The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2

by Unknown

  6. Liver’s wood: as has been rehearsed in our introduction in JW 1, when we discussed the preface to the 1592 edition of the novel, the five viscera (heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney) are often correlated with the Five Phases in the discourse of internal alchemy and traditional Chinese medicine. This correlation indicates that the phasal energetics of fire, for example, is resident in the liver, that of earth in the spleen, and so on. What the poem seems to express in these lines here is the “productive sequence [i.e., xiangsheng ]” of the Five Phases, in which every Evolutive Phase, in the words of Manfred Porkert, p. 51, is “conceived as the product or ‘child’ (tzǔ ) of the precedent E.P., which in turn is considered its ‘mother’ (mu ).”

  7. Fire fills the sky: that is, the sun.

  8. Mutual production and mutual conquest: xiangsheng xiangke . These are two of the several traditional views of how the Five Phases operate, either one phase acting as a parent of another (mutual production) or as that overcomes or vanquishes another phase (mutual conquest). See SCC 2 (1970): 255–61; Porkert, pp. 51–54.

  9. Duck-head green: the bright green feathers often seen around a certain part of a duck’s neck, used to describe the color of water. Hence also the name of the Yalu Jiang , the river bordering northeastern China and Korea.

  10. Buddha’s head: Buddha’s hair is said to have the color of ultramarine. The novel’s line of poem is also an adaptation of another line by the Song poet Li Bu (967–1028). See his composition on the “West Lake ”: , , in Lin Hejing shiji (Shanghai, 1938), p. 21.

  11. See JW 1, chapter 7.

  12. Cinnabar field: dantian, alternately, elixir field. Generally regarded as a reference to the lower abdomen. For further discussion, see JW 1, chapter 19, n. 9.

  13. Three passes: sanguan , traditionally understood as the upper, middle, and lower parts of the body. See the Huang Ti Nei Ching Su Wên or The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, trans. and ed. Ilza Veith (Berkeley, 1972), pp. 186–93, for a description of the division and subdivisions of these regions.

  14. Bright hall: see JW 1, chapter 22, n. 4, for explanation of this term.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  1. In the day-count of traditional Chinese culture, a cyclic system of sixty days is established by various alternate combinations made of the series of ten celestial stems (tiangan ) and twelve earthly branches (dizhi ). The cycle begins anew after sixty combinations are reached. In any thirty-day period, therefore, it is likely that the stem xin , which is the eighth of the ten celestial stems, will appear three times in various combinations with the branches. For further discussion of this important calendrical scheme from antiquity crucial for several forms of traditional religious calendars and their understanding of time, see the entry on “ganzhi” and bibliography in ET 1: 435–37.

  2. Zhang Daoling: . Master alchemist and Daoist theocrat of the second century CE (fl. 156), he had acquired so many followers that he was able to establish for a brief period a semiautonomous government at the borders of Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces. See entry on “Zhang Daoling” in ET 2: 1222–23. The XYJ text has another typographical error here by printing ling for ling .

  3. Eight nativity characters: bazi , eight graphs, made up of the various combinations of the stems and branches, which designate the hour, date, month, and year of the person’s birth.

  4. Hāritī: Guizimu , the mother of demons, a rākṣasī under a vow to devour children but converted to Buddhism. She became a guardian of nunneries and protector of children.

  5. Fu Xi: as noted in chapter 35, Fu Xi was a legendary monarch of high antiquity and the husband of Nüwa in mythology. Among his major contributions to Chinese culture was his share in the discovery of the eight trigrams (bagua) on the back of a tortoise that became the basis for the compilation and discourse of the Classic of Change. King Wen, of the preceding line in the poem, was also credited in legends with the development of the use of the trigrams for divination and for plastromancy. The Zeng Yuan of the preceding line may not be the son of the famous disciple of Confucius, Zeng Shen, but a Song official (full name, Zeng Yuanzhong or ) and a reputed expert on the calendar and the Classic of Change. For further discussion of plastromancy and related subjects, see The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C., ed. Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 852–60.

  6. Uproot one hair: Guanyin’s remarks are built on repeated puns. This particular observation about Wukong exploits the common Chinese idiom for extreme stinginess, yimao buba . The term “Goodly Wealth” in the following sentence is actually a pun on the same term for “Skilled in Wealth,” shancai , but Guanyin’s sentence alters the diction and syntax, and thus the meaning as well, of shan from shanyu (skilled in) to shanliang (good or virtuous). The punning of her sentence is skillfully double-edged: shancai nanshe asserts literally that “it will be difficult for me to part with Shancai [name of the dragon girl] in order to expend my good wealth on you [Wukong].”

  7. Bitter sea of the Southern Ocean: . There is no intrinsic reason why the Southern Ocean, however defined geographically, also should be named the bitter sea. The narrator in the novel, however, seems eager to represent most instances of river or ocean crossing as also an allegorical enactment of the Buddhist teaching on the traversal of saṁsāra, the endless rounds of existence, to reach “the other shore, bi’an or nirvāṇa.” See, for example, the end of chapter 22 in JW 1, chapters 49–50 in JW 2, and chapter 98 in JW 4.

  8. Dharmakāya of Chan: dingshen Chan or the Dharmakāya of meditation, one of the five attributes of the “spiritual body (pañca-dharmakāya) of Tathāgata, the Buddha. The form of the meditation indicates his quiescent or tranquil nature and his transcendence of all false ideas. As in previous poetic eulogies, the poem here celebrates Guanyin’s spiritual attainment as compared with that of the Buddha himself.

  9. See JW 1, chapter 17.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  1. Fifty three bows: an allusion to the story of how Child Sudhana, after having heard the discourse of Mañjuśrī, obeys his instruction to gain enlightenment by visiting fifty-three wise ones. See the Taipei’s modern edition of the Huayan jing ru fajie pin, 1: 117 ff.

  2. See JW 1, chapter 19.

  3. Six Robbers: see JW 1, chapter 14.

  4. The work of Double Three or Three times Three: see JW 1, chapter 15, n. 16.

  5. For a sketch of this weapon, see Zhou, plate 63.

  6. The narrative is alluding to events in JW 1, chapter 10.

  7. Three-cornered club: it is actually called the jian , classified by Zhou, plate 63, also as a whip or a crop. Since a whip usually implies something pliant, and this weapon is clearly something hard and firm, I have translated it as a club (actually, a swordlike cudgel with a handle in Zhou’s illustration). The illustration in the 1592 edition confirms the accuracy of Zhou’s sketch. See 1592, 500: 1096.

  8. Zhang : a large, yellow fish described as having horns and able to fly.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  1. Their goal: literally, purple path, the one so named in the imperial capital. The metaphor makes clear that the success of the pilgrimage has both religious and political significance.

  2. Triple yang: a metaphor for the first month of the lunar calendar, it is so named because of its correlation with the qian (2) trigram of three unbroken lines found in the Classic of Change. As every unbroken line symbolizes the yang, the entire symbol is thus named triple yang.

  3. Cloud-headed boots: a reference to the patterned embroidery on their boots, the tops of which are made of silk.

  4. Three Pure Ones: see JW 1, chapter 5, n. 1.

  5. This is another lyric written to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

  6. Raise dust: yangchen , a reference to the ability of immortals of (literally) “kicking up dust” in the midst of a body of water—that is, transforming water into land. The phrase alludes to a story in the Shenxian zhuan when the goddess Magu to
ld another immortal, Wang Yuan (styled Fangping ), that she had witnessed the Eastern Sea transformed into “mulberry fields” three times. “‘When I was journeying to Penglai recently,’ she said, ‘I noticed that the water had receded by more than half. Could it be that the ocean is turning into land again?’ With laughter, Wang replied, ‘After all, the Sages had declared that dust would fly up (yangchen) in the ocean.’” See Liexian quanzhuan (fasc. ed. Taipei, 1974), j 3, 25b; Campany, pp. 259–68. This tale provides the basic source for the idiom, canghai bian sangtian (the blue sea has changed into mulberry fields, and vice versa), which may have been first used as a metaphor for the natural change caused by time (Needham in SCC, 3 [1970]: 599–600). In the context of the novel’s poem, however, the phrase refers to the Daoists’ magic powers of transformation, whether literal or symbolic, through ritual dancing.

  7. Celestial Worthies: the title Tianzun is reserved for the trio of the highest deities in the Daoist pantheon. Literally, the title may be translated as the Heavenly Honored Ones. I follow here the translation standardized in the entry on “sanqing” or (variously rendered as Three Clarities, Three Purities, or Three Pure Ones) in ET 2: 840–44.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  1. Lüliang Cascade: , a famous double waterfall located in Jiangsu province, southeast of the county Tongshan .

  2. Magic of Five Thunder: . This is a reference to one of the Daoist rituals developed in the Song. See Edward L. Davis, Society and the Supernatural in Song China (Honolulu, 2001), pp. 24–44.

  3. The last four lines of the poem allude to the phenomenon of spring storm; hence the thunder is associated with “arousing the torpid (jingche ),” the third of the twenty-four solar terms (approx. March 5–20) when insects come out of their dormancy or winter quarters as the spring equinox approaches.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  1. Little Mao Mountain: , one of three mountains, also bearing the name Gouqu , in Jiangsu province. Legend has it that one Mao Ying , also known as Lord Mao , of the Han period came to the mountain and became an immortal. He was followed by two brothers who also practiced austerities in the region. The mountain is thus named the Three Mao Mountain: Big, Middle, and Small. See entry on “Maojun” in ET 2: 733–35.

  2. This poem uttered by the king is actually a lyric written to the tune of “The Partridge Sky.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  1. Nodal fate: qishu , literally, the fate or destiny of an individual or group based on its correlation with the pneumatic significance (presumably measurable in some manner to the discerning eye or mind) of the year’s calendrical nodal periods (jie , a term deriving directly from the successive knots on a bamboo stalk), each with its distinctive character. It is hence common practice, in both historiography and fiction, to decipher or interpret the fate to rise or decline of a person, a household (e.g., the Ximen or Jia clans), or a dynastic state with the concept.

  2. The names of the two brothers are made up of the common Chinese phrase, chengqing , meaning to clean out or clarify completely, to scour clean.

  3. Guanbao: , literally, blessed or protected by Guan. The name refers to Guan Yu , styled Yunchang , the renowned warrior and bond-brother of Liu Bei in the Three Kingdoms. Guan has been deified as a popular god and is worshipped for his rectitude and gallantry, especially among business communities and institutions.

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  1. The shoes of Dongguo: a reference to the story of Mr. Dongguo in the Record of the Historian. Before he was made an official, he was so poor that he dressed in rags and wore shoes that had only the tops but no bottoms when he walked through snow. See the Shiji, j 126 in Ershiwushi 1: 0271c.

  2. Yuan An: , a man of Eastern Han. When a great snowstorm in Luoyang drove many of its inhabitants out to the streets to beg for food, Yuan refused to demean himself in such a manner and remained at home in bed instead. The city’s magistrate later found him nearly starved to death and bestowed on him the commendation of “Xiaolian (Filial and Incorrupt),” a highly prized recommendation category for distinguished persons to be considered at the imperial capital for further appointment. See the Hou Han Shu, j 75 in Ershiwushi 1: 0797d–0798c.

  3. Sun Kang: , a scholar of the Jin period (265–420 CE), who was so poor that he studied at night; he had to read by the snow’s reflected light.

  4. Ziyou’s boat: an allusion to Wang Ziyou , son of the famous calligrapher, Wang Xizhi (4th century). Ziyou was such an unpredictable person that he once took a boat in a snowy night to see a friend. As he reached the door of his friend’s house, however, he turned back at once. When asked why, Ziyou replied, “I felt like coming to see him when I started, but as I arrived, I no longer had the feeling. There’s no reason therefore for me to see him!” See Jin Shu, j 80, in Ershiwushi 2: 1291d.

  5. Wang Gong’s robe: an allusion to the story of , an official of the Jin, reputedly so handsome that when he walked through the snow in a crane-feathered gown, a friend exclaimed, “Truly one of the immortals.” See Jin Shu, j 84, in Ershiwushi 2: 1300b.

  6. Su Wu: (2nd century BCE), an emissary who spent nineteen years in captivity among the Huns. Banished by their leader to be a shepherd, Su had to drink melted snow and eat his blanket to keep from starvation. See the Han Shu, j 54, in Ershiwushi 1: 0492c.

  7. White Dew: bailu, one of the twenty-four solar terms naming the successive stages of the calendrical lunar year. See JW 1, chapter 1, n. 7 for a complete list.

  8. La: , the so-called People’s New Year, which occurs on the third xu day after winter solstice (January 16–27). For an account of this annual beginning and its rituals, see Derk Bodde (Princeton, NJ, and Hong Kong, 1975), pp. 49–138.

  9. Seven worthies . . . : , a common theme for paintings of snow. The identity of the seven worthies is nonetheless controversial, though they are usually thought of as the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove . See the Jin Shu, j 49 in Ershiwushi, 2: 1214a–17a; Shishuo xinyu , j 6, 28a (SBBY); A New Account of Tales of the World, trans. Richard B. Mather (Minneapolis, 1976), pp. 371–91.

  10. A . . . fisher: the phrase alludes to a most familiar pentasyllabic quatrain of the Tang poet, Liu Zongyuan (773–819) in his depiction of fishing in winter snow. The poem says: “O’er thousand mountains bird flights had ceased. / On countless paths human tracks vanished. / Of one boat a coir-hatt ed oldie / In cold river snow alone he fished , , , .”

  11. Breaking a plum twig: an allusion to the story of one Lu Kai (–501 CE?) of the Northern Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, who sent with his letter a twig of plum to his good friend Fan Hua , stationed at the northwestern frontier (of the present Gansu province). The poem says: “Breaking the plum I met the mailman, / Which he’d to one at the frontier bring. / There’s nothing here in River South / For me to give save one sprig of spring , , , .”

  12. Penghu: another name for Penglai.

  13. Wang Xiang: , one of the twenty-four persons in Chinese anecdotes famous for their exemplary acts of filial piety. Because his mother was fond of eating fresh carps even in the dead of winter, Wang went to a frozen pond and lay there until two carps leaped out. See Jin Shu, j 33, in Ershiwushi 2: 1175b.

  14. Guangwu: , first emperor (25–58 CE) of the Later Han period. This is an allusion to the episode when Guangwu came upon a river during one of his expeditions. No boats were available, but the ice in the river drifted together and that was how he and his followers went across. See Hou Han Shu, j 1, pt. 1, in Ershiwushi 1: 0648a.

  15. Sink To-the-Bottom: a pun on the homophones Chen , the surname of Xuanzang, and chen , meaning “to sink.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  1. Caoxi: a stream in Guangdong province where, in the Tang, the sixth patriarch of Chan Buddhism, Huineng, taught. The geographical allusion to one of the most celebrated sites of Chan Buddhism makes clear also its continuous appropriation as a key trope by Quanzhen discourse on internal or meditative alchemy here. As noted in the introduction, part II, JW 1, this poem is a near verbatim reproduction of
one collected in the Daoist canon.

  2. Devising: the technical religious term used here in the XYJ text is dianhua that contemporary scholarship has rendered as “projection.” Literally, it means “point or touch that it may transform.” The signficance of the nomenclature is twofold: the “projection” is not merely a magical transformation as such, but this device will also transform to enlighten the person who experiences it. It is a term first used in the novel in chapter 21 for describing the illusory houses created by the various deities to test the pilgrims. See also the entry on “Dianhua” in ET 1: 357–58. It is apparent, however, that the XYJ author here is not just emphasizing the positive meaning of the “projection” but the perilous implications of illusion as well.

  3. Giant clam: the legendary shen , whose breath would create a watery mirage of buildings in the sea or ocean. See Han Shu, j 26, in Ershiwushi 1: 0402b.

  4. Xuandi: , an abbreviated form of Xuantian shangdi , another name for Zhenwu, the Perfected Warrior deified in the early Tang. See the entry on “Zhenwu” in ET 2: 1266–67.

  5. Peng-Ying: that is, the mythical islands inhabited by immortals; Penglai and Ying-zhou. See JW, chapter 26.

  6. “Rhino-like . . . stream”: an allusion to the story of Wen Jiao of the Jin, who in one of his military campaigns came to a river, the depth of which was too deep to be measured. He was told, moreover, that there was an abundance of weird creatures in it. Whereupon Wen Jiao burned some rhinoceros horns to illumine the water and, soon after, he did catch sight of many stranger water creatures attempting to put out the fire. See Jin Shu , j 67, in Ershiwushi 2: 1259c.

  Index

  Boldface type denotes volume number. This index is principally one of proper names and places along with titles of some scriptural texts referenced in the novel. The names, nicknames, and allegorical nomenclatures of the Five Pilgrims are too numerous to be included.

  Abbey of Five Villages. See Five Villages Abbey