Seeing how Monkey had turned cold and was refusing to recognize him any longer Friar Sand had no choice but to go up to him with a bow and say, “Elder brother, it was wrong of our master to be so angry with you, curse you and send you away. Pig and I ought to have persuaded him not to, and we shouldn't have been away looking for water and begging for food for our starving, thirsty master when you were so good as to come back. It was wrong of the master to be so stubborn and to refuse again to let you stay. That was why you knocked him senseless and took the luggage. When we came back we revived the master and now I've come to see you. Unless you hate the master and have forgotten what you owe him for delivering you from your torment in the past, won't you bring the luggage and come back with me to see him? Then we can all go to the Western Heaven and win our true reward. If you really hate him so deeply that you won't come with me, then please, please give me the bundles. Then you can enjoy the sunset of your life here in your native mountain. This way we'll all be fine.”
Monkey's answer to this was to say with a derisive laugh, “that's not what I had in mind at all, brother. The reason why I hit the master and took the luggage isn't because I'm not going to the West or want to stay here. I'm learning the passport off by heart so that I can go to the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha and fetch the scriptures myself. I shall have all the glory of taking them back to the East. I'll make those people in the Southern Jambu Continent see me as a great master and I'll be famous for ever.”
“What you say isn't quite right,” replied Friar Sand with a smile. “Nobody's ever heard of Sun the Novice going to fetch the scriptures. Our Tathagata Buddha created three stores of true scriptures and sent the Bodhisattva Guanyin to the East to find the pilgrim who would go to fetch them. Our job is to escort the pilgrim across a thousand mountains and through all the countries along the way. As the Bodhisattva has told us, the pilgrim was once the venerable elder Golden Cicada, a disciple of Tathagata Buddha's. Because he was exiled from Vulture Peak and reborn in the East for not listening to the Lord Buddha's sermons on the scriptures he is the one who must make his true achievement in the West and return to the Great Way. We three were saved to protect him from the demons he would meet on the journey. No Lord Buddha's going to give you the scriptures if you turn up without the Tang Priest. It'd just be wasted effort.”
“Brother,” said Monkey, “you've always been rather thick. You don't know the half of it. You may say you've got a Tang Priest, but what makes you think I haven't got one to escort to? I've chosen another holy monk here to escort. No problem! We're starting off on our big journey tomorrow. If you don't believe me I'll show you him. Little ones,” he called, “bring my master out at once.” In they ran, and they came out again leading a white horse, a Tang Sanzang, a Pig carrying the luggage and a Friar Sand with his monastic staff.
“I've never changed my name,” roared Friar Sand in fury at this sight. “There can't possibly be another Friar Sand. How dare you! Take this!” The splendid Friar Sand raised his demon-quelling staff with both arms and brought it down on his double's head, killing him outright and revealing that he had really been a monkey spirit. This made Monkey so angry that he swung his gold-banded cudgel and led all the monkeys to surround him. Lashing about him, Friar Sand fought his way out and escaped by cloud.
“That damned ape is being so thoroughly vicious that I'll have to report him to the Bodhisattva,” he thought; and as Friar Sand had killed a monkey spirit and been driven away Monkey did not go after him. Going back to his cave he told his underlings to drag the corpse to one side, skin it and cook its flesh, on which he and the other monkeys then feasted with coconut toddy and the wine of grapes. Then he chose another monkey fiend who was good at transformations to turn into Friar Sand and started instructing him again as he prepared to travel to the West. There we shall leave him.
Meanwhile Friar Sand flew his cloud away from the Eastern Ocean and traveled for a day and a night to the Southern Ocean. Before long Mount Potaraka came into view not far away, so he pressed forward then brought his cloud down so that he could stop and look. It was a wonderful sight. Indeed:
It includes all the mysteries of heaven and earth.
Here is the confluence of the rivers,
Where sun and stars are washed and bathed.
Hither all creatures come,
The winds are born and the moon is rocked in the ripples.
When the tidal wave rises high the leviathan is transformed.
Amid the mighty breakers the giant turtle swims.
The waters are joined to the Western and Northern Seas;
The waves connect with the Central and Eastern Oceans.
The four seas are linked as the artery of the earth;
In the magic islands are palaces of immortals.
Forget about all the earthly paradises;
Look at Potaraka's cloudy cave.
A wonderful sight:
Noble the primal spirit of the peak at sunset;
Below the cliffs the winds make rippling crystal.
Peacocks fly in the Purple Bamboo Grove;
Parrots talk in the branches of green poplar.
Flowers of jade and jasper always bloom;
Precious trees and golden lotuses grow every year.
White cranes come to pay homage at this peak;
Phoenixes often alight in the mountain pavilions.
Even the fish here cultivate their true nature,
Leaping in the waves as they listen to the scriptures.
As Friar Sand strolled on the mountain enjoying this magical view Moksa the Novice came up to him and said, “Why are you here instead of escorting the Tang Priest on his way to fetch the scriptures, Sha Wujing?”
Friar Sand bowed to him and replied, “There is something on which I would like an audience with the Bodhisattva. Could I trouble you to take me to her?”
Moksa, who realized that he was looking for Monkey, asked no further questions but went straight to the Bodhisattva and said, “The Tang Priest's junior disciple Sha Wujing is here to pay homage.”
When Monkey, who was still there below the lotus throne, heard this he said with a smile, “The Tang Priest must be in trouble if Friar Sand is here to ask for your help, Bodhisattva.” The Bodhisattva then asked Moksa to bring him in. Friar Sand prostrated himself on the ground to kowtow to her, then looked up, about to start making his complaint, when he saw Monkey standing beside her. Without a word he struck at Monkey's face with his demon-subduing staff. Instead of hitting back Monkey dodged the blow and got out of the way.
“I'll get you, you thoroughly evil, treacherous ape,” roared Friar Sand. “You're trying to deceive the Bodhisattva too.”
“Don't hit him,” shouted the Bodhisattva. “Tell me what's been happening.”
Only then did Friar Sand put down his precious staff and kowtow to the lotus throne again, saying with raging fury, “We're lost count of the number of murders this ape has committed on the journey. The other day he killed two highwaymen and the master let him have it, so when we were spending the next night at the bandit chief's home it came as a shock when he butchered as many of the gang as he could and took a severed head all dripping with blood to show to the master. It gave the master such a fright that he fell off his horse, said some nasty things to Monkey and sent him packing. After he'd gone the master was so hungry and thirsty that he sent Pig off to look for some water, and because Pig took a very long time to get back he sent me off after him. We never imagined that Monkey would come back, hit the master with his iron cudgel and steal the two bundles wrapped in blue felt while we were away. We came back and brought the master round. Then I went all the way to the Water Curtain Cave to fetch Monkey. To my amazement he turned cold and refused to recognize me. He was reading the master's passport aloud over and over again. When I asked him why, he said that as he couldn't escort the Tang Priest any further he was going to fetch the scriptures from the Western Heaven and take them back East himself. Then they'd treat him as a great master and he'd be famous for ever. When I asked who'd give him scriptures if the Tang Priest wasn't with him he said he'd chosen a holy monk and asked him to come out. There was a white horse, a Tang Priest, a Pig and a Friar Sand. Tm Friar Sand,' I said, 'and the one and only Friar Sand too'. I hit him one with my staff, and he turned out to be a monkey spirit. When Monkey came after me with his hordes I decided to come here to tell you, Bodhisattva, and ask for your help. I never realized he'd get here before me by somersault cloud, or that he'd fool you with his fine words.”