Canonical Classics ← 第七十四回
第七十四回
長cháng庚gēng傳chuán報bào魔mó頭tóu狠hěn
行xíng者zhě施shī為wéi變biàn化huà能néng

Long Geng Brings Word of a Fierce Demon Chief · Pilgrim Works His Powers of Transformation

延壽長生
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

延壽長生 One Bite And You Live Forever

不bù知zhī那nà一yì年nián打dǎ聽tīng得dé東dōng土tǔ唐táng朝cháo差chāi一yí個gè僧sēng人rén去qù西xī天tiān取qǔ經jīng,說shuō那nà唐táng僧sēng乃nǎi十shí世shì修xiū行xíng的de好hǎo人rén,有yǒu人rén吃chī他tā一yí塊kuài肉ròu,就jiù延yán壽shòu長cháng生shēng不bù老lǎo。不bù知zhī那nà一yì年nián打dǎ听tīng得dé东dōng土tǔ唐táng朝cháo差chāi一yí个gè僧sēng人rén去qù西xī天tiān取qǔ经jīng,说shuō那nà唐táng僧sēng乃nǎi十shí世shì修xiū行xíng的de好hǎo人rén,有yǒu人rén吃chī他tā一yí块kuài肉ròu,就jiù延yán寿shòu长cháng生shēng不bù老lǎo。


逐句解 Line by line

不bù知zhī那nà一yì年nián打dǎ聽tīng得dé東dōng土tǔ唐táng朝cháo差chāi一yí個gè僧sēng人rén去qù西xī天tiān取qǔ經jīng,說shuō那nà唐táng僧sēng乃nǎi十shí世shì修xiū行xíng的de好hǎo人rén,有yǒu人rén吃chī他tā一yí塊kuài肉ròu,就jiù延yán壽shòu長cháng生shēng不bù老lǎo。 不bù知zhī那nà一yì年nián打dǎ听tīng得dé东dōng土tǔ唐táng朝cháo差chāi一yí个gè僧sēng人rén去qù西xī天tiān取qǔ经jīng,说shuō那nà唐táng僧sēng乃nǎi十shí世shì修xiū行xíng的de好hǎo人rén,有yǒu人rén吃chī他tā一yí块kuài肉ròu,就jiù延yán寿shòu长cháng生shēng不bù老lǎo。

I do not know what year it was that they got wind of the Tang court in the east dispatching a monk to the Western Heaven to fetch scriptures — they say this Tang Monk is a good man of ten incarnations of self-cultivation, and that anyone who eats a piece of his flesh will have his years lengthened and live long without growing old.

差 is chāi, to dispatch on duty, a different word from the chà ten units back. 十世修行 is ten lifetimes of practice, the pedigree that makes the flesh worth eating. And 長生 takes 長 as cháng — long life, sealed four times that way in earlier chapters, never as the zhǎng of growing.


總評 Commentary

The oldest motive in the novel, stated plainly by a subordinate who has no stake in it. Eat a piece of the monk and you will not die.

What is new is the intelligence trail. They got wind of it — somebody four hundred lǐ away heard about a monk leaving the Tang capital and worked out what he was worth. The demons have been watching the road for years.

And the arithmetic of it is worth pausing on. Ten lifetimes of cultivation, consumed in a mouthful by something that has already eaten a kingdom.