原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
含詞賦 With rhapsody
觀音請行
Guanyin Offers to Go
當有觀音菩薩行近蓮臺，禮佛三匝道：「弟子不才，願上東土尋一個取經人來也。」諸眾擡頭觀看，那菩薩：当有观音菩萨行近莲台，礼佛三匝道：「弟子不才，愿上东土寻一个取经人来也。」诸众擡头观看，那菩萨：
理圓四德，智滿金身。理圆四德，智满金身。
纓絡垂珠翠，香環結寶明。缨络垂珠翠，香环结宝明。
烏雲巧疊盤龍髻，繡帶輕飄彩鳳翎。乌云巧叠盘龙髻，绣带轻飘彩凤翎。
碧玉紐，素羅袍，祥光籠罩；碧玉纽，素罗袍，祥光笼罩；
錦絨裙，金落索，瑞氣遮迎。锦绒裙，金落索，瑞气遮迎。
眉如小月，眼似雙星。眉如小月，眼似双星。
玉面天生喜，朱脣一點紅。玉面天生喜，朱唇一点红。
淨瓶甘露年年盛，斜插垂楊歲歲青。净瓶甘露年年盛，斜插垂杨岁岁青。
解八難，度群生，大慈憫：解八难，度群生，大慈悯：
故鎮太山，居南海，救苦尋聲，萬稱萬應，千聖千靈。故镇太山，居南海，救苦寻声，万称万应，千圣千灵。
蘭心欣紫竹，蕙性愛香藤。兰心欣紫竹，蕙性爱香藤。
他是落伽山上慈悲主，潮音洞裡活觀音。他是落伽山上慈悲主，潮音洞里活观音。
逐句解 Line by line
當有觀音菩薩行近蓮臺，禮佛三匝道：
当有观音菩萨行近莲台，礼佛三匝道：
Then the Bodhisattva Guanyin drew near the lotus throne and, circling the Buddha thrice in homage, said:
「弟子不才，願上東土尋一個取經人來也。」
「弟子不才，愿上东土寻一个取经人来也。」
“Your disciple, though of little talent, is willing to go up to the Eastern Land and seek out a scripture-pilgrim.”
一個 takes yí before fourth-tone 個.
諸眾擡頭觀看，那菩薩：
诸众擡头观看，那菩萨：
The whole assembly raised their heads to gaze upon her, that Bodhisattva:
The storyteller's tag 那菩薩 introduces the descriptive rhapsody on Guanyin's person.
理圓四德，智滿金身。
理圆四德，智满金身。
Her principle perfect in the Four Virtues, her wisdom filling a golden body.
四德 — the four virtues of a buddha-nature (permanence, bliss, self, purity).
纓絡垂珠翠，香環結寶明。
缨络垂珠翠，香环结宝明。
Her beaded tassels hang with pearl and kingfisher-green; her fragrant rings are clasped with luminous gems.
纓絡 (for 瓔珞) — the jeweled necklace of a bodhisattva.
烏雲巧疊盤龍髻，繡帶輕飄彩鳳翎。
乌云巧叠盘龙髻，绣带轻飘彩凤翎。
Her dark cloud-tresses deftly coiled in a dragon-knot, her embroidered sashes lightly afloat like phoenix plumes.
碧玉紐，素羅袍，祥光籠罩；
碧玉纽，素罗袍，祥光笼罩；
Green-jade clasp, plain gauze gown, wrapped about in auspicious light;
錦絨裙，金落索，瑞氣遮迎。
锦绒裙，金落索，瑞气遮迎。
brocade-velvet skirt, golden chain-girdle, veiled in propitious vapor.
落索 — a linked chain or girdle ornament.
眉如小月，眼似雙星。
眉如小月，眼似双星。
Her brows like a crescent moon, her eyes like a pair of stars.
玉面天生喜，朱脣一點紅。
玉面天生喜，朱唇一点红。
Her jade face by nature glad, her vermilion lips a single point of red.
一點 takes yì before third-tone 點.
淨瓶甘露年年盛，斜插垂楊歲歲青。
净瓶甘露年年盛，斜插垂杨岁岁青。
In her pure vase the sweet dew brims year on year; the willow-sprig slanted there is green age upon age.
淨瓶 and 垂楊 (the vase of sweet dew and the willow-spray) are Guanyin's defining attributes.
解八難，度群生，大慈憫：
解八难，度群生，大慈悯：
She undoes the Eight Calamities, delivers the host of the living, great in her mercy:
八難 — the eight conditions barring access to the Dharma; 難 is read nàn (calamity).
故鎮太山，居南海，救苦尋聲，萬稱萬應，千聖千靈。
故镇太山，居南海，救苦寻声，万称万应，千圣千灵。
And so she guards Mount Tai, dwells in the Southern Sea, rescues from suffering and seeks out the cry — ten thousand prayers, ten thousand answers; a thousand sanctities, a thousand wonders.
救苦尋聲 — “rescuing from woe, seeking the sound” (of those who call her name), the canonical office of Guanyin in the Lotus Sūtra.
蘭心欣紫竹，蕙性愛香藤。
兰心欣紫竹，蕙性爱香藤。
Her orchid-heart delights in the purple bamboo; her angelica-nature loves the fragrant vine.
紫竹 — the purple-bamboo grove of her Potalaka island home.
他是落伽山上慈悲主，潮音洞裡活觀音。
他是落伽山上慈悲主，潮音洞里活观音。
She is the Lady of Mercy upon Mount Potalaka, the living Guanyin within the Tide-Sound Cave.
落伽山 (luòqié) is Potalaka; 伽 is read qié. 潮音洞 — the Cave of Tidal Sound, her seat in the Southern Sea.
總評 Commentary
Guanyin answers the Buddha's call, and the narration halts for a full portrait-rhapsody (賦) of the bodhisattva — the most elaborate set-piece of the chapter. The volunteering is dispatched in a single modest sentence; the verse does the real work, fixing Guanyin's iconography in the reader's eye before she descends into the action.
The portrait is a catalogue of attributes that a Ming reader would recognize at once: the jeweled 纓絡, the pure vase and willow-spray, the purple-bamboo grove, the Tide-Sound Cave. Crucially it names her offices as much as her ornaments — 解八難，度群生, 救苦尋聲 — so that the figure is defined by compassionate function, the very quality the southern continent will require.
Following Anthony C. Yu, the rhapsody's placement is structurally pointed: Guanyin is introduced in full splendor at the exact moment she assumes the role she will hold for the rest of the novel — the pilgrimage's standing patron and rescuer. Plaks notes that her elevation here quietly subordinates the Daoist heaven of the earlier chapters to a Buddhist economy of salvation.