掩門看經 Reading the Sutras Behind Closed Doors
三藏道：「也罷，徒弟們走路辛苦，先去睡下。等我把這卷經來念一念。」行者道：「師父差了。你自幼出家，做了和尚，小時的經文，那本不熟？卻又領了唐王旨意，上西天見佛，求取大乘真典。如今功未完成，佛未得見，經未曾取，你念的是那卷經兒？」三藏道：「我自出長安，朝朝跋涉，日日奔波，小時的經文恐怕生了。幸今夜得閑，等我溫習溫習。」行者道：「既這等說，我們先去睡也。」他三人各往一張藤床上睡下。長老掩上禪堂門，高剔銀缸，鋪開經本，默默看念。正是那：三藏道：「也罢，徒弟们走路辛苦，先去睡下。等我把这卷经来念一念。」行者道：「师父差了。你自幼出家，做了和尚，小时的经文，那本不熟？却又领了唐王旨意，上西天见佛，求取大乘真典。如今功未完成，佛未得见，经未曾取，你念的是那卷经儿？」三藏道：「我自出长安，朝朝跋涉，日日奔波，小时的经文恐怕生了。幸今夜得闲，等我温习温习。」行者道：「既这等说，我们先去睡也。」他三人各往一张藤床上睡下。长老掩上禅堂门，高剔银缸，铺开经本，默默看念。正是那：
逐句解 Line by line
Tripitaka said: “Well, so be it — disciples, you're worn out from the road; go and lie down first.”
也罷 "well, so be it," 罷 read bà; 走路辛苦 "worn out from travelling"; 藏 read zàng.
“Let me take this scroll of scripture and recite it a while.”
這卷經 "this scroll of scripture," 卷 read juàn (the measure for a fascicle or scroll); 念一念 "to recite a bit."
The Pilgrim said: “Master, you're mistaken.”
差了 "you're wrong, mistaken," 差 read chà (the "amiss" sense, not the "dispatch" chāi); 行 read xíng.
“You left home in your youth and became a monk — of the scriptures you learned as a boy, which volume aren't you fluent in?”
那本不熟 "which volume are you not fluent in" — 那 the interrogative, read nǎ ("which"); 和尚 read hé shàng. A rhetorical challenge: he knows them all.
“And you've received the Tang Emperor's command besides, to go to the Western Heaven, behold the Buddha, and fetch the true canon of the Great Vehicle.”
大乘 "the Great Vehicle," Mahāyāna — 乘 read shèng (the Buddhist-vehicle sense); 佛 read fó; 真典 "the true canon."
“As it is, the work is not yet done, the Buddha not yet seen, the scriptures not yet fetched — which scroll of scripture is it you're reciting?”
未得見 "not yet gained a sight of," 得 read dé; 那卷經兒 "which scroll of scripture" — 那 the interrogative nǎ, 卷 read juàn, 經兒 with colloquial suffix 兒 read er. Wukong's needling logic.
Tripitaka said: “Since I left Chang'an, morning after morning trudging, day after day toiling, I'm afraid the scriptures of my boyhood have grown rusty.”
朝朝跋涉 "morning after morning trudging," 朝 read zhāo ("morning," paired with 日日 "day after day"); 長安 Chang'an, 長 read cháng; 生了 "grown unfamiliar, rusty"; 藏 read zàng.
“Lucky to have this evening free, let me run over them once again.”
得閑 "to get some leisure," 得 read dé; 溫習 "to review, revise."
The Pilgrim said: “If that's how it is, we'll go to sleep first.”
行 read xíng. Wukong yields the point and lets his master study.
The three of them each lay down to sleep on a rattan bed.
藤床 "a rattan bed"; 往 here "onto."
The elder closed the meditation-hall door, trimmed the silver lamp high, spread open the scripture, and read it silently.
高剔銀缸 "to trim the wick of the silver lamp high" (缸 here the oil-lamp); 鋪開經本 "to spread open the scripture," 鋪 read pū; 默默看念 "to read silently"; 長 read zhǎng.
And it was just as:
The verse-tag introducing the closing night-scene couplet; 那 read nà.
At the tower-top the first drum sounds, the cooking-smoke grown still; by the wild shore the fisher-boat's fire is at its dying.
初鼓 "the first drum," the first watch of the night; 人煙 "cooking-smoke, human habitation"; 野浦 "the wild riverbank"; 漁舟 "fishing-boat." A still, late-night close to the day.
The symposium over, the pilgrims prepare for the night, but Tripitaka wants first to recite a scroll of scripture — and Wukong, unexpectedly, argues him out of it. His reasoning is pointedly practical: a monk since boyhood, Tripitaka knows the sutras by heart; and since the great work is unfinished — the Buddha unseen, the true scriptures unfetched — what scroll is there yet worth reciting? Tripitaka's gentle reply, that the road has left his old learning rusty and he would like to review it, both preserves his diligence and quietly concedes the point.
The exchange is a small character-piece that rounds off the chapter's re-ranking of master and disciple: the same Wukong who read the deeper meaning of the moon now gently instructs his master on the priority of the quest itself. The passage then empties into stillness — the disciples asleep on their rattan beds, the elder alone behind the closed door with his trimmed lamp and open book — and the closing couplet fixes the hour: the first night-drum, the settling smoke, a fisherman's fire guttering on the dark water. It is the quiet before the chapter's final turn.