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09 Old Gao's Village

The demon bowed to the Tang Monk afresh and vowed to follow him westward. The Tang Monk wished to give him a name in religion, but the demon said the Bodhisattva had already laid her hand upon his head and given him the precepts and the name Zhu Wuneng. The Tang Monk was well pleased. Wuneng had kept the Bodhisattva's precepts and held to the vegetarian fast. "Since you abstain from the five meats and the three forbidden things," said the Tang Monk, "I will give you another name: Bajie, the Eight Prohibitions." And from that time Wuneng was also called Zhu Bajie. Squire Gao was delighted to see Bajie turn from evil to good, and laid on a vegetarian feast to thank the Tang Monk. Bajie plucked at the squire's sleeve. "Father-in-law, will you ask my good wife to come out and pay her respects to my master and my brother?" "Brother," said Wukong with a laugh, "you are a monk now. Say no more of such things." When the meal was done, Squire Gao brought out two hundred taels of loose silver and gold as travelling money for the three, and three gowns for them to wear. The Tang Monk refused. "We are wandering monks. We beg our rice at any village and ask for a vegetarian meal wherever we are. How should we dare accept gold and silver?" Wukong snatched up a handful of silver and pressed it into Gao Cai's hand. "It was meeting you yesterday that won my master a new disciple. Take this as thanks, and buy yourself a pair of shoes." Gao Cai knocked his head in thanks at once. "Since you will not take the silver," said Squire Gao, "then pray accept these few coarse garments." The Tang Monk again declined, but Bajie said, "My brother tore my coat and my shoes are worn through. Father-in-law, give me a dark brocade cassock and a new pair of shoes." The squire at once had Gao Cai see to it. In his new coat and shoes Bajie bowed to the squire. "I go to be a monk today, and cannot take my leave of all my kin in person — do not think ill of me. And I beg you, father-in-law, deal kindly with my wife. If we should fail to bring back the scriptures, I will leave the order and be your son-in-law again." "Fool," shouted Wukong, "still talking nonsense at such a time as this!" Seeing the hour was late, the Tang Monk told his disciples to gather their things and be off. Bajie shouldered the baggage, Wukong led the way, and the three took leave of Squire Gao and the rest and went westward. They travelled for more than a month and had left the borders of Wusizang when a high mountain barred the road ahead. Seeing how perilous it looked, the Tang Monk told his disciples to be on their guard. "Do not worry, Master," said Bajie. "This is called Mount Futu. A Chan master named Wu Chao lives here as a hermit, and I have met him once. He has some attainment in the Way; he once urged me to stay and study with him, but I would not." They went on, and in the distance saw a nest of straw and brushwood in a juniper tree: on the left a deer with a flower in its mouth, on the right a mountain monkey offering fruit; in the branches green luan birds and phoenixes sang together, and below the tree dark cranes and golden pheasants gathered. "There is the Crow-Nest Chan Master!" said Bajie, pointing. Seeing visitors, the Chan Master left his nest and climbed down from the tree. The Tang Monk dismounted and bowed; the Chan Master raised him by the hand. "Rise, holy monk. Forgive me for not coming to meet you." Bajie came forward to pay his respects. The Chan Master started. "You are Zhu Ganglie of Mount Fuling. What great good fortune is this, that you should travel with the holy monk?" Bajie told him how Guanyin had urged him to amend and how he had come to escort the Tang Monk, and the Chan Master praised it warmly. The Chan Master asked who Wukong was. "You know him," said Wukong with a laugh, "and do not know me." "My experience is small," said the Chan Master, "and so I do not." "This is my eldest disciple, Sun Wukong," said the Tang Monk. The Chan Master smiled and returned the greeting. The Tang Monk asked the way to the Great Thunderclap Monastery in the Western Heaven. "It is very far," said the Chan Master, "and the road is hard, with tigers and leopards upon it." The Tang Monk pressed him for a remedy. "I have a copy of the Heart Sutra," said the Chan Master. "Wherever demons and pestilence beset you, recite it and no harm will come to you." And he recited it aloud for the Tang Monk to learn.

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