The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (80 page)

“So we can’t go over there,” said Tripitaka, “but I’m really hungry!” “If you are, Master, please dismount,” said Pilgrim. “Sit here on level ground and let me go somewhere to beg some vegetarian food for you to eat.” Tripitaka consented and dismounted. After Eight Rules took hold of the reins, Sha Monk put down the luggage and untied the wrap to take out the alms bowl to hand over to Pilgrim. Taking it in his hand, Pilgrim gave this instruction to Sha Monk: “Worthy Brother, don’t go forward. Just stand guard over Master sitting here. Wait until I come back with the food and we can then set out again to the West.” Sha Monk obeyed, and Pilgrim said once more to Tripitaka, “Master, that place in front of us betokens more evil than good. Don’t ever leave here and go elsewhere. Old Monkey is off to beg for food.” “Don’t talk anymore,” said the Tang Monk. “Just go quickly and come back. I’ll wait for you here.” Pilgrim turned and was about to leave, but he walked back again to say, “Master, I realize you can’t sit still for very long. Let me provide you with some means of safety.” He took out his golden-hooped rod and drew on the level ground a large circle. The Tang Monk was asked to sit in its middle, while Eight Rules and Sha Monk stood by either side of him. The horse and the luggage, too, were placed near them. Then Pilgrim pressed his palms together to bow to the Tang Monk, saying, “The circle drawn by old Monkey here is as strong as an iron wall. No matter what they are—tigers, wolves, ogres, or demons—they will not dare come near you. But you must not step out of the circle. Remain seated inside and no harm will come to you. But if you leave the circle, you will in all likelihood meet with danger. Please take heed of my words! Please take heed of my words!” Tripitaka agreed and all three of them sat down solemnly in the circle.

Mounting the clouds, Pilgrim went south to search for a place to beg for food. Suddenly he saw some tall, aged trees, near which was a village. He lowered his cloud and took a careful look. He saw

    
Snow abusing weak willows

    
And ice frozen in the square pond;

    
Sparse bamboos waving their blue;

    
Dense pine trees holding their green;

    
A few thatched huts half decked with silver;

    
A small, slanted bridge powder-dusted;

    
Half-bloomed narcissus by the fence;

    
Long icicles dangling beneath the eaves.

    
The piercing cold wind wafted a rare scent,

    
But snow hid the place where plum flowers bloomed.

As
Pilgrim admired the scenery of the village, he heard one of the wooden gates open with a creak and out walked an old man, who wore a lamb’s-wool hat, a long robe full of holes, and a pair of grass sandals. Supporting himself with a staff, he looked up to the sky and said, “Ah, the northwest wind is rising. It’ll be fair tomorrow.” Hardly had he finished speaking when a Pekingese ran out from behind him and barked furiously at Pilgrim. Only then did the old man turn around.

Pilgrim stood before him holding the alms bowl and bowed, saying, “Old Benefactor, this priest happens to be someone sent by imperial decree of the Great Tang in the Land of the East to the Western Heaven to seek scriptures from Buddha. We are passing through your region and my master is hungry. I have come to your honorable residence to beg you for some vegetarian food.” When the old man heard this, he shook his head and struck the ground several times with his staff, saying, “Elder, you shouldn’t beg for food just yet, for you have taken the wrong road.” “I have not,” said Pilgrim. The old man said, “The main road to the Western Heaven is due north of here, over a thousand miles away. You should go and find that road at once.” Pilgrim laughed and said, “Yes, it
is
due north of here, and my master right now is sitting beside that road and waiting for me to beg for food.” “This monk is babbling!” said the old man. “If your master is indeed waiting at the main road for you to beg for food, a distance of a thousand miles will require six or seven days of traveling one way, even if you happen to be an exceptionally adroit traveler. When you go back to him, it will take another week or so. By then, he would be long starved to death, wouldn’t he?”

Pilgrim laughed again and said, “To tell you the truth, Old Benefactor, I left my master not long ago, and it took me no more than the time of drinking a cup of tea to get to this place. Once I succeed in begging some food, I shall rush back to serve it to him for lunch.” On hearing this, the old man became terribly frightened, thinking to himself, “This priest is a ghost! A ghost!” He turned around and began to dash inside. Pilgrim made a grab at him and said, “Benefactor, where are you going? If you have some food, donate it to us.” “It’s not convenient! It’s not convenient!” said the old man. “Go to some other family.” “Benefactor,” said Pilgrim, “you aren’t very considerate! As you said, this place is over a thousand miles away from the main road. If I go to another family, it may take another thousand miles. Wouldn’t my master be really starved to death then?”

“To tell you the truth,” said the old man, “there are altogether six or seven people in my family, and we have just washed and placed three pints of rice in the cauldron. It’s not even fully cooked yet. Please go somewhere else to look for your food.” Pilgrim said, “As the ancients said, ‘Walking to three other houses is not like sitting in one.’ This humble priest will sit here and wait.” When the old man saw how persistent Pilgrim was, he became
angry; lifting his staff, he struck out at Pilgrim. Not the least intimidated, Pilgrim allowed the old man to hit his bald head seven or eight times without a flinch—it was as if someone were scratching an itch for him! “This is a priest with a collision-proof head!” said the old man. “Venerable Sir,” said Pilgrim, chuckling, “you can hit me all you want. But you’d better remember the number of blows you give me: one blow will cost you one pint of rice! You can take your time and measure it!” On hearing this, the old man quickly dropped his staff and ran inside. He slammed the door shut, yelling, “A ghost! A ghost!” The entire household was so terrified that both the front and the back doors were at once tightly bolted.

When Pilgrim saw that the doors were shut, he thought to himself, “This old rogue said that they had just washed the rice and placed it in the cauldron. I wonder if he was telling the truth. As the proverb says, ‘The Daoists beg from the worthies but the Buddhists from the fools.’ Let old Monkey go in and take a look.” Dear Great Sage! He made the magic sign with his fingers and used the magic of invisibility to walk straight into the kitchen: steam was indeed rising from the cauldron, for there was inside it half a cauldron of dried rice. He stuffed the alms bowl into the cauldron and gave it a strong scoop to fill the alms bowl with rice. He then mounted the clouds to go back to his master, and we shall not speak of him for the moment.

We tell you now instead about the Tang Monk sitting in the circle. He waited for a long time without seeing Pilgrim returning. Half rising, he said dejectedly, “Where did that ape go to beg for food?” “Who knows!” said Eight Rules on one side, snickering. “He must have gone somewhere to play around! You think he’s going to beg for food? He just wants us imprisoned here!” “What do you mean by imprisoned?” asked Tripitaka. “Don’t you know, Master?” said Eight Rules. “The ancients drew on the ground to establish a jail. That’s what he did! He drew a circle with his rod, and he claimed that it was stronger than a wall of iron. But if some tigers or ferocious beasts really showed up, how could this circle protect us? We might as well give ourselves to them for food!” “Wuneng,” said Tripitaka, “what do you propose to do?” Eight Rules said, “This place can’t shelter us from the wind or the cold. If you agree with old Hog, we should follow this road and start out toward the West once more. If Elder Brother manages to get some food, he will no doubt return quickly, riding on his cloud. He should have no difficulty catching up with us, and when there is food, we can stop and eat first before we move on. Sitting here all this time will only make our feet grow cold!”

It was the bad luck of Tripitaka to have heard these words! He agreed with Idiot and all of them walked out of the circle. Eight Rules led the horse while Sha Monk poled the luggage; the elder did not even climb on the horse. Following the road, he walked right up to the towered building and found that it was an edifice facing south. Outside the door was a brick wall painted white
with
corners like the word eight, which connected with a small towered-gate decorated with carvings of lovebirds hung upside down and painted with five colors. The door of the building was half closed. Eight Rules tied the horse to one of the stoneware door wedges, and Sha Monk put down his pole. As he was sensitive to the cold wind, Tripitaka sat on the threshold. “Master,” said Eight Rules, “this must be the residence of a noble man or an official. If we can’t see anyone near the front door, all the inhabitants must be inside warming themselves by the fire. You two sit here, and let me go inside to take a look.” “Take care!” said the Tang Monk. “Don’t offend people!” Idiot said, “I know! Since I was converted and entered the gate of Chan, I have acquired some manners! I’m not like one of those village fools!”

Tying the muckrake to his waist, Idiot straightened out his blue silk shirt and walked inside in a civil manner. He saw three large front halls with all the curtains drawn up; the whole place was quiet and without a trace of any human inhabitant. There were neither furniture nor utensils. Passing the screens, he walked further inside and came upon a long corridor, behind which was a tall, two-story building. The windows on top were half opened, and one could see parts of a set of yellow silk curtains in the room. “The people must be afraid of the cold,” said Idiot to himself. “They are still sleeping!” With no regard for manners, Idiot strode right up to the second story of the building. When he drew the curtains apart to take a look, he was so startled that he stumbled and fell. Inside the curtains, you see, and lying on top of an ivory bed was a skeleton of sickly white. The skull was big as a jar and the leg bones, straight as poles, were about four or five feet long. After he had calmed down, Idiot could not restrain the tears rolling down his cheeks. Shaking his head and sighing, he said to the skeleton, “I wonder you are

    
The remains of a marshal of which nation,

    
Or of which domain or state a great general.

    
Once you were a hero striving to win;

    
Today how piteously you show your bones.

    
Your children and wife aren’t here to serve you;

    
No soldiers burn incense to honor you.

    
You are truly most lamentable a sight:

    
You, who used to seek rule by might or right!”

As Eight Rules thus lamented, he suddenly saw a flare of light behind the curtains. “Someone must be here after all to offer incense to him,” said Idiot. He went behind the curtains hurriedly to look and found that rays of light were coming through some screens set up in a side room. Behind the screens was a lacquered table, on which there were several garments made of embroidered silk brocade. When Idiot picked them up, he saw that they were three silk vests.

Without
regard for good or ill, he took the vests and came down the building. He went back through the front halls to walk out the door. “Master,” he said, “there’s no trace of anyone living inside. It’s in fact a residence of the deceased. Old Hog went inside and walked upstairs to the tall tower, where there was a skeleton inside some yellow silk curtains. In a side room there were three silk vests, which I’ve brought with me. This has to be our luck, at least a little of it! Since it’s turning cold now, we can make good use of them. Master, take off your outer garment and put on one of those vests. Enjoy, so you won’t feel the cold so much.” “No! No!” said Tripitaka. “For the
Code Book
says, ‘To take things, whether in open or in secret, is thievery.’ If someone found out and caught up with us, the officials would undoubtedly charge us with the crime of theft. Take them back and put them at the place you found them. We can sit here for awhile to escape from the wind, and when Wukong arrives, we’ll move on. Those of us who have left the family should not be so covetous of small gains!” Eight Rules said, “There’s not a single person around, even dogs or chickens are unaware of our presence. Only we know what we have done. Who will file charges against me? Who will be a witness? It was as if I had picked up these vests from the road. What do you mean by taking in open or in secret?” “You act foolishly!” said Tripitaka. “Though man may not know it, will Heaven be ignorant of it? Xuandi left this instruction:

    
He may conscience slyly despise,

    
But like lightning are the god’s eyes.
⁴

Return them quickly! Don’t be greedy for things which do not belong to you.”

Idiot, of course, refused to listen. Laughing, he said to the Tang Monk, “O Master! Since I became a human, I have worn several vests, but none made with such lovely brocade. If you won’t want to put it on, let old Hog put it on. I’m going to try something new, and I want to warm my back a bit. When Elder Brother arrives, I’ll take it off and we’ll move on.” “If that’s the way you put it,” said Sha Monk, “I’ll try one, too!” The two of them took off their shirts and put on the vests. They were just trying to tighten the straps when all of sudden they could no longer stand up and tumbled to the ground. The vests, you see, somehow turned out to be like two straitjackets; in an instant, the two of them had their arms twisted backwards and firmly bound behind their backs. Tripitaka was so taken aback that he stamped his feet and chided them; he then went forward to try to untie them, but it was all to no avail. As the three of them made continuous clamor over there, a demon was soon alerted.