Canonical Classics ← 第八十四回
第八十四回
難nán滅miè伽gā持chí圓yuán大dà覺jué
法fǎ王wáng成chéng正zhèng體tǐ天tiān然rán

Hard to Extinguish, the Sustaining Power Perfects the Great Awakening · The Dharma King Attains the True Body, Natural and Whole

上樣的安排
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

上樣的安排 Set Out the Upper Grade

行xíng者zhě道dào:「兄xiōng弟dì,說shuō那nǎ裡lǐ話huà?你nǐ我wǒ在zài江jiāng湖hú上shàng,那nǎ裡lǐ不bú賺zhuàn幾jǐ兩liǎng銀yín子zi?把bǎ上shàng樣yàng的de安ān排pái將jiāng來lái。」行xíng者zhě道dào:「兄xiōng弟dì,说shuō那nǎ里lǐ话huà?你nǐ我wǒ在zài江jiāng湖hú上shàng,那nǎ里lǐ不bú赚zhuàn几jǐ两liǎng银yín子zi?把bǎ上shàng样yàng的de安ān排pái将jiāng来lái。」


逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě道dào:「兄xiōng弟dì,說shuō那nǎ裡lǐ話huà? 行xíng者zhě道dào:「兄xiōng弟dì,说shuō那nǎ里lǐ话huà?

Pilgrim said: "Brother, what a thing to say.

說那裡話 is what a thing to say, and the 那 in it is nǎ, the questioning one — where would such talk come from. It is a set phrase of friendly protest and it is still in use.

你nǐ我wǒ在zài江jiāng湖hú上shàng,那nǎ裡lǐ不bú賺zhuàn幾jǐ兩liǎng銀yín子zi? 你nǐ我wǒ在zài江jiāng湖hú上shàng,那nǎ里lǐ不bú赚zhuàn几jǐ两liǎng银yín子zi?

You and I on the road — where do we not make a few taels of silver?

Another 那 and another nǎ, this time carrying a rhetorical question that expects the answer nowhere. 江湖 is rivers and lakes, the standing name for the world outside settled society — the road, the travelling life, where wanderers and traders and outlaws all belong. It is one of the great words in Chinese and it has never gone out of use.

把bǎ上shàng樣yàng的de安ān排pái將jiāng來lái。」 把bǎ上shàng样yàng的de安ān排pái将jiāng来lái。」

Set out the upper grade."

Eight characters, and the whole negotiation is thrown away. 將 is jiāng, here the one that carries a verb outward — bring it along, set it out.


總評 Commentary

After all that haggling he orders the most expensive thing on the list. The scene has worked steadily down towards the floor by the stove and Pilgrim reverses it in one sentence.

There are two reasons and the chapter offers both. Ordering cheap would undo the story of a hundred horses that he has spent the evening building. And he is paying in roof tile, so the price is the one number in the room that does not matter to him.

Bajie has been contradicted in public for wanting the thing Pilgrim will spend the next passage arranging anyway — a dark corner, nobody watching, and no lamps. The upper grade is about to be ordered without the singing girls.