岸上商議暫歇 Counsel and a Pause
八戒卻同行者到高岸上，見了三藏。三藏欠身道：「徒弟辛苦呀。」八戒道：「且不說辛苦，只是降了妖精，送得你過河，方是萬全之策。」三藏道：「你才與妖精交戰何如？」八戒道：「那妖的手段，與老豬是個對手。正戰處，使一個詐敗，他才趕到岸上。見師兄舉著棍子，他就跑了。」三藏道：「如此怎生奈何？」行者道：「師父放心，且莫焦惱。如今天色又晚，且坐在這崖岸之上，待老孫去化些齋飯來，你吃了睡去，待明日再處。」八戒道：「說得是，你快去快來。」八戒却同行者到高岸上，见了三藏。三藏欠身道：「徒弟辛苦呀。」八戒道：「且不说辛苦，只是降了妖精，送得你过河，方是万全之策。」三藏道：「你才与妖精交战何如？」八戒道：「那妖的手段，与老猪是个对手。正战处，使一个诈败，他才赶到岸上。见师兄举著棍子，他就跑了。」三藏道：「如此怎生奈何？」行者道：「师父放心，且莫焦恼。如今天色又晚，且坐在这崖岸之上，待老孙去化些斋饭来，你吃了睡去，待明日再处。」八戒道：「说得是，你快去快来。」
逐句解 Line by line
Bajie, together with the Pilgrim, came up onto the high bank and saw the Tang Monk.
同行者 ('together with the Pilgrim'; here 行 is xíng, 行者 being the monkey's title — not 同行 tóngháng, 'of one trade'). 三藏 (三 zàng).
Sanzang rose a little and said: 'You have had a hard time of it, disciples.' Bajie said:
欠身 ('to half-rise in courtesy') is the master's gesture of thanks; his 辛苦 ('you've toiled hard') is the set phrase of solicitude.
'Never mind the toil — only when we've subdued the monster and got you across the river will the plan be truly safe and sound.'
降了妖精 ('subdued the monster'; 降 xiáng) and 送得你過河 ('ferried you across'; 得 de) — Bajie keeps the goal in view: the fight matters only as the means to the crossing.
Sanzang asked: 'How did your fight with the monster go just now?' Bajie said:
交戰何如 ('how went the joining of battle?') — the master's question draws out Bajie's account of the stalemate.
'That fiend's skill makes him a fair match for old Hog. At the very height of the fight I feigned a defeat,
是個對手 ('is a match, an equal') — Bajie grants the demon his due; 詐敗 ('a sham rout'; 那 nà) recalls the ruse.
'and he came chasing up onto the bank. But seeing elder brother raise his cudgel, off he ran.'
舉著棍子 ('raising the cudgel'; 著 zhe, durative). Bajie lays the failure squarely on the monkey's premature stroke, as the previous scene showed.
Sanzang said: 'Then what is to be done?' The Pilgrim said: 'Set your mind at ease, Master, and don't fret.'
怎生奈何 ('however is it to be helped?') voices the master's habitual dismay; the monkey's 放心 ('be at ease') is his reassurance, though he has as yet no remedy.
'It's growing late now; sit here on the bank a while, and wait for old Sun to go and beg some vegetarian fare,
化些齋飯 ('to beg some monastic food') — the monkey turns to the day's practical needs, deferring the problem of the crossing to the morrow.
'then you'll eat and sleep, and we'll deal with it again tomorrow.'
待明日再處 ('handle it again tomorrow') — the crossing is postponed, a pause that sets up the next day's fruitless argument and the eventual appeal to Guanyin.
Bajie said: 'Well said — go quickly and come back quickly.'
說得是 ('what you say is right'; 得 de) and the eager 快去快來 ('go fast, come fast') — Bajie, ever hungry, hurries the monkey off to fetch the food.
The scene returns the pilgrims to counsel on the bank, and its quiet interest is in how each disciple frames the failure. Bajie, reporting to Sanzang, is scrupulously fair to the demon — 'a match for old Hog' — and lays the blame for the botched capture squarely on the monkey's raised cudgel, as the reader has seen him do. The exchange keeps the goal steady: the fight is nothing except as the means to get the master across.
The Great Sage, for once, has no stratagem. His answer to the master's 怎生奈何 ('what is to be done?') is only reassurance and a turn to the day's needs — food, sleep, and the problem deferred to the morrow. This unwonted emptiness is telling: the pilgrims have exhausted their own devices against a foe who cannot be beaten on land or reached in the water, and the pause on the bank marks the point at which the chapter must look beyond them for its solution.