原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
一步一拜 A Bow at Every Step
這行者按落雲頭，徑至郡裡，早見三藏、八戒、沙僧都來迎接；那郡侯一步一拜來謝。行者道：「且慢謝我。这行者按落云头，径至郡里，早见三藏、八戒、沙僧都来迎接；那郡侯一步一拜来谢。行者道：「且慢谢我。
逐句解 Line by line
這行者按落雲頭，徑至郡裡，早見三藏、八戒、沙僧都來迎接；
这行者按落云头，径至郡里，早见三藏、八戒、沙僧都来迎接；
Pilgrim brought his cloud down and went straight into the prefecture, where Tripitaka, Bajie and Sha Monk were already coming out to meet him;
按落雲頭, pressing the cloud down, is the standard phrase for landing. The three disciples have been waiting on the ground through the entire storm.
那郡侯一步一拜來謝。
那郡侯一步一拜来谢。
and the prefect came to thank him with a bow at every step.
一步一拜 — one step, one bow. It is a real devotional practice: pilgrims still climb sacred mountains this way, prostrating at every pace. To do it across a courtyard to a person is extraordinary.
行者道：「且慢謝我。
行者道：「且慢谢我。
Pilgrim said, "Do not thank me yet.
且慢, hold on a moment. Three characters, and he stops the man mid-prostration.
The prefect comes across his own courtyard bowing at every step, which is how one approaches a shrine.
It is the last and most extreme of the chapter's long series of self-lowerings — he walked to the market without a chair, prostrated himself in the street, gave up the seat of honour, confessed in public. And Pilgrim, who at the start of this chapter enjoyed every bit of that, now cuts him off before he can finish.