The Bodhisattva asked: 'Why are you not guarding the Tang Monk? On what business have you come to see me again?'

為甚事 ('for what matter'; 為 wèi, 甚 shén, = 什麼). The Bodhisattva's opening question presumes the monkey has abandoned his charge — a gentle rebuke he must answer.

The Pilgrim reported: 'Bodhisattva, at Old Gao's Manor my master took on another disciple, called Zhu Bajie,

高老莊 ('Old Gao's Manor') is where Bajie was won, in the preceding chapters; the monkey rehearses the company's recent history to frame his plea.

'and by your grace, Bodhisattva, he was given the religious name Wuneng. We have just passed Yellow Wind Ridge, and now we have reached the eight-hundred-li River of Flowing Sands,

法諱悟能 ('the dharma-name Wuneng, "Awakened to Power"') was Guanyin's own gift to Bajie; 行 xíng. The monkey's account keeps crediting her with each step.

'which is three thousand of Weak Water — already too hard for the master to cross; and in the river there is besides a monster,

弱水三千 ('three thousand [li] of Weak Water'; 難 nán, 中 zhōng) — the barrier itself, compounded by the demon that holds it.

'mighty in the martial arts; it was much thanks to Wuneng that we fought him three times on the water's face,

甚虧了 ('much owing to'; 甚 shèn, 'greatly,' and 了 le, the aspect particle — not a fixed compound). Bajie is credited with the three duels.

'only we could not win, and being barred by him, we cannot cross the river.'

不能取勝 ('unable to gain the victory') and 攔阻 ('to block, obstruct') — the monkey states the impasse that has driven him to her.

'And so I come expressly to inform you, Bodhisattva, hoping you will show compassion and help us across.'

望垂憐憫 ('hoping you will bend down your pity') and 濟渡他一濟渡 ('deliver us, do deliver us across') — the formal petition, in the language of a supplicant before a deity.

The Bodhisattva said: 'You monkey, showing off your conceit again — you wouldn't come out and say you were guarding the Tang Monk, would you?'

逞自滿 ('to parade one's self-satisfaction'; 子 zi) — Guanyin, who knows the demon's nature, teases the monkey for having fought where a word would have served.

The Pilgrim said: 'We only meant to take him and make him ferry my master across. As for doings in the water, I'm not too deft at them.'

弄不得精細 ('cannot manage it finely'; 得 de, 教 jiào) — the monkey again owns his one weakness, the water, which is why the plan miscarried.

'It was only Wuneng who found his lair and had words with him; I suppose he never told him about the scripture-quest.'

尋著他窩巢 ('found out his den'; 著 zháo, the resultative) — the monkey unwittingly names the very oversight the Bodhisattva is about to correct: the demon was never told whom he faced.

The Bodhisattva said: 'That monster of the Flowing Sands is the Curtain-Raising General come down to the mortal world,

捲簾大將臨凡 ('the Curtain-Raising Grand General descended to earth'; 那 nà, 將 jiàng) — the revelation the reader has been prepared for since the demon's own song: he is a fallen celestial officer.

'and he too is a convert I won over, whom I bade await and protect the scripture-pilgrims.'

我勸化的善信 ('a devout convert I exhorted'; 教 jiào) — the demon is not a chance obstacle but Guanyin's own disciple-in-waiting, appointed to this very meeting.

'If you had only been willing to say you were the scripture-seekers from the Eastern Land, he would never have fought you, but would surely have submitted.'

東土取經人 ('the scripture-seekers of the Eastern Land') is the password, as it were, that would have ended the fight at once; the whole three-day battle was a failure of disclosure.

The Pilgrim said: 'That monster now shrinks from fighting, won't come up on the bank, but only lurks hidden in the water —

怯戰 ('shy of battle') and 潛蹤 ('to hide one's traces'; 那 nà) — the monkey raises the practical difficulty: the demon can no longer even be reached to be told.

'how are we to get him to submit? And how is my master to cross the Weak Water?'

如何得他歸順 ('how to obtain his submission'; 得 de twice) — the double question that prompts the Bodhisattva to send her own agent with the means.

The Bodhisattva at once summoned Hui'an, took from her sleeve a little red gourd, and instructed him: 'Take this gourd,

惠岸 (Hui'an, the religious name of Mokṣa, Guanyin's disciple) and the 紅葫蘆 ('red gourd'; 中 zhōng, 將 jiāng) — the instrument of the crossing, whose use she now explains.

'go with Sun Wukong to the surface of the River of Flowing Sands, and just call "Wujing" — he will come out at once. First bring him to take refuge with the Tang Monk;

悟淨 ('Awakened to Purity') is the demon's religious name, already assigned — calling it will summon him. 歸依 ('to take refuge, be ordained') is the first step: his conversion.

'then string his nine skulls together in one place, set them out in the pattern of the Nine Palaces, and put this gourd in the middle —

九個骷髏 ('nine skulls'; 那 nà) and 九宮佈列 ('arrayed in the Nine Palaces,' the magic-square pattern; 中 zhōng) — the skulls that hung at the demon's throat now find their purpose.

'and it becomes a dharma-boat, able to ferry the Tang Monk across the bounds of the Flowing Sands.'

法船 ('dharma-boat') — the crossing is to be made not by force but by a sacred vessel assembled from the demon's own relics, the barrier undone by the very thing that guarded it.