第二十九回 · 禮樂雍容 The Court Admires the Envoy — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

禮樂雍容 The Court Admires the Envoy

那nà國guó王wáng聞wén知zhī是shì唐táng朝cháo大dà國guó，且qiě又yòu說shuō是shì個gè方fāng上shàng聖shèng僧sēng，心xīn中zhōng甚shèn喜xǐ，即jí時shí准zhǔn奏zòu。叫jiào：「宣xuān他tā進jìn來lái。」把bǎ三sān藏zàng宣xuān至zhì金jīn階jiē，舞wǔ蹈dǎo山shān呼hū禮lǐ畢bì。兩liǎng邊biān文wén武wǔ多duō官guān無wú不bú嘆tàn道dào：「上shàng邦bāng人rén物wù，禮lǐ樂yuè雍yōng容róng如rú此cǐ。」那nà国guó王wáng闻wén知zhī是shì唐táng朝cháo大dà国guó，且qiě又yòu说shuō是shì个gè方fāng上shàng圣shèng僧sēng，心xīn中zhōng甚shèn喜xǐ，即jí时shí准zhǔn奏zòu。叫jiào：「宣xuān他tā进jìn来lái。」把bǎ三sān藏zàng宣xuān至zhì金jīn阶jiē，舞wǔ蹈dǎo山shān呼hū礼lǐ毕bì。两liǎng边biān文wén武wǔ多duō官guān无wú不bú叹tàn道dào：「上shàng邦bāng人rén物wù，礼lǐ乐yuè雍yōng容róng如rú此cǐ。」

逐句解 Line by line

那nà國guó王wáng聞wén知zhī是shì唐táng朝cháo大dà國guó，且qiě又yòu說shuō是shì個gè方fāng上shàng聖shèng僧sēng，心xīn中zhōng甚shèn喜xǐ，即jí時shí准zhǔn奏zòu。叫jiào：「宣xuān他tā進jìn來lái。」那nà国guó王wáng闻wén知zhī是shì唐táng朝cháo大dà国guó，且qiě又yòu说shuō是shì个gè方fāng上shàng圣shèng僧sēng，心xīn中zhōng甚shèn喜xǐ，即jí时shí准zhǔn奏zòu。叫jiào：「宣xuān他tā进jìn来lái。」

When the king learned that this was from the great realm of Tang, and heard moreover that it was a holy monk from abroad, his heart was greatly pleased, and he granted the petition at once. 'Summon him in,' he called.

唐朝大國 (朝 = cháo) = "the great state of Tang." 方上聖僧 = "a sage-monk from [distant] parts." 心中甚喜 — here 甚 is shèn ("greatly"), distinct from the interrogative shén; 中 is zhōng. 准奏 = "to approve the memorial."

把bǎ三sān藏zàng宣xuān至zhì金jīn階jiē，舞wǔ蹈dǎo山shān呼hū禮lǐ畢bì。兩liǎng邊biān文wén武wǔ多duō官guān無wú不bú嘆tàn道dào：「上shàng邦bāng人rén物wù，禮lǐ樂yuè雍yōng容róng如rú此cǐ。」把bǎ三sān藏zàng宣xuān至zhì金jīn阶jiē，舞wǔ蹈dǎo山shān呼hū礼lǐ毕bì。两liǎng边biān文wén武wǔ多duō官guān无wú不bú叹tàn道dào：「上shàng邦bāng人rén物wù，礼lǐ乐yuè雍yōng容róng如rú此cǐ。」

Tripitaka was summoned to the golden steps, and when he had finished the dance of homage and the acclamation of long life, the many officials on either hand, civil and military, all sighed in admiration: 'A man of the superior realm — how decorous and composed his rites and bearing!'

舞蹈山呼 = "the ritual dance and the mountain-acclamation" — the prescribed court obeisance, in which courtiers bowed and cried 萬歲, as the shout was once said to echo from Mount Song. 禮樂 (樂 = yuè, "rites and music") 雍容 = "decorous and unhurried"; 上邦 = "the superior state," Tang.

總評 Commentary

The king's eager reception, and the court's collective sigh of admiration, register the cultural prestige the novel invariably accords to Tang. It is enough that the monk comes 上邦 — from the "superior realm" — for his bearing to be found exemplary; the officials praise not his person but the 禮樂雍容, the decorous rites and unhurried composure, that his homeland has instilled in him. Tang stands, throughout the book, as the civilizational center against which the kingdoms of the road measure themselves.

The ceremony itself — the summons to the golden steps, the 舞蹈山呼 of dance and acclamation — is rendered with the novel's habitual relish for court protocol. That an envoy-monk should perform the full obeisance of a subject at a foreign throne is treated as unremarkable propriety, and the scene's decorum makes the more pointed the breach of it that will follow when Tripitaka's two disciples are summoned and prove wholly incapable of such graces.