Journey to the West: Beginning with the Apprenticeship of Bodhi Patriarch

Chapter 148: The True Master Appears, the Six-Eared Macaque Will Appear (asking for monthly tickets)
Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, more than half a year had passed. Laojun and the ancestor were discussing Taoism in the Sanxing Cave. The immortal was listening and benefited a lot.

After more than half a year, Laojun finished his lecture and was about to leave. Jiang Yuan and the master saw him off. When they arrived at Sanxing Cave, Jiang Yuan went forward to pay his respects. It was precisely because he had benefited a lot from listening to Laojun's lecture that he benefited a lot.

Laojun rode on the green bull, accepted the immortal's greeting, and said with a smile: "Guangxin, you are very talented and have gained a lot of benefits here. You should practice meditation and learn the complete external alchemy as soon as possible, and then learn the supernatural powers."

Jiang Yuan bowed and said, "To be honest with you, Master Lao, I haven't practiced external alchemy for a long time."

Laojun smiled and said, "You have been learning."

Jiang Yuan didn't understand what he meant, so he asked, "Old Master, what do you mean?"

Laojun smiled without saying anything. He only told Jiang Yuan to practice meditation in peace. After speaking with the master, Laojun rode the auspicious cloud back to heaven.

Jiang Yuan and the ancestor had just returned to the Sanxing Immortal Cave and entered the quiet room.

The immortal served the master and sat on the cushion.

The master said, "Sit down, boy, and don't be so polite."

Jiang Yuan bowed again before sitting down on the cushion at the bottom of the seat.

The master said, "Boy, here I am talking to Laojun about the Dao, have you gained anything?"

Jiang Yuan said: "Master, I have gained something."

The master said, "Tell me about it."

Jiang Yuan said: "Master, what I have gained is the word 'purity'."

The master smiled and asked, "How do you say the word 'clear'?"

Jiang Yuan said: "Purity is the beginning of cultivation. Therefore, the spiritual platform is empty, quiet and extinguished, no evil thoughts arise, and all attachments are gone."

The Patriarch asked, "What do you mean by the beginning of cultivation?"

Jiang Yuan said: "If a practitioner's mind is enlightened to the great clarity, he will not be disturbed by anything and will achieve twice the result with half the effort. This is called 'clearness'."

The master said, "You have indeed gained something. The boy now also has the appearance of a teacher."

Jiang Yuan bowed and said, "I don't deserve it."

The master said: "You should practice well, and your Dharma will become deeper day by day."

Jiang Yuan nodded deeply.

The ancestor asked the real person to leave so that he could practice in peace.

Jiang Yuan bowed again and was about to leave, but he hadn't left yet. Halfway through his journey, he suddenly felt something in his heart and looked outside the mansion.

He didn't know what this feeling was, but he vaguely knew that this person was not from outside the palace. However, he did not have deep magical powers, so he didn't know what it meant.

The immortal then asked the master.

Upon hearing this, the Patriarch used his mind to focus on the three realms and observed from afar with his Dharma Eye. He said, "My child, the monkey's calamity is about to come, so you have feelings in your heart."

Jiang Yuan asked: "Master, may I ask what kind of calamity has happened to Junior Brother Wukong?"

The master smiled and said, "You and that monkey have a very deep friendship."

Jiang Yuan replied: "Master, Wukong is me and I am Wukong. Helping him is also helping me. Besides, our friendship as fellow disciples still exists."

The master raised his hands and said, "Good one, you are a man of truth. We are one and the same. The palace will be yours one day. You can do whatever you want. I will protect you. That monkey has two minds in one body. Now that he has achieved success in his practice, he cannot sit still with his two minds. He will cause trouble and ruin the monkey's practice."

When Jiang Yuan heard this, he knew that Liu'er was about to be born.

The master said, "Don't worry, boy. If the monkey comes, you can help him. If he doesn't come, you don't need to go."

Jiang Yuan said: "Master, I understand."

The ancestor said, “You should start practicing Chongyang.”

Jiang Yuan said, "Master, I see that Chongyang has not completely severed his worldly ties, and he has not learned everything, so I have been asking him to study and occasionally teach him some correct ways. Is there anything wrong with this?"

The master said: "Chongyang is different from you. Although Chongyang is quiet, he has his own destiny and should go to the world of Jambu."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan followed the master's intention and said that he would pass on the secrets to Chongyang when he had free time.

……

It is said that on the journey to the West, the group of pilgrims left Jindou Mountain and it has been more than half a year. They experienced poisoning from drinking water, pregnancy, a test in Xiliang Country, and another test in Pipa Cave with the Scorpion Demon. After going through so many hardships, the group of pilgrims has changed a lot.

When the group reached a high mountain and were blocked, Tang Seng reined in his horse and stopped.

Tang Seng turned around and said, "Wukong, there are mountains ahead. Evil spirits may invade us. You should be careful."

The walker was distracted and did not answer, his eyes looking straight ahead, as if he was thinking about something.

Tang Seng said again: "Wukong."

The traveler still did not answer.

Bajie stepped forward and said, "Brother, the master is calling you."

The Monkey King just came back to his senses and approached and asked, "Master, what do you mean, what do you mean?"

Tang Seng said: "Wukong, if you are so distracted, how can you protect me from the demons?"

The Monkey King smiled and said apologetically, "Master, please don't blame me. I don't know why I have been feeling a little distracted lately, as if the King of Hell is calling me. I will find a good opportunity and go down to talk to him."

Bajie laughed and said, "Master, don't listen to his nonsense. He must have seen that fairy when he went to Xiliang Women's Kingdom before, and he was tempted by her and can't forget her, so his soul is restless."

The Monkey King pulled out his stick and started beating him, how could he allow Bajie to talk nonsense?

Bajie was so frightened that he put down his luggage, circled around Tang Monk's white horse, and said, "Brother, please forgive me, please forgive me. You are really a little uneasy after leaving Xiliang Kingdom, and you are not talking nonsense."

The Monkey King listened to his plea for mercy, then he put down his iron rod and said, "Master, don't listen to this fool's nonsense. I really don't know why, but since I came to Xiliang, I have had all kinds of thoughts in my mind that have made me restless."

Tang Seng said, "Maybe you have caught a cold. Let's go a little further and ask Bajie to untie the bundle and take out some money to buy you a plaster."

The Monkey King said, "I have a fairy body, immune to cold and heat."

Tang Seng said: "That must be a heart disease."

Bajie said, "That's lovesickness."

Tang Monk said: "Maybe it is one of the five internal organs malaria."

Bajie shouted, "Don't worry about how sick he is. He's not feeling well. Let's go find a doctor."

The traveler did not answer, but said that his mind was in a mess, and he had evil thoughts frequently. It seemed as if a little man was whispering in his ear, instigating him to do evil, causing him to often lose focus and be at a loss.

Tang Seng said: "Wukong, just keep moving forward."

The Monkey King just agreed and walked ahead with his iron rod in his hand. No matter what kind of tiger, leopard, jackal or wolf it was, he would just go forward and scare them away, so that they would never dare to harm him.

A group of people seeking scriptures went up the mountain. The traveler regained his composure for a moment and helped Tang Seng cross the mountain without any obstacles.

After walking for a long time, the sun set in the west. After passing the mountain, they saw a flat land in front of them.

Zhu Bajie said, "It's getting dark, walk faster, walk faster."

Say it.

Zhu Bajie took down the burden and picked up the nine-toothed rake to drive the white dragon horse to go faster.

The white dragon horse ignored it and walked slowly.

The Monkey King grabbed Zhu Bajie and asked, "What are you doing, you idiot?"

Bajie said, "It's getting late. We should find a good family to stay at, get some vegetarian food, and find a doctor to treat your illness." When Monkey heard this, evil thoughts filled his mind. After listening to Bajie's words, he waved his iron rod and drove the horse away.

This traveler used to be a horse keeper. All the heavenly horses were close to him and afraid of him. The dragon horse was no exception. When it saw the traveler coming, it flew forward like an arrow.

Tang Seng was speechless and could only lower his body and gallop along with the white horse.

The Monkey King said, "Bajie, Junior Brother Sha, hurry up and catch up."

The three of them walked quickly forward.

Sha Monk approached Monkey and said, "Brother, are you really feeling unwell?"

The Monkey King smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, brother. I am a little absent-minded, but I hope I am fine. When I made trouble in the Heavenly Palace in the past, I was tied to the Demon-Subduing Pillar. Knives, axes, spears, swords, fire, and lightning could not hurt me. I am fine now."

Sha Monk said: "I know that my eldest brother has great magical powers, but he has been distracted recently, so I have to be on guard."

The traveler said, "No problem, no problem."

The three of them hurried forward, and soon they saw a figure in front of them. It was Tang Monk. Here Tang Monk had someone hanging on a tree, looking very embarrassed.

Bajie came forward with his load on his shoulder, smiled when he saw them, and said, "Master, you are so elegant. You have been waiting for me for a long time. I climbed up the tree, pulled the vines to play with the swing, it's so fun."

The Monkey King said, "You fool, our master has made people hang from trees and swing from them. They are a group of strong men. You wait here and I will go and rescue our master."

Say it.

The traveler approached the tree, but saw that the dragon horse had disappeared. He patted the tree gently and said with a smile, "Master, did you trade the dragon horse with someone in exchange for this century-old tree?"

Tang Seng taught him to hang on the tree and said, "Wukong, don't say sarcastic words. I am in trouble. I can't change the tree and the horse. Please save me quickly."

The Monkey King said, "That was a group of strong men. I saw them myself. How do you explain it to them, Master?"

Tang Seng said: "My disciple, those bandits want gold, silver and jewelry, I have nothing, and they want to beat me, so I have no choice but to give you up."

The traveler asked, "How can you provide for me?"

Tang Seng said: "When those strong men beat me, they just said that all the money was with you, and they would wait for you to come over and give you the money. That's why they didn't beat me, but just hung me up and took the white dragon horse away."

The monk laughed and said, "Monks do not tell lies. How can you say such a thing, Master?"

Tang Seng said: "If not, my life will be in danger."

The traveler was about to say something else.

More than thirty strong men came up from behind and surrounded the traveler. They said, "I opened this mountain and planted this tree. If you want to pass through here, you must leave money. The monk said that the money is all yours. Give it to us quickly and we will let you go."

The Monkey King had evil thoughts in his heart, and when he heard what these strong men said, his evil nature was aroused. He said, "Okay, okay, okay. I have the gold and silver myself. First, let my master go, and I will give you some gold and silver."

The two leading strong men laughed and said, "You will give us all the gold and silver in your body, not just 'take some'."

The Monkey King said, "I have about twenty ingots of horse-hoof gold. If you let my master go and return the horse, I will take it and give it to you."

The strong man was delighted to hear this, and quickly put Tang Seng down and returned the white dragon horse.

Tang Seng felt free, so he jumped on his horse and rode away without caring about Monkey's safety, and no one knew where he went.

When the traveler saw this, he felt annoyed and was about to chase after him.

The gang of strong men stopped them and said, "Hand over the gold and silver."

The Monkey King pulled the golden cudgel out of his ear and shouted, "My golden cudgel is worth some gold and silver. You can keep it and exchange it for money."

Say it.

The Monkey King could no longer contain his anger and started beating them with his stick, killing two people in a row. However, remembering his elder brother's teachings, he stopped in time and saved the lives of the others.

When the strong men saw their leader being beaten and killed, they were so frightened that they rolled and crawled and scattered in all directions. They were truly a "rabble".

The traveler beat and killed the two men, and his ferocity became even stronger. It was only after he calmed his mind and controlled his nature that he stopped.

After a while, Zhu Bajie came from a distance and said, "Brother, Master sent me to talk to you. Don't beat or kill people."

The traveler smiled and said, "You are late."

Zhu Bajie approached and saw two people sleeping soundly on the ground. He went up to them and said, "How come these two people are sleeping on the ground? The sky is their blanket and the ground is their bed? It's really interesting. Maybe they stayed up all night and couldn't help feeling sleepy."

The traveler said, "Look carefully."

Zhu Bajie went forward to take a closer look, and saw that the two men had been dead for a long time, their mouths were red, and their brains were oozing sticky saliva. He said, "Brother, how come these two have tofu growing on their heads?"

The traveler laughed and said, "How can you have tofu growing on your head, you idiot? That's your brain."

When Zhu Bajie heard this, he walked back, and Monkey followed closely behind him.

It didn't take long for the two to meet Tang Monk.

Bajie said, "Master, all the strong men have left, leaving only the two of us who are lucky."

Tang Monk asked: "How can it be so?"

Bajie said, "Those two people think they are ugly and want to be reincarnated. They beg Monkey Brother to send them to the underworld."

Tang Seng was confused and said, "Please tell me in detail."

Bajie laughed and said, "They beat me up, and I won't wake up. I have two big holes on my head."

Tang Seng heaved a sigh of relief and said, "In that case, let's get some money and buy some plasters to patch up the hole. Wukong is injured, so let's treat him."

Bajie said, "You can't stick to it. You can't stick to it. Those two are crazy."

When Tang Seng heard this, he was shocked and asked, "Did he beat him to death?"

Bajie smiled and said, "That's right."

Tang Seng was annoyed and said, "You monkey, you monkey, I told you long ago that you shouldn't kill him, why did you do that?"

The monk was angry and said, "Master, if you hadn't betrayed me, how could these two have been in such trouble? Don't say anything more, and remember what the Bodhisattva said to you."

When Tang Seng heard that it was "Bodhisattva", he could only remain silent in anger and ride his horse towards the place where the two men died.

When they reached a bad place, the elder saw the miserable state of the two dead people and urgently ordered Bajie to dig a pit to bury the bodies. After the pit was dug, the two men were buried.

Tang Seng recited scriptures in front of the pit, mumbling: "The one who hurt you here was not me. I was ordered by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty to go to the West to obtain scriptures. On the way, I passed by a place and took in Wukong, who hurt you. Now you two have been beaten and killed by Wukong. Don't blame me. If you have any grievances, report his name to the underworld, not mine. His surname is Sun, and mine is Chen. We are two families."

The evil thoughts arose again in the walker's mind, but he did not speak of them.

Bajie said, "Master, don't just blame you. Junior Brother Sha and I never did this."

After hearing this, Tang Seng said, "It is not the business of Wu Neng and Wu Jing, but the business of Monkey alone."

The Monkey King was very angry, thinking that his martial arts skills were not good enough, so he took out his golden cudgel, smashed the strong man's pit, and cursed: "I don't think you two have any ability, but if you dare to go down to the ground and sue me, I will definitely destroy Senluo Palace and make you two die."

Tang Seng was surprised and asked, "Wukong, what are you doing?"

The traveler said, "Master, it is getting dark, let's leave quickly and find a place to stay."

Tang Seng had no choice but to mount his horse with anger and move forward.

The group of pilgrims set out on their journey to the West again, but they were doing one thing and doing another, their minds were filled with evil thoughts, and their spirits were filled with anger and confusion.

When a traveler is walking on the path, he may be aware of something, but his various thoughts are disturbing him, making him unable to find peace and giving rise to many evil thoughts.

This reminded him of his past experience in the Jambu world, where he saw a confused gambler who knew clearly that gambling was evil but still indulged in evil deeds. He thought, how could the righteous master control his confused mind?

(End of this chapter)