“There is something about which I would like to see the Bodhisattva,” Monkey replied.
“The Bodhisattva left her cave this morning to go to her bamboo grove,” the devas replied. “She allowed nobody to accompany her, but as she knew that you would be coming today she told us to wait here to greet you. Since you will not be able to see her at once would you please sit under the Turquoise Cliff until the Bodhisattva comes out and decides what to do.”
Brother Monkey did as they suggested, but before he had sat down the page Sudhana came up to him and said with a bow, “Great Sage Sun, thanks to you earlier kindness the Bodhisattva deigned to keep me. I never leave her side, and am always at the foot of her lotus throne. She has been very good to me.” Monkey, who knew that he had previously been the Red Boy, laughed as he said, “You were so confused by evil then that you only realize I'm a good person now you've been converted.”
When he had been waiting for a long time but the Bodhisattva had still not appeared Monkey said anxiously. “Will you please report that I'm here? Time's being lost, and I'm worried that my master may be killed.”
“We would not dare,” the devas replied. “The Bodhisattva told us to wait till she came herself.” Monkey, who was much too impatient to wait a moment longer, rushed inside.
The Handsome Monkey King
Was impatient and very snide.
The devas could not hold him back,
When he wanted to go inside.
He strode deep into the grove,
Eyes wide as he peered around.
He saw the Saviour sitting on
Bamboo leaves on the ground.
She was not washed or combed,
And her face was free of care.
There were no tassels to hold in place
The silken strands of her hair.
She did not wear her plain blue robe,
But only a clinging vest,
A skirt of brocade round her waist,
And both arms left undressed.
There was no shawl for her shoulders;
On her foot she wore no shoe.
Her jade hand held a knife of steel
With which she peeled bamboo.
When Monkey saw her he could not restrain himself from shouting, “Bodhisattva, your disciple Sun Wukong offers his pious respects.”
“Wait outside,” said the Bodhisattva.
“Bodhisattva,” Monkey replied, “my master is in trouble and I have come to inquire respectfully about the background of the evil monster in the River of Heaven.”
“Get out,” said the Bodhisattva, “and wait till I come out.”
Not daring to push his demands any harder, Monkey had to leave the bamboo grove and say to all the devas, “The Bodhisattva seems to be spring cleaning. Why is she cutting strips of bamboo in the grove, and not properly dressed, instead of sitting on her lotus throne?”
“We don't know,” said the devas. “She left the cave and went into the grove this morning before dressing, telling us to receive you here. It must be something to do with you, Great Sage.” Monkey could do nothing but wait.
Before long the Bodhisattva emerged from the grove carrying a basket made from purple bamboo. “Wukong,” she said, “you and I are going to rescue the Tang Priest.”
Monkey fell to his knees and replied, “Your disciple has the temerity to suggest that you should dress and take your seat on your lotus throne.”
“There will be no need to dress; I shall go as I am,” the Bodhisattva replied, after which she dismissed the devas and set off on an auspicious cloud. Monkey could only follow.
In a moment they were on the banks of the River of Heaven. When Pig and Friar Sand saw them they said to each other, “That brother of ours is too impatient. Goodness only knows what sort of row he must have made in the Southern Sea to make the Bodhisattva come rushing here before she was even properly dressed.” Before these words were out of their mouths Guanyin reached the bank, and the two of them bowed low to her saying, “Bodhisattva, we shouldn't have done it, we were wrong, forgive us.” The Bodhisattva undid the silken sash around her waistcoat, tied one end to the basket, and rose on a coloured cloud.
Holding the other end of the sash she threw the basket into the river then pulled it up through the current, reciting, “Die if you go, live if you stay, die if you go, live if you stay.” When she had said this seven times she raised the basket again, and this time it contained a glistening goldfish, blinking its eyes and moving its scales. “Wukong,” said the Bodhisattva, “go down into the water and rescue your master.”
“How can I?” Monkey said. “The monster hasn't been caught yet.”
“Isn't that him in the basket?” the Bodhisattva asked.
Pig and Friar Sand then bowed low and asked, “How could that fish have had such great powers?”
“It originally was a goldfish that I raised in my lotus pool,” the Bodhisattva replied. “Every day it would swim up to listen to sutras, and it trained itself to have magic powers. The nine-knobbed copper mace was an unopened lotus bud that it tempered and made into a weapon. One day, I do not know when, a high tide reached the pool and carried it here. When I was leaning on the balustrade looking at the lotuses this morning I noticed that the wretch had not come to pay his respects, so I examined my fingers and the palms of my hands and worked out that it must have become a spirit and be planning to kill your master. That was why I did not wait to dress before using my divine powers to weave a bamboo basket in which to catch him.”
“In that case,” said Monkey, “could you stay here a moment longer? We would like to let the faithful in Chen Village gaze upon your golden countenance, Bodhisattva. This would be a great kindness, and it would also teach common folk to believe and make offerings by showing them how that demon was subdued.”
“Very well,” said the Bodhisattva. “Call them here.”
Pig and Friar Sand then ran to the village shouting, “Come and see the living Bodhisattva Guanyin, come and see the living Bodhisattva Guanyin.” All the villagers, young and old, men and women, rushed to the edge of the river and fell to their knees and kowtowed in worship despite the mud and the water. Among them was a good painter who left to posterity the painting of the Bodhisattva Guanyin appearing with a fish-basket. The Bodhisattva then returned to the Southern Sea.
Pig and Friar Sand cleared a way through the water straight to the River Turtle's Residence, where they searched for their master. All the water monsters and fish spirits there were now dead and rotten. They went round to the back of the palace, opened the stone chest, carried the Tang Priest up out of the water, and showed him to the crowds.
The Chen brothers kowtowed and expressed their thanks, saying, “My lord, if only you had accepted our advice and stayed longer you would have been spared all this trouble.”
“Say no more about it,” replied Monkey. “From next year onwards you people here won't need to make any more sacrifices. The Great King has been removed, and will never do you any harm again. Old Mr. Chen, I'd now like to trouble you to find a boat as soon as you can to take us across the river.”
“Yes, I can, I can,” said Chen Qing, ordering people to saw wood into planks to build a boat.
When his retainers heard this they were all delighted to make offerings, and there were many cries of “I'll pay for the mast and the sail,” “I'll fix the oars,” “I'll provide the rigging,” and “I'll hire the boatmen.”