Chinese Literature

镇元大仙五莊觀 · 14

Leaf 14 of the pilgrimage · 與世同君 Co-equal With Heaven

Zhenyuan Daxian 镇元大仙

In Journey to the West 西遊記 (c. 1592) · a heaven-sent power who ends the fight · nicknamed 與世同君 “Co-equal With Heaven”

An immortal so old that heaven's register lists him as a peer rather than a subject, who takes a whole pilgrimage party into one sleeve without a fight.

Cult
not a buddhist, not a Taoist of heaven's list
Grows
the ginseng tree: 3,000 years to flower, 3,000 to bear, 3,000 to ripen
Rule
the fruit must meet five elements to survive being touched

The great deeds 大事記

  1. ch. 24

    Two Fruits for an Old Friend

    人參果

    He sends two fruits to the monk for his old friendship, and the monk weeps at the sight of them because they look like children.

  2. ch. 25

    The Ginseng Tree Felled

    推樹

    The boys curse, the monkey goes out at midnight, and by morning the tree of forty-seven thousand years is on the ground.

  3. ch. 25

    Four Captures from One Sleeve

    袖裡乾坤

    He catches them four times in a row without weapons, simply by opening his sleeve.

  4. ch. 26

    Sworn Brothers at the Tree

    結拜

    He accepts the dew-water, the tree returns, and he becomes Wukong's sworn brother on the spot.

結局 The ending

He is the only antagonist the novel lets offstage without a killing, a fetching or a punishment: he pours wine, asks for the tree's pardon, and gives the monkey nine more fruits.

In the same episode 同難

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