原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
含詞賦 With rhapsody
金星解厄
The Gold Star Dispels the Peril
三藏不勝感激，將包袱捎在馬上，牽著韁繩，相隨老叟徑出了坑坎之中，走上大路。卻將馬拴在道旁草頭上，轉身拜謝那公公，那公公遂化作一陣清風，跨一隻硃頂白鶴，騰空而去。只見風飄飄遺下一張簡帖，書上四句頌子。頌子云：三藏不胜感激，将包袱捎在马上，牵著缰绳，相随老叟径出了坑坎之中，走上大路。却将马拴在道旁草头上，转身拜谢那公公，那公公遂化作一阵清风，跨一只朱顶白鹤，腾空而去。只见风飘飘遗下一张简帖，书上四句颂子。颂子云：
吾乃西天太白星，特來搭救汝生靈。吾乃西天太白星，特来搭救汝生灵。
前行自有神徒助，莫為艱難報怨經。前行自有神徒助，莫为艰难报怨经。
三藏看了，對天禮拜道：「多謝金星，度脫此難。」拜畢，牽了馬匹，獨自個孤孤悽悽，往前苦進。三藏看了，对天礼拜道：「多谢金星，度脱此难。」拜毕，牵了马匹，独自个孤孤凄凄，往前苦进。
逐句解 Line by line
三藏不勝感激，將包袱捎在馬上，牽著韁繩，相隨老叟徑出了坑坎之中，走上大路。卻將馬拴在道旁草頭上，轉身拜謝那公公，那公公遂化作一陣清風，跨一隻硃頂白鶴，騰空而去。只見風飄飄遺下一張簡帖，書上四句頌子。頌子云：
三藏不胜感激，将包袱捎在马上，牵著缰绳，相随老叟径出了坑坎之中，走上大路。却将马拴在道旁草头上，转身拜谢那公公，那公公遂化作一阵清风，跨一只朱顶白鹤，腾空而去。只见风飘飘遗下一张简帖，书上四句颂子。颂子云：
Overcome with gratitude, Sanzang bound his bundle upon the horse, took the halter in hand, and, following the old man, went straight out of the pit and up onto the high road. He had just tethered the horse to a clump of grass by the wayside and turned to bow his thanks to the aged sir, when the aged sir changed all at once into a puff of clear wind, mounted a white crane with a vermilion crown, and rose away into the sky. Then he saw, drifting down on the wind, a single slip of paper, and written upon it were four lines of a gāthā. The gāthā ran:
頌子 (sòng zi) is a gāthā — a Buddhist verse of praise or instruction; here it serves both to reveal the old man's identity and to counsel the pilgrim. 硃頂白鶴, the “vermilion-crowned white crane,” is a conventional mount of immortals and star-gods.
吾乃西天太白星，特來搭救汝生靈。
吾乃西天太白星，特来搭救汝生灵。
“I am the Star of Great White of the Western Heaven, come on purpose to deliver your living soul.
太白星 (Tài-bái Xīng), the “Star of Great White” — the planet Venus — is personified as the star-god 太白金星 (the Gold Star of Venus), a benign heavenly official who recurs throughout the novel as a bringer of aid.
前行自有神徒助，莫為艱難報怨經。
前行自有神徒助，莫为艰难报怨经。
On the road ahead there will be divine disciples to help you; do not, for the hardships, come to resent the scriptures.”
神徒, the “divine disciples,” foretells the companions — Sun Wukong foremost — who will presently be gathered to guard the pilgrim. 莫為艱難報怨經, “do not let the hardships turn you against the scriptures,” is the gāthā's admonition: the sufferings of the road must not shake his resolve.
三藏看了，對天禮拜道：「多謝金星，度脫此難。」拜畢，牽了馬匹，獨自個孤孤悽悽，往前苦進。
三藏看了，对天礼拜道：「多谢金星，度脱此难。」拜毕，牵了马匹，独自个孤孤凄凄，往前苦进。
When Sanzang had read it, he bowed in worship toward Heaven and said: “My thanks to the Gold Star for delivering me from this calamity.” His worship done, he led his horse forward and, all alone and forlorn, pressed bitterly on.
金星 (Jīn-xīng), the “Gold Star,” is the name by which Sanzang now addresses his rescuer, the gāthā having disclosed him. 此難 uses 難 (nàn) in its sense of “ordeal” — the first of the many the pilgrim must endure.
總評 Commentary
The rescue is completed by a revelation. The old man's departure — dissolving into wind, mounting a crane, rising skyward — is the standard iconography of a heavenly being taking his leave, and the gāthā he lets fall names him at last as the Star of Great White, the Gold Star of Venus, one of the novel's most reliable celestial helpers. The verse does more than identify him: it looks ahead, promising “divine disciples” to come and warning the pilgrim not to let the hardships of the road turn him against his mission. It is, in miniature, a statement of the book's governing pattern — that Heaven watches over the scripture-seeker, sending aid at his extremity, and that his trials are ordained rather than arbitrary. Left alone once more, “forlorn,” Sanzang takes up the road, and the narrative turns from deliverance back to the wilderness.