Your secret strength conserve, increase.
Obey my words, and Truth you’ll find.
Forget them not, the gain is great.
Put off all thoughts of evil lust.
Seek purity, shine bright.
Your secret chambers flood with light.
The moon protects the timid hare,
The sun grows trees for birds to roost.
Birds and rabbits join in revels,
So do dragons have their mates
Have their mates and new life follows.
E’en in fire grows a lily
Differing natures, all converted,
End their work as true Immortals.
The Seeker of Secrets, having learnt the three secrets of Immortality: mind and spirit and abstinence from sex, memorized these carefully, and went on studying alone for three years more. Then the Master again mounted the platform and preached on the Parable of the Great Judgment. Suddenly he asked, “Where is the Seeker of Secrets?” The Monkey King came forward, knelt and said, “I am here.” The Master asked, “What have you been learning all this time?” “Your disciple has mastered the study of the spiritual nature.” The Master said, “Then you know the origin of things. But you must be careful of three great dangers.” The Seeker of Secrets, after pondering over this for a long time said, “I have constantly heard it said that when one has found Truth and Virtue, then one becomes an Immortal and no sickness can befall him; how then do you speak of dangers to be avoided?” The Master said, “What I teach you is not an ordinary doctrine, for it controls the forces of Heaven and Earth and the secrets of the sun, moon, and stars. When one has arrived at this stage, then one is superior to the evil spirits and the ordinary gods. Still after a time there will come a thunderclap to try your soul and spirit. If unmoved and unshaken in the deluge, you will be like Heaven itself. If you doubt, then you perish. After a long practice of religion again, one is tried a second time. This danger does not come from Heaven, nor from man, but from one’s own passions. It burns one’s whole body to ashes, and all one’s long years of practice are in vain like a dream. After another long term of practice, one is tried a third time by the danger of environment, which blows on one like a typhoon and affects one’s whole being. This must be overcome.” When the Seeker of Secrets heard this his body shook and his hair stood on end. “Oh Master, have pity on me, and tell me how to overcome these three dangers, and I shall never forget your kindness.” The Master said, “That is not difficult. There are two ways to avoid them. One has 36 wonders, the other 72; which do you wish to know?” The Seeker of Secrets said, “I wish to know the 72 wonders.” “Come here then, and I will teach you the incantation.” Then he whispered it in his ear. The Monkey King felt influences going through every pore of his body, and began to practice the arts and to learn the whole 72 wonders. Afterwards when they were outside the door of the Three Star Cave, the Master said, “Seeker of Secrets, have you learnt all the arts?” He replied, “Thanks to your great kindness I have, and I can fly among the clouds.” The Master said, “Let me see what you can do.” At this, the Seeker of Secrets bent himself and jumped some 50 or 60 feet in the air and walked on the clouds for about the time it takes one to have a meal, walked for a mile and then descended amongst them. The Master said, “That is not much. It is only creeping on the clouds. The ancient Immortals are said to have mounted in the morning as far as the Northern Ocean, gone round the East, South, and West Ocean, and been back at night.” The Seeker of Secrets said, “This is not easy.” The Master said, “Easy enough if you have a mind to do it.” At this the Seeker of Secrets threw himself on his knees and, declaring he was in earnest, begged his master to be so kind as to show him how to do it again. The Master said, “You jumped when rising, you should only bow and rise. But if you wish I can teach you how to do it by somersaults.” The Seeker of Secrets knelt before him again and begged him to do so. The Master then taught him the incantation. Then with a clenched fist and a spring, the Monkey King was off 107,000 li. As it was late the Master and students retired, while the Seeker of Secrets went on mastering how to travel on the clouds, and for many days afterwards would do nothing else.
One day the students had a long talk together, and said, “Seeker of Secrets, you have studied the mysteries of Nature so deeply, that our Master has taught you how to perform many wonders; can we all do this?” The Seeker of Secrets laughed and said, “Truly if the Master teaches and you diligently learn, there is no reason why you should not learn all.” They replied, “Show us some of your wonderful arts.” The Seeker of Secrets said, “Tell me what you want and I will try.” They said, “Change yourself into a pine tree.” The Seeker of Secrets recited an incantation, shook his body and was transformed instantly into a pine tree.
Clouds come kissing virgin pine,
Wooded through the growth of years,
Showing monkey traces none,
Only hoarfrost on each branch.
At the sight the students clapped their hands and cried in great admiration. The Master hearing the commotion, came out and asked what the matter was. When he heard he said, “You pledged yourself not to divulge the secret, and now you play with great things before the unworthy. If you do not divulge the secret to the others, they will kill you.” The Seeker of Secrets wept and begged his pardon. But the Master said, “I cannot keep you any longer, you must go, for your life is in danger.” The Seeker of Secrets said, “What shall I do?” “Go back whence you came,” was the stern reply, “and never tell anyone that you are my disciple, or I will flay you alive.” With this, the Seeker of Secrets took leave of the Master and fellow students, recited an incantation, jumped over the clouds and was back in an instant in the East Continent of the Mighty Gods, the Mountain Garden and the Water Screen Cave, and was glad, saying,
Leaving home I lonely was,
Mortal frame and mortal seed.
When born again in spirit land,
The body light became as air.
In all the earth none have a mind
To seek the truth and gather light.
Finally the Seeker of Secrets descended safely from the clouds, arrived at the Mountain Garden and there heard the monkeys crying bitterly. He said, “My children, I have returned, what is the matter?” Ten thousand monkeys, great and small, ran towards him from all the rocks and trees about, knelt before him and cried, “Why did you leave us so long here without protection? We have been longing for your return like men who are hungry and thirsty. Of late we have been troubled by the Chief Disturber of the World’s Peace, who wanted to take possession of our cave by force. We fought him at the risk of our lives and many were killed. If you, Oh King, had not returned, there would soon have been no cave left us at all.” The Seeker of Secrets became very angry and asked what evil spirit it was that had dared do that. “We will soon have our revenge on him. Where does he live and how far away?” “We do not know. He came with the wind and went away in a fog.” At this the Seeker of Secrets said, “I will find him.” And with this the Monkey King made a spring and disappeared to the North. There he saw a high and steep mountain.
Mountain peaks like pencils pierced the sky,
Mountain streams like gouges carved the rocks.
There the fount of three worlds bubbled forth
Giving strength by watering the earth.
The
