甘泉活樹 The Sweet Spring Revives the Tree
那大仙即命設具香案,打掃後園,請菩薩先行,三老隨後。三藏師徒與本觀眾仙都到園內觀看時,那棵樹倒在地下,土開根現,葉落枝枯。菩薩叫:「悟空,伸手來。」那行者將左手伸開。菩薩將楊柳枝蘸出瓶中甘露,把行者手心裡畫了一道起死回生的符字,教他放在樹根之下,但看水出為度。那行者捏著拳頭,往那樹根底下揣著,須臾,有清泉一汪。菩薩道:「那個水不許犯五行之器,須用玉瓢舀出,扶起樹來,從頭澆下,自然根皮相合,葉長芽生,枝青果出。」行者道:「小道士們,快取玉瓢來。」鎮元子道:「貧道荒山沒有玉瓢,只有玉茶盞、玉酒杯,可用得麼?」菩薩道:「但是玉器,可舀得水的便罷,取將來看。」大仙即命小童子取出有二三十個茶盞、四五十個酒盞,卻將那根下清泉舀出。行者、八戒、沙僧扛起樹來,扶得周正,擁上土,將玉器內甘泉,一甌甌捧與菩薩。菩薩將楊柳枝細細灑上,口中又念著經咒。不多時,灑淨那舀出之水,見那樹果然依舊青綠葉陰森,上有二十三個人參果。清風、明月二童子道:「前日不見了果子時,顛倒只數得二十二個;今日回生,怎麼又多了一個?」行者道:「『日久見人心。』前日老孫只偷了三個,那一個落下地來,土地說這寶遇土而入,八戒只嚷我打了偏手,故走了風信,只纏到如今,才見明白。」菩薩道:「我方才不用五行之器者,知道此物與五行相畏故耳。」那大仙即命设具香案,打扫后园,请菩萨先行,三老随后。三藏师徒与本观众仙都到园内观看时,那棵树倒在地下,土开根现,叶落枝枯。菩萨叫:「悟空,伸手来。」那行者将左手伸开。菩萨将杨柳枝蘸出瓶中甘露,把行者手心里画了一道起死回生的符字,教他放在树根之下,但看水出为度。那行者捏着拳头,往那树根底下揣着,须臾,有清泉一汪。菩萨道:「那个水不许犯五行之器,须用玉瓢舀出,扶起树来,从头浇下,自然根皮相合,叶长芽生,枝青果出。」行者道:「小道士们,快取玉瓢来。」镇元子道:「贫道荒山没有玉瓢,只有玉茶盏、玉酒杯,可用得么?」菩萨道:「但是玉器,可舀得水的便罢,取将来看。」大仙即命小童子取出有二三十个茶盏、四五十个酒盏,却将那根下清泉舀出。行者、八戒、沙僧扛起树来,扶得周正,拥上土,将玉器内甘泉,一瓯瓯捧与菩萨。菩萨将杨柳枝细细洒上,口中又念着经咒。不多时,洒净那舀出之水,见那树果然依旧青绿叶阴森,上有二十三个人参果。清风、明月二童子道:「前日不见了果子时,颠倒只数得二十二个;今日回生,怎么又多了一个?」行者道:「『日久见人心。』前日老孙只偷了三个,那一个落下地来,土地说这宝遇土而入,八戒只嚷我打了偏手,故走了风信,只缠到如今,才见明白。」菩萨道:「我方才不用五行之器者,知道此物与五行相畏故耳。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Great Immortal at once ordered the incense table set out and the back garden swept, and invited the Bodhisattva to go before, the three elders following after.
設具香案 is to set out an incense table -- the standard preparation before anything sacred happens, and a sign that this is to be a rite rather than a repair job. 先行 is to go ahead, 行 = xíng.
When the Tang Monk's party and the immortals of the abbey had all come into the garden to look, there lay the tree, toppled on the ground — the soil split and the roots laid bare, the leaves fallen and the branches withered.
Two different jobs for 觀 land in a single line: 本觀, this abbey, is guàn, while 觀看, to look on, is the verb guān. 倒在地下 is toppled on the ground, 倒 = dǎo. The ruin, seen plainly at last, after a whole chapter of being described.
The Bodhisattva called, "Wukong, put out your hand."
A small, deliberate touch. She could work the cure herself, and instead she asks for the hand that did the damage.
The pilgrim opened out his left hand.
將左手伸開 is stretched open his left hand, 將 the jiāng that puts the object first. No question, no joke, no argument -- which from Wukong is remarkable in itself.
The Bodhisattva dipped her willow-branch in the sweet dew from the vase and traced on the pilgrim's palm a talisman-sign for raising the dead to life; then she bade him lay his hand beneath the tree's roots, watching until water came forth, and take that for the measure.
蘸 is to dip. 起死回生的符字 is a talisman-character for raising the dead -- writing as a working technology, the character drawn on the skin doing the actual work. 但看水出為度 is watch until the water comes out and take that as your measure, 為度 being to serve as the mark, 為 = wéi.
The pilgrim closed his fist and pressed it down beneath the roots of the tree, and in a moment a pool of clear spring-water welled up.
捏著拳頭 is clenching his fist, 著 the durative zhe; 揣著 is pressing it in, again zhe. 清泉一汪 is a pool of clear spring-water. The charmed hand calls up the spring -- the sweet spring that gives this passage its name.
The Bodhisattva said, "That water must touch no vessel of the Five Phases; scoop it with a jade dipper, raise the tree upright, and pour it down from the top — then of itself the root and bark will knit, leaves grow and sprouts appear, the boughs green and the fruit come forth."
Now the arcane engineering. 五行之器 is a vessel of the Five Phases -- metal, wood, water, fire and earth, the five elemental categories classical Chinese thought sorts the whole world into. Metal is the one that matters here. 根皮相合 is root and bark knitting together, 相 = xiāng; 葉長芽生 is leaves growing and sprouts springing, 長 = zhǎng, to grow. The instructions are precise the way a recipe is precise, and for the same reason.
The pilgrim said, "You little Daoist priests — fetch a jade dipper, quick."
小道士們 -- Wukong is back in command of the room the moment the spring appears, ordering the abbey's acolytes about as though he owned the place.
Master Zhenyuan said, "This poor priest's humble mountain has no jade dipper — only jade tea-cups and jade wine-cups. Will they do?"
貧道, this poor priest, is a Daoist's standard humble self-reference, the counterpart of a monk's this poor cleric. 可用得麼 is will they do, 得 the toneless de.
The Bodhisattva said, "So long as they are jade and can scoop the water, they will serve — bring them here and let me see."
舀得水 is able to scoop the water, 得 = de; 取將來 is fetch them here, 將 a directional particle, jiāng. Any jade will serve. It is only metal that is forbidden.
The Great Immortal at once bade the young boys bring out some twenty or thirty tea-cups and forty or fifty wine-cups, and with them scooped up the clear spring from beneath the roots.
And so the sacred water is bailed out with the tea service. 小童子, the young boys, 子 the noun zǐ; 將那根下清泉舀出 is scooped out the clear spring from beneath the roots. Twenty or thirty tea-cups and forty or fifty wine-cups is a wonderfully domestic detail to find in the middle of a miracle.
The pilgrim, Bajie, and Sha Monk hoisted the tree upright, propped it straight and heaped the soil about it, then bowl by bowl brought the Bodhisattva the sweet spring from the jade vessels.
扛起 is to hoist; 扶得周正 is propped it properly upright, 得 = de; 一甌甌 is bowl after bowl, 甌 = ōu. The three disciples do the manual labour, which is the first useful thing they have all done together in this chapter.
The Bodhisattva sprinkled it over, fine and slow, with her willow-branch, chanting the while a scripture-spell.
細細灑上 is sprinkled over fine and slow; 念著經咒 is chanting a scripture-spell, 著 the durative zhe. Water, branch and murmured words together: the whole apparatus of the cure is three things a temple visitor could recognise.
In a little while, when all the scooped water had been sprinkled out, the tree was indeed as before — green and lush, its foliage dense and shadowy, and upon it twenty-three ginseng fruits.
青綠葉陰森 is green, its leaves thick and shadowy. And then the count: twenty-three fruits, one more than anybody expected, which is the loose end the next few lines exist to tie off. 參 = shēn.
The two boys, Clear Wind and Bright Moon, said, "The other day, when the fruit went missing, count as we might we found only twenty-two — now that it's come back to life, how is there one more?"
顛倒 is over and over, 倒 = dǎo; 只數得 is could only count, 數 = shǔ, to count. Two different 子 again in one line: 二童子, the two lads, takes the noun zǐ, and 果子, fruit, the toneless zi. Clear Wind and Bright Moon are still doing the inventory that started all this.
The pilgrim said, "'Time reveals a man's heart.'"
日久見人心, length of days shows a man's heart, is a proverb about waiting for the truth to surface -- usually about character. Wukong applies it to a fruit count, which is either a joke or a very large claim about himself.
"The other day old Monkey stole only three; one of them fell to the ground, and the local earth-god said this treasure sinks into the soil it touches. Bajie kept insisting I'd held one back for myself, so the truth got muddled — and only now, at last, is it made plain."
The old bookkeeping error is finally cleared. 土地 is the local earth-god, the humblest rank of deity, who had told them at the time that 遇土而入 -- meeting earth, the fruit goes into it. And here is the accusation that muddied everything: 打了偏手. A 偏手 is a partial hand, and in Ming street language taking one means skimming your own cut off a shared haul. Bajie was not charging Wukong with a clumsy stroke of the mallet; he was charging him with palming a fruit in the divvying-up. 走了風信 is the report going astray. The count came out short, and the missing fruit had simply sunk into the ground.
The Bodhisattva said, "The reason I would not use a vessel of the Five Phases just now is that I knew this thing stands in mutual dread of the Five Phases."
And the reason for the jade cups. 五行之器 is a vessel of the Five Phases, meaning metal, 行 = xíng; 五行相畏 is standing in mutual dread of the Five Phases, 相 = xiāng. This retroactively explains the fruit's two odd habits -- vanishing at the touch of the golden mallet, sinking into the soil where it fell.
This is the miracle the whole chapter has moved toward, and the novel stages it with satisfying, almost ritual precision. Guanyin enlists Wukong's own hand, tracing a life-giving talisman on his palm with sweet dew and the willow-branch; his charmed fist calls a spring up from beneath the roots; the tree is heaved upright and the sweet water poured down over it while she sprinkles and chants -- and it stands again, green and whole, with its fruit restored.
The episode is threaded with the pseudo-technical lore the novel loves. The spring must touch no vessel of the Five Phases -- no metal -- because the ginseng fruit stands in mutual dread of the elements, and only jade may hold its water. That bit of five-phases reasoning is of a piece with the alchemical vocabulary running through the chapter, and it retroactively explains the tree's odd behaviour: the fruit that sank into the earth, the growth no ordinary elixir could mend. It also produces the chapter's most enjoyable image, a company of gods bailing out a sacred spring with the abbey's tea-cups and wine-cups because nobody owns a jade dipper.
A last touch resolves an old loose thread. When the revived tree bears twenty-three fruits where only twenty-two had been counted, the discrepancy that has been running since the theft is finally cleared: one fruit had fallen and sunk into the ground, exactly as the local earth-god said at the time, and Bajie's grumbling had muddled the tally. It is small comic bookkeeping, but it is typical of the novel's care to tie off what it has opened, and it lets Wukong close the affair with a proverb.