第四十九回 · 五行之源 The Source of the Five Phases — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

五行之源 The Source of the Five Phases

行xíng者zhě忍rěn不bú住zhù叫jiào道dào：「師shī父fù莫mò恨hèn水shuǐ災zāi。經jīng云yún：『土tǔ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī母mǔ，水shuǐ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī源yuán。無wú土tǔ不bù生shēng，無wú水shuǐ不bù長zhǎng。』老lǎo孫sūn來lái了le。」三sān藏zàng聞wén得dé道dào：「徒tú弟dì啊a，救jiù我wǒ耶yé。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng心xīn，待dài我wǒ們men擒qín住zhù妖yāo精jīng，管guǎn教jiào你nǐ脫tuō難nàn。」三sān藏zàng道dào：「快kuài些xiē兒er下xià手shǒu，再zài停tíng一yí日rì，足zú足zú悶mèn殺shā我wǒ也yě。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「沒méi事shì，沒méi事shì。我wǒ去qù也yě！」行xíng者zhě忍rěn不bú住zhù叫jiào道dào：「师shī父fù莫mò恨hèn水shuǐ灾zāi。经jīng云yún：『土tǔ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī母mǔ，水shuǐ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī源yuán。无wú土tǔ不bù生shēng，无wú水shuǐ不bù长zhǎng。』老lǎo孙sūn来lái了le。」三sān藏zàng闻wén得dé道dào：「徒tú弟dì啊a，救jiù我wǒ耶yé。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng心xīn，待dài我wǒ们men擒qín住zhù妖yāo精jīng，管guǎn教jiào你nǐ脱tuō难nàn。」三sān藏zàng道dào：「快kuài些xiē儿er下xià手shǒu，再zài停tíng一yí日rì，足zú足zú闷mèn杀shā我wǒ也yě。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「没méi事shì，没méi事shì。我wǒ去qù也yě！」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě忍rěn不bú住zhù叫jiào道dào：「師shī父fù莫mò恨hèn水shuǐ災zāi。行xíng者zhě忍rěn不bú住zhù叫jiào道dào：「师shī父fù莫mò恨hèn水shuǐ灾zāi。

Pilgrim could bear it no longer and called out: "Master, do not rail at the water for your troubles.

莫恨水災, don't hold the water to blame. Wukong answers the argument of the lament rather than the grief in it, which is exactly like him.

經jīng云yún：『土tǔ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī母mǔ，水shuǐ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī源yuán。经jīng云yún：『土tǔ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī母mǔ，水shuǐ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī源yuán。

The scripture says: 'Earth is the mother of the Five Phases, and water is their source.

五行, the Five Phases — wood, fire, earth, metal, water — with 行 read xíng, never háng. Wukong introduces the line as 經云, "the scripture says," but there is nothing Buddhist about it: this is Chinese natural philosophy in Buddhist dress. The novel does this constantly, letting characters quote whatever tradition suits the argument and calling all of it 經.

無wú土tǔ不bù生shēng，無wú水shuǐ不bù長zhǎng。』无wú土tǔ不bù生shēng，无wú水shuǐ不bù长zhǎng。』

Without earth nothing is born; without water nothing grows.'

不長: 長 is zhǎng, "to grow," not cháng, "long." The comfort on offer is cosmological — the element drowning you is the element everything alive depends on. It is a philosopher's answer to a man in a box.

老lǎo孫sūn來lái了le。」老lǎo孙sūn来lái了le。」

Old Sun is here."

Four characters, and they are the entire reassurance. The doctrine was throat-clearing; this is the point.

三sān藏zàng聞wén得dé道dào：「徒tú弟dì啊a，救jiù我wǒ耶yé。」三sān藏zàng闻wén得dé道dào：「徒tú弟dì啊a，救jiù我wǒ耶yé。」

Tripitaka heard him and said: "Disciple! Save me!"

聞得: 得 dé. Tripitaka ignores the cosmology completely, which is both the joke and the pathos of the exchange.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng心xīn，待dài我wǒ們men擒qín住zhù妖yāo精jīng，管guǎn教jiào你nǐ脫tuō難nàn。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng心xīn，待dài我wǒ们men擒qín住zhù妖yāo精jīng，管guǎn教jiào你nǐ脱tuō难nàn。」

Pilgrim said: "Set your heart at rest. When we have seized the fiend, I shall see to it that you are free of this peril."

管教 — 教 is jiào, "to cause, to see to it," not jiāo, "to teach." 脫難: 難 is nàn, the noun, matching 身有難 in the lament just now.

三sān藏zàng道dào：「快kuài些xiē兒er下xià手shǒu，再zài停tíng一yí日rì，足zú足zú悶mèn殺shā我wǒ也yě。」三sān藏zàng道dào：「快kuài些xiē儿er下xià手shǒu，再zài停tíng一yí日rì，足zú足zú闷mèn杀shā我wǒ也yě。」

Tripitaka said: "Be quick about it. Another day of this and I shall be stifled outright."

快些兒: here 兒 is the toneless little tag er, not the ér that means a child or a person. In 悶殺 the character 殺 is not killing anyone — it simply pushes the verb to its limit, like the English "bored to death."

行xíng者zhě道dào：「沒méi事shì，沒méi事shì。行xíng者zhě道dào：「没méi事shì，没méi事shì。

Pilgrim said: "No matter, no matter.

沒事: 沒 méi, "there isn't." The doubling makes it offhand — reassurance tossed over the shoulder on the way out.

我wǒ去qù也yě！」我wǒ去qù也yě！」

I'm off!"

我去也 — the 也 at the end is the spoken flourish that marks an exit, something like "and off I go." The passage closes on the departure that launches the first assault.

總評 Commentary

Wukong's comfort is a small piece of doctrinal comedy. Tripitaka has just sung eight lines blaming water for the ruin of his life, and Wukong replies with a correction: water is not the enemy, it is the source — 無水不長, without water nothing grows. He introduces this as scripture, 經云, though the content is Five Phases natural philosophy with no Buddhist pedigree whatever. The novel does this all the time, and never apologises for it.

There is a second irony the text leaves lying on the floor. Wukong is recommending the Five Phases to a man shut inside stone — and he himself spent five hundred years pinned under the Mountain of Five Phases, 五行山, for the crimes of the opening chapters. The one who has been under the rock is telling the one in the box that the elements mean him no harm.

Tripitaka, of course, does not engage with the doctrine for a second. 救我耶 — save me — is his entire reply, and it is the right one. Wukong signs off with a brisk 我去也, and the fighting starts.