第六十五回 · 又有些凶氣 A Breath Of Malice — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

又有些凶氣 A Breath Of Malice

行xíng者zhě看kàn罷bà，回huí覆fù道dào：「師shī父fù，那nà去qù處chù便biàn是shì座zuò寺sì院yuàn，卻què不bù知zhī禪chán光guāng瑞ruì藹ǎi之zhī中zhōng，又yòu有yǒu些xiē凶xiōng氣qì何hé也yě。觀guān此cǐ景jǐng象xiàng，也yě似sì雷léi音yīn，卻què又yòu路lù道dào差chā池chí。我wǒ們men到dào那nà廂xiāng，決jué不bù可kě擅shàn入rù，恐kǒng遭zāo毒dú手shǒu。」行xíng者zhě看kàn罢bà，回huí覆fù道dào：「师shī父fù，那nà去qù处chù便biàn是shì座zuò寺sì院yuàn，却què不bù知zhī禅chán光guāng瑞ruì蔼ǎi之zhī中zhōng，又yòu有yǒu些xiē凶xiōng气qì何hé也yě。观guān此cǐ景jǐng象xiàng，也yě似sì雷léi音yīn，却què又yòu路lù道dào差chā池chí。我wǒ们men到dào那nà厢xiāng，决jué不bù可kě擅shàn入rù，恐kǒng遭zāo毒dú手shǒu。」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě看kàn罷bà，回huí覆fù道dào：「師shī父fù，那nà去qù處chù便biàn是shì座zuò寺sì院yuàn，卻què不bù知zhī禪chán光guāng瑞ruì藹ǎi之zhī中zhōng，又yòu有yǒu些xiē凶xiōng氣qì何hé也yě。行xíng者zhě看kàn罢bà，回huí覆fù道dào：「师shī父fù，那nà去qù处chù便biàn是shì座zuò寺sì院yuàn，却què不bù知zhī禅chán光guāng瑞ruì蔼ǎi之zhī中zhōng，又yòu有yǒu些xiē凶xiōng气qì何hé也yě。

Pilgrim finished looking and reported back. "Master, that place is a monastery right enough, but I cannot tell why there should be a breath of malice in among all that meditation-light and auspicious haze."

Notice how he concedes almost everything before disputing anything. It really is a monastery; the light really is what the poem said it was. 凶氣, a breath of malice, is the single word he adds, and it is the whole of his objection.

觀guān此cǐ景jǐng象xiàng，也yě似sì雷léi音yīn，卻què又yòu路lù道dào差chā池chí。观guān此cǐ景jǐng象xiàng，也yě似sì雷léi音yīn，却què又yòu路lù道dào差chā池chí。

"Looking at the aspect of it, it is like Thunderclap — and yet the road is out of true."

And here is the second objection, which is the better one. 差 reads chā in 差池, a discrepancy or a slip — not the chāi of sending someone on an errand, which the character takes twice later in the chapter, nor the chà of falling short. Thunderclap is named eight times in this chapter and this is the first of them.

我wǒ們men到dào那nà廂xiāng，決jué不bù可kě擅shàn入rù，恐kǒng遭zāo毒dú手shǒu。」我wǒ们men到dào那nà厢xiāng，决jué不bù可kě擅shàn入rù，恐kǒng遭zāo毒dú手shǒu。」

"When we get over there we must on no account walk in uninvited. I am afraid of a treacherous hand."

擅入 is to walk in on your own authority, and 毒手 — a treacherous hand — occurs exactly once in the chapter, here, in a warning nobody takes. What actually happens is stranger than anything he is warning against: a voice calls out to them from inside the gate before the argument has been settled, and they go in on the strength of it.

總評 Commentary

Pilgrim's report is careful reasoning and it changes nobody's mind. He grants the monastery and grants the holy light, then sets two things against them: an unaccountable breath of malice, and a road that does not match the destination.

The second objection is much the stronger and it goes unanswered for the rest of the argument. He has been to Vulture Peak; the approach was not this. Nobody engages with it at all — Tripitaka answers the resemblance, Eight Rules answers the hospitality, Sha Monk answers the logistics, and the one man who has actually made this journey before is talked past.