and not making any gestures of courtesy, the Bodhisattva and Moksa replied, “The cassock costs five thousand ounces of silver, and the staff two thousand.”

“What advantages does the cassock have to make it worth so much?” the Emperor asked. To this the Bodhisattva replied:

“This cassock

Has a strand of dragon cape,

To save from being eaten by the Roc,

And a thread of a stork jacket,

To deliver from mortality and lead to sainthood.

When one sits

Ten thousand spirits come to pay homage;

In all your actions

The Seven Buddhas will be with you.

“This cassock is made of silk reeled from giant ice-worms,

Twisted into yarn by skilful craftsmen,

Woven by fairy beauties,

Finished by goddesses.

The strips of cloth are joined with embroidered seams,

Each piece thick with brocade.

The openwork decoration has a flower pattern

Shimmering with color, shining with jeweled beauty.

The wearer of the cassock is wreathed in red mist,

And when it is taken off, coloured clouds fly.

Its primal light slipped out through the Three Gates of Heaven,

The magic vapour arose before the Five Sacred Peaks.

It is embroidered with layer upon layer of passion-flowers,

And gleams with pearls that shine like stars.

At the four corners are night-shining pearls,

Set at the top is an emerald.

Although it does not completely illuminate the Original Body

It shines with the light of the Eight Treasures.

“This cassock

Is normally kept folded,

And will only be worn by a sage.

When kept folded,

A rainbow shines through its thousand layers of wrapping;

When it is worn by a sage,

It will astonish the heavenly spirits and scare all demons.

On top is an as-you-wish pearl,

A Mani Pearl,

A dust-repelling pearl,

And a wind-calming pearl;

There is also red agate,

Purple coral,

Night-shining pearls,

And relics of the Buddha.

They steal the white of the moon,

Rival the sun in redness.

Their magic essence fills the sky,

Their auspicious light honors the sage.

Their magic essence fills the sky,

Shining through the gates of Heaven;

Their auspicious light honors the sage,

Illuminating the whole world.

Shining on mountains and rivers,

The essence frightens tigers and leopards;

Illuminating oceans and islands,

The light startles fishes and dragons.

At the side are two rows of gold-plated hooks,

At the neck are loops of whitest jade.”

There is a poem that goes:

“Great are the Three Jewels, and honoured be the Way;

The Four Kinds of Life and Six Paths are all explained.

Whoever knows and teaches the law of Man and Heaven,

Can pass on the lamp of wisdom when he sees his original nature.

It protects the body and makes it a world of gold,

Leaves body and mind pure as an ice-filled jar of jade.

Ever since Buddha made his cassock

No one will ever dare to end the priesthood.”

When the Tang Emperor heard these words spoken in his throne hall he was filled with joy, and he asked another question: “Monk, what is so wonderful about your nine-ringed staff?”

“This staff of mine,” the Bodhisattva replied, “is:

A nine-ringed iron staff inlaid with copper,

A nine-sectioned Immortal’s cane to preserve eternal youth.

Held in your hand it’s as light as a bone,

As you go down the mountain it brings white clouds.

The Fifth Patriarch took it through the gates of Heaven;

When Lo Bu searched for his mother he used it to smash the gates of Earth.

Untouched by the filth of mortal dust,

It gladly accompanies the godly monk as he climbs the jade mountain.”

The Tang Emperor then ordered that the cassock be unfolded. On examining it from top to bottom he saw that it was indeed a fine article.

“Elder of the Great Law,” he said, “I tell you truthfully that I am now propagating the good word and widely sowing seeds of blessing. At this moment many monks are assembled at the Huasheng Monastery for recitation of the surras. Among them is one monk of outstanding virtue whose Buddha-name is Xuanzang, and we wish to buy those two treasures of yours to give him. So what is your price?”

The Bodhisattva and Moksa put their hands together, intoned the name of the Buddha, and bowed down. “If he really is a virtuous monk,” she said, “I shall give them to him, and I refuse to accept any money for them.” With that she turned and left.

The Emperor immediately told Xiao Yu to stop her as he rose to his feet and called out, “You told us that you wanted five thousand ounces for the cassock and two thousand for the staff, but now that we have said we shall buy them, you refuse to take any money. Are you going to say that I abused my power to seize your things? We would never dream of it. We shall pay the price you asked, and will take no refusal.”

Raising her hand the Bodhisattva said, “I made a vow that I would give them free to anyone who honoured the Three Treasures, delighted in goodness, and believed in our Buddha. Now I have seen that Your Majesty is a good and virtuous respecter of our Buddhist faith, and have heard that there is a monk of virtuous conduct who preaches the Great Law, it is only right that I should offer them to him; I don’t want any money for them. I am leaving the things here. Good-bye.” The Tang Emperor was very pleased with the monk’s sincerity, and ordered that a large vegetarian banquet be given to thank him in the Imperial Kitchen. This the Bodhisattva refused to accept and went airily off. There is no need to describe how she returned to her hide-out in the local god’s temple.

Taizong arranged for a court to be held at midday and sent Wei Zheng with a decree summoning Xuanzang to attend. He found the monastic official assembling the monks as he climbed the rostrum for the chanting of surras and gathas. The moment he heard the decree he came down from the rostrum, tidied his clothes, and went with Wei Zheng to the imperial presence.

“Up till now we have had nothing suitable with which to thank you, Your Grace, for your efforts in acquiring merit. This morning Xiao Yu met two monks who have vowed to give you a precious brocade cassock and a nine-ringed monk’s staff. We have therefore sent for you, Master, to come and receive them,” said the Emperor. Xuanzang kowtowed in thanks.

“If you do not reject it, Your Grace, let us see what it looks like on you.” Xuanzang shook it open, draped it across his shoulders, took the staff in his hand, and stood respectfully before the steps of the throne. The monarch and all his ministers were overjoyed. He truly was a son of the Tathagata. Look at him:

How elegant his imposing features;

His Buddha-vestments fit as if they had been made for him.

The glow radiating from them fills Heaven and Earth,

While the colours crystallize in the sky.

Rows of gleaming pearls above and below,

Layers of golden threads joining front and back.

A hood edged with brocade,

Embroidered with ten thousand strange designs.

Patterns of the Eight Treasures hold the threads of the buttons,

While the golden collar is fastened with catches of velvet.

The Buddha-Heavens are set out in order of eminence,

While to left and right are the high and humble stars.

Great is the destiny of Xuanzang Master of the Law,

Who is worthy to accept this gift at present.

He is just like a living Arhat,

Excelling the Enlightened One of the West.

On the monkish staff the nine rings clink,

And richly glows the Vairocana miter.

How true that be is a Buddha’s son;

It is no lie that he has surpassed enlightenment.

All the civil and military officials cried out with admiration, and the Emperor was delighted. Telling the Master of the Law to put the cassock on properly and take the staff, he granted him two bands of ceremonial attendants and had a host of officials see him out of the palace and walk with him to his monastery. It was just like the procession for a top graduate in the palace examination. Xuanzang bowed once more to thank the Emperor and then set out, striding majestically along the highway. All the travelling merchants, the shop-keepers, the fashionable young men, the professional scribes, the men and women, young and old, in the city of Chang’an fought to get a look at him and praise him.

“What a splendid Master of the Law,” they said. “He’s an Arhat come down to earth, a living Bodhisattva come to see us mortals.” Xuanzang went straight to his monastery, where all the monks left their places of meditation to welcome him. When they saw the cassock he was wearing and the staff in his hand they all said that King Ksitigarbha had come, did homage to him, and stood in attendance to right and left. Ascending the main hall, Xuanzang burned incense and worshipped Buddha, and when he had given an account of the Emperor’s grade they all returned to their seats for meditation. Nobody noticed that the red wheel of the sun was now sinking in the West.

As the sun sinks, plants and trees are veiled in mist

While the capital echoes to the bell and drum.

After three chimes of the bell nobody moves:

The streets throughout the city are still.

The monastery gleams with the light of its lamps;

The village is lonely and silent.

The Chan monks enter the trance and repair damaged sutras.

A good way to purify oneself of evil and nourish the true nature.

Time passed in the snap of a finger, and it was time for the special assembly on the seventh day, so Xuanzang wrote a memorial inviting the Tang Emperor to come and burn incense. His reputation for piety had now spread throughout the empire. Taizong therefore led a large number of civil and military officials and his empresses, consorts and their families to the monastery in a procession of carriages to the temple early that morning. Everyone in the city, whether young or old, humble or mighty, went to the temple to hear the preaching.

The Bodhisattva said to Moksa, “Today is a special day of the Great Mass of Land and Water, which will go on from this first seventh day to the seventh seventh day, as is proper. You and I are going to mingle with the crowds for three reasons: to see the service, to see the Golden Cicada enjoying the blessing of wearing our treasure, and to hear what branch of the scriptures he preaches on.” The pair of them went to the temple. They were fated to meet their old acquaintance, just as the Wisdom returned to its own preaching place. When they went inside the monastery they saw that this great and heavenly dynasty surpassed any other in the world; while the Jetavana Monastery and Sravana were no match for this temple. Sacred music sounded clear above the shouting of Buddha names. When the Bodhisattva approached the preaching dais she saw in Xuanzang the likeness of the wise Golden Cicada. As the poem goes:

Pure in every image, free of every speck of dirt,

The great Xuanzang sat on his lofty dais.

The lonely souls who have been delivered come in secret,

While the well-born arrive to hear the law.

Great is his wisdom in choosing suitable methods;

All his life he has opened the doors of the scriptures.

As they watch him preach the infinite Law,

The ears of young and old alike are filled with joy.

As Guanyin went to the temple preaching hall

She met an old acquaintance who was no common mortal.

He spoke about every current matter,

And mentioned the achievements of many a mortal era.

The clouds of the Dharma settle over every mountain,

The net of the teaching spreads right across the sky.

If one counts the number of pious thoughts among humans

They are as plentiful as raindrops on red blossom.

On his dais the Master of the Law read through the Sutra to Give Life and Deliver the Dead, discussed the Heavenly Charm to Protect the Country and preached on the Exhortation to Cultivate Merit. The Bodhisattva went up to the dais, hit it, and shouted out at the top of her voice, “Why are you only talking about the doctrine of the Little Vehicle, monk? Can you preach about the Great Vehicle?”

On hearing these questions a delighted Xuanzang leapt down from the preaching dais, bowed to the Bodhisattva, and said, “Venerable teacher, your disciple has sinned grievously in failing to recognize you. We monks who stand before you only preach the law of the Little Vehicle, and we know nothing of the doctrine of the Great Vehicle.”

“That doctrine of the Little Vehicle of yours will never bring the dead to rebirth; it’s only good enough for a vulgar sort of enlightenment. Now I have the Three Stores of the Buddha’s Law of the Great Vehicle that will raise the dead up to Heaven, deliver sufferers from their torments, and free souls from the eternal coming and going.”

As the Bodhisattva was talking, the Master of Incense, an official who patrolled the temple, made an urgent report to the Tang Emperor that just when the Master of the Law was in the middle of preaching the wonderful Law a pair of scabby itinerant monks had dragged him down and were engaging him in wild argument. The Emperor ordered them to be arrested and brought before him, and a crowd of men hustled the two of them into the rear hall of the monastery.

When they saw Taizong they neither raised their hands in greeting nor bowed, but looked him in the eye and said, “What does Your Majesty want to ask us about.”

Recognizing them, the Emperor asked, “Are you not the monk who gave us the cassock?”

“That’s right,” replied the Bodhisattva.

“If you came here to listen to the preaching you should be satisfied with getting something to eat,” said Taizong. “Why did you start ranting at the Master of the Law, disturbing the scripture hall and interfering with our service to the Buddha?”

“That master of yours was only teaching the doctrine of the Little Vehicle, which will never send the dead up to Heaven,” replied the Bodhisattva. “I have the Three Stores of the Buddha’s Law of the Great Vehicle, which can save the dead, deliver from suffering, and ensure that the body will live for ever without coming to harm.” Showing no signs of anger, Taizong earnestly asked where the Buddha’s Law of the Great Vehicle was.

“It is in the Thunder Monastery in the land of India in the West, where our Buddha lives,” the Bodhisattva replied, “and it can untie the knots of all injustice and save the innocent from disaster.”

“Can you remember it?” the Emperor asked, and the Bodhisattva answered “Yes.” Taizong then gave orders that this Master of the Law was to be taken to the dais and invited to preach.

The Bodhisattva and Moksa flew up to the dais, then soared into the sky on magic clouds. She appeared in her own form as the deliverer from suffering, holding a twig of willow in a vase, and Moksa stood beside her as Huian, holding a stick and bristling with energy. The Tang Emperor was so happy that he bowed to Heaven, while his civil and military officials all fell to their knees and burned incense. Everyone in the temple—monks, nuns, clerics, lay people, scholars, workmen and merchants—all bowed down and prayed, “Good Bodhisattva, good Bodhisattva.” There is a description of her appearance:

The sacred radiance shines around her,

The holy light protects her Dharma body.

In the glory of the highest Heaven

Appears a female Immortal.

The Bodhisattva

Wore on her head

Marvellous pearl tassels

With golden clasps,

Set with turquoise,

And gleaming golden.

She wore on her body

A plain blue robe with flying phoenixes,

Pale-coloured,

Patterned with running water,

On which curled golden dragons.

Before her breast hung

A moon-bright,

Wind-dancing,

Pearl-encrusted,

Jade-set circlet full of fragrance.

Around her waist was

A skirt of embroidery and brocade from the Jade Pool

Made from the silk of ice-silkworms,

With golden seams,

That rode on coloured clouds.

Before her went

A white and yellow red-beaked parrot,

To fly across the Eastern Ocean,

And all over the world

In gratitude and duty.

The vase she held gave grace and salvation,

And in the vase was a sprig of

Weeping willow to sweep away the fog,

Scattering water on the heavens,

Cleansing all evil.

Rings of jade looped over brocade buttons

And her golden-lotus feet were concealed.

She was able to visit the three heavens,

For she was Guanyin, the rescuer from suffering.

Taizong was so entranced that he forgot all about his empire; the ministers and generals were so captivated that they forgot all about court etiquette; and the masses all intoned, “Glory be to the Bodhisattva Guanyin.” Taizong ordered that a skilled painter was to make a true likeness of the Bodhisattva, and no sooner had the words left his mouth than the brilliant and enlightened portrayer of gods and Immortals, Wu Daozi, was chosen. He was the man who later did the pictures of distinguished ministers in the Cloud-piercing Pavilion. Wielding his miraculous brush, he painted a true likeness on the spot. The Bodhisattva’s magic cloud slowly faded into the distance, and a moment later the golden light could be seen no more. All that was visible was a note drifting down from the sky on which could be read the following brief address in verse:

“Greetings to the lord of the Great Tang.

In the West are miraculous scriptures.

Although the road is sixty thousand miles long,

The Great Vehicle will offer its help.

When these scriptures are brought back to your country

They will save devils and deliver the masses.

If anyone is willing to go for them,

His reward will be a golden body.”

When he had read these lines Taizong issued an order to the assembly of monks: “Suspend this service until we have sent someone to fetch the scriptures of the Great Vehicle, and then you shall once more strive sincerely to achieve good retribution.” The monks all obeyed his instructions. The Emperor then asked those present in the monastery, “Who is willing to accept our commission to go to the Western Heaven to visit the Buddha and fetch the scriptures?”

Before he had finished his question, the Master of the Law came forward, bowed low in greeting, and said, “Although I am lacking in ability, I would like to offer my humble efforts to fetch the true scriptures for Your Majesty and thus ensure the eternal security of your empire.” The Tang Emperor, who was overjoyed to hear this, went forward to raise him to his feet.

“Master,” he said, “if you are prepared to exert your loyalty and wisdom to the full, not fearing the length of the journey or the rivers and mountains you will have to cross, I shall make you my own sworn brother.” Xuanzang kowtowed to thank him. As the Tang Emperor was indeed a man of wisdom and virtue he went to a place before the Buddha in the monastery where he bowed to Xuanzang four times, calling him “younger brother” and “holy monk.” Xuanzang thanked him effusively.

“Your Majesty,” he said, “I have no virtue or talent that fits me for the sacred honour of being treated as your kinsman. On this journey I shall give my all and go straight to the Western Heaven. If I fail to reach there or to obtain the true scriptures, then I shall not return to this country even in death, and shall fall for eternity into Hell.” He burned incense in front of the Buddha to mark this vow. The happy Emperor ordered his chariot to take him back to the palace; later on an auspicious day would be chosen on which Xuanzang would be given a passport and set out. With that he returned and everyone dispersed.

Xuanzang went back to the Hongfu Monastery, where the many monks and his few personal disciples had already heard that he was going to fetch the scriptures. They came to ask if it was true that he had vowed to go to the Western Heaven. On being told by Xuanzang that it was indeed true, his pupils said, “Teacher, we have heard that the journey to the Western Heaven is a long one, and that there are many tigers, leopards, fiends, and demons on the way. We are afraid that you may lose you life and never come back.”

“I have sworn a great vow that I shall fall into Hell for eternity if I do not get the true scriptures,” replied Xuanzang. “Besides, as I have been so favored by His Majesty, I shall have to show my loyalty to the utmost if I am to repay the country for his honour. But it will be a journey into the unknown, and there is no saying what my fate will be. My pupils,” he went on to say, “two or three years after I set out, or it may be as much as six or seven, that pine tree inside the monastery gate will turn to the East, which will mean that I am coming back. If it does not, you can be sure that I will not return.” All his disciples committed his words most carefully to memory.

At court the next morning Taizong assembled his civil and military officials and wrote out the document Xuanzang would need to fetch the scriptures, stamping it with the imperial seal that gave the right to travel freely. When an imperial astrologer reported that this day was under an auspicious star for setting out on a long journey, the Tang Emperor was delighted. A eunuch official came in to report, “The Imperial Younger Brother, the Master of the Law, awaits a summons outside the palace doors.” Calling him into the throne hall, Taizang said, “Brother, today is a lucky one for starting on a journey, and here is the pass that will let you through the checkpoints. I am also giving you a golden bowl with which you may beg for food on your journey, in addition to choosing two experienced travelers to accompany you and presenting you with a horse to carry you on your long journey. You may now set out.” Xuanzang, who was very happy to hear this, thanked the Emperor and took the presents. He was now more eager than ever to be off. Taizong and a host of officials went by carriage to accompany him to the checkpoint. When they got there they found that the monks of the Hongfu Monastery and Xuanzang’s own disciples were waiting outside with his summer and winter clothing. As soon as he saw this the Tang Emperor ordered that it be packed and horses be provided, then told an official to pour out some wine. Raising his cup he asked, “Brother, what is your courtesy name?”

“As I am not of the world, I do not have one,” replied Xuanzang. “The Bodhisattva said yesterday that there are Three Stores (son zang) of scriptures in the Western Heaven. You, brother, should take a courtesy name from this. What about Sanzang?”

Thanking the Emperor for his kindness, he accepted the cup of wine with the words, “Your Majesty, liquor is the first of the things from which a monk must abstain, and so I have never drunk it.”

“Today’s journey is exceptional,” Taizong replied, “and besides, this is a nonalcoholic wine, so you should drink this cup and let us feel that we have seen you off properly.” Unable to refuse any longer, Sanzang took the wine, and was on the point of drinking it when he saw Taizong bend down, take a pinch of dust in his fingers, and flick it into his cup. Seeing Sanzang’s incomprehension, Taizong laughed and said,

“Dear brother, when will you return from this journey to the Western Heaven?”

“I shall be back in this country within three years,” Sanzang replied. “The days and years will be long, the mountains will be high, and the road will lead you far away,” said Taizong, “so you should drink this wine to show that you have more love for a pinch of dust from home than fir thousands of ounces of foreign gold.” Only then did Sanzang understand the significance of the pinch of dust, and thanking the Emperor once more he drained the cup, took his leave of him, and went out through the checkpoint. The Emperor went back to the palace.

If you don’t know what happened on the journey, listen to the explanation in the next installment.