原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
詳察不定 Watching and Unsure
我那八戒、沙僧卻不會放甚黑氣。」那大聖在半空中詳察不定。我那八戒、沙僧却不会放甚黑气。」那大圣在半空中详察不定。
逐句解 Line by line
我那八戒、沙僧卻不會放甚黑氣。」
我那八戒、沙僧却不会放甚黑气。」
That Bajie and Sha Monk of mine could hardly be giving off any sort of black vapour."
Another bare 甚 as the question word, shén — "what sort of." Pilgrim is ruling out the obvious explanation before he commits to the alarming one.
那大聖在半空中詳察不定。
那大圣在半空中详察不定。
The Great Sage hung in mid-air and looked hard, and could not make it out.
詳察不定 — examined closely and settled nothing. Note that the book says this plainly. Pilgrim is not omniscient here; he can see that something is wrong and not what.
This is a small and easily missed piece of fairness. Pilgrim's eyes see through disguises, and readers tend to remember that as a superpower with no limits. Here the book states the limit: from the air he can see that there is something evil in the wood, and he cannot tell what.
It matters for the argument that is coming. When Pilgrim tells his master the girl is a demon, he is not reading her face; he has watched a black vapour rise where his master is sitting and drawn the obvious conclusion. That is reasoning, and reasoning can be argued with, which is exactly what Tripitaka is about to do.