原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
戴帽中咒
The Cap and the Spell
行者去解開包袱，在那包裹中間見有幾個粗麵燒餅，拿出來遞與師父。又見那光豔豔的一領綿布直裰、一頂嵌金花帽。行者道：「這衣帽是東土帶來的？」三藏就順口兒答應道：「是我小時穿戴的。這帽子若戴了，不用教經，就會念經；這衣服若穿了，不用演禮，就會行禮。」行者道：「好師父，把與我穿戴了罷。」三藏道：「只怕長短不一，你若穿得，就穿了罷。」行者遂脫下舊白布直裰，將綿布直裰穿上，也就是比量著身體裁的一般。把帽兒戴上。三藏見他戴上帽子，就不吃乾糧，卻默默的念那緊箍咒一遍。行者叫道：「頭痛，頭痛。」那師父不住的又念了幾遍，把個行者痛得打滾，抓破了嵌金的花帽。三藏又恐怕扯斷金箍，住了口不念。不念時，他就不痛了。行者去解开包袱，在那包裹中间见有几个粗面烧饼，拿出来递与师父。又见那光艳艳的一领绵布直裰、一顶嵌金花帽。行者道：「这衣帽是东土带来的？」三藏就顺口儿答应道：「是我小时穿戴的。这帽子若戴了，不用教经，就会念经；这衣服若穿了，不用演礼，就会行礼。」行者道：「好师父，把与我穿戴了罢。」三藏道：「只怕长短不一，你若穿得，就穿了罢。」行者遂脱下旧白布直裰，将绵布直裰穿上，也就是比量著身体裁的一般。把帽儿戴上。三藏见他戴上帽子，就不吃干粮，却默默的念那紧箍咒一遍。行者叫道：「头痛，头痛。」那师父不住的又念了几遍，把个行者痛得打滚，抓破了嵌金的花帽。三藏又恐怕扯断金箍，住了口不念。不念时，他就不痛了。
逐句解 Line by line
行者去解開包袱，在那包裹中間見有幾個粗麵燒餅，拿出來遞與師父。
行者去解开包袱，在那包裹中间见有几个粗面烧饼，拿出来递与师父。
The Pilgrim went and undid the bundle, and among the wrappings saw several coarse wheaten cakes, which he took out and handed to his master.
The homely meal uncovers the trap: the bundle holds both the rations and the gleaming cap. 行者 reads 行 as xíng; 那包裹 reads 那 as nà.
又見那光豔豔的一領綿布直裰、一頂嵌金花帽。
又见那光艳艳的一领绵布直裰、一顶嵌金花帽。
He also saw a gleaming quilted cotton cassock and a cap set with gold flowers.
The cap and robe catch his eye — bait he cannot resist. 那光豔豔 reads 那 as nà.
行者道：「這衣帽是東土帶來的？」
行者道：「这衣帽是东土带来的？」
The Pilgrim said, "Was this clothing brought from the Eastern Land?"
His question is innocent; the answer is a calculated lie. 行者 reads 行 as xíng.
三藏就順口兒答應道：「是我小時穿戴的。
三藏就顺口儿答应道：「是我小时穿戴的。
Sanzang answered offhandedly, "It is what I wore in my youth.
Sanzang's offhand fiction begins — that they are his own boyhood clothes.
這帽子若戴了，不用教經，就會念經；這衣服若穿了，不用演禮，就會行禮。」
这帽子若戴了，不用教经，就会念经；这衣服若穿了，不用演礼，就会行礼。」
If you put on this cap, without being taught the sutras you will know how to recite them; if you put on this robe, without rehearsing the rites you will know how to perform them."
The lure Guanyin instructed him to use: the garments' magical virtues. 帽子 takes neutral 子 (zi); 教經 ("be taught the sutras") reads 教 as jiāo, the concrete verb "to teach"; 行禮 reads 行 as xíng.
行者道：「好師父，把與我穿戴了罷。」
行者道：「好师父，把与我穿戴了罢。」
The Pilgrim said, "Good master, let me have them to wear."
Wukong's eagerness for the fine garments seals his own fate. 行者 reads 行 as xíng.
三藏道：「只怕長短不一，你若穿得，就穿了罷。」
三藏道：「只怕长短不一，你若穿得，就穿了罢。」
Sanzang said, "I only fear they may not fit, but if you can wear them, then put them on."
Sanzang's feigned doubt about the fit completes the deception. 三藏 reads 藏 as zàng; 長短 ("length") reads 長 as cháng; 穿得 takes 得 as dé (potential).
行者遂脫下舊白布直裰，將綿布直裰穿上，也就是比量著身體裁的一般。把帽兒戴上。
行者遂脱下旧白布直裰，将绵布直裰穿上，也就是比量著身体裁的一般。把帽儿戴上。
The Pilgrim thereupon took off his old white cotton cassock and put on the quilted one, which fitted as though cut to the measure of his body; and he set the cap on his head.
The robe fits uncannily well, and the cap goes on — the point of no return. 行者 reads 行 as xíng; 將綿布 reads 將 as jiāng; 比量著 reads 量 as the verb liáng ("measure") and uses durative 著 (zhe).
三藏見他戴上帽子，就不吃乾糧，卻默默的念那緊箍咒一遍。
三藏见他戴上帽子，就不吃干粮，却默默的念那紧箍咒一遍。
When Sanzang saw him wearing the cap, he stopped eating the dry rations and silently recited the Tight-Fillet Spell once through.
The trap springs: Sanzang recites the spell. 三藏 reads 藏 as zàng; 帽子 takes neutral 子 (zi); 乾糧 reads 乾 as gān; 那緊箍咒 reads 那 as nà.
行者叫道：「頭痛，頭痛。」那師父不住的又念了幾遍，把個行者痛得打滾，抓破了嵌金的花帽。
行者叫道：「头痛，头痛。」那师父不住的又念了几遍，把个行者痛得打滚，抓破了嵌金的花帽。
The Pilgrim cried out, "My head aches, my head aches!" The master, ceaselessly, recited it several times more, till the Pilgrim rolled on the ground in agony and clawed the gold-flowered cap to shreds.
The first agony: the fillet tightens, the monkey rolls and claws at his own head. 行者 reads 行 as xíng; 那師父 reads 那 as nà; 痛得 reads 得 as de (resultative "so that").
三藏又恐怕扯斷金箍，住了口不念。不念時，他就不痛了。
三藏又恐怕扯断金箍，住了口不念。不念时，他就不痛了。
Sanzang, fearing he would snap the golden fillet, closed his mouth and stopped reciting; and when he stopped, the pain stopped too.
Cause and effect are made plain: recitation brings pain, silence brings relief — the whole mechanism of control in one stroke. 三藏 reads 藏 as zàng.
總評 Commentary
The chapter's climax is staged with quiet domestic irony. The instruments of the monkey's lifelong subjection — the golden cap and the spell — are slipped to him not by force but through the homeliest of scenes: a roadside meal, a bundle opened for dry cakes, a fine set of clothes too tempting to refuse. Sanzang, following Guanyin's coaching, tells a bald lie (the garments are his own boyhood things, magically endowed), and the eager, vain monkey walks straight into the trap.
The detail that the robe fits "as though cut to the measure of his body" is telling: the constraint is made for him exactly, as though the discipline he resists were somehow already his own true shape. The moment the cap goes on, the point of no return is passed — though Wukong, delighted with his new finery, does not yet know it.
Then the spell, and the first agony. The passage lays bare, in a single clean stroke, the whole mechanism that will govern the monkey for the rest of the pilgrimage: the master recites and the pain comes; the master stops and the pain ceases. It is a stark image of externally imposed control, and the chapter does not sentimentalise it — the monkey rolls on the ground and claws his own head bloody. What persuasion (the Dragon King, Guanyin) had begun, coercion now completes.