第七十二回 · 一日為師 One Day A Teacher — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

一日為師 One Day A Teacher

行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ看kàn師shī父fù說shuō的de是shì那nǎ裡lǐ話huà，你nǐ要yào吃chī齋zhāi，我wǒ自zì去qù化huà。俗sú語yǔ云yún：『一yí日rì為wéi師shī，終zhōng身shēn為wéi父fù。』豈qǐ有yǒu為wéi弟dì子zǐ者zhě高gāo坐zuò，教jiào師shī父fù去qù化huà齋zhāi之zhī理lǐ？」行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ看kàn师shī父fù说shuō的de是shì那nǎ里lǐ话huà，你nǐ要yào吃chī斋zhāi，我wǒ自zì去qù化huà。俗sú语yǔ云yún：『一yí日rì为wéi师shī，终zhōng身shēn为wéi父fù。』岂qǐ有yǒu为wéi弟dì子zǐ者zhě高gāo坐zuò，教jiào师shī父fù去qù化huà斋zhāi之zhī理lǐ？」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ看kàn師shī父fù說shuō的de是shì那nǎ裡lǐ話huà，你nǐ要yào吃chī齋zhāi，我wǒ自zì去qù化huà。行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ看kàn师shī父fù说shuō的de是shì那nǎ里lǐ话huà，你nǐ要yào吃chī斋zhāi，我wǒ自zì去qù化huà。

Pilgrim laughed and said, "Listen to the master — where does talk like that come from? If you want food, I will go and beg it."

Here is the pun. 那裡 was nà lǐ, "over there," twenty-five characters back. It is nǎ lǐ now, the question word later written 哪, and 說的是那裡話 means "what sort of talk is that?" Identical characters, opposite jobs, one speech apart — pointing and asking, sharing a single written form.

俗sú語yǔ云yún：『一yí日rì為wéi師shī，終zhōng身shēn為wéi父fù。』俗sú语yǔ云yún：『一yí日rì为wéi师shī，终zhōng身shēn为wéi父fù。』

"The common saying has it: one day a teacher, a lifetime a father."

一日為師，終身為父 is still in circulation — a Chinese speaker today would recognise it the way an English speaker recognises "spare the rod." 為 is wéi both times, to be or to act as, not wèi, for the sake of. The distinction is the whole sentence: it says a teacher becomes a father, not that you study on his behalf.

豈qǐ有yǒu為wéi弟dì子zǐ者zhě高gāo坐zuò，教jiào師shī父fù去qù化huà齋zhāi之zhī理lǐ？」岂qǐ有yǒu为wéi弟dì子zǐ者zhě高gāo坐zuò，教jiào师shī父fù去qù化huà斋zhāi之zhī理lǐ？」

"Where is the sense in the disciple sitting up high while the master is packed off to beg?"

教 is jiào, the everyday "make someone do" — the same word as 叫, and nothing to do with teaching, which is the sense it usually carries in this chapter's own vocabulary. 高坐, sitting high, is posture standing in for status.

總評 Commentary

Pilgrim argues from the rulebook, which is unusual for him. He is normally the one cutting through protocol; here he invokes it, because protocol happens to be on his side. The saying he reaches for is a real one, and using it lets him tell his master to sit down without saying so.

The double reading of the same two characters across two speeches is the sort of thing that vanishes in translation and is right on the surface in Chinese. Tripitaka points at a house with them; Pilgrim throws them back as "what are you talking about?" Nothing marks the change but the sense of the sentence — the writing gives no clue at all.

Worth watching across the chapter: Pilgrim is right, and being right will not help him. He loses this argument on grounds of politeness, and the master walks alone to the door of a spider's cave.