原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
棍子為號 The Staff as Signal
但只是得一個號令，方敢依令而行；不然，雷雨亂了，顯得大聖無款也。」行者道：「我將棍子為號罷。」但只是得一个号令，方敢依令而行；不然，雷雨乱了，显得大圣无款也。」行者道：「我将棍子为号罢。」
逐句解 Line by line
但只是得一個號令，方敢依令而行；
但只是得一个号令，方敢依令而行；
but we must have some one signal, and only then dare act on the order as it is given;
得一個號令: 得 = dé (“to have, get”); 一 = yí before 個 (4th tone). 依令而行: 行 = xíng.
不然，雷雨亂了，顯得大聖無款也。」
不然，雷雨乱了，显得大圣无款也。」
otherwise the thunder and rain would fall into confusion, and it would make the Great Sage look disorderly.”
雷雨亂了: 了 = le. 顯得: 得 = de (complement). 無款 “without proper order, unmethodical.”
行者道：「我將棍子為號罷。」
行者道：「我将棍子为号罢。」
Pilgrim said, “I'll use my cudgel for the signal, then.”
Disposal 我將棍子: 將 = jiāng; suffixal 子 = zi. 為號: 為 = wéi (“to serve as”). Sentence-final 罷 = ba.
The deities need a cue they can read, and Wukong — lacking talismans and tablets — improvises with the one instrument always to hand: his iron cudgel. The homely solution (a staff for a signal) quietly completes the substitution the whole contest has been effecting, replacing the immortal's elaborate liturgical apparatus with the Great Sage's plain authority.