The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (90 page)

3
. This lyric is written to the tune of “A Seductive Glance.”

4
. See JW 1, chapter 19, for the complete text of this Buddhist scripture.

5
. Nidānas: the twelve conditions of causation, according to Mahāhāyana Buddhism, which give rise to all things, all phenomena.

6
. Three Stars: that is, the Stars of Longevity, Blessing, and Wealth. See
chapter 26
.

7
. For Zhenwu, see JW 1, chapter 2, note 9; ET 2: 1266–67.

8
. Mars: revered in China as the God of Fire.

9
. “Clever words and an ingratiating appearance are seldom found in the benevolent person.” A citation of
Analects
1. 3.

10
. This is a lyric written to the tune of “Immortal by the River.”

11
. This lyric is written to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

12
. All the phrases in Silver Horn’s rhetorical questions refer to acts of internal alchemy.

13
. Sword of seven stars: one of the five celestial treasures possessed by the two monsters, all of Daoist origin. See
chapter 34
.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

1
. Blue Buffalo Daoist:
, a nickname or sobriquet of Feng Heng
, styled Junda
, because he was often seen riding an ox or buffalo of that bluish-green color. He was known to be an expert practitioner of various esoteric techniques, including sexual gymnastics. See Campany, p. 149. The text of the XYJ has a typographical error here because the color blue-green (
qing
) is misprinted as clear (
qing
).

2
. White Tablet Master: the XYJ text may have another misprint in the text. What appears is Sujuan xiansheng
, which is an impossible title, because the second graph
juan
is simply an archaic form of
, meaning tired, fatigued, weary. I have thus emended the word to
quan
, which means a bond, a contract, or a deed written (in antiquity) on a tablet of wood or bamboo, with each party involved in the business transaction holding half the document. The white deed or tablet may refer to the charms or judgments written in divination and fortune-telling. Alternately, the phrase could read
sujuan
, a white volume, another name of
sushu
, both referring to writings on slips of silk.

3
. In the Daoist Canon, there are many texts with the term Northern Dipper,
, in their titles. Monkey may be using a general name to indicate any Daoist scripture.

4
. Emei Mountain:
, a famous sacred mountain in modern Sichuan province.