玉龍得救 The Jade Dragon Is Saved
菩薩卻與木吒辭了悟能，半興雲霧前來。正走處，只見空中有一條玉龍叫喚。菩薩近前問曰：「你是何龍，在此受罪？」那龍道：「我是西海龍王敖閏之子，因縱火燒了殿上明珠，我父王表奏天庭，告了忤逆。玉帝把我吊在空中，打了三百，不日遭誅。望菩薩搭救搭救。」觀音聞言，即與木吒撞上南天門裡，早有丘、張二天師接著，問道：「何往？」菩薩道：「貧僧要見玉帝一面。」二天師即忙上奏。玉帝遂下殿迎接。菩薩上前禮畢道：「貧僧領佛旨上東土尋取經人，路遇孽龍懸吊，特來啟奏，饒他性命，賜與貧僧，教他與取經人做個腳力。」玉帝聞言，即傳旨赦宥，差天將解放，送與菩薩。菩薩謝恩而出。這小龍叩頭謝活命之恩，聽從菩薩使喚。菩薩把他送在深澗之中，只等取經人來，變做白馬，上西方立功。小龍領命潛身不題。菩萨却与木咤辞了悟能，半兴云雾前来。正走处，只见空中有一条玉龙叫唤。菩萨近前问曰：「你是何龙，在此受罪？」那龙道：「我是西海龙王敖闰之子，因纵火烧了殿上明珠，我父王表奏天庭，告了忤逆。玉帝把我吊在空中，打了三百，不日遭诛。望菩萨搭救搭救。」观音闻言，即与木咤撞上南天门里，早有丘、张二天师接着，问道：「何往？」菩萨道：「贫僧要见玉帝一面。」二天师即忙上奏。玉帝遂下殿迎接。菩萨上前礼毕道：「贫僧领佛旨上东土寻取经人，路遇孽龙悬吊，特来启奏，饶他性命，赐与贫僧，教他与取经人做个脚力。」玉帝闻言，即传旨赦宥，差天将解放，送与菩萨。菩萨谢恩而出。这小龙叩头谢活命之恩，听从菩萨使唤。菩萨把他送在深涧之中，只等取经人来，变做白马，上西方立功。小龙领命潜身不题。
逐句解 Line by line
The Bodhisattva, with Moksa, took leave of Wuneng and came on, half-raising cloud and mist.
了 is the light le and 興 is xīng, to raise. 半興雲霧 raises only half a cloud. She is travelling low on purpose, because she is looking for something.
As they went, they saw in the sky a jade dragon crying out.
In 一條 the 一 takes yì before the rising tone of 條.
The Bodhisattva drew near and asked: "What dragon are you, suffering punishment here?"
She asks a dragon hanging in the air under sentence who he is and what he did, both in one breath — the same order she used on the other two.
The dragon said: "I am the son of Aorun, Dragon King of the Western Sea. Because I set fire to the palace's luminous pearls, my father memorialized the court of Heaven and charged me with unfilial conduct.
敖閏 is Aorun, Dragon King of the Western Sea, and the dragon's own father. 忤逆 is disobedience to a parent, which in imperial law was among the gravest crimes on the books. The father filed the charge himself.
The Jade Emperor has hung me in the sky, beaten me three hundred strokes, and within days I am to be executed. I beg the Bodhisattva to save me, save me!"
不日 is within days; the 不 takes bú before the falling tone of 日.
Hearing this, Guanyin went up with Moksa through the Southern Heaven Gate, where the two Heavenly Masters Qiu and Zhang met them and asked: "Whither away?"
丘 and 張二天師 are the two Heavenly Masters, Qiu and Zhang, who run the door at the Southern Gate. 接著 is met or received, the ongoing-action 著 read zhe.
The Bodhisattva said: "This poor nun would have one audience with the Jade Emperor."
貧僧 is this poor monk, the standard humble self-reference of a cleric. 一面 takes yí. She asks for one audience, and gets it.
The two Heavenly Masters at once announced her, and the Jade Emperor came down from his hall to receive her.
二天師 are the Jade Emperor's attendant marshals. The dragon has hung there for days awaiting execution; the pardon takes one sentence, because the right person finally asked.
The Bodhisattva, having paid her respects, said: "This poor nun, bearing the Buddha's command to seek a scripture-pilgrim in the Eastern Land, met on the way this sinful dragon hung up for punishment, and have come expressly to petition that his life be spared and he be granted to me, to serve the scripture-pilgrim as a mount."
腳力 is a pack animal, a mount. She is asking for a death-row prisoner to be released into her custody as transport — and this dragon becomes the white horse that carries Tripiṭaka the whole way west.
The Jade Emperor, hearing this, issued an edict of pardon, sent a heavenly general to release him, and gave him to the Bodhisattva, who gave thanks and withdrew.
傳旨 is to issue an edict, 傳 read chuán. 天將 is a heavenly general, 將 read jiàng.
The little dragon kowtowed in thanks for the gift of his life and obeyed the Bodhisattva's command.
聽從使喚 is being at somebody's command. His submission is worded as service rather than discipleship, which is what he stays: the horse never becomes a fourth disciple in the way the other three are.
The Bodhisattva sent him into a deep ravine, there to await the scripture-pilgrim, to become a white horse and go west to win merit. The little dragon received the command and hid himself away — but no more of that.
不題 is the storyteller's formula for we shall say no more of this for now. With the dragon stabled, only the monkey is left to recruit.
The briefest recruitment in the chapter: a condemned jade dragon, son of the Dragon King of the Western Sea, whom Guanyin saves from execution by going over everyone's head to the Jade Emperor in person. He will become the white horse that carries Tripiṭaka the whole way west — the silent fifth member of the company.
The episode quietly turns the chapter's hierarchy inside out. Earlier the Jade Emperor was thanking the Buddha; here Guanyin, a Buddhist bodhisattva, walks into the Daoist court to ask a favour and is met at the door, deferred to, and granted it on the spot. The two heavens work in courteous concert, with the Buddhist mission moving freely through the Daoist civil service.
As Anthony C. Yu observes, the dragon completes the roster the chapter was sent out to fill. Monkey, boar, river-ogre and dragon-horse are each now where they need to be, and the chapter turns at last toward the mountain where the last and most difficult of them has been waiting five hundred years.