The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 1

by Unknown

  If you intend to harm others,

  Even the learning of Buddha is vain!

  From that time on, there was not a single person in the empire who did not practice virtue.

  Meanwhile, another notice was posted asking for a volunteer to take the melons and other fruits to the Region of Darkness. At the same time, a roomful of gold and silver from the treasury was sent with the Imperial Duke of Khotan, Hu Jingde, to the Kaifeng District of Henan so that the debt to Xiang Liang could be repaid. After the notice had been posted for some days, a worthy came forth to volunteer his life for the mission. He was originally from Zunzhou; his surname was Liu and his given name Quan, and he belonged to a family of great wealth. The reason he came forward was that his wife, Li Cuilian, happened to have given a gold hairpin from her head, by way of alms, to a monk in front of their house. When Liu Quan chided her for her indiscretion in flaunting herself outside their home, Li became so upset that she promptly hanged herself, leaving behind her a pair of young children, who wept piteously day and night. Liu Quan was so filled with remorse by the sight of them that he was willing to leave life and property to take the melons to hell. He therefore took down the royal notice and came to see the Tang emperor. The emperor ordered him to go to the Lodge of the Golden Pavilion, where a pair of southern melons were put on his head, some money in his sleeve, and some medicine in his mouth.

  So Liu Quan died by taking poison. His soul, still bearing the fruits on his head, arrived at the Gate of Spirits. The demon guardian at the door shouted, “Who are you that you dare to come here?” “By the imperial command of the Great Tang Emperor Taizong,” said Liu Quan, “I came here especially to present melons and other fruits for the enjoyment of the Ten Kings of the Underworld.” The demon guardian received him amiably and led him to the Treasure Hall of Darkness. When he saw King Yama, he presented the melons, saying, “By order of the Tang emperor, I came from afar to present these melons as a token of thanks for the gracious hospitality of the Ten Kings.” Highly pleased, King Yama said, “That Emperor Taizong is certainly a man of his word!” He accepted the melons and proceeded to ask the messenger about his name and his home. “Your humble servant,” said Liu Quan, “resided originally in Junzhou; my surname is Liu and my given name is Quan. Because my wife hanged herself, leaving no one to care for our children, I decided to leave home and children and sacrifice my life for the country by helping my emperor to take these melons here as a thank offering.”

  When the Ten Kings heard these words, they asked at once for Li, the wife of Liu Quan; she was brought in by the demon guardian, and wife and husband had a reunion before the Hall of Darkness. They conversed about what had happened and also thanked the Ten Kings for this meeting. King Yama, moreover, examined the Books of Life and Death and found that both husband and wife were supposed to live to a ripe old age. He quickly ordered the demon guardian to take them back to life, but the guardian said, “Since Li Cuilian has been back in the World of Darkness for many days, her body no longer exists. To whom should her soul attach herself?”

  “The emperor’s sister, Li Yuying,” said King Yama, “is destined to die very soon. Borrow her body right away so that this woman can return to life.” The demon guardian obeyed the order and led Liu Quan and his wife out of the Region of Darkness to return to life. We do not know how the two of them returned to life; let’s listen to the explanation in the next chapter.

  TWELVE

  The Tang emperor, firmly sincere, convenes a Grand Mass;

  Guanyin, in epiphany, converts Gold Cicada.

  We were telling you about the demon guardian who was leading Liu Quan and his wife out of the Region of Darkness. Accompanied by a swirling dark wind, they went directly back to Chang’an of the great nation. The demon pushed the soul of Liu Quan into the Golden Court Pavilion Lodge, but the soul of Cuilian was brought into the inner court of the royal palace. Just then the Princess Yuying was walking beneath the shadows of flowers along a path covered with green moss. The demon guardian crashed right into her and pushed her to the ground; her living soul was snatched away and the soul of Cuilian was pushed into Yuying’s body instead. The demon guardian then returned to the Region of Darkness, and we shall say no more about that.

  We now tell you that the maidservants of the palace, both young and old, when they saw that Yuying had fallen and died, ran quickly to the Hall of the Golden Chimes and reported the incident to the queen, saying, “The princess has fallen and died!” Horrified, the queen reported it to Taizong.

  When Taizong heard the news, he nodded, sighing, and said, “So this has come to pass indeed! We did ask the King of Darkness whether the old and young of our family would be safe or not. He said, ‘They will all be safe, but I fear that your royal sister will not live long.’ Now his word is fulfilled.” All the inhabitants of the palace came to mourn her, but when they reached the spot where she had fallen, they saw that the princess was breathing.

  “Stop weeping! Stop weeping!” said the Tang emperor. “Don’t startle her!” He went forward and lifted her head with the royal hand, crying out, “Wake up, royal sister!”

  Our princess suddenly turned over and cried, “Husband, walk slowly! Wait for me!” “Sister,” said Taizong, “we are all here.” Lifting her head and opening her eyes to look around, the princess said, “Who are you that you dare touch me?” “This is your royal brother,” said Taizong, “and your sister in-law.”

  “Where do I have any royal brother and sister-in-law?” asked the princess. “My family is Li, and my maiden name is Li Cuilian. My husband’s surname is Liu and his given name is Quan. Both of us are from Junzhou. Because I pulled a golden hairpin to give to a monk outside our home as alms three months ago, my husband rebuked me for walking indiscreetly out of our doors and thus violating the etiquette appropriate to a woman. He scolded me, and I became so enraged that I hanged myself with a white silk cord, leaving behind a pair of children who wept night and day. On account of my husband, who was sent by the Tang emperor to the Region of Darkness to present melons, King Yama took pity on us and allowed us both to return to life. He was walking ahead; I could not keep up with him, tripped, and fell. How rude you all are! Not knowing my name, how dare you touch me!” When Taizong heard these words, he said to his attendants, “I suppose my sister was knocked senseless by the fall. She’s babbling!” He ordered that Yuying be helped into the palace and medicine be brought in from the court dispensary.

  As the Tang emperor went back to the court, one of his assistants came forward to report, saying, “Your Majesty, the man Liu Quan, who went to present the melons, has returned to life. He is now outside the gate, awaiting your order.” Greatly startled, the Tang emperor at once gave the order for Liu Quan to be brought in, who then prostrated himself before the redlacquered courtyard. Taizong asked him, “How did the presentation of melons come off?”

  “Your subject,” said Liu Quan, “bore the melons on his head and went straight to the Gate of Spirits. I was led to the Hall of Darkness, where I met the Ten Kings of the Underworld. I presented the melons and spoke at length about the sincere gratitude of my lord. King Yama was most delighted, and he complimented Your Majesty profusely, saying, ‘That Taizong emperor is indeed a man of virtue and a man of his word!’” “What did you happen to see in the Region of Darkness?” asked the Tang emperor. “Your subject did not travel far,” said Liu Quan, “and I did not see much. I only heard King Yama questioning me on my native village and my name. Your subject therefore gave him a full account of how I abandoned home and children because of my wife’s suicide and volunteered for the mission. He quickly sent for a demon guardian, who brought in my wife, and we were reunited at the Hall of Darkness. Meanwhile, they also examined the Books of Life and Death and told us that we both should live to a ripe old age. The demon guardian was dispatched to see us back to life. Your subject walked ahead, but my wife fell behind. I am grateful that I am now returned to life, but I do not know where my wife has gon
e.”

  Alarmed, the Tang emperor asked, “Did King Yama say anything about your wife?” “He didn’t say much,” said Liu Quan. “I only heard the demon guardian’s exclamation that Li Cuilian had been dead for so long that her body no longer existed. King Yama said, ‘The royal sister, Li Yuying, should die shortly. Let Cuilian borrow the body of Yuying so that she may return to life.’ Your subject has no knowledge of who that royal sister is and where she resides, nor has he made any attempt to locate her.”

  When the Tang emperor heard this report, he was filled with delight and said to the many officials around him, “When we took leave of King Yama, we questioned him with regard to the inhabitants of the palace. He said that the old and the young would all be safe, though he feared that our sister would not live long. Just now our sister Yuying fell dying beneath the flowers. When we went to her assistance, she regained her consciousness momentarily, crying, ‘Husband, walk slowly! Wait for me!’ We thought that her fall had knocked her senseless, as she was babbling like that. But when we questioned her carefully, she said exactly what Liu Quan now tells us.”

  “If Her Royal Highness passed away momentarily, only to say these things after she regained consciousness,” said Wei Zheng, “this means that there is a real possibility that Liu Quan’s wife has returned to life by borrowing another person’s body. Let us invite the princess to come out, and see what she has to tell us.”

  “We just asked the court dispensary to send in some medicine,” said the Tang emperor, “for we don’t know what’s happening.” Some ladies of the court went to fetch the princess, and they found her inside, screaming, “Why do I need to take any medicine? How could this be my house? Ours is a clean, cool house of tiles, not like this one, yellow as if it had jaundice, and with such gaudy appointments! Let me out! Let me out!” She was still shouting when four or five ladies and two or three eunuchs took hold of her and led her outside to the court.

  The Tang emperor said, “Do you recognize your husband?” “What are you talking about?” said Yuying. “The two of us were pledged to each other since childhood as husband and wife. I bore him a boy and a girl. How could I not recognize him?” The Tang emperor asked one of the palatial officials to help her go down from the Treasure Hall. The princess went right before the steps of white jade, and when she saw Liu Quan, she grabbed him, saying, “Husband, where have you been? You didn’t even wait for me! I tripped and fell, and then I was surrounded by all these crazy people, talking nonsense! What do you have to say to this?” Liu Quan heard that she was speaking like his wife, but the person he saw certainly did not resemble her, and he dared not acknowledge her to be his own. The Tang emperor said,

  “Indeed,

  Men have seen mountains cracking, or the gaping of earth;

  But none has seen the living exchanged for the dead!”

  What a just and kindly ruler! He took his sister’s toilet boxes, garments, and jewelry and bestowed them all on Liu Quan; it was as if the man was provided with a dowry. He was, moreover, exempted forever from having to engage in any compulsory service to the Crown, and was told to take the royal sister back to his home. So, husband and wife together expressed their gratitude before the steps and returned happily to their village. We have a testimonial poem:

  How long, how short—man has his span of years;

  He lives and dies, each foreordained by fate.

  Liu Quan presented melons and returned to life;

  In someone’s body so did Li, his mate.

  The two of them took leave of the emperor, went directly back to Junzhou, and saw that both house and children were in good order. They never ceased thereafter to proclaim the rewards of virtue, but we shall speak of them no further.

  We now tell you about Yuchi Gong, who took a huge load of gold and silver and went to see Xiang Liang at the Kaifeng District in Henan. It turned out that the man made his living by selling water, while his wife, whose surname was Zhang, sold pottery in front of their home. Whatever money they made, they kept only enough for their subsistence, giving all the rest either as alms to the monks or as gifts to the dead by purchasing paper money and burning it. They thus built up enormous merit; for though they were poor folks in the World of Light, they were, in fact, leading citizens for whom jade and gold were laid up in the other world. When Yuchi Gong came to their door with the gold and silver, Papa Xiang and Mama Xiang were terror-stricken. And when they also saw the district officials with their horses and carriages assembling outside their thatched hut, the aged couple were dumbfounded. They knelt on the floor and kowtowed without ceasing. “Old folks, please arise,” said Yuchi Gong. “Though I am an imperial official, I came here with this gold and silver to repay you by order of my king.” Shaking and quaking, the man said, “Your lowly servant has never lent money to others. How dare we accept such inexplicable wealth?”

  “I have found out,” said Yuchi Gong, “that you are indeed a poor fellow. But you have also given alms to feed the monks. Whatever exceeds your necessities you have used to purchase paper money, which you burned in dedication to the Region of Darkness. You have thus accumulated a vast fortune down below. Our emperor, Taizong, returned to life after being dead for three days; he borrowed a roomful of gold and silver from you while he was in the Region of Darkness, and we are returning the exact sum to you. Please count your money accordingly so that we may make our report back to the emperor.” Xiang Liang and his wife, however, remained adamant. They raised their hands to Heaven and cried, “If your lowly servants accepted this gold and silver, we should die quickly. We might have been given credit for burning paper cash, but this is a secret unknown to us. Moreover, what evidence do we have that our Father, His Majesty, borrowed our money in some other world? We simply dare not accept this.” “His Majesty told us,” said Yuchi Gong, “that he received the loan from you because Judge Cui vouched for him, and he could bear testimony. So please accept this.” “Even if I were to die,” said Xiang Liang, “I could not accept the gift.”

  Seeing that they persisted in their refusal, Yuchi Gong had no alternative but to send someone back to report to the Throne. When Taizong saw the report and learned that Xiang Liang had refused to accept the gold and silver, he said, “They are truly virtuous elders!” He issued a decree at once that Hu Jingde should use the money to erect a temple, to build a shrine, and to support the religious services that would be performed in them. The old couple, in other words, would be repaid in this manner. The decree went out to Jingde, who, having expressed his gratitude, facing the capital, proclaimed its content for all to know. He used the money to purchase a lot of about fifty acres not needed either by the military authorities or the people. A temple was erected on this piece of land and named the Royal Xiangguo Temple.1 To the left of it there was also a shrine dedicated to Papa and Mama Xiang, with a stone inscription stating that the buildings were erected under the supervision of Yuchi Gong. This is the Great Xiangguo Temple still standing today.

  The work was finished and reported; Taizong was exceedingly pleased. He then gathered many officials together in order that a public notice be issued to invite monks for the celebration of the Grand Mass of Land and Water, so that those orphaned souls in the Region of Darkness might find salvation. The notice went throughout the empire, and officials of all regions were asked to recommend monks illustrious for their holiness to go to Chang’an for the Mass. In less than a month’s time, various monks from the empire had arrived. The Tang emperor ordered the court historian, Fu Yi, to select an illustrious priest to take charge of the ceremonies. When Fu Yi received the order, however, he presented a memorial to the Throne that attempted to dispute the worth of Buddha.2 The memorial said:

  The teachings of the Western Territory deny the relations of ruler and subject, of father and son. With the doctrines of the Three Ways3 and the Sixfold Path,4 they beguile and seduce the foolish and the simpleminded. They emphasize the sins of the past in order to ensure the felicities of the future. By chanting
in Sanskrit, they seek a way of escape. We submit, however, that birth, death, and the length of one’s life are ordered by nature; but the conditions of public disgrace or honor are determined by human volition. These phenomena are not, as some philistines would now maintain, ordained by Buddha. The teachings of Buddha did not exist in the time of the Five Thearchs and the Three Kings, and yet those rulers were wise, their subjects loyal, and their reigns long-lasting. It was not until the period of Emperor Ming in the Han dynasty that the worship of foreign gods was established,5 but this meant only that priests of the Western Territory were permitted to propagate their faith. The event, in fact, represented a foreign intrusion in China, and the teachings are hardly worthy to be believed.

  When Taizong saw the memorial, he had it distributed among the various officials for discussion. At that time the prime minister Xiao Yu came forward and prostrated himself to address the throne, saying, “The teachings of Buddha, which have flourished in several previous dynasties, seek to exalt the good and to restrain what is evil. In this way they are covertly an aid to the nation, and there is no reason why they should be rejected. For Buddha after all is also a sage, and he who spurns a sage is himself lawless. I urge that the dissenter be severely punished.”

  Taking up the debate with Xiao Yu, Fu Yi contended that propriety had its foundation in service to one’s parents and ruler. Yet Buddha forsook his parents and left his family; indeed, he defied the Son of Heaven all by himself, just as he used an inherited body to rebel against his parents. Xiao Yu, Fu Yi went on to say, was not born in the wilds, but by his adherence to this doctrine of parental denial, he confirmed the saying that an unfilial son had in fact no parents. Xiao Yu, however, folded his hands in front of him and declared, “Hell was established precisely for people of this kind.” Taizong thereupon called on the Lord High Chamberlain, Zhang Daoyuan, and the President of the Grand Secretariat, Zhang Shiheng, and asked how efficacious the Buddhist exercises were in the procurement of blessings. The two officials replied, “The emphasis of Buddha is on purity, benevolence, compassion, the proper fruits, and the unreality of things. It was Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou dynasty who set the Three Religions in order.6 The Chan Master, Da Hui, also had extolled those concepts of the dark and the distant. Generations of people revered such saints as the Fifth Patriarch, who became man,7 or the Bodhidharma, who appeared in his sacred form; none of them proved to be inconspicuous in grace and power. Moreover, it has been held since antiquity that the Three Religions are most honorable, not to be destroyed or abolished. We beseech, therefore, Your Majesty to exercise your clear and sagacious judgment.” Highly pleased, Taizong said, “The words of our worthy subjects are not unreasonable. Anyone who disputes them further will be punished.” He thereupon ordered Wei Zheng, Xiao Yu, and Zhang Daoyuan to invite the various Buddhist priests to prepare the site for the Grand Mass and to select from among them someone of great merit and virtue to serve as the altar master. All the officials then bowed their heads to the ground to thank the emperor before withdrawing. From that time also came the law that any person who denounces a monk or Buddhism will have his arms broken.