The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (61 page)

“You are ignorant!” said the prince. “The Tang Monk still has another disciple, his eldest, who happens to be the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, a golden immortal of the Great Monad who did cause great disturbance in the Celestial Palace five hundred years ago. Now he is the guardian of the Tang Monk on his way to acquire scriptures in the Western Heaven, and his name has been changed to Pilgrim Sun Wukong at the time of his conversion by the great and merciful Bodhisattva Guanyin of the Potalaka Peak. Don’t you have any other thing to do but to cause such a great disaster as this? It was that Pilgrim Sun who ran into your messenger in our ocean; he took your invitation card and went straight into the Water-Crystal Palace, charging us father and son with the crimes of ‘conspiracy and kidnapping.’ You’d better send the Tang Monk and Eight Rules back to the shore of the river immediately and return them to the Great Sage Sun. You can then rely on my apologies to him to preserve your life. But if you utter only half a ‘No,’ you might as well forget about your life or any further opportunity to live in this place!”

When
the fiend heard this statement, he grew terribly angry, saying, “I’m an intimate first cousin of yours. How could you side with someone else? If I listen to you, I’ll have to send out the Tang Monk—just like that! You think there’s such an easy thing in this whole wide world? You may be afraid of that Sun Wukong, but you think I’m afraid of him, too? If he has any ability, let him come to the front of my water residence and fight with me for three rounds. I’ll return his master then, but if he can’t withstand me, I’ll capture him also and have him steamed together with his master. I won’t recognize any relative, nor will I invite any more guests! I’ll shut my door and ask my little ones to sing and dance. I’ll take the honored seat above to enjoy myself. You bet I’ll eat his mother’s!”

When the prince heard this, he opened his mouth wide and expostulated, “You brazen demon! You are truly audacious! Let’s not ask the Great Sage Sun to face you. Do you dare hold a contest with me?” “If I want to be a hero,” said the fiend, “you think I’ll be afraid of any contest?” He shouted to his little fiends, “Bring me my armor!” His cry immediately made those little fiends on his left and right bring up his armor and the steel crop. Changing their colors all at once, the two of them unleashed their strength and gave the order for the drums to sound on both sides. This battle was quite different from the previous one in which Sha Monk took part. You saw

    
Flags and banners luminous;

    
Spears and halberds ablaze.

    
On that side the camps were quickly broken;

    
On this side the doors were widely open.

    
Prince Moang held high his golden club,

    
Met by fiend iguana wielding his crop.

    
The cannon’s one boom made river soldiers fierce;

    
Three strokes of the gong aroused marine troops.

    
Shrimps fought with shrimps;

    
Crabs strove with crabs;

    
The whale swallowed the red carp;

    
The bream downed the yellow
zhang
;
⁸

    
The shark devoured the mullet and the mackerel fled;

    
The rock oyster caught the clam and the mussel panicked.

    
Hard like an iron rod was the stingray’s whip;

    
Sharp like a razor was the swordfish’s jaw.

    
The sturgeon chased the white eel;

    
The whitebait seized the black pomfret.

    
A river full of water fiends took up the fight;

    
Dragon troops on both sides did join the fray

    
And brawled for a long time as billows churned.

    
Mighty
as Indra was the prince Moang,

    
Who with a cry brought down his golden club

    
And caught the king of mischief, the iguana fiend.

Holding his three-cornered club, the prince feigned an opening and the monster-spirit, not realizing that it was faked, lunged forward to attack. Sidestepping quickly from his opponent’s charge, the prince brought the club down hard on the monster-spirit’s right arm and knocked him to the ground. The prince rushed up to him and gave him another kick that sent him sprawling. The marine soldiers all surged forward to pin the monster-spirit to the ground; his arms were hog-tied behind his back and his chest bone was pierced and bound with an iron chain. He was taken up to the shore to appear before Pilgrim Sun, as the prince said, “Great Sage, your little dragon has caught the monster iguana. Let the Great Sage decide what shall be done with him.”

When Pilgrim saw this, he said to the monster-spirit, “You have been disobedient to what you were told. When your Venerable Uncle gave you permission to live here, he intended for you to nourish your nature to preserve your body. At the time when you acquired a name, he would have transferred you to another post. How dare you use force to occupy the residence of the water god and abuse the kindness of your elders? How dare you exercise your paltry magic to deceive my master and my younger brother? I would like to give you a stroke of my rod, but this rod of old Monkey is quite heavy. One slight touch and your life will be finished. Let me ask you instead, where have you placed my master?” Kowtowing without ceasing, the fiend said, “Great Sage, this little iguana has no knowledge of the Great Sage’s reputation. Just now, I violated reason and morality to resist my elder cousin, who had me arrested. Now that I have seen you, I am eternally grateful to the Great Sage for sparing my life. Your master is still tied up in the water residence. I beg the Great Sage to loosen my iron chain and untie my hands. Let me go into the river and escort him out here.” On one side Moang said, “Great Sage, this is a rebellious fiend and most devious. If you turn him loose, I fear that he may plot something wicked.” “I know his residence,” said Sha Monk, “let me go and find Master.”

He and the river god at once leaped into the waves and went to the water residence down below, where they found the doors wide open but not a single little fiend. When they walked inside to reach the pavilion, they found the Tang Monk and Eight Rules still bound there and completely naked. Sha Monk hurriedly untied his master as the river god loosened the ropes on Eight Rules, after which they placed the freed prisoners on their backs and darted back to the surface of the water. When Eight Rules discovered the monster-spirit on the shore all tied up with ropes and chains, he
lifted
his rake and wanted to strike him, crying, “You perverse beast! You still want to eat me?” Pilgrim tugged at him, saying, “Brother, let’s spare him. Have regard for the feelings of Aoshun and his son.” Bowing, Moang said, “Great Sage, your little dragon dares not linger any longer. Since we have succeeded in rescuing your master, I must bring this fellow back to see my father. Though the Great Sage has spared his life, my father will most certainly not permit him to go unpunished. He will dispose of him in some way, I’m sure, and then we shall report to the Great Sage along with our apologies once more.”

“In that case,” said Pilgrim, “you may take him and leave. Please bow to your Honored Father for me and I shall thank him in person another time.” The prince at once led the marine soldiers and the monster-spirit into the water, where they found their way directly back to the Great Western Ocean and we shall speak no more of them.

We tell you now about the river god of the Black River, who gave thanks to Pilgrim, saying, “I am deeply indebted to the Great Sage for the recovery of my water residence.” The Tang Monk said, “Disciples, we are still stranded on the eastern shore. How shall we cross this river?” The river god said, “Venerable Father, please do not worry and mount your horse. This humble deity will open up a path for Venerable Father to cross the river.” The master indeed climbed onto the white horse, while Eight Rules held the reins, Sha Monk poled the luggage, and Pilgrim took up the rear. The river god then exercised his magic of blocking the water; as the upper reaches of the river were dammed up, the lower part of the river soon turned dry, and a wide road was thus created. Master and disciples walked safely to the western shore and, after thanking the river god, they proceeded to high ground to set out again on their way. So it was that

    
With help the Chan monk could now face the West;

    
With no waves on earth, they could cross Black River.

We do not know how finally they manage to see Buddha and acquire scriptures; let’s listen to the explanation in the next chapter.

FORTY-
FOUR

The dharma-body in primal cycle meets the force of the cart;

The mind, righting monstrous deviates, crosses the spine-ridge pass.

The poem says:

    
To seek scriptures and freedom they go to the West,

    
An endless toil through countless mounts of fame.

    
The days fly by like darting hares and crows;

    
As petals fall and birds sing the seasons go.

    
A little dust—the eye reveals three thousand worlds;

    
The priestly staff—its head has seen four hundred isles.

    
They feed on wind and rest on dew to seek their goal,
¹

    
Not knowing which day they may all return.

We were telling you about Tripitaka Tang and his disciples, who found the main road to the West. Truly they had to face the wind and brave the snow, to be capped by the moon and cloaked by the stars. They journeyed for a long time and soon it was the time of early spring. You see

    
The cycled return of triple yang;
²

    
The radiance of all things.

    
The cycled return of triple yang

    
Makes all Heavens beguiling like a painted scroll;

    
The radiance of all things

    
Means flowers spread brocade through all the earth.

    
The plums fade to a few specks of snow;

    
The grains swell with the valley clouds.

    
Ice breaks gradually and mountain streams flow;

    
Seedlings sprout completely and unparched.

    
Truly it is that

    
The God of the Year rides forth;

    
The God of the Woods takes a drive.

    
Warm breezes waft floral fragrance;

    
Light clouds renew the light of the sun.

    
Willows by the wayside spread their curvate green;

    
The rains give life; all things bear the looks of spring.

As master and disciples traveled slowly along the road, enjoying the scenery as they proceeded, they suddenly heard a loud cry that seemed the roar of ten
thousand
voices. Tripitaka Tang was so startled that he immediately pulled in his reins and refused to go forward. Turning back, he said, “Wukong, where did that terrible din come from?” “Yes, it sounded as if the earth were splitting apart and the mountains were toppling,” said Eight Rules. “More like the crack of thunder I’d say,” said Sha Monk. Tripitaka said, “I still think it’s men shouting or horses neighing.” With a chuckle, Pilgrim Sun said, “None of you has guessed correctly. Stop here and let old Monkey go take a look.”

Dear Pilgrim! He leaped up at once and rose into midair, treading on the cloudy luminosity. He peered into the distance and discovered a moated city; when he looked more carefully, he saw that it was veiled by auspicious luminosity after all and not by any baleful vapor. “This is a nice place,” Pilgrim thought to himself. “Why should there be such an ear-splitting roar? There are no banners or spears in sight in the city, and what we heard couldn’t possibly be the roar of cannons. Why is it then that we hear this hubbub of men and horses?” As he was thus thinking to himself, a large group of monks came into his sight: on a sandy beach outside the city gate they were trying to pull a cart up a steep ridge. As they strained and tugged, they cried out in unison to call on the name of the Bodhisattva King Powerful for help, and this was the noise that startled the Tang Monk. Pilgrim lowered his cloud gradually to take a closer look. Aha! The cart was loaded with bricks, tiles, timber, earth clods, and the like. The ridge was exceedingly tall, and leading up to it was a small spine-like path flanked by two perpendicular passes, with walls like two giant cliffs. How could the cart possibly be dragged up there? Though it was such a fine warm day that one would expect people to dress lightly, what the monks had on were virtually rags. They looked destitute indeed! Pilgrim thought to himself, “I suppose they must be trying to build or repair a monastery, and since a region like this undoubtedly yields a bountiful harvest, it must be difficult for them to find part-time laborers. That’s why these monks themselves have to work so hard.” As he was thus speculating, he saw two young Daoists swagger out of the city gate. “How were they dressed?” you ask.