by Wu Cheng-En
Taizong approved his suggestion, and ordered Wei Zheng to stand guard at the back gates that night. Wei Zheng received the edict, and that night he put on his best clothes, belted himself tightly, and took up his vigil outside the Hou Zai Gate. He was a true hero. He wore
A black band of silk around his forehead,
A brocade gown loosely belted with jade.
His hood and billowing sleeves caught the frost and dew,
And he looked more ferocious than the ghost-quellers Shenshu and Yul ti.
On his feet he wore black boots for motionless movement;
In his hand he wielded a keen-edged blade with great ferocity.
He looked around with glaring eyes:
What evil spirit would have dared approach?
No devils were seen all night, but although nothing happened at the front or back gates the Emperor's condition still deteriorated. One day the Empress Dowager issued an edict summoning the officials to discuss funeral arrangements. Taizong sent for Xu Maogong and gave him orders about affairs of state, instructing him to look after the heir to the throne in the way that Liu Bei, the ruler of Shu, had instructed Zhuge Liang. When he had finished speaking he was bathed and put into clean clothes. All he had to do now was to wait for the end. Then in rushed Wei Zheng, who grabbed hold of his dragon robes and said, “Do not worry, Your Majesty. I can ensure Your Majesty long life.”
“The disease has reached my heart,” replied the Emperor, “and my life will end at any moment now, so how can you save it?”
“Your subject has a letter here,” said Wei Zheng, “that I am offering to Your Majesty to take with you to the underworld and give to Cui Jue, the judge of Fengdu.”
“Who is this Cui Jue?” asked the Emperor.
“He was one of the officers of Your Majesty's exalted predecessor. From being magistrate of Cizhou he was promoted to be vice-president of the Ministry of Rites. When he was alive he and I were close friends. Now that he is dead he is in charge of the Registers of Birth and Death in the underworld as judge of Fengdu, and he often comes to see me in my dreams. If you take this letter with you on your journey and give it to him, he is bound to allow Your Majesty to come back out of consideration for your humble subject. I can guarantee that Your Majesty's soul will return to the sunlight, and the dragon countenance will certainly return to the imperial capital.” Taizong took the letter and put it in his sleeve, then he shut his eyes in death. The empresses, consorts and imperial concubines of the three palaces and the six compounds, the palace servants, the heir to the throne, and the civil and military officials all grieved and dressed in mourning. The imperial coffin lay in state in the White Tiger Hall.
If you don't know how Taizong came back to life, listen to the explanation in the next chapter.
Chapter 11
After Touring the Underworld, Taizong Returns to Life.
By Presenting a Pumpkin Liu Quan Continues His Marriage
A hundred years flow by like water;
A lifetime's career is no more than a bubble,
The face that yesterday was the color of peach-blossom
Today is edged with snow.
When the white ants' line of battle collapses, all is illusion;
“Repent, repent,” is the cuckoo's urgent call.
He who does good in secret can always prolong his life;
Heaven looks after the one who asks no pity.
Taizong was in a daze as his soul went straight to the Tower of Five Phoenixes, in front of which he saw the horsemen of the Imperial Guard who invited him out hunting with them. Taizong was glad to go and they went off into the distance; but after they had been going for some time he found himself walking alone in a wasteland: the horsemen had all disappeared. Just as he was discovering to his alarm that he could not find his way a man appeared not far away, shouting.
“Great Tang Emperor, come here, come here.” On hearing this Taizong looked up and saw him:
A black silk turban,
A rhinoceros-horn belt.
The black silk turban has tabs blowing in the breeze;
The rhinoceros-horn belt has golden mountings.
In his hands an ivory tablet, glowing auspiciously;
His thin silk gown conceals his divine light.
He wears a pair of boots with whitened soles
As he climbs the clouds and grasps the mist,
Holding to his chest the Registers of Life and Death,
Noting down the quick and the dead.
His tangled hair blows about his ears;
His whiskers dance and fly beside his cheeks.
Once he used to be a Tang minister
But now he judges cases for the King of Hell.
When Taizong went up to him, he fell on his knees beside the path and said, “Your Majesty, please forgive your subject for his crime of failing to come far enough to meet you.”
“Who are you?” asked the Emperor, “and why have you come to meet me?”
“A fortnight ago your humble servant heard the Dragon King of the River Jing bringing a case against Your Majesty in the Senluo Palace because he was executed despite your promise to save him,” replied the other.
“The King of Qinguang of the First Palace sent devil messengers with an urgent summons to Your Majesty to be present when the case is heard between the Three Orders: the Human Order, the Underworld Order and the Water Order. When I heard this I came here to meet Your Majesty. I arrived late, so I beg for forgiveness.”
“What is your name and position?” asked Taizong.
“When your humble servant was alive I used to serve His Late Majesty. I was magistrate of Cizhou, and later made vice-president of the Ministry of Rites. My name is Cui Jue. I have now been given office in the underworld as the judge in charge of cases at Fengdu.” Taizong, greatly delighted to learn this, went up to him and supported him with his imperial hands as he said, “Sir, you have made a long and exhausting journey. Wei Zheng, our minister, gave us a letter for you; how lucky that we have met.” The judge thanked him and asked where the letter was. Taizong produced it from his sleeve and handed it over to Cui Jue, who received it with a bow. When he opened it he saw that it read as follows:
Your Excellency, Metropolitan Judge, and Venerable Elder Brother Cui,
Remembering our former friendship; I still see and hear you as if you were alive; but many years have now flown by since I last received your pure instruction. On feast days I set out some vegetarian dishes as a sacrifice to you, but I have been unable to divine whether they are enjoyed by you. As I have the good fortune not to have been abandoned by you and you have appeared to me in dreams, I now know that my great elder brother has risen high. But, alas, there is a great gap between the worlds of darkness and of light, and we are unable to meet each other as we are each at different ends of the universe.
As the Cultured Emperor Taizong has recently passed away of a sudden illness it seems likely that his case will be discussed by the Three Orders, so that he is bound to meet you, elder brother. I beseech you to remember the friendship of the days when you were alive and give His Majesty such assistance as will enable him to return to the sunlight. This would be a great favour, and I shall write again to thank you. I cannot go into all the details of the case here.
Your younger brother kowtows to you.
With affection,
Wei Zheng.
The judge was very pleased when he had read the letter. “I know about how the official Wei of the personnel department beheaded the dragon in a dream the other day,” he said, “and this news filled me with great admiration. He has always looked after my sons and grandsons, and now that I have a letter from him, Your Majesty need have no worries. Your humble servant can undertake to escort Your Majesty back to the light, where you will once more ascend the throne.” Taizong thanked him.
As they were talking a pair of servant boys in black appeared, carrying banners and a precious canopy. “An invitation from King Yama,” they sho
uted. Taizong and Judge Cui went along with them. A city wall appeared in front of them, and above its gates hung a large tablet on which was written DEVIL GATE OF THE WORLD OF DARKNESS in huge letters of gold. The two lictors waved their banners and led Taizong into the city and along its streets. Beside the road he saw his father and predecessor Li Yuan, as well as his dead brothers Jaincheng and Yuanji, who went up to him and said, “Shimin's here, Shimin's here,” using his personal name. They grabbed and hit him, demanding their lives back; and as Taizong could not avoid them they held him fast until Judge Cui ordered a blue-faced devil with terrible fangs to drive them away. Only then was Taizong able to escape from their clutches. After another mile or so he saw a green-tiled tower rising majestically before him.
A myriad coloured veils of haze drifting about it,
A thousand wisps of red mist dimly appearing.
The flying eaves had monsters at their ends,
The matching tiles of the five roofs were gleaming bright.
Rows of golden studs were driven into the doors,
A length of whitest jade was placed across each threshold.
When the windows faced the light they glowed like the dawn;
Red lightning flashed from the lattice and the blinds.
The tower soared into the azure sky
While porticos led to sumptuous courtyards.
Incense from braziers shaped like beasts perfumed the royal robes;
The light from lanterns of purple gauze was thrown on palace fans.
To the left a row of ferocious bull-headed demons;
To the right were terrible horse-faced devils.
Those who escorted the spirits of the dead had golden tablets;
Those who summoned souls wore white sackcloth.
This place was called the assembly of the underworld,
The Palace of Yama, King of Hell.
As Taizong gazed at it from the outside, jade ornaments could be heard tinkling as they swung from the belts of officials, and rare perfumes could be smelt. In front were two pairs of attendants holding lanterns, and behind them the ten generations of kings of the underworld came down the steps. The ten kings were the King of Qinguang, the King of Chujiang, King Songdi, King Wuguan, King Yama, King Impartial, King of Mount Tai, the Metropolitan King, the King of Biancheng, and the King of the Ever-turning Wheel. They came out of the Senluo Palace and bowed to Taizong in greeting. Taizong felt too humble to go forward.
“Your Majesty is a monarch in the world of light, but we are only kings in the world of darkness. It is therefore only right that we should do this, so why this excessive modesty?”
“We have offended against Your Majesties,” replied Taizong, “so how can we venture to talk in terms of light and darkness, or men and ghosts?” After much yielding Taizong went into the Senluo Palace, and when they had finished bowing to each other they sat down as hosts and guest.
A moment later the King of Qinguang clasped his hands together and said, “Why is it that the ghost dragon of the River Jing has brought a case against Your Majesty, saying that he was executed despite your promise to save him?”
“I had a dream that an old dragon came to ask me to save him,” replied Taizong, “and I did in fact promise that he would come to no harm; but as it turned out his crime was a capital one, for which he was due to be beheaded by the minister in the personnel department, Wei Zheng. We summoned Wei Zheng to come and play chess in the palace, and I never knew that he had beheaded the dragon in a dream. This happened because that officer can come and go miraculously, and also because the dragon king had committed a crime for which he deserved to die. We were in no way to blame for his death.”
When the Ten Kings heard his statement they bowed and replied, “Even before that dragon was born it was written in the registers of the Southern Pole Star that he was destined to die at the hands of a personnel minister, as we have long been aware. But because he has been arguing about the matter we had to send for Your Majesty. When the case has been argued between the three orders we shall send him to the Revolving Prayer-wheel for reincarnation. We hope that Your Majesty will forgive us for forcing you to attend.” Then they ordered the judge in charge of the Registers of Birth and Death to fetch them at once to see how long His Majesty was due to live. Judge Cui hurried to his office and took down the general register of the lengths of the reigns Heaven had allowed to the kings of all the countries of the earth. As he was looking through it he saw to his horror that Emperor Taizong of the Great Tang in the Southern Jambu Continent was due to die in year 13 of his reign. He hurriedly seized a large brush soaked in ink, changed 13 into 33, then he handed the register up. The Ten Kings started at the beginning and read it through until they saw that Taizong was due to reign for thirty-three years.
“How long has Your Majesty been on the throne?” asked the shocked kings of hell.
“It is now thirteen years since my accession,” Taizong replied.
“Then there is no need for Your Majesty to worry,” said King Yama. “You have twenty years of life ahead of you. Now that you have answered these charges satisfactorily, will you please return to the World of Light.” On hearing this Taizong bowed and thanked the Ten Kings, who then ordered judge Cui and marshal Zhu to return Taizong his soul. As he was leaving the Senluo Palace Taizong raised his hand in salutation and asked the Ten Kings about the prospects for all the members of his family in his palace.
“Good,” they replied, “except that Your Majesty's younger sister does not seem to be going to live much longer.” Taizong bowed once more to express his thanks.
“When we return to the daylight we shall have nothing with which to show our gratitude except for fruit and melons.”
“We have gourds, Eastern melons and Western melons, or water-melons, here, but no pumpkins, no Southern melons,” said the Ten Kings.
“When we return to the world of the living we shall send some,” replied Taizong, and with that they raised their clasped hands to each other, bowed, and parted.
The marshal, with a soul-guiding flag in his hand, led the way, and Judge Cui followed with Taizong as they left the office of darkness. Taizong looked up and saw that they were not going the same way as they had come.
“Have we taken the wrong road?” he asked the judge, who replied, “No. In the underworld you can only go; you can never come back. We are now taking Your Majesty out through the Revolving Prayer-wheel; thus you will be able to tour the underworld on your way back to life.” Taizong had no choice but to follow them as they led the way.
After a mile or two he saw a high mountain wrapped in dark clouds down to its foot, while a black mist blotted out the sky.
“What's that mountain over there, Mr. Cui?” he asked; and the judge replied, “That is the Dark Mountain of the underworld.”
“However shall we cross it?” Taizong asked in terror.
“Have no fears, Your Majesty; your subjects will lead the way,” answered the judge. Taizong followed them shivering and trembling, and when they had climbed the mountain he looked around him. He saw that it was
Jagged,
Precipitous,
High as the Sichuan ranges,
Lofty as Lushan.
It is not a famous peak of the world of light,
But a crag of the underworld.
Ogres hidden in the clumps of thorns,
Evil monsters lurk behind the cliffs.
Your ears hear no calls of animals or birds,
The eyes can only see fiends.
A dark wind howls,
As black fog spreads.
The dark wind that howls
Is the smoke breathed from the mouths of magic soldiers;
The spreading black fog
Is the vapour belched out by hidden trolls.
Wherever you look the prospect is appalling;
All you can see to left or right is unbridled evil.
To be sure, there are hills,
Peaks,
Ra
nges,
Caves,
And gullies.
But no grass grows on the hills,
There is no sky for the peaks to touch.
No travelers cross the ranges,
The caves hold no clouds,
No water runs in the gullies.
Before the cliffs there are only goblins,
Below the ranges are trolls.
Savage ghosts shelter in the caves,
Evil spirits hide in the gullies.
All around the mountain
Ox-headed and horse-faced demons howl and roar;
Half hidden from view,
Hungry ghosts and desperate spirits sob to each other.
The judge who claims men's lives
Cannot wait to deliver the letter;
The marshal who chases souls,
Shouts and roars as he hastens along with his documents.
The swift-footed ones
Swirl along like a tornado;
The catchers of souls
Stand as thick as clouds.
Thanks entirely to the protection of the judge, Taizong crossed the Dark Mountain.
As they continued on their way they went past very many courts, and from each of them piteous sounds assailed his ear, while the evil ghouls there struck terror into his heart.
“What place is this?” asked Taizong.
“It is the eighteen layers of hell that lie behind the Dark Mountain,” the judge replied.
“What are the eighteen layers?” asked Taizong.
“Listen and I will tell you,” the judge replied.
“The Hanging-by-the-Sinews Hell, the Hell of Injustice, and the Hell of the Pit of Fire.