原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
捲簾大將
The Curtain-Raising Captain
怪物聞言，連聲喏喏，收了寶杖。讓木吒揪了去見觀音，納頭下拜，告道：「菩薩，恕我之罪，待我訴告：我不是妖邪，我是靈霄殿下侍鑾輿的捲簾大將。只因在蟠桃會上失手打碎了玻璃盞，玉帝把我打了八百，貶下界來，變得這般模樣。又叫七日一次，將飛劍來穿我胸脅百餘下方回。故此這般苦惱。沒奈何，饑寒難忍，三二日間，出波濤尋一個行人食用。不期今日無知，衝撞了大慈菩薩。」菩薩道：「你在天有罪，既貶下來，今又這等傷生，正所謂罪上加罪。我今領了佛旨，上東土尋取經人。你何不入我門來，皈依善果，跟那取經人做個徒弟，上西天拜佛求經？我叫飛劍不來穿你。那時節功成免罪，復你本職，心下如何？」怪物闻言，连声喏喏，收了宝杖。让木吒揪了去见观音，纳头下拜，告道：「菩萨，恕我之罪，待我诉告：我不是妖邪，我是灵霄殿下侍銮舆的卷帘大将。只因在蟠桃会上失手打碎了玻璃盏，玉帝把我打了八百，贬下界来，变得这般模样。又叫七日一次，将飞剑来穿我胸胁百余下方回。故此这般苦恼。没奈何，饥寒难忍，三二日间，出波涛寻一个行人食用。不期今日无知，冲撞了大慈菩萨。」菩萨道：「你在天有罪，既贬下来，今又这等伤生，正所谓罪上加罪。我今领了佛旨，上东土寻取经人。你何不入我门来，皈依善果，跟那取经人做个徒弟，上西天拜佛求经？我叫飞剑不来穿你。那时节功成免罪，复你本职，心下如何？」
逐句解 Line by line
怪物聞言，連聲喏喏，收了寶杖。
怪物闻言，连声喏喏，收了宝杖。
The monster, hearing this, murmured assent again and again and put away his staff.
喏喏 — a repeated sound of deferential assent; 喏 is read rě.
讓木吒揪了去見觀音，納頭下拜，告道：
让木吒揪了去见观音，纳头下拜，告道：
He let Moksa haul him off to see Guanyin, bowed his head to the ground, and declared:
「菩薩，恕我之罪，待我訴告：
「菩萨，恕我之罪，待我诉告：
“Bodhisattva, forgive my offense, and let me tell my tale:
我不是妖邪，我是靈霄殿下侍鑾輿的捲簾大將。
我不是妖邪，我是灵霄殿下侍銮舆的卷帘大将。
I am no demon-fiend; I was the Curtain-Raising Great Captain who attended the imperial carriage below the Hall of Numinous Mists.
捲簾大將 — the “Curtain-Raising Captain,” Sha Wujing's celestial office; 將 is jiàng. 不是 — 不 takes bú before 是.
只因在蟠桃會上失手打碎了玻璃盞，玉帝把我打了八百，貶下界來，變得這般模樣。
只因在蟠桃会上失手打碎了玻璃盏，玉帝把我打了八百，贬下界来，变得这般模样。
Only because, at the Peach Festival, I let slip and shattered a crystal goblet, the Jade Emperor had me beaten eight hundred strokes and cast down to the lower world, changed into this shape.
變得 — the resultative complement 得 is neutral-tone de. The shattered goblet is the canonical cause of Sha Wujing's fall.
又叫七日一次，將飛劍來穿我胸脅百餘下方回。
又叫七日一次，将飞剑来穿我胸胁百余下方回。
And once every seven days he sends a flying sword to pierce my breast and side a hundred times and more before it returns.
一次 takes yí before fourth-tone 次; 將 is the disposal jiāng.
故此這般苦惱。
故此这般苦恼。
So bitter is my torment.
沒奈何，饑寒難忍，三二日間，出波濤尋一個行人食用。
没奈何，饥寒难忍，三二日间，出波涛寻一个行人食用。
In my helplessness, unable to bear hunger and cold, every two or three days I come out of the billows to seek a traveler to devour.
難忍 — hard to endure; 難 is nán. 一個 takes yí.
不期今日無知，衝撞了大慈菩薩。」
不期今日无知，冲撞了大慈菩萨。」
I never thought that today, in my ignorance, I would affront the merciful Bodhisattva.”
菩薩道：「你在天有罪，既貶下來，今又這等傷生，正所謂罪上加罪。
菩萨道：「你在天有罪，既贬下来，今又这等伤生，正所谓罪上加罪。
The Bodhisattva said: “You sinned in Heaven, and having been cast down, you now do further harm to life — truly crime heaped upon crime.
我今領了佛旨，上東土尋取經人。
我今领了佛旨，上东土寻取经人。
I now bear the Buddha's command, to go up to the Eastern Land and seek a scripture-pilgrim.
你何不入我門來，皈依善果，跟那取經人做個徒弟，上西天拜佛求經？
你何不入我门来，皈依善果，跟那取经人做个徒弟，上西天拜佛求经？
Why not enter my fold, take refuge in the good fruit, follow the scripture-pilgrim as a disciple, and go to the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha and seek the scriptures?
何不 — 不 takes bú before fourth-tone 入.
我叫飛劍不來穿你。
我叫飞剑不来穿你。
I shall bid the flying sword pierce you no more.
不來 — 不 takes bù before second-tone 來.
那時節功成免罪，復你本職，心下如何？」
那时节功成免罪，复你本职，心下如何？」
At that time, your task accomplished and your guilt remitted, you shall be restored to your former office. What say you?”
復你本職 — the promise of restoration to celestial rank, the standing reward held out to each converted disciple.
總評 Commentary
Subdued, the demon kneels and tells his story — the pattern that will govern every disciple's recruitment in the novel. He was no native monster but a celestial officer, the Curtain-Raising Captain, fallen for a single mishap at the Peach Festival and condemned to a torment of weekly sword-thrusts.
The disproportion of the punishment — eight hundred strokes and perpetual agony for a broken goblet — is one of the novel's quiet criticisms of celestial justice, the same harshness that drove the monkey to rebellion. Against it Guanyin sets the Buddhist alternative: not endless retribution but the chance of redemption through service, 功成免罪，復你本職.
Following Anthony C. Yu, the offer crystallizes the chapter's governing logic. Each of the future pilgrims is a sinner of the celestial order whose punishment the bodhisattva converts into a vocation; the pilgrimage itself is the mechanism by which fallen power is rehabilitated rather than merely crushed. Plaks reads the recurring backstory as the novel's theology of the second chance.