敘了坐次 The Seating Order
當時敘了坐次：壽星首席，長老次席，國王前席，行者、八戒、沙僧側席。傍又有兩三個大師相陪左右。即命教坊司動樂。当时叙了坐次：寿星首席，长老次席，国王前席，行者、八戒、沙僧侧席。傍又有两三个大师相陪左右。即命教坊司动乐。
逐句解 Line by line
The seating was then settled: the Longevity Star at the head, the elder next, the king in front, and Pilgrim, Bajie and Sha Monk at the sides.
The seating is the point of the sentence and it is a precise social document. 首席, the head seat, goes to the god; 次席, the second, to Tripitaka; the king takes 前席, the front, which is the host's place and not the honoured one. The three disciples are at the sides. Wukong, who saved the kingdom, is seated below his master and beside a pig.
At the side there were two or three senior masters to keep them company left and right.
相陪 takes xiāng, the mutual reading. 大師, senior masters — local clergy brought in to make up the table, mentioned once and never again. 傍 is páng, the nominal side — not the bàng of leaning against something.
He then ordered the Music Bureau to strike up.
The 教坊司, Music Bureau, was a genuine Ming office in charge of court entertainment and its performers. Seven characters, and the kingdom is officially celebrating.
The seating chart is worth reading closely, because it is the kingdom's own judgement about what just happened. Highest honour to the visiting god — who lost his deer for three years and turned up at the end. Second to Tripitaka, who spent the whole episode with mud on his face.
Wukong is at the side. The novel does not complain on his behalf and neither does he; it simply records the order and moves on. He said several passages ago that catching the demon was his own merit and he wanted nothing else, and the table has taken him at his word.