八戒下水 Bajie Takes to the Water
八戒道：「老豬當年總督天河，掌管了八萬水兵大眾，倒學得知些水性。卻只怕那水裡有甚麼眷族老小，七窩八代的都來，我就弄他不過，一時不被他撈去耶？」行者道：「你若到他水中與他交戰，卻不要戀戰，許敗不許勝，把他引將出來，等老孫下手助你。」八戒道：「言得是，我去耶。」說聲去，就剝了青錦直裰，脫了鞋，雙手舞鈀，分開水路，使出那當年舊手段，躍浪翻波，撞將進去，徑至水底之下，往前正走。八戒道：「老猪当年总督天河，掌管了八万水兵大众，倒学得知些水性。却只怕那水里有甚么眷族老小，七窝八代的都来，我就弄他不过，一时不被他捞去耶？」行者道：「你若到他水中与他交战，却不要恋战，许败不许胜，把他引将出来，等老孙下手助你。」八戒道：「言得是，我去耶。」说声去，就剥了青锦直裰，脱了鞋，双手舞钯，分开水路，使出那当年旧手段，跃浪翻波，撞将进去，径至水底之下，往前正走。
逐句解 Line by line
Bajie said: 'In my day old Hog was Grand Marshal of the Heavenly River, with command over eighty thousand marine troops, and so I did pick up some knowledge of the water.'
總督天河 recalls Bajie's former rank as 天蓬元帥, commander of the celestial waters; 八萬水兵 ('eighty thousand water-soldiers'). 學得知些水性 ('did learn some of the water's ways'; 得 de) — his old office makes him the fit champion for a water-fight.
'My only fear is that down in the water he may have kinsfolk, young and old — the whole brood of seven nests and eight generations coming at once,
那水裡 ('down in the water'; 那 nà). 七窩八代 ('seven nests and eight generations') is a vernacular hyperbole for a swarming clan; 甚麼眷族 ('kinsfolk of some sort'; 甚 shén) and 都來 ('all come'; 都 dōu) voice Bajie's comic caution.
'and then I'd be no match for him — might I not, for once, be dragged off by him?'
弄他不過 ('cannot get the better of him') and 不被他撈去 ('lest I be fished away by him'; both 不 in their bú sandhi before falling tones) — Bajie hedges his boast with a worrier's caveat, in character.
The Pilgrim said: 'When you get down into the water and close with him, don't get drawn into a long fight — you may lose, but you mustn't win;
水中 ('in the water'; 中 zhōng). 不要戀戰 ('do not cling to the fight') and the paradox 許敗不許勝 ('you are allowed to lose, not to win') set out the ruse: Bajie is to feign defeat and draw the demon up onto land.
'lure him out, and wait for old Sun to lend a hand.'
引將出來 ('draw him out'; 將 jiāng, the directional-complement particle). The plan gives the water to Bajie and the land to the monkey — a division that will, in the event, still fail, for the demon proves too wary to be lured ashore.
Bajie said: 'Rightly spoken — I'll go.'
言得是 ('what you say is right'; 得 de) — Bajie's brisk assent turns talk to action.
With a word he was off: he stripped off his blue brocade cassock, kicked off his shoes, brandished his rake in both hands, and parted a path through the water,
青錦直裰 ('blue brocade monk's robe') and the swift sequence of stripping, arming and 分開水路 ('opening a way through the water') mark Bajie reverting to his old martial, aquatic self.
and calling up the old skills of former days, he leapt the billows and churned the waves, plunged straight in, went down to the very bed of the river, and pressed forward.
那當年舊手段 ('those old skills of years gone by'; 那 nà). 撞將進去 ('drove his way in'; 將 jiāng) — the passage closes on Bajie descending in his element, setting up the second, submarine duel.
Bajie's turn comes into focus here, and with it the logic of his place in the company. As the former Grand Marshal of the Heavenly River, commander of eighty thousand marine troops, he alone among the pilgrims is at home in the water — the very qualification the monkey has just disclaimed. His willingness is hedged, characteristically, with a fret about the demon's possible kinfolk swarming out of 'seven nests and eight generations,' the comic timidity that shades all his courage.
The monkey's instructions turn the coming fight into a stratagem rather than a trial of strength: Bajie is to feign defeat and draw the demon up onto the land, where the monkey can strike. The paradoxical order — 許敗不許勝 ('you may lose, but not win') — is a neat piece of tactics, and the passage ends with Bajie shedding his robe, seizing his rake, and plunging to the river-bed. The scene is engineered to deliver a second duel underwater; that the ruse will nonetheless fail, because the demon refuses the bait, is the frustration the following passages develop.