We were telling you how Tripitaka and his disciples arrived at the SeaPacifying Chan Grove Monastery, where they had a vegetarian meal prepared by the local monks. After the four had eaten, and the girl too had received some nourishment, it was getting late and lamps were lit in the abbot's chamber. Because they wanted to ask the Tang Monk the reason for seeking scriptures, and because they coveted a glimpse of the girl, the various monks all crowded into the chamber and stood in rows beneath the lamps. Tripitaka said to the lama he had met earlier, '~bbot, when we leave your treasure temple tomorrow, what's the rest of the journey to the West like?"
At once the priest went to his knees, so startling the elder that he hurriedly tried to raise him, saying, "Please rise, abbot. I am asking you about the journey. Why are you performing ceremony instead?"
"Your journey tomorrow, Master,'' replied the priest, "should proceed along a smooth and level path, and you need not worry. But at this very moment there is a small but rather embarrassing matter. I wanted to tell you the moment you entered our gate, but I feared that I might offend you. Only after we have served you a meal do I make so bold as to tell you. Since the venerable master has come from such a long way in the East, you must be tired, and it is perfectly all right that you should rest tonight in the room of this humble cleric. But it will not be convenient for this lady bodhisattva, and I wonder where I should send her to sleep:'
'~bbot," said Tripitaka, "you needn't suspect that we master and disciples are harboring some perverse intentions. We passed through a black pine forest earlier and found this girl bound to a tree. Sun Wukong, my disciple, refused to rescue her, but I was moved by my Buddhist compassion to have her released and brought here. Wherever the abbot now wishes to send her to sleep is all right with me."
"Since the master is so kind and generous,'' said the priest gratefully, ''I'll just ask her to go to the Devaraja Hall. I'll make a bed of straw behind Holy Father Devaraja, and she can sleep there:' "Very good! Very good!" said Tripitaka. Thereupon the young priests led the girl to go to sleep at the back of the hall.
After the elder had bidden the other priests good night, everyone left. "You all must be tired;' said Tripitaka to Wukong. "Let's rest now so that we may rise early." All of them thus slept in the same place, for they wanted to guard their master and dared not leave his side. Gradually the night deepened. Truly
All sounds had ceased as the moon rose high;
The temple1 grew silent for no one walked by.
The silver stream glistened with astral showers
When tower-drums hastened the change ofhours.
Leaving them to rest through the night, we tell you now about Pilgrim, who rose by dawn and at once told Eight Rules and Sha Monk to pack and ready the horse, so that they might ask their master to set out again. The elder, however, was still sleeping at that moment. Pilgrim walked up to him and called out, "Master:'
The master raised his head slightly but did not answer. "Master," asked Pilgrim, "what's the matter with you?"
"I don't know why;' replied the elder with a groan, "but my head seems light, my eyes feel puffy, and I ache all over!" On hearing this, Eight Rules touched him and found him feverish. "I know:' said Idiot, giggling. "You saw last night that the rice was free, and you ate one bowl too many and then went to sleep with a blanket over your head. You've got indigestion!"
"Rubbish!" snapped Pilgrim. "Let me find out from master what is the true reason:'
"I got up in the middle of the night to relieve myself, and I forgot to put on my cap," said Tripi taka. "I must have been chilled by the wind."
"That's more like it;' replied Pilgrim. "Can you travel at all?"
"I can't even sit up," said Tripitaka. "How could I mount the horse? But then, I don't want to delay our journey either!"
"You shouldn't speak like that, Master!" said Pilgrim. ''As the proverb says,
Once a teacher,
Always a father.
Since we have become your disciples, we are like your sons. The proverb also says:
You need not rear your children with silver and gold;
That they treat you kindly is good to behold.
If you don't feel well, you needn't mention anything about delaying our journey. Stay here for a few days. What's wrong with that?" Thus the brothers all ministered to their master, hardly realizing that
The dawn passed, the noon came, and dusk set in;
The good night withdrew at the break of day.
Time went by swiftly, and two days had passed before the master sat up on the third day and called out, "Wukong, I was so sick these last two days that I did not think of asking you: that lady bodhisattva who got back her life, did anyone send her some rice to eat?"
"Why worry about her?" said Pilgrim with a laugh. "You should be concerned with your own illness."
"Indeed! Indeed!" said Tripitaka. "Please help me get up, and bring out my paper, brush, and ink. Go and borrow an inkstand from the monastery."
"What for?" asked Pilgrim.
"I want to write a letter," said the elder, "in which I'll also enclose the travel rescript. You may take that up to Chang' an and ask for an audience with Emperor Taizong."
"That's easy;' said Pilgrim. "Old Monkey may not be very able in other matters, but I'm the best postman in the whole wide world. When you finish your letter, I'll send it to Chang' an and hand-deliver it to the Tang emperor with one somersault. Then I'll come back here with another somersault-before your brush and inkstand are dry! But why do you want to send a letter? Tell me a little of its contents, and then you may write." Shedding tears, the elder said, "This is what I intend to write:
Three times your priestly subject bows his head
To greet my sage ruler, long may he live!
By lords civil and martial let this be read,
Let four hundred nobles hear what is said:
When I left the East that year by decree,
Buddha on Spirit Mount I had hoped to see.
I did not such ordeals anticipate
Or in midway such afflictions foresee.
This monk, now gravely ill, cannot proceed,
And Buddha's gate seems far as Heaven's gate.
I've no life for scriptures, my toil is vain;
Some other seeker I beg you ordain:'
When Pilgrim heard these words, he could not refrain from breaking into uproarious laughter. "Master;' he said, "you're just too weak! A little illness, and you already entertain such thoughts! If you get any worse, if it truly becomes a matter oflife and death, all you need is to ask me. Old Monkey has ability enough to pose the following questions: 'Which Yama king dares make this decision? Which judge of Hell has the gall to issue the summons? And which ghostly summoner would come near to take you away?' If I'm the least bit annoyed, I may well bring out that temperament that greatly disturbed the Celestial Palace and, with my rod flying, fight my way into the Region of Darkness. Once I catch hold of the Ten Yama Kings, I'll pull their tendons one by one, and even then I'll not spare them!"
"0 Disciple!" said Tripi taka. "I am gravely ill! Please don't talk so big!"
Walking up to them, Eight Rules said, "Elder Brother, Master says the situation is not good, and you insist that it is. That's awfully embarrassing! We should make plans early to sell the horse and hock the luggage so that we can buy a coffin for his funeral before we scatter:'
"You're babbling again, Idiot!" said Pilgrim. "You don't realize that Master was the second disciple of our Buddha Tathagata, and originally he was called Elder Gold Cicada. Because he slighted the Law, he was fated to experience this great ordeal."
"0 Elder Brother," said Eight Rules, "even if Master did slight the Law, he had already been banished back to the Land of the East where he took on human form in the field of slander and the sea of strife. After he made his vow to worship Buddha and seek scriptures in the Western Heaven, he was bound whenever he ran into monster-spirits and he was hung high whenever he met up with demons. Hasn't he suffered enough? Why must he endure sickness as well?"
"You wouldn't know about this," replied Pilgrim. "Our old master fell asleep while listening to Buddha expounding the Law. As he slumped to one side, his left foot kicked down one grain of rice. That is why he is fated to suffer three days' illness after he has arrived at the Region Below."
Horrified, Eight Rules said, "The way old Hog sprays and splatters things
all over when he eats, I wonder how many years of illness I'd have to go
through!"
"Brother;' said Pilgrim, "you have no idea either that the Buddha is not that concerned with you and other creatures. But as people say:
Rice stalks planted in noonday sun
Take root as perspiration runs.
Who knows of this food from the soil
Each grain requires most bitter toil?
Master still has one more day to go, but he'll be better by tomorrow:'
Tripitaka said, "I feel quite different from yesterday, for I'm terribly thirsty. Could you find me some cool water to drink?" "That's good!" remarked Pilgrim. "When Master wants to drink, it's a sign that he's getting better. Let me go fetch some water:'
Taking out the alms bowl, he went immediately to the incense kitchen at the rear of the monastery to fetch water. There, however, he came upon many priests who were sobbing, their eyes all red-rimmed, though they dared not weep aloud. "How could you priests be so petty?" asked Pilgrim. "We stay here for a few days, but we fully intend to thank you and pay you back for the rice and firewood when we leave. Why do you behave in such a low-class manner?"
Greatly flustered, the priests knelt down to say, "We dare not! We dare not!" "What do you mean by you dare not?" said Pilgrim. "I suppose the big appetite of the priest with a long snout has hurt your assets."
"Venerable Father," replied one of the priests. "Even in this desolate temple of ours, there are altogether over a hundred monks, old and young. If one of us were to feed one of you for one day, we could still manage to take care of all of you for over a hundred days. Would we dare be so niggardly and particular about your upkeep?"
"If not;' asked Pilgrim, "why are you crying?"
"Venerable Father," said another priest, "we don't know what sort of perverse fiend has invaded this monastery of ours. Two nights ago two young priests were sent to toll the bell and beat the drum, but they never came back. When we searched for them in the morning, we found their caps and sandals abandoned in the rear garden; their skeletons remained, but their flesh was eaten. You have all stayed in our monastery for three days and we have lost six priests. That is why we brothers cannot help fretting and grieving. Since your venerable master is indisposed, however, we dare not make this known to you, though we can't refrain from shedding tears in secret."
On hearing this, Pilgrim was both startled and delighted, saying, "No need to say any more. There must be a fiendish demon here causing harm to people. Let me exterminate it for you."
"Venerable Father;' said a priest, "the monster who is not a spirit will not possess spiritual powers. But those who are will undoubtedly have the ability to soar on the cloud and fog and to penetrate and leave the Region of Darkness. The ancients have put the matter quite well:
Don't believe the honesty of the honest;
Be wary of the unkindness of the kind.
Venerable Father, please forgive me for what I'm about to say: if you could catch this monster for us and rid our desolate temple of this root of calamity, it would indeed be our greatest fortune. But if you cannot catch him, there'll be quite a few inconveniences:'
"What do you mean by quite a few inconveniences?" asked Pilgrim.
"To tell you the truth, Venerable Father," replied the priest, "though there are some one hundred monks in our rustic temple, they all left their homes in childhood.
They find knives to cut hair grown long;
They patch often their unlined gannents.
Once they rise at dawn and wash their faces,
They bow with pressed palms
To embrace the Great Way;
At night they take pains to burn incense,
Sincere and earnest,
To chant Buddha's name.
Raising their heads to gaze at Buddha's fonn
On the ninth-grade lotus,
The Triyana means, 2
And the vessel of mercy afloat on the dhannamega, 3
The world-honored Sakya ofletavana they vow to see.
Lowering their heads to search their hearts.
Having received the five prohibitions,
Having transcended the world,
Amid the myriad creatures and phenomena
The stubborn void and fonnless fonn they would perceive.
When the danapatis4 are present,
The old and the young,
The tall and the short,
The fat and the thin-
Each one will beat the wooden fish
And strike the golden stone,
Hustling and bustling,
To chant two scrolls of the Lotus Sutra
Or a book of the Water Litany of King Liang. 5
When the danapatis are absent,
The new and the old,
The unfamiliar and the familiar,
The rustic and the urbane-
Each one will press his palms together
And close his eyes,
In silence and darkness,
To meditate on the rush mat
And bolt the gate beneath the moon.6
We leave those orioles and birds to chatter and bicker by themselves:
They don't belong in our convenient, merciful Mahayana.
That is why
We are not able to tame tigers,
Nor are we able to subdue dragons;
We have no knowledge of fiends,
Nor can we recognize spirits.
If you, Venerable Father, manage to annoy that fiendish demon,
He may find a hundred of us priests barely sufficient for one meal.
Then we'll all fall upon the Wheel of Transmigration;
Second, our Chan grove and old temple will be destroyed;
And third, at Tathagata's assembly
We'll not enjoy even half a mite of glory.
These are some of those inconveniences!" When Pilgrim heard the priest delivering a speech like that,
Anger flared up from his heart,
And wrath sprouted by his bladder.
"How stupid can you monks be?" he shouted. "All you know is about the monster-spirit. Haven't you any idea of old Monkey's exploits?"
"In truth we do not;' replied the priests softly.
"I'll give you only a brief summary today," said Pilgrim. "Listen to me, all of you!
I did tame tigers and subdue dragons on Mount Flower-Fruit;
I did ascend to Heaven's Palace to cause great havoc.
In hunger I picked up Lord Lao's elixir
And chewed up-not many-just two or three pellets!
In thirst I took up the Jade Emperor's wine
And drank-so lightly-six or seven cups!
When my gold-pupil eyes, not black or white, flare wide open,
The sky will pale
And the moon darken;
When I hold up one golden-hooped rod, not too long or short,
I'll come and go
Without a trace.
Why mention big spirits or small fiends!
Who's afraid of their hex or devilry!
The moment when I give chase,
The fleeing will flee,
The shaking will shake,
The hiding will hide,
And the fearful will fear;
The moment when I catch them,
They will be sawed,
They will be burned,
They will be ground,
And they will be pounded.
Something like Eight Immortals crossing the sea,
Each revealing magic ability.
Monks and priests,
I'll seize this monster-spirit for you to see.
Only then will you realize I'm old Monkey!"
When those various monks heard this, they all nodded and said to themselves, "There has to be some basis for this burglar bonze to open his big mouth and utter these big words!" Each of them, therefore, responded to Pilgrim agreeably, but the lama priest spoke up: "Wait a moment! Since your master is indisposed, you shouldn't feel so eager to catch this monsterspirit. As the proverb says,
A prince at a banquet
Will either be drunk or fed;
A hero on the field
Will either be hurt or dead.
If the two of you engage in battle, you may well involve your master in some difficulty, and that's not too appropriate:'
"Right you are!" replied Pilgrim. "Let me take some cold water to my master first and then I'll return:' Picking up the almsbowl and filling it with water, he left the incense kitchen and went directly back to the abbot's chamber. "Master," he cried, "drink some cold water."
Racked by thirst, Tripi taka raised his head, held the water to his mouth, and took a mighty draught. Truly
In thirst one drop of liquid's like sweet dew;
The true cure arrives and the illness heals.
When Pilgrim saw that the elder was gradually regaining his strength and that his features seemed to brighten, he asked, "Master, can you take some rice soup?"
"This cold water;' replied Tripi taka, "is so much like an efficacious elixir
that at least half of my illness is gone. If there is any rice soup, I can eat some:'
At once Pilgrim shouted repeatedly, "My master's well. He wants some soup and rice:' His cries sent those monks scampering to wash the rice, cook it, make noodles, bake biscuits, steam breads, and make rice-noodle soup. They brought in, in fact, four or five tables of food, but the Tang Monk could take only half a bowl of rice soup. Pilgrim and Sha Monk managed to finish one tableful, while the rest all went into Eight Rules's stomach. After they had cleared away the utensils and lighted the lamps, the monks retired.
"How many days have we stayed here?'' asked Tripi taka.
Pilgrim said, "Three whole days. By dusk tomorrow, it'll be the fourth day." "How much have we fallen behind in our journey?" asked Tripitaka again. "Master," said Pilgrim, "you can't make that sort of calculation. Let's leave tomorrow:' "Exactly;' said Tripitaka. "Even if I'm still not quite well, I'd better get going:'
"In that case," said Pilgrim, "I'd better catch a monster-spirit tonight."
"What sort of monster-spirit do you want to catch this time?" asked Tripitaka, growing alarmed.
"There's a monster-spirit in this monastery," said Pilgrim. "Let old Monkey catch it for them."
"0 Disciple!" said the Tang Monk. "I'm not even recovered yet, and you want to start something like this already! Suppose that fiend has great magic powers and you can't catch it. Wouldn't you put me in jeopardy?"
"You do love to put me down!" said Pilgrim. ·~s old Monkey goes about subduing fiends everywhere, have you ever seen him an underdog? I may not move my hands, but the moment I do, I'll win." Thgging at him, Tripitaka said, "Disciple, the proverb puts the matter well:
Do someone a favor when you have that favor;
Spare a person when you can afford to spare.
Can restiveness compare with contentedness?
Is tolerance nobler than belliyerence?"
When the Great Sage Sun heard his master pleading so passionately with him, refusing to let him subdue a fiend, he had little choice but to tell the truth, saying, "Master, I don't want to hide this from you, but the fiend has devoured humans at this place:'
Horrified, the Tang Monk asked, "What humans has the fiend devoured?" "We have stayed in this monastery for three days," replied Pilgrim, "and six young priests of the monastery have been devoured."
The elder said, '"When a hare dies, the fox grieves; for a creature will mourn its own kind: If a fiend has devoured the priests of this monastery, I, too, am a priest. I'll let you go, but you must be careful." "No need to tell me that," said Pilgrim. "Old Monkey will eliminate it the moment he raises his hands:'
Look at him! In the lamplight he gave instructions for Eight Rules and Sha Monk to guard their master, and then leaped out of the abbot's chamber jubilantly. When he reached the main Buddha hall to look around, he found that there were stars in the sky though the moon had not yet risen. The hall was completely dark, so he exhaled some immortal fire from within himself to light the crystal chalice; then he went to strike the bell on the east and toll the bell on the west. Thereafter with one shake of his body he changed into a young priest no more than twelve or thirteen years of age. Draped in a clerical robe of yellow silk and wearing a white cloth shirt, he chanted scriptures as his hand struck a wooden fish. He waited there in the hall till about the hour of the first watch and nothing happened. By the hour of the second watch, when the waning moon had just risen, he heard all at once a loud roar of the wind. Marvelous wind!
Its black foB blotted out the sky;
Its somber clouds bedimmed the earth.
All four quarters seemed splashed with ink
Or coated with some indiBO paint.
At first it lifted up dust and sprayed dirt;
Afterwards it toppled trees and felled forests.
ThouBh stars Blistened throuBh lifted dust and sprayed dirt,
The moon paled as trees toppled and forests fell.
It blew till ChanB'e tiBhtly huBBed the suoluo tree,'
The jade hare spinninB searched for its dish of herbs;
Nine Star Officials all shut their doors,
DraBon KinBS of Four Seas all closed their Bates;
City BOds looked for younB demons in their shrines,
But midair divines could not soar on clouds.
Yama of Hades souBht to find horse-faces,
As judBes dashed madly to run down their wraps.
It rocked the boulders on Kunlun summit
And churned up the waves in rivers and lakes.
When the wind subsided, he immediately felt the fragrance of orchids and perfumes and he heard the tinkling of girdle jade. He rose slightly and raised his head to look. Ah! It was a beautiful young girl, walking straight up the hall.
"Oo-li, oo-la!" chanted Pilgrim, pretending to recite scriptures. The girl walked up to him and hugged him, saying, "Little elder, what sort of scriptures are you chanting?" "What I vowed to chant!" replied Pilgrim. "Everyone's enjoying his sleep," said the girl. "Why are you still chanting?"
"I made a vow!" replied Pilgrim. "How could I not do so?"
Hugging him once more, the girl kissed him and said, "Let's go out back and play." Turning his face aside deliberately, Pilgrim said, "You are kind of dumb!"
"Do you know physiognomy?" asked the girl.
"A little," replied Pilgrim. "Read my face," said the girl, "and see what sort of a person I am:' "I can see," said Pilgrim, "that you are somewhat of a slut or debauchee driven out by your in-laws!" "You haven't seen a thing!" exclaimed the girl. "You haven't seen a thing!
I am no slut or debauchee
Whom my in-laws compelled to flee.
By my former life's poor fate
I was given too young a mate,
Who knew nothing of marriage rite
And drove me to leave him this night.
But the stars and the moon, so luminous this evening, have created the affinity for you and me to meet. Let's go into the rear garden and make love."
On hearing this, Pilgrim nodded and said to himself, "So those several stupid monks all succumbed to lust and that was how they lost their lives. Now she's trying to fool even me!" He said to her, "Lady, this priest is still very young, and he doesn't know much about lovemaking:'
"Follow me," said the girl, "and I'll teach you." Pilgrim smiled and said to himself, ''All right! I'll follow her and see what she wants to do with me."
They put their arms around each other's shoulders, and, hand in hand, the two of them left the hall to walk to the rear garden. Immediately tripping Pilgrim up with her leg so that he fell to the ground, the fiend began crying "Sweetheart'' madly as she tried to pinch his stinky root. 8
"My dear child!" exclaimed Pilgrim. "You do want to devour old Monkey!" He caught her hand and, using a little tumbling technique, flipped the fiend on to the ground. Even then, the fiend cried out, "Sweetheart, you certainly know how to make your old lady fall!"
Pilgrim thought to himself, "If I don't move against her now, what am I waiting for? As the saying goes,
Strike first and you're the stronger;
Delay and you won't live longer!"
Hands on his hips, he snapped his torso erect and leaped up to change into the magic appearance of his true form. Wielding his golden-hooped iron rod, he struck at the girl's head.
The fiend, too, was somewhat startled, thinking to herself, "This young priest is quite formidable!" She opened her eyes wide to take a careful look and found that her opponent was in fact the disciple of Elder Tang, the one with the surname of Sun. She was, however, not the least intimidated. What kind of spirit was she, you ask? She has
A nose of gold
And fur like snow.
She dwells in tunnels underground
Where every part's both safe and sound.
A breath she nourished three hundred years before
Had sent her a few times to Mount Spirit's shore.
Of candles and flowers once she ate her fill,
She was banished by Tathāgata's will
To be Pagoda-Bearer's cherished child;
Prince Nata took her as his sister mild.
She's no mythic, sea-filling birdg of the air
Nor a turtle10 that a sacred mountain bears.
Of Lei Huan's magic sword11 she has no fear;
To her, Lil Qian's cutlass12 cannot go near.
Scurrying here and there,
She defies the River Han or Yangzi's breadth and length;
Scampering up and down
The heights of Mount Tai or Heng is her special strength.
When you behold her looks seductive and sweet,
Who'd think that she's a rodent-spirit in heat?
Proud of her own vast magic powers, she casually picked up a pair of swords and began to parry left and right, to slash east and west, causing loud janglings and clangings. Though Pilgrim was somewhat stronger, he could not quite overtake her. A cold gust rose everywhere, and the waning moon had now lost its light. Look at the two of them engaged in this marvelous battle in the rear garden!
A cold wind rose from the ground;
The waning moon released faint light.
Quiet was the Buddhist palace
And forlorn the spirit porch.
But the rear garden was some battlefield!
Great Master Sun,
A sage from Heav'n,
And the furry girl,
A queen of women,
They took up a contest in magic powers.
One hardened a woman's heart to scold this black bonze;
One widened his eyes of wisdom to glower at a girl.
When the swords in both hands flew,
Who'd recognize a "lady bodhisattva"?
When the single rod attacked,
He was more vicious than a live vajra-guardian.
The golden-hooped crackled like thunderbolts;
The white steel flashed forth like luminous stars.
Kingfishers dropped from jade towers;
Mandarin ducks broke on the golden hall.
Apes wailed as the Szechwan moon dimmed;
Wild geese called from the vast southern sky.
The eighteen arhats
All shouted bravos in secret;
The thirty-two devas
All became terror-stricken.
As the Great Sage Sun became more and more energetic, the blows of his rod hardly ever slackening, the monster-spirit suspected that she would not be able to withstand him much longer. All at once her knitted brows gave her a plan, and she turned to flee.
"Lawless wench!" shouted Pilgrim. "Where are you going? Surrender instantly!" But the monster-spirit refused to answer and kept retreating. She waited until Pilgrim was about to catch up with her and then ripped off her flower slipper from her left foot. Reciting a spell and blowing a mouthful of magic breath on it, she cried "Change!" and it changed into her appearance, both hands wielding the swords to attack. Her true self in a flash turned into a clear gust and disappeared. Alas! Is she not once more the star of calamity for Tripitaka? She swept into the abbot's chamber and immediately abducted Tripitaka Tang. Silently and invisibly they rose straight to the clouds, and in a twinkling of an eye they reached Mount Void-Entrapping. After they entered the Bottomless Cave, she asked her little ones to prepare a vegetarian wedding feast, and there we shall leave them for the moment.
We tell you now about Pilgrim, who fought on anxiously till he found an opening and struck down the monster-spirit with one blow of the rod. Only then did he discover that it was merely a flower slipper. Realizing that he had been duped, Pilgrim rushed back to see his master, but he was nowhere to be found. Only Idiot and Sha Monk were there, chattering noisily about something. Maddened, Pilgrim lost all regard for good or ill as he raised high his rod and screamed, "I'm going to slaughter both of you! I'm going to slaughter both of you!"
Our Idiot was so terrified that he did not know where to flee. Sha Monk, however, was a general from Mount Spirit after all. When he saw that things had become complicated, he turned gentle and mild as he walked forward and went to his knees. "Elder Brother," he said, "I think I know what the matter is. You want to strike both of us dead so that you can go home and not go rescue Master."
''I'll slaughter both of you," replied Pilgrim, "and then I'll go rescue him
"Elder Brother, how can you speak like that?" said Sha Monk with a smile. "Without the two of us, you'll be reduced to the condition of the proverb:
One silk fiber is no thread;
A single hand cannot clap.
0 Elder Brother! Who's going to look after the luggage and the horse for you?
Better that we emulate Guan and Bao13 dividing their gold
Than to imitate Sun and Pang14 in their matching of wits.
As the ancients said,
To ]ight the tiger you need brothers of the same blood;
To go to war requires a troop of fathers and sons.
I beg you to spare us from this beating. By morning we'll unite with you in mind and effort to go search for Master:'
Though Pilgrim had vast magic powers, he was also a most sensible person. When he saw Sha Monk pleading like that, he at once relented, saying, "Eight Rules, Sha Monk, get up, both of you. We have to exert ourselves tomorrow to find Master." When Idiot learned that he was spared, he was ready to promise Pilgrim half of the sky! "0 Elder Brother," he said, "let old Hog take care of everything!" With so much on their minds the three brothers, of course, could hardly sleep. How they wished that
One nod of their heads would bring forth the rising sun,
One blow of their breaths would scatter all the stars!
Sitting up till dawn, the three of them immediately prepared to leave. Some of the monks in the monastery soon appeared, asking, "Where are the venerable fathers going?"
"It's hard for me to say this!" replied Pilgrim, chuckling. "I boasted yesterday that I would catch the monster-spirit for you. I haven't succeeded, but I have lost our master instead. We're about to go find him:'
Growing fearful, the monks said, "Venerable Father, such a small matter of ours has now caused your master trouble. Where do you plan to go to look for him?" "There'll be a place for us to look," replied Pilgrim.
"In that case," said one of the monks quickly, "there's no need to hurry. Please have some breakfast first." Thereupon they brought in several bowls of rice soup, and Eight Rules finished them all. "Good monks!" he cried. 'Mer we have found our master, we'll return for some more fun!"
"So you still want to come back here to eat!" said Pilgrim. "Why don't you go to the Devaraja Hall instead and see if that girl is still around?"
"No, she isn't, she isn't!" said another priest hurriedly. "She stayed there for one night, but she vanished the next day:'
In great delight Pilgrim at once took leave of the monks and asked Eight Rules and Sha Monk to tote the luggage and lead the horse to head for the east. "You've made a mistake, Elder Brother," said Eight Rules. "Why do you want to head for the east instead?"
"How could you know?" asked Pilgrim. "That girl who was tied up in the black pine forest the other day-these fiery eyes and diamond pupils of old Monkey have long seen through her. All of you thought that she was such a fine person! It was she who devoured the monks, and it was she who abducted Master. You rescued a fine lady Bodhisattva indeed! Now that Master is taken, we have to search for him on the road we came from."
"Very good! Very good!" said the two of them, sighing with admiration. "Truly there's finesse in your roughness! Let's go! Let's go!" The three of them hurried back to the forest, and all they saw were
Endless clouds,
Boundless fog,
Layered rocks,
Winding path;
Criss-crossing tracks of foxes and hare;
Tigers, wolves, and leopards crowding there.
Of the fiend in the woods there was no trace,
Where Tripitaka was they knew not the place.
Growing more anxious, Pilgrim whipped out his rod and, with one shake of his body, changed into that appearance that had gready disturbed the Celestial Palace: with three heads and six arms wielding three rods, he delivered blows madly all over the forest.
When he saw that, Eight Rules said, "Sha Monk, Elder Brother has gone berserk. Unable to locate Master, he's having a fit of anger!" Pilgrim's rampage, however, managed to tum up two old men; one was the mountain god, and the other the local spirit. "Great Sage," they said as they went to their knees, "the mountain god and the local spirit have come to see you."
"What a miraculous stick!" exclaimed Eight Rules. "He waved it around and beat out both this mountain god and this local spirit. If he beat it around some more, he might even get himself Jupiter!"
"Mountain god, local spirit," said Pilgrim as he began his interrogation. "How ill-behaved you are! You have persisted in making bandits your allies in this place, and when they succeed, they undoubtedly sacrifice livestock in your honor. Now you even band together with a monster-spirit and join her in abducting my master. Where have you hidden him? Confess at once, and I'll spare you a beating!"
Horrified, the two deities said, "The Great Sage has wrongly blamed us. That monster-spirit is not in this mountain, nor is she subject to our dominion. But these minor deities do happen to know a litde about the source of the wind last night:' "If you know," said Pilgrim, "tell it all!"
The local spirit said, "That monster-spirit has abducted your master to a place about one thousand miles due south of here. There is a mountain there by the name of Void-Entrapping, in which there is a cave called Bottomless. The mistress of the cave is the monster-spirit who took your master."
Startled by what he heard, Pilgrim dismissed the deities and retrieved his magic appearance. In his true form he said to Eight Rules and Sha Monk, "Master is very far away:' "Ifhe's very far:' said Eight Rules, "let's soar on the clouds to get there:'
Dear Idiot! He mounted a violent gust to rise first, followed by Sha Monk astride the clouds. Since the white horse was originally a dragon prince, he too trod on the wind and fog with the luggage on his back. Then the Great Sage also mounted his cloud somersault, and they all headed straight for the south. In a little while they saw a huge mountain blocking their path. Pulling back the horse, the three of them stopped their clouds to find that the mountain had
A peak rubbing the blue sky,
A top joining the green void.
Divers trees by the thousands grew all around;
Birds and fowl, cacophonous,flew here and there.
Tigers, leopards walked in bands;
Deer, antelope moved in herds.
Where it faced the sun,
Rare flowers and plants grew .fragrant;
On the shady parts
The ice and snow stayed stubborn.
The rugged summits;
Steep precipices;
A tall peak erect;
A deep winding brook.
Dark pine trees
And scaly rocks-
A sight that struck fear in a traveler's heart!
No shadow of one woodsman was ever seen,
Nor a trace of an herb-gathering youth.
Wild beasts before you could raise the fog
As foxes all around called up the wind.
Eight Rules said, "0 Elder Brother! Such a rugged mountain must harbor fiends!" "That goes without saying!" replied Pilgrim. "For as the proverb puts it,
A tall mountain will always have fiends.
Could rugged peaks be without spirits?
Sha Monk, you and I will remain here, and Eight Rules can go down to the mountain fold to see which is the better road to take. He should also find out whether there is in fact a cave, and whether its doors are open, and after he has made a thorough investigation, we can then go find Master and rescue him."
"Old Hog's so unlucky!" said Eight Rules. "You always put me up to something first!"
Pilgrim said, "You said last night that you would take care of everything. How could you go back on your word now?" "No need to start a quarrel!" said Eight Rules. "I'll go." Putting down his muckrake, Idiot shook loose his clothes and leaped down the mountain empty-handed. As he left, we do not know whether good or ill would befall him; let's listen to the explanation in the next chapter.