原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
做個護法 A Guardian On The Light
行者聞言，忙叩頭謝了佛祖。佛祖不敢鬆放了大鵬，也只教他在光焰上做個護法，引眾回雲，徑歸寶剎。行者闻言，忙叩头谢了佛祖。佛祖不敢松放了大鹏，也只教他在光焰上做个护法，引众回云，径归宝刹。
逐句解 Line by line
行者聞言，忙叩頭謝了佛祖。
行者闻言，忙叩头谢了佛祖。
When Pilgrim heard this he bowed his head at once and thanked the Buddha-Patriarch.
Eleven characters. No exclamation, no rush to the city — he stops and thanks him first, which after the scene at the gate is the closing of a circle.
佛祖不敢鬆放了大鵬，也只教他在光焰上做個護法，引眾回雲，徑歸寶剎。
佛祖不敢松放了大鹏，也只教他在光焰上做个护法，引众回云，径归宝刹。
The Buddha-Patriarch dared not let the roc go free, and could only set him on the radiance as a guardian of the Law; and leading the assembly back on their clouds he went straight home to his monastery.
不敢鬆放, dared not slacken his hold — the Buddha himself is wary of this creature. 護法 is a dharma-protector, the class of fierce guardian figures you meet at temple gates. 剎 is chà, a monastery.
Wukong thanks him properly, and it matters after the shouting at the gate. He arrived howling and leaves with a bow.
The roc is not released and never will be. He rides on the light above the Buddha's head as a guardian, which is a post and a leash at once, and the narrator says plainly that the Buddha does not dare loosen his grip.
So the creature that outflew the somersault cloud ends as a fixture on somebody else's halo. Every monster in this chapter has been put back where it belongs — the lion and elephant under their saddles, the roc on the light — and the kingdom they ate is left empty behind them.