手書貶書 The Dismissal Written
唐僧見他言言語語，越添惱怒，滾鞍下馬來，叫沙僧包袱內取出紙筆，即於澗下取水，石上磨墨，寫了一紙貶書，遞於行者道：「猴頭，執此為照，再不要你做徒弟了；如再與你相見，我就墮了阿鼻地獄。」行者連忙接了貶書道：「師父，不消發誓，老孫去罷。」唐僧见他言言语语，越添恼怒，滚鞍下马来，叫沙僧包袱内取出纸笔，即于涧下取水，石上磨墨，写了一纸贬书，递于行者道：「猴头，执此为照，再不要你做徒弟了；如再与你相见，我就堕了阿鼻地狱。」行者连忙接了贬书道：「师父，不消发誓，老孙去罢。」
逐句解 Line by line
Seeing him go on talking and talking, the Tang Monk, more enraged than ever, slid from his saddle, told Sha Monk to fetch paper and brush from the bundle, drew water at the ravine below, ground ink on a stone, wrote out a note of dismissal, and handed it to Pilgrim: "Monkey-head, hold this as your warrant. I want you no more for a disciple;
Watch the staging here, because it is deliberate and slow. He gets down off the horse. He sends Sha Monk for paper and brush. He goes to the ravine for water, grinds ink on a stone, and writes. Every one of those steps takes time, and he does not stop at any of them. 貶書 is a writ of demotion or expulsion, an official document of the kind a magistrate issues, and 執此為照, "hold this as your warrant", is the formula of a legal instrument. He is not throwing his disciple out. He is discharging him, in writing. (為 is wéi, "as, to serve as", not the purposive wèi.)
"and if ever I see you again, may I fall into the Avīci Hell."
阿鼻地獄 (Ā bí dì yù) transcribes the Sanskrit Avīci, "without respite" — the deepest of the Buddhist hells, the one where the torment never pauses. A monk swearing by it is staking everything he has. And he is not many chapters away from needing this disciple back. (相見 takes 相 as xiāng.)
Pilgrim quickly took the writ of dismissal and said, "Master, no need to swear oaths — old Sun will go."
Wukong's answer is the gentlest thing in the passage. Don't swear oaths. He takes the paper and lets his master off the vow, which is more consideration than he has been shown all day.
The written dismissal marks the point of no return. The earlier expulsions were spoken in anger and undone by pleading; this one goes on paper, a formal writ of severance, and is sealed with the most dreadful oath available to a Buddhist. The document and the vow together make the parting final in a way that words never managed.
Wukong's restraint is the passage's quiet power. He does not contest the writ or the oath. He takes the letter and says only that there is no need to swear. There is no anger left in him, only a resigned tenderness that spares the master the weight of his own curse. The Great Sage who shook Heaven accepts his exile with more grace than the gentle monk shows in pronouncing it.
The oath is heavy with dramatic irony. Tripitaka swears never to see Wukong again on pain of the deepest hell — and the novel reunites them soon enough, when the master, captured and helpless, has to beg for the very disciple he is casting out here. The vow measures a fury that cannot last, sworn by a man who does not know his own need.