八戒動心 The Idiot's Carnal Heart
那八戒見他生得俊俏，獃子就動了凡心，忍不住胡言亂語，叫道：「女菩薩，往那裡去？手裡提著是甚麼東西？」分明是個妖怪，他卻不能認得。那女子連聲答應道：「長老，我這青罐裡是香米飯，綠瓶裡是炒麵筋。特來此處無他故，因還誓願要齋僧。」八戒聞言，滿心歡喜，急抽身，就跑了個豬顛風，報與三藏道：「師父，『吉人自有天報』，師父餓了，教師兄去化齋，那猴子不知那裡摘桃兒耍子去了。桃子吃多了，也有些嘈人，又有些下墜。你看那不是個齋僧的來了？」唐僧不信道：「你這個夯貨胡纏。我們走了這向，好人也不曾遇著一個，齋僧的從何而來！」八戒道：「師父，這不到了？」那八戒见他生得俊俏，呆子就动了凡心，忍不住胡言乱语，叫道：「女菩萨，往那里去？手里提著是甚么东西？」分明是个妖怪，他却不能认得。那女子连声答应道：「长老，我这青罐里是香米饭，绿瓶里是炒面筋。特来此处无他故，因还誓愿要斋僧。」八戒闻言，满心欢喜，急抽身，就跑了个猪颠风，报与三藏道：「师父，『吉人自有天报』，师父饿了，教师兄去化斋，那猴子不知那里摘桃儿耍子去了。桃子吃多了，也有些嘈人，又有些下坠。你看那不是个斋僧的来了？」唐僧不信道：「你这个夯货胡缠。我们走了这向，好人也不曾遇著一个，斋僧的从何而来！」八戒道：「师父，这不到了？」
逐句解 Line by line
When Eight Rules saw how pretty she was, carnal thoughts stirred in the idiot at once, and unable to hold his tongue he babbled all manner of nonsense, calling out: "Lady Bodhisattva, where are you off to?
生得俊俏 "made pretty," 得 (de) (complement). 動了凡心 (dòng le fán xīn) "his mortal heart was stirred" — the 凡心 "worldly heart" is exactly the appetite Bajie is vowed to have set aside. 女菩薩 "Lady Bodhisattva," an obsequious address. Two 那: 那八戒 = nà (demonstrative, first occurrence), 往那裡去 = nǎ (place-word "where," second occurrence).
"And what's that you're carrying in your hands?"
提著 "carrying," 著 (zhe). 甚麼 "what," 甚 (shén). Bajie's leering curiosity about the vessels sets up the demon's alms-giving reply.
Plainly she was a monster, yet he could not tell.
The narrator's aside: 分明 "clearly," 認得 "to recognize," 得 (de). Blinded by lust, Bajie fails to see what the reader sees at once — a failure the whole party, save the absent Wukong, will share.
The woman answered readily: "Reverend, in this green jar is fragrant rice, and in the green bottle stir-fried wheat-gluten.
那女子 "that woman," 那 (nà), 子 (zǐ). 答應 "to answer," 應 (yìng) (respond, not 應 (yīng) "ought"). 長老 "reverend," 長 (zhǎng). 麵筋 (miàn jīn) "wheat-gluten," a vegetarian food that fits the alms pretext.
"I have come here for no other reason than to feed monks, in fulfilment of a vow."
還誓願 "to redeem a vow," 還 (huán) (repay, not 還 (hái) "still"). 齋僧 "to give alms-food to monks." The pious motive is calculated to disarm — feeding wandering monks was a recognized act of merit.
Hearing this, Eight Rules was overjoyed; whipping round, he broke into a headlong pig-trot and reported to Tripitaka: "Master! 'The lucky are ever heaven-blessed'! You were hungry and sent Elder Brother off to beg, and that monkey's gone who-knows-where picking peaches and larking about.
豬顛風 (zhū diān fēng) "a pig's mad dash," comic. Two 那: 那猴子 = nà (first), 不知那裡 = nǎ (place-word, second). 摘桃兒 "picking peaches," 兒 (er) (suffix); 耍子 "to lark about," 子 (zi). Bajie's dig at the absent Wukong is the first crack he drives between master and disciple.
"Eat too many peaches and they gripe the stomach and drag it down, besides.
桃子 "peaches," 子 (zi). 嘈人 (cáo rén) "to unsettle the stomach"; 下墜 (xià zhuì) "a dragging, downward feeling." Bajie disparages Wukong's peaches to talk up the woman's rice — self-interest dressed as concern.
"Look — isn't that an alms-giver come at last?"
那不是 "isn't that," 那 (nà) (demonstrative "that [person]," not the place-word). Bajie presents the demon as the very answer to the party's hunger.
The Tang Monk, disbelieving, said, "You blockhead, talking rot.
夯貨 (hāng huò) "clumsy oaf, blockhead," a standard term of abuse for Bajie. 胡纏 "to pester with nonsense." Tellingly, the elder's first instinct here is doubt — a scepticism he will fatally fail to sustain once the stakes rise.
"All this stretch we've travelled, we've not met a single decent soul — where would an alms-giver spring from?"
這向 "this while, this stretch of road." 遇著 "to meet," 著 (zháo) (resultative). Tripitaka's reasoning here — no one in this wilderness — is precisely Wukong's, and precisely right; the chapter's grief is that he will abandon it.
Said Eight Rules, "But Master — hasn't she come right up to us?"
這不到了 "isn't [she] here already?" — Bajie points to the approaching figure as self-evident refutation. His comic insistence masks the demon's success in making him her advocate.
The engine of the passage is Bajie's 凡心 — the carnal heart he was supposed to have renounced. Smitten, he becomes the demon's unwitting champion, trotting back to vouch for her and, crucially, to run down the absent Wukong ("that monkey's off larking about"). The wedge that will split the party is first driven here, by appetite, before the demon herself lifts a finger against them.
Against this stands Tripitaka's fatal inconsistency. His opening response is sound scepticism — no decent soul for miles, so whence an alms-giver? — which is Wukong's own logic exactly. The pathos of the chapter lies in watching the elder reason rightly and then, under pressure, discard that reasoning in favour of what he wishes, or fears, to believe.
The narrator's blunt aside, 分明是個妖怪，他卻不能認得 ("plainly a monster, yet he could not tell"), states outright to the reader what none of the pilgrims can see. It makes us complicit witnesses to a deception that turns on nothing but the will — or failure — to see truly.