My disciple has a lot of imaginations and he always acts, but I never think that his dramas can be so overwhelming.

Sun Wukong carries his rod and doesn’t spare a look at my disciple. He raises his monkey head and says: ‘Little prince, didn’t you fight me with your father and your brother when that Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand troops to put me down? You could not beat me at that time. How did you rebuild your confidence after just five-hundred years?’

I see. This Sun monkey is not in a good mood. I am afraid if he gets mad for real, he will kill my silly disciple with one thud. I can only say that: ‘Huian, come back. I don’t allow you to cause trouble.’

I also say to Sun Wukong: ‘Although that tight headband is harnessed on your head, it is not going to hurt you all the time. Tang monk is just a mortal human with a stubborn personality. How can he make peace with you? He is the only person who I taught the spell to. There will be no other beings who know this spell. Not everyone will cast this spell to cause you a headache. What is the matter when your own shifu casts this spell on you?’

Sun Wukong sits at the bottom of my lotus seat and glares at me. He suddenly grins, but his eyes are like a pond of dead water without any amusement. He glares at me for a while and says: ‘I was beneath the Five Element Mountain for five-hundred years. I couldn’t move and no one talked to me. I could only find some metals to eat. A day was like a year. How prestigious I was and then none of those who knew me came to visit me after that mountain imprisoned me!’

He gets more emotional when he speaks more. His eyes shine with a rush; inside his eyes, I see the lights of which when he was burned and incinerated by the big fire in a Daoist furnace:

‘From then on, I realized there are many who are scared of me, but there are only two who treat me with a heart: you and my shifu. Therefore, I have said to myself, later no matter what that Nanhai Guanyin says, I will listen; no matter how my shifu treats me, I will remember his loving-kindness. However, now you two! One harnessed a tight headband on me and one cast that spell to cause me a headache! You are racing on putting things heavier than the Five Element Mountain on my back!’

‘I just don’t understand it. I was born without parents or relatives, but what did I do to deserve such treatment? Is there anyone in the world who is willing to treat me nicely? That Puti Master taught me, but he doesn’t allow me to call him shifu. That Jade Emperor assigned me a position, but he asked me to breed horses for him. One hundred thousand soldiers pressed me down on that Deity-behead Platform, knifing me and chopping me. That Taibai Jinxing (Great White Golden Star) confined me in the big fire and burned me for seven times seven, forty-nine days and he wouldn’t stop. That Tathagata pressed me beneath the Five Element Mountain. My shifu drove me away. You, you are Guanyin bodhisattva. You are mercy and help living beings. You are willing to save so many beings in the world, but what about me? Why don’t you help me and save me? You know that I will pay if I receive kindness, but you are making it a luxury for me to return the kindness.’

He gets more emotional as he shouts. He is roaring waves in my Nanhai lotus pond. My black bamboo grove is shaking in the wind. The leaves on the ground cannot rest in peace either.

Although I am a soft-tempered guy, it doesn’t mean I never get mad. I almost broke my precepts because of my anger: ‘What a monkey you are. I just put a headband on you. That Jade Emperor penetrated your scapula with curvy blades and how much pain you had, but I didn’t see you going to Lingxiao Palace to question why he had done this. Why don’t you think about how many times I have saved you and how much effort I have spent on you?’

I have raised this son for nothing! It took me a lot of thought to set this monkey free who conspired against the authority from the Five Element Mountain! I grinded in front of Jade Emperor for a long time! Now I just put a headband on him and he is making a disturbance.

You think that a criminal with conspiracy is easy to be forgiven? You planned to overthrow Jade Emperor’s ruling and kill him as well! Do you think you just broke a glass vase and he would let you go after my first try? How can these be the same!?

Ungrateful! Truly ungrateful!

Yet, that Sun Wukong not only doesn’t appreciate my loving-kindness, he also opens his eyes large enough to tear up his canthus. He hoarsely shouts at me: ‘I don’t care how others treat me in this world! I was one who jumped out from a rock anyway without parents or relatives! I do not know what pain is! But I don’t allow you or my shifu to treat me bad!’

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After this, he doesn’t lower his head and he murmurs to himself one time after another: ‘Only you two cannot do this. No, no!’

I liked to talk and talk the best, but now I don’t want to because I don’t have the mood. This monkey is a real shit. You don’t go after the bad ones, but you go after the good ones. Your temper is even more than that Jade Emperor.

Sun Wukong rests his body on his rod and points at Huian grumbly: ‘Is he good or useful? If he doesn’t listen to your words, do you put anything on him to cut off his head and make him want to crack his own head? No, of course you do not. He is your baby disciple. You want to love him more. What made me qualified for bearing such a pain?’

This monkey is not going to quit being obstinate here against me. It is true that my disciple doesn’t listen to my words, but he doesn’t make havoc in Heaven. Even at his most disobedient situation, he just loses his temper to me. He is not like you who rebels, kills, and steals.

Yet, speaking is not going to help now. This Sun monkey affirms that I harmed him, and he is going to flounce here.

I can only say: ‘Even if you said this, I will not take off the tight headband and give freedom back to you. If you are not satisfied with this, you can come fight me. Am I scared of you? Huian, stand behind me. If you move, I will put a headband on you as well.’

Huian is shocked and doesn’t dare to cause more trouble. He stands behind me well-behaved.

Sun Wukong sneers: ‘Cool! This thud is because you stealthily calculated me and put this hateful headband on my head!’

He raises his golden cudgel and forcibly thuds at my head. That Dinghai Shenzhen (Sea-stabilizing Godly needle/ the previous name for the golden cudgel before it belonged to Sun) accompanied by tornados sweep straight at me as if a rainstorm is coming and the wild wind has arrived. But at the moment when that cudgel is raised up, he bites the bullet and glares his eyes large. His whole body stops moving as if it is frozen. His hands hold the cudgel tightly and he glares at me flustered and exasperated. He doesn’t hit me, but he doesn’t take back his cudgel. He is in between and actually he pauses.

Suddenly, that cudgel which can surrender a dragon, kneel down a tiger, and turn over rivers and seas is loosened and taken back. That monkey gets mad and turns around. He faces me with his back and curses: ‘Fine! Fine! Fine! If I beat you today, others will say that I am a betrayer. Also, you are wearing this dress everyday. I don’t want to seem like bullying a female.’

After that, he looks back and gives me a black look. He gnashes: ‘Just wait. I have remembered this one thud and I will hit it one day!’

Then, he tumbles his Jing Dou Cloud to the sky. In a moment less than a blink, he has travelled 13468 miles away without leaving a shadow behind.

This monkey is strange for real.

If today his cudgel lands on me, I will definitely let him know Nanhai Guanyin is not that Jade Emperor who needs many guards to be safe. Let alone landing a thud on me, he probably cannot find my real position either.

Yet, his cudgel was taken back at the end. There is no reason to take back an arrow. All is decided on the bowstring. How many changes of mind are there in this moment? Shooting an arrow out is simple but taking that flying arrow back is extremely difficult.

Tathagata always tells me that everything has a potential, but I think there are good ones and bad ones. Now I saw that Sun Wukong kept on condemning me and I realized that his rock heart has feelings and emotions; although he has no parents and is a monkey born from the world itself, he has a kindness potential.

He is not afraid when he made havoc in Heaven or broke Lingxiao Palace or being pushed into the Daoist furnace. How many people are there who hate him enough to gnash and scared of him enough to lose their self-control? He happens to remember that little kindness he received and he saves this little glow in his palms and he doesn’t want to let it go even if this little kindness is hurting him now.

I underestimated this rock monkey.

At this point, Huian says straight to me: ‘Shifu, I feel pity for that Sun monkey.’

‘Shifu you always call me good-for-nothing, but I grew up with my parents who raised me and taught me. When I grew more, I had shifu to educate me, but that monkey jumped out from a crack in a rock. Let alone any parental care, he doesn’t even have any of his same kind. He was born in the wild mountains and faced tigers and wolves. There is no easy fast way to tame him.’

I say: ‘Now you know to speak for him. You were causing trouble and wanted to fight him just a while ago.’

Huian says: ‘He is Qitian Dasheng Sun Wukong. I should catch any possible chance to fight him. If I didn’t fight him this time, I don’t know when the next time will be. If he becomes a buddha in the future, I cannot even touch him.’

Fight, fight, fight! What you know only is fighting! Please tell me who you don’t want to fight against!

You are such a big boy now, but there is nothing in your brain except for fighting.

He speaks and gets excited: ‘I am jealous of that Sun Wukong. He will have eighty-one difficulties, which means that he will fight eighty-one yokais at least! How joyful the journey—’

He speaks and suddenly sees my look. He changes back to be a well-behaved child and says: ‘Of course he shall not kill those yokais. Just tame them.’

……

I look at my silly disciple. I am afraid that he is not likely to be assigned as a buddha in Western Paradise for his whole life. He can just be a janitor in my bamboo grove to trim my lotus and sweep the bamboo leaves. *Sigh*