原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
潑潑撒撒 Bajie Counts His Own Spills
八戒驚道：「像老豬吃東西潑潑撒撒的，也不知害多少年代病是。」八戒惊道：「像老猪吃东西泼泼撒撒的，也不知害多少年代病是。」
逐句解 Line by line
八戒驚道：「像老豬吃東西潑潑撒撒的，也不知害多少年代病是。」
八戒惊道：「像老猪吃东西泼泼撒撒的，也不知害多少年代病是。」
Bajie said in alarm, "Then the way old Hog slops and scatters his food about, there is no telling how many ages of illness I am in for."
潑潑撒撒 doubles two verbs — to slosh and to spill — into a phrase that is pure sound and mess. 老豬, old Hog, is Bajie's name for himself, the exact counterpart of Pilgrim's old Sun.
The perfect response, and the funniest line in the chapter. Bajie hears that one grain of rice costs three days, does the arithmetic on his own table manners, and is genuinely frightened.
It works because it takes the doctrine seriously. He does not dispute the rule; he applies it, and the result appals him. That is a sharper piece of religious comedy than mockery would have been — the joke lands on the accounting, not on the belief.