眾僧議論 The Monks' Debate
眾僧們燈下議論佛門定旨，上西天取經的原由：有的說水遠山高，有的說路多虎豹；有的說峻嶺陡崖難度，有的說毒魔惡怪難降。三藏箝口不言，但以手指自心，點頭幾度。眾僧們莫解其意，合掌請問道：「法師指心點頭者，何也？」三藏答曰：「心生，種種魔生；心滅，種種魔滅。我弟子曾在化生寺對佛說下洪誓大願，不由我不盡此心。這一去，定要到西天，見佛求經，使我們法輪回轉，願聖主皇圖永固。」眾僧聞得此言，人人稱羨，個個宣揚，都叫一聲：「忠心赤膽大闡法師！」誇讚不盡，請師入榻安寐。众僧们灯下议论佛门定旨，上西天取经的原由：有的说水远山高，有的说路多虎豹；有的说峻岭陡崖难度，有的说毒魔恶怪难降。三藏箝口不言，但以手指自心，点头几度。众僧们莫解其意，合掌请问道：「法师指心点头者，何也？」三藏答曰：「心生，种种魔生；心灭，种种魔灭。我弟子曾在化生寺对佛说下洪誓大愿，不由我不尽此心。这一去，定要到西天，见佛求经，使我们法轮回转，愿圣主皇图永固。」众僧闻得此言，人人称羡，个个宣扬，都叫一声：「忠心赤胆大阐法师！」夸赞不尽，请师入榻安寐。
逐句解 Line by line
By lamplight the monks fell to discussing the settled aims of the Buddha's gate, and the reasons for going to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. Some spoke of waters far and mountains high; some of roads thick with tigers and leopards; some of steep ranges and sheer cliffs hard to cross; some of venomous fiends and evil monsters hard to subdue. Sanzang held his tongue and said nothing, but pointed with his hand to his own heart and nodded several times. The monks could not fathom his meaning, and with palms joined they asked him: "Master, what do you mean, pointing to your heart and nodding your head?" Sanzang answered: "When the mind arises, all manner of demons arise; when the mind is extinguished, all manner of demons are extinguished. This disciple has already sworn a great and solemn vow before the Buddha at the Temple of Transformation-Birth, and I cannot but exhaust this resolve of mine. This one journey I am determined to make, until I reach the Western Heaven, behold the Buddha, and seek the scriptures — that our Wheel of the Dharma may turn again, and that the sage sovereign's imperial design may stand secure forever." Hearing these words, the monks admired him one and all; every one of them proclaimed his praise, and together they cried out: "A Master of loyal heart and crimson gall, great expounder of the Dharma!" Their praise was without end, and they invited the Master to his couch to rest.
This is the line to remember from the chapter, and arguably from the book. The monks have been trading horror stories about the road; Xuanzang says nothing, points at his own chest, and nods. Pressed, he gives them the whole of it: 心生，種種魔生；心滅，種種魔滅 — "when the mind arises, all manner of demons arise; when the mind is extinguished, all manner of demons are extinguished." Both halves matter, and the second is the one that turns a diagnosis into a way out. It is a compressed statement of a Chan and Yogācāra teaching: the demons (魔, from Sanskrit māra) that torment a practitioner are thrown off by his own mind. Which is a promise about the next ninety-odd chapters. Every monster the pilgrims meet can be read twice — as a monster, and as something in somebody's head. 化生寺 (Huàshēng Sì), the "Temple of Transformation-Birth," is where he swore the vow earlier in the book. 法輪 (fǎ lún), the "Wheel of the Dharma," is the teaching in motion. And 忠心赤膽 — "loyal heart and crimson gall" — is a set phrase for utter devotion; Chinese locates courage in the gallbladder, so the organ keeps turning up in this chapter whenever anyone is brave or terrified.
A scene with no verse in it, which for this novel is itself a decision. The monks pile up the dangers in a mounting list — far waters, high mountains, tigers, cliffs, fiends — and Xuanzang refuses to answer in the same currency. He points at his heart instead.
What he then says is the doctrinal spine of the whole romance: the demons come from the mind, and go when it does. Read that as an instruction and the pilgrimage changes shape. The road west is also a road inward, and the things waiting on it are, in some sense, the pilgrims' own.
Notice the second half of his vow, though. He asks not only for scriptures but for the emperor's realm to stand secure forever. The novel's Xuanzang is never purely a religious figure; he is a monk carrying an imperial commission, and his loyalties run in two directions at once. The monks, hearing it, call him a master of "loyal heart and crimson gall" — praise for a subject as much as for a saint.