第七十七回 · 那知真假 How Should They Know True From False — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

那知真假 How Should They Know True From False

將jiāng真zhēn身shēn出chū神shén，跳tiào在zài半bàn空kōng裡lǐ，低dī頭tóu看kàn著zhe。那nà群qún妖yāo那nà知zhī真zhēn假jiǎ，見jiàn人rén就jiù擡tái，把bǎ個gè假jiǎ行xíng者zhě擡tái在zài上shàng三sān格gé；才cái將jiāng唐táng僧sēng揪jiū翻fān倒dǎo綑kǔn住zhù，擡tái上shàng第dì四sì格gé。将jiāng真zhēn身shēn出chū神shén，跳tiào在zài半bàn空kōng里lǐ，低dī头tóu看kàn着zhe。那nà群qún妖yāo那nà知zhī真zhēn假jiǎ，见jiàn人rén就jiù抬tái，把bǎ个gè假jiǎ行xíng者zhě抬tái在zài上shàng三sān格gé；才cái将jiāng唐táng僧sēng揪jiū翻fān倒dǎo捆kǔn住zhù，抬tái上shàng第dì四sì格gé。

逐句解 Line by line

將jiāng真zhēn身shēn出chū神shén，跳tiào在zài半bàn空kōng裡lǐ，低dī頭tóu看kàn著zhe。将jiāng真zhēn身shēn出chū神shén，跳tiào在zài半bàn空kōng里lǐ，低dī头tóu看kàn着zhe。

Sending his true self out of the body, he sprang up into mid-air and looked down to watch.

出神, to send the spirit out, is a term from meditation practice, where it means the adept's spirit leaving the body. It has drifted into everyday Chinese as being lost in thought — the same image, domesticated.

那nà群qún妖yāo那nà知zhī真zhēn假jiǎ，見jiàn人rén就jiù擡tái，把bǎ個gè假jiǎ行xíng者zhě擡tái在zài上shàng三sān格gé；那nà群qún妖yāo那nà知zhī真zhēn假jiǎ，见jiàn人rén就jiù抬tái，把bǎ个gè假jiǎ行xíng者zhě抬tái在zài上shàng三sān格gé；

How should that crowd of demons know true from false? They saw a man and lifted him, and put the false Pilgrim into the third tray up;

The narrator asks the question on the demons' behalf and answers it in the same breath. 見人就擡, saw a man and lifted him, is four characters of workplace indifference.

才cái將jiāng唐táng僧sēng揪jiū翻fān倒dǎo綑kǔn住zhù，擡tái上shàng第dì四sì格gé。才cái将jiāng唐táng僧sēng揪jiū翻fān倒dǎo捆kǔn住zhù，抬tái上shàng第dì四sì格gé。

and then they yanked the Tang Monk over, bound him upside down, and lifted him into the fourth tray.

揪翻倒綑住 piles four verbs on one small old man: yanked, turned over, upended, tied. 倒 is dǎo here, the sense of being upset or inverted.

總評 Commentary

The swap works because nobody is looking. That is the whole mechanism, and the narrator makes sure you notice by asking how they could possibly have known.

The trays now hold, from the bottom: Bajie, Sha Monk, a false Pilgrim, and Tripitaka. Four tiers, four prisoners, and one of them is a hair.

The roughness of the last sentence is deliberate. Tripitaka gets the most violent handling in the passage and the least attention paid to him, which is the position he has occupied all night.