The Samādhi of the Instant
A new chapter, and the scene returns to where the sūtra began — Magadha, the awakening just accomplished, the Hall of Universal Light. The Buddha enters a samādhi named for the shortest possible measure of time, and everyone gathered with him has already received consecration.
Fascicle Forty Opens
The Ten Grounds are behind us. What follows is the chapter on the ten great concentrations, and it begins by describing the one the Buddha himself is sitting in.
大方廣佛華嚴經卷第四十
于闐國三藏實叉難陀奉制譯
十定品第二十七之一
The Great and Vast Buddha's Flower Ornament Sūtra, Fascicle Forty
Translated by imperial command by Śikṣānanda, Tripiṭaka Master of the Kingdom of Khotan
Chapter Twenty-Seven, The Ten Concentrations, Part One
爾時，世尊在摩竭提國阿蘭若法菩提場中始成正覺，於普光明殿入剎那際諸佛三昧，以一切智自神通力現如來身，清淨無礙，無所依止，無有攀緣，住奢摩他最極寂靜，具大威德無所染著，能令見者悉得開悟，隨宜出興不失於時，恒住一相所謂無相。
At that time the World-Honored One, at the awakening-site of the Araṇyaka Dharma in the country of Magadha, having just accomplished true awakening, entered in the Hall of Universal Light the samādhi of the buddhas of the instant. By the spiritual power of all-knowing wisdom itself he manifested the Tathāgata's body — pure and unobstructed, resting upon nothing, without any clinging; abiding in śamatha at its utmost stillness; endowed with great awesome virtue and stained by nothing; able to cause all who saw it to be awakened; appearing as was fitting and never missing the right time; constantly abiding in a single characteristic, which is to say, in no characteristic at all.
剎那際諸佛三昧 — the samādhi of the buddhas of the instant. 剎那 is a kṣaṇa, the smallest unit of time the tradition counts, and 際 is its limit or edge. The chapter on the ten great concentrations opens with the Buddha at the finest possible grain of time, which is where the ten grounds' long kalpas have arrived.
恒住一相所謂無相 — constantly abiding in a single characteristic, which is to say, in no characteristic at all. The sentence corrects itself as it is spoken. It is also the last thing said of the Buddha's body before the assembly is described, so that everything the assembly is about to be praised for hangs from a body that has no attribute to hold onto.
Those Gathered With Him
The bodhisattvas present are described first by what they have attained — every one of them consecrated, which is the tenth ground — and then named, and the names run mostly on one word.
與十佛剎微塵數菩薩摩訶薩俱，靡不皆入灌頂之位，具菩薩行，等于法界無量無邊，獲諸菩薩普見三昧，大悲安隱一切眾生，神通自在，同於如來智慧深入，演真實義，具一切智，降伏眾魔，雖入世間心恒寂靜，住於菩薩無住解脫。
He was together with bodhisattva mahāsattvas as numerous as the dust-motes of ten buddha-lands, there being none among them who had not entered the station of consecration. They were complete in the bodhisattva's practice, equal to the dharma-realm, measureless and boundless; they had obtained the bodhisattvas' samādhi of universal seeing; with great compassion they set all beings at ease; they were sovereignly free in the spiritual penetrations; the same as the Tathāgata in the depth of their entry into wisdom; they expounded the true meaning, were complete in all-knowing wisdom, and subdued the hosts of Māra; and though they entered the world, their minds were constantly quiescent, abiding in the bodhisattva's liberation of non-abiding.
其名曰：金剛慧菩薩、無等慧菩薩、義語慧菩薩、最勝慧菩薩、常捨慧菩薩、那伽慧菩薩、成就慧菩薩、調順慧菩薩、大力慧菩薩、難思慧菩薩、無礙慧菩薩、增上慧菩薩、普供慧菩薩、如理慧菩薩、善巧慧菩薩、法自在慧菩薩、法慧菩薩、寂靜慧菩薩、虛空慧菩薩、一相慧菩薩、善慧菩薩、如幻慧菩薩、廣大慧菩薩、勢力慧菩薩、世間慧菩薩、佛地慧菩薩、真實慧菩薩、尊勝慧菩薩、智光慧菩薩、無邊慧菩薩、念莊嚴菩薩、達空際菩薩、性莊嚴菩薩、甚深境菩薩、善解處非處菩薩、大光明菩薩、常光明菩薩、了佛種菩薩、心王菩薩、一行菩薩、常現神通菩薩、智慧芽菩薩、功德處菩薩、法燈菩薩、照世菩薩、持世菩薩、最安隱菩薩、最上菩薩、無上菩薩、無比菩薩、超倫菩薩、無礙行菩薩、光明焰菩薩、月光菩薩、一塵菩薩、堅固行菩薩、霔法雨菩薩、最勝幢菩薩、普莊嚴菩薩、
Their names were: Vajra Wisdom Bodhisattva, Unequalled Wisdom Bodhisattva, Wisdom of Meaningful Speech Bodhisattva, Most Surpassing Wisdom Bodhisattva, Ever-Relinquishing Wisdom Bodhisattva, Nāga Wisdom Bodhisattva, Accomplished Wisdom Bodhisattva, Tamed and Pliant Wisdom Bodhisattva, Great Power Wisdom Bodhisattva, Wisdom Hard to Conceive Bodhisattva, Unobstructed Wisdom Bodhisattva, Ever-Increasing Wisdom Bodhisattva, Wisdom of Universal Offering Bodhisattva, Wisdom According with Principle Bodhisattva, Skillful Wisdom Bodhisattva, Wisdom Sovereign in the Dharma Bodhisattva, Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva, Quiescent Wisdom Bodhisattva, Open Space Wisdom Bodhisattva, Wisdom of the Single Characteristic Bodhisattva, Good Wisdom Bodhisattva, Wisdom Like a Conjuring Bodhisattva, Vast Wisdom Bodhisattva, Wisdom of Strength Bodhisattva, Wisdom of the World Bodhisattva, Wisdom of the Buddha-Ground Bodhisattva, True Wisdom Bodhisattva, Honored and Surpassing Wisdom Bodhisattva, Wisdom of the Light of Knowing Bodhisattva, Boundless Wisdom Bodhisattva, Adornment of Mindfulness Bodhisattva, Reaching the Limit of Emptiness Bodhisattva, Adornment of Nature Bodhisattva, Profound Domain Bodhisattva, Well Understanding the Possible and the Impossible Bodhisattva, Great Radiance Bodhisattva, Constant Radiance Bodhisattva, Comprehending the Buddha-Seed Bodhisattva, Mind-King Bodhisattva, Single Practice Bodhisattva, Ever Displaying Spiritual Penetration Bodhisattva, Sprout of Wisdom Bodhisattva, Place of Merit Bodhisattva, Dharma-Lamp Bodhisattva, Illumining the World Bodhisattva, Upholding the World Bodhisattva, Most at Peace Bodhisattva, Most Supreme Bodhisattva, Unsurpassed Bodhisattva, Without Compare Bodhisattva, Beyond All Rank Bodhisattva, Unobstructed Conduct Bodhisattva, Flame of Radiance Bodhisattva, Moonlight Bodhisattva, Single Dust-Mote Bodhisattva, Firm Conduct Bodhisattva, Pouring Down the Dharma-Rain Bodhisattva, Most Surpassing Banner Bodhisattva, Universal Adornment Bodhisattva,
靡不皆入灌頂之位 — there being none among them who had not entered the station of consecration. Read straight after Part 489, this is a striking way to open a chapter: the whole assembly is at the tenth ground, the station the previous chapter spent five Parts crowning a single bodhisattva into. The Ten Concentrations are being taught to people who have already finished the Ten Grounds.
The first thirty names all end in 慧, wisdom, and the list then opens out into images — Mind-King, Single Dust-Mote, Moonlight, Pouring Down the Dharma-Rain. 善解處非處 preserves an old formula from the earliest strata of the canon: knowing what is possible and what is not, the first of a buddha's ten powers.
Part 490 Complete
This opens chapter twenty-seven, 十定品, The Ten Concentrations, in fascicle forty. Part 491 finishes the roll of the assembly — down to Universal Eye and Universal Eye's Domain of Wisdom Adorned — and notes that all of them cultivated wholesome roots together with Vairocana in ages past; then Universal Eye Bodhisattva rises, bares his right shoulder, kneels, and asks the Buddha how many samādhis and liberations Samantabhadra and those who abide in his practices and vows have accomplished.