Journey to the West (vol. 3)

by Wu Cheng-En

  Of the Jade Emperor's own wine.

  When I glare with my golden eyes that are neither black nor white,

  The sky turns deathly pale

  While the moon is hidden in cloud.

  When I wield my gold-banded cudgel that's the right length,

  It strikes unseen

  And leaves no trace behind.

  What do I care about big or little monsters,

  However rough or vicious they may be?

  Once I go for them

  They may run away, nimble about, hide or panic.

  Whenever I grab one

  They'll be filed down, cooked, ground to bits or pulverized in a mortar.

  I'm like one of the eight immortals crossing the sea,

  Each of whom gives a unique display of his magical powers.

  Lamas, I'll catch that evil spirit and show it to you:

  Then you'll know what sort of person this Monkey is.”

  When the lamas heard this they nodded and said quietly, “From the way this damned baldy is shooting his mouth off and talking big there must be something behind it all.”

  They all made polite noises of respectful assent except for the older lama who said, “Wait. Your master is ill, and catching the evil spirit is not as important as that. As the saying goes,

  When a young gentleman goes to a feast

  He either gets drunk or eats till he's filled.

  When a strong warrior goes into battle

  He either is wounded or gets himself killed.

  If you two fight it out here you may well get your master into trouble too. It's not a sound idea.”

  “You're right,” said Monkey, “you're right. I'll take my master a drink of cold water and be right back.” Picking up the begging bowl he filled it with cold water, went out of the monastery kitchen and back to the abbot's lodgings and called, “Master, cold water for you.” Sanzang, who was just then suffering torments of thirst, raised his head, held the bowl with both hands, and took only one sip of the water. It really was a case of

  A drop when you're thirsty is just like sweet dew;

  Get the right medicine and you'll feel good as new.

  Seeing the venerable elder gradually recovering his spirits and looking less worried Monkey asked, “Could you manage some soup and other food, Master?”

  “That cold water was a magical cure,” Sanzang replied. “I have already half recovered from my illness. I would like some food if there is any.”

  “The master's better,” Monkey shouted repeatedly at the top of his voice. “He wants some soup and other food.” He told the lamas to arrange some at once. They washed and boiled rice, made noodles, cooked pancakes, steamed breadrolls, and prepared vermicelli soup. Four or five tables of food were carried in, but the Tang Priest ate only half a bowl of rice gruel, while Monkey and Friar Sand managed only a tableful between them. Pig gobbled up the rest. The dishes were then taken out, the lamp was lit, and the lamas dispersed.

  “How long have we been here now?” Sanzang asked.

  “Three whole days,” Monkey replied. “By tomorrow evening it will be four days.”

  “We could have covered a lot of distance in three days,” Sanzang replied.

  “Never mind about the distance, Master,” said Monkey. “We'll be on our way tomorrow.”

  “Yes,” said Sanzang, “even if I am still a little poorly there is nothing that can be done.”

  “If we're setting out tomorrow let me catch the evil spirit tonight,” said Monkey.

  “What evil spirit?” Sanzang asked in astonishment. “There's an evil spirit in this monastery that I'm going to catch for them,” Monkey replied.

  “But how can you be having ideas like that before I have even recovered from my illness?” Sanzang asked. “If that monster has magical powers and you fail to catch it, then it will kill me, won't it?”

  “You're always running people down,” Monkey replied. “Wherever we go I subdue evil creatures. Have you ever seen me come off second best? That could only happen if I did nothing. If I act I'm bound to win.”

  “Disciple,” said Sanzang, clutching him, “the saying is quite right that goes:

  Do people a good turn whenever you can;

  If it is possible treat them with mercy.

  Worrying cannot compare with true kindness;

  Better be patient than strive for supremacy.”

  In the face of his master's impassioned pleas and refusal to allow him to subdue the monster, Monkey could only speak frankly.

  “I'll be honest with you, Master,” he said. “The evil spirit has been eating people here.”

  “Who has it eaten?” Sanzang asked with shock.

  “In the three days we've been here it's eaten six of this monastery's young lamas,” Monkey said, to which Sanzang replied:

  “Foxes will grieve at the death of the hare;

  Creatures will all for their own kind show care.

  As it has eaten monks from this monastery and I am a monk too I will let you go, but do be careful.”

  “No need to tell me,” said Monkey, “I'll wipe it out the moment I get my hands on it.”

  Watch him as he tells Pig and Friar Sand in the lamplight to guard the master. When he leapt happily out of the abbot's lodgings and went back to the Buddha Hall he looked and saw that though there were stars in the sky the moon had not yet risen and it was dark inside the hall. He breathed out some of his magic fire to light the glazed lamp then beat the drum that stood to the East and struck the bell to the West. That done, he shook himself and turned himself into a young lama of only eleven or twelve who was wearing a yellow silk shirt and a white cotton tunic, striking a wooden fish with his hand as he recited a sutra. He waited till the first watch without seeing anything happen. The waning moon rose only in the second watch. Then a roaring wind could be heard. It was a splendid wind:

  Black mists cast the sky into darkness;

  Gloomy clouds cover the earth with murk.

  Inky black in every quarter,

  All enveloped in indigo.

  At first the wind raises dust and dirt;

  Then it blows down trees and ravages woods.

  Amid the dust and dirt the stars still shine;

  When trees go down and woods are ravaged the moonlight is obscured.

  It blows so hard the Moon Goddess holds tight to the sala tree

  And the Jade Hare hunts all around for the medicine dish.

  The Nine Bright Shiner star lords shut their gates;

  The dragon kings of the four seas close their doors.

  The city god in his temple looks for the little devils;

  Immortals in the sky cannot ride their clouds.

  The kings of the Underworld search for their horse-faced demons

  While the panicking judges get their turbans in a tangle.

  The wind blows so hard it moves Mount Kunlun 's rocks,

  And churns up the waves on rivers and lakes.

  As soon as the wind had passed by there was a fragrance of musk and incense and the tinkling of pendants. When Monkey looked up he saw that a woman of great beauty was going towards the Buddha Hall. Monkey mumbled the words of a sutra for all he was worth. The woman went up to him, put her arms around him and asked, “What's that sutra you're reciting?”

  “One I vowed to,” said Monkey.

  “But why are you still reciting it when the others are all asleep?” she insisted.

  “I vowed to, so why shouldn't I?” Monkey replied.

  Keeping a tight hold on him, the woman kissed his lips and said, “Let's go round the back for a bit of fun.” Monkey deliberately turned his head aside as he replied, “Stop being so naughty.”

  “Do you know how to tell people's fortunes from their faces?” the woman asked.

  “I know a bit about it,” Monkey replied.

  “What can you tell about me?” she continued. “You look to me rather like someone who's been driven out by her parents-in-law for carrying on wi
th strangers.”

  “You're wrong,” she replied, “you're wrong.

  I have not been driven out by my parents-in-law,

  Nor have I carried on with strangers.

  Because of my ill fate in an earlier life

  I was married to a husband who is much too young

  And can't do his staff in the candlelit bedroom:

  That is the reason why I have left my husband.

  As the stars and moon are so bright tonight and we are fated to come hundreds of miles to meet each other, let's go round to the garden at the back to make love.”

  When Brother Monkey heard this he nodded to himself and thought, “So those stupid lamas all died because they were led astray by lust. Now she's trying to lure me. Lady,” he said in reply, “I'm a monk and still very young. I don't know anything about love-making.”

  “Come with me and I'll teach you,” the woman replied.

  “All right then,” Monkey thought with an inward smile, “I'll go with her and see how she fixes things.”

  Shoulder nestling against shoulder and hand in hand the two of them left the Buddha Hall and went straight to the garden at the back. Here the monster tripped Monkey over and sent him to the ground. With wild calls of “My darling!” she made a grab for his crotch.

  “So you really want to eat me up, my girl,” he said, seizing her hand and throwing her off balance so that she somersaulted to the ground.

  “So you can throw your sweetie to the ground, can you, my darling?” she said.

  “If I don't take this chance to finish her off what am I waiting for?” he thought. “As they say, hit first and win, strike second and lose.” He leaned forward with his hands on his hips, sprang to his feet and reverted to his own form. With a swing of his gold-banded iron cudgel he struck at the monster's head.

  In her astonishment she thought, “What a terror this young monk is.” When she opened her eyes wide for a better look she realized that he was the Tang Priest's disciple Monkey, but she was not afraid of him. What sort of evil spirit was she, you may wonder.

  A golden nose,

  Snowy white fur.

  She makes her home in a tunnel,

  Where she is thoroughly safe.

  Three hundred years ago, after training her vital forces,

  She paid several visits to the Vulture Peak,

  Carrying a full load of flowers and wax candles.

  Tathagata sent her down from Heaven.

  She was a beloved daughter to the Pagoda-carrying Heavenly King;

  Prince Nezha treated her as his own sister.

  She was no bird that fills up the sea,

  Nor was she a tortoise carrying mountains on its back.

  She did not fear Lei Huan's swords

  Nor was she afraid of Lu Qian's blade.

  She came and went

  Flowing like the mighty Han and Yangtse;

  Moved up and down,

  Even up a peak as high as Mounts Taishan and Heng.

  Seeing the charming beauty of her face

  You would never know she was a mouse-spirit with great powers.

  In the pride in her enormous magic powers she held up a pair of swords that rang out as she parried to left and right, moving East and West. Although Monkey was rather stronger he could not overpower her. Then magic winds arose on all sides, dimming the waning moon. It was fine battle they fought in the garden at the back:

  Evil winds blew from the ground;

  Dim was the light of the waning moon.

  Deserted was the hall of the Brahma Kings,

  And the devils' cloister could not be clearly seen.

  The back garden saw a battle Between the warrior Sun,

  A sage in Heaven, And the furry girl,

  A queen among women,

  Both competing in magical powers and refusing to submit.

  One turned her heart in anger from the dark-skinned baldy;

  The other glared with his all-seeing eyes at the finely dressed woman.

  With swords in her hands,

  She is no female Bodhisattva.

  The blows of the cudgel

  Were as fierce as a living vajrapani's.

  The resounding golden band flashed like lightning;

  For an instant the iron shone white as a star.

  In fine buildings they grabbed at the precious jade;

  In golden halls the mandarin duck figurines were smashed.

  As the apes howled the moon seemed small;

  Vast was the sky as wild geese called.

  The eighteen arhats

  Applauded in secret;

  Each of the thirty-two devas

  Was struck with panic.

  The Great Sage Monkey was in such high spirits that his cudgel never missed. Realizing that she was no match for him, the evil spirit frowned suddenly and thought of a plan as she extricated herself and made off.

  “Where do you think you're going, you baggage?” Monkey shouted. “Surrender at once.”

  The evil spirit paid no attention and fled. When she was hard-pressed by Monkey's pursuit she took the embroidered shoe off her left foot, blew on it with a magic breath, said the words of a spell, called out, “Change!” and turned it into a likeness of herself that came back at him waving a pair of swords. Meanwhile she turned her real body with a shake into a pure breeze and went.

  This was Sanzang's star of disaster. She headed straight for the abbot's quarters, lifted Sanzang up into a cloud, and, on the instant, before anyone could see anything, she was back at Mount Pitfall and inside the Bottomless Cave, where she told her underlings to prepare a vegetarian marriage feast.

  The story switches back to Brother Monkey, who fought with desperate anxiety until he was able to seize an opening and smash the evil spirit to the ground with a single blow, only to find that she was in fact an embroidered shoe. Realizing that he had fallen for a trick he went straight back to see the master. But was the master there? There were only the idiot and Friar Sand muttering together. His chest bursting with fury, Monkey put all thought of what he ought to do out of his head and raised his cudgel to lay about him.

  “I'll kill the pair of you,” he shouted, “I'll kill the pair of you.”

  The idiot was desperate, but there was no way for him to escape. Friar Sand, however, as a general from the magic mountain who had seen a great deal, adopted a very mild and conciliatory approach when he stepped forward, knelt down and said, “Elder brother, I understand. I'm sure that after you've killed us two you intend to go straight back home instead of rescuing the master.”

  “When I've killed you two I'm going to rescue him myself,” Monkey retorted.

  “How can you say that?” replied Friar Sand with a smile. “Without us two it would be a case of

  You can't spin a thread from only one strand

  Or clap with the palm of a single hand.

  Who'd look after the luggage or the horse for you? We'd do much better to forget our differences and fight side by side like Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya than to have a battle of wits like Sun Bin and Pang Juan. As the old saying goes,

  To kill a tiger you need your brothers' help;

  Have fathers and sons fight together in battle.

  I hope you will spare us, brother, so that tomorrow morning we can all work together with a single mind in our search for the master.” Although his magical powers were tremendous Monkey knew what was right and needed at the time, so that Friar Sand's entreaties made him change his mind.

  “Get up, Pig and Friar Sand,” he said. “But when we hunt for the master tomorrow you'll have to make a real effort.” The idiot was so grateful at being let off that he would gladly have promised Monkey half the sky.

  “Brother,” Friar Sand said, “leave it all to me.” The three brother disciples were so anxious that none of them could sleep. They wished they could make the sun rise in the East with a nod of the head and blow all the stars out of the sky with a single breath.

  After sitting there ti
ll dawn the three of them packed up and were about to get out, only to find the gateway barred by one of the lamas, who asked, “Where are you going, gentlemen?”

  “This is most embarrassing,” Monkey replied with a smile. “Yesterday I boasted to all the monks that I'd capture the evil spirit for them. So far from me capturing her she's made my master disappear. We're off to look for him.”

  “My lord,” said the lamas with horror, “our trivial problem has got your master involved. Where will you look for him?”

  “I know where I'll look,” Monkey replied.

  “Even though you're going please don't be in such a hurry,” said the lamas. “Have some breakfast first.” Two or three bowls of hot gruel were brought in that Pig cleaned up with great gusto.

  “What fine monks,” he said. “When we've found the master we'll come back here to see you again.”

  “What you mean is come back to eat their food,” said Monkey. “Go and see if the girl is still in the devarajas' hall.”

  “She's gone, my lord,” the lamas said, “she's gone. She has spent only one night there and is gone the next morning.” Monkey cheerfully took his leave of the lamas and made Pig and Friar Sand lead the horse and carry the luggage as they headed back East.

  “Brother,” said Pig, “you're wrong. Why are we going East?”

  “You wouldn't know,” said Monkey. “That girl who was tied up in the Black Pine Forest the other day-I saw through her with my fiery eyes and golden pupils, but you all thought she was a good person. And now it's her who's eaten the monks and her who's carried the master off. You all did a fine thing rescuing that 'lady Bodhisattva'. As she's carried the master off we're going back the way we came to look for her.”

  “Good, good,” sighed the other two with admiration. “You're much cleverer than you look. Let's go.”

  The three of them hurried back into the forest, where this was what could be seen:

  Piles of cloud,

  Heavy mists,

  Many a layer of rock,

  A twisting path.

  The tracks of foxes and hares cross each other;