無量壽經優婆提舍願生偈註 1.28

1.28

These four lines are called the accomplishment of the adornment of earth merits. Why did the Buddha originally give rise to this adornment? He saw that there are lands of towering precipices and steep ranges, where dead trees lie across peaks; of craggy, jagged, precipitous, and sheer ravines, where wild, unnavigable weeds fill the gullies; where vast, blue oceans are rivers where the eye reaches no end, and sprawling marshes are places where no footprint can be found. Seeing this, the Bodhisattva gave rise to a great compassionate vow: 'May the ground of my land be as flat as the palm of a hand; may palaces and pavilions mirror and encompass the ten directions, definitively belonging to nowhere yet not not belonging; and may jewel trees and jewel balustrades mutually reflect and adorn one another.' Therefore it is said: 'Palaces and all the multistoried pavilions / Behold the ten directions without hindrance. / Miscellaneous trees of different radiant colours / Are surrounded everywhere by jewel balustrades.'