The woman said with a laugh, “A pity, a pity.”

那婦人 nà. 可憐 “what a shame,” the widow's mock-commiseration at the monks' austerity — the opening of a fresh line of attack.

“What good is there in leaving the household life?”

出家人有何好處 “what advantage has the monk?” The widow shifts from offering wealth to disparaging the religious life itself.

Tripitaka said, “Lady bodhisattva — and you who remain in the household, what good is there in that?”

三藏 zàng. 女菩薩 “lady bodhisattva,” a courteous address. 在家人 “one who remains in the household (a layperson)” — the term set against 出家人. Tripitaka at last answers, turning the question back.

The woman said, “Elder, pray be seated, and let me tell you the good of the householder's life.”

那婦人 nà; 長老 zhǎng lǎo. 說與你聽 “to tell it for you to hear” — the lead-in to her recited poem. The quotation opened here stays open through the verse that follows.

“How is this to be shown?”

怎見得 “how can it be seen (proved)?” — 得 structural de; the storyteller's rhetorical hinge before a citation of verse.

“There is a poem to prove it.”

有詩為證 “there is a poem as proof,” the ubiquitous formula introducing an embedded verse; here 為 reads wéi (“to serve as”). The poem it ushers in is spoken by the widow, and so runs on within her quotation.

The poem says:

詩曰 “the poem says” — the immediate tag before the verse. It closes the prose lead-in; the four couplets that follow carry the verse, and the widow's closing 」 rides the final line.

In spring she cuts fāngshèng ornaments and dons fresh gauze-silk; / in summer changes to light silk and delights in the green lotus;

方勝 (fāngshèng) a lozenge-shaped auspicious ornament of paired diamonds; 新羅 here a fine gauze-silk. 著新羅 “wear the new silk,” 著 the lexical zhuó (“to wear”). 綠荷 “green lotus.” The couplet begins the round of the seasons' pleasures.

in autumn there is new-brewed fragrant glutinous wine; / and when winter comes, in a warm chamber the flushed face grows drunk.

新蒭 “freshly-brewed (ale),” 蒭 chú (here a variant for new liquor). 糯酒 “glutinous-rice wine.” 暖閣 “a heated inner room”; 醉顏酡 “the wine-flushed countenance.”

In the four seasons every kind of enjoyment is at hand; / at the eight festivals each rare delicacy abounds.

四時受用 “enjoyments through the four seasons”; 般般有 “every sort is to be had,” 般 bān. 八節 the eight seasonal nodes of the year; 珍饈 “rare viands.”

Brocade-lined and damask-spread, on the night of the flowered candles — / far better than trudging on foot to bow before Amitābha.

襯錦鋪綾 “lined with brocade, spread with damask”; 鋪 here the verb pū (“to spread”), against the noun pù. 花燭夜 “the night of the wedding candles.” 行腳 “to travel on foot” as a mendicant, 行 xíng; 禮彌陀 “to worship Amitābha.” The couplet's sly turn sets a wedding-night against a pilgrimage.