第七回 · 巽宮煉睛 Into the Eight-Trigram Brazier — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

巽宮煉睛 Into the Eight-Trigram Brazier

那nà老lǎo君jūn到dào兜dōu率shuài宮gōng，將jiāng大dà聖shèng解jiě去qù繩shéng索suǒ，放fàng了le穿chuān琵pí琶pá骨gǔ之zhī器qì，推tuī入rù八bā卦guà爐lú中zhōng，命mìng看kàn爐lú的de道dào人rén、架jià火huǒ的de童tóng子zǐ，將jiāng火huǒ搧shān起qǐ鍛duàn煉liàn。原yuán來lái那nà爐lú是shì乾qián、坎kǎn、艮gèn、震zhèn、巽xùn、離lí、坤kūn、兌duì八bā卦guà。他tā即jí將jiāng身shēn鑽zuān在zài巽xùn宮gōng位wèi下xià。巽xùn乃nǎi風fēng也yě，有yǒu風fēng則zé無wú火huǒ。只zhǐ是shì風fēng攪jiǎo得dé煙yān來lái，把bǎ一yì雙shuāng眼yǎn火huǒ煼chǎo紅hóng了le，弄nòng做zuò個gè老lǎo害hài病bìng眼yǎn，故gù喚huàn作zuò「火huǒ眼yǎn金jīn睛jīng」。那nà老lǎo君jūn到dào兜dōu率shuài宫gōng，将jiāng大dà圣shèng解jiě去qù绳shéng索suǒ，放fàng了le穿chuān琵pí琶pá骨gǔ之zhī器qì，推tuī入rù八bā卦guà炉lú中zhōng，命mìng看kàn炉lú的de道dào人rén、架jià火huǒ的de童tóng子zǐ，将jiāng火huǒ扇shān起qǐ锻duàn炼liàn。原yuán来lái那nà炉lú是shì干qián、坎kǎn、艮gèn、震zhèn、巽xùn、离lí、坤kūn、兑duì八bā卦guà。他tā即jí将jiāng身shēn钻zuān在zài巽xùn宫gōng位wèi下xià。巽xùn乃nǎi风fēng也yě，有yǒu风fēng则zé无wú火huǒ。只zhǐ是shì风fēng搅jiǎo得dé烟yān来lái，把bǎ一yì双shuāng眼yǎn火huǒ煼chǎo红hóng了le，弄nòng做zuò个gè老lǎo害hài病bìng眼yǎn，故gù唤huàn作zuò「火huǒ眼yǎn金jīn睛jīng」。

逐句解 Line by line

那nà老lǎo君jūn到dào兜dōu率shuài宮gōng，將jiāng大dà聖shèng解jiě去qù繩shéng索suǒ，放fàng了le穿chuān琵pí琶pá骨gǔ之zhī器qì，推tuī入rù八bā卦guà爐lú中zhōng，命mìng看kàn爐lú的de道dào人rén、架jià火huǒ的de童tóng子zǐ，將jiāng火huǒ搧shān起qǐ鍛duàn煉liàn。那nà老lǎo君jūn到dào兜dōu率shuài宫gōng，将jiāng大dà圣shèng解jiě去qù绳shéng索suǒ，放fàng了le穿chuān琵pí琶pá骨gǔ之zhī器qì，推tuī入rù八bā卦guà炉lú中zhōng，命mìng看kàn炉lú的de道dào人rén、架jià火huǒ的de童tóng子zǐ，将jiāng火huǒ扇shān起qǐ锻duàn炼liàn。

Laozi came to the Tushita Palace, loosed the Great Sage's cords, drew out the spike that had pierced his collarbone, and thrust him into the Brazier of the Eight Trigrams; he ordered the brazier-tending Daoist and the fire-stoking lad to fan the flames up and refine him.

兜率宮 is Dōushuài Gōng, Tuṣita — Laozi's own heaven. 琵琶骨 (pí pá gǔ) is the lute-bone, the collarbone-and-shoulderblade region, named for its shape; that is where the spike had been driven to hold him. Both instances of 將 in the line are jiāng, the word that hauls the object in front of the verb. 搧 (shān) is to fan.

原yuán來lái那nà爐lú是shì乾qián、坎kǎn、艮gèn、震zhèn、巽xùn、離lí、坤kūn、兌duì八bā卦guà。他tā即jí將jiāng身shēn鑽zuān在zài巽xùn宮gōng位wèi下xià。原yuán来lái那nà炉lú是shì干qián、坎kǎn、艮gèn、震zhèn、巽xùn、离lí、坤kūn、兑duì八bā卦guà。他tā即jí将jiāng身shēn钻zuān在zài巽xùn宫gōng位wèi下xià。

Now that brazier was set by the Eight Trigrams — Qian, Kan, Gen, Zhen, Xun, Li, Kun, Dui. He at once thrust himself in beneath the Xun position.

The furnace is not a plain oven. It is divided into the eight 卦, each with its own station: 乾 qián (Heaven), 坎 kǎn (Water), 艮 gèn (Mountain), 震 zhèn (Thunder), 巽 xùn (Wind), 離 lí (Fire), 坤 kūn (Earth), 兌 duì (Lake). 將身 is 將 as jiāng again. Watch which station he picks — the next line explains why 巽 is the cunning choice.

巽xùn乃nǎi風fēng也yě，有yǒu風fēng則zé無wú火huǒ。只zhǐ是shì風fēng攪jiǎo得dé煙yān來lái，把bǎ一yì雙shuāng眼yǎn火huǒ煼chǎo紅hóng了le，弄nòng做zuò個gè老lǎo害hài病bìng眼yǎn，故gù喚huàn作zuò「火huǒ眼yǎn金jīn睛jīng」。巽xùn乃nǎi风fēng也yě，有yǒu风fēng则zé无wú火huǒ。只zhǐ是shì风fēng搅jiǎo得dé烟yān来lái，把bǎ一yì双shuāng眼yǎn火huǒ煼chǎo红hóng了le，弄nòng做zuò个gè老lǎo害hài病bìng眼yǎn，故gù唤huàn作zuò「火huǒ眼yǎn金jīn睛jīng」。

Xun is Wind, and where there is wind there is no fire. Only, the wind churned up smoke, which seared his pair of eyes fire-red, leaving them like an old man's chronic sore eyes — and so they came to be called the "Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils."

Here is the trick, and it is a good one. 巽 is Wind, and where there is wind there is no fire — so that is the corner he crouches in, the one seat in the furnace with no flame. What he has not reckoned on is smoke. Wind drives it, and it does to his eyes what fire could not. 一雙 takes yì before 雙 (shuāng, level tone); 煼 (chǎo) is to scorch in smoke. The injury becomes the gift everyone remembers him for: 火眼金睛, the fiery eyes and golden pupils that no disguise gets past.

總評 Commentary

Three lines here deliver the best-loved origin story in the novel: how Sun Wukong got his 火眼金睛, the eyes that see through any transformation. The mechanism is a small masterpiece. Shoved into the furnace to be reduced to ash, he does not panic — he reads the 八卦 layout of the thing he is standing in, works out which of the eight stations is Wind, and hides there. Where there is wind, there is no fire.

The cleverness is not quite complete. Wind without fire still carries smoke, and forty-nine days of it do to his eyes what flame could not. The damage is real — they end up red and sore, like an old man's — and yet the wound is the power. Read as inner alchemy, the 心猿 put in the crucible is not destroyed but changed: the refining meant to kill him sharpens his sight instead. The 易經 trigrams are not decoration here. He survives by reading the pattern of Wind and Fire, which is exactly the skill the pilgrimage will demand of a disciplined mind later on.

The lute-bone detail (琵琶骨) reaches back to his capture in chapter 6. In this fictional cosmology, driving a spike through the collarbone is the standard way to pin a shape-shifter and stop him transforming — think of it as removing the batteries rather than locking the door. Laozi takes it out, confident that a furnace needs no such precaution. That confidence is precisely what the next passage punishes.