Wu Cheng-en - Journey to the West (vol. 3)

After addressing his thanks skywards the Great Sage went into the cave and freed first the prince of Yuhua, then Sanzang, then Pig, Friar Sand and the three young princes. After this they made a leisurely search of the cave and led everyone outside. Pig then fetched some dry brushwood, piled it at the front and the back, and started a fire that left the Nine-bend Twisty Cave looking like a ruined, burnt-out kiln. Monkey released all the gods, ordered the local deity to keep guard on it, and told Pig and Friar Sand to use their magic to carry the four princes back to the city while he helped the Tang Priest along. They were soon back at the city, where the princess and the officials all came out to greet them. It was now getting dark, and a vegetarian feast was provided for everyone to enjoy. The venerable elder and his disciples slept in the Gauze Pavilion once more, and the princes in the living quarters of the palace. Of that night no more need be said.

The next day the prince issued an order for another great vegetarian banquet to be laid on. Each of the officials high and low in the palace expressed his gratitude, and Monkey asked for butchers to slaughter the six lions who were still alive, skin them like the tawny lion, and prepare their meat to be eaten. The prince, who was delighted with this proposal, gave the order for them to be killed. One animal was kept for the inside and outside palace staff, one was given to the chief administrator and the other officials in the palace, and the flesh of the other five was cut into lumps weighing one or two ounces that officers distributed among the soldiers and civilians inside and outside the city wall so that they could all eat a little. Thus the people could both try the taste and overcome their fear. Every single household was most impressed.

By now the smiths had made the three weapons and were kowtowing to Monkey, saying, “My lord, we have finished our work.”

“How heavy are they?” Monkey asked.

“The gold-banded cudgel weighs a thousand pounds,” the smiths replied, “and the nine-toothed rake and the demon-quelling staff each eight hundred pounds.”

“That'll do,” said Monkey, who then had the three princes asked to come out. As each took his weapon they said to the senior prince, “Your Royal Highness, our weapons have now been finished.”

“They almost cost both your father and yourselves their lives,” the senior prince replied. “Thanks to our divine teachers' powers,” the young princes said, “we were all saved and the evil spirits have been wiped out. We'll have no trouble from them in future. Now this really is a world at peace with calm seas and rivers running clear.” The four princes then rewarded the smiths and went to the Gauze Pavilion to thank the teachers.

Sanzang told the Great Sage and the other two to pass on some more martial skills quickly so as not to delay their journey. The three of them all swung their weapons in the palace yard as they taught the secrets one by one. Within a few days the three young princes were all skilled performers. They also mastered all the seventy-two routines of attack, retreat and fast and slow fighting. This was firstly because the princes were all thoroughly determined, and secondly because the Great Sage Sun had given them the divine strength beforehand that enabled them to lift and move the thousand-pound cudgel and the eight-hundred-pound rake and staff. There was all the difference in the world between their present skills and those they had had before, and there is a poem that goes:

When they celebrated their fortune in finding divine teachers

They never expected their studies to alert a lion spirit.

With evil destroyed the country was at peace;

The frontier was settled as all were devoted to the one

Entity. Ninefold Numinosity's powers lasted through their many clashes

Till the Way was achieved with all-round expertise.

The brilliant teaching would be passed on for ever,

And Yuhua know eternal peace and joy.

The prince then gave another great banquet to thank the three teachers, and a huge dish of gold and silver was brought out as a reward. “Take it straight back inside,” Monkey said with a smile, “take it straight back. We're monks, and that's no use to us.”

“We really can't take gold or silver,” put in Pig who was standing beside him, “but the lion spirits tore our clothes to ribbons. If you could give us a change of clothing that would be very kind of you.” The prince ordered his tailors to fetch some bolts of blue, red and brown brocade and make each of them a garment after the style and colours of their old ones. The three of them were delighted to accept and put on their new brocade tunics, after which they packed up the luggage and set off on their way again. Everyone inside and outside the city, whether young or old, exclaimed that they were arhats and living Buddhas come down to earth. Crowds packed the streets to the sound of drums and music, and banners flew overhead. Indeed:

From the gate of every family the incense smoke arose;

At every household's door coloured lanterns hung in rows.

The people only went back after seeing them for a long way along their journey. Only then did the four travelers manage to leave the city and head West. By leaving they shook off all thought and immersed their hearts in the True Achievement. Indeed:

Free from thought and worry, the Buddha's land they seek,

Going faithfully, sincerely, towards the Vulture Peak.

If you do not know how much further the journey was to be or when it was to end, listen to the explanation in the next installment.

Admiring the Moon Festival Lanterns in Jinping

The Tang Priest Confesses in Dark Essence Cave

Where should one strive to practice dhyana?

Swiftly to extirpate the misdeeds of the thought-horse and the mind-ape.

When they are firmly tethered they give off radiance,

But whoever halts falls to the three paths of suffering.

If one allows the divine elixir to leak away,

The jade-pure nature will wither as one slackens.

Anger, joy and worry must all be swept away:

When the wonderful mystery is gained it seems like nothing.

The story tells how the Tang Priest and his three disciples left the city of Yuhua and had a very easy journey in what really was a land of paradise. When they had been travelling for five or six days another city appeared.

“Where is this?” the Tang Priest asked Brother Monkey.

“It's a city,” Monkey replied, “but there are no flags on the poles above the city wall and I don't know this area, so I'll ask when we get closer.” When they reached the Eastern suburb they found it noisy with bars and tea-houses and bustling with a rice market and oil shops. Some idlers who were wandering in the streets with nothing better to do crowded round for a better look when they saw Pig's long snout, Friar Sand's black face and Monkey's red eyes, but they dared not come any closer to question the travelers. The Tang Priest was sweating with the worry that they would provoke trouble as they crossed several more streets and had still not yet reached the city wall. Then they saw a monastery gate over which were the words CLOUDS OF COMPASSION MONASTERY.

“What about going in here to give the horse a rest and take a meal?” the Tang Priest suggested, to which Monkey replied, “Splendid, splendid.” The four of them then went inside, and this is what they saw:

Splendid, towering buildings,

Gleaming bases for statues…

The Buddha hall rise above the clouds;

The monks' cells lie in the moonlit silence.

Red mists circle the stupas;

In the shade of jade-green trees the scripture-wheel is cool.