We were telling you about the Tang Monk, who took leave of the prefect. Riding along, he spoke most amiably to Pilgrim: "Worthy disciple, your virtuous fruit this time far surpasses even that of the occasion when you rescued the children of the Bh~u Kingdom. This is entirely your merit!"
'i\t the Bhi~u Kingdom," said Sha Monk, "only one thousand, one hun-
dred and eleven young boys were saved. How can that compare with this torrential rain, which provided moisture everywhere and revived hundreds and thousands oflives? This disciple, too, has been secretly admiring Elder Brother for his great magic strength which can move Heaven and for his compassion which covers the Earth:'
With a giggle, Eight Rules said, "Yes, Elder Brother has kindness, and he has virtue! Unfortunately, he practices benevolence and righteousness only on the outside, and he harbors malicious designs within. Whenever he walks with old Hog, he steps on people!"
"When did I ever step on you?" asked Pilgrim.
"Enough! Enough!" said Eight Rules. "Frequently you took care to see that I was bound, that I was hung up, that I was cooked, that I was steamed! Since you have extended your kindness and mercy to hundreds and thousands of people at the Phoenix-Immortal Prefecture, you should have stayed there at least half a year. That way I would have been able to enjoy a few leisurely meals, eating my fill. But all you did was hurry us on our way!"
On hearing this, the elder snapped at him, "This Idiot! All you can think of is something to stuff down your throat! Get moving quickly, and don't you dare talk back!" Not daring to utter a word, Eight Rules pouted a little; he toted the luggage and guffawed a few times as master and disciples headed down the main road. Time went by like a weaver's shuttle, and soon it was late autumn. You see
Water lines recede,
Mountain rocks turn bare.
Red leaves flutter about,
A time of yellow blossoms.
ThefrostBlows,youfeel the night lengthen;
The white moon pierces the paper screens.
Fire and smoke in all households, the twilight's long;
The lake surfaces a cold gleam everywhere.
Fragrant white duckweeds,
And dense red smartweeds.
Oranges yellow and green,
Droopy willows and handsome grains.
The wild geese drop by a hamlet midst rush like snow;
Soy beans are reaped as the inn's roosters crow.
After the four of them had journeyed for a long time, they again saw the shadow of city walls looming. Lifting his crop to point toward the distance, the elder called out: "Wukong, look! There's another city over there. I won· der what sort of a place it is?"
"You and I haven't even reached it," said Pilgrim. "How could we know? Let's go up there and ask some people." Just as he finished speaking, an old man walked out from a clump of trees. Holding a bamboo staff in his hands, he wore a light garment on his body, a pair of coir sandals on his feet, and a thin belt around his waist. The Tang Monk was so startled that he rolled down from his saddle at once, walked up to him, and saluted him. Leaning on his staff, the old man returned his greetings and asked, "Where have you come from, Elder?"
Pressing his palms together in front of him, the Tang Monk said, "This humble cleric is someone sent by the Tang court in the Land of the East to Thunderclap to seek scriptures from Buddha. Arriving at your treasure region, I see a rampart ahead of us. Since I do not know what place it is, I ask the old patron especially for instruction:'
On hearing this, the old man exclaimed, ''A Chan Master who possesses the Way! Our humble region here happens to be the lower prefecture of the Kingdom of India. The name of this place is the Jade-Flower District. As the county magistrate is a member of the royal household of the King of India, he has been appointed the Jade-Flower Prince. He is a most virtuous ruler, one who pays special reverence to Buddhists and Daoists and loves the common people dearly. If the old Chan Master goes to have an audience with him, he will undoubtedly grant you special honor." Tripi taka thanked him, and the old man left by walking through the forest.
Then Tripitaka turned to give a thorough account to his three disciples, who were all delighted and tried to help their master to mount. "It's not too far;' said Tripitaka. "I need not ride the horse:' The four of them, therefore, walked up to the city streets to look around. Most of the households over there, you see, were busily engaged in buying and selling. The place seemed to be densely populated, and business too seemed to be flourishing. Listen to their voices and look at their features: they seem no different from those of China. "Disciples:' admonished Tripi taka, "do be careful and don't be rowdy."
Eight Rules at once lowered his head and Sha Monk put a hand over his face. Pilgrim, however, took his master's arm to give him support, and soon people on both sides began to crowd them, vying to take a look at these strange travelers. "We have here noble priests who can tame dragons and subdue tigers:' they cried, "but we have never seen such hog-taming and monkey-subduing monks!"
Unable to contain himself, Eight Rules stuck out his snout and said, "Have you ever seen a hog-taming king of a priest?" He so frightened those people on the street that they stumbled and fell, scattering right and left. "Idiot," said Pilgrim, laughing, "hide your snout quickly. Stop being so histrionic, and watch your steps. You're about to cross a bridge:' Lowering his head, our Idiot kept giggling as they crossed the drawbridge to enter the city gates. On the big boulevards they could see many wine shops and song houses, all prospering and bustling in activities. It was indeed a capital city right out of China, for which we have a testimonial poem. The poem says:
A royal dty and fortress ever strong
Where all things seem .fresh near hills and rivers long.
The marts with a hundred goods the lake-boats ply;
To sell wine a thousand shops their banners fly.
On each tower and terrace the people bustle;
In every street and lane the traders hustle.
This scene's as lovely as that ofChang'an's fame:
Roosters crow, dogs bark-they all sound the same.
Secretly delighted, Tripitaka thought to himself, "I have heard people speaking of the various barbarians in the Western Territories, but I have never been here. When I look carefully at the place, however, I find that it's no different from our Great Tang. It certainly lives up to its name of Ultimate Bliss!" He overheard, moreover, that a picul of white rice cost no more than four mace of silver, and that a mere penny would fetch a catty of sesame oil. It was truly a region blessed with bountiful harvests of the five grains.
They walked for a long time before they reached the residence of the Jade-Flower Prince. On both sides of the residence, there were also the residence of the Administrator of a Princely Establishment, the Investigative Hall, the Refectory, and the Guest Hostel. "Disciples," said Tripitaka, "this is the royal residence. Let me go in to have an audience with the prince and have our rescript certified."
"If Master is going inside," said Eight Rules, "should we stand in front of this official residence?"
"Don't you see the sign on the door here?'' replied Tripitaka. "It says 'Guest Hostel.' You may enter and take a seat inside. Find some hay to feed our horse. After I have seen the prince, and if he bestows some food on us, I'll call you to share it with me." "You may go in without worry, Master," said Pilgrim. "Old Monkey will take care of things." Sha Monk then toted the luggage into the hostel. When the attendants inside saw how hideous they looked, they dared not question the visitors, nor were they bold enough to ask them to leave. They had, in fact, to permit the pilgrims to sit down, and there we shall leave them for the moment.
We tell you instead about the old master, who changed his attire, took up the travel rescript, and went to the royal residence. He was met by a protocol officer, who asked, "Where has the elder come from?"
Tripitaka answered, "I'm a priest sent by the Great Tang in the Land of the East to seek scriptures from the Buddhist Patriarch at the Great Thunderclap. Having arrived at your treasure region, I would like to have my travel rescript certified, and that is why I have come especially to have an audience with His Highness:' The protocol officer immediately announced his arrival.
The prince, who was indeed an upright and knowledgeable person, at once asked his visitor to enter. After Tripi taka had saluted him at the foot of the steps to the main hall, the prince invited him to take a seat inside. Tripitaka then presented the rescript. When the prince read it and noticed the seals of various kingdoms and their rulers' signatures, he too applied the treasure seal amiably and affixed his own signature. Folding it up again and placing it on the desk, the prince asked, "Elder National Preceptor, I see you have gone through many nations. Exactly how far is it from your Great Tang to this place?"
"This humble cleric does not quite remember the exact distance:' replied Tripitaka. "Years ago, however, the Bodhisattva Guanyin revealed her-
self to our emperor and left his line of the gāthā: 'The way: a hundred and
eight thousand miles:1 On his journey, this humble cleric has already gone through fourteen summers and winters:'
"That means fourteen years!" said the prince with a smile. "You must have had some delays on the way, I suppose:'
"I can't even give you a brief account of them-those ten thousand beasts and a thousand demons!" replied Tripi taka. "You have no idea, Your Highness, how much I have suffered before reaching your treasure region." Highly pleased, the prince immediately asked the royal chef to prepare a vegetarian meal for his visitor.
"Your Highness:' said Tripi taka again. "This humble cleric has three disciples waiting outside. I dare not receive the maigre, for I fear that our journey might be delayed:' The prince said to the court attendant, "Go quickly to invite the three disciples of the elder to come in and have a meal."
The officer went out with the invitation, but he was greeted by the remark: "We haven't see them! We haven't seen them!" Then one of the followers said, "There are three ugly priests sitting in the Guest Hostel. They must be the ones:' The court attendant went with his followers to the hostel and asked the official in charge, "Which ones are the noble disciples of the scripture-seeking priest of the Great Tang? Our lord has commanded that they be invited for a meal."
Eight Rules was just seated there, dozing. The moment he heard the
word meal he could not refrain from leaping up and replying, "We're the
ones! We're the ones!" The sight of him so terrified the court attendant that he screamed, shaking all over, "It's a hog-demon! A hog-demon!"
When Pilgrim heard the commotion, he tugged at Eight Rules and said, "Brother, try to be a little more civilized, and stop being such a village brute!" When those officials saw Pilgrim, they cried, "It's a monkey-spirit! A monkey-spirit!"
Folding his hands in his sleeve before his chest, Sha Monk said, "Please do not be frightened, all of you! We three are all disciples of the Tang Monk." On seeing him, the various officials all cried, "The god of the hearth! The god of the hearth!" Pilgrim Sun then asked Eight Rules to lead the horse and Sha Monk to tote the luggage so that they could all enter the Jade-Flower Royal Residence. The court attendant meanwhile went ahead to announce their arrival. When the prince's eyes beheld such ugliness, he, too, became quite frightened. Pressing his palms together, Tripitaka said, "Please have no fear, Your Highness. Though my disciples look ugly, they are all goodhearted:' Eight Rules walked forward and bowed, saying, "This humble cleric salutes you!" The prince grew even more apprehensive.
"My disciples:' Tripitaka said again, "were all recruited from the wilds. They are untutored in proper etiquette, and I beg you to forgive them." Suppressing his fear, the prince told the royal chef to take the monks to the GauzeDrying Pavilion for the vegetarian meal. After thanking him, Tripi taka left the prince and went with his disciples to the pavilion, where he immediately scolded Eight Rules. "You coolie!" he said. "You have no manners at all! You should have kept your mouth shut, and that would have been all right. How could you be so rude! One word, and you nearly knocked down the T'ai Mountain!"
"It's a good thing I neither spoke nor bowed," said Pilgrim, chuckling. "I've managed to save some energy!"
"He should have waited for us to bow together:' said Sha Monk. "Instead, he went ahead and started hollering with his snout jutting!"
"What a fuss! What a fuss!" said Eight Rules. "You told me some days ago, Master, that I should bow and make a salutation when I met someone. I did that today, and you say now that it's no good. What am I supposed to do?"
"I told you to bow and greet people;' said Tripitaka, "but I didn't tell you to fool with the prince! As the proverb says,
There are different kinds of things
And different grades of people.
How could you not distinguish between the noble and the lowly?" As they spoke, the royal chef led the servants to spread out tables and chairs and serve the maigre. Master and disciples stopped talking as each ate his meal.
We tell you instead about the prince, who left the main hall and went inside the palace. When his three young princes saw how pale he looked, they asked, "Why does Father King seem so frightened today?"
The prince said, "Just now there was a priest sent by the Great Tang in the Land of the East to seek scriptures from Buddha. He came to have his travel rescript certified, and he seemed a rather comely person. When I asked him to stay for a meal, he told me that he had disciples waiting in front of our residence. I ordered them invited also, but when they came in after a little while, they did not pay me the respect of performing the grand ceremony. All they did was bow, and I was already displeased. But when I managed to take a look at them, each one was ugly as a monstrous demon. I grew quite frightened, and that's why I look pale:' Now those three young princes, you see, were quite different from other people, for each of them was fond of martial arts. So they rolled up their sleeves at once and clenched their fists, saying, "Could these be monster-spirits from the mountain who have assumed human forms? Let us take our weapons out and have a look!"
Dear princes! The eldest took up a rod tall as his eyebrows; the second wielded a nine-pronged rake; and the third picked up a staff coated with black enamel. In big heroic strides, they walked out of the palace and shouted, "Who are the monks seeking scriptures? Where are they?" The chef and other officials all went to their knees and said, "Young princes, they are having their vegetarian meal at the Gauze-Drying Pavilion:'
Without regard for good or ill, the young princes barged right in and bellowed: ''Are you fiends or humans? Speak up quickly, and we'll spare your lives:' Tripitaka was so terrified that he paled with fright. Abandoning his rice bowl, he stood bowing and said, "Your humble cleric is someone sent by the Tang court to seek scriptures. I'm a human, not a fiend."
"You seem like a human all right," said one of the princes, "but those three hideous ones have to be fiends!" Eight Rules kept right on gorging himself with rice and refused to pay them any attention. Sha Monk and Pilgrim, however, rose slightly and said, "We too are humans. Our features may seem ugly, but our hearts are good; our bodies may seem cumbersome but our natures are kind. Where have you three come from? Why are you so brash with your words?"
The royal chef, standing at their side, said, "These three are our prince's heirs." Dropping down his bowl, Eight Rules said, "Your Highnesses, why are you each holding your weapon? Could it be that you want to fight with us?"
The second prince strode forward and raised his rake with both hands, about to strike Eight Rules. "That rake of yours,'' said Eight Rules, giggling
loudly, "only deserves to be the grandson of my rake!" He at once lifted up
his garment and took out his own rake from his waist. One wave of it and there were ten thousand shafts of golden light; he moved it a few times and there were a thousand strands of auspicious air. The prince was so terrified that his hands weakened and his tendons turned numb; he did not dare wield his own weapon any further.
When Pilgrim saw the eldest using a rod and hopping about, he took out from his ear the golden-hooped rod. One wave ofit and it had the thickness of a rice bowl and the length of about thirteen feet. He gave the ground a stab with it and it went in about three feet. As it stood there, Pilgrim said with a chuckle, ·~ow me to present you with this rod of mine!" When he heard that, the prince threw away his own rod and went to take hold of the other. He used all his strength to try to pull it out of the ground, but he could not move it one whit. He then tried to give it a shove and a shake, but it remained there as if it had taken root.
Growing impatient, the third prince attacked with his black-enameled staff, only to be brushed aside with one hand by Sha Monk. With his other, Sha Monk took out his fiend-routing staff, and with a litde twirl it created luminous colors and radiant mists. The royal chef and other officials were struck dumb and numb with fright, while the three young princes all knelt down and said, "Divine masters! Divine masters! Being mortals we did not recognize you. We beg you to show us your abilities, so that we may honor you as our teachers." Walking forward, Pilgrim lifted up his own rod with no effort at all and said, "It's too cramped here. I can't stretch my hands. Let me leap into the air and show you a litde of how the rod should be used:'
Marvelous Great Sage! With a loud whistle he somersaulted right up into midair, his two feet treading the auspicious cloud of five colors. At about three hundred paces above ground, he let loose his rod to make Sprinkling Flowers over the Top2 and the Yellow Dragon Entwining the Body. Up and down he moved, circling left and right. In the beginning his person and the rod so complemented each other that they seemed, as the adage had it, like flowers added to brocade. By and by even the person disappeared, and all one could see was a sky full of twirling rods!
Shouting a "Bravo!" down below, Eight Rules could not contain himself any longer. "Let old Hog go and sport a little too!" he cried. Dear Idiot! Mounting on a gust of wind, he rose also to midair and let loose his rake: three strokes up and four down, five strokes left and six strokes right, seven strokes in front and eight behind. All these bodily movements made one hear only a loud continuous swish. When the performance reached its most exciting moment, Sha Monk said to the elder, "Master, let old Sand go also and exercise!"
Dear Monk! With one leap he, too, rose into the air and wielded his staff. Now an ardent fighter swathed in golden radiance, he used both hands to make with his staff the Scarlet Phoenix Facing the Sun and the Hungry Tiger Leaping on its Prey. A tight parry and a slow block were followed by swift turns and quick lunges. The three brothers thus made a tremendous display of their magic potency, showing off their prowess and martial ability in midair. Thus it is that
The image of true Chan's no common view:
The Great Way's causes3 the cosmos imbue.
In power Gold and Wood fill the dharma-sphere;
Tossing Spatula and Ubiquity4 cohere.
At all times divine arms can their might lay bare;
Elixir vessels are honored everywhere.
Though India's lofty, one must nature coerce;
Jade-Flower princes all to the Mean reverse.5
So astounded were the three young princes that they went to their knees in the dust. Those officials, of high rank or low, around the Gauze-Drying Pavilion, the old prince in the royal residence, and the entire population of the city-whether military or civilian, male or female, Buddhist monks or nuns, Daoist clergy or laymen-all began chanting the name of Buddha and kowtowing. Each household, moreover, took up lighted incense and worshipped. Truly,
Images seen redeem monks to the real,
To bless the human world with peace and weal.
Henceforth the fruit ripens on Bodhi's way
Where all honor Chan and Buddha obey.
After the three disciples had made a thorough display of their heroic ability, they lowered their auspicious clouds and put away their weapons. Going before the Tang Monk, they bowed and thanked their master for permission before taking their seats again. There we shall leave them for the moment.
We tell you instead about those three young princes, who hurried back to the palace to report to the old prince, saying, "Father King, ten thousand happinesses have come upon you! Unsurpassable merit may be ours this very moment! Have you seen the display in midair?"
"I only saw colorful mists in the sky," replied the old prince, "and immediately your mother and I burned incense to worship along with the rest of the residents of the palace. We have no idea what immortals have come down and congregated at this place:'
"They weren't immortals from anywhere;' said one of the young princes. "They were just those very ugly disciples of the scripture-seeking priest. One of them used a golden-hooped iron rod, one a nine-pronged muckrake, and the third a fiend-routing treasure staff. Though the weapons we three use may resemble theirs, ours can in no way be compared with those three weapons. We asked them to exercise for us, and they told us that it was too cramped for them to perform on the ground. They wanted to rise to the air to give us an exhibition. When they mounted the clouds, the sky was filled with auspicious clouds meandering and hallowed air circling. They finally dropped down only a moment ago to take their seats once more in the Gauze-Drying Pavilion. Your sons are so delighted that they would like very much to honor them as teachers. If we could learn their ability to protect our nation, this would be indeed our unsurpassable merit. We wonder what our Father King thinks of this?" The aged prince at once gave his consent to what he heard.
And so father and sons, the four of them, did not ask for the royal carriage or the imperial panoply. Instead, they walked to the Gauze-Drying Pavilion, where they found the four pilgrims packing their belongings and just about to enter the royal palace to give thanks for the meal. No sooner had the Jade-Flower and his sons entered the pavilion than they all bowed low, so startling the elder that he, too, hugged the earth to return the salutation. Pilgrim and his two brothers, however, stepped to one side and only gave a slight smile. After the bows, the prince invited the four priests to enter the main hall to take a seat, and the four amiably agreed. Then the old prince stood up and said, "Old Master Tang, we have a request to make. Do you think that your noble disciples will grant it?"
"Please tell us, Your Highness," said Tripitaka. "My humble disciples
would not dare refuse you:'
"When we first met you," said the old prince, "we thought that you were merely mendicants from the distant Tang court. In fact, our eyes of flesh and our mortal disposition prevented us from recognizing you, and we might have greatly offended you. Just now when we beheld how Master Sun, Master Zhu, and Master Sha performed in the air, we realized that you are immortals and buddhas. As our three unworthy sons have always been fond of martial arts, they are now most eager to become disciples in order to learn the art well. We, therefore, beg the masters to open their hearts wide as Heaven and Earth. Spread afar your vessels of mercy and transmit your mysteries to our humble offspring. We shall thank you with the wealth of our entire city."
On hearing this, Pilgrim could not refrain from laughing uproariously. "Your Highness!" he said. "You're so benighted! We are people who have left the family, and we're only too anxious to take on a few disciples. If your sons have the desire to follow virtue, you think we'd turn them down? Just don't bother with even the merest hint of payment or profit. Treat us with kindness-that shall be our sufficient reward."
The prince was delighted by Pilgrim's words, and he immediately gave the order for a huge banquet to be laid out right there in the main hall of his residence. Behold! No sooner had the decree been issued than it was carried out. You see
Colors aflutter,
Curls of .fragrant smoke,
And gold inlaid tables festooned in bright silk
To dazzle one's eyes.
Gay lacquered chairs with brocade spread out
Add stylishness to the seats.
Fresh fruits from the trees
And aromatic teas.
Four or five dishes of pastries so light and sweet;
One or two panfuls of breads both rich and neat.
More marvelous are those steamed crispies and honey-glazed;
The oily-dips and sugar-roasted are truly great!
A few bottles of .fragrant glutinous rice wine
Which, when poured,
Surpasses the juice ofjade;
Several cups ofYangxian divine tea6 offered,
Once held in hand,
Its scent o'erpowers the cassia.
There's food of every variety-
Each item is extraordinary!
During this time the court entertainers were ordered to sing, to dance, and to play their woodwind and string instruments. Master and disciples spent a happy day together with the prince and his princes.
When night fell, the food and wine were taken away and bedding was laid out at the Gauze-Drying Pavilion for the pilgrims to rest. By morning, the prince said, the young princes would bum incense and return with all sincerity to receive instruction in martial arts. As each person obeyed the royal command, scented liquid was prepared for the masters to bathe in before retiring. At this time
The birds rest aloft and all seems at peace;
He leaves the couch, the poet's chantings cease.
The Milky Way shines as the heavens brighten;
The wild path's forlorn where grasses heighten.
Washing flails jangle in a yard nearby;
Dark, distant hills where homeward longings lie.
To know one's feelings the cold cricket seems:
Its loud plaint by bedside would pierce your dreams!
The night went by, and early in the morning, the old prince and his sons arrived once more to visit. When they were received by the elder, they greeted the priests as their teachers, even though they themselves had been honored as royalty the day before. Thus the young princes kowtowed to Pilgrim, Eight Rules, and Sha Monk as they made this request: "We beg the honorable teachers to take out their weapons and allow their disciples to look at
them once more:'
On hearing this, Eight Rules took out amiably his muckrake and laid it on the ground, while Sha Monk leaned his treasure staff against a wall. The second and third princes leaped up at once and tried to pick up the weapons. It was, however, as if dragonflies were pummeling pillars of rock! Though both princes struggled till their heads reddened and their faces turned scarlet, they could not budge the weapons one whit. When the eldest prince saw this, he called out: "Brothers, stop wasting your energy! You should know that the masters' are all divine weapons, but I wonder how heavy they are:'
With a chuclde, Eight Rules said, "My rake's not too heavy! No more, in fact, than the weight of a single canon. 7 Including the handle, it weighs five thousand and forty-eight pounds:'
Thming to Sha Monk, the third prince asked, "Master, how heavy is your treasure staff?"
"It's also five thousand and forty-eight pounds," replied Sha Monk. The eldest prince then asked Pilgrim to show him his golden-hooped rod. Pilgrim at once took out a tiny needle from his ear; one wave of it in the wind and it acquired the thickness of a rice bowl. As it stood there erect before their eyes, all the princes were frightened and all the officials grew apprehensive. Bowing, the three young princes said, "The weapons of Master Zhu and Master Sha are all carried on their persons and are taken out from beneath their clothes. Why is it that only Master Sun takes out his from his ear? Why does it grow the moment it's exposed to the wind?"
Smiling, Pilgrim said, "You don't seem to realize that my rod isn't just something you can pick up anywhere in this mortal world. This happens to be
An iron rod forged at Creation's dawn
By Great Yu himself, the gad-man of old.
The depths of all oceans, rivers, and lakes
Were fathomed and fixed by this very rod.
Having bored through mountains and conquered floods,
It stayed in East Ocean and ruled the seas,
Where after long years it turned luminous,
Able to grow or shrink or radiate.
To call it my own was old Monkey's fate,
To make it change in any way I wish.
I want it big, it'll fill the universe;
I want it small, it'll be a tiny pin.
Its name's Compliant, its style, Golden-hooped-
In Heaven and Earth something quite unique!
Its weight, thirteen thousand and .five hundred pounds,
It can grow thick or thin, can wane or wax.
It helped me to havoc the House of Heav'n;
It followed me to crush the halls of Earth.
It tames tigers and dragons everywhere;
It smelts at all places demons and fiends.
One jab upward will make the sun grow dim
And daunt the gods and ghosts of Heav'n and Earth.
A treasure handed down from Chaos' time:
No worldly iron is this rod sublime!"
When those princes heard this declaration, every one of them bowed again and again and begged with all sincerity for instruction. "What sort of martial arts do you three want to learn?'' asked Pilgrim.
One of the princes said, "The one used to wielding a rod will study the rod. The one accustomed to using a rake will study the rake, and the one fond of using the staff will study the staff."
"It's easy enough to give instruction;' said Pilgrim with a smile, "but none of you has any strength, and you can't wield our weapons. I fear that you will not be able to attain mastery, and then the result will be something like, 'A poorly drawn tiger that looks like a dog!' As the ancients aptly put it,
Instruction lacking sternness is the teacher's sloth;
Learning without accomplishment is the student's fault.
If the three of you are indeed sincere about the matter, you may bum some incense to worship Heaven and Earth. Let me then transmit some divine strength to you first, and only thereafter can we teach you the martial arts."
Filled with delight by these words, the three young princes went to find an incense table and carried it back themselves. Having purified their hands and lighted sticks of incense, they bowed deeply to Heaven. After the ceremony, they then asked for instruction from their masters. Thming around, Pilgrim saluted the Tang Monk in tum and said, "Let me inform the honored master and ask for his pardon. Since I was delivered by your great virtue that year in the Mountain of Two Frontiers, and since I embraced the faith of Buddhism, I have followed you in your westward journey. Though I have yet to repay all the kindness of my master, I have nonetheless served you with all my heart and all my strength. Now that we have arrived at a region in Buddha's kingdom, we have the good fortune of meeting three worthy princes who have made submission to us and are desirous of learning the martial arts. If they become our disciples, they will be the grand-disciples of my master. I want to make this special report to you before I begin instruction." Tripi taka was exceedingly pleased.
When Eight Rules and Sha Monk saw Pilgrim saluting their master, they, too, went to their knees and kowtowed to Tripitaka, saying, "Master, we are foolish persons, slow of speech and dull-witted, and we don't know how to speak. We simply beg you to take the lofty seat of dharma and allow also the two of us the pleasure of taking disciples. They'll add to our remembrance of the journey to the West." In delight Tripi taka gave his consent.
In a secluded room behind the Gauze-Drying Pavilion, Pilgrim traced out on the ground a diagram of the Big Dipper. Then he asked the three princes to prostrate themselves inside the diagram and, with eyes closed, exercise the utmost concentration. Behind them he himself recited in silence
the true sayings of realized immortality and intoned the words of Dhiira7Ji
as he blew divine breaths into their visceral cavities. Their primordial spirits were thus restored to their original abodes. 8 Then he transmitted secret oral formulas to them so that each of the princes received the strength of a thousand arms. He next helped them to circulate and build up the firephases, 9 as if they themselves were carrying out the technique for shedding the mortal embryo and changing the bones. Only when the circulation of the vital force had gone through all the circuits of their bodies (modeled on planetary movements) did the young princes regain consciousness. When they jumped to their feet and gave their own faces a wipe, they felt more energetic than ever. Each of them, in fact, had become so sturdy in his bones and so strong in his ligaments that the eldest prince could handle the goldenhooped rod, the second prince could wield the nine-pronged muckrake, and the third prince could lift the fiend-routing staff.
When the old prince saw this, he could not have been more pleased, and another vegetarian banquet was laid out to thank the master and his three disciples. Right before the banquet tables, however, they began their instruction. The one studying the rod performed with the rod; the one studying the rake performed with the rake; and the one studying the staff performed with the staff. The princes thus succeeded in making a few turns and several movements, but they were, after all, mortals, and they found the goings rather strenuous. After exercising for a while, they began to pant heavily. Indeed, they could not last long, though their weapons might have the ability to undergo transformation. In their advances and retreats, their attacks and offenses, the princes simply could not attain the wonder of natural transformation. Later that day the banquet came to an end.
The next day the three princes came again to thank their masters and to say: "We thank the divine master for endowing us with strength in our arms. Though we are now able to hold the weapons of our masters, however, we find it difficult to wield and tum them. We propose, therefore, that artisans be asked to duplicate the three weapons. They will use your weapons as models but take some of the weight off. Would the masters grant us permission?"
"Fine! Fine! Fine!" said Eight Rules. "That's a remarkable proposal! You really can't use our weapons in the first place, and besides, we need them for the protection of the Law and the subjugation of demons. You should indeed make three other weapons." The young princes immediately ordered the ironsmiths to purchase ten thousand pounds of raw iron. A tent was pitched in the front courtyard of the royal residence to serve as a temporary factory, and furnace and forge were set up. First, the iron was refined into steel in one day; the next day they asked Pilgrim and his two brothers to place the golden-hooped rod, the nine-pronged rake, and the fiendrouting staff in the teu't so that the smiths could make copies of them. The weapons were thus left there day and night.
Alas! These weapons originally were treasures meant to be carried by the pilgrims on their persons and inseparable from them for one moment. Even when concealed by the pilgrims' bodies, they would exude great radiance to protect their owners. Now that they had been placed in the tent factory for several days, the myriad shafts ofluminous mist and auspicious air emitted by these weapons flooded the sky and covered the earth. One night, a monster-spirit sat up in his abode, which happened to be some seventy miles away from the city, in a mountain called Leopard's-Head and a cave named Tiger's-Mouth. When he suddenly caught sight of the luminous mist and auspicious air, he mounted the clouds to investigate and found that the radiance was coming from the royal palace. Lowering his cloud to draw near, the monster-spirit discovered the three weapons and was moved to delight and desire. "Marvelous treasures! Marvelous treasures!" he exclaimed. "I wonder who uses them, and why they are placed here? Hmmmmm! This has to be my affinity! Let's take them away! Let's take them away!" As his affection grew, he at once summoned a powerful gust and swept away all three weapons and returned to his own cave. Thus it is that
Dao can't be left for a moment;
What can be left is not the Dao.10
When weapons divine are stolen,
The seekers have labored in vain.
In the end we don't know how those weapons will be found; let's listen to the explanation in the next chapter.