第三十回 · 鬆縛之計 The Loosening of the Bonds — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

鬆縛之計 The Loosening of the Bonds

那nà公gōng主zhǔ是shì婦fù人rén家jiā水shuǐ性xìng，見jiàn他tā錯cuò敬jìng，遂suì回huí心xīn轉zhuǎn意yì道dào：「郎láng君jūn啊a，你nǐ若ruò念niàn夫fū婦fù的de恩ēn愛ài，可kě把bǎ那nà沙shā僧sēng的de繩shéng子zi略lüè放fàng鬆sōng些xiē兒er。」老lǎo妖yāo聞wén言yán，即jí命mìng小xiǎo的de們men把bǎ沙shā僧sēng解jiě了le繩shéng子zi，鎖suǒ在zài那nà裡lǐ。沙shā僧sēng見jiàn解jiě縛fù鎖suǒ住zhù，立lì起qǐ來lái，心xīn中zhōng暗àn喜xǐ道dào：「古gǔ人rén云yún：『與yǔ人rén方fāng便biàn，自zì己jǐ方fāng便biàn。』我wǒ若ruò不bù方fāng便biàn了le他tā，他tā怎zěn肯kěn教jiào把bǎ我wǒ鬆sōng放fàng鬆sōng放fàng？」那nà公gōng主zhǔ是shì妇fù人rén家jiā水shuǐ性xìng，见jiàn他tā错cuò敬jìng，遂suì回huí心xīn转zhuǎn意yì道dào：「郎láng君jūn啊a，你nǐ若ruò念niàn夫fū妇fù的de恩ēn爱ài，可kě把bǎ那nà沙shā僧sēng的de绳shéng子zi略lüè放fàng松sōng些xiē儿er。」老lǎo妖yāo闻wén言yán，即jí命mìng小xiǎo的de们men把bǎ沙shā僧sēng解jiě了le绳shéng子zi，锁suǒ在zài那nà里lǐ。沙shā僧sēng见jiàn解jiě缚fù锁suǒ住zhù，立lì起qǐ来lái，心xīn中zhōng暗àn喜xǐ道dào：「古gǔ人rén云yún：『与yǔ人rén方fāng便biàn，自zì己jǐ方fāng便biàn。』我wǒ若ruò不bù方fāng便biàn了le他tā，他tā怎zěn肯kěn教jiào把bǎ我wǒ松sōng放fàng松sōng放fàng？」

逐句解 Line by line

那nà公gōng主zhǔ是shì婦fù人rén家jiā水shuǐ性xìng，見jiàn他tā錯cuò敬jìng，遂suì回huí心xīn轉zhuǎn意yì道dào：「郎láng君jūn啊a，你nǐ若ruò念niàn夫fū婦fù的de恩ēn愛ài，可kě把bǎ那nà沙shā僧sēng的de繩shéng子zi略lüè放fàng鬆sōng些xiē兒er。」那nà公gōng主zhǔ是shì妇fù人rén家jiā水shuǐ性xìng，见jiàn他tā错cuò敬jìng，遂suì回huí心xīn转zhuǎn意yì道dào：「郎láng君jūn啊a，你nǐ若ruò念niàn夫fū妇fù的de恩ēn爱ài，可kě把bǎ那nà沙shā僧sēng的de绳shéng子zi略lüè放fàng松sōng些xiē儿er。」

The princess, being of a woman's yielding nature, saw his contrition and turned her heart about again: "My lord, if you have any regard for the love between husband and wife, you might loosen Sha the Monk's ropes a little."

She forgives him, and the narrator supplies a sour explanation for it. 婦人家水性 — "women being watery by nature" — is a conventional and thoroughly unflattering tag for feminine changeability, and the chapter will apply the same word to a king before it is done. 錯敬 is his overdone, apologetic courtesy; 些兒 takes the suffix 兒 as er. What she actually does with her one moment of leverage is spend it on the man who saved her.

老lǎo妖yāo聞wén言yán，即jí命mìng小xiǎo的de們men把bǎ沙shā僧sēng解jiě了le繩shéng子zi，鎖suǒ在zài那nà裡lǐ。老lǎo妖yāo闻wén言yán，即jí命mìng小xiǎo的de们men把bǎ沙shā僧sēng解jiě了le绳shéng子zi，锁suǒ在zài那nà里lǐ。

Hearing this, the old fiend at once ordered his underlings to untie Sha the Monk's ropes, and had him locked up there instead.

小的們 are the demon's underlings, the small fry of the cave. The mercy is carefully partial: untied, and then chained. He loosens without letting go.

沙shā僧sēng見jiàn解jiě縛fù鎖suǒ住zhù，立lì起qǐ來lái，心xīn中zhōng暗àn喜xǐ道dào：「古gǔ人rén云yún：『與yǔ人rén方fāng便biàn，自zì己jǐ方fāng便biàn。』我wǒ若ruò不bù方fāng便biàn了le他tā，他tā怎zěn肯kěn教jiào把bǎ我wǒ鬆sōng放fàng鬆sōng放fàng？」沙shā僧sēng见jiàn解jiě缚fù锁suǒ住zhù，立lì起qǐ来lái，心xīn中zhōng暗àn喜xǐ道dào：「古gǔ人rén云yún：『与yǔ人rén方fāng便biàn，自zì己jǐ方fāng便biàn。』我wǒ若ruò不bù方fāng便biàn了le他tā，他tā怎zěn肯kěn教jiào把bǎ我wǒ松sōng放fàng松sōng放fàng？」

Finding himself unbound though still chained, Sha the Monk rose to his feet and rejoiced in secret: "As the ancients said, 'Do another a kindness, and you do yourself one.' Had I not obliged her, how would she ever have moved him to loosen my bonds a little?"

And Sha, who acted for nothing, finds he has been paid. 與人方便，自己方便 is a folk maxim — do another a good turn and you do yourself one — and it hinges on 方便, which is worth pausing on. In everyday speech it means convenience, an accommodation, a kindness that costs little. In Buddhist usage it renders upāya, "skilful means" — the doctrine that a teacher shapes the medicine to the patient. The proverb runs on the ordinary sense; the novel is quite aware of the other.

總評 Commentary

The opening sequence closes on an exchange of favours. Sha shielded the princess expecting nothing, and she, out of gratitude, buys him a small mercy. The proverb makes the moral explicit, and the word it turns on — 方便, kindness, expedient means, a term carrying real Buddhist weight — folds the whole episode into the novel's larger accounting of merit and repayment.

The symmetry is neatly built. The princess's letter saved Tripitaka; Sha's lie saved the princess; the princess's plea eased Sha. Each concealment or mercy produces the next, and the human and the demonic households end up tied together in one chain of obligation.

The tag 水性, fickle, is a stock misogyny of vernacular fiction, but it earns its keep in the plot: it accounts for how quickly she forgives, which the story needs if the demon is to leave for the capital in a good mood.