The Pilgrim made his cudgel swell to the thickness of a washtub and stood it bolt upright in the courtyard, saying: "Monk, if it's not convenient, then you move out."

He plants the argument in the middle of the courtyard where nobody can miss it. 將 is jiāng; 盆來粗細 is "thick as a washtub"; 直壁壁 is bolt upright; 得 is de.

The abbot said: "We've lived in this temple since childhood — grand-master handed it to master, master handed it to us, and we mean to pass it down to our disciples' disciples for generations."

The abbot pleads inheritance, and the character 兒 does two jobs in one sentence. In 從小兒, "from childhood," it is the light suffix er; in 兒孫, sons and grandsons, it is the full noun ér, a child.

"Heaven knows what business of his this is, that so rashly he'd have us move out."

勾當 is doings or business, usually shady, 勾 read gòu and 當 read dàng; 冒冒失失 is rashly, recklessly; 教 is jiào.

The servitor said: "Your Reverence, it's altogether awkward — moving out or not, the cudgel's already come battering in at the door."

The servant, who can see the courtyard, states the position. 不尷尬 is awkward, in a fix; 也罷 is "be that as it may"; 扛子 is the great pole, read gàng zi, the character 扛 standing in for 杠.

The abbot said: "Don't talk nonsense. There are four or five hundred of us monks, old and young — where are we to move to?"

Playing for time. 老少 is old and young, 少 read shào.

"Move out, and there'd be nowhere to live."

沒處住 is nowhere to stay, 處 read chù.

Hearing this, the Pilgrim said: "Monk, if there's nowhere to move to, then send one man out to take a sample blow."

And here is the offer, in all its awfulness. 打樣棍 is to take a specimen stroke — the way you might ask for a sample of cloth, except the sample is a blow from an iron rod. 著 is zhuó, to send or dispatch; 處 is chù.

The old monk called to the servitor: "You go out and take a sample blow for me."

He volunteers his servant without a pause, which is the whole man in one line.

The servitor was aghast: "My lord! —"

爺爺呀 is a cry of dismay. 那 is nà.

"a great club like that, and you'd send me to take a sample blow?"

大杠子 is the huge pole, 杠 read gàng; 教 is jiào; 那 is nà.

The old monk said: "'Rear a soldier a thousand days to use him for a single morning.'"

And the abbot reaches for a proverb to dress self-preservation as principle: 養軍千日，用軍一朝 — you keep troops a thousand days for the one morning you need them. 一朝 is a single morning, 朝 read zhāo. 和尚 takes hé.

"Why won't you go out?"

Duty, invoked downward.

The servitor said: "Never mind its striking me — if that pole just toppled over, it would crush me to a pulp."

The servant counters with physics. 倒下來 is to topple over, 倒 read dǎo; 壓個肉泥 is to press a man into a paste.

The old monk said: "Never mind its crushing you — say it just stands there in the courtyard, and walking about at night, if you forgot, you'd butt a great hole in your own head."

And the abbot raises him — never mind being crushed, you could walk into it in the dark. The two of them are now competing to describe the pole's lethality, each hoping the other will go out. 夜晚間 is at night; 撞個大窟窿 is to knock a big hole; 得 is de.

The servitor said: "Master, you know yourself how heavy it is — and you'd still send me out to take a sample blow?"

The trap closes: you know how heavy it is, and you are still sending me. 這般重 is "this heavy," 重 read zhòng; 教 is jiào, 甚 is shén, 得 is de.

And so among themselves they fell to squabbling.

轉鬧起來 is to fall to quarrelling. Master and man, each trying to save himself, turn out to be exactly the same.