by Wu Cheng-En
In the third watch Monkey used one of his magic powers. Slipping his cudgel out he blew on it with a magic breath, called “Change!” and turned it into a triple auger with which he drilled two or three holes near the bottom of the chest, forming a single larger hole. He put the auger away, shook himself, turned into an ant and crawled out. Then he turned back into himself and rode his cloud straight to the palace gates. The king was fast asleep at the time, so Monkey used his Great All powerful Body-dividing Magic.
Plucking all the hairs out of his left arm he blew on them with a magic breath, called “Change!” and turned them into little Monkeys. Then he pulled all the hairs out from his right arm, blew on them with a magic breath, called “Change!” and turned them into sleep-insects. Next he recited the magic word Om and told the local deity of the place to take the little Monkeys to distribute them throughout the palace to all the officials in every office and department of government. Each holder of official rank was given a sleep-insect to ensure that he or she would sleep soundly and not get up. Monkey then took his gold-banded cudgel in his hands, squeezed it, waved it, called, “Change, treasure!” and turned it into over a thousand razors of the sort used for shaving the head. Taking one himself, he told all the little monkeys to take one each and shave the heads of everyone in the inner quarters of the palace and in all the government departments and offices. This was indeed a case of:
When the Dharma king would destroy it the Dharma is infinite;
The Dharma runs through heaven and earth, opening the Great Way.
The origins of ten thousand Dharmas all come down to one;
The features of the Three Vehicles are basically the same.
He bored through the trunk to find out the news,
Distributed his golden hairs to smash delusion,
Determined to bring the Dharma king to the true achievement,
To the eternal emptiness of what is not born and dies not.
That night the head-shaving was completed, so Monkey said another spell to dismiss the local deity, shook himself to bring all the hairs back to his arms, then touched all the razors to turn them back into their true form as the gold-banded cudgel, which he made much smaller and hid in his ear again. Finally he reverted to being an ant, crawled back into the trunk, and went on guarding the Tang Priest in his time of danger.
When the palace ladies in the inner quarters got up to wash and do their hair before dawn the next morning they all found that their hair had gone. The same had happened to all the eunuchs, senior and junior, who moved around the palace. They all crowded to the outside of the royal bedchamber, where they played music to wake the king up, all holding back their tears but not daring to speak. Before long the queen in the palace woke up to find her hair gone too. When she hurried with lanterns to the dragon bed she found a monk sleeping in the brocade quilt, at which she could restrain her tongue no longer, thus awakening the king.
When the king suddenly opened his eyes wide and saw the queen's bald head he got straight out of bed and said, “Why are you like that, my queen?”
“You're the same, Your Majesty,” she replied. The king then rubbed his head, which gave him such a fright that the three souls in his body groaned, and his seven spirits flew off into the air.
“What has happened to me?” he exclaimed.
Just when he was in this panicky state the royal consorts, the palace ladies and the eunuchs young and old all fell to their knees, their heads shaved bald, and said, “Lord, we have all been turned into monks.”
At the sight of them the king wept. “We think this must be because of all the monks we have killed,” he said. He then gave these orders: “None of you are to say anything about the loss of our hair as, if you do, the civil and military officials may slander our country and say that it has been badly governed. Let us now hold court in the throne hall.”
Now all the officials high and low in all the departments and offices of government went to court to pay their respects before dawn. As it turned out, all these men had lost their hair in the night too, and they all submitted memorials reporting the fact. All that could be heard was:
The whip of silence sounding three times at the royal audience;
As all report that their heads have now been shaved.
If you do not know what happened to the booty in the trunk that the commander-in-chief had recaptured and whether the Tang Priest and his three disciples were to live or die, listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 85
The Mind-ape is jealous of the Mother of Wood
The Demon Chief Plots to Devour the Master of Dhyana
The story tells how when the king held his dawn audience the civil and military officials all carried memorials. “Sovereign Lord,” they reported, “we beg you to forgive your servants for their lack of decorum.”
“Gentlemen,” the king replied, “you are all as courteous as ever. What lack of decorum are you showing?”
“Sovereign Lord,” they said, “we do not know why, but all of your servants lost their hair last night.” Holding in his hand these memorials about the lost hair, the king descended from his dragon throne to say to the officials, “Indeed, we do not know why either, but everyone in the palace, young and old, lost their hair last night.”
King and ministers alike all wept as they said, “From now on we will not dare kill any more monks.” The king then returned to his throne and the officials took their places in their proper ranks. The king then said, “Let those with business here come forward from their ranks to report. If there is no other business the curtain may be rolled up and the audience ended.”
The commander-in-chief of the capital's garrison then moved forward from the ranks of military officials and the East city commissioner moved forward from the ranks of the civil officials to kowtow at the steps of the throne and report, “We were patrolling the city on Your Majesty's orders last night when we recaptured a trunk of bandits' booty and a white horse. As we do not dare take unauthorized action over these we beg Your Majesty to issue an edict.” The king was delighted.
“Bring it here, trunk and all,” he ordered.
The two officials then returned to their own offices, mustered a full complement of soldiers and had the trunk carried out. Sanzang, who was inside, felt his soul leaving his body. “Disciples,” he said, “what shall we say in our defense when we reach the king?”
“Shut up,” said Monkey with a grin. “I've fixed everything. When the trunk's opened the king will bow to us as his teachers. The only thing is that Pig mustn't quarrel about precedence.”
“If they don't kill me that'll be heaven,” Pig replied. “What would I want to quarrel about?” Before these words were all out of his mouth they had been carried to the palace entrance and in through the Tower of Five Phoenixes to be set at the foot of the steps to the throne.
On being invited by the two officials to have the trunk opened and look inside the king ordered that this be done. No sooner was the lid lifted than Pig, who could restrain himself no longer, sprang outside, giving all the officials such a fright that they shivered, unable to speak. Next Brother Monkey could be seen helping the Tang Priest out, while Friar Sand lifted the luggage out.
Seeing that the commander-in-chief was holding the white horse, Pig went up to him, made an angry noise and said, “That's my horse. Hand it over!” This so terrified the official that he collapsed head over heels.
The four pilgrims all stood upright in the middle of the steps, and when the king saw that they were monks he came down at once from his dragon throne, sent for his queen and consorts from the inner quarters, descended the steps of the throne hall, bowed to them along with all his officials and asked, “What brings you venerable gentlemen here?”
“I have been sent by His Majesty the Great Tang Emperor to go to the Great Thunder Monastery in India in the West to worship the living Buddha and fetch the true scriptures,” Sanzang replied.
“Venerable Mas
ter,” the king said, “you have come from far away. But why did you sleep in this trunk last night?”
“I knew that Your Majesty had sworn a vow to kill Buddhist monks,” Sanzang replied, “which is why I did not dare to visit your illustrious country openly, but disguised myself as a layman to arrive late at night to find lodging in one of your inns. We slept in the trunk because we were afraid that our real identity would be discovered. Unfortunately the trunk was stolen by bandits, then brought back here by the commander-in-chief. Now that I have been able to see Your Majesty's dragon countenance, the clouds have cleared away and the sun has come out. I hope that Your Majesty will pardon and release me, ascetic monk that I am: my gratitude will be as deep as the ocean.”
“Venerable Master,” the king replied, “you are a distinguished monk from our suzerain heavenly dynasty. It was wrong of us not to go out to welcome you. For years we have been fulfilling a vow to kill monks because a monk once maligned us. The vow we made to heaven was to kill ten thousand monks to make up a round number. We never imagined that today we would return to the truth and that we would all be turned into monks. Now all of us, king, officials, queen and consorts, have had our hair shaved off. I beg, Venerable Master, that you will not be grudging with your lofty virtue and will take us as your disciples.”
When Pig heard this he started roaring with laughter: “If you're going to be our disciples what introductory presents have you got for us?”
“If you will accept us as your follower, Master,” the king replied, “we will present you with all the wealth in our kingdom.”
“Don't talk about wealth to us,” said Brother Monkey, “as we're proper monks. As long as you inspect and return our passport and escort us out of the city I can guarantee that your monarchy will last for ever and that you will enjoy a long and happy life.” On hearing this the king ordered his office of foreign relations to arrange a great feast at which monarch and officials together returned to the one truth. The passport was immediately inspected and returned, after which Sanzang was asked to change the name of the country.
“'Dharma' in the name of Your Majesty's country is excellent,” Monkey said, “but the 'destructia' part is nonsense. Now that we've come here you should change the name to 'Dharmarespectia'. This would guarantee
Clear waters and victory for a thousand generations;
Timely winds and rain with universal peace.”
The king thanked them for their gracious kindness, had the royal carriage prepared and escorted the Tang Priest and his three disciples Westwards out of the city.
We will say no more of how monarch and subjects now held to the true faith, but tell how after leaving the king of Dharmarespectia the venerable elder said happily from on his horse, “What excellent magic you used, Wukong. It worked very well.”
“Elder brother,” said Friar Sand, “where did you find so many barbers to shave all those heads in one night?” Monkey then told them all about how he had used his miraculous powers, at which they all laughed so much they could not stop.
Just as they were feeling so cheerful a great mountain came into view, blocking their way. Reining in the horse, the Tang Priest said, “Disciples, see how high that mountain is. You must be very careful.”
“Don't worry,” said Monkey with a grin, “don't worry. I promise you nothing will go wrong.”
“Don't say that,” Sanzang replied. “I can see those jutting peaks, and even from a distance it looks rather sinister. Storm clouds are streaming from it, and I am beginning to feel frightened. My whole body is turning numb and my spirits are disturbed.”
“You have already forgotten the Heart Sutra that the Rook's Nest Hermit taught you,” said Brother Monkey.
“I can still remember it,” Sanzang said.
“Even if you can still remember that,” said Monkey, “there is a quatrain that you've forgotten.”
“What quatrain?” Sanzang asked, to which Monkey replied,
“Do not go far to seek the Buddha on Vulture Peak;
Vulture Peak is in your heart.
Everybody has a Vulture Peak stupa
Under which to cultivate conduct.”
“Of course I know it, disciple,” said Sanzang. “According to that quatrain the thousands of scriptures all come down to cultivating the heart.”
“Goes without saying,” Monkey replied.
“When the heart is purified it can shine alone;
When the heart is preserved all perceptions are pure.
If there is any mistake then laziness follows,
And success will not come in a myriad years.
As long as your will is sincere Thunder Peak is before your eyes.
But if you're as scared, frightened and disturbed as this the Great Way is distant, and Thunder Peak is far, far away. Forget those wild fears and come with me.” When the venerable elder heard this his spirits were revived and his worries disappeared.
The four of them had only gone a few more steps when they reached the mountain. When they raised their eyes this was what they saw:
A fine mountain,
Dappled with many colours.
White clouds drifted around the peak,
And cool were the shadows of the trees in front of the cliff.
The birds rustled in the leaves,
The beasts were ferocious.
Among the woods were a thousand pines,
On the ridge a few bamboos.
Howls came from gray wolves seizing their prey,
And roars from hungry tigers fighting over food.
Long screamed the wild apes searching for fruit;
The David's-deer climbed through blossoms into mists of green.
The wind was blowing,
The waters babbled,
And hidden birds sang in the deserted pass.
Here and there wisteria was climbing
While rare flowers bloomed by the stream amid orchids.
Intricately shaped and strange were the rocks,
And sheer rose the crags.
Foxes and raccoon-dogs ran in packs;
Badgers and apes were playing in groups.
The travelers were worried by so high and steep a mountain:
Why was the ancient track so twisted?
While master and disciples were moving timidly ahead they heard the howling of a wind. “There's a wind,” said Sanzang in fear.
“In the spring there are mild winds,” Monkey replied, “in the summer hot ones, in the autumn golden ones and in the winter North winds. There are winds in all four seasons. What's so frightening about a wind?”
“This wind is blowing very hard,” Sanzang replied. “It is definitely not a wind from heaven.”
“But winds always come from the earth and clouds from mountains,” Monkey replied, “so how could there be a wind from heaven?” Before he had finished speaking a mist arose. That mist really was
Darkness joining up with the sky,
Obscurity making the whole earth dim.
The sun had completely vanished from sight
And no bird sang.
All was as indistinct as primal chaos,
And the air seemed filled with flying dust.
The trees on the mountain could not be seen
Where had the herb-gatherers gone?
“Wukong,” said Sanzang in fright, “why is there this mist when the wind is still blowing?”
“Don't get upset,” Monkey replied. “Get off your horse, Master. I'll go and see whether or not it's sinister while you two keep guard, brothers.”
The splendid Great Sage needed only to bow in order to be in mid-air. Holding his hand to his brow for shade, he opened his fiery eyes wide and looked down to see an evil spirit sitting at the foot of a beetling scar. Just look and see what he was like:
A mighty body full of charm,
A heroic manner of great vigor.
The fangs protruding from his mouth were drills of steel;
His nose hung like a jade h
ook in the middle.
His golden eyes with pupils round gave animals a fright;
Demons and gods were scared of his bristling silver whiskers.
He sat upright by the cliff in terrible might,
Making the mist and wind as he hatched his plot.
On either side of him some thirty or forty junior demons could be seen, all drawn up in line and blowing out mist and wind for all they were worth. Monkey grinned at this and thought, “So my master is clairvoyant. He said it wasn't a heavenly wind, and it was in fact caused by this evil spirit trying to fool us. Now if I went straight down and hit him with what they call a 'garlicsmasher' that'd kill him sure enough, but it would ruin my reputation.” Monkey had been a true hero all his life and was quite incapable of playing a dirty trick like that.
“I'd better go back and give Pig some attention. I'll ask him to hit the evil spirit first. If Pig's good enough to kill the evil spirit we'll be in luck. If he isn't and the evil spirit captures him I can come back to rescue him and win myself a bit of fame. He's always putting on such an act and being so lazy-he won't make an effort. Still, he is very greedy and partial to a good feed. I think I'll try a trick on him and see how that works.”
At once he brought his cloud down to land in front of Sanzang, who asked, “Are the wind and the mist sinister or not?”
“It's clear now,” Monkey replied. “They've gone.”
“Yes,” said Sanzang, “they have eased off a little.”
“Master,” said Monkey with a smile, “my eyesight is very good usually, but this time I was wrong. I thought there'd probably be a monster behind that wind and mist but there wasn't.”