Canonical Classics ← 第六十二回
第六十二回
滌dí垢gòu洗xǐ心xīn惟wéi掃sǎo塔tǎ
縛fù魔mó歸guī主zhǔ乃nǎi修xiū身shēn

Washing the Filth and Cleansing the Heart Is Only Sweeping the Pagoda · Binding the Fiend and Returning to the Master Is Cultivating the Self

未卜先知
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

未卜先知 Knowing Without Casting Lots

及jí到dào方fāng丈zhàng,眾zhòng僧sēng俱jù來lái叩kòu頭tóu,問wèn道dào:「列liè位wèi老lǎo爺yé像xiàng貌mào不bù一yī,可kě是shì東dōng土tǔ大dà唐táng來lái的de麼me?」行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào:「這zhè和hé尚shàng有yǒu甚shén未wèi卜bǔ先xiān知zhī之zhī法fǎ?我wǒ們men正zhèng是shì。你nǐ怎zěn麼me認rèn得dé?」及jí到dào方fāng丈zhàng,众zhòng僧sēng俱jù来lái叩kòu头tóu,问wèn道dào:「列liè位wèi老lǎo爷yé像xiàng貌mào不bù一yī,可kě是shì东dōng土tǔ大dà唐táng来lái的de么me?」行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào:「这zhè和hé尚shàng有yǒu甚shén未wèi卜bǔ先xiān知zhī之zhī法fǎ?我wǒ们men正zhèng是shì。你nǐ怎zěn么me认rèn得dé?」


逐句解 Line by line

及jí到dào方fāng丈zhàng,眾zhòng僧sēng俱jù來lái叩kòu頭tóu,問wèn道dào:「列liè位wèi老lǎo爺yé像xiàng貌mào不bù一yī,可kě是shì東dōng土tǔ大dà唐táng來lái的de麼me?」 及jí到dào方fāng丈zhàng,众zhòng僧sēng俱jù来lái叩kòu头tóu,问wèn道dào:「列liè位wèi老lǎo爷yé像xiàng貌mào不bù一yī,可kě是shì东dōng土tǔ大dà唐táng来lái的de么me?」

When they came to the abbot's quarters the monks all knocked their heads on the ground and asked, "Your Reverences are not alike in feature. Can it be that you have come from the Land of the East, from the Great Tang?"

像貌不一, not alike in feature, is the observation that gets them recognised — a monkey, a pig, a dark-faced man and an ordinary priest travelling together are not a party anybody could mistake. The 一 stands at the end of its clause, and by the standing rule a clause-final 一 keeps yī rather than shifting for whatever follows.

行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào:「這zhè和hé尚shàng有yǒu甚shén未wèi卜bǔ先xiān知zhī之zhī法fǎ? 行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào:「这zhè和hé尚shàng有yǒu甚shén未wèi卜bǔ先xiān知zhī之zhī法fǎ?

Pilgrim laughed. "What art of knowing-without-divining have these monks got?

未卜先知 is knowing a thing before you have cast the milfoil stalks or cracked the shell for it: foreknowledge with no divination behind it, and still what Chinese reaches for when somebody guesses right. 甚 is the question-word here, shén, standing in for 什麼, and not the intensifier shèn it is a few lines later.

我wǒ們men正zhèng是shì。你nǐ怎zěn麼me認rèn得dé?」 我wǒ们men正zhèng是shì。你nǐ怎zěn么me认rèn得dé?」

"We are indeed. How did you know us?"

認得 takes the full dé: the character is carrying its own verb of recognising, not linking one verb to another. Nine characters, and Pilgrim has conceded the point and asked his own question in the same breath.


總評 Commentary

The monks knew them before anybody told them, and Pilgrim's first response is suspicion dressed as a joke. He has spent the chapter so far being the one who reads a situation right from a distance, and here somebody has read him.

The question is worth asking. A party recognised on sight in a foreign capital where none of them has ever been is either famous or expected, and being expected, in this novel, usually means something supernatural has been at work. The answer, when it comes, is exactly that.