金箍縛妖 The Golden Fillet Binds the Fiend
卻又袖中取出一個金箍兒來道：「這寶貝原是我佛如來賜我往東土尋取經人的金、緊、禁三個箍兒。緊箍兒先與你戴了；禁箍兒收了守山大神；這個金箍兒未曾捨得與人，今觀此怪無禮，與他罷。」好菩薩，將箍兒迎風一幌，叫聲：「變！」即變作五個箍兒，望童子身上拋了去，喝聲：「著！」一個套在他頭頂上，兩個套在他左右手上，兩個套在他左右腳上。却又袖中取出一个金箍儿来道：「这宝贝原是我佛如来赐我往东土寻取经人的金、紧、禁三个箍儿。紧箍儿先与你戴了；禁箍儿收了守山大神；这个金箍儿未曾舍得与人，今观此怪无礼，与他罢。」好菩萨，将箍儿迎风一幌，叫声：「变！」即变作五个箍儿，望童子身上抛了去，喝声：「着！」一个套在他头顶上，两个套在他左右手上，两个套在他左右脚上。
逐句解 Line by line
Then from her sleeve she drew out a golden fillet and said: "This treasure is one of the three fillets — the Gold, the Tight, and the Prohibition — that my Buddha, the Tathāgata, bestowed on me when I went to the Land of the East to seek the scripture-pilgrim.
Three fillets, given her by the Buddha for the journey west, and here they are named together for the first time. The names sound almost identical and are not: 金 jīn is gold, 緊 jǐn is tight, 禁 jìn is prohibition — the same syllable in three tones. 如來 is the Tathāgata, one of the Buddha's titles. 中 in 袖中 is zhōng; both instances of 兒 are the light er ending; 佛 is fó.
The Tight Fillet I gave you to wear first;
The Tight one is on Wukong's own head, and has been since the start of the journey. He is standing right there while she says it. 兒 in 緊箍兒 is the light er ending.
the Prohibition Fillet took in the great mountain-guarding spirit;
The Prohibition one went on the great mountain-guarding spirit — the Black Bear demon whom Guanyin subdued and set to guard her own mountain, much earlier in the journey. The pattern is the same each time: an enemy bound, then employed. 兒 is the light er ending; 禁 is jìn.
and this Gold Fillet I had never been willing to part with — but now, seeing how this monster forgets his manners, let him have it."
And the third, saved all this time, is spent here. 兒 is the light er ending; 得 in 捨得 is the light de; 觀 is guān; 罷 in 與他罷 is the soft ba.
The worthy Bodhisattva gave the fillet a shake in the wind and cried: "Change!"
好菩薩 is the storyteller's admiring "the worthy Bodhisattva," the same formula used of Wukong at his best moments. 將 in 將箍兒 is jiāng; 兒 is the light er ending.
At once it became five fillets, which she flung at the boy's body, shouting: "Land home!"
The shout 著 is zháo. In the fighting talk of this kind of fiction, the cry flung after a thrown weapon or a sprung trap announces that the stroke has found its mark — closest to "got you!" Here it marks the five fillets landing home. It is a different word from the zhe that shows an action going on and from the zhuó that means to send somebody to do something, both of which appear elsewhere in this chapter. 兒 in 箍兒 is the light er ending; 子 in 童子 is zǐ.
One clasped over the crown of his head, two over his left and right hands, and two over his left and right feet.
Head, both hands, both feet — five points, and no way to move.
Here the chapter's deepest motif closes. The band that has ruled Wukong since the beginning of the journey turns out to be one of three the Buddha gave Guanyin — the Tight, on Wukong; the Prohibition, on the mountain-guarding bear she subdued long before; and the Gold, until now unspent. That last one, multiplied into five with a word, is flung onto Red Boy to clasp his head, his hands and his feet. The recurrence binds the whole novel together: the same device that constrains the Monkey King now constrains the Sage-Boy, and the reader sees that Guanyin's mercy and her discipline are one thing. The fillet does not kill; it holds, converting a wild nature into obedience by main force. It is the visible sign that Red Boy has joined the ranks of the bound, the disciplined and the saved.
The three names are a small piece of craftsmanship. Gold, Tight and Prohibition are the same syllable in three tones, so the Buddha's gift is heard as a single sound with three inflections — one object, three applications, one method. And the roll-call quietly tells the reader what kind of book this is: its adversaries are not killed but recruited, and the tally of fillets is a tally of former enemies now in service. Wukong is on that list, and standing in the room as it is read out.