The Pond of Practice and the Ten Mountain-Kings
Having closed the account of this Tenth Ground's own unsurpassed spiritual power, the treatise now opens its seventh and final major division: the division of the ground's own images, a sequence of four grand closing similes — a pond, ten mountains, a great ocean, and a wish-fulfilling jewel — mapping the entire path onto vivid natural imagery. This part translates the first two: the brief simile of the pond of Anavatapta, whose four rivers, inexhaustibly filling Jambudvīpa and flowing at last into the great ocean, represent the meritorious quality of practice itself; and the extended simile of the great earth sustaining ten great mountain-kings of differing names, each mapped in turn to the surpassing quality attained on one of the ten grounds already translated across this entire project — from the Snow Mountain's gathered medicinal herbs, matched to the First Ground's mastery of worldly learning, all the way to Sumeru's gathered hosts of devas, matched to this Tenth Ground's own unshared buddha-dharmas — together with the commentary's analysis of why eight of these ten mountains are called purely jeweled while two remain mere earth and stone.
The Pond of Practice, and the Ten Great Mountain-Kings Named and Mapped
經曰：佛子！是菩薩十地，次第順行趣向一切種一切智智。佛子！譬如從阿耨大池流出四河，充滿閻浮提，不可窮盡，轉復增長乃至充滿大海。如是佛子！菩薩從菩提心流出善根大願之水，以四攝法充滿眾生界不可窮盡，轉復增長，乃至滿足得一切種一切智智。
論曰：是中修行功德者，依本願力修行，以四攝法作利益他行，自善根增長及得菩提自利益行應知。如經「佛子！譬如從阿耨大池流出四河乃至滿足得一切種一切智智」故。云何上勝功德？
經曰：佛子！是菩薩十地，因佛智故而有差別。譬如依大地故有十大山王差別。何等為十？所謂雪山王、香山王、毘陀略山王、仙聖山王、由乾陀羅山王、馬耳山王、尼民陀羅山王、斫迦婆羅山王、眾相山王、須彌山王。
佛子！譬如雪山王，一切藥草集在其中，是諸藥草取不可盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩歡喜地中，一切世間書論、技藝、文誦、呪術集在其中，一切世間書論、技藝、文誦、呪術不可窮盡。
佛子！譬如香山王，一切諸香集在其中，一切諸香取不可盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩離垢地中，一切菩薩持戒正受行香集在其中，一切菩薩持戒正受行香不可窮盡。
佛子！譬如毘陀略山王，純淨寶性一切諸寶集在其中，一切諸寶取不可盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩明地中，一切世間禪定神通解脫三昧三摩跋提集在其中，一切世間禪定神通解脫三昧三摩跋提問答不可窮盡。
佛子！譬如仙聖山王，純淨寶性五通聖人集在其中，五通聖人不可窮盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩焰地中，一切行中殊勝智行集在其中，一切行中殊勝智行種種問難不可窮盡。
佛子！譬如由乾陀羅山王，純淨寶性一切夜叉諸大鬼神集在其中，一切夜叉諸大鬼神不可窮盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩難勝地中，一切自在如意神通變化莊嚴集在其中，一切自在如意神通變化莊嚴問答不可窮盡。
佛子！譬如馬耳山王，純淨寶性一切眾果集在其中，一切眾果取不可盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩現前地中，說入因緣集觀集在其中，說入因緣集觀聲聞果證問答不可窮盡。
佛子！譬如尼民陀羅山王，純淨寶性一切大力龍神集在其中，一切大力龍神不可窮盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩遠行地中，種種方便智集在其中，種種方便智說辟支佛果證問答不可窮盡。
佛子！譬如斫迦婆羅山王，純淨寶性得自在眾集在其中，得自在眾不可窮盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩不動地中，起一切菩薩自在道集在其中，起一切菩薩自在道說一切世間界差別問答不可窮盡。
佛子！譬如眾相山王，純淨寶性諸大阿修羅眾集在其中，諸大阿修羅眾不可窮盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩善慧地中，知一切眾生逆順行集在其中，知一切眾生逆順行說一切世間生滅相問答不可窮盡。
佛子！譬如須彌山王，純淨寶性諸大天眾集在其中，諸大天眾不可窮盡。如是佛子！菩薩住在菩薩法雲地中，如來力無畏不共佛法集在其中，如來力無畏不共佛法示現佛事問答不可窮盡。
佛子！此十大寶山王同在大海，因大海得名。如是佛子！菩薩十地同在一切智，因一切智得名。
論曰：是中上勝功德者，依一切智增上行十地故，如經「佛子！是菩薩十地因佛智故而有差別」，譬如依大地故有十大山王差別故。
Sūtra: Son of the Buddha! This bodhisattva's ten grounds, progressing in sequence, move toward the wisdom of all modes, the wisdom of omniscience. Son of the Buddha! It is like the four great rivers that flow forth from the great pond of Anavatapta, filling Jambudvīpa, inexhaustible, ever further increasing, until at last they fill the great ocean. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, from the mind of enlightenment, sends forth the waters of his roots of goodness and his great vow, and, through the four means of gathering beings, fills the realm of sentient beings inexhaustibly, ever further increasing, until at last he is fulfilled and attains the wisdom of all modes, the wisdom of omniscience.
Commentary: Here, the meritorious quality of practice means that, in dependence on the power of his original vow, he practices, and, through the four means of gathering beings, performs the practice of benefiting others; his own roots of goodness increase, and the practice of benefiting himself, attaining enlightenment, should be understood accordingly — as the sūtra says, "Son of the Buddha! It is like the four great rivers that flow forth from the great pond of Anavatapta," all the way to "he is fulfilled and attains the wisdom of all modes, the wisdom of omniscience." What, then, is the meritorious quality of surpassing excellence?
Sūtra: Son of the Buddha! This bodhisattva's ten grounds are differentiated through the power of the buddhas' own wisdom — just as, in dependence on the great earth, there are ten great mountain-kings, each differing from the others. What are these ten? They are: Himalaya, the Snow Mountain-king; the Fragrant Mountain-king; Vaidehaka, the mountain-king; the Mountain-king of Sages; Yugandhara, the mountain-king; Horse-Ear Mountain, the mountain-king; Nemindhara, the mountain-king; Cakravāḍa, the mountain-king; the mountain-king gathering every form; and Sumeru, the mountain-king.
Son of the Buddha! It is like Himalaya, the Snow Mountain-king, within which every medicinal herb is gathered — these medicinal herbs, though taken, are never exhausted. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Pramuditā, the Ground of Joy, gathers within himself every worldly treatise, every skill and craft, every recitation, and every spell — every worldly treatise, every skill and craft, every recitation, and every spell of his own are inexhaustible.
Son of the Buddha! It is like the Fragrant Mountain-king, within which every fragrance is gathered — every fragrance, though taken, is never exhausted. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Vimalā, the Ground Free of Defilement, gathers within himself the incense of every bodhisattva's upholding of the precepts and correctly receiving conduct — the incense of every bodhisattva's upholding of the precepts and correctly receiving conduct is inexhaustible.
Son of the Buddha! It is like Vaidehaka, the mountain-king, whose nature is of purely undefiled jewels, within which every jewel is gathered — every jewel, though taken, is never exhausted. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Prabhākarī, the Luminous Ground, gathers within himself every worldly meditative absorption, spiritual power, liberation, samādhi, and samāpatti — every question and answer concerning worldly meditative absorption, spiritual power, liberation, samādhi, and samāpatti of his own is inexhaustible.
Son of the Buddha! It is like the Mountain-king of Sages, whose nature is of purely undefiled jewels, within which sages of the five supernormal faculties are gathered — sages of the five supernormal faculties are never exhausted there. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Arciṣmatī, the Blazing Ground, gathers within himself, among every practice, the surpassing practice of wisdom — every manifold question and objection concerning the surpassing practice of wisdom among every practice of his own is inexhaustible.
Son of the Buddha! It is like Yugandhara, the mountain-king, whose nature is of purely undefiled jewels, within which every yakṣa and every great spirit is gathered — every yakṣa and every great spirit is never exhausted there. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Sudurjayā, the Ground Difficult to Conquer, gathers within himself every self-mastering, wish-fulfilling spiritual transformation and adornment — every question and answer concerning every self-mastering, wish-fulfilling spiritual transformation and adornment of his own is inexhaustible.
Son of the Buddha! It is like Horse-Ear Mountain, the mountain-king, whose nature is of purely undefiled jewels, within which every kind of fruit is gathered — every fruit, though taken, is never exhausted. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Abhimukhī, the Ground of Direct Presence, gathers within himself the exposition of entry into the contemplation of the gathering of dependent origination — every question and answer, on the exposition of entry into the contemplation of the gathering of dependent origination and the fruit realized by śrāvakas, is inexhaustible for him.
Son of the Buddha! It is like Nemindhara, the mountain-king, whose nature is of purely undefiled jewels, within which every great and mighty dragon-spirit is gathered — every great and mighty dragon-spirit is never exhausted there. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Dūraṅgamā, the Far-Reaching Ground, gathers within himself manifold skillful wisdom — every question and answer, on manifold skillful wisdom and the exposition of the fruit realized by pratyekabuddhas, is inexhaustible for him.
Son of the Buddha! It is like Cakravāḍa, the mountain-king, whose nature is of purely undefiled jewels, within which an assembly that has attained mastery is gathered — this assembly that has attained mastery is never exhausted there. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Acalā, the Immovable Ground, gathers within himself the arising of every bodhisattva's masterful path — every question and answer, on the arising of every bodhisattva's masterful path and the exposition of the distinctions among every world-realm, is inexhaustible for him.
Son of the Buddha! It is like the mountain-king gathering every form, whose nature is of purely undefiled jewels, within which every great host of asuras is gathered — every great host of asuras is never exhausted there. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Sādhumatī, the Ground of Excellent Wisdom, gathers within himself the knowledge of every sentient being's conforming and contrary conduct — every question and answer, on the knowledge of every sentient being's conforming and contrary conduct and the exposition of every world's own marks of arising and ceasing, is inexhaustible for him.
Son of the Buddha! It is like Sumeru, the mountain-king, whose nature is of purely undefiled jewels, within which every great host of devas is gathered — every great host of devas is never exhausted there. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva, dwelling within the bodhisattva's Dharmameghā, the Ground of the Dharma-Cloud, gathers within himself the tathāgatas' own powers, fearlessnesses, and unshared buddha-dharmas — every question and answer, on the tathāgatas' own powers, fearlessnesses, and unshared buddha-dharmas and the manifestation of buddha-work, is inexhaustible for him.
Son of the Buddha! These ten great jewel mountain-kings alike stand within the great ocean, and take their name through the great ocean. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva's ten grounds alike stand within the wisdom of all modes, and take their name through the wisdom of all modes.
Commentary: Here, the meritorious quality of surpassing excellence means that, in dependence on the wisdom of all modes, the ten grounds proceed in ever more excellent fashion — as the sūtra says, "Son of the Buddha! This bodhisattva's ten grounds are differentiated through the power of the buddhas' own wisdom," just as, in dependence on the great earth, there are ten great mountain-kings, each differing from the others.
Opening this whole closing division, Fazang names its master key directly: 於中有四，謂池、山、海、珠 — "within it there are four: the pond, the mountain, the ocean, and the jewel." Three belong to the register of transmitted teaching, one to direct realization: 喻四功德，前三是阿含德、後一是證德 — "these illustrate four meritorious qualities; the first three are qualities of the transmitted teaching, the last a quality of realization." He glosses each in turn: 池喻修行功德，即諸地中起修之行 — "the pond illustrates the meritorious quality of practice, namely the practice that arises within every ground"; 山喻上勝功德，即依修成德，德位高出 — "the mountain illustrates the meritorious quality of surpassing excellence, namely the virtue accomplished through practice, its rank rising ever higher"; 海喻難度能度大果功德 — "the ocean illustrates the meritorious quality of the difficulty of crossing, yet the ability to cross, to the great fruit"; and 珠喻轉盡堅固功德 — "the jewel illustrates the meritorious quality of thorough refinement and unshakeable firmness." This fourfold key orients both this part and Part 52.
On the pond itself, Fazang glosses Anavatapta as 無熱惱池, "the pond free of heat and affliction," named for the nāga king dwelling there who alone is free of the three sufferings that trouble other nāgas; he notes that other sūtras count eight rivers, or even twenty, issuing from this same source, and that the four named here — from a golden elephant's mouth, a silver ox's mouth, a lapis-lazuli horse's mouth, and a crystal lion's mouth — represent only 據根本說, "the account according to the root [rivers]." On the mountain names, he glosses several directly: 由乾陀，此名持雙山 — "Yugandhara means 'the mountain that sustains a pair'"; 尼民陀羅，此名持邊山 — "Nemindhara means 'the mountain that sustains the rim'"; 斫迦羅，此云輪圍山 — "Cakravāḍa means 'the wheel-encircling mountain.'"
On why the Sixth and Seventh Grounds alone are said to answer "without exhaustion" in a mode tied to the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha vehicles, Fazang supplies the reasoning the sūtra itself leaves implicit: 六以菓喻六地因緣集觀，說聲聞果不盡者，以六地超出聲聞境，說彼無窮盡也 — "the sixth [mountain's] fruit illustrates the Sixth Ground's contemplation of the gathering of dependent origination; that its exposition of the śrāvaka's fruit is inexhaustible is because the Sixth Ground surpasses the śrāvaka's own domain, and so its exposition of it is inexhaustible." Likewise: 七龍喻七地，亦以超出辟支，能說彼道 — "the seventh [mountain's] dragons illustrate the Seventh Ground; likewise, because it surpasses the pratyekabuddha, it is able to expound that path without exhaustion." The inexhaustibility is not mere hyperbole, in other words, but a precise claim about which lower attainment each ground has already surpassed.
Reading the Mountain Simile: Which Mountains Are Purely Jeweled, and Their Six Cures
是中純淨諸寶山喻者，喻八種地，厭地善清淨故。復次諸山王非眾生數，眾生數依故。非眾生數者，有二種：一、受用事；二、守護積聚寶事等。是中受用事者，有二種：一、眾生四大增損對治；二、長養眾生，依雪山、香山、毘陀略山、馬耳山，此四山非眾生數依故，藥草、眾香、眾寶、一切果集在其中。
一切果者，第六山中眾生數者，復有六種難對治故。六種難者：一、貧難；二、死難；三、儉難；四、不調伏難；五、惡業難；六、怨敵難。第四山中五通福田對治貧難，第五山中夜叉大神神通變化對治死難，第七山中諸大龍王對治儉難，第八山中得自在眾對治不調伏難，第九山中阿修羅說呪對治惡業難，第十山中自在四天王對治怨敵難。
此一切山集在其中者，如所說事能生一切物故。言集在其中不可窮盡者，順行不斷不休息故。彼十大山因大海得名，大海亦因大山得名。菩薩十地亦復如是，同在一切智，因一切智得名，彼因果相顯故。如經「佛子！此十大寶山王同在大海，因大海得名。如是佛子！菩薩十地同在一切智，因一切智得名」故。云何難度能度大果功德？
Commentary: Here, the simile of the purely undefiled jewel mountains illustrates eight of the ten grounds — those grounds of revulsion, and those of excellent purity. Further, these mountain-kings themselves are not reckoned among sentient beings, though sentient beings depend upon them. What is not reckoned among sentient beings is of two kinds: first, matters of use and enjoyment; second, matters of guarding and gathering treasure, and the like. Here, matters of use and enjoyment are themselves of two kinds: first, the counteracting of the increase and decrease of sentient beings' own four great elements; second, the nourishing and sustaining of sentient beings. In dependence on the Snow Mountain, the Fragrant Mountain, Vaidehaka, and Horse-Ear Mountain — these four mountains, since it is what is not reckoned among sentient beings that sentient beings depend upon — gather within themselves medicinal herbs, every fragrance, every jewel, and every fruit.
As for "every fruit" — as for what, among the mountains, is reckoned among sentient beings, it further counteracts six kinds of difficulty. The six kinds of difficulty are: first, the difficulty of poverty; second, the difficulty of death; third, the difficulty of famine; fourth, the difficulty of the untamed; fifth, the difficulty of evil karma; sixth, the difficulty of hostile enemies. Within the fourth mountain, the field of merit of the five supernormal faculties counteracts the difficulty of poverty; within the fifth mountain, the spiritual transformations of the great yakṣa spirits counteract the difficulty of death; within the seventh mountain, the great dragon-kings counteract the difficulty of famine; within the eighth mountain, the assembly that has attained mastery counteracts the difficulty of the untamed; within the ninth mountain, the asuras' spells counteract the difficulty of evil karma; and within the tenth mountain, the self-mastering Four Heavenly Kings counteract the difficulty of hostile enemies.
That every one of these mountains "gathers within itself" means that, just as each matter spoken of is able to give rise to every thing. The words "gathered within, and never exhausted" mean that this proceeds in unbroken sequence, never ceasing and never resting. Those ten great mountains take their name through the great ocean, and the great ocean, too, takes its name through the great mountains. A bodhisattva's ten grounds are likewise just so: alike standing within the wisdom of all modes, they take their name through the wisdom of all modes — for cause and fruit mutually manifest one another. As the sūtra says, "Son of the Buddha! These ten great jewel mountain-kings alike stand within the great ocean, and take their name through the great ocean. Just so, son of the Buddha! A bodhisattva's ten grounds alike stand within the wisdom of all modes, and take their name through the wisdom of all modes." What, then, is the meritorious quality of the difficulty of crossing, and yet the ability to cross, to the great fruit?
On the mountain-and-ocean simile's closing analogy of mutual naming, Fazang draws out a claim distinctive to the Huayan tradition's own Perfect Teaching: 山因海故得高勝，海因山故得深廣⋯佛智如海，依起十地高深相顯，故云因果相顯也。是即一一山下皆有大海，一一地內皆有佛地，此是圓教中義。若餘教中，要十地後方到佛地，可思准之 — "the mountain, because of the ocean, attains loftiness and excellence; the ocean, because of the mountain, attains depth and breadth⋯the buddhas' own wisdom is like the ocean; in dependence on it, the ten grounds' loftiness and depth are manifest, and hence it is said that cause and fruit mutually manifest each other. This means that beneath each and every mountain there already lies the great ocean, and within each and every ground there already lies the buddha-ground — this is the meaning found within the Perfect Teaching. In other teachings, only after completing the ten grounds does one reach the buddha-ground; this may be pondered and compared." The buddha-ground, on this reading, is not a destination reached only at the path's end but already present beneath each ground along the way.
On why only eight of the ten mountains are called "purely jeweled" while the first two remain mere earth and stone, Fazang is explicit: 十山中除初雪山、香山，以是土石山故；餘八皆是金寶之山，故云純淨寶 — "among the ten mountains, excepting the first, the Snow Mountain, and the second, the Fragrant Mountain, since these are mountains of earth and stone, the remaining eight are all mountains of gold and jewels, and are hence called purely jeweled." He maps the two qualifying terms directly onto the grounds' own progress: the "grounds of revulsion" begin at the Third Ground, 彼以淨禪厭離煩惱，如寶純淨也 — "through pure meditative absorption they turn in revulsion from affliction, resembling a jewel's purity" — while the grounds of "excellent purity" begin at the Fourth, 以彼無流斷諸煩惱，如寶純淨也 — "through what is undefiled they sever every affliction, resembling a jewel's purity." The Snow and Fragrant Mountains, mapped to the First and Second Grounds, remain earth and stone precisely because those two grounds have not yet entered this purifying revulsion.
Part 51 Complete
This closes Part 51, opening the treatise's seventh and final major division, the division of the ground's own images. This part has translated the brief simile of the pond of Anavatapta and its four inexhaustible rivers, representing the meritorious quality of practice itself; and the full simile of the ten great mountain-kings — Himalaya, the Fragrant Mountain, Vaidehaka, the Mountain of Sages, Yugandhara, Horse-Ear Mountain, Nemindhara, Cakravāḍa, the mountain gathering every form, and Sumeru — named and mapped one by one, in their entirety, onto the surpassing quality attained on each of the ten grounds already translated across this project, together with the commentary's own account of why eight of these ten mountains are purely jeweled while two remain earth and stone, and of how six of them further counteract six named difficulties. Part 52 — the final part of this entire twelve-fascicle treatise — turns to the third and fourth similes of this closing division: the great ocean, illustrated through ten defining marks as the meritorious quality of a difficulty crossed, and the great wish-fulfilling jewel, illustrated through its own ten marks as the meritorious quality of thorough refinement and unshakeable firmness — before the treatise closes with its own final account of this dharma-gate's benefits, bringing the entire Treatise on the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds to its conclusion.
Continue to Part 52 — The Great Ocean, the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, and the Treatise's Own Close →