The Tang Priest thanked Vairambha for saving his life;
The emotions were eliminated and the Many-eyed Monster removed.
As for what happened on the way ahead, listen to the explanations in the next installment.
Chapter 74
Li Changgeng Reports the Demons' Vicious Nature
The Novice Displays His Powers of Transformation
Emotions and desires are in origin all the same;
Both emotions and desires are completely natural.
Many a gentleman refines himself in the Buddhist faith;
When desire and emotions are forgotten, dhyana conies.
Don't be impatient; be firm of heart;
Be free of dust like the moon in the sky.
Make no mistake in your labors and your progress;
When your efforts are completed you will be an enlightened immortal.
The story tells how Sanzang and his disciples, having broken through the net of desires and escaped from the prison-house of the emotions, let the horse travel West. Before they had been going for very long the summer was over and the new coolness of early autumn was refreshing their bodies. What they saw was:
Driving rains sweeping away the last of the heat,
Alarming the leaf of the parasol tree.
At evening glow-worms flew by the sedge path
While crickets sang beneath the moon.
The golden mallows opened in the dew;
Red knotweed covered the sandbanks.
Rushes and willows were the first to lose their leaves
As cold cicadas sang in tune.
As Sanzang was travelling along a high mountain appeared in front of him. Its peak thrust up into the azure void, touching the stars and blocking out the sun. In his alarm the venerable elder said to Monkey, “Look at that mountain in front of us. It's very high. I don't know whether the path will take us across.”
“What a thing to say, Master,” said Monkey with a smile. “As the old saying goes,
However high the mountain there will be a way across;
However deep the river there's always a ferryman.
There's no reason why we shouldn't get over it. Stop worrying and carry on.” When Sanzang heard this his face broke out in smiles and he whipped his horse forward to climb straight up the high crag.
After a mile or two an old man appeared. His white hair was tangled and flying in the wind while his sparse whiskers were being blown about like silver threads. He wore a string of prayer-beads round his neck and held a dragon-headed walkingstick as he stood far away at the top of the slope shouting, “Venerable gentleman travelling West, stop your worthy steed. Rein in. There is a band of demons on this mountain who have eaten all the people in the continent of Jambu. Go no further!”
At this Sanzang turned pale with terror, and because the horse was not standing steadily and he himself was not well seated in the carved saddle he crashed to the ground and lay in the grass, moaning but unable to move.
Monkey went over to help him to his feet with the words, “Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. I'm here.”
“Did you hear the old man up on the crag telling us that there's a band of demons on this mountain who have eaten everyone in the continent of Jambu?” said Sanzang. “Who'll dare go to ask him what this is really all about?”
“Sit there while I go and ask him,” Monkey replied.
“With your ugly face and coarse language I'm afraid you may shock him,” said Sanzang, “so you won't get the truth from him.”
“I'll make myself a bit better looking before questioning him,” laughed Brother Monkey.
“Do a change to show me,” said Sanzang, and the splendid Great Sage made a spell with his fingers, shook himself, and turned into a very neat little monk, clear-eyed, fine-browed, round-headed and regular of features. He moved in a most refined way and said nothing vulgar when he opened his mouth.
Brushing his brocade tunic he stepped forward and said to the Tang Priest, “Master, have I changed for the better?”
“Yes,” said the delighted Sanzang.
“Marvellous,” said Pig, “but the rest of us look shabby by comparison. Even if I rolled around for two or three years on end I couldn't make myself look as elegant as that.”
The splendid Great Sage left them behind as he went straight up to the old man, bowed to him and said, “Greetings, venerable sir.” Seeing how young and cultivated he looked, the old man returned his greeting and stroked his head in an offhand way.
“Little monk,” the old man said with a smile, “where have you come from?”
“We are from the Great Tang in the East,” Monkey replied, “going to worship the Buddha and fetch the scriptures. When we came here and heard you tell us that there are demons here my master was terrified. He sent me to ask you about them. What sort of evil spirits would dare go in for that sort of crime? I would trouble you, venerable sir, to tell me all the details so that I can put them in their place and send them on their way.”
“You're much too young, little monk,” said the old man with a smile, “to know what's good for you. Your remarks aren't helpful. Those evil spirits have tremendous magical powers. How can you have the nerve to talk of putting them in their place and sending them on their way?”
“From what you are saying,” Monkey replied with a smile, “you seem to be trying to protect them. You must be a relation of theirs, or else a neighbour or a friend. Why else would you be promoting their prestige and boosting their morale, and refusing to pour out everything you know about their background?”
“You certainly know how to talk, monk,” said the old man, nodding and smiling. “I suppose you must have learned some magic arts while travelling with your master. Perhaps you know how to drive away and capture goblins, or have exorcised people's houses for them. But you've never come up against a really vicious monster.”
“What sort of vicious?” Monkey said.
“If those evil spirits send a letter to Vulture Mountain the five hundred arhats all come out to meet them,” the old man said. “If they send a note to the Heavenly Palace the Ten Bright Shiners all turn out to pay their respects. The dragons of the Four Oceans were their friends and they often meet the immortals of the Eight Caves. The Ten Kings of the Underworld call them brothers; the local gods and city gods are good friends of theirs.
When the Great Sage heard this he could not help bursting into loud guffaws. “Stop talking,” he said, grabbing hold of the old man, “stop talking. Even if that demon is friends with all those young whippersnappers, my juniors, that's nothing really remarkable. If he knew I was coming he'd clear off the same night.”
“You're talking nonsense, little monk,” the old man said. “How can any of those sages be juniors and young whippersnappers to you?”
“To be truthful with you,” Monkey replied with a grin, “my people have lived for many generations in the Water Curtain Cave on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit in the land of Aolai. My name is Sun Wukong. In the old days I used to be an evil spirit too and did some great things. Once I fell asleep after drinking too much at a feast with the other demons and dreamed that two men came to drag me off to the World of Darkness. I got so angry that I wounded the demon judges with my gold-banded cudgel. The kings of the Underworld were terrified and I practically turned the Senluo Palace upside-down. The judges in charge of the case were so scared that they fetched some paper for the Ten Kings to sign. They promised to treat me as their senior if I let them off a beating.”
“Amitabha Buddha!” exclaimed the old man when he heard this. “If you talk big like that you won't be able to grow any older.”