The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2

by Unknown

  5. A jade stone: that is, a sonorous stone (qing), or humming ears afflicting the very old person.

  6. “When the birds vanish . . .”: a slightly abbreviated form of a famous statement attributed to Fan Li , who used to warn his friend Zhong about the character of King Goujian of the State of Yue in the Warring States era (468–221 BCE). After Goujian defeated his rival, King Fucha of the State of Wu , he demanded the suicide of a minister like Zhong who served him faithfully and assisted him in coming to power. The statement is thus often used to indicate a master’s ingratitude and treachery. See the Records of the Historian, j 41, in Ershiwushi 1: 0146c–d.

  7. That is, the deepest layer of Buddhist hell.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  1. Dragon-drivers: that is, immortals or gods who can travel astride mythical creatures.

  2. Six kinds of trees are listed in this line. They are: the chun (Cedrela odorata), the shan (the common pine, Cryptomeria japonica), the huai (Sophora japnica), the kui (Chinese juniper, Juniperus chinensis), the li (the chestnut tree, Castanea vulgaris), and the tan (sandalwood, Santalum album).

  3. Wolf-teeth arrows: a kind of arrow with a sharp head shaped like the fang of wolves, first introduced in the reign of the Song emperor Shenzong (1067–1085). See the Songshi , “Bingzhi ,” j 150, in Ershiwushi 6: 4974b.

  4. Fire cannons: some kind of firearm using gunpower was already in use, on both land and sea during the Song. See the Songshi, “Bingzhi,” j 150, in Ershiwushi 6: 4973d. See also SCC, IV/3 (1971): 476; V/6 (1994): 167–69, 229–30; V/7 (1986), the entire volume of which focuses on “military technology.” For Ming uses of rockets and other new fire-weapons, see pp. 13–37; 307–332.

  5. This lyric, written to the tune of “Moon Over West River” with an extra syllable tagged on in the last line, is constructed by means of puns on the names of various kinds of herbs. The names are used for their liteal meanings or the borrowed meanings from their homophones. Thus, line 1: dark heads, wutou (literally black head), it is also Aconitum carmichaeli, a Chinese aconite tuber collected in spring time. Line 2: the winged horses, haima (literally, sea horse), it is also Hippocamus, used in traditional Chinese medicine and also a legendary horse with wings. Line 3: lords and nobles, renshen and guangui are Panax ginseng and Cinnmomum cassia, respectively. In the translation, renshen read as , gentry, and guangui as , noble official. Line 4: cinnabar, zhusha , HgS, or mercury sulfide. Line 5: fathers and sons, fuzi (also Aconitum carmichaeli), a Chinese aconite tuber harvested in the autumn. In the translation, it is read as . Line 6: fine men, binlang , read in translation as , cultivated young man. Line 7: fell to the dust, qingfen , HgCl2, or mercury chloride, calomel. In the translation, it is read for qingfeng , “fall [to the] dust.” Line 8: rouged ladies, hongniangzi ; literally, red lady, it is also the Huechys, an insect belonging to the cicada family and used for medicinal purposes. For poems of a similar nature in another monumental work of Chinese fiction of the same period, see The Plum in the Golden Vase, chapters 33 and 61. I owe the last two references to my colleague, Professor David T. Roy.

  6. Drill ice for fire: that is, to do the impossible.

  7. The moon had no root: that is, it is only a reflection.

  8. Nonetheless: literally, the words are fenming , meaning “quite clearly.” But there is hardly any description in the poem to justify the designation of “an evil place.” Hence the minor emendation in my translation.

  9. The moon his third friend: an allusion to a famous poem by the Tang poet, Li Bo (701–762). In “Drinking Alone beneath the Moon,” Li wrote:

  A pot of wine among the flowers;

  I drink alone, no kith or kin near.

  I raise my cup to invite the moon to join me;

  It and my shadow make a party of three.

  See Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry, coedited by Wu-chi Liu and Irving Lo (Bloomington, IN, 1975), p. 109.

  10. Spirit-Soothing Pillar: a euphemism for the stick used to tie someone facing execution.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  1. This is a lyric written to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

  2. The name of the country, Baoxiang , can mean either precious image or precious elephant. Both readings are strong in their Buddhist association.

  3. No less prosperous: that is, than the Tang nation.

  4. An allusion to the phrase jincheng tangchi , metal ramparts and moats of scalding liquid, metaphors for a fortified city.

  5. Great Ultimate Hall, etc.: the names of these halls and palaces are taken from actual buildings constructed in various periods of Chinese history. See G. Combaz, “les temples impériaux de la Chine,” Annales de la Société Royale d’Archéologie (Brussels) 21 (1907): 381 ff.; and Oswald Sirén, the Imperial Palaces of Peking, 3 vols. (Paris and Brussels, 1927).

  6. The three lines of the poem here allude to the Chinese idiom, yijian shuangdiao , meaning, literally, downing two hawks with a single arrow. But like its English counterpart—“hitting two birds with one stone”—the Chinese idiom can also mean any sort of double or twofold achievement. In gendered language, it often refers to a man gaining two mistresses, or a wife and a concubine.

  7. Necessary . . . document: a conventional phrase used frequently at the end of an official communication.

  8. Hanlin Academy: the Hanlinyuan was the College of Literature in the capital. In the Ming, it was headed by a Chancellor (xueshi ), a rank considerably lower than the Grand Secretary (da xueshi ), and the reference here in the narrative might have been either carelessness or ignorance on the part of the XYJ author. According to Charles O. Hucker, “Governmental Organization of the Ming Dynasty,” HJAS 21 (1958): 37, the Academy “provided literary and scholarly assistance of all kinds to the Emperor and the court. Its personnel drafted and polished proclamations and other state documents, compiled imperially sponsored histories and other works, read and explained the classics and histories to the Emperor, and participated in state ceremonies and to some extent in governmental deliberations.”

  9. Fragrant wind: usually, demon kings or monsters are not accompanied by fragrant wind or auspicious luminosity (xiangfeng and xiangguang ), but this particular one is no ordinary monster. See chapter 31 for his celestial origin.

  10. Rattle: bang , a piece of slightly convex wood, with a slit at the top and hollowed out. It is struck by the watchman or by the bugler either as an alarm signal or as a sign that the battle is over.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  1. Second disciple: in the novel, Sha Monk is, of course, the third disciple of Tripitaka, but since the monster has no knowledge of Sun Wukong up to this point, it is only natural that Sha Monk is so identified. The emendation by the Japanese translators in Saiyūki 1: 256 and note 1 on 264 are thus unwarranted, because they fail to take into account this simple authorial use of point of view. Throughout the long novel, the narrator’s repeated attempts to inform the readers that different characters at different times and places have also different forms of knowledge, as well as his consistent intrusion into the narrative itself through commentary or direct address to the reader, should indicate a growing and sophisticated awareness of the constraints and possibilities of fictive narration.

  2. Zijian : the style of Cao Zhi (192–232), third son of the minister and warlord Cao Cao (155–220). He was an accomplished writer and poet, and a legendary story told of his ability to finish composing a poem after taking seven steps.

  3. Pan An: Pan Yue , style Anren (247–300), one of the foremost poets of the Jin period. He was reputedly so handsome that women would line the streets and throw fruits at him when he went out. See Jinshu , j 55, in Ershiwushi 2: 1229c.

  4. Red threads: the Old Man in the Moon, the marriage broker in Chinese mythology, is supposed to tie the feet of fated lovers with scarlet threads for marriage.

  5. Pipa : a lute-like fretted instrument with four strings and a short neck.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  1. Elixir sourc
e: the Chinese term is danyuan , but it is only another name for the resident god or deity (shen ) of the heart and mind (xin ), according to the Huangting neijing yujing zhu , in DZ 401, 6: 502. Chapter 8 of this scripture bears the title of “Xinshen or God of the Mind-and-Heart,” and its content consists of lines of verse on different deities of the visceral organs. The first line reads: “The Mind-Heart God [as] the elixir source is styled Guarding the Numinous .”

  2. Gate of undivided truth: the gate is the dharma-paryāya, the teachings of Buddha regarded as the entrance to enlightenment. Undivided truth refers to advaya, the one and undivided unity of all things, nonduality or, in Chinese, bu er .

  3. An unfilial act: a quotation from chapter 11 of the Classic on Filial Piety , traditionally attributed to Zeng Shen, a disciple of Confucius. The Five Punishments (wuxing ), according to ancient reckoning (e.g., Classic of Documents , j 6), refer to tattooing the face, cutting off the nose, cutting off the feet, castration, and death. Since about the sixth century CE, however, the phrase means caning, whipping, penal servitude, exile, and death. Still more recently, it has meant monetary fines, hard labor of a set period, penal servitude of a set period, life imprisonment, and death.

  4. “O my father”: these four lines are quotations of lines from a poem titled “Tarrogon or Liao’e ,” in the Xiaoya section of the Classic of Poetry. For the complete poem, see SSJZS 1: 459–60; for an English translation, see The Book of Songs, The Ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry (New York, 1996), pp. 184–85.

  5. Śarīra: the relic or ashes of a Buddha or a saint after the person has been cremated.

  6. Wood-Wolf Star: in the Chinese stellar divisions, constellation number 15, kui (Revatī), has the corresponding element of wood and the corresponding animal of wolf. Hence its name. The constellation is composed of the asterism bēta (Mirach), délta, epsīlon, zēta, ēta, mū, nū, pē Andromeda, sīgma (2), tau, nū, phī, chī, psī Pisces at longitude 17°48’12.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  1. Apple court: the plant is the haitang , Chinese flowering apple Malus spectabilis.

  2. Purple paths: roads in the imperial city are frequently referred to as “purple paths” in classical Chinese verse. The series of images here is often used in poetry celebrating the enjoyment of flowers in the time of spring. See, for example, Liu Yuxi (772–841), “”: , . See QTS j 365 in 6: 4114.

  3. This lyric is written to the tune of “A Seductive Glance.”

  4. See JW 1, chapter 19, for the complete text of this Buddhist scripture.

  5. Nidānas: the twelve conditions of causation, according to Mahāhāyana Buddhism, which give rise to all things, all phenomena.

  6. Three Stars: that is, the Stars of Longevity, Blessing, and Wealth. See chapter 26.

  7. For Zhenwu, see JW 1, chapter 2, note 9; ET 2: 1266–67.

  8. Mars: revered in China as the God of Fire.

  9. “Clever words and an ingratiating appearance are seldom found in the benevolent person.” A citation of Analects 1. 3.

  10. This is a lyric written to the tune of “Immortal by the River.”

  11. This lyric is written to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

  12. All the phrases in Silver Horn’s rhetorical questions refer to acts of internal alchemy.

  13. Sword of seven stars: one of the five celestial treasures possessed by the two monsters, all of Daoist origin. See chapter 34.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  1. Blue Buffalo Daoist: , a nickname or sobriquet of Feng Heng , styled Junda , because he was often seen riding an ox or buffalo of that bluish-green color. He was known to be an expert practitioner of various esoteric techniques, including sexual gymnastics. See Campany, p. 149. The text of the XYJ has a typographical error here because the color blue-green (qing ) is misprinted as clear (qing ).

  2. White Tablet Master: the XYJ text may have another misprint in the text. What appears is Sujuan xiansheng , which is an impossible title, because the second graph juan is simply an archaic form of , meaning tired, fatigued, weary. I have thus emended the word to quan , which means a bond, a contract, or a deed written (in antiquity) on a tablet of wood or bamboo, with each party involved in the business transaction holding half the document. The white deed or tablet may refer to the charms or judgments written in divination and fortune-telling. Alternately, the phrase could read sujuan , a white volume, another name of sushu , both referring to writings on slips of silk.

  3. In the Daoist Canon, there are many texts with the term Northern Dipper, , in their titles. Monkey may be using a general name to indicate any Daoist scripture.

  4. Emei Mountain: , a famous sacred mountain in modern Sichuan province.

  5. Three Worms: see JW I, chapter 15, n. 1.

  6. Seven apertures: the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, and the mouth.

  7. These words are frequently used in Daoist rituals of exorcism and healing. They are also written in various charms and incantations.

  8. This last rhetorical question addressed to Heaven is a parody of the dying words of the strategist-general, Zhou Yu , who served the state of Wu in the novel, The Three Kingdoms. Though he and Zuge Liang, the master strategist assisting Liu Bei, were temporary allies in their famous Red Cliff campaign against Cao Cao, Zhou was completely outwitted by Zhuge, at least in the novelistic account. When Zhou died as a result of arrow wounds and the frustration of not being able to outmaneuver Zhuge Liang, he asked, “If [you, Heaven] gave birth to Yu, why did you also give birth to Liang?” See chapter 57 of the novel.

  9. Bamboo fish: a gong made of a hollow piece of bamboo shaped like a fish, to be tapped in accompaniment to the recitation of scriptures or religious lyrics.

  10. This is Lü Dongbin , highly popular but semilegendary figure of late Tang or early Song period. “Early Song literary sources portray [him] as a poet, calligrapher, soothsayer, healer, alchemist, exorcist, and recluse posessing sword techniques.” See entry in ET 1: 712–14.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  1. Nine-tailed fox: a mythical animal which, in later legend and fiction, frequently takes on the form of a beautiful woman to seduce people. For the reference to the animal, see “Haiwai dongjing ,” in Shanhaijing jiaozhu, j 9, p. 256; Mathieu, Mythologie et l’ethnologie (2 vols., Paris, 1983), 1: 434.

  2. Boshan urn: an incense urn shaped like a mountainous island on top, with a dish at the bottom that is filled with hot water when the incense is burned. The steam will thus mingle with the rising incense fragrance.

  3. Facing south: according to long held ritual specification, a person with the greatest seniority and authority in either state or family will take a seat at the north end of a table or hall, facing south. This is true for the emperor down to the patriarch or matriarch (if she is a widow) in a common household.

  4. Lord of Libation Stream: that is, the god Erlang, whose cultic center was located at Guankou .

  5. This is the Mighty-Spirit God of JW, chapter 4.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  1. “Supreme . . . Patriarch”: that is, Laozi.

  2. Nüwa, alternately Nügua : an ancient mythological goddess often mentioned as the consort of the god Fuxi . The stone reliefs at the ancient Wuliang shrines depict the two as having human upper bodies and lower bodies entwined as tails of serpents. In the early Han text Huainanzi , j 6: 7a (SBBY), there is the famous story of her repairing the heavens by smelting five-colored stones (the passing reference here by Monkey), a motif that also provided part of the crucial mthological framework for the Qing novel, Story of the Stone. In Daoist mythology, the goddess, along with Fuxi and Shennong , form one of several designations of the Three Sovereigns (ET II: 836–37). In early Daoism, she is also drawn readily into the work of cosmological and human creation by the deified Laozi. See Livia Kohn, God of the Dao: Lord Lao in History and Myth (Ann Arbor, 1998), pp. 202–04. In this tradition, Laozi himself created most of the prominent deities of the Daoist pantheon through epiphanic transformations (huashen ), including
Nüwa.

  3. Master Zhou . . . : Lady Peach-Blossom is the name of a Yuan drama, which tells the story of a woman exorcist by the same name who she outwits the tricks of a devious fortune-teller, Master Zhou.

  4. Master Ghost Valley: Guiguzi. See JW 1, chapter 10, n. 18.

  5. “Square-sky” halberd: the weapon is a figured halberd with side blades, and the whole head resembles the Chinese graph, tian , meaning sky. The semblance probably provided the name. See Zhou, plate 83, 14.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  1. Nidānas cease: in Buddhist doctrine, there is the cycle of twelve linked causes in existence (shi’er yinyuan ), from which it is the religion’s aim to set men free. “Cease” literally is fu , to fall prostrate, to yield, to submit, and to be subdued. The cycle of causes consists of ignorance (avidyā, wuming ), which causes the phenomenon of the aggregates (saṁskāra, xing ), which causes the phenomenon of consciousness (vijñāna, shi ), which causes the phenomenon of name and form (nāmarūpa, ming se ), which causes the phenomenon of the six senses (ṣaḍāyatana, liuru ), which causes the phenomenon of contact (sparśa, chu ), which causes the phenomenon of sensations (vedanā, shou ), which causes the phenomenon of desire (trṣnā, ai ), which causes the phenomenon of grasping (upādāna, qu ), which causes the phenomenon of coming into existence (bhava, you ), which causes the phenomenon of birth (jāti, sheng ), which causes the phenomenon of old age and death (jarāmaraṇa, lao si ), which again causes ignorance.

  2. Side door: pangmen , often paired with “the left way, zuodao ” to form the two favored metaphors for heresy or heterodoxy.

  3. Like the poem in chapter 28, this heptasyllabic regulated poem is also written by means of puns on various names of herbs. The names would either be used for their literal meanings or their borrowed meanings from homophones. Thus:

  Line 1—resolved, yizhi , alpinia sp., is read as , determined, singlemindedness.

  Line 2—the king did not wait, literally, the king did not ask me to remain, wang bu liu xing , vaccaria pyramidata.