兜率尋根 Seeking the Root at Tuṣita
好行者，說聲去，就縱一道觔斗雲，直入南天門裡。時有四大元帥擎拳拱手道：「擒怪事如何？」行者且行且答道：「未哩，未哩。如今有處尋根去也。」四將不敢留阻，讓他進了天門。不上靈霄殿，不入斗牛宮，徑至三十三天之外離恨天兜率宮前，見兩仙童侍立，他也不通姓名，一直徑走。慌得兩童扯住道：「你是何人？往何處去？」行者才說：「我是齊天大聖，欲尋李老君哩。」仙童道：「你怎這樣粗魯？且住下，讓我們通報。」行者那容分說，喝了一聲，往裡徑走。忽見老君自內而出，撞個滿懷。行者躬身唱個喏道：「老官，一向少看。」老君笑道：「這猴兒不去取經，卻來我處何幹？」行者道：「取經取經，晝夜無停。有些阻礙，到此行行。」老君道：「西天路阻，與我何干？」行者道：「西天西天，你且休言。尋著蹤跡，與你纏纏。」老君道：「我這裡乃是無上仙宮，有甚蹤跡可尋？」好行者，说声去，就纵一道觔斗云，直入南天门里。时有四大元帅擎拳拱手道：「擒怪事如何？」行者且行且答道：「未哩，未哩。如今有处寻根去也。」四将不敢留阻，让他进了天门。不上灵霄殿，不入斗牛宫，径至三十三天之外离恨天兜率宫前，见两仙童侍立，他也不通姓名，一直径走。慌得两童扯住道：「你是何人？往何处去？」行者才说：「我是齐天大圣，欲寻李老君哩。」仙童道：「你怎这样粗鲁？且住下，让我们通报。」行者那容分说，喝了一声，往里径走。忽见老君自内而出，撞个满怀。行者躬身唱个喏道：「老官，一向少看。」老君笑道：「这猴儿不去取经，却来我处何干？」行者道：「取经取经，昼夜无停。有些阻碍，到此行行。」老君道：「西天路阻，与我何干？」行者道：「西天西天，你且休言。寻着踪迹，与你缠缠。」老君道：「我这里乃是无上仙宫，有甚踪迹可寻？」
逐句解 Line by line
The fine Pilgrim said the word and was gone: he loosed a somersault cloud and went straight in at the Southern Gate of Heaven.
觔斗雲: 觔 = jīn, 斗 = dǒu. 一道: 一 = yí before a fourth tone. The sentence repeats the opening of the flight to Vulture Peak almost word for word.
The four great Marshals there raised their fists in salute and asked: "How goes the taking of the demon?"
四大元帥 are the four marshals on gate duty. 擎拳拱手 is the military salute, and it is worth noting that they give it to him.
Pilgrim answered as he went: "Not yet, not yet. There is a place now to look for the root of it."
Both 哩 = li (GLOBAL_PY; pypinyin gives lī). 有處: 處 = chù. 尋根 — to look for the root, the origin: exactly what the petition asked the Buddha for.
The four generals did not dare hold him up, and let him through the gate of Heaven.
四將: 將 = jiàng, the rank; 進了: 了 = le.
He did not go up to the Hall of Divine Mists nor enter the Palace of the Dipper and Ox, but went straight to the Palace of Tuṣita in the Heaven of Parted Sorrows, beyond the thirty-three heavens; and seeing two immortal lads standing in attendance, he gave them neither name nor surname but walked straight on in.
斗牛宮: 斗 = dǒu — the lunar lodges of the Dipper and the Ox. 兜率宮: 率 = shuài, the transcription of Tuṣita; pypinyin gives lǜ for every occurrence in the chapter. 一直: 一 = yì before a second tone.
In alarm the two lads caught hold of him: "Who are you? Where are you going?"
慌得: 得 = de, complement; 何處: 處 = chù. The same challenge the Bhikṣuṇī put to him on Vulture Peak, and he handles it very differently here.
Only then did Pilgrim say: "I am the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and I want Laozi."
Sentence-final 哩 = li. 李老君 — he uses the surname, which is familiar to the point of impudence for the Most High Lord Lao.
The immortal lads said: "How rough you are! Wait here a moment and let us announce you."
粗魯 = "coarse, unmannerly." The lads ask for exactly what the Bhikṣuṇī asked — wait while I announce you — and get a different answer.
As if Pilgrim would allow any parleying: he gave a shout and walked straight in.
那容分說 is rhetorical: 那 = nǎ ("how would he —?"), 分 = fēn. 喝了: 喝 = hè, 了 = le. At the Buddha's gate he waited; here he does not.
All at once he saw Lord Lao coming out from within, and ran full into his arms.
撞個滿懷 — to collide chest to chest. The most powerful Daoist deity in the pantheon is first encountered in this chapter as an obstacle in a doorway.
Pilgrim bowed from the waist, made his salutation and said: "Old fellow, it is a long while since I called."
唱個喏: 喏 = rě — the bow made with a spoken formula; pypinyin gives nuò every time and the reading is guarded as an invariant. 少看: 少 = shǎo, 看 = kàn — "I have called on you seldom," a polite formula. 老官 is genial and not respectful.
Lord Lao laughed and said: "This ape is not off fetching scriptures. What business brings him to my place?"
猴兒: 兒 = er; 我處: 處 = chù. 何幹 here is written with 幹 (gàn, "to do") — and Lord Lao's own retort five segments on writes the same question with 干 (gān, "to concern"). The Sìdétáng text keeps the two graphs distinct and this edition follows it.
Pilgrim said: "Fetching scriptures, fetching scriptures — no rest by day or night. There are some obstructions, and so I come this way for a walk."
行行 = "to walk about, to stretch the legs"; both are xíng. The two speeches that follow are in rhymed four-and-four — the exchange is a duet of doggerel, and the register drops accordingly.
Lord Lao said: "The road to the Western Heaven is blocked — what has that to do with me?"
何干: 干 = gān ("to concern"), the graph and reading distinct from the 幹 of Lord Lao's first question. The rhyme word answers Pilgrim's 行行.
Pilgrim said: "Western Heaven, Western Heaven — you may hold your peace. I have found the trail, and I mean to have it out with you."
尋著: 著 = zháo, the resultative ("found"), on the pattern of 撞著 and 睡著. 纏纏 = "to pester, to keep at someone."
Lord Lao said: "This place of mine is a supreme immortal palace. What trail could there be to find here?"
有甚蹤跡: 甚 = shén ("any at all"), not the intensifier shèn. The denial is the last line of the duet, and the next passage answers it with an empty ox-pen.
The whole passage is written on the contrast with the arrival at Vulture Peak two movements ago, and the parallels are exact enough to be deliberate. There, the Bhikṣuṇī asked who he was and where he was going, and he made his bow and answered; here two immortal lads ask the same and he walks past them. There he was told to wait outside the gate and waited; here he is told to wait and shouts and goes in. There he addressed the Tathāgata as 我佛; here he greets the most high Lord Lao as 老官, old fellow, and complains that it has been a while since he called.
The exchange that follows is a duet of doggerel — two four-and-four rhymed speeches each — and the vernacular pleasure of it is entirely at Lord Lao's expense: fetching scriptures, no rest day or night, a few obstructions, so I came for a walk. One textual detail is worth recording. Lord Lao's first question is 何幹 and his second is 何干, the same question written with two different graphs — gàn, to do, and gān, to concern. The Sìdétáng text distinguishes them and this edition keeps the distinction rather than normalizing to the modern 干.