原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
含詞賦 With rhapsody
九環錫杖
The Nine-Ringed Staff
唐王在那寶殿上聞言，十分歡喜。又問：「那和尚，九環杖有甚好處？」菩薩道：「我這錫杖，是那：唐王在那宝殿上闻言，十分欢喜。又问：「那和尚，九环杖有甚好处？」菩萨道：「我这锡杖，是那：
銅鑲鐵造九連環，九節仙藤永駐顏。铜镶铁造九连环，九节仙藤永驻颜。
入手厭看青骨瘦，下山輕帶白雲還。入手厌看青骨瘦，下山轻带白云还。
摩呵五祖遊天闕，羅卜尋娘破地關。摩呵五祖游天阙，罗卜寻娘破地关。
不染紅塵些子穢，喜伴神僧上玉山。」不染红尘些子秽，喜伴神僧上玉山。」
逐句解 Line by line
唐王在那寶殿上聞言，十分歡喜。又問：「那和尚，九環杖有甚好處？」菩薩道：「我這錫杖，是那：
唐王在那宝殿上闻言，十分欢喜。又问：「那和尚，九环杖有甚好处？」菩萨道：「我这锡杖，是那：
The Tang king, hearing this in the treasure-hall, was greatly pleased. He asked again: 'And that staff, monk — what virtue has the nine-ringed staff?' The Bodhisattva said: 'This staff of mine, it is thus:'
Three occurrences of 那 (那寶殿, 那和尚, 是那) are all demonstrative nà; 甚 in 有甚好處 ('what virtue') is the interrogative shén.
銅鑲鐵造九連環，九節仙藤永駐顏。
铜镶铁造九连环，九节仙藤永驻颜。
Of bronze inlaid and iron wrought, nine linked rings; nine-jointed immortal cane, its bloom forever fresh.
入手厭看青骨瘦，下山輕帶白雲還。
入手厌看青骨瘦，下山轻带白云还。
Taken in hand, one wearies of gazing on its lean green bones; descending the mountain, it lightly brings the white clouds back.
還 in 白雲還 ('the white clouds return') is huán, confirmed by the verse's -an rhyme.
摩呵五祖遊天闕，羅卜尋娘破地關。
摩呵五祖游天阙，罗卜寻娘破地关。
With it Maha the Fifth Patriarch roamed the heavenly towers; with it Luobo, seeking his mother, broke through the barriers of earth.
摩呵 (a form of 摩訶, Sanskrit mahā, 'great'); 羅卜 (Luobo) is the lay name of Maudgalyayana (Mulian), who descended to hell to rescue his mother — 卜 here read bo as part of the name. 五祖 is the Fifth Chan Patriarch.
不染紅塵些子穢，喜伴神僧上玉山。」
不染红尘些子秽，喜伴神僧上玉山。」
Unstained by the least mote of the red dust's filth, gladly it attends the holy monk up the Jade Mountain.
些子 ('the least bit') carries the neutral-tone suffix 子 (zi). 玉山 ('the Jade Mountain') is a figure for the holy realm of the West — the pilgrim's destination.
總評 Commentary
The staff's verse is briefer than the cassock's rhapsody but no less freighted with meaning. Where the cassock was praised for splendor and protective power, the nine-ringed staff is characterized by association with the great deliverers of the dead: it recalls Mulian (Luobo), who bore such a staff down to hell to rescue his mother, and the Chan patriarchs who roamed the heavens. Pure and unstained by the 'red dust' of the world, it is fit to 'attend the holy monk up the Jade Mountain' — a closing image that names, without naming, the westward pilgrimage to come. Between them, the cassock and staff are not mere regalia but a compressed statement of the pilgrim's office: to be protected, to be pure, and to deliver the dead — exactly the work the Grand Mass has been convened to begin, and which only the Western scriptures can complete.