Canonical Classics ← 第八十七回
第八十七回
fèngxiānjùnmàotiānzhìhàn
sūnshèngquànshànshīlín

Fengxian Prefecture Offends Heaven and Brings Drought · The Great Sage Sun Urges Goodness and Bestows Rain

作善可解
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

作善可解 Only Goodness Can Undo It

xíngzhěwényánjīngshīzàigǎnzòuzǒuchū殿diàn滿mǎnmiànhánxiūtiānshīxiàodào:「shèngfánnǎozhèshìzhǐzuòshànjiěxíngzhěwényánjīngshīzàigǎnzòuzǒuchū殿diànmǎnmiànhánxiūtiānshīxiàodào:「shèngfánnǎozhèshìzhǐzuòshànjiě


逐句解 Line by line

xíngzhěwényánjīngshīzàigǎnzòuzǒuchū殿diàn滿mǎnmiànhánxiū xíngzhěwényánjīngshīzàigǎnzòuzǒuchū殿diànmǎnmiànhánxiū

Pilgrim heard this, went pale with shock, dared make no further petition, and walked out of the hall with his face full of shame.

大驚失色, greatly startled and losing colour, is a fixed four-word phrase that survives unchanged into modern Chinese. 含羞, carrying shame, is a strong word to use of this character. He promised a whole prefecture rain before he checked, and he now has to go back down and say so.

tiānshīxiàodào:「shèngfánnǎozhèshìzhǐzuòshànjiě tiānshīxiàodào:「shèngfánnǎozhèshìzhǐzuòshànjiě

The Four Preceptors said, smiling, "The Great Sage need not be distressed. This matter can only be undone by doing good.

作善可解 — doing good can undo it. Four characters, and they are the hinge of the chapter. is to loosen or untie, the word for dissolving a knot or lifting a spell, and it is the same character that closes every chapter of this novel in the formula about the next instalment.


總評 Commentary

Pilgrim walks out ashamed, and the Preceptors are smiling — because they were never going to let him leave without the answer, and they have waited until he stopped being certain to give it.

Their line reframes everything. The three conditions are not a sentence to be served, they are a lock, and the key is not force. Pilgrim has spent this chapter deploying the only tools he has ever had — power, reputation, the ability to summon and command — and none of them has moved this at all. What will move it is something he cannot do himself.