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

倒換關文
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

倒換關文 The Travel Rescript Must Be Endorsed

xíngzhědào:「quèshìzhūguósān?」sānzàngdào:「zhūguóshì西bāngwángwèiquèyàodǎohuànguānwén。」xíngzhědào:「xiāojiǎngle。」xíngzhědào:「quèshìzhūguósān?」sānzàngdào:「zhūguóshì西bāngwángwèiquèyàodǎohuànguānwén。」xíngzhědào:「xiāojiǎngle。」


逐句解 Line by line

xíngzhědào:「quèshìzhūguósān?」 xíngzhědào:「quèshìzhūguósān?」

Pilgrim said, "Are they not the three characters 'Purpuria'?"

朱紫國 — vermilion-and-purple — names the kingdom after the two colours worn by high office. It runs to exactly three characters, which is what the banner was said to carry.

sānzàngdào:「zhūguóshì西bāngwángwèiquèyàodǎohuànguānwén。」 sānzàngdào:「zhūguóshì西bāngwángwèiquèyàodǎohuànguānwén。」

Tripitaka said, "Purpuria must be a kingdom of the western regions, and we shall have to get our travel rescript endorsed."

is dǎo here, the verb: 倒換 is to swap one thing for another. The same character read dào is an adverb meaning 'on the contrary', which is how it turns up elsewhere in the book.

xíngzhědào:「xiāojiǎngle。」 xíngzhědào:「xiāojiǎngle。」

Pilgrim said, "No need to say more."

不消 is everyday speech for 'no need to'. It closes the argument rather than conceding it.


總評 Commentary

Pilgrim wins by the simple method of reading the banner aloud, and the narrator gives him no line of triumph. Tripitaka does not concede, apologise, or acknowledge that he has just been proved wrong. He moves straight to procedure.

That move is characteristic and it is also practical. The rescript has to be endorsed at every kingdom the pilgrims pass, so what looks like changing the subject is the only business that will get them in one gate and out the other.

Pilgrim's 不消講了 is the last word, and it is faintly rude — not 'you are right' but 'enough said'. He has made his point and declines to make it twice.