Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra II: 10 Names of Pratītyasamutpāda or Samudaya in Sahāloka According to Ch. 8 of Fóhuāyán Jīng

See the previous article for context. This article will explain the English and Chinese names of Pratītyasamutpāda or Samudaya in Sahāloka according to the eighth chapter of the Fóhuāyán Jīng (AKA Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra), with commentary from Hsuan Hua.

The names are:

1. Being bound up, or 繫縛 xìfú. Hsuan Hua says:

This refers to either being tied up and suspended in mid air, or fettered to a stump. People get bound up or fettered when they fall in love. Love is an accumulation of suffering.

2. Decay and ruin, or 滅壞 miè huài. Hsuan Hua says:

When your happiness is ruined, of course there is suffering.

3. The meaning of love and attachment, or 愛著義 àizhe yì. Hsuan Hua says:

When you love something or someone, and are unable to give that person or thing up, there is attachment.

4. False enlightenment and thoughts, or 妄覺念 wàng jué niàn. Hsuan Hua says:

It means you enlighten to the wrong thing. You work under an erroneous assumption.

5. Tending toward and entering, or 趣入 qù rù. Hsuan Hua says:

One tends toward the places of affliction, like stepping into quicksand or a mire and then being unable to get out.

6. Decisive, or 決定 juédìng. Hsuan Hua says:

What are you decisive about? You’re decisive about having afflictions! And yet you yourself don’t understand it.

7. Net, or 網 wǎng. Hsuan Hua says:

You’re caught in a net, unable to get freed. This is like fish which swim about in the sea or the rivers, quite free and at ease, but if they are snared by a fisherman’s net, then they might lose their lives.

8. Idle speculation, or 戲論 xìlùn. Hsuan Hua says:

The words that one says are not true and actual; they are like playful speculations of casual jokes.

9. Following along, or 隨行 suíxíng. Hsuan Hua says:

You follow along with the conduct of afflictions.

10. The root of inversion, or 顛倒根 diāndǎo gēn. Hsuan Hua says:

Accumulation is the very root of being upside down.

That's it. Thank you for reading.

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