Preface from the Chongzhen Edition

It is said that when one exits the three realms of saṃsāra,¹ the root of desire is destroyed and that when one moves beyond the vehicles of direct disciples and solitary realizers,² delusional thoughts are no more.³ It is also said that when one exits the three realms of saṃsāra, one does not escape from the three realms of saṃsāra, and that when one moves beyond the vehicles of direct disciples and solitary realizers, one does not escape from the vehicles of direct disciples and solitary realizers.

If one is attached to even a single thought, this is delusion. Delusion leads to skewed views, skewed views lead to Māra,⁴ and Māra is manifested in multiple ways, each ten times more powerful than true understanding, leaving one wandering in the mirages of illusion. The greater the number of karmic causes, the more the manifestations, which are endless—so much so that one is immersed in them and has a variety of thoughts and passions⁵—assume a variety of identities in incarnations as humans, and one finds oneself in different places and situations.⁶ This can all happen in an instant, like a snap of the fingers. Therefore, if one has not completed one’s cultivation of the Dao, whether in ancient or modern times, one has the same cause over which to sigh.

It is said that whether one uses a light source to enhance the reflection in a mirror or to use the mirror to observe the reflection of the light, probably the light and image are always there, with which one can thus verify one’s understanding by careful examination.⁷ However, when neither light nor reflected image exists, this is like the return to the Root!⁸ It is another cause over which to sigh.

What is the primary message of this supplement to the Journey to the West? It happens that the author, at the juncture of the cooling of the fire through the three attempts to borrow the Palm-Leaf Fan [in Journey to the West], revisits the parable, to reiterate the endlessness of the entanglements created by the demon of desire. Through the enchanting worlds of dreams, the Great Chiliocosm is conjured up in the duration of a single nap.⁹

Episodes such as Pilgrim Sun’s killing of the boys and girls under the tree peonies; his entrance into the New Tang through butterflies¹⁰ and will-o’-the-wisps;¹¹ his quest to borrow the Mountain-Ridding Bell for his own use after hearing about the Picture of Mount Li in the New Tang—these suggest that the shadow of the Palm-Leaf Fan has not yet dispersed.¹² These belong to the category of dreams due to thinking.¹³

When he falls into the World of the Green, he is bound to be bewildered by the myriad mirrors. The Space-Walkers chiseling the firmament: this thought is produced because he is frightened by the appointment of Chen Xuanzang as the Supreme General of Green-Eradication. They belong to the category of dreams due to alarm.¹⁴

While his mind is entirely set on finding the First Emperor of the Qin, he runs into the Hegemon-King of the Western Chu. Soon he enters the Mirror of the Ancients, which is followed immediately by the World of the Future. When he adjudicates the case of the grand councilor of the Song, Qin Hui, corporal punishment is meted out strenuously and meticulously, which cancels out the resentment that has lasted in history for centuries. These is close to the category of righteous dreams.¹⁵

Pilgrim becomes entangled in the Hall of Creeping Vines, and he wanders to the top of Sorrows Peak. The chanted narrative¹⁶ and the theatrical performance, as well as other experiences, present utmost danger and obstacles. As the saying goes, the time of torrential currents and white-capped waves is precisely the best time to exert one’s strength, and yet there is no place here to apply one’s strength.¹⁷ These belong to the category of dreams due to fear.¹⁸

Ever since ancient times, of the roots of desire, the most difficult to destroy is the desire for se.¹⁹ Yu the Fair, Xishi, Sisi, Green Pearl, Lady of the Kingfisher-Green Cord, and Pinxiang tease each other playfully in their empty boudoirs: young and graceful, they confess their own experiences of love in intimate terms, with amorous words flying around. These seem to be joyful dreams.²⁰

When King Pāramitā acknowledges that Pilgrim is his father, the moon is bright and stars have become sparse;²¹ the great dream is waning. When the flags of five colors mix into chaos, it is time to exit from the demonic world. This could be an example of dreams of awakening.²²

This brief discussion of the six dreams²³ has encompassed the past, the present, and the future. Whether one becomes a buddha, a demon, an immortal, an ordinary human being, or a different type of being—all these are caused by the one who thought that he was, from the beginningless beginning, not subject to reincarnation and was aloof from saṃsāra but who is himself experiencing none other than reincarnation and saṃsāra. What difference does it make whether this is caused by oneself or by another?²⁴

The mind beyond the mind, the mirror within the mirror—how can they be different from the sparks from flint and the flash of lightning, which vanish at a glance? Now we read in these sixteen chapters that external defilements can take possession of the mind, whereas its owner has nowhere to turn. Like a tiny boat adrift: who can be the ford and the shore?²⁵

Now if one searches for desire after one has awakened from desire, or searches for the dream when one has awakened from the dream, one simply cannot find anything.²⁶ Reading these further adventures brings a temporary breath of coolness to the burning fire—its chilling effect is wonderful!

On the Mid-Autumn Day in the year xinsi,²⁷ Layman Niru wrote this at Thousand-Acre Clouds on Tiger Hill.²⁸