The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 1

by Unknown

  14. Five breaths . . . wuqi chaoyuan , refers to the pneumatic vitality, qi, of the five viscera (heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys) in harmonious balance. See also the Jindan sibai zi, loc. cit. There are several variations of the sources for these five pneumatic elements, and one of them, for example, may select and schematize the psychological or mental part of the body (e.g., the mind, the emotions), as we have in XMGZ-Taipei, p. 135.

  15. A poetic name for the mythic palace on the moon.

  16. Chang’e: the immortal goddess who resides in the moon.

  17. Inspector General: same as Numinous Officer Wang.

  18. Deities may be hypostatized from the trigrams and hexagrams of the Classic of Change. The idea of these two lines here, however, is that the symbols of these divinities are engraved or etched on different parts of the rake.

  19. This poem is the first of the novel’s many passages in which the relations of the pilgrims to each other are depicted allegorically by the terms of the Five Phases (wuxing), further correlated with other pertinent symbols like Monkey and Dragon.

  20. In alchemical lore, lead is sometimes regarded as host (zhu) and mercury as the guest (ke or bin), and vice versa. In the process when metal “attacks” or “vanquishes (fa, ke)” wood, lead will act as host and mercury as guest.

  21. According to yin yang theorists, three matings (sanjiao ) refer to the intercourse of pneumatics (qi) of the yin (darkness, female), the yang (light, male), and tian (Heaven, sky); nothing can be created if one is lacking. Later, the idea is expanded to the correlation of the Five Phases with the cycles of the year, the month, and the day, which is also thus called three unions (sanhe ).

  22. Last and First: literally, zhen (to determine, divine) and yuan (the primary, the initial), two of the four “attributes” assigned to the first hexagram ( qian or jian) that opens the text of the Classic of Change, with which the author/redactor of a later text like the ZhouYi cantongqi would further correlate with the affective faculties of the human. Thus the combination in this line may point again to the conjoining of opposites, an idea fundamental to alchemical theories.

  23. Eight Rules: that is, eight proscriptions. These are the first eight of the ten commandments in Buddhism forbidding killing, stealing, sexual immorality, lying, the use of cosmetics and other personal comforts (e.g., a fine bed), strong drink, the use of dancing and music, and eating out of regulation hours. The last two deal with specific forbidden foods and the rule for fasting.

  24. Causes all joined: literally, the various causes are fused (zhuyuan he ), a probable reference to the harmonious working of the cycle of twelve nidānas.

  25. Hair shorn: the phrase refers to a story in which one Old Man Wang (Wang Weng ) attained physical longevity in stages. At the last, when since his time of birth he went through five times during which his hair was shorn or fell off and apparently grew back again, he realized immortality. See the Hanwu dongming ji , j 1.

  26. Guanzizai: Guanyin, the Onlooking Lord.

  27. Pañcaskandha: the five aggregates or elements constitutive of the human person: they are (1) rūpa, physical phenomena related to the five senses; (2) verdanā, sensation or reception from stimuli from events and things; (3) sañjñā, discernment or perception; (4) saṁskāra, decision or volition; and (5) vijñāna, cognition and consciousness.

  28. Three worlds: the past, present, and future ones.

  29. The quotation says: “Gone, gone, gone beyond, completely gone beyond! O what an awakening! All hail!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  1. No-work tree: the tree of passivity, nonactivity, spontaneity, and noncausality.

  2. The Buddha is sometimes referred to as the king of bulls, possibly because his name, Gautama, is thought to be a derivative of gaus, or bull. For possible Daoist source for this particular line of the verse, see Item 7 near the end of introduction III of this volume.

  3. In form, this poem seems like the first section of a lyric to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

  4. A pun on the words yao and yao . The first refers to lines in a hexagram of the Classic of Change, and the second means cuisine or fine food.

  5. These two lines represent a tour de force of punning hard to replicate in another language.

  6. Wu, short for wutong , Sterculia platanifolia, sometimes translated as the pawlownia.

  7. Mount Hua and Tiantai Mountain are famous mountains located in Shaanxi and Anhui provinces, respectively. For a good description of these mountains and their significance in the history of Chinese religions, see Mary Augusta Mullikin and Anna M. Hotchkis, The Nine Sacred Mountains of China (Hong Kong, 1973).

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  1. These are the guardian spirits of a monastery.

  2. Erlang, who customarily uses a lance-like weapon with three points and two blades, sometimes also would wield a trident.

  3. These two Indian figures are frequently depicted as the two disciples appearing on the left and right of Tathāgata: the former rides a green lion and the latter a white elephant. For a discussion of these two disciples as idealizations of Śāriputra and Maudagalyāyana, see Yinshun , “Wenxu yu Puxian ,” in Fojiao shidi kaolun (Taipei, 1973), pp. 233–44.

  4. See chapter 2, note 9.

  5. Zitong : the god of a northern Sichuanese cult who is freqently depicted as a riding a mule. See Terry F. Kleeman, A God’s Own Tale: The Book of Transformations of Wenchang, the Divine Lord of Zitong (Albany, 1999), and the entry on “Wenchang” in ET 2: 1033–34.

  6. Penglai: one of the three famous legendary mountainous islands in the eastern ocean where divine immortals made their residences.

  7. Lu Ban : reputedly a craftsman of marvelous skills in the Spring and Autumn period, Lu was subsequently venerated by carpenters and builders as their patron deity. In his own poetic autobiography of chapter 19, Eight Rules claimed that Lu had a hand in making his rake.

  8. Sesame seed rice: an allusion to the often told story of Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao , who went to gather herbs on Tiantai Mountain and met immortals there. They were fed peaches and rice with sesame seeds.

  9. Devised: the Chinese phrase, dianhua , is a technical term for understanding the nature and use of illusion. For Buddhism, it can be a means of deception (as illusory entrapments devised by monsters and demons mentioned in chapter 50) or a form of convenience in assistance or instruction (i.e., upāya). In Daoism, especially in the discourse on alchemy, the term has the developed meaning of using “a particle” of Primordial Breath (yuanqi) to facilitate the formation of the elixir. See entry on “dianhua” in ET 1: 357–58.

  10. This poem is another lyric to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

  11. This lyric is set to the same tune as the previous poem’s.

  12. Sonorous stones: the qing , a small gong-like stone with the inside hollowed out, to be struck in religious services.

  13. This little piece of conversation virtually repeats the episode in another novel, when the contender for the throne of Han, Liu Bei, visited the master strategist, Zhuge Liang, at his thatched hut to request assistance. See Three Kingdoms, A Historical Novel, chapter 37, 284.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  1. The sentence here in Pilgrim’s statement also presents a subtle satire, on the part of the narrator, of the familiar sight of monkeys doing tricks with sticks and poles in vaudeville shows popular in certain regions of China.

  2. As in Eight Rules’s previous verse autobiography (chapter 19), the monster here recounts his experience of self-cultivation by means of physiological alchemy. For “Baby Boy” and “Fair Girl,” see note 10 of that chapter.

  3. In the discourse of internal alchemy, “Wood Mother” is one of several metaphors of mercury. Correlating with the Twelve Temporal Branches or Horary Characters is the belief that “true mercury is born at the hour of Hai .” Because the animal symbolizing the hour is boar or pig (hai shu zhu ), our disciple Eight Rules is nicknamed later in the narrative as Wood Mother. Lead, on the ot
her hand, is named metaphorically as the Squire of Gold or Squire of Metal (jingong , jinweng ). The first Chinese term may have been an anagrammatic reading of the Chinese graph for lead or qian , which may be broken up into the two graphs of jin and gong. I owe this suggestion to Professor Nathan Sivin. Gold or metal is further correlated with the Horary Character of shen , the symbolic animal of which is a monkey. Thus another nickname for Sun Wukong throughout the narrative is Metal Squire.

  4. Bright Hall or Hall of Light: mingtang , one of the most famous nomenclatures for a palatial building consecrated for imperial rituals in antiquity, it is internalized as a metaphor of anatomical space by the discourse on internal alchemy. The spot varies in different texts, but generally, the name is regarded as a spot one inch inside the skull, between the eyebrows. See entry on “mintang” in ET 2: 751–52.

  5. Floral Pool: see chapter 19, note 8.

  6. Tower or chonglou refers to the windpipe or the trachea. Since the medical theorists and the alchemists thought that it had twelve sections, the full name of this part of the body is named the Twelve-Tiered Tower (shier chonglou ).

  7. Wu Gang: , an immortal of the Han period, according to the Yuyang zazu , who took up residence in the moon. There he tried frequently to cut down a cassia tree, only to have it grow again once it was felled.

  8. Spatula: daoguei , the spatula or knifelike instrument that both medical herbalists and the physical alchemists use to separate or measure their chemicals or herbs. For the internal alchemists, the term can refer further to refined saliva in the last stage of elixir formation. Daogui in the novel is also used as a metaphor for this monster who will soon become Xuanzang’s third disciple, Sha Wujing.

  9. Two-Earths: an anagrammatic pun on the graph gui , used for spatula. Gui is made up of two graphs, earth or tu , one on top of the other.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  1. Yellow Dame: this is what the secretion of the spleen in internal alchemy is called (huangpo), and it is considered vital to the nourishment of the other viscera. In the narrative, the term is frequently used to designate Sha Monk. Red child or red boy (chizi) in literary Chinese usually refers to the newborn infant because of its color, but its meaning varies greatly in different traditions. In classical Confucian teachings, the term seems to indicate the seminal capacity for moral attainment if one takes Mencius 4B. 12 as an example (“A great man is one who does not lose the heart/mind of the new-born babe”). In Laozi’s Daodejing, chapter 55, the red child exemplifies the paragon of virtuous power resident in complete peaceableness and gentleness. In internal alchemy, however, the formation of the baby can refer to the state of achieved physical immortality, and it is in this sense that the term is occasionally and proleptically used in the narrative to identify Tripitaka.

  2. The names of the three daughters make up the Chinese phrase, zhen ai lian, which may be translated as “truly [worthy to be] loved and adored.”

  3. “To lead a horse”: a Chinese metaphor for a marriage go-between.

  4. Xizi: the legendary beauty and concubine of King Fucha of the ancient kingdom of Wu.

  5. Dame of Li Shan: Lishan Laomu , or the Old Dame of Li Mountain, seems to have been originally a river demon (as interpreted by Dudbridge in Antecedents, pp. 144–46), but in quite a few works of late imperial and early modern Chinese popular fiction, she emerged as a powerful goddess similar to her role in this chapter.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  1. Ginseng: , panax schinseng, a plant highly treasured in traditional Chinese medicine both as an aphrodisiac and as a longevity herb.

  2. Kunlun: the largest mountain range in China, beginning in Tibet and extending eastward to form three ranges in North, Central, and South China. Commonly regarded as the most important sacred mountain of Daoism, it is the legendary home of the Lady Queen Mother of the West and the Jade-Pure Honorable Divine of the Origin (Yuqing yuanshi tianzun).

  3. Five blessings: they are long life, wealth, health, love of virtue, and a natural death.

  4. Locust trees: Sophora japonica.

  5. Zhenyuan literally means “one who has pacified his origin.”

  6. For the possible origin of the phrase “reverted cinnabar or elixir” (huandan ), see the Baopuzi , SBCK, 4. 3a and 7b; and also Alchemy, Medicine, and Religion in the China of A.D. 320: The “Nei P’ien” of Ko Hung, trans. James R. Ware (Cambridge, MA, 1966), pp. 70 and 77.

  7. A citation from Analects 15.40.

  8. “The one on top”: i.e., the word Heaven or tian.

  9. The railings on top of a well in wealthy households are frequently painted gold; hence the frequent references to a “golden well” in classical Chinese verse.

  10. Mare’s tail: Hippuris, a plant used primarily to feed goldfish.

  11. Su: Dipsacus asper.

  12. The poem is another lyric to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

  13. Immortals or, as in recent translations, transcendents (xian, 仙), are strictly humans who by practice and action—whether medicinal or physiological—attain immortality or physical longevity, a belief held since antiquity in China. By early medieval times, they are often classified into three broad categories: celestial, earthbound, and demon or ghost (i.e., those consigned to service in the underworld after attaining xianship)—tianxian, dixian, guixian. For discussion, see SCC, V/2 (1974): 11–12; 92–113. For Ge Hong’s contribution to the subject’s theory and practice, see Campany, pp. 13–128.

  14. This entertaining anecdote on the fictive ginseng’s potency indicates the same part of the belief that physical longevity induced by alchemy manifests in hardened bodily parts as evidential symptoms of fortification and renewal. Thus, the loss of body hairs was construed as a sign of returning youth. As the magic fruit strengthens the ground, so ingested substances in external alchemy, according to long-held notions, would empower the body. See the death of the character Jia Jing , a devoted practitioner of Daoist alchemy in the Qing masterwork fiction, Hongloumeng. The description of his death by prolonged swallowing of mercuric elixir and other chemical substances in chapter 63 of the novel is both vivid and comparatively instructive. Jia died with a “purple face and cracked and shrivelled lips” and an “iron-hard abdomen (, ).” For English translation of the episode, see The Story of the Stone, 5 vols., Cao Xueqin and Gao E, trans. David Hawkes and John Minford (Hammondsworth, 1073–86), 3: 240.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  1. Mendicant Daoist: “xingjiao Quanzhen ,” literally, a Quanzhen [Daoist] with walking legs! As in several instances in the novel, the name of the Order may be used as a metaphor for a general Daoist of whatever sect or lineage.

  2. Mr. Lü: this is Lü Dongbin , a semilegendary figure of the late Tang and early Song who had attained lasting fame as an immortal and ranked among the equally famous Eight Immortals (baxian) populating Chinese literature, art, architecture, and popular cultural artifacts. Subject of several hagiographies, Lü also was credited with attributed poems and lyrics, and during the Song and later, several conversion plays were written about his life and religious activities, including his ardent attempt to convert the Tang Confucian literati official Han Yu. He was also a highly popular and venerated patriarch of the Quanzhen Order. See the entry on his name in ET 1: 712–14.

  3. A jade yak’s-tail: that is, a yak’s-tail duster with a jade handle.

  4. The monk’s robe is sometimes nicknamed a bell (as in chapter 46 of this novel during Monkey’s contest of magic with three Daoist monsters) because it is shaped like one—tight and narrow on top, loose and wide at the bottom.

  5. Stove: zao , the mud or clay furnace in most traditional Chinese kitchens for cooking. To overturn or ruin a stove (duzao or ), however, is to inflict bad luck.

  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 t
o 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