第十一回 · 十八層地獄 The Eighteen Hells — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

十八層地獄 The Eighteen Hells

太tài宗zōng全quán靠kào著zhe那nà判pàn官guān保bǎo護hù，過guò了le陰yīn山shān。前qián進jìn又yòu歷lì了le許xǔ多duō衙yá門mén，一yí處chù處chù俱jù是shì悲bēi聲shēng振zhèn耳ěr，惡è怪guài驚jīng心xīn。太tài宗zōng又yòu道dào：「此cǐ是shì何hé處chù？」判pàn官guān道dào：「此cǐ是shì陰yīn山shān背bèi後hòu一yī十shí八bā層céng地dì獄yù。」太tài宗zōng道dào：「是shì那nǎ十shí八bā層céng？」判pàn官guān道dào：「你nǐ聽tīng我wǒ說shuō：太tài宗zōng全quán靠kào着zhe那nà判pàn官guān保bǎo护hù，过guò了le阴yīn山shān。前qián进jìn又yòu历lì了le许xǔ多duō衙yá门mén，一yí处chù处chù俱jù是shì悲bēi声shēng振zhèn耳ěr，恶è怪guài惊jīng心xīn。太tài宗zōng又yòu道dào：「此cǐ是shì何hé处chù？」判pàn官guān道dào：「此cǐ是shì阴yīn山shān背bèi后hòu一yī十shí八bā层céng地dì狱yù。」太tài宗zōng道dào：「是shì那nǎ十shí八bā层céng？」判pàn官guān道dào：「你nǐ听tīng我wǒ说shuō：

逐句解 Line by line

太tài宗zōng全quán靠kào著zhe那nà判pàn官guān保bǎo護hù，過guò了le陰yīn山shān。太tài宗zōng全quán靠kào着zhe那nà判pàn官guān保bǎo护hù，过guò了le阴yīn山shān。

Relying wholly on the magistrate's protection, Taizong passed over the Shaded Mountain.

靠著 uses zhe to keep the leaning going: relying on him the whole way. The peak that took twenty-odd lines to describe is crossed in one sentence — the terror was the description, not the climb.

前qián進jìn又yòu歷lì了le許xǔ多duō衙yá門mén，一yí處chù處chù俱jù是shì悲bēi聲shēng振zhèn耳ěr，惡è怪guài驚jīng心xīn。前qián进jìn又yòu历lì了le许xǔ多duō衙yá门mén，一yí处chù处chù俱jù是shì悲bēi声shēng振zhèn耳ěr，恶è怪guài惊jīng心xīn。

Going on, they passed through many an office-gate, and in place after place wails of grief assailed the ear and hideous fiends struck terror to the heart.

衙門 is the word for a government office, the yamen where a magistrate held court — and hell is imagined as a compound full of them. 一處處 is "place after place." The screaming is coming from behind office doors.

太tài宗zōng又yòu道dào：「此cǐ是shì何hé處chù？」判pàn官guān道dào：「此cǐ是shì陰yīn山shān背bèi後hòu一yī十shí八bā層céng地dì獄yù。」太tài宗zōng又yòu道dào：「此cǐ是shì何hé处chù？」判pàn官guān道dào：「此cǐ是shì阴yīn山shān背bèi后hòu一yī十shí八bā层céng地dì狱yù。」

Taizong asked again, 'What place is this?' The magistrate said, 'This is the Eighteen Hells, behind the Shaded Mountain.'

一十八層地獄, the Eighteen Levels of Hell, is one of the most familiar phrases in Chinese popular religion, and to be "in the eighteenth level" is still how you say someone has hit rock bottom. The 一 is read yī, a numeral. The number and the names vary considerably from one source to another.

太tài宗zōng道dào：「是shì那nǎ十shí八bā層céng？」判pàn官guān道dào：「你nǐ聽tīng我wǒ說shuō：太tài宗zōng道dào：「是shì那nǎ十shí八bā层céng？」判pàn官guān道dào：「你nǐ听tīng我wǒ说shuō：

Taizong said, 'Which are the eighteen levels?' The magistrate said, 'Listen while I tell you:'

那 here is the question word, nǎ, equivalent to 哪, "which" — not the pointing nà, "that." The emperor asks which eighteen, and hands the magistrate his cue for the catalogue.

總評 Commentary

The passage bridges from mountain to hells, and casts the underworld once more in the image of the state above: a warren of 衙門, government offices, through which the emperor is escorted like a visiting inspector.

His question — 「是那十八層？」, which eighteen? — is the novel's device for launching the big enumerative set-piece that follows, the roll-call of the hells and the sins that fill them.