西天問佛 A Resolve to Ask the Buddha
卻說那李天王帥眾回上高峰，火德怨哪吒性急，雷公怪天王放刁，惟水伯在傍無語。行者見他們面不廝睹，心有縈思，沒奈何，懷恨強歡，對眾笑道：「列位不須煩惱。自古道：『勝敗兵家之常。』我和他論武藝，也只如此；但只是他多了這個圈子，所以為害，把我等兵器又套將去了。你且放心，待老孫再去查查他的腳色來也。」太子道：「你前啟奏玉帝，查勘滿天世界，更無一點蹤跡，如今卻又何處去查？」行者道：「我想起來，佛法無邊。如今且上西天問我佛如來，教他著慧眼觀看大地四部洲，看這怪是那方生長，何處鄉貫住居，圈子是件甚麼寶貝。不管怎的，一定要拿他，與列位出氣，還汝等歡喜歸天。」眾神道：「既有此意，不須久停，快去，快去。」却说那李天王帅众回上高峰，火德怨哪咤性急，雷公怪天王放刁，惟水伯在傍无语。行者见他们面不厮睹，心有萦思，没奈何，怀恨强欢，对众笑道：「列位不须烦恼。自古道：『胜败兵家之常。』我和他论武艺，也只如此；但只是他多了这个圈子，所以为害，把我等兵器又套将去了。你且放心，待老孙再去查查他的脚色来也。」太子道：「你前启奏玉帝，查勘满天世界，更无一点踪迹，如今却又何处去查？」行者道：「我想起来，佛法无边。如今且上西天问我佛如来，教他着慧眼观看大地四部洲，看这怪是那方生长，何处乡贯住居，圈子是件甚么宝贝。不管怎的，一定要拿他，与列位出气，还汝等欢喜归天。」众神道：「既有此意，不须久停，快去，快去。」
逐句解 Line by line
Now Devarāja Li led his company back up to the high peak, where the Fire Virtue blamed Nezha for his hot temper, the Thunder Squire blamed the Devarāja for playing tricks, and only the Earl of Waters stood by and said nothing.
A committee after a failure, in one sentence. 那李天王 points, so 那 is nà; 在傍: 傍 is páng. 放刁 is "to play the sharper, to be awkward on purpose." 水伯 is the Water Earl, whose flood failed against the demon in the chapter before; in this one he is never called on at all, and he is the only member of the company who ends it with nothing taken.
Pilgrim saw that they would not look one another in the face and that their minds were full of misgiving. There was no help for it: nursing his resentment he forced a cheerful manner, and said to them all with a laugh: "My lords, do not distress yourselves.
沒奈何: 沒 is méi. 強歡: 強 is qiǎng, to force or compel — he is forcing the cheerfulness, not being strong about it — rather than the qiáng of strength. 面不廝睹 is "not looking one another in the face."
"The old saying has it: 'Victory and defeat are the common lot of soldiers.'
One of only two places in the chapter where the text uses the inner quotation marks 『』, which mark a quotation rather than verse. 勝敗兵家之常, "victory and defeat are the common lot of soldiers," is a proverb of long standing — and Pilgrim is quoting it to gods who have just lost their weapons for the second time.
"He and I are matched in the arts of war, and there is no more to it than that; the only thing is that he has this ring of his over and above, which is why the harm is done, and why he has snared away our weapons again.
The two halves are joined at the semicolon. Both 了 are le; 圈子 takes the bare ending zi; 為害: 為 is wéi, the verb, "to work harm"; 套將去了: 將 is jiāng. He has isolated the single variable, which nobody else in three chapters has managed.
"Set your minds at rest: let Old Monkey go once more and look into his antecedents."
And here is the turn the chapter has been waiting for. 腳色 in the vernacular means a person's record and origins — what he is and where he came from. The modern spelling 角色, a part in a play, is the same word: what you are is the role you were cast in. Pilgrim is proposing to investigate the demon's identity instead of fighting him again. 查查: both 查 are chá, "to look into"; the automatic tool gives chá everywhere else in the chapter and zhā for this doubled pair, so the reduplication is the one place it goes wrong.
The Prince said: "You laid a memorial before the Jade Emperor earlier, and the whole world under heaven was searched and examined without a single trace of him. Where do you mean to look now?"
A good objection, and the reason the answer must come from outside. 太子: 子 is zǐ; 更無: 更 is gèng; 何處: 處 is chù. The demon appears in nobody's register.
Pilgrim said: "It comes to me that the Buddha's dharma is without bounds. Let me go up now to the Western Heaven and ask my Buddha the Tathāgata, and have him turn his eye of wisdom on the four great continents of the earth and see what quarter this monster was born and bred in, what place holds his native home, and what sort of treasure the ring may be.
佛 is fó throughout this edition (the automatic tool gives fú inside 問我佛). 教他著慧眼: 教 is jiào, "have him"; 著 is zhuó, to employ or apply. 那方生長 is a question and runs parallel with 何處鄉貫, so 那 is nǎ, "which quarter"; 長 is zhǎng.
"Come what may I mean to take him, to get satisfaction for you all, and to send you back to Heaven content."
還汝等: 還 is huán, to send back or restore, not hái. 一定 is a set phrase and takes the ordinary shift to yí before a fourth tone.
The gods said: "Since that is your intention, do not delay long. Go quickly, go quickly."
The same send-off — 快去，快去 — that started him into the cave on the first night. Saying it is very nearly the gods' entire contribution to this chapter.
The recriminations on the ridge are done in one sentence and are worth the whole passage: the Fire Virtue blames Nezha for losing his temper, the Thunder Squire blames Devarāja Li for sharp practice, and the Water Earl — who has not yet been asked to do anything at all — stands by and says nothing. It is a small, exact picture of a committee after a failure, and the novel does not soften it on the grounds that these are gods.
Wukong's response is the turn the chapter has been building towards, and it is worth noticing how unlike him it is. He quotes a proverb about the fortunes of war, admits that he and the demon are evenly matched in arms, isolates the one variable that is beating them — 他多了這個圈子, he has this ring over and above — and then proposes not another assault but an enquiry into the creature's 腳色, its record and origins. Nezha's objection is the sound one: the Jade Emperor's own search turned up no trace of him anywhere under heaven. Which is exactly why the answer has to come from outside the celestial registry, and why Pilgrim is off to Vulture Peak to ask a question rather than to borrow a weapon.