毫毛護法 The Hair-Charm
好大聖，把毫毛拔了一把，嚼得粉碎，每一個和尚與他一截。都教他：「捻在無名指甲裡，捻著拳頭，只情走路。無人敢拿你便罷；若有人拿你，攢緊了拳頭，叫一聲齊天大聖，我就來護你。」眾僧道：「爺爺，倘若去得遠了，看不見你，叫你不應，怎麼是好？」行者道：「你只管放心，就是萬里之遙，可保全無事。」眾僧有膽量大的，捻著拳頭，悄悄的叫聲：「齊天大聖！」只見一個雷公站在面前，手執鐵棒，就是千軍萬馬，也不能近身。此時有百十眾齊叫，足有百十個大聖護持。好大圣，把毫毛拔了一把，嚼得粉碎，每一个和尚与他一截。都教他：「捻在无名指甲里，捻着拳头，只情走路。无人敢拿你便罢；若有人拿你，攒紧了拳头，叫一声齐天大圣，我就来护你。」众僧道：「爷爷，倘若去得远了，看不见你，叫你不应，怎么是好？」行者道：「你只管放心，就是万里之遥，可保全无事。」众僧有胆量大的，捻着拳头，悄悄的叫声：「齐天大圣！」只见一个雷公站在面前，手执铁棒，就是千军万马，也不能近身。此时有百十众齐叫，足有百十个大圣护持。
逐句解 Line by line
That fine Great Sage pulled off a handful of his fine hairs, chewed them to bits, and gave each monk a piece.
The hairs are the novel's most-used piece of stage machinery, and here they are being handed out like tickets. 得 in 嚼得 is the light de; 一 is yì before 把 and 截, yí before 個.
He told them all: "Pinch it inside the nail of your ring finger, clench your fist, and just go on your way.
The instructions are domestic and precise: under the ring-finger nail, fist closed, and walk on. 只情, just get on with it. 著 in 捻著 is the durative zhe; 教 is jiào; 都 is dōu.
If no one dares seize you, well and good;
罷 is the verb bà, "and leave it at that."
but if anyone does, clench your fist tight and call out once, 'Great Sage Equal to Heaven,' and I'll come to guard you."
The password is his own title. Saying 齊天大聖 aloud is what fires the charm — the name he once forced Heaven to grant him, now working as a distress call for five hundred Buddhists. 攢 is cuán, to clench tight, not the zǎn that means to hoard; 一 is yì before 聲.
The monks said: "Grandfather, if you've gone far off, out of our sight, and we call and you don't answer — what then?"
The practical objection, asked by men who have been let down before. 應 is yìng, to answer a call, not the yīng that means ought; 不 becomes bú before it, and before 見. 得 in 去得 is the light de.
Pilgrim said: "Just set your minds at rest — though it were ten thousand lǐ away, I can keep you entirely safe."
Ten thousand lǐ is simply "any distance at all." A 里 runs to about a third of a mile, but the figure is not meant to be counted. 放心, to put the heart down — to stop worrying.
One of the monks with the boldest spirit clenched his fist and softly called out: "Great Sage Equal to Heaven!"
One brave man tests it, quietly, the way you would try a light switch you did not believe in. 量 in 膽量 is liàng, capacity, here the amount of nerve a man has; 著 is the durative zhe.
At once a thunder-god stood before him, an iron rod in his hand — so that a thousand armies and ten thousand horse could not come near him.
And it works, in the shape the dream-portrait promised: a thunder-god with an iron rod. 雷公 is the Thunder God again, the face the novel keeps giving Wukong. 不 is bù before 能; 一 is yí before 個.
By this time a hundred-odd of them were calling together, and a full hundred-odd Great Sages stood guard.
A hundred-odd voices, a hundred-odd Great Sages — the demonstration scaled up until nobody can doubt it. 護持, to guard and hold up.
The charm is the neatest bit of stagecraft in the chapter. A chewed hair pinched under each man's fingernail, a clenched fist, and one password — and the password is 齊天大聖, the title Wukong once bullied out of Heaven, now doing service as an emergency call for five hundred Buddhist monks.
One bold man tries it, quietly, and gets a rod-wielding thunder-god no army could get near. Then a hundred-odd try it at once and get a hundred-odd Great Sages. The demonstration makes the dream-prophecy concrete: the promised protector is real, he is here, and he answers when called.