Sun Wukong's Path of Buddha

Sanzang let out a quiet sigh.

The only paths here were the faint game trails of beasts, half-swallowed by the undergrowth. Trees and brush pressed in from every side — a jungle belonging to some far foreign land. Even for a man born and raised in the heart of the Central Plains, a man who had already walked the road of ordeal more times than he could count, this was an unfamiliar world.

The sight did not frighten him. However strange it was, it was only that — strange. The Buddha's protection was always with him, and enlightenment followed in its wake. Every hardship, every fear, was nothing more than a trial to pass through, a gate to cross, a stone to stumble over and leave behind.

And yet the reason Sanzang sighed was perfectly clear.

"Hehehe. Holy monk. Do you know how to play Go?"

The laugh belonged to an old man whose teeth had all fallen out but two, dangling loosely in his gums. When Sanzang's gaze fell upon the Go board the man held up, he quietly invoked the Buddha's name.

The old man had introduced himself as Elder Gyeongjeol, and he looked infinitely harmless — like some village rustic who had turned his back on the world's complications and chosen to live among the trees. Unfortunately, the mortal realm overflowed with those whose insides did not match their faces, and Sanzang had come down into that realm to seek the Dharma and reach nirvana. He recited the Buddha's name again, if only to soothe his own heart.

At the invocation of a monk who was, at a glance, a man of high attainment, the approaching elder made a show of stopping. From behind him, another old man sneered.

"Brother Sip, leave him be. Looks like a clever monk to me."

"Well, he is the famous Tang Sanzang. Seeing through his own situation would be the easy part."

"Heh heh heh. Let's just eat him already."

Sanzang's body trembled once.

Four old men, walking barefoot without the slightest hesitation through a jungle thick with venomous insects and poisonous creatures. Behind those innocent faces lay intentions ugly and base. He knew that look. He had received it more times than he could count. But familiarity did not dull fear. Sanzang drew a long breath.

"So you, too, wish to devour me — a mere lump of flesh."

"Ahahaha. As composed as the rumors say, holy monk. Isn't it only natural?"

"Of course it is. They say if you eat Sanzang's flesh you become immortal. You can become human if you want — or if you'd rather stay a demon, you gain tremendous power."

"He's a bit on the small side, but nice and plump. Enough to split among the four of us!"

"So? Shall we stew him? Make a soup? Roast him? Drop him whole in oil?"

"Ahaha. Little brother, the best is raw, isn't it? Raw!"

"Ugh. Our Brother Gojik-gong really is a gourmet."

Sanzang closed his eyes. Of course. This again. Why was the world so thick with lies? Fooled again. Taken again. What a fool he was. He blamed himself.

In a jungle without a trace of human life, he had immediately followed old men who appeared from nowhere and asked to be taught the Dharma. Truly a stupid thing to do. And yet it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could not have been otherwise — even if Wukong would have called that a pathetic excuse.

"Whether human or demon, when they ask for the Dharma, a monk must share his teaching. That is a monk's duty. How could I stand idle before such pitiful souls as you? I beg you — abandon this vain and ugly greed."

"Oh my, holy monk. You think we'll let you go if you talk like that?"

"My belly's so empty it's sticking to my spine."

Sanzang looked at them with pity. The old men — who called themselves Sip-pal-gong, Gojik-gong, Neunggongja, and Jeong Unsu — frowned.

"Abandon this now. Only then will you live. Only then will you survive to learn the Dharma, advance toward liberation, and achieve nirvana — and only then can you be born as humans in the cycle of reincarnation."

"What?"

"If you want to live, give me up before he arrives."

All four faces crumpled at once. A lump of meat, already caught, already halfway to their mouths — and it was making threats?

"Tsk. Out of the way. I'll tear his flesh and eat it right now, so this monk can't wag his tongue."

Sip-pal-gong came forward with murder written across his face. Gone was the toothless village elder's easy laugh. His eyes gleamed with a vicious light.

"Holy monk, you say if we don't want to die and go to hell we should learn the Dharma? Isn't that hilarious?"

"What is hilarious about it? If you cultivate the Dharma and reach nirvana, there is no occasion to go to hell at all—"

"Is hell somewhere else?"

"...?"

"For demons like us — no, for humans too, except the ones living high and mighty — is hell only in the Underworld? This is hell. This world we live in is all hell."

Sanzang's words caught in his throat. The mortal realm as another hell. Arrogant talk, coming from a mere demon — and yet the sentence lodged itself in his mind and would not come out.

Watching Sanzang go blank for a moment, Sip-pal-gong smiled a thin, nasty smile.

"So if we're going to live in hell anyway, better to reign as a king of it. Eating Sanzang should give us that kind of power."

The instant Sip-pal-gong thrust out his vicious claws, the ground roared.

It was as if an earthquake had torn through the jungle. A violent tremor climbed from the soles of their feet to the crowns of their heads. No creature on earth senses a natural disaster as keenly as a beast — and a demon's instincts are a beast's, only worse. Sip-pal-gong's body locked in place. An ominous cold came climbing up from his toes.

And then, faint as a thread, a ringing in his ears.

A cry echoing from somewhere far away, so faint it barely existed — and yet, volume be damned, it stamped itself into the ear with perfect clarity. Sip-pal-gong froze solid.

Sanzang smiled, bitter and fond.

"That impudent boy. He found me again after all."

The echo drew closer. The four demons went bloodless and panicked. An overwhelming lion's roar shook them down to the soul. The howl of a predator rolled on without cease, and their guts churned as if they might turn inside out.

"Th-that's the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven from the rumors!"

"The D-Demon King — the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven!"

Sanzang spoke with a compassion that was almost gentle.

"Just say you were wrong. No matter what. Beg. Beg for your lives."

"W-what?!"

"You cannot run. This impudent disciple of mine is... very fast."

Sip-pal-gong bit down on his lip. Then he chanted something under his breath, and a rush of power swept the clearing.

"...So they were tree spirits."

Where the old men had stood, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠four great trees now stood rooted in the earth: a pine, a Korean pine, a cypress, and a stand of bamboo. There was no time to study them. A heavy boom shook the ground, and dust boiled up in a choking cloud.

"Sanzang!"

The cry was loud enough to split eardrums. Sanzang winced, his brow knitting of its own accord. Through the swirling dust, a brilliantly golden ape glared with blood-red eyes, his breath coming hard and ragged.

"Wukong."

"Master! You stupid crybaby, I swear—!"

Sun Wukong shot forward like a thunderbolt and seized Sanzang by the collar. His frame was twice the monk's. Sanzang shook in his grip like a rag doll. Those blood-red eyes seemed to give off a thick, feral stench, and the face twisted in rage was a demon's — nothing that belonged on a Buddhist monk's disciple.

But the moment Sanzang read the worry filling that face to the brim, he smiled, foolishly.

"I am all right. Wukong. I am not hurt."

"Goddammit! Sanzang! You're not a child! What kind of idiot just trots along because someone says come here?!"

Sun Wukong huffed through his teeth and barely managed to turn his head. Looking at that smiling face any longer would have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turned his stomach inside out. A rage-rough animal sound leaked between his teeth, and his gaze landed somewhere.

Four trees, standing rooted and alone. Tree spirits. The King of Demons was never going to miss that. Blue veins stood out on the hand that gripped the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

In that same instant, Sanzang caught his wrist.

"Do not take life."

Sanzang's voice stopped Sun Wukong cold.

"They did not harm me. They only intended to."

The tone was firm, leaving no room to argue.

"If I recite the sutras for them and pass on the teaching, that will be mercy, and that will be salvation—"

A deafening boom cut him off, then the sharp, wet crack of splitting wood. The four trees took the Ruyi Jingu Bang head-on and snapped. Scarlet blood gushed from the broken cross-sections.

Sanzang's face was expressionless. A face sunk infinitely deep. Eyes that had gone very calm. It was the look of a man angry past the point of return.

"Why did you kill them."

"Leave them alive? They didn't harm you? Sanzang. They were going to eat you."

"Show mercy and convert them."

"Like hell! A bald monk who still hasn't converted this one monkey wants to save man-eating demons?!"

Sun Wukong's roar left Sanzang speechless. Those red eyes glittered with fury — as if blood-red smoke were billowing up from a deep abyss, burning like a volcano. This was not the usual outburst. Every layer of irritation and anger that had been stacking for months came down at once.

"For once, value your own life a little. Isn't one Shakyamuni Buddha enough for walking into suffering on purpose? Sanzang, I don't care if you die."

"..."

"But if you die — Bajie, Wujing, me — everything ends. I'll be locked under Wuxing Mountain as a monkey demon again. Wujing will be back gulping water in the Flowing Sands River. And that thick-skulled pig Bajie will just keep chasing lust until he dies of it!"

At that fierce roar, Sanzang's mouth — already shaping the Tightening Fillet Mantra — snapped shut.

"Sanzang. Your salvation may be mercy. This is mine. Rather than waste time converting evil, I'll kill one more evil, and I'll do it thoroughly."

He stood in front of his master and declared slaughter without a shred of shame. Sanzang's face went blank with shock.

"I'll kill evil to save life. Wipe out one evil, and you can save the ten good souls that would have been snuffed out by it."

"...You mean to save living beings by killing evil, not converting it."

"Your way of saving and mine. You'll save with mercy. I'll save with slaughter. I'll save with judgment."

"..."

"Mercy isn't everything, Sanzang. If mercy were all that existed, why the hell would that damned hell have been created?"

"..."

Sanzang stared at Sun Wukong for a long time.

He could not accept it. It was different from everything he had spent his life contemplating. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠And yet he could say nothing. Even the urge to tighten the Golden Tightening Fillet vanished without a trace — even though this was still, without any doubt, that vicious monkey.

Behind Sun Wukong's back, a faint lotus bloomed like an afterimage.

He is already approaching Buddhahood.

A memory, fading to haze at the edges of his mind. Sun Wukong clicked his tongue.

It was the moment he had struck Sanzang speechless — a satisfying moment, and an unusually vivid memory. Not vivid merely because it had felt good.

The Buddha Path. The road to Buddhahood. It was the first moment Sun Wukong had proudly, wholly, established a Buddha Path that was his alone.

And he had walked that road, step by step.

Sanzang. You walked the Buddha Path through mercy.

Sun Wukong was different. His Buddha Path was paved with a dreadfulness you would never find on the roads of other Buddhas. Violence and slaughter, soaked in blood under the name of judgment.

I walked that road, reached Buddhahood, and became the Victorious Fighting Buddha.

An achievement no one denied. And so Sun Wukong trusted, with a faith like iron, that what he did was wholly just.

Punish evil and save life. But... it's about time the standard of evil changed.

Sun Wukong looked at a faint red thread. The color had all but drained out of it — a washed-out, paled-down hue.

The evil I mean isn't small fry like these.

Just as he had taken in the Seven Shadows of Shandong, who had once been vicious spider demons, Sun Wukong would embrace evil in order to destroy a greater evil. If that was the mercy Sanzang spoke of — if that was salvation — then even as he walked his own Buddha Path, Sun Wukong would follow the Buddha Path of his master.

"So."

Speak.

Choose.

Sun Wukong's pure white smile filled Sip-pal-gong's pupils to the brim.