紧箍咒
The Tightening Spell
Name: ________________ Date: ________
那六个人各执刀枪，拦住去路，大喝道：“和尚，留下马匹，放下行李，饶你性命过去！”这六人的名字也古怪，分别叫作眼看喜、耳听怒、鼻嗅爱、舌尝思、意见欲、身本忧。唐僧吓得跌下马来，说不出话。悟空却笑道：“原来是六个毛贼！”那六个贼大怒，举刀往他头上乱砍了七八十下，悟空动也不动。他这才从耳中取出金箍棒，一棍一个，把六个贼都打死了。
唐僧见了，埋怨道：“你闯下大祸了！他们虽是强盗，就是送到官府，也不该死罪。你纵有手段，只把他们赶走便是，为何把他们全都打死？出家人‘扫地恐伤蝼蚁命，爱惜飞蛾纱罩灯’，你这般行凶，如何做得和尚？”悟空道：“师父，我若不打死他们，他们却要打死你哩！”唐僧又絮絮叨叨数落个不停。悟空一生最受不得别人的气，按不住心头火起，道：“你既说我做不得和尚，上不得西天，我回去便了！”说罢，他纵身一跳，只听呼的一声，转眼就不见了。
悟空一个筋斗，来到东海龙宫。龙王请他喝茶，他抬头看见墙上挂着一幅画，便问画的是什么。龙王道：“这叫‘三进履’。黄石公坐在一座桥上，故意把鞋子掉到桥下，叫张良去捡。张良捡回来，跪着献上。如此三次，张良没有一点怠慢之心，黄石公便传他一部兵书，后来张良辅佐汉朝，成就了大业。”龙王又劝道：“大圣，你若不保唐僧，不受教诲，终究是个妖仙，休想修成正果。”悟空沉吟半晌，道：“莫多说，老孙还去保他便了。”
却说唐僧独坐路旁，来了一个老婆婆，捧着一件绵布衣裳、一顶嵌金花帽，说是送给他的。她又传了他一篇咒语，叫“定心真言”，又名“紧箍咒”，嘱咐他暗暗念熟，莫泄露给人。说罢，老婆婆化作一道金光，往东去了。唐僧这才明白，原来是观音菩萨亲自来了。
不多时，悟空回来了。他打开包袱找吃的，看见那件衣裳和花帽，问是从哪里来的。唐僧顺口说道：“是我小时候穿戴的。这帽子戴了，不用教，就会念经。”悟空道：“好师父，给我戴了吧！”说着便把帽子戴在头上。
唐僧悄悄念起紧箍咒来。悟空立刻抱着头叫道：“头痛！头痛！”在地上打滚，把帽子都扯破了。原来那帽子化作了一个金箍，紧紧箍在他头上，摘也摘不掉，拉也拉不开，好像长在肉里一般。唐僧一停，他就不痛；一念，他又痛得死去活来。悟空恼了，掏出金箍棒，想打师父，唐僧又念了几遍，他便跌倒在地，连声求饶：“师父，莫念了！莫再念了！我晓得了！”
唐僧问：“你今后可听我教诲了？”悟空道：“听了！”“你还敢无礼么？”“不敢了！”悟空这才明白，这法子是观音传的，便要去南海找她算账。唐僧道：“既然这法子是她传给我的，她必定也会念。你若去找她，她念起咒来，你还有命么？”悟空只得叩头道：“师父，我愿保你西去，再也不回头了。”
从此，悟空乖乖听话——至少大多数时候是这样。这一日，师徒来到一道深涧边，只听得涧里哗啦一声，有个庞然大物从水中冒了出来……
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 眼看 | yǎnkàn | to watch helplessly; to sit by and watch |
| 吓 | xià | to frighten; to scare; to be frightened |
| 跌 | diē | to fall; to tumble |
| 棍 | gùn | stick; rod; club |
| 闯 | chuǎng | to rush; to charge |
| 虽 | suī | although; even though (as in 虽然) |
| 为何 | wèihé | why; for what reason |
| 师父 | shīfu | master; teacher (in a craft, martial art, or religion) |
| 不得 | bude | must not; may not (formal) |
| 跪 | guì | to kneel |
| 捧 | pěng | to hold in both hands |
| 布 | bù | cloth; fabric |
English (for the teacher)
The six men, each with a sword or spear, blocked the road and bellowed: "Monk, leave the horse, put down the luggage, and we'll let you pass with your life!" Their names were strange, too: Eye-That-Sees-Delight, Ear-That-Hears-Anger, Nose-That-Smells-Love, Tongue-That-Tastes-Thought, Mind-That-Sees-Desire and Body-That-Bears-Sorrow. The Tang Monk was so frightened that he fell off his horse and could not say a word. But Wukong laughed: "So you're just six petty thieves!" The six robbers were furious; they hacked at his head seventy or eighty times, and Wukong did not even move. Only then did he take his golden-hooped staff out of his ear and strike them down, one blow apiece, until all six robbers were dead.
When the Tang Monk saw it, he complained: "You've caused a terrible disaster! They may have been robbers, but even if they'd been taken to court, they wouldn't have deserved death. Clever as you are, you only had to chase them off; why did you kill them all? We who have left home 'sweep the floor for fear of hurting an ant, and cover the lamp for pity of the moth'; if you go around killing like this, how can you be a monk?" Wukong said: "Master, if I hadn't killed them, they would have killed you!" But the Tang Monk kept on nagging him without stopping. Wukong had never in his life been able to stand being pushed around, and unable to hold back his temper, he said: "If you say I can't be a monk and can't go to the West, then I'll just go home!" With that he leapt up, there was a whoosh, and he was gone.
With one somersault Wukong reached the Dragon Palace of the East Sea. The Dragon King invited him to tea, and Wukong looked up and saw a painting hanging on the wall, so he asked what it showed. The Dragon King said: "This is called 'Three Times Fetching the Shoe'. Huang Shigong sat on a bridge and dropped his shoe under it on purpose, and told Zhang Liang to fetch it. Zhang Liang brought it back and offered it to him on his knees. This happened three times, and Zhang Liang never showed the slightest impatience, so Huang Shigong passed a book of strategy on to him, and later Zhang Liang helped found the Han dynasty." Then the Dragon King urged him: "Great Sage, if you don't guard the Tang Monk and won't take his teaching, you'll be nothing but a demon immortal in the end, so don't dream of ever reaching enlightenment." Wukong thought about it for a long while, then said: "Say no more; old Sun will go back and guard him."
Meanwhile, the Tang Monk was sitting alone by the road when an old woman came along, carrying a cotton robe and a flowered cap set with gold, which she said were for him. She also taught him a spell called the "True Words for Calming the Mind", also known as the "Tightening Spell", and told him to learn it by heart in secret and never let it out. With that, the old woman turned into a beam of golden light and went off to the east. Only then did the Tang Monk realize that it had been the bodhisattva Guanyin herself.
Before long, Wukong came back. He opened the bundle to find something to eat, saw the robe and the flowered cap, and asked where they had come from. The Tang Monk said offhandedly: "I wore them when I was little. Whoever wears this cap can chant the scriptures without being taught." Wukong said: "Dear Master, let me wear it!" And as he spoke he put the cap on his head.
The Tang Monk quietly began to recite the Tightening Spell. At once Wukong clutched his head and cried: "My head hurts! My head hurts!" He rolled on the ground and even tore the cap to pieces. The cap had turned into a golden band, clamped tight around his head; he couldn't pull it off and couldn't prise it open, as if it had grown into his flesh. When the Tang Monk stopped, the pain stopped; when he recited, Wukong hurt so much he wished he were dead. Wukong lost his temper, pulled out his golden-hooped staff and was about to strike his master, but the Tang Monk recited it a few more times, and he fell to the ground, begging for mercy over and over: "Master, stop! Don't say it again! I understand!"
The Tang Monk asked: "From now on, will you take my teaching?" Wukong said: "I will!" "Will you still dare to be rude?" "I won't!" Only then did Wukong realize that the trick had come from Guanyin, and he wanted to go to the South Sea to settle accounts with her. The Tang Monk said: "Since she taught me this spell, she must know it too. If you go after her and she starts reciting, will you still be alive?" Wukong had no choice but to kowtow and say: "Master, I'll guard you on the way west and never turn back again."
From then on, Wukong did as he was told — most of the time, anyway. One day master and disciple came to the edge of a deep gorge, and with a great splash something huge rose up out of the water…