第八十回 · 大雷音寺 Sent by the Tang Court — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

大雷音寺 Sent by the Tang Court

三sān藏zàng道dào：「弟dì子zǐ乃nǎi東dōng土tǔ大dà唐táng駕jià下xià欽qīn差chāi往wǎng西xī方fāng天tiān竺zhú國guó大dà雷léi音yīn寺sì拜bài佛fó取qǔ經jīng者zhě。適shì行xíng至zhì寶bǎo方fāng天tiān晚wǎn，特tè奔bēn上shàng剎chà借jiè宿sù一yì宵xiāo，明míng日rì早zǎo行xíng。三sān藏zàng道dào：「弟dì子zǐ乃nǎi东dōng土tǔ大dà唐táng驾jià下xià钦qīn差chāi往wǎng西xī方fāng天tiān竺zhú国guó大dà雷léi音yīn寺sì拜bài佛fó取qǔ经jīng者zhě。适shì行xíng至zhì宝bǎo方fāng天tiān晚wǎn，特tè奔bēn上shàng刹chà借jiè宿sù一yì宵xiāo，明míng日rì早zǎo行xíng。

逐句解 Line by line

三sān藏zàng道dào：「弟dì子zǐ乃nǎi東dōng土tǔ大dà唐táng駕jià下xià欽qīn差chāi往wǎng西xī方fāng天tiān竺zhú國guó大dà雷léi音yīn寺sì拜bài佛fó取qǔ經jīng者zhě。三sān藏zàng道dào：「弟dì子zǐ乃nǎi东dōng土tǔ大dà唐táng驾jià下xià钦qīn差chāi往wǎng西xī方fāng天tiān竺zhú国guó大dà雷léi音yīn寺sì拜bài佛fó取qǔ经jīng者zhě。

Tripitaka said, "Your disciple is sent by commission from the court of the great Tang in the Land of the East, going to the Monastery of the Great Thunderclap in the country of India in the West, to worship the Buddha and fetch scriptures.

In 欽差 the 差 is chāi, a commission or an officer holding one — not the chà of falling short. He gives the full formal version of himself, which he does whenever he is nervous.

適shì行xíng至zhì寶bǎo方fāng天tiān晚wǎn，特tè奔bēn上shàng剎chà借jiè宿sù一yì宵xiāo，明míng日rì早zǎo行xíng。适shì行xíng至zhì宝bǎo方fāng天tiān晚wǎn，特tè奔bēn上shàng刹chà借jiè宿sù一yì宵xiāo，明míng日rì早zǎo行xíng。

I have travelled as far as your worthy place and the day has grown late, and I have hurried to your monastery to borrow a night's lodging and go on early tomorrow.

The third 剎 of the chapter, chà. 上剎, your superior monastery, is the polite form for somebody else's house, exactly as 寶方, your precious region, is for their district.

總評 Commentary

The full formal introduction, produced for the first time in the chapter. Imperial commission, destination, purpose. It is what he says when he wants to be taken seriously and it has never once worked on a demon.

Here it does not work either, though for a much friendlier reason. The lama is about to tell him, kindly, that he does not believe a word of it.