換卻黃袍 The Yellow Robe Exchanged for a Monk's
三藏甚不過意，攙起那皇帝來，同入禪堂。又與八戒、行者、沙僧拜見了，方才按座。只見那本寺的僧人整頓了早齋，卻欲來奉獻，忽見那個水衣皇帝，個個驚張，人人疑說。孫行者跳出來道：「那和尚不要這等驚疑。這本是烏雞國王，乃汝之真主也。三年前被怪害了性命，是老孫今夜救活。如今進他城去，要辨明邪正。若有了齋，擺將來，等我們吃了走路。」眾僧即奉獻湯水，與他洗了面，換了衣服。把那皇帝赭黃袍脫了，本寺僧官將兩領布直裰與他穿了；解下藍田帶，將一條黃絲絛子與他繫了；褪下無憂履，與他一雙舊僧鞋撒了。卻才都吃了早齋，扣背馬匹。三藏甚不过意，搀起那皇帝来，同入禅堂。又与八戒、行者、沙僧拜见了，方才按座。只见那本寺的僧人整顿了早斋，却欲来奉献，忽见那个水衣皇帝，个个惊张，人人疑说。孙行者跳出来道：「那和尚不要这等惊疑。这本是乌鸡国王，乃汝之真主也。三年前被怪害了性命，是老孙今夜救活。如今进他城去，要辨明邪正。若有了斋，摆将来，等我们吃了走路。」众僧即奉献汤水，与他洗了面，换了衣服。把那皇帝赭黄袍脱了，本寺僧官将两领布直裰与他穿了；解下蓝田带，将一条黄丝绦子与他系了；褪下无忧履，与他一双旧僧鞋撒了。却才都吃了早斋，扣背马匹。
逐句解 Line by line
Tripitaka, much abashed, helped the emperor up and they went together into the meditation hall.
三藏: 藏 = zàng. 甚不過意: 甚 = shèn, "greatly" — much embarrassed. Pointing 那皇帝: 那 = nà. A monk being bowed to by an emperor is the wrong way round, and Tripitaka feels it.
Once more the king made his bows to Eight Rules, Pilgrim, and Sha Monk, and only then took his seat.
拜見了, paid his respects. 方才按座, only then sat down. The king insists on bowing to all four of them before he will take a seat.
Just then the monks of the monastery, having set out the morning fast and coming to offer it, suddenly caught sight of that water-robed emperor, and every one of them was startled, everyone in doubtful murmur.
Two 那 point (那本寺, 那個水衣皇帝) = nà. 驚張 is alarmed; 疑說 is muttering in doubt. 水衣皇帝, the "water-robed emperor," is the monks' phrase for what they are looking at: a drowned man in wet clothes, walking about their courtyard at breakfast.
Sun Pilgrim sprang out and said: "You monks, don't be so alarmed and suspicious.
Pointing 那和尚: 那 = nà. 驚疑, startled and doubting.
This is none other than the King of Wūjī, your own true sovereign.
乃汝之真主, "is indeed your true lord." Wukong settles the matter in one flat sentence.
Three years ago a fiend took his life, and old Sun revived him this very night.
被怪害了性命, had his life destroyed by the monster. 今夜救活, revived this very night.
Now we'll enter his city to set right the false from the true.
辨明邪正: 邪 = xié — to sort the crooked from the upright. These are the same four characters Wukong used when he first put the case to Lord Lao, and repeating them here turns the phrase into the expedition's statement of purpose.
If the fast is ready, lay it out — let us eat and be on our way."
擺將來: 將 = jiāng, carrying the action along. 走路 is to set off. Having announced a resurrection, Wukong asks for breakfast.
The monks at once presented broth and water, washed his face for him and changed his clothes.
奉獻湯水, offered soup and water. 換了衣服, changed his clothes.
They stripped off that emperor's ochre-yellow robe, and the monastery's clerics put two lengths of cloth cassock on him to wear;
Pointing 那皇帝: 那 = nà. 將兩領布直裰: 將 = jiāng. The 赭黃袍 is the ochre-yellow robe, a colour no one but the emperor might wear; a 直裰 is a monk's plain long gown. The first item of the disguise is also the gravest demotion available.
they undid his indigo-jade belt and girded him with a length of yellow silk cord;
將一條黃絲絛子: 將 = jiāng; rounding-off 子 = zi. 繫了: 繫 = jì, to tie or gird. The 藍田帶 is a belt set with jade from Lantian, a name that has been a byword for fine jade since antiquity; it comes off in exchange for a length of silk cord.
they slipped off his care-free shoes and gave him an old pair of monk's sandals to shuffle on.
無憂履, "carefree slippers," is royal footwear — the name says the wearer has nothing to worry about. 僧鞋撒了, shuffled into a monk's old sandals. The irony of the name is left to do its own work.
Only then had they all eaten the morning fast, and they saddled and strapped the horses.
卻才都吃了: 都 = dōu. 扣背馬匹 is to strap up the horses' backs.
The passage is quiet business — dressing the king — but it carries real weight. To walk his revived sovereign back into a city the impostor still holds, Wukong must strip him of every mark of kingship: the ochre-yellow robe (赭黃袍, a colour reserved to the emperor), the Lantian-jade belt, the "carefree" royal shoes, all exchanged for a cloth cassock, a yellow silk cord and a worn pair of sandals. The true king is hidden inside the costume of the humblest member of the party, and that reversal of station — sovereign made servant-monk — is the engine of the whole disguise-plot the rest of the chapter runs on.
The monks' terror at the 水衣皇帝, the "water-robed emperor," is the reader's own recognition staged from outside. To the monastery a drowned man walking is an omen; to us it is proof the elixir worked. Wukong's brisk explanation — this is your true lord, dead three years, revived tonight, and we go now to sort out 邪正, the crooked and the upright — restates the chapter's governing pair and turns the company toward the city and the confrontation waiting there.