The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (93 page)

), which again causes ignorance.

2
. Side door:
pangmen
, often paired with “the left way,
zuodao
” to form the two favored metaphors for heresy or heterodoxy.

3
. Like the poem in
chapter 28
, this heptasyllabic regulated poem is also written by means of puns on various names of herbs. The names would either be used for their literal meanings or their borrowed meanings from homophones. Thus:

Line 1—resolved,
yizhi
,
alpinia sp.
, is read as
, determined, singlemindedness.

Line 2—the king did not wait, literally, the king did not ask me to remain,
wang bu liu xing
,
vaccaria pyramidata
.

Line 3—three cornered sedge:
sanlengzi
,
scirpus yagara
.

Line 4—bridle bells,
madou ling
, also
aristolochia debilis
.

Line 5—scriptures,
jingjie
,
nepeta japonica
, is read as
jingjie
, sūtras and rules.

Line 6—Buddha’s spirit,
fuling
,
poria cocos
, is read as
fu
[
o
]
ling
.

Line 7—myself I guard,
fangji
,
stephania tetrandra
; complete my tour,
z
[
h
]
uli
, bamboo oil, is read as
zuli
, to finish a journey or complete a preordained experience. For this last particular line, I thank Dr. Chow Tse-tsung (late professor of the University of Wisconsin) for suggesting the interpretation.