尔时,如来威神力故,十方各有一大菩萨,一一各与佛刹微尘数菩萨俱,从十方来,其名曰:文殊师利菩萨、觉首菩萨、财首菩萨……尔时,世尊不离菩提树下,而上升须弥山顶,向帝释宫。时,天帝释在须弥顶上妙胜殿前,遥见世尊,即以神力,严饰殿堂,敷置宝座,请佛就座。
逐句解释
世尊不离菩提树下,而上升须弥山顶
「不离菩提树下,而上升须弥山顶」——这句话精准地表达了《华严经》中「体用不二」的境界:佛陀的法身从未离开菩提树下(始终安住于觉悟的根本),同时他的化身又登上了须弥山顶(随缘示现于各处)。这不是矛盾,而是佛陀「一身普现」能力的具体说明——同一时刻,既在此,又在彼,静与动、本与迹,圆融无碍。
The World-Honoured One, without leaving the foot of the bodhi tree, ascended to the summit of Mt. Sumeru, toward the palace of Indra.
This is one of the Avatamsaka's most philosophically precise statements. The Buddha simultaneously occupies both locations — the bodhi tree and the summit of Sumeru — without contradiction. This is not a miracle in the conventional sense; it is a description of the dharmakaya (法身), which is not bounded by spatial location. An awakened mind is not "somewhere" in the way an unawakened mind is. It is present wherever conditions invite its presence, without ever departing from its own ground. The sutra is introducing its second great assembly: the teaching shifts from the ground level (bodhi tree, first assembly) to a heavenly realm (Sumeru summit, second assembly), and the Buddha is fully present in both without division.
天帝释遥见世尊,即以神力,严饰殿堂,敷置宝座,请佛就座
天帝释(因陀罗,Indra)在须弥山顶的妙胜殿前远远见到世尊,立即用神力庄严殿堂、铺设宝座,礼请佛陀就坐。这一细节展示了《华严经》的一个反复出现的主题:无论佛陀到达哪里,那个地方都自动庄严——不是因为佛陀做了什么,而是因为觉悟的临在本身就是庄严。任何心开意解、准备接纳佛法的人或处所,都会自然地从内部焕发光彩。
Indra, seeing the World-Honoured One from afar, immediately used his spiritual powers to adorn the hall and prepare a jewelled throne, and invited the Buddha to be seated.
Indra's spontaneous preparation of the hall mirrors a pattern that runs through every assembly in the Avatamsaka: the arrival of awakened presence triggers an outpouring of beauty and reverence. This is not merely ceremony; it models the practitioner's inner response to the Dharma. When genuine readiness meets genuine teaching, the result is always an opening — a spontaneous adornment of the heart. Indra (天帝释) holds a special place in the Avatamsaka: he is the lord of the net (Indra's Net, 因陀罗网) that gave us the sutra's central metaphor in Chapter 1. His welcoming of the Buddha here echoes that image: the cosmos opens to receive what is most valuable, just as every jewel in the net opens to reflect every other jewel.
十方各有一大菩萨……从十方来
从十方(宇宙一切方向)各来了一位大菩萨,每位菩萨各带着无数眷属,汇聚于须弥山顶的法会。十方菩萨齐聚这一场景,是《华严经》「一即一切」结构的叙事化:一个觉悟的中心,自然吸引宇宙中所有觉悟者的汇聚。每一场法会,都是整个法界的响应——不是偶然的相遇,而是法界的必然聚合。
From each of the ten directions came one great bodhisattva, each accompanied by a number of bodhisattvas equal to the dust-motes of Buddha-lands, converging from the ten directions.
The gathering of bodhisattvas from all ten directions at every assembly is the Avatamsaka's structural enactment of Indra's Net: every awakened being in the cosmos is naturally drawn toward every other, because they are, at the deepest level, expressions of the same awakened nature. The ten directions are not just a spatial description — they represent the totality of existence. When the Dharma is about to be taught, all of existence responds. This is the sutra's consistent claim: genuine teaching is a cosmic event, not a local one. Its ripples extend to the edges of the universe, and the universe's edges ripple back.
(帝释天以偈颂忆念往昔佛陀来此殿说法的因缘)
天帝释迎请佛陀后,以偈颂回忆起往昔曾有无数佛陀来到这个殿堂说法的因缘,并以此表达他对法宝的珍视与传承感。这是《华严经》独特的「历史感」:每一次法会,都是无数次法会的延续;每一次相遇,都回响着无数次相遇的余音。修行的传统不是从这个时代开始的,它比任何可记忆的时间都更古老,更绵延。
[Indra offers verses recalling the countless Buddhas who have come to this hall in past eons to teach the Dharma.]
Indra's verses of recollection introduce a temporal depth that runs through the entire Avatamsaka: this is not the first assembly in this hall, and it will not be the last. Countless Buddhas have sat in this place across uncountable eons, and countless more will. The practitioner who hears the Dharma today is joining a stream of practice and teaching that flows without interruption from a beginningless past into an endless future. There is profound comfort in this: your practice is not isolated or new. It is a drop in an ocean that has always been flowing. You are not the first to ask these questions, and the answers you find have been found before — and will be found again.
总结 · Summary
第十三品标志着《华严经》第二大集会的开始:佛陀「不离菩提树下而升须弥山顶」,以体用不二的方式开启了忉利天宫的法会。天帝释庄严殿堂迎请佛陀,十方菩萨汇聚而来。这一幕的要点是:觉悟的临在不受空间束缚,它随缘而至,同时永恒安住;一切觉悟者自然相聚,因为他们共享同一法界的光明。
Chapter 13 opens the Avatamsaka's second great assembly, on the summit of Mt. Sumeru. The chapter's central image — the Buddha simultaneously at the bodhi tree and atop Sumeru — establishes the cosmological logic of what follows: awakened presence is not localised, it responds wherever readiness calls. Indra's welcoming preparation, the gathering of bodhisattvas from all directions, and the echo of past Buddhas in this very hall — all these point toward the Avatamsaka's deepest assurance: you are never practising alone, never starting from scratch, never in a place where the Dharma has not been before.