第六十五回 · 小西天 This Lesser Western Heaven — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

小西天 This Lesser Western Heaven

行xíng者zhě挺tǐng著zhe鐵tiě棒bàng喝hè道dào：「你nǐ是shì個gè甚shén麼me怪guài物wù，擅shàn敢gǎn假jiǎ裝zhuāng佛fó祖zǔ，侵qīn占zhàn山shān頭tóu，虛xū設shè小xiǎo雷léi音yīn寺sì？」那nà妖yāo王wáng道dào：「這zhè猴hóu兒er是shì也yě不bù知zhī我wǒ的de姓xìng名míng，故gù來lái冒mào犯fàn仙xiān山shān。此cǐ處chù喚huàn做zuò小xiǎo西xī天tiān。行xíng者zhě挺tǐng着zhe铁tiě棒bàng喝hè道dào：「你nǐ是shì个gè甚shén么me怪guài物wù，擅shàn敢gǎn假jiǎ装zhuāng佛fó祖zǔ，侵qīn占zhàn山shān头tóu，虚xū设shè小xiǎo雷léi音yīn寺sì？」那nà妖yāo王wáng道dào：「这zhè猴hóu儿er是shì也yě不bù知zhī我wǒ的de姓xìng名míng，故gù来lái冒mào犯fàn仙xiān山shān。此cǐ处chù唤huàn做zuò小xiǎo西xī天tiān。

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě挺tǐng著zhe鐵tiě棒bàng喝hè道dào：「你nǐ是shì個gè甚shén麼me怪guài物wù，擅shàn敢gǎn假jiǎ裝zhuāng佛fó祖zǔ，侵qīn占zhàn山shān頭tóu，虛xū設shè小xiǎo雷léi音yīn寺sì？」行xíng者zhě挺tǐng着zhe铁tiě棒bàng喝hè道dào：「你nǐ是shì个gè甚shén么me怪guài物wù，擅shàn敢gǎn假jiǎ装zhuāng佛fó祖zǔ，侵qīn占zhàn山shān头tóu，虚xū设shè小xiǎo雷léi音yīn寺sì？」

Pilgrim levelled the iron cudgel and shouted: "What sort of monster are you, that you dare get yourself up as a Buddha, seize a mountain top and set up a false Lesser Thunderclap Monastery?"

Three charges in fourteen characters: impersonation, occupation, fabrication. At the hall he made only two of them — leaning on a Buddha's name and spoiling the Tathāgata's repute — and the third has been added since he read the signboard. 擅, on one's own authority, is the very character that stood in his warning against walking in uninvited.

那nà妖yāo王wáng道dào：「這zhè猴hóu兒er是shì也yě不bù知zhī我wǒ的de姓xìng名míng，故gù來lái冒mào犯fàn仙xiān山shān。那nà妖yāo王wáng道dào：「这zhè猴hóu儿er是shì也yě不bù知zhī我wǒ的de姓xìng名míng，故gù来lái冒mào犯fàn仙xiān山shān。

The demon king said, "This ape does not know my name, and that is why he comes to offend against a holy mountain."

He answers a charge of fraud by treating it as ignorance, and the mountain he calls holy is the one he is accused of seizing. 兒 on 猴兒 is the throwaway vernacular suffix, neutral tone — a small piece of contempt.

此cǐ處chù喚huàn做zuò小xiǎo西xī天tiān。此cǐ处chù唤huàn做zuò小xiǎo西xī天tiān。

"This place is called the Lesser Western Heaven."

Seven characters mid-speech, and the first new information the chapter has offered in some time. The name occurs once, and it is built on exactly the same principle as the signboard: a real name with a diminutive stuck on the front.

總評 Commentary

Pilgrim's charge is precise and the demon denies no part of it. He does not say he is not impersonating a Buddha; he says the ape does not know his name — as though the offence were a failure of introduction.

That evasion is the shape of everything he says next. The chapter has given him a monastery called Lesser Thunderclap and a country called the Lesser Western Heaven, both made by putting 小 in front of something real, and he is about to give himself a name built the same way.