第一百回 · 聖教序 The Holy Teaching Preface — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

聖教序 The Holy Teaching Preface

太tài宗zōng道dào：「朕zhèn夜yè口kǒu占zhàn，答dá謝xiè御yù弟dì之zhī意yì，名míng曰yuē《聖shèng教jiào序xù》，不bù知zhī好hǎo否fǒu？」長zhǎng老lǎo叩kòu頭tóu，稱chēng謝xiè不bù已yǐ。太tài宗zōng道dào：「朕zhèn夜yè口kǒu占zhàn，答dá谢xiè御yù弟dì之zhī意yì，名míng曰yuē《圣shèng教jiào序xù》，不bù知zhī好hǎo否fǒu？」长zhǎng老lǎo叩kòu头tóu，称chēng谢xiè不bù已yǐ。

逐句解 Line by line

太tài宗zōng道dào：「朕zhèn夜yè口kǒu占zhàn，答dá謝xiè御yù弟dì之zhī意yì，名míng曰yuē《聖shèng教jiào序xù》，不bù知zhī好hǎo否fǒu？」太tài宗zōng道dào：「朕zhèn夜yè口kǒu占zhàn，答dá谢xiè御yù弟dì之zhī意yì，名míng曰yuē《圣shèng教jiào序xù》，不bù知zhī好hǎo否fǒu？」

Taizong said: “I composed it aloud in the night, meaning to thank my royal brother. It is called the Preface to the Holy Teaching. I do not know whether it is any good.”

⚠ 聖教序 — the Preface to the Holy Teaching. The historical Taizong wrote it in 648, the calligrapher Chu Suiliang carved it in stone, and a monk later assembled a second version out of characters cut from Wang Xizhi's surviving handwriting. Students of Chinese calligraphy have copied it ever since. ⚠ And the emperor announces the title and then asks whether the thing is any good. 不知好否 — I don't know if it's all right. Four characters, and they are what anyone says after handing over something they wrote at three in the morning.

長zhǎng老lǎo叩kòu頭tóu，稱chēng謝xiè不bù已yǐ。长zhǎng老lǎo叩kòu头tóu，称chēng谢xiè不bù已yǐ。

The elder knocked his head on the ground and thanked him without stopping.

⚠ 稱謝不已 — could not leave off thanking. It is the exact phrase used of the emperor two blocks ago, when Taizong praised him without stopping after hearing about the bribe at the Buddha's door. The same construction, the two men, in opposite directions. Neither of them can stop.

總評 Commentary

The title lands, and a reader in 1592 would have felt it as a fact rather than a plot point. The historical Taizong really wrote the Preface to the Holy Teaching, in 648, for the real Xuanzang. It was carved in stone, then assembled a second time out of characters cut from Wang Xizhi's surviving handwriting, and students of Chinese calligraphy have copied it ever since.

⚠ And the emperor gives it its name and then asks whether it is any good. I don't know if it's all right — which is what anybody says about something they wrote at three in the morning and have just handed to the one person qualified to judge it.

⚠ The monk's response uses the same construction the novel gave the emperor two audiences ago, when Taizong praised him without stopping after being told the Buddha's attendants had demanded a bribe. Neither man can leave off. The novel puts the same phrase on both of them.