華嚴經 義疏通講 · 冊4Avataṃsaka Sūtra · Exposition Throughout · Vol. 4

Why This Chapter Stands Last in the Second Assembly

The chapter “Pure Conduct” has just finished setting out the hundred and forty-one vows and just finished speaking of ‘using the mind well’; a person actually practicing will naturally ask: if I go on using my mind this way, vow by vow, what in the end will grow out of it? The Foremost in Worthiness chapter is the answer to that question. Chengguan's judgment of the reason for this chapter's coming is extremely direct: “Now, practice is not set up for nothing; there must be its virtue. Since understanding and practice have been made perfect and wondrous, the excellent virtue must be beyond thought; it gathers up the preceding practice and vows to accomplish the virtuous function of faith, and therefore it comes next.” Practice is not set up in vain; being set up, it must have its virtue. The earlier chapter brought practice and vows to completeness; here what that practice and those vows accomplish is gathered up and spoken of. Zhiyan, over on the sixty-fascicle side, judges it the same way: “Practice having been established, there must next be an extensive praising of the function of its virtue that completes the station; therefore it comes.”

There is a further and tighter thread. Chengguan points out that the long string of questions the Bodhisattva Foremost in Wisdom earlier put to Mañjuśrī was a case of “raising up the fruit to enquire after the cause” — taking the fruit and asking about the cause; and that when Mañjuśrī answered he “set forth that cause at length while indicating the fruit only summarily,” expounding the cause in detail and marking the fruit with a single line, “one obtains all excellent and wondrous merits.” That line was not opened out, and so “therefore he questions Foremost in Worthiness so as to have him extend those words.” Mañjuśrī does not go on himself; he turns and asks Foremost in Worthiness, handing that half which is the virtue of the fruit over to another bodhisattva. This chapter finishes the sentence the previous chapter left unfinished.

Who Foremost in Worthiness Is: The Name Itself Is Doctrine

The chapter's name was not picked at random. Chengguan glosses the two graphs: “that whose substance and nature are utterly compliant, well-governed, and good is called ‘worthy’; that whose auspicious and excellent virtue is surpassing and outstanding is named ‘foremost’” — a substance and nature pliant, compliant, and well-governed is called “worthy”; auspicious and excellent virtue, surpassing and outstanding, is called “foremost.” He also makes clear why at this station the single graph “worthy” is singled out: “The chapter of Foremost in Worthiness, because it stands at the beginning of the station of worthiness and gathers all the virtues, singles out the name ‘worthy.’”

Fazang, on the sixty-fascicle side, comes at it from the Sanskrit, saying, “According to the Sanskrit text the name is bhadra, which here means ‘worthy’; and śrī, which here means ‘auspicious,’ or ‘virtue,’ or ‘foremost,’ or ‘surpassing,’” and he particularly rules out one misreading: “Therefore it is not the ‘foremost’ of ‘the first in order,’ nor the ‘foremost’ of ‘the foremost of the assembly’” — “foremost” is not the foremost of ranking first; it means surpassing and outstanding virtue. He judges the name an appositional compound: “‘Worthy’ pertains to substance and nature, ‘foremost’ to the function of virtue.”

Li Tongxuan's reading takes yet another track: “Beginning as an ordinary person and all at once setting forth in manifest brightness the cause and fruit, the principle and the wisdom, of all the buddhas of the Dharma realm at one and the same moment — this is called ‘Foremost in Worthiness.’” From the stage of an ordinary person to have the whole cause and fruit, principle and wisdom of a buddha shine out at once — only this is called Foremost in Worthiness. The three masters establish the name from different angles — Chengguan with respect to the station, Fazang with respect to the Sanskrit and to substance and function, and Tongxuan with respect to sudden manifestation. These three accounts come down from antiquity; they are recorded, with no adjudication as to higher or lower.

How Many Verses This Chapter Has: Three Numbers and One Thing Misread

The verse lines of the base text count out as seven hundred and seventeen, of which two are Mañjuśrī's question in verse and seven hundred and fifteen are Foremost in Worthiness's answer in verse. This is a fact that can be counted line by line.

The verse-counts recorded by the ancient worthies, however, are three. Chengguan, explaining the eighty-fascicle text, says “the verses number three hundred and fifty-nine and a half,” and divides them into four verses of modest praise and the granting of the exposition, three hundred and forty-six and a half of properly setting forth the excellent virtues, and nine of comparative measure and exhortation to uphold. Fazang's Tanxuan ji says of Foremost in Worthiness's answer that “there are in all three hundred and sixty-three verses: the first thirteen in five graphs to the line, the following three hundred and fifty in seven.” Zhiyan's Souxuan ji says “this chapter has seven hundred and fifteen and a half verses,” of which the answer takes up seven hundred and seven and a half.

The three numbers differ widely, and a reader easily suspects that someone has recorded it wrongly. Here one misunderstanding must be ruled out: the base texts the three masters explain are not the same. Chengguan explains the eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka; Fazang and Zhiyan explain the sixty-fascicle. Fazang says “the first thirteen in five graphs to the line,” but in the eighty-fascicle text the opening clauses of the verse lines count out as seven hundred and seventeen lines of seven graphs, and the chapter has no section in five graphs at all; whereas the opening of the sixty-fascicle text does indeed have a section in five graphs. So that count of “five graphs” refers to the sixty-fascicle text. Since it is not one and the same base text, it is not fitting to subtract one number from another and argue about which is longer. Both are recorded, with no adjudication.

Modest Praise and the Granting of the Exposition: The Perfect Sense Hidden in the Words About One Drop of Water

Foremost in Worthiness's first words are “Very well, sir! Listen carefully,” and immediately he is modest about himself: what he expounds is only “like a single drop of water of the great ocean.” Further down he sets up two more similes — “it is as it were the patch of empty space trodden by a bird's two feet, or a single mote of dust upon the great earth.”

Ask one question first: if the merits are immeasurable, why speak at all? Chengguan resolves this passage superbly. He says that Foremost in Worthiness raises verses in answer for two reasons: “first, because few words gather in many senses; second, because fine words in praise and exposition give rise to pure faith.” Verse has few graphs and gathers in much sense, and its words are fine and can make people give rise to pure faith. As for those three modest similes, Chengguan says they carry two senses: “First, it shows a small portion by simile: the virtue of arousing the mind and practicing is like the great void and the great earth, while what is expounded is as narrow as one mote trodden by a foot. Second, it covertly likens them as not different: the space of a bird's foot is not different from the great void, and the finest mote is no other than the great earth.” — The first layer is genuine modesty: what is expounded is only a small portion. The second layer, though, is the hidden sense: the patch of space a bird's foot has trodden is not some other kind of space; it is the great void. The earth-nature of a single mote of dust is no different from the great earth. And so “this summary exposition is in its sense nowhere incomplete.”

Rule out one misreading: do not read these lines as mere politeness and pass on. This is the constant method of the Huayan — hiding the most perfect sense in the most modest place. Brought home to the reader: the one portion of the Buddha's Dharma you can understand today, if it really is that portion, is not of a substance other than the whole; what is to be feared is being unwilling to take even that one portion seriously.

The Character of Arousing the Mind: The Mind Is Not Aroused Out of Nowhere

The first section of properly setting forth the excellent virtues Chengguan judges as “first, five verses on the character of arousing the mind.” The scripture opens with “When a bodhisattva raises his intent and seeks awakening, this is not without cause and not without condition.”

First the question, then the answer: why must it first be declared that this is “not without cause and not without condition”? Because what people most easily do is take the arousing of the mind for a momentary surge of feeling. The scripture at once supplies the cause and condition — “it is because pure faith has arisen toward the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha that from this faith the vast mind arises.” The cause of arousing the mind is pure faith in the three jewels. This one line sets up the skeleton of the whole chapter in advance: the seven verses below on faith, the fifty and a half on the stations of practice that faith possesses, the two hundred and three on the great function faith accomplishes, all hang upon this one line.

The remaining four verses layer by layer rule out misunderstandings and establish the right direction: not seeking the five desires or the position of a king, not seeking wealth and renown, but only “to extinguish forever the suffering of sentient beings and to benefit the world that he arouses this mind”; positively, “he constantly wishes to benefit and bring ease to all sentient beings, to adorn the lands, to make offerings to the buddhas”; a step further, “the faith and understanding of his deep mind are constantly pure; he reveres and honors all the buddhas”; and finally it comes down to four things: faith in the Buddha, faith in the Dharma, faith in the path practiced by the sons of the Buddha, and faith in the unsurpassed great awakening. Brought home to oneself: in examining one's own arousing of the mind, one need not ask how fervent it is; one should ask what it hangs upon — what hangs upon feeling will fall back; only what hangs upon faith will stand.

Faith Is the Origin of the Path and the Mother of Merits: The Eye of the Whole Chapter

“Faith is the origin of the path and the mother of merits; it nurtures and grows all wholesome dharmas; it cuts off the net of doubt and brings one out of the flood of craving; it opens and shows the unsurpassed path of nirvāṇa.” This is the most celebrated verse of the whole chapter, and it is also the single line most often quoted whenever Han Buddhism speaks of faith. Chengguan judges these seven verses to be “the summary showing of its excellent capacity,” and says that their structure is “the first verse is the general indication, the next five verses the separate explanation, and the last verse the general conclusion.”

Let two words be made plain first. Origin of the path — origin means the beginning, the root; faith is the starting point of entering the path. Mother of merits — a mother is what can give birth; all merits are born from here. Two figures are used in succession, one horizontal and one vertical: horizontally it is the doorway, vertically it is the root. The lower half of the verse states two workings of faith: cutting off the net of doubt, and coming out of the flood of craving. Doubt is like a net that snares a person so that he cannot go forward; craving is like a flood that carries a person off so that he cannot stand. Once faith arises the net is broken and one comes out of the flood, and thereupon “it opens and shows the unsurpassed path of nirvāṇa.”

Then come five verses of separate explanation, clause after clause with faith as the subject. Within these seven verses the graph “faith” counts out as seventeen occurrences — this is not rhetorical repetition; it is Chengguan's so-called “summary showing of its excellent capacity” in operation: pointing out every one of faith's capacities. Faith makes the mind free of stain and turbid disorder and does away with arrogance; faith is “the foremost treasure of wealth within the treasury of the Dharma,” the “pure hand” that receives all practices; faith can make one give without stinting, enter the Dharma with joy, increase the merit of wisdom, and reach the ground of the Tathāgata without fail; faith makes the faculties pure, bright, and keen, and the power of faith is firm and cannot be spoiled; faith clings to nothing in any sphere of objects and can pass beyond the paths of the māras; faith is the seed of merit that cannot be spoiled and can grow the tree of awakening. The last verse concludes by coming down upon rarity: “delight in faith is the most excellent and also the hardest of all to obtain; it is just as in all the world it is hard to meet with that wondrous jewel that grants whatever the mind wishes.”

Rule out the commonest misunderstanding: faith here is not ‘believing provisionally until one understands.’ Were it that, it could only serve as a beginner's expedient and could not be the “mother of merits.” The scripture says it “can increase and grow the merit of wisdom” and “can bring one without fail to the ground of the Tathāgata” — that is, faith runs through to the end and walks together with wisdom. Brought home to oneself: when a person has practiced a long time and finds it has gone dry, more often than not it is not that concentration is insufficient but that faith has receded — without that portion of settled conviction that one “will without fail arrive,” every Dharma-gate is only a pastime.

Faith in the Three Jewels Accomplishing Practice: From Serving in Faith to the Sequence

From “if one can constantly serve the buddhas in faith, then one can uphold the precepts and cultivate the points of training” onward, the scripture changes to a particular clause-pattern: the first clause is the cause, the second the fruit, and the second then becomes the cause of the next verse, link locking into link. This long chain counts out in the base text as seventy-four rounds of “if … then …”. Chengguan judges that “third, from ‘if one constantly serves in faith’ onward, fifty and a half verses, extensively clarifying the stations of practice possessed within faith,” of which the first eight and a half verses are the practices possessed.

Ask first: why is a special sequential pattern used in speaking of faith? Because faith is not an isolated state of mind; it gives birth to things. This passage first sets up three roots: faith in the Buddha yields the ability to uphold the precepts and cultivate the training, and to raise and prepare great offerings; faith in the Dharma yields hearing the Dharma without ever having enough; faith in the Saṅgha yields a mind of faith that does not turn back. Each of the three jewels is matched with a fruit, and thereafter the faculties are pure, bright, and keen, one leaves far behind the bad friend, draws near the good friend, cultivates and amasses the vast good, accomplishes the great power of cause, and obtains an excellent and settled understanding — pushing on link by link. In the middle one verse is inserted on the precepts: “The precepts can open up the root of awakening, and training is the ground upon which one diligently cultivates merit.”

Ruling out a misreading: the sequential clauses are not a mechanical chain of cause and effect; in reading them one should see that every link comes back to faith. Brought home to oneself: this passage is in fact a measuring rod by which to check which link one's own faith has reached — if you still find yourself circling around bad friends, that shows the link of “faculties pure, bright, and keen” has not yet been passed.

The Station of the Ten Abodes: From Settled Understanding to Being Born in the House of the Tathāgata

Chengguan judges that “second, from ‘if by the buddhas’ onward, thirty-nine verses, clarifying the stations possessed,” and judges the first three verses to be the station of the ten abodes. The scriptural text is the three verses from “if one obtains an excellent and settled understanding, then one will be held in mind and protected by the buddhas” onward, ending with “then one can obtain a mind of delight in faith that is pure.”

First the question, then the answer: how is it that from settled understanding a single step brings one to “being born in the house of the Tathāgata”? Because what is called being born in the house of the Tathāgata does not speak of a change of status but of the establishing of a lineage — once settled understanding is established, one is held in mind and protected by the buddhas, arouses the mind of awakening, diligently cultivates the merits of the Buddha, and thereupon enters the lineage of the buddhas. The scripture's figure of the “house” in “being born in the house of the Tathāgata” takes precisely the sense that one can no longer fall back out of it.

Here one must keep in mind Chengguan's judgment of the whole passage: all of this is still what is possessed within the gate of faith. Brought home to oneself: to read “being born in the house of the Tathāgata” and think it far removed from oneself is to have read this chapter too narrowly — the scripture is saying precisely that within the gate of faith this station is already possessed.

The Station of the Ten Practices: From the Ascendant Mind to a Mind Unmoving in Making Offerings to the Buddhas

The station of the ten practices Chengguan judges as two and a half verses. The scriptural text: “if one obtains a mind of delight in faith that is pure, then one can obtain the ascendant, most excellent mind; if one obtains the ascendant, most excellent mind, then one can constantly cultivate the perfections,” and thereafter “then one can be furnished with the great vehicle,” “then one can make offerings to the buddhas in accordance with the Dharma,” “then one can be mindful of the Buddha with a mind that does not waver.”

The great vehicle here stands in a transcription of the Sanskrit. That being furnished with the great vehicle is attached here after constantly cultivating the perfections says that the great vehicle is not a title of affiliation but the substance of what remains once the six perfections have been cultivated to the full. And immediately after comes “making offerings to the buddhas in accordance with the Dharma” — the two words “in accordance with the Dharma” added to offering rule out offerings that are mere form. Brought home to oneself: when a person practices and his mind is constantly unsteady, more often than not it is not that concentration is insufficient, but that the earlier link, “the ascendant, most excellent mind,” has not truly been established.

The Station of the Ten Dedications: From Constantly Seeing the Buddhas to Setting Forth Boundless Dharma

The station of the ten dedications Chengguan judges as three verses. The scriptural text runs from “if one can be mindful of the Buddha with a mind that does not waver, then one can constantly behold measureless buddhas,” through “then one can see that the substance and nature of the Tathāgata abides constantly,” “then one can know that the Dharma is never cut off and extinguished,” “then one obtains eloquence that is unobstructed,” to “then one can set forth boundless Dharma-gates.”

Chengguan has one important distinction to make in this passage: “that the Dharma is never extinguished is dedication toward the true limit; the rest is dedication toward sentient beings.” Dedication has two destinations, one toward the true limit (suchness) and one toward sentient beings; among these lines of the scripture, the line “knowing that the Dharma is never cut off and extinguished” is the one dedicated toward the true limit, and the rest are dedicated toward sentient beings.

Ask first: how does seeing the buddhas arrive at knowing that the Dharma is not extinguished? Because what is seen is not the Buddha's form but “the substance and nature of the Tathāgata abiding constantly.” See the form and the form has arising and ceasing; see the substance and one knows the Dharma is not extinguished. And once one knows the Dharma is not extinguished, one speaks without fear, and so there is unobstructed eloquence. Brought home to oneself: eloquence here is not a gift for talk; it is that there is truly no doubt within, and therefore one can say it.

From the First Ground to the Seventh: From Compassionately Delivering Beings to Passing Beyond the Four Māras

Chengguan judges that “fourth, from ‘if one obtains the firm’ onward, thirty and a half verses clarifying the stations of the ten grounds,” and judges that “the first half-verse is the first ground.” The sequential clauses of this passage begin from “then one can compassionately deliver sentient beings” and “then one can obtain a firm mind of great compassion,” and pass through loving and delighting in the most profound Dharma, casting off the faults of the conditioned, leaving behind arrogance and heedlessness, benefiting all sentient beings together, dwelling in birth-and-death without weariness, being valiant and strong with none able to surpass one, raising up great supernormal powers, knowing the movements of beings' minds, bringing beings to accomplishment, obtaining the wisdom that gathers beings in well, and accomplishing the four means of gathering, to “then one can give sentient beings benefit without limit.”

First the question, then the answer: what is the mark of a bodhisattva upon the grounds? On this passage it is not the supernormal powers, but the firmness of the mind of great compassion and dwelling in birth-and-death without weariness. The supernormal powers appear very late here, and moreover as “if one dwells within birth-and-death without weariness, then one can be valiant and strong, with none able to surpass one” and “if one can be valiant and strong with none able to surpass one, then one can raise up vast supernormal powers” — the supernormal powers stand after freedom from weariness. The four means of gathering (giving, kindly speech, beneficial conduct, and working alongside beings) appear at the close of this passage and come to rest at “giving sentient beings benefit without limit.”

Ruling out a misreading: do not read the stations as heights upon a staircase. Every link here is one capacity giving birth to another, not an accumulation of seniority.

The Eighth Ground: The Most Excellent Wisdom and Skillful Means, and the Crushing of the Māras

Chengguan judges that “seventh, from ‘if one is furnished with the most excellent’ onward, three verses clarifying the eighth ground,” and lists six senses, the first of which is “first, the excellence of the path: that is, the path of no applied effort, and therefore it says ‘valiant and unsurpassed.’” The scriptural text is “if one can give sentient beings benefit without limit, then one is furnished with the most excellent wisdom and skillful means; if one is furnished with the most excellent wisdom and skillful means, then one dwells upon the valiant, unsurpassed great path,” and thence through crushing and destroying the power of the māras and passing beyond the sphere of the four māras to the ground of non-retrogression, and on to “then one can obtain the profound patient acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas.”

The mark of the eighth ground in the scriptures and treatises is the practice of no applied effort — no longer deliberately exerting force, and yet the practice accomplishes itself. Chengguan says that what the four words “valiant and unsurpassed” mark is precisely this path of no applied effort. The four māras are the māra of the afflictions, the māra of the aggregates, the māra of death, and the māra of the heavens; passing beyond the four māras one comes to the ground of non-retrogression, and not retrogressing one obtains the patient acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas.

Ruling out a misreading: the word “valiant” is easily read as exertion. Here it is precisely the opposite: it is not exerting force and yet being unbreakable. Brought home to oneself: the barriers one truly gets past are usually not the ones gritted out by clenching the teeth, but the ones where something within no longer needs to be held up.

The Ninth Ground: Receiving the Prediction and Becoming a Great Master of the Dharma

Chengguan judges that “eighth, two verses clarifying the ninth ground, acting as a great master of the Dharma,” and briefly distinguishes four senses. The scriptural text: “if one obtains the profound patient acceptance of non-arising, then one will receive the prediction from the buddhas; if one receives the prediction from the buddhas, all the buddhas will appear before one,” and thereafter “then one can penetrate the deep and secret working of the supernormal powers” and “then one will be borne in mind by the buddhas.”

The mark of the ninth ground among the stations is fine wisdom, freedom in expounding the Dharma, and so Chengguan marks it as “acting as a great master of the Dharma.” Yet these two verses do not speak of eloquence; they speak of receiving the prediction, of the buddhas appearing before one, and of being borne in mind by the buddhas — ask first: why, in speaking of a master of the Dharma, speak of these? Because the capital for expounding the Dharma does not lie in phrasing but in there being buddhas to attest what is expounded. To receive the prediction is for a buddha to confirm that one will become a buddha; the buddhas appearing before one and bearing one in mind means that the Dharma one expounds has a source. Brought home to oneself: whether one can expound the Dharma is first a question of whether what one expounds has a provenance.

The Excellent Virtue of the Three Kinds of Act on the Tenth Ground: Adorning Oneself with the Buddha's Virtue

Chengguan judges that “ninth, from ‘if by the Buddha's virtue’ onward, nineteen verses clarifying the station of the tenth ground,” of which “the first eight verses are the excellent virtue of the three kinds of act,” and judges further that “the first five and a half verses are the act of body” and “the latter two verses are the excellence of the act of mind, since wisdom goes before.” The scriptural text runs from “if one is borne in mind by the buddhas, then one can adorn oneself with the merits of the Buddha” through the body of wondrous blessings and upright beauty, the body shining dazzling like a mountain of gold, the thirty-two marks, the secondary signs, the light of the body without limit, the adornment of light beyond thought, lotus flowers born from the light, buddhas seated upon the flowers, and appearing throughout the ten quarters to tame sentient beings, to “then one displays measureless powers of supernormal transformation” and “then one dwells in lands beyond thought.”

Ask first: why does the tenth ground speak mostly of the marks and signs? Because at this point the virtue has become manifest in form. The thirty-two marks and the secondary signs are not decoration; they are the outward appearing of virtue. The scripture says “if one adorns oneself with the merits of the Buddha” — the material of the adornment is the Buddha's virtue, and nothing else. And the furthest reach of the marks and signs is lotus flowers issuing from the light, buddhas seated upon the flowers, and appearing everywhere in the ten quarters to tame sentient beings — the marks and signs come to rest at last upon delivering beings, not upon one's own adornment.

Ruling out a misreading: do not take this passage for a display of wondrous appearances. Its syntax is “if … then …”; each mark is the fruit of the virtue before it, and what one should watch in reading is that line of cause and effect.

The Vast Merit of the Three Kinds of Act: With Wisdom Going Before

Chengguan judges that “second, from ‘if with wisdom going before’ onward, four verses clarifying the vast merit of the three kinds of act and the virtue of gathering beings by the three wheels,” and divides it into “the first verse the act of body, the next the act of speech, the last two the act of mind.” The scriptural text runs from “then one can, by the power of wisdom and eloquence, guide and draw them on in accordance with the minds of sentient beings” to “then one can make wisdom go before, so that the acts of body, speech, and mind are constantly without fault,” “then the power of one's vows attains freedom, and one can manifest a body universally in accordance with every destiny,” “the sound of one's voice transforms according to each kind of being, beyond thought,” and ends at “then one can, toward the minds of all sentient beings, know them all in a single thought with nothing left over.”

There is one line here worth remembering by itself: “make wisdom go before, so that the acts of body, speech, and mind are constantly without fault.” The guarantee that the three kinds of act will not go wrong lies not in the fineness of the precept-rules but in wisdom walking in front. Chengguan says that what makes the act of mind on the tenth ground excellent is precisely that “wisdom goes before.”

Brought home to oneself: ordinary people manage the three kinds of act by after-the-fact repair — apologizing for a wrong word, repenting a wrong deed. This line offers another way: let wisdom take one step first. The two words “go before” denote order, not degree.

Distinguishing the Obtaining of the Dharma and Concluding the Station, and the Samādhi and the Receiving of the Station: From Knowing That the Afflictions Do Not Arise to Being Fit to Receive Consecration

Chengguan judges that “third, from ‘if one knows the afflictions’ onward, two verses distinguishing the obtaining of the Dharma and concluding the station,” and judges further what belongs to “fourth, from ‘if one obtains the ten grounds’ onward, three verses clarifying the samādhi and the receiving of the station.” The scriptural text runs from “then one knows that the afflictions have of themselves no arising, and thereby will never sink and drown within birth-and-death,” through “then one obtains the body of the nature of dharmas that is accomplished by merit, and by the majestic power of the Dharma appears within the world,” “then one obtains the ten grounds and the ten kinds of freedom, and cultivating the perfections obtains excellent liberation,” “then one obtains the great supernormal power of consecration and dwells within the most excellent samādhis,” to “then in the presence of the buddhas of the ten quarters one is fit to receive consecration and to ascend to the station.”

Ask first: the afflictions plainly do arise; how can it be said that they have “no arising”? What is spoken of here is knowing — knowing that of themselves they do not arise. The effect of that knowing the scripture supplies itself: “will never sink and drown within birth-and-death.” It is not that there is no birth-and-death; it is not sinking and drowning in it.

Consecration and the ascent to the station are the furthest point of the succession of stations. The figure of consecration is taken from the worldly rite of installing a crown prince, in which water is poured upon the head and the station is thereby settled; here it says that one receives consecration in the presence of the buddhas of the ten quarters, meaning that this station is attested by all the buddhas together.

The Great Function Beyond Fathoming and Advancing into the Buddha-Ground: The Body Filling and Pervading Like Empty Space

Chengguan judges that “from ‘if one is favored’ onward, two verses, which are also the advancing into the buddha-ground.” The scriptural text: “then one is favored by all the buddhas of the ten quarters, who with their hands take sweet dew and pour it upon one's crown”; “then one's body fills and pervades like empty space, dwelling unmoving and yet filling the ten quarters”; “then the sphere in which one moves is beyond compare, and neither gods nor humans can fathom it.”

The consecration with sweet dew makes concrete the mark of consecration in the preceding section. What matters is the juxtaposition of the two lines that follow: filling and pervading and unmoving are said at the same time. The body fills and pervades like empty space, and at the same time dwells unmoving and fills the ten quarters — this is exactly the sense that the two hundred and more verses of the latter half of the chapter are to unfold: pervading and stillness do not obstruct one another. Here one line is buried in advance; below, the ten samādhi-gates set it forth one by one. Brought home to oneself: at a certain point in practice one finds that delivering beings widely and an unmoving ground of mind are not two things to be balanced but two faces of one thing.

The Concluding Praise of That Virtue: The Mass of Merit Is Like the Adamant of the Great Ocean

Chengguan judges that “third, from ‘the bodhisattva diligently cultivates’ onward, three verses concluding with praise of that virtue, the first two expounding by way of dharma, the last one illustrating by simile.” The scriptural text: “A bodhisattva diligently cultivates the practice of great compassion and vows to deliver all sentient beings, and there is none in whom it is not fulfilled; those who see him, hear him, receive his Dharma, or make offerings to him — there is none who does not thereby obtain ease and joy”; “The majestic and supernormal power of those great beings is such that the eye of Dharma is constantly whole, without diminution”; and the last verse is the simile — “Just as within the great ocean there is a mass of adamant, and by its majestic power the many jewels are produced, neither decreasing nor increasing nor ever exhausted — so too is the bodhisattva's mass of merit.”

One must see clearly what this simile likens. The mass of adamant in the great ocean does not itself turn into jewels; it is “by its majestic power the many jewels are produced” — by its majestic power the many jewels come to be, while it itself “neither decreases nor increases nor is ever exhausted.” So too the bodhisattva's mass of merit: it brings forth measureless benefit and yet does not itself diminish by the giving.

Ruling out a misreading: do not think of merit as a deposit that will be used up. The scripture says plainly that its nature is neither to increase nor to decrease. Brought home to oneself: to fear that doing much will use one up is to be looking at merit as a deposit.

The Section of the Boundless Great Function: How the Outline-Names of the Ten Samādhi-Gates Should Be Read

From “in some lands there is no buddha” onward, the scripture enters the longest passage of the whole chapter. Chengguan judges it as “fourth, from ‘in some lands’ onward, two hundred and three verses, clarifying the section of the boundless great function,” and judges that upon which it rests: “That he is able to exercise this boundless great function is by reason of the pervasion of the virtue of Samantabhadra.”

In reading this passage there is a matter of editorial form that must be made clear first. Chengguan here sets out the names of ten gates: “first, the gate of the perfectly bright ocean-seal samādhi; second, the gate of the samādhi of the wondrous practice of the flower ornament; third, the gate of the samādhi of Indra's net; fourth, the gate of the samādhi of extensive offerings issuing from the hand; fifth, the gate of the samādhi of manifesting the various Dharma-gates; sixth, the gate of the samādhi of gathering beings by the four means of gathering; seventh, the gate of the samādhi of stooping to be one with the world; eighth, the gate of the samādhi of the benefit conferred by the shining of light from the hair-pores; ninth, the gate of the samādhi of the splendor of principal and companions; tenth, the gate of the samādhi of stillness and function without shore.” — These ten gate-names are Chengguan's outline-names, not the scripture's own designations. The samādhis the scripture itself names, counted clause by clause, are seven: the ocean-seal samādhi, the flower-ornament samādhi, the wondrous samādhi named According to Delight, the samādhi of expounding the Dharma, the excellent samādhi named Ease and Joy, the sun-lamp samādhi, and the excellent samādhi named Net of Quarters. Of these, the two names “the samādhi of expounding the Dharma” and “the sun-lamp samādhi” are not among Chengguan's ten gates. So wherever below one finds such names as “the gate of the samādhi of Indra's net” or “the gate of the samādhi of extensive offerings issuing from the hand,” these are without exception Chengguan's outline-names, and the reader should not take them for samādhi-names original to the scripture.

Let one further thing be recorded in passing: where Chengguan sets out the names of the ten gates he has “the gate of the samādhi of the wondrous practice of the flower ornament,” while where he explains the text section by section he has “the samādhi of the fine practice of the flower ornament”; both designations are met with in his commentary, and they are recorded, with no adjudication.

The Gate of the Ocean-Seal Samādhi: All Is Manifested, and Yet the One Who Manifests Has No Mind About It

Chengguan judges that “now for the first: six verses clarifying the ocean-seal samādhi.” The scriptural text runs from “in some lands there is no buddha, and there the bodhisattva displays the attaining of perfect awakening” onward, speaking of displaying the attaining of buddhahood where there is no buddha and expounding the treasury of the Dharma where the Dharma is unknown; “without discrimination and without applied effort, in a single thought he pervades the ten quarters”; in the ten quarters, thought after thought, displaying the accomplishing of the buddha-path, turning the wheel of Dharma, entering quiescence, and distributing relics; or displaying the teachings of the three vehicles; or displaying the forms of boys and girls, of gods, dragons, and asuras, and even of mahoragas; and the last line concludes: “all of this he is able to manifest, and this is the majestic power of the ocean-seal samādhi.”

The ocean-seal is a name the scripture itself supplies. Ask first: why is it called the ocean-seal? When the ocean-water is clear and still, the myriad images are all imprinted within it, and yet the ocean has not gone out to imprint them. The key line of this passage is exactly “without discrimination and without applied effort” — without discriminating, without applying effort, and yet manifesting everywhere throughout the ten quarters.

Rule out one misunderstanding: do not read “displaying” as performing. What the scripture says is that in a land without a buddha he displays the attaining of buddhahood, and in a land that does not know the Dharma he expounds the treasury of the Dharma — what is manifested is determined by what that place lacks, not by the wish of the one who manifests. Brought home to oneself: real benefiting of others is determined by what is needed, not by what one would like to do.

The Gate of the Samādhi of the Wondrous Practice of the Flower Ornament: Adornment and the Six Perfections Expounded Together

Chengguan judges that “second, from ‘he adorns and purifies’ onward, the samādhi of the fine practice of the flower ornament. The text has ten clauses, summarily distinguishing seven practices.” The scriptural text runs from “he adorns and purifies those buddha-lands beyond thought, makes offerings to all the buddhas and Tathāgatas” onward, speaking of releasing great light, delivering sentient beings, wisdom free, and expounding the Dharma unobstructed, and then lists “giving, keeping the precepts, patience, energy, and meditation, wisdom, skillful means, and the supernormal powers, and the rest,” ending at “in all of this he attains freedom, and it is by the power of the Buddha's flower-ornament samādhi.”

The flower-ornament samādhi is likewise a name the scripture itself supplies. Chengguan says that within these ten clauses “the seventh and eighth are the practice of the ten perfections” — that is, those two lines that list the six perfections and on to skillful means and the supernormal powers gather in the ten perfections. So the content of this gate is in fact of the plainest: adorning the lands, making offerings to the buddhas, delivering beings, plus the six perfections and the myriad practices. That it is named for the flower ornament while what it expounds is the six perfections shows precisely that the flower-ornament samādhi does not lie outside the six perfections.

Brought home to oneself: reading the four graphs “flower-ornament samādhi” easily gives rise to abstruse imaginings, but the scripture gives only giving, precepts, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom. What is abstruse is that “in all of this he attains freedom,” not the items themselves.

The Gate of the Samādhi of Indra's Net: Entering Samādhi Within a Single Mote of Dust

Chengguan judges that “third, from ‘within a single mote of dust’ onward, four verses clarifying the gate of the samādhi of Indra's net,” and says “the first two lines indicate the mind and its object in concentration.” The scriptural text: “Within a single mote of dust he enters samādhi and accomplishes the concentrations of all motes of dust, and yet that mote of dust does not grow larger, while within this one mote he universally manifests lands beyond thought”; within that one mote there are lands in multitude, some with buddhas and some without, some defiled and some pure, some vast and some narrow, some forming and some decaying, some upright and some tilted; “some are like the shimmering heat-haze of the open wilds, and some like Indra's jeweled net in the heavens”; and at the end, “as is displayed within this one mote of dust, so it is within all motes of dust.”

Ask first: how can a single mote of dust contain countless lands? The scripture has already blocked the easiest wrong construal — “and yet that mote of dust does not grow larger.” The mote has not become bigger. So this is not a question of spatial containment.

The four graphs “Indra's net” in the name of the gate are Chengguan's outline-name; the scripture itself has only the one simile-phrase “or like Indra's jeweled net in the heavens.” Indra's net is the jeweled net above the palace of Śakra, with a pearl fastened at each mesh, and pearl reflecting pearl, and within each reflection again containing every reflection, layer upon layer without end. Chengguan takes this simile to establish the name of the gate, taking precisely that layer upon layer without end.

Brought home to oneself: what this gate teaches is not imagination but a judgment — the small does not, because it is small, contain less. A single act that looks negligible contains no less than a great one.

The Gate of the Samādhi of Extensive Offerings Issuing from the Hand (First Half): One Hand Pervading the Three Thousandfold World

Chengguan judges that “fourth, from ‘if he wishes’ onward, eighteen verses clarifying the gate of the samādhi of extensive offerings issuing from the hand, the first one being the general indication, the last one the general conclusion, and those between the separate display.” The first three verses are the general indication and the raising of the hand: “If he wishes to make offerings to all the buddhas, he enters samādhi and gives rise to supernormal transformation, so that with a single hand he can cover the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system and make offerings universally to all the Tathāgatas”; and thereafter the excellent and wondrous flowers of the ten quarters, unguents and powdered incense and jewels beyond price all issue from his hand as offerings to the most excellent ones beneath the tree of awakening; priceless jeweled robes, mixed wondrous incense, jeweled banners and pennons and canopies, flowers of true gold and curtains of jewels — “there is not one of them that is not rained down from his palm.”

Ask first: why must the offerings issue from the hand? Because what this gate displays is that the articles of offering are not sought from outside. When he would make offerings he need not first go and accumulate them; the samādhi once arisen, the things follow. This removes entirely that layer of obstruction which is ‘having the heart to make offerings but not the means.’

Brought home to oneself: in reading this passage it is easy to see only the splendor of the transformation. What one should look at is the premise — “if he wishes to make offerings to all the buddhas.” The wishing comes first, the being able comes after.

The Gate of the Samādhi of Extensive Offerings Issuing from the Hand (Latter Half): Offerings Issuing from the Palm and Offerings Issuing from the Light

The latter fifteen verses spread the matter out item by item. First what issues from the palm: the wondrous things of the ten quarters, the music of the ten quarters (bells and drums, zithers and lutes), the hymns of praise of the ten quarters — “are set forth from within his palm.” Then it turns to what issues from the light: the right hand releases a pure light, and within the light fragrant water rains down and sprinkles everywhere over the ten quarters; further a light of Wondrous Adornment is released and brings forth jeweled lotus flowers; further the seven lights of the Adornment of Flowers, of Fragrance, of Powdered Incense, of Robes, of Jewels, of Lotuses, and of Necklaces, each of which ‘gathers such and such things into a curtain’ and “scatters it everywhere over the lands of the ten quarters as an offering to all the World-Honored Ones of great virtue” — these seven clauses are of one pattern, and in the base text count out as seven occurrences; then the light of the Adornment of Banners and the canopies adorned with mixed jewels, the silken pennons, and the maṇi jeweled bells; and it concludes generally with “The articles of offering brought forth from his hand are beyond thought — thus does he make offerings to one guide, and in the presence of every buddha it is likewise so; this is the supernormal power of the great being's samādhi.”

Ruling out a misreading: this long string of clauses of one pattern is not the redundancy of a copyist. The repetition of one pattern is itself the meaning — the matter of making offerings is done in the same way in every quarter and in the presence of every buddha, with no thickness or thinness. Brought home to oneself: what is called universal offering lies not in how magnificently one offers on one occasion, but in treating every place alike.

The Gate of the Samādhi of Manifesting the Various Dharma-Gates: Twenty Gates of Dharma-Medicine

Chengguan judges that “fifth, from ‘the bodhisattva dwells’ onward, eight verses clarifying the gate of the samādhi of manifesting the various Dharma-gates,” and divides it into four, of which “the first one is the general indication of the many gates.” The scriptural text runs from “the bodhisattva dwelling within samādhi gathers in sentient beings by every kind of free means” onward, listing clause by clause “or by the Dharma-gate of …,” which in the base text counts out as twenty gates: making offerings to the Tathāgata, giving beyond thought, the ascetic practices and keeping the precepts, unshaken patient endurance, ascetic energy, quiescent meditation, decisive wisdom, skillful means in what is practiced, the Brahmā-abidings and the supernormal powers, benefit through the four means of gathering, the adornment of merit and wisdom, liberation through causes and conditions, the faculties and powers and the right path, the śrāvakas' liberation, the pratyekabuddhas' purity, the great vehicle's freedom, impermanence and the many sufferings, no self and no living being, impurity and freedom from desire, and the samādhi of cessation. It gathers all of this up with three clauses beginning “according as”: “According as the sicknesses of sentient beings differ, he treats them all with the medicine of Dharma; according as their minds delight in this or that, he satisfies them all by skillful means; according to the differences in their conduct, he brings them all to accomplishment by skillful devices.”

Ask first: is there higher and lower among these twenty gates? From the three “according as” clauses, no — the criterion lies not in the height of the gate but in the sickness of the being. And so the gate of the śrāvakas' liberation stands alongside the gate of the great vehicle's freedom, and the gate of impermanence and the many sufferings alongside the gate of the samādhi of cessation.

Ruling out a misreading: do not suppose that because the Huayan is the perfect teaching it uses only the highest Dharma-gate. This passage says precisely that a bodhisattva keeps twenty gates ready as one keeps medicines ready. Brought home to oneself: to urge the Dharma upon others and recommend only the one gate one likes best is to have made a medicine into a preference.

The Gate of the Samādhi of Gathering Beings by the Four Means of Gathering (First Half): The Samādhi According to Delight, and Giving and Kindly Speech

Chengguan judges that “sixth, from ‘there is a wondrous’ onward, seventeen verses clarifying the gate of the samādhi of gathering beings by the four means of gathering.” The first five verses begin from the name the scripture itself supplies: “There is a wondrous samādhi named According to Delight; the bodhisattva dwelling in it contemplates universally, and displaying himself as is fitting he delivers sentient beings, causing them all to rejoice in mind and to follow the transforming power of the Dharma.” Thereafter comes gathering by giving: in a kalpa of famine and calamity he gives the articles of ease and satisfies whatever they wish; food of the finest savor, jeweled robes and ornaments, and even the position of a king he can give away, “so that those who delight in giving all follow his transforming power”; then he appears adorned with the marks and signs, with garments, flower-garlands, and fragrance anointing the body, “whatever forms, features, and garments the world loves and esteems … he manifests universally as is fitting to them and satisfies their minds.”

Ask first: does gathering people by beautiful form and features not fall into worldliness? The scripture's own wording is “satisfies their minds” and “comply with the path” — to go along with their minds is in order to draw them into the path. The samādhi is named According to Delight, and what it accords with is precisely what sentient beings delight in.

Ruling out a misreading: according with delight is not indulging delight. What the scripture says immediately after is “causing them all to rejoice in mind and to follow the transforming power of the Dharma” — rejoicing is the means, following the Dharma's transforming power is the end. Brought home to oneself: whether one is willing, in drawing a person in, to take one step in his direction first is a matter of the measure of compassion, not a concession of principle.

The Gate of the Samādhi of Gathering Beings by the Four Means of Gathering (Latter Half): Gathering by Working Alongside and by Beneficial Conduct

The latter twelve verses turn to speech and to deeds. First the furthest reach of kindly speech: the wondrous notes of the kalaviṅka, the kokila, and the rest, “every kind of pure Brahmā-sound is fully his, and according as the minds of sentient beings delight he expounds the Dharma for them”; then it lists the eighty-four thousand Dharma-gates by which he transforms and delivers as is fitting. Then comes gathering by working alongside — “Suffering and pleasure, gain and loss, and all such things done in the world, he is able to manifest correspondingly and to work at them alongside sentient beings”; and all the sufferings and troubles of the world, deep and wide as the sea, “he shares alongside them and is able to endure them all.” Below that, for those who do not know how to go forth from the world he displays casting off country and wealth and leaving the household life, and explains the reason: “The household is the place where craving binds; wishing that sentient beings should all be freed from it”; and for those whose lifespan is long and whose pleasures are ample he displays undergoing old age, sickness, and death; and for those blazing with craving, hatred, and delusion he manifests old age, sickness, and death. It concludes with the Tathāgata's ten powers, fearlessnesses, eighteen exclusive dharmas, and three displays that guide, all of which he can manifest, and closes with the lotus simile: “it is just as the lotus grows in the water and yet is not stained by it — thus does he dwell in the world and cause deep faith.”

First the question, then the answer: where is the hardest part of gathering by working alongside? In “he is able to endure them all.” To share one and the same affair with sentient beings is to undergo the suffering that lies within that affair. The scripture describes that suffering as “deep and wide as the great ocean,” and then says that he can endure it.

The simile of the lotus not clinging to water is the eye of this whole gate. To work alongside without being carried along, to comply without being stained — brought home to oneself: willing to go in, and able to come out again; neither of these two can be missing.

The Gate of the Samādhi of Stooping to Be One with the World (First Half): Entering the Occupations of the World

Chengguan judges that “seventh, from ‘elegant in thought’ onward, seventeen verses, the gate of the samādhi of stooping to be one with the world,” and divides it so that “the first six are being of the same body as the world.” The scripture lists the worldly identities the bodhisattva manifests: elegant in thought and deep in talent, singing, dancing, and discourse, all the arts and crafts like an illusionist; an elder, the lord of a town, a caravan-leader, a king or a great minister, a good physician; in the open wilds becoming a great tree, healing herbs, a hoard of jewels, a jewel that answers whatever is sought; and when a world has newly formed and beings have not yet the articles that sustain the body, “then the bodhisattva becomes an artisan and displays for them every kind of trade.” At the end it sets one boundary: “He does not make things that oppress and vex sentient beings; he speaks only of what benefits the world.”

What deserves particular notice in this passage is how concretely it writes the occupations of the world — physician, merchant, artisan, king. Bodhisattva practice is not confined within the lecture hall. And the boundary is equally clear: crafts may be manifested, but “things that oppress and vex sentient beings” alone are not made.

Brought home to oneself: this passage is for people living in the household. The trade you practice can itself be a gate of stooping to be one with the world, and there is only one criterion — does it benefit people, or does it oppress and vex them?

The Gate of the Samādhi of Stooping to Be One with the World (Latter Half): Entering Among the Outsiders and Expounding the Four Truths

The latter fifteen and a half verses go one step further and manifest the bodies of outsiders. The scripture lists: one gone forth among the outsiders, undergoing hardship in mountain forests, going bare and without garments and yet acting as their teacher; manifesting the practices of wrong livelihood, manifesting the bearing of a brahmanical ascetic and acting as their foremost; undergoing the five heats and turning with the sun, keeping the ox-, dog-, and deer-vows, wearing cast-off rags and serving the fire; displaying visits to the shrines of the gods, entering the waters of the Ganges, eating roots and fruits; displaying squatting, standing on one raised foot, lying upon grass and thorns and ashes, lying upon a wooden pestle in the quest for deliverance. At the end it states the effect: “observing what their minds understand, he works alongside them, and the austerities he displays the world can hardly bear, so that seeing them they are all tamed.” Then it turns to the exposition proper: for those who take up wrong teachings and dwell in evil views he expounds the wondrous Dharma by skillful means, and that Dharma is the four truths — the scripture expounds the four truths in ten successive clauses, which in the base text count out as ten: the incantatory speech of the borderlands, skillful secret speech, the plain speech of humankind, the secret speech of the gods, distinguishing of the written word, decisive determining of the sense, skillful refuting of other positions, a principle no outsider can shake, the speech of the eight classes, and speech of every kind whatsoever. It closes with “to know that the sphere of speech is beyond thought — this is called the power of the samādhi of expounding the Dharma,” which is likewise a name the scripture itself supplies.

Ask first: if a bodhisattva manifests the practices of outsiders and of wrong livelihood, is he not teaching people wrong dharmas? The sequence in the scripture answers this — first he “works alongside them,” and afterward he “expounds the wondrous Dharma”; what he manifests is the place where he stands, and what he expounds is the four truths. Working alongside is the door; the four truths are what is given.

Ruling out a misreading: do not read this passage as meaning that skillful means has no floor. What is manifested is austerity and bearing; what is expounded is always the four truths, without a single clause altered. Brought home to oneself: one may walk right into another person's situation, but once inside, what one has to give cannot be exchanged for something else.

The Gate of the Samādhi of the Benefit Conferred by the Light from the Hair-Pores · The Indication of the Gate and the General Distinguishing: The Samādhi Named Ease and Joy

Chengguan judges that “eighth, from ‘there is an excellent samādhi’ onward, eighty-nine and a half verses clarifying the gate of the samādhi of the benefit conferred by the shining of light from the hair-pores,” and judges that “the text divides into five: the first one verse is the indication of the gate and the general distinguishing.” The scripture supplies its name itself: “There is an excellent samādhi named Ease and Joy, able universally to rescue and deliver the multitudes of beings, releasing a vast light beyond thought, so that those who see it are all tamed.”

This is the longest gate in the whole chapter, taking up nearly ninety verses. Its editorial form is perfectly regular: one light, one name; it says whom this light awakens and what benefit it brings; and then it says by what cause in ages past this light was accomplished. In the base text the lights that receive a name count out as forty-four.

Let one way of reading be set up first: this passage is not a catalogue of lights but a catalogue of causes and effects. The last line of nearly every section is “and thereby he obtained such a light as this” — the light is not released out of nothing; it is the fruit of some practice in ages past. Brought home to oneself: this long string is in fact saying one thing — the place where you are able to benefit people today is exactly the place where you once put your mind to work.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Fine Manifesting and Shining Radiance: The Light Has a Name, the Light Has a Cause

The first light is named Fine Manifesting: “if there are sentient beings who meet with this light, it will surely bring them benefit and not be spent in vain,” and its cause in ages past is “That light displays the buddhas, displays the Dharma, displays the Saṅgha, and displays the right path; it displays also the buddha-stūpas and the buddha-images.” The second light is named Shining Radiance, able to eclipse the light of the gods and to remove darkness and obstruction, its cause in ages past being “causing them to take up lamps and make offerings to the buddhas,” with the fruit stated explicitly: “because he offered lamps to the buddhas, he attains to being the unsurpassed lamp of the world.” Below this are further listed offerings of oil lamps, butter lamps, bright torches, and the many fragrances, wondrous medicines, and fine jeweled candles.

Here the form of the whole passage is established: the name of the light — those it awakens — the benefit obtained — the cause cultivated in ages past. That by offering lamps to the buddhas one becomes “the unsurpassed lamp of the world” shows a plain likeness between cause and fruit — this is the device used again and again through this long passage.

Brought home to oneself: one need not read it as an account-book of retribution. What it teaches is a way of seeing — what one does shapes the particular kind of light one will later be able to give to others.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Ferrying Across and Extinguishing Craving: Crossing the Four Torrents, Extinguishing the Thirsts of Craving

The light Ferrying Across causes beings “universally to arouse a mind of great vows and to deliver the multitudes within the sea of desire,” and thereupon “then one can cross beyond the four torrents and guide sentient beings toward the city of liberation where there is no sorrow”; its cause in ages past is “at the great waters along the roads people travel, he built bridges and rafts, and disparaged the conditioned and praised the quiescent.” The light Extinguishing Craving causes beings “to cast off the five desires and to think single-mindedly upon the wondrous savor of the Dharma of liberation,” and thereupon “then one can with the Buddha's rain of sweet dew universally extinguish the many thirsts of craving in the world”; its cause in ages past is “he bestowed ponds, wells, and flowing springs … and disparaged the five desires and praised meditation.”

The four torrents are so named because they sweep a person away as a torrent does. The matching of cause and fruit in these two lights is particularly plain: because he built bridges and rafts to carry people across the water, he accomplishes a light that carries beings across the four torrents; because he gave ponds, wells, and springs to relieve people's thirst, he accomplishes a light that extinguishes the thirsts of craving. The one is a crossing, the other a slaking of thirst; both take water as their figure, once negatively and once positively.

Brought home to oneself: between a single good deed in the world and a particular capacity beyond the world, what the scripture gives is not a relation of simile but a relation of cause and effect.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Joy and Delight: Longing for Awakening, Delighting in the Three Jewels

The light Joy “causes them to long for the Buddha's awakening and to arouse the mind that vows to realize the path awakened to without a teacher,” its cause in ages past being “he set up images of the Tathāgata's great compassion, adorned with the many marks and seated upon flower-thrones, and constantly praised the most excellent merits of every kind.” The light Delight “causes their minds to delight in the buddhas, and to delight in the Dharma and to delight in the Saṅgha,” and thereupon “then within the assemblies of the Tathāgata one can accomplish the unsurpassed and profound patient acceptance of the Dharma”; its cause in ages past is “he awakened measureless sentient beings and caused them universally to be mindful of the three jewels, the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, and showed them the meritorious practice of arousing the mind.”

The path awakened to without a teacher means the Buddha's awakening by himself, not awakened to from another. Both these lights come to rest upon drawing near to the three jewels: the one is longing for awakening, the other is delighting in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. And the fruit of delight is extremely high — “accomplish the unsurpassed and profound patient acceptance of the Dharma.”

Ask first: how can merely delighting in the three jewels in one's mind reach the profound patient acceptance of the Dharma? Because delight is a power that continues. A drawing near that is forced will break off, while delight needs no maintaining. Brought home to oneself: in examining one's relation to the three jewels, one need not ask about the degree of one's diligence; ask first whether one delights in them.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · The Amassing of Blessings and Being Furnished with Wisdom: Giving Without Restriction, Understanding Measureless Gates in a Single Thought

The light the Amassing of Blessings “causes them to practice every kind of measureless giving, and with this merit to seek the unsurpassed path,” its cause in ages past being “he set up a great assembly of giving with no restriction, satisfying all who came to ask, and not letting their minds lack anything.” The light Furnished with Wisdom “causes them, within one dharma and one thought, to understand measureless Dharma-gates,” its cause in ages past being “for the sake of sentient beings, he distinguished the dharmas and determined decisively their true meaning, expounding the meaning of the Dharma well and without diminution.”

The three graphs “with no restriction” are the eye of this passage. To give with a limit set is already to have made a selection; to give with no restriction is to give to whoever comes. And the cause of the light Furnished with Wisdom is “expounding the meaning of the Dharma well and without diminution” — expounding the Dharma without discounting it, and hence the fruit of understanding measureless gates in a single thought.

Brought home to oneself: the cause in both these cases lies in a single ‘not falling short’ — giving without restriction, expounding without diminution. And so the fruit in both lies in “measureless.”

The Light from the Hair-Pores · The Lamp of Wisdom and Freedom in the Dharma: Knowing That Nature Is Empty and Still, Obtaining the Dhāraṇīs

The light the Lamp of Wisdom “causes them to know that the nature of sentient beings is of itself empty and still, and that all dharmas are without any own-being,” its cause in ages past being “he expounded that all dharmas are empty and without a master, like an illusion, like a heat-haze, like the moon in water, and even like the images in a dream.” The light Freedom in the Dharma “causes them to obtain the inexhaustible dhāraṇīs, able to retain in full all the dharmas of the buddhas,” its cause in ages past being “he reverently made offerings to those who uphold the Dharma, attended upon and guarded the worthy and the noble, and gave to sentient beings the gift of the Dharma in every form.”

A dhāraṇī is a retention, able to retain all dharmas without loss. The light of the Lamp of Wisdom speaks of emptiness, the light of Freedom in the Dharma of retaining — a letting go and a holding, and the two are not contrary: only by knowing that dharmas are without own-being can one retain all dharmas without their becoming a burden.

Ruling out a misreading: like an illusion, like a heat-haze, like the moon in water does not say that dharmas do not exist; it says that they are without a ruler and without a substance of their own. The graphs the scripture uses are “empty and without a master,” and the graph for “master” must be seen clearly.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Able to Give Away and Removing Fever: Governing the Stingy Mind, Upholding the Pure Precepts

The light Able to Give Away “awakens the stingy among sentient beings, causing them to know that wealth and jewels are none of them lasting, so that they constantly delight in giving with a mind that does not cling,” its cause in ages past being “though the stingy mind is hard to govern, he was able to govern it, understanding that goods are like a dream and like a floating cloud.” The light Removing Fever “awakens those who break the prohibitions, causing them universally to receive and uphold the pure precepts,” its cause in ages past being “he exhorted and drew sentient beings on to receive and uphold the precepts, causing the ten paths of good action all to be made pure.”

The cause in ages past of the light Able to Give Away is written with great honesty: it is not that he was never stingy, but that “though the stingy mind is hard to govern, he was able to govern it.” This line is worth remembering — the scripture admits that the stingy mind is hard to govern, and then says that he governed it.

The name Removing Fever takes the afflictions as a fever; the precepts can remove the fever, hence the name. Brought home to oneself: the causes in ages past of both these lights are not natural endowments but antidotes. A stingy man who governs his stinginess accomplishes the light Able to Give Away — this is a road for ordinary people.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · The Adornment of Patience and Valor: Removing Hatred, Passing Beyond the Four Māras

The light the Adornment of Patience “awakens those given to hatred, causing them to remove the hating mind and to leave behind self-conceit, and constantly to delight in the dharma of patient endurance and gentle harmony,” its cause in ages past being “when sentient beings were violent and evil and hard to bear with, for the sake of awakening his mind did not waver.” The light Valor “awakens the indolent, causing them constantly, among the three jewels, to revere and make offerings without weariness,” and thereupon “then one can pass beyond the sphere of the four māras and swiftly accomplish the unsurpassed awakening of a buddha”; its cause in ages past is “he exhorted and transformed sentient beings and urged them to press on, constantly and diligently making offerings to the three jewels, and when the Dharma was about to perish he guarded it single-mindedly.”

The light of the Adornment of Patience raises hatred and self-conceit together — to remove hatred one must necessarily leave behind conceit, since hatred mostly arises out of conceit. The light Valor puts the antidote to indolence in reverence and offering toward the three jewels rather than in ascetic exertion, and says that this is how one passes beyond the sphere of the four māras.

Brought home to oneself: for the antidote to slackness, what the scripture offers is not to add to one's exertions but to give rise to reverence toward the three jewels without weariness. This changes the place from which one's strength comes.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Quiescence and the Adornment of Wisdom: Leaving Distraction, Realizing the Truths and Understanding Dependent Arising

The light Quiescence “awakens those whose minds are distracted, causing them to leave far behind craving, hatred, and delusion, so that their minds do not waver and they enter right concentration,” its cause in ages past being “he cast off every bad friend, meaningless talk, and defiled conduct, and praised meditation and the wilderness retreat.” The light the Adornment of Wisdom “awakens the foolish and confused, causing them to realize the truths and understand dependent arising, so that their faculties and their wisdom are all penetrating,” and thereupon “then one obtains the dharma of the sun-lamp samādhi, and by the light of wisdom accomplishes the fruit of buddhahood”; its cause in ages past is “he was able to give away even the wealth of his country and his own person, and for the sake of awakening sought the right Dharma, and having heard it diligently expounded it for sentient beings.”

The wilderness retreat is a place of quiet. Among the causes in ages past of the light of Quiescence there is one very concrete item — “meaningless talk” is also among the things cast off; the cause of distraction often lies in idle chatter. The light of the Adornment of Wisdom sets realizing the four truths and understanding dependent arising side by side as the benefit it confers, while its cause in ages past is giving away body and wealth for the Dharma and, having heard it, expounding it for others.

Brought home to oneself: to want an undistracted mind, the scripture first asks which bad friends and which meaningless talk you have cast off. This is far more concrete than simply saying ‘you must concentrate.’

The Light from the Hair-Pores · The Buddha's Wisdom and Fearlessness: Seeing Measureless Buddhas, Bestowing Fearlessness

The light the Buddha's Wisdom “awakens all who have consciousness, causing them to see measureless and boundless buddhas, each seated upon a jeweled lotus flower,” its cause in ages past being “he praised the Buddha's majestic virtue and his liberation, expounded the Buddha's freedom as without measure, and made manifest the Buddha's powers and supernormal faculties.” The light Fearlessness “touches those who are afraid, so that all the poisons and harms inflicted by non-human beings are one and all swiftly removed and extinguished,” its cause in ages past being “he was able to bestow fearlessness upon sentient beings, and wherever there was vexation and harm he urged it to stop, and rescued those in distress and calamity, the orphaned and the destitute.”

Those who have consciousness are sentient beings. These two lights are one inward and one outward: the one makes a person see the buddhas, the other makes a person free of fear. The cause in ages past of the light Fearlessness is written very plainly — urging vexation and harm to stop, and rescuing those in distress, the orphaned and the destitute, are all things that can be done here and now.

Brought home to oneself: the gift of fearlessness is one of the three kinds of giving, and yet it is the most easily overlooked. Not one of the three things the scripture instances requires supernormal power.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Security and Seeing the Buddha: Removing the Suffering of Sickness, Seeing the Buddha at the End of Life

The light Security “shines upon those who are sick, causing them to be rid of every pain, and all to obtain the joy of samādhi in right concentration,” its cause in ages past being “he gave good medicine to save people from their ailments, prolonged life with wondrous jewels and anointed the body with fragrance, and provided butter, oil, milk, and honey for food and drink.” The light Seeing the Buddha “awakens those who are about to pass away, causing them, according to what they call to mind, to see the Tathāgata, and at the end of life to be born in his pure land,” its cause in ages past being “when he saw those at the point of death he exhorted them to be mindful of the Buddha, and further showed them a venerable image so that they might gaze upon it with reverence, and caused them to take deep refuge in and look up to the Buddha.”

This item on the light Seeing the Buddha is of the greatest importance for the practice of assisting the dying with recitation in the Han tradition: the scripture says plainly that the dying person, “according to what they call to mind, sees the Tathāgata, and at the end of life is born in his pure land,” and that the cause in ages past is precisely that one had oneself once, at another's dying, exhorted him to be mindful of the Buddha and shown him a venerable image. Cause and fruit are all but the two ends of one and the same act.

Brought home to oneself: what this item teaches is something that can be done today — reminding another, when he needs it most, to call the Buddha to mind.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Delight in the Dharma and Wondrous Sound: Rejoicing in the Right Dharma, Hearing All Sounds as the Buddha's Voice

The light Delight in the Dharma “causes them constantly to rejoice in the right Dharma, hearing it, setting it forth in exposition, and writing it out,” its cause in ages past being “when the Dharma was about to come to an end, he was able to expound it for others, filling to the full the minds of those who sought the Dharma.” The light Wondrous Sound “opens the awakening of the bodhisattvas, and can cause all the sounds there are in the three realms to be heard by the hearer as the voice of the Tathāgata,” its cause in ages past being “with a great voice he extolled the buddhas, and gave as gifts bells and every kind of music.”

The benefit conferred by the light Wondrous Sound is one of the most singular items in the whole passage: it is not that one hears the Buddha's voice, but that every sound in the three realms sounds, to the hearer, like the Buddha's voice. This is a transformation in the one who hears, not a replacement of what is heard.

Brought home to oneself: what this item speaks of is in truth the ground of the mind. The same din of the streets is vexation to one person and the voice of the Dharma to another — the difference lies in the hearer.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Bestowing Sweet Dew and the Most Excellent: Casting Off Heedlessness, Hearing the Ascendant Dharma

The light Bestowing Sweet Dew “causes them to cast off every heedless practice and to cultivate in full every kind of merit,” its cause in ages past being “he expounded that conditioned dharmas are not secure, that measureless suffering and vexation fill them everywhere, and he constantly delighted to extol the joy of quiescence.” The light the Most Excellent “causes them in the presence of the buddhas universally to hear the ascendant dharmas of the precepts, concentration, and wisdom,” its cause in ages past being “he constantly delighted to extol the excellent precepts, excellent concentration, and surpassing wisdom of all the buddhas.”

Sweet dew is in India the name of the medicine of deathlessness, and here it figures nirvāṇa. The cause in ages past of both these lights is “extolling” — the one extolling the joy of quiescence, the other extolling the Buddha's precepts, concentration, and wisdom. Extolling occurs a great many times in this long passage; it is a practice that can be done and is easily made light of.

Brought home to oneself: what one constantly says is what one grows. This passage says a great deal about the positive working of the act of speech.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · The Adornment of Jewels and the Adornment of Fragrance: Obtaining Treasuries of Jewels, Gladdening the Mind at the Fragrance

The light the Adornment of Jewels “causes them to obtain treasuries of jewels without end, and with them to make offerings to the Tathāgatas,” its cause in ages past being “with every kind of fine and wondrous jewel he made offerings to the buddhas and to the buddha-stūpas, and gave them also to the poor and the destitute.” The light the Adornment of Fragrance “causes those who smell it to be gladdened in mind and to be assured of accomplishing the merits of a buddha,” its cause in ages past being “with the wondrous fragrances of humans and gods he anointed the ground as an offering to all the most excellent lords, and used them also in building stūpas and buddha-images.”

In the causes of both these lights there are two destinations: offering to the buddhas and relieving the poor; offering to the buddhas and making images. The scripture does not treat making offerings to the three jewels and relieving the destitute as two separate things; it states them together within a single cause.

Brought home to oneself: people often find themselves torn between “making offerings to the Buddha” and ‘saving people.’ In the causes of both these lights the two are present together.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Mixed Adornment and Pure Cleanliness: Banners and Canopies Filling All, Making the Ground Level

The light Mixed Adornment manifests “jeweled banners and pennons and canopies beyond number, incense burning and flowers scattered and every kind of music sounding, filling the towns within and without,” its cause in ages past being “with subtle and wondrous sounds of music, and with the many fragrances, wondrous flowers, banners and canopies, and every kind of adornment, he made offerings to the buddhas.” The light Pure Cleanliness “can make the surface of the ground level as the palm of a hand,” its cause in ages past being “he adorned the buddha-stūpas and their precincts.”

From the light Pure Cleanliness onward the scripture's form turns to the utmost brevity: one light gets only three clauses — the name of the light, what it does, and its cause in ages past, with no further unfolding in between. This is a gathering-in of the movement of the text, not a carelessness of content.

What the light Pure Cleanliness does is only the one thing of “making the ground level,” and its cause in ages past is only the adorning of the buddha-stūpas and their precincts. Brought home to oneself: to put one place in order and make it clean, the scripture is willing to count as the cause of a light.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Great Cloud and Ornaments: Raining Fragrant Water, Giving Fine Garments

The light Great Cloud “can raise clouds of fragrance and rain down fragrant water,” its cause in ages past being “he sprinkled the stūpas and courtyards with water.” The light Ornaments “can cause those whose bodies are bare to obtain fine garments,” its cause in ages past being “he gave away wondrous things that adorn the body.”

These two are of the same pattern as the last, both of them the smallest of acts answering to the greatest of functions. Sprinkling and sweeping the stūpa courtyard accomplishes a light able to raise clouds of fragrance and rain down fragrant water; giving another the things that adorn his body accomplishes a light that gives garments to the naked.

Brought home to oneself: the point of this string of short clauses is to dispel a certain notion — that only great deeds have great fruits.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · Fine Savor and Great Wealth: The Hungry Obtain Food, the Poor Obtain Jewels

The light Fine Savor “can cause those who are hungry to obtain fine food,” its cause in ages past being “he gave away every kind of choice viand.” The light Great Wealth “causes the poor and destitute to obtain treasuries of jewels,” its cause in ages past being “with inexhaustible goods he gave to the three jewels.”

The cause of the light Great Wealth uses the three graphs “inexhaustible goods,” which differ from the “fine and wondrous jewels” of the light of the Adornment of Jewels above. Inexhaustible is not a quantity; it is that in one's mind no floor is set.

Brought home to oneself: giving food accomplishes the light of Fine Savor, and giving to the three jewels accomplishes the light of Great Wealth — this pair takes in the two things most commonly done by people living in the household.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · The Lights of the Purity of the Six Faculties: Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body, and Mind

From here the scripture releases six lights in succession in the order of the six faculties. The light of the Purity of the Eye “can cause the blind to see the many forms,” its cause in ages past being “he gave lamps to the buddhas and the buddha-stūpas”; the light of the Purity of the Ear “can cause the deaf all to hear well,” its cause being “with drums and music he delighted the buddhas and the buddha-stūpas”; the light of the Purity of the Nose “causes fragrances never smelled before to be smelled,” its cause being “he gave incense to the buddhas and the buddha-stūpas”; the light of the Purity of the Tongue “can with a lovely voice extol the buddhas and remove forever coarse and unwholesome speech”; the light of the Purity of the Body “causes those whose faculties are defective to be made whole,” its cause being “with his body he bowed to the buddhas and the buddha-stūpas”; the light of the Purity of the Mind “causes those who have lost their mindfulness to obtain right mindfulness, and to attain freedom in all their practice of samādhi.”

The matching of cause and fruit in these six is perfectly regular: giving lamps obtains the eye, giving music obtains the ear, giving incense obtains the nose, removing evil speech obtains the tongue, bowing obtains the body, cultivating samādhi obtains the mind. Six lights of the six faculties are matched with six kinds of act toward the buddha-stūpas.

Brought home to oneself: this group matches every one of the body's doors with a concrete act. It is not an abstract ‘cultivating blessings’; each has its own counterpart.

The Light from the Hair-Pores · The Lights of the Purity of the Six Objects: Form, Sound, Scent, Taste, Touch, and Dharma

Next it releases six lights in succession in the order of the six objects. The light of the Purity of Form “causes people to see the forms of the buddhas that are beyond thought,” its cause in ages past being “with the many wondrous colors he adorned the stūpas”; the light of the Purity of Sound “causes people to know that the nature of sound is of itself empty and still, and to contemplate the dependent arising of sound as an echo in a valley”; the light of the Purity of Scent “causes every kind of foul stench to become fragrant and clean,” its cause being “with fragrant water he washed the stūpas and the tree of awakening”; the light of the Purity of Taste “can remove the poison in every kind of food and savor,” its cause being “he constantly made offerings to the Buddha, the Saṅgha, and his father and mother”; the light of the Purity of Touch “can cause every harsh touch to become soft,” and manifests that “spears, lances, swords, and halberds rain down from the sky, and he causes them all to be turned into wondrous flower-garlands,” its cause in ages past being that in ages past upon the roads he anointed them with fragrance, scattered flowers, and spread out garments, escorting the Tathāgata and causing the Buddha to tread upon them; the light of the Purity of Dharma “can cause all the hair-pores to set forth wondrous Dharma beyond thought,” and the Dharma it sets forth is “that dharmas arisen from causes and conditions are from the first unarisen; that the dharma-body of the buddhas is not a body of form; that the nature of dharmas abides constantly like empty space.”

Two items in this group call for particular notice. The light of the Purity of Sound does not make sounds pleasant to hear; it “causes people to know that the nature of sound is of itself empty and still” — what is turned about is knowledge and view. And the three clauses set forth by the light of the Purity of Dharma are the only place in the whole passage that speaks directly of the nature of dharmas, and they are the resting-place of these eighty-nine and a half verses: that what arises from conditions is unarisen, that the dharma-body is not a body of form, and that the nature of dharmas abides constantly like empty space.

The cause in ages past of the light of the Purity of Taste, “he constantly made offerings to the Buddha, the Saṅgha, and his father and mother,” sets father and mother alongside the Buddha and the Saṅgha, which is not often met with in the scriptures, and it is recorded.

Brought home to oneself: reading from the giving of lamps and incense all the way to the constant abiding of the nature of dharmas, the scripture has itself joined merit and wisdom into a single line.

Concluding the Summary and Showing the Breadth: Gates of Light as Many as the Sands of the Gaṅgā

Chengguan judges that “from ‘such and the like’ onward, the concluding of the summary and the showing of the breadth.” The scriptural text: “Such gates of light of every kind, as many as the sands of the Gaṅgā and without limit of number, all issue forth from the hair-pores of the Great Seer, and the work each one does is in each case different.”

The named lights listed above count out in the base text as forty-four. Here a single line makes it clear: those were only instances; in fact they are as many as the sands of the Gaṅgā. The Great Seer is another name for the Buddha.

Ask first: since they are without limit of number, why instance forty-four? Because the limitless cannot be spoken, while forty-four can. Instancing is in order to let one know the form of the thing — one light, one name; one name, one cause. Brought home to oneself: having read the forty-four and known their pattern, one can go on and infer the forty-fifth for oneself.

Displaying by Class the Working of the Light from the Hair-Pores and Concluding That upon Which the Function Rests: As One Hair-Pore Is

Chengguan judges that “from ‘as with one hair’ onward, the displaying by class of the working of the light of all the hair-pores, together with the concluding of that upon which the function rests.” The scriptural text: “As with the light released from a single hair-pore, measureless and numberless as the sands of the Gaṅgā, so it is with all the hair-pores — this is the power of the Great Seer's samādhi.”

The previous section said, horizontally, that the lights are of countless kinds; this section says, vertically, that the places from which the light issues are likewise countless. A single hair-pore is already measureless and numberless, and all the hair-pores the more so. The last line comes back to the power of samādhi — that upon which all this rests is concentration and nothing else.

Brought home to oneself: this one line draws the ninety verses of spreading-out back into one place. All the functions issue from one substance.

Explaining and Establishing the Extent: The Light Follows the Original Practice, the Seeing Follows the Conditions of Past Lives

Chengguan judges that “from ‘as with his original practice’ onward, the explaining and establishing of the extent.” The scriptural text: “As with the light obtained from his original practice, so it accords with those who in past lives shared the same conditions and the same practice; and because he releases light today, so it is likewise — this is the freedom of the Great Seer's wisdom.” And further: “Those who in ages past cultivated works of blessing together with him, and those who loved and delighted in what he cultivated and were able to rejoice with him, and those who saw what he did and likewise rejoiced — these are all able to see this light.”

Extent means a boundary. This section says that there is an extent to those upon whom the light falls: what it shines upon are those who in past lives shared the same practice and the same vow. And what deserves notice is that it counts “rejoicing” in as well — one need not have done the thing alongside him at the time; if one merely saw what he did and gave rise to love, delight, and sympathetic joy, one likewise gets to see this light.

Brought home to oneself: sympathetic joy is here not a consoling word but a real way of forming the connection. The thing you were too late to do, you may rejoice in another's doing, and you are on that same line.

The Benefit of the Light to Those Who Hear and Have Faith: Seeing and Not Seeing Lie in the Capacity, Not in the Light

Chengguan judges that “from ‘if there be’ onward, the benefit of the light to those who hear and have faith.” The scripture first speaks of those able to see: “If a person cultivates works of blessing of every kind of his own, and makes offerings to buddhas beyond number, and constantly cherishes a longing for the Buddha's merits, such a person is the one this light is to awaken.” Then it sets up two similes. The first is the sun: “It is just as one born blind does not see the sun, and this is not because no sun rises in the world,” and therefore “so too is the light of the great being: those who have wisdom are all able to see it, while ordinary people and those of wrong faith and poor understanding are not able to see this light.” The second is the palaces and carriages of maṇi jewels, “are furnished naturally to those who have merit, and are not what the virtueless can occupy,” and therefore “those who have deep wisdom are all touched by it, while ordinary and foolish people of wrong faith and poor understanding are not able to see this light.” The last verse turns into an exhortation to faith: “If a person hears of the differences among these lights and is able to give rise to a pure and deep faith and understanding, he will be able to cut off forever every net of doubt and swiftly to accomplish the unsurpassed banner of merit.”

Ask first: if the light shines universally, why is there anyone who does not see it? The scripture answers with finality — “this is not because no sun rises in the world.” It is not that there is no sun; it is that one is blind. The two similes go two ways: the one with respect to wisdom (the simile of one born blind), the other with respect to merit (the simile of the palaces); seeing and not seeing hang upon the capacity, not upon the light.

Rule out one misunderstanding: this does not say that those of poor understanding are shut out. The last verse at once supplies the way through — to hear of the differences among these lights and be able to give rise to a pure and deep faith and understanding is to cut off the net of doubt forever. So hearing and having faith is itself the place of entry. And this comes back precisely to the eye of the whole chapter: faith.

Brought home to oneself: to have read this long passage of lights and to feel that it has nothing to do with oneself is exactly the place this verse speaks of — have faith first; once the net of doubt is cut, the road opens.

The Gate of the Samādhi of the Splendor of Principal and Companions: Like the Bright Moon Among the Stars

Chengguan judges that “ninth, from ‘there is an excellent samādhi’ onward, six verses, the gate of the samādhi of the splendor of principal and companions, which is also the samādhi of manifestation.” The scriptural text: “There is an excellent samādhi able to bring forth the adornment of a retinue, all of it free”; there is a wondrous lotus flower adorned with light, its measure equal to the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system, and his body sits upright upon it and fills it; there are further wondrous lotus flowers as many as the dust-motes of ten lands surrounding it, and the sons of the Buddha sit within them; those beings “in past lives accomplished wholesome causes and conditions and cultivated in full the merits of the Buddha,” and therefore they surround the bodhisattva, joining their palms and gazing without ever having enough; it closes with the simile, “Just as the bright moon dwells among the many stars, so too does the bodhisattva dwell amid the great assembly”; and then it displays the ten quarters by class with “as is displayed in one quarter … so it is likewise in every quarter.”

Ask first: is the character of principal and companions a character of higher and lower? The simile of the bright moon among the stars answers this. The moon among the stars does not overpower the many stars; it is naturally the center. And the scripture takes special care to state the provenance of those who surround him — “in past lives accomplished wholesome causes and conditions”: the retinue is not summoned; it has gathered out of a shared cause.

Brought home to oneself: the adornment of what is called a place of practice lies not in its furnishings but in whether those gathered in one place have come out of a shared cause.

The Gate of the Samādhi of Stillness and Function Without Shore · The Indication of the Name and the General Distinguishing: The Samādhi Named Net of Quarters

Chengguan judges that “tenth, from ‘there is an excellent samādhi named Net of Quarters’ onward, thirty-four and a half verses clarifying the gate of the samādhi of stillness and function without shore,” and explains the name, saying “with respect to place it is named ‘quarter’” and “the ten quarters interlace, entering and issuing crosswise and lengthwise, and therefore it is named ‘net.’” The scripture supplies the name itself: “There is an excellent samādhi named Net of Quarters; the bodhisattva dwelling in it opens and shows extensively, manifesting his body universally in every quarter, either displaying entry into concentration or displaying issuing from it.”

“Quarter” is place, and “net” is interlacing. What this gate opens up is freedom, with respect to place, in entering and issuing from concentration. The gate-name “stillness and function without shore” is Chengguan's own establishing — stillness is entering concentration, function is the arising of activity, and without shore is that there is no boundary.

Ask first: what is there to say about entering and issuing from concentration? For ordinary people, once they have entered concentration they are here, and only once they issue from it can they act. What this gate has to say is precisely the removal of that limitation.

Stillness and Function Without Shore · Freedom with Respect to the Receptacle World: Entering in the East and Issuing in the West

The scripture at the outset gives a formula of the utmost simplicity: “Or in the eastern quarter he enters right concentration and in the western quarter he issues from concentration; or in the western quarter he enters right concentration and in the eastern quarter he issues from concentration; or in some other quarter he enters right concentration and in some other quarter he issues from concentration.” And then it concludes: “Thus entering and issuing throughout the ten quarters — this is called the power of a bodhisattva's samādhi.”

This sentence must be read slowly. The entering and the issuing are not in one and the same place — he enters in the east and issues in the west. If concentration were the mind's staying unmoving in one place, this sentence could not be made sense of; so what it displays is that concentration is not tied to place.

Then the scripture raises up all the Tathāgatas throughout the lands of the eastern quarter, and “he displays himself before every buddha, drawing near universally, while dwelling in samādhi still and unmoving.” Drawing near to the buddhas and being still and unmoving at one and the same time. Brought home to oneself: this passage begins the formal answering of that line buried earlier, “the body fills and pervades like empty space, dwelling unmoving and yet filling the ten quarters.”

Stillness and Function Without Shore · Freedom with Respect to the World of Right and Perfect Awakening: Still in Concentration While the Offerings Do Not Cease

The scripture then states the eastern and western quarters crosswise: before the buddhas of the east “dwelling in samādhi still and unmoving,” while at the same time in the presence of the buddhas of the west “he displays rising from samādhi and cultivating measureless offerings extensively”; and reversed, still in the west and rising in the east, likewise. It gathers all up with “Thus into all the worlds of the ten quarters the bodhisattva enters with none left out, either displaying samādhi still and unmoving, or displaying reverent offerings to the buddhas.”

Ask first: how can one and the same person be at once still and unmoving and at the same time cultivating offerings extensively? The scripture does not explain; it simply sets the two things side by side and states them. Chengguan explains the character of this passage, saying “being here he is constantly there, without before or after” — being here he is constantly also there, with no before and after.

Ruling out a misreading: do not think of it as the trick of dividing the body. A divided body is still two bodies, and there is a before and an after. What the scripture says is that there is no before and after. Brought home to oneself: at a certain point in practice one comes to know that the line between sitting still and getting things done is not to be erased by switching between them faster.

Stillness and Function Without Shore · Freedom in Faculty and Object Set over Against One Another: The Six Faculties and Six Objects Entering and Issuing in One Another

The form of this passage is perfectly regular. The scripture sets the six faculties over against the six objects and sets up entering and issuing one by one: within the faculty of the eye he enters concentration and within the object-field of form he issues from it, “displaying that the nature of form is beyond thought”; and reversed, within the object-field of form he enters concentration and from the faculty of the eye he rises from it, expounding that “the eye is from the first unarisen and has no rising, its nature empty and still, without anything done.” Ear and sound, nose and scent, tongue and taste, body and touch, mind and dharmas — each pair is of the same pattern. In the base text, entering by way of a faculty counts out as six and entering by way of an object-field as six.

Chengguan attaches this passage to “third, from ‘within the faculty of the eye’ onward, twenty-five and a half verses, displaying freedom throughout the three kinds of world,” and under it judges this to be “first, clarifying faculty and object as set over against one another so as to distinguish freedom.” One should notice that what is said in the two directions differs: where he enters by way of a faculty and issues in an object, it speaks of the object as beyond thought (the nature of form beyond thought, distinguishing all speech and sound, universally obtaining all the finest fragrances …); where he enters by way of an object and rises in a faculty, it speaks without exception of the faculty as unarisen (the eye unarisen, the ear unarisen, the nose unarisen, the tongue unarisen, the body unarisen, the mind unarisen), and clause by clause in the same wording — “its nature empty and still, without anything done.”

First the question, then the answer: why does the one direction speak of the wondrousness of function and the other of the emptiness of substance? Because faculty and object set over against one another is exactly the place where ordinary beings are bound. Entering by the faculty and issuing in the object displays that its function is unobstructed; entering by the object and rising in the faculty displays that its substance is from the first empty. Only the two spoken together are freedom.

Brought home to oneself: this passage is the section of the whole chapter closest to daily life. The eye is seeing and the ear is hearing all day long without cease; the scripture says that right here one may enter concentration, and right here one may know their non-arising.

Stillness and Function Without Shore · Freedom with Respect to Other Bodies and the Receptacle World: Entering in This Body, Issuing in That

The scripture next extends what the entering and issuing rest upon from faculty and object to bodies and the receptacle world. First other bodies: youth and man in his prime, man in his prime and old man, old man and good woman, good woman and good man, good man and nun, nun and monk, monk and one training or beyond training, one training or beyond training and pratyekabuddha, pratyekabuddha and Tathāgata, Tathāgata and the gods, the gods and a great dragon, a great dragon and a yakṣa, a yakṣa and a ghost-spirit. Then the receptacle world: ghost-spirit and a single hair-pore, a single hair-pore and all hair-pores, all hair-pores and the tip of a single hair, the tip of a single hair and a single mote of dust, a single mote of dust and all motes of dust, all motes of dust and the adamantine ground, the adamantine ground and a maṇi tree, a maṇi tree and the Buddha's light, the Buddha's light and the rivers and seas, the rivers and seas and the fire element, the fire element and the wind, the wind element and the earth element, the earth element and the palaces of the gods, the palaces of the gods and empty space.

Chengguan judges this to be “second, from ‘a youth’ onward, clarifying freedom with respect to other bodies,” and attaches it to the outline of “displaying freedom throughout the three kinds of world.” The three kinds of world are the world of sentient beings, the receptacle world, and the world of right and perfect awakening. The arrangement of this long string is like a linked chain — the place of issuing in each clause is the place of entering in the next, running on without a break.

Ruling out a misreading: do not read “within the body of a Tathāgata he enters right concentration” as meaning that the bodhisattva has become a buddha. What this passage displays is the absence of limitation in what the entering and issuing rest upon, not a usurpation of the order of stations.

Brought home to oneself: this passage reads like a string of dazzling transformations, but in fact it says only one thing — there is no single place upon which concentration cannot rest.

The General Conclusion That It Is Beyond Thought: The Freedom of Samādhi Is Beyond Thought

Chengguan judges that “third, from ‘this is what is called’ onward, one verse of general conclusion,” and explains its syntax: “the first line names the person by his virtue, the next line displays the virtue by way of the person.” The scriptural text: “This is what is called one of measureless merits, whose freedom in samādhi is beyond thought, and which all the buddhas of the ten quarters, throughout measureless kalpas, could not exhaust in the telling.”

With this the two hundred and more verses of the section of the boundless great function are gathered in. The manner of the gathering-in is interesting — it does not offer a summarizing definition, but says “could not exhaust in the telling.” If the buddhas of the ten quarters through measureless kalpas could not exhaust it, how much less these two hundred and more verses.

Brought home to oneself: to finish this long passage and feel that one has no grasp of it is normal. The scripture has itself said that it cannot be exhausted in the telling.

The Section of Illustrating the Profound Purport by Simile · That No Simile Can Serve as a Simile: Simile Cannot Liken It, and Yet by Simile the Sense Is Understood

Chengguan judges that “fifth, from ‘all’ onward, the section of illustrating the profound purport by simile, also named the section of raising the inferior to display the superior,” and judges its opening as “the preceding verse and a half clarify that no simile can serve as a simile for this, and the latter half-verse borrows simile to convey the profound.” The scriptural text: “All the Tathāgatas together expound that the ripening of sentient beings' deeds is beyond thought, that the transformations of the dragons and the Buddha's freedom, and the supernormal power of a bodhisattva too, are alike beyond thought”; then it states its own difficulty: “One would display it by simile, but in the end there is no simile that can be a simile for this”; and then it turns: “yet those persons of wisdom and penetrating understanding do, by reason of simile, understand its sense.”

These three and a half lines are the method of the latter part of the whole chapter. First it acknowledges that simile cannot exhaust it, and then says that similes must nonetheless be set up. Chengguan's explanation of the intent of setting up similes is put most vividly: “In adducing these similes there are, in brief, two senses: first, to display that a bodhisattva's freedom is not of the same order; second, to make it of value that sentient beings should give rise to faith. Now, the people of Jiangnan do not believe in a felt tent that holds a thousand men, and those of Hebei mostly doubt a boat of ten thousand bushels — simply because their ears and eyes have not reached so far.” — People of the south do not believe there is in the north a felt tent that can hold a thousand men; people of Hebei doubt that in the south there are great boats carrying ten thousand bushels, only because their ears and eyes have never been there. And so the scripture “raises up some things that are seen with the eye, and some that rest on persons still wholly bound,” raising things visible before one's eyes and things that people still carrying their afflictions can do, so as to display the bodhisattva by contrast.

Brought home to oneself: this passage first teaches a matter of reading the scriptures — only when one knows the limit of a simile will one not take the simile for the reality.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · The Simile of the Śrāvakas' Eight Liberations: If Those Without Compassion Are Thus

The first simile takes the śrāvakas. The scriptural text: “The śrāvakas, their minds dwelling in the eight liberations, are free in all that they manifest, able with one body to manifest many bodies, and again to make of many bodies one body”; in empty space they enter the concentration of the light of fire, and walking, standing, sitting, and lying down are all in the air, water issuing above and fire below, fire above and water below, “All this is within a single thought, with every kind of freedom without bound or measure.” And then it turns: “They are not furnished with great compassion, nor do they seek the buddha-path for the sake of sentient beings, and still they can manifest such things beyond thought — how much more so that free power which greatly benefits!”

This is the first application of “raising the inferior to display the superior,” and it settles the pattern for all the similes that follow: first state what they are able to do, then point out what they lack (not furnished with great compassion, not seeking the buddha-path for the sake of beings), and finally display by contrast with “still they can … how much more …”

Brought home to oneself: this pattern in fact teaches a way of thinking — one need not begin by trying to conceive how inconceivable a bodhisattva is; look first at what the world and the two vehicles can already do, and then reason upward.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · The Images of Sun and Moon and the Fourfold Army in Clear Water: Universal Manifesting and Yet Without Discrimination

The scripture sets up two similes. The simile of sun and moon: “It is just as the sun and moon course through empty space, and their images pervade everywhere throughout the ten quarters, so that in springs and pools, marshes and the water in vessels, and in the rivers and seas made of the many jewels, there is none in which the image does not appear,” with the joining: “So too are the bodhisattva's forms and images: throughout the ten quarters he universally manifests beyond thought.” The simile of the fourfold army in clear water: “It is as when in clear water there appear the images of the elephant troops, the horse troops, the chariot troops, and the foot troops, each distinct and unmixed,” with swords, halberds, bows, arrows, armor, helmets, and carriages of many kinds, and yet “there is none that does not appear within the water,” the key lying in the last line, “and yet the water of itself has no discrimination — so too is the bodhisattva's samādhi.”

Each of the two similes displays its own thing. The simile of sun and moon displays universal manifesting: one sun and one moon appear throughout all waters. The simile of the fourfold army displays the absence of discrimination: the water reflects images differing by a thousand degrees while the water itself makes no discrimination.

Ruling out a misreading: do not read “without discrimination” as failing to tell right from wrong. The water does not discriminate, and yet the fourfold army it reflects is “each distinct and unmixed” — precisely because it is in itself without discrimination, what it manifests is not disordered in the least. Brought home to oneself: the fewer preconceptions in the mind, the more clearly one in fact sees a matter; this is the real sense this simile gives.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · The Sea-God Fine Sound and the Woman Named Eloquence: If Those Still Bound Are Thus

The scripture raises two instances. The first is the sea-god: “Within the great ocean there is a god named Fine Sound, whose voice complies universally with the sentient beings of the sea, so that all their speech he can discern,” and yet “That god still has craving, hatred, and delusion, and yet can well understand every kind of sound — how much more one furnished with the free power of retention: could he fail to gladden the assembly!” The second is the woman named Eloquence: “There is a woman named Eloquence, born because her father and mother made supplication to a god,” and whoever has left evil and delights in what is true, she enters into his body and eloquence of wondrous kind is born; “She still has craving, hatred, and delusion, and yet can bestow eloquence according to a person's conduct — how much more a bodhisattva furnished with wisdom.”

Both these similes take the capacity of speech. What Chengguan called “some that rest on persons still wholly bound” refers to this class — raising up people still within craving, hatred, and delusion, who nevertheless are like this.

Brought home to oneself: this way of reasoning has one advantage, that it does not ask a person first to believe in things beyond thought; it asks only that he grant what is already there before his eyes.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · The Illusionist and the Asuras: Even Conjuring Can Delight the World

The scripture raises two more instances. The illusionist: “It is as when an illusionist knows the arts of illusion and can manifest every kind of measureless thing, in a moment producing sun, moon, and years, and making a city rich and abundant, vast and at ease,” and yet “The illusionist still has craving, hatred, and delusion, and yet can by the power of illusion delight the world — how much more the power of meditation and liberation.” The battle of the gods and the asuras: the asuras are defeated and flee, and “their weapons, chariots, and their hosts of followers all at once hide themselves away so that they cannot be seen,” and yet “They still have craving, hatred, and delusion, and yet can work transformations beyond thought — how much more one who dwells in the supernormal powers and the dharma of fearlessness.”

The simile of the illusionist is commonly used in the Buddhist scriptures to say that dharmas are like an illusion; here, however, it is used in reverse — it does not speak of the emptiness of illusion but of the capacity of illusion. Brought home to oneself: the intent of this passage is throughout the same, to have a person reason from what he already believes before his eyes to what he does not yet believe.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · Indra's Elephant King and the Asura Treading the Sea: The Transformations of Those Still Bound

The simile of the elephant king is spread out most lavishly: Indra's elephant transforms itself into thirty-three heads, each head furnished with six tusks, each tusk bearing seven pools, each pool holding seven lotus flowers, each flower bearing seven heavenly maidens, “all skilled in the arts, who play every kind of music and take their pleasure together with Indra”; and that elephant can further “cast off its original form and transform its body to be the same as the gods', its bearing and its comings and goings all alike theirs.” The closing line is again in the old pattern: “It still has craving, hatred, and delusion, and yet can manifest these supernormal powers — how much more one furnished with skillful means and wisdom: could he fail to be free in the concentrations!” The simile of the asura treading the sea: “Again, an asura transforms his body and, treading the adamantine limit, stands within the sea, so that the sea, deep as it is, reaches only to his middle, and his head stands level with Mount Sumeru,” closing with “how much more one who subdues the enmity of the māras, the lamp that illumines the world.”

The layer-upon-layer unfolding of the elephant-king simile (thirty-three heads, six tusks, seven pools, seven flowers, seven maidens) and the layered mutual involvement of the earlier gate of the samādhi of Indra's net answer to one another at a distance in point of form. This is recorded.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · Indra's Thousand Eyes and the Heavenly Drum of Trāyastriṃśa: A Small Power of Merit Is Yet Thus, a Formless Sound Can Yet Benefit

The simile of Indra's thousand eyes: when the gods and asuras do battle, Indra “according to the number of the asura host, manifests bodies equal to theirs and opposes them”; the asuras give rise to the thought “Śakra, lord of the gods, is coming against me; he will surely seize my body and bind it with the five bonds” and are worn down with anxiety; Indra “manifests his body with a thousand eyes, holding the adamantine cudgel from which flames issue,” and the asuras, seeing him, withdraw and submit; it closes with “By that small power of merit he is yet able to crush a great foe — how much more one who delivers all beings.”

The simile of the heavenly drum is longer and weightier. Within Trāyastriṃśa there is a drum “born of itself out of the ripening of deeds in heaven,” and when it knows the gods are heedless it sends forth a sound of itself in the air. The scripture cites what it says: all the five desires are “like foam gathered upon water, false in their nature”; all existences are “like a dream, like a heat-haze, and also like a floating cloud, like the moon in water”; “Heedlessness is enmity and is vexation; it is not the path of sweet dew but the road of birth-and-death”; the qualities of the five desires are of a “nature to perish,” and it urges them to “love and delight in the Dharma that is real.” The gods, hearing it, come up into the Hall of the Fine Dharma, and Indra expounds for them the wondrous Dharma. It closes: “That sound is formless and cannot be seen, and yet it can benefit the host of gods — how much more one who manifests bodies of form according as the minds of sentient beings delight: could he fail to deliver the multitudes!” And a further passage: in time of battle the drum sends forth a sound telling the host, “You should have no anxiety and no fear!”, and the gods put away anxiety and increase in strength while the asuras withdraw; the joining says, “The wondrous concentration of sweet dew is like that heavenly drum, constantly sending forth the quiescent sound that subdues the māras.”

What is singular about the simile of the heavenly drum is this: that drum has no mind, no form, and is struck by no one, and yet precisely when the words needed saying it said the words that needed saying. The joining states plainly that what it likens is “the wondrous concentration of sweet dew” — concentration's sending forth of sound is likewise mindless and yet timely.

Brought home to oneself: this is the one among all the chapter's similes most fit for self-examination. A reminder that truly lands is usually not one that someone deliberately said to you.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · Indra Responding to the Goddesses and the Kings of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment and of Brahmā: Even Worldly Freedom Is Thus

The scripture raises three more instances. Indra responding universally to the goddesses: the goddesses are “ninety-two nayutas” in number, and Indra responds to them all at once, causing each to think within herself, “The lord of the gods is taking his pleasure with me alone”; it closes with “Indra still has craving, hatred, and delusion, and yet can cause his retinue all to rejoice — how much more the supernormal power of great skillful means.” The king of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others' Emanations: “attains great freedom within the realm of desire, and with deeds, delusion, and suffering as his net binds all ordinary beings,” closing with “He still has craving, hatred, and delusion, and yet attains freedom over sentient beings — how much more one furnished with the ten kinds of free power.” The great Brahmā king: “in all the places where the Brahmā gods dwell, is able to manifest his body seated there and to send forth the wondrous Brahmā voice,” closing with “He dwells within the Brahmā path of the world, and his meditation and supernormal powers are yet as he wishes — how much more one unsurpassed and beyond the world.”

The three instances mount in order: Indra in Trāyastriṃśa, the king of the Heaven of Free Enjoyment at the summit of the desire realm, and the Brahmā king in the form realm. The higher one goes, the nearer to concentration is the freedom instanced, and the nearer also to the concentration beyond the world is what is displayed by contrast.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · Maheśvara and the Great Wind That Raises Up the World: Counting the Raindrops, Raising Up the World

The simile of Maheśvara: “The wisdom of the god Maheśvara is free, so that when the dragon king of the great ocean sends down rain, he is able to distinguish and count the drops one by one, discerning them all within a single thought,” closing with “One who through measureless koṭis of kalpas has diligently cultivated and obtained this unsurpassed wisdom of awakening — how should he not, in a single thought, universally know the minds of all sentient beings!”

The simile of the great wind: “The ripening of sentient beings' deeds is beyond thought: by the power of the great wind the world is raised up, the vast seas, the mountains, and the palaces of the gods, the light of the many jewels and the kinds of the myriad things”; and the wind can further raise clouds and send down rain, scatter and dissolve the clouds, ripen the grains, and bring ease to the multitudes. The closing line is particularly worth remembering: “The wind cannot train in the perfections, nor does it train in the merits of a buddha, and still it can accomplish things beyond thought — how much more one furnished with all the vows!”

The former simile displays by contrast the knowing of all beings' minds in a single thought; in the latter the thing raised up is no longer a sentient being but the wind. Even the mindless wind accomplishes things beyond thought — this is “raising the inferior to display the superior” pushed to its furthest point.

Brought home to oneself: the two similes together say one thing — what one is able to do and what one has cultivated are not always in proportion; and if so, then what one who truly cultivates is able to do is all the more beyond any limit.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · The Sounds That Please and the Even Seal of the Great Ocean: Knowing Sound as Echo, Embracing Without Refusal

The simile of the many sounds: “The sounds of every kind made by men and by women, the sounds of every kind of bird and beast, and the sounds of the great sea, of flowing streams, and of rolling thunder, are all able to please the minds of sentient beings,” closing with “How much more one who knows that the nature of sound is like an echo and who has attained unobstructed and wondrous eloquence.” This simile answers to the earlier light of Wondrous Sound and to the passage on faculty and object with its “contemplate the dependent arising of sound as an echo in a valley.”

The simile of the even seal of the great ocean: “The great ocean has a rare and singular property, that it can be an even seal for all things; sentient beings, jewels, and flowing streams — all of them it embraces universally with nothing refused”; and the joining says, “One who has inexhaustible meditation and liberation is such an even seal likewise: merit, wisdom, and every kind of wondrous practice — all of them he cultivates universally without ever having enough.”

The even seal is the crucial phrase. That the ocean is an even seal lies in its not selecting — sentient beings, jewels, and streams it embraces alike. Yet what it is joined to is not the embracing of sentient beings but “all of them he cultivates universally without ever having enough” — not selecting among the wondrous practices. This moves evenness from what is received over to what is cultivated.

Brought home to oneself: fussiness about what one will practice is the least easily noticed kind of selecting.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · The Dragon King at Play · Cloud-Colors and Lightning: Differing According to the Place

From “when the dragon king of the great ocean is at his play” onward, the scripture enters the longest group among all the similes. Chengguan judges it to be “the simile of play, likening the bodhisattva's virtue of playful supernatural transformation.”

First the color of the clouds: the dragon king raises clouds filling the four continents, and the color of the clouds differs place by place — in the Heaven of Free Enjoyment of Others' Emanations like true gold, in the Heaven of Delight in Emanations the color of red pearls, in Tuṣita the color of frost and snow, in Yāma the color of lapis lazuli, in Trāyastriṃśa the color of agate, in the heaven of the four kings the color of crystal, above the waters of the great ocean the color of adamant, among the kiṃnaras the color of wondrous fragrance, in the dwellings of the dragons the color of lotus flowers, in the dwellings of the yakṣas the color of white geese, among the asuras the color of mountain rock, in Uttarakuru the color of golden flame, in Jambudvīpa the color of blue jewels, and “in the remaining two continents it is an adornment of mixed colors, appearing in response to what sentient beings delight in.” Then the lightning, likewise differing place by place, with the last line, “as with the color of the clouds, so it is with the lightning.”

Ask first: why spread it out at such length? Because what is to be displayed is precisely ‘one raising, ten thousand differences.’ The dragon king is only at play raising clouds, and yet in every place the clouds put forth the color proper to that place. This is the same sense as the earlier “without discrimination and without applied effort” of the ocean-seal samādhi, only stated at greater length.

Brought home to oneself: at one and the same teaching, each hearer gets what he needs — it is not that the expounder made distinctions; the capacities are of themselves different.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · The Dragon King at Play · Thunder-Sounds and What Is Rained Down: One Raising, Ten Thousand Responses

Next the thunder-sounds: in the Heaven of Free Enjoyment like the Brahmā voice, in the Heaven of Delight in Emanations like a great drum, in Tuṣita like singing, in Yāma like the voices of heavenly maidens, in Trāyastriṃśa like the many sounds of the kiṃnaras, in the dwellings of the four world-guarding kings like the sound of the gandharvas; within the sea like two mountains striking together, among the kiṃnaras like flutes and pipes, in the cities of the dragons like the kalaviṅka, in the dwellings of the yakṣas like the voices of dragon maidens, among the asuras like the heavenly drum, and “within the human destiny it is like the sound of the ocean tide.”

Next what is rained down: the Heaven of Free Enjoyment rains wondrous fragrance and mixed flowers; the Heaven of Delight in Emanations rains tāla flowers, mandārava flowers, and marsh-fragrance; Tuṣita rains maṇi jewels (“the pearls in their topknots like moonlight, and fine garments of the color of true gold”); Yāma rains banners, pennons, and canopies, flower-garlands, unguents, and music; Trāyastriṃśa rains wish-granting jewels, hard black aloeswood and sandalwood, and the fragrant waters of saffron, keśara, and tamāla; within the cities of the world-guardians it rains fine viands “furnished with color, fragrance, and savor, that increase one's strength,” and rains also the many wondrous jewels beyond thought — and the last line names that upon which all this rests: “all of this is done by the dragon king.”

The threefold spreading-out (color, sound, rain) is of one and the same form: one place, one color; one place, one sound; one place, one thing. Brought home to oneself: the patience this long passage teaches is itself a training in how to read — only by being willing to read through place by place does one learn that ‘differing according to the place’ is not a summarizing phrase but something done item by item.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · The Rains in the Sea and in the Four Continents: The Dragon King Is Free and Yet His Body Does Not Move

The scripture goes on with the rains in the sea and in the several places: within the great ocean “the rain pours down unbroken like the shafts of chariots,” and it rains also inexhaustible great treasuries of jewels and jewels of adornment; in the realm of the kiṃnaras it rains necklaces, lotus flowers, garments and jewels, and the fragrances of vārṣika and mallikā; in the cities of the dragons it rains red pearls, in the cities of the yakṣas radiant maṇi jewels, among the asuras weapons “with which to crush and subdue every foe,” in Uttarakuru necklaces and wondrous flowers, in the two continents of Pūrvavideha and Aparagodānīya articles of adornment, and upon Jambudvīpa pure water, “fine and moistening and always in season, nurturing the many flowers, fruits, and healing herbs, and ripening all the crops in the fields.” It gathers all up with one verse: “Such measureless wondrous adornments, the clouds, lightning, and thunderous rains of every kind, the dragon king in his freedom is able to make them all, and yet his body does not move and is without discrimination.”

That gathering line is the eye of the whole group — “and yet his body does not move and is without discrimination.” The three preceding spreadings-out wrote out every kind of difference to the full, and the last line at a stroke brings it back to being unmoving and without discrimination. This is of the very same form as the gate of stillness and function without shore, where “dwelling in samādhi still and unmoving” goes together with “cultivating measureless offerings extensively.”

Brought home to oneself: to have done a very great many things and yet to have neither increase nor decrease within — this is the place this simile points to.

Illustrating the Profound Purport · The Concluding Exposition That Displays the Virtue: If the Dragon King Is Thus, How Much More One Who Enters the Sea of the Dharma

Chengguan judges that “third, one verse concluding the exposition and displaying the virtue.” The scriptural text: “He dwells within the sea of the world, and still can manifest such power beyond thought — how much more one who enters the sea of the Dharma and is furnished with merit: could he fail to work great supernormal transformations!” And then it turns to the gathering-in: “The gates of liberation of those bodhisattvas no simile whatever is able to display; I now, by means of these similes, expound only in summary their free power.”

These two verses buckle the whole section of illustrating the profound purport together at head and tail. At the beginning it said “in the end there is no simile that can be a simile for this”; at the end it says “no simile whatever is able to display”; and between them so many similes were set up, only to come back at last to the incapacity of simile. The setting of the sea of the world over against the sea of the Dharma is also finely made — the dragon king dwells in the sea of the world, the bodhisattva enters the sea of the Dharma.

Brought home to oneself: to finish this long string of similes and still feel that one has not truly seen a bodhisattva's freedom is exactly the outcome the scripture itself acknowledges. A simile is a door, not the room.

The Section of Comparative Measure and Exhortation to Uphold · Concluding the Preceding Six Wisdoms: The Names of the Six Wisdoms

Chengguan judges that “third of the main text, from ‘the first wisdom’ onward, nine verses, the section of comparative measure and exhortation to uphold,” and states its intent: “In this vast function everyone has a share; to see it and not practice it is truly to deceive oneself, and therefore those of middling capacity may be exhorted and so advance.” — A function as vast as this, and everyone has a share in it; to have seen it and not go on to practice it is to deceive oneself.

One verse of the scripture concludes what precedes: “The first wisdom, the vast wisdom, the true wisdom, the boundless wisdom, the excellent wisdom, and the surpassingly excellent wisdom — such a Dharma-gate has now been expounded.” Chengguan explains these six wisdoms name by name: “The first, because nothing can be added above it. Second, the vast, which speaks of its measure as surpassing the two vehicles. Third, the true, which makes clear that its substance and nature, inwardly realized, are without falsity. Fourth, the boundless, which has two senses: first, because the wisdom of measure knows universally; second, because it is apart from the various pairs of extremes — that is, the wisdom of the Middle Way. Fifth, the excellent, because it surpasses the stations of the grounds. Sixth, the surpassingly excellent, because it is the same as Samantabhadra's.”

The six wisdoms are not six different wisdoms but six aspects of one and the same wisdom: unsurpassed, surpassing the two vehicles, inwardly realized and without falsity, the Middle Way, surpassing the stations, the same as Samantabhadra's. Brought home to oneself: having read through seven hundred and more lines of merit and great function, here six names draw it all back to a single graph — wisdom.

The Rarity of Receiving It in Faith: To Have Faith in This Dharma Is the Hardest of Hard Things

Chengguan judges that “second, from ‘this Dharma’ onward, eight verses clarifying the rarity of receiving it in faith,” and judges that “the first one is the general display, the remaining seven the separate clarification.” The opening verse of the scripture: “This Dharma is rare and most extraordinary; if a person, having heard it, can accept it in patient assent, can have faith in it, receive it, and praise and expound it — such a deed is exceedingly hard.” Chengguan explains these four matters graph by graph: “‘Hearing’ means meeting with the scripture. Acceptance in patient assent means the cause of faith; where there is faith the mind is pure. ‘Receiving’ means taking in the text and taking in the sense. ‘Praising’ extends to both speech and writing, while ‘expounding’ pertains to speech alone.” And he explains “rare”: “A buddha's appearing is remote and already hard to meet with, and only at his first attaining does he expound it all at once, and therefore it is rare. ‘Extraordinary’ means that the beginning can possess what comes after; ‘most’ means that it far surpasses all the vehicles.”

The verses that follow measure by comparison layer upon layer: among the ordinary people of the world “to be able to have faith in this Dharma is most hard to obtain,” and those who can have faith do so by two powers — Chengguan says “first, because the pure merit cultivated in the present accords with what is sought; second, because the perfuming of hearing in past causes now brings forth the seed.” Further down comes that celebrated comparison: “Among the multitudes of beings in all the worlds, few are those who wish to seek the śrāvaka vehicle; those who seek to be pratyekabuddhas are fewer still; and those who set out upon the great vehicle are harder yet to meet with. Those who set out upon the great vehicle are yet the easier case; to be able to have faith in this Dharma is harder still — how much more to be able to uphold and recite it and to expound it for others, and to practice in accordance with the Dharma and truly understand it!”

Ask first: setting out upon the great vehicle is already extremely hard; why is having faith in this Dharma harder? Chengguan answers with the utmost brevity: “Because the initial mind is at once possessed of all merits, and therefore it is hard to have faith in.” The hardness of believing lies precisely in that sense of perfect interfusion set out earlier — that the initial arousing of the mind is at once possessed of all the stations. This one line strings the whole chapter together from beginning to end.

Let one thing be recorded in passing: when Chengguan cites this verse he has “those who have faith in the great vehicle are yet the easier case,” while the base text has “those who set out upon the great vehicle” and the sixty-fascicle text “those who seek the great vehicle”; the ancient worthies, in citing scripture, often abbreviate and alter, and both are recorded, with no adjudication.

Brought home to oneself: if in reading this far the thought arises, ‘this is surely putting it too grandly,’ the scripture has long since expected it — it has written that very thought into the three graphs “most hard to obtain.” And Chengguan leaves a way out for those who do not have faith: “Those who do not have faith now — would that they might hear even a little; as a drum smeared with poison, it will in the end become a firm seed.”

The Comparative Measure of the Merit of Reciting and Upholding by Instances: The Blessings of Reciting and Upholding This Chapter Are the Most Excellent

Chengguan judges that “third, four verses of comparative measure by instances,” and judges that “the first three measure the difficulty of faith: the first two raise two hard things so as to set off the hardness of faith, and the last raises the excellence of merit so as to display the excellence of faith. The last one measures the difficulty of the other practices, clarifying only reciting and upholding,” and says that of these four matters “each latter one surpasses the one before it.”

The four verses of the scripture: to bear the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system upon one's head for a kalpa without the body stirring — “what he did would still not be hard; to be able to have faith in this Dharma is hard”; to lift up ten buddha-lands with the hands and stand in the air for a kalpa — “what he did would still not be hard; to be able to have faith in this Dharma is hard”; to give the articles of ease for a kalpa to sentient beings as many as the dust-motes of ten lands — “his merit would still not be excellent; one who has faith in this Dharma is the most excellent”; to attend upon Tathāgatas as many as the dust-motes of ten lands for a kalpa — “if a person can recite and uphold this chapter, his merit is the most excellent and surpasses the other.”

Ask first: is this exaggeration? Look at the manner of the comparison and it becomes plain — the first two instances compare hardness, the last two compare excellence; the first three all speak of faith, and only the last speaks of reciting and upholding. The scripture's point of rest is not on ‘how much merit reading this chapter can gain’ but on ‘how hard it is to have faith in this Dharma.’

Brought home to oneself: the whole chapter begins with Mañjuśrī putting a question and ends with the reciting and upholding of this chapter, and the seven hundred and more lines in between speak wholly of the virtue that faith gives birth to. That it comes to rest upon reciting and upholding is a handing of that “faith” back into the reader's own hands — what you are now reading is precisely the chapter of which it speaks.

The Section of Manifesting the Real and Verifying It: The Buddhas of the Ten Quarters Stroke His Crown in Confirming Praise

Chengguan judges that “third of the main divisions, from ‘at that time Foremost in Worthiness’ onward, the section of manifesting the real and verifying it,” and divides it into four: “first, the quaking of the worlds, because the great capacity is aroused; second, the eclipsing of the palaces of Māra, because it is the sphere of buddhas alone; third, the ceasing of the evil destinies, because the benefit and joy are deep; fourth, the buddhas' present verification, because it accords with the buddhas' mind.” And within the buddhas' present verification he judges that “the stroking of the crown, the praising of it as good, and the rejoicing in it are the verification by all three kinds of act, exhorting beings to faith and practice.”

The scriptural text is the one passage of prose in the whole chapter: Foremost in Worthiness having expounded the verses, “the worlds of the ten quarters quaked in six ways, the palaces of Māra were eclipsed and hidden, and the evil destinies came to rest”; the buddhas of the ten quarters all appeared before him, “each with his right hand stroking his crown, and with one voice praised him, saying: ‘Excellent! Excellent! Well have you expounded this Dharma! We all alike rejoice in it.’”

Ask first: why must there be this passage? Because the seven hundred and more lines that precede all set forth the virtue of the fruit, and the expositor is Foremost in Worthiness alone. This passage is the buddhas themselves attesting that what he says is not false. Chengguan says that the stroking of the crown is the verification by the act of body, the praising as good the verification by the act of speech, and the rejoicing the verification by the act of mind — all three kinds of act verify it.

The second assembly ends here. At the close of his commentary Chengguan marks four graphs, “the second assembly is concluded” — from “The Names of the Tathāgata” down to this chapter, six chapters clarifying faith, and the assembly closes upon a single “excellent” from the buddhas.

Lineage

The sense of this chapter was carried on by three tracks in later ages; all are recorded, with no adjudication.

The line of Chengguan: following the eighty-fascicle text word by word in dividing the outline, he sets up the four gates of the reason for its coming, the explanation of the name, the tenet and aim, and the explanation of the text; judges the whole chapter as three divisions — Mañjuśrī's raising of the matter, Foremost in Worthiness's extensive exposition, and the present verification by the ten quarters; judges Foremost in Worthiness's answer as three divisions — modest praise and the granting of the exposition, properly setting forth the excellent virtues, and comparative measure and exhortation to uphold; divides the section of properly setting forth the excellent virtues again into five; and within the section of the boundless great function establishes the names of ten samādhi-gates. What he applies his strength to most in this chapter is the resolving of the difficulty, ‘how can the gate of faith be possessed of all the later stations’ — establishing the two gates of the graded sequence of the arrayed stages and of perfect interfusion and comprehensive inclusion, opening under the gate of perfect interfusion the two further gates of mutual dependence in dependent arising and of the fusion and inclusion of the Dharma realm, and judging that the taking in of one another by the stations of practice has four accounts: the beginning possessing the end, the end possessing the beginning, all the stations gathered together at once, and all the stations effaced. He further distinguishes the arousing of the mind in this chapter from the abode of the initial arousing of the mind among the ten abodes, judging that “the arousing of the mind here covers both beginning and end”; and he rebukes those who take this text as marking the leaving of the ordinary and the entering of the noble, saying “to judge it as entering the grounds is a reckless account.” All these judgments are where the Huayan school's doctrine of the perfect interfusion of the stations of practice comes to rest in this chapter.

The line of Fazang: on the sixty-fascicle text he explains the chapter's name from the Sanskrit bhadra and śrī, judges it an appositional compound, and opens out the four turns of person and dharma; he judges the text of Foremost in Worthiness's answer into eight parts — praising its depth and the difficulty of expounding it, the summary showing of the character of practice, the summary distinguishing of its excellent capacity, gathering in the stations of practice, the boundless great function, illustrating the profound purport by simile, comparative measure and exhortation to arouse the mind, and manifesting the real and verifying it; and he records the count of three hundred and sixty-three verses and the division into lines of five and of seven graphs. His eight parts and Chengguan's three divisions and five subdivisions each make a line of their own; two accounts come down from antiquity, and they are recorded.

The line of Zhiyan: on the sixty-fascicle text he explains the name by “the station where the ten kinds of faith are already fulfilled is the beginning of the worthy and the noble,” attaches the reason for its coming to “practice having been established, there must next be an extensive praising of the function of its virtue that completes the station,” judges the tenet to be the praising of virtue, and judges the text into three — “within the text there are three: first, Mañjuśrī's question; second, seven hundred and seven and a half verses, Foremost in Worthiness's answer proper; third, Foremost in Worthiness's exposition” — with six verses below the end of the chapter as the buddhas' verification displayed by the compilers of the scripture; and he records the verse-count of seven hundred and fifteen and a half. The six verses of verification he records stand precisely over against the eighty-fascicle text's prose — one and the same passage, and the two witnesses differ in form; it is recorded, with no adjudication.

The line of Li Tongxuan: he distinguishes roughly five gates — explaining the title of the chapter, explaining the reason for the chapter's coming, clarifying the tenet and aim of the chapter, clarifying the abiding and backsliding of the mind of faith, and explaining the meaning following the text. Among these, the gate “clarifying the abiding and backsliding of the mind of faith” is not found in the other masters, and marks a track of its own. He explains the name Foremost in Worthiness as “beginning as an ordinary person and all at once setting forth in manifest brightness the cause and fruit, the principle and the wisdom, of all the buddhas of the Dharma realm at one and the same moment,” and judges this Foremost in Worthiness to be “the Foremost in Worthiness of the practice of Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra within the ocean of the buddha-fruit,” “the foremost of faith in the cause and fruit, the principle and the wisdom, of the Buddha, and the foremost of the fulfilling of understanding and practice of the Dharma realm without beginning or end” — reading it by sudden manifestation and by the absence of beginning and end, which differs from a reading by the sequence of the stations; this account comes down from antiquity, and it is recorded.

As for the three masters' differing counts of verses — Chengguan's three hundred and fifty-nine and a half, Fazang's three hundred and sixty-three, Zhiyan's seven hundred and fifteen and a half — the base texts they explain are themselves different (Chengguan explains the eighty-fascicle text, Fazang and Zhiyan the sixty-fascicle text), while the verse lines of the base text count out as seven hundred and seventeen. All are recorded, with no adjudication as to higher or lower, and with no subtracting of one from another for comparison.

Among the works that are the guiding compendia of the Huayan school, the two names “Foremost in Worthiness” and “the ocean-seal samādhi” are met with in several places in the Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang, the Huayan yisheng shixuan men, and the Wangjin huanyuan guan; all of these are citations of wording in setting up the marks of the teaching, in establishing the doctrine of the ten mysteries, and in establishing the names of contemplative practice, and are not the expounding of this chapter's scriptural text; they are recorded, with no adjudication. And the line “faith is the origin of the path and the mother of merits” yields no occurrences at all in any of these works; the absence is recorded as the facts stand, and nothing is inferred from it about the line's circulation.

Why a single scripture has to change its place of speaking

Reading the Avataṃsaka this far, one runs into something structurally odd. In the first two assemblies the Buddha is in the human world — at the site of awakening, and in the Hall of Universal Light; and then in this chapter he is suddenly up in Śakra's palace on the summit of Mount Sumeru. The scripture offers no explanation of why. It settles the matter in a single sentence: the World-Honored One, not leaving from beneath all the trees of awakening, ascended Mount Sumeru and went toward the palace of Śakra.

With one voice the ancient worthies read this ‘change of place’ as a display of the Dharma by symbol. Chengguan sets this chapter out as the first chapter of the third assembly and determines the reason for its coming by saying that “earlier, faith; here, understanding — for such is the sequence of the sense”: what the second assembly expounded was faith, and what this assembly is to expound is understanding; faith is the expedient leading up to the abodes, and only here is the proper stage. Li Tongxuan puts it still more plainly: earlier, in the Hall of Universal Light on the human ground, the mind of the ten faiths had already been brought to completion; this chapter is “the ascent and advance into the stages, entering the ten abodes from the ten faiths.” Fazang, on the side of the sixty-fascicle text, sets out two questions and answers as well. Why is it not spoken in the human world? Because it makes manifest the gradual ascent and advance through the stages of practice, and further shows that on completing the stage one leaves defilement behind — hence he dwells in the heavens. Why does he not stop at the heaven of the four heavenly kings? Fazang answers that there are three intentions: first, that heaven “is a heaven of mixed ghosts and spirits, which would show the Dharma to be not excellent,” and therefore he passes beyond it; second, that the ten faiths are the outer ordinary stage, which can regress, while the ten abodes are the inner ordinary stage, which does not regress, so that passing beyond the place of the four heavenly kings displays how far apart advance and regress stand; third, “so long as one has not reached the summit of the mountain there is room for advance and regress, but once one is on the summit one abides without regress.” Chengguan for his part explains it by the place itself, whether central or to one side: “the place of the four kings is halfway and to one side, and not central, which displays that abiding without regress differs from the light down of faith” — and so the waist of the mountain is passed by, and he goes straight to the summit.

Settle this way of reading first, and afterward every ornament and every gesture in the chapter will not be read as the scenery of a myth. From beginning to end of this chapter the World-Honored One does not speak one sentence of Dharma with his own mouth (the bodhisattvas in each place expound the Dharma upheld by the Buddha's spiritual power, and Śakra speaks the verses — neither is the Buddha's own speaking); and yet the whole of it is a field set up for the sake of speaking the Dharma. Chengguan determines that the chapter takes “adorning the place and inviting the Buddha, who comes in response to the stimulus” as its tenet, and “capacity and condition meeting, so that the Dharma is spoken” as its aim — and this is precisely what he means.

What the name “Ascent to the Summit of Mount Sumeru” is saying

The ancient worthies take the words of the chapter's name apart very finely. “Sumeru,” says Chengguan, is properly pronounced sumeru, and is translated in this land as Wondrously High. Why is it called wondrous? Fazang answers: because it is formed of the four jewels — gold on the east face, silver on the west, crystal on the south, agate on the north — while the other mountains are of gold only, and hence are not wondrous. Why is it called high? Because it alone stands out above the nine mountains, rising eighty-four thousand yojanas, its height and breadth exactly equal. “Summit” is the mountain's peak; Fazang says that at the center of the mountain's summit is Śakra's palace, and on each of the four sides are eight terraces like platforms, thirty-two gods assisting Śakra, which with Śakra makes thirty-three.

Chengguan does not stop there. He opens “wondrous” into ten senses: wondrous in substance (formed of the four jewels), wondrous in mark (eight sides and four levels), wondrous in color (the four cardinal colors, so that whatever comes there takes on that color while the mountain itself does not change), wondrous in quality (the fierce winds of the eight directions cannot move it), wondrous in retinue (seven golden mountains encircling it sevenfold, and the seven fragrant seas with the ocean-seal whirling in their currents), wondrous in what it supports and is supported by (only gods dwell upon it), wondrous in activity (without leaving its own place it steadies the four continents), wondrous in the fruit it bears (the pārijātaka tree that benefits the hosts of gods), wondrous in being first (the ground of the four continents forms before all others), and wondrous in solidity (within the encircling rim of mountains it is the last to be destroyed).

Rule out one misreading: these ten senses are not items of geography. Chengguan immediately fits them one by one onto practice — hearing, reflection, cultivation and understanding are the wondrous substance; the four virtues and the eightfold noble path are the wondrous mark; the four kinds of unhindered eloquence are its color, causing others to understand alike while one's own wisdom does not change with them; the eight worldly dharmas failing to move one is the wondrous quality; upholding the precepts in the seven branches is the golden mountains encircling; the turning of the seven consciousnesses is the ocean-seal; the heaven of the highest truth is what supports and is dwelt upon; “it may be met with by spirit, and cannot be ascended by what is insentient.” The line he fits on at the end is this: “without leaving its own place it responds everywhere throughout the ten directions” — the mountain's wondrous activity is exactly what the Buddha is doing at this moment. And so he concludes, “to make manifest that the merit of the ten abodes is wondrously high, it is therefore necessary to ascend to the summit of the wondrously high mountain.” The name itself is the guiding thread of this assembly.

Segment one, the ten directions manifesting at once: first “not dispersed,” and only then “ascent”

The first sentence of the scriptural text is not the Buddha setting off, but this: because of the majestic spiritual power of the Tathāgata, in all the worlds of the ten directions, in each and every Jambudvīpa of the four continents, the Tathāgata was seen seated beneath the tree, and in each place there were bodhisattvas who expounded the Dharma upheld by the Buddha's spiritual power, and moreover “there was not one that did not take itself to be facing the Buddha constantly” — everyone in every place felt that he himself was directly facing the Buddha all along.

Why should this sentence come first? Chengguan asked the same question, and answered it with great clarity: it is to make clear that the earlier assembly has not dispersed, for only so can the later assembly be brought about; the later assembly necessarily carries the earlier with it, so that together they form one unobstructed great assembly of the Dharma realm; the assemblies have no intermission; each later assembly is simultaneous with those before it; and if the earlier assembly dispersed, there would be no later one.

Then the difficulty arises: if it is simultaneous and everywhere, how can there still be a sequence of nine assemblies? And if there is a sequence, how can it be called simultaneous? Chengguan's answer looks at substance and function together: “the substance that is identical with function is simultaneous and everywhere all at once”; “the function that is identical with substance does not destroy before and after.” He gives a comparison for it — “it is like the writing of a seal”: press it down once and the whole text appears at one moment, while the graphs still have their order.

Brought down to the reading: the mistake most easily made in reading the Avataṃsaka is to read the nine assemblies as nine successive occasions, one installment after another. Right here the scripture blocks that road. That the earlier assembly has not dispersed is the premise of this chapter's ‘ascending without leaving’; without this sentence, the next sentence cannot be made out at all.

Segment two, ascending to Śakra's palace without leaving the tree of awakening: the ancient worthies' five explanations

The second sentence of the scriptural text is a short one, and it is the pivot of this chapter: the World-Honored One, not leaving from beneath all the trees of awakening, ascended Mount Sumeru and went toward the palace of Śakra.

Here Chengguan sets up a very hard question: “Motion and stillness are contrary to one another, and going and staying stand far apart; since it says he does not leave, how can it say that he ascends?” Motion and stillness contradict each other; going and staying are cut off from one another; since it says he has not left, how can it also say he ascends? He then says “the ancients had many explanations,” and cites the sayings of the ancient worthies one by one, marking in each case whose manner of speaking it is:

The first explanation — “The original body of Śākyamuni did not rise from the tree of the path; separately he raised up a responsive transformation body to ascend into the heavens.” The original body of Śākyamuni did not rise and leave the tree of the path; separately a responsive transformation body went up to the heavens.

The second explanation — “What does not rise is the reward body; what ascends into the heavens is the transformation body.” What does not rise is the reward body; what goes up to the heavens is the transformation body.

The third explanation — “What does not rise is the dharma-body; what ascends into the heavens is the function of transformation.” Beneath these three explanations Chengguan breaks through them all together: “None of them is the sense of the text, for in this text all alike is the cloud of the ten bodies of Vairocana.” The word “none” means that all three preceding explanations miss the sense of the text; it is not that he is breaking through the third alone.

The fourth explanation — “Because going is precisely not-going, it is called not rising; and because not-going is precisely going, therefore he ascends into the heavens, as in ‘coming with the mark of not-coming’ and the like.” Chengguan objects to it: “If so, this is only that the mark of ascending is left behind; it is not that beneath the tree there is a separate body that does not rise. Therefore it will not do.”

The fifth explanation is marked “some say” — “This is the Buddha's spiritual penetration, the activity of function in one and the same substance: staying is precisely going, and going is precisely staying; staying is the substance being everywhere, going is function responding” — though he ascends afterward he does not leave what is before, and though he does not leave what is before he ascends afterward. Chengguan still raises an objection: how does this differ from the third master? Since it says that staying is the substance being everywhere, why should he stay beneath the tree of awakening alone? How is ascending into the heavens not the substance being everywhere? And how is beneath the tree of awakening not function?

What the reader is to learn from this whole passage is not how to pick out which house is right. The various sayings of the ancient worthies stand here side by side, and Chengguan's objections are his own words, recorded along with them; the five explanations are set out together, and we record what each rests upon and add no words of appraisal.

Segment two, continued: the correct sense Chengguan establishes — the response that is identical with substance, responding everywhere as substance is everywhere

After citing the several sayings, Chengguan says “now the correct sense is made manifest,” and establishes an explanation of his own. He speaks first of the substance the Buddha has realized: having attained awakening, his wisdom is nowhere unencompassing and his substance nowhere absent; he has no support and no abode, no going and no coming. Since he is from the first without going and coming, whence then can “ascending” be spoken of at all? He says it is “by the response that is identical with substance in its self-mastery, the response following substance in being everywhere, while the stimulus of conditions, being before and after, has staying and has ascending” — the response is a response arising upon the substance, and the response follows the substance in being everywhere; and because the stimulus of sentient beings comes now and later, what appears has staying and has ascending. “Where there is stimulus in Jambudvīpa, he is seen at the tree of the path; where there is stimulus in the palace of the gods, he is seen ascending into the heavens.” One sentence for the conclusion: “It is not that the Buddha at the tree of awakening is moved and ascends to the palace of the gods; therefore it is said that without leaving the tree of awakening he ascends to Śakra's hall.”

He also gives a scriptural proof and a proof by simile. For the scriptural proof he takes the verse of Dharma Wisdom in the next chapter: “Sons of the Buddha, you should behold the self-mastered power of the Tathāgata: in every Jambudvīpa, all say that the Buddha is present in it.” This line, says Chengguan, is speaking of the “not leaving”; and he takes “we now behold the Buddha dwelling on the summit of Sumeru,” and says that this line is speaking of the “and yet he ascends” — the two sides of one sentence of scripture, spoken out in two lines by the verse of the next chapter.

The proof by simile is that famous one of the three boats and the one moon: a single moon in the sky, watched together from three boats upon a clear river; one boat lies at rest, and two set off toward the south and the north. The one going south sees the moon following him a thousand li southward; the one going north sees the moon following him a thousand li northward; the one whose boat is at rest sees that the moon has not moved. “This is what is meant by saying that this moon goes south and north without leaving the middle of the stream.” And if a hundred thousand watched it together and went off in the eight directions, then a hundred thousand moons would each follow their going.

Rule out one misunderstanding: this is not saying that the Buddha only ‘seemed’ to move while in fact he did not — that would read the Buddha's ascent into the heavens as an illusion, and make what sentient beings see into something false. In the simile what all three men see is real: the moon really does follow south, really does follow north, really does not move. What differs is that the moon has never once divided itself. Brought down to yourself: the Dharma is not carried over and handed to you; wherever you have the stimulus, there it responds.

Segment two, continued: the ancient worthies' ten senses and the ten profound gates — the whole Huayan landscape inside one sentence of scripture

After the correct sense, Chengguan cites yet another set of explanations from the ancient worthies, saying, “the ancient worthies explained this in about ten senses.” First, from the gate of the mutual entering of places: within one place there are all places, and so the palace of the gods was from the first beneath the tree, and there is no need to rise; second, again from mutual entering: one place enters all places, so that the tree is everywhere within the heavens, and again there is no need to rise; third, since all are identical with one, the heaven is beneath the tree; fourth, since one is identical with all, the tree is up in the heavens; fifth, from the Buddha's body: the body beneath the tree is precisely what fills the Dharma realm and is everywhere in all places, so that he was there from the first, and only when the capacities ripened was it caused to be seen, and hence it is spoken of as ascending; sixth, from the Buddha's self-mastered inconceivable liberation: sitting is precisely walking and standing, being here is precisely being there, and none of it can be measured by those in the lower stages; seventh, from the gate of dependent arising in mutual dependence; eighth, from the gate of the interfusion of the dharma-nature; ninth, from the gate of the symbolic display that makes the Dharma manifest; tenth, from the gate that completes the great assembly of the Dharma realm.

After the ten senses Chengguan gives one overall determination: “Now of these ten explanations, the first five are the profound gates, the next four the reasons, and the last the general purport. They were established so as to make up ten senses in mutual interweaving; and although they seem confused, they do not go against the tenet of the scripture, and all of them may be used.” — the ten explanations look mingled together, but they do not contravene the tenet of the scripture, and all may be used. This too is the ancient worthies' determination, and it is recorded.

For himself, he sets out the mutual identity contained in this one sentence as four pairs: this place and that place, this body and that body, going and staying, one and many. And on the “all” in “not leaving from beneath all the trees of awakening” he opens out four propositions of one and many: not leaving from beneath all the trees and ascending to one heavenly palace (which is the wording of the present scripture), not leaving one tree and ascending to all heavens, not leaving all trees and ascending to all heavens, not leaving from beneath one tree and ascending to one heaven. What the scripture takes is the first proposition: “the scripture wishes to make manifest the mutual identity of one and many, and therefore raises up the first proposition.”

Further on, Chengguan says that within this one sentence the ten profound gates are already complete: that one place has all places is the sense of the subtle; that what is used differs is the sense of the hidden and the manifest; adding the earlier time and the later time gives the sense of the ten times; extending to the remaining dharmas gives the sense of the pure and the mixed; each later carrying each earlier gives the sense of Indra's net; this heaven regarded against the others gives the sense of principal and companion — “the ten profundities are complete.”

Brought down to the reading: out of one sentence of narrative in seventeen graphs the ancient worthies read the entire Huayan vision of the Dharma realm. This is not over-reading. It is because this sentence is itself doing something logically impossible — ascending without leaving. Wherever an impossibility appears in a scripture, that is the gate into the doctrine.

Segment three, seeing the Buddha coming from afar: why “from afar”

The third segment is a single sentence: at that time Śakra, lord of the gods, before the Palace of Wondrous Excellence, saw from afar the Buddha coming.

Chengguan will not let the one word “afar” pass. He speaks of it from both sides: from the Buddha's side it is that “function arises from substance” — substance is everywhere from the first, and only then does function appear; from the side of the one stimulated it is that “the object appears from the mind” — the realm appears in accordance with Śakra's mind. That being so, why is it still said to be “afar”? The answer: “They are adjacent but not yet identical, and therefore it says he saw from afar.” They have already become adjacent, but have not yet come to mutual identity, and so it is a seeing from afar.

This sentence is in fact the thermometer of the whole chapter. Earlier it was said that the Buddha does not leave and does not move, that his substance is everywhere in the ten directions; and if one spoke on that level, what far and near could there be? Yet the scripture deliberately writes the word “afar,” because this segment is written from Śakra's position. Śakra stands at the gateway of the stage of the ten abodes: he can see the Buddha coming, and has not yet come to be identical with the Buddha.

Rule out one misunderstanding: do not suppose that once the substance being everywhere and not moving has been spoken of, one is no longer permitted to speak of far and near, coming and going. The Huayan way of speaking never abolishes the phenomenal; it only forbids taking the phenomenal for the terminus. Brought down to yourself: if your present feeling toward the Dharma is that of “seeing from afar,” this is not an illusion and not an obstacle — it is an honest report of where you stand.

Segment four, adorning the palace and setting out the seat: what kind of number is “ten thousand”

The fourth segment is the most densely written passage in the chapter: Śakra with his spiritual power adorns this palace and sets out the lion seat of the Treasury of Universal Light, that seat being made entirely of wondrous jewels; and then come ten phrases of adornment — ten thousand tiers of steps, ten thousand nets of gold, ten thousand kinds of hangings, ten thousand kinds of canopies, ten thousand lengths of figured silk, ten thousand strings of pearl-garlands, ten thousand garments, ten thousand sons of the gods together with ten thousand Brahmā kings, and ten thousand lights.

Chengguan first determines the structure: “the text has ten phrases, the first general and the rest particular.” The general one is the name of the seat. “What is called in general the Treasury of Universal Light is the wisdom of the stage of understanding, because it shines upon the emptiness of dharmas and contains all virtues within it.” — the Treasury of Universal Light is not a decorative fine name; it marks the wisdom belonging to the ten abodes as the stage of understanding, and because it shines upon the emptiness of dharmas and gathers in all virtues, it is called a treasury. He adds one more line: “because entry begins from faith, there is the word ‘set out’” — it is because one has only just entered from the stage of faith that the scriptural text uses the word “set.”

To the nine particular phrases Chengguan fits a sense one by one: that all of them say “ten thousand” is because the ten thousand practices as cause bring them about; that it says “tiers of steps” is because the ten thousand practices perfume and form them; the nets of gold are guarding and protecting; the hangings and canopies of compassion are for rearing and for covering; the four means of gathering are the figured silk hanging all around; the perfectly interfused practices and vows interlace the ten thousand goods; gentle forbearance, conscience and shame cover over the heaven of the highest truth of the emptiness of dharmas; pure conduct encircles this substance of the Dharma; and because each single wisdom shines, they are named lights. Finally he points out the intent of the passage: “raising up such fruits of virtue so as to cause beings to practice the cause.”

Rule out one misreading: this is the passage most easily taken for a splendid set-piece of description and read past quickly. But what the scriptural text writes of is a seat, and what Chengguan reads is the Dharma-gate of the ten abodes — the seat is the place of the Dharma, not the Buddha's furniture. Brought down to yourself: Śakra is able to adorn the palace because “it displays the adorning of the palace of the faculties and desires, so as to be a vessel for the Dharma”; first make yourself into a vessel that can hold the Dharma, and only then can the Dharma get in.

Segment five, thrice saying “Welcome”: the ceremony of inviting the Dharma

The fifth segment writes that Śakra, after he had spread and set out the seat, bent his body and joined his palms and reverently faced the Buddha and said: Welcome, World-Honored One! Welcome, Well-Gone One! Welcome, Tathāgata, Worthy One, Perfectly Awakened One! We pray only that you would take pity and dwell in this palace!

Chengguan divides this segment as “the reverence of the three kinds of action, which constitutes the ceremony of invitation” — bending the body is bodily, joining the palms is likewise bodily, reverence is mental, and uttering words is verbal; only when the three kinds of action are complete is the courtesy of invitation fulfilled. He then explains it graph by graph: “Welcome” is said because the Buddha comes in response to capacity, comes with the mark of not-coming, and comes bringing the great assembly of the Dharma realm with him. Saying “well” three times is “because his joy is at its utmost” — he is glad to the last degree. Raising the three titles is “because he praises the virtues in brief.” Saying “we pray only that you would take pity,” and so inviting the Buddha to dwell in the palace, is “because he hopes to rely on this excellent field and give rise to great merit.”

There is a point of doctrine here that is easily slipped past: what Śakra says is “Welcome,” not ‘please come.’ Chengguan deliberately marks out “coming with the mark of not-coming” — the doctrine that the Buddha does not leave the tree of awakening has just been expounded, and here, the moment Śakra opens his mouth, his words join onto that doctrine. He is not inviting a guest who has walked in from somewhere far off.

Brought down to yourself: the arrival of the Dharma is never a transaction brought about by asking; it is the meeting of capacity and stimulus with response. The reverence in which the three kinds of action are complete is not a formality; it is itself the content of that meeting. The reason this segment must be set out as a section of its own is that the scripture means to tell the reader: before the Dharma is spoken, there is first someone able to ask for it.

Segment six, he thereupon accepts the invitation, and in all the worlds of the ten directions it is likewise so

The sixth segment is extremely short: the World-Honored One thereupon accepted his invitation and entered the Palace of Wondrous Excellence; and within all the worlds of the ten directions it was likewise just so.

Chengguan explains it as “capacity and condition meeting, so that the benefit brought about is not in vain, and so it is throughout the ten directions” — the one who invites and the Buddha who responds, capacity and condition, meet each other, and so the benefit does not fall through. He also points out what this sentence does structurally: “it runs through the above six segments, the matter of entering the palace being finished, and so there is one concluding extension. The text of the four segments below concerns matters within the palace.” That is to say, the concluding extension “and within all the worlds of the ten directions it was likewise just so” governs the six segments before it; from the seventh segment onward, what is spoken of is what happens inside the palace.

This kind of dividing line in the reading is worth remembering. Wherever a concluding phrase of the type ‘throughout the ten directions it is likewise so’ appears in a scriptural text, it is never merely a rhetorical repetition; it is gathering up the structure of what came before. In the whole chapter there are two such concluding extensions, one here and one in the last segment — of which Chengguan says that it “concludes only the latter four, the earlier having been concluded already,” which answers exactly to this one.

Brought down to the reading: if in reading the Avataṃsaka one feels that it repeats itself everywhere, most often one has taken a sentence of structure for a sentence of description. The repetition here is the skeleton, not padding.

Segment seven, the sounds of music come to rest of themselves

The seventh segment is one sentence: Śakra, by the Buddha's spiritual power, caused all the sounds of music within the palaces to come to rest of themselves.

Chengguan explains it as “gathering the scattered back into stillness, so that the benefit of concentration is obtained” — the scattered is gathered back into stillness, and what is obtained is the benefit of concentration.

Of this sentence one question has to be asked: who stopped the music? The scriptural text says it was “Śakra, by the Buddha's spiritual power.” If it is the Buddha's spiritual power, why is it said to be Śakra? It may be read this way: the one who is able to be stimulated is Śakra, and so it is credited to him; what is relied upon is the Buddha's power, and so the Buddha's spiritual power is marked out. The adornment in the fourth segment above has the same syntax — “with his spiritual power he thereupon adorned this palace.”

Rule out one misunderstanding: do not suppose that this means the Buddha dislikes music. The music of the palace of the gods is the fruit and reward of heavenly merit; it is not a fault. The scripture writes that it “comes to rest of itself,” and those four graphs matter. It is not prohibited; it stops of itself — a scattered mind meeting the state of concentration has, from the first, nothing to carry it on.

Brought down to yourself: this segment is the last preparation before the Dharma is spoken. Before it the palace was prepared, the seat was prepared, the invitation was prepared; here what is prepared is the mind. However good the vessel, if something inside it is still sounding, the Dharma cannot be poured in either. That the calling to mind in the eighth segment can arise at all depends entirely on this segment's becoming still first.

Segment eight, calling to mind the roots of goodness planted in the presence of the buddhas of the past

The eighth segment: Śakra thereupon called to mind of himself the various roots of goodness he had planted in the presence of the buddhas of the past, and spoke verses.

Chengguan determines this as “each calling to mind the causes of old, which is the obtaining of the benefit of wisdom,” and he buckles the before and after together: “the scattering conditions having ceased, excellent virtue appears before him; still and without thought, the knowledge of former abodes arises.” The scattering conditions having ceased, excellent virtue appears; and it is when one is still and without anything thought of that the knowledge of former abodes can arise at all. He explains what the “planting of roots of goodness” is: “it is that the ten buddhas below once entered this palace, and he heard the Dharma and made offerings.” — it is that the ten buddhas praised in the ten verses below once entered this palace, and that Śakra at that time heard the Dharma and made offerings. He adds one further sense: “it also displays his seeing his own mind-nature, the same as the buddhas of old.”

The sequence here is well worth seeing clearly: concentration (the music coming to rest) comes first and wisdom (calling the causes of old to mind) after, and moreover it is “still and without thought” that it can arise. Rule out one misunderstanding: calling to mind is not strenuous recollection. An ordinary man's recollecting is a stirring-up: the harder he works at it the more disordered it becomes. The calling to mind here is what surfaces of itself after one has become still.

Brought down to yourself: if a person constantly feels that he has no old affinity with the Dharma, most likely it is not that he really has none, but that his mind is too noisy. That this chapter writes ‘inviting the Buddha’ and ‘remembering that one has invited the Buddha before’ as two consecutive segments is meant for just this.

The ten verses in general: what is praised is virtue, not name

The ninth segment is ten verses. Chengguan first gives the form: “Now for the first, the ten verses: the upper half of each indicates a name and praises a virtue, the first line particular and the second general, while the lower half concludes with the person to the place.” The upper half of each verse has in its first line the indicating of a buddha's name together with the praise of his virtue (differing for each buddha), and in its second line a general line (the same in all ten verses: “among all things auspicious he is the most unsurpassed”); and the lower two lines conclude with that buddha back to this place (the same in all ten verses: “that buddha once came and entered this palace, and therefore this place is the most auspicious of all”). So the only thing that really varies among the ten verses is the first line of each.

And what is that first line doing? Chengguan says: “Only the first line differs from buddha to buddha; but the particular names of buddhas are for the most part established on the ground of a virtue, and the one who praises takes that virtue in order to explain the name above.” The particular name of a buddha is for the most part established on the ground of a virtue, and so the one who praises takes that virtue to explain that name — these ten lines are not ten appellations, but ten demonstrations of ‘how a name and a virtue answer to one another.’

He asks further: all the buddhas of the three times speak the Dharma of the ten abodes here; why then are these ten alone praised? The answer is that it “displays the speaking of the ten abodes, and displays inexhaustibility” — ten displays the ten abodes, and displays inexhaustibility as well. So the reasons for praising are four: first, the ten buddhas once dwelt in this place, from which it can be seen that this palace is worthy; second, one virtue is raised for each so as to praise by example the Teacher himself; third, he narrates the roots of goodness of former days and rejoices that he has met with this and is fit to receive it; fourth, the buddhas of former times spoke this same Dharma, which displays that this Dharma is constant.

Brought down to the reading: if in reading these ten verses one reads out only ‘this place is very auspicious,’ the whole of it has been missed. It is Śakra counting over his own former affinities, and it is the scripture telling the reader that the Dharma of the ten abodes was never something newly made.

Verse one: the Tathāgata Kāśyapa is fully endowed with great compassion

The first verse praises the Tathāgata Kāśyapa as “fully endowed with great compassion.” How do the name and the virtue answer to one another? Chengguan explains “Kāśyapa” as meaning in this land Drinker of Light, and gives two levels of reading: if the name is established on the clan, it displays his being born into that family; if it is spoken of on the side of the Buddha's virtue, then first, the light of his body eclipses all other light, and second, “the light of compassion drinks up and eclipses deviant light” — with the light of compassion he swallows and eclipses the light of what is deviant.

So the verse's saying “fully endowed with great compassion” takes exactly the second sense of Drinker of Light to explain the name. Rule out one misreading: do not read “drinking light” as the Buddha's sucking away someone else's light. Light here is a simile for wisdom and for seeing; deviant light is the brightness of deviant views. That compassion is able to eclipse the deviant is not a matter of overpowering it; it is that after it has been shone upon, the deviant has of itself nothing left to rest on.

Brought down to yourself: if a person's insight is very sharp while his compassion is insufficient, that sharpness is often just such deviant light. That this verse sets the first of the ten buddhas upon “compassion” carries a sense of sequence.

Verse two: Kanakamuni sees without obstruction

The second verse praises Kanakamuni as “seeing without obstruction.” Chengguan explains the name: “Kanakamuni was anciently rendered Golden Sage, and also Golden Stillness; because of stillness he is unobstructed, because of gold he sees clearly.”

This explanation is extremely terse, and yet it holds two layers. In the two graphs “golden stillness,” stillness is the substance and gold the mark; because of stillness there is therefore nothing that obstructs, and because of gold there is therefore clarity and the capacity to see. Put together, this is exactly the verse's “sees without obstruction” — that his seeing is unobstructed lies not in the power of the eye but in stillness.

Rule out one misunderstanding: unobstructed does not mean seeing much. To see much while the mind is not still is to be the more thickly obstructed the more one sees. Read this verse together with the one above: Kāśyapa's compassion and Kanakamuni's seeing, the one the root of practice, the other the root of understanding.

Brought down to yourself: if you want to see clearly, first make the mind still, rather than first going out to look at more. This is the same road as the seventh segment's “the sounds of music come to rest of themselves,” and then “the knowledge of former abodes arises.”

Verse three: Krakucchanda is like a mountain of gold

The third verse praises Krakucchanda as “like a mountain of gold.” Chengguan explains the name in some detail: “Fully stated it is Krakucchanda, which here means ‘what ought to be cut off has been cut off,’ like gold already refined, like a mountain unmoving.” The meaning of the name is ‘what ought to be cut off has already been cut off,’ and so it is likened to gold and to a mountain — gold is what has already been refined, a mountain is what no longer shakes.

He adds one very fine further stroke: “It may also be that ‘seeing without obstruction’ is this buddha's virtue and ‘like a mountain of gold’ the preceding buddha's virtue.” That is to say, the two virtues of the second verse and the third may also be read the other way about. This is a common practice among the ancient worthies in reading verses — beyond the answering of name to virtue, virtues are also allowed to be raised across the several buddhas, which fits exactly what was said above about “one virtue being raised for each so as to praise by example the Teacher himself.”

Rule out one misreading: do not read “what ought to be cut off has been cut off” as merely a report card of severed afflictions. That the gold has been refined is spoken on the side of substance; that the mountain does not move is spoken on the side of function. What makes cutting off precious is not what has been cut away, but the unmovingness that follows the cutting.

Verse four: the Buddha Viśvabhū is without the three defilements

The fourth verse praises Viśvabhū as “without the three defilements.” Chengguan explains the name: “Viśvabhū is also called Viśvabhū; viśva here means ‘all-pervading,’ and bhū means ‘self-mastered.’ It is also rendered ‘pervadingly excellent,’ for being without the three defilements there is nothing in which he is not self-mastered and surpassing.”

The key lies in the way he draws the inference in his last clause: because he is without the three defilements, therefore there is nothing in which he is not self-mastered and surpassing — the name's ‘pervading all and self-mastered’ is inferred from the virtue “without the three defilements.” And what are the three defilements? Chengguan says it plainly: “The three defilements are active manifestation, seeds, and habitual residues.” Active manifestation, seeds, habitual residues.

This sentence is worth pausing over. Generally, when the cutting off of afflictions is spoken of, it is mostly carried only as far as active manifestation and seeds; Chengguan here brings habitual residues into the list as well, which is precisely how he shows why this buddha's virtue is “pervading” and “self-mastered” — active manifestation not arising may still be a matter of suppression, and seeds already cut off may still leave residues behind; only when all three are exhausted is there no place in which one is not self-mastered.

Brought down to yourself: in examining your own practice, the most honest item is not whether active manifestation has arisen; it is whether the residues are still there.

Verse five: the Tathāgata Śikhin has left discrimination behind

The fifth verse praises Śikhin as “leaving discrimination behind.” Chengguan explains the name: “Śikhin is also called Śikhin; it means here ‘bearing a topknot,’ also ‘having a topknot.’ Nondiscriminating wisdom is the most honored and highest, and is placed at the crown of the mind. Again, the bright pearl within the topknot is precisely nondiscrimination.”

The meaning of the name is “bearing a topknot,” and the topknot is on the crown of the head, and so it is taken to display that nondiscriminating wisdom is the most honored and highest, placed at the crown of the mind. He also gives a second reading: the bright pearl within the topknot is precisely nondiscrimination — the pearl is hidden within the topknot, not outside it.

Rule out one misunderstanding: leaving discrimination behind is not failing to distinguish right from wrong, nor is it making the mind into a blank. Discrimination here refers to that kind of cognition which grasps at marks with subject standing over against object; leaving it behind, one's discernment becomes more accurate rather than less.

Brought down to yourself: read against the second verse's “seeing without obstruction” — the one is spoken on the side of seeing, the other on the side of wisdom. If you want nondiscriminating wisdom, the road does not lie in ceasing to think, but in not thinking in the manner of grasping at marks.

Verse six: the Buddha Vipaśyin is like the full moon

The sixth verse praises Vipaśyin as “like the full moon.” Chengguan says this name is translated in this land in four ways: pure beholding, excellent beholding, excellent seeing, and universal seeing. Then he uses one moon to gather in all four renderings: “That the moon is full and the wisdom complete is the universal seeing; that the dark of the moon is spent and delusion gone is the pure beholding. Being both full and pure, it is the excellent beholding and the excellent seeing.”

The moon being full answers to wisdom being complete, and so it is universal seeing; the moon's dark part being spent answers to delusion being gone, and so it is pure beholding; being both full and pure is excellent beholding and excellent seeing. One simile gathering in four names — this is a stroke in the explanation of a name that shows great skill.

Rule out one misreading: the simile of the full moon is extremely common in the Buddhist scriptures and is easily read as a simple beauty of completeness. That is not what it is here. Chengguan points out particularly “the dark of the moon spent” — the moon is full not merely because the bright part has increased, but because the dark part is gone. The completeness of wisdom is likewise not that one knows more; it is that delusion is no longer there.

Brought down to yourself: to judge whether you have made progress, looking at how much the dark has decreased is more reliable than looking at how much the bright has increased.

Verse seven: Puṣya understands and penetrates the highest truth

The seventh verse praises Puṣya as “understanding and penetrating the highest truth.” Chengguan's explanation of the name is the tersest of all: “Puṣya is also called Puṣya; it means here ‘increase and abundance,’ and understanding and penetrating the supreme meaning is the increase and abundance.” The meaning of the name is increase and abundance, and clearly penetrating the supreme meaning is what that increase and abundance consists in.

The way to read this line lies in where those two graphs, “increase and abundance,” are placed. When the world speaks of increase and abundance it means the accumulation of quantity; what is spoken of here is the understanding and penetrating of the highest truth. Rule out one misunderstanding: the highest truth is not one more item of profound knowledge, such that understanding it means one more thing understood. It is where all doctrines come home; only when it is understood and penetrated does the clarity concerning any dharma really grow.

Brought down to yourself: to study the Dharma and feel that what one knows grows ever greater while the mind grows ever narrower is not increase and abundance. The verification of increase and abundance is that upon meeting any dharma at all one can pass through it to the highest truth.

Verse eight: the Tathāgata Tiṣya has eloquence without obstruction

The eighth verse praises Tiṣya as having “eloquence without obstruction.” Chengguan's explanation of the name here brings in the glossing of graphs: “Tiṣya is also called Tiṣya; in the Western regions the graph is glossed tīrṇa, which here means ‘to ferry across.’ Ṣa is bhāṣa, which here means ‘to speak’ — that is, speaking the Dharma and ferrying people across; or else simply ‘to speak.’ ‘Eloquence without obstruction’ is precisely that ability to speak.” Taken apart, the name is “ferrying across” and “speaking,” which together make speaking the Dharma and ferrying people across, or else only the sense of “speaking”; and so the praise of virtue uses “eloquence without obstruction,” which is exactly that “able to speak.”

What deserves notice is Chengguan's carefulness: he gives first a full rendering (speaking the Dharma and ferrying people across) and then an abbreviated one (or else simply “to speak”), and does not take one alone. This is the ordinary practice of the ancient worthies in explaining names — where a name has several senses, they are preserved together.

Rule out one misunderstanding: eloquence without obstruction is not being good with words. The fifth verse above spoke of leaving discrimination behind and the seventh of understanding and penetrating the highest truth, and only here does it speak of eloquence — the sequence is that there is first what has been penetrated, and only then what is spoken. Brought down to yourself: when the speaking of the Dharma comes out halting, it is mostly not that the language is insufficient, but that the seeing has not yet arrived.

Verse nine: the Buddha Padma is pure and without defilement

The ninth verse praises Padma as “pure and without defilement.” Chengguan's explanation of the name is extremely short: “Padma means here the red lotus flower; body and mind are like the lotus flower, pure and without dust or defilement.” The name is the red lotus flower, and so the praise of virtue says that body and mind are pure and without dust or defilement like a lotus flower.

Which sense of the lotus simile is taken here? What the scriptural line says is “pure and without defilement,” not ‘emerging from the mud’ — Chengguan follows the scriptural line and explains only purity, without producing further senses on the side. This point is worth learning: a simile has several senses, and which one is taken is decided by the phrase of virtue it is matched with; one may not bring up all the extensions of a simile at once.

Rule out one misreading: do not read “pure” as isolation. The purity of the lotus flower has never been a matter of growing apart from the water. Read against the fourth verse's “without the three defilements”: the one is spoken on the side of cutting off delusion, the other on the side of the substance and nature; the one is that something has been removed, the other is that it was so from the first.

Brought down to yourself: in practice there are two kinds of purity — the purity washed out, and the purity that was there from the first. The former takes effort; the latter takes faith. What this verse speaks of is the latter.

Verse ten: the Tathāgata Dīpaṃkara has great light

The tenth verse praises Dīpaṃkara as having “great light.” In explaining the name Chengguan cites the Zhi lun as his authority: “This buddha, from his first appearing in birth up to his becoming a buddha, carried light about his whole body, like a lamp lit — hence Dīpaṃkara.” From his first birth up to his becoming a buddha his whole body carried light, like a lamp that has been lit, and so he is named Dīpaṃkara, the Lamp-Lighter. He then adds a line of his own explaining “great”: “The light of the body and of wisdom being universally everywhere is called great.” — the light of the body and the light of wisdom pervade everywhere, and so it is called great.

With this the ten verses come to their close. Looking back over these ten praises of virtue — compassion, seeing, cutting off, absence of defilement, nondiscrimination, completeness of wisdom, understanding and penetration, the ability to speak, purity of substance, and light — they rise from the root of practice, pass through understanding, cutting off, and realization, on to the speaking of the Dharma for the benefit of others, and come home at last to light pervading everywhere. These are not ten names set down at random.

Brought down to the reading: what Śakra is counting over is ten buddhas who once entered this palace; what the scripture is counting over is the content of the Dharma of the ten abodes. And so Chengguan says, “that ten alone are praised displays the speaking of the ten abodes, and displays inexhaustibility” — ten is a number, and it is also inexhaustibility.

How could buddhas of past kalpas have entered this palace

Within the ten verses there is a difficulty of history, which Chengguan himself raises: of these ten buddhas the latter seven are buddhas of past kalpas; how could they ever have entered a palace of the present Worthy Kalpa?

He cites two old explanations: “first, because the kalpas of time are mutually identical and mutually entering” — the kalpas of time are themselves mutually identical and interpenetrating, and past and present are not absolutely cut off from one another; “second, because that place has a coarse aspect and a subtle one, the coarse being destroyed along with the kalpa while the subtle abides constantly” — a place has a coarse aspect and a subtle one, the coarse is destroyed along with the kalpa, and the subtle abides always. He raises two proofs as well: as the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka says, gods and men see the burning while my land is not destroyed; and again, a Brahmā king sees the pure land while Śāriputra sees the defiled. Since what is seen differs according to the mind, “this god Śakra here is a great bodhisattva, and sees as the Brahmā king does, also because the Buddha adds his power.”

Two things are to be attended to in reading this passage. First, this is the ancient worthies' explanation; Chengguan in citing it marks it “there are two old explanations,” and does not rank one above the other between the two sayings, and we record it as it stands. Second, it is the other side of the very same principle as the ‘ascending without leaving’ at the head of this chapter — there what was spoken of was the mutual identity of places, here what is spoken of is the mutual identity of times. Within one chapter, place and time are each given a difficulty, and the manner of answering runs along the same track.

Brought down to yourself: what is called an affinity of former lives is not a line of time that can be traced backward; it is that whichever subtle place your mind has reached at this moment, with that world it is joined.

The concluding extension to the ten directions: the Śakra heaven-kings of the ten directions likewise

After the ten verses the scriptural text has a concluding extension: just as within this world the king of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, because of the Tathāgata's spiritual power, praised in verse all the merits of the ten buddhas, so too the Śakra heaven-kings of the worlds of the ten directions praised the Buddha's merits in just the same way. Here Chengguan marks only “first, clarifying this realm; afterward, discerning the concluding extension,” the sense of the text being already plain.

What has to be asked is: why must such a sentence come at the end of every segment? A first time has already occurred in the sixth segment above, “and within all the worlds of the ten directions it was likewise just so.” The answer was buried already in the first segment — “the whole assembly manifesting at once” is precisely the simultaneity of the ten directions. Without a concluding extension segment by segment, the reader would unawares read this occasion as something happening in our world alone.

Rule out one misunderstanding: the worlds of the ten directions do indeed each have their own Śakra heaven-king, and the scriptural text says “the Śakra heaven-kings of the worlds of the ten directions likewise praised the Buddha's merits” — each Śakra in each place praising the Buddha, which is an actual fact and not a duplication; what does not divide itself is not Śakra but the Buddha. The first segment has already said “there was not one that did not take itself to be facing the Buddha constantly” — everywhere they felt themselves to be directly facing the Buddha, and the Buddha had never divided himself. What the concluding extension concludes is the substance of that ‘ascending without leaving,’ not a quantity of copies.

Brought down to the reading: there are two concluding extensions in the whole chapter, and this is the first. Chengguan says of the one in the last segment that it “concludes only the latter four, the earlier having been concluded already” — concluding extensions have their divisions of labor, and in reading one must see how far each of them reaches.

The palace suddenly becomes vast: after entering the palace and sitting cross-legged

The last segment: the World-Honored One entered the Palace of Wondrous Excellence and sat with his legs fully crossed; this palace suddenly became vast and broad and able to contain them, just like the several places in which those hosts of gods dwell; and in the worlds of the ten directions it was likewise just so.

Chengguan explains this as “displaying the mark of according with the wish,” and gives three levels of reading. The first is spoken on the side of the event: “the palace is made broad while remaining in the same place, so as to dispel the feeling of confinement” — the palace becomes larger and yet is still in its original place, in order to dispel that cramped feeling in people's minds that ‘there is no room here.’ The second is spoken on the side of the display of the Dharma by symbol: “it also displays the vastness of great compassion, equal to the realm of sentient beings” — the breadth of the palace displays the vastness of compassion as equal to the realm of sentient beings. The third is spoken on the side of contemplative practice: “again, the Tathāgata's entering the palace is the wisdom of awakening appearing before one. That it suddenly becomes vast and broad is that body and mind are without bound.”

The last line is the structural close of the whole chapter: “from ‘the ten directions’ onward concludes the inexhaustible; it concludes only the latter four, the earlier having been concluded already.” The concluding extension of the last segment gathers up only the latter four segments, because the first six were already concluded in the sixth segment.

Rule out one misreading: the palace's becoming larger is not a display of supernormal power. What the scripture writes is “suddenly” — not a gradual enlargement, but that at the moment the Buddha took his seat the relation between capacity and place was changed. Brought down to yourself: how much a person can contain within himself does not depend on how far his circumstances have been expanded, but on whether the wisdom of awakening has appeared before him. Let that wisdom once appear, and body and mind are without bound; at that moment the original place has not been exchanged, and yet it is already not cramped.

Having read the whole chapter, look back: from the ten directions manifesting at once to the palace suddenly becoming vast, there is not one sentence within it that speaks the Dharma, and yet the entire framework upon which the stage of the ten abodes rests has been set up — where the Dharma is to be spoken, by whom it is invited, on what ground the invitation can move him, who in former times spoke here, and why the place where it is spoken is able to contain it. The verses of praise of the next chapter and the ten abodes of the chapter after that are both built upon this field.

Lineage

The doctrine of this chapter was carried on by three tracks in later ages, recorded together without adjudication. The line of Chengguan: by the method of dividing the text section by section he sets up the four gates of the reason for its coming, the explanation of the name, the tenet and aim, and the explanation of the text; he determines the six chapters of this assembly as two divisions, the expedient that starts it off and the proper exposition of the assembly itself, and holds that this chapter “is divided at length into ten segments”; on the sentence ‘ascending without leaving’ he cites five sayings of the ancient worthies and raises three objections — the first breaking through the first three sayings, the next against the fourth, the last against the fifth — and then establishes his own correct sense of “the response that is identical with substance, responding everywhere as substance is everywhere”; he further cites the ancient worthies' ten senses, determining them as “the first five the profound gates, the next four the reasons, and the last the general purport,” and saying that all may be used; and from the four propositions of one and many he draws out the completeness of the ten profound gates, and with the simile of the three boats and the one moon makes manifest that substance is everywhere while function responds. He explains the ten senses of the wondrously high mountain and fits them one by one onto the practice of the ten abodes, and sets up in addition a separate gate of the contemplation of mind — “the wondrously high is the samādhi of Sumeru, still and unmoving.” Beneath this commentary the Yanyi chao restores, line by line, the verses of the “Chapter on the World” of the Abhidharmakośa, so as to attest the sources of the phrases about the seven golden mountains, the seven fragrant seas, and the dwelling of gods alone — the arrangement of the world upon which this chapter's display of the Dharma by symbol depends has its textual authority in the Abhidharmakośa, and this is one instance of commentary and subcommentary attesting one another.

The line of Fazang: on the sixty-fascicle text's chapter “The Buddha's Ascent to the Summit of Sumeru” he establishes the chapter's name by the three senses of person, function, and place, explaining the graph “ascend” as “motion and stillness unobstructed, advancing without going”; he sets up two questions and answers to make clear why it is not spoken in the human world and why he does not stop at the heaven of the four heavenly kings, of which the third intention, “so long as one has not reached the summit of the mountain there is room for advance and regress, but once one is on the summit one abides without regress,” is the point at which the division between the outer ordinary stage of the ten faiths and the inner ordinary stage of the ten abodes comes to rest upon a place. Beneath the section “first, discerning the conditions of transformation” he divides substance-interfusion and function-interfusion into two, and with “the One Vehicle Dharma, in which principal and companion are perfectly clear” he distinguishes it from the speaking of scriptures and the bestowal of transformation in the Lesser Vehicle and the three vehicles.

The line of Li Tongxuan: he does not follow the track of dividing the text section by section, but sets up three gates, explaining the reason for the chapter's coming, displaying the Dharma by means of the place, and explaining the meaning following the text; he determines that within this stage of the ten abodes there are six chapters of scripture which together make up the Dharma-gate of the ten abodes, and with the “sense of unmovingness” of Mount Wondrous Peak displays that the bodhisattva of this stage “by the samādhi of skillful means is still and unmoving, without thought and without mind, neither gathering in nor taking up, settled in concentration by following his nature”; and he determines that the ten abodes are precisely “able to share the wisdom of the Tathāgata,” unlike the three vehicles, which merely take the three contemplations of emptiness and subdue what is actively manifest. He raises the shape of Mount Wondrous Peak, like a waisted drum and not to be climbed by the grasping of hand or foot, so as to display that the Dharma-gate of the ten abodes “cannot be attained by the searching examination of conditioned arising and ceasing, nor by the grasping of a mind of much learning and conceptual thought.” In citing the measurement of the two wings of the golden-winged bird he marks for himself, “this scripture has no text for it, and I do not know from what teaching it is spoken,” and the honesty of that doubt is recorded as well.

Of the differences between the eighty-fascicle and the sixty-fascicle texts, the most conspicuous are in the names of the ten buddhas — the longer transcription of Krakucchanda against the shorter one, the later transcription of Viśvabhū against the earlier one, and the Burning Lamp against the Lamp-Light, the same buddha under differing translated names; and the lines praising their virtues differ as well, as seeing without obstruction against wisdom without obstruction, and leaving discrimination behind against constantly still. The two texts are recorded together, with no adjudication of better and worse. As for the simile of the “net over Śakra's palace” used in the Shixuan men and the Huayan jing zhigui, both are general borrowings of the doctrine of Indra's net and are not explanations of the text of this chapter; they are recorded, and not taken up as what this chapter hands on. The corresponding section of Zhiyan's Souxuan ji for this chapter has not been obtained; the lack is recorded, and it is not filled out with text from elsewhere.

The Buddha Ascends to the Summit of Sumeru, and Then Sits Without Speaking

The preceding chapter brought the Buddha up into the Hall of Wondrous Excellence in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven, where Śakra praised him in verse. A reader naturally expects that the Dharma should now be expounded. Yet in this chapter, from beginning to end, the World-Honored One does only two things — he receives the prostrations of the bodhisattvas of the ten directions, and he emits light from the toes of his two feet. He does not speak a single sentence. Those who speak are ten bodhisattvas, each with ten verses, one hundred verses in all.

To see what this arrangement means, one must first ask where it is placed. When Chengguan determines the reason for this chapter's coming, he says it very directly: the preceding chapter had already made clear “the lord of the converting responding to what stimulates him,” and what this chapter discerns is “the extolling and praising that assists the converting”; and the weightier sentence is this — since the gate of the abodes is about to be expounded, the very substance of abiding must first be set forth, and that substance is the Buddha's wisdom, and so the Tathāgata is praised first. His one sentence on the tenet and the aim settles the matter outright: to display the Buddha's virtues is the tenet; to cause one to know the substance of abiding is the aim.

So the Buddha's not speaking is not an absence. What this chapter is to establish is precisely the “substance” of that station which the next chapter, “The Ten Abodes,” is to enter. Clear away one misreading: do not take the praises of the ten bodhisattvas for an opening ceremony. A ceremony may be dispensed with; this chapter may not — for if one does not first know what it is that is to be abided in, then “the ten abodes” are merely ten names. Brought down to how one reads: these hundred verses are not a hymn of praise; they are an inspection, made before you come in at the door, of that notion of “the Buddha” you are holding in your hand.

Why the Names of All Ten Bodhisattvas End in “Wisdom”

Ten bodhisattvas: Dharma Wisdom, All Wisdom, Excellent Wisdom, Merit Wisdom, Vigor Wisdom, Good Wisdom, Wisdom, True Wisdom, Unsurpassed Wisdom, Firm Wisdom — ten names, and the final graph of every one is the same. The ten worlds they come from all carry “Flower” as the last graph; the ten buddhas they serve all carry “Moon” in their titles. This repetition, so regular as to be almost deliberate, is the first thing in this chapter to strike a reader's eye.

The ancient worthies do not read it as a figure of speech. Chengguan, explaining that the bodhisattvas share the name Wisdom, says: wisdom is just the ten understandings, because they are able to see dharmas; and he notes further that why the several bodhisattvas' names differ is something explained one by one only when the verses are reached. Fazang, on the sixty-fascicle text, determines it still more neatly: that the bodhisattvas share the name Wisdom is “the mark of the cause within the abodes,” which is an understanding that reaches the real and the conventional and is clear about them; that the buddhas share the name Moon is “the mark of the fruit within the abodes,” and he opens out three senses in it — in substance it is fullness, in function it is shining light, in virtue it is coolness — and further matches these with the wisdom of the essence itself, the wisdom subsequently attained, and great compassion. Zhiyan is the most concise: the bodhisattvas share the name Wisdom only “because this is the beginning of understanding” — this is the station where the gate of understanding has just opened. As for the worlds sharing the name Flower, Chengguan says it is that “the mark of the station first opens out, and it is by attachment to nothing that the fruit is called forth” — the flower is the image of the mark of the station in its first opening.

Clear away one error: do not read the three sets of shared names as poverty. What the shared naming displays is precisely the import of this assembly — the names the same, the worlds the same, the buddhas the same, which is to say that these are not ten separate Dharma assemblies. Where it comes down to the ground: if, while reading the ten segments of verse, you feel that ‘this keeps saying one and the same thing over and over’, that is not repetition; that is the very thing this chapter wants you to see.

“The First Is the General, the Remaining Nine Are the Particular”: How These Hundred Verses Divide

If these hundred verses are read as a flat expanse, they will read as a heap of mutually similar emptiness. The ancient worthies gave them an extremely clear framework. Chengguan determines the portion of the verses of praise to be ten segments, and says: the speaking of the ten bodhisattvas makes ten segments, the first one being the general and the remaining nine the particular — because Dharma Wisdom is the lord who expounds the Dharma, he gives a general account of the events and import of this assembly from beginning to end and generally displays the Buddha's virtues, while the remaining nine praise the differentiated virtues of the Buddha, and the general and the particular together display the Tathāgata's unobstructed assembly. Fazang's determination on the sixty-fascicle text is entirely of a piece with this, reading “the first is the general, the following nine are the particular,” and he goes on to say that what these ten segments expound “is just the dharma within the ten abodes,” and that all the verses below are to be understood according to this sense.

So the way of reading is this: those ten verses of Dharma Wisdom are the frame — they say why this Dharma assembly can be as it is, and how it is that the Buddha's power of freedom can be like this; and the ninety verses from All Wisdom onward are the content — one verse after another taking apart “seeing the Buddha.” Li Tongxuan's division is slightly different: he joins the gathering of the assembly and the emitting of light together as the first segment, and lays out the one chapter in an extended outline of eleven segments, so that the ten bodhisattvas become the second through the eleventh segments; this is a difference of division, not a difference of import, and it is recorded.

Clear away one error: do not read the first segment as a preface and the following nine as the main text. What Chengguan says is “general” and “particular,” not “preface” and “proper” — those ten verses of Dharma Wisdom are themselves a complete segment of import. Where it comes down to the ground: after finishing the first segment, pause a moment and hold in mind the “Tathāgata's power of freedom” that it establishes; every single thing the following nine segments take apart is there so that this sentence will not be misread as a display of supernatural powers.

The Names of the Ten Bodhisattvas, the Ancient Worthies Say, Also Betoken the Ten Abodes

There is a further layer, which this chapter does not itself state and which the commentators state, and the reader must keep it distinct. After his general determination of the portion of the verses of praise, Chengguan adds a sentence: the names of these ten bodhisattvas also betoken the ten abodes, and the dharmas they expound betoken the advance of the station; and he notes for himself that advance is of two kinds — advance toward the later station, and advance toward the buddha-fruit — and that here it is spoken of with respect to the buddha-fruit. He further matches the ten worlds' names one by one to the ten abodes: Indra Flower is matched to the abode of arousing the mind, said to be “presiding over and guiding the world”; Padma Flower is matched to the abode of governing the ground, said to be “purifying and governing the ground of the mind as the lotus opens”; and so on down to Aruṇa Flower, which he explains as “the red mark of the sun at the hour of its rising” and matches to the abode of youthful truth; Nārada Flower he explains as “borne by a person,” since a flower fragrant and wondrous is worn by everyone, and so he matches it to the abode of the prince; and Empty-Space Flower takes the sense that “wisdom pervades as space does.” The titles of the ten buddhas he likewise matches one by one to the fruits of the ten dharmas belonging to the ten abodes in their own portion. Li Tongxuan goes by another track: under each bodhisattva he opens out four senses — the bodhisattva's name, the world's name, the buddha's title, and the quarter he comes from — determining, for instance, Firm Wisdom to be the abode of consecration and to practice the perfection of wisdom, and determining the world Empty-Space Flower to be the sun of wisdom illumining what is worldly and what is beyond the world, with nothing at all to depend upon.

Here something must be said plainly: the scriptural text itself only lists the names; it does not say which one is matched to which abode. The matching to the ten abodes is the classification of Chengguan and of Li Tongxuan, and what the two of them match is not entirely the same either. Clear away one error: do not force the sequence of stations onto the verses as you read them, for that will make you lose the import of the verses. Where it comes down to the ground: use the matching of stations as one uses a map — when you cannot read on, glance at it and know which stretch you are walking; when you can read on, set it down and let the verses speak for themselves.

The Prologue: The Ten Directions Gather Like Clouds, and Light Is Emitted from the Toes of the Two Feet

The prose is exceedingly short, but every sentence of it establishes the scale of this assembly. In each of the ten directions there is one great bodhisattva, each coming together with a retinue as many as the dust-motes of a buddha-land, and coming, moreover, from worlds “beyond lands as many as the dust-motes of a hundred buddha-lands.” Chengguan here points out something easily slid past: in the preceding assembly it was “ten,” and in this assembly it is “a hundred,” because the station has already increased — the number that measures distance is the graduation of the sequence of stations, not a description of space. Fazang's determination on the sixty-fascicle text is the same, saying that this is “the gradual increase of the station of practice.”

When the bodhisattvas had arrived, they bowed their heads to the Buddha's feet, and each, following the quarter from which he had come, conjured up a lion throne of the Vairocana Treasury and sat upon it. Then the scriptural text says the most important sentence of all: just as here on the summit of Sumeru in this world there were bodhisattvas who came and gathered, so too in all worlds it is entirely thus, and the names of those bodhisattvas, their worlds, and the titles of their buddhas are all equal and without difference. Chengguan, at the emitting of the light, says: one light shines upon all, and so it is with all of them, layer upon layer without obstruction, and there is none that does not see the others, and this makes one assembly of the Dharma realm perfectly bright. Fazang's determination is the same, saying that what is illumined and displayed is in common one and the same “assembly of the Dharma realm perfectly bright.” Zhiyan uses this to answer a question — why is it that in each single quarter there are ten? He answers: it is to display that the marks of understanding are distinct and clear and that in perfect interfusion the numbers are equal, and that one quarter is just all quarters.

The place from which the light is emitted is likewise read by all three as betokening the Dharma. Chengguan says that it is by the toes of the two feet pressing the ground that one is able to stand with strength, and that this betokens completing the station without retrogression and practicing with constancy; Fazang says that it is as the toes press the ground that one gains a standing, and that this betokens that these ten abodes “complete the station without retrogression,” which is why they are called abiding. Li Tongxuan sets out further the places of the emitting of light at five stations to display the ascent: for the ten faiths beneath the wheels of the feet, for the ten abodes at the tips of the toes, for the ten practices upon the insteps, for the ten dedications above the knees, and for the ten grounds between the brows.

Clear away one error: on reading “a hundred thousand koṭis of rays of wondrously colored light,” do not go thinking about brightness. What the light does in this chapter is to make “everywhere” into something that can be seen — for without this one illumining, the ten bodhisattvas' later saying that “in the ten directions it is entirely so as well” would be no more than an assertion. Where it comes down to the ground: when you have finished the prologue, you should have three things in hand — the station has increased, the assembly is everywhere, the station does not retrogress. These three are the foundation of the hundred verses that follow.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom: In Every Jambudvīpa, They All Say the Buddha Is There

The first segment is the general. Chengguan determines Dharma Wisdom to be one who “generally understands the Buddha's Dharma,” and classifies his ten verses into three: the first five recount the manifold splendid events seen by reason of the Buddha's light, of which the first recounts the emitting of light in this chapter, the next recounts Śakra's invitation and praise in the preceding chapter, and the remaining three recount this chapter again; the next two exhort one to contemplate the Buddha's power and to give rise to a still more excellent mind; and the last three raise up the cause and conclude with the fruit, the first raising up the cause and the last two concluding with the fruit. Zhiyan, on the sixty-fascicle text, classifies it as “the first seven present the assembly … the next three make clear that one of excellent practice attains the seeing of the Buddha,” which is a different division, and both are recorded.

The first verse is the matter before one's eyes: the Buddha emits a pure light, and thereupon this Guide of the World is seen everywhere upon the summit of Sumeru, king of mountains, in the Hall of Wondrous Excellence — first the starting point of “seeing” is established, and this seeing is given by the light. The second verse looks back to the preceding chapter: all the kings of the gods invite the Buddha into their palaces, each extolling the Tathāgatas with ten wondrous verses — a single sentence gathers up the chapter before. The third verse speaks of the multitude that has come to this assembly: all the bodhisattva multitudes in those Dharma assemblies have come from the ten directions, conjuring up seats and sitting at ease. The fourth verse speaks of the names: those bodhisattvas “all bear one and the same name as we do” — the ten of the other quarters and the ten of this quarter share their names. The fifth verse speaks of the buddhas of their original lands: their titles too are all the same, and each of them purely cultivates the unsurpassed conduct in the presence of his buddha. The sixth verse is the turning point of the whole segment, and one of the most famous lines in this chapter — “Sons of the Buddha, you should contemplate the Tathāgata's power of freedom: in every Jambudvīpa they all say the Buddha is there among them”: every single Jambudvīpa says the Buddha is right there with it. The seventh verse brings that sentence down upon the speakers themselves: we now see the Buddha abiding on the summit of Sumeru, and in the ten directions it is entirely so as well, and this is the Tathāgata's power of freedom. From the eighth verse on, the cause is raised up: in every single world there are those who arouse the mind and seek the Buddha's path, and following such a vow they cultivate the practices of awakening. The ninth verse speaks of the pervasiveness of the fruit: with bodies of every kind the Buddha travels throughout the world, unobstructed within the Dharma realm, and no one is able to take his measure. The tenth verse closes upon the immeasurable: the light of wisdom shines everywhere constantly, the world's darkness is entirely removed, among all things there is nothing to match him, and how could one possibly measure and know him.

Clear away one great error: “in every Jambudvīpa they all say the Buddha is there” does not mean that the Buddha divided his body and went to many places. Chengguan has already blocked this reading at the emitting of the light — it is one light shining upon all, layer upon layer without obstruction, not many places each having its own assembly. Where it comes down to the ground: what this segment gives is a sense of scale. If you read it as a tale of supernatural powers, then the “seizing upon marks” that the following ninety verses take apart is precisely the fault you have fallen into.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva All Wisdom: A Hundred Thousand Kalpas of Looking, and Still No Seeing

From this segment on, we enter the “particular.” Chengguan determines All Wisdom to be one who “understands the real nature of all dharmas, because he purifies the ground of the mind,” and says that the import of this segment's verses lies in displaying the increase of great compassion toward all sentient beings — because one must contemplate this Savior of the World in accord with the real; he classifies the ten verses into six: the first two are contemplating the Buddha contrary to principle, which is not seeing the Buddha; the next four are understanding the real nature of dharmas, which is truly seeing the Buddha; and the four after that have one import each.

The first verse sets up an exceedingly heavy supposition: suppose that for a hundred thousand kalpas one constantly saw the Tathāgata, and yet did not rely upon the real meaning but only looked in this way at the Savior of the World — even a length of time such as this is still of no use. The second verse makes clear why it is of no use: this person is seizing upon marks, increasing the net of folly and delusion, bound in the prison of birth-and-death, blind and benighted and not seeing the Buddha. Chengguan here particularly guards against one over-reading: this supposing of a long time is made in order to block the seizing of marks, and it is not that there really are so many kalpas in which one wholly fails to understand the meaning, since seeing the Tathāgata does of itself increase wisdom. The third through the sixth verses are the contemplation stated positively. The third verse establishes emptiness and the provisional: contemplate that the own-nature of dharmas is without anything at all, and that their marks of arising and ceasing are spoken of only as borrowed names. The fourth verse establishes neither arising nor ceasing: all dharmas are unarisen, all dharmas are unceasing, and if one can understand it thus, the buddhas are constantly manifest before one. Chengguan here determines it as the three contemplations in one mind — the first two lines are the contemplation of emptiness, since what arises through conditions has no nature; the next two lines are the contemplation of the provisional, since names are provisionally assigned in accord with convention; the next two lines are the contemplation of the middle, since the substance of the marks is just the unarisen and unceasing; and the last two lines are the benefit of the contemplation; and he says that since the three contemplations are one mind, there is nothing of the Buddha's substance and function that is not manifest. The fifth verse turns into stilling: the nature of dharmas is from the first empty and still, with nothing to be seized and nothing to be seen, and this emptiness of the nature is the Buddha, which thinking cannot attain. Chengguan here says something crucial — the nature of dharmas is empty from the first; it is not that contemplation makes it empty, and so there is nothing to be seized; and if there is nothing to be seized, how should there be anything that sees. The sixth verse states the benefit of the contemplation's completion: if one knows that the substance of all dharmas is thus, this person is not defiled by the afflictions. The seventh verse returns to the negative side: ordinary beings, seeing dharmas, merely turn along with their marks, do not understand that dharmas are without marks, and therefore do not see the Buddha. The eighth verse is the richest of the segment: the Muni has transcended the three times and yet the marks and signs are entirely complete in him; he abides in abiding nowhere and pervades everywhere unmoving — the transcending and the completeness, the abiding and the abiding nowhere, are said at once. The ninth verse is the speaker's own account: I have contemplated all dharmas and understood them clearly; now, seeing the Tathāgata, I am decidedly without doubt. The tenth verse cedes the merit to the one before: Dharma Wisdom has already spoken of the Tathāgata's real nature, and from him I have come to understand that awakening is hard to think of or discuss.

Clear away one error: this segment is not denying “seeing the Buddha”; it is taking apart the seizing of marks within the “seeing.” Where it comes down to the ground, at the first verse — time cannot buy seeing; when the method is wrong, a hundred thousand kalpas only make one better acquainted with the mistake.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva Excellent Wisdom: A Jewel in the Dark Cannot Be Seen Without a Lamp

Chengguan determines Excellent Wisdom to be one who “by understanding the Buddha's excellent wisdom, is pure in mind in accord with emptiness,” and says that the import of this segment's verses lies in displaying the wish that the bodhisattva's wisdom be clear; he classifies the ten verses into four: the first one praises wisdom as the root of delusion and of awakening, the next four properly display delusion and awakening, the next four illustrate by simile the loss and gain just spoken of, and the last one cedes the merit to where it belongs. Zhiyan, on the sixty-fascicle text, classifies this segment as “the verses are in six,” among which is the heading “the next three cede the merit to the Buddha,” a different division, and both are recorded.

The first verse praises generally: the Tathāgata's great wisdom is rare and without equal, and all the worlds cannot catch up with it by thinking — first the loftiness of what is contemplated is established. The second verse states the failing of ordinary beings: contemplating falsely and seizing marks not in accord with principle; and since the Buddha has transcended all marks, he is not what they can see. The third verse is more concrete: the deluded and unknowing falsely seize upon the marks of the five aggregates and do not understand their real nature, and so they do not see the Buddha. The fourth verse is the positive statement: understand and know that the own-nature of all dharmas is without anything at all, and to understand the nature of dharmas thus is to see Rocana. The fifth verse is crucial, drawing even the succession of the aggregates in: because of the earlier aggregates the later aggregates arise in succession, and to be able to know the nature within this makes the seeing of the Buddha hard to think of or discuss — it is not that one sees the Buddha by cutting off the aggregates, but that one understands the nature within their succession. Chengguan determines the second through fifth of these four verses as “the first two are delusion, the last two are awakening,” and says that of the two verses of delusion, one is seizing upon objects outside the mind and so not seeing the markless Buddha, and one is seizing upon the marks within the aggregates and not understanding the nature of the aggregates and so not seeing the Buddha of the mind; while the two verses of awakening each overturn these in turn — the fourth verse overturns the outward seizing spoken of above, understanding that all dharmas are the mind's own nature and that “the nature too is not a nature,” so that when sentiment is broken and principle appears, one sees Rocana; and the fifth verse overturns the inward seizing spoken of above, understanding the nature and marks of the aggregates and so seeing the Buddha of one's own mind, who with Rocana is “neither one nor different.” From the sixth verse, three similes follow in a row. The sixth verse is the jewel in the dark: it is like a jewel in a dark place, which cannot be seen without a lamp; when no one expounds the Buddha's Dharma, then even one who has wisdom cannot understand — what is lacking is the lamp, not the jewel. The seventh verse is the cataract: as an eye with a cataract cannot see pure and wondrous colors, so a mind that is not pure cannot see the dharmas of the buddhas — what is lacking is on the side of the one who sees. The eighth verse is the bright, clear sun and the blind: however bright the sun, the blind cannot see it; without a mind of wisdom, one in the end does not see the buddhas. The ninth verse gathers the three similes into a method: if one can remove the cataract in the eye, abandon grasping at color, and not give rise to views regarding dharmas, then one attains the seeing of the Tathāgata. The tenth verse cedes the merit: All Wisdom spoke before of the dharma of the buddhas' awakening, and hearing it from him I have gained the seeing of Rocana.

Clear away one error: the three similes are not one and the same thing said three times over. What the jewel in the dark lacks is ‘the person who expounds’; what the cataract and the blind lack is ‘one's own eye’ — the one is an outward condition, the two are inward causes, and if either side is lacking there is no seeing. Where it comes down to the ground: if, reading this far, you feel that ‘I have understood and yet I do not see’, the sixth verse says that you may be lacking a lamp, and the seventh and eighth verses say that even with the lamp lit one may still not be able to see.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva Merit Wisdom: If One Cannot Understand One's Own Mind, How Should One Know the Right Path

Chengguan determines Merit Wisdom to be one who is “born into the Buddha's household and understands the Buddha's virtues well,” and says that the import of this segment's verses lies in displaying that within the three times the mind attains equality, that one understands one's own mind and exhausts the emptiness of dharmas; he classifies the ten verses into four: the first four make clear the false awareness of ordinary beings and those of the lesser vehicles, the next four show them true awareness, the third has one verse making clear that the Buddha's awakening is doubly complete, and the last verse cedes the merit to its source. Zhiyan, on the sixty-fascicle text, classifies this segment as “the verses are in five,” his first heading being “the first four make clear the loss of the deluded,” a different division, and both are recorded.

The first verse establishes the root of the illness: dharmas have nothing real, and yet one falsely seizes upon marks of the real, and so ordinary beings revolve in the prison of birth-and-death. The second verse says that the seat of the illness goes deeper: the dharma spoken in words is taken by those of small wisdom and falsely discriminated, and thereupon obstructions arise and one does not understand one's own mind — the trouble is not in the words, but in taking the words and discriminating with them. The third verse is the sharpest line of the segment: if one cannot understand one's own mind, how should one know the right path? He increases every evil through an inverted wisdom — note the three graphs “inverted wisdom”: wisdom itself can also be inverted. The fourth verse states the recompense: not seeing that dharmas are empty, one constantly undergoes the suffering of birth-and-death, because this person has not been able to have the pure Dharma eye. The fifth verse turns to first-person account, and turns also to method: that in the past I underwent many sufferings was because I did not see the Buddha, and so one should purify one's own Dharma eye and contemplate what ought to be seen — Chengguan determines this verse to be “adducing one's own loss to exhort others to accomplish their benefit,” the speaker taking his own deficit to exhort others. The sixth verse states what the seeing is like: if one attains the seeing of the Buddha, his mind seizes upon nothing, and this person can see the dharma as the Buddha knows it — the criterion of the seeing lies in “the mind seizing upon nothing”; Chengguan, explaining this verse, says that “seeing the Buddha without seizing is just seeing suchness,” and suchness is what the Buddha knows. The seventh verse states the name and the use of the seeing: if one sees the Buddha's real dharma one is called a person of great wisdom, and this person has pure eyes and can contemplate the world — after seeing, one does not leave the world, but is able to contemplate the world. The eighth verse is the pivot of the segment: to have nothing seen is precisely seeing, and thus one can see all dharmas; if with regard to dharmas one has something seen, then this is to have nothing seen — the positive and the negative are stated at once, and the two layers of usage in the word “seeing” are separated out in a single stroke. The ninth verse states the dharma that is seen: the nature of all dharmas is without arising and without ceasing; and it praises the Great Guide, who awakens himself and can awaken others. The tenth verse cedes the merit: Excellent Wisdom has already spoken of the dharma the Tathāgata realized, and hearing it from him we are able to know the Buddha's real nature.

Clear away one error: “cannot understand one's own mind” in the third verse is very easily read as ‘one must look within to find a mind’. The next line of the verse blocks this at once — the trouble lies in inverted wisdom, not in whether one seeks or does not seek. Where it comes down to the ground, at the fifth verse: the one action this segment gives is to “purify the Dharma eye,” and it is given in the form of a first-person account — the speaker counts himself too among those who undergo suffering.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva Vigor Wisdom: To Have Something Seen Becomes Defilement

The speaker-line of this segment differs by one graph from those of the other nine: the rest all read “contemplated everywhere the ten directions,” and this one reads “contemplated the ten directions.” Chengguan determines Vigor Wisdom to be one who “by diligently contemplating the real principle gathers immeasurable good, and both alike abide nowhere,” and says that the import of the verses lies in displaying the wish that his mind become still more vigorous and without any defiling attachment; he classifies the ten verses into two: the first nine contemplate dharmas, the last one cedes the merit; and within the first nine he further distinguishes three layers — the contemplation of the marklessness of what is grasped, the contemplation of the non-arising of what arises through conditions, and the contemplation of the naturelessness of the perfectly accomplished. Zhiyan, on the sixty-fascicle text, classifies this segment as “the verses are in three,” determining eight of them to be “an extensive discernment of the manner of contemplation and the marks of the benefit gained,” and dividing the first four as non-arising of marks and the last four as the real nature, a different division, and both are recorded.

The first verse establishes the illness: if one abides in discrimination one ruins the pure eye, folly and deviant views increase, and one never sees the buddhas. The second verse establishes the medicine, and it is the least easily read line in this chapter: if one can understand deviant dharmas as they really are and without inversion, and know that falsity of itself is real, then the seeing of the Buddha is pure — it is not that one extinguishes falsity and then sees the real, but that one knows falsity to be, in its very substance, of itself real. The third verse turns the blade upon “seeing” itself: to have something seen becomes defilement, and this does not yet count as seeing; to be far from all views, only this is seeing the Buddha. Chengguan on this layer uses an excellent simile — it is like taking a piece of wood in the dusk for a ghost: to know that the ghost is only something that delusion has produced is called “knowing the ghost as it really is”; to know that the ghost never was and that the whole of it is that piece of wood is what is called “seeing the wood.” He uses the same simile again for the side of the grasper: “as when one sees the ghost, one does not see the wood”; only when one is free of the view that sees the ghost is it seeing the wood. The “knowing that falsity is of itself real” of the second verse and the “being far from all views” of this verse are precisely the two halves of that simile. The fourth verse turns to the world: the dharma of the world's words is what sentient beings falsely discriminate, and to know that the world is wholly unarisen is truly to see the world. The fifth verse goes further: if one sees the world that sees, this seeing is itself a mark of the world; only when, as they really are, they are equal and without difference is one called the true seer. The sixth verse states the function that follows upon equality and non-difference: not discriminating with regard to things, this seeing is free of delusions and, without outflow, attains freedom. The seventh verse puts even the dharma the buddhas expound within this: all the discriminated dharmas the buddhas set forth are entirely not to be got, because their substance is from the first pure. The eighth verse establishes the substance contemplated: the nature of dharmas is from the first pure, like empty space and without marks; nothing at all can be spoken of it, and the wise contemplate it thus. The ninth verse is the most thoroughgoing line: being far from thoughts of dharmas, not delighting in any dharma, herein too there is nothing to be cultivated — even the posture of “cultivating” is let go, and only then can one see the Great Muni. The tenth verse cedes the merit to Merit Wisdom, and closes upon the substance of practice: all practices whatsoever are in their substance still and extinguished.

Clear away one error: “herein too there is nothing to be cultivated” in the ninth verse is not telling people not to cultivate. It follows upon ‘being far from thoughts of dharmas’, and what it says is that one must not set up ‘I am cultivating’ as yet another mark that is grasped. Where it comes down to the ground, at the third verse — if, having read this chapter through, you feel that ‘now I know how to look’, this verse is spoken precisely to that ‘knowing how to look’.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva Good Wisdom: To Say “Inexhaustible” — Even This Inexhaustibility Has Nothing That Can Be Said

Chengguan determines Good Wisdom to be one who “accomplishes the wisdom of prajñā and whose discernment is unmoved, and who may well be called good,” and says that the import of the verses lies in displaying the wish that his mind become still more advanced and attain the non-retrogressive forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas; he classifies the ten verses into four: the first two see the Buddha, the next three see the Dharma, the next three are the benefit of the contemplation's completion, and the last two cede the seeing to what it depends on. Zhiyan, on the sixty-fascicle text, classifies this segment as “the verses are in four,” among which is “the next verse and a half cede the merit to its source,” a different division, and both are recorded. The line ceding merit in this segment falls in the ninth verse, not the tenth, differing in this from the other segments.

The first verse praises generally: rare are the greatly brave and strong, the immeasurable Tathāgatas, free of defilement and liberated in mind, having crossed over themselves and able to carry others across — self-crossing and the crossing of others are said in one breath. The second verse is the speaker's own seeing: I see this Lamp of the World as it really is and without inversion, just as it is seen by those who through immeasurable kalpas have accumulated wisdom. The third verse establishes the eye of the segment: of all that ordinary beings do there is none that does not swiftly come to exhaustion, and yet their nature is like empty space, and so it is said to have no exhaustion — exhaustion and inexhaustibility stand in one and the same line. The fourth verse turns this sentence over once more: the wise say “inexhaustible,” and this too is nothing that is spoken; it is because the own-nature is inexhaustible that there can be that exhaustion which is hard to think of. The fifth verse puts sentient beings in: within the inexhaustibility that is spoken of, no sentient being is to be got, and to know that the nature of sentient beings is thus is to see this One of Great Renown. The sixth verse states the setting up of names and words: there is nothing seen, yet it is spoken of as seeing; there is no arising, yet they are spoken of as sentient beings; and whether it be the seeing or the sentient beings, one understands and knows that they have no substance. The seventh verse is the most thoroughgoing removal: the seeing, the seen, and the seer are all removed, and yet the real dharma is not destroyed — this person understands and knows the Buddha. The eighth verse states the use that follows the seeing: if a person understands and knows the Buddha and the dharma the Buddha expounds, he can illumine the world as the Buddha Rocana does. The ninth verse cedes the merit to Vigor Wisdom, and first praises the Rightly Awakened One for skillfully setting forth the one pure path. The tenth verse closes: whether it be being or not-being, those thoughts are all extinguished, and thus one can see the Buddha and abide in the true limit.

Clear away one error: the “inexhaustible” of the third and fourth verses is very easily read as ‘so many that they cannot be counted’. The verse itself has said it — their nature is like empty space, and therefore it is said to be inexhaustible; this is said with respect to the nature, not with respect to quantity. Chengguan here sweeps still more thoroughly: since it is like empty space, how should there be any “mark of the unconditioned” to be got; and since the inexhaustible is said with respect to the own-nature, neither is that “exhaustion” destroyed, and so it is said to be hard to think of. His closing sentence buckles the two passages together — “exhaustion is just inexhaustibility, and therefore there are no sentient beings” — which is precisely the source of the fifth verse's saying that no sentient being is to be got. Where it comes down to the ground, at the seventh verse: after the seeing, the seen, and the seer have all three been removed, the five graphs “yet the real dharma is not destroyed” are the thing this segment truly means to keep safe.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva Wisdom: Birth-and-Death and Nirvāṇa, Neither of the Two Can Be Got

Chengguan determines the name Wisdom to be “decisive and unmoved, and therefore called wisdom,” and says that the import of the verses lies in displaying that from all dharmas one is able to get free; he classifies the ten verses into two: the first one adduces himself to encourage the multitude, and the remaining verses wish the multitude to be as he is, within which there are again two — the first six show delusion, the last three open awakening. Zhiyan, on the sixty-fascicle text, classifies this segment as “the verses are in three”: the first one makes clear that through the teaching right understanding is formed, the next six make clear the loss of those deluded about the teaching and the principle, and the next three doubly accomplish the virtue of understanding, a different division, and both are recorded. This segment and the next are the only two of the chapter's ten segments that have no line ceding merit.

The first verse is the speaker's account of his own occasion: I heard the most excellent teaching, and there and then the light of wisdom arose; it illumined everywhere the worlds of the ten directions and I saw all the buddhas entirely — the cause of seeing the Buddha lies in hearing the teaching. The second verse establishes the dharma: herein there is not the least thing, only borrowed names; and if one reckons that there is a self and a person, one has entered the perilous road. The third verse points out the “body”: those grasping ordinary beings reckon the body to be really existent, and since the Tathāgata is not a thing that is seized, they in the end do not see him. The fourth verse states the outcome: such a person has no eye of wisdom and cannot see the Buddha, and through immeasurable kalpas drifts and turns in the sea of birth-and-death. The fifth verse is the most famous of the segment: where there is contention one speaks of birth-and-death, where there is no contention that is nirvāṇa, and birth-and-death and nirvāṇa, neither of the two can be got — even nirvāṇa is placed within what cannot be got. On the graph “contention” Chengguan has a separate explanation: affliction is called contention, because it stirs up what is wholesome and injures oneself and others; a dharma with outflows increases along with contention and is therefore called “having contention,” and birth-and-death has what is with outflows as its substance, while it is called nirvāṇa when that affliction is absent. The sixth verse states the fault of grasping at the two dharmas: if one chases borrowed names and grasps at these two, one does not accord with the real and does not know the subtle path of the noble ones. The seventh verse turns the blade upon the subtlest thought, and the scriptural text deliberately uses an inner quotation: if one gives rise to the thought ‘this one is the Buddha, this one is the most excellent’, this is inverted and not the real meaning, and one cannot see the Rightly Awakened One — even a thought that praises the Buddha is within what is being inspected. The eighth verse states the positive: to be able to know that this real substance is the mark of still and extinguished suchness is to see the Honored One of Right Awakening, who has gone beyond the way of words. The ninth verse states the limit of language: words that recount dharmas cannot display the real mark; only with equality can one see, and as the nature of dharmas is, so too is the Buddha. The tenth verse closes upon the three times: the Rightly Awakened One, with respect to past, future, and present, has forever cut off the root of discrimination, and therefore is called Buddha.

Clear away one error: the fifth verse is not saying that nirvāṇa has no value; it is saying that it cannot be taken as an object and attained — no more than birth-and-death can. Where it comes down to the ground, at the seventh verse: this whole chapter is bodhisattvas praising the Buddha, and this one verse says of all things that the thought “this one is the Buddha, this one is the most excellent” is inverted. The line between praising and grasping lies exactly here.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva True Wisdom: Better to Undergo the Suffering of the Hells and Hear the Names of the Buddhas

Chengguan determines True Wisdom to be one for whom “a mind that is not inverted is true wisdom,” and says the import of the verses lies in displaying the wish that he advance and attain skill in words with regard to all dharmas; he classifies the ten verses into two: the first two make clear that the name is established upon the real and that the name can benefit beings, and the last eight display the reality beneath the name and discern the ground of the benefit; and he determines the last eight to be three awakenings — the first three are awakening to the false and realizing the real, the “sense of awakening as examining”; the next one is the twofold awakening to the two truths, the “sense of awakening as illumining”; and the last four are awakening that is not an awakening, the “sense of wondrous awakening.” Zhiyan, on the sixty-fascicle text, classifies this segment as “the verses are in five,” his first heading being “the first two compare and measure excellence and inferiority, gain and loss” — which fits exactly the comparison in the segment's first two verses — a different division, and both are recorded.

The first verse is the most emotionally weighted line in the chapter: better to undergo the suffering of the hells and be able to hear the names of the buddhas, than to undergo immeasurable pleasure and not hear the Buddha's name. The second verse states the ground of it: that in ages past one underwent suffering through numberless kalpas and drifted in birth-and-death was precisely because one had not heard the Buddha's name — the choice of the first verse is joined to one's own history. The third verse turns to the import of the dharma: with regard to dharmas to be without inversion, to realize them then and there as they really are, and to be far from the marks of conjunction, is called unsurpassed awakening. Chengguan matches it line by line: the first line clears away the semblance of inference — taking the impermanent for the permanent and the permanent for the impermanent and the like are inverted dharmas, called semblance of inference; the next line is the direct perception that realizes the real, as when the eye sees for itself; the next line clears away the semblance of direct perception, as when one takes man and woman, heaven and earth, and the rest for a really existing conjoined mark. The fourth verse sweeps through the three times: the present is not by conjunction, and past and future are likewise so; all dharmas are without marks, and this is the Buddha's real substance. The fifth verse states the benefit of contemplation: if one can contemplate thus the profound meaning of dharmas, one sees the real mark of the dharma-body of all buddhas. The sixth verse is the segment's defining line: in the real one sees the real, in the unreal one sees the unreal, and understanding thus ultimately one is therefore called Buddha — both sides, the seeing of the real and the seeing of the false, must be exact. The seventh verse is fiercer still: the Buddha's Dharma cannot be cognized, and to understand this is called awakening to the Dharma; the buddhas cultivated in just this way — not one dharma is to be got. The eighth verse states the one and the many: knowing that because there is one there are many and that because there are many there is one, that dharmas have nothing to lean upon and arise only from conjunction. Fazang, explaining this place on the sixty-fascicle text, opens out three senses to make clear that there is neither one nor two — the real and the conventional with respect to the object are neither one nor two, the empty illumining with respect to wisdom is neither one nor two, and object and wisdom together are neither one nor two. The ninth verse takes even the agent apart: there is nothing that acts and nothing acted upon, and there is only what arises from the thought of deeds; and how is one to know it is so? Because apart from this there is nothing else. The tenth verse closes upon abiding: all dharmas abide nowhere and no fixed place is to be got, and yet the buddhas abide right here, ultimately unmoving.

Clear away one error: the first verse is easily read as an exaggeration of feeling. It is in fact this chapter's rare ‘ordering of values’ — amid the whole chapter's taking apart of the seizing of marks, ‘being able to hear the Buddha's name’ alone is set up as a thing worth the price of the suffering of the hells. Where it comes down to the ground, at the tenth verse: the nine verses before it have taken apart every place where one might stand, and at the last it says the buddhas abide in “abiding nowhere” and are unmoved — the unmovedness is not because a foundation has been found, but because a foundation is no longer needed.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva Unsurpassed Wisdom: Not a Body, Yet Called a Body; Not an Arising, Yet Manifest as Arising

Chengguan determines the last five verses of this segment: the first verse properly makes clear the illumining of objects — the object is the conventional object, since there is a seeing and a seen; being conventional it is at once real, and so it says “without number”; the mind is the same as the unconditioned, and so it says “far removed”; while the last four verses remove marks and display principle, each treading upon the traces of the one before and removing the stagnation there. Fazang, on the sixty-fascicle text, classifies this segment as “the ten verses divide into three”: the first explains his own name, the next eight display the Buddha's virtues, and the last cedes the merit.

The first verse explains his own name: the unsurpassed mahāsattva is far removed from thoughts of sentient beings, and there is none who can surpass him, and so he is titled Unsurpassed. The second verse states what the buddhas have realized: without doing and without discrimination, the coarse utterly without anything and the fine likewise so — coarse and fine are swept away together. The third verse states the sphere the buddhas practice: therein there is no number, and the Rightly Awakened One is far from number, and this is the Buddha's real dharma. The fourth verse states the light: the Tathāgata's light shines everywhere and extinguishes all darkness, and yet this light neither has anything it illumines nor lacks anything it illumines — illumining and not illumining are both denied. The fifth verse states non-attachment: with regard to dharmas he has no attachment, neither thought nor defilement, neither abiding nor place, and yet he does not destroy the nature of dharmas — the denial is thorough and yet does not fall into annihilation. The sixth verse states non-duality: herein there is no two and likewise no one, and he of great wisdom who sees well abides skillfully in accord with the principle. The seventh verse is the subtlest turn in the chapter: within the “no” there is no two, and even the “no-two” is likewise absent — Chengguan says it here with the utmost clarity: what is called no-two only says ‘there is no two’; it is not that there is besides it a “no-two”; if one keeps a view of no-two, then two is formed again, and so one must remove and remove again until there is no removing, and therefore it says that the three realms are all empty, and this emptiness is the emptiness of the highest meaning, which the buddhas see alike. The eighth verse turns toward the deliverance of beings: ordinary beings have no awakened understanding, and the Buddha causes them to abide in the right Dharma; and since dharmas abide nowhere, to awaken to this is to see one's own body. The ninth verse states the Buddha's body: not a body, yet spoken of as a body; not an arising, yet manifest as arising; no body and no seeing — this is the Buddha's unsurpassed body. Chengguan, explaining this place, says: the body is just not a body, and so there is nothing to awaken to; once a view that awakens to the body arises, that view is just like the body, and only when body and view are both gone is it the true dharma-body. The tenth verse cedes the merit to True Wisdom, and says that if one hears this dharma one shall attain the pure eye.

Clear away one error: the seventh verse is not a game with words. What it aims at is the very illness most likely to arise after one has read the preceding ninety verses — taking “no-two” and “emptiness” and gripping them again as a position. Where it comes down to the ground: this segment is the summit of the chapter's negating exposition, and while reading it one need not hurry to seize hold of anything, for not one of the things taken away is a loss.

The Ten Verses of the Bodhisattva Firm Wisdom: If No Buddha Appeared in the World, Not One Sentient Being Could Attain Peace and Joy

Chengguan determines Firm Wisdom to be one whose “power of wisdom is accomplished and cannot be destroyed,” and classifies his ten verses into four: the first verse praises generally his arising in the world for the sake of beings, the next four separately show the marks of his compassion, the next three and a half are the benefit of seeing and hearing, and the last one and a half conclude with virtue that is inexhaustible; and he says of this segment that “this is the final extremity, and therefore it raises up all ten together.” Fazang, on the sixty-fascicle text, determines the same sense, classifying it as the first six raising up the depth of the Buddha's kindness, the next three rejoicing at having met him, and the last concluding with praise of the inexhaustible; and he says the last verse is “a general conclusion of the speaking of the nine persons above.”

The first verse praises generally: how great is this great light, the brave and strong Unsurpassed One, who has arisen in the world for the benefit of the deluded multitudes. The second verse shows what compassion contemplates: with a mind of great compassion the Buddha contemplates everywhere the many sentient beings, and sees them revolving and undergoing suffering within the three forms of existence. The third verse displays it from the negative side: save only for the Rightly and Fully Awakened One, that Honored Guide replete with virtue, among all the gods and humans there is none who can save and protect. The fourth verse displays it negatively one layer further: if the buddhas and the bodhisattvas and the rest did not appear in the world, not one sentient being could attain peace and joy. The fifth verse turns to the positive: when the Tathāgata, the Rightly and Fully Awakened One, and the multitude of the worthy and noble appear in the world, they can give peace and joy to sentient beings — Chengguan says that this verse also displays the jewel of the Saṅgha. The sixth verse states the benefit of seeing and hearing, and gives a weighty comparison: if one sees the Tathāgata one has gained a great benefit of goodness, and one who hears the Buddha's name and gives rise to faith is a stūpa of the world — the person himself becomes a place that ought to be revered. The seventh verse brings this benefit down upon the speaker himself: that we have seen the World-Honored One is to have gained a great benefit, and having heard so wondrous a Dharma we shall all accomplish the Buddha's path. The eighth verse looks back to the history of the bodhisattvas: in the past, by the Buddha's power of awesome spirit, the bodhisattvas gained the pure eye of wisdom and understood the sphere of the buddhas — which buckles back to the “sustained by the Buddha's awesome power” of the chapter's prologue. The ninth verse is the one place in the whole chapter that speaks of the increase of “faith”: now seeing Rocana, pure faith increases the more; the Buddha's wisdom has no bound and its expounding cannot be exhausted. The tenth verse closes the chapter: Excellent Wisdom and the other bodhisattvas, and I, Firm Wisdom, through numberless koṭis of kalpas could speak and still not exhaust it.

Clear away one error: this segment suddenly speaks at length of the Buddha's kindness and of benefit, and is easily read as a reversal of the preceding ninety verses. It is not a reversal; it is a conclusion. After the nine preceding segments have taken apart, layer by layer, the ‘seeing the Buddha by seizing marks’, this segment answers a question that must inevitably arise: if none of it can be grasped, then what benefit is the Buddha's appearing in the world to me? The answer is in the negative display of the fourth verse — if there were no Buddha appearing in the world, not one sentient being could attain peace and joy. Where it comes down to the ground, at the ninth verse: what grows out of all this taking apart is not knowledge and views, but pure faith. And this is exactly the starting point of that station which the next chapter is to enter.

Lineage

The import of this chapter is carried on by the ancient worthies along four tracks, all recorded, with no adjudication. The line of Chengguan: he explains the chapter by four gates, determines the whole chapter to be the three portions of the gathering of the assembly, the emitting of light, and the verses of praise, establishes ten sameness-headings with three differences included in the portion of the gathering of the assembly and six gates in the portion of the emitting of light; in the portion of the verses of praise he determines that “the first is the general, the remaining nine are the particular,” and determines further that the names of the ten bodhisattvas also betoken the ten abodes and that the dharmas they expound betoken the advance of the station; and he matches, one by one, the ten worlds' names to the marks of the stations of the ten abodes and the ten buddhas' names to the fruits of the ten dharmas of the ten abodes in their own portion, while noting for himself that the details are to be seen in “The Ten Abodes.” His establishing, in the All Wisdom segment, of the explanation of the three contemplations in one mind, and, in the Unsurpassed Wisdom segment, of the explanation of “removing and removing again until there is no removing,” are the two densest places of doctrinal import in the chapter. The line of Fazang: on the sixty-fascicle text's chapter “The Bodhisattvas Gather Like Clouds” he distinguishes four gates, and in explaining the name divides bodhisattva as substance, cloud as mark, and gathering as function, and opens out three senses in “wondrous excellence”; he determines that the buddhas' sharing the name Moon is the mark of the fruit within the abodes and opens out its three senses of substance, function, and virtue, and that the bodhisattvas' sharing the name Wisdom is the mark of the cause within the abodes; in the portion of the verses of praise he determines “the first is the general, the following nine are the particular,” and with “at once principle and phenomena, at once teaching and meaning, at once cause and fruit, at once person and dharma, at once mind and object” he determines the unobstructedness of general and particular, and determines outright that what the ten segments expound is just the dharma within the ten abodes. The line of Zhiyan: his commentary is the most concise, and yet his verse-classifications for the ten segments are complete; segment by segment he marks the number of verses and the headings, and he establishes the single category “ceding the merit to its source” to gather up the merit-ceding lines at the end of the several segments; he also answers the question why each quarter has ten with “one quarter is just all quarters,” and answers why the assembly is not gathered gradually after the emitting of light with “the station of practice is perfectly complete, and there is no mark of increase or decrease.” The line of Li Tongxuan: he runs the stations of the ten abodes through the whole chapter, lays out the one chapter in an extended outline of eleven segments, and under each bodhisattva opens out four senses — the bodhisattva's name, the world's name, the buddha's title, and the quarter he comes from — matching them with the good friends whom Sudhana visits; he also determines the ten buddhas to be buddhas of the past, Rocana to be the buddha of the present, and one who has just entered the station by practice to be a buddha of the future, and sets out the places of the emitting of light at five stations to display the ascent of the stations.

The number of segments the four masters establish is not uniform (Chengguan and Fazang make ten segments, Li Tongxuan eleven), the stations they match are not uniform, and the verse-classifications within the segments are not uniform either (Chengguan establishes his upon the seven-graph verses of the eighty-fascicle text, Zhiyan his upon the five-graph verses of the sixty-fascicle text, so that within the same segment the number of verses divided and the headings differ); the ancients held differing accounts, and these are recorded, with no adjudication of high and low.

As for how this chapter is joined to what precedes and what follows: above it it receives “Ascent to the Summit of Mount Sumeru” — in the preceding chapter the Buddha ascends the throne and Śakra praises him in verse, and in this chapter the bodhisattvas of the ten directions come and gather and praise him in verse; below it there follows “The Ten Abodes” — Chengguan's sentence, “since the gate of the abodes is about to be expounded, the substance is first set forth,” buckles the two chapters into one matter: first the Buddha's virtues are praised so that one may know the substance of abiding, and only then are the names and the practices of the ten abodes expounded. Li Tongxuan gathers the six chapters of the third assembly together as one, determining this chapter to be that which “makes clear the praising in verse of the dharma of the present station, exhorting cultivation and the principle of advancing,” below which “The Ten Abodes” is what “makes clear the practices carried out in the present station.” As for the books that set out the outlines of the Huayan school, this chapter's title and its famous verse-lines alike return no result, and this is recorded as absent, as the facts stand; nor has this chapter any separately circulating treatise that presents and explains the scripture, unlike “The Ten Grounds,” which has the Treatise on the Ten Grounds Sūtra — this too is recorded as absent. And this accords with the character of this chapter: it is scriptural text depicting the scene of bodhisattvas of the ten directions praising in verse, and its import lies in negating exposition rather than in establishing terms.

Why the ten abodes follow upon the praises in verse

Only here does the third assembly enter its main exposition. The two chapters before it — one telling how the Buddha ascended the summit of Sumeru without leaving the tree of awakening, one in which the bodhisattvas of the ten directions praise the Buddha in verse — are still setting the stage. In this chapter the bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom enters concentration, receives the sustaining power, comes out of concentration, and opens his mouth; and what he speaks is ten kinds of abode. Chengguan states the occasion of this chapter very plainly: since the merits of the Buddha have now been made clear above, the main doctrine ought to be brought out; and further, what was distinguished before was the merit of the Buddha, which is what is depended upon, whereas what is distinguished here is the ten abodes, which are what depend on it. Li Tongxuan takes it up from the other end: the previous chapter was the gate of praise in verse and exhortation to cultivate, and only this chapter properly sets forth the practice of cultivating the ten abodes, and therefore this chapter had to come. Zhiyan puts it most sparely: “Why does it come? Because it is the main exposition.”

Put together, the three amount to one thing: praise is a looking up, and after the looking up there must be somewhere to set one's feet. This chapter is that place. Brought home to oneself: after a person has been moved by the Dharma, the easiest thing is to stop inside the being moved; the sūtra does not permit stopping there, and immediately gives you ten steps.

The word “abide”: to stand firm, not to stop

The “abide” of the ten abodes is most easily read as ‘lingering.’ Not one of the ancient masters reads it so.

Chengguan glosses it: “Wisdom abides in the principle and the station gained is not retrogressed from; hence it is called abiding.” — it is by wisdom that one abides in the principle, and therefore the station does not retrogress, and so it is called abiding. He further cites the lower fascicle of the Benye: “One first enters the realm of emptiness and abides in the station of the nature of emptiness; hence it is called abiding.” Fazang glosses it more tightly: “Because the station gained is not retrogressed from, it is said to abide.” Li Tongxuan speaks from the side of what is abided in: “As for the ten abodes, one abides born within the great wisdom of the Buddhas, and having entered this abiding one never again retrogresses; hence it is named abiding.” Zhiyan in one sentence: “To abide is the station of non-retrogression.”

All four masters put the weight on the two words “not retrogressing.” So abiding is not standing still but standing firm; not that one goes no further, but that having come this far one will not slip back. Clear away a common misunderstanding: do not imagine the ten abodes as ten resting stations. They are ten heights ‘from which one will no longer fall.’ Here is where it lands: what is truly rare in practice is not a burst of fierceness but not going backward.

As for the number “ten,” Chengguan says, “the meaning of abiding is of many kinds; ten is spoken as an entrustment of the round,” and Fazang says, “the dharma of abiding ought to be round, and as it is depended upon, ten are spoken, which is the number-bearing analysis” — ten is not a literal count but an entrustment of ten to display completeness. So there is no need to ask ‘why not nine or eleven.’

Chengguan's seven portions: how this chapter is assembled

Chengguan divides this chapter into seven portions: the portion of samādhi, of sustaining, of rising, the main portion, the portion of speaking, the portion of corroboration, and the portion of repeated verses. Fazang, over on the side of the sixty-fascicle text, divides it in exactly the same way, only calling the seventh the portion of verses. Zhiyan, following the pattern of the chapter on the Ten Grounds, divides it into six portions, the last called the portion of benefit — the number and the names of the portions the three masters give differ slightly; the ancients had this divergence, and it is recorded.

What use is it to a reader to know these seven portions? The use is this: this chapter is not a stretch of talk but a whole rite. Entering concentration (the portion of samādhi), the Buddhas sustaining him (the portion of sustaining), coming out and opening his mouth (the portion of rising), properly speaking the ten abodes (the main portion), heaven and earth bearing witness (the portion of speaking), the ten directions bearing witness (the portion of corroboration), and saying it over again (the portion of repeated verses). Not one of these steps is ornament, and each is taken up below in turn.

Why he must enter concentration before speaking

Chengguan lists six reasons: first, this samādhi is itself the very substance of the dharma to be spoken; second, without personal realization it cannot be spoken; third, to display that this dharma is not a sphere that thinking can reach; fourth, to observe capacities and weigh the medicine of the Dharma; fifth, in order to receive the Buddha's sustaining power; sixth, to accomplish a rite. The six purposes Fazang lists on the side of the sixty-fascicle text are wholly the same in the first five; his last is “in order to display that the Buddhas speak it alike.”

The weightiest of these six are the first and the second. The first says: concentration is not a preparatory act performed before speaking the Dharma — concentration is the very thing to be spoken; Chengguan cites the treatise to say that the samādhi is the substance of the dharma. The second says: without realization there is no speaking. Clear away a misunderstanding: do not suppose that entering concentration is a matter of ‘gathering one's attention so as to speak well.’ What the sūtra means is that this dharma cannot be taken out of thinking at all; it can only flow out of realization.

Then why is it Dharma Wisdom who enters concentration and not another? Chengguan answers with three things: he is the foremost of the assembly; were another to enter, the assembly's minds would be stirred and untamed; and it is to display that the dharma of the ten abodes is precisely what “Dharma Wisdom” is able to speak. The name here simply is the doctrine: only one whose wisdom can carry the Dharma can speak of a station of abiding by wisdom.

The name of the samādhi too has its meaning word by word. Chengguan takes it apart: it is called “bodhisattva” in order to set aside the concentration of the fruit of Buddhahood; it is called “skillful means” because it can know according to its own nature and is skilled in contemplative understanding; it is called “measureless” because each of the ten abodes gathers in many gates of skill; and it is called “entering” because the mind goes toward the Dharma. He also turns over the three aspects of entering, abiding, and coming out and reads them at a further depth: “Now, it is the stillness of that very illumining that is named entering; it is the illumining of that very stillness that is named coming out; and having entered and not yet risen is named abiding.” — illumining that is still is called entering, and stillness that illumines is called coming out. This is a different reading from that of the provisional and lesser teachings, which take entering concentration to be ‘drawing the six consciousnesses inward.’

The portion of sustaining: what the Buddhas gave

Buddhas as many as the dust motes of a thousand Buddha-lands in each of the ten directions appear before him, all bearing the same name, Dharma Wisdom. This passage has three things in it: the commendation, the account of the grounds of the sustaining, and the conferring of knowledge and the stroking of his crown.

As to the grounds of the sustaining, the sūtra lists three powers: the spiritual power of the Buddhas, the past vows and the majestic and spiritual power of the Tathāgata Vairocana, and the power of the roots of goodness that Dharma Wisdom himself has cultivated. The three powers are raised together and no one of them may be taken alone: assign it wholly to the Buddha's power and the practitioner has nothing to do; assign it wholly to his own power and one does not know whence the Dharma comes. Then follow ten clauses each ending in “because,” setting out what the sustaining is for: to increase the Buddha's wisdom, to enter deeply into the Dharma realm, well to know the realm of beings, to be unobstructed in what is entered, unhindered in what is practiced, to gain incomparable skillful means, to enter the nature of omniscience, to awaken to all dharmas, to know the faculties of all beings, and to be able to uphold and expound all dharmas — and only when the ten are finished is the proper theme to be spoken pointed out: “to arouse the bodhisattvas' ten kinds of abode.” Zhiyan divides this passage into eleven clauses, saying that one is general, nine are particular, and the last completes the station.

The ten kinds of knowledge conferred are: unobstructed knowledge, unattached knowledge, unbroken knowledge, undeluded knowledge, unvarying knowledge, unfailing knowledge, measureless knowledge, unsurpassed knowledge, untiring knowledge, and unseizable knowledge. All ten names are stated by negation — they do not say what is given but what obstruction is taken away. And the sūtra itself explains why they are given: “by the power of this samādhi, because the Dharma is just so.” The Dharma is originally like this; it is not an extra favor from the Buddhas.

The stroking of the crown is the sustaining by the deed of the body. The three kinds of sustaining — by speech (the commendation and the charge to speak), by mind (the conferring of the ten knowledges), and by body (the stroking of the crown) — Zhiyan distinguishes clearly. Where it lands: when a person is truly able to speak a profound dharma, he generally does not feel it to be his own accomplishment; and this passage is that very thing written up as a rite.

The general statement of the main portion: the place of abiding is vast, equal to the Dharma realm and to space

The first thing Dharma Wisdom says on coming out of concentration is: “The place where a bodhisattva abides is vast, equal to the Dharma realm and to space.” The second: “A bodhisattva abides in the house of the Buddhas of the three times.”

Chengguan divides these two sentences: the two words “place of abiding” display its substance in general, what follows from “vast” briefly shows its mark, and “abides in the house of the Buddhas of the three times” concludes by pointing to the place of abiding. He says further that the substance of the ten abodes is briefly of three kinds: first, in terms of what is depended upon, namely the samādhi above; second, in terms of the root, namely the ten abodes distinguished below; and third, the substance in its own nature — which, in terms of the object apprehended, is the two spheres of the real and the conventional, and in terms of the apprehending, the two practices of compassion and wisdom; and since the two spheres are already fused and compassion and wisdom are not separate, sphere and knowledge silently accord and are one and the same Dharma realm.

It is best to put a question to this passage first: since it says “abiding,” why does it begin by speaking of “vast”? The answer lies in the six words “equal to the Dharma realm and to space.” Whatever abiding has a place has a boundary; and where there is a boundary there is somewhere to retrogress to. The reason this abiding does not retrogress is precisely that it is so large as to have no outside. Clear away a misunderstanding: do not read “the place of abiding is vast” as meaning that the Buddha-land is very large. What the sūtra speaks of is the substance abided in, not the ground dwelt on.

The sixty-fascicle text has here “the bodhisattva's seed-nature is profound and vast, equal to the Dharma realm and to space,” setting up the text with “seed-nature”; and Zhiyan accordingly judges it to be the substance of the two seed-natures, the innate and the cultivated. The eighty-fascicle text has “place of abiding,” and Chengguan accordingly judges the place of abiding to be the general and all the rest to be particular. The text depended on differs, and so the outline set up differs; each of the two judgments has its own basis, and it is recorded.

The names of the ten abodes and the Buddhas of the three times speaking alike

“The abodes of a bodhisattva are of ten kinds, which the Buddhas of the past, the future, and the present have spoken, will speak, and now speak.” — Chengguan here draws a comparison: there is no fruit of Buddhahood in the three times that is not accomplished by the cause of these ten abodes, just as with the great king's road, which is the constant rule of the way things are; and therefore the three times' Buddhas speak them alike.

The great king's road is the public highway of a country, and whoever would travel takes this one road. This sentence settles the doubt a reader is most likely to raise: are the ten abodes some special arrangement of a particular sūtra or a particular Buddha? They are not. They are the highway.

The names of the ten abodes: the abode of first arousing the mind, of preparing the ground, of cultivation, of noble birth, of perfected skillful means, of the rectified mind, of non-retrogression, of childlike purity, of the prince, and of consecration. Within the ten names there is one very clear thread — the first three are setting out on one's own (arousing the mind, preparing the ground, cultivating contemplation), the middle three are a change of station (birth into the house of the Buddha, skillful means made complete, the mind rectified and unmoved), and the last four are ripening toward succession (non-retrogression, childlike purity, princehood, consecration). The imagery this thread uses is that of succession in a royal house: born into the king's house, grown to a youth, established as prince, and consecrated as successor.

One thing often confused should be noted in passing: “the ten abodes” is a name the sūtra itself has; but the placing of the ten abodes after the ten faiths and before the ten practices, and the saying that they belong to the lower of the three worthies — this matching of stations is the outline of Chengguan and the other ancient masters, and the sūtra itself does not mark it so. In reading one must keep clear which layer is sūtra and which is commentary.

Under the ten abodes, each abode is divided into two portions: first the ten things accomplished in the present abode, then the “ten dharmas he should be exhorted to learn.” Chengguan judges the former portion to be the proper portion and the latter the advancing portion — the proper portion is what has already been stood firm in at this abode, and the advancing portion is what must be learned in order to go up a step. Li Tongxuan reckons the total: within each and every abode there are twenty dharma-gates, ten dharmas accomplishing the present station and ten serving as the practice of ascent, so that the ten abodes together come to two hundred dharma-gates. A word-by-word count of the base text agrees.

Each abode is now taken up in turn, clause by clause.

Abode one, first arousing the mind: the conditions of arousing, and the ten powers taken as object

First a question: the “arousing the mind” of the abode of first arousing the mind — what mind is aroused? The sūtra says it plainly — “he arouses the mind of awakening and seeks omniscience.” It is not the vow to be a good person; it is the seeking of omniscience.

The conditions of arousing the mind. The sūtra first lists six marks of seeing the Buddha: upright and adorned in form, complete and full in color and mark, delightful for all to behold, hard to encounter, possessed of great majestic power, and seeing the spiritual feet; then three conditions of hearing the Dharma: hearing predictions conferred, receiving instruction and admonition, hearing the Tathāgata's vast Buddha-Dharma; and one further condition that is adverse: seeing beings undergoing severe suffering. Chengguan divides these ten clauses, saying: “The text lists ten conditions, and in meaning it holds four causes, namely faith, compassion, wisdom, and the seed-nature.” — the first three contemplate the outer marks, the fourth, “hard to encounter,” runs through both inner and outer, the fifth, “possessed of great majestic power,” makes plain the inner virtue, and the sixth, “spiritual feet,” is outer function alone; while the clause about seeing beings suffer is the cause that is compassion.

Clear away a misunderstanding: is it not too shallow to arouse the mind because the Buddha is fine to look at? Chengguan answers well: among the six above, upon seeing any one thing pure faith is born and the mind aspires upward in seeking, thinking within, ‘if this may be cultivated, I too shall surely be thus’ — the starting point is in the mark, and the landing point is in the seeking. Entering by way of the shallow is not the same as being shallow.

The ten hard-to-obtain dharmas taken as object (the ten things of the proper portion). These ten dharmas are the Tathāgata's ten powers, and Chengguan judges plainly, at the repeated verses, that “the first ten verses are about arousing the mind in dependence on the ten powers, one verse to one power.” Clause by clause:

First, the knowledge of what is and is not so — knowing what does and does not stand to reason. The repeated verses put it most clearly: “The causes and fruits of the three times are called ‘what is so,’ and to grasp a self and an own-nature is called ‘what is not so’”; cause and fruit are what is so, and grasping a self and an own-nature is what is not so; if this one thing is not distinguished, the other nine powers cannot even be spoken of. Second, the knowledge of the retribution of good and evil deeds — knowing all good and evil deeds and their fruits with nothing left out; to arouse the mind without knowing deeds and their retribution is to let compassion decline into sentiment. Third, the knowledge of the superiority and inferiority of the faculties — knowing that beings' faculties are keen or dull; this is the root of whether teaching can meet its mark. Fourth, the knowledge of the differences among the various understandings — knowing that beings' views and delights each differ, which the repeated verses render “the loves and desires of their minds each differing”; only by knowing the differences does one know where to begin. Fifth, the knowledge of the differences among the various elements — knowing the differences of kind and constitution among beings, which the repeated verses render “beings' manifold constitutions and elements each differ”; the elements are a classification deeper down than the understandings and harder to alter. Sixth, the knowledge of the paths that lead to every destination — knowing to what each gate of practice leads, which the repeated verses render “each and every one having its own destination”; what a learner most fears is to walk a long way without knowing where it leads. Seventh, the knowledge of the concentrations, liberations, and samādhis — knowing the defilement and purity of all concentrations, liberations, and samādhis and their entering, abiding, and coming forth; states of concentration may be deviant or right, and this knowledge is precisely the sorting of them. Eighth, the unobstructed knowledge of former lives — recollecting without obstruction the natures and marks of past ages; only by knowing the past does one know where the present came from. Ninth, the unobstructed knowledge of the heavenly eye — seeing without obstruction how beings drift along with their deeds; the repeated verses say “they drift along with their deeds without a moment's rest,” and what the heavenly eye illumines is deeds, not marvels. Tenth, the knowledge of the universal exhaustion of the outflows of the three times — knowing that the afflictions and residual habits of the three times are universally cut off, which the repeated verses render “arising in succession together with the residual habits; wishing to know them completely and to make them utterly exhausted”; the first nine are knowing beings, and this one is knowing where cutting off happens, and so it is listed last.

The reason the ten powers are “hard-to-obtain dharmas” is precisely that they are the Buddha's own sphere. One at the first arousing of the mind takes the Buddha's sphere as object and thereby arouses the mind; this is the very style of this chapter — what is taken as object being high, what is aroused is great.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). Chengguan says these ten dharmas “do not go beyond compassion and wisdom. Making offerings to the Buddhas is the general clause, running through both goods and Dharma; the nine below are particular.” Clause by clause:

First, diligently making offerings to the Buddhas — this is the general clause, running through offerings of goods and of Dharma; only when the nine things below are done is it a true offering. Second, delighting to abide in birth-and-death — Chengguan glosses: with great compassion foremost he therefore delights to abide, and with wisdom penetrating its emptiness he therefore has no dread; it is not craving for birth-and-death but not fearing it. Third, acting as the guiding lord of the world and causing evil deeds to be extinguished — abiding and acting as lord, he guides the people of the world to remove evil. Fourth, constantly instructing by the supreme and subtle Dharma — that is, the principle and teaching by which he can guide. Fifth, praising the unsurpassed Dharma — displaying the fruit so that people aspire to it, which is where the teaching arrives. Sixth, learning the merits of the Buddhas — learning the Buddha's virtue as the cause by which one can arrive. Seventh, being born before the Buddhas and constantly receiving their embrace — the completing of virtue depends on conditions, and so he vows to be born before the Buddhas. Eighth, expounding the tranquil samādhis by skillful means — stilling the stir of the seeking above and the transforming below. Ninth, praising departure from the round of birth-and-death — stillness necessarily departs from the round. Tenth, being a refuge for beings who suffer — not losing the mind of compassion, and so being ever what beings rely on.

The order of these ten clauses has been considered: it begins from making offerings, passes through the tempering of the mind on actual affairs, gathers into stillness, and from stillness returns to beings. The last clause returning to suffering beings is precisely what prevents the eighth and ninth from being read as a turning away. The concluding sentence, “in order to make the bodhisattva's mind turn ever broader within the Buddha-Dharma,” shows that the purpose of the exhortation is not to add items but to enlarge the mind.

Abode two, preparing the ground: putting the ground of the mind in order

First a question: the mind having been aroused, why must the ground still be “prepared”? Chengguan answers: “it is to temper and prepare the ground of the mind so that compassion and wisdom grow bright; hence it is named the abode of preparing the ground.” — arousing the mind is the seed falling to the ground, and preparing the ground is putting the ground in order, without which the seed will not grow. He says further that this abode is one in which “constantly following the mind of emptiness one is pure, and the eighty-four thousand gates of Dharma are pure and clean,” that is, washing the ground of the mind with the wisdom of emptiness.

Arousing ten kinds of mind toward beings (the proper portion). Chengguan says these ten minds have two meanings: first, that toward each and every being one arouses these ten minds; second, that in order to distinguish differences they are matched to eight kinds of being. Clause by clause:

First, the mind of benefit — Chengguan gives the instance: toward hostile beings one not only does not think of requital but goes on to bestow benefit. Second, the mind of great compassion — toward beings poor and suffering, wishing them to be free of it, one arouses compassion. Third, the mind of ease and joy — toward beings in peril and dread and without joy, causing them to gain the means of joy inexhaustibly. Fourth, the mind of settling them — toward beings of evil conduct, causing them to be settled in good conduct. Fifth, the mind of pity — toward beings who have gained joy, with a mind of commiseration not letting them grow negligent; those who have gained joy most easily forget and lose it, and so this mind is needed. Sixth, the mind of taking them in — toward outsiders who have not yet aroused the mind, gathering them so that right faith is born. Seventh, the mind of guarding them — those in whom faith has been born, upholding them so that they do not fall away. Eighth, the mind that treats them as oneself — regarding another as oneself, whereby the partition between foe and kin dissolves. Ninth, the mind of a teacher — treating beings with the mind of an elder teacher, without contempt. Tenth, the mind of a guide — leading beings with the mind of a guide, not stopping at instruction but bringing them onto the road.

The ten minds begin from “benefit” and conclude with “a guide,” a single line running from giving to leading. Clear away a misunderstanding: these ten minds are not ten emotions; they are ten positions from which beings are met.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). Clause by clause:

First, reciting, rehearsing, and wide learning — preparing the ground first requires materials, and so wide learning comes first. Second, empty, leisured stillness — wide learning without a still place in which to digest it becomes mere piling up. Third, drawing near to good friends — looking at oneself easily goes crooked, and so good friends are needed. Fourth, speaking gently and pleasingly — the repeated verses add a phrase, “apart from harshness”; when speech is coarse the Dharma does not enter people. Fifth, speaking knowing the right time — the repeated verses render it “speaking always knowing the right time and without dread”; a true word out of season is also an obstruction. Sixth, the mind without timidity or dread — timid, one dares neither speak nor act. Seventh, penetrating the meaning — not stopping at the letter. Eighth, practicing in accord with the Dharma — understanding of the meaning must come down into practice. Ninth, departing from folly and confusion — removing dullness. Tenth, abiding unshaken — the repeated verses render it “departing from folly and confusion with the mind unshaken”; the unshaken gathers up the nine before it.

The concluding sentence says “in order to make the bodhisattva's great compassion grow toward all beings” — the ten clauses all appear to be a putting of oneself in order, yet the purpose is the growth of compassion toward beings. Chengguan points this out here: “it is compassion that is made to grow.” Where it lands: the ground is prepared for the sake of planting a tree, not for the ground's own good looks.

Abode three, cultivation: contemplating all dharmas by ten kinds of practice

First a question: the mind has been aroused and the ground prepared; why is only this one called “cultivation”? Because the two abodes before are the setting of the aim and the making ready, and only at this abode does contemplation properly begin. Chengguan divides this abode into two portions: the proper portion is the practice that guards against the afflictions, and the advancing portion is the practice that guards against the lesser vehicle — the former guards against falling into the ordinary, the latter against falling into the lesser. This is a weighty sentence: one who cultivates contemplation has two pits, one of failing in contemplation and retreating into the afflictions, the other of succeeding in contemplation and falling into the biased emptiness of the two vehicles.

Contemplating all dharmas by ten kinds of practice (the proper portion). Chengguan says these ten impermanences are largely the same as what is distinguished at the third ground of the chapter on the Ten Grounds, and cites the treatise's “the going on of life does not stay: this in general is named impermanence” as the general clause, further dividing it into impermanence from moment to moment and impermanence over one term of life. Clause by clause:

First, contemplating that all dharmas are impermanent — this is the general clause: the going on of life does not stay. Second, that all dharmas are suffering — in dependence on the five blazing aggregates there is the mark of oppression, and therefore it is suffering; Chengguan cites the Yuqie shidi lun: taking attention to the practice of impermanence as prior, one enters upon the practice of suffering. Third, that all dharmas are empty — from suffering, since nothing is obtained, one thereupon enters upon the practice of emptiness. Fourth, that all dharmas are without self — being empty, they are not sovereign, and there is no ruler. Fifth, that all dharmas are without doing — there is no doer standing behind them. Sixth, that all dharmas are without savor — the repeated verses render it “all dharmas are not to be delighted in”; it is not that they taste bad but that they have no truly covetable savor. Seventh, that all dharmas are not as their names — the repeated verses render it “not as their names”; name and dharma do not answer to each other, and this clause breaks precisely the disease of taking dharmas by their names. Eighth, that all dharmas are without location — dharmas have no fixed place to be. Ninth, that all dharmas are apart from discrimination — dharmas are of themselves apart from discrimination; it is not that we go and part them from it. Tenth, that all dharmas are without solid reality — the repeated verses render it “without discrimination and without reality,” and by having no solid reality the nine before are gathered up.

These ten clauses have an order: from impermanence one enters suffering, from suffering emptiness, from emptiness no-self; and the five after that strip away layer by layer the residual notion that ‘there is still something there.’ Clear away a misunderstanding: contemplating impermanence is not for the sake of pessimism but so as no longer to guard the false as though it were true.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). The syntax of this passage is peculiar — it does not make ten separate items but three groups of contemplation:

First, contemplating the realm of beings; second, contemplating the Dharma realm; third, contemplating the world — these three are the three layers of the sentient, the normative, and the receptacle. Fourth, contemplating the earth element; fifth, the water element; sixth, the fire element; seventh, the wind element — these four are the four great elements that form a world. Eighth, contemplating the realm of desire; ninth, the realm of form; tenth, the formless realm — these three are the levels of the three existences. Together they come to exactly ten.

The repeated verses touch on these three groups again: “Next make him contemplate the realm of beings, and exhort him to contemplate the Dharma realm, and the differences among worlds exhaustively with nothing left,” and “The worlds of the ten directions and space as well, all the earth, the water, the fire, and the wind, the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm”; and at the end they add the crucial line, “Contemplating the differences among those realms one by one, and their natures too all fully clarified” — not only the marks of their differences are contemplated, but their very natures. The concluding sentence, “in order to make the bodhisattva's wisdom clear and penetrating,” shows that what is sought in this passage is the clarity of wisdom, not breadth of knowledge.

Abode four, noble birth: born into the house of the Buddha

First a question: what is “noble birth”? Chengguan says: “As for being born out of the teaching of the sages, it is that by the perfuming of wide learning the outflowing and outflow-free dharma of teaching gives birth to his wisdom.” — by hearing the teaching of the sages there is perfumed an outflow-free wisdom, and this wisdom is born of the teaching, and so it is called birth. He further cites two lines of this chapter's repeated verses in evidence: “When a son of the Buddha contemplates dharmas in this way, he is born of the Buddha himself and so is named a son of the Buddha,” which is spoken with reference to the person who speaks; and “Penetrating that the existences have nothing possessed, he passes beyond those dharmas and is born into the Dharma realm,” which is spoken with reference to the principle. Teaching, person, and principle — all three can give birth to this station, and so it is noble.

Born from the teaching of the sages, accomplishing ten dharmas (the proper portion). Chengguan says these ten things are the same as the ten dharma-knowledges of the fourth ground of the chapter on the Ten Grounds, differing only in how they are opened out or drawn together. Clause by clause:

First, never retrogressing in the presence of the Buddhas — this is the knowledge of one's own place of abiding: since the station does not retrogress, it is also what he is born into. Second, giving rise to deep and pure faith — this is the knowledge of like reverence, for pure faith in the Buddha must come before birth. Third, well contemplating dharmas — faith without contemplation becomes blind faith. Fourth, knowing beings — one born into the Buddha's house must first recognize those to be delivered. Fifth, knowing lands — recognizing the places to be transformed. Sixth, knowing worlds — recognizing the forming and destruction of the receptacle realm. Seventh, knowing deeds — recognizing the cause. Eighth, knowing retribution — recognizing the fruit. Ninth, knowing birth-and-death — recognizing the side of flowing and turning. Tenth, knowing nirvāṇa — recognizing the side of returning and ceasing.

Among the ten clauses, the first three are one's own standing place and the latter seven are the spheres known. To be born into the Buddha's house is not to have gained a status but to have exchanged one's eyes: from now on, in looking at beings, lands, worlds, deeds, retribution, birth-and-death, and nirvāṇa, one looks by one and the same Dharma.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). This passage too is in groups:

First through third, knowing all the Buddha-dharmas of past, future, and present — first the seeking to know. Fourth through sixth, cultivating and gathering all the Buddha-dharmas of past, future, and present — next the seeking to gather. Seventh through ninth, fulfilling all the Buddha-dharmas of past, future, and present — then the seeking to fulfill. And the tenth, knowing that all Buddhas are equal — which gathers the nine before into one.

Knowing, gathering, and fulfilling, three layers multiplied by the three times, come to nine; and the last clause returns the Buddhas of the three times to equality. The repeated verses restate this structure just as it stands: “In the past, the future, and the present ages, the manifold Buddha-dharmas that are therein — knowing them, gathering them, and fulfilling them,” and “All the Tathāgatas of the three times — being able to contemplate along with them and know them wholly equal, so that the manifold differences are not to be found.” The concluding sentence, “in order to advance him, so that within the three times his mind attains equality” — Chengguan says, “only when the times are not made separate does one know equality.” Where it lands: having been born into the Buddha's house, one should no longer be making calculations about ‘this one life of mine’; the three times are one household's affair.

Abode five, perfected skillful means: the roots of goodness cultivated are all given away

First a question: why is this abode called “perfected skillful means”? Chengguan answers deftly: “As for the fifth, the abode of perfected skillful means, the ten minds of the proper portion are also skillful means, and the ten minds of the advancing portion are also perfected.” — the two words of the abode's name belong severally to the two portions, and yet the two portions are furnished with each other. The former portion is the skillful use of the roots of goodness upon beings; the latter is the perfect knowing of the emptiness of beings.

One fact about the base text should also be pointed out first: of the ten abodes, the proper portion of this abode alone has neither the question “which ten?” nor the concluding “these are the ten”; the sūtra simply sets down ten clauses beginning “all beings.” The other nine abodes all have both question and conclusion, and this one abode alone is the exception.

The roots of goodness cultivated are all for beings (the ten things of the proper portion). Chengguan says the first clause is general, and that the two matters of rescuing from suffering and guarding the good divide the rest between them. Clause by clause:

First, rescuing and guarding all beings — this is the general clause, and everything is for its sake. Second, benefiting all beings — bestowing the cause of joy. Third, giving ease and joy to all beings — causing them to gain the fruit of joy. Fourth, having pity on all beings — pitying their false joys, and not letting them be engrossed in them. Fifth, delivering all beings — delivering them from suffering so that they gain liberation. Sixth, making all beings depart from every calamity — what they are parted from is present suffering of the sort of the three calamities and the eight difficulties. Seventh, making all beings come out from the suffering of birth-and-death — what they come out from is the two births-and-deaths, that of apportioned segments and that of transformation. Eighth, making all beings give rise to pure faith — the first step of rescue is to teach them to give rise to faith. Ninth, making all beings be wholly tamed — from faith they come to be tamed. Tenth, making all beings all realize nirvāṇa — being tamed, they arrive at the ultimate.

The ten clauses begin from rescue and conclude with nirvāṇa, and in between there is a very fine sequence: first giving joy, then drawing out suffering, then breaking false joy, and thereafter carrying them all the way from faith and taming to the ultimate. The repeated verses compress it into four lines: “The manifold merits that the bodhisattva cultivates are all in order to rescue and guard the multitude of the living,” and “For all the world he removes the many calamities, leading them out of the existences and making them rejoice; taming them one by one with none left out, he makes them all furnished with virtue and turned toward nirvāṇa.”

Clear away a misunderstanding: this passage is often read as a text of vows. It is not a vow; it states the actual destination of the “roots of goodness cultivated” by this bodhisattva — all that he has cultivated is given away, with not a portion kept for himself, and this is what is called skillful means made perfect.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). All ten clauses are “knowing beings”:

First, knowing that beings are without bound — there is no boundary. Second, knowing that beings are without measure — they cannot be delimited. Third, knowing that beings are beyond counting — they cannot be reckoned. Fourth, knowing that beings are inconceivable — they exceed thinking. Fifth, knowing that beings' forms are measureless — the kinds of shape and color are measureless. Sixth, knowing that beings are not to be weighed — they cannot be weighed. Seventh, knowing that beings are empty — from the ‘so many as to be inexhaustible’ of the first six it turns into ‘originally empty of themselves,’ and this is the pivot of the whole passage. Eighth, knowing that beings are without any doing — there is no doer. Ninth, knowing that beings are without anything possessed — originally nothing is possessed. Tenth, knowing that beings are without own-nature — they have no own-nature.

The first six speak of multitude and the latter four of emptiness, and this order is the doctrinal eye of the passage. One must first know that beings are so many as to be inexhaustible, for only then is the mind that delivers them aroused thoroughly; and one must then know that beings are originally empty, for only then will the practice of delivering them not be stuck to ‘how many people I have delivered.’ The concluding sentence, “in order to make his mind turn to be ever more excellent, without anything defiling it,” is precisely the effect of the two layers together. One line of the repeated verses gathers it all: “All beings are without any bound, measureless, numberless, inconceivable, and not to be weighed and not to be measured”

Abode six, the rectified mind: unshaken by whatever is heard

First a question: the five abodes before have already been delivering beings; why should there still be a problem of the mind being shaken? Because what the five before face is affairs, whereas what this one faces is “what is said” — hearing how others speak of the Buddha, of the Dharma, of bodhisattvas, of beings, of the Dharma realm. People who are not thrown by affairs are often thrown by argument.

Chengguan says that the reason this abode is unshaken is that “within the proper portion, because he has accomplished the wisdom that understands the nature and marks of dharmas, he is in all cases unshaken, and this is named the rectified mind.” It is not that he holds himself still by force; it is that after understanding dharmas he cannot be stirred.

Hearing ten kinds of dharma, the mind is settled and unshaken (the proper portion). The sūtra sets them out as ten pairs of opposed sayings. Clause by clause:

First, hearing the Buddha praised or maligned — Chengguan says the first four pairs are with reference to the Three Jewels that are revered: “because he understands that dharmas are equal and that sound is like an echo in a valley, he gives rise to neither delight nor grief at praise or malignment.” Second, hearing the Dharma praised or maligned — the Dharma is not increased by a man's praise nor decreased by his malignment. Third, hearing bodhisattvas praised or maligned — he adds a further remark: spoken of in terms of attachment they should be maligned, spoken of in terms of principle they should be praised, and each of the two sayings has its own share. Fourth, hearing the dharmas practiced by bodhisattvas praised or maligned — from the person on to the dharmas the person practices, which is the advance upon the third pair. Fifth, hearing it said that beings are limited or unlimited — from here three pairs are with reference to the beings who are pitied; Chengguan judges: limited and unlimited are the two extremes of annihilation and permanence, into which the bodhisattva does not fall. Sixth, hearing it said that beings are defiled or undefiled — these are the two extremes of increase and decrease, from which the bodhisattva departs. Seventh, hearing it said that beings are easy or hard to deliver — these are the two extremes of suffering and pleasure, in which the bodhisattva does not dwell. Eighth, hearing it said that the Dharma realm is limited or unlimited — from here three pairs are with reference to the Dharma realm that is known. Ninth, hearing it said that the Dharma realm is formed or destroyed — sayings of forming and destruction cannot shake him. Tenth, hearing it said that the Dharma realm either exists or does not exist — sayings of existence and non-existence cannot shake him either.

Of the ten pairs, the first four are what is revered, the middle three what is pitied, and the last three what is known — only when reverence, pity, and knowing have all three been tested is it called settled. Clear away a misunderstanding: to be unshaken is not to have no position; it is not to be dragged along by the sayings of either extreme. Chengguan, at the fifth through the seventh pairs, points out the three sorts of extreme view — annihilation and permanence, increase and decrease, suffering and pleasure — showing that what is called being unshaken is precisely not falling into either of two extremes. As for what the Shangzhu tianzi jing says, “there is none who, without being maligned in speech, is able to arrive within that liberation” — Chengguan cites this in order to show that being maligned is something that must be passed through on the road of cultivation, and need not be taken for a mishap.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). All ten clauses are “all dharmas”:

First, all dharmas are without mark; second, all dharmas are without substance; third, all dharmas cannot be cultivated — this clause is the most easily misread: it does not say there is no need to cultivate, but that there is no real dharma to be cultivated and grasped. Fourth, all dharmas are without anything possessed; fifth, all dharmas are without reality; sixth, all dharmas are empty; seventh, all dharmas are without nature; eighth, all dharmas are like an illusion; ninth, all dharmas are like a dream; tenth, all dharmas are without discrimination.

The first seven are negations, the eighth and ninth present the matter by the two similes of illusion and dream, and the tenth gathers it up with non-discrimination. The repeated verses compress the ten clauses into two lines: “All dharmas are wholly without mark, without substance, without nature, empty and without reality, like an illusion and like a dream and apart from discrimination; he ever delights to hear a meaning such as this.” The last line, “ever delights to hear,” is of great weight — one who is unshaken is not one who no longer listens, but one who listens the more gladly. The concluding sentence says that what is sought is “to gain the non-retrogressive forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas,” and this joins this abode to the next.

Abode seven, non-retrogression: not even ‘whether or not it exists’ can move him

First a question: the abode of the rectified mind is already unshaken; is the abode of non-retrogression not a repetition? Chengguan has distinguished this very question, and answers it most finely:

Although all ten clauses speak of not retrogressing, they are “largely the same as the previous station”; but at this station he has already entered the non-arising and knows that the dharmas he hears are ultimately empty. The previous station gathers affairs into principle and thereby makes the mind unshaken; this station has affairs and principle both present and yet the mind does not retrogress; the station after goes from principle toward affairs, following affairs in practice and growing ever more seasoned. Moreover, at the previous station what was heard was only praise or malignment of the Three Jewels, and to bear that was still easy; at this station what is heard is ‘whether or not,’ where what is at stake goes deeper, so that to accomplish forbearance is hard, and therefore it surpasses the previous station. He adds a further mark of division: the previous station spoke of being unshaken, which is only being able to rectify the mind; this station speaks of not retrogressing, which carries the sense of advancing onward.

This piece of analysis is worth reading over and over. Praise and malignment wound the feelings; existence and non-existence move the root. A person may be able to bear another's cursing the Dharma he believes in, and yet may not be able to bear someone telling him ‘there is no such thing at all.’

Hearing ten kinds of dharma and being firm and not retrogressing (the proper portion). Chengguan divides them: the first three are the Three Jewels, the next two severally display the foregoing dharma, the next three severally make plain the first, the Buddha, and the last two are with reference to the Buddha's sphere and knowledge. Clause by clause:

First, hearing that there is or is not a Buddha — the Jewel of the Buddha. Second, hearing that there is or is not a Dharma — the Jewel of the Dharma. Third, hearing that there are or are not bodhisattvas — the Jewel of the Saṅgha. Fourth, hearing that there is or is not bodhisattva practice — from bodhisattvas on to the practice of bodhisattvas. Fifth, hearing that a bodhisattva's cultivation does or does not bring forth deliverance — from practice on to the fruit of practice, and this clause wounds most of all: having cultivated, does one in the end get out or not. Sixth, hearing that in the past there were or were not Buddhas; seventh, hearing that in the future there will or will not be Buddhas; eighth, hearing that in the present there are or are not Buddhas — the three times severally make plain the existence or non-existence of a Buddha. Ninth, hearing that the Buddha's knowledge is exhaustible or inexhaustible — with reference to the Buddha's knowledge. Tenth, hearing that the three times are one mark or not one mark — with reference to the Buddha's sphere.

The ten clauses push from the Three Jewels on to practice, on to the fruit, on to the three times, on to the Buddha's knowledge and the Buddha's sphere, questioning all the way down to the root. By the last clause what is asked is already whether time itself is one or many. To be able not to retrogress here is what is called being firm.

The ten vast dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). Note that the heading clause here differs from that of the other abodes: the sūtra specially calls them “ten kinds of vast dharma.” The ten clauses are five pairs of doubly returning sentences:

First, to speak of one is to speak of many; second, to speak of many is to speak of one — the first pair is mutual identity in number. Third, the words follow upon the meaning; fourth, the meaning follows upon the words — the second pair is the mutual following of words and meaning. Fifth, non-existence is existence; sixth, existence is non-existence — the third pair is mutual identity of existence and non-existence. Seventh, the markless is the marked; eighth, the marked is the markless — the fourth pair is mark and marklessness. Ninth, naturelessness is nature; tenth, nature is naturelessness — the fifth pair is nature and naturelessness.

The repeated verses gather it into one crucial line: “that all such things are thus accomplished by turns: this should be expounded for the one who does not retrogress.” — why may such words be spoken only to one who does not retrogress? Because “one is many,” to one who has not yet entered the non-arising, sounds only like a contradiction, and hearing it he instead retrogresses. That the sūtra deliberately places these ten dharmas at the abode of non-retrogression is thus a matter of measure. The concluding sentence, “in order to advance him, so that in all dharmas he is well able to come forth” — the dharma of mutual identity is not abstruse talk but a gate of coming forth.

Abode eight, childlike purity: the three deeds without fault

First a question: having come to the eighth abode, why on the contrary is it called “childlike”? What childlike purity takes is the meaning of being pure and undefiled, not yet having received admixture. Chengguan says that the first three clauses of this abode's proper portion, the three deeds being without fault and the residual habits forever departed from, are properly what a Buddha attains, and that to be effortless and spontaneous belongs to the eighth ground; this abode is “largely the same as the eighth ground,” and because he can practice without outflows he therefore attains the absence of fault — neither the fault of the ten unwholesome deeds nor the fault of error.

Abiding in ten kinds of deed (the proper portion). Chengguan divides them: the first three are the three deeds without fault, and are also the substance of transforming others; the fourth is the body that can transform; the next four are the knowledge that can transform; the next one is the place of transforming; and the last is the dharma of transforming. Clause by clause:

First, what the body does is without fault — the deed of body is pure. Second, what speech does is without fault — the deed of speech is pure. Third, what the mind does is without fault — the deed of mind is pure; the three deeds being without fault is the real meaning of purity, and the name childlike is established from this. Fourth, taking birth according to his own intention — Chengguan says this is the body that can transform: the bodhisattva of sudden awakening takes birth according to his vow, valuing the benefit of others, and does not choose between pure land and defiled. Fifth, knowing the manifold desires of beings — what they desire. Sixth, knowing the manifold understandings of beings — what they understand. Seventh, knowing the manifold elements of beings — the elemental nature they depend on. Eighth, knowing the manifold deeds of beings — the deeds they do; these four clauses are precisely four of the knowledges among the ten powers, and are the knowledge that can transform. Ninth, knowing the forming and destruction of worlds — this is the place of transforming. Tenth, spiritual feet sovereign, where he goes without obstruction — this is the proper practice of the dharma of transforming.

The structure of the ten clauses is very clear: being clean oneself (the first three), being able to manifest a body (the fourth), recognizing people (the fifth through the eighth), recognizing the place (the ninth), and being able to get there (the tenth). Where it lands: what is called purity is not being cut off from the world but not being stained anywhere in it.

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). Chengguan says this passage is the practice of the immovable, the first six being sovereignty over lands and the latter four sovereignty in the three deeds. Clause by clause:

First, knowing all Buddha-lands — knowing them first. Second, shaking all Buddha-lands — being able to shake them. Third, upholding all Buddha-lands — being able to sustain them. Fourth, contemplating all Buddha-lands — being able to contemplate them. Fifth, going to all Buddha-lands — being able to go to them. Sixth, roaming through numberless worlds — roaming without obstruction; these six are sovereignty over lands. Seventh, receiving numberless Buddha-dharmas — which the repeated verses render “asaṃkhyeya dharmas he can inquire into,” and which is sovereignty in the deed of mind. Eighth, manifesting a body of sovereign transformation — which the repeated verses render “the bodies he wishes to receive he attains in sovereignty,” and which is sovereignty in the deed of body. Ninth, sending forth a vast and pervading voice — which the repeated verses render “his speech-sounds are skillful and pervade all things,” and which is sovereignty in the deed of speech. Tenth, in a single kṣaṇa serving and making offerings to numberless Buddhas — which the repeated verses render “he serves numberless Buddhas,” gathering up the three deeds by the serving of the Buddhas.

The concluding sentence: “in order to advance him, so that in all dharmas he gains skill.” Clear away a misunderstanding: these ten clauses read like a list of spiritual powers, but the landing point of every one of them is in “transforming” — knowing lands is for going there, going is for delivering, and manifesting a body and sending forth a voice are for expounding the Dharma. Spiritual power here is not a feat but the natural function of a childlike and pure mind.

Abode nine, the prince: learning to be the one who succeeds

First a question: since he is named a prince, what does he learn? The answer: he learns to succeed. What the abodes before learn is how to walk oneself; what this abode learns are the rules of the house of the Dharma King.

Note: Chengguan's commentary on the outline of this abode does not fall within the framework that was taken up, and the lack is recorded; what follows treats it clause by clause according to the sūtra and the repeated verses.

Well knowing ten kinds of dharma (the proper portion). Clause by clause:

First, well knowing how beings take birth — which the repeated verses render “he can see the differences in beings' taking birth,” knowing whence beings come. Second, well knowing how the afflictions arise — knowing under what conditions the afflictions come into activity. Third, well knowing how the residual habits continue on — knowing the remaining momentum left after activity has passed; the afflictions are easy to cut off but the residual habits are hard to exhaust, and so a separate clause is set up. Fourth, well knowing the skillful means of what is practiced — knowing where the counteragent takes hold. Fifth, well knowing measureless dharmas — the dharmas known are measureless. Sixth, well understanding the manifold deportments — which the repeated verses render “dharmas each differ and the deportments are distinct”; deportment is the outward display of station, and a son of the Dharma King must understand it. Seventh, well knowing the differences among worlds — knowing that the places to be transformed are not the same. Eighth, well knowing the affairs of the earlier and later limits — knowing the affairs of past and future. Ninth, well knowing how to expound the conventional truth — being able to speak the words of the conventional truth. Tenth, well knowing how to expound the truth of the highest meaning — being able to speak the words of the truth of the highest meaning.

The ten clauses fall into three sections: the first four know beings' sickness and its medicine, the middle three know dharmas and deportment and place, and the last three know time and the speaking of the two truths. The weightiest are the last two — a son of the Dharma King's competence lies in ‘being able to say it,’ and in being able to say both truths. The repeated verses join them in one line: “as the conventional truth and the truth of the highest meaning have it, he is well able to know it all with nothing left over.”

The ten dharmas to be learned (the advancing portion). All ten of these clauses take the “Dharma King” as the ground of the figure, and they are a whole set of royal usages:

First, the skillfulness of the place of the Dharma King — the skillful devices of the king's place. Second, the rule and measure of the place of the Dharma King — the laws and regulations of the royal house. Third, the palace of the place of the Dharma King — where the king dwells. Fourth, the entering in to the place of the Dharma King — how one enters the king's place. Fifth, the contemplation at the place of the Dharma King — what is contemplated and seen once entered. Sixth, the consecration of the Dharma King — the royal house's dharma of consecration. Seventh, the sustaining power of the Dharma King — the king's sustaining by spiritual power. Eighth, the fearlessness of the Dharma King — the king's having no timidity. Ninth, the reposing rest of the Dharma King — the king's chamber of repose. Tenth, the praises of the Dharma King — the king's honor and praise.

The repeated verses work these ten clauses into four lines: “The place where the Dharma King skillfully sets things up, and the dharmas belonging to that place, how one enters the palace of the Dharma King, and what is contemplated and seen therein. The dharmas of consecration that the Dharma King has, the sustaining of his spiritual power without any timidity, the chamber of his reposing rest and the matter of praise and honor — by these he gives instruction to the son of the Dharma King.” — this passage is the most complete single figure in the whole chapter. The separately circulating Pusa benye jing has at the same place “he learns the Dharma King's right conduct, learns the Dharma King's rites” down to “learns the Dharma King's touring of the lands”: the ground of the figure is wholly the same while the items differ slightly, which shows how ancient this figure is.

Clear away a misunderstanding: this is not teaching anyone to put on airs. What the prince learns is to take up the burden — that even how the king rests is to be learned says that the successor's every bearing is within the rule of law. The concluding sentence: “in order to advance him, so that in his mind there is no obstruction”; and the repeated verses add a line of still greater weight: “and making his mind attached to nothing.” Having learned a whole set of royal usages, he is yet to be attached to nothing — this is where the measure of the passage lies.

Abode ten, consecration: the station full and not to be fathomed

First a question: what does consecration mean? Li Tongxuan gives it two layers: first as a figure — “as when pure water is poured from the crown and runs down over the whole body” — the bodhisattva at this station, with the knowledge of the Dharma realm, meets and matches whatever is fitting for all beings and rains down the rain of Dharma equally at one time, so that there is nothing not poured through, and therefore it is named consecration; second in actual fact — when he ascends to this station, the Buddhas of the ten directions with their hands pour upon his crown, and this too is called consecration. The two glosses stand together.

Chengguan divides the proper portion of this abode into two passages: first ten clauses on the virtues and functions accomplished, then ten clauses praising its excellence as hard to fathom — because it is the end of the stations, this latter passage is specially added.

Accomplishing ten kinds of knowledge (the ten things of the proper portion). Chengguan says the first five are the unobstructed knowledge that understands worlds and the latter five the unobstructed knowledge that brings beings to accomplishment. Clause by clause:

First, shaking numberless worlds — able to shake. Second, illumining numberless worlds — able to illumine. Third, sustaining numberless worlds — able to sustain. Fourth, going to numberless worlds — able to arrive. Fifth, adorning and purifying numberless worlds — able to purify; these five are all sovereignty over the receptacle world. Sixth, revealing the teaching to numberless beings — revealing it for them. Seventh, contemplating numberless beings — examining their capacities. Eighth, knowing the faculties of numberless beings — knowing their faculties. Ninth, making numberless beings enter — drawing them into the Dharma. Tenth, making numberless beings be tamed — finally causing them to be tamed; these five are all sovereignty over the sentient.

The first five face worlds and the latter five face beings, and these are precisely the two sides of “because the perfection of wisdom is full.” The repeated verses have a verse for each of them: “The numberless manifold worlds of the ten directions he is able wholly to shake, and light universally illumines them. Sustaining them and going to them too with nothing left over, purity and adornment all complete, the beings to whom he reveals the teaching are without number, and contemplating and knowing their faculties he can exhaust them all,” and “Making them arouse the mind and taming them too without any bound, he makes them all turn toward the great awakening.”

The passage praising its excellence as hard to fathom. The sūtra says that this bodhisattva's body and the deeds of his body, his spiritual penetrations and manifestations, his knowledge of the past, of the future, and of the present, the Buddha-lands he accomplishes, and the sphere of his mind and the sphere of his knowledge — all ten clauses cannot be known, not even by a bodhisattva who is a prince of the Dharma. Chengguan divides this passage: the first four are sovereignty in deeds that cannot be known — one, the body; two, the body's function; three, the ten penetrations; four, the penetrations' function; and the latter six are sovereignty in mind and knowledge that cannot be known — the first three being the knowledge of the three clear knowledges in their full brightness, the fourth the knowledge that is sovereign in knowing the receptacle world, the fifth the sphere manifested by the mind in concentration, and the sixth the sphere known by great wisdom. Because it is deep and wide, the lower station does not know it.

This one sentence, “not even by a bodhisattva who is a prince of the Dharma,” is of great weight: the ninth abode cannot know the tenth. The reality of the sequence of stations is seen in this one sentence.

The ten kinds of knowledge of the Buddhas he should be exhorted to learn (the advancing portion). Note that the heading clause changes again — it does not say “should be exhorted to learn ten dharmas” but “should be exhorted to learn the ten kinds of knowledge of the Buddhas,” because the station has come to its end and what is learned is directly the Buddha's knowledge. Chengguan says: this is learning the Buddha's omniscience and knowledge of all modes, since with the present station full one is consecrated and becomes a Buddha, and it gathers all the stations as being complete within this. Clause by clause:

First, the knowledge of the three times — that is, the knowledge of the three clear knowledges. Second, the knowledge of the Buddha-Dharma — which the repeated verses render “the knowledge that makes plain the dharmas of the Buddhas.” Third, the knowledge of the unobstructedness of the Dharma realm — unstagnating in the Dharma realm. Fourth, the knowledge of the boundlessness of the Dharma realm — knowing that the Dharma realm has no bound. Fifth, the knowledge that fills all worlds — the knowledge pervades and fills. Sixth, the knowledge that universally illumines all worlds — which the repeated verses render “illumines worlds.” Seventh, the knowledge that sustains all worlds — which the repeated verses render “the knowledge that sustains.” Eighth, the knowledge of all beings — knowing the sentient. Ninth, the knowledge of all dharmas — knowing dharmas; the repeated verses join the eighth and ninth into “the knowledge that knows beings and dharmas.” Tenth, the knowledge of the boundless Buddhas — which the repeated verses render “the boundless knowledge that knows the rightly awakened,” gathering up everything by the knowing of the Buddhas.

The concluding sentence: “in order to increase in him the knowledge of all modes.” The ten abodes having come this far, what is learned is already what a Buddha knows; the station is full, and thereafter the practice of the next chapter is opened.

The portion of speaking and the portion of corroboration: heaven and earth bear witness, the ten directions bear witness

The ten abodes having been spoken, the sūtra does not simply stop there but appends two passages of proof.

The portion of speaking. By the Buddha's spiritual power, worlds as many as the dust motes of ten thousand Buddha-lands in each of the ten directions quaked in six ways — shaking, rising, surging, quaking, roaring, striking — each of these having in turn the three layers of throughout and throughout uniformly, making eighteen aspects in all. Li Tongxuan divides this passage into seven sections, the first being precisely “the great earth shaking in six ways and eighteen aspects,” and the second “the heavens raining down ten kinds of offering.” From the heavens rained subtle flowers, powdered incense, flower garlands, mixed incense, jeweled garments, jeweled clouds, and ornaments; the heavenly music sounded of itself without being struck; and great radiance and lovely sound were sent forth. And then the weightiest sentence of all: “Just as here, above the palace of Śakra on the summit of Mount Sumeru in these four continents, the dharma of the ten abodes was expounded and the manifold spiritual transformations were displayed, so too was it in every one of all the worlds of the ten directions.”

Clear away a misunderstanding: the quaking and the heavenly flowers are not for the sake of spectacle. They are the seal of ‘the Dharma being true’ — what is spoken is the dharma of the public highway, and so the Dharma realm responds at the same moment.

The portion of corroboration. In each of the ten directions, beyond worlds as many as the dust motes of ten thousand Buddha-lands, there were bodhisattvas as many as the dust motes of ten Buddha-lands who came to this assembly, all named Dharma Wisdom, the lands they came from all named Dharma Cloud, and the Tathāgatas of those lands all named Wondrous Dharma. They said: there too the ten abodes are being spoken, and “the assembly and retinue, the words and the meaning, are all likewise, with nothing added and nothing taken away.”

This passage carries “speaking alike” to its furthest point: not only is the Dharma the same, but even the retinue of the assembly, the words, and the meaning are not increased or decreased by a single word. Li Tongxuan, among his seven sections, points out in particular the sense of the sixth — “the sixth makes plain that the fruit of Buddhahood in the ten directions is named Wondrous Dharma, and this shows that this dharma is spoken from wondrous wisdom.” The name here is again the doctrine: it is from Dharma Wisdom that the ten abodes are spoken, and the fruit of that is Wondrous Dharma.

The outline of the repeated verses: how the hundred verses are matched

Dharma Wisdom, sustained by the Buddha's majestic power, contemplates the ten directions and the Dharma realm and speaks in verse. Chengguan judges: there are one hundred verses in all, divided into two — the first ninety-one properly repeat the foregoing dharma, and the last nine conclude in praise and exhort to cultivation; and within the former, each of the ten abodes forms a section.

For the number of verses to each abode Chengguan judges: forty-six verses to the abode of first arousing the mind, and thereafter in order five, five, six, five, four, four, five, five, six. The forty-six verses of the abode of first arousing the mind are divided again into four sections: the first three verses repeat the conditions of arousing the mind, the next thirty-two repeat the arousing of the mind in dependence on the objects taken, the next ten repeat the dharmas learned in the advancing portion, and the last one sums up. And within those thirty-two verses, the first ten are the arousing of the mind in dependence on the ten powers, one verse to one power; while the latter twenty-two severally display what is sought, which Chengguan, following out the kinds, gathers into ten knowledges: the knowledge of the conventional truth, of the real truth, of the spiritual penetrations, of liberation, of kalpas and lands, of the three vehicles, of the three secrets (two verses on the secret of the body, three on the secret of speech, two on the secret of the mind), of mind-only, of the unobstructedness of one and many, and of the paired practice of the provisional and the real.

The nine concluding verses of praise Chengguan divides into three: the first one verse praises the ten abodes in general, the next six praise the abode of first arousing the mind in particular, and the last two use the first mind to bring out what follows by comparison.

Why does the abode of first arousing the mind alone take forty-six verses while the nine abodes after it come together to only forty-five? This is not a loss of balance but the very intent of the chapter: the difficulty of the ten abodes lies in the first step; and since the first step is both what the ten powers take as object and what omniscience seeks, it is repeated in verse most fully. The last sentence of the concluding praise says it plainly: “The merit of arousing the mind cannot be measured; it fills the whole realm of beings; the multitude of the wise, expounding it together, cannot exhaust it — how much less the remaining manifold subtle practices!”

Lineage

The doctrine of this chapter was carried on by four later lineages, which are recorded without adjudication. The lineage of Chengguan: it divides the text clause by clause after the manner of exegesis that goes back to the Dilun, setting up the four gates of the occasion, the name, the doctrinal aim, and the exposition of the text, together with the seven portions of samādhi, sustaining, rising, the main portion, speaking, corroboration, and repeated verses; it glosses abiding as “wisdom abides in the principle and the station gained is not retrogressed from,” takes the great king's road as the figure by which the ten abodes are the common cause of the Buddhas of the three times, and explains the main portion by taking the place of abiding as substance and vastness as mark; between the abodes it further sets up the common pattern of the two portions, proper and advancing, and takes as comparisons the knowledges of the third ground, the fourth ground, the eighth ground, and the portion of great exhaustion in the chapter on the Ten Grounds, judging the abode of cultivation to be largely the same as the third ground, the abode of noble birth the same as the ten dharma-knowledges of the fourth ground, the abode of childlike purity largely the same as the eighth ground, and the abode of consecration largely the same as the exposition of the accomplishment of the knowledge of the portion of great exhaustion; and at the repeated verses it judges the three kinds of non-retrogression, adding one sentence on the judgment of the round teaching in respect of the present station — “from faith one enters the abodes and gains a station that is not retrogressed from, for at the first arousing of the mind one accomplishes right awakening.”

The lineage of Fazang: on the side of the sixty-fascicle text's chapter on the Ten Abodes, it glosses the name by four analyses (the number-bearing, the possessive, the dependent, and the appositional), and sets two questions to distinguish why the three worthies are named jointly by person and dharma and why the ten abodes alone raise the general name, its answer being “a mark of the gradual increase of what is set up”; it also sets a question distinguishing why this assembly has a separate advancing portion where the previous assembly had none, and why after the chapter on the Dedications there is no advancing portion. Its matching of the repeated verses to the stations differs from Chengguan's: six verses to the second abode, four and a half to the fifth, three to the ninth, and eight to the tenth, and of the nine concluding verses those that praise the first abode in particular are seven. The text depended on differs, and so the numbers judged differ.

The lineage of Li Tongxuan: beyond the four gates of the common pattern it sets up a separate gate, “a general reckoning of the sequence of cutting off delusion,” matching the first three abodes to the breaking of the afflictions of the world, listing ten root afflictions and six secondary afflictions, and stating for himself why the five views are not discussed — “when the inner mind becomes wisdom, the views are of themselves liberation”; he further reckons the ten abodes in total as two hundred dharma-gates and the repeated verses as two hundred lines of verse, and takes “as when pure water is poured from the crown and runs down over the whole body” to present the meaning of consecration. This lineage is chiefly one of presenting by figure, and its track differs from that of dividing the text clause by clause; the ancients had this account, and it is recorded.

The lineage of Zhiyan: on the side of the sixty-fascicle text it sets up five gates — glossing the name, which is at once the distinguishing of the occasion; making plain what is counteracted, what is gained, what is accomplished, and the exposition of the text; it judges what is counteracted to be “the hundred obstructions above, to be cut off according to station,” and what is gained to be “the concentration of increasing light and the roots of goodness at the summit”; it also cites Master Guang's judgment of the eight prefaces, and following the pattern of the chapter on the Ten Grounds divides the text into six portions (the last named the portion of benefit, unlike the seven-portion division whose last is named the portion of repeated verses); following the sixty-fascicle text's word “seed-nature,” it judges the substance of the two seed-natures; and it reckons the repeated verses as two hundred and three stanzas, with ninety verses to the first abode, matching the abodes by the two divisions of “understanding” and “practice.”

The four masters' judgments of the number of portions, the number of verses, and the substance of the stations each diverge; all are settled accounts of the ancient masters, and they are recorded without adjudicating which is superior. As for the compendia of the doctrinal outline of the Huayan school: the Huayan yisheng jiaoyi fenqi zhang in three places raises the ten abodes as an item in the doctrinal classification of the sequence of stations, in one of which it cites the ten abodes of the Pusa benye jing to establish that the station of abiding does not retrogress; and the Huayan jing zhigui uses this chapter in two places — in one citing this chapter's repeated verse about the encircling mountains entering a pore to establish the meaning of the great and small containing each other, and in the other raising this chapter as scriptural ground for “within the ten abodes and the rest each gathers all the stations.” Both are matters of listing names in doctrinal comparison rather than commentary upon the text of this chapter, and they too are recorded without adjudication.

Outside this chapter, as regards the name and the practice of the ten abodes, the separately circulating Pusa benye jing expounds the same dharma-gate under the ten ancient names ‘arousing the intention, preparing the ground, responsive practice, noble birth, accomplishment by cultivation, ascent in practice, non-retrogression, childlike purity, understanding birth, and the station of one more birth,’ and there too each abode has its ten things and its ten learnings — the names differing between ancient and later while the dharma is the same, and this is the most ancient side-witness to this chapter. And the doctrine of this chapter's abode of first arousing the mind is taken up next by the chapter on Pure Conduct: ‘at the first arousing of the mind one at once gains unsurpassed perfect awakening’; Chengguan had already cited this meaning when glossing non-retrogression in this chapter. The root of the ten abodes is the arousing of the mind, and the utmost of the arousing of the mind is the accomplishing of right awakening: this one line has already been drawn out by this chapter, and the next chapter takes it up.

The question asked by one who has already gone forth

This chapter begins from a single sentence. The deva-son Right Mindfulness asks the bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom: the hosts of bodhisattvas of all the worlds have “in accord with the Tathāgata’s teaching, dyed the robe and gone forth from the household” — then “how are they to attain purity of brahmacarya, and from the stations of a bodhisattva reach the path of unsurpassed awakening?”

Ask first: since they have already gone forth in accord with the teaching, since the robe has already been dyed, is brahmacarya not already in hand? Why is there still something to ask about with “how are they to attain”? The problem falls exactly here. Dyeing the robe and going forth is a matter of outward fact already completed, whereas purity of brahmacarya does not come into one’s hands automatically along with that fact. Chengguan says it plainly in the third of his senses for why this chapter comes: the preceding chapter, The Ten Abodes, “ran through both the way and the world,” whereas this chapter “now shows separately what those who have gone forth practice” — the status of one gone forth is only the starting point of this chapter, not its answer.

Clear away a misunderstanding: this is not to say that going forth is useless. The scripture itself places going forth in the first half of the question, as a premise, and asks what is still lacking on top of that premise. Brought home to oneself: any status already obtained — having taken the precepts, having sat a retreat, having read however many scriptures — is only where the question starts; and if one takes the status for an arrival, the very first sentence of this chapter stops one where one stands.

Ten things, and they are the whole examination hall

Dharma Wisdom’s answer does not begin from a definition; it begins by giving a list: “when a bodhisattva-mahāsattva cultivates brahmacarya, he should take ten dharmas as his objects, rouse the attention and examine,” and the ten things are body, bodily action, speech, verbal action, thought, mental action, the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, and the precepts.

Why exactly these ten? Chengguan gives two reasons: “first, to make up a round number; second, because the conditions and the substance of brahmacarya are not apart from these ten” — body, speech, and thought are the places on which practice depends; the three kinds of action are the causes of practice; the three jewels — Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha — are the conditions of practice; and the precepts are the substance of practice. In other words, the places in which what a person calls his brahmacarya can be set down are just these ten, and there is no eleventh.

Ask again: since the three kinds of action have already been turned toward the three jewels, and since the precepts have already been received and are being followed, why is there any need to examine further? Chengguan asks this on the reader’s behalf, and answers it himself: if one does not examine, then one will “grasp at characteristics and hold to them firmly,” clutching the marks of the precepts in one’s hand as though they were real; and once one “sees the precepts as arising from conditions and rouses a mind that keeps them” without knowing that they are without nature, that is delusion turned upside down. So these ten contemplations are not a doubting of the practice of the precepts; they are a refusal to let the practice of the precepts congeal into something that can be grasped.

There are two more words to see clearly: “rouse the attention and examine.” Chengguan glosses them separately: “to rouse the attention is not to fall into the indeterminate; to examine is to search out by means of wisdom.” Rousing the attention is lifting the mind up and not allowing muddleheadedness; examining is searching out with wisdom, not sitting there blankly. Where it comes home: the contemplation this chapter speaks of is a wakeful contemplation that carries a question in it, not a going blank.

The first six gates and the latter four: the way of refutation is not the same

Before reading gate by gate, take up a measure. Chengguan judges: “the ten dharmas make ten sections. The first six run through defilement, and therefore the argument is made only with respect to the mutual contrariety of the defiled and the pure, so as to name them as not brahmacarya; their own substance is not analysed and broken down. The latter four are purely pure, and since they accord with brahmacarya, one analyses their substance as empty — where then would brahmacarya be?”

This sentence determines how the whole chapter is read. The first six gates — body, bodily action, speech, verbal action, thought, mental action — Chengguan judges together as “running through defilement”: among them some are indeterminate (the four postures in the gate of bodily action, for instance, or the ten items in the gate of speech), and some run through both good and bad; in short, not one of the gates is definitely pure, and so the scripture need only point out that they are contrary in nature to brahmacarya, and that suffices to say this is not brahmacarya, without any need to take apart their own substance. The latter four gates — the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, the precepts — are pure to begin with and accord with brahmacarya, so that saying they are contrary in nature will not work; the scripture therefore changes to another method: it presses each item in turn and analyses out that they too are without self-nature, whereupon brahmacarya still has nowhere to be lodged.

Clear away a misreading: the pressing of the latter four gates is not a disparaging of the three jewels and the precepts. It says that even within the four purest things there is no substantial entity to be found that is called brahmacarya — this loosens brahmacarya from every place it might attach to; it does not overthrow the three jewels.

Gate of examination one, the body: if the body were brahmacarya, brahmacarya would become a corpse

At the first gate the scripture says that if the body were brahmacarya, then brahmacarya “would be non-good, would be contrary to the Dharma, would be turbid, would be foul and stinking, would be impure, would be loathsome, would be repugnant, would be defiled, would be a corpse, would be a swarm of worms” — ten faults in a row.

Ask first: are these ten clauses an abuse of the body? They are not. Chengguan’s way of glossing is to look at them two by two in opposition: the character of brahmacarya is that “its substance can serve as a standard, and its nature is able to be clear and pure, fragrant and clean, such as the worthy and the noble delight in,” whereas the character of the body is that “the body runs through what is not good, and its substance does not accord with principle” — it is indeterminate and cannot serve as a standard, it is sustained by food and drink, its own characteristic is foul, and its own nature is impure. Since the two characters are opposed, they cannot be one and the same thing. He also glosses the last two faults one by one: the ninth is that “this body is without knowing, and moreover must die, and in the end is impure,” and the tenth that “there are eighty thousand households of worms, each household having nine koṭis, and it is wholly as a swarm of worms that they make up the body.”

What matters is a point of form that Chengguan adds: “know that the word brahmacarya runs through all the clauses” — the subject omitted in every clause is brahmacarya, not the body. That is to say, what the scripture states is if one takes the body for brahmacarya, then brahmacarya turns into this, and not the body is like this. Where it comes home: this is a reduction to absurdity, not a rhetoric of disgust with the body.

Gate of examination two, bodily action: if bodily action were brahmacarya, brahmacarya would become posture

At the second gate the scripture says that brahmacarya “would be walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; looking left and looking right; bending and stretching, lowering and raising the head.”

This gate lies closest to an everyday misunderstanding. It is easy to take brahmacarya for a set of deportments — walking uprightly, sitting steadily, not letting the eyes wander. The scripture does not deny deportment; it only points out that if deportment were brahmacarya itself, then all walking, standing, sitting, and lying down would automatically be brahmacarya, careless strolling included. Chengguan is extremely spare here: “among the ten, the four postures are indeterminate, and the remaining six run through good and bad, and therefore they are not brahmacarya.” The four postures are of indeterminate nature, and the other six items run through both good and bad; neither kind can be equated with a brahmacarya that must be good.

Clear away an error: this is not to say that deportment may be abolished. The previous gate said that the body is not brahmacarya; this gate says that the body’s movements are not either; the two gates taken together are showing brahmacarya out of the whole territory of body and posture. Where it comes home: however correct the sitting posture, it cannot take the place of purity of mind.

Gate of examination three, speech: if speech were brahmacarya, brahmacarya would become the apparatus that makes sound

The third gate says that brahmacarya “would be sound and breath, lips and tongue and throat and mouth, breathing out and in and holding back and letting go, high and low and clear and muddy.”

Chengguan takes these ten items apart into three layers: “the third, speech, has ten items: the first one is the substance of speech; the next five are the conditions of speech, that is, the wind touching seven places and issuing as sound,” while the last four — breathing out and in, holding back and letting go, high and low, clear and muddy — are “distinguishing the characteristics of speech.” The substance of speech, the conditions for producing speech, and the characteristics of speech — all three layers are speaking about the physical side of the business of talking. His verdict is blunt: “the ten items, regarded in relation to action, are all the substance of speech, and this is solely indeterminate, and therefore is not brahmacarya.”

Ask first, then answer: then is the sound of reciting scriptures and mantras also not brahmacarya? As far as the sound itself goes, it is not. The vibration of the vocal cords does not divide into good and bad; the sound of reciting the Buddha’s name and the sound of cursing a man belong physically to one and the same class. Where it comes home: sound is a carrier, and brahmacarya does not reside in the carrier. This gate shows brahmacarya out of the beauty of vocal sound.

Gate of examination four, verbal action: if verbal action were brahmacarya, brahmacarya would become the various ways of speaking

The fourth gate lists ten kinds of speaking: greeting and saluting as one goes about the day, speaking briefly, speaking at length, speaking by comparison, speaking directly, speaking in praise, speaking in blame, speaking by positing names, speaking in accord with convention, speaking so as to make things manifest.

The third gate spoke of the producing of sound; this gate speaks of the doing that is speech. Chengguan judges: “the ten items of the fourth, verbal action, run through good and bad, and therefore are also not brahmacarya.” And he glosses two of the items: “speaking by positing names means speaking by provisional designation; speaking in accord with convention means following the world’s names and words.” Speaking by positing names is speaking by borrowing names and characteristics and setting them up; speaking in accord with convention is following along with the words and names of the world.

What most deserves notice is that “speaking in praise” and “speaking in blame” stand side by side within the ten items. That praise and blame are on one and the same list shows precisely that verbal action is in itself a neutral vessel — the very same capacity for speech can accomplish the giving of the Dharma and can accomplish harsh speech. Where it comes home: expounding the Dharma in a way that is pleasant to hear is not the same as brahmacarya; eloquence is a quality of verbal action, not a quality of brahmacarya.

Gate of examination five, thought: if thought were brahmacarya, brahmacarya would become the various activities inside the mind

The fifth gate enters the mind. The scripture says that brahmacarya “would have to be initial thought, sustained thought, discrimination, the various discriminations, recollection, the various recollections, deliberation, the various deliberations, conjuring tricks, and sleeping and dreaming.”

Chengguan glosses item by item, first dividing initial thought from sustained thought: “initial thought is seeking, sustained thought is investigating; initial thought is coarse and sustained thought fine, and they are indeterminate dharmas.” Initial thought is coarse seeking, sustained thought is fine investigating, and the two are indeterminate dharmas — they may be good and may be bad. Discrimination is selecting by means of wisdom; recollection is “calling back to mind what has been practised before, and takes only the past as its object”; deliberation “measures by means of wisdom, and runs through past, future, and present.” Even conjuring tricks, sleep, and dreams are included, because during sleep the consciousness is still active, only that its grasp of objects is dim and abbreviated. At the end he gives the conclusion of this gate: “these ten are mental factors, and since they are not apart from the mind, they are alike named thought.” All ten items are mental factors, not apart from the mind, and therefore are named together as thought.

Clear away one important misunderstanding: that even “discrimination” and “deliberation” are here listed as not brahmacarya is not meant to turn a person into a block of wood. What the scripture lists are the modes of activity of the mind, and what it says is that these modes cannot be equated with brahmacarya — they can carry brahmacarya and they can carry the afflictions alike. Where it comes home: a clear head, a good memory, and quick thinking are none of them evidence of brahmacarya.

Gate of examination six, mental action: if mental action were brahmacarya, brahmacarya would become feelings and moods

The sixth gate says that brahmacarya “would be volition and conception, cold and heat, hunger and thirst, pain and pleasure, sorrow and gladness.”

Chengguan points out how this gate is matched up: “the sixth contemplates the ten items of mental action; all of them are the functioning of thought, and therefore are named action. They are pressed with respect to the five omnipresent factors: the first is volition, the second conception, the next four are contact, and the last four are feeling.” The ten items are pressed against the omnipresent mental factors — volition and conception one each, cold and heat and hunger and thirst belonging to contact, pain and pleasure and sorrow and gladness belonging to feeling. And he sets himself a question: what is the difference between volition and conception here and the thought of the previous gate? The answer: mental factors have two senses — first, they support the king of the mind, and that belongs to what the previous gate subsumes; second, they arise as functions in dependence on the mind, and that belongs to what this gate subsumes; and so this gate distinguishes them chiefly from the side of receiving objects.

Here the first six gates come to a close. Chengguan gives a general verdict: since the omnipresent mental factors run through all three natures — good, bad, and indeterminate — they are not brahmacarya. Where it comes home: what is most easily mistaken for an attainment in practice is precisely feeling — ease, joy in the Dharma, coolness. The scripture puts pain and pleasure and sorrow and gladness into the list of what is not brahmacarya, all in one batch, and this amounts to cutting off in advance the road of verifying the path by sensation.

Gate of examination seven, the Buddha: which item is the Buddha?

From the seventh gate the method changes. The scripture no longer says brahmacarya would then be such and such; it presses instead item by item: “is form the Buddha? Is feeling the Buddha?” and so on down to the marks, the signs, the supernormal powers, karmic deeds, and the ripened recompense — ten items pressed one by one.

Chengguan says that this gate is “contemplating the ten items of the Buddha as a contemplation of the three bodies,” and sets out two ways of matching them: if one follows the lesser vehicle, the first five are the dharma-body, the next two the reward body, and the next one the emanation body; if one follows the great vehicle, “the first eight are all the emanation body, and the last one is the reward body.” The matchings differ, but there is only one way of refuting: “now each is pressed one by one. If one is the Buddha, the rest ought not to be. If each and every one is the Buddha, then there are many Buddhas. If they combine together to make the Buddha, then there is no self-nature.” If some one item is the Buddha, the other nine are all not; if every item is the Buddha, there are ten Buddhas; and if it is said that the ten items must be put together to make the Buddha, then what is put together has no self-nature. He cites a verse of Nāgārjuna as attestation: “not the aggregates, not apart from the aggregates; this and that are not in one another. The Tathāgata does not possess the aggregates; where then is there a Tathāgata?”

Chengguan states the conclusion with utter clarity: “know then that since the true Buddha transcends mind and object, how could a practice accomplished on this basis be a matter of characteristics?” Since the true Buddha is beyond the range of mind and object, the practice accomplished on that basis will likewise not fall into characteristics. Where it comes home: take the Buddha for a form that can be pointed at, and brahmacarya falls into being a form along with him.

Gate of examination eight, the Dharma: which item is the Dharma?

The eighth gate presses quiescent cessation, nirvāṇa, the unborn, the unarisen, the inexpressible, the undiscriminated, the actionless, and the uncombined — only eight items.

Here is an oddity that the ancient worthies noticed: the other nine gates all have ten items, and this one alone has eight. Chengguan brings out two explanations and settles on neither: one explanation suspects that the Sanskrit text has dropped something, “how should the other nine all be ten and this one alone be eight?”; the other explanation says that the eight has something it symbolizes, “it symbolizes the removing of the ninety-eight proclivities, and adding the tenth as a general contemplation it breaks the one hundred and eight afflictions.” The two explanations stand side by side, and it is enough for the reader to know that these two exist.

The method of refutation is of the same form as at the gate of the Buddha: if one among them is the Dharma, the rest ought not to be; and if the sum of them is the Dharma, then what is made by combination is not real. Chengguan further points out the purpose behind the choice of items at this gate: “moreover, that the dharmas raised here are all such things as quiescent cessation and the unborn is meant to make clear that each of them is in itself empty; the Dharma is not the Dharma — whence then brahmacarya?” The eight items raised are all names of the highest sort, quiescent cessation and the unborn and their kind; and it is precisely because even these names are in themselves empty that it becomes evident that brahmacarya has nowhere to be lodged.

Where it comes home: what this gate blocks is the most hidden kind of grasping — taking emptiness, nirvāṇa, and non-discrimination for a place one can stand on.

Gate of examination nine, the Saṅgha: which item is the Saṅgha?

The ninth gate presses the four approaches and four fruits together with the three clear knowledges and six superknowledges, ten items in all. Chengguan divides them into two portions: “the ninth contemplates the ten items of the Saṅgha: the first eight with respect to persons, the latter two with respect to qualities, and provisionally following the lesser vehicle.” The first eight are stated with respect to persons, the latter two with respect to qualities, and for the time being it is stated following the divisions of the lesser vehicle.

He takes the occasion to set out one by one the measure of afflictions cut off at each of the four approaches and four fruits — the stream-enterer is the one who first passes beyond the stage of the ordinary and enters into the stream of the noble; the once-returner is one whose afflictions of cultivation in the desire realm are not yet exhausted and who is born once more; the non-returner is one whose afflictions of the desire realm are exhausted and who does not come back again; and the arhat contains three senses, slayer of foes, no more birth, and worthy of offerings; while the four approaches are those who are heading toward the fruits. Having set this out, he stops himself: “what is wanted here is to make brahmacarya clear, so the names are set out roughly” — for to cite the treatises at length would only burden it with names and numbers.

The refutation clings tightly to the sense of the word “Saṅgha”: “Saṅgha means a harmonious assembly, and yet there are eight classes. If one is the Saṅgha, the rest ought not to be.” The sense of Saṅgha is precisely an assembly gathered in harmony, and yet what is listed here is a difference of eight classes; and if one distinguishes them one by one, each in itself has no sense of assembly, and if these individuals that have no sense of assembly are gathered up together, how could they make an assembly? As for the qualities of the last two items, if quality were the Saṅgha, why would the eight classes still be needed? There are no persons apart from dharmas and no dharmas apart from persons; and when each is investigated to the end, “who then is the Saṅgha? Since the substance of the Saṅgha is already empty, where is brahmacarya to be lodged?”

Gate of examination ten, the precepts: which item is the precepts?

The tenth gate is the one that comes closest to the body in the whole piece, because what it asks about is precisely the premise of this chapter — the very fact of receiving the precepts and going forth. The scripture presses the ordination platform, the questioning as to purity, the instruction in deportment, the threefold declaration of the karman, the preceptor, the ācārya, the shaving of the head, the wearing of the kāṣāya robe, begging for food, and right livelihood; all ten items are concrete elements of receiving and keeping the precepts.

Chengguan divides them in two: “among them are ten items: the first eight are the receiving, the latter two the following.” The first eight are matters of receiving the precepts — the platform is the place where the precepts are obtained, the questioning as to purity and the instruction in deportment are the business of the instructing master, the threefold declaration of the karman is the method by which the precepts are obtained, the preceptor is the root of obtaining the precepts, the ācārya is the second master and in sense covers the seven witnesses as well, and shaving the head and wearing the robe are the outward marks of the precepts; the latter two are matters of following the precepts — begging for food is one of the four reliances, and right livelihood is the leaving behind of the four and the five wrong livelihoods.

His gloss on the crux of this gate lies in one sentence: “the precepts are the substance of practice, and yet they too depend on many conditions; being formed from conditions, the nature of the precepts is like emptiness. To rouse a mind that keeps them is what is called delusion turned upside down.” Although the precepts are the substance of brahmacarya, they are still formed from many conditions, and precepts formed from conditions are in their nature like emptiness; and if one rouses a mind that says I am keeping the precepts and clutches at them, that is delusion turned upside down. The true keeping is: “without goodness and without deportment, unmixed with the mind of the two vehicles — this is called keeping the pure precepts, and these precepts alone are named true brahmacarya.”

There is one more sentence to remember: although the objects contemplated run through both the great and the lesser vehicles, the wisdom that contemplates does not. Chengguan judges that “the objects contemplated run through both great and lesser, but the wisdom that contemplates is solely that of the great vehicle of the real teaching” — at one and the same ordination a śrāvaka too can contemplate, but what this chapter requires is the contemplating wisdom of the great vehicle of the real teaching. Where it comes home: this gate does not tell a person not to receive the precepts; it tells one who has received them not to take the receiving for the destination.

Concluding contemplation (1): nothing grasped in the three places, no transit through the three times

The pressing of the ten gates being finished, the scripture turns to the characteristics of contemplation accomplished: “there is nothing to be taken in the body, nothing to be clung to in what is cultivated, nothing to be dwelt in among the dharmas; the past has already ceased, the future has not yet come, the present is empty and still; there is no one who does the deeds, no one who receives the recompense; this world does not move over, that world does not alter.”

Chengguan divides these ten clauses into four layers. The first layer makes clear the contemplation that is pure in the three spheres — “the first six clauses make clear the contemplation pure in the three spheres: first, not grasping the being who keeps the precepts, and in saying body it takes in speech and thought as well; second, not clinging to the practices cultivated; third, not dwelling in the dharma of the precepts” — what is raised is only the three matters of not grasping the being who keeps the precepts, not clinging to the practices cultivated, and not dwelling in the dharma of the precepts, while the commentary’s text labels them “six clauses”; and the numbers of the four layers (six, three, two, two) likewise come to more than ten when added. There is such an unevenness in the ancient worthies’ own text; the divergence is recorded here, and no judgment is forced upon it. The next three clauses explain by way of the gate of the three times that one does not dwell in the time of keeping the precepts; of these the first two are easy to see, and the difficulty lies in “the present is empty and still”: since the present does not abide for even an instant and is divided by past and future, it too is empty and still. The next two clauses after that make clear the two emptinesses — that the person who does the deeds is the emptiness of self, and that the recompense of deeds received is the emptiness of dharmas.

The last two clauses repay reading most of all. Chengguan glosses: “this world does not move over means that it does not go from the present to the after; that world does not alter means that it does not come from the after to the present.” Since the cause has already ceased in the past, it has no power to reach forward into the future and bring about a fruit; and since the fruit is not simultaneous with the cause, it has no power to turn back and repay the cause. The conclusion is a single sentence: “because each thing abides in its own nature, and nature is fundamentally empty.” Where it comes home: this is not a denial of cause and effect; it says that cause and effect do not rely on some substantial thing being carried through time.

Concluding contemplation (2): then what after all is brahmacarya?

Next the scripture puts eleven questions in a row: “among these, which dharma is called brahmacarya? From what place does brahmacarya come? Whose possession is it? What is its substance? By whom is it made?” — and thereafter presses by way of the five aggregates: is it existent or nonexistent, form or not form, feeling or not feeling, perception or not perception, formations or not formations, consciousness or not consciousness.

Chengguan divides them: the first clause shows in general that brahmacarya has no name, since the ten dharmas are already empty; what follows refutes item by item — it does not arise from the ten dharmas, and it does not belong to the body and the rest as their possession, and these two clauses press with respect to conditions; there is no separate substance of the precepts apart from the ten dharmas, nor is there any agent that makes it, and these two clauses press with respect to substance; while the doubly negating clauses reveal the Middle Way.

The last five clauses are matched to the five aggregates, and he says they carry two purposes. The first is stated with respect to the substance of the precepts: of old some said that the substance of the non-manifest precepts is form, and some said it is neither form nor mind; the scripture’s asking “is it form” is meant to show that it is not form, and its asking “is it not form” is meant to show that it is not not-form. If it were said that the precepts are mind, then everything that has a mind ought always to have brahmacarya; and if they were not mind, then wood and stone ought to have brahmacarya too. The second is stated with respect to the fact that cultivating brahmacarya is not apart from the five aggregates: if brahmacarya were the aggregates, then whatever has aggregates would be brahmacarya; and if it were apart from the aggregates, where then would my brahmacarya be? And so the conclusion in both cases is that it cannot be obtained.

Where it comes home: this passage sends the noun brahmacarya itself into the pressing, and questions on until even the object of the question cannot stand.

Concluding contemplation (3): it is because it cannot be obtained that it is pure

Pressed to the very end of the road, the scripture gives its conclusion — and the conclusion is not nothingness, it is purity. The scripture says that brahmacarya is pure because “the dharma that is brahmacarya cannot be obtained; because the dharmas of the three times are all empty and still; because thought has no grasping; because the mind has no obstruction; because what is practised has no duality; because there is mastery in skillful means; because one receives the markless dharma; because one contemplates the markless dharma; because one knows that the Buddha’s dharmas are equal; because one is fully endowed with all the Buddha’s dharmas” — and after ten occurrences of the word “because,” “this is what is called pure brahmacarya.”

This is the most important turn in the whole chapter. The ten gates before it have been one long negation, and a reader who stops at the negation will suppose that the conclusion is there is no brahmacarya. The scripture’s conclusion is exactly the reverse: it is precisely because it cannot be obtained that it is called pure. Chengguan glosses these eleven clauses by saying that the first clause is the general one and the next nine display in particular the reasons for its not being obtained, and he matches them clause by clause: the three times are all empty; nothing is grasped in the body and nothing clung to in what is cultivated; the mind’s being unobstructed is the earlier not dwelling in the dharmas; the two thoughts of doing and receiving do not become active; though empty, it does not obstruct entering into existence; and entering into existence, one is not deluded about emptiness, and hence the two clauses of receiving and contemplating the markless; the eighth clause concludes by returning to equality, for which he cites the words of the perfection of wisdom, “I do not see a single dharma that is not the Buddha’s dharma,” as attestation; the ninth clause is that “taking one, one gathers all, and only so is the perfect interfusion of full endowment with the qualities made evident”; and the last clause sums up — it is by reason of all the foregoing senses that it is named pure brahmacarya.

Clear away an error: cannot be obtained does not mean does not exist; it means cannot be grasped. Where it comes home: if a person is still able to point at some thing and say this is my brahmacarya, then that very thing is the place that is not yet pure.

Further cultivating ten dharmas: after benefiting oneself, turning toward benefiting others

At this point the section on the purity of one’s own practice ends. The scripture says “he should further cultivate ten dharmas,” and lists the knowledge of what is possible and impossible, the knowledge of the recompense of deeds past, present, and future, the knowledge of the meditations and liberations and samādhis, the knowledge of superior and inferior faculties, the knowledge of the various understandings, the knowledge of the various realms, the knowledge of the paths leading to every destination, the knowledge of the unobstructed divine eye, the knowledge of the unobstructed recollection of former lives, and the knowledge that severs the habit-energies forever.

Ask first: it has just been said that nothing whatever can be obtained — how then is one to cultivate ten kinds of knowledge? It is exactly here that Chengguan marks the turn: the preceding section was the purity of one’s own practice, and here begins “making clear the purity of the practice of benefiting others,” and these ten knowledges are “first, deeply contemplating the knowledge that is the fruit, which is the means of benefiting others.” He has one sentence that joins the two sections beautifully: “the conditions and their substance stand out plainly, and the one mind is clear and still — this is the functioning of brahmacarya. Without thinking and without contriving, the myriad practices boil up; therefore it is not enough that the mind’s contemplation be perfectly bright, one should further gather in the Buddha’s knowledge broadly.” A perfectly bright contemplation of mind is only half; one must further gather in the Buddha’s knowledge broadly in order to be of use to others.

Clear away a common deviation: the notion that once emptiness is realized there is no more need to study. The scripture’s sequence is precisely the reverse — once the contemplation of emptiness is accomplished, what comes immediately next is a study list of ten items. Where it comes home: what cannot be obtained is the ground one occupies oneself; the ten knowledges are the equipment for dealing with others; the two are not in conflict.

Concerning the Tathāgata’s ten powers, examine each one, inquire about each one

The scripture goes on to say: “concerning the Tathāgata’s ten powers, examine each one; within each single power there are measureless meanings, and about them all one should inquire.”

This sentence is only twenty-one graphs long, yet it is the one place in this chapter that speaks directly of asking someone else. All the examination at the ten gates before was a pressing carried out by oneself, whereas here, over and above examining, inquiring is required — because within each power there are measureless meanings, and they cannot be exhausted by sitting and thinking alone. Chengguan judges this passage as “concluding with an exhortation to study broadly.”

Clear away an error: this does not contradict the “not from another that they awaken” further on. Inquiring is seeking understanding, while awakening is not sought from outside; the one is the gate of learning, the other the gate of realization. Where it comes home: refusing to ask others and taking oneself to be awakened, and asking the whole world and never realizing anything oneself, are two diseases, and this chapter treats one of them in each of the two places.

Rousing great kindness and compassion; knowing objects to be like an illusion

And after hearing, what is to be done? The scripture gives four things: “one should rouse the mind of great kindness and compassion, examining living beings and not abandoning them; deliberating upon the dharmas without ever resting; performing the highest works without seeking recompense; knowing objects to be like an illusion, like a dream, like a shadow, like an echo, and also like something conjured up.”

Chengguan matches these four clauses to the accomplishment of the four immeasurable minds: “first, kindness and compassion are roused together, like a mother cow following her calf; second, deliberating upon the medicines and the diseases accomplishes the great gladness; third, acting without seeking accomplishes the great equanimity; fourth, wisdom understanding all objects leads them to become objectless.” That kindness and compassion do not abandon living beings is like a mother cow following her calf; deliberating upon the medicines of the Dharma and the diseases of beings accomplishes the great gladness; acting without seeking recompense accomplishes the great equanimity; and wisdom’s penetrating that all objects are like an illusion makes the former three become objectless — not tied to any particular object.

The five similes at the end Chengguan glosses one by one: like an illusion is seeming to exist and yet not real, and “because it seems to exist it is provisional, and because it is not real it is empty; and these two being not two, the wisdom of the Middle Way is accomplished”; like a dream is what is seen falsely; like a shadow is what appears from the conditions of deeds; like an echo is what belongs to the various causes and conditions; like something conjured up is what changes and perishes in a moment. The conclusion is that “if one understands objects in this way, then all day long one transforms beings and yet there is no transforming.” Where it comes home: these five similes do not tell one to regard living beings as unreal and so not rescue them; on the contrary, they keep the work of deliverance from falling into the characteristics of a subject and an object — and this is what objectless kindness is.

The eye-sentence: at the time of the first arousing of the mind one attains unsurpassed perfect awakening

The last section of the chapter answers the second half of what Right Mindfulness asked — how from the stations of a bodhisattva one reaches unsurpassed awakening. The scripture says: “if bodhisattvas are able to accord with contemplative practice such as this, and give rise to no two views among the dharmas, all the Buddha’s dharmas will swiftly come present, and at the time of the first arousing of the mind they attain unsurpassed perfect awakening.”

This is the most famous sentence in the Avataṃsaka, and also the one most easily read as a grand claim. Put the doubt straight first: the first arousing of the mind is plainly the starting point of practice — how can it be unsurpassed awakening on the spot? Chengguan’s gloss proceeds in two steps. The first step answers “when is the swiftness?”: “above it said swiftly attain; when is the swiftness? Therefore it says, at the time of the first arousing of the mind. What dharma comes present? Unsurpassed awakening.” Only the second step answers why this can be so — and that reason lies in the next sentence of the scripture, namely “because one knows that all dharmas are the very nature of one’s own mind, and to awaken to the self-nature of dharmas is precisely what is named a Buddha.” He also cites another place in this same sūtra as attestation: “how should the Buddha-mind be anything other? Right awakening awakens the world.”

What matters most is Chengguan’s fixed gloss on the word “arousing”: “this being so, the arousing is the arousing of what opens out, not the arousing of what starts up.” Arousing is not the raising of a new thought from nothing into being; it is the opening out and disclosing of what was already there. This gloss of a single word decides that the whole sentence is not an exaggeration but a plain statement — at the very moment of disclosure, what is disclosed is complete of itself, and therefore it is said to be attained.

Fazang, glossing the same sentence in the sixty-fascicle text, takes the road of the mutual identity of the positions: “this makes clear that at the time when practice is fulfilled and one enters the position, one attains the position of Samantabhadra, and one position is all positions, so that up to the fruit of buddhahood there is nothing not perfectly complete,” and he concludes that “this practice-position of Samantabhadra in the One Vehicle is so because cause and effect are perfectly interfused, identical with one another and unobstructed.” Li Tongxuan, for his part, speaks from the exhaustion of views and the appearing of wisdom: “know then that when views perish and wisdom responds, this is named attaining right awakening at the time of the first arousing of the mind.” The three houses take different roads, and yet the misunderstanding they block is the same — none of them says once the mind is aroused there is no more need to practise.

The clearing away of error should be said more bluntly still: the scripture gives this sentence a premise clause — “if bodhisattvas are able to accord with contemplative practice such as this, and give rise to no two views among the dharmas.” Only if one can accord with that whole set of ten gates of pressing contemplation is there this sentence; to quote this sentence apart from that premise is to strip the conclusion off its condition. Where it comes home: the reason the first mind can accomplish right awakening is not that the first mind comes cheap; it is that within that first mind there are already no two views.

The closing sentences: knowing that all dharmas are the very nature of the mind, and not from another awakening

The scripture closes with three clauses: “they know that all dharmas are the very nature of their own mind, they perfect the body of wisdom, and it is not from another that they awaken.”

The first clause is the reason for the preceding one. Chengguan glosses: “since it says that one knows all dharmas to be the very nature of the mind, then one knows that this mind is the nature of all dharmas. Now that principle appears in one’s own mind, the nature of that mind is already furnished with measureless qualities.” All dharmas are the nature of one’s own mind, and conversely one’s own mind is the nature of all dharmas; and since principle has appeared in one’s own mind, the nature of this mind is already fully furnished with measureless merits — so that between the first mind and right awakening there is no stretch of distance to be crossed.

The second clause, “they perfect the body of wisdom,” Chengguan glosses with the simile of the mirror: “when the mind awakens, principle appears; when principle appears, wisdom is complete. It is like a mirror being clean and brightness arising: not before and not after, not new and not old, still and illumining and utterly clear.” When the mirror is wiped clean the brightness arises, and that brightness is neither newly made nor stored up from before; there is no earlier and later to be divided. He also sets before and after side by side: “above, the contemplation of dharmas was exhausted, and the true Dharma is about to flourish; now the views have perished, and the Buddha’s wisdom thereupon arises.”

The third clause, “not from another that they awaken,” Chengguan glosses as “this is the natural wisdom that has no teacher,” and he opens it into three senses: “moreover, not from another awakening is awakening oneself; knowing all dharmas is awakening others; and perfecting the body of wisdom is the fullness of awakening.” Awakening oneself, awakening others, and the fullness of awakening — all three senses are complete. And he lays down a thoroughly radical turning phrase: since the nature of mind has been spoken of, “consider: how should the nature of mind have any other? And if one sees that there is an other, how could it be called awakening? Since it is called the nature of mind, the self too does not remain.” Only when even the self is not set up is there the right awakening that is still and yet able to know.

Where it comes home: this chapter asks from what is still lacking after going forth and answers, at the last, that what is lacking is not one more thing to be added — it is the taking off, layer by layer, of every attachment laid upon brahmacarya, taking off until even the one who takes off does not remain, whereupon the body of wisdom that was there all along appears of itself.

Lineage

The meaning of this chapter is carried on by three lines in later ages; they are recorded together and not adjudicated. The Chengguan line: he explicates it under four gates — the reason for its coming, the explanation of the name, the tenet and aim, and the explanation of the text; he brings out three senses for the substance of brahmacarya, namely the precepts, the four immeasurables, and wisdom, each of the three senses being divided into two layers — the precepts into following characteristics and leaving characteristics, the four immeasurables into having an object and being objectless, wisdom into having discrimination and being without discrimination; he judges of the ten dharmas that “the first six run through defilement” while the latter four are purely pure, and on that basis establishes two ways of refutation; he fixes the word “arousing” as the arousing of what opens out; he opens “not from another awakening” into the three senses of awakening oneself, awakening others, and the fullness of awakening; and in the Yanyi chao he supplements the six senses for the chapter’s coming one meaning at a time, and makes clear that the contemplation of emptiness in the earlier section “is not annihilation.” The Fazang line: on the sixty-fascicle text he explains the name in three ways and establishes six distinctions between the pure and the brahma — with respect to recompense, with respect to persons, with respect to the position in practice, with respect to the two benefits, with respect to the two practices, and with respect to cause and effect — of which the fifth distinction fits this chapter most closely: “fifth, with respect to the two practices: to cultivate giving and the precepts and so forth in accordance with particular matters is pure practice; to leave thought behind and accord with the profound is brahma practice”; the section on the fruit he judges as two rounds displaying that a small cause obtains a great fruit, the second round setting up its heading with “the time of the first arousing of the mind is the cause, and thereupon accomplishing right awakening is the fruit,” and coming home to the perfect interfusion and mutual identity of cause and effect in the practice-position of Samantabhadra in the One Vehicle. The Li Tongxuan line: he reads it by symbolic import, glossing the master who asks as “the mindfulness that is the mindfulness of no-thought is named Right Mindfulness,” and the person able to expound as “to penetrate principle and let sentiment perish is named Dharma Wisdom”; moreover, in his own treatise he repeatedly calls this chapter by the name “Pure Conduct”, and divides the purifying practice of two positions — in the position of the ten faiths the purifying practice of the one hundred and forty vows accomplishes worldly knowing and seeing, whereas in the position of the ten abodes “because the substance of practice is unconditioned, it is named purifying practice”; and he closes with the successive turning of the several purities, practice being pure hence wisdom pure, wisdom pure hence mind pure, on up to the Dharma realm being pure and living beings being pure and the buddha-lands being pure. The roads walked by the three houses differ; there were of old these several accounts, and they are recorded here.

There are two places where the treatises of the Huayan school carry this chapter on. Zhiyan, in his book of chapter headings, sets up a chapter entitled “the chapter on the general contemplation first set forth in the Brahmacarya chapter,” taking the ten gates of this chapter as the locus classicus for the general contemplation; and Gyeondeung of Silla, in his book on the meaning of becoming a Buddha, cites the text of the five similes of this chapter, “like an echo, like something conjured, and so forth,” to prove that one practice is all practices. Both places cite this chapter as ground rather than glossing the whole of its text; recorded, not adjudicated.

This chapter follows upon “The Ten Abodes” and is followed by “The Merit of the First Arousing of the Mind”. Chengguan judges the fifth sense of this chapter’s coming to be “to display the cause of entering the abodes,” and the sixth to be “to display separately the becoming a Buddha in the first abode,” which shows exactly the place of this chapter, wedged between the positions and the merit: the preceding chapter states the characteristics of the position of the abodes, this chapter states the practice of the position of the abodes, and the following chapter is devoted to the merit of the first arousing of the mind — and the sentence set up at the end of this chapter, “at the time of the first arousing of the mind one attains unsurpassed perfect awakening,” is what the next chapter takes a whole chapter’s length to weigh and compare. The five similes of this chapter Chengguan further points out to be set forth at length in “The Ten Acceptances”; and the name of this chapter is established in contrast with “Pure Conduct” of the second assembly. A chapter of some nine hundred graphs, and on every side it has its attachments; it is not to be taken in isolation when read.