原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
愚僧嗤價
The Foolish Monk Scoffs
長安城裡，有那選不中的愚僧，倒有幾貫村鈔。見菩薩變化個疥癩形容，身穿破衲，赤腳光頭，將袈裟捧定，豔豔生光，他上前問道：「那癩和尚，你的袈裟要賣多少價錢？」菩薩道：「袈裟價值五千兩，錫杖價值二千兩。」那愚僧笑道：「這兩個癩和尚是瘋子！是傻子！這兩件粗物，就賣得七千兩銀子？只是除非穿上身長生不老，就得成佛作祖，也值不得這許多！拿了去！賣不成！」长安城里，有那选不中的愚僧，倒有几贯村钞。见菩萨变化个疥癞形容，身穿破衲，赤脚光头，将袈裟捧定，艳艳生光，他上前问道：「那癞和尚，你的袈裟要卖多少价钱？」菩萨道：「袈裟价值五千两，锡杖价值二千两。」那愚僧笑道：「这两个癞和尚是疯子！是傻子！这两件粗物，就卖得七千两银子？只是除非穿上身长生不老，就得成佛作祖，也值不得这许多！拿了去！卖不成！」
逐句解 Line by line
長安城裡，有那選不中的愚僧，倒有幾貫村鈔。
长安城里，有那选不中的愚僧，倒有几贯村钞。
In the city of Chang'an there was a foolish monk who had failed to be selected, but who happened to have a few strings of country cash.
長 in 長安 is cháng; 那 is the pointing nà; 中 in 選不中, failed to be selected, is zhòng, to hit the mark. He did not make the cut and he has money, which is the worst possible combination.
見菩薩變化個疥癩形容，身穿破衲，赤腳光頭，將袈裟捧定，豔豔生光，他上前問道：「那癩和尚，你的袈裟要賣多少價錢？」
见菩萨变化个疥癞形容，身穿破衲，赤脚光头，将袈裟捧定，艳艳生光，他上前问道：「那癞和尚，你的袈裟要卖多少价钱？」
Seeing the Bodhisattva transformed into a scabby, mangy figure — clad in a torn cassock, barefoot and bald-headed, holding the cassock forth all radiant with light — he came up and asked: 'Scabby monk, how much do you want for that cassock of yours?'
The Bodhisattva has put on the shape of a diseased beggar, which is a test rather than a mere disguise: what a man says to a scabby monk in the street is what he is. 將 in 將袈裟 is jiāng; 那 in 那癩和尚 is the pointing nà.
菩薩道：「袈裟價值五千兩，錫杖價值二千兩。」
菩萨道：「袈裟价值五千两，锡杖价值二千两。」
The Bodhisattva said: 'The cassock is worth five thousand taels, the staff two thousand.'
The 兩 (liǎng), the tael, is left untranslated as a unit of silver weight.
那愚僧笑道：「這兩個癩和尚是瘋子！是傻子！這兩件粗物，就賣得七千兩銀子？
那愚僧笑道：「这两个癞和尚是疯子！是傻子！这两件粗物，就卖得七千两银子？
That foolish monk laughed: 'These two scabby monks are madmen! Are fools! These two coarse things — to sell for seven thousand taels of silver?'
那 is the pointing nà; 得 in 賣得, to sell for, is the outcome de. 瘋子, 傻子 and 銀子 all take the toneless suffix 子 (zi) — madman, fool, silver, three in a row, which is the rhythm of the man's scorn.
只是除非穿上身長生不老，就得成佛作祖，也值不得這許多！拿了去！賣不成！」
只是除非穿上身长生不老，就得成佛作祖，也值不得这许多！拿了去！卖不成！」
'Only if wearing them on your body made you live forever without aging, or gain buddhahood and patriarchhood at once, would they even be worth so much! Take them away! There's no sale!'
He prices the treasures by what they would do for him, and concludes he is being swindled. Set this beside Xiao Yu in the next passage and the design of the episode becomes plain. 長 in 長生, to live long, is cháng. The two occurrences of 得 part company: 得成佛, gain buddhahood, is dé, to obtain, while 值不得, not worth it, is the outcome de.
總評 Commentary
The foolish monk is the negative example the episode requires. Having failed selection for the very assembly these treasures are meant to grace, he judges cassock and staff by brute utility — would they confer immortality, or buddhahood on the spot? — and, finding they would not, dismisses the price as lunacy.
His crass literalism throws into relief the spiritual discernment Xiao Yu is about to display: where the foolish monk sees two coarse things, the devout chancellor will recognise a treasure whose worth is counted in merit rather than in taels. The Bodhisattva's disguise as a diseased beggar is the instrument of that sorting, and it exposes who can see past appearances and who cannot.