人參果會 The Ginseng-Fruit Feast
那大仙十分歡喜，急令取金擊子來，把果子敲下十個，請菩薩與三老復回寶殿，一則謝勞，二來做個人參果會。眾小仙遂調開桌椅，鋪設丹盤，請菩薩坐了上面正席，三老左席，唐僧右席，鎮元子前席相陪，各食了一個。有詩為證。詩曰：那大仙十分欢喜，急令取金击子来，把果子敲下十个，请菩萨与三老复回宝殿，一则谢劳，二来做个人参果会。众小仙遂调开桌椅，铺设丹盘，请菩萨坐了上面正席，三老左席，唐僧右席，镇元子前席相陪，各食了一个。有诗为证。诗曰：
逐句解 Line by line
The Great Immortal, overjoyed, hastily called for the golden mallet, knocked down ten of the fruits, and invited the Bodhisattva and the three elders back to the treasure-hall — first to thank them for their pains, and second to hold a Ginseng-Fruit Feast.
金擊子 is the golden mallet, 子 the toneless zi, the special implement for knocking the fruit down without touching it by hand. 人參果會 is a Ginseng-Fruit Assembly, 參 = shēn -- the word 會 is the one used for religious gatherings, so the feast is half party and half thanksgiving service.
The lesser immortals set out tables and chairs and laid the cinnabar trays; the Bodhisattva was seated at the head in the place of honor, the three elders to the left, the Tang Monk to the right, and Master Zhenyuan at the near seat to keep them company — and each ate a fruit.
調開桌椅 is to set out tables and chairs, 調 = diào. The seating is worked out with care: Guanyin at the head, the three Stars on the left, Tripitaka on the right, and the host at the near seat, which is the lowest of the four. 前席相陪 is sitting near to keep them company, 相 = xiāng; 鎮元子, 子 = zǐ.
There is a poem to prove it:
有詩為證, there is a poem in witness.
The poem says:
詩曰, the poem says, heads a verse on the revived tree and its feast.
In the Mountain of Ten Thousand Years, an ancient cave-heaven; the ginseng fruit, once ripened, lasts nine thousand years.
古洞天 is an ancient grotto-heaven -- a blessed pocket of the world where the ordinary rules are suspended. 人參, ginseng, 參 = shēn.
When the numinous root lay bared, its sprouts and boughs were broken; the sweet dew's quickening made fruit and leaf whole again.
Two clauses, ruin and repair, laid side by side. 靈根現出 is the spirit-root laid bare, which is what a toppled tree looks like; 甘露滋生 is the sweet dew quickening it into life. The line does in fourteen characters what the chapter has taken its whole length to do.
The three elders, glad to meet, are all old friends; the four monks, by happy chance, are joined by a bond from lives before.
舊契 is an old covenant, a long-standing friendship; 四僧 is the four monks; 前緣 is a bond formed in an earlier life. The gathering is presented not as a happy accident but as the working-out of connections made long before anybody sat down.
From this day, all who share and eat the ginseng fruit shall be immortals of unaging, everlasting life.
會服 is to gather and partake; 長生不老 is long life without ageing, 長 = cháng; 參 = shēn. The chapter that opened with a quarrel over three stolen fruits ends with ten of them handed round.
With the tree restored, joy overflows into feasting. Zhenyuan, overjoyed, knocks down ten of the fruits with the golden mallet and calls a Ginseng-Fruit Assembly -- and the seating is arranged with the careful precedence the novel always observes, Guanyin at the head, the elders and monks and host each in the proper place. The chapter that began with a quarrel over three stolen fruits ends with ten of them handed round freely.
The verse celebrates restoration and reconciliation together. Ruin gives way to renewal in a single line -- the sweet dew's quickening made fruit and leaf whole again -- and the assembled company is bound, the poem says, by old friendship and by a bond formed in earlier lives. Its closing promise, that all who share the fruit shall be immortals of unageing life, turns the near-disaster of the broken tree into a shared blessing: the very gift Tripitaka once recoiled from is now the token of a hard-won peace.