‘Heaven.’”
----
1 Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty reigned from 141 to 87 B.C.
2 Hsüan-yüan was the personal name of the Yellow Emperor, one of the five ancient mythical sage-emperors in China.
3 In chapter 14 of Journey to the West Liu Po-ch'in accompanied the T'ang Priest to Five Phases Mountain, where the Priest secured Monkey's release from the Buddha's spell, which held him prisoner.
4 Chiliocosm is a Buddhist concept of the universe. A small chiliocosm consists of a thousand worlds each with its Mt. Sumeru, continents, seas, and ring of iron mountains. A major chiliocosm consists of three thousand great chiliocosms.
5 Hun-tun is the primal undifferentiated state before the phenomenal universe came into being, often personified, as in Lao-tzu's speech below.
6 In chapter 7 of Journey to the West Lao-tzu attempted to melt Monkey in his alchemical Eight Trigrams Cauldron after other efforts to dispose of Monkey had failed.
7 I.e., from the time of the sage-emperors, traditionally placed in approximately the twenty-third century B.C., to Confucius (551-479 B.C.).
8 Mencius (385?-289? B.C.) and Li Ssu (280-208 B.C.).
9 The gauze-hat is the silk hat worn as insignia of official or noble status.
CHAPTER FIVE
Through the Cast Bronze Mirror the Mind-Monkey Enters the Past; In Green Pearl's Tower the Wayward Disciple Knits His Brows.
Monkey turned to gaze into the second mirror under the character “Heaven,” an antique cast bronze mirror. There under a great cypress tree stood a stone tablet on which twelve characters were carved in seal script saying: “The World of the Ancients was originally neighbor to the Headache World.”
Monkey said, “Since it's the World of the Ancients, the First Emperor of Ch'in must be in there. The other day that concubine sweeping in the New T'ang palace said he possessed a Mountain-removing Bell. I'll grab him and take his bell, then I'll sweep away the thousand mountains and ten thousand gorges from the road to the Western Paradise. The monsters and robbers will have no place to hide.”
He thereupon changed himself into a bronze-drilling insect, climbed onto the face of the mirror, and got ready. He bit out one mouthful, then bored through the mirror.
All at once he fell into a high pavilion. Hearing several people below, he didn't dare show his real self, but remained in the form of a drilling insect and hid in the crack of a window covered in green flowers.
It so happened that in the World of the Ancients there was a beautiful lady called Green Pearl. 1 Day in and day out she treated her guests to banquets with drinking games and the chanting of poems. After planning for a long while she had a hundred-foot-tall pavilion built and called it the Fragrance-gripping Pavilion. Just that day Lady Hsi-shih 2 andMiss Silk 3 had come together to congratulate Green Pearl on the new pavilion.
Green Pearl was delighted. She immediately had a banquet spread in the pavilion for them to join her in sisterly affection. Miss Silk sat in the middle; Green Pearl sat to her right and Lady Hsi-shih to her left. A number of maid servants attended the ladies: some served wine, some picked flowers, and some held the dice bowls.
Monkey, still in the window, decided to play a prank. He changed into a maid-servant and sneaked inconspicuously into their midst. How did he look?
Top-knot like the Goddess of the River Lo, 4
Eyebrows of Chu Hsiao-chi .
The king of Ch'u 5 loved a waist like that ,
The emperor of Han, a robe .
Above, autumn-wind earrings ,
Below, lotus-flower cups 6
Then the maids-in-waiting began to giggle and said, “Our Fragrance-gripping Pavilion truly snatches up fragrance. Even though this beautiful girl doesn't live here, she came right in.”
Another maid said to Monkey, “Have you seen Lady Green Pearl, sister?”
Monkey said, “Elder sister, I'm new here. Could you
----
1 Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty reigned from 141 to 87 B.C.
2 Hsüan-yüan was the personal name of the Yellow Emperor, one of the five ancient mythical sage-emperors in China.
3 In chapter 14 of Journey to the West Liu Po-ch'in accompanied the T'ang Priest to Five Phases Mountain, where the Priest secured Monkey's release from the Buddha's spell, which held him prisoner.
4 Chiliocosm is a Buddhist concept of the universe. A small chiliocosm consists of a thousand worlds each with its Mt. Sumeru, continents, seas, and ring of iron mountains. A major chiliocosm consists of three thousand great chiliocosms.
5 Hun-tun is the primal undifferentiated state before the phenomenal universe came into being, often personified, as in Lao-tzu's speech below.
6 In chapter 7 of Journey to the West Lao-tzu attempted to melt Monkey in his alchemical Eight Trigrams Cauldron after other efforts to dispose of Monkey had failed.
7 I.e., from the time of the sage-emperors, traditionally placed in approximately the twenty-third century B.C., to Confucius (551-479 B.C.).
8 Mencius (385?-289? B.C.) and Li Ssu (280-208 B.C.).
9 The gauze-hat is the silk hat worn as insignia of official or noble status.
CHAPTER FIVE
Through the Cast Bronze Mirror the Mind-Monkey Enters the Past; In Green Pearl's Tower the Wayward Disciple Knits His Brows.
Monkey turned to gaze into the second mirror under the character “Heaven,” an antique cast bronze mirror. There under a great cypress tree stood a stone tablet on which twelve characters were carved in seal script saying: “The World of the Ancients was originally neighbor to the Headache World.”
Monkey said, “Since it's the World of the Ancients, the First Emperor of Ch'in must be in there. The other day that concubine sweeping in the New T'ang palace said he possessed a Mountain-removing Bell. I'll grab him and take his bell, then I'll sweep away the thousand mountains and ten thousand gorges from the road to the Western Paradise. The monsters and robbers will have no place to hide.”
He thereupon changed himself into a bronze-drilling insect, climbed onto the face of the mirror, and got ready. He bit out one mouthful, then bored through the mirror.
All at once he fell into a high pavilion. Hearing several people below, he didn't dare show his real self, but remained in the form of a drilling insect and hid in the crack of a window covered in green flowers.
It so happened that in the World of the Ancients there was a beautiful lady called Green Pearl. 1 Day in and day out she treated her guests to banquets with drinking games and the chanting of poems. After planning for a long while she had a hundred-foot-tall pavilion built and called it the Fragrance-gripping Pavilion. Just that day Lady Hsi-shih 2 andMiss Silk 3 had come together to congratulate Green Pearl on the new pavilion.
Green Pearl was delighted. She immediately had a banquet spread in the pavilion for them to join her in sisterly affection. Miss Silk sat in the middle; Green Pearl sat to her right and Lady Hsi-shih to her left. A number of maid servants attended the ladies: some served wine, some picked flowers, and some held the dice bowls.
Monkey, still in the window, decided to play a prank. He changed into a maid-servant and sneaked inconspicuously into their midst. How did he look?
Top-knot like the Goddess of the River Lo, 4
Eyebrows of Chu Hsiao-chi .
The king of Ch'u 5 loved a waist like that ,
The emperor of Han, a robe .
Above, autumn-wind earrings ,
Below, lotus-flower cups 6
Then the maids-in-waiting began to giggle and said, “Our Fragrance-gripping Pavilion truly snatches up fragrance. Even though this beautiful girl doesn't live here, she came right in.”
Another maid said to Monkey, “Have you seen Lady Green Pearl, sister?”
Monkey said, “Elder sister, I'm new here. Could you
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