Entering as One, Rising as a Thousand
The eighth concentration takes up the question the third one raised — where one enters and where one rises — and answers it at length, running through bodies, kinds of being, continents, oceans and elements, until concentration entered in the four great elements is left in the unarisen dharma itself.
Fascicle Forty-Two Opens
Ten things not clung to, and the list is arranged so that the last four are the ones a practitioner would be proudest of — vows, samādhis, buddhas, and the grounds themselves.
大方廣佛華嚴經卷第四十二
于闐國三藏實叉難陀奉制譯
十定品第二十七之三
The Great and Vast Buddha's Flower Ornament Sūtra, Fascicle Forty-Two
Translated by imperial command by Śikṣānanda, Tripiṭaka Master of the Kingdom of Khotan
Chapter Twenty-Seven, The Ten Concentrations, Part Three
「佛子！云何為菩薩摩訶薩一切眾生差別身三昧？佛子！菩薩摩訶薩住此三昧，得十種無所著。何者為十？所謂：於一切剎無所著，於一切方無所著，於一切劫無所著，於一切眾無所著，於一切法無所著，於一切菩薩無所著，於一切菩薩願無所著，於一切三昧無所著，於一切佛無所著，於一切地無所著。是為十。
"Child of the Buddha! What is the bodhisattva mahāsattva's samādhi of the differentiated bodies of all beings? Child of the Buddha! A bodhisattva mahāsattva abiding in this samādhi obtains ten kinds of non-attachment. What are the ten? Namely: no attachment to any land; no attachment to any direction; no attachment to any kalpa; no attachment to any assembly; no attachment to any dharma; no attachment to any bodhisattva; no attachment to any bodhisattva's vow; no attachment to any samādhi; no attachment to any buddha; and no attachment to any ground. These are the ten.
於一切地無所著 — no attachment to any ground. The ten grounds occupied the previous chapter for six fascicles and ninety Parts. Here they appear last in a list of things not to be held onto, alongside vows and samādhis and the buddhas themselves. Nothing is being disparaged; the chapter is simply naming what a person who has come this far would most naturally cling to.
Where One Enters, Where One Rises
The pairs multiply — inner and outer, same and different, one and a thousand, human and yakṣa, hell and the human world, continent and continent, sea-spirits and sea-water, and finally element and element.
「佛子！菩薩摩訶薩於此三昧云何入？云何起？佛子！菩薩摩訶薩於此三昧，內身入，外身起；外身入，內身起；同身入，異身起；異身入，同身起；人身入，夜叉身起；夜叉身入，龍身起；龍身入，阿脩羅身起；阿脩羅身入，天身起；天身入，梵王身起；梵王身入，欲界身起；天中入，地獄起；地獄入，人間起；人間入，餘趣起；千身入，一身起；一身入，千身起；那由他身入，一身起；一身入，那由他身起。
"Child of the Buddha! How does a bodhisattva mahāsattva enter this samādhi, and how do they rise from it? Child of the Buddha! In this samādhi a bodhisattva mahāsattva enters in the inner body and rises in the outer body; enters in the outer body and rises in the inner body; enters in a body that is the same and rises in a body that is different; enters in a body that is different and rises in a body that is the same; enters in a human body and rises in a yakṣa's body; enters in a yakṣa's body and rises in a nāga's body; enters in a nāga's body and rises in an asura's body; enters in an asura's body and rises in a deva's body; enters in a deva's body and rises in the body of a Brahmā king; enters in the body of a Brahmā king and rises in a body of the desire realm; enters among the gods and rises in the hells; enters in the hells and rises among humans; enters among humans and rises in the other destinies; enters as a thousand bodies and rises as one body; enters as one body and rises as a thousand bodies; enters as nayutas of bodies and rises as one body; enters as one body and rises as nayutas of bodies.
閻浮提眾生眾中入，西瞿陀尼眾生眾中起；西瞿陀尼眾生眾中入，北拘盧眾生眾中起；北拘盧眾生眾中入，東毘提訶眾生眾中起；東毘提訶眾生眾中入，三天下眾生眾中起；三天下眾生眾中入，四天下眾生眾中起；四天下眾生眾中入，一切海差別眾生眾中起；一切海差別眾生眾中入，一切海神眾中起；一切海神眾中入，一切海水大中起；一切海水大中入，一切海地大中起；一切海地大中入，一切海火大中起；一切海火大中入，一切海風大中起；一切海風大中入，一切四大種中起；一切四大種中入，無生法中起。
They enter among the beings of Jambūdvīpa and rise among the beings of Aparagodānīya; enter among the beings of Aparagodānīya and rise among the beings of Uttarakuru; enter among the beings of Uttarakuru and rise among the beings of Pūrvavideha; enter among the beings of three of the continents and rise among the beings of all four; enter among the beings of the four continents and rise among all the differentiated beings of the seas; enter among all the differentiated beings of the seas and rise among all the spirits of the seas; enter among all the spirits of the seas and rise in the water-element of all the seas; enter in the water-element of all the seas and rise in the earth-element of all the seas; enter in the earth-element of all the seas and rise in the fire-element of all the seas; enter in the fire-element of all the seas and rise in the wind-element of all the seas; enter in the wind-element of all the seas and rise in all four of the great elements; and enter in all four of the great elements and rise in the dharma of non-arising.
天中入，地獄起 — enters among the gods and rises in the hells. The pairs so far have been symmetrical, and this one is not reversed: there is no "enters in the hells and rises among the gods" beside it. What follows instead is rising among humans, and then in the other destinies. The samādhi's movement is downward at exactly the point where a reader might expect a reward.
一切四大種中入，無生法中起 — enter in all four of the great elements and rise in the dharma of non-arising. The series has been running through progressively subtler physical things — beings, spirits, water, earth, fire, wind — and then steps out of the physical altogether without any change of grammar. Where one rises need not be a place.
Part 514 Complete
This opens fascicle forty-two and 十定品第二十七之三, and begins the eighth of the ten great samādhis. Part 515 continues the pairs — Sumeru and the seven jewel mountains, the crops and groves and dark hills of the earth, the beings born below and above the four continents, and world-systems from the lesser chiliocosm up to worlds ineffably ineffable — and then turns inward, entering in the eye and rising in the ear.