第八十三回 · 大流金香爐 A Great Gilt Incense Burner — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

大流金香爐 A Great Gilt Incense Burner

只zhǐ見jiàn有yǒu三sān間jiān倒dào坐zuò兒ér，近jìn後hòu壁bì卻què鋪pù一yì張zhāng龍lóng吞tūn口kǒu雕diāo漆qī供gòng桌zhuō，桌zhuō上shàng有yǒu一yí個gè大dà流liú金jīn香xiāng爐lú，爐lú內nèi有yǒu香xiāng煙yān馥fù郁yù。那nà上shàng面miàn供gòng養yǎng著zhe一yí個gè大dà金jīn字zì牌pái，牌pái上shàng寫xiě著zhe「尊zūn父fù李lǐ天tiān王wáng之zhī位wèi」；只zhǐ见jiàn有yǒu三sān间jiān倒dào坐zuò儿ér，近jìn后hòu壁bì却què铺pù一yì张zhāng龙lóng吞tūn口kǒu雕diāo漆qī供gòng桌zhuō，桌zhuō上shàng有yǒu一yí个gè大dà流liú金jīn香xiāng炉lú，炉lú内nèi有yǒu香xiāng烟yān馥fù郁yù。那nà上shàng面miàn供gòng养yǎng着zhe一yí个gè大dà金jīn字zì牌pái，牌pái上shàng写xiě着zhe「尊zūn父fù李lǐ天tiān王wáng之zhī位wèi」；

逐句解 Line by line

只zhǐ見jiàn有yǒu三sān間jiān倒dào坐zuò兒ér，近jìn後hòu壁bì卻què鋪pù一yì張zhāng龍lóng吞tūn口kǒu雕diāo漆qī供gòng桌zhuō，桌zhuō上shàng有yǒu一yí個gè大dà流liú金jīn香xiāng爐lú，爐lú內nèi有yǒu香xiāng煙yān馥fù郁yù。只zhǐ见jiàn有yǒu三sān间jiān倒dào坐zuò儿ér，近jìn后hòu壁bì却què铺pù一yì张zhāng龙lóng吞tūn口kǒu雕diāo漆qī供gòng桌zhuō，桌zhuō上shàng有yǒu一yí个gè大dà流liú金jīn香xiāng炉lú，炉lú内nèi有yǒu香xiāng烟yān馥fù郁yù。

He saw only three rooms facing north, and against the back wall stood a carved-lacquer altar table with a dragon-swallow mouth. On the table was a great gilt incense burner, and inside it the incense smoke lay rich and heavy.

倒坐 is a room whose door faces north instead of south, so it sits backwards to the proper orientation — and 倒 is dào, reversed, not the dǎo of falling over. It is the least honourable position in a courtyard, which is a small joke about the household. 龍吞口 is the dragon-swallow moulding, a carved mouth at the corner of an altar table. 供 is gòng, the offering reading — an altar table, not a supply table.

那nà上shàng面miàn供gòng養yǎng著zhe一yí個gè大dà金jīn字zì牌pái，牌pái上shàng寫xiě著zhe「尊zūn父fù李lǐ天tiān王wáng之zhī位wèi」；那nà上shàng面miàn供gòng养yǎng着zhe一yí个gè大dà金jīn字zì牌pái，牌pái上shàng写xiě着zhe「尊zūn父fù李lǐ天tiān王wáng之zhī位wèi」；

Set up on the altar above was a great gilt-lettered tablet, and on the tablet was written HONOURED FATHER, HIS PLACE, LI THE HEAVENLY KING;

供養 keeps 供 at gòng, the reading for making offerings, as against the gōng that means to provide for a living relative. The distinction is exactly the point here — the tablets are being worshipped. 之位, the place of, is the standard formula on an ancestral tablet, and finding one in a demon's back room is not what Pilgrim came down here for. The two 著 in this line are both zhe, the marker of a state that persists: set up and standing there, written and still written.

總評 Commentary

The smell leads to a shrine, and the shrine is the discovery the whole chapter has been walking towards. A fiend who abducts monks keeps an altar in her back rooms, and the names on it belong to heaven.

The furniture is described with unusual care — the north-facing rooms, the lacquer, the dragon-swallow mouth, the gilding. The novel slows down because it wants the reader looking at the table when the lettering comes into focus.