Journey to the West 3

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Journey To The West 3

Chapter 3The Four Seas and Thousand Mountains All

SubmitIn the Ninth Hell the Tenth Category Is StruckOff the Register We have related how the Handsome MonkeyKing returned home in glory, bringing a largesword he hadcaptured when he killed the Demon King of Confusion. From then on they practiced the

military arts everyday. He asked the little monkeys to cut downbamboo to make spears, carve swords out of wood, and learn touse banners and whistles. They learned toadvance and retreat, and build a camp with astockade round it.They spent a lot of time playing at this.Once Sun Wukong was sitting in his seat of meditation when he wondered: "What wouldhappen to us if our games were taken for the real thing? What if italarmed some human monarch or gave offenceto some king of birds or beasts? They might say that we werehaving military training for a rebellion, andattack us with their armies. You would be no match for them withyour bamboo spears and wooden swords. Wemust have reallysharp swords and halberds. What are we to doabout it?"



When the monkeys heard this they all said withalarm, "Your Majesty has great foresight, butthere's nowherewe can get them." When it was the turn of four older monkeys to speakíítwo bareíbottomedapes and twogibbonsííthey came forward and said, "Your Majesty, if you want sharp weapons they can bevery easilyobtained.""How could it be easy?" asked Sun Wukong."To the East of our mountain," they replied,"there is a lake some seventy miles wide that isthe boundary of the country of Aolai. That country has a princelycapital, and huge numbers of soldiers andcivilians live inthe city. It must have workshops for gold, silver,bronze and iron. If you went there, Your Majesty,you couldeither buy arms or get them made; then youcould train us to use them in the defense of our mountain. Thiswould give us longíterm security." Sun Wukongwas delighted with the suggestion."Wait here while I go there," he said.Splendid Monkey King! He leapt on to his

somersault cloud, crossed the seventy miles of lake, and saw thaton the other side there was indeed a city wall, amoat, streets, markets, ten thousand houses, athousand gates,and people coming and going in the sunlight.



"There must be readyímade weapons here,"Sun Wukong thought, "and getting a few bymagic would bemuch better than buying them." So he made amagic with his fist and said the words of thespell, sucked insome air from the Southeast, and blew it hardout again. It turned into a terrifying gale carryingsand andstones with it.Where the thunderclouds rise the elements arein chaos;Black fogs thick with dust cloak the earth indarkness.Boiling rivers and seas terrify the crabs andfish;As trees are snapped off in mountain foreststigers and wolves flee.No business is done in any branch of commerce;And no one is working at any kind of trade.In the palace the king has gone to his inner quarters;And the officials in front of the steps havereturned to their offices.The thrones of princes are all blown over;Towers of five phoenixes are shaken to their

foundations.Where the storm blew, the prince of Aolai fled interror, and gates and doors were shut in thestreets and



markets. Nobody dared to move outside. SunWukong landed his cloud and rushed straightthrough the gatesof the palace to the arsenal and the militarystores, opened the doors, and saw countlessweapons: swords,pikes, sabres, halberds, battleaxes, bills,scimitars, maces, tridents, clubs, bows,crossbows, forks, and spearswere all there.At the sight of them he said happily, "How manyof these could I carry by myself? I'd better usethe magic for dividing up my body."Splendid Monkey King. He plucked a hair fromhis body, chewed it up, spat it out, made themagic with hisfist, said the words of the spell, and shouted"Change!" It turned into hundreds andthousands of littlemonkeys, who rushed wildly about grabbingweapons. The strong ones took six or seveneach and the weaker ones two or three, and between them theyremoved the lot. He climbed back up on theclouds, called up a galeby magic, and took all the little monkeys home

with him.The monkeys big and small of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit were playing outside thegates of the cave



when they heard the wind. At the sight of countless monkey spirits flying through the air they fled and hid. Amoment later the Handsome Monkey Kinglanded his cloud, put away his mists, shookhimself, replaced hishair, and threw all the weapons into a pilebeside the mountain."Children," he shouted, "come and get your weapons." When the monkey masses lookedthey saw SunWukong standing by himself on some levelground, and they all rushed over to him tokowtow and askedwhat had happened. Sun Wukong told them thewhole story of how he had raised the gale andtaken theweapons. After all the monkeys had thankedhim they snatched sabres, grabbed swords,seized battleaxes,fought for pikes, drew bows, stretchedcrossbows, shouted, yelled, and so amusedthemselves for the rest of the day.The next day they paraded as usual. SunWukong assembled all the monkey host, andthey numbered over

fortyíseven thousand. This had alarmed all thestrange beasts of the mountainííwolves,monsters, tigers,leopards, deer, muntjacs, riverídeer, foxes, wildcats, badgers, raccoons, lions, elephants,horses, orangutans,



bears, stags, wild boar, mountain cattle,antelopes, rhinoceroses, little dogs, huge dogs.The kings of variouskinds of monsters, seventyítwo in all, all cameto pay homage to the Monkey King. Theyoffered tributeevery year and attended court in each of thefour seasons. They also took part in drill andpaid their seasonalgrain levies. Everything was so orderly that theMountain of Flowers and Fruit was as secure asan iron bucketor a wall of bronze. The kings of the monsterssent gongs, drums, coloured flags, helmets, andarmour in greatabundance, and every day there were militaryexercises.One day, amid all this success, the HandsomeMonkey King suddenly said to the other monkeys, "You arenow expert in the bow and crossbow, and highlyskilled in other weapons; but this sword of mineis tooclumsy for my liking. What shall I do about it?"The four veteran monkeys came forward andsubmitted a suggestion: "Your Majesty is anImmortal, so

mortals' weapons are not good enough for you.We wonder if Your Majesty is able to travelunderwater.""Since hearing the Way," Sun Wukong replied,"I have mastered the seventyítwo earthlytransformations. My



somersault cloud has outstanding magicalpowers. I know how to conceal myself andvanish. I can makespells and end them. I can reach the sky andfind my way into the earth. I can travel under thesun or moonwithout leaving a shadow or go through metalor stone freely. I can't be drowned by water or burned by fire.There's nowhere I cannot go.""If Your Majesty has these magical powers, thestream under our iron bridge leads to theDragon palace of theEastern Sea. If you are willing to go down there,go and find the Dragon King and ask him for whatever weapon it is you want. Wouldn't that suit you?""Wait till I get back," was Sun Wukong'sdelighted reply.

Splendid Monkey King. He leapt to the end of the bridge and made a spell with his fist to wardoff the water.Then he dived into the waves and split thewaters to make way for himself till he reachedthe bed of theEastern Sea. On his journey he saw a yaksha

demon who was patrolling the sea.The yaksha barred his way and asked, "Whatsage or divinity are you, pushing the watersaside like that?Please tell me so that I can make a report andhave you properly received."



"I am the Heaveníborn Sage Sun Wukong fromthe Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, and your oldDragonKing's close neighbour. How is it you don'tknow me?"When the yaksha heard this he hurried back tothe crystal palace and reported, "Your Majesty,Sun Wukong,the Heaveníborn Sage from the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit who says he is your neighbour, is coming toyour palace." Ao Guang, the Old Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, leapt to his feet and went out tomeet SunWukong with his dragon sons and grandsons,his prawn soldiers, and his crab generals."Come in, exalted Immortal," he said, taking SunWukong into the palace where they introducedthemselves,seated him in the place of honour, and offeredhim tea. Then the Dragon King asked him,"Exalted Immortal,when did you find the Way, and what magic artsdid you acquire?""After my birth," said Sun Wukong, "Irenounced the world and cultivated my conduct,and thus obtained an

immortal and indestructible body. Recently Ihave trained my sons and grandsons to guardour cave, butunfortunately I have not yet found my self aweapon. I have long heard that my illustriousneighbour enjoys



As soon as he saw it Sun Wukong boundedforward to take it. He tried a few postures andthrusts with it thenstuck it in the ground between them. "Still toolight, far too light."The Dragon King, now really terrified, said,"Exalted Immortal, that halberd is the heaviestweapon in mypalace.""As the old saying goes," said Sun Wukong witha grin, "'Never think the dragon king has notreasures.' Haveanother look, and if you find anything satisfyingI'll give you a good price for it."

"I really have nothing else," the Dragon Kingreplied.As he was speaking, his dragon wife anddragon daughters came in from the back of thepalace and said,"Your Majesty, by the look of him this sagemust be really somebody. The piece of miraculous iron thatanchors the Milkey Way in place has beenshining with a lovely rosy glow for the last fewdays, and creatinga most auspicious atmosphere. Perhaps it has

started to shine to greet this sage.""That piece of miraculous iron is one of thenails that Yu the Great used to fix the depths of rivers and seaswhen he brought the waters under control," saidthe Dragon King. "What use could it be?"



"Never mind whether it's useful or not," his wifereplied. "Just give it to him and let him do with itas hepleases. At least you'll get him out of thepalace."The Dragon King did as she suggested anddescribed the piece of iron to Sun Wukong, whosaid, "Bring it outand let me see.""It can't be moved. You will have to go and lookat it yourself, exalted Immortal.""Where is it? Take me there," said Sun Wukong.The Dragon King took him into the middle of thesea treasury, where all of a sudden they couldsee tenthousand rays of golden light. Pointing at it, theDragon King said, "That's it, where all the lightis comingfrom."Sun Wukong hitched up his clothes and went togive it a feel. He found that it was an iron pillar about as thickas a measure for a peck of grain and sometwenty feet long. Seizing it with both hands hesaid, "It's too thickand too long. If it were a bit shorter and thinner it would do." As soon as these words were out

of his mouththis precious piece of iron became several feetshorter and a few inches thinner.Sun Wukong tossed it in his hands, remarkingthat it would be even better if it were thinner still. The precious



iron thereupon became even thinner. SunWukong was taking it out of the sea treasury tohave a look at itwhen he saw that it had two gold bands roundit, while the middle part was made of black iron.There was aline of inlaid writing near the bands which saidthat it was the ASíYOUíWILL COLDíBANDEDCUDGEL:WEIGHT 13,500 POUNDS.Sun Wukong was delighted, though he did notshow it. "I think that this little darling will dowhatever Iwant." As he walked along he weighed it in hishand and said reflectively, "If it were evensmaller still itwould be perfect." By the time he had taken itoutside it was twenty feet long and as thick as arice bowl.Watch him as he uses his magical powers to trya few routines with it, whirling all round thecrystal palace.The Old Dragon King was trembling with fright,and the little dragons were scared out of their wits.Terrapins, freshwater turtles, seawater turtlesand alligators drew in their heads, while fish,

shrimps, lobstersand giant turtles hid their faces.Holding his treasure in his hands, Sun Wukongsat down in the main hall of the palace of crystaland said with



a smile to the Dragon King, "Many thanks,worthy neighbour, for your great generosity."The Old Dragon King humbly acknowledged histhanks, and Sun Wukong went on, "This pieceof iron willbe very useful, but there is one more thing Iwant to ask.""What might that be, exalted Immortal?" askedthe Dragon King."If I hadn't got this cudgel, that would be theend of the matter, but as I have got it theproblem is that I don'thaveíthe clothes to go with it. What are we todo about it? If you have any armour here, I'd bemost obliged if you gave me a suit." The Dragon King said hehad not any."'A guest should not have to trouble twohosts,'" said Sun Wukong. "I won't leavewithout one.""Please try some other sea, exaltedImmortalííyou may find one there.""'It's better to stay in one house than to visitthree.' I beg and implore you to give me a suit.""I really don't have one," replied the DragonKing. "If I had I would present it to you.""If you really haven't, then I'll try this cudgel out

on you.""Don't hit me, exalted Immortal, don't hit me,"pleaded the Dragon King in terror. "Let me seewhether mybrothers have one that they could give you.""Where do your brothers live?"



"They are Ao Qin, the Dragon King of theSouthern Sea, Ao Shun, the Dragon King of theNorthern Sea, andAo Run, the Dragon King of the Southern Sea.""I'm damned if I'm going there: as the sayinggoes, 'Two in the pocket is better than threeowing.' So be agood chap and give me one.""There is no need for you to go, lofty Immortal,"the Dragon King replied, "I have an iron drumand a bronzebell. In an emergency we strike them to bringmy brothers here in an instant.""In that case," said Sun Wukong, "hurry up andsound them." And indeed an alligator generalstruck the bellwhile a terrapin marshal beat the drum. Thesound of the bell and the drum startled the other three dragonkings, who had arrived and were waitingtogether outside within the instant.One of them, Ao Qin, said, "Elder Brother,what's up? Why the drum and the bell?""It hurts me to tell you, brother," the Old DragonKing replied. "There's this soícalledheaveníborn sage fromthe Mountain of Flowers and Fruit who came

here this morning saying that I was hisneighbour, thendemanded a weapon. I offered him asteelípronged spear but he said it was toosmall, and a patterned halberd



that he said was too light. Then he picked up themiraculous iron that fastens the Milky Way andtried a fewmovements with it. Now he's sitting in thepalace and demanding a suit of armour, but wehaven't got one.That's why I used the bell and the drum to callyou here. You three must have some armour.Please give him asuit, then we can get rid of him."When Ao Qin heard this he said in a fury, "Toarms, brothers. Arrest the criminal.""No! No! It's out of the question," said the OldDragon King. "If that iron cudgel of his gets youyou're donefor, if it hits you die, if it comes close your skinis broken, and if it so much as brushes againstyou your sinews are smashed."Ao Run, the Dragon King of the Western Sea,said, "Second brother, you must not attack him.Instead weshould put a suit of armour together for him,then send him away. We can send a memorialabout it to Heaven,then Heaven will of course punish him.""You're right," said Ao Shun, the Dragon King of

the Northern Sea. "I have a pair of lotusírootcloudíwalking shoes.""I've brought a suit of golden chain mail," saidAo Run, the Dragon King of the Western Sea.



"And I have a phoenixíwinged purple goldhelmet," added Ao Qin, the Dragon King of theSouthern Sea. TheOld Dragon King was very pleased, and hebrought them into the palace to meet SunWukong and present theequipment to him.Sun Wukong put on the golden helmet and thearmour and the cloudíwalking shoes, thencharged out, wavinghis cudgel and saying to the dragons, "Myapologies for disturbing you." The four DragonKings were mostindignant, but we will not go into their discussions on the protest they sent to Heaven.Watch the Monkey King as he parts the watersand goes straight back to the iron bridge, wherethe four senior apes can be seen waiting for him at the head of the monkey host. Sun Wukong suddenly leaptout of the waveswithout a drop of water on him and gleamingwith gold.As he came across the bridge the monkeyswere so astonished that they fell to their kneesand said, "Howsplendid you look, Your Majesty, how splendid."

Sun Wukong, his face lit up with youthful vigor,climbed upto his throne, thrust his cudgel into the groundin their midst. The foolish monkeys all tried tograb this



treasure, but it was as futile as a dragonflytrying to shake an iron tree: they were unable tomove it in theslightest.Biting their fingers and sticking out their tongues they said, "Grandpa, it's so heavy, howcan you possibly liftit?"Sun Wukong went over, lifted it with one hand,and laughed as he said to them, "Everythinghas its rightfulowner. This little treasure has been lying in thesea treasury for goodness knows how manythousands of years, but it just happened to start shining thisyear. The Dragon King thought it was just apiece of ordinaryiron, and said it was the miraculous treasurethat holds the bed of the Milky Way in place.None of his mencould move it, so he had to ask me to go andfetch it myself. It was more than twenty feet longthen, and asthick as a peckímeasure. When I picked it up Ifelt that it was too big, and it shrank till it wasseveral times assmall. I told it to get even smaller, and it did that

too; then I told it to get smaller still, and it gotmany timessmaller again. I hurried out into the light of dayto look at it, and I saw that there was aninscription on it that



read 'ASíYOUíWILL GOLDíBANDED CUDGEL:WEIGHT 13,500 POUNDS'. Stand aside, and I'llmakeit change again."Holding his treasure in his hand he said,"Shrink, shrink, shrink," and it became as smallas an embroideryneedle, tiny enough to be hidden in his ear."Your Majesty," the monkeys cried out inastonishment, "bring it out and play with itagain."So the Monkey King brought it out of his ear again, laid it on the palm of his hand, and said,"Grow, grow,grow." It became as thick as a peck again andtwenty feet long. Now that he was reallyenjoying himself hebounded over the bridge and went out of thecave. Clasping his treasure he used some of hisheaven and earthmagic, bowed, and shouted, "Grow."He became a hundred thousand feet tall; hishead was as big as a mountain, his waist like arange of hills, hiseyes flashed like lightning, his mouth seemed tobe a bowl of blood, and his teeth were asswords and

halberds; the cudgel in his hands reached up tothe Thirtyíthird Heaven and down to theEighteenth Hell. Thetigers, leopards and wolves, the beasts of themountain, and the seventyítwo monster kingsall kowtowed and



bowed in terror, trembling so much that theywent out of their minds. A moment later hereverted to his proper size, turned his treasure into an embroideryneedle, hid it in his ear, and went back to thecave. Thepanicístricken kings of the monsters all cameto offer their congratulations.There was a great display of banners anddrums, and the air resounded to the sound of gongs and bells. Raredelicacies were set out in great quantities, cupsbrimmed with coconut toddy and the wine of thegrape, andthe Monkey King feasted and drank with hispeople for a long time. Then training went on asbefore.The Monkey King named the four senior apes ashis four Stalwart Generals: he named the twobareíbottomedapes Marshal Ma and Marshal Liu, and calledthe two gibbons General Beng and General Ba.He entrusted thestockade, questions of discipline and rewardsto these four. Thus freed from cares, hemounted the clouds androde the mists, wandering round the four seas

and enjoying the thousand mountains. Hepracticed his martialarts, visited many a hero, used his magicalpowers, and made a wide and distinguishedcircle of friends. He



met with six sworn brothers of his: the BullDemon King, the Salamander Demon King, theRoc Demon King,the Camel King, the Macaque King, and the LionKing. With him included they made seven. For days on endthey talked about politics and war, passedround the goblet, strummed, sang, piped,danced, went off on daysout together, and enjoyed themselves in everypossible way. A journey of thousands of milesseemed to themto be no more than a walk in the courtyard. Itcould be said that they traveled a thousandmiles in the time ittakes to nod one's head, and covered threehundred with a twist of the waist.One day he instructed his four StalwartGenerals to arrange a feast for the six other kings. Oxen and horseswere slaughtered, sacrifices were made toHeaven and Earth, and the assembled monstersdanced, sang, anddrank themselves blotto. When he had seen thesix kings out and tipped his senior and junior officials SunWukong lay himself down under the shade of

the pines beside the bridge and was asleep inan instant. Thefour Stalwart Generals made the others standround and guard him, and they all kept their voices down.



In his sleep the Handsome Monkey King sawtwo men approach him with a piece of paper intheir hands onwhich was written "Sun Wukong." Withoutallowing any explanations they tied up his souland dragged itstaggering along till they reached a city wall.The Monkey King, who was graduallyrecovering from hisdrunken stupor, looked up and saw an iron plateon the wall on which was inscribed WORLD OFDARKNESS in large letters.In a flash of realization he said, "The World of Darkness is where King Yama lives. Why have Icome here?""Your life in the world above is due to end now,"his escorts said, "and we were ordered to fetchyou."To this the Monkey King replied, "I have gonebeyond the Three Worlds, and I am no longer subject to theFive Elements. I don't come under King Yama's

jurisdiction. How dare you grab me, you idiots?"But thefetchers of the dead just went on tugging at him,determined to drag him inside.The Monkey King lost his temper, pulled his

treasure out of his ear, and gave it a shake. Itbecame as thick asa rice bowl. It only took a slight movement of hisarm to smash the two fetchers of the dead topulp. He untied



his bonds, loosed his hands, and charged intothe city whirling his cudgel, so terrifying theoxíheaded andhorseífaced devils that they fled in alldirections for cover.All the devil soldiers rushed to the SenluoPalace and reported, "Your Majesty, disaster,disaster! Ahairyífaced thunderígod is attacking us outthere."Stricken by panic, the Ten Kings who sit in theten palaces, judging the criminal cases of thedead, hurriedlystraightened their clothing and went out to look.When they saw his ferocious expression theylined up inorder and shouted at the tops of their voices,"Please tell us your name, exalted Immortal.""If you don't know who I am," replied theMonkey King, "then why did you send men tobring me here?""We wouldn't dare do such a thing. Themessengers must have made a mistake.""I am Sun Wukong, the Heaveníborn sage of the Water Curtain Cave on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit.What are your posts?"

"We are the ten kings.""Tell me your names at once if you don't want abashing."To this the ten kings replied, "We are the Kingof Qinguang, the King of Chujiang, King Songdi,King



Wuguan, King Yama, King Impartial, the King of Mount Tai, the Metropolitan King, the King of Biancheng,and the King of the Everíturning Wheel."To this Sun Wukong replied, "You are all kings,and have esoteric understanding, so why don'tyou know anybetter? I, Sun Wukong, have cultivated the Wayof Immortality and will live as long as Heaven.I've soaredbeyond the Three Worlds and leapt outside theFive Elements, so why did you send your mento get me?""Please don't be angry, lofty Immortal," the tenkings said. "Many people in the world share thesame name,so perhaps the fetchers of the dead went to thewrong place.""Nonsense, nonsense. As the saying goes, 'Themagistrate may be wrong and the sergeant maybe wrong, butthe man who comes to get you is never wrong.'Go and get the Register of Life and Death for meto see." TheTen Kings invited him to come into the palaceand look through it.Sun Wukong went into the Senluo Palace with

his club in his hand, and sat down in the middleof the hallfacing South. The Ten Kings then ordered thepresiding judge to fetch the register, and the

judge hastened to



his office and brought out five or six documentsand ten registers. He looked through them allone by one, butcould not find Sun Wukong's name in thesections devoted to hairless creatures, hairycreatures, featheredcreatures, insects, or scaly creatures. Then helooked through the monkey section. Nowalthough monkeyslooked like men, they were not entered under the humans; although they were like thehairless creatures, theydid not live within their boundaries; althoughthey were like running animals, they were notunder the

jurisdiction of the unicorn; and although theywere like birds, they were not ruled by thephoenix. There wasanother register, and Sun Wukong lookedthrough this one himself. Under "Soul No. 1350"was the name of Sun Wukong, the Heaveníborn stone monkey,who was destined to live to the age of 342 anddie a gooddeath."I won't write down any number of years," saidSun Wukong. "I'll just erase my name and be

done with it.Bring me a brush." The judge hastily handedhim a brush and thick, black ink.Sun Wukong took the register, crossed out allthe names in the monkey section, and threw iton the floor with



the words, "The account's closed. That's an endof it. We won't come under your control anylonger." Then hecudgeled his way out of the World of Darkness.The Ten Kings dared not go near him, and theyall went to theAzure Cloud Palace to bow in homage to theBodhisattva Ksitigarbha and discuss the reportthey would sendup to Heaven. But we will not go into this.After charging out through the city wall theMonkey King tripped over a clump of grass,tried to regain hisbalance, and woke up with a start. It had allbeen a dream. As he stretched himself he heardhis four StalwartGenerals and the other monkeys saying, "Your Majesty, time to wake up. You drank too muchand slept allnight.""Never mind about my sleeping. I dreamt thattwo men came for me. They dragged me to thecityíwall of theWorld of Darkness, where I came round. Ishowed them my magic powers and wentyelling all the way to theSenluo Palace, where I had an argument with

those Ten Kings and looked through theRegister of Life andDeath of us. Wherever there was mention of your names in the register, I crossed them out.We won't comeunder the jurisdiction of those idiots any more."



All the monkeys kowtowed to him in gratitude.The reason why from that time on so manymountainmonkeys have never grown old is that their names are not on the books of the officials of the Underworld.When the Handsome Monkey King had finishedtelling his story, the four Stalwart Generalsinformed theother monster kings, who all came to offer their felicitations. A few days later his six swornbrothers alsocame to congratulate him, and all weredelighted to hear how he had struck the namesoff the books. We willnot describe the daily feasts that followed.Instead we will describe how one day theSupreme Heavenly Sage, the GreatlyCompassionate Jade Emperor of the Azure Vault of Heaven, was sitting on histhrone in the Hall of Miraculous Mist in theGoldenígatedCloud Palace, surrounded by his immortal civiland military officials at morning court, when theImmortalQiu Hongji reported, "Your Majesty, Ao Guang,the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, has

presented amemorial outside the Hall of UniversalBrightness, and is awaiting a summons fromyour Imperial Majesty."



The Jade Emperor ordered that he be called in,and the Dragon King came to the Hall of Miraculous Mist.When he had done obeisance an immortal pagecame from the side to take his memorial. TheJade Emperor read it through. It ran:

Your Subject Ao Guang,the Humble Dragon of the Eastern Sea of theEastern Continent of Superior Body in theNether WateryRegionsReports to the Jade Emperor of the Azure Vaultof HeavenRecently one Sun Wukong, an immortal fiendborn on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit nowliving in theWater Curtain Cave, bullied this humble dragonand occupied my watery house by force. Hedemanded aweapon by displaying magical prowess; heinsisted on having armour by showing off hisevil powers. Heterrified the watery tribe and made the tortoisesand alligators flee in terror. The dragon of theSouthern Seatrembled, the dragon of the Western Sea was

made miserable, the dragon of the Northern Seahad to hang hishead and come in submission, and I, your subject Ao Guang, humbled myself before him.We had to present



him with a miraculous iron cudgel, a goldenphoenixíwinged helmet, a suit of chain mail,and a pair of cloudíwalking shoes; and we escorted him outpolitely.He continued to show off his martial arts andmagic powers, and all he had to say for himself was, "Myapologies for disturbing you." There is truly nomatch for him, and he is uncontrollable. Your subject nowpresents this memorial, and respectfully awaitsyour sage decision. I humbly beg that heavenlysoldiers besent to arrest this evil demon, so that the seaand the mountains may be at peace, and theocean may enjoytranquillity.Journey to the WestChapter 3 44

When the Jade Emperor had read this throughhe ordered, "Let the Dragon God return to theSea; we shallsend generals to arrest the demon." The OldDragon King bowed till his head touched thefloor and took hisleave.Then the Venerable Immortal Ge, a heavenlyteacher, reported, "Your Majesty, the King of Qinguang, one of the ministers of the Underworld, has come witha memorial from the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha."A jade girl



messenger took the memorial, which the JadeEmperor read through. It ran:The regions of darkness are the negative part of the Earth. Heaven contains gods while the Earthhas devils;Positive and Negative are in a constant cycle.Birds and beasts are born and die; male andfemale alternate.Life is created and change takes place; maleand female are conceived and born; this is theorder of nature,and it cannot be changed. Now the evil spirit,the Heaveníborn monkey of the Water CurtainCave on theMountain of Flowers and Fruit, is presentlygiving full rein to his wicked nature, committingmurders, andrefusing to submit to discipline. He killed thedevil messengers of the Ninth Hell with hismagic, and heterrified the Ten Benevolent Kings of theUnderworld with his power. He made an uproar in the SenluoPalace and crossed some names out by force.He has made the race of monkeys completelyuncontrollable,and given eternal life to the macaques. He has

annulled the law of transmigration and broughtthem beyondbirth and death. I, impoverished monk that I am,importune the might of Heaven by presentingthis memorial.



I prostrate myself to beg that Heavenly soldiersbe despatched to subdue this fiend, bring thepositive andNegative back into order, and give lastingsecurity to the Underworld.When the Jade Emperor had read this throughhe ordered, "Let the Lord of Darkness return totheUnderworld. We shall send generals to arrestthe demon." The King of Qinguang then bowedtill his headtouched the floor and took his leave.His Celestial Majesty then asked all his civil andmilitary officials, "When was this monkeydemon born?What is his origin, that he should have suchpowers?"Before he had finished speaking,Thousandímile Eye and WindíaccompanyingEar came forward from theranks of officials and said, "This demon monkeyis the stone monkey who was born of heaventhree hundredyears ago. At the time nobody paid anyattention to him, and we do not know where herefined himself andbecame an Immortal in recent years, so that he

has been able to make the tigers and dragonssubmit to him andto strike his name off the register of the dead.""Which divine general shall be sent down tocapture him?" asked the Jade Emperor, andbefore he had



finished speaking the Great White Planetstepped forward, bowed down, and submitted,"All beings in theupper worlds that have nine apertures canbecome Immortals. This monkey has a bodythat was created byHeaven and Earth and conceived by the sun andmoon. His head touches they sky and his feetstand on theearth; he drinks the dew and eats the mist. Howdoes he differ from humans, if he hassucceeded in cultivatingthe way of immortality and can subdue dragonsand tigers? I beg Your Majesty to remember your lifeígivingmercy and hand down a sage edict of amnestyand enlistment, summoning him to this upper world andinscribing his name on the list of officeholders,thus keeping him here under control. If heobeys Your Majesty's heavenly commands, he can later bepromoted; and if he disobeys, he can bearrested. This will bothavoid military operations and be a way of winning over an Immortal."The Jade Emperor, delighted with the

suggestion, ordered that it should be put intoeffect. He told the WenquStar Officer to compose the edict, andcommanded the Great White planet to persuadethe monkey to acceptthe amnesty.



The Great White Planet left Heaven by theSouthern Gate, and brought his propitiouscloud down by theWater Curtain Cave, where he said to the littlemonkeys, "I am an envoy from Heaven, and I amcarrying adivine edict inviting your great king to the upper world. Go and tell him at once."The little monkeys outside conveyed themessage by relays into the depths of the cave:"Your Majesty, there'san old man outside carrying a document on hisback. He says he's an envoy from Heaven withan invitationfor you." The Handsome Monkey King wasdelighted.He said, "I'd been thinking of going up toHeaven to have a look round for the past coupleof days, and now aheavenly envoy has come to invite me.""Ask him in at once," he shouted, hastilystraightening his clothes and going out to meetthe envoy.The Planet came straight in, stood facing theSouth, and said, "I am the Great White Planet of the West, and Ihave come down to earth with an Edict of

Amnesty and enlistment from the Jade Emperor to invite you toHeaven to be given office as an Immortal.""I am very grateful to you, venerable Planet, for condescending to come here," replied SunWukong with a



smile; then he told his subjects to prepare afeast to entertain the visitor."I'm afraid I can't delay," replied the Planet, "as Iam carrying a divine edict, so may I ask Your Majesty tocome back with me now? We can talk at leisureafter your glorious elevation.""Thank you for coming," said Sun Wukong. "I'msorry you couldn't take some refreshmentsbefore leaving."Then he called for his four Stalwart Generalsand ordered them, "Give my sons andgrandsons a thoroughtraining. When I've had a look round in Heaven,I'll take you all to live with me up there." Thefour StalwartGenerals accepted their orders, and the MonkeyKing made his cloud carry him up above theclouds. He wasRaised to a highíranking heavenly office,Listed among the courtiers in the clouds.If you don't know what office he was given,listen to the explanation in the next installment.

Journey to the West 3

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Transcript of Journey to the West 3