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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
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。
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.
心生，種種魔生 — “when the mind arises, all manner of demons arise”: a compressed statement of the Chan and Yogācāra teaching that the demons (魔, māra) besetting a practitioner are projections of the mind itself — and a thematic key to the whole novel, whose monsters are so often read as figures of the passions. 化生寺 (Huàshēng Sì), the “Temple of Transformation-Birth,” recalls Xuanzang's vow-taking earlier in the book. 法輪 (fǎ lún), the “Wheel of the Dharma,” is the Buddha's teaching in its turning; 忠心赤膽 (“loyal heart and crimson gall”) is a set idiom for utter devotion.
總評 Commentary
This wholly prose scene turns on a single, resonant exchange. The monks rehearse the perils of the road in a mounting parallel catalogue — far waters, high mountains, tigers, cliffs, fiends — and Sanzang answers not in kind but with a gesture and an aphorism: 心生，種種魔生；心滅，種種魔滅. The couplet is doctrinally central and, for the reader of the whole romance, programmatic: it invites us to read the demons of the chapters to come as emanations of mind, the outward drama of the pilgrimage as an inward one. Notice, too, how the passage binds the religious to the political — the vow is offered as much for the security of the “sage sovereign's imperial design” as for the pilgrim's own salvation, a doubleness of loyalty that runs throughout the book's conception of Xuanzang. The scene is kept deliberately plain, without verse, letting the aphorism stand unadorned.