The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 4

by Unknown

  4. This is a lyric written to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR

  1. Priests: literally, = , or adhiṣṭhāna, the dependence on a base or rule. Hence, those who rely on Buddha for strength and support.

  2. Letter-ten crossings: crossroads in the shape of the Chinese graph ten (shi ). I have translated quite literally to retain the numerical word play of the poem.

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

  4. Famous horses associated with various rulers. See JW 1, chapter 4, note 6.

  5. Suxiang: the name of one of the Eight Noble Steeds also referred to in JW 1, chapter 4.

  6. The truth is known: ming xiaoxi . Although xiaoxi in modern Chinese vernacular usually means “news,” the term in classical usage refers literally to the endless flux of yin and yang as exemplified in the growth and decline of the tide, the wax and wane of the moon, and so forth. It is thus another term for the fundamental reality of the universe.

  7. This entire comic episode is built on the pun of the words dharma and hair, both of which in Chinese are vocalized as fa (i.e, = ). The dharma-destroying king thus meets his reversal as the king who has lost his hair overnight.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE

  1. As has been pointed out in JW 1, introduction part IV, this poem may also be found verbatim in the extra-canonical Daoist text dated to about two decades after the novel. See the Xingming guizhi 9: 532; XMGZ-Taipei, pp. 146–47. We do not know whether the text has quoted the novel or whether the poem exists as an independent verse in circulation.

  2. This is a quotation of Zhu Xi’s commentary on Analects 1. 11. See Lunyu jizhu buzheng shushu , j 1, 42a–b.

  3. Twenty-Constellations: for the identity of these and other deities mentioned in this sentence, see the notes in JW 1, chapter 5.

  4. The words here refer to the episode of JW 3, chapters 74–77.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX

  1. Dark Horse: xuanju , another name for a large ant.

  2. The following poem is apparently a catalog of various esculent plants, several of which still elude identification. For their translation, I have consulted Li Shizhen , Bencao gangmu (3 vols., Beijing, 1975–78); Bernard E. Read and C. Pak, A Compendium of Minerals and Stones Used in Chinese Medicine, from the Pên Tshao Kang Mu., 2nd ed. (Peking, 1936); F. Porter Smith, Chinese Materia Medica, rev. G.A. Stuart, MD, 2nd rev. ed., Ph. Daven Wei (Taipei, 1969); Kong Qinglai , et al., eds., Zhiwuxue da cidian , 6th ed. (Shanghai, 1926), hereafter referred to as ZWX; and Zhongyao da cidian (Shanghai, 1977), hereafter referred to as ZYCD.

  3. Wild-goose-intestine: Yenchang ying , plant not yet identified.

  4. Swallow: Yanzi , possibly a shortened term for Yanfuzi , a southern name for the fruit of Fatsia papyrifera (Smith, p. 22). Or it may refer to Yanzihua , Iris laevigata.

  5. Horse-blue: Malan , one of the several plants belonging to Indigofera tinctoria (Smith, pp. 217–18).

  6. Dog-footprints: Goujiaoji , Phyllanthus cochinchinensis (ZYCD, p. 1427).

  7. Cat’s-ears: Maoerduo (), Gymnopteris vestita (ZYCD, p. 2209); it is also related to Huercao , Saxifraga stolonifera (ZYCD, p. 1335).

  8. Bi: , the fruit of Piper longum, or Chavica roxburghii (Smith, pp. 103–04).

  9. Ashen-stalk: Huitiao , possibly the same as huidi , Chenopodium album, also called goosefoot.

  10. Scissors’-handle: Jiandaogu , Lactuca debilis.

  11. Cow’s-pool-profit: Niutangli , plant not yet identified.

  12. Hollow-snail: Woluo , possibly a reference to the “snail-shell grass” or Drymo-glossum earnosum (Smith, p. 157).

  13. Broken-rice-qi: Suimi qi . The full name should be Daye suimi qi , Cardamine hirsuta.

  14. Wocaiqi: . Wocai is possibly another name of baiju , Lactuca saliva (Smith, pp. 224–30; see ZWX, p. 1207).

  15. Niaoying: , plant not yet identified.

  16. Wheat-wearing-lady: Zhuomai niang , possibly a variant of quemai , Avena fatua (Smith, p. 59).

  17. Torn-worn-cassock: popona = , plant not yet identified.

  18. Little-bird: que’er , possibly a reference to Jin que’er jiao or “golden bird pepper,” the fruit of baixian , Dictamnus albus (Smith, p. 149). In ZWX (p. 991), however, there is the entry of que’er wodan , Euphorbia humifosa, which is the same as dijincao .

  19. Monkey’s-footprints: husun jiaozhi ; the plant has not yet been identified, though it may be another name for “monkey’s-head, husun tou , Eclipta alba.”

  20. Slanted hao: xiehao , seseli libanotis, so named because the leaves are transversely veined (Smith, p. 405). The Green hao is artemisia apiacea. The Mother-hugging-hao is baoniang hao ; its true name should be buniang hao , Si-symbrium sophia (ZWX, p. 521).

  21. Bare Goat-ears: yang’er tu , the true name being yangti , goat hoofs, Ru-mex japonicus Houtt (ZYCD, p. 965).

  22. Gouqi: , frequently identified as Lycium chinense (see ZWX, p. 659), but Smith (p. 286) thinks that it should be nitraria schoberi.

  23. Black-blue: wulan , plant not yet identified.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN

  1. Native light: xuanguang or yuanguang , generally regarded as the innate intelligence of man naturally endowed. See Huainanzi , j 2, 11b (SBBY): “, , , , When one’s external action does not match one’s inner nature and yet one desires to maintain contact with material reality, this is to cover up one’s innate intelligence and seek knowledge instead from the ears and the eyes. To abandon the light and move toward darkness is what is called the loss of the Way.”

  2. As noted in item 18 in introduction III, JW 1, this is half of a lyric written to the tune of “Su Wu in Slow Pace,” the author of which is Feng Zunshi . The poem is part of a collection in the Minghe yuyin preserved in DZ 1100, 24: 263.

  3. Prefect Shangguan: is possibly a pun, because Shangguan can mean literally noble or superior official, or, as in the case here, a double surname like Sima or Ouyang.

  4. A large countenance: one colloquial idiom of doing a favor is “bestowing face or .”

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT

  1. For this line and the entire poem, see JW 1, chapter 12.

  2. Sprinkling Flowers over the Top: these are names of movements or postures assumed in martial art.

  3. Causes: yuanyou , literally, developing causes.

  4. Ubiquity: yuantong , literally, the universally penetrating or Buddha’s supernatural power of omnipresence.

  5. To the mean reverse: guizhong . The word zhong (middle, center, mean) can refer to many things in Buddhism: for example, Zhongguan lun , the Mādhyamika Śāstra, the principal work of the Middle School expounding the opposition to the rigid categories of existence and nonexistence; or zhongdao , the mean between extreme oppositions such as the phenomenal and the noumenal, realism and nihilism, substance and nonsubstance, being and nonbeing, and so forth. In view of the poetic comment at the end of the chapter, however, zhong may be a conveniently abbreviated allusion to Zhongyong , the Confucian classic, Doctrine of the Mean (see note 8, this chapter).

  6. Yangshan: , one of the top-grade teas.

  7. A single canon: Yizang , or a single catalogue. Popular tradition ascribes 5,048 juan (literally, scroll) of Buddhist scriptures to the famous Kaiyuan Catalogue , and it is from this that the phrase—the number of a single canon (yizang zhi shu )—derives. Actually, the full catalogue lists 2,278 bu (a unit of completed composition, hence a tome or volume) of scripture containing 7,046 juan. The number of 5,048 is mentioned once, as far as I know, as follows: “.” See text of the catalogue in # 2154 in T 55: 572. This last number, however, is presumed to be the normative one for the canon throughout the novel; its symbolic significance is applied to the weight of Eight Rules’ muckrake as well as, later, to the number of days required for the pilgrims to complete their journey.

  8. The brief description of how the three young princes received instruction and enablement to wield extremely heavy magic weapons belonging to Tripitaka’s t
hree disciples is an abbreviated or paraphrastic account, in fact, of the neidan (internal or physiological alchemy) process. Because “comparing the development of the embryo to the revelation of Buddhahood is typical of neidan texts of the Ming period” (ET 2: 884), the “restoration of the primordial spirits to their original abodes ,” as the novelistic text says here, is an indispensable step in the alchemical ritual. Moreover, “the birth of the embryo (shengtai ),” as we have noted already, is synonymous with the attainment of somatic transcendence or physical longevity, and it is also represented as “the appearance of the original spirit (yuanshen ) or Buddha-hood and is understood as enlightenment. The process leading to the birth of the embryo consists of the purification of inner nature and vital force (i.e., xing and ming).” ET 2, loc. cit. Such an understanding forges the strongest link of Ming neidan teachings with those of the Quanzhen patriarchs of the Yuan and their integrationist formulations on the theology of the Three Religions (sanjiao ). It also clarifies the meaning of such a popular adage on mental or spiritual distraction as “the spirit not guarding its [native] abode .”

  9. Fire-phases: huohou , a term widely translated as “fire times” by scholars in the study of Chinese alchemy, both external and internal, but I have decided to use here Needham’s term chosen in SCC V/4. It is an imagined unit of measurement to gauge the intensity and duration of the heat required for any process of warming, melting, forging, extracting, or refining to be effective. Thus the metaphor itself is still used today in the preparation of food. In internal alchemy, the breathing exercises leading to the galvanization of somatic ingredients are expected to generate heat, a parallel to the vital element used in the ovens and cauldrons of external alchemy. In turn, the bodily heat is supposed to reenact and “accelerate” the creative process by reversing and repairing physical imbalance or decay. See SCC V/4: 266–78, V/5: 44–120; ET 1: 526–31. The regulation of the fire-phases is made much more complex by alchemical theoreticians through correlations with different systems of planetary movement generated by different interpretations of the Classic of Change.

  10. The first two lines of this commentarial poem are a near verbatim quotation from the canonical Confucian classic, Doctrine of the Mean , chapter 1: , , . The citation, however, also aptly illustrates how a sacred text of one discrete tradition may be appropriated at will by another tradition for usage, but with altered meaning. Here, the Confucian Way, or Dao, has been transformed in the specific poetic context (and the story’s as well) to mean “weapons divine (shenbing ),” themselves also symbols of the realization of another Dao.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE

  1. Dragon pulse: or earth pulse (longmo , dimo ). They stand for magnetic currents noted by geomancers as affection the fortunes of lands and families.

  2. Peach Blossom Cave: Taoyuan dong , an allusion to the legend of the Peach Blossom Spring (Taohua yuan , first made famous by the poet, Tao Qian (365?–427). The poem records how, at the edge of a river lined with blooming peach trees, a fisherman found a self-sufficient eremitic community, which lasted for several hundred years. See the Gushi yuan , j 8, 116–26 (SBBY).

  3. Four-lights shovel: siming chan . The name Four-lights may refer to one of the Daoist sacred mountains, so named because there are said to be four openings in the mountain, through which the lights of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the constellations shine. On the other hand, the name may also refer to four Shingon emblems—a hook, a cord, a lock, and a bell—which serve as aids to Yoga-possession by a bodhisattva or buddha.

  4. Gibbon-Lion: naoshi . The word nao generally means a long-haired ape or gibbon. What this creature is is not certain. It may simply be a concoction by the XYJ author.

  5. Suanyi: , another name for lion, or a fabulous beast that can devour tigers and leopards and travel five hundred li a day. See the Ery a , j 11, 5a (SBBY); Mu tianzi zhuan , j 1, 7a (SBCK); TPYL, j 889, 4a; SCTH, ce 70, 3a–b.

  6. Baize: , the name of a lionlike fabulous beast, the shape of which is sewn on the front and back of Ming imperial banners and robes to be displayed or worn in formal ritual processions. See Ming Shi , j 64, “Yufu zhi ,” in Ershiwushi 9: 144b–c.

  CHAPTER NINETY

  1. Masters and lions: the lines of the titular couplet are built on puns impossible to replicate in English. The first line is literally thus constructed: masters (shi ), lions (shi ), those teaching (shou ), those receiving (shou ), all . . . and so forth. And the second line: bandits (dao ), Dao or the Way (), entanglement (chan ), Chan (), quiet . . . and so forth.

  2. Three-cornered club: see JW 2, chapter 43, note 7.

  3. An ax: for the sake of prosodic manageability, I have put the fu (ax) of the previous line here. The guduo of this line is another name for caltrop (jili ). See SCTH, ce 60, 25 a–b.

  4. Hour of the Tiger: 3:00–5:00 a.m.

  5. Someone’s teacher: the statement of the devarāja continues to pun on teacher and lion (both words—, —articulated as shi). The pun is also an allusion to the oft quoted observation by Mencius: “The trouble with people is that they are fond of acting as teachers of other people .” See Mencius 4A: 23.

  6. One Body: yiti . For the meaning of this important term in the novel, see JW 3, chapter 58, note 1. This line of verse again makes apparent the sense that the united members of the pilgrimage would also serve to symbolize the “one essential bodily structure” of a transcendent adept. The term translated as pariahs here is bianyi , literally, border barbarians.

  7. Nine: literally, jiuling , Ninefold Numina, the name of the lion.

  CHAPTER NINETY-ONE

  1. Three Ways: that is, the three paths of transmigration.

  2. As has been noted in introduction III, item 19, this regulated poem is a modification of a lyric written to the tune of “Auspicious Partridge” by the Quanzhen patriarch Ma Danyang (1131–1183), the first disciple of Wang Chongyang, founder of the Order’s northern lineage. The poem is found in Jianwu ji (Collected Writings of Gradual Enlightenment), DZ 1100, 25: 475.

  3. Within the moon: not the satellite, but a circular gateway that has the shape of a moon. For a modern version of such a structure, see Audrey Topping, “A Chinese Garden Grows at the Met,” The New York Times Magazine, 7 June 1981, p. 41.

  4. Summits: these are artificial hills or rockeries.

  5. Gold-Valley: an allusion to the Gold-Valley Garden (jingu yuan ), a luxurious garden resort built by Shi Chong . See Jin Shu , j 33, in Ershiwushi 2: 1177c.

  6. Fellow-Spring: an allusion to the Wangchuan tu , a famous landscape painting done by the Tang poet-painter, Wang Wei (699–759).

  7. The most fragrant flower: ruixiang hua , Daphne odora.

  8. A vow: see JW 1, chapter 13; JW 3, chapter 62.

  9. With three yang begins prosperity: sanyang kaitai , a variant form of the popular saying, sanyang jiaotai , thee yang have joined up with tai. The saying is based on the Classic of Change, where the Tai hexagram is represented thus with three broken lines on top and three continuous lines below: . The three unbroken lines at the bottom are the three strokes of yang, or lines symbolizing the male, whereas the three broken lines on top, the female. Because this hexagram in calendrical literature is correlated with the first month, the saying usually signifies renewal and a change of fortune, which the new year is supposed to usher in. Spring is thus visualized as the season of birth and growth because the male and female forces of the cosmos have joined to mate. The Sentinels’ action in the novel, moreover, puns on the homophonous yang and yang (goat or sheep).

  10. Four ears: I am puzzled by the number, but I have not been able to find an explanation. Each rhinoceros has only two ears, and three of them would have six.

  CHAPTER NINETY-TWO

  1. Fireflies: the whole line reads, “the ancients said, ‘Grasses decayed etc.’” Which specific ancient author the XYJ author has in mind is uncertain, but fireflies are often associated with decayed or withered grasses in traditional writings. See Zhaoming taizi , “Liuyue
qi ,” in Zhaoming taizi ji (SBBY), j 3, 5a: , ; Li Shangyin , “Sui Gong ,” in Yuqisheng shi jianzhu (SBBY), j 6 7b: , .

  2. This is a lyric written to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

  3. Grass of the Reverted Cinnabar: see JW 1, chapter 25 and JW 2, chapter 26.

  4. Female rhinoceros: sixi . Although the word si was first used as a rhinoceros-like creature, it was later glossed consistently as a female rhinoceros.

  5. Barbarian-hat rhinoceros: humao xi = () , so named because the horns of the beast are located more toward the snout.