尔时，普贤菩萨复告大众言：诸佛子！世界海有十事，过去现在未来诸佛，已说、今说、当说。何等为十？一者，世界海起具因缘；二者，世界海所依住；三者，世界海形状；四者，世界海体性；五者，世界海庄严；六者，世界海清净；七者，世界海佛出兴；八者，世界海劫住；九者，世界海劫转变差别；十者，世界海无差别门。
逐句解释
世界海有十事，过去现在未来诸佛，已说、今说、当说
「世界海」是《华严经》对宇宙的称呼——宇宙如同大海，无边无际，其中无数世界如海浪此起彼伏。普贤说，关于这片「世界海」有十件根本的事，是一切诸佛在过去、现在和未来都必然宣说的真理。这表明：《华严经》所描述的宇宙实相，不是某一位佛的特殊发明，而是所有觉悟者都共同印证的事实。
The ocean of worlds has ten aspects, which the Buddhas of past, present, and future have spoken, are speaking, and will speak.
The "ocean of worlds" (世界海) is the Avatamsaka's term for the totality of all universes — a cosmos so vast that the ocean metaphor is the only one adequate to it. Samantabhadra's claim that these ten aspects are spoken by all Buddhas across all time is significant: it grounds the sutra's cosmology not in the authority of a single teacher but in the universal, trans-historical insight of enlightenment itself. Any being who achieves full awakening will see the same things. The Dharma is not invented; it is discovered.
一者，世界海起具因缘
十事之首是「世界的起因」：世界为何存在？《华严经》的回答不是创世神，而是「众生的业力和菩萨的愿力」。世界由无数众生的集体业力（行为积累的力量）和菩萨们为救度众生而发起的大愿（如普贤十大行愿）共同塑造而成。宇宙的形状，折射的是其中所有有情的精神状态。
First: the causal conditions by which the ocean of worlds arises.
The Avatamsaka's answer to the question "why does the universe exist?" is not a creator God but the collective karma and vows of sentient beings. The universe is not something imposed on beings from outside; it is, in a profound sense, an expression of what beings are. The worlds that arise correspond to the karmic conditions and the bodhisattva vows (誓愿) that shape them. This is not determinism — beings have freedom within this process — but it does mean that the universe is not indifferent to consciousness. It is, in the deepest sense, made of mind.
七者，世界海佛出兴
第七事是「世界海中佛陀的出现」。《华严经》的宇宙中，不是只有一位佛——而是无数世界中各有佛陀出现，随机因缘而兴。这彻底改变了对「佛」的认识：释迦牟尼不是唯一的佛，而是在这个世界这个时代因缘成熟时出现的觉悟者；其他无数世界中，同样有无数觉悟者在因缘合适时出现。佛是普遍的现象，不是特例。
Seventh: the arising of Buddhas in the ocean of worlds.
This aspect of the cosmology has profound implications. Shakyamuni Buddha is not, in the Avatamsaka's perspective, a unique, once-in-eternity event — he is one of countless Buddhas who arise in countless worlds when conditions are right for awakening. This universalises the possibility of enlightenment: if Buddhas arise everywhere, in every world, under every condition, then the potential for awakening is woven into the very fabric of existence. Wherever there is suffering and seeking, there will eventually be a teacher. The universe is, in a sense, set up for liberation.
十者，世界海无差别门
十事的最后一事，也是最深的一事：「无差别门」——所有这些世界，尽管形状各异、庄严不同、劫数有别，其实在根本上没有差别。差别是现象层的多样性，无差别是本体层的统一性。前九事讲的是「差别」，第十事打通了所有差别，归于一味。这是华严「理事无碍」哲学的缩影：事相上有无限差别，理体上无有差别。
Tenth: the gate of non-difference of the ocean of worlds.
The tenth aspect dissolves all the distinctions established by the first nine. All the worlds, with their differences of shape, adornment, duration, and Buddha-appearance, are in their deepest nature undifferentiated. This is the Huayan doctrine of "the non-obstruction of principle and phenomena" (理事无碍): at the phenomenal level (事), there is infinite variety; at the level of ultimate principle (理), there is perfect, undivided unity. The sutra holds both levels simultaneously without collapsing one into the other — variety is real, and unity is real, and neither cancels the other. This non-dual vision is the philosophical summit of the Avatamsaka.
总结 · Summary
第四品由普贤菩萨揭示「世界海」的十个面向，从世界的起因、形状、庄严，到佛陀的出现，最后归于「无差别门」。这十事构成了《华严经》宇宙论的基本框架：宇宙由众生业力与菩萨愿力共同形成；无数世界中各有无数佛陀出现；一切差别，最终归于无差别的统一实相。有限与无限、差别与平等，在华严的世界观里，从来不是矛盾，而是同一实相的两个面。
Chapter 4 lays out the Avatamsaka's cosmological framework in ten points, from the causal conditions by which worlds arise to their final non-differentiation. The most important claim is the first: worlds are not made by a creator God but by the accumulated karma of beings and the vows of bodhisattvas — consciousness is cosmologically primary. The most important claim is the last: beneath all the variety of worlds, Buddhas, and eons, there is a single, undivided reality. The Huayan school will later call this the "dharmadhatu" (法界) — the field of reality in which all phenomena arise, subsist, and dissolve, fundamentally undivided, fundamentally luminous.