第六十三回 · 一門同氣 Of One Gate And Breath — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

一門同氣 Of One Gate And Breath

行xíng者zhě道dào：「這zhè賊zéi怪guài甚shèn不bù達dá理lǐ。我wǒ雖suī不bú受shòu國guó王wáng的de恩ēn惠huì，不bù食shí他tā的de水shuǐ米mǐ，不bù該gāi與yǔ他tā出chū力lì；但dàn是shì你nǐ偷tōu他tā的de寶bǎo貝bèi，污wū他tā的de寶bǎo塔tǎ，屢lǚ年nián屈qū苦kǔ金jīn光guāng寺sì僧sēng人rén，他tā是shì我wǒ一yì門mén同tóng氣qì，我wǒ怎zěn麼me不bù與yǔ他tā出chū力lì，辨biàn明míng冤yuān枉wǎng？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「这zhè贼zéi怪guài甚shèn不bù达dá理lǐ。我wǒ虽suī不bú受shòu国guó王wáng的de恩ēn惠huì，不bù食shí他tā的de水shuǐ米mǐ，不bù该gāi与yǔ他tā出chū力lì；但dàn是shì你nǐ偷tōu他tā的de宝bǎo贝bèi，污wū他tā的de宝bǎo塔tǎ，屡lǚ年nián屈qū苦kǔ金jīn光guāng寺sì僧sēng人rén，他tā是shì我wǒ一yì门mén同tóng气qì，我wǒ怎zěn么me不bù与yǔ他tā出chū力lì，辨biàn明míng冤yuān枉wǎng？」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě道dào：「這zhè賊zéi怪guài甚shèn不bù達dá理lǐ。行xíng者zhě道dào：「这zhè贼zéi怪guài甚shèn不bù达dá理lǐ。

Pilgrim said, "This thieving fiend is quite past reason.

甚 is shèn here, the intensifier — quite, exceedingly — modifying 不達理. This is the reading pypinyin supplies wherever the graph stands alone, and for once it is the right one; the interrogative shén that the corpus usually has to force belongs inside 甚麼 and to frames like 做甚.

我wǒ雖suī不bú受shòu國guó王wáng的de恩ēn惠huì，不bù食shí他tā的de水shuǐ米mǐ，不bù該gāi與yǔ他tā出chū力lì；我wǒ虽suī不bú受shòu国guó王wáng的de恩ēn惠huì，不bù食shí他tā的de水shuǐ米mǐ，不bù该gāi与yǔ他tā出chū力lì；

Though I have taken no favour from the king, and eaten none of his water and rice, and am under no obligation to exert myself for him;

Three denials in a row, each with its own 不, and the mechanical rule does not treat them alike: bú before the falling 受 shòu, then bù before the rising 食 shí and the level 該 gāi. 水米, water and rice, is the vernacular for board and keep. The member ends at a semicolon and is deliberately left standing apart from what answers it.

但dàn是shì你nǐ偷tōu他tā的de寶bǎo貝bèi，污wū他tā的de寶bǎo塔tǎ，屢lǚ年nián屈qū苦kǔ金jīn光guāng寺sì僧sēng人rén，他tā是shì我wǒ一yì門mén同tóng氣qì，我wǒ怎zěn麼me不bù與yǔ他tā出chū力lì，辨biàn明míng冤yuān枉wǎng？」但dàn是shì你nǐ偷tōu他tā的de宝bǎo贝bèi，污wū他tā的de宝bǎo塔tǎ，屡lǚ年nián屈qū苦kǔ金jīn光guāng寺sì僧sēng人rén，他tā是shì我wǒ一yì门mén同tóng气qì，我wǒ怎zěn么me不bù与yǔ他tā出chū力lì，辨biàn明míng冤yuān枉wǎng？」

yet since you stole his treasure and defiled his pagoda, and year after year kept the monks of the Temple of Golden Light in wrongful suffering — and they are of one gate and one breath with me — how should I not exert myself for them and make the wrong plain?"

一門同氣 — of one gate and one breath — is a kinship formula for brothers, borrowed here for a religious order: the monks are Buddhists, and so is he. That is the whole of his answer to the charge of having no standing. 枉 holds wǎng by the invariant ruling. 一 takes yì before the rising 門 mén.

總評 Commentary

The answer is built as a concession and a rebuttal, and the concession is unusually complete. He grants every point: no favour taken, no board eaten, no obligation owed. Having conceded the standing question entirely, he then answers it on other grounds, which is a stronger move than disputing it would have been.

The grounds are 一門同氣, a phrase for brothers of one house borrowed to cover a religious order. The monks of the Temple of Golden Light are Buddhists and so is he, and that relation is what gives him standing where the king's patronage did not. It is worth noticing that a monkey who spent the first eight couplets of his recitation on a career of celestial insubordination is here claiming membership of a monastic family.

The two members are printed with a semicolon between them and are left apart rather than joined, because they are not the strictly parallel pair the joining rule wants: the second runs to twice the length of the first and escalates from three denials into three charges and a demand.