The monks then bowed once more.

A renewed obeisance as the party is seated.

Tripitaka said: “Prior, please rise; no need for further bowing — it only abases this poor monk. You and I are alike disciples of the Buddha's gate.”

作踐 "to demean, degrade"; 行 read xíng (行禮); 和你 "you and I," 和 here hé; 都 read dōu; 佛 read fó. Tripitaka insists on the kinship of monks the abbot had denied.

The abbot said: “Your Lordship is an envoy of the superior kingdom; this humble monk failed to welcome you properly.”

上國 "the superior kingdom" (China); 欽差 "an imperially commissioned envoy," 差 read chāi; 和尚 read hé shàng.

“Now that you've come to our poor hill — alas that these worldly eyes failed to know your honoured presence, and met your Lordship as if by mere chance.”

荒山 a self-deprecating "wild hill" for the temple; 俗眼 "worldly, undiscerning eyes"; 邂逅相逢 "to meet by chance," 相 read xiāng.

“May I ask your Lordship: on the road, do you keep to a vegetarian diet,”

動問 "may I presume to ask"; 吃素 "to eat vegetarian fare."

“or do you eat meat?”

吃葷 "to eat meat and the pungent foods forbidden to monks."

“so that we may go and prepare the meal.”

辦飯 "to see to the food."

Tripitaka said: “Vegetarian.”

藏 read zàng.

The abbot said to his disciples: “This lord here surely eats meat.”

好的 "surely, no doubt" (colloquial). The abbot assumes the fierce-looking Wukong must be a meat-eater.

The Pilgrim said: “We eat vegetarian too — vegetarian from the womb.”

胎裡素 "vegetarian from within the womb," i.e. lifelong; 都 read dōu, 行 read xíng.

The monk said: “My lord! —”

那 read nà, 和尚 read hé shàng.

“a fierce fellow like this eats vegetarian too?”

兇漢 "a ferocious fellow." The monk's disbelief that so fearsome a creature keeps the abstinence.

One bolder monk came forward and asked further: “Since your Lordships eat vegetarian, how much rice must we cook for a meal to be enough?”

膽量大 "bold, stout-hearted"; 多少 "how much," 少 read shǎo; 和尚 read hé shàng.

Bajie said: “You stingy little monk, why ask?”

小家子 "petty, tight-fisted," 子 the suffix zi; 甚 read shén; 和尚 read hé shàng.

“Each household cooks up a whole picul of rice.”

一石米 "one 石 of rice" — 石 here the grain-measure (about a picul), read shí in the older literary convention (a common modern reading is dàn). Bajie's gluttonous exaggeration alarms the monks.

The monks were all thrown into a panic, and went off to scour the pots and stoves and lay out food in every cell.

那 read nà, 和尚 read hé shàng, 都 read dōu; 各房中 "in every quarter," 中 read zhōng; 刷洗鍋灶 "to scrub the pots and stove."

They raised the bright lamps, set out tables and chairs, and waited on Tripitaka.

高掌明燈 "to hold the lamps up high"; 調開 "to arrange, set out," 調 read diào; 管待 "to attend to, entertain."