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26 The Lesser Thunder Monastery

Master and disciples strolled among flowers and greenery, following the horse at a leisurely pace. As they traveled, suddenly a high mountain appeared, seeming to touch the sky in the distance. Before long, the four travelers reached the foot of the cliff and began climbing upward step by step. This mountain had a thousand cliffs and ten thousand ravines, winding in a hundred bends. Deer, apes, foxes, and badgers roamed about; tigers, leopards, wolves, and jackals blocked the path. Sun Wukong waved his golden-hooped rod and gave a mighty shout, frightening off the beasts. He cleared a path through the mountainside and led his Master straight up the high peak. Passing over the ridge, suddenly they saw auspicious light drifting in mists of many colors. There stood a complex of towers and halls, and faintly the sound of bells and chimes wafted on the air. Wukong shaded his eyes with his hand and looked carefully: amid the jeweled pavilions and precious seats lurked a hidden aura of menace. Wukong replied, "Master, this scene resembles the Thunderclap Monastery, yet something is amiss. We must not enter rashly, lest we fall into deadly peril." The Tang Monk said, "Since it has the appearance of Thunderclap, might it not be Vulture Peak? Do not let your doubts delay my sincere purpose or hinder my mission." The Tang Monk whipped his horse to the temple gate, where he saw three large characters: "Thunderclap Monastery." Terrified, he rolled off his horse and fell to the ground, cursing, "You wretched ape, you have killed me! This is the Thunderclap Monastery itself — how could you deceive me!" Wukong said with a placating smile, "Master, do not be angry. There are four characters on the gate — why did you read only three? And then you blame me." The Tang Monk trembled as he climbed to his feet and looked again: truly there were four characters, reading "Little Thunderclap Monastery." The Tang Monk said, "Even if it is the Little Thunderclap Monastery, there must surely be a Buddha within." Wukong said, "This place bodes ill rather than good. Should misfortune befall you, do not blame me." The Tang Monk would not listen. He ordered Bajie to fetch the kasaya, changed his monk's cap, donned his formal vestments, and strode forward. From inside the gate a voice called out, "Tang Monk, you have come from the East Land to pay homage to my Buddha — why do you tarry so negligently?" Hearing this, the Tang Monk bowed at once. Bajie and Sandy also knelt and kowtowed. Only Wukong held the horse behind them, watching coldly. Inside the second gate they saw the Great Hall of Tathagata. Below the precious platform before the hall stood arrayed five hundred arhats, three thousand guardian gods, four diamond deva-kings, eight bodhisattvas, bhikshuni, upasaka, and countless holy monks and Taoists — truly a scene of fragrant flowers and brilliant auspicious vapors. The Tang Monk, Bajie, and Sandy proceeded in trembling awe, bowing at every step. Wukong openly refused to bow. From the lotus throne a voice rang out harshly, "Sun Wukong, why do you not bow before Tathagata?" Wukong looked closely and saw it was false. He seized his rod and shouted, "Abomination! How dare you usurp the Buddha's name and defile Tathagata's pure reputation! Do not flee!" Raising the rod with both hands, he struck forward. Suddenly a clang sounded from mid-air, and a pair of golden cymbals came crashing down, enclosing Wukong from head to foot within them. Pig Bajie and Friar Sandy, in their haste, raised rake and staff, but the arhats, guardians, holy monks, and Taoists swarmed forward and surrounded them. Caught unprepared, both were captured. The Tang Monk was seized as well, and all were bound fast with ropes and cords. It transpired that the figure impersonating the Buddha on the lotus throne was a demon king, and all the arhats and the rest were minor demons. Now the demons dropped their holy disguises and revealed their true forms. They carried the Tang Monk, Bajie, and Sandy to the rear, hid the horse and baggage, and kept Wukong sealed inside the golden cymbals, never to be opened, doomed to dissolve into pus and blood within three days and nights. Now Wukong was trapped inside the golden cymbals. It was pitch black within, and he sweated profusely from the heat. He pushed and shoved left and right but could not free himself. In desperation he employed every divine power he possessed, yet could not move the golden cymbals so much as a hairsbreadth. Wukong recited a spell and summoned the Five Directions' Guardian Gods, the Six Ding and Six Jia Spirits, and the eighteen Guardian Kalas. He told them what had happened and said, "No light penetrates here — I am suffocating! Use your magic to pry open these cymbals and release me." The gods tried every means to force the cymbals apart, but they seemed grown as one piece, without the slightest crack.

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