現相服眾 He Shows His True Form
行者聞言，又嗔又喜。喜道：「替老孫傳名！」嗔道：「那老賊憊懶，把我的元身都說與這夥凡人。」忽失聲道：「列位誠然認我不是孫行者，我是孫行者的門人，來此處學闖禍耍子的。那裡不是孫行者來了？」用手向東一指，哄得眾僧回頭，他卻現了本相。眾僧們方才認得，一個個倒身下拜道：「爺爺，我等凡胎肉眼，不知是爺爺顯化。望爺爺與我們雪恨消災，早進城降邪從正也。」行者道：「你們且跟我來。」眾僧緊隨左右。行者闻言，又嗔又喜。喜道：「替老孙传名！」嗔道：「那老贼惫懒，把我的元身都说与这伙凡人。」忽失声道：「列位诚然认我不是孙行者，我是孙行者的门人，来此处学闯祸耍子的。那里不是孙行者来了？」用手向东一指，哄得众僧回头，他却现了本相。众僧们方才认得，一个个倒身下拜道：「爷爷，我等凡胎肉眼，不知是爷爷显化。望爷爷与我们雪恨消灾，早进城降邪从正也。」行者道：「你们且跟我来。」众僧紧随左右。
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim, hearing this, was both vexed and pleased.
Both at once, and the pairing is very him.
Pleased, he said: "So they've spread old Sun's name for me!"
Pleased, because his name has arrived somewhere before he did.
Vexed, he said: "That old rascal has no shame — telling my true form to this pack of common folk."
And annoyed, because the Star of Venus has handed his 元身, his true shape, to a crowd of ordinary men. 憊懶 is shameless, good-for-nothing — a term of abuse aimed at a senior heavenly official. 那 is nà; 都 is dōu.
Then he blurted out: "Gentlemen, if you truly reckon I'm not Sun the Pilgrim — well, I'm a disciple of Sun the Pilgrim, come here to learn trouble-making for sport.
His solution is pure trickster: deny being the Great Sage, and claim instead to be the Great Sage's pupil, over here learning to cause trouble for fun. 耍子, for sport; 子 is the light zi. 處 is chù; 不 is bú before 是.
Isn't that Sun the Pilgrim coming there?"
The oldest trick there is — look over there. 那裡不是 uses 那 as nǎ in its rhetorical sense, "why, isn't that him?" 不 is bú before 是.
He pointed east with his hand, and while he tricked the monks into turning their heads, he showed his true form.
And in the second their heads are turned, he drops the disguise — so that the revelation appears to come from the sky rather than from his own mouth. 相 in 本相 is xiàng, form or appearance; 得 in 哄得 is the light de; 一 is yì before 指.
Only then did the monks know him, and one after another they threw themselves down in worship: "Grandfather, we are but mortal flesh and common eyes — we did not know it was your own divine manifestation.
凡胎肉眼, "mortal womb and eyes of flesh" — the standard apology of a human being who has failed to recognize a god, and still the phrase for missing what is in front of you. 得 in 認得 is full dé; 倒 in 倒身下拜 is dǎo, to throw oneself down; 不 is bù before 知; 一 is yí before 個.
We beg you, Grandfather, to avenge our grievance and dispel our calamity, and soon enter the city to subdue the heterodox and restore the right."
降邪從正, subdue the crooked and return to the straight — the task of the whole arc in four characters. 降 is xiáng, to subdue, the reading the chapter opened with. 雪恨, to wash out a grievance.
Pilgrim said: "Just follow me, all of you."
The order that turns the chapter from talk to work.
The monks pressed close about him, left and right.
And they follow, which they have not done for anyone in twenty years.
His reaction is characteristically double. Pleased that his fame has run ahead of him; annoyed that 太白金星 has given his 元身, his true shape, away to a crowd of commoners — and he says so, calling a senior officer of Heaven a shameless old rascal.
The solution is pure trickster. He denies being the Great Sage, claims to be the Great Sage's pupil, points east so that everyone looks the wrong way, and drops the disguise in that second — so the revelation seems to arrive from the sky rather than out of his own boasting. The monks' plea when they get up, 降邪從正, subdue the crooked and restore the straight, states the whole arc's task in four characters and hands the chapter over to action.