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

The blue cypresses and green pines

Inspire Immortals to cultivate the hidden Way.

The mountains have gullies,

The gullies have springs,

Whose gurgling waters sing like a guitar,

Refreshing the ear.

Deer on its banks,

Cranes in the woods,

Where the reticent Immortal's pipe is casually played

To delight the heart.

Here an evil spirit can attain enlightenment,

And the boundless vow of the Buddha extends its mercy.

When the Bodhisattva saw this she thought, “If the beast has chosen this cave, there must be some hope for him.” And from then on she felt compassion for him.

When she reached the entrance of the cave, the junior goblins at the gates greeted her with the words, “Welcome, Immortal Elder Emptiness-reached.” As some of them ran in to announce her, the monster came out of the gates to meet her and say, “Master Emptiness-reached, how good of you to put yourself to this trouble. This is an honour for me.”

“Allow me to present you with this magic pill that, I venture to say, will confer immortality on you,” the Bodhisattva replied. When the two of them had finished exchanging greetings they sat down, and the monster started to talk about the events of the previous day. The Bodhisattva quickly changed the subject by passing the salver to him and saying, “Please accept this token of my regard for you.” She observed which was the bigger one and handed it to him with the words, “I wish Your Majesty eternal life.”

The monster handed the other pill to her and said, “I hope, Master Emptiness-reached, that you will share it with me.” When they had finished declining politely, the fiend picked up the pill and was on the point of swallowing it when it went rolling into his mouth. Then Monkey resumed his true form and struck up some acrobatic postures, at which the fiend fell to the ground. The Bodhisattva too resumed her true form and asked the monster for the Buddha's cassock. As Monkey had now emerged through the monster's nostrils, she was worried that the evil spirit might misbehave again, so she threw a band over his head. He rose to his feet, ready to run them through with his spear, but Monkey and the Bodhisattva were already up in mid-air, where she began to recite the spell. As the monster's head began to ache, he dropped the spear and writhed in agony on the ground. The Handsome Monkey King collapsed with laughter in the sky, while the Black Bear Spirit rolled in torment on the earth.

“Beast, will you return to the truth now?” asked the Bodhisattva.

“I swear to, I swear to, if only you spare my life,” the monster repeated over and over again.

Monkey wanted to finish him off with no more ado, but the Bodhisattva stopped him at once: “Don't kill him-I've got a use for him.”

“What's the point in keeping that beast alive instead of killing him?” Monkey asked.

“I've got nobody to look after the back of my Potaraka Island,” she replied, “so I shall take him back with me to be an island-guarding deity.”

“You certainly are the all-merciful deliverer who doesn't allow a single soul to perish,” said Monkey with a laugh. “If I knew a spell like that one of yours, I'd say it a thousand times over and finish off all the black bears I could find.”

Although the bear spirit had come round and the spell had stopped, he was still in great pain as he knelt on the ground and begged pitifully, “Spare my life and I promise I'll return to the truth.” The Bodhisattva descended in a ray of light, placed her hands on his head, and administered the monastic discipline to him; then she told him to take up his spear and accompany her. The black bear's evil intentions ceased from that day on, and his unbounded perversity came to an end.

“Sun Wukong,” ordered the Bodhisattva, “go back now. Serve the Tang Priest well, don't be lazy, and don't start trouble.”

“I'm very grateful to you for coming so far, Bodhisattva, and I must see you home,” Monkey said. “That will not be necessary,” she replied. Monkey took the cassock kowtowed to her, and departed. The Bodhisattva took Bear back to the sea, and there is a poem to prove it:

A magic glow shines round the golden image,

The thousand rays of glorious light.

She saves all men, giving of her pity,

Surveying the whole universe and revealing the golden lotus.

Many shall now preach the scriptures' meaning,

Nor shall there be any flaw therein.

Subduing a demon and bringing him to truth, she returns to the sea;

The religion of Emptiness has recovered the brocade cassock.

If you don't know how things developed, listen to the explanation in the next chapter.

The Tang Priest Is Rescued in the Guanyin Temple

The Great Sage Removes a Monster from Gao Village

Taking his leave of the Bodhisattva, Monkey brought his cloud in to land, hung the cassock on a nanmu tree, pulled out his cudgel, charged into the Black Wind Cave, and found not a single goblin inside. This was because the appearance of the Bodhisattva in her true form had so terrified them that they had fled in all directions. Evil thoughts welled up in Brother Monkey, and after piling dry firewood all around the multi-storied gate he set it alight, turning the Black Wind Cave into a Red Wind Cave. Then he went back to the North on a beam of magic light.

Sanzang, who had been anxiously waiting for him, was beginning to wonder why he had not come back. Had the Bodhisattva not come when asked to, or had Monkey just made up a story to escape? As he was being racked by these desperate thoughts, a shimmering cloud appeared in mid-air and Monkey came down and knelt before him.

“Master, here's the cassock,” he announced, to Sanzang's great joy.

All the monks of the temple were delighted too, and they exclaimed, “Wonderful, wonderful, our lives are safe at last.”

“Monkey,” said Sanzang as he took the cassock from him, “when you set out this morning you reckoned that it would only take the length of a meal, or until midday at longest. Why have you only come back now, at sunset?” When Monkey gave him a full account of how he had asked the Bodhisattva to transform herself to subdue the monster, Sanzang set up an incense table and bowed low to the South. That done, he said, “Disciple, now that we have the Buddha's robe, pack our luggage as quickly as you can.”

“Not so fast, not so fast,” Monkey replied. “It's already evening, too late to hit the road. Let's set out tomorrow morning.”

The monks all knelt and said, “Lord Monkey is right. For one thing it's too late, and for another we made a vow. Now that all is well and the treasure has been recovered, we would like to carry out that vow and invite Your Lordships to share in the thanksgiving meal. Tomorrow morning we'll see you off on your way West.”

“Yes, yes,” urged Monkey. The monks then emptied their bags and produced everything that was left of what they had saved from the fire to make an offering of food. Then they burnt some paper to bring blessings and recited some sutras to ward off disaster. The ceremonies were finished that evening.

The next morning the horse was curried and the luggage packed, and then they set out. The monks escorted them a long distance before turning back, after which Monkey led the way. It was now early spring.

The grass cushions the horse's hooves,

New leaves emerge from the willow's golden threads.

Apricot vies for beauty with peach;

The wild fig round the path is full of life.

On sun-warmed sandbanks sleep mandarin ducks;

In the flower-scented gully the butterflies are quiet.

After autumn, winter, and half of spring,