Home > Journey to the West > 40-true-scriptures

40 The True Scriptures

Seeing his master wave his hands again and again in terror, Wukong ran back, caught Bajie by the arm and dragged him toward the log. "Brother Monkey," Bajie begged, "it is far too slippery to walk; let me ride the mist across!" Wukong laughed, "Blockhead, what place do you think this is, that you may ride the clouds as you please?" Even as they were struggling together, a small boat came poling toward them from a little way off. The Tang Monk was overjoyed; then he looked more closely and saw that the boat had railings but no bottom at all. He stepped forward and said to the ferryman, "May I ask you, boatman, how a bottomless boat can carry a man across?" The ferryman laughed, "It carries! It carries!" Now the Great Sage, whose eyes of fire can pierce all things, had long since seen that the ferryman was the Buddha of the Radiant Jeweled Banner, who guides souls to the Spirit Mountain; but he would not tell his master, and only folded his hands and gave thanks. While the Tang Monk still hung back, Wukong said, "Set your heart at ease, Master, and board!" And with that he gave him a push. The Tang Monk swayed and all but fell into the water, but the ferryman caught him fast. Still grumbling, the Tang Monk was given no time to argue: Wukong led the white dragon horse aboard and brought Bajie and Sandy after him, and the ferryman swung his pole and pushed off from the bank. Then a dead body came floating upon the water, and the Tang Monk started in horror, for its face was none other than his own. Wukong laughed, "Fear not, Master; that is your mortal flesh. You have cast it off and been made new; your merit is complete and you are a Buddha." When they had landed and looked back, both ferryman and boat had vanished without a trace. Then at last Wukong told them who the ferryman had been, and the Tang Monk understood all in a flash. Once past the Cloud-Soaring Ford, all four felt their bodies light and nimble, and climbed at their ease to the crown of the Spirit Mountain, where strange peaks stood in rows and fantastic rocks crowded one upon another, where blue phoenixes wheeled in blessed mist and jewelled halls lay scattered among the sheer cliffs. Among the pines and cypresses the Tang Monk saw devout laymen and monks and nuns on every side, and hastened forward to salute them. They folded their hands and said, "Holy monk, go quickly and pay homage to the Buddha!" The four went straight to the great Temple of Thunder, where the four vajra guardians came forward to meet them. The Tang Monk bowed low and said, "This disciple Xuanzang is come to worship before the Buddha." The guardians said, "Wait but a moment, holy monk, while we make it known." The guardians passed the word along from court to court, their voices rolling like great bells, until it reached the throne of Tathagata, who at once issued his golden command that the pilgrims be brought in. Through the mountain gate they came into the Hall of the Great Hero. On either side stood the eight bodhisattvas, four vajra kings, five hundred arhats, three thousand guardian spirits, eleven great luminaries and eighteen temple gods; and upon the lotus throne in the center sat the Buddha, golden-robed and jade-faced, most majestic to behold. The four knelt long before Tathagata and bowed their heads to the floor. The Tang Monk offered up his travel passport and said, "This disciple Xuanzang comes by the command of the emperor of Great Tang in the east to seek the true scriptures. In your mercy, I beg you to grant them and let me bear them home." The Buddha read the passport and returned it, saying, "In your southern continent the sky is high and the earth broad, your goods are many and your people countless; yet you keep not my law nor turn to good works, and heap up boundless sin, and so bring down unearned calamity. I hold three stores of scripture, of Law, of Discourse and of Sutra, that can lift the sorrows of heaven and earth and the afflictions of gods and ghosts."

 3/9   Home Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next Last