Journey 053: Gone Fishing
San Zang’s disciples finally do what they should’ve done from the get-go in their quest to tame the demon of the Heaven-Penetrating River.
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Transcript
Welcome to the Chinese Lore Podcast, where I retell classic Chinese stories in English. This is episode 53 of Journey to the West.
Last time, after the local demon, the Great King of Numinous Power, used some ice shenanigans to abduct San Zang, the three disciples found his lair at the bottom of the Heaven-Penetrating River. While Sun Wukong waited above, Zhu Bajie and Sha Zeng went to challenge for battle. But before they traded blows, they first engaged in a heated war of words.
After trading a couple insults, the demon king scoffed at Zhu Bajie, “You are just all talk. Yes, I did freeze the river and abduct your master. You must be here to get him back. But this is not like our last encounter. Last time, I didn’t bring any weapons and you got lucky. But now, don’t you run away. Let’s fight three exchanges. If you can beat me, then I’ll return your master. If not, then I’ll eat you, too!”
“Oh good son, that’s exactly what I want. Take a look at my rake!” Bajie shot back.
“Oh, so you only recently became a monk,” the demon king said.
“Well, looks like you do have some powers. How did you figure out I only became a monk in recent years?”
“You know how to use a rake. You must have been working in someone’s garden and stole their rake.”
“Son, this is no gardening tool,” Bajie said. He then launched into a whole poem extolling the virtues of his rake, and since we’ve already heard something along those lines before, I’m not going to belabor the point here. In any case, the demon king refused to believe how awesome the rake was, and he raised his bronze mallet and attacked. Bajie parried his blow and said, “Damn creature, turns out you also only became a demon recently!”
“How do you figure?!”
“You wield a bronze mallet. You must’ve worked the bellows at a silversmith’s shop and stole this.”
And of course that led the demon king to go on a poetic rant of his own to sing the praises of his mallet. Sha Zeng, meanwhile, couldn’t take it anymore. He shouted, “Demon, stop boasting! As they say, ‘Talk is cheap. It’s what you do that matters.’ Don’t run, and taste my Buddhist staff!”
The demon deflected Sha Zeng’s attack and said, “You are a recent convert too.”
“How do you figure?”
“You look like a dough boy.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If you weren’t one, why are you using a rolling pin?”
And so Sha Zeng explained the awesomeness of his demon-taming staff. Now that everybody had a chance to boast about their weapons and drag this chapter out some more, the three finally got down to trading blows for real. It was a ferocious battle that lasted for four hours, and still neither side had the upper hand.
Seeing that they weren’t going to beat the demon, Bajie flashed Sha Zeng a look, and both of them pretended to fall back in defeat. The demon shouted to his lackeys, “Little ones, defend this position. I’ll chase down those scoundrels and capture them so you can eat them!”
So the demon king now darted through the water and chased Bajie and Sha Zeng to the surface of the river. Well, Sun Wukong was waiting up top, watching the river closely. Suddenly, he noticed the waves churning and roaring. Bajie was the first to leap out of the water. He jumped onto shore, shouting, “He’s coming! He’s coming!”
Sha Zeng was the next to get out, and he also told Wukong that the demon was right behind him. Just then, they heard the demon shouting, “Don’t you run!” But as soon as the demon surfaced, Sun Wukong shouted, “Taste my rod!” and attacked.
The demon dodged his blow and the two now fought on the bank of the river. But within three exchanges, the demon recognized that he was no match for Wukong, so he feigned a blow and dived back into the water, vanishing into a river that was now just as calm as before.
Wukong returned to the high grounds to meet his brothers. Sha Zeng said, “Brother, that demon didn’t seem like much on land, but he was a tough opponent in the water. Brother Bajie and I took him on together, and we could only fight him to a stalemate. How can we save master?”
“We must not dawdle, or he might harm master,” Wukong said.
Bajie now suggested, “Brother, let me go lure him out again. This time, don’t make a sound. Just wait in the air. When he pokes his head out, just hit him on the head hard. Even if you don’t kill him, you will daze him, and then I’ll finish him off with my rake.”
“Quite right, quite right,” Wukong agreed. “Only with this tag-team can we succeed.”
So Bajie and Sha Zeng went back into the water together. The demon king, meanwhile, had fled back to his palace. His new sworn sister, the Mandarin Fish Demon, said to him, “My lord, it’s a good thing you were smart enough to run for your life. Another few exchanges against that monk, and you would be done for. But I recognize that monk.”
“Who is he?”
“Years ago, when I lived in the East Sea, I heard the old dragon king sing his praises. He is the Handsome Monkey King, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven who turned heaven upside down 500 years ago. Now, he has joined the Buddhist school and is protecting the Tang monk on his pilgrimage. He is called Sun Wukong the Pilgrim. He has great powers and can turn into many things. My lord, how could you poke that hornet’s nest? Don’t fight him anymore.”
Just then, a lackey reported that Zhu Bajie and Sha Zeng were back, demanding battle again. But the demon king said, “My sister is right. I’m not going back out there. Let’s see what they can do about it.”
So he ordered his lackeys to shut the gates tight and not open no matter what their foes said. So the demon lackeys barricaded the gates with rocks. Bajie and Sha Zeng called out in challenge for a long while, but got no response. Bajie then tried to smash the door with his rake, but it was shut tight and wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he struck it. Sha Zeng advised that they should huddle with Wukong about how to proceed, so the two of them returned to the surface.
Wukong was hanging out in the sky, waiting to strike. But when he saw only his fellow disciple come back out, he came down and asked. Bajie and Sha Zeng told him that the demon king was refusing to come out and had barricaded the door.
“In that case, there’s nothing we can do,” Wukong said. “You two stay on the bank and keep watch. Don’t let the demon go anywhere. I’ll be back.”
“Brother, where are you going?” Bajie asked.
“I’m going to see the Bodhisattva Guanyin to find out where this demon came from. Then I’m going to find his ancestral home and capture his family and neighbors so that we can save master.”
“Brother, that’s a waste of time,” Bajie chuckled.
“It’s my time to waste. Don’t worry, I’ll be right back.”
And with that, Wukong zoomed off for the South Sea. Within an hour, he descended on Mount Potalaka, the abode of Guanyin. He saw the 24 spirits, along with the Mountain Guardian, aka the former Black Bear Demon, Sudhana, aka the former Red Boy, Guanyin’s top disciple Muzha, and Guanyin attendant, the Pearl-Bearing Dragon Maiden. They all greeted him, and he told them he had business with Guanyin.
But they told him, “Guanyin left this morning and did not allow anyone to accompany her. She went into her bamboo grove alone to relax. She knew you would come today, so she told us to wait for you here and tell you that she can’t see you right away. Please wait over there by the cliff for a bit. When she comes back out, she’ll explain everything.”
So Wukong sat down. Sudhana, aka Red Boy, immediately approached, bowed, and said, “Great Sage, thanks to your good will previously, I was fortunate enough to be taken under Guanyin’s wings. I never leave her side and wait for her command by her lotus dais. It’s a great kindness and compassion.”
Wukong smiled and replied, “You were blinded by your demonic powers. But now you have attained the true way. Only now do you recognize how kind I am.”
But while they chatted, Wukong was getting impatient. He said to the spirits, “Please go announce me. If we delay, it could cost my master his life.”
But all the spirits refused since Guanyin had specifically instructed them to wait for her to come out. Wukong, however, just couldn’t wait a second longer, and he ran into the bamboo grove. He looked around and saw Guanyin sitting cross-legged on a mat of withered reeds. Instead of her usual graceful outfit, she wore a close-fitting jacket, a brocade skirt, and no shoes. Her hair was loosely gathered into a single coil, unadorned with jewelry. Her arms were uncovered, and her hands held a steel knife, with which she was stripping bark from bamboo.
Seeing her, Wukong couldn’t wait anymore. He spoke up, “Bodhisattva, my sincere greetings.”
“Go wait outside,” Guanyin replied.
Wukong kowtowed and said, “My master is in trouble. I have come to ask you about the origins of that demon in the Heaven-Penetrating River.”
“Go outside for now; wait for me,” Guanyin repeated curtly.
Wukong did not dare to insist, so he walked out of the bamboo grove and asked the spirits, “What’s up with the Bodhisattva today? Why isn’t she sitting on her lotus dais? Why has she not brushed her hair and gotten dressed? Why is she stripping bamboo in the woods instead?”
The spirits told him, “We have no idea. She left her cave this morning without getting dressed, and just went into the woods. She told us to wait here for you. So she must be doing something for your sake.”
Wukong had no choice but to wait. Momentarily, Guanyin came out of the grove holding bamboo basket in her hand.
“Wukong, let’s go save the Tang monk,” she said.
Wukong hurriedly kneeled and said, “I dare not rush you. Please get dressed and ascend your dais.”
“No need. Let’s go,” she said. And so Guanyin took to the air, and Wukong hurriedly followed.
Soon, they had arrived at the Heaven-Penetrating River. When Zhu Bajie saw them, he said to Sha Zeng, “Brother Sun is too impatient. What kind of ruckus did he cause in the South Sea that would prompt the Bodhisattva to come without first brushing her hair or getting dressed?”
Soon, Guanyin and Wukong landed on the bank of the river. Bajie and Sha Zeng kneeled to greet her. She then unfastened the cord around her waist and fastened it to the basket. She then flew onto a cloud, tossed the basket into the river, held onto the end of the cord, and started muttering, “Let the dead go, let the living remain.”
After reciting that line seven times, she pulled the basket back up. Inside was a gleaming goldfish, still blinking and moving its scales.
“Wukong, hurry up and go save your master,” Guanyin called out.
“But we haven’t caught the demon yet; how can I save him?” Wukong shouted back.
“The demon is in this basket,” Guanyin told him.
Zhu Bajie and Sha Zeng bowed and asked, “How did this fish gain such powers?”
“He was a goldfish that grew up in my lotus pond,” Guanyin said. “Every day, he would swim to the surface of the water and listen to my teachings. That’s how he gained its cultivation. And the mallet he wielded was a lotus root in my pond that had not yet bloomed. He forged it into a weapon. One day, while the tide was in, he escaped and came here. This morning, I was looking at flowers in my pond but didn’t see this scoundrel come pay his respects. So I did a little divination and figured out that he had turned into a demon here and that he was going to harm your master. That’s why I came here before I even got dressed and made a basket to capture him.”
Wukong now said, “Bodhisattva, please wait for a moment. Let me summon the people of Chen Family Village to glimpse your visage. That’ll make them grateful for your kindness, and we can tell them that you tamed the demon. That way, they will faithfully worship you.”
Guanyin agreed, so Bajie and Sha Zeng rushed back to the village and shouted, “Everyone, come see the real Bodhisattva Guanyin!” The entire village rushed to the bank of the river and kneeled, not caring that they were kneeling in mud or water. They all kowtowed. One person in the group was a skilled painter, and he later painted a portrait of Guanyin with the fish basket.
Anyway, Guanyin now returned to her home, while Bajie and Sha Zeng made their way underwater to the demon’s palace to look for San Zang. There, they found that all the demon lackeys were dead and rotting. They went to the back of the palace, pried open the stone chest, and carried San Zang up to the surface.
The two old patriarchs of the Chen family now kowtowed and said to San Zang, “Sir, you didn’t listen to our pleas for you to wait; that’s why you endured such suffering.”
“No more of that,” Wukong said. “From now on, you don’t have to provide sacrifices anymore. That demon king has been eliminated and can never harm you again. Old man, we’ll have to trouble you to find a boat to ferry us across.”
The Chen family immediately snapped to and were in a tizzy preparing boats when suddenly, they heard a voice ring out from the water, “Great Sage! No need for boats, and no need to make them spend money. I can ferry your group across.”
Everyone was startled, and some of the more cowardly folks ran back to the house. The bolder ones, meanwhile, stayed back and looked on. Momentarily, a creature emerged from the water. It was an old, giant turtle.
This turtle called out, “Great sage, no need to hire a boat. I will ferry you and your master and fellow disciples across.”
Wukong raised his golden rod and said, “Damn creature! If you dare to approach, I will end you!”
“Great Sage, out of gratitude for your kindness, I am offering to ferry your party across. Why do you want to hit me?”
“What kindness have I done for you?”
“Great Sage, that palace under the river used to be my residence. It had been passed on in my family for generations. Having awakened to my roots and cultivated my spiritual energy, I was practicing self-cultivation here. I renovated my ancestral home into a palace. But nine years ago, that demon arrived here on the tide. He was vicious and fought me. He injured many of my descendants and abducted many others. I couldn’t beat him, so he took over my home. But now, in order to save your master, you invited the Bodhisattva Guanyin to wipe away the evil and take away the demon. So the palace is mine once more. Now my family no longer needs to live in the mud. That kindness is greater than a mountain and deeper than the sea. Moreover, all the villagers no longer need to offer annual sacrifices. You have saved countless children. This is killing two birds with one stone. How can I not repay such kindness?”
Wukong was secretly delighted upon hearing that. He put away his rod and asked the turtle, “Are you truly sincere?”
“Great Sage, your kindness to me has been immense, so how would I dare to lie?”
“If that’s the case, then swear an oath to heaven.”
The old turtle promptly opened its red mouth and swore to heaven, “If I don’t sincerely deliver the Tang Monk across this river, then may my body melt into blood!”
Satisfied, Wukong chuckled and asked the turtle to come forward. The old turtle swam to the bank and climbed onto land. His shell was like a round white lid four yards across.
“Master, let’s hop on his back and ride across,” Wukong told San Zang.
“But even that thick, solid ice creaked and groaned,” San Zang fretted. “This turtle’s back might not be steady.”
“Master, don’t worry,” the turtle reassured him. “I am steadier than that ice. If I so much as tilt in the slightest, then I don’t get any credit.”
Wukong now said, “Master, among living creatures, any being that can speak the human tongue would never tell a lie.”
Umm, now we know THAT’s a lie. Heck, we’ve seen Sun Wukong himself lie in human tongue numerous times. But whatever. The pilgrims now brought San Zang’s horse onto the back of the turtle, and asked San Zang to stand to its left. Sha Zeng stood to the right of the horse, while Zhu Bajie stood behind it. Sun Wukong stood in front of the horse. But then he worried that the turtle might pull some trick, so he took off his tiger tendon belt and threaded it through the turtle’s nostrils and held on to it as if it were reins on a horse. He then set one foot on the turtle’s shell and the other on the turtle’s head. He held the reins in one hand and his rod in the other. And then he said, “Old turtle, go slow. If you so much as tilt in the slightest, I’ll bonk you on the head.”
Umm, this is quite a way to treat someone who’s doing you a huge favor. But the old turtle didn’t seem to mind. He reassured Wukong, and then slowly slipped into the water and swam as steadily as if he were walking on dry land. All the members of the Chen Family Village saw them off while burning incense, kowtowing, and muttering the name of the Buddha. They kowtowed all the way until the pilgrims had disappeared from sight.
Meanwhile, the pilgrims coasted across the river on the turtle’s back, traversing hundreds of miles in a day. When they reached the opposite bank, they disembarked and were completely dry. After stepping onto land, San Zang pressed his palms together and bowed to thank the turtle, saying, “I have nothing to reward you with. Wait until I return from fetching scripture, and I will thank you properly.”
“Master, no need to thank me,” the turtle said. “I have heard that the Budha is immortal and knows the past and the future. I have been cultivating my Dao here for 1,300-some years. Even though I have extended my life and can speak human words, I have not been able to shed my shell. When you reach the West, please ask the Buddha on my behalf about when I can shed my shell and attain human form.”
“I will, I will,” San Zang promised.
The turtle now slipped back into the river, and the pilgrims resumed their journey West.
It was now the height of winter. The forest’s dim outlines seemed to fade into the mist, while the sharp ridges of the mountains stood stark and clear beyond the waters. After they traveled for a bit, they came upon another mountain in their way. This one, like seemingly every other mountain, appeared tall and treacherous. San Zang did his usual “Umm that looks dangerous” spiel, and Sun Wukong gave HIS usual “Oh we’ve got this” response. And San Zang did the usual thing of pressing forward.
The party now ascended the mountain amid a snowfall, shivering as they climbed to a peak. In the distance, they saw towers and pagodas inside a canyon, looking quite tranquil.
“Disciples, we’re hungry and cold,” San Zang said. “But fortunately there are pagodas and towers there. It might be a manor or a temple. Let’s go beg for some food and eat before we go farther.”
Wukong trained his eyes on those structures, and he saw an ominous miasma rising from them. He told San Zang, “Master, that’s not a good place.”
“But they are towers and pagodas. What’s wrong with them?” San Zang asked.
“Master, you don’t understand. There are lots of demons on the road west that are skilled at setting up some fake buildings to deceive people, be it towers or houses, terraces or dwellings. You know the saying that ‘The dragon gives birth to nine types of offsprings”? Well, one of those types can breath out a vapor that makes buildings appear. If the air over a river turns dim and hazy, it’s that dragon at work. Crows and magpies that fly past will be tricked into landing to rest by the tens of thousands, and then the dragon would swallow them all in one gulp. That is a particularly cruel creature. Those buildings look ominous. You must not go in.”
“Well, then we wouldn’t go in, but I AM really hungry,” San Zang said.
“Master, please dismount and sit here for a bit,” Wukong said. “Let me go find some food for you.”
So San Zang dismounted. Bajie hitched up the horse, and Sha Zeng put down the luggage and gave Wukong their alms bowl. Wukong told Sha Zeng, “Good brother, you must not go any farther. Protect master and stay here. When I come back from fetching food, we’ll continue west.”
Wukong then said to San Zang, “Master, this is a dangerous place. Don’t wander off. I’m going to find food now.”
“No need to remind me. Just come back quick. I’ll wait for you here.”
Wukong turned to leave, but then he came back and said, “Master, I know you can’t sit still, so let me devise a way to help you stay still.”
Uhh, you know, it was only a couple episodes back that San Zang engaged in a contest to literally sit still for hours. How quickly we forget. But in any case, Sun Wukong now pulled out his golden rod and used it to draw a circle on the ground. He asked San Zang to sit in the center, while Bajie and Sha Zeng stood by his side and also kept the horse and luggage close.
Wukong told San ZAng, “This circle is like a steel wall. No wild beast or demon would dare to approach. But you all must not walk outside of it. Just sit in the center, and you’ll be fine. If you set foot outside it, you will meet with trouble for sure. You absolutely MUST do this!”
San Zang agreed and sat down in the circle with Bajie and Sha Zeng. Wukong now took to the clouds and headed South to find a place where he could beg for food. He came upon a farmhouse under an ancient tree so tall that it seemed to touch the sky. He descended and took a closer look. He saw several thatched houses situated next to snow-covered willows, an ice-encased pond, and swaying green bamboo. A small bridge sat nearby, dusted with white frost. By the fence, narcissus blossoms were beginning to bloom. Icicles hung from the eaves like frozen chopsticks. While the cold wind blew, it carried a strange fragrance, and as the snow drifted, it concealed where the plum blossoms had opened. So basically, it was another scene out of a Chinese ink brush painting.
While Wukong walked around the farmstead and took in the view, he heard the creak of a door. An old man came out, holding a thornwood staff, wearing a sheepskin cloak, clad in a tattered monk’s robe, and wearing sandals woven from cattail leaves. Leaning on his cane, he bowed toward the sky and said, “The Northwestern wind has picked up. It’ll brighten up tomorrow.”
Just then, from behind the old man, a dog ran out. It saw Wukong and started barking like crazy. The old man turned and saw Wukong holding an alms bowl. Wukong now greeted him and said, “Old benefactor, I am a monk sent by the Tang kingdom in the East to go West to see the Buddha and request scriptures. We were passing through here. My master got hungry, so I have come to beg you for a meal.”
The old man nodded and said, “Elder, nevermind begging for food. You’re going the wrong way.”
“No, I’m pretty sure I’m not.”
“But the main thoroughfare to the West is about 300 miles to the north of here. Why aren’t you following that road?”
Wukong laughed, “We are. My master is sitting on that road right now, waiting for me to return with food.”
“Monk, you’re speaking nonsense. You say your master is waiting on the main road for you to return with food. But even if you’re adept at traveling, it would still take you six or seven days to cover that distance each way. Wouldn’t he starve?”
“Old benefactor, to tell you the truth, I have been away from my master’s side for less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. Once I get the food, I need to make it back for lunch.”
The old man became afraid and thought that Wukong was some kind of ghost. He turned and try to run back inside, but Wukong grabbed him and asked, “Benefactor, where are you going? If you have food, please hurry up and give me some.”
“It’s not convenient! Not convenient!” the old man stammered. “Go find another house!”
“Listen to you. You said that I have gone 300-some miles to get to this place. If I have to go to another house, wouldn’t that be another 300-some miles? Then my master would really starve.”
“To tell you the truth, we have six or seven people in our family,” the old man said. “We just started cooking a little bit of rice, and it’s not fully cooked yet. Go take a spin somewhere and then come back.”
“As the ancients said, ‘Going to three houses is not as good as sitting in one,” Wukong retorted. “I’ll just wait here.”
The old man became annoyed at his insistence and raised his cane to conk Wukong on the head. To see if Wukong will actually get any food out of this guy, 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)
- “Watercolor Lillies” by Aaron Kenny (from YouTube audio library)