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40 The True Scriptures

Riding that fragrant wind, the eight vajra guardians bore the four into the borders of Great Tang within a single day. Now since he had sped the Tang Monk upon his way, Emperor Taizong had built a Scripture-Watching Tower west of the city, and came there year after year to look for his return. This day, as he stood upon the tower, he saw seven-coloured clouds drift across the sky and felt a fragrant wind. The eight vajra guardians looked down and saw the Tang king standing upon the tower, and said to the monk, "Go and deliver the scriptures, and return quickly; we will wait for you among the clouds." So the four took leave of them and came down to the foot of the tower. Overjoyed to see him at last, the emperor came down with all his officers to meet him. The Tang Monk prostrated himself before the throne, and then presented his three disciples; and when the greetings were done, the emperor bade him mount the royal carriage and journey with him to the capital. In the great hall of the palace he laid before the emperor the three stores of scripture and his travel passport, and told him in full of all the hardships and trials the four had borne upon the road to the west. The emperor looked long at the white horse, and the Tang Monk said, "Your Majesty does not know it, but this is no horse of your gift; it is a white dragon horse, son of the Dragon King of the Western Sea, whom Guanyin turned to my service as a mount." When he had heard the whole tale, the emperor praised them without end, and commanded the Court of Imperial Entertainments to throw open the eastern pavilion and spread a banquet to welcome the travellers home. At the banquet the emperor sat in the place of honour, the master and his disciples and the civil and military officers ranged on either hand; below, drums and pipes sounded and singers and dancers performed, and above, rare wines and delicacies were set out while all the court offered congratulations. That night, when the feast was ended, they took their leave of the emperor and returned to the Monastery of Boundless Blessing where they had lodged of old; and there they found every monk of the house, great and small, in freshest robes, kneeling outside the gate to greet them. The Tang Monk marvelled greatly. The monks said, "Before you left, you told us that when the branches of our pines turned eastward, you would return with the scriptures. Now every treetop in the monastery has bent to the east, and here indeed you are!" The Tang Monk was glad beyond measure, and passed the night among them. At the morning audience next day the emperor called upon him to expound the scriptures in the hall; but the Tang Monk said, "Your Majesty, the Buddha said these scriptures must not be treated lightly. If I am to expound them, a holy ground must be found." The emperor turned to his ministers and asked, "Which temple in Chang'an is pure enough for my royal brother to expound the true scriptures?" The scholar Xiao Yu stepped forward and said, "The Wild Goose Pagoda Temple is the purest in the city." And the emperor commanded that the Tang Monk go there. He ordered a high platform raised there with a meditation seat set upon it, and led all his civil and military officers in procession to the temple. Incense curled through the temple and monks gathered in crowds. The Tang Monk was well pleased, and said to the emperor, "If Your Majesty would spread these scriptures through all the world, copies must be made." The emperor nodded, and commanded the Hanlin scholars and the secretariat to transcribe them. All was ready; he took his seat upon the high platform, the scroll in his hands, and was about to begin, when the eight vajra guardians called out of the sky, "You there with the scriptures! The eight days are nearly run; lay them down and come with us to report in the Western Heaven!" The words had scarce fallen when master, disciples and horse rose from the ground and drifted into the clouds.

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