進府同齋 Send for the Three Disciples
三藏:「啟上殿下:貧僧有三個小徒在外等候,不敢領齋,但恐遲誤行程。」王子教:「當殿官,快去請長老三位徒弟,進府同齋。」三藏:「启上殿下:贫僧有三个小徒在外等候,不敢领斋,但恐迟误行程。」王子教:「当殿官,快去请长老三位徒弟,进府同斋。」
逐句解 Line by line
Tripitaka said, "May it please Your Highness: this poor monk has three young disciples waiting outside. I dare not accept the meal, for fear of delaying our journey."
啟上 is the opening formula for addressing a superior — may it please you to hear. The refusal is a piece of pure form: he does not actually mean to decline, and both men know that mentioning three hungry disciples waiting in the street is the surest way to get them invited in. Tripitaka is a better courtier than he is usually given credit for.
The prince gave the order: "Officer of the hall, go quickly and invite the elder's three disciples into the palace to share the meal."
當殿官 is the officer on duty in the hall — the one standing there when an order needs carrying out, and he is about to have a very bad afternoon. 教 is the ordinary causative here, to have someone do something, rather than the reading that means to teach a thing to a person; the chapter uses both and this is the first of eleven.
The invitation is engineered rather than granted, and Tripitaka engineers it with a refusal. Saying he dare not stay is the most efficient possible way of getting his disciples fed.
It is also worth noticing what he does not say. He does not warn the prince what the three of them look like. Everything that goes wrong in the next few pages follows from that omission, and it is very hard to believe it was accidental.