The main content of Journey to the West Chapter 1
A monk took four disciples to the West to learn Buddhist scriptures
There is a flower and fruit mountain in the Aolai Kingdom of Dongsheng China. A stone on the top of the mountain gave birth to a monkey. The stone monkey sought instruction from a teacher and was named Sun Wukong. He learned seventy-two transformations and could travel hundreds of thousands of miles in one somersault, calling himself the "Monkey King". He stole the Dinghai Divine Needle and turned it into a Ruyi Golden Cudgel, which could be large or small and weighed thirteen thousand five hundred kilograms. Then he went to the underworld to cancel the name of the monkey genus from the book of life and death. The Jade Emperor wanted to send troops to arrest him, but Taibai Jinxing suggested that he summon Sun Wukong into the upper realm to become Bi Mawen. When the Monkey King learned that Bi Mawen was just a petty official in charge of horses, he broke out of Tianmen, returned to Huaguo Mountain, and called himself the "Monkey King". The Jade Emperor sent heavenly soldiers and generals to capture Sun Wukong. The Monkey King defeated the giant spirit god and Nezha in a row. Sun Wukong was asked to manage the Peach Garden again. He secretly ate the peaches, disturbed the Queen Mother's peach feast, stole the golden elixir of the Supreme Lord, and escaped from the heavenly palace. The Jade Emperor sent heavenly soldiers to capture him again. Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen had a gambling battle, with no winner or loser. Taishang Laojun hit Sun Wukong with a hidden weapon, and the Monkey King was captured. After being chopped with knives and axes, struck by fire and lightning, and trained in an alchemy furnace, Sun Wukong remained unscathed. The Jade Emperor invited Buddha Tathagata to suppress Sun Wukong under the Five Elements Mountain.
The Tathagata sent Guanyin Bodhisattva to the Eastern Land to find a Buddhist scripture collector, and came to the Western Heaven to collect Buddhist scriptures and persuade all living beings. Guanyin enlightened Chen Xuanzang to go to the West to obtain the true scriptures. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty recognized Xuanzang as his imperial younger brother and gave him the title Tripitaka. Tang Sanzang traveled westward and rescued Sun Wukong in the Five Elements Mountain. Sun Wukong was put in Guanyin's tight band. As soon as Tang Monk recited the tight band spell, Wukong got an unbearable headache. The two masters and apprentices traveled westward and captured the white dragon at Yingchou Stream. The white dragon turned into Tang Monk's mount. In Gaolaozhuang, Zhu Wuneng Bajie was subdued, and Zhu Bajie became Tang Monk's second apprentice; in Liusha River, Sha Wujing was subdued, and Monk Sha became Tang Monk's third apprentice. The four masters and disciples traveled across mountains and rivers to the west to seek scriptures.
Guanyin Bodhisattva wanted to test the Taoist heart of Tang Monk and his disciples, so he transformed himself into beauties with Lishan Old Mother, Samantabhadra, and Manjusri, and recruited four of them as sons-in-law. Tang Monk and other three were unmoved. Only Bajie was infatuated with women. Hanged on a tree by the Bodhisattva. At Wuzhuang Temple in Wanshou Mountain, Sun Wukong and others stole ginseng fruits and knocked down the fairy trees. In order to compensate, Sun Wukong invited Guanyin to use nectar to revive the fairy tree. The White Bone Demon changed three times and tried to take Tang Monk, but Wukong saw through them all. Tang Monk did not distinguish the authenticity and listened to Bajie's slander, so he drove Wukong away, but he was captured by the yellow-robed monster. Bajie and Sha Seng were unable to defeat the yellow-robed monster. Sha Seng was captured and Tang Seng was turned into a tiger. Under the persuasion of Bai Longma, Bajie went to Huaguo Mountain to ask Sun Wukong to subdue the demon. The four masters and disciples continued their journey westward. The king of the Wuji Kingdom was pushed into a well by a lion spirit and drowned. The lion spirit became the king. The ghost of the king begged Tang Monk to rescue him, Bajie carried the body out of the well, and Wukong asked for a golden elixir from the Supreme Lord to revive the king. Hong Hai'er, the son of the Bull Demon King, was guarding the Fire Cloud Cave and wanted to eat Tang Monk's flesh. Wukong couldn't resist Red Boy's Samadhi True Fire, so he invited Bodhisattva to subdue the demon. The Bodhisattva subdued the red boy and made him a good boy. The king of the Western Liang Kingdom wants to recruit Tang Monk as his husband. Wukong and others are smart enough to earn a pass and are determined to travel westward, but Tang Monk is captured by the poisonous enemy scorpion in Pipa Cave. Wukong invited the Pleiades Star Official, who turned into a double-crested rooster, and the monster appeared in its true form. Soon, Tang Monk drove the robber away again because Wukong killed him. The six-eared macaque spirit took the opportunity to transform into the appearance of Wukong, and stole Guan Wen's luggage. He also transformed the little demon into the appearance of Tang Monk, Bajie, and Sha Monk, hoping to go to the West to defraud the scriptures. The true and false Wukongs were killed from the sky to the ground. The Bodhisattva, Jade Emperor, Ksitigarbha, etc. could not distinguish the true from the false. It was not until the Tathagata Buddha in Leiyin Temple that the Buddha told the truth. The macaque spirit was beaten to death by Wukong.
The four masters and apprentices reconciled as before and worked together to rush to the west. In the Flame Mountain, I asked the Iron Fan Princess Banana Fan to extinguish the flames. Princess Iron Fan was angry at Wukong for sending her child Honghaier to Luojia Mountain to be a boy, and refused to borrow it. After several battles of wits with Princess Iron Fan and the Bull Demon King, Wukong used the power of the heavenly weapons to subdue the three monsters and put out the fire. The bhikkhu king was deceived by the white deer's transformed king and wanted to use the hearts and livers of 1,111 children as medicine. Wukong rescued the babies and fought off the evil spirits. The birthday boy came to take back the white deer. The king of Destroy France vowed to kill ten thousand monks. Sun Wukong used magic to shave off all the hair of the king's concubines and civil and military ministers, so that the king would change his mind to do good and change Destroy France into Qin France. In Tianzhu's own country, Tang Monk was hit by a colorful ball thrown by a fake princess who transformed into the Five Rabbits in the Moon Palace. He wanted to recruit him as his consort. Wukong saw through the truth and joined forces with the Taiyin Star Lord to capture the Jade Rabbit and rescue the real princess who was living in Hubu Temple outside the city.
After all the hardships, the four masters and disciples finally came to the Holy Land of Lingshan to pay homage to the Buddha. However, because they did not send any personal information to Anuo and Jiaye, they only obtained the Wordless Sutra.
The monks and apprentices of Tang Dynasty returned to Leiyin Temple and presented the purple gold bowl as a gift from the King of Tang Dynasty to do human work. Only then did they obtain the true scripture and return to their homeland. Unexpectedly, one of the ninety-nine and eighty-one tribulations was still missing. In the Tongtian River, four people were thrown into the river by the old turtle, and the scriptures were wet. The "Buddha's Prayer Sutra" is still incomplete.
Tang Sanzang and others returned the Buddhist scriptures to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, and the real body returned to Lingshan. Tripitaka was named the Sandalwood Buddha of Merit, Wukong was named the Fighting Victory Buddha, Bajie was named the Envoy of the Pure Altar, Sha Monk was named the Golden Arhat, and White Dragon Maga was promoted to the Eight Heavenly Dragons. .