德本財末 Virtue the Root, Wealth the Branch
那夥賊見行者與他師父講話，撒開勢，圍將上來道：「小和尚，你師父說你腰裡有盤纏，趁早拿出來，饒你們性命；若道半個『不』字，就都送了你的殘生。」行者放下包袱道：「列位長官，不要嚷。盤纏有些在此包袱，不多，只有馬蹄金二十來錠，粉面銀二三十錠，散碎的未曾見數。要時就連包兒拿去，切莫打我師父。古書云：『德者，本也；財者，末也。』此是末事。我等出家人自有化處，若遇著個齋僧的長者，襯錢也有，衣服也有，能用幾何？只望放下我師父來，我就一並奉承。」那夥賊聞言，都甚歡喜道：「這老和尚慳吝，這小和尚倒還慷慨。」教：「放下來。」那長老得了性命，跳上馬，顧不得行者，操著鞭，一直跑回舊路。那伙贼见行者与他师父讲话，撒开势，围将上来道：「小和尚，你师父说你腰里有盘缠，趁早拿出来，饶你们性命；若道半个『不』字，就都送了你的残生。」行者放下包袱道：「列位长官，不要嚷。盘缠有些在此包袱，不多，只有马蹄金二十来锭，粉面银二三十锭，散碎的未曾见数。要时就连包儿拿去，切莫打我师父。古书云：『德者，本也；财者，末也。』此是末事。我等出家人自有化处，若遇着个斋僧的长者，衬钱也有，衣服也有，能用几何？只望放下我师父来，我就一并奉承。」那伙贼闻言，都甚欢喜道：「这老和尚悭吝，这小和尚倒还慷慨。」教：「放下来。」那长老得了性命，跳上马，顾不得行者，操着鞭，一直跑回旧路。
逐句解 Line by line
The gang of robbers, seeing Pilgrim in talk with his master, spread out their stance and closed in around him. “Little monk! Your master says you have travelling money at your waist. Bring it out at once and we will spare your lives; but let half a ‘no’ out of you and we will make an end of the whole of what is left of you.”
圍將上來 uses 將 to mark the direction the action is taking, so jiāng. The threat's second half does something odd: 半個『不』字 names the character rather than using it — half a 'no' out of you. It is still read as speech, so the 不 rises to bú before the falling tone of 字. Note that the threat is second person throughout: spare your lives, finish off what is left of you.
Pilgrim set down his bundle and said, “Gentlemen, officers, do not shout. There is some money here in this bundle — not a great deal: only twenty-odd ingots of horse-hoof gold and twenty or thirty of powder-face silver, and the loose pieces have never been counted.”
This is the con, and the method is generosity. Wukong does not deny having money — he itemises it. 馬蹄金, horse-hoof gold, and 粉面銀, powder-face silver, are standard ingot shapes, and every last item is invented on the spot. 長官 takes 長 as zhǎng; 嚷 is rǎng; 散碎 uses 散 as an adjective, loose and scattered, so sǎn. In 未曾見數 the 數 is taken as a verb, shǔ, to count — never yet counted. Reading it as the noun shù, no reckoning having been seen, is defensible, and is recorded here as the alternative.
“If you want it, take it bundle and all; only do not beat my master.”
包兒 carries a suffix, so 兒 is er. The one condition attached to the whole imaginary fortune is that they stop beating his master.
“The old books say: ‘Virtue is the root; wealth is the branch.’”
The quotation is from the 大學, the Great Learning — a Confucian classic every literate person in Ming China had by heart, which is why a bandit on a mountain road is expected to recognise it. Virtue is the root; wealth is the branch.
“This is a matter of the branch.”
Four characters standing alone, and they do the work. Wukong applies the maxim he has just quoted — this is a matter of the branch — and the application is the point. He concedes the robbers' claim in order to make it worthless.
“We who have left the household have our own places to beg. If we come upon some elder who feasts monks there will be offering-money, and clothing too — how much can we possibly use?”
化處 is the beggar-monk's 化 again, huà, with 處 as place, chù: somewhere to beg. 遇著 takes zháo, as it did when Tripitaka ran into his tight spot. 襯錢 is the cash a lay donor lays on a monk's robe. 長者 puts 長 at zhǎng: a person of standing.
“I ask only that you let my master down, and I will hand the whole of it over to you.”
一並 is the whole lot together, and the 一 rises to yí before the falling tone of 並 in the ordinary way. He offers everything, conditionally.
The gang of robbers were all greatly pleased to hear it, and said, “The old monk is a miser; the little monk is handsome enough.”
甚 is back to the intensifier shèn, greatly — against the question word shén of 甚麼 in the previous passage. 倒還 pairs the dào of contrary expectation with hái: the little one, on the other hand, is generous enough.
And they gave the order: “Let him down.”
Four characters — a complete order with its own attribution. 教 is jiào in its commanding sense: and they gave the order.
The elder, having got his life back, sprang onto the horse, gave not a thought to Pilgrim, took up the whip and galloped straight back the way they had come.
The same character twice with opposite readings, ten characters apart: the dé of getting something in 得了性命, having got his life back, and the neutral de of possibility in 顧不得行者, could not spare a thought for Pilgrim. Because that second one goes neutral, the 不 before it keeps its ordinary bù. And 一直 is already yì before the rising tone of 直.
Wukong's speech to the robbers is a small masterpiece of confidence trickery, and its method is to give them everything. He does not deny the money; he itemises it, and the itemising is what convinces — horse-hoof gold, powder-face silver, loose pieces never counted. A liar who says he has nothing invites a search. A liar who volunteers an inventory invites belief.
The quotation from the 大學 does the same work by other means. 德者，本也；財者，末也 is orthodox Confucian doctrine, and Wukong deploys it not to refuse the robbers but to make handing over the money seem trivial — a matter of the branch, so of course you may have it. What comes next in the 大學, and what an educated reader supplies without being told, is the warning that a ruler who puts wealth first breeds strife among his people. Which is precisely what is about to happen.
The robbers' verdict — the old monk is a miser, the little one is generous — is the last judgement they ever make, and it is exactly wrong in both halves. Tripitaka, who really had nothing, is written off as mean. Wukong, who has nothing either and is preparing to kill them, is praised as handsome. The scene has been an extended demonstration that generosity is easy to counterfeit and that these men cannot tell the difference.
Tripitaka's exit is the detail to hold on to. 顧不得行者 — he gave not a thought to Pilgrim — and he is on the horse and gone before anything happens. He will be back in a few pages to find two dead men and to pass judgement on the disciple who stayed behind, having taken care not to see what he had arranged.