原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
下回分解 To Be Continued
畢竟這一去，不知幾時得面如來，且聽下回分解。毕竟这一去，不知几时得面如来，且听下回分解。
逐句解 Line by line
畢竟這一去，不知幾時得面如來，且聽下回分解。
毕竟这一去，不知几时得面如来，且听下回分解。
And as they went on this way, there is no knowing how long it would be before they came face to face with the Tathagata. Listen to the explanation in the next chapter.
畢竟, when all is said, opens the storyteller's closing formula, and 且聽下回分解 — listen to the next chapter set it out — closes it. Every chapter of this novel ends on these words. 得面 is to get to face somebody, and the hook is sharp: Pilgrim has just been face to face with the Tathagata, and the question is when the master will be.
The formula is the same at the end of every chapter of this book, and it is a genuine relic of performance — the moment a paid storyteller stopped and let his audience wonder.
The hook it leaves is a good one. Pilgrim flew to Vulture Peak and stood before the Buddha this very chapter; his master, who is the one the scriptures are for, has walked fourteen years and is still on the road. The chapter that opened with him set aside in a single clause closes by asking when he will arrive.