A RECORD OF ALL THINGS UNDER HEAVEN
As gathered from the oldest accounts that remain
PROLOGUE — CHAPTER NINE
On the Matter of the Pantao Banquet — 蟠桃會 — Pantao Hui — and What Happened Because of It
The banquet is called the Pantao Hui — 蟠桃會.
Pan — 蟠 — means coiled. Flat. Wound upon itself.
Tao — 桃 — means peach.
Hui — 會 — means assembly. Gathering. Meeting.
Together — 蟠桃會 — the Assembly of the Flat Peaches. The Gathering of the Immortal Peaches. The Banquet of the Peaches of Immortality.
It is held when the peaches ripen.
The peaches ripen every three thousand years — 三千年 — san qian nian. Or every six thousand years. Or every nine thousand years. The ripening depends on which group of trees has come to term.
When the peaches ripen, all of heaven is invited.
All of heaven is not always invited.
This is the detail that matters.
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On who attends.
The guest list of the Pantao Banquet is recorded in the Xiyou Ji — 西遊記 — Journey to the West — written by Wu Cheng'en — 吳承恩 — in the sixteenth century. The novel preserves the most complete account of the banquet that exists.
The guests are:
The Buddha — 佛祖 — Fozhu — the Bodhisattvas — 菩薩 — Pusa — the holy monks — 聖僧 — sheng seng — and the Arhats — 羅漢 — luohan — of the Western Heaven — 西天 — Xi Tian.
Guanyin — 觀音 — from the South Pole — 南極 — Nanji — the Goddess of Mercy — 慈悲女神 — Cibei Nüshen.
The Holy Emperor of Great Mercy of the East — 東方大悲聖帝 — Dongfang Dabei Shengdi.
The Immortals of the Ten Continents and Three Islands — 十洲三島仙翁 — Shizhou Sandao Xianweng.
The Dark Spirit of the North Pole — 北極玄靈 — Beiji Xuanling.
The Great Immortal of the Yellow Horn from the Imperial Center — 中央黃角大仙 — Zhongyang Huangjiao Daxian.
These are the Elders from the Five Quarters — 五方五老 — Wufang Wulao.
Also invited: the Star Spirits of the Five Poles — 五極星君 — Wuji Xingjun. The Three Pure Ones — 三清 — Sanqing. The Four Heavenly Kings — 四大天王 — Si Da Tianwang. The Heavenly Deva of the Great Monad — 太乙天尊 — Taiyi Tianzun. The rest from the Upper Eight Caves — 上八洞 — Shang Ba Dong.
From the Middle Eight Caves — 中八洞 — Zhong Ba Dong: the Jade Emperor — 玉皇 — Yu Huang. The Nine Heroes — 九曜 — Jiu Yao. The Immortals of the Seas and Mountains — 海嶽神仙 — Haiyue Shenxian.
From the Lower Eight Caves — 下八洞 — Xia Ba Dong: the Pope of Darkness — 幽冥教主 — Youming Jiaozhu. The Terrestrial Immortals — 地仙 — Di Xian.
Also: the Twenty-Eight Constellations — 二十八宿 — Ershiba Xiu. The Nine Luminaries — 九曜 — Jiu Yao. The Twelve Horary Branches — 十二時辰 — Shi'er Shichen. The Fearless Guards of Five Quarters — 五方揭諦 — Wufang Jiedi. The Four Temporal Guardians — 四值功曹 — Si Zhi Gongcao. The Stars of East and West — 東西星斗 — Dongxi Xingdou. The Gods of North and South — 南北神祇 — Nanbei Shenqi. The Deities of the Five Mountains and the Four Rivers — 五嶽四瀆 — Wuyue Si Du. The Star Spirits of the entire Heaven — 天上諸星 — Tianshang Zhu Xing. One hundred thousand celestial soldiers — 十萬天兵 — shiwantianbing — were also present.
Laozi — 老子 — also attends. He brings his elixir pills — 仙丹 — xian dan — in their furnace.
This is the guest list.
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On who does not attend.
The Monkey King — 孫悟空 — Sun Wukong — does not attend.
The reason is recorded in the novel. The Jade Emperor clarified it directly. Wukong was the Guardian of the Peach Garden — 蟠桃園 — Pantao Yuan. He was not a paid celestial official — 天庭官員 — tian ting guanyuan. He was a guardian, not a courtier. Guardians of the garden are not included on the guest list.
The Curtain-Lifting General — 捲簾大將 — Juanlian Dajiang — later known as Sha Wujing — 沙悟淨 — Sandy — was also present at a previous banquet. He accidentally broke a crystal goblet — 水晶盞 — shuijing zhan — belonging to the Queen Mother of the West — 西王母 — Xiwangmu. He was exiled to the mortal world for this. He was made hideous. He was turned into a sandman living in the Flowing Sands River — 流沙河 — Liusha He. He terrorized travelers crossing the river until he was subdued. He was not invited again.
One broken cup. Exile. Transformation into a monster. This is recorded without editorial comment.
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On the Seven Fairy Maidens.
Xiwangmu sends the Seven Fairy Maidens — 七仙女 — Qi Xian Nü — to collect the peaches for the banquet.
They are distinguished by the color of their gowns.
The Red Fairy — 紅衣仙女 — hong yi xiannü.
The Blue Fairy — 藍衣仙女 — lan yi xiannü.
The White Fairy — 白衣仙女 — bai yi xiannü.
The Black Fairy — 黑衣仙女 — hei yi xiannü.
The Purple Fairy — 紫衣仙女 — zi yi xiannü.
The Yellow Fairy — 黃衣仙女 — huang yi xiannü.
The Green Fairy — 綠衣仙女 — lü yi xiannü.
Seven colors. Six are named. Note: there was no orange gown among them. The Chinese language did not have a distinct word for orange for a long time. The color was considered a shade of red or yellow. This detail is preserved in the seven gowns.
They enter the garden to collect peaches. The Guardian of the Garden is not present at his post.
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On what they find.
They find the garden mostly stripped.
The oldest peaches — the nine-thousand-year ones — 九千年蟠桃 — jiu qian nian pantao — are almost entirely gone. Most of the six-thousand-year ones are gone too. Only the youngest and least powerful peaches remain.
Then a branch moves.
It was pulled down by one of the maidens reaching for a peach. The branch was released. It snapped back up.
Something on the branch woke up.
The Guardian of the Garden had shrunk himself to two inches — 兩寸 — liang cun — and hidden among the leaves. He had been sleeping there after gorging himself.
He resumed his normal size.
He threatened the maidens with his iron staff — 金箍棒 — Jin Gu Bang.
Then he asked them about the banquet.
They told him. Everyone important in heaven was invited. He was not on the list.
He froze the seven maidens in place with a fixation spell — 定身法 — ding shen fa. He left them standing there like seven painted statues.
He went to the banquet hall.
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On what he did at the banquet hall.
The guests had not yet arrived.
The tables were set. The food was laid out. The celestial wine — 仙酒 — xian jiu — was arranged in jars. The celestial pastries — 仙餅 — xian bing — were stacked. The fruit was displayed.
He put the banquet attendants — 執事仙官 — zhishi xianguan — to sleep with a soporific spell — 瞌睡蟲 — ke shui chong — the sleeping insect technique. He blew the insects onto them. They fell asleep.
He ate the food.
He drank the wine.
He ate more food.
He drank more wine.
He became drunk — 醉 — zui.
In a drunken haze, he wandered away from the banquet hall. He wandered up through the thirty-three levels — 三十三重天 — san shi san chong tian — of the heavenly palace. He found his way to the laboratory of Laozi — 太上老君 — Taishang Laojun — Daode Tianzun — 道德天尊.
Everyone in the laboratory was out attending a lecture — 講道 — jiang dao.
He went inside.
He found five gourds — 五個葫蘆 — wu ge hulu — containing the highest treasures of the immortals — 仙家至寶 — xianjia zhi bao. The elixir pills — 仙丹 — xian dan — the product of Laozi's alchemical furnace — 八卦爐 — Bagua Lu — the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
He ate them all.
He ate them the way a person eats fried beans — 炒豆 — chao dou. This is the comparison used in the text.
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On the consequence.
When the Seven Fairy Maidens recovered from the fixation spell — after being frozen for an entire day — they reported to Xiwangmu.
Xiwangmu reported to the Jade Emperor.
The Jade Emperor learned simultaneously of several offenses:
The theft of the peaches — 偷蟠桃 — tou pantao.
The disruption of the banquet — 鬧蟠桃宴 — nao pantao yan.
The theft of the celestial wine — 偷仙酒 — tou xian jiu.
The theft and consumption of Laozi's immortality pills — 偷吃老君金丹 — tou chi Laojun jin dan.
The Jade Emperor sent the celestial army — 天兵天將 — tian bing tian jiang — one hundred thousand strong. Four Heavenly Kings — 四大天王 — Si Da Tianwang. Erlang Shen — 二郎神 — with his Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear — 三尖兩刃槍 — san jian liang ren qiang — and his divine dog — 嘯天犬 — Xiao Tian Quan. Nezha — 哪吒 — with his Wind Fire Wheels — 風火輪 — feng huo lun.
The Monkey King fought them all.
He defeated the one hundred thousand celestial soldiers.
He defeated the Four Heavenly Kings.
He defeated Nezha.
He held Erlang Shen to a draw.
The Jade Emperor appealed to Laozi — 太上老君 — who threw the Diamond Snare — 金剛琢 — Jin Gang Zhuo — causing the Monkey King to stumble.
Erlang Shen's brothers tied him.
He was brought to heaven to be executed.
The executioners used axes — 斧 — fu. Knives — 刀 — dao. Thunderbolts — 雷霆 — lei ting.
Nothing worked.
His body was indestructible. The peaches had done their work. The wine had done its work. The pills had done their work. He had consumed immortality from every available source. He could not be killed.
Laozi put him into the Eight Trigrams Furnace — 八卦爐 — Bagua Lu.
He was cooked for forty-nine days — 七七四十九天 — qi qi sishi jiu tian — seven times seven, forty-nine.
On the forty-ninth day they opened the furnace.
He jumped out.
He had survived by sheltering in the Wind element — 巽 — Xun — of the eight trigrams — 八卦 — bagua. The smoke had irritated his eyes. The smoke refined his pupils. His eyes became golden — 火眼金睛 — huo yan jin jing — Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils. He could now see through any disguise. He could identify demons regardless of their form.
He overturned the furnace.
He began to rampage through heaven with his iron staff.
The Jade Emperor sent for the Buddha.
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On the Buddha's intervention.
The Tathagata — 如來 — Rulai — the Buddha — arrived from the Western Paradise — 西方極樂世界 — Xifang Jile Shijie.
He made a bet with the Monkey King.
He said: if you can jump out of the palm of my hand, I will make you the ruler of heaven.
The Monkey King agreed.
He somersaulted through the air. He flew a hundred and eight thousand li — 十萬八千里 — shiwanba qian li. He flew until he reached what appeared to be five pink pillars — 五根肉紅柱子 — wu gen rouhong zhuzi — at the edge of the universe.
He wrote his name at the base of one pillar: Great Sage Equal to Heaven — 齊天大聖到此一遊 — Qi Tian Dasheng Dao Ci Yi You.
He urinated at the base of another.
He somersaulted back.
He told the Buddha he had reached the ends of the universe and returned.
The Buddha opened his palm.
The five pillars were his fingers.
The name written at their base was there.
The smell of monkey urine was there.
The Monkey King had never left the Buddha's palm.
The Buddha expelled him from heaven.
His fingers became the Five Elements — 五行 — Wu Xing — metal, wood, water, fire, earth — 金木水火土 — Jin Mu Shui Huo Tu. They became a mountain — 五行山 — Wuxing Shan — the Mountain of Five Elements.
The Monkey King was sealed beneath it.
He would remain there for five hundred years — 五百年 — wu bai nian.
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On what the banquet left behind.
The banquet hall was wrecked.
The peach garden was stripped.
Laozi's pills were gone.
One hundred thousand celestial soldiers had been defeated by one being.
The celestial army had proven insufficient.
The Jade Emperor had required outside assistance.
Heaven had been shown to be not inviolable.
The banquet that was supposed to renew the immortality of all heaven had ended in the greatest disruption heaven had ever suffered.
The Monkey King was imprisoned. Heaven was restored to order.
The records do not state whether the banquet was ever held again in the same form.
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On the Eight Immortals at the banquet.
The Eight Immortals — 八仙 — Ba Xian — attend the Pantao Banquet regularly. This is one of the most depicted scenes in Chinese art and on Chinese ceramics.
They cross the sea to attend — 八仙過海 — Ba Xian Guo Hai — each using their own special object to cross. The expression eight immortals cross the sea — 八仙過海,各顯神通 — ba xian guo hai, ge xian shentong — each showing their special ability — became a proverb. It means: each member of a group making their own distinctive contribution.
The Eight Immortals are depicted in folk woodblock prints approaching the Queen Mother with their gifts. The God of Longevity — 壽星 — Shouxing — with his high forehead is also present. A monkey carries a tray of peaches. Deer and phoenix each carry a longevity mushroom — 靈芝 — lingzhi.
The attending deities bring gifts. The gifts are always the same category: things that extend life and confirm immortality. What other gift would be appropriate at a banquet hosted by the guardian of immortality itself.
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On the significance of the oversight.
The Monkey King was not invited because he was not a paid official.
He was a guardian. Not a courtier.
The distinction seemed reasonable at the time.
The result: the greatest disruption in heavenly history.
The texts do not draw a lesson from this. The texts simply record what happened.
The lesson, if there is one, is not stated.
The reader will determine it for themselves.
END OF CHAPTER NINE