Monkey by David Kherdian

Author:David Kherdian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala

Tripitaka Takes a Disciple

ON the following day Tripitaka came to a rugged mountain that seemed more attached to the sky than to the earth. It was only because of its indescribable beauty that he did not lose heart but began the steep and difficult ascent. He hadn’t gone very far when he was startled by the appearance of a hunter perched on a large boulder. The hunter was shielding his eyes from the sun and looking out over the distant plain. They saluted each other. Tripitaka was about to climb up onto the boulder when he and the hunter were startled by a rumbling, guttural sound that took on the form of a human voice. “My Master has come, my Master has come,” it said.

“What can that be, and what do the words mean?” Tripitaka said, as. much to himself as to the hunter, who seemed not at all surprised.

“It must be that old monkey who’s been locked up in an iron box at the base of the mountain.”

“What old monkey?” Tripitaka asked, as startled by the explanation as he had been by the strange-sounding voice.

“This mountain was once called the Mountain of Five Elements. But after the Western campaign of our great T’ang Dynasty, it was renamed the Mountain of Two Frontiers. A few years ago I learned from an elder that when Wang-mang usurped the throne of the first Han Dynasty, this mountain was thrown down from Heaven in order to imprison a divine monkey. This monkey isn’t affected by heat or cold, and he neither eats nor drinks. He is guarded by some local spirits who feed him iron pills when he is hungry, and give him the juice of molten copper when he is thirsty. One way or another, he is somehow kept alive. That was surely he who was crying out just now. You needn’t be troubled. Why don’t we go down and have a look?”

When they got to the base of the mountain, they came to an iron box that did indeed hold a monkey. He had managed to get his head out of the cage and with one free hand was waving wildly at Tripitaka and the hunter. “Master, where have you been? Welcome! Welcome! Get me out of here and I will see that you have a safe journey to India.”

Tripitaka was afraid to move any closer, but the hunter approached the iron box and removed the grass from Monkey’s hair and brushed the moss from his chin. “What do you have to say for yourself?” he asked.

“Nothing to you,” Monkey said. “Tell that priest to come over here. I have a question to ask him.”

“What is your question?” asked Tripitaka.

“Were you sent by the Emperor of T’ang to collect scriptures from India?”

“Yes,” Tripitaka replied, “but what is that to you?”

Monkey replied, “I am the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven. Five hundred years ago I made a great ruckus in the Halls of Heaven. To atone for my sins the Buddha sealed me in this mountain.

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