唐僧取经
The Monk Sets Out
Name: ________________ Date: ________
那个从东方来的和尚是谁呢？这件事，还要从西天说起。
孙悟空被压在五行山下面以后，天上和地上都安静了很多年。有一天，如来佛祖对菩萨们说：“我这里有三藏真经，能教人做好人。我想把它们送到东方去，可是东方的人不一定会珍惜。最好是让一个东方人走过千山万水，亲自到西天来取。谁愿意去东方，找一个取经的人？”
观音菩萨站出来说：“我愿意去。”如来很高兴，交给她一件宝贝袈裟、一根锡杖和三个金箍，说：“路上要是遇到本领大的妖怪，就劝他做取经人的徒弟。他要是不听话，就把金箍放到他的头上，他就不敢不听了。”
观音带着徒弟惠岸，一路向东走去。路上，她遇到了好几个做了坏事、正在受罚的妖怪：流沙河里一个吃人的妖怪，福陵山上一个长着猪脸的妖怪，一条快要被处死的小白龙，还有压在五行山下面的那只老猴子。观音对他们每一个都这样说：“你在这里等着。将来会有一个从东方来的和尚经过这里，你跟着他去西天取经，就能重新做人。”
观音来到了大唐的都城长安。这时，唐太宗正在举办一场很大的法会，请来一千多个和尚念经。主持法会的，是一个年轻的和尚，名叫玄奘。他从小就出家了，读过很多书，大家都说他是最了不起的和尚。
观音和惠岸变成了两个又脏又破的和尚，拿着袈裟和锡杖在街上卖。有人问价钱，观音说：“袈裟要卖五千，锡杖要卖两千。”大家都哈哈大笑，谁也不买。这件事后来传到了皇帝那里，皇帝想给她钱，可是观音说：“皇帝要是真心信佛，我不要钱，送给你。”唐太宗非常高兴，就把袈裟和锡杖都送给了玄奘。
法会上，玄奘正在讲经，观音走上前，大声说：“你讲的佛法，只能让自己修行，救不了死去的人。西天还有大乘佛法，那才是能救人的佛法！”说完，她变回了本来的样子，站在一朵彩云上，又从空中落下一张纸，上面写着：请到西天取真经。
唐太宗问大家：“谁愿意去西天取经？”玄奘站出来说：“我愿意！取不到真经，我就永远不回来。”唐太宗非常高兴，和他结拜为兄弟，又说：“西天有三藏真经，你就叫‘三藏’吧。”从此，人们都叫他唐三藏，也叫他唐僧。
出发那天，唐太宗亲自送他出城。皇帝给他倒了一杯酒，又从地上抓起一点儿土，放进酒里，说：“这条路又远又难。你要记住：家乡的一把土，也比外地的很多黄金更珍贵。一定要早一点回来！”唐僧明白了皇帝的意思，一口喝干了酒。他带着两个随从，骑着白马，离开长安，向西走去。
几个星期以后，他走在一条没有人的山路上，忽然听见一座大山下面传来一个声音：“师父！你终于来了！”
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 压 | yā | to press; to push down; pressure (as in 压力) |
| 将来 | jiānglái | future; in the future |
| 举办 | jǔbàn | to hold; to host (an event) |
| 破 | pò | to break; to split; broken; damaged; torn |
| 价钱 | jiàqián | price |
| 要是 | yàoshì | if; in case |
| 本来 | běnlái | originally; at first; of course (it goes without saying) |
| 样子 | yàngzi | appearance; look |
| 永远 | yóngyuǎn | forever; always; eternally |
| 兄弟 | xiōngdì | brother; bro (friendly address among men) |
| 从此 | cóngcǐ | from now on; from then on; henceforth |
| 城 | chéng | city; town |
English (for the teacher)
Who was this monk from the east? To find out, we have to start in the Western Heaven.
After Sun Wukong was pinned under Five-Element Mountain, heaven and earth were quiet for many years. One day the Buddha said to the bodhisattvas: "I have here the scriptures in three baskets, which can teach people to be good. I want to send them to the East, but the people there might not value them. It would be best for someone from the East to cross a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers and come to the Western Heaven to fetch them himself. Who will go east and find a pilgrim to fetch the scriptures?"
Guanyin stepped forward and said: "I will go." The Buddha was pleased, and gave her a cassock, a monk's staff and three golden hoops, saying: "If you meet demons with great powers on the way, persuade them to become the pilgrim's disciples. If one won't behave, put a golden hoop on his head, and he won't dare disobey."
Guanyin set off east with her disciple Huian. On the way she met several demons who had done wrong and were being punished: a man-eating monster in the Flowing Sand River, a pig-faced monster on Fuling Mountain, a little white dragon about to be put to death, and the old monkey under Five-Element Mountain. To each of them Guanyin said: "Wait here. One day a monk from the East will pass this way. Go with him to the West to fetch the scriptures, and you can start your life again."
Guanyin came to Chang'an, the capital of the great Tang. At that time Emperor Taizong was holding a great ceremony and had invited over a thousand monks to chant the scriptures. The one leading the ceremony was a young monk named Xuanzang. He had become a monk as a child and had read a great many books, and everyone said he was the finest monk of all.
Guanyin and Huian turned themselves into two dirty, ragged monks and went to sell the cassock and staff in the street. When someone asked the price, Guanyin said: "Five thousand for the cassock, two thousand for the staff." Everyone roared with laughter, and nobody bought them. Word of this later reached the emperor, and he wanted to pay her, but Guanyin said: "If Your Majesty truly believes in the Buddha, I won't take any money. They're yours." Emperor Taizong was delighted and gave the cassock and the staff to Xuanzang.
At the ceremony, as Xuanzang was preaching, Guanyin stepped forward and said loudly: "The teaching you preach can only help yourself; it cannot save the dead. In the Western Heaven there is the Great Vehicle teaching, and that is the teaching that saves people!" With that she changed back into her true form, standing on a coloured cloud, and a sheet of paper floated down from the sky. On it was written: Come to the Western Heaven to fetch the true scriptures.
Emperor Taizong asked everyone: "Who is willing to go to the Western Heaven for the scriptures?" Xuanzang stepped forward and said: "I am! If I don't get the true scriptures, I will never come back." Emperor Taizong was overjoyed. He made Xuanzang his sworn brother and said: "In the West there are the scriptures in three baskets, so you shall be called Sanzang, 'Three Baskets'." From then on people called him Tang Sanzang, or the Tang Monk.
On the day he left, Emperor Taizong saw him out of the city himself. The emperor poured him a cup of wine, picked up a pinch of earth from the ground and dropped it into the wine, saying: "This road is long and hard. Remember: a handful of earth from home is worth more than piles of gold abroad. Be sure to come back soon!" The Tang Monk understood what the emperor meant, and drank the wine down in one go. With two servants and riding a white horse, he left Chang'an and headed west.
Weeks later, as he walked along a lonely mountain road, he suddenly heard a voice shouting from under a great mountain: "Master! You've come at last!"