Canonical Classics ← 第六十七回
第六十七回
zhěngjiùtuóluóchánxìngwěn
tuōhuìdàoxīnqīng

Rescuing Tuoluo, the Meditative Nature Is Stilled · Escaping the Filth, the Heart of the Way Is Clean

後門出頭
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

後門出頭 A Way Out At The Back

xíngzhědào:「zhèshēnlángkàngxuézhǎixiǎoduànránzhuǎnshēndedìngshìzhàozhícuāndedìngyǒuhòuménchūtóukuàihòuménwàilánzhùděngzàiqiánménwài。」xíngzhědào:「zhèshēnlángkàngxuézhǎixiǎoduànránzhuǎnshēndedìngshìzhàozhícuāndedìngyǒuhòuménchūtóukuàihòuménwàilánzhùděngzàiqiánménwài。」


逐句解 Line by line

xíngzhědào:「zhèshēnlángkàngxuézhǎixiǎoduànránzhuǎnshēndedìngshìzhàozhícuāndedìngyǒuhòuménchūtóu xíngzhědào:「zhèshēnlángkàngxuézhǎixiǎoduànránzhuǎnshēndedìngshìzhàozhícuāndedìngyǒuhòuménchūtóu

Pilgrim said, "This fellow's body is a lumbering great thing and the burrow is narrow. He certainly cannot turn round in there. He must be one that bolts straight through, so there is bound to be a back way out.

is the light de here, because the verb stands in front of 不得 — the "cannot manage to" pattern. 狼犺 is the elders' own word for the creature, coined back when nobody had seen it, and Pilgrim now has it in his mouth.

kuàihòuménwàilánzhùděngzàiqiánménwài。」 kuàihòuménwàilánzhùděngzàiqiánménwài。」

"Go quickly and hold the back door, and let me strike at the front."

Front door and back door: a snake's burrow described as a house, which is how this whole chapter keeps talking about the creature — a lane, a household, a back way out.


總評 Commentary

The reasoning is physical, and it is the first time in the chapter that anybody argues from the shape of a body to the shape of a plan. The creature is too big to turn round; therefore the burrow has two ends; therefore block one and strike at the other.

It also borrows the elders' word. 狼犺 was their term for a thing they had never laid eyes on, offered as a reason the party could not win. Pilgrim repeats it as the reason they will.