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25 The Kingdom of Jisai

When they entered the city, they suddenly saw a dozen or more monks, every one of them wearing a cangue and chains, begging from door to door in misery beyond words. The Tang Monk sighed, "When the hare dies the fox grieves; every creature sorrows for its own kind." Then he called, "Wukong, go forward and ask them why they suffer so." Wukong did as he was told. He walked over and called out, "Monks, what temple do you belong to?" The monks bowed and said, "In answer to your lordship, we are the wronged monks of the Temple of Golden Light." Wukong brought them before the Tang Monk and asked, "How were you wronged? Tell me about it." The monks said, "The reverend sir looks kindly to us, but we dare not speak at length in this place. Please come to our temple and we will tell you everything." The master and his disciples followed the monks until they came to a temple. Three great characters were written above its gate: "Temple of Golden Light." The temple was cold and deserted, and sadly fallen into ruin. The sight filled the Tang Monk's heart with bitterness and he could not hold back his tears. Still wearing their cangues, the monks led master and disciples into the main hall, and only then did they begin to tell how they had been wronged. "This is the Kingdom of Jisai. In the Temple of Golden Light there stood a jeweled pagoda, and on the pagoda rested the Buddha's relic, wrapped in auspicious clouds and glowing with light by night. All the neighboring kingdoms marveled at it, honored our land as a heavenly mansion and a divine capital, and came year after year to pay tribute. "Three years ago a rain of blood fell in the dead of night. When dawn came, the treasure on the pagoda had vanished. From that day the pagoda lost its auspicious clouds and gave forth no light. When the neighboring kingdoms heard of it, for these two years they have sent no tribute. "The king believed the words of corrupt officials and decided that the monks of the temple had stolen the treasure from the pagoda. He had us all dragged off and tortured in a thousand ways, demanding to know what had become of it. Some of the monks could not bear it and died; the rest of us are still suffering." At this the monks fell to their knees before the Tang Monk and said, "Reverend sir, how could we ever have stolen the Buddha's relic? We beg you in your mercy to save our lives!" The Tang Monk raised them to their feet. "When I left Chang'an I made a vow," he said, "that on my way to the West I would worship the Buddha in every temple I met and sweep every pagoda I saw. Please prepare a new broom for me. When I have swept the pagoda I will look into the loss of the treasure, and tomorrow I can report all this to the king and deliver you from your misery." Wukong stepped forward, made a pass with his hand, and every cangue and chain upon the monks fell open and dropped to the ground. The monks were overjoyed. They hurried to the kitchen, scrubbed the pots and stoves clean, and prepared a meal. By the time the Tang Monk and his disciples had finished their vegetarian repast, dusk had fallen. The Tang Monk bathed, put on a narrow-sleeved gown and a pair of tall leather boots, took up the new broom and set out to sweep the pagoda. When he reached it, Wukong caught up with him and said, "Master, the night is still and the wind is cold; it may be dangerous for you to go alone. Let old Sun go with you. What do you say?" The Tang Monk said, "Very well!" The two opened the pagoda door and began sweeping from the first story. Story after story they swept, and by the time they reached the seventh it was already the second watch.

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