The journey to enlightenment proceeds along a very slippery path. According to many unimpeachable sources, if you think too much about how to approach the destination then you’re sure to end up wide of the mark. Indirection may be all-important and yet too much stratagem may likewise lead you astray.
One time hiking in the woods I came upon a man who was crouching behind a giant boulder not far from a fresh mountain stream. He motioned for me to be quiet as I approached. I whispered to him, asking what he was doing. “I’m fishing,” he explained, and for the first time I noticed a rod lying by his side on the ground, untouched. “There’s an old fish in that pool so crafty it takes forever to creep up on him,” the fisherman continued in a hushed tone.
This is the way I have come to think about the pursuit of enlightenment. The wisest folks don’t seem to drop their lines directly into the pool. They lay their equipment aside and sit in stillness. Forward motion may be all but imperceptible for the longest time. Indirection is perhaps the only route forward.
Here is the way the journey to enlightenment has been summarized by Wu Cheng En, the brilliant 16th century fabulist, who is credited as the author of the magisterial epic The Journey to the West.
Just ask the monks
Sitting for so long
Cross-legged in Chan
How pursuing the Infinite
In this lifetime
Frequently leads one
To reach old age
Empty handed
With nothing to show for it
Any more than grinding bricks
Will make clear the glass
Or sustenance may be gleaned
From a diet of snow
Thus so many young acolytes
End up completely lost
Along life’s way
And yet such are
The great mysteries —
How a feather can absorb
An entire ocean or
A tiny mustard seed may
Expand across a vast
Mountain range
And the Golden Headed One
(Blessed be He)
Takes all in stride
With a beatific smile
In the very moment
Of Enlightenment
Thus superseding all Ten Stages
And the Three Vehicles combined
Beyond the Four Gateways of Birth
To the Six Levels of Incarnation besides
Just remember that
Whoever sits and listens
Facing the Cliff of Forgetfulness
Underneath the Shadowless Tree
Will hear the cuckoo’s call
Announcing the arrival of spring
And no matter how perilous
The road to Cao Xi may be
When we reach those cloud shrouded
Mountain peaks
There we’ll hear
The call of the Ancients
As it resounds again and again
Down the vast icy precipice
Extending 10,000 feet
Forever outspreading
Just like the five pronged
Lotus leaf
And pushing into
The ancient temple’s
Innermost sanctum
Passing through
The low-hanging pendants
Along the festival hallways
Full of fragrance and grace
Pushing on further still
Until at last we penetrate to the very
Origin and source of the Great Mystery
Where suddenly there
Appears before us
The mighty Dragon King
Together with Buddha’s
Three precious gems
I love this poem. For me it encapsulates much of the genius of The Journey to the West –Wu Cheng En’s extended narrative account of the long arduous journey to enlightenment. It represents an apotheosis of the Chan tradition, as it first emerged in China during the Tang Dynasty and continued to evolve over the succeeding centuries in China, Korea and Japan – a remarkable blending of Daoism and Buddhism, or as the poet describes it, the mighty Dragon King coming together with the Buddha’s three precious gems.
For those of you interested in reading a further account of the Chan journey to enlightenment, I have published a new translation of The Adventures of Monkey King, which comprises the first seven chapters of Wu Cheng En’s Journey to the West saga. My goal in doing so has been to make the story more accessible and familiar to a western audience – to bring the journey to enlightenment a bit closer in reach, if such a thing is possible. In order to better convey the story’s many fantastical qualities I chose to retell it as an epic poem.
The first chapter of Monkey King’s adventures begins this way:
I sing of Monkey King
Who from a rock outcropping
Standing forth for
Ten thousand kalpas before
The beginning of time
In a place near
The Dragon Gods’ home
Was given shape
Through unceasing attack
Of wind and rain
And twenty four times
By lightning bolts ripped and blasted
Until finally primed
For giving birth via
That certain stone egg
Which cracked open
And first presented
On the world stage
The most storied simian
The Adventures of Monkey King. If you’re interested in reading more of Monkey King’s adventures along the path to enlightenment, as well as a full poetic account of the development of Monkey Mind, take a moment to visit my Indiegogo campaign where you can order a copy of the first edition printing.
The Journey to the West by Wu Cheng En, in three volumes.
Illustration by Marcelo Zissu.