Adventures of the Mad Monk Ji Gong. Guo Xiaoting

      

      ADVENTURES OF THE

       MAD MONK

       JI GONG

      About the Translator

      John Shaw during his twenty year U.S. Marine Corps career served part of that time as a Chinese/Japanese/Korean interpreter. He was stationed in China for two tours totaling six years and visited China twice after those tours. During his first visit he came across the tales of Ji Gong in a bookstore. After scanning the book, he bought a copy having decided it would be interesting to read. He read the entire book and then thought it would be enjoyable to translate the first half. He immersed himself in this project at a leisurely pace over several years.

      Publisher’s Note

      During the process of translating this classical Chinese work, John Shaw was fortunate to have the invaluable expertise and input of his wife, Mrs. Sara Janet Shaw, a former professional editor, in all editorial matters. Together they worked as a team to make this manuscript highly accessible and interesting for English readers.

      GUO XIAOTING

      ADVENTURES OF THE

       MAD MONK

       JI GONG

      Translated by John Robert Shaw

       Introduction by Victoria Cass

      TUTTLE Publishing

       Tokyo | Rutland, Vermont | Singapore

      Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.

       www.tuttlepublishing.com

      Copyright © 2014 Sara Janet Shaw

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is in process

      ISBN: 978-1-4629-1594-1 (ebook)

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      Table of Contents

       Introduction by Victoria Cass

       1. Military Finance Officer Li visits Buddha and begs for a son; an immortal lohan descends to earth and begins anew the cycle of reincarnation

       2. Dong Shihong sells a daughter to bury a relative; the living lohan rescues a virtuous man

       3. The arts of Chan cure illness in the Zhao home; Buddha’s laws operate in secret to end sorrows

       4. Liu Taizhen is deluded by the arts of Chan; Li Guoyuan goes to breakfast and loses a prince’s tally

       5. Zhao Wenhui goes to the West Lake to visit Ji Gong; the drunken Chan master explains celestial bargaining

       6. Zhao Bin attempts to visit the Great Pavilion; a fearless hero is sent upon a horrible errand

       7. Reunited heroes rescue a studious young man; Han Dianyuan reforms his ways with Ji Gong’s help

       8. A false order from the prime minister commands that the Great Pagoda be pulled down; the vagabond saint manifests his powers to punish the evil lower officials

       9. Soldiers surround the Monastery of the Soul’s Retreat and bring back the mad monk in fetters; Ji Gong’s games with the village headmen end with a drunken entrance into the prime minister’s estate

       10. Prime Minister Qin sees a ghostly spirit in a dream; Ji Gong comes by night to exercise the arts of Buddha

       11. Zhao Bin stealthily visits the estate of Prime Minister Qin; the guiltless Wang Xing is mercilessly punished

       12. Qin Da practices a cruel deception; Qin Da seeks to separate a faithful couple

       13. Wang Xing and his family leave Linan forever; Qin Da is stricken by a strange illness that Ji Gong is asked to cure

       14. A subtle medicine is used to play a joke upon the prime minister’s household; a talent for matching couplets amazes the prime minister

       15. Changed beyond recognition, an honored monk returns to the Monastery of the Soul’s Retreat; Ji Gong’s money is stolen by a bold ruffian

       16. Spring Fragrance meets a saintly monk in a house of prostitution; Zhao Wenhui sees a poem and feels pity for the writer

       17. A young woman in distress is escorted to the Bright Purity Nunnery; driven by poverty, Gao Guoqin returns to his native place