ten mysteries [十玄門] ( jū-gemmon): Ten aspects of the interrelationship of all phenomena as seen from the standpoint of the Buddha’s enlightenment. A doctrine of the Flower Garland (Chin Hua-yen; Kegon) school formulated by Chih-yen (602–668), the second patriarch of the school, and revised by the third patriarch, Fa-tsang. Fa-tsang’s version lists the ten mysteries as follows: (1) All phenomena are mutually related and give rise to one another simultaneously. (2) The broad and the narrow are mutually inclusive without impediment; and one action, however small, includes all actions. (3) The many are included in the one and the one in the many, without losing their respective characteristics as “one” and “many.” (4) All phenomena are interpenetrated in their essence; one is equal to all and all is equal to one. (5) The hidden and the manifest complement each other and together form one entity. (6) Things that are inconceivably minute also obey the principle of many in one and one in many. (7) All phenomena ceaselessly permeate and reflect one another, like the reflections in the jewels of Indra’s net (a net said to hang on a wall in the palace of the god Indra, or Shakra; at each link of the net is a reflective jewel that mirrors the adjacent jewels and the multiple images reflected in them). (8) All phenomena manifest the truth, and the truth is to be found in all phenomena; anything can serve as an example of the truth of the interdependence of all things. (9) The three periods of past, present, and future each have past, present, and future within themselves. This defines nine periods, which together form one period, making ten in all. These ten periods are distinct yet mutually pervasive. This mystery expresses the “one is all, all is one” principle of the Flower Garland school in terms of time. (10) At any time, one phenomenon acts as principal and many phenomena as secondary, thus completing the whole.
In the earlier version, the ten mysteries are given in a different order and with slightly different terminology and two are altogether different. These two are the mystery that all phenomena are manifestations of the mind and none can exist outside the mind; and the mystery that the mind is single and all phenomena diverse, the diverse and the single interacting without obstruction. They are replaced with the above items (2) and (10) respectively in Fa-tsang’s revised version. The “ten mysteries” are often mentioned in conjunction with the “six forms.” The two concepts explain the same principle from different perspectives.