by Unknown
Buddha at the time was lecturing to the various bodhisattvas when he heard someone on the sacred banners and parasol calling, “Save me!” One look with his eyes of wisdom and Buddha knew it was the soul of Naṭa. Using the root of the lotus for bones and its leaves for garment, he recited the magic words of revivification and restored Naṭa to life. With his newfound divine strength, Naṭa succeeded in subduing the fiendish demons of ninety-six caves. His magic powers were so great that he later wanted to kill the devarāja in order to exact vengeance for self-immolation.
The devarāja had little choice but to plead with Tathāgata, who, of course, was an advocate of peace. He therefore bestowed on the devarāja a compliant, yellow-gold treasure pagoda of the finest openwork carving and filled with śārī-relics; the pagoda, in fact, symbolized Buddha on each level, and the entire edifice was bathed in luminosity. The sight of the pagoda thus would remind Naṭa of Buddha, who was to be revered as the prince’s true father, and that is how the enmity was dissolved. This is the reason also for Li Jing to be named the Devarāja Pagoda-Bearer.
Since he was at home today, at leisure, the devarāja had not been carrying his pagoda, and he thought that Naṭa had been seized by the desire for vengeance again. That was the reason he paled with fear. Immediately reaching for the gold treasure pagoda on the stand and holding it high, he asked Naṭa, “Son, you’ve parried my scimitar with your sword. What do you want to say to me?”
Abandoning his sword and kowtowing, Naṭa replied, “Father King, you do have a daughter at the Region Below.”
“Son,” said the devarāja, “I have had only the four of you. What other daughter do I have?”
“You have quite forgotten, Father King,” said Naṭa. “That other daughter was originally a monster-spirit. Some three hundred years ago she became a fiend who stole and devoured the fragrant flowers and treasure candles of Tathāgata at Spirit Mountain. Tathāgata sent us, father and son, to lead an expedition against her. When she was caught, she should have been beaten to death, but Tathāgata gave us this instruction:
For fishes reared in the ponds you never fish;
For deer fed in the mountains long life’s your wish.
At that time, therefore, we spared her life, and in gratitude she took you as her father and your child as her elder brother. She was to set up our tablets down below, to which she would offer perpetual incense fires. Who would have expected her to become a spirit again and conspire to harm the Tang Monk? When Pilgrim Sun searched through her lair, the tablets were found and charges were thus filed before the throne. This is your daughter by the bond of grace, not a sister of mine by blood.”
Astounded by what he heard, the devarāja said, “My child, I have indeed forgotten the whole matter. What’s her name?”
“She has three of them,” replied the prince. “At her birthplace she was originally called the Golden-Nosed White-Haired Rodent-Spirit. Because she had stolen the fragrant flowers and treasure candles, her name was changed to Bisected Guanyin. When she was spared and sent to the Region Below, she changed her name again to Mistress Ground-Rushing.”
Only then did the devarāja realize what had happened. Immediately he wanted to untie Pilgrim with his own hands, but Pilgrim had turned rowdy. “Who dares untie me?” he cried. “You can take me in ropes to see the throne! Old Monkey will then win his litigation!” The hands of the devarāja turned numb with fear, the prince became speechless, and the various subordinate officers retreated shamefacedly.
Rolling all over the place in a tantrum, the Great Sage insisted that the devarāja appear before the throne with him. Having no alternative, the devarāja could only plead pitifully with the Gold Star to speak on his behalf. The Gold Star said, “As the ancients put the matter, ‘One should be lenient in all things.’ The way you do things, however, is rather hasty! You’ve bound him, and you even wanted to kill him. This monkey happens to be notorious in casting blame. Now what do you want me to do? According to what your son has told us, she is not your daughter by blood but only by bond. Nonetheless, that is still an important tie of kinship. No matter how you dispute the matter, you are somewhat guilty.”
The devarāja said, “If the venerable Star would speak on my behalf, then my guilt will be absolved.” “I would like indeed to pacify you both,” said the Gold Star, “but I don’t quite know how to plead for you.”
“Why don’t you,” said the devarāja, “just mention the former incident, when you went to him on your mission of pacification and gave him his appointment?” The Gold Star did indeed go forward to touch Pilgrim and said, “Great Sage, for my sake let us untie you so that we may all go see the throne.”
“Old Minister,” said Pilgrim, “you needn’t untie me. I know how to roll, and I’ll roll my way there!”
“Monkey, you’re quite unfeeling!” said the Gold Star, chuckling. “I was, after all, rather kind to you in times past. Now you refuse me even in a trivial matter like this.” “What sort of kindness have you shown me?” asked Pilgrim.
The Gold Star said, “In those years when you were a fiend in Mount Flower-Fruit, when you tamed tigers and subdued dragons, when you abolished the register of death by force, and when you assembled various monsters to perpetrate your delinquency, Heaven above wanted to arrest you. It was this old man who boldly memorialized to the throne to issue a decree of pacification and have you summoned to the Celestial Palace and appointed you a BanHorsePlague. After you had drunk the immortal wine of the Jade Emperor and needed pacification once more, it was this old man’s bold memorial also that got you the appointment of Great Sage, Equal to Heaven. But you did not behave and went on to steal peaches, filch wine, and rifle elixir from Lord Lao. Only after this and that did you attain a state of birthlessness and deathlessness. But if it hadn’t been for me, would you have reached this day?”
Pilgrim said, “The ancients truly had put the matter well: even in death you should not share a grave with an old man! Like it or not, he knows how to carp! What’s so big that I did? I merely disturbed the Celestial Palace as BanHorsePlague. All right! All right! For your sake, Venerable Sir, I’ll relent, but he himself must untie me.” Only then did the devarāja dare approach and untie the rope. Pilgrim was then invited to tidy his clothes and take the honored seat, after which the various deities went forward one by one to pay their respects.
Facing the Gold Star, Pilgrim said, “Old Minister, how about it? Didn’t I tell you that I would lose first, and then win? That’s how one should do business! Let’s urge him to go see the throne quickly, lest my master is harmed.” “Let’s not rush things,” said the Gold Star. “Having squandered all this time already, let’s have a cup of tea first.”
“If you drink his tea,” said Pilgrim, “you’re in fact accepting his bribe. What sort of crime should you be charged with, when you free the felon on a bribe and slight the imperial decree?”
“I won’t drink his tea! I won’t drink his tea!” exclaimed the Gold Star. “Now you’re even casting blame on me! Devarāja Li, go quickly! Go quickly!” But the devarāja, of course, dared not go with Pilgrim to see the Throne, for he was terribly afraid that the ape might turn rowdy once more. If he were to mouth all kinds of accusations before the Jade Emperor, how could the devarāja hope to refute them? He had no choice but again to plead with the Gold Star to speak up for him.
At length the Gold Star said to Pilgrim, “I have just one word for you! Will you agree to it?”
“I have already overlooked for your sake the affront of being bound and hacked by the scimitar,” said Pilgrim. “Do you have anything more to say? Speak up! Speak up! If it’s good, I’ll listen; if not, don’t blame me!”
The Gold Star said, “Remember the proverb, ‘One day’s litigation will take ten days to settle.’ You file a charge before the throne, claiming that the monster-spirit is the daughter of the devarāja, and he denies it. The two of you can argue this matter back and forth before the Jade Emperor. Meanwhile, let me remind you th
at one day in Heaven is equivalent to one year in the Region Below. For this whole year the monster-spirit has had your master imprisoned in the cave. Let’s not mention a wedding ceremony. Even if it’s a makeshift affair, by now she must have produced a little monk for him! Hasn’t your delay upset the great enterprise?”
Lowering his head, Pilgrim thought to himself, “Yes, indeed! When I left Eight Rules and Sha Monk, I told them that I would return after a time no longer than it takes tea to boil, or at most for rice to be cooked. I’ve messed around here all this while. Am I too late?” He said thereby to the Gold Star, “Old Minister, how should we return this imperial decree?”
“Let’s ask Devarāja Li to summon his troops to go down with you to subdue the fiend,” replied the Gold Star. “I’ll return the decree.”
“What will you say as your report?” asked Pilgrim.
“That the plaintiff has fled,” said the Gold Star, “and that the defendant has been dismissed from the case.”
“How nice!” said Pilgrim with a laugh. “For your sake I’m dropping my charges, and you claim instead that I have fled! Tell him to call up the troops and wait for me outside the South Heaven Gate. I’ll go with you to return the decree.”
Growing alarmed once more, the devarāja said, “If he starts talking once he gets inside the palace, I may end up with the crime of treason.”
“What sort of person do you take old Monkey for?” said Pilgrim. “I, too, am a true man! ‘Once my word is given, horses can’t retrieve it.’ You think I would smear you with slander?”
The devarāja then thanked Pilgrim, who left with the Gold Star to return the decree. The devarāja at once called up the troops under his command and had them stationed outside the South Heaven Gate. Going before the throne with Pilgrim, the Gold Star said to the Jade Emperor, “The person who has imprisoned the Tang Monk happens to be a gold-nosed, white-furred rodent which has become a spirit. She is also the one who has set up the tablets of Devarāja Li and his son. Since learning of this, the devarāja has already called up his troops for an expedition against the fiend. I beg the Celestial-Honored One to pardon him.”
Since the Jade Emperor had already known of this, he at once extended his Heaven grace and pardon. Pilgrim turned back his cloudy luminosity to go out of the South Heaven Gate, where he found the devarāja, the prince, and the Heaven hosts waiting in smart formation. Behold! Those divine warriors, in churning wind and fog, received the Great Sage and then lowered their clouds to descend to Mount Void-Entrapping. Eight Rules and Sha Monk, with bulging eyes, were waiting on the mountain when they saw Pilgrim arriving with the Heaven hosts. Bowing to the devarāja, Idiot said to him, “We’ve troubled you!” “Marshal Heaven Reeds,” said the devarāja, “we have something to tell you: we, father and son, may have enjoyed one stick of her incense, but the monster-spirit has thereby grown audacious enough to have your master imprisoned. Please don’t blame us for this tardy arrival. Is this Mount Void-Entrapping? I wonder which direction the entrance of her cave faces.”
“I’m familiar enough with the way in,” said Pilgrim. “Her cave here is named the Bottomless Cave, and its inside is about three hundred miles in circumference. The monster-spirit actually must have many lairs. Previously she had my master detained within a double-eaved towered gate. Now it’s so quiet there that you won’t see even the shadow of a ghost! I have no idea where she has moved to.” The devarāja said, “No matter.
Let her maneuver in a thousand ways;
She’ll n’er escape the net of Heav’n and Earth.
Let’s approach the entrance first, and then we’ll decide what to do.” All of them immediately proceeded. Ah! After some ten miles they reached the big boulder. Pointing to the entrance about the size of a huge barrel, Pilgrim said, “That’s it.”
“‘Without entering the tiger’s lair,’” said the devarāja, “‘how could one capture the tiger cubs?’ Who dares lead the way?”
“I do,” said Pilgrim.
“Since I’m to subdue a fiend by imperial decree,” said the prince, “I’ll lead the way.”
At that moment our Idiot became even more impetuous. “Old Hog will be the one to lead the way!” he shouted.
“No need to make so much noise!” said the devarāja. “Let me give the order: the Great Sage Sun and the prince will lead the troops down there. We three will stand guard up here at the entrance. We shall coordinate our efforts within and without, so that she will have no route to flee to Heaven and no door to enter Earth. Only then will we truly show our power.” All of them responded with a resounding “Yes!”
Look at Pilgrim and the prince! Leading the captains and troops, they slid inside the cave and immediately mounted the cloudy luminosity. As they looked about, it was a fine cave indeed!
The sun and moon’s familiar orbs
Shine on the same mountains and streams;
Pearly deeps, jade wells warmed and sheathed in mist,
And e’en many more lovely sights.
Red painted towers in layers,
Scarlet walls and green fields endless.
Late autumn lotus and willows of spring—
Such a cave-heaven’s rarely seen.4
In a moment, they stopped their cloudy luminosity right before the old residence of the monster-spirit. Noisily the celestial warriors began a door-to-door search; they looked everywhere, spreading out through all those three hundred miles, but neither a single monster-spirit nor a Tripitaka could be seen at all.
“This cursed beast,” said the warriors, “must have left the cave and removed herself far away.” Little did they know that there was another small cave at the dark southeast corner; there was a tiny door in the cave and a house built rather low, surrounded by a few pots of flowers and several stalks of bamboo. It was a place shrouded in darkness and faint fragrance. Here the old fiend had brought Tripitaka and wanted to force him to marry her, thinking that Pilgrim would never be able to find them. She did not realize, of course, that her fate was about to overtake her. As those little fiends crowded together inside, you see, one of the more courageous ones stuck out his head to take a peek outside, and he ran directly into the celestial warriors.
“They’re here!” they cried, and Pilgrim became so aroused that he went crashing in, his hand gripping the golden-hooped rod. The whole nest of monster-spirits was packed in that small and narrow place. When the prince and his troops surged forward, where could any of the fiends run to hide?
Pilgrim soon located the Tang Monk, the luggage, and the dragon horse. When the old fiend realized that there was no way for her to flee, she faced Prince Naṭa and kowtowed repeatedly, begging for her life. The prince said, “Our expedition here to arrest you is decreed by the Jade Emperor, and it’s no small thing. We, father and son, by enjoying one stick of your incense, nearly brought on ourselves colossal calamity!” Thereupon he bellowed: “Celestial soldiers, take out the fiend-binding ropes and tie up all those monster-spirits!” The old fiend, you see, could not avoid a little suffering.
The company then turned around their cloudy luminosity and went outside the cave, with Pilgrim chortling loudly all the way. The devarāja left his post at the entrance to meet Pilgrim, saying, “This time you’ve seen your master!”
“Thank you! Thank you!” replied Pilgrim, and at once led Tripitaka to bow to thank the devarāja and the prince. Sha Monk and Eight Rules would have liked very much to hack the old spirit into tiny pieces, but the devarāja said, “Since she was arrested by imperial decree, she should not be easily disposed of. We have yet to return to make a report to the throne.”
So the devarāja and the third prince led the divine warriors and celestial soldiers to guard the monster-spirit and take her back to face judgment before Heaven’s tribunal. Meanwhile Pilgrim and Sha Monk scurried around the Tang Monk to pack as Eight Rules steadied the horse for him to mount. They headed for the main road together. Thus it is that
The silk threads are sundered to dry the
golden sea;
The jade lock’s broken and he leaves the bird-cage.
We do not know what happens as they journey forth; let’s listen to the explanation in the next chapter.
EIGHTY-FOUR
“Priests1 are hard to destroy” completes great awakening;
The Dharma-king attains the right, his body’s naturalized.
We were telling you about how Tripitaka Tang had safeguarded his primal yang and escaped the bitter ordeal of the fair sex. As he followed Pilgrim to head for the West, it was soon again the time of summer, when warm breezes freshly stirred, and rain of the plum season drizzled down in fine strands. Marvelous scenery, it is:
Lush and dense is the green shade;
In light breeze young swallows parade.
New lilies unfold on the ponds;
Old bamboos spread slowly their fronds.
The sky joins the meadows in green;
Mountain blooms o’er the ground are seen.
Swordlike, rushes stand by the brook;
Pomegranates redden this sketchbook.
Master and diciples, the four of them, had to endure the heat, of course.
As they proceeded, they came upon two rows of tall willows flanking the road; from within the willow shade an old woman suddenly walked out, leading a young child by the hand. “Priest,” she cried aloud to the Tang Monk, “you must stop right now! Turn your horse around and return to the East quickly! The road to the West leads only to death!”
So startled was Tripitaka that he leaped down from the horse and bowed to her, saying, “Old Bodhisattva, as the ancients have said,
The ocean is wide so fishes may leap;
The sky is empty so birds may fly.
How could it be that a road to the West is lacking?”
Pointing westward with her finger, the old woman said, “About five or six miles from here is the Dharma-Destroying Kingdom. In some previous incarnation somewhere the king must have contracted evil karma so that in this life he sins without cause. Two years ago he made a stupendous vow that he would kill ten thousand Buddhist priests. Until now he has succeeded in slaughtering nine thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-six nameless monks. All he is waiting for now are four more monks, preferably with names, and the perfect score of ten thousand will be reached. If you people arrive at his city, you will all become life-giving king bodhisattvas!”