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40 The True Scriptures

At the sight of the Buddha, Wukong cried out, "Guanyin called us and we came ten thousand li through every hardship to fetch the scriptures; yet when their bribe was refused, Ananda and Kasyapa gave us wordless ones! Judge them, O Buddha!" The Buddha smiled, "I know of this. But the scriptures may not be lightly given, nor taken for nothing." Tathagata went on, "Once my monks went down and recited these scriptures at the house of the elder Zhao in the land of Sravasti, and were given but three pecks and three pints of grain gold; and I said they had sold it cheap, and left my children of later ages poor. You came empty-handed, and so were given the wordless kind." Wukong laughed, "So this business of demanding money began with you!" The Buddha ordered Ananda and Kasyapa to choose true written scrolls from each section and give them to the Tang Monk. The two came to the library and asked again for a gift; and the Tang Monk, having nothing else, bade Sandy fetch the purple-gold alms bowl bestowed by the Tang king, and presented it to them. They took the gift and said with a smile, "Come forward, holy monk, and choose your written scriptures!" And as he received the scrolls, the Tang Monk charged his disciples, "Search every one of them carefully, and let there be no more blank pages among them." When the scrolls had all been checked and counted, the four bowed once more before Tathagata and went out through the mountain gate. After they had gone, the Bodhisattva Guanyin spoke before the Buddha, saying, "I was commanded to seek out a bearer for the scriptures. Five thousand and forty days have now passed, eight days short, and the number is not complete." Tathagata at once commanded the eight vajra guardians to bear the Tang Monk home, to preach the scriptures and return west within eight days, that the full measure might be made up. The eight vajra guardians - Azure Calamity-Banishing, Yellow Wish-Fulfilling, Red Voice of Fire, White Pure Water, Purple Sage, Poison-Warding, Calamity-Settling and Great Spirit - mounted the wind and mist, overtook the travellers in an instant, told them their errand, and lifted the Tang Monk up onto the clouds; and away they went, eastward. Guanyin then counted over the trials the Tang Monk had borne, and said to the guardians of the five quarters, "In our teaching nine times nine makes perfection. He has borne eighty trials; one is yet wanting. Overtake the vajras and command them to add one more!" The five guardians - Golden Light, Silver Head, Paramita, Paramita Sangha and Maha - rode the clouds a day and a night, came up with the eight vajras, and whispered the Bodhisattva's command into their ears. The eight vajras at once checked the wind and mist, drew in the cloud-head, and dropped master, disciples and horse together to the ground. The Tang Monk found his footing and said in wonder, "If we are Buddhas now, why did the cloud fail us?" Wukong, guessing that their trials were not yet complete, said with a laugh, "All things are ordained, Master. No harm, no harm!" They bore us halfway along the road and then cast us off without a care; and before us lies the Heaven-Reaching River, with no house upon this bank and neither boat nor oar. How is Master to cross? Even as he hesitated, a voice called, "Elder Tang! I have waited two years for you; here at last you are. This way! This way!" He raised his eyes and saw, not far off, a great scabby-headed turtle crawling up the bank toward him. The four saw with joy that it was the same giant turtle that had carried them over the river years before; and leading the horse, they climbed onto its broad back, and the turtle bore them through wind and wave toward the farther shore. When it had swum half a day and the far bank was almost within reach, the turtle turned its head and asked, "Elder Tang, I begged you once to ask the Buddha how many years of life remain to me, and when I might win a human body. Did you ask him?" The Tang Monk could find no answer, and kept silent.

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