The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 1

by Unknown

  13. “Dragon livers, phoenix marrow, bear paws, lips of apes”: four of the eight dainties (see the wine makers’s complaint later in this chapter) in traditional grand cuisine of historical Chinese culture, the rest being rabbit embryo, carp tail, broiled asprey, and koumiss.

  14. According to the chapter “On Golden Elixir, Jindan ,” in Baopuzi, neipian, j 4, attributed to the alchemist Ge Hong (283–343), the classification of the efficacy of the elixir is as follows: “The elixir of one turn, if taken, will enable a man to become an immortal in three years; that of two turns, if taken, will enable a man to become an immortal in two years. . . .” And so on, until one reaches the elixir of nine reverted [cylindrical] turns (jiuzhuan jindan or huandan ), which, if taken, “will enable a man to become an immortal in three days.” The “turn” apparently refers to the process of cyclical chemical or physical manipualtions of the elixir ingredients: hence the greater the number of turns, the more powerful the elixir. See Nathan Sivin, Chinese Alchemy: Preliminary Studies (Cambridge, MA, 1968), pp. 36–52; SCC, 5/2: 62–71.

  15. Fearless Guards: these are custodians of the Law.

  16. Temporal Guardians: they are the guardians of the year, the month, the day, and the hour.

  17. Five Mountains and Four Rivers: the moutains are Tai (east), Hua (west), Heng (south), Heng (north), and Song (central). The four rivers are the Yangzi, the Huanghe (Yellow River), the Huai, and the Zhi.

  18. Five Plagues: possibly a reference to the five epidemics in Vaiśālī during Buddha’s lifetime: eye-bleeding, nose-bleeding, pus from the ears, lockjaw, and foul taste of all food.

  19. All the names in the following five lines of verse are the members of the Twenty-Eight Constellations.

  20. In Buddhism, the ten evil things (Daśākuśala) are: killing, stealing, adultery, lying, double-tongue, deceitful language, filthy language, covetousness, anger, and perverted thoughts.

  CHAPTER SIX

  1. The Potalaka Mountain, located southeast of Malakūta, is the home of Avalokiteśvara. In the Chinese tradition of popular Buddhism, the equivalent place is the Putuo Mountain, east of the port city of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, where it is the center of the cult of Guanyin.

  2. In Chinese religions, the Immortal Master Erlang has been variously identified with Zhao Yu of the Sui, with Li Bing of Sichuan, and with a certain Yang Jian , the powerful magician and warrior in the Investiture of the Gods. For further discussions, see Huang Zhigang , Zhongguo di shuishen (Shanghai, 1934), pp. 7–84; Antecedents, pp. 146–54; Li Sichun , “Guankoushi shen kao ,” and Liu Dexing , “Du Guankoushi shen kao di shangque ,” in Jiangcun shilun (Shanghai, 1957), pp. 63–74, 75–78; and more recently, Ho Kin Chung, “Métamorphoses d’une figure mythologique: Erlang Shen,” in Hommage à Kwong Hing Foon: études d’histoire culturelle de la Chine, ed. Jean-Pierre Diény (Paris, 1995), pp. 215–38.

  3. In Buddhism, the eight emblems would refer to the eight marks of good fortune on the sole of Buddha’s foot—wheel, conch shell, umbrella, canopy, lots flower, jar, pair of fishes, and mystic signs—which, in turn, were symbols of the organs in Buddha’s body. On the other hand, the emblems (literally, treasures) may refer to the magic weapons of the Eight Immortals of Daoism: sword, fan, flower basket, lotus flower, flute, gourd, castanet, and a stringed musical instrument.

  4. Chi City: , likely a reference to the Prefecture of Guanzhou in Sichuan Province, since the Erlang cult was supposed to have originated from the region.

  5. This aspect of Erlang’s lineage, an important one in the god’s legend, alludes again to the theme of the banished immortal for transgressive behavior. The cultic belief is that Erlang is the second son of the Jade Emperor’s sister (hence the name, Erlang or Second Son), who was exiled to this world for adultery and her son’s illegitimate birth. Erlang’s subsequent act of rescuing his mother from her imprisonment beneath the Peach Mountain is thus a filial act that redeems both mother and son.

  6. In traditional depiction, Erlang always appears as a god with a third, vertical almond-shaped eye in the center of his forehead.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  1. The phrase, “the Monkey of the Mind and the Horse of the Will” (xinyuan yima) is made up of metaphors commonly used in Buddhist writings. See discussion in introduction IV. Echoing the titular couplet here, the fourth poem of the chapter expands and clarifies the metaphor of xinyuan. The term appears repeatedly in the titles of chapters 14, 30, 35, 36, and 41.

  2. Possibly a reference to the Sun God, although “Lord of the East or Dongjun” in classical Chinese poetry may refer to the East wind that refreshes and revives in spring time.

  3. Samādhi fire: the fire that is said to consume the body of Buddha when he enters Nirvāṇa. But in the syncretic religious milieu of vernacular fiction, this fire is possessed by many fighters or warriors who have attained immortality (including a Daoist deity like Erlang), and it is often used as a weapon.

  4. In Daoism, seven is regarded as a sacred number; a perfected cycle often is calculated on the basis of seven times seven. The symbolic signifance may also have derived from Buddhist understanding that after death, a human can attain the proper “reformation” for transmigration proper after seven cycles of seven days of dissolution and formation. See FXDCD, p. 48b, for various entries on “Seven times Seven .”

  5. This line explicitly rejects any interpretation of the Monkey figure in terms of physical or external alchemy (waidan), even though his symbolic significance will be troped and correlated with several metaphors often used in physiological or internal alchemy.

  6. “Three refuges (triśaraṇa)” refer to three kinds of surrender: to Buddha as master, to the Law (Dharma) as medicine, and to the community of monks (Saṅgha) as friends. The “five commandments (pañca veramaṇī)” are prohibitions against killing, stealing, adultery, lying, and intoxicating beverages.

  7. The twin Sāl trees in the grove in which Śākyamuni entered Nirvāṇa.

  8. Numinous Officer Wang: Wang Numinous Officer , a familiar guardian deity of Daoist temples. For attributed name and legends, see entry in ET 2: 1013–14.

  9. Known for its luster, this pearl is said to give sight to the blind.

  10. The progress to transcendence is clear and specific in the novel: magic, immortality, and Buddhahood may be attained by disciplined morality and askesis, but lapses and backsliding can reverse the process. For an animal figure like Monkey, he can revert back to his “original form (yuanxing ),” just like many monsters and even celestial gods can do so throughout the novel.

  11. This is the Daoist celestial officer who happens to be the pre-incarnate Pig or Zhu Wuneng (nicknamed Eight Rules), the second disciple of the novel’s human pilgrim. The reference here anticipates Eight Rules’ words later in chapter 19 berating Monkey: “When you caused such turmoil that year in Heaven, you had no idea how many of us had to suffer because of you.”

  12. According to the Suishu , the Six Women Officials were established in the Han dynasty. They were in charge of palace upkeep, palatial protocol, court attire, food and medicine, and the various artisans of the court. See j 36 in Ershiwushi 3: 24–57a.

  13. For the translation of the names of the Daoist “Trinity,” I follow more recent scholarship. See the entry on “sanqing: Three Clarities; Three Purities; Three Pure Ones” in ET 2: 840–44.

  14. Pinning of corsages: supposedly a custom of the Song. After offering sacrifices at the imperial family’s ancestral shrine, the emperor and his subjects would pin flowers on their clothes and their caps.

  15. Wuling: a prefecture located in the town of Changde in modern Hunan province. Its fame rests on the “Peach-Blossom Spring” poems written by Tao Qian (365–427) and later by Wang Wei (655–759). The spring is near the town.

  16. “Sun and moon . . . vase”: a metaphoric expression for the alchemical process that accelerates time to accomplish the desired transformation of the substances deposited therein.

  17. Ten Islets: mythical pla
ces for the home of immortals or transcendents.

  18. The three wains are the three vehicles (triyāna) drawn by a goat, a deer, and an ox to convey the living across the cycles of births and deaths (saṁsāra) to the shores of Nirvāṇa. The vehicles may well have prefigured the later metaphors of the three chariots or carts (sanche ) adopted in the discourse of internal alchemy. See discussion of JW, chapters 44–46, in introduction IV.

  19. “Nine-grade” refers to the nine classes or grades of rewards in the Pure Land.

  20. The Mādhyamika or Sanlun School advocates the doctrine of formless or nothingness (animitta, nirābhāsa).

  21. “Form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form” is the celebrated assertion of the Heart Sūtra (the Prajñāpāramitāhrdaya). See a full translation in JW, chapter 19, and also Buddhist Texts through the Ages, trans. and ed. Edward Conze, et al. (New York, 1964), p. 152.

  22. Buddha’s transformed (deified) body is said to be sixteen feet tall, the same height as his earthly body.

  23. Good stock: (, kuśala-mula), the Buddhist idea of the good seeds sown by a virtuous life that will bring future rewards.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  1. One of the two capitals of the Tang (618–906), renamed Xi’an in modern times, it is located in Shaanxi Province.

  2. “Polishing . . . foodstuff”: metaphors for useless labor, here used as a slightly polemical ridicule of Chan Buddhist rituals.

  3. The mustard seed, or sarṣapa, is considered in Buddhist lore to be the smallest grain, whereas the Sumeru is the central mountain range of the Buddhist cosmos. Hence these two lines refer to the paradox that the smallest may contain the greatest.

  4. One of Śākyamuni’s principal disciples who was also chief of the ascetics before the enlightenment, with another and more familiar name of Mahākāśyapa. The reference alludes to a famous tale of how only one disciple of the Buddha understood his esoteric teaching on Chan (Zen) principles by smiling at Buddha’s gift of a single flower. Twenty-eight generations later, the mystery passed down by this disciple allegedly reached China as this division of Buddhism so named.

  5. Ten stops or stages (daśabhūmi): part of the different stages taught by different schools of Buddhism on the process of how a bodhisattva might develop into a Buddha.

  6. Three wains or vehicles (sansheng ; Skt. Triyāna): differently explained by various exponents, the three vehicles usually refer to the three means of conveyance that carry sentient beings across the cycles of birth and death or mortality to reach the shores of Ultimate Bliss or Nirvāṇa. In different scriptures, the vehicles or carts are usually drawn by a goat, a deer, and an ox or a bull, and these three images also appear in Quanzhen writings, as we have seen in introduction IV. In the literature on internal or physiological alchemy, moreover, the term refers to three levels of accomplishment (sometimes named sancheng ), comprising the process of refining (or “smelting”) essence into pneumatic vitality (lianjing huaqi ), refining pneumatic vitality into spirit (lianqi huashen ), and refining spirit and reverting to emptiness (lianshen huanxu ). See the entry on “Neidan” in ET 2: 764–66. Some commentators of the XYJ understand different episodes of the novel as illustrative representations of part of these processes.

  7. The four creatures, according to Buddhist understanding, are those born of the womb or stomach (jarāyuja, viviparous), as are mammals; those born of eggs (aṇḍaja, oviparous), as are birds; those born of moisture (saṁsvedaja, i.e., worms and fishes); and those which evolve or metamorphose in different forms (aupapāduka, i.e., insects). The six ways point to the sixfold path of reincarnation or transmigration, which are: that of hell (nāraka-gati), that of hungry ghosts (preta-gati), that of malevolent spirits (asura-gati), that of animals (tiryagyoni-gati), that of man (manuṣya-gati), and that of heavenly beings (deva-gati).

  8. A stream in Guangdong Province where, in the Tang, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Huineng taught.

  9. A place said to be frequented by the Buddha, and where the Lotus sūtra was preached. The full name is Spirit Vulture Peak (Lingjiu feng ; Skt., Gṛdhra-kūṭa).

  10. Three jewels or three treasures (sanbao ) : a reference to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha.

  11. As noted in introduction III, item 3, this poem, except for the concluding three lines, is a near verbatim citation of a lyric to the same tune by one Feng Zunshi, collected in a volume of the Daoist Canon.

  12. Wisdom and understanding.

  13. Three realms: sanjie , the Buddhist analogs to the triple world of Brahmanic cosmology. They are the earth, atmosphere, and heaven.

  14. Sārī or satrīra is usually associated with the relics of Buddha.

  15. The permanent reality underlying all phenomena.

  16. Tianzhu: the traditional Chinese name for India.

  17. That is, the Mādhyamika School.

  18. A park near Śrāvastī, said to be a favorite resort of Śākyamuni. The park and the region are mentioned again in chapter 93.

  19. The “Ghost Festival” or “Feast of All Souls,” celebrated in China by both Daoists and Buddhists. For an earlier study of this and other “masses” for the dead, see K.L. Reichelt, Truth and Tradition in Chinese Buddhism: A Study of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism (Shanghai, 1927), pp. 77–126. For a more recent and authoritative treatment of the festival, see Stephen F. Teiser, The Ghost Festival in Medieval China (Princeton, 1988).

  20. The name means “the most venerable one of the world,” an epithet for Buddha.

  21. A reference to the five substances or components of an intelligent being like a human. They are form (rūpa), reception (vendanā, i.e., sensation and feeling), thought (sañyñā, i.e., discernment), action (saṁskāra), and cognition (vijñāna).

  22. They differ according to different traditions. In Confucianism, they refer to filial piety, fraternal submission, fidelity, and trustworthiness (xiao, di, zhong, xin). In Buddhism, according to a text like the Mahāyāna-Nirvāṇa Sūtra, they refer to permanence, joy, the reality of the self, and purity.

  23. A kind of sandalwood from southern India.

  24. Weak Water (ruoshui) is a river located in northwestern China (now Kansu Province), and the entire region has the name of Flowing Sand (liusha). See Albert Herrmann, An Historical Atlas of China, new ed. (Chicago, 1966), maps 4 and 5.

  25. “Wuyi” refers to Wuyishanli, or Arachosia. See Herrmann, map 16, A4.

  26. It was Buddha’s custom to lay his hand on top of his disciple’s head while teaching him.

  27. Sha means sand, and Wujing means “he who awakes to purity.”

  28. A pun on his religious name, as the Gate of Sand refers to the sand of the River Ganges: hence Buddhism.

  29. Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds (Tianpeng yuanshuai) is one of the Four Sages (sisheng) in the Daoist pantheon, high-ranking aides to the Jade Emperor.

  30. Goddess of the Moon is named Chang’e, wife of the famous legendary archer, Hou Yi, who was said to have obtained drugs of immortality from the Lady Queen Mother of the West. Chang’e stole them and fled to the moon to take up residence in the Vast Cold Palace (Guanghan gong, referred to again in chapter 19). For the story of the goddess, see the end of the Lecture on “Viewing the Dark (lanming),” Huainanzi, 6.

  31. A colloquialism of the Huai’an region, referring to a man living in the woman’s house after marriage.

  32. The monster here is quoting the words of Confucius in Analects 3.13.

  33. Zhu means pig or hog, and Wuneng means “he who awakes to power.”

  34. According to various Buddhist teachings, the five forbidden viands may refer to spices (leeks, garlic, onion, green onion, and scallion) or to kinds of meat (the flesh of horse, dog, bullock, goose, and pigeon). The three undesirable foods, prohibited by Daoism, are wild goose, dog, and black fish.

  35. In vernacular Chinese literature, the mendicant monk with scabby sores or leprosy is frequently a holy man in disguise.

  CHAPTER NINE

  1. The eight rivers ar
e those and their tributaries in Shaanxi Province: Wei, Jing, Ba, Liao, Ju, Hao, Li, and Chan.

  2. Taizong was the second emperor of the Tang dynasty, reigning from 627 to 649 CE.

  3. The cyclical name of a year is derived from combining the Ten Celestial Stems with the Twelve Branches or Horary Characters.

  4. Wei Zheng was a great statesman of the early Tang period, highly respected by the emperor. He had the reputation of being a fearless remonstrant to the throne. He was also appointed as one of the editors and compilers of the official dynastic histories of the Zhou, Sui, and Northern Qi, three dynasties preceding the Tang. See Howard J. Wechsler, Mirror to the Son of Heaven: Wei Cheng at the Court of T’ang T’ai-tsung (New Haven, 1974); CHC 3/1 (1979): 193–211.

  5. “The three sessions of examination”: a slightly imprecise designation by the novelistic author. Historically, the Tang established two fundamental levels of scrutiny in the examination system—students at the local schools and graduates from the capital’s state schools. Beyond them were the candidates for the most advanced level (jinshi ), and these were permitted to choose one of twelve subjects (e.g., the classics, law, mathematics, and calligraphy) in which they were to be examined. Eventually, the nomenclature jinshi became the highest degree that students taking such civil service examinations could attain. By 658, however, the first palace examination took place, “organized by the emperor’s order for specified candidates” (see CHC 3/1: 277). Empress Wu Zetian (r. 690–705) also “in 689 . . . initiated the personal examination of candidates by the ruler” and made it her practice to appoint the most successful candidates to the highest court offices (ibid., 311, 14). It was in the time of the Song that the so-called palace examination (dianshi ) was regularized, thereby completing “the three-level examination process: the emperors personally administered this final tier of the examination series. In 1066, the government decided that the examinations would be given once every three years . . .”; by 1069, the subject was reduced to only one. The student attaining the highest “grade” in the palace examination was named a zhuangyuan (literally, the head or source) of the [examination] proclamation.” This was the honor attained by the character Chen Guangrui of this chapter. See Thomas H.C. Lee, Education in Traditional China, A History (Leiden, 2000), pp. 132–40.