第六十一回 · 言而無信 A Man Without His Word — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

言而無信 A Man Without His Word

坐zuò了le一yí夜yè，次cì早zǎo才cái收shōu拾shí馬mǎ匹pǐ、行xíng李lǐ，把bǎ扇shàn子zi還huán了le羅luó剎chà。又yòu道dào：「老lǎo孫sūn若ruò不bù與yǔ你nǐ，恐kǒng人rén說shuō我wǒ言yán而ér無wú信xìn。你nǐ將jiāng扇shàn子zi回huí山shān，再zài休xiū生shēng事shì。看kàn你nǐ得dé了le人rén身shēn，饒ráo你nǐ去qù罷ba。」坐zuò了le一yí夜yè，次cì早zǎo才cái收shōu拾shí马mǎ匹pǐ、行xíng李lǐ，把bǎ扇shàn子zi还huán了le罗luó刹chà。又yòu道dào：「老lǎo孙sūn若ruò不bù与yǔ你nǐ，恐kǒng人rén说shuō我wǒ言yán而ér无wú信xìn。你nǐ将jiāng扇shàn子zi回huí山shān，再zài休xiū生shēng事shì。看kàn你nǐ得dé了le人rén身shēn，饶ráo你nǐ去qù罢ba。」

逐句解 Line by line

坐zuò了le一yí夜yè，次cì早zǎo才cái收shōu拾shí馬mǎ匹pǐ、行xíng李lǐ，把bǎ扇shàn子zi還huán了le羅luó剎chà。坐zuò了le一yí夜yè，次cì早zǎo才cái收shōu拾shí马mǎ匹pǐ、行xíng李lǐ，把bǎ扇shàn子zi还huán了le罗luó刹chà。

They sat out the night, and only next morning gathered horse and baggage, and gave the fan back to the Rākṣasī.

還 is huán for the fourth and last time in this passage, and this one is the storyteller's rather than a speaker's: the transaction is reported as done before the Great Sage explains why. (一 shifts to yí in 一夜, before the falling tone of 夜.)

又yòu道dào：「老lǎo孫sūn若ruò不bù與yǔ你nǐ，恐kǒng人rén說shuō我wǒ言yán而ér無wú信xìn。又yòu道dào：「老lǎo孙sūn若ruò不bù与yǔ你nǐ，恐kǒng人rén说shuō我wǒ言yán而ér无wú信xìn。

And he said: "If old Monkey did not give it to you, I fear it would be said of me that I am a man without his word.

The reason he gives is not mercy. 言而無信 — a man without his word — is Confucian rather than Buddhist, and the concern is reputation. He made a bargain in the previous chapter and he is keeping it because he was heard making it.

你nǐ將jiāng扇shàn子zi回huí山shān，再zài休xiū生shēng事shì。你nǐ将jiāng扇shàn子zi回huí山shān，再zài休xiū生shēng事shì。

"Take the fan back to your mountain and make no more trouble.

再休生事 is an instruction rather than a condition; nothing is held over her. The Great Sage returns the property and attaches no security to it, which is more than Eight Rules was prepared to do five lines ago.

看kàn你nǐ得dé了le人rén身shēn，饒ráo你nǐ去qù罷ba。」看kàn你nǐ得dé了le人rén身shēn，饶ráo你nǐ去qù罢ba。」

"Seeing that you have won a human form, I let you go."

得了人身 takes 得 at dé and echoes her own 修成人道 nine lines earlier: she made the claim and he grants it as the ground of her release. A human form is what she cultivated for, and it is what saves her. 罷 is again the sentence-ending ba.

總評 Commentary

He gives it back, and the reason he gives is not mercy. 恐人說我言而無信 — he fears it would be said of him that he is a man without his word. The principle is Confucian, the concern is reputation, and the bargain is being kept because it was made in public.

That is a colder motive than the local god's and a better one than Eight Rules', and the novel lets all three stand without arbitrating between them. What matters is that the fan goes back.

看你得了人身，饒你去罷 grants her exactly the claim she made for herself nine lines earlier. She said her kind had cultivated their way into human form but not yet to the true fruit; he releases her on the strength of the first half of that sentence.