Читать книгу Journey to the West - Wu Cheng'en - Страница 8

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Monkey Gets Restless and Seeks Immortality

Chaos reigned ere order came,

Darkness wrapped the world around,

When at last Pangu appeared.

Light and bright he placed above,

Heavy things he ranged below.

Living creatures he called forth,

All things needed he supplied.

Creation’s wonders if you’d see,

Read this journey to the sky.

WE HAVE HEARD THAT THE AGE OF THE WORLD is 129,600 years for one kalpa, that these kalpas are divided into 12 periods, just as the day and night are divided into 12 Chinese hours, and each period is 10,800 years, or two half periods of 5,400 each. Speaking of the divisions in a day, there are twelve of 2 hours each, from midnight to midnight. But if we speak of the division of the kalpas, at the end of each there is a return to chaos and darkness. After the first period of 5,400 years, everything should be dark like night without any living thing. This state is called chaos. After the second period of 5,400 years comes the era which gradually begins to open up with light. Hence the saying, “The winter solstice is the re-beginning.” But Nature never changes. Everything is dead. Soon after, life again begins. After a third period of 5,400 years, the lighter parts of matter rise up, forming the sun and moon and stars. Towards the end of a fourth period of 5,400 years, the solid parts combine. The Book of Changes says, “How great is Heaven, how perfect is the Earth producing all things. The Earth henceforth becomes solid.” After a fifth period of 5,400 years more, all the solids resolve into water and fire, into mountains, rocks, and earth. After a sixth period of 5,400 years, at the end of another kalpa, all things are reproduced again. Heavenly influences descend and earthly influences rise, and by the union of the two, all living things are produced. After the seventh period of 5,400 years, men and birds and beasts are produced. Thus we have the three great powers, Heaven, Earth, and Man. The Three Emperors came forth to rule the earth and the Five Sovereigns fixed the social relations.

Then the world was divided into four great continents, and far beyond the ocean there was a country called Aolai. Near this country was a sea, and in the sea there was a famous mountain called the Flower and Fruit Mountain. This was the greatest of all the mountains of the world, the home of the mighty dragon gods. On the top of that mountain there was a living stone, 36 feet 5 inches high, and divided into 365 degrees like the heavens, and it was 24 feet in circumference, from which went forth 24 different influences. Above it there were 9 openings and 8 holes, according to the 9 mansions and 8 diagrams of the Book of Changes. Since the beginning of time it had been animated by the finest forces of heaven and earth. Sun and moon had long influenced it, so that it had an internal force, as a child in its mother’s womb. On a certain day it split open and produced a stone egg, round like a big ball. After exposure to the air, this was transformed into a stone monkey with the five senses of the body complete, and able to creep and run. It turned and bowed to the four points of the compass, and its eyes glowed like burning light, the rays of which reached the stars, astonishing the dwellers in heaven, even reaching the Jade Emperor in his golden palace in the clouds, and the inner palace where the heavenly ministers were gathered.

They saw the light burning brightly and ordered a telescope to be brought. Two great heavenly messengers returned and reported that the light came from the Aolai country where the Flower and Fruit Garden was on a mountain; on the mountain there was a stone pillar, which had laid a stone egg; when the egg was exposed to the air, it was transformed into a stone monkey that bowed to the four quarters of heaven; its eyes shone with burning light reaching to the stars; it ate and drank, but the light of its eyes was becoming dim. The Jade Emperor took pity on it and said, “That far object below is not strange at all; it is the living principle of life in the universe.” The Monkey on the mountain could walk and jump, eat vegetables and drink of the brook, pluck wild flowers and seek for fruit and berries, and make companions of monkeys and birds and join a herd of deer. At night he lay down on a rock. In the day he wandered about on mountain peaks and penetrated into caves. Truly he was the most incomparable of all living creatures. In the greatest cold he did not suffer. In the summer heat he joined a herd of monkeys seeking a cool place in the deep shade of fir trees. After play he would go to the mountain stream to bathe and watch the water rushing down the rocks.

Then one day all the monkeys cried out, “Where does the stream come from? Let us follow it to its source. Call the monkeys all together.” All came and shouted out, “Let us go.” So they started up the stream and climbed the rocks till they came to its source, which was a great waterfall. Then all clapped their hands for joy and cried, “Beautiful, beautiful!” But the waterfall came from a cave. Then they said, “Whoever dares enter the cave and find the source and comes out without injury, we shall make our king.” Three times this cry was raised and agreed to.

In face of these difficulties, suddenly a monkey came forward and cried out, “I will venture in.” A fine one he was. He shut his eyes, bent his body and rushed into the midst of the waterfall. Then he opened his eyes and raised his head to see. There was no water, but there was an iron bridge. The water under the bridge filled a hole in a stone and then flowed out and covered the entrance to the bridge. Again on looking at the top of the bridge, he saw a house, most beautiful. After looking at everything for a long time, he jumped over the bridge, and he saw in the middle a stone pillar. On the pillar were cut the words, “The Happy Land of the Flower and Fruit Garden, the Waterfall of Heaven’s Cave.” The stone monkey was delighted beyond measure. He shut his eyes again and doubled up his body and jumped through the waterfall to the outside.

He sneezed twice and then said, “A grand find, a grand find!” Then all the monkeys gathered round and said, “What is it? Is the water deep?” He said, “There is no water at all, only an iron bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a palace full of treasures.” “How do you know that?” they asked. The stone monkey smiled and said, “This water comes from a stone hole under the bridge and flows out as a screen to the entrance. On both sides of the bridge there are flowers and trees and a stone palace. In the palace there are stone pots, stone stoves, stone basins, stone cups, stone beds and stone seats. In the midst there is a stone pillar on which is carved: “The Happy Land of the Flower and Fruit Garden, the Waterfall of Heaven’s Cave.” There is our true resting place. Let us go and live there, lest we suffer from the weather.” All were delighted with the news. “You lead us in and show us the way.”

Then the stone monkey shut his eyes, doubled himself up and jumped in, and all the rest followed in the same way, and jumped over the bridge, all of them struggling for the stone pots and pans and beds and seats with all the selfishness of monkeys, till all were quite tired. The stone monkey sat with dignity and at last said, “Sirs, what will become of persons if they are faithless? You said whoever should be first in here and go unhurt, should be made king. I have now found out this Cave of Heaven where you rest in peace and enjoy the happiness of a palace. Why is it that you do not respect me as a king?” They all cried out, “May you live, Oh King, for a thousand years.” After this he changed his name and did not call himself the stone monkey, but the Monkey King.

Living beings all descend

From three Powers: Heaven, Earth, and Man.

From the womb of immortal stone,

Comes the egg from whence the ape.

Shapeless first all life begins,

Then at last is perfect form.

Age to age thus reproduced,

Whether beast or man or sage.

Then the Monkey King led all kinds of monkeys who were princes, statesmen, and their assistants, to the mountain garden in the day, and at night they slept inside the water curtain. They did not join with the birds of the air, nor with the beasts of the fields, but lived as a kingdom in the enjoyment of the wealth of Nature for many centuries.

Sun the Monkey.

One day, when feasting with his monkeys, suddenly the king began to weep. Then all the monkeys gathered round him and reverently asked what troubled him. He replied, “Although I am happy now, I am not without fear of future shadow.” They laughed and said, “Oh King, we live daily in this Happy Land and the Cave of Heaven, perfectly free without restraint and with infinite joy: what need is there to fear?” The king replied, “Although today we break no human laws, nor have fear of being conquered by wild beasts, still in time we shall get old and decrepit, and be in fear of the judge of the dead, who will not let us stay amongst the living.” Hearing this, all the monkeys covered their faces and cried because they all feared death. At this there jumped from among them a strong one, and cried out with a loud voice, “Oh King, this sorrow of yours is an opportunity to gain Life Eternal. Of all the wonders of the world, three are greatest: the Buddhas, the Taoist Immortals, and the Confucian Sages. These have reached beyond transmigration and will never be reborn to die again, but will endure as long as Heaven and Earth. The king asked, “Where do they live?” The Monkey said, “In the world after death, in the ancient depths of the Eternal Mountain.”

On hearing this the king was much pleased and said, “Tomorrow I leave you and go down the mountain and take a flight to a corner of the sea far on the horizon, and find out these three wonders, so that I may never get old, but live for ever and escape the hand of death. This is a happy thought. It is the sudden conversion spoken of in the Buddhist religion, whereby a man can escape the net of reincarnation by transmigration, and become a great saint as lasting as Heaven itself.”

At this all the monkeys rejoiced and clapped their hands, saying, “Good, very good! Tomorrow we also go across the mountain in search of fresh fruit to provide a big banquet for our great king.”

The next day all the monkeys went in search of fairy peaches and found a strange fruit and some mountain herbs. They laid out a fine table with fairy wine and fairy dishes. Then they placed ten of the stone forms for the banquet, and invited the king to be seated and the monkeys in turn served the guests with wine and feasted themselves the whole day.

The next day the Monkey King got up early, cut up some dried fir trees, and made them into a raft and took a bamboo for a punting pole. He went on the raft alone and punted with all his might and was carried out by the tide to the open sea. There day after day he was carried by the Southeast wind to the borders of the Southern Continent. Then he abandoned his raft and went ashore.

There on the beach he saw some men fishing, others gathering cockles, others evaporating salt. He went up to them and took the form and motions of a tiger, and so frightened the people that they ran away in all directions, leaving behind their baskets and their nets. Finding one who was unable to run away, he stripped him of his clothes, and put them on as men did, and walked with dignity across the country. When he got to the town, he learnt men’s manners and their language, took his meals by day and slept at night. He searched with all his powers for the place where the Immortals lived. He found all men were in search of fame or riches, and none sought for everlasting life.

Ever seeking fame and wealth,

Late and early men are led.

Riding horses and their mules,

Dukes and princes seek high thrones,

Food and raiment without work,

Heedless of the doom of death.

Sons and grandsons all want ease,

None desiring to repent.

The Monkey King, having no luck in his search for the way of the Immortals, and having spent eight or nine years in vain, suddenly came to the great Western Ocean, where he thought beyond the sea must be the home of the Immortals. Then he got on a raft as before, and sailed as far as the borders of the Western continent, where he landed and searched for a long time.

Suddenly he saw a high mountain most beautiful, covered with forest and jungle. Fearing no wolves, snakes, tigers, or leopards, he went straight to the mountaintop. While looking about, he heard a sound far in the forest like the voice of man. He at once plunged into the forest and listened. It was a man singing, and the song he sang was this:

When chess I play the haft is burnt,

The trees are felled all one by one.

I pass the clouds and slowly mount

I sell the wood and buy my wine

I laugh with joy and cry self saved

The way to heaven in harvest moon.

I sleep at foot of Tree of Life.

When I awake ‘tis heavenly day.

Old trees I know, steep hills I climb,

Beyond the pass make for the plain.

With hatchet cut the withering vines,

A bundle make of all my lot,

Then sing away on road to mart.

I buy my pints of daily rice,

And then, why grudge I have no more?

My price is fair, my price is fair.

Why should I worry to increase

My fame or shame? Quite calm I live,

Whoe’er I meet Immortal is,

We sit and talk of heavenly themes.

The Monkey King, on hearing this, was full of joy and said, “An Immortal hides himself here.” He rushed forward, and behold, it was only a woodman lifting his axe and cutting wood. The king went up to him and said, “Venerable Immortal, I kneel down before you as your disciple.” The woodman hastily threw aside his hatchet and knelt likewise. “I am ignorant, and with insufficient food and clothing, undeserving to be a man, how much less am I an Immortal.” The king said, “If you are not an Immortal, how can you speak the language of Immortals?” “What language of the Immortals did I use?” asked the man. The king said, “I heard you say that your companions are Immortals, and when you meet you sit and talk of heavenly themes. Heavenly themes are true words of wisdom and religion. If you are not one of the Immortals, what are you?” The woodman laughed and said, “The truth is, this song is called “The Fragrance that Fills the Hall” and one of the Immortals taught it me. He lives next door to me and he told me to sing it whenever I was in trouble and the trouble would vanish. It is because I was in need that I sang this song and did not expect anyone to hear me.” The Monkey King said, “Since you live next door to an Immortal, why do you not follow him and learn how not to become old?” The man answered, “All my life my lot has been bitter. My father died when I was young, my mother is a widow and depends on me alone. I must cut my two bundles of wood and carry them to the market for sale, and then buy rice for my mother’s food. I therefore cannot leave my mother.” The Monkey King said, “From what you say you are one of the superior men, full of filial piety, and surely you shall have a share of immortality. Please show me where the Immortal lives, so that I may pay my respects to him and learn from him.” “It is near, quite near. This place is called the Heart of the Living Mountain. In the mountain there is the Slanting Moon and Three Star Cave. In that cave there is an Immortal called the Fountain of Wisdom, and innumerable disciples taught by him have gone forth. He has some thirty or forty students now. You follow that small path and go southward for seven or eight li, and there is the place.” The Monkey King laid hold of the woodman and said, “Venerable Brother, you come with me. I shall not forget your kindness.” The woodman said, “What a stupid man you are! I have already told you where to find him. I must cut wood and look after my mother. If I go with you I shall be neglecting my business, and who will look after my mother? You go by yourself!”

The Monkey King had to leave him, and went his way out of the forest for seven or eight li, and there surely was the cave. There he stopped and looked round—it was so beautiful. The door of the cave was closed and all was quiet with no one about. Raising his head he suddenly saw a stone on which was engraved the words “The Heart of the Living Mountain, the Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars.” The Monkey King was full of delight, and looked at the cave for some time, not daring to knock. He climbed to the top of a fir tree that was close by, and began chewing the fir tops. Shortly after he heard the noise of a door opening. It was the door of the cave. Out of it came an Immortal Student who cried out, “Who is making a noise here?” The Monkey King dropped down from the tree, went up to him respectfully and said, “I am in search of Truth and Immortality, and therefore of all places I would not make a noise here.” The Immortal Student smiled “and said, “Are you a Seeker after Truth?” The king replied, “I am.” The Immortal Student said, “My teacher has just gone up and mounted the platform to preach, and without giving me the reason why, he told me to come and open the door as a Truth Seeker had come, and I was to welcome him. I suppose it is you.” The Monkey King smiled and said, “Yes, I am the one, I am the one.” The Immortal Student said, “Follow me inside.”

The Monkey King adjusted his clothes and moved on respectfully after the student far into the Cave of The Slanting Moon and Three Stars through corridor after corridor, between high places of carnation marble, vermillion mansions, and precious gates of indescribable beauty, right up to the inner sanctum and there saw Wisdom sitting above. On either side of him were ranged his thirty disciples, standing on a platform below.

Greatest learning of Immortals,

Unstained Purity,

Western Heaven’s greatest wonder,

Wisdom’s Fountain.

Nor birth nor death experienced he,

Perfect Model.

Forces complete, godlike are all

His myriad mercies.

Silent, unseen, work all the forces

As need requires.

Instincts grow from roots of True Model

Without forcing.

His years like Heaven’s endless are,

Glorious his form.

Lasting Wisdom throughout all kalpas,

Teacher of the Law.

Seeing him the Monkey King fell on his knees and knocked his head upon the ground innumerable times, and said, “Master, I want you to accept me as your disciple.” The Master said, “Tell me where you are from and what your name is, and then you can perform the disciple ceremony.” The Monkey King said, “I am from the Continent of the East, the Country of Aolai, the Mountain Garden and the Cave with the Water Screen.” The Master cried, “Turn him out. He is a sower of discord, a false disciple. How can he bring forth any good fruit?” The Monkey King grew alarmed, went on knocking his head without stopping, saying, “What your disciple says is strictly true. I am an honest man.” The Master said, “If you are honest, how can you say that you come from the East Continent? Between us and that place there are two great oceans and the Southern Continent. How could you come here?” The Monkey King knocked his head and said, “I sailed across the seas, came ashore and traveled overland in search of Immortals for over ten years before I arrived here.” “Since you have traveled so long and so far let it be. What is your surname?” The Monkey King replied, “I have none.” The Master said, “What surnames had your parents?” The Monkey King replied, “I never had parents.” “Since you had no parents, did you grow like fruit on a tree?” The Monkey King replied, “Although not grown on a tree, I grew from a stone. I only remember that in the mountain orchard there was a fairy stone. One year the stone split open and I was born.”

Meditation, Seeking Wisdom.

The Master was glad to hear this and said, “This speech shows that you are a child of the Divine Power above Nature. Rise up and let me see you walk.” The Monkey King jumped up and walked round twice. The Master smiled and said, “Though your body is not beautiful, you seem like a monkey who lives on evergreen pine and cones. I will give you a surname according to your nature and call you Sun, which means macaque.” The Monkey King was delighted, knelt on the ground again and said, “Good! Good! Good! Now that I have a surname, I beg that the Master will be kind and give me another name, to which I can answer when called.” The Master said, “We have twelve names, such as Breadth, Greatness, Wisdom, Model, Ocean, Nature, Versatile, and Seeker after Complete Learning, and so forth, from which to choose. The most suitable for you would be Seeker of Secrets. Will that do?” The Monkey King laughed and said, “Good! Good! Henceforth call me Sun, Seeker of Secrets.”