Canonical Classics ← 第六十八回
第六十八回
zhūguótángsēnglùnqiánshì
sūnxíngzhěshīwéisānzhégōng

At Purpuria the Tang Monk Discourses on a Former Life · Pilgrim Sun Practises as a Thrice-Broken Arm

更不還禮
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

更不還禮 He Does Not Even Bow Back

jièànyuànèdào:「zhèsūnhuóhuódezhéshāzěnmezhèduōguānyuánbàigènghuánzhànjiānglái?」jièànyuànèdào:「zhèsūnhuóhuódezhéshāzěnmezhèduōguānyuánbàigènghuánzhànjiānglái?」


逐句解 Line by line

jièànyuànèdào:「zhèsūnhuóhuódezhéshā jièànyuànèdào:「zhèsūnhuóhuódezhéshā

From his hiding place Eight Rules grumbled resentfully, "That ape is getting himself killed by inches.

is zhé in 折殺 — to have one's allotted fortune cut short by accepting honours one has not merited. A real anxiety, not an insult.

zěnmezhèduōguānyuánbàigènghuánzhànjiānglái?」 zěnmezhèduōguānyuánbàigènghuánzhànjiānglái?」

"How can he take the bows of all these officials and not return them, nor so much as get to his feet?"

reads huán here, to give back: 還禮 is to return a salute. It is the only place in the chapter that takes that reading — the other six occurrences are all the hái of 'still'. is jiāng, marking direction in 站將起來, and not the jiàng of a general.


總評 Commentary

折殺 is the pious version of the complaint, and Eight Rules means it. Accepting honours beyond your station was held to consume the fortune allotted to a life, so what he is objecting to is not arrogance but recklessness — his brother is spending something that cannot be got back.

He is also, characteristically, watching from a side room. Having been carried across the city, framed and hauled by a mob, he has taken cover from a delegation that is on its knees.