神將護僧 The Spirits Shield the Monk
說聲「拿」字，兩邊校尉一齊下手，把唐僧抓將下來，急理繩索便綑。行者在匣裡默默的念咒，教道：「護法諸天、六丁六甲，我今設法降妖，這太子不能知識，將繩要綑我師父，汝等即早護持；若真綑了，汝等都該有罪。」那大聖暗中吩咐，誰敢不遵，卻將三藏護持定了，那些人摸也摸不著他光頭，好似一壁牆擋住，難攏其身。说声「拿」字，两边校尉一齐下手，把唐僧抓将下来，急理绳索便捆。行者在匣里默默的念咒，教道：「护法诸天、六丁六甲，我今设法降妖，这太子不能知识，将绳要捆我师父，汝等即早护持；若真捆了，汝等都该有罪。」那大圣暗中吩咐，谁敢不遵，却将三藏护持定了，那些人摸也摸不着他光头，好似一壁墙挡住，难拢其身。
逐句解 Line by line
At the word “Take!”, the yeomen on either side laid hands on him together, seized the Tang Monk and hauled him down, and quickly readied cords to bind him.
The order is obeyed instantly and physically. 校尉 xiào wèi are the guard officers; 抓將下來 has 將 as the directional jiāng, hauling him down off the seat.
Pilgrim, within the casket, silently recited a spell and enjoined: “Dharma-guarding devas, Six Ding and Six Jia — I now work to subdue a fiend, and this prince, unable to know it, would take cords to bind my master; do you protect him at once;
And here is the machinery under the trick. The same guardian powers that kept the ghost out in the opening — the 護法諸天 and the 六丁六甲 — are now ordered to keep the soldiers off. Wukong is not improvising; he is filing a work order. 教道 is to enjoin; 降妖 has 降 as xiáng, to subdue; 將繩 has 將 as jiāng; 太子 keeps 子 as zǐ.
if he be truly bound, the guilt shall fall upon you all.”
The threat is bureaucratic, and all the funnier for it: if my master is actually tied up, the guilt is yours. 都該有罪 takes dōu — all of you.
At the Great Sage’s secret command, who dared not obey? They held Tripitaka fast, so that those men, grope as they might, could not so much as touch his bald head — as if a wall stood blocking them, and they could not close upon his body.
The result is broad comedy: soldiers groping at a man they cannot touch, as if a wall stood in front of him. 摸也摸不著 has 著 as zháo, the reading for a verb that reaches its object — here negated, so it does not. 光頭, the bald head, is the detail that makes it: of all the things they cannot lay a hand on, the text picks the most obviously grabbable. 暗中 takes the locative zhōng; 卻將 has 將 as jiāng; 那大聖 and 那些人 take the pointing nà.
The hidden mechanism is finally shown. Wukong, two cùn tall inside a box, mutters a spell and orders the dharma-guarding devas and the Six Ding and Six Jia to shield his master — with a warning that any real harm will be charged to them. It is worth noticing that these are the same powers whose cordon kept the ghost out on the first night; the chapter has a consistent idea of how supernatural authority is exercised, and it looks a great deal like paperwork.
The effect is farce: guardsmen groping at a monk they cannot lay a finger on, unable even to touch his bald head, as though a wall stood between. The apparently helpless prisoner is in fact the best-defended man in the building, which is what allows a plan this reckless to be run at no risk at all.