原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
自在睡覺 Everyone Else Is Asleep
女子道：「別人都自在睡覺，你還念經怎麼？」行者道：「許下的，如何不念？」女子道：「别人都自在睡觉，你还念经怎么？」行者道：「许下的，如何不念？」
逐句解 Line by line
女子道：「別人都自在睡覺，你還念經怎麼？」
女子道：「别人都自在睡觉，你还念经怎么？」
The woman said, "Everyone else is sleeping at their ease. Why are you still chanting?"
子 takes the literary zǐ in the word for this woman, and 還 is hái, still. Her question is an ordinary one and it is also a hunter checking whether anyone will miss him.
行者道：「許下的，如何不念？」
行者道：「许下的，如何不念？」
Pilgrim said, "It is promised. How should I not chant it?"
He repeats his previous answer almost word for word, which is what a stubborn twelve-year-old would do and also what someone refusing to be drawn would do.
Twenty-six characters of small talk with a murderer, and every line of it is doing two things at once.
Her question sounds like idle curiosity and is a survey of the building. Everyone else is asleep — that is, nobody is coming.
His answer is a wall. He gives back the same three characters he gave before and adds nothing. It reads as a child's obstinacy and it is a professional refusing to improvise.