請緣簿出來 Show Us The Subscription Book
還是修橋補路，建寺禮塔，還是造佛印經？請緣簿出來看看。」長老道：「我不是化緣的和尚。」女子道：「既不化緣，到此何幹？」还是修桥补路，建寺礼塔，还是造佛印经？请缘簿出来看看。」长老道：「我不是化缘的和尚。」女子道：「既不化缘，到此何干？」
逐句解 Line by line
"Is it for mending bridges and repairing roads, for raising temples and paying reverence at pagodas — or is it for casting Buddha images and printing scriptures?"
Six standard objects of religious fundraising, in three matched pairs. 還是 sets the alternatives out, hái, and the list is exactly what a real collector would be running: infrastructure, buildings, books. She knows the categories.
"Bring out your subscription book and let us have a look."
緣簿 is the ledger a collecting monk carried, with donors' names and amounts written in — the medieval equivalent of a fundraising page with the donations showing. Asking to see it is the natural check on a stranger's story, and it is the first question in this house that could catch him out.
The Elder said, "I am not a monk out collecting alms."
和 is hé in 和尚. He answers straight and gives up the one cover story that would have explained him.
The woman said, "If you are not collecting, then what have you come here for?"
何幹 — what business. The question is perfectly reasonable and it is also the trap closing: he has just told a houseful of strangers that nobody is expecting him anywhere.
The questioning is professional. Which temple, what cause, show us the book — three steps, and every one of them is what an actual household would ask an actual monk at the door.
The ledger is the sharpest of the three. A collecting monk carried a written record of who had given what, and producing it was how you proved you were what you said. Asking for it is due diligence. It is also the question that establishes he has no paperwork, no institution behind him and no expected arrival time.
He answers all of it truthfully, because lying is not available to him. Five turns of conversation, and the women know he is travelling, unaffiliated, hungry and alone.