The following is an excerpt from Translating Totality in Parts: Chengguan's Commentaries and Subcommentaries to the Avatamsaka Sutra by Guo Cheen. Published by University Press of America.
Book launch on May 9, 2014. Please purchase and review the book on
Amazon.com that day!
Book review: "Guo Cheen has made a substantial contribution to contemporary Buddhist Studies. Chengguan's commentaries on the Avatamsaka/Huayan Sutra were among the most important endeavors in Chinese Buddhist philosophy. Having them now available in English translation extends our realization that the philosophy of 'interrelatedness' is one of the greatest gifts from the Buddhist tradition to our moment in time." -- Dale S. Wright, Gamble Distinguished Professor
of Religious Studies/Asian Studies, Occidental College
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Commentaries to the Flower Ornament Sūtra
with Greatly Proper and Extensive Discourses
by the Buddhas
Going and returning
without bounds,
the source of
movement and stillness is but one.
The extraneous
exists, for it contains a multitude of wonders;
the outstanding
soars, for it transcends words and thoughts
it can only be the Dharma Realm.
It splices and
shatters the esoteric and subtle,
illuminating and
expanding the mind and states.
It reaches noumena
exhaustively and the inherent nature thoroughly,
penetrating
consequences and covering causes.
An oceanic expanse
profound and profuse,
it is vast, huge,
and replete with everything.
It can only be The Flower Ornament Sūtra
with
Greatly Proper and Extensive Discourses by the Buddhas!
So
when our World Honored One’s
Ten Bodies were
initially perfected
and his Proper
Enlightenment first realized,
he rode about the
universe on his conduct and vows,
infusing into the
nature of his essence, emptiness
rich with myriad
virtues
swept clear of any
fiber of dust he has.
The translucent
waves of the pellucid sea of wisdom
nominally contain
the myriad phenomena.
The full moon in
the bright sky of his inherent nature
spontaneously
cascades into streams in the hundreds.
Without arising,
the king of trees
extends to seven
places in the Dharma Realm.
Without negating
future bounds,
upon his initial
realization, he proclaims flowingly at the nine assemblies.
Exhausting the vast
expanses of this profound study,
he blankets the
inconceivable, oceanic assemblies.
Droplets of
splendid sound flow forth
instantly circulating throughout
the ten lands.
Over and over
again, the host and his companions
simultaneously
sing to reach the edge of the ten directions.
Though emptiness is
emptied and devoid of one trace,
stars sparkle
across the sky of meaning.
Though stillness is
stilled and bereft of words,
waves in the
sea of teachings tumble tumultuously.
Thousands of gates
submerge only to gush forth,
casting a colossal
fountainhead with a multitude of texts
so that the myriad
of virtues intersect and return,
gathering-in
various sūtras as retinue.
This is the
purport.
The orphic true
body in the realm of a myriad of transformations
reveals virtues’
form at the gate of exceptional quandary.
Functions
flourish so they are everlasting;
wisdom pervasively mirrors and yet
is always still.
The true and the
false intersect thoroughly
so that through the
ordinary mind the mind of Buddhas is seen.
Cultivate both
phenomena and noumena
by relying
on fundamental wisdom while seeking the wisdom of the Buddhas.
Noumenon changes
according to phenomena
as boundless
conditions give rise to the one and the many.
Phenomena become
integrated with noumenon,
as thousands
of differences relate without impediment.
So the Ten Bodies
he attained are distinct but work together.
He interferes not
with the Six Positions and enfolds them furthermore.
They are so vast
they melt into ceaselessness.
Embraced and
accommodated by a dust or a hair,
nothing is outside of them.
Distinct and
radiant, they manifest simultaneously
like mustard seeds
in a jar.
Complete and
concurrent,
they are droplets
occupying the sea.
Obstructing neither
one nor many,
equivalent to a
thousand lamps in an empty hall.
Delivering both
concealment and revelation,
such as a slice
of moon in the autumn sky.
Layers and layers
of their reflections intersect,
as if those on the
dangling pearls of the Lord’s Net.
Perfect and
interpenetrating are they in thought after thought,
similar to
centuries in a dream overnight.
The Dharma doors
stack up,
like clouds,
mounting across the long sky.
The scent of their
myriad of conduct drapes over,
comparable to
flowers blooming on brocades.
Too lofty to
behold,
just as Bodhisattva
Accumulating Conduct
exposes himself like a
dessicated fish at the dragon gate,
Too profound to
catch a glimpse of,
just as the
supremely virtuous Sound Hearers
were visually and aurally obstructed at the celebratory assembly.
Seeing and hearing
are seeds
in transcending the
Eight Difficulties as steps to the Ten Stages.
Personally practice
understanding and action,
in one lifetime,
the fruits of vast eons are perfected.
The lion bolts
the oceanic
multitudes spontaneously reach certification in the forest.
The elephant king
turns
six-thousand
realize the Way as soon as the words fall.
His enlightened
explanation at the Eastern temple
shows that his
wisdom is full, no different than the initial mindstate.
Entrusted with
positions, he sought southward
consummating
causes without having to exceed the bounds of a pore.
In dissecting the
fascicles of the Sūtra in a particle,
fruitions are
realized in thought after thought.
Through the door of
fulfilling sentient beings’ vows,
his conduct is
perfected in dust mote after dust mote.
Truly it can be
called wondrous articulation throughout forever,
as these prevalent
rules are versatile for any direction.
An ultimate expression
that matches the inherent nature
and the essential
track of the One Vehicle.
In the search for
the esoteric aim,
I have browsed
other sūtras;
but this one is
like the radiant sun on a sunny day,
robbing brilliance
from numerous other scenes,
as if Sumeru across
the seas,
clipping the
heights of summits in multiples.
Hence the
Bodhisattva searched for the mystical in the Dragon Palace
and greatly worthy
ones proclaimed it in China.
Concerned only
about how in the era of the Proper Dharma
a clear
illumination is shrouded still.
Fortunately during
the concluding hours of the Image Age,
we occasion
mysterious transformations.
Not to mention
encountering a sagely lord
at the top of
Vulture Peak.
So we ponder
earnestly the mysteries of this School
how can we
not jump for joy?
The title The
Flower Ornament Sūtra
with
Greatly Proper and Extensive Discourses by the Buddhas
is a general name
for an inexhaustible sūtra.
Chapter one,
Wondrous Adornments of Leaders of Worlds,
is a distinct
topic for a variety of meaning in these sections.
“Greatly” vastly
covers boundlessness.
“Proper” upholds
the orthodox Dharma on its own.
“Extensive
discourses” reach with their consistent essence.
“Buddhas” awaken to
that which is esoteric and wondrous.
“Flower” is a
metaphor for the meritorious virtues of a myriad of conduct.
“Ornament” refers
to the adorned Dharmas that make for people.
“Sūtra” is the eternal spring pouring
forth,
threading the
wonderful meanings mystically coalesced
and gathering-in
limitless seas of assemblies
as the perpetual
guidelines throughout eternity.
Buddhas and all
kings
are both called
lords of worlds.
All Dharma doors
that rely on externals
are termed
wondrous ornaments.
Divided into types
of meanings to clarify the titles of books,
the crowning
chapter among them is called the first.
This Sūtra contains 39 books.
This chapter is
initial in form,
therefore it
is named Chapter One of The Flower
Ornament Sūtra
with
Greatly Proper and Extensive Discourses by the Buddhas.
大方廣佛華嚴經疏
往復無際、動靜一源．含眾妙而有餘、超言思而逈出者，其唯法界歟。剖裂玄微、 昭廓心境．窮理盡性、徹果該因．汪洋冲融、廣大悉備
者．其唯大方廣佛華嚴經焉。故我世尊十身初滿。正覺始成。乘願行以彌綸。混虛空為體性。富有萬德。蕩無纖塵。湛智海之澄波。虛含萬象。皦性空之滿月。頓落百川。不起樹王。羅七處於法界。無違後際。暢九會於初成。盡宏廓之幽宗．被難思之海會．圓音落落，
該十剎而頓周．主伴重重，極十方而齊唱。雖空空絕跡。而義天之星象燦然。湛湛亡言。而教海之波爛浩澣。若乃千門潛注。與眾典為洪源。萬德交歸。攝群經為眷屬。其為旨也。冥真體於萬化之域。顯德相於重玄之門。用繁興以恒如。智周鑑而常靜。真妄交徹。即凡心而見佛心。事理雙修。依本智而求佛智。理隨事變。則一多緣起之無邊。事得理融。則千差涉入而無礙。故得十身歷然而相作。六位不亂而更收。廣大即入於無間。塵毛包納而無外。炳然齊現。猶彼芥瓶。具足同時。方之海滴。一多無礙。等虛室之千燈。隱顯俱成。似秋空之片月。重重交映。若帝網之垂珠。念念圓融。類夕夢之經世。法門重疊。若雲起長空。萬行芬披。比華開錦上。若夫高不可仰。則積行菩薩曝腮鱗於龍門。深不可闚。則上德聲聞杜視聽於嘉會。見聞為種。八難超十地之階。解行在躬。一生圓曠劫之果。師子奮迅。眾海頓證於林中。象王迴旋。六千道成於言下。啟明東廟。智滿不異於初心。寄位南求。因圓不逾於毛孔。剖微塵之經卷。則念念果成。盡眾生之願門。則塵塵行滿。真可謂常恒之妙說。通方之洪規。稱性之極談。一乘之要軌也。尋斯玄旨。卻覽餘經。其猶杲日麗天。奪眾景之耀。須彌橫海。落群峰之高。是以菩薩搜祕於龍宮。大賢闡揚於東夏。顧惟正法之代。尚匿清輝。幸哉像季之時。偶斯玄化況逢聖主。得在靈山。竭思幽宗。豈無慶躍。題稱大方廣佛華嚴經者。即無盡修多羅之總名。世主妙嚴品第一者。即眾篇義類之別目。大以曠兼無際。方以正法自持。廣則稱體而周。佛謂覺斯玄妙。華喻功德萬行。嚴謂飾法成人。經乃注無竭之涌泉。貫玄凝之妙義。攝無邊之海會。作終古之常規。佛及諸王。並稱世主。法門依正。俱曰妙嚴。分義類以彰品名。冠群篇而稱第一。斯經有三十九品。此品建初。故云大方廣佛華嚴經。
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