諸天候接 The Attendants at Potalaka
好大聖，急縱祥光，躲離河口，徑赴南海。那裡消半個時辰，早望見落伽山不遠。低下雲頭，徑至普陀崖上。只見那二十四路諸天與守山大神、木叉行者、善財童子、捧珠龍女，一齊上前，迎著施禮道：「大聖何來？」行者道：「有事要見菩薩。」眾神道：「菩薩今早出洞，不許人隨，自入竹林裡觀玩。知大聖今日必來，吩咐我等在此候接大聖，不可就見。請在翠巖前聊坐片時，待菩薩出來。」好大圣，急纵祥光，躲离河口，径赴南海。那里消半个时辰，早望见落伽山不远。低下云头，径至普陀崖上。只见那二十四路诸天与守山大神、木叉行者、善财童子、捧珠龙女，一齐上前，迎着施礼道：「大圣何来？」行者道：「有事要见菩萨。」众神道：「菩萨今早出洞，不许人随，自入竹林里观玩。知大圣今日必来，吩咐我等在此候接大圣，不可就见。请在翠岩前聊坐片时，待菩萨出来。」
逐句解 Line by line
The fine Great Sage swiftly gathered his auspicious light, left the river-mouth behind, and made straight for the Southern Sea.
祥光, auspicious light, is Wukong's travelling cloud. 躲離, to slip away from. The novel always dispatches his flights in a clause or two, however far he is going.
In less than half a double-hour he sighted Potalaka Mountain not far off.
那裡消半個時辰 — the 那裡 here is doing the work of "hardly," and takes the asking reading, 那 nǎ. 落伽山 is Mount Luojia, the Chinese name for Potalaka; 落 is luò, and the colloquial là is a standing trap with this character. 消 here means to take, of time.
He brought his cloud low and came straight up onto Potalaka Cliff.
The same cliff, written with 崖 here where the previous passage had 巖. The 世德堂本 alternates the two, and each is kept as printed rather than tidied into one.
There he saw the Devas of the Twenty-Four Ways, with the Great Mountain-Guarding Spirit, Moksha the Acolyte, the Boy of Good Wealth, and the Pearl-Bearing Dragon Girl, all come forward together, greeting him and making their bows: "Why has the Great Sage come?"
那二十四路諸天 points, nà. 木叉行者 is Moksha, and keeps 行 as xíng; 善財童子 keeps 子 as the toneless zi; 迎著 keeps 著 as zhe. Guanyin's whole court is named out one by one, and the length of the list is itself a statement about where he has arrived.
Pilgrim said: "There is a matter on which I must see the Bodhisattva."
行者 keeps 行 as xíng. The reply is short because he is in a hurry — his master is in a box under a river while he pays this call.
The gods said: "The Bodhisattva came out of her cave early this morning, allowing no one to attend her, and went alone into the bamboo grove to look about her.
觀玩: 觀 guān, to look about. The detail is deliberately domestic — the Bodhisattva off in her grove with the morning to herself — and it sets up the surprise, because that leisure is not leisure at all.
She knew the Great Sage would surely come today, and charged us to wait here and receive you, but not to bring you in at once.
知大聖今日必來. This is the real content of the passage: she knew he was coming before he set out, rose early, and left instructions. It also, in passing, answers Bajie's complaint about wasted hours.
Be pleased to sit a little while before the kingfisher cliff, and wait for the Bodhisattva to come out."
翠巖, the kingfisher-green cliff. 聊坐片時, sit a moment. Being told to wait is not a delay here; it is stage management. She will come out when she is ready, and not looking as anyone expects.
The flight to Potalaka is over in a sentence, and the weight of the passage falls on one line: 知大聖今日必來, she knew the Great Sage would come today. Wukong has just told Bajie he will be back as soon as he has gone, and the reason is now supplied from the far end — the Bodhisattva rose early, went into her bamboo grove, and left word for her attendants to receive a caller she was already expecting. The novel is fond of this shape, where Wukong's confidence and Guanyin's foresight meet in the middle, and it uses it to make the coming rescue feel arranged rather than lucky.
The passage also establishes rank by roll-call. The Devas of the Twenty-Four Ways, the Mountain-Guarding Spirit, Moksha, the Boy of Good Wealth, the Pearl-Bearing Dragon Girl — the entire retinue turns out for one visitor.
And against all that ceremony one discordant note is carefully planted. The Bodhisattva herself is not on her throne. She is off alone in the grove, 觀玩, looking about her, having forbidden anyone to follow. The reader is meant to wonder what she is up to, and the next passage answers: sitting on a rush mat, hair undone, weaving.