Monkey: A Folk Novel of China

In this final section of the text, the pilgrims achieve their goal and move onto the next phase of their lives. Ten years after leaving China, Tripitaka and his disciples arrive in India. A Taoist Immortal leads them to a mountain, and as they climb upward, they come to a large river with only a thin bridge to cross. Monkey sees a boat coming. He realizes it is ferried by the Conductor of Souls and pushes Tripitaka on board, despite the boat having no bottom. As the pilgrims cross the river, they see a body in the water that belongs to Tripitaka and note, “He had discarded his earthly body; he was cleansed from the corruption of the senses, and from the fleshly inheritance of those bygone years” (282).

On the other side of the river, the pilgrims arrive at the Temple of the Thunder Clap, where their every move is handled with significant formal ceremony. Though their mission is supposedly over, the pilgrims encounter considerable confusion when trying to receive the scriptures to take back to China. Tripitaka is taken to select some scrolls, but the disciples who manage the scrolls ask for gifts in exchange, which Tripitaka does not have.