Journey to the West chapter 23 西游记第二十三回 三藏不忘本四圣试禅心

This passage, taken from the commentary on the twenty-third episode of Journey to the West, explores the deeper meaning of the episode "The Four Saints' Test of Zen" and the weakness of human nature - greed.The author of the commentary uses the Eight Precepts' lustful behavior to illustrate the commonality between Taoism's "Four Thieves" and Buddhism's "Five Lusts," i.e., the word "wealth and sex" is a temptation that is hard for people to get rid of, and even immortals are not immune to it. The whole text takes the encounter of the Eight Precepts as an introduction, and discusses in depth the importance of **"Serving the Essence", i.e., people who cultivate Taoism should keep the original heart, and not be confused by the temptations of the outside world **. Combined with the text of Journey to the West, the annotation explains the real purpose of the "Test of Zen Heart" from the behavior of the characters, environmental depictions to poems and songs: to test the ability of the scripture-takers to resist temptation, to hold fast to their hearts, and ultimately to reach the realm of "Returning to Simplicity and Reverting to Truth". Finally, the annotation ends with a warning to the world to give up greed and cultivate one's character, which points out the main idea of the whole text.
这段文字选自《西游记》第二十三回的批注，探讨了“四圣试禅心”这一情节的深层含义，以及人性的弱点--贪欲。批注作者借八戒贪色之行，阐述了道家“四贼”与佛家“五欲”的共通之处，即财色二字是人难以摆脱的诱惑，即使是神仙也难免。 全文以八戒的遭遇为引子，深入探讨了**“务本”的重要性，即修道之人要守住本心，不被外界的诱惑所迷惑**。 批注结合《西游记》文本，从人物行为、环境描写到诗词歌赋，层层递进地解释了“试禅心”的真正目的：考验取经人能否抵御诱惑，坚守本心，最终达到“返朴归真”的境界。 最终，批注以警示世人要戒除贪欲，修身养性作为结尾，点明了全文的主旨。