by Wu Cheng-En
Did not lead to the Avichi Hell,
Yet this ferocious monster
Was a bull-headed demon.
Sanzang was so terrified at the sight of him that he shrank back, his whole body numb with terror. No sooner had he turned to go than the monster, whose powers really were tremendous, opened a fiendish eye with a golden pupil and shouted, “Who is that outside the door, little ones?”
A junior devil poked his head out to look, saw a shaven-headed priest, and ran in to report, “A monk, Your Majesty. He has a large face and a round head, and his ears hang down to his shoulders. His flesh looks most tender and his skin extremely delicate. He's a very promising monk.”
The monster cackled and said, “This is what they call 'a fly landing on a snake's head, or food and clothing presenting themselves to you'. Go and catch him for me, lads, and bring him back here. I'll reward you well.” The junior demons rushed out after Sanzang like a swarm of bees; and Sanzang, in his alarm, started to run so fast he seemed to fly. But he was so terrified that his legs were soon like numb jelly, and on top of this the path was very uneven and it was twilight in the deep forest. He could not move fast enough, and the junior demons picked him up and carried him back.
A dragon in shallows falls victim to shrimps;
A tiger on the plain can be put upon by dogs.
Although good deeds always run into trouble,
The Tang Priest on his Westward journey has been most unlucky.
The junior devils carried the Tang Priest as far as the bamboo curtain and put him down outside it as they announced with great delight, “We've brought the monk back, Your Majesty.” The old demon stole a look and saw that Sanzang, who was holding his head high with dignity, must be a fine monk.
“So fine a monk,” he thought, “must be a superior person, so I mustn't treat him as a nobody. If I don't overawe him he won't submit to me.” Like a fox pretending to be as awe-inspiring as a tiger, he made his red whiskers bristle, his bloody hair stand on end, and his eyeballs bulge in a glare. “Bring that monk in,” he roared.
“Yes sir,” the other fiends shouted in chorus, pushing Sanzang inside. As the saying goes, “You have to bow your head under low eaves,” and Sanzang was obliged to put his hands together and greet him.
“Where do you live, monk?” the monster asked. “Where have you come from, and where are you going? Tell me at once.”
“I am a priest from the Tang country, and I am going to the West on the command of His Majesty the Tang Emperor to ask for holy scriptures. As I was passing your distinguished mountain, I came over to visit the holy men of this pagoda. I did not realize that I would disturb Your Excellency, and I beg you to forgive me. When I return East with the scriptures from the West I shall see to it that your fame will be eternally celebrated.”
“I thought you must be someone from a superior country,” said the fiend, bellowing with laughter, “and as that's who you are, I'm going to eat you up. It was splendid of you to come, splendid-otherwise we might have let you slip. You were fated to be the food in my mouth, so of course you came rushing here. We'll never let you go; and you'll never escape.” Then he ordered the junior demons to tie him up. They rushed upon him and bound him tight to a soul-fixing stake.
Holding his sword in his hands, the old fiend asked, “How many of you are there altogether? You wouldn't have the guts to go to the Western Heaven all by yourself.” Eyeing the sword in his hand, Sanzang had to answer truthfully.
“I have two disciples, Your Majesty,” he said, “called Pig and Friar Sand. They have both gone begging for food outside the pine forest. Apart from them there is a load of baggage and a white horse that I left in the wood.”
“More luck!” said the fiend. “Two disciples as well makes three of you, four counting the horse, which is enough for a meal.”
“We'll go and get 'em,” the junior fiends said.
“No,” the old monster said, “don't go. Lock the front gate. As they've gone begging for food they'll have to find their master for him to eat it, and when they can't find him they're bound to come searching for him here. As the saying goes, 'it's easiest to do business at home.' Just wait and we'll catch them all in good time.” The junior demons shut the front gate.
We will leave the unlucky Sanzang and return to Friar Sand, who was now three or four miles outside the forest in his search for Pig but had not yet seen any village. As he stood on a hillock looking around him, he heard a voice in the undergrowth; and sweeping the tall grass aside with his staff, he discovered the idiot talking in his sleep. Pig woke up when Friar Sand twisted his ear. “You idiot,” said Friar Sand, “who said you could sleep here instead of begging for food as our master told you?”
Pig, waking up with a start, asked, “What's the time, brother?”
“Get up at once,” replied Friar Sand. “The master told us two to find somewhere to stay whether we can beg any food or not.”
Holding his begging bowl and his rake, the drowsy Pig headed straight back with Friar Sand, and when they looked for their master in the wood they could not see him. “It's all because you didn't come back from begging for food, you idiot,” said Friar Sand indignantly. “Master must have been carried off by an evil spirit.”
“Don't talk nonsense, brother,” replied a grinning Pig. “This forest is a very proper sort of place and couldn't possibly have any evil spirits in it. I expect the old monk got bored sitting here and went off somewhere to look around. Let's go and find him.” They took the horse's bridle, picked up the shoulder-pole with the luggage, collected Sanzang's hat and staff, and left the pine wood in search of their master.
But Sanzang was not fated to die this time. When the two had been looking for him without success for a while, they saw a shimmering golden light due South of them. “Blessed indeed are the blessed, brother;” said Pig. “Look where the master must be staying. That light is coming from a pagoda, and they would be bound to look after him well. I expect they've laid on a meal and are making him stay to eat it. Let's get a move on and have some of it ourselves.”
“It certainly can't be anything sinister,” replied Friar Sand. “We must go and have a look.”
As the pair of them arrived at the gates they found them closed. Above the gates they saw a horizontal tablet of white jade on which were carved the words MOON WATERS CAVE, BOWL MOUNTAIN.
“Brother,” said Friar Sand, “this is no temple. It's an evil spirit's cave. If our master is in there we'll never see him.”
“Never fear,” replied Pig. “Tether the horse and mind the luggage while I ask for news of him.” With that the idiot raised his rake and shouted at the top of his voice. “Open up, open up.” The junior devil who was on gate duty opened the gates, and at the sight of the pair of them he rushed inside to report, “Your Majesty, we're in business.”
“What sort of business?” the old monster asked.
“There are two monks outside the gates,” the junior demon replied. “One has a long snout and big ears and the other looks down on his luck, and they are shouting at us to open up.”
“That means Pig and Friar Sand have come looking for him,” said the old monster. “Ha! They were bound to. What brought them here? They look stupid, but I'd better treat them with respect.” He called for his armor to be put on him, and when the junior demons had brought it and fastened it on, he took his sword in his hand and marched straight out of the cave.
When Pig and Friar Sand, who were waiting outside, saw the ferocious demon come out this is what he looked like:
A blue face, a red beard, and scarlet hair blowing free;
Golden armor dazzling bright.
Around his waist was a belt of cowries,
And his armor was strapped to his chest with cloud-walking cords.
As he stood before the mountain the wind roared;
Mighty were the waves when he roamed across the seas.
A pair of indigo, muscled hands
Held a soul-chasing, life
-snatching sword.
If you want to know this creature's name,
Address him as Yellow Robe.
As the old monster Yellow Robe came out through the gates he asked, “Where are you monks from, and why are you yelling at my gates?”
“Don't you recognize me, son?” said Pig. “I'm your father. I've been sent by the Great Tang on a mission to the Western Heaven. My master is Sanzang, the Emperor's younger brother. If he's here, send him out at once and save me the trouble of having to smash my way in with this rake.”
“Yes indeed,” laughed the monster, “there is a Tang Priest in my place. I haven't showed him any discourtesy, and I've laid on a meal of human flesh dumplings for him. Why don't you two come in and have some?”
The idiot would have gone in quite trustingly if Friar Sand had not held him back and said, “He's luring you in, brother. Besides, when have you ever eaten human flesh?” The idiot saw the light as last, and he struck at the evil monster's face with his rake. The monster sidestepped and parried with his steel sword. They both showed their magic powers as they leapt up on clouds to continue the fight in mid-air. Friar Sand abandoned the baggage and the white horse and rushed to Pig's aid. It was a fine battle up in the clouds between the two wolfish monks and the evil monster:
When the staff was raised it was met by the sword;
The same sword parried the rake's blow.
One devil general displaying his prowess,
A pair of monkish gods revealing their transformations.
The nine-pronged rake was quite magnificent;
The demon-submitting staff was truly terrifying.
They came from before and behind, from left and right,
But Yellow Robe was calm and unafraid.
See how his blade of tempered steel shines like silver;
Great indeed were his magical powers.
Their fighting filled the sky
With mists and clouds;
Amid the mountains
Cliffs crashed and fell.
One was fighting for fame
So how could he stop?
The others, fighting for their master,
Were completely unafraid.
The three of them fought dozens of rounds in mid-air without issue. They were all fighting for their very lives, and nothing could have kept them apart.
If you don't know how they saved the Tang Priest, listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 29
Sanzang, Delivered, Crosses a Border
A Grateful Pig Tours Mountains and Forests
A poem says
If wild thoughts are not firmly suppressed
There is no point in seeking for the Truth;
If you wish to cultivate your nature before the Buddha,
Why stay halfway between awakening and confusion?
Once awakened you can achieve the Right in an instant;
The confused will drift for ten thousand aeons.
If you can invoke the Buddha and cultivate the Truth,
Sins countless as the Ganges sands can be wiped out.
Pig and Friar Sand had fought thirty inconclusive rounds with the monster. Do you know why they were inconclusive? As far as skill went not even twenty monks, let alone two, would have been a match for that evil I spirit. Yet because the Tang Priest was not fated to die he was being secretly protected by Dharma-guarding deities. There were also the Six 9” Dings, the Six Jias, the Revealers of the Truth of the Five Regions, the Four Duty Gods, and the Eighteen Defenders of the Faith helping Pig and Friar Sand in mid-air.
We must leave the three of them locked in struggle and return to Sanzang sobbing his heart out in the cave and speculating about his disciples. “I wonder if you have met a benefactor in a village somewhere, Pig,” he thought, tears streaming down his face, “and have been overcome by your greed for the offerings. Wherever are you looking for him, Friar Sand? Will you find him? Little do you know of my sufferings at the hands of this fiend I have run into. When will I see you again and be delivered from my troubles so that we can hurry to the Vulture Peak?” As he fretted and wailed he saw a woman come out from the innermost part of the cave. “Venerable father,” she said, leaning on the soul-fixing stake, “where have you come from? Why has he tied you here?” When Sanzang heard this he sneaked a quick look at her through his tears and observed that she was about thirty. “Don't ask me that, Bodhisattva,” he said, “I was fated to die: I walked into your home. Eat me if you must, but don't ask me why.”
“I don't eat people,” she replied. “My home is over a hundred miles West of here in the city called Elephantia. I'm the third daughter of the king, and my childhood name was Prettier-than-a-flower. Thirteen years ago, on the fifteenth night of the eighth month, that evil monster came and snatched me away in a whirlwind while we were out enjoying the full moon. I have been his wife all these thirteen years and borne him sons and daughters, but I've never been able to send any message home. I miss my parents, and I can never see them. Where did you come from to be caught by him?”
“I was sent to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures,” replied Sanzang. “I never realized when I set out for a stroll that I would stumble into this. Now he's going to capture my two disciples and steam us all together, then eat us.”
“Don't worry, venerable sir,” said the princess with a smile. “As you are going to fetch scriptures I can save you. Elephantia lies on the main route to the West, and if you will take this letter to my parents for me, I'll make him spare your life.”
“If you save my wretched life, Bodhisattva,” said Sanzang with a bow, “I promise to be your messenger.”
The princess hurried back inside, wrote a letter to her family, sealed it, released Sanzang from the stake, and handed him the letter. “Bodhisattva,” he said, taking the letter now that he was free, “I am very grateful to you for saving my life. When I reach your country I shall give this to the King. My only worry is that after all these years your parents may not believe that the letter is from you, and what would I do then? I couldn't have them thinking that I was trying to deceive them.”
“That's no problem. My father has only us three daughters and no sons. If they see this letter they'll feel that they're seeing me.” Tucking the letter securely into his sleeve, he took his leave of the princess, and was on the point of going out when she pulled him back and said, “You won't be able to get out through the front gate. All those big and little monsters are outside the gates waving banners, shouting war-cries, and beating drums and gongs to help the monster king in his battle with your two disciples. You'd better go out the back way. If the monster king catches you he'll interrogate you under torture, and if the junior fiends grab you they'll kill you without a qualm. I'll go to see him and talk him over. If he's prepared to let you go, your disciples can ask his permission for all three of you to go together.” Sanzang kowtowed and, as she had told him, left her, slipped out through the back door, and hid among the thorns rather than travel alone.
The princess, who had thought out a clever plan, hurried out through the front gates and made her way through the hosts of demons great and small to hear the furious clash of arms. Pig and Friar Sand were still fighting with the monster in mid-air. “Lord Yellow Robe,” she shouted at the top of her voice, and as soon as he heard her the demon king left Pig and Friar Sand, landed his cloud, and grasping his steel sword, took his wife by the arm.
“What is it, wife?” he asked.
“I was lying in bed asleep just now, husband,” she replied, “and I dreamt that I saw a god in golden armor.”
“What sort of god in golden armor?” he asked. “Why did he come here?”
“When I was a child in the palace,” she said, “I made a secret vow that if I married a good husband I would climb holy mountains, visit Immortals, and give alms to monks. I have now been happily married to you for thirteen years without ever mentioning the vow before, and the god in golden armor came to make me fulfil
it. His shouting made me wake up, and then I realized it was a dream. I tidied myself up and came straight to tell you about it. To my surprise I found a monk tied to the stake. I beg you, lord and master, to respect my vow and spare that monk in your mercy. This will count as feeding monks and will fulfil my vow. Will you do this?”
“What a fusser you are, wife,” he replied. “Nothing to it. If I want to eat people I can easily catch a few more. If that's how things stand, let the monk go.”
“Please may he be released through the back door, husband?”
“What a thing to bother me with. Let him go, and I don't care whether it's by the front way or the back way.” The monster then grasped his sword once more and shouted, “Come here, Pig. I'm not afraid of you, but I'm not fighting you any longer. For my wife's sake I've spared your master, so hurry round and find him at the back door and carry on West. If you set foot in my territory again I won't let you off a second time.”
This news made Pig and Friar Sand feel as if they had been let out through the gates of Hell. They scurried away with the horse and the baggage, and going round to the other end of the Moon Waters Cave they called “Master” outside the back entrance. Sanzang recognized their voices and called back from among the thorn bushes. Friar Sand made his way through the undergrowth, helped his master out, and hurriedly helped him mount the horse.
When he was threatened by the terrible blue-faced monster
He was lucky to meet the devout princess.
Escaping from the golden hook, the turtle
Swam off through the waves with a flick of his tail.
With Pig leading and Friar Sand bringing up the rear, they left the pine forest and traveled along the main track. The two disciples grumbled and complained, while Sanzang tried to conciliate them. Every evening they would find lodgings, and they would be up again at cock-crow. They covered stage after stage of their journey, sometimes longer and sometimes shorter, and before they realized it they had done ninety-nine miles. Suddenly they looked up and there was a fine city in front of them. This was Elephantia, and it was a splendid place: