第七十四回 · 摩星礙日 Grazing Stars Blocking The Sun — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

摩星礙日 Grazing Stars Blocking The Sun

三sān藏zàng正zhèng然rán行xíng處chù，忽hū見jiàn一yí座zuò高gāo山shān，峰fēng插chā碧bì空kōng，真zhēn個gè是shì摩mó星xīng礙ài日rì。長zhǎng老lǎo心xīn中zhōng害hài怕pà，叫jiào悟wù空kōng道dào：「你nǐ看kàn前qián面miàn這zhè山shān十shí分fēn高gāo聳sǒng，但dàn不bù知zhī有yǒu路lù通tōng行xíng否fǒu？」三sān藏zàng正zhèng然rán行xíng处chù，忽hū见jiàn一yí座zuò高gāo山shān，峰fēng插chā碧bì空kōng，真zhēn个gè是shì摩mó星xīng碍ài日rì。长zhǎng老lǎo心xīn中zhōng害hài怕pà，叫jiào悟wù空kōng道dào：「你nǐ看kàn前qián面miàn这zhè山shān十shí分fēn高gāo耸sǒng，但dàn不bù知zhī有yǒu路lù通tōng行xíng否fǒu？」

逐句解 Line by line

三sān藏zàng正zhèng然rán行xíng處chù，忽hū見jiàn一yí座zuò高gāo山shān，峰fēng插chā碧bì空kōng，真zhēn個gè是shì摩mó星xīng礙ài日rì。三sān藏zàng正zhèng然rán行xíng处chù，忽hū见jiàn一yí座zuò高gāo山shān，峰fēng插chā碧bì空kōng，真zhēn个gè是shì摩mó星xīng碍ài日rì。

Tripitaka was riding steadily along when all at once a high mountain came into view, its peaks driven into the blue void — it truly did graze the stars and block out the sun.

The scenery poem is over and the road comes back, and it comes back as a wall. 峰插碧空 sets the verb 插 — to stab, to plant — between the peaks and the sky, so the mountain is not merely tall but driven into the blue like a blade. 摩星礙日 then doubles the effect: 摩 is to rub or graze and 礙 is to get in the way of, so the peaks scrape the stars and block the sun's path. 真個是, truly it was, is the teller vouching for his own stock phrase, which is what that formula is always doing.

長zhǎng老lǎo心xīn中zhōng害hài怕pà，叫jiào悟wù空kōng道dào：「你nǐ看kàn前qián面miàn這zhè山shān十shí分fēn高gāo聳sǒng，但dàn不bù知zhī有yǒu路lù通tōng行xíng否fǒu？」长zhǎng老lǎo心xīn中zhōng害hài怕pà，叫jiào悟wù空kōng道dào：「你nǐ看kàn前qián面miàn这zhè山shān十shí分fēn高gāo耸sǒng，但dàn不bù知zhī有yǒu路lù通tōng行xíng否fǒu？」

Fear rose in the elder's heart, and he called to Wukong: "Look at this mountain ahead of us, how very high it stands. I wonder whether there is any road through it at all?"

長老 is elder, the courteous term for a senior monk, and 長 is zhǎng, senior in standing, not the cháng of physical length. 十分 is worth a glance too: ten parts out of ten, which is still the ordinary modern word for very. And the exchange itself is one the novel keeps returning to. Tripitaka sees a mountain and is afraid of it; his disciple tells him to settle down. It is characterisation by repetition — the man walking to India is frightened of hills.

總評 Commentary

After ninety-five characters of verse the chapter finally puts somebody on a road, and the first thing on that road is an obstacle. This is the novel's working rhythm in miniature: a set-piece of description, then a difficulty, then a conversation about the difficulty.

The description is entirely formulaic and is meant to be. Peaks stabbing the sky, stars grazed, sun blocked — a listening audience knew these phrases and wanted them, the way a crowd wants the familiar riff. The teller even signals it, vouching that this one truly was as advertised.

What is not formulaic is the reaction. Tripitaka is the holiest person in the party and the least equal to it, and the novel never lets you forget it. He does not ask whether the mountain holds demons. He asks whether there is a road.