何供天地 Why Worship Only Heaven and Earth
唐僧上前，以左手撚香注爐，三匝禮拜。拜畢，回頭道：「仙童，你五莊觀真是西方仙界。何不供養三清、四帝、羅天諸宰，只將『天地』二字侍奉香火？」童子笑道：「不瞞老師說，這兩個字，上頭的，禮上還當；下邊的，還受不得我們的香火，是家師父諂佞出來的。」三藏道：「何為諂佞？」童子道：「三清是家師的朋友，四帝是家師的故人；九曜是家師的晚輩，元辰是家師的下賓。」那行者聞言，就笑得打跌。八戒道：「哥啊，你笑怎的？」行者道：「只講老孫會搗鬼，原來這道童會綑風。」三藏道：「令師何在？」童子道：「家師元始天尊降簡，請到上清天彌羅宮聽講『混元道果』去了，不在家。」行者聞言，忍不住喝了一聲道：「這個臊道童，人也不認得，你在那個面前搗鬼，扯甚麼空心架子？那彌羅宮有誰是太乙天仙？請你這潑牛蹄子去講甚麼？」唐僧上前，以左手撚香注炉，三匝礼拜。拜毕，回头道：「仙童，你五庄观真是西方仙界。何不供养三清、四帝、罗天诸宰，只将『天地』二字侍奉香火？」童子笑道：「不瞒老师说，这两个字，上头的，礼上还当；下边的，还受不得我们的香火，是家师父谄佞出来的。」三藏道：「何为谄佞？」童子道：「三清是家师的朋友，四帝是家师的故人；九曜是家师的晚辈，元辰是家师的下宾。」那行者闻言，就笑得打跌。八戒道：「哥啊，你笑怎的？」行者道：「只讲老孙会捣鬼，原来这道童会捆风。」三藏道：「令师何在？」童子道：「家师元始天尊降简，请到上清天弥罗宫听讲『混元道果』去了，不在家。」行者闻言，忍不住喝了一声道：「这个臊道童，人也不认得，你在那个面前捣鬼，扯甚么空心架子？那弥罗宫有谁是太乙天仙？请你这泼牛蹄子去讲甚么？」
逐句解 Line by line
The Tang Monk stepped forward, took incense in his left hand and set it in the censer, and made obeisance three times round.
撚香注爐 (niǎn xiāng zhù lú) = to pinch up incense and set it in the censer; 三匝 (sān zā) = three circuits; 禮拜 (lǐbài) = to make ritual obeisance.
His worship done, he turned his head and said, “Immortal boys, your Five-Villages Abbey is truly an immortals’ realm of the West.
拜畢 (bài bì) = the obeisance finished; 五莊觀 (Wǔzhuāng Guàn), temple 觀 (guàn); 仙界 (xiānjiè) = a realm of immortals.
Why do you not make offering to the Three Pure Ones, the Four Sovereigns, and the great officers of the Net-Heaven, but serve incense only to the two words ‘Heaven and Earth’?”
三清 (Sānqīng) = the Three Pure Ones; 四帝 (Sìdì) = the Four Sovereign-Emperors; 羅天諸宰 (Luótiān zhū zǎi) = the officiants of the Net-Heaven; 只將 (zhǐ jiāng), 將 (jiāng).
The boys said with a smile, “To be plain with you, Master — of these two words, the upper one is, in ritual terms, still warranted; but the lower may not even receive our incense. It is a piece of our master’s flattery.”
童子 (tóngzǐ), 子 (zǐ); 禮上還當 (lǐ shàng hái dāng), 還 (hái) ‘still’ + 當 (dāng) ‘fitting’ (應當 sense); 還受不得 (hái shòu bù dé), 得 (dé) ‘able’; 諂佞 (chǎnnìng) = obsequious flattery.
Tripiṭaka said, “What do you mean by ‘flattery’?”
三藏 (Sānzàng), 藏 (zàng); 何為 (hé wéi) here reads as ‘what is meant by,’ the copular 為 (wéi) (as in 何謂) — distinct from 為何 ‘why,’ which takes wèi.
The boys said, “The Three Pure Ones are our master’s friends; the Four Sovereigns his old acquaintances; the Nine Luminaries his juniors; the Primal Powers his lesser guests.”
童子 (tóngzǐ), 子 (zǐ); 九曜 (Jiǔyào) = the Nine Luminaries (sun, moon, five planets, and two lunar nodes); 元辰 (Yuánchén) = the Primal Star-Powers; 晚輩／下賓 (wǎnbèi / xiàbīn) = juniors / lesser guests.
Pilgrim, hearing this, laughed till he tumbled over.
那 (nà); 行 (xíng); 笑得打跌 (xiào·de dǎ diē), the light structural 得 (de) (‘laughed to the point of falling’).
Bajie said, “Brother, what are you laughing at?”
怎的 (zěnde) = at what / why.
Pilgrim said, “They say Old Sun can play the trickster — but it seems this Daoist lad can bind the wind!”
行 (xíng); 搗鬼 (dǎoguǐ) = to play tricks, dissemble; 綑風 (kǔn fēng) = ‘to bind the wind,’ to spin empty, unbindable talk — Pilgrim’s coinage capping his own 搗鬼.
Tripiṭaka said, “Where is your revered master?”
三藏 (Sānzàng), 藏 (zàng); 令師何在 (lìng shī hé zài) = where is your master (令師, the polite ‘your master’).
The boys said, “Our master, on a summons sent down by the Primordial Heavenly Worthy, has gone to the Miluo Palace in the Heaven of Highest Clarity to hear the exposition of the ‘Fruit of the Undifferentiated Way’; he is not at home.”
童子 (tóngzǐ), 子 (zǐ); 降簡 (jiàng jiǎn), 降 (jiàng) ‘to send down’ + 簡 a written summons; 去了 (qù le), 了 (le).
Pilgrim, hearing it, could not hold back and barked out: “This stinking Daoist brat — he doesn’t even know who’s who, yet plays the trickster to my face and rigs up his hollow scaffolding!
行 (xíng); 喝了 (hè le), 了 (le); 臊道童 (sào dào tóng) = stinking Daoist boy; 認得 (rèn·de), 得 (de); 那個 (nà gè), 那 (nà); 甚麼 (shénme), 甚 (shén); 空心架子 (kōngxīn jiàzi) = a hollow frame, empty pretension, 子 (zi) suffix.
Who at that Miluo Palace is any Great-Monad Heaven-Immortal?
那 (nà); 太乙天仙 (Tàiyǐ tiānxiān) = a Heaven-Immortal of the Great Monad.
And who invited this mangy calf’s-hoof of yours to go expound anything?”
潑牛蹄子 (pō niú tí·zi) = ‘mangy calf’s-hoof,’ a coarse insult, 子 (zi) suffix; 甚麼 (shénme), 甚 (shén).
Impressed by the abbey, the Tang Monk asks why it honours only the two words 「天地」 and not the 三清 (Three Pure Ones), 四帝, and the celestial host. The boys’ answer inverts the expected piety: even the upper word, Heaven, is barely warranted; the lower, Earth, cannot so much as receive their incense — the whole thing is their master’s 諂佞 (flattery).
Then the real point, and the joke. The Three Pure Ones are Zhènyuán’s friends; the Four Sovereigns his old acquaintances; the Nine Luminaries his juniors; the Primal Powers his lesser guests. The Patriarch of the Earthly Immortals so outranks the entire Daoist pantheon that to worship any of them would demean him — hence he bows only to Heaven-and-Earth themselves. This staggering seniority is what sends Pilgrim tumbling with laughter: ‘I thought I could play the trickster — but this lad can bind the wind,’ 綑風, spin talk too empty to hold.
Learning the master is away — at 元始天尊’s own lecture — Pilgrim scoffs that no genuine 太乙天仙 keeps company at the Miluo Palace, and calls the boy a fraud rigging up 空心架子 (hollow scaffolding). The irony runs deep: the boast is entirely true, and Pilgrim — who once bluffed his way through Heaven — is here the one who fails to recognise real rank. Readings: the causative frame, the light 得 in 笑得打跌／認得, and 降簡 = jiàng.