第二十一回 · 定風丹與飛龍寶杖 The Wind-Stilling Pill and the Flying-Dragon Staff — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

定風丹與飛龍寶杖 The Wind-Stilling Pill and the Flying-Dragon Staff

那nà菩pú薩sà整zhěng衣yī出chū迓yà，行xíng者zhě登dēng堂táng，坐zuò了le客kè位wèi，隨suí命mìng看kàn茶chá。行xíng者zhě道dào：「茶chá不bù勞láo賜cì，但dàn我wǒ師shī父fù在zài黃huáng風fēng山shān有yǒu難nàn，特tè請qǐng菩pú薩sà施shī大dà法fǎ力lì降xiáng怪guài救jiù師shī。」菩pú薩sà道dào：「我wǒ受shòu了le如rú來lái法fǎ令lìng，在zài此cǐ鎮zhèn押yā黃huáng風fēng怪guài。如rú來lái賜cì了le我wǒ一yì顆kē定dìng風fēng丹dān、一yì柄bǐng飛fēi龍lóng寶bǎo杖zhàng。當dāng時shí被bèi我wǒ拿ná住zhù，饒ráo了le他tā的de性xìng命mìng，放fàng他tā去qù隱yǐn性xìng歸guī山shān，不bù許xǔ傷shāng生shēng造zào孽niè。不bù知zhī他tā今jīn日rì欲yù害hài令lìng師shī，有yǒu違wéi教jiào令lìng，我wǒ之zhī罪zuì也yě。」那nà菩pú薩sà欲yù留liú行xíng者zhě，治zhì齋zhāi相xiāng敘xù，行xíng者zhě懇kěn辭cí，隨suí取qǔ了le飛fēi龍lóng杖zhàng，與yǔ大dà聖shèng一yì齊qí駕jià雲yún。那nà菩pú萨sà整zhěng衣yī出chū迓yà，行xíng者zhě登dēng堂táng，坐zuò了le客kè位wèi，随suí命mìng看kàn茶chá。行xíng者zhě道dào：「茶chá不bù劳láo赐cì，但dàn我wǒ师shī父fù在zài黄huáng风fēng山shān有yǒu难nàn，特tè请qǐng菩pú萨sà施shī大dà法fǎ力lì降xiáng怪guài救jiù师shī。」菩pú萨sà道dào：「我wǒ受shòu了le如rú来lái法fǎ令lìng，在zài此cǐ镇zhèn押yā黄huáng风fēng怪guài。如rú来lái赐cì了le我wǒ一yì颗kē定dìng风fēng丹dān、一yì柄bǐng飞fēi龙lóng宝bǎo杖zhàng。当dāng时shí被bèi我wǒ拿ná住zhù，饶ráo了le他tā的de性xìng命mìng，放fàng他tā去qù隐yǐn性xìng归guī山shān，不bù许xǔ伤shāng生shēng造zào孽niè。不bù知zhī他tā今jīn日rì欲yù害hài令lìng师shī，有yǒu违wéi教jiào令lìng，我wǒ之zhī罪zuì也yě。」那nà菩pú萨sà欲yù留liú行xíng者zhě，治zhì斋zhāi相xiāng叙xù，行xíng者zhě恳kěn辞cí，随suí取qǔ了le飞fēi龙lóng杖zhàng，与yǔ大dà圣shèng一yì齐qí驾jià云yún。

逐句解 Line by line

那nà菩pú薩sà整zhěng衣yī出chū迓yà，行xíng者zhě登dēng堂táng，坐zuò了le客kè位wèi，隨suí命mìng看kàn茶chá。那nà菩pú萨sà整zhěng衣yī出chū迓yà，行xíng者zhě登dēng堂táng，坐zuò了le客kè位wèi，随suí命mìng看kàn茶chá。

The Bodhisattva straightened his robe and came out to receive him. The Pilgrim went up into the hall, took the guest's seat, and tea was ordered.

迓 (yà) is a literary word for going out to receive a guest. Lingji does every single thing correctly, and the correctness is the point: the Pilgrim is being received as an equal, in a hall he has never visited, by someone who owes him nothing.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「茶chá不bù勞láo賜cì，但dàn我wǒ師shī父fù在zài黃huáng風fēng山shān有yǒu難nàn，特tè請qǐng菩pú薩sà施shī大dà法fǎ力lì降xiáng怪guài救jiù師shī。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「茶chá不bù劳láo赐cì，但dàn我wǒ师shī父fù在zài黄huáng风fēng山shān有yǒu难nàn，特tè请qǐng菩pú萨sà施shī大dà法fǎ力lì降xiáng怪guài救jiù师shī。」

Said the Pilgrim, "Do not trouble to offer tea. My master is in distress on the Mountain of Yellow Wind, and I have come to beg the Bodhisattva to put out his great dharma-power, subdue the fiend, and save him."

茶不勞賜, "do not trouble to bestow tea" — a polite refusal, and the first of four things he will decline in this passage. 有難 takes 難 as nàn, "calamity," not the nán of "difficult." 降怪 takes 降 as xiáng.

菩pú薩sà道dào：「我wǒ受shòu了le如rú來lái法fǎ令lìng，在zài此cǐ鎮zhèn押yā黃huáng風fēng怪guài。如rú來lái賜cì了le我wǒ一yì顆kē定dìng風fēng丹dān、一yì柄bǐng飛fēi龍lóng寶bǎo杖zhàng。菩pú萨sà道dào：「我wǒ受shòu了le如rú来lái法fǎ令lìng，在zài此cǐ镇zhèn押yā黄huáng风fēng怪guài。如rú来lái赐cì了le我wǒ一yì颗kē定dìng风fēng丹dān、一yì柄bǐng飞fēi龙lóng宝bǎo杖zhàng。

Said the Bodhisattva, "I received the Tathāgata's decree to hold down the Yellow Wind Fiend in this place, and the Tathāgata bestowed on me a Wind-Stilling Pill and a Flying-Dragon precious staff.

This is where the chapter turns over. 如來法令 is the Tathāgata's decree, and 鎮押 is warden's language — to hold a prisoner down, to keep him under guard. Lingji is not a hermit meditating on a mountain. He is an officer with a prisoner and a warrant, and the pill and the staff he was issued are the tools of that office.

當dāng時shí被bèi我wǒ拿ná住zhù，饒ráo了le他tā的de性xìng命mìng，放fàng他tā去qù隱yǐn性xìng歸guī山shān，不bù許xǔ傷shāng生shēng造zào孽niè。当dāng时shí被bèi我wǒ拿ná住zhù，饶ráo了le他tā的de性xìng命mìng，放fàng他tā去qù隐yǐn性xìng归guī山shān，不bù许xǔ伤shāng生shēng造zào孽niè。

At that time I took him, and spared his life, and let him go to hide his nature and return to the mountain, upon condition that he should do no killing and work no sin.

當時 takes dāng. 隱性歸山, to hide his nature and go back into the mountain, describes a parole rather than a pardon; 不許傷生造孽 — no killing, no working of sin — were the conditions attached to it. And this is the first the reader hears that the Yellow Wind Fiend had ever been caught before.

不bù知zhī他tā今jīn日rì欲yù害hài令lìng師shī，有yǒu違wéi教jiào令lìng，我wǒ之zhī罪zuì也yě。」不bù知zhī他tā今jīn日rì欲yù害hài令lìng师shī，有yǒu违wéi教jiào令lìng，我wǒ之zhī罪zuì也yě。」

I did not know that today he means to injure your master. He has broken the terms of the decree, and the fault is mine."

有違教令: 教 is jiào. Then 我之罪也, in the literary 也 — a bodhisattva accepting personal fault for a prisoner's escape. He does not argue the point and he does not delegate it. He goes.

那nà菩pú薩sà欲yù留liú行xíng者zhě，治zhì齋zhāi相xiāng敘xù，行xíng者zhě懇kěn辭cí，隨suí取qǔ了le飛fēi龍lóng杖zhàng，與yǔ大dà聖shèng一yì齊qí駕jià雲yún。那nà菩pú萨sà欲yù留liú行xíng者zhě，治zhì斋zhāi相xiāng叙xù，行xíng者zhě恳kěn辞cí，随suí取qǔ了le飞fēi龙lóng杖zhàng，与yǔ大dà圣shèng一yì齐qí驾jià云yún。

The Bodhisattva would have kept the Pilgrim, and set out a fast for him, and talked with him; but the Pilgrim earnestly declined, and taking up the Flying-Dragon Staff, he mounted the clouds with the Great Sage together.

治齋相敘 takes 相 as xiāng. 懇辭 is to decline earnestly. Count what he turns down: the tea, the meal, the conversation. What he takes is the staff.

總評 Commentary

Lingji's speech reorganises the whole chapter backwards. The Great King of Yellow Wind is not a wild demon who happened to settle on a ridge. He is a prisoner on licence — taken once already by this same bodhisattva, spared, and released on terms: 隱性歸山，不許傷生造孽. The wind that unmade the entire Chinese pantheon earlier in this chapter belongs to a creature who was told to keep his head down and be quiet, and who had been quiet for as long as nobody came past.

And then Lingji says the fault is his own. 有違教令，我之罪也 — the terms of the decree were broken, and the responsibility sits with the warden rather than the prisoner. Nothing in the chapter's comedy prepares a reader for that sentence. The Pilgrim declines the tea, declines the fast, declines the conversation, and the two of them go up onto the cloud.