原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
袈裟利益
The Virtues of the Cassock
那菩薩更不爭吵，與木叉往前又走。行勾多時，來到東華門前，正撞著宰相蕭瑀散朝而回，眾頭踏喝開街道。那菩薩公然不避，當街上拿著袈裟，徑迎著宰相。宰相勒馬觀看，見袈裟豔豔生光，著手下人問那賣袈裟的要價幾何，菩薩道：「袈裟要五千兩，錫杖要二千兩。」蕭瑀道：「有何好處，值這般高價？」菩薩道：「袈裟有好處，有不好處；有要錢處，有不要錢處。」蕭瑀道：「何為好？何為不好？」菩薩道：「著了我袈裟，不入沉淪，不墮地獄，不遭惡毒之難，不遇虎狼之災，便是好處；若貪淫樂禍的愚僧，不齋不戒的和尚，毀經謗佛的凡夫，難見我袈裟之面，這便是不好處。」那菩萨更不争吵，与木叉往前又走。行勾多时，来到东华门前，正撞著宰相萧瑀散朝而回，众头踏喝开街道。那菩萨公然不避，当街上拿著袈裟，径迎著宰相。宰相勒马观看，见袈裟艳艳生光，著手下人问那卖袈裟的要价几何，菩萨道：「袈裟要五千两，锡杖要二千两。」萧瑀道：「有何好处，值这般高价？」菩萨道：「袈裟有好处，有不好处；有要钱处，有不要钱处。」萧瑀道：「何为好？何为不好？」菩萨道：「著了我袈裟，不入沉沦，不堕地狱，不遭恶毒之难，不遇虎狼之灾，便是好处；若贪淫乐祸的愚僧，不斋不戒的和尚，毁经谤佛的凡夫，难见我袈裟之面，这便是不好处。」
逐句解 Line by line
那菩薩更不爭吵，與木叉往前又走。
那菩萨更不争吵，与木叉往前又走。
That Bodhisattva did not argue further, but went on ahead with Moksha.
那 is demonstrative nà; 更 in 更不 ('did not even') is gèng.
行勾多時，來到東華門前，正撞著宰相蕭瑀散朝而回，眾頭踏喝開街道。
行勾多时，来到东华门前，正撞著宰相萧瑀散朝而回，众头踏喝开街道。
After walking a good while, they came before the Donghua Gate, and ran right into the Chancellor Xiao Yu returning from the adjourned court, his outriders clearing the streets with shouts.
著 in 撞著 ('to run into') is zháo; 相 in 宰相 is xiàng; 散 in 散朝 ('court adjourned') is sàn, and 朝 is cháo.
那菩薩公然不避，當街上拿著袈裟，徑迎著宰相。
那菩萨公然不避，当街上拿著袈裟，径迎著宰相。
That Bodhisattva made no move to avoid them, but stood in the middle of the street holding up the cassock, and went straight to meet the Chancellor.
那 is demonstrative nà; both 著 in 拿著 and 迎著 are the durative zhe; 相 in 宰相 is xiàng.
宰相勒馬觀看，見袈裟豔豔生光，著手下人問那賣袈裟的要價幾何，菩薩道：「袈裟要五千兩，錫杖要二千兩。」
宰相勒马观看，见袈裟艳艳生光，著手下人问那卖袈裟的要价几何，菩萨道：「袈裟要五千两，锡杖要二千两。」
The Chancellor reined in his horse to look, and seeing the cassock all radiant with light, had his attendants ask the seller of the cassock what price he wanted. The Bodhisattva said: 'The cassock, five thousand taels; the staff, two thousand.'
相 in 宰相 is xiàng; 著 in 著手下人 ('had his attendants') is the causative zhuó; 那 in 那賣袈裟的 is demonstrative nà.
蕭瑀道：「有何好處，值這般高價？」
萧瑀道：「有何好处，值这般高价？」
Xiao Yu said: 'What virtue has it, to be worth so high a price?'
The chancellor, unlike the foolish monk, asks after the cassock's worth rather than dismissing it.
菩薩道：「袈裟有好處，有不好處；有要錢處，有不要錢處。」
菩萨道：「袈裟有好处，有不好处；有要钱处，有不要钱处。」
The Bodhisattva said: 'The cassock has its virtues and its faults; there are cases where it costs money, and cases where it does not.'
The Bodhisattva answers in paradoxes, drawing the devout listener into deeper inquiry.
蕭瑀道：「何為好？何為不好？」
萧瑀道：「何为好？何为不好？」
Xiao Yu said: 'What do you mean by its virtue? What by its fault?'
In 何為好／何為不好 ('what do you mean by good / by not-good'), 為 is wéi ('to be, to constitute').
菩薩道：「著了我袈裟，不入沉淪，不墮地獄，不遭惡毒之難，不遇虎狼之災，便是好處；
菩萨道：「著了我袈裟，不入沉沦，不堕地狱，不遭恶毒之难，不遇虎狼之灾，便是好处；
The Bodhisattva said: 'One who wears my cassock will not sink into perdition, will not fall into hell, will not meet the calamity of malice, will not encounter the disaster of tiger and wolf — that is its virtue.'
著 in 著了我袈裟 ('wears my cassock') is zhuó ('to wear'); 難 in 惡毒之難 ('the calamity of malice') is nàn.
若貪淫樂禍的愚僧，不齋不戒的和尚，毀經謗佛的凡夫，難見我袈裟之面，這便是不好處。」
若贪淫乐祸的愚僧，不斋不戒的和尚，毁经谤佛的凡夫，难见我袈裟之面，这便是不好处。」
'But for the foolish monk who covets lust and delights in calamity, the monk who keeps neither fast nor precept, the worldling who reviles the scriptures and slanders the Buddha — such a one shall hardly look upon the face of my cassock, and that is its fault.'
樂 in 樂禍 ('to delight in calamity') is lè; 難 in 難見 ('hardly see') is nán ('difficult'). The cassock discriminates morally: it protects the worthy and hides its face from the corrupt.
總評 Commentary
The encounter with Xiao Yu is the mirror-image of the scene with the foolish monk, and the Bodhisattva speaks now in the riddling paradoxes proper to a teacher testing a pupil: the cassock has virtues and faults, costs money and does not, all depending on who would possess it. Her exposition is a small sermon on moral discrimination — the garment shields the devout from perdition, hell, malice, and beast, but turns its face from the lustful, the unobservant, and the blasphemous. The treasure's value, in other words, is not intrinsic and saleable but relational and moral, legible only to one who reveres the Dharma. Xiao Yu's patient questioning — 'what do you mean by its virtue?' — marks him as exactly the discerning listener the foolish monk was not.