道人獻策 The Daoist Offers Counsel
孫大聖掣了鐵棒，近門高叫：「開門，開門！」那守門的看見，急入裡通報道：「師父，那孫悟空又來了也。」那先生心中大怒道：「這潑猴老大無狀。一向聞他有些手段，果然今日方知，他那條棒真是難敵。」道人道：「師父，他的手段雖高，你亦不亞與他，正是個對手。」先生道：「前面兩回，被他贏了。」道人道：「前兩回雖贏，不過是一猛之性；後面兩次打水之時，被師父鉤他兩跌，卻不是相比肩也？先既無奈而去，今又復來，必然是三藏胎成身重，埋怨得緊，不得已而來也。決有慢他師之心，管取我師決勝無疑。」孙大圣掣了铁棒，近门高叫：「开门，开门！」那守门的看见，急入里通报道：「师父，那孙悟空又来了也。」那先生心中大怒道：「这泼猴老大无状。一向闻他有些手段，果然今日方知，他那条棒真是难敌。」道人道：「师父，他的手段虽高，你亦不亚与他，正是个对手。」先生道：「前面两回，被他赢了。」道人道：「前两回虽赢，不过是一猛之性；后面两次打水之时，被师父钩他两跌，却不是相比肩也？先既无奈而去，今又复来，必然是三藏胎成身重，埋怨得紧，不得已而来也。决有慢他师之心，管取我师决胜无疑。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Great Sage Sun drew out his iron rod, went up to the gate and called loudly, "Open the gate! Open the gate!"
掣 is to draw a weapon out sharply, in one motion. The doubled call is the same one that opened the whole encounter, and it is meant to be heard indoors.
The gatekeeper saw him and hurried inside to report: "Master, that Sun Wukong has come again."
Both 那 are nà, that. 看見 takes 看 as kàn. The gatekeeper's function throughout has been to carry news in one direction and refusals in the other.
The gentleman was greatly angered in his heart and said, "This impudent ape is outrageous. I have heard this long while that he has some skill, and today I know it for a fact: that rod of his is truly hard to stand against."
心中 takes 中 as zhōng; 難敵 takes 難 as nán, hard. Note that the admission is private and completely candid — that rod is truly hard to stand against — which is what makes the flattery in the next few lines worth watching.
The Daoist said, "Master, his skill may be high, but you are not his inferior either — you are exactly a match for him."
不亞與他 — no less than he — flatly contradicts what the master has just said about the rod. The disciple is not offering an assessment. He is managing his employer.
The gentleman said, "The first two rounds, he beat me."
Eleven characters of accurate memory. He is harder to flatter than his disciple expects.
The Daoist said, "He won the first two rounds, but that was nothing more than a rush of brute spirit; and in the two later encounters at the drawing of the water, Master hooked him down twice — so are you not on level footing after all?"
相比肩 takes 相 as xiāng — shoulder to shoulder, on a level. The reasoning is genuinely ingenious: it reclassifies two defeats as flukes of temperament and two obstructions as victories, and arrives at parity.
He had no help for it before and went away; now he comes back again, which must mean that Tripitaka's conception is formed and his body heavy, that he is being nagged past bearing, and that he comes because he cannot help it.
Two 得 in one sentence with different readings: the light de in 埋怨得緊, linking the nagging to how hard it is; and dé in 不得已, the set phrase meaning cannot but, having no help for it. 身重 takes 重 as zhòng, heavy.
He is bound to have a slack heart for his master's sake, and I warrant our master will certainly win."
慢他師之心 — a heart grown careless of his master — is the conclusion the whole argument was built to reach. 管取 is a vernacular guarantee: depend upon it, mark my words.
The passage is a small masterpiece of motivated reasoning, and the novel presents it without a word of comment. The immortal states two facts plainly — the rod is hard to stand against, and he lost the first two rounds — and his gatekeeper converts both into their opposites over the course of four speeches.
The method repays setting out, because it is precise. First, deny the premise: your skill is no less than his, the two of you are evenly matched. Second, reclassify the defeats — the two rounds he won were 一猛之性, a rush of brute spirit and nothing more, so they do not count as skill. Third, promote the obstructions: at the well you hooked him off his feet twice, and those do count. The score is now level, and parity has been manufactured out of a rout.
The last move is the cleverest, and it comes closest to being right. The disciple reads Wukong's return as a sign of weakness: he is only back because Tripitaka's belly is heavy and the complaining has become unbearable, so his heart will not be in the fight. Every one of those observations is true. Tripitaka is heavy, he has been complaining, and Wukong did leave and come back. It is the inference that fails, and it fails because the gatekeeper cannot know that his opponent went away to fetch a plan rather than to give up.
What the passage is really about is the position of a man who has to tell his master what his master wants to hear. The gatekeeper has spent four passages refusing petitioners, carrying reports and being shouted off well-curbs, and here he does the other half of his job. The counsel is confident, well argued, and about to be disproved.