行者剖白 Wukong Protests His Loyalty
行者聞言，氣得暴跳道：「我把你這個尖嘴的夯貨！老孫一向秉教沙門，更無一毫嫉妒之意，貪戀之心，怎麼要分甚麼行李？」唐僧道：「你既不嫉妒貪戀，如何不去？」行者闻言，气得暴跳道：「我把你这个尖嘴的夯货！老孙一向秉教沙门，更无一毫嫉妒之意，贪恋之心，怎么要分甚么行李？」唐僧道：「你既不嫉妒贪恋，如何不去？」
逐句解 Line by line
At these words Pilgrim, hopping mad, burst out: "You sharp-mouthed blockhead!
氣得暴跳 (qì de bào tiào) "so angry [he] leapt about," the complement 得 (de). 尖嘴的夯貨 (jiān zuǐ de hāng huò) "sharp-snouted oaf" — Wukong's retort to Bajie, whose long pig's snout the epithet mocks. His fury is aimed not at the master but at the slanderer who imputed greed to him.
"Old Sun has held to the gate of the Buddha all along, without the least thought of envy or a heart of greed — how should I want to split any luggage?"
秉教沙門 (bǐng jiào shā mén) "to hold to the Buddhist order," 教 (jiào); 沙門 (shā mén) "the śramaṇa, the monastic gate." 嫉妒之意 (jí dù zhī yì) "any thought of envy," 貪戀之心 (tān liàn zhī xīn) "a heart of greed." 分甚麼行李 (fēn shén me xíng li) "split what luggage," 甚 (shén), 行 (xíng) (行李). Wukong repudiates the mercenary motive absolutely — his loyalty is a matter of honour, not gain.
The Tang Monk said, "If you feel no envy or greed, then why not go?"
既不嫉妒貪戀 (jì bù jí dù tān liàn) "since [you feel] no envy or greed." 如何不去 (rú hé bù qù) "why not go, then." The elder's cool logic turns Wukong's disavowal back on him — if not for gain, then simply obey and leave — drawing out the deeper reason Wukong now gives.
Bajie's imputation of greed stings Wukong precisely because it inverts the truth of his service. He answers not by defending a claim on the luggage but by repudiating the very motive: 更無一毫嫉妒之意，貪戀之心, "not the least thought of envy or a heart of greed." His fury is directed at Bajie the slanderer, not at the master who wrongs him — a telling measure of where his loyalty and his anger truly lie.
Tripitaka's reply is quietly devastating in its reasonableness: if not for gain, then why not simply go? It strips away Wukong's stated scruple and forces him toward the real ground of his refusal — not property, not pride, but the bond of gratitude and the impossibility of return. The next passage's great speech answers the master's cool "why not go?" with the whole history of what Wukong gave up to stay.
The passage marks a shift in register. The comedy of Bajie's luggage-mongering gives way to something graver, as the quarrel turns from petty motive to the fundamental question of why the Great Sage follows this fragile, fallible monk at all — the question the chapter has been circling from the first.