Canonical Classics ← 第七十七回
第七十七回
qúnběnxìng
bàizhēn

The Host of Fiends Imposes on the Original Nature · Of One Body They Bow to the True Thus-Come

分頭駕雲
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

分頭駕雲 Two Clouds Sent Different Ways

jiào:「ānuójiāshèláiliǎngfēntóujiàyúntáishānéméishānxuānwénshūxiánláijiàn。」èrzūnzhěfèngzhǐérjiào:「ānuójiāshèláiliǎngfēntóujiàyúntáishānéméishānxuānwénshūxiánláijiàn。」èrzūnzhěfèngzhǐér


逐句解 Line by line

jiào:「ānuójiāshèláiliǎngfēntóujiàyúntáishānéméishānxuānwénshūxiánláijiàn。」 jiào:「ānuójiāshèláiliǎngfēntóujiàyúntáishānéméishānxuānwénshūxiánláijiàn。」

He called, "Ananda! Kasyapa! Come here. You two are to take cloud each his own way, to Mount Wutai and to Mount Emei, and summon Manjushri and Samantabhadra to appear."

Four names, all real. Ananda and Kasyapa are the Buddha's chief disciples and in this book they are his attendants. Mount Wutai in Shanxi is Manjushri's mountain and Mount Emei in Sichuan is Samantabhadra's — two of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China, and still places of pilgrimage. 分頭 is to split up and go separately.

èrzūnzhěfèngzhǐér èrzūnzhěfèngzhǐér

The two Honoured Ones went at once as they were bidden.

Eight characters. No question, no delay. The contrast with the gate guardians is sharp and probably deliberate.


總評 Commentary

The Buddha does not explain; he sends for the owners. Two disciples, two mountains, two Bodhisattvas, and Wukong is left standing there working out what it means.

The geography is worth having. Wutai and Emei are a very long way apart — north China and Sichuan — and each is the earthly seat of the Bodhisattva named. A Ming reader would know both as places you could actually walk to, which grounds the summons in the world.

And nobody asks a question. Compare the doorkeepers half an hour ago, insisting on procedure. The higher you go in this hierarchy the less anyone stands on form.