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

In spring they picked flowers for food and drink,

In summer they lived off fruit.

In autumn they gathered tares and chestnuts,

They got through the winter on Solomon's-seal.

The Handsome Monkey King's innocent high spirits could not, of course, last three or four hundred years. One day he suddenly felt depressed during a banquet with his monkey host, and he started to weep. The startled monkeys crowded round, bowed to him and asked, “What's the matter, Your Majesty?”

“Although I'm happy now,” the Monkey King replied, “I'm worried about the future. That's what's getting me down.”

The other monkeys laughed and said, “Your Majesty is being greedy. We have parties every day; we live in a mountain paradise, in an ancient cave in a divine continent. We are spared the rule of unicorns, the domination of phoenixes, and the restraints of human kings. We are free to do just as we like-we are infinitely lucky. Why make yourself miserable worrying about the future?”

To this the Monkey King replied, “Yes, we don't have to submit to the laws and regulations of human kings, and we don't live in terror of the power of birds and beasts. But the time will come when we are old and weak, and the underworld is controlled by the King of Hell. When the time comes for us to die, we won't be able to go on living among the Blessed, and our lives will have been in vain.” All the monkeys covered their faces and wept as everyone of them thought about death.

Suddenly a gibbon jumped out from their ranks and shrieked in a piercing voice, “If Your Majesty is thinking so far ahead, this is the beginning of enlightenment. Now of the Five Creatures, there are only three that do not come under the jurisdiction of the King of Hell.”

“Do you know which they are?” asked the Monkey King.

“Yes,” the ape replied. “They are the Buddhas, the Immortals and the Sages. They are free from the Wheel of Reincarnation. They are not born and they do not die. They are as eternal as Heaven and Earth, as the mountains and the rivers.”

“Where do they live?” the Monkey King asked.

“Only in the human world,” the ape replied, “in ancient caves on magic mountains.” The Monkey King was delighted to hear this.

“I shall leave you all tomorrow,” he said, “and go down the mountain. If I have to, I'll roam the corners of the oceans and go to the edge of the sky to find these three kinds of beings and discover the secret of eternal youth that will keep us out of the clutches of the King of Hell for ever.” Goodness! Because of these words he was to learn how to be free from the Wheel of Reincarnation and become the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.

All the monkeys clapped with approval and said, “Great! Great! Tomorrow we'll climb all over the mountain and get lots of fruit to give Your Majesty a really big banquet to send you off.”

The next day the monkeys set out to pick magic peaches, gather rare fruits, dig out yams, and cut Solomon's-seal. Magic fungus and fragrant orchid were collected, and everything was set on the stone benches and the stone tables, with fairy wine and dishes. You could see

Golden pills and pearl pellets,

Bursting red and plump yellow.

The golden pills and pearl pellets were winter cherries, beautiful and sweet;

The bursting red and plump yellow were ripe plums, tasty and sharp.

Fresh, sweet-fleshed longans with thin skins.

Fiery lichees with tiny stones in a red sack.

Branch after branch of crab-apples,

Yellow-skinned loquats with their leaves on.

Rabbit-head pears and chicken-heart jujubes

To quench your thirst, remove your cares, and sober you up.

Fragrant peaches and tender apricots,

As sweet and luscious as jade wine.

Crisp plums and arbutus,

As sharp as glistening yogurt.

Ripe melons with red coats and black seeds,

Big, four-sectioned persimmons with yellow skins.

Bursting pomegranates:

Cinnabar pips shining like fire-crystal pearls.

Opened water-chestnuts

With firm round flesh like golden agate.

Walnuts and gingko fruits to eat with tea;

Coconuts and grapes to make into wine.

Dishes loaded with pine cones, yew-nuts, filberts, and crab-apples;

Tangerines, sugar-cane and oranges covering the table.

Hot roast yams,

Tender boiled Solomon's-seal.

Pounded china-root and Job's tears.

Simmered in soup in a stone-pot.

Although we humans have rare delicacies to eat,

We are no happier than those monkeys in the mountains.

The host of monkeys ushered the Handsome Monkey King to the seat of honour and sat down below him according to age. Each of them took it in turns to bring him wine, flowers, and fruit, and they drank hard for a whole day. The next morning the Handsome Monkey King got up early and ordered, “Children, tear down some old pines and make me a raft. Find a bamboo pole to punt with and load it up with fruit. I'm going.” He went aboard the raft all by himself, pushed off with all his might, and floated off towards the waves of the ocean. He intended to sail with the wind and cross over to the Southern Jambu Continent.

The heaven-born monkey, whose conduct was so noble,

Left his island to drift with heaven's winds.

He sailed oceans and seas to find the Way of Immortality,

Deeply determined to do a great deed.

The predestined one should not have vulgar longings;

He can attain the primal truth without care or worry.

He is bound to find a kindred spirit,

To explain the origins and the laws of nature.

He had chosen just the right time for his journey. After he boarded his raft the Southeasterly wind blew hard for days on end and bore him to the Northwestern shore of the Southern Continent. Testing the depth of the water with his pole he found that it was shallow, so he abandoned the raft and jumped ashore. He saw humans by the coast, fishing, hunting geese, gathering clams, and extracting salt. He went up to them, leaping around and making faces, which so scared them that they dropped their baskets and nets and fled in all directions as fast as they could. The Monkey King grabbed one of them who was a poor runner, stripped him of his clothes, and dressed himself in them like a human. He swaggered through the provinces and prefectures, learning human behavior and human speech in the market places. Whether he was eating his breakfast or going to bed at nigh he was always asking about Buddhas, Immortals and Sages, and seeking the secret of eternal youth. He observed that the people of the world were too concerned with fame and fortune to be interested in their fates.

When will the struggle for fame and fortune end?

Toiling from morning till night, never pleasing yourself.

Those who ride donkeys long for stallions,

The Prime Minister always wants to be a prince.

They only worry about having to stop work to eat or dress;

They never fear that the King of Hell will come to get them.

When trying to ensure their sons and grandsons inherit their wealth and power,

They have no time to stop and think.

Although he asked about the way of the Immortals, the Monkey King was unable to meet one. He spent eight or nine years in the Southern Jambu Continent, going through its great walls and visiting its little counties. When he found that he had reached the Great Western Ocean he thought that there must be Sages and Immortals on the other side of it, so he made himself another raft like the last one, and floated across the Western Ocean until he came to the Western Continent of Cattle-gift. He went ashore and made extensive and lengthy enquiries until one day he came upon a high and beautiful mountain, thickly forested on its lower slopes. Not fearing wolves, and undaunted by tigers or leopards, he climbed to the summit to see the view. It was indeed a fine mountain: