Canonical Classics ← 第十二回
第十二回
tángwángbǐngchéngxiūhuì
guānyīnxiǎnshènghuàjīnchán

The Tang King, Sincere in Faith, Convenes the Grand Assembly · Guanyin, Manifesting Her Holy Form, Transforms the Golden Cicada

劉全復命
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劉全復命 Liu Quan Reports at Court

tángwángdāng殿diànyǒudāngjiàguānzòudào:「wànsuìjīnyǒujìnguāguǒrénliúquánhuánhúnzàicháoménwàiděngzhǐ。」tángwángjīngchuánzhǐjiāngliúquánzhàojìndānchítàizōngwèndào:「jìnguāguǒzhīshì?」liúquándào:「chéndǐngguāguǒjìngzhìguǐménguānyǐnshàngsēnluó殿diànjiànleshídàiyánjūnjiāngguāguǒfèngshàngbèiyánwángyīnqínzhìxièzhīyánjūnshènduōduōbàishàngwángdào:『zhēnshìyǒuxìnyǒudetàizōnghuáng!』」tángwángdāng殿diànyǒudāngjiàguānzòudào:「wànsuìjīnyǒujìnguāguǒrénliúquánhuánhúnzàicháoménwàiděngzhǐ。」tángwángjīngchuánzhǐjiāngliúquánzhàojìndānchítàizōngwèndào:「jìnguāguǒzhīshì?」liúquándào:「chéndǐngguāguǒjìngzhìguǐménguānyǐnshàngsēnluó殿diànjiànleshídàiyánjūnjiāngguāguǒfèngshàngbèiyánwángyīnqínzhìxièzhīyánjūnshènduōduōbàishàngwángdào:『zhēnshìyǒuxìnyǒudetàizōnghuáng!』」


逐句解 Line by line

tángwángdāng殿diànyǒudāngjiàguānzòudào:「wànsuìjīnyǒujìnguāguǒrénliúquánhuánhúnzàicháoménwàiděngzhǐ。」 tángwángdāng殿diànyǒudāngjiàguānzòudào:「wànsuìjīnyǒujìnguāguǒrénliúquánhuánhúnzàicháoménwàiděngzhǐ。」

The Tang king was holding court when an officer of the imperial carriage suddenly announced: 'Your Majesty, the melon-bearer Liu Quan has now returned to life, and waits beyond the palace gate for your command.'

當駕官 is an officer in attendance on the emperor's carriage. The reading turns on in 還魂, 'to return the soul, to come back to life,' read huán; in 朝門 is the court-sense cháo.

tángwángjīngchuánzhǐjiāngliúquánzhàojìndānchí tángwángjīngchuánzhǐjiāngliúquánzhàojìndānchí

The Tang king was greatly astonished. He quickly gave order to summon Liu Quan in, who bowed low upon the vermilion steps.

丹墀 (dān chí), the 'vermilion steps' or cinnabar terrace before the throne, is where subjects perform obeisance. in 將劉全 is the disposal jiāng.

tàizōngwèndào:「jìnguāguǒzhīshì?」 tàizōngwèndào:「jìnguāguǒzhīshì?」

Taizong asked: 'How went the matter of the melons and fruit?'

The emperor turns at once to the errand's outcome, the debt of gratitude owed to the Ten Kings for his own return from the dead.

liúquándào:「chéndǐngguāguǒjìngzhìguǐménguānyǐnshàngsēnluó殿diànjiànleshídàiyánjūnjiāngguāguǒfèngshàngbèiyánwángyīnqínzhìxièzhī liúquándào:「chéndǐngguāguǒjìngzhìguǐménguānyǐnshàngsēnluó殿diànjiànleshídàiyánjūnjiāngguāguǒfèngshàngbèiyánwángyīnqínzhìxièzhī

Liu Quan said: 'Your servant bore the melons and fruit straight to the Gate of Ghosts, and was led up to the Hall of Judgment, where I saw the Ten Kings of the Underworld. I presented the melons and fruit and spoke fully of my king's earnest thanks.'

鬼門關 is the Gate of Ghosts, the pass into the underworld; 森羅殿 (Hall of Judgment) is the seat of the Ten Kings. 慇懃 (yīn qín) is 'earnest, assiduous,' a variant writing of 殷勤. in 那十代閻君 is the demonstrative .

yánjūnshènduōduōbàishàngwángdào:『zhēnshìyǒuxìnyǒudetàizōnghuáng!』」 yánjūnshènduōduōbàishàngwángdào:『zhēnshìyǒuxìnyǒudetàizōnghuáng!』」

'The Kings were greatly pleased, and again and again sent up their respects to my king, saying, “Truly he is a Taizong emperor of faith and of virtue!”'

in 甚喜 is the intensifier shèn, 'very' — distinct from the interrogative shén of 甚麼. The Kings' praise, 有信有德 ('of faith and of virtue'), sounds the chapter's keynote: it is Taizong's fidelity in keeping his underworld promise that earns him merit.


總評 Commentary

Liu Quan's arrival converts private prophecy into public proof. His report is framed as bureaucratic due diligence — an errand discharged, thanks conveyed, a superior's pleasure recorded — in keeping with the novel's persistent vision of the underworld as a mirror of the Tang civil service, complete with gates, halls, ledgers, and wardens. The Kings' commendation of Taizong as an emperor 'of faith and of virtue' is not idle flattery: it restates the moral logic by which he was granted extra years of life, and prepares the ground for the great merit-making rite that will occupy the rest of the chapter.