天將難選，一物降一物 Choosing a General: One Thing Subdues Another
四大天師奉旨意，即出靈霄寶殿，對行者道：「大聖啊，玉帝寬恩，言天宮無神思凡，著你挑選幾員天將，擒魔去哩。」行者低頭暗想道：「天上將不如老孫者多，勝似老孫者少。想我鬧天宮時，玉帝遣十萬天兵，佈天羅地網，更不曾有一將敢與我比手。向後來，調了小聖二郎，方是我的對手。如今那怪物手段又強似老孫，卻怎麼得能夠取勝？」許旌陽道：「此一時，彼一時，大不同也。常言道：『一物降一物』哩。你好違了旨意？但憑高見，選用天將，勿得遲疑誤事。」行者道：「既然如此，深感上恩，果是不好違旨；一則老孫又不可空走這遭。煩旌陽轉奏玉帝，只教托塔李天王與哪吒太子去罷，他還有幾件降妖兵器，且下界與那怪見一仗，以看如何。果若能擒得他，是老孫之幸；若不能，那時再作區處。」四大天师奉旨意，即出灵霄宝殿，对行者道：「大圣啊，玉帝宽恩，言天宫无神思凡，着你挑选几员天将，擒魔去哩。」行者低头暗想道：「天上将不如老孙者多，胜似老孙者少。想我闹天宫时，玉帝遣十万天兵，布天罗地网，更不曾有一将敢与我比手。向后来，调了小圣二郎，方是我的对手。如今那怪物手段又强似老孙，却怎么得能够取胜？」许旌阳道：「此一时，彼一时，大不同也。常言道：『一物降一物』哩。你好违了旨意？但凭高见，选用天将，勿得迟疑误事。」行者道：「既然如此，深感上恩，果是不好违旨；一则老孙又不可空走这遭。烦旌阳转奏玉帝，只教托塔李天王与哪咤太子去罢，他还有几件降妖兵器，且下界与那怪见一仗，以看如何。果若能擒得他，是老孙之幸；若不能，那时再作区处。」
逐句解 Line by line
The four Celestial Masters, having received the command, came straight out of the Hall of Divine Mists and said to Pilgrim, "Great Sage! The Jade Emperor is generous. He says there is no god in the palace of Heaven who has gone down out of longing, and he has you pick out a few heavenly generals and go seize the fiend."
著你挑選 takes zhuó again, the dispatching reading. 天將 takes jiàng. 哩 closes with the neutral li. The Masters relay the order without softening it, and without noticing that it hands Wukong the problem he brought.
Pilgrim lowered his head and thought quietly: "Of the generals in Heaven, those who fall short of old Monkey are many, and those who outmatch him are few.
天上將 takes jiàng. The sentence is built as a balance — 者多 against 者少 — and the vanity in it is exact rather than boastful: he is doing arithmetic on the roster he has just watched being read out.
I remember when I made havoc in the palace of Heaven: the Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and spread the nets of sky and earth, and not one general among them dared try hands with me.
更不曾 takes gèng. 一將 carries a SANDHI OVERRIDE: 將 bakes as jiāng, first tone, giving yì, and the fixspec raises it to jiàng, fourth tone, so the surface must be yí — §2 case (a). 將 takes jiàng. 天羅地網 is the standing figure for a net from which nothing escapes — and nothing did escape it, which is his point.
Later on they brought in the Little Sage Erlang, and he was a match for me.
調 takes diào, to summon and post a man, not the tiáo of tuning. 方是我的對手 is a real concession and the only one in the speech; Erlang took him in Ch.6.
Now this fiend's powers are stronger still than old Monkey's — how then is a victory to be got?"
那怪物 takes nà. 強 takes qiáng, the comparative. 怎麼得 takes dé, ability. The thought ends where the chapter's trouble begins: he can name no one in the roster who would do.
Xu Jingyang said, "That was one time, this is another; they are not the same at all.
此一時，彼一時 comes from Mencius, and both 一 are yì by mechanical sandhi. The sense is that circumstances govern, not persons — which is the answer to Wukong's arithmetic.
As the common saying has it, 'one thing subdues another.'
降 takes xiáng, to subdue, not the jiàng of descending — the reading turns on the sense and the wrong one makes nonsense of the proverb. 一物降一物 is the chapter's governing idea: no force is strongest, only fitted or unfitted to what it meets. Everything the ring swallows over the next four passages proves it from the wrong side.
How can you go against the edict?
違了 closes with le. The question is put lightly but it is a real one: the order has been given and Wukong is standing about arguing.
Use your own judgement, pick the generals you want, and do not lose the matter by hanging back."
天將 takes jiàng and 勿得 takes dé. 誤事 is to spoil a business by delay, the standard reproach in an office.
Pilgrim said, "Since that is how it stands, I am deeply obliged for the grace above, and it is indeed not well to go against an edict; and besides, old Monkey ought not to have made this trip for nothing.
The two clauses run under one ； and are joined here (rule J1). 一則 is yì by mechanical sandhi. 空走這遭 — to have walked the road empty — is the honest reason under the two polite ones.
Trouble yourself, Jingyang, to report back to the Jade Emperor: let him just send Pagoda-bearing Heavenly King Li and Prince Nezha, since they still have several weapons for subduing fiends. Let them go down to the world and see one bout with the creature, and we shall see how it goes.
降妖 takes xiáng, subduing, matching the proverb two segments back. 去罷 takes the hortative ba; 還有 takes hái; 那怪 takes nà; 一仗 is yí by mechanical sandhi; 以看 takes kàn. Wukong picks the pair who beat him once, which is the closest he will come to admitting he cannot do this alone.
If they can take him, it is old Monkey's good fortune; and if they cannot, we shall make other arrangements then."
區處 takes chǔ, the verb — to dispose of, to settle a matter — not the chù of place. 擒得 takes dé and 那時 takes nà. The two conditional clauses run under one ； and are joined (rule J1).
The proverb 一物降一物 is the hinge of the whole 金兜山 arc, and it is placed here deliberately, before a single force has been sent against the ring. Nothing in the chapter is strong enough; the question is only what the ring is not fitted to swallow, and neither Wukong nor Heaven thinks to ask it.
降 takes xiáng three times in this passage and the next — subduing, not descending — against the jiàng of 降旨 and 下降. The two readings sit close together through the chapter and each has to be set by hand.
Wukong's reasoning is worth watching. He works down the roster from memory, finds only Erlang above him, and then asks for Li Jing and Nezha instead — the pair who took him in the sixth chapter. He does not say why, and the book does not say it for him.