一遍成誦 禪師示路 Learned at a Hearing; the Chan Master Foretells the Road
此時唐朝法師本有根源，耳聞一遍《多心經》，即能記憶，至今傳世。此乃修真之總經，作佛之會門也。那禪師傳了經文，踏雲光，要上烏巢而去。被三藏又扯住奉告，定要問個西去的路程端的。那禪師笑云：此时唐朝法师本有根源，耳闻一遍《多心经》，即能记忆，至今传世。此乃修真之总经，作佛之会门也。那禅师传了经文，踏云光，要上乌巢而去。被三藏又扯住奉告，定要问个西去的路程端的。那禅师笑云：
逐句解 Line by line
Now the Master of the Law of the Tang had roots and origins of his own: hearing the Heart Sutra once, he could hold it in memory, and it is handed down to this day.
本有根源, "he had roots and an origin of his own" — the novel's explanation for a feat of memory: this is Golden Cicada, in his tenth incarnation. 耳聞一遍, one hearing.
This is the summary scripture of cultivating the real, the gate of assembly for becoming a buddha.
修真之總經 and 作佛之會門: the narrator, speaking in his own voice, endorses the sutra in Daoist and Buddhist vocabulary in a single sentence, and does not appear to notice.
The Chan Master, having transmitted the text, trod the cloud-light and would have gone up to his crow's nest.
踏雲光, to tread the cloud-light. He has given what he came to give and intends to leave.
But Sanzang caught hold of him again and pressed him, determined to learn exactly what the road westward held. The Chan Master laughed and said:
路程端的: 端的 takes 的 as dì — "the truth of the matter." Two 的 stand in this segment with different readings, and the second is pinned by position.
The road is not hard to travel; only listen while I tell you.
The prophecy is in five-graph lines, the metre of the old yuefu, and its first line is a lie: the road is nothing but hard.
A thousand hills, a thousand waters, deep; miasmas many and demons many.
千山千水, a thousand hills and a thousand streams — the standard hyperbole for the whole journey.
When you come to the crag that touches heaven, set your heart at rest and have no fear.
接天崖, the Cliff that Joins Heaven. 休恐怖 uses the sutra's own word, 恐怖, four lines after Sanzang has been taught to have none.
When you reach the Rub-the-Ear Cliff, go sideways and feel out every step.
摩耳巖, "Rub-the-Ear Crag," so narrow the ear scrapes the rock. 側著腳蹤步: 著 continuous, zhe.
Take care in the Black Pine Wood, where fox-spirits often cut the road.
仔細 takes 仔 as zǐ (pypinyin gives zǎi). 截路, to cut off the road: banditry, performed by foxes.
Sprites fill the walled cities; demon lords are lodged all over the hills.
精靈 and 魔主. The prophecy grows steadily less topographical and more bureaucratic.
Old tigers sit in the hall of judgment; grey wolves serve as clerks of the register.
琴堂, the "zither hall," a magistrate's court; 主簿, the registrar of a county office. Beasts have taken over the civil administration, which is a joke the novel will not tire of.
Lions and elephants all style themselves king; tigers and leopards are the drivers of the coach.
作御, to serve as charioteer. 獅象盡稱王: 盡 is jìn, all of them. Every one of these creatures will be met in the chapters to come.
A wild boar shoulders the carrying-pole; a water-monster is met with up ahead.
野豬挑擔子 — the wild boar carries the load. It is a plain description of the marching order set two passages ago, and Bajie is standing right there.
An ancient stone ape of many years — there he nurses his spite.
多年老石猴, and 那裡懷嗔怒 — "there he nurses his wrath." The line is a description and, delivered to his face, an accusation; Wukong takes it as an insult, and proves it by losing his temper within the minute.
Ask that acquaintance of yours; he knows the road that runs west.
那相識: 相識 is an acquaintance, 相 read xiāng. Which acquaintance is not said, and the Chan Master leaves before anyone can ask.
Sanzang hears the sutra once and knows it by heart. The narrator explains this in four graphs — 本有根源, "he had roots and an origin" — and then, in his own voice, calls the Heart Sutra 修真之總經，作佛之會門: the summary scripture of Daoist cultivation and the assembly-gate of buddhahood, in one breath, without any sense of strain. The syncretism of this novel is not a doctrine it argues; it is a habit of speech.
The prophecy that follows is a table of contents. Rub-the-Ear Crag, the Black Pine Wood, sprites in the cities, tigers on the magistrate's bench, wolves keeping the registers, lions and elephants calling themselves kings — every one of them will be met. And then the last three couplets turn on the audience: 野豬挑擔子, the wild boar carries the load; 多年老石猴，那裡懷嗔怒, the old stone ape nurses his spite. Bajie is holding the baggage. Wukong is about to demonstrate the accuracy of the line by trying to smash the nest.