The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 4

by Unknown

  6. The floating corpse: as I have suggested in a previous study, the image here may represent an ingenious conflation of two religious metaphors for the attainment of salvific transcendence. In Buddhism, the image points to the symbol of “casting one’s shell or body , ,” one already used prominently in JW 1, chapter 12, in the poem celebrating the Tang emperor’s convening the Land and Water Mass that led to Tripitaka’s selection as the scripture pilgrim. In Daoism, the image may point to the familiar teaching on “deliverance by borrowing a corpse or shijie .” See CJ, p. 151–52. The episode thus dramatizes the first line of this chapter’s titular couplet: “Only when ape and horse are tamed will shells be cast.”

  7. Six-six senses: liuliu chen , the intensive form of the six guṇas, the six impure qualities engendered by the objects and organs of sense: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and idea.

  8. In translating this catalog of Buddhist writings, I use the original Sanskrit or Pali volumes whenever possible. The several volumes that have eluded identification even after extensive research are given in literal translation of the Chinese. The mixture of known authentic Buddhist scriptures with what might have well been some volumes of fictive creation in this chapter, narrated twice with same volumes but different number of scrolls (presumably in the narration to distinguish the “wordless” texts from the inscripturated ones bestowed during the second time), has caused considerable critical controversy. See two informative studies by Professor Cao Bingjian as follows: “Xiyouji zhong suozai fojiao jingmu bingfei luzi Shaoshi shangfang bicong ,” Ming Qing xiaoshuo yanjiu , 3 (2006): 145–50; and “Xiyouji zhong suojian fojiao jingmu kao ,” Henan daxue xuebao , 44/1 (Jan. 2004): 79–82.

  9. On the significance of this canonical number of 5,048, see JW 4, chapter 88, note 7.

  CHAPTER NINETY-NINE

  1. Double three, or three times three (sansan ), which equals nine, the number of perfection that is used in both Buddhist and Daoist (especially alchemical lore that utilizes hexagramatical symbols derived from the Classic of Change) writings. See JW 1, chapter 1, note 16; JW 2, chapter 36, note 21. In the correlation of the lunar cycle with hexgramatical representation, the first quarter of the moon is symbolized by Tai , , with three broken (yin ) lines on top and three unbroken (yang ) lines on the bottom. The last quarter of the moon, on the other hand, is symbolized by Pi , , with the position of the yinyang lines exactly reversed. The alchemical process as correlated with the lunar cycle is thus named Double Three.

  2. Chapter numbers throughout this catalog refer to those of the full-length novel, The Journey to the West, 4 vols. (of which this volume is the fourth).

  3. Kinship of the Three: likely a reference to a famous text, the full title of which is Zhou Yi cantong qi (Token for the agreement of the Three in accordance with the Classic of Change). Tradition considers the work to be the earliest text of alchemical theory by Wei Boyang of the second century CE. No extant text of such antiquity has survived, and the some thirty recensions of the work we now have (with rhyming anachronisms and emergent prosodic tonal regulations) not only present a complex history of textual transmission but also indicate the formation of the received text at a date several centuries later. See SCC V/3: 50–75; ET 2: 1289–92. As noted in JW 1, item 21 in part III of the introduction, this and the next line of the poem are cited verbatim from a quatrain (poem #27) from Zhang Boduan’s Wuzhen pian, in DZ 263, 4: 729.

  4. Tripitaka is recalling incidents of the episode narrated in chapters 47–49.

  5. Advaya: buer , no second or nonduality; the one and undivided reality of the Buddha-nature.

  6. The original face: in both Chan and Quanzhen discourse, enlightenment may be paraphrased by, among other formulations, the familiar adage: the recognition of one’s original appearance .

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED

  1. A great event: literally, the Grand Mass of Land and Water.

  2. Xiangchun: , Cedrela odorata, a kind of fragrant, slightly spicy plant.

  3. The several kinds of ferns, jue and wei , enumerated here (Pteris, Osmunda, Vincetoxicum) have edible young roots. In addition, some varieties yield rhizomes, which are ground into flour and sweetened as a dessert.

  4. Fei-nuts: , Torreya nucifera.

  5. Chinese olives: ganlan or Canarium. Oblong and pointed, either green or shriveled during drying, these fruits do not quite resemble the Mediterranean variety.

  6. Tender stalks: cigu , Sagittaria sagittfolia.

  7. The composition refers to the “Preface to the Holy Religion (Shengjiaoxu ),” authored by the emperor historically in 648 CE, in gratitude for the newly completed translation by the priest Xuanzang of the entire Yogācārya-bhūmi Śāstra. See the FSZ, j 6, in SZZSHB, pp. 145–47. The text of the FSZ is also collected in The Buddhist Canon (see # 2053 in T 50: 0256a–0257a), but it contains minor variations from other versions, such as those by calligraphers and preserved in the Forest of Stele Inscriptions . As it will be noted later, the novel’s version also embodies deliberate changes possibly made by the 1592 author to render their content consistent with other narrative details.

  8. Dyadic Models: eryi (in older texts, the term often appears as liangyi ), most likely a reference to the twin forces of darkness and light (i.e., yin and yang), themselves also regarded by the Chinese as symbolic of the female and male. In the Great Commentary on The Classic of Change we have the statement: “there is in Change the Supreme Ultimate, which gives birth to the Dyadic Models. The Dyadic Models give birth to the Four Images; the Four Images give birth to the Eight Trigrams , , , .” See SSJZS 1: 82a. In a chapter on the birth of music from “measurement ,” a text like the Lüshi chunqiu , j 5, 3a (SBBY) asserts: “[music] has its origin in the Ultimate One. The Ultimate One brings forth the Dyadic Models, and the Dyadic Models bring forth Yin and Yang , , .” For the meaning of the Ultimate or Great One, see the entry on “Taiyi” in ET 2: 956–69.

  9. A radiant dream: a reference to the story of Emperor Ming of the Han (r. 58–75 CE), who dreamed that a golden deity was flying in front of his palace. Asked to explain its meaning the following morning, one of his ministers deciphered the dream representation as the flying Buddha from India. The emperor accepted this interpretation and decided to make further investigation. Envoys dispatched abroad eventually returned, “bringing back with them the Sutra in Forty-two Sections, which was received by the emperor and deposited in a temple constructed outisde the walls of the capital, Lo-yang.” The imperial action was generally regarded as the formal introduction of Buddhism in China. See Kenneth Ch’en, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey (Princeton, 1964), pp. 29–30.

  10. Thirty-two marks: the body of Buddha, a “wheel-king (cakravarti),” is said to have thirty-two lakṣaṇas, or special physical marks or signs.

  11. At this point, the XYJ text differs from the FSZ text (j6) in SZZSHB, p. 146, which reads: “, , , . , , , However, the true religion is so difficult to uphold that there can hardly be a unified interpretation of its fundamental principles, whereas heterodox learning is so easy to follow that both the right and the deviant flourish at the same time. For this reason, the views on emptiness and being might have varied according to customs, while the division into Great and Small Vehicles might have arisen in response to the times.” The two sentences in the XYJ text prior to the reference to Xuanzang might have been its author’s own interpolation, or they might have come from another textual tradition.

  12. Three forms of emptiness: sankong , three kinds of void. The phrase refers to the void, no form, and no desire (, , ) as three means of deliverance. See FXDCD, p. 153d.

  13. Four forms of patience: that is, the siren , the four kinds of kṣānti, or the endurance under shame, hatred, physical hardship, and in pursuit of faith.

  14. The FSZ j 6, in SZZSHB, p. 147, has seventeen years in accordance with other historical records. But the XYJ author, as we have seen in several previous chapters, had altered definitively the length of the pilgrimage to fourteen years
so as to make the sum of days correspond to 5,048, the number of one canon.

  15. Trees beneath which Buddha himself was said to have attained enlightenment.

  16. Eight rivers of India: bashui . They are the Ganges, Humna, Sarasvatī, Hiraṇyavatī, Mahī, Indus, Oxus, and Sītā.

  17. Thirty-five titles: the difficult word here is bu , which may be read as title or volume. Whatever the case, the emperor’s preface in the novel again differs from the FSZ text in SZZSHB, p. 147: “, , From all the nations he visited he acquired altogether six hundred and fifty-seven titles/volumes of important writings of the Tripitaka.”

  18. Will proclaim: I use the future tense here to make the emperor’s point of view consistent, since it is obvious that in the narrative, Tripitaka has not (and will not be) engaged in any work of scriptural translation, as the historical Xuanzang did for two decades after his homecoming. The novel’s denouement that celebrates the apotheosis of the five pilgrims thus conclusively takes the historical figure of the human protagonist out of history.

  19. A burning house: this is a pointed allusion to the famous parable of the burning house as told by Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra , or Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra. Faced with a sudden disaster of his house catching fire and too many children for him to rescue in the burning building, the allegorized Buddha as distraught father resorted to the method of expedient or skillful means (fangbian , Upāya). Using three kinds of carts drawn by bullock, goat, and deer (san che ), he succeeded in luring his children outside to safety. See The Lotus Sutra, translated from the Chinese by Senchu Murano (Tokyo, 1974), pp. 54–57. In the history of Chinese religions, the metaphor of the three forms of cart as vehicles of salvation became most popular in the Quanzhen discourse on internal alchemy. As noted in both the introduction and annotations of the present novel, the figure thus underlies also the engaging episode of the Cart Slow Kingdom in chapters 44–46.

  20. The FSZ text in j 6, SZZSHB, p. 147, reads: , illuminating the darkened waters of affects.

  21. The emperor’s declaration here was actually a note written in reply to a formal memorial of thanks submitted by the historical Xuanzang. See FSZ, j 6, in SZZSHB, p. 148.

  22. Bronze and stone inscriptions: jinshi . The FSZ text has boda , learned.

  23. Wild-Goose Pagoda Temple: . This specious statement by Xiao Yu represents another deliberate conflation of historical time to accommodate the novel’s fictional narration. There are actually two surviving historical structures that were built as a pagoda or stūpa. The storied edifice was first proposed by priest Xuanzang in 652 to the newly crowned emperor Gaozong for housing the huge library of scriptures he brought back from India. Because the architectural designs he submitted were ambitious and costly, the emperor compromised and permitted only a smaller version in the Ci’en Monastery, where the priest was residing and undertaking continuous translation. The pagoda was named Wild Goose, but a still smaller version in later years was built in another monastery (Jianfu ) in the capital of Chang’an. The first and bigger one at the Ci’en Monastery thus took on the name of the Great Wild Goose Pagoda (Dayan ta ) to distinguish it from the Small Wild Goose. See FSZ, j 7, in SZZSHB, pp. 163–64 for Xuanzang’s proposal memorial; see http:baike.baidu.com/view/5516.htm for some modern photographs of the buildings.

  24. Eight Classes of Supernatural Beings: , . They are deva, nāga, yakṣa, gandharva, asura, garuḍa, kinnara, and mahoraga.

  25. Fuses with Four Signs: the technical phrase here is “the harmonious fusion of Four Signs, hehe sixiang ” (the XYJ text inverts the first two words to accommodate tonal metrics). This line, along with the following one, draws on the extra-canonical late-Ming treatise, Xingming guizhi, in a crucial segment with appropriate diagram and the title, “Discourse on the Harmonious Fusion of the Four Signs ” (XMGZ-Taipei, pp. 117–19), to describe the completion of the elixir process. Pertinent sentences read:

  Now the Four Signs are the Blue Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermillion Bird, and the Dark Turtle. The Five Phases are Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Dragon-Wood generates Fire, and both belong to the heart-mind. Imaging forth the numinous mystery prior to the ancestor [a direct allusion to Daodejing 4], they are the true nothing within the native something. If the heart-mind is unmoved, then the Dragon will sigh as the wind arises, and the Vermillion Bird will fold up its wings as the Primordial Breath congregates. . . . When the Four Signs fuse harmoniously and the Five Phases are squeezed together, they all meet by entering the Central Palace where the Great Elixir is perfected , , , , . , . , , , , . , , , . . . . , , .

  The phrase, “when the Five Phases are squeezed together,” harks back directly to JW 1, chapter 2, when the Patriarch Subodhi imparted the secret formula to Sun Wukong. There the poetic formula ends with the two lines: “Squeeze the Five Phases jointly, use them back and forth— / When that’s done, be a Buddha or immortal at will.” Comparison will show that the XMGZ’s lesson here accords completely with that of the Patriarch’s formula. The five pilgrims’ apotheosis and elevation thus also recapitulate one central theme of the novel, that the journey they undertook for fourteen years may be troped as a process of making the internal elixir.

  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

  Abbey of Immortal Assembly. See Immortal Assembly Abbey

  Abhijit, 3: 3

  Abortion Stream, 3: 35, 37, 39, 48

  Āditya, 1: 169

  Aged Star of the South Pole, 4: 56–60

  Aiai, 1: 440 (532 n.2), 445, 447

  All Saints, Princess, 3: 172, 182, 190, 192

  All Saints Dragon King of the Green Wave Lagoon, 3: 172, 176, 180

  Amitābha, 2: 24–25, 136, 305; 4: 19–20, 184

  Amitāyus Sūtra, 1: 304

  Ānanda, 1: 193, 195–96, 199, 203; 4: 29–30, 349, 351, 353–54, 372

  Anāthapiṇḍika, 4: 266–67

  Anurādhā, 3: 3

  Ao, 2: 260

  Aoguang, Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean, 1: 133–38, 141–42, 157, 201, 220–21, 228, 238–48, 317–18; 2: 187–89, 223, 227, 293, 294, 298; 3: 277; 4: 178

  Aolai Country, 1: 100, 102, 114, 124, 131–32; 3: 59, 351; 4: 373

  Aoqin, Dragon King of the Southern Ocean, 1: 136, 137, 142; 2: 228, 293, 294

  Aorun, Dragon King of the Western Ocean, 1: 136, 137, 142, 326, 436; 2: 228, 293, 294

  Aoshun, Dragon King of the Northern Ocean, 1: 136, 137, 142; 2: 228, 260–62, 267, 293, 294, 313; 4: 20

  Apricot Garden, 3: 232

  Apricot Immortal, 3: 208–10

  Arhats, Eighteen, 3: 25, 27, 113, 116; 4: 27–28, 348

  Arhats, Five Hundred, 1: 409; 3: 113, 116, 215, 351; 4: 348, 385

  Aśoka, 1: 2

  Auspicious Cliff, Temple of, 3: 232

  Avenging Ministers, King of, 1: 140; 3: 110

  Avīci Hell, 1: 258; 2: 27 (375 n.7), 38; 4: 349

  Axeltree the Water Earthworm, 3: 223

  Ba (monkey general), 1: 138, 167; 2: 31, 32

  Baby Boy, Doctrine of the, 1: 86–88, 115, 424

  Bāhu, 3: 3 (381 n.5)

  Baize, 4: 216 (397 n.6), 218–19

  Bamboo-Knot Mountain, 4: 209, 214, 222, 225, 227–28

  Bao Shuya, 4: 92 (391 n.13)

  Barrens the Sun Rat, 3: 223

  Base the Earth Badger, 3: 223

  Beak the Fire Monkey, 3: 223

  Bear Mountain Lord, 1: 296–97

  Beginning River, King of the, 1: 140; 3: 110

  Benbo Kingdom, 3: 167

  Beng (monkey general), 1: 138, 167; 2: 31, 32

  Bhikṣu Kingdom (Young Masters’ City), 4: 34, 36–40, 49, 51, 54–55, 58, 190, 374

  Bhikṣuṇi, Honored One, 3: 24

  Bi
, 1: 145; 3: 10; 4: 298

  Bianji, 1: 5

  Big Dipper Palace. See Dipper Palace

  Big Plan (monk), 1: 340, 345, 346

  Bimbāna Kingdom, 4: 67–68 (390 n.4)

  Bincheng (city), 3: 231, 232

  Bitter Sea, 2: 246 (388 n.7)

  Black Bear Spirit, 1: 361, 362, 365