Journey to the West (vol. 3)

by Wu Cheng-En

  “Venerable uncle, divine Jiang Qianyi, your dutiful nephew Jiang Kunsan is now prefect of Brazentower, thanks to the hereditary privilege won for me by your ancestral virtue, and also to my success in the examinations. Morning and evening I offer incense without interruption. Why did you speak today? I beg you not to haunt us and terrify the household.”

  “So this is a holy picture of his ancestor,” Brother Monkey thought with a hidden smile, and making the most of this chance he called out, “Nephew Kunsan, you have always been uncorrupt in the office you were given through ancestral privilege. How could you have been so stupid yesterday? You took four holy monks for thieves and threw them into prison without finding out why they had come. The prison god, the local deity and the city god were all so disturbed by this that they reported it to the king of Hell. He told demon envoys to bring me here to speak to you and advise you to consider the circumstances and find out the truth, and release them at once. Otherwise you'll have to come back to the Underworld with me for the case to be sorted out.”

  When the prefect heard this he replied in terror, “Please go back now, sit. Your nephew will go straight into court and release them at once.”

  “Very well then,” Monkey said. “Burn some sacrificial paper money. I am going to report back to King Yama.” The prefect lit incense, burned paper money and bowed in thanks. When Monkey flew out again and looked around he saw that the East was already turning white. He then flew to the Diling county office, where all the county officials could be seen in the courtroom.

  “If I talk when I'm a midge,” he thought, “and someone spots me it'll give the game away. That wouldn't do.” So he gave himself a giant magical body where he was in mid air, and stretched down one foot that filled the whole courtroom. “Listen to me, you officials,” he shouted. “I am the Roving God Rambler, sent here by the Jade Emperor. He says that sons of the Buddha on their way to fetch the scriptures have been beaten up in the prefectural gaol here, which has disturbed the gods of the three worlds. He has asked me to tell you to release them at once. If anything goes wrong I'm to use my other foot to kick all you county and prefecture officials to death, then crush all the people around here and trample the whole city to dust and ashes.” At this the county magistrate and the other officials all fell to their knees and kowtowed in worship.

  “Please go back now, superior sage,” they pleaded. “We are now going to the prefectural offices to request His Honour to release them immediately. We implore you not to move your feet and terrify us to death.” Only then did Monkey put away that magical body, turn into a midge again and fly back into the gaol through a gap between the tiles at the eaves, climb into his rack and go to sleep.

  The story now tells that no sooner had the prefect entered his courtroom and ordered the notice inviting people to submit written requests to be carried outside than Kou Liang and his brother fell to their knees at the entrance, holding the notice in their arms. The prefect ordered them to come in, and when the prefect read the document that the two of them submitted he said in fury, “Yesterday you handed me a wanted notice. The thieves were arrested and you had the booty back. So why are you asking for them to be released today?”

  “Your Honour,” the two brothers replied, tears streaming down, “last night our father's spirit appeared to us and said 'the holy monks from Tang captured the bandits, took our property back from them, released them and were kindly bringing the goods back to us to show their gratitude. How could you have treated them as robbers, captured them and made them suffer in gaol? The local god in the gaol and the city god were so alarmed and uneasy that they reported it to King Yama. King Yama ordered demons to escort me back to tell you to go to the prefectural court and submit another plea for the Tang Priest's release and thus avoid disaster. Otherwise everybody in the household would be killed.' This is why we have come with this request for their release. We beg you to help us, Your Honour.”

  On hearing this the prefect thought, “Their father is a new ghost whose body is still warm, so it's not surprising that he should have appeared to them after what happened. But my uncle has been dead for five or six years. Why did he appear to me early this morning and tell me to investigate and release them? It really does look as though an injustice has been done.”

  As the prefect was thinking things over the magistrate and other officials of Diling county came rushing into the courtroom to say in a wild panic, “Disaster, Your Honour, disaster! The Jade Emperor has just sent the Roving God Rambler down to earth to tell you to release those good men from gaol this very moment. The monks captured yesterday weren't robbers: they are disciples of the Buddha going to fetch the scriptures. If there's any delay he's going to kick all us officials to death, then trample the whole city and all the people in it to dust and ashes.” The prefect turned pale at this new shock, then told the head gaoler to write a release order and deliver them to the court. The prison doors were immediately opened and they were led out.

  “Goodness knows what sort of beating we're in for today,” said Pig gloomily.

  “I can guarantee that they won't dare give you a single clout,” said Monkey with a grin. “I've fixed everything up. When you go into the courtroom you absolutely mustn't kneel. He'll come down into the court to invite us to take the best seats. Then we'll ask for our luggage and the horse back from him. If anything's missing I'll give him a beating for your entertainment.”

  Before he had finished speaking they reached the entrance to the courtroom, where the prefect, the county magistrate and all the other officials came out to welcome them with the words, “When you holy monks arrived yesterday we were under urgent pressure to meet our superiors. In addition, we did see the stolen goods. That is why we did not find out the truth.” The Tang Priest put his hands together in front of his chest, bowed and recounted in detail everything that had happened.

  The officials were all voluble in admitting, “We were wrong, we were wrong. Please, please don't be angry with us.”

  They then asked if the monks had lost anything in the prison. Monkey stepped forward, opened his eyes wide in a glare and yelled at the top of his voice, “Our white horse was taken by the court officers, and the gaolers took our luggage. Give it back right now. It's our turn to torture and question you lot how. What should the punishment for wrongfully arresting innocent people as bandits be?”

  Seeing how ugly he was acting, the prefectural and county officials were all terrified. They told the people who had taken the horse to return the horse, and the men who had taken the luggage to return every single piece of it. Just look at how viciously the three disciples start acting, while the officials could only blame the Kou family to cover up their own blunder.

  “Disciples,” said Sanzang, trying to calm them down. “Let us go to the Kou house to question them and argue it out with them in order to make everything clear. Then we can find out who it was who took us for robbers.”

  “Good idea,” said Brother Monkey. “I'll call the dead man back and ask him who killed him.”

  Friar Sand hoisted the Tang Priest up on the horse right there in the courtroom, then escorted him outside with much shouting. All the prefectural and county officials accompanied them to the Kou house, so alarming Kou Liang and his brother that they kowtowed repeatedly in front of the gateway then led them into the hall. This was where old Mr. Kou's coffin lay, and the whole family was to be seen weeping inside the mourning drapes around it.

  “Stop howling, you lying old woman,” Monkey shouted. “You tried to get innocent men killed. Wait till I call your husband back. We'll see what he has to say about who murdered him. That'll shame her.” The officials all thought that Monkey was joking, but then he said, “Please keep my master company for a moment, Your Honors, Pig, Friar Sand, protect him well. I'm off. I'll soon be back.”

  The splendid Great Sage bounded outside and rose up into the sky.

  Coloured clouds were all around to cover up the house.

  Auspicious aur
as filled the sky to protect the primal deity.

  Only then did everyone recognize that Monkey was an immortal who could ride clouds and mists, and a sage who could bring the dead back to life. We will not tell of how they all burned incense and worshipped.

  The Great Sage went straight to the Underworld by somersault cloud and charged into the Senluo Palace, causing such alarm that:

  The Ten Kings of the Underworld came out to raise their bands in greeting;

  The demon judges of the five regions kowtowed in welcome.

  A thousand trees of knives all leaned away;

  Ten thousand hills of swords all leveled themselves.

  In the City of the Unjustly Slain the fiends were converted;

  Under the bridge over Punishment River the dead return to life.

  The divine light was like the grace of Heaven,

  And everywhere shone bright in the palaces of darkness.

  The Ten Kings received the Great Sage, greeted him, and asked him why he had come. “Who's got the ghost of Kou Hong who used to feed monks in Diling County in the prefecture of Brazentower?” said Monkey. “Find him and give him to me at once.”

  “Kou Hong is a very good man,” the Ten King replied. “He came here himself. No demon had to envoys drag him here with their hooks. He met King Ksitigarbha's Goldenclad Boy, who took him to see Ksitigarbha.” Monkey then took his leave of them and went straight to the Turquoise Cloud Palace, where he saw the Bodhisattva King Ksitigarbha. When the Bodhisattva had greeted him Monkey explained what had happened.

  “Liang Hong's allotted span had been completed,” the Bodhisattva said with delight, “and his life was over. That is why he left the world behind and came here without touching his bed. As he was such a good man who had fed monks I have made him a chief recorder in charge of the register of good deeds. But since you have come here to fetch him, Great Sage, I shall grant him a twelve-year extension of his life on earth. Let him leave with the Great Sage.”

  The Goldenclad Boy then led out Kou Hong, who on seeing Monkey kept saying, “Teacher, save me! Teacher!”

  “You were kicked to death by robbers,” said Monkey, “and now you're in the Bodhisattva King Ksitigarbha's place in the Under world. I've come to fetch you and take you to the world of the living to sort this matter out. The Bodhisattva will let you go back and has given you another twelve years of life, after which you'll come back here.” The old gentleman kowtowed to him endlessly.

  Having thanked and taken his leave of the Bodhisattva, Monkey blew on Kou Hong, turned him into vapor, tucked him into his sleeve and left the Underworld to go back to the world of the living. He rode his cloud back to the Kou house, told Pig to lever the lid off the coffin and pushed Kou Hong's spirit back into the body.

  A moment later Kou Hong started breathing as he came back to life. Climbing out of his coffin, he kowtowed to the Tang Priest and his three disciples with the words, “Teachers, teachers, I was wrongly killed, but my master went to the Underworld to bring me back to life. I owe him my recovery.”

  His thanks were unending. When he turned round and saw all the officials drawn up in line he kowtowed again and asked, “Why are all your lordships in my house?”

  “Your sons first submitted a wanted notice,” the prefect replied, “and accused the holy monks by name. I sent men to arrest them, not realizing that the holy monks had met the robbers who raided your house, taken the booty off them and were returning it to your house. I was wrong to have them arrested, and I had them thrown into gaol without making a detailed investigation. Last night your spirit appeared, my late uncle came to lodge a complaint with me, and the Roving God Rambler came down to earth in the county offices. After so many manifestations I released the holy monks, and they have brought you back to life.”

  “Your Honour,” said Mr. Kou on his knees, “these four holy monks really have been wronged. That night over thirty bandits with torches and weapons robbed my house. Because I could not bear to lose all those things I tried to reason with the robbers, but to my horror they kicked me to death. What's it got to do with these four gentlemen?”

  He then called for his wife. “Why did you people make that lying report about who had killed me? Will you please determine their punishments, Your Honour.” Everyone in the family, young and old alike, kowtowed. In his magnanimity the prefect spared them from punishment. Kou Hong then ordered a banquet to thank the prefectural and county officials for their generosity. The officials all returned to their offices without sitting down at the banquet. The next day the sign announcing that monks would be fed was hung out again, and another attempt was made to keep Sanzang there. Sanzang refused absolutely to stay any longer. Once again Mr. Kou invited his friends and relations, arranged for flags and canopies and saw them off as before. Indeed:

  However remote the place evil deeds can be done;

  Heaven may be high, but it does not desert the good.

  Steadily they plod along towards the Tathagata

  Until they reach the gate of bliss on Vulture Peak.

  If you do not know what happened when they met the Buddha, listen to the explanation in the next installment.

  Chapter 98

  When the Ape and the Horse Are Tamed They Cast Off Their Husks

  When All the Deeds Have Been Done Reality Is Seen

  The story told how after coming back to life Mr. Kou once more arranged for parasols, banners, drummers, musicians, Buddhist monks, Taoist priests, his friends and his relations to see Sanzang off again. But instead of describing this we will tell of the Tang Priest and his three disciples taking the main road. The West was indeed a land of the Buddha, unlike anywhere else. They saw precious flowers, rare grasses, ancient cypresses and hoary pines. In all the places they passed through every family was pious and fed monks. Under every mountain people cultivated their conduct; in all the forests travelers recited sutras Master and disciples took shelter each night and set out at dawn, till six or seven days later a mass of high buildings and splendid halls suddenly came into view. Truly they were:

  Thrusting a hundred feet into the heavens,

  Touching the Milky Way in the sky.

  Lower your head and see the setting sun;

  Put out your hand and pluck a shooting star.

  The spacious windows enclose the cosmos;

  The towering roofbeams join up with the clouds.

  Yellow cranes bring letters as the autumn trees grow old;

  Coloured phoenix epistles come in the fresh evening breeze.

  These are sacred and precious palaces and gates,

  Jeweled, intricate buildings and courtyards.

  In the holy halls the Way is discussed;

  Sutras are transmitted throughout the universe.

  The flowers are beautiful as they turn towards the spring;

  Green are the pine trees in the rain.

  Purple fungus and immortals' fruits ever flourish;

  All beings respond as red phoenixes soar.

  Sanzang raised his whip and pointed with it as he said, “What a fine place, Wukong.”

  “Master,” said Monkey, “when you were in those delusive places where you saw false images of Buddhas you insisted on prostrating yourself in front of them. But today, when you've reached the real place where there is the true image of the Buddha, you won't even dismount. What do you mean by it?” No sooner did he hear this than Sanzang sprang straight out of the saddle and went to the gateway.

  A young lay brother who stood to one side of the monastery gateway called out, “You must be the people from the East who have come to fetch the scriptures.” The venerable elder quickly straightened his clothes and raised his head to look around. He saw that the boy was

  Wearing clothes of golden brocade,

  Waving a jade-handled whisk.

  Wearing clothes of golden brocade

  He feasted in pavilions by the Jasper Pool;

  Waving a jade-handled whisk

  He dusted the steps of the p
urple palaces.

  At his side hung an immortal's tablet;

  And on his feet were sandals.

  He was a true winged adept,

  Elegant and remarkable.

  Having won immortality he lived in a wonderful land,

  Cultivating eternal life and escaping from worldly dust.

  The holy priest did not recognize the stranger on Vulture Peak,

  The Gold-crested Immortal of yesteryear.

  The Great Sage Monkey did, however, recognize him. “Master,” said Monkey, “this is the Great Gold-crested Immortal who lives at the Jade Truth Temple at the foot of Vulture Peak. He is here to greet us.” Only then did Sanzang realize who he was and step forward to salute him.

  “You have finally arrived here this year,” replied the Great Immortal with a smile. “I was fooled by the Bodhisattva Guanyin. Ten years ago she went to the East at the Buddha's command to find the Pilgrim who would fetch the scriptures. She told me then he would be here within two or three years. I have been waiting for years on end with no news of you at all. I never thought that it would be this year before we met.”

  Putting his hands together in front of his chest, Sanzang replied, “I am very grateful to you for your kindness, Great Immortal, very grateful.” Sanzang and his three disciples led the horse and carried the baggage with them into the Taoist temple, where they were introduced to all the Great Immortals there. Tea and a vegetarian meal were then ordered, and the Taoist boys were told to heat scented water for the holy monks to bathe in before climbing to the Buddha land. Indeed: