原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
無量無邊 A Kindness Beyond Measure
今此一場，乃無量無邊之恩德。下官這裡差人辦備小宴，奉答厚恩。今此一场，乃无量无边之恩德。下官这里差人办备小宴，奉答厚恩。
逐句解 Line by line
今此一場，乃無量無邊之恩德。
今此一场，乃无量无边之恩德。
"What has happened here is a kindness beyond all measure and all bound.
場 is cháng, the measure word for an event that runs its course — a bout of it. 無量無邊, immeasurable and boundless, is Buddhist vocabulary: it is what one says about the merit of a Buddha.
下官這裡差人辦備小宴，奉答厚恩。
下官这里差人办备小宴，奉答厚恩。
"This humble officer will send people to lay on a small banquet, to answer such deep kindness.
差 is chāi, to send somebody on an errand — not the chà that means amiss, which is the base reading and which fits only one of the chapter's seven. 小宴, a small banquet, is modesty; it will run to half a month.
The prefect reaches for the biggest words he has, and they are Buddhist ones — immeasurable, boundless, the vocabulary reserved for the merit of a Buddha.
Early in this same chapter he offered a thousand in gold and Pilgrim told him it would buy nothing. He has learned the exchange rate. What he offers now is a banquet and a description of the debt as unpayable, which is a considerably better answer.