CHAPTER 99 

When the Nine Nines Are Complete the Demons Are All Destroyed; After the Triple Threes Are Fulfilled the Way Returns to Its Roots

The story goes on to tell how the Eight Vajrapanis escorted the Tang Priest back to their country, but we will not go into that now.

Outside the gates the Protectors of Five Quarters, the Four Duty Gods, the Six Dings, the Six Jias and the Guardians of the Faith went up to the Bodhisattva Guanyin and said, “We, your disciples, have given secret help to the holy monk in obedience to your dharma command, Bodhisattva. Now that they have fulfilled their deeds and you have reported your mission accomplished to the Lord Buddha, we would like to report the completion of our mission.”

“Permission granted.” The Bodhisattva replied with delight, “permission granted.” The Bodhisattva then went on to ask, “What were the thoughts and actions of the Tang Priest and his three disciples on their journey?”

“They really were pious and determined,” the deities all replied, “as we are sure will not have escaped your profound perception. But the Tang Priest’s sufferings truly beggar description. Your disciples have made a careful record of the disasters and hardships that he has endured on his journey. This is the account of his ordeals.” The Bodhisattva read it through from the beginning, and this is what was written in it:

“We Protectors were sent at the Bodhisattva’s command,

To keep a close record of the Tang Priest’s ordeals.

The Golden Cicada’s exile was the first ordeal;

Being born and almost killed was the second ordeal;

Abandonment in the river under the full moon was the third ordeal;

Finding his mother and getting revenge was the fourth ordeal;

The tigers he met after leaving the city were the fifth ordeal;

Falling into the pit was the sixth ordeal;

The Double Forked Peak was the seventh ordeal;

The Double Boundary Mountain was the eighth ordeal;

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 Bajie 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;

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;

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;

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;

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.”

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;

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 Bajie, 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 Xingzhe.

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

“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 Wukong 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. What ever are we to do now?”

“They say that common mortals can be sinners,” said Bajie, “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?”

“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.”

Wukong 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.

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 Wukong with a smile, “and this year we meet again.” Sanzang, Bajie and Friar Sand were all delighted.

“If you really do want to look after us, come ashore,” Wukong said, at which the turtle climbed out of the river with a bound. Wukong had the horse tied to the turtle with Bajie 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 Wukong 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:

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 Rulai Buddha to ask him when I would be converted and how long I would live.”

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.

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 Bajie and Friar Sand could swim, and that Pilgrim Sun 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.

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 Bajie clung to the white horse. Xingzhe, however, swung his iron cudgel around with both hands as he kept guard to both right and left.

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?”

“Master,” said Pilgrim Sun, 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.”

Only then did Sanzang, Bajie 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.

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 Bajie, “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?” Bajie 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 Bajie. “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.”

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,” Wukong replied.

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

“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.”

“You’re wrong,” said Wukong 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 sutras they returned with Chen Cheng to his village.

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 Sun had never been one to eat cooked food, so he said, “That will be enough.”

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

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

“I don’t know why,” Bajie 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 Rulai 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 Rulai 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.

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 Wukong and Bajie 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 gestures of eating. The shrine was indeed most handsomely built:

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 Bajie, tugging at Wukong, when he saw them.

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

“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?” Pilgrim Sun 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 Wukong 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.

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 Bajie 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.”

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.”

“What you say is right, Master,” Wukong replied. “Let’s slip quietly away in the middle of the night while they’re all sound asleep.” Bajie 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 Wukong 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.