Day Seven: Dragons circling

In the morning we were to meet Rainbow at the train station. After ten minutes, Sat said, “Rainbow would not be late. We’re in the wrong place.” I wondered how I would manage when Sat left. He was flying back to the US in two days and I was staying on to the following Tuesday.  On the train ride to KaohShiung, Sat and I spoke about Sunday night.

Aka had arranged for us to meet Taoist master Huang. We went to his studio at eight at night and waited for him for  two hours. He sat on one side of the room and asked Sat and me to sit on chairs on the other side. He was about 40, a little plump, quick in his speaking, alert. His twenty students sat on the floor. I also sat on the floor. I felt as if I were in a room with two dragons circling one another. Everyone was quiet. The zen masters checked out one another’s credentials and lineage. They knew the same masters. Master Huang had a manuscript from China that Sat’s teacher had told him about 30 years ago. The conversation was very polite, but it was a politeness in which each person is aware of where the other’s hidden sword lies. I felt as if I were a small insect in Journey to the West in which Monkey King is constantly sizing up his supernatural adversaries before the battle begins.

After their conversation, of which only a small amount was translated into English (one of Master Huang’s students took over the translating), Master Huang turned to me and asked me my age. He then said, “You need to be careful with your heart. Don’t get too tired.” “What shall I watch out for?” I asked.  “You will know next year. Don’t think too much. Let things go. No need to be so serious.” Like Mr. Lin, he threw me off guard with his seeming “omniscience.” “Now, what are your questions?” he asked. I began by telling him that I needed to be this age to appreciate the depth of Monkey King. I loved Monkey King’s impulsiveness and yet, I wondered if Monkey King had achieved enlightenment from Subuti, the Taoist master, why was he still so arrogant and quick to lose his temper?” He answered, “You can be enlightened and still need to undo the knots.”

His response, like an arrow, hit a bulls-eye in my perception. Huang was revealing himself. Monkey King was like a mirror for each person. I thought I was communicating by holding up Monkey King as a connection. In fact, Monkey King was so powerful, he simply became invisible. If I were truly alert, I could see the other person directly.  

“What is the relationship of Journey to the West to Taoism?” I asked. He answered, “It’s one of our sacred texts. If you know how to study it, you will learn many secrets. Every Taoist knows this text.” “Is it more important to the Taoists than the Buddhists?” “No difference between the two.”

No difference? I thought. Very interesting. The Buddhists and Taoists fight throughout Journey to the West. In fact, in chapters 44 and 45, the Taoists have enslaved the Buddhists so that Monkey King must free the Buddhists from the Taoists. Yet, it is Monkey King’s taoist knowledge that enables him to execute his 72 transformations and protect Tripitaka, the naïve Buddhist priest on their journey. And, it is Tripitaka and Kwan Yin’s enormous compassion that at last permeates Monkey King’s spirit so that his impulsiveness becomes infused with compassion. Perhaps on the deepest level there is no difference.

Sat, who was sitting next to me, embodies both. With the t’ai ch’i he works with the tao; in his constant healing of his students, he has a bodhisattva heart. And yet, he seemed troubled. I understood that my questions and the constant role of translator were trying on him.  What did Mr. Lin say to you on Monday night?” I asked him.  “Oh, he said I could open up and love more people.” “Really? More than five?” No response.

We arrived in KaohSiung. Rainbow’s friend met us at the train station. We went out to lunch and then to her house. Mr. Hsu arrived. He was the Journey to the West expert whom Alex had suggested I contact.

Mr. Hsu had been trained as an electrical engineer. An accident caused him to retire and to study Buddhism. While reading Journey to the West, he realized that the text is a testimony to Buddha’s teachings. He has become an expert in the esoteric meaning of Journey to the West. Among the many questions he answered, he told me that the six robbers are the six senses. Killing the robbers means to let go - ”no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind” represents letting go of the self to enable one’s true nature to appear. Great Sage perceives reality directly. The Tang Priest knows the scriptures; he does not yet perceive reality directly. As to the necessity of paying a bribe to Buddha’s disciples, any spiritual quest demands a

contribution. He explained that Buddha’s headband symbolizes the five precepts (no killing, stealing, harmful sexual conduct, harmful speech, or improper consumption). After discussing Monkey King together, he said, “Now I will read Journey to the West for the third time.” (Journey to the West is 2,000 pages.)

We spoke nearly three hours about Journey to the West. He answered many questions but to many he said I needed to be initiated to know the answers. 

Afterwards, we all ate a vegetarian meal with Rainbow’s friend’s family.

Lots of tasty greens.