by Wu Cheng-En
Monkey went into the abbot's quarters at the back in a great rage and carried out the corpse of the old monk who had killed himself. When he stripped the body he found no treasures on it, so he dug up the floor of his room to a depth of three feet, again without finding a sign of the cassock. Monkey thought for a moment and then asked, “Are there any monsters turned spirits around here?”
“If you hadn't asked, sir, I'd never have imagined you wanted to know,” the abbot replied. “There is a mountain due South of here called the Black Wind Mountain, and in the Black Wind Cave-on it there lives a Great Black King. That old dead bastard of ours was always discussing the Way with him. There aren't any other evil spirits apart from him.”
“How far is the mountain from here?” Monkey asked.
“Only about seven miles,” the abbot replied. “It's the mountain you can see over there.”
Monkey smiled and said to Sanzang. “Don't worry, master, there's no need to ask any more questions. No doubt about it: it must have been stolen by that black monster.”
“But his place is seven miles from here, so how can you be sure it was him?” Sanzang asked.
“You didn't see the fire last night,” Brother Monkey retorted. “The flames were leaping up hundreds of miles high, and the glow penetrated the triple heavens. You could have seen it seventy miles away, let alone seven. I'm convinced that he saw the glare and took the chance to slip over here quietly. When he saw that our cassock was a treasure, he must have stolen it in the confusion. Just wait while I go and find him.”
“If you go, who's going to protect me?” asked Sanzang.
“Don't worry, gods are watching over you in secret, and in the visible sphere I'll make these monks serve you.” With that he called the community together and said, “I want some of you to go and bury that old ghost, and some of you to serve my master and look after our white horse.” The monks all assented obediently, and Monkey continued, “I won't have you agreeing glibly now but not waiting on them when I've gone. Those of you who look after my master must do so with pleasant expressions on your faces, and those who feed the horse must make sure he gets the right amount of hay and water. If there's the slightest mistake, I'll hit you like this.” He pulled out his cudgel, and smashed a fire-baked brick wall to smithereens; the shock from this shook down seven or eight more walls. At the sight of this the monks' bones turned to jelly, and they knelt down and kowtowed to him with tears pouring down their cheeks.
“Don't worry, master, you can go-we'll look after him. We promise not to show any disrespect.” The splendid Monkey then went straight to the Black Wind Mountain with a leap of his somersault cloud to look for the cassock.
The Golden Cicada left the capital in search of the truth,
Leaning on his staff as he went to the distant West.
Along his route were tigers, leopards and wolves;
Few were the artisans, merchants, or scholars he met.
In a foreign land be encountered a stupid and covetous monk,
And depended entirely on the mighty Great Sage Equaling Heaven.
When fire and wind destroyed the monastery,
A black bear came one night to steal the silken cassock.
If you don't know whether the cassock was found on this journey or how things turned out, listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 17
Brother Monkey Makes Trouble on the Black Wind Mountain
Guanyin Subdues the Bear Spirit
As Monkey leapt up with a somersault, the senior and junior monks, the novices, the page-boys, and the servants of the monastery all bowed low to the sky and said, “Master, you must be a cloud-riding Immortal come down from Heaven. No wonder that fire can't burn you. Damn that stupid old skinflint of ours: he destroyed himself with his own scheming.”
“Please rise, gentlemen,” replied Sanzang, “there's no need to hate him. If my disciple finds the cassock our troubles will all come to an end; but if he doesn't find it, he has rather a nasty temper and I'm afraid that none of you will escape with your lives.” When they heard this warning, the monks' hearts were in their mouths, and they implored Heaven to let him find the cassock and spare their lives.
Once in mid-air, the Great Sage Sun Wukong reached at the Black Wind Mountain with one twist of his waist. Stopping his cloud while he took a careful look around, he saw that it was indeed a fine mountain. It was a spring day:
The myriad valleys' streams compete,
A thousand precipices vie in beauty.
Where the birds call, no man is;
When the blossoms fall, the trees are still fragrant.
After the rain, the sky and the lowering cliff are moist;
As the pines bend in the wind, they spread an emerald screen.
The mountain herbs grow,
The wild flowers blossom,
Hanging over beetling crags;
The wild fig thrives
And fine trees flourish
On craggy range and flat-topped hill.
You meet no hermits,
And can find no wood-cutters.
Beside the stream a pair of cranes drink,
And wild apes gambol on the rocks.
Peaks like mussel-shells, gleaming black,
Lofty and green as they shine through the mist.
As Monkey was looking at the mountain scenery he heard voices from in front of the grassy slope. He slipped off to conceal himself under the rock-face and take a discreet look. He saw three fiends sitting on the ground. At the head was a dark fellow, to his left was a Taoist, and to his right a white-robed scholar, and they were all talking about lofty and broad matters: about refining cinnabar and mercury with tripods and cauldrons; and about the white snow, mercury, the yellow sprout, lead, and other esoteric teachings.
In the middle of this the dark fellow said, “As it's my birthday tomorrow, I hope you two gentlemen will do me the honour of coming along.”
“We celebrate your birthday every year, Your Majesty,” the white-robed scholar replied, “so of course we shall come this year.”
“I came by a treasure last night,” the dark fellow went on, “a brocade cassock for a Buddha, and it's a wonderful thing. I'm going to give a big banquet for it the day after tomorrow and I'm inviting all you mountain officials to come and congratulate me, which is why I'm calling it a 'Buddha's Robe Banquet.'”
“Wonderful, wonderful,” the Taoist exclaimed with a smile. “Tomorrow I'll come to congratulate you on your birthday, and the day after I'll come again for the banquet.”
As soon as Monkey heard him mention the Buddha's robe he was sure it was their treasure, and unable to hold back his anger he leapt out from the cliff brandishing his gold-banded cudgel with both hands and shouting, “I'll get you, you gang of devils. You stole our cassock, and now you think you're going to have a 'Buddha's Robe Banquet'. Give it back to me at once.”
“Don't move,” he barked, swinging the cudgel and bringing it down towards the monster's head. The dark fellow turned into a wind to flee in terror, and the Taoist rode off on a cloud; so Monkey was only able to slay the white-robed scholar with a blow from the club. When he dragged the body over to look at it, he saw that it was a white-patterned snake spirit. In his anger he picked the corpse up and tore it to pieces, then went into the recesses of the mountain in search of the dark fellow. Rounding a sharp pinnacle and traversing a dizzy precipice, he saw a cave palace in the cliff:
Thick, misty clouds,
Dense with cypress and pine.
The thick and misty clouds fill the gates with color;
The dense stands of cypress and pine surround the door with green.
For a bridge there is a dried-out log,
And wild fig coils around the mountain peaks.
Birds carry red petals to the cloud-filled valley;
Deer tread on scented bushes as they climb the stone tower.
Before the gates the season brings out flowers,
As the wind wafts their fragrance.
Around the willows on the dike the golden orioles wheel;
Butterflies flit among the peach-trees on the bank.
This ordinary scene can yet compete
With lesser views in Fairyland.
When he reached the gates Monkey saw that they were very strongly fastened, and above them was a stone tablet inscribed with the words Black Wind Cave of the Black Wind Mountain in large letters. He brandished his cudgel and shouted, “Open up!” at which the junior devil who was on the gates opened them and asked, “Who are you, and how dare you come and attack our Immortals' cave?”
“You damned cur,” Monkey railed at him. “How dare you call a place like this an 'Immortals' cave'? What right have you to use the word 'Immortal'? Go in and tell that dark fellow of yours that if he gives back my cassock at once, I'll spare your lives.”
The junior devil rushed in and reported, “The 'Buddha's Robe Banquet' is off, Your Majesty. There's hairy-faced thunder god outside the gates who's demanding the cassock.”
The dark fellow, who had barely had time to shut the gates and had not even sat down properly since Brother Monkey chased him, away from the grassy slope, thought on hearing this news, “This wretch has come from I don't know where, and now he has the effrontery to come yelling at my gates.” He called for his armour, tightened his belt, and strode out of the gates with a black-tasseled spear in his hands. Monkey appeared outside the gates holding his iron cudgel and glaring wide-eyed at that ferocious-looking monster.
His bowl-shaped iron helmet shone like fire;
His black bronze armour gleamed.
A black silk gown with billowing sleeves,
A dark green silken sash with fringes.
In his hands a spear with black tassels,
On his feet a pair of dark leather boots.
Lightning flashed from his golden pupils;
He was indeed the Black Wind King of the mountains.
“This wretch looks as though he's been a brick-burner or a coal-digger,” Monkey thought as he smiled to himself. “He's so black he must be the local soot-painter.”
“What gives you the nerve to act so big round here, monk, and what the hell are you?” shouted the monster at the top of his voice.
Monkey rushed him with his cudgel and roared, “Cut the cackle, and give me back the cassock at once, kid.”
“What monastery d'you come from? Where did you lose the cassock? Why come and ask for it here?”
“My cassock was in the rear abbot's lodgings at the Guanyin Monastery due North of here. When the monastery caught fire you made the most of the confusion to do a bit of looting and brought it back here, you wretch, and now you're planning to hold a 'Buddha's Robe Banquet'. Don't try to brazen it out. Give it back at once, and I'll spare your life, but if even a hint of a 'no' gets past your teeth I'll push the Black Wind Mountain over, trample your cave flat, and flatten every one of you fiends into noodles.”
The monster laughed evilly and replied, “You've got a nerve. You were the one who started the fire last night. You were sitting on the roof of the abbot's lodgings and calling up a wind to make it worse. What's it to you if I did take a cassock? Where are you from? Who are you? You must have a lot of tricks up your sleeve if you have the nerve to talk so big.”
“You can't recognize your own grandfather.” Brother Monkey replied. “I, your grandfather, am the disciple of His Highness the Patriarch Sanzang, the younger brother of the Emperor of the Great Tang. My name is Brother Sun Wukong. If you want to know about my tricks, just give me the word. I'll slaughter you here and now, and send your souls flying.”
“I've never heard of these tricks of yours, so you'd better tell me about them.”
“Stand still and listen to me, my child,” Monkey replied, and went on to say:
“Great have been my magic powers since childhood;
Changing with the wind, I show my might.
Nourishing my nature and cultivating the truth,
I have lived out the days and months,
Saving my life by jumping beyond the cycle of rebirth.
Once I searched sincerely for the Way
Climbing the Spirit Terrace Mountain to pick medicinal herbs.
On that mountain lives an ancient Immortal
One hundred and eight thousand years old.
I took him as my master,
Hoping that he would show me a road to immortality.
He said that the elixir is in one's own body-
It is a waste of effort to seek it outside.
I learned a great spell of immortality.
I could scarcely have survived without it.
Turning my gaze inwards, I sat and calmed my mind,
While the sun and moon in my body intermingled.
Ignoring the affairs of the world, I made my desires few,
When senses, body, and mind were purified, my body was firm.
Reversing the years and returning to youth is then easily done;
The road to immortality and sagehood was not long.
In three years I acquired a magic body,
That did not suffer like a common one.
I wandered around the Ten Continents and Three Islands,
The corners of the sea and the edge of the sky.
I was due to live over three hundred years
But could not yet fly up to the Nine Heavens.
I got a real treasure for subduing sea dragons:
An iron cudgel banded with gold.
On the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit
I was supreme commander;
In the Water Curtain Cave
I assembled the fiendish hosts.
The Great Jade Emperor sent me a decree
Conferring high rank and the title 'Equaling Heaven'.
More than once I wrecked the Hall of Miraculous Mist,
And stole the Queen Mother's peaches several times.
A hundred thousand heavenly soldiers in serried ranks
Came with spears and swords to put me down.
I sent the heavenly kings back up there in defeat,
Made Nazha flee in pain at the head of his men.
The True Lord Erlang, skilled at transformations,
Lao Zi, Guanyin and the Jade Emperor
Watched me being subdued from the Southern Gate of Heaven.
As he was given some help by Lord Lao Zi,
Erlang captured me and took to Heaven.
I was tied to the Demon-subduing Pillar,
And divine soldiers were ordered to cut off my head.
Though hacked with swords and pounded with hammers
I remained unharmed.
So then I was struck with thunder and burned with fire.
As I really do have magic powers,
I was not in the slightest bit afraid.
They took me to Lao Zi's furnace to be refined.
The Six Dings roasted me slowly with divine fire.
When the time was up and the furnace opened, out I jumped,
And rushed round Heaven, my cudgel in my hand.
No one could stop me making trouble everywhere,
And I caused chaos in the thirty-three Heavens.
Then our Tathagata Buddha used his Dharma power
And dropped the Five Elements Mountain on my back.
There I was crushed for full five hundred years,
Until Sanzang came from the land of Tang.
Now I have reformed and am going to the West
To climb the Thunder Peak and see the Buddha.
Enquire throughout the Four Seas, Heaven and Earth:
You'll find that I'm the greatest monster ever.
On hearing this the fiend laughed and said, “So you're the Protector of the Horses who wrecked Heaven, are you?”
Monkey, who got angrier at being addressed by this title than at anything else, was furious. “You vicious monster. You steal the cassock and refuse to give it back, and on top of that
you insult your lord and master. Just hold it, and see how you like my club.” The dark fellow dodged the blow and then riposted with his spear. The pair of them fought a fine battle.
An As-You-Will cudgel,
A black-tasseled spear,
And two men showing their toughness at the mouth of a cave.
One stabs at heart and face,
The other tries for arm and head.
This one strikes cunning sideswipes with a club,
That one brandishes his spear in three swift movements.
The white tiger climbs the mountain to sink in his claws;
The yellow dragon lying on the road turns round fast.
Snorting out coloured mists,
Disgorging rays of light,
The two immortal fiends are hard to choose between:
One is the Sage Equaling Heaven who has cultivated the truth;
The other is the Great Black King become a spirit.
On this battlefield in the mountains
The pair of them fight for the cassock.
The fiend fought some ten inconclusive rounds with Monkey, and as the sun was now rising steadily towards the zenith, the dark fellow raised his halberd to block the iron cudgel and said, “Brother Monkey, let's lay down our arms. I'll come back and fight you again after I've eaten.”
“You accursed beast,” Monkey replied, “how can you call yourself a real man? If you were, you wouldn't be needing to eat after only half a day. I never even tasted water once in those five hundred years I spent under the mountain, but I wasn't hungry. Stop making excuses, and don't go. I'll let you have your meal if you give me back my cassock.” The fiend waved his halberd in a feint, withdrew into the cave, and shut the doors fast behind him. Summoning his junior goblins, he ordered that a banquet be spread and wrote invitations asking all the devil kings of the mountain to come to the celebratory feast.
Monkey charged the gates but was unable to force them open, so he had to go back to the Guanyin Monastery, where the monks had buried the old patriarch and were now all in attendance on the Tang Priest in the abbot's quarters. Breakfast was over, and lunch was being brought in. Just as they were bringing soup and more hot water, Monkey descended from the sky. The monks all bowed low and took him into the abbot's room to see Sanzang.