第四十九回 · 五行之源 The Source of the Five Phases — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

五行之源 The Source of the Five Phases

行xíng者zhě忍rěn不bú住zhù叫jiào道dào：「師shī父fù莫mò恨hèn水shuǐ災zāi。經jīng云yún：『土tǔ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī母mǔ，水shuǐ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī源yuán。無wú土tǔ不bù生shēng，無wú水shuǐ不bù長zhǎng。』老lǎo孫sūn來lái了le。」三sān藏zàng聞wén得dé道dào：「徒tú弟dì啊a，救jiù我wǒ耶yé。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng心xīn，待dài我wǒ們men擒qín住zhù妖yāo精jīng，管guǎn教jiào你nǐ脫tuō難nàn。」三sān藏zàng道dào：「快kuài些xiē兒er下xià手shǒu，再zài停tíng一yí日rì，足zú足zú悶mèn殺shā我wǒ也yě。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「沒méi事shì，沒méi事shì。我wǒ去qù也yě！」行xíng者zhě忍rěn不bú住zhù叫jiào道dào：「师shī父fù莫mò恨hèn水shuǐ灾zāi。经jīng云yún：『土tǔ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī母mǔ，水shuǐ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī源yuán。无wú土tǔ不bù生shēng，无wú水shuǐ不bù长zhǎng。』老lǎo孙sūn来lái了le。」三sān藏zàng闻wén得dé道dào：「徒tú弟dì啊a，救jiù我wǒ耶yé。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng心xīn，待dài我wǒ们men擒qín住zhù妖yāo精jīng，管guǎn教jiào你nǐ脱tuō难nàn。」三sān藏zàng道dào：「快kuài些xiē儿er下xià手shǒu，再zài停tíng一yí日rì，足zú足zú闷mèn杀shā我wǒ也yě。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「没méi事shì，没méi事shì。我wǒ去qù也yě！」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě忍rěn不bú住zhù叫jiào道dào：「師shī父fù莫mò恨hèn水shuǐ災zāi。行xíng者zhě忍rěn不bú住zhù叫jiào道dào：「师shī父fù莫mò恨hèn水shuǐ灾zāi。

Pilgrim could bear it no longer and called out: "Master, do not rail at the water for your troubles.

莫恨水災, "do not resent the water-calamity" — Wukong answers the lament's premise rather than its grief, which is characteristic of him.

經jīng云yún：『土tǔ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī母mǔ，水shuǐ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī源yuán。经jīng云yún：『土tǔ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī母mǔ，水shuǐ乃nǎi五wǔ行xíng之zhī源yuán。

The scripture says: 'Earth is the mother of the Five Phases, and water is their source.

五行: 行 xíng, the Five Phases (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) — never háng. The saying is introduced as 經云, "the scripture says," but it is Five-Phases cosmology rather than anything Buddhist; the novel routinely dresses Chinese natural philosophy in sūtra clothing.

無wú土tǔ不bù生shēng，無wú水shuǐ不bù長zhǎng。』无wú土tǔ不bù生shēng，无wú水shuǐ不bù长zhǎng。』

Without earth nothing is born; without water nothing grows.'

不長: 長 read zhǎng, "to grow," not cháng. The consolation is cosmological — the element drowning him is also the element that sustains all life.

老lǎo孫sūn來lái了le。」老lǎo孙sūn来lái了le。」

Old Sun is here."

老孫來了 — four characters, and the whole of the reassurance. The doctrine was preface; this is the substance.

三sān藏zàng聞wén得dé道dào：「徒tú弟dì啊a，救jiù我wǒ耶yé。」三sān藏zàng闻wén得dé道dào：「徒tú弟dì啊a，救jiù我wǒ耶yé。」

Tripitaka heard him and said: "Disciple! Save me!"

聞得: 得 dé. The master's answer ignores the cosmology entirely, which is the joke and also the pathos of the exchange.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng心xīn，待dài我wǒ們men擒qín住zhù妖yāo精jīng，管guǎn教jiào你nǐ脫tuō難nàn。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng心xīn，待dài我wǒ们men擒qín住zhù妖yāo精jīng，管guǎn教jiào你nǐ脱tuō难nàn。」

Pilgrim said: "Set your heart at rest. When we have seized the fiend, I shall see to it that you are free of this peril."

管教 — 教 jiào, causative, "to cause, to see to it that." 脫難: 難 nàn, the noun "peril," matching 身有難 in the lament.

三sān藏zàng道dào：「快kuài些xiē兒er下xià手shǒu，再zài停tíng一yí日rì，足zú足zú悶mèn殺shā我wǒ也yě。」三sān藏zàng道dào：「快kuài些xiē儿er下xià手shǒu，再zài停tíng一yí日rì，足zú足zú闷mèn杀shā我wǒ也yě。」

Tripitaka said: "Be quick about it. Another day of this and I shall be stifled outright."

快些兒: 兒 is the toneless diminutive suffix er, not the person-morpheme ér of 孩兒. 悶殺 — 殺 as a resultative intensifier, "to death."

行xíng者zhě道dào：「沒méi事shì，沒méi事shì。行xíng者zhě道dào：「没méi事shì，没méi事shì。

Pilgrim said: "No matter, no matter.

沒事: 沒 méi, the negative existential. The doubling is casual reassurance, delivered on the way out.

我wǒ去qù也yě！」我wǒ去qù也yě！」

I'm off!"

我去也 — the sentence-final 也 of vernacular declaration, marking exit. The passage ends on the departure that launches the first assault.

總評 Commentary

Wukong's consolation is a small piece of doctrinal comedy. Tripitaka has just sung eight lines blaming water for the whole misfortune of his life, and Wukong answers with a cosmological correction: water is not the enemy but the source, 無水不長. He cites it as scripture (經云), though the content is Five-Phases natural philosophy with no Buddhist provenance at all — a habit of the novel, which lets its characters quote whichever tradition suits the argument and labels it all 經.

There is a further irony the text does not stop to underline. Wukong recommends the Five Phases to a man imprisoned in stone; he himself spent five hundred years pinned beneath the Mountain of Five Phases (五行山) for the crimes of the opening chapters. The one who has been under the rock is the one telling the man in the box that the elements are benign. And Tripitaka, characteristically, does not engage the doctrine for a moment — 救我耶 is his entire reply. The passage closes with Wukong's brisk 我去也, and the fighting begins.