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My dear child, I know you are tired. But tonight I have a good story to tell you! I will tell you about three powerful and famous people: an emperor who lived in a palace in Chang’an, the emperor’s wise prime minister, and a dragon king who lived under the river.
People say that a great river always starts as a tiny stream. And so, tonight’s story begins with two ordinary people: a woodsman and a fisherman. These two were not scholars, but they were intelligent men and they loved to talk. They were also very good friends. Every day the fisherman sold the fish that he had caught, and the woodsman sold the wood that he had cut. At the end of the day they met at a tavern to eat dinner, drink wine and talk.
One evening, after they were done eating and drinking, they walked side by side on a small path alongside the Jing River to return home. They were both a little drunk, and each held a bottle of wine in his hand.
“My friend,” said the woodsman, “I think that people who want to be famous will lose their lives because of fame, and people who want to be rich will be unhappy because of their money. Our lives are much better, because we are not famous and we have no money. We live in the beautiful mountains near the river. What more could we want?”
“You are correct,” said the fisherman, “we both have happy lives, and we both live in beautiful places. But my river is much better than your mountains. Every day I sail in my little boat. My friends are the sun and wind, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the river. Every day I see my wife and son. My mind is clear, I have no worries, and I sleep very well at night.”
“No, my friend,” said the woodsman, “you are wrong. My forest is much better than your river. Every day in spring I walk through the woods, listening happily to the song of the birds. Summer comes, and the fragrance of flowers is all around me. Then autumn arrives, and then the cold of winter. I have no king and no master. I am happy in all four seasons!”
The woodsman and the fisherman walked home this way, talking about their lives, their jobs and their families. Each one said that his life was better than the other’s. Finally, they came to a place where one road went east and the other went west, and it was time for the two friends to say goodbye. “Be careful, my old friend,” said the fisherman. “When you climb your mountain tomorrow, be careful and watch for tigers. If a tiger were to eat you, I would miss you!”
The woodsman became angry at this, and shouted, “You fool! Good friends would die for each other. But now you say that I might be eaten by a tiger? Well, maybe you will fall into the river and die! Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow.”
The fisherman was not angry. He replied, “Ah, but I do know what will happen tomorrow.”
“How can you know that?” cried the woodsman.
The fisherman said, “I will tell you a secret. In the city of Chang’an, on a small street near the west gate, there is a man who can see the future. Every day I go and find him. I give him a fish, and he tells me where to find more fish the next day. I have listened to him a hundred times, and he is never wrong. Just today, he told me where to catch fish tomorrow in the Jing River. I will do as he says. Tomorrow I will sell many fish, and I will buy you a bottle of fine wine!”
After that, the woodsman and the fisherman each went to their homes. But that is not the end of our story, because you know the old saying, “words said on the road are heard in the grass.” A river spirit was nearby. He heard the fisherman say that he had caught many fish for a hundred days in a row. The river spirit was very frightened. He rushed to the palace of the Dragon King of the Jing River, shouting “Disaster! Disaster!”
“What kind of disaster?” asked the Dragon King.
The river spirit replied, “Just now I was in the river near a small path. I heard two men talking. One of them, a fisherman, said that every day he goes to see a man in Chang’an who can see the future. This man tells the fisherman where to fish the next day. And he is never wrong! You must do something. If you don’t, the fisherman will catch all the fish in the river and we will all die!”
The Dragon King became very angry. He picked up his sword and started to rush out of his palace to kill the man. But before he could leave, one of his ministers said “Your Majesty, please wait, don’t do this! You are the King of Eight Rivers and you can change the weather. If you go to Chang’an in anger, you will bring great thunder and heavy rains to the city. The people will be frightened, and Heaven will be angry with you. Instead, go slowly and quietly and learn more about this man. You can change into any man or animal. So, change into a man and go see him. Then you can decide what to do.”
The Dragon King thought this was a good idea. So he walked up out of the water onto the riverbank, then he changed into a tall and handsome scholar wearing a white robe. He walked into Chang’an.
Near the west gate he saw a man standing in front of his house, surrounded by a noisy crowd. The man was telling people what would happen in their future.
The Dragon King pushed the people aside and walked right past the fortune teller and into the house. The fortune teller followed him into the house. He told a boy to serve tea, then he sat down and looked at the Dragon King.
“What do you want to know?” asked the fortune teller.
“Please tell me tomorrow’s weather.”
“Tomorrow at the hour of the Dragon, clouds will come. At the hour of the Snake, thunder will come. At the hour of the Horse rain will start to fall, and at the hour of the Sheep it will finish. Altogether, there will be three feet and three inches of rain.”
“I’ll tell you what,” laughed the Dragon King, “if you are right, I will come back and give you fifty pieces of gold. But if you are wrong even a little bit, I will smash your house and chase you out of Chang’an.”
“Of course, that is no problem,” said the fortune teller. “Good bye for now. Please come again tomorrow after the rain.”
The Dragon King returned to his palace, and he sat on his throne and told his ministers and friends the story of the stupid man he had met in Chang’an. The Dragon King did not think that anyone could know the future. But just then, a messenger from the Jade Emperor arrived. He said, “The Jade Emperor commands the King of the Eight Rivers to bring rain to Chang’an tomorrow,” and then the messenger told the Dragon King to bring the same amount of rain at the same time that the fortune teller had said.
“Oh no!” cried the Dragon King. “I should not have made this bet with the fortune teller. Now I will lose! I don’t care about the gold, but I really don’t like to lose a bet!”
“Don’t worry,” said his ministers. “This is not a problem. Make the rain tomorrow as the Emperor commands. But make it rain just a little bit less, perhaps a half inch less. Then the fortune teller will be wrong, and you can smash his house and chase him out of Chang’an.”
The Dragon King made the rain, but he made it rain a half inch less than what the Emperor had commanded. When the rain was finished, he went to the fortune teller’s house and began smashing the door, the chairs and tables, the sign, and the entire house. The fortune teller just sat watching him and did nothing.
“You cannot see the future!” shouted the Dragon King. “You just take money from the people and tell them meaningless stories. You must leave Chang’an at once!”
The fortune teller just smiled and looked up at the sky. Then he said quietly, “I am not afraid of you. You are not a scholar at all, you are the Dragon King. And you have failed to send the rain as the Emperor commanded. Now you will be brought to Prime Minister Wei, and then you will be killed. Prepare to die, Dragon King!”
Now the Dragon King was not angry, he was afraid. He knew the fortune teller was correct and that he would soon be killed. So he left the fortune teller’s house with tears in his eyes, changed into a dragon, and flew slowly to the Emperor’s palace. Then he changed back into a man and waited in the palace garden for the Emperor to come. He waited a long time, until the middle of the night.
The Emperor was asleep in his bed. In his dream he entered the garden and saw the Dragon King waiting for him. The Dragon King cried, “O Emperor, please help me!”
“Why should I help you?” replied the Emperor.
“I am the Dragon King of the Jing River. You commanded me to send rain to the city of Chang’an, but I sent you less rain than you commanded.”
The Emperor already knew that the Dragon King had done this, and he had already commanded Prime Minister Wei to execute the Dragon King. But the Emperor said, “Don’t worry, I will speak with my Prime Minister about this matter. You will not be hurt, believe me!”
Right after that, the Emperor woke up and remembered the dream. He went to his throne room and saw all his ministers and generals, but he did not see Prime Minister Wei. So he commanded Wei to come to the throne room.
Wei arrived. The Emperor did not say anything about the Dragon King. He said to Wei, “Let’s play a game of chess.” They began to play. But after an hour, Wei’s head fell on the table and he fell asleep. The Emperor said nothing. He just let Wei sleep and waited for him to wake up.
An hour later, Wei woke up. He bowed low to the Emperor and said, “Your Majesty, your servant is so sorry that he fell asleep in front of you. Please kill me now!” But the Emperor told him not to worry, and they started to play another game of chess.
Just then, two ministers ran into the throne room, holding a huge dragon’s head, and shouting, “Your Majesty, we have seen many things, but we have never seen this! Look at this dragon’s head, it just fell from the sky!”
The Emperor looked at Wei. “What is this?” he asked.
“This is the head of the dragon that your useless servant just executed, as you commanded. Just now we were playing chess, and I fell asleep. While I was sleeping, I flew into the sky, above the clouds. There I saw the Dragon King waiting to be executed. I told him, ‘You have broken Heaven’s law, now you must die.’ And then I killed him.”
When the Emperor heard this, he was both happy and unhappy. He was happy to know he had such a good prime minister as Wei. But he was unhappy because he had told the Dragon King that he would help him. He left the throne room and went to bed. While in bed, he kept thinking about the Dragon King crying and asking him for help.
For a long time he could not fall sleep. Around midnight he did sleep, but in his dream the Dragon King came to him, holding his own head, dripping blood, and crying, “Taizong, Taizong, give me back my head! Give me back my life!” The Dragon King grabbed the Emperor and would not let go.
In the dream, the Emperor tried to get away from the Dragon King, but he could not. He became very tired and thought he was going to die. But then he heard beautiful music, and looking to the South he saw colorful clouds. A beautiful woman was standing in the clouds. It was Guanyin, the Buddhist teacher.
Guanyin had come to Chang’an to find someone to journey to the West and bring back the Buddha’s teachings. Guanyin had been sleeping in a nearby temple when she heard the cries of the Dragon King and the Emperor. She made the Dragon King let go of the Emperor, and then she took the Dragon King down to the underworld.
Right after that, the Emperor woke up. He was terrified, and shouted, “Ghost! Ghost!” Everyone in the palace woke up, and they stayed awake for the entire night. The next day the Emperor did not talk to anyone and did not leave his bed. He stayed in bed for six days, not eating or drinking. On the seventh day the Queen Mother called a doctor to come and examine him.
The doctor examined the Emperor. Afterwards, he said to the Queen Mother, “The Emperor is very ill. I do not know why. He talks about seeing ghosts. His heart is sometimes quick and sometimes slow. I am afraid that he will die within a week.” This frightened the Queen Mother and the ministers.
Later that day, the Emperor commanded several of his minsters and generals to come and see him. He said to them, “Since I was nineteen years old, I have been your Emperor. I have fought many wars and traveled to every place on earth - East, South, West and North. I have seen many things and fought many monsters, but I’ve never seen a ghost. Now I hear them screaming all day and all night. During the day it’s not so bad, but at night it is so loud that I cannot sleep at all.”
“Don’t worry about those ghosts!” said one of the generals. “Tonight two of us will stand outside your room. We won’t let any ghosts inside your bedroom. You will be able to sleep tonight.”
And so that evening the two generals, wearing bright golden armor and carrying swords, stood outside the Emperor’s bedroom door. They stood there all night but did not see any ghosts. The Emperor did not hear any ghosts, and he had no trouble sleeping.
The two generals returned the next night, and the night after that. They did not see any ghosts, and the Emperor slept well. But the Emperor did not want his generals to work all night every night. So he commanded an artist to make paintings of the two generals, and the paintings of the generals were put outside his room.
For a few nights no ghosts came to the door. But then the Emperor began to hear ghosts again. He was very unhappy and would not eat or drink anything. He knew that he was going to die soon. So he bathed and put on clean clothing, and lay down on his bed, waiting to die.
Wei came to him and said, “Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I can give you a long life.”
“My friend,” said the Emperor, “it is too late for that. My heart is sick, and soon I will die.”
Wei said, “A long time ago, a man named Cui Jue was a minister here in the palace. He was a good friend of mine. When he died he went to the Underworld and became a judge. I still meet with him frequently in my dreams. I think he can help you.” And then Wei gave the Emperor a letter. “When you arrive in the underworld, look for Cui Jue. Give him this letter. After he reads it, I think he will help you return to the world of the living!”
Taizong heard these words, smiled at Wei, and took the letter in his hand. Then he closed his eyes and died.
My child, do not be afraid of death! Listen:
A hundred years pass like water,
A lifetime is but a single dream.
The face that was the color of peaches
Is now edged with snow.
If you quietly do good deeds,
Heaven will give you a long and happy life.
Taizong’s soul drifted upwards, out of the palace. He did not know where he was or what he was doing. He saw clouds. He thought that some men on horses arrived and wanted to take him riding with them. But a little while later he could not see the men and horses, and he was alone again. He began to walk. It was cold and dark, the wind was blowing, and he could not see anything.
Taizong walked for a long time. Finally he heard a voice in the darkness. It said, “Your Majesty, come over here! Come over here!” Taizong looked and saw a tall man standing in front of him. The man was wearing a white robe. He had long white hair under a black hat, and his long white beard was blowing in the wind. In one hand he held a Book of Life and Death.
“Who are you, and why have you come to meet me?” asked Taizong.
The man said, “Two weeks ago the Dragon King of the Jing River came here. He told the Kings of the Underworld that you promised to save him, but then you had him killed. The Kings of the Underworld wanted to talk with you. So they sent ghosts to the human world to bring you here. That is why you became ill and died. I heard that you were coming to the Underworld, so I came here to meet you.”
“What is your name,” asked Taizong again, “and what is your rank?”
“When your lowly subject was alive, he served as a minister in your palace. My name is Cui Jue.”
Taizong said, “I am very happy to see you! My prime minister Wei gave me this letter to give to you.” And he handed the letter to Cui Jue. Cui Jue opened the letter and read it. It said,
“Your beloved brother Wei sends this letter to the Great Judge of the Underworld, my brother Mr. Cui. I remember our friendship, and your voice and handsome face are always with me. Several years have passed since we last talked together in my dreams. I have only given you a few vegetables and fruits during the festivals, and I hope you have enjoyed them. I am glad that you have not forgotten me, and I am also glad that you are now a judge in the Underworld. The worlds of men and the Underworld are far apart, so we cannot meet. I write you now because of the sudden death of my Emperor Taizong. I ask you to not forget our friendship, and allow the Emperor to return to life.”
“I know the story of the Dragon King, and I think you did the correct thing,” said Cui Jue. “I am happy to help you return to the world of the living, if I can. But first, you must come with me and meet with the Kings of the Underworld.”
Just then, two servant boys arrived. They wore blue robes and carried flags, and they shouted, “The Kings of the Underworld want to meet with you.” Taizong and Cui Jue walked behind the boys. Soon they arrived at the gate of the Palace of the Kings of the Underworld. The palace had a tall green tower that reached to the sky. Taizong saw red lightning in the sky, and monsters all around. Outside the gate, two servants stood holding large burning torches.
Taizong and Cui Jue walked inside the gate and waited. Soon, the Ten Kings of the Underworld came out, bowed to Taizong, and waited for him. Taizong bowed to them, but he did not move. One of them said to Taizong, “You are an Emperor in the world of men, we are only ghosts here in the Underworld. Why do you not lead the way?”
“I am very sorry,” said Taizong, “I do not know the ways of the Underworld.” They all stood for a while, not moving. Finally Taizong decided to start walking, so they all walked together into another room and sat down.
One of the Kings looked at Taizong and said, “The Dragon King says that you promised to save him, then you had him killed. Why?”
Taizong replied, “Yes, I did promise him that he would be safe. But before that, I had already told my prime minister Wei to execute him. I tried to save the dragon by inviting Wei to play a game of chess with me. But Wei was clever, he fell asleep and executed the dragon in his dream. I did not know about this, so I don’t see how I caused the dragon’s death.”
The King of the Underworld said, “We understand. Even before the Dragon King was born, it was written in the Book of Life and Death that he would die by the hand of a human judge. And of course, the Dragon King did not obey the Emperor’s command to send the rain. So we have already sent the him to the Wheel of Rebirth. We apologize for bringing you here.”
But the Kings of the Underworld did not let Taizong leave yet. They said to Cui Jue, “Bring out the Books of Life and Death, we want to see how long Taizong should live.”
Cui Jue went into another room to look in the Book of Life and Death, and he saw that Taizong would die in the thirteenth year of his reign. Quickly, Cui Jue used his brush and ink to add two strokes to the character ten (十), making it a thirty (卅). Then he brought the book to the Kings of the Underworld.
“How many years have you been the Emperor?” they asked.
“Thirteen years,” replied Taizong.
“Don’t worry, then, you have twenty more years of life. Now we are finished, and you may return to the human world. Again, we are sorry for bringing you here.”
Taizong bowed and thanked the Kings. “Is there anything I can give you when I return to the human world?” he asked.
“Well, we would love to have some pumpkins!” said the Kings.
“That’s not a problem at all,” said Taizong, “I would be happy to send you some pumpkins.”
Then the Kings ordered Cui Jue and another man, General Zhu, to take Taizong back to the human world. As they left, Taizong saw that they were taking a different road than the road that they had taken when they entered. “Aren’t we going the wrong way?” he asked Cui Jue.
“No. It is easy to enter the Underworld when you die, but you can only leave through the Wheel of Rebirth. Now we go to the Wheel. But it is a long walk, and I will show you a little bit of hell as we walk!”
Now my dear child, I must tell you some of the things that Taizong saw in the Underworld. Please don’t be afraid!
Taizong, Cui Jue and General Zhu walked for several miles, then they saw a very tall mountain. Black clouds surrounded it. “This is the Mountain of Darkness,” said Cui Jue. “There are no animals here, only hungry ghosts and monsters.” Taizong looked around. He saw no grass on the ground, no trees on the sides of the mountain, no water in the rivers, no birds in the sky. He saw only black clouds and heard only the cold wind and the shouts of demons and ghosts. He was very afraid, but Cui Jue helped him to pass the mountain.
But after they passed the mountain, Taizong saw something that frightened him even more. It was a place with many buildings, each with many rooms, and in each room souls were crying loudly.
“Who are all these people?” asked Taizong.
“These are the Eighteen Levels of Hell,” said Cui Jue. “Many different kinds of people are here. You will see people who had the mouth of a Buddha but the heart of a snake. You will see people who said one thing but do something else. You will see people who took money from others through deception. You will see people who turned against their king and country. And of course, you will see people who killed other living creatures. Those people must stay here for a thousand years, bound tightly with ropes. If they move, red-hair demons and black-hair demons strike them with long swords. It is terrible to see!”
By this time, Taizong was so afraid that he almost could not walk. But Cui Jue helped him, and they walked down the road. Soon they came to three bridges. The first was a golden bridge, which Taizong and Cui Jue walked across. The second was a silver bridge, where many good people walked across, led by flags.
“What is that third bridge?” asked Taizong.
“That is the Bridge of Punishment,” said Cui Jue. “When you return to the world of the living, please tell others about this bridge. It is many miles long but only as wide as three fingers, and there are no railings. A hundred feet below is a river as cold as ice, full of demons and monsters. Ghosts with bare feet and dirty hair try to cross this bridge. If they fall, demons and monsters rise up from the river, grab them and pull them under the water.”
Taizong was even more afraid than before. Next, they came to a city full of headless ghosts. “Give us back our lives!” they all shouted. “Give us back our lives!” Some of them tried to grab Taizong.
“Help me, Judge Cui!” cried Taizong. “Who are these people?”
“These are the forgotten ghosts of soldiers who died fighting for nothing. Nobody has given them a home or cared for them. They cannot enter the Wheel of Rebirth because they have no money. So they stay here, cold and hungry. Perhaps you can help them.”
“How can I help them?” asked Taizong. “I also have no money here in the Underworld!”
“There is a man living in the human world, a Mr. Xiang, who has put a large amount of gold and silver here in the Underworld. You can borrow money from him and give it to me. I will give it to the hungry ghosts so they can enter the Wheel of Rebirth. If I do this, they will let us pass and we can finish our journey. Later, when you return to the human world, you can repay Mr. Xiang.”
So Taizong borrowed the money and gave it to Cui Jue, and Cui Jue gave the money to the hungry ghosts, saying, “Here is the great emperor Taizong. I am taking him back to the human world. Use this gold and silver to buy entry to the Wheel of Rebirth. Now let him pass!” The hungry ghosts took the money and let them pass.
They kept walking, and after a long time they arrived at a very large wheel. Taizong looked and saw people, animals, birds, ghosts and monsters. Each of them walked under the wheel and came out on the other side, walking on one of six different roads.
“What is this?” asked Taizong.
“You must remember this and tell people in the human world about it. This is the Wheel of Rebirth. When people die, they come here and their souls go under this wheel. When they come out on the other side, each soul takes one of six paths. Five of them are: the Path of Immortals, the Path of Honor, the Path of Happiness, the Path of Man, and the Path of Wealth. Otherwise, they fall down to the Path of Demons. This decides what their next life will be. But you will not go under the Wheel of Rebirth today. You will go directly to the Gate of Rebirth on the Path of Honor.”
After they walked around the Wheel and through the Path of Honor’s Gate of Rebirth, Cui Jue said, “Now I must leave you. General Zhu will take you the rest of the way back to the human world. When you return to the human world, you must hold a Great Mass of Land and Water ceremony to help these hungry ghosts be reborn. Do not forget! If you want peace in your country, there must not be any hungry ghosts in the underworld. Teach all your people to be good. This will make your family happy and your country safe.”
Taizong walked through the Gate of Rebirth with General Zhu. On the other side of the gate two beautiful horses waited for them. They rode swiftly until they arrived at the banks of a wide river. After being in the Underworld for so long, Taizong thought the river was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He just sat on his horse, looking at the river. Zhu tried to push him, but Taizong just kept looking at the river.
Finally, Zhu shouted, “What are you waiting for? Get moving!” and he pushed Taizong off his horse and into the river. Now Taizong was in the water but he was also in the land of the living, inside his coffin. He pounded on the coffin door, shouting, “Help me! I am underwater!” Some of the ministers thought it must be a ghost, but Prime Minister Wei quickly opened the coffin. Taizong stepped out, dripping wet, onto the palace floor.
“I was just riding my horse along the river, when that terrible man Zhu pushed me off the horse and into the river!” he said.
His ministers looked at him. “Your Majesty, you have nothing to fear. There is no river here, no horse, and no Zhu!” His doctor gave him a little medicine and a little soup, and Taizong went to bed and slept all night.
Early in the morning, Taizong got out of bed and called all his ministers and generals to the throne room. He told them the story of his time in the Underworld. “I am so happy to be back in the human world,” he said. “Now there are many things I must do!”
First, Taizong held a Great Mass of Land and Water for the souls of the hungry ghosts, to let them enter the Wheel of Rebirth and be born again. Then he sent one of his ministers to repay Mr. Xiang for the gold that Taizong had borrowed from him in the Underworld. And finally, he sent pumpkins down to the Ten Kings of the Underworld, but the story of how he did that is too long for me to tell you tonight!
Taizong remained as the Tang Emperor for another twenty years, and he never forgot about his time in the Underworld. He remembered all the things he saw there, and he tried to help all of his people to lead good lives.
That’s our story for tonight, my dear child, but don’t worry, I still have many more stories to tell you. Tomorrow night you will hear how the young monk Xuanzang began his long journey to the west, and how he met the Monkey King, Sun Wukong.
Good night, I love you!