Canonical Classics ← 第七十一回
第七十一回
xíngzhějiǎmíngxiángguàihǒu
guānyīnxiànxiàngyāowáng

Pilgrim Under a False Name Subdues the Monster Hou · Guanyin Shows Her Image and Puts Down the Fiend King

口說無憑
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

口說無憑 Talk Proves Nothing You Go First

yāowángdào:「língérnǎijīndānzhībǎoyòushìfēiqínzǒushòubiàndexióngdànzhǐshìyáochūbǎoláijiùshìhǎode。」xíngzhědào:「kǒushuōpíngzuòchū便biànjiànqiěràngxiānyáo。」yāowángdào:「língérnǎijīndānzhībǎoyòushìfēiqínzǒushòubiàndexióngdànzhǐshìyáochūbǎoláijiùshìhǎode。」xíngzhědào:「kǒushuōpíngzuòchū便biànjiànqiěràngxiānyáo。」


逐句解 Line by line

yāowángdào:「língérnǎijīndānzhībǎoyòushìfēiqínzǒushòubiàndexióng yāowángdào:「língérnǎijīndānzhībǎoyòushìfēiqínzǒushòubiàndexióng

The fiend king said, "Bells are treasures of the golden elixir, not birds of the air or beasts of the field. How is one to tell cock from hen?

is de here, the potential — how could one manage to tell. The pair 如何得 would take the other reading, but 辨 stands between them, so this one has to be judged on its own.

dànzhǐshìyáochūbǎoláijiùshìhǎode。」 dànzhǐshìyáochūbǎoláijiùshìhǎode。」

"Whichever shakes out its treasures is the good one, and that is all."

He proposes a test, and it is a perfectly fair one. 但只是 stacks three limiting words — only, just, is — for the sense of never mind all that, the point is.

xíngzhědào:「kǒushuōpíngzuòchū便biànjiànqiěràngxiānyáo。」 xíngzhědào:「kǒushuōpíngzuòchū便biànjiànqiěràngxiānyáo。」

Pilgrim said, "Talk proves nothing; do it and we shall see. You go first."

口說無憑 is a set phrase — spoken words are no warrant. The five characters that close the quotation are short enough to ride in the same segment as the sentence that opens it.


總評 Commentary

The fiend wins the argument and loses everything. He correctly points out that bells are not livestock and cannot be sexed, and proposes the only sensible test there is: shake them and see which works. He has reasoned his way, step by careful step, to the exact action that will finish him.

口說無憑,做出便見 — talk proves nothing, do it and we shall see — is Wukong agreeing enthusiastically. He has spent this whole passage being invited to produce evidence, and the evidence is on his side, because his bells are the real ones.

And then 且讓你先搖: you go first. The politeness is the point. He is letting the monster demonstrate a set of counterfeits in front of a crowd, and he offers it as a courtesy.