Canonical Classics ← 第三十六回
第三十六回
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The Mind-Monkey, Rightly Settled, Subdues All Conditions · Cleaving the Side-Gate, He Sees the Bright Moon

人離鄉賤
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

人離鄉賤 Away from Home, Held Cheap

zhǎnglǎowényán滿mǎnyǎnchuílèidào:「liánliánzhècáishìrénxiāngjiàncóngxiǎoerchūjiāzuòleshàngyòucéngbàichànchīhūnshēngdǎikànjīnghuáihuàichánxīnyòucéngdiūpāozhuānshāng殿diànāluóliǎnshàngzhēnjīnliánazhīshìshìchùshāngtiānjiàojīnshēngchángliángrén。──shàngliúmen宿便biànlezěnmeyòushuōzhèděngbèilǎnhuàjiàomenzàiqiándàolángxiàdūnhuàxíngzhěshuōháihǎoruòshuōlehóuzijìnláidùntiěbàngguǎidōuduànde。」zhǎnglǎodào:「chángyándào:『rénjiāngyuèwéixiān。』qiějìnwènshēngkànxià?」zhǎnglǎowényánmǎnyǎnchuílèidào:「liánliánzhècáishìrénxiāngjiàncóngxiǎoerchūjiāzuòleshàngyòucéngbàichànchīhūnshēngdǎikànjīng怀huáihuàichánxīnyòucéngdiūpāozhuānshāng殿diànāluóliǎnshàngzhēnjīnliánazhīshìshìchùshāngtiānjiàojīnshēngchángliángrén。──shàngliúmen宿便biànlezěnmeyòushuōzhèděngbèilǎnhuàjiàomenzàiqiándàolángxiàdūnhuàxíngzhěshuōháihǎoruòshuōlehóuzijìnláidùntiěbàngguǎidōuduànde。」zhǎnglǎodào:「chángyándào:『rénjiāngyuèwéixiān。』qiějìnwènshēngkànxià?」


逐句解 Line by line

zhǎnglǎowényán滿mǎnyǎnchuílèidào:「liánlián zhǎnglǎowényánmǎnyǎnchuílèidào:「liánlián

The elder, hearing this, brimmed with tears and said: “How pitiful, how pitiful!”

滿眼垂淚 "eyes full, shedding tears"; 長 read zhǎng.

zhècáishìrénxiāngjiàn zhècáishìrénxiāngjiàn

“This indeed is what it means: away from home, a man is held cheap.”

人離鄉賤 a proverb — "a person is despised once far from home" (the counterpart to 物離鄉貴, "goods are dear far from where they're made").

cóngxiǎoerchūjiāzuòleshàngyòucéngbàichànchīhūnshēngdǎikànjīnghuáihuàichánxīn cóngxiǎoerchūjiāzuòleshàngyòucéngbàichànchīhūnshēngdǎikànjīng怀huáihuàichánxīn

“I, your disciple, left home as a small child and became a monk; never at my penances have I eaten meat or harboured evil thoughts, never at the scriptures have I nursed anger and spoiled the meditative mind;”

從小兒 "from childhood," 兒 the colloquial suffix er. 拜懺 (bài chàn) "to perform rites of repentance"; 吃葷 "to eat meat or pungent foods"; 禪心 "the meditative mind."

yòucéngdiūpāozhuānshāng殿diànāluóliǎnshàngzhēnjīn yòucéngdiūpāozhuānshāng殿diànāluóliǎnshàngzhēnjīn

“nor have I flung tile or hurled brick to damage a Buddha-hall, nor stripped the true gold from an arhat's face.”

丟瓦拋磚 "to throw tiles and bricks"; 阿羅 (ā luó) arhat (阿羅漢); 剝真金 "to strip off the gilding"; 佛 read .

“Alas!”

(yī) an exclamation of grief.

liána liána

“How pitiful!”

可憐 "how pitiful, how pitiable" — the refrain of the lament.

zhīshìshìchùshāngtiānjiàojīnshēngchángliángrén zhīshìshìchùshāngtiānjiàojīnshēngchángliángrén

“I know not in what former life I offended Heaven and Earth, that in this present life I so often meet with unkind men.”

那世 "which former life," 那 read ; 觸傷天地 "to offend Heaven and Earth"; 教 "to cause," read jiào.

──shàngliúmen宿便biànlezěnmeyòushuōzhèděngbèilǎnhuàjiàomenzàiqiándàolángxiàdūn ──shàngliúmen宿便biànlezěnmeyòushuōzhèděngbèilǎnhuàjiàomenzàiqiándàolángxiàdūn

“— Monk, if you won't lodge us, well and good; but why speak such slovenly words and send us to squat under the front verandah?”

便罷了 "and let it be at that," 罷 read ; 憊懶話 "lazy, churlish words"; 教 read jiào; 和尚 read shàng.

huàxíngzhěshuōháihǎoruòshuōlehóuzijìnláidùntiěbàngguǎidōuduànde。」 huàxíngzhěshuōháihǎoruòshuōlehóuzijìnláidùntiěbàngguǎidōuduànde。」

“It's just as well not to tell the Pilgrim this; for if I did, and that monkey came in, one round of his iron rod would snap the very ankle-bones of you.”

那猴子 "that monkey," 那 read ; 孤拐 (gū guǎi) the ankle-bone; 都 read dōu; 還 read hái. A flash of the comedy to come.

zhǎnglǎodào:「 zhǎnglǎodào:「

The elder said: “Well, let it be, let it be.”

也罷 "so be it," 罷 read ; 長 read zhǎng.

chángyándào:『rénjiāngyuèwéixiān。』 chángyándào:『rénjiāngyuèwéixiān。』

“As the common saying goes: ‘A man puts rites and music first.’”

禮樂 (lǐ yuè) "rites and music," the Confucian pairing — 樂 read yuè ("music"). 將…為 "to take…as," 將 read jiāng, 為 read wéi.

qiějìnwènshēngkànxià?」 qiějìnwènshēngkànxià?」

“Let me go in and ask him once, and see how his mind inclines.”

意下如何 "how his intent stands." Tripitaka steels himself to face the abbot in person.


總評 Commentary

Overhearing the abbot's dismissal, Tripitaka dissolves into tears and a lament — the proverb "away from home, a man is held cheap," a protest of his lifelong monastic blamelessness (he has never broken his abstinence, defaced a shrine, or robbed an image), and a karmic self-questioning: in what former life did he so offend Heaven that he must now keep meeting unkind men? It is a set-piece of self-pity, tender and faintly ridiculous at once.

The lament also carries a flash of the comedy the chapter is building toward. Mid-grief, Tripitaka lets slip that it is as well Wukong hasn't heard this, for the monkey would snap the abbot's ankle-bones with one blow of his rod — the meek master invoking his fearsome disciple. He then rallies himself with a Confucian proverb ("a man puts rites and music first") and resolves to try courtesy in person, walking straight into the confrontation the reader can see coming.