Canonical Classics ← 第二十三回
第二十三回
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Tripitaka Does Not Forget His Origin · The Four Saints Test the Meditative Heart

八戒心動
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原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

八戒心動 Bajie's Heart Itches

jièwénzhèbānguìzhèbānměiquèxīnyǎngnánnáozuòzàizishàngzhēnchuōzuǒniǔyòuniǔderěnnàizhùzǒushàngqiánchěleshīdào:「shīzhèniángzigàosònghuàzěnmeyángyángcǎihǎodàozuòhuìshì。」shīměngtáitóuduōdeshēng退tuìlejièdào:「zhènièchùmenshìchūjiārénguìdòngxīnměiliúchéngdeshénmedào。」jièwénzhèbānguìzhèbānměiquèxīnyǎngnánnáozuòzàizishàngzhēnchuōzuǒniǔyòuniǔderěnnàizhùzǒushàngqiánchěleshīdào:「shīzhèniángzigàosònghuàzěnmeyángyángcǎihǎodàozuòhuìshì。」shīměngtáitóuduōdeshēng退tuìlejièdào:「zhènièchùmenshìchūjiārénguìdòngxīnměiliúchéngdeshénmedào。」


逐句解 Line by line

jièwénzhèbānguìzhèbānměiquèxīnyǎngnánnáozuòzàizishàngzhēnchuōzuǒniǔyòuniǔderěnnàizhù jièwénzhèbānguìzhèbānměiquèxīnyǎngnánnáozuòzàizishàngzhēnchuōzuǒniǔyòuniǔderěnnàizhù

Now Bajie, hearing of such wealth and such beauty, felt an itch he could not scratch; seated on that chair, he was as if a needle jabbed his backside, squirming left and right, unable to hold still.

Bajie's body gives him away before his mouth does. 聞得 takes the light de. 心癢難撓, the heart itches past scratching, is still exactly what Chinese says of somebody consumed by wanting a thing — and here it is being applied to a man squirming on a chair as if somebody has put a needle through it. 那椅子 and 一似, just like, take as the light suffix zi and as .

zǒushàngqiánchěleshīdào:「shīzhèniángzigàosònghuàzěnmeyángyángcǎi zǒushàngqiánchěleshīdào:「shīzhèniángzigàosònghuàzěnmeyángyángcǎi

He stepped forward, gave the Master a tug, and said, "Master — this good lady is telling you her mind; why do you keep pretending not to hear?"

扯了師父一把, gave the master a tug — physical, undignified, and entirely in character. 這娘子 ( the light suffix zi) is this madam; 告誦 stands for 告訴, to tell; 佯佯不睬 is to make a show of not noticing. Bajie says out loud the thing everyone else in the room is working hard not to say.

hǎodàozuòhuìshì。」 hǎodàozuòhuìshì。」

"Surely you ought at least to give her some answer."

好道 is surely, one would think; 做個理會 is to give some acknowledgment. He is arguing for good manners. He wants the conversation kept alive.

shīměngtáitóuduōdeshēng退tuìlejièdào:「zhènièchù shīměngtáitóuduōdeshēng退tuìlejièdào:「zhènièchù

The Master jerked up his head, gave a sharp "Tut!", and rebuffed Bajie with a shout: "You accursed beast!"

咄的一聲 is a sharp bark of a syllable, the noise you make to stop a dog; 喝退 is to drive somebody back with a shout. 孽畜, sinful creature or accursed beast, is what Tripitaka reaches for when Bajie has genuinely angered him.

menshìchūjiārénguìdòngxīnměiliúchéngdeshénmedào。」 menshìchūjiārénguìdòngxīnměiliúchéngdeshénmedào。」

"We are men who have left the household life. How should wealth and rank move our hearts, or fair looks hold our thoughts? What sort of principle would that amount to?"

出家人, those who have left the household. 豈以動心 is how should such a thing stir the heart. 成得個甚麼道理 — with the structural (de) and 甚麼 as shén me — is what principle could that possibly add up to.


總評 Commentary

This is where the chapter turns from silence to speech, and Bajie is the one who breaks it. Tripitaka has met every word with feigned deafness; the Pig's appetite writes itself on his body instead — the itch that cannot be scratched, the squirming as though the chair had a needle in it — until he cannot hold it any longer and gets up to speak.

The comedy is in the reversal of who is being proper. Bajie's stated complaint is on the master's behalf, since surely courtesy requires some answer; his actual motive is transparent, and his plea that Tripitaka give the lady a reply is really a plea to keep the tempting conversation going a little longer.

Tripitaka's rebuke — the head snapping up, the barked syllable, the cry of accursed beast — restates the monastic principle with sudden heat: those who have left the household are exactly the people whom riches cannot move and beauty cannot hold. The confrontation crystallises the chapter's design, master against disciple, with the temptation sitting on the table between them.