Canonical Classics ← 第七十九回
第七十九回
xúndòngqínyāofénglǎoshòu
dāngcháozhèngzhǔjiùyīngér

Seeking the Cave to Seize the Fiend He Meets the Old Man of Longevity · At Court the True Sovereign Rescues the Infants

分文不受
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原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

分文不受 Not A Single Copper

suìchūliǎngpánsànjīnsuìyínfèngwèifèitángsēngjiānfēnwénshòuguówángmìngbǎiluánjiàqǐngtángsēngduānzuòfèngniǎnlóngchēwángpínhòutuīlúnzhuǎnfāngsòngchūcháosuìchūliǎngpánsànjīnsuìyínfèngwèifèitángsēngjiānfēnwénshòuguówángmìngbǎiluánjiàqǐngtángsēngduānzuòfèngniǎnlóngchēwángpínhòutuīlúnzhuǎnfāngsòngchūcháo


逐句解 Line by line

suìchūliǎngpánsànjīnsuìyínfèngwèifèi suìchūliǎngpánsànjīnsuìyínfèngwèifèi

Then he brought out two trays of loose gold and broken silver and offered them for travelling expenses.

散金碎銀, loose gold and broken silver — bullion cut into pieces, which is how money actually moved in Ming China. Silver was weighed, not counted.

tángsēngjiānfēnwénshòu tángsēngjiānfēnwénshòu

The Tang Monk firmly declined and would not take a single copper.

分文不受 is a fixed phrase and still current: not accepting one or one , the two smallest coins. It is Tripitaka who refuses, not Wukong, and this is the one thing in the chapter he does decisively.

guówángmìngbǎiluánjiàqǐngtángsēngduānzuòfèngniǎnlóngchēwángpínhòutuīlúnzhuǎnfāngsòngchūcháo guówángmìngbǎiluánjiàqǐngtángsēngduānzuòfèngniǎnlóngchēwángpínhòutuīlúnzhuǎnfāngsòngchūcháo

The king, having no other course, ordered the imperial carriage made ready, invited the Tang Monk to sit in the phoenix chariot and dragon car, and with the queens and consorts pushed at the wheels and turned the hubs himself to see them out of the court.

推輪轉轂, pushing the wheels and turning the hubs, is a ceremonial act of extraordinary deference — the ruler physically shoving his guest's carriage. is the hub of a wheel. A king and his whole harem laying hands on the axle is as low as a Chinese monarch can be shown to go without kneeling.


總評 Commentary

The refusal of the money is the last of three refusals in the chapter. Wukong waved off the officers' thanks, then declined the wealth of the kingdom, and now Tripitaka will not take travelling expenses.

The king's response is to spend on ceremony what he could not spend on gold. If he cannot pay them he will push their carriage himself, with his queens, and the novel reports the image without deciding whether it is penance or another purchase.