by Wu Cheng-En
Suddenly there was the sound of a wind in the sky and 1,111 goose coops landed on both sides of the road. The little boys in them were crying. Unseen in the sky were the deities who had been looking after them: the city and the local gods, the deities of the altars, the True Officials, the Guardians of the Four Quarters and the Centre, the Four Duty Gods, the Six Dings and Six Jias, the Protectors of the Faith and the rest of them, who all responded with a loud shout of, “Great Sage, on your earlier instructions we carried the boys away in the goose coops. Now that we have learned of your success in your task and your departure we have brought every one of them back again.” The king, his queens and consorts and all his ministers and subjects fell to their knees to kowtow.
“Thank you for your efforts, gentlemen,” Monkey shouted to the sky. “Please all return to your shrines now. I'll get the people to make thanksgiving offerings to you.” With a soughing noise the magic wind then arose again and departed.
Monkey then told the people of the city to come and collect their children. The news was spread at once, and the people all came to claim the boys in the baskets. They were very happy indeed. Holding the boys in their arms they called them dear ones and darlings. Dancing and laughing they told their children to take hold of the lords from Tang and bring them home so that they could express their thanks for the boys' rescue. Nobody, young or old, male or female, was frightened by the disciples' ugly faces as they all carried Pig, Friar Sand, Monkey and the Tang Priest back to the city in the middle of a crowd that also brought their luggage and led the horse. The king could not stop them. Family after family laid on a banquet or a feast, and those who could not offer hospitality made monkish hats, shoes, tunics, cotton socks, and other inner and outer garments in different sizes that they presented to the pilgrims. Only when they had been entertained in this way for nearly a month were the travelers able to leave the city. Portraits of them were painted and tablets bearing their names set up; to these the people could kowtow, burn incense and make offerings. Indeed:
Great was the gratitude for their enormous kindness,
In saving the lives of infants by the thousand.
If you don't know what happened later listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 80
The Young Girl Seeks a Mate to Build Up the Male
Protecting His Master the Mind-Ape Sees Through a Demon
The story tells how the king, ministers and common people of Bhiksuland escorted the Tang Priest and his three disciples out of the city. Seven miles later they were still unwilling to part from the pilgrims, but Sanzang insisted on getting out of the coach, mounting the horse and taking his leave of them. The people who had been seeing him off did not return to the city until the travelers had vanished from view.
When the four had been travelling for a long time the winter and the spring too were over. There was no end of wild flowers and mountain trees to be seen; fragrant blossoms filled the view. To Sanzang's alarm another towering mountain appeared in front of them.
“Disciples,” he asked, “is there a way across the high mountain before us? We must be careful.”
“Master,” laughed Brother Monkey, “that's not what a seasoned traveler should be saying. You sound much more like some pampered prince trying to look at the whole sky from the bottom of a well. As the old saying goes, a mountain can't stop the road: it can find its own way across. So why ask whether there's a way?”
“Even if this mountain cannot block the road,” Sanzang replied, “I am afraid that there may be monsters on the mountain precipices and evil spirits that will emerge from its deep recesses.”
“Don't worry,” said Pig, “don't worry. We're not far from Paradise here. I guarantee it'll all be nice and peaceful-there won't be any trouble.” As they were talking master and disciples reached the foot of the mountain without even noticing. Taking out his gold-banded cudgel Monkey climbed the rock-face.
“Master,” he called, “there's a path that goes round the mountain. The going's very easy. Hurry up!” The Tang Priest now put his worries aside and whipped the horse forward. “Carry the luggage for a while, brother,” said Friar Sand to Pig, who did so while Friar Sand held the horse's reins and the master sat in the carved saddle. They hurried along the main path up the steep slope after Monkey. This was what the mountain looked like:
The peak was wrapped in clouds;
Torrents rushed down ravines.
The paths were heavy with the scent of flowers,
And dense grew the countless trees.
Blue were the gages, white the plums,
Green the willows and red the peaches.
Spring was all but over where the cuckoo sang;
When fledgling swallows chirped the festival was finished.
Craggy boulders,
Blue-green pines shaped like parasols.
The track leading across the ridge
Climbed high over a tracery of rocks;
The beetling precipice
Was overgrown with creepers, grass and trees.
Peaks like a row of halberds vied in elegance;
Far from the ocean wave streams competed in gullies.
As the master was taking an unhurried look at the mountain scenery he was moved to homesickness by the sound of a bird singing. “Disciples,” he said,
“After receiving His Majesty's command
I was given my passport in front of the brocade screen.
Watching lanterns on the fifteenth night I left the Eastern land,
And then was parted from the emperor of Tang.
Just when the dragon and tiger winds both met
I and my disciples had to struggle with the horse.
Twelve may be the peaks of Mount Wu;
But when shall I face and see you again?”'
“Master,” said Monkey, “you're always suffering from homesickness. You're not like a monk at all. Stop worrying and keep going: don't upset yourself so. As the old saying goes, you've got to work hard if you want to be rich and successful.”
“What you say is quite right, disciple,” said Sanzang, “but I do not know where the road to the West runs.”
“Master,” said Pig, “it's all because our Tathagata Buddha can't bring himself to give those scriptures away. He must have removed the path because he knows we're coming to fetch them. Why else can't we get to the end of the journey?”
“Don't talk such nonsense,” said Friar Sand. “Just keep going with big brother. As long as we stick with him we're bound to get there in the end.”
As they were talking master and disciples came in sight of a great expanse of dark pine forest. In his fear the Tang Priest called out, “Wukong, no sooner have we taken that precipitous track over the mountain than we come to this deep, dark pine forest. Why? We must be careful.”
“There's nothing to be scared of,” said Monkey.
“Nonsense,” said Sanzang. “Never trust what appears to be absolutely upright, and be on your guard against evil masquerading as goodness. I have been through quite a few pine woods with you, but never one as vast and deep as this. Just look at the trees:
Dense-packed to East and West,
In lines to North and South.
Dense-packed to East and West they reach the end of the clouds;
In lines to North and South they touch the azure firmament.
Thorns and brambles grow close-tangled all about;
Knotweed wraps itself around the branches.
Liana coils round kudzu vine,
Kudzu coils around liana.
Where liana coils around kudzu
Travelers cannot move between East and West;
Where kudzu coils round liana
Merchants may not ply between North and South.
In this forest
You could spend half a year,
Not knowing whether sun or moon was out,
Or travel for miles
And never see the stars.
Where
the outlook is to the North the view is unbounded;
On Southern slopes the bushes are in flower.
There are thousand-year-old locust trees,
Ten-thousand-year-old junipers,
Pines that endure the winter cold,
Mountain peaches that bear fruit,
Wild peonies,
And hibiscus,
All growing in a close-packed profusion,
So wild that not even a god could paint it.
Bird-song could be heard:
Parrots shrieking,
Cuckoos calling,
Magpies in the branches,
Crows feeding their mothers,
Orioles with their aerial dance,
As the mynas adjust their voices.
Quails singing,
Swallows chirping,
Mynas imitating people,
And thrushes that could recite sutras.
Then there were:
Great beasts swishing their tails,
Tigers gnashing their teeth.
Aged foxes and raccoon-dogs disguised as ladies,
Ancient gray wolves at whose baying the forest shook.
Had the Pagoda-carrying Heavenly King come here
His power to suppress demons would have been of no avail.
The Great Sage Sun was unafraid. Clearing the way ahead with his cudgel, he led the Tang Priest into the depths of the forest.
They had been travelling in this carefree style for many hours without seeing any sign of a way out of the forest when the Tang Priest called out, “Disciples, we have been through no end of steep and dangerous mountain woods on our journey West. Thank goodness we have found this purity and elegance and a smooth path. The rare and unusual flowers here are truly delightful. I intend to sit here for a moment to let the horse have a rest. I am, besides, famished. Go and beg me some meat-free food from somewhere.”
“Master,” said Monkey, “please dismount while I go begging.” This the venerable elder did. While Pig tied the horse to a tree Friar Sand put the luggage down, brought out the begging-bowl and handed it to Monkey.
“Sit still here, Master,” Monkey said, “and don't even say the word 'fear'. I'll be back in a moment.” While Sanzang sat upright in the shade of the pines Pig and Friar Sand amused themselves looking for flowers and fruit.
Let us tell of the Great Sage who somersaulted into mid air, brought his cloud to a hall and looked back. All he could see coming from the pine forest were auspicious clouds and auras that coiled and spread all around. “Good, good,” he found himself saying. Do you know why? He was expressing his admiration for the Tang Priest, the reincarnation of the Venerable Golden Cicada and a holy man who had cultivated his conduct for ten successive lifetimes, which explained there was such an aura of good omen above his head.
“Five hundred years ago, when I made havoc in heaven,” Monkey thought, “I wandered to the very corners of the oceans and ran wild at the end of the sky. I led a host of spirits and called myself the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. We subdued dragons and tigers, and I took us off the registers of death. I used to wear a triple golden crown and a coat of golden mail, and with my gold-banded cudgel in my hands and my cloud-treading shoes on my feet I had 47,000 demons under me. They all used to call me Lord Great Sage. I really was someone in those days. But ever since being rescued from Heaven's punishment I've been a small-time nobody as his disciple. I reckon that as the master has such an aura of auspicious clouds over his head things are sure to turn out well for us on our way back to the East and I'm bound to win the true achievement.”
As Brother Monkey was congratulating himself along these lines he saw a column of black vapor rising from the South of the forest. “That black vapor means evil for sure,” he thought with alarm. “No black vapors could come from our Pig or Friar Sand.”
While the Great Sage was still trying to make out exactly what the vapors were coming from, Sanzang was sitting in the forest clarifying his mind and contemplating the Buddha-nature as he recited the Mahaprajnaparamita Heart Sutra when suddenly he heard a high-pitched cry of “Help!”
“This is all very well,” said Sanzang with astonishment, “but who could that be calling so deep in the forest?” It must be someone terrified by a wolf, a tiger, a leopard or some other wild beast. I shall go to take a look.” The venerable elder rose to his feet and walked through the thousand-year-old cypresses and even more ancient pines, holding on to vines and creepers, as he went close enough to see a woman tied to a big tree. The top half of her body was bound to the trunk with creepers and her lower half buried in the ground. Sanzang stopped to ask, “Why are you tied up here, lady Bodhisattva?”
It was quite obvious that the wretched creature was an evil monster, but with his mortal eyes in a worldling's body Sanzang was unable to perceive this. The monster's response to the question was to weep copiously. Just look at the tears rolling down her peachy cheeks. She was so lovely that fish would have sunk and wild geese fallen out of the sky at the sight of her; the beauty of her sorrowing and sparkling eyes would have made the moon hide away and put the flowers to shame. Sanzang did not dare go any closer to her as he opened his mouth to ask, “What crime have you committed, lady Bodhisattva? Tell me so that I can rescue you.”
The evil spirit then quickly put together a pack of lies as she replied, “Master, my home is in the country of Pinpo, which is some seventy miles from here. Both my parents are at home, and they are very great lovers of goodness. All their lives they have been on good terms with their relations and devoted to their friends. At the Clear and Bright Festival they invited all their relations and members of their own family to pay their respects at and sweep the ancestral graves. A whole procession of carrying-chairs and horses all went to the graves in the wilds outside the city. Here we set out our offerings and had just burnt the paper models of horses when a band of brigands sprang upon us with the sound of gongs and drums. They charged us shouting 'kill!' My parents and relations all got hold of horses and carrying-chairs and fled for their lives. Because I am so young I was too frightened to run: I just collapsed and was carried back to the mountains by the brigands. The top chieftain wanted me for his lady, the number two chieftain wanted me for his woman, and the third and fourth ones both fancied me for my looks. There were seventy or eighty of them all quarrelling over me and none of them would give way. So they tied me up here in the forest and broke up the band. I've been here for five days and five nights now and I'm only just alive now. I'll soon be dead. Goodness only knows which ancestor however many generations back accumulated the virtue that brought you here to me today, reverend sir. I beg you in your great mercy to save my life. I won't forget your goodness to me even when I lie dead under the nine springs of the underworld.” When she had finished speaking her tears flowed like rain.
As Sanzang really did have a merciful heart he could not help weeping and sobbing himself. “Disciples,” he shouted. Pig and Friar Sand were still looking for flowers and fruit in the forest when suddenly they heard their master's anguished cry.
“Friar Sand,” said the idiot, “the master's found a relation here.”
“What nonsense, brother,” said Friar Sand with a smile. “In all the time we've been going we haven't met a single good person, so where could any relation of his have come from?”
“If it's not a relation why's the master crying for them?” Pig asked, adding, “You and I had better go to take a look.” Friar Sand did indeed go back to where they had been before. Leading the horse and carrying the luggage they went up to the master and asked, “What's up, Master?”
The Tang Priest pointed at the tree as he replied, “Pig, untie this lady Bodhisattva and save her life.” Without caring whether this was the right or the wrong thing to do, the idiot set to.
The Great Sage meanwhile saw from up in the air the dense black vapors completely obscuring the auspicious glow. “This is bad,” he said, “this is bad. If the black vapors are covering the auspicious glow t
hat means something evil is threatening my master. Never mind about begging for food-I'm going back to see the master.” He turned his cloud back and landed in the forest, where he saw Pig recklessly untying the ropes. Going up to him Monkey grabbed an ear and threw him to the ground. “The master told me to rescue her,” the idiot protested, looking up to see Monkey as he scrambled back to his feet, “so why did you push me over like that? You're just throwing your weight about.”
“Brother,” replied Monkey with a smile, “don't untie her. She's an evil spirit who's been putting on an act to fool us.”
“Wretched ape,” shouted Sanzang, “talking nonsense again. How can you possibly take a girl like this for an evil spirit?”
“There's something you don't know, Master.” Monkey replied. “In the old days I tried all these tricks myself when I wanted some human flesh. You couldn't possibly tell what she is.”
“Master,” said Pig, pouting sulkily, “don't let that Protector of the Horses take you in. She's a local girl. We've never had dealings with her before on our long journey from the East and she's no relation or in-law of ours, so how can you say she's an evil spirit? He's trying to get rid of us by making us go ahead so he can turn a somersault and get back here by magic. Then he's going to have a bit of fun with her and ruin our reputation.”