Leaf 38 of the pilgrimage · 六耳獼猴 The Six-Eared Macaque

Six-Eared Macaque 六耳猕猴

In Journey to the West 西遊記 (c. 1592) · a demon on the road west · nicknamed 六耳獼猴 “The Six-Eared Macaque”

The one demon on the road who wanted the scripture rather than the monk's flesh, and who could only be told apart by someone who had heard both preach.

藏Keep on my shelf

Lair

Water-Curtain Cave, sitting on the stone bench with somebody else's monkeys

Carried

the same club, the same gold fillet, the same cloth kilt and boots

Exposed by

the Buddha; the underworld's listening beast knew and would not say

The great deeds 大事記

1. ch. 57

   The Bag and Bowls Carried Off

   水簾謄文

   While the real Wukong is at the Southern Sea complaining of his expulsion, this one clubs the monk on the road, walks off with the travel bag, the bowls and the change of robes, and installs them at Flower-Fruit Mountain to be copied.

2. ch. 57

   The Counterfeit Pilgrims

   自立為祖

   His crew is hired out of the mountain's own monkeys — a false Sanzang, a false Bajie, a false Sha, a false white horse — and his stated plan is to go west by himself and have the people of Jambudvipa found an ancestor on him.

3. ch. 57

   A Monkey Under the Borrowed Shape

   猴精現形

   Sha Wujing, disbelieved by both sides, strikes the impostor Sha and finds nothing inside the shape but a monkey spirit, which is what finally drags the whole quarrel to a bodhisattva.

4. ch. 58

   The Fillet Aches in Two Heads

   箍兒齊疼

   Guanyin sets her two attendants to hold one apiece while she recites the fillet's spell in secret; both of them scream, both roll on the ground begging her to stop, and no one at the court can tell which is the disciple she gave the ring to.

5. ch. 58

   The Beast That Would Not Speak

   諦聽無言

   In the hall of the Ten Kings the listening beast lies flat on the courtyard flagstones, takes in every creature under the four continents, gets up and reports that it knows the name — but cannot say it to their faces, nor lend a hand to catch him.

6. ch. 58

   The Four Kinds of Monkey Named

   四猴混世

   The Buddha names the four monkeys that fall outside the ten classes, and the fourth — six ears, good at listening, able to see what is coming, all-bright — is described as the one 'same in form and same in voice' as Wukong. The impostor bolts.

7. ch. 58

   The Club Falls at the Assembly

   劈頭一下

   Before the assembly can close its hands on him, Wukong brings the club down on his head and kills him there, and the narrator adds, as an afterthought, that this is why no six-eared monkey kind exists.

In the same episode 同難

• 如来佛祖 Sakyamuni BuddhaSakyamuni of the West
• 孙悟空 Sun WukongHandsome Monkey King
• 黑熊精 Black Bear SpiritBlack Wind Demon King
• 黄风怪 Yellow Wind MonsterYellow Wind Demon King
• 白骨精 White Bone DemonLady White Bone
• 黄袍怪 Yellow Robe MonsterKui, the Wood Wolf

The book itself: why the monkey was pinned, which translation — The 500 years · The translations · The 81 trials