The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2

by Unknown

  If a man has no wife, his wealth has no boss;

  If a girl has no mate, she’s completely lost!

  After you went into court yesterday to present yourself to the kinfolks, why didn’t you return? This morning Zhu Eight Rules came back and robbed us of Sha Monk. Furthermore, they took away our two boys by force despite my desperate pleadings. They said that they would also bring the boys into court to present them to their maternal grandfather. Half a day has gone by already and there’s no sight of our boys or even news of whether they are alive or dead. And you didn’t turn up until just now. How could I part with my babies? That’s why I’m so broken up.” When the fiend heard those words, he grew very angry, saying, “Did that really happen to my sons?” “Yes,” said Pilgrim, “and they were taken away by Zhu Eight Rules.”

  The demon was so incensed that he jumped about madly, crying, “Undone! Undone! My sons have been dashed to death by him! They can’t be revived! The only thing left is to catch that monk and make him pay with his life. Mistress, don’t cry. How do you feel now? Let’s take care of you first.” “I’m all right,” said Pilgrim, “but I miss my babies so much, and all that weeping has caused my heart to ache.” “No need to worry,” said the demon. “Get up first. I have a treasure here; all you need to do is to rub it on the painful spot and it will not hurt anymore. But you must be careful not to fillip your thumb onto the treasure, for if you do, my true form will reveal itself.” When Pilgrim heard this, he said, smiling, to himself, “This brazen creature! He’s quite honest; even without torture he has made a confession already. Wait till he brings out his treasure. I’m going to strike at it with my thumb and see what kind of monster he is.” Leading Pilgrim, the fiend took his companion into the murky depth of the cave before spitting out from his mouth a treasure having the size and shape of a chicken egg. It was an internal elixir, formed crystalline white like a śarīra.5 Secretly delighted, Pilgrim said to himself, “Marvelous thing! God knows how many sedentary exercises had been performed, how many years of trials and sufferings had elapsed, how many times the union of male and female forces had taken place before this śarīra of internal elixir was formed. What great affinity it has today that it should encounter old Monkey!”

  The monkey took it over. Of course, he did not have any pain, but he rubbed it deliberately on his body somewhere before filliping his thumb at it. Alarmed, the fiend immediately stretched forth his hand to try to snatch it away. Think of it! This monkey is just too slick and shifty a character! He popped the treasure in his mouth and with one gulp swallowed it whole. The demon raised his fist and punched at him, only to be parried by the arm of Pilgrim. With his other hand, Pilgrim wiped his own face once and changed back to his original appearance, crying, “Monster, don’t be unruly! Take a look! Who am I?”

  When the fiend saw what he saw, he was greatly shaken, saying “Gosh, Mistress! How did you manage to bring out a face like that?” “You impudent imp!” chided Pilgrim. “Who’s your mistress? You can’t even recognize your own ancestor!” Suddenly comprehending, the fiend said, “I think I know you.” Pilgrim said, “I won’t hit you just yet, take another look.” The fiend said, “Though you do look familiar, I just can’t think of your name at the moment. Who indeed are you? Where do you come from? Where have you moved my wife? How dare you come to my house to cheat me of my treasure? This is most reprehensible!” “So you don’t recognize me,” said Pilgrim. “I am the eldest disciple of the Tang Monk, and my name is Pilgrim Sun Wukong. I’m also your old ancestor of five hundred years ago!” The fiend said, “No such thing! No such thing! When I caught the Tang Monk, I found out that he had only two disciples named Zhu Eight Rules and Sha Monk. No one had ever mentioned that there was someone by the name of Sun. You must be a fiend from somewhere who came here to deceive me.” “The reason why I didn’t accompany the two of them,” said Pilgrim, “was because my habitual slaying of monsters had offended my master. A kind and compassionate person, he dismissed me when I slaughtered one too many. That’s why I was not traveling with him. Are you still ignorant of your ancestor’s name?” “How feckless you are!” said the fiend. “If you were banished by your master, how could you have the gumption to face people here?” Pilgrim said, “You impudent creature! You wouldn’t know about the sentiment of ‘Once a teacher, always a father,’ nor would you know that ‘Between father and son, there’s no overnight enmity.’ If you plan to harm my master, you think I wouldn’t come to rescue him? And you didn’t stop at that; you even abused me behind my back. What have you got to say to that?”

  “Since when did I abuse you?” asked the fiend. Pilgrim replied, “Zhu Eight Rules said you did.” “Don’t believe him,” said the fiend. “That Zhu Eight Rules, with his pointed snout, has a tongue like an old maid’s! Why do you listen to him?” “No need for such idle talk,” said Pilgrim. “I’ll just say that during old Monkey’s visit to your house today, you have not shown your distant guest sufficient hospitality. Though you may not have food and wine to entertain your visitor, you have a head. Stick it over here quickly and let old Monkey beat it once with the rod. I’ll consider that my taking tea.” When the fiend heard this, he roared with laughter, saying, “Pilgrim Sun, you’ve miscalculated! If you wanted to fight, you shouldn’t have followed me here. The various imps under my command, young and old, number in the hundreds. Though you may have arms all over your body, you won’t be able to fight your way out.” Pilgrim said, “Don’t talk rot! And don’t mention a few hundreds! Even if you have hundreds of thousands, just call them up one by one and I’ll slay them. Every stroke of my rod will find its mark. I guarantee that they will be wiped out! Exterminated!”

  When the monster heard these words, he quickly gave the order and called up all the monsters before and behind the mountain, all the fiends in and out of the cave. Each holding weapons, they lined up thickly and completely barricaded the several doors inside the cave. When Pilgrim saw this, he was delighted. Gripping his rod with both hands, he shouted “Change!” and changed at once into a person having three heads and six arms. One wave of the golden-hooped rod and it changed into three golden-hooped rods. Look at him! Six arms wielding the three rods, he plunged into the crowd—like a tiger mauling a herd of sheep, like an eagle alighting on chicken coops. Pity those little fiends! One touch, and heads were smashed to pieces! One brush, and blood flowed like water! He charged back and forth, as if he had invaded an uninhabited region. When he finished, there was only one old monster left, who chased him out the door, crying, “You brazen ape! You are nasty and noxious! You dare oppress people right at their own door!” Spinning around, Pilgrim waved at him, crying, “Come! Come! It’s no merit until I’ve struck you down.” Lifting his scimitar, the monster aimed at his opponent’s head and hacked away, as dear Pilgrim brandished the iron rod to face him. This time they fought on top of the mountain, halfway between mist and cloud.

  Great Sage had great magic power;

  The demon had vast abilities.

  This one struck sideways with the raw iron rod;

  That one raised aslant the steel scimitar.

  The scimitar rose softly, and bright mist glowed;

  The rod parried lightly, and colored clouds flew.

  Back and forth it circled to protect the head;

  Round and round it turned to guard the body.

  One followed the wind to change his looks;

  One shook his body standing on the ground.

  This one widened his fiery eyes and stretched his simian arms;

  That one flared his golden pupils and bent his tigerlike waist.

  Coming and going, they fought round and round—

  Rod and scimitar giving blow for blow.

  The Monkey King’s rod conformed to battle art;

  The fiend’s scimitar followed the rules of war.

  One had always worked his skills to be a demon-lord;

  One had used his vast power to guard the Tang Monk.

  The fierce
Monkey King became more fierce;

  The violent monster grew more violent.

  Heedless of life or death they fought in the air,

  All for Tang Monk’s quest for Buddha from afar.

  The two of them fought for over fifty rounds, but a decision could not be reached. Secretly pleased, Pilgrim thought to himself, “The scimitar of this brazen monster is quite a match for the rod of old Monkey! Let me pretend to blunder and see if he can detect it.” Dear Monkey King! He raised the rod above his head with both his hands, using the style of “Tall-Testing the Horse.” The fiend did not perceive that it was a trick. When he saw that there was a chance, he wielded the scimitar and slashed at the lower third of Pilgrim’s body. Pilgrim quickly employed the “Great Middle Level” to fend off the scimitar, after which he followed up with the style of “Stealing Peaches beneath the Leaves” and brought the rod down hard on the monster’s head. This one blow made the monster vanish completely. He retrieved his rod to look around, but the monster-spirit was nowhere to be seen. Greatly startled, Pilgrim said, “O my child! You can’t take much beating! One stroke, and you’re dead! But even if you were beaten to death, there had to be some blood or pus left. Why isn’t there a trace of you? You must have escaped, I suppose.” Leaping up quickly to the edge of the clouds, he stared in all four directions, but there was not the faintest movement anywhere. “These two eyes of old Monkey,” he said, “can see everything anywhere. How could he vanish just like that? Ah, I know! That fiend said that he recognized me somewhat, and that meant that he couldn’t possibly be an ordinary monster of this world. Most likely he was a spirit from Heaven.”

  Unable to suppress his anger, the Great Sage somersaulted all at once and leaped up to the South Heavenly Gate, wielding his iron rod. Pang, Liu, Gou, Bi, Zhang, Tao, Deng, Xin, and the other celestial captains, were so startled that they bowed on both sides of the gate and dared not stop him. He fought his way in and arrived before the Hall of Perfect Light. Zhang, Ge, Xu, and Qiu, the Celestial Masters, asked him, “Why did the Great Sage come here?” “Because I accompanied the Tang Monk until the Precious Image Kingdom,” said Pilgrim, “where there was a demon who had seduced the princess and sought to harm my master. Old Monkey waged a contest with him, but as we were fighting I suddenly lost him. I don’t think he’s an ordinary fiend of Earth; he has to be a spirit from Heaven. I came especially to investigate whether any monster deity has left the ranks.” When the Celestial Masters heard this, they entered the Hall of Divine Mists to make the report, and an order immediately was issued to take the roll among the Nine Luminaries, the Twelve Branches, the Five Planets of the Five Quarters, the numerous gods of the Milky Way, the Gods of the Five Mountains, and the Four Rivers. Every one of the Heavenly deities was present, for none dared to leave his post. The investigation was then extended beyond the Big Dipper Palace, and the count, back and forth among the Twenty-eight Constellations, had turned up only twenty-seven members. Revatī, the Wood-Wolf Star,6 was missing.

  The Preceptors returned to report to the Throne, saying “Revatī, the Wood-Wolf Star, has left for the Region Below.” The Jade Emperor said, “For how long has he been away from Heaven?” “He was absent for four muster-roll calls,” said the Preceptors. “The roll is taken once every three days, so today is the thirteenth day.” “The thirteenth day in Heaven,” said the Jade Emperor, “is the thirteenth year on Earth.” He thereupon gave the order for the Star’s own department to recall him back to Heaven.

  After having received the decree, the Twenty-seven Constellations went out of the Heavenly Gate and each of them recited a spell, which aroused Revatī. “Where was he hiding?” you ask. The Star, actually, had been a celestial warrior who was terror stricken when the Great Sage caused great disturbance in Heaven previously. Just now, the Star hid himself in a mountain stream, and the water vapor had covered up his monster-cloud. That was why he could not be seen. Only when he heard his own colleagues reciting their spells did he dare emerge and follow the crowd to return to the Region Above. He was met by the Great Sage at the gate, who wanted to hit him, but fortunately the other Stars managed to put a stop to it. He was then taken to see the Jade Emperor. Taking out the golden plaque from his waist, the fiend knelt below the steps of the hall and kowtowed, admitting his guilt.

  “Revatī, the Wood-Wolf Star,” said the Jade Emperor, “there is boundless beauty in the Region Above. Instead of enjoying this, you chose to visit in secret another region. Why?”

  “Your Majesty,” said Revatī the Star, kowtowing, “please pardon the mortal offense of your subject. The princess of the Precious Image Kingdom is no ordinary mortal; she is actually the jade girl in charge of incense in the Spread Incense Hall. She wanted to have an affair with your subject, who was afraid, however, that this act would defile the noble region of the Celestial Palace. Longing for the world, she went first to the Region Below where she assumed human form in the imperial palace. Your subject, not wanting to disappoint her, changed himself into a demon. After I occupied a famous mountain, I abducted her to my cave dwelling where we became husband and wife for thirteen years. Thus ‘not even a sup or a bite is not foreordained,’ and it is fated that Great Sage Sun should accomplish his merit at this time.” When the Jade Emperor heard these words, he ordered that the Star’s golden plaque be taken away from him; he was then banished to the Tushita Palace to be a paid fire-tender for Laozi, with the stipulation that he would be restored to his rank if he made merit, and that he would be punished further if he did not.

  When Pilgrim saw how the Jade Emperor disposed of the matter, he was so pleased that he bowed deeply to the Throne. Then he said to the other deities, “All of you, thanks for taking the trouble.” “This ape,” said one of the Masters, laughing, “is still so uncouth! We have taken captive for him the monster-god, and instead of showing his gratitude to the Heavenly Grace properly, he leaves after only taking a bow.” The Jade Emperor said, “We count it our good fortune already if he doesn’t start any trouble and leaves Heaven in peace.”

  Lowering the direction of his auspicious luminosity, the Great Sage went back directly to the Current-Moon Cave of the Casserole Mountain, where he found the princess. As he was just giving her an account of all that went before, they heard Eight Rules and Sha Monk shouting in midair, “Elder Brother, save a few monster-spirits for us to beat, too.” “They are all finished,” said Pilgrim. “In that case,” said Sha Monk, “nothing should detain us here. Let’s bring the princess back to court. Brothers, let’s do the magic of Shortening the Ground.”

  All the princess heard was the rushing of wind, and in a moment, they were back in the city. The three of them brought the princess up to the Palace of the Golden Chimes, where she bowed reverently to her parents and met again her sisters. Thereafter, the various officials all came to pay their respects. “We are truly beholden to Elder Sun,” said the princess to the Throne, “whose boundless dharma power subdued the Yellow Robe Fiend and brought me back to our kingdom.” “What kind of monster is that Yellow Robe?” asked the king. Pilgrim said, “The son-in-law of Your Majesty happens to be the Star Revatī from the Region Above, and your daughter was the jade girl in charge of incense. Because of her longing for the world, they both descended to Earth to assume human forms. It was no small thing that they should consummate a marriage contracted in their previous existence. When old Monkey went to the Celestial Palace to report to the Jade Emperor, it was discovered that the fiend had not answered the muster-roll for four times. This meant that he had left Heaven for thirteen days, and correspondingly thirteen years had passed on Earth, for a day in Heaven is a year down here. The Jade Emperor ordered the Constellations of his department to recall him to the Region Above, where he was then banished to work for further merit in the Tushita Palace. Old Monkey was then able to bring back your daughter.” After the king had thanked Pilgrim for his kindness, he said, “Let’s go and take a look at your master.”

  The three disciples followed the
king and descended from the treasure hall to go into one of the chambers in the court, where the officials brought out the iron cage and loosened the chains on the specious tiger. Everyone still saw the tiger as a tiger, but Pilgrim alone saw him as a man. The master, you see, was imprisoned by diabolical magic; though he understood everything, he could neither walk nor open his eyes or mouth. “Master,” said Pilgrim, laughing, “you are a good monk. How did you manage to end up with a fearsome look like that? You blamed me for working evil and violence and banished me. You claimed that you wanted to practice virtue single-mindedly. How did you acquire such features all at once?”

  “Elder Brother,” said Eight Rules, “please save him. Don’t just ridicule him.” “You pick on me in everything,” said Pilgrim, “and you are his favorite disciple. Why don’t you save him? Why do you ask old Monkey instead? Remember what I said originally, that after I had subdued the monster to avenge myself from his abuse, I would go back.” Sha Monk drew near and knelt down, saying, “Elder Brother, the ancients said, ‘If you don’t regard the priest, do regard the Buddha.’ If you are here, I beseech you to save him. If we could do so, we wouldn’t have traveled all that distance to plead with you.” Raising him with his hands, Pilgrim said, “How could I possibly be content not to save him? Get me some water, quick!” Eight Rules rushed back to the post-house and took out the purple gold alms bowl from the luggage. He returned and handed to Pilgrim the bowl half-filled with water. As he took the water in his hand, Pilgrim recited a magic spell and spat a mouthful of water on the tiger. At once the diabolical magic was dispelled and the tigerish illusion was broken.