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The
Gandavyuha - Part II
The Entrance Into The Clear Realm of Reality
"He is
assembling the ship of teaching,
Having learned the route of the ocean of knowledge,
He is a helmsman on the sea of existence,
Leading to the treasure island of peace.
This Buddha-sun will rise in the sky of reality,
A great light and orb of vows with rays of knowledge,
Illuminating the abodes of all beings."
Just as the
Gandavyuha narrative panels provide the concluding section of
Borobudur's bas-reliefs, the text of this Mahayana Buddhist scripture
serves as the concluding chapter of a much longer work known as the
Flower Garland (Avatamsaka) Sutra. In countries such as Japan this
sutra continues to be regarded as the apogee of Buddhist thought,
sentiment, and experience.
"To my mind, no religious literature in the world can ever approach the
grandeur of conception, the depth of feeling, and the gigantic scale of
composition as attained in this sutra," wrote D. T. Suzuki. "It is the
eternal fountain of life from which no religious mind will turn back
athirst or only partially satisfied." (8)
 The scripture's endlessly repetitive descriptions
and fantastic visions were not quite as enthusiastically received by
some of the earliest western scholars to study its message. However,
the "beat" and "flower power" generations that came of age during the
1950s and 1960s have come to appreciate these visions as well as the
ultimate implications that this tale presents. The Gandavyuha presents
a cosmic vision of existence that consists of innumerable
mutually-penetrating relationships in which all events and all living
beings interact in an infinite number of ways as well as a universe
that--when peeled back to its core--continues to contain the totality
of everything that was, is and ever will be. It is filled with
psychedelic vistas and mystic visions of jeweled palaces and raining
flowers that make John Lennon's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" seem
rather tame by comparison.
"The significance of the Avatamsaka and its philosophy is
unintelligible unless we experience...a state of complete dissolution
where there is no more distinction between mind and body, subject and
object.... We look around and perceive that...every object is related
to every other object...not only spatially, but temporally.... As a
fact of pure experience, there is no space without time, no time
without space; they are interpenetrating." (9)
 The Gandavuyha
presents a world that is not of this world and yet which is inseperable
from the mundane world of phenomental existence together with its
varied multiplicities. The "Dharmadhatu" world of the Gandavyuha is
where all of the individual realities are foded into one Great Reality
in which each individual existence contains within itself all other
individual existences. The Dharmadhatu is "...a world of lights not
accompanied by any form of shade. The essential nature of light is to
intermingle without interfering or obstructing one another. One single
light reflects in itself all other lights generally and individually."
(10)
 The Dharmadhatu
"...is where we find the Buddha's transformations, orderly
arrangements, superhuman virility, playful activities, miracles,
sovereignity, wonderful performances, supreme power, sustaining power,
and land of purity. And again here is where the Bodhisattvas have their
realms, their assemblies, their entrances, their comings together,
their visits, their transformations, their miracles, their groups,
their quarters, their fine array of lion seats, their palatial
residences, their resting abodes, their transports in Samadhi, their
survey of the worlds, their energetic  concentrations, their
heroisms, their offerings to the Tathagatas, their certifications,
their maturities, their energies, their Dharmakayas of purity, their
knowledge bodies of perfection, their vow bodies in various
manifestations, their material bodies in their perfected form, the
fulfillment and purification of all their forms, the array of their
boundless light images, the spreading out of their great nets of
lights, and the bringing forth of their transformation clouds, the
exansion of their bodies all over the ten quarters, and the perfection
of all their transformation deeds...." (11)
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 Some modern physicists have also been
attracted to the Avatamsaka Sutra’s unique vision of the fundamental
nature of reality because the text's cosmological view finds its
reflection in the interaction of particles at the sub-atomic level,
according to the laws of quantum physics. The sutra’s exploration of
parallel universes may also be relevant with regards to the multiple
universe, or 'multiverse', theory of quantum computing.
"In the hadryon bootstrap (of particle physics), all particles are
dynamically composed of one another in a self-consistent way, and in
that sense can be said to 'contain' one another. In Mahayana Buddhism,
a very similar notion is applied to the whole universe. This cosmic
network of interpenetrating things and events is illustrated in the
Avatamsaka Sutra by the metaphor of Indra's Net, a vast network of
precious gems hanging over the place of the god Indra. In the words of
Sir Charles Eliot: "In the heaven of Indra, there is said to be a
network of pearls, so
arranged that if you look at one you see all the others reflected in
it. In the same way each object in the world is not merely itself but
involves every other object and in fact is everything else. 'In every
particle of dust, there are present Buddhas without number.'"
 "The
similarity of this image with that of the hadryon bootstrap is
indeed striking. The metaphor of Indra's Net may justly be called the
first bootstrap model, created by the Eastern sages some 2,500 years
before the beginning of particle
physics.
"Buddhists
insist that this interpenetration is not comprehensible intellectually,
but is to be experienced by an enlightened mind in the state of
meditation. Thus D. T. Suzuki writes: ‘The Buddha [in the Gandavyuha]
is no more the one who is living in this world conceivable in space and
time. His consciousness is not that of an ordinary mind which must be
regulated according to the senses and logic... The Buddha of the
Gandavyuha lives in a spiritual world which has its own rules.’
"In modern physics, the situation is quite similar. The idea of every
particle containing all the others is inconceivable in ordinary space
and time. It describes a reality, which like the one of the Buddha, has
its own rules." (12)
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Sudhana's
fifty-first spiritual teacher sends the young man onward to visit the
Buddha Vairocana's tower of inexhaustible adornments. Prostrating
before the tower's closed door, Sudhana projects himself into the
presence of innumerable Buddhas who are located throughout space and
time, bowing down before each of their thrones.
Immediately after Sudhana perceives the desire to meet Maitreya, the
Bodhisattva Maitreya arrives at Vairocana’s tower in the company of a
vast entourage. The importance to Borobudur's builders of Sudhana's
visit to Vairocana's Tower is indicated by the fact that these reliefs
occupy the entire third gallery as well as one half of the fourth
gallery balustrade.
The composer of the Gandavyuha describes this Tower as the abode for
those who delight in the understanding of the meaning of Emptiness,
Formlessness, and Will-lessness, understanding that all things are
beyond discrimination. It encompasses the world that the Mahayana
Buddhist scriptures call the Dharmadhatu.
Gladdened by Sudhana's great, pure, and noble effort, Maitreya praises
the young man before the assembly.
"He is assembling the ship of teaching,
Having learned the route of the ocean of knowledge,
He is a helmsman on the sea of existence,
Leading to the treasure island of peace.
This Buddha-sun will rise in the sky of reality,
A great light and orb of vows with rays of knowledge,
Illuminating the abodes of all beings."
Sudhana replies:
"This is the abode where they are delighted to live who understand that
all things are without self-nature; who are free from ideas and
thoughts; who are niether attached to nor detached from ideas.
"This is the abode where they are delighted to live who have entered
into the depths of Prajnaparamita; who know how to penetrate into the
Dharmadhatu which looks out in all directions; who have quieted all the
fires of evil passions' who have destroyed by means of their superior
knowledge all the wrong views, desires, and self-conceit...who approach
the footsteps of all the Buddhas.
"This is the abode of all those who make one eon of time (kalpa) enter
into all eons of time and all eons of time into one eon; who make one
land enter into all lands and all lands into one land, and yet each
without destroying its individuality; who make one thing enter into all
things and all things into one thing; who make one being enter into all
beings and all beings into one being, and yet each retaining its
individuality; who understand that there is no duality between one
Buddha and all Buddhas and betwen all buddhas and one Buddha; who make
all things enter into one thought-moment; who go to all lands by the
raising of one thought; who manifest themselves wherever there are
beings; who are always mindful of benefiting and gladdening the entire
world; who keep themselves under perfect control.
 "This is the abode of all those who,
though they themselves have already attained emancipation, manifest
themselves into this world for the sake of maturing all beings; who,
while not attached to this earthly habitation, go about everywhere in
the world in order to do homage ot all the Tathagatas; who, while not
moving away from their own abode, go about everywhere....who while
depending on good friends, do not become attached to the thought of a
goofriend...who while desiring to live through all the time that is yet
to come, are free from the thought of duration; who manifest themselves
in all the worlds without moving a hair's breath from the place where
they are...."
"Here abide those who make themselves visible like the sun and the moon
everywhere where there are beings and deliver them from the snare of
transmigration by means of Samadhi and emancipation. Here abide those
Buddha sons, who, following the footsteps of the Buddhas, manifest
themselves in all countries through endless eons of time.... In one
particle of dust is seen the entire ocean of lands, beings and eons,
numbering as many as all the particlesof dust that are in existence,
and this fusion takes place with no obstruction whatever.... While
abiding here they also perceive that the principle of sameness prevails
in all beings, in all things, in all the Buddhas, in all the lands, and
in all the vows.... O noble Maitreya, thou art the eldest son of the
Buddha, thou livest a life of non-obstruction, they immaculate
knowledge goes beyond form; thining of this I prostrate myslef before
thee." (13)
Then Sudhana asks the Bodhisattva to open the Tower door for him.
Maitreya snaps his fingers, the door swings open, and then the young
man crosses over the threshold.
As soon as he is inside, Sudhana perceives that the Tower's interior is
as vast as the sky. Strewn with jewels, banners, flowers, and
innumerable other adornments, the inconceivably huge building contains
hundreds of thousands of other towers, each of which encapsulates an
infinity of worlds. Within each of these worlds, Sudhana perceives the
images of innumerable Maitreya bodhisattvas, each of whom is engaged in
conducting enlightening activities for the benefit of an infinite
number of sentient beings.
Sudhana ..."beholds the entire evolutionary history of Maitreya from a
self-centered, unenlightened being to a functioning Buddha. At the same
time, the panorama unfolds in infinite resonant variations in every
atom of the universe, each containing infinite micro-universes, which
contain infinite worlds where infinite living Sudhanas enter infinite
Vairocana towers and behold infinite evolutionary panoramas of infinite
living Maitreyas." (14)
The experience is followed by a vision in which innumerable Buddhas
make their appearance. As Sudhana bows down before the Buddha in one
tower, he likewise perceives himself bowing down before all the other
Buddhas in all of the other towers.
Maitreya finally breaks the spell by snapping his fingers for the
second time, after which Sudhana finds himself once again on the
outside the great tower.
"O son of a good family, arise!" said Maitreya. "Such is the nature of
all things appearing as they do in the accumulation and combination of
conditions; such is the self-nature of things, which is not complete in
itself, being like a drean, a vision, a reflection.... See thou now how
the wondrous transformations of the Bodhisattv, the outflowings of his
power, the propagation of his vows and wisdom, the joy of his final
beatitude, his deeds of devotion, the immeasurable array of the Buddha
land, the unsurpassable vows of the Tathagata, the inconceivable ways
of emancipation belonging to Bodhisattvahood, the pleasures of the
Samadhi enjoyed by the Bodhisattva--these things seest thou and
understandingly followest thou?"
"Yes I do, O Venerable Sir, by the wondrous sustaining power of the
good friend," answered Sudhana. "But pray tell me, what is this
emancipation?"
"This is known as the abode of Bodhisattvahood (Vairocana alankara
vyuhagarbha) in which all knowledge is contained, retained, and never
put out of memory," answered Maitreya. "It comes from the knowledge and
the sustaining power of the Bodhisattva. It goes nowhere, it passes
away nowhere, there is no accumulation, no increase, no standing still,
no attachment, no dependence on the earth or in the sky.... It comes
neither from within nor from without, yet it is before theeee, coming
out of the wonderous power of the Bodhisattva, because of the merit of
goodness thou hast accomplished...."
"O Venerable Sir, pray tell me whence thou comest," asked Sudhana.
The Bodhisattva "...comeswhere an all-embracing love abides, because he
desires to discipline all beings; he comes where there is a great
compassionate heart because he desires to protect all beings against
suffering; he comes where there are deeds of morality, because he
desires to be born wherever he can be agreeable; he comes wherever
there are great vows to fulfill...he comes out of the skillful means
born of transcendental knowledge because he is ever in coformity with
the mentalities of all beings; he comes wherever transformations are
manifested because all that appears like a reflection, like a
transformed body." (15)
Vairocana's Tower is a metaphor through which the Gandavyuha's composer
describes the entire universe as well as a demonstration of the perfect
interpenetration and mutual interfusion of its parts. It is an
"...essentially dynamic interrelation which takes place not only
spatially but also temporally....The experience of interpenetration in
the state of enlightenment can be seen as a mystical vision of the
complete 'boot-strap' situation, where all phenomena in the universe
are harmoniously interrelated.
"In such a
state of consciousness, the realm of the intellect is transcended and
causal explanations become unnecessary, being replaced by the direct
experience of the mutual interdependence of all things and events. The
Buddhist concept of interpenetration thus goes far beyond any
scientific bootstrap theory. Nevertheless, there are models of
subatomic particles in modern physics, based on the bootstrap
hypothesis, which show the most striking parallels to the views of
Mahayana Buddhism." (16)
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Maitreya sends Sudhana
onward to visit the Bodhisattva Manjusri for the second time.
Perceiving Sudhana's approach from a great distance, Manjusri extends
his hand 110 leagues in order to touch Sudhana on the head. Praising
the young man's great dedication, Manjusri sends the young man onward
to meet up with his final spiritual teacher, the Bodhisattva
Samantabhadra, a Sanskrit name that means "universally good."
Samantabhadra reveals to the young man the ten vows of the Bodhisattva
that he had once uttered at their beginning of this own career, which
represent the essence of the bodhisattva's career as an enlightening
being. 