尔时,精进慧菩萨问法慧菩萨言:佛子!菩萨摩诃萨,云何修行,能得清净、庄严菩提道,不与声闻、辟支佛共?法慧菩萨言:佛子!菩萨摩诃萨,有十种法,能净菩萨道。何等为十?一者、不舍菩提心;二者、亲近善知识;三者、常护持净戒;四者、随顺听闻善法;五者、离诸憍慢,修行供养;六者、精勤修习善根不懈;七者、常以正知而住;八者、如法调伏诸根;九者、常勤修习无边善法;十者、如实了知诸法而不断行。
逐句解释
云何修行,能得清净菩提道,不与声闻、辟支佛共?
精进慧菩萨的问题有一个关键限定词:「不与声闻、辟支佛共」——如何修行菩萨道,是专属于大乘菩萨的清净道,不与小乘(声闻乘、辟支佛乘)共用?这个问题区分了大小乘修行的本质差异:声闻求个人解脱,菩萨求普度众生。「明法品」要回答的,是大乘修行独特的「点亮之法」——让菩提道保持光明清净的十种方法。
How should one practise so as to attain a pure, adorned path of enlightenment, one not shared with sravakas and pratyekabuddhas?
The question draws a clear line between two types of Buddhist practice: the Hinayana (small vehicle) path, which aims at personal liberation (nirvana for oneself), and the Mahayana (great vehicle) bodhisattva path, which aims at the liberation of all beings. The ten methods that follow are specifically the practices that keep the bodhisattva path bright and clear — preventing the practitioner from sliding back into self-centred motivation, losing the expansive orientation of bodhicitta, or mistaking partial attainment for the complete path. "Illuminating the Dharma" (明法) means keeping the full vision of the Mahayana alive and operative throughout practice.
一者、不舍菩提心;二者、亲近善知识
十法之首是「不舍菩提心」——永远不放弃菩提心(觉悟一切众生的志愿)。修行路上有无数障碍、疲惫、挫折,但菩提心是根本方向,一旦舍弃,菩萨道即告中断。第二法是「亲近善知识」——靠近、依止善知识(真正的善友与导师)。善知识不只是传授知识,更是以自己的存在示范菩提的方向,提醒修行者回到正道。整部《华严经》最后一品(入法界品)就是善财童子遍访五十三位善知识的故事。
First: not abandoning the mind of enlightenment. Second: drawing near to good spiritual friends.
The first method — not abandoning bodhicitta — is both the simplest and the most demanding. The path is long; motivation fluctuates; discouragement is real. The instruction is not "always feel enthusiastic" but "never completely give up the orientation." Even a flickering bodhicitta is enough to keep the path alive. The second method — drawing near to good spiritual friends (善知识, kalyanamitta) — is given extraordinary importance in the Avatamsaka. The entire final chapter, Chapter 39 (入法界品), is devoted to the journey of the young pilgrim Sudhana, who visits 53 teachers in search of the full expression of bodhicitta. For the Avatamsaka, the spiritual path is irreducibly relational: you cannot walk it alone.
七者、常以正知而住;八者、如法调伏诸根
第七法「常以正知而住」——时时保持正念与正知(清晰的觉察),不让心陷入昏沉或散乱。第八法「如法调伏诸根」——如理地调伏六根(眼耳鼻舌身意),使其不被外境所牵。这两条是修行的内在护持法:正知护心,调根护门。六根是心与外境接触的六个门户;若根门不守,任何外来的刺激都会把心拉离正道。两者合力,构成修行的「内防线」。
Seventh: always abiding with clear knowing. Eighth: taming the sense faculties according to the Dharma.
These two methods address the inner architecture of practice. "Clear knowing" (正知, samprajanya) is the companion of mindfulness (正念, sati): where mindfulness is the continuous presence of awareness, clear knowing is the precise understanding of what is arising in that awareness and whether it is wholesome or unwholesome. Together they constitute moment-to-moment discernment. "Taming the sense faculties" addresses the six doors through which the mind meets the world: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind-sense. Without some degree of restraint at these doors — not suppression, but careful, conscious engagement — the energy of practice leaks away through habitual reactivity. These two methods are the Avatamsaka's inner practice instructions, embedded within a vast cosmological and philosophical text.
十者、如实了知诸法而不断行
第十法是「如实了知诸法而不断行」——如实地了知一切法的实相(空性、无自性、缘起),同时不停止行动、不中断修行。这一条整合了「止」(如实了知,见空性)与「观」(不断行,继续修行利他)的统一。它反驳了一种误解:以为见了空性就可以放下一切、不再修行。《华严经》的答案是:见了空性,更应无碍地行——因为知道诸法无自性,才能在一切境界中随缘自在地利益众生,不被任何境界所障。
Tenth: clearly knowing all phenomena as they truly are, while never ceasing action.
The tenth and final method is the most integrative: it holds together insight (了知诸法如实) and action (不断行) without allowing either to cancel the other. This directly addresses a common pitfall in Buddhist practice: using the insight into emptiness as a reason to withdraw from engagement — "nothing matters anyway." The Avatamsaka firmly refuses this conclusion. Precisely because phenomena have no fixed, obstruction-causing nature, the bodhisattva can move through all conditions freely, help all beings without getting stuck, and act without the paralysis of self-concern. Emptiness is not the end of action; it is the liberation of action. This final method points the entire Mahayana path forward: knowing is for the sake of doing; wisdom is for the sake of compassion.
总结 · Summary
第十八品以「明法」(照亮菩萨道的十种方法)结束须弥山顶法会这一段落。十法从「不舍菩提心」开始,经亲近善知识、护持净戒、正知调根,到最后「如实了知诸法而不断行」——将见空性与不断利他行融为一体。第十法是整个十住-明法段落的总结:觉悟不是退出世界,而是在透彻了知实相之后,更自在、更有力地继续在世界中行菩萨道。
Chapter 18 closes the Avatamsaka's second assembly with a practical curriculum: ten methods for keeping the bodhisattva path luminous. They span the full range of practice — from the foundational (not abandoning bodhicitta, drawing near to good teachers) through the ethical (upholding precepts) and contemplative (clear knowing, taming the senses) to the integrative pinnacle: seeing all phenomena clearly as they are, while never stopping action. This final method is the Avatamsaka's answer to the question every practitioner eventually asks: what does wisdom do with the world? It does not leave it. It enters it more fully, more freely, and more usefully than before — because it is no longer obstructed by the illusions that once made the world seem like a prison.