原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
另備素齋
A Vegetarian Meal Set Apart
伯欽的母親聞說，叫道：「孩兒不要與長老閑講，我自有素物，可以管待。」伯欽道：「素物何來？」母親道：「你莫管我，我自有素的。」叫媳婦將小鍋取下，著火燒了油膩，刷了又刷，洗了又洗，卻仍安在灶上。先燒半鍋滾水，別用。卻又將些山地榆葉子，著水煎作茶湯。然後將些黃粱粟米，煮起飯來。又把些乾菜煮熟。盛了兩碗，拿出來鋪在桌上。老母對著三藏道：「長老請齋。這是老身與兒婦，親自動手整理的些極潔極淨的茶飯。」三藏下來謝了，方才上坐。那伯欽另設一處，鋪排些沒鹽沒醬的老虎肉、香獐肉、蟒蛇肉、狐狸肉、兔肉，點剁鹿肉乾巴，滿盤滿碗的陪著三藏吃齋。方坐下，心欲舉箸，只見三藏合掌誦經，諕得個伯欽不敢動箸，急起身立在旁邊。三藏念不數句，卻教請齋。伯欽道：「你是個念短頭經的和尚？」三藏道：「此非是經，乃是一卷揭齋之咒。」伯欽道：「你們出家人，偏有許多計較，吃飯便也念誦念誦。」伯钦的母亲闻说，叫道：「孩儿不要与长老闲讲，我自有素物，可以管待。」伯钦道：「素物何来？」母亲道：「你莫管我，我自有素的。」叫媳妇将小锅取下，著火烧了油腻，刷了又刷，洗了又洗，却仍安在灶上。先烧半锅滚水，别用。却又将些山地榆叶子，著水煎作茶汤。然后将些黄粱粟米，煮起饭来。又把些干菜煮熟。盛了两碗，拿出来铺在桌上。老母对著三藏道：「长老请斋。这是老身与儿妇，亲自动手整理的些极洁极净的茶饭。」三藏下来谢了，方才上坐。那伯钦另设一处，铺排些没盐没酱的老虎肉、香獐肉、蟒蛇肉、狐狸肉、兔肉，点剁鹿肉干巴，满盘满碗的陪著三藏吃斋。方坐下，心欲举箸，只见三藏合掌诵经，諕得个伯钦不敢动箸，急起身立在旁边。三藏念不数句，却教请斋。伯钦道：「你是个念短头经的和尚？」三藏道：「此非是经，乃是一卷揭斋之咒。」伯钦道：「你们出家人，偏有许多计较，吃饭便也念诵念诵。」
逐句解 Line by line
伯欽的母親聞說，叫道：「孩兒不要與長老閑講，我自有素物，可以管待。」伯欽道：「素物何來？」母親道：「你莫管我，我自有素的。」叫媳婦將小鍋取下，著火燒了油膩，刷了又刷，洗了又洗，卻仍安在灶上。先燒半鍋滾水，別用。卻又將些山地榆葉子，著水煎作茶湯。然後將些黃粱粟米，煮起飯來。又把些乾菜煮熟。盛了兩碗，拿出來鋪在桌上。老母對著三藏道：「長老請齋。這是老身與兒婦，親自動手整理的些極潔極淨的茶飯。」三藏下來謝了，方才上坐。
伯钦的母亲闻说，叫道：「孩儿不要与长老闲讲，我自有素物，可以管待。」伯钦道：「素物何来？」母亲道：「你莫管我，我自有素的。」叫媳妇将小锅取下，著火烧了油腻，刷了又刷，洗了又洗，却仍安在灶上。先烧半锅滚水，别用。却又将些山地榆叶子，著水煎作茶汤。然后将些黄粱粟米，煮起饭来。又把些干菜煮熟。盛了两碗，拿出来铺在桌上。老母对著三藏道：「长老请斋。这是老身与儿妇，亲自动手整理的些极洁极净的茶饭。」三藏下来谢了，方才上坐。
Boqin's mother, hearing this, called out: “Child, do not go on wrangling with the elder; I have vegetarian things of my own, with which we can entertain him.” Boqin said: “Where would vegetarian things come from?” His mother said: “Never you mind; I have my own vegetarian fare.” She bade the wife take down the small pot, burn off its grease with fire, and scour it and scour it again, and wash it and wash it again, and then set it back on the stove. First she boiled half a pot of water for another use; then she took some leaves of mountain burnet and steeped them in water to make a tea; after that she took some yellow millet and glutinous grain and cooked up a meal, and boiled some dried greens as well. She dished up two bowls of it and brought it out and set it on the table. The old mother said to Sanzang: “Elder, pray take your meal. This is a little plain, clean fare, which I and my son's wife have prepared with our own hands.” Sanzang came down and thanked her, and only then took his seat.
The mother's elaborate care — scouring the grease from the pot again and again, keeping a separate water — marks both her piety toward the guest and the practical difficulty of preparing pure food in a hunter's kitchen. 山地榆, “mountain burnet,” is a wild herb used here for a rough tea. In 兒婦 (“son's wife”) the graph 兒 is the full noun “son,” read ér, distinct from the diminutive 孩兒 (er) earlier in the speech.
那伯欽另設一處，鋪排些沒鹽沒醬的老虎肉、香獐肉、蟒蛇肉、狐狸肉、兔肉，點剁鹿肉乾巴，滿盤滿碗的陪著三藏吃齋。方坐下，心欲舉箸，只見三藏合掌誦經，諕得個伯欽不敢動箸，急起身立在旁邊。三藏念不數句，卻教請齋。伯欽道：「你是個念短頭經的和尚？」三藏道：「此非是經，乃是一卷揭齋之咒。」伯欽道：「你們出家人，偏有許多計較，吃飯便也念誦念誦。」
那伯钦另设一处，铺排些没盐没酱的老虎肉、香獐肉、蟒蛇肉、狐狸肉、兔肉，点剁鹿肉干巴，满盘满碗的陪著三藏吃斋。方坐下，心欲举箸，只见三藏合掌诵经，諕得个伯钦不敢动箸，急起身立在旁边。三藏念不数句，却教请斋。伯钦道：「你是个念短头经的和尚？」三藏道：「此非是经，乃是一卷揭斋之咒。」伯钦道：「你们出家人，偏有许多计较，吃饭便也念诵念诵。」
Boqin, for his part, set out a separate place, and spread it with tiger meat unsalted and unsauced, and fragrant roe-deer meat, python meat, fox meat, hare meat, and minced strips of dried venison — whole platters and bowls of it — to keep Sanzang company at his meal. He had just sat down and was about to lift his chopsticks when he saw Sanzang press his palms together and chant a sutra; and so startled was he that he dared not touch his own chopsticks, but rose hastily and stood to one side. Sanzang, when he had recited but a few lines, then bade him take his meal. Boqin said: “You are a monk who says a short-headed sort of sutra, then?” Sanzang said: “This was no sutra, but a single scroll of grace before meat.” Boqin said: “You monks who have left home — what a deal of fuss you make, mumbling and murmuring even over a bowl of rice.”
揭齋之咒 (jiē zhāi zhī zhòu), rendered here as “grace before meat,” is the brief invocation a monk recites before eating; Boqin, taking it for a stunted sutra, is baffled by the ceremony. 卷 (juàn) is again a measure of scripture. The humour turns on the gulf between the plain-spoken hunter and the monk's observances.
總評 Commentary
The vegetarian problem is solved by the mother's piety and pains — the scoured pot, the separate water, the millet and wild greens — and the two men take their meal side by side, the monk over his plain fare and the hunter over his heaped platters of game. The scene's comedy is warm and observational: Boqin, chopsticks poised, frozen in alarm at Sanzang's mealtime chant, then good-humouredly baffled by the whole business of “mumbling and murmuring over a bowl of rice.” The gulf between the two — the rough carnivore and the disciplined monk — is played for gentle laughs rather than judgement, and the mutual regard between them only deepens. Beneath the humour, the passage quietly affirms Sanzang's fidelity to his observances even at another's table, and rounds out the chapter's warm picture of frontier hospitality accommodating itself, with some effort and much goodwill, to the pilgrim's holy calling.