Seven Spider Demons

Seven women bathe in a spring, completely naked, their laughter echoing through the valley. This is the first image that flashes across the reader's mind at the opening of Chapter 72—not a soaring demonic aura or the howl of a sinister wind, but a scene that could almost be a painting of ladies bathing. Tang Sanzang arrives alone at this hot spring known as the "Spring of Washing Away Filth," intending to beg for alms and a vegetarian meal. Upon opening the door, however, he finds seven women stripped of all their clothes. He hastily retreats, but it is too late—the Seven Spider Demons have spotted this fair-skinned, clean-shaven monk. They do not strike immediately; instead, with beaming smiles, they "invite" Tang Sanzang into the Webbed-Silk Cave. Then, an even more absurd scene unfolds: Zhu Bajie chases after him to the Spring of Washing Away Filth. Seeing seven naked beauties bathing, his lust is ignited. He transforms into a catfish and leaps into the water, nudging and rubbing frantically between the legs and bodies of the seven demon sisters. Here, Wu Cheng'en writes the most explicit erotic scene in the entirety of Journey to the West—yet what he is truly writing about is the most difficult hurdle in Buddhist cultivation: the Seven Emotions.

The Seven Sisters of Webbed-Silk Cave: A Unique Combat Style of Silk from the Navel

The Seven Spider Demons reside in the Webbed-Silk Cave on Webbed-Silk Ridge. They cultivated their demonic nature on their own and have no background in the Heavenly Realm. Their original forms are all spiders; while their exact sizes are unknown, they are each as beautiful as flowers in human form. Wu Cheng'en gives them no individual names—these seven demon sisters appear as a collective from start to finish, and "Seven Spider Demons" is their only designation. This "de-individualization" is itself a narrative strategy: they are not seven independent characters, but seven facets of a single whole—corresponding to the "Seven Emotions" of Buddhism.

Their combat method is unique among the monsters of Journey to the West: they release silk ropes from their navels. Chapter 72 describes this with vivid intensity—the seven demon sisters "lift their clothes, reveal their navels, and from those navels, 'shua-shua-shua,' ten thousand silk ropes are released," weaving a vast net that covers the entire sky. These silk ropes are incredibly resilient; even Zhu Bajie's Nine-Toothed Rake cannot break free.

The setting of "releasing silk from the navel" is biologically accurate—a spider's spinnerets are located at the end of the abdomen. Wu Cheng'en transposed this feature to the navels of the demonesses, preserving the monster's true nature while creating a bizarre sense of eroticism: seven beauties lifting their clothes to reveal their navels and drawing silk threads from within. This image is visually striking and deeply unsettling. It blurs the boundary between beauty and horror: one second you see a group of beautiful women, and the next, you see a swarm of spiders spinning silk.

Their silk web traps Zhu Bajie, but it cannot hold Sun Wukong. It is not difficult for Wukong to deal with the spider demons—the magic of the Seven Spider Demons is no match for his. However, he encounters an awkward problem: these seven monsters are female. Chapter 72 describes Wukong raising his golden staff to strike, only to lower it again—"a man does not fight a woman." This is not because Wukong is soft-hearted, but because Wu Cheng'en grants him a baseline: the Great Sage Equal to Heaven may fight heaven, earth, and demons, but he does not hit women. This rule is almost never broken on the journey to the scriptures (with the exception of the White Bone Demon, who was not a "real woman" but a skeleton in the shape of one).

Ultimately, Wukong employs a clever trick: he transforms into an eagle, dives over the Spring of Washing Away Filth, and snatches away all the clothes the Seven Spider Demons had left on the shore. Without clothes to cover their navels, the spider demons cannot release their silk—their core tactic is dismantled by a single bird. This plot point mirrors the way the three great immortals of the Chechi Kingdom had "critical parts snatched away by animals." Wu Cheng'en seems fond of this "degrading" technique—using an ordinary animal to neutralize a monster's signature skill to create a sense of farce.

The Turmoil at the Spring of Washing Away Filth: Zhu Bajie's Lust and Tang Sanzang's Peril

The sequence at the Spring of Washing Away Filth is the most controversial part of the spider demons' story arc.

When Tang Sanzang enters the Webbed-Silk Cave to beg for alms, the Seven Spider Demons bind him with silk ropes, intending to steam him and eat him. This plot point is not unusual—more than half the monsters on the journey want to eat Tang Sanzang. What is truly transgressive is the segment where Zhu Bajie arrives at the spring.

Bajie reaches the edge of the hot spring and sees the seven demon sisters bathing. His first reaction is not "these are demons," but "so many beauties." He transforms into a catfish and leaps into the water, "darting wildly beneath the feet of those women." The original text of Chapter 72 is highly suggestive—the catfish Bajie nudges and rubs "here and there" among the seven naked demonesses; the women scream, unable to catch him, while he only grows more enthusiastic. This description is quite bold for Ming Dynasty literature: although Zhu Bajie has taken the form of a fish, his motivations are entirely human—the voyeurism and harassment of a lustful man toward naked women.

Why did Wu Cheng'en write such a scene? The answer lies in the chapter title: Chapter 72 is titled "The Seven Emotions of Webbed-Silk Cave Delude the Essence; Bajie Loses Himself at the Spring of Washing Away Filth." "Deluding the essence" refers to the Seven Spider Demons using lust to cloud the true nature of the practitioner; "Bajie loses himself" refers to Zhu Bajie being blinded by desire and forgetting his identity as a cultivator. The theme of this chapter is not "fighting monsters," but "passing the trial of emotion"—one of the most difficult checkpoints on the journey to the scriptures.

Tang Sanzang's reaction is to "run upon seeing them"—he dares not even steal a second glance and turns away immediately. This is the standard Buddhist response: no contact, no attachment, giving the Seven Emotions no chance to take root. Yet, although Tang Sanzang flees, he cannot avoid capture—the spider demons chase him down and entangle him in silk. This implies that "avoidance" is not a true solution: you may choose not to look at them, but they will still come for you.

Zhu Bajie's reaction is to "pounce"—forgetting everything upon seeing beauties and diving in as a catfish. This is the reaction of an ordinary man: led by the Seven Emotions, completely losing his reason. Bajie is later wrapped tightly in the spider demons' silk and nearly loses his life—the direct consequence of "indulging in desire."

Wukong's reaction is to "bypass"—he does not fight the demonesses, nor does he approach them; instead, he transforms into an eagle to solve the problem from a distance. This is the way of the practitioner: neither avoiding nor entangling, refusing to engage with the opponent on the level of emotion, but instead stepping outside and resolving the situation from a higher vantage point.

Three attitudes, three results. Through a commotion sparked by a bath, Wu Cheng'en has written a miniature textbook on Buddhist cultivation.

The Allegory of the Seven Emotions: The Spider Demons and Buddhist Psychology

The chapter title "The Seven Emotions of Webbed-Silk Cave Delude the Essence" explicitly points to the allegory of the Seven Spider Demons: the "Seven Emotions" of Buddhism—Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Fear, Love, Hatred, and Desire.

In Buddhist psychology, the Seven Emotions are the seven basic emotional responses of the human heart. They are not inherently good or evil, but if left uncontrolled, they become obstacles to cultivation. The silk ropes of the spider demons are a metaphor for these emotions: the ropes are thin, soft, and entangle invisibly—you do not see them coming, but once caught, you cannot break free. This perfectly matches how the Seven Emotions affect the human heart: joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness do not wound as directly as swords or spears; they wrap around you one by one like spider silk, and by the time you realize it, you are unable to move.

Why are there "seven" spider demons and not another number? Why "spiders" and not another animal? Wu Cheng'en's choice is as precise as a mathematical problem: the Seven Emotions require seven carriers, and spiders are the animals in nature most adept at weaving webs to hunt—using invisible threads to weave an invisible net, where the prey only realizes there is no way back after entering. This is exactly how the Seven Emotions trap a person.

Even more thought-provoking is the name of the spider demons' home, "Webbed-Silk Cave." "Webbed-silk" refers both to the physical act of a spider spinning a web and the spiritual state of a heart entangled by various emotional threads. Meanwhile, the "Washing Away Filth" of the "Spring of Washing Away Filth" literally means to wash away grime, a metaphor for the "purification of body and mind" in cultivation. However, in this story, the spring is not a place of purification, but a place of temptation. The seven spider demons bathing in the spring of purification—an act that should be "removing filth"—instead becomes the cause of "creating filth." Tang Sanzang is captured because he sees them bathing; Bajie loses himself because he sees them bathing. "Purification" becomes "pollution," and "bathing" becomes a "trap." Wu Cheng'en employs a masterful reversal here: the name of the place tells you "filth can be washed away here," but once you enter, you discover that the filth created here is far greater than what is washed away.

From a narrative perspective, this trial of the spider demons differs fundamentally from other demonic trials in the latter half of Journey to the West. Most trials test "strength"—whether Wukong can win the fight or if a magic treasure can counter another. The spider demons test the "heart"—whether one can maintain their true nature when facing the Seven Emotions. This is why the spider demons' magic is not particularly high (Wukong deals with them easily), yet their story is written with exceptional delicacy—because the point is not whether they can be defeated, but whether one can pass the trial.

Senior Brother Hundred-Eye Demon Lord: The Backing of the Spider Spirits

The Seven Spider Demons possessed limited magical power on their own, but they had an exceptionally formidable "senior brother"—the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord, also known as the Multi-Eye Monster, whose original form was a centipede spirit with a thousand years of cultivation. He resided at the Yellow Flower Temple, appearing to be a devout Daoist priest, but in reality, he served as the protector of the Spider Spirits.

In Chapter 73, after being defeated by Wukong, the Spider Spirits fled to the Yellow Flower Temple to weep and complain to the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord. The Hundred-Eye Demon Lord immediately took action against the pilgrimage group—his methods were far more sophisticated than those of the Spider Spirits: he first used deadly tea to poison Tang Sanzang, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing, and then engaged in a direct confrontation with Sun Wukong.

The core ability of the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord is the "Thousand-Eye Golden Light"—thousands of eyes grow beneath his ribs, capable of emitting ten thousand beams of golden light simultaneously. This light is no ordinary glow, but a scorching magical attack. Even Wukong's Fire-Golden Eyes could not withstand it; blinded by the radiance, he was forced to flee in haste. This is one of the rare scenes in the latter half of Journey to the West where "Wukong is defeated in a direct fight"—not due to a magical treasure or heavenly background, but purely because the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord's own demonic arts were too powerful.

The one who ultimately subdued the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord was Pilanpo Bodhisattva—the mother of the Pleiades Star Official. Using an embroidery needle (transformed from the eyeball of the Pleiades Star Official), she broke the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord's Thousand-Eye Golden Light and took him away.

The relationship between the Spider Spirits and their senior brother is worth pondering. In nature, both spiders and centipedes are arthropod predators—spiders hunt with silk webs, and centipedes hunt with venomous fangs. Wu Cheng'en paired these two "web-weaving" and "poison-releasing" creatures to create a complete hunting chain: the Spider Spirits trap the prey with silk, and the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord cleans up the aftermath with deadly tea and golden light. From a narrative structure perspective, the Spider Spirits are the prelude to the disaster, while the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord is the true Boss—the Seven Spider Demons are merely the bait to lure you into the trap, and the Thousand-Eye Centipede of the Yellow Flower Temple is the final trial to be faced.

This narrative pattern of "minor demons leading the way, major demon closing the deal" is not uncommon in Journey to the West (such as the Tiger Vanguard for the Yellow Wind Demon, or Little Drilling Wind at Lion-Camel Ridge). However, the combination of the Spider Spirits and the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord is unique in that the minor demons use "emotion" (the Seven Emotions clouding the mind), while the major demon uses "poison" (deadly tea to harm others)—first entwining your heart with soft silk, then taking your life with ruthless means. Together, these two steps form the complete chain of "entering an obstacle through emotion, and bringing disaster because of that obstacle" found in Buddhist cultivation.

Related Characters

• Hundred-Eye Demon Lord — Senior brother, a centipede spirit with a thousand years of cultivation; his Thousand-Eye Golden Light was irresistible even to Wukong, making him the true backing of the Spider Spirits.
• Sun Wukong — The primary opponent; he transformed into an eagle to snatch away the Spider Spirits' clothing to break their silk web tactics, but was helpless against the golden light of the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord.
• Zhu Bajie — He transformed into a catfish at the Pure-Skin Spring to harass the Spider Spirits while they bathed, only to be trapped by their silk webs; he is a typical victim of the "Seven Emotions clouding the mind."
• Tang Sanzang — While collecting alms alone, he accidentally entered the Webbed-Silk Cave and was captured, intended to be steamed and eaten by the Spider Spirits.
• Sha Wujing — At the Yellow Flower Temple, he was poisoned by the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord's deadly tea along with Tang Sanzang and Bajie.
• Pilanpo Bodhisattva — Mother of the Pleiades Star Official; she used an embroidery needle to break the Hundred-Eye Demon Lord's Thousand-Eye Golden Light and finally subdued the centipede spirit.