第五十八回 · 假變四身 The Four Counterfeits — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

假變四身 The Four Counterfeits

沙shā僧sēng又yòu告gào道dào：「這zhè妖yāo又yòu假jiǎ變biàn一yí個gè長zhǎng老lǎo，一yì匹pǐ白bái馬mǎ；又yòu有yǒu一yí個gè八bā戒jiè挑tiāo著zhe我wǒ們men包bāo袱fú，又yòu有yǒu一yí個gè變biàn作zuò是shì我wǒ。我wǒ忍rěn不bú住zhù惱nǎo怒nù，一yí杖zhàng打dǎ死sǐ，原yuán是shì一yí個gè猴hóu精jīng。因yīn此cǐ驚jīng散sàn，又yòu到dào菩pú薩sà處chù訴sù苦kǔ。沙shā僧sēng又yòu告gào道dào：「这zhè妖yāo又yòu假jiǎ变biàn一yí个gè长zhǎng老lǎo，一yì匹pǐ白bái马mǎ；又yòu有yǒu一yí个gè八bā戒jiè挑tiāo着zhe我wǒ们men包bāo袱fú，又yòu有yǒu一yí个gè变biàn作zuò是shì我wǒ。我wǒ忍rěn不bú住zhù恼nǎo怒nù，一yí杖zhàng打dǎ死sǐ，原yuán是shì一yí个gè猴hóu精jīng。因yīn此cǐ惊jīng散sàn，又yòu到dào菩pú萨sà处chù诉sù苦kǔ。

逐句解 Line by line

沙shā僧sēng又yòu告gào道dào：「這zhè妖yāo又yòu假jiǎ變biàn一yí個gè長zhǎng老lǎo，一yì匹pǐ白bái馬mǎ；沙shā僧sēng又yòu告gào道dào：「这zhè妖yāo又yòu假jiǎ变biàn一yí个gè长zhǎng老lǎo，一yì匹pǐ白bái马mǎ；

Sha Monk further reported: "This fiend had also falsely conjured an elder and a white horse;

The fiend has not merely copied Wukong; he has been recruiting. 長老 takes zhǎng, an elder, the honorific for a senior monk — meaning a false Tripitaka. The list is broken here by the semicolon in the source and kept in two parts, because its members get worse as it goes.

又yòu有yǒu一yí個gè八bā戒jiè挑tiāo著zhe我wǒ們men包bāo袱fú，又yòu有yǒu一yí個gè變biàn作zuò是shì我wǒ。又yòu有yǒu一yí个gè八bā戒jiè挑tiāo着zhe我wǒ们men包bāo袱fú，又yòu有yǒu一yí个gè变biàn作zuò是shì我wǒ。

and there was another Eight Rules shouldering our bundles, and another changed into the likeness of me.

挑著: 挑 is tiāo, to carry on a shoulder pole, with 著 as zhe, the ending that keeps the carrying going. A few lines further on the same 著 will mean "set someone to do a thing" and read zhuó.

我wǒ忍rěn不bú住zhù惱nǎo怒nù，一yí杖zhàng打dǎ死sǐ，原yuán是shì一yí個gè猴hóu精jīng。我wǒ忍rěn不bú住zhù恼nǎo怒nù，一yí杖zhàng打dǎ死sǐ，原yuán是shì一yí个gè猴hóu精jīng。

I could not contain my rage, and with one blow of my staff I killed him — and he turned out to be a monkey-sprite.

Killed, the false Sha Monk turns back into a monkey. 原是一個猴精 — it was a monkey-sprite all along — and this will matter: the counterfeits are made from the impostor's own plucked hairs, exactly the way Wukong makes his.

因yīn此cǐ驚jīng散sàn，又yòu到dào菩pú薩sà處chù訴sù苦kǔ。因yīn此cǐ惊jīng散sàn，又yòu到dào菩pú萨sà处chù诉sù苦kǔ。

At that the rest scattered in fright, and I went again to the Bodhisattva to pour out my grievance."

驚散 takes sàn, to scatter; 菩薩處 takes chù, the Bodhisattva's place.

總評 Commentary

The list of counterfeits is the chapter's most concrete piece of evidence, and nobody in the story draws the obvious inference from it. The false Pilgrim has not merely copied Wukong; he has staffed an entire replacement pilgrimage — a Tripitaka, a horse, an Eight Rules, a Sha Monk — and put it on the road west. His ambition is not to displace one monkey. It is to finish the journey.

The list gets worse as it goes, which is why it resists being run together into a single unit. It begins with an elder and a horse, adds an Eight Rules carrying the baggage, and ends at 又有一個變作是我 — and one turned into me. Sha Monk saves himself for last, and the shock of the sentence is that the speaker has met his own double.

原是一個猴精 is the detail that will eventually explain everything. The false Sha Monk, struck dead, reverts to a monkey, because he was never a person at all but a hair transformed — the very trick Wukong uses himself. Whatever the impostor is, he has Wukong's techniques as well as his face.