Canonical Classics ← 第六十三回
第六十三回
èrsēngdàngguàinàolónggōng
qúnshèngchúxiéhuòbǎobèi

Two Monks Quell a Fiend and Make Havoc in the Dragon Palace · A Host of Sages Puts Down the Evil and Recovers the Treasure

口口稱為
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

口口稱為 Called Old Buddha And Bodhisattva

guówángwénshuōshífēnjiājìngqǐngtángsēngshàngzuòkǒukǒuchēngwéilǎo」,jiāngshāsēngděngjiēchēngwéi」。滿mǎncháowénxīnránguómíndǐngguówángwénshuōshífēnjiājìngqǐngtángsēngshàngzuòkǒukǒuchēngwéilǎo」,jiāngshāsēngděngjiēchēngwéi」。mǎncháowénxīnránguómíndǐng


逐句解 Line by line

guówángwénshuōshífēnjiājìngqǐngtángsēngshàngzuòkǒukǒuchēngwéilǎo」,jiāngshāsēngděngjiēchēngwéi」。 guówángwénshuōshífēnjiājìngqǐngtángsēngshàngzuòkǒukǒuchēngwéilǎo」,jiāngshāsēngděngjiēchēngwéi」。

Hearing this, the king grew more reverent still. He begged the Tang Monk to take the upper seat, calling him on every tongue the Old Buddha, and styled Sha Monk and the rest, one and all, Bodhisattvas.

稱為 takes at wéi, the copular reading; pypinyin supplies the purposive wèi at both sites here and is wrong at both, so both specs are given by position. 十分 keeps at fēn, a degree or fraction. at 將沙僧等 is the disposal marker jiāng. 菩薩 is a registered transcription and both its graphs are set by that registration rather than by any decision made here.

滿mǎncháowénxīnránguómíndǐng mǎncháowénxīnránguómíndǐng

The whole court, civil and military, was delighted, and the black-haired commons of the entire realm made their prostrations — but of that no more.

滿朝 keeps at cháo, the court, not the zhāo of morning — the same split the opening segment of this chapter turned on. 黎民 is a classical term for the commons, the black-haired multitude. 不題 is the storyteller's dismissal, we tell no more of it, and it closes the thread so the narrative can go elsewhere. 一國 takes at before the rising guó.


總評 Commentary

The titles the king hands out are a category error and the novel lets it stand. 老佛, Old Buddha, for a monk who has just finished saying he has no powers; 菩薩, Bodhisattva, for Sha Monk and the rest. Neither is accurate. Both are what a grateful layman reaches for when he wants the highest word available and has no way of telling which one fits.

不題 then closes the thread. It is the storyteller's way of putting a scene down rather than finishing it: the court is left bowing, mid-gesture, and the narrative goes off to find the two who actually left.