Canonical Classics ← 第三十八回
第三十八回
yīngérwènzhīxiézhèng
jīncānxuánjiànjiǎzhēn

The Infant Questions His Mother and Learns the Crooked from the Upright · Metal and Wood, Probing the Mystery, Perceive the False and the True

黃金動心
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

黃金動心 Yellow Gold Stirs the Heart

jièdào:「gehǒngzuòzéilizhèmǎimàideguǒshìxiǎoshíshídebāngcùnjiǎngmíngbáitōulebǎobèixiángleyāojīngquènàifánshénmexiǎojiāhǎndefēnbǎobèijiùyàole。」xíngzhědào:「yàozuòshén?」jièdào:「menguāiqiǎonéngyánrénmiànqiánhuàdechūzhāiláilǎozhūshēnziyòuhāngyányòunéngniànjīngruòdàoshēngchùhǎohuànzhāichīme。」xíngzhědào:「lǎosūnzhǐyàomíngshénbǎobèijiù便biànle。」dāizitīngjiànshuōdōujiù滿mǎnxīnhuānlujiāngláitàoshàngjiùxíngzhězǒuzhèshìqīngjiǔhóngrénmiànhuángjīndòngdàoxīnjièdào:「gehǒngzuòzéilizhèmǎimàideguǒshìxiǎoshíshídebāngcùnjiǎngmíngbáitōulebǎobèixiángleyāojīngquènàifánshénmexiǎojiāhǎndefēnbǎobèijiùyàole。」xíngzhědào:「yàozuòshén?」jièdào:「menguāiqiǎonéngyánrénmiànqiánhuàdechūzhāiláilǎozhūshēnziyòuhāngyányòunéngniànjīngruòdàoshēngchùhǎohuànzhāichīme。」xíngzhědào:「lǎosūnzhǐyàomíngshénbǎobèijiù便biànle。」dāizitīngjiànshuōdōujiùmǎnxīnhuānlujiāngláitàoshàngjiùxíngzhězǒuzhèshìqīngjiǔhóngrénmiànhuángjīndòngdàoxīn


逐句解 Line by line

jièdào:「gehǒngzuòzéili jièdào:「gehǒngzuòzéili

Bajie said: 'Brother, you're coaxing me into playing the thief.'

He is not fooled for a second — 哄我去做賊, 'you're coaxing me into thieving' — and he is going anyway. That combination is the whole of Bajie's character in one line.

zhèmǎimàide zhèmǎimàide

'This piece of business — I'll go along with it too.'

去得: I can go, I'm willing ( = de). And then the terms.

guǒshìxiǎoshíshídebāngcùnjiǎngmíngbáitōulebǎobèixiángleyāojīngquènàifánshénmexiǎojiāhǎndefēnbǎobèijiùyàole。」 guǒshìxiǎoshíshídebāngcùnjiǎngmíngbáitōulebǎobèixiángleyāojīngquènàifánshénmexiǎojiāhǎndefēnbǎobèijiùyàole。」

'But if it's a real, solid job of teamwork, let me have it plain with you: once we've stolen the treasure and subdued the demon, I've no patience for any petty, stingy dividing up of the spoils — I'll just take it.'

實實的幫寸: a genuine, solid piece of teamwork. 降了妖精: once the demon is subdued ( = xiáng). 小家罕氣 is 'small-household stinginess,' the pettiness of people who count the spoons; 不奈煩, he cannot be bothered with it ( = ). 曉得: = ; 甚麼 = shén me. No dividing up, he says: I take the lot.

xíngzhědào:「yàozuòshén?」 xíngzhědào:「yàozuòshén?」

The Pilgrim said: 'And what would you want it for?'

Wukong, amused, asks what a monk would even do with it. in 作甚 is shén, 'for what.'

jièdào:「menguāiqiǎonéngyánrénmiànqiánhuàdechūzhāilái jièdào:「menguāiqiǎonéngyánrénmiànqiánhuàdechūzhāilái

Bajie said: 'I'm not clever and glib like you others, able to beg alms to people's faces.'

乖巧能言: quick-witted and good with words. 化得出齋來: able to beg a meal successfully off strangers ( = de). The self-deprecation is real and it is also a bid.

lǎozhūshēnziyòuhāngyányòunéngniànjīngruòdàoshēngchùhǎohuànzhāichīme。」 lǎozhūshēnziyòuhāngyányòunéngniànjīngruòdàoshēngchùhǎohuànzhāichīme。」

'Old Pig is thick of body and coarse of speech, and can't chant the scriptures; so if we come to some place of no help and no living, it would be handy to trade the thing for a meal.'

身子又夯: thick and clumsy of build (身子 takes as the light ending zi; = hāng). 無濟無生處 is a place with no relief and no living to be had ( = chù, 'place'). = . He wants the treasure as a meal fund, which is both mercenary and rather touching.

xíngzhědào:「lǎosūnzhǐyàomíngshénbǎobèi xíngzhědào:「lǎosūnzhǐyàomíngshénbǎobèi

The Pilgrim said: 'Old Sun is only after renown — what would I want with any treasure?'

圖名: to be after a reputation. 那裡圖甚寶貝: 'what would I want with treasure?' — the questioning again, and = shén. It is true, and it costs him nothing to say.

jiù便biànle。」 jiù便biànle。」

'It's yours, and there's an end of it.'

就與你便了: 'yours, and there's an end of it' ( = le). The most generous gift in the book, since there is nothing to give.

dāizitīngjiànshuōdōujiù滿mǎnxīnhuānlujiāngláitàoshàngjiùxíngzhězǒu dāizitīngjiànshuōdōujiùmǎnxīnhuānlujiāngláitàoshàngjiùxíngzhězǒu

When the blockhead heard that it would all be his, his heart was filled with delight; he rolled over and scrambled up, pulled on his clothes, and set off along with the Pilgrim.

都與他: all of it his. 一轂轆爬將起來: rolls over and scrambles up ( = ; = jiāng) — the same rolling word used of Wukong getting out of bed a few scenes ago, now applied to a pig who could not be woken by shouting and is dressed in a second at the word 'gold.' = ; = dōu; = ; = xíng.

zhèshìqīngjiǔhóngrénmiànhuángjīndòngdàoxīn zhèshìqīngjiǔhóngrénmiànhuángjīndòngdàoxīn

This is a case of: clear wine reddens a man's face; yellow gold stirs even the Daoist heart.

清酒紅人面黃金動道心 — 'clear wine reddens a man's face; yellow gold stirs the Daoist heart.' A proverbial pair, quoted here as prose and aimed squarely at the pig who just leapt out of bed. 道心 is the mind of someone on the Way, which is precisely the thing that is supposed to be beyond stirring.


總評 Commentary

Bajie's negotiation completes the con, and he negotiates with his eyes open. He sees straight through the 'business' — you're coaxing me into thieving — and signs on anyway, on one condition: he keeps the treasure. His justification is pure Bajie. Unlike his glib companions he cannot talk a meal out of strangers, so he needs the loot as insurance against hungry days. Self-interest, frankly avowed, is his abiding note.

Wukong closes the deal with a truth that costs him nothing: he is after reputation, not spoils, so Bajie may have the treasure and welcome. The exchange sets the two disciples neatly against each other — one indifferent to reward, the other governed entirely by his appetites — and the promise of gold turns the immovable sleeper into an eager accomplice, up and dressed in a single line.

The scene closes on a proverbial couplet that supplies the moral in miniature: as wine flushes the face, so gold moves even a would-be adept's heart. It gently satirizes the pig's cupidity while sealing the partnership, and the two of them set off — toward the well, and the grim, funny labor waiting at the bottom of it.