Chapter 19: At Cloud-Rack Cave Wukong Subdues Bajie; On Stupa Mountain Tripitaka Receives the Heart Sutra

Now the monster went ahead in a blaze of fire, and the Great Sage followed in a wash of colored cloud. They had not gone far before a high mountain rose before them. There the monster gathered his red light, showed his true form, and rushed into the cave. He came back out with a nine-toothed rake and came on to fight. Wukong cried out:

"You filthy thing! Where do you come from, you evil spirit? How do you know my old Sun's name? Tell me your skill plain and true, and I will spare your life."

The monster answered, "You do not yet know my hand. Stand firm and I will tell you.

I was born clumsy of heart, loving ease and idle sleep.
I never cultivated my nature or sought the Real;
confused and muddled, I passed my days and years.
Then one day, while I was at leisure, I met a true immortal,
and we sat together to speak of cold and heat.
He urged me to turn my heart and not fall into the dust,
not to pile up boundless sin by harming living things.
When the day comes that my allotted span is spent,
the eightfold hardship and the three evil paths will be a bitterness beyond telling.
Hearing him, my mind turned at once toward cultivation;
hearing his words, my heart returned and sought the wondrous teaching.
By good fortune I knelt and became his disciple on the spot,
and he pointed out the Heavenly Gate and the earthly pass.
I was taught the Nine-Turn Great Elixir,
and day and night I never once let the work rest.
It rose from the Mud-Pill Palace at the crown of the head
and went down to the Yongquan spring on the sole of the foot.
The kidney-water circulated into the Flowery Pool,
and the cinnabar field grew warm and full.
Child and maiden joined in yin and yang,
lead and mercury met and took their measure by sun and moon.
Dragon of Li and tiger of Kan were brought into harmony;
the spirit tortoise drank dry the blood of the golden crow.
Three flowers gathered at the crown and I returned to the root;
the five breaths turned to the source and ran clear through me.
When the work was complete and the deed fulfilled, I flew up in ascension,
and pairs of heavenly immortals came out to greet me.
Beneath my feet bright clouds were born,
and with body light and limbs strong I faced the Golden Gate.
The Jade Emperor set a feast and called together the immortals;
each was ranked by office and set in his place.
I was invested as marshal and given charge of the Heavenly River,
put over the water troops and honored with a commander's seal.
But then the Queen Mother held the Peach Banquet
and opened the Jade Pool to invite all the guests.
There, drunk with wine and dazed in mind,
I lurched this way and that, behaving like a madman.
Full of swagger, I strode into the Moon Palace,
where the graceful immortal maidens came out to meet me.
The sight of their faces robbed me of my soul,
and the old mortal heart in me was hard to extinguish.
I forgot all rank above and below, all dignity and restraint,
and seized Chang'e, demanding she keep me company.
She would not yield, though I pressed her again and again;
darting here and there, she only made my temper worse.
My lust was as great as heaven, my shouting like thunder,
and I nearly shook the Heavenly Gate to pieces.
The Inspector Spirit reported the matter to the Jade Emperor;
that day my luck was indeed a poor one.
The Moon Palace was sealed off and no wind could get through;
with no way forward or back, I could hardly escape.
Then the gods seized me, while the wine still burned in my chest.
They dragged me to the Jade Hall to face the Jade Emperor,
and by law I was to be sentenced to death.
Thanks to Taibai Venus, who stepped out of the ranks
and bowed low to speak for me in person,
my punishment was changed to two thousand blows.
Flesh burst, skin split, and my bones were nearly shattered.
I was spared the death penalty, cast down through the Heavenly Gate,
and fell to the foot of Fuling Mountain to make my home.
Because of that crime I took a false birth below,
and my common name is Zhu Ganglie."

Wukong laughed when he heard this. "So you are Tianpeng, the water marshal from Heaven. No wonder you know my old Sun's name."

The monster answered with a sneer, "Ha! You fraud of a horse keeper from Heaven, that time you made such a racket and brought trouble on all of us. Now you have come here to bully people. Don't be rude. Taste my rake."

Wukong was in no mood to indulge him. He raised his staff and struck at once. The two of them fought there on the half mountain, in the black of night. Truly, it was a murderous sight:

Wukong's golden eyes flashed like lightning; the demon's round eyes glimmered like silver blossoms.
One breathed out clouds of color, the other spat red haze.
Red haze shone through the dark, cloud vapor gave light to the night.
The Golden-Hooped Rod and the nine-toothed rake, what heroes those two made:
one the Great Sage come down to the mortal world, the other a marshal fallen from the sky.
The one who had lost his rank became a monster; the one who had escaped disaster knelt to the monk's path.
The rake lunged like a dragon stretching its claws, the staff answered like a phoenix threading flowers.
One cried, "You ruin other people's marriages as though you had murdered a father!"
The other cried, "You force yourself on young girls and deserve to be taken!"
Sharp words and wild shouts flew back and forth, while staff and rake clashed again and again.
By the time dawn was near, the demon's arms were aching and his shoulders were sore.

The two of them fought from the second watch until daylight broke in the east. Unable to stand against Wukong, the demon lost the field and fled, changing once more into a fierce wind and rushing back to his cave, where he slammed the gate shut and would not show his face again. Outside the cave, Wukong saw a stone tablet on which three characters were carved: Cloud-Rack Cave.

Seeing that the monster would not come out, and the sky already bright, Wukong thought to himself, "I fear Master is waiting for me. I had better go back and see him, then return later to catch this creature. That will not be too late."

With that he rode a cloud in a flash and was soon back at Gao the Elder's house.

Tripitaka and the old household had spent the whole night talking of old times and new and had not slept at all. They were still wondering why Wukong had not returned when suddenly he stood in the courtyard. He hid his iron staff, straightened his robe, and came up to the hall.

"Master, I am back," he called.

The old Gao family were so startled that they all bowed together and thanked him at once.

Tripitaka asked, "Wukong, where did you spend the night, and where is that monster?"

Wukong said, "Master, that monster is no mere evil from the mortal world, and not just some mountain brute. He was once Marshal Tianpeng in Heaven, and because he was wrongly born into this world, his face and snout took on the shape of a wild boar, though his spirit and wit are still there. He says his surname is Zhu and his name is Ganglie. I was about to strike him in the rear yard when he turned into a blast of wind and fled.

"When my staff hit him with the wind at his back, he became a blaze of fire and went straight back to his mountain cave. There he brought out a nine-toothed rake and fought me through the night. Just now, as dawn was coming on, he feared the battle and ran, shutting the cave door behind him. I was still meaning to smash open the gate and settle the matter with him, but I thought Master might be anxious and waiting here, so I came back first to give you word."

When he had finished, Old Gao stepped forward and knelt. "Reverend sir, there is nothing else for it. Even if you drove him off, he will come back after you leave. What are we to do then? You must trouble yourself to take him down for us and root him out, so there will be no later trouble. I am an old man and dare not be careless. I will repay you richly. This house, these fields, all the family property, I will have our kin and friends draw up a deed and divide with you. Only cut the grass at the root and do not let that evil thing stain my good family name."

Wukong laughed. "You old man do not know where the line is. That monster told me himself that he has a big appetite, yes, and has eaten your food, but he has also done you a great many good turns. These last few years he has earned a fine pile of wealth for your house, all by his own strength. He did not eat your food for nothing. Why ask to drive him away? By his own account, he is a heavenly spirit sent down to help your family work the land. He has not even harmed your daughter.

"If a son-in-law like that were kept, he would not be too far beneath the household. He would not really damage your family name or stain your conduct. Keeping him would not be so bad after all."

Old Gao said, "Reverend sir, it may not be indecent, but it is no great advertisement either. People will keep saying, 'The Gao family married off a daughter to a monster.' How are we supposed to bear that?"

Tripitaka said, "Wukong, since you have already fought him, settle the matter once and for all. Then we can see the affair through from beginning to end."

Wukong said, "I only tried him for sport just now. I am going back this instant to bring him here for you all to see. Do not worry."

Then he called to Old Gao, "Take good care of my master while I am gone."

He was gone in an instant, without shape or shadow, and in a breath he had returned to the mountain cave. There he struck the two gates with his iron staff until they were smashed to pieces, and he shouted, "You rice-bran fool, get out here and fight me!"

The monster, who had been panting and sleeping inside, heard the gate crash and heard the insult, and anger could not be restrained. He dragged his rake out, shook himself, and came rushing forth, roaring:

"You lazy horse keeper, what business do you have with me that you should smash my gate? Go and look up the law books. Breaking into a gate is a common felony, and the death penalty can be applied to it."

Wukong laughed. "What a fool! Even if I broke your gate, there is still some argument to be made. Like you, who have seized a family daughter without a matchmaker, without written betrothal, and without the least wedding gift or tea offering, you ought to be charged with true murder."

The monster said, "Enough idle talk. Taste my rake."

Wukong held his staff against it and said, "That rake of yours, was it made to hoe the Gao family's vegetable patch? What good is it?"

The monster said, "You have taken it for an ordinary thing. This rake is no mortal weapon. Listen to me tell you:

This is forged from divine ice-iron,
polished and ground till its light is pure and bright.
Laozi himself moved hammer and wrench,
and the Supreme Lord laid in the charcoal dust.
The Five Directions' Five Emperors lent their minds to it,
and the Six Ding and Six Jia gods spent endless toil.
It was cast with nine jade teeth hanging down,
and forged into twin gold rings with drooping leaves.
Its body is arranged by the six luminaries and the five stars,
and follows the four seasons and the eight solar terms.
Its length and shortness set heaven and earth in order;
left and right divide yin and yang.
Six-line spirit generals stand by the laws of heaven,
while the eight-trigram stars line up around the Dipper.
It is called the Supreme Treasure, the Gold-Needle Rake,
and was presented to the Jade Emperor to guard the crimson gate.
Because I had already become a great pure immortal,
it was nurtured for me as the companion of long life.
I was invested as Marshal Tianpeng,
and this rake was bestowed as my official insignia.
When it rises, fierce flame and white radiance leap up;
when it falls, savage winds and lucky snow are stirred.
All the heavenly officers are frightened by it,
and even the kings of the underworld grow faint of heart.
No such weapon exists among men,
and nowhere in the world is there iron like this.
It changes shape with my body and stays close at my side;
by my will alone it turns and twists.
For years I have never been parted from it,
never for a day have I left it behind.
I eat with it three times a day, I sleep with it every night.
I have carried it to the Peach Banquet; I have borne it to the Jade Hall.
Only because I leaned on wine and ran wild
did I fall from Heaven into this dust.
Down here I have done my share of sins;
in the stone cave my crooked heart once ate men,
and at Gao's house my joyful heart made a marriage.
This rake has overturned the lairs of dragons and turtles in the sea,
and on the mountain it has shattered the dens of tigers and wolves.
Leave aside every other spear and blade;
my rake alone is the sharpest of them all.
To fight for victory with it is no hard thing,
and to win the day in a wager is not worth speaking of.
What do I fear from your copper head, your iron skull, your steel body?
One rake, and your soul will be gone."

Wukong heard this and said, "Fool, stop your bragging. I will put my head right here. Strike it and see whether my soul spills out and my spirit leaks away."

The monster really did raise the rake and strike with all his strength. With a crash and a shower of sparks, he brought the rake down, but Wukong's scalp did not move an inch. It only numbed the monster's hand and left his feet weak. He cried out, "What a head! What a head!"

Wukong said, "You do not know. When I was making trouble in Heaven, I stole immortal pills, stole the peach fruit, and stole the imperial wine. The Little Sage Erlang captured me and had me brought before the Bullfighting Palace, where the heavenly generals hacked at me with axes, smashed me with hammers, slashed me with swords, and burned and thundered me with fire and lightning, and still they could not hurt me.

"Then Taishang Laozi took me away and placed me in the Eight Trigrams Furnace, where the divine fire refined me and made my fiery eyes and golden pupils, my bronze head and iron arms. If you do not believe it, strike me a few more times and see whether it hurts or not."

The monster said, "You monkey, I remember you well from the days when you made trouble in Heaven. You lived in the Water-Curtain Cave at Flower-Fruit Mountain in Aolai Country of the Eastern Continent, and now after all these years your name has not been heard. How did you come here to bully me at my own door? Could it be my father-in-law who asked you here?"

Wukong said, "Your father-in-law did not ask me. I have cast off evil and taken to the monk's path. I am protecting a monk of Great Tang, the imperial brother Tripitaka, who travels west to worship the Buddha and seek the scriptures. We passed by Gao's house and stayed there, and the old man asked me to save his daughter. That is why I came after you, you rice-bran fool."

When the monster heard this, he dropped his rake, bowed low, and said, "Where is the scripture-seeking monk? Trouble yourself to introduce me to him."

Wukong said, "What do you want with him?"

The monster said, "Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, once urged me toward goodness and gave me the precepts. Here I have kept a vegetarian fast and lived on plain food, waiting for that scripture seeker to go west and worship the Buddha, that I might earn merit to cancel my crimes and attain true fruition. She told me to wait for him for years, and I have heard nothing.

"Now that you have become his disciple, why did you not speak of the scripture journey first, and instead come here relying on your force to beat me?"

Wukong said, "Do not try to trick me with soft words because your heart wants to escape. If you truly mean to protect Tripitaka and have no lies in you, then you may swear to Heaven and I will take you to my master."

The monster dropped to his knees at once, face to the sky, bowing again and again like a pestle in a mortar. "Amitabha, Namo Buddha! If I am not sincere in the least, then may I break the heavenly law and be torn to pieces."

Seeing him swear such vows, Wukong said, "If that is so, then set a fire and burn your dwelling. Only then will I take you with me."

The monster really did gather reeds and thorny brush, light the fire, and burn Cloud-Rack Cave until it looked like a broken kiln. Then he said to Wukong, "Now I have no more ties. Lead me away."

Wukong said, "Hand me your rake."

The monster gave him the rake. Wukong plucked out a single hair, blew upon it with immortal breath, and cried, "Change!"

It turned into a three-strand hemp rope. Wukong came over and tied the monster's hands behind his back. The monster let him bind them however he wished. Wukong grabbed him by the ear, pulled him along, and said, "Quickly, quickly!"

The monster said, "Easy, easy. Your hand is heavy, and you are pinching my ear raw."

Wukong said, "I cannot be gentle. As the saying goes, 'To catch a good pig, use a hard hand.' Only after I have brought you to my master and seen whether your heart is true will I let you go."

The two of them went on through cloud and mist, straight back toward Gao's house. A verse says:

Metal's hard nature can overcome wood;
the mind-monkey tames the wood-dragon.
Metal yields to wood, and all becomes one;
wood cherishes metal, and kindness comes forth.
One is master, one is guest, with no gap between;
the three unions and three crossings hold hidden mystery.
When nature and feeling gladly gather the pure and the real,
they together bear witness to the western path.

In no time they were back at the front gate. Wukong held the rake and pulled the monster by the ear as he asked, "Look up at the hall. Who sits there in splendor? That is my master."

The Gao family, kin and friends alike, saw him come in with the monster bound behind his back and dragged by the ear, and they all hurried out to the courtyard in delight.

"Reverend sir," they cried, "that is indeed the son-in-law of our house."

The monster came forward, dropped to both knees with his hands still behind him, and bowed to Tripitaka, crying out, "Master, your disciple was too late to welcome you. If only I had known that you were staying at my father-in-law's house, I would have come to greet you long ago. Why did I have to go through all this trouble?"

Tripitaka said, "Wukong, how did you make him come and bow to me?"

Wukong only then released his hand, striking the monster lightly with the handle of the rake as he barked, "Fool, tell him yourself."

The monster then related in full the matter of Guanyin's exhortation to goodness.

Tripitaka was overjoyed and said, "Old Gao, fetch an incense table and use it."

Old Gao hurried at once and brought out an incense stand. Tripitaka washed his hands, lit incense, and bowed toward the south. "I have been blessed by the holy grace of the Bodhisattva," he said.

The old gentlemen all added incense and bowed with him. When the ceremony was done, Tripitaka sat high in the hall and told Wukong to untie the rope. Wukong merely shook himself once, and the binding fell away of its own accord.

The monster bowed again before Tripitaka and vowed to follow him west. Then he bowed to Wukong as well. Since the one who had come earlier was taken as the elder brother, he called Wukong Senior Brother. Tripitaka said, "Since you have entered my good path and wish to become a disciple, I will give you a Dharma name so you can be called properly morning and night."

The monster said, "Master, the Bodhisattva already patted my head and gave me the precepts. She named me Zhu Wuneng."

Tripitaka laughed. "Good, good. Your senior brother is called Wukong; you are called Wuneng. Truly you belong to my lineage."

Wuneng said, "Master, since I have received the Bodhisattva's precepts and cut off the five pungent foods and the three forbidden meats, I have been fasting and eating plain food in my father-in-law's house, and I have not touched anything rich. Now that I have seen my master, let me break my fast."

Tripitaka said, "No, no. Since you do not eat the five pungent foods and the three forbidden meats, I will give you another name. Let you be called Bajie."

The fool was delighted. "I obey Master's command."

From then on he was called Zhu Bajie.

Old Gao was all the happier to see evil turned back to the right path. He ordered the household servants to prepare a banquet in thanks to Tang Sanzang. Bajie came forward and seized Old Gao by the arm. "Father-in-law, please let me have my wife come out and bow to her father, uncles, and elders."

Wukong laughed. "Brother, now that you have entered the Buddhist gate and become a monk, never mention that word again. There are such things as house-dwelling Daoists, but where is there a house-dwelling monk? Let us first settle our seats and have a vegetarian meal, then set out early for the Western Heaven."

Old Gao laid out the table and invited Tripitaka to the seat of honor; Wukong and Bajie sat to either side, and the rest of the kin sat lower down. Old Gao opened a bottle of vegetarian wine and filled a cup to the brim, first offering it to Heaven and Earth and then presenting it to Tripitaka.

Tripitaka said, "To tell the truth, Elder, I am vegetarian from the womb. I have not eaten meat since I was a child."

Old Gao said, "Knowing that you are pure and austere, I have not dared to set out any meat. This wine is also vegetarian, so please take a cup without concern."

Tripitaka said, "I still dare not use wine. Wine is the first rule of our order."

Bajie panicked. "Master, I have kept the fast, but I have never given up wine."

Wukong said, "Old Sun's capacity is limited and I cannot empty a whole vat, but I have not given up wine either."

Tripitaka said, "If that is so, then you brothers may drink some vegetarian wine, but you must not drink until you are drunk and spoil matters."

So the two of them took the first cup. Everyone sat down again and the vegetarian dishes were set out. The cups and plates were too many to count, the dishes too abundant to list.

When the disciples had finished their meal, Old Gao brought out a red-lacquered tray with two hundred taels of loose gold and silver as travel money for the three masters, together with three padded cloth jackets to wear over their robes.

Tripitaka said, "We are footloose monks. We take food by begging where we stay and ask for alms wherever we come to rest. How could we accept gold and silver or other wealth?"

Wukong stepped forward, spread out his hand, and grabbed a handful. "Gaocai, yesterday you troubled yourself to guide my master, and today you have gained a disciple. We have nothing to thank you with, so take these loose gold and silver as walking money and use it to buy straw sandals. In the future, if any monster comes along, get me a few more such ones and there will be thanks enough."

Gaocai took the money and bowed in gratitude.

Old Gao said again, "Since the masters will not accept gold and silver, please keep this rough clothing as a token of our poor sincerity."

Tripitaka said, "If a monk accepts even a thread of bribery, he will not be fit to cultivate for a thousand kalpas. Take only the cakes and fruits from the table that we cannot finish, and let us carry them off as dry provisions."

Bajie said from the side, "Master, Senior Brother, if you will not take the clothing, then let me ask for it. I have been your son-in-law in this house for years, and even my baggage allowance ought to be three bushels. Father-in-law, my monk's robe was torn by Senior Brother last night; give me a green brocade cassock. My shoes are split; give me a pair of new shoes."

Old Gao did not dare refuse, and at once bought a new pair of shoes and exchanged the old clothing for a padded jacket.

Bajie swayed from side to side and bowed to Old Gao. "Please give my respects to my mother-in-law, eldest aunt, second aunt, uncles, and all the other kin. Today I am going to become a monk, and I cannot take leave in person, so do not blame me. Father-in-law, you must take good care of my wife. If we fail to fetch the scriptures, I may yet come back to the world and live with you as before."

Wukong shouted, "You clumsy brute, stop talking nonsense."

Bajie said, "I am not talking nonsense. I am only afraid that if something goes wrong for a moment, then I will have failed to become a monk and you will have failed to marry off your daughter, and both sides will have been delayed."

Tripitaka said, "Enough idle chatter. Let us be on our way early."

So they gathered one load of baggage, which Bajie carried; Tripitaka mounted the white horse; Wukong shouldered his iron staff and took the lead. The three of them bade farewell to Old Gao and the rest of the family and set out westward.

A verse says:

Mist and rosy haze spread all over the ground, the trees tower high and green;
the sons of Tang endure bitter labor on the road.
Hunger is met with a bowl of food from a thousand homes;
cold is met with a monk's robe sewn with a thousand stitches.
Let the mind-horse in the breast not run wild;
let the wayward mind-monkey not be allowed to howl.
When feeling and nature are settled and all bonds come together,
then the moon fills the Golden Flower and the body is stripped to its root.

The three of them pressed on westward for a while in fair weather. They passed beyond the borders of Wusizang, and when Tripitaka lifted his head he saw a high mountain ahead. He pulled the reins and said, "Wukong, Wuneng, that mountain is high. You must be careful and careful."

Bajie said, "No matter. This mountain is called Stupa Mountain, and in it there is a Zen master named Wuchao. I once met him here."

Tripitaka asked, "What sort of man is he?"

Bajie said, "He has some real practice. He once urged me to cultivate with him, but I never went."

As they talked, not long after, they reached the mountain. What a mountain it was! On the south side were blue pines and dark cypresses; on the north side, green willows and red peach trees. Birds called to one another in the noisy woods, and immortal cranes flew together in pairs. The flowers gave off rich fragrance in a hundred colors; the grasses below were a deep and varied green. In the ravines below flowed clear water in a rushing stream, and on the cliffs above drifted clusters of auspicious cloud. Truly it was a place of rare peace and elegance, with not a single traveler in sight.

Riding ahead, the master looked from afar and saw, before a fragrant cypress tree, a nest made of brushwood. On the left, deer came bearing flowers; on the right, mountain monkeys came offering fruit. On the treetop, blue birds and colored phoenixes cried together, while black cranes and brocade pheasants gathered below. Bajie pointed and said, "Is that not the Zen master Wuchao?"

Tripitaka urged his horse and went straight to the tree.

Now when the Zen master saw the three of them coming, he stepped out of his nest and dropped from the tree. Tripitaka dismounted and bowed, and the master reached out to help him up.

"Holy monk, please rise. I was late to greet you. I was late to greet you."

Bajie said, "Old Zen master, my respects."

The Zen master asked in surprise, "You are Zhu Ganglie of Fuling Mountain. How did you come to such good fortune as to travel with a holy monk?"

Bajie said, "Last year the Bodhisattva of Compassion urged me toward goodness, and I vowed to follow him as a disciple."

The Zen master was delighted. "Good, good, good!"

Then he pointed at Wukong and asked, "And who is this one?"

Wukong laughed. "How is it that this old Zen master knows him and not me?"

The master said, "I know you less well."

Tripitaka said, "He is my eldest disciple, Sun Wukong."

The Zen master smiled. "Forgive me. Forgive me."

Tripitaka bowed again. "May I ask whether the Great Thunderclap Monastery in the Western Heaven is still far away?"

The Zen master said, "Far, far indeed. But the road is thick with tigers and leopards, and not easy to travel."

Tripitaka thanked him earnestly and asked again, "How far is the road, truly?"

The Zen master said, "The road is far, but there will come a day when you arrive. Only the demons and miasmas are hard to disperse. I have a volume of the Heart Sutra, fifty-four lines in all, two hundred and seventy characters. If you encounter any place thick with demons and miasmas, recite this sutra and there will be no harm."

Tripitaka bowed to the ground and begged for it, and the Zen master recited it aloud and passed it on.

The sutra says:

The Heart Sutra of Great Wisdom Beyond the Far Shore:
Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, practicing deep prajna-paramita,
saw that the five aggregates are all empty and crossed beyond every suffering and distress.
Shariputra, form is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from form.
Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form.
So it is also with sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness.
Shariputra, all dharmas are marked by emptiness:
they do not arise, do not cease, do not stain, do not purify,
do not increase, do not diminish.
Therefore in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, perception, volition, or consciousness;
no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind;
no sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or object of mind;
no realm of the eye, up to and including no realm of mind consciousness.
There is no ignorance, and there is no ending of ignorance;
up to and including no old age and death, and no ending of old age and death.
There is no suffering, no accumulation, no extinction, no path;
no wisdom, and no attainment.
Because there is nothing to attain, the bodhisattva, relying on prajna-paramita,
has a mind with no obstruction.
With no obstruction, there is no fear;
far from inverted dreams, one reaches nirvana.
The Buddhas of the three times, relying on prajna-paramita,
attain supreme, perfect awakening.
Therefore know that prajna-paramita is the great mantra,
the radiant mantra, the supreme mantra, the incomparable mantra,
able to remove every suffering, true and not false.
Therefore the mantra of prajna-paramita is spoken:

Gate gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha!

Because the Tang monk had an original root of wisdom, once he heard the Heart Sutra he could remember it at once, and to this day it has been handed down in the world. This is the chief scripture for cultivation, the gate by which one becomes a Buddha.

When the Zen master had passed on the text, he stepped onto a cloud of light and was about to return to his nest. Tripitaka again pulled at him and insisted on asking the exact road to the West. The Zen master laughed and said:

The road is not hard to travel, if you will hear my words.
A thousand mountains, a thousand rivers, deep and dark with miasma and demons.
If you meet the cliff that reaches the sky, set your heart at ease and do not fear.
When you come to Ear-Rubbing Rock, step sideways and place your foot carefully.
Take care around the Black Pine Forest, where fox spirits block the road.
Spirits fill the kingdom city, and demon lords dwell on every mountain.
Tigers sit in the hall of music, wolves serve as clerks.
Lions and elephants all call themselves kings, while tigers and leopards are honored as guardians.
Wild boars carry burdens, and water monsters wait in front.
The old stone monkey of many years is there, and he bears no anger in his heart.
If you ask for a familiar, he knows the road to the West.

Wukong heard this and gave a cold laugh. "We need not ask him. Ask me instead."

Tripitaka did not yet understand what he meant.

The Zen master turned into a beam of golden light and went straight back to the nest.

The elder bowed in thanks, but Wukong grew furious inside. He raised his iron staff and jabbed wildly upward, but only saw lotus blossoms springing in thousands, with auspicious mist guarding layer on layer. For all his power to stir the sea and turn the river upside down, he could not move a single vine of that nest.

Tripitaka saw it and pulled Wukong back. "Wukong, why strike at the nest of such a bodhisattva?"

Wukong said, "He has been scolding my two brothers all the way."

Tripitaka said, "He told us the road to the West. When did he ever scold you?"

Wukong said, "You do not understand. When he said 'wild boars carry burdens,' he was mocking Bajie; when he said 'the old stone monkey of many years,' he was mocking old Sun. How can you not see it?"

Bajie said, "Senior Brother, calm yourself. That Zen master knows something of past and future, but when he said 'water monsters wait in front,' I do not know whether that will come true or not. Let him be."

Seeing the lotus light and auspicious mist still lingering around the nest, Wukong had no choice but to ask his master back onto the horse, and the party went down the mountain toward the west.

And so they went: a tale of scant worldly ease and many mountain demons. But how the road ahead would truly be, that must wait for the next chapter.