第八十五回 · 爭競長短 Do Not Argue the Point — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

爭競長短 Do Not Argue the Point

行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「莫mò嚷rǎng，我wǒ已yǐ打dǎ點diǎn停tíng當dàng了le，開kāi櫃guì時shí，他tā就jiù拜bài我wǒ們men為wéi師shī哩li。只zhǐ教jiào八bā戒jiè不bú要yào爭zhēng競jìng長cháng短duǎn。」八bā戒jiè道dào：「但dàn只zhǐ免miǎn殺shā，就jiù是shì無wú量liàng之zhī福fú，還hái敢gǎn爭zhēng競jìng哩li。」說shuō不bù了liǎo，擡tái至zhì朝cháo外wài，入rù五wǔ鳳fèng樓lóu，放fàng在zài丹dān墀chí之zhī下xià。行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「莫mò嚷rǎng，我wǒ已yǐ打dǎ点diǎn停tíng当dàng了le，开kāi柜guì时shí，他tā就jiù拜bài我wǒ们men为wéi师shī哩li。只zhǐ教jiào八bā戒jiè不bú要yào争zhēng竞jìng长cháng短duǎn。」八bā戒jiè道dào：「但dàn只zhǐ免miǎn杀shā，就jiù是shì无wú量liàng之zhī福fú，还hái敢gǎn争zhēng竞jìng哩li。」说shuō不bù了liǎo，抬tái至zhì朝cháo外wài，入rù五wǔ凤fèng楼lóu，放fàng在zài丹dān墀chí之zhī下xià。

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「莫mò嚷rǎng，我wǒ已yǐ打dǎ點diǎn停tíng當dàng了le，開kāi櫃guì時shí，他tā就jiù拜bài我wǒ們men為wéi師shī哩li。行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「莫mò嚷rǎng，我wǒ已yǐ打dǎ点diǎn停tíng当dàng了le，开kāi柜guì时shí，他tā就jiù拜bài我wǒ们men为wéi师shī哩li。

Pilgrim laughed. "Stop your noise. I have everything arranged. The moment the chest is opened, they will bow to us as their masters.

He is not guessing — he shaved the kingdom himself and knows precisely what is waiting outside the lid. 停當 means settled and ready, and its second character 當 is dàng, not the dāng of "at that time". In 為師 the 為 is wéi, to take as, not the wèi of doing something for someone.

只zhǐ教jiào八bā戒jiè不bú要yào爭zhēng競jìng長cháng短duǎn。」只zhǐ教jiào八bā戒jiè不bú要yào争zhēng竞jìng长cháng短duǎn。」

Only see that Bajie does not argue the rights and wrongs of it."

爭競長短 is contending over long and short — quibbling, splitting hairs. 長 is cháng, length, not the zhǎng of seniority. Pilgrim's one worry about the plan is not the king; it is his own brother opening his mouth.

八bā戒jiè道dào：「但dàn只zhǐ免miǎn殺shā，就jiù是shì無wú量liàng之zhī福fú，還hái敢gǎn爭zhēng競jìng哩li。」八bā戒jiè道dào：「但dàn只zhǐ免miǎn杀shā，就jiù是shì无wú量liàng之zhī福fú，还hái敢gǎn争zhēng竞jìng哩li。」

Bajie said, "So long as we are spared the killing, that is blessing without measure. Would I dare quibble?"

無量 is the Buddhist "immeasurable", the word that sits in front of half the epithets in the canon — and Bajie has reached for it to promise he will behave. Coming from him it is roughly the register of swearing on a stack of bibles.

說shuō不bù了liǎo，擡tái至zhì朝cháo外wài，入rù五wǔ鳳fèng樓lóu，放fàng在zài丹dān墀chí之zhī下xià。说shuō不bù了liǎo，抬tái至zhì朝cháo外wài，入rù五wǔ凤fèng楼lóu，放fàng在zài丹dān墀chí之zhī下xià。

Before he had finished speaking, the chest was borne to the court gate, in through the Tower of Five Phoenixes, and set down below the vermilion steps.

說不了 — before the words were done — is a standing narrator formula for cutting a speech short with an event; the 了 is liǎo, to finish, not the le that marks a completed action. 五鳳樓 and 丹墀, the red-painted terrace before a throne hall, are real palace furniture, and the route traced here is the real approach to an audience.

總評 Commentary

Pilgrim has been running this plan since the previous chapter and has told nobody. The others are in the dark inside a box; he is calm because he already knows the ending. It is a pattern the chapter will repeat and then invert — later he will arrange something else without telling anyone, and it will go badly.

Bajie gets the best line and does not know it. Spared the killing is blessing without measure, he says, and the phrase is exact scripture. The novel keeps letting him stumble into the right vocabulary for the wrong reason.

The last segment is pure stagecraft: gate, tower, steps, ground. Four moves and the chest is standing in front of the throne with the lid still on.