一一聽從 Sha Monk Takes His Orders
長老又吩咐沙僧道：「你到那裡，須看個頭勢。他若肯與你包袱，你就假謝謝拿來；若不肯，切莫與他爭競，徑至南海菩薩處，將此情告訴，請菩薩去問他要。」沙僧一一聽從。向八戒道：「我今尋他去，你千萬莫僝僽，好生供養師父。這人家亦不可撒潑，恐他不肯供飯。我去就回。」八戒點頭道：「我理會得。但你去，討得討不得，趁早回來，不要弄做尖擔擔柴兩頭脫也。」沙僧遂捻了訣，駕起雲光，直奔東勝神洲而去。长老又吩咐沙僧道：「你到那里，须看个头势。他若肯与你包袱，你就假谢谢拿来；若不肯，切莫与他争竞，径至南海菩萨处，将此情告诉，请菩萨去问他要。」沙僧一一听从。向八戒道：「我今寻他去，你千万莫僝僽，好生供养师父。这人家亦不可撒泼，恐他不肯供饭。我去就回。」八戒点头道：「我理会得。但你去，讨得讨不得，趁早回来，不要弄做尖担担柴两头脱也。」沙僧遂捻了诀，驾起云光，直奔东胜神洲而去。
逐句解 Line by line
The elder charged Sha Monk further: “When you get there, be sure to see how things stand.
你到那裡 is the pointing 那, nà -- there, meaning the Water-Curtain Cave -- not the question nǎ the same character takes elsewhere in this chapter. Tripitaka's first instruction is to look before doing anything.
“If he is willing to give you the bundles, then thank him — however feigned the thanks — and bring them away; and if he is not willing, on no account fall to quarrelling with him, but go straight to the Bodhisattva at the Southern Sea, lay the whole matter before her, and ask her to go and demand them of him.”
A conditional pair, built to match: 他若肯 against 若不肯. 假謝謝 is the sharpest word in the brief -- thank him falsely, and get out. Tripitaka is telling a monk to lie politely, which is either good diplomacy or a small lapse, depending on how charitable you feel.
Sha Monk took in every point of it.
一一 is a fixed word in its own right, yī yī -- one by one, point by point -- and both characters need that reading spelled out. The ordinary tone rule would produce yì yì here, and nothing about the character that follows signals the exception; the reading has to be known rather than worked out.
He turned to Bajie: “I am off to look for him now. Whatever you do, do not fret and grumble; look after the master properly.
僝僽 is a rare pair meaning to fret and nag, and it keeps its ordinary readings, chán zhòu. 供養 takes 供 at gōng, the "provide, supply" sense -- not the gòng of giving testimony.
“And you are not to make a scene at this house either, or they may refuse to feed us. I shall go and come straight back.”
撒潑 -- to throw a tantrum -- is precisely what Sha Monk expects of him, and 供飯 takes 供 at gōng again. Note what the two brothers actually discuss on parting: sulking and table manners. Neither mentions the injured man behind them.
Bajie nodded: “I take your meaning. But when you go — whether you get them or not — come back quickly. Do not make it a sharp carrying-pole shouldering firewood, that slips off at both ends.”
Bajie signs off with a carrying-pole proverb, and the proverb is a small display of the language's own machinery. 尖擔擔柴 puts both readings of 擔 side by side in four characters: 尖擔 is the pole, the noun dàn, and 擔柴 is shouldering it, the verb dān. A pole sharpened at both ends carries nothing -- the load slides off either way -- and the phrase means an errand that fails in both directions. 得 appears three times and twice differently: 理會得 is attainment, dé, while 討得 and 討不得 are the can and the cannot, both with the light de.
So Sha Monk pinched the finger-sign, mounted his cloud-light, and made straight for the Eastern Continent of Superior Spirit.
直奔 governs a destination and is read bèn -- the last of the chapter's five such appearances. 東勝神洲 is the continent Wukong was born on, and the source prints 神, spirit, where the standard Buddhist name of this continent has the character for body. It is encoded as printed and rendered accordingly: the Eastern Continent of Superior Spirit.
Tripitaka's instructions are the most competent thing he does in this chapter. He anticipates both outcomes, tells Sha Monk to thank the man falsely if he cooperates, forbids a quarrel if he does not, and names the authority to escalate to. It is a diplomatic brief, and Sha Monk 一一聽從 -- takes it point by point.
The exchange that follows between the two brothers is the novel's ordinary domestic register. Sha Monk tells Bajie not to sulk and not to make a scene at the farmhouse, both of which are things Bajie would do; Bajie answers with a proverb about a carrying-pole sharpened at both ends, which drops its load whichever way you turn. Neither of them says a word about the master lying injured behind them, and the omission is the point.
The direction matters. Sha Monk goes east, to 東勝神洲, the continent Wukong was born on -- while the Bodhisattva who could settle everything is south, and the real Wukong is standing beside her. The chapter has now sent its three surviving pilgrims in three different directions, none of them toward the answer.