第十二回 · 吳生繪聖 Wu Daozi Paints the Bodhisattva — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

吳生繪聖 Wu Daozi Paints the Bodhisattva

喜xǐ的de個gè唐táng太tài宗zōng忘wàng了le江jiāng山shān，愛ài的de那nà文wén武wǔ官guān失shī卻què朝cháo禮lǐ，蓋gài眾zhòng多duō人rén都dōu念niàn「南ná無mó觀guān世shì音yīn菩pú薩sà」。太tài宗zōng即jí傳chuán旨zhǐ，教jiào巧qiǎo手shǒu丹dān青qīng描miáo下xià菩pú薩sà真zhēn像xiàng。旨zhǐ意yì一yì聲shēng，選xuǎn出chū個gè圖tú神shén寫xiě聖shèng、遠yuǎn見jiàn高gāo明míng的de吳wú道dào子zǐ（此cǐ人rén即jí後hòu圖tú功gōng臣chén於yú凌líng煙yān閣gé者zhě）。當dāng時shí展zhǎn開kāi妙miào筆bǐ，圖tú寫xiě真zhēn形xíng。那nà菩pú薩sà祥xiáng雲yún漸jiàn遠yuǎn，霎shà時shí間jiān不bú見jiàn了le金jīn光guāng。只zhǐ見jiàn那nà半bàn空kōng中zhōng滴dī溜liū溜liū落luò下xià一yì張zhāng簡jiǎn帖tiě，上shàng有yǒu幾jǐ句jù頌sòng子zi，寫xiě得de明míng白bái。喜xǐ的de个gè唐táng太tài宗zōng忘wàng了le江jiāng山shān，爱ài的de那nà文wén武wǔ官guān失shī却què朝cháo礼lǐ，盖gài众zhòng多duō人rén都dōu念niàn「南ná无mó观guān世shì音yīn菩pú萨sà」。太tài宗zōng即jí传chuán旨zhǐ，教jiào巧qiǎo手shǒu丹dān青qīng描miáo下xià菩pú萨sà真zhēn像xiàng。旨zhǐ意yì一yì声shēng，选xuǎn出chū个gè图tú神shén写xiě圣shèng、远yuǎn见jiàn高gāo明míng的de吴wú道dào子zǐ（此cǐ人rén即jí后hòu图tú功gōng臣chén于yú凌líng烟yān阁gé者zhě）。当dāng时shí展zhǎn开kāi妙miào笔bǐ，图tú写xiě真zhēn形xíng。那nà菩pú萨sà祥xiáng云yún渐jiàn远yuǎn，霎shà时shí间jiān不bú见jiàn了le金jīn光guāng。只zhǐ见jiàn那nà半bàn空kōng中zhōng滴dī溜liū溜liū落luò下xià一yì张zhāng简jiǎn帖tiě，上shàng有yǒu几jǐ句jù颂sòng子zi，写xiě得de明míng白bái。

逐句解 Line by line

喜xǐ的de個gè唐táng太tài宗zōng忘wàng了le江jiāng山shān，愛ài的de那nà文wén武wǔ官guān失shī卻què朝cháo禮lǐ，蓋gài眾zhòng多duō人rén都dōu念niàn「南ná無mó觀guān世shì音yīn菩pú薩sà」。喜xǐ的de个gè唐táng太tài宗zōng忘wàng了le江jiāng山shān，爱ài的de那nà文wén武wǔ官guān失shī却què朝cháo礼lǐ，盖gài众zhòng多duō人rén都dōu念niàn「南ná无mó观guān世shì音yīn菩pú萨sà」。

So delighted was Tang Taizong that he forgot his realm; so enraptured were the civil and military officers that they lost their court-decorum; and the whole multitude chanted, 'Namo Guanshiyin Bodhisattva.'

那 is the pointing nà; 都 in 都念, all chanted, is dōu. 南無, Namo, homage to, is the standard opening of an invocation and is read ná mó, not by the ordinary values of the two characters. Note what the two clauses give up: the emperor forgets his realm, the officials forget court ritual. Everything the chapter has been built on is dropped at once.

太tài宗zōng即jí傳chuán旨zhǐ，教jiào巧qiǎo手shǒu丹dān青qīng描miáo下xià菩pú薩sà真zhēn像xiàng。太tài宗zōng即jí传chuán旨zhǐ，教jiào巧qiǎo手shǒu丹dān青qīng描miáo下xià菩pú萨sà真zhēn像xiàng。

Taizong at once issued a command, having a skilled painter sketch down the true image of the Bodhisattva.

教 in 教巧手, having a skilled hand do it, is jiào. 丹青 is cinnabar and azure, the two costly pigments, and stands for painting itself — much as we might say a man works in oils.

旨zhǐ意yì一yì聲shēng，選xuǎn出chū個gè圖tú神shén寫xiě聖shèng、遠yuǎn見jiàn高gāo明míng的de吳wú道dào子zǐ（此cǐ人rén即jí後hòu圖tú功gōng臣chén於yú凌líng煙yān閣gé者zhě）。旨zhǐ意yì一yì声shēng，选xuǎn出chū个gè图tú神shén写xiě圣shèng、远yuǎn见jiàn高gāo明míng的de吴wú道dào子zǐ（此cǐ人rén即jí后hòu图tú功gōng臣chén于yú凌líng烟yān阁gé者zhě）。

At the word of command, they chose out Wu Daozi, a painter of gods and sages, of far sight and high skill — this was the man who later painted the meritorious ministers in the Lingyan Pavilion.

吳道子, Wu Daozi, with the name-子 read zǐ, is the greatest religious painter of the Tang — and he was born about a century after Taizong died, so the storyteller is bending the calendar to get the best possible hand onto the job. The 凌煙閣, Lingyan Pavilion, held Taizong's portraits of the ministers who founded his dynasty.

當dāng時shí展zhǎn開kāi妙miào筆bǐ，圖tú寫xiě真zhēn形xíng。那nà菩pú薩sà祥xiáng雲yún漸jiàn遠yuǎn，霎shà時shí間jiān不bú見jiàn了le金jīn光guāng。当dāng时shí展zhǎn开kāi妙miào笔bǐ，图tú写xiě真zhēn形xíng。那nà菩pú萨sà祥xiáng云yún渐jiàn远yuǎn，霎shà时shí间jiān不bú见jiàn了le金jīn光guāng。

At once he spread out his marvelous brush and painted her true form. That Bodhisattva's auspicious clouds gradually receded, and in an instant the golden light was seen no more.

那 is the pointing nà. The timing is the whole point: the clouds withdraw at the moment the brush finishes. What stays behind in the world is the painting.

只zhǐ見jiàn那nà半bàn空kōng中zhōng滴dī溜liū溜liū落luò下xià一yì張zhāng簡jiǎn帖tiě，上shàng有yǒu幾jǐ句jù頌sòng子zi，寫xiě得de明míng白bái。只zhǐ见jiàn那nà半bàn空kōng中zhōng滴dī溜liū溜liū落luò下xià一yì张zhāng简jiǎn帖tiě，上shàng有yǒu几jǐ句jù颂sòng子zi，写xiě得de明míng白bái。

There was only seen, whirling down from mid-air, a slip of paper, on which were a few lines of gatha, written out plainly.

那 is the pointing nà; 得 in 寫得, written, is the outcome de; 頌子, a gatha, takes the toneless suffix 子 (zi). The doubled 滴溜溜 is a sound-word for something spinning as it falls: heaven's instructions arrive turning over in the air, like a dropped leaf.

總評 Commentary

The apparition's aftermath binds the divine event to human institutions. Emperor and court, overcome, chant the invocation of Guanyin; and Taizong, characteristically, moves at once to memorialise the vision in art, commissioning a painted likeness.

The narrator's aside identifying the painter as Wu Daozi — the most celebrated master of Tang religious painting, though in fact born a century too late — is a knowing anachronism that lends the fictional theophany the prestige of real cultural memory, and links it to the Lingyan Pavilion, the actual shrine of Taizong's dynastic founders. The image is fixed just as the clouds recede, and then heaven supplies its own text: a gatha-slip flutters down, turning a wordless vision into an explicit charge.