換帽穿裟 He Changes Cap And Cassock
三藏聽說,換了毘盧帽,穿了袈裟,與悟淨拜迎眾聖,稱謝道:「我弟子有何德能,敢勞列位尊聖臨凡也。」四大金剛道:「聖僧喜了,十分功行將完。三藏听说,换了毘卢帽,穿了袈裟,与悟净拜迎众圣,称谢道:「我弟子有何德能,敢劳列位尊圣临凡也。」四大金刚道:「圣僧喜了,十分功行将完。
逐句解 Line by line
Hearing this, Tripitaka changed into his Vairocana cap and put on his cassock, and with Wujing bowed to receive the holy company, giving thanks: "What virtue or ability has your disciple, that he should presume to trouble your honoured holinesses to come down to the world?"
The dressing mirrors the Rākṣasī's undressing a passage earlier: she put off her ornaments to surrender and he puts on his vestments to receive. 毘盧帽 is the Vairocana cap of a high-ranking monk, worn for formal occasions. 弟子 takes the full zǐ; 稱 is chēng.
The four great Vajras said: "Rejoice, holy monk. Your meritorious work is very nearly complete.
The Vajras give Tripitaka the one piece of information he has wanted for sixty chapters, and they give it as an aside before the instruction that actually matters to them. 功行 is the accumulated merit of religious practice, and 將完 again takes 將 at jiāng for imminence. 十分 takes 分 at fēn.
Tripitaka dresses to receive them, and the gesture exactly mirrors the Rākṣasī's a passage earlier. She took off her pins and rings and coloured clothes to surrender; he puts on the Vairocana cap and the cassock to give thanks. Both are statements made in clothing before either speaks.
我弟子有何德能 is the formula of self-deprecation, and it is not merely formal here. The Vajras were despatched because the Buddha reported that the Great Sage could not manage alone; the master is thanking a rescue party for an operation whose written justification was his own party's inadequacy.
十分功行將完 is the answer, and it is the largest piece of news in the chapter. Sixty-one chapters into the journey, four Vajras tell him in five characters that the work is nearly done — and then move straight on to the instruction they came to give.