Once his feet were on dry land Monkey smiled and said, “That Bodhisattva really showed off her magic powers by blowing me right across the sea with no trouble at all.”
Instructing all the devas to guard her immortal realm, the Bodhisattva told the Naga Maiden to close the gates of the cave, left the Pota Cliff by auspicious cloud and went over to call, “Where are you, Huian?” Huian was Moksa, the second son of Heavenly King Li, the Pagoda-carrier; he was the disciple whom the Bodhisattva personally taught, and he never left her side. His full title was Huian the Novice, Protector of the Dharma.
Huian placed his hands together and stood awaiting the Bodhisattva's orders. “Go straight up to Heaven,” she said, “call on His Majesty your father, and ask him to lend me his Pole Star swords.”
“How many will you need, Mistress?” Huian asked.
“The whole set,” she replied.
Huian then went obediently straight up on his cloud, in through the Southern Gate of Heaven, and into the Cloud-tower Palace, where he kowtowed to his father.
“Where have you come from?” Heavenly King Li asked after greeting him.
“My mistress has been asked by Sun Wukong to subdue a demon,” Huian-or Moksa-replied. “She has sent me to visit you and ask for the loan of your set of Pole Star swords.”
The Heavenly King then sent Nezha to fetch the thirty-six swords, which he gave to Moksa. “Brother,” said Moksa to Nezha, “would you please pay my respects to our mother. I'm on a very urgent job, and I'll come to kowtow to her when I bring the swords back.” Taking his leave in a great hurry he brought his auspicious light straight down to the Southern Sea, where he presented the swords to the Bodhisattva.
The Bodhisattva took the swords, threw them into the air, said a spell, and turned them into a thousand-petal lotus throne, on which she took her seat. Monkey grinned to himself and said, “That Bodhisattva is a real skinflint. She has a lotus throne of many colours in her lotus pool already, but she's too mean to sit on that. She would have to send him off to borrow someone else's instead.”
“Wukong,” said the Bodhisattva, “be quiet and come with me.” They then both left the coast by cloud. The white parrot flew ahead, while the Great Sage and Huian stood behind her.
Within moments they saw a mountain-top. “That's Mount Hao,” said Monkey. “It's about a hundred and fifty miles from here to the demon's place.” The Bodhisattva then ordered him to lower the auspicious cloud. She said the magic word “Om” above the summit, whereupon many a god and ghost-all the local spirits of the mountain-emerged from all around the mountain and gathered to kowtow to the Bodhisattva's lotus throne.
“Do not be afraid,” she said. “I am here to capture this demon king. I want this whole area swept completely clean, with not a living creature left behind within a hundred miles of here. All the baby animals in their dens and fledglings in holes in the trees must be put on the top of this high crag for safety.” Obediently the demons withdrew, and soon they were all back. “Now that the place is clean, you may all return to your shrines,” said the Bodhisattva. She then turned her vase of purity upside-down, letting the water roar out with a noise like thunder. Indeed, it
Flowed down from the peak,
Smashed through the rocks.
Flowed down from the peak with the force of the sea,
Smashed through the rocks like a mighty ocean.
Black spray rose to the watery heavens,
Great waves coldly reflected the sun.
Jade waves smashed through crags,
While the sea was covered with golden lotuses.
Guanyin displayed her demon-quelling magic,
Producing a fixing dhyana from her sleeve.
She made the mountain a Potaraka Island,
Just like the one in the Southern Sea
Tall grew the rushes, and the epiphyllum tender,
Flowers were everywhere, and the pattra looked fresh.
Parrots perched in the purple bamboos,
And quails were calling amid the verdant pines.
Endless lines of waves as far as the eye could see,
And all that could be heard was the wind on the waters.
The Great Sage Monkey was full of silent admiration: “What great mercy and compassion. If I had that magic power I'd just have tipped the vase over, and to hell with the birds, beasts, reptiles and insects.”
“Stretch your hand out, Wukong,” said the Bodhisattva. Monkey at once neatened his clothes and put out his left hand. The Bodhisattva drew out her sprig of willow, moistened it in the sweet dew, and wrote “Confusion” on his palm. “Make a fist,” she old him, “and go to challenge the demon to battle. Let him beat you, then draw him back here. I have a Dharma power with which to subdue him.”
Monkey obediently took his cloud straight back to the cave entrance. Brandishing his cudgel with one hand and clenching the other into a fist, he shouted, “Open up, evil spirits.” The little devils scampered back inside to report, “Sun the Novice is here again.”
“Shut the doors tight and ignore him,” said the demon king.
“What a fine son you are,” shouted Monkey, “driving your own father out of doors and refusing to open the doors to him.”
“Sun the Novice is being very abusive,” the little devils came back in to report.
“Ignore him,” said the demon king. When the doors were still shut after he had called twice, Monkey grew very angry. He raised his iron cudgel and smashed a hole in them.
This threw the little devils into such a panic that they ran tumbling and stumbling in to say, “Sun the Novice has broken the doors down.”
Hearing that the outer doors had been broken down after all the earlier reports the demon king now leapt up and sprang outside brandishing his spear and flinging insults back at Monkey: “You ape, you have no sense at all. I let you off lightly, but you don't know when enough is enough. You're trying to bully me again. I'll make you pay for the crime of smashing down my doors.”
“What about your crime in driving your own father away?” retorted Monkey.
In his humiliation and anger the demon king thrust his spear at Brother Monkey's chest. Monkey parried this with his cudgel and hit back. Once they started they fought four or five rounds in which Monkey, one hand holding the cudgel and the other clenched in a fist, gave ground. “I'm going back to get the Tang Priest scrubbed and cleaned,” said the demon.
“You be careful, my boy,” said Monkey. “Heaven can see what you're doing. You come here.” This stung the demon king into an even greater fury. Running after Monkey he caught him up and took another thrust at him with his spear. Monkey swung back with his cudgel, and after a few more rounds ran away in defeat again. The demon king started to taunt him once more: “Last time you were good for twenty or thirty rounds. But now you're running away each time we fight. What's wrong with you?”
“My dear boy,” grinned Monkey, “your father's afraid you'll start that fire again.”
“I won't,” said the demon, “now, come here.”
“If you're not going to start a fire,” said Monkey, “let's move away from here. A tough guy doesn't attack people in front of his own door.” Not realizing that this was a trick, the evil spirit raised his spear and ran after him. Monkey trailed his cudgel and opened his other hand. The demon king then fell into confusion and chased Monkey for all he was worth. The quarry moved like a shooting star, and the pursuer like a bolt that had just been shot from a crossbow.
Before long Monkey saw the Bodhisattva. “Evil spirit,” he said to the demon, “I'm scared of you. Please spare me. I'm going to where the Bodhisattva Guanyin of the Southern Sea lives. You go home now.” The demon king was not going to believe this, so he gritted his teeth and continued the pursuit. With a shake of his body Monkey hid himself in the Bodhisattva's divine radiance.