Canonical Classics ← 第三十回
第三十回
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The Evil Demon Assaults the True Dharma · The Horse of the Will Recalls the Monkey of the Heart

咬衣泣諫
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

咬衣泣諫 The Horse Pleads

xiǎolóngwénshuōkǒuyǎozhùzhíduōzikěnfàngzhǐzhùyǎnzhōnglèidào:「shīxiōngaqiānwànxiūshēnglǎnduò。」jièdào:「lǎnduò便biànzěnmeshāxiōngbèizhùshìzhànguòchènsànhuǒháiděngshénme?」xiǎolóngwénshuōkǒuyǎozhùzhíduōzikěnfàngzhǐzhùyǎnzhōnglèidào:「shīxiōngaqiānwànxiūshēnglǎnduò。」jièdào:「lǎnduò便biànzěnmeshāxiōngbèizhùshìzhànguòchènsànhuǒháiděngshénme?」


逐句解 Line by line

xiǎolóngwénshuōkǒuyǎozhùzhíduōzikěnfàngzhǐzhùyǎnzhōnglèidào:「shīxiōngaqiānwànxiūshēnglǎnduò。」 xiǎolóngwénshuōkǒuyǎozhùzhíduōzikěnfàngzhǐzhùyǎnzhōnglèidào:「shīxiōngaqiānwànxiūshēnglǎnduò。」

At this the little dragon caught his cassock in its teeth with one bite and would by no means let go, and, unable to hold back the tears in its eyes, said: "Brother, I beg you a thousand times — do not give way to sloth!"

Here 那裡肯放 means "would in no way let go," so is the rhetorical ; 眼中 takes as zhōng. 直裰 is a monk's cassock; 休生懶惰 is "do not breed laziness in yourself." A wounded animal has a man by the coat in its teeth and is crying, and this is the most eloquent anyone in the chapter has been.

jièdào:「lǎnduò便biànzěnmeshāxiōngbèizhùshìzhànguòchènsànhuǒháiděngshénme?」 jièdào:「lǎnduò便biànzěnmeshāxiōngbèizhùshìzhànguòchènsànhuǒháiděngshénme?」

Bajie said: "And if I'm not slothful, what of it? Brother Sha is already taken; I'm no match for him in a fight; if we don't break up the band now, what are we waiting for?"

散火 — literally "scatter the fire," to break up the band — takes as sàn; 還等甚麼 takes as hái and as shén. Bajie answers tears with arithmetic: Sha is taken, the demon is stronger, therefore disband.


總評 Commentary

The pathos rests on a mute animal made suddenly articulate: the dragon-horse takes hold of his brother's robe in its teeth, weeps, and begs. Against that Bajie sets a flat, self-preserving calculation. The word 散火, "break up the band," names the real crisis of the passage — which is not the demon's strength but the pilgrims' willingness to stay together.