Tag Subhuti

Sun Wukong and the Three Heavenly Calamities

Jim R. McClanahan 2 Comments

Last updated: 11-09-2022

In chapter two, Master Subodhi warns Sun Wukong that he must protect himself from “Three Calamities” (sanzai lihai, 三災利害) sent by heaven to punish him for achieving immortality and defying his fate (fig. 1). These punishments come every half millennia in the form of destructive elements:

Though your appearance will be preserved and your age lengthened, after five hundred years Heaven will send down the calamity of thunder [lei zai, 雷災] to strike you. Hence you must be intelligent and wise enough to avoid it ahead of time. If you can escape it, your age will indeed equal that of Heaven; if not, your life will thus be finished. After another five hundred years Heaven will send down the calamity of fire [huo zai, 火災] to burn you. The fire is neither natural nor common fire; its name is the Fire of Yin [yin huo, 陰火], and it arises from within the soles of your feet to reach even the cavity of your heart, reducing your entrails to ashes and your limbs to utter ruin. The arduous labor of a millennium will then have been made completely superfluous. After another five hundred years the calamity of wind [feng zai, 風災] will be sent to blow at you. It is not the wind from the north, south, east, or west; nor is it one of the winds of four seasons; nor is it the wind of flowers, willows, pines, and bamboos. It is called the Mighty Wind [bi feng, 贔風], and it enters from the top of the skull into the body, passes through the midriff, and penetrates the nine apertures. [1] The bones and the flesh will be dissolved and the body itself will disintegrate. You must therefore avoid all three calamities (Wu & Yu, 2012, pp. 121-122).

These calamities are important because Monkey subsequently learns the 72 transformations in order to escape punishment by hiding under any one of a myriad number of disguises. Therefore, exploring the origins of the three calamities has merit.

Fig. 1 – Master Subodhi tells Sun about the Three Calamities (larger version). Photomanipulation by the author.

I. Origins

The novel likely borrows from a Buddhist cosmological concept called the “Three Calamities” (sanzai, 三災). We first need some background before continuing. Buddhism recognizes a measurement of time called a Kalpa (jie, 劫), which can be many millions or even billions of years long depending on the tradition. Said traditions recognize between four and eighty kalpas (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, p. 409). The total of these respective ranges make up a Mahakalpa (dajie, 大劫), which is divided into four periods of nothingness, creation, subsistence, and finally destruction, each period being between one and twenty kalpas long (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, p. 496). The Three Calamities are responsible for the destruction of each Mahakalpa.

Kloetzli (1983) describes the cyclical destruction of each Mahakalpa by an element:

The destructions are of three kinds: those by fire, those by water and those by wind. […] The destructions succeed one another in the following sequence: seven by fire followed by a destruction by water. This cycle of eight destructions is repeated a total of seven times. This is then followed by seven more destructions by fire, followed by a final by wind. Thus there are 7 x 8 or 56 destructions by fire; 7 by water and a final 64th by wind [fig. 2] (p. 75).

Therefore, the Three Calamities from Journey to the West follow a similar cycle of destructive elements appearing at set time intervals: lightning, fire, and wind every 500 years in place of fire, water, and wind at the end of every Mahakalpa. And instead of destroying the universe, the elements are sent to kill those who have achieved immortality.

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Fig. 2 – A chart mapping the cyclical destructions by fire, water, and wind. A larger version is available on the CBETA page.

The earliest mention of Buddhism’s Three Calamities in Chinese writing that I know of appears in scroll one of the Pearl Forest of the Dharma Garden (Fayuan zhulin, 法苑珠林), a Chinese Buddhist encyclopedia published in 688. So there was plenty of time between this work and the publishing of Journey to the West in 1592.

II. Influence on Xianxia literature

I was interested to learn that Monkey’s calamities made their way into modern Xianxia (仙侠, “Immortal hero”) literature. For example, the author of the Immortal Mountain wordpress writes:

Heavenly Tribulation (天劫 tiānjié) (重劫 zhòngjié) – in some novels, a trial encountered by cultivators at key points in their cultivation, which they must resist and ultimately transcend. Because immortal cultivation (generally) goes against the Will of Heaven, the Heavens will send down tribulations to oppress high-level cultivators who make progress towards Immortality, often right when they enter a new cultivation stage. This typically takes the form of a lightning storm, with extraordinarily powerful bolts of lightning raining down from the Heavens to strike at the cultivator (source).

The trial by lightning is exactly like the calamity of thunder mentioned by Master Subodhi.

III. Conclusion

Subodhi teaches Monkey the 72 transformations with the expressed purpose of hiding from three calamities (sanzai lihai, 三災利害) of celestial lightening, fire, and wind. They are sent by heaven every 500 years to punish cultivators for defying their fate and achieving immortality. Each was likely influenced by the three calamities (sanzai, 三災) of Buddhist cosmology, which states that the universe is alternately destroyed by fire, water, or wind at the end of every Mahakalpa. Both concepts include destructive elemental forces that appear at given times.

The oldest mention of the original Buddhist calamities that I’m aware of appears in a 7th-century religious encyclopedia titled Pearl Forest of the Dharma Garden (Fayuan zhulin, 法苑珠林).

The literary thunder calamity would later come to influence the “Heavenly Tribulation” (tianjie, 天劫; zhongjie, 重劫) of modern Xianxia literature.

Update: 09-10-2018

The Xianxia translator Deathblade (twitter) was kind enough to direct me to an example of a tribulation from a popular Chinese television show . The scene (video 1) involves a 20,000-year-old child immortal experiencing a trial by lightning. The heavenly bolts tear at his clothing and draw blood, but he survives the ordeal.

Video 1 – Start watching from minute 13:08.

Deathblade also directed me to an example from an online Xianxia novel called I shall Seal the Heavens (Wo yu feng tian, 我欲封天). Chapter 385(!) describes how the anti-hero Meng Hao (孟浩) uses a sentient heavenly treasure to protect himself from powerful bolts of lightning, which instead seek out and kill nearby spiritual cultivators on the cusp of immortality:

The Heavenly Tribulation boomed as one lightning bolt after another shot down onto Meng Hao, who held the meat jelly upraised in his hand to defend himself. The lightning would subsequently disperse into the area around him. Any nearby Cultivators would let out bloodcurdling screams. Soon, the air filled with the sounds of cursing and reviling.

Meng Hao didn’t care. This was something he had learned from Patriarch Reliance. When you con someone and then end up getting cursed by them, you must maintain your cool. It was really a realm unto itself.

Throughout the years, Meng Hao had conned many people, and had refined that skill to the very pinnacle. Therefore, he continued to redirect the descending lightning to the various Cultivators in the three thousand kilometer region.

Wherever he went, he was surrounded by a lake of lightning, along with plaintive cursing. What he left behind was scorched corpses.

To the Cultivators here, it was nothing but a massacre, a slaughter in which no one could do anything to fight back. They couldn’t attack him, nor could they flee as… they were horrified to discover that Meng Hao’ speed was incredible, even if he was being struck by lightning!

(read more here)

The character uses trickery to protect himself from the bolts just like Monkey intended to do with his transformations.

Update: 04-02-2021

As I explained above, Wukong learns the 72 transformations in order to escape the heaven-sent punishments of thunder, fire, and wind. Monkey attains eternal life around his 342nd year when his soul is taken to Hell. He is immortal for over 160 years [2] at the time he’s imprisoned under Five Elements Mountain. This means his 500th year of immortality, the year that the calamity of thunder would be scheduled to strike him, takes place during his imprisonment under the celestial mountain. But this is never described in the story. I assume this is just one of many inconsistencies born from oral storytelling. Although, one could argue that, within the fictional universe, the thunder calamity was voided since Wukong was undergoing punishment at the behest of the Buddha.

Update: 03-25-22

My friend Irwen Wong of the Journey to the West Library blog was kind enough to give me a time-stamped link to the 1996 TV show containing the above episode. You’ll notice Sun Wukong is depicted as a young child. His reactions are hilarious. 

Update: 08-29-22

It turns out that that punishment by lightning appears in other works of religious vernacular fiction. For example, in The Battle of Wits between Sun and Pang (Sun Pang douzhi yanyi, 孫龐鬥智演義, 1636; a.k.a. The Former and Latter Annals of the Seven Kingdoms, Qianhou qiguo zhi, 前後七國志):

Sun Bin [孫臏, d. 316 BCE] was overjoyed when he received the Heavenly Book [from the magic White Ape], and hurriedly went back to light the lamp and read it carefully. But during his reading, he felt an eerie, cold wind and heard the rolling of thunder. The Immortal Master Ghost Valley was meditating on the futon when he heard thunder in the air, so he got up and walked immediately to the door of Sun Bin’s room, only to see him reciting the Heavenly Book. When Ghost Valley heard this, he was taken aback. He pushed the door open and went in and said, “I hid this book in the stone box of the prayer cave. I haven’t passed it onto you because your fate has not yet arrived. Where did you get it?

Sun Bin told the story of the white ape. Ghost Valley said: “It turns out that the evil beast stole it and came to you, but unfortunately it was too early. Besides, when you received the Heavenly Book, you didn’t bathe and burn incense, and you didn’t wash your hands or rinse your mouth, thus blaspheming the gods and provoking a great tribulation [da zainan, 大災難] of 100 days.”

Sun Bin’s continence changed. He asked: “Can master save your disciple?”

Ghost Valley said: “If you want me to save you, you must not disobey my nightmare-suppression method.”

Sun Bin said: “I dare not.”

Ghost Valley said: “Due south behind the mountain is an empty stone tomb. You should sleep in the stone tomb with your head to the south and your feet to the north, with 49 grains of raw rice in your mouth. Cover it with your saliva but don’t swallow the grains. You will feel fully nourished. As long as you hide for forty-nine days, you will escape the great tribulation and protect yourself.”

Sun Bin said, “I sincerely receive your instructions.”

Ghost Valley led Sun Bin to the empty tomb at night. Sun complied with his master’s nightmare-suppression method and followed his instructions. A stele was erected in front of the tomb which read: “The Tomb of Sun Bin of the State of Yan” (Wumen xiaoke & Yanshui sanren, 1636).

Another example comes from the Lady of Linshui Pacifies Demons (Linshui pingyao, 臨水平妖, 17th-century). This time, it involves the immortal Lu Dongbin (呂洞賓; a.k.a. Lu Chunyang, 呂純陽) angering Guanyin, who dispatches thunder deities after him. And just like Sun learns the transformations to hide from the calamities, Lu takes the form of a bug to hide from his punishment:

As we take up our tale anew, Guanyin opened wide her eye of wisdom and saw Pure Yang Lü standing on top of the cloud. She cursed him, saying, “A dumb beast like that has no sense of propriety!” Then she sent the Five Thunders (Wu Lei [五雷]) to strike him. The Immortal Ancestor Lü saw them coming and for an instant was helpless with fright. Unable to escape back to his mountain, he hastily fled to Liang Hao’s study. 

He called to Licentiate Liang, “In a moment of distraction, I offended the Heavenly Court, which has dispatched the Five Thunders to strike me. Save me!” As he spoke, the sound of thunder rolled violently. Liang Hao was so frightened that his hands and feet were like ice, and he was unable to reply. Pure Yang Lü said, “If you are willing to rescue me, then that would give this poor Daoist a place to hide.” Liang Hao agreed with alacrity. Pure Yang Lü then turned himself into a tiny insect, ran under Liang Hao’s fingernails, and hid himself. He waited for an hour and three quarters, until the thunder no longer rolled. There was nothing the Five Thunders could do, so they were obliged to go back to the Purple Bamboo Grove [on Guanyin’s mountain], having failed to carry out the Buddha’s [Guanyin’s] orders. At this time, an hour and three quarters having already elapsed, Pure Yang Lü resumed his original form. He thanked Liang Hao and returned to Zhong Mountain, as he did not dare remain in these harrowing circumstances any longer (Fryklund, Lewis, & Baptandier, 2021, p. 6). 

Update: 11-09-22

An artist known on Tumblr as “AntidoteForTheAwkward” has posted a wonderful comic (fig. 3) giving a reason for why the Patriarch Subhodi teachers Monkey the 72 transformations in order to avoid the heavenly calamities: personal experience.

Fig. 3 – AntidoteForTheAwkward’s comic (larger version). See the original post here.

Notes:

1) The eyes, ears, nose, mouth, genitals, and anus.

2) Wukong serves in heaven twice: first “for more than ten years” and second “for over a century” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 150 and 166). Then he is punished to 49 days in Laozi’s furnace (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 189). But the narrative revels “one day in heaven is equal to one year on Earth” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 150 and 167). So this means his turn in the furnace lasts close to fifty years.

Sources:

Buswell, J., & Lopez, D. (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Fryklund, K. I., Lewis, M. E., & Baptandier, B. (2021). The Lady of Linshui Pacifies Demons: A Seventeenth-Century Novel. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

Kloetzli, R. (1983). Buddhist Cosmology: From Single World System to Pure Land: Science and Theology in the Images of Motion and Light. Oxford: Motilal Books.

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

Wumen xiaoke, & Yanshui sanren (1636). Qianhou qiguo zhi [Annals of the Seven Kingdoms]. Retrieved from https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=736295#p89

The Monkey King’s Spiritual Training and Historical Daoist Internal Alchemy

Jim R. McClanahan 1 Comment

Last updated: 09-22-23

Did you know that Monkey’s early spiritual training is connected to historical Daoist internal alchemy? In chapter one, after becoming a student of the Patriarch Subodhi in the Western Cattle-Gift Continent (India), Sun receives a private lesson in which his master reveals the secret of immortality in a poem chocked full of esoteric Daoist imagery:

This bold, secret saying that’s wondrous and true:
Spare, nurse nature and life—there’s nothing else.
All power resides in the semen, breath, and spirit;
Store these securely lest there be a leak.
Lest there be a leak!
Keep within the body!
Heed my teaching and the Way itself will thrive.
Hold fast oral formulas so useful and keen
To purge concupiscence, to reach pure cool;
To pure cool
Where the light is bright.
You’ll face the elixir platform, enjoying the moon.
The moon holds the jade rabbit, the sun, the crow;
The tortoise and snake are now tightly entwined.
Tightly entwined,
Nature and life are strong.
You can plant gold lotus e’en in the midst of flames.
Squeeze the Five Phases jointly, use them back and forth—
When that’s done, be a Buddha or immortal at will!” (Wu & Yu, 2012, p. 120).

顯密圓通真妙訣，惜修性命無他說。
都來總是精氣神，謹固牢藏休漏泄。
休漏泄，體中藏，汝受吾傳道自昌。
口訣記來多有益，屏除邪慾得清涼。
得清涼，光皎潔，好向丹臺賞明月。
月藏玉兔日藏烏，自有龜蛇相盤結。
相盤結，性命堅，卻能火裡種金蓮。
攢簇五行顛倒用，功完隨作佛和仙。

The cryptic methods advocated in the poem find their origins in dogmatic Daoist internal practices that emerged during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) (Kohn, 2008, p. 177). When Subodhi warns Monkey to “Store these [bodily substances] lest there be a leak,” he is referring to the first of three stages in the forging of an immortal spirit body. It involves transforming chaste semen (jing, 精) into pneumatic energy (qi, 氣) and guiding it to the brain, where it is purified and then circulated throughout the body, resulting in the formation of a spiritual pearl in the Cinnabar Field (dantian, 丹田), or the body’s spiritual furnace located in the lower abdomen (Kohn, 2008, p. 178).

“You can plant gold lotus e’en in the midst of flames. / Squeeze the Five Phases jointly, use them back and forth” refers to the second stage, involving the inhalation and guidance of yang energy through various organs (the “five phases”) in the body to bolster the spirit (shen, 神) (fig. 1). This nurturing of the pearl causes it to sprout like a seed and blossom into a golden lotus (“amidst flames”) in the spiritual furnace (fig. 2). The lotus is considered the early stages of an immortal “spirit embryo” (shengtai, 聖胎) (fig. 3) (Kohn, 2008, pp. 178-179).

The third stage involves the nurturing of said embryo to maturation with spiritual energies and eventually guiding it upwards and out the “Heavenly Gate” (tianguan, 天關), or the top of the crown. This results in a fledgling immortal spirit body that must be trained over an additional three year period in which it learns to travel far and wide apart from the physical vessel (pp. 179-180). “When that’s done, be a Buddha or immortal at will!” refers to the eventual freedom of the immortal spirit.

Fig. 1 (top left) – A sage combining jing, qi, and shen (精炁/氣神, lit: “semen, pneumatic energy, and spirit”; a.k.a. the “Three Treasures,” Sanbao, 三寶) (larger version). Image from the Anthology of Immortals of Complete Perfection (Quanzhen qunxian ji, 全真群仙集). Fig. 2 (top right) – A visualized lotus in the cinnabar field (larger version). Fig. 3 (bottom) – A sage nurturing his spirit embryo with inhaled qi energy (larger version). Image from the Anthology of Immortals.

Kohn (2008) notes that adepts who succeed in their training gain supernatural powers, “including the ability to be in two places at once, to move quickly from one place to another, to know past and future, to divine people’s thoughts, and so on” (p. 180) (fig. 2). I feel this is important information considering all of the powers that Monkey exhibits throughout the story.

Various facets of the aforementioned Song-era practices, such as the breathing methods from stage two above, have a much older pedigree. While JTTW describes Sun secretly performing “breathing exercises before the hour of Zi and after the hour of Wu” (i.e. after noon and before midnight) (Wu & Yu, 2012, p. 121), the hours are switched in historical practice. The Wondrous Record of the Golden Casket on the Spirit Immortals’ Practice of Eating Qi (Shenxian shiqi jin’gui miaolu, 神仙食氣金櫃妙錄, 4th-century; Wonderous Record hereafter) explains:

“[A]lways practice after midnight [and before noon] in the period of living qi [yang energy] … In this qi-practice, the time after noon and before midnight is called the period of dead qi [yin energy]. Do not practice then” (Kohn, 2008, p. 84).

So by practicing during the prescribed hours, Monkey absorbs the yang energy that he needs to fuel his immortality.

Update: 08-18-23

Above, I described how the cultivation of an immortal spirit involved refining cosmic energies in the dantian (丹田) into a seed-like pearl, then a lotus, and finally a “spirit embryo” (聖胎). Well, thanks to a tumblr post by user ruibaozha, I now have a better understanding of how Buddhist “lotus births” influenced this imagery. Shahar (2015) explains:

As early as the first centuries CE, redemption in Amitabha‘s Pure Land has been imagined in floral terms. Those who trust in the Buddha’s grace are resurrected from divine lotus blooms. Flower-like beings, they emerge from the sacred lotus blossoms into a realm of purity and happiness:

When beings of this [superior] type are about to die, the Buddha of Measureless Light [Amitabha] appears before them, accompanied by a great crowd of attendants. Then, these beings follow this Buddha and go to be reborn in his land. They are reborn naturally and miraculously in the center of a lotus made of the seven precious substances, and they dwell in the state from which there is no falling back. They come to possess wisdom and courage, supernormal powers and spiritual mastery.

Floral regeneration became a favorite topic of Buddhist art across Asia. Redeemed souls were visually rendered as newborns wrapped in lotus blooms. Some artists faithfully followed a given Pure Land text. The ca. fifth-century Amitabha Visualization Sutra enumerated nine ranks of rebirth in the paradise of the west, from “the upper birth of the upper rank,” through “the middle birth of the upper rank,” downward to the “lower birth of the lower rank.” A seventh-century Dunhuang mural depicted them all in the form of babies emanating from nine lotus blossoms. Other artists focused on the process by which the flower is transformed into a divine being. They created a series of images recording the mysterious metamorphosis of the lotus. Dating from as early as the fifth century CE, the Yun’gang and Longmen caves include numerous examples of these pictorial narratives, showing first a newborn’s head peeping from inside the corolla, then the gradual transformation of the petals into the limbs, and finally the release of a full-blown ethereal being, the divinity of which is indicated by a [halo] [fig. 4] (pp. 143-144). 

Fig. 4 – “Lotus rebirth as rendered at the fifth-century Yun’gang Caves. From Yoshmura Rei, Tianren dansheng tu (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2009), p. 23” (larger version) (Shahar, 2015, p. 144).

If viewed through a Daoist lens, this image could represent the fledgling spirit embryo emerging from the lotus, being nurtured to fruition, and then freed to live out an eternity in blissful freedom.

Update: 09-22-23

Above, I quoted Kohn’s (2008) heavily edited translation of the Wonderous Record, which noted the prescribed times for the ingestion of qi energy. This source was apparently cited in the “Inner Chapters” (Neipian, 內篇) of Ge Hong’s Master Who Embraces Simplicity (Baopuzi, 抱朴子, 4th-century). A longer quote appearing in Campany (2002) mentions the aforementioned time-based practices, lists the types of resulting spiritual powers, and warns of this path’s difficulty:

Now the circulation of pneumas should be done during the hours of live pneumas (shengqi 生氣[/炁]), not during the hours of dead pneumas (siqi 死氣[/炁]). This is why it is said that “transcendents ingest the six pneumas.” In one day and night there are twelve double-hours. The six double-hours from midnight to noon are those of live pneumas; the six from noon to midnight are those of dead pneumas. During the period of dead pneumas, circulating pneumas is of no benefit.

One who is adept at using pneumas can blow on water and it will flow against its own current for several paces; blow on fire, and it will be extinguished; blow at tigers or wolves, and they will crouch down and not be able to move; blow at serpents, and they will coil up and be unable to flee. If someone is wounded by a weapon, blow on the wound, and the bleeding will stop. If you hear of someone who has suffered a poisonous insect bite, even if you are not in his presence, you can, from a distance, blow and say an incantation over your own hand (males on the left hand, females on the right), and the person will at once be healed even if more than a hundred li away. And if you yourself are struck by a sudden illness, you have merely to swallow pneumas in three series of nine, and you will immediately recover.

However, people by nature are restless, and few are able to maintain the quietude to cultivate this way. Furthermore, to practice the most essential methods of circulating pneumas one must avoid eating very much, or eating flesh vegetables and meats, for these cause the breath to become strong and thus hard to shut off. Also one must avoid rage, for if one has much rage, then the breath becomes disordered, and if it is unable to spill over, then it will cause a fit of coughing.

Few are those, therefore, who can practice breath circulation! (p. 21)

夫行炁當以生炁之時，勿以死炁之時也。故曰仙人服六炁，此之謂也。一日一夜有十二時，其從半夜以至日中六時為生炁，從日中至夜半六時為死炁，死炁之時，行炁無益也。善用炁者，噓水，水為之逆流數步；噓火，火為之滅；噓虎狼，虎狼伏而不得動起；噓蛇虺，蛇虺蟠而不能去。若他人為兵刃所傷，噓之血即止；聞有為毒蟲所中，雖不見其人，遙為噓祝我之手，男噓我左，女噓我右，而彼人雖在百里之外，即時皆愈矣。又中惡急疾，但吞三九之炁，亦登時差也。但人性多躁，少能安靜以修其道耳。又行炁大要，不欲多食，及食生菜肥鮮之物，令人炁強難閉。又禁恚怒，多恚怒則炁亂，既不得溢，或令人發欬，故鮮有能為者也。

Sources:

Campany, R. F. (2002). To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study of Ge Hong’s Traditions of Divine Transcendents. United Kingdom: University of California Press.

Kohn, L. (2008). Chinese Healing Exercises: The Tradition of Daoyin. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.

Shahar, M. (2015). Oedipal God: The Chinese Nezha and His Indian Origins. Germany: University of Hawaii Press.

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