第六十六回 · 無依無倚 Without Prop Or Stay — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

無依無倚 Without Prop Or Stay

我wǒ前qián去qù武wǔ當dāng山shān請qǐng玄xuán天tiān上shàng帝dì救jiù援yuán，他tā差chāi五wǔ龍lóng、龜guī、蛇shé拿ná怪guài，又yòu被bèi他tā一yì搭dā包bāo子zi裝zhuāng去qù。弟dì子zǐ無wú依yī無wú倚yǐ，故gù來lái拜bài請qǐng菩pú薩sà，大dà展zhǎn威wēi力lì，將jiāng那nà收shōu水shuǐ母mǔ之zhī神shén通tōng，拯zhěng生shēng民mín之zhī妙miào用yòng，同tóng弟dì子zǐ去qù救jiù師shī父fù一yí難nàn。取qǔ得dé經jīng回huí，永yǒng傳chuán中zhōng國guó，揚yáng我wǒ佛fó之zhī智zhì慧huì，興xīng般bō若rě之zhī波bō羅luó也yě。」我wǒ前qián去qù武wǔ当dāng山shān请qǐng玄xuán天tiān上shàng帝dì救jiù援yuán，他tā差chāi五wǔ龙lóng、龟guī、蛇shé拿ná怪guài，又yòu被bèi他tā一yì搭dā包bāo子zi装zhuāng去qù。弟dì子zǐ无wú依yī无wú倚yǐ，故gù来lái拜bài请qǐng菩pú萨sà，大dà展zhǎn威wēi力lì，将jiāng那nà收shōu水shuǐ母mǔ之zhī神shén通tōng，拯zhěng生shēng民mín之zhī妙miào用yòng，同tóng弟dì子zǐ去qù救jiù师shī父fù一yí难nàn。取qǔ得dé经jīng回huí，永yǒng传chuán中zhōng国guó，扬yáng我wǒ佛fó之zhī智zhì慧huì，兴xīng般bō若rě之zhī波bō罗luó也yě。」

逐句解 Line by line

我wǒ前qián去qù武wǔ當dāng山shān請qǐng玄xuán天tiān上shàng帝dì救jiù援yuán，他tā差chāi五wǔ龍lóng、龜guī、蛇shé拿ná怪guài，又yòu被bèi他tā一yì搭dā包bāo子zi裝zhuāng去qù。我wǒ前qián去qù武wǔ当dāng山shān请qǐng玄xuán天tiān上shàng帝dì救jiù援yuán，他tā差chāi五wǔ龙lóng、龟guī、蛇shé拿ná怪guài，又yòu被bèi他tā一yì搭dā包bāo子zi装zhuāng去qù。

I went before this to Mount Wudang to ask the Dark Heaven Highest Emperor for aid; he dispatched the five dragons and Tortoise and Snake to take the fiend, and they too were bagged up in the one bundle.

差 is chāi, to send somebody on a commission. It is the reading both times the character appears in this chapter, and not the chà meaning a difference that most readers meet first. 子 in 搭包子 is the unstressed ending, against the full zǐ of 太子 a few segments earlier — the same character doing two quite different jobs within one scene.

弟dì子zǐ無wú依yī無wú倚yǐ，故gù來lái拜bài請qǐng菩pú薩sà，大dà展zhǎn威wēi力lì，將jiāng那nà收shōu水shuǐ母mǔ之zhī神shén通tōng，拯zhěng生shēng民mín之zhī妙miào用yòng，同tóng弟dì子zǐ去qù救jiù師shī父fù一yí難nàn。弟dì子zǐ无wú依yī无wú倚yǐ，故gù来lái拜bài请qǐng菩pú萨sà，大dà展zhǎn威wēi力lì，将jiāng那nà收shōu水shuǐ母mǔ之zhī神shén通tōng，拯zhěng生shēng民mín之zhī妙miào用yòng，同tóng弟dì子zǐ去qù救jiù师shī父fù一yí难nàn。

Your disciple is without prop or stay, and so has come to beg the Bodhisattva to put forth his majesty and might — the divine power that once subdued the Water Mother, the excellent skill that rescued the living — and go with your disciple to deliver my master out of this calamity.

難 is nàn, a disaster, so 一 in front of it takes the rising yí. 弟子 appears twice, both times dì zǐ — Monkey calling himself somebody's disciple, to a Bodhisattva he has never met.

取qǔ得dé經jīng回huí，永yǒng傳chuán中zhōng國guó，揚yáng我wǒ佛fó之zhī智zhì慧huì，興xīng般bō若rě之zhī波bō羅luó也yě。」取qǔ得dé经jīng回huí，永yǒng传chuán中zhōng国guó，扬yáng我wǒ佛fó之zhī智zhì慧huì，兴xīng般bō若rě之zhī波bō罗luó也yě。」

That the scriptures may be got and brought back, handed down forever in the Middle Kingdom, exalting the wisdom of our Buddha and raising up the pāramitā of prajñā."

般若 is read bō rě and 波羅 bō luó — both are sound-borrowings from Sanskrit, prajñā and pāramitā, wisdom and the crossing-over, and neither is meant to be read for the meaning of its characters. 興 is xīng, to raise up.

總評 Commentary

The petition is pitched at a Buddhist and shaped for one. Where Monkey asked Wudang for troops, he asks this Bodhisattva for divine power and excellent skill, and grounds the request in a past act of mercy rather than a past commission.

弟子, twice, does the work. He is not the Great Sage Equal to Heaven in this speech; he is a disciple petitioning, and the self-abasement is worth noticing in a chapter that opened with him announcing his full style to a gatekeeper.

The close is pure doctrine. Scriptures brought back, handed down in the Middle Kingdom, the Buddha's wisdom exalted — Monkey has restated the entire pilgrimage as a service to the listener's own religion. It is the most carefully built thing he says in the chapter, and it works.