Journey 014: Acts of … Compassion?

Sun Wukong returns to his master and finds a nasty little surprise waiting for him.

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Welcome to the Chinese Lore Podcast, where I retell classic Chinese stories in English. This is episode 14 of Journey to the West.

Last time, after he killed a few bandits, Sun Wukong got an earful from his master San Zang and flew off in a huff. After a cup of tea and some self-motivated storytelling from his old acquaintance the dragon king of the East Sea, Wukong was convinced to go back to San Zang and resume their journey. On the way, he ran into the Bodhisattva Guanyin, who told him to hurry on back to his master but didn’t tell him that she had left San Zang with a little treat for him.

Soon, Wukong descended from the clouds and landed right by San Zang, who apparently had been sitting on the side of the road since Wukong flew off. 

“Master, why haven’t you continued on your journey? Why are you still sitting here?” Wukong asked as he approached.

“Where did you go?” San Zang asked. “I didn’t dare to move anywhere, so all I could do was sit here and wait for you.”

“Oh I went to see my old friend, the dragon king of the East Sea, to bum a cup of tea.”

“My pupil,” San Zang said, “a monk shouldn’t lie. You had left me but for two hours. How could you claim to have gone to the dragon king of the East Sea?”

Wukong laughed. “Master, to tell you the truth, I can fly using the Somersault Cloud. One somersault will take me 108,000 miles. So I could come and go so quickly.”

San Zang now laid on the guilt trip. “I scolded you a bit much, and you threw a tantrum and abandoned me,” he said. “You may have the skill to go get yourself a cup of tea, but I couldn’t go anywhere and could only sit here and starve. How could you?”

“Master, if you’re hungry, let me go beg some food for you,” Wukong offered. And just to clarify, when traveling monks are in need of food, they typically went knocking on doors and asking for a little generosity. It was a commonly accepted practice.

“There’s no need to go beg for food,” San Zang said. “I still have some biscuits in my bundle that the hunter’s mother gave me. Just take my alms bowl and go get some water. I’ll eat a couple biscuits, and we can get on the road.”

So Wukong went to open up the bundle. He found the biscuits and brought them over to San Zang. But then, he noticed a shiny brocade shirt and a pretty golden floral pattern cap stashed away in the bundle as well.

“Did you bring these from the East?” he asked.

“Oh those were my childhood clothes,” said San Zang, who just a minute ago was lecturing his pupil about not lying. “Whoever wears that cap can recite scripture without having to learn it. And whoever wears the shirt will know how to perform all the rituals without needing to practice them.”

“Good master, how about you give them to me?” an excited Wukong asked.

“They might not fit, but if they do, you can wear them,” San Zang said.

So Wukong quickly took off the old white tunic that he had been wearing and put on the shirt. It was as if the garment had been tailor-made for him. Then, he put on the pretty cap.

When San Zang saw his disciple put on the cap, he stopped eating his biscuits and discretely muttered the Band-Tightening spell that Guanyin had taught him. Immediately, Wukong started screaming that his head hurt. San Zang kept repeating the spell, and Wukong was in such agony that he started rolling on the ground and tearing the cap apart. San Zang was afraid he might tear off the golden band, so he stopped muttering the spell. And just like that, Wukong’s head stopped hurting.

Wukong reached up and felt a band wound tightly around his head like a golden thread. He tried to take it off but couldn’t. He tried to snap it but couldn’t. It’s as if the thing had taken root around his scalp. He now took the needle out of his ear and tried to use it to pry off the band. San Zang was afraid he might actually break the band, so he started muttering the spell again, and immediately Wukong collapsed in pain and tumbled around, his face flushed, his eyes bulging, and his whole body going numb. The sight of his pupil rolling around in agony was too much for San Zang, and he stopped muttering the spell again.

“Master, you’re the one putting a curse on me?!” Wukong exclaimed.

“I … I was just reciting a Band-Tightening spell. I didn’t curse you,” San Zang said, splitting some mighty fine hairs.

“Try reciting that spell again,” Wukong said, wanting to test his theory.

So San Zang started reciting the spell again, and sure enough, Wukong’s head started hurting again.

“Stop, stop!” Wukong screamed. “Every time you recite that spell my head hurts! What is this?!”

“Are you going to listen to my instruction now?” San Zang asked.

“I will, I will!”

“And you will not act up anymore?!”

“I won’t dare! Never again!”

But even as he was saying that, Wukong was thinking some nasty thoughts. He suddenly whipped out his golden rod and brought it down toward San Zang’s head. A panicked San Zang hurriedly recited the spell again, and Wukong was in such pain that he fell to the ground, tossed his rod aside, and couldn’t even lift his hand.

“Master, master! I understand! Please, stop! Stop!”

“How dare you try to hit me?!” San Zang scolded him.

“I won’t dare!” Wukong pleaded. “Tell me, who taught you this spell?”

“An old woman taught it to me.”

“That old woman must be Guanyin! How could she do this to me?! Let me go to the South Sea to beat her!”

“If she taught me this spell, then she must know it, too,” San Zang said. “If you go looking for her and she starts reciting it, she could kill you.”

That was true enough, and Wukong now changed his mind. He could only kneel and beg, “Master, this must be her way of controlling me and making me follow you to the West. I’ll leave her alone, but please don’t recite this spell often. I’m willing to protect you on your journey and will never think about backing out again.”

“If that’s the case, then help me on my horse and let’s go,” San Zang said.

So Wukong made peace with his situation, gathered himself, straightened up his clothing, saddled the horse, and packed up the luggage. Master and disciple then continued to head West.

After some more days on the road, it was now the height of winter. As the chilling wind howled, San Zang and Wukong embarked on a winding path that cut through gorges and cliffs. Seated atop his horse, San Zang suddenly heard the sound of tumbling water, and he asked Wukong where that was coming from.

“From what I remember, this place is called Serpent Coil Mountain, and within it is an Eagle Grief Ravine,” Wukong answered. “This must be the water from that ravine.”

Soon, they arrived on the edge of the ravine. San Zang reined in his horse and took a look. He saw:

A bubbling cold stream piercing through the clouds,

Its limpid current reddened by the sun.

Its splatter in night rain stirs quiet vales;

Its colors glow at dawn to fill the air.

Wave after wave seems like flying chips of jade,

Their deep roar resonant as the clear wind.

It flows to join one vast stretch of smoke and tide,

Where gulls are lost with egrets but no fishers bide.

While they were checking out the ravine, they suddenly heard a loud noise coming from below. A dragon darted out of the water and soared up the cliffside, charging right at San Zang. Wukong hurriedly dropped the luggage, pulled his master off the horse, and retreated. The dragon couldn’t catch up to them, so it turned back, swallowed San Zang’s horse, saddle and all, in one giant gulp, and then disappeared back into the ravine.

Meanwhile, Wukong brought San Zang to a safe high vantage point, put him down, and then went back to retrieve their belongings. All he found, though, was a load of luggage. There was no sign of the horse. He brought the luggage back to San Zang and said, “Master, that damn dragon disappeared. It must have scared away the horse.”

“How will we find it?” San Zang fretted.

“No worries. Let me go look,” Wukong said. He then took to the air and trained his fiery golden eyes in every direction. But he saw no sign of the horse anywhere. He came back down and said, “Master, that dragon must have eaten our horse. I don’t see it anywhere.”

“How big a mouth could that dragon have? How can it swallow that whole horse saddle and all?” a skeptical San Zang said. “The horse must have gotten scared and run away and is wandering somewhere in the mountain. Go take a closer look.”

“You don’t know my powers,” Wukong said. “My eyes can see a thousand miles away during the day. Within those thousand miles, I can even see a dragonfly spreading its wings. How could I have missed a horse?”

“If the dragon did eat the horse, then how could I go on?!” San Zang lamented. “Oh goodness! How will I traverse all the mountains and rivers?!”

As he fretted, his tears began to fall like rain. That was the last thing Wukong needed to see. He lost his temper and shouted, “Master, don’t be such a wimp! Just … sit here. Sit! And let me go find that scoundrel and make him return our horse!”

But San Zang grabbed him and said, “Where will you go to find him? What if he comes back while you’re gone? Won’t I be doomed then too? And then both my horse and I would be dead!”

This just made Wukong even more frustrated. He roared like thunder, “You’re so weak! So weak! You want a horse to ride, and yet you won’t let me go look for it. Should I just sit here with the luggage until we grow old?!”

Just then, they heard a voice coming from the sky. “Great Sage, don’t be frustrated. Brother Tang, don’t cry. We are gods sent by Guanyin to secretly protect you scripture pilgrims.”

When he heard that, San Zang hurriedly bowed toward the sky. Wukong, meanwhile, shouted, “Who are you guys? Tell me your names so I can check you off the roll.”

“We are the Six Gods of Darkness and the Six Gods of Light, the Guardians of Five Points, the Four Sentinels, and the Eighteen Protectors of Monasteries. We all take turns waiting on you.”

“Which one of you have the first shift today?” Wukong asked.

“The Gods of Darkness and Light, followed by the Sentinels and the Protectors. The Guardians of Five Points, except for the Golden-Headed Guardian, will be here somewhere night and day.”

“In that case, those who aren’t on duty can go for now,” Wukong said. “Let the Six Gods of Darkness and Light, the Day Sentinel, and the Guardians stay to protect my master. I will go find that damn dragon and make him return our horse.”

So the gods did as he instructed. Only now could San Zang relax and sit on the cliff. He told Wukong to be careful, and Wukong took his leave, tucked in his shirt, tied up his tiger-skin kilt, gripped his golden rod, and soared into the air over the ravine. As he hovered above the water, he shouted, “Damn mud eel! Return my horse!”

That dragon, meanwhile, was hiding at the bottom of the ravine, having a little post-lunch zen time when suddenly, he heard someone cursing him and demanding the horse back. He got pissed and flew out of the water and asked, “Who dares to curse me?”

“Stop! Return my horse!” Wukong shouted as he attacked with his rod. The dragon bristled with fangs and claws, and the two started to tangle over the ravine. After a long duel, the dragon started to fatigue, so it turned and dove back into the water and hid, refusing to come out no matter how much Wukong cursed him. Wukong had no choice but to go back to his master and tell him what happened. 

“So was it the dragon that ate my horse?” San Zang asked.

Wukong rolled his eyes hard and scoffed, “Listen to you! Of course it was him! Otherwise why would he come out to fight me?!”

“When you killed that tiger some days back, you bragged that you have the skills to tame tigers and dragons,” San Zang retorted. “So how come you couldn’t beat that dragon today?”

Well, that riled up Wukong, and he scoffed, “Enough! Let me go fight him again!”

He now leaped to the edge of the ravine and started stirring the water, churning it until the clear stream turned into a muddy mess. The dragon was restless at the bottom of the ravine, thinking, “Fortune never comes in pairs, and trouble never travels along. I just dodged calamity from heaven less than a year ago and have been whiling away my days here. And now I’ve run into this damn demon trying to do me harm!”

The more he thought about it, the more pissed off he got, until he couldn’t take it anymore and leaped out of the ravine, cursing, “Damn demon! Where did you come from? Why are you bullying me?!”

“Don’t you worry about where I came from,” Wukong shot back. “Just return my horse, and I’ll spare you life!”

“I’ve already swallowed your horse, how can I spit it back out? You’re not getting it back. What are you gonna do about it?!”

“Then you can have a taste of my rod! I’ll take your life as recompense for my horse’s life!”

And so the two of them went at it again at the foot of the cliff. After just a few exchanges, the dragon again was on his heels, so he turned into a water snake and darted into the reeds. Wukong gave chase and used his rod to beat the grass in search of the snake. When he saw no sign of it, he got agitated. So he recited an incantation to summon the local earth and mountain spirits, who promptly appeared and kneeled to pay their respects.

“Get over here and let me beat each of you five times with my rod first to assuage my anger!” Wukong shouted.

The two spirits kowtowed and pleaded, “Great Sage, please have mercy and let us speak.”

“What do you have to say?”

“Great Sage, you had been confined for a long time and we didn’t know when you were freed, so pardon us for not coming to greet you sooner.”

“Well, alright. I won’t beat you,” Wukong relented. “But tell me: Where did that strange dragon in the ravine come from? Why did he eat my master’s white horse?”

The two spirits asked, “Great Sage, you’ve never had a master and have never shown any deference to heaven or earth. What is this about your master’s horse?”

“Ah, you haven’t heard. Because I offended heaven, I suffered for 500 years. But now, thanks to the Bodhisattva Guanyin’s guidance, a sage monk sent by the Tang emperor freed me. I was instructed to become his disciple and escort him to the West to see the Buddha and fetch some scripture. When we passed through here, my master lost his horse.”

“So that’s how it is,” the spirits said. “Well, this ravine has never seen any evil. It’s wide and deep, and its water is so clear that you can see the bottom. Even large waterfowls hesitate to fly across it, because they would see their reflections in the water, think it’s other birds from their flock, and end up diving into the ravine. That’s why it’s called the Steep Eagle Grief Ravine. But in the past year, the Bodhisattva Guanyin saved a jade dragon and sent him here, telling him to wait for a scripture pilgrim and not to misbehave.”

Wait, what was that about the scripture pilgrim? So let’s back up a bit. I mentioned a few episodes back that Guanyin had made a few pit stops on her way to the Tang capital to find the scripture pilgrim. Well, this was one of them. As Guanyin and her disciple Muzha were flying by that day, they suddenly heard someone calling out to them from the air. They went closer and saw that it was a jade dragon, suspended in the air.

“Who are you, and why are you suffering like this here?” Guanyin asked.

“I am the son of the Dragon King of the West Sea,” the dragon replied. “I started a fire that accidentally burned a sacred pearl bestowed by the Jade Emperor. My father reported this to heaven, and the Jade Emperor hung me here in the sky and gave me a caning of 300 strokes. I’m going to be executed soon. Please save me!”

The death penalty for accidentally burning a pearl? That’s pretty darn harsh. Guanyin took pity on the dragon, so she went to heaven to see the Jade Emperor, who quickly welcomed her when the guards announced her arrival. She greeted him and said, “I’ve been sent by the Buddha to the East to find a scripture pilgrim. On the way, I encountered a dragon who was being punished for his offense. I have come to ask you to spare his life and give him to me. I will have him help the scripture pilgrim.”

The Jade Emperor promptly agreed and ordered his soldiers to release the dragon and hand him over to Guanyin. Guanyin thanked him and left. The dragon then kowtowed to thank her and pledged to obey her instructions. She delivered him to this Steep Eagle Grief Ravine and told him to wait for the scripture pilgrim.

Anyway, back to the present, and the local earth and mountain spirits continued their debrief for Sun Wukong. They told him, “When this dragon gets hungry, he would come out and eat some deer. But for reasons beyond us, he offended you today.”

“The first, he fought me for a bit,” Wukong said. “But then, no matter how I cursed him, he won’t come out. So I started churning the ravine to force him to come out. So he charged out to fight me again, but then found that he was no match. So he turned into a water snake and hid in the grass. I chased after him, but he disappeared.”

“Great Sage, this ravine has countless interconnected burrows and tunnels,” the spirits informed him. “The dragon must have found one of those and slipped away. But no need to lose your temper looking for him here. If you want to capture him, just get Guanyin to appear, and he’ll submit.”

Wukong now brought the spirits back with him to see San Zang and relayed what they had told him. San Zang fretted, “If you have to go invite Guanyin here, when would you be back? How can I withstand the cold and hunger?”

Ah geez, really man?! Really?! But before Wukong lost his temper again, the Golden-Headed Guardian, one of the spirits that Wukong had charged with keeping watch over San Zang, shouted from the air, “Great Sage, no need for you to go. I will go invite Guanyin for you.”

Wukong was delighted and sent the Guardian on his way while tasking the earth and mountain spirts with keeping watch over his master. The Golden-Headed Guardian now flew to the South Sea and descended upon the purple bamboo forest on Potalaka Mountain, the abode of Guanyin. When he was admitted into her presence, he relayed the reason for his visit. 

Guanyin said, “That dragon is the son of the Dragon King of the West Sea. He was sentenced to death by heaven for burning a sacred pearl. I personally went to see the Jade Emperor to save him so that he could help the Tang monk. How did he end up eating the monk’s horse instead? I must go.”

So she departed her cave and took to the air. Soon, she arrived at the ravine. As she hovered in the sky, she looked down and saw Sun Wukong cursing at the ravine. She told the Guardian to call him over. When Wukong heard that Guanyin had arrived, he flew up to her in the air and shouted to her, “You’re supposed to be compassionate. Why did you harm me?!”

“You reckless dumb stable monkey!” Guanyin shot back. “I pulled all sorts of strings to recruit a scripture pilgrim and told him to save you. Instead of thanking me, why are you complaining to me?!”

“If you were going to save me, then you should’ve just let me live free afterward. But when you ran into me over the East Sea a while back, you first insulted me and told me to dedicate myself to protect the Tang monk. That’s fine. But why did you then give him a flower hat and tricked me into putting it on? And then you taught him that band tightening spell. That old monk recited the damn spell over and over, making my head hurt time and again. Aren’t you harming me?!”

Guanyin chuckled, “You cheeky ape! You refused to obey his teachings and follow the right path. If I didn’t keep you under control, you would get reckless again and who knows what kind of trouble you’ll cause then. If you stir up trouble like you did before, who’s going to deal with it? This was the only way to convince you to follow the Buddhist path.”

“Well, let’s put that aside for a minute,” Wukong said. “Why did you then put that criminal dragon here to become a demon and have him eat my master’s horse? You’re allowing the wicked to commit evil deeds!”

“I personally saved that dragon’s life and sent him here to help the scripture pilgrim,” Guanyin explained. “Think about it. How can a mortal horse from the East survive the long trek to the West? You need to have a dragon horse.”

“Well, he’s afraid of me and refuses to come out of hiding,” Wukong said. “So what now?”

Guanyin told the Golden-Headed Guardian, “Go to the edge of the ravine and call out, ‘The third son of the Dragon King of the West Sea, come on out. The Bodhisattva of the South Sea is here.’ He will come out then.”

The Guardian did so, and after calling out twice, the water churned, and the dragon indeed leaped out of the ravine. He assumed human form, and flew up into the sky to pay his respects to Guanyin.

“Since you so kindly saved my life, I’ve been waiting here for a long time,” the dragon said. “But I have heard nothing about the scripture pilgrim.”

Pointing to Sun Wukong, Guanyin said, “That’s the scripture pilgrim’s first disciple.”

The dragon was taken aback. “Bodhisattva, that’s my nemesis,” he said. “I was hungry yesterday and ate his horse. He possesses some strength and got the better of me in our faceoffs. Then he cursed me while I hid. He’s never mentioned that he’s going to fetch scripture.”

Wukong cut in, “Well, you never asked who I was, so why would I tell you?”

“Didn’t I ask you where you came from?” the dragon shot back. “But you said, ‘Nevermind where I came from, just return my horse.’ You never mentioned a Tang monk!”

Well, Guanyin took the dragon’s side and faulted Wukong. “You monkey,” she said. “You’re always bragging about yourself and refuse to give anyone half a compliment. You’ll encounter more people who will join you on this journey. If they ask, lead with the words “scripture pilgrim,” and you’ll spare yourself some hassle.”

Wukong happily received her instructions. Guanyin then approached the dragon, plucked the shining pearl hanging from his neck, and used her willow twig to cast some magic dew drops from her vase on his body. She then blew a breath on him and chanted, “Change!”

The dragon instantly transformed into a white horse. Guanyin then instructed him, “You must commit yourself fully to this task. After you’ve succeeded, you will no longer be an ordinary dragon and will instead attain the fruit of a golden body.”

The dragon slash horse took all her instructions to heart, though he couldn’t respond, seeing how he now had a bit in his mouth. Guanyin now told Wukong to take the new horse to his master and was about to depart, but Wukong stopped her and griped, “I’m not going West anymore! It’s a treacherous journey to the West, and I have to protect that mortal monk. When the hell will we ever get there? And there are so many obstacles, even my own life is in danger. How can we attain any fruit? I’m not going! I’m not going!”

But Guanyin said, “Back before you attained the Dao of mankind, you were willing to dedicate yourself to cultivation. Today, you’ve escaped calamity. How can you get complacent now? In my sect, you must be committed if you want to achieve any results. If you encounter any dangers or obstacles, I will make it so that all your calls for help will be answered. If you find yourself in really dire straits, I will personally come help you.”

So Guanyin was basically promising Wukong a weekly act of deus ex machina to help him out of whatever trouble he might find. But she wasn’t done. She told him, “Come over here; I’ll grant you one more power.”

She now pulled off three leaves from her willow twig, put them against the back of his head, and chanted, “Change.”

The leaves transformed into three special hairs.

“When you find yourself in a real jam, these three hairs can turn into whatever you need to help you,” she said.

Uhh, in case you forgot, I could already turn all 54,000 hairs on my body into whatever I wanted, as we established back in episode 4. So how’s this a “new” power? But anyway, Wukong knew when to bite his tongue. He thanked Guanyin for her help. She then took off, and he went back to see San Zang with the new horse in tow. To see how San Zang likes his new ride, tune in to the next episode of the Chinese Lore Podcast. Thanks for listening!

Music in This Episode

• “Luỹ Tre Xanh Ngát Đầu Làng (Guzheng) – Vietnam BGM” by VPRODMUSIC_Asia_BGM
• “Ravines” by Elphnt (from YouTube audio library)
• “The Quiet Aftermath by Sir Cubworth (from YouTube audio library)