Journey to the West (vol. 1)

by Wu Cheng-En

  “What nonsense,” the junior monks said. “If you want to wear his cassock, there'll be no problem about that. We'll keep him for another day tomorrow, and you can wear it for another day. Or we can keep him for ten days and you can wear it for ten days. So why get so upset about it?”

  “Even if we kept him for a year,” the old monk replied, “I'd only be able to wear it for a year, which wouldn't bring me any glory. I'll still have to give it to him when he went: I can't keep him here for ever.”

  As they were talking a young monk called Broad Wisdom spoke out. “Grandad,” he said, “if you want it for a long time, that's easy to arrange too.”

  “What brilliant idea have you got, child?” the aged monk asked, cheering up.

  “That Tang Priest and his disciple were so exhausted after their journey that they are both asleep by now,” Broad Wisdom replied. If we arm some strong monks with swords and spears to break into the meditation hall and kill them, they can be buried in the back garden, and nobody but us will be any the wiser. This way we get their white horse and their luggage as well as the cassock, which will become an heirloom of the monastery. We would be doing this for posterity.” The old monk was very pleased with this suggestion, and he wiped the tears from his eyes as he said, “Very good, very good, a marvellous plan.”

  Another young monk called Broad Plans, a fellow-student of Broad Wisdom's, came froward and said, “This plan's no good. If we are to kill them, we'll have to keep a sharp eye on them. That old pale-faced one looks easy enough, but the hairy-faced one could be tricky; and if by any chance we fail to kill him, we'll be in deep trouble. I have a way that doesn't involve using weapons, but I don't know what you'll think of it.”

  “What do you suggest, my child?” the aged monk asked.

  “In my humble opinion,” he replied, “we should assemble the head monks of all the cells, senior and junior, and get everyone to put a bundle of firewood outside the meditation hall. When it's set alight, those two will have no escape, and will be burnt to death together with their horse. Even if the people who live around this mountain see the blaze, they'll think that those two burnt down the mediation hall by carelessly starting a fire. This way they'll both be burnt to death and nobody will know how it happened. Then the cassock will become our monastery's treasure for ever.” All the monks present were pleased with this suggestion, exclaiming, “Great, great, great; an even better plan.” The head of every cell was told to bring firewood, a scheme that was to bring death to the venerable and aged monk, and reduce the Guanyin Monastery to ashes. Now there were seventy or eighty cells in the monastery, and over two hundred junior and senior monks. They shifted firewood all night, piled it up all round the meditation hall so that there was no way out, and prepared to set it alight.

  Although Sanzang and he had gone to bed, the magical Monkey's spirit remained alert and his eyes half open even when he was asleep. His suspicions were aroused by the sound of people moving around outside and the rustling of firewood in the breeze. “Why can I hear footsteps in the still of the night?” he wondered. “Perhaps bandits are planning to murder us.” He leaped out of bed, and was on the point of opening the door to take a look when he remembered that this might disturb his master, so instead he used his miraculous powers to turn himself into a bee with a shake of his body.

  Sweet his mouth and venomous his tail,

  Slender his waist and light his body.

  He flew like an arrow, threading through willows and flowers,

  Seeking their nectar like a shooting star.

  A tiny body that could bear great weights,

  Carried on the breeze by his frail and buzzing wings.

  Thus did he emerge from under the rafters,

  Going out to take a look.

  He saw that the monks had piled firewood and straw all around the meditation hall and were setting it alight. Smiling to himself he thought, “So my master was right. This is their idea. They want to kill us and keep our cassock. I wish I could lay into them with my cudgel. If only I wasn't forbidden to use it, I could kill the lot of them; but the master would only be angry with me for murdering them. Too bad. I'll just have to take my chances as they come, and finish them off.”

  The splendid Monkey leapt in through the Southern Gate of Heaven with a single somersault, startling the heavenly warriors Pang, Liu, Gou and Bi into bowing, and Ma, Zhao, Wen and Guan into bending low as they all said, “Oh no, oh no! The fellow who turned Heaven upside down is here again.”

  “There's no need to stand on courtesy or be alarmed, gentlemen,” said Monkey with a wave of his hand, “I've come to find the Broad-Visioned Heavenly King.”

  Before the words were out of his mouth the Heavenly King was there and greeting Monkey with, “Haven't seen you for ages. I heard the other day that the Bodhisattva Guanyin came to see the Jade Emperor to borrow the four Duty Gods, the Six Dings and Jias and the Revealers of the Truth to look after the Tang Priest on his pilgrimage to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. They were also saying that you were his disciple, so how is it that you have the spare time to come here?”

  “Let's cut the cackle,” said Monkey. “The Tang priest has run into some villains who have started a fire to burn him to death. It's very urgent, which is why I've come to ask you for the loan of your Anti-fire Cover to save him with. Fetch it at once; I'll bring it straight back.”

  “You've got it all wrong,” the Heavenly King replied. “If villains are trying to burn him, you should rescue him with water. What do you need my Anti-fire Cover for?”

  “You don't understand,” Monkey continued. “If I try to save him with water, he may still be hurt even if he isn't burnt up. I can only keep him free from injury if you lend me that cover; and with that it doesn't matter how much burning they do. Buck up, buck up! It may be too late already. Don't mess up what I've got to do down there.”

  “You monkey,” said the Heavenly King with a laugh, “You're as wicked as ever, thinking only of yourself and never of others.”

  “Hurry up, hurry up,” Monkey pleaded. “You'll ruin everything if you go on nattering.” The Heavenly King, no longer able to refuse, handed the cover to Monkey.

  Taking the cover, Monkey pressed down on his cloud and went straight to the roof of the meditation hall, where he spread the cover over the Tang Priest, the dragon horse, and the luggage. Then he went to sit on top of the aged monk's room to protect the cassock. As he watched them starting the fire he kept on reciting a spell and blew some magic breath towards the Southwest, at which a wind arose and fanned the flames up into a wild and roaring blaze. What a fire!

  Spreading black smoke,

  Leaping red flames;

  The spreading black smoke blotted out all the stars in the sky,

  The leaping red flames made the earth glow red for hundreds of miles.

  When it started

  It was a gleaming golden snake;

  Later on

  It was a spirited horse.

  The Three Spirits of the South showed their might,

  The Fire God Huilu wielded his magic power,

  The bone-dry kindling burned ferociously,

  As when the Emperor Suiren drilled wood to start a fire.

  Flames leapt up from the boiling oil before the doors,

  Brighter than when Lord Lao Zi opens his furnace.

  As the cruel fire spreads,

  What can stop this willful murder?

  Instead of dealing with the disaster

  They abetted it.

  As the wind fanned the fire.

  The flames flew many miles high;

  As the fire grew in the might of the wind,

  Sparks burst through the Nine Heavens.

  Cracking and banging,

  Like firecrackers at the end of the year;

  Popping and bursting,

  Like cannon-fire in battle.

  None of the Buddha statues could escape the blaze,

  And the guardian gods in the E
astern court had nowhere to hide.

  It was fiercer that the fire-attack at Red Cliff,

  Or the burning of the Epang Palace.

  A single spark can start a prairie fire. In a few moments the raging wind had blown the fire up into an inferno, and the whole Guanyin Monastery was red. Look at the monks as they move away boxes and baskets, grabbing tables and carrying cooking-pots on their heads. The whole monastery was full of the sound of shouting and weeping. Brother Monkey protected the abbot's rooms at the back, and the Anti-fire Cover covered the meditation hall in front; everywhere else the fire raged, its red flames reflected in the sky and its dazzling brightness shining through the wall.

  When the fire broke out, all the animals and devils of the mountain were disturbed. Seven miles due South of the Guanyin Monastery was the Black Wind Mountain, on which there was a Black Wind Cave. In this cave a monster awoke and sat up. Seeing light streaming in through his window, he thought it must be dawn, but when he got up to take a better look he saw a fire blazing to the North.

  “Blimey,” the monster exclaimed with astonishment, “those careless monks must have set the Guanyin Monastery on fire. I'd better go and help them.” The good monster leapt off on a cloud and went down below the smoke and flames that reached up to the sky. The front halls were all empty, and the fire was burning bright in the cloisters on either side. He rushed forward with long strides and was just calling for water when he noticed that the rooms at the back were not burning as there was someone on the roof keeping the wind away. The moment he realized this and rushed in to look, he saw a magic glow and propitious vapours coming from a black felt bundle on the table. On opening it he found it contained a brocade cassock that was a rare treasure of the Buddhist religion. His mind disturbed by the sight of this valuable object, he forgot about putting out the fire or calling for water and grabbed the cassock, which he made off with in the general confusion. Then he went straight back to his cave by cloud.

  The fire blazed on till dawn before burning itself out. The undraped monks howled and wailed as they searched through the ashes for bronze and iron, and picked over the cinders to find gold and silver. Some of them fixed up thatched shelters in what remained of the frames of the buildings, and others were rigging up pots to cook food at the bases of the exposed walls. We will not describe the weeping, the shouting and the confused hubbub.

  Brother Monkey grabbed the Anti-fire Cover, took it back to the Southern Gate of Heaven with a single somersault, and returned it to the Broad-visioned Heavenly King with thanks. “Great Sage,” said the Heavenly King as he accepted it. “You are as good as your word. I was so worried that if you didn't give me back my treasure, I'd never be able to find you and get it off you. Thank goodness you've returned it.”

  “Am I the sort of bloke who'd cheat someone to his face?” asked Monkey. “After all, 'If you return a thing properly when you borrow it, it'll be easier to borrow it next time.'”

  “As we haven't met for so long, why don't you come into the palace for a while?” said the Heavenly King.

  “I'm no longer the man to 'sit on the bench till it rots, talking about the universe,'“ Monkey replied. “I'm too busy now that I have to look after the Tang Monk. Please excuse me.” Leaving with all speed, he went down on his cloud, and saw that the sun was rising as he went straight to the meditation hall, where he shook himself, turned into a bee, and flew in. On reverting to his true form he saw that his master was still sound asleep.

  “Master, get up, it's dawn,” he called.

  Sanzang woke up, rolled over, and said, “Yes, so it is.” When he had dressed he opened the doors, went outside, and saw the walls reddened and in ruins, and the halls and towers gone. “Goodness,” he exclaimed in great astonishment, “why have the buildings all disappeared? Why is there nothing but reddened walls?”

  “You're still asleep,” Monkey replied. “There was a fire last night.”

  “Why didn't I know about it?” Sanzang asked.

  “I was protecting the meditation hall, and as I could see you were asleep, master, I didn't disturb you,” Monkey replied.

  “If you were able to protect the meditation hall, why didn't you put out the fire in the other buildings?” Sanzang asked. Monkey laughed.

  “I'll tell you, master. What you predicted actually happened. They fancied that cassock of ours and planned to burn us to death. If I hadn't noticed, we'd be bones and ashes by now.”

  “Did they start the fire?” asked Sanzang who was horrified to learn this.

  “Who else?” replied Monkey.

  “Are you sure that you didn't cook this up because they were rude to you?” Sanzang asked.

  “I'm not such a rascal as to do a thing like that,” said Monkey. “Honestly and truly, they started it. Of course, when I saw how vicious they were I didn't help put the blaze out. I helped them with a slight breeze instead.”

  “Heavens! Heavens! When a fire starts you should bring water, not wind.”

  “You must know the old saying-'If people didn't harm tigers, tigers wouldn't hurt people.' If they hadn't started a fire, I wouldn't have caused a wind.”

  “Where's the cassock? Don't say that it's been burnt too.”

  “It's all right; it hasn't been burnt. The abbots' cell where it was kept didn't catch fire.”

  “I don't care what you say. If it's come to any harm, I'll recite that spell till it kills you.”

  “Don't do that,” pleaded Monkey desperately, “I promise to bring that cassock back to you. Wait while I fetch it for you, and then we'll be on our way.” With Sanzang leading the horse, and Monkey carrying the luggage, they went out of the meditation hall and straight to the abbot's lodgings at the back.

  When the grief-stricken monks of the monastery suddenly saw master and disciple emerge with horse and luggage from the meditation hall they were terrified out of their wits, and screamed, “Their avenging ghosts have come to demand our lives.”

  “What do you mean, avenging ghosts coming to demand your lives?” Monkey shouted. “Give us back our cassock at once.”

  The monks all fell to their knees and kowtowed, saying, “Masters, wrongs are always avenged, and debts always have to be paid. If you want lives, it's nothing to do with us; It was the old monk and Broad Plans who cooked up the plot to kill you. Please don't punish us.”

  Monkey snorted with anger and roared, “I'll get you, you damned animals. Who asked for anyone's life? Just bring out that cassock and we'll be on our way.”

  Two brave men from among the monks said, “Masters, you were burnt to death in the meditation hall, and now you come back to ask for the cassock. Are you men or ghosts?”

  “You cattle,” sneered Monkey, “there wasn't any fire. Go and look at the meditation hall and then we'll see what you have to say.” The monks rose to their feet, and when they went forward to look, they saw that there was not even the slightest trace of scorching on the door and the window-frames. The monks, now struck with fear, realized that Sanzang was a divine priest, and Monkey a guardian god.

  They all kowtowed to the pair of them and said, “Our eyes are blind. We failed to recognize saints sent down from Heaven. Your cassock is in the abbot's rooms at the back.” Sanzang went past a number of ruined walls and buildings, sighing endlessly, and saw that the abbot's rooms at the back had indeed not been burnt. The monks all rushed in shouting. “Grandad, the Tang priest is a saint, and instead of being burnt to death he's wrecked our home. Bring the cassock out at once and give it back to him.”

  Now the old monk had been unable to find the cassock, which coming on top of the destruction of the monastery had him distraught with worry. When the monks asked him for it, he was unable to reply. Seeing no way out of his quandary, he bent his head down and dashed it against the wall. He smashed his skull open and expired as his blood poured all over the floor. There are some verses about it:

  Alas that the aged monk in his folly

  Lived so long a life for nothing.


  He wanted the cassock as an heirloom for the monastery.

  Forgetting that what is Buddha's is not as mortal things.

  As he took the changeable for the eternal,

  His sorry end was quite inevitable.

  What use were Broad Wisdom and Broad Plans?

  To harm others for gain always fails.

  The other monks began to howl in desperation, “Our Patriarch has dashed his brains out, and we can't find the cassock, so whatever shall we do?”

  “I think you've hidden it somewhere,” Monkey said. “Come out, all of you, and bring me all the registers. I'm going to check that you're all here.” The senior and junior abbots brought the two registers in which all the monks, novices, pages, and servants were registered. There were a total of two hundred and thirty names in them. Asking his master to sit in the place of honour, Monkey called out and marked off each of the names, making the monks open up their clothes for his inspection. When he had checked each one carefully there was no sign of the cassock. Then he searched carefully through all the boxes and baskets that had been saved from the flames, but again he could find no trace of it. Sanzang, now absolutely furious with Brother Monkey, started to recite the spell as he sat up high.

  Monkey fell to the ground in great agony, clutching his head and pleading, “Stop, stop, I swear to return the cassock to you.” The monks, trembling at the sight, begged him to stop, and only then did he shut his mouth and desist.

  Monkey leapt to his feet, took his iron cudgel from behind his ear, and was going to hit the monks when Sanzang shouted, “You ape, aren't you afraid of another headache? Are you going to misbehave again? Don't move your hand or hurt anyone. I want you to question them again instead.”

  The monks all kowtowed to him and entreated him most pitifully to spare their lives. “We've honestly not seen it. It's all that dead old bastard's fault. After he saw your cassock yesterday evening he cried till late into the night, not even wanting to look at it as he worked out a plan by which it could belong to the monastery for ever. He wanted to burn you to death, masters, but when the fire started, a gale wind blew up, and we were all busy trying to put the blaze out and move away what stuff we could. We don't know where the cassock went.”