Canonical Classics ← 第四十七回
第四十七回
shèngsēngtōngtiānshuǐ
jīnchuíjiùxiǎotóng

The Holy Monk Is Barred at Night by the Water That Reaches the Sky · Metal and Wood, Extending Mercy, Rescue the Little Children

獨投齋戶
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

獨投齋戶 Going Alone to Beg Shelter

sānzàngxiàzhǐjiàntóushàngyǒujiāerménwàishùshǒuchuángfānnèiyǒudēngzhúyínghuángxiāngyānsānzàngdào:「kōngchùshānāobiānquèshìtóngzàirénjiānyánxiàzhēlěngfàngxīnwěnshuìdōuláiràngxiāndàozhāigōngménshǒugàoqiúruòkěnliújiùzhāoděngjiǎruòliúquèxiūyàoděngliǎnzuǐchǒulòuzhǐkǒngxiàlerénchuǎngchūhuòláiquèdàozhùchù。」xíngzhědào:「shuōdeyǒuqǐngshīxiānmenzàishǒudài。」sānzàngxiàzhǐjiàntóushàngyǒujiāerménwàishùshǒuchuángfānnèiyǒudēngzhúyínghuángxiāngyānsānzàngdào:「kōngchùshānāobiānquèshìtóngzàirénjiānyánxiàzhēlěngfàngxīnwěnshuìdōuláiràngxiāndàozhāigōngménshǒugàoqiúruòkěnliújiùzhāoděngjiǎruòliúquèxiūyàoděngliǎnzuǐchǒulòuzhǐkǒngxiàlerénchuǎngchūhuòláiquèdàozhùchù。」xíngzhědào:「shuōdeyǒuqǐngshīxiānmenzàishǒudài。」


逐句解 Line by line

sānzàngxiàzhǐjiàntóushàngyǒujiāerménwàishùshǒuchuángfānnèiyǒudēngzhúyínghuángxiāngyān sānzàngxiàzhǐjiàntóushàngyǒujiāerménwàishùshǒuchuángfānnèiyǒudēngzhúyínghuángxiāngyān

Tripitaka dismounted, and saw at the head of the road a certain household: before its gate stood a banner-streamer, and within, lamps and candles blazed and incense-smoke hung rich and fragrant.

幢幡 are the tall ritual banners set up outside a house holding a service — the Ming equivalent of a sign on the gate saying a funeral is in progress. Lamps inside, incense heavy in the air: everything says a rite. points — ; in 一家兒 the is the little -r ending, er; in 三藏 is zàng.

sānzàngdào:「kōngchùshānāobiānquèshìtóng sānzàngdào:「kōngchùshānāobiānquèshìtóng

Tripitaka said: "Wukong, this place is quite unlike that mountain-hollow by the river.

points back at the riverbank they have just left — . in 三藏 is zàng. Anywhere with a roof beats a mountain hollow.

zàirénjiānyánxiàzhēlěngfàngxīnwěnshuì zàirénjiānyánxiàzhēlěngfàngxīnwěnshuì

Under the eaves of a human dwelling we may shelter from the cold dew and sleep soundly at ease.

遮得冷露 takes as , managing it — the eaves can actually keep the cold dew off. 穩睡: sleep sound.

dōuláiràngxiāndàozhāigōngménshǒugàoqiú dōuláiràngxiāndàozhāigōngménshǒugàoqiú

None of you come along; let me go first to that alms-master's gate and make the request.

齋公 is the layman who puts on the merit-feast, the host of the whole occasion. is dōu; points — .

ruòkěnliújiùzhāoděng ruòkěnliújiùzhāoděng

If he is willing to take me in, I shall call for you;

招呼汝等: I'll call you in.

jiǎruòliúquèxiūyào jiǎruòliúquèxiūyào

but if he will not, you must not make a rumpus.

撒潑 is making a scene — throwing your weight about, refusing to behave. Tripitaka has met his disciples before.

děngliǎnzuǐchǒulòuzhǐkǒngxiàlerénchuǎngchūhuòláiquèdàozhùchù。」 děngliǎnzuǐchǒulòuzhǐkǒngxiàlerénchuǎngchūhuòláiquèdàozhùchù。」

Your faces are so ugly that I fear you would frighten folk and blunder us into trouble, and then we should have nowhere at all to stay."

is xià, to frighten. in 卻倒 is dào, the "on the contrary" reading, not the dǎo of toppling. And the reasoning is exact: your faces will scare somebody, the scare will make trouble, and the trouble will cost us the bed. He is right on every count, in order.

xíngzhědào:「shuōdeyǒu xíngzhědào:「shuōdeyǒu

Pilgrim said: "That is well said.

說得有理 takes as de, the link between the verb and how it came out — spoken, and with reason in it. Wukong agrees. Hold that thought.

qǐngshīxiānmenzàishǒudài。」 qǐngshīxiānmenzàishǒudài。」

Let the Master go on ahead; we shall wait here."

守待: keep watch and wait. They manage it right up until they are called.


總評 Commentary

The passage runs on Tripitaka's courtesy and his hard-won caution. Rather than let the whole party descend on a stranger's gate at night, he goes alone to ask for a bed — and his reasoning is comically precise: his disciples' faces will frighten somebody, the fright will cause trouble, and the trouble will lose them the lodging. Each step follows from the last, and every one of them is about to be proved right.

It is also stagecraft. The instruction not to 撒潑, not to make a scene if he is turned away, sets a rule that exists to be broken, and Wukong's ready 說得有理 — well said — only sharpens the joke, since the reader knows precisely who is being asked to wait quietly outside. The book is arranging its pieces: a mild monk at the door, three demon-quellers in the dark behind him, and a household that has never seen anything like them.