Early the next morning the king ordered that painters make portraits of the countenances of the four holy monks to be kept in the Sino-Barbarian Hall. The princess was also invited to come out from the throne hall in her new finery to thank the Tang Priest and the other three for saving her from her suffering. When she had thanked them the Tang Priest took his leave of the king to continue his journey West. The king refused to let them go, but ordered great banquets at which they feasted for five or six days. The idiot really was given a good time, and he enjoyed putting as much food in his stomach as he possibly could. When the king saw how determined they were to visit the Buddha he realized that no matter how hard he tried he would not be able to keep them. He had two hundred ingots of gold and silver brought out, as well as a tray of jewels for each of them as an expression of thanks. Master and disciples refused to accept anything. The king then ordered the royal carriage prepared, invited the master to enter it, and instructed officials to escort them a long way. The queens, consorts, officials and common people all kowtowed endlessly in thanks. As they went along the way their monks all came out to kowtow to them in farewell; none of them could bear to be parted from the travelers. Seeing that the people seeing them off were unwilling to turn back. Monkey had no option but to make a spell with his hands and blow a magic breath in the direction of the trigram of the wind, Xun, so that a dark wind stopped all the escorts from seeing them. Only then did the travelers get away. This was indeed a case of
Washing away the waves of gratitude their natures returned to the end;
Leaving the sea of gold they were aware of true emptiness.
If you do not know what happened on the journey ahead, listen to the explanation in the next chapter.
Chapter 96
Squire Kou Entertains the Lofty Monk
The Tang Priest Does Not Covet Wealth and Honour
All kinds of matter are really without matter;
No emptiness is truly empty.
Stillness and clamour, speech and silence, all are the same:
Why bother to dream-talk in one's dreams?
The useful includes the useless in its application;
Achievement lurks within failure.
When the fruit is ripe it reddens of itself;
Do not ask how the seed is to be grown.
The story has told how the Tang Priest and his disciples used their magic powers to stop the monks of the Spread Gold Monastery. When the monks saw after the black wind had passed that the master and his disciples had disappeared they thought that their visitors must have been living Buddhas come down to earth, so they kowtowed and went back. Of them we tell no more. As master and disciples traveled West spring was giving way to early summer:
The air was clear, mild and refreshing;
Water chestnuts and lotuses were growing in the pool.
Plums were ripening after the rain;
The wheat was forming as the breezes blew.
Flowers were fragrant where blossoms fell from trees;
The oriole grew tired amid the willow's light branches.
Swallows over the river taught their young to fly;
The pheasants fed their chirping chicks.
South of the Dipper the sun was always seen;
All of creation shone with brightness.
We could never describe in full how they ate at dawn, found shelter at dusk, rounded ravines and climbed hills as they went along their way without incident for a fortnight. Then another city wall appeared in front of them. As they came closer to it Sanzang asked, “What sort of place is this, disciple?”
“I don't know,” Brother Monkey replied, “I don't know.”
“You've been this way before,” put in Pig, “so how can you claim that you don't know? I suppose you're being crafty and just pretending you can't recognize the place to make fools of us.”
“You're being completely unreasonable, you idiot,” said Monkey. “Although I've been this way several times I've always come and gone by cloud high up in the sky. I've never landed here. I had no interest in the place, so why should I have looked it over? That's why I didn't know. I'm not being crafty, and not trying to make a fool of you either.”
While they were talking they came close to the city before they realized it. Sanzang dismounted, crossed the drawbridge and went straight in through the gates. As they went along the main street there were two old men to be seen sitting under a portico and talking.
“Disciples,” said Sanzang, “stand here in the middle of the road, keep your heads bowed and don't run wild. I am going under that portico to ask where we are.”
Monkey and the others stood still as they had been told while the venerable elder went up to the two men, put his hands together and called out, “Greetings, benefactors.” The two old men were idly chatting about such things as prosperity and decay, success and failure, sages and good men, their heroic deeds in ancient times, and where such men were now. Really, they said, it was enough to make you sigh.
When they suddenly heard Sanzang's greeting they returned it and asked, “What do you have to say to us, reverend sir?”
“I am a monk who has come from far away to worship the Lord Buddha,” Sanzang replied, “and I have just arrived here. I wonder what this place is called, and where there are any pious folk from whom I might beg a meal.”
“This is the prefecture of Brazentower,” one of the old men said, “and this is the county of Diling near Brazentower city. If you want vegetarian food, reverend sir, you won't need to beg. Go past this archway to the street running North-south. There's a gate-tower shaped like a sitting tiger facing the East, and that's Squire Kou's house. In front of it is a sign that says 'All monks welcome'. A monk from far away such as yourself will be given all you want. Off you go, and stop interrupting our conversation.”
Sanzang thanked them, turned to Monkey and said, “This is Diling county in the prefecture of Brazentower. The two old men said that on the street running North-south past this archway there is a gate-tower shaped like a sitting tiger that is Squire Kou's house. In front of it is a sign that says 'All monks welcome'. They told me to go there for a vegetarian meal.”
“The West is a land of Buddhists,” said Friar Sand, “and they really do feed monks. As this is only a seat of local government we don't need to present our passport. Let's go and beg ourselves a meal; that'll be all the better for travelling with.” The master and his three disciples walked slowly along the main street, filling all the people in the market with alarm and suspicion as they crowded around, struggling to see what the strangers looked like.
Sanzang told his disciples to keep their mouths shut, saying, “Behave yourselves! Behave yourselves!” The three of them kept their heads bowed, not daring to look up. Then they turned a corner and did indeed see a main road running North-south.
As they were walking along it they saw a gate-tower like a sitting tiger. On a screen wall inside the gateway hung a great sign on which were written the words “All monks welcome.”