無量壽經優婆提舍願生偈註 1.14

1.14

此二句名莊嚴量功德成就。佛本所以起此莊嚴量功德者，見三界陜（戶甲反）小、墮（敗城阜，或垂反）陘（山絕坎，形音）陪（重土，一曰備，父才反）陼（如渚者陼丘，之與反），或宮觀迫（伯音）迮（子格反）、或土田逼隘（陋，已賣反）、或志求路促、或山河隔（塞，公厄反）障、或國界分部，有如此等種種舉急事。是故菩薩興此莊嚴量功德願，願我國土如虛空廣大無際。如虛空者，言來生者雖眾，猶若無也。廣大無際者，成上如虛空義。何故如虛空？以廣大無際故。成就者，言十方眾生往生者，若已生、若今生、若當生，雖無量無邊，畢竟常如虛空，廣大無際終無滿時。是故言究竟如虛空，廣大無邊際。問曰：如維摩方丈苞容有餘，何必國界無貲（子支反）乃稱廣大？答曰：所言廣大，非必以畦（五十畝，下圭反）畹（三十畝一遠，一萬反）為喻。但言如空，亦何累方丈。又方丈之所苞容，在狹而廣。覈（實，下革反）論果報，豈若在廣而廣耶？

These two lines are named the perfection of the merit of adorned magnitude. The reason why the Buddha originally gave rise to this merit of adorned magnitude was that he saw the three realms as narrow and cramped, with ruined ramparts, precipitous chasms, mounds, and islets—or palaces that are cramped and confined, or fields that are tight and pinched, or roads that curtail one's aspirations, or mountains and rivers that obstruct and bar, or lands that are divided into regions, with all such kinds of pressing distress. For this reason, the bodhisattva aroused this vow for the merit of adorned magnitude, vowing: "May my land be like empty space, vast and boundless." "Like empty space" means that although those who come to be born there are multitudinous, it is still as if there were none. "Vast and boundless" establishes the meaning of being "like empty space" above. Why is it like empty space? Because it is vast and boundless. "Perfection" means that of the sentient beings of the ten directions who are reborn there—whether already born, now being born, or yet to be born—though immeasurable and boundless, it remains ultimately and constantly like empty space, vast and boundless, never having a time when it is filled. Therefore it is said: "Ultimately like empty space, / Vast and without boundaries."

Question: As with Vimalakīrti’s ten-foot-square room accommodating [crowds] with room to spare, why must a realm be without limit before it is called vast?

Answer: What is spoken of as vast need not take small plots and fields as its metaphor. Simply saying "like empty space," how would it prejudice the ten-foot room? Furthermore, the accommodation of the ten-foot room is being vast within the narrow. Examining retributive fruit, how could that compare to being vast within the vast?