黿背渡河 The Crossing
到了河邊，陳家莊老幼男女一齊來拜送。行者教把馬牽在白黿蓋上，請唐僧站在馬的頸項左邊，沙僧站在右邊，八戒站在馬後，行者站在馬前。又恐那黿無禮，解下虎觔絛子，穿在老黿的鼻之內，扯起來，像一條韁繩。卻使一隻腳踏在蓋上，一隻腳登在頭上；一隻手執著鐵棒。一隻手扯著韁繩；叫道：「老黿，慢慢走啊，歪一歪兒，就照頭一下。」老黿道：「不敢，不敢。」他卻蹬開四足，踏水面如行平地。眾人都在岸上焚香叩頭，都念「南無阿彌陀佛」。這正是：真羅漢臨凡，活菩薩出現。眾人只拜的望不見形影方回，不題。到了河边，陈家庄老幼男女一齐来拜送。行者教把马牵在白鼋盖上，请唐僧站在马的颈项左边，沙僧站在右边，八戒站在马后，行者站在马前。又恐那鼋无礼，解下虎觔绦子，穿在老鼋的鼻之内，扯起来，像一条缰绳。却使一只脚踏在盖上，一只脚登在头上；一只手执着铁棒。一只手扯着缰绳；叫道：「老鼋，慢慢走啊，歪一歪儿，就照头一下。」老鼋道：「不敢，不敢。」他却蹬开四足，踏水面如行平地。众人都在岸上焚香叩头，都念「南无阿弥陀佛」。这正是：真罗汉临凡，活菩萨出现。众人只拜的望不见形影方回，不题。
逐句解 Line by line
When they came to the riverside, the old and young, men and women, of Chen Village came all together to bow them farewell.
到了 了 le. 拜送, to see off with bows. The whole village gathers to send the pilgrims across on the back of the turtle.
Pilgrim had the horse led up onto the white turtle's shell, set the Tang Monk standing at the left of the horse's neck, Sha Monk at the right, Eight Rules behind the horse, and himself in front of the horse.
教 jiào, causative; 白黿蓋 黿 (yuán); 行者 行 xíng ×2. The careful disposition of the four pilgrims and the horse across the shell is the block's visual centre.
And fearing the turtle might play some trick, he loosed the tiger-sinew cord, ran it through the old turtle's nose, drew it up like a bridle-rein,
那黿 deictic 那 nà; 虎觔: 觔 = 筋, jīn, sinew; 絛子 絛 tāo, 子 the suffix zi; 老黿 黿 (yuán). 虎觔絛, the tiger-sinew cord that girds Wukong's tiger-skin kilt — pressed here into service as a bridle for the turtle.
then set one foot on the shell and one foot on its head, held his iron rod in one hand and the rein in the other,
登在頭上: 登 dēng, to tread up onto. Two occurrences of 著, both durative zhe: 執著 rod and 扯著 rein. Wukong rides the turtle's head like a helmsman, rod in one hand and bridle in the other.
and called out: "Old turtle, go gently now. If you tilt so much as a hair, I'll give you one straight on the head."
老黿 黿 (yuán); 歪一歪兒 兒 the diminutive suffix er; 照頭一下, one blow straight on the head. Even now Wukong keeps the threat ready — the trust of the previous block does not disarm him.
The old turtle said: "I dare not, I dare not."
老黿 黿 (yuán). The doubled 不敢 is meek compliance — the enormous creature entirely at the disposal of the rider on his head.
He then spread out his four feet and trod the surface of the water as if walking on level ground.
蹬開: 蹬 dēng, to push out with the feet; 行 xíng. 踏水面如行平地, treading the water like level ground — the marvel of the crossing rendered in a single clause.
The people were all on the bank, burning incense and knocking their heads, all chanting "Homage to Amitābha Buddha."
Two occurrences of 都 dōu: 都在岸上 and 都念. 南無阿彌陀佛: 南無 the liturgical ná mó, 佛 invariably read here as fó within the formula. The villagers' chant sends the pilgrims across.
This is truly a case of a real arhat come down among mortals, a living bodhisattva made manifest. The people bowed until the forms could no longer be seen, and only then turned back — of which no more.
這正是 with the colon marks an inline proverbial couplet — 真羅漢臨凡，活菩薩出現 — which by the standing rule stays PROSE within this passage rather than opening a verse-showcase. 不題, the narrator's suspension formula, closes the crossing.
The crossing is staged with a precision that verges on the comic. Wukong arranges the four pilgrims and the horse across the turtle's back like pieces on a board — master at the horse's left, Sha Monk at the right, Bajie behind, himself in front — and then, not trusting the creature he has just vouched for, runs the tiger-sinew cord from his own kilt through the turtle's nose and rides its head like a helmsman, rod in one hand and bridle in the other. Having told his master two blocks ago that a talking creature will not lie, he keeps a rein on its nose and a threat over its head all the way across. The turtle's meek 不敢，不敢 completes the picture: the great forty-foot beast entirely governed by the small rider on its skull.
Against this comedy the block sets its one image of pure wonder — 踏水面如行平地, treading the surface of the water as though walking on level ground — and the villagers' response raises the whole scene into devotion. They burn incense, kowtow, and chant 南無阿彌陀佛 until the pilgrims pass out of sight, and the narrator supplies the couplet that names what they have witnessed: 真羅漢臨凡，活菩薩出現, a real arhat come among mortals, a living bodhisattva made manifest. The crossing that betrayed them on ice in the previous chapter is accomplished here on the back of a living creature, and the arc of the Tongtian closes on the water walked rather than the water fallen through.