Tower of Myriad Mirrors: A Supplement to Journey to the West (Michigan Classics in Chinese Studies) (15 page)

38
I.e., in the Underworld.

39
I.e., Kuan-yin. This and the preceding three lines refer to the great mass for lost souls in the Underworld commissioned by T'ang T'ai-tsung
(Journey
, chapter 12). Hsüan-tsang is chosen to officiate because he is held by all to be a pure and learned monk.

40
This refers to the home of Liu Po-ch'in, whom we met in
chapter 4
(see note 3).

41
Monkey.

42
At Eagle's Grief Stream
(Journey
, chapter 15) a dragon swallows the white horse that the T'ang Priest had ridden from China. Kuan-yin changes the dragon into another white horse, the Priest's mount for the duration of the trip.

43
The covetous abbot of Kuan-yin Temple attempts to acquire the T'ang Priest's gorgeous cassock, a gift of T'ang T'ai-tsung, by burning the Priest to death in a meditation hall of the temple
(Journey
, chapter 16). Monkey shields the Priest from harm and turns the tables by blowing the flames onto the rest of the temple.

44
Battling to rescue his master from the Yellow Wind Demon
(Journey
, chapter 21), Monkey is stunned when the monster blasts him with a wind that forces his eyes shut (Monkey's eyes are fire-red from his forty-nine days in Lao-tzu's alchemical cauldron). Bodhisattva Ling-chi comes at Monkey's request to subdue the monster.

45
This line doesn't refer to a specific event in
Journey to the West.
The hexagram
k'uei
(Opposition) in the
I Ching
expresses the principle that it is things of opposite nature, such as Heaven and Earth, male and female, that bring about unity and completion. The fifth line speaks of a companion who “bites through the skin,” someone able to penetrate deeply and help bring about success. Since the second line of the couplet refers to Pigsy, and Pigsy and Monkey are of opposite natures—wood and metal, respectively—the reference to the Opposition hexagram may allude to Pigsy's joining the pilgrimage.

46
Sandy, whose haunt has been the River of Flowing Sands, is spoken of as having mixed consciousness. Hence he is given the name of Wu-ching (Aware-of-Purity).

47
In chapter 23 of
Journey
, Pigsy is enticed away from his monk's vows (morning bells are rung at a Buddhist temple) by a monster posing as a wealthy widow with three comely daughters to marry off. The globefish, capable of distending itself into a spherical form, is used here for Pigsy, he of enormous belly. “Things in the pond” is a figure of speech for the average person, unenlightened and subject to sensual appetites.

48
At Long Life Mountain the pilgrims come to a Taoist temple housing a marvelous ginseng tree that puts forth fruit only once in nine thousand years (
Journey
, chapter 24-25). Monkey uproots the tree after being correctly accused of stealing the fruit, but later repents and asks Kuan-yin to restore the tree to life.

49
This is a monster who deceives all but Monkey by transforming itself into a beautiful woman (
Journey
, chapter 27). Monkey kills it after being tricked twice, but is sent away by the T'ang Priest who, failing to recognize that it had been a monster, believes Monkey has taken innocent life.

50
With Monkey dismissed, the T'ang Priest stumbles into the lair of the Yellow-Robed Monster
(Journey
, chapter 29), but is released by the monster's wife, an abducted princess of Precious Ivory Kingdom. The Priest carries a letter to the princess's father, who hadn't seen his daughter for thirteen years. Meanwhile, the monster decides to pay a visit to his father-in-law. In the guise of a handsome man, he accuses the Priest of being a monster and proves his point by changing him into a tiger.

51
At Flat-Top Mountain
(Journey
, chapters 32-35) the T'ang Priest is captured by the two monsters of Lotus-flower Cave, King Gold Horn and King Silver Horn. It is to the two of them collectively that the bull who mourns probably refers, for they are finally routed by Monkey.

52
Monkey enlists the help of the Star of Longevity in chapter 26 of
Journey
to persuade the T'ang Priest not to recite the charm that tightens the band Monkey wears on his head. White Deer Mountain, however, is not a place mentioned in this part of
Journey
, and the meaning of this line is unclear.

53
The Red Boy spirits the T'ang Priest away in a tornado in chapter 40 of
Journey.

54
The Spirit of the River of Black Water poses as a ferryman to trap the T'ang Priest and drag him under the water to his abode
(Journey
, chapter 43).

55
This couplet refers to the story of Cart-slow Kingdom
(Journey
, chapters 44-46), where three animal spirits posing as Taoists had won the ear of the king and subjected the land's Buddhist monks to servitude. Monkey defeats the spirits in a magic contest and lectures the court on the unity of the Three Religions, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Poisoned blood probably refers to humankind, sullied by sensual cravings. Black is the color of Heaven and yellow the color of Earth. In Chinese thought Heaven, Man, and Earth form a triad symbolizing the forces of the cosmos. Here the author seems to be saying that Buddhists and Taoists alike view phenomenal existence as empty of any reality that can be said to transcend mere appearances.

56
At Chin (metal)-tou Mountain
(Journey
, chapters 50-52) Monkey fights the Rhinoceros Monster in an effort to release his Master. Even the aid of an army of celestial warriors and a magical weapon from the Buddha come to naught against the Rhinoceros. He turns out to be Lao-tzu's ox, who has stolen Lao-tzu's Vajra (a Sanskrit word that means “the essence of metal”) Chisel and come to earth in the form of a rhinoceros. It takes Lao-tzu to defeat the monster; and thus Monkey, associated with metal in five phases theory, is unable to conquer the metal of the monster.

57
There is a stream in the Land of Women (
Journey
, chapter 53) whose water is drunk when the women, in the absence of men, wish to have children. The T'ang Priest, named River Float as an infant because he had been found tied to a plank adrift on a river, drinks of the stream and becomes pregnant. Hence, when water—the priest—met the stream's water, the ordeal was exhausting until Monkey stole some abortion water from a Taoist temple.

58
This refers to Monkey's battle with the Six-eared Monkey.

59
This is the episode of the Flaming Mountain recounted in the introduction (pp. 7-8).

Monkey Meets an Old Man in Green Bamboo Cave; By the Reed Flowers Monkey Seeks the Emperor of Ch'in.

When Monkey heard the words “Tower of Myriad Mirrors” from the fold in the hill, a flame arose in his heart. He pulled his cudgel from behind his ear and jumped onto the tower, swinging wildly, but struck only air. He cursed Little Moon King and said, “What country's king are you that you dare to trap my Master here?”

Little Moon King looked as if he hadn't heard and went on smiling and chatting. Monkey cursed again, “You stinking blind women! What are you doing singing here with this hairy monk?”

It seemed as if the three singing girls hadn't heard either, so he shouted, “Master, let's get out of here!” But like the others, the T'ang Priest did not hear.

Monkey was astounded. He said, “Am I dreaming? Or is everyone in the Emerald Green World eyeless, earless, and tongueless? Ridiculous! Ridiculous! I'll try again to see if this is really the Master or not.”

He assumed the form he had used to raise havoc in Heaven.
¹
This time, however, it wouldn't do to be so brash, so he jumped to the opposite hill and took another good look. He saw that the T'ang Priest looked hopelessly depressed. Little Moon King was saying, “Don't think only of sad things, Mr. Ch'en. I ask you, what about that business of digging through to Heaven? If you've decided not to continue your journey, I'll dismiss the Sky-walkers and send them home.”

The T'ang Priest said, “I hadn't made up my mind yesterday, but today I've decided not to go on.”

Little Moon King was delighted. He at once sent someone to tell the Sky-walkers there was no more need to dig at the sky, and sent word for the singing girls to put on their make-up and give a performance. The
singing girls knelt together and said, “Your Majesty, we cannot do an opera today.”

Little Moon King said, “The calendar only says whether or not a day is favorable for sacrifices, for planting, for beginning school, for a capping ceremony, or for traveling. I've never seen an unfavorable day for giving a performance.”

The girls replied, “It's not unfavorable, Your Majesty, it's impossible. Mr. Ch'en has ten thousand sorrows and a thousand knots of sadness. If we give a successful performance, he will be moved to tears.”

Little Moon King cried, “What shall we do? Why don't you put on a modern play instead of an ancient play?”

The girls responded, “If you want an ancient play we'll do it, but we won't do a modern play.”

Little Moon King snapped, “Rubbish! Today we're celebrating Mr. Ch'en's happy decision by having a great tea-banquet. How can we not have a performance? It would be lovely if you'd just do any plays you please.”

The girls agreed and left. Two maids attending brought fresh tea from one side. The T'ang Priest sat down. From the back of the hall came a rolling of drums, a beating of gongs, a blast of horns, and much shouting. A clamor arose from the stage and the announcement came: “Today we'll perform a ‘romantic’ story called
Dream of Mist and Rain on Kao-t'ang Terrace.
²
First we'll do the five scenes about Prime Minister Sun. It'll be terrific! Just terrific!”

Monkey, still hiding in the fold of the hill, heard this quite clearly. He thought, “There's a
Prime Minister Sun
and a
Dream on Kao-t'ang Terrace. I
suppose they won't leave till all the scenes have been played one by one. I might as well go find something to drink, then I'll come back and see my old monk.”

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw a Taoist acolyte of about thirteen hissing at him, “Little Priest! Little Priest! I've come to watch the play with you.”

Monkey laughed and said, “Hey little fellow, so you knew I was here and came to find me.”

The acolyte said, “Don't tease me. My master is no one for you to make fun of.”

Monkey said, “And what's your master called?”

The Taoist lad said, “He is the Master of Green Grove Cave, who loves guests and sightseeing jaunts.”

Monkey laughed and said, “Wonderful! I must go and get some tea from him. You can sit here in my place for a while and watch the play and see if the party breaks up. I'll go to your honorable master's place and get something to quench my thirst. If they do break up, would you mind coming at once to tell me?”

The acolyte chuckled and said, “That's no trouble. There's nothing blocking the way into the cave—just let yourself in. I'll wait for you here.”

Monkey was delighted. He entered the pitch-black cave and skipped along till he came to a bright stone grotto. There he ran smack into an old man, who asked, “Where do you come from, Priest? Please come in for some tea.”

Monkey said, “If there were no tea, I wouldn't have come.”

The old man smiled and said, “There's not necessarily tea, Priest. Why don't you go?”

Monkey said, “If there's no tea, I won't leave.”

The two were like old friends. They walked, laughing as they went, till they had passed a stone stairway. There they came all at once to a fairy cave at the edge of a stream. Monkey said, “Have we reached your residence?

The old man said, “Not yet. This place is called ‘Imitation of an Ancient Evening Landscape.’”

Monkey gazed at the scene. It was indeed a pleasant spot. On the left there stretched a field where random stones and about ten loquat trees with riotous branches and leaves surrounded a straw cottage. At its front door stood a great red pine and several maples entwined with mist. Their trunks and branches were woven into a stormy mountain forest. A bit of bamboo fence could be seen peeking through the trees, and two or three kinds of wildflowers poked out from the bottom of the fence.

A middle-aged man strolled by the stream, leaning on a moss-covered staff. Abruptly he sat down, and cupping the clear water in his hands, took it into his mouth and swished it around and around. He did this for a long while and then stood up. He looked toward the southwest and laughed casually.

When Monkey saw him laugh, he looked to the southwest himself. But he saw neither high tower nor green pavilion, dangerous cliffs or weird peaks. He saw only two splashes of mountain-color that looked like something between clouds and mist, between being and non-being.

All Monkey wanted was to have a drink of tea. How could he have any feeling for mountains and water? He and the old man walked right
on and came upon another fairy cave. The old man said, “This isn't my cottage either. It's called ‘Imitation of the Ancient T'ai-k'un Pond.’”

They were surrounded on all four sides by green peaks. Some of them lifted their faces as if looking at Heaven; some bent forward as if drinking the water; some seemed to be running, some sleeping; some looked as if they were whistling; some were sitting face-to-face like Confucian scholars; some looked like they were flying; some looked possessed by spirits; and some were like cows, horses, and sheep.

Monkey laughed and said, “All these stone people and stone horses are already carved, but no one has put up any tombstones. I guess there was no one to write the inscriptions.”

The old man said, “Don't try to be funny, Little Priest. Take a look in the water.”

Monkey bent his head to look carefully at the water and saw therein a hundred encircling green peaks. On the water's rippling surface they were as beautiful as a painting of mountains and forests.

While Monkey was engrossed in looking, several fishing boats darted out from behind one or two reeds. The people sitting in the bows of those boats were mostly old men with scraggly hair and dirty faces. It was hard to tell what they were singing—it wasn't the “Fisherman's Song” or the “Song of Picking Lotus.” They sang:

Right nor wrong ever came to fishing spots;

Glory and shame follow men on horseback.

You, honored guest, seek the World of Oblivion?

Push the oars forward
,

Pull slightly back

Look to the south, flutter the oars
,

Push, push, then pull!

When Monkey heard the words “World of Oblivion,” he asked the old man, “Where is this World of Oblivion?”

The old man said, “Who might you be looking for?”

Monkey said, “My relative, the First Emperor of Ch'in, recently moved to the World of Oblivion. I'd like to see him and have a word with him.”

The old man said, “Well, if you want to go, just cross here. You'll come to a belt of green mountains. They are his back door.”

Monkey said, “But if I go off in a world as big as this one, I won't be able to find him. I won't go.”

The old man said, “The First Emperor of Ch'in is also an old friend of mine. If you're afraid to go, leave a message with me, and I'll give it to him when I see him tomorrow.”

Monkey said, “I have another relative, the T'ang emperor, who wants to borrow a Mountain-removing Bell from my relative the First Emperor of Ch'in.”

The old man said, “Oh, what rotten luck! Someone just borrowed it yesterday.”

Monkey said, “Who borrowed it?”

The old man said, “It was loaned to Han Kao-tsu.”
³

Monkey laughed and said, “So, an old man like you lies like a youngster, eh? Han Kao-tsu was the First Emperor of Ch'in's mortal enemy. How could he borrow the bell?”

The old man said, “Don't you know, Little Priest, that by now the old enmity between Ch'in and Han has disappeared?”

Monkey said, “If that's so, when you see the First Emperor, tell him for me that in two days when Han Kao-tsu finishes using the bell I'll come to borrow it.”

The old man said, “That'll be fine.”

After chatting for a while, Monkey became even more thirsty. He cried out, “I want tea! Give me some tea!”

The old man smiled and said, “Since you're a relative of the First Emperor of Ch'in, and I'm an old friend of his, we are, after all, flesh and blood. If you want tea, I'll give you tea. If you want food, I'll give you food. Please come to my cottage.”

The two of them passed beyond the green encircling peaks and, taking another path, arrived at the Fairy Cave of Green Bamboo. Green moss covered the ground; bamboo stalks stretched to the sky. In their midst stood four cottages of purple bamboo, and the two entered one of them straightaway. The main room's cross-beam was made of Hsiang River Goddess bamboo and its pillars of mud-green bamboo. The doors of the gate were of wind-man bamboo, flattened and stitched together. There was a square bamboo bed whose curtain was bamboo paper.

The old man went to the back of the room and brought out two bowls of magnolia-flower tea. Monkey took one in his hand, drank a few sips, and quenched his thirst. The old man prepared an oil-bamboo table
and four green bamboo chairs, and they sat down facing each other. The old man asked about Monkey's eight characters.
⁴

Monkey laughed and said, “You and I met by chance. We are not sworn brothers and we don't want to match a marriage. Why do you want to know my eight characters?”

The old man said, “I tell fortunes by horoscope and I've never been wrong. Since you're a relative of my good friend the First Emperor of Ch'in, I want to tell your fortune and see what good luck you'll have in the future. This will be a favor to my friend.”

Monkey lifted his head and thought. He said, “My eight characters are extremely good.”

The old man said, “I haven't even worked it out yet. How can you already know they're good?”

Monkey said, “I've often asked people to tell my fortune. The year before last a black-robed fortune teller was going to tell my fortune, and when he heard my eight characters, he was startled. He stood up and bowed to me with his hands clasped, saying over and over, ‘I beg your pardon! I beg your pardon!'

“Then he called me ‘little official,’ and said, ‘These eight characters of yours are exactly those of the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven.’ I remember that the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven went on a rampage in the Heavenly Palace and displayed his awesome spirit. Now he is soon to become a buddha. Since my eight characters are the same as his, how can they be bad?”

The old man said, “The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven was born on the first day of the first month in the first year of a sixty-year cycle.”

Monkey said, “That's me. I was born on the first day of the first month in the first year of a sixty-year cycle.”

The old man laughed and said, “They say if your appearance is good, your fate is good; if your fate is good, your appearance is good—this is indeed no mistake. There's no need to tell me your eight characters. Even your face is a monkey's.”

Monkey said, “This Great Sage, Equal of Heaven—could it be that he has a monkey face too?”

The old man laughed and said, “You're not the real Great Sage, Equal of Heaven—you have
only
a monkey face. If you were really the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, you'd be a monkey spirit!”