Canonical Classics ← 第七十九回
第七十九回
尋xún洞dòng擒qín妖yāo逢féng老lǎo壽shòu
當dāng朝cháo正zhèng主zhǔ救jiù嬰yīng兒ér

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

邪正分明
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

邪正分明 Right And Wrong Made Plain

文wén武wǔ多duō官guān魂hún魄pò飛fēi,嬪pín妃fēi繡xiù女nǚ容róng顏yán改gǎi。文wén武wǔ多duō官guān魂hún魄pò飞fēi,嫔pín妃fēi绣xiù女nǚ容róng颜yán改gǎi。
諕xià得de那nà比bǐ丘qiū昏hūn主zhǔ亂luàn身shēn藏cáng,戰zhàn戰zhàn兢jīng兢jīng沒méi佈bù擺bǎi。諕xià得de那nà比bǐ丘qiū昏hūn主zhǔ乱luàn身shēn藏cáng,战zhàn战zhàn兢jīng兢jīng没méi布bù摆bǎi。
棒bàng起qǐ猶yóu如rú虎hǔ出chū山shān,拐guǎi掄lūn卻què似sì龍lóng離lí海hǎi。棒bàng起qǐ犹yóu如rú虎hǔ出chū山shān,拐guǎi抡lūn却què似sì龙lóng离lí海hǎi。
今jīn番fān大dà鬧nào比bǐ丘qiū國guó,致zhì令lìng邪xié正zhèng分fēn明míng白bái。今jīn番fān大dà闹nào比bǐ丘qiū国guó,致zhì令lìng邪xié正zhèng分fēn明míng白bái。

逐句解 Line by line

文wén武wǔ多duō官guān魂hún魄pò飛fēi,嬪pín妃fēi繡xiù女nǚ容róng顏yán改gǎi。 文wén武wǔ多duō官guān魂hún魄pò飞fēi,嫔pín妃fēi绣xiù女nǚ容róng颜yán改gǎi。

The souls of the civil and military officers flew off, / and the complexions of the consorts and the embroidery girls changed.

魂魄飛 — souls flying — is not decoration. Chinese tradition gives a person two kinds of soul, the 魂 that is light and goes upward and the 魄 that is heavy and stays with the body, and fright was thought to loosen them. The phrase survives today as pure idiom, the way English says "scared out of my wits."

諕xià得de那nà比bǐ丘qiū昏hūn主zhǔ亂luàn身shēn藏cáng,戰zhàn戰zhàn兢jīng兢jīng沒méi佈bù擺bǎi。 諕xià得de那nà比bǐ丘qiū昏hūn主zhǔ乱luàn身shēn藏cáng,战zhàn战zhàn兢jīng兢jīng没méi布bù摆bǎi。

The muddled king of Bhikṣu was so frightened he hid himself in confusion, / trembling and shaking with no way to arrange matters.

諕得, frightened to the point of — 諕 is xià, a variant of the commoner 嚇. 戰戰兢兢 is still in daily use for walking on eggshells, and it is the same phrase the prose used of this king twenty lines ago. The poem is quoting the narrative back at him.

棒bàng起qǐ猶yóu如rú虎hǔ出chū山shān,拐guǎi掄lūn卻què似sì龍lóng離lí海hǎi。 棒bàng起qǐ犹yóu如rú虎hǔ出chū山shān,拐guǎi抡lūn却què似sì龙lóng离lí海hǎi。

The rod rose like a tiger coming out of the hills, / the crutch swung round like a dragon leaving the sea.

The two similes are a matched pair by design: tiger and mountain, dragon and sea, the two great powers of Chinese imagery each shown at the moment it breaks out of its element. Pairing them like this is the ordinary furniture of a battle poem, and an audience would have expected it the way a listener expects a chorus.

今jīn番fān大dà鬧nào比bǐ丘qiū國guó,致zhì令lìng邪xié正zhèng分fēn明míng白bái。 今jīn番fān大dà闹nào比bǐ丘qiū国guó,致zhì令lìng邪xié正zhèng分fēn明míng白bái。

This time the great uproar was in the kingdom of Bhikṣu, / and it brought wrong and right out plain to see.

大鬧, the great uproar, is Wukong's signature word — the same one in the title of his rampage in heaven, 大鬧天宮. Using it here quietly measures the kingdom of Bhikṣu against the court of the Jade Emperor, which is either a compliment or a joke depending on how you read it.


總評 Commentary

The verse run ends where such poems always end, on a moral summary. But the particular claim is worth noticing: not that good has won, but that wrong and right can now be seen. The fight has not fixed anything yet. It has only stopped everyone pretending.

That is a fair description of what Wukong actually does in this whole episode. He does not heal the king or restore the children in the sky. He makes it impossible for the court to go on believing what it found comfortable. The repairs come later, and mostly from other people.