第七十三回 · 清靜修仙 A Man Of Quiet Cultivation — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

清靜修仙 A Man Of Quiet Cultivation

道dào士shì笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ看kàn賢xián妹mèi說shuō話huà，怎zěn麼me專zhuān為wèi客kè來lái才cái說shuō？卻què不bù瘋fēng了le？且qiě莫mò說shuō我wǒ是shì個gè清qīng靜jìng修xiū仙xiān之zhī輩bèi，就jiù是shì個gè俗sú人rén家jiā，有yǒu妻qī子zǐ老lǎo小xiǎo家jiā務wù事shì，也yě等děng客kè去qù了le再zài處chǔ。道dào士shì笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ看kàn贤xián妹mèi说shuō话huà，怎zěn么me专zhuān为wèi客kè来lái才cái说shuō？却què不bù疯fēng了le？且qiě莫mò说shuō我wǒ是shì个gè清qīng静jìng修xiū仙xiān之zhī辈bèi，就jiù是shì个gè俗sú人rén家jiā，有yǒu妻qī子zǐ老lǎo小xiǎo家jiā务wù事shì，也yě等děng客kè去qù了le再zài处chǔ。

逐句解 Line by line

道dào士shì笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ看kàn賢xián妹mèi說shuō話huà，怎zěn麼me專zhuān為wèi客kè來lái才cái說shuō？道dào士shì笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ看kàn贤xián妹mèi说shuō话huà，怎zěn么me专zhuān为wèi客kè来lái才cái说shuō？

The Daoist laughed. "Listen to my worthy sisters talk! Why should it be only because guests have come that you will speak?"

你看 at the head of a sentence is not an instruction to look — it is "listen to this", "would you hear them", the exasperated gesture you make to an imaginary third party. 賢妹, worthy sisters, is affectionate and faintly patronising at once, which is precisely the tone.

卻què不bù瘋fēng了le？却què不bù疯fēng了le？

"Have you gone quite mad?"

Four characters, and 卻不 is the vernacular "isn't that just" — a rhetorical setup rather than a real question. He is not asking. He is throwing up his hands.

且qiě莫mò說shuō我wǒ是shì個gè清qīng靜jìng修xiū仙xiān之zhī輩bèi，就jiù是shì個gè俗sú人rén家jiā，有yǒu妻qī子zǐ老lǎo小xiǎo家jiā務wù事shì，也yě等děng客kè去qù了le再zài處chǔ。且qiě莫mò说shuō我wǒ是shì个gè清qīng静jìng修xiū仙xiān之zhī辈bèi，就jiù是shì个gè俗sú人rén家jiā，有yǒu妻qī子zǐ老lǎo小xiǎo家jiā务wù事shì，也yě等děng客kè去qù了le再zài处chǔ。

"Never mind that I am one of those who cultivate immortality in quiet and purity — even an ordinary layman, with a wife and children, old and young, and household business to attend to, would wait until his guests had gone before dealing with it."

清靜 — quiet and pure — is Daoist vocabulary for the whole way of life, and 修仙 is cultivating immortality, the actual job description. Two things repay attention. 妻子 here is qī zǐ, wife AND children, the older sense; the modern word for wife alone reduces the second syllable to zi, and the pairing with 老小, old and young, settles it. And the last character, 處, is chǔ, the verb — to deal with a matter — not chù, a place. The chapter has both and the character gives no warning.

總評 Commentary

The Daoist's argument is that hospitality outranks family business, and he makes it by ranking himself twice. First: I am a man of pure cultivation, so obviously I would not do this. Second: even a layman with a household would not do this. The rhetorical shape is "never mind me — even an ordinary person knows better", which is a way of calling somebody rude while sounding reasonable.

What makes it funny is what he is actually protecting. He is defending his manners as a host against seven sisters who want to tell him something urgent, and the something urgent is that his guests are the people who beat them up. He will get his answer 248 characters from now, and it will cost four men their lives, or very nearly.

The 妻子 reading is worth dwelling on for a moment, because it is a small trap that catches modern readers constantly. In this line it means wife and children — two words — and the modern Chinese for "wife" is the same two characters with the second syllable worn down. Read it the modern way and the sentence still half works, which is exactly what makes it dangerous.