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Journey to the West Abridged: Part 6

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September 19, 2018
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Guanyin Comes to the Feast and Asks the Reason Why The Little Sage Uses His Might to Subdue the Great Sage Guanyin sends down his senior disciple Prince Moksa to fight Monkey but after some fifty or sixty rounds, he can resist the Great Sage no longer and turns away and runs. Next the Illustrious Sage and True Lord Erlang are asked to fight Monkey but after fighting over three hundred rounds the outcome of the fight is still undecided. Erlang braces himself, and with a shake becomes ten thousand fathoms tall; in his hands his two-bladed trident look like the peaks of Mount Hua. His face is black, his fangs are long, and his hair is bright red: he looks ferociously evil. He hacks at the Great Sage’s head.

Guanyin Comes to the Feast and Asks the Reason Why The Little Sage Uses His Might to Subdue the Great Sage

Guanyin sends down his senior disciple Prince Moksa to fight Monkey but after some fifty or sixty rounds, he can resist the Great Sage no longer and turns away and runs. Next the Illustrious Sage and True Lord Erlang are asked to fight Monkey but after fighting over three hundred rounds the outcome of the fight is still undecided. Erlang braces himself, and with a shake becomes ten thousand fathoms tall; in his hands his two-bladed trident look like the peaks of Mount Hua. His face is black, his fangs are long, and his hair is bright red: he looks ferociously evil.

He hacks at the Great Sage’s head. The Great Sage, also resorting to magic, gives himself a body as big as Erlang’s and a face as frightening; and he raises his As-You-Will gold-banded cudgel, which is now like the pillar of Heaven on the summit of the Kunlun Mountain, to ward off Erlang’s blow.

The Emperor, Lao Zi, the Queen Mother, Guanyin and all the immortal ministers are observing the fight from the Southern Gate of Heaven. The Bodhisattva addresses Lao Zi and asks, “What do you think of the god Erlang I recommended? He really does have divine powers. He’s just got that Great Sage cornered, and all he has to do now is to catch him. I’ll give him a little help and drop my pure vase of willow twigs on the monkey’s head. Even if it doesn’t kill him it will knock him off balance and enable the Little Sage to catch him.”

“That vase of yours is made of porcelain,” Lao Zi replies, “and if you hit the target that will be fine. But if it were to miss his head and smash into his iron club, it would be shattered. Just hold your hand while I give him a little help.” He pulls up his sleeve and takes a bracelet off his right arm.　“This weapon,” he says, “is made of tempered steel to which I have added the magic elixir. It preserves my miraculous essence, can transform itself, is proof against fire and water, and can snare anything. One of its names is Diamond Jade and the other is Diamond Noose. Just watch while I throw it down and hit him.” Then Lao Zi throws his Diamond Jade bracelet from heaven to hit the Monkey. Monkey is too preoccupied with fighting, to notice the bracelet falling and it strikes him on the forehead. He loses his balance and is finally caught.

Check back next week for Journey to the West Abridged: Chapter 7!

Journey to the West is one of the most famous novels in Chinese history. It was produced in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty. It has influenced countless other stories, works of art even in to the modern day, such as the anime Dragonball and the film The Forbidden Kingdom drawing inspiration from this classic.

The story follows the Tang Monk on his journey to India to obtain sacred Buddhist scriptures. Along the way he is joined by the magical Monkey King, a foolish Pig man, and the mighty Sand Monk. This article is part of a series by Walther Sell, summarizing the Chinese epic.

All content in the article are not our original work and are the property of Walther Sell. Check him out at:
https://www.innerjourneytothewest.com/english/en-index.html https://www.facebook.com/journeytothewest.inner/