賣弄取禍 Showing Off Invites Disaster
祖師急拽杖出門來問道：「是何人在此喧嘩？」大眾聞呼，慌忙檢束，整衣向前。悟空也現了本相，雜在叢中道：「啟上尊師：我等在此會講，更無外姓喧嘩。」祖師怒喝道：「你等大呼小叫，全不像個修行的體段！修行的人，口開神氣散，舌動是非生，如何在此嚷笑？」大眾道：「不敢瞞師父，適才孫悟空演變化耍子。教他變棵松樹，果然是棵松樹，弟子們俱稱揚喝采，故高聲驚冒尊師，望乞恕罪。」祖師道：「你等起去。」叫：「悟空過來！我問你弄甚麼精神，變甚麼松樹？這個工夫，可好在人前賣弄？假如你見別人有，不要求他？別人見你有，必然求你。你若畏禍，卻要傳他；若不傳他，必然加害：你之性命又不可保。」悟空叩頭道：「只望師父恕罪。」祖師道：「我也不罪你，但只是你去罷。」祖师急拽杖出门来问道：「是何人在此喧哗？」大众闻呼，慌忙检束，整衣向前。悟空也现了本相，杂在丛中道：「启上尊师：我等在此会讲，更无外姓喧哗。」祖师怒喝道：「你等大呼小叫，全不像个修行的体段！修行的人，口开神气散，舌动是非生，如何在此嚷笑？」大众道：「不敢瞒师父，适才孙悟空演变化耍子。教他变棵松树，果然是棵松树，弟子们俱称扬喝采，故高声惊冒尊师，望乞恕罪。」祖师道：「你等起去。」叫：「悟空过来！我问你弄甚么精神，变甚么松树？这个工夫，可好在人前卖弄？假如你见别人有，不要求他？别人见你有，必然求你。你若畏祸，却要传他；若不传他，必然加害：你之性命又不可保。」悟空叩头道：「只望师父恕罪。」祖师道：「我也不罪你，但只是你去罢。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Patriarch came hurrying out the door, dragging his staff, and demanded: “Who is making this clamor here?”
拽杖 (zhuài zhàng): "dragging his staff"; 多音字 拽 = zhuài "to drag" (not yè, zhuāi). 喧嘩 (xuān huá): "clamor, din"; 嘩 = huá.
At the shout the others hastily composed themselves, straightened their robes, and came forward.
慌忙 (huāng máng): "hurriedly." 檢束 (jiǎn shù): "to compose, restrain oneself"; 檢 = jiǎn.
Wukong too reverted to his true form and, mingling with the crowd, said: “We report to the venerable master: we were discoursing here, with no outsiders making any clamor.”
本相 (běn xiàng): "true, original form"; 相 = xiàng. 雜在叢中 (zá zài cóng zhōng): "mingling in the crowd"; 雜 = zá, 叢 = cóng. 啟上 (qǐ shàng): "to report respectfully to." 外姓 (wài xìng): "outsiders" (lit. "those of other surnames"). 更無 (gèng wú): "there is no."
The Patriarch shouted in anger: “All this shouting and yelling — it is not at all the bearing of those in cultivation! For the cultivator, when the mouth opens the spirit-breath scatters, and when the tongue stirs disputes are born. How can you be clamoring and laughing here?”
怒喝 (nù hè): "to shout in anger"; 多音字 喝 = hè "to shout" (not hē "to drink"). 全不像: "not at all like"; sandhi 不 → bú. 體段 (tǐ duàn): "bearing, manner." 口開神氣散，舌動是非生: "when the mouth opens the spirit-breath scatters; when the tongue stirs, right-and-wrong is born" — the line that gives the chapter-title's second half; 散 = sàn "to scatter" (多音字, not sǎn). 嚷笑 (rǎng xiào): "clamoring and laughing"; 嚷 = rǎng.
The others said: “We dare not deceive the master — just now Sun Wukong was performing transformations for sport. We had him turn into a pine tree, and indeed he became a pine tree; we disciples all praised and applauded, and so our loud voices startled and affronted you. We beg forgiveness.”
適才 (shì cái): "just now." 耍子 (shuǎ zi): "for sport"; 子 = zi (neutral suffix, vs the toned zǐ of 弟子). 教他 (jiào tā): "we had him"; 教 = jiào, causative. 喝采 (hè cǎi): "to applaud, cheer"; 喝 = hè. 驚冒 (jīng mào): "to startle and affront"; 冒 = mào "to offend." Sandhi: 不敢 → bù.
The Patriarch said: “The rest of you, get up and go.”
起去 (qǐ qù): "rise and withdraw."
He called: “Wukong, come here! I ask you — what spirit were you playing at, transforming into what pine tree? Is this skill a thing to be paraded before others?”
弄甚麼精神: "what trick were you playing"; 精神 with neutral 神 (shen). 工夫 (gōng fu): "skill, accomplishment"; 夫 neutral. 可好…賣弄: "is it proper to show off?"; 好 = hǎo. 賣弄 (mài nòng): "to parade, show off."
“Suppose you saw another had it — would you not beg it of him? And another, seeing you have it, will surely beg it of you.”
假如 (jiǎ rú): "suppose." 不要求他: "would you not beg it of him?"; sandhi 不 → bú before 4th-tone 要. 必然 (bì rán): "surely."
“If you fear the trouble, you will have to teach him; and if you do not teach him, he will surely do you harm — and then your own life cannot be kept safe.”
畏禍 (wèi huò): "to fear disaster"; 禍 = huò. 卻要 (què yào): "will then have to." 若不傳他: sandhi 不 → bù before 2nd-tone 傳. 不可保: sandhi 不 → bù before 3rd-tone 可.
Wukong kowtowed: “I only beg the master's forgiveness.”
只望 (zhǐ wàng): "only hope for." 恕罪 (shù zuì): "to forgive an offense."
The Patriarch said: “I do not blame you — but all the same, you must go.”
不罪你: "do not blame you"; sandhi 不 → bú before 4th-tone 罪. 但只是 (dàn zhǐ shì): "but only, all the same." 你去罷: "you must leave"; 罷 = ba.
The master's logic for sending Wukong away is strikingly worldly, almost hard-headed. It is not that the transformation was wrong, but that it was shown: a visible power draws others who will demand it, and the demand becomes a trap — teach them and you have armed a rival, refuse and you invite their malice, and either way 你之性命又不可保, "your own life cannot be kept safe." This is shrewd counsel about the perils of conspicuous talent and the envy it breeds, and it is also the plot's hinge: Wukong must leave the cloister to begin his real career. The Patriarch's care is genuine — 我也不罪你, "I do not blame you" — but the sentence is final.
At the center of his rebuke stands the line that gives the chapter its second half: 口開神氣散，舌動是非生 — "when the mouth opens the spirit-breath scatters; when the tongue stirs, right-and-wrong is born." It is a maxim of contained, silent cultivation, of a piece with the elixir poem's injunction to 謹固牢藏, to seal the breath in and let nothing leak. The adept's power is meant to be hoarded, invisible; Wukong's noisy display squanders exactly what the discipline was meant to conserve. And there is a real pathos in the timing: he sought these transformations only to survive the calamities, mastered them in a single night, and is exiled for their first, harmless, joyful use — the gift and the banishment arriving together. With this the apprenticeship under Subodhi ends, and the monkey, returned to his restless nature, is sent back into the world alone.