The elder had just doffed his bamboo rain-hat, and bare-headed, shaking out his cassock and trailing his ringed staff, came straight to the household's gate.

The whole line is a monk making himself presentable at a stranger's door. 斗笠 is the broad bamboo rain-hat, 斗 read dǒu; 褊衫 the plain robe, shaken out; 錫杖 the ringed staff whose loose metal rings jingle as it moves — the sound was the point, warning small creatures off the path so a monk would not tread on them. 那 points — nà; 長 in 長老 is zhǎng; 光著頭 and 拖著錫杖 both take 著 as zhe.

Seeing the gate half-open and half-shut, Tripitaka dared not enter unbidden.

擅入 is entering without leave. A half-open gate is not an invitation, and Tripitaka knows it. 那 points — nà.

He stood a little while, when out from within came an old man, a string of prayer-beads at his throat, reciting "Amitābha Buddha" as he went straight to close the gate.

數珠 is the string of prayer-beads, 數 read shù, counted through as the name of the Buddha is repeated; 掛著 takes 著 as zhe, hanging there as he walks. 阿彌陀佛 is Amitābha, and 佛 is fó throughout this project, not the fú a dictionary lookup often gives. The old man is not praying so much as muttering, the way one does while shutting up for the night.

In a fluster the elder pressed his palms together and called aloud: "Old patron, this poor monk gives you greeting."

問訊 is a monk's formal greeting — palms together, a set phrase, closer to a salute than a hello. 慌得 takes 得 as de, flustered to the point of calling out; 長 in 長老 is zhǎng.

The old man returned the courtesy and said: "You monk — you have come too late."

還禮 takes 還 as huán, to give back — he returns the salute before he says anything discouraging. 那 points — nà.

Tripitaka said: "How do you mean?"

怎麼說: how do you mean?

The old man said: "Come late, and there is nothing left.

無物了: nothing left. The old man has entirely the wrong idea about his visitor, and it takes a dozen more lines to shift it.

Had you come early, at my house we feasted the monks — a full meal to satiety, three shēng of cooked rice, a bolt of white cloth, and ten copper cash.

This is what a merit-feast paid out, itemised. A full meal, then 熟米三升 — three shēng of cooked rice — plus a length of white cloth and ten copper coins. The 升 is a Chinese dry measure of about a litre, one rung of the ladder that runs 升, 斗, 石, each ten times the one below; the chapter uses all three before it is done. 齋僧 is feeding monks for merit, and the going rate was evidently known to the character.

Why do you come only now?"

這時候才來: turning up only now.

Tripitaka bowed and said: "Old patron, this poor monk is not here to cadge the feast."

躬身 is bending from the waist. 趕齋 is the free-meal circuit — Tripitaka is at pains to say he is not on it.

The old man said: "If not for the feast, then what do you come here for?"

來此何幹: then what are you here for? Blunt, and fair enough.

Tripitaka said: "I am one sent by imperial commission from the Land of the East, Great Tang, to fetch scriptures from the Western Heaven; coming now to your honored place, the day has grown dark.

欽差 is an imperial commissioner, a man travelling under the emperor's own warrant; 差 is chāi, dispatch, not the chà of falling short. 東土大唐, the Land of the East, Great Tang, is how Tripitaka introduces himself in every kingdom, and it never once fails to sound implausible.

Hearing the drums and cymbals at your house, I have come expressly to beg one night's lodging, and shall be on my way at daybreak."

一宿 takes 宿 as xiǔ, the measure for a night's stay. 聽得 takes 得 as dé. He asks for a bed and no food, which is exactly the opposite of what the old man expected.

The old man waved his hand and said: "Monk, a man who has left the household should not tell lies.

打誑語 is telling lies, and for a monk it is one of the five basic breaches — so the old man is not merely calling him a liar, he is telling him off in his own professional vocabulary. 那 points — nà.

From the Land of the East, Great Tang, to this place of mine is fifty-four thousand lǐ of road.

五萬四千里, fifty-four thousand lǐ. The novel's round figure for the whole road west is a hundred and eight thousand, so the old man's number is exactly half of it — which is about where the pilgrims have got to.

How could you, all alone like this, have come so far?"

如何來得 takes 得 as dé: how could you possibly have managed it?

Tripitaka said: "Old patron, you see it most rightly.

見得最是 takes 得 as dé — you see it quite rightly. Tripitaka concedes the point before turning it.

But I have three young disciples besides, who open a road where there are mountains and lay a bridge where there is water, guarding this poor monk, so that only thus have I come this far."

逢山開路，遇水疊橋 — open a road where there are mountains, throw a bridge where there is water — is a set phrase, and one of the oldest ways in Chinese of saying that nothing will stop you. The book uses it as shorthand for what the three disciples are for. 還 is hái, "besides"; 方得到此 takes 得 as dé.

The old man said: "Since you have disciples, why did they not come with you?"

何不同來: why did they not come with you? The question that undoes everything.

And he said: "Come in, come in — at my house there is room to lodge."

教 is jiào here, simply "said." 安歇: room to lodge.

Tripitaka turned his head and called out: "Disciples, come here."

And Tripitaka turns round and calls them in — the one thing he had carefully arranged not to happen this way.