原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
陽間折辨 Sent Back To The Light
查勘畢，當殿回報。陰君各執笏，對行者道：「大聖，幽冥處既無名號可查，你還到陽間去折辨。」查勘毕，当殿回报。阴君各执笏，对行者道：「大圣，幽冥处既无名号可查，你还到阳间去折辨。」
逐句解 Line by line
查勘畢，當殿回報。
查勘毕，当殿回报。
The checking done, they reported back before the hall.
當殿 takes dāng, before the hall, the positional reading of 當面 rather than the dàng of 極當. 查勘 is chá once more.
陰君各執笏，對行者道：「大聖，幽冥處既無名號可查，你還到陽間去折辨。」
阴君各执笏，对行者道：「大圣，幽冥处既无名号可查，你还到阳间去折辨。」
The Lords of Darkness each held up their tablets of office and said to the Pilgrims: "Great Sage, since there is no name or title to be searched for in the realm of shades, you had best go back to the world of light and have it argued out there."
They pick up their tablets of office first, which dresses a confession of failure as a ruling. The 笏 is the ceremonial board an official holds up in front of his face at an audience. 陽間 takes jiān, the world of light; 折辨 takes zhé.
The fifth court dismisses the case, and the manner of the dismissal is worth noting. 陰君各執笏 — they take up their tablets of office first. It is a gesture of formal respect, and it dresses an admission of failure as a ruling.
The direction of the referral has also reversed. Heaven sent the pair downward and outward; the underworld sends them back up to 陽間, the world of light, which is where they started. Five courts have now been used up and the case has completed a circuit. Only Kṣitigarbha, summoned as an afterthought at the end of the roll-call, has yet to say anything.