Chapter 29

River Float, Freed from His Trouble, Comes to the Kingdom; Bajie, Graced with a Mission, Turns Back Through the Mountain Woods

The poem says:

Do not strive to crush delusive thoughts by force; why seek with craving for the true suchness?The root and self-nature are cultivated before the Buddha: between delusion and waking, where is first and last?Wake, and in an instant the true fruit is won; stay lost, and ten thousand kalpas sink in the stream.If one single thought accords with the true cultivation, the sins as many as Ganges sands are all extinguished.

Now Bajie and Sha Monk had fought the demon thirty rounds, with victory to neither. And why neither? At feats of skill, never mind two monks — twenty could not stand against that demon. Only because the Tang monk's life was not fated to end: in the dark, the dharma-guarding gods kept watch over him; and in the air the Six Dings and Six Jias, the revealers of the five quarters, the duty officers of the four watches, and the eighteen sangharama guardians of the teaching were aiding Bajie and Sha Monk.

To leave the three of them fighting: the elder in the cave wept in sorrow, thinking of his disciples, tears in his eyes. "Wuneng, in which village have you fallen in with kindly friends, lingering over the offerings? Wujing, where are you looking for him — will you ever find him? How should you know I have met a demon and suffer here? When shall I find you again, slip this great trouble, and go on early to Vulture Peak?" In the midst of his weeping and trouble a woman came out of the cave, leaned on the Spirit-Fixing Stake, and called: "Elder, where do you come from? Why has he bound you here?" The elder, hearing this, stole a look through his tears: the woman was about thirty years of age. He said: "Lady Bodhisattva, no need to ask. I am a dead man already, walked in through your gate; eat me if you will — why ask?" "I do not eat people," said the woman. "My home is three hundred li and more west of here: there is a city there called the Baoxiang Kingdom. I am the king's third princess, my milk name Baihuaxiu. Thirteen years ago, on the night of the fifteenth of the eighth month, as we admired the moon, this demon snatched me away on a blast of wild wind. I have been his wife thirteen years, borne and raised children here, with never a word of me back at the court. I think of my father and mother and cannot see them. Where do you come from, that he took you?" "Your humble monk is sent to fetch scriptures in the Western Heaven," said the Tang monk. "Strolling without thought, I blundered in here. Now they mean to seize my two disciples too and steam and eat us together." The princess smiled to comfort him. "Set your mind at ease, Elder. Since you are a scripture-seeker, I can save you. The Baoxiang Kingdom lies on the high road of your westward way. Carry a letter for me to my father and mother, and I will have him spare you." Tripitaka nodded. "Lady Bodhisattva, if you will save this humble monk's life, I am glad to be your letter-carrier."

The princess hurried to the back and wrote a letter home, sealed it fast and well. She came to the stake, freed the Tang monk, and gave him the letter. Freed, the Tang monk held the letter in both hands. "Lady Bodhisattva, I thank you a thousand times for the gift of my life. On my way, passing your land, I will deliver it to the king for certain. Only I fear that with the years so long your parents may refuse to know you — and then do not blame this humble monk for having lied." "No matter," said the princess. "My royal father had no son — only the three of us sisters. Once he sees this letter, he is certain to want to see me." Tripitaka tucked the letter deep in his sleeve, thanked the princess, and made to go out. The princess caught him. "You cannot go out the front gate. All the demons great and small are outside waving banners and shouting, beating drums and gongs, backing their king against your disciples in battle. Go by the back gate. If the king takes you, he will at least question you; but if the little demons seize you they will not sort good from bad, and may crush the life from you raw and living. Wait while I speak a word of ease to him. If the king frees you, wait for your disciples to ask his leave, and find him, and go together." Tripitaka knocked his head, did exactly as told, took leave of the princess, and hid beyond the back gate, not daring to stir, his body hidden in a thicket of brambles.

Now the princess, a clever scheme rising in her heart, hastened out, passed through the gate, and parted the demons great and small. There was a ringing and clashing of blades in the air: Bajie and Sha Monk were battling the demon in mid-sky. The princess cried out in a great voice: "Lord Yellow Robe!" The demon king, hearing the princess call, left Bajie and Sha Monk at once, dropped the cloud, gripped his steel knife, and took the princess's arm. "Wife, what would you say?" "My lord, I was just now asleep within the silken curtains, and in my dream there suddenly stood a spirit in golden armor." "What golden-armored spirit? What business at my gate?" "When I was a girl in the palace I made a secret vow: if I might take a worthy lord to husband, I would climb the famous mountains, worship at the immortals' dwellings, feed monks, and give alms. Since I was matched with you, husband and wife in happiness, I have never once spoken of it till now. The golden-armored spirit came to claim the vow, shouted me awake — and it was all a dream of Nanke. So I hurried to dress and come tell you, my lord — and found a monk bound to the stake, whom I had not looked for. I beg you, my lord, in your mercy, and for my poor sake, spare that monk: count it as my feeding of monks, my payment of the vow. Will you, my lord?" "Wife, you are too tender-hearted," said the demon. "What great matter is this? If I want men to eat, anywhere I scoop up a few; what is one monk, more or less? Let him go." "Let him out by the back gate, my lord." "What fuss! Let him go and have done — what do I care which gate?" So he shouldered his steel knife and called loudly: "Zhu Bajie, come here. It is not fear that stops my fighting you: for my wife's sake I spare your master. Go quickly to the back gate, find him, and be off west. If ever you invade my borders again, there will be no sparing."

Bajie and Sha Monk, hearing this, were like men set free from the Gate of Ghosts: they snatched up the horse and load and scurried off like rats. Rounding the back gate of the Wave-Moon Cave they called: "Master!" The elder knew the voices and answered from among the brambles. Sha Monk cut a path through the grass, helped the master up, and in haste they mounted and went. And so it was:

From the green-faced devil's viciousness he had barely escaped; for his diligence, blessed be Baihuaxiu.The catfish slips the golden hook; tail lashing, head shaking, it sports among the waves.

Bajie led the way, Sha Monk following, out of the pines and onto the high road. See the two of them grumbling and squabbling, muttering reproaches, while Tripitaka only made peace between them. At dusk they found their lodging first; at cockcrow they read the sky early. Stage upon stage, long pavilion and short, they had gone two hundred and ninety-nine li without knowing it. Suddenly they looked up at a fine city: the Baoxiang Kingdom. A truly splendid place:

Clouds far and dim; the road long and long. Though the land lies a thousand li away, its sights are rich as any.Auspicious mists and blessed vapors mantle it; clear winds and the bright moon wave welcome.Jagged and towering, the far hills unroll like a great painting; plashing and purling, the running water scatters shattered jade.Fields to plow run path into path; crops to eat stand thick, young shoots and orchid rows.Fishermen's huts at the bends of three streams; woodcutters' loads on the shoulders of two peaks.Wall upon wall, city upon city, moats of metal and ramparts of jade, fast and firm; house by house, door by door, all vying in ease.Towers nine stories high like palace halls; terraced platforms ten thousand feet like banners of brocade.There were the Hall of the Great Ultimate, the Hall of the Flowery Canopy, the Incense Hall, the Hall of Contemplating Letters, the Hall of Proclaiming Governance, the Hall of Prolonged Excellence — hall upon hall of jade steps and golden stairs, ranked with capped scholars and hatted warriors;there were the Palace of Great Brightness, the Zhaoyang Palace, the Palace of Long Joy, the Palace of Huaqing, the Palace of Jianzhang, the Palace of Weiyang — palace upon palace of bells and drums, pipes and flutes, sweeping away the boudoir's grievances and spring's sorrows.In the forbidden gardens dewy blossoms evened out young faces; along the palace ditches wind-blown willows danced their slender waists.On the broad avenues men wore caps and girded sashes, grand in demeanor, riding five-horse teams; in quiet corners men carried bows and quivers, parting the clouds and mist to transfix two hawks at a shot.Flower-and-willow lanes, towers of pipes and strings — in spring wind yielding nothing to the Luoyang bridges.The scripture-seeking elder turned his thoughts to the Great Tang and his heart split with feeling; the disciples who attended their master set down their loads at the little post station, their dream-souls melting.

The sights of the Baoxiang Kingdom were past seeing. Master and disciples stowed their luggage and stabled the horse and rested in the post station.

The Tang monk walked to the palace gate and said to the gate usher: "There is a monk of the Tang come expressly for an audience with the throne, to have his travel rescript exchanged. I beg you convey the request." The yellow-gate officer of memorials hurried to the white jade steps and announced: "Your Majesty, a monk of eminence from the Tang begs an audience, to have his rescript exchanged." The king, hearing it was the great kingdom of Tang, and moreover a holy monk from abroad, was delighted, and granted the request at once. "Summon him in." Tripitaka was summoned to the golden steps; the dances and the shout of homage to the mountains done, the civil and military officials on both sides sighed, every one: "A man of the upper kingdom — such grace in rite and music!" "Elder, what business brings you to my kingdom?" "Your humble monk is a child of Buddha of the Tang, bearing my sovereign's decree to fetch scriptures in the west. I hold a rescript from the first; coming to your majesty's great kingdom it must properly be exchanged. Thus, knowing no better, I have disturbed the dragon countenance." "Since there is a rescript from the Son of Heaven of Tang, present it and let me see." Tripitaka presented it with both hands, opened it, and laid it on the royal desk. The rescript said:

Rescript of the Son of Heaven of Tang, of the Land of the Great Tang in the continent of Jambudvipa, who reigns by Heaven's mandate: I, of shallow virtue, have succeeded to the great foundation; I serve the gods and govern the people, treading the brink of the deep and the thinness of the ice, anxious morning and evening. Formerly I failed to save the old dragon of the Jing River, and drew down the chastisement of my sovereign August Lord on High: my three hun-souls and seven po-souls were whisked in a moment to the dark tribunal, already a guest of the Impermanent. Because my years of life were not yet spent, the lord of the netherworld in his grace sent me back to life; I spread a great assembly of good works and built a chan rite to ferry over the dead. And I was blessed by the appearance in her golden body of the Bodhisattva Guanyin, saver from suffering, who showed that in the west there is a Buddha, there are scriptures, able to ferry over the dead in darkness and free the lonely souls. Therefore I have charged the Dharma Master Xuanzang to traverse a thousand mountains afar and seek the sutras and gathas. Should he come to the kingdoms of the west, may good karma not be extinguished: by this rescript let him pass. So stands the rescript. Given on an auspicious day in autumn, the thirteenth year of Zhenguan of the great Tang, from before the throne. (It bears nine precious seals.)

The king, having seen it, took his own kingdom's jade seal, affixed his signature flourish, and handed it back to Tripitaka.

Tripitaka thanked him for the grace and put away the rescript, and further addressed the throne: "Your humble monk has come, first, to have the rescript exchanged; second, to deliver to your majesty a letter from home." The king rejoiced greatly. "What letter?" "Your majesty's third princess, Majesty, was carried off by the Yellow Robe demon of Wave-Moon Cave on Bowl Mountain. Your humble monk met her by chance, and so brings her letter." The king's eyes brimmed with tears. "Thirteen years since the princess was lost! Of the civil and military officials of both courts who knows how many were demoted and sent away; of the maids and eunuchs within and without the palace who knows how many were beaten to death. We said only she had wandered from the palace and lost her way, nowhere to search. House after house in the whole city was questioned past counting, and still no trace. Who knew a demon had snatched her away! Hearing these words so suddenly today, my grief breaks out in tears." Tripitaka drew the letter from his sleeve and presented it. The king took it, saw the two characters "Safe and Well," and his hands went weak altogether, so that he could not break the letter open. He sent word to summon the Grand Academician of the Hanlin Academy to read it in the hall. The academician came up at once. Before the dais stood the civil and military officials; behind it, consorts, concubines, and palace maids — all lent their ears to the reading. The academician broke the seal and read aloud. It said:

Your unfilial daughter, Baihuaxiu, bows her head to the earth a hundred times before the Dragon-and-Phoenix Hall of my father the king of great virtue, and before the three palaces of my mothers the consorts, at the Zhaoyang Palace, and before the seats of the worthies, civil and military, of the whole court: your clumsy daughter, happily lodged in the women's palace, is grateful for your toils past all telling. She could not serve you to her utmost, gladden your faces, devote her whole heart to filial duty. Then, on the fair night of the fifteenth of the eighth month thirteen years ago, by the gracious decree of my royal father the palaces laid banquets, and we admired the moonlight, sharing the joy of the clear sky's great gathering. In the very midst of that delight, on a sudden blast of scented wind there burst out a demon king with golden eyes, a blue face, and black-green hair, who seized your daughter, rode the auspicious light with her, and bore her straight to a desert place in the wild mountains where none could tell or tell of it; and the demon, trusting his strength, kept her by force as his wife. So, helpless, I have dragged through thirteen years and borne two demon children, the demon's spawn every one. Strictly this is the ruin of human bonds, a wound to proper custom — a shame not to be written and sent. Only I feared that after your daughter's death it would never be made plain. As I harbored my grief and longed for my parents, who should be taken by the demon king too but the holy monk of the Tang. Your daughter, tear by tear, wrote this letter and boldly freed him, entrusting him with this scrap of paper to show the inch of her heart. I look up, hoping my royal father will take pity: send a great general soon to Bowl Mountain, to Wave-Moon Cave, to seize the demon Yellow Robe and bring your daughter home — deep would be my grateful thought. Hasty and wanting in reverence, and more to be said face to face than can be written. Your rebellious daughter, Baihuaxiu, bows her head again, and again.

The academician, having read the letter, the king wept aloud, the three palaces dropped tears, the civil and military grieved — before and behind, all mourned.

The king wept a long while, then asked the civil and military of both courts: "Who dares raise troops and lead them, to take this demon for me and rescue my princess Hundred Flowers?" He asked again and again, and not one man dared answer: generals carved of wood and ministers molded of clay, truly. Trouble welled in the king's heart, his tears a springing fountain. The many officials bowed low together and addressed him: "Let not your majesty torment himself. The princess has been lost these thirteen years without word; by chance a holy monk of the Tang has brought a letter here — whether true or no, we do not know. Moreover, your servants are mortal men on mortal horses; schooled in books of war and military arts, we can array lines and pitch camps and guard the state against invasion and insult. But that demon comes with the clouds and goes with the mists: we cannot meet him face to face — with what should we campaign and rescue? Consider: the scripture-seeker from the eastern lands is a holy monk of the upper kingdom. This monk's Way is so high that dragons and tigers submit, his virtue so weighty that ghosts and spirits honor him: he must have the art of subduing demons. The old saying goes: he who comes speaking of trouble is the trouble's own man. Invite this elder to subdue the demon and save the princess — that were the plan most sure of safety."

The king, hearing this, turned quickly to Tripitaka: "Elder, if you have the means, and will put forth your dharma power, take this demon and rescue my child to return to court — then you need not go west to worship the Buddha at all. Let your hair grow and keep your head: I will swear brotherhood with you, we will share the dragon bed and share wealth and honor — how would that be?" Tripitaka hurried to reply: "Your humble monk knows a little of invoking the Buddha; subduing demons he truly cannot do." "If you cannot subdue demons, how dare you go to the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha?" The elder could not hide it, and brought out his two disciples. "Your Majesty, one man alone could never have made it here. Your humble monk has two disciples, skilled at opening roads through mountains and bridging waters, who have guarded me thus far." "This monk of yours is quite without propriety," the king said in displeasure. "Having disciples, why not bring them in with you to see me? Had they come to court, if nothing to their liking in rewards, at least a proper meal at their portion." "Those disciples of mine are ill-favored," said Tripitaka, "and dared not enter the court unbidden — fearing only to shock and injure your majesty's dragon person." The king laughed. "Hear how the monk talks! As if I should be afraid of them?" "I dare hardly say it. My eldest disciple is surnamed Zhu, named Wuneng, called Bajie: born with a long snout and tusk teeth, bristly mane and fan ears, thick of body and big of belly, wind rising as he walks. My second disciple is surnamed Sha, the dharma name Wujing: twelve feet of body, shoulders a third part broad, a face like indigo, a mouth like a basin of blood, flashing eyes, teeth ranked like nails. Such are their looks; so I dared not bring them into court unbidden." "Having said it once like that, what would I have to fear?" said the king. "Summon them in." At once a gold-tablet summons went to the post station to invite them.

The Idiot, hearing the summons, said to Sha Monk: "Brother, who told you to teach me against carrying letters? Now you see the good of carrying letters. The master must have delivered the letter, and the king says: the letter-carrier must not be slighted — a banquet is surely laid for him. His belly is not up to it; mindful of you and me, he named our names, and so the gold tablet comes to invite us. We all eat our fill, and travel on tomorrow, the better." "Brother," said Sha Monk, "who knows the reason? Let us go and see." So they gave the luggage and the horse in charge of the station master, took their own weapons, and followed the gold tablet into the palace. Soon they stood before the white jade steps, took their places left and right, made a bow toward the throne, and did not stir again. Of the civil and military officials there was not one unafraid. "Ugly as these two monks are, well and good," they all said; "but so grossly unmannered! In the king's own presence not to kneel — one bow and standing upright as if at ease! Strange, strange." Bajie heard and said: "Gentlemen, no discussing us. This is how we are: at first glance, admittedly, somewhat ugly; but look a while and we wear well enough."

The king, at their ugliness, had already quailed in his heart; and hearing the Idiot speak, he trembled the more, lost his seat, and tumbled off the dragon bed. Fortunately the attending officials helped him up. The Tang monk, in a flurry, knelt before the hall knocking his head without pause: "Your Majesty, your humble monk deserves ten thousand deaths, ten thousand deaths! I said my disciples were ill-favored and dared not come to court, fearing to injure your person — and indeed they have startled the carriage." The king, quivering, came near and helped him up. "Elder, it is well you said so beforehand. Had you not said it, and I met them suddenly, they would have frightened me to death." The king took some time to compose himself, and asked: "Elder Zhu, Elder Sha — which of you is the skilled hand at subduing demons?" The Idiot, knowing no better, answered: "Old Pig can subdue them." "And how do you subdue them?" "I was Marshal Tianpeng," said Bajie. "For a crime against heaven's law I fell into the world; happily I have now turned to the right and become a monk. Since coming from the eastern lands to here, the first hand at subduing demons is me." "A heavenly general come down to earth must then be skilled at transformations." "I dare not boast," said Bajie. "I know a few transformations, just passably." "Try one, and let me see." "Set the problem," said Bajie, "and I will change to the pattern." "Change into something big."

Bajie had his thirty-six transformations. Before the steps he showed his craft: pinching the sign and murmuring the spell he shouted, "Grow!" — bent his back, and stretched to eighty or ninety feet, like one of the Road-Opening Giants. The civil and military of both courts shook and trembled; the whole king and court stood gaping and dumb. The general who keeps the palace asked: "Elder, grown so tall — where would you stop growing? Where is your limit?" The Idiot came out with more Idiot's talk: "It depends on the wind. The east wind I could manage; the west wind, just barely. But if the south wind rises, I would arch a great hole in the blue sky itself." "Draw in your powers!" cried the king, greatly startled. "I have seen the sort of change you are." Bajie crouched his body down and stood again in his true form, waiting at the foot of the steps.

The king asked further: "Elder, when you go against him, what weapon will you fight him with?" Bajie drew the rake from his sash: "Old Pig fights with the nailed rake." The king laughed. "What a figure that cuts! Here I have whips and truncheons, melons and mallets, knives and spears, axes and halberds, swords and lances and scythes: choose whichever suits your hand and take it. What kind of weapon is a rake?" "Your Majesty does not know it. This rake of mine, coarse as it looks, is the weapon that has gone with me from my youth. When I was marshal in the watery palace of the Heavenly River, commanding eighty thousand water troops, it was all by this rake's strength. Now in the mortal world, guarding my master — when we meet mountains, it breaks open the tigers' and wolves' dens; when we meet waters, it turns over the dragons' and clams' lairs: all with this rake."

Hearing this the king was mightily pleased and believed him. He ordered the nine consorts: "Fetch a whole bottle of the royal wine I drink myself, to speed the elder on his way." He filled a goblet brimming and presented it to Bajie: "Elder, this cup carries but a small token of my regard for your toils. When you have taken the demon and brought my daughter back, there shall be a great feast to requite you and a thousand gold in thanks." The Idiot took the cup in hand: rough in his person, but in his conduct not without breeding. Bowing deeply to Tripitaka he said: "Master, this wine ought by rights to start with you; but a king has bestowed it on me, and I dare not refuse. Let old Pig drink first, to raise the spirits — the better to catch the demon." The Idiot drained it at one gulp, then filled a goblet and passed it to his master. "I do not drink wine," said Tripitaka. "Drink it, you brothers." Sha Monk came forward and took it. Bajie raised a cloud beneath his feet and rose straight into the air. The king, seeing it: "Elder Zhu can ride the clouds too?"

The Idiot gone, Sha Monk too drained his wine at a draught. "Master, when the Yellow Robe demon took you, the two of us fought him and could do no better than hold him even. Now second brother goes alone — I fear he cannot beat him." "True," said Tripitaka. "Disciple, go help him." At this Sha Monk too sprang up on his cloud and rose. The king, alarmed, caught at the Tang monk: "Elder, stay and sit with me a while. Do not ride the clouds away too." "Pity me, pity me," said the Tang monk. "I could not go half a step if I tried." The two of them sat talking in the hall — but of this, no more.

Now Sha Monk caught up with Bajie: "Brother, I have come." "Brother, what brings you?" "The master sent me to help in the fight." Bajie rejoiced. "Well said, and welcome. The two of us, straining together with one heart, will take that creature — even if it comes to nothing else, our names will ring in this kingdom." See them:

On banks of auspicious light they left the kingdom's bounds; in wreathing blessed vapor they passed the capital's wall.Bearing the king's decree they came to the mountain cave; straining together, one heart, to catch the spirit-demon.

In no long time the two of them reached the cave mouth and pressed down the cloud. Bajie swung his rake and struck the Wave-Moon Cave's gate with all his might, smashing a hole the size of a peck-measure in the stone door. The gate demon, terrified, opened up, saw the two of them, and tore inside to report: "Great King, bad news! The long-snouted, big-eared monk and that sullen-faced monk have come again and broken the very gate in." The demon was startled. "So it is Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk. I spared their master — how dare they come back and smash my gate?" "Perhaps they forgot something and have come back for it," said the little demon. "Fiddlestick!" said the old demon. "Forget something, and dare to beat down my door for it? There is a reason in this." He hastily buckled on his armor, took up his steel knife, came out and demanded: "Monks, I spared your master — how dare you come beating at my gate?" "You foul monster, fine work you have done!" said Bajie. "What work?" said the old demon. "You lured the third princess of the Baoxiang Kingdom into your cave, kept her by force as your wife thirteen years — time you gave her back. By the king's own decree I am come to take you. In with you quickly: bind yourself with your own rope and come out, and spare old Pig the labor." The old demon, hearing this, flew into a fury. See him: teeth gritted, steel grinding on steel; eyes rolling round and fierce; the knife swept up in gallant wrath; dripping red, slashing straight at their heads. Bajie twisted aside and met it face on with his rake; behind him Sha Monk raised his precious staff and hurried up to strike in unison. This bout on the mountaintop was unlike the last. Truly:

A word awry, a phrase amiss, drew down the wrath; malice of purpose, wounded feeling, roused the anger.The demon king with his great steel knife slashed straight for the head; Bajie's nine-toothed rake came face to face to meet it.Sha Wujing flung wide his precious staff; the demon king met and blocked the divine weapons.One fierce monster, two holy monks, coming and going with never a pause.Says one: "Deceiving the kingdom — by rights a capital crime." Says the other: "Prying in others' business, preaching justice."Says one: "Forcing a princess to wife, you shame the state." Says the other: "None of your affair — stop your idle wrangling."In the end it was all for a carried letter: monk and demon, neither left in peace.

Before the slope they fought eight or nine rounds, and Bajie was failing little by little: the rake hard to raise, strength not answering. And why could they not beat him now? In the first battle the dharma-guarding gods, because the Tang monk was in the cave, had secretly aided Bajie and Sha Monk, and so they barely held him even; now all those gods were in the Baoxiang Kingdom keeping the Tang monk, and so the two of them could not prevail.

The Idiot said: "Sha Monk, you step up and hold him a while; let old Pig go about a necessary." He gave no thought to Sha Monk, but slid off into the wormwood and vines, the brambles and creepers, burrowing in headlong without aim. Never mind his scalp scraped and his face stabbed: he rolled up and lay down, never daring to come out again — only one half of one ear left cocked for the watchman's clapper.

The demon, seeing Bajie fled, made for Sha Monk. Sha Monk had no time to guard: the demon seized him in one grip and hauled him into the cave. The little demons trussed Sha Monk, his limbs gathered and bound like a four-legged beast.

But what would truly become of his life — listen to the next chapter to find out.

River Float, Escaping Trouble, Comes to a Kingdom; Bajie, Bearing the King's Trust, Turns Back into the Woods

The poem says:

Do not strive to crush delusion by force; why chase after truth with craving?The root nature is cultivated before the Buddha; who can say delusion or waking comes first?Wake, and in an instant you are whole; stray, and ten thousand kalpas you sink in the stream.If one thought accords with true practice, it wipes out sins beyond the sands of the Ganges.

Bajie and Sha Monk fought the monster some thirty rounds with no victory on either side. And why no victory? In a trial of skill, never mind two monks—twenty could not stand against that demon. Only because the Tang monk's fate was not yet spent: the guardian gods kept watch over him in secret, and in the air the Six Dings and Six Jias, the guardians of the five quarters, the duty gods of the four watches, and the eighteen guardian deities of the church all helped Bajie and Sha Monk.

We say nothing of the three of them fighting. The elder wept in the cave, thinking of his disciples, tears in his eyes: "Wuneng, in what village have you met some kindly soul, lingering over the alms? Wujing, where have you gone looking for him—will you ever meet? How could you know I have fallen to a demon and suffer here? When shall I see you again, slip this great trouble, and go on early to Vulture Peak?" While he wept in his trouble, a woman came out from inside the cave, leaned on the soul-fixing stake, and called: "Elder, where do you come from? Why has he bound you here?" The elder heard her, stole a look through his tears: the woman was about thirty. He said: "Bodhisattva of the laity, there is no need to ask. I am a dead man, who has walked in at your door. Eat me if you will. Why ask questions?" The woman said: "I do not eat people. My home is three hundred li and more west of here. There is a city there, the Kingdom of the Treasure Elephant. I am that king's third princess, and my milk name is Baihuaxiu. Thirteen years ago, on the night of the fifteenth of the eighth month, while we watched the moon, this demon snatched me up in a whirlwind. I have been his wife thirteen years, bearing his children here, with never a word sent back to the palace. I think of my father and mother, whom I cannot see. Where were you coming from, that he caught you?" The Tang monk said: "I am a poor monk sent to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. I was walking out by chance and stumbled in here. Now they mean to catch my two disciples as well and steam and eat us all together." The princess said with an apologetic smile: "Take heart, Elder. If you are the man fetching the scriptures, I can save you. The Kingdom of the Treasure Elephant lies on the high road west. Carry a letter from me, and give my respects to my father and mother, and I will have him pardon you." Tripitaka nodded and said: "Bodhisattva of the laity, if you can save this poor monk's life, I will gladly be the bearer of your letter."

The princess hurried to the back, wrote a family letter at once, and sealed it firmly. She came to the stake, freed the Tang monk, and put the letter in his hands. The Tang monk, released, held the letter and said: "Bodhisattva of the laity, I thank you a thousand times for the gift of my life. On my way through your land I will surely deliver it to the king. I only fear that as years go by your father and mother will not believe me. Do not blame me if I seem to lie." The princess said: "No matter. My royal father has no son—only us three sisters. If he sees this letter, he will want to look into it, be sure." Tripitaka tucked the letter tight in his sleeve, thanked the princess, and started for the door. She held him back and said: "You cannot go out the front gate. All the demons, great and small, are outside waving flags and shouting, beating drums and clashing gongs to help their king fight your disciples. Go out by the back gate. If the king himself catches you, he may question you first. But if the little demons lay hands on you, they will not ask good from bad, and they may wring the life out of you on the spot. Let me go speak a word for you in front of the king. If the king releases you, ask your disciples' leave, find you, and go together." Tripitaka knocked his head to her, did exactly as he was told, took leave of the princess, and hid outside the back gate, not daring to move, curled up in a thornbush.

Now the princess had a clever thought. She hurried forward, went out the door, and pushed through the crowd of demons great and small. There was a clang and clatter of weapons: it was Bajie and Sha Monk fighting the monster in midair. The princess called out in a loud voice: "Lord Yellow Robe!" When the demon king heard the princess call, he dropped Bajie and Sha Monk at once, brought his cloud down, still gripping his steel knife, and took the princess's arm: "Wife, what is it?" The princess said: "My lord, I was just now asleep inside the silken curtains, and in my dream I saw a god in golden armor." The demon said: "What god in golden armor? What business had he at my door?" The princess said: "When I was young, in the palace, I made a secret vow: if I could take a worthy husband, I would climb the famous mountains, call at the halls of the immortals, feed monks, and give alms. Since I was matched with you and we lived happily as man and wife, I never mentioned it. That god in golden armor came to claim the vow, and shouted me awake—and it was all a dream. So I hurried to make myself decent and come tell you, my lord. And there at the stake I found a monk tied up. I beg you, my lord, in your mercy, and for my poor sake, pardon that monk. Count it as my feeding a monk to pay my vow. Will you, my lord?" The monster said: "Wife, you think too much. What matter is this? When I want to eat men, can I not scoop up a few anywhere? What is one monk more or less? Let him go." The princess said: "My lord, let him out by the back gate." The demon said: "What fuss! Let him go, and who cares which gate it is?" So he took up his steel knife and called out: "You Zhu Bajie, come here. It is not that I fear you, or will not fight you. For my wife's sake I pardon your master. Hurry and find him at the back gate, and be off west. If you come again into my borders, I will never pardon you."

When Bajie and Sha Monk heard this, it was as if they had been let off from the gate of hell itself. They snatched up the horse and the load and scurried off like rats. Around behind the Wavy Moon Cave they called: "Master!" The elder knew their voices and answered from the thornbush. Sha Monk cut a path through the grass, helped the master up, and hastily got him onto the horse. And so:

Fierce and deadly—like meeting a blue-faced demon he had been; yet kind was Baihuaxiu, who saved him.The turtle-fish slips off the golden hook, and swishing tail and shaking head it swims away with the waves.

Bajie led the way, Sha Monk followed behind, and they came out of the pines onto the high road. Look at the two of them, muttering and grumbling all the way, while Tripitaka only made peace between them. They put up at the first lodging at dusk and started again at cockcrow, watching the sky. Stage by stage, at long pavilions and short, before they knew it they had walked two hundred and ninety-nine li. They looked up suddenly, and there stood a fine city: the Kingdom of the Treasure Elephant. Truly a splendid place:

Clouds far and faint; the road long and long.Though the land lies a thousand li away, its scenes are rich as any.Lucky mists and kind vapors wrap it round; the clear wind and the bright moon beckon.The steep and towering far hills open like a great picture scroll; the purling, gliding waters splash broken jade.Plowable fields run hedge to hedge; crops enough to eat stand thick in new shoots.A few fishing lines at three winding streams; a load or two of firewood from the peak tops.Wall and wall, city and city, solid as bronze walls and boiling moats; house and house, door and door, vying only in ease.Ninefold high towers like palace halls; ten-thousand-foot terraces like banners of brocade.There were the Hall of the Great Ultimate, the Hall of the Flowery Canopy, the Hall of Burning Incense, the Hall of Observing Letters, the Hall of Proclaimed Government, the Hall of Extended Excellence—hall upon hall of jade steps and golden stairs, ranked with civil caps and military bonnets; and the Palace of Great Light, the Palace of Zhaoyang, the Palace of Long Joy, the Palace of Clarified Purity, the Palace of Jianzhang, the Palace of Weiyang—palace upon palace of bells and drums, pipes and flutes, sweeping away the sorrows of boudoirs and spring.There were dew-wet flowers in the forbidden garden smoothing their tender faces, and wind-blown willows by the palace ditch dancing their slender waists.On the great avenues there were men with caps and belts, grand in bearing, riding five-horse teams; in quiet corners there were men with bows and arrows parting the clouds to pierce two eagles with one shaft.Lanes of flowers and willows, towers of pipes and strings: the spring wind there yields nothing to the bridge at Luoyang.The elder fetching the scriptures turned to look back toward the Tang, and his heart split; the disciples attending their master rested their shoulders at a small post house, their dreams dissolving.

There was no end to the sights of the Kingdom of the Treasure Elephant. The master and his two disciples packed up their luggage and the horse and lodged at the post house.

The Tang monk walked to the gate of the palace and said to the gate official: "There is a monk of the Tang here, come especially for an audience, to have his passport countersigned. I beg you to report him." The yellow-gate official hurried to the white jade steps and reported: "Your Majesty, there is a holy monk of the Tang who asks to see you and have his passport countersigned." When the king heard it was the great kingdom of the Tang, and a holy monk from abroad besides, his heart was delighted, and he approved at once. He called: "Bring him in." Tripitaka was ushered to the golden steps, made his bows and his acclamations, and the ceremony was done. The civil and military officers on both sides all sighed: "A man of a great kingdom! Such grace and such manners!" The king said: "Elder, what brings you to my kingdom?" Tripitaka said: "I am a monk of the Tang, sent by my Emperor's edict to fetch scriptures from the Western Heaven. I hold a passport, and at Your Majesty's great kingdom it should properly be countersigned. So I have been bold, and disturbed the dragon countenance." The king said: "If you have the passport of the Tang Emperor, produce it for me to see." Tripitaka held it up in both hands, unfolded it, and laid it on the royal desk. The passport read:

"Passport of the Son of Heaven of the Tang, of the kingdom of the Tang in the southern continent of Jambudvipa, who reigns by the mandate of Heaven: I, of shallow virtue, have succeeded to the great foundation of my house. I serve the spirits and govern the people, standing as at a deep pool, walking as on thin ice, fearful morning and night. Formerly I failed to save the old dragon of the Jing River, and drew down the censure of the August Emperor on high. My three souls and seven spirits passed in a flash to the dark court, and I became a guest of the messenger of death. But since my span of life was not yet spent, the lord of the dark world in his mercy sent me back to life. I spread great good assemblies and built an altar of the Way to ferry over the dead. And the Bodhisattva Guanyin, saver from suffering, appeared in her golden body, and showed that in the West there is a Buddha and there are scriptures, able to save the dead in darkness and free the lonely souls. So I have specially appointed the Master of the Law Xuanzang to cross a thousand mountains and seek the scriptures and gathas. Should he reach the kingdoms of the West, let not this good bond be broken: by this passport let him pass. So stands the passport. Given on a lucky autumn day of the thirteenth year of Zhenguan of the Great Tang, the passport of the imperial presence. (It bears nine precious seals.)"

The king took his own jade seal of state, signed it with his flourish, and handed the passport back to Tripitaka.

Tripitaka thanked him for the favor, put away the passport, and said further: "I have come, first, to have my passport countersigned, and second, to bring Your Majesty a letter from home." The king was overjoyed: "What letter?" Tripitaka said: "Your Majesty's third princess was carried off by the demon Yellow Robe of the Wavy Moon Cave on Bowl Mountain. I met her by chance, and so I bring you her letter." When the king heard this, tears filled his eyes: "Thirteen years ago we lost the princess. Who knows how many of the civil and military officials of both ranks were demoted or dismissed; who knows how many maids and eunuchs, inside the palace and out, were beaten to death. We said only that she had wandered from the palace and lost her way, with nowhere to search. They questioned countless households through the whole city, and there was never a trace. Who could know she was carried off by a demon? To hear those words today so suddenly is why I grieve and weep." Tripitaka drew the letter from his sleeve and offered it. The king took it, and seeing the two characters "safe and well" on it, his hands went so weak he could not break the seal. He gave orders for the Grand Academician of the Hanlin Academy to come up to the hall and read it. The academician came at once. Before the hall stood the civil and military officials; behind it the queens, consorts, and palace girls, all bending their ears to hear. The academician broke the seal and read aloud. It said:

"Your unfilial daughter Baihuaxiu bows her head a hundred times before the dragon and phoenix hall of her great-virtued father the King, ten thousand years, and before the mother-queen of the three palaces in the Palace of Zhaoyang, and before the seats of all the worthy ministers of the court, civil and military: Your unworthy daughter has been blessed to stand in the inner palace, and she is grateful for your ten thousand toils on her behalf. She could never do enough to please you, nor serve her filial duty to the full. Thirteen years ago, on the fine night of the fifteenth of the eighth month, by our father's gracious order the palaces all laid banquets to admire the moonlight and share the joy of the clear evening. In the very middle of our pleasure a gust of perfumed wind blew up, and a demon king burst out, with golden eyes, an indigo face, and blue-black hair, seized me, rode off on lucky light, and carried me to a lonely place in the wild hills where no one could tell black from white. The demon took me by force and made me his wife. So I have borne it, helpless, for thirteen years, and borne two demon children, all of the demon's stock. This is truly a ruin of human bonds and a wound to decency, and I ought not to send a letter that shames you. But I fear that after I am dead no one will ever know the truth. I sat with my bitterness, thinking of my father and mother, when the holy monk of the Tang too was taken by the demon king. With tears I wrote this letter and dared to set him free, and I entrust this scrap of paper to him, to show the little of my heart. I beg my father the King to look down in pity: send a great general quickly to the Wavy Moon Cave on Bowl Mountain, take the demon Yellow Robe, and bring your daughter home to the court. It would be a deep kindness, and I should remember it forever. Written hastily and with little ceremony; the rest I will tell you face to face. Your rebellious daughter Baihuaxiu bows her head again and again."

When the academician had finished reading the family letter, the king wept aloud; the three palaces dropped tears; the civil and military grieved; and all, before and behind, were moved with pity.

The king wept a long while, and then asked the officials of both ranks: "Who among you dares raise troops and lead my armies, to take this demon and save my Princess Baihua?" He asked several times, and not one man dared answer. Truly they were wooden generals carved for show and clay officials molded from paste. The king's heart churned with trouble, and his tears gushed like a spring. Then all the officers knelt low together and said: "Your Majesty, do not trouble yourself. The princess has been gone thirteen years without a word. Now by chance a holy monk of the Tang has brought a letter, and we do not yet know if it is true. Besides, we are ordinary men on ordinary horses, schooled in books of war and strategy; we can draw up a line of battle and pitch a camp and guard the state against invasion. But that demon comes and goes on clouds and mists; no one can meet him face to face. How are we to march against him and save her? Consider: the man fetching the scriptures from the Land of the East is a holy monk of a great kingdom. This monk's Way is so high that dragons and tigers crouch, his virtue so weighty that ghosts and spirits honor him. He must have the art to tame a demon. As the ancients said, 'The man who comes to tell you of trouble is himself the trouble.' Let us ask this elder to take the demon and save the princess. That is the plan that cannot fail."

At these words the king turned quickly and asked Tripitaka: "Elder, if you have the skill and will put forth your powers, take this demon and bring my child back to me—and you need not go on west to worship the Buddha. Let your hair grow, keep your head, and I will swear brotherhood with you, share the dragon bed with you, and share wealth and honor with you. How would that be?" Tripitaka said hastily: "I am a poor monk who knows a little about reciting the Buddha's name. I truly cannot tame demons." The king said: "If you cannot tame demons, how dare you cross to the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha?" The elder could not hide it, and produced his two disciples. He said: "Your Majesty, for one poor monk this journey would truly be impossible. I have two disciples, good at cutting roads through mountains and bridging rivers, who have guarded me here." The king said in displeasure: "You monk, you have no manners at all. If you have disciples, why did you not bring them in to see me with you? However short of handsome gifts we may fall, there would at least have been a meal of alms for them." Tripitaka said: "My disciples are ugly. I dared not bring them unbidden into court, for fear of shocking Your Majesty's dragon person." The king laughed and said: "Listen to you! Do you think I am afraid of them?" Tripitaka said: "I dare say it. My eldest disciple is surnamed Zhu, named Wuneng, called Bajie. He has a long mouth and tusked teeth, bristling mane and fan ears, a thick body and a great belly, and the wind rises as he walks. My second disciple is surnamed Sha, the monk Wujing by religious name. He stands a full zhang and two tall, his arms are broad, his face the color of indigo, his mouth a basin of blood, his eyes flashing, his teeth set like nails. Such is their appearance, and so I dared not lead them into court uninvited." The king said: "You have told me all this once already. What should I fear? Summon them in." And he sent a gold tablet to the post house with the invitation.

When the Idiot heard he was summoned, he said to Sha Monk: "Brother, you would not have me deliver the letter—now you see the good of letter-carrying. The master has delivered the letter, and the king must have said: the man who carried the letter must not be slighted. A feast is being laid for him for certain. His stomach is not up to it, but his heart is set on us, so he named our names, and that is why the gold tablet has come. We shall all eat a good meal, and travel on tomorrow." Sha Monk said: "Brother, how would we know the reason? Let us go and see." They left the luggage and the horse in the charge of the post master, took their own weapons, and followed the gold tablet to court. They came to the white jade steps, stood at left and right, gave a call toward the throne, and did not stir. There was not one of the civil and military officers who was not afraid. They all said: "That these two monks are ugly, very well—but they are coarse past all measure. How can they stand before our king without kneeling? One call, and they stand bolt upright. Strange, strange." Bajie heard and said: "Gentlemen, no need to talk. We are made like this: at first glance we are ugly, it is true, but the longer you look, the better it wears."

The king, seeing how ugly they were, had already had a shock of fright; and when the Idiot began to talk, he trembled all the more, lost his seat, and tumbled off the dragon bed. Officers nearby caught him and helped him up. The Tang monk, in a fright, knelt before the hall and knocked his head without stop: "Your Majesty, I deserve ten thousand deaths, ten thousand deaths. I said my disciples were ugly, and dared not bring them to court for fear of harming your dragon person—and sure enough they have given your carriage a shock." The king, trembling, came near, helped him up, and said: "Elder, it is lucky you told us first. If you had not, and I had met them suddenly, it would have frightened me to death." When the king had steadied himself he asked: "Elder Zhu, Elder Sha—which of you is good at taming demons?" The Idiot, knowing no better, answered: "This old pig can do it." The king said: "And how would you do it?" Bajie said: "I was Marshal Tianpeng. For a fault against the laws of heaven I fell into the world, and happily I have now turned back to the truth and become a monk. Since I came from the Land of the East to here, the first at taming demons is me." The king said: "If you are a heavenly general come down to the world, you must be good at transformations." Bajie said: "I dare not boast. I know a few changes, more or less." The king said: "Try one for me to see." Bajie said: "Set the problem, and I will change to match it." The king said: "Change into something big, then."

Now Bajie had thirty-six transformations. There before the steps he showed off his art. He pressed his fingers in a sign, said the spell, shouted "Grow!", and gave his waist a bend—and he was eight or nine zhang long, like one of the gods who opens roads. The civil and military officials of both ranks shook and trembled, and the whole court of king and ministers stood staring, stunned. The general who kept the palace hall asked: "Elder, changed to such a height, how far would you keep growing? Where would it end?" And the Idiot came out with a truly idiotic answer: "It depends on the wind. An east wind I could manage, and a west wind might do. But if a south wind rose, I would poke a hole right through the blue sky." The king cried out in alarm: "Take off your magic, take it off! I see well enough what your changes are like." Bajie shrank his body, showed his own shape again, and stood waiting before the steps.

The king asked again: "Elder, when you go against him, what weapon will you fight him with?" Bajie pulled the rake from his waist and said: "This old pig fights with the toothed rake." The king laughed and said: "What a disgrace to your house. I have whips and rod-clubs and maces and hammers, knives and spears and battle-axes and axes, swords and halberds and lances and sickles. Choose a handy one and take it. What sort of weapon is a rake?" Bajie said: "Your Majesty does not know. Clumsy as my rake is, it has been my own weapon since my youth. When I was marshal in the water palace of the River of Heaven, commanding eighty thousand water soldiers, it all hung on this rake. Now I have come down into the world to guard my master: when I meet a mountain I break open the tigers' and wolves' dens with it, and when I meet water I overturn the lairs of dragons and clams with it. It is this rake, always."

The king was delighted to hear it, and his trust grew. He ordered the nine consorts: "Bring whole bottles of the wine I drink myself, to speed the elder on his way." He filled a goblet to the brim and offered it to Bajie: "Elder, this cup is a small sign of the trouble I beg of you. When you have taken the demon and brought my daughter home, there shall be a great feast in thanks, and a thousand pieces of gold for your reward." The Idiot took the cup in his hands—coarse as his person was, there was something mannerly in what he did. He bowed low to Tripitaka and said: "Master, this wine should rightly go first to you; but a king has given it to me, and I dare not refuse. Let this old pig drink first, and warm us all up for catching the demon." The Idiot drank it off, filled another goblet, and handed it to the master. Tripitaka said: "I do not drink. Let you brothers drink." Sha Monk came forward and took it. Bajie raised a cloud under his feet and went straight up into the sky. The king saw it and said: "Elder Zhu can ride the clouds too?"

The Idiot gone, Sha Monk drank off his wine as well, and said: "Master, when the demon Yellow Robe took you, the two of us fought him and only fought him to a standstill. Now second brother goes alone. I fear he cannot beat him." Tripitaka said: "True, disciple. Go and give him help." At that Sha Monk also jumped up on his cloud. The king panicked, held the Tang monk, and said: "Elder, sit with me a while—do not ride off on the clouds too." The Tang monk said: "Poor me, poor me! I could not go half a step if I tried." So the two of them sat talking in the hall—we say no more.

Sha Monk caught up with Bajie and said: "Brother, here I come." Bajie said: "Brother, what brings you?" Sha Monk said: "The master sent me to give you help." Bajie was delighted: "Well said, and welcome. Let the two of us put our strength together, go take that monster, and if nothing else, make our names known in this kingdom." Look at them:

Through banked lucky light they left the kingdom's bounds; through wreathed bright vapor they passed out of the capital.Bearing the king's decree they came to the mountain cave, joined in strength and heart to take the spirit fiend.

The two of them reached the cave mouth before long and brought their clouds down. Bajie pulled out his rake and brought it down with all his might on the door of the Wavy Moon Cave, and knocked a hole as big as a peck measure in the stone door. The little demon on guard, terrified, opened the door, saw who they were, and ran inside to report: "Great King, trouble! That long-mouthed big-eared monk and that gloomy-faced monk have come again and broken the door in." The monster was startled: "So it is Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk again. I pardoned their master—how dare they come back and beat on my door?" The little demon said: "Perhaps they forgot some thing, and have come back for it." The old monster snapped: "Nonsense! Coming back for a thing, and beating down my door for it? There is a reason in this." He hurriedly put on his armor, took his steel knife, came out, and demanded: "You monks, I pardoned your master. How dare you come beat on my door?" Bajie said: "You watery monster, you have done a fine thing." The old demon said: "What thing?" Bajie said: "You tricked the third princess of the Kingdom of the Treasure Elephant into your cave, took her by force, and kept her as your wife for thirteen years. It is time you gave her back. By the king's decree I have come to take you. Go in quickly, tie yourself up with rope, and come out, and save this old pig the labor." When the old monster heard this, his rage boiled over. Look at him: teeth gritting, he ground his steel fangs; eyes rolling round, he opened them wide like rings; proud and fierce, he raised his knife; blood-red, he chopped down at their heads. Bajie twisted aside and met him face on with the toothed rake, and behind him Sha Monk ran up with his treasure staff to strike together. This fight on the mountainside was not like the one before. Truly:

A word awry, a phrase astray, stirred up wrath; venom in the heart and wounded feeling bred anger.The demon king's great steel knife chopped straight at their heads; Bajie's nine-toothed rake came out to meet it.Sha Wujing swung his treasure staff free, and the demon king parried the spirit weapons.One fierce monster, two holy monks, coming and going in fine order.One said: "You tricked a princess—the death is just." The other said: "You meddle in other men's business, meddling for justice."One said: "You forced a princess into marriage and shamed the state." The other said: "It is none of your affair—stop your idle quarrel."It all came of carrying a letter: so monk and demon found no peace, either of them.

They fought eight or nine rounds before the slope, and Bajie began to fail: the rake grew heavy to lift, and his strength would not answer. And why could he not beat the demon this time? In the first fight the guardian gods, because the Tang monk was inside the cave, had secretly helped Bajie and Sha Monk, so they only fought to a standstill. Now all those gods were in the Kingdom of the Treasure Elephant, keeping their watch on the Tang monk—and so the two of them were no match for him.

The Idiot said: "Sha Monk, you go up and keep him fighting, while this old pig goes to relieve himself." Without another thought for Sha Monk, he bolted into the wormwood and vines and brambles and creepers, burrowing in headlong, heedless of scraping his scalp or gashing his face. Then he curled up and lay down, never daring to come out again. He left half an ear sticking up, listening for the hunters' clapper.

When the monster saw Bajie had run, he fell on Sha Monk. Sha Monk could not guard against him: the monster seized him in one grip and carried him into the cave, and the little demons trussed Sha Monk up, arms and legs together.

How his life truly stood—listen to the next chapter to find out.