Tag 二郎神

Archive #40 – Journey to the South (Nanyouji) English Translation PDF

Jim R. McClanahan Leave a comment

Journey to the South (Nanyouji, 南遊記, c. 1570s-1580s), [1] is one of four shenmo novels, dubbed the Four Journeys (Siyou ji, 四遊記), (re)published during the Wanli era by Yu Xiangdou (余象斗, c. 1560-c. 1640). This eighteen chapter work follows the adventures of the martial deity Huaguang dadi (華光大帝) (fig. 1), variously translated as “Great Emperor of Flowery/Resplendent/Magnificent/Majestic Light.” He begins the story as a divine disciple of the Buddha who is exiled from paradise for taking a life. But after a series of rebirths in which he causes trouble as a trickster, Huaguang redeems himself by using his powers to subdue evil.

What’s interesting for the purposes of this blog is that the Monkey King appears as a tertiary character in chapters one and seventeen. The latter is notable among fans of Journey to the West as it mentions that our hero has children. One in particular, his monstrous daughter Yuebei xing (月孛星, “Moon Comet Star”), is shown to be a powerful sorceress who can threaten even the lives of immortals with her magic skull weapon.

Here, I would like to archive an English translation of Journey to the South by a translator with the penname “Peter Pan.” A big thank you to Monkey Servant (a.k.a. Monkey-Ruler) for converting the original ebook into a searchable text PDF.

Fig. 1 – A modern Huaguang dadi idol (larger version). Readers will notice that he shares many iconographical similarities with Erlang shen. Image found here.

I. Synopsis

After killing a havoc-wreaking Single-Flame King, Manjusri is banished by Tathagata [Buddha] to reincarnate into Spirit Light as a son of Mount Horse-Ear King, endowed with five accesses to natural elements and a heavenly eye.

[Jim here: One of Manjushri’s old Chinese Buddhist names is Miao Jixiang (妙吉祥). Huaguang’s previous incarnation, a divine flame-turned-Buddhist deity, also shares this name, but the two are not related (Von Glahn, 2004, p. 214). Therefore, translating the name as Manjushri is not accurate.]

During his trip to the Spiritual Void Palace, Spirit Light frees two ghosts by stealing a golden spear, but he is killed by Purple Subtlety Heaven Emperor. He again reincarnates as Three-Eye Spirit Flare in the family of Blazing Darkness Heavenly King. He steals from his master Wonderful Joy Celestial Being a golden broadsword, to make it into a triangular golden brick as his divine weapon.

Later, he wreaks havoc in the Jade Flower Gathering in the heavens and assumes the title of Huaguang, but he is subdued by Black Sky Heaven Emperor. Afraid of being punished by the Jade Emperor, Huaguang reincarnates again into Xiao’s Family Village, where he subdues demons and evil spirits with his divine power. Considering his meritorious deeds, the Jade Emperor grants pardon to him.

Huaguang has no idea that his mother is a man-eating monster named Ganoderma who is later detained by Dragon Auspice King in Fengdu, the demon capital.

Searching around for his mother, Huaguang cheats the Goddess Jade Ring for her pagoda, intending to melt it as his weapon. He meets her daughter Princess Iron Fan and takes her as his wife. He continues to subdue more demons and evil spirits.

Still missing his mother, Huaguang learns she was in the underworld and ventures there without hesitation.

Could Huaguang save his mother? Could he prevent his mother from eating humans again? What stories occur between Huaguang and the legendary Monkey King? What is the fate of Huaguang himself after his undulating reincarnations?

Read on to know more about the making of Heavenly King Resplendent Light, a renowned divine figure in Chinese mythology.

II. Archive Link

Click to access Journey_to_the_South_ENG.pdf

III. Disclaimer

This has been posted for educational purposes. No malicious copyright infringement is intended. If you liked the digital version, please support the official release when it once again becomes available on Amazon.

Note:

1) Evidence suggests that the book was originally published prior to the 1590s (Cedzich, 1995, as cited in Von Glahn, 2004, p. 311 n. 145). Yu Xiangdou later renamed the book when he combined it with the other novels to create the Four Journeys. Von Glahn (2004) explains:

The full title of the earliest known copy of Journey to the South, the 1631 edition in the British Museum, is Quanxiang Huaguang tianwang nanyou zhizhuan [全像華光天王南游志傳] (A Fully Illustrated Chronicle of the Journey to the South by the Heavenly King Huaguang) (p. 311 n. 145).

Sources:

Von Glahn, R. (2004). The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture. United Kingdom: University of California Press.

Archive #32 – The Precious Scroll of Erlang (Erlang baojuan) (1562)

Jim R. McClanahan Leave a comment

The Precious Scroll of Erlang (Erlang Baojuan, 二郎寳卷; full name Qingyuan Miaodao Xiansheng Zhenjun Yiliao Zhenren huguo youmin zhongxiao Erlang Baojuan, 清源妙道顯聖真君一了真人護國佑民忠孝二郎開山寶卷), is an important baojuan from the 1560s that contains the heroic deeds of the immortal Erlang (二郎) (fig. 1), including his defeat of Sun Wukong (PDF page 46). This shows that the Monkey King was mentioned in a religious context 30 years before the standard Ming edition of Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592) was even published. Therefore, apart from recording the religious story of Erlang, it adds to that of Sun Wukong.

I must thank Dr. Benjamin Brose for sending me a PDF of the scroll. I’m excited to archive it on my blog for other scholars to access and read.

Fig. 1 – A relief carving of Erlang as Yang Jian (楊戩) from Investiture of the Gods (c. 1620) (larger version).

Scroll description:

In 1562 a text entitled Erlang baojuan (Precious scroll on Erlang) appeared, providing further information on the emerging Eternal Mother myth. Based on the story of Erlang’s valiant fight with the Monkey King, a famous and entertaining episode from the classic novel Journey to the West (which, incidentally, was given the finishing touches around the same time), the Erlang baojuan describes the final subjugation of the Monkey King by the semidivine Erlang, thanks in large measure to the assistance provided by the Eternal Mother. This text also seems to presage the legend surrounding the building of the Baoming Si, Temple Protecting the Ming dynasty, as described hereafter. In it the story of the bodhisattva Guanyin incarnating as a nun by the name of Lü is first being told. According to this text, the nun had tried unsuccessfully to dissuade Emperor Yingzong from fighting the Oirat Mongols prior to his debacle at Fort Tumu in 1449. When Yingzong was restored to the throne in 1457 after his long captivity, he rewarded the nun for her loyalty and courage and built a temple for her, naming it the Baoming Si. The temple had been reportedly in existence since 1462. By the late years of the Jiajing reign (1522–1567), however, it came under the sway of believers of the Eternal Mother religion (Shek & Tetsuro, 2004, p. 252).

Archive link:

Click to access unnamed-file.pdf

Source:

Shek, R., & Tetsuro, N. (2004). Eternal Mother Religion: It’s History and Ethics. In K Liu. & R. Shek. (Eds.). Heterodoxy in Late Imperial China (pp. 241-280). Hong Kong: University of Hawai’i Press.

The Origin of Monkey’s Battle with Lord Erlang and its Ties to Han Dynasty Funerary Rites and Folklore

Jim R. McClanahan Leave a comment

Did you know the battle between Monkey and Lord Erlang is tied to Han Dynasty funerary rights and folklore? Wu (1987) notes that, during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE), the people of Sichuan often buried their dead in stone tombs decorated with brave heroes, such as archers and crossbowmen, and fierce animals, such as tigers and hounds. Regarding the latter, the canines are sometimes depicted attacking or intimidating apes, which were considered emblems of disease or bad luck (fig. 1). Therefore, by portraying the subjugation of such evil forces, the carvings are thought to have served the ritual function of protecting deceased loved ones from dark influences on their wayward journey to the afterlife (pp. 100-101).

The idea of dogs overcoming apes should bring to mind Sun Wukong’s capture at the mouth of Lord Erlang’s loyal hound at the end of chapter six.

One recurring motif depicts an archer drawing his bow to fall an ape in a tree (fig. 2). This is based on a third-century BCE tale about the legendary Chu archer Yang Youji (養由基) shooting an elusive white ape held in the palace of the King of Jing. This in turn is based on an even older tale about the archer Yi (羿) bringing order to the primordial earth by killing nine of ten suns that took the form of monstrous crows. Han era tombs are known to portray Yi drawing a bow to shoot said birds flying around a tree, so it most likely influenced the motif of Yang shooting the ape in a tree (Wu, 1987, pp. 102-106). Despite his later connection with the three-pointed polearm, Erlang was also portrayed as an archer in early media.

Click the image to open in full size.

Fig. 1 – (Top left) A Han Dynasty tomb rubbing of oversized dogs intimidating apes (larger version). Fig. 2 – (Bottom left) A Han tomb decoration depicting an archer shooting at an ape (larger version). Fig. 3 – (Center bottom) The 13th-century painting depicting Erlang and his soldiers rounding up and executing ape demons. A captive ape can be seen on the bottom left between the two soldiers (larger version). Fig. 4 (Center right) A detail from the 15th-century painting showing the ape, his humanoid wives, and their gibbon-like children being rounded up (larger version). This section is located in the last four-fifths of the scroll. Fig. 5 – (Right) A detail showing Erlang near the front of the same scroll (larger version). His armor differs slightly from that of the 13th-century version. Also take note of how a young page holds his bow, while a spirit soldier bears his (slightly obscured) three-pointed polearm.

 

Lord Erlang was originally worshiped during the Han as a hunting god and queller of mountain ghosts by the Qiang (羌) ethnic group of the western Sichuan region. His cult grew and absorbed other deities and heroes under his mantle. For instance, Wu (1987) writes:

The Er-lang cult became even more popular in Sichuan under the patronage of the Later Shu emperor, Meng Chang 孟昶 (r. 934-65), and in 965, when the Song dynasty conquered the kingdom, it adopted the cult, erecting temples for the god in the capital and throughout the country.

When the Er-lang cult became increasingly popular in Sichuan, the previous divine archers such as Yang Youji and Yi, (like many other legendary demon-quellers), were mologized into this new cult, and their defeat of an ape demon became an important part of the Er-lang legend. Er-lang’s traits in later stories and art works clearly disclose this transformation (pp. 107-108).

It should also be noted that Erlang was at some point associated with the historical engineer Li Bing (李冰, c. 3rd-cent. BCE) and the official Zhao Yu (趙昱, c. 6th/7th-cent CE), both of whom were worshipped for defeating flood demons (Wu, 1987, p. 107). I suggest this may have led to his cult being connected to that of Yu the Great (大禹), the flood-queller par excellence in Chinese folklore. This is important because Tang Dynasty legends state Yu battled a simian water demon and eventually imprisoned it under a mountain (see Andersen, 2001). Sound familiar? This may have been another avenue in which Erlang was associated with quelling ape demons.

One anonymous 13th-century album leaf ink painting portrays Erlang seated in a kingly fashion and watching as his spirit soldiers round up and execute ape demons (fig. 3). One anonymous 15th-century scroll painting reproduces the scene in color, along with other animal spirits (fig. 4 and 5). The image of the deity as a queller of ape monsters culminated in an anonymous Yuan-Ming Dynasty play called The God Er-lang Locks up the Ape-Demon “Great Sage-Equal to Heaven” (二郎神鎻齊天大聖, Er-lang Shen suo Qitian Dasheng). Much like JTTW, the god is sent to capture a magical primate, in this case an ape, who has stolen immortal food and wine from heaven (Wu, 1987, pp. 108-109). This no doubt influenced Monkeys mischief in heaven and subsequent battle with the deity.

See also:

Sources:

Andersen, P. (2001). The demon chained under turtle mountain: The history and mythology of the Chinese river spirit Wuzhiqi. Berlin: G-und-H-Verl.

Wu, H. (1987). The earliest pictorial representations of ape tales: An interdisciplinary study of early Chinese narrative art and literature. T’oung Pao LXXIII, pp. 86-112.