Canonical Classics ← 第十四回
第十四回
xīnyuánguīzhèng
liùzéizōng

The Mind-Monkey Returns to the Right · The Six Robbers Vanish Without a Trace

太保告回
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

太保告回 Boqin Takes His Leave

qīnjiànsūnxíngzhěxīnshōushíyàoxíngquèzhuǎnshēnduìsānzàngchàngdào:「zhǎnglǎoxìngjiānshōudehǎoshènshènrénguǒrándequègàohuí。」sānzànggōngshēnzuòxiāngxièdào:「duōyǒutuōgǎnshènghuíduōduōzhìlìngtánglǎorénlìngjīngrénpínsēngzàiduōrǎorónghuíshízhǒngxiè。」qīnhuísuìliǎngxiàfēnbiéqīnjiànsūnxíngzhěxīnshōushíyàoxíngquèzhuǎnshēnduìsānzàngchàngdào:「zhǎnglǎoxìngjiānshōudehǎoshènshènrénguǒrándequègàohuí。」sānzànggōngshēnzuòxiāngxièdào:「duōyǒutuōgǎnshènghuíduōduōzhìlìngtánglǎorénlìngjīngrénpínsēngzàiduōrǎorónghuíshízhǒngxiè。」qīnhuísuìliǎngxiàfēnbié


逐句解 Line by line

qīnjiànsūnxíngzhěxīnshōushíyàoxíngquèzhuǎnshēnduìsānzàngchàngdào qīnjiànsūnxíngzhěxīnshōushíyàoxíngquèzhuǎnshēnduìsānzàngchàngdào

Seeing that Pilgrim Sun was set with one mind on setting out, Boqin turned and made a salute to Sanzang, saying,

His job is finished: he has brought the monk to the frontier and seen him gain a protector. 行者 reads as xíng.

zhǎnglǎoxìngjiānshōudehǎoshènshèn zhǎnglǎoxìngjiānshōudehǎoshènshèn

"Elder, you are fortunate to have gained so good a disciple here — I am glad, most glad.

甚喜甚喜 — most glad, most glad. This is in its emphasising sense, 'very', read shèn, and it is worth setting beside the asking-word 甚麼 (shén) a few passages back. Same character, two jobs, two readings.

rénguǒrándequègàohuí。」 rénguǒrándequègàohuí。」

This man will indeed do to go with you. And now I take my leave."

去得, 'will do to go' with read de, is the hunter's verdict on the new disciple: he will serve. Then he takes his formal leave.

sānzànggōngshēnzuòxiāngxièdào:「duōyǒutuōgǎnshèng sānzànggōngshēnzuòxiāngxièdào:「duōyǒutuōgǎnshèng

Sanzang bowed and made his thanks: "I have put you to much trouble, and I am more grateful than I can say.

相謝, to thank, takes in its mutual sense and reads it xiāng — not the xiàng of 'appearance' that the old man's 'fearsome looks' will use later.

huíduōduōzhìlìngtánglǎorénlìngjīngrénpínsēngzàiduōrǎorónghuíshízhǒngxiè。」 huíduōduōzhìlìngtánglǎorénlìngjīngrénpínsēngzàiduōrǎorónghuíshízhǒngxiè。」

When you return to your house, convey my many respects to your honoured mother and to your worthy wife; I have been much bother to your household, and when I pass this way again I shall come to give my thanks in person."

A small masterclass in Tang manners. Respects to the household's senior woman (令堂) and to the wife (令荊), an apology for the trouble caused, and a promise to come back and thank them properly on the return leg — a return leg that is fourteen years and eighty-six chapters away.

qīnhuísuìliǎngxiàfēnbié qīnhuísuìliǎngxiàfēnbié

Boqin returned the courtesy, and with that the two parted.

The bow is returned, and that is the last of Liu Boqin. 分別, 'to part', reads as fēn.


總評 Commentary

A brief, gracious parting closes the hunter's part in the story. Liu Boqin, having escorted Sanzang to the very edge of Tang territory and seen him safely supplied with a disciple, takes his leave visibly pleased with the monk's luck.

The whole exchange is Tang decorum: Boqin salutes and commends the new disciple, Sanzang bows low, thanks him at length and sends careful respects to his mother and his wife before promising to repay their hospitality on the way home. The formality marks the closing of one companionship at the moment the journey's real partnership — monk and monkey — is opening.

With Boqin gone the frame narrows to two figures on a road going west, and the chapter turns immediately to the first test of the new bond: a tiger on the path.