朝天禮謝 Thanks Offered to Heaven
及次日天曉，八戒起來道：「師兄，今夜更冷，想必河凍住也。」三藏迎著門，朝天禮拜道：「眾位護教大神，弟子一向西來，虔心拜佛，苦歷山川，更無一聲報怨。今至於此，感得皇天佑助，結凍河水。弟子空心權謝，待得經回，奏上唐皇，竭誠酬答。」禮拜畢，遂教悟淨背馬，趁冰過河。陳老又道：「莫忙，待幾日雪融冰解，老拙這裡辦船相送。」沙僧道：「就行也不是話，再住也不是話。口說無憑，耳聞不如眼見。我背了馬，且請師父親去看看。」陳老道：「言之有理。」教：「小的們，快去背我們六匹馬來。且莫背唐僧老爺馬。」及次日天晓，八戒起来道：「师兄，今夜更冷，想必河冻住也。」三藏迎着门，朝天礼拜道：「众位护教大神，弟子一向西来，虔心拜佛，苦历山川，更无一声报怨。今至于此，感得皇天佑助，结冻河水。弟子空心权谢，待得经回，奏上唐皇，竭诚酬答。」礼拜毕，遂教悟净背马，趁冰过河。陈老又道：「莫忙，待几日雪融冰解，老拙这里办船相送。」沙僧道：「就行也不是话，再住也不是话。口说无凭，耳闻不如眼见。我背了马，且请师父亲去看看。」陈老道：「言之有理。」教：「小的们，快去背我们六匹马来。且莫背唐僧老爷马。」
逐句解 Line by line
At daybreak the next day Eight Rules got up and said: 「Elder brother, it was colder still last night — the river must surely have frozen fast.」
更冷: 更 is gèng, the comparative — not gēng, the night-watch, which the Dame used when she set the hour for the snow.
Tripitaka faced the doorway and made his obeisance towards Heaven, saying: 「All you great spirits who guard the Faith, your disciple has journeyed westward all this while with a devout heart to worship the Buddha, enduring hardship over mountain and river, and has never uttered a single word of complaint.
迎著門: 著 is zhe, the reading for a state that goes on — facing the door and staying faced. Different again from the zhuó of 著兩個僮僕, setting servants to a task. 護教: 教 is jiào, "the Teaching." 弟子: 子 is zǐ. 一向 lifts 一 to yí before a falling tone; 一聲 keeps yì before a level one.
Coming now to this place, I have been favoured with the help of August Heaven, which has frozen the river's water.
感得: 得 is dé. And here is the deepest irony in the chapter, delivered without a flicker: the monk thanks Heaven by name for a piece of work done by a river-demon on the advice of a fish.
Your disciple gives thanks now with an empty heart, and when he has got the scriptures and returned, he will report to the Tang emperor and requite you with all sincerity.」
待得: 得 is dé. 空心權謝 — thanks offered provisionally, with empty hands. He has nothing to give, so he pledges something later.
His obeisance done, he told Wujing to saddle the horse and take the ice across the river.
教 is jiào, having someone do something. 背馬: 背 is bèi, the everyday sense "to get the horse ready, to saddle up" — not bēi, to carry on one's back.
Old Chen said again: 「Do not be in haste. Wait a few days for the snow to melt and the ice to break, and this old fellow will find a boat here and see you across.」
相送: 相 is xiāng, standing in front of the verb. Old Chen's second attempt.
Sha Monk said: 「To go now will not do, and to stay longer will not do either.
就行: 行 is xíng. 不是話, "is not the thing," everyday speech. Both 不 lift to bú before the falling tone of 是.
Talk is no proof; hearing with the ear is not like seeing with the eye.
Two proverbs in ten characters: 口說無憑, talk is no proof, and 耳聞不如眼見, hearing with the ear is not like seeing with the eye — which is what Chinese says where English says seeing is believing. Sha Monk speaks least of the four and is handed the sensible middle course.
Let me saddle the horse, and let the master go and look for himself.」
背了馬: 背 is bèi. 看看, doubled: "just have a look."
Old Chen said: 「There is reason in what he says.」
The compromise is accepted, and it is the compromise that undoes everyone.
He gave orders: 「Lads, go quickly and bring out our six horses.
教 is jiào; 背 is bèi. 小的們, the household servants — "the lads."
But do not bring out the Tang lord's horse.」
背 is bèi a third time. And this is Old Chen's third and cleverest attempt: the pilgrims may go and look if they insist, but if the Tang lord's horse stays in the stable he cannot simply ride off across the ice.
Tripitaka's prayer at the door is the ironic centre of the chapter. He faces Heaven, recites his credentials — a devout heart, hardship endured, never one word of complaint — and gives formal thanks to the spirits who guard the Faith for freezing the river on his behalf. Every clause is sincere, and the whole thing is addressed to the wrong party. The ice is the Mandarin-Fish Dame's design, laid at the third watch by a demon who wants to eat him.
The novel has been building this for some time. The snow was praised in verse as 豐年祥瑞從天降, an omen sent down from Heaven; here the monk makes the same mistake in his own voice, and as an act of devotion. There is a serious idea under the joke: providence and trap can look identical from the inside, and piety on its own will not tell them apart.
Old Chen makes three attempts to hold them back and the third is the shrewdest — go and look if you must, but the Tang lord's horse stays in the stable. Sha Monk's proverb, that hearing is not like seeing, is the reasonable position that gets the party out of the house, and it is the concession that will have Tripitaka standing on the ice before the day is out.