Tower of Myriad Mirrors: A Supplement to Journey to the West (Michigan Classics in Chinese Studies) (6 page)

A Crack Reveals a Myriad of Bewildering Mirrors; Where the Shapes of Things Appear, Their Original Form Is Lost
.

Subjected to these groundless accusations and cursed in such a humiliating way, Monkey became furious. He wanted to go up and kill them all but he thought, “When I left him, the Master was peacefully resting on the grass. What's he doing here in the Emerald Green World? This Little Moon King must be a demon.”

Dear Monkey didn't waste any words, but left in a bound. Coming around a turn, he was confronted by a city wall with a moat. Above the city gate hung a flecked moss-green jade placard with three words inscribed in the seal style: “Emerald Green World.” The two halves of the gate were ajar, and Monkey, quite pleased, walked briskly in. Inside the gate, however, he ran into another sheer wall towering before him. He ran along its entire length and back again, but he couldn't find a single crack through which he might pass.

Monkey laughed and said, “What kind of city is this? Could it be that there isn't a single person here? But if there weren't people, why would a wall have been built? Let me take a closer look.”

He searched for a long time, but there was indeed no way through. Again his anger mounted. He pounded to the east and pounded to the west, pounded high and low—pounded until he knocked down a piece of green stone.

Monkey tripped on the stone and fell into a brilliant place.

Recovering, he blinked and looked about. He was in a tower made entirely of costly stones. Above, a great sheet of agate formed the roof, and the floor was a huge bright slab. A couch of amethyst, ten chairs of green marble, and a glistening pink table, on which stood an onyx teapot and two turquoise bells, furnished the place. Facing him were eight sapphire blue windows, all closed.

Monkey could not see where he had come in and felt bewildered. He looked up and saw that the four walls were made of precious mirrors placed one above another. In all there must have been a million mirrors—large, small, and odd-shaped; square ones, round ones, and others. He couldn't count them all, but a few of the ones he recognized included a Heavenly Emperor mirror with an animal-shaped hook; a white jade heart mirror; a self-doubt mirror; a blossom mirror; a wind mirror; a pair of bird mirrors, male and female; a mirror that looked like a purple cotton lotus; a water mirror; an ice-terrace mirror; an iron-faced lotus mirror; a “me” mirror; a man mirror; a moon mirror; a Hai-nan mirror; a mirror in the shape of Emperor Wu of Han
¹
pining for his lady; a green lock mirror; a stillness mirror; a nothing mirror; a bronze mirror with seal-style characters in the hand of Li Ssu of the Ch'in dynasty; a parrot mirror; a mute mirror; a mirror that retains reflections; a mirror shaped like the first concubine of Emperor Hsüan-yüan;
²
a one-smile mirror; a pillow mirror; a reflectionless mirror; and a flying mirror.

Monkey thought, “This will be fun. Let me reflect a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, and a hundred million of me.” He went to start mirroring himself, but instead of his own image, what he saw was that every mirror contained other heavens and earths, suns and moons, mountains and forests.

Amazed, he could do nothing but let his eyes wander. All at once he heard someone calling in a loud voice, “Reverend Sun, how have you been these many years since we parted?”

Monkey looked all around, but there was no one, and no ghostly aura in the tower. But the voice he heard couldn't have come from anywhere else. Thoroughly confused, he suddenly spied a man holding a steel trident and standing by the inside face of a square mirror with an animal-shaped hook. Again he called loudly, “Reverend Sun, you needn't look surprised. I'm an old friend.”

Monkey moved closer. “You do look familiar,” he said, “but I can't place you.”

The figure responded, “My name is Liu Po-ch'in. When you came out from under Five Phases Mountain I lent you a hand.
³
But you've forgotten so soon! That's how it is with people's feelings.”

Monkey quickly bowed most politely and said, “Ten thousand pardons, great benefactor. What are you doing now? How is it that we're here in the same place?”

Po-ch'in said, “Why do you say ‘in the same place?’ You're in somebody else's world and I'm in your world. It's not the same place at all!”

Monkey said, “Since it's not the same, how can we see each other?”

Po-ch'in said, “No, no, you don't understand. Little Moon King built this tower of myriad mirrors. Every mirror takes care of one world; and each blade of grass, each tree, everything moving and still, is contained in these mirrors. Anything one might want to see comes before one's eyes. So this tower was named ‘The Three-thousand Major Chiliocosms!'”
⁴

Monkey had another thought. He was about to ask something about the T'ang emperor in order to decide whether the New T'ang was real, when suddenly he saw an old lady dart out from the dark forest and push Liu Po-ch'in head over heels into the woods. They didn't come out again.

Monkey was disappointed and stepped back. Seeing that the daylight had already faded to evening he mused, “It will soon be dark and I haven't found the Master. I might as well take a good look into these mirrors. Then I'll decide what to do.”

So he began at the first of the mirrors that hung beneath the word “Heaven.” He saw there a man posting the results of the civil service examination. On the placard was written:

PALACE EXAMINATION
for
The Cultivated Talent Degree

Soon a crowd of thousands had gathered, shouting and excited to read the placard. At first, Monkey could make out only a general clamor, but then came sounds of crying and cursing. Finally the crowd broke up and people walked away one by one. Monkey watched as one of them sat vacantly on a stone; one smashed his inkstand; one with his hair hanging like wilted weeds was being chased and swatted by his parents and teachers; one opened the case he clutched to his side, took out his jade lute, burned it, then cried bitterly; one who took a sword from the headboard of his bed and tried to kill himself was stopped by a girl; one, his head bowed absentmindedly, took out his own essay and read it over and over; one laughed loudly and pounded the table shouting “It's damned fate!”; one hung his head and vomited blood; several elders bought spring wine to help ease the depression of another; one chanting poems alone wildly kicked a stone at the end of each line of verse; one wouldn't allow his boyservants to report that his name had not appeared on the list; one seemed angry and depressed but smiled frostily to himself as if to say, “I got what I deserved”; one was truly angry and unhappy but forced a smile.

Of the group whose names appeared on the list, one of them put on new clothes and shoes; one forced himself not to smile; one wrote on a wall; one read his own examination paper a thousand times, then carefully put it in his sleeve and went out; one sighed in sympathy for the others; one made a point of saying that the examining officials were not up to par; one made some companions read the placard, and, though unwilling, they forced themselves to read it to the end; one said pompously that this year's list was quite fair; one said that his dream on New Year's Eve had come true; and another one said that he hadn't been satisfied with his essay.

Later, someone who had made a clean copy of the first-place essay sat in the balcony of a wine shop reading it, his head swaying back and forth. A young man beside him asked, “Why is it so short?”

The one who was reading said, “The essay is long—I chose only his best phrases to copy. Come here and we'll read it together. You can learn some of his methods and pass next year.” The two of them began to read in a clear voice:

The revitalized lost vocation, reestablished human relations, the true vista in learning, the perfect spirit in government—what are these? This sphere is,
like Hun-tun,
⁵
irretrievable. This principle is, like breathing, indispensable. Therefore, the sperm of original nature has never issued forth; even the ashes of written books maintain spirituality. In a word, the primal act of creation should not be seen as below the mean, and the secret motivations of the spirits can easily be pinched between two fingers.

Monkey burst out laughing and said, “Five hundred years ago when I was in the Eight Trigrams Cauldron,
⁶
I overheard Lao-tzu talking with the Jade-history Immortal about the destiny of literature. He said, ‘From the time of Yao and Shun to Confucius
⁷
was the Cycle of Pure Heaven. That may be called great abundance. From Mencius to Li Ssu
⁸
was the Pure Earth Cycle and can be called middle abundance. The five hundred years since has been the Water and Thunder Cycle. The body of literature has been vast but its vitality has fallen short. This may be called the small decline. Eight hundred years hence it will turn to the Mountain-water Cycle. Things will be rotten! Rotten!'

“The Jade-history Immortal asked why it would be so bad. Lao-tzu replied, ‘Alas, a bunch of earless, eyeless, tongueless, noseless, handless, legless, heartless, lungless, boneless, muscleless, bloodless, and spiritless people will be called “outstanding scholars.” In the hundred years of their lives, they will only use up one sheet of paper, and after their coffin lids are nailed shut, no two lines they wrote will be remembered. Their writings will be far from the truth. Though Hun-tun will have been dead for several myriad years, they won't let him lie. Rather than letting Yao and Shun sit in their Yellow Palace in peace, they'll insist on dragging them in. Breathing is a pure and empty thing, but instead of nourishing the breath they'll hinder it. The spirit is the treasure of the body, but instead of calming it they'll stir it up. What do you think this kind of literature is called? It's called “gauze-hat
⁹
writing.” If they happen to write a few sentences, it will be their good fortune, because then others will support them, flatter them, and fear them.’

“By the time Lao-tzu had finished speaking, the Jade-history Immortal was in tears and left. When I remember this exchange, it's clear that the number one essay belongs to the Mountain-water Cycle.

“But what do I care, anyway? Let me take a look at the second mirror under ‘Heaven.’”

1
Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty reigned from 141 to 87 B.C.

2
Hsüan-yüan was the personal name of the Yellow Emperor, one of the five ancient mythical sage-emperors in China.

3
In chapter 14 of
Journey to the West
Liu Po-ch'in accompanied the T'ang Priest to Five Phases Mountain, where the Priest secured Monkey's release from the Buddha's spell, which held him prisoner.

4
Chiliocosm is a Buddhist concept of the universe. A small chiliocosm consists of a thousand worlds each with its Mt. Sumeru, continents, seas, and ring of iron mountains. A major chiliocosm consists of three thousand great chiliocosms.

5
Hun-tun is the primal undifferentiated state before the phenomenal universe came into being, often personified, as in Lao-tzu's speech below.

6
In chapter 7 of
Journey to the West
Lao-tzu attempted to melt Monkey in his alchemical Eight Trigrams Cauldron after other efforts to dispose of Monkey had failed.

7
I.e., from the time of the sage-emperors, traditionally placed in approximately the twenty-third century B.C., to Confucius (551-479 B.C.).

8
Mencius (385?-289? B.C.) and Li Ssu (280-208 B.C.).

9
The gauze-hat is the silk hat worn as insignia of official or noble status.

Through the Cast Bronze Mirror the Mind-Monkey Enters the Past; In Green Pearl's Tower the Wayward Disciple Knits His Brows.

Monkey turned to gaze into the second mirror under the character “Heaven,” an antique cast bronze mirror. There under a great cypress tree stood a stone tablet on which twelve characters were carved in seal script saying: “The World of the Ancients was originally neighbor to the Headache World.”

Monkey said, “Since it's the World of the Ancients, the First Emperor of Ch'in must be in there. The other day that concubine sweeping in the New T'ang palace said he possessed a Mountain-removing Bell. I'll grab him and take his bell, then I'll sweep away the thousand mountains and ten thousand gorges from the road to the Western Paradise. The monsters and robbers will have no place to hide.”

He thereupon changed himself into a bronze-drilling insect, climbed onto the face of the mirror, and got ready. He bit out one mouthful, then bored through the mirror.

All at once he fell into a high pavilion. Hearing several people below, he didn't dare show his real self, but remained in the form of a drilling insect and hid in the crack of a window covered in green flowers.

It so happened that in the World of the Ancients there was a beautiful lady called Green Pearl.
¹
Day in and day out she treated her guests to banquets with drinking games and the chanting of poems. After planning for a long while she had a hundred-foot-tall pavilion built and called it the Fragrance-gripping Pavilion. Just that day Lady Hsi-shih
²
and
Miss Silk
³
had come together to congratulate Green Pearl on the new pavilion.

Green Pearl was delighted. She immediately had a banquet spread in the pavilion for them to join her in sisterly affection. Miss Silk sat in the middle; Green Pearl sat to her right and Lady Hsi-shih to her left. A number of maid servants attended the ladies: some served wine, some picked flowers, and some held the dice bowls.

Monkey, still in the window, decided to play a prank. He changed into a maid-servant and sneaked inconspicuously into their midst. How did he look?

Top-knot like the Goddess of the River Lo,
⁴

Eyebrows of Chu Hsiao-chi
.

The king of Ch'u
⁵
loved a waist like that
,

The emperor of Han, a robe
.

Above, autumn-wind earrings
,

Below, lotus-flower cups
⁶

Then the maids-in-waiting began to giggle and said, “Our Fragrance-gripping Pavilion truly snatches up fragrance. Even though this beautiful girl doesn't live here, she came right in.”

Another maid said to Monkey, “Have you seen Lady Green Pearl, sister?”

Monkey said, “Elder sister, I'm new here. Could you take me to meet her?”

The maid giggled and led Monkey to meet Lady Green Pearl. Green Pearl looked shocked. With tears in her eyes she said to Monkey, “Beautiful Lady Yü,
⁷
I haven't seen you for so long! But why is your fair face so sad?”

Monkey was surprised to hear this and thought, “Since I was born from a stone egg, I've never been reincarnated by way of any parents, and I've never chased the mists and flowers. When did I know this Lady Green Pearl? Since when am I Beautiful Lady Mud, Beautiful Lady Copper, Beautiful Lady Iron, or Beautiful Lady Grass? But that's what she calls me. Well, what do I care if I'm Beautiful Lady Yü or not? I'll play the role for a little while—it should be amusing. This is called meeting one error with another.

“Just one thing—since I've become Beautiful Lady Yü, I must have a husband somewhere. If she asks about him and my answer turns out to be a case of ‘a horse's jaw not matching an ass's head,’ it'll show my true colors. I'll sound her out a bit and find out about my ‘husband,’ then I can join in the banquet.”

Green Pearl called again, “Beautiful Lady! Quick, have a seat! Although what's in the cup is weak, it will chase away your gloom.”

Monkey put on a long face and said to Green Pearl, “Sister, people say wine cheers the joyful heart, but my husband and I can't see each other. The silken strands of rain and gusts of wind have long pierced and broken my heart. How can I swallow wine?”

Green Pearl started and said, “But my dear lady, what are you saying? Your husband is Hsiang Yü, Hegemon of Ch'u. You live together—why can't you see each other?”

Catching the five words “Hsiang Yü, Hegemon of Ch'u,” Monkey answered off the top of his head, “Sister, you don't know that the Hegemon of Ch'u of today is not the same man as before. There is a concubine named Sorrow of Ch'u who uses her many charms to entice my husband and separate the two of us.

“Once we were walking in the moonlight and, when I didn't look at the water weeds in the pond, she purposely leaned on the railing as if lost in thought. My husband said, ‘The way she gazes is so lovely.’

“Another time we were looking at flowers and I didn't call for wine. She went to her room and got a pot with a cracked ice design containing Purple Flower Jade Dew wine. She offered it and said, ‘Long life to my gracious lord,’ and just as she left, she winked at him seductively. My husband saw her off with a twinkle in his eye. I have nothing but love for him—my only wish is that we could always be a pair of mandarin ducks. When I saw those two putting me on a closet shelf, how could I be anything but sad and resentful?

“Then my husband complained that I didn't pay any attention to him and, what's more, that Sorrow of Ch'u had been trying hard to please. He took his sword and scabbard from under the bed, and slung them across his back. He didn't even call for any of his men but just left looking straight ahead. I don't know where he went. That was twenty days ago—more than half a month and not a word from him.” And Monkey began to wail.

When Green Pearl saw this, her tears soaked half her silken sleeve. Hsi-shih and Miss Silk sighed together. Even the maids carrying the wine pots felt tears fill their throats and sympathetic pains in their hearts. It's a fact that a sad person shouldn't talk to other sad people—if they do, they only become sadder.

The four of them sat down and Hsi-shih said, “Our Beautiful Lady isn't happy tonight and we three should try to cheer her up. We mustn't add to her sadness.” So saying, she produced six dice and held them in her hands. She called out, “Sisters of this banquet, hear my command! If the first throw doesn't show a one, each of us will chant a line of old-style verse. If the second throw doesn't throw a two, we must all confess our sexual fancies. If the third throw doesn't show a three, I will punish myself with one big cup, then pass it to one of you.”

Hsi-shih looked up and threw the dice and shouted, “There's no one on the first throw!”

Green Pearl trilled a line of poetry in a sweet voice: “When my husband doesn't come, the cold night is long.”

Miss Silk laughed in great admiration and said, “The double-meaning in this line is magnificent.” She also chanted a line: “The Jade Lady's earrings dangle in the autumn wind.”

Monkey thought, “Now it's my turn. I can remember several lines of other kinds of writing, but thinking of poetry makes my head ache. What's more, I don't know if Beautiful Lady Yü knows poetry or not. If she doesn't, I'll be all right; if she does, I'll give myself away.”

Green Pearl said, “A line, please, Beautiful Lady.” Monkey answered evasively, “I can't write poetry.”

Hsi-shih laughed and said,
“The Selected Poems of the Beautiful Lady
has circulated throughout the Central Plain. Even tiny children know that Beautiful Lady Yü is talented in composing
tz'u
- and
fu-
style poetry. And here today you're acting coy!”

Monkey had no choice but to raise his face and seek inspiration. He was lost in thought a long while, then asked the group, “Is it all right if I don't use a line from an ancient poet?”

Green Pearl said, “You'll have to ask our leader.”

Monkey asked Hsi-shih and she said, “What difference does it make? Once you compose a line, it'll be the same as one from the ancients!”

Everyone inclined her ear to listen and Monkey chanted a line: “I regret my heart follows clouds and rain in flight.”

Green Pearl asked Miss Silk, “What do you think of the Beautiful Lady's line?”

Miss Silk replied, “Who would dare say the Beautiful Lady's poetry is not good? Only this line somehow smacks of monkishness.”

Hsi-shih laughed and said, “The Beautiful Lady was once a nun for half a month.”

Monkey said, “Oh, don't tease. Would you please pass the dice bowl on?”

Hsi-shih quickly handed the dice bowl to Green Pearl, who lifted her hand and tossed the dice. She shouted, “The second throw doesn't show a two!”

Hsi-shih said, “It's easy for you to confess but hard for me.”

Green Pearl asked, “But sister, what's so hard for you to confess?”

Hsi-shih exclaimed, “Hmph! You're trying to embarrass me! You must know I've had two husbands!”

Green Pearl persisted, “Even though we have different names we're all your flesh and blood. What harm is there in it? I've got an idea—why don't you give us a line about King Wu and then one about young Fan?”

Hsi-shih heard this and straightaway confessed:

Young Fan: Green years on Willow Stream
.

King Wu : Rosy cheeks in a jade palace
.

Young Fan: Vowed to the sun on K'un-lun Mountains
.

King Wu: Slept the night beneath a
wu-t'ung
tree
.

Young Fan: Lamented the moon on Five Lakes
.

King Wu: Grieved day-long once drunk
.

After hearing this, Green Pearl tipped her cup and made her own confession:

I have a peak of pearls;

Ten-thousand piculs of tears.

Tonight in Fragrance-gripping Pavilion;

Another year in Snow-spread Hall.

Green Pearl sighed with each word. Hsi-shih said in a loud voice, “Penalty! I wanted you to tell about delights, but instead you tell about sorrows!”

Green Pearl admitted her guilt and accepted a wine penalty. Meanwhile Miss Silk tried to get Monkey to go next, while Monkey deferred to her. They bandied back and forth, but neither would confess. Finally Green Pearl said, “I've got another idea. Sister Silk, you say one line, and then you say one, Beautiful Lady.”

Hsi-shih said, “That can't be done. Hegemon Ch'u has a valiant and heroic air. Young Shen is fair of face, gentle and warm. How could they be put together?”

Miss Silk laughed and said, “It's all right. She is she and I am I. Let me confess first.” And she said, “Weep for the moon in South Tower.”

Without thinking, Monkey said, “Worship Buddha in the Western Paradise.”

Green Pearl pointed at Monkey and said, “I think you must be confused, Beautiful Lady. Why do you bring up worshipping Buddha in the Western Paradise?”

Monkey said, “My words are profound and want explication. ‘Paradise' means ‘husband'; ‘Western' stands for ‘Western Ch'u'; ‘worship’ means ‘return’ and ‘Buddha’ means ‘heart.’ So what it means is, ‘My heart returns to my husband in Western Ch'u.’ Although he dislikes me, I think only of him.”

Green Pearl breathed a long sigh of admiration.

Monkey feared that if he stayed too long at the banquet it would delay his journey, so he pretended he was drunk and about to throw up.

Hsi-shih said, “Let's not have a third throw. Let's go look at the moon.”

The four of them left the banquet and walked downstairs. They stepped aimlessly over some wild flowers and disported themselves with some water weeds. Monkey, wanting only to find the First Emperor of Ch'in, thought up a plan to get away. “I have a pain in my heart. I can't bear it…can't bear it—please let me go home,” he moaned.

Green Pearl said, “Heart pains are ordinary things for us. Don't you worry, I'll have someone ask Dr. Ch'i Po to come and take your pulse.”

Monkey said, “No, that won't do. These days doctors are the last people I want around. All they can do is make a live man dead and small ills big. When it comes to healing, they only want quick results—they don't care about your body. And if your humors are unbalanced, they make you take ginseng, and then you suffer for it the rest of your life. I still want to go home.”

Green Pearl said, “If you go home and don't see Hegemon Ch'u, you'll get depressed again, and if you see Sorrow of Ch'u, your hatred will start all over again. People with heart pain should avoid depression and hatred.”

The “sisters” all tried to persuade Monkey to stay, but Monkey insisted that he wouldn't. Seeing that the illness was serious and that she couldn't make her stay, Green Pearl could only ask four of her personal maids to escort Beautiful Lady Yü home.