The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 4

by Unknown

  He flung the insects on the faces of those little fiends; as soon as they crawled into their nostrils, the fiends began to snore and fell asleep. One of them, however, was in charge of the fire fork and could not be induced to sleep soundly. Rubbing his head and face, this little fiend pinched and tweaked his own nose left and right, sneezing constantly. “This fellow,” said Pilgrim, “seems to know the business! I’ll give him a ‘Double-Handled Lamp.’” He threw one more insect on the fiend’s face, thinking to himself: “With two insects running in and out of his nostrils, at least one should pacify him!” After two or three huge yawns, that little fiend stretched, abandoned his fire tong, and fell fast asleep without moving again.

  “This little magic,” said Pilgrim to himself, “is truly both marvelous and efficacious!” He changed back into his original form to walk near the steamer, crying, “Master!”

  On hearing this, the Tang Monk said, “Wukong, save me!” “Elder Brother,” said Sha Monk, “are you calling from the outside?”

  “If I’m not outside,” said Pilgrim, “you think I’m suffering with you inside?” “O Elder Brother,” said Eight Rules, “it’s always the same! The slippery one will slip away, but we are left behind to suffocate in here!”

  “Don’t make so much noise, Idiot,” said Pilgrim, laughing. “I’m here to rescue you.” “If you want to rescue me, Elder Brother,” said Eight Rules, “you must do a thorough job of it. Don’t let them put me back in the steamer!”

  Pilgrim then lifted up the cover and untied his master. After shaking himself to retrieve his hair that had changed into the specious Pilgrim, he went through the other two layers to free Sha Monk and Eight Rules. The moment he was untied, our Idiot wanted to flee. “Don’t be in such a hurry! Don’t be in such a hurry!” said Pilgrim, and recited a spell to dismiss the dragon god. Finally, he said to Eight Rules, “There are still tall mountains and rugged peaks in the rest of our journey to the Western Heaven. Without a beast of burden, Master will find it exceedingly difficult to proceed. I must still go get our horse.”

  Look at him! With nimble hands and feet, he dashed inside the Hall of Golden Chimes, where he saw that the various fiends, old and young, were all asleep. Without disturbing any of them, he managed to untie the reins. Now, that animal was originally a dragon horse; if someone unfamiliar had untied him, he would have let fly both his hind legs and neighed. But Pilgrim, you see, had been a stableman; in fact, he had received the rank of Pi-ma-wên. Moreover, the horse recognized him; so he neither kicked nor neighed. Quietly leading him forward, Pilgrim tightened the girth and fixed up the saddle properly before asking his master to mount. After the elder, still trembling all over, had climbed onto the horse, he too wanted to leave at once.

  “Let’s not hurry,” said Pilgrim. “There are kings out there on the road to the west. We must have our travel rescript before we can proceed. Otherwise, what sort of passport do we have? Let me go find the luggage.” “I recall,” the Tang Monk said, “that after we entered the door, these fiends placed our luggage to the left of the main hall. Even the pole is standing there below the steps.” “I know,” replied Pilgrim.

  He bounded into the treasure hall to look, and all at once he caught sight of flashes of light, which made him realize that the luggage was there. How did he know, you ask? Because the Tang Monk’s brocaded cassock had on it the luminescent pearl9 that glowed at night. As Pilgrim drew near, he saw that both the luggage and the pole were untouched. He brought them out quickly and told Sha Monk to pick up the pole.

  With Eight Rules leading the horse and Pilgrim the way, they headed straight for the Central Gate of the Sun in front. Soon, however, the loud rattle of sentinel bells could be heard, and they saw that the door had a lock, and a seal was taped over the lock. “How could we penetrate this kind of defense?” asked Pilgrim. “Let’s go to the back door instead,” said Eight Rules.

  Pilgrim led the way toward the back door, only to return with this observation: “I can hear sentinel bells outside the Rear Gate of the Servants as well, and that door too is locked and sealed. What shall we do? In such a situation, if it hadn’t been for the mortal frame of the Tang Monk, the three of us could certainly escape by mounting the clouds and wind, regardless of where we were. But the Tang Monk has yet to transcend the three realms, for he still appears within the world of the five phases. His whole body has nothing but carnal bones bequeathed by his parents. He can’t rise into the air. It’ll be hard for us to escape.”

  “Elder Brother,” said Eight Rules, “there’s no need for further talk. Let’s find some place where there are no sentinel bells or guards. We’ll lift Master up the wall and let him climb over it.”

  “That’s not so good,” replied Pilgrim, laughing. “Right now we may be forced to drag him over the wall like that, but when we return with the scriptures, I’m afraid that your loose idiotic mouth will be spreading word everywhere that we’re wall-climbing priests!”10 “But you can’t worry about behavior now!” said Eight Rules. “We’ve got to flee for our lives!” Pilgrim had little choice but to agree with him; they located a section of the wall that was unguarded and began to scale it.

  Alas, this was what had to happen! The star of calamity, as it were, had refused to release Tripitaka. As those three demon chiefs slept in their chambers, they were suddenly awakened by some commotion about the Tang Monk having escaped. Dressing hurriedly, they all ascended to the treasure hall and shouted the question, “How many times has the water boiled?”

  Those little fiends tending the fire who had been put out by the sleep-inducing insects were sleeping so soundly that they could not be awakened even when beaten. Several others, who had no particular responsibilities, started up and answered confusedly, “Se- . . . se- . . . se- . . . seven times!” As they ran up to the pan, however, they saw that the several layers of the steamer were all thrown on the ground, while those supposed to tend the fire were still fast asleep. Horrified, the little fiends ran back to report, “Great King, they . . . they . . . they have escaped!”

  Hurrying down the hall, the three demon chiefs went forward to take a careful look at the pan: indeed they discovered that the layers of the steamer were strewn on the ground while both water and pan had turned cold because the fire was about to die out. Those tending the fire, however, were still snoring away. So astonished were the various fiends that they all shouted: “Seize the Tang Monk quickly! Seize the Tang Monk quickly!”

  All that hubbub immediately aroused the rest of the monster-spirits, old and young. Clutching cutlasses and lances, they swarmed from front and back up to the Central Gate of the Sun, where they found that neither lock nor seal had been touched, and heard the continuous rattle of the sentinel bells. They asked those on night patrol outside the door, “Where did the Tang Monk escape?” The reply was that no one had come through the door. When they then rushed to the Rear Gate of the Servants, again they found that the seal, the lock, and the sentinel bells were like those out in front. The entire throng then spread out with torches and lanterns, lighting up the whole place until it was bright as day, and then they caught clear sight of the four pilgrims attempting to scale the wall.

  “Where are you running?” roared the old demon as he dashed up to them. His legs weakened and his tendons numbed by fear, the elder fell down at once from the wall and was caught by the old demon. While the second demon seized Sha Monk and the third demon pinned down Eight Rules, the rest of the fiends took the luggage and the white horse. Only Pilgrim managed to escape. “Damn him! Damn him!” muttered Eight Rules as he was caught. “I told him to do a thorough job of rescuing us. Now it’s back to the steamer for us!”

  The various demons took the pilgrims back to the main hall, but they did not want to steam them anymore. Instead, Eight Rules was tied to a pillar in front of the hall, and Sha Monk was taken to be bound to a pillar at the rear of the hall. The old demon, however, held on to the Tang Monk and refused to let go. “Big Brother,” said the third fi
end, “why are you holding him like that? Are you going to swallow him alive? But that’ll take all the pleasure out of eating, for this creature can’t be compared with those foolish, common mortals that you can devour as a meal. He’s a rare creature from a superior state. You must take time, when you have the leisure, to prepare him like a gourmet dish. And you eat him to the accompaniment of good game, fine wines, and soft music.”

  “What you say is quite right, of course, Worthy Brother,” said the old demon, smiling, “but in the meantime Pilgrim Sun will sneak back in here to steal him.”

  “In this palace of mine,” said the third demon, “there is a pavilion of brocade-fragrance,11 inside which there is also an iron chest. Listen to me: hide the Tang Monk in the chest and close up the pavilion. Spread the rumor—so that the little fiends all over our city will be talking about it—that the Tang Monk has been devoured alive by us. Undoubtedly that Pilgrim will come back to snoop around; when he hears the news, he will lose all hope and leave. After four or five days, when he’s stopped coming back to harass us, we can then take out the Tang Monk and enjoy him at our leisure. How about that?”

  Highly pleased, both the old and second fiends said, “Yes! Yes! Yes! What our brother said makes perfect sense!” And so they put the poor Tang Monk that very night into the iron chest, after which the pavilion was closed. The rumor that he had been eaten alive soon spread through the entire city, and we shall leave that for the moment.

  We tell you instead about Pilgrim, who had to abandon the Tang Monk in the middle of the night and mount the clouds to escape. He went straight to the Lion-Camel Cave instead, attacked persistently with his rod, and succeeded in killing all ten thousand plus of those little fiends. Then he hurried back; when he reached the edge of the city, the sun was just rising in the east. He dared not, however, provoke battle. For

  One silk fiber is no thread;

  A single hand cannot clap.

  As he descended from the clouds, he shook his body once and changed into a little fiend to steal into the city. Through large boulevards and small alleys he tried to learn what was happening, and all he heard was: “The Tang Monk has been devoured live by the great kings during the night.” Wherever he went in the city, that was the news he was told. Becoming more anxious, Pilgrim strode to the Hall of Golden Chimes to look around, and he saw many spirits in front of the hall, all wearing leather caps dusted with gold, and yellow cloth jackets. With red-lacquered wooden staffs in their hands and ivory plaques dangling from their waists, they were marching back and forth. Pilgrim thought to himself, “These must be monster-spirits authorized to work in the palace. I’ll change into one of them to snoop around inside.”

  Dear Great Sage! He really did change into an exact version of one of those fiends and sneaked inside. As he walked about, he caught sight of Eight Rules tied to one of the pillars in front of the hall and moaning. Pilgrim drew near and whispered, “Wuneng.” Recognizing his voice, our Idiot said, “Elder Brother, are you here? Please rescue me.” “I will,” replied Pilgrim, “but do you know where Master is?”

  “Master’s gone!” said Eight Rules. “Last night he was eaten alive by those monster-spirits.” When he heard these words, Pilgrim let out a sob, and tears poured from his eyes.

  “Elder Brother, don’t cry,” said Eight Rules. “I only heard the wild talk of the little fiends, but I didn’t see it with my own eyes. Don’t let yourself be fooled. You should do some more investigating.” Only then did Pilgrim stop weeping and walk further inside to investigate. There he saw Sha Monk tied to one of the pillars in the rear of the hall. He approached him at once, rubbed Sha Monk’s chest with his hand, and said “Wujing.”

  Sha Monk, too, recognized his voice and said, “Elder Brother, did you come in through transformation? Please save me! Save me!” “Saving you is easy,” replied Pilgrim. “But do you know where Master is?” As tears dripped from his eyes, Sha Monk said, “O Elder Brother! The monster-spirits couldn’t wait to steam Master. He was eaten alive!”

  When the Great Sage heard that the words of both his brothers were the same, he felt as if a knife had run through his heart. Not even bothering to rescue Eight Rules and Sha Monk, he leaped at once into the air and went back to the mountain east of the city. As he dropped down from the clouds, he broke into loud wailing, crying, “O Master!

  When, mocking Heaven, I landed in the snare,

  You came to free me from my great despair.

  To seek the Buddha we set our heart and mind;

  Ourselves we trained and demons we refined.

  I did not know this day you’d meet with harm.

  Now I can’t take you to the wondrous palm.12

  It’s not your lot to reach the blessed West.

  What can I do when spirit leaves your chest?”

  As Pilgrim was grieving in this manner, he thought to himself, questioning mind with mind: “This has to be all the fault of our Buddha Tathāgata! Sitting idly in that region of ultimate bliss, he had nothing better to do than to dream up those three baskets of scriptures! If he truly cared about the proclamation of virtue, he should have sent the scriptures to the Land of the East. Wouldn’t his name then be an everlasting glory? But he wouldn’t part with them so readily, and all he knew was to ask us to go seek them. Who would expect that Master, after the painful experience of a thousand mountains, would lose his life at this miserable place? All right! All right! All right! Let old Monkey mount his cloud somersault to visit Tathāgata and tell him about this. If he’s willing to let me send the scriptures to the Land of the East, it’ll still mean the proclamation of the virtuous fruit in the first place, and the fulfillment of our vow in the second. But if he’s unwilling, I’ll ask him to recite the Loose-Fillet Spell to release me from this band. Old Monkey will hand it back to him, go back to his own cave, and play king once more.”

  Dear Great Sage! Leaping up at once, he mounted his cloud somersault to head straight for India. It was hardly an hour before the Spirit Mountain came into view. In a moment, he dropped down from the clouds to land on the Vulture Peak, where he was immediately met by the Four Great Diamond Guardians, crying, “Where are you going?” Bowing to them, Pilgrim said, “I must see Tathāgata on some business.”

  “This ape,” snapped the Diamond Guardian Ever Abiding, the indestructible rāja of the Golden Beam Summit on Kunlun Mountain, “has a lot of gall! You have yet to thank us for exerting ourselves on your behalf some time ago when we restrained the Bull Demon.13 But there’s hardly even any show of courtesy when you see us today. If you have some business, we must make the report first, and you may enter only when you’re summoned. This isn’t the same as the South Heavenly Gate, where you can rush in and out at will. Bah! Aren’t you going to step aside?” Now the Great Sage was already sorely distressed. When he received this affront, he became so incensed that he thundered forth his protests, which soon reached the ears of Tathāgata.

  Our Buddhist Patriarch was sitting solemnly on the lotus throne of nine grades and discussing the sūtras with the Arhats of Eighteen Heavens. He said to them, “Sun Wukong has arrived. All of you go out and usher him in here.” Obeying this decree of Buddha, the arhats with two rows of sacred banners and treasure canopies went outside and intoned: “Great Sage Sun, our Tathāgata has issued a summons for you.” Only then did those Four Great Diamond Guardians step aside to allow Pilgrim to enter the monastery. After being led by the arhats up to the treasure lotus platform, he prostrated himself before Tathāgata as two streams of tears coursed down his cheeks.

  “Wukong,” said Tathāgata, “why are you weeping so sadly?” “By the grace of your teachings vouchsafed repeatedly to him,” replied Pilgrim, “this disciple has entered the gate of Holy Father Buddha. Since I returned to the right fruit, I became the protector of the Tang Monk, honoring him as my teacher and sustaining unspeakable hardships on our journey. The moment we arrived at the Lion-Camel City of the Lion-Camel Mountain, three vicious demons—they’re a lion k
ing, an elephant king, and a great roc—had my master captured. Even your disciple became their prisoner, and we were all bound inside a steamer to suffer the affliction of water and fire. Fortunately your disciple managed to escape and call up the dragon king for assistance. That night we stole out with Master, but, unable to shake loose from the star of calamity, we were taken prisoners again. By morning, when I stole into the city to try to get some news, I learned that these vicious demons had devoured my master alive during the night. Not a single piece of his flesh or bone was left behind! I saw only my younger brothers Wuneng and Wujing, who were bound there also. They too will soon lose their lives, I suppose. Your disciple had no choice but to come here to plead with Tathāgata. I beg you in your great compassion to recite the Loose-Fillet Spell and take off this band from my head. It will be returned to Tathāgata, and your disciple will be released once more to frolic on the Flower-Fruit Mountain.” Hardly had he finished speaking when his tears streamed forth, as he sobbed uncontrollably.

  “Wukong,” said Tathāgata with a smile, “don’t be so sad. You are hurting because one of those monster-spirits has vast magic powers and you can’t prevail against him.” Kneeling beneath Buddha’s throne and pounding his chest, Pilgrim said, “To tell you the truth, this disciple in years past brought great disturbance to the Celestial Palace and assumed the name of Great Sage. Since I acquired the way of humanity, I have never suffered loss, but this time I’m the victim of this vicious demon!”

  On hearing this Tathāgata said, “Cease your anguish. I do recognize that monster-spirit.”