噴水退術 The Spell Undone
行者用手挽起道:「我豈有安心不救之理?快取水來。」那八戒飛星去驛中,取了行李、馬匹,將紫金缽盂取出,盛水半盂,遞與行者。行者接水在手,念動真言,望那虎劈頭一口噴上,退了妖術,解了虎氣。行者用手挽起道:「我岂有安心不救之理?快取水来。」那八戒飞星去驿中,取了行李、马匹,将紫金钵盂取出,盛水半盂,递与行者。行者接水在手,念动真言,望那虎劈头一口喷上,退了妖术,解了虎气。
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim raised him up by the hand and said, “How should I have any mind not to save him?
挽起 (wǎn qǐ), to raise up by the arm. 安心不救 (ān xīn bù jiù), to intend deliberately not to rescue.
Fetch water, quickly.”
取水 (qǔ shuǐ), to fetch water, needed for the counter-spell.
Bajie flew like a shooting star to the post-station, fetched the baggage and the horse, took out the purple-gold alms-bowl, filled it half with water, and handed it to Pilgrim.
驛中 (yì zhōng), at the post-station; 中 read zhōng. 紫金缽盂 (zǐ jīn bō yú), the purple-gold alms-bowl. 盛水 (chéng shuǐ), to fill with water; 盛 read chéng. 將 read jiāng; 那 read nà.
Pilgrim took the water in hand, recited the true words, and spat a mouthful full upon the tiger’s head — driving off the fiend’s enchantment and dissolving the tiger-nature.
念動真言 (niàn dòng zhēnyán), to recite the true words, the efficacious mantra. 劈頭 (pī tóu), straight at the head. 退妖術 (tuì yāoshù), to dispel the fiend’s magic. 那 read nà.
Wukong’s relenting is immediate and without reservation once his honour has been satisfied by the entreaties — he denies ever meaning to withhold the rescue, and calls at once for water. The efficient bustle that follows, Bajie flying for the baggage and the alms-bowl, restores the practical rhythm of the pilgrimage after the long detour through Heaven and court.
The counter-spell is dispatched with a stroke: a mouthful of water, the true words, and the enchantment is undone. The economy of the resolution — no struggle, no ceremony, only the Great Sage’s casual competence — quietly reaffirms the disparity between his powers and the ordeal that had baffled his companions, and readies the master’s return to human form that opens the chapter’s final movement.