This is a fresh, complete English translation of Wu Cheng’en’s public-domain one-hundred-chapter novel, produced with GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark assistance. It is an AI-assisted first edition, not a reproduction of an existing translation.

Need not speak yet of how the four disciples freed themselves, rose with the Vajra lord, and took to the wind. Yet in Chen Family Manor’s Jiusheng Temple, at dawn many people awoke as usual and prepared fruits and dishes to offer. When they came down to the pavilion, Tripitaka was gone. One asked, another searched, all were panic-stricken, at a loss, crying out in grief: “Qingqing has released the living Buddha.” For a while there was no clear way; all the prepared offerings were carried up to the upper level and a rite was held, burning paper. Thereafter, each year there were four grand sacrifices and twenty-four minor ones. There were also regular offerings for healing prayers, for protective rites, for prayers of reunion, for fortune and for children—there was no day without visitors burning incense and making sacrifice. Truly it was like a golden censer whose fire never ceased for a thousand years, and a jade cup whose lamp burned through ten thousand ages. Not for repetition.

The Eight Great Vajra attendants, with a second wave of fragrant wind, carried the four disciples and in less than a day brought them to the Eastern Land, where Chang’an gradually came into view. In fact, after Emperor Taizong had sent Tripitaka out of the city on the third day before the full moon of the ninth month in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, by the sixteenth year he ordered an official from the Ministry of Works to build, beyond the western gate of Xian, the Wangjing Pavilion to receive the returned sutras. Taizong came there himself every year. That very day he again rode out and came back to the pavilion. Suddenly in the full western sky there was auspicious light everywhere, and waves of fragrant wind blew. The vajra lord stopped in midair and called: “Holy Master, this is Chang’an. We must not descend; the people here are sharp and may betray our appearance. Great Sage, you three disciples need not come down. Go and deliver the scripture to your Lord; when you are ready return. I will wait for you in the high sky, and together we will submit the memorial.” The Great Sage replied: “Your words are rightly spoken, but how can my Master bear the scripture pack? How can he lead this horse? We need to go together to escort him. Please wait a little in the air; I do not dare to make a mistake.” The vajra lord said: “Formerly Guanyin Bodhisattva told Buddha that travel in both directions is reckoned at only eight days before the transmission is complete. Four days have already passed. I only fear Zhu Bajie may be tempted by wealth and rank and miss the limit.” Zhu Bajie laughed: “When my Master becomes Buddha, I too hope to become Buddha. Would I, a rough simpleton, have greed for riches? Let everyone wait here for me. After the sutra is handed over, I will return with you.” Zhu Bajie carried the pack, Sha Wujing held the horse, and Sun Wukong led Tripitaka; all set down their cloud-bodies and descended to the side of the Wangjing Pavilion.

Taizong came with many officials and greeted them all at once, then descended the stairs to welcome them: “So the imperial brother has come?” Tripitaka immediately prostrated himself. Taizong helped him rise and asked, “Who are these three?” Tripitaka answered, “My disciples gathered along the road.” Taizong rejoiced greatly and said to a court attendant, “Take my imperial horses and carriage behind me. Ask my younger imperial brother to mount and return with me.” Tripitaka thanked him and mounted a horse. The Great Sage stayed close behind with the Golden-Hooped Staff. Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing supported the horse and carried the pack, following behind the procession as they entered Chang’an. Truly it was:

In earlier times, in peace and fullness, pure banquets ascended in order, Civil and military men at ease displayed their outstanding excellence. In the water-and-land rites, the monk expounded the Dharma, In the Golden Canopy Hall above, officials were appointed and praised. The decree entrusted Tripitaka and gave him the sutras, The scripture rolls, fit to the Five Phases, were set in due array. Through bitter ordeal the fierce demons were all destroyed; The work was completed and now joyfully he comes to court in the capital. Tripitaka and the four entered court with the procession. Everywhere in the city it was known that the scripture pilgrims had arrived.

In Long’an, at Hongfu Temple where Tripitaka had formerly lived, the senior and junior monks saw several pines, each one with its top turned eastward. They cried out in surprise: “How strange! How strange! There was no wind tonight—how could all these pine tops have twisted to the east?” An old disciple of Tripitaka said, “Quick, fetch robes; the Master who brought back the scripture has come.” The other monks asked, “How do you know this?” The old disciple replied: “When Master left, he once said, ‘When I return, it may be three or five years, or six or seven, but if the tops of the pines face east, I will be back.’ These are my Master’s Buddha-true words, so I know.” He hurriedly donned his robe and came out. By the time they reached the West Street, word had already spread: “The scripture pilgrim has just arrived. Wansui Ye ye has brought him into the city.” Hearing this, the monks also ran in haste, and soon they encountered him. On seeing the imperial presence, they dared not approach closely and followed behind, stopping outside the court gate.

Tripitaka dismounted and entered court with the retinue. He set down the dragon horse and scripture pack with the companions; Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing stood beneath the Jade Steps. Taizong ordered him to be announced and seat him. Tripitaka offered thanks and sat, then asked that the scripture rolls be brought up. Sun Wukong and the others brought them out, and a close attendant passed them upward. Taizong asked: “How many volumes? How were they obtained?” Tripitaka answered: “I came to Ling Mountain and met the Buddha. By Buddha’s grace I was first led by the two elders Aha and Gayeh to Zhenlou for alms, and then taken to the Treasure Hall where the scriptures were transmitted. Those two venerated ones requested worldly requisites; because we had not prepared anything, we had not offered them. So he gave me the scriptures and we left. I offered thanks for Buddha’s grace, and then when we traveled east a demon wind stole the scriptures. Fortunately my younger disciples had some powers and chased them back, but they were all flung and scattered. When we unrolled them, all were blank sheets without text. Terrified, we knelt and petitioned again. Buddha said: ‘When this scripture was completed, a holy monk, a bhikshu, later brought it down the mountain and recited it once before Zhao the Elder’s household in Śrāvastī, thus safeguarding the household’s living and delivering the dead. He then demanded only three dou and three sheng of grain-like gold, still thinking the charge too cheap, and later his descendants had no money to use it. The two elders’ request for worldly requisites was known to us, and Buddha knew that as well; only by giving him the purple-gold alms-basin bestowed from the court did he then transmit the true scriptures with writing. This scripture has thirty-five sections. From the checked rolls transmitted from each section, the total is five thousand and forty-eight. This number in all is one whole canon.’

Taizong rejoiced all the more and ordered, “At Guanglu Temple, in the East Pavilion, hold a banquet of thanks.” He saw three disciples standing at the steps, with extraordinary appearance, and asked, “Are these high disciples from foreign lands?” The elder monk, bowing, spoke: “My first disciple has the surname Sun, Dharma name Wukong; I also call him Sun Wukong. He is originally from the Water Curtain Cave of Flower-Fruit Mountain in Aolai Kingdom of Dongsheng Continent. Five hundred years ago he caused great uproar in Heaven; Buddha then subdued him within a stone chest on Liujie Mountain in the Western Frontiers. At Guanyin Bodhisattva’s persuasion he took refuge and returned. It was I who rescued him there; this disciple has rendered great protection to me. My second disciple has surname Pig, Dharma name Wuneng; I also call him Zhu Bajie. He was originally from the Yunzhan Cave in Fuling Mountain. He made trouble at Gaolao Manor in Wusangao; at Guanyin Bodhisattva’s persuasion he too turned to the good, and was taken in by the Wukong. He has great strength in carrying the pack and has done meritorious work crossing water. My third disciple has surname Sha, Dharma name Wujing; I also call him Sha Wujing. He was the demon of the Flowing-Sand River, likewise saved by Bodhisattva’s counsel and instructed to become a monk. This horse was not granted by Your Majesty.” Taizong said: “Its coat and hair look the same; how can it be not?” Tripitaka replied: “When I crossed Snake-Coiled Mountain and Eagle-Grief Gully, my original horse was swallowed by this horse. Wukong asked the Bodhisattva to inquire into this horse’s origin. It is the son of the Dragon King of the Western Sea; because of a crime he too was pardoned by Buddha, and Guanyin rescued and released him, directing him to serve me with his strength. He then changed into this horse form, with the same coat and hair. Thanks to his help he enabled us to cross mountains and ridges, traverse rough tracks, ride out on the road, and bear back the scriptures.

Taizong, hearing this, praised him repeatedly and asked: “You have gone far into the Western Regions; how long was the road?” Tripitaka replied: “By the Bodhisattva’s words, it is ten thousand and eight hundred li in distance. Along the way I never kept count. I only know that I passed through fourteen turns of spring and winter. Day after day there were mountains, day after day ridges. We met forests that were no small size, waters broad and deep. We also passed several kingdoms, each with verifiable seals.” He ordered, “Disciples, bring the clearance credentials and present them to the Lord.” They were brought up then. Taizong looked at them and saw they were issued on the third day before the full moon of the ninth month in Zhenguan year thirteen. Taizong laughed, “After such laborious long distance, it is already Zhenguan year twenty-seven.” On the document were seals of Baoxiang Kingdom, Wuji Kingdom, Chechi Kingdom, Xiliang-nuó Kingdom, Jisai Kingdom, Zizi Kingdom, Biqiu Kingdom, and Miefa Kingdom; also the seals of Fengxian Commandery, Yuhhua Prefecture, Jinping Prefecture, and Tianzhu Kingdom. After reading all, Taizong set them away.

The court official in charge of the imperial carriage had already sent an invitation to the banquet; he came down from the hall at once and went with them hand in hand. He asked again, ‘Can your exalted disciples observe proper decorum?’ Tripitaka replied, ‘My disciples are all creatures from mountain villages and the wild, unacquainted with the court rites of the august Zhonghua; I beg Your Majesty to pardon them.’ Taizong laughed. ‘I blame no one, I blame no one. Go all of you and be invited to dine at the East Pavilion too.’ Tripitaka once again thanked him and, after hearing that grace, called his three companions to come inside the pavilion. The place was truly the grand realm of Zhonghua, entirely unlike ordinary places. You will see:

Colored embroidered hangings hung over the doors; red felt covered the floor. Rich and unusual perfumes filled the air, and rare dishes were brought fresh and bright. Amber cups and crystal goblets, set with gold and kingfisher-green inlay; golden platters, white jade bowls, and gold-threaded brocade trim. Turnips cooked to soft sweetness with rich syruped taro. Sweet mushrooms, and strange sea greens of a clean flavor. Again and again they brought gingered hot shoots; several times were served honeyed preparations. Flour cakes with toon-tree leaves, wood-ear fungus, and tofu skin. Stone-flower greens and fern-flour with dried herbs. Radish stewed with Sichuan pepper, cucumber slivers dressed with mustard. A few vegetarian dishes alone would suffice, yet several rare fruits stole the prize. Walnut persimmon cakes and longan and lychee. Coconut? no—Xuan prefecture silk-cocoon chestnuts, Shandong jujubes. From Jiangnan, ginkgo and rabbit-head pears. Hazelnuts and pine nuts, lotus flesh and large grapes; ginkgo nuts, melon kernels, and diamond-shaped rice all arranged in order. Olives and apples, pears and pingpoha fruits. Tender wild lotus roots, crisp plums, and Yang-mei berries. Nothing was lacking, nothing was amiss. There were also steamed crisp honey sweets and good dainties, together with fine wines, fragrant teas, and odd delicacies. The hundred flavors of precious delicacies of the highest grade cannot be fully described. Truly this was a banquet of Zhonghua unlike anything from the Western Barbarians. Tripitaka and the three disciples sat with many civil and military officials, all waiting on both sides, while Taizong the emperor sat upright in the center. Music and song, reeds and strings played in orderly, solemn harmony; the celebration continued all day. It truly went thus: The kingly feast of the emperor rivaled that of Yao and Shun, and in obtaining the True Canon he gained blessings beyond measure. It will endure for ages, for ages, in grandeur; Buddha’s radiance shines over the abode of kings.

That night, with the hour grown late, the banquet of thanks was dismissed. Taizong returned to the palace, and the officials went back to their homes. Tripitaka and the disciples returned to Hongfu Temple, where the temple monks came out kneeling in welcome. As soon as they reached the gate, the gathered monks announced, ‘Master, this horse of yours has unexpectedly turned eastward this morning. Remembering your words, we came out of the city to fetch him, and indeed it has come.’ The elder was overjoyed beyond measure and entered the abbot’s hall. Even now, Zhu Bajie did not clamour for tea or food, nor did Sun Wukong and Sha Wujing make any noise; all three were settled and steady. Since the work of obtaining the Way had come to completion, silence naturally settled over them. They slept that night.

The next morning, Taizong ascended the throne and said to the ministers, ‘I have reflected upon the merit of my disciple, and it is deep and immense beyond repaying. I lay awake the whole night and made a few rough verses from my lips to express my thanks, but I have not had them written down.’ He called out, ‘Let the Middle Secretariat come. I will dictate; you write each line as I speak.’ The text ran thus:

It is heard that the two modes of yin and yang have forms and signs, manifestly bearing and nurturing life beneath heaven and earth; yet the four seasons are formless and quietly carry cold and heat to transmute all things. Therefore even the ordinary fool may read heaven and inspect earth and know their outlines; when light reveals the obscure and dark reveals the bright, wise men still rarely exhaust their numbers. But heaven and earth are embraced by yin and yang and are easy to recognize because they have signs; yin and yang dwell in heaven and earth and are hard to exhaust because they have no form. Hence what is manifest can be verified, and even the dull are not confused, but the hidden form cannot be seen and even the learned may still be lost. How then can the humble and dull mortals, narrow-minded and commonplace, if they fail to grasp their intent, be without doubt? Yet the Great Teaching arose rooted in the western lands. It rose to the Han court as a bright dream and illumined the Eastern regions with flowing compassion. In the age when one divined by form and traced by marks, before a word could even be uttered, transformation had already come. In an age when things are both manifest and hidden, the people look up to virtue and learn to follow. When dim shadows return to truth and ages pass in migration, golden luster is veiled and does not mirror the light of the three thousand; when beautiful images open upon painted silk, at the empty summit the signs of the forty-eight are shown. Thus subtle words spread widely, rescuing all beings in the three destinies; distant injunctions were transmitted far, guiding all creatures toward the ten realms. There is the Buddha’s sūtra, which distinguishes the Great and the Lesser vehicles, and also the Dharma that conveys the method of right and wrong and false teachings. As for me, the monk Tripitaka, I am the leader of this gate of Dharma. As a child he held true sharpness and understood early the workings of the three emptinesses; in adulthood he kept his spirit clear and in advance fulfilled the conduct of the four kinds of forbearance. Mountain wind and moonlit waters, however pure and elegant, still cannot match his refinement; dewy immortality and pearl-like brilliance cannot measure his lucid sweetness. Therefore his intelligence was linked to wisdom free of bondage; his spirit perceived what had not yet taken shape. He rose beyond the six dusts and stepped far out, spreading his fragrance through ages. He gathered his mind inward in inward realms, pity and rectitude hidden beneath his spirit; in the Mysterious Gate of inquiry there were many doctrinal deviations. He wished to set the teachings in orderly lines, and so with pure heart for the Pure Land he set out alone with staff in hand. Morning snow flew over him and the ground slipped from underfoot; evening gale-risen sand rose, and beyond heaven he was lost in the sky. He crossed ten thousand li of mountains and rivers, pushing through mist and dawn; through layers of cold and heat he moved on through frost and rain, tracing his way. He truly valued arduous labor and sought depth of attainment. He traveled through the Western Regions for fourteen years. He explored foreign realms in quest of the true teaching. In Shuanglin and the Eight Waters he tasted wind and tasted the way; at Deer Park and Eagle Peak he gazed at marvels and marveled in awe. He received the ultimate words of the Ancient Sages, and the true teaching from the noblest worthies. He probed rare gates and deeply exhausted the profound arts. The doctrine of the three vehicles and six harmonies thundered through his heart-field; a single repository and a hundred chests of writings surged like waves at the mouth of the sea. From beginning to end, throughout the borderless lands he crossed, he sought and sought the sūtras. In all he obtained the thirty-five treatises of the Great Vehicle, totaling five thousand forty-eight fascicles, and he translated and spread them through Zhonghua, proclaiming victorious works. He drew the clouds of compassion from the Western Extreme and poured Dharma-rain upon the eastern frontier. Where the holy teaching was lacking, it was made whole again; where living beings had been sinful, they returned to blessing. As in the dry flames of a blazing inferno, he drew up those on dark paths; as in the roaring waves of mixed golden waters, he brought all to the farther shore. Thus we know evil falls through karma; merit rises through conditioned causes. The ends of ascent and descent are wrought by each person alone. Think of cinnamon? no—like osmanthus born on a high ridge: only when it soars above the clouds can its fragrance be fully released. Lotus rises from green waves and flying dust cannot stain its leaves. The lotus is not pure by nature alone, nor osmanthus noble by nature alone; if what one bears is high, minor things cannot burden it; if what one relies upon is pure, turbid kinds cannot soil it. If plants and trees without knowing can, by receiving what is good, become good, how much more, with human understanding, can people become blessed through virtue? If this scripture is spread, may it endure with sun and moon without end; may its blessed light extend afar, and together with heaven and earth grow ever more vast. When he had finished, he immediately summoned the holy monk. At that moment Tripitaka had already been waiting outside the court gates to offer thanks; hearing the summons he hurried in and performed the prostration posture. Taizong invited him up to the hall and handed over the writing. Tripitaka read it through, came down again to offer thanks, and said, ‘Your Majesty’s wording is lofty and ancient, your logic deep and subtle. Yet I do not know what title it bears.’ Taizong replied, ‘What I gave offhand overnight was my answer to my disciple’s merit; I called it “Preface to the Holy Teaching.” I do not know whether it is good.’ Tripitaka knelt and thanked him without cease. Taizong continued: ‘My talent is ashamed before polished jade and stone, and my words are ashamed before metal and rock. As for the inner canon, even more of it is beyond my hearing. This oral preface is indeed crude and awkward. I have soiled brush and ink on golden slips and strewn pebbles in jeweled courts. I have examined myself and curbed my thoughts, and my face grows shy and my heart ashamed. It is far from worthy and sufficient to call this anything but an empty courtesy in sending thanks.’

At that moment many officials all offered congratulations together, bowing to the imperial writing on the Holy Teaching and circulating it throughout the inner and outer palace. Taizong said, ‘How would it be for my disciple to chant the True Scriptures once before all?’ Tripitaka replied, ‘Your Majesty, if I chant the true sutra, I must seek a place of Buddha-land. The treasure hall is not an appropriate place for recitation.’ Taizong was very pleased and asked the officer in charge of the imperial carriage, ‘Among the monasteries in Chang’an, which is the pure and clean temple?’ The minister in the front rank, Grand Secretary Xiao Yu, replied at once, ‘Within the city there is a pure temple called the Wild Goose Pagoda Temple.’ Taizong then ordered the officials: ‘Have each of you reverently carry a few fascicles of the True Scripture and come with me to the Wild Goose Pagoda Temple. Ask my disciple to expound the sutra there and return by the same road.’

The officials each carried bundles in devotion and followed Taizong to the temple. There a tall platform was erected and laid out in neat order. Tripitaka again commanded, ‘Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, lead the Dragon Horse and arrange the baggage; Sun Wukong should be at my side.’ He said also to the emperor, ‘If Your Majesty wishes this True Scripture to circulate throughout all under heaven, faithful copies must be transcribed; only then can it be distributed. The original must be kept as a treasure and must not be handled lightly.’ Taizong laughed: ‘What your disciple says is entirely right, entirely right.’ He then summoned officials from the Hanlin Academy and the Secretariat writing offices to copy the scripture. He also ordered that another temple be built in the eastern part of the city, called Tenghuang Temple.

Tripitaka carried up a few fascicles and climbed the dais, about to chant, when a perfumed wind whirled. In midair there appeared the Eight Great Vajra-Kings, who shouted: ‘Put down the scriptures you recite and come back west with me!’ Beneath, the three disciples together with the white horse rose from level ground; Tripitaka too dropped the scripture rolls and leapt from the platform, soaring into the high empty sky to follow. So startled were Taizong and the officials that they cast themselves and bowed upward to the sky. It truly went this way:

The holy monk strove to win the Dharma and edited the scripture, traveling the Western regions for fourteen full years. Through hardships in many stages and roads he suffered in all of those waters and peaks. His achievement was nearly complete and then increased again ninefold; he traversed all the three-thousand and the Great Thousand realms. The wondrous text of Great Enlightenment returned to the homeland; to this day it remains in the Eastern Lands for all time. After bowing, Taizong and the many officials chose eminent monks and, at the Wild Goose Pagoda Temple, constructed a great Water-and-Land Assembly to chant the Great Storehouse of True Scripture, releasing demons of the dark regions and extending universal blessings. They copied the transcribed text and spread it throughout the world; nothing more is worth recording.

It is told that the Eight Great Vajra Kings rode on Fragrant Wind, bringing the Master and the four disciples, and the horse as well, back to Spirit Mountain. Back and forth, they reached there within eight days. At this time all the gods of Spirit Mountain were before the Buddha listening to the Dharma talk. The eight Vajra Kings brought Master and disciples in and said to the Tathagata, “Formerly my disciple obeyed the golden decree, escorted the holy monk and the rest to the Tang realm, and delivered the sūtra; now I specifically submit this memorial.” Then he called Tripitaka and the others forward to accept the postings.

The Buddha said: “Holy monk, in your former life you were my second disciple, called Golden Cicada Child. Because you would not listen to the Dharma and lightly insulted my Great Teaching, I demoted your true spirit and sent you to be reborn in the eastern land. Now you have joyfully taken refuge, uphold my precepts, and, riding under my teaching, have carried off the true scripture. You have great merit and fruit. I raise your status and true fruit: you are Zhandan Buddha of Merit.

Sun Wukong, because you once threw the heavenly capital into such a riot, I pressed you beneath the Five Phases Mountain with my profound powers. Since heaven’s calamity has now been exhausted, you have returned to Buddhism. You also, while hiding evil and revealing good, did meritorious work in tempering demons and subduing monsters along the way. For this from beginning to end, I raise your status and true fruit: you are Buddha Doushan Victory Buddha.

Zhu Bajie, you were the Heavenly River Water-God, Tianpeng, Great Marshal. At the Peach-Peak Banquet you drank heavily and made sport of an immortal maid, so you were cast down and born in the lower world in an animal form. Happily, you still remembered the love of human life; at Fulin Mountain, Cloud-Platform Cave, you caused trouble. Then you joyfully returned to the Great Teaching, entered my Sangha, and protected the holy monk on the road, but you still have a wayward heart; lust has not yet been extinguished. Because you labored in carrying burdens, I raise your status and true fruit: you are appointed as Pure Altar Envoy.” Zhu Bajie shouted at once: “They all became Buddhas. How can you make me only a Pure Altar Envoy?”

The Buddha said, “Because your voice is booming and your body indolent, and your appetite is broad in your belly, there are many under the four great continents who admire my teaching. In all Buddhist rites I command you to tend the altar; this is a worthy and useful rank, so what of that?

Sha Wujing, you were originally the Great General of the curtain-roll. Earlier, because at the Peach-Peak Banquet you smashed a glass cup, you were sent down. You fell into the River of Flowing Sand and caused sin by harming life and eating men. Happily you returned to my teaching, sincerely upheld my precepts, protected the holy monk, and gained merit in the matter of climbing mountains and leading steeds. I raise your status and true fruit: you are Golden-Body Arhat.”

He then called the white horse: “You were the son of Guangjin, Dragon King of the Great Western Ocean. Because you disobeyed your father and committed the sin of unfiliality, you are fined with this. Yet because you took refuge in the Dharma and returned to my monastic way, every day you carried the holy monk westward, and every day you carried the holy sūtras eastward. This too is meritorious, and I raise your status and true fruit: you are the Great Dragon Horse of the Eightfold Heavenly-Dragon Hosts.”

Master and the four companions all knelt and bow-kneed in thanks. The horse also finished its thanks. The Buddha then ordered Jie Di to lead the horse to the edge of Mount Ling’s rear cliff, beside the Transformation Pool of Dragons, and push the horse into the pool. In a moment the horse stretched out its body, dropped its fur, changed its horned head, and suddenly gold scales rose over its whole frame; silver whiskers sprouted beneath its jaws. It breathed out auspicious radiance, and four clawed auspicious clouds formed at once. It flew out of the Transformation Pool, coiled and circled, and mounted the lofty column at the temple gate that held up the sky. All the Buddhas praised the Buddha’s Great Dharma.

Sun Wukong said to Tripitaka: “Master, now I have become Buddha and am one with you. Why should I still wear the Golden-Hooped Headband? Why are you still reciting the Tightening Headband Spell to choke me? Recite now the unfastening spell, remove it, and smash it to pieces. Do not let some bodhisattva go around to fool anyone else.”

Tripitaka said, “Before, I used this method because you were impossible to govern. Now you have become Buddha; it should naturally depart by itself. How could it still have reason to remain on your head? Go on and feel it.”

The Practitioner held up his hand to feel; indeed, it was no longer there.

At this time Zhandan Buddha, Doushan Victory Buddha, the Pure Altar Envoy, and Golden-Body Arhat had all attained the true fruit and reclaimed their stations. The dragon-horse also returned to original reality. A poem bears witness:

One true suchness falls into dust; the four forms reconcile, and the body is refined again. In discoursing on the five phases of form and emptiness, all returns to stillness; do not argue about the empty names of a hundred monsters. The true fruit of Zhandan returns to Great Awakening; perfecting one’s assigned function, one escapes the sinking mire. The scripture’s transmission through the world widens the light of grace; the Five Saints ascend high in the gate of Non-Duality.

At the time the Five Saints came to fruit, all Buddhas, ancestors, bodhisattvas, holy monks, arhats, Jie Di, bhikṣus, upāsikās, sages of every mountain and cave, immortal gods, Great Deities, household registers, functionaries, monasteries, and spirits of the earth, all sages who had already reached the Way, all came at first to hear the lecture, and now each returned to its station. You may see:

At Lingjiu Peak, rosy clouds gathered in clusters; in the land of ultimate joy gathered auspicious clouds. A golden dragon lay steadily at ease, and a jade tiger sat calmly. Crows and rabbits came and went at will; tortoises and snakes coiled and circled as one wished. Vermilion phoenixes and blue-lark birds glowed with glad feeling; dark apes and white deer moved with contented ease. Strange flowers of eightfold wonders, immortal fruits through all four seasons. Tall pines and ancient cypresses, emerald cypresses and cultivated bamboo. Five-colored plums opened and knotted by season; the ten-thousand-year peaches ripened and were new again. A thousand fruits and a thousand flowers competed for beauty, and a sky-full of auspicious haze gathered in tangled abundance.

The assembly folded its hands in refuge and all recited:

Namo Ranteng Ancient Buddha. Namo Yaoshi, the Buddha of Lapis-Lazuli Light King. Namo Śākyamuni Buddha. Namo Buddha of Past, Future, and Present. Namo Pure-Kin Joy Buddha. Namo Pilushi Buddha. Namo Treasure-Banner King Buddha. Namo Maitreya Honored Buddha. Namo Amitābha Buddha. Namo Buddha of Boundless Life. Namo Buddha Who Guides Return to the True. Namo Vajra-Invincible Buddha. Namo Treasure-Light Buddha. Namo Dragon-Lord King Buddha. Namo Diligent- and Good-Hearted Buddha. Namo Treasure-Moon-Light Buddha. Namo Buddha of Immediate Non-Delusion. Namo Boliuna Buddha. Namo Narayana Buddha. Namo Merit-Flower Buddha. Namo Able-Merit Buddha. Namo Bodhisattva Who Walks in Skillful Ways. Namo Zhandan-Shining Buddha. Namo Jewel-Spear Buddha. Namo Bright-Torch of Wisdom Buddha. Namo Sea-virtue Radiant Buddha. Namo Great-Compassion Light Buddha. Namo Great-Power of Kindness Buddha. Namo Excellent- and Good-First Buddha. Namo Vastly Splendid Buddha. Namo Gold-Flower Light Buddha. Namo Ability-Light Buddha. Namo Wisdom-Victorious Buddha. Namo World-quieting Light Buddha. Namo Sun-Moon Light Buddha. Namo Sun-Moon Jewel-Light Buddha. Namo Wisdom-Pennon Victory King Buddha. Namo Buddha of Wondrous Sound. Namo Constant Light-Pennon Buddha. Namo Buddha of the World-Viewing Lamp. Namo Dharma-Victory King Buddha. Namo Sumeru-Light Buddha. Namo Great-Wisdom-Force King Buddha. Namo Golden-Sea Light Buddha. Namo Great-Access Light Buddha. Namo Talent-Light Buddha. Namo Zhandan Buddha of Merit and Virtue. Namo Doushan Buddha Victor. Namo Guanyin Bodhisattva. Namo Greatly-Auspicious Greatness Bodhisattva. Namo Wenshu Bodhisattva. Namo Puxian Bodhisattva. Namo Pure and Clean Great-Sea Assembly Bodhisattvas. Namo Lotus-Pond Sea-Meeting Buddha Bodhisattva. Namo Western-Region Pure-Land Bodhisattvas. Namo three-thousand Great Jie Di Bodhisattvas. Namo five-hundred Arhat Great Bodhisattvas. Namo Bodhisattva Biqiu Yisenei. Namo Boundless and Endless Dharma Bodhisattvas. Namo Vajra Great Hero Saintly Bodhisattva. Namo Jingtan Envoy Bodhisattva. Namo Eight-Treasure Golden-Body Arhat Bodhisattva. Namo the Great-power Eightfold Heavenly Dragon Bodhisattva. As for all these Buddhas of all worlds: May this merit adorn the Buddha’s pure land. May it, upward, repays the fourfold gifts, and downward saves the three-path suffering. If anyone hears or sees this, may all arouse bodhi-minded intent. May we be born together in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and in this one life fully report and exhaust our karmic debts. Buddhas of all directions and all three times, all noble bodhisattva-mahāśattvas, and the Great Perfection of Wisdom, may it be so.

‘Journey to the West’ ends here.