自立齊天 The Banner of the Great Sage
正飲酒歡會間，有人來報道：「大王，門外有兩個獨角鬼王，要見大王。」猴王道：「教他進來。」那鬼王整衣跑入洞中，倒身下拜。美猴王問他：「你見我何幹？」鬼王道：「久聞大王招賢，無由得見；今見大王授了天籙，得意榮歸，特獻赭黃袍一件，與大王稱慶。肯不棄鄙賤，收納小人，亦得效犬馬之勞。」猴王大喜，將赭黃袍穿起。眾等欣然排班朝拜。即將鬼王封為前部總督先鋒。鬼王謝恩畢，復啟道：「大王在天許久，所授何職？」猴王道：「玉帝輕賢，封我做個甚麼『弼馬溫』。」鬼王聽言，又奏道：「大王有此神通，如何與他養馬？就做個齊天大聖，有何不可？」猴王聞說，歡喜不勝，連道幾個「好！好！好！」教四健將：「就替我快置個旌旗，旗上寫『齊天大聖』四大字，立竿張掛。自此以後，只稱我為齊天大聖，不許再稱大王。亦可傳與各洞妖王，一體知悉。」此不在話下。正饮酒欢会间，有人来报道：「大王，门外有两个独角鬼王，要见大王。」猴王道：「教他进来。」那鬼王整衣跑入洞中，倒身下拜。美猴王问他：「你见我何干？」鬼王道：「久闻大王招贤，无由得见；今见大王授了天箓，得意荣归，特献赭黄袍一件，与大王称庆。肯不弃鄙贱，收纳小人，亦得效犬马之劳。」猴王大喜，将赭黄袍穿起。众等欣然排班朝拜。即将鬼王封为前部总督先锋。鬼王谢恩毕，复启道：「大王在天许久，所授何职？」猴王道：「玉帝轻贤，封我做个甚么『弼马温』。」鬼王听言，又奏道：「大王有此神通，如何与他养马？就做个齐天大圣，有何不可？」猴王闻说，欢喜不胜，连道几个「好！好！好！」教四健将：「就替我快置个旌旗，旗上写『齐天大圣』四大字，立竿张挂。自此以后，只称我为齐天大圣，不许再称大王。亦可传与各洞妖王，一体知悉。」此不在话下。
逐句解 Line by line
As they were merrily drinking, someone came to report, "Great King, outside the gate are two single-horned demon-kings asking to see you."
獨角鬼王, the single-horned demon-kings; 角 is jiǎo, "horn." Their timing is the point: flatterers arriving at the exact moment his pride is rawest.
The Monkey King said, "Show them in."
教他進來 — 教 is causative jiào, "bid them come in."
The demon-kings straightened their robes, hurried into the cave, and threw themselves down to bow.
倒身下拜, "threw themselves down to bow." Here 倒 is dǎo, "to fling down," the same reading it took in 推倒 a passage ago — not the dào, "on the contrary," that sits between them.
The Handsome Monkey King asked them, "What do you come to see me about?"
何幹, "on what business?"
They said, "Long have we heard that the Great King seeks out the worthy, but we had no way to gain an audience. Now, seeing that the Great King has received a heavenly register and come home in triumph, we present an ochre-yellow robe to offer our congratulations. If you will not scorn our lowliness and will take us in, we too may render the service of dog and horse."
The flatterers' gambit, and it is beautifully judged. The gift is a 赭黃袍, an ochre-yellow robe — and ochre-yellow was the emperor's own colour from the Tang dynasty onward. They are not giving him a coat; they are giving him a hint. 效犬馬之勞, "to render the service of dog and horse," is stock self-abasement, still used in formal Chinese today. 一件 takes yí and 不棄 takes bú.
Greatly pleased, the Monkey King put on the ochre robe.
將 here works like 把, the object-marker jiāng that pushes the robe in front of the verb. He puts it on without a moment's hesitation: the first prop of a self-coronation.
The assembled host joyfully drew up in ranks to pay homage.
朝拜 takes 朝 as cháo, "to pay homage at court."
He at once appointed the Demon-Kings Vanguard Commanders of the front division.
In 即將 the 將 is the object-marker jiāng again, and 封為 takes 為 as wéi, "appoint as." He is handing out commissions within minutes of putting on the robe.
Their thanks done, the Demon-Kings spoke again: "The Great King was so long in Heaven — what office were you granted?"
復啟, "spoke again." They have flattered him; now they draw out the grievance, which is what they came for.
The Monkey King said, "The Jade Emperor slights the worthy; he made me some kind of 'Bìmǎwēn.'"
玉帝輕賢, "the Jade Emperor slights the worthy." The private humiliation has hardened into a public charge against Heaven itself.
Hearing this, the Demon-Kings reported further, "With such powers as the Great King's, why tend his horses? Why not style yourself Great Sage Equal to Heaven — what could be wrong with that?"
The fateful suggestion, delivered as if it were obvious. 齊天大聖, "Great Sage Equal to Heaven," is a title nobody can confer but himself — pure assertion, claiming parity with the cosmic order. In 不可 the 不 stays bù before the dipping tone of 可.
Hearing it, the Monkey King was overjoyed beyond bearing and said again and again, "Good! Good! Good!"
歡喜不勝, "overjoyed beyond bearing"; in 不勝 the 不 stays bù before the level tone of 勝 (shèng). Note what delights him. He threw away a real job because it carried no honour, and accepts on the spot an honour that carries no job.
He bade the Four Mighty Generals, "Quickly set up a banner for me, and on it write the four great characters 'Great Sage Equal to Heaven'; raise the pole and hang it out. From now on call me only Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and no longer Great King. Let this be passed to the demon-kings of all the caves, that every one may know it."
教 is causative jiào; 稱我為 takes 為 as wéi. He now legislates his own name — from today, only 齊天大聖, never again 大王 — and has it circulated to every cave. Self-coronation by memo. 不許 takes bù and 一體 takes yì.
Of this no more need be said.
此不在話下, "of this no more need be said" — the storyteller's way of cutting a scene and swinging the camera back to Heaven. The phrase is still in daily Chinese for "that goes without saying." In 不在 the 不 takes bú before the falling tone of 在.
The chapter's second half opens — and with it the second line of the chapter title, 名注齊天 — on perfect timing. The single-horned demon-kings turn up as flatterers at the precise moment Wukong's pride is rawest, bearing an 赭黃袍 whose ochre-yellow is the emperor's own colour. They draw out the grievance first, then plant the suggestion that will define him for the next several chapters: if Heaven undervalues you, call yourself 齊天大聖, Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
The irony is exact. Wukong has just thrown away a real office — laborious, ranked, with a thousand horses genuinely in his charge — because it was beneath his dignity, and he now seizes, 歡喜不勝, a title that commands nothing, governs nothing and carries no duty whatsoever. What the stable post had in substance and lacked in honour, the new title has in honour and lacks in substance. He even legislates the name into being, banning the old 大王. The being who could not bear to be a nobody would rather be an empty Somebody than a useful subordinate.
For a reader following the inner-alchemical thread, this is the 心猿 at its most typical and most dangerous: the mind inflating itself to the size of Heaven. 齊天, "equal to Heaven," names the exact overreach the cultivation traditions warn against — the self claiming parity with the cosmic order instead of falling into line with it. And the claim is not made in private. It is ratified by flatterers and broadcast to seventy-two caves, because an inflated self needs an audience. The banner will bring Heaven's armies down on him within pages. What the chapter has already hinted, though, is that Heaven will not win by breaking the name. It will win by granting it.