Output:
Exchanging horses at the ravine was the ninth ordeal;

The fire at night was the tenth ordeal;

The loss of the cassock was the eleventh ordeal;

Subduing Pig was the twelfth ordeal;

The obstacles created by the Yellow Wind Monster were the thirteenth ordeal;

Asking the help of Lingji was the fourteenth ordeal;

The hard crossing of the Flowing Sands River was the fifteenth ordeal;

Winning over Friar Sand was the sixteenth ordeal;

The appearance of the four holy ones was the seventeenth ordeal;

In the Wuzhuang Temple was the eighteenth ordeal;

The difficulty of reviving the manfruit was the nineteenth ordeal;

The dismissal of the Mind-ape was the twentieth ordeal;

Getting lost in Black Pine Forest was the twenty-first ordeal;

Delivering the letter to Elephantia was the twenty-second ordeal;

To be turned into a tiger in the palace hall was the twenty-third ordeal;

Meeting the monsters on Flat-top Mountain was the twenty-fourth ordeal;

To hang in the Lotus Flower Cave was the twenty-fifth ordeal;


Output:
The rescue of the king of Wuji was the twenty-sixth ordeal;

The transformation by the demons was the twenty-seventh ordeal;

The encounter with the monster of Mount Hao was the twenty-eighth ordeal;

The holy monk being carried off by the wind was the twenty-ninth ordeal;

The attack on the Mind-ape was the thirtieth ordeal;

Inviting the holy one to subdue the fiend was the thirty-first ordeal;

Sinking in the Black River was the thirty-second ordeal;

The moving in Tarrycart was the thirty-third ordeal;

The enormous wager was the thirty-fourth ordeal;

Casting out the Taoists and promoting the Buddhists was the thirty-fifth ordeal;

The great river met on the way was the thirty-sixth ordeal;

Falling into the River of Heaven was the thirty-seventh ordeal;

The appearance with the fish basket was the thirty-eighth ordeal;

Meeting the monster on Mount Jindou was the thirty-ninth ordeal;

All the gods of heaven being unable to subdue him was the fortieth ordeal;


Output:
Asking the Buddha about his origins was the forty-first ordeal;

To be poisoned by drinking the water was the forty-second ordeal;

Being kept in Womanland of Western Liang for the wedding was the forty-third ordeal;

The agonies of the Pipa Cave were the forty-fourth ordeal;

The Mind-ape’s second dismissal was the forty-fifth ordeal;

Telling the macaques apart was the forty-sixth ordeal;

Being held up by the Fiery Mountains was the forty-seventh ordeal;

Obtaining the plantain-leaf fan was the forty-eighth ordeal;

Tying up the demon king was the forty-ninth ordeal;

Sweeping the pagoda in Jisai city was the fiftieth ordeal;

The recovery of the treasures and the rescue of the monks were the fifty-first ordeal;

Reciting poems in the Thorn Forest was the fifty-second ordeal;

Trouble in the Lesser Thunder Monastery was the fifty-third ordeal;

The capture of the heavenly gods was the fifty-fourth ordeal;

Being stopped by the filthy Runny Persimmon Lane was the fifty-fifth ordeal;


Output:
Healing in Purpuria was the fifty-sixth ordeal;

Saving from debility was the fifty-seventh ordeal;

Subduing fiends and rescuing the queen was the fifty-eighth ordeal;

Delusion by the seven passions was the fifty-ninth ordeal;

The wounding of the Many-eyed Monster was the sixtieth ordeal;

Being held up by the Lion was the sixty-first ordeal;

Dividing demons into three categories was the sixty-second ordeal;

Meeting disaster in the city was the sixty-third ordeal;

Asking the Buddha to subdue the demon was the sixty-fourth ordeal;

The rescue of the boys in Bhiksuland was the sixty-fifth ordeal;

Telling the true from the evil was the sixty-sixth ordeal;

Saving the monster in the pine forest was the sixty-seventh ordeal;

Lying sick in the monastic cell was the sixty-eighth ordeal;

Capture in the Bottomless Cave was the sixty-ninth ordeal;

Delays in Dharmadestructia were the seventieth ordeal;

Meeting the monster on Hidden Clouds Mountain was the seventy-first ordeal;


Output:
Begging for rain in Fengxian was the seventy-second ordeal;

The loss of the weapons was the seventy-third ordeal;

The rake banquet was the seventy-fourth ordeal;

Troubles on Bamboo Mountain were the seventy-fifth ordeal;

Suffering in Dark Essence Cave was the seventy-sixth ordeal;

Catching Rhinoceros was the seventy-seventh ordeal;

Being required to marry in India was the seventy-eighth ordeal;

Imprisonment in Brazentower was the seventy-ninth ordeal;

Casting of the body at the Lingyun Crossing was the eightieth ordeal;

The journey was one of 36,000 miles,

And the ordeals of the holy monk are all clearly recorded.”


Output:
Casting her eyes over the record, the Bodhisattva quickly said, “In the Buddha’s school ‘nine nines’ are needed before one can come to the truth. The eighty ordeals that the holy monk has endured are one short of the full number. “Go after the vajrapanis,” she ordered a protector, “and tell them to create another ordeal.” The protector headed East by cloud as soon as he was given this order, and after a day and a night he caught up with the Eight Vajrapanis. “It’s like this, you see,” he said, whispering in their ears in explanation, adding, “so you must do as the Bodhisattva commands and not disobey.” When the Eight Vajrapanis heard this they stopped the wind with a swishing sound and dropped the four of them to the ground, horse, scriptures and all. Oh dear! It was a case of

The Way of reaching the truth through the nine nines is hard;

Hold fast to your determination to stand at the mysterious pass.

Only through rigorous effort can the demons be repelled;


Output:
Perseverance is essential to the true Dharma’s return.

Do not mistake the scriptures for something easily won;

Of many a kind were the hardships endured by the holy monk.

The marvellous union has always been hard to achieve:

The slightest mistake and the elixir will not be made.

As his feet touched common ground Sanzang felt alarmed. “Marvellous,” said Pig, roaring with laughter, “just marvellous! It’s a case of more haste less speed.”

“It really is marvellous,” said Friar Sand. “They’re giving us a rest here after going so fast.”

“As the saying goes,” remarked the Great Sage, “‘Wait ten days on a sandbank, then cross nine in a single day.’”

“Stop arguing, you three,” said Sanzang. “Find out which way we have come and where we are.”

“We’re here!” said Friar Sand after looking all around, “We’re here! Listen to the water, Master.”

“From the sound of the water I suppose it must be your family home,” observed Brother Monkey.

“His home is the River of Flowing Sands,” said Pig.


Output:
“No, it’s not that,” replied Friar Sand. “It’s the River of Heaven.”

“Take a careful look at the other side, disciple,” said Sanzang, at which Monkey sprang into the air, shaded his eyes with his hand, and took a careful look around. “Master,” he said after coming down again, “this is the West bank of the River of Heaven.”

“I remember now,” said Sanzang. “On the East bank there is Chen Family Village. When we came here the other year they were so grateful to us for rescuing their son and daughter that they wanted to build a boat to take us across, but the White Soft-shelled Turtle carried us over. As I recall, there was no sign of human life anywhere on the West bank. Whatever are we to do now?”

“They say that common mortals can be sinners,” said Pig, “but the vajrapanis who serve the Buddha in person are too. The Buddha ordered them to bring us back East, so why have they dropped us half way home? We’re stuck here now. How ever are we going to get over?”


Output:
“Stop complaining, brother,” said Friar Sand. “Our master has found the Way. He cast off his mortal body at the Cloud-touching Crossing, so he won’t possibly fall into the water now. Our big brother and we two can all do levitation magic, so we can carry the master across.”

Monkey laughed to himself under his breath as he replied, “We can’t do it, we can’t do it.” Why do you think he said that they couldn’t do it? If he had been prepared to use his divine powers and give away the secret of flying then master and disciples would have been able to cross a thousand rivers. But he understood that as the Tang Priest had not yet completed the nine nines he was fated to undergo another ordeal, which was why he had been held up here.

Talking as they walked slowly along, master and disciples headed straight to the river-bank, where all of a sudden they heard someone calling, “This way, Tang Priest, this way!” They were all surprised, and when they looked up there was no sign of anyone around, and no boat either.


Output:
There was only a big, white, scabby-headed soft-shelled turtle raising its head by the bank and calling, “Master, I have been waiting for you all these years. Why have you only just come back?”

“We troubled you in the past, old turtle,” said Monkey with a smile, “and this year we meet again.” Sanzang, Pig and Friar Sand were all delighted.

“If you really do want to look after us, come ashore,” Monkey said, at which the turtle climbed out of the river with a bound. Monkey had the horse tied to the turtle with Pig squatting behind the horse’s tail. The Tang Priest stood to the left of the horse’s neck and Friar Sand to its right, while Monkey stood with one foot on the turtle’s neck and the other on his head.

“Take it easy and take it steady,” he said. The turtle strode across the water just as if his four feet were walking on flat land, carrying the master and his three disciples, five of them altogether including the horse, straight back to the Eastern bank. This was Indeed:


Output:
The mystery of the Dharma within the unique sect:

When the demons are all defeated man and heaven are made known.

Only now can the original face be seen,

And the causes of the one body all be complete.

Hold to the Three Vehicles to come and go at will;

After the elixir’s nine transformations you may do what you like.

Carry your bundle, let your staff fly, and understand the inexpressible;

Lucky they were on their return to meet the Ancient Turtle.

Carrying them on his back, the Ancient Soft-shelled Turtle walked across the waves for the best part of a day. It was nearly evening when, as they approached the East bank, he suddenly asked, “Venerable master, some years ago I begged you when you reached the West and saw our Tathagata Buddha to ask him when I would be converted and how long I would live.”


Output: Now ever since the venerable elder had reached the Western Heaven, bathed in the Jade Truth Temple, cast off his mortal body at the Cloud-touching Crossing and walked up the Vulture Peak, his heart had been set only on worshipping the Buddha; and when he met all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, holy monks and others his whole mind had been devoted to fetching the scriptures. He had given no attention to anything else, and so had not asked about how long the Ancient Turtle would live. Having nothing he could say, and not daring to lie to or deceive the turtle, Sanzang was quiet for a long time and gave no reply. When the turtle realized that Sanzang had not asked the questions on his behalf he gave a shake of his head and submerged with a loud splash, dropping the four of them, horse, scriptures and all, into the water.


Output:
Oh dear! But luckily the Tang Priest had cast off his mortal body and achieved the Way. If he had still been as he had before he would have sunk to the bottom. It was also lucky that the white horse was a dragon, that Pig and Friar Sand could swim, and that Brother Monkey gave a smiling and magnificent display of his great magic powers as he lifted the Tang Priest out of the water and up the East bank. The only thing was that the bundles of scriptures, the clothes and the saddle were all soaked.

Master and disciples had climbed up the bank to get themselves sorted out when a sudden fierce wind blew up, the sky turned dark, and amid thunder and lightning stones and sand flew all around. This is what could be

seen:

A wind

Throwing heaven and earth into chaos;

Thunder

Rocking mountains and rivers;

Lightning

Flying like fire through the clouds;

Mists

Covering all of the earth.

The wind howled;

Loud roared the thunder.

The lightning streaked red,

While clouds blocked out the moon and the stars.


Output:
While clouds blocked out the moon and the stars.

The wind-blown dust drove into the face,

And tigers and leopards hid in terror.

The lightning flashes set birds cawing,

And tress all vanished in the spreading mists.

The wind whipped up the waves of the River of Heaven;

The thunder terrified the fish and dragons in the River of Heaven;

The lightning lit up the whole of River of Heaven;

The mists enshrouded in darkness the banks of the River of Heaven.

Splendid wind!

Mountains toppled; pines and bamboo fell.

Splendid thunder!

Its majesty alarmed insects and spread terror.

Splendid lightning!

It moved across the sky and lit up the wilds like golden snakes.

Splendid mist!

Darkening the whole of space, obscuring the nine heavens.

This alarmed Sanzang, who pressed down on the bundles of scriptures, while Friar Sand held down their carrying-pole and Pig clung to the white horse. Monkey, however, swung his iron cudgel around with both hands as he kept guard to both right and left.


Output:
Now the wind, mist, thunder and lightning were all signals made by evil demons who wanted to steal the scriptures that had been fetched. They tried all night to grab them until the dawn; only then did they stop.

The venerable elder, whose clothes were all soaking wet, shivered and shook as he said, “How did all this start, Wukong?”


Output: “Master,” Brother Monkey replied, snorting with fury, “you don’t understand the inner truth. By escorting you to fetch these scriptures we have won the great achievement of heaven and earth. You will enjoy perpetual youth, and your dharma body will never decay. This is something heaven and earth can’t stand for, and the demons and gods detest. They wanted to come and steal them in the darkness. But because the scriptures were soaked through and your true dharma body was holding them down, the thunder could not bombard them, the lightning could not illuminate them and the mist could not obscure them. It was also because I whirled my iron cudgel around to make its pure Positive nature protect them. Since dawn the Positive has been in the ascendant again, which is why they can’t take them now.”


Output:
Only then did Sanzang, Pig and Friar Sand realize what had happened and all express unbounded thanks. A little later, when the sun was shining from high in the sky, they took the scriptures to the top of a high cliff, opened the bundles and put them out to dry. The rocks on which the scriptures were dried in the sun remain there to this day. Then they spread their clothes and shoes out to dry beside the cliff while they stood there, sat down, or leapt around. Indeed:

The pure Positive body was happy in the sun,

When Negative demons dared not use their might.

Even when water is dominant the true scriptures will win,

Not fearing wind or thunder, lightning, mist or light.

After this clarification they come to the true perception;

From now on they will reach the immortals’ land in peace.

On the rocks where the scriptures were dried their traces still remain;

Never again will any demons come back to this place.


Output:
As the four of them were checking through the scriptures and drying them in the sun one by one some fishermen who were passing the river bank lifted up their heads and saw them there.

One of the fishermen recognized them and said, “Venerable teachers, didn’t you cross this river the other year when you were on your way to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures?”

“Yes, yes,” said Pig, “that’s right. Where are you from? How did you know who we are?”

“We’re from Chen Village,” the fisherman replied.

“How far is Chen Village from here?” Pig asked.

“It’s seven miles South from this gulch,” the fisherman said.

“Let’s take the scriptures to Chen Village and dry them there,” said Pig. “There’s somewhere we can stay there, and we’ll be able to get something to eat. Besides, we can get their family to wash our clothes. That’ll be best, won’t it?”

“We will not go there,” said Sanzang. “When we have dried everything here we can pack up and find our way back.”


Output:
The fishermen, who passed the gulch to the South, happened to meet Chen Cheng. “You two old gentlemen,” they called, “the teachers who went to be sacrificed instead of your children the other year have come back.”

“Where did you see them?” Chen Cheng asked.

“Drying their scriptures in the sun on the rocks,” the fishermen replied.

Chen Cheng then took several of his tenants across the gulch, saw the pilgrims, and hurried towards them to kneel and say, “My lords, now that you are coming back with your scriptures, your achievement completed and your deeds done, why don’t you come to my house? Why are you hanging around here? Won’t you please come straight to the house?”

“We’ll go with you when we’ve dried our scriptures in the sun,” Monkey replied.

“How did your scriptures and clothes all get wet, my lords?” Chen Cheng asked.


Output:
“The other year the White soft-shelled Turtle kindly carried us West across the river,” Sanzang replied, “and this year he carried us across it Eastwards. We were approaching the bank when he put some questions to me about the enquiries he had asked me to make with the Lord Buddha about how long he would live. Now I never made this enquiry, so he soaked us all in the water. That was how they got wet.”

Sanzang then told the whole story in all its details, and as Chen Cheng was so sincere in pressing his invitation Sanzang could do nothing but pack up the scriptures. As it was not realized that the ends of several rolls of the Buddhacaritakavya sutra had stuck to the rock when wet, the ends were torn off, which is why the Buddhacaritakavya sutra is incomplete to this day and there are still traces of writing on the rocks where the scriptures were dried in the sun.

“We were careless,” Sanzang said with remorse. “We did not pay enough attention.”


Output: “You’re wrong,” said Monkey with a laugh, “you’re wrong. Heaven and earth are incomplete and this scripture used to be complete. Now it’s been soaked and torn to fulfil the mystery of incompleteness. This is not something that could have been achieved through human effort.” When master and disciples had finished packing the surras they returned with Chen Chang to his village.


Output:
In the village one person told ten, ten told a hundred, and a hundred a thousand, till all of them, young and old, came out to welcome and see the pilgrims. As soon as Chen Qing heard of it he had an incense table set out to greet them in front of the gates; he also ordered drummers and players of wind instruments to perform. A moment later the travelers arrived and were welcomed and taken inside. Chen Qing led out his whole household to greet them with bows and thank them for their earlier kindness in saving their son and daughter. Tea and a vegetarian meal were then ordered; but since receiving the immortal food and immortal delicacies of the Lord Buddha and casting off his mortal body to become a Buddha, Sanzang had lost all desire for mortals’ food. As the two old men’s urgings were so insistent, he took some of the food as a mark of gratitude.

The Great Sage Monkey had never been one to eat cooked food, so he said, “That will be enough.”


Output:
Friar Sand did not eat either, and even Pig was not the Pig he used to be: he soon put his bowl down.

“Aren’t you eating any more either, idiot?” Monkey asked.


Output: “I don’t know why,” Pig said, “but my stomach’s gone weak all of a sudden.” The vegetarian banquet was then cleared away as the old men asked about how they had fetched the scriptures. Sanzang then gave them a detailed account that started with the bath in the Jade Truth Temple and the lightening of their bodies at Cloud-touching Crossing and went on to tell how they had seen the Tathagata at Thunder Monastery, been feasted at the jeweled tower, given the scriptures in the precious library—wordless scriptures at first because when the two arhats had demanded presents they had refused them—had gone back to pay their respects to the Tathagata again to be given the number of rolls in a single store, had been plunged into the water by the White Soft-shelled Turtle, and nearly had the scriptures stolen in the darkness by evil spirits. After telling all this Sanzang took his leave.


Output: But the whole family of the two old men was not at all willing to let them go. “We have been under a great debt to you for saving our children that we have not yet been able to repay,” they said. “We have built a Temple of Deliverance where incense has been burned to you ever since without ceasing.” Then they called out the children in whose place Monkey and Pig had gone to be sacrificed, Chen Guan-given and Pan of Gold, to kowtow in thanks and ask them into the shrine to take a look. Sanzang then put the bundles of scriptures in front of the hall of their house and read them one roll of the Precious Eternity sutra. Then they went to the temple, where the Chens had set out delicacies. Before the pilgrims could sit down another group of people came to invite them to another meal, and before they could pick up their chopsticks yet another group came with a third invitation. This went on and on without end, so that they had no chance to eat properly. Sanzang, who dared not decline the invitations, had to make


Output: dared not decline the invitations, had to make gestures of eating. The shrine was indeed most handsomely built:


Output:
The gateway was thickly painted in red

Thanks to the generous donors.

A tower rose there

Where houses with a pair of cloisters had now been built.

Red were the doors

And the Seven Treasures were finely carved.

Incense floated up to the clouds;

Pure light filled the vault of space.

Some tender cypress saplings were still being watered;

A number of pine trees did not yet form a grove.

Living waters met one in front

Where the waves of the River of Heaven were rolling;

High cliffs rose behind

Where range upon range of mountains joined the earth dragon.

When Sanzang has seen everything he climbed the high tower, where statues of the four pilgrims had been placed. “Looks just like you, brother,” said pig, tugging at Monkey, when he saw them.

“Second brother,” said Friar Sand, “Your statue’s just like you too. The only thing is that the master’s is too good-looking.”


Output:
“It is very good,” said Sanzang, “it is very good.” They then came downstairs, where people were still waiting, and urged them to eat the vegetarian food that was set out in the hall and in the cloisters behind it.

“What happened to the Great King’s Temple that used to be here?” Brother Monkey asked.

“It was demolished that year,” the old men replied. “My lords, we have had good harvests every year since this monastery was established, thanks to your lordships’ blessed protection.”

“That was heaven’s gift,” said Monkey with a smile, “nothing to do with us. But after we have gone this time I guarantee that the families in your village will have many sons and grandsons, flourishing livestock, wind and rain at the right time year in and year out, and rain and wind year out and year in at the right time.” The people all kowtowed in thanks.


Output:
What could then be seen were a countless number of people lined up behind each other to offer fruit and other vegetarian food. “I’ll be blowed,” said Pig with a laugh. “In the old days, when I could eat, nobody ever asked me to do so ten times over. But now, when I can’t, one family won’t wait for another to finish before offering me food.”

Although he was feeling full he did get going a little and ate eight or nine meatless dishes; and despite having an injured stomach he also downed twenty or thirty steamed breadrolls. When they were all full, more people came with further invitations. “Grateful though I am for your great affection,” Sanzang said, “I do not deserve it. I hope that we may be allowed to rest tonight. Tomorrow morning we will accept some more.”


Output: It was now late at night. Sanzang, who was guarding the true scriptures and would not leave them for a moment, sat in meditation at the foot of the tower to keep a vigil. As the third watch of the night approached he said quietly, “Wukong, the people here know that we have found the Way and completed our undertaking. As the old saying goes, ‘The true adept does not show his face; who shows his face is no true adept.’ I am afraid that if we tarry too long here that we may fail in our main enterprise.”


Output:
“What you say is right, Master,” Monkey replied. “Let’s slip quietly away in the middle of the night while they’re all sound asleep.” Pig too understood, Friar Sand comprehended very clearly, and the white horse also knew what he meant. So they got up, quietly loaded the packs, shouldered the poles, and carried the things out along the cloister. When they reached the main gates and found them locked Monkey used unlocking magic to open the inner gates and the main gates. They followed the path East, only to hear the Eight Vajrapanis calling from mid-air. “Come with us, escapers.” The venerable elder then smelt incense as he rose up into the air. This was indeed a case of:

When the elixir is formed one sees the original face;

When the body is strong one can then visit one’s sovereign.

If you do not know how he saw the Tang emperor, listen to the explanation in the next installment.

Chapter One-Hundred

The Journey Back to the East Is Made

The Five Immortals Achieve Nirvana


Output:
The Five Immortals Achieve Nirvana

We will tell not of how the four travelers escaped and rose on the wind with the vajrapanis, but of the many people in the Temple of Deliverance in Chen Village. After they rose at dawn to prepare more fruit and delicacies to offer they came to the ground floor of the tower and found the Tang Priest gone. Some asked questions and others searched. They were all thrown into panic and did not know what to do.

“We’ve let those living Buddhas all get clean away,” they lamented as their howls rose to the skies. As there was nothing else they could do about it they carried all the food they had prepared to the ground floor of the tower as offerings and burned imitation paper money. From then on four major sacrifices and twenty-four minor sacrifices were held every year. In addition people praying for cures or safety, seeking marriages, making vows, and seeking wealth or sons came at every hour of every day to bum incense and make offerings. Indeed:


Output:
Incense smoked in the golden burner for a thousand years;

The light burned in the lamps of jade through eternity.

We will say no more of this, but tell of how the Eight Vajrapanis used a second fragrant wind to carry the four pilgrims off again. Some days later they reached the East, and Chang’an came gradually into view. Now after seeing the Tang Priest off from the city on the twelfth day of the ninth month in the thirteenth year of Then Guan the Emperor Taizong had in the sixteenth year sent officials of his Department of Works to build a Watching For the Scriptures Tower outside the city of Chang’an to receive the scriptures. Here Taizong went in person every year. It so happened that on the very day the emperor went to the tower the Western sky was filled with auspicious light and gusts of scented wind.


Output:
“Holy monk,” the vajrapanis said, stopping in mid air, “this is the city of Chang’an. We cannot come down as the people here are too clever: we are afraid that they might give away what we look like. The Great Sage Monkey and the other two gentlemen cannot go there either. You must go there yourself to hand the scriptures to your monarch then come back here. We will be waiting for you up in the clouds ready to go to report back on your mission.”

“Although what you respected gentlemen say is right,” replied the Great Sage, “how could my master possibly shoulder the pole for carrying the scriptures? And how could he lead this horse? We’ll have to take him there. May I trouble you to wait a moment up in the air? We wouldn’t dare keep you waiting.”


Output:
“The other day the Bodhisattva Guanyin informed the Tathagata,” the vajrapanis replied, “that the return journey would take only eight days, so as to make up the number of rolls of scriptures in the Tripitaka. We have already spent over four days, and we are worried that Pig will be so greedy for blessings and honors that he will make us overrun the time limit.”

“The master’s a Buddha now,” Pig replied with a smile, “and I want to become one too. So why should I want to be greedy? Cheeky great fools! Wait here while we hand the scriptures over, then we’ll come back to return with you.” The idiot then shouldered a pole while Friar Sand held the horse and Brother Monkey led the holy monk as they brought their cloud down to land beside the Watching For the Scriptures Tower.

When Taizong and his officials all saw this they came down to greet the travelers with the words, “You are back, Imperial Younger Brother.”


Output:
The Tang Priest fell to the ground in a kowtow, only to be helped back to his feet by Taizong, who asked, “Who are these three?”

“They are disciples I took on along the way,” Sanzang replied. Taizong was delighted.

“Harness the horses to our imperial carriage,” he ordered his aides, “and invite the Imperial Younger Brother to mount his steed and return to the palace with us.” The Tang Priest thanked him and mounted his horse. The Great Sage followed closely behind, whirling his golden cudgel. Pig and Friar Sand led the horse and shouldered the pole as they followed the emperor back to Chang’an. Indeed:

In that year of peace and rising prosperity

Civil and military officials are calm and magnificent.

At a land and water mass the clergy displayed the dharma;

The monarch commands his ministers in the throne hall of the palace.

A passport was given to Tang Sanzang;

The primal cause of the scriptures has been matched to the Five

Elements.

Through painful tempering all monsters have been destroyed;


Output:
Now he returns in triumph to the capital.

The Tang Priest and his three disciples followed the imperial carriage back to the palace. Everybody in the capital knew that the pilgrim who had gone to fetch the scriptures had now returned.

When the monks, young and old, of the Hongfu Monastery in Chang’an where the Tang Priest used to live saw that the tops of a number of pine trees were all leaning towards the East they exclaimed in astonishment, “Odd, very odd! There’s been no wind today, so why are the tops of these trees all bent?”

“Fetch our vestments at once,” said one of them who was a former disciple of Sanzang. “The master who went to fetch the scriptures is back.”

“How do you know?” the other monks all asked.


Output:
“How do you know?” the other monks all asked.

“When the master left many years ago,” the former disciple replied, “he said that when the branches and tops of the pines turned East three, four, six or seven years after he had gone he would be back. My master speaks with the holy voice of a Buddha: that is how I know.” They quickly put on their habits and went out.

By the time they reached the Western street, messengers had arrived to say, “The pilgrim who went for the scriptures has just returned, and His Majesty is bringing him into the city.” As soon as they heard this the monks all hurried over to meet him. When they saw the imperial carriage they dared not come close, but followed it to the palace gates, where the Tang Priest dismounted and went inside with his disciples.


Output:
The Tang Priest stood at the foot of the steps to the throne hall with the dragon horse, the load of sutras, Monkey, Pig and Friar Sand. Emperor Taizong then summoned the Younger Brother to enter the throne hall and invited him to sit down, which the Tang Priest did with thanks. He then had the scriptures carried up. Monkey and the others unpacked the scrolls, which the officials in personal attendance handed to the emperor.

“How many scriptures are there?” the emperor asked. “And how did you fetch them?”


Output: “When your clerical subject reached Vulture Peak and saw the Lord Buddha,” Sanzang replied, “he told the arhats Ananda and Kasyapa to take us first to a precious tower where we were given meatless food, then to the library, where we were handed the scriptures. The arhats demanded presents, but as we had not brought any we had none to give. Then they gave us the scriptures. When we had thanked the Buddha for his goodness and were travelling East the scriptures were snatched away by a demonic gale. Luckily my disciples were able to recover them by using magic powers, but they had been blown all over the place. On opening them out to look at them we found that they were all blank, wordless versions. We were so shocked that we went back to report to the Buddha and plead for the real ones. What the Lord Buddha said was, ‘When these scriptures were composed, bhiksus and holy monks went down the mountain and recited them to the family of the elder Zhao in the land of Sravasti. This ensured peace and safety for the


Output: Sravasti. This ensured peace and safety for the living and deliverance for the dead members of the family. All that was asked for was three bushels and three pecks of granular gold. I thought that they sold the scriptures too cheap, so I saw to it that Zhao’s sons and grandsons would be poor.’ When we realized that the two arhats were demanding a present and that the Lord Buddha knew all about it we had no choice but to give them our begging bowl of purple gold. Only then did they hand over the true scriptures with words. There are thirty-five of them, and a number of rolls from each of them was selected to be given us, making a total of rolls. This corresponds to the number of rolls in a single Store.”


Output: At this Taizong was more delighted than ever. “Let the Protocol Office arrange a thanksgiving banquet in the Eastern hall,” he ordered, at which he suddenly saw the three disciples standing at the foot of the steps, looking very strange indeed. “Are your distinguished disciples foreigners?” he asked.


Output: “My senior disciple’s surname is Sun,” the venerable elder replied with a bow, “his Buddhist name is Wukong, and I also call him Sun the Novice. He originally came from the Water Curtain Cave on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit in the country of Aolai in the Eastern Continent of Divine Body. For making great havoc in the palaces of heaven five hundred years ago he was crashed by the Lord Buddha in a stone cell in the Double Boundary Mountain on the Western frontier. After the Bodhisattva Guanyin persuaded him to mend his ways he accepted conversion, so when I arrived there I delivered him. I am greatly indebted to him for my protection. My second disciple Zhu has the Buddhist name Wuneng, and I also call him Pig. He came from the Cloud Pathway Cave on the Mountain of Blessing, and was a monster in Gao Village in the land of Stubet until he was converted by the Bodhisattva and subdued by Wukong. He has made great efforts, carrying the load all along the way, and been very useful in crossing rivers. My third


Output: and been very useful in crossing rivers. My third disciple’s surname is Sha and his Buddhist name Wujing. He used to be a monster in the Rowing Sands River. He too was converted by the Bodhisattva and now believes in the Buddhist faith. The horse is not the one that my sovereign gave me.”


Output:
“How is that?” Taizong asked. “Its markings are the same.”

“When your subject was going to cross the waters of the Eagle’s Sorrow Gorge by Coiled Snake Mountain my original horse was devoured by this one,” Sanzang replied. “Sun the Novice obliged me by having the Bodhisattva asked about the horse’s background. It was originally the son of the Dragon King of the Western Sea who had been sent there because of an offence. He too, was saved by the Bodhisattva, who told him to work for me and turned him into a horse with the same markings as the original one. He has been very helpful in climbing mountains, crossing ridges, fording rivers and negotiating difficult country. On the outward journey I rode him, and he carried the scriptures on the way back: I have depended greatly on his efforts.”

Taizong was full of boundless praise on learning this. “How long in fact was your journey to the far West?” he asked.


Output:
“I remember the Bodhisattva saying that it was 36,000 miles,” Sanzang replied, “but I kept no record of the distances along the way. All I know is that we experienced fourteen winters and summers. Every day there was a mountain or a ridge. The woods were big and the rivers wide. I also met several kings who inspected and stamped my passport. Disciples,” he ordered, “fetch the passport and hand it to His Majesty.”

When Taizong examined it he saw that it had been issued on the twelfth day of the ninth month of the thirteenth year of Zhen Guan. “You did indeed make a long and protracted journey,” he observed with a touch of a smile. “It is now the twenty-seventh year of Zhen Guan.” On the passport were the seals of the monarchs of Elephantia, Wuji, Tarrycart, the Womanland of Western Liang, Jisai, Purpuria, Leonia, Bhiksuland and Dharmadestructia; as well as the seals of the chief officials of Fengxian, Yuhua and Jinping. When Taizong had read through the passport he put it away.


Output:
Soon the officials in personal attendance on the emperor came to invite them to go to the banquet, whereupon Taizong led Sanzang by the hand out of the throne hall, asking, “Do your distinguished disciples know how to behave themselves?”

“My disciples were all demons from mountain villages and from the wilderness,” Sanzang replied, “so they do not understand the etiquette of the sacred court of China. I beg you to forgive them for any offences, Your Majesty.”

“We won’t blame them,” Taizong said with a smile, “we won’t blame them. They are all invited to come with us to the banquet in the Eastern pavilion.” Thanking him once again, Sanzang called his three disciples, and they all went to the Eastern pavilion to look. This was indeed the great land of China, no ordinary place. Just look;

Coloured silks hung from the gates,

Red carpets were spread on the floor.

Heavy, rare fragrances,

Fresh and exotic foods.

Amber cups,

Glazed dishes,

Set with gold and nephrite;

Plates of yellow gold,


Output:
Plates of yellow gold,

White jade bowls,

Inlaid with patterns.

Tender braised turnips,

Sugar-dredged taros,

Wonderful sweet mushrooms,

Fine fresh seaweed,

Several servings of bamboo shoots with ginger,

A number of rounds of mallows with honey,

Wheat gluten with leaves of the tree of heaven,

Tree fungus and thin strips of beancurd,

Agar and aster,

Noodles with ferns and dried rose-petals,

Peppers stewed with radish,

Melon shredded with mustard.

The dishes of vegetables were fine enough,

But the rare and wonderful fruit was outstanding:

Walnuts and persimmon cakes,

Longans and lichees,

Chestnuts from Xuanzhou and Shandong jujubes,

Gingko fruit from South of the Yangtse and hare-head pears,

Hazelnuts, pine nuts and lotus seeds, all big as grapes,

Torreya nuts and melon seeds the size of water chestnuts,

Olives and wild apples,

Pippins and crabs,

Lotus root and arrowhead,

Crisp plums and red baybfenies.

Nothing was missing,

All was complete.


Output:
Nothing was missing,

All was complete.

There were steamed honey pastries and other confections,

Best wines and fragrant tea and things out of the ordinary.

Words could not describe the countless delicacies:

The great land of China was not Western barbary.

The master and his three disciples, together with the civil and military officials, stood to left and right as Emperor Taizong took his seat in the middle. There was singing, dancing and instrumental music, and all was ordered and solemn as the celebration lasted for the rest of the day. Indeed:

The monarch’s banquet was finer than those of ancient Tang and Yu;

Great was the blessing of the true scriptures obtained.

This was a story to be told with glory for ever:

The light of the Buddha shines throughout the imperial capital.


Output:
That evening they thanked the emperor for his kindness, after which Taizong returned to the living quarters of the palace and the officials went home. The Tang Priest went back with his followers to the Hongfu Monastery, where the monks welcomed his with kowtows.

No sooner had he gone in through the gates than the monks reported, “Master, these tree-tops all suddenly leaned East this morning. As we remembered what you had said we went out of the city to meet you, and you had indeed come.” Overcome with delight, the venerable elder then entered the abbot’s lodgings. This time Pig neither shouted for tea and food nor made a row. Brother Monkey and Friar Sand also both behaved well. As the achievement was now complete they were naturally peaceful. At nightfall they went to bed.


Output: Early the next morning Taizong announced to his officials at his dawn audience, “When we thought of the most profound and great achievement of our Younger Brother that we have no way of rewarding we were unable to sleep all night. We managed to draft a few colloquial sentences with which to express our thanks, but could not write them out. Officials of the Secretariat,” he ordered, “write them all down while we recite them to you.” This is the text he dictated: It is known that Heaven and Earth have their forms as a demonstration of how they provide the cover and support in which life is contained, whereas the four seasons are invisible, hiding the cold and heat with which they transform all creatures. Thus it is that by examining Heaven and looking at the Earth even the stupid can know about their origins, but few are the wise who can exhaust the numbers of the Negative and the Positive. Heaven and Earth, which are enveloped by the Negative and Positive, are easily understood because of their images, but


Output: easily understood because of their images, but the Negative and Positive are hard to fathom because they are formless. If images are clear and can be grasped even the stupid will not be confused; if forms are hidden and invisible even the wise will be at a loss.


Output: The way of the Buddha honors emptiness, rides on the mystery and controls silence, yet saves all beings and dominates all regions. When it raises up the numinous there is nothing higher; when it represses its own divine strength there is nothing lower. When it is big it extends throughout the cosmos; when tiny it can be contained in a fraction of an inch. It does not die and it is not born; it endures a thousand aeons and is eternal. Half hidden and half manifest, it controls all blessings and makes them exist for ever. Mysterious is the wonderful Way; none of those who follow it know its limits. Silent is the flow of the Dharma: of those who grasp it none finds its source. So how can mortal fools in their stupidity follow it without doubts or delusion?


Output: The great teaching arose in the West. Later a wondrous dream came to the Han court, spreading its brilliance and charity to the East. In ancient times, when the Buddha’s forms and traces were shared around, they converted people before word could be spread abroad. In the age when they were sometimes visible and sometimes invisible, the people looked up to them and followed them. But later the image was obscures and nirvana was reached, it moved away and left the world, the golden countenance was hidden away and no longer radiated its brilliance in the three thousand worlds. Pictures of the lovely image were made, vainly trying to show the Buddha’s thirty-two holy marks. Thereafter his subtle words were widely propagated, rescuing birds on the three roads of life; the teachings he left behind were spread afar, guiding all living beings along the ten stages of development. The Buddha has scriptures that can be divided into the Greater and Lesser Vehicles. There is also magic, the art of spreading mistakes and


Output: is also magic, the art of spreading mistakes and making right into wrong.


Output: Now our priest Xuanzang, the Master of the Law, is the leader of the Dharma faith. In his youth he was so careful and perceptive that he soon became aware of the value of the three voids. As he grew up the clarity of his spirit embraced the four kinds of patience in his conduct. Not even a pine tree in a wind or the moon reflected in water could be compared with his purity; immortals’ dew and bright pearls are no match for his lustrous splendor. His wisdom encompasses all without encumbrance; his spirit fathoms the formless. Rising far above the six impurities, he extends his fragrance through a thousand ages. When he concentrated his mind on the inner sphere he grieved at the torments suffered by the true Dharma; when he settled his thoughts on the gate of mystery he was distressed by the distortion of the profound writings. He longed to put them back into order so that the teachings of the past could be propagated again; and to root out apocryphal texts, enabling the true ones to stay in circulation so as


Output: the true ones to stay in circulation so as to open the way for later scholars. That is why he lifted up his heart towards the Pure Land, and made a Dharma journey to the West, braving the dangers of distant lands as he walked alone, trusting to his staff. When the snow whirled around at dawn the land would disappear in a moment; and when the dust started to fly at evening the sky was blotted out. He advanced through the mists across a thousand leagues of mountains and rivers, making his way forward through the frosts and rains of a hundred changes of season. With great single-mindedness and making light of his efforts he longed deeply to reach his goal. He wandered around the West for fourteen years, visiting every one of those exotic countries in his search for the true teaching. He visited the Twin Trees and the Eight Rivers, savoring the Way and braving the wind. In Deer Park and on Vulture Peak he gazed upon wonders and marvels. He received the good word from ancient sages and the true teaching from


Output: from ancient sages and the true teaching from superior worthies, probing deep within the wonderful gates, and exhausting the mysteries. The Way of the Three Vehicles and the Six Disciplines gallop across the field of his heart; a hundred cases of texts belonging to one Store roll like waves in the sea of his eloquence. Infinitely many are the countries he has visited; and vast the number of the scriptures he has collected.


Output: He has obtained 5,048 rolls of all thirty-five of the essential texts of the Great Vehicle to be translated and made known in China so that the wonderful cause may be promoted. The clouds of mercy he has drawn from the far West will shed their Dharma rain here in the East. The holy teachings that had been incomplete are now complete once more; the common folk who had sinned are brought back to blessings. The searing flames of fire have been damped down, and all have been saved from the ways of delusion; the muddied waves in the water of wisdom have been made clear once more as all gather on the other bank. From this it can be learned that the evil fall because of their karma, while the good rise because of their destiny. The origins of these rises and falls lie in one’s own actions. This can be compared with a cassia growing on a high mountain, where only clouds and dew can nourish its blossom, or a lotus emerging from green waters, its leaves unsullied by flying dust. It is not that the lotus is pure by


Output: flying dust. It is not that the lotus is pure by nature and the cassia unsullied: they are good because one attaches itself to what is lofty, where mean and trivial things cannot encumber it, while the other depends on what is clean, where filth cannot dirty it. Now if plants that know nothing can become good by building themselves up through goodness, how much the more so should conscientious people achieve blessing through blessed cause and effect. It is now to be hoped that the true scriptures will be propagated as endlessly as the alternation of sun and moon; and that this blessing will extend for ever, eternal like heaven and earth.


Output:
As soon as this had been written out the holy monk, who was waiting outside the palace gates to express his thanks, was summoned. The moment he heard the summons, Sanzang hurried and performed the ritual of kowtows. Taizong then invited him into the throne room and handed him the document, Sanzang read it through, prostrated himself once more in thanks, and submitted this memorial: “Your Majesty’s writing is both lofty and in the ancient style; it is reasoned, profound and subtle. But I do not know what its title is.”

“What we drafted orally last night,” Taizong replied, “We would call a ‘Preface to the Holy Teaching’. Would that be acceptable?” The venerable elder kowtowed and expressed his thanks at great length.


Output:
Taizong then said, “Our talent makes us ashamed by comparison with what is recorded on jade tablets; our words are not worthy of what is inscribed on metal or stone. As for the Inner Scriptures, we are even more ignorant of them. The text we drafted orally is truly a base and clumsy composition that sullies golden tablets with brush and ink, and is like placing pebbles in a forest of pearls. When we reflect on it we are filled with embarrassment. It is most unworthy of merit; we have put you to the trouble of thanking us for nothing.”

The officials all expressed their congratulations and kowtowed before the imperial text on the holy teaching, which was going to be published everywhere in the capital and the provinces.

“Would you be willing to recite some of the true scriptures for us, Younger Brother?” Taizong asked.

“Your Majesty,” Sanzang replied, “if true scriptures are to be recited it must be done in the Buddha’s ground. A throne hall is no place for the recital of scriptures.”


Output:
Taizong was most pleased to accept this. “Which is the purest monastery in the city of Chang’an?” he asked his officers it attendance, at which the Academician Xiao Yu slipped forward from his rank to memorialize, “The Monastery of the Wild Goose Stupa in the city is the purest of them all.”

Taizong then ordered his officials, “Each of you is reverently to bring a few rolls of the true scriptures and accompany us to the Monastery of the Wild Goose Stupa, where we shall invite our younger brother to preach on the scriptures.” The officials, all carrying some rolls of the scriptures, went with Taizong to the monastery, where a high platform was erected and everything was neatly set out.


Output:
“Pig, Friar Sand,” the venerable elder commanded, “bring the dragon horse with you and put the luggage in order. Monkey will stay beside me.” He then addressed the emperor, saying, “If Your Majesty wishes to spread the true scriptures throughout the world copies must be made before they can be published. The original texts must be stored as great treasures. They may not be shown any disrespect or be defiled.”

“Younger Brother,” replied Taizong with a smile, “what you say is very correct, very correct.” He then ordered the officials of the Hanlin Academy and the Palace Secretariat to copy out the true scriptures and had another monastery, the Copying Monastery, founded to the East of the city wall.


Output:
The venerable elder mounted the platform with several scriptures in his hands. He was just about to begin reciting them when scented breezes began to waft around and the Eight Great Vajrapanis appeared in mid-air to shout aloud, “Scripture-reciter, put those scriptures down and come back to the West with us.” Monkey and the other two, who were standing below Sanzang, all rose up above the ground together with the white horse. Sanzang put the scriptures down and also rose up to the ninth level of clouds, then went away with them through the air. Taizong and his officials were all so alarmed that they kowtowed to the sky. This was indeed a case of

The holy monk long strove to fetch the scriptures;

For fourteen years across the West he strayed.

He journeyed hard and met with much disaster;

By mountains and by rivers long delayed.

Completing eight times nine and one nine more,

His deeds filled worlds in numbers beyond measure.

He went back to his country taking sutras


Output:
He went back to his country taking sutras

That people in the East will always treasure.

When Taizong and all the officials had finished worshipping, eminent monks were selected to prepare a great Land and Sea Mass in the Monastery of the Wild Goose Stupa at which the true scriptures of the Great Store would be recited, and by which all evil-doing ghosts in the underworld would be saved, and goodness would spread all around. We will not describe how copies were made of the scriptures and published throughout the empire.

The story tells instead how the Eight Vajrapanis led the venerable elder, his three disciples and the horse, all five of them back to Vulture Peak. The journey to Chang’an and back had taken eight days. Just when all the deities of Vulture Peak were listening to the Buddha preaching, the Eight Vajrapanis led master and disciples in.


Output: “In obedience to the golden command,” they reported to the Tathagata, “your disciples have carried the holy monks back to the land of Tang, where they handed the scriptures over. We have now come to report our mission completed.” The Tang Priest and his disciples were then told to step forward and be given their jobs.


Output: “Holy Monk,” the Tathagata said, “in an earlier life you were my second disciple, and called Master Golden Cicada. But because you would not listen to my sermon on the Dharma and had no respect for my great teaching I demoted your soul to be reborn in the East. Now, happily, you have come over to the faith and rely on our support; and in following our teaching your achievement in fetching the true scriptures has been very great. Your reward will be to be promoted to high office as the Candana-punya Buddha. Sun Wukong, when you made great havoc in the palaces of heaven I had to use powerful magic to crush you under the Five Elements Mountain until, happily, your heaven-sent punishment was completed and you were converted to the Sakyamuni’s faith. It was also fortunate that you suppressed your evil side and gave play to your good side as you won glory by defeating monsters and demons along the journey. All that was begun has now been completed and you too will be rewarded with high office as the Victorious


Output: be rewarded with high office as the Victorious Fighting Buddha. Zhu Wuneng; you used to be a water god in the River of Heaven as Marshal Tian Peng. Because of your drunken flirtation with an immortal maiden at the Peach Banquet you were sent down to be born in the lower world as a beast. From your love of the human body you sinned in the Cloud Pathway Cave on the Mount of Blessing before your conversion to the great faith and entry into our Buddhist sect. You guarded the holy monk on his journey, but your heart is still unregenerate, and you are not yet purged of your lust. But as you won merit by carrying the luggage you will be rewarded with promotion as the Altar Cleanser.”


Output:
“They’ve both been made Buddhas,” Pig shouted, “so why am I only the Altar Cleanser?”

“Because you have a voracious appetite, a lazy body and a huge belly,” the Tathagata replied. “Now very many people in the world’s four continents believe in our teachings. I will ask you to clean up the altars after all Buddhist services: your post is of a rank that provides plenty to eat. What is wrong with that?”

“Sha Wujing, you used to be the Curtain-lifting General until you were banished to the lower world for smashing a crystal bowl at a Peach Banquet. You fell into the River of Flowing Sands where you sinned by killing and eating people, until, thank goodness, you were converted to our teaching, sincerely relied on our support, and won merit by protecting the holy monk and leading the horse up the mountain. Your reward will be elevation to high office as the Golden Arhat.”


Output: Then he said to the white horse. “You were originally the son of Guangjin, the Dragon King of the Western Ocean. Because you disobeyed your father you were punished for being unfilial until you too were converted to the Dharma and to our faith. Every day you carried the holy monk to the West, and after that you carried the holy scriptures back to the East. For these achievements you will be rewarded by being made a Heavenly Dragon of the Eight Classes of Being.”


Output: The venerable elder and his three disciples all kowtowed to express their thanks, and the horse showed its gratitude too. A protector was then ordered to take the horse straight down to the Dragon-transforming Pool by the precipice at the back of Vulture Peak and push him into the pool. At once the horse stretched itself out, shed all its hair, and acquired horns. Golden scales grew all over its body and a silver beard sprouted on its cheeks and chin. Then, shining all over with auspicious aura and with clouds of good omen in every claw, it flew up from the Dragon-transforming Pool to coil itself around the Heaven-supporting Winged Column. All the Buddhas expressed their admiration for the Tathagata’s great magic.


Output:
“Master,” Monkey said to the Tang Priest, “now that I’ve become a Buddha just like you, surely I don’t have to go on wearing this golden band. Do you plan to say any more Band-tightening Spells to tighten it round my head? Say a Band-loosening Spell as quickly as you can, take it off, and smash it to smithereens. Don’t let that Bodhisattva or whatever she is make life miserable for anyone else with it.”

“It was because you were so uncontrollable in those days that this magic was needed to keep you in order.” Sanzang replied. “Now that you are a Buddha it can of course go. There is no reason for it to stay on your head any longer. Feel there now.” When Monkey raised his hands to feel he found that it had indeed gone. The Candana-punya Buddha, the Victorious Fighting Buddha, the Altar Cleanser and the Golden Arhat had all completed the true achievement and reached their proper places. The heavenly dragon horse had also come back to its true self. There is a poem to prove this that goes:


Output:
All of reality turns to dust;

When the four appearances combine the body is renewed.

The substance of the Five Elements is all void;

Forget about the passing fame of fiends.

With Candana-punya comes the great awakening;

When duties are completed they escape from suffering.

Great is the blessing of scriptures spread abroad;

Within the only gate five sages dwell on high.

When the five holy ones had taken their places all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, holy monks, arhats, protectors, bhiksus, lay people, deities and immortals from every cave and every mountain, great gods, Ding and Jia gods, duty gods, guardians, local deities, and all teachers and immortals who had achieved the Way—all of whom had originally come to hear the preaching—resumed their own places. Just look at it:

The coloured mists surround the Vulture Peak;

Auspicious clouds are massed in the world of bliss.

Golden dragons lie at peace,

Jade tigers all are quiet.

Black hares come and go at will;

Tortoises and snakes coil all around.


Output:
Tortoises and snakes coil all around.

Phoenixes red and green are in high spirits;

Happy the dark apes and white deer.

Throughout the year amazing flowers bloom;

Immortal fruit grows in all four seasons.

Lofty pine and ancient juniper,

Blue-green cypress and slender bamboo.

Plums of every color, in blossom or in fruit,

Eternal peaches, sometimes ripe and sometimes new.

A thousand kinds of fruit and flower vie in beauty;

All of the sky is filled with auspicious mists.

They all put their hands together in front of their chests in salutation and recited together:

“Homage to the ancient Dipamkara Buddha.

Homage to Bhaisajya-guru-vaiduryaprabhasa Buddha.

Homage to Sakyamuni Buddha.

Homage to the Buddhas of Past, Present and Future.

Homage to the Pure and Happy Buddha.

Homage to Vairocana Buddha.

Homage to Ramadhvaja-raja Buddha.

Homage to Maitreya Buddha.

Homage to Amitabha Buddha.

Homage to Amitayus Buddha.

Homage to Buddha Who Leads to the Truth.

Homage to the Imperishable Vajra Buddha.


Output:
Homage to the Imperishable Vajra Buddha.

Homage to Ratnaprabhasa Buddha.

Homage to the Nagaraja Buddha.

Homage to the Buddha of Zealous Goodness.

Homage to the Precious Moonlight Buddha.

Homage to the Buddha Free of Stupidity.

Homage to Varuna Buddha.

Homage to Narayana Buddha.

Homage to Punyapuspa Buddha.

Homage to the Buddha of Meritorious Talent.

Homage to the Good Wandering Buddha.

Homage to the Illustrious Candana-punya Buddha

Homage to the Manidhvaja Buddha.

Homage to the Buddha of the Torch of Wisdom.

Homage to the Buddha of Great Virtues.

Homage to the Brilliant Buddha of Great Compassion.

Homage to the Maitribala-raja Buddha.

Homage to the Wise and Good Leader Buddha.

Homage to the Vyuharaja Buddha.

Homage to the Buddha of Golden Splendor.

Homage to the Buddha of Brilliant Talent

Homage to the Buddha of Wisdom.

Homage to the Buddha of the World’s Calm Light.

Homage to the Sunlight and Moonlight Buddha.

Homage to the Sunlight and Moonlight Pearl Buddha.


Output:
Homage to the Supreme Buddha King of the Banner of Wisdom.

Homage to the Sughosa Buddha.

Homage to the Buddha of the Banner of Unceasing Radiance.

Homage to the Buddha of the World-watching Lamp.

Homage to the Supreme Dhanna King Buddha.

Homage to the Buddha of Sumeru Light.

Homage to the Buddha Prajnabala King.

Homage to the Brilliant Buddha of the Golden sea.

Homage to the Buddha of Universal Light.

Homage to the Buddha of Illustrious Talent.

Homage to Candana-punya Achievement Buddha.

Homage to the Victorious Fighting Buddha.

Homage to the Bodhisattva Guanyin.

Homage to the Bodhisattva Mahasthama.

Homage to the Bodhisattva Manjusri

Homage to the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra.

Homage to the Bodhisattvas of the Ocean of Purity.

Homage to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Lotus Pool Assembly.

Homage to all the Bodhisattvas of the Utterly Blissful Western Heaven.

Homage to the Three Thousand Protector Bodhisattvas.

Homage to the Five Hundred Arhat Bodhisattvas.


Output:
Homage to the Five Hundred Arhat Bodhisattvas.

Homage to the Bhiksu, Bhiksuni, Upasaka and Upasaka Bodhisattvas.

Homage to the Bodhisattvas of the Boundless Dharma.

Homage to the Holy Vajra Bodhisattvas.

Homage to the Altar-cleansing Bodhisattva.

Homage to the Golden Arhat Bodhisattva of the Eight Treasures.

Homage to the Bodhisattva Heavenly Dragon of Eight Classes of Being.

Thus it is that all the Buddhas of every world

Are willing with this achievement

To adorn the Pure Land of the Buddha.

Above we can repay the fourfold kindness,

Below we save those suffering in the three paths of life.

Let anyone who sees or hears

Cherish the enlightened mind.

May all be reborn in the Land of Bliss,

To end this present life of retribution.

All the Buddhas of Past, Present and Future in the Ten Regions, all the Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas, Maha-prajnaparamita.”

Here ends the Journey to the West.


Output:
Journey to the West
Xiyou ji or Journey to the West (known also as Monkey from a popular English abridgement) is the first supernatural novel of pre-modern Chinese romanticism. It tells the story of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, usually referred to in the novel as Tang [dynasty] Sanzang, or in translation as Tripitika. The latter is the Sanskrit term for the tripartite Buddhist Canon of sutras whose acquisition was the purpose of this Tang dynasty Zhenguan (627–649) era pilgrimage. Accompanying the monk on this journey to the West during which they must overcome many difficulties are: Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, Monkey, etc.; Zhu Bajie, a half-man, half-pig known as Pigsy, Pig, etc.; Sha Seng, a river-sand demon known as Friar or Monk Sandy, Sandy, Sand, etc.; and Yulong, referred to as Bai Longma: a son of a dragon king, known as the White Dragon Horse. Xiyou ji is one of the four masterpieces of classical Chinese literature.


Output: Xiyou ji is based on a real event—the journey to India to obtain sutras undertaken by the Tang dynasty monk Xuanzang (602–664). Over time the story evolved, with added folkloric characters and expanded mythical settings. Xuanzang’s own account in the Datang xiyu ji (Accounts of the Western Regions during the Great Tang) as well as that found in the Tang dynasty collection of classical short stories called Duyi zhi (Accounts on extraordinary phenomena) share some content with each other and also with Xiyou ji. But it is in the later Song dynasty (960–1279) Datang Sanzang qujing shihua (Ballad narrative of Tang Sanzang seeking Buddhist sutras), that the distinct outline of Xiyou ji (including a monkey character) clearly emerges. In the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) there appeared Xiyou ji zaju (dramas) and a bit later Xiyou ji pinghua (plain narratives) in which there is further development in the integrity and specificity of the storyline. But the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) novel surpasses them in depth of content


Output: novel surpasses them in depth of content and sophisticated presentation. Owing to the low cultural status accorded to fiction (and its creators) during the Ming and in pre-modern China in general, determining the authorship of Xiyou ji which appeared anonymously in 1592 is difficult. In modern times, Lu Xun (among others) speculated that the sixteenth century Ming scholar Wu Cheng’en (ca. 1500–1582) was the author, an opinion shared by many.


Output: Xiyou ji has a somewhat complex structure. It can be divided into one small and one large part. The smaller, shorter part consists of the first seven chapters which describe the legend of Sun Wukong’s (Monkey King) birth and the trouble he causes in the “Three Realms,” that is throughout the universe by his rebellious behavior. Then it turns to the much longer and larger part, the story of the Tang monk Sanzang (Tripitika) and his companions on their eventful westward journey. Between these two parts there is a transitional section further explicating the origin of this sutra-seeking pilgrimage as well as providing some background information on Sanzang. The plot spans time and space as it moves between the “Three Realms”—the Heaven of gods and the Buddha, the Underworld of ghosts and demonic monsters, and the Human world as the characters proceed on their journey and experience eighty-one tribulations. Some of these are inspired by nature, some symbolize society, some allude to historical events, and others


Output: some allude to historical events, and others explore and reveal the human heart. The novel thus comprehensively reflects pre-modern Chinese society and the problems faced by humankind in that period. Differing from other novels like Sanguo yanyi (Romance of the Three States) and Shuihu zhuan (Water margin), which are episodic narratives; Xiyou ji adapts the structure of a travel journal. Its main characters are Xuanzang and his three disciples; but centering on them, it also depicts gods from different religions and various folkloric monsters and ghosts. The author cleverly combines the natures of humans, animals, and immortals to show the qualities and personalities of the different characters. Sanzang is devoted but weak, Sun Wukong is heroic, Zhu Bajie is voracious and sensual, while Sha Heshang (Sha Seng) is quiet and ascetic. They are all vividly rendered.


Output: Even though this novel predominantly deals with the supernatural, its content has ties to the real social order of its creation. For example, the immortal world with tidy classifications and ordered arrangements is the counterpart of the ruling system in the human world in China at that time. The monstrous beings that dominate and tyrannize are embodiments of similar forces at work in that society. Most importantly, no matter their outward appearance, the characters in the novel all seem to have a human nature, indeed are profoundly human, and this provides a solid foundation for the fusion of imagination and reality which distinguishes this work. Since Xiyou ji was published, it has been subject to many different interpretations. Some focus on its political connotations, while others emphasize its philosophical contents. Still others are interested in exploring its profound insight into the cultural consciousness. The wealth of interpretations reflects the novel’s rich meaning. Among the four masterpieces


Output: novel’s rich meaning. Among the four masterpieces of classical Chinese literature, with its deep revelation of human nature and experience beyond the limitations of time and space, Xiyou ji shows a higher level of cultural and philosophical value.


Output:
Xiyou ji is today broadly circulated domestically and internationally with countless versions. It has been reprinted many times in Korea, Japan, and other East Asian countries. There also exist many translated versions in Western European countries such as France, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia as well as in Canada and the United States, not to mention other regions of the world. It is one of the most popular and widely circulated pre-modern Chinese fictional works.

A Catalog of the Monkey King’s Magic Powers and Skills
2. A survey of the Monkey King’s magic powers
2.1. Immortalities
In place of using “layer” or “level,” I’m choosing to designate his various immortalities as “categories.” This is because a new layer of divine longevity or durability would surely be added for each immortal peach, elixir pill, or cup/jug of heavenly wine consumed. Hence, eating multiple peaches would be one category, eating multiple elixir pills would be one category, and so on and so forth.


Output:
There are two sets of immortalities. The first are achieved before or during the journey:

(Monkey briefly dies from thermal shock in chapter 41 while battling Red Boy. Zhu Bajie shortly thereafter suggests that he has 72 lives because he knows the 72 transformations (他有七十二般變化，就有七十二條性命。). If true, this would have interesting implications for his various immortalities. Would someone have to kill him 72 times in order to make sure that he is dead for good? This would be a tall feat considering Sun’s great durability and fighting prowess.)

The second are achieved at the journey’s end once they reach the Buddha’s blessed land. These shouldn’t be lumped together with those acquired before and during the pilgrimage.

It’s important to note that the novel ends before Monkey is able to perform any feats as a Buddha. Therefore, making claims about his subsequent abilities is outside of canon.


Output:
A photomanipulation by me called “The Immortal Has Awakened” (2018) (larger version). The original work was first published on Deviantart.

2.2. Definite powers
These are abilities that are utilized in the narrative.

The Monkey King casting a spell (larger version). Drawing by Poppindollars on deviantart.

2.3. Uncertain powers
Readers are free to decide whether or not these are actually powers.

Light beams shoot from Sun’s eyes shortly after his birth (larger version). The image was originally found on Facebook, but I’ve been informed that it is by the artist Jiang Xiaoshu (姜晓殊).

2.4. Claimed powers
These are abilities that are never demonstrated:


Output:
No shadow – He claims to cast no shadow while walking past the sun and moon (ch. 3).
Phasing – He claims that he can pass through metal and rock unhindered (ch. 3).
Taming dragons – He claims to be able to subdue dragons (ch. 14), but the various serpent-spirits that he meets during the journey do not cower before him like earthly tigers do (see # 19 above).
Super hearing – He claims to be able to hear the goings-on in heaven and hell (ch. 31). But it’s interesting to note that his doppelganger is shown to have super hearing.
Kicking down the sky or overturning wells – These are as named.
Manipulating stellar bodies – He claims to be able to change the path of stars and planets (ch. 46). But I should note that he fights and single handedly defeats the anthropomorphic forms of the nine planets during his rebellion (ch. 5). I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide whether or not this constitutes altering their paths.


Output: Monkey fighting the dragon prince that will become the white dragon horse (larger version). Image found here.


Output:
3. Skills
Early education – Language, etiquette, scriptural studies, calligraphy, and gardening.
Navigation – The ability to travel to and find places that he has not previously been to. This is displayed throughout the novel.
Martial arts (武藝) – He has a knowledge of different weapons, and he is even shown to be a proficient boxer. He displays this throughout the novel.
Cosmic social connections – His travels as a young immortal enabled him to make friends, or at least to become acquaintances with, all sorts of gods and spirits across the Buddho-Daoist universe. He uses these connections to his advantage throughout the novel.
Medicine – He shows a knowledge of celestial and earthly pharmacology and pathology. This is most famously displayed in chapters 68 and 69.
Sewing – He is shown capable of sewing clothing (ch. 14 & 84).
Face reading – He is shown to have a familiarity with the art of deriving someone’s personality or intelligence from their looks.


Output:
Craftsmanship – He claims to be able to build a house for the Tang Monk (ch. 67), and he later constructs a straw dragon for a queen to ride (ch. 71).
Guessing weight – He can guess the weight of something just by holding it in his hand (ch. 76).
Monkey uses golden threads to analyze an emperor’s pulse in chapters 68 and 69 (larger version). From Mr. Li Zhuowu’s Literary Criticism of Journey to the West (late 16th-century).


Output:
4. Intelligence
Lastly, I would like to highlight Monkey’s intellect. Despite his common association with using force, he is shown in the novel to be very clever, often relying on a number of mental qualities or tactics to defeat demons:


Output:
Adeptness
Basic soldering
Calculation
Commandeering enemy equipment
Deception
Info gathering
Knowledge base: celestial and earthly pharmacology and pathology, heavenly treasures, classics, astronomy, philosophy, law, scripture, demonology, logic, spiritual cultivation and spirituality, cooking, types of wood, sound, and the cosmic hierarchy
Language acquisition – He only has to listen to a conversation for a moment before he learns a new language.
Memory
Pattern recognition
Persuasion
Planning
Problem solving
Quick thinking
Weapon making


Output: A good example of his cunning appears in chapter 97. The four monks are framed for the theft and murder of a rich layman who had originally hosted them for a month. Sun Wukong captures the real perpetrators and rounds up their stolen bounty, but he is forced to release the bandits for fear that Tripitaka will chant the tight-fillet spell for killing them. However, imperial troops later capture the clerics with the stolen items, making them look guilty. After the group is brought to court and tortured for some time (only affecting the weaker members), Monkey escapes from the prison at night in order to influence their release. First, he imitates the voice of the slain layman at his wake and threatens heavenly retribution if his widow, the person who framed the monks, doesn’t recant her false claims. Second, he imitates the voice of the deceased uncle of the city magistrate who imprisoned them and again threatens heavenly retribution if the official doesn’t reexamine the case. And third, at dawn he transforms


Output: the case. And third, at dawn he transforms himself into a titan-sized apparition before the district level magistrates and threatens to stomp the city and surrounding area into oblivion as heavenly retribution if they don’t put pressure on their superior to free the group. In the morning, Tripitaka, Zhu, Sha, and the officials visit the layman’s home, while Sun goes to the underworld to retrieve the man’s soul, which has been granted a dozen more years of life by the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. Monkey returns and brings the man back to life by forcing his soul into his body. The layman then explains how he had been murdered by bandits who robbed his mansion. The city magistrate therefore pardons the monks and even the wife.


Output:
Journey to the West
For other uses, see Journey to the West (disambiguation).
Journey to the West (Chinese: 西遊記; pinyin: Xīyóu Jì) is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the most popular literary work in East Asia.[2] It is widely known in English-speaking countries through Arthur Waley's 1942 abridged translation, Monkey.


Output: The novel is a fictionalized account of the pilgrimage of the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who journeyed to India in the 7th century AD to seek out and collect Buddhist scriptures (sūtras).[3] The novel retains the broad outline of Xuanzang's own account, Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, but embellishes it with fantasy elements from folk tales and the author's invention. In the story, the Buddha tasks the monk, called "Tang Sanzang" or "Tripitaka", with journeying to India and provides him with three protectors who agree to help him in order to atone for their sins: Sun Wukong (the "Monkey King"), Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing. Riding a White Dragon Horse, the monk and his three protectors journey to a mythical version of India and enlightenment through the power and virtue of cooperation.


Output: Journey to the West has strong roots in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoist and Buddhist folklore, and the pantheon of Taoist immortals and Buddhist bodhisattvas are still reflective of certain Chinese religious attitudes today, while being the inspiration of many modern manhwa, manhua, manga and anime series. Enduringly popular,[4] the novel is at once a comic adventure story, a humorous satire of Chinese bureaucracy, a source of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory.


Output:
History
Creation and authorship
The modern 100-chapter form of Journey to the West dates from the 16th century.[6] Embellished stories based on Xuanzang's journey to India had circulated through oral storytelling for centuries. They appeared in book form as early as the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279).[6] The Yongle Encyclopedia, completed in 1408, contains excerpts of a version of the story written in colloquial Chinese, and a Korean book from 1423 also includes a fragment of that story.[6] The earliest surviving edition of Journey to the West was published in Nanjing in 1592. Two earlier editions were published between 1522 and 1566, but no copies of them survived.[6][7]


Output:
The authorship of Journey to the West is traditionally ascribed to Wu Cheng'en, but the question is complicated by the fact that much of the novel's material originated from folk tales.[8][9] Anthony C. Yu, writing in 2012, warned that "this vexing dispute over the novel's authorship, similar to that on the priority of its textual versions, see-sawed back and forth for nearly a century without resolution."[10]

Hu Shih, literary scholar, former Chancellor of Peking University, and then Ambassador to the United States, wrote in 1942 that the novel was thought to have been written and published anonymously by Wu Cheng'en. He reasoned that the people of Wu's hometown attributed it to him early on, and kept records to that effect as early as 1625; thus, claimed Hu, Journey to the West was one of the earliest Chinese novels for which the authorship is officially documented.[11]


Output:
More recent scholarship casts doubts on this attribution. Brown University Chinese literature scholar David Lattimore stated in 1983: "The Ambassador's confidence was quite unjustified. What the gazetteer says is that Wu wrote something called The Journey to the West. It mentions nothing about a novel. The work in question could have been any version of our story, or something else entirely."[12] Translator W. J. F. Jenner pointed out that although Wu had knowledge of Chinese bureaucracy and politics, the novel itself does not include any political details that "a fairly well-read commoner could not have known."[8]

One interpretive tradition views Journey to the West as the outcome of a writing game which was popular among Chinese literati.[13]: 157


Output:
The overall plot of Journey to the West was "already a part of Chinese folk and literary tradition in the form of "folk stories with informal language", a poetic novelette, and a six-part drama" play series, which was transcribed and written down, before the current version was written.[9] Fragments of an earlier text, Journey to the West as Storytelling, are recorded in other texts.[13]: 159  The narrative threads from this earlier text which survive are the wager between the Dragon King of the Jing River and fortune teller Yuan Shoucheng and the contest between the pilgrims and the three Taoist demons in Cart Slow Kingdom.[13]: 159

Regardless of the origins and authorship, Journey to the West has become the authoritative version of these folk stories,[8] and while the cumulative authorship of the text is acknowledged, Wu is generally accepted as the author of the 1592 printed version widely considered canonical.[13]: 158


Output:
Historical basis
Main article: Xuanzang
Although Journey to the West is a work of fantasy, it is based on the actual journey of the Chinese monk Xuanzang (602–664), who traveled to India in the 7th century in order to seek out Buddhist scriptures and bring them back to China. Xuanzang was a monk at Jingtu Temple in the imperial capital Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) during the late Sui dynasty and early Tang dynasty. He left Chang'an in 629, in defiance of Emperor Taizong of Tang's ban on travel. Helped by sympathetic Buddhists, Xuanzang traveled via Gansu and Qinghai to Kumul (Hami), thence following the Tian Shan mountains to Turpan. He then crossed regions that are today Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, into Gandhara, in what is today northern Pakistan, in 630. Xuanzang traveled throughout India for the next thirteen years, visiting important Buddhist pilgrimage sites, studying at the ancient university at Nalanda, and debating the rivals of Buddhism.


Output:
Xuanzang left India in 643 and arrived back in Chang'an in 646. Although he had defied the imperial travel ban when he left, Xuanzang received a warm welcome from Emperor Taizong upon his return. The emperor provided money and support for Xuanzang's projects. He joined Da Ci'en Monastery (Monastery of Great Maternal Grace), where he led the building of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to store the scriptures and icons he had brought back from India. He recorded his journey in the book Great Tang Records on the Western Regions. With the support of the emperor, he established an institute at Yuhua Gong (Palace of the Luster of Jade) monastery dedicated to translating the scriptures he had brought back. His translation and commentary work established him as the founder of the Dharma character school of Buddhism. Xuanzang died on 7 March 664. The Xingjiao Monastery was established in 669 to house his ashes.

Synopsis
The novel has 100 chapters that can be divided into four unequal parts.


Output:
First Part
The first part, which includes chapters 1–7, is a self-contained introduction to the main story. It deals entirely with the earlier exploits of Sun Wukong, a monkey born from a stone nourished by the Five Elements, who learns the art of the Tao, 72 polymorphic transformations, combat, and secrets of immortality, and whose guile and force earns him the name Qitian Dasheng (simplified Chinese: 齐天大圣; traditional Chinese: 齊天大聖), or "Great Sage Equal to Heaven." His powers grow to match the forces of all of the Eastern (Taoist) deities, and the prologue culminates in Sun's rebellion against Heaven, during a time when he garnered a post in the celestial bureaucracy. Hubris proves his downfall when the Buddha manages to trap him under a mountain, sealing it with a talisman for five hundred years.


Output:
Second Part
The second part (chapters 8–12) introduces Tang Sanzang through his early biography and the background to his great journey. Dismayed that "the land of the South (i.e. Tang China) knows only greed, hedonism, promiscuity, and sins," the Buddha instructs the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin) to search China for someone to take the Buddhist sutras of "transcendence and persuasion for good will" back. Part of this section also relates to how Tang Sanzang becomes a monk (as well as revealing his past life as a disciple of the Buddha named "Golden Cicada" (金蟬子 Jīn Chánzi) and comes about being sent on this pilgrimage by Emperor Taizong, who previously escaped death with the help of an official in the Underworld. In the story, Tang Sanzang is considered an allegorical representation of the human heart.


Output:
Third Part
The third and longest section of the work is chapters 13–99, an episodic adventure story in which Tang Sanzang sets out to bring back Buddhist scriptures from Leiyin Temple on Vulture Peak in India, but encounters various evils along the way. The section is set in the sparsely populated lands along the Silk Road between China and India. The geography described in the book is, however, almost entirely fantasy; once Tang Sanzang departs Chang'an, the Tang capital, and crosses the frontier (somewhere in Gansu province), he finds himself in a wilderness of deep gorges and tall mountains, inhabited by demons and animal spirits who regard him as a potential meal (since his flesh was believed to give immortality to whoever ate it), with the occasional hidden monastery or royal city-state amidst the harsh setting.


Output:
Episodes consist of 1–4 chapters and usually involve Tang Sanzang being captured and having his life threatened while his disciples try to find an ingenious (and often violent) way of liberating him. Although some of Tang Sanzang's predicaments are political and involve ordinary human beings, they more frequently consist of run-ins with various demons, many of whom turn out to be earthly manifestations of heavenly beings (whose sins will be negated by eating the flesh of Tang Sanzang) or animal-spirits with enough Taoist spiritual merit to assume semi-human forms.

Chapters 13–22 do not follow this structure precisely, as they introduce Tang Sanzang's disciples, who, inspired or goaded by Guanyin, meet and agree to serve him along the way in order to atone for their sins in their past lives.


Output: The first is Sun Wukong, or the Monkey King (or just "Monkey"), whose given name loosely means "Monkey Awakened to Emptiness (Śūnyatā)", trapped under a mountain by the Buddha for defying Heaven. He appears right away in chapter 13. The most intelligent, the most powerful, and the most violent of the disciples, he is constantly reproved for his violence by Tang Sanzang. Ultimately, he can only be controlled by a magic gold ring that Guanyin has placed around his head, which causes him unbearable headaches when Tang Sanzang chants the Ring Tightening Mantra. In the story, Sun Wukong is an allegorical representation of the human mind and thought and impulse, and is often nicknamed the "Monkey mind".


Output: The second, appearing in chapter 19, is Zhu Wuneng / Zhu Bajie, literally "Pig Awakened to Ability" and "Eight Precepts Pig," sometimes translated as Pigsy or just Pig. He was previously the Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy, a commander of Heaven's naval forces, and was banished to the mortal realm for harassing the moon goddess Chang'e. A reliable fighter, he is characterized by his insatiable appetites for food and women, and is constantly looking for a way out of his duties, which causes significant conflict with Sun Wukong. In the story, Zhu Bajie is an allegorical representation of base human nature (or the Id).


Output:
The third, appearing in chapter 22, is the river ogre Sha Wujing (literally "Sand Awakened to Purity"), also known as Friar Sand or Sandy. He was previously the celestial Curtain Lifting General, and was banished to the mortal realm for dropping (and shattering) a crystal goblet of the Queen Mother of the West. He is a quiet but generally dependable and hard-working character, who serves as the straight foil to the comic relief of Sun and Zhu. In the story, Sha Wujing is an allegorical representation of human obedience and conformity without thought.
The fourth is Bai Long Ma (literally "White Dragon Horse"), the third son of the Dragon King of the West Sea, who was sentenced to death for setting fire to his father's great pearl. He was saved by Guanyin from execution to stay and wait for his call of duty. He has almost no speaking role, as throughout the story he mainly appears as a horse that Tang Sanzang rides on. In the story, the White Dragon Horse is an allegorical representation of the human will.


Output: Chapter 22, where Sha Wujing is introduced, also provides a geographical boundary, as the river that the travelers cross brings them into a new "continent." Chapters 23–86 take place in the wilderness, and consist of 24 episodes of varying length, each characterized by a different magical monster or evil magician. There are impassibly wide rivers, flaming mountains, a kingdom with an all-female population, a lair of seductive spider spirits, and many other scenarios. Throughout the journey, the four disciples have to fend off attacks on their master and teacher Tang Sanzang from various monsters and calamities.


Output: It is strongly suggested that most of these calamities are engineered by fate and/or the Buddha, as, while the monsters who attack are vast in power and many in number, no real harm ever comes to the four travelers. Some of the monsters turn out to be escaped celestial beasts belonging to bodhisattvas or Taoist sages and deities. Towards the end of the book, there is a scene where the Buddha commands the fulfillment of the last disaster, because Tang Sanzang is one short of the 81 tribulations required before attaining Buddhahood.


Output:
In chapter 87, Tang Sanzang finally reaches the borderlands of India, and chapters 87–99 present magical adventures in a somewhat more mundane setting. At length, after a pilgrimage said to have taken fourteen years (the text actually only provides evidence for nine of those years, but presumably there was room to add additional episodes) they arrive at the half-real, half-legendary destination of Vulture Peak, where, in a scene simultaneously mystical and comic, Tang Sanzang receives the scriptures from the living Buddha.

Fourth part
Chapter 100, the final chapter, quickly describes the return journey to the Tang Empire, and the aftermath in which each traveller receives a reward in the form of posts in the bureaucracy of the heavens. Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang both achieve Buddhahood, Sha Wujing becomes an arhat, Bai Long Ma is made a nāga and Zhu Bajie, whose good deeds have always been tempered by his greed, is promoted to an altar cleanser (i.e. eater of excess offerings at altars).


Output:
Main characters
Further information: List of Journey to the West characters
Sun Wukong/Monkey King
Main article: Monkey King


Output: Sun Wukong (孫悟空) (pinyin: sūnwùkōng) is the name given to this character by his teacher, Subhuti, the latter part of which means "Awakened to Emptiness" (in the Waley translation, Aware-of-Vacuity); he is often called the "Monkey King". He is born on Flower Fruit Mountain from a stone egg that forms from an ancient rock created by the coupling of Heaven and Earth. He first distinguishes himself by bravely entering the Water Curtain Cave on the mountain; for this feat, his monkey tribe gives him the title of "Handsome Monkey King (美猴王, měi hóuwáng)." After seeing a fellow monkey die because of old age, he decides to travel around the world to seek the Tao, and find a way to be able to live forever. He eventually found the "Grand Master of Bodhi (菩提祖師, pútí zǔshī)," who taught him the 72 heavenly methods of transformation and a "somersault cloud" which allows him to travel 108,000 li almost instantaneously. After angering several gods and coming to the attention of the Jade Emperor, he is given a minor


Output: of the Jade Emperor, he is given a minor position in heaven as the Keeper of Horses (弼馬溫, bìmǎwēn) so they can keep an eye on him. When Sun realizes that he was given the lowest position in heaven and is not considered a full-fledged god, he becomes very angry. Upon returning to his mountain, he puts up a flag and declares himself the "Great Sage Equal to Heaven (齊天大聖, qí tiān dàshèng)." The Jade Emperor dispatches celestial soldiers to arrest Sun Wukong, but none succeed. The Jade Emperor has no choice but to appoint him to be the guardian of the heavenly peach garden. The different varieties of peach trees in the garden bear fruit every 3,000, 6,000, and 9,000 years, and eating their flesh will bestow immortality and other gifts, so Sun Wukong eats nearly all of the ripe peaches. Later, after fairies who come to collect peaches for Xi Wangmu's heavenly peach banquet inform Sun Wukong he is not invited and make fun of him, he once again begins to cause trouble in Heaven, stealing heavenly wine from the


Output: in Heaven, stealing heavenly wine from the peach banquet and eating Laozi's pills of immortality. He defeats an army of 100,000 celestial troops, led by the Four Heavenly Kings, Erlang Shen, and Nezha. Eventually, the Jade Emperor appeals to the Buddha, who seals Wukong under a mountain called Five Elements Mountain after the latter loses a bet regarding whether he can leap out of the Buddha's hand in a single somersault. Sun Wukong is kept under the mountain for 500 years and cannot escape because of a seal that was placed on the mountain. He is later set free when Tang Sanzang comes upon him during his pilgrimage and accepts him as a disciple.


Output: His primary weapon is his staff, the "Ruyi Jingu Bang," which he can shrink down to the size of a needle and keep in his ear, as well as expand it to gigantic proportions. The rod, which weighs 17,550 pounds (7,960 kg), was originally a pillar supporting the undersea palace of the Dragon King of the East Sea, but he was able to pull it out of its support and can swing it with ease. The Dragon King had told Sun Wukong he could have the staff if he could lift it, but was angry when the monkey was actually able to pull it out and accused him of being a thief. Sun Wukong was insulted, so he demanded a suit of armor and refused to leave until he received one. The Dragon King of the East and the other dragon kings, fearful of Sun wreaking havoc in their domain, gave him a suit of golden armor. These gifts, combined with his devouring of the peaches of immortality, erasing his name from the Book of the Dead, drinking heavenly wine from the Peach Festival, eating Laozi's pills of immortality, and being tempered in


Output: pills of immortality, and being tempered in Laozi's Eight-Trigram Furnace (after which he gained a steel-hard body and fiery golden eyes that could see far into the distance and through any disguise), makes Sun Wukong by far the strongest member of the pilgrimage. Besides these abilities, he can also pluck hairs from his body and blow on them to convert them into whatever he wishes (usually clones of himself to gain a numerical advantage in battle). Furthermore, he is a master of the 72 methods of transformation (七十二变),[a] and can transform into anything that exists (animate and inanimate).[a] Notably, however, Sun cannot fight as well underwater, and often the pilgrimage must rely on Pigsy and Sandy for marine combat. The monkey, nimble and quick-witted, uses these skills to defeat all but the most powerful of demons on the journey.


Output:
Sun's behavior is checked by a band placed around his head by Guanyin, which cannot be removed by Sun Wukong himself until the journey's end. Tang Sanzang can tighten this band by chanting the "Ring Tightening Mantra" (taught to him by Guanyin) whenever he needs to chastise him. The spell is referred to by Tang Sanzang's disciples as the "Headache Sutra". Tang Sanzang speaks this mantra quickly in repetition when Sun disobeys him.

Sun Wukong's childlike playfulness and often goofy impulsiveness is in contrast to his cunning mind. This, coupled with his great power, makes him a trickster hero. His antics present a lighter side in the long and dangerous trip into the unknown.

After completion of the journey, Sun is granted the title of Victorious Fighting Buddha (斗战胜佛; 鬥戰勝佛; dòu zhànshèng fó) and ascends to Buddhahood.


Output:
Tang Sanzang/Tripitaka
Main article: Tang Sanzang
The monk Tang Sanzang (唐三藏, meaning "Tripitaka Master of Tang," with Tang referring to the Tang dynasty and Sanzang referring to the Tripiṭaka, the main categories of texts in the Buddhist canon which is also used as an honorific for some Buddhist monks) is a Buddhist monk who had renounced his family to become a monk from childhood. He is just called "Tripitaka" in many English versions of the story. He set off for Tianzhu Kingdom (天竺国, an appellation for India in ancient China) to retrieve original Buddhist scriptures for China. Although he is helpless in defending himself, the bodhisattva Guanyin, helps by finding him powerful disciples who aid and protect him on his journey. In return, the disciples will receive enlightenment and forgiveness for their sins once the journey is done. Along the way, they help the local inhabitants by defeating various monsters and demons who try to obtain immortality by consuming Tang Sanzang's flesh.


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Zhu Bajie/Pigsy
Main article: Zhu Bajie
Zhu Bajie (豬八戒, literally "Pig of the Eight Prohibitions") is also known as Zhu Wuneng ("Pig Awakened to Power"), and given the name "Monk Pig", "Piggy", "Pigsy", or just simply "Pig" in English.

Once an immortal who was the Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy commanding 100,000 naval soldiers of the Milky Way, he drank too much during a celebration of the gods and attempted to harass the moon goddess Chang'e, resulting in his banishment to the mortal world. He was supposed to be reborn as a human but ended up in the womb of a sow due to an error on the Reincarnation Wheel, which turned him into a half-man, half-pig humanoid-pig monster. Zhu Bajie was very greedy, and could not survive without eating ravenously. Staying within the Yunzhan Dong ("cloud-pathway cave"), he was commissioned by Guanyin to accompany Tang Sanzang to India and given the new name Zhu Wuneng.