The Eighth Ground Complete
This bodhisattva, through wisdom thus accomplished, attains entry into what the sūtra calls buddha-nature, the buddhas' own merit becoming self-illuminating — and the treatise's commentary draws out two further senses in which he is called "immovable": one naming his own unwavering conduct, the other his very identity with the accomplished state itself, unfolded through a fivefold and then a ninefold analysis of indestructibility. The ground's closing fruit then shows a bodhisattva who, through the power of samādhi and great vow, never once departs from the sight of countless buddhas, whose roots of goodness the treatise likens to genuine gold fashioned into a king's own crown-ornament that no lesser jewel can displace, and to a Great Brahmā King's radiance filling a thousand worlds at once — closing, at last, the entire Eighth Ground, Acalā, the Immovable Ground.
Entry into Buddha-Nature, and the Twofold Sense of "Immovable"
經曰：佛子！菩薩成就如是智慧，名為得入佛性、名為佛功德自照明、名為隨佛威儀行、名為佛境界現前，日夜常為善加諸佛加，常為四天王、釋提桓因、梵天王等之所奉迎，常為密迹金剛神之所侍衛。不捨三昧力，常現無量諸身差別，一切身行中勢力成就，成就大果報神通。於無邊三昧中得自在，能受無量記，隨化世間示成正覺。是菩薩如是通達入大乘眾數，善思量大乘通，日夜常放智光明炎，入無障礙法界道，善知界道差別，能示一切相功德隨意自在。
善解先際後際，通達一切迴轉魔道智，入如來智慧境界。能於無邊世界中行菩薩道，不退轉力故。是故菩薩名為得不動菩薩。
論曰：彼復有二種義，名為得不動菩薩：一、一向不動；二、一體不動，佛性隨順因故。如經「佛子！菩薩成就得如是智慧，名為得入佛性」等。是中佛性者，界滿足勝。隨順因者，三種相示現：一、攝功德；二、行；三、近。如經「名為佛功德自照明故，名為隨佛威儀行故，名為佛境界現前故」。是中自照明者，善清淨義故。威儀行者，名為正行故。現前者，近佛境界故。是中一向不動者，如經「日夜常為善加諸佛加」故。彼復依五功德應知：一、供養功德，如經「常為四天王、釋提桓因、梵天王等之所奉迎」故。
二、護功德，如經「常為密迹金剛神之所侍衛」故。三、依止功德，如經「不捨三昧力」故。四、國土清淨功德，如經「常現無量諸身差別」故。五、教化眾生功德。
復次教化眾生功德，有五種示現：一、願取諸有生，如經「一切身行勢力成就」故。二、根心使智力，如經「成就大果報神通」故。
三、無量法力轉法輪故，如經「於無邊三昧中得自在」故。四、受力，如經「能受無量記」故。五、說力，如經「隨化世間示成正覺」故。是菩薩如是通達者，一向不動故。是中一體不動者，入大乘眾數。如經「是菩薩如是通達入大乘眾數」故。入大乘眾數者，名不破壞義。此有九種：一、智不壞，如經「善思量大乘通」故。
二、說不壞，如經「日夜常放智光明焰」故。三、解脫不壞，如經「入無障礙法界道」故。四、佛國土清淨不壞，如經「善知界道差別」故。五、入大乘不壞，如經「能示一切相功德」故。六、神通不壞，如經「隨意自在」故。七、能解釋義不壞，如經「善解先際後際」故。八、坐道場不壞，如經「通達一切迴轉魔道智」故。
九、正覺不壞，如經「入如來智慧境界」故。能於無邊世中行菩薩道不退轉力故者，行無障礙不斷絕故。以行無障礙不斷義故，名為得不動地菩薩。
Sūtra: Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva who has accomplished wisdom such as this is called one who has attained entry into buddha-nature, is called one whose buddha-merit is self-illuminating, is called one who follows the buddhas' own dignified conduct, is called one before whom the buddhas' own realm stands present. Day and night he is constantly well empowered with the empowerment of the buddhas; he is constantly welcomed and received by the Four Heavenly Kings, Śakra, and Brahmā and the rest; and he is constantly attended and guarded by the vajra-spirits of the hidden traces. Without abandoning the power of samādhi, he constantly manifests boundless distinctions of his own body, his forceful capacity accomplished within every bodily action, accomplishing the spiritual power of great retribution-fruit. Self-mastering within boundless samādhi, he is able to receive boundless prophecies, and, according with the transformation of the world, manifests the attainment of correct enlightenment. This bodhisattva, having thus thoroughly penetrated, enters the multitude of the great vehicle, well reflecting upon and considering the penetration of the great vehicle. Day and night he constantly emits the blazing light of wisdom, entering the unobstructed path of the dharma-realm, well knowing the distinctions of realm and path, able to manifest every mark and merit in self-mastery, according with his own will.
Well understanding the prior limit and the later limit, thoroughly penetrating the wisdom that turns back every path of māra, he enters the wisdom-realm of the tathāgatas. He is able to practice the bodhisattva path within boundless worlds, through the power of irreversibility. This is why the bodhisattva is called one who has attained the state of an immovable bodhisattva.
Commentary: This, moreover, has two further senses by which he is called one who has attained the state of an immovable bodhisattva: first, constantly immovable; second, identical in essence, immovable, since buddha-nature is the cause he accords with — as the sūtra says, "Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva who has accomplished and attained wisdom such as this is called one who has attained entry into buddha-nature," and the rest. Here, "buddha-nature" means that the realm is fulfilled, supreme. "The cause he accords with" is manifest through three kinds of mark: first, gathering in merit; second, conduct; third, drawing near — as the sūtra says, "is called one whose buddha-merit is self-illuminating," "is called one who follows the buddhas' own dignified conduct," and "is called one before whom the buddhas' own realm stands present." Here, "self-illuminating" means the meaning of being well purified. "Dignified conduct" means correct practice. "Standing present" means drawing near to the buddhas' own realm. Here, "constantly immovable" is as the sūtra says, "day and night he is constantly well empowered with the empowerment of the buddhas." This, moreover, should be understood in dependence on five kinds of merit: first, the merit of being made offerings to — as the sūtra says, "he is constantly welcomed and received by the Four Heavenly Kings, Śakra, and Brahmā and the rest."
Second, the merit of being protected — as the sūtra says, "he is constantly attended and guarded by the vajra-spirits of the hidden traces." Third, the merit of what he relies upon — as the sūtra says, "without abandoning the power of samādhi." Fourth, the merit of the purity of his buddha-land — as the sūtra says, "he constantly manifests boundless distinctions of his own body." Fifth, the merit of teaching and transforming sentient beings.
Furthermore, the merit of teaching and transforming sentient beings is manifest in five ways: first, through the power of vow, taking up every mode of existence and birth — as the sūtra says, "his forceful capacity accomplished within every bodily action." Second, the power of wisdom that directs the faculties and the mind — as the sūtra says, "accomplishing the spiritual power of great retribution-fruit."
Third, the power of the boundless Dharma that turns the wheel of the Dharma — as the sūtra says, "self-mastering within boundless samādhi." Fourth, the power of receiving — as the sūtra says, "he is able to receive boundless prophecies." Fifth, the power of teaching — as the sūtra says, "according with the transformation of the world, he manifests the attainment of correct enlightenment." This bodhisattva, thoroughly penetrating in this way, is thereby constantly immovable. Here, "identical in essence, immovable," means entering the multitude of the great vehicle — as the sūtra says, "this bodhisattva, having thus thoroughly penetrated, enters the multitude of the great vehicle." "Entering the multitude of the great vehicle" means the meaning of being unbroken, indestructible. This has nine kinds: first, wisdom that is indestructible — as the sūtra says, "well reflecting upon and considering the penetration of the great vehicle."
Second, teaching that is indestructible — as the sūtra says, "day and night he constantly emits the blazing light of wisdom." Third, liberation that is indestructible — as the sūtra says, "entering the unobstructed path of the dharma-realm." Fourth, the purity of the buddha-land that is indestructible — as the sūtra says, "well knowing the distinctions of realm and path." Fifth, entry into the great vehicle that is indestructible — as the sūtra says, "able to manifest every mark and merit." Sixth, spiritual power that is indestructible — as the sūtra says, "according with his own will, in self-mastery." Seventh, the ability to explain the meaning, indestructible — as the sūtra says, "well understanding the prior limit and the later limit." Eighth, sitting at the seat of enlightenment, indestructible — as the sūtra says, "thoroughly penetrating the wisdom that turns back every path of māra."
Ninth, correct enlightenment that is indestructible — as the sūtra says, "he enters the wisdom-realm of the tathāgatas." As for "he is able to practice the bodhisattva path within boundless worlds, through the power of irreversibility," this means that his practice, unobstructed, is without interruption. It is through this meaning of unobstructed, uninterrupted practice that he is called one who has attained the state of the bodhisattva of the Immovable Ground.
Fazang frames this whole section as the second of the treatise's two ways of naming this ground — the first "explained through the ground's own dharma," now already given; the second, here, 智者釋名，約人辨德 — "explained through the wise one, distinguishing merit through the person who has attained it." He glosses the two senses of "immovable" precisely: 一一向不動，謂行修上順故；二一體不動，謂與諸菩薩行同體故 — "first, constantly immovable, meaning that his cultivated practice accords, in every direction, with what is above; second, identical-in-essence immovable, meaning that he is of the very same essence as the practice of every bodhisattva." The first names the bodhisattva's own unwavering conduct; the second, more radical, claims he no longer merely practices the immovable state but simply is it. On "entry into buddha-nature," Fazang specifies exactly what is entered: 謂入佛果法身理性，亦是佛智所證之境 — "namely, entering the very principle-nature of the buddha-fruit's own dharmakāya, which is likewise the very realm realized by the buddhas' own wisdom."
On the ninefold analysis of "identical-in-essence immovable," Fazang reads each item as covering one distinct kind of action — wisdom, teaching, liberation, buddha-land, entry, spiritual power, exposition, sitting at the seat of enlightenment, and correct enlightenment itself — and sums the whole list under a single closing formula: 以行無障不斷絕故，名為得不動地菩薩 — "it is through this very meaning of practice that is unobstructed and unbroken that he is called one who has attained the ground of the immovable bodhisattva." Immovability, on this analysis, is not a static condition but an unbroken continuity of nine distinct, unobstructed functions operating at once.
The Closing Fruit: Countless Buddhas, Genuine Gold, and the Great Brahmā King — Acalā Explained
經曰：菩薩得菩薩不動地，常不離見無量諸佛，善行三昧力故及大願力故。見諸佛時而不捨供養恭敬。是菩薩於一一劫中、一一世界中，見無量佛、無量百佛、無量千佛、無量百千佛、無量百千那由他佛、無量億佛、無量百億佛、無量千億佛、無量百千億佛、無量百千萬億那由他佛，以大神通力、大願力故。見諸佛時，以上心深心供養恭敬尊重讚嘆，衣服飲食臥具湯藥一切供具悉以奉施，以諸菩薩上妙樂具供養眾僧，以此善根皆願迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。
親近諸佛，從諸佛受本世界差別等諸法明。是菩薩轉深入如來法藏，問世界差別事中無能盡者。是菩薩彼諸善根，無量劫中轉勝明淨，無量百劫、無量千劫、無量百千劫、無量百千那由他劫、無量億劫、無量百億劫、無量千億劫、無量百千億劫、無量百千億那由他劫，彼諸善根轉勝明淨。佛子！譬如本真金，善巧金師作莊嚴具已，繫在閻浮提王若頸若頂，閻浮提人餘寶莊嚴具無能奪者。如是佛子！菩薩住此不動地，彼諸善根，一切聲聞辟支佛乃至七地菩薩所不能壞。菩薩得是地大智光明，滅諸眾生煩惱闇障，以善分別智門故。佛子！譬如千世界主大梵天王，能於一時流布慈心滿千世界，亦能放光遍照其中如是。
佛子！菩薩住此菩薩不動地中，能放身光照十千萬三千大千世界微塵數世界眾生，漸能除滅諸煩惱火令得清涼。是菩薩十波羅蜜中願波羅蜜增上，餘波羅蜜非不修習，隨力隨分。佛子！是名略說菩薩第八菩薩不動地，若廣說者於無量劫數不能盡。菩薩住是地中，多作大梵天王，主千世界自在最勝，與諸眾生聲聞辟支佛菩薩波羅蜜道無有窮盡，說世間性差別中無能壞者。所作善業布施愛語利益同事，是諸福德皆不離念佛、念法、念僧、念菩薩、念菩薩行、念波羅蜜、念十地、念不壞力、念無畏、念不共佛法，乃至不離念一切種一切智智。常生是心：我當於一切眾生中，為首為勝為大、為妙為微妙、為上為無上、為導為將、為師為尊，乃至為一切智智依止者。復從是念發精進行，以精進力故，於一念間得百萬三千大千世界微塵數三昧，見百萬三千大千世界微塵數諸佛、能知百萬三千大千世界微塵數佛神力、能動百萬三千大千世界微塵數世界、能入百萬三千大千世界微塵數佛世界、能照百萬三千大千世界微塵數佛世界、能化百萬三千大千世界微塵數佛世界眾生、能住壽百萬三千大千世界微塵數劫、能知過去未來世各百萬三千大千世界微塵數劫事、能善入百萬三千大千世界微塵數法門、能變身為百萬三千大千世界微塵數，於一一身能示百萬三千大千世界微塵數菩薩以為眷屬。若以願力自在勝上，菩薩願力過於此數。示種種神通，或身、或光明、或神通、或眼、或境界、或音聲、或行、或莊嚴、或加、或信、或業。是諸神通，乃至無量百千萬億那由他劫不可數知。
論曰：從諸佛受本世界差別等諸法明者，彼因相故。閻浮提王真金作莊嚴具譬者，得清淨地身心勝故，善根光明轉更明淨示現。如經「佛子！譬如千世界主大梵天王乃至令得清涼故」。餘如前說。
Sūtra: A bodhisattva who has attained the bodhisattva's Acalā, the Immovable Ground, constantly, without ever departing, sees boundless buddhas, through the power of skillfully practiced samādhi and the power of his great vow. When he sees these buddhas, he does not fail to make offerings to them and revere them. This bodhisattva, within every single eon and within every single world, sees boundless buddhas — boundless hundreds of buddhas, boundless thousands of buddhas, boundless hundreds of thousands of buddhas, boundless hundreds of thousands of niyutas of buddhas, boundless koṭis of buddhas, boundless hundreds of koṭis of buddhas, boundless thousands of koṭis of buddhas, boundless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of buddhas, and boundless hundreds of thousands of myriad koṭis of niyutas of buddhas — through great spiritual power and the power of his great vow. When he sees these buddhas, with a supreme, deep mind he makes offerings to them, reveres, honors, and praises them, presenting robes, food and drink, bedding, and medicine, every requisite entirely as offerings; and, with the supreme and sublime objects of delight belonging to the bodhisattvas, he makes offerings to the entire monastic assembly, dedicating this root of goodness, wishing for unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment.
Drawing near to the buddhas, from the buddhas he receives the illumination of the Dharma concerning the fundamental distinctions of the world and the rest. This bodhisattva enters ever more deeply into the treasury of the tathāgatas' Dharma, and in his questioning concerning the matter of the world's distinctions, there is nothing that can exhaust it. This bodhisattva — these roots of goodness of his, throughout boundless eons, become ever more excellent, radiant, and pure; throughout boundless hundreds of eons, boundless thousands of eons, boundless hundreds of thousands of eons, boundless hundreds of thousands of niyutas of eons, boundless koṭis of eons, boundless hundreds of koṭis of eons, boundless thousands of koṭis of eons, boundless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of eons, and boundless hundreds of thousands of koṭis of niyutas of eons, these roots of goodness of his become ever more excellent, radiant, and pure. Son of the Buddha! It is like genuine gold that a skillful goldsmith has fashioned into an ornament, and then fastened upon the neck or the crown of a king of Jambudvīpa — no other jeweled ornament belonging to the people of Jambudvīpa is able to seize its place. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling in this Immovable Ground, these roots of goodness of his — no śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha, nor even a bodhisattva of the Seventh Ground, is able to destroy them. This bodhisattva attains this ground's own light of great wisdom, extinguishing the dark hindrance of every sentient being's own affliction, through the gateway of skillful discernment and wisdom. Son of the Buddha! It is like a Great Brahmā King, sovereign of a thousand worlds, who is able, within a single moment, to spread forth a mind of loving-kindness filling a thousand worlds, and is also able to emit light illumining them entirely — just so.
Son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within this bodhisattva's Immovable Ground, is able to emit the light of his own body, illumining sentient beings within world-systems equal in number to the fine motes of dust in ten thousand myriads of great trichiliocosms, gradually able to extinguish every fire of affliction and cause them to attain coolness. Among this bodhisattva's ten perfections, the perfection of vow now excels — the other perfections he does not fail to cultivate, but in accordance with his own strength and portion. Son of the Buddha! This is what is briefly called a bodhisattva's Eighth Ground, the bodhisattva's Acalā, the Immovable Ground; spoken of at length, throughout boundless numbers of eons, it could not be exhausted. Should a bodhisattva dwell in this ground, he often becomes a Great Brahmā King, sovereign of a thousand worlds, self-mastering and supreme, bestowing upon every sentient being, śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva the path of the perfections without ever exhausting it, and in expounding the distinctions of the world's own nature, there is none able to refute him. The wholesome deeds he performs — giving, kind speech, beneficial action, and cooperative work — every one of these merits is never apart from mindfulness of the buddhas, mindfulness of the Dharma, mindfulness of the monastic assembly, mindfulness of every bodhisattva, mindfulness of the bodhisattva's own practice, mindfulness of every perfection, mindfulness of the ten grounds, mindfulness of unbreakable power, mindfulness of fearlessness, mindfulness of the unshared buddha-dharmas, all the way to never apart from mindfulness of being complete in the wisdom of all modes, the wisdom of omniscience. He constantly gives rise to this thought: among all sentient beings, I shall be foremost, I shall be supreme, I shall be great, I shall be sublime, I shall be exceedingly sublime, I shall be highest, I shall be unsurpassed, I shall be a guide, I shall be a leader, I shall be a teacher, I shall be one held in honor, all the way to being the very support of the wisdom of omniscience. Further, from this thought he sets forth diligent exertion. Through the power of this diligence, within a single thought-moment he attains a number of samādhis equal to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, sees a number of buddhas equal to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, knows the spiritual power of buddhas equal in number to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, is able to shake worlds equal in number to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, is able to enter buddha-worlds equal in number to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, is able to illumine buddha-worlds equal in number to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, is able to transform the sentient beings of buddha-worlds equal in number to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, is able to dwell in life for a number of eons equal to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, is able to know the affairs of each past and future era equal in number to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, is able to enter skillfully into a number of Dharma-gates equal to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, and is able to transform his own body into a number equal to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, manifesting, within each and every one of those bodies, a number of bodhisattvas equal to the fine motes of dust in a hundred myriads of great trichiliocosms, as its own retinue. Should he, through the power of vow, be self-mastering and supreme, a bodhisattva's power of vow manifests beyond even this number, manifesting all manner of spiritual power — whether of body, or of radiance, or of spiritual power itself, or of the eye, or of the object-realm, or of voice, or of activity, or of adornment, or of empowerment, or of faith, or of karmic function — every one of these spiritual powers, throughout boundless hundreds of thousands of myriad koṭis of niyutas of eons, beyond all counting or knowing.
Commentary: "From the buddhas he receives the illumination of the Dharma concerning the fundamental distinctions of the world and the rest" refers to the mark of that very cause. As for the simile of genuine gold fashioned into an ornament for a king of Jambudvīpa: it means that, since he has attained the supremacy of body and mind belonging to this pure ground, the light of his roots of goodness is manifest as ever more radiant and pure. As the sūtra says, from "Son of the Buddha! It is like a Great Brahmā King, sovereign of a thousand worlds" all the way to "cause them to attain coolness." The rest is as already explained before.
Fazang notes that this ground's closing fruit follows the same threefold pattern established at every ground before it: 佛子下明地果中，三果同前 — "from 'son of the Buddha' onward, this explains the fruit of the ground; the threefold fruit is the same as before." On the gold-ornament simile, he reads the excellence as demonstrated through the person rather than through the substance of the gold itself: 喻中依人顯勝，謂得清淨地，身心勝故，即純淨無流也 — "within the simile, excellence is made manifest through the person: namely, since he has attained this pure ground, his body and mind are themselves supreme — this is purity itself, free of any outflow." The ornament is not what makes the king; it is the king's own attainment that the gold is chosen to illustrate.
Fazang closes his own commentary on the entire Eighth Ground by tallying its verse-summary: forty-four verses divided into nine groups, tracking the treatise's own outline down through this ground's very naming and its fruit — 七有二頌釋名分。八有五頌地果分。九末後一結說分齊 — "seventh, two verses belong to the section explaining the name; eighth, five verses belong to the section of the ground's fruit; ninth, the very last verse closes by marking the boundary of what has been explained." He ends the passage with the four characters that close out the entire ground: 不動地竟 — "the explanation of the Immovable Ground is complete."
Part 40 Complete — Acalā, the Immovable Ground, Now Entirely Translated
This closes Part 40, and with it the entire Eighth Ground: Acalā, the Immovable Ground. Parts 36 through 40 — this bodhisattva's entry into the acquiescence to the non-arising of dharmas, the seven exhortations by which the buddhas rouse him from resting content within quiescence, the three masteries purifying buddha-lands, his mastery over his own life-span, the threefold great excellence, this ground's own name explained through its own dharma — "Immovable" as the antidote to small-vehicle demonic obstruction, "Unturning" as the antidote to the habitual tendency of affliction — and now this bodhisattva's entry into buddha-nature, the twofold sense in which he is called immovable, and the ground's closing fruit of countless buddhas seen without interruption, genuine gold, and a Great Brahmā King's radiance filling a thousand worlds at once — have now translated the whole of fascicle ten of this twelve-fascicle treatise. Part 41 turns to Sādhumatī, the Ground of Excellent Wisdom — the Ninth Ground — where Fazang's 華嚴經探玄記 continues as this collection's reading-note source.
Continue to Part 41 — Sādhumatī, the Ground of Excellent Wisdom →