原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
敲木魚 When The Donors Come
諸檀越來啊，老的小的、長的矮的、胖的瘦的，一個個敲木魚，擊金磬，挨挨拶拶，兩卷《法華經》，一策《梁王懺》；诸檀越来啊，老的小的、长的矮的、胖的瘦的，一个个敲木鱼，击金磬，挨挨拶拶，两卷《法华经》，一策《梁王忏》；
逐句解 Line by line
諸檀越來啊，老的小的、長的矮的、胖的瘦的，一個個敲木魚，擊金磬，挨挨拶拶，兩卷《法華經》，一策《梁王懺》；
诸檀越来啊，老的小的、长的矮的、胖的瘦的，一个个敲木鱼，击金磬，挨挨拶拶，两卷《法华经》，一策《梁王忏》；
"When the almsgivers come, old and young, tall and short, fat and thin, every one of us beats the wooden fish and strikes the bronze chime, crowding and jostling, two scrolls of the Lotus Sutra and one volume of the Liang Emperor's Confession;
長 is cháng here, tall, in a run of paired opposites. 檀越 renders the Sanskrit dānapati, a lay donor. The 木魚, wooden fish, is the hollow block tapped to keep time in chanting; the Liang Emperor's Confession is a penitential liturgy commissioned in the sixth century and still in use.
The monks describe their working life with a candour that is almost mercenary. When donors turn up, everyone chants — the whole community, whatever shape or size, elbowing each other to get at the instruments.
The crowding is the honest touch. This is not serene. It is a hundred men competing for position at a paid service, and the text names two specific liturgies as though quoting a price list.
The wooden fish is worth knowing. It is carved as a fish because fish never close their eyes, so it stands for wakefulness — a small joke on a community that is about to be described falling into silent meditation the moment nobody is paying.