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

多年古剎
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

多年古剎 No One Has Mended It

有yǒu詩shī為wéi證zhèng。詩shī曰yuē:有yǒu诗shī为wéi证zhèng。诗shī曰yuē:

多duō年nián古gǔ剎chà沒méi人rén修xiū,狼láng狽bèi凋diāo零líng倒dào更gèng休xiū。多duō年nián古gǔ刹chà没méi人rén修xiū,狼láng狈bèi凋diāo零líng倒dào更gèng休xiū。
猛měng風fēng吹chuī裂liè伽qié藍lán面miàn,大dà雨yǔ澆jiāo殘cán佛fó像xiàng頭tóu。猛měng风fēng吹chuī裂liè伽qié蓝lán面miàn,大dà雨yǔ浇jiāo残cán佛fó像xiàng头tóu。

逐句解 Line by line

有yǒu詩shī為wéi證zhèng。 有yǒu诗shī为wéi证zhèng。

There is a poem in evidence.

為 is wéi, to serve as — a poem serving as proof. The formula is the storyteller's way of citing an authority for what he has just described, and the authority is a poem he is about to recite himself.

詩shī曰yuē: 诗shī曰yuē:

The poem says:

Two characters, and the shortest tag in the chapter.

多duō年nián古gǔ剎chà沒méi人rén修xiū,狼láng狽bèi凋diāo零líng倒dào更gèng休xiū。 多duō年nián古gǔ刹chà没méi人rén修xiū,狼láng狈bèi凋diāo零líng倒dào更gèng休xiū。

An ancient monastery of many years with no one to mend it, / wretched and decayed, and fallen further still.

The second 剎 of the chapter, again chà. This is a seven-character regulated poem, a tighter and more formal thing than the rhapsody before it, and it covers the same ground in a quarter of the space.

猛měng風fēng吹chuī裂liè伽qié藍lán面miàn,大dà雨yǔ澆jiāo殘cán佛fó像xiàng頭tóu。 猛měng风fēng吹chuī裂liè伽qié蓝lán面miàn,大dà雨yǔ浇jiāo残cán佛fó像xiàng头tóu。

Fierce winds have split the guardian's face, / heavy rains have worn away the Buddha's head.

A 伽藍 is a monastery, from the Sanskrit saṅghārāma, and by extension the guardian spirit of one. Wind splitting a guardian's face is a good deal worse than wind damaging a wall: the thing that was supposed to protect the place has itself been broken by the weather.


總評 Commentary

The narrator produces a poem as evidence for a scene he has just spent nine lines describing, which is pure storyteller's manner — the marketplace habit of citing a verse to settle a point.

The poem's argument is different from the rhapsody's, though. The rhapsody listed what was broken. The poem asks who was supposed to prevent it, and answers by showing the guardians broken too.