World-Seeds, Their Foundations, Shapes, and Essence
Having finished describing the ground of the Flower-Treasury World-System, Samantabhadra pauses to state plainly why every part of it has been worth this much description — its adornment is inconceivable precisely because it is inconceivably purified — before introducing a new order of structure: world-seeds (世界種), each one itself containing worlds as numerous as the motes of dust in ineffable buddha-lands, planted upon the fragrant water oceans already described. He begins, as before, with what they rest upon, the shapes they take, and what they are made of.
The Adornment of Every Buddha's World-Ocean
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！諸佛世尊世界海，莊嚴不可思議。何以故？諸佛子！此華藏莊嚴世界海一切境界，一一皆以世界海微塵數清淨功德之所莊嚴。」
At that time, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva further addressed the great assembly, saying: "Buddha's children! The adornment of every buddha, every World-Honored One's world-ocean, is inconceivable. Why is this so? Buddha's children! Every domain of this Flower-Treasury Adorned World-Ocean is each and every one adorned by pure merit as numerous as the fine motes of dust in a world-ocean."
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛神力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「此剎海中一切處，悉以眾寶為嚴飾，
發焰騰空布若雲，光明洞徹常彌覆。
摩尼吐雲無有盡，十方佛影於中現，
神通變化靡暫停，一切菩薩咸來集。
一切摩尼演佛音，其音美妙不思議，
毘盧遮那昔所行，於此寶內恒聞見。
清淨光明遍照尊，莊嚴具中皆現影，
變化分身眾圍遶，一切剎海咸周遍。
所有化佛皆如幻，求其來處不可得，
以佛境界威神力，一切剎中如是現。
如來自在神通事，悉遍十方諸國土，
以此剎海淨莊嚴，一切皆於寶中見。
十方所有諸變化，一切皆如鏡中像，
但由如來昔所行，神通願力而出生。
若有能修普賢行，入於菩薩勝智海，
能於一切微塵中，普現其身淨眾剎。
不可思議億大劫，親近一切諸如來，
如其一切之所行，一剎那中悉能現。
諸佛國土如虛空，無等無生無有相，
為利眾生普嚴淨，本願力故住其中。」
At that time, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to proclaim this meaning once more, sustained by the Buddha's spiritual power, contemplated the ten directions, and spoke a verse, saying:
"Within this land-ocean, every place is entirely adorned with every jewel,
sending forth flame that rises into the sky, spread like clouds, its light penetrating through, forever covering everything.
Maṇi sends forth clouds without exhaustion, and the reflected images of buddhas of the ten directions manifest within them,
their spiritual transmutation and transformation never pausing for a moment, and every bodhisattva gathers there together.
Every maṇi proclaims the Buddha's voice, that voice beautiful and wondrous, inconceivable,
what Vairocana practiced in ages past is forever heard and seen within these very jewels.
The pure, universally illumining, honored one — his reflected image manifest within every adorning implement,
his transformed, divided bodies surrounded by the multitude, reaching every land-ocean completely.
Every transformation-buddha that exists is like an illusion, and, seeking their place of origin, it cannot be found,
yet, through the majestic, spiritual power of the Buddha's own domain, they are manifest thus within every land.
The Tathāgata's own sovereign deeds of spiritual transmutation reach entirely throughout every land of the ten directions,
and, through this land-ocean's pure adornment, all of it is beheld within these very jewels.
Every transformation that exists in the ten directions is entirely like a reflection within a mirror,
arising only through the Tathāgata's own conduct in ages past, and the power of his spiritual transmutation and vow.
If there is one able to cultivate Samantabhadra's own conduct, entering the bodhisattva's supreme ocean of wisdom,
that one is able, within every mote of dust, to universally manifest their own body, purifying every land.
Across inconceivable hundreds of millions of great kalpas, drawing near to every Tathāgata,
whatever every one of them has practiced, within a single instant, is able to be manifest entirely.
Every buddha-land is like empty space, without equal, without birth, without any mark at all,
and, for the benefit of living beings, universally adorned and purified, abides therein through the power of the original vow."
The verse's turn from description to disclaimer is worth marking: after twenty stanzas across three sections detailing exactly what this world-ocean is made of, this hymn insists that "every transformation-buddha that exists is like an illusion, and, seeking their place of origin, it cannot be found." Fazang's account of the Huayan teaching often stresses that this is not a retraction of everything just described but its necessary completion — a cosmology this detailed could otherwise be mistaken for a claim about fixed, substantial furniture, when the sūtra's own point is that all of it is "like a reflection within a mirror," real as function and appearance, empty of any findable place it comes from.
World-Seeds: What They Rest Upon
爾時，普賢菩薩復告大眾言：「諸佛子！此中有何等世界住？我今當說。諸佛子！此不可說佛剎微塵數香水海中，有不可說佛剎微塵數世界種安住；一一世界種，復有不可說佛剎微塵數世界。諸佛子！彼諸世界種，於世界海中，各各依住，各各形狀，各各體性，各各方所，各各趣入，各各莊嚴，各各分齊，各各行列，各各無差別，各各力加持。
At that time, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva further addressed the great assembly, saying: "Buddha's children! What kinds of worlds dwell within this? I shall now explain. Buddha's children! Within these fragrant water oceans, as numerous as the fine motes of dust in ineffable buddha-lands, there abide world-seeds as numerous as the fine motes of dust in ineffable buddha-lands; and within each and every world-seed, there are further worlds as numerous as the fine motes of dust in ineffable buddha-lands. Buddha's children! Those world-seeds, within the world-ocean, each rest upon their own foundation, each have their own shape, each have their own essence, each have their own direction and place, each have their own manner of approach, each have their own adornment, each have their own boundary, each have their own arrangement, each have their own non-difference, and each are sustained by their own power.
「諸佛子！此世界種，或有依大蓮華海住，或有依無邊色寶華海住，或有依一切真珠藏寶瓔珞海住，或有依香水海住，或有依一切華海住，或有依摩尼寶網海住，或有依漩流光海住，或有依菩薩寶莊嚴冠海住，或有依種種眾生身海住，或有依一切佛音聲摩尼王海住……。如是等，若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。
"Buddha's children! These world-seeds — some abide resting upon an ocean of great lotus flowers; some abide resting upon an ocean of jeweled flowers of boundless color; some abide resting upon an ocean of jeweled necklaces, a treasury of every true pearl; some abide resting upon a fragrant water ocean; some abide resting upon an ocean of every flower; some abide resting upon an ocean of maṇi jewel nets; some abide resting upon an ocean of whirling, flowing light; some abide resting upon an ocean of the bodhisattva's own jeweled, adorned crown; some abide resting upon an ocean of every kind of living being's body; and some abide resting upon an ocean of the sovereign maṇi of every buddha's voice... Such as these, were they to be stated fully, there would be as many as the fine motes of dust in a world-ocean.
World-Seeds: Their Shapes
「諸佛子！彼一切世界種，或有作須彌山形，或作江河形，或作迴轉形，或作漩流形，或作輪輞形，或作壇墠形，或作樹林形，或作樓閣形，或作山幢形，或作普方形，或作胎藏形，或作蓮華形，或作佉勒迦形，或作眾生身形，或作雲形，或作諸佛相好形，或作圓滿光明形，或作種種珠網形，或作一切門闥形，或作諸莊嚴具形……。如是等，若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。
"Buddha's children! Those world-seeds of every kind — some take the form of Sumeru; some take the form of a river; some take a whirling form; some take a whirlpool form; some take the form of a wheel's rim; some take the form of an altar-terrace; some take the form of a forest of trees; some take the form of a pavilion; some take the form of a mountain-banner; some take a universally square form; some take a womb-treasury form; some take a lotus-flower form; some take a khalka-vessel form; some take the form of a living being's body; some take a cloud form; some take the form of every buddha's marks and excellent characteristics; some take a form of full, complete light; some take the form of every kind of pearl net; some take the form of every gate and portal; some take the form of every adorning implement... Such as these, were they to be stated fully, there would be as many as the fine motes of dust in a world-ocean.
World-Seeds: Their Essence
「諸佛子！彼一切世界種，或有以十方摩尼雲為體，或有以眾色焰為體，或有以諸光明為體，或有以寶香焰為體，或有以一切寶莊嚴多羅華為體，或有以菩薩影像為體，或有以諸佛光明為體，或有以佛色相為體，或有以一寶光為體，或有以眾寶光為體，或有以一切眾生福德海音聲為體，或有以一切眾生諸業海音聲為體，或有以一切佛境界清淨音聲為體，或有以一切菩薩大願海音聲為體，或有以一切佛方便音聲為體，或有以一切剎莊嚴具成壞音聲為體，或有以無邊佛音聲為體，或有以一切佛變化音聲為體，或有以一切眾生善音聲為體，或有以一切佛功德海清淨音聲為體……。如是等，若廣說者，有世界海微塵數。」
"Buddha's children! Those world-seeds of every kind — some take a cloud of maṇi of the ten directions as their essence; some take flame of every color as their essence; some take every kind of light as their essence; some take jeweled fragrant flame as their essence; some take every jewel's adorned tāla-palm flower as their essence; some take a bodhisattva's reflected image as their essence; some take the light of every buddha as their essence; some take the form and mark of a buddha as their essence; some take the light of a single jewel as their essence; some take the light of every jewel as their essence; some take the voice of the ocean of every living being's blessing and virtue as their essence; some take the voice of the ocean of every living being's karma as their essence; some take the pure voice of every buddha's domain as their essence; some take the voice of the ocean of every bodhisattva's great vow as their essence; some take the voice of every buddha's skillful means as their essence; some take the voice of the formation and dissolution of every land's adorning implements as their essence; some take the voice of boundless buddhas as their essence; some take the voice of every buddha's own transformation as their essence; some take the wholesome voice of every living being as their essence; and some take the pure voice of the ocean of every buddha's merit as their essence... Such as these, were they to be stated fully, there would be as many as the fine motes of dust in a world-ocean."
爾時，普賢菩薩欲重宣其義，承佛神力，觀察十方而說頌言：
「剎種堅固妙莊嚴，廣大清淨光明藏，
依止蓮華寶海住，或有住於香海等。
須彌城樹壇墠形，一切剎種遍十方，
種種莊嚴形相別，各各布列而安住。
或有體是淨光明，或是華藏及寶雲，
或有剎種焰所成，安住摩尼不壞藏。
燈雲焰彩光明等，種種無邊清淨色，
或有言音以為體，是佛所演不思議。
或是願力所出音，神變音聲為體性，
一切眾生大福業，佛功德音亦如是。
剎種一一差別門，不可思議無有盡，
如是十方皆遍滿，廣大莊嚴現神力。
十方所有廣大剎，悉來入此世界種，
雖見十方普入中，而實無來無所入。
以一剎種入一切，一切入一亦無餘，
體相如本無差別，無等無量悉周遍。
一切國土微塵中，普見如來在其所，
願海言音若雷震，一切眾生悉調伏。
佛身周遍一切剎，無數菩薩亦充滿，
如來自在無等倫，普化一切諸含識。」
At that time, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, wishing to proclaim this meaning once more, sustained by the Buddha's spiritual power, contemplated the ten directions, and spoke a verse, saying:
"The seeds of every land, firm, wondrously adorned, a vast, pure treasury of light,
abide resting upon an ocean of lotus flowers and jewels, and some abide resting upon a fragrant ocean and the like.
Sumeru, cities, trees, altar-terraces in form, every seed of a land pervades the ten directions,
adorned in every kind, their forms distinct, each arrayed and abiding in its own place.
Some have pure light as their essence, some are a treasury of flowers and a cloud of jewels,
and some seeds of a land are formed of flame, abiding securely within an indestructible treasury of maṇi.
Lamps, clouds, flames, colors, and light of every kind, every boundless, pure color,
and some take a spoken voice as their essence — this is what the Buddha proclaims, inconceivable.
Some are a voice sent forth by the power of vow, spiritual transformation's own voice as their very essence,
the great blessed karma of every living being, and the Buddha's voice of merit, likewise so.
Every distinct gateway of the seeds of a land is inconceivable, without exhaustion,
thus filling the ten directions entirely, vast in adornment, manifesting the power of spiritual transmutation.
Every vast land that exists in the ten directions comes entirely to enter this very world-seed,
and though it is seen that the ten directions universally enter within it, in truth there is no coming and no place entered.
Through a single seed of a land entering everything, and everything entering the single without exception,
their very substance and mark, just as they originally are, without any distinction, without equal, without measure, pervading everywhere completely.
Within every mote of dust of every land, the Tathāgata is universally beheld in his own place,
the ocean of his vow, his spoken voice, like a peal of thunder, taming every living being entirely.
The Buddha's body pervades every land, and countless bodhisattvas likewise fill it completely,
the Tathāgata's own sovereign mastery without any equal, universally transforming every sentient being."
World-seeds mark a genuine escalation in scale from everything described so far in this chapter: each one already contains worlds as numerous as the motes of dust in ineffable buddha-lands, and these are what the fragrant water oceans support, the way the wind-wheels supported the world-ocean itself. The list of possible essences is worth sitting with — beside jewels, light, and flame stand entries like "the voice of the ocean of every living being's karma" and "the voice of every buddha's skillful means": a world-seed can apparently be made, quite literally, of sound. The closing verse's claim that one seed enters all others "and yet in truth there is no coming and no place entered" is this fascicle's clearest statement yet of mutual containment without any single member losing its own identity in the process.
Part 20 Complete
This closes Part 20, continuing fascicle eight and the sūtra's fifth chapter, "The Flower-Treasury World-System" (華藏世界品第五): a closing statement on the inconceivable adornment of every buddha's world-ocean, and the introduction of world-seeds — what they rest upon, the shapes they take, and what they are made of — each with Samantabhadra's teaching in prose, the last followed by a verse. Part 21 turns to the single most consequential passage in this chapter: the twenty-tiered world-seed at the very center of the Flower-Treasury World-System, whose thirteenth tier is this very Sahā world, Vairocana's own.