掃淨山場 Clearing the Mountain Ground
頃刻間，早見一座山頭。行者道：「這山就是號山了。從此處到那妖精門首，約摸有四百餘里。」菩薩聞言，即命住下祥雲，在那山頭上念一聲「唵」字咒語。只見那山左山右，走出許多神鬼，卻乃是本山土地眾神，都到菩薩寶蓮座下磕頭。菩薩道：「汝等俱莫驚張。我今來擒此魔王，你與我把這團圍打掃乾淨，要三百里遠近地方，不許一個生靈在地。將那窩中小獸，窟內雛蟲，都送在巔峰之上安生。」眾神遵依而退。須臾間，又來回覆。菩薩道：「既然乾淨，俱各回祠。」遂把淨瓶扳倒，唿喇喇傾出水來，就如雷響。顷刻间，早见一座山头。行者道：「这山就是号山了。从此处到那妖精门首，约摸有四百余里。」菩萨闻言，即命住下祥云，在那山头上念一声「唵」字咒语。只见那山左山右，走出许多神鬼，却乃是本山土地众神，都到菩萨宝莲座下磕头。菩萨道：「汝等俱莫惊张。我今来擒此魔王，你与我把这团围打扫干净，要三百里远近地方，不许一个生灵在地。将那窝中小兽，窟内雏虫，都送在巅峰之上安生。」众神遵依而退。须臾间，又来回覆。菩萨道：「既然干净，俱各回祠。」遂把净瓶扳倒，唿喇喇倾出水来，就如雷响。
逐句解 Line by line
In a moment, a mountain-top came into view.
間 in 頃刻間 is jiān, in a moment.
Pilgrim said: "This mountain is Mount Number.
號山 is Mount Number; 號 is hào, part of the place-name.
From here to that fiend's gate is some four hundred li and more."
Four hundred li and more still to go — which is why what she does next has to cover so much ground. 處 in 此處 is chù; 那 in 那妖精 points, so nà.
The Bodhisattva, hearing this, at once had the auspicious cloud halt, and on that mountain-top she recited the syllable "Oṃ."
The syllable 唵 is Oṃ, the seed-sound that opens Buddhist spells — the first syllable of the mantra most associated with Guanyin herself. One sound, and the local spirits come running. 那 in 那山頭 points, so nà.
At once, from the left and right of the mountain, many spirits and demons came forth — they were the local earth-gods and mountain spirits — and all came to kowtow beneath the Bodhisattva's jeweled lotus seat.
The 土地眾神 are the local earth-gods, the parish-level clergy of the Chinese spirit world — a god for every patch of ground, and every one of them answerable upward. 那 in 那山左 points, so nà; 都 in 都到 is dōu.
The Bodhisattva said: "None of you be alarmed.
Her first word to them is reassurance. 俱莫驚張 is "let none of you be startled."
I have come now to capture this demon king; sweep the whole surrounding area clean for me — for three hundred li around, let not a single living creature remain on the ground.
Three hundred li cleared of every living thing — an evacuation order, given before the flood. 乾 in 乾淨 is gān, clean, not the qián of the heaven-trigram.
Take the young beasts in the dens and the newborn creatures in the burrows, and set them all safely upon the highest peaks."
And this is the line that matters: the cubs in the dens and the newborn grubs in the burrows are to be carried up to the peaks and set down safely. Not driven off — carried. 將 in 將那窩中 is jiāng; 那 points, so nà; 中 is zhōng; 都 in 都送 is dōu.
The spirits obeyed and withdrew.
They go and do it.
In a moment they came back to report.
And report back. 間 in 須臾間 is jiān.
The Bodhisattva said: "Since it's clean, return each of you to your shrines."
Only when the ground is confirmed clear does she proceed. 乾 in 乾淨 is gān.
Then she tipped the pure vase over, and with a roar the water poured out, like a peal of thunder.
And out comes the borrowed sea, with a noise like thunder. 扳 is bān, to pry or tip; 倒 here is dǎo, over — the toppling sense. (A few passages on, in 望山一倒, the same character takes the other reading, dào, the upending-to-pour sense.)
Before pouring out the vase, Guanyin does something the book pauses to mark: she summons the local earth-gods and orders the ground cleared of every living creature for three hundred li — the cubs in their dens, the newborn grubs in their burrows, all to be carried to safety on the peaks. The detail is doctrinally pointed. The flood that will trap the demon must not cost a single innocent life, and the Bodhisattva's mercy reaches down as far as the vermin she is displacing. Only then does she tip the vase, and the borrowed sea comes out with a roar of thunder — a controlled marvel, not destruction, and the moral frame for the rhapsody that follows.
The order also tells us what kind of trap this is going to be. A flood that must not drown a single grub is not a weapon but a stage set, built to be walked into. Everything from here — the evacuated ground, the false Potalaka, the seat left invitingly empty — is arranged for one occupant, and the demon will supply his own destruction by choosing to sit down in it.