原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
河州衛界
To the Border Garrison at Hezhou
師徒們行了數日，到了鞏州城，早有鞏州合屬官吏人等迎接入城中。安歇一夜，次早出城前去。一路饑餐渴飲，夜住曉行，兩三日，又至河州衛。此乃是大唐的山河邊界。早有鎮邊的總兵與本處僧道，聞得是欽差御弟法師上西方見佛，無不恭敬。接至裡面供給了，著僧綱請往福原寺安歇。本寺僧人，一一參見，安排晚齋。齋畢，吩咐二從者飽喂馬匹，天不明就行。师徒们行了数日，到了巩州城，早有巩州合属官吏人等迎接入城中。安歇一夜，次早出城前去。一路饥餐渴饮，夜住晓行，两三日，又至河州卫。此乃是大唐的山河边界。早有镇边的总兵与本处僧道，闻得是钦差御弟法师上西方见佛，无不恭敬。接至里面供给了，着僧纲请往福原寺安歇。本寺僧人，一一参见，安排晚斋。斋毕，吩咐二从者饱喂马匹，天不明就行。
逐句解 Line by line
師徒們行了數日，到了鞏州城，早有鞏州合屬官吏人等迎接入城中。安歇一夜，次早出城前去。一路饑餐渴飲，夜住曉行，兩三日，又至河州衛。此乃是大唐的山河邊界。早有鎮邊的總兵與本處僧道，聞得是欽差御弟法師上西方見佛，無不恭敬。接至裡面供給了，著僧綱請往福原寺安歇。本寺僧人，一一參見，安排晚齋。齋畢，吩咐二從者飽喂馬匹，天不明就行。
师徒们行了数日，到了巩州城，早有巩州合属官吏人等迎接入城中。安歇一夜，次早出城前去。一路饥餐渴饮，夜住晓行，两三日，又至河州卫。此乃是大唐的山河边界。早有镇边的总兵与本处僧道，闻得是钦差御弟法师上西方见佛，无不恭敬。接至里面供给了，着僧纲请往福原寺安歇。本寺僧人，一一参见，安排晚斋。斋毕，吩咐二从者饱喂马匹，天不明就行。
Master and disciples travelled several days and came to the city of Gongzhou, where the assembled officials and functionaries of Gongzhou came out to meet them and bring them into the city. They rested a night, and set out again from the city early the next day. All along the way they ate when hungry and drank when thirsty, lodging by night and travelling by dawn; and after two or three days they came once more to the garrison of Hezhou. This was the very border of the mountains and rivers of the Great Tang. The garrison-commander of the marches, together with the monks and Daoists of the place, having heard that it was the imperially commissioned Imperial Younger Brother, the Master of the Law, going to the Western Region to behold the Buddha, were reverent one and all. They received him within and provided for him, and had the monk-registrar invite him to lodge at the Fuyuan Temple. The monks of the temple came, one and all, to pay their respects, and set out the evening meal. When the meal was done, the Master charged his two attendants to feed the horse well, that they might set off before daybreak.
御弟 (yù dì), "Imperial Younger Brother," is not flattery — the Tang emperor had sworn brotherhood with Xuanzang, so the title is literal and it opens doors all the way to the frontier. 法師 (fǎ shī), "Master of the Law," is the standard title for an eminent monk. 僧綱 (sēng gāng) is a monk-registrar, a government official whose job was overseeing the local clergy — the Tang state kept its monasteries on a roll, and this is that machinery at work. Gongzhou and Hezhou are stages westward; Hezhou is the last of them.
總評 Commentary
A travel-logistics passage, and a deliberate change of gear. The chapter has been lingering — a still night, a doctrinal exchange, a long autumn poem — and now it simply moves, hurrying the pilgrim across real named geography to the edge of the Tang world.
The courtesies at each stop matter because they are about to stop. Officials come out to meet him; a monk-registrar finds him lodging; monks line up to pay respects. This is the ordered, administered world, and Hezhou is the last place in the chapter where it exists.
The passage ends on an instruction: feed the horse well, we leave before daylight. Read it twice. The whole catastrophe of the next scene follows from that one sensible-sounding order.