Sha Seng

Sha Seng had been the Curtain-Lifting General of heaven, in attendance beside the Jade Emperor’s carriage. At a peach banquet he broke a crystal cup by accident; the Jade Emperor in fury had him beaten eight hundred strokes and banished from heaven, and ordered that a flying sword pierce his breast once every seven days as a punishment.

Banished, Sha Seng fell into the Flowing Sand River, whose water was deep, broad and swift and which no ordinary boat could cross. He made it his home, and when hungry ate travellers, birds and beasts, becoming in time the monster of that river.

Nine parties of pilgrims had passed the Flowing Sand River before, and Sha Seng had eaten them all; their nine skulls sank to the bottom, and he strung them at his neck and carried them as a record of what had been.

When Guanyin, charged with finding the members of the pilgrimage, came to the Flowing Sand River and learned how he had been banished and what the skulls at his neck were, she came down and set out the work of guarding the scripture-seeker. Sha Seng agreed to change, and she laid her hand on his head, gave him the precepts and the name Wujing, and told him to wait.

When Tang Sanzang, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie came to the Flowing Sand River the water blocked their road and there was no boat. Sha Seng rose out of the river and fought Zhu Bajie in the water for many passes without a decision.

Guanyin’s disciple Moksa was sent to the Flowing Sand River, told Sha Seng that the party was now complete and reminded him of what Guanyin had charged him with. Sha Seng stopped fighting, took the nine skulls from his neck, and set them out on the surface as Moksa directed.

The skulls joined into a raft, and Moksa put a gourd in the middle of it and helped Sha Seng carry Tang Sanzang across. The pilgrims crossed the Flowing Sand River, and Sha Seng entered Tang Sanzang’s gate and went west as the third disciple.

Once he had joined, Sha Seng packed the robes, the bowl, the travel documents and the daily gear into the luggage and carried it on a pole. Every day when the party set out he walked behind the white horse with that load.

In the kingdom of Baoxiang, Tang Sanzang was turned into a tiger by the Yellow Robe Monster. Sha Seng and Bajie attacked the Boyue Cave and fought the monster a long while; Sha Seng was taken, Bajie was beaten back to the post house, and had to go to Mount Huaguo to fetch Wukong.

At Yellow Wind Ridge the Great King Yellow Wind carried off Tang Sanzang. Sha Seng went with Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie to fight, and they attacked the cave several times without success until the bodhisattva Lingji came and subdued him and freed their master.

At Withered Pine Ravine on Mount Hao, Red Boy trapped Tang Sanzang with the samadhi fire. Sha Seng went forward several times with Wukong and Bajie and was stopped by the flames, until Guanyin came down and subdued Red Boy, and the pilgrims went on.

At the Heaven-Reaching River an old turtle carried the party across, and Sha Seng minded the luggage and the horse on the way; when the goldfish spirit raised waves to block the road he went with the others to fight it and helped subdue it.

In the episode of the true and false Monkey Kings, the false Wukong struck Tang Sanzang down and took the luggage. Sha Seng went to Mount Huaguo to demand it back and found in the cave another Tang Sanzang, Bajie, Sha Seng and white horse, all macaques in disguise.

Sha Seng, enraged, killed the false Sha Seng with his staff and was driven out of the Water Curtain Cave by the monkeys. He went to Mount Luojia and there, beside Guanyin, found the true Wukong, and returned with him to Mount Huaguo; from there the two monkeys fought their way to Vulture Peak.

At Lion Camel Ridge the green lion, the white elephant and the great peng took them all into the cave. Wukong was swallowed by the green lion, while Sha Seng was bound with Tang Sanzang and Bajie, until Rulai came with the assembly and took the three demons.

In the kingdom of Chechi, Wukong contended in arts with the three state preceptors Tiger Power, Deer Power and Goat Power. Sha Seng and Bajie stood beside Tang Sanzang and watched the three Daoists die in turn in the tests of beheading, of the opened belly and of the boiling oil.

In the kingdom of Bhiksu, Sun Wukong hid one thousand one hundred and eleven children, and the king, listening to a demon Daoist, wanted Tang Sanzang’s heart and liver for medicine. Sha Seng and Bajie guarded the luggage at the post house while Wukong traced the white deer spirit’s origin.

In the Women’s Country, the queen wished to keep Tang Sanzang and marry him. Sha Seng and Zhu Bajie stayed close, watched their master carefully, and when the moment came left the city with the party and went on west.

In the kingdom of India, a jade hare spirit took the princess’s place and threw an embroidered ball to choose Tang Sanzang as consort. Sha Seng and Bajie waited outside the palace while Wukong chased the spirit to the Jinjin Monastery, and the Star Lord of the Lunar Star came down and took the jade hare back.

On the return crossing of the Heaven-Reaching River, the old turtle asked whether Tang Sanzang had put his question about his own lifespan to Rulai. Tang Sanzang had forgotten it, and the turtle rolled over and threw all four of them and the scriptures into the water; Sha Seng held the scrolls and swam ashore, and they dried them on the scripture-drying rock with the rest.

The pilgrims came at last to the foot of Vulture Peak, crossed the Cloud-Reaching Crossing, shed their mortal frames, saw Rulai and received the true scriptures; and on their return Sha Seng, for carrying the load west and guarding the party, was invested as the Golden-Bodied Arhat.