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06 The Search for the Scripture Pilgrim

The monster threw down his rake and bowed to Guanyin. "Forgive me, Bodhisattva! I was once Marshal Tianpeng of the Heavenly River. Drunk with wine I insulted Chang'e, and the Jade Emperor had me struck two thousand blows and cast down to the mortal dust. By mischance I was reborn into the womb of a sow and took this shape. Save me, I beg you!" "I go by the Buddha's command to the eastern land to find the pilgrim," said Guanyin. "Go with him as his disciple and make the journey to the West; your merit will cancel your guilt, and I promise you escape from the sea of bitterness." "I will go, I will go!" the monster cried eagerly. Guanyin laid her hand on his head, gave him the precepts and the Dharma name Zhu Wuneng. From then on Zhu Wuneng kept the fast and ate only vegetarian food, and waited for the pilgrim. Guanyin and Mucha took leave of Wuneng and pressed on eastward. As they went they saw a jade dragon calling in the air. Guanyin drew near and asked, "What dragon are you, that you suffer here?" "I am the son of Ao Run, Dragon King of the Western Sea," said the jade dragon. "For setting fire to the bright pearls in the palace hall the Jade Emperor hung me in the air and had me struck three hundred strokes; in a few days I am to be executed. Save me, Bodhisattva!" Hearing this, Guanyin hastened to the Hall of Lingxiao to see the Jade Emperor. "This humble monk begs Your Majesty to spare the guilty dragon's life and give him to me, that he may serve the pilgrim as a mount." The Jade Emperor gave the order to release the dragon and hand him over. The little dragon kowtowed in thanks for his life and vowed to obey her. Guanyin sent him into a deep ravine, there to wait until the pilgrim came, when he would turn himself into a white horse and win merit on the road west. Guanyin and Mucha went on eastward. Before long they saw ten thousand shafts of golden light and a thousand bands of auspicious air: they had come to the Five-Elements Mountain. Seeing the charm pasted on the mountain, Guanyin could not help sighing: "The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, who once threw Heaven into chaos — here he lies pinned." Even as she spoke a voice called from below the mountain: "Who is there, exposing my shortcomings?" Guanyin went down to look, and found in a stone casket a solitary stone monkey, able to speak but unable to move. "You of the Sun family," she asked, "do you know me?" Sun Wukong opened his fiery eyes and golden pupils. "How should I not? You are Guanyin of the South Sea, full of great compassion. The Buddha has held me under this mountain for more than five hundred years — save me, I beg you!" "Your sin is heavy indeed," said Guanyin. "If I free you, I fear you will work more mischief." "I have repented," said Wukong. "Show me a way out!" Then Guanyin said, "Since your heart is so inclined, I shall go to the Great Tang in the east and find one who seeks the scriptures, and bid him free you. You shall go as his disciple and cultivate the true fruit once more. What say you?" "I will go, I will go!" Wukong answered eagerly. Guanyin was delighted. With Mucha she left that place and went straight east, toward Chang'an, capital of the Great Tang. Emperor Taizong, having weathered the affair of the dragon's execution and returned from the Underworld to the world of light, called his ministers together to organise a Water-and-Land Assembly and commanded officials everywhere to put forward monks of high attainment. In less than a month the holy monks of the empire had gathered in Chang'an. Then the Emperor bade Wei Zheng and others choose a master of the law to preside. After examining them one by one they settled on a monk of great virtue: the Master Xuanzang. His milk name was Jiangliu, and behind that name lies a bitter history.

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