靈吉帶怪見如來 Lingji Bears the Fiend Away to the Tathāgata
行者趕上，舉棒就打，被菩薩攔住道：「大聖，莫傷他命我還要帶他去見如來。」又對行者道：「他本是靈山腳下的得道老鼠，因為偷了琉璃盞內的清油，燈火昏暗，恐怕金剛拿他，故此走了，卻在此處成精作怪。如來照見了他，不該死罪，故著我轄押，但他傷生造孽，拿上靈山。今又衝撞大聖，陷害唐僧，我拿他去見如來，明正其罪，才算這場功績哩。」行者聞言，卻謝了菩薩。菩薩西歸不題。卻說豬八戒在那林內，正思量行者，只聽得山坂下叫聲：「悟能兄弟，牽馬挑擔來耶。」那獃子認得是行者聲音，急收拾跑出林外，見了行者道：「哥哥，怎的幹事來？」行者道：「請靈吉菩薩，使一條飛龍杖，拿住妖精，原來是個黃毛貂鼠成精，被他帶去靈山見如來去了。我和你洞裡去救師父。」那獃子才歡歡喜喜。二人撞入裡面，把那一窩狡兔、妖狐、香獐、角鹿，一頓釘鈀、鐵棒，盡情打死，卻往後園拜救師父。師父出得門來，問道：「你兩人怎生捉得妖精？如何方救得我？」行者將那請靈吉降妖的事情，陳了一遍。師父謝之不盡。他兄弟們把洞中素物，安排些茶飯吃了，方才出門，找大路向西而去。畢竟不知向後如何，且聽下回分解。行者赶上，举棒就打，被菩萨拦住道：「大圣，莫伤他命我还要带他去见如来。」又对行者道：「他本是灵山脚下的得道老鼠，因为偷了琉璃盏内的清油，灯火昏暗，恐怕金刚拿他，故此走了，却在此处成精作怪。如来照见了他，不该死罪，故著我辖押，但他伤生造孽，拿上灵山。今又冲撞大圣，陷害唐僧，我拿他去见如来，明正其罪，才算这场功绩哩。」行者闻言，却谢了菩萨。菩萨西归不题。却说猪八戒在那林内，正思量行者，只听得山坂下叫声：「悟能兄弟，牵马挑担来耶。」那呆子认得是行者声音，急收拾跑出林外，见了行者道：「哥哥，怎的干事来？」行者道：「请灵吉菩萨，使一条飞龙杖，拿住妖精，原来是个黄毛貂鼠成精，被他带去灵山见如来去了。我和你洞里去救师父。」那呆子才欢欢喜喜。二人撞入里面，把那一窝狡兔、妖狐、香獐、角鹿，一顿钉钯、铁棒，尽情打死，却往后园拜救师父。师父出得门来，问道：「你两人怎生捉得妖精？如何方救得我？」行者将那请灵吉降妖的事情，陈了一遍。师父谢之不尽。他兄弟们把洞中素物，安排些茶饭吃了，方才出门，找大路向西而去。毕竟不知向后如何，且听下回分解。
逐句解 Line by line
The Pilgrim ran up and raised his rod to strike, but the Bodhisattva held him off. "Great Sage," he said, "do not take his life. I must still carry him to see the Tathāgata."
還 is hái, "still, yet" — the third reading of this graph in two passages, after two occurrences of huán. Lingji stops the killing not out of mercy but out of jurisdiction.
And he said further to the Pilgrim, "He was in truth a rat who had gained the Way, living at the foot of Vulture Peak; and because he stole the pure oil out of a crystal lamp,
得道老鼠: 得 is dé, "attained." 因為 takes wèi. 琉璃盞內的清油 — the pure oil of a lamp before the Buddha. The whole catastrophe of this chapter began with a rat drinking lamp-oil.
so that the lamp burned dim, and because he feared the vajra-guardians would take him, he ran away, and here he set up as a spirit and worked mischief.
金剛, the vajra-guardians of the monastery — the same eight who were shouting in confusion in the wind-rhapsody of P3. 處 is chù.
The Tathāgata beheld him and saw that he was not guilty to the death, and so he made me his warden — but now that he has killed and worked sin, he shall be brought up to Vulture Peak.
故著我轄押: 著 is the causative zhuó, "caused me to." 轄押 is the language of a warden, and 不該死罪 of a sentence. The Tathāgata reviewed the case and commuted it.
And today he has affronted the Great Sage besides, and betrayed the Tang monk to his ruin. I shall take him to see the Tathāgata, and have his offence made plain and pronounced upon; and only then may this be reckoned an achievement."
明正其罪, to have the offence declared and judged. 才算這場功績 — only then is it an achievement; 哩 reads lī. Lingji will not count the capture until the paperwork is done.
Hearing this, the Pilgrim thanked the Bodhisattva. And the Bodhisattva returned to the west, of whom no more.
菩薩西歸不題 — "of whom no more," the storyteller's formula for laying a thread down, as at P4.
Now we tell how Zhu Bajie, in the wood, was thinking of the Pilgrim, when he heard a shout from below the mountain slope: "Brother Awakened to Power! Bring the horse and the luggage-pole!"
思量 takes 量 as liáng, "to ponder." 挑擔: 擔 is dàn, the load. Bajie has been sitting in the wood since P21, exactly where he was told to sit.
The Idiot knew the Pilgrim's voice. He gathered his things in haste and ran out of the wood, and seeing the Pilgrim he said, "Elder brother, how did the business go?"
認得 takes the resultative de. 怎的幹事來, vernacular: "how did the business go?"
Said the Pilgrim, "I begged the Bodhisattva Lingji, and he used a Flying-Dragon Staff and took the fiend;
The Pilgrim reports the whole chapter in twenty graphs, and gives Lingji the credit without a word of complaint.
and it turned out to be a yellow-furred marten grown into a spirit, and the Bodhisattva has carried him off to Vulture Peak to see the Tathāgata.
成精, to become a spirit through long cultivation. 靈山 is Vulture Peak, Gṛdhrakūṭa, the Tathāgata's mountain — and thus also the pilgrimage's own destination, some seventy chapters away.
Come with me into the cave now and rescue our master." And then the Idiot was full of joy.
歡歡喜喜: four graphs, and the Idiot's whole character.
The two of them charged inside, and that whole nest of cunning hares, fiend-foxes, musk-deer and antlered stags
一窩, one nest or burrow. The four creatures named — hare, fox, musk-deer, stag — are all game animals, and none of them has done anything.
they beat to death, every one of them, with a fall of the muckrake and the iron rod; and then they went round to the back garden to bow to their master and set him free.
釘鈀: 鈀 reads pá, the nine-toothed muckrake. 盡情打死 takes 盡 as jìn, "to the full." The pilgrims kill every animal in the cave, and the novel does not pause over it.
The master came out through the door and asked, "How did the two of you take the fiend? And by what means was I saved at last?"
Three occurrences of 得 in two readings, needing a positional fixspec: 出得門來 is the resultative de, while 捉得 and 救得 are the attainment dé. Sanzang, freshly untied, asks how it was done.
The Pilgrim laid out for him the whole matter of begging Lingji to come and subdue the demon. The master thanked him beyond all thanking.
將 is the disposal marker jiāng; 降妖 takes xiáng. 謝之不盡: because 盡 is raised to jìn (fourth tone) by the global rule, the preceding 不 must take bú — the sole sandhi override of this chapter's final movement.
The brothers gathered up such fasting food as was in the cave, prepared a little tea and rice and ate it, and only then went out through the gate and found the highroad, and went away to the west.
洞中素物: 中 is locative zhōng. They eat the dead fiend's fasting food in the dead fiend's cave, and go.
In the end there is no knowing what came after; you must listen to the next chapter, and it will be explained.
畢竟不知向後如何，且聽下回分解 — the storyteller's closing formula, unchanged in every chapter of this book. 分 reads fēn.
The chapter's last revelation is its smallest. The Great King of Yellow Wind, whose breath scattered five hundred arhats and rolled up Guanyin's sutra, is a rat who stole lamp-oil from before the Buddha and ran away before the vajra-guardians could arrest him. Lingji is not his conqueror but his parole officer; the wind is not a demonic power but an escaped one; and the reason the fiend never dared eat Sanzang is that he was already under sentence and knew what a second offence would cost.
Then, in eleven graphs, the pilgrims kill everything in the cave — 一窩狡兔、妖狐、香獐、角鹿, hares and foxes and deer, none of whom is accused of anything — eat the food they find there, and walk out onto the road. The novel offers no judgement, and the juxtaposition with Lingji's careful legal scruple (明正其罪, the offence must be declared and pronounced upon) is left standing exactly as it falls. Chapter 21 ends as it began: with a report, an accounting, and a company on the move.