五件寶貝 The Five Treasures
如來見了，心中大喜道：「別個是也去不得。須是觀音尊者，神通廣大，方可去得。」菩薩道：「弟子此去東土，有甚言語吩咐？」如來道：「這一去，要踏看路道，不許在霄漢中行。須是要半雲半霧，目過山水，謹記程途遠近之數，叮嚀那取經人。但恐善信難行，我與你五件寶貝。」即命阿儺、迦葉取出錦襴袈裟一領。九環錫杖一根，對菩薩言曰：「這袈裟、錫杖，可與那取經人親用。若肯堅心來此，穿我的袈裟，免墮輪迴；持我的錫杖，不遭毒害。」這菩薩皈依拜領。如來又取出三個箍兒，遞與菩薩道：「此寶喚做緊箍兒，雖是一樣三個，但只是用各不同。我有金緊禁的咒語三篇。假若路上撞見神通廣大的妖魔，你須是勸他學好，跟那取經人做個徒弟。他若不伏使喚，可將此箍兒與他戴在頭上，自然見肉生根。各依所用的咒語念一念，眼脹頭痛，腦門皆裂，管教他入我門來。」如来见了，心中大喜道：「别个是也去不得。须是观音尊者，神通广大，方可去得。」菩萨道：「弟子此去东土，有甚言语吩咐？」如来道：「这一去，要踏看路道，不许在霄汉中行。须是要半云半雾，目过山水，谨记程途远近之数，叮咛那取经人。但恐善信难行，我与你五件宝贝。」即命阿傩、迦叶取出锦襕袈裟一领。九环锡杖一根，对菩萨言曰：「这袈裟、锡杖，可与那取经人亲用。若肯坚心来此，穿我的袈裟，免堕轮回；持我的锡杖，不遭毒害。」这菩萨皈依拜领。如来又取出三个箍儿，递与菩萨道：「此宝唤做紧箍儿，虽是一样三个，但只是用各不同。我有金紧禁的咒语三篇。假若路上撞见神通广大的妖魔，你须是劝他学好，跟那取经人做个徒弟。他若不伏使唤，可将此箍儿与他戴在头上，自然见肉生根。各依所用的咒语念一念，眼胀头痛，脑门皆裂，管教他入我门来。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Tathāgata, seeing her, rejoiced in his heart and said:
了 is the light le, 中 is zhōng. He is pleased before he has handed over anything, so the five treasures arrive as a reward rather than as kit.
"No other could make this journey. It must be the Venerable Guanyin, whose spirit-powers are vast, who alone can go."
Both instances of 得 are dé: 去不得 and 去得 are one verb, first refused and then granted. The sentence eliminates everybody else in the room before it names her.
The Bodhisattva said: "As your disciple departs for the Eastern Land, what instructions have you to give?"
有甚言語 — what instructions? 甚 is the question word here, read shèn.
The Tathāgata said: "On this journey you must tread and survey the road, and may not travel high in the empyrean.
霄漢 is the high sky, and he is telling her to stay out of it. You cannot survey a road from cruising altitude. In 這一去 the 一 takes yí before the falling tone of 去.
You must go half by cloud and half by mist, passing the mountains and rivers with your eyes, carefully noting the distances of the route, that you may instruct the scripture-pilgrim.
程途遠近之數 is the tally of stages, near and far. She is being sent to map the route, not merely to travel it.
But lest the devout believer find the way too hard, I give you five treasures."
難行 is hard going; 難 is nán, difficult.
At once he ordered Ānanda and Kāśyapa to bring out a brocade cassock and a nine-ringed staff, and said to the Bodhisattva:
迦葉 is Mahākāśyapa again, 葉 read shè. 錦襴袈裟 is a brocaded kaṣāya — a monk's patched robe, for once cut from good cloth. Each counting 一, in 一領 and 一根, takes yì.
"This cassock and staff may be given to the scripture-pilgrim for his own use.
那 is nà, that. Robe and staff are assigned to a man who does not yet exist in the story — the hinge the next four chapters turn on.
If he will steadfastly come hither, then wearing my cassock he shall escape the wheel of rebirth, and bearing my staff he shall meet with no poisonous harm."
輪迴 is saṃsāra, the wheel of rebirth. The robe is a coat that gets you off the wheel.
The Bodhisattva received them with reverent obeisance.
皈依拜領 packs two acts into four characters: taking refuge, and taking delivery. She accepts the job and the goods in one movement.
The Tathāgata then brought out three fillets and handed them to the Bodhisattva, saying:
箍兒 is a metal band or hoop. This one is about to become the most famous headache in Chinese literature.
"These treasures are called the Tightening Fillets; though all three are alike, each is used to a different end.
In 一樣 the 一 takes yí before the falling tone of 樣.
I have three spells — the Gold, the Tight, and the Ban.
金緊禁 — Gold, Tight, Ban: three spells for three bands. Only the 緊箍兒, the Tightening Fillet, ends up on Wukong. The other two go to the Black Bear spirit and to Red Boy, hundreds of pages from here.
Should you meet upon the road a demon of vast spirit-power, you must exhort him to mend his ways and follow the scripture-pilgrim as a disciple.
學好 is to learn to be good, 好 read hǎo. Note the order the Buddha sets: talk him round first, and only then reach for the hardware.
And if he will not submit to command, set this fillet upon his head, and of itself it will take root in the flesh.
將 is the disposal jiāng, which sets up the thing about to be done to it. 見肉生根 — the moment it touches flesh it puts down roots, and it never comes off again.
Recite the spell proper to each, and his eyes will swell, his head will throb, his very skull will split — that will surely bring him into my fold."
念一念 is give it a recite, and the doubled verb makes it sound like a small favour to ask — for something that splits a skull. The 一 takes yí before the falling tone of 念. 管教 means guaranteed.
The Buddha kits Guanyin out with five treasures: the brocade cassock, the nine-ringed staff, and three tightening head-bands. It plays as a quiet scene, but nearly every object named here turns out to be decisive scores of chapters later. What looks like a supply run is the novel planting its seed.
The instructions are practical and firmly earthbound: keep low, watch the road, count the stages. That ban on flying — 不許在霄漢中行 — carries the novel's whole logic about salvation. It has to be walked, not flown. The hardship of the pilgrimage is required by the doctrine, not incidental to it.
Sharpest of all is the introduction of the 緊箍兒. The Buddha frames it not as a punishment but as a tool of conversion: talk the demon of vast power into goodness first, and reach for the band only if he refuses. Following Anthony C. Yu, this is the clearest statement of the chapter's governing idea — that even the most ungovernable power, the xīnyuán, the mind-monkey now pinned under the mountain, is meant to be broken in rather than broken.