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07 Eagle Grief Gorge

Past the slope they heard a rushing in the wind. "That will be a wildcat," said Boqin. "Sit a while, Venerable, while I go and take it." Sure enough a great striped tiger appeared ahead, and Liu Boqin raised his fork and met it. They fought a full two hours before Boqin ran it through. "Truly you are the god of these mountains!" the Tang Monk marvelled. With the fork in one hand and the tiger dragged behind him, Boqin led the Tang Monk to the gate of a mountain hamlet. "Where are my lads?" he called, and three or four servants came out and carried the dead tiger in. He brought the Tang Monk home and presented him to the family, and the monk greeted them with palms together. Learning he was a holy monk of the Great Tang, Boqin's mother was delighted. "Tomorrow is the anniversary of my husband's death. I beg you to perform the rites and release his soul." The next day the Liu family set out incense. The Tang Monk bathed and changed, lit the incense, struck the wooden fish and chanted the scriptures, performing the rites all day long. That night Boqin's father appeared to the family in a dream. "I was suffering in the Underworld with no hope of release. But the holy monk's chanting has washed away my sins, and King Yama has sent me to be reborn in a wealthy house. Thank the Venerable well, and treat him with all respect." At dawn the next day Liu Boqin and his family brought silver to thank him, but the monk firmly refused. So his mother and wife made some dry provisions and bade Boqin escort the Tang Monk a stretch of the way. Halfway up a great mountain Boqin stopped. "This is the Two-Worlds Mountain, the Tang frontier. I can go no further." The Tang Monk begged him to go on, but Boqin said, "Beyond lies Tartar territory, where the tigers and wolves do not submit to me." Just then a voice cried from the foot of the mountain: "My master is coming! My master is coming!" The Tang Monk was alarmed. "That will be the old ape in the stone casket below," said Boqin. "What old ape?" the monk asked. "The old men say this mountain was once called the Five-Elements Mountain," Boqin said. "When Wang Mang usurped the Han, it fell from the sky and pinned a divine monkey beneath it, guarded by the earth god. When he is hungry he eats iron pellets; when thirsty he drinks molten copper; and to this day cold and hunger have not killed him. Do not be afraid — let us go and look." They went down and found in the stone casket an ape, his head thrust out, waving to them. "Master, why have you come so late? Well come, well come! Free me, and I will see you safely to the West!" "Do you mean me?" asked the Tang Monk. "Just so, just so," said the ape. "I am the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, who five hundred years ago threw Heaven into chaos, and was pinned here by the Buddha. Guanyin Bodhisattva instructed me to await the pilgrim. Free me quickly, and I will guard you on the road west." The Tang Monk was overjoyed. "But I have no axe or chisel. How can I free you?" "No need for axe or chisel," said the ape. "On the mountain top is a gold-lettered charm of the Buddha's. Lift it off, and I will come out of myself." Boqin helped him to the summit, where ten thousand shafts of golden light and a thousand bands of auspicious air shone forth. On a great rock was pasted a charm bearing the six golden syllables Om Mani Padme Hum. The Tang Monk knelt and bowed several times and said a prayer, then stepped forward and gently lifted the seal. A fragrant wind sprang up and whirled the charm into the air, and a voice cried, "I am the heavenly spirit set to guard the Great Sage. His term of suffering is ended, and I return to the Buddha to report."

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