INTRODUCTION

1. 1   For studies on this novel, see the bibliography.

2. 2   Qiancheng Li, Fictions of Enlightenment, 108.

3. 3   For studies on the sequel as a genre, see Martin Huang, Snakes’ Legs.

4. 4   For a recent study of these later versions, see Hongmei Sun, Transforming Monkey.

5. 5   Ji, Da Tang Xiyu ji jiaozhu; Beal, Si-yu-ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World.

6. 6   Huili and Yancong, Da Tang Da Ci’ensi Sanzang fashi zhuan.

7. 7   I discuss the three major sequels in “Transformations of Monkey,” in Snakes’ Legs, ed. Martin Huang, 46–74.

8. 8   Qian Zhongshu, Guanzhui bian, 2:546–47; see also Qiancheng Li, Fictions of Enlightenment, 91–96, esp. 91. This, however, is a very complicated issue in Journey to the West.

9. 9   However, in the Women’s Kingdom and the following Scorpion Demon episodes, to protect his life or make things easier, the Tang Monk has to feign interest in an enchantress.

10. 10   Monkey evolves from the mineral state, out of a stone impregnated with the essence of heaven and earth.

11. 11   Lau, Mencius, 167.

12. 12   The novel actually has sixteen chapters. For detail, see below.

13. 13   Frye, Anatomy of Criticism, 190.

14. 14   Frye, Fables of Identity, 59.

15. 15   On this “cult,” see, among others, Wai-yee Li, Enchantment and Disenchantment; Anthony C. Yu, Rereading the Stone; Martin Huang, Desire and Fictional Narrative in Late Imperial China; Epstein, Competing Discourses; Santangelo, Sentimental Education in Chinese History; Santangelo, From Skin to Heart; Eifring, Love and Emotions in Traditional Chinese Literature; McMahon, Polygamy and Sublime Passion; Tan and Santangelo, Passion, Romance, and Qing.

16. 16   On reasons why readers of the author’s day would link Qin Hui and Wei Zhongxian, see Li Qiancheng, Xiyou bu jiaozhu, 19–23.

17. 17   Song Lian, Wenxian ji (Works of Wenxian [Song Lian]), j. 32.

18. 18   Tang Xianzu, Tang Xianzu quanji, j. 13, 545; originally, Yumingtang shi, j. 8.

19. 19   Tang Xianzu, Tang Xianzu quanji, j. 15, 644–45; originally, Yumingtang shi, j. 10.

20. 20   Cf. Zhao Hongjuan, Ming yinmin Dong Tuo yanjiu, 217–18. Reading the character as Tuo reveals added significance. However, the pronunciation Yue is not unacceptable, given the number of historical figures who have the same character, pronounced Yue, in their names.

21. 21   On Dong Sizhang’s dates, I follow Gao Hongjun, Feng Menglong ji jianzhu, 297.

22. 22   Gao Hongjun, “Xiyou bu zuozhe shi shui,” 81–84; and “Xiyou bu zuozhe shi shui zhi zaibian,” 238–45.

23. 23   Fu Chengzhou, “Xiyou bu zuozhe Dong Sizhang kao,” 120–22; Fu, Mingdai wenren yu wenxue; Wang Hongjun, “Dong Sizhang,” 19–23; Hegel, “Picturing the Monkey King”; Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary, 276–78.

24. 24   Dong Tuo, Fengcao’an shiji, 2.4a–b; Dong Tuo, Dong Ruoyu shiwen ji ershiwu juan, 2.4a–b.

25. 25   In the late imperial period authors of vernacular fiction—“popular literature”—tended to use pen names to sign their works. It seems that at the beginning authors might have tried not to be associated with writing such works, but later the practice seems to have become a convention, because the pen names used are not secret. In this case, late Ming literati readers would have known who Jingxiaozhai Zhuren was.

26. 26   I discuss the Dong Sizhang authorship at some length in Xiyou bu jiaozhu, 1–23, giving intertextual comparisons as evidence.

27. 27   Hanshan Deqing, Hanshan laoren mengyou ji, 84–85. See also Li, Xiyou bu jiaozhu, 17–18.

28. 28   Dong Tuo, “Zhao Wenchang xiansheng Zaxing cao xu” (Preface to Sudden Awakening by Mr. Zhao Wenchang), in Fengcao’an qianji (Collected works of Fengcao’an, first series), 1.1a–b.

29. 29   Min Yuanqu, Dong Sizhang’s friend, in the elegy appended to Jingxiaozhai cuncao (Extant works of Jingxiaozhai), mentioned that he and Dong’s other friends would be responsible for publishing his works.

30. 30   See Hegel, “Picturing the Monkey King.”

31. 31   Rolston, Traditional Chinese Fiction and Fiction Commentary, 276–78.

32. 32   Printing in small quantities for private distribution among a writer’s friends and acquaintances was not uncommon during the seventeenth century. See Son, Writing for Print, esp. 32–42.

33. 33   Zhang also wrote a commentary on Rulin waishi (Scholars) that appeared in two basic forms, one of which was published by Shenbaoguan, which is mentioned below.

34. 34   In Wujiang, Jiangsu.

35. 35   The full text of Zhang’s preface is available in Li Qiancheng, Xiyou bu jiaozhu, 70–71.

36. 36   See Li Qiancheng, Xiyou bu jiaozhu, 27–28.

37. 37   Son, Writing for Print, 40–50, observes that copies of many self-printed publications during the seventeenth century varied in which and how many paratextual elements they bear, because they could be added or removed when initial readers responded with prefaces or commentaries sent to the author after they had read them. This practice was facilitated by the common practice of starting all paratextuals on a recto half folio and paginating each separately. Another factor affecting how the number of prefatory items might vary relates to the fact that the items often had their own pagination and were sometimes printed so that each began on a new recto page, making it easy to leave items out.

38. 38   The first to point out the authorship of this piece was Gao Yuhai; see his “Yize changqi bei wuyong de cailiao.”

39. 39   The preface by You Tong (1618–1704) is dated 1696.

NOTE ON THE CHONGZHEN EDITION TABLE OF CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

1. 1   Illustration 4a (fig. 7) reproduces the rock and the wisps of cloud from the Xiling Tianzhangge (Hangzhou) edition of A Faithful Edition of The Western Chamber, with Commentary by Master Li Zhuowu (Li Zhuowu xiansheng pidian Xixiang ji zhenben, 1640); some of its illustrations were said to have been drawn by the popular painter Chen Hongshou (1599–1652), others by the professional artists Lu Zhe, Lu Qi, Lu Xi, Lu Shan, and Wei Xian; illustrations for that edition were carved by one of the finest craftsmen of his time, the Hangzhou native Xiang Nanzhou (alternate name Xiang Zhonghua, fl. 1630–1640s). See Fu Xihua, Zhongguo gudian wenxue banhua xuanji, 2:745; the Further Adventures illustrator subtracted the text within the image and substituted a poppy flower. This image from the play is also reproduced in Shoudu Tushuguan, Guben xiqu banhua tulu, 4:363. The “Reedy Bank” image (6a, fig. 13) is another nearly exact reproduction of an illustration from this edition of the play. See Zhou Xinhui, Xinbian Zhongguo banhua shi tulu, 8:110; Guben xiqu shida mingzhu banhua quanbian, 1:330 (the rock image appears on 1:318). These correspondences make it highly likely that one or more of the illustrators from the Hangzhou 1640 Xixiang ji edition also worked on these for Further Adventures.

2. 2   For an investigation of their hidden significance, see Hegel, “Picturing the Monkey King,” esp. 179–85.

PREFACE FROM THE CHONGZHEN EDITION

This is the preface to the Chongzhen edition, originally printed in larger characters than the text proper. This preface is not included in the Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions. In his book on Dong Tuo, Frederick P. Brandauer (Tung Yüeh, 99–100) included a translation of the part of the preface on the different kinds of dreams.

1. 1   Saṃsāra refers to the Realm of Desire, Realm of Form, and Realm of the Formless.

2. 2   The two Lesser Vehicles: the first refers to those who attain the way of the arhat by being direct disciples of the historical Buddha; the second, to those who attain the way of the arhat by lifelong contemplation and meditation on dependent arising. The Greater Vehicle, Mahāyāna, refers to the way of the bodhisattva, the northern branch of Buddhism that spread from India and Central Asia to China and throughout East Asia.

3. 3   That is, devoid of all characteristics, the Void.

4. 4   Māra: the demon who tempted the Buddha; personification of desire and destruction.

5. 5   See Shoulengyan jing, T, 945.19.143b; The Śūrangama Sūtra, trans. Charles Luk, 177–78:

If his mind is wholly thoughtful (xiang), it [the form between two incarnations] will fly into the air and he will be reborn in heaven. If this flight is filled with blessedness and wisdom strongly sustained by his pure vow, it will open to let him behold the pure lands of all Buddhas in the ten directions; he will be reborn there as a result of his vow.

If his mind is more thoughtful (xiang) than passionate (qing), it will not be light enough for him to fly to distant places; he will be reborn as a flying ṛṣi, a powerful king of ghosts, a flying yakṣa or an earthbound rākṣasa. He will be able to roam freely in the heavens of the four deva kings. If he is good natured and has taken a vow to protect my Dharma and those who observe the precepts, repeat the mantras, meditate and realize patient endurance, he will dwell beneath the throne of the Tathāgata.

If his thoughts (xiang) and passions (qing) are in equal proportions, he will neither rise nor sink, but will be reborn in the realm of human beings where his intelligence comes from the clearness of his thoughts and his stupidity from the dullness of his passions.

If his passions exceed his thoughts, he will be reborn in the realm of animals where great passions create beasts with hair and fur and mild passions produce winged and feathered creatures.

1. 6   This refers to the dream structure of the novel, and in particular to how a single thought, in chapter 1, leads Pilgrim astray.

2. 7   This image of light and mirrors—one’s observation of the features of one’s own face is enhanced by the mirror—is mentioned in the early Han period philosophical text Huainan zi, section 9, “The Ruler’s Techniques” (Zhu shu xun). Here this implies the relationship between the observer and the observed, the subject and the object.

3. 8   This refers to chapters 4–10 in general and chapter 4 in particular.

4.   9   This, again, refers to the dream structure of the novel. A chiliocosm is an enormous number of worlds, millions of millions. In Buddhist cosmology, one thousand worlds constitute one lesser thousand worlds (a chiliocosm); one thousand lesser thousand worlds are a medium thousand worlds; one thousand medium thousand worlds are a greater thousand worlds.

5. 10   Butterflies: literally, “spring ponies” (chunju).

6. 11   The images are mentioned in chapter 1.

7. 12   This paragraph refers to chapters 1–2.

8. 13   One of six kinds of dreams. From the ancient ritual text, Rites of Zhou (Zhou Li), whose formulations are recapitulated in Liezi: “There are eight proofs of being awake, six tests of dreaming.… What is meant by the six tests? There are normal dreams, and dreams due to alarm, thinking, memory, rejoicing, fear. These six happen when the spirits connect with something.” Liezi jishi, 101; Graham, trans., The Book of Lieh-tzŭ, 66. For a list and the source for this way of categorizing dreams, see Brandauer, Tung Yüeh, 95–102; Brandauer discusses Dong Tuo’s interest in dreams—a fascination he shared with his father. See also Fang and Zhang, The Interpretation of Dreams, 22–23. For a list of sources on dream interpretation, see Liu Wenying, Zhongguo gudai de meng shu, 66–67.

9. 14   This refers, in particular, to chapter 3. “Chen Xuanzang” is a combination of the Tang Monk’s family name and his formal religious name.

10. 15   This refers to chapters 5–10. For identification of these historical figures, see the notes to these chapters.

11. 16   Specifically, a tanci or “plucking rhyme,” usually performed by women to the accompaniment of string instruments, making it generally a performative genre for indoor entertainment.

12. 17   “Torrential currents and white-capped waves”: Treasury of the True Eye of the Dharma (Zheng fayan zang), j. 2, X, 1309.67.604: “After the passing of Daowu (769–853), Jianyuan, carrying a spade, walked from west to east and again from east to west in the Dharma Hall. Shishuang (807–888) asked, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I am looking for the bones of the late Master,’ replied Jianyuan. Shishuang said, ‘Torrential billows are endless and white-capped waves reach up to the skies. Where do you look for the bones of the late Master?’ ‘This is exactly where to apply one’s effort,’ said Jianyuan. ‘You cannot even insert a needle,’ said Shishuang. Jianyuan walked away, carrying the spade on his shoulder.”

13. 18   This refers to chapters 10–12.

14. 19   The meaning of se ranges from enjoyment of visual stimuli, particularly the pleasing appearance of the feminine, to sensual pleasure and physical lust.

15. 20   This refers to chapter 5.

16. 21   This phrase inverts a line from a poem by the general Cao Cao (155–220), in a section describing the night of the full moon. Cao’s poem is alluded to by Su Shi (1037–1101) in one of his two rhapsodies on the Red Cliff; Su believed that the poem was composed on the eve of the Battle of Red Cliff, a battle in which Cao suffered a perilous defeat (see Hegel, “The Sights and Sounds of Red Cliffs”). The moonlit night invites comparison of the two battles, one historical and one fictional, but both equally perilous. Moreover, in Chinese Buddhism the full moon represents religious illuminations. Thus, in chapter 15 below, the battle against desire is fittingly fought on such a night.

17. 22   This refers to chapter 15.

18. 23   See n. 13 above.

19. 24   This refers, in particular, to chapter 5, where Pilgrim thinks he is not bound by saṃsāra.

20. 25   This image appears in a song in chapter 11.

21. 26   Chen Jiru (1558–1639) said something similar in his comments on Tang Xianzu’s Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting tici). See Cai Yi, Zhongguo gudian xiqu xu ba huibian, 1226.

22. 27   Xinsi was the fourteenth year of the Chongzhen reign-period; Mid-Autumn Day was the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month. By the Western calendar, the date was September 19, 1641.

23. 28   Thousand-Acre Clouds (Qianqingyun) is a famous scenic site on Tiger Hill (Huqiu) in Suzhou. The name Niru suggests “extraordinary” or “outstanding.”

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS CONCERNING FURTHER ADVENTURS ON THE JOURNEY TO THE WEST

1. 1   Sun Wukong or Monkey. In Further Adventures, he is consistently referred to as Pilgrim in the narration.

2. 2   In Buddhist writings, 84,000 connotes a great number. The number 48,000 is used the same way, rather than as a specific number, to mean all of human history.

3. 3   I.e., to destroy the root of desire with an understanding of emptiness (kong).

4. 4   Mountain Man of Wuling (Wuling Shanren) is Gu Guanguang (1799–1862). About this figure, see the introduction.

5. 5   Here he is referring to Confucian sages and the Confucian Dao.

6. 6   The tension between desire and the Dao was often emphasized in Ming and Qing period writings. However, few have put forward a better formulation than this.

7. 7   Mengzi 6A:11: “Benevolence is the heart of man, and rightness his road. Sad it is indeed when a man gives up the right road instead of following it and allows his heart to stray without enough sense to go after it. When his chickens and dogs stray, he has sense enough to go after them, but not when his heart strays. The sole concern of learning is to go after this strayed heart. That is all.” Lau, Mencius, 167. Heart, xin, is also understood as mind; this is how the term is used here. In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong, or Pilgrim, represents the human heart/mind.

8. 8   This points to the Buddhist concept of nonduality (literally, the doctrine of “not two”; bu’er lun), in which all conceptual opposites are seen as empty of any essential meaning.

9. 9   In chapter 24 of Journey to the West, Pilgrim kills the Six Robbers. Their individual names indicate that as is the case in Buddhism, they each symbolize one of the six “senses” through which attachments to delusion may occur: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought. In this novel, they make their appearance at the end of chapter 7 and the beginning of chapter 8.

10. 10   The Kongqingshi edition also has “chapter 13.” According to the 1641 text, it should be “chapter 12.” About this discrepancy, see the introduction.

11. 11   “Dream thoughts turn things upside down,” or simply, “These are dreams and delusions.” This phrase is from the Heart Sutra. The sutra states that those who practice the Perfect Wisdom can distance themselves from all dreamlike delusions.

12. 12   There are several Buddhist sutras with “Qingjing” in their titles. Here it apparently refers to the Daoist Classic of Purity and Tranquility by the Supreme Old Lord (Taishang Qingjing jing) attributed to Laozi. However, the quotation is not found in any of these texts. Desire (qing) is seen as something that beclouds one’s basic nature (xing).

13. 13   On how this prefatory piece and the table of contents of the original edition speak of the novel as only having fifteen chapters, see the introduction. The two late editions (K. and Shenbaoguan) change this comment to sixteen chapters.

14. 14   This is the studio name of Dong Sizhang. For details, see the introduction.

CHAPTER 1

In the Chongzhen edition, the words on the central seam between the two pages (which a block-printed sheet is folded into before binding) constitute an abbreviated chapter title: “First Chapter: Peonies Bloom Red.”

To “remain attached” (liulian) in the title refers to his attachment to illusions/delusion. He should have “moved on,” rather than “remaining” there—that is, to dwell on what is illusory, taking its manifestations as reality.

Throughout the novel, the protagonist is referred to using a variety of names. In chapter titles as given in the main text, he is called the Great Sage (Dasheng); in the table of contents, he can be referred to as Monkey Sage (Hou Sheng), with the exception of chapter 9, where he is referred to as the Great Sage, and chapter 10, where Pilgrim also appears in the chapter title. In the story proper, the title Pilgrim is used consistently in the narration, although Great Sage and variants of it appear in the speech of Wukong and other characters. His master, the monk Tripitaka, refers to him by the name his first teacher gave him, Wukong (lit. Awakened to Emptiness, or to the Void), which is endorsed by the Bodhisattva Guanyin and becomes his religious, or Dharma, name. Other characters often resort to his nicknames to tease him. He characteristically refers to himself as Old Monkey/Old Sun. In the use of names, we follow the author’s choice in the Chinese original.

1. 1   In his “Reading The Book of Changes” (Guan Yi yin) included in his collected works, Yichuan jirang ji (Striking on the earth at Yichuan), j. 15, Shao Yong (1011–1077) wrote: “Since the beginning, each thing has a body, / And each body is a universe in itself. / If one knows that all things are contained in oneself, / Is one ready to see the Three Entities [Heaven, Earth, Humanity] from a different basis? / From oneness Heaven divides into Form and Action. / Humans bring order to the world, relying on their Mind-Heart. / Heaven and Humanity follow the same principle. / If the Dao does not work in vain, it is only because of human beings.” See Shao, Shao Yong quanji, 4:290. Another poem by Shao Yong, expressing gratitude to Sima Guang (1019–1086) and others for their purchase of a park for him, reads, “Were I to dare open the eyes of the people of the world, / They would see Heaven in this human realm in a different light.” See Shao Yong quanji, 4:248. The first line of the couplet also appears in a different poem; see Shao Yong quanji, 4:425. The quatrain that opens the book is also found in Tang Xianzu’s (1550–1616) chuanqi play The Southern Bough (Nanke ji), scene 3; Tang Xianzu quanji, 4:2292. Tang’s poem is almost identical to the one here, with the exception of one character in the first line and a slightly different word order in the third line. The author here is quoting this “old poem,” i.e., Tang Xianzu’s recension of the Shao Yong poem. Moreover, this novel opens with a poem on The Book of Changes and ends with a quotation from The Book of Changes.

2. 2   In the symbolism of the parent work, Journey to the West, Sun Wukong is the human mind: always active, monkey-like, unable to be still for a moment. The quest represents stilling the mind for enlightenment. “Mackerel,” or qingyu, puns on qing (emotion or desire) and yu (desire or lust).

3. 3   This is the voice of an extratextual commentator, which was rather unconventional for novels of its time.

4. 4   The color word qing (green) is a homophone for “desire.” The word “jade” (yu) suggests “desire” (yu). The color here is lü, a synonym for qing, meaning “green.”

5. 5   “Question and answer” (wenda) here, the “Chan dialogue,” is a technique in which the Chan master tests the disciple’s level of understanding of Buddhist teachings by asking seemingly nonsensical questions.

6. 6   In the commentary, unrelated comments grouped together are separated with a small circle. We have reproduced that effect here.

7. 7   This may be a reference to Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting), the most famous chuanqi play by Tang Xianzu. Indeed, much of Peony Pavilion is the heroine Du Liniang’s dream, whereas this novel is Pilgrim’s dream. See the introduction.

8. 8   As elsewhere in this novel, this “old poem” was likely composed at least in part by someone other than the author. The Bozhou mudan shi, j. 1, by Xue Fengxiang (fl. Wanli reign-period, 1573–1620) mentions the variety of peony called “inebriate Yuhuan” (Zui Yuhuan): “Yuhuan inebriate is cultivated by Fang Xianren. This is the flower of ‘the drunken imperial consort,’ especially named after the informal name of Taizhen. The cup of the flower hangs down, hence the epithet ‘drunken.’ ” Xue also mentions a flower referred to as “Yang fei shenzui,” or “Yang, the imperial consort, heavily intoxicated.” “Heavily intoxicated: this refers to its deep hue. Not only is the flower tremendously beautiful, its fragrance is strong. With pliant trunk and stems, it holds its head as if intoxicated, dancing in the wind, as if it could not contain itself in spring.” At that time, there were many such horticultural guides that also included literary pieces on the flowers and plants. Yang Yuhuan (719–756), sometimes referred to by her Daoist name, Taizhen, was the “Precious Consort” (Guifei) of the Tang emperor Minghuang (685–762, r. 713–756). His infatuation with her was legendary; in popular imagination it led to the near collapse of the dynasty. The peony plays an important role in legends about her; hence her mention in a poem about a peony.

9. 9   In the JW, chapter 59, there is a village close to the Mountain of Flames where everything is red. The text here can be interpreted as extending this redness.

10. 10   This bodhisattva is mentioned in Huayan jing, or Avataṃsaka Sūtra, sec. 66, in T, 279.10.355, and elsewhere as the Great Healer; he is sometimes referred to as the Medicine Buddha.

11. 11   Referring back to the poem that opens this chapter: “Were I to open the eyes of all the world.”

12. 12   This recalls an episode in the life of Huineng (638–713), the Sixth Patriarch of the Chan sect. When monks saw a flag fluttering in the wind, some argued that it was the wind moving, while others said that it was the flag. Huineng said that it was neither the flag nor the wind; what was not steady were the very minds/hearts of the spectators. See T, 2008.48.349; Yampolsky, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, 80.

13. 13   Gāthā: a Sanskrit term for the verse that often serves as conclusion and recapitulation in a Buddhist sutra. It is also an independent didactic verse form in Chinese Buddhist writings.

14. 14   Ge Yilong, “Fallen Flowers” (Hua luo): “When flowers bloom, you don’t see it. / When flowers fall, you don’t know it. / Now you are here, but flowers have all fallen. / It is the same as when they have never bloomed.” See Mingshi gui, j. 6, attributed to Zhong Xing (1574–1625) and Tan Yuanchun (1586–1637); photo-reprint of the manuscript copy held in Tsinghua University, Siku quanshu cunmu congshu, Jibu 338, 698. See also Shao Yong, “A Short Poem on Fallen Flowers” (Luohua duanyin), in Jirang ji, j. 6; Shao Yong quanji, 4:98.

15. 15   Cf. n. 5 above on Chan dialogue. Sudden enlightenment in Chan in principal does not rely on words or texts. Overreliance on words and texts is a distraction from more expedient practice.

16. 16   It was the custom for babies and children to wear clothes made from bits of fabric donated by as many as a hundred families; the patches symbolized good blessings from these families. At the same time, it was hoped that this “beggar’s” garment would accustom the children to difficulties in life, so that when they grew up they could cope with problems with relative ease. The monk’s robe here is probably well patched too, but using only fabric of the same color, unlike the multicolored children’s clothing. Buddhist monks in China often wore robes made from patches donated by many. Here the author takes for granted that the Tang Monk is wearing such a robe, although Journey to the West does not specify what robe he ordinarily wore.

17. 17   Heartbreak plant: a kind of poisonous vine (Gelsemium elegans).

18. 18   Birds that fly wing-to-wing: mythological birds, each with one wing and one eye. They could not fly unless two do so together, sharing their wings and eyes; they suggest love. Their color is qing chi, a combination of blue-green and red.

19. 19   Jade (yu): a pun on “desire” (yu).

20. 20   Lotus seed (lianrou): a pun on flesh touching flesh (lianrou).

21. 21   Light green (yinqing): a pun on illicit carnal desire (yinqing).

22. 22   Se jishi kong, kong jishi se, “Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form,” is a line from the Xinjing, the Heart Sutra (Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya Sūtra), T 220.5.17.

23. 23   Eight Vows (Bajie) is the religious name of the Tang Monk’s pig-like disciple, a symbol of physical desires.

24. 24   Original: chunju (spring ponies). Dong Sizhang, Guang Bowu zhi, j. 50, 1:594, cites Cailan zaji (Picking orchids: Miscellaneous notes): “Butterflies are sometimes called spring ponies.”

25. 25   This happens in JW, chapter 56.

26. 26   The wording is somewhat different from that in JW, chapters 8 and 12, which mention an “embroidered cassock” and “nine-ring priestly staff” in Anthony Yu’s translation (1: 206).

27. 27   Han E (fl. 10th cent.), Suihua ji li (Splendors throughout the year), j. 1: “The willows by the doorway have turned golden; the orchids in the courtyard have conceived their jade.” This is a description of plant growth in the third lunar month, or late spring.

28. 28   Dao de jing, chapter 5: “Heaven and Earth are not benevolent, taking the myriad things as straw dogs.”

29. 29   The novel is set in the third lunar month, or late spring.

30. 30   Chen Yuanjing (end of the Southern Song and early Yuan), Suishi guangji (Days and feasts of the year), j. 1: “According to Shui heng ji (Records of the Commandant of Waterways): ‘The water of the Yellow River in the second and third months is referred to as the Water of Peach Flowers.’ ”

31. 31   An allusion to the Goddess of the Xiang River of the Nine Songs (Jiu ge), attributed to Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BCE).

32. 32   Dong Sizhang, in Guang Bowu zhi, j. 3, 1:46, quotes Yishuo: “In spring there are White Crane Clouds.”

33. 33   Refers to sericulture.

34. 34   Refers to powerful zither music.

35. 35   White Ladies are legendary beings from the time of the Yellow Emperor who seem to be between goddesses and humans. Among other accomplishments, they are particularly good at musical performance.

36. 36   Supernatural being in charge of fate. One’s fate could be hard to understand, hence seemingly whimsical; as a consequence, he is often compared to a child.

37. 37   Coins given on the occasion of the baby’s bath three days or one month after birth.

38. 38   It was the custom to float red dates on a meandering stream on the third day in the third month, to pray for an abundance of children. For the image, see, among others, Yu Jianwu (487–551), “Qushui yan” (Banquet by the meandering stream). See Ouyang Xun (557–641), Yiwen leiju (Classified collection of literature), j. 4.

39. 39   The image is taken from Yu Xin (513–581), “Sanyue sanri Hualin yuan ma she fu” (Rhapsody on hunting on horseback in the Hualin Park on the third day of the third month). In Ouyang Xun, Yiwen leiju, j. 4.

40. 40   “Dreams and delusions”: the Heart Sutra states that those who practice Perfect Wisdom distance themselves from all dreamlike delusions. Wuneng is the religious name of Eight Vows (Zhu Bajie).

41. 41   In chapter 14 below. Wujing is the Buddhist name for Shaseng, the Sand Monk, the third of Tripitaka’s disciples on the pilgrimage.

42. 42   Refers to JW, chapter 23, where bodhisattvas tested the will of the pilgrims to the West by presenting them with these three lovely ladies. Eight Vows failed the test. The “Dark Contentment” he refers to is the land of sleep—again referring to dreams.

CHAPTER 2

In the Chongzhen edition, a short chapter title appears on the central fold between the two pages. The first block-printed sheet of this chapter reads, “Second Chapter: First Bewitchment,” but “Second Chapter: The New Tang” is given for the rest of the chapter.

1. 1   Here, as in chapter 1, the novelist begins with an unusual analytical explanation of the narrative ahead, in the voice of the commentator.

2. 2   Kong, literally understood as meaning “air” or “space” here, also means “emptiness,” or śūnyatā. What Pilgrim perceives here are his own delusions, not the Emptiness of particularities that is the Mahayana Buddhist Ultimate Reality.

3. 3   The original mentions “two hours,” but those “hours” are each equivalent to two modern hours.

4. 4   This comment also refers to how the text is composed: the narration pauses and turns in a new direction.

5. 5   The passage referred to begins this way: “After they passed the summit, they descended westward until they reached a plateau, where they suddenly came upon rays of divine light and strands of colored mists. There was in the distance a magnificent building, from which the faint, harmonious sounds of bells and sonorous stones could be heard” (JW, 3:213; XYJ, 65.785).

6. 6   In Journey to the West, it is Emperor Taizong who commissions the Tang Monk for the pilgrimage to the West and declares the monk to be his sworn brother.

7. 7   There is no such figure in the original Journey to the West.

8. 8   The mythological Kunlun Mountains are the axis mundi, the home of the Queen Mother of the West, as well as the pillar that reaches Heaven. The geographical Kunlun Mountains are in the west of China.

9. 9   I.e., China.

10. 10   Roughly present-day India.

11. 11   Annotations on the Classic of Waterways (Shuijing zhu) by Li Daoyuan (466 or 472–527), j. 1: “West of the River [the Xintou River; i.e., Sindhu (Skr.) or Indus River] are the various states of Tianzhu (India). South of them is the Middle Kingdom, whose people are prosperous. It is called the Middle Kingdom because their diet and clothing are the same as in the Middle Kingdom, so it is called the Middle Kingdom.” “The Yellow River” (Heshui) is the first chapter in the Classic of Waterways.

12. 12   Emperor Taizong was the second emperor of the Tang dynasty.

13. 13   Gaozong “restored” the Song dynasty by establishing a successor state, the Southern Song, with its capital in Hangzhou, after the northern part of the empire was taken over by the Jin dynasty and the last two emperors of the Northern Song were captured and taken away to die in exile.

14. 14   Chapters 8–9.

15. 15   There were two Ming dynasty emperors whose reign-periods were only a year. The second, Emperor Guangzong, who was on the throne for only a month in 1620, died not long before this novel was written.

16. 16   Temporal Guardian: zhiri gongcao, a local guardian for the day (others keep watch over the year, month, and time).

17. 17   Referring to JW, chapters 4–7, in which Sun Wukong’s violent outrage caused damage in all parts of Heaven. That episode was made into a popular cartoon movie in the 1960s, Danao Tiangong (Havoc in Heaven), as well as comic books in several languages with the same name.

18. 18   In JW, chapter 4, Sun Wukong is appointed the Custodian of the Celestial Stable (Bimawen) by the Jade Emperor, who is persuaded to have the rebellious monkey contained rather than defeated. It is a menial post. When Sun Wukong learns this, he runs amok in Heaven. Later, he is very sensitive about this episode, and others tend to use the stable custodian title to insult or provoke him.

19. 19   The idea of calling someone with a lot of cunning schemes a “bag of wisdom” goes back to the Qin dynasty. Feng Menglong (1574–1646), the author’s friend, compiled a book titled A Bag of Wisdom (Zhinang), printed in 1626.

20. 20   In the Daoist Canon there is a text titled Superior Scripture of the Numinous Writings in Purple Script of the Imperial Lord of the Golden Portal of the August Heaven of Highest Clarity (Huang Tian Shangqing Jinque Dijun Lingshu ziwen shang jing). See Pregadio, ed., Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism, 680. Here, this is a general term referring to numinous writings with supernatural power.

21. 21   Perhaps the author is alluding to the discussions about whether one should take matters of the world seriously—regarding them as real—or otherwise. See Feng Menglong’s preface to his Anecdotes Old and New (Gujin tan gai).

22. 22   Four-stringed musical instrument that is plucked or strummed; sometimes called the Chinese lute.

23. 23   Refers to autumnal air.

24. 24   The North Star.

25. 25   The sun implies the emperor, and the City of the Phoenix, the capital. The North Star is also seen as symbolic of imperial prominence.

26. 26   This is copied from Li Mengyang’s (1473–1530) “Shenjing yue” (Hymns to the divine capital) in his Kongtong ji (Collected works of Kongtong [Li Mengyang]), j. 34. It is the second in the set of four poems about the Ming capital, referred to as “the City of the Phoenix.”

27. 27   Lüyudian: “green” (lü) here again functions as a synonym for qing, and “jade,” yu, as a homonym for “desire,” yu. Again, “green” also connotes youthful folly and exuberance.

28. 28   Roughly late February through late March of the Western calendar.

29. 29   Dou is a dry grain measurement of volume (one dou is about a decaliter or a peck in the English system).

30. 30   This perhaps refers to the poem “The People of Our Race” (Zhengmin) in the Classic of Poetry (Shijing). The Mao preface for this poem declares that it is “Yin Jifu’s [852–775 BCE] paean to King Xuan, who employed the virtuous and capable, thus reviving the Zhou. See Waley, Book of Songs, poem 260.

31. 31   Again, “green” (qing) is homophonous with qing, desire. The maid is sweeping away petals of desire. The sweeping of the fallen petals here may recall scene 3 in the play Handan Dream (Handan ji) by Tang Xianzu, in which the immortal maiden He Xiangu sweeps up petals that have fallen in Heaven.

32. 32   So called for the saying that a smile from someone of such beauty is enough to bring ruin and destruction to a state.

33. 33   The “Rhapsody on Gaotang” (Gaotang fu) is a composition in prose and verse by Song Yu (298–222 BCE) that narrates an erotic dream encounter between the King of Chu and a goddess on Witch Mountain, Wushan.

34. 34   By legend, the star spirits Weaving Maid and the Oxherd, lovers, only get to meet once a year, when he crosses the Heavenly River (Milky Way) that separates them on a bridge made by magpies. This happens on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

35. 35   Rosa banksiae Ait, a kind of shrub rose popular in Chinese gardens.

36. 36   “Flowers” here also refers to his beautiful companions.

37. 37   A palace built by Emperor Wu of the Western Han in 115 BCE. It was later destroyed by fire.

38. 38   The commentator might be referring to this poem by Du Fu (712–770), titled “The Yuhua Palace” (Yuhua gong): “The stream meanders back, wind wails among the pines; / Rats scurry on the old tiles. / The palace is left below the precipice, / For which prince was it built? / In the shaded rooms are will-o’-the wisps, / On the damaged roads are the melancholy notes of torrential water. / The sounds in nature are real music, / Autumn is at its peak of splendor. / The beautiful ones have become dust, / Let alone the rouge and powder they applied. / Of all the attendants on the imperial carriage, / Only the stone horses remain. / Sadness ravages my heart, I sit on the grass. / Singing a song loudly, my tears flow heavily. / On this endless journey, / Who can boast a long life?” See Du Fu, Du Fu quanji jiaozhu, j. 4, 912–16.

39. 39   Lit., sad songs and dirges might be accompanied by the xiao (vertical flute) and the se (zither).

40. 40   The “dark” in “dark dust” is qing, most likely another play on qing (desire).

41. 41   Pines intertwined with usnea.

42. 42   Qin here suggests qing (desire).

43. 43   By Wang Renyu (880–956). The Jade Hall was also a palace during the Han dynasty.

CHAPTER 3

Short title: “Chiseling the Sky.” The name Mind-Monkey draws attention to Pilgrim’s symbolic function in the parent novel; here it is stressed for repeated philosophical and religious significance.

1. 1   This is the main gate separating the Inner Palace, the living quarters, from the Outer Palace, where affairs of state are conducted. Images of tigers are painted on this gate, connoting valor and martial spirit.

2. 2   The title is fictional.

3. 3   Refers to Emperor Taizong.

4. 4   Refers to Buddhist monks.

5. 5   These two places are the lairs of Sun Wukong as the Monkey King and the dragon prince who replaces the Tang Monk’s white horse, respectively. The precise name of the Monkey King’s lair (even if shortened) is used, but the dragon prince’s is described rather than named.

6. 6   The weapons of the Sand Monk and Pilgrim, respectively.

7. 7   This mention of the southeast and of whales might refer to the raids of the “Japanese” pirates along the southeast coast of China in the middle and late Ming.

8. 8   Sickle-like curved spear.

9. 9   Xiang Yu’s steed; see chapters 6, 7, and 12.

10. 10   Signifies a military headquarters.

11. 11   The author humorously associates imperial ceremonial weaponry with peach flowers or other things and colors that suggest desire and passion or even have erotic connotations.

12. 12   “Autumn axes” refers to headsmen’s axes used in judicial executions, traditionally held in autumn.

13. 13   The seven are the seven stars of the Big Dipper, important in Daoist ritual, here conveying imperial connotations.

14. 14   Ostensibly the items listed refer to his honesty and integrity, but the colors and objects suggest entanglements of desire, like green and red (the color of passion), and of thought and longing (si [threads] is homophonous with si [thought]).

15. 15   It is ironic that in chapter 1, the Qing Fish “exhales” to entice Pilgrim.

16. 16   In the age of the legendary sage ruler Yao, this plant grew by the steps of his court. From the first to the fifteenth of each lunar month, a pod would grow each day until there were fifteen of them. Starting with the sixteenth day, a pod would fall each day, until the last of them fell on the thirtieth. If a month happened to have only twenty-nine days, the last pod would simply wither without falling.

17. 17   Li Daoyuan, Shuijing zhu, j. 1: “Dongfang Shuo’s Shenyi jing annotated by Zhang Hua has it, ‘There is a bronze column at Mount Kunlun, which rises up to heaven. This is why it is referred to as the column of heaven.’ ”

18. 18   Jin shu (History of the Jin), j. 34, “Yang Hu zhuan” (Biography of Yang Hu [221–278]): “The people of Xiangyang erected a temple and a monument on Mount Xian 峴, where throughout his life Yang Hu used to visit and rest, and offer sacrifices to him every year. All those who saw the monument would shed tears [of gratitude]. Du Yu (222–285) therefore called it ‘monument of tears.’ ”

19. 19   Alluding to Tao Yuanming’s (365–427) rhapsody, Guiqulai xi ci (Return).

20. 20   The author humorously describes bows and arrows with modifiers like coral (red) and jade, both indicating that these were ceremonial weapons and suggesting desire.

21. 21   Normally an emblem of imperial authority with motifs of dragons and tigers carried by imperial messengers or officials. Here the author humorously added the “jade” radical to the characters for “dragon” and “tiger.”

22. 22   “Questioning Heaven” (Tian wen) is a series of questions in the Han period anthology Chu ci (Songs of the South) attributed to the poet Qu Yuan (ca. 340–ca. 278 BCE), which asks Heaven for explanations about cosmological and cosmogonic issues, as well as about the myths in legends and historical works.

23. 23   I.e., whether Heaven is partial or impartial, biased or unbiased.

24. 24   Jambudvīpa: southernmost of the four land masses of human habitation in Buddhist lore, where the Tang empire is located in Journey to the West.

25. 25   The World of the Green: here again the color green, apart from suggesting desire (see chapter 1), also suggests youthful folly and exuberance.

26. 26   The term King of the Moon (Yuewang) can also be found in the Buddhist sutras. See, for instance, the quotation in Jinglü yixiang (Different aspects of the Sūtras and Vinaya) from Chang Ahan jing (Madhyamāgamasūtra, j. 22), in T, 2121.53.6. Interestingly, in that passage the color of the palace of the Moon is green (qing), and in Qishiyinben jing (Sutra on the causes for the arising of worlds), j. 10, in T, 25.1.415, the clothes of the residents are described as green. Da Tang Xiyu ji by Xuanzang, in T, 2087.51.894, mentions a king with the name Moon (Sheshangjia or Śaśāṅgka), who was hostile to Buddhism. For an English translation, see Beal, Si-yu-ki, 1:210.

27. 27   In Journey to the West, Pilgrim’s first master is Subhūti, a Daoist patriarch who, curiously, has a Buddhist name.

28. 28   I.e., Laozi.

29. 29   From the perspective of Heaven, the Region Below is the human realm.

CHAPTER 4

Short title: “Gallery of a Million Mirrors.”

1. 1   “Good Pilgrim”: the narrator of Journey to the West often uses such language to refer to Pilgrim. This is the first time terms like this are used in this novel.

2. 2   The meaning of the last part of the text is difficult to determine and may be defective.

3. 3   The mirrors are likely bronze mirrors rather than glass mirrors. The mirror was an instrument used to help Empress Wu Zetian (624–705; r. 690–705) comprehend Huayan school’s view of totality. The monk Fazang (643–712) built a Hall of Mirrors for his demonstration: “He … led the Empress into a room lined with mirrors. On the ceiling and the floor, on all four walls, and even in the four corners of the room were fixed huge mirrors—all facing each other. Then Fazang produced an image of Buddha and placed it in the center of the room with a burning torch beside it. “Oh, how fantastic! How marvelous!” cried the Empress as she gazed at this awe-inspiring panorama of infinite interreflections. See Chang, “Fa Tsang’s Hall of Mirrors,” in The Buddhist Teaching of Totality, 24.

4. 4   The mirrors listed are related to Pilgrim’s experience in one way or another.

5. 5   One of the three “sovereigns” (san huang) of legendary prehistory.

6. 6   The mind/heart is a mirror, and the content of this mind/heart is desire (yu), punning on yu, jade.

7. 7   “Flowers” and “winds” have romantic or erotic connotations.

8. 8   The Ice Terrace, i.e., the Ice Well Terrace, was built in the nineteenth year of the Jian’an reign-period (214), late in the Eastern Han dynasty. It was one of Cao Cao’s famous “three terraces,” according to Lu Hui (dates unknown), Yezhong ji (Accounts of Ye).

9. 9   Such a mirror would have bas-relief representations of hibiscus on its back and would be associated with success in the civil service examination, which anticipates the section on the civil service examinations below.

10. 10   Dong Sizhang, in Guang Bowu zhi, j. 39, 2:291, quotes Shiyi ji (A record of lost writings), which mentions a stone mirror called the mirror of the moon.

11. 11   This refers to the episode concerning Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (r. 141–87 BCE) and Lady Li in Hanshu 97A, “Waiqi liezhuan” (Accounts of the families related to the emperors by marriage). After the lady’s death, the emperor missed her so much that he employed a magician to summon her spirit. An image appeared that the magician said was her, and the emperor chanted a poem that contained these lines: “Is it real or not? Why is she taking so long to appear?”

12. 12   The locks in imperial palaces were painted green. The term may also refer to the interlocking flowery motifs decorating the doors and windows in the imperial palaces.

13. 13   Li Si (284–208 BCE), chancellor of state for the First Emperor of the Qin; his roles included standardizing the written language after the empire was unified.

14. 14   Dong Sizhang, in Guang Bowu zhi, j. 49, 2:551, quotes Xian [sic; should be Guan] Fo sanmei jing (The manifestation of the Buddha in meditation), which mentions a stone chamber in which a reflection or shadow of Buddha preaching is retained on one of the side walls. See, among others, Fayuan zhulin (Forest of gems in the garden of the dharma), j. 37, in T, 2122.53.578. The full title of Guan Fo sanmei jing is Guan Fo sanmei hai jing.

15. 15   Xuanyuan refers to the Yellow Emperor. His principal spouse was Leizu, the inventor of sericulture.

16. 16   Read 景 for 影.

17. 17   The flying mirror refers to the moon.

18. 18   Referring to JW, chapter 13, “In the Den of Tigers, the Gold Star Brings Deliverance; At Double-Fork Ridge, Boqin Detains the Monk,” and chapter 14, “Mind Monkey Returns to the Right; The Six Robbers Vanish from Sight.”

19. 19   This title is his nickname. In JW, chapter 13, he introduces himself to Tripitaka: “I’m a hunter living in this mountain; my surname is Liu and my given name is Boqin. I also go by the nickname of Senior Guardian of the Mountain” (JW, 1:299). Senior Guardian was originally a title designating a prestigious official position.

20. 20   Chiliocosm: one billion worlds. See n. 9 in the preface.

21. 21   In JW, chapters 13–14, Liu Boqin plays several significant roles. Initially Liu serves as a protector, of sorts, to Pilgrim when he is buried under the Mountain of Five Phases as a punishment for his transgression. Later he serves as temporary protector of the Tang Monk. Pilgrim, it may be argued, takes his place during the pilgrimage.

22. 22   “Heaven” (tian) is the first character in the Thousand Character Text (Qianzi wen), an important children’s primer in traditional China. The sequence of the characters there is used to designate the order of items in a series such as cells on the civil service examination grounds.

23. 23   This might be seen as an ironic allusion to Liu Mengmei, the male protagonist in Tang Xianzu’s Peony Pavilion, whose courtesy name is Chunqing. “Budding Talents” refers to xiucai, those who pass the lowest level of the civil service examination.

24. 24   Homophonous with “Nonexistent.”

25. 25   Homophonous with “Not Really Smart.”

26. 26   Outstanding poet Liu Zongyuan (773–819) was very considerate of his friends of the younger generation and encouraged them when they met with setbacks in their careers.

27. 27   The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), which became one of the most important four Confucian texts after the development of Neo-Confucianism in the Song period.

28. 28   This is, of course, the author’s parody of an examination essay.

29. 29   Yushi xianren, which, by homophonic associations, can also suggest the Immortal Historian of Desire. He is identified as none other than Confucius by Qian Peiming in his “Notes on Reading Xiyou bu.” For Qian Peiming, see the introduction. The Old Master is Laozi.

30. 30   The first hexagram in The Book of Changes is Qian (Heaven); the second, Kun (Earth); the third, Zhun (Difficulty at the Beginning), whose image is Kan (Water) on top of Zhen (Thunder); the fourth, Meng (Youthful Folly), whose image is Gen (Mountain) on top of Kan (Water).

31. 31   Hexagram 23 Bo (Splitting Apart) to Hexagram 24 Fu (Return, or The Turning Point).

32. 32   This and the following are direct criticisms of the examination essay quoted above.

33. 33   Gauze hats were worn by officials. “Hat tops” refers to the decorations on the tops of the hats of officials in Qing dynasty that identified their rank.

CHAPTER 5

Short title: “Fifth Chapter: Pilgrim’s Entrance into the Mirror” on the first sheet, and “Fifth Chapter: The World of the Ancients” on subsequent sheets in this chapter. Qingjing in the chapter title, a shortened form for qing[tong]jing or bronze mirror, again puns on qing, emotion or desire.

1. 1   The World of the Delirious: literally, the World of Head Winds. “Head winds” cause headaches. Feng (wind) is homophonous with feng (madness).

2. 2   Lüzhu or Green Pearl (d. 300 CE), reputedly one of the most beautiful women in Chinese history, was the favorite concubine of the fabulously wealthy Shi Chong (249–300). When Shi Chong’s political enemy sent troops to kill him so as to obtain her, she committed suicide. See n. 28 below.

3. 3   This satirizes the lifestyle of a certain class of leisurely, famous literati.

4. 4   Incense, incense sticks, fragrance, or aroma may also refer to a woman or the feminine.

5. 5   In literati drinking games during the late imperial period, Xishi figured prominently. Xishi (b. 506 BCE) was a legendary beauty who was trained by the prince of the state of Yue to debauch and thereby distract his rival, the prince of Wu, from maintaining that state’s armed forces. She succeeded in her mission and, by some accounts, then married Fan Li (the young Fan in subsequent text), a Yue minister, and went away with him to travel among the Five Lakes.

6. 6   Sisi: Si means both silk filaments and silk fabric made from them, and by extension, other kinds of filaments or threads. As will become clear later in the novel, threads were thought of as something that easily got tangled up or entangled other objects. Si also puns with si, “to think, desire, or long for.” Sisi’s name has all these connotations. Sisi also alludes to a fictional character. Dong Sizhang, in his compilation Guang Bowu zhi, j. 37, 2:269, quotes Langxuan ji (Accounts found in heavenly precincts) by the Yuan period writer Yi Shizhen: “Shen Xiuwen was sitting in his studio on a rainy night, when the wind blew the bamboo door open. A young woman carrying a reel for winding silk filament made her way in and sat down. The fine thread of rain, in the wind, was like silk filaments. Following the direction of the wind, the young woman reeled and twined the silk, and the filament went on without breaking. If the filament did break, she would reconnect the filament with her mouth. The product was like genuine silk. Before one candle had burned out, she had produced several ounces of silk. Rising to her feet, she presented it to Shen: ‘This is ice silk. It is for you to make fine silk gauze.’ This said, she suddenly disappeared. Shen later had the silk filament woven into fine silk, which was fresh, pristine, gleaming, and transparent, no different from thin ice. A fan was made out of it. In summer, as soon as one had it in hand, even before one flapped it, one felt cool already.” Xiuwen is the courtesy name of Shen Yue (441–513). The story is also included in Dong Sizhang’s compilation Wuxing beizhi (Compendium of writings about Wuxing), j. 30, where it was copied from Jiashi shuolin (Jia’s forest of tales). It is identical to the version included in Langxuan ji. Shuofu (Compendium of tales), a comprehensive and encyclopedic compilation of such stories, also quotes Jiashi shuolin. Xu Shijun (seventeenth century) authored a play titled Luo bingsi (Reeling ice silk), which develops the story. The play is included in Sheng Ming zaju (Variety plays of the high Ming).

7. 7   Goddess of the River Luo: the daughter of Fuxi, the mythical progenitor of the Chinese people by some legends, who drowned herself in the Luo River, thereafter becoming its deity. She figures prominently in literary and art works. Cao Zhi (192–232) wrote a rhapsody on this goddess, “Luoshen fu” (Rhapsody on the Goddess of the River Luo), in which her hairstyle is mentioned.

8. 8   This is the author’s own note, printed in characters of smaller size. Zhu Xiaoji seems to be famous for not painting her eyebrows.

9. 9   Refers to King Ling of Chu (r. 541–529 BCE). His preference for women with slender waists is mentioned in Mozi, “Jian ai” (Universal love; second part). An anonymous Han period poem has the line, “The King of Chu preferred slender waists; / Many in the palace starved themselves to death.”

10. 10   Refers to the story of the Han emperor Cheng (51–7 BCE) and his consort Zhao Feiyan, a woman famous for her slender figure. While Feiyan was dancing, a gust of wind suddenly rose. The emperor, fearing that she might be blown away by the wind, had the attendants catch her. Doing so, they wrinkled her skirt. Feiyan, however, took a liking to the skirt with creases. Later, women in the palace began to wear skirts with many folds, which became a fashion.

11. 11   I.e., Green Pearl. “Green” again suggests desire.

12. 12   Referring to his birth from a stone egg in JW, chapter 1.

13. 13   Punning on Yu as jade, and substituting other natural elements for Yu, such as ni (soil, clay, dirt), comes to Pilgrim’s mind because the pronunciation of “jade” is close to Yu.

14. 14   In Tang Xianzu, Mudan ting, Du Liniang sings, “Streaking the dawn, close-curled at dusk, / rosy clouds from pavilion; fine threads of rain, petals borne on breeze, / gilded pleasure boat in waves of mist: / glories of spring but little treasured / by screen-secluded maid.” Tang Xianzu, The Peony Pavilion, trans. Birch, scene 10, 44–45. It is in this scene that Du Liniang, the female protagonist, meets her lover in a dream.

15. 15   Xiang Yu (232–202 BCE): the general from Chu who wiped out most of the Qin forces. He was defeated by Liu Bang (256–195 BCE; r. 202–195 BCE), who founded the Han dynasty. The author was particularly interested in Xiang Yu’s life; Xiang Yu was active in the author’s home area. The novel adds many embellishments; cf. chapter 12, n. 38. The deep commitment between Xiang and Fair Lady Yu became a legend that was popular during the Ming.

16. 16   One interpretation of this name could be “a flirt from Chu.” This is a fictional character added by the author.

17. 17   A kind of wine. Jade (yu) puns with desire (yu).

18. 18   Mandarin ducks are waterbirds that mate for life; they symbolize conjugal devotion and fidelity.

19. 19   It seems to have been a popular saying, which was even appropriated by Buddhist monks. There are slight variations.

20. 20   These are all reasons for forfeit—and drinking as a penalty—in drinking games.

21. 21   Refers to the elegy in chapter 1.

22. 22   This is taken from Song Lian (1310–1381), “Yeliang qu” (Song on a cool night), in Wenxian ji (Collected works of Wenxian [Song Lian]).

23. 23   This is taken from a poem by Tang Xianzu in Yumingtang shi, j. 8; Tang Xianzu quanji, j. 13, 545. “The jade person” refers to a fairy in Heaven. “Autumn” (qiu) here suggests the visually very similar character for “melancholy” (chou).

24. 24   Referring to the Chinese heartland.

25. 25   This is taken from Tang Xianzu, Yumingtang shi, j. 10; Tang Xianzu quanji, j. 15, 644–45. The line is about the tension between desire, embodied in “clouds and rain,” with erotic connotations, and religion, embodied in repentance.

26. 26   Fan Li and Xishi went away on a boat on these lakes.

27. 27   Beginning with Xishi’s confession, each line is four characters, unlike the previous lines.

28. 28   The term could refer to Fragrant Snow, a kind of fragrant ointment, cream, or powder, or to Snow Petals (the petals of the plum or any white flowers). Shi Chong (249–300) was, by legend, one of the wealthiest men in history; his estate was called Golden Valley, Jinguyuan.

29. 29   This is the author’s own note, printed in characters of smaller size.

30. 30   Refers to the poet Shen Yue. See n. 6 above, about the likely source for Sisi.

31. 31   In Zixia’s (b. 507 BCE) commentary on the “Sangfu” (Mourning attire) section of the ancient ritual text Yili (Etiquette and ceremonial), it is stated that “the husband is the wife’s heaven.” “Heart” here, xin, in other contexts means “mind.” In Buddhist discourses there are numerous instances of the identification of the Buddha and the mind, which also find their way into Journey to the West.

32. 32   Referring to Qibo, the legendary founder of Chinese medical practice in the time of the mythical Yellow Emperor (Huangdi). The medical classic Suwen (Basic questions) contains his dialogues with the Yellow Emperor. He is also referred to as the Medical Sage or the Heavenly Teacher.

33. 33   I.e., via transmigration into their next lives.

34. 34   Baizhu: the root of Atractylodes macrocephala, a member of the sunflower family, which was used to treat digestive and stomach problems.

35. 35   Interestingly, Xishi’s trademark gesture was “clutching her heart” (pengxin).

36. 36   Nüwa: a goddess, among whose feats are the creation of human beings and mending the damaged Heaven.

37. 37   That is, Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor.

38. 38   The commentator implies that contemporary women lack such shame. Prescriptions against female remarriage became very strict only long after Xishi’s time.

CHAPTER 6

Short title: “Sixth Chapter: The Mirror of the Ancients.” In the chapter title couplet, each line consists of two parts, i.e., Pilgrim’s action and its consequence.

1. 1   Zhang Fei is one of the key generals in the historical novel Romance of Three Kingdoms, famous for his dark complexion, his loyalty to his commander, and his violent nature. On the opera stage he is played as a “painted-face” role with a lot of black in his face pattern.

2. 2   Yu the Great tamed the ancient flood. Water is associated with the color black, so Yu the Great is referred to as Xuandi, the Dark Emperor.

3. 3   A style in Chinese calligraphy in which streaks of the white paper or silk are left visible through gaps in the ink.

4. 4   Scholars who lived as celebrities or stars. It is comical for Xiang Yu, a rough military person, to call himself a “famous scholar” and refer to his age anachronistically as “pre-Han”: he is using the name of the empire founded by the one who vanquished him.

5. 5   Qu Yuan (ca. 340–278 BCE) is credited with many of the poetic works in the anthology Chu ci (Songs of the South); Song Yu (298–222 BCE) was one of his disciples, famous for his fu rhapsodies; see chapter 3, n. 22.

6. 6   According to the Journey to the West, it was five hundred years before the Tang Monk left for India that Sun Wukong rebelled against Heaven, which would mean that that event happened several centuries after Xiang Yu died.

7. 7   In popular belief and literature, the soul of one who suffers wrongful death may come to possess the body of the perpetrator for vengeance, or that of a spirit medium in order to transmit a message. Exorcism of the ghost would necessitate the employment of a Buddhist or Daoist cleric.

8. 8   The Three August Ones (San Huang) and Five Emperors (Wu Di): legendary sage rulers in prehistoric times. Xuanyuan is another name for the Yellow Emperor (he appears first among the Five Emperors, where the sage emperor Shun appears last. The motivation for linking Shun and the Yellow Emperor in this spell is to use puns to link Sun Wukong (his Sun is the same sun as in Gongsun) and Lady Yu (her surname and Shun’s alternate name are the same).

9. 9   Laozi.

10. 10   We have not been able to identify Huang Zi’an.

11. 11   The word used indicates the room in which a marriage is consummated.

12. 12   The tea specified here is a product of Changxing county, Zhejiang, a tea of the highest quality during the Ming era. Changxing county is in the author’s home area.

13. 13   In JW, chapter 60, Pilgrim changes into the form of the Bull Demon and dallies with Rākṣasī, his wife, to get the Palm-Leaf Fan. See JW, 3:140–46; XYJ, 60.730–33.

CHAPTER 7

Short title: “Seventh Chapter: The Mirror of the Ancients.” Chapters 6 and 7 share the same short title. However, on the last folio of this chapter, the short title is changed to “Leaving the Mirror of the Ancients.”

1.   1   Referring to JW, chapter 60.

2. 2   I.e., he is filled with indignation.

3. 3   Plain tales (pinghua) can narrowly refer to a genre of mostly historical tales in fairly simple prose printed between ca. 1280 and 1450, but can also refer generally to oral stories told with or without musical accompaniment.

4. 4   Shiji, j. 7, “Xiang Yu benji” (The basic annals of Xiang Yu): “When Xiang Yu was a boy he studied the art of writing. Failing to master this, he abandoned it and took up swordsmanship. When he failed at this also, his uncle, Xiang Liang, grew angry with him, but Xiang Yu declared, ‘Writing is good only for keeping records of people’s names. Swordsmanship is useful only for attacking a single enemy and is likewise not worth studying. What I want to learn is the art of attacking ten thousand enemies!’ With this, Xiang Liang began to teach his nephew the art of warfare, which pleased Yu greatly. On the whole Yu understood the essentials of the art, but here again he was unwilling to pursue the study in detail.” Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 1:37.

5. 5   This is also described in “The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu.”

6. 6   “The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu” says, “Early the next day Xiang Yu went to make his morning report to the supreme general, Song Yi, and, when he had entered the tent, he cut off Song Yi’s head. Then he went outside and issued an order to the army, saying, ‘Song Yi was plotting with Qi against Chu. The king of Chu secretly ordered me to execute him.’ All the other generals submitted in fear, none daring to raise any objection. ‘It was General Xiang’s family who first set up the royal family of Chu,’ they declared, ‘and now the general has executed this traitor!’ By mutual assent they set up Xiang Yu as acting supreme general. Someone was sent to pursue Song Yi’s son and murder him when he reached Qi, while Huan Chu was dispatched to report what had happened to King Huai, who confirmed Xiang Yu’s title of supreme general.” Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 1:45.

7. 7   Here we follow the text of the Shenbaoguan edition.

8. 8   Here we follow the text in the Shenbaoguan edition; literally, “three- or four-foot-tall children.”

9. 9   The author, again, uses jade (yu) to suggest desire (yu). The same is true of the jade tent and Jade Gate below.

10. 10   Sanchu: literally, Three Chu (San Chu). When Xiang Yu lived, Chu was seen as consisting of three parts: Western Chu, Eastern Chu, and Southern Chu. The character Gao Sanchu is fictional.

11. 11   “The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu” has an account of how Xiang Yu engaged Zhang Han. The historical account and Xiang Yu’s embellishments here are a study in contrast. See Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 1:25–27.

12. 12   The second watch of the night was 9–11 p.m.; the drum was struck at the beginning of each watch.

13. 13   The text has mian (directions) instead of bai (one hundred). With mian, the phrase could perhaps be read as “the feudal lords of the eight directions,” but “eight hundred feudal lords” is a phrase used first specifically to refer to the feudal lords who united under the Zhou to overthrow the last king of the Shang; later it was used to refer to all the various feudal lords.

14. 14   “The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu”: “After Xiang Yu had defeated the Qin army he summoned the leaders of the armies of the other states to audience. Entering the ‘carriage gates,’ they all crawled forward on their knees and none dared look up. With this, Xiang Yu for the first time became supreme commander of the leaders of the various states, and all of them were under his jurisdiction.” Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 1:24–25.

15. 15   These are the words of the historical Xiang Yu describing himself before his death.

16. 16   11 p.m.–1 a.m.

17. 17   “The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu”: “Then they [the Chu troops] proceeded on their way, overrunning and seizing control of the territory of Qin, until they reached the Han’gu Pass. But the Pass was guarded by soldiers, and they could not enter. When news came that the governor of Pei had already conquered the capital, Xiang Yu was enraged, and sent Qing Bu and others to attack the Pass. Xiang Yu was finally able to enter and proceeded as far as the west side of the Xi River.” Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 1:28. See also Shiji, j. 8, “Gaozu benji” (Basic annals of Emperor Gaozu).

18. 18   The colors, again, suggest desire in their homophonic suggestions.

19. 19   Gaozu: Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han, r. 202–195 BCE.

20. 20   Both the Chongzhen and Kongqingshi editions have “King of Qin,” whereas the Shenbaoguan edition has “Emperor of Qin.” Historically, Ziying reverted to the title of king, since the territories under Qin control had dwindled by then.

21. 21   “Basic Annals of Xiang Yu”: “A few days later Xiang Yu led his troops west and massacred the inhabitants of Xianyang, the capital city, killing Ziying, the king of Qin, who had already surrendered, and setting fire to the palaces of Qin; the fire burned for three months before it went out. Then he gathered up all the goods, treasures, and waiting women, and started east.” Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 1:33. “Basic Annals of Emperor Gaozu” describes how Ziying surrendered to Liu Bang: “In the tenth month of the first year of Han the governor of Pei finally succeeded in reaching Bashang ahead of the other leaders. Ziying, the king of Qin, came in a plain carriage drawn by a white horse, wearing a rope about his neck, and surrendered the imperial seals and credentials by the side of Chi Road.” Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 1:61–62.

22. 22   3–5 a.m.

23. 23   JW, chapter 60.

24. 24   “Fog” suggests the murky area between myth and reality. Legend has it that some kind of fish would be able to fly in the air on days of heavy fog. The fog, or mirage, may be created by the breathing of some kind of fish.

25. 25   Geographically, between the Middle Kingdom and the Western Regions is a pass called Jade Gate (Yumen). Here again, “jade” is a homophone for “desire,” and the Jade Gate suggests the Gate of Desire.

26. 26   The material in parentheses appears in the original as a small character note.

27. 27   As the comment at the beginning of this paragraph intimates, most of these items have homophones for “desire” (either yu or qing) in their descriptions.

28. 28   This might make a modern reader recall how Odysseus, in the cave of Polyphemus on the island of the Cyclops, introduced himself to Polyphemus as “Noman.” Later, after Odysseus and his men attacked Polyphemus and put out his one eye, and he was asked by the other cyclops who had attacked him, he could only say “Noman” and was ignored by the other cyclops.

29. 29   In Xu Shidong’s (Qing dynasty) Yanyulou biji (Notes from Misty Isle Studio), j. 2: “The ancients, when they mark generations, include themselves when counting from the past, and exclude themselves when counting backward from the present.”

30. 30   In JW, chapter 24, Sun Wukong kills the Six Robbers. Their individual names indicate that, as is the case in Buddhism, they each symbolize one of the six “senses” through which attachments to delusion may occur: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought.

31. 31   That is, much of this chapter is adapted from or related to “The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu.”

CHAPTER 8

Short title: “Mirror of the Future.” King Yama (Yama in Sanskrit; in Chinese, Yanluo) is the Lord of the Underworld, who, among other things, is in charge of passing judgment on the ghosts brought before him according to how they lived their lives.

1. 1   JW, chapter 14. See XYJ, 14.169–70; JW, 1:313–14.

2. 2   “Release us alive” (fangsheng) can also refer, more generally, to the lay Buddhist practice of buying caged birds and fish in order to release them as a meritorious act of compassion for other living beings.

3. 3   The idea of this kind of vacancy in the Underworld might have been influenced by Peony Pavilion, scene 23, “Infernal Judgment” (Mingpan), in which the judge introduces himself and his situation this way: “I am Judge Hu of the staff of the Infernal King Yama. There used to be ten kings, but then in the mortal world the Song imperial house of Zhao began its strife with the Jin barbarians. Terrible losses resulted, the population was decimated. Observing this reduction in numbers, the Jade Emperor ordered staffing cuts. Nine kings were left for the nine regions of China. The one that was abolished was mine, the tenth. But there was nowhere to dispose of my seal of office, and the Jade Emperor, impressed by my honesty and intelligence, has reinstated me acting pro tem in charge of the tenth tribunal. This very day I have ridden here to take up my duties, no small affair as you can see from my dual escort of sword-bearing demon lictors and yakshas.” Tang Xianzu, Peony Pavilion, 120.

Wuxing beizhi (Complete anecdotes about Wuxing), edited by Dong Sizhang, quotes Dongxuan bilu (Notes from the East Hall): “In a poem by Wang Jie in reply to Wang Anshi (1021–1086), there were these lines: ‘If I am unable to be the Supreme Pillar of State, / After death I would like to be a substitute for King Yama.’ Jinggong [Wang Anshi] laughed, saying, ‘King Yama’s post is presently vacant. Make haste to assume your duties.’ ”

1. 4   Lit., Guimen Guan, or Ghost Gate Pass.

2. 5   Pilgrim represents both fire and mind. Huang Luzhi is the courtesy name of Huang Tingjian (1045–1105), poet and calligrapher. In his collected works there are many colophons on works of art. However, no “Colophon to the Portrait of King Yama” (Ba Yanluo tianzi tu) can be found in his collected works.

3. 6   In both the courts of this world and the Underworld, the judge, flanked by his personal attendants, took his seat behind a table facing south on a high dais centered in the northern part of the courtroom. There were stairs on the southern edge of the raised space.

4. 7   The number is 804,600 in the Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions.

5. 8   Hibiscus: this flower symbolizes feminine beauty, success in the civil service examination, or literary talent. In Tang Xianzu, Peony Pavilion, 122 (scene 23), there are these lines: “I should not disgrace the company / of Shi Manqing [994–1041], Lord of Wind and Moon, / setting down his evening thoughts / in Hibiscus City.” Birch’s note: “The Song poet Shi Manqing was said to have been appointed Lord of Fairyland (Hibiscus City) upon his death.”

6. 9   Refers to JW, chapter 10, in which the Tang emperor Taizong is summoned to the Underworld to answer for his breach of a promise to the Dragon King and for his killings during the establishment of the dynasty and his competition for the throne with his brothers, as well as chapter 3, when Sun Wukong creates an upheaval there, crossing out his name and those of all the monkeys in the Register of Life and Death.

7. 10   His surname, Sun, has the same pronunciation as sun (monkey).

8. 11   The traditional lunar calendar had twelve months of twenty-nine or thirty days each, with periodic additions of intercalary months to align the lunar calendar with the solar year.

9. 12   The “Discussion of the Trigrams” section in The Book of Changes (The I Ching, or Book of Changes, 265): “Counting that which is going into the past depends on the forward movement. Knowing that which is to come depends on the backward movement. This is why the Book of Changes has backward-moving numbers.”

10. 13   Headgear of this kind worn by emperors had twelve tassels.

11. 14   Models of loyalty were said to have red gallbladders and heart.

12. 15   Green, east; white, west; black, north; red, south; yellow/gold, center—which is also considered a direction.

13. 16   The Hall of Great Awe: see Legge, Great Learning (Daxue) 4, 15: “The Master said, ‘In hearing litigations, I am like any other body. What is necessary is to cause the people to have no litigations.’ So, those who are devoid of principle find it impossible to carry out their speeches, and a great awe would be struck into men’s minds [da wei min zhi];—this is called knowing the root.”

14. 17   Probably refers to the Xu Xian mentioned above.

15. 18   Probably refers to Cui Jue. In JW, chapters 10–11, Cui Jue plays a vital role in Emperor Taizong’s visit to the Underworld and in prolonging Taizong’s life.

16. 19   This might be modeled after the famous adage about justice: Tianwang huihui, shu er bu lou, “The net of Heaven is vast; it may have large mesh, but it lets nothing through.”

17. 20   See chapter 3, where Pilgrim is cursed by the Space-Walkers. All of these thefts refer to the actions of Pilgrim in Journey to the West.

CHAPTER 9

The short title for this chapter is “Mirror of the Future,” the same as in the previous chapter and the first part of chapter 10. King Mu was a title posthumously awarded to the Song general Yue Fei (1103–1142).

1. 1   The Jin: the state founded by the Jurchen in what is now north China.

2. 2   Also known as Wanyan Sheng (r. 1123–1135).

3. 3   I.e., Chuzhou, present-day Huai’an in Jiangsu.

4. 4   Qin Hui, as an envoy of the Song, was detained by the Jin authorities. When he later returned to the Song, he claimed to have made his escape by killing his jailer, which even then was doubted. The emperor of the Southern Song welcomed him.

The quotations in this chapter are based on language from Li Zhi’s Cang shu (A book to keep hidden), j. 59, “Zeichen zhuan” (Biographies of traitorous ministers), section 7, “Jianzei” (Conspirators), 4:1000–1003, which is in turn taken from the Qin Hui biography in Song shi (History of the Song), j. 473, the official history of the dynasty. However, it seems that the author of our novel took as his source Li Zhi’s Cang shu rather than the original Song shi. In the following text, references to these two sources will not be further noted.

In the Chongzhen edition, the passages from “The Record of Qin Hui’s Wickedness” are punctuated with black dots made with a writing brush in the shape of a comma, as opposed to the empty circles used for punctuation and emphasis in the main text. This contrast makes the quotations look like extracts from a real legal document.

1. 5   Liu Yu (b. 1073) was made emperor of the puppet state of Qi established by the Jurchen Jin dynasty in 1130. In 1132 Qi assisted Jin in attacking the Chinese Song state, although they met with defeat at the hands of General Yue Fei two years later.

2. 6   This connotes loyalty and patriotism, but the first character, qing, is also homophonous with the character for “desire.”

3. 7   This note is printed in small characters in double columns in the original edition.

4. 8   The Song emperors were surnamed Zhao. Emperor Qin is Qin Hui himself; Emperor Zhao is the Song emperor.

5. 9   According to legend, Pan’gu was the gargantuan figure who created Heaven and Earth from the primeval chaos.

6. 10   The Southern Bough is a place over which a frustrated young man becomes the governor in a dream. In the dream the inhabitants of the kingdom, of which Southern Bough is part, all appear to be humans but are actually ants. When the young man awakes, he is able to find the remains of Southern Bough and the kingdom to which it belonged in the roots of a nearby tree. The commentator seems to have confused Southern Bough with the kingdom of which it is part. The story is from a Tang dynasty literary language tale, “Account of the Governor of Southern Bough” (Nanke taishou zhuan), which in turn was the basis for Tang Xianzu’s play The Southern Bough (Nanke ji).

7. 11   This account of Qin Hui putting circles and dots by the names of his supporters and enemies may be related to how the eunuch power broker Wei Zhongxian (1568–1627) used numbers of small circles to keep track of people he wanted to make use of or punish. See Li Qiancheng, Xiyou bu jiaozhu, 19–22.

8. 12   These are the two thunder gods, Zhang Fan and Deng Hua.

9. 13   The Kongqingshi edition has “crow” instead of “bird.” Either refers to the shape of the bronze weather vane on the tower.

10. 14   Zhao Kuangyin (927–976; r. 960–976), whose temple name was Taizu, was the founder of the Song dynasty.

11. 15   More important.

12. 16   Refers to Xiang Yu’s last verse (mentioned earlier).

13. 17   Wuzhu: a Jin prince (d. 1148) who played a significant role in wars against the Song.

14. 18   The commentator perhaps implies that Qin Hui has been “a turtle,” a term indicating a cuckold. The commentator uses the measure word for small sheets or pieces of material (mei) with Qin Hui’s name, literally “a sheet of Qin Hui.”

15. 19   Here the translators follow the Shenbaoguan text, which is identical with the History of the Song. The other editions have “Yue Fei petitioned to be given military command,” which is contradictory to the historical record.

16. 20   Zhang Xian (d. 1142) was a capable general under Yue Fei.

17. 21   See Li Zhi, Cang shu, j. 59, “Zeichen zhuan,” and j. 52, “Wuchen zhuan” (Biographies of warrior-ministers). For the latter, see Cang shu, 4:873–74.

18. 22   This refers to Book of Songs, 206, poem #219, “The Bluebottles,” which includes this stanza: “Buzz, buzz the bluebottles / That have settled on the hedge. / Oh, my blessed lord, / Do not believe the slanders that are said.”

19. 23   Literally, the Chi (red) clan.

20. 24   Literally, the flag of the general on the battlefield.

21. 25   The words about the Lyrics of Chu are perhaps taken from Pei Ziye (469–530), “Diaochong lun” (On the carving of insects”). Li Fang et al., Wenyuan yinghua (Flowers from the garden of letters), j. 742.

22. 26   Refers back to the examination essay in chapter 4.

23. 27   When pressed for evidence by another general, Qin Hui answered that it “might have been” (mo xu you) so.

24. 28   The poem is the first in a set of poems by Tang Shunzhi (1507–1560), “Yue Jiangjun mu ershou” (Two poems on General Yue’s tomb). See Tang Jingchuan xiansheng wenji, j. 2, 35. The judge and the author of the poem share the same surname, perhaps suggesting that Tang Shunzhi became a judge in the Underworld after his death.

25. 29   The gold tallies were used to accompany urgent imperial orders, which require unconditional and immediate execution. In stories about General Yue Fei, they become emblems of the wrongs the general suffered. Their destruction signifies that the pent-up historical anger has been released.

26. 30   This line is taken from “Liren xing” (Fair ladies: A ballad), a poem by Du Fu (712–770), with variation of one character. See Du Fu, Du Fu quanji jiaozhu, j. 2, 342–52.

27. 31   Blending flavors in tripods is a common metaphor for the kind of statesmanship required of chancellors of the state or grand councilors. The commentator has ironically pointed out that in this case, Qin Hui is being cooked rather than doing the cooking.

28. 32   Refers to his first teacher, Master Subhūti/Subodhi, in JW, chapter 1.

29. 33   Yue Fei was granted the posthumous title King Wumu (Martial and Majestic King) after he was rehabilitated; he was also referred to by the title King Zhongwu (Loyal and Martial King).

30. 34   In Buddhism, the absolute Reality, eternal and unchanging.

31. 35   The heavenly residence of the Supreme Old Master (Laozi).

32. 36   This note is written in small, double-column characters in the original edition.

33. 37   The Gold Gourd refers to the Purple-Gold Gourd of the Old Master, Laozi, which was stolen by the demon and snatched away from him by Pilgrim. Finally, it was reclaimed by Laozi. The story occurs in JW, chapters 32–35. However, Pilgrim did not damage it by drilling it. In chapter 75, Pilgrim damages a vase of the two primal forces of yin and yang by drilling, so the author might have confused the two episodes.

34. 38   Watson, Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, 162.

CHAPTER 10

The short title for this chapter varies: “Mirror of the Future” in the first half and “The Great Sage Exits from the Mirror” in the latter half.

1. 1   Qi means breath, material force, life force, among other immaterial elements, depending on the context.

2. 2   The following paragraph is unusual because, in the original edition, all 140 Chinese characters of the main text have emphatic punctuation (small empty circles) beside them, making it the longest passage to be highlighted in this way up to this point. It is surpassed in the number of characters involved only by a passage in chapter 15 that has 206 emphasized characters.

3. 3   The original edition has “blood” instead of “faces,” for which we follow the Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions.

4. 4   East of the Mountains: the term itself may mean a number of places; here, it refers to east of the Taihang Mountains.

5. 5   This technique was most famously discussed in item 53 of the “how to read” essay in Jin Shengtan’s commentary edition of Outlaws of the Marsh (preface also dated 1641); see John Wang’s translation in Rolston, How to Read the Chinese Novel, 140–41. Whereas Jin had in mind the effect produced by the repetition of the same word in one passage, the commentator on our novel is thinking more about how isolated episodes are tied together by elements shared among them.

6. 6   Pilgrim prefers others to address him by the title Lord (Laoye) or other honorific equivalents.

7. 7   He is implying that the clasped hand salute already given is not nearly enough, considering the connection Pilgrim just explained.

8. 8   Tartars: refers to the Mongols, but later extended to refer to northern nomadic people in general.

9. 9   For the first emperor, Qin was the name of his state and the dynasty it became, but not his surname. The Qin state was named for the locality of its origins. However, in popular literature, characters deliberately conflate the name of the state and the surname of its ruler.

10. 10   Hexagram 47 in The Book of Changes is Kun , whose image is “lake” and “water,” i.e., the trigram Dui (lake) on top of Kan (water); see n. 15 in this chapter.

11. 11   Red denotes or connotes saṃsāra and desire, the so-called red dust world of everyday reality.

12. 12   “Bluish”: again, qing.

13. 13   The Thirteen Classics of the Confucian canon.

14. 14   Refers to the I Ching (The book of changes).

15. 15   The top line of Hexagram 47 in The Book of Changes, Kun or Oppression (Exhaustion), reads, “He is oppressed by creeping vines. / He moves uncertainly and says, ‘Movement brings remorse.’ / If one feels remorse over this, and makes a start, / Good fortune comes.” Richard Wilhelm commented on this: “A weak line at the peak of oppression—this is not yet the suitable way. But through movement and the awakening within of the requisite insight, one frees oneself from oppression. Hence the prospect of good fortune when the time of oppression comes to an end.” The I Ching, or Book of Changes, 628.

16. 16   In JW, chapter 58, a six-eared macaque tries to subvert the pilgrimage for scriptures from India. He resembles Sun Wukong, both in appearance and in his powers, to such an extent that no one is able to tell them apart. The six-eared macaque is very different from the other monsters met on the journey, because he can be understood as a projection of latent problematic traits of Sun Wukong. It takes the Buddha to identify the real Sun Wukong, and Pilgrim to kill him.

17. 17   The original edition reads, “What a pity you take unreal, unreal, unreal?” which makes little sense. We follow the correction made in the later editions.

18. 18   Wang Yangming, Chuanxi lu (Instructions for practical living), j. 2, “Da Ouyang Chongyi” (Letter in reply to Ouyang Chongyi): “In all efforts of learning, one means sincerity, and two means insincerity.” See Wang Shouren, Wang Yangming quanji (Complete works of Wang Yangming), 73.

CHAPTER 11

For the bulk of the chapter the short title is “Palace of the Hexagram Jie [Limitation]”; later the short title is changed to “Retrieving the Hairs” for the last two sheets.

1.   1   Hexagram 60 in The Book of Changes is Jie , whose image is water and lake, Kan on top of Dui. Among other things, Kan intimates danger, whereas Dui suggests delight.

2. 2   A nuclear hexagram is obtained by using the lines in the second, third, and fourth places from the bottom for the lower or inner trigram, and the lines in the third, fourth, and fifth places as the upper or outer trigram. Here, the commentator retains the original upper or outer trigram and replaces the lower or inner trigram with the upper or outer nuclear trigram.

3. 3   Hexagram 39 in The Book of Changes is Jian (Obstruction), whose image is water on top of mountain, Kan on top of Gen. “Commentary on the Decision” (Tuan): “OBSTRUCTION means difficulty. The danger is ahead. To see the danger and to know how to stand still, that is wisdom.” I Ching, 580.

4. 4   Here, the commentator retains the original lower or inner trigram and replaces the upper or outer trigram with the lower or inner nuclear trigram.

5. 5   Hexagram 54 in The Book of Changes is Guimei , whose image is thunder and lake, Zhen on top of Dui. “Commentary on Decision” (Tuan): “ THE MARRYING MAIDEN describes the great meaning of heaven and earth. / If heaven and earth do not unite, all creatures fail to prosper. / THE MARRYING MAIDEN means the end and beginning of humanity.” I Ching, 664.

6. 6   Here the commentator uses the upper and lower nuclear trigrams to form a hexagram.

7. 7   Hexagram 27 in The Book of Changes is Yi , whose image is mountain and thunder, Gen on top of Zhen.

8. 8   The image of Jie is water and lake, Kan (water) over Dui (lake). The image of Kun is lake and water, Dui (lake) over Kan (water).

9. 9   Based on the image of Jie, Kan (water) over Dui (marsh or lake).

10. 10   In the hexagram Jie, “Nine at the beginning: Not going out of the door and courtyard / Is without blame.” “Nine in the second line: Not going out of the gate and the courtyard / Brings misfortune.” “Here at the end of the time of LIMITATION one should not attempt forcibly to continue limitation. This line is weak and at the top of the trigram Kan, danger.” I Ching, 696–98. On Kan, Hexagram 29, the “Commentary on the Decision” (Tuan) says: “The Abysmal repeated is twofold danger. Water flows on and nowhere piles up; it goes through dangerous places, never losing its dependability.… The danger of heaven lies in the fact that one cannot climb it. The dangers of earth are the mountains and rivers, hills and heights. The kings and princes make use of danger to protect their realms.” I Ching, 531–32.

11. 11   In “Discussion of the Trigrams,” Dui (the Joyous): “The Joyous is the lake, the youngest daughter; it is a sorceress; it is mouth and tongue.” I Ching, 279. On the hexagram Jie, “Nine in the fifth place: Sweet limitation brings good fortune. / Going brings esteem.” “Six at the top:/ Galling limitation. Perseverance brings misfortune. Remorse disappears.” I Ching, 697–98.

12. 12   Presumably in reference to legal practice of the time: light strokes caused pain; heavy strokes (with a bigger and heavier cudgel) caused serious physical injury.

13. 13   Hexagram 11 in The Book of Changes is Tai (Peace), with the trigram Kun (Earth) above Qian (Heaven).

14. 14   Hexagram 12 in The Book of Changes is Pi (Standstill, Stagnation), with the trigram Qian (Heaven) above Kun (Earth).

15. 15   The figure in the text is 664 ounces, which does not fit the context of these truly astronomical sums. The word wan may be missing, because the other figures are in millions. Thus, we amend the figure to 6,640,000.

16. 16   Kongqing wu: a homophone for “emptying desire.” The Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions have Chuanqing wu, rooms whose roofs reach into the skies.

17. 17   It may also refer to the flowers blooming beautifully.

18. 18   One of Li Zhi’s collections is titled Fenshu (A book to burn). More infamous yet would be the burning of books in the Qin dynasty under the First Emperor.

19. 19   Huaisu (fl. 737–785): calligrapher, famous for his writing in the extremely cursive style known as caoshu.

20. 20   The abodes of the Daoist Immortals.

21. 21   It was believed that rainbows draw up water when they touch the earth. It also refers to drinking wine.

22. 22   The Book of Songs is known for having 305 poems (pian is the measure word used).

23. 23   The Classic of Filial Piety (Xiaojing) has eighteen sections (zhang is the measure word used).

24. 24   This parenthetical note is printed in small, double-column characters in the original edition.

25. 25   Grotto-heavens (dongtian): magical Daoist realms for spiritual retreat.

26. 26   “Flowers descending in profusion from Heaven”: Mahāyāna sūtras have instances in which someone preaches the dharma so well that it moves the Heavenly beings to scatter down flower petals.

27. 27   The two lines refer to what Pilgrim is going through. He intends to seek his master, who is in the Water Palace, but he tarries on the mountain instead.

28. 28   “Gone”: kong, or “empty,” is the nature of reality in Mahāyāna teachings. This is the first of a set of three poems written on a wall by Song Lian; see his collected works, Wenxian ji, j. 31. The two others are extremely relevant as well: “Could flying petals understand sadness? / Sad over the end of their flowery life? / Look at it when it has not yet budded, / Where then are there any flying petals?” “Blossoms in mountains smile to attract onlookers, / Birds in mountains chirp to call attention. / It’s mere chance that they see one another. / Do blossoms and birds feel any attachment [qing]?”

29. 29   Commonly known as Chinese snowball viburnum. Its flowers are in the shape of an embroidered ball of blossoms.

30. 30   The Void is the subject, while both the self and things are objects.

31. 31   Agaloch or agarwood, used in perfumes and incense.

32. 32   Except for omitting the verb “to be” (wei), this comment quotes the last line of the song above.

CHAPTER 12

The short title is “The King of the Lesser Moon.”

1. 1   “Green” in qinghua again is a homophone for “desire,” although qinghua ci is the famous Chinese blue-and-white porcelain style that has so captivated Europeans in recent centuries.

2. 2   Referring to the first poem in the Book of Songs, a celebration of love and marriage. The poem opens with references to an isle in a river (suggesting a maiden awaiting marriage) and ospreys, birds symbolizing fidelity in love.

3. 3   The description is copied from Jiang Zong’s (519–594) “Yongyang wang zhaihou shanting ming” (Inscription on King Yongyang’s Mountain Pavilion behind his studio). The novelist quotes liberally, with modifications, from that short piece, here as well as elsewhere in this chapter.

4. 4   Taihua refers to Mount Hua.

5. 5   Dripping Desire: Yudi, referring to the lush plants and flowers, so green that they seem to be dripping beauty.

6. 6   The character translated as “empty” here, kong, can also mean the Void or Emptiness (of all particularities).

7. 7   This song seems to have been popular, as it is recorded in Ye Sheng’s (1420–1470) Shuidong riji (Daily notes completed east of the [Song] River), j. 5, and elsewhere. Another version, with slight variations, can be found in the collection of popular songs compiled by Feng Menglong, Shan ge (Mountain songs), j. 5.

8. 8   The words in smaller type are extrametrical, or “padding,” words (chenzi). They are not required by meter, but they are added to operatic texts to enhance expressive capacity.

9. 9   It seems that these lines combine two poems in different styles. The first can be found in a number of sources; see Ye Sheng, Shuidong riji. In the original edition, the characters translated by the words in smaller font at the end of the poem would appear to indicate that the poem comes from a book printed by a publishing house named Zirantang.

10. 10   Tanci, literally “plucking rhymes,” is a prosimetric narrative form popular in the lower Yangzi region performed to the accompaniment of plucked instruments such as the lute-like pipa. Women performers were and are very prominent in the tradition. Tanci ballads are performed in the Wu dialect. Azure Sky: Qingtian, another homophone for “desire” or “sky of desire.”

11. 11   Again, the description is taken verbatim from Jiang Zong’s “Yongyang wang zhaihou shanting ming,” mentioned earlier.

12. 12   The Jade Hall is also the name of a palace in the Han dynasty.

13. 13   In the Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions, the title is Zetian yuanshu (Lamentations of [Wu] Zetian), which is an erroneous “correction”: this is not the World of the Future, and historically Empress Wu (Zetian) lived well after the story’s time.

14. 14   It was common for affluent families to employ blind women entertainers to perform in the inner quarters of their residences. See Tian Yiheng (b. 1524), Liuqing rizha, j. 21. Tian was from Hangzhou.

15. 15   These four lines, with one variant, occur as the scene-closing quatrain for the last scene of Tang Xianzu’s play Handan Dream. The sole textual difference is the second character of the first line, which requires that Tang’s line be translated as “Don’t be intoxicated in the painted hall, with doors closed.” Tang’s scene-closing quatrains are compiled by combining lines from four different Tang dynasty poems.

16. 16   Heavenly Sovereign, Tianhuang, is the first of the latter three sovereigns after Pan’gu, the originator of all things on earth. In Daoism, especially in star worship, the Heavenly Sovereign was the North Star (Big Dipper) incarnate.

17. 17   Nine Stars, jiuchen: the seven stars in the Big Dipper constellation and the two auxiliary stars. Five Soils, wubu, refers to the Five Phases or, particularly here, Five Regions, or five kinds of soils.

18. 18   In the legendary distant past, ten suns rose in the sky, scorching the earth below. The archer Yi, or Hou Yi, shot down nine of them, leaving one to provide warmth and light.

19. 19   Shiyi ji (A record of lost writings), j. 10, mentions the clouds—which take the shapes of walled cities—and their colors above the Kunlun Mountains, the axis mundi. Immortals on dragons and cranes gather there. The passage is included in Dong Sizhang, Guang Bowu zhi, j. 3, 1:47.

20. 20   The fish-scale-like clouds and pearl-like rains may refer to how people in ancient times observed the shapes of clouds to predict rain. See the Tang period writer Huang Zifa, Xiangyu shu (On the prediction of rain), 1.

21. 21   Since the deed for which Wuhuai was famous was the sacrificial ceremony at Mount Tai, we tentatively interpret the line—which could also be read, “In Wuhuai’s time, the silver bamboo was full of exceptional joints”—as referring to ceremonies in which the bamboo tablets were to be bound with white cords.

22. 22   Getian: another sovereign in ancient times.

23. 23   Fuxi, with the lower body of a snake, drew the eight trigrams following the patterns on the tablet brought out from the Yellow River by the dragon horse.

24. 24   The crow and hare refer to the sun and moon, respectively. This line refers to the creation of the Chinese script.

25. 25   In the times of Yao, an elderly man on the road sang a song called “Ji rang ge” (Striking the earth). In Huangfu Mi’s (215–282) Gaoshi zhuan (Eminent transcendental men), the man was more than eighty years of age. He played an old game, since it was such a peaceful and prosperous time that he had nothing else to do. An onlooker praised Yao, but he downplayed the role of the ruler. The song is seen as among the first ever in Chinese. The investiture of Mount Song (and other sacred mountains) has been performed by many rulers. From the historical context, this instance refers to Emperor Yao. See also Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji, j. 28), “The Treatise on Feng and Shan Sacrifices,” which quotes the Shangshu (Book of documents). Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 2:4.

26. 26   Shiyi ji, j. 1: “West of the Western Sea, there was the Jade-Floating Mountain. By its foot there was a huge cavern with water the color of fire. In daytime it would be dim; at night it would light up the outside of the cavern. Even when the waves were rough, the light would not be put out. This was the so-called fire of yin. In the era of Yao, its light, rising and intensified, changed into red clouds that reflected this red brilliance, and all the rivers became clear and calm. Those who reached the sea in their travels called it ‘Subterranean Fire,’ corresponding to the era of the Fire Virtue.”

27. 27   Dong Sizhang in Guang Bowu zhi, j. 10, quotes Zihuazi, which describes how elaborately exquisite the palaces of Emperors Yao and Shun were.

28. 28   Xu You is the ancient hermit who declined the throne when Yao wanted to abdicate in his favor. Robes with embroidered dragons were first introduced by the ancient ruler Xuanyuan. See Shiyi ji, j. 1.

29. 29   Shun was on the throne for fourteen years. For the omens concerning the ascendance of Yu the Great, see Song shu, j. 27. “The Elder of Dongting” refers to Yu the Great, who quelled the flood in antiquity.

30. 30   Knoblock and Riegel, Annals of Lü Buwei, book 9, chapter 2, section 2, 210: “In the past, when [the Shang dynasty founder] Tang conquered the Xia and put the world aright, there had been a great drought with no harvest for five years. Tang thereupon offered a prayer at Sanglin [Mulberry Forest] in which he offered his own body as the pledge, beseeching: ‘If I, the One Man, am guilty, let the punishment not reach the myriad peoples. If the myriad peoples are guilty, let it rest on me, the One Man. Do not let the One Man’s lack of diligence cause the Supreme Sovereign and the ghosts and spirits to harm the lives of the people!’ Thereupon, he cut his hair, put his hands in manacles, and had himself prepared in lieu of the usual animals as the offering in a sacrifice to beseech the blessings of the Supreme Sovereign. The people were overjoyed, and the rains came as in a deluge. Thus, Tang influenced the transforming powers of the ghosts and spirits and the course of human events.”

31. 31   The Deer Terrace: built by King Zhòu, the evil last ruler of the Shang dynasty.

32. 32   The expedition against King Zhòu was led by the good King Wu of the Zhōu dynasty. The feudal lords who revolted against King Zhòu gathered at Gouchen before they marched on to the capital of the Shang.

33. 33   On Mount Lingyan of Suzhou, there were many crags of strange shapes. The king of Wu built a palace there. The Spring and Autumn period is 770–476 BCE.

34. 34   The Warring States period is 476–221 BCE. The episode here is from Zhanguo ce (Intrigues of the Warring States). The King of Zhao gave the hand of his older sister to the King of Dai, but later, when the King of Zhao wanted to annex the State of Dai, he killed its king. “When King of Zhao’s sister heard what her brother had done, she sharpened a stout brass hairpin and stabbed herself to death with it. That is why, to this very day, there is a place called Hairpin Hill. Everyone in the empire knows about it.” Chan-Kuo Ts‘e, trans. Crump, 521–22.

35. 35   The four lines above refer to Jing Ke’s attempt to assassinate the King of Qin, who was to become the First Emperor of Qin. Shiji, j. 86: “Then [Jing Ke] set out. The crown prince and all his associates who knew what was happening put on white robes and caps of mourning to see the party off, accompanying them as far as the Yi River. After they had sacrificed to the god of the road and chosen their route, Gao Jianli struck up his lute and Jing Ke joined in with a song in the mournful bianzhi mode. Tears streamed from the eyes of the company. Jing Ke came forward and sang this song: ‘Winds cry xiao / Yi waters are cold. / Brave men, once gone, / Never come back again.’ Shifting to the yu mode with its martial air, Jing Ke sang once more; this time the eyes of the men flashed with anger and their hair bristled beneath their caps. Then he mounted his carriage and set off, never once looking back.” Sima Qian, Qin Dynasty, 174.

36. 36   Shiji, j. 6, “The Basic Annals of Qin” (Qin Shihuang benji): “Qin succeeded in bringing all of the states under his rule. The king of Qin instructed the chancellor and the imperial secretary, saying, ‘… Let deliberations be held on an imperial title.’ The chancellor Wang Wan, the imperial secretary Feng Jie, and the commandant of justice Li Shi all replied: ‘… But now Your Majesty has raised troops to punish the evil and remiss, brought peace to the world, made the entire area within the seas into provinces and districts, and insured that laws and rulings shall proceed from a single authority. From highest antiquity to the present, such a thing has never occurred before, nor could the Five Emperors equal it. We have respectfully consulted with the court scholars, who tell us that in antiquity there was the Heavenly August, Earthly August, and Greatly August, of which the Greatly August was the most exalted. Therefore on pain of death we venture to propose this title, namely, that the king shall be known as the Greatly August. His commands shall be known as edicts and his orders as decrees, and the Son of Heaven shall refer to himself by the pronoun zhen.’ The king said, ‘We will drop the Greatly, keep the August, and adopt the title used by emperors of high antiquity, calling ourselves Huangdi or August Emperor. Other matters shall be as in the proposal.’ ” Sima Qian, Qin Dynasty, 42–43. The inscriptions carved on rocks are also recorded in “The Basic Annals of Qin.”

37. 37   “The Basic Annals of Qin”: “When the emperor first came to the throne he began digging and shaping Mt. Li. Later, when he unified the empire, he had over 700,000 men from all over the empire transported to the spot. They dug down to the third layer of underground springs and poured in bronze to make the outer coffin. Replicas of palaces, scenic towers, and the hundred officials, as well as rare utensils and wonderful objects, were brought to fill up the tomb.… Above were representations of all the heavenly bodies, below, the features of the earth. ‘Man-fish’ oil was used for lamps, which were calculated to burn for a long time without going out.” Sima Qian, Qin Dynasty, 63. Watson notes, “The renyu or ‘man-fish’ appears to be a type of aquatic mammal; some kind of seal or whale have been suggested as possibilities.” The Chinese commentators quote Yiwu zhi 異物志, which states that this kind of fish comes from the East China Sea.

38. 38   “Basic Annals of Xiang Yu”: “Xiang Yu’s army had built a walled camp at Gaixia, but his soldiers were few and his supplies exhausted. The Han army, joined by the forces of the other leaders, surrounded them with several lines of troops. In the night Xiang Yu heard the Han armies all about him singing the songs of Chu. ‘Has Han already conquered Chu?’ he exclaimed in astonishment. ‘How many men of Chu they have with them!’ Then he rose in the night and drank within the curtains of his tent. With him were the beautiful lady Yu, who enjoyed his favor and followed him wherever he went, and his famous steed Dapple, which he always rode. Xiang Yu, filled with passionate sorrow, began to sing sadly, composing this song: “My strength plucked up the hills, / My might over-shadowed the world; / But the times were against me, / And Dapple runs no more. / When Dapple runs no more, / What then can I do? / Ah, Yu, my Yu, / What will your fate be?’ He sang the song several times through, and Lady Yu joined her voice with his. Tears streamed down his face, while all those about him wept and were unable to lift their eyes from the ground. Then he mounted his horse and, with some eight hundred brave horsemen under his banner, rode into the night, burst through the encirclement to the south, and galloped away.” Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 1:44–45, modified.

39. 39   The Graybeards were the Four Old Men of Mount Shang, who secluded themselves there to escape the Qin. Later they became advisers to the Crown Prince, the son of Liu Bang, the founder of the Han dynasty.

40. 40   Zhang Liang (ca. 250–186 BCE) followed the Daoist teacher Master Red Pine (Chisongzi) into retirement after his success in the political arena, i.e., helping to establish the Han dynasty.

41. 41   “The Basic Annals of Qin”: “Master Lu said to the emperor: ‘I and the others have searched for zhi fungus, rare herbs, and the immortals, but we can never seem to encounter them.… A True Man can enter water without getting wet, enter fire without getting burned, soar above the clouds and air, and endure as long as heaven and earth.” Sima Qian, Qin Dynasty, 56–57. In this line, the “cloudy vapor” (yunqi) of the original refers to the holy aura of the True Man. Here the line refers to the search for immortals and immortality on the part not of the First Emperor of Qin but of Emperor Wu of the Han.

42. 42   Shiji, chapter 28, “The Treatise on Feng and Shan Sacrifice”: “In the first month the emperor [Emperor Wu] journeyed east and visited Goushi. He stopped at Mount Song, the Central Peak, and ascended the crest called The Great Room to pay his respects. The attendants who were waiting for him at the foot of the mountain reported that they had heard a voice that seemed to say ‘Long Life!’ [lit., ten thousand years].” Sima Qian, Han Dynasty, 2:42.

43. 43   Both Dong Zhuo (d. 192) and Cao Cao (155–220) held the last emperor of the Eastern Han hostage and were responsible for the deaths of members of the imperial Liu family.

44. 44   Nicely powdered emperors, chuanfen junwang: In Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive mirror to aid in government), j. 181, the entry on the sixth month in the fifth year of the Daye reign-period (609 CE) reads, “On the day xinchou [the sixth day], the emperor [Sui Emperor Yang] said to Cai Zheng, the supervising secretary, ‘Since ancient times, the Son of Heaven has observed ceremonies of inspection and hunting. However, the emperors east of the river often applied rouges and powders, and lived in the depth of the palace compound, refusing to see their people.’ ” Sima Guang, Zizhi tongjian, 5644. This comment was directed at the emperors of the Southern dynasties, whose capitals were in Nanjing: Wu (222–280), Eastern Jin (317–420), Liu-Song (420–479), Qi (479–501), Liang (502–558), and Chen (557–589).

45. 45   This probably refers to the remarkable poems and other writings of the Six Dynasties period.

46. 46   “Nine and Six” is associated with wandering souls or ghosts according to Zheng Kangcheng’s (127–200) commentary on The Book of Changes. Here the term refers to the waning of prosperity and the onset of decline. The death of the Son of Heaven refers to the death of Emperor Yang (569–618; r. 604–618) of the Sui dynasty (581–618) at the hand of his general. For this line, we follow the Kongqingshi edition.

47. 47   Book of Songs, #164, “Cherry-Tree”; see Waley, Book of Songs, 135–36: “There are wagtails on the plain; / When brothers are hard pressed / Even good friends. / Pay but short heed.” This and the previous line refer to the killing of his two brothers (one of whom was crown prince) by Li Shimin, who then became Emperor Taizong of the Tang. Later, Tang emperor Xuanzong wrote a poem on this bird, to commemorate the occasion when thousands of such birds gathered in a yard within the palace.

48. 48   Many images of this and the preceding three lines come from Luo Binwang (640–after 684), “Seeing the District Defender Zheng off to Liao, All Composing ‘The Knight Errant Goes Afar to the Army’ ” (Song Zheng Shaofu ru Liao gong fu “Xiake yuan congrong”): “As soon as beacon fires sent alarm along border defense among elm trees, / The knight errant made his way to the River Sanggan. / White arrows shoot into the willow leaves, / The reflection from jade saddle lights up the peach flowers. / The full moon projects the shadow of a taut bow, / The linked stars join the tip of the sword. / Do not emulate the guests of Prince Dan, / Who could only sing ‘Cold is the water of the Yi River.’ ” In the poem, the first line alludes to the Qin times, when the troops drove away the Xiongnu and planted elm trees along the river, making them the border defense line. See Luo Binwang, Luo Linhai ji jianzhu, 90–91.

49. 49   “The devil” (chilao) refers to soldiers. The Army of Dragons is the imperial guard at the imperial palaces. The “suffering souls of the River Xiang” refers to the consorts of the ancient ruler Shun, Ehuang and Nüying, collectively called the Xiangfei (Xiang River Consorts).

50. 50   The eight lines starting with “It was all because of the earlier days” refer to the events that led to the founding of the Tang and the bloody rise to power of Emperor Taizong, including the murders of members of the imperial family. This prepares for the following event regarding Taizong: he is summoned to the Underworld to answer for all this killing.

51. 51   Luo Binwang, “Xixing bie Dongtai xiangzheng xueshi” (Journeying west, farewell to the academician editor of the chancellery), in Luo Linhai ji jianzhu, 114–115: “In the Imperial Garden, plum trees bloom early. / Along the palace moat, poplars and willows grow anew.”

52. 52   A reference to JW, chapter 9.

53. 53   In JW, chapters 9–10, Emperor Taizong detained his minister Wei Zheng in the palace with a game of chess to forestall his killing of the dragon (Wei is the “Heavenly Envoy”).

54. 54   Literally, the ruler’s words, like ropes, were not obeyed that day. “Ziyi” in Liji (Book of rites): “The Master said, ‘The king’s words are (at first) as threads of silk; but when given forth, they become as cords. Or they are (at first) as cords; but when given forth, they become as ropes. Therefore the great man does not take the lead in idle speaking. The superior does not speak words which may be spoken indeed but should not be embodied in deeds; nor does he do actions which may be done in deed but should not be expressed in words. When this is the case, the words of the people can be carried into action without risk, and their actions can be spoken of without risk.’ ” Legge, trans., The Lî Kî, 354.

55. 55   The butterfly is the dreaming spirit of Wei Zheng, who executes the old Dragon King in his dream; ever since Zhuangzi wrote of his dream of becoming a butterfly (see Zhuangzi, chapter 2), writers have often connected butterflies and dreams.

56. 56   In the original edition a fair number of the lines in this ballad have emphatic punctuation by the side of every character, but this is the only line for which empty circles used elsewhere for emphatic punctuation contain smaller circles.

57. 57   These lines refer to his death and descent to the Underworld, where the Dragon King accuses him of breach of promise. He also faced ghosts there who had died as a result of wars when he fought for the new dynasty, as well as the ghosts of his two brothers, whom he murdered to take the throne.

58. 58   The fraud referred to is Judge Cui’s lengthening of Taizong’s life span in the official registers of life and death, a result of pressure from Taizong’s friend Wei Zheng. Taizong delivered the letter from Wei Zheng to Judge Cui in the Underworld. See JW, chapter 10.

59. 59   Another interpretation could be, “He enlisted the black-robed monk, Chen.”

60. 60   In JW, chapters 11–12, Emperor Taizong sponsors a Grand Mass to bring salvation to the ghosts of the wrongly killed. The Bodhisattva Guanyin makes her appearance, commissioning Xuanzang to make a pilgrimage to the West for scriptures.

61. 61   In JW, chapter 13, the Tang Monk is captured by a tiger monster, and the Gold Star (Venus) comes to his rescue.

62. 62   In JW, chapter 14, the Tang Monk releases the spell keeping Sun Wukong imprisoned under the mountain (it has two names) and takes him as his disciple.

63. 63   In JW, chapter 15, the Tang Monk’s horse is swallowed by a dragon, who happens to be the son of a dragon king. “Purple Deer” was a name for a steed in ancient times. The young dragon is transformed to become the monk’s mount for the journey.

64. 64   In JW, chapters 16–17, the abbot of a Buddhist temple covets the Tang Monk’s cassock and tries to kill him to obtain the cassock for himself. “Incense Forest” refers to a Buddhist temple.

65. 65   In JW, chapters 20–21, when Pilgrim engages the Yellow Wind Demon in combat at Yellow Wind Ridge, the wind injures his eyes. Eventually, the Bodhisattva Lingji subjugates this demon.

66. 66   Hexagram 38 in The Book of Changes is Kui (Opposition): “Nine at the top means: Isolated through opposition, / One sees one’s company as a pig covered with dirt, / As a wagon full of devils. / First one draws a bow against him, / Then one lays the bow aside. / He is not a robber; he will woo at the right time. / As one goes, rain falls; then good fortune comes.” I Ching, 150. This concerns JW, chapters 18–19, in which Pilgrim subjugates Zhu Bajie, Eight Vows, by impersonating the latter’s wife. The Pig becomes the Tang Monk’s second disciple. The “fifth line [wu] in Kui” in the Chongzhen edition is correctly changed into “the top line in Kui” in the Shenbaoguan edition, which the translation follows.

67. 67   Refers to JW, chapter 22, in which the Sand Monk is subjugated and becomes the Tang Monk’s third disciple. “Impure Perceptions” refers to the Sand Monk. His religious name is Wujing, “Comprehension of the Pure.”

68. 68   In JW, chapter 23, the Bodhisattva Guanyin and other bodhisattvas join together to test the commitment of the pilgrims to the scripture pilgrimage by promises of marriage (referred to through the musical metaphor in the first line of the couplet) and good living. Everyone passes the test except Eight Vows (referred to as Boarfish in the first line of the couplet), who succumbs to his carnal desires.

69. 69   In JW, chapters 24–26, Pilgrim gets into trouble for uprooting (and thus killing) this tree, which can only be brought back to life with the aid of the Bodhisattva Guanyin.

70. 70   In JW, chapter 27, the cadaver spirit demon, or “White Bone Demon,” three times deceives the Tang Monk by taking on human form. Pilgrim, the only one who can see through the demon’s deception, each time kills the form that the demon takes and eventually kills the demon itself, but the Tang Monk remains deluded and banishes Pilgrim for what he sees as the needless killing of humans.

71. 71   Huainanzi, j. 2: “In ancient times, Gongniu Ai suffered from a cyclical illness: every seven days he would transform into a tiger. His older brother opened his door and entered to spy on him, and when he did it, the tiger snatched and killed him.” Liu An, The Huainanzi, trans. Major et al., 87. Gongniu Ai is also referred to as Niu Ai. In JW, chapters 30–31, the Tang Monk is changed into a tiger by a demon. In the first line of the couplet, Pilgrim is referred to as Metal Lord, an epithet used for him in JW to stress his role in the novel’s allegorical representation of Daoist internal alchemy.

72. 72   In JW, chapters 32–35, the Tang Monk is captured by a trio of demons and shackled in this cave, but before they can eat him, he is rescued by Pilgrim.

73. 73   In JW, the white deer, the beast of burden of the Star of Longevity, descends to the human realm, where he causes trouble for the scripture pilgrims. He is subjugated by his owner while he is engaged in fighting with Pilgrim. This episode actually occurs in chapter 79, after the place where our novel was to be inserted. This might be a lapse—or a joke—on the part of the author.

74. 74   In JW, chapter 40, Red Boy creates a wild wind that blows the Tang Monk into his lair, Fiery Cloud Cave. He is the son of the Bull Demon King (a former sworn brother of Pilgrim) and Lady Rākṣasī; because of this he is involved, indirectly, in the episode in which the Tang Monk gets pregnant and needs special abortion-inducing water controlled by Red Boy’s uncle (chapter 53), and the episode in which Pilgrim borrows the Palm-Leaf Fan.

75. 75   In JW, chapter 43, the Tang Monk is captured by a demon and detained in the River of Black Water.

76. 76   In Yijing, for the second hexagram, Kun, the interpretation of the top line reads, “Dragons fight in the meadow. / Their blood is black and yellow [darkened yellow].” I Ching, 15.

77. 77   In JW, chapters 44–45, Pilgrim and three Daoists (actually monsters masquerading as Daoists) engage in a competition of magical skills (such as surviving decapitation), in which the latter are defeated and lose their lives.

78. 78   In JW, chapters 50–52, the pilgrims are detained in the Golden [Metal] Helmet Mountain by a demon who has stolen the “diamond [jingang] snare” of the Supreme Old Lord, i.e., Laozi. “Metals” refers to Pilgrim, often called the Lord of Metal, and the mountain, as well as the monster with the snare.

79. 79   In JW, chapter 53, the Tang Monk and Eight Vows mistakenly drink the water of a river that makes one pregnant. The antidote is the water from a well that can end the pregnancy. Hence the two kinds of water in this line. Additionally, the Monk is plagued by calamities associated with water, and Eight Vows began as a water demon.

80. 80   In JW, chapters 57–58, the Six-Eared Macaque impersonates Pilgrim so well that even the Bodhisattva Guanyin is not able to tell them apart.

81. 81   In JW, chapters 59–61, when Pilgrim extinguishes the fire of the Mountain of Flames and continues the journey, the season is early winter. Here the author departs from the parent novel, setting the new story in the spring, when everything turns green.

82. 82   The goddess Nüwa melted huge rocks to mend the damaged sky. Nüwa is mentioned in chapter 5.

83. 83   A “blow on the head” from the master is a meditation aid in Chan teaching.

84. 84   This is the only instance in this novel of a conventional chapter-ending formula, part of the “storyteller’s rhetoric” used in traditional vernacular fiction, in imitation of the turns of phrase with which long narratives were broken up by professional oral storytellers into sessions that ended in suspense. This sentence is deleted in the Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions.

85. 85   The last two “plain tales” refer to this novel.

CHAPTER 13

Short title: “The Cave of Green Bamboo.” The text of the first four half-folios was missing in the Chongzhen reprint and was copied from the Kongqingshi edition but without the original commentary. Our translation of the Chongzhen text and commentary for those four folios relies on what was included in the Kongqingshi edition.

1. 1   “Thin air” and “nothing” are both kong, which also signifies the Void or Emptiness in Buddhist terminology.

2. 2   “Hairy Monk”: This might have been a lapse on the part of the author. But in Pilgrim’s dream, his master has become secularized—so although “monk” to Sun Wukong, “hairy” is how he appears as a secular man.

3. 3   Their logic, it seems, is that in a contemporary play the characters would still be alive and could play themselves.

4. 4   This is the end of pages missing from the extant copy of the Chongzhen edition.

5. 5   Literally, to put out the fire, referring to his mental state.

6. 6   The conversation is carried in four-character sentences, as in gāthās.

7. 7   Chan of tea: mental training using tea as a subject for debate to test one’s level of spiritual understanding.

8. 8   In the Shenbaoguan edition, the name appears as “Idyllic Park in Twilight: In the Manner of the Ancients,” and there is a comment: “This has moved beyond the World of the Ancients, but the Idyllic Park and the Taikun Lake [in the subsequent text] still follow the form too rigidly. This is why the dream of Gaotang is still going on.”

9. 9   Jin shu, j. 49, “Ruan Xiu zhuan” (Biography of Ruan Xiu): Ruan Xiu would walk along with coins tied to the top of his staff to pay for his expenses at taverns.

10. 10   Taikun Lake might refer to Kunming Lake in Chang’an, a famous site during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han.

11. 11   Referring to the monumental stone statues lining the approaches to imperial tombs.

12. 12   These lines can be found in Chen Jiru, Xiaochuang you ji (Serene notes from the small window), j. 1. “Those on horseback” refers to men in official positions.

13. 13   “Cross over”: the term du also has religious connotations, i.e., to cross over (this world) and reach the other shore (enlightenment to the true nature of reality).

14. 14   The bamboo is perhaps the variety Bambusa surrecta.

15. 15   For divination, four pairs of combinations of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, each corresponding to the year, month, day, and hour of one’s birth. A prospective couple’s birth times would be examined for compatibility.

16. 16   Jiazi: the first of a set of sixty cyclical pairs of characters used to date years or days.

17. 17   “Appearance” here is xiang, as in the fortune-telling technique of physiognomy (kan xiang).

18. 18   Jing (spirit or sprite) is an animal (or plant) that through thousands of years of cultivation has acquired special powers, including, typically, the ability to take on human form.

19. 19   In chapter 1 of Journey to the West Sun Wukong is born from a stone egg, not a stone box.

20. 20   A term meaning the first month of the lunar calendar or shang (D) in the pentatonic musical scale.

21. 21   The sixth month or zhi (G).

22. 22   The eleventh month or gong (C).

23. 23   The fifth month or jue (E).

24. 24   The eighth month or yu (A).

25. 25   For details, see Knoblock and Riegel, The Annuals of Lü Buwei, book 9, chapter 2, sections 1–2, 157.

26. 26   The months of the lunar calendar were seen as parallel to notes in the traditional Chinese musical scale. Yellow Bell is gong; it is equivalent to C in the European scale; shang to D; jue to E; zhi to G; yu to A.

27. 27   Gong lowered by a half note; i.e., B.

28. 28   Alluding to the King of the Lesser Moon.

29. 29   Following the Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions. The Chongzhen edition has “a beneficent star,” which might be a scribal error.

30. 30   Following the Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions.

31. 31   Following the Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions.

32. 32   The Kongqingshi and Shenbaoguan editions have “a man and a horse of stone.”

33. 33   Following the patterns of the Five Phases. The productive order: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water; the destructive order: Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal.

34. 34   I.e., F.

35. 35   The planet Mercury.

36. 36   The planet Saturn.

37. 37   One needs to experience death first before one can understand life—this is often seen in Chan discourses. See, for instance, Biyan ji (Blue cliff records), in T, 2003.48.178, 2076.51.323. This applies to Pilgrim too, for his experience in the novel may be seen as a death, or a vicarious death or deaths.

38. 38   In Feng Menglong, Gujin tan gai, 41, section 4, “Zhuanyu” (The foolish), the introduction classifies the First Emperor of the Qin and Cao Cao as among the foolish.

39. 39   This aria is based on the last aria in Tang Xianzu, Handan ji. Besides the change noted in the comment, there is only one other, very minor textual difference.

CHAPTER 14

The short title for this chapter is “Leading Troops into Battle.”

1. 1   Alluding to the gāthā by the Sixth Patriarch of Chan: “Bodhi originally has no tree, / The mirror also has no stand. / Buddha nature is always clean and pure; / Where is there room for dust?” A second verse reads, “The mind is the Bodhi tree, / The body is the mirror stand. / The mirror is originally clean and pure; / Where can it be stained by dust?” T, 2008.48.349; Yampolsky, Platform Sutra, 132.

2. 2   “Kingfisher,” cui, indicates a shade of blue green.

3. 3   By legend, when the ancient sage Emperor Shun died, his two consorts were so grief-stricken that their tears stained the bamboo in the area of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers. A variety of bamboo there has been stained ever since.

4.   4   Hexagram 9 in the I Ching or Book of Changes is Xiaochu , the outer (upper) trigram being Xun and the inner (lower) trigram, Qian. The old yang refers to Qian; the eldest daughter, Xun. Shuo gua (“Discussion of the Trigrams) explains, “The Creative [Qian] is strong.… The Gentle [Xun] is penetrating.” “The Gentle is wood, wind, the eldest daughter, the guideline [straight cord].” I Ching, 273, 277.

5. 5   This aphorism generally refers to married couples.

6. 6   JW, chapters 57–58.

7. 7   Meaning in the Underworld, after death.

8. 8   This is the title of a Music Bureau poem (yuefu shi) from the Six Dynasties period; many of these poems are about erotic love.

9. 9   By legend, for all but one night of the year the Weaving Maid and Oxherd stars are separated by the Heavenly River (Milky Way). On that one night, the seventh of the seventh lunar month, the Oxherd crosses over to see her on a bridge formed by the magpies’ wings.

10. 10   These lines come from the fourth and last of a set of poems under the same Music Bureau poem title by Yang Shen (1488–1559), in his Sheng’an ji (Collected works of Sheng’an [Yang Shen]), j. 13. The last line could also mean, “A lovely lady, and a lovely night.”

11. 11   In preparation for reading an imperial edict.

12. 12   This is a parody of literary works that feature farewell scenes between husband and wife, or lovers, including plays and popular songs. See, among others, Feng Menglong, Taixia xinzou (1627), j. 7, which includes a song suite by Bu Dahuang, titled “Song huan” (Farewell, my beloved). Bu Dahuang is the courtesy name of Bu Shichen (fl. 1610), the dramatist. The Jade Tent refers to the general’s headquarters, where he issues commands. Jade is used here because it is hard and firm, but again, it puns on desire.

13. 13   Jade Fragmented suggests fallen flowers or items left by dead women. The term also suggests the destruction of beautiful and valuable things, in addition to its suggestion, here, of the destruction of desire.

CHAPTER 15

Short titles: “The General’s Tent” in the first half and “Pilgrim’s Great Battle” in the second half.

1. 1   The twenty-eight constellations in traditional Chinese astronomy.

2. 2   This passage is parallel prose written in couplets of antithetical parallel terms. This subgenre of writing is characterized by its rhythm, repetition for emphasis, and vivid clarity; it is often used in JW and other Ming and Qing novels.

3. 3   These words are used ironically, considering what happens in chapter 1, to describe Pilgrim. Pilgrim in turn thinks that the Tang Monk is “overly compassionate.”

4. 4   Her name is a homophone of a term used for the most beautiful flower and the name of the most famous courtesan.

5.   5   The first couplet of this poem, the basic conceit behind the second couplet of destroying her lover, comes from a quatrain by Lü Yan, better known as Lü Dongbin, one of the famous “eight immortals” in Daoism. The poem, Quan Tang shi, j. 856, titled “Jingshi” (A warning to the world), is quoted verbatim in a wide variety of vernacular fiction, often with attribution to Lü, but it appears perhaps most prominently as the second chapter-opening poem of the first chapter of the Chongzhen edition of Jin Ping Mei.

6. 6   As in chapters 12 and 14 above, this refers to JW, chapter 58.

7. 7   To parallel Wukong, “Enlightened to the Void,” Wuhuan means “Enlightened to Illusion.”

8. 8   Pāramitā: a Buddhist term meaning “crossing to the other shore” or “transcendence” through enlightenment.

9. 9   The term used is one that exhibits modesty and humility—literally, the father of my humble self. This applies to his mention of other members of his family.

10. 10   This is the end of a Sanskrit spell in the Heart Sutra: “Enlightenment—all hail!” One character here varies from the sutra, perhaps a result of the commentator’s lapse in memory. We should keep in mind that the author and commentators probably relied heavily on their memories for their intertextual references.

11. 11   In the text it is “purple clothes.” The translators made this change considering the context and the subsequent text.

12. 12   Se, the word translated here as “color,” also means sex, attractive appearance, form, or phenomena in general.

CHAPTER 16

Short title: “The Great Sage Exits from the Demonic World.” “Still Early in the Day”: literally, the sun is only halfway up the mountain.

1. 1   A common saying in Buddhism: turning around, one becomes a buddha; or, turning around, one sees the Other Shore.

2. 2   “Venerable One” is a title for buddha figures. This character, Xukong Zunzhe (Lord of the Void), may have been inspired by the god of vast space, Śūnyatā, or the Void, Xukongshen. The word Śūnyatā also means emptiness. Here he embodies the understanding, or the doctrine, of the fundamental emptiness of all phenomena.

3. 3   Probably based on the Buddhist three realms: the realm of desire, yujie (kāma-dhātu), the realm of form, sejie (rūpa-dhātu), and the realm of the formless, wusejie (ārūpya-dhātu).

4. 4   Wen: pattern or writing.

5. 5   Reading cheng (walled city) for cheng (completion). In chapter 4 it is made clear that the setting is a walled fortress.

6. 6   Implying the transcendence of the literary level—i.e., the meaning lies beyond language or words. Compare the wordless scriptures in JW, chapter 98.

7. 7   We might have expected the author to use here Bajie’s religious name, Wuneng, which would match his use of Wujing for the Sha Monk.

8.   8   A disciple of the Bodhisattva Guanyin.

9. 9   “Enlightened to Green,” a homophone for “Enlightened to Desire.”

10. 10   Read together as “Only by emptying desire can one achieve purity [of mind].”

11. 11   A conventional term in vernacular fiction of the period, seldom used in this novel.

12. 12   Causing one to suffer and hindering one from enlightenment.

13. 13   In his arduous journey in search for the dharma in the final chapter of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra or Huayan jing (The flower garland sutra, in T, 279.345–46), with the guidance of the eighth teacher, Sudhana is able to see himself in different locations and in different ages, some of which last for days while others last for kalpas. The Zongjing lu (Record of the axiom mirror), j. 40, compiled by Yanshou (904–975), explains this with episodes taken from Chinese writings. In Shuyi zhi (A record of the marvelous), Wang Zhi, once in the mountains, encounters several immortals playing chess. He watches the game, and when he is ready to go back, he finds the handle of his ax has rotted away: a hundred years have passed. King Mu of Zhou follows a magician; it seems to be many years, but it turns out to be a moment. Thus, Yanshou writes, “if one follows one’s mind, the length of time is not fixed. If the mind is short, it is short; if the mind is long, it is long. Whether the time is long or short is the mind; it is not determined by time. All dharmas are created by the mind. If one considers it independently of the mind, it lacks all fundamental truth.” See T, 2016.48.655.

14. 14   The third month in the lunar calendar is referred to as the Month of Peach [Blossoms].

15. 15   “Well-kept room” (jingshe) can also mean a Buddhist shrine or meditation room.

16. 16   The Book of Changes, “The Great Treatise” (Dazhuan): “In it [The Book of Changes] are included all forms and the scope of everything in the heavens and earth, so that nothing escapes from it. In it all things everywhere are completed, so that nothing is missing. Therefore by means of it we can penetrate the dao of day and night, and so understand it. Therefore the spirit is bound to no one place, nor the Book of Changes to any one form.” I Ching, 296, modified. This harks back to the poem by Shao Yong, abbreviated by Tang Xianzu, quoted at the very beginning of chapter 1.

AFTERTHOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

1. 1   C. T. Hsia and T. A. Hsia, “New Perspectives on Two Ming Novels.”

2. 2   The recent study by Suyong Son, Writing for Print, demonstrates that many literati of the seventeenth century printed their work in small quantities to be given away, although gifts of gratitude (including silver) were often given in return. Only if there was increasing demand might the project be turned over to a commercial printer.

3. 3   Hsia, “Scholar-Novelist and Chinese Culture,” 188–89. Hsia (190) does include the authors of both Journey to the West and Further Adventures (whom he unquestioningly identifies as Wu Cheng’en and Dong Yue) in his list of scholar-novelists, generally without comment on the relationships, if any, between their work and Jinghua yuan. In comparison with other novelists, this select few “appear more playful toward their medium but at the same time more innovative and experimental because they were not writing to please a large public and could indulge their every creative whim as they composed” (191). Hsia does suggest parallels between the first voyage in Flowers, chapters 8–40, and the pilgrimage to the land of the Buddha in Journey (212).

4. 4   Hsia (“Scholar Novelist and Chinese Culture,” 211) suggests that modern readers find such information hard to read because they do not “share” the novelist’s “infatuation” with traditional Chinese culture.