第五十九回 · 直至於此 Blown All The Way Here — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

直至於此 Blown All The Way Here

他tā見jiàn我wǒ的de棒bàng重zhòng難nán撐chēng，遂suì將jiāng扇shàn子zi把bǎ我wǒ一yì搧shān，搧shān得de我wǒ悠yōu悠yōu蕩dàng蕩dàng，直zhí至zhì於yú此cǐ，方fāng才cái落luò住zhù。故gù此cǐ輕qīng造zào禪chán院yuàn，問wèn個gè歸guī路lù。此cǐ處chù到dào火huǒ焰yàn山shān，不bù知zhī有yǒu多duō少shǎo里lǐ數shù？」他tā见jiàn我wǒ的de棒bàng重zhòng难nán撑chēng，遂suì将jiāng扇shàn子zi把bǎ我wǒ一yì扇shān，扇shān得de我wǒ悠yōu悠yōu荡dàng荡dàng，直zhí至zhì于yú此cǐ，方fāng才cái落luò住zhù。故gù此cǐ轻qīng造zào禅chán院yuàn，问wèn个gè归guī路lù。此cǐ处chù到dào火huǒ焰yàn山shān，不bù知zhī有yǒu多duō少shǎo里lǐ数shù？」

逐句解 Line by line

他tā見jiàn我wǒ的de棒bàng重zhòng難nán撐chēng，遂suì將jiāng扇shàn子zi把bǎ我wǒ一yì搧shān，搧shān得de我wǒ悠yōu悠yōu蕩dàng蕩dàng，直zhí至zhì於yú此cǐ，方fāng才cái落luò住zhù。他tā见jiàn我wǒ的de棒bàng重zhòng难nán撑chēng，遂suì将jiāng扇shàn子zi把bǎ我wǒ一yì扇shān，扇shān得de我wǒ悠yōu悠yōu荡dàng荡dàng，直zhí至zhì于yú此cǐ，方fāng才cái落luò住zhù。

'Seeing my cudgel too heavy to hold off, she took out the fan and gave me one fanning with it — fanned me drifting and floating all the way here, and only then did I come to rest.'

重 is zhòng, heavy. 將 is the handling word jiāng. 悠悠蕩蕩, "drifting and swaying," answers the 飄飄蕩蕩 the narrator used of the same flight when it happened — Pilgrim's account and the novel's use nearly the same words.

故gù此cǐ輕qīng造zào禪chán院yuàn，問wèn個gè歸guī路lù。故gù此cǐ轻qīng造zào禅chán院yuàn，问wèn个gè归guī路lù。

'And so I make bold to intrude upon your monastery, and ask the way home.'

輕造, "to come lightly," is a self-deprecating formula for turning up unannounced. 問個歸路 restates exactly what he told himself on the crag: he has come for directions.

此cǐ處chù到dào火huǒ焰yàn山shān，不bù知zhī有yǒu多duō少shǎo里lǐ數shù？」此cǐ处chù到dào火huǒ焰yàn山shān，不bù知zhī有yǒu多duō少shǎo里lǐ数shù？」

'From this place to the Mountain of Flames — how many lǐ might it be?'

處 is chù and 數 is shù. The question is practical and its answer will be the revelation of the scene: he has been blown fifty thousand lǐ, and that was with him resisting.

總評 Commentary

悠悠蕩蕩 — drifting and swaying — answers the 飄飄蕩蕩 the narrator used when the flight actually happened. Pilgrim describes his own humiliation in almost the same words the novel used, which is a quiet piece of craft: he is not minimising it, and we hear it twice.

The visit is framed with elaborate modesty — 輕造禪院, to intrude lightly on the monastery — and the request is again only for directions. From this place to the Mountain of Flames, how many lǐ? He has come to a Bodhisattva to ask the way, in the manner of a traveller stopping at a farmhouse.

It is the same modesty he showed the woodcutter, and it produces the same result. In this chapter Pilgrim gets what he needs from the people he treats courteously and asks plainly, and gets nothing at all from the one he tries to argue into agreement.