第七回 · 請佛降魔 Heaven Sends for the Buddha — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

請佛降魔 Heaven Sends for the Buddha

當dāng時shí眾zhòng神shén把bǎ大dà聖shèng攢zǎn在zài一yí處chù，卻què不bù能néng近jìn身shēn，亂luàn嚷rǎng亂luàn鬥dòu。早zǎo驚jīng動dòng玉yù帝dì，遂suì傳chuán旨zhǐ著zhuó遊yóu奕yì靈líng官guān同tóng翊yì聖shèng真zhēn君jūn上shàng西xī方fāng請qǐng佛fó老lǎo降xiáng伏fú。当dāng时shí众zhòng神shén把bǎ大dà圣shèng攒zǎn在zài一yí处chù，却què不bù能néng近jìn身shēn，乱luàn嚷rǎng乱luàn斗dòu。早zǎo惊jīng动dòng玉yù帝dì，遂suì传chuán旨zhǐ著zhuó游yóu奕yì灵líng官guān同tóng翊yì圣shèng真zhēn君jūn上shàng西xī方fāng请qǐng佛fó老lǎo降xiáng伏fú。

逐句解 Line by line

當dāng時shí眾zhòng神shén把bǎ大dà聖shèng攢zǎn在zài一yí處chù，卻què不bù能néng近jìn身shēn，亂luàn嚷rǎng亂luàn鬥dòu。当dāng时shí众zhòng神shén把bǎ大dà圣shèng攒zǎn在zài一yí处chù，却què不bù能néng近jìn身shēn，乱luàn嚷rǎng乱luàn斗dòu。

At that time the assembled gods pressed the Great Sage into their midst, yet could not get near him — all shouting, all fighting in confusion.

攢 (zǎn), to crowd/mass together; 一處: 一 before 處 (chù, 4th tone) is yí. The chaos (亂嚷亂鬥) marks the total failure of Heaven's massed force.

早zǎo驚jīng動dòng玉yù帝dì，遂suì傳chuán旨zhǐ著zhuó遊yóu奕yì靈líng官guān同tóng翊yì聖shèng真zhēn君jūn上shàng西xī方fāng請qǐng佛fó老lǎo降xiáng伏fú。早zǎo惊jīng动dòng玉yù帝dì，遂suì传chuán旨zhǐ著zhuó游yóu奕yì灵líng官guān同tóng翊yì圣shèng真zhēn君jūn上shàng西xī方fāng请qǐng佛fó老lǎo降xiáng伏fú。

Soon the Jade Emperor was alarmed, and at once issued a decree dispatching the Roving Inspector Officer together with the True Lord Yisheng to go to the Western Quarter and invite the Old Buddha to subdue him.

傳旨著: 著 = zhuó (to dispatch / set to a task). 遊奕靈官 and 翊聖真君 are the two envoys. 降伏: 降 = xiáng (to subdue). This is the chapter's pivot — Heaven formally concedes that only the Buddha can prevail.

總評 Commentary

This brief hinge-passage is structurally decisive. Every instrument of celestial force has now failed in sequence — heavenly troops, Erlang, Laozi's furnace, Wang Lingguan, thirty-six Thunder Generals — and the Jade Emperor, "alarmed" (驚動), does the one thing left: he sends west for the Buddha. The verb is pointed: 請, "to invite," not to command. Heaven cannot order the Buddha; it can only petition him.

The turn from Daoist to Buddhist authority is the chapter's deep architecture. The whole apparatus that has failed is Daoist-celestial — the Jade Emperor's bureaucracy, Laozi's alchemy, the trigram-furnace. What it cannot do is transform the 心猿; it can only fight him to a standstill. By having Heaven itself concede this and call on Śākyamuni, the narrative stages its governing claim: the disordered mind is not subdued by power but converted by wisdom. Anthony C. Yu and Plaks both read this Daoist-to-Buddhist handoff as the ideological spine of the early chapters, syncretic but with Buddhist prajñā given the last word.