Chapter 65: The Yellow Brow Monster Fakes a Little Thunderclap Monastery; The Four Disciples Suffer a Great Calamity

This chapter turns on cause and effect and warns men to do good and never evil. One thought is born, and the spirits above and below see it all. However clever or foolish a man may be, he cannot escape the reckoning. While there is still a body in the world, that is the time to cultivate the Way. Do not drift loose. Learn your root, and shake off your shell. Seek long life, and seize it with both hands. Keep your eyes open at every moment, and sip the nectar with care. Penetrate the three gates and fill the dark sea, and the good will surely ride away on cranes and phoenixes. Then, with pity deepened into mercy, one shall ascend to paradise.

Now to return: Tripitaka's single-minded devotion had done its work. Even the spirits of grass and trees seemed to guide him. He had passed one gracious night and come free of thorns and brambles, no longer tangled by vines and creepers. The four travelers pressed westward for many days. By the time winter was nearly spent, the season had turned to spring:

The world in spring was in perfect accord; the Dipper's handle had swung back to the Yin sign.
Grass tips blushed green across the ground, and willow eyes opened in rows along the bank.
One ridge of peach blossoms looked like red silk splashed over snow; a half-stream of mist and water shone blue as gauze.
So much wind and rain had passed; what feeling was left to count?
The sun warmed the hearts of flowers, and swallows carried light moss in their beaks.
The mountains had Wang Wei's deep and pale touch; the birds sang with all of Ji Zi's lively tongue.
Blossoms lay like embroidery with no one to admire them, while butterflies danced and bees sang for their own delight.

The master and disciples went on through the fragrant scene, riding and walking at an easy pace. Before long they saw a high mountain ahead, so far off that it seemed to join the sky. Tripitaka pointed with his whip and said, "Wukong, I do not know how high that mountain is, but it looks as though it is reaching right up into the blue vault."

Wukong said, "A poem says:

Only Heaven is above; no mountain can stand beside it.
When a peak is said to touch the sky, it is only because it rises beyond all measure.
How could there truly be a road up into the clouds?"

Bajie said, "If it does not touch Heaven, why is Kunlun called the Pillar of Heaven?"

Wukong said, "You know nothing. Ever since old times people have said, 'The sky is incomplete in the northwest.' Kunlun stands in the northwest, in the place of the Qian trigram, so it has the meaning of holding up the heavens and blocking the void. That is why it is called the Pillar of Heaven."

Brother Sha laughed. "Brother, do not go telling him your fine talk. If he learns it, he will use it to lord over other people again. Let us just keep walking. When we reach the mountain, we will know how high it is."

The fool jabbered and tussled with Brother Sha, while the old master rode along like the wind. Before long they reached the foot of the cliffs and started upward step by step.

What a mountain it was:

In the woods the wind sighed, and from the ravines the water ran soft and clear.
Crows and sparrows could not fly over it; even immortals would have called it hard.
A thousand cliffs, ten thousand gullies, a hundred bends and a thousand turns.
No dust ever rolled there, for no one ever came; the jagged rocks stood there in endless array.
At times the clouds lay on the height like rippling water; at times the trees stood thick with birdsong.
Deer carried medicinal herbs away; monkeys came back with peaches in their arms.
Foxes and badgers leaped from the crags, and elk and deer roamed the ridges.
Now and then a tiger's roar would startle the heart; spotted leopards and gray wolves barred the road.

Tripitaka was frightened at the sight. Sun Wukong, with his great powers, leaped forward with the Golden-Hooped Rod in hand. With a single roar he drove off the wolves, tigers, and other beasts, split the way open, and led his master straight up the mountain. When they had crossed the ridge and gone down onto the western slope, they suddenly saw blessed light shining and colored mist swirling. There was a set of towers and halls there, with bells and chimes sounding faintly in the air.

Tripitaka said, "Disciples, what sort of place is that?"

Wukong lifted his hand to shade his eyes and looked carefully. It was indeed a fine place:

Precious towers and jeweled seats, a famous monastery in a lofty place.
In the hollow valleys there was a full roar of the earth's own breath; in the stillness, heavenly incense drifted outward.
Green pines, washed by rain, sheltered the high halls; emerald bamboos, holding cloud, guarded the preaching room.
Through the haze of rainbow light a dragon palace seemed to appear; through the floating colors the land of dust stretched far and wide.
Vermilion rails and jade doors; painted beams and carved rafters.
On every seat there was talk of sutras, and at every window moonlight shone over the books of spells.
Birds sang among cinnabar trees, and cranes drank beside the stone spring.
Flowers bloomed all around the pearly garden; on three sides the gate opened in the light of Shravasti.
The tower and halls rose abrupt against the mountain, and the chimes carried a long, lingering note.
The windows were open to a soft wind, the curtains rolled up into a haze of smoke.
The monks looked clean and detached; there was no vulgar thought in the place.
No red dust reached this true immortal realm; it was a pure and holy ground fit for the Way.

After looking it over, Wukong said, "Master, that place is a monastery, but I see a little fierceness hidden in the gentle light. It even resembles Thunderclap Monastery, yet the road is off. We must not rush in. If trouble comes, do not blame me."

Tripitaka said, "If it has the look of Thunderclap Monastery, then perhaps it is Lingshan itself. Do not miss my earnest heart and delay my purpose."

Wukong said, "No, no. I have walked the road to Lingshan several times. Is this at all the same path?"

Bajie said, "Even if it is not Lingshan, there must surely be some good person living there."

Brother Sha said, "There is no need to suspect too much. This road must pass by that gate. We will know whether it is true or false at a glance."

Wukong said, "Brother Sha speaks sense."

The elder urged his horse forward and reached the mountain gate. There he saw the three large characters "Thunderclap Monastery" and, in his fright, fell off the horse and sprawled on the ground. He cursed, "You rotten ape! You will be the death of me. It really is Thunderclap Monastery, and you still try to fool me."

Wukong said with a smile, "Master, do not be angry. Look again. There are four characters on the gate, not three. Why are you blaming me?"

Shaking and trembling, Tripitaka got up and looked again. Sure enough, there were four characters. It was Little Thunderclap Monastery.

Tripitaka said, "Since it is Little Thunderclap Monastery, there must still be a Buddha within. The scriptures say that there are three thousand Buddhas, each in his own place: Guanyin in the South Sea, Puxian in Mount Emei, and Manjusri on Mount Wutai. Who can say what Buddha's realm this is? As the old saying goes, 'Where there is Buddha and scripture, there is no direction and no treasure.' Let us go in."

Wukong said, "We must not go in. This place holds little good and much evil. If disaster comes, do not blame me."

Tripitaka said, "Even if there is no Buddha, there is certainly a Buddha image. My vow is to bow whenever I meet a Buddha. How could I blame you?"

He ordered Bajie to take up the cassock and changed into his monk's cap and full dress. Then he set out. From within the gate they heard someone call, "Tripitaka, you have come from the Eastern Land to pay your respects to our Buddha. Why are you still moving so slowly?"

Tripitaka heard it and bowed at once. Bajie also kowtowed, and Brother Sha knelt down as well. Only the Great Sage held the horse and luggage at the rear. When they entered the second gate, there before them stood the great hall of Buddha. Outside the hall, beneath the jeweled platform, were ranged five hundred arhats, three thousand revealing spirits, four vajras, eight bodhisattvas, bhiksunis, and lay followers, along with countless holy monks and Daoists. The incense flowers were brilliant, and the auspicious vapors filled the place.

Tripitaka, Bajie, and Brother Sha were frightened beyond measure and stepped forward with a bow at every step, bowing their way to the center of the hall. Wukong did not bow at all. Then a harsh voice rang out from the lotus dais: "Sun Wukong, why do you not bow when you see the Tathagata?"

Wukong looked closely and saw at once that it was false. He threw away the horse and the baggage, grasped his staff, and shouted, "You pack of evil beasts, you have the nerve to use the Buddha's name and disgrace the Tathagata's purity? Do not run!"

He swung with both hands and rushed in to strike. Only then did a clang ring from the air, and a golden gong dropped down, catching the Great Sage from head to foot inside it. Bajie and Brother Sha were startled, but before they could recover, the arhats, revealing spirits, holy monks, and Daoists all surged forward and surrounded them. The two of them had no time to prepare and were taken alive as well.

Tripitaka was seized too. The four of them were tightly bound with ropes and cords.

It turned out that the one on the lotus seat who posed as the Buddha was a demon king, and all the arhats were little monsters. As soon as they were captured, he put away the Buddha image and showed his true demonic form. The three of them were carried into the rear hall and locked away.

Wukong was shut inside the golden gong and could not get it open. The place was dark and stifling. He was soaked in sweat and could not get free no matter how he struck. At last he pinched a spell and grew to a hundred and a thousand zhang in height. The gong grew with him, and there was no crack of light anywhere. Then he shrank himself down as small as a mustard seed. The gong shrank with him too, and still there was no opening. He took the Golden-Hooped Rod, breathed a puff of immortal breath on it, and cried, "Change!" At once it turned into a flagpole, propping the gong apart.

He plucked two of the longest hairs from the back of his head and cried, "Change!" They turned into plum-blossom drill bits with five sharp points. He set them to work under the rod and drilled hundreds and thousands of times, until only a harsh rattling sound came back. The gong would not move at all. Wukong grew frantic. He pinched a spell and cried out the mantra, "Om, keep the law of the clear realm at peace, qian-yuan heng-li-zhen," and summoned the Five Direction Revealing Spirits, the Six Ding and Six Jia, and the eighteen protective vajra guardians. Outside the gong they all said, "Great Sage, we are all guarding your master and will not let the demons harm him. Why are you summoning us?"

Wukong said, "My master would not heed my warning. If he died, he would deserve it. But can you not quickly work a spell and open this gong to let me out? There is no light in here at all, and I am burning up with rage. Will you let me be stifled to death?"

The gods really did try to pry the gong apart, but it was as if it had grown there. Not even the slightest movement. Golden-Headed Revealing Spirit said, "Great Sage, this gong is a strange treasure. It seems to be one whole piece from top to bottom. My power is too small. I cannot budge it."

Wukong said, "I have used all sorts of divine tricks inside and still cannot move it."

When the Revealing Spirit heard this, he ordered the Six Ding spirits to guard Tripitaka, the Six Jia spirits to watch the gong, and the protective guardians to keep watch all around. Then he leaped up in a beam of auspicious light and in an instant had burst through the South Heaven Gate. Without waiting to be announced, he went straight to the Jade Emperor's hall and fell to his knees.

"Your Majesty," he said, "I am an emissary of the Five Direction Revealing Spirits. Now the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who escorts Tripitaka west to seek the scriptures, has come to a mountain called Little Thunderclap Monastery in the Western Land. Tripitaka mistook it for Lingshan and went in to bow. It turned out to be a demon trap. The monster caught his master and disciples and shut the Great Sage inside a golden gong, with no way forward and no way back. He is now near death. I have come to report this at once."

The Jade Emperor immediately issued an order: "Send the twenty-eight constellations at once to go down and relieve the danger and subdue the demon."

The constellations dared not delay. They went with the Revealing Spirit through the Heavenly Gate and reached the mountain gate at the second watch. Meanwhile, the little and great monsters had had their fill from the feast, and the old demon had sent them all off to sleep. The star spirits made no great show. They went straight to the golden gong and reported, "Great Sage, we have come by the Jade Emperor's order. We are the twenty-eight constellations, sent to save you."

Wukong was delighted at the sound. He said, "Strike it open with your weapons and I will come out."

The constellations said, "We dare not strike it. This is a solid gold treasure. If we hit it, it will ring. If it rings, the demon will wake up, and then we will have a hard time getting you out. Let us use our weapons to lift it instead. If you see even a sliver of light, move at once."

Wukong said, "Exactly."

So they set to work. Spears stabbed, swords chopped, sabers cut, axes hacked; some pushed, some lifted, some pried, some pulled. By the third watch, the gong had not budged at all, as if it had been cast whole. Inside, Wukong could only turn this way and that, roll back and forth, and still see no light.

Kang Jinlong said, "Great Sage, do not be impatient. This treasure must be a thing that follows the will. It can surely change. Inside there at the seam, feel with your hand. When I drive my horn tip in, you may change shape and slip out where it loosens."

Wukong did as he said. Kang Jinlong shrank his own body, and the tip of his horn was as fine as a needle. He worked it into the seam of the gong and forced it through with all his strength. Then he restored himself and his horn to their full size, crying, "Grow! Grow! Grow!"

The horn became as thick as a bowl. The gong did not seem to be made of metal at all; it was like flesh and skin grown together, gripping the horn tightly, with not the smallest gap. Wukong felt along the horn and said, "It will not do. There is not the slightest looseness anywhere. There is no other way. Bear with the pain a little and carry me out."

The Great Sage turned the Golden-Hooped Rod into a steel drill, bored a hole in the tip of the horn, shrank himself to the size of a mustard seed, and crouched inside the hole. He cried, "Pull the horn out! Pull it out!"

Kang Jinlong strained with all his might and at last drew it free. The effort left him weak and exhausted, and he collapsed to the ground.

Wukong then crawled out through the hole in the horn tip, resumed his true form, drew the iron staff, and struck the gong with a ringing crash. It sounded like a bronze mountain collapsing and a gold mine splitting open. It was a pity to smash a Buddhist vessel into a thousand pieces of broken gold. The twenty-eight constellations were alarmed, the Five Direction Revealing Spirits bristled, and the demons, great and small, woke as from a dream.

The old demon king, roused from sleep, leaped up in panic, threw on his robe, beat the drum, and gathered the monsters, each of them arming himself. By then dawn was near. The whole swarm rushed beneath the jeweled platform and saw Sun Wukong and the constellations standing among the shattered pieces of the gong. They were all stunned.

The old demon shouted, "Little ones, shut the front gate tight. Do not let anyone out."

Wukong heard him and immediately led the star spirits away, riding a cloud up into the high blue sky. The demon gathered up the broken gold, drew his monsters into formation, and took them out to the gate. There, full of resentment and with no other choice, he put on his armor, took up a short and flexible wolf-tooth club, and shouted, "Sun Wukong, if you are a good man, do not run so far. Come back and fight me three rounds."

Wukong could not bear it. He led the constellations down in a cloud and looked at the monster's shape.

He had wild hair and a flat, narrow band of gold around his head. His eyes bulged, and two yellow brows stood up like bristles. His nose was like a hanging gallbladder, with flared nostrils. His mouth was square, and his teeth were sharp. He wore a linked suit of armor and a sash with long silk tassels. On his feet were a pair of black cloth shoes, and in his hand he held a wolf-tooth club. He looked like an animal, yet not an animal; like a man, yet not a man.

Wukong thrust out his staff and shouted, "What sort of monster are you, that you dare pose as Buddha and occupy this mountain, setting up a false Little Thunderclap Monastery?"

The demon king said, "Monkey, you do not know my name, so you have come to insult this immortal mountain. This place is called Little Western Heaven. Because I have cultivated, I have attained true fruition, and Heaven has given me these precious towers and jeweled halls. My name is Yellow Brow Buddha. Those here who do not know me call me Yellow Brow Great King, Yellow Brow Grandfather.

I have long known that you were going west and had some tricks, so I set up this image to lure your master in and make a wager with you. If you can beat me, I will spare you and your disciples and let you all achieve true fruition. If you cannot, I will beat you to death and then go see the Tathagata and seek the scriptures myself, so that I may prove the right of it all in China."

Wukong laughed. "Monster, do not boast. Since you wanted a wager, come up and take my staff."

The demon king was delighted and thrust his wolf-tooth club forward.

How fierce that battle was:

One staff was short and soft, one staff was hard and strong.
Both could change as they wished, and now they met in force.
The short, soft wolf-tooth club was dressed in bright Buddhist color; the hard Golden-Hooped Rod coiled like a dragon.
Thick or thin, short or long, each could show its skill.
Monkey and monster fought each other in earnest, with no deceit between them.
The tamed ape held the teaching in his heart, while the wicked fiend wore a fake Buddha face.
Rage and hatred met without mercy, and neither side would yield.
The one in front swung down without pause; the other blocked and struck, unwilling to give way.
Clouds and smoke rose and darkened the sun; mist and vapor closed over the peaks.
Rod met rod, each blow meeting the other, and both forgot life and death because of Tripitaka.

They fought for fifty rounds without either side gaining the upper hand. Then the demon king suddenly threw out his human-seed bag. Wukong saw it and cried, "Watch out!" But the star spirits and the Five Direction Revealing Spirits did not know what he meant. One after another, they were taken in. Wukong saw the danger, did not wait another moment, and rode his somersault cloud away. The demon king returned in triumph to the monastery and once again tied them all with cords and ropes, sending them into the cellar and sealing the cover as before.

Wukong landed on a cloud far above and saved his own life. Seeing the demon troops go back without banners or signal flags, he knew at once that the others had been taken. He lowered his auspicious light on the eastern mountain peak, ground his teeth at the monster, shed tears for Tripitaka, and lifted his face to the sky with a cry.

"Master, when did you lay down such a fearful calamity that in this life you must keep meeting demons at every step? Such suffering is hard to escape. What am I to do?"

He sighed for a long while by himself, then calmed his heart and thought again: "I do not know what kind of human-seed bag it is, to hold so many things. Now it has swallowed the heavenly gods and generals as well. I want to seek help from Heaven, but I fear the Jade Emperor may blame me. I remember that there is the True Warrior of the North, also called the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Lord, now on Wudang Mountain in the Southern Continent. I will go and ask him to save Master from this disaster."

The verse says:

The immortal way is not yet won; ape and horse scatter and flee.
With no master over mind and spirit, the five elements wither.
As for this journey and how it will truly go, who can yet tell?
That must wait for the next chapter.