第八十三回 · 放屁添風 A Fart Adds To The Wind — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

放屁添風 A Fart Adds To The Wind

且qiě請qǐng師shī父fù自zì家jiā坐zuò著zhe，我wǒ和hé你nǐ各gè持chí兵bīng器qì，助zhù助zhù大dà哥gē，打dǎ倒dǎo妖yāo精jīng去qù來lái。」八bā戒jiè擺bǎi手shǒu道dào：「不bù不bù不bù，他tā有yǒu神shén通tōng，我wǒ們men不bú濟jì。」沙shā僧sēng道dào：「說shuō那nǎ裡lǐ話huà，都dōu是shì大dà家jiā有yǒu益yì之zhī事shì，雖suī說shuō不bú濟jì，卻què也yě放fàng屁pì添tiān風fēng。」且qiě请qǐng师shī父fù自zì家jiā坐zuò着zhe，我wǒ和hé你nǐ各gè持chí兵bīng器qì，助zhù助zhù大dà哥gē，打dǎ倒dǎo妖yāo精jīng去qù来lái。」八bā戒jiè摆bǎi手shǒu道dào：「不bù不bù不bù，他tā有yǒu神shén通tōng，我wǒ们men不bú济jì。」沙shā僧sēng道dào：「说shuō那nǎ里lǐ话huà，都dōu是shì大dà家jiā有yǒu益yì之zhī事shì，虽suī说shuō不bú济jì，却què也yě放fàng屁pì添tiān风fēng。」

逐句解 Line by line

且qiě請qǐng師shī父fù自zì家jiā坐zuò著zhe，我wǒ和hé你nǐ各gè持chí兵bīng器qì，助zhù助zhù大dà哥gē，打dǎ倒dǎo妖yāo精jīng去qù來lái。」且qiě请qǐng师shī父fù自zì家jiā坐zuò着zhe，我wǒ和hé你nǐ各gè持chí兵bīng器qì，助zhù助zhù大dà哥gē，打dǎ倒dǎo妖yāo精jīng去qù来lái。」

Let the master sit here by himself. You and I will take up our weapons, go and help our eldest brother, and knock the fiend down."

著 is zhe, the marker of a state that continues — sit, and go on sitting. 倒 is dǎo, to fall, the reading it takes when it is the result of a verb: knock her so that she goes down. Its other reading, dào, means inverted or contrary and turns up in this chapter as well.

八bā戒jiè擺bǎi手shǒu道dào：「不bù不bù不bù，他tā有yǒu神shén通tōng，我wǒ們men不bú濟jì。」八bā戒jiè摆bǎi手shǒu道dào：「不bù不bù不bù，他tā有yǒu神shén通tōng，我wǒ们men不bú济jì。」

Bajie waved both hands. "No, no, no. She has powers. We are no match for her."

Bajie has been complaining for six lines that Pilgrim should have finished her off, and the instant he is invited to help he refuses. 不 is bù at all three — each one is a whole word meaning no, not a prefix stuck to anything, so none of them shifts tone. The novel writes the same triple refusal elsewhere with commas between, which is how we know the three are meant to be heard separately.

沙shā僧sēng道dào：「說shuō那nǎ裡lǐ話huà，都dōu是shì大dà家jiā有yǒu益yì之zhī事shì，雖suī說shuō不bú濟jì，卻què也yě放fàng屁pì添tiān風fēng。」沙shā僧sēng道dào：「说shuō那nǎ里lǐ话huà，都dōu是shì大dà家jiā有yǒu益yì之zhī事shì，虽suī说shuō不bú济jì，却què也yě放fàng屁pì添tiān风fēng。」

Sha Monk said, "What a thing to say. This benefits all of us. We may be no match, but a fart still adds to the wind."

那 is nǎ here, the questioning one — what are you saying, not that. Same character as the pointing nà throughout the chapter, and only the sense tells them apart. Then Sha Monk produces 放屁添風, a saying still in use: even a worthless contribution is a contribution. It is the most vulgar thing the most decorous of the three ever says, and it wins the argument instantly.

總評 Commentary

This is the hinge of the whole first movement. Sha Monk talks Bajie into helping, Bajie goes, and the two of them leave Tripitaka sitting alone in the road — which is precisely what the fiend has been waiting for.

A proverb about flatulence wins the argument. That is not a lapse of taste on the novel's part but its usual method: the decisive line in a scene is very often the coarsest one, and it comes from the character least likely to say it.