龍宮訴悶 Wukong at the Dragon Palace
卻說那悟空別了師父，一觔斗雲，徑轉東洋大海。按住雲頭，分開水道，徑至水晶宮前。早驚動龍王出來迎接，接至宮裡坐下。禮畢，龍王道：「近聞得大聖難滿，失賀！想必是重整仙山，復歸古洞矣？」悟空道：「我也有此心性，只是又做了和尚了。」龍王道：「做甚和尚？」行者道：「我虧了南海菩薩勸善，教我正果，隨東土唐僧上西方拜佛，皈依沙門，又喚為行者了。」龍王道：「這等真是可賀，可賀。這才叫做改邪歸正，懲創善心。既如此，怎麼不西去，復東回何也？」行者笑道：「那是唐僧不識人性。有幾個毛賊剪徑，是我將他打死，唐僧就緒緒叨叨，說了我若干的不是。你想老孫可是受得悶氣的？是我撇了他，欲回本山，故此先來望你一望，求鍾茶吃。」龍王道：「承降，承降。」當時龍子、龍孫即捧香茶來獻。却说那悟空别了师父，一觔斗云，径转东洋大海。按住云头，分开水道，径至水晶宫前。早惊动龙王出来迎接，接至宫里坐下。礼毕，龙王道：「近闻得大圣难满，失贺！想必是重整仙山，复归古洞矣？」悟空道：「我也有此心性，只是又做了和尚了。」龙王道：「做甚和尚？」行者道：「我亏了南海菩萨劝善，教我正果，随东土唐僧上西方拜佛，皈依沙门，又唤为行者了。」龙王道：「这等真是可贺，可贺。这才叫做改邪归正，惩创善心。既如此，怎么不西去，复东回何也？」行者笑道：「那是唐僧不识人性。有几个毛贼剪径，是我将他打死，唐僧就绪绪叨叨，说了我若干的不是。你想老孙可是受得闷气的？是我撇了他，欲回本山，故此先来望你一望，求钟茶吃。」龙王道：「承降，承降。」当时龙子、龙孙即捧香茶来献。
逐句解 Line by line
Now this Wukong, having parted from his master, rode a somersault-cloud straight back to the Eastern Ocean.
He goes east — to old haunts and old friends, which is what wounded pride does. 那悟空 reads 那 as nà; 觔斗雲, the somersault-cloud, reads 斗 as dǒu.
Pressing down the head of his cloud, he parted the waters and came straight to the Crystal Palace.
Cloud down, water parted, straight in at the front door of the Crystal Palace. 分開 reads 分 as fēn.
The Dragon King, startled into awareness, came out to meet him and led him within to be seated. The courtesies done, the Dragon King said:
The Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean is an old acquaintance — this is the dragon Wukong bullied out of the iron cudgel in the novel's early chapters — and he comes out to meet him with every courtesy. The host who was once robbed is about to become the moral instructor.
"I have lately heard that the Great Sage's calamity is at an end — my congratulations! Surely you have set your immortal mountain in order again and returned to your ancient cave?"
The polite assumption is that a freed Great Sage has gone straight back to being a king on his own mountain, which sets up the surprise. 聞得 takes 得 as de; 難滿, 'the calamity fulfilled', reads 難 as nàn; 重整 reads 重 as chóng.
Wukong said, "That was indeed my mind; but I have gone and become a monk instead." The Dragon King said, "A monk? How so?"
'I have gone and become a monk instead.' The Dragon King's reply is essentially: you have done what? 做甚 reads 甚 as shén.
The Pilgrim said, "I owe it to the Bodhisattva of the Southern Sea, who counselled me to goodness and set me toward the true fruit; I follow the Tang monk of the Eastern Land to the West to worship the Buddha, have taken refuge in the gate of the sangha, and am called the Pilgrim now."
And for once the account is straight and even grateful: Guanyin's counsel, the Tang mission, refuge in the order, the new name. He leaves out only the part about walking away from it two hours ago. 行者 reads 行 as xíng; 拜佛 reads 佛 as fó; 喚為 reads 為 as wéi.
The Dragon King said, "This is truly to be congratulated! This is what is meant by forsaking the wrong and returning to the right, chastening oneself toward the good.
The Dragon King congratulates him in the standard vocabulary of conversion — 改邪歸正, forsake the wrong and return to the right, a set phrase still in daily use for anyone who turns their life around.
But if so, why are you not going west — why turn back east?"
And then, having praised the conversion, he notices the direction of travel. If all that is true, why are you here and not going west? The question is a small trap, politely sprung.
The Pilgrim laughed and said, "It is that the Tang monk does not understand human nature. A few petty thieves waylaid us; I beat them to death, and the Tang monk fell to nagging on and on, reciting no end of my faults.
Wukong's version, in which the monk is at fault for not understanding people and a massacre is 'a few petty thieves'. 行者 reads 行 as xíng; 那是 reads 那 as nà; 將他 reads 將 as jiāng.
Do you think old Sun is one to swallow resentment? So I left him, meaning to return to my own mountain — and came first to look in on you, and beg a cup of tea."
The real reason surfaces at last, and he says it himself: do you think old Sun is one to swallow resentment? Everything else — the mountain, the tea — is decoration on that. 受得悶氣 reads 得 as dé.
The Dragon King said, "Honoured, honoured!" And at once the dragon-sons and dragon-grandsons brought fragrant tea and offered it.
Honoured, honoured — and the dragon-sons and dragon-grandsons bring in the tea. 承降 reads both instances of 降 as jiàng; 龍子 reads 子 as zǐ, its full reading, not the light 子 of 兒子.
With the quarrel behind him the narrative follows Wukong to the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean, an old acquaintance from the novel's opening arc — it was from this dragon that the monkey extorted his iron cudgel in the first place. The construction is deft: the host who once suffered his bullying is about to become the agent of his moral instruction.
The dialogue lets Wukong tell his own version of the break, and the reader hears how self-serving it is. The killing is passed over in a phrase, the desertion is dressed up as a social call, and the monk gets the blame for not understanding human nature. The Dragon King's warm approval of 'forsaking the wrong and returning to the right' only sharpens it, since the monkey has just walked out on the conversion being praised.
The tea is a preliminary. What the visit is actually for is counsel, and in the next passage the Dragon King will use a painting on his own wall — Zhang Liang's humility at the Yi Bridge — to shame his guest back onto the road. The palace scene turns from welcome to admonition, and becomes the first of the two forces, persuasion here and the golden band later, that bring the monkey back.