原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
含詞賦 With rhapsody
對月懷歸
Gazing at the Moon, Longing for Home
唐僧舉步出門小解，只見明月當天，叫：「徒弟。」行者、八戒、沙僧都出來侍立。因感這月清光皎潔，玉宇深沉，真是一輪高照，大地分明。對月懷歸，口占一首古風長篇。詩云：唐僧举步出门小解，只见明月当天，叫：「徒弟。」行者、八戒、沙僧都出来侍立。因感这月清光皎洁，玉宇深沉，真是一轮高照，大地分明。对月怀归，口占一首古风长篇。诗云：
皓魄當空寶鏡懸，山河搖影十分全。皓魄当空宝镜悬，山河摇影十分全。
瓊樓玉宇清光滿，冰鑑銀盤爽氣旋。琼楼玉宇清光满，冰鉴银盘爽气旋。
萬里此時同皎潔，一年今夜最明鮮。万里此时同皎洁，一年今夜最明鲜。
渾如霜餅離滄海，卻似冰輪掛碧天。浑如霜饼离沧海，却似冰轮挂碧天。
別館寒窗孤客悶，山村野店老翁眠。别馆寒窗孤客闷，山村野店老翁眠。
乍臨漢苑驚秋鬢，才到秦樓促晚奩。乍临汉苑惊秋鬓，才到秦楼促晚奁。
庾亮有詩傳晉史，袁宏不寐泛江船。庾亮有诗传晋史，袁宏不寐泛江船。
光浮杯面寒無力，清映庭中健有仙。光浮杯面寒无力，清映庭中健有仙。
處處窗軒吟白雪，家家院宇弄冰弦。处处窗轩吟白雪，家家院宇弄冰弦。
今宵靜玩來山寺，何日相同返故園？今宵静玩来山寺，何日相同返故园？
逐句解 Line by line
唐僧舉步出門小解，只見明月當天，叫：「徒弟。」
唐僧举步出门小解，只见明月当天，叫：「徒弟。」
Tripitaka stepped out the door to relieve himself, and, seeing the bright moon filling the sky, called: “Disciples.”
小解 "to make water"; 當天 "high overhead," 當 read dāng.
行者、八戒、沙僧都出來侍立。
行者、八戒、沙僧都出来侍立。
The Pilgrim, Bajie, and Sha Monk all came out and stood in attendance.
侍立 "to stand in waiting"; 行 read xíng, 都 read dōu.
因感這月清光皎潔，玉宇深沉，真是一輪高照，大地分明。
因感这月清光皎洁，玉宇深沉，真是一轮高照，大地分明。
Moved by the moon's pure, bright radiance and the deep serenity of the jade heavens — a single orb hung high, and the whole earth was distinct beneath it —
玉宇 "the jade firmament, the heavens"; 一輪 "a single wheel/orb"; 大地分明 "the earth all clear," 分 read fēn.
對月懷歸，口占一首古風長篇。
对月怀归，口占一首古风长篇。
gazing at the moon and longing for home, he composed aloud a long poem in the old style.
口占 "to compose extempore, aloud," 占 read zhàn; 古風長篇 "a long piece in the ancient (unregulated) style," 長 read cháng.
詩云：
诗云：
The poem ran:
The verse-tag introducing Tripitaka's moon-poem.
皓魄當空寶鏡懸，山河搖影十分全。
皓魄当空宝镜悬，山河摇影十分全。
The bright disc hangs in the void, a jewelled mirror suspended; mountains and rivers shake their reflections, whole and complete.
皓魄 "the bright soul," a kenning for the full moon; 當空 當 read dāng; 十分全 "utterly entire," 分 read fēn.
瓊樓玉宇清光滿，冰鑑銀盤爽氣旋。
琼楼玉宇清光满，冰鉴银盘爽气旋。
Jade towers and halls brim with its clear light; an icy mirror, a silver platter, the crisp air wheels about it.
瓊樓玉宇 "towers of jasper, halls of jade," the moon-palace; 冰鑑 "ice-mirror," 銀盤 "silver salver" — both figures for the moon.
萬里此時同皎潔，一年今夜最明鮮。
万里此时同皎洁，一年今夜最明鲜。
For ten thousand li, this hour, all share its purity; of the whole year, this night it shines most fresh and bright.
萬里 "ten thousand li," the whole world; the couplet marks a mid-autumn brilliance.
渾如霜餅離滄海，卻似冰輪掛碧天。
浑如霜饼离沧海，却似冰轮挂碧天。
Just like a frost-cake risen from the grey sea, or an icy wheel hung in the sapphire sky.
霜餅 "frost-cake," 冰輪 "ice-wheel" — moon-figures; 似 read sì.
別館寒窗孤客悶，山村野店老翁眠。
别馆寒窗孤客闷，山村野店老翁眠。
By a cold window in a strange lodging, the lone traveller frets; in a hill-village wayside inn, the old man sleeps.
別館 "a guest-lodge away from home"; 孤客 "the solitary traveller" — Tripitaka's own case.
乍臨漢苑驚秋鬢，才到秦樓促晚奩。
乍临汉苑惊秋鬓，才到秦楼促晚奁。
Falling of a sudden on the Han gardens, it startles autumn temples grey; just reaching the towers of Qin, it hastens the evening toilet-case.
漢苑 "the gardens of Han," 秦樓 "the towers of Qin" — poetic settings; 晚奩 "the evening dressing-case," 奩 read lián. Moonlight silvers grey hair and calls ladies to their mirrors.
庾亮有詩傳晉史，袁宏不寐泛江船。
庾亮有诗传晋史，袁宏不寐泛江船。
Yu Liang left verses that pass down in the Jin annals; Yuan Hong, unsleeping, drifted in his river-boat.
庾亮 (Yǔ Liàng) and 袁宏 (Yuán Hóng), Jin-dynasty figures famed for moon-viewing on the river; 傳 read chuán. Tripitaka sets himself in a long line of moon-gazers.
光浮杯面寒無力，清映庭中健有仙。
光浮杯面寒无力，清映庭中健有仙。
Its light floats on the cup's face, cold and without force; its clarity shines in the courtyard — vigorous, as though a spirit were there.
庭中 "in the courtyard," 中 read zhōng; the couplet turns the moon on wine-cup and courtyard.
處處窗軒吟白雪，家家院宇弄冰弦。
处处窗轩吟白雪，家家院宇弄冰弦。
Everywhere at lattice and window they chant the ‘White Snow’; in every courtyard they finger icy strings.
白雪 the “White Snow” (陽春白雪), a lofty ancient air; 冰弦 "icy strings," a zither. The moonlit night draws out refined music and song.
今宵靜玩來山寺，何日相同返故園？
今宵静玩来山寺，何日相同返故园？
Tonight I quietly savour it, come to this mountain temple; on what day, all together, shall we return to the old garden?
相同 "together, in company," 相 read xiāng; 故園 "the old home-garden." The poem ends, as it began, in homesickness.
總評 Commentary
The chapter now turns from farce to lyric. Stepping out beneath a brilliant moon, Tripitaka is moved to compose a long poem in the old style — a set-piece of mid-autumn moon-verse in the received tradition, dense with the conventional kennings (the "bright soul," the "jewelled mirror," the "ice-wheel," the "silver salver") and the conventional scenes (the lone traveller at his cold window, the sleeping villager, silvered hair, ladies at their mirrors).
The poem is learned, invoking the Jin moon-gazers Yu Liang and Yuan Hong to place the pilgrim within a long lineage of those who have watched this same moon and felt this same longing. Its frame is emotional rather than doctrinal: the moon is beauty and occasion, and it draws Tripitaka's thoughts, as moonlight in this tradition always does, toward home — the poem opens and closes on the ache of the traveller far from the "old garden."
That homesick reading of the moon is precisely what Wukong will answer in the passage that follows. Tripitaka sees the moon as a poet; Wukong will see it as an adept, reading its waxing and waning as a diagram of inner-alchemical process. The juxtaposition — lyric feeling set against esoteric doctrine — is the chapter's philosophical heart, and the poem is composed to be the beautiful, insufficient thing the discourse then deepens.