影圖難逃 No Escape from the Posted Portraits
行者道：「原來這般。你們都走了便罷。」眾僧道：「老爺，走不脫。那仙長奏准君王，把我們畫了影身圖，四下裡長川張掛。他這車遲國地界也寬，各府州縣鄉村店集之方，都有一張和尚圖，上面是御筆親題。若有官職的，拿得一個和尚，高陞三級；無官職的，拿得一個和尚，就賞白銀五十兩：所以走不脫。且莫說是和尚，就是剪鬃、禿子、毛稀的，都也難逃。四下裡快手又多，緝事的又廣，憑你怎麼也是難脫。我們沒奈何，只得在此苦捱。」行者道：「原来这般。你们都走了便罢。」众僧道：「老爷，走不脱。那仙长奏准君王，把我们画了影身图，四下里长川张挂。他这车迟国地界也宽，各府州县乡村店集之方，都有一张和尚图，上面是御笔亲题。若有官职的，拿得一个和尚，高升三级；无官职的，拿得一个和尚，就赏白银五十两：所以走不脱。且莫说是和尚，就是剪鬃、秃子、毛稀的，都也难逃。四下里快手又多，缉事的又广，凭你怎么也是难脱。我们没奈何，只得在此苦挨。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said: "So that's how it is.
原來這般, "so that is how it is."
You might all just leave, then."
The obvious question, and it gets four passages of answer. 都 is dōu; 罷 in 便罷 is the verb bà, "and be done with it."
The monks said: "Your Honor, there's no getting away.
不 is bù before 脫.
Those immortal-elders got the king's assent to have our portraits drawn and posted up everywhere, all the time.
A wanted poster, except that the crime is being a monk. An 影身圖 is a likeness, and these are posted 長川 — constantly, without a break — which is 長 in a third job again, read cháng but meaning "all the time," the word now normally written 常川. Compare the cháng of the deep bow at the sand-flat and the zhǎng of 仙長: two readings, three senses, all within a few pages. 那 is nà.
This Cart-Slow Kingdom's territory is broad; in every prefecture, department, county, village, hamlet, shop, and market-town there hangs a monk-portrait, and above it the king's own brush has inscribed the order.
The list is administrative and that is what makes it frightening: prefecture, department, county, village, hamlet, shop, market-town — every unit the Ming state recognized, each with its poster, each over-written by the king's own brush. 御筆親題, inscribed by the royal hand in person. 都 is dōu; 一 is yì before 張.
Anyone holding office who catches a single monk is promoted three grades;
A promotion of three grades for an official — the state has set a price and made it worth an ambitious man's while. 得 in 拿得 is full dé, to catch; 一 is yí before 個.
anyone without office who catches a single monk is rewarded fifty taels of silver — and so there's no getting away.
And fifty taels of silver for anyone else — a serious sum, offered for one man's head. Between the two rates, nobody in the kingdom has any reason not to look. 得 is dé; 一 is yí; 不 is bù before 脫.
Never mind actual monks — even a man with cropped mane, a bald pate, or thinning hair can hardly escape.
The net is fine enough to catch men who are not monks at all: a cropped head, a bald patch, thinning hair. 子 in 禿子 is the light zi; 都 is dōu; 難 is nán.
Runners are many on every side, and informers wider still; do what you will, there's no slipping away.
快手 are the fast-hands, the runners who did the actual arresting for a Ming magistrate; 緝事 are the informers who told them where to go. 難 is nán.
We have no help for it, and can only endure our bitterness here."
沒奈何, "there is no help for it," and 苦捱, to grind out the days — endurance as the only policy left. 得 in 只得 is full dé, "can only"; 沒 is méi.
"Why not simply leave?" gets an answer that turns persecution into a police state. Their likenesses are posted 長川, without a break, in every administrative unit of a wide kingdom, over-written by the king's own brush. Three grades of promotion for an official who takes a monk; fifty taels for anyone else.
The net is fine enough to catch men who are not monks at all — a cropped head or thinning hair will do — and between the runners and the informers there is nowhere in the realm to stand. What the passage completes is a picture of a country where being a Buddhist is itself the offense, and where endurance is the only move left. That is the desperation the prophecy is about to answer.