師徒問答 Master and Disciples
那師父正按轡徐觀，又見悟空兄弟方到。悟淨道：「師父不曾跌下馬來麼？」長老罵道：「悟空這潑猴，他把馬兒驚了，早是我還騎得住哩。」行者陪笑道：「師父莫罵我，都是豬八戒說馬行遲，故此著他快些。」那獃子因趕馬，走急了些兒，喘氣噓噓，口裡唧唧噥噥的鬧道：「罷了，罷了，見自肚，別腰鬆。擔子沉重，挑不上來，又弄我奔奔波波的趕馬。」長老道：「徒弟啊，你且看那壁廂有一座莊院，我們卻好借宿去也。」行者聞言，急擡頭舉目而看，果見那半空中慶雲籠罩，瑞靄遮盈，情知定是佛仙點化，他卻不敢泄漏天機，只道：「好好好，我們借宿去來。」那师父正按辔徐观，又见悟空兄弟方到。悟净道：「师父不曾跌下马来么？」长老骂道：「悟空这泼猴，他把马儿惊了，早是我还骑得住哩。」行者陪笑道：「师父莫骂我，都是猪八戒说马行迟，故此著他快些。」那呆子因赶马，走急了些儿，喘气嘘嘘，口里唧唧哝哝的闹道：「罢了，罢了，见自肚，别腰松。担子沉重，挑不上来，又弄我奔奔波波的赶马。」长老道：「徒弟啊，你且看那壁厢有一座庄院，我们却好借宿去也。」行者闻言，急擡头举目而看，果见那半空中庆云笼罩，瑞霭遮盈，情知定是佛仙点化，他却不敢泄漏天机，只道：「好好好，我们借宿去来。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Master, just then reining in to gaze about him at leisure, saw that Wukong and his brothers had only now caught up.
按轡徐觀 “holding the reins, gazing unhurriedly.” 轡 (pèi) the bridle-reins; 方到 “had just arrived.”
Wujing said, “Master — you weren't thrown from the horse, were you?”
悟淨 is Wujing (Sha Monk). 不曾 “did not, had not” — 不 stays bù before the second-tone 曾. 跌下馬來 “to fall down off the horse.”
The elder scolded: “That wretch of an ape, Wukong — he spooked the horse! It was lucky I could still keep my seat.”
長老 reads zhǎng lǎo, “the elder” (Tripitaka). 潑猴 “unruly ape,” a favorite epithet. 還騎得住 — 還 (hái) “still,” with resultative de, “able to stay mounted.” 早是 “luckily, as it happened.”
Pilgrim, with an ingratiating smile, said, “Don't scold me, Master — it was all Zhu Bajie, saying the horse went too slow, so I had him quicken his pace.”
陪笑 “to smile placatingly.” 馬行遲 — 行 is the verb xíng, “the horse goes slow.” 故此著他快些 — 著 reads zhuó, the causative lexical verb “to have/make (someone) do,” the first such use in the chapter. 都 (dōu) “entirely.”
The blockhead, from chasing the horse, had hurried a touch too hard; wheezing and puffing, he grumbled and muttered under his breath: “That's torn it, that's torn it — look, my belly hangs slack and my girdle's come loose.”
獃子 (dāizi) “the dolt,” the narrator's pet name for Bajie. 走急了些兒 “hurried a bit too much”; 唧唧噥噥 the onomatope of muttering; 罷了 “enough! / it's hopeless.” The clipped 見自肚，別腰鬆 is a deliberately garbled, breathless complaint about his sagging paunch and loosened waistband; the parsing is colloquial and uncertain.
“The load is heavy, I can't shoulder it up, and now you've set me racing back and forth after the horse besides!”
擔子 (dànzi) “the carrying-load,” the noun 擔 dàn — against the verb dān (“to carry”). 沉重 (zhòng) “heavy”; 挑不上來 “can't lift it up,” 不 bú before 上; 奔奔波波 “rushing to and fro, harried.”
The elder said, “Disciples — just look, over yonder there's a farmstead. We might well go and beg a night's lodging there.”
長老 zhǎng lǎo. 那壁廂 (nà bìxiāng) “over that way, yonder.” 一座莊院 “a manor, a farmstead”; 借宿 “to lodge for a night”; 卻好 “as it happens, conveniently.”
Pilgrim, hearing this, quickly lifted his head and looked: sure enough, high in the air auspicious clouds hung and gathered, propitious vapors veiled the sky. He knew at once it must be a conjuration of buddhas and immortals; yet, not daring to divulge the secret of Heaven, he only said, “Good, good, good — let's go and lodge there.”
慶雲 (qìngyún) and 瑞靄 (ruì'ǎi) “auspicious clouds, propitious haze” are the standard signs of a divine presence. 佛仙點化 — 佛 (fó) — “a transforming conjuration by buddhas and immortals”; 半空中, 中 zhōng. 泄漏天機 “to leak the secret workings of Heaven.” Wukong's discretion is the pivot into the trial.
The scene is pure ensemble comedy, each pilgrim in his own register: Wujing's solicitous question, Tripitaka's flustered scolding, Wukong's oily deflection of blame onto Bajie, and Bajie's own breathless, self-pitying grumble about his belly and his burden. The novel rarely misses a chance to stage its four principals as a bickering family, and the horse's bolt has furnished a fine occasion.
Beneath the comedy the passage does real structural work. Tripitaka's spotting of the farmstead motivates the pilgrims' approach, while Bajie's complaint — the load too heavy, the errands too many — plants the discontent that the widow's offer of ease and wealth will shortly exploit. His grievances here are the seedbed of the temptation to come.
The turn is Wukong's. Alone among the four he reads the auspicious clouds for what they are — 佛仙點化, a divine conjuration — and, crucially, chooses silence: 不敢泄漏天機, “not daring to divulge the secret of Heaven.” His discretion lets the test proceed unspoiled, and marks the gulf between the disciple who sees and the disciples who merely desire.