密授真言 The Tight-Fillet Spell
老母道：「他那廂去了？」三藏道：「我聽得呼的一聲，他回東去了。」老母道：「東邊不遠，就是我家，想必往我家去了。我那裡還有一篇咒兒，喚做『定心真言』，又名做『緊箍兒咒』。你可暗暗的念熟，牢記心頭，再莫洩漏一人知道。我去趕上他，叫他還來跟你，你卻將此衣帽與他穿戴。他若不服你使喚，你就默念此咒，他再不敢行兇，也再不敢去了。」三藏聞言，低頭拜謝。那老母化一道金光，回東而去。三藏情知是觀音菩薩授此真言，急忙撮土焚香，望東懇懇禮拜。拜罷，收了衣帽，藏在包袱中間。卻坐於路傍，誦習那定心真言，來回念了幾遍，念得爛熟，牢記心胸不題。老母道：「他那厢去了？」三藏道：「我听得呼的一声，他回东去了。」老母道：「东边不远，就是我家，想必往我家去了。我那里还有一篇咒儿，唤做『定心真言』，又名做『紧箍儿咒』。你可暗暗的念熟，牢记心头，再莫泄漏一人知道。我去赶上他，叫他还来跟你，你却将此衣帽与他穿戴。他若不服你使唤，你就默念此咒，他再不敢行凶，也再不敢去了。」三藏闻言，低头拜谢。那老母化一道金光，回东而去。三藏情知是观音菩萨授此真言，急忙撮土焚香，望东恳恳礼拜。拜罢，收了衣帽，藏在包袱中间。却坐于路傍，诵习那定心真言，来回念了几遍，念得烂熟，牢记心胸不题。
逐句解 Line by line
The old woman said, "Which way did he go?"
The old woman's question locates the vanished disciple. 他那廂去了 ("which way did he go?") reads 那 as interrogative nǎ.
Sanzang said, "I heard a whistling sound, and he went off eastward."
Sanzang reports the eastward flight. 三藏 reads 藏 as zàng; 聽得 takes 得 as de.
The old woman said, "My home is not far to the east; he has surely gone that way.
She claims Wukong's likely destination as her own neighbourhood — a fiction that lets her intercept him.
I have there besides a spell, called the True Words for Stilling the Mind, and also named the Tight-Fillet Spell.
Here the central instrument of the pilgrimage is introduced. The spell has two names: 定心真言, the "True Words for Stilling the Mind," and 緊箍兒咒, the "Tight-Fillet Spell" — the incantation that tightens the golden band on Wukong's head. 我那裡 reads 那 as nà; 還有 reads 還 as hái.
You must con it in secret, keep it fast in your heart, and never let a single soul know of it.
Its secrecy is essential to its power over him — it must be conned in silence and never revealed.
I will go and catch up with him, and send him back to follow you; and you shall give him this garment and cap to wear.
The plan is laid: she will send the disciple back, and the garment (with its hidden fillet) is to be given him to wear. 還來 reads 還 as hái; 將此 reads 將 as jiāng.
If he will not obey your command, you have only to recite this spell in silence, and he will never dare do violence again, nor ever dare leave."
The spell's function is spelled out — silent recitation compels obedience and forbids both violence and flight. This is the coercive discipline that will govern the Mind-Monkey where persuasion failed. 行兇 reads 行 as xíng.
Hearing this, Sanzang bowed his head in thanks. The old woman changed into a shaft of golden light and went off eastward.
The disguise drops: the old woman becomes golden light and departs eastward, the standard sign of a bodhisattva's true form. 三藏 reads 藏 as zàng; 那老母 reads 那 as nà.
Then Sanzang knew in his heart that it was the Bodhisattva Guanyin who had bestowed these True Words; in haste he gathered a pinch of earth for incense and bowed to the east with all his heart.
Sanzang recognises Guanyin and worships with improvised incense — a pinch of earth for a censer. 三藏 reads 藏 as zàng.
His worship done, he took up the garment and cap and hid them away within his bundle.
He conceals the garment and cap — and with them, unknowingly to Wukong, the fillet. Here 藏在包袱 reads 藏 as the verb cáng ("to hide") — not the zàng of the monk's name; 中間 reads 中 as zhōng.
Then, sitting by the roadside, he recited the True Words for Stilling the Mind over and over, until he had them letter-perfect and fixed fast in his breast — of which no more.
The passage closes with the monk memorising the spell to perfection — arming himself, in secret, with the means to master his disciple. 那定心真言 reads 那 as nà; 念得 takes 得 as de.
This passage introduces the single most important instrument of the entire pilgrimage: the spell that will keep Wukong bound to the enterprise. Disguised as the old woman, Guanyin gives Sanzang the incantation under its two names — the "True Words for Stilling the Mind" (定心真言) and the "Tight-Fillet Spell" (緊箍兒咒) — together with the garment and cap that conceal the golden band, and a plan to send the fled disciple back.
The remedy is frankly coercive, and the text does not disguise it: where Sanzang's moral suasion drove Wukong away, the spell will compel obedience through pain, silently recited whenever the monkey defies command. This is the chapter's answer to the crisis it has staged. The disciplined mind cannot yet govern the senses by understanding alone; it must first be constrained from without. The fillet is the outward bond that will, across many chapters, become the inward discipline of the maturing pilgrim.
The Bodhisattva's departure as a shaft of golden light confirms her identity and seals the intervention, and Sanzang's secret, letter-perfect memorising of the spell arms him for the reunion to come. The stage is set: Wukong, even now at the Dragon King's palace, will be persuaded to return, will be coaxed into the fatal cap — and the fillet will close upon his head, binding Mind-Monkey to the road at last.