by Wu Cheng-En
“Indeed,” said Brother Monkey, his hands clasped before him, “your disciple didn't know that.”
The Bodhisattva then stepped forward, gently lifted the vase with her right hand, and placed it on the palm of her left hand. The tortoise nodded to the Bodhisattva again and slipped back into the sea. “So you keep a domestic cretin to look after your vase,” observed Monkey.
“Wukong,” said the Bodhisattva, seating herself, “the sweet dew in this flask of mine, unlike the dragon kings' private rain, can extinguish Samadhi Fire. I was going to let you take it, but you cannot move it. Then I thought of asking the Naga Maiden to go with you, but you have not got a kind heart and you are an inveterate deceiver. My Naga Maiden is very lovely, and the vase is precious; if you were to steal either of them I would be much too busy to go looking for you. So you will have to leave something as security.”
“How sad,” said Monkey, “that you should be so suspicious, Bodhisattva. I've never done anything like that since I was converted to the faith. What would you like me to leave as security? You yourself presented me with the brocade tunic I'm wearing. My tiger-skin kilt isn't worth tuppence, and I need this iron cudgel for self-defense. All that's left is the band round my head. It's gold, but you used magic to make it grow into my skull so that is can't be taken off. If you want security I'd like you to take that. Say a band-loosening spell and take it off. If that won't do, what else is there?”
“You are a cool customer,” said the Bodhisattva. “I do not want your clothes, your cudgel or your band. Just pluck out one of the life-saving hairs from the back of your head and give me that as your security.”
“But you gave it to me, Your Reverence,” protested Monkey. “Besides, If I pulled one out it would break up the set, and they'd not be able to save my life any more.”
“Ape,” said the Bodhisattva angrily, “you refuse to pull out one little hair. I do not feel at all like parting with my Maiden.”
“Bodhisattva,” pleaded Monkey, “you are being too suspicious. As they say, 'if you won't do it for the monk's sake do it for the Buddha's sake. Whatever you do, please, please save my master.” The Bodhisattva
Stepped down with joy from her lotus seat,
Went amid incense to the crag by cloud.
Because the holy monk faced mortal peril
She would deliver him and catch the fiend.
Monkey was absolutely delighted. He invited the Bodhisattva to leave the Tide Cave where the devas were drawn up in line on Pota Cliff. “Let us cross the sea, Wukong,” the Bodhisattva said.
“After you, Bodhisattva,” said Monkey with a bow. “No, after you,” replied the Bodhisattva.
“I would not dare to show off in front of the Bodhisattva,” said Monkey, kowtowing. “Were I to ride my somersault cloud, Bodhisattva, I fear I might be somewhat exposed, and you'd accuse me of disrespect.” At this the Bodhisattva sent the Naga Maiden to cut a lotus petal from the lotus pool and take it to the water beneath the cliff. “Stand on that petal,” the Bodhisattva said to Brother Monkey, “and I will take you across the sea.”
“But that petal is much too light and thin to take my weight,” said Monkey. “If I fall into the sea my tigerskin kilt will get soaked, and the saltpeter that keeps it soft will be washed out. Then I won't be able to wear it in cold weather.”
“Get on and see,” shouted the Bodhisattva. Not daring to make any more excuses, Monkey obediently jumped on it. Although it looked so flimsy it was considerably bigger than a sea-going boat once he was aboard.
“It can carry me, Bodhisattva,” he exclaimed with delight.
“Then over the sea with you,” replied the Bodhisattva.
“But there's no pole, oars, mast or sail,” said Monkey, “so how can I get over?”
“You will not need them,” said the Bodhisattva, and with a single breath she blew the boat right across to the opposite shore of the Southern Sea of Suffering.
Once his feet were on dry land Monkey smiled and said, “That Bodhisattva really showed off her magic powers by blowing me right across the sea with no trouble at all.”
Instructing all the devas to guard her immortal realm, the Bodhisattva told the Naga Maiden to close the gates of the cave, left the Pota Cliff by auspicious cloud and went over to call, “Where are you, Huian?” Huian was Moksa, the second son of Heavenly King Li, the Pagoda-carrier; he was the disciple whom the Bodhisattva personally taught, and he never left her side. His full title was Huian the Novice, Protector of the Dharma.
Huian placed his hands together and stood awaiting the Bodhisattva's orders. “Go straight up to Heaven,” she said, “call on His Majesty your father, and ask him to lend me his Pole Star swords.”
“How many will you need, Mistress?” Huian asked.
“The whole set,” she replied.
Huian then went obediently straight up on his cloud, in through the Southern Gate of Heaven, and into the Cloud-tower Palace, where he kowtowed to his father.
“Where have you come from?” Heavenly King Li asked after greeting him.
“My mistress has been asked by Sun Wukong to subdue a demon,” Huian-or Moksa-replied. “She has sent me to visit you and ask for the loan of your set of Pole Star swords.”
The Heavenly King then sent Nezha to fetch the thirty-six swords, which he gave to Moksa. “Brother,” said Moksa to Nezha, “would you please pay my respects to our mother. I'm on a very urgent job, and I'll come to kowtow to her when I bring the swords back.” Taking his leave in a great hurry he brought his auspicious light straight down to the Southern Sea, where he presented the swords to the Bodhisattva.
The Bodhisattva took the swords, threw them into the air, said a spell, and turned them into a thousand-petal lotus throne, on which she took her seat. Monkey grinned to himself and said, “That Bodhisattva is a real skinflint. She has a lotus throne of many colours in her lotus pool already, but she's too mean to sit on that. She would have to send him off to borrow someone else's instead.”
“Wukong,” said the Bodhisattva, “be quiet and come with me.” They then both left the coast by cloud. The white parrot flew ahead, while the Great Sage and Huian stood behind her.
Within moments they saw a mountain-top. “That's Mount Hao,” said Monkey. “It's about a hundred and fifty miles from here to the demon's place.” The Bodhisattva then ordered him to lower the auspicious cloud. She said the magic word “Om” above the summit, whereupon many a god and ghost-all the local spirits of the mountain-emerged from all around the mountain and gathered to kowtow to the Bodhisattva's lotus throne.
“Do not be afraid,” she said. “I am here to capture this demon king. I want this whole area swept completely clean, with not a living creature left behind within a hundred miles of here. All the baby animals in their dens and fledglings in holes in the trees must be put on the top of this high crag for safety.” Obediently the demons withdrew, and soon they were all back. “Now that the place is clean, you may all return to your shrines,” said the Bodhisattva. She then turned her vase of purity upside-down, letting the water roar out with a noise like thunder. Indeed, it
Flowed down from the peak,
Smashed through the rocks.
Flowed down from the peak with the force of the sea,
Smashed through the rocks like a mighty ocean.
Black spray rose to the watery heavens,
Great waves coldly reflected the sun.
Jade waves smashed through crags,
While the sea was covered with golden lotuses.
Guanyin displayed her demon-quelling magic,
Producing a fixing dhyana from her sleeve.
She made the mountain a Potaraka Island,
Just like the one in the Southern Sea
Tall grew the rushes, and the epiphyllum tender,
Flowers were everywhere, and the pattra looked fresh.
Parrots perched in the purple bamboos,
And quails were calling amid the verdant pines.
&nb
sp; Endless lines of waves as far as the eye could see,
And all that could be heard was the wind on the waters.
The Great Sage Monkey was full of silent admiration: “What great mercy and compassion. If I had that magic power I'd just have tipped the vase over, and to hell with the birds, beasts, reptiles and insects.”
“Stretch your hand out, Wukong,” said the Bodhisattva. Monkey at once neatened his clothes and put out his left hand. The Bodhisattva drew out her sprig of willow, moistened it in the sweet dew, and wrote “Confusion” on his palm. “Make a fist,” she old him, “and go to challenge the demon to battle. Let him beat you, then draw him back here. I have a Dharma power with which to subdue him.”
Monkey obediently took his cloud straight back to the cave entrance. Brandishing his cudgel with one hand and clenching the other into a fist, he shouted, “Open up, evil spirits.” The little devils scampered back inside to report, “Sun the Novice is here again.”
“Shut the doors tight and ignore him,” said the demon king.
“What a fine son you are,” shouted Monkey, “driving your own father out of doors and refusing to open the doors to him.”
“Sun the Novice is being very abusive,” the little devils came back in to report.
“Ignore him,” said the demon king. When the doors were still shut after he had called twice, Monkey grew very angry. He raised his iron cudgel and smashed a hole in them.
This threw the little devils into such a panic that they ran tumbling and stumbling in to say, “Sun the Novice has broken the doors down.”
Hearing that the outer doors had been broken down after all the earlier reports the demon king now leapt up and sprang outside brandishing his spear and flinging insults back at Monkey: “You ape, you have no sense at all. I let you off lightly, but you don't know when enough is enough. You're trying to bully me again. I'll make you pay for the crime of smashing down my doors.”
“What about your crime in driving your own father away?” retorted Monkey.
In his humiliation and anger the demon king thrust his spear at Brother Monkey's chest. Monkey parried this with his cudgel and hit back. Once they started they fought four or five rounds in which Monkey, one hand holding the cudgel and the other clenched in a fist, gave ground. “I'm going back to get the Tang Priest scrubbed and cleaned,” said the demon.
“You be careful, my boy,” said Monkey. “Heaven can see what you're doing. You come here.” This stung the demon king into an even greater fury. Running after Monkey he caught him up and took another thrust at him with his spear. Monkey swung back with his cudgel, and after a few more rounds ran away in defeat again. The demon king started to taunt him once more: “Last time you were good for twenty or thirty rounds. But now you're running away each time we fight. What's wrong with you?”
“My dear boy,” grinned Monkey, “your father's afraid you'll start that fire again.”
“I won't,” said the demon, “now, come here.”
“If you're not going to start a fire,” said Monkey, “let's move away from here. A tough guy doesn't attack people in front of his own door.” Not realizing that this was a trick, the evil spirit raised his spear and ran after him. Monkey trailed his cudgel and opened his other hand. The demon king then fell into confusion and chased Monkey for all he was worth. The quarry moved like a shooting star, and the pursuer like a bolt that had just been shot from a crossbow.
Before long Monkey saw the Bodhisattva. “Evil spirit,” he said to the demon, “I'm scared of you. Please spare me. I'm going to where the Bodhisattva Guanyin of the Southern Sea lives. You go home now.” The demon king was not going to believe this, so he gritted his teeth and continued the pursuit. With a shake of his body Monkey hid himself in the Bodhisattva's divine radiance.
Seeing that Monkey had disappeared, the evil spirit went up to the Bodhisattva, glared at her, and asked, “Are you reinforcements sent for by Monkey?” The Bodhisattva did not answer.
The demon king then twirled his spear and roared, “Hey! Are you reinforcements sent for by Monkey?” The Bodhisattva again did not answer.
The demon king then thrust his spear straight at the Bodhisattva's heart, at which she turned into a beam of golden light and rose straight up to the highest heavens. Monkey went up with her and complained, “Bodhisattva, you've tricked me again. Why did you act deaf and dumb and say nothing when that demon kept asking you? One thrust from his spear and you ran away. You've even ditched your lotus throne.”
“Keep quiet,” the Bodhisattva said, “and see what he does next.”
Monkey and Moksa stood next to each other up there watching while the demon said with a derisive jeer, “Insolent ape, you didn't know who you were up against. You didn't realize what sort of person I am. You fought me and lost several times, and then you sent for that putrid Bodhisattva. One thrust from my spear and she's disappeared. She's even left her lotus throne behind. Well, I'm going to sit on it now.” The evil spirit then sat cross-legged in the middle of the throne, imitating the Bodhisattva.
“That's just marvellous,” said Monkey. “Now you've given your lotus throne away.”
“What are you saying now, Wukong?” the Bodhisattva asked.
“What am I saying?” Monkey replied. “I'm saying you've given your lotus throne away. That fiend has just sat himself down on it. Would you care to get it back?”
“But I want him to sit on it,” the Bodhisattva said. “He's so small he'll sit on it much more safely than you did,” Monkey replied.
“Stop talking,” said the Bodhisattva, “and watch the power of the Dharma.”
She pointed downwards with her sprig of willow and called. “Turn back.” The colours and auspicious glow of the lotus sea all disappeared, leaving the demon king sitting on the points of swords. “Drive the swords in by hitting their handles with the demon-quelling pestle,” she ordered Moksa.
Moksa then took his cloud straight down and struck over a thousand times with the demon-quelling pestle as if he were ramming down earth to build a wall. The demon was now pouring with blood from his open wounds as the points of two swords both came out through his thighs. Watch the demon as he grits his teeth against the agony. Throwing his spear down he pulled furiously at the swords.
“Bodhisattva,” exclaimed Monkey, “that monster's not afraid of pain. He's trying to pull the swords out.”
Seeing this she called to Moksa, “Don't kill him.” She then pointed her sprig of willow down once more, said the magic word “Om,” and turned all Pole Star swords into halberds with inverted barbs like wolf's teeth that could not be pulled out. This finally made the demon desperate.
Trying to bend the sword-points he pleaded in his agony, “Bodhisattva, your disciple was blind. I failed to recognize your great Dharma powers. I beg you in your mercy to spare my life. I shall never do evil again, and I vow to become a Buddhist and observe the rules of conduct.”
On hearing this the Bodhisattva went down on her golden light with Moksa, Monkey and the white parrot till she was in front of the evil spirit. “Will you really accept my rules of conduct?”
The demon king nodded and said amid tears, “I will accept the rules if you spare my life.”
“Will you join my faith?” the Bodhisattva asked.
“If you spare my life I swear I will,” said the demon king.
“In that case,” said the Bodhisattva, “I shall lay my hands on your head and administer the vows.” From her sleeve she produced a golden razor, with a few strokes of which she shaved the demon's head into a Mount Tai tonsure, leaving him with a topknot and with three little tufts.
“Poor evil spirit,” laughed Monkey. “Now you can't tell whether he's a boy or a girl. Goodness knows what he's meant to be.”
“As you have accepted my rules of conduct,” said the Bodhisattva to the demon, “I will not mistreat you. I shall call you Page Sudhana. Do you accept?” The demon bowed in assent, wanting only to have his life spared. The Bodhisattva
then pointed at him and called, “Withdraw!” With a crashing sound the Pole Star swords all fell into the dust. The boy was now unharmed.
“Huian,” said the Bodhisattva, “will you take the swords back to the Heavenly Palace and return them to His Majesty your father? You need not come back to meet me: wait with all the devas on the Pota Crag.” As instructed, Moksa took the swords back to Heaven then returned to the Southern Sea.
Now the boy's savage nature had not yet been tamed. When he realized that the pain in his legs had gone, that his backside was no longer wounded, and that he had three little tufts of hair on his head he ran over to grab his spear and said to the Bodhisattva, “You don't have any real Dharma powers that can put me down. It was all just an illusion. I refuse to accept your rules. Take this!”
He jabbed at her face with his spear, making Monkey so angry that he struck at the boy with his cudgel. “Don't hit him,” the Bodhisattva called out.
“I have a way of punishing him.” From her sleeve she produced a gold band and continued, “This treasure is one of the three bands-a golden one, tightening one, and a prohibition one-that the Tathagata Buddha gave me when I went to the East to find the pilgrim who would fetch the scriptures. You are wearing the tightening band. The prohibition band was used to subdue the great god guarding the mountain. I have not been able to bring myself to give the golden one away before, but as this demon is being so outrageous he shall have it.”
The splendid Bodhisattva then waved the band in the wind, shouted “Change!” and turned it into five band that she threw at the boy with the command “Fix!” One went over his head, two on his hands, and two on his feet. “Stand clear, Wukong,” the Bodhisattva ordered, “while I say the Gold-band Spell.”
“Bodhisattva,” pleaded Monkey in panic, “I asked you here to subdue the demon, so why ever are you putting a curse on me?”
“But this will not be the Band-tightening Spell that affects you,” the Bodhisattva explained. “It will be the Gold-band Spell that works on the boy.” Monkey felt easier in his mind as he stood beside the Bodhisattva and listened to her saying the spell. She made magic with her hands and recited the words silently several times over. The evil spirit twisted and tugged at his ears and cheeks, stamped his feet and rolled around. Indeed,