各檢幾卷 Check Out a Few Scrolls Each
汝等遠來，待要全付與汝取去，但那方之人愚蠢村強，毀謗真言，不識我沙門之奧旨。」叫：「阿儺、伽葉，你兩個引他四眾到珍樓之下，先將齋食待他。齋罷，開了寶閣，將我那三藏經中，三十五部之內，各檢幾卷與他，教他傳流東土，永注洪恩。」汝等远来，待要全付与汝取去，但那方之人愚蠢村强，毁谤真言，不识我沙门之奥旨。」叫：「阿傩、伽叶，你两个引他四众到珍楼之下，先将斋食待他。斋罢，开了宝阁，将我那三藏经中，三十五部之内，各检几卷与他，教他传流东土，永注洪恩。」
逐句解 Line by line
"You have come far, and I would give you the whole of it to take away; but the people of that quarter are stupid and coarse and headstrong, and they slander the true word, and do not understand the deep purport of my religion."
⚠ 待要全付與汝 — I would give you the lot. And then he does not. The refusal takes the rest of the sentence and the reason is the readership. ⚠ 愚蠢村強 — stupid, coarse, headstrong. That last pair means rustic and stubborn, and the Buddha is saying it about the country that has just sent a man on a fourteen-year walk to ask for these books. 沙門之奧旨 — the deep purport of the religion. He withholds the full canon on the grounds that the recipients would not follow it, which is the exact argument a later buddha in this chapter uses to defend giving them blank paper.
He called: "Ānanda, Kāśyapa — you two take these four down to the treasure-loft and give them a meal first."
⚠ 阿儺、伽葉 — Ānanda and Kāśyapa, the Buddha's two chief disciples, and the first mention of the pair who are about to become the problem. Ānanda was the one who remembered every sermon; Kāśyapa presided over the council that wrote them down. Between them they ARE the canon's custody. ⚠ This edition spells the second name with a character that stands in for the usual one, and the reading follows the word rather than the graph — the same substitution it makes elsewhere for the sandalwood in Tripitaka's future title. 先將齋食待他 — feed them first. The Buddha's practical instinct is a Chinese host's: they have walked a long way, so get them fed.
"When they have eaten, open the treasure-pavilion, and out of my scriptures of the three baskets, from within the thirty-five works, check out a few scrolls of each for them, and let them pass it on in the Land of the East and pour down that great grace for ever."
⚠⚠ 各檢幾卷 — check out a FEW scrolls of each. This is the instruction the whole rest of the chapter hangs on, and it is startlingly casual. Not a specified list: a few of each, at the discretion of the two men sent to fetch them. ⚠ 檢 is a librarian's word — to pick out, to check over. The Buddha has just delegated the selection of the entire Chinese Buddhist canon to two subordinates with a verbal instruction and no list. ⚠ And note what he does NOT say: nothing about payment, nothing about gifts, nothing about what the pilgrims must give in return. Everything that goes wrong in the next chapter goes wrong in the gap this sentence leaves.
The Buddha will not hand over the whole canon, and his reason is the audience: the people of that quarter are stupid and coarse and headstrong, and they slander the true word. He says this about the country whose emperor sent a man to walk fourteen years and ask.
Then he gives the order that the rest of the story turns on, and it is three characters long: check out a few of each. No list, no count, no schedule of what goes and what stays. The selection of an entire nation's scripture is delegated to two disciples on a verbal instruction.
And there is nothing in it about payment. The Buddha says feed them, open the loft, pick out a few scrolls, let them carry it home. Everything that happens at the treasure-loft in the next few hundred characters — the demand, the refusal, the blank pages — happens in the space this sentence does not fill.