菩薩試心 The Bodhisattva’s Trial
大聖道：「你這老官兒，著實無禮。縱放家屬為邪，該問個鈐束不嚴的罪名。」老君道：「不干我事，不可錯怪了人。此乃海上菩薩問我借了三次，送他在此，託化妖魔，試你師徒可有真心往西去也。」大聖聞言，心中作念道：「這菩薩也老大憊懶。當時解逃老孫，教保唐僧西去取經，我說路途艱澀難行，他曾許我到急難處，親來相救；如今反使精邪掯害。語言不的，該他一世無夫。若不是老官兒親來，我決不與他。既是你這等說，拿去罷。」大圣道：「你这老官儿，著实无礼。纵放家属为邪，该问个钤束不严的罪名。」老君道：「不干我事，不可错怪了人。此乃海上菩萨问我借了三次，送他在此，托化妖魔，试你师徒可有真心往西去也。」大圣闻言，心中作念道：「这菩萨也老大惫懒。当时解逃老孙，教保唐僧西去取经，我说路途艰涩难行，他曾许我到急难处，亲来相救；如今反使精邪掯害。语言不的，该他一世无夫。若不是老官儿亲来，我决不与他。既是你这等说，拿去罢。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Great Sage said: “You, old sir, are downright ill-mannered.
著實無禮 — "truly rude," 著 the adverbial zhuó; 老官兒, 兒 the suffix (er). Wukong scolds even a high god with his usual brashness.
You let your household turn to evil-doing — you ought to be charged with the crime of keeping too slack a discipline.”
縱放家屬為邪 — "let your household do evil," 為 read wéi ("act as, do"); 鈐束不嚴, "lax in discipline." Wukong turns the tables, blaming Lord Lao for the boys’ misdeeds.
Lord Lao said: “It is no doing of mine — you must not wrongly blame folk.
不干我事 — "no concern of mine"; Lord Lao deflects the charge and prepares his own explanation.
This was the Bodhisattva of the sea, who asked to borrow them of me three times over, and sent them here to take demon-shape, to test whether you, master and disciples, had a true heart to go west.”
海上菩薩 — "the Bodhisattva of the sea," Guanyin; 託化妖魔, "sent [them] to take demon-form." The final revelation: the whole ordeal was a trial devised by Guanyin.
The Great Sage, hearing this, made a thought in his heart: “This Bodhisattva is a great sluggard!
心中作念 — "made a thought in his heart," 中 zhōng; 老大憊懶, "a great do-nothing." Wukong grumbles inwardly at Guanyin.
In those days she freed and delivered Old Sun, bade me guard the Tang Monk on the westward scripture-quest — and when I said the road was hard and rough to travel, she once promised that at any moment of dire peril she would come herself to the rescue;
難行 — "hard to travel," 難 nán; but 急難處, "at a moment of dire distress," 難 read nàn ("calamity"). 教 jussive (jiào); 解逃, "freed"; 相救, "come to the rescue," 相 xiāng.
and now instead she sets goblins to plague me.
掯害 — "to harry, oppress." Wukong’s complaint that Guanyin’s promised aid has turned into contrived affliction.
Her word not holding true, she deserves to be husbandless all her life.”
語言不的 — "her words not true"; 該他一世無夫, "she deserves a lifetime without a husband" — an irreverent jest at the celibate Bodhisattva, wholly in keeping with Wukong’s impudent character.
Were it not that you, old sir, had come in person, I would by no means have given them up.”
決不與他 — "would by no means give [them] up," 兒 the suffix in 老官兒 (er). Only Lord Lao’s own coming wins Wukong’s compliance.
Since you put it so, take them away then.”
拿去罷 — "take [them] away, then," 罷 read bà (the softening final particle). Wukong yields the treasures to their owner.
The last revelation reframes the entire episode: the whole ordeal was a trial. Guanyin, Lord Lao explains, borrowed his two furnace-boys three times over and sent them down as demons to test whether the pilgrims had "a true heart to go west." The terrors of two chapters are disclosed as a staged examination of the travellers’ resolve.
Wukong’s response is pure, irreverent comedy. He grumbles that Guanyin is "a great sluggard" who promised rescue in dire peril and instead contrived the peril herself, and caps the complaint with a jest that the celibate Bodhisattva deserves to stay husbandless — an impudence only the Monkey King would dare. Yet he yields the treasures at once to Lord Lao in person, and the tension resolves into the wry accommodation with which the novel so often ends its trials.