騰雲未就 The Cloud-Crawling Lesson
忽一日，祖師與眾門人在三星洞前戲玩晚景。祖師道：「悟空，事成了未曾？」悟空道：「多蒙師父海恩，弟子功果完備，已能霞舉飛升也。」祖師道：「你試飛舉我看。」悟空弄本事，將身一聳，打了個連扯跟頭，跳離地有五六丈，踏雲霞去勾有頓飯之時，返復不上三里遠近，落在面前，扠手道：「師父，這就是飛舉騰雲了。」祖師笑道：「這個算不得騰雲，只算得爬雲而已。自古道：『神仙朝遊北海暮蒼梧。』似你這半日，去不上三里，即爬雲也還算不得哩。」悟空道：「怎麼為朝遊北海暮蒼梧？」祖師道：「凡騰雲之輩，早辰起自北海，遊過東海、西海、南海，復轉蒼梧。蒼梧者，卻是北海零陵之語話也。將四海之外，一日都遊遍，方算得騰雲。」忽一日，祖师与众门人在三星洞前戏玩晚景。祖师道：「悟空，事成了未曾？」悟空道：「多蒙师父海恩，弟子功果完备，已能霞举飞升也。」祖师道：「你试飞举我看。」悟空弄本事，将身一耸，打了个连扯跟头，跳离地有五六丈，踏云霞去勾有顿饭之时，返复不上三里远近，落在面前，扠手道：「师父，这就是飞举腾云了。」祖师笑道：「这个算不得腾云，只算得爬云而已。自古道：『神仙朝游北海暮苍梧。』似你这半日，去不上三里，即爬云也还算不得哩。」悟空道：「怎么为朝游北海暮苍梧？」祖师道：「凡腾云之辈，早辰起自北海，游过东海、西海、南海，复转苍梧。苍梧者，却是北海零陵之语话也。将四海之外，一日都游遍，方算得腾云。」
逐句解 Line by line
One day the Patriarch and his disciples were out before the Three-Star Cave, enjoying the evening.
忽一日 (hū yí rì): "one day"; sandhi 一 → yí before 4th-tone 日. 門人 (mén rén): "disciples." 戲玩晚景: "amusing themselves in the evening scene."
The Patriarch said: “Wukong, is the work accomplished yet?”
事成了未曾 (shì chéng le wèi céng): "is the matter done, or not yet"; 未曾 = "not yet."
Wukong said: “Thanks to the master's boundless grace, your disciple's merit is complete; I can already rise on the rosy clouds and ascend.”
多蒙 (duō méng): "much indebted to." 海恩 (hǎi ēn): "boundless grace." 功果 (gōng guǒ): "merit, attainment." 霞舉飛升 (xiá jǔ fēi shēng): "to rise on the rose-clouds and ascend."
The Patriarch said: “Try rising, and let me see.”
試飛舉 (shì fēi jǔ): "try flying up."
Wukong showed his skill: with a heave he sprang up, turned a connected somersault, and leapt five or six zhàng off the ground; treading the cloud-mist he went off for about the space of a meal, but came and went less than three li, and dropped down before them. Clasping his hands he said: “Master, that is rising and cloud-soaring!”
一聳 (yì sǒng): "with a heave"; sandhi 一 → yì. 連扯跟頭 (lián chě gēn tou): "a connected somersault"; 跟頭 = gēntou, 頭 neutral. 五六丈: zhàng is a Chinese unit (~3.3 m), left untranslated. 勾 (gōu): colloquial "about, roughly" (= 夠). 頓飯之時: "the time of a meal." Sandhi: 不上 → bú (不 before 4th-tone 上); 三里, li left untranslated. 扠手 (chā shǒu): "to clasp the hands [in a gesture of respect]"; 扠 = chā.
The Patriarch laughed: “That doesn't count as cloud-soaring; it only counts as cloud-crawling. As the old saying goes, ‘An immortal roams the North Sea at dawn and Cangwu at dusk.’ For you to go less than three li in half a day — that can't even count as cloud-crawling.”
算不得 (suàn bù de): "doesn't count as"; sandhi 不 → bù before neutral-tone 得 (twice). 爬雲 (pá yún): "cloud-crawling," derisive. 朝遊北海暮蒼梧: "roam the North Sea at dawn, Cangwu at dusk"; 多音字 朝 = zhāo "morning" (not cháo); 蒼梧 (Cāngwú): a far-southern place. Sandhi: 不上 → bú.
Wukong asked: “What is meant by ‘roaming the North Sea at dawn and Cangwu at dusk’?”
怎麼為 (zěn me wéi): "what is meant by"; 為 = wéi. 朝 = zhāo.
The Patriarch said: “All who can cloud-soar set out from the North Sea in the early morning, roam through the Eastern, Western, and Southern Seas, and then turn back to Cangwu.
凡…之輩: "all those who…"; 輩 = bèi. 早辰 (zǎo chén): "early morning" (= 早晨). 復轉 (fù zhuǎn): "then turn (to)"; 轉 = zhuǎn.
Cangwu, now, is a term from Lingling by the North Sea.
蒼梧者 (cāng wú zhě): "as for Cangwu." 零陵 (Línglíng): a place; 語話 (yǔ huà): "a way of speaking, a term."
To roam all the four seas in a single day — only that counts as cloud-soaring.”
四海之外: "beyond the four seas" — all the seas. 一日: sandhi 一 → yí before 4th-tone 日. 遊遍 (yóu biàn): "roam all over." 方算得: "only then counts as"; 方 = fāng "only then."
The chapter's comic rhythm reasserts itself: no sooner has Wukong mastered the great secret than his pride outruns his legs. Sent to demonstrate his new power of flight, he manages a single connected somersault and a hop of a few 丈, drifts for the space of a meal, and covers less than three 里 — then lands and proudly calls it 騰雲, "cloud-soaring." The master's deflation is merciless and funny: that is no soaring, only 爬雲, "cloud-crawling," and a poor sort of crawling at that. The exchange is of a piece with the lecture-hall scene and the riddle — the disciple's exuberance repeatedly checked, sized, and corrected by the teacher.
But the mockery carries a real cosmology. The measure of true transcendence is given in a proverb — 神仙朝遊北海暮蒼梧, the immortal who roams the North Sea at dawn and far-southern Cangwu by dusk — and the master spells out the full circuit: from the North Sea through the Eastern, Western, and Southern Seas and back, the whole world compassed in a single day. (His aside that 蒼梧 is really a Lingling expression is the kind of learned gloss the novel enjoys.) This sets the scale that the next passage will spectacularly meet: Wukong's feeble somersault is about to become the 筋斗雲, the cloud-somersault that crosses a hundred and eight thousand 里 at a bound — and tellingly, the master will build that power not on some new technique but on the very tumbling motion Wukong already shows here.