原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
含詞賦 With rhapsody
御駕臨會
The Emperor's Progress to the Rite
貞觀十三年，歲次己巳，九月甲戌，初三日，癸卯良辰，陳玄奘大闡法師聚集一千二百名高僧，都在長安城化生寺開演諸品妙經。那皇帝早朝已畢，帥文武多官，乘鳳輦龍車，出離金鑾寶殿，徑上寺來拈香。怎見那鑾駕？真個是：贞观十三年，岁次己巳，九月甲戌，初三日，癸卯良辰，陈玄奘大阐法师聚集一千二百名高僧，都在长安城化生寺开演诸品妙经。那皇帝早朝已毕，帅文武多官，乘凤辇龙车，出离金銮宝殿，径上寺来拈香。怎见那銮驾？真个是：
一天瑞氣，萬道祥光。一天瑞气，万道祥光。
仁風輕淡蕩，化日麗非常。仁风轻淡荡，化日丽非常。
千官環佩分前後，五衛旌旗列兩旁。千官环佩分前后，五卫旌旗列两旁。
執金瓜，擎斧鉞，雙雙對對；执金瓜，擎斧钺，双双对对；
絳紗燭，御爐香，靄靄堂堂。绛纱烛，御炉香，霭霭堂堂。
龍飛鳳舞，鶚薦鷹揚。龙飞凤舞，鹗荐鹰扬。
聖明天子正，忠義大臣良。圣明天子正，忠义大臣良。
介福千年過舜禹，昇平萬代賽堯湯。介福千年过舜禹，升平万代赛尧汤。
又見那曲柄傘，滾龍袍，輝光相射；又见那曲柄伞，滚龙袍，辉光相射；
玉連環，彩鳳扇，瑞靄飄揚。玉连环，彩凤扇，瑞霭飘扬。
珠冠玉帶，紫綬金章。珠冠玉带，紫绶金章。
護駕軍千隊，扶輿將兩行。护驾军千队，扶舆将两行。
這皇帝沐浴虔誠尊敬佛，皈依善果喜拈香。这皇帝沐浴虔诚尊敬佛，皈依善果喜拈香。
逐句解 Line by line
貞觀十三年，歲次己巳，九月甲戌，初三日，癸卯良辰，陳玄奘大闡法師聚集一千二百名高僧，都在長安城化生寺開演諸品妙經。
贞观十三年，岁次己巳，九月甲戌，初三日，癸卯良辰，陈玄奘大阐法师聚集一千二百名高僧，都在长安城化生寺开演诸品妙经。
In the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, the year being jisi, the ninth month jiaxu, the third day, the fine hour of guimao, the Grand Expositor Dharma Master Chen Xuanzang assembled twelve hundred eminent monks, all at the Huasheng Temple in the city of Chang'an, to open the exposition of the various sublime scriptures.
The date is given in full sexagenary notation (己巳／甲戌／癸卯). 都 in 都在 ('all at') is dōu; 長 in 長安 is cháng.
那皇帝早朝已畢，帥文武多官，乘鳳輦龍車，出離金鑾寶殿，徑上寺來拈香。
那皇帝早朝已毕，帅文武多官，乘凤辇龙车，出离金銮宝殿，径上寺来拈香。
That emperor, the morning court concluded, led his civil and military officers and, riding the phoenix-palanquin and dragon-carriage, left the Hall of the Golden Bells and came straight up to the temple to offer incense.
那 in 那皇帝 is the demonstrative nà; 朝 in 早朝 ('the morning court') is cháo; 乘 in 乘鳳輦 ('riding the phoenix-palanquin') is chéng.
怎見那鑾駕？真個是：
怎见那銮驾？真个是：
How shall that imperial equipage be described? Truly it was thus:
The rhetorical lead-in 怎見那鑾駕？真個是 ('how shall that equipage be described? truly it was thus') ushers in the procession fu. 那 is the demonstrative nà.
一天瑞氣，萬道祥光。
一天瑞气，万道祥光。
A whole sky of auspicious vapors, ten thousand shafts of propitious light.
仁風輕淡蕩，化日麗非常。
仁风轻淡荡，化日丽非常。
A benevolent breeze, light and softly stirring; a transforming sun, radiant beyond the common.
千官環佩分前後，五衛旌旗列兩旁。
千官环佩分前后，五卫旌旗列两旁。
A thousand officials, their girdle-pendants ranged before and behind; the Five Guards, their banners arrayed on either side.
分 in 分前後 ('ranged before and behind') is fēn.
執金瓜，擎斧鉞，雙雙對對；
执金瓜，擎斧钺，双双对对；
Bearers of golden maces, holders of axes and battle-axes, pair upon pair, rank upon rank;
絳紗燭，御爐香，靄靄堂堂。
绛纱烛，御炉香，霭霭堂堂。
crimson gauze lanterns, the imperial censer's incense, curling thick and stately.
龍飛鳳舞，鶚薦鷹揚。
龙飞凤舞，鹗荐鹰扬。
Dragons soaring, phoenixes dancing; ospreys presented, hawks on the wing.
聖明天子正，忠義大臣良。
圣明天子正，忠义大臣良。
A sage and enlightened Son of Heaven, upright; loyal and righteous great ministers, good.
天子 ('Son of Heaven') reads 子 as zǐ.
介福千年過舜禹，昇平萬代賽堯湯。
介福千年过舜禹，升平万代赛尧汤。
Blessings assured for a thousand years, surpassing Shun and Yu; peace and prosperity for a myriad ages, rivaling Yao and Tang.
The four sage-kings 舜禹堯湯 (Shun, Yu, Yao, Tang) set the Confucian measure of ideal rule. 昇平 ('peace and prosperity') writes 昇 — the 世德堂 orthographic variant of 升 — read shēng.
又見那曲柄傘，滾龍袍，輝光相射；
又见那曲柄伞，滚龙袍，辉光相射；
See too the crook-handled parasols, the coiling-dragon robes, their brilliance shining each upon each;
那 in 又見那 is the demonstrative nà; 相 in 相射 ('shining on one another') is xiāng.
玉連環，彩鳳扇，瑞靄飄揚。
玉连环，彩凤扇，瑞霭飘扬。
jade linked-rings, painted phoenix fans, auspicious mists floating aloft.
珠冠玉帶，紫綬金章。
珠冠玉带，紫绶金章。
Pearl crowns and jade girdles, purple cords and golden seals.
冠 in 珠冠 ('pearl crown,' a noun) is guān. 紫綬金章 ('purple cords and golden seals') are the insignia of high office.
護駕軍千隊，扶輿將兩行。
护驾军千队，扶舆将两行。
Guard troops in a thousand squads, carriage-attending officers in two rows.
In 扶輿將兩行, 將 is the noun jiàng ('officers,' parallel to 軍 in the first clause), and 行 is háng ('a row, a rank') — the reading confirmed by the fu's -ang rhyme.
這皇帝沐浴虔誠尊敬佛，皈依善果喜拈香。
这皇帝沐浴虔诚尊敬佛，皈依善果喜拈香。
This emperor, bathed and purified, in reverent sincerity honored the Buddha; taking refuge in the good fruit, he gladly offered incense.
皈依 (guī yī) is 'to take refuge' in the Buddhist sense; the fu resolves from martial pageantry into the emperor's personal act of devotion.
總評 Commentary
The procession fu is a set-piece of imperial pageantry, and the storyteller lavishes on it the full apparatus of the form: a cascade of parallel couplets cataloguing vapors and light, officials and guards, maces and axes, lanterns and incense, robes and fans, crowns and seals, troops and attendants. The rhetoric is deliberately cumulative, building the emperor's approach as a spectacle of cosmic and dynastic order — explicitly measured against the Confucian sage-kings Shun, Yu, Yao, and Tang. Yet the whole magnificent catalogue is made to converge on a single quiet act: for all his thousand-squadron retinue, the emperor comes 'bathed and purified' to honor the Buddha and offer incense with his own hand. The pageant of the state bends, at its climax, into an act of personal faith — the very submission of temporal power to the Dharma that the chapter's debate had secured.