They saw the light burning brightly and ordered a telescope to be brought. Two great heavenly messengers returned and reported that the light came from the Aolai country where the Flower and Fruit Garden was on a mountain; on the mountain there was a stone pillar, which had laid a stone egg; when the egg was exposed to the air, it was transformed into a stone monkey that bowed to the four quarters of heaven; its eyes shone with burning light reaching to the stars; it ate and drank, but the light of its eyes was becoming dim. The Jade Emperor took pity on it and said, “That far object below is not strange at all; it is the living principle of life in the universe.” The Monkey on the mountain could walk and jump, eat vegetables and drink of the brook, pluck wild flowers and seek for fruit and berries, and make companions of monkeys and birds and join a herd of deer. At night he lay down on a rock. In the day he wandered about on mountain peaks and penetrated into caves. Truly he was the most incomparable of all living creatures. In the greatest cold he did not suffer. In the summer heat he joined a herd of monkeys seeking a cool place in the deep shade of fir trees. After play he would go to the mountain stream to bathe and watch the water rushing down the rocks.
Then one day all the monkeys cried out, “Where does the stream come from? Let us follow it to its source. Call the monkeys all together.” All came and shouted out, “Let us go.” So they started up the stream and climbed the rocks till they came to its source, which was a great waterfall. Then all clapped their hands for joy and cried, “Beautiful, beautiful!” But the waterfall came from a cave. Then they said, “Whoever dares enter the cave and find the source and comes out without injury, we shall make our king.” Three times this cry was raised and agreed to.
In face of these difficulties, suddenly a monkey came forward and cried out, “I will venture in.” A fine one he was. He shut his eyes, bent his body and rushed into the midst of the waterfall. Then he opened his eyes and raised his head to see. There was no water, but there was an iron bridge. The water under the bridge filled a hole in a stone and then flowed out and covered the entrance to the bridge. Again on looking at the top of the bridge, he saw a house, most beautiful. After looking at everything for a long time, he jumped over the bridge, and he saw in the middle a stone pillar. On the pillar were cut the words, “The Happy Land of the Flower and Fruit Garden, the Waterfall of Heaven’s Cave.” The stone monkey was delighted beyond measure. He shut his eyes again and doubled up his body and jumped through the waterfall to the outside.
He sneezed twice and then said, “A grand find, a grand find!” Then all the monkeys gathered round and said, “What is it? Is the water deep?” He said, “There is no water at all, only an iron bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a palace full of treasures.” “How do you know that?” they asked. The stone monkey smiled and said, “This water comes from a stone hole under the bridge and flows out as a screen to the entrance. On both sides of the bridge there are flowers and trees and a stone palace. In the palace there are stone pots, stone stoves, stone basins, stone cups, stone beds and stone seats. In the midst there is a stone pillar on which is carved: “The Happy Land of the Flower and Fruit Garden, the Waterfall of Heaven’s Cave.” There is our true resting place. Let us go and live there, lest we suffer from the weather.” All were delighted with the news. “You lead us in and show us the way.”
Then the stone monkey shut his eyes, doubled himself up and jumped in, and all the rest followed in the same way, and jumped over the bridge, all of them struggling for the stone pots and pans and beds and seats with all the selfishness of monkeys, till all were quite tired. The stone monkey sat with dignity and at last said, “Sirs, what will become of persons if they are faithless? You said whoever should be first in here and go unhurt, should be made king. I have now found out this Cave of Heaven where you rest in peace and enjoy the happiness of a palace. Why is it that you do not respect me as a king?” They all cried out, “May you live, Oh King, for a thousand years.” After this he changed his name and did not call himself the stone monkey, but the Monkey King.
Living beings all descend
From three Powers: Heaven, Earth, and Man.
From the womb of immortal stone,
Comes the egg from whence the ape.
Shapeless first all life begins,
Then at last is perfect form.
Age to age thus reproduced,
Whether beast or man or sage.
Then the Monkey King led all kinds of monkeys who were princes, statesmen, and their assistants, to the mountain garden in the day, and at night they slept inside the water curtain. They did not join with the birds of the air, nor with the beasts of the fields, but lived as a kingdom in the enjoyment of the wealth of Nature for many centuries.
One day, when feasting with his monkeys, suddenly the king began to weep. Then all the monkeys gathered round him and reverently asked what troubled him. He replied, “Although I am happy now, I am not without fear of future shadow.” They laughed and said, “Oh King, we live daily in this Happy Land and the Cave of Heaven, perfectly free without restraint and with infinite joy: what need is there to fear?” The king replied, “Although today we break no human laws, nor have fear of being conquered by wild beasts, still in time we shall get old and decrepit, and be in fear of the judge of the dead, who will not let us stay amongst the living.” Hearing this, all the monkeys covered their faces and cried because they all feared death. At this there jumped from among them a strong one, and cried out with a loud voice, “Oh King, this sorrow of yours is an opportunity to gain Life Eternal. Of all the wonders of the world, three are greatest: the Buddhas, the Taoist Immortals, and the Confucian Sages. 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