寬坐敘懷 The Courtesies Of Arrival
長老還了禮，道：「弟子有何德行，敢勞列位仙翁下愛？」十八公笑道：「一向聞知聖僧有道，等待多時，今幸一見。如果不吝珠玉，寬坐敘懷，足見禪機真派。」长老还了礼，道：「弟子有何德行，敢劳列位仙翁下爱？」十八公笑道：「一向闻知圣僧有道，等待多时，今幸一见。如果不吝珠玉，宽坐叙怀，足见禅机真派。」
逐句解 Line by line
The elder returned their salute and said, "What virtue has your disciple, that he should presume to trouble the immortal elders for such kindness?"
還 is huán, to give back — one returns a salute — and not hái; the automatic reading gives the second. 弟子 takes zǐ, the bookish compound, on the pattern of 童子 and 學子.
The Eighteenth Duke said with a smile, "We have long heard that the holy monk possesses the Way. We have waited a great while, and today have the good fortune to meet you.
一向 is "all along"; the 一 shifts to yí against a falling tone, as does the 一 of 今幸一見 at the end of the same segment.
"If you will not begrudge us your pearls and jade, but sit at your ease and unfold your mind to us, we shall see for ourselves the true school of the Chan mystery."
珠玉, pearls and jade, is a standing courtesy for another person's words — the polite fiction that conversation is treasure and you are being stingy with it. 不 before 吝 shifts to bú against a falling tone.
The exchange is conducted entirely in the formulas of a literary visit. Tripitaka disclaims any merit that could have earned such attention; the Eighteenth Duke replies that they have heard of his attainment and waited a long time for him; and the request, when it comes, is for conversation — do not begrudge us your pearls and jade, sit at ease, unfold your mind.
Nothing here acknowledges that the guest was carried off by force an hour ago. The politeness is total and it is doing the work a cage would do elsewhere in the book. Tripitaka cannot leave, and he is also being given no opening on which leaving could decently be raised.
The bait in the last line is precisely chosen. What the elders want is to see the true school of the Chan mystery — that is, they want Tripitaka to expound. He is a man who has been years on the road among disciples with little appetite for his instruction, and he is being asked, courteously, by four elderly gentlemen, to talk about doctrine. He will not refuse.