猿心暗忖 The Monkey's Reckoning
那些和尚見道士來，一個個心驚膽戰，加倍著力，恨苦的拽那車子。行者就曉得了：「咦！想必這和尚們怕那道士；不然啊，怎麼這等著力拽扯？我曾聽得人言，西方路上有個敬道滅僧之處，斷乎此間是也。我待要回報師父，奈何事不明白，返惹他怪，道我這等一個伶俐之人，就不能探個實信。且等下去問得明白，好回師父話。」那些和尚见道士来，一个个心惊胆战，加倍着力，恨苦的拽那车子。行者就晓得了：「咦！想必这和尚们怕那道士；不然啊，怎么这等着力拽扯？我曾听得人言，西方路上有个敬道灭僧之处，断乎此间是也。我待要回报师父，奈何事不明白，返惹他怪，道我这等一个伶俐之人，就不能探个实信。且等下去问得明白，好回师父话。」
逐句解 Line by line
The monks, seeing the Daoists come, one and all took fright, and — redoubling their effort — hauled at the carts with bitter, straining pain.
The tell. The monks were already hauling; at the sight of the Daoists they haul harder, and terror, not diligence, is what puts the extra effort in. 著 in 著力 is zhuó, to apply; 拽 is zhuài; both instances of 那 point, as nà; 子 is the light zi; 一 is yí before 個.
Pilgrim understood at once: "Aha!
咦, yí, is the sound of a penny dropping. 曉得 takes 得 as full dé, to know or realize — not the light de it is elsewhere.
It must be these monks are afraid of those Daoists;
那 is nà, pointing at the Daoists across the sand.
otherwise, why would they strain so hard at the hauling?
The reasoning is a detective's: no other explanation fits men who strain harder when the overseer arrives. 著 is zhuó and 拽 is zhuài, as above; 不 is bù before 然.
I have heard it said that somewhere on the road to the West there is a place that honors the Dao and destroys the Buddhists — this must surely be it.
敬道滅僧 — "honor the Dao, destroy the monks" — is the rumor Wukong has heard on the road, and by the end of this conversation a Daoist will have confirmed every word of it out of his own mouth. 得 after 聽 is the light de; 處 is chù; 間 in 此間 is jiān, "this place."
I've a mind to go back and report to my Master, but the matter isn't yet clear; it would only earn his displeasure — that a fellow as sharp as I couldn't ferret out the plain truth.
His vanity is the engine of the plot. He will not go back with half an answer, because a mind as 伶俐 — quick-witted, sharp — as his ought to be able to get to the bottom of anything, and he would rather do the work than be thought unable to. 一 is yí before 個; 不 stays bù before the rising tones of 明 and 能.
Better go down and ask until it's clear, and then I'll have my answer for the Master."
問得: the light de, tying the asking to the clarity it is meant to produce.
Wukong works it out the way a detective does, from behavior rather than evidence. Men who redouble their effort the moment the overseer appears are not volunteers, and the terror on the sand-flat is too general to be about anything but the men walking towards it. That fits a rumor he has heard somewhere on the road — a kingdom out west that honors the Dao and destroys the monks, 敬道滅僧.
The passage also sketches the flaw that drives the whole episode. He could go back to Tripitaka now with a strong guess, and he will not, because a man as 伶俐 as he is ought to come back with the whole answer. Vanity sends him down to talk to the enemy in person, which is exactly what the plot requires.