華嚴念佛三昧論

The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana states: “All sentient beings cannot be called awakened, because from beginningless time their thought after thought has continued without ever being free from thought.” Thought is non-awakening. Buddha is awakening. Mindfulness of the Buddha means using awakening to bring non-awakening under control and return it to the ocean of Right Awakening.

The Avatamsaka contains all the samadhis of the Buddhas, yet among them the Buddha-Remembrance Samadhi is the king of all samadhis.

“Great”: no Dharma surpasses this Dharma.

“Vaipulya”: no Dharma surpasses this Dharma.

“Extensive”: no Dharma surpasses this Dharma.

The layman Tri Qui has practiced mindfulness of the Buddha for more than ten years and has also delved deeply into the ocean of meaning of the Avatamsaka. Recently, while passing through Zhenjiang, he showed me the Treatise on the Avatamsaka Buddha-Remembrance Samadhi that he had composed. The writings of Masters Thanh Lương and Táo Bá contain words as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, yet he has expounded them anew in five or six thousand words.

Only then did I understand that the Commentary and Subcommentary and the Synthetic Treatise are not too extensive, and that this treatise is not too brief. Moreover, when Master Táo Bá composed his treatise, the complete Practices and Vows chapter had not yet been transmitted to China; therefore, regarding the Pure Lands of other directions, he held a different view. Once that chapter had circulated in full, it was still necessary to await this Treatise on the Avatamsaka Buddha-Remembrance Samadhi before its meaning could be fully revealed.

Surely it was through the empowering spiritual power of Amitabha Buddha that the layman was able to teach the Dharma according to circumstances and guide all people.

I reflect that practitioners of the Pure Land who are mindful of the Buddha transform the defiled blood of the afflictions into pure Dharma milk. Through mindfulness of the Buddha they attain samadhi; this is thought returning to no-thought, transforming fresh milk into ripened curds. Abiding in samadhi and diligently practicing mindfulness of the Buddha is no-thought that nevertheless thinks, transforming ripened curds into fresh butter.

Through the Buddha-Remembrance Samadhi, they pass universally through all samadhis and thereafter fully perfect the Buddha-Remembrance Samadhi, transforming fresh butter into clarified butter. Because the Buddha-Remembrance Samadhi encompasses all immeasurable, boundless, ineffable samadhis, and because immeasurable, boundless, ineffable samadhis are gathered into the Buddha-Remembrance Samadhi, Buddha is itself thought and thought is itself Buddha; it is neither thought nor Buddha.

Its wondrous spiritual powers are inconceivable: this is transforming clarified butter into ghee.

If one cannot transform milk into curds, then although one practices mindfulness of the Buddha, one cannot attain the gateway of samadhi. If one cannot transform curds into butter, then one cannot use the Buddha-Remembrance Samadhi to gather all the ineffable gateways of samadhi. If one cannot transform butter and curds into ghee, then one cannot use the single gateway of mindfulness of the Buddha to ascend directly through the Ten Grounds and Equal Awakening, attain the wisdom of the Great Perfect Mirror, and personally realize unsurpassed bodhi.

Mindfulness of the Buddha is without distinctions, but samadhi may be shallow or profound. Whether samadhi is shallow or profound depends upon the differences among those who practice mindfulness of the Buddha.

I, Văn Trị, delighted in practicing Chan from the time I was in my twenties, but only after the age of forty did I also begin practicing mindfulness of the Buddha. In recent years, I have taken mindfulness of the Buddha as Chan and cultivated Chan and Pure Land together into my old age. How would I dare bring forth my own understanding to question the layman? I merely hope to receive his instruction.

The third month, Spring, in the Giáp Thìn year (1784)

Composed by Vương Văn Trị, a student of Non-Remainder.

The Dharma gateway of mindfulness of the Buddha is praised in all the sutras, but broadly speaking, it has two principal approaches: universal mindfulness and exclusive mindfulness.

Sutras such as the Sutra on Contemplating the Oceanic Marks of the Buddha and the Sutra of the Buddha’s Inconceivable Realm speak only of universal mindfulness. The Sutra of the Medicine Master Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata, the Sutra of Akshobhya Buddha, and the Sutra of Infinite Life specifically teach exclusive mindfulness. This Avatamsaka Sutra teaches that the one and the many mutually enter one another, that host and companion interpenetrate, and that self is other and other is self; thus it is both exclusive and universal. I shall now briefly present five gateways that run throughout this entire sutra.

1. The gateway of mindfulness of the Buddha’s Dharma body, which directly reveals the intrinsic nature of sentient beings.

2. The gateway of mindfulness of the Buddha’s virtues, from which arise the reward bodies and transformation bodies of the Buddhas.

3. The gateway of mindfulness of the Buddha’s name, which accomplishes the most excellent means of purification.

4. The gateway of mindfulness of Vairocana Buddha, which enables one swiftly to enter the Avatamsaka Dharma realm.

5. The gateway of mindfulness of Amitabha Buddha in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, which brings Samantabhadra’s great vows to complete perfection.

Finally, questions and answers are used to resolve doubts, so that all who see or hear may return to the path of the One Vehicle.

1. Mindfulness of the Buddha’s Dharma body, which directly reveals the intrinsic nature of sentient beings:

Our inherent nature is quiescent and luminous, pervading lands as numerous as motes of dust. The Buddhas realize nothing other than the complete realization of the intrinsic nature of sentient beings.

The Manifestation of the Tathagata chapter states: “A bodhisattva-mahasattva should know that within their own mind, in every thought, there is always a Buddha attaining Right Awakening. Why is this? Because all Buddha-Tathagatas do not attain Right Awakening apart from this mind. Just as it is with one’s own mind, so it is with the minds of all sentient beings: in them all, a Tathagata attains vast, universal Perfect and Equal Awakening, present everywhere, neither departing nor ceasing, and never coming to rest.”

It also states: “There is not a single sentient being who does not fully possess the Tathagata’s wisdom. It is only because of deluded thoughts, inverted views, and attachments that they cannot realize it. If they relinquish deluded thoughts, then omniscient wisdom, natural wisdom, and unobstructed wisdom will immediately manifest before them.”

What does it mean to relinquish deluded thoughts? One must know that the inverted views and attachments of sentient beings are entirely the Dharma body of the Buddhas. Why?

Because inverted views and attachments are always intrinsically quiescent and extinguished. When one enters through this faith, the Dharma body of the Buddhas manifests everywhere, pure and perfectly complete, admitting nothing else within it. Thought after thought, one is not deluded; mind after mind, one does not abide.

From this, one gives rise to practice replete with great compassion and consummate great loving-kindness, without attachment to a self, attachment to cultivation, or abiding in dharmas. Passing through the stages of the Ten Abodes, Ten Practices, Ten Dedications, Ten Grounds, and the eleventh ground, one never departs from the present thought; cause and effect are brought to perfect fulfillment. Thus it is said: “Upon first giving rise to the mind of bodhi, one immediately attains Right Awakening.” The Worthy Leader chapter and the Merits of First Giving Rise to the Mind chapter explain this matter in detail.

By practicing mindfulness of the Buddha in this way, one can behold the Tathagata’s body everywhere. In the Awakening Through Radiance chapter, the Blessed One emits tens of billions of rays of light from this trichiliocosm, illuminating the ten directions throughout the Dharma realm and the realm of empty space. Manjushri then speaks verses teaching people to transcend all views of existence and nonexistence, unity and difference, arising and cessation, coming and going, and to contemplate the Tathagata as present everywhere.

This is entry into right faith in the Buddha.

The Appearance of the Tathagata chapter also says: “Great bodhisattvas should not behold the Tathagata in a single Dharma, a single event, a single body, a single land, or a single sentient being; rather, they should behold the Tathagata everywhere. It is like empty space, which extends throughout all places, whether material or immaterial, yet neither arrives nor fails to arrive. Why is this?

Because empty space has no body. The body of the Tathagata is likewise present throughout all places, all sentient beings, all dharmas, and all lands, yet it neither arrives nor fails to arrive. Why is this?

Because the body of the Tathagata is no body; nevertheless, in order to liberate sentient beings, the Tathagata manifests a body.” It further says: “Bodhisattva-mahasattvas, by means of unobstructed wisdom, know that the realms of all worlds are the realm of the Tathagata; they know that the realms of all three times, the realms of all lands, the realms of all dharmas, the realms of all sentient beings, the undifferentiated realm of suchness, the unobstructed realm of the Dharma body, the boundless realm of ultimate reality, the immeasurable realm of empty space, and the realm of no realm are all the realm of the Tathagata.

O son of the Buddha! Just as the realms of all worlds are immeasurable, so too is the realm of the Tathagata immeasurable. Just as the realms of all three times are immeasurable, so too is the realm of the Tathagata immeasurable; and so it is through to the immeasurable realm of no realm—the realm of the Tathagata is likewise immeasurable.

Just as the realm of no realm is nowhere to be found, so too is the realm of the Tathagata nowhere to be found.”

Why is this? Because the wisdom of one’s own mind is originally unobstructed, and unobstructed wisdom itself is the realm of the Tathagata. This is called Recollection of the Buddha of Self-Nature, and is also called Self-Nature’s Recollection of the Buddha.

Self-Nature’s Recollection of the Buddha means that outside the Buddha there is no subject who recollects the Buddha. Recollection of the Buddha of Self-Nature means that there is no Buddha outside oneself serving as the object of recollection. Upon deeply entering this Dharma gate, one ultimately realizes that the Buddha who is recollected is not the final truth, for it is only through failing to know that the Dharma body is one’s own nature that one supposes there is a separate Buddha.

When one enters this Dharma gate, the merit of a single thought is vaster than empty space and without measure.

2. Recollecting the Buddha’s merits in order to give rise to the Buddha’s reward body and transformation body:

All Tathagatas, in accordance with the measure of the dharmadhatu, manifest various bodies, display inexhaustible adornments, and perform boundless Buddha-work; all take universally illuminating wisdom as their essence. As recorded in the Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the Worlds chapter: “Their wisdom enters the three times, all of which are equal; their bodies fill the worlds; and the voices with which they teach the Dharma accord with sentient beings throughout the lands of the ten directions.

They are like empty space encompassing all forms, without the slightest discrimination toward any realm. Because this wisdom is inconceivable and not partial, and because it fully possesses such powers and functions, even one who remains at the stage of an ordinary being, upon hearing the Dharma and awakening to the principle, attains fundamental wisdom. If one cannot rely upon wisdom to initiate practice in which cultivation and realization are both perfect and complete, but instead falls into the realm of the Two Vehicles of the sravakas, then the great function of all Buddhas cannot become manifest.”

Therefore, the six chapters of the first assembly of the Avatamsaka Sutra present entirely the virtues of the Tathagata’s fruition. The thirty-two chapters from the second through the eighth assemblies explain the stages of progressive cultivation leading directly to perfect enlightenment. In summary, they do not go beyond the six stages of cause and fruition, enabling practitioners to expand their wisdom and carry out the practices, without falling into a one-sided attachment to emptiness, so as to adorn the Buddha lands.

Yet the Samadhi of Samantabhadra chapter in the first assembly chiefly presents the entirety of the Buddha’s Avatamsaka teaching. The sutra says that Bodhisattva Samantabhadra entered the samadhi of the treasury-body of Vairocana of all Buddhas. On the basis of the dharmadhatu, this samadhi accords with the nature and pervades all lands as numerous as motes of dust; it manifests bodies everywhere to teach and transform sentient beings, does not abandon the defilements of worldly toil, and brings forth great function.

In accordance with the capacities of sentient beings, it expounds the Formation of the Worlds chapter, followed by the Flower Treasury World chapter, to reveal pure and defiled lands—all of which are nothing but mind. Those who deeply enter the ocean of Samantabhadra’s great vows see every place as a Buddha land and every moment as Buddha-work. This Samadhi of Samantabhadra chapter runs throughout the entire sutra; one will see this for oneself by examining the text of the Avatamsaka Sutra.

Later, in the chapter where the youth Sudhana visits the spiritual benefactors, from Bhiksu Meghasri to the Elder Liberation and the layman Vesticila, they all attain liberation through a single gate of Buddha-recollection. As Meghasri says: “I have attained the power of decisive, unobstructed understanding; the purified eye of faith; the radiance of wisdom that illuminates and examines all realms without obstruction; and the luminous eye that universally beholds everything.

I fully possess the pure practice of traveling to all lands throughout the ten directions, reverently making offerings to all Buddhas, constantly recollecting all Buddha-Tathagatas, retaining all the true Dharma of the Buddhas, and constantly beholding all Buddhas throughout the ten directions.” From the words “I have attained the power of decisive, unobstructed understanding” onward, the passage speaks of recollecting the Buddha’s Dharma body.

From the words “traveling to all lands throughout the ten directions” onward, it speaks of recollecting the Buddha’s reward body and transformation body.

In accordance with the Dharma body, the reward body and transformation body arise. Because the Dharma body is immeasurable, the reward bodies and transformation bodies manifested in response to beings are likewise immeasurable. Therefore, the following passage of the sutra says: “He beheld one Buddha, two Buddhas, ten Buddhas, a hundred Buddhas, a thousand Buddhas, a hundred thousand Buddhas, and so forth, up to ineffably ineffable numbers of Buddhas within Buddha lands as numerous as motes of dust in the east.

As in the east, so too did he behold them in the south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, and the two directions above and below.” This is called the Dharma gate in which, through mindfulness and recollection of the realms of all Buddhas, the radiance of wisdom beholds all Buddhas. The Buddhas have no other realm; they merely use the radiance of wisdom to accord with sentient beings and perform Buddha-work.

The practitioner of Buddha-recollection here is likewise so: because faith and understanding are complete, one can enter the Buddha’s wisdom; because contemplative practice is complete, one can behold the Buddha’s radiance. The radiance of wisdom is not obtained from another; it is only through causes and conditions that the radiance of wisdom becomes manifest. The subsequent passage of the Avatamsaka Sutra further unfolds twenty-one gates of Buddha-recollection extending throughout the ten directions and the three times, and to every place upon the tip of every hair: in each thought, Buddhas appear in the world; in each thought, Buddhas teach the Dharma; and in each thought, Buddhas enter nirvana.

All take the boundless wisdom and practice of one’s own mind as their essence. The three bodies—the Dharma body, reward body, and transformation body—are originally complete, responding within a single thought. This is called the Buddha-Recollection Samadhi.

Entering this gate of samadhi enables one to encompass all gates of samadhi.

Elder Liberation said: “I enter and emerge from the Tathagata’s gateway of unobstructed, magnificent liberation, and I see Tathagatas as numerous as the minute dust motes in ten Buddha-lands throughout the ten directions. Those Tathagatas do not come here, nor do I go to where those Tathagatas are. If I wish to see Amitabha Tathagata in the world of the West, I see him immediately, just as I wish.

If I wish to see Vajra Radiant Light Tathagata in the Sandalwood world, Precious Radiant Light Tathagata in the Wondrous Fragrance world, Precious Lotus Radiant Light Tathagata in the Lotus world, Quiescent Light Tathagata in the Wondrous Gold world, Akshobhya Tathagata in the Wondrous Joy world, Lion Tathagata in the Well-Abiding world, Moon Enlightenment Tathagata in the Realm of Radiant Light world, or Vairocana Tathagata in the Precious Lion Adornment world, I see all such Tathagatas.

I know that all Buddhas, and even my own mind, are like dreams. I know that all Buddhas, and even my own mind, are all like echoes. Knowing thus and recollecting thus, I understand that the Buddhas I see are all manifestations of my own mind.” Unobstructed, magnificent liberation means transcending all characteristics while accomplishing all characteristics.

Although everything is like a dream or an illusion, the realms of dreams and illusions are nevertheless not destroyed. Those who do not enter this Dharma gateway of dreams and illusions are like Shariputra, Mahamaudgalyayana, and the others: although they were present in Jeta Grove, they still did not perceive the realm of the Tathagata’s spiritual powers, because their roots of goodness differed.

The layman Bhishmottaranirghosha said: “When I opened the stupa of the Seated Sandalwood Tathagata, I attained a samadhi called the Inexhaustible Seed of Buddhahood. Upon entering this samadhi, in accordance with its successive stages, I saw all the Buddhas of this world, namely Kasyapa Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, Krakucchanda Buddha, Sikhin Buddha, Vipasyin Buddha, Pushya Buddha, Supreme Victory Buddha, and Supreme Lotus Buddha, with the aforementioned Buddhas as the leaders.

In the interval of a single thought, I saw one hundred Buddhas, one thousand Buddhas, one hundred thousand Buddhas, and even Buddhas as numerous as the minute dust motes in ineffably ineffable worlds.” This inexhaustible seed of Buddhahood arises entirely from Samantabhadra’s vows and practices and is accomplished through the four inexhaustible statements. They are: When the realm of space is exhausted, the realm of sentient beings is exhausted, the karma of sentient beings is exhausted, and the afflictions of sentient beings are exhausted, only then will my vows be exhausted.

Yet because the realm of space, through to afflictions, is inexhaustible, the seed of Buddhahood is therefore inexhaustible. Thus it is said: “I know that all Tathagatas throughout the ten directions ultimately do not enter parinirvana.” Hence, one should know that the reward bodies and transformation bodies of the Buddhas encompass every number. As the Chapter on Asamkhyeya speaks of “pervading all time,” the Chapter on the Tathagata’s Lifespan speaks of “pervading all space,” and the Chapter on the Dwelling Places of Bodhisattvas says: “Recollecting the Buddha in this way, the two extremes are equal, arising and cessation are of one suchness, and there is no interruption throughout all future kalpas.”

3. Recollecting the Buddha’s Name to Accomplish the Most Excellent Skillful Means:

The Dharma body has no form or characteristics and provisionally borrows names in order to be revealed. The boundless reward bodies and transformation bodies are fully known by means of names. A verse of praise in the Sumeru Chapter says:

“Better to endure the sufferings of hell

And hear the Buddha’s name

Than to enjoy immeasurable pleasures

And not hear the Buddha’s name.”

The reason we have endured suffering and wandered through birth and death for countless kalpas in past lives is that we did not hear the Buddha’s name. Merely hearing the Buddha’s name plants a wholesome cause; how much more so does constantly and continuously recollecting it.”

As recorded in the Manjusri Prajnaparamita Sutra: “Those who wish to enter the One-Practice Samadhi should dwell in a secluded place, abandon all distracted thoughts, refrain from grasping at appearances, focus the mind upon one Buddha, and exclusively recite that Buddha’s name. Facing the direction in which that Buddha abides, they should sit upright and continuously focus their recollection upon that one Buddha. Within this recollection, they will see the Buddhas of the past, future, and present. Why is this? Because the merit of recollecting one Buddha is equal to the merit of recollecting immeasurable Buddhas.”

The Amitabha Sutra likewise takes holding fast to the Name as the principal cause for rebirth in the Pure Land. One should therefore know that the merit of the Name is inconceivable.

As a verse of praise in the Tushita Chapter says:

Taking the Buddha as one’s sphere,

Recollecting him single-mindedly without rest,

This person will behold Buddhas

As numerous as the thoughts in the mind.

The Chief Worthy Chapter says:

If one constantly recollects the Buddha with an unwavering mind,

One will certainly always behold immeasurable Buddhas.

If one always beholds immeasurable Buddhas,

One will surely see the eternally abiding essence of the Tathagata.

The former verse discusses holding the Name and therefore speaks of “number”; the latter encompasses both the reward body and the transformation body in order to penetrate the Dharma body and therefore speaks of “immeasurable.” However, people know only measurable numbers and do not know the number that transcends measure. They know the name of what is within number but do not know the name of what transcends number. Knowing the name that transcends number, one may recollect throughout the entire day yet has never recollected. Knowing the number that transcends measure, recollecting one Buddha encompasses all Buddhas.

The Chapter on the Light of the Tathagata’s Secondary Marks records: “When I speak of ‘self,’ I do not grasp at a self or at what belongs to a self. All Buddhas are likewise: they themselves say that they are Buddhas, yet they do not grasp at a self or at what belongs to a self.”

Those who are just entering this gateway, however, must rely upon numbers. Each day they should establish a fixed course of practice, proceeding from one recitation to ten thousand, and from ten thousand to one hundred million, so that their recollection never departs from the Buddha and the Buddha is not different from the mind. It is like the moon in the water, though the moon is not actually in the water; or like spring upon a flowering branch, though spring is not outside the flowering branch.

When the Buddha is recollected in this way, the Name itself is the Dharma body, because the nature of the Name cannot be apprehended. The Dharma body itself is the Name, because the Dharma body is present everywhere. Even the reward body and transformation body are not different from the Name; likewise, the Name is not different from the reward body and transformation body.

Therefore, the Chapter on the Names of the Tathagata says: “The name of a single Tathagata is equal to the Dharma realm and the realm of space; according to the minds of sentient beings, each sees and understands it differently.” From this one may fully understand that all the names of the world are names of the Buddha, and that merely invoking any one Buddha-name encompasses all the names of the world.

The Vairocana Chapter cites Buddhas of the past who bore different names, yet the single name Vairocana encompasses them all, because all Buddhas possess the Vairocana body-treasury, which has never differed from the beginning. Thus, in recollecting the Buddha and receiving and upholding the name of one Buddha, one gathers the Dharma realm in its entirety. Because the Name is the whole Dharma realm, the whole Dharma realm is gathered within it.

It is neither past, present, nor future; neither east, west, south, nor north; neither the four intermediate directions, above, nor below. The ten directions and the three periods of time are all present without omission in the very moment of recollection. Without passing through even a single kshana—an extremely brief instant—one has already attained Buddhahood.

4. Recollecting Vairocana Buddha to Enter Swiftly into the Avatamsaka Dharma Realm:

The chapter “Wondrous Adornments of the Rulers of the Worlds” records verses chanted by bodhisattvas, devas, dragons, ghosts, and spirits throughout the ten directions. Each declares the Dharma gate that he has realized and then, through the fruition-stage of the Tathagata, inspires faith and understanding in others so that they may enter the Buddha-Recitation Samadhi. From there, beginning with the chapter “The Tathagata Manifests Auspicious Signs” and continuing through the chapters on the Ten Faiths, Ten Abodes, Ten Practices, and Ten Dedications of Merit, each chapter contains verses in praise of the Buddha spoken by great bodhisattvas and rulers of the worlds throughout the ten directions.

Then, in the chapter on the Ten Grounds, upon passing through each ground, it is said: “Never departing from recollection of the Buddha, recollection of the Dharma, and recollection of the Sangha.” Thus, although the successive stages differ, it should be understood that at every stage, recollection of the Buddha is taken as the fundamental practice. The Way of all Buddhas is identical, and therefore a single Vairocana encompasses all.

Thus, in the practice of “Always Following the Buddhas in Study,” one of Samantabhadra’s Ten Great Vows, it is said: “Just as the Tathagata Vairocana in this Saha world, from the time he first aroused the aspiration, advanced diligently without retreat, gave away an ineffable number of ineffable bodies and lives, and continued until he attained great bodhi and entered nirvana, so shall I follow and learn all such practices.”

Because the events of his past lives during the causal stage of cultivation were vast, boundless, and inconceivable, the reward body and transformation bodies he attained are likewise vast, boundless, and inconceivable. A practitioner who has truly acquired firm faith and understanding knows that all Buddhas are never apart from one’s own nature. Then, arousing a vigorous mind and resolving to shoulder the great responsibility, that practitioner is no different from the Fundamental Teacher when he first aroused the aspiration.

The Night Goddess Ocean of Tranquil Sound said: “I attained the liberation called Giving Rise in Every Thought to Vast Joyful Adornments. I can enter seas of established Dharma realms as numerous as the minute dust particles in an ineffable number of ineffable Buddha lands. I see all the minute dust particles in all the Buddha lands within those seas of established Dharma realms, and within each minute dust particle are Buddha lands as numerous as the minute dust particles in an ineffable number of ineffable Buddha lands. In every land, Vairocana Buddha sits at the place of enlightenment, attaining Equal and Right Enlightenment in every thought and manifesting spiritual transformations. Each manifested spiritual transformation pervades all seas of Dharma realms.

“The Night Goddess Blossoming Tree-Flowers entered the liberation called Giving Rise to Vast Joyful Radiance, through which she recollected and clearly beheld all the practices cultivated by Vairocana Buddha in the past.

“The Goddess Wondrous Virtue Perfectly Fulfilled attained the liberation of sovereign rebirth. She entered Vairocana Buddha’s ocean of immeasurable rebirths and, within the innumerable Buddha lands in every dust particle of all worlds, continuously manifested rebirth without interruption.”

Thus, when one recollects Vairocana, the very recollection is Buddha, and the very Buddha is recollection. Throughout the ten directions and empty space, even in places as minute as the point of a needle or a mustard seed, there is nowhere that is not the Dharma realm of Vairocana. This is called recollecting the Buddha throughout the Dharma realm; it is also called universally recollecting all Buddhas.

Therefore, when the youth Sudhana first visited Meghashri, he immediately heard the Dharma gate of Buddha-recollection. At the end, the youth Sudhana heard Bodhisattva Samantabhadra speak verses praising the Tathagata’s extraordinary merit and teaching people to develop faith and understanding. As before, he never departed from the Dharma gate of Buddha-recollection.

From beginning to end, throughout the Dharma realm, the two truths—the ultimate and the conventional—are no longer separate. The verses say:

“Or one beholds this realm, supremely beautiful,

Purified and adorned by the Buddha for immeasurable kalpas;

Vairocana, the Supremely Victorious One,

Attains Right Enlightenment from within awakening.

“Or one beholds the Buddha Amitayus,

Surrounded by Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara;

All have attained the stage of anointment,

Filling worlds throughout the ten directions.”

It is also said:

“Or one beholds Shakyamuni attaining Buddhahood,

After passing through inconceivably many kalpas;

Or one beholds those who have become bodhisattvas,

Now bringing benefit to sentient beings.

“Or one beholds the Tathagata Amitayus

Bestowing predictions upon the bodhisattvas:

They shall become unsurpassed Great Guides,

Appointed as successors in the Land of Bliss.”

Thus, it should be understood that the Dharma realms of all Buddhas completely interpenetrate and encompass one another; in their entirety they are Amitabha. The Pure Land of Vairocana is never apart from the Flower Treasury. According to the minds of sentient beings, each sees it differently; yet because the Buddha has always remained unmoving, the final fascicle of the Avatamsaka Sutra takes dedication toward rebirth in the Land of Bliss as its ultimate destination.

5. Recollecting Amitabha Buddha in the Land of Bliss Perfects Samantabhadra’s Great Vows:

The chapter “Samantabhadra’s Practices and Vows” records: “Those who wish to perfect the Tathagata’s Dharma gate of merit must cultivate ten vast practices and vows:

1) To pay homage to all Buddhas.

2) To praise the Tathagatas.

3) To extensively cultivate offerings.

4) To repent of karmic obstacles.

5) To rejoice in others’ merit.

6) To request the turning of the Dharma wheel.

7) To request the Buddhas to remain in the world.

8) To always follow the Buddhas in study.

9) To constantly accord with sentient beings.

10) To dedicate all merit universally.”

This Avatamsaka Sutra specifically reveals the realm of Vairocana. Why, then, does it take the Land of Bliss as the destination of return?

It is because one of Amitabha’s names is Infinite Light, while Vairocana is also translated into Chinese as “Light Pervading Everywhere.” They are of one essence, and there is neither coming nor going; yet within the one essence, coming and going are also unobstructed. As the Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana says: “Sentient beings who have newly begun to study this Dharma wish to seek right faith, but their minds are weak.

Because they dwell in the Saha world and cannot constantly encounter the Buddhas, attend upon them, and make offerings, they are inclined to retreat. Such people should know that the Tathagata possesses an extraordinary skillful means for embracing and protecting their faith: they should single-mindedly recollect Amitabha Buddha in the Land of Bliss in the West, dedicate the roots of goodness they have cultivated, and vow to be reborn in that world.

They will then attain rebirth there, and because they constantly behold the Buddha, they will never retreat.”

The reward land of Vairocana offers no share in its reception and guidance to those of the Two Vehicles or to ordinary beings. The Land of Bliss, however, is divided into nine grades, in which beings of every kind may participate. Once reborn there, they cut directly across the stream of birth and death. This sufficiently reveals the relative superiority and inferiority of the Saha world and the Land of Bliss. The sutras have explained this in detail, so there is no need to record it fully here.

Other sutras, however, teach either “ten recollections,” or “one day through seven days,” or contemplation of “the Buddha’s body, from one zhang and six chi in height to six hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Ganges sands of yojanas.” In short, they do not go beyond numerical measures. They do not equal this Avatamsaka Sutra, in which a single thought of contemplation universally penetrates the three times vertically and encompasses empty space throughout the ten directions horizontally.

At the very moment the aspiration is first aroused, one transcends numerical measures and acquires an extraordinarily pure cause. Amitabha Buddha universally receives sentient beings through his Forty-Eight Vows, which, together with this King of Vows, are in essence united with empty space, without even the slightest separation. Therefore, without waiting for time to pass or moving from one place to another, one naturally attains rebirth and returns to identity with what has always been inherently present.

The passage below says: “Having arrived, one beholds the bodhisattvas Manjushri, Samantabhadra, Avalokiteshvara, Maitreya, and others surrounding Amitabha Buddha.” Manjushri and Samantabhadra never depart from this Saha world, yet they manifest bodies in that other land, appearing thought after thought in accordance with the minds of sentient beings. Thus, it should be understood that Amitabha Buddha, within the Land of Bliss, constantly expounds this Avatamsaka Sutra without ever ceasing.

Furthermore, unless this Dharma-gate of Buddha-recollection is contemplated with wondrous wisdom, one cannot clearly know the inherently pure cause fully present within one’s own mind; therefore, Manjusri comes first. Unless it is adorned by great vows, one cannot perfect the inherently pure fruition fully present within one’s own mind; therefore, Samantabhadra comes next, followed by Avalokitesvara and Maitreya. One will become the next Buddha in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, while the other will become the next Buddha in the Saha world.

These two sages assemble together to demonstrate that the Land of Bliss and the Flower Treasury are one and not two. Maitreya, through true contemplation that the ten directions are consciousness-only, enters the perfectly accomplished nature when the mind of consciousness becomes perfectly luminous; this is the true cause of the Pure Land. Avalokitesvara, through the wondrous, effortless power of illusory hearing-perfuming, enters all lands and accomplishes bodhi; this is the ultimate fruition of the Pure Land.

A later passage states: “That person personally sees himself born within a lotus flower and receives a prediction from the Buddha. After receiving the prediction, throughout innumerable hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of kalpas, he employs the power of wisdom to benefit beings according to their minds. Before long, he will sit upon the bodhi seat at the place of enlightenment, subdue the armies of Mara, attain perfect, unsurpassed enlightenment, and turn the wondrous Dharma wheel, causing beings in Buddha lands as numerous as motes of dust to arouse the mind of bodhi. He will teach and mature them according to their capacities and, throughout many kalpas extending to the end of the future, confer abundant benefit upon all beings.”

The entire Avatamsaka Sutra concludes here. Those possessed of wisdom must resolutely believe and enter. A single moment of negligence brings endless samsara. Alas! How painful!

Questions and answers resolving doubts:

Question: Of the five gates described above, should one enter through a single gate or through all five gates?

Answer: Those of superior capacity and keen wisdom awaken to Amitabha as their own nature and to the Pure Land as entirely manifested by mind alone. To speak of the Dharma-body is to encompass everything. Yet although the principle may be awakened to immediately, phenomena must be cleared away gradually.

Therefore, the Avatamsaka Sutra says that those who have first aroused the mind at the stage of the Ten Abodes are immediately identical to all Buddhas. Nevertheless, throughout the five stages of progressive cultivation, there is no stage that does not advance toward bodhi, yet one has not reached Wondrous Enlightenment. The successive stages are clearly distinguished.

Finally, upon reaching the Ten Bhūmis, through the power of great vows, one sees in a single thought hundreds of Buddhas, thousands of Buddhas, and even hundreds of thousands of nayutas of Buddhas. The number of Buddhas seen differs according to each stage.

Even if practitioners in this Saha world are able to subdue delusive karma and awaken, so long as they have not realized non-arising, how could they avoid taking another body in a future life? Unless they rely upon the Buddha’s power, their practice will be difficult to perfect. They must therefore dedicate their merit toward the Land of Bliss, receive a prediction from the Buddha, cleanse themselves completely of all residual habitual tendencies, and perfectly fulfill the King of Vows. This is the gate of transcendence, the path of wondrous adornment.

If one has not yet clarified the matter beyond and has not broken through one’s mass of doubt, it is especially necessary to concentrate upon upholding the name of Amitabha Buddha, reverently and diligently making vows as a child remembers its mother, taking death as the appointed limit. In addition, one should cultivate and perfume the mind with doctrinal contemplation, thereby assisting the development of supreme wisdom. Only when response and the Way intersect will one’s cultivation not be in vain. This depends entirely upon a single thought that encompasses all gates. What is precious in this gate is to concentrate the spirit and steadfastly devote oneself exclusively to upholding the Name, advancing courageously in this way.

Question: You wish to propagate the Dharma-gate of Buddha-recollection. Why do you not take the Pure Land sutras as your principal guide, but instead exert yourself in venerating the Avatamsaka Sutra? If considered in terms of cause and effect, I fear this may not accord with them.

Answer: Have you not read the Sutra of Infinite Life? In its introductory section, it first recounts the practices and vows of Samantabhadra. In exhorting practitioners regarding the three grades of rebirth, it mentions in every case the arousal of the mind of bodhi.

Finally, because one has not awakened to the Buddha’s wisdom, inconceivable wisdom, immeasurable wisdom, and unequaled, incomparable, supreme, victorious wisdom, even though one cultivates various merits, one still falls into birth from a womb. Thus, if one truly wishes to sit upon the precious lotus seat and ascend to the stage of non-retrogression, one must rely upon the wisdom of Manjusri, establish the vows of Samantabhadra, and dedicate the merit toward rebirth.

This Avatamsaka Sutra chiefly teaches that doctrine. Moreover, in its passage on the highest grade of the highest level of rebirth, the Sutra of the Contemplation of the Buddha of Infinite Life also instructs one to read and recite the Vaipulya Mahayana scriptures. Among the Vaipulya Mahayana scriptures, none equals the Avatamsaka Sutra.

This sutra is the foremost and most exalted scripture. Cause and effect do not err, so how could this fail to accord with them?

Question: The meaning of the Avatamsaka Dharma-realm is profound, hidden, and infinitely interpenetrating, with immeasurable scriptures as its retinue. How can the single gate of Buddha-recollection encompass them all?

Answer: It is exactly as you say. Although the meaning of the Avatamsaka Sutra is profound and vast, those newly arousing the mind and entering the Way naturally have a special expedient through which to enter: this single gate of Buddha-recollection, which can penetrate the boundless Dharma-realm. Therefore, within a single pore of Samantabhadra, the youth Sudhana passes through, until the end of future kalpas, ineffably ineffable worlds as numerous as motes of dust in Buddha lands, reaching all boundless lands in every thought. Those who recollect the Buddha are likewise, because a single thought is originally immeasurable.

In the Contemplation of the Dharma-realm, Master Dushun established three gates:

1. The gate of true emptiness: eliminating deluded sentiments to reveal the principle; this is recollection of the Buddha’s Dharma-body.

2. The gate of the non-obstruction of principle and phenomena: perfectly interfusing principle and phenomena to reveal their power and function; this is recollection of the Buddha’s merits.

3. The gate of universal pervasion and mutual containment: gathering all phenomena within phenomena to reveal the original source; this is recollection of the Buddha’s name.

The Qingliang Commentary distinguishes four Dharma-realms:

1. Single-mindedly recollecting the Buddha without intermingling other practices is to enter the Dharma-realm of phenomena.

2. When both mind and Buddha are extinguished and the one truth stands alone and transcendent, this is to enter the Dharma-realm of principle.

3. Mind itself is Buddha, and the great function is fully revealed; this is to enter the Dharma-realm of the non-obstruction of principle and phenomena.

4. 4. Neither Buddha nor mind, with wondrous spiritual functioning beyond measure; this is to enter the Dharma-realm of the non-obstruction of phenomenon with phenomenon.

Thus, one should know that the single gate of Buddha-recollection gathers and encompasses all dharmas. Therefore, the Avatamsaka Sutra takes Vairocana as its guide and the Land of Ultimate Bliss as its destination. Once one draws near to Amitabha, one does not depart from the Flower Treasury. The treasures of one’s own home are fully present, and their power and function are boundless. If one does not enter this gate of Buddha-recollection, one ultimately does not reach the consummate state.

1. Question: In the Combined Treatise on the Avatamsaka Sutra, Master Fangshan (Li Tongxuan) holds that Pure Lands in other directions are provisional and not real. How can this be reconciled with your present argument?

Answer: In the Pure Land teaching, lands are divided into four:

1. The Land of Eternally Quiescent Light is the dwelling place of the fruition of Buddhahood.

2. The Land of True Reward is the dwelling place of great beings who have realized the Dharma-body.

3. The Land of Residual Expedients is the dwelling place of those of the Two Vehicles.

4. The Land of Shared Dwelling is where ordinary beings and sages dwell together.

These four lands may be either defiled or pure.

If people in this Saha world, through the power of concentrated Buddha-recollection, cultivate various merits and dedicate them toward the West, but have not yet completely ended delusive karma, they are born in the Land of Shared Dwelling.

If people deeply delight in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, earnestly loathe the Saha world, gradually sever coarse delusions, and, upon hearing the Dharma, advance in wisdom, they are born in the Land of Residual Expedients.

If one takes the practice of the Perfect Teaching as the cause, deeply awakens to the true aspect of reality, and dedicates the practices and vows of Samantabhadra toward rebirth, one will attain resonance with the Land of True Reward, receive a prediction of Buddhahood from the Buddha, and partially realize the Land of Eternally Quiescent Light.

Therefore, for those who abide in the provisional vehicle, everything is provisional, like the conjured city in the Lotus Sutra, because nothing lies outside the mind itself. For those who awaken to the true aspect of reality, everything is real, like the Land of Ultimate Bliss in this sutra, because it is wholly endowed with the Flower Treasury.

When Master Fangshan composed his treatise, the final fascicle, the Chapter on the Practices and Vows, had not yet been transmitted to China. Therefore, he drew distinctions concerning the single Dharma gate of the Pure Land, which runs contrary to the sutra text. Hence, one must understand that illusion arises from suchness, and that precisely within illusion all is suchness; arising and cessation are both transcended, self and other are nondual, and a single thought perfectly interpenetrates and pervades the Dharma Realm.

Only this is the definitive teaching of the Middle Way and the One Vehicle. What Master Fangshan advocated was simply that the initial resolve at the stage of the Ten Abodes itself constitutes the attainment of perfect enlightenment. In truth, judging this according to doctrinal principles is no easy matter.

Why is this so? At the stage of the Ten Faiths in the Perfect Teaching, the delusions of views and thought are completely extinguished, and the delusions innumerable as dust and sand are simultaneously eliminated. One then advances into the Ten Abodes of the Perfect Teaching, shatters ignorance, and realizes the patience of the non-arising of dharmas.

This stage is equivalent to the First Ground of the Distinct Teaching.

If one relies solely upon one’s own power, it is like a commoner aspiring to the throne. Although it is said that one has always fundamentally been a Buddha and does not fall within any stage, one must nevertheless rely upon skillful means before realization can be attained. How could this compare with following the teaching in the Chapter on the Practices and Vows: with profound faith, upholding and reciting the ten great kings of vows, and in a single instant being reborn in Ultimate Bliss and abiding in non-retrogression?

To transcend horizontally from the state of an ordinary being and advance directly onward is supremely perfect and supremely sudden; no other Dharma gate can compare with it. To be fortunate enough to encounter the complete Avatamsaka Sutra is no ordinary karmic affinity. The jewel remains within the fold of one’s robe, yet one continues laboriously to search for it.

I now respectfully urge everyone to accept it in faith with one accord.

Question: During the Sui dynasty, there was a monk named Linggan who practiced contemplation of the Flower Treasury. As he approached death, he saw in a pond filled with water a lotus flower as large as a cartwheel, and he was seated upon it. Thus, is it not enough to proceed directly to the Flower Treasury? Why is there any need to draw near to Amitabha?

Answer: The Flower Treasury World contains seas of fragrant water as numerous as the motes of dust in ten ineffable Buddha lands. Within them abide ten ineffable kinds of worlds, numerous as motes of dust, and each kind of world in turn contains worlds as numerous as the motes of dust in ineffable Buddha lands. The Western Land of Ultimate Bliss is also among them.

The Surangama Sutra states: “If one’s mind recollects the Buddha, while one also cultivates merit and wisdom and vows to be born in a Pure Land, one’s mind will naturally behold the Buddhas of the ten directions and all the Pure Lands, and one will then be reborn in accordance with one’s vow.”

It cannot be known whether Master Linggan was reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss or in some other Pure Land! Thus, merely drawing near to Amitabha is itself to enter directly into the Flower Treasury. Sudhana went before, and Nagarjuna followed after; such is the path traveled together by all the sages. If one does not follow the Buddha’s teaching, one brings suffering upon oneself by becoming lost amid many divergent paths. Such people are truly worthy of compassion; we should draw near to them and point this out to them.

During the Song dynasty, Master Cao’an Daoren practiced the contemplations of the perfect and sudden teaching. In his later years, he served as abbot of Yanqing Monastery. On the seventeenth day of the fourth month in the third year of the Qiandao era (1167), he bade farewell to the assembly, saying: “The Avatamsaka world, open and vast, quiescent and radiant, accords perfectly with my mind. Today I am about to depart.” He then spoke these verses in praise of Amitabha Buddha:

Boundless lands are the sea of emptiness;

The entire sea of emptiness is a lotus palace.

Lotus palaces fill the whole sea of emptiness;

Within the sea of emptiness, Amitabha Buddha alone stands revealed.

Amitabha Buddha neither arises nor ceases;

Hard to seek, hard to grasp—the moon upon the water.

Beyond all negation, free from every phrase—such is his body;

Such is the sympathetic response, and thus is it spoken.

Amitabha and I are fundamentally not two;

Deluded awareness secretly arose, and suddenly we seemed apart.

From this day forth, I sweep away all worldly defilements;

Father and son naturally meet once more.

I vow to cultivate the three blessings and practice the six recollections;

The karma of body, speech, and mind shall be without fault.

Now I resolve to recollect Amitabha;

Until I behold Amitabha, I shall never rest.

Afterward, together with the assembly, he chanted one hundred invocations of the Buddha’s name and recited the Sutra on the Contemplation of the Buddha of Infinite Life. Upon reaching the passage concerning the highest grade of the highest level of rebirth, he gathered in his spirit and entered nirvana. Whether Ultimate Bliss and the Avatamsaka realm are the same or different—let those endowed with wisdom swiftly take heed!

Concluding Words

This treatise was completed in the twelfth lunar month, during the winter of the forty-eighth year of the Qianlong era (1783). Wang Dashen commented: “This treatise is the true cause of the Pure Land and the right faith of the Avatamsaka.” He also said: “The five recollections are themselves one recollection; one recollection is itself no-recollection.”

In the spring of the following year, this treatise was transmitted to Dantu, where it was highly esteemed by Wang Yuqing, who wrote a preface for it. Dashen praised it exceedingly and regarded it as extraordinary, and then presented it to Minister Xian, but the minister had already passed away.

I withdrew into monastic quarters to read the Avatamsaka Sutra. Together with friends who aspired to transcend the world, I exchanged questions concerning the School of the Nature, and we also discussed the merits and shortcomings of this collected treatise.

Several years later, I returned from Qiantang and once again entered secluded retreat at the Pavilion of Literary Stars to cultivate the Buddha-recollection samadhi. Throughout the quiet solitude of summer, I took out my former draft, reviewed it, and copied it into the present treatise. Apart from the masters Xianshou and Fangshan, I did not shrink from displaying what ability I possessed. Had I encountered the old master of Yunqi—Master Lianchi Zhuhong—I am certain that he and I would have looked at one another and smiled.

The last day of the sixth month, in the fifty-sixth year of the Qianlong era (1791)

Recorded by Peng Jiqing