尔时,法慧菩萨承佛威神力,入菩萨无量方便三昧。以三昧力,十方各千佛刹微尘数世界,六种震动。尔时,法慧菩萨告诸菩萨言:佛子!菩萨住处,广大如法界,究竟如虚空,尽未来际。佛子!云何为菩萨初发心住?此菩萨见佛世尊形貌端严,功德具足,发十种心:慈心、悲心、喜心、舍心、布施心、持戒心、忍辱心、精进心、禅定心、般若心。
逐句解释
菩萨住处,广大如法界,究竟如虚空,尽未来际
「十住」是菩萨修行次第的第一个阶段(之后还有十行、十回向、十地)。法慧菩萨首先给出「住」的规格:广大如法界(与整个宇宙一样广大),究竟如虚空(与虚空一样彻底)——这不是说菩萨一开始就有这样的境界,而是说菩萨的「住」(安住之处、根基所在),从一开始就以整个法界为家,以虚空为量。起点虽小,志向无边。
The bodhisattva's dwelling place is as vast as the dharma-realm, as ultimate as empty space, extending through all future time.
Before describing the ten stages, Fahuishu establishes the scale of the bodhisattva's orientation: the dharma-realm as home, empty space as measure, all future time as duration. This is the Avatamsaka's characteristic move — situating even the beginning practitioner within the largest possible frame. The ten dwellings (十住) are not steps on a small, personal ladder; they are stages in a journey whose scope is nothing less than the liberation of every being in every world across all time. The bodhisattva starts small in capacity but vast in intention. That vast intention is not delusion; it is the most accurate response to the reality of Indra's Net, in which every being is already connected to every other.
初发心住:此菩萨见佛世尊形貌端严,功德具足,发十种心
第一住「初发心住」的触发点是:见到佛陀的庄严形貌与圆满功德,由此发起十种心——慈、悲、喜、舍(四无量心)、布施、持戒、忍辱、精进、禅定、般若(六度)。十种心涵盖了大乘修行的全部要素。初发心不是某种模糊的好意,而是在具体的感动与回应中,升起的覆盖整个修行地图的誓愿之心。
The first dwelling, Initial Resolve: this bodhisattva, upon seeing the dignified form and complete merit of the Buddha, gives rise to ten kinds of mind: loving-kindness, compassion, empathic joy, equanimity, generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom.
The ten kinds of mind that constitute the Initial Resolve are a compressed curriculum of the entire bodhisattva path. The four immeasurables (四无量心) — loving-kindness, compassion, empathic joy, equanimity — orient the practitioner outward, toward all beings. The six perfections (六度) — generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, meditation, wisdom — describe the qualities to be cultivated. That these ten arise simultaneously, in response to a single encounter with the Buddha's beauty and merit, suggests that the Initial Resolve is not a slow intellectual calculation but an immediate, wholehearted response. The entire path is present in the beginning, as an acorn contains the oak.
(十住依次为:初发心住、治地住、修行住、生贵住、具足方便住……灌顶住)
十住的完整次第是:①初发心住(发起菩提心)→②治地住(整治修行的土地,培养善根)→③修行住(实际修习一切善法)→④生贵住(证入如来种性,如同贵族之子)→⑤具足方便住(善巧方便圆满)→⑥正心住(住于正见,不为邪见动摇)→⑦不退住(在菩提道上不再退转)→⑧童真住(纯真如童子,无染无杂)→⑨法王子住(成为佛的法嗣之子)→⑩灌顶住(受诸佛灌顶,如转轮圣王太子受位)。
[The ten dwellings in sequence: 1. Initial Resolve, 2. Cultivating the Ground, 3. Practice, 4. Noble Birth, 5. Complete Skillful Means, 6. Correct Mind, 7. Non-Regression, 8. Child of the Good Family, 9. Prince of the Dharma, 10. Consecration.]
The ten dwellings represent a bodhisattva's first major arc of development, from the very first arising of the aspiration to the point of being formally recognised as a "prince of the Dharma" — a bodhisattva who is now firmly established in the Buddha's lineage and ready for the next stage of the path (the ten practices, 十行). Each stage deepens and stabilises what came before. "Non-Regression" (不退住) at stage seven is the key threshold: from this point, the practitioner's commitment to the path is irreversible, even across death and rebirth. They may still have vast distances to travel, but the direction is certain and the foundation is secure.
灌顶住:此菩萨得成就十种智,为诸如来以智慧水而灌其顶
第十住「灌顶住」:菩萨成就十种智慧,诸如来以智慧之水「灌其顶」——如同古印度帝王的加冕仪式,太子在灌顶后正式成为王位继承人。菩萨在灌顶住后,正式成为佛的「法王子」,准备进入下一阶段(十行)的修行。「灌顶」是一个传承与认可的仪式:你不只是自己在修行,整个觉悟者的传承都在认可你、支持你、接纳你为同类。
The tenth dwelling, Consecration: this bodhisattva accomplishes ten kinds of wisdom, and the Tathagatas anoint the crown of their head with wisdom-water.
The consecration (灌顶, abhiseka) that closes the ten dwellings is a formal rite of transmission and recognition. In ancient India, a king anointed the crown prince's head with water to formally install him as heir. Here, the Buddhas of all directions perform this act for the bodhisattva, recognising them as a true heir to the Dharma lineage. This is not a distant, future event for most practitioners — the Avatamsaka presents it as an aspiration and an orientation. Every step of practice is a step toward this recognition; and the recognition, when it comes, is not the end of the journey but the beginning of its second major phase.
总结 · Summary
第十五品由法慧菩萨宣说菩萨修行的「十住」次第,从初发心住到灌顶住。「住」的规格是:广大如法界,究竟如虚空。十住以「初发心」为起点,以「灌顶」(诸佛认可为法王子)为终点,中间经历整治根基、实修善法、住于正见、不退转……直到成为佛的法嗣。十住只是整个菩萨道的第一阶段,但其志向从一开始就是无边的。
Chapter 15 presents the first formal map of the bodhisattva's path: the ten dwellings (十住), from the first arising of the aspiration to the consecration as the Buddha's heir. The scale is immediately established: this dwelling place is as vast as the dharma-realm itself. From the very beginning, the bodhisattva's home is everywhere; the scope of their concern is all beings; the duration of their commitment is all of time. The ten dwellings chart the development from aspiration (stage 1) through cultivation, practice, and stabilisation (stages 2–7) to the point of irreversibility and recognition (stages 8–10). It is a rigorous, graded path — and at the same time, its endpoint is already present as a seed in the very first moment of genuine resolve.