師徒問答 Master and Disciples
三藏聽言，心中暗道：「可憐啊！我弟子可是那等樣沒脊骨的和尚？」欲待要哭，又恐那寺裡的老和尚笑他，但暗暗扯衣揩淚，忍氣吞聲，急走出去，見了三個徒弟。那行者見師父面上含怒，向前問：「師父，寺裡和尚打你來？」唐僧道：「不曾打。」八戒說：「一定打來；不是，怎麼還有些哭包聲？」那行者道：「罵你來？」唐僧道：「也不曾罵。」行者道：「既不曾打，又不曾罵，你這般苦惱怎麼？好道是思鄉哩？」唐僧道：「徒弟，他這裡不方便。」行者笑道：「這裡想是道士？」唐僧怒道：「觀裡才有道士，寺裡只是和尚。」行者道：「你不濟事。但是和尚，即與我們一般。常言道：『既在佛會下，都是有緣人。』你且坐，等我進去看看。」三藏听言，心中暗道：「可怜啊！我弟子可是那等样没脊骨的和尚？」欲待要哭，又恐那寺里的老和尚笑他，但暗暗扯衣揩泪，忍气吞声，急走出去，见了三个徒弟。那行者见师父面上含怒，向前问：「师父，寺里和尚打你来？」唐僧道：「不曾打。」八戒说：「一定打来；不是，怎么还有些哭包声？」那行者道：「骂你来？」唐僧道：「也不曾骂。」行者道：「既不曾打，又不曾骂，你这般苦恼怎么？好道是思乡哩？」唐僧道：「徒弟，他这里不方便。」行者笑道：「这里想是道士？」唐僧怒道：「观里才有道士，寺里只是和尚。」行者道：「你不济事。但是和尚，即与我们一般。常言道：『既在佛会下，都是有缘人。』你且坐，等我进去看看。」
逐句解 Line by line
Tripitaka, hearing this, thought to himself: “How pitiful!”
心中暗道 "said silently in his heart"; 藏 read zàng, 中 read zhōng.
“Am I, your disciple, that sort of spineless monk?”
沒脊骨 "without backbone, spineless," 脊 read jǐ; 那 read nà; 和尚 read hé shàng.
He wanted to weep, but feared the old monk of the temple would laugh at him; so he only secretly tugged his sleeve to wipe his tears, swallowed his anger in silence, hurried out, and found his three disciples.
忍氣吞聲 "to swallow one's anger and choke back one's voice" — to endure an injury silently; 那 read nà; 和尚 read hé shàng.
The Pilgrim, seeing the anger in his master's face, came forward and asked: “Master, did the temple monks beat you?”
含怒 "harbouring anger in the face"; 那 read nà, 行 read xíng, 和尚 read hé shàng.
Tripitaka said: “They didn't beat me.”
不曾 "did not, never did" — the vernacular negative perfective.
Bajie said: “They must have beaten you;”
一定 "surely, certainly." Bajie leaps to the dramatic conclusion.
“if not, why the sound of blubbering?”
哭包聲 "a snivelling, cry-baby tone"; 還 read hái. Bajie's needling is characteristically blunt.
The Pilgrim said: “Did they curse you?”
那 read nà, 行 read xíng.
Tripitaka said: “They didn't curse me either.”
也不曾 "nor did they" — continuing the denial.
The Pilgrim said: “If they neither beat you nor cursed you, why are you so distressed?”
行 read xíng.
“Could it be you're homesick?”
好道 "could it be, surely it isn't"; 思鄉 "longing for home."
Tripitaka said: “Disciple, it isn't convenient here.”
不方便 "inconvenient" — Tripitaka's delicate euphemism for the refusal.
The Pilgrim said with a laugh: “The folk here must be Daoists, I suppose?”
道士 (dào shì) a Daoist priest; 行 read xíng. Wukong's guess — implying only Daoists would be so ungracious to Buddhist pilgrims.
Tripitaka said crossly: “It's abbeys that have Daoists; a temple has only monks.”
觀 (guàn) a Daoist abbey, as opposed to 寺, a Buddhist temple — 觀 read guàn; 和尚 read hé shàng. Tripitaka corrects the terminology even in his distress.
The Pilgrim said: “You're no use at this.”
不濟事 "useless, no good at it," 濟 read jì; 行 read xíng.
“If they're monks, then they're of a kind with us.”
一般 "the same, of one sort"; 和尚 read hé shàng.
“As the saying goes: ‘All who are gathered beneath the Buddha's assembly are people bound by affinity.’”
佛會 "the Buddha's assembly, congregation"; 有緣人 "those with karmic affinity (緣)"; 佛 read fó, 都 read dōu.
“You sit here; let me go in and have a look.”
Wukong takes the matter into his own hands — as the next passage will show, with results very different from his master's meekness.
Tripitaka retreats to his disciples, swallowing his humiliation — he would weep but for fear of the old monk's mockery — and the register shifts abruptly from pathos to comedy. Wukong and Bajie interrogate him with rapid, blunt questions: Were you beaten? Cursed? Homesick? Bajie, hearing the "blubbering" in his master's voice, is sure there was a beating. Tripitaka can only manage a delicate euphemism — "it isn't convenient here."
The exchange restores the party's comic dynamic after the abbot's unpleasantness and pivots the chapter toward its reversal. Wukong's guess that the inhospitable residents must be Daoists draws a prim correction from his master (abbeys have Daoists; temples have monks), and his closing appeal — that all gathered under the Buddha are bound by affinity — is the pretext for action rather than fellowship. He tells Tripitaka to sit and goes in himself; the meek approach has failed, and the reader knows the Great Sage's will be anything but meek.