by Wu Cheng-En
The monster parried it with his mace and replied, “You're another one who became a monk in middle life.”
“How can you tell?” Friar Sand asked.
“From the look of you you must have been a miller before,” the monster replied.
“What makes you think that?” Friar Sand asked.
“Why would you fight with a noodle-making pole if you weren't a miller?” the monster asked.
“You evil thing,” said Friar Sand, “What you can't see is that
Few are the weapons like this one in the world
Which is why you do not know what this staff of mine is called.
It grew in a shadeless part of the moon,
Was shaped from the trunk of a Sala-tree.
The jewels set around it shine with many colours,
And solid is the blessing that is packed inside.
Once it was present at the Jade Emperor's banquets
Now it protects the priest from the Tang.
On this road to the West it is utterly unknown,
But great is its fame in the palaces of Heaven.
It is known as the precious demon-quelling staff,
And with a single blow it could pulverize your brow.”
The evil spirit allowed no more arguments and the three of them now became deadly foes. They fought a fine battle under the water:
Mace, staff and rake,
Wuneng and Wujing against the monster.
One was Marshal Tian Peng come to earth,
One a great general down from Heaven.
Both showed their prowess in attacking the water monster,
Who put up a good fight against the heavenly monks.
They had the good fortune to complete the great Way,
Overcoming each other in an endless sequence.
Earth defeated water;
When water was dried out the river-bed showed.
Water gave birth to wood,
Which blossomed when it was growing well.
Dhyana and meditation were all the same;
Refining cinnabar and alchemy submitted to the Three Schools,
Earth was the mother,
Yielding sprouts of metal,
And metal yielded the liquid that gave birth to the babe.
Water was the root
That nurtured wood's flourishing,
Which rivaled in its glory the glow of sunset.
Because the elements were crowded together
They all turned hostile and started to fight.:
See how bright are the nine knobs on the mace
While the staff is decorated with many-coloured silks.
The rake crushed positive and negative,
Divided the Nine Bright Shiners,
And swung in a tangle without any order.
They were ready to die to save the Tang Priest,
Prepared to give their lives for Sakyamuni Buddha.
They kept the mace of copper busy without respite
Parrying the blows of the staff and the rake.
When the three of them had been fighting under the water for four full hours without either side emerging as victor Pig realized that they were not going to beat the monster and gave Friar Sand a nod. Pretending that they were beaten, the two of them turned and fled, trailing their weapons behind them.
“Hold your ground here, little ones,” said the monster to his underlings, “while I go after those wretches. When I catch those damned monks I'll bring them back for you all to eat.” Watch him as he emerges above the water in pursuit of the two of them like the wind driving fallen leaves or a rainstorm beating down withered blossoms.
Monkey meanwhile had been standing on the bank watching the water with unwavering eyes. Suddenly he saw the waves thrown into turmoil as with a great roar Pig leapt ashore.
“He's coming,” he said, “he's coming.”
Next Friar Sand reached the bank saying, “He's coming, he's coming.”
Then came the monster after them shouting, “Where've you gone?”
No sooner had his head come into view than Monkey struck with his cudgel, shouting, “Take that!” The evil spirit swerved to avoid it then parried with his copped mace. While the one stirred up the waves in the river the other showed his prowess on the shore. Before three rounds of the fight had been fought the monster, unable to keep up his resistance, did a feint and plunged back into the water, whereupon the wind fell and the waves subsided.
“Thank you, brothers,” said Monkey, going back up the high bank.
“Brother,” said Friar Sand, “you may not think that monster is up to much on the shore, but he's a real terror underwater. Pig and I attacking together were only as good as him alone. How are we going to deal with him and rescue the master?”
“We've no time to lose,” said Monkey. “He may kill the master.”
“I'll trick him into coming out,” said Pig. “You wait up in the air and say nothing at all. When you reckon his head is above the water, hit him a good hard one on the forehead from upside-down. Even if that doesn't kill him his head will ache and he'll feel faint. When I catch him one with my rake that'll settle his score.”
“Good idea,” said Monkey, “good idea. That's what they call a coordinated attack, and it will do the trick.” The two of them went back into the water.
The evil monster fled to his palace in defeat, where the other demons greeted him and the mandarin fish asked, “Where did Your Majesty chase those two monks to?”
“They have an accomplice,” the monster replied. “When they jumped ashore he swung an iron cudgel at me. I dodged it and fought back. Goodness only know how heavy that cudgel is: I couldn't keep it off me with my mace. He sent me back here beaten in less than three rounds.”
“Can you remember what their accomplice looks like, Your Majesty?” the mandarin fish asked.
“He's a monk with a hairy face that looks like a thunder god's,” the monster replied, “pointed ears, a broken nose, and fiery eyes with golden pupils.” At this the mandarin fish shuddered.
“Thank goodness Your Majesty could see how good a fighter he was and ran away,” she said. “You would never have survived another three rounds. I know who that monk is.”
“Who is he then?” the monster asked.
“When I was in the Eastern Ocean many years ago I once heard the old dragon king talk of his fame. He's the Handsome Monkey King, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who made himself into a golden Immortal of the Supreme Monad and made havoc in Heaven five hundred years ago. Now he has submitted to the Buddha's teachings, changed his name to Sun Wukong the Novice, and is protecting the Tang Priest on his journey to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. He has enormous divine powers and can do all sorts of transformations. Your Majesty, you must not provoke him or have any more fights with him.”
Before these remarks were out of her mouth the little devils from by the door came back to report, “Your Majesty, those two monks are back here challenging you to battle again.”
“Good sister,” said the monster, “you are very wise. I won't go out, but I'll see what happens.” He sent this urgent order: “Little ones, shut the doors firmly. As they say,
You can stand outside and roar,
But we won't unlock the door.
They can hang around for a couple of days, and when they can't take any more and go away we'll feast on the Tang Priest at our ease.”
The little demons piled up rocks and made a clay cement to seal the doors firmly shut. When the repeated shouts of Pig and Friar Sand failed to bring the monster out the idiot lost his patience and started to smash the doors with his rake, but they were so firmly barricaded that even though he broke up the doors themselves with seven or eight blows there were still so many layers of clay and rocks behind them that he had no hope of getting through.
“Brother,” said Friar Sand when he saw this, “that demon is so scared that he's barricaded his doors and won't come out. We'd better go back to the shore a
nd discuss it with Monkey.” Pig agreed and they returned to the Eastern bank.
When Monkey, who was waiting up in the mist and clouds with his cudgel in his hand, saw the two of them emerge with no demon after them he landed his cloud on the bank to meet them. “Brothers,” he asked, “why haven't you brought him up with you?”
“The monster has barricaded his doors and won't show himself,” said Friar Sand. “When Brother Pig smashed his doors down he saw that the doorway was strongly blocked up with clay and rocks, and as we can't fight him we've come back to discuss with you some other way of saving the master.”
“It sounds hopeless,” said Monkey. “You two patrol the bank and don't let the monster escape while I'm away.”
“Where are you going, brother?” asked Pig.
“I'm going to Potaraka to call on the Bodhisattva,” Monkey replied, “and find out about the monster's name and background. When I've found his ancestral home and captured his relations and neighbors I'll come back to get him and rescue the master.”
“But doing all that will be too much trouble and take far too long,” laughed Pig. “I assure you it won't take any time or trouble,” replied Brother Monkey. “I'll soon be back.”
The splendid Great Sage set off from the river bank at high speed on his auspicious cloud and headed for the Southern Sea. Within an hour Potaraka Island was in view, and he landed the cloud on Pota Cliff, where the twenty-four devas, the guardian god of the island, Moksa the Novice, the boy Sudhana, and the Naga Maiden Pengzhu all came forward to bow in greeting and ask, “Why have you come, Great Sage?”
“There is something about which I would like to see the Bodhisattva,” Monkey replied.
“The Bodhisattva left her cave this morning to go to her bamboo grove,” the devas replied. “She allowed nobody to accompany her, but as she knew that you would be coming today she told us to wait here to greet you. Since you will not be able to see her at once would you please sit under the Turquoise Cliff until the Bodhisattva comes out and decides what to do.”
Brother Monkey did as they suggested, but before he had sat down the page Sudhana came up to him and said with a bow, “Great Sage Sun, thanks to you earlier kindness the Bodhisattva deigned to keep me. I never leave her side, and am always at the foot of her lotus throne. She has been very good to me.” Monkey, who knew that he had previously been the Red Boy, laughed as he said, “You were so confused by evil then that you only realize I'm a good person now you've been converted.”
When he had been waiting for a long time but the Bodhisattva had still not appeared Monkey said anxiously. “Will you please report that I'm here? Time's being lost, and I'm worried that my master may be killed.”
“We would not dare,” the devas replied. “The Bodhisattva told us to wait till she came herself.” Monkey, who was much too impatient to wait a moment longer, rushed inside.
The Handsome Monkey King
Was impatient and very snide.
The devas could not hold him back,
When he wanted to go inside.
He strode deep into the grove,
Eyes wide as he peered around.
He saw the Saviour sitting on
Bamboo leaves on the ground.
She was not washed or combed,
And her face was free of care.
There were no tassels to hold in place
The silken strands of her hair.
She did not wear her plain blue robe,
But only a clinging vest,
A skirt of brocade round her waist,
And both arms left undressed.
There was no shawl for her shoulders;
On her foot she wore no shoe.
Her jade hand held a knife of steel
With which she peeled bamboo.
When Monkey saw her he could not restrain himself from shouting, “Bodhisattva, your disciple Sun Wukong offers his pious respects.”
“Wait outside,” said the Bodhisattva.
“Bodhisattva,” Monkey replied, “my master is in trouble and I have come to inquire respectfully about the background of the evil monster in the River of Heaven.”
“Get out,” said the Bodhisattva, “and wait till I come out.”
Not daring to push his demands any harder, Monkey had to leave the bamboo grove and say to all the devas, “The Bodhisattva seems to be spring cleaning. Why is she cutting strips of bamboo in the grove, and not properly dressed, instead of sitting on her lotus throne?”
“We don't know,” said the devas. “She left the cave and went into the grove this morning before dressing, telling us to receive you here. It must be something to do with you, Great Sage.” Monkey could do nothing but wait.
Before long the Bodhisattva emerged from the grove carrying a basket made from purple bamboo. “Wukong,” she said, “you and I are going to rescue the Tang Priest.”
Monkey fell to his knees and replied, “Your disciple has the temerity to suggest that you should dress and take your seat on your lotus throne.”
“There will be no need to dress; I shall go as I am,” the Bodhisattva replied, after which she dismissed the devas and set off on an auspicious cloud. Monkey could only follow.
In a moment they were on the banks of the River of Heaven. When Pig and Friar Sand saw them they said to each other, “That brother of ours is too impatient. Goodness only knows what sort of row he must have made in the Southern Sea to make the Bodhisattva come rushing here before she was even properly dressed.” Before these words were out of their mouths Guanyin reached the bank, and the two of them bowed low to her saying, “Bodhisattva, we shouldn't have done it, we were wrong, forgive us.” The Bodhisattva undid the silken sash around her waistcoat, tied one end to the basket, and rose on a coloured cloud.
Holding the other end of the sash she threw the basket into the river then pulled it up through the current, reciting, “Die if you go, live if you stay, die if you go, live if you stay.” When she had said this seven times she raised the basket again, and this time it contained a glistening goldfish, blinking its eyes and moving its scales. “Wukong,” said the Bodhisattva, “go down into the water and rescue your master.”
“How can I?” Monkey said. “The monster hasn't been caught yet.”
“Isn't that him in the basket?” the Bodhisattva asked.
Pig and Friar Sand then bowed low and asked, “How could that fish have had such great powers?”
“It originally was a goldfish that I raised in my lotus pool,” the Bodhisattva replied. “Every day it would swim up to listen to sutras, and it trained itself to have magic powers. The nine-knobbed copper mace was an unopened lotus bud that it tempered and made into a weapon. One day, I do not know when, a high tide reached the pool and carried it here. When I was leaning on the balustrade looking at the lotuses this morning I noticed that the wretch had not come to pay his respects, so I examined my fingers and the palms of my hands and worked out that it must have become a spirit and be planning to kill your master. That was why I did not wait to dress before using my divine powers to weave a bamboo basket in which to catch him.”
“In that case,” said Monkey, “could you stay here a moment longer? We would like to let the faithful in Chen Village gaze upon your golden countenance, Bodhisattva. This would be a great kindness, and it would also teach common folk to believe and make offerings by showing them how that demon was subdued.”
“Very well,” said the Bodhisattva. “Call them here.”
Pig and Friar Sand then ran to the village shouting, “Come and see the living Bodhisattva Guanyin, come and see the living Bodhisattva Guanyin.” All the villagers, young and old, men and women, rushed to the edge of the river and fell to their knees and kowtowed in worship despite the mud and the water. Among them was a good painter who left to posterity the painting of the Bodhisattva Guanyin appearing with a fish-basket. The Bodhisattva then returned to the Southern Sea.
Pig and Friar Sand cleared a way through the water straight to the Ri
ver Turtle's Residence, where they searched for their master. All the water monsters and fish spirits there were now dead and rotten. They went round to the back of the palace, opened the stone chest, carried the Tang Priest up out of the water, and showed him to the crowds.
The Chen brothers kowtowed and expressed their thanks, saying, “My lord, if only you had accepted our advice and stayed longer you would have been spared all this trouble.”
“Say no more about it,” replied Monkey. “From next year onwards you people here won't need to make any more sacrifices. The Great King has been removed, and will never do you any harm again. Old Mr. Chen, I'd now like to trouble you to find a boat as soon as you can to take us across the river.”
“Yes, I can, I can,” said Chen Qing, ordering people to saw wood into planks to build a boat.
When his retainers heard this they were all delighted to make offerings, and there were many cries of “I'll pay for the mast and the sail,” “I'll fix the oars,” “I'll provide the rigging,” and “I'll hire the boatmen.”
Amid all the noisy yelling on the bank a great shout came from the river, “Great Sage Sun, don't waste other people's money building a boat. I shall carry you all, master and disciples, across the river.” When the crowd heard this they were all terrified. The more timid among them slipped home, while the bolder stayed to watch, shivering and shaking. A moment later a monster emerged from the water. This is what it was like:
A divine square-headed and extraordinary beast,
The miraculous creature, the immortal of the waters.
Wagging his tail he can live for many an age,
Hiding still and silent in the depths of the rivers.
Leaping through the waves he rushes to the bank,
Or lies beside the sea facing sun and wind.
He has mastered the true Way of nourishing his essence,
The Ancient Soft-shelled Turtle with his carapace of white.
“Great Sage,” called the Ancient Soft-shelled Turtle, “don't have a boat built. I'll take you four across.”