I am a fairy in Journey to the West

Inside the Great Thunderclap Temple, the Buddha Tathagata summoned all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Devas, Arhats, Vajras, and other beings to line up in two rows, and conveyed a golden decree, summoning Tang Sanzang to enter.

All that could be heard was a call from inside, layer upon layer, following the Buddha's instructions: "Holy Monk, come in."

The five members of the Tang Monk's group, with utmost reverence, entered the main hall with great care. Upon reaching the hall, they prostrated themselves before the Buddha. After bowing, they bowed again to the left and right, and after bowing to all sides, they knelt before the Buddha once more, presenting their travel documents. The Buddha reviewed them one by one and then handed them back to the Tang Monk. The Tang Monk bowed deeply and said, "Your disciple Xuanzang, by the decree of the Emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty, has traveled to this sacred mountain to seek the true scriptures to save all sentient beings. I hope that the Buddha will grant me grace and allow me to return home soon."

The Tathagata, with a compassionate mouth and a heart full of mercy, spoke to the Tripitaka Master: "Your Eastern Land is Jambudvipa, where, because the heavens are high and the earth is vast, and resources are plentiful and people numerous, there is much greed and killing, much lewdness and deceit, much cheating and fraud. People do not follow Buddhism, do not seek good karma, do not respect the three luminaries (sun, moon, and stars), do not value the five grains, are disloyal and unfilial, unjust and unkind, deceive themselves and others, use excessive measures and indiscriminate scales, and kill animals. They have committed boundless sins, their evil overflowing, leading to the calamities of hell. Therefore, they are eternally condemned to the netherworld, suffering the torment of being pounded and ground, and transformed into animals. I now..." There are three collections of scriptures, which can liberate one from suffering and avert calamities. The three collections are: one on celestial phenomena, one on earthly doctrines, and one on the salvation of spirits. In total, there are thirty-five parts, comprising fifteen thousand one hundred and forty-four volumes. Truly, it is the path to spiritual cultivation and the gateway to righteousness, containing everything about the astronomy, geography, people, animals, plants, tools, and affairs of the four continents. You have come from afar, and I intend to give you all of it to take away. But the people there are foolish and ignorant, slandering the true words and not understanding the profound meaning of my teachings.”

After saying this, the Buddha called out again: "Ananda and Kasyapa, you two lead the four of them to the foot of the Treasure Pavilion and first serve them a vegetarian meal. After the meal, open the Treasure Pavilion and take a few volumes from each of the thirty-five sections of my Tripitaka and give them to him, so that they may be passed down to the East and forever bestow boundless grace."

The two venerable ones, acting on the Buddha's command, led the four disciples downstairs, where they were overwhelmed by the endless array of rare and precious treasures. They saw various deities preparing offerings, laying out a feast of celestial foods, dishes, teas, and fruits—a hundred delicacies unlike anything found in the mortal world. The master and disciples bowed in reverence to the Buddha's grace and enjoyed the food as they pleased.

After finishing the celestial feast, the five disciples followed Ananda and Kasyapa to the Sutra Repository. Upon opening the door, they saw auspicious clouds and radiant light enveloping the area, while colorful mists and auspicious clouds covered the myriad paths.

On the cabinet and outside the treasure box, there were red labels with the names of the scriptures written in regular script. They were the Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, the Tripitaka.

Ananda and Kasyapa passed on the Tripitaka scriptures to Tang Sanzang and his disciples one by one. The five of them then packed the scrolls into bags, bundled them into several loads, and had Sun Wukong, the White Dragon Horse, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing carry them. Afterwards, they kowtowed before the throne to thank the Buddha, and then went out. They bowed twice to every Buddha they encountered and twice to every Bodhisattva they saw.

They arrived at the main gate, paid their respects to the monks, nuns, laywomen, and monks, and then went down the mountain after bidding farewell to them.

Meanwhile, the ancient Buddha Dipankara was residing in the Sutra Repository. Listening to Ananda and Kasyapa transmitting scriptures to Tang Sanzang below, he chuckled to himself, "The monks of the East are foolish and ignorant, unable to recognize the scriptures without words. Yet, the holy monk's arduous journey has not been in vain."

So he asked, "Is anyone here?"

Then, Venerable Bai Xiong appeared and bowed to Dipankara Buddha, saying, "Disciple is here."

The ancient Buddha instructed, "You may use your divine power to catch up with Tang Sanzang like a shooting star, seize the blank scripture, and make him come back to seek the true scripture with words."

Upon receiving the decree, Venerable Bai Xiong rode the whirlwind, rolling away from the gate of Leiyin Temple, displaying great divine power, and flew straight towards the pilgrims' group.

The Venerable White Lion used his divine power to fly swiftly to catch up. Tang Sanzang and his companions suddenly smelled a fragrant breeze and assumed it was a sign of Buddha's good fortune, so they were not on guard. The Venerable White Lion immediately pounced down and snatched the scriptures from the shoulders of Sun Wukong and the others with great speed.

Tang Sanzang immediately beat his chest and stamped his feet, shouting loudly, "My scriptures!"

The four disciples were in complete chaos, never expecting that there were evil demons causing trouble on Mount Ling in the Western Paradise. Only Sun Wukong drew his golden cudgel and struck them.

The Venerable White Lion was flying in the sky when he saw Sun Wukong charging towards him menacingly. Panicked and fearing for his life, he hurriedly tore the stolen book carrier to pieces and scattered the pieces in all directions.

Sun Wukong hurriedly went to save the scriptures, so Venerable Bai Xiong flew away from this place and returned to Mount Ling to report back.

After Tang Sanzang and his disciples rescued the intact scriptures, they opened them and found that they were all blank. Sun Wukong guessed that Ananda and Kasyapa were behind it, so the five of them returned to the Great Thunder Temple.

As soon as Sun Wukong entered the Great Thunderclap Temple, he shouted, "Buddha! My master and I have endured countless stings and demons, suffering countless hardships, to travel from the East to this place. We were instructed by you to transmit the scriptures, but Ananda and Kasyapa, unable to extort money from us, colluded to cheat us, deliberately giving us a blank copy of the scriptures. What use are we to them! We beg you, Buddha, to punish us!" The Buddha smiled and said, "Stop shouting. I already know that they asked you for money. But scriptures cannot be easily transmitted, nor can they be taken for nothing. In the past, when the monks and holy monks went down the mountain, they recited this scripture once at the home of Elder Zhao in Shravasti, ensuring the safety of the living and the liberation of the dead. They only received three pecks and three pints of rice-grain gold in return. I even said they sold it too cheaply, leaving their descendants with no money to use. Now you come empty-handed, so you have been given a blank copy. A blank copy is a true scripture without words, which is good. Because the people of your East are foolish and ignorant, this is the only way to transmit it to them."

After saying this, the Buddha called out again: "Ananda and Kasyapa, quickly take a few scrolls from each of the scriptures with writing on them and bring them here to report the number."

Ananda and Kasyapa received the decree again and led Tang Sanzang and his disciples down to retrieve the scriptures. This time, Tang Sanzang handed his golden alms bowl to Ananda and Kasyapa. The two accepted the bowl without shame and passed on the inscribed scriptures to Tang Sanzang.

This time, Tang Sanzang and his disciples were prepared. They read through each book they received before packing them up.

After a while, the true scripture was finished being transmitted, and then he went to bid farewell to the Buddha and left Mount Ling.

At this moment, Guanyin Bodhisattva, who had already returned to Mount Ling, stepped forward and reported: "When I was young, I received the imperial decree to go to the East to find someone to retrieve the scriptures. Now I have succeeded. It has taken a total of fourteen years, which is five thousand and forty days. Eight days are still short, which is not in accordance with the required number of scriptures. I hope that my World Honored One will grant the holy monk to return from the East to the West as soon as possible. It must be within eight days so that the required number of scriptures can be completed and the imperial decree can be returned to me."

The Buddha smiled and said, "What you say is very true. I hereby grant your request to hand over the gold decree."

Then he summoned the eight Vajra Guardians and instructed them: "Use your divine power to escort the Holy Monk back to the East, leave the true scriptures behind, and then lead the Holy Monk back to the West. You must complete the entire collection within eight days, without delay." The Vajra Guardians accepted the decree and immediately caught up with Tang Sanzang, calling out: "Scripture seeker, follow me!"

After saying this, he rode on a golden cloud. Tang Sanzang felt light and healthy, floating along with his five disciples, who followed the Vajra and rode the cloud towards the Tang Dynasty in the East.

Meanwhile, at the three gates of the Great Thunderclap Temple on Mount Ling, there were five guardian deities, four duty officers, six Ding and six Jia, and Dharma protectors. They approached Guanyin Bodhisattva and said, "We disciples have been secretly protecting the Holy Monk under the Bodhisattva's command. Today, the Holy Monk's mission is complete, and the Bodhisattva has returned the Buddha's golden decree. We hope that the Bodhisattva will allow us to return the decree."

The Bodhisattva happily said, "Permission granted, permission granted." Then she asked, "How were Tang Sanzang and his companions' conduct and intentions along the way?"

The gods said, “Your sincerity and devotion are truly admirable and cannot escape the Bodhisattva’s discernment. However, the suffering that Tang Sanzang has endured is indescribable. I have carefully recorded the calamities and hardships he has experienced along the way; this is the book of his misfortunes.”

Guanyin Bodhisattva took the book and looked at it carefully. She saw that it was filled with the tribulations that Tang Sanzang and his disciples had experienced on their journey. After reading it, the Bodhisattva exclaimed in surprise, "Our Buddhist sect has only gone through eighty tribulations so far. We are still one tribulation short."

So he hurriedly ordered the Jiedi to catch up with the Eight Vajras, thus creating another calamity.

The Jiedi caught up with the Eight Vajras in a day and night and whispered the matter to them. The Eight Vajras then quietly pressed down on the cloud light and sent Tang Sanzang and his disciples back to the ground. After landing, the group was shocked and only realized after a moment that they were in the Tongtian River area.

Pigsy complained, "The eight Vajra Warriors were sent back to the East by the Buddha's decree, so why did they drop us off halfway?"

But given the previous examples of Ananda and Kasyapa soliciting bribes, Tang Sanzang didn't say much, and simply told his disciples to find a boat.

But after searching for a long time, no ferry came. Just when they were feeling helpless, an old turtle suddenly swam up the river. It was the old turtle from the Tongtian River.

After the old tortoise arrived, it carried the five travelers across the river. When they reached the middle of the river, the tortoise asked about the Buddha that Tang Sanzang had inquired about years ago.

Tang Sanzang forgot the situation and could not answer. The old tortoise became angry and shook its body, throwing the five of them into the river.

The five disciples fell into the water and soaked the scriptures. They rescued the people, retrieved the scriptures, and dried them in the sun, making quite a mess of things.

At this point, the eighty-one tribulations were officially completed, fulfilling the number ninety-nine. That night, the five disciples rested for another night in a village on the east bank of the Tongtian River. The next day, the eight Vajra returned and once again rode on golden clouds to escort Tang Sanzang to the East.

The story of Tang Sanzang obtaining the scriptures and returning to the Tang Dynasty in the East to report back is not mentioned here.

At this time, Guanyin Bodhisattva had arrived at the Buzhou Mountain God's Palace and met Zhuang Yan.

“Lord Lingtai, after Tang Sanzang and his disciples have presented their decree to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, they will return to Mount Ling to receive their titles. The Buddha has specially sent this humble monk to invite you to attend the ceremony,” said Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Zhuang Yan said, "Why would I attend your Buddhist conferment ceremony?"

Guanyin Bodhisattva smiled and said, "Of the eighty-one tribulations faced by the pilgrims on their journey to the West, half of them were due to the efforts of the True Lord. The True Lord should go and pay his respects."

“Alright,” Zhuang Yan asked, “When shall I go?”

Guanyin Bodhisattva smiled and said, "If you have nothing else to do, you can come with me to Mount Ling now."

Zhuang Yan nodded slightly and said, "Then let's go."

Afterwards, Zhuang Yan and Guanyin Bodhisattva left Buzhou Mountain and rode on auspicious clouds to Ling Mountain.

When the time for the pilgrimage was completed, the eight Vajras appeared in Chang'an. At that time, Tang Sanzang was preaching to Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, and his officials, princes and nobles in the temple. Suddenly, the eight Vajras appeared above and shouted at Tang Sanzang: "Those who are on a pilgrimage, quickly put down the scriptures and come with us back to the Western Paradise to receive your titles."

Below, Sun Wukong and his companions rose into the air on a cloud of light. Tang Sanzang also dropped his scriptures and ascended into the heavens, following suit. Seeing this, Emperor Taizong of Tang and his officials hurriedly rose and bowed towards the sky. (End of Chapter)