巽風算計 The Xun-Wind and the Scheme
好大聖，捻著訣，念聲咒語，往巽地上吸一口氣，吹將去，就是一陣狂風，把八戒撮出皇宮內院，躲離了城池，息了風頭，二人落地，徐徐卻走將來。那獃子心中暗惱，算計要報恨行者，道：「這猴子捉弄我，我到寺裡也捉弄他捉弄：攛道師父，只說他醫得活；醫不活，教師父念緊箍兒咒，把這猴子的腦漿勒出來，方趁我心。」走著路，再再尋思道：「不好，不好。若教他醫人，卻是容易：他去閻王家討將魂靈兒來，就醫活了。只說不許赴陰司，陽世間就能醫活，這法兒才好。」好大圣，捻着诀，念声咒语，往巽地上吸一口气，吹将去，就是一阵狂风，把八戒撮出皇宫内院，躲离了城池，息了风头，二人落地，徐徐却走将来。那呆子心中暗恼，算计要报恨行者，道：「这猴子捉弄我，我到寺里也捉弄他捉弄：撺道师父，只说他医得活；医不活，教师父念紧箍儿咒，把这猴子的脑浆勒出来，方趁我心。」走着路，再再寻思道：「不好，不好。若教他医人，却是容易：他去阎王家讨将魂灵儿来，就医活了。只说不许赴阴司，阳世间就能医活，这法儿才好。」
逐句解 Line by line
The fine Great Sage pinched a magic sign, recited a spell, drew in a breath toward the Xun quarter, and blew it out — and there rose a gale that swept Bajie clear out of the palace precincts, away from the walled city; then he stilled the wind's force, the two came to earth, and walked slowly on.
捻著訣: pinching the hand-sign (著 = zhe). 巽地 is the Xun quarter — 巽 read xùn, the trigram of wind in the eight-trigram scheme, and so the compass point a wind-conjurer faces. It is a bit like tuning to the right frequency before you transmit. 吹將去…走將來: blew it out, then walked on (將 twice = jiāng). 一陣狂風: one gust of wild wind (一 = yí).
The blockhead, secretly seething, plotted to get his revenge on the Pilgrim, and said to himself: 'This monkey has made a fool of me; when I get to the temple, I'll make a fool of him too — I'll egg the Master on, telling him the monkey can cure him back to life;'
心中暗惱: quietly seething (中 = zhōng). 報恨: to pay back a grudge. 捉弄 is to make a fool of somebody, and Bajie uses it twice in one breath — he did it to me, I'll do it to him. 醫得活: can cure him back to life (得 = de). 那 = nà.
'and if he can't cure him, I'll have the Master recite the tightening-fillet spell and squeeze the monkey's brains right out — that would satisfy me.'
緊箍兒咒 is the tightening-fillet spell, the golden band round Wukong's head that contracts on command — the leash Guanyin gave Tripitaka, and the one thing in the world the Great Sage genuinely fears (兒 the light ending). 教師父念: get the Master to recite it (教 = jiào). 腦漿勒出來: squeeze his brains out. He is savoring it.
Walking along, he thought it over again and again: 'No good, no good.'
走著路: as he walks (著 = zhe). 再再尋思: turning it over and over. 不好: no good (不 = bù). And here the scheme gets interesting, because he thinks of an objection to it himself.
'If I have him cure the man, that's easy enough — he'll just go to King Yama's house and fetch back the soul, and the cure is done.'
The flaw in the plan: reviving a man is easy for Wukong. 若教他醫人: if I have him cure the fellow (教 = jiào). 閻王家 is the household of King Yama, who runs the underworld and keeps the ledgers of the dead — and Wukong has form there, having once struck his own name out of the register. 討將魂靈兒來: go and ask for the soul back (將 = jiāng; 兒 the light ending).
'I'll say he's not allowed to go down to the shades — that he must cure him here in the world of the living; that scheme would do the trick.'
So he closes the loophole. 不許赴陰司: no going down to the shades — 陰司 being the netherworld's administration. 陽世間 is the world of the living, the sunlit side (間 = jiān). 這法兒: this scheme (兒 the light ending). It is a genuinely clever piece of malice, and it is the condition that will send Wukong all the way to Heaven in the next chapter.
Wukong whisks the pair out of the city on a conjured gale aimed at the Xun quarter, the trigram of wind, and the setting shifts back toward the temple. The wind-magic is dispatched in a single sentence, which is the novel's usual shorthand for the Great Sage's casual command of the elements — it barely counts as an event.
The passage then goes inside Bajie's head, and his revenge-plot is a small masterpiece of comic malice. Still smarting from the well, he schemes to turn the tables: he will urge Tripitaka to have Wukong revive the king, and when Wukong fails, have the Master recite the tightening-fillet spell and squeeze the monkey's brains out. The relish is entirely in character.
But he is shrewder than he is usually given credit for, and he refines the scheme with a real grasp of what his brother can do. Fetching the king's soul back from King Yama would be far too easy, so he will stipulate that the revival happen here, in the world of the living, with no recourse to the underworld. The condition he invents out of spite is precisely the difficulty that will drive the opening of the next chapter — the whole sequel is planted here, in a pig's grudge.