尋救八戒 Bajie Found Bound
那長老、行者、沙僧正然唱念此頌，只聽得林深處高聲叫道：「師父啊，繃殺我了，救我一救，下次再不敢了。」三藏道：「悟空，那叫喚的可是悟能麼？」沙僧道：「正是。」行者道：「兄弟，莫睬他，我們去罷。」三藏道：「那獃子雖是心性愚頑，卻只是一味懞直，倒也有些膂力，挑得行李。還看當日菩薩之念，救他隨我們去罷，料他以後再不敢了。」那沙和尚卻捲起鋪蓋，收拾了擔子；孫大聖解韁牽馬，引唐僧入林尋看。咦！這正是：那长老、行者、沙僧正然唱念此颂，只听得林深处高声叫道：「师父啊，绷杀我了，救我一救，下次再不敢了。」三藏道：「悟空，那叫唤的可是悟能么？」沙僧道：「正是。」行者道：「兄弟，莫睬他，我们去罢。」三藏道：「那呆子虽是心性愚顽，却只是一味蒙直，倒也有些膂力，挑得行李。还看当日菩萨之念，救他随我们去罢，料他以后再不敢了。」那沙和尚却卷起铺盖，收拾了担子；孙大圣解缰牵马，引唐僧入林寻看。咦！这正是：
逐句解 Line by line
As the elder, Pilgrim, and Sha Monk were chanting over this gatha, they heard from deep in the grove a loud voice crying, “Master! I'm bound to death — save me, save me; I'll never dare again.”
正然唱念此頌 “just then reciting this gatha” (那長老 那 nà, 長 zhǎng; 行者 行 xíng). 只聽得 “heard only,” 得 de. 繃殺我了 “bound to death,” 救我一救 “save me, do save me.” Bajie's trussed lament reaches them from the trees.
Tripitaka said, “Wukong, is that one calling out Wuneng?”
那叫喚的 “that one shouting,” 那 nà (三藏, 藏 zàng). Tripitaka recognizes Bajie's voice.
Sha Monk said, “The very one.”
正是 “exactly so” — Sha Monk confirms it is Bajie.
Pilgrim said, “Brother, pay him no mind — let's be off.”
莫睬他 “take no notice of him” (行者, 行 xíng). Wukong's characteristic impulse to leave Bajie to stew in his folly.
Tripitaka said, “That blockhead, foolish and stubborn though he is, is yet honest through and through, and has some strength besides — he can shoulder the loads.”
那獃子 那 nà (子 zi; 三藏 藏 zàng). 一味懞直 “simple and straightforward all through,” 一 yí. 挑得行李 “can carry the baggage,” 得 the potential de, 行 xíng. Tripitaka weighs Bajie's failings against his uses.
“And in view of the bodhisattvas' kindness that day, let us save him and let him follow along; surely he won't dare so again.”
還看當日菩薩之念 “still regarding the bodhisattvas' intent of that former day,” 還 hái; here 當日 reads dāng (“that day, at that time”), the temporal sense — the sole such reading in the chapter, every other 當 being dàng. Tripitaka's mercy prevails.
So Sha Monk rolled up the bedding and gathered the loads; the Great Sage loosed the reins and led the horse, guiding the Tang Monk into the grove to search.
捲起鋪蓋 “rolled up the bedroll,” 鋪 pū (鋪蓋, “bedding”); 收拾了擔子 “packed up the carrying-loads,” 擔 dàn (the noun “load”), 子 zi (那 nà). 解韁牽馬 “undid the tether and led the horse.” The pilgrims break camp to rescue Bajie.
Ah!
The storyteller's 咦, drawing the ear toward the closing couplet.
This is just what is meant by:
這正是 “this is precisely,” the formula ushering in the chapter's closing verse.
In following the true path, cultivate with care; / sweep away lust and desire, and of itself the self returns to truth.
從正修持須謹慎 “in pursuing right cultivation one must be circumspect,” 從 cóng, 正 zhèng. 掃除愛慾自歸真 “sweep away craving and desire, and the true nature returns of itself” — the moral seal of the 四聖試禪心 episode.
The pilgrims' recitation is interrupted by Bajie's cry from the depths of the grove — bound to death, begging rescue, swearing he will never dare again. Tripitaka recognizes the voice and Sha Monk confirms it, while Wukong, true to form, would sooner leave him trussed and be on their way.
Tripitaka's judgment is the moral center of the passage. He weighs Bajie honestly: foolish and stubborn, yes, but honest through and through, and strong enough to carry the loads. Above all he invokes “the bodhisattvas' kindness that day” — the mercy that framed the whole trial — and resolves to free him. Compassion, not contempt, decides the matter, and the pilgrims break camp to search him out.
The chapter closes on its moral in a couplet: in true cultivation one must be circumspect, and only by sweeping away craving and desire does the true nature return of itself. It is the lesson of the whole 四聖試禪心 episode distilled — that the road to enlightenment is guarded on every side by temptations that are also tests, and that the discipline of desire is the pilgrim's first and constant task.