These have reached beyond transmigration and will never be reborn to die again, but will endure as long as Heaven and Earth. The king asked, “Where do they live?” The Monkey said, “In the world after death, in the ancient depths of the Eternal Mountain.”
On hearing this the king was much pleased and said, “Tomorrow I leave you and go down the mountain and take a flight to a corner of the sea far on the horizon, and find out these three wonders, so that I may never get old, but live for ever and escape the hand of death. This is a happy thought. It is the sudden conversion spoken of in the Buddhist religion, whereby a man can escape the net of reincarnation by transmigration, and become a great saint as lasting as Heaven itself.”
At this all the monkeys rejoiced and clapped their hands, saying, “Good, very good! Tomorrow we also go across the mountain in search of fresh fruit to provide a big banquet for our great king.”
The next day all the monkeys went in search of fairy peaches and found a strange fruit and some mountain herbs. They laid out a fine table with fairy wine and fairy dishes. Then they placed ten of the stone forms for the banquet, and invited the king to be seated and the monkeys in turn served the guests with wine and feasted themselves the whole day.
The next day the Monkey King got up early, cut up some dried fir trees, and made them into a raft and took a bamboo for a punting pole. He went on the raft alone and punted with all his might and was carried out by the tide to the open sea. There day after day he was carried by the Southeast wind to the borders of the Southern Continent. Then he abandoned his raft and went ashore.
There on the beach he saw some men fishing, others gathering cockles, others evaporating salt. He went up to them and took the form and motions of a tiger, and so frightened the people that they ran away in all directions, leaving behind their baskets and their nets. Finding one who was unable to run away, he stripped him of his clothes, and put them on as men did, and walked with dignity across the country. When he got to the town, he learnt men’s manners and their language, took his meals by day and slept at night. He searched with all his powers for the place where the Immortals lived. He found all men were in search of fame or riches, and none sought for everlasting life.
Ever seeking fame and wealth,
Late and early men are led.
Riding horses and their mules,
Dukes and princes seek high thrones,
Food and raiment without work,
Heedless of the doom of death.
Sons and grandsons all want ease,
None desiring to repent.
The Monkey King, having no luck in his search for the way of the Immortals, and having spent eight or nine years in vain, suddenly came to the great Western Ocean, where he thought beyond the sea must be the home of the Immortals. Then he got on a raft as before, and sailed as far as the borders of the Western continent, where he landed and searched for a long time.
Suddenly he saw a high mountain most beautiful, covered with forest and jungle. Fearing no wolves, snakes, tigers, or leopards, he went straight to the mountaintop. While looking about, he heard a sound far in the forest like the voice of man. He at once plunged into the forest and listened. It was a man singing, and the song he sang was this:
When chess I play the haft is burnt,
The trees are felled all one by one.
I pass the clouds and slowly mount
I sell the wood and buy my wine
I laugh with joy and cry self saved
The way to heaven in harvest moon.
I sleep at foot of Tree of Life.
When I awake ‘tis heavenly day.
Old trees I know, steep hills I climb,
Beyond the pass make for the plain.
With hatchet cut the withering vines,
A bundle make of all my lot,
Then sing away on road to mart.
I buy my pints of daily rice,
And then, why grudge I have no more?
My price is fair, my price is fair.
Why should I worry to increase
My fame or shame? Quite calm I live,
Whoe’er I meet Immortal is,
We sit and talk of heavenly themes.
The Monkey King, on hearing this, was full of joy and said, “An Immortal hides himself here.” He rushed forward, and behold, it was only a woodman lifting his axe and cutting wood. The king went up to him and said, “Venerable Immortal, I kneel down before you as your disciple.” The woodman hastily threw aside his hatchet and knelt likewise. “I am ignorant, and with insufficient food and clothing, undeserving to be a man, how much less am I an Immortal.” The king said, “If you are not an Immortal, how can you speak the language of Immortals?” “What language of the Immortals did I use?” asked the man. The king said, “I heard you say that your companions are Immortals, and when you meet you sit and talk of heavenly themes. Heavenly themes are true words of wisdom and religion. If you are not one of the Immortals, what are you?” The woodman laughed and said, “The truth is, this song is called “The Fragrance that Fills the Hall” and one of the Immortals taught it me. He lives next door to me and he told me to sing it whenever I was in trouble and the trouble would vanish. It is because I was in need that I sang this song and did not expect anyone to hear me.” The Monkey King said, “Since you live next door to an Immortal, why do you not follow him and learn how not to become old?” The man answered, “All my life my lot has been bitter. My father died when I was young, my mother is a widow and depends on me alone. I must cut my two bundles of wood and carry them to the market for sale, and then buy rice for my mother’s food. I therefore cannot leave my mother.” The Monkey King said, “From what you say you are one of the superior men, full of filial piety, and surely you shall have a share of immortality. Please show me where the Immortal lives, so that I may pay my respects to him and learn from him.” “It is near, quite near. This place is called the Heart of the Living Mountain. In the mountain there is the Slanting Moon and Three Star Cave. In that cave there is an Immortal called the Fountain of Wisdom, and innumerable disciples taught by him have gone forth. He has some thirty or forty students now. You follow that small path and go southward for seven or eight li, and there is the place.” The Monkey King laid hold of the woodman and said, “Venerable Brother, you come with me. I shall not forget your kindness.” The woodman said, “What a stupid man you are! I have already told you where to find him. I must cut wood and look after my mother. If I go with you I shall be neglecting my business, and who will look after my mother? You go by yourself!”
The Monkey King had to leave him, and went his way out of the forest for seven or eight li, and there surely was the cave. There he stopped and looked round—it was so beautiful. The door of the cave was closed and all was quiet with no one about. Raising his head he suddenly saw a stone on which was engraved the words “The Heart of the Living Mountain, the Cave of the Slanting Moon and Three Stars.” The Monkey King was full of delight, and looked at the cave for some time, not daring to knock. He climbed to the top of a fir tree that was close by, and began chewing the fir tops. Shortly after he heard the noise of a door opening. It was the door of the cave. Out of
