尔时，诸菩萨及一切世间主作是思惟：云何是佛所住？云何是佛境界？云何是佛加持？云何是佛所行？云何是佛力？云何是佛无所畏？云何是佛三昧？云何是佛神通？云何是佛自在？云何是佛无能摄取？尔时，世尊知诸菩萨心之所念，即于面门众齿之间，放佛刹微尘数光明，其光演说不可说佛刹微尘数修多罗。
逐句解释
云何是佛所住？云何是佛境界？云何是佛加持？……
大众菩萨在心中生起十个关于佛陀的问题：佛住何处？佛的境界是什么？佛的加持力如何运作……这十问不是求知性的好奇，而是修行上的根本疑问——菩萨们想知道自己所趋向的究竟目标究竟是什么样的。《华严经》的问答结构正是如此：不是外部老师传授知识，而是内在的疑情推动整个宇宙作出回应。
What is the Buddha's abiding? What is the Buddha's realm? What is the Buddha's empowerment? What are the Buddha's practices? What is the Buddha's power? What is the Buddha's fearlessness? What is the Buddha's samadhi? What are the Buddha's spiritual penetrations? What is the Buddha's sovereignty? What is it that no one can seize from the Buddha?
These ten questions are the structural hinge of Chapter 2. The bodhisattvas do not ask about cosmology or history — they ask about the inner reality of Buddhahood itself. This is characteristic of the Avatamsaka's approach: the text is not interested in the Buddha as an external historical figure but as a living, present reality that every practitioner is moving toward. The ten questions correspond to ten dimensions of Buddhahood that will be elaborated throughout the sutra. Importantly, the Buddha does not answer with words — he answers with light.
即于面门众齿之间，放佛刹微尘数光明
佛陀不用语言回答，而是从口齿间放出「佛刹微尘数」道光明——数量等同于无数佛国土碾成微尘的数目，趋近于无限。这是《华严经》的根本表达方式：真理不是用概念说清楚的，而是用光显现的。佛的回答超越了语言的局限，以光明本身作为「语言」。
The World-Honoured One immediately, from within his mouth and between his teeth, emitted a number of rays of light equal to the dust-motes of Buddha-lands.
The Buddha's response to the ten questions is not a verbal answer but a display of light. This is one of the Avatamsaka's most distinctive literary techniques: when language reaches its limit, light takes over. "Buddha-lands ground into dust" (佛刹微尘数) is the sutra's standard formula for a number that is functionally infinite — the total of all particles in all universes. The light that pours from the Buddha's mouth contains, embedded within it, sutras without number. This is the text's way of saying: the truth of Buddhahood cannot be fitted into concepts or propositions. It can only be transmitted through direct, luminous presence.
其光演说不可说佛刹微尘数修多罗
这些光明本身在「演说」（宣讲）无数部经典。光即是法，法即是光。这与我们通常对「教学」的理解完全不同——教学不需要老师站在台上用话语一条一条地传递信息；在佛陀的境界，光明、庄严、乃至宇宙中发生的一切，都是法的展现，都在无声地讲法。
That light itself expounded an unspeakably vast number of sutras equal to the dust-motes of Buddha-lands.
Light that speaks sutras: this image dissolves the conventional distinction between a teacher and a teaching. In the Avatamsaka's vision, the Dharma is not information stored in a text and transmitted through words — it is the natural self-expression of awakened reality. Everything that emanates from an enlightened mind is teaching. The light that streams from the Buddha's mouth carries within it the entire Dharma, readable by those with the eyes to see. This is why the Huayan school later argued that every phenomenon in the universe — a blade of grass, a grain of sand — is a sutra, if one has the capacity to read it.
（菩萨们见光后）各以偈颂赞叹如来
在光明的感召下，各方菩萨和世界主纷纷以偈颂（诗偈）赞叹如来的十种功德。这一问一答的结构，从问题到光明到赞颂，是《华严经》贯穿全文的节奏：疑情→显现→赞叹→更深的疑情。修行的道路不是线性的爬升，而是螺旋式的不断深入。
Having seen the light, [the bodhisattvas and world-lords] each praised the Tathagata with verses.
The chapter ends with a vast chorus of praise from bodhisattvas representing all directions and all worlds — each offering verses that extol one of the ten qualities the assembly had originally questioned. This call-and-response structure — question, luminous manifestation, praise — is the Avatamsaka's characteristic rhythm. It models the arc of contemplative practice: a practitioner begins with a genuine question about reality, encounters a moment of direct seeing (which the text conveys as light), and responds with gratitude and wonder. The praise is not flattery; it is the natural response of a mind that has been opened.
总结 · Summary
第二品展示了《华严经》独特的「教学方式」。菩萨们提出十个关于佛陀境界的根本问题，佛陀不用语言回答，而是从口齿间放出无量光明——光明本身就是回答，光明本身就是无数部经典。这是《华严经》的核心洞见之一：真正的佛法不是概念性的知识，而是直接的光明展现。宇宙中一切光明、一切庄严，无不是佛在说法。
Chapter 2 demonstrates the Avatamsaka's unusual pedagogy. Ten questions about the nature of Buddhahood are posed — not by novices, but by advanced bodhisattvas who represent the entire cosmos — and the Buddha's answer is not conceptual but luminous: an outpouring of light that itself contains innumerable sutras. The chapter establishes a principle that runs through the entire text: ultimate truth cannot be captured in language. It can only be shown, experienced, and praised. The bodhisattvas' chorus of thanksgiving at the end is not ceremony; it is the natural overflow of minds that have been, even briefly, illuminated.