Last updated: 12-24-2023
The golden headband or fillet (jingu, 金箍; a.k.a. jingu, 緊箍, lit: “tight fillet”) is one of the Monkey King’s most recognizable iconographic elements appearing in visual media based on the great Chinese classic Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592 CE; “JTTW” hereafter). It is generally portrayed as a ringlet of gold with blunt ends that meet in the middle of the forehead and curl upwards like scowling eyebrows (type one) (fig. 1). A different version is a single band adorned with an upturned crescent shape in the center (type two) (fig. 2). Another still is a simple band devoid of decoration (type three) (fig. 3). Sun first earns the headband as punishment for murdering humans. The circlet is a heaven-sent magic treasure designed to reign in the immortal’s unruly, rebellious nature. Since Sun Wukong is a personification of the Buddhist concept of the “Monkey of the Mind” (xinyuan, 心猿), or the disquieted mind that bars humanity from enlightenment, the fillet serves as a not-so-subtle reminder of Buddhist restraint. Few scholars writing in English have attempted to analyze the treasure’s history.
In this paper, I present textual and visual evidence from India, China, and Japan that suggests it is ultimately based on a ritual headband worn by Esoteric Buddhist Yogin ascetics in 8th century CE India. I also show how such fillets became the emblem of some Chinese protector deities, as well as military monks in Chinese opera.
Table of Contents
1. Literary Origin and Purpose
The headband is first mentioned in chapter eight when three such “tightening fillets” are given to the Bodhisattva Guanyin by the Buddha in order to conquer any demons that she may come across while searching for a scripture pilgrim:
“These treasures are called the tightening fillets, and though they are all alike, their uses are not the same. I have a separate spell for each of them: the Golden, the Constrictive, and the Prohibitive Spell. If you encounter on the way any monster who possesses great magic powers, you must persuade him to learn to be good and to follow the scripture pilgrim as his disciple. If he is disobedient, this fillet may be put on his head, and it will strike root the moment it comes into contact with the flesh. Recite the particular spell which belongs to the fillet and it will cause the head to swell and ache so painfully that he will think his brains are bursting. That will persuade him to come within our fold” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 206-207).
此寶喚做緊箍兒，雖是一樣三個，但只是用各不同。我有金緊禁的咒語三篇。假若路上撞見神通廣大的妖魔，你須是勸他學好，跟那取經人做個徒弟。他若不伏使喚，可將此箍兒與他戴在頭上，自然見肉生根。各依所用的咒語念一念，眼脹頭痛，腦門皆裂，管教他入我門來。
Guanyin later explains in JTTW chapter 42 which demons get which fillet (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, p. 251).
Sun Wukong earns the “Constrictive” (jin, 緊) band in JTTW chapter 14 after brutally murdering six thieves who accost his master Tripitaka, the chosen scripture pilgrim, on the road to the west. The killings cause the two to part ways, and it is during Monkey’s absence when Guanyin gives the monk a brocade hat containing the fillet and teaches him the “True Words for Controlling the Mind, or the Tight-Fillet Spell” (喚做『定心真言』，又名做『緊箍兒咒』) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 317). Sun is eventually persuaded to return and tricked into wearing the hat under the guise of gaining the ability to recite scripture without rote memorization. It soon takes root, and the powerful immortal is brought under control through the application of pain. He then promises to behave and to protect Tripitaka during their long journey to the Western Paradise. [1]
The remaining two fillets are used by Guanyin to conquer monsters in later episodes. She throws the “Prohibitive” (jin, 禁) band onto the head of the Black Bear Demon (Hei xiong jing, 黑熊精) in JTTW chapter 17, and after reciting the spell, he agrees to become the rear entrance guard of her Potalaka Island paradise (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 365). The “Golden” (jin, 金) band is split into five rings—one each for the head, wrists, and ankles—and used to subdue Red Boy (Hong hai’er, 紅孩兒), the fire-spewing son of the Bull Demon King and Princess Iron Fan, at the end of JTTW chapter 42 and the beginning of 43 (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 251-252). The child demon becomes her disciple and eventually takes the religious name “Sudhana.” [2]
Monkey is forced to wear the fillet until he attains Buddhahood in JTTW chapter 100, causing it to vanish (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, p. 383). The band’s disappearance at the end of the novel denotes Sun’s internalization of self-control, but the treasure doesn’t disappear forever. It appears once more in the Later Journey to the West (Hou Xiyouji, 後西游記, 17th century CE), an unofficial sequel set 200 years after the original. The story follows a similar trajectory, with Monkey’s descendant Sun Luzhen (孫履真, “Monkey who Walks Reality”) attaining immortality and causing havoc in heaven. But this time the macaque Buddha is called in to quell the demon. Monkey quickly disarms the “Small Sage Equaling Heaven” of his iron staff and pacifies him not with trickery but with an enlightening Buddhist koan. He then places the band on Luzhen’s head to teach him restraint (see Liu, 1994).
Fig. 1 – (Left) The “Type One” headband. From the comedy A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella (1995). (Center) The “Type Two” headband. From the famous 1986 TV show. (Right) The “Type Three” headband. From the 2011 TV show (larger version).
2. Past Research into the Origins of the Headband
It appears very few scholars writing in English have attempted to trace the origins of the golden fillet. Wang Tuancheng theorizes that the idea for the headband came from two sources. First, the historical journal of Xuanzang (602–664 CE), the Tang Dynasty monk on whom Tripitaka is loosely based, details how he was challenged to a religious debate by a man in a foreign kingdom who offered his own head as the price of defeat. Xuanzang won, but instead of collecting his prize, the monk took the man as his servant. Second, Wang notes that slaves during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) wore a metal collar around their neck shaped like the Chinese character for twenty (nian, 廿). He goes on to explain: “…the author transformed the metal hoop that the non-Buddhist might have worn to Sun Wukong’s headband” (Wang, 2006, p. 67).
I’m not particularly persuaded by this argument since Wang doesn’t offer any evidence as to why a Han-era slave implement would still be in use during the Tang (618–907 CE) four to five hundred years later; nor does he suggest a reason for why such a collar would be moved from the neck to the head. Besides, there exists religious art featuring the fillet (see below) that predates the novel by centuries, meaning it wasn’t the sole invention of the JTTW author-compiler.
Before I continue, I would like to point out that the 13th century CE precursor of the novel, The Story of How Tripitaka of the Great Tang Procures the Scriptures, does not mention the fillet at all. (This is just one of many differences between it and the final 16th century CE version.) Monkey is simply portrayed as a concerned celestial who purposely seeks out Tripitaka to ensure his safety, as the monk’s two previous incarnations have perished on the journey to India. In other words, he comes as a willing participant, which negates the need for punishment via the ringlet. [3] But at least two pictorial representations of Monkey coinciding with the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE) depict him wearing a band, which, again, excludes the treasure being a later invention.
In her excellent paper on the origins of Sun Wukong, Hera S. Walker (1998) discusses a 13th century CE stone relief from the western pagoda of the Kaiyuan Temple (開元寺) in Quanzhou, Fujian province, China that portrays a sword-wielding, monkey-headed warrior (pp. 69-70). Considered by many to be an early depiction of Monkey, the figure wears a robe, a Buddhist rosary, and, most importantly, a type one fillet on the forehead (Fig. 4). [4] Walker quotes Victor Mair, who believes that the fillet “recalls the band around the head of representations of Andira, the simian guardian of Avalokitesvara” (the Indian counterpart to Guanyin) (Walker, 1998, p. 70). He goes on to list similarities between the stone relief and depictions of Andira, while also suggesting said depictions are based on south and southeast Asian representations of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman:
Identical earrings (these are key iconographic features of H[anuman] in many Southeast Asian R[ama saga]s), comparable tilt of the head… which seems to indicate enforced submission, long locks of hair… flaring out behind the head, elongated monkey’s mouth, similar decorations on the forearm and upper arm, etc. It is crucial to note that all these features can be found in South Asian and Southeast Asian representations of H[anuman] (Walker, 1998, p. 70).
So as it stands, the 13th century CE appears to be the furthest that the motif has been reliably traced.
Fig. 4 – The 13th century CE stone relief of Sun Wukong from the Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, Fujian province, China (larger version).
3. My Findings
While Mair suggests a Southeast Asian Hindo-Buddhist influence, I know of at least one example from northeastern China that suggests an Indo-Tibetan Buddhist influence. The Eastern Thousand Buddha Cave no. 2 (Dong qianfo dong di 2 ku, 東千佛洞第2窟) in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province contains a late-Xixia dynasty (late-12th to early-13th century CE) mural of Xuanzang worshiping Guanyin from a riverbank. Monkey stands behind him tending to a brown horse. He is portrayed with a type three circlet on his head, waist length hair, and light blue-green robes with brown pants (fig. 5). This painting was completed during a time when China was seeing an influx of monks fleeing the inevitable fall of India’s Buddhist-led Pala Dynasty (750–1174 CE) from the 10th to the 12th century CE. They brought with them the highly influential Pala Buddhist art style and Vajrayana Buddhism, a form of esoteric Buddhism. The MET (2010) writes:
A mixture of Chinese-style and Vajrayana traditions and imagery was employed in the Tangut Xixia Kingdom … which was based in Ningxia, Gansu, and parts of Shanxi … It is difficult to imagine that this “new” type of Buddhism, which not only was flourishing in Tibet in the late tenth century but was also found in the neighboring Xixia Kingdom and may have been practiced by Tibetans based in the Hexi Corridor region of Gansu Province, was completely unknown in central China until the advent of the Mongols (p. 19).
The painting of Monkey and Tripitaka was surely created by an Indian or Tibetan Buddhist monk, or at the very least a fellow Tangut or Chinese practitioner living in the area. This suggests that the imagery within the painting, such as the fillet, could have an Esoteric Buddhist pedigree, and textual evidence shows such headbands were indeed worn in some esoteric rituals.
For example, the Indian Buddhist Hevajra Tantra (Dabei kongzhi jingang dajiao wang yigui jing, 大悲空智金剛大教王儀軌經, 8th century CE) instructs adherents on how to adorn and dress themselves for worshipping Heruka, a Wrathful Destroyer of Obstacles:
The yogin must wear the sacred ear-rings, and the circlet on his head (emphasis added); on his wrists the bracelets, and the girdle round his waist, rings around his ankles, bangles round his arms; he wears the bone-necklace and for his dress a tiger-skin… (Linrothe, 1999, p. 250).
彼修觀者當如是行：謂頂想寶輪、耳帶、寶鐶，手串寶釧，腰垂寶帶，足繫寶鐸及妙臂釧，頸嚴寶鬘衣、虎皮衣 …
Furthermore, it describes how each of the ritual adornments and implements used in the ceremony represents each of the five esoteric Buddhas, as well as other religio-philosophical elements:
Aksobhya is symbolized by the circlet (emphasis added), Amitabha by the ear-rings, Ratnesa by the necklace, and Vairocana (by the rings) upon the wrists. Amogha is symbolized by the girdle. Wisdom by the khatvanga [staff] and Means by the drum, while the yogin represents the Wrathful One himself [i.e. Heruka]. Song symbolizes mantra, dance symbolizes meditation, and so singing and dancing the yogin always acts (Linrothe, 1999, p. 251).
「輪者，表阿閦如來；鐶者，無量壽如來；頸上鬘者，寶生如來；手寶釧者，大毘盧遮那如來；腰寶帶者，不空成就如來。於是色相而生念住：金剛渴椿誐杖者，表勝慧相；奎樓鼓者，即善方便故；瑜伽行者，瞋業清淨；住金剛歌詠者，真言清淨。
「又復，不應為求利養作是金剛歌舞事業。是故，瑜伽者當如是行…
As can be seen, the circlet represents Aksobhya (Sk: “Immovable”; Ch: Achu, 阿閦; Budong, 不動). This deity is known for his adamantine vow to attain buddhahood through the practice of Sila, or “morality,” the aim of which “is to restrain nonvirtuous deeds of body and speech, often in conjunction with the keeping of precepts” (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, pp. 27 and 821). So, the ritual band most likely served as a physical reminder of right speech and action, making it the best candidate for the origin of Monkey’s fillet. Sun is after all the representation of the “Monkey of the Mind” (as noted in the introduction), so his inclusion in the Eastern Thousand Buddha Cave painting was probably meant to convey the taming of this Buddhist concept via the circlet (apart from referencing the popular tale itself).
The Hevajra Tantra, the text in which the circlet appears, was first translated into Tibetan by Drogmi (993–1074 CE) and adopted during the 11th century CE as a central text by the respective founders of the Kagyu and Sakya sects, two of the six major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Various members of the Sakya sect were invited by Mongol royalty to initiate them into the text’s esoteric teachings during the 13th century CE. These include Sakya Pandita and his nephew Chogyal Phagpa, who tutored Genghis Khan‘s grandson Prince Goden in 1244 and Kublai Khan in 1253, respectively. The meeting between Kublai and Chogyal resulted in Vajrayana Buddhism becoming the state religion of Mongolia. The Hevajra Tantra was translated into Chinese by the Indian monk Dharmapala (963–1058 CE) in 1055 during the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127 CE). The text, however, did not become popular within the Chinese Buddhist community like it would with the Mongols in the 13th century CE (Bangdel & Huntington, 2003, p. 455). But this evidence shows how the concept of the 8th century CE ritual circlet could have traveled from India to East Asia to influence depictions of Sun Wukong in the 12th/13th century CE. And the relatively unknown status of the text in China might ultimately explain why there are so few ancient depictions of Chinese deities wearing the fillet, or why it does not appear in the 13th century CE version of JTTW.
While the late-Xixia mural (fig. 5) lacks many of the ritual adornments (apart from the fillet) mentioned in the Hevajra Tantra, the Quanzhou stone relief (refer back to fig. 3) includes the band, earrings, necklace, bangles, and possibly even a tiger skin apron, suggesting it too has an esoteric origin (most likely based on Chinese source material). The band’s connection to esoteric Buddhism is further strengthened by a 12th century CE painting from Japan. Titled Aka-Fudo (赤不動), or “Red Fudo [Myoo],” it depicts the wrathful esoteric god seated in a kingly fashion, holding a fiery, serpent-wrapped Vajra sword in one hand and a lasso in the other (fig. 6). He wears a golden, three-linked headband (similar to the curls of type one), which stands out against his deep red body and flaming aureola. Biswas (2010) notes: “… the headband on his forehead … indicate[s], according to some, a relation to the habit of groups of ascetics who were among the strong supporters of Acalanatha” (p. 112). His supporters were no doubt yogin practitioners in the same vein as those who worshipped Heraku and other such wrathful protector deities.
Fig. 5 – A portion of the late-Xixia (late-12th to early-13th century CE mural) in the Eastern Thousand Buddha Cave number two (larger version). Fig. 6 – The 12th century CE Japanese painting “Aka-Fudo” (赤不動) (larger version).
3.1. Symbol of Martial Deities and Warrior Monks
It’s important to note that Monkey was not the only cultural hero of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 CE) to wear a golden fillet. Another example is Li Tieguai (李鐵拐), or “Iron Crutch Li,” the oldest of the Eight Immortals. [5] Li is generally portrayed as a crippled beggar leaning on a cane. Legend has it that his original body was cremated prematurely by a disciple while the immortal traveled in spirit to answer a summons from Lord Laozi, the high god of Daoism. Li’s spirit returned a day later to find only ashes, thus forcing him to inhabit the body of a recently deceased cripple. According to Allen and Philips (2012), “Laozi gave him in recompense a golden headband and the crutch that was to become his symbol” (p. 108). Some depictions of Li wearing the fillet predate JTTW. The most striking example is Huang Ji’s Sharpening a Sword (early-15th century CE) (Fig. 7), which portrays the immortal wearing a type three band and sharpening a double-edged blade on a stone while staring menacingly at the viewer. [6] One theory suggests Li’s martial visage identifies him as a “spirit-guardian of the [Ming] state” (Little, 2000, p. 333). Both Monkey and Li are, therefore, portrayed as brutish, weapon-bearing, golden headband-wearing immortals who serve as protectors. This shows that the fillet was associated with certain warrior deities during the Ming.
The fillet’s connection to religion and martial attributes culminated in the Jiegu (戒箍, “ring to forget desires”), a type two band worn by Military Monks (Wuseng, 武僧) in Chinese opera to show that they have taken a vow of abstinence (fig. 8). Such monks are depicted as wearing a Jiegu over long hair (Bonds, 2008, pp. 177-178 and 328), which contrasts with the bald heads of religious monks. [7] I would like to suggest that the band’s half-moon shape may have some connection to a Ming-era woodblock print motif in which martial monks are shown wielding staves tipped with a crescent (fig. 9) . The exact reason for the shape is still unknown (Shahar, 2008, pp. 97-98), but the association between the crescent and martial monks seems obvious. (See the 07-25-22 update below for the foreign origins of this motif.) The use of the fillet in Chinese opera led to it being worn by Sun Wukong in the highly popular 1986 live-action TV show adaptation of the novel (fig. 2). [8]
Fig. 7 (Left) – Huang Ji’s “Sharpening a Sword” (early-15th century CE) (larger version). Fig. 8 (Center) – An image of the military monk Wu Song wearing a jiegu (戒箍) fillet from a 2011 Water Margin TV show (larger version). Fig. 9 (Right) – A late-Ming woodblock of the warrior monk Lu Zhishen with a crescent staff (larger version). From Shahar (2008).
4. Conclusion
Examples of past research into the origins of the golden fillet respectively point to a slave collar from the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) and circa 13th century CE South and Southeast Asian depictions of the Buddhist guardian Andira and the Hindu monkey god Hanuman as possible precursors. However, the first isn’t credible, and the second, while on the right track, doesn’t go back far enough. A late-12th to early-13th century CE mural in the Eastern Thousand Buddha Cave complex depicts Sun Wukong wearing a type three fillet with possible ties to a ritual circlet worn by Esoteric Buddhist Yogin ascetics in 8th century CE India. The Hevajra Tantra, the esoteric text that mentions the band, associates it with the Aksobhya Buddha and thereby his moralistic, self-restraining practices. The text was transmitted from India to Tibet, China, and Mongolia from the 11th to the 13th centuries CE, showing a clear path for such imagery to appear in East Asia. A 12th century CE Japanese Buddhist painting of the guardian deity Fudo Myoo with a fillet suggests that the practice of wearing circlets in esoteric rituals continued for centuries. Other non-Buddhist deities became associated with the fillet during the Ming Dynasty. A 15th century CE painting of the immortal Li Tieguai, for example, depicts him as a type one circlet-wearing, sword-wielding guardian of the Ming dynasty. All of this suggests that the band became a symbol of Chinese protector deities. The association between the fillet and religion and martial attributes led to its use as the symbol of military monks in Chinese opera.
5. Updates
Update: 12-23-17
I’ve been wondering what the 8th century CE version of the circlet (along with the other ritual implements) mentioned in the Hevajra Tantra might have looked like. While I have yet to find a contemporary sculpture or painting, I have found an 11th to 12th century CE interpretation from Tibet. Titled The Buddhist Deity Hevajra (fig. 10), this copper alloy statue somewhat follows the prescribed iconography of the god as laid out in the aforementioned text:
Dark blue and like the sun in colour with reddened and extended eyes, his yellow hair twisted upwards, and adorned with the five symbolic adornments,/ the circlet, the ear-rings and necklace, the bracelets and belt. These five symbols are well known for the purificatory power of the Five Buddhas./ He has the form of a sixteen-year-old youth and is clad in a tiger-skin. His gaze is wrathful. In his left hand he holds a vajra-skull, and a khatvahga [staff] likewise in his left, while in his right is a vajra of [a] dark hue…(Linrothe, 1999, p. 256)
Fig. 10 – The Buddhist Deity Hevajra, late-11th to early-12th century CE, copper alloy (larger version). Courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Fig. 11 – Detail of the circlet (larger version).
The circlet here is depicted as a fitted band with crescent trim and a teardrop-shaped adornment (a conch?) (fig. 11). The statue’s iconography more closely follows that from the Sadhanamala (“Garland of Methods”), a compilation of esoteric texts from the 5th to 11th centuries CE. The following information probably derives from the later part of this period:
He wields the vajra in the right hand and from his left shoulder hangs the Khatvanga [staff] with a flowing banner, like a sacred thread. He carries in his left hand the kapala [skull cap] full of blood. His necklace is beautified by a chain of half-a-hundred severed heads. His face is slightly distorted with bare fangs and blood-shot eyes. His brown hair rises upwards and forms into a crown which bears the effigy of Aksobhya. He wears a kundala [ear decoration] and is decked in ornaments of bones. His head is beautified by five skulls (Donaldson, 2001, p. 221).
Our statue has many of these features but lacks the image of the Buddha in his hair. This suggests the knob visible in the coif (fig. 10) once carried such a figure. So, once again we see the importance of the Aksobhya Buddha. The statue is similar to 10th and 11th century CE stone statues from India. [9]
While this doesn’t get us any closer to what the original circlet looked like, this statue adds to the mutability of the fillet imagery. The Hevajra Tantra is vague in its description, and so it is no surprise that so many variations have appeared over the centuries. The original sanskrit text uses the word cakri (circle) to refer to the band (Farrow & Menon, 2001, pp. 61-62). This might explain the simple type three fillet worn by Monkey in the Eastern Thousand Buddha Cave no. two painting (fig. 2).
Update: 08-16-20
I have written an article suggesting an origin for the type one headband, or as I now call it, the “curlicue headband.”
Sun Wukong’s Curlicue-Style Headband
Update: 12-12-21
One thing I figured out a while ago but never explained here was the reason why the Japanese Buddhist protector deity Aka-Fudo (赤不動) (fig. 6) is depicted with a headband. I believe this is a visual representation of the fillet’s association with the Aksobhya Buddha. This is because the fudo (Ch: budong, 不動) of Aka-Fudo and the Sanskrit meaning of Aksobhya respectively mean “immovable.” So, the image of Aka-Fudo is encapsulating both his position as a protector deity and the Buddha represented by the headband.
Update: 01-23-22
I’ve written an article suggesting a mantra for the secret spell that causes the golden fillet to tighten.
The Tightening Spell of Sun Wukong’s Golden Headband
Update: 07-25-22
I’ve written an article that explains the origins of the “crescent-style” headband.
The Monkey King’s Crescent-Style Headband
Update: 06-26-23
Above, I mentioned that the novel contains three kinds of headbands:
- Sun Wukong/Six Ears – “Constrictive” (jin, 緊) – ch. 14
- Black Bear Demon – “Prohibitive” (jin, 禁) – ch. 17
- Red Boy – “Golden” (jin, 金) – ch. 42
It’s interesting that all of them are pronounced “jin” (with varying tones).
Now imagine that there is a secret fourth headband not intended to punish but to empower. Called the “Strength” (jin, 勁) headband, it would only be used in the most extreme emergencies.
It would be neat to see someone work this into their fanfiction.
Update: 12-24-23
A character is briefly punished to wear a golden headband in the famed Ming-era novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen yanyi, 封神演義, c. 1620; summary). Chapter 82 reads:
Ma Sui [馬遂] attacked him with his sword, and after only one round, threw a gold hoop [jingu, 金箍] around the immortal’s head. The Yellow Dragon Immortal [Huanglong zhenren, 黃龍真人] writher in pain but was quickly rescued and brought back to the pavilion.
The Yellow Immortal Dragon Immortal tried to take the hoop off his head but found it was impossible. It was so tight the true samadhi fire went out of his eyes.
The Immortal of the South Pole [Nanji xianweng, 南極仙翁] came in to announce Heavenly Primogenitor’s [Yuanshi tianzun, 元始天尊] arrival. The religious leader entered the pavilion and said, “The Yellow Dragon Immortal was destined to be caught in this gold hoop. Come here and let me help you.”
He pointed at the gold hoop, and it dropped to the ground (Gu, 2000, pp. 1713-1715).
只一合，馬遂祭起金箍，把黃龍真人的頭箍住了。真人頭疼不可忍，眾仙急救真人，大家回蘆篷上來。真人急忙除金箍，除又除不掉，只箍得三昧真火從眼中冒出；大家鬧在一處。不表。且說元始天尊來會萬仙陣，先著南極仙翁持玉符先行。南極仙翁跨鶴而來，雲光縹緲。馬遂抬頭，見是南極仙翁，急駕雲光至半空中來，阻住去路。仙翁笑曰：「馬遂，你休要猖獗，掌教師尊來了。」馬遂正欲爭持，只見後面仙樂一派，遍地異香，馬遂知不可爭持，按落雲頭，回歸本陣。南極仙翁先至蘆篷，率眾仙迎鑾接駕，上篷坐下。眾門人拜畢，侍立兩傍。元始曰：「黃龍真人有金箍之厄。」忙叫：「過來。」黃龍真人走至面前；元始用手一指，金箍隨脫。
(Gu (2000) skips over some elements in the original Chinese.)
I’ve known about this episode for a while but forget to post about it.
Notes
1) For the entire episode, see Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 314-320.
2) The child first speaks his new name in chapter 49 (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, p. 354). The original Sudhana originates from the Avatamsaka Sutra (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 386-387 n. 3).
3) For a complete English translation, see Wivell (1994).
4) This is just one of many relief carvings that grace the pagoda. It includes other guardian-type figures with esoteric elements but rendered in the Chinese style. See Ecke and Demiéville (1935).
5) The Eight Immortals are Daoist saints who came to be worshipped as a group starting sometime in the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234 CE) (Little, 2000, p. 319).
6) The sword is usually a symbol of the immortal Lu Dongbin, but as noted above, it is used to identify Li Tieguai as a Ming guardian (Little, 2000, p. 333).
7) Shahar (2008) discusses the historical differences between religious and military monks in ancient China.
8) Liu Xiao Ling Tong (六小龄童; born Zhang Jinlai, 章金萊, 1959), the actor who played Monkey in the 1986 TV show, comes from a family who has specialized in playing Sun Wukong in Chinese opera for generations (Ye, 2016).
9) See the Heruka chapter in Linrothe (1999). He includes our statue in his study, but other sources describe it as Tibetan instead of Indian (Bangdel & Huntington, 2003, p. 458).
Bibliography
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