原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
醮面金睛鬼 A Gate Guarding Demon
行者道：「他卻像東嶽天齊手下把門的那個醮面金睛鬼。」八戒道：「不是，不是。」行者道：「你怎知他不是？」行者道：「他却像东岳天齐手下把门的那个醮面金睛鬼。」八戒道：「不是，不是。」行者道：「你怎知他不是？」
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「他卻像東嶽天齊手下把門的那個醮面金睛鬼。」
行者道：「他却像东岳天齐手下把门的那个醮面金睛鬼。」
Pilgrim said, "He does look like that scorch-faced, gold-eyed demon who keeps the gate for the Eastern Peak."
東嶽天齊 is the god of Mount Tai, whose court comes with a full bureaucracy — including demons on the gate. Pilgrim places the monster by its resemblance to a minor official. 那 is nà.
八戒道：「不是，不是。」
八戒道：「不是，不是。」
Eight Rules said, "He is not, he is not."
A flat contradiction, twice over, which is not his habit at all.
行者道：「你怎知他不是？」
行者道：「你怎知他不是？」
Pilgrim said, "How do you know he is not?"
And the question is genuine. What it opens is the best piece of reasoning Eight Rules produces anywhere in the chapter.
Pilgrim's own guess places the monster inside a bureaucracy — he looks like the scorch-faced, gold-eyed demon who keeps the gate for the god of the Eastern Peak. Even the underworld, in this book, has doormen.
Eight Rules contradicts him flatly, and twice, which is not remotely his habit. Pilgrim does not take offence — he asks how he knows. The question is genuine, and it opens the best piece of reasoning Eight Rules produces anywhere in this chapter.