原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
含詞賦 With rhapsody
金剛威儀
The Vajra-Guardians
那長老卻丟了錫杖，解下斗篷，整衣合掌，徑入山門。只見兩邊紅漆欄杆裡面，高坐著一對金剛，裝塑的威儀惡醜：那长老却丢了锡杖，解下斗篷，整衣合掌，径入山门。只见两边红漆栏杆里面，高坐著一对金刚，装塑的威仪恶丑：
一個鐵面鋼鬚似活容，一個燥眉圜眼若玲瓏。一个铁面钢须似活容，一个燥眉圜眼若玲珑。
左邊的拳頭骨突如生鐵，右邊的手掌崚嶒賽赤銅。左边的拳头骨突如生铁，右边的手掌崚嶒赛赤铜。
金甲連環光燦爛，明盔繡帶映飄風。金甲连环光灿烂，明盔绣带映飘风。
西方真個多供佛，石鼎中間香火紅。西方真个多供佛，石鼎中间香火红。
逐句解 Line by line
那長老卻丟了錫杖，解下斗篷，整衣合掌，徑入山門。
那长老却丢了锡杖，解下斗篷，整衣合掌，径入山门。
The elder set down his tin staff, unfastened his rain-cape, straightened his robe, pressed his palms together, and went straight in at the temple gate.
錫杖 (xī zhàng) the ringed tin staff (khakkhara) of a Buddhist monk. 斗篷 (dǒu peng) a cape or cloak. 合掌 (hé zhǎng) the pressed-palm gesture of reverence; 那 read nà, 長 read zhǎng.
只見兩邊紅漆欄杆裡面，高坐著一對金剛，裝塑的威儀惡醜：
只见两边红漆栏杆里面，高坐著一对金刚，装塑的威仪恶丑：
He saw, within the red-lacquered railings to either side, a pair of vajra-guardians seated on high, sculpted with a fierce and forbidding majesty:
金剛 (jīn gāng) the vajra-holding guardian kings who flank a temple gate. 高坐著 "seated on high," 著 the durative zhe. 威儀 (wēi yí) "awesome bearing."
一個鐵面鋼鬚似活容，一個燥眉圜眼若玲瓏。
一个铁面钢须似活容，一个燥眉圜眼若玲珑。
One, iron-faced and steel-whiskered, with a look as if alive; one, with bristling brows and round eyes as though wrought clear.
似活容 "a countenance as though living," 似 read sì. 圜眼 "round eyes," 圜 read yuán ("round"). 玲瓏 (líng lóng) "finely wrought, translucent."
左邊的拳頭骨突如生鐵，右邊的手掌崚嶒賽赤銅。
左边的拳头骨突如生铁，右边的手掌崚嶒赛赤铜。
The one on the left, his knuckled fist as knobbed as raw iron; the one on the right, his open palm so ridged and rugged it would outmatch red bronze.
骨突 (gǔ tū) "knobbed, protruding"; 崚嶒 (léng céng) "jagged, rugged"; 賽 (sài) "to rival, surpass."
金甲連環光燦爛，明盔繡帶映飄風。
金甲连环光灿烂，明盔绣带映飘风。
Golden armour of linked rings blazes with light; bright helmets and embroidered sashes flutter and gleam in the wind.
連環 (lián huán) "linked rings," of chain-mail; 盔 (kuī) helmet; 映飄風 "gleaming as they stream in the wind."
西方真個多供佛，石鼎中間香火紅。
西方真个多供佛，石鼎中间香火红。
In the West, truly, they make many offerings to the Buddha; within the stone censer the incense-fire glows red.
真個 "truly, indeed," 個 read gè. 石鼎 (shí dǐng) a stone incense-tripod; 中間 "within," 中 read zhōng, 間 read jiān; 佛 read fó.
總評 Commentary
Tripitaka lays aside staff and cape and enters, and the narrative pauses for a second descriptive verse — a portrait of the two vajra-guardian kings (金剛) whose statues flank the gate of every large Buddhist temple. The description is all hard surfaces and menace: iron faces and steel whiskers, knuckled fists like raw iron, ridged palms, blazing chain-mail — the fierce protectors who keep evil from the sanctuary.
These guardian-figures are a fixed feature of monastery architecture, and their appearance here is partly scene-setting: the temple is grand, its statuary imposing, its devotions evidently rich, the incense-fire glowing in its stone censer. But the martial ferocity of the gate-guardians also sets up a quiet contrast with the human failing waiting inside — for all the temple's fierce protectors and blazing offerings, its abbot will meet the weary pilgrim not with protection or welcome but with contempt.