The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 1 Read online

  Anthony C. Yu is the Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and Professor Emeritus of Religion and Literature in the Divinity School; also in the Departments of Comparative Literature, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and English Language and Literature, and the Committee on Social Thought. His scholarly work focuses on comparative study of both literary and religious traditions.

  Publication of this volume was made possible by a grant from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (USA).

  The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637

  The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London

  © 2012 by The University of Chicago

  All rights reserved. Published 2012.

  Printed in the United States of America

  21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5

  ISBN-13: 978-0-226-97131-5 (cloth)

  ISBN-13: 978-0-226-97132-2 (paper)

  ISBN-13: 978-0-226-97140-7 (e-book)

  ISBN-10: 0-226-97131-7 (cloth)

  ISBN-10: 0-226-97132-5 (paper)

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Wu, Cheng'en, ca. 1500–ca. 1582, author.

  [Xi you ji. English. 2012]

  The journey to the West / translated and edited by Anthony C. Yu. — Revised edition.

  pages ; cm

  Summary: The story of Xuanzang, the monk who went from China to India in quest of Buddhist scriptures.

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN: 978-0-226-97131-5 (v. 1: cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 0-226-97131-7 (v. 1.: cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97132-2 (v. 1 : pbk. : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 0-226-97132-5 (v. 1 : pbk. : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97140-7 (v. 1 : e-book) (print) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97133-9 (v. 2: cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 0-226-97133-3 (v. 2 : cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97134-6 (v. 2 : paperback : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 0-226-97134-1 (v. 2 : paperback: alkaline paper) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97141-4 (v. 2 : e-book) (print) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97136-0 (v. 3: cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 0-226-97136-8 (v. 3 : cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97137-7 (v. 3 : paperback : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 0-226-97137-6 (v. 3 : paperback : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97142-1 (v. 3 : e-book) (print) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97138-4 (v. 4 : cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 0-226-97138-4 (v. 4 : cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97139-1 (v. 4 : paperback : alkaline paper) — ISBN: 978-0-226-97143-8 (v. 4 : e-book) 1. Xuanzang, ca. 596–664—Fiction. I. Yu, Anthony C., 1938–, translator, editor. II. Title.

  PL2697.H75E5 2012

  895.1'346—dc23

  2012002836

  This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

  REVISED EDITION Volume I

  The Journey to the West

  Translated and Edited by Anthony C. Yu

  The University of Chicago Press Chicago & London

  FOR Priscilla & Christopher

  (Daodejing 41)

  The superior student who hears about

  the Way practices it diligently.

  The middling student who hears about

  the Way now keeps it and now loses it.

  The inferior student who hears about

  the Way laughs at it loudly;

  If he did not laugh, it would have

  fallen short of the Way.

  Die Sprache drükt niemals etwas

  vollständig aus, sondern hebt nur

  ein ihr hervorstechend scheinen-

  des Merkmal hervor.

  FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE,

  “Darstellung der Antiken Rhetorik”

  Language never expresses something

  fully, but only highlights some

  significant characteristic feature.

  Contents

  Preface to the Revised Edition

  Preface to the First Edition

  Abbreviations

  Introduction

  1. The divine root conceives, its source revealed;

  Mind and nature nurtured, the Great Dao is born.

  2. Fully awoke to Bodhi’s wondrous truths;

  He cuts off Māra, returns to the root, and joins Primal Spirit.

  3. Four Seas and a Thousand Mountains all bow to submit;

  From Ninefold Darkness ten species’ names are removed.

  4. Appointed a BanHorse, could he be content?

  Named Equal to Heaven, he’s still not appeased.

  5. Disrupting the Peach Festival, the Great Sage steals elixir;

  With revolt in Heaven, many gods would seize the fiend.

  6. Guanyin, attending the banquet, inquires into the cause;

  The Little Sage, exerting his power, subdues the Great Sage.

  7. From the Eight Trigrams Brazier the Great Sage escapes;

  Beneath the Five Phases Mountain, Mind Monkey is still.

  8. Our Buddha makes scriptures to impart ultimate bliss;

  Guanyin receives the decree to go up to Chang’an.

  9. Chen Guangrui, going to his post, meets disaster;

  Monk River Float, avenging his parents, repays his roots.

  10. The Old Dragon King’s foolish schemes transgress Heaven’s decrees;

  Prime Minister Wei’s letter seeks help from an official of the dead.

  11. Having toured the Underworld, Taizong returns to life;

  Having presented melons and fruits, Liu Quan marries again.

  12. The Tang emperor, firmly sincere, convenes a Grand Mass;

  Guanyin, in epiphany, converts Gold Cicada.

  13. In the den of tigers, the Gold Star brings deliverance;

  At Double-Fork Ridge, Boqin detains the monk.

  14. Mind Monkey returns to the Right;

  The Six Robbers vanish from sight.

  15. At Serpent Coil Mountain, the gods give secret protection;

  At Eagle Grief Stream, the Horse of the Will is reined.

  16. At Guanyin Hall the monks plot for the treasure;

  At Black Wind Mountain a monster steals the cassock.

  17. Pilgrim Sun greatly disturbs the Black Wind Mountain;

  Guanshiyin brings to submission the bear monster.

  18. At Guanyin Hall the Tang Monk leaves his ordeal;

  At Gao Village the Great Sage casts out the monster.

  19. At Cloudy Paths Cave, Wukong takes in Eight Rules;

  At Pagoda Mountain, Tripitaka receives the Heart Sūtra.

  20. At Yellow Wind Ridge the Tang Monk meets adversity;

  In mid-mountain, Eight Rules strives to be first.

  21. The Vihārapālas prepare lodging for the Great Sage;

  Lingji of Sumeru crushes the wind demon.

  22. Eight Rules fights fiercely at the Flowing-Sand River;

  Mokṣa by order receives Wujing’s submission.

  23. Tripitaka does not forget his origin;

  The Four Sages test the priestly mind.

  24. At Long Life Mountain the Great Immortal detains his old friend;

  At Five Villages Abbey, Pilgrim steals the ginseng fruit.

  25. The Zhenyuan Immortal gives chase to catch the scripture monk;

  Pilgrim Sun greatly disturbs Five Villages Abbey.

  Notes

  Index

  Preface to the Revised Edition

  A twofold purpose motivated my decision in 1969 to attempt a plenary English translation of The Journey to the West. On the matter of literary form, I wanted my version to rectify the distorted picture provided by Arthur Waley’s justly popular abridgment (i.e., Monkey, Folk Novel of China by Wu Ch’êng-ên),
which regrettably excised all poetic segments and cut out or revised prose passages at will. I felt strongly that it was high time that a classic Chinese novel like the one in question, though of extraordinary length and complexity, should be read in its entirety and not in bits and pieces. On the matter of the novel’s understanding and critical interpretation, I wanted to redress an imbalance of emphasis championed by Dr. Hu Shi, who provided the Waley volume with the following observation: “[F]reed from all kinds of allegorical interpretations by Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucianist commentators, Monkey is simply a book of good humor, profound nonsense, good-natured satire, and delightful entertainment” (Monkey, p. 5). Many other Chinese scholars for most of the twentieth century shared this view. My own encounter with the text since childhood, under the kind and skillful tutelage of my late grandfather, who used the novel as a textbook for teaching me Chinese during the years of the Sino-Japanese war, had long convinced me that this work was nothing if not one of the world’s most finely wrought literary allegories. The past four decades of studying, translating, and teaching it at the University of Chicago have also made me a happy witness to new directions in its scholarly research and interpretation. The persistent efforts of Japanese, European, American, and Chinese scholars—in diaspora and on the mainland during the last two decades—have joined to enlarge dramatically our understanding of the text’s sources and religious context, especially those belonging to the Daoist religion since the late Tang.

  Completed in 1983, the first full-length English translation of the novel spawned its own ironies. No sooner had all four volumes appeared than friends and colleagues far and near protested their unwieldy length, for general readers and for classroom usage. After years of resistance to pleas for a shorter edition, I decided, when approaching retirement in 2005, that an abridged version was indeed needed for classroom and readers’ needs. The proposed text of about thirty-five chapters would (1) convert the old Wade-Giles system of romanization to the now globally accepted Hanyu Pinyin system for all Chinese names, locales, and terms; (2) remove most scholarly footnotes and all Chinese texts; (3) provide a new and very brief introduction for general readers; and (4) include minor corrections of rhetoric and vocabulary where needed. The one-volume edition, The Monkey and the Monk, An Abridgment of The Journey to the West, was published in 2006 by the University of Chicago Press.

  Production of this abridged version, paradoxically, made me realize further the endless effort of literary translation, in some ways analogous to a performer’s varied readings of a familiar music score. The linguistic signs or musical notations remain the same, but the understanding of them may greatly alter. On the matter of tempo alone, a comparison of Glenn Gould’s recordings of J.S. Bach’s “The Complete Goldberg Variations” in 1955 and 1981 yields illuminating differences. My abridgment in every aspect (shorter introduction, simplified notes, emendations) certainly betokens awareness and assumptions of new knowledge. The first full-length edition, in turn, now displays quite a few pockets of datedness. I resolved that I would devote my new-found “leisure” in retirement to attempt a major and complete overhaul of the first edition. The principal objectives, consistent with, but not entirely identical to, those of the abridged volume, would be to (1) convert the entire romanization system to Pinyin; (2) restore and update or augment, where necessary, all scholarly annotations; (3) provide a major restatement of the introduction that, apart from providing basic information about the novel, would study the most important new scholarship on literary issues, religious traditions (especially on identified sources in the Buddhist and Daoist Canons and in extracanonical materials), and modes of interpretation; and (4) correct or emend both prose and poetic segments of the translation to make semantics and prosody more concise. Because the five pilgrims in the novel, like characters in fiction of another language (e.g., Russian), have multiple names, I have made uniform the way I translate them. Formal names and surnames are romanized (e.g., Chen Xuanzang, Sun Wukong). Informal names or nicknames become direct translations (e.g., Pilgrim for the Chinese “Xingzhe” [disciple or acolyte], Eight Rules for “Bajie,” a change in the perjorative title for Monkey from the romanized “Bimawen” to “BanHorsePlague”).1 My hope is that this revised version, like volumes of the Arden Shakespeare, Third Series, or Dorothy L. Sayer’s The Divine Comedy, will last for some time as a teaching edition.

  The timely award of an Emeriti Fellowship by the Mellon Foundation in 2006 provided immense encouragement and assistance for the initial stage of technical work (scanning the four volumes and rendering the two thousand-plus pages in free text format), purchase of needed equipment and materials, and some travel to different libraries and centers. Professor Martha Roth (dean of humanities at the University of Chicago) and Professor Richard Rosengarten (dean of the divinity school at the University of Chicago) have given generous help from the beginning, facilitating expert and unfailing computer support from two units of the university. I am grateful as well to the University of Chicago Press for its receptiveness to my proposal for a revised edition.

  Dr. Yuan Zhou, curator of Regenstein Library’s East Asian collections, and his able staff members William Alspaugh, Eizaburo Okuizumi, and Qian Xiaowen, have worked tirelessly to acquire needed materials far and near. As in the past, the encyclopedic bibliographical expertise of Dr. Tailoi Ma, director of Princeton University’s East Asian Library and the Gest Collection, continues to furnish trusted guidance. Professor Lai Chi-Tim of the Chinese University of Hong Kong gave invaluable help to my ongoing labor by installing personally, during one of his visits, all available databases of Daoist scriptures into my computer. Professor Richard G. Wang (University of Florida) and Professor Yang Li (Shanghai University) provided diligent collaboration in tracking and identifying comprehensively the Daoist sources for both poetry and prose cited in the novel. Professor Nicholas Koss (Fu-jen University, Taiwan), Professor Qiancheng Li (Louisiana State University), and Professor Ping Shao (Davidson College) have showered me with their generous gifts of scholarly publications—of their own and of others—that are crucial for my research.

  In early 2009, my wife and I were privileged to make our first visit to Australia where I served for a fortnight as Visiting Fellow at The China Institute of Australia National University. I wish I could name every one of the faculty and student colleagues whose extraordinary kindness and hospitality made that journey indelibly memorable. The constraint of space notwithstanding, I must register lasting gratitude to the faculty members of ANU College of Asia and the Pacific—Geremie Barmé, Duncan Campbell, John Markham, Benjamin Penny, and Richard Rigby—who offered constant friendship and intellectual stimulation, especially for my continuing work of translation and revision. Nathan Woolley, doctoral candidate at the college and executive assistant of the institute, attended to our every need. The generosity of John Minford, a friend and kindred spirit of more than three decades in things literary, linguistic, and (discovered during this visit to Australia) musical, made the entire journey possible. His and his wife Rachel’s hospitality not only helped erase the strain of great distance between Canberra and Chicago, but it also allowed us to enjoy several cherished meetings with Professor Liu Ts’un-yan before his passing a few months later. My indebtedness to Professor Liu’s scholarship should be apparent in the introduction and the notes studding this translation.

  The final draft of the new, long introduction has benefited enormously from the sort of attentive and astute reading that one may expect only from true and generous friends, and this was bestowed by Professor Zhou Yiqun (Stanford University), Professor Nathan Sivin (emeritus, University of Pennsylvania), and Dr. Xu Dongfeng (now of Emory University). Their criticisms, corrections, and suggested emendations have vastly improved the manuscript. Remaining faults and errors are entirely my own. As I reach this phase of my project, my one sadness comes from the realization that all readers of the revised edition will no longer enjoy the rare art of the late Wen-ching Tsien (Mrs. T.H. Tsi
en), whose peerless Chinese calligraphy ornamented many pages of the original four volumes.

  Portions of a recent essay, “The Formation of Fiction in The Journey to the West,” Asia Major, third series, XXI/1 (2008): 15–44, were used in different parts of the introduction by permission.

  When I began work on the translation long ago, it was an early and ready decision to dedicate the first volume to my wife and our only son. After more than four decades, it is both privilege and pleasure to renew the dedication.

  Anthony C. Yu

  Chicago, 2011

  Preface to the First Edition

  Though The Journey to the West is one of the most popular works of fiction in China since its first publication in the late sixteenth century, and though it has been studied extensively in recent years by both Oriental and Western scholars (notably Hu Shih, Lu Hsün, Chêng Chên-to, Ogawa Tamaki, Ōta Tatsuo, C.T. Hsia, Liu Ts’un-yan, Sawada Mizuho, and Glen Dudbridge), a fully translated text has never been available to Western readers, notwithstanding the appearance in 1959 of what is reputed to be a complete Russian edition.1 Two early versions in English (Timothy Richard, A Mission to Heaven, 1913, and Helen M. Hayes, The Buddhist Pilgrim’s Progress, 1930) were no more than brief paraphrases and adaptations. The French brought out in 1957 a two-volume edition which presented a fairly comprehensive account of the prose passages, but it left much of the poetry virtually untouched.2 It was, moreover, riddled with errors and mistranslations. In 1964, George Theiner translated into English a Czech edition which was also greatly abridged.3 This leaves us finally with the justly famous and widely read version of Arthur Waley, published in 1943 under the misleading title Monkey, Folk Novel of China.4 Waley’s work is vastly superior to the others in style and diction, if not always in accuracy, but unfortunately it, too, is a severely truncated and highly selective rendition.

  Of the one hundred chapters in the narrative, Waley has chosen to translate only chapters 1–15, 18–19, 22, 37–39, 44–49, and 98–100, which means that he has included less than one-third of the original. Even in this attenuated form, however, Waley’s version further deviates from the original by having left out large portions of certain chapters (e.g., 10 and 19). What is most regrettable is that Waley, despite his immense gift for, and magnificent achievements in, the translation of Chinese verse, has elected to ignore the many poems—some 750 of them—that are structured in the narrative. Not only is the fundamental literary form of the work thereby distorted, but also much of the narrative vigor and descriptive power of its language which have attracted generations of Chinese readers is lost. The basic reason for my endeavor here, in the first volume of what is hoped to be a four-volume unabridged edition in English, is simply the need for a version which will provide the reader with as faithful an image as possible of this, one of the four or five lasting monuments of traditional Chinese fiction.