of goodness of his former practice.” Abiding in this station he sends forth the pure light of the maṇi topknot, and those who meet it all obtain the station of the tenth ground, accomplish measureless light of wisdom, obtain ten kinds of pure eye and so on to ten kinds of pure mind, are furnished with measureless and most profound samādhis, and accomplish a pure fleshly eye.

Eighty Turns of Dust Motes, and That Fleshly Eye

In the last passage the Tathāgata sets a simile with his own mouth, and puts a question directly to Jewel Hand: crush a koṭi of nayutas of buddha-lands into dust motes, take one mote as one land and crush each of these into dust motes again; hold them in the left hand and go eastward, passing that many worlds of dust motes before setting down one mote, and so in all ten quarters; and let all the worlds, whether a mote was set upon them or not, be gathered together into one buddha-land. “Is such a buddha-land, vast and measureless, to be conceived?” Jewel Hand answers, “It cannot be conceived!” — and adds a word besides: if there be beings who hear this simile and are able to give rise to faith and understanding, that is rarer and more marvelous still.

The Buddha approves that word, and lays the weight upon ‘faith’: to one who hears this simile and gives rise to faith, “I confer upon that one a prediction: he will surely accomplish unsurpassed perfect awakening.” Why should faith carry such weight? Because this quantity has already passed beyond calculation, and to be able to believe it is for the measure of one’s mind to have become answerable to it. Thereupon the Tathāgata pushes the number to its furthest: grind the vast buddha-lands spoken of above, as many as the dust motes of a thousand koṭis of buddha-lands, into dust motes, set them down one by one following the former simile until they are used up, gather them into one land, and grind it into dust motes again, and so on turn after turn “even to the passing of eighty turns” — and all these dust motes “the pure fleshly eye accomplished by the recompense of the bodhisattva’s karma is able within a single thought to see clearly.”

What is to be watched is the words ‘fleshly eye.’ Not the heavenly eye, not the eye of wisdom, but the fleshly eye accomplished by the recompense of karma — only, because this recompense is pure, within a single thought it sees clearly the motes of eighty turns, and sees too buddhas as many as the dust motes of a hundred koṭis of vast buddha-lands, pure and bright as a crystal mirror, shining through worlds as many as the dust motes of ten buddha-lands. The crystal mirror appears here a second time: earlier it served to say that deeds have no coming and going, here it serves to say that the eye is bright and clean. The whole chapter is gathered up at last in one clause: all of this is accomplished by the merit and roots of goodness of the most profound samādhi of the pure golden-net wheel-turning king — from the beings of the hells meeting the light all the way to this place, the thread of cause and fruit has not once been broken.

Lineage

In the explanation of this chapter the ancient masters run in three tracks side by side. Chengguan founds his sense upon the substance and function of marks and signs, judging this chapter to be a working of inferior virtue that yet accomplishes an immediate benefit and turns back to display that the virtue of the great marks is hard to conceive; and at the chapter’s end he sets down that the differentiated causes and fruits are herewith finished, and that at the end of this chapter the scripture did not come down complete — taking this chapter as the gathering up of the differentiated causes and fruits, with the practice of Samantabhadra following after. Fazang, in his commentary upon the sixty-fascicle text, opens two further gates: first, settling the compass — since the thirty-two marks are adorned with eighty secondary signs, then each single one of the marks as many as the dust motes of ten lotus-treasuries has signs as many as dust motes; second, setting forth the working — making clear the working, when the Buddha was a bodhisattva, of the secondary sign at the lowest station of the wheel-mark, which sends forth one light so that the beings of the hells all obtain birth in heaven and accomplish the ten grounds and the ten kinds of eye. Li Tongxuan sets up no outline chapter by chapter, but in his own order of chapters lists this one as the ninth, and judges its sense to be that “he sends forth light within his hand, shining upon the sufferings of the evil destinies, making clear the light of the fullness of the path and of great compassion gathering in the worldly”; and further, in his explanation of the outline of the Chapter on Asaṃkhyeya, he cites expressly the method of repenting and removing spoken by the heavenly drum in this chapter, and takes these gods — who in the past cultivated the ten faiths, made evil deeds in the intermediate state and fell into the hells, were shone upon by the light and born in heaven, heard the heavenly drum expound the Dharma and at one time obtained the ten grounds and the samādhi of parting from defilement — as an instance of what he judges to be “obtaining the fruit of the ten grounds in three lives.” This is Li Tongxuan’s own judgment, and not what the text of this chapter says outright; his ascription is set down as such, without adjudication of which is higher.

As for the parallel translation: in the sixty-fascicle text this chapter is the Chapter on the Merit of the Light of the Lesser Marks of the Buddha, where ‘secondary sign’ appears as ‘lesser mark,’ and the opening is likewise the Buddha telling the bodhisattva Jewel Hand; in the closing passage the two witnesses take different grounds for their similes (the eighty-fascicle text having the dust motes carried through eighty turns, the sixty-fascicle text having the crystal pearl of a lamp-flame), while the structure of the scene is the same — both gathering up, with a quantity beyond conceiving, into the merit and roots of goodness of the samādhi of the station of the wheel-turning king. The two witnesses differ of themselves in fullness and brevity and in their systems of rendering; both are recorded without adjudication.

As to how this chapter is tied to the other chapters within the sūtra, the sūtra itself says it most clearly: the obtaining of the ten grounds by the sons of the gods is tied to their “hearing the vast dedication of Samantabhadra.” And the reason the passage on repentance has become the most often cited method of repenting and removing in the whole Avataṃsaka is likewise that it does not stop at ritual — it sets repentance upon the one insight that deeds have no place they come from, and so repentance becomes a matter of seeing, and not a matter of transaction.

Why He Opens by Saying ‘This Is Only a Small Part’

The chapters just before have spoken of the Tathāgata’s span of life, his dwelling places, his inconceivable dharmas, the ocean of his marks, and the light of his secondary signs, expounding the Buddha’s realm most broadly all the way along. Yet Samantabhadra opens by drawing it in: what was expounded before is only a brief telling, following what suits the capacities of beings, of a small part of the Tathāgata’s realm. It is easy to read this sentence as modesty; in truth it is a judgment of compass — how much was said, to whom it was said, and on what ground it could be said only this far. Chengguan outlines it as ‘marking what went before as little said,’ and what follows he outlines as ‘asking and explaining the reason,’ the two together making ‘the speaking of the cause’; and just this is what has to be conveyed: it is not merely that the Buddha’s realm cannot be exhausted in speech, but that who is listening and how much they can take in is what decides how much gets said. The misreading is to take it for a courtesy. Landing it: reading the Avataṃsaka this far, what ought to be asked is not ‘how great is the Buddha’s realm,’ but ‘how far can this capacity of mine take it up right now.’

The Reason the Buddhas Appear in the World Is a Case History of Illness

Samantabhadra next speaks the reason the Buddhas arise in the world. What the sūtra lists is not merits but the symptoms of beings: being without wisdom they do evil; they reckon a self and what belongs to a self; they cling to the body; they are upside down and full of doubt; they discriminate by wrong views; they are ever conjoined with every kind of knot and bond; they drift with the flood of birth-and-death and grow ever farther from the way of the Tathāgata. Seven clauses come down in a row, each deeper than the last — from being without wisdom to doing evil, from doing evil to reckoning a self, from reckoning a self to clinging to the body, from clinging to the body to being upside down, from being upside down to wrong views, from wrong views to knots and bonds, from knots and bonds to drifting with the flood and growing far from the way. The misreading is to take it for a general reproach. This is in fact the whole chapter’s account of the cause of the disease: the million hindrances listed below are, one by one, the unfolding of these clauses, and the ten dharmas cultivated below are, one by one, their cure. Landing it: recognize the illness first, and what comes after will not be a heap of terms.

I See No Single Thing So Greatly at Fault

Then comes the heaviest sentence of the chapter: I see no single thing so greatly at fault as bodhisattvas rousing a mind of anger against another bodhisattva. The weight of the sentence lies in what it sifts out — it does not say that anger is the heaviest of the afflictions; it says that this one thing, ‘a bodhisattva angry at a bodhisattva,’ is the heaviest. Three things are sifted: the one who rouses is a bodhisattva, the one against whom it is roused is a bodhisattva, and what is roused is anger. Let any one of the three be lacking and the judgment does not stand. Chengguan, explaining this passage, cites the Jueding pini jing as his warrant, that a bodhisattva would rather rouse a hundred thousand thoughts of greed than one thought of anger, since nothing so violates and harms great compassion as this; and he records that the Pusa shanjie says the same. The reason lies in those four words, ‘violates and harms great compassion’: greed still gathers in, while anger simply refuses; great compassion is the very substance of the bodhisattva practice, and the moment anger rises, the substance is broken first. The misreading is to take this sentence and reprove someone else’s anger with it. Landing it: this sentence is spoken to those who have roused the mind of awakening — the more of a fellow traveler you are, the more there is in you to be wounded.

One Thought of Anger Accomplishes a Million Hindrances: How This ‘Million’ Is to Be Read

The sūtra asks and answers itself: if bodhisattvas rouse a mind of anger and rage against the remaining bodhisattvas, they accomplish a million gateways of hindrance. Then it lists the names one by one. There are those who, seeing ‘a million,’ set about counting, and doubt when the count falls short of a million. Chengguan records that ‘the ancients assigned them to five positions’ as an outline of these million hindrances 〔for the commentary see the apparatus〕; and as the text stands, the hindrances listed are categories, spoken of altogether as a million — a quantity raised by kind, not a number arrived at by tallying (this is a way of reading, not something the sūtra says outright). The sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka has, at this same passage, ‘a hundred thousand gateways of hindering dharmas,’ a number differing from that of the eighty-fascicle text; the two have stood side by side from of old, and are recorded without adjudication. The misreading is to suppose that the sūtra is exaggerating. Landing it: what is to be looked at is not the number but the ordering of these hindrances — it runs from recompense to the faculties and the body, from the faculties and the body to the conduct of the mind, and at the last to the lineage, each layer nearer in than the one before.

The First Layer of Hindrance: Not Seeing, Not Hearing, Not Being Born Where One Might

The first ten listed are all recompense of the coarsest kind: not seeing awakening, not hearing the true Dharma, being born in an impure world, being born in the evil destinies, being born in the difficult places, having many sicknesses, being much slandered, being born among the stubborn and dull destinies, losing right mindfulness, wanting in wisdom. What this layer has in common is that the opportunity is gone — it is not that one cultivates badly, but that one does not so much as meet with it. Next come the hindrances of the six faculties: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind each make a hindrance; the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka joins them here into a single clause, while the eighty-fascicle text sets each faculty out separately. Then comes the class of evil conditions: evil friends, evil companies, delighting to practice the Lesser Vehicle, delighting to draw near the common and mediocre, not believing in and not delighting in those of great awesome virtue, delighting to dwell with those far from right view, being born into a house of the outer paths, dwelling within the realm of Māra, departing from the Buddha’s right teaching, not seeing good friends, roots of good held back and hindered, unwholesome dharmas increased, gaining a low and mean place. The misreading is to take these for an environment that others have imposed. The sūtra’s order says it plainly: these are what one thought of anger accomplishes; they do not come from outside. Landing it: at the very moment the mind rises, what one will and will not meet with begins to fork.

The Ancients’ Assignment of Stages: Matching This Long String of Hindrances to the Five Positions

Further down come the hindrances of where one is born — born in a borderland, born in the house of evil men, born among evil spirits, born among evil dragons and evil yakṣas on to evil rākṣasas; then the hindrances of not delighting in the great Dharma — not delighting in the Buddha’s Dharma, practicing the dharmas of childish ignorance, clinging with love to the Lesser Vehicle, not delighting in the Great Vehicle, being by nature much startled and afraid, a mind ever harboring sorrow and vexation, clinging with love to birth-and-death, not being single-minded upon the Buddha’s Dharma, not delighting to see and hear the Buddha’s sovereign spiritual penetrations; then the hindrances of falling back from the bodhisattva practice — not gaining the bodhisattva’s faculties, not practicing the bodhisattva’s pure practice, shrinking back from the bodhisattva’s deep mind, not giving rise to the bodhisattva’s great vows, not rousing the mind of omniscience, indolence toward the bodhisattva practice, being unable to purify one’s deeds, being unable to gather in great merit, a power of wisdom that cannot be clear and sharp, cutting off vast wisdom, not guarding and upholding the bodhisattva’s practices; then the hindrances of slandering wisdom and dwelling with Māra — delighting to slander the words of omniscience, departing far from the awakening of the Buddhas, delighting to dwell within the realms of the hosts of Māra, not being single-minded in cultivating the Buddha’s realm, not rousing with decision the bodhisattva’s great oath, not delighting to dwell together with bodhisattvas, not seeking the bodhisattva’s roots of good, being by nature much given to views and doubts, a mind ever dark with its own folly. Chengguan here records one manner of outlining used by the ancients, which assigns this long string to the five positions: the first stretch hinders the practice of the ten faiths; from ‘not delighting in the Buddha’s Dharma’ onward hinders the practice of the ten abodes; from ‘not gaining the bodhisattva’s faculties’ onward hinders the practice of the ten practices; from ‘delighting to slander all’ onward hinders the practice of the ten dedications; from ‘not delighting to dwell together with bodhisattvas’ onward hinders the practice of the ten grounds. The misreading is to take this assignment of stages for a division the sūtra carries of itself. It is an outline the ancient masters matched to the text for ease of reading; the text itself only lists the names in one breath. Landing it: once the five positions are matched, one sees that this string of hindrances is no scattered list — it blocks the whole bodhisattva way, stretch by stretch, from faith all the way to the grounds.

The Hindrances of Practice Contrary to the Six Perfections, and of the Six Faculties and the Three Kinds of Action

As the naming of the hindrances passes its midpoint the sentence pattern suddenly changes: before, each was called by its name outright; here it becomes ‘because one cannot do such and such, there arises such and such a hindrance.’ First they are matched to the six perfections: because one cannot practice equal giving there arises the hindrance of stinginess that does not let go; because one cannot keep the Tathāgata’s precepts there arises the hindrance of breaking the precepts; because one cannot enter the gate of forbearance there arise the hindrances of folly, of harming and vexing, and of anger and rage; because one cannot practice great vigor there arises the hindrance of the filth of indolence; because one cannot gain the samādhis there arises the hindrance of distraction; because one does not cultivate the perfection of wisdom there arises the hindrance of evil understanding; and to these are added having no skill amid what is and what is not the case, having no means amid the delivering of beings, being unable to contemplate amid the bodhisattva’s wisdom, and being unable to comprehend amid the bodhisattva’s dharmas of going forth. Then they are matched to the faculties and to action: because one does not accomplish the ten kinds of vast eye, the eyes are as of one born blind; because the ear does not hear the unobstructed Dharma, the mouth is as of a dumb sheep; because one is not furnished with the marks and signs, the faculty of smell is broken; because one cannot distinguish and know the speech of beings, the hindrance of the faculty of the tongue is accomplished; because one slights and despises beings, the hindrance of the faculty of the body is accomplished; because the mind is much distracted and wild, the hindrance of the faculty of the mind is accomplished; because one does not keep the three kinds of restraint, the hindrance of bodily action is accomplished; because one ever rouses the four faults of speech, the hindrance of verbal action is accomplished; because one much gives rise to greed, anger, and wrong view, the hindrance of mental action is accomplished. The misreading is to read ‘eyes as of one born blind’ and ‘a mouth as of a dumb sheep’ as bodily defect. The cause the sūtra gives is ‘one does not accomplish the bodhisattva’s ten kinds of vast eye’ and ‘the ear does not hear the unobstructed Dharma’ — so this is a blindness and a dumbness of the Dharma-eye and the Dharma-ear. Landing it: once the sentence pattern changes, cause and effect stand bare — a hindrance is not a punishment but what naturally comes of a practice left uncultivated.

The Last Clause of the Hindrances Is the Heaviest

After the hindrances of the three kinds of action the sūtra sets up two more, ‘the hindrance of seeking the Dharma with a thief’s mind’ and ‘the hindrance of cutting off the bodhisattva’s realm’; and Chengguan points out here that ‘as for seeking the Dharma with a thief’s mind — how should it hinder one ground only? Know then that it is a hindrance running through them all’ — these two do not hinder a single ground but hinder throughout. Before the very end there are seven more hindrances of one pattern: a mind that shrinks back amid the bodhisattva’s dharmas of valor, a mind that grows lazy amid the way of going forth, a mind that comes to rest amid the gateways of the light of wisdom, a mind that grows weak and mean amid the power of mindfulness, being unable to dwell in and uphold the Tathāgata’s teaching, being unable to draw near the way of leaving birth behind, being unable to cultivate the way that is without loss or ruin — all set up as hindrances upon the bodhisattva’s own falling back along his own road, and what they hinder is the strength to keep walking forward. The last two of the whole long string are these: the hindrance of according with the right position of the two vehicles, and the hindrance of departing far from the lineage of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the three times. That they stand at the end is no accident. The hindrances before were of not meeting, of not accomplishing, of faculties and body left dull; here one has entered the right position of the two vehicles and left the bodhisattva’s lineage — which is to say, one has taken another road and is no longer a man upon this one. And so Samantabhadra at once concludes: if a bodhisattva rouses one thought of anger against the bodhisattvas, he accomplishes such a million gateways of hindrance as these; and he speaks that opening sentence of denial once again — I see no single thing so greatly at fault as bodhisattvas rousing a mind of anger against the remaining bodhisattvas. The same sentence at head and at foot, with all the names of the hindrances held between — this is the frame the text gives itself. The misreading is to feel that the closing words are mere repetition. Landing it: that repeated sentence is the bracket; read the million hindrances through and then read it again, and only then does its weight come down.

Turning Over from Hindrance: First Cultivate the Ten Dharmas

After the conclusion the tone turns: therefore, if bodhisattva-mahāsattvas would swiftly fulfill the bodhisattva practices, they should diligently cultivate ten kinds of dharma. The ten are these — in mind to cast away not one being; toward the bodhisattvas to give rise to the thought of them as Tathāgatas; never to slander any Buddha-dharma; to know that the lands are without end; to give rise to deep faith and delight in the bodhisattva practice; not to cast away that mind of awakening which is equal to space and to the Dharma realm; to contemplate awakening and enter the Tathāgata’s powers; to cultivate diligently unobstructed eloquence; to teach and transform beings without weariness; to dwell within all worlds with a mind clinging to nothing. The first two answer directly to the illness set out above: casting away not one being cures the refusal to which anger gives birth; giving rise to the thought of the bodhisattvas as Tathāgatas cures head-on the ‘rousing a mind of anger against another bodhisattva’ — look upon a fellow traveler as a Tathāgata, and anger has nowhere to rise from. The misreading is to read the ten dharmas as an ordinary list of good deeds. They are a prescription aimed at a target, and the second ingredient is this chapter’s chief medicine. Landing it: look upon that fellow traveler beside you who is hardest to get on with as a Tathāgata — this is a medicine that can be taken today.

The Ten Purities: After the Dharmas Are Cultivated, First Comes Purity

The sūtra uses the pattern ‘having dwelt in these ten dharmas, one can then be furnished with’ to join the ten dharmas to the ten purities: the purity of penetrating the most profound Dharma, of drawing near the good friend, of guarding and upholding the Dharma of the Buddhas, of comprehending the realm of space, of entering deeply into the Dharma realm, of contemplating the boundless mind, of sharing one and the same root of good with all bodhisattvas, of not clinging to the kalpas, of contemplating the three times, and of practicing all the dharmas of the Buddhas. ‘Purity’ here is not another kind of practice taken up; it is that, the former ten dharmas having been cultivated to ripeness, the turbidity has gone out of that very same thing. Set them side by side and see: ‘toward the bodhisattvas to give rise to the thought of them as Tathāgatas’ has become here ‘the purity of sharing one and the same root of good with all bodhisattvas’ — what was a deliberate thought has become a sameness without turbidity. The misreading is to take the six stretches for six separate batches of homework. Landing it: the completing of one stretch is the beginning of the next; this is not more piled on, but the same thing grown clear.

The Ten Wisdoms: Once Purified, One Can See

Purity is joined to wisdom: the wisdom knowing the mental conduct of all beings, the wisdom knowing their deeds and recompense, the wisdom knowing all the dharmas of the Buddhas, the wisdom knowing the deep and secret purport of all the dharmas of the Buddhas, the wisdom knowing all the gateways of dhāraṇī, the wisdom knowing all letters and eloquence, the wisdom of skill in all the speech, the sounds, and the turns of phrase of beings, the wisdom of manifesting one’s own body universally within all worlds, the wisdom of manifesting one’s reflected image universally within all assemblies, and the wisdom of being furnished with the wisdom of omniscience in every place of birth. Of the ten, the first seven are ‘knowing,’ and the last three turn into ‘manifesting’ and ‘being furnished’ — knowing carried to its utmost can of itself manifest, and so manifesting one’s body universally and manifesting one’s image universally are not some other kind of spiritual penetration but the working of wisdom; while the tenth speaks of being furnished with the wisdom of omniscience in every place of birth. The misreading is to read wisdom as wide learning. Landing it: these ten wisdoms are every one of them a wisdom aimed at capacities — knowing beings’ mental conduct, knowing their deeds and recompense, knowing their speech — all of it so that one may be able to speak with them at all.

The Ten Universal Enterings: The Passage Where the Avataṃsaka Shows Its Bones Most Plainly

After wisdom come the ten universal enterings, every clause in the pattern of mutual entering: all worlds enter a single hair’s path, and a single hair’s path enters all worlds; the bodies of all beings enter one body, and one body enters the bodies of all beings; kalpas beyond telling enter a single thought, and a single thought enters kalpas beyond telling; all the dharmas of the Buddhas enter one dharma, and one dharma enters all the dharmas of the Buddhas; places beyond telling enter one place, and one place enters places beyond telling; faculties beyond telling enter one faculty, and one faculty enters faculties beyond telling; all faculties enter what is not a faculty, and what is not a faculty enters all faculties; all conceivings enter one conceiving, and one conceiving enters all conceivings; all speech-sounds enter one speech-sound, and one speech-sound enters all speech-sounds; all the three times enter one time, and one time enters all the three times. Among the ten pairs, realm and hair’s path are breadth and narrowness; body and body are host and companion; kalpa and thought are time; dharma and dharma are teaching; faculty and non-faculty are that which acts and that which is acted upon — the sense of the one and the many entering one another is nowhere in this sūtra spoken more directly than here. The misreading is to read ‘enter’ as stuffing one thing into another. The text deliberately says it from both sides, this entering that and that entering this, precisely to cut off the notion of the large containing the small. Landing it: this passage need not be understood first; remember its sentence pattern first, and then the later verse, ‘within a single mote of dust the worlds are wholly seen,’ will have somewhere to come to rest.

The Ten Surpassingly Wondrous Minds: Having Entered, Where Does the Mind Dwell?

After contemplating the universal enterings, the sūtra says that one dwells in ten kinds of surpassingly wondrous mind: the surpassingly wondrous mind dwelling in the speech and the non-speech of all worlds; dwelling in the conceivings of all beings as resting upon nothing; dwelling in the ultimate realm of space; dwelling in the boundless Dharma realm; dwelling in all the deep and secret dharmas of the Buddhas; dwelling in the most profound dharma without distinction; dwelling in the extinguishing of all doubt; dwelling in all worlds as equal and without distinction; dwelling in the sameness of the Buddhas of the three times; dwelling in the measureless powers of all Buddhas. Of the ten there is one that matters most: dwelling in the conceivings of all beings as resting upon nothing. At the chapter’s end it is said that all arise from one’s own conceiving, and here a first stroke is laid down for it — only by knowing that beings’ conceivings rest of themselves upon nothing does one escape being tangled in the net of conceiving. The misreading is to read ‘dwell’ as coming to a halt. The dwelling here is the dwelling of settling, a mind that has its ground and does not stir. Landing it: for the mind to dwell steadily, one must first know that what it dwells in rests, from the first, upon nothing.

The Ten Kinds of Skillful Wisdom: Named Ten, Yet Eleven Are Listed

The last of the six stretches is the ten kinds of skillful wisdom in the Buddha-dharma: comprehending the most profound, bringing forth the vast, proclaiming the manifold, realizing and entering the equal, making clear the differentiated, awakening to the undifferentiated, entering deeply into the adorned, entering by a single means, entering by measureless means, knowing the boundless Buddha-dharma to be without distinction, and by one’s own mind and one’s own strength not turning back amid all the dharmas of the Buddhas. Told off clause by clause, eleven clauses are actually got, and yet the sūtra concludes, ‘these are the ten.’ The base text stands so and is kept word for word; from of old some have joined ‘entering by a single means’ and ‘entering by measureless means’ into one, and some have joined the last two into one — the accounts differ, and they are recorded without adjudication. What is to be looked at is the place of this stretch: the five before it cultivate mind and wisdom, and this one cultivates the being able to use them — one and the same Buddha-dharma, and one can comprehend it, bring it forth, proclaim it, and realize and enter it, realizing sameness without losing difference and making difference clear without obstructing non-difference, coming home at the last to ‘by one’s own mind and one’s own strength not turning back amid all the dharmas of the Buddhas.’ The misreading is to doubt the sūtra because the count does not tally. Landing it: only when one has learned to say it to another without its going crooked is there skill.

With Little Labor, Swiftly Gaining Awakening

The six stretches told to the end, Samantabhadra exhorts in conclusion: having heard this dharma, all should rouse the mind and reverently receive and uphold it; one who upholds this dharma, using little labor, swiftly gains unsurpassed perfect awakening, gains all the dharmas of the Buddhas in their fullness, all equal to the dharmas of the Buddhas of the three times. The words ‘using little labor’ catch the eye most — a million hindrances and sixty gateways of practice have only just been listed, and how then can it be said that little labor is used? The key lies in the closing clause, ‘all equal to the dharmas of the Buddhas of the three times’: this dharma is the equal and perfect cause, and since the cause is already equal to the fruit, it need not wait upon kalpas of accumulation before it can be accomplished. It is on just this ground that Chengguan judges this chapter to make clear the equal and perfect cause, paired with the following chapter’s equal and full fruit. The misreading is to read ‘little labor’ as a shortcut or a saving of effort. Landing it: what is saved is not the work but the roundabout way — recognize this one gate, and strength is no longer spent upon side roads.

The Auspicious Witness: When It Is Rightly Spoken, Heaven and Earth Answer

The prose told through, the compilers narrate the auspicious signs. By the Buddha’s spiritual power and because the Dharma is of itself so, in each of the ten directions worlds to the number of the dust-motes of ten beyond-telling hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of Buddha-lands quaked in six ways, and ten kinds of cloud rained down — clouds of flowers, of incense, of powdered incense; clouds of garments, canopies, banners, pennants, maṇi jewels and every adornment; clouds of music; clouds of bodhisattvas; clouds of the form and appearance of Tathāgatas; clouds of praise and acclamation; clouds of the Tathāgata’s voice filling the Dharma realm; clouds of adorned worlds; clouds of increasing awakening; clouds of shining light; clouds of expounding the Dharma by spiritual power. It closes with a single clause that carries the whole through: just as in this world, at the place of awakening, the Tathāgata was seen to accomplish right and perfect awakening and to expound this Dharma, so is it in all the worlds of the ten directions. The misreading is to look upon the auspicious signs as decoration. The sūtra gives two causes — the Buddha’s spiritual power, and the Dharma being of itself so; and it is the second that is the point: the Dharma simply is thus, and this is not a display got up on purpose. Landing it: what is called a response the sūtra itself explains as the Dharma being of itself so.

The Samantabhadras of Other Quarters Come to Bear Witness: All Is Equal, with Nothing Added and Nothing Taken Away

Then, from beyond worlds to the number of the dust-motes of ten beyond-telling Buddha-lands in each of the ten directions, bodhisattvas to the number of the dust-motes of ten Buddha-lands come to this land, filling the ten directions, and speak their witness. They give their own station: we are all alike named Samantabhadra, and we have each come from the world Universal Victory, from the presence of the Tathāgata Universal Banner Sovereign; and they say that they too expound this Dharma in every place, that this assembly and that, this speaking and that, are all equal, with nothing added and nothing taken away; and they close by saying that all of them, borne by the Buddha’s awesome spiritual power, have come to this place of the Way to bear witness for you. The weight lies in the two phrases ‘alike named Samantabhadra’ and ‘nothing added and nothing taken away.’ Samantabhadra is not one man’s name; it is the name of a practice — the practice being the same, the name is the same, and so the countless Samantabhadras of other quarters and the Samantabhadra of this assembly expound one and the same Dharma without getting in one another’s way. The misreading is to take the Samantabhadras of other quarters for outsiders brought in to corroborate. Landing it: the manner of their witness is that they too are saying the very same sentence — and this is what proof looks like in the Avataṃsaka.

The Nine ‘Wishings’ Before the Verses

Before turning into the long verses, the compilers first narrate Samantabhadra’s intent in speaking them: by the Buddha’s spiritual power and by the power of his own roots of good he contemplates the ten directions and on to the Dharma realm, wishing to reveal the bodhisattva practice, wishing to proclaim the realm of the Tathāgata’s awakening, wishing to speak of the realm of the great vows, wishing to speak of the number of kalpas of all worlds, wishing to make clear that the Buddhas appear according to the time, wishing to speak of how the Tathāgata appears for beings whose faculties have ripened and causes them to make offerings, wishing to make clear that the Tathāgata’s coming into the world is not in vain, wishing to make clear that the roots of good that are planted must surely obtain their fruit, wishing to make clear that bodhisattvas of great awesome virtue manifest their form and expound the Dharma for all beings and cause them to awaken. These nine wishings are the table of contents of the hundred and twenty-one verses. The misreading is to take them for a formula of transition. Landing it: when you lose your way in the long verses, come back and match what you are reading against these nine clauses, and you will know which stretch you are in.

The First Twenty-Four Verses: First Saying What Is to Be Said

The long verses open with a charge to listen — you should rejoice, cast away the coverings, and with one mind reverently listen to the vows and practices of the bodhisattvas; then comes the promise to speak of the bodhisattvas of old, those most surpassing lions among men, and of the practices they cultivated, together with the number of kalpas, the worlds, the deeds, and the honored ones who arose therein. Into the middle is set the very wording of the past Buddhas’ original vow: they pondered and gave rise to this vow — I shall be a lamp for the world, furnished with the Buddha’s merits, his ten powers, and omniscience; all the beings there are burn in the flames of greed, anger, and folly, and I shall deliver them all and cause the sufferings of the evil destinies to be extinguished. Then it says that the vow once made, they practiced without turning back, and are therefore called lions of discourse; then comes the promise to speak of the universal eyes of the thousand Buddhas of the Worthy Kalpa, of the practices of the Buddhas to come through measureless kalpas, and of the practices of the World-Honored Ones of ten powers in measureless lands; then the marks of the Buddhas’ coming into the world are laid out with eight uses of the word ‘according’ — according to their vows, their names, their predictions, their spans of life, the true Dharma, those they transformed, and their Buddha-lands; and it comes home at the last to ever doing the deeds of Samantabhadra, to the three kinds of action of body, speech, and mind being unhindered and pure, to bringing the way of Samantabhadra to its end and bringing forth the sun of pure wisdom. Chengguan judges these first twenty-four verses to be ‘displaying the compass of what is spoken,’ and this is just the sense of it: first the range of what is to be said is drawn out. The misreading is to hurry on to the marks of the practice. Landing it: what the prose has already taught, the verses here only match against, without teaching it again; what the verses have of their own is the very wording of that original vow.

The Head of the Ninety-Seven Verses: Within a Single Mote of Dust the Worlds Are Wholly Seen

From the twenty-fifth verse the marks of the practice of Samantabhadra are properly set forth. The opening clause is the most famous verse of the chapter — “Within a single mote of dust the worlds are wholly seen; should beings hear this word, they would be confounded and their minds go mad.” The sūtra itself foretells the reader’s response: hearing it, one goes mad. Then it opens out layer upon layer: as it is with one mote, so with all motes; within each single mote are the dharmas of the ten directions and the three times; within each single mote are measureless kinds of Buddha-land; on to measureless and boundless lands known to be one land, and all the worlds entering wholly within one land, yet the worlds not thereby becoming one, nor any confusion arising. This long stretch is the verse form of that one clause in the prose, ‘all worlds enter a single hair’s path,’ and every clause of it keeps two bounds: entering without the marks being broken, and being one without becoming confused. The misreading is to take it for a boast of spiritual power. Landing it: mutual entering without the marks being broken — this is what the Avataṃsaka calls unobstructedness; break the marks and it is only a lump of chaos, and not the Dharma realm.

The Thirty Verses on the Practice of Compassion Wherein Wisdom Is Great: Those Not Yet Settled He Makes Settled

From the ninety-second verse Chengguan judges it to be the practice of compassion wherein wisdom is great. The opening clauses are: those not yet settled he makes settled; to those already settled he displays the place of the Way; in this way he pervades the Dharma realm, and his mind clings to nothing. Then come the two clauses that show the bone most plainly: he does not dwell within the real limit, nor does he enter nirvāṇa — not dwelling in the real limit, he does not fall into a sunken emptiness; not entering nirvāṇa, he does not cast beings away. Further down it says that the number of dharmas and the number of beings he knows and yet does not cling to, that he rains down the rain of Dharma universally, that thought after thought he accomplishes right awakening and yet still cultivates the bodhisattva practice and has never turned back; and the last stretch gathers into the great section on all arising from one’s own conceiving: measureless and boundless minds and their several distinct deeds are all heaped up by conceiving; he knows that they are neither one nor two, neither defiled nor pure, and that all arise from one’s own conceiving; beings all falsely rouse conceivings of the good and evil destinies and thereby are born in the heavens or fall again into the hells; all the lands are what the net of conceiving displays, and because there is a means like a net of conjuring, in a single thought he can enter them all. The misreading is to see the earlier verses on emptiness and these verses on delivering beings as two disconnected halves. Landing it: it is precisely because he knows the world to be what the net of conceiving displays that he dares to enter it in a single thought and fish men out — and this is wisdom and compassion within one and the same sentence.

The Final Verses: The Buddha Speaks, Beings Speak, the Lands Speak

Where the long verses close it says: the Buddha speaks, beings speak, and the lands too speak; throughout the three times it is spoken thus, and he wholly knows the manifold of it; and again: within the past there is the future, and within the future the present, the three times behold one another, and each and every one is clear; and the final verse concludes: in measureless ways such as these he awakens the worlds; of the means of omniscience, the bound cannot be got. Of the hundred and twenty-one verses, the ninety-seven that properly set forth the marks of the practice come home at the end not to any one thing gained but to ‘the bound cannot be got.’ The misreading is to feel that the ending falls away into emptiness. The sūtra’s sense is that the means by which the world may be awakened are measureless, and so no bound can be spoken to them — what cannot be got is the bound, not the means. Landing it: measureless means set against measureless beings — this is the definition that this chapter gives to the practice of Samantabhadra.

Lineage

The lineage of this chapter lies first of all in the chapter that follows. Chengguan judges the Chapter on the Practice of Samantabhadra and the Chapter on the Appearance of the Tathāgata to be a pair, the former making clear the equal and perfect cause and the latter the equal and full fruit; and so this chapter’s ‘all equal to the dharmas of the Buddhas of the three times’ opens directly into the following chapter’s sense of nature-arising and the appearing. As to the tenets, the stretch on the ten universal enterings is the scriptural ground within this chapter for the one and the many entering one another and for breadth and narrowness being sovereign; while the verses ‘within a single mote of dust the worlds are wholly seen’ and ‘all the worlds enter wholly within a single Buddha-land, yet the worlds do not thereby become one, nor is there any confusion’ are the ground of the subtle and the fine containing one another and of the net of Indra layer upon layer, and the later talk of the ten mysteries takes much of its material from here. As to the substance of the teaching, Fazang, judging the difference between the One Vehicle and the three vehicles in the Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang, cites in his third item, ‘the difference of the host,’ this chapter’s final verse, ‘the Buddha speaks, bodhisattvas speak, the lands speak, beings speak, all the three times speak,’ as his warrant, to make clear that the host of the teaching in the One Vehicle is the Buddha of ten bodies together with the three world-realms without end, unlike the three vehicles, where it is the emanation body and the enjoyment body alone that speak — and what he cites is the wording of the sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka, not the text of the eighty-fascicle, which is here recorded. As to the outlines of the several masters, three tracks run side by side: Chengguan, upon the eighty-fascicle text, outlines it as the two divisions of what is cured and what cures, the curing being six positions of ten practices each; Fazang, upon the sixty-fascicle text, outlines it as the three senses of ‘universal,’ ‘worthy,’ and ‘practice’ in three divisions, gathered under sixty gateways of practice; and Li Tongxuan sets up no chapter-by-chapter explanation of the name at all, taking this chapter only as a brief raising of a greater original text having a million koṭis of verses — the three accounts differ both in their base numbers and in what they match to what, and cannot be matched against one another; they are recorded together without adjudication.