夜擾禪堂 A Night Disturbance in the Meditation Hall
這行者保護了三藏。那本寺中的和尚見他們與太子這樣綢繆，怎不恭敬？卻又安排齋供，管待了唐僧，依然還歇在禪堂裡。將近有一更時分，行者心中有事，急睡不著。他一轂轆爬起來，到唐僧床前，叫：「師父。」此時長老還未睡哩，他曉得行者會失驚打怪的，推睡不應。行者摸著他的光頭，亂搖道：「師父怎睡著了？」唐僧怒道：「這個頑皮，這早晚還不睡，吆喝甚麼？」行者道：「師父，有一樁事兒，和你計較計較。」長老道：「甚麼事？」这行者保护了三藏。那本寺中的和尚见他们与太子这样绸缪，怎不恭敬？却又安排斋供，管待了唐僧，依然还歇在禅堂里。将近有一更时分，行者心中有事，急睡不着。他一毂辘爬起来，到唐僧床前，叫：「师父。」此时长老还未睡哩，他晓得行者会失惊打怪的，推睡不应。行者摸着他的光头，乱摇道：「师父怎睡着了？」唐僧怒道：「这个顽皮，这早晚还不睡，吆喝甚么？」行者道：「师父，有一桩事儿，和你计较计较。」长老道：「甚么事？」
逐句解 Line by line
Now this Pilgrim was guarding Tripitaka.
三藏 is Tripitaka, whose name means the 'Three Baskets' of the Buddhist canon — 藏 read zàng, the storehouse sense, not cáng, 'to hide.' 行 = xíng; 了 = le.
The monks of that temple, seeing how closely the pilgrims were bound up with the prince, how could they not be respectful?
綢繆 is 'tightly wound together,' said of people on close terms. The monks, watching their guests turn out to be intimates of the crown prince, discover a new depth of hospitality. 那 = nà; 中 = zhōng; 太子: 子 = zǐ.
So they laid on a vegetarian feast, saw to the Tang Monk's needs, and had him lodge as before in the meditation hall.
齋供 is a vegetarian offering-meal laid on for monks. 禪堂 is the meditation hall. 依然還, as before, still (還 = hái).
As it drew near the first watch, the Pilgrim, with a matter on his mind, was too anxious to sleep.
一更時分 is around the first night-watch, roughly seven to nine in the evening (更 = gēng; 一 = yì before it). 心中有事: something on his mind (中 = zhōng). 急睡不著: too worked up to drop off — 著 here is zháo, the reading that marks a thing accomplished, so 睡著 is 'to get to sleep' and 不 takes the tone bù before it. 將 = jiāng, 'drawing near.'
He rolled over, scrambled up, went to the Tang Monk's bedside, and called: 'Master.'
一轂轆 is 'with a roll' — 轂轆 read gū lù, a vernacular word for tumbling over, the ancestor of the modern 骨碌 (gū lu). Neither character is doing its dictionary job here as a wheel-hub or a windlass; the pair is simply a sound-word for rolling. So he rolls out of bed and pads over to wake his master, which is where one of the novel's fondest running jokes begins.
At this hour the elder was not yet asleep; knowing that the Pilgrim was given to alarms and demon-startling antics, he feigned sleep and did not answer.
失驚打怪 — to raise alarms and make a fuss about demons. It is Tripitaka's private assessment of his disciple, and the reason he decides to be asleep. 推睡不應: feigns sleep and does not answer, with 應 as yìng, 'to respond,' which shifts 不 to bú. 長老: 長 = zhǎng, 'elder.' 曉得: 得 = dé. 還 = hái.
The Pilgrim felt his bald pate, shook it about, and said: 'Master, how are you fast asleep?'
One character, two readings, inside a single line — a small gift for anyone learning to read this book. 摸著 uses 著 as zhe, which shows an action going on (feeling the head), while 睡著了 uses it as zháo, which shows an action that came off (asleep, and stayed asleep).
The Tang Monk said angrily: 'You mischief — at this hour of night, still not asleep, what are you bawling about?'
這早晚 is a lovely vernacular idiom — 'at this hour of the night,' literally 'this early-late.' 還不睡: still not asleep (還 = hái). 甚麼 = shén me. Any tired sleeper woken by an over-eager housemate will recognize the tone exactly.
The Pilgrim said: 'Master, there is a matter I would talk over with you.'
一樁事兒, a certain matter (兒 the light ending). 計較 is to talk a thing over and weigh it. 和你: with you (和 = hé).
The elder said: 'What matter?'
He gives in and asks. 長老: 長 = zhǎng, 'elder.' 甚麼 = shén me.
The chapter's third movement opens at the temple, and the tone turns first domestic and then comic. The grateful monks lay on a feast; Wukong cannot sleep for the thing on his mind; and what follows is one of the novel's fondest running jokes — the Monkey King rousing his master in the small hours, and the master lying there pretending to be asleep.
Tripitaka's feigned sleep is finely observed. He knows his disciple's temperament — 'given to alarms and demon-startling antics' — and his irritation when he finally answers is the pure exasperation of a tired man woken for no reason he can yet see. The exchange humanizes the master-and-disciple bond by grounding a cosmic quest in the friction of shared quarters.
Structurally the passage is a hinge. The matter Wukong is about to raise — the difficulty of convicting a demon who has ruled convincingly for three years — reframes the coming confrontation as a problem not of force but of proof, and sets up the argument, half doctrinal and half comic, that fills the next scene.