Twenty-Four Kinds, and Ten Beholdings of Vairocana
Answering what state her Dharma-gate contemplates, the night-deva first describes the bodhisattva's own ocean of practice in twenty-four manifold clauses, then turns to Vairocana Buddha himself in ten beholdings — body, light, cloud, mark, and manifested body after manifested body — each closing on the same refrain: having beheld this, boundless joy. She ends by declaring that the one who arises is not one who arises, the one who sees is not one who sees.
Twenty-Four Kinds: The Bodhisattva's Own Ocean
「復次，善男子！我常觀察菩薩大海種種願行、種種淨身、種種淨光、種種光焰、種種諸道，趣薩婆若，入種種三昧海；顯現種種自在神力；出生種種妙音聲海、種種妙莊嚴身、種種方便入如來海；往詣種種諸佛剎海；究竟種種諸如來海；深入種種諸辯才海；普照種種如來境界；成就種種諸智慧海；超度種種三昧印海；安住種種遊戲法門；以種種門趣薩婆若；種種莊嚴虛空法界；種種莊嚴雲普覆虛空；觀察種種諸大眾海；十方世界一切剎中，諸如來所，菩薩眷屬，普雨種種妙莊嚴雲，皆悉來會，安處種種莊嚴之座，深入如來方便大海，行諸法海，度種種智海。我見此已，起無量歡喜，與佛力等。」
"Furthermore, good son, I constantly contemplate the great ocean of the bodhisattva: manifold vows and practices, manifold pure bodies, manifold pure lights, manifold blazing radiances, manifold paths tending toward all-wisdom, entering the manifold ocean of samādhi; manifesting manifold sovereign spiritual powers; giving rise to the manifold ocean of sublime sounds, manifold sublimely adorned bodies, manifold skillful means for entering the ocean of the Tathāgata; going to the manifold ocean of every buddha-land; reaching the very end of the manifold ocean of every tathāgata; entering deeply into the manifold ocean of every eloquence; universally illumining the manifold state of the Tathāgata; accomplishing the manifold ocean of every wisdom; transcending the manifold ocean of the seal of every samādhi; abiding in manifold gates of playful mastery; through manifold gates, tending toward all-wisdom; manifold adornments of the Dharma-realm of space; manifold adorned clouds universally covering space; contemplating the manifold ocean of every great assembly; and, within every land of every world of the ten directions, at the place of every tathāgata, the bodhisattva's own retinue universally raining down manifold sublimely adorned clouds, all of them gathering together, dwelling at ease upon manifold adorned thrones, entering deeply into the great ocean of the Tathāgata's own skillful means, practicing the ocean of every dharma, and crossing the manifold ocean of wisdom. Having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy, equal to the buddha's own power."
Fazang counts this section exactly: 前中，有二十四句種種：初自分德中差別德；從種種方便入如來下明勝進入果差別德 — "within this, there are twenty-four clauses of 'manifold'; the first show the differentiated virtues within one's own portion; beginning with 'manifold skillful means for entering the Tathāgata,' the rest reveal the differentiated virtues of supreme advancement entering the fruit." Twenty-four is the exact count this translation preserves, clause for clause. The word repeated twenty-four times, 種種 — rendered here as "manifold" — is doing real work: it refuses to let any single vow, body, light, or ocean stand as the type. Every one of the bodhisattva's own attainments is presented as inherently plural, never a single instance to be admired but a whole class of variation folded into one word, over and over.
Ten Beholdings of Vairocana, and a Refusal of Arising
「又，善男子！盧舍那佛不可思議清淨色身，相好莊嚴；我見此已，起無量歡喜。盧舍那佛於念念中，放法界等光，普照一切諸法界海；我見是已，起無量歡喜。盧舍那佛於念念中，一一毛孔，放無量佛剎微塵等光，一一光明，有無量佛剎微塵等光以為眷屬，普照一切，充滿法界，除滅眾生一切苦惱；我見是已，起無量歡喜。
盧舍那佛於念念中，從頂上、兩肩上，放一切佛剎微塵等寶光山雲，普照一切，充滿法界；我見是已，起無量歡喜。盧舍那佛一一毛孔，放一切佛剎微塵等香雲，普熏十方一切佛剎；我見是已，起無量歡喜。盧舍那佛一一相中，出一切佛剎微塵等相，充滿一切諸世界海；我見是已，起無量歡喜。盧舍那佛一一毛孔，出一切佛剎微塵等自在力雲，初發心等清淨波羅蜜，莊嚴菩薩諸地；我見是已，起無量歡喜。盧舍那佛一一毛孔，念念出生不可說不可說佛剎微塵等諸龍王身，為見龍身而受化故；又出不可說不可說佛剎微塵等諸夜叉身，乾闥婆、阿脩羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽等身，為見彼身而受化故；我見是已，起無量歡喜。盧舍那佛一一毛孔，出不可說不可說佛剎微塵等轉輪王身雲，七寶成就，神力自在，充滿法界，為見彼身而受化故；我見是已，起無量歡喜。盧舍那佛一一毛孔，出不可說不可說佛剎微塵等梵王身雲，出淨梵音，為眾生說法，為見聞彼而受化故；我見是已，於念念中，起無量歡喜，悉與法界薩婆若等，起者非起，得者非得，見者非見，入者非入，度者非度，滿者非滿，聞者非聞。何以故？分別了知法界性故，解三世法悉一性故。佛子！此菩薩無量歡喜莊嚴法門，有如是等無量境界。」
"And, good son, Vairocana Buddha's own inconceivable, pure form-body, adorned with excellent marks — having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy. Vairocana Buddha, within every single thought-moment, releases light equal to the whole Dharma-realm, universally illumining the whole ocean of every Dharma-realm — having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy. Vairocana Buddha, within every single thought-moment, from every single pore, releases boundless light equal in number to motes of dust in every buddha-land, and each and every ray of this light has, as its own retinue, boundless light equal in number to motes of dust in every buddha-land, universally illumining all, filling the Dharma-realm entirely, extinguishing every affliction of every sentient being — having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy.
"Vairocana Buddha, within every single thought-moment, from the crown of his head and from both his shoulders, releases clouds of jeweled, radiant mountains equal in number to motes of dust in every buddha-land, universally illumining all, filling the Dharma-realm entirely — having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy. Vairocana Buddha, from every single pore, releases clouds of fragrance equal in number to motes of dust in every buddha-land, universally perfuming every buddha-land of the ten directions — having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy. Vairocana Buddha, within every single mark, sends forth marks equal in number to motes of dust in every buddha-land, filling the whole ocean of every world entirely — having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy. Vairocana Buddha, from every single pore, sends forth clouds of sovereign power equal in number to motes of dust in every buddha-land — the pure pāramitās from the first raising of the mind onward, adorning every ground of the bodhisattva — having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy. Vairocana Buddha, from every single pore, within every single thought-moment, gives rise to bodies of nāga-kings unspeakably numerous, equal to motes of dust in every buddha-land, so that beings might behold a nāga's own body and thereby be transformed; and he further gives rise to bodies of yakṣas unspeakably numerous, equal to motes of dust in every buddha-land, and bodies of gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, so that beings might behold these bodies and thereby be transformed — having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy. Vairocana Buddha, from every single pore, gives rise to clouds of the bodies of wheel-turning kings unspeakably numerous, equal to motes of dust in every buddha-land, accomplished in the seven treasures, sovereign in spiritual power, filling the Dharma-realm entirely, so that beings might behold these bodies and thereby be transformed — having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy. Vairocana Buddha, from every single pore, gives rise to clouds of the bodies of Brahmā-kings unspeakably numerous, equal to motes of dust in every buddha-land, sending forth the pure voice of Brahmā, expounding the Dharma for sentient beings, so that beings might see and hear him and thereby be transformed — having beheld this, within every single thought-moment, I give rise to boundless joy, entirely equal to the Dharma-realm and to all-wisdom: the one who arises is not one who arises, the one who attains is not one who attains, the one who sees is not one who sees, the one who enters is not one who enters, the one who crosses over is not one who crosses over, the one who is fulfilled is not one who is fulfilled, and the one who hears is not one who hears. Why is this so? Because I discern and know the very nature of the Dharma-realm, and understand that the dharmas of the three times are all of a single nature. Child of the Buddha, this bodhisattva's own Dharma-gate of the Adornment of Boundless Joy holds boundless states such as these."
Fazang divides the ten beholdings of Vairocana by exactly what kind of adornment each reveals: 先有十門觀佛境相用，各先見佛果莊嚴、後生無量歡喜。初三身光嚴、次二光雲嚴、次二行相嚴、後三出眾嚴 — "first there are ten gates contemplating the buddha's own state, appearance, and function, each first showing the fruit-adornment of the buddha and then giving rise to boundless joy: the first three, the adornment of body and light; the next two, the adornment of light and cloud; the next two, the adornment of practice and appearance; the last three, the adornment of the emerging assembly." The escalation across these ten is worth tracing: light gives way to fragrance and mountain-clouds of jewels, marks give way to pāramitās adorning the bodhisattva grounds, and only then, in the final three, does Vairocana's own body give rise to entire populations — nāga-kings, yakṣas, wheel-turning kings, Brahmā-kings — each manifested body existing solely so that a being drawn to that particular form might, through it, be transformed.
The closing sevenfold negation, Fazang reads as answering its own refrain directly: 二起者非起下明所見身光相用等。起則非起，明用而常寂故，能喜所喜俱平等無性也 — "second, beginning with 'the one who arises is not one who arises,' reveals that the body, light, appearance, and function just beheld — arising, and yet not arising — because function is, in this way, constantly still; the one who rejoices and that which is rejoiced over are both equally without any fixed nature of their own." Ten times the account has just said "having beheld this, I give rise to boundless joy" — and now it withdraws even that joy from any fixed ground, joy and joy-giver alike dissolving into the single nature of the Dharma-realm the moment either is examined closely.
Part 78 In Progress
The state this Dharma-gate contemplates has now been given in full — twenty-four manifold aspects of the bodhisattva's own ocean, and ten beholdings of Vairocana himself, each dissolved at the close into a single, ungraspable nature. Part 79 turns to the third and fourth questions: what skillful means this Dharma-gate employs, given through thirty-two gates of simile, and what practice first produced it.
Continue to Part 79 →