原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
一滴如甘露 One Drop Like Sweet Dew
三藏正當煩渴之時，便擡起頭來，捧著水，只是一吸。真個：渴時一滴如甘露，藥到真方病即除。三藏正当烦渴之时，便抬起头来，捧着水，只是一吸。真个：渴时一滴如甘露，药到真方病即除。
逐句解 Line by line
三藏正當煩渴之時，便擡起頭來，捧著水，只是一吸。
三藏正当烦渴之时，便抬起头来，捧着水，只是一吸。
Tripitaka was just then at the height of his thirst, and he raised his head, took the water in both hands, and drank it down in one draught.
著 is the sustained zhe, the cupping held open across the drinking. 一吸, one inhalation, is a single unbroken swallow.
真個：渴時一滴如甘露，藥到真方病即除。
真个：渴时一滴如甘露，药到真方病即除。
Truly: in thirst one drop is like sweet dew; when the medicine reaches the true prescription, the sickness is gone at once.
甘露, sweet dew, translates the Sanskrit amṛta, the nectar of immortality — so the line reaches for the highest possible term for a cup of cold water. 真方 is the correct prescription in Chinese medicine, the one that actually matches the illness.
The couplet is a small marvel of overstatement, and it is meant sincerely. A drink of water is compared to the nectar of the gods, and the novel has earned it — this man has been on his back for three days.
The medical proverb underneath is the serious half. A remedy works when it matches the disorder, and what ailed Tripitaka was thirst and fever, not a curse. Cold water was the true prescription.
It is also a joke at the expense of everything that came before. Pilgrim threatened the Ten Kings of Hell, Bajie priced a coffin, and the cure turned out to be a bowl of water from the kitchen.