Journey 045: Flower Power
Guanyin shows how she’s all about mercy and compassion … after she impales you with 36 knives.
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Transcript
Welcome to the Chinese Lore Podcast, where I retell classic Chinese stories in English. This is episode 45 of Journey to the West.
Last time, after trading doppelganger shenanigans with Red Boy but coming no closer to rescuing his master San Zang or fellow disciple Zhu Bajie, Sun Wukong did what he should’ve done from the get-go and went to ask the Bodhisattva Guanyin for help. As she set off to help him, Guanyin bottled up a sea’s worth of water in her magic vase. She also sent her disciple, Muzha, up to heaven to see his father, the Pagoda-Wielding King Li (3) Jing (4), and borrow his set of magic knives.
Once Muzha brought back the set of 36 knives, Guanyin took them, muttered an incantation, and turned them into a lotus flower dais. She hopped on and sat in the center. Watching this, Sun Wukong chuckled under his breath, “The Bodhisattva is such a cheapskate. She has her own lotus flower dais in her pool, but she doesn’t want to use that one. Instead she’s borrowing one from someone else.”
“Wukong, enough. Follow me,” Guanyin said.
They took to the air and flew toward Red Boy’s lair. Soon, they saw a mountain in the distance, and Wukong told Guanyin that they were about 100 miles from Red Boy’s cave. Guanyin promptly descended to the top of the peak and muttered an incantation to summon all the local mountain and earth spirits.
After they kowtowed to her, she told them, “Don’t be afraid. I’ve come to capture the demon king on this mountain. You all sweep the surrounding area. There must not be a single living thing within 100 miles of here. All the creatures must be safely moved to higher ground.
The spirits snapped to, and they reported back momentarily that the job was done. Guanyin dismissed them. She then took out her vase and poured out the water. The water gushed out with a thunderous roar, washing over the surrounding area and turning it into a sea.
Sun Wukong couldn’t help but be secretly impressed, thinking to himself, “She is truly a compassionate Bodhisattva. If I had such powers, I would’ve just emptied that vase on the mountain and not given a damn about the animals.”
Just then, Guanyin called for him to reach out his hand. Wukong extended his left hand. Guanyin dipped her willow twig in the dew water from her vase and wrote the character for “Confusion” in his palm. She then told him, “Clench that fist and go fight the demon. But you can only lose. Once you lure him here to me, I will take care of him.”
So Wukong flew to Red Boy’s cave. With his left hand in a fist and his right hand wielding his golden rod, he demanded battle. When the lackeys reported to Red Boy, he initially just said, “Shut the door tight and ignore him.”
But Sun Wukong kept cursing outside, and when Red Boy still refused to acknowledge him, he raised his rod and smashed a hole in the door. Now THAT riled up Red Boy. He grabbed his fire-tip spear and went out to face Sun Wukong. Red Boy cursed, “Damn monkey, you really don’t know any better. I let you get the better of me last time, and yet you still aren’t satisfied? And now you’re back and even smashed my door? I’ll make you pay for that!”
But Wukong shot back, “Oh son, you chased your daddy out the door. You should pay for THAT!”
Red Boy became flushed with embarrassment at the reminder about the fun that Sun Wukong had with him by pretending to be his father. So he raised his spear and attacked. Wukong countered with his rod in one hand. After a few exchanges, Wukong turned and fell back, dragging his rod behind him. Red Boy stood in front of the cave and said, “I’m going to go wash San Zang now.”
“Oh good son, be careful,” Wukong teased him. “Heaven can see what you’re doing.”
That riled up Red Boy again, so he attacked again. After a few more exchanges, Wukong again fell back, which prompted Red Boy to curse and ask, “Damn monkey. You were able to fight me for 30 exchanges before. Why do you keep running away this time?”
“Good son, your daddy is afraid of your fire,” Wukong laughed.
“I won’t use my fire then. Come back and fight!”
“Even so, we should fight a little farther off. A true hero doesn’t attack people in front of his own house.”
Red Boy took the bait and gave chase. Soon, Wukong saw the Bodhisattva Guanyin up ahead, so he said to Red Boy, “Demon, I’m afraid of you. Spare me. You’ve chased me all the way to Guanyin’s island. Why won’t you turn back?”
But Red Boy refused to believe him and just kept pursuing. Wukong crouched and hid in Guanyin’s magic aura. When Red Boy caught up and saw no sign of the monkey, he approached Guanyin, glowered, and barked, “Are you Sun Wukong’s backup?!”
Guanyin gave no answer. Red Boy raised his spear and shouted again, “Are you Sun Wukong’s backup?!”
Again, Guanyin did not reply. So Red Boy stabbed at her heart. Guanyin turned into a beam of golden light and vanished into the sky. Sun Wukong flew up with her and said, “Bodhisattva, you’ve tricked me. When that demon kept asking you a question, you pretended to be deaf and mute and did not dare to make a peep. And then you fled when he attacked. You even left your lotus dais behind!”
“Don’t say a word,” Guanyin told him. “Just watch what he’ll do next.”
As they looked on from the air, they saw Red Boy scoffing down below, “Damn monkey! He underestimated me. He kept losing to me, so he went to get some BS Bodhisattva, but she’s run off without a trace with just one thrust of my spear. She even ditched her dais. Let me go sit down on it.”
So Red Boy climbed up onto the dais and sat down with legs crossed like Guanyin.
“Oh great! Now your dais is his!” Wukong lamented from the air.
“Wukon, what are you talking about now?” Guanyin asked.
“I was saying that your lotus dais has become someone else’s. That demon is squatting on it. No way he’s going to give it back.”
“But that’s exactly what I wanted him to do.”
“But look: He’s small and nimble. He sits on the dais even more securely than you do.”
“Be quiet, and observe my powers,” Guanyin said.
She now pointed down with her willow twig and shouted, “Retract!” In the blink of an eye, the flowers that made up the lotus dais vanished, and Red Boy found himself sitting on the 36 knives, with their tips poking through his skin and into his legs.
Guanyin now told her disciple Muzha, “Take your Demon Taming Staff and go knock on the knife handles until their tips poke through.”
Muzha did as she commanded, hitting the handles of the knives thousands of times until their blades poked all the way through Red Boy’s legs. The demon’s legs were now impaled, and his blood gushed out. Red Boy, gritting his teeth, ignored the pain as he tried to pull the knives out. But Guanyin now called Muzha back and said, “Don’t kill him.”
She then pointed again with her willow twig and uttered another incantation. The tips of the knives now turned into halberds with inverted barbs that dug backward into Red Boy’s flesh, making them impossible to pull out.
Panicked, Red Boy pleaded in agony, “Bodhisattva, your disciple was blind and didn’t recognize your great powers. Please exercise compassion and spare my life! I will never dare to do evil again. I’m willing to join the Buddhist school.”
Hearing this, Guanyin descended and asked, “Are you willing to take the vows?”
Nodding with tears in his eyes, Red Boy said, “If you will spare my life, I am willing to accept the rules of Buddhism.”
“You are willing to join our school?”
“If you will spare me, yes!”
“In that case, I’ll shave your head.”
Guanyin took out a golden shaving knife and, with just a few strokes, shaved Red Boy’s hair into a tonsure, leaving him with a topknot and three little tufts. This prompted Wukong to giggle, “What a shame for this demon! Now you don’t look like a boy or a girl!”
Guanyin said to Red Boy, “Since you have accepted our rules, I will not mistreat you. I will appoint you the Page Sudhana. Do you accept?”
Red Boy kept nodding, so Guanyin pointed at the dais and shouted, “Retract!” With a crashing sound, the magic knives fell to the ground, and Red Boy’s body showed no scars. Guanyin now told Muzha to deliver the knives back to his father and then go on back to her sanctuary.
But once Muzha left, Red Boy, seeing that his body was no worse for the wear but that his hair was now a subject of ridicule, had a change of heart. He picked up his spear and said to Guanyin, “You don’t have any real powers to tame me! You were just using an illusion. I refuse to accept your rules! Taste my spear!”
As he attacked, Sun Wukong was just about to block his thrust, but Guanyin said, “No need to fight! I will deal with him.”
She pulled a golden hoop from her sleeve and told Wukong, “When I was heading East to find a scripture pilgrim, the Buddha gave me three hoops: one of Gold, one of Tightening, and one of Prohibition. I put the Tightening one on you. The Prohibition one was used to tame the Black Bear Demon, who is now my mountain guardian. I haven’t been able to part with this Gold one. But this demon is so rude, so I’ll bestow it on him.”
She then tossed the golden hoop into the air and shouted, “Change!” The single hoop turned into five hoops, and she chucked them at Red Boy, shouting, “Strike!”
One hoop wrapped itself around Red Boy’s neck. Two others on his wrists, and the last two on his ankles. Guanyin then told Wukong, “Move away; I’m about to recite the Golden Band Spell.”
“What? Bodhisattva, I asked you to come tame the demon. Why are you hexing me?!” Wukong protested.
“No, this is not the Band-Tightening Spell. It’s the Golden-Band Spell, and it only affects that boy.”
So Wukong stayed nearby and listened while Guanyin recited the spell. Red Boy rolled on the ground in pain. After reciting the spell a few times, Guanyin stopped, and so did the pain. Red Boy got up and found that the five hoops were now tightly wound into his flesh, and the more he pulled on them, the more they hurt.
Wukong laughed and taunted him, “Oh my good boy, the Bodhisattva is putting a lucky amulet ring around your neck to make sure you grow up safely.”
Red Boy became irate and stabbed at Wukong with his spear. Wukong ducked behind Guanyin and shouted, “Recite the spell! Recite the spell!”
But instead, Guanyin used her willow twig to flick a drop of dew water toward Red Boy and shouted, “Close!” Immediately, Red Boy was forced to drop his spear aside as his palms came together in front of his chest. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t pull his hands apart anymore. Only now did he realize Guanyin’s true powers. Defeated, he could do nothing but bow his head and kowtow.
Guanyin now chanted another spell, turned over her vase, and took back all the sea water that she had unleashed. She then told Wukong, “This demon has been tamed, but his heart is still wild. I’m going to make him bow with every step until he reaches my mountain. You should hurry and go save your master.”
Wukong kowtowed to thank her and offered to escort her part of the way, but she told him, “No need. Don’t delay and endanger your master’s life.”
While Guanyin left with her newest conscript for what was sure to be a very long trip back home, what with the bowing along the way, Wukong met up with fellow disciple Sha Zeng and told him how Guanyin had tamed Red Boy. The two then leaped across the ravine, stormed into the cave, and killed all the demons inside. They then lowered Zhu Bajie from the ceiling and freed him from the sack that he had been hanging in.
“Brother, where is that demon?” a pissed off Bajie asked. “Let me go smack him with my rake a few times to quell my anger!”
But Wukong told him they needed to save their master, so the three went to the back and found San Zang, stripped naked and weeping in a courtyard. Sha Zeng untied him, Wukong helped him get dressed, and the three disciples kowtowed to him.
He thanked them and asked how they tamed the demon. So Wukong told the story again, and San Zang hurriedly kowtowed toward the South to thank Guanyin. But Wukong said, “No need to thank her. We actually did her a favor; she got a new acolyte.”
Then, Wukong instructed Sha Zeng to gather up all the valuables in the cave. They then found some rice and made a meal for San Zang. After they ate, the pilgrims once again set out and continued Westward.
The pilgrims traveled for more than a month without incident, and then one day, they heard the roaring sound of water. San Zang asked with alarm where that was coming from, but Sun Wukong laughed, “Master, you can’t be a monk if you worry so much. There are four of us, and yet you’re the only one to hear the water? Have your forgotten the Heart Sutra?”
San Zang said, “The Heart Sutra was passed to me verbally by Master Crow’s Nest. It contains 54 sentences and 270 characters. After hearing it, I’ve often recited it. Which sentence are you saying that I forgot?”
“Old master, you forgot the sentence ‘There is no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, and no mental process.’ We men of religion should not look on beauty, hear music, smell sweet fragrances, taste good flavors, feel cold or hot, or occupy our minds with delusions. This is the way to repel the Six Bandits that attack the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. But because of your mission to fetch scripture, you’re constantly worrying. You’re afraid of demons because you cling to your body. When you ask for food, you’re moving your tongue. When you enjoy a pleasant aroma, your nose is stimulated. When you hear a sound, your ears are startled. When you see something, you fix your eyes on them. If you keep courting those Six Bandits, how can you reach the West and see the Buddha?”
San Zang fell into silent contemplation for a moment when he heard those words. Then he said,
“Since the year I left my sage lord,
I have hurried day and night with utmost devotion.
My straw sandals have worn through the mountain mists;
My bamboo hat has split apart the ridge-top clouds.
In the still of night, the monkeys’ cries are especially mournful;
In the bright moonlight, the birds’ clamors are hard to endure.
When shall the three Samadhis be fulfilled,
So that I may obtain the Buddha’s wondrous scriptures?”
A Samadhi, by the way, is a state of meditative consciousness in Buddhism and other Indian religions. When Wukong heard that, he couldn’t help but clap and laugh out loud. “Oh master, turns out you’re just homesick! If you really want to achieve the Three Samadhis, it’s not that hard. As the saying goes, ‘The achievement completes itself at the right time.’ ”
Zhu Bajie turned around and said, “Brother, if we keep running into vicious demons, we would not succeed even if we walked for a thousand years.”
But Sha Zeng told him, “Brother Zhu, you are as coarse-tongued as me. Don’t irritate Brother Sun. Just keep carrying your load, and one day we’ll succeed.”
They kept walking as they bantered, and soon, they came upon a great black river that stretched as far as the eye could see. The pilgrims perched on the bank and took a close look. It was an impressive river.
Layer upon layer of surging swells,
Fold upon fold of turbid waves—
The layered billows churn black mire;
The folded breakers roll like dark oil.
Viewed nearby, they cast no reflection of a human form;
Seen from afar, no shape of tree can be discerned.
Rolling and rolling—an earth of ink;
Vast and heaving—a thousand miles of ash.
Foam floats up like piled charcoal;
Spray leaps like overturned coal.
Oxen and sheep will not drink;
Crows and magpies can scarcely fly.
The cattle shun it for its inky depth;
The birds fear it for its boundless gloom.
Only the reeds along the banks know the season;
Only the flowers and grasses on the shoals compete in fresh green wonder.
Lakes and rivers exist everywhere beneath Heaven;
Streams and marshes abound throughout the world.
Men may meet wherever life takes them—
But who has ever seen the Black Water River of the West?
San Zang dismounted and asked his disciples why the water was so murky and black. Zhu Bajie said, “Someone must have washed out an indigo dying vat.”
Sha Zeng piped in and said, “No. Someone must have washed their inkstone in this river.”
“Stop your wild speculations,” Wukong said. “Let’s find a way to get master safely across.”
Bajie said, “Well, it won’t be hard for me to get across. I could either fly over it or wade into the water, and I’ll be across in less than the time it takes for a meal.”
Sha Zeng also said, “If it were me, I can also fly or swim across in a short time.”
“It’s easy for us, but hard for master,” Wukong said.
“How wide is this river?” San Zang asked.
“Maybe about 3 miles?” Bajie said.
“Can one of you find a way to carry me across?”
“Bajie can,” Wukong said.
“No, I can’t. If I try to fly with master, I won’t make it three feet off the ground. As the saying goes, ‘Carrying a mortal is like carrying a mountain.’ And if I try to swim across with him on my back, both of us would sink.”
While they were debating what to do, they suddenly saw a man rowing a small boat from upriver. San Zang was delighted. “Pupils, look!” he said. “There’s a boat. Let’s ask him to ferry us across.”
“Hey boatman! Come here! You’ve got passengers!” Sha Zeng shouted.
But the boatman shouted back, “I’m not a ferry; I don’t take passengers.”
“One should help out others,” Sha Zeng retorted. “You may not be a ferry, but it’s not like we’re always bothering you for a ride. We’re monks from the East, sent to fetch scriptures. Do us a favor and ferry us across. We’ll be grateful to you.”
Hearing that, the boatman rowed his boat near shore, held the rudder, and said, “Elder, my boat is small. How can I ferry all of you across?”
San Zang took a closer look and saw that his boat was carved from a single length of wood. It was barely big enough to seat two people.
“What should we do?” he asked his disciples.
“We’ll have to make two trips,” Sha Zeng suggested.
Zhu Bajie, angling for a break, said, “Brother Sha, you and Brother Sun stay on this side and watch the luggage and horse, and I’ll escort master across first. And then we can ferry the horse across, and Brother Sun can just fly over.”
You know, this is where someone should really speak up and say, hey remember that horse is actually a dragon prince who used to live in the sea, so he’s probably the best swimmer out of all of us and shouldn’t have any trouble getting across. But whatever. The party agreed to Bajie’s idea, so he helped San Zang onto the boat, and the boatman pushed off into the torrents.
The tiny boat drifted into the center of the river. Suddenly, with a loud sound, the waves raged, blocking out the sun and the sky as a wild gale swept across the water. By the time it settled, the boat and all its passengers had vanished.
Ah crap.
Watching from the bank, Wukong and Sha Zeng panicked. Wukong lamented, “What should we do? Master keeps running into calamity. He just recently escaped a demon’s clutches and enjoyed a peaceful stretch on the road, but now he’s in trouble again!”
“Maybe the boat capsized,” Sha Zeng said. “Let’s go down river and look.”
“No, the boat didn’t capsize,” Wukong said. If it did, Bajie knows how to swim, and he would have carried master out from the water. Just now, I saw that there was something not right with that boatman. He must have summoned this wind and dragged master into the water.”
“Brother, why didn’t you say so earlier? You keep watch over the luggage and horse, and I’ll go into the river and search.”
“This water’s color is not right; you might not be able to handle it,” Wukong cautioned.
“It doesn’t compare to the Drifting Sand River that I lived in. I can handle it.”
So Sha Zeng took off his clothes, grabbed his Buddhist staff, and leaped into the river. He parted the water and stepped into the waves. As he traveled under the water, he suddenly heard someone talking. Sha Zeng ducked to the side and sneaked a peek. He saw a pavilion, and on the doors were large characters that read, “Palace of the God of the Black River in Hengyang (2,2) Valley.”
Then, he heard the voice of a demon. This was none other than the “boatman”. The demon said, “It took so much effort, but I finally got him. This monk has cultivated his Dao for 10 lifetimes. If you can eat just one piece of his flesh, you’ll become immortal. I’ve been waiting for him for so long, but now it’s finally paid off. Little ones, bring out the metal steamer. Steam this monk. Also, go invite my second uncle to come share this treat with me.”
Sha Zeng could feel the fire flaring up in his heart as he listened. He raised his staff and started beating on the door of the pavilion, cursing, “Damn demon! Send my master and brother out right now!”
The lackey watching the door ran in to report that a sullen-looking monk was outside, banging on the door and cursing, demanding his people back. The demon lord quickly donned his armor and grabbed his weapon, a sectioned steel short staff, and rushed outside. He had a square face and round eyes that gleamed with rosy radiance. His curling lips framed a huge mouth as red as a basin of blood. His chin sported a few sparse whiskers that looked like iron wires. Cinnabar smeared his temples, and his hair was tangled and bristled. He wore an iron suit of armor and a golden helmet inlaid with jewels.
“Who is banging on my door?!” the demon shouted.
“You ignorant creature!” Sha Zeng shot back. “How dare you pretend to be a boatman and abduct my master? Return him at once, and I’ll spare your life!”
The demon laughed and said, “Damn monk, you really don’t know any better. That’s right, I took your master, and I’m going to steam him and invite guests to the feast! C’mon, let’s fight it out! If you can beat me in three exchanges, I’ll return your master. But if you can’t, then I’ll cook you as well, and you can forget about going to the West!”
That riled up Sha Zeng even more. He raised his staff and attacked, and the demon countered. After 30 exchanges, neither had the upper hand. Sha Zeng thought to himself, “This demon is a match for me. I can’t beat him alone. Let me lure him out and let Brother Sun take care of him.”
So Sha Zeng feigned a blow and then turned and fled. But the demon refused to give chase and just said, “You go on. I won’t fight you anymore. I need to go prepare for guests.”
Sha Zeng leaped out of the water, huffing and puffing, and told Sun Wukong, “Brother, that demon was so rude!”
“You were down there for a long time,”Wukong said. “What kind of demon was it? Did you see master?”
Sha Zeng relayed his encounter with the demon and how the demon refused to bite on his trick. He told Wukon, “That demon looked like a giant soft-shelled turtle, or an alligator.”
“Hmm, I wonder who his uncle is,” Wukong pondered.
Just then, an old man appeared from a bend in the river farther down. He kneeled from a distance and called out, “Great Sage, accept this bow from the river spirit of the Black Water River.”
“Are you that demon who pretended to be a boatman?” Wukong barked. “Are you trying to trick me again?”
The old man kowtowed and wept, “Great Sage, I’m no demon. I’m the real river spirit here. That demon showed up here on a high tide from the West Sea during the fifth month last year. He fought me. Alas, I am old and weak, so I was no match for him. He occupied my residence and hurt a lot of my aquatic relatives. I had no choice but to go to the sea to file a petition against him. Turns out the Dragon King of the West Sea is his maternal uncle. He rejected my petition and told me to just learn to live with him. I wanted to go to heaven to complain, but my rank is too feeble and I could not see the Jade Emperor. But now that you’re here, I have come to pay my respects and ask for help. Please help me get revenge!”
“Based on what you said, the dragon kings of all four seas are at fault,” Wukong said. “That demon has abducted my master and brother, and says he’s going to cook them to treat his uncle. I was just about to capture him, but good thing you brought me this intel. Alright, you wait here with Sha Zeng. I’ll go to the sea and drag that dragon king here to force him to capture this demon.”
To see how that little visit will go, 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