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06 The Search for the Scripture Pilgrim

In a trice the seventh day came, the culmination of the Assembly, and Xuanzang asked the Emperor to offer incense. Taizong came early with his ministers, the ladies of the palace and the imperial kin, and many of the city's people came too to hear the scriptures. Guanyin said to the boy Mucha, "Today is the great day of the Assembly. Let us go and see how it is conducted, and hear what doctrine is being preached." The two turned themselves once more into scabby-headed monks and mingled with the crowd. The Huasheng Temple was a sea of people. Xuanzang in his cassock preached from the high platform, reciting now from the Scripture of Birth and Deliverance of the Dead, then discoursing on the Register of Heavenly Treasures for Ordering the State, then expounding the Scroll of Exhortation to Good Works. Guanyin went up to the platform and called out, "Monk up there — you teach only the Lesser Vehicle. Can you preach the Greater?" Xuanzang came down at once and bowed to her. "Venerable master, the monks here teach only the Lesser Vehicle. None of us knows the Greater Vehicle at all." They were still speaking when the Emperor, hearing of it, hurried over. Recognising the monk who had given the cassock, he demanded, "You came to hear the preaching. Why do you disrupt the hall and hinder the rites?" Guanyin said, "What your master preaches is the Lesser Vehicle, which cannot carry the dead up to heaven. I hold the Three Baskets of the Greater Vehicle, which can ferry all living beings across, gather merit and do good, bring wind and rain in season, and keep the nation at peace." With that she trod an auspicious cloud and rose into the sky, revealing her true form: the willow branch and pure vase in her hands, and at her left the boy Mucha with a great cudgel, all vigour and alertness. At the sight everyone fell to their knees and bowed toward heaven. As she receded, a slip of paper floated down from the sky, on which was written: "Greetings to the sovereign of Great Tang: in the West there is a marvellous text. The road runs a hundred and eight thousand li; the Greater Vehicle presses eagerly on. Let these scriptures return to your realm and they will lift even ghosts above the throng. Whoever will go shall win the true fruit and a body of gold." The Emperor read the slip and called the monks together. "I am resolved to worship the Buddha and fetch the scriptures. Which master will go?" Xuanzang stepped forward and bowed. "Untalented though this poor monk is, I will go to the West and seek the true scriptures." Emperor Taizong was overjoyed and raised him up. "You do not fear the mountains and rivers, the length of the road. I will take you as my brother." There before the Buddha he bowed four times with Xuanzang and called him "Imperial Brother, the Holy Monk." Xuanzang returned to the Hongfu Temple to prepare for the journey. Several of his disciples said, "Master, they say the road west is long and full of tigers, leopards and demons, and that a man who goes does not come back alive." Xuanzang said, "My mind is made up. Without the true scriptures I will not return." The next morning the Emperor came with all his ministers to see him off, going with him beyond the frontier pass. "Imperial Brother," he said, "here is a purple-gold alms bowl for your begging along the road. And here is a white horse to carry you." "Have you a Dharma name, Imperial Brother?" the Emperor asked. "I am a monk," said Xuanzang. "I do not presume to a title." "In the West the scriptures are in three baskets," said the Emperor. "Take your name from them: let your Dharma name be Sanzang." Beyond the pass the Emperor had a cup of wine poured for him, took up a pinch of earth and flicked it into the cup. "Your road is long, Imperial Brother, and the years will be many. Drain this cup, and may you prize one pinch of your native soil above ten thousand taels of foreign gold."

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