原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
好女菩薩 A Fine Lady You Rescued
你們救得好女菩薩。今既攝了師父，還從舊路上找尋去也。」你们救得好女菩萨。今既摄了师父，还从旧路上找寻去也。」
逐句解 Line by line
你們救得好女菩薩。
你们救得好女菩萨。
"A fine lady bodhisattva the pair of you rescued.
得 is the unstressed de, joining the rescuing to the quality of it — rescued, and rescued well. The whole line is sarcasm, and the polite title the abbot used on the first night is the blade of it.
今既攝了師父，還從舊路上找尋去也。」
今既摄了师父，还从旧路上找寻去也。」
Now that she has carried off our master, we go and look for her back along the old road."
還 is hái, still or after all. The logic is simple and good: she came from the pine wood, so the pine wood is where the trail starts.
The sarcasm is aimed at Bajie and Sha Monk and it lands on Tripitaka, who is not there to hear it. They did not cut the rope; their master did, over Pilgrim's objection.
The courteous phrase for a laywoman has now been used three times in this chapter — by the abbot in earnest, by the battle poem in mockery, and here as a reproach. It has travelled a long way from politeness.
The plan underneath the sarcasm is sound. Go back to where she came from. It is the first piece of tracking anyone has done and it is why the chapter ends where it does.