Journey to the West (vol. 3)

by Wu Cheng-En

“It's seven miles South from this gulch,” the fisherman said.

  “Let's take the scriptures to Chen Village and dry them there,” said Pig. “There's somewhere we can stay there, and we'll be able to get something to eat. Besides, we can get their family to wash our clothes. That'll be best, won't it?”

  “We will not go there,” said Sanzang. “When we have dried everything here we can pack up and find our way back.”

  The fishermen, who passed the gulch to the South, happened to meet Chen Cheng. “You two old gentlemen,” they called, “the teachers who went to be sacrificed instead of your children the other year have come back.”

  “Where did you see them?” Chen Cheng asked.

  “Drying their scriptures in the sun on the rocks,” the fishermen replied.

  Chen Cheng then took several of his tenants across the gulch, saw the pilgrims, and hurried towards them to kneel and say, “My lords, now that you are coming back with your scriptures, your achievement completed and your deeds done, why don't you come to my house? Why are you hanging around here? Won't you please come straight to the house?”

  “We'll go with you when we've dried our scriptures in the sun,” Monkey replied.

  “How did your scriptures and clothes all get wet, my lords?” Chen Cheng asked.

  “The other year the White soft-shelled Turtle kindly carried us West across the river,” Sanzang replied, “and this year he carried us across it Eastwards. We were approaching the bank when he put some questions to me about the enquiries he had asked me to make with the Lord Buddha about how long he would live. Now I never made this enquiry, so he soaked us all in the water. That was how they got wet.”

  Sanzang then told the whole story in all its details, and as Chen Cheng was so sincere in pressing his invitation Sanzang could do nothing but pack up the scriptures. As it was not realized that the ends of several rolls of the Buddhacaritakavya sutra had stuck to the rock when wet, the ends were torn off, which is why the Buddhacaritakavya sutra is incomplete to this day and there are still traces of writing on the rocks where the scriptures were dried in the sun.

  “We were careless,” Sanzang said with remorse. “We did not pay enough attention.”

  “You're wrong,” said Monkey with a laugh, “you're wrong. Heaven and earth are incomplete and this scripture used to be complete. Now it's been soaked and torn to fulfil the mystery of incompleteness. This is not something that could have been achieved through human effort.” When master and disciples had finished packing the surras they returned with Chen Chang to his village.

  In the village one person told ten, ten told a hundred, and a hundred a thousand, till all of them, young and old, came out to welcome and see the pilgrims. As soon as Chen Qing heard of it he had an incense table set out to greet them in front of the gates; he also ordered drummers and players of wind instruments to perform. A moment later the travelers arrived and were welcomed and taken inside. Chen Qing led out his whole household to greet them with bows and thank them for their earlier kindness in saving their son and daughter. Tea and a vegetarian meal were then ordered; but since receiving the immortal food and immortal delicacies of the Lord Buddha and casting off his mortal body to become a Buddha, Sanzang had lost all desire for mortals' food. As the two old men's urgings were so insistent, he took some of the food as a mark of gratitude.

  The Great Sage Monkey had never been one to eat cooked food, so he said, “That will be enough.”

  Friar Sand did not eat either, and even Pig was not the Pig he used to be: he soon put his bowl down.

  “Aren't you eating any more either, idiot?” Monkey asked.

  “I don't know why,” Pig said, “but my stomach's gone weak all of a sudden.” The vegetarian banquet was then cleared away as the old men asked about how they had fetched the scriptures. Sanzang then gave them a detailed account that started with the bath in the Jade Truth Temple and the lightening of their bodies at Cloud-touching Crossing and went on to tell how they had seen the Tathagata at Thunder Monastery, been feasted at the jeweled tower, given the scriptures in the precious library-wordless scriptures at first because when the two arhats had demanded presents they had refused them-had gone back to pay their respects to the Tathagata again to be given the number of rolls in a single store, had been plunged into the water by the White Soft-shelled Turtle, and nearly had the scriptures stolen in the darkness by evil spirits. After telling all this Sanzang took his leave.

  But the whole family of the two old men was not at all willing to let them go. “We have been under a great debt to you for saving our children that we have not yet been able to repay,” they said. “We have built a Temple of Deliverance where incense has been burned to you ever since without ceasing.” Then they called out the children in whose place Monkey and Pig had gone to be sacrificed, Chen Guan-given and Pan of Gold, to kowtow in thanks and ask them into the shrine to take a look. Sanzang then put the bundles of scriptures in front of the hall of their house and read them one roll of the Precious Eternity sutra. Then they went to the temple, where the Chens had set out delicacies. Before the pilgrims could sit down another group of people came to invite them to another meal, and before they could pick up their chopsticks yet another group came with a third invitation. This went on and on without end, so that they had no chance to eat properly. Sanzang, who dared not decline the invitations, had to make gestures of eating. The shrine was indeed most handsomely built:

  The gateway was thickly painted in red

  Thanks to the generous donors.

  A tower rose there

  Where houses with a pair of cloisters had now been built.

  Red were the doors

  And the Seven Treasures were finely carved.

  Incense floated up to the clouds;

  Pure light filled the vault of space.

  Some tender cypress saplings were still being watered;

  A number of pine trees did not yet form a grove.

  Living waters met one in front

  Where the waves of the River of Heaven were rolling;

  High cliffs rose behind

  Where range upon range of mountains joined the earth dragon.

  When Sanzang has seen everything he climbed the high tower, where statues of the four pilgrims had been placed. “Looks just like you, brother,” said pig, tugging at Monkey, when he saw them.

  “Second brother,” said Friar Sand, “Your statue's just like you too. The only thing is that the master's is too good-looking.”

  “It is very good,” said Sanzang, “it is very good.” They then came downstairs, where people were still waiting, and urged them to eat the vegetarian food that was set out in the hall and in the cloisters behind it.

  “What happened to the Great King's Temple that used to be here?” Brother Monkey asked.

  “It was demolished that year,” the old men replied. “My lords, we have had good harvests every year since this monastery was established, thanks to your lordships' blessed protection.”

  “That was heaven's gift,” said Monkey with a smile, “nothing to do with us. But after we have gone this time I guarantee that the families in your village will have many sons and grandsons, flourishing livestock, wind and rain at the right time year in and year out, and rain and wind year out and year in at the right time.” The people all kowtowed in thanks.

  What could then be seen were a countless number of people lined up behind each other to offer fruit and other vegetarian food. “I'll be blowed,” said Pig with a laugh. “In the old days, when I could eat, nobody ever asked me to do so ten times over. But now, when I can't, one family won't wait for another to finish before offering me food.”

  Although he was feeling full he did get going a little and ate eight or nine meatless dishes; and despite having an injured stomach he also downed twenty or thirty steamed breadrolls. When they were all full, more people came with further invitations. “Grateful though I am for your great affection,” Sanzang said, “I do not deserve it. I hope that w
e may be allowed to rest tonight. Tomorrow morning we will accept some more.”

  It was now late at night. Sanzang, who was guarding the true scriptures and would not leave them for a moment, sat in meditation at the foot of the tower to keep a vigil. As the third watch of the night approached he said quietly, “Wukong, the people here know that we have found the Way and completed our undertaking. As the old saying goes, 'The true adept does not show his face; who shows his face is no true adept.' I am afraid that if we tarry too long here that we may fail in our main enterprise.”

  “What you say is right, Master,” Monkey replied. “Let's slip quietly away in the middle of the night while they're all sound asleep.” Pig too understood, Friar Sand comprehended very clearly, and the white horse also knew what he meant. So they got up, quietly loaded the packs, shouldered the poles, and carried the things out along the cloister. When they reached the main gates and found them locked Monkey used unlocking magic to open the inner gates and the main gates. They followed the path East, only to hear the Eight Vajrapanis calling from mid-air. “Come with us, escapers.” The venerable elder then smelt incense as he rose up into the air. This was indeed a case of:

  When the elixir is formed one sees the original face;

  When the body is strong one can then visit one's sovereign.

  If you do not know how he saw the Tang emperor, listen to the explanation in the next installment.

  Chapter 100

  The Journey Back to the East Is Made

  The Five Immortals Achieve Nirvana

  We will tell not of how the four travelers escaped and rose on the wind with the vajrapanis, but of the many people in the Temple of Deliverance in Chen Village. After they rose at dawn to prepare more fruit and delicacies to offer they came to the ground floor of the tower and found the Tang Priest gone. Some asked questions and others searched. They were all thrown into panic and did not know what to do.

  “We've let those living Buddhas all get clean away,” they lamented as their howls rose to the skies. As there was nothing else they could do about it they carried all the food they had prepared to the ground floor of the tower as offerings and burned imitation paper money. From then on four major sacrifices and twenty-four minor sacrifices were held every year. In addition people praying for cures or safety, seeking marriages, making vows, and seeking wealth or sons came at every hour of every day to bum incense and make offerings. Indeed:

  Incense smoked in the golden burner for a thousand years;

  The light burned in the lamps of jade through eternity.

  We will say no more of this, but tell of how the Eight Vajrapanis used a second fragrant wind to carry the four pilgrims off again. Some days later they reached the East, and Chang'an came gradually into view. Now after seeing the Tang Priest off from the city on the twelfth day of the ninth month in the thirteenth year of Then Guan the Emperor Taizong had in the sixteenth year sent officials of his Department of Works to build a Watching For the Scriptures Tower outside the city of Chang'an to receive the scriptures. Here Taizong went in person every year. It so happened that on the very day the emperor went to the tower the Western sky was filled with auspicious light and gusts of scented wind.

  “Holy monk,” the vajrapanis said, stopping in mid air, “this is the city of Chang'an. We cannot come down as the people here are too clever: we are afraid that they might give away what we look like. The Great Sage Monkey and the other two gentlemen cannot go there either. You must go there yourself to hand the scriptures to your monarch then come back here. We will be waiting for you up in the clouds ready to go to report back on your mission.”

  “Although what you respected gentlemen say is right,” replied the Great Sage, “how could my master possibly shoulder the pole for carrying the scriptures? And how could he lead this horse? We'll have to take him there. May I trouble you to wait a moment up in the air? We wouldn't dare keep you waiting.”

  “The other day the Bodhisattva Guanyin informed the Tathagata,” the vajrapanis replied, “that the return journey would take only eight days, so as to make up the number of rolls of scriptures in the Tripitaka. We have already spent over four days, and we are worried that Pig will be so greedy for blessings and honors that he will make us overrun the time limit.”

  “The master's a Buddha now,” Pig replied with a smile, “and I want to become one too. So why should I want to be greedy? Cheeky great fools! Wait here while we hand the scriptures over, then we'll come back to return with you.” The idiot then shouldered a pole while Friar Sand held the horse and Brother Monkey led the holy monk as they brought their cloud down to land beside the Watching For the Scriptures Tower.

  When Taizong and his officials all saw this they came down to greet the travelers with the words, “You are back, Imperial Younger Brother.”

  The Tang Priest fell to the ground in a kowtow, only to be helped back to his feet by Taizong, who asked, “Who are these three?”

  “They are disciples I took on along the way,” Sanzang replied. Taizong was delighted.

  “Harness the horses to our imperial carriage,” he ordered his aides, “and invite the Imperial Younger Brother to mount his steed and return to the palace with us.” The Tang Priest thanked him and mounted his horse. The Great Sage followed closely behind, whirling his golden cudgel. Pig and Friar Sand led the horse and shouldered the pole as they followed the emperor back to Chang'an. Indeed:

  In that year of peace and rising prosperity

  Civil and military officials are calm and magnificent.

  At a land and water mass the clergy displayed the dharma;

  The monarch commands his ministers in the throne hall of the palace.

  A passport was given to Tang Sanzang;

  The primal cause of the scriptures has been matched to the Five

  Elements.

  Through painful tempering all monsters have been destroyed;

  Now he returns in triumph to the capital.

  The Tang Priest and his three disciples followed the imperial carriage back to the palace. Everybody in the capital knew that the pilgrim who had gone to fetch the scriptures had now returned.

  When the monks, young and old, of the Hongfu Monastery in Chang'an where the Tang Priest used to live saw that the tops of a number of pine trees were all leaning towards the East they exclaimed in astonishment, “Odd, very odd! There's been no wind today, so why are the tops of these trees all bent?”

  “Fetch our vestments at once,” said one of them who was a former disciple of Sanzang. “The master who went to fetch the scriptures is back.”

  “How do you know?” the other monks all asked.

  “When the master left many years ago,” the former disciple replied, “he said that when the branches and tops of the pines turned East three, four, six or seven years after he had gone he would be back. My master speaks with the holy voice of a Buddha: that is how I know.” They quickly put on their habits and went out.

  By the time they reached the Western street, messengers had arrived to say, “The pilgrim who went for the scriptures has just returned, and His Majesty is bringing him into the city.” As soon as they heard this the monks all hurried over to meet him. When they saw the imperial carriage they dared not come close, but followed it to the palace gates, where the Tang Priest dismounted and went inside with his disciples.

  The Tang Priest stood at the foot of the steps to the throne hall with the dragon horse, the load of sutras, Monkey, Pig and Friar Sand. Emperor Taizong then summoned the Younger Brother to enter the throne hall and invited him to sit down, which the Tang Priest did with thanks. He then had the scriptures carried up. Monkey and the others unpacked the scrolls, which the officials in personal attendance handed to the emperor.

  “How many scriptures are there?” the emperor asked. “And how did you fetch them?”

  “When your clerical subject reached Vulture Peak and saw the Lord Buddha,” Sanzang replied, “he told the arhats Ananda and Kasyapa to take us firs
t to a precious tower where we were given meatless food, then to the library, where we were handed the scriptures. The arhats demanded presents, but as we had not brought any we had none to give. Then they gave us the scriptures. When we had thanked the Buddha for his goodness and were travelling East the scriptures were snatched away by a demonic gale. Luckily my disciples were able to recover them by using magic powers, but they had been blown all over the place. On opening them out to look at them we found that they were all blank, wordless versions. We were so shocked that we went back to report to the Buddha and plead for the real ones. What the Lord Buddha said was, 'When these scriptures were composed, bhiksus and holy monks went down the mountain and recited them to the family of the elder Zhao in the land of Sravasti. This ensured peace and safety for the living and deliverance for the dead members of the family. All that was asked for was three bushels and three pecks of granular gold. I thought that they sold the scriptures too cheap, so I saw to it that Zhao's sons and grandsons would be poor.' When we realized that the two arhats were demanding a present and that the Lord Buddha knew all about it we had no choice but to give them our begging bowl of purple gold. Only then did they hand over the true scriptures with words. There are thirty-five of them, and a number of rolls from each of them was selected to be given us, making a total of rolls. This corresponds to the number of rolls in a single Store.”

  At this Taizong was more delighted than ever. “Let the Protocol Office arrange a thanksgiving banquet in the Eastern hall,” he ordered, at which he suddenly saw the three disciples standing at the foot of the steps, looking very strange indeed. “Are your distinguished disciples foreigners?” he asked.

  “My senior disciple's surname is Sun,” the venerable elder replied with a bow, “his Buddhist name is Wukong, and I also call him Sun the Novice. He originally came from the Water Curtain Cave on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit in the country of Aolai in the Eastern Continent of Divine Body. For making great havoc in the palaces of heaven five hundred years ago he was crashed by the Lord Buddha in a stone cell in the Double Boundary Mountain on the Western frontier. After the Bodhisattva Guanyin persuaded him to mend his ways he accepted conversion, so when I arrived there I delivered him. I am greatly indebted to him for my protection. My second disciple Zhu has the Buddhist name Wuneng, and I also call him Pig. He came from the Cloud Pathway Cave on the Mountain of Blessing, and was a monster in Gao Village in the land of Stubet until he was converted by the Bodhisattva and subdued by Wukong. He has made great efforts, carrying the load all along the way, and been very useful in crossing rivers. My third disciple's surname is Sha and his Buddhist name Wujing. He used to be a monster in the Rowing Sands River. He too was converted by the Bodhisattva and now believes in the Buddhist faith. The horse is not the one that my sovereign gave me.”