Master Henry had given a series of lectures in Taiwan on the well-known novel Journey to the West before he moved to the United States. His impressive introductions had to stop at Chapter 16 because of his leaving for a new country. His extraordinary speeches that carried away the house have ever since been greatly missed.
As per his audience’s request later on, Master Henry decided to resume his introductory work as a study guide. This time, however, he began with an outlining briefing to help the audience brush up on the first sixteen chapters of Journey to the West. After this he would then go chapter by chapter with a detailed explanation of the rest of the book.
We know Journey to the West is a novel, but here we are not studying it from a literary critic’s point of view. This classic novel has long become a world famous book studied not only by Chinese but by world people, among whom the most dedicated are the Japanese. They have all kinds of researches and reference books analyzing the background and characters of the story. I myself got intrigued by a TV show on it during my short stay in Japan last time, which gave birth to the idea to discuss its story in my lectures.
Everybody knows that Journey to the West is a fantasy story about a Buddhist monk, named Tang Sanzang, seeking the original Buddhist scriptures. The story was based on a real historical event. However, we should know there are quite a few different things in this novel from the factual history: the time is not the same, the passage is not the same, and the scriptures fetched in especially not the same. The finally sought scriptures in the novel are completely different from the real ones brought back by Xuanzang the Tang Priest (or Tang Sanzang the Monk). Therefore we know that there is something else the book is talking about, and readers need to read between the lines. In other words, this novel intends to convey a message other than the existing historical happening; there’s more to it than meets the eye.
The real historical event of Tang Sanzang seeking the scriptures (602-664 A.D.) has great significance, of which the greatest is to bring Mahayana doctrines to China and let the Buddhist scholars at that time have more books to study and research. However, in the novel Journey to the West the scripture firstly given is the wordless sutra, in which not a single word is written. But then the author says people on the Middle Land (China now) are not wise enough to understand it, so in his story he has it returned to Buddha and traded with sutras with words. This is just an idea that there exist both the word and wordless sutras. The wordless Sutra has been rejected and returned to the West Heaven, while does it really mean that no one has ever had a chance to receive it?
We know that the sixth patriarch (in the Chinese Zen Buddhist School ) appeared in the wake of the journey of Tan Sanzang, here I mean the real Tang Monk Xuanzang. The 6th patriarch was an illiterate person, which means he got enlightened not by reading any sutras. By only listening to one scripture “to dwell thy heart upon nothing” he attained his enlightenment and was able to expounded the dharma to his followers later on. From this specific viewpoint we may say Sixth Patriarch was the one who received the wordless sutra. Since it is without a word, it must be without a form or an image, and anything without an image of course can exist any time anywhere. Whoever has an affinity has a chance to get it.
Take Sixth Patriarch as an example. Because of his innate wisdom, he became enlightened on the true nature, hearing only one sentence from the Diamond Sutra. The Diamond Sutra is part of the Mahayana doctrine and the Prajnaparamita Sutra. It mainly talks about void. Also the Heart Sutra we read is derived from the essence of Prajnaparamita Sutra, ie., the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra, which totally contains over 100 scrolls of paper. Nowadays many wonder about where the Heart Sutra came from since the Sakyamuni Buddha had not mentioned about this sutra because of its brief and short length.
The Heart Sutra is the cream of the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra, and the Diamond Sutra can be read as the Heart Sutra too. The diamond here represents the nature of the heart. Didn’t we ever hear a Buddhist term, “the supreme nature as the diamond”? The esoteric Buddhism has the name “Diamond Guru” too. Diamond stands for the strongest thing in the universe, which is the Buddha nature; in other words, it is, as the sutra says, “not to be produced and destroyed, neither pure nor filthy, not to be increased and decreased.” The Heart Sutra is a condensed form of the Diamond Sutra, but unlike the latter, which does not use the word “void” in the subject of voidness, the Heart Sutra tells us directly that “void (or emptiness) does not differ from substance. Substance does not differ from void (emptiness)”.
The Heart Sutra has to literally point to the word “emptiness” in it because otherwise there’s no way to convey what it tries to say. We can conclude that firstly there was the scripture with words (the Diamond sutra), and later on was added the Wordless Sutra, from which came the Platform Sutra, based on Sixth Patriarch’s enlightenment. So here’s the series: from words to wordless, and then from wordless to words again. Sixth Patriarch realized the true meaning of the Wordless Sutra, and his teachings paved way for the later Zen School.
The Zen School had not acquired its name before the time of Sixth Patriarch. People today kind of know that there was a Damo First Patriarch who came all the way by sea from India to China, and his five successors in the wake of him passed his teachings on in a quite way. However, few people at that time recognized it as a Buddhist school until the rising of the 6th patriarch, while he turned out to be the very and the last one; after him there was no next patriarch in this school. Due to the impact he had made, the study of Zen and Buddhism became so popular that the Zen School was born, and many Zen masters marked their names in history. An earlier co-leaner with him, the famous Monk Shenxiu, later even got appointed as the imperial teacher by Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty, who is widely known to be the one and the only “female emperor” in the Chinese history.
There was no Zen School in the original India Buddhism, nor was there the concept pf Esoteric Buddhism or Pure Land in India. All such names were given by the Chinese; as a matter of fact we may well say that it is the Chinese people who spread the seeds of Buddhism to the world. The Japanese people dedicated to the cultivation of Buddhahood inherit their religious belief from the Chinese Zen School. The Rinzai School, for example, came from the 6th patriarch’s generation and is still in cultivation of Zen.
The Rinzai School belongs to the more conventional Buddhist group in Japan, while others have been deteriorated and changed their way from culticating Buddhahood to chanting Buddha names.
One of these goes so far as to chant only the scripture’s name. Believers are taught to go chanting “Na Mo (pay homage to) the Lotus Sutra” only, and that’s that. This so-called Buddhist School is quite popular with the Japanese people today, perhaps because it is the easiest way. If not bothering the content of the book and just reading the title will do, I definitely should suggest that we just say “Na Mo Journey to the West” instead of reading it thoroughly. Or else we still need to be more humble and down to earth if we know we are not enlightened as the 6th patriarch.
The seminars on Journey to the West some of you might have attended, some might not have been there but have the handouts/ reading materials, (which can be found in the Unicorn Magazine) and some perhaps neither went to the lectures nor had a chance to see the magazines before. For your information only I will update you with a brief introduction of the story in the novel.
Usually when we mention the story we focus on five major characters: the Tang priest (or Monk Tang Sanzang), the Monkey (Sun Wukong), the Pig (Zu Bajie), Friar Sand (Sha Wujing), and the Dragon Horse. In terms of cultivating the way (Taoism) all these five characters mean one person, the Tang Priest. They reveal different parts of Tang Sanzang. We may say that the monkey is his heart, the pig is his physical body, Friar Sand is his thought, and the Dragon Horse is his will. Thought listens well to the heart and the will; that’s why we find the most obedient character in the book is Friar Sand. Meanwhile in the name Sha Wujing (Friar Sand ) there is a meaning: the word Jing in Chinese means pure or purification, which symbolizes a famous saying in Buddhism: “Do no evil, follow all virtues, and purify your thought.” This is all Buddhas’ teachings are about.
The above teaching in Buddhism is called “The general doctrine of every Buddha”, meaning it was taught by all Buddhas. According to the Buddhist belief, before Sakyamuni Buddha there had been seven others, and all Buddhas emphasized this concept. Journey to the West on the surface is a story about Buddhism--the scriptures-seeking, but in the bone it was told from a taoist point of view, or with a taoist interpretation. It actually includes both.
As a big country of different ethnic groups, China used to show greater tolerance on different religions. People were offered free options of personal beliefs. They were entitled to believing or disbelieving any God. This kind of freedom nourished the growth of Buddhism, Hindu, or Muslim, and there appeared a harmonious immersion of various religions. Taoism had been the religious mainstream before Buddhism was introduced into China. But a big problem with Taoism lies in its advocating longevity. Craving for enternal life without aging turned out to be not practical at all. Many Taoists gave in to death despite their strong belief in immortality. As a result, more and more people turned their back and walked out on it.
The similar case was with Christianity, which often talked about resurrection but was not able to prove it. Consequently many people began to doubt its saying. Buddhism entered into China at the right time when most people got tired of the Taoist theory. Its coming opened up a new path for such people to study a new religious theory. Many previous Taoists were among them. They researched it from a Taoist point of view, and of course the Buddhism they found and expressed was quite different from the original Indian Buddhism. Read the scriptures and you will see many words translated in the Taoist terms. An example is that the term “Five Abstention” existed both in Buddhism and Taoism. The term could be easily switched from one religion to another since it fitted into both. The two became so much close to each other that later on many Taoists converted to Buddhism and many Buddhists started to receive Taoism.
Another most traditional thought to the Chinese people is that of Confucianism. Though not a religion, it has a great influence on their way of life. Confucianism together with Buddhism and Taoism are called the “Tri- Religion” in China. They are in nature three-in-one and one-of-three. Though Journey to the West is not studied with a Confucianist interpretation, still we should not forget the three-in-one fact.
The development of Confucianism reached its summit during the Sung Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. (The Yuan Dynasty in between does not count because it was reigned and ruled by the Mongloians, so-called outsiders to the Chinese people.) Here neo-confucianism was the symbol of this three-in-one combination. It has an impact even on our contemporary philosophers. Two of them are very famous in Taiwan: Tang Tunyi and Xiong Shili. Years later even their students, when teaching Chinese philosophy in colleges, tend to combine all three theories if Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism together in their teachings.That is why currently in Taiwan those scholars who study philosophy will also study the Consciousness Only theory ( the Weishi School in Buddhism.)
The Consciousness Only theory has been highly recommended by Xiong Shili. He has published three books on it, the latter two with the name New Weishi and Newest Weishi. He firstly used his New Weishi theory to criticize the old one based on Buddhism, and later he tried to self-defend himself with the third book when his second one lay open to attack from critics. His dialectic was built on the concept of Confucianism; later his theory traveled back and forth between Confucianism and Buddhism, and finally he got his conclusion that he preferred the former to the latter. So he returned to Confucianism in his teaching.
With the third book when finding his second one lie open to attack from critics. His dialectic built on the concept of Confucianism, later his theory traveled back and forth between Confucianism and Buddhism, and finally he got his conclusion that he preferred the former to the latter, so he readopted Confucianism in his teaching.
Try to avoid thinking of Journey to the West as a novel with a specific religious background. You can be both right and wrong if you limit it to Buddhism or Taoism. It talks about the passage to Buddhahood; you may well call it a novel on Buddhism. However it also mentions making golden elixir pills and cultivating Tao (the Way ), so it can be a novel on Taoism. It addresses “sincere one’s thoughts, rectify one’s hearts, cultivate one’s person, regulate one’s family, order well one’s states, and illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the worlds,” so it can also be a book on Confucianism.
Everyone with a specific, limited understanding of the book will find it a certain kind of novel based on his major understanding and main concern. When discussing this book, I never single out a specific point of view, for it would be too narrow-scoped. Let’s stay with pure theories rather than concrete religions. Theoretically speaking, no principles can go without a fundamental theory. And the theory here is: because man is born of Heaven and Earth, he in himself contains the so-called Three Materials (heaven, man, earth).
The term Mid-Way refers to the position between Heaven and Earth. Man’s position is right in the middle, with Heaven way above and Earth down below. Man has such a unique relationship with Heaven and Earth, and his relationship can be a unified or a separated one. When unified, man attains Tao ( the Way ); when separated, man becomes demon. Seriously speaking, an individual apart from the holistic wholeness shall become a destructive power. It’s like your body cells will turn into tumors or carcinoma if they become independent of the body systems and refuse to be under the control of endocrine.
The novel is focused on this: the relationship between Individual and Whole as well as the relationship between Individual and Collective. My lectures were frequently on this theme. Now with the story as a concrete structure, it would be easier for you to have a better grasp of the abstract theory created by me. I think Journey to the West is a good book in that it provides scaffolding to my theory.
We all know the best-known thing about Sun Wukong is the As-You-Will Gold-Banded Cudgel which weighs 13,500 pounds. Here the numbers 1,3,5, are what really matter. These three numbers stand for the positions of 1,3,5 in the Map of the River and the Book of Lo. Numbers are the key point in these two books.
Then what do these numbers mean? We know in Chinese numeric 1,2,3,4,5 are called Sheng Shu (or the original numbers). 1,3,5 stand for the heaven number among Sheng Shu, and 2,4 stand for the earth number among Sheng Shu. The heaven number means the odd numbers 1, 3, 5 and the earth number is the even numbers 2, 4. Here in the novel the weight is given by the number 13,500 for a reason. Besides telling us how heavy the Cudgel is and how nimbly the Monkey can manipulate it, the number is intentionally used to express an important message: Since 1, 3, 5 are the original numbers, from which there may appear other new numbers. Such new born numbers we call Cheng Shu. Numberwise the Cudgel with the weight of 13,500 may create changes without a limit. It can take whatever form it likes, do whatever it wishes, and that’s why it has the name As-You-Will.
As-You-Will means you can make as many changes as you like. Like 1,3,5 as Sheng Shu that give birth to many others, everything with a number in this book has a meaning. One example is the 9-tooth-rake, a weapon used by Pig. Why number 9? What’s the difference between 9 and 10? Because the number for the Maps of River is 10 and the number for the Book of Lo is 9. Since the Map of River represents Before Heaven and the Book of Lo represents After Heaven, we may conclude that the 9-tooth-rake symbolizes the After Heaven number.
What After Heaven implies when we think of a man? The physical body. And what belongs to Before Heaven? The spirit. Sun Wukong the Monkey stands for the heart, which naturally means the spirit. The physical body of course belongs to After Heaven. Here the two (Before and After Heaven) are clearly explained by the weapons they carry. How can we be so sure that Pig represents the body rather than the Spirit and Monkey symbolizes the spirit? Take a look at the numbers. The numbers used by Sun Wukong are 1,3,5, which are the Heaven number and the original Number as well. So we know he means the original Before Heaven. Because Sheng Shu (1,2,3,4,5) belong to Before Heaven and 1,3,5 are the heaven number among Sheng Shu, put together they become double Before Heaven. Then what about 9? It is an original number, but it is also an After Heaven number (according to the Book of Lo ). It is the original After Heaven number, while it also has much to do with Before Heaven.
What does this After Heaven number 9 have to do with Before Heaven? We know Zhu Bajie, the Pig, though representing the physical body, is actually the Soul, too. In Chinese we say Xin Ling (Heart/Spirit ) and Hun Po (Soul/ Guts ). It’s the soul that commands the body, not the heart/spirit. If our heart/spirit can direct our physical body, we are able to manifest magic power.Our heart does not communicate directly with our body; our soul does, and our body only listens to our soul, not our spirit. Your body does not bother what your heart tells it to do; it only cares about and follows our soul.
Meanwhile, our soul is close to our heart, too. In Chinese we too have a term “heart and soul”. That’s why Pig and Monkey become like brothers (under the same master Tang Sanzang). They are close, but they fight a lot, too. Why? Because what the heart/spirit concerns is the metaphysical world, and the soul directs the body, which belongs to a lower level world, the material world. As the body and the heart have different needs to be satisfied, of course conflicts are unavoidable. Pig often argues with Monkey or even with Tang Sanzang despite the fact that one is his brother and the other his master. He shows little interest in getting the sutras. We can see that he is always grumbling and trying to talk others into going back home. In the face of defeats or dangers, his master and his brother move on and press forward, while he is usually the first to give up.
Considering cultivating Tao, it is the last thing our body wants to do. To our body it is a most tiring job to do. Take Pig as an example. Who works most on the trip? The answer is Pig indeed. He is not only burdened with his own heavy weight but with the luggage, too. Though others help with them, most of the time it’s Pig that carries the baggage, run errands, or go begging for food. Pig as the symbol of the body can not go without food. He is always the first one to cry for food, and he tries to leave the begging part to others because the body hates to work. From this you may understand why I need to point out the number 9 as the Heaven Number. We can not see his soul. We can only see his body. The body is the vehicle of the soul. When we talk about the soul, we mean Pig’s original being, which is the soul. It’s just like Monkey’s original being is spirit. This is how they differ from each other. Tang Sanzang is Xing (true nature). Why true nature? We often talk about how to achieve Buddhahood. We know Tang Sanzang came from the heaven of Tathagatha Buddha. Though expelled from heaven for his not focused on listening to scriptures, before he was put to the earthly world he had stayed with Buddha, which means he literally represents Buddhahood, which we know was interpreted by Sixth Patiriarch as emptiness or void. “The boddhi nature is pure in itself.” Therefore no matter what he sees, whether evil spirit or demon, Tang Sanzang is always able to remain unaffected and not bothered at all. Sun Wukong, however, is the one that gets overwhelmed easily. While the monkey is busy with the fight against demons, all his master does is chanting. He chanted either the Heart Sutra or the Six Syllable Mantra of Mani. This is shown by historical records. The Tang Priest said that the Heart Sutra was given to him by a stranger, who told him that on the way to West Heaven there would be all kinds of demons and devils, and chanting the sutras may conquer them. Journey to the West is a fantasy classic. The Heart Sutra was thus passed on in a fantastic way to generation after generation.
The Heart Sutra later spread widely. The one we read today was originally written in Sanskrit and translated by Tang Sanzang. The texture research verifies the fact that the original sutra was very short, without the spell “GATTE, GATTE, PARAGATTE, PARASAMGATTE, BODHI SAVHA”
As two different things the spell words were once separated from the scriptures. The former was about dharma and the latter about doctrine. But they became unified later on, as we can see in the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha Sutra. According to researchers the spell was added to the original sutra afterwards. There had been no spell words during the days when Sakyamuni Buddha was expounding Buddhist sutras.
Spells added to a sutra became very popular for they could increase the sutra’s power. Some spell words are even stronger than the sutra itself because they had the effect of a dharma or a magic method. Because of its function we call a spell a method.
When you are chanting a spell you are actually calling for help from its spirit. This spirit would start working once the spell words are heard. Let’s say there is a special toy which tunes in with our voice. It moves when you call its name and stays still when it stops being called. We can just envision the work of a spell and the world of spirits this way. Something would occur in response to our action, and it protects us from calamities or when we face obstacles. Neither the prayer nor the prayee needs to know any historical background. One just says the words and problems will be solved.
Question: A spell is a sign. Does it work as well if used or said
silently?
Master Henry: Better say out loud the words unless you have the Supernatural power to make yourself heard as far as thousands of miles away. Do not try to challenge a spirit by so doing, especially when you do it on purpose. After all you are the one in need of help, not them. You might end up in big shit playing this kind of tricks.
Journey to the West is certainly not a book on sutras, nor is it on Sastras. It talks about neither sutra nor sastra , but it mentions both. Usually when we mention something, there will be a reason, which means there will be energy in it. People do things with their own reasons that must have had enough energy behind them. The so-called energy means the right timing. One wouldn’t succeed in doing something if the time is not mature. For instance, I intend to pick up a book, but I can’t make it if my hand is not strong enough. If I want to and am able to get the book, it means I have this much energy. In other words, the book can be lifted up only when I have both an idea and enough energy to do so. Then after the idea and the energy comes the phenomenon or the image. These three things can go hand in hand to create success only when the timing is good
and its seeds fully ripen.
The fact that this book was well finished indicates a good combination of the idea, the energy and the phenomenon that matures with the right timing. However the right timing can only apply to the book itself rather than the readers. Some of us readers might pretty much enjoy the reading and discussion while others find it very difficult to understand or appreciate. Some can listen to the discussion of the story for a hundred times, while others can do ten more times at most. It is the same with me. I might easily talk the whole book through or stop anywhere way before half of it. It is all about the maturity of karma. Anything has its karma, or cause and effect. Ideas are the cause; energy and phenomena are the support and effect. Whether we can make it through depends on everyone’s karma and timing. It’s not like that I can do it just because I want to. It takes two to make it happen: the speaker and listener(s). The availability of both sides creates the good timing, with which our study of the story can go on.
The timing of the novel to be born, as I said, was fully ripen, but what about our timing to discuss it now? It remains to be seen. I plan to talk more at the beginning in the hope that you get pepped up and our Chi (energy) will be harmonious. For the more we get along, the easier it will be to explain and understand the truth behind the story. Since it’s a matter, a story, it’s no easy job to have the truth clearly revealed to you. The truth usually lies buried deep inside. It takes specific timing for the speaker to tell and the listeners to hear.
In my lecture on Journey to the West, sometimes I understood ten things but could only express five of them, leaving the other five unsaid. I often regretted it and asked myself why I didn’t mention them all, and the answer was that I just couldn’t. Sometimes an idea didn‘t strike me before you asked a question. In other words there were times when I had planned to talk about something but didn’t, and there were also times when I hadn’t meant to say it but then I did, thanks to your responses. This therefore can be mutually interactive. Truths may come out when what I want to tell goes with what you want o know. My lecture won’t do you any good if you only sit there listening without reflections. I do hope this will be like an open forum instead of a one-man show. You are more than welcome to share if you have any reflection on any part of the story. Remember this is like a seminar in which all can participate.
Now since some of you are less familiar with the story than others, I will firstly go over some key points so everybody can catch up.
On top of what was mentioned earlier, we also know Sun Wukong is capable of 72 transformations and Zhu Bajie has 36 changes of forms. Generally speaking, 36 is the number of Tiangang ( the 36 heavenly transformation ) and 72 is the number of Disha ( the 72 earthly transformation). As you see, Sun Wukong is learning all about the earth though he represents the heaven, and Zhu Bajie is using the number of heaven though he represents a lower- level physical body. It’s very strange that the pig uses number 36 and the monkey uses number 72, isn’t it? We know that Heaven is made by 36 Tiangang and Earth is made by 72 Disha. Naturally the number for heaven should be 36 and the number for earth 72.
We talk quite a lot about the Four Phenomena. The ‘Four’ here means the Four Squaredness or the Four Straightness. Everybody knows that 36 is the product of 4 and 9, right? 9 here represents the nine-tooth rake used by Pig, and 4 means that his magic power needs to be built on the Four Squaredness, Then what about 72? The product of 8 and 9, correct? In other words, Pig (Bajie) as the flesh/Physical body must return to the Four Squaredness in order to practice the Five Virtues. This also explains why a human being needs to abstain form the Five Vices.
Under the discipline of the five virtues (benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and faith), man will stay away from the five vices (killing, stealing, indulgence, vanity and alcohol). Likewise, without committing the five sins he will find it easy to abide by the five virtues. Pig is the symbol of the body. The body must follow the good and obey the discipline, or the four squaredness. That is why Pig is using the number 4, for four times 9 equals 36.
Monkey (Sun Wukong) represents the heart, which can go rampant in all directions (or in Chinese ‘spreading to eight directions’), so he becomes the Eight Trigrams (as 8 times 9 equals 72), Wukong as the elder one is number 72 and Bajie as the younger one is number 36, but 36 turns out to be the number of Tiangang and 72 turns out the number of Disha. It doesn’t sound right, but there is a good reason for the numbers they stand for. The flesh (or physical body) belongs to the lower rank compared with the soul (or the heart). It is under control only by using the Four Squaredness in Tiangang. And the heart (Wukong) is meant to keep beating and go to places. 72 , the number Sun Wukong uses, can be seen as the 72 beats of a heart. This is another evidence that Sun Wukong represents the heart as the regular rate of a man’s heart beating is about 72 . Also the number means the 72 changes (transformations) of the monkey king. There is more than meets the eye to the numbers, of which many go indirect and sinuous in this novel. Such inexplicit detail gets one interested in reading the book and finding out the truth for himself. It is more fun discovering for yourself than being told how to read between the lines. My lectures only serve as a study guide, from where you may have your own discoveries and realizations. Truths can be attained only through self-realization. Do not count on words, either spoken or written ones, because they are nothing but dead knowledge. We may use the numbers as references and come up with better understanding of the story. Now I am talking about some things more common and popular to the public. I will introduce you some special numbers later step by step. You may speculate on them and have your own reflections.
Sha Wujing (Friar Sand ) has a weapon names Demon-Quelling Pole. We know he represents the guts, or the courage. The Friar can overcome demons, while the demons he can get rid of usually have lesser power. In face of bigger and tougher ones, he himself is the one that gets quelled, so you see Sha Wujing caught by demons every now and then in the story. This means as humans of blood and flesh we often get scared and lose our guts (or have our guts caught). In Chinese we say one of the three souls flees away, or you lose one of your seven guts, when you are much scared. They are caught by demons and your guts and souls go into shatters. In the story Journey to the West Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing often get caught, mostly because they have weaker and lesser power. They are both at the same Qi (energy) level. It is after Sun Wukong comes back to the right track that he starts getting support from the Bodhisattva. He has ever since been permitted to borrow various tools of magic from the Heavenly lmmortals in time of need. Demons as evil spirits stand for the dark side. They can never legally borrow any tools; all they can do is steal or rob of them. Sun Wukong can always get what support he needs because he has the mandate to escort his master in his pursuit of heavenly sutras. One peculiar thing is that in the story you see all demons and evil spirits want Tang Sanzang badly--they would try every means possible to get him and eat him. They crave for his meat because they heard that by eating it one can attain and enjoy eternal life. The term eternal life comes from the Taoists, and long life without aging was the highest pursuit of a Taoist at the time when the story was written.