2. Examples

2.1. Chapter 9

Shortly before Tripitaka’s birth, his father, Chen Guangrui (陳光蕊), is beaten to death by bandits disguised as boatmen, and his body is thrown into the river. The local Dragon King repays a kindness done to him by Guangrui by preserving the official’s body with a magic pearl (dingyan zhu, 定顏珠; lit: “feature-preserving pearl”) and requesting through a bureaucratic chain that the man’s soul be delivered (from the underworld) to serve as a courtier in the dragon kingdom (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 220). Both halves are eventually rejoined some 18 years later:

Facing the river the three persons wept without restraint, and their sobs were heard down below in the water region. A yakṣa patrolling the waters brought the essay in its spirit form to the Dragon King, who read it and at once sent a turtle marshal to fetch Guangrui. “Sir,” said the king, “Congratulations! Congratulations! At this moment, your wife, your son, and your father-in-law are offering sacrifices to you at the bank of the river. I am now letting your soul go so that you may return to life. […] Today you will enjoy the reunion of husband and wife, mother and son.” After Guangrui had given thanks repeatedly, the Dragon King ordered a yakṣa to escort his body to the mouth of the river and there to return his soul. The yakṣa followed the order and left.

We tell you now about Lady Yin [Yin xiaojie, 殷小姐], who, having wept for some time for her husband, would have [tried to kill herself again] by plunging into the water if Xuanzang [玄奘; i.e. Tripitaka] had not desperately held on to her. They were struggling pitifully when they saw a dead body floating toward the river bank [fig. 2]. The lady hurriedly went forward to look at it. Recognizing it as her husband’s body, she burst into even louder wailing. As the other people gathered around to look, they suddenly saw Guangrui unclasping his fists and stretching his legs. The entire body began to stir, and in a moment he clambered up to the bank and sat down, to the infinite amazement of everyone. Guangrui opened his eyes and saw Lady Yin, the chief minister Yin, his father-in-law, and a youthful monk [i.e. Tripitaka], all weeping around him. “Why are you all here?” said Guangrui (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 228-229).

三人望江痛哭，早已驚動水府，有巡海夜叉將祭文呈與龍王。龍王看罷，就差鱉元帥去請光蕊來到，道：「先生，恭喜，恭喜。今有先生夫人、公子同岳丈俱在江邊祭你。我今送你還魂去也。[…] 你今日便可夫妻子母相會也。」光蕊再三拜謝。龍王就令夜叉將光蕊身屍送出江口還魂。夜叉領命而去。

卻說殷小姐哭奠丈夫一番，又欲將身赴水而死，慌得玄奘拚命扯住。正在倉皇之際，忽見水面上一個死屍浮來，靠近江岸之傍。小姐忙向前認看，認得是丈夫的屍首，一發嚎啕大哭不已。眾人俱來觀看，只見光蕊舒拳伸腳，身子漸漸展動，忽地爬將起來坐下。眾人不勝驚駭。光蕊睜開眼，早見殷小姐與丈人殷丞相同著小和尚俱在身邊啼哭。光蕊道：「你們為何在此？」

Fig 2 – Yaksha guardians escort Chen Guangrui’s revived body (center right) to the surface of the water. His family and their attendants watch from the river bank (larger version). This is a woodblock print from the Newly Annotated Journey to the West With Illustrations (Xinshuo Xiyouji tuxiang, 新說西遊記圖像, 1888).

2.2. Chapters 11 & 12

The Tang official Liu Quan (劉全) takes poison in order to deliver a royal offering of melons to the Ten Kings of the underworld. He explains that the untimely suicide of his wife, Li Cuilian (李翠蓮), cemented his decision (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 268). This sways the infernal arbiters to help the couple:

Chapter 11

When the Ten Kings heard these words, they asked at once for Li, the wife of Liu Quan; she was brought in by the demon guardian, and wife and husband had a reunion before the Hall of Darkness. They conversed about what had happened and also thanked the Ten Kings for this meeting. King Yama, moreover, examined the Books of Life and Death and found that both husband and wife were supposed to live to a ripe old age. He quickly ordered the demon guardian to take them back to life, but the guardian said, “Since Li Cuilian has been back in the World of Darkness for many days, her body no longer exists. To whom should her soul attach herself?”

“The emperor‘s sister, Li Yuying [李玉英],” said King Yama, “is destined to die very soon. Borrow her body right away so that this woman can return to life.” The demon guardian obeyed the order and led Liu Quan and his wife out of the Region of Darkness [Yin si, 陰司] to return to life. We do not know how the two of them returned to life (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 268).

十王聞言，即命查勘劉全妻李氏。那鬼使速取來在森羅殿下，與劉全夫妻相會。訴罷前言，回謝十王恩宥。那閻王卻檢生死簿子看時，他夫妻們都有登仙之壽，急差鬼使送回。鬼使啟上道：「李翠蓮歸陰日久，屍首無存，魂將何附？」閻王道：「唐御妹李玉英今該促死，你可借他屍首，教他還魂去也。」那鬼使領命，即將劉全夫妻二人還魂，同出陰司而去。

畢竟不知夫妻二人如何還魂，且聽下回分解。

Chapter 12

We were telling you about the demon guardian who was leading Liu Quan and his wife out of the Region of Darkness. Accompanied by a swirling dark wind, they went directly back to Chang’ an of the great nation. The demon pushed the soul of Liu Quan into the Golden Court Pavilion Lodge, but the soul of Cuilian was brought into the inner court of the royal palace. Just then the Princess Yuying was walking beneath the shadows of flowers along a path covered with green moss. The demon guardian crashed right into her and pushed her to the ground; her living soul was snatched away and the soul of Cuilian was pushed into Yuying’s body instead [fig. 3]. The demon guardian then returned to the Region of Darkness, and we shall say no more about that (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 269).

卻說鬼使同劉全夫妻二人出了陰司，那陰風遶遶，徑到了長安大國，將劉全的魂靈推入金亭館裡，將翠蓮的靈魂帶進皇宮內院。只見那玉英宮主正在花陰下，徐步綠苔而行，被鬼使撲個滿懷，推倒在地，活捉了他魂，卻將翠蓮的魂靈推入玉英身內。鬼使回轉陰司不題。

Li Cuilian revives in the new body with all of her past memories, but the Tang Emperor thinks that his “sister” is delusional (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 269-270). Off page, Liu Quan’s spirit is forced back into his own body and brought back to life. He soon thereafter arrives to corroborate the story of the princess/his wife (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 270).

Fig. 3 – The demon guard steals Li Yuling’s spirit and replaces it with that of Li Cuilian (larger version). These are two graffitied woodblock prints from The Illustrated Journey to the West (Ehon Saiyuki, 繪本西遊記, 1835), the first complete Japanese translation of the novel.

2.3. Chapters 38 & 39

In chapter 38, Monkey tricks Zhu Bajie into entering a hidden well and swimming to a dragon kingdom to retrieve a “treasure,” which is actually the magic pearl-preserved corpse of a drowned king (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 186-189). Angered by the deception, Zhu schemes to get his religious brother in trouble (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, p. 190). And at the end of the section and the beginning of next (chapter 39), he convinces Tripitaka to use the tight-fillet spell to force Sun to resurrect the monarch using a harder method. Instead of simply retrieving his soul from the underworld (more on this process below), our hero is forced to appeal to heaven (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 191-192), where he fetches a pill of “Soul-Restoring Elixir of Nine Reversions” (Jiuzhuan huanhun dan, 九轉還魂丹) from Laozi (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 194-195). This leads to the following events:

… Pilgrim spat out the elixir and placed it inside the lips of the king. Then with both hands, he pulled the jaws of the king apart, and using a mouthful of clean water [from an alms bowl], he flushed the golden elixir down to the king’s stomach. After about half an hour, loud gurgling noises came from the belly of the king, although his body remained immobile. “Master,” said Pilgrim, “even my golden elixir [3] seems unable to revive him! Could it be that old Monkey’s going to be finished off by blackmail?” Tripitaka said, “Nonsense! There’s no reason for him not to live. How could he swallow that water if he had been only a corpse dead for a long time? It had to be the divine power of that golden elixir, which entrance into his stomach now causes the intestines to growl. When that happens, it means that circulation and pulse are in harmonious motion once more. His breath, however, is still stopped and cannot flow freely. But that’s to be expected when a man has been submerged in a well for three years; after all, even raw iron would be completely rusted. That’s why his primal breath is all used up, and someone should give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

Eight Rules walked forward and was about to do this when he was stopped by Tripitaka. “You can’t do it,” he said. “Wukong still should take over.” That elder indeed had presence of mind, for Zhu Eight Rules, you see, had been a cannibal since his youth, and his breath was unclean. Pilgrim, on the other hand, had practiced self-cultivation since his birth, the food sustaining him being various fruits and nuts, and thus his breath was pure. [4] The Great Sage, therefore, went forward and clamped his thundergod beak to the lips of the king: a mighty breath was blown through his throat to descend the tiered towers. Invading the bright hall, it reached the cinnabar field and the jetting-spring points beyond before it reversed its direction and traveled to the mud-pill chamber of the crown [fig. 4]. With a loud swoosh, the king’s breath came together and his spirit returned; he turned over and at once flexed his hands and feet, crying, “Master!” Going then to his knees, he said, “I remember my soul as a ghost did see you last night, but I did not expect this morning my spirit would return to the World of Light.” Tripitaka hurriedly tried to raise him, saying, “Your Majesty, I didn’t do anything. You should thank my disciple” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 195-196).

行者接了水，口中吐出丹來，安在那皇帝唇裡。兩手扳開牙齒，用一口清水，把金丹沖灌下肚。有半個時辰，只聽他肚裡呼呼的亂響，只是身體不能轉移。行者道：「師父，弄我金丹也不能救活，可是掯殺老孫麼？」三藏道：「豈有不活之理？似這般久死之屍，如何吞得水下？此乃金丹之仙力也。自金丹入腹，卻就腸鳴了，腸鳴乃血脈和動，但氣絕不能迴伸。莫說人在井裡浸了三年，就是生鐵也上鏽了。只是元氣盡絕，得個人度他一口氣便好。」那八戒上前就要度氣，三藏一把扯住道：「使不得，還教悟空來。」那師父甚有主張：原來豬八戒自幼兒傷生作孽吃人，是一口濁氣。惟行者從小修持，咬松嚼柏，吃桃果為生，是一口清氣。這大聖上前，把個雷公嘴，噙著那皇帝口唇，呼的一口氣吹入咽喉，度下重樓，轉明堂，徑至丹田，從湧泉倒返泥垣 [丸]宮。呼的一聲響喨，那君王氣聚神歸，便翻身，掄拳曲足，叫了一聲：「師父。」雙膝跪在塵埃道：「記得昨夜鬼魂拜謁，怎知道今朝天曉返陽神。」三藏慌忙攙起道：「陛下，不干我事，你且謝我徒弟。」

(Before continuing, I want to explain the esoteric jargon used to describe the path that Sun’s breath follows inside the king. First is the “tiered towers” (chonglou, 重樓; a.k.a. “12-story tower,” shi’er lou, 十二樓), or the trachea (Pregadio, 2025f). Second is the “bright hall” (mingtang, 明堂; a.k.a. “hall of light”), or the lungs (Pregadio, 2025c). Third is the “cinnabar field” (dantian, 丹田), one of three similarly named spiritual centers of the body. This one is commonly referred to as the “middle cinnabar field,” and it “is the place [around the navel] where essence and spirit are stored” (Pregadio, 2025a). Fourth is the “jetting-spring points” (yongquan xue, 湧泉穴), or pressure points on the bottom of the feet (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 528 n. 7; Pregadio, 2025b, p. 312 n. 10). And fifth is the “mud-pill chamber” (niwan gong, 泥丸宮; [5] a.k.a. “Palace of the Muddy Pellet”), or the “upper cinnabar field,” and it is “the residence of [s]pirit” located at the crown of the head (Pregadio, 2025d; 2025e). Taken together, the following route forms: the breath flows through the trachea and into the lungs, continues into the abdomen and down to the feet, and it finally reverses course and terminates in the brain.)

Fig. 4 – The king is resurrected with the help of Monkey’s rescue breathing (larger version). The image is from a modern Journey to the West lianhuanhua pocket comic.

2.4. Chapter 97

Monkey travels to the infernal realm to bring back the spirit of Kou Hong (寇洪), a slain elderly householder who had recently hosted the pilgrims for a month (see here for more background info).

“Kou Hong is a virtuous person,” said the Ten Yama Kings. “We did not have to use a ghost guardian to summon him [when he died]. He came by himself, but when the Golden-Robed Youth of King Kṣitigarbha met him, he led him to see the king.” Pilgrim at once took leave of them to head for the Jade Cloud Palace, where he greeted the Bodhisattva King Kṣitigarbha and gave a thorough account of what took place.

In delight the Bodhisattva said, “It was foreordained that Kou Hong should leave the world without touching a bed or a mat when his allotted age reached its end. Because he had been a person of virtue who fed the monks, I took him in and made him the secretary in charge of the records of good karma. Since the Great Sage has come to ask for him, I shall lengthen his age by another dozen years. He may leave with you.”

The Golden-Robed Youth led out Kou Hong, who, on seeing Pilgrim, cried out, “Master! Master! Save me!” “You were kicked to death by a robber,” said Pilgrim. “This is the place of the Bodhisattva King Kṣitigarbha in the Region of Darkness. Old Monkey has come especially to take you back to the world of light so that you may give your testimony. The Bodhisattva is kind enough to release you and lengthen your age for another dozen years. Thereafter you’ll return here.” The squire bowed again and again.

Having thanked the Bodhisattva, Pilgrim changed the soul of the squire into ether by blowing on him. The ether was stored in his sleeve so that they could leave the house of darkness and go back to the world of light together. Astride the clouds, he soon arrived at the Kou house. Eight Rules was told to pry open the lid of the coffin, and the soul of the squire was pushed into his body. In a moment, he began to breathe once more and revived. Scrambling out of the coffin [fig. 5], the squire kowtowed to the Tang Monk and his three disciples, saying, “Masters! Masters! Having suffered a violent death, I am much obliged for this master’s arrival at the Region of Darkness and returning me to life. His is the kindness of a new creation!” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, pp. 338-339)

十閻王道：「寇洪善士，也不曾有鬼使勾他，他自家到此，遇著地藏王的金衣童子，他引見地藏也。」行者即別了，徑至翠雲宮見地藏王菩薩。菩薩與他禮畢，具言前事。菩薩喜道：「寇洪陽壽，止該卦數命終，不染床蓆，棄世而去。我因他齋僧，是個善士，收他做個掌善緣簿子的案長。既大聖來取，我再延他陽壽一紀，教他跟大聖去。」金衣童子遂領出寇洪。寇洪見了行者，聲聲叫道：「老師，老師，救我一救。」行者道：「你被強盜踢死，此乃陰司地藏王菩薩之處。我老孫特來取你到陽世間對明此事。既蒙菩薩放回，又延你陽壽一紀，待十二年之後，你再來也。」那員外頂禮不盡。

行者謝辭了菩薩，將他吹化為氣，掉於衣袖之間，同去幽府，復返陽間。駕雲頭，到了寇家，即喚八戒捎開材蓋，把他魂靈兒推付本身。須臾間，透出氣來活了。那員外爬出材來，對唐僧四眾磕頭道：「師父，師父，寇洪死於非命，蒙師父至陰司救活，乃再造之恩。」

Fig. 5 – Kou Hong emerges from his coffin shortly after being resurrected (larger version). This is a woodblock print from Mr. Li Zhuowu’s Literary Criticism of Journey to the West (Li Zhuowu xiansheng piping Xiyou ji, 李卓吾先生批評西遊記, late 16th c. or early 17th c.).

3. Analysis

The novel presents two main modes of resurrection: 1) forcing the soul into the original or new body; and 2) compelling the spirit to reform within the old vessel using a magic pill and rescue breathing. The souls of Chen Guangrui, Liu Quan, and Kou Hong are forced back into their old bodies. And a new vessel, that of Princess Li Yuling, is quickly chosen for Li Cuilian as “her (old) body no longer existed” (shihou wu cun, 屍首無存). [6] I’m assuming this was because it was too degraded after burial or was cremated.

This first method requires underworld authorization in one form or another. For example, the Dragon King requests Chen Guangrui’s spirit from a municipal deity (chenghuang, 城隍; a.k.a. city god), a class of urban celestials that manage death gods (among other duties), through a bureaucratic chain:

He at once issued an official dispatch, sending a yakṣa to deliver it to the municipal deity and local spirit of Hongzhou, and asked for the soul of the scholar so that his life might be saved. The municipal deity and the local spirit in turn ordered the little demons to hand over the soul of Chen Guangrui to the yakṣa, who led the soul back to the Water Crystal Palace for an audience with the Dragon King (based on Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 220).

即寫下牒文一道，差夜叉徑往洪州城隍、土地處投下，要取秀才魂魄來，救他的性命。城隍、土地遂喚小鬼把陳光蕊的魂魄交付與夜叉去。夜叉帶了魂魄到水晶宮，稟見了龍王。

As for the others, Liu Quan and his wife are delivered back to life by order of the Ten Judges of the infernal realm, and Sun gains permission to do the same for Kou Hong from Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha, a sort of pope of hell. Therefore, a writer wanting to bring the Tang Monk back using this method needs to keep this in mind.

If the Tripitaka’s old form is destroyed during the journey, finding him a new body opens the door for fanfiction writers to add a new element to his character. The first thing that comes to mind is reviving him as a woman, similar to how actresses portray him in modern Japanese media (fig. 6). A second is resurrecting him in the body of a recently deceased demon. This would create a struggle between his inner and outer selves—i.e. a noble spirit vs a fiendish appearance. (This would be especially hard on him since he was considered a very beautiful man in his original body. [7]) I can already hear Monkey saying, “Hey handsome! Now you know how we (your disciples) feel everyday.” A third is bringing him back as a young child (as sad as that may be). Passersby would be awestruck to see a cadre of monsters catering to a young lad, sort of like Marvel’s Earth-9997 Bruce Banner (fig. 7). And as an added bonus, readers would have the pleasure of reading a scene where an upset Tripitaka looks and points upward at the now taller Monkey King!

Fig. 6 (left) – The Tang Monk as portrayed by actress Masako Natsume in the highly popular Japanese TV show Saiyuki (Jp: 西遊記, 1978-1980; lit: Journey to the West; Eng: “Monkey” and “Monkey Magic”) (larger version). Image found here. Fig. 7 (right) – The Earth-9997 child version of Bruce Banner and his split alter ego, a mindless, gorilla-like Hulk. Image found here. In our case, the child would be Tripitaka and the monster(s) would be Sun, Zhu, and Sha Wujing.

As for the second method, the drowned king is revived with the help of Laojun’s “Soul-Restoring Elixir of Nine Reversions” (Jiuzhuan huanhun dan, 九轉還魂丹) and Sun’s rescue breathing. The celestial medicine is flushed into the monarch’s stomach with water, thus waking up the tissues, and the force of Monkey’s breath and the route that it takes causes the ruler’s “qi (breath, pneumas) to come together and his spirit to return” (qiju shengui, 氣聚神歸). I take this to mean that his soul is reignited or forced to re-coalesce with the body. This is certainly possible considering that the Great Sage has “immortal breath” (xianqi, 仙氣), which has the power to (among other things) manipulate and even strengthen spirits. [8] But it’s not wise to overemphasize Monkey’s ability here. Recall that the only requirement—at least according to the Tang Monk—is someone with “pure breath” (qingqi, 清氣). I’m sure that there are plenty of mortals who fit this description. Otherwise, the pill wouldn’t be needed and Sun could resurrect whomever he wants with a simple exhale of his divine breath.

This mode of revivification does not require underworld authorization, for the magic medicine completely bypasses the bureaucracy and compels the soul to reform inside the body. This proves its great efficacy. However, the method does require heavenly permission of sorts: one would have to convince the Daoist high god to hand over one of his precious pills. (Though, there might be a way around this.) [9] Anyone wanting to bring Tripitaka back using this method needs to keep this info in mind.

3.1. Healing

An interesting side effect of (re)introducing a soul into a vessel is that the original injuries appear to heal, allowing the person to live once more. Recall that Chen Guangrui received a fatal beating, but his likely contusions, lacerations, brain damage, and internal bleeding disappear the moment that his soul is reunited with his body. Likewise, Liu Quan’s poison-damaged innards, the king’s water-logged lungs, and Kou Hong’s exploded testicles [10] seemingly revert to normal when they are raised from the dead. (Though, one might argue that the Dragon King’s respective pearls healed Guangrui and the King. However, someone else might counter that the gem simply kept their corpses from rotting.) Medically speaking, Li Yuling’s quick death might denote a brain hemorrhage of some sort. If true, this, too, heals once Li Cuilian’s spirit is introduced. The same would hold true for Tripitaka provided that his original body isn’t too badly damaged. And this would also hold true for the replacement vessel.

Lastly, an interesting question arises from said resurrection: would the monk’s new (female, child, demonic, etc.) body gain the fabled immortality-bestowing flesh that monster’s crave in Journey to the West. It’s just something to think about.

4. Conclusion

If Tripitaka is killed at some point along the journey to India, he can be resurrected in a few ways, depending on the state of his vessel. With permission of the infernal bureaucracy, his soul can be forced into his original body (like Chen Guangrui, Liu Quan, and Kou Hong), or a new form can be found to house his spirit (like Li Cuilian). Minus underworld authorization, his soul can be compelled to regrow inside his body (like the king) with the help of Laozi’s pill of “Soul-Restoring Elixir of Nine Reversions” and the rescue breathing of some pure-breathed individual. This method does, however, require some heavenly permission as one needs to convince the Daoist high god to hand over his precious medicine. As for the injuries that caused the original or replacement bodies to die, these are seemingly healed when the soul is (re)introduced. Cured trauma from the narrative includes wounds from a fatal beating, poisoned innards, water-logged lungs, exploded testicles, and possibly a brain hemorrhage.

Notes:

1) A local god of the soil explains in chapter 24 that anything exposed to the ginseng fruit will gain a harder-than-iron constitution for 47,000 years (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 462). Tripitaka eventually eats the fruit in chapter 26 (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, p. 14). His divinely durable body is completely forgotten until chapter 92, when his past consumption of the “grass of reverted cinnabar” is mentioned in passing (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, p. 253).

2) Sun Wukong essentially claims that Tripitaka can’t die while under his protection. This happens in chapter 81 while the Tang Monk is bedridden with an illness:

Which Yama king dares make this decision [to reap your soul]? Which judge of Hell has the gall to issue the summons? And which ghostly summoner would come near to take you away?’ If I’m the least bit annoyed, I may well bring out that temperament that greatly disturbed the Celestial Palace and, with my rod flying, fight my way into the Region of Darkness. Once I catch hold of the Ten Yama Kings, I’ll pull their tendons one by one, and even then I’ll not spare them!” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, pp. 81-82).

問道那個閻王敢起心？那個判官敢出票？那個鬼使來勾取？若惱了我，我拿出那大鬧天宮之性子，又一路棍，打入幽冥，捉住十代閻王，一個個抽了他的筋，還不饒他哩。

A character being technically immortal just because the personification of death is too afraid of the person’s bodyguard(s) to reap their soul would make a great story!

3) This is naturally referring to Laozi’s resurrection pill, but Sun claims to have the knowledge to make his own divine medicine in chapter 5: “Since old Monkey has understood the Way and comprehended the mystery of the Internal’s identity with the External, I have also wanted to produce some golden elixir on my own to benefit people” (老孫自了道以來，識破了內外相同之理，也要煉些金丹濟人 …) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 166).

4) The idea that Monkey has pure breath because of a life-long vegetarian diet is contradicted in chapter 27, when he claims to have eaten humans as a young demon.

5) The original Chinese text reads niyuan gong (泥垣宮; lit: “mud-wall chamber”). The central character, yuan (垣; lit: “wall”), is a likely typo for wan (丸; lit: “pill” or “pellet”). This is because the far more common term is niwan gong (泥丸宮; lit: “mud-pill chamber”). I’ve, therefore, corrected the text accordingly.

It’s interesting to note that the typo also appears in chapter two, when Patriarch Subodhi describes the destructive force of a heavenly calamity sent to punish young cultivators:

After another five hundred years Heaven will send down the calamity of fire to burn you. The fire is neither natural nor common fire; its name is the Fire of Yin, and it arises from within your jetting-spring points (i.e. the souls of the feet) to reach even your mud-wall [pill] chamber [niyuan(wan) gong, 泥垣[丸]宮]* (i.e. the crown of the head), reducing your five entrails to ashes and your four limbs to utter ruin. The arduous labor of a millennium will then have been made completely superfluous (based on Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 121).

再五百年後，天降火災燒你。這火不是天火，亦不是凡火，喚做『陰火』。自本身湧泉穴下燒起，直透泥垣[丸]宮，五臟成灰，四肢皆朽，把千年苦行，俱為虛幻。

* Yu’s (Wu & Yu, 2012) original translation mistakenly calls it “the cavity of [the] heart” (vol. 1, p. 121).

6) It occurred to me that Cuilian and Yuling both have the surname Li (李). Perhaps the powers that be chose the latter’s corpse for Liu Quan’s wife because the women were part of the same extended clan and thus related. This could be an unspoken requirement, or it might just be a coincidence. Keep this in mind regarding the Tang Monk’s new body. As a reminder, he is part of the Chen (陳) clan.

7) A poem in chapter 54 describes Tripitaka’s beauty:

What handsome features!
What dignified looks!
Teeth white like silver bricks,
Ruddy lips and a square mouth.
His head’s flat-topped, his forehead, wide and full;
Lovely eyes, neat eyebrows, and a chin that’s long.
Two well-rounded ears betoken someone brave.
He is all elegance, a gifted man.
What a youthful, clever, and comely son of love,
Worthy to wed Western Liang’s gorgeous girl!* (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol.  3, p. 55).

丰姿英偉，相貌軒昂。齒白如銀砌，唇紅口四方。頂平額闊天倉滿，目秀眉清地閣長。兩耳有輪真傑士，一身不俗是才郎。好個妙齡聰俊風流子，堪配西梁窈窕娘。

* This refers to the Queen of the Woman Kingdom of Western Liang (Xiliang nuguo, 西梁女國).

8) As mentioned in chapter 97, Sun transforms Kou Hong’s soul into “ether” (qi, 氣) for better ease of transport to the mortal world. And previously in chapter 88, he performed a ritual in which he used his divine respiration to stoke the spiritual energy of three Indian princes, granting them super strength and possibly some form of divine longevity.

9) At least two characters are shown capable of entering heaven unseen and stealing precious items. Monkey does this in chapter 5 when he uses the “magic of body concealment” (yinshen fa, 隱身法; i.e. invisibility) to loot several jugs of immortal wine for his family and friends (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 167). And in chapter 63, a dragon king explains how his daughter was able to rob the Queen Mother of her magic herbs (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 192). This shows how easy it might be to sneak into heaven to steal Laozi’s magic elixir pill.

Additionally, the Daoist high god is not always present in his heavenly realm, leaving his precious items open to theft. For example, in chapter 52, the reader learns that a powerful spirit is actually Laozi’s buffalo mount that had stolen a magic weapon and fled to earth in his absence (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, pp. 28-29).

10) Chapter 97 explains that the elderly householder is kicked to death by a bandit:

Those robbers, of course, would not permit such discussion. They rushed forward, and one kick at the groin sent Squire Kou tumbling to the ground. Alas!

His three spirits gloomily drifted back to Hades; His seven souls slowly took leave of mankind (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, p. ).

那眾強人哪容分說，趕上前，把寇員外撩陰一腳，踢翻在地。可憐三魂渺渺歸陰府，七魄悠悠別世人！

Sources:

Pregadio, F. (2025a). dan tian 丹田 (dantian). In Dictionary of Taoist Internal Alchemy (pp. 38-39). Leiden: Brill.

Pregadio, F. (2025b). Dictionary of Taoist Internal Alchemy. Leiden: Brill.

Pregadio, F. (2025c). ming tang 明堂 (mingtang). In Dictionary of Taoist Internal Alchemy (p. 161). Leiden: Brill.

Pregadio, F. (2025d). ni wan 泥丸 (niwan). In Dictionary of Taoist Internal Alchemy (pp. 173-174). Leiden: Brill.

Pregadio, F. (2025e). ni wan gong 泥丸宮 (niwan gong). In Dictionary of Taoist Internal Alchemy (p. 174). Leiden: Brill.

Pregadio, F. (2025f). shi er lou 十二樓 (shi’er lou). In Dictionary of Taoist Internal Alchemy (p. 241). Leiden: Brill.

Wu, C., & Yu, A. C. (2012). The Journey to the West (Vols. 1-4) (Rev. ed.). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.