Monkey Hit Lady White Bone Thrice
三打白骨精
The Tang Priest (San zang) and his three disciples were on their way to the Western Heaven to obtain Buddhist scriptures. One day they were traveling in a high mountain. When Monkey (Wukong) saw it was cloudy and misting in the valley, he knew this mountain was bound to harbor fiends. He drew a magic circle with his cudgel on the ground to protect his master. He told Pig and Friar Sand to protect the Tang Priest and for the three of them not to leave the circle. He then went to have a look at the mountain and pick some fruit to bring back to eat. This mountain did indeed have a corpse fiend called Lady White Bone, who had been here for a thousand years. It had heard that anyone who ate a piece of the Tand Priest’s flesh will live forever, so it tried three times to capture him. The first time it changed itself into a young, beautiful girl holding a basket of food. With her charming smile, she almost succeeded in talking the master and his two disciples into coming out of the circle. Just at the last moment, Monkey came. Monkey came. Realizing that she was an evil spirit, he raised his cudgel and hit her. The fiend changed into a gust of smoke and fled. The second time the fiend turned itself into an old woman, who walked towards them leaning on a stick with a crooked handle. Monkey recognized it and struck it again. Like the first time, the fiend fled. The third time it turned itself into an old man, sitting before a hut waiting for the Tang Priest to come. Monkey saw through the fiend’s disguise, raised his cudgel and struck it down. The fiend this time left a piece of cloth from the cloud, saying: “ If you’re as kind as a Buddha, how can you kill? Keep Wukong with you and no scriptures will you get.” Sanzang believed the writing. He blamed Wukong for killing three people one after another, and forced him to leave. Without Monkey, Lady White Bone captured the Tang Priest easily and invited its mother to eat Sanzang’s flesh together with it. But, Wukong came just in time to save him. He killed the old fiend on the way to its daughters’, impersonated it, then got into the cave and saved the Tang Priest.
Making Havoc in Heaven
大闹天宫
This is an episode from the nove journey to the West.Though Monkey was versatile and boasted supernatural powers, Great Sage Sun as he was called, was natural powers, Great Sage as he was called, was fooled into coming up to heaven by the Great white Planet. The Jade Emperor conferred upon Monkey the title of Protector of the Horses. When Monkey realized that his job was to look after the horses he became so angry that he returned to his Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. Upon returning, he put up a sign which declared himself"the Great Sage Equalling Heaven." The Jade Emperor swiftly ordered two heavenly generals to command some heavenly troops to capture Monkey. Li Jing and Ne Zha served as the commanders of the heavenly troops. When they arrived at the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, they ordered the Mighty Magic Spirit to challenge Monkey. Great Sage Sun asked the Mighty Magic Spirit to forward his message to the Jade Emperor that if he was conferred the title of "the Great Sage Equalling Heaven," he would refrain from attacking the Heavenly Palace of the Jade Emperor.
The Mighty Magic Spirit was too headstrong to flaunt his superiority but he was bitterly defeated by Monkey. Ne Zha changed into a fighter with three heads and six arms each holding a different weapon. Just as he was charging at Great Sage Sun, Monkey also changed into three heads and six arms wielding three gold cugels. The two were soon engaged in a heated battle. Cudgels and spears were wielded while swords and broas swords emitted flashes of light in front of a water-covered cave at the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. The troops in in eight camp shouted and waved flags to express support for Great Sage Sun and Ne Zha. The sky was darkened by the sand and stone stirred up by their bitter fight. When Monkey saw that it was hard to win the battle, he pulled out a thread of his hair and made it become an inage of himself while his real body leapt behind Ne Zha for a surprise attack. Monkey wielded his cudgel and hit Ne Zha from behind. Monkey wielded his cudgel and hit Ne Zha from behind. Ne Zha was forced to withdraw.
When Li Jing, also known as Heavenly King, saw that two of his generals were defeated, he sent out the signal to retreat. The Jade Emperor was thus forced to confer the title of "the Great Sage Equalling Heaven" upon Monkey.
The picture depicts the battle between Great Sage Sun and Ne Zha.
Thousand-Mile Eye and Wind-Accompanying Ear
唐僧取经
The Tang Priest's Journey for Scriptures
A story from journey to the West.During the reign of Emperor Tai Zong(627-649) of the Tang Dynasty, at his request, esteemed Buddhist Monk Xuan Zang was sent to India, the birthplace of Buddhism, for scriptures. From Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), the capital of the Tang Dynasty, the monk journeyed west. When he eventually fulfilled the mission and returned, seventeen years had passed. From that time forward, Buddhism spread across China.
As this legendary trip was told and retold by later generations, manyh embellishments were zealously added. Wu Cheng'en, using popular versions of the story along with his own fictional detailos, created the intriguing classical novel journey to the West. The Tang Priest, Monkey, Pig and Friar Sand characters from the book are popular images among Chinese people.
Note:Wu Cheng'en(1500-1582),was a Mign Dynasty novelist.
Monkey Makes Three Attempts to Borrow the Plantain Fan
三借芭蕉扇
This is a story from journey to the West. The Tang Priest and his three disciples, Monkey(Wukong), Pig and Friar Sand, were heading towards the Western Heaven. Gradually they began to feel hotter and hotter in the warm air. It was very strange, because it was autumn. Later they learnt that the Fiery Mountains were just ahead of them. The mountains had a circumference of 800 li, on which not a blade of grass could grow. A young man selling cakes told them that it was not possible to cross the mountains without a special plantain fan which could only be borrowed from Princess Iron Fan. After having made arrangements for his master, Monkey left for the Plantain Cave to see Pringcess Iron Fan. The princess was the sife of the Bull Demon King and the Red Boy's mother. Some time ago, Red Boy had tried to eat the Tang priest and Monkey had subdued him. Hence Princess Iron Fan hated Monkey and refused to lend the fan to him. Instead she blew Monkey right out of sight with a single wave of her plantain fan. Bodhisattva Lingji head about this and gave Monkey a Wind-Fixing Pill. Monkey came to borrow the magic fan for the second time. With the Wind-Fixing Pill in his mouth, Monkey could not be moved no matter how hard the princess waved the fan. The princess hurried back to the cave and himself into an insect and got into the princess'belly when she was drinking tea. The princess could not stand the pain, so that she agreed to lend the fan to Monkey, but she actually gave him a false one. The third time Monkey came for the fan he decided to turn himself into the Bull Demon King. He got the fan. Upon hearing of this trickery, the Bull Demon King came hurriedly chasing after Monkey. They engaged in a fierce struggle. Soon Pig and Friar Sand came to Monkey's help and forced the Bull Demon King to show his true colors. With the plantain fan, Monkey put out the fire. The master and his three disciples continued their journey to the West to fetch scriptures.
Leaping out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace
跳出八卦炉
The Great Sage caused havoc in Heaven and the Jade Emperor ordered Heavenly soldiers and generals to punish him. But no one could manage to subdue him. Then the Lord Lao Zi threw his Diamond Jade bracelet at the Monkey King, who was then preoccupied with fighting the God Erlang, and it hit him neatly on the head. Thus the Great Sage was caught. The Jade Emperor wanted to execute him but failed to inflict a single wound on him by sabers, axes, fire and thunder. Then Lord Lao Zi put him into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, which is used for refining elixir, and wanted to burn him to ashes. The furnace was made up of Eight Trigrams-qian, kan, gen, zhen, xun, li, kun and dui-so he squeezed himself into the “Palace of xun,” for xun was the wind, and where there was wind there could be no fire. All that happened was that the smoke made both his eyes red. After the fire burning forty-nine days, the Lord Lao Zi thought the Great Sage must be ashes so he opened the furnace. At the moment, the Great Sage leapt out of the furnace with his as-you-will cudgel, knocked all soldiers down and left. From then on, he had a pair of fire eyes with golden pupils.