The elder gave the horse its head, came straight on, and arrived right before the temple gate.

放開馬 is to give the horse its head; 徑 is straight there, without detour. 長 in 長老 is zhǎng.

The Pilgrim said: "Master, what temple is this one?"

Wukong knows perfectly well what temple it is. 甚麼 is "what," 甚 read shén.

Tripitaka said: "My horse's hooves have only just halted, the tips of my feet aren't even out of the stirrups, and already you ask me what temple it is — what a want of sense!"

Tripitaka is still getting off the horse. 才然 is "only just now"; 鐙 is the stirrup. 好沒分曉 is roughly "how utterly senseless," with 沒 read méi and 分曉 meaning sense or discernment; 還 is hái.

The Pilgrim said: "You, sir, have been a monk from childhood; you must have lectured on the Confucian books before you went on to expound the scriptures — well-versed in letters and sense alike — and only then received King Tang's gracious favour."

And here comes the needle. 自幼為僧 is "a monk since childhood," 為 read wéi, to be or act as; 儒書 are the Confucian classics; 恩宥 is gracious favour. Wukong builds his master an elaborate pedestal of learning for the sole purpose of asking whether a man that educated can read a signboard.

"There are such big characters over the gate — how can you not know them?"

那般 is "such, that sort of," 那 read nà; 認得 is to recognise, 得 read de.

The elder scolded: "You reckless ape!"

It lands. 潑 is a common term of abuse — unruly, rascally — and 猢猻, macaque, is Tripitaka's standing insult for his disciple, deployed whenever dignity is at stake. 長 is zhǎng.

"You talk without sense."

無知 is ignorant. Teased about his eyesight, the master bristles.

"I was just now urging the horse westward, dazzled by the sun's glare; and though the gate has characters, they are blurred over with dust and grime, so I hadn't yet made them out."

The excuse, delivered with feeling: it was the sun in his eyes, and besides, the sign is filthy. 影射 here is to dazzle; 塵垢 is dust and grime. 那 is nà; 未曾 is "not yet," 曾 read céng.

Hearing this, the Pilgrim bent his waist, stretched up more than two zhàng tall, wiped away the dust with his hand, and said: "Master, please look."

Wukong settles the argument by becoming tall enough to clean the sign himself. 腰兒 is the waist, with 兒 as the light suffix er; 長了 is "grew," 長 read zhǎng. The measure is left in Chinese: a 丈, zhàng, is ten Chinese feet, so he has gone up more than twenty of them.

Above were five great characters: "Baolin Temple, Built by Imperial Decree."

敕建 means erected by imperial command — a licence, a name-plaque and a degree of protection, all in two characters. 寶林寺 is Baolin, "Treasure-Grove," Temple; 個 is gè.

The Pilgrim drew in his magic body and said: "Master, who is to go into this temple to ask for lodging?"

法身 is a large Buddhist term pressed into small service here: the transformed body Wukong had put on to reach the sign.

Tripitaka said: "I shall go in."

Tripitaka insists on going in alone, and the passage is about to make him regret it. 藏 is zàng.

"Your faces are ugly, your speech coarse, your tempers hard and your manner haughty; should you offend the monks of this place and they refuse us lodging, that would turn out badly."

His reasoning is not flattering. 嘴臉 is roughly "mug"; 粗疏 is coarse and careless; 本處 is "this place," 處 read chù; 反為不美 is "would turn out unseemly," 為 read wéi.

The Pilgrim said: "If that's so, then please go in, Master — no need for more words."

Wukong yields without argument, which given what happens next is its own kind of joke. 既如此 is "since it is thus"; in 不必 the 不 shifts to bú before 必.