第八十回 · 做小伏低 Bowed Low and Made Small — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

做小伏低 Bowed Low and Made Small

如rú今jīn脫tuō卻què天tiān災zāi，做zuò小xiǎo伏fú低dī，與yǔ你nǐ做zuò了le徒tú弟dì。想xiǎng師shī父fù頭tóu頂dǐng上shàng有yǒu祥xiáng雲yún瑞ruì靄ǎi罩zhào定dìng，徑jìng回huí東dōng土tǔ，必bì定dìng有yǒu些xiē好hǎo處chù，老lǎo孫sūn也yě必bì定dìng得dé個gè正zhèng果guǒ。」如rú今jīn脱tuō却què天tiān灾zāi，做zuò小xiǎo伏fú低dī，与yǔ你nǐ做zuò了le徒tú弟dì。想xiǎng师shī父fù头tóu顶dǐng上shàng有yǒu祥xiáng云yún瑞ruì霭ǎi罩zhào定dìng，径jìng回huí东dōng土tǔ，必bì定dìng有yǒu些xiē好hǎo处chù，老lǎo孙sūn也yě必bì定dìng得dé个gè正zhèng果guǒ。」

逐句解 Line by line

如rú今jīn脫tuō卻què天tiān災zāi，做zuò小xiǎo伏fú低dī，與yǔ你nǐ做zuò了le徒tú弟dì。如rú今jīn脱tuō却què天tiān灾zāi，做zuò小xiǎo伏fú低dī，与yǔ你nǐ做zuò了le徒tú弟dì。

Now I have shed that calamity from Heaven, and I make myself small and keep myself low, and I have become your disciple.

做小伏低 — play the lesser, lie down low — is the set phrase for swallowing your pride and taking a subordinate place. Chinese still uses it, usually with the same slight bitterness Pilgrim has here.

想xiǎng師shī父fù頭tóu頂dǐng上shàng有yǒu祥xiáng雲yún瑞ruì靄ǎi罩zhào定dìng，徑jìng回huí東dōng土tǔ，必bì定dìng有yǒu些xiē好hǎo處chù，老lǎo孫sūn也yě必bì定dìng得dé個gè正zhèng果guǒ。」想xiǎng师shī父fù头tóu顶dǐng上shàng有yǒu祥xiáng云yún瑞ruì霭ǎi罩zhào定dìng，径jìng回huí东dōng土tǔ，必bì定dìng有yǒu些xiē好hǎo处chù，老lǎo孙sūn也yě必bì定dìng得dé个gè正zhèng果guǒ。」

Considering that lucky cloud and auspicious vapour settled over my master's head, if we go straight back to the Land of the East there will certainly be something good in it, and Old Monkey will certainly attain the true fruit himself."

正果, the true fruit, is the proper outcome of religious practice — enlightenment as a harvest rather than a prize. And 得 is dé, attainment: to get it.

總評 Commentary

The self-interest is completely open and the book likes him better for it. Pilgrim is not on this journey out of devotion. He is on it because it was the sentence handed down, and because at the end of it there is something in it for him.

What lifts the passage is the reasoning behind the hope. He does not say he deserves the true fruit. He says the good cloud over his master must be worth something, and that some of it will presumably come his way. His confidence in his own future rests entirely on somebody else's merit, which is both funny and, for this book's theology, more or less correct.