第八十四回 · 端的何如 What Is the Situation Exactly — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

端的何如 What Is the Situation Exactly

三sān藏zàng喝hè道dào：「不bú要yào打dǎ花huā，且qiě幹gàn正zhèng事shì。端duān的dì何hé如rú？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「師shī父fù，他tā這zhè城chéng池chí，我wǒ已yǐ看kàn了le，雖suī是shì國guó王wáng無wú道dào殺shā僧sēng，卻què倒dào是shì個gè真zhēn天tiān子zi，城chéng上shàng有yǒu祥xiáng光guāng喜xǐ氣qì。三sān藏zàng喝hè道dào：「不bú要yào打dǎ花huā，且qiě干gàn正zhèng事shì。端duān的dì何hé如rú？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「师shī父fù，他tā这zhè城chéng池chí，我wǒ已yǐ看kàn了le，虽suī是shì国guó王wáng无wú道dào杀shā僧sēng，却què倒dào是shì个gè真zhēn天tiān子zi，城chéng上shàng有yǒu祥xiáng光guāng喜xǐ气qì。

逐句解 Line by line

三sān藏zàng喝hè道dào：「不bú要yào打dǎ花huā，且qiě幹gàn正zhèng事shì。三sān藏zàng喝hè道dào：「不bú要yào打dǎ花huā，且qiě干gàn正zhèng事shì。

Tripitaka shouted him down: "No more clowning. Get on with the real business.

喝 is hè here, to shout at somebody — not the hē that means to drink, which is the same character and turns up later in the chapter. 打花 is to lark about, to make a show instead of getting to the point.

端duān的dì何hé如rú？」端duān的dì何hé如rú？」

What is the situation exactly?"

端的 is early vernacular for really, in fact, the thing itself — and its second character takes dì, not the light particle it usually is. Four characters, and the master has cut two disciples off and asked the only question that matters.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「師shī父fù，他tā這zhè城chéng池chí，我wǒ已yǐ看kàn了le，雖suī是shì國guó王wáng無wú道dào殺shā僧sēng，卻què倒dào是shì個gè真zhēn天tiān子zi，城chéng上shàng有yǒu祥xiáng光guāng喜xǐ氣qì。行xíng者zhě道dào：「师shī父fù，他tā这zhè城chéng池chí，我wǒ已yǐ看kàn了le，虽suī是shì国guó王wáng无wú道dào杀shā僧sēng，却què倒dào是shì个gè真zhēn天tiān子zi，城chéng上shàng有yǒu祥xiáng光guāng喜xǐ气qì。

Pilgrim said: "Master, I have looked this city of theirs over. The king has no principles and kills monks, and yet for all that he is a true Son of Heaven — there is blessed light and a happy air above the walls.

倒 is dào, the reading for the contrary of what you expect — and yet, on the contrary — not the dǎo of falling over, which is the same character earlier in the chapter. 真天子 is a genuine Son of Heaven, one who really holds the mandate. Pilgrim is saying the man is a legitimate ruler and a butcher, and the sentence does not resolve it.

總評 Commentary

Tripitaka gets one line in this chapter where he is decisively in charge, and this is it. He silences both comedians and asks for the assessment.

And Pilgrim gives him a real one, which is more troubling than a demon report would be. The mandate of heaven is supposed to be visible in exactly the signs he is describing, and it is sitting over a city where nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-six monks have been executed. The novel raises the contradiction and moves on.