佛言三藏經 The Tathāgata Names the Three Baskets
如來講罷，對眾言曰：「我觀四大部洲，眾生善惡，各方不一：東勝神洲者，敬天禮地，心爽氣平；北俱盧洲者，雖好殺生，只因糊口，性拙情疏，無多作踐；我西牛賀洲者，不貪不殺，養氣潛靈，雖無上真，人人固壽；但那南贍部洲者，貪淫樂禍，多殺多爭，正所謂口舌兇場，是非惡海。我今有三藏真經，可以勸人為善。」諸菩薩聞言，合掌皈依，向佛前問曰：「如來有那三藏真經？」如來曰：「我有法一藏，談天；論一藏，說地；經一藏，度鬼。三藏共計三十五部，該一萬五千一百四十四卷，乃是修真之經，正善之門。我待要送上東土，叵耐那方眾生愚蠢，毀謗真言，不識我法門之旨要，怠慢了瑜迦之正宗。怎麼得一個有法力的，去東土尋一個善信，教他苦歷千山，詢經萬水，到我處求取真經，永傳東土，勸化眾生，卻乃是個山大的福緣，海深的善慶。誰肯去走一遭來？」如来讲罢，对众言曰：「我观四大部洲，众生善恶，各方不一：东胜神洲者，敬天礼地，心爽气平；北俱卢洲者，虽好杀生，只因糊口，性拙情疏，无多作践；我西牛贺洲者，不贪不杀，养气潜灵，虽无上真，人人固寿；但那南赡部洲者，贪淫乐祸，多杀多争，正所谓口舌凶场，是非恶海。我今有三藏真经，可以劝人为善。」诸菩萨闻言，合掌皈依，向佛前问曰：「如来有那三藏真经？」如来曰：「我有法一藏，谈天；论一藏，说地；经一藏，度鬼。三藏共计三十五部，该一万五千一百四十四卷，乃是修真之经，正善之门。我待要送上东土，叵耐那方众生愚蠢，毁谤真言，不识我法门之旨要，怠慢了瑜迦之正宗。怎么得一个有法力的，去东土寻一个善信，教他苦历千山，询经万水，到我处求取真经，永传东土，劝化众生，却乃是个山大的福缘，海深的善庆。谁肯去走一遭来？」
逐句解 Line by line
When the Tathāgata had finished his discourse, he said to the assembly:
罷 is bà, to finish, so 講罷 means having done speaking. It is not the light sentence-final ba that softens a statement into a suggestion.
"I have observed the Four Great Continents, and the good and evil of their living beings differ from quarter to quarter:
The 四大部洲 are the four continents of Buddhist geography, set at the compass points around Mount Sumeru. What follows is the Buddha grading them, one by one, like school reports.
in the Eastern Continent of Pūrvavideha they revere Heaven and honor Earth, their hearts open and their humors calm;
東勝神洲 is Pūrvavideha, the eastern continent. Watch the third character: this edition writes 神, spirit, where the standard Buddhist name has 身, body — 東勝身洲. And 勝 here means superior rather than victorious, so the name reads Eastern Continent of Superior Spirit.
in the Northern Continent of Uttarakuru, though they are given to killing, it is only to fill their bellies; dull of nature and sparing of feeling, they do little wanton harm;
北俱盧洲 is Uttarakuru. 好 is hào here, to be fond of, not hǎo, good. 作踐 is spoiling life for no reason — and the Buddha lets these people off, since they kill only to eat.
in our own Western Continent of Aparagodānīya they neither covet nor kill, nurturing the breath and hiding their spirits; though they bring forth no supreme sages, every one is firm in long life;
西牛賀洲 is Aparagodānīya, the Buddha's own continent — and he praises it in Daoist language, 養氣潛靈, nurturing the breath and banking the spirit. A buddha commending his neighbours for their Daoist habits is the novel showing its hand.
but in that Southern Continent of Jambūdvīpa they are greedy and lustful, delighting in mischief, much given to killing and strife — truly a fierce arena of tongues, an evil sea of right and wrong.
南贍部洲 is Jambudvīpa, the human world — our continent, and the target of the entire coming mission. 樂禍 is enjoying other people's disasters, with 樂 read lè. The verdict is brutal: a killing-ground of wagging tongues, an ocean of who-was-right.
I now possess Three Baskets of true scripture that can exhort men to do good."
三藏 (sān zàng) is the Tripiṭaka, the three baskets or storehouses; 藏 is zàng, a store, not cáng, to hide. Keep these two characters in mind — they will end up as the Tang Monk's own name. 為善 is to do good, 為 read wéi.
The bodhisattvas, hearing this, pressed their palms together in submission and asked before the Buddha:
合掌皈依: palms together, refuge taken, both done before the question is asked. How you ask matters as much as what you ask.
"What Three Baskets of true scripture does the Tathāgata possess?"
Here 那 is doing the work of the modern 哪 — which, what — and is read nǎ. 藏 stays zàng.
The Tathāgata said: "I have a Basket of Discipline that speaks of Heaven; a Basket of Treatises that tells of Earth; a Basket of Sūtras that delivers the dead.
The three baskets, all 藏 = zàng: the Vinaya of monastic rules, the Abhidharma treatises, and the Sūtra collection of the Buddha's own discourses. Each 一 takes yí before the falling tone of 藏.
The Three Baskets together number thirty-five divisions, comprising fifteen thousand one hundred and forty-four scrolls — the scripture for cultivating the real, the gate of true goodness.
卷, a scroll, is read juàn. The arithmetic is the novel's own: no real canon carries these totals, and the figures are there to sound vast rather than to be checked.
I would send them to the Eastern Land, but I fear the beings of that quarter are too benighted: they would slander the true words, failing to grasp the essence of my Dharma-gate and slighting the orthodox tradition of yoga.
叵耐 is the exasperated word — insufferable, more than one can put up with. 瑜迦, written here for the usual 瑜伽, is yoga: not postures but the disciplined practice itself.
How might I find one of magic power to go to the Eastern Land and seek out a devout believer — one who would make him toil over a thousand mountains and inquire across ten thousand waters, until he comes to my place to seek the true scripture and transmit it forever in the East, converting the living? Surely it would be a blessing mountain-high, a merit sea-deep.
善信 is a person of good faith — the job description of the future Tang Monk, posted before anyone has been found to fill it. Each 一個 takes yí before the falling tone of 個.
Who is willing to make the journey?"
一遭 is one trip, the 一 taking yì before the level tone of 遭. A hundred chapters of journey begin with a volunteer question, asked into a crowded room.
This is the doctrinal heart of the chapter and the hinge of the whole hundred-chapter design. The Buddha looks over the four continents, finds the southern human world (南贍部洲) sunk in greed and violence, and resolves to send his Three Baskets there to mend it. Everything else in the novel follows from these few sentences.
His survey of the continents is graded like a set of school reports — the east reverent, the north crudely innocent, the west long-lived, and the south alone a killing-ground of tongues and an ocean of right-and-wrong. Plaks reads the geography as moral allegory: the wisdom has to be carried precisely to the place least able to receive it, which is why a bodyguard of magic power will be needed to walk one merely devout believer that far.
The closing question — 誰肯去走一遭來, who is willing to make the trip — is the dramatic pivot, an open call that Guanyin answers in the very next passage. As Anthony C. Yu notes, the scripture-count matters less as bibliography than as scale: thirty-five divisions and 15,144 scrolls set against the one frail human being who has to fetch them.