The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (97 page)

25
. As noted in item 9 of introduction III in JW 1, the first three lines of this regulated quatrain are verbatim quotations from poem 32 in Zhang Boduan’s “Wuzhen pian,” in DZ 263, 4: 730. The last line of Zhang’s poem reads instead: “
, The warm nourishment you have smelted [or forged] is like something you may cook or fry.”

26
. Three parties: that is,
sanjia
. As discussed in introduction IV in relation
to
JW, chapter 1, this term can have multiple references. In the immediate context, Sha Monk’s diction may point to the three disciples. They in their symbolic roles and meanings may correlate further with different phasal energetics and physiological elements like
jing
,
qi
,
shen
(i.e., spermal essence, pneumatics, and spirit or energy), crucial to internal alchemy and repeatedly mentioned in the teachings of Patriarch Subhodi, Monkey’s first teacher in chapters 1 and 2.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

1
. Water Litany: a vicious and envious woman when she was alive, the wife of the ruler, Liang Wudi
(502–49), appeared to him in his dreams as a great serpent or dragon after she died. For her, the emperor had ten scrolls of litany performed, after which his wife became a devī, thanked him, and ascended to Heaven. See “Wude Chi huanghou
,”
Nan shi
,
j
12, in
Ershiwushi
3: 2576; and the Yuan Buddhist text,
Shishi jigu lue
,
j
2 (2 vols., Taipei, 1972).

2
. “Mind . . . means”:
fangbian zhi xin
, the mind or intelligence which uses skillful means (i.e.,
Upāya
) to assist or save others.

3
. Lord Wenchang: Wenchang Dijun
, also named Zitong Dijun
, “was revered throughout late imperial China as the patron saint of literature, guardian of morality and giver of sons.” See entry on “Wenchang” in ET 2: 1033–34, and the focused study by Terry Kleeman in
A God’s Own Tale: The Book of Transformations of Wenchang, the Divine Lord of Zitong
(Albany, 1994).

4
. Complete Truth Order: Quanzhen
, the reference to this particular segment of organized Daoism should be familiar to the readers of the novel. The depiction of the Daoist may be in part satirical, but, as in other instances already noted, the term Quanzhen could also be a generic metaphor for Daoist.

5
. On aurification in China, see SCC 5/2 (1974): 2–14, 62–71, 188–223.

6
. Three years: the novelistic time scheme (chronotope) of this episode is not the most consistent. As the narrative has it, it should have been eight years ago when the drought began. The drought lasted for three years: then came the Daoist, who then murdered the ruler after two years. Three more years elapsed before the dead king appeared to Tripitaka. I have not, however, tried to emend the text of XYJ.

7
. Equal-to-Heaven: although the sacrality of this mountain in northeastern coastal region of China was firmly established in antiquity (see
Record of the Historian
,
j
28, in
Ershiwushi
1: 0114d–0115a), it was in the Tang that the worship thereof gained momentum. The title, King Equal-to-Heaven
, was conferred in the thirteenth year of the Kaiyuan period (726) to the mountain deity. That title might have inspired the novelistic author to use it on Sun Wukong.