原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
給散餓鬼
The Hungry Ghosts Are Paid
太宗甚喜,情願出名借用。遂立了文書與判官,借他金銀一庫,著太尉盡行給散。判官復吩咐道:「這些金銀,汝等可均分用度,放你大唐爺爺過去,他的陽壽還早哩。我領了十王鈞語,送他還魂,教他到陽間做一個水陸大會,度汝等超生,再休生事。」眾鬼聞言,得了金銀,俱唯唯而退。判官令太尉搖動引魂幡,領太宗出離了枉死城中,奔上平陽大路,飄飄蕩蕩而去。太宗甚喜,情愿出名借用。遂立了文书与判官,借他金银一库,著太尉尽行给散。判官复吩咐道:「这些金银,汝等可均分用度,放你大唐爷爷过去,他的阳寿还早哩。我领了十王钧语,送他还魂,教他到阳间做一个水陆大会,度汝等超生,再休生事。」众鬼闻言,得了金银,俱唯唯而退。判官令太尉摇动引魂幡,领太宗出离了枉死城中,奔上平阳大路,飘飘荡荡而去。
逐句解 Line by line
太宗甚喜,情願出名借用。
太宗甚喜,情愿出名借用。
Taizong, greatly pleased, was willing to sign his name and borrow.
甚喜 shèn, 'greatly pleased.' 情願 to be willing of one's own accord.
遂立了文書與判官,借他金銀一庫,著太尉盡行給散。
遂立了文书与判官,借他金银一库,著太尉尽行给散。
So he drew up a document for the magistrate, borrowed one vault of his gold and silver, and had the marshal distribute it all.
文書 the written bond. 著 here zhuó, 'to cause, to direct.' 盡行給散 to dole out entirely; 盡 jìn, 行 xíng.
判官復吩咐道:「這些金銀,汝等可均分用度,放你大唐爺爺過去,他的陽壽還早哩。
判官复吩咐道:「这些金银,汝等可均分用度,放你大唐爷爷过去,他的阳寿还早哩。
The magistrate charged them further, 'This gold and silver you may share out equally for your needs. Let your Great Tang lord pass through — his allotted span is yet far from spent.'
均分 jūn fēn, to divide equally. 爺爺 a familiar honorific, 'lord, sire.' 還早 hái, 'still early.'
我領了十王鈞語,送他還魂,教他到陽間做一個水陸大會,度汝等超生,再休生事。」
我领了十王钧语,送他还魂,教他到阳间做一个水陆大会,度汝等超生,再休生事。」
'I bear the Ten Kings' august command to send him back to life, and I shall have him hold, in the world of light, a Grand Mass of Land and Water to ferry you all to rebirth. Make no more trouble.'
鈞語 'august words,' a respectful term for the Kings' decree. 還魂 huán hún. 水陸大會 the Grand Mass of Land and Water (水陸法會), the great Buddhist rite of universal deliverance — the goal toward which the whole chapter drives. 教 jiào, 'to have (him).'
眾鬼聞言,得了金銀,俱唯唯而退。
众鬼闻言,得了金银,俱唯唯而退。
Hearing this, the ghosts, having got the gold and silver, all withdrew with murmurs of assent.
唯唯 'yes, yes,' murmured compliance.
判官令太尉搖動引魂幡,領太宗出離了枉死城中,奔上平陽大路,飄飄蕩蕩而去。
判官令太尉摇动引魂幡,领太宗出离了枉死城中,奔上平阳大路,飘飘荡荡而去。
The magistrate bade the marshal wave the soul-guiding pennant, and led Taizong out of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, hastening onto the broad level road, drifting and floating away.
引魂幡 the soul-guiding pennant. 平陽大路 'the broad road of level Yang,' the way back toward the light. 中 zhōng.
總評 Commentary
The transaction concludes with the loan disbursed and the war-dead pacified — but the magistrate's charge introduces the chapter's ultimate purpose. The 水陸大會, the Grand Mass of Land and Water, is named here for the first time as the rite Taizong must sponsor to deliver these unransomed souls; it is the hinge on which the whole novel turns, for it is at that Mass that the quest for the scriptures will be set in motion.