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Now that the river in the sky had flooded,
White waves rolled along the streets.
They moved around like a dish being picked up,
Splashed like water being tipped from a bowl.
The lonely farm's houses were almost covered by the flood,
Which was nearly as high as the bridge across the river.
The mulberry fields indeed were turning into sea,
And dry land was under water in an instant.
This was the help the dragons gave,
As they lifted the Yangtse and poured the water down.
The rain started at about eight in the morning and lasted till around noon, by when all the streets inside and outside the capital of Tarrycart were ru
The officer on duty at the foot of the Tower of Five Phoenixes whipped his horse and rode through the rain to say, “Holy monk, that is enough rain.” Hearing this, Monkey pointed his gold-banded cudgel towards the sky again, and at once the thunder stopped, the wind fell, the rain ceased and the clouds scattered.
The king was delighted, and all the civil and military officials said in admiration, “What a marvellous monk. How true it is that however good you are at something there's always somebody better. Our Teachers of the Nation are very effective at making rain, but when they ask for fine weather the drizzle goes on for hours before clearing up. However can this monk make the skies clear the moment he gives the word, so that the sun shines bright on the instant and there isn't a cloud to be seen for miles around?”
The king ordered that his carriage be taken back to the court, where he would return the Tang Priest's passport with an exit permit and allow him to go. Just when he was placing the royal seal on the document the three Taoists came in to stop him, saying, “Your Majesty, that rain was caused not by the monk but by our efforts.”
“But you told me earlier that it did not rain because the dragon kings were not at home,” said the king. “When the Buddhist monk went up to the altar and prayed in stillness and silence the rain came. How can you possibly try to take the credit from him?”
“When I went to the altar, burnt the charms and summonses and sounded my magic wand,” the Great Immortal Tiger Power said, “the dragon kings would not have dared stay away. No doubt they had been called elsewhere, which was why the authorities in charge of wind, cloud, thunder and rain were all out. When they heard my order they hurried here, which happened to be just when I was coming down from the altar and he was going up to it. It was a coincidence that it rained then. Essentially it was I who summoned the dragons and made it rain. The credit can't possibly go to him.” In his confusion the king took this suggestion seriously and was once again unable to make up his mind.
Monkey took a step forward, put his hands together in front of his chest, and said, “Your Majesty, these heterodox magic tricks achieved nothing; the credit is neither his nor mine. But the dragon kings of the four seas are still in the sky here. I haven't sent them away, and they wouldn't dare leave on their own initiative. If the Teacher of the Nation can make the dragon kings appear he can take the credit.”
This delighted the king, who said, “In the twenty-three years we have been on the throne we have never seen what a live dragon looks like. You must both display your magic powers. Whoever can make them come, be he Taoist or Buddhist, will have the credit; and whoever fails will be punished.”
Of course that Taoists did not have the power. In the presence of the Great Sage the dragon kings would not have dared show their faces in response to a call from the Taoists. “We ca
The Great Sage looked up to the sky and yelled at the top of his voice, “Where are you, Ao Guang? You and your brothers must show yourselves to me in your true forms.” On hearing this summons the dragon kings soon appeared in their true forms; writhing through the mist and clouds in the sky they danced through the air to the throne hall. This was what could be seen:
Flying transformations,
Coiling through the clouds.
Their jade claws hung like white hooks,
Their silver scales danced with the brightness of mirrors.
Vigor was in every strand of their floating white beards;
And their horns rose proud and full of purity.
Lofty were their foreheads,
Bright shone their round, round eyes.
None can predict their appearance;
Their flight is beyond appraisal.
But when the rain was prayed for, it fell,
And the skies cleared as soon as requested.
These were holy and magical dragons,
Surrounding the palace with numinous radiance.
The king burnt incense in his palace hall and the ministers bowed low in worship before the steps. “Now that your noble selves have granted us your presence we need detain you no longer,” said the king. “We shall have a thanksgiving mass said another day.”
“All you gods may now go too,” said Monkey. “The king will have a thanksgiving mass said another day.” The dragon kings went straight back to their oceans, and the gods all returned to Heaven. Indeed:
Great and boundless is the wonderful Dharma;
False faiths are smashed when its truth is revealed.
If you don't know how evil was eliminated, listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 46
False Faith Oppresses the True Dharma
The Sage Mind-Ape Eliminates Evil
The story tells how when the king saw that Monkey had the power to summon dragons and order gods about he put his seal on the passports and handed them to the Tang Priest, whom he allowed to continue on his journey West. The three Taoist masters were so terrified that they prostrated themselves in the Hall of Golden Bells and submitted a memorial to the king, who came down from his dragon throne, helped them to their feet with his own hand, and said, “Why are you performing this obeisance to me today?”
“Your Majesty,” the Taoists replied, “we came here to help the country, protect the state and look after the people. We have toiled here for twenty years but now these Buddhist monks have put themselves ahead of us and ruined our reputation with a magic trick. Are you not insulting us by letting them off their death sentences just because of some rain? We implore you to keep their papers and allow us three brothers to challenge them to another competition. What do you think?”
The king of Tarrycart really was muddle-headed: when he heard advice from the East he inclined to the East, and when he was advised from the West he inclined to the West. “What sort of competition with them do you propose, Teachers of the Nation?” he asked.
“We would like to compete with them in sitting in meditation,” said the Great Immortal Tiger Power.
“The Teacher of the Nation must have made a mistake,” the king replied. “That monk comes from a sect that practices dhyana meditation. He must have mastered the art of meditation before his emperor sent him to fetch scriptures. Why would you want to compete with him at that?”
“The way we sit in meditation,” the Great Immortal replied, “is not the ordinary way. It has a special name: 'revealing one's holiness on a cloud ladder'”
“What does that mean?” the king asked.
“A hundred tables are needed,” said the Great Immortal. “Fifty of them are piled one on top of each other to make the meditation platform. Once must mount it not by using one's hands or a ladder, but by riding a cloud to take one's seat on it and sit motionless for the agreed number of hours.”