第五十八回 · 缽盂之下 Under The Alms Bowl — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

缽盂之下 Under The Alms Bowl

那nà獼mí猴hóu毛máo骨gǔ悚sǒng然rán，料liào著zhe難nán脫tuō，即jí忙máng搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，變biàn作zuò個gè蜜mì蜂fēng兒er，往wǎng上shàng便biàn飛fēi。如rú來lái將jiāng金jīn缽bō盂yú撇piē起qǐ去qù，正zhèng蓋gài著zhe那nà蜂fēng兒er，落luò下xià來lái。大dà眾zhòng不bù知zhī，以yǐ為wéi走zǒu了le。如rú來lái笑xiào云yún：「大dà眾zhòng休xiū言yán。妖yāo精jīng未wèi走zǒu，見jiàn在zài我wǒ這zhè缽bō盂yú之zhī下xià。」那nà猕mí猴hóu毛máo骨gǔ悚sǒng然rán，料liào着zhe难nán脱tuō，即jí忙máng摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，变biàn作zuò个gè蜜mì蜂fēng儿er，往wǎng上shàng便biàn飞fēi。如rú来lái将jiāng金jīn钵bō盂yú撇piē起qǐ去qù，正zhèng盖gài着zhe那nà蜂fēng儿er，落luò下xià来lái。大dà众zhòng不bù知zhī，以yǐ为wéi走zǒu了le。如rú来lái笑xiào云yún：「大dà众zhòng休xiū言yán。妖yāo精jīng未wèi走zǒu，见jiàn在zài我wǒ这zhè钵bō盂yú之zhī下xià。」

逐句解 Line by line

那nà獼mí猴hóu毛máo骨gǔ悚sǒng然rán，料liào著zhe難nán脫tuō，即jí忙máng搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，變biàn作zuò個gè蜜mì蜂fēng兒er，往wǎng上shàng便biàn飛fēi。那nà猕mí猴hóu毛máo骨gǔ悚sǒng然rán，料liào着zhe难nán脱tuō，即jí忙máng摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，变biàn作zuò个gè蜜mì蜂fēng儿er，往wǎng上shàng便biàn飞fēi。

That macaque's hair stood on end. Reckoning it hard to get away, he shook himself in haste and changed, turning into a honeybee, and flew straight up.

料著 takes zhe. 蜜蜂兒 takes the light er ending. 毛骨悚然 — hair and bone bristling — is still the ordinary Chinese for a chill of dread, the equivalent of hair standing on end.

如rú來lái將jiāng金jīn缽bō盂yú撇piē起qǐ去qù，正zhèng蓋gài著zhe那nà蜂fēng兒er，落luò下xià來lái。如rú来lái将jiāng金jīn钵bō盂yú撇piē起qǐ去qù，正zhèng盖gài着zhe那nà蜂fēng儿er，落luò下xià来lái。

The Tathāgata flung up his golden alms bowl, which came down square over that bee and dropped it.

落 is luò, to come down, where the automatic reading gives là, to leave behind. 蓋著 takes zhe. The whole capture is one sentence, eighteen characters long.

大dà眾zhòng不bù知zhī，以yǐ為wéi走zǒu了le。大dà众zhòng不bù知zhī，以yǐ为wéi走zǒu了le。

The assembly did not know it, and took it that he had got away.

以為 takes wéi, to take it that; the automatic reading gives wèi.

如rú來lái笑xiào云yún：「大dà眾zhòng休xiū言yán。妖yāo精jīng未wèi走zǒu，見jiàn在zài我wǒ這zhè缽bō盂yú之zhī下xià。」如rú来lái笑xiào云yún：「大dà众zhòng休xiū言yán。妖yāo精jīng未wèi走zǒu，见jiàn在zài我wǒ这zhè钵bō盂yú之zhī下xià。」

The Tathāgata said with a laugh: "No more talk, assembly. The fiend has not got away; he is here beneath this alms bowl of mine."

The second time the Buddha smiles in this chapter. 笑云 — he laughs and tells them to stop talking, then says where the fiend actually is.

總評 Commentary

The capture takes eighteen characters and one household object. After five courts, a demon-revealing mirror, a fillet spell and an army of shadow-troops, the creature is caught under an alms bowl — the plainest thing a monk owns, and the emblem of the begging life the whole pilgrimage is undertaken in.

The escape attempt is the last thing the macaque does in character as Wukong. 搖身一變 into a bee is Wukong's own signature move, used dozens of times in the novel. He is still doing what the original would do, right to the very end, which is the imposture's whole logic.

大眾不知，以為走了 gives the assembly one more failure, and the Buddha's correction of it is gentle and slightly amused. He does not explain. He simply says where the fiend is. The gap between what the enlightened assembly can see and what the Tathāgata knows has been the chapter's real subject for some time.