人生四恩 The Four Kindnesses
太子聞言，心中大怒道：「這潑和尚胡說！你那半片衣，憑著你口能舌便，誇好誇強。我的父冤從何未報？你說來我聽。」三藏進前一步，合掌問道：「殿下，為人生在天地之間，能有幾恩？」太子道：「有四恩。」三藏道：「那四恩？」太子道：「感天地蓋載之恩，日月照臨之恩，國王水土之恩，父母養育之恩。」三藏笑曰：「殿下言之有失。太子闻言，心中大怒道：「这泼和尚胡说！你那半片衣，凭着你口能舌便，夸好夸强。我的父冤从何未报？你说来我听。」三藏进前一步，合掌问道：「殿下，为人生在天地之间，能有几恩？」太子道：「有四恩。」三藏道：「那四恩？」太子道：「感天地盖载之恩，日月照临之恩，国王水土之恩，父母养育之恩。」三藏笑曰：「殿下言之有失。
逐句解 Line by line
Hearing this, the prince, in a great rage of heart, said, “This rascally monk talks nonsense!
The rage is real and the insult is period-perfect. 潑和尚 — a "rascally monk" — pairs 潑, rough or shameless, with the title, the way English pairs "damned" with a profession. 心中 takes the locative zhōng.
That half-piece of cloth of yours — relying on your glib mouth and ready tongue, you praise it high and praise it mighty.
He attributes the whole performance to salesmanship. 口能舌便 is a capable mouth and a nimble tongue — glibness, in four characters. 憑著 has 著 as zhe; 那半片衣 takes the pointing nà.
From whence comes this ‘father’s wrong unavenged’?
But he cannot let the line go, and he quotes it back — the surest sign it has landed. The edition marks his quotation of the poem with its own citation brackets. 父冤 is the father's wrong; 未報 is unrequited.
Tell me and let me hear.”
The same five characters he used the first time he demanded the treasures — 你說來我聽. He is asking now, not commanding.
Tripitaka stepped one pace forward, joined his palms, and asked, “Your Highness, to be a man born between heaven and earth — how many debts of kindness can there be?”
Tripitaka steps forward one pace and changes the subject to doctrine, which is how a monk buys time. 為人 has 為 as wéi, to be; 天地之間 is "between heaven and earth."
The prince said, “There are four kindnesses.”
The boy knows the answer instantly, which tells you what his education has consisted of. The 四恩, the Four Kindnesses, are a standard Buddhist set, though the membership varies by source.
Tripitaka said, “Which four kindnesses?”
那四恩 has 那 as the question word nǎ — "which four?"
The prince said, “The kindness of heaven and earth that cover and sustain us; the kindness of sun and moon that shine upon us; the kindness of the king’s land and water; the kindness of father and mother who rear us.”
And he recites them, in four matched clauses: heaven and earth that cover and carry us; sun and moon that shine on us; the sovereign's land and water; father and mother who raise us. It is fluent, correct, and delivered by rote — and the fourth item is the one the monk has been steering toward all along. 蓋載 has 載 as zài, to carry; 照臨 is to shine down upon.
Tripitaka said with a smile, “Your Highness speaks with an error.
The trap opens with a smile and a flat contradiction. 言之有失 — there is a fault in what you say.
Stung by the poem's charge about his father, the prince demands an explanation, and Tripitaka answers by changing the subject to catechism: how many debts of kindness does a man owe? The boy recites the Four Kindnesses — heaven and earth, sun and moon, the sovereign, and parents — fluently and by rote, the way a well-schooled royal would.
Then the monk says he is wrong, which he is not. The point is not doctrine but provocation: by preparing to deny the kindness of parents specifically, Tripitaka is aiming at the one subject the prince cannot discuss calmly. A dry exchange about Buddhist commonplaces is being steered, deliberately, toward the wound.