Chapter 7: The Great Sage Breaks from the Eight-Trigram Furnace; Beneath Five Elements Mountain the Mind-Monkey Is Stilled

Wealth, rank, and fame are fixed by former causes.
Let no man betray his own heart.
Walk openly, stand upright, and loyal goodness only deepens its reward.
A little arrogance may draw Heaven's censure;
if punishment does not fall before your eyes, it waits its hour.

Ask the Lord of Spring why disaster presses in today.
It is because the heart climbed too high and knew no bound,
because it would not keep to rank or rule.

To return to the story: the Great Sage Equal to Heaven was dragged by the heavenly soldiers to the Demon-Slaying Terrace and bound to the Pillar of Subduing Monsters. They hacked at him with knives, split at him with axes, stabbed him with spears, and cut at him with swords, but none of it could so much as graze his body. The Star of the Southern Dipper then ordered the gods of the Fire Office to burn him to ash, yet the fire could not catch him. After that the gods of the Thunder Office struck him with thunder-hammers and lightning spikes, but that too failed to injure him by a single hair.

The Great Strength Ghost King and the others therefore memorialized the throne:

"Your Majesty, we do not know where this Great Sage learned such a body-protecting art. We have cut at him with knives and axes, burned him with fire, and battered him with thunder, yet not the slightest injury can be done. What are we to do?"

The Jade Emperor said, "That wretch is beyond all reckoning. How is he to be dealt with?"

Laozi at once stepped forward.

"The monkey has eaten the peaches, drunk the imperial wine, and stolen the immortal elixir. The five gourds of pills in my own palace, both raw and finished, all went down into his belly. There the samadhi fire has worked upon them and forged him into one solid diamond body, so that ordinary means cannot harm him at once. Better that this old Taoist take him away and shut him in the Eight-Trigram Furnace. There I will refine him with civil and martial fire, draw my elixir back out, and leave his body itself reduced to ash."

The Jade Emperor approved. He ordered the Six Ding and Six Jia spirits to unbind the prisoner and hand him over to Laozi, who departed with the decree.

At the same time Erlang Shen the Illustrious Sage was summoned and rewarded with a hundred golden flowers, a hundred bottles of imperial wine, a hundred pellets of returning elixir, bright pearls, fine brocades, and other treasures besides, to share among his sworn brothers. Erlang thanked the throne and returned to Guankou; we need say no more of him here.

Laozi went back to the Tusita Palace, loosed the Great Sage from his ropes, removed the hooks from his collarbones, and thrust him into the Eight-Trigram Furnace. He then ordered the Taoists who tended the furnace and the boys who worked the fire to fan the flames high and refine him thoroughly.

Now the furnace was ordered according to the eight trigrams: Qian, Kan, Gen, Zhen, Xun, Li, Kun, and Dui. The Great Sage wriggled himself down beneath the place of Xun. Xun is wind; where wind rules, fire does not hold. Yet the wind stirred the smoke till it blew into both his eyes and scorched them raw. That was how he came by those red-rimmed, gold-pupiled eyes thereafter known as Fire-Eyes and Golden Gaze.

Time flew. Before anyone knew it, seven sevens had passed: forty-nine days in all, and Laozi judged the fire at full strength. One day he opened the furnace to draw out the elixir.

Inside, the Great Sage was rubbing at his smoke-stung eyes, tears still running from them, when he heard the furnace lid move. He flung his eyes wide, saw the light, and could not contain himself. In a single bound he leapt out of the alchemical furnace with a roar, kicked the Eight-Trigram Furnace clean over, and made for the door.

The fire-tenders, the furnace-watchers, and all the Ding and Jia spirits rushed to grab him, but he bowled them aside one after another like a white-browed tiger in a fit of madness, like a one-horned dragon gone wild in a gale. Laozi himself came after him and caught at him with one hand, only to be flung head over heels with a wrench. The Great Sage tore free and ran.

Out came the Ruyi Jingu Bang from his ear. He gave it a shake into its bowl-thick form and seized it fast. Without regard for Heaven above or below, he threw the heavenly palaces into chaos once more, beating his way till the Nine Luminaries slammed their doors and barred their gates, and the Four Heavenly Kings vanished clean from sight.

What a monkey spirit he was. A verse bears witness:

His primal body answered Heaven before all things,
and through ten thousand kalpas and a thousand trials remained wholly itself.
Vast, still, formless, complete in Great Unity,
unmoving in true suchness, first and dark and deep.
Long refined within the furnace, he was no common lead or mercury;
his long life beyond the world belonged to an immortal at the root.
Endless transformations, and then more transformations still;
talk of three refuges and five precepts could not bind him at all.

Another verse says:

One spark of spirit pierced the utmost void,
and so too did that pillar-staff of his.
Long or short, it served as he desired;
laid crosswise or upright, rolled or spread, it answered every turn.

And another:

The ape-body of the monkey matches the human heart,
and in that heart the monkey's meaning runs deep.
That the Great Sage matched Heaven was no empty boast,
nor would the office of horse-keeper ever have spoken to his nature.
Horse and monkey together are heart and will;
bind them tight and look for nothing outside.
Ten thousand forms return to truth by one principle alone,
and the Tathagata knows the same, seated in the twin sala trees.

This time the Monkey King made no distinction at all between high and low. Swinging the iron staff, he struck east and fought west, and there was not a single god who could stand against him. All the way he fought until he reached the Gate of Bright Understanding and the very front of Lingxiao Hall.

Luckily for Heaven, Marshal Wang, assistant to the Guardian Sage and keeper of the hall, stood watch there. Seeing the Great Sage rampaging in every direction, he drew his golden whip and stepped forward.

"Where are you going, you damned monkey? With me standing here, do not dare run wild."

The Great Sage answered him with no words at all, only a blow from the staff. Marshal Wang met it with his whip, and there before Lingxiao Hall the two became a knot of battle:

One was famed for red loyalty and upright courage;
one was notorious for cheating Heaven and mocking the throne.
One struck low, one struck high, and so by chance they held each other.
Heroes both, they wagered their strength like gamblers.
The iron rod was savage; the golden whip was swift.
How could what was straight and selfless endure such insolence?
One was a lord of thunder's answering transformation;
one was the monkey fiend called Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
Golden whip and iron staff were each a thing of power,
both weapons of the immortal halls.
That day before Lingxiao Hall they showed their might,
each displaying splendid force.
One strove in his own heart to seize the palaces of Heaven;
one bent all his strength to uphold the holy order.
Locked in bitter struggle, neither would yield,
and the whip and staff came and went with no winner yet in sight.

Even as the two fought without decision, the Guardian Sage sent orders again to the Thunder Office, summoning thirty-six thunder-generals to the field. They came at once and hemmed the Great Sage in on every side, each one giving full rein to his ferocity. But the Great Sage knew not a hint of fear. With the single Ruyi Jingu Bang he screened left, warded right, propped behind, and met them in front.

At length he saw the thunder-generals pressing hard with spears, swords, halberds, whips, maces, hammers, axes, golden melons, sickles, and crescent spades. So he shook himself once and changed. In an instant he had three heads and six arms. Then he shook the wish-granted rod till it became three rods, and with six hands he set all three spinning round him like a weaver's wheel, whirling and flashing in the heart of the ring. The thunder-gods could not come near him.

Truly he was:

Round and whole, bright and blazing,
a thing of ancient permanence no mortal could ever learn to be.
Thrown into fire, it would not burn;
cast into water, when had it ever drowned?
A single mani jewel of perfect light,
untouched by spear or sword or halberd.
It could be good; it could be evil;
good and evil in the world before one's eyes were done according to it.
When turned to good, it might become Buddha or immortal;
when turned to evil, it might grow fur and horns.
With endless changes it threw Heaven into uproar,
and neither thunder-generals nor heavenly troops could lay hold of it.

So all the gods crowded the Great Sage within a single ring and yet could not approach him, only shouting and battling in confusion. The uproar at last shook the Jade Emperor himself. He thereupon ordered two divine envoys westward to invite the Buddha to come and subdue the fiend.

Those two, once they had received the decree, went straight to Lingshan, to the Thunderclap Monastery in that blessed realm. After bowing before the Four Vajra Kings and the Eight Bodhisattvas, they asked that word be passed inward. Led beneath the jeweled lotus dais, they announced themselves and were summoned by the Tathagata. Thrice they circled the Buddha in reverence and stood below the dais.

The Buddha asked, "What matter of the Jade Emperor's has brought you two holy envoys here?"

The envoys replied, "In former days a monkey was born on Flower-Fruit Mountain. There he used his powers, gathered monkey hordes, and threw the world into disorder. The Jade Emperor sent a decree of appeasement and made him Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, but he despised the office and rebelled. Li the Heavenly King and Prince Nezha were sent to capture him, but without success. So he was appeased again and given the title Great Sage Equal to Heaven, though with office only and no stipend.

"Then he was set to oversee the Peach Orchard. He stole the peaches, went on to Jade Pool, stole dishes and wine, wrecked the banquet, and in his drunkenness slipped secretly into the Tusita Palace and stole Laozi's elixir as well, then rebelled again out of Heaven. The Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand heavenly troops, but even they could not subdue him.

"Afterward Guanyin recommended Erlang Shen, who together with his sworn brothers hunted the creature down. The monkey's transformations were many and strange, and only because Laozi cast down the Diamond Cincture and struck him could Erlang finally seize him.

"He was brought before the throne, and the order was given for his execution. But neither knife, axe, fire, nor thunder could harm him. Laozi then asked to take him away and refine him with fire. After forty-nine days the furnace was opened, whereupon he leapt out again, beat back the heavenly guards, and fought his way to the Gate of Bright Understanding before Lingxiao Hall itself.

"There he was held in a bitter fight by Marshal Wang, assistant to the Guardian Sage, and thirty-six thunder-generals were summoned to box him in, yet in the end not one of them could come close. The matter is urgent, and so the Jade Emperor especially asks the Tathagata to come to Heaven's aid."

When the Tathagata heard this, he turned to the bodhisattvas.

"All of you sit steady in the Dharma Hall. Let no one disturb the meditation seats. I am going to refine a fiend and save the heavenly throne."

He then summoned the venerables Ananda and Kasyapa to attend him, left Thunderclap, and came straight to the gate of Lingxiao Hall. Even before he arrived, he heard the battle roaring: the thirty-six thunder-generals had the Great Sage surrounded.

The Buddha issued his law-command:

"Tell the thunder-generals to cease their fighting, open the ring, and let the Great Sage come out. I would ask him what powers he thinks he has."

The generals withdrew. The Great Sage too put away his battle-form, showed his true body, came forward blazing with rage, and shouted:

"What worthy priest are you, bold enough to halt the fighting and question me?"

The Tathagata smiled.

"I am Shakyamuni, Honored One of the Western Paradise. Namo Amitabha. I hear that you have run wild in rustic arrogance and rebelled against Heaven time and again. I would know where you were born, in what year you attained the Way, and why you act with such violence."

The Great Sage replied:

Heaven and Earth made me a spirit-born immortal,
an old ape of Flower-Fruit Mountain.
In Water-Curtain Cave I built my house and line,
sought masters, found friends, and woke to the Great Mystery.
I refined and mastered the arts of long life,
and learned transformations broad beyond all bound.
The mortal world below felt cramped to me,
so I set my heart on dwelling in Heaven's fair halls.
Lingxiao Hall was never meant for one line alone;
the kings of men pass it down from age to age.
The strong should be honored, so it ought to be mine.
This hero alone dares fight for first place.

The Buddha heard him out and gave a cold laugh.

"You are only a monkey who attained spirit. How dare you be false to your own heart and seek to seize the station of the Jade Emperor? He has cultivated himself since his earliest youth and endured one thousand seven hundred and fifty kalpas, each one containing a hundred and twenty-nine thousand and six hundred years. Count the span of that, and then ask yourself how long one must cultivate before enjoying the limitless Great Way. And you, brute that you are, new-made to human form, dare utter words like these? Shameless creature. You shorten your own life by speaking them. Submit at once and cease this wild talk, or you may well meet a poisonous hand and lose your life in an instant. It would be a pity to waste the form you were born with."

The Great Sage said, "Even if he has cultivated long, he ought not sit there forever. The saying runs: emperors take turns, and next year it comes to my house. Let him move out and give the Heavenly Palace to me, and that will be the end of it. But if he refuses, then I will keep stirring up trouble, and there will never be peace."

The Buddha said, "Other than long life and the art of transformation, what powers have you that you dare covet Heaven's own realm?"

The Great Sage answered, "Old Sun has plenty of skills. I command seventy-two transformations. I do not grow old through ten thousand kalpas. I can ride a somersault-cloud and cross a hundred and eight thousand li in a single bound. Why shouldn't I sit in Heaven's seat?"

The Buddha said, "Then let us make a wager. If you have the power, leap in one bound out of the palm of my right hand. If you can do it, you win. We will put aside weapons and stop this bitter struggle. I will ask the Jade Emperor to move to the Western Heaven and yield the Heavenly Palace to you. But if you cannot leap out of my palm, then go back below and be a demon again. Cultivate for a few more kalpas, then come back and argue."

When the Great Sage heard this, he laughed inwardly.

"This Tathagata is a fool. Old Sun can go a hundred and eight thousand li in one somersault. His hand is not even a foot across. How could I fail to leap out?"

Then aloud he cried, "If that's the wager, can you keep your word?"

"I can."

The Buddha stretched out his right hand. It looked no larger than a lotus leaf.

The Great Sage put away the Ruyi Jingu Bang, shook out his divine vigor, and jumped, landing squarely in the Buddha's palm.

"Off I go!"

Look at him then. He went all one streak of cloud-light, gone from sight in an instant. The Buddha, watching with his wisdom-eye, saw the Monkey King spinning forward like a wheel and never ceasing.

At length the Great Sage saw before him five flesh-pink pillars supporting a billow of blue vapor. He said to himself, "This must be the very end of the road. When I go back this time, the Tathagata himself will have to witness that Lingxiao Hall is mine to sit in."

Then he thought again:

"Hold a moment. I should leave a mark here, so I can have the better of the Tathagata when I speak."

He plucked out one hair, blew immortal breath upon it, and cried, "Change!"

It turned into a double-tipped writing brush heavy with black ink, and on the middle pillar he wrote a line of large characters:

Great Sage Equal to Heaven was here.

When he had written it, he gathered the hair again. Still not content, and with no respect in him at all, he squatted at the base of the first pillar and pissed a monkey's stream there.

Then he turned the somersault-cloud and came straight back, landing again in the Buddha's palm.

"I went, and now I'm back. Tell the Jade Emperor to hand Heaven over to me."

The Buddha said, "You piss-drunk monkey. You never left the palm of my hand."

The Great Sage cried, "You don't know what you're talking about. I went to the very end of Heaven and found five flesh-red pillars holding up a blue vapor. I left a mark there. Do you dare come and see it with me?"

The Buddha said, "No need. Just lower your head and look."

The Great Sage widened his Fire-Eyes and Golden Gaze and looked down. There, on the middle finger of the Buddha's right hand, were the very words:

Great Sage Equal to Heaven was here.

And in the crook by the thumb there still lingered the rank smell of monkey urine.

The Great Sage gave a start.

"How can that be? How can that be? I wrote those words on a pillar holding up the sky. How could they be on his finger instead? Has he some art of foreknowledge? I don't believe it. I don't. Let me go again."

Good Great Sage that he was, he gathered himself for another leap. But the Buddha turned his palm over and pressed him out beyond the Western Gate of Heaven. Then his five fingers changed into five joined mountain peaks of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Together they became Five Elements Mountain, and lightly, lightly, they pinned the Great Sage beneath them.

The thunder-gods, Ananda, and Kasyapa all joined their palms and praised the deed, saying:

Well done, well done.
Born once from an egg and learning at last to be human,
he set his will on cultivation and truly found the Way.
Through ten thousand kalpas he had not moved from his splendid state,
but one change of heart scattered all his spirit.
He cheated Heaven, mocked the high, coveted lofty place,
insulted sages, stole elixir, and shattered great order.
Now the measure of his evil is full and the reckoning has come.
Who knows in what year he will turn himself over again?

Once the Tathagata had destroyed the demon monkey's rampage, he called to Ananda and Kasyapa and turned back toward the Western Paradise. But then Heavenly Canopy and Heavenly Blessing came hurrying out of Lingxiao Hall and called:

"Pray stay a moment, Tathagata. Our lord is coming in person."

The Buddha heard and turned back to look. In a little while the Jade Emperor indeed arrived in his phoenix chariot beneath a nine-rayed jeweled canopy, with profound songs and subtle music sounding on every side, limitless divine hymns being chanted, precious flowers scattering, and true incense rising. Coming before the Buddha, he thanked him, saying:

"Your great Dharma has wiped out the fiendish evil. I ask that the Tathagata remain one day longer while I invite all the immortals to a feast of thanks."

The Tathagata would not decline, but with joined palms answered:

"This old monk came only because the Great Heavenly Worthy commanded him. What power have I of my own? It is the Heavenly Worthy and the assembled gods whose great fortune made this possible. How could I trouble Your Majesty for thanks?"

The Jade Emperor nevertheless issued his order. He commanded the gods of the Thunder Office to go separately and invite the Three Pure Ones, the Four Sovereigns, the Five Elders, the Six Offices, the Seven Luminaries, the Eight Poles, the Nine Luminaries, the Ten Capitals, the thousand perfected beings, and the ten thousand saints, all to attend and give thanks for the Buddha's grace. He further ordered the Four Great Celestial Masters and the maidens of the Nine Heavens to throw open the golden gates of the Jade Capital, the Palace of Great Mystery, and the Yang Jade Halls; to place the Tathagata on a lofty throne atop the Seven-Treasured Spirit Terrace; to arrange every rank of seat; and to lay out dragon liver, phoenix marrow, jade liquor, and immortal peaches.

Before long there came the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning from the Pure Jade, the Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure from the Highest Purity, the Celestial Worthy of the Way and Its Virtue from the Great Purity, the Lords of the Five Vapors, the Lords of the Five Dippers, the Three Officials and Four Saints, the Lords of the Nine Luminaries, Left Assistant and Right Supporter, Heavenly Kings, Nezha, and every shining spirit of mystery besides. Pair after pair of standards and canopies advanced, and each brought bright pearls, rare treasures, longevity fruits, and strange flowers to lay before the Buddha in offering.

"We are grateful for the Tathagata's measureless Dharma-power in subduing the monkey fiend. The Great Heavenly Worthy has summoned us to this feast of thanks. What name should be given to the assembly?"

Entrusted by the gathered gods, the Tathagata answered:

"If a name is wanted, let it be the Peace-of-Heaven Assembly."

All the immortals cried out with one voice, "Excellent! The Peace-of-Heaven Assembly! Excellent!"

When that was said, each took his seat. Cups went round, wine was poured, flowers were tucked into hair, zithers were played. It was a splendid assembly indeed. A verse bears witness:

The Peach Banquet had been thrown to ruin by the monkey,
but the Peace-of-Heaven Assembly outshone the peaches themselves.
Dragon banners and phoenix carriages glowed with auspicious light;
precious pennons and canopies drifted in blessed vapors.
Immortal music and darkly subtle songs rang out in lovely measure;
phoenix flutes and jade pipes sounded high and clear.
Jade fragrance curled as the immortals gathered,
and the whole universe in peace gave thanks for the holy court.

All were at ease and happy in the feast when suddenly the Queen Mother came forward, leading a company of maidens, heavenly ladies, beauties, and palace girls, drifting toward the Buddha like flowers blown on air. She bowed and said:

"Formerly the monkey fiend ruined one Peach Banquet and caused all immortals and Buddhas alike to suffer frustration. Now, thanks to the Tathagata's great Dharma, the stubborn monkey has been chained and the Peace-of-Heaven Assembly may be celebrated. I have nothing worthy to offer in gratitude. I have therefore washed my hands and picked with them several great peaches from my own orchard to present."

Truly:

Half red and half green, they breathed out sweetness,
these splendid immortal roots grown over ten thousand years.
Let men laugh over the peaches of the Peach Blossom Spring if they like;
what are they beside the stranger strength of Heaven's own orchards?
Purple-veined and tender, rare in all the world,
yellow-cored and clear-sweet, beyond any earthly pair.
They lengthen years, extend life, and alter the body itself;
whoever has the fate to taste them is no common soul.

The Buddha joined his palms and thanked the Queen Mother. Then she ordered the immortal girls to sing and dance, and all the immortals in the assembly praised what they saw.

This was just the scene:

Mistlike heavenly fragrance filled the seats;
bright immortal flowers lay in profusion.
The Jade Capital and its golden gates were glory itself;
strange treasures and rare things beyond price shone everywhere.
Pair by pair they were granted life as long as Heaven's own;
in twos and twos their kalpas of years only increased.
Let mulberry fields become blue sea and blue sea mulberry field again;
they themselves looked on without alarm or wonder.

The Queen Mother was still having the immortal girls sing and dance, with goblets crossing and toasts flying, when before long another strange fragrance drifted through the hall:

A sudden scent came breathing to the nose
and startled every star-lord in the chamber.
Immortals and Buddhas set down their cups
and lifted their heads to look.
In the midst of sky and cloud appeared an aged man,
holding lingzhi in hands bright with embroidered haze.
At his waist a gourd stored ten-thousand-year elixir;
on his talisman were written a thousand ages of life.
In his cave Heaven and Earth moved at his pleasure;
in the gourd the sun and moon followed his wish.
Roaming the four seas, he loved pure leisure;
easy and unbound, he gathered the Ten Isles to him.
Many a time he had gone drunk to the Peach Banquet,
and when he woke, the bright moon still hung unchanged.
Long-headed, broad-eared, short of frame:
from the southern pole men call him Lord of Long Life.

The Longevity Star had come.

After bowing to the Jade Emperor and greeting the Buddha, he said:

"At first I heard that the monkey fiend had been taken by Laozi to the Tusita Palace for refinement, and thought peace must surely follow. I never expected him to break out again. Blessed it is that the Tathagata has subdued the creature and that this feast of thanks is set. I have nothing else to offer, so I bring only purple fungus, immortal herbs, blue lotus-root, and golden elixir."

A verse says:

Blue lotus-root and golden elixir offered to Shakyamuni;
may the Tathagata's years be countless as the sands.
Peace and joy forever, a brocade of the Three Vehicles;
health and long life, flowers of the ninefold grade.
In the gate of no-form he is true lord of the Law;
above the heavens of form and emptiness the immortals make their home.
Through Heaven, Earth, and all the lands he is hailed as ancestor;
that sixteen-foot golden body bears out blessing and long life without end.

The Tathagata gladly accepted the offering. The Longevity Star took his seat and the cups once again began to pass.

Then the Barefoot Immortal arrived. After bowing before the Jade Emperor, he too thanked the Buddha:

"I feel deeply the force of your Dharma in subduing the monkey fiend. I have nothing worthy to show my respect, so I bring only two jiaoli pears and several fire-dates."

A verse says:

The Barefoot Immortal's dates and pears were sweet with scent;
he offered them in reverence, wishing Amitabha long measure of years.
The seven-treasured lotus dais stood firm as a mountain,
the thousand-flowered jeweled throne shone like brocade.
That his life matches Heaven and Earth is no empty word;
that his blessings exceed the flood-tides is no wild boast.
Blessing and long life arriving just when due:
such indeed is the pure ease of that Western Paradise.

The Buddha thanked him in turn and instructed Ananda and Kasyapa to receive and set aside each of the offerings one by one. Only then did he thank the Jade Emperor for the banquet. All were well and richly drunk when a patrol marshal came in to report:

"The Great Sage has stretched his head out again."

The Buddha said, "No matter, no matter."

From his sleeve he took only a slip of paper with six golden characters upon it:

Om mani padme hum

He handed it to Ananda and said, "Go paste this to the summit of the mountain."

The venerable one took the slip, went out through the heavenly gate, and placed it fast upon a square stone at the top of Five Elements Mountain. At once the whole mountain rooted itself and closed tight. Only breath could still pass, and the Great Sage's hands could still reach out a little and struggle.

Ananda returned and reported, "The slip has been affixed."

The Tathagata then took leave of the Jade Emperor and the assembled gods and went out beyond Heaven's gate with the two venerables. There, moved by compassion, he recited spells and summoned a local earth god for Five Elements Mountain together with the Five Jiedi of the Five Regions, ordering them to dwell there and keep watch over the prisoner. When he was hungry, they were to feed him iron pellets. When he was thirsty, they were to give him molten copper to drink.

"When the full measure of his calamity has run out, someone will come to save him."

This was exactly the case:

The demon monkey dared rebel against Heaven,
and by the Buddha's hand was brought low at last.
Thirsty, he drank molten copper through the passing years;
hungry, he swallowed iron balls through all that time.
Heaven's punishments and harsh afflictions wore him down;
human desolation made his long life a bitter thing.
Yet if some hero should one day free him from the weight,
then in another year he might serve the Buddha in the West.

Another verse says:

He once gave full rein to his fierce strength and reckless force,
taming dragon and tiger and delighting in his own clever power.
He stole peaches and wine and wandered Heaven's courts;
he received the heavenly register and grace in the Jade Capital.
When evil had filled its measure, his body came to grief;
yet because his root of good was not cut off, his spirit might still rise.
He escaped the Buddha's hand for no more than a heartbeat,
so wait for the holy monk of Tang to come in a later age.

But in what month or year the full term of his disaster would at last be spent is another matter, and must wait for the next chapter.