寶杖多重 And What Does the Staff Weigh
三王子問沙僧道：「師父寶杖多重？」沙僧笑道：「也是五千零四十八斤。」大王子求行者的金箍棒看。三王子问沙僧道：「师父宝杖多重？」沙僧笑道：「也是五千零四十八斤。」大王子求行者的金箍棒看。
逐句解 Line by line
The third prince asked Sha Monk, "Master, how much does the treasure staff weigh?"
The youngest asks the question the reader is already asking. He addresses Sha Monk as 師父, master — the word for one's own teacher, used before any teaching has happened.
Sha Monk laughed and said, "Five thousand and forty-eight catties, the same."
The same number, and the joke lands twice. Two of the three weapons weigh one complete Buddhist canon each, which the novel states flatly and then leaves alone. 也是, also is, is the whole of Sha Monk's answer — he does not elaborate on anything, ever.
The eldest prince asked to see Pilgrim's gold-banded rod.
Eleven characters setting up the best moment in the scene. The eldest already knows what that rod does to people who try to lift it, and he asks to see it anyway.
Two weapons, one number, and the novel repeats it without comment. Whatever the canon's tally is doing here, it is doing it twice.
Sha Monk's four-character answer is the most Sha Monk thing in the chapter. Bajie boasted for a whole sentence; his brother says also, and stops.