毗蓝婆菩萨日宮所炼 · 20
Leaf 20 of the pilgrimage · 紫雲山千花洞 The Lady of the Thousand Flowers Cave
Pilanpo Pusa 毗蓝婆菩萨
In Journey to the West 西遊記 (c. 1592) · a heaven-sent power who ends the fight · nicknamed 紫雲山千花洞 “The Lady of the Thousand Flowers Cave”
The bodhisattva nobody had heard of, who kills the invincible centipede with a needle and asks for nothing but two gatekeepers.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 73
The Old Mother Names Her
老母傳話Wukong learns of her existence from the Old Mother of Li Mountain, the only other being in the book who knows where she lives.
- ch. 73
The Needle from the Sleeve
針落She takes the needle out of her sleeve; it falls on the demon's crown, the three-thousand-li gold light goes out, and a seven-inch centipede is left on the flagstones.
- ch. 73
The Breath That Opened His Eyes
視目She breathes on Wukong's eyes, shut by the light, and opens them again — the only healing in the book done without a pill.
- ch. 73
The Seven Spiders Collected
收七蛛She agrees to take the seven spiders along, on the ground that her cave has no one left to watch the gate.
結局 The ending
She goes home with seven spider women as servants and no further business in the story. The episode exists to establish that a thousand eyes are beaten by one needle held by a mother.
The book itself: why the monkey was pinned, which translation — The 500 years · The translations · The 81 trials