穿荊度棘 Through Bramble And Through Thorn
原來那孫大聖與八戒、沙僧牽著馬，挑著擔，一夜不曾住腳，穿荊度棘，東尋西找。卻好半雲半霧的過了八百里荊棘嶺西下，聽得唐僧吆喝，卻就喊了一聲。那長老掙出門來，叫聲：「悟空，我在這裡哩。快來救我，快來救我。」那四老與鬼使，那女子與女童，幌一幌，都不見了。原来那孙大圣与八戒、沙僧牵着马，挑着担，一夜不曾住脚，穿荆度棘，东寻西找。却好半云半雾的过了八百里荆棘岭西下，听得唐僧吆喝，却就喊了一声。那长老挣出门来，叫声：「悟空，我在这里哩。快来救我，快来救我。」那四老与鬼使，那女子与女童，幌一幌，都不见了。
逐句解 Line by line
It turned out that the Great Sage Sun, with Eight Rules and Sha Monk, leading the horse and carrying the load on the pole, had not rested a foot all night, but had gone through bramble and through thorn, seeking east and searching west.
擔 is dàn here, a shoulder-pole load, against the dān of 擔驚 four passages back — the same character as noun and as verb. 度 is dù, to pass through: the verb this chapter has used of salvation, of the thorn ridge, and of a smell moving along a wall, put here to its plainest possible work.
They had just got half in cloud and half in mist over the eight hundred lǐ of Bramble Ridge and down its western side when they heard the Tang Monk shout, and at once they called out in answer.
The eight hundred lǐ is the tablet's figure again. 聽得 takes dé, heading a clause of its own.
The elder forced his way out of the door and called, "Wukong, I am here!
掙 is zhèng, to force oneself free. Kāngxī, under the hand radical at eight strokes, records 初耕切, sounding like 鐺, and 側迸切, sounding like 諍, and no first-tone band at all; the zhēng the corpus allows at 掙扎 is a modern compound. 悟空 is the first time the name is used in this chapter — and it is the name he shouts when he needs rescuing.
"Come quickly and save me, come quickly and save me!"
The quotation closes at exactly eight characters, and a tail is joined backwards only when it runs to fewer than eight, so eight is one past the line and the unit stands. This is the sixth threshold case in the chapter and the sixth declined.
The four old men and the demon runner, the woman and her serving-girls, gave a flicker and were gone.
They do not fight and they do not flee. 幌一幌 is one shake, and the 一 shifts to yì against the rising tone that follows.
The disciples have spent the night doing the one thing the chapter has been about since its title. They led the horse, carried the load, never stopped walking, and went through bramble and through thorn — which is what Eight Rules exerting his strength has amounted to for two days.
Their arrival is timed to the exact moment the assault becomes physical, and it costs nothing. Tripitaka calls one name and the whole company — four elders, a demon, a woman, two serving-girls — gives a single flicker and is gone. There is no fight. Everything that has held him for a night and most of two blocks turns out to be dispelled by being interrupted.
That is the chapter's judgement on the evening, delivered without comment. The poetry was real, the arguments were serious, the coercion was frightening, and the whole arrangement evaporates at the sound of a disciple's voice.