八部天龍馬 Dragon-Horse of the Eight Classes
又叫那白馬：「汝本是西洋大海廣晉龍王之子，因汝違逆父命，犯了不孝之罪。幸得皈身皈法，皈我沙門，每日家虧你馱負聖僧來西，又虧你馱負聖經去東，亦有功者，加陞汝職正果，為八部天龍馬。」又叫那白马：「汝本是西洋大海广晋龙王之子，因汝违逆父命，犯了不孝之罪。幸得皈身皈法，皈我沙门，每日家亏你驮负圣僧来西，又亏你驮负圣经去东，亦有功者，加升汝职正果，为八部天龙马。」
逐句解 Line by line
Then he called the white horse: “You were a son of Dragon King Guangjin of the Great Western Ocean. Because you disobeyed your father's command, you committed the crime of unfilial conduct.”
龍王之子 — a son of the Dragon King. The last character is read zǐ, the full word for a son, not the light ending it takes in ordinary compounds. He is somebody's child, not a suffix. 不孝之罪 — the crime of being an unfilial son. Of the five offences named in this scene, four are Buddhist or celestial — inattention at a sermon, a riot in heaven, drunkenness, breakage. The horse's is Confucian. He disobeyed his father.
“Happily you had the fortune to take refuge in body and in law, and enter my order, and every day of it we owed to you the carrying of the holy monk west, and the carrying of the holy scriptures east. You too have merit. I promote your office to right fruit: you shall be the Dragon-Horse of the Eight Classes.”
幸得 — had the good fortune to. The second character is the full verb here, read dé, to obtain or attain; not the light de that hangs on a verb elsewhere in this scene. 馱負聖僧來西…馱負聖經去東 — carried the holy monk west, carried the holy scriptures east. Nine characters, and they hold the whole shape of the book: out with a man on his back, home with the cargo. The Tang monk said almost exactly this to the emperor two blocks ago. The horse's testimonial is the only one in the novel that two different people give in the same words.
The horse gets an appointment like the rest, and his crime is the odd one out. Of the five offences named in this scene, four are celestial — dozing at a sermon, a riot in heaven, drunkenness, breakage. The horse's is Confucian: he disobeyed his father.
And his testimonial is the best-written line in the investiture, because it is the shape of the whole book in nine characters: carried the holy monk west, carried the holy scriptures east. Out with a man on his back, home with the cargo.
The Tang monk said almost exactly the same thing to the emperor two audiences ago. It is the only citation in the book that two different people give in nearly the same words — and it is given about a horse.