Canonical Classics ← 第七十五回
第七十五回
xīnyuánzuāntòuyīnyáng
zhǔhuánguīdàozhēn

The Mind-Monkey Bores Through the Body of Yin and Yang · The Demon Lord Returns to the True Great Way

逃遁之法
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

逃遁之法 Not Yet He Slips Away

dǎolesūnxíngzhětángsēngzuòdìngshìmenkǒushí。」sānguàidào:「qiěyàochījiǔsūnxíngzhěliūhuìtáodùnzhīzhǐzǒulejiàoxiǎodementáichūpíngláisūnxíngzhězhuāngzàipíngmencáihǎochījiǔ。」dǎolesūnxíngzhětángsēngzuòdìngshìmenkǒushí。」sānguàidào:「qiěyàochījiǔsūnxíngzhěliūhuìtáodùnzhīzhǐzǒulejiàoxiǎodementáichūpíngláisūnxíngzhězhuāngzàipíngmencáihǎochījiǔ。」


逐句解 Line by line

dǎolesūnxíngzhětángsēngzuòdìngshìmenkǒushí。」 dǎolesūnxíngzhětángsēngzuòdìngshìmenkǒushí。」

Now that Sun Wukong is brought down, the Tang monk is as good as food in our mouths."

is dǎo, to fall or bring down — not the dào of pouring or of on-the-contrary. Two sites in this scene take it: 扳翻倒 gets there unaided and this one does not, which is a fair warning about trusting one site to speak for its neighbour.

sānguàidào:「qiěyàochījiǔ sānguàidào:「qiěyàochījiǔ

The third monster said, "Don't drink yet.

Third time he has interrupted the celebration, and third time he is right.

sūnxíngzhěliūhuìtáodùnzhīzhǐzǒule sūnxíngzhěliūhuìtáodùnzhīzhǐzǒule

Sun Wukong is quick and slippery. He knows the arts of escape. I am afraid he will get away.

溜撒 is vernacular for nimble, quick off the mark — an admiring word, and the roc uses it without any apparent difficulty. He is the only one of the three who has correctly estimated what they have caught.

jiàoxiǎodementáichūpíngláisūnxíngzhězhuāngzàipíngmencáihǎochījiǔ。」 jiàoxiǎodementáichūpíngláisūnxíngzhězhuāngzàipíngmencáihǎochījiǔ。」

Have the little ones carry out the bottle, put Sun Wukong inside it, and then we can drink."

And there is the chapter's second half arriving. The whole title — 心猿鑽透陰陽體, the Mind-Monkey bores through the body of yin and yang — is about what happens inside that bottle.


總評 Commentary

Three warnings, three corrections, and every one of them accurate. The roc has now identified Wukong, ordered him tied, refused the celebration and specified the containment. He is doing the work of the entire cave.

What he says about escape is also a piece of straight literary criticism. The novel has a hundred chapters and Wukong has been captured in a great many of them; the reason he is never held is precisely the arts of escape. The roc has read the book. His brothers have not.