17 The Cherish Black Bear in Nanhai

That black bear yokai glares his eyes large at me. There is no sign that he is going to take back his palms. He forcibly asks me: 'Do you give me or not?'

I am stunned by him for a while and then I point at the headband on top of Sun Wukong's head: 'Do you want this on your head? You have to keep in mind that once this thing has been owned, it will not be given to the second person.'

The black bear yokai pats his belly and says: 'I want it. I want it!'

Sun Wukong is smiling malevolently aside: 'Bodhisattva, just give him one since he is so eager to accept the precepts.'

You made it sound easy, monkey. Yes I have three of these golden tight headbands, but they aren't reusable and they are Buddhist treasures. There is no way I can take off one from a yokai's head and give it to another yokai. Since that headband will grow roots into the brain once the spell is cast, it will not be clean if another yokai uses it. It is like rooting in a brain and then into another brain.

Also, reusing these will make our Western Paradise look stingy.

If this black bear yokai is not qualified to be tamed, I will waste a treasure. Also, there will be more yokais on the way to Western Paradise. We only have a limited number of seats open to them. I would rather pick some smart yokais.

This black bear is so stupid. He will be easily fooled by other indecent yokais with no doubt.

I was thinking about this, and Huian on the other hand is looking up at me with his blinking wet eyes. He is no different from a kid who just sees a new toy. He just stands aside well-behaved with his yokai-surrending rod in his hands, staring at me.

...Should I tame this black bear back home and let Huian beat him for fun everyday?

I say: 'Well, I can give you one if you really want it. However, the preconditions are...Are you willing to join Buddhism and come with me to Nanhai to cultivate for the final enlightenment? You will never be able to eat humans again. You will need to obey all the precepts and never regret your choice today.'

The black bear yokai says: 'Yes! I am willing to cultivate after bodhisattva toward the final enlightenment!'

I: 'I do not hide anything from you. This headband cannot be taken off once you put it on. I can take it off but I will not. Do you still--'

Before I can finish my sentence, the big black bear hurriedly says: 'Yes! I am willing to wear it forever!'

...

The result of interrupting others' talk is that you will never know what a scary situation you are going to be in, in time.

The little daoist says with extreme excitement: 'Big black! Bodhisattva is going to carry you to the final enlightenment! You will be living in Nanhai as an upper class yokai in the future!'

The black bear yokai also grabs his sleeves excitedly: 'Come visit me often then!'

The little daoist keeps nodding his head: 'I will go to see you!'

...No, please do not come. I am horrified at the synergy when you silly two get together.

I hand a golden headband to Huian. The black bear makes a serious look and he is on the ground kneeling sincerely. His black round eyes flash with impressed lights at the headband approaching him. He nervously holds onto the little daoist's sleeve and says: 'I will be a yokai with a headband as well. Not only Qitian Dasheng has one, I have one as well. I will be an upper class yokai today.'

...

Huian harnesses the headband on the black bear and after that this headband cannot be taken off anymore. Sun Wukong rolls his eyes and says to me: 'Bodhisattva, why don't you cast the spell to tighten the headband?'

I cast the spell but the black bear still looks satisfied and Sun Wukong covers his head painfully and struggles on the ground. He cries out: 'Bodhisattva! Wrong spell! Wrong spell!'

I hurry to stop. I have said it that I couldn't tell the difference between these three headbands. They look too similar.

It is like listening to music. Two songs have similar tunes and you just naturally mix them together as you follow along. You can only try to recall but you will always mix them.

Finally I have recalled the spell for the headband on the black bear and I begin to cast it. An extreme pain occurs on the black bear's head so he covers his head and struggles on the ground, screaming: 'Too tight! Too tight!'

I say to myself: this headband is going to be tighter; there is no way back. However, the black bear rolls and pauses, and Sun Wukong cries out again on the ground rolling: 'Wrong spell again! Wrong spell again!'

...

In case I will cast more wrong spells, I just pause casting.

It was really the monkey rolling and then the black bear rolling. They rolled together as well at the end.

Finally I have cast the right one, and Sun Wukong stands up trembling. He looks at me as if I was an invincible enemy and walks away leaning by a wall. He says goodbye to me while he is walking away: 'Thanks for coming to help me, bodhisattva. Old Sun is going back to protect shifu...'

After that, his tired figure disappears from my sight.

I felt much sympathy for him but once I think that he will cause me trouble again, I have no good mood left. I wanted to cast the headache spell again.

After Sun Wukong left, the big black bear is still saying goodbye to the daoist. They hold their hands together with tears in their eyes. They look at each other. What a moving scene.

The big black bear says: 'Lingxu, I haven't had the Xiandan you gifted me last time. I keep it in the corner under my bed. I want to save it for the most royalest follower of mine...'

The small yokai hears that his king is going to give him the Xiandan made by Xingxuzi (Another way of calling the daoist), and he runs out of the cave gate without looking back as if something deadly is chasing behind. He left no shadows behind and probably he is not coming back.

I recall that the black bear didn't think we were fake after he felt pain after eating the fake Xiandan. This shall be his daily life: Eat Xiandan randomly made by his dear friend; Feel pain; Ask for help; Eat another Xiandan randomly made by his dear friend...

No wonder his brain is not working well.

It is probably that he has had too much Xiandan and they have poisoned his brain to be dumb.

The little daoist is wiping his tears and says: 'You probably won't have anything good to eat when you arrive at Nanhai. I will make more Xiandan for you at that time...'

...Okay, this black bear will be beaten for fun by Huian once I take him back. Since he can tank, he can eat Xiandan as well.

It took me an effort to drag the big black bear away from the little daoist. With the headband on his head, he looks back at his dear friend every single step he walks. The scene of a furry big bear wiping his tears and saying goodbye to the little daoist is moving.

From now on, the daily life in my black bamboo grove has become like this.

I open my eyes in the morning and hear my disciple saying: 'Don't you dare stop and take my attack!'

Then, I watch the black bear yokai covering his head running out of black bamboo grove and circling around my lotus pond. He cries out: 'Huian Xingzhe, please don't beat me! Please don't beat me!'

Huian is standing beside the lotus pond and straightens up his rod, making a formal salute to the black bear yokai. He bows and says: 'I the monk am enlightening you.'

The black bear yokai says: 'You enlightened me yesterday. The bump on my head hasn't gone down. Why are you going to enlighten me again now?'

Huian stands seriously and looks at him: 'You ate too many living creatures in the mortal world. You have committed a big crime. Enlightening you will take more effort than that of others.'

I: '...'

That black bear has begun to doubt if Huian's words are true no matter how bad his brain is after being chased and beaten for a long time, but he also has heard that Buddhists do not lie and now he is confused. He doesn't know what is right and what is wrong now.

To be honest, I will say it if the black bear comes to ask me. If we didn't lie, how could we have so many followers? I can assure him that there are Buddhists in the mortal world who do not lie, but up on the sky, I have only seen one who never lies, the Golden Cicada. Yet, now he has been exiled to the mortal world to be eaten by yokais.

I feel this situation needs to be improved. This black bear yokai devotes himself cultivating to be a buddha. He does good deeds, but I took him back as a sandbag of my disciple everyday. As he stays longer in Western Paradise, he will one day know the truth. What can I do?

But, what can I say? A boy at Huian's age always likes fighting and killing. He beats the black bear everyday and they don't hurt each other too much. If I just stop the fight, he will go out to seek fights with somebody else and he will one day bring fire onto himself.

I sit on the lotus seat, watching these two running one after the other around the lotus pond. I feel tired for them.

The black bear runs and says: 'Huian Xingzhe, you said that you were going to enlighten me, but now I have become a member of Buddhism and you are still calling me a yokai. You know. It hurts me when you call me yokai. I have endured the separation with my friend and come here after traveling through such a long distance. If you still detest me, I--I!'

Huian says: 'Did not you say that you have become an upper class yokai?'

The black bear says in a huff: 'Although I am an upper class yokai now, I am a lower class buddha, no, not even a buddha. I am not even a Xingzhe. When I was in the Black Wind Cave, countless yokais worshipped me and called me their king. Now I cultivate hard here but receive beatings from people. I am not reconciled! Not reconciled!'

Huian says: 'It is not I am beating you only. I gave you a weapon as well. I asked you to fight against me.'

The black bear covers his head and says: 'Although I fought my other friends playfully, you are different. You are the first disciple of Guanyin bodhisattva and the second son of the Heavenly King Li. If I hurt you unconsciously, I will be offending Western Paradise and Heaven at the same time.'

Huian hears this and darkens his face. He becomes quiet.

He puts away his rod and turns around into the black bamboo grove. He left the black bear behind saying: 'Ahh, why don't you give me a response? Huian Xingzhe? Little prince?'

Huian walks fast. He has gone into the grove and the black bear standing beside the lotus pond alone. He looks at me confused and looks at the flowers in the pond. He watches his reflection in the water and blinks his eyes blankly.

If I turn on my ability at this moment to hear his inner voice, I will hear those voices again.

When his father sent him to me at that year, it was because that he just suddenly became unwilling to speak.

Those voices follow him in his shadow and in his body. They will never evaporate away.

'I do not play with you. You are the little prince of the Heavenly King Li. I am just a son of a servant. If you are hurt, the Heavenly King Li will kill my father in return.'

'Run! The brother of Nazha is coming! Be aware that he will skin you alive and pull out your veins as well! Hahahaha!'

"Hush, stay away from him. Don't you know? He is the second prince of the Heavenly King Li. His younger brother killed the third prince Aobing of the Dragon King of the East Sea when he was only three years old! That boy was peeled off his flesh and returned them to his parents. His dad also broke his golden body! I think that they are all crazy people! The father was going to kill his son and the son was doing suicide! There is no normal person in the Li family! Look at his darkened face. He cannot be better.'

The leaves of the black bamboo grove is shaking in the wind, making the rustling sound. At last, even the shadows of these leaves have become quiet, as if Huian didn't walk there not leaving a shadow behind.

Coming to the world and leaving this world. There is no trace left.

I am daydreaming looking at the place where my disciple walked away. That black bear yokai stands aside the lotus pond and he says as if he suddenly becomes smart: 'Is Huian Xingzhe unhappy?'

I: '...'

The black bear pats his head and says aloud: 'I thought something went wrong. It was me who annoyed him!'

This black bear yokai... is very smart.

He squats down on that lotus pond and talks: 'It must be that I didn't fight Huian Xingzhe and he got mad. How can I compete against him? Aha! I know it!'

He suddenly jumps up from the lotus pond and pats his chest proudly: 'Bodhisattva, just wait for me. I shall bring all the small yokais in that Black Wind Cave here to fight Huian Xingzhe!'

...

...

What did you say?

Dare you say that again?

I smile at him: 'Do you dare say that again?'

The black bear yokai says: 'I know many yokais in the five lakes, four seas, five hills, three mountains. Huian Xingzhe wants to fight and I shall call them all here to Nanhai along with all their followers for Huian Xingzhe to beat!'

...

Watch and I will beat this fat ugly black bear yokai to death!

Before I can stand up from the lotus seat, the black bear has tumbled off to the clouds, leaving me a black furry fat back figure in the sky. He rakishly says aloud: 'Wait for me, bodhisattva! I am going to find my friends!'

...

...What?

What!!!??