Wu Cheng-en - Journey to the West (vol. 1)

In every courtyard the icy crescent is described.

Tonight we share quiet pleasure in the cloister;

When shall we ever all go home together?

Having heard the poem, Monkey went up to him and said, “Master, you only know about the moon's beauty, and you're homesick too. You don't know what the moon's really about. It's like the carpenter's line and compasses-it keeps the heavenly bodies in order. On the thirtieth of every month the metal element of its male soul has all gone, and the water element of its female soul fills the whole disk. That is why it goes black and has no light. That's what is called the end of the old moon. This is the time, between the last day of the old moon and the first of the new, when it mates with the sun. The light makes it conceive. By the third day the first male light is seen, and on the eight day the second male light. When the moon's male and female souls each have half of it, the moon is divided as if by a string. That is why it is called the first quarter. On the fifteenth night, tonight, all three male lights are complete, and the moon is round. This is called the full moon. On the sixteenth the first female principle is born, followed on the twenty-second by the second. At this stage the two souls are matched again and the moon is again divided as if by a string. This is what is called the third quarter. By the thirtieth the three female principles are complete, and it is the last day of the old moon. This is what is meant by 'prenatal absorption and refinement'. If we are all able gently to raise the 'double eight' and achieve it in nine by nine days, it will be easy to see the Buddha and easy to go home again too. As the poem goes:

After the first quarter and before the third,

Medicines taste bland, with all pneuma signs complete.

When it is gathered and refined in the furnace,

The achievement of the will is the Western Heaven.”

On learning this the venerable elder was instantly enlightened and he fully comprehended the truth, and as he thanked Monkey his heart was filled with happiness. Friar Sand laughed as he stood beside them. “What my brother says is true, as far as it goes,” he commented. “In the first quarter the male is dominant, and after the third quarter the female. When male and female are half and half the metal element obtains water. But what he did not say was this:

Fire and water support each other, each with its own fate;

All depend on the Earth Mother to combine them naturally.

The three meet together, without competing;

Water is in the Yangtze River, and the moon on the sky.”

Hearing this removed another obstruction from the venerable elder's mind. Indeed:

When reason fathoms one mystery, a thousand are made clear;

The theory that breaks through non-life leads to immortality.

Whereupon Pig went up to his master, tugged at his clothes, and said, “Pay no attention to all that nonsense, Master. We're missing our sleep. As for that moon, well:

Soon after it's defective the moon fills up again,

Just as at birth I too was incomplete.

They complain my belly's too big when I eat,

And say that I drool when I'm holding a bowl.

They are all neat and blessed by cultivation;

I was born stupid and have a baser fate.

You'll achieve the Three Ways of existence by fetching the scriptures,

And go straight up to the Western Heaven with a wag of your tail and your head.”

“That will do,” said Sanzang. “Disciples, you've had a hard journey, so go to bed. I have to read this sutra first.”

“You must be wrong, Master,” said Monkey. “You became a monk when you were very young and know all the surras of your childhood by heart. Now you are going to the Western Heaven on the orders of the Tang Emperor to fetch the true scriptures of the Great Vehicle, but you haven't succeeded yet. You haven't seen the Buddha or got the scriptures. So what sutra will you read?”

“Ever since leaving Chang'an,” Sanzang replied, “I have been travelling in such a rush every day that I have forgotten the scriptures of my youth. As I have some free time tonight I shall relearn them.”

“In that case we'll turn in first,” said Monkey. Each of the three of them went to sleep on his rattan bed while their master closed the door of the meditation hall, turned up the silver lamp, and opened out the scroll of scripture, which he silently read. Indeed:

When the first drum sounds in the tower the people are all silent.

In the fishing boat by the bank the fires have been put out.

If you don't know how the venerable elder left the temple, listen to the explanation in the next installment.

The Royal Ghost Visits the Tang Priest at Night

Wukong's Magic Transformation Lures the Boy

Sanzang sat in the meditation hall of the Precious Wood Monastery reading the Litany of Emperor Wu of Liang and the Peacock Sutra until the third watch, when he finally put the scriptures back into their bags. Just when he was about to go to bed he heard a rushing noise and the whistling of a fiendish wind. Fearing that it would blow out his lamp, the venerable elder shielded the lamp with his sleeve as quickly as he could. To his consternation the lamp kept going on and off. By now he was so tired that he pillowed his head on the reading desk and took a nap. Although he had closed his eyes and was dozing, his mind stayed wide awake as he listened to the howling of the devil wind outside the window. It was a splendid wind. Indeed, there were

Soughs and whistles,

Much scudding away.

It soughs and whistles, carrying the fallen leaves,

Blows the clouds scudding away.

All the stars in the sky go dark,

And the earth is covered with flying dust.

Sometimes fierce,

Sometimes gentle.

When it blows gentle, pine and bamboo sound clear;

When it blows fierce, the lakes have turbid waves.

The mountain birds grieve, unable to reach their perches;

The fish jump restlessly in the ocean.

Doors and windows blow off the halls,

Spirits and demons glare in the side-rooms.

All the vases in the Buddha hall crash to the ground;

The glass lamp is shaken loose and the flame blows out.

Incense-ash scatters as the burner tilts,

The candles flare when their stand leans over.

All the banners and hangings are torn,

As bell and drum towers are shaken to their roots.

As the wind died down for a while, the elder in his dozy state heard a muffled call of “Master” from outside the meditation hall. He looked up, and in his dream he saw a man standing there soaking wet who was weeping and saying “Master” over and over again.

Sanzang bowed towards him from his seat and said, “You must be a fiend, or a goblin, or an evil spirit or a monster trying to trick me in the middle of the night. But I'm not one given to desire or anger. I'm an upright monk on a pilgrimage to the West at the command of the Tang Emperor of the East to worship the Buddha and fetch the scriptures. I have three disciples who are all demon-quelling, monster-exterminating heroes. If they see you they will smash your body and bones to bits and pulverize you. But I am full of great compassion and will do what is expedient for you. Make yourself scarce this moment and never come into my meditation hall again.”

The person stayed there and replied, “Master, I'm not a demon or a ghost or a fiend or an evil spirit.”

“If you're none of these,” retorted Sanzang, “what are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

“Take a good look at me, Master,” he said. When Sanzang took a really careful look he saw to his surprise that

On his head he wore a heaven-touching hat,