Canonical Classics ← 第七十三回
第七十三回
qíngyīnjiùhènshēngzāi
xīnzhǔzāoxìngguāng

Passion from an Old Grudge Breeds a Venomous Calamity · The Mind-Lord Meets a Demon and Is Saved by the Breaking Light

毒藥茶
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

毒藥茶 Poisoned With Their Tea

xíngzhědào:「zǎojiānjiùleshīqiányuǎnzuòhuánghuāguànshīděngjìnkànkànguànzhǔyíngjiēcáihuàjiānbèiyàocháyàodǎoshīděngxìngcéngchīchá使shǐbàngjiùxíngzhědào:「zǎojiānjiùleshīqiányuǎnzuòhuánghuāguànshīděngjìnkànkànguànzhǔyíngjiēcáihuàjiānbèiyàocháyàodǎoshīděngxìngcéngchīchá使shǐbàngjiù


逐句解 Line by line

xíngzhědào:「zǎojiānjiùleshīqiányuǎnzuòhuánghuāguànshīděngjìnkànkànguànzhǔyíngjiē xíngzhědào:「zǎojiānjiùleshīqiányuǎnzuòhuánghuāguànshīděngjìnkànkànguànzhǔyíngjiē

"This morning I rescued my master," said Pilgrim, "and we had not gone far when we came on a Yellow Flower Abbey. My master and I went in to have a look round, and the abbot came out to meet us."

Both here are guàn, the abbey — the name of the house and then 觀主, its master. Of the chapter's twenty , sixteen are this reading and only four are guān, to look. 看看, doubled, is the casual "have a look" — which is precisely how he is still framing it.

cáihuàjiānbèiyàocháyàodǎoshīděng cáihuàjiānbèiyàocháyàodǎoshīděng

"We had barely got talking when he drugged my master and the others down with poisoned tea."

藥倒 again — as a verb, to drug, and as dǎo, the falling result. The phrase occurs five times in this chapter and every one of them is a report by somebody to somebody else; the event itself was described only once, and without it.

xìngcéngchīchá使shǐbàngjiù xìngcéngchīchá使shǐbàngjiù

"By luck I did not drink mine, so I set about him with the cudgel."

Ten characters, and — by good fortune — is carrying more than it looks. It was not luck. He saw the black dates, asked three times to swap, was overruled by his master and covered the cup with his hand. He is telling the story with himself left out of it.


總評 Commentary

Pilgrim gives his statement, and it is a good one: short, chronological, and almost entirely accurate. Rescued my master, came on an abbey, went in, got talking, was poisoned, fought back. Any officer taking a report would be pleased with it.

The one word that is not accurate is , by luck. There was no luck involved. He noticed a cup that did not match, asked to exchange it three separate times, was told by Tripitaka to stop being difficult, and then held the thing sealed under his own hand for the rest of the conversation. He compresses all of that into one character meaning fortunately.

That is very much this character. Pilgrim boasts constantly about things he has not done and passes over the things he has, and the book lets the reader keep the score. We watched the cup. He says he was lucky.