夢醒松林 The Vanished Mansion
卻說三藏、行者、沙僧一覺睡醒，不覺的東方發白。忽睜睛擡頭觀看，那裡得那大廈高堂，也不是雕梁畫棟，一個個都睡在松柏林中。慌得那長老忙呼行者。沙僧道：「哥哥，罷了，罷了，我們遇著鬼了。」孫大聖心中明白，微微的笑道：「怎麼說？」長老道：「你看我們睡在那裡耶？」行者道：「這松林下落得快活。但不知那獃子在那裡受罪哩。」長老道：「那個受罪？」行者笑道：「昨日這家子娘女們，不知是那裡菩薩，在此顯化我等，想是半夜裡去了，只苦了豬八戒受罪。」却说三藏、行者、沙僧一觉睡醒，不觉的东方发白。忽睁睛擡头观看，那里得那大厦高堂，也不是雕梁画栋，一个个都睡在松柏林中。慌得那长老忙呼行者。沙僧道：「哥哥，罢了，罢了，我们遇著鬼了。」孙大圣心中明白，微微的笑道：「怎么说？」长老道：「你看我们睡在那里耶？」行者道：「这松林下落得快活。但不知那呆子在那里受罪哩。」长老道：「那个受罪？」行者笑道：「昨日这家子娘女们，不知是那里菩萨，在此显化我等，想是半夜里去了，只苦了猪八戒受罪。」
逐句解 Line by line
Now Tripitaka, Pilgrim Sun, and Sha Monk woke from a night's sleep, and before they knew it the east was growing pale.
一覺睡醒 “woke from a (single) sleep,” 覺 here jiào (a spell of sleep), before which 一 takes the rising yí; 不覺 “without noticing,” 覺 the other reading jué — the two senses set side by side. 東方發白 “the east turned white,” daybreak. (三藏, 藏 zàng.)
Suddenly opening their eyes and raising their heads to look — where was that great mansion and lofty hall? nor any carved beams and painted rafters; one and all, they lay asleep in a grove of pine and cypress.
那裡得那大廈 “where would there be that great house,” the first 那 the interrogative nǎ (“where”), the second the demonstrative nà (“that”), with 得 dé (“to have, come by”). 松柏林中 “in the pine-and-cypress grove,” 中 zhōng (都 dōu). The mansion has utterly vanished with the dark.
So alarmed was the elder that he hastily called for Pilgrim.
慌得 “alarmed until,” 得 the resultative de; 那長老 那 nà, 長 zhǎng (行者, 行 xíng).
Sha Monk said, “Brother — it's all over, all over; we've run into ghosts.”
罷了，罷了 “done for, done for.” 遇著鬼 “met with ghosts,” 著 the resultative zháo (encounter attained). Sha Monk's startled misreading of the vanished house.
The Great Sage Sun, clear in his heart, smiled faintly and said, “What do you mean?”
心中明白 “clear within,” 中 zhōng — Wukong alone grasps what has happened; his faint smile is knowing, not puzzled.
The elder said, “Look — where are we sleeping?”
睡在那裡 “sleeping where,” 那 the interrogative nǎ (長老, 長 zhǎng). Tripitaka, still bewildered, cannot place them.
Pilgrim said, “Under these pines we've slept snug enough.”
落得快活 “end up comfortable,” 得 de (行者, 行 xíng). Wukong's dry good humor at their night in the open.
“Only there's no knowing where that blockhead is suffering for it.”
那獃子 那 nà (子 zi); 在那裡受罪 “suffering where,” the second 那 the interrogative nǎ. Wukong already guesses Bajie has come to grief.
The elder said, “Who is suffering?”
那個受罪 “which one suffers,” 那 the interrogative nǎ (長老, 長 zhǎng). Tripitaka has not yet understood the night's meaning.
Pilgrim laughed, “Yesterday's household of mother and daughters — who knows what bodhisattvas they were — appeared here to try us, and must have departed at midnight, leaving only poor Zhu Bajie to suffer for it.”
這家子娘女們 “this household's mother and daughters,” 家子, 子 the suffix zi. 不知是那裡菩薩 “what bodhisattvas, one can't say,” 那 the interrogative nǎ. 顯化我等 “manifested to test us.” Wukong names the truth: the whole seduction was a trial by bodhisattvas in disguise.
Dawn dissolves the illusion. The three pilgrims wake to find no mansion, no lofty hall, no carved beams — only themselves lying in a grove of pine and cypress. The grandeur of the night before has evaporated with the dark, and the elder, alarmed, calls to Wukong while Sha Monk, startled, cries that they have run into ghosts.
Wukong alone is unperturbed, his faint smile marking a knowledge the others lack. Where Tripitaka is bewildered — where are we sleeping? who is suffering? — the Great Sage has already read the whole affair, and his questions to himself concern only Bajie: where has that blockhead come to grief?
The disclosure Wukong then gives names the episode for what it was: the household of mother and daughters were bodhisattvas in disguise, come to “test us,” now vanished at midnight. What played as farce is revealed as trial — a probing of the pilgrims' resolve, from which three emerged untouched and one did not. The scene turns the chapter from comedy toward its moral reckoning, with only poor Bajie left to pay the reckoning's price.