第七十三回 · 破了金光 The Golden Light Broke — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

破了金光 The Golden Light Broke

早zǎo望wàng見jiàn金jīn光guāng艷yàn艷yàn，即jí回huí向xiàng毘pí藍lán道dào：「金jīn光guāng處chù便biàn是shì黃huáng花huā觀guàn也yě。」毘pí藍lán隨suí於yú衣yī領lǐng裡lǐ取qǔ出chū一yí個gè繡xiù花huā針zhēn，似sì眉méi毛máo粗cū細xì，有yǒu五wǔ六liù分fēn長cháng短duǎn，拈niān在zài手shǒu，望wàng空kōng拋pāo去qù。少shǎo時shí間jiān，響xiǎng一yì聲shēng，破pò了le金jīn光guāng。早zǎo望wàng见jiàn金jīn光guāng艳yàn艳yàn，即jí回huí向xiàng毘pí蓝lán道dào：「金jīn光guāng处chù便biàn是shì黄huáng花huā观guàn也yě。」毘pí蓝lán随suí于yú衣yī领lǐng里lǐ取qǔ出chū一yí个gè绣xiù花huā针zhēn，似sì眉méi毛máo粗cū细xì，有yǒu五wǔ六liù分fēn长cháng短duǎn，拈niān在zài手shǒu，望wàng空kōng抛pāo去qù。少shǎo时shí间jiān，响xiǎng一yì声shēng，破pò了le金jīn光guāng。

逐句解 Line by line

早zǎo望wàng見jiàn金jīn光guāng艷yàn艷yàn，即jí回huí向xiàng毘pí藍lán道dào：「金jīn光guāng處chù便biàn是shì黃huáng花huā觀guàn也yě。」早zǎo望wàng见jiàn金jīn光guāng艳yàn艳yàn，即jí回huí向xiàng毘pí蓝lán道dào：「金jīn光guāng处chù便biàn是shì黄huáng花huā观guàn也yě。」

Soon he caught sight of the golden light blazing, and turned back to Vairambha. "Where the golden light is, that is the Yellow Flower Abbey."

艷艷 is the same doubled character the light was given in its own set-piece — blazing, brilliant. And 觀 is guàn, the abbey. They have come a thousand li and the target is visible from the air as a glow.

毘pí藍lán隨suí於yú衣yī領lǐng裡lǐ取qǔ出chū一yí個gè繡xiù花huā針zhēn，似sì眉méi毛máo粗cū細xì，有yǒu五wǔ六liù分fēn長cháng短duǎn，拈niān在zài手shǒu，望wàng空kōng拋pāo去qù。毘pí蓝lán随suí于yú衣yī领lǐng里lǐ取qǔ出chū一yí个gè绣xiù花huā针zhēn，似sì眉méi毛máo粗cū细xì，有yǒu五wǔ六liù分fēn长cháng短duǎn，拈niān在zài手shǒu，望wàng空kōng抛pāo去qù。

Vairambha drew an embroidery needle out of her collar — about the thickness of an eyebrow and five or six fēn in length — took it between her fingers and tossed it into the air.

The dimensions are given the way the poison box's were, in ordinary units. 分 is a tenth of a 寸, so five or six of them is rather under an inch — a real needle, exactly. 長 is cháng, length. 衣領裡, inside her collar, is where a woman keeps a needle when she is not using it, and 拈 is the fingertip grip for lifting something small.

少shǎo時shí間jiān，響xiǎng一yì聲shēng，破pò了le金jīn光guāng。少shǎo时shí间jiān，响xiǎng一yì声shēng，破pò了le金jīn光guāng。

In a moment there was a crack, and the golden light broke.

Ten characters. The trap that held the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, cooked him, knocked him on the head and drove him twenty li underground is ended by a woman throwing a needle in the air, in one sentence with a sound effect in the middle of it. And there is the chapter's own title — 幸破光, saved by the breaking light.

總評 Commentary

The undoing takes ten characters and the chapter has been building to it for four thousand. She reaches into her collar, takes out a needle about the thickness of an eyebrow, throws it upward, and the golden light breaks.

The proportion is the whole point. Everything about the Daoist has been enormous and expensive — half a tonne of raw material boiled to three 分 of poison, a thousand eyes, ten thousand beams, a light that swallowed a monastery. The answer costs nothing and comes out of a collar.

And the chapter's title has now completed itself. 心主遭魔幸破光 — the Mind-Lord meets a demon and is saved by the breaking light. The couplet said so before the first sentence, and it has taken the whole chapter to arrive at the character 破.