僧官傲慢 The Abbot's Contempt
那道人急到方丈報道：「老爺，外面有個人來了。」那僧官即起身，換了衣服，按一按毘盧帽，披上袈裟，急開門迎接，問道人：「那裡人來？」道人用手指定道：「那正殿後邊不是一個人？」那三藏光著一個頭，穿一領二十五條達摩衣，足下登一雙拖泥帶水的達公鞋，斜倚在那後門首。僧官見了，大怒道：「道人少打！你豈不知我是僧官，但只有城上來的士夫降香，我方出來迎接？這等個和尚，你怎麼多虛少實，報我接他？看他那嘴臉，不是個誠實的，多是雲遊方上僧，今日天晚，想是要來借宿。我們方丈中，豈容他打攪？教他往前廊下蹲罷了，報我怎麼？」抽身轉去。那道人急到方丈报道：「老爷，外面有个人来了。」那僧官即起身，换了衣服，按一按毘卢帽，披上袈裟，急开门迎接，问道人：「那里人来？」道人用手指定道：「那正殿后边不是一个人？」那三藏光着一个头，穿一领二十五条达摩衣，足下登一双拖泥带水的达公鞋，斜倚在那后门首。僧官见了，大怒道：「道人少打！你岂不知我是僧官，但只有城上来的士夫降香，我方出来迎接？这等个和尚，你怎么多虚少实，报我接他？看他那嘴脸，不是个诚实的，多是云游方上僧，今日天晚，想是要来借宿。我们方丈中，岂容他打搅？教他往前廊下蹲罢了，报我怎么？」抽身转去。
逐句解 Line by line
The servitor hurried to the abbot's quarters and reported: "Your Reverence, someone has come outside."
方丈 is the abbot's quarters and, by a short step, the abbot. 老爺 is a deferential "sir" or "your honour"; 那 is nà.
The abbot rose at once, changed his robe, settled his Vairocana cap, threw on his kāṣāya, hurried to open the door in welcome, and asked the servitor: "Where has this visitor come from?"
Watch him dress. A 僧官 is a monk holding official rank — a state appointment, not merely a spiritual office, which explains a good deal about his manners. The 毘盧帽, "Vairocana cap," is a five-lobed ceremonial hat, and the 袈裟 is the kashaya, the patchwork robe. A man does not put all that on for a passing stranger; he is expecting somebody worth impressing.
The servitor pointed and said: "Isn't that a man there, behind the main hall?"
指定 is to point out. 那 is nà.
There stood Tripitaka, bare-headed, wearing a twenty-five-strip Dharma robe and, on his feet, a pair of mud-draggled monk's sandals, leaning aslant by the back door.
And what he sees is a shabby traveller leaning on a doorframe. 光著 is bare, with 著 as the running zhe — bare-headed, in this case. The 二十五條達摩衣 is a kashaya sewn from twenty-five strips, and 達公鞋 are rough monk's sandals — both named for Bodhidharma, 達 read dá, the way an English maker's name attaches to a style. 拖泥帶水, "dragging mud and trailing water," is still the idiom for anything sloppy or half-done, and here it is being used with unusual literalness. 那 is nà.
The abbot, seeing him, flew into a rage: "You servitor, you're asking for a beating!"
少打 is a scolding threat, roughly "you're one step short of a beating," 少 read shǎo. Note who gets shouted at: not the visitor, the servant.
"Don't you know that I am the abbot, and come out only to receive gentlemen from the city who come to offer incense?"
He states his policy without embarrassment. 士夫 are gentlemen and officials; 降香 is to offer incense, 降 read jiàng. Courtesy is reserved for donors.
"A monk of this sort — why do you make so much of nothing and report him for me to receive?"
多虛少實 is "much empty show, little substance," 少 read shǎo.
"Look at that face of his — no honest man; most likely a wandering mendicant, and now the day's late he'll be wanting to beg a night's lodging."
嘴臉 is "mug"; 雲遊方上僧 is a cloud-wandering itinerant monk — which is exactly what Tripitaka is, and exactly what the abbot despises. 那 is nà.
"Would I let him disturb our abbot's quarters?"
打攪 is to disturb or trouble; 中 is zhōng.
"Just send him to squat under the front verandah and be done — why report to me?"
The sentence: squat outside. 蹲 is to squat or crouch; 罷了 is the dismissive "and that's that," 罷 read bà; 教 is jiào, to make or tell somebody do something.
And he turned on his heel and went off.
抽身轉去 is to draw back and turn away. He does not give the matter a second thought, which is the last comfortable moment he will have in this chapter.
The abbot is introduced through a small, damning sequence. Told a visitor has come, he dresses with care — a change of robe, the Vairocana cap settled, the kashaya thrown on — plainly expecting somebody worth the effort. The instant he sees a travel-worn monk leaning by the back door his manner curdles: he berates his own servant for troubling him, announces that he comes out only for city gentlemen bringing incense, and orders the stranger sent to squat under the eaves.
The satire is characteristic of the novel and it is aimed carefully. This is a Buddhist abbot, keeper of a rich house full of images of compassion, who judges a fellow monk entirely by his clothes and saves every courtesy for the powerful. His snobbery inverts everything his establishment professes. Tripitaka's earnest reverence before the temple statuary, two passages ago, now stands directly against the unkindness of the living man who runs the place.