第七十七回 · 以心問心 Asking His Own Heart — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

以心問心 Asking His Own Heart

行xíng者zhě悽qī悽qī慘cǎn慘cǎn的de自zì思sī自zì忖cǔn，以yǐ心xīn問wèn心xīn道dào：「這zhè都dōu是shì我wǒ佛fó如rú來lái坐zuò在zài那nà極jí樂lè之zhī境jìng，沒méi得de事shì幹gàn，弄nòng了le那nà三sān藏zàng之zhī經jīng。若ruò果guǒ有yǒu心xīn勸quàn善shàn，理lǐ當dāng送sòng上shàng東dōng土tǔ，卻què不bú是shì個gè萬wàn古gǔ流liú傳chuán？行xíng者zhě凄qī凄qī惨cǎn惨cǎn的de自zì思sī自zì忖cǔn，以yǐ心xīn问wèn心xīn道dào：「这zhè都dōu是shì我wǒ佛fó如rú来lái坐zuò在zài那nà极jí乐lè之zhī境jìng，没méi得de事shì干gàn，弄nòng了le那nà三sān藏zàng之zhī经jīng。若ruò果guǒ有yǒu心xīn劝quàn善shàn，理lǐ当dāng送sòng上shàng东dōng土tǔ，却què不bú是shì个gè万wàn古gǔ流liú传chuán？

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě悽qī悽qī慘cǎn慘cǎn的de自zì思sī自zì忖cǔn，以yǐ心xīn問wèn心xīn道dào：「這zhè都dōu是shì我wǒ佛fó如rú來lái坐zuò在zài那nà極jí樂lè之zhī境jìng，沒méi得de事shì幹gàn，弄nòng了le那nà三sān藏zàng之zhī經jīng。行xíng者zhě凄qī凄qī惨cǎn惨cǎn的de自zì思sī自zì忖cǔn，以yǐ心xīn问wèn心xīn道dào：「这zhè都dōu是shì我wǒ佛fó如rú来lái坐zuò在zài那nà极jí乐lè之zhī境jìng，没méi得de事shì干gàn，弄nòng了le那nà三sān藏zàng之zhī经jīng。

Pilgrim, in the bitterest misery, turned it over in his own mind, asking his own heart with his heart: "This is all because that Buddha of ours, the Tathagata, sitting there in his Land of Utmost Bliss with nothing better to do, went and made up those Three Baskets of scripture.

以心問心, using the heart to question the heart, is a phrase from meditation practice put to furious use. 極樂 is Sukhavati, the Pure Land — literally Utmost Bliss. 得 in 沒得事幹 is de: nothing to be getting on with. And 弄, to fiddle with or knock together, is close to insolent applied to the canon.

若ruò果guǒ有yǒu心xīn勸quàn善shàn，理lǐ當dāng送sòng上shàng東dōng土tǔ，卻què不bú是shì個gè萬wàn古gǔ流liú傳chuán？若ruò果guǒ有yǒu心xīn劝quàn善shàn，理lǐ当dāng送sòng上shàng东dōng土tǔ，却què不bú是shì个gè万wàn古gǔ流liú传chuán？

If he really meant to urge men to good, he ought by rights to have sent them east — would that not have been handed down for ever?

理當, by right ought, is the language of a formal complaint. Wukong is not raging; he is arguing, and the argument has a structure.

總評 Commentary

This is the most impious speech in a novel that is not short of them, and it is delivered in the vocabulary of contemplative practice. He questions his heart with his heart, and what his heart produces is a complaint against the Buddha.

The complaint is also, uncomfortably, quite good. If the point is to save beings, why put the means at the far end of a lethal road? Why make the saving conditional on surviving the journey to it?

And the word he uses for what the Buddha did with the scriptures is the word for knocking something together to pass the time. He is accusing the highest authority in the cosmos of inventing a problem out of boredom.