The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 4

by Unknown

  Immortal, he can leave the world of dust.

  The sage monk knows not our Mount Spirit guest:

  The Immortal Golden Head of former years.3

  The Great Sage, however, recognized the person. “Master,” he cried, “this is the Great Immortal of the Golden Head, who resides in the Jade Perfection Daoist Abbey at the foot of the Spirit Mountain.”

  Only then did Tripitaka realize the truth, and he walked forward to make his bow. With laughter, the great immortal said, “So the sage monk has finally arrived this year. I have been deceived by the Bodhisattva Guanyin. When she received the gold decree from Buddha over ten years ago to find a scripture seeker in the Land of the East, she told me that he would be here after two or three years. I waited year after year for you, but no news came at all. Hardly have I anticipated that I would meet you this year!”

  Pressing his palms together, Tripitaka said, “I’m greatly indebted to the great immortal’s kindness. Thank you! Thank you!” The four pilgrims, leading the horse and toting the luggage, all went inside the temple before each of them greeted the great immortal once more. Tea and a vegetarian meal were ordered. The immortal also asked the lads to heat some scented liquid for the sage monk to bathe, so that he could ascend the land of Buddha. Truly,

  It’s good to bathe when merit and work are done,

  When nature’s tamed and the natural state is won.

  All toils and labors are now at rest;

  Law and obedience have renewed their zest.

  At māra’s end they reach indeed Buddha-land;

  Their woes dispelled, before Śramaṇa they stand.

  Unstained, they are washed of all filth and dust.

  To a diamond body4 return they must.

  After master and disciples had bathed, it became late and they rested in the Jade Perfection Abbey.

  The next morning the Tang Monk changed his clothing and put on his brocade cassock and his Vairocana hat. Holding the priestly staff, he ascended the main hall to take leave of the great immortal. “Yesterday you seemed rather dowdy,” said the great immortal, chuckling, “but today everything is fresh and bright. As I look at you now, you are a true of son of Buddha!” After a bow, Tripitaka wanted to set out at once.

  “Wait a moment,” said the great immortal. “Allow me to escort you.” “There’s no need for that,” said Pilgrim. “Old Monkey knows the way.”

  “What you know happens to be the way in the clouds,” said the great immortal, “a means of travel to which the sage monk has not yet been elevated. You must still stick to the main road.”

  “What you say is quite right,” replied Pilgrim. “Though old Monkey has been to this place several times, he has always come and gone on the clouds and he has never stepped on the ground. If we must stick to the main road, we must trouble you to escort us a distance. My master’s most eager to bow to Buddha. Let’s not dally.” Smiling broadly, the great immortal held the Tang Monk’s hand

  To lead Candana up the gate of Law.

  The way that they had to go, you see, did not lead back to the front gate. Instead, they had to go through the central hall of the temple to go out the rear door. Immediately behind the abbey, in fact, was the Spirit Mountain, to which the great immortal pointed and said, “Sage Monk, look at the spot halfway up the sky, shrouded by auspicious luminosity of five colors and a thousand folds of hallowed mists. That’s the tall Spirit Vulture Peak, the holy region of the Buddhist Patriarch.”

  The moment the Tang Monk saw it, he began to bend low. With a chuckle, Pilgrim said, “Master, you haven’t reached that place where you should bow down. As the proverb says, ‘Even within sight of a mountain you can ride a horse to death!’ You are still quite far from that principality. Why do you want to bow down now? How many times does your head need to touch the ground if you kowtow all the way to the summit?” “Sage Monk,” said the great immortal, “you, along with the Great Sage, Heavenly Reeds, and Curtain-Raising, have arrived at the blessed land when you can see Mount Spirit. I’m going back.” Thereupon Tripitaka bowed to take leave of him.

  The Great Sage led the Tang Monk and his disciples slowly up the mountain. They had not gone for more than five or six miles when they came upon a torrent of water, eight or nine miles wide. There was no trace of human activity all around. Alarmed by the sight, Tripitaka said, “Wukong, this must be the wrong way! Could the great immortal have made a mistake? Look how wide and swift this river is! Without a boat, how could we get across?”

  “There’s no mistake!” said Pilgrim, chuckling. “Look over there! Isn’t that a large bridge? You have to walk across that bridge before you can perfect the right fruit.” The elder walked up to the bridge and saw beside it a tablet, on which was the inscription “Cloud-Transcending Ferry.” The bridge was actually a single log. Truly

  Afar off, it’s like a jade beam in the sky;

  Near, a dried stump that o’er the water lies.

  To bind up oceans it would easier seem.

  How could one cross a single log or beam

  Shrouded by rainbows often thousand feet,

  By a thousand layers of silk-white sheet?

  Too slipp’ry and small for all to cross its spread

  Except those who on colored mists can tread.

  Quivering all over, Tripitaka said, “Wukong, this bridge is not for human beings to cross. Let’s find some other way.”

  “This is the way! This is the way!” said Pilgrim, laughing.

  “If this is the way,” said Eight Rules, horrified, “who dares walk on it? The water’s so wide and rough. There’s only a single log here, and it’s so narrow and slippery. How could I move my legs?”

  “Stand still, all of you,” said Pilgrim. “Let old Monkey take a walk for you to see.” Dear Great Sage! In big strides he bounded on to the single-log bridge. Swaying from side to side, he ran across it in no time at all. On the other side he shouted: “Come across! Come across!”

  The Tang Monk waved his hands, while Eight Rules and Sha Monk bit their fingers, all crying, “Hard! Hard! Hard!”

  Pilgrim dashed back from the other side and pulled at Eight Rules, saying, “Idiot! Follow me! Follow me!” Lying flat on the ground, Eight Rules said, “It’s much too slippery! Much too slippery! Let me go, please! Let me mount the wind and fog to get over there.” Pushing him down, Pilgrim said, “What sort of a place do you think this is that you are permitted to mount wind and fog? Unless you walk across this bridge, you’ll never become a Buddha.” “O Elder Brother!” said Eight Rules. “It’s okay with me if I don’t become a Buddha. But I’m not going on that bridge!”

  Right beside the bridge, the two of them started a tug-of-war. Only Sha Monk’s admonitions managed to separate them. Tripitaka happened to turn his head, and he suddenly caught sight of someone punting a boat upstream toward the ferry and crying, “Ahoy! Ahoy!”

  Highly pleased, the elder said, “Disciples, stop your frivolity! There’s a boat coming.” The three of them leaped up and stood still to stare at the boat. When it drew near, they found that it was a small bottomless one.5 With his fiery eyes and diamond pupils, Pilgrim at once recognized that the ferryman was in fact the Conductor Buddha, also named the Light of Ratnadhvaja. Without revealing the Buddha’s identity, however, Pilgrim simply said, “Over here! Punt it this way!”

  Immediately the boatman punted it up to the shore. “Ahoy! Ahoy!” he cried. Terrified by what he saw, Tripitaka said, “How could this bottom-less boat of yours carry anybody?” The Buddhist Patriarch said, “This boat of mine

  Since creation’s dawn has achieved great fame;

  Punted by me, it has e’er been the same.

  Upon the wind and wave it’s still secure:

  With no end or beginning its joy is sure.

  It can return to One, completely clean,

  Through ten thousand kalpas a sail serene.

  Though bottomless boats may ne’er cross the sea,

  This ferries all souls thro
ugh eternity.”

  Pressing his palms together to thank him, the Great Sage Sun said, “I thank you for your great kindness in coming to receive and lead my master. Master, get on the boat. Though it is bottomless, it is safe. Even if there are wind and waves, it will not capsize.”

  The elder still hesistated, but Pilgrim took him by the shoulder and gave him a shove. With nothing to stand on, that master tumbled straight into the water, but the boatman swiftly pulled him out. As he stood on the side of the boat, the master kept shaking out his clothes and stamping his feet as he grumbled at Pilgrim. Pilgrim, however, helped Sha Monk and Eight Rules to lead the horse and tote the luggage into the boat. As they all stood on the gunwale, the Buddhist Patriarch gently punted the vessel away from shore. All at once they saw a corpse floating down upstream, the sight of which filled the elder with terror.6

  “Don’t be afraid, Master,” said Pilgrim, laughing. “It’s actually you!”

  “It’s you! It’s you!” said Eight Rules also.

  Clapping his hands, Sha Monk also said, “It’s you! It’s you!”

  Adding his voice to the chorus, the boatman also said, “That’s you! Congratulations! Congratulations!” Then the three disciples repeated this chanting in unison as the boat was punted across the water. In no time at all, they crossed the Divine Cloud-Transcending Ferry all safe and sound. Only then did Tripitaka turn and skip lightly onto the other shore. We have here a testimonial poem, which says:

  Delivered from their mortal flesh and bone,

  A primal spirit of mutual love has grown.

  Their work done, they become Buddhas this day,

  Free of their former six-six senses’7 sway.

  Truly this is what is meant by the profound wisdom and the boundless dharma that enable a person to reach the other shore.

  The moment the four pilgrims went ashore and turned around, the boatman and even the bottomless boat had disappeared. Only then did Pilgrim point out that it was the Conductor Buddha, and immediately Tripitaka awoke to the truth. Turning quickly, he thanked his three disciples instead.

  Pilgrim said, “We two parties need not thank each other, for we are meant to support each other. We are indebted to our master for our liberation, through which we have found the gateway to merit making, and fortunately we have achieved the right fruit. Our master also has to rely on our protection so that he may be firm in keeping both law and faith to find the happy deliverance from this mortal stock. Master, look at this superb scenery of flowers and grass, pines and bamboos, phoenixes, cranes, and deer. Compared with those places of illusory transformation by monsters and deviates, which ones do you think are pleasant and which ones bad? Which ones are good and which evil?” Tripitaka expressed his thanks repeatedly as every one of them with lightness and agility walked up the Spirit Mountain. Soon this was the aged Thunderclap Monastery which came into view:

  Its top touches the firmament;

  Its root joins the Sumeru range.

  Wondrous peaks in rows;

  Strange boulders rugged.

  Beneath the cliffs, jade-grass and jasper-flowers;

  By the path, purple agaric and scented orchid.

  Divine apes plucking fruits in the peach orchard

  Seem like fire-burnished gold;

  White cranes perching on the tips of pine branches

  Resemble mist-shrouded jade.

  Male phoenixes in pairs—

  Female phoenixes in twos—

  Male phoenixes in pairs

  Make one call facing the sun to bless the world;

  Female phoenixes in twos

  Whose radiant dance in the wind is rarely seen.

  You see too those mandarin duck tiles of lustrous gold,

  And luminous, patterned bricks cornelian-gilt.

  In the east

  And in the west

  Stand rows of scented halls and pearly arches;

  To the north

  And to the south,

  An endless sight of treasure lofts and precious towers.

  The Devarāja Hall emits lambent mists;

  The Dharma-guarding Hall sends forth purple flames.

  The stūpa’s clear form;

  The Utpala’s fragrance.

  Truly a fine place similar to Heaven

  With lazy clouds to make the day long.

  The causes cease, red dust can’t come at all:

  Safe from all kalpas is this great Dharma Hall.

  Footloose and carefree, master and disciples walked to the summit of Mount Spirit, where under a forest of green pines they saw a group of upāsikās and rows of worshippers in the midst of verdant cypresses. Immediately the elder bowed to them, so startling the upāsakas and upāsikās, the monks and the nuns, that they all pressed their palms together, saying, “Sage Monk, you should not render us such homage. Wait till you see Śākyamuni, and then you may come to exchange greetings with us.”

  “He is always in such a hurry!” said Pilgrim, laughing. “Let’s go to bow to those seated at the top!” His arms and legs dancing with excitement, the elder followed Pilgrim straight up to the gate of the Thunderclap Monastery. There they were met by the Four Great Vajra Guardians, who said, “Has the sage monk arrived?”

  Bending low, Tripitaka said, “Yes, your disciple Xuanzang has arrived.” No sooner had he given this reply than he wanted to go inside. “Please wait a moment, Sage Monk,” said the Vajra Guardians. “Allow us to announce your arrival first before you enter.” One of the Vajra Guardians was asked to report to the other Four Great Vajra Guardians stationed at the second gate, and one of those porters passed the news of the Tang Monk’s arrival to the third gate. Those guarding the third gate happened to be divine monks who served at the great altar. When they heard the news, they quickly went to the Great Hero Hall to announce to Tathāgata, the Most Honored One, also named Buddha Śākyamuni, “The sage monk from the Tang court has arrived in this treasure monastery. He has come to fetch the scriptures.”

  Highly pleased, Holy Father Buddha at once asked the Eight Bodhisattvas, the Four Vajra Guardians, the Five Hundred Arhats, the Three Thousand Guardians, the Eleven Great Orbs, and the Eighteen Guardians of Monasteries to form two rows for the reception. Then he issued the golden decree to summon in the Tang Monk. Again the word was passed from section to section, from gate to gate: “Let the sage monk enter.” Meticulously observing the rules of ritual propriety, our Tang Monk walked through the monastery gate with Wukong, Wuneng, and Wujing, still leading the horse and toting the luggage. Thus it was that

  Commissioned that year, a resolve he made

  To leave with rescript the royal steps of jade.

  The hills he’d climb to face the morning dew

  Or rest on a boulder when the twilight fades.

  He totes his faith to ford three thousand streams,

  His staff trailing o’er endless palisades.

  His every thought’s bent on seeking right fruit.

  Homage to Buddha will this day be paid.

  The four pilgrims, on reaching the Great Hero Treasure Hall, prostrated themselves before Tathāgata. Thereafter, they bowed to all the attendants of Buddha on the left and right. This they repeated three times before kneeling again before the Buddhist Patriarch to present their traveling rescript to him. After reading it carefully, Tathāgata handed it back to Tripitaka, who touched his head to the ground once more to say, “By the decree of the Great Tang Emperor in the Land of the East, your disciple Xuanzang has come to this treasure monastery to beg you for the true scriptures for the redemption of the multitude. I implore the Buddhist Patriarch to vouchsafe his grace and grant me my wish, so that I may soon return to my country.”

  To express the compassion of his heart, Tathāgata opened his mouth of mercy and said to Tripitaka, “Your Land of the East belongs to the South Jambūdvīpa Continent. Because of your size and your fertile land, your prosperity and population, there is a great deal of greed and killing, lust and lying, oppression and dece
it. People neither honor the teachings of Buddha nor cultivate virtuous karma; they neither revere the three lights nor respect the five grains. They are disloyal and unfilial, unrighteous and unkind, unscrupulous and self-deceiving. Through all manners of injustice and taking of lives, they have committed boundless transgressions. The fullness of their iniquities therefore has brought on them the ordeal of hell and sent them into eternal darkness and perdition to suffer the pains of pounding and grinding and of being transformed into beasts. Many of them will assume the forms of creatures with fur and horns; in this manner they will repay their debts by having their flesh made for food for mankind. These are the reasons for their eternal perdition in Avīci without deliverance.

  “Though Confucius had promoted his teachings of benevolence, righteousness, ritual, and wisdom, and though a succession of kings and emperors had established such penalties as transportation, banishment, hanging, and beheading, these institutions had little effect on the foolish and the blind, the reckless and the antinomian.

  “Now, I have here three baskets of scriptures which can deliver humanity from its afflictions and dispel its calamities. There is one basket of vinaya, which speak of Heaven; a basket of śāstras, which tell of the Earth; and a basket of sūtras, which redeem the damned. Altogether these three baskets of scriptures contain thirty-five volumes written in fifteen thousand one hundred and forty-four scrolls. They are truly the pathway to the realization of immortality and the gate to ultimate virtue. Every concern of astronomy, geography, biography, flora and fauna, utensils, and human affairs within the Four Great Continents of this world is recorded therein. Since all of you have traveled such a great distance to come here, I would have liked to give the entire set to you. Unfortunately, the people of your region are both stupid and headstrong. Mocking the true words, they refuse to recognize the profound significance of our teachings of Śramaṇa.”

  Then Buddha turned to call out: “Ānanda and Kāśyapa, take the four of them to the space beneath the precious tower. Give them a vegetarian meal first. After the maigre, open our treasure loft for them and select a few scrolls from each of the thirty-five divisions of our three canons, so that they may take them back to the Land of the East as a perpetual token of grace.”