第七十七回 · 找大路投西 The Great Road Running West — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

找大路投西 The Great Road Running West

行xíng者zhě把bǎ上shàng項xiàng事shì從cóng頭tóu至zhì尾wěi，細xì說shuō了le一yí遍biàn。三sān藏zàng感gǎn謝xiè不bú盡jìn。師shī徒tú們men在zài那nà宮gōng殿diàn裡lǐ尋xún了le些xiē米mǐ糧liáng，安ān排pái些xiē茶chá飯fàn，飽bǎo吃chī一yì餐cān，收shōu拾shí出chū城chéng，找zhǎo大dà路lù投tóu西xī而ér去qù。正zhèng是shì：行xíng者zhě把bǎ上shàng项xiàng事shì从cóng头tóu至zhì尾wěi，细xì说shuō了le一yí遍biàn。三sān藏zàng感gǎn谢xiè不bú尽jìn。师shī徒tú们men在zài那nà宫gōng殿diàn里lǐ寻xún了le些xiē米mǐ粮liáng，安ān排pái些xiē茶chá饭fàn，饱bǎo吃chī一yì餐cān，收shōu拾shí出chū城chéng，找zhǎo大dà路lù投tóu西xī而ér去qù。正zhèng是shì：

真zhēn經jīng必bì得dé真zhēn人rén取qǔ，意yì嚷rǎng心xīn勞láo總zǒng是shì虛xū。真zhēn经jīng必bì得dé真zhēn人rén取qǔ，意yì嚷rǎng心xīn劳láo总zǒng是shì虚xū。

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě把bǎ上shàng項xiàng事shì從cóng頭tóu至zhì尾wěi，細xì說shuō了le一yí遍biàn。行xíng者zhě把bǎ上shàng项xiàng事shì从cóng头tóu至zhì尾wěi，细xì说shuō了le一yí遍biàn。

Pilgrim told over the whole business from beginning to end, in full.

從頭至尾, from head to tail, and 細說, told in fine detail. The narrator declines to repeat any of it, which is a mercy after four thousand characters.

三sān藏zàng感gǎn謝xiè不bú盡jìn。三sān藏zàng感gǎn谢xiè不bú尽jìn。

Tripitaka thanked him past all thanking.

Six characters, and one of them is doing a piece of mechanical work worth watching: 盡 is jìn here, exhausted rather than merely all, which is a rise from its everyday tone; and the 不 in front has to rise with it to bú. Chinese tones move in company.

師shī徒tú們men在zài那nà宮gōng殿diàn裡lǐ尋xún了le些xiē米mǐ糧liáng，安ān排pái些xiē茶chá飯fàn，飽bǎo吃chī一yì餐cān，收shōu拾shí出chū城chéng，找zhǎo大dà路lù投tóu西xī而ér去qù。师shī徒tú们men在zài那nà宫gōng殿diàn里lǐ寻xún了le些xiē米mǐ粮liáng，安ān排pái些xiē茶chá饭fàn，饱bǎo吃chī一yì餐cān，收shōu拾shí出chū城chéng，找zhǎo大dà路lù投tóu西xī而ér去qù。

Master and disciples found some grain in that palace, got tea and food ready, ate their fill at one meal, packed up and left the city, and took the great road running west.

飽吃一餐, ate one meal to fullness. They have not eaten in the whole chapter, and the book waits until the last sentence to mention it. 投西 is to head west — the direction the entire novel is pointed.

正zhèng是shì：正zhèng是shì：

Truly:

The verse tag, two characters and a colon. Unlike the proverb earlier in this same block, what follows is set on its own indented line, which is what makes it verse.

The true scripture must obtain a true man to fetch it; clamour of intent and toil of heart are all in vain.

得 is dé, to obtain — the couplet is literary and 得 keeps its verb sense, rather than the colloquial děi of simply must. 真人, the true man, is a Daoist term for a realised adept, and setting it against 真經, the true scripture, makes the line turn on a single character repeated. 意嚷心勞 is the mind bawling and the heart labouring — effort that makes noise and gets nowhere.

總評 Commentary

The chapter ends with a meal, and it is the first food anybody has eaten in it. Everything before this has been about eating — steamers, garlic sauce, dinner parties, a bird arguing for his diet — and the pilgrims finally sit down in the empty palace of the people who wanted to eat them.

Then the closing couplet, which is the chapter's verdict on itself. Only a true man can fetch the true scripture; everything else is noise and effort. That is aimed squarely at Pilgrim, who spent this chapter shouting at a doorman, offering to resign, and getting the answer wrong for the best possible reasons.

The repeated character is the whole argument. True scripture, true man — the thing and the person who can carry it must be made of the same stuff, and the journey is what makes them so. Every trick that worked in this chapter was borrowed: a dragon, a sleep-insect won at cards, five hundred Arhats. Nothing Pilgrim owned was enough, and the couplet says so without unkindness.