Canonical Classics ← 第八十回
第八十回
姹chà女nǚ育yù陽yáng求qiú配pèi偶ǒu
心xīn猿yuán護hù主zhǔ識shí妖yāo邪xié

The Fair Girl, Nursing the Yang, Seeks a Mate · The Mind-Ape, Guarding His Master, Knows a Fiend

朝陽補破衲
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

朝陽補破衲 Morning Sun Mends a Torn Robe

應yīng有yǒu朝cháo陽yáng補bǔ破pò衲nà,豈qǐ無wú對duì月yuè了liǎo殘cán經jīng。应yīng有yǒu朝cháo阳yáng补bǔ破pò衲nà,岂qǐ无wú对duì月yuè了liǎo残cán经jīng。
又yòu只zhǐ見jiàn半bàn壁bì燈dēng光guāng明míng後hòu院yuàn,一yì行háng香xiāng霧wù照zhào中zhōng庭tíng。又yòu只zhǐ见jiàn半bàn壁bì灯dēng光guāng明míng后hòu院yuàn,一yì行háng香xiāng雾wù照zhào中zhōng庭tíng。

逐句解 Line by line

應yīng有yǒu朝cháo陽yáng補bǔ破pò衲nà,豈qǐ無wú對duì月yuè了liǎo殘cán經jīng。 应yīng有yǒu朝cháo阳yáng补bǔ破pò衲nà,岂qǐ无wú对duì月yuè了liǎo残cán经jīng。

Surely there is one here who mends his tattered robe facing the sun, / and how should there not be one who finishes the last of a sutra by the moon?

Two points, and they sit next to each other. 朝 is cháo here, to face — paired with 對, also to face, in the second half — where the line before had the same character as zhāo, morning. And 了 is liǎo, to finish, not the unstressed le that marks a completed action; it is only the second time in the whole chapter that character takes its full reading.

又yòu只zhǐ見jiàn半bàn壁bì燈dēng光guāng明míng後hòu院yuàn,一yì行háng香xiāng霧wù照zhào中zhōng庭tíng。 又yòu只zhǐ见jiàn半bàn壁bì灯dēng光guāng明míng后hòu院yuàn,一yì行háng香xiāng雾wù照zhào中zhōng庭tíng。

And there is half a wall of lamplight bright in the back courtyard, / a line of scented mist lighting the middle court.

Here 行 is háng, a line or streak — a streak of mist, set against half a wall of lamplight, both of them quantities of something spread out. Chapter 36 carries almost this identical couplet, and chapter 98 has ranks of halls counted the same way. This is the third and last háng in a chapter that otherwise reads the character xíng fifty-seven times.


總評 Commentary

The rhapsody ends on people, which is the one thing the ruined half of the monastery had none of. Somebody mends a robe in the sun, somebody finishes a sutra by moonlight, and a lamp is burning in the back court.

Both images are of unfinished work being quietly got on with — a torn robe, a sutra with a bit left to read. Nothing here is complete either, but everything is being maintained, and that is the difference the whole passage has been building towards.