Sun Wukong's Reincarnation

That afternoon, when Zhi Zun Bao found Patriarch Bodhi, the patriarch was brewing tea in a cave.

Zhi Zun Bao stood at the cave entrance without going in. He didn't think he and Patriarch Bodhi were close enough for him to just drop in and mooch tea.

"Come in," Patriarch Bodhi said without looking up.

Zhi Zun Bao went inside and sat down across from him at the tea table. He rubbed his hands together, unsure how to bring it up.

"You want to ask who you really are?"

Zhi Zun Bao froze for a moment, then nodded.

Patriarch Bodhi poured a cup of tea and pushed it over to him. Zhi Zun Bao picked it up and took a sip. It scalded the tip of his tongue, but he didn't put the cup down.

"Have you ever heard about Sun Wukong's reincarnation?"

Zhi Zun Bao froze. "Reincarnation?"

"After Tathagata imprisoned Sun Wukong beneath Five Finger Mountain for five hundred years, he came out and escorted Tang Seng on his journey to retrieve the scriptures. When the journey was over, he became a Buddha, but he made a choice no one expected."

"What choice?"

"He gave up his position as a Buddha. He chose to enter the cycle of reincarnation again and be reborn as an ordinary person."

Zhi Zun Bao's hand went still.

"He wanted to know whether he could still live well without being the Son Goku." Patriarch Bodhi lifted his tea and took a sip. "He wanted to know whether anyone would still be willing to be his friend without the Golden Cudgel, without the Seventy-Two Transformations, without all those divine powers."

He set down his cup and looked at Zhi Zun Bao.

"He reincarnated as a bandit chief in the mountains. He couldn't use magic or fight, and he was even afraid of a Sand Scorpion. His name was Zhi Zun Bao."

Zhi Zun Bao's pupils contracted violently.

"You... you're Sun Wukong?"

"But... you said I had a past life..."

"You had two past lives." Patriarch Bodhi's gaze grew profound. "In your first life, you were Sun Wukong, the Son Goku. But that wasn't a reincarnation. It was your original existence. And in the life before this one, during the time after you emerged from beneath Five Finger Mountain and escorted Tang Seng to retrieve the scriptures, you once had a friend among the mortals. He was human, too. His name was also Zhi Zun Bao."

Zhi Zun Bao was utterly stunned.

"He was already over eighty when you passed through his village on your journey to retrieve the scriptures. You sat by his bed all night. He passed away the next day. You buried him with your own hands, then continued on your way. After you became a Buddha, you chose to reincarnate, reborn as a new Zhi Zun Bao, a free bandit chief."

Zhi Zun Bao fell silent for a long time. Then he spoke, his voice hoarse but steady. "Then... am I still Sun Wukong?"

"Yes, but also no." Patriarch Bodhi looked straight into his eyes. "You have Sun Wukong's power and memories, but you're no longer the Son Goku. You are the person Sun Wukong most wanted to become: a free man. You can choose when to remember, and you can also choose when to let go."

Zhi Zun Bao sat there. The cave was dim, but he felt something light up inside him. It wasn't a candle flame. It was the sun.

A power that had always been there, but had been forgotten, awakened in that moment.

He stood and bowed to Patriarch Bodhi. It wasn't the salute of a disciple to his master, but a heartfelt expression of gratitude from one person to another.

Then he turned and walked out of the cave. Sunlight fell across his face, and he didn't squint.

At dusk, Zhi Zun Bao sat alone beneath the Old Locust Tree.

He thought through everything from beginning to end: bandit chief, possessed by himself, smashed the Immortal-Trapping Array with a bamboo pole, I'm Sun Wukong's reincarnation.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands. Had these hands once held the Golden Cudgel?

He couldn't remember. But these hands were holding a bamboo pole now.

Suddenly, the bamboo pole felt different in his hands. It wasn't heavier. It was just different, like something a longtime friend had lent him.

"Hey..." Goten's voice came from behind him.

Zhi Zun Bao turned around. Goten walked over, filthy from head to toe, and sat beside him. He had two steamed buns in his hand and offered one to Zhi Zun Bao.

"Zixia said you were looking for me."

Zhi Zun Bao took the bun and bit into it. He chewed for a long while before speaking. "Today, Patriarch Bodhi told me. I'm Sun Wukong's reincarnation."

Goten didn't seem very surprised. He took a bite of his bun and asked as he chewed, "So what do you want to do in this life?"

"I don't know."

Goten took a couple more bites, then said, "Don't let your previous life decide what you do in this one."

Zhi Zun Bao froze for a moment, then couldn't help laughing. It wasn't because the words were funny. It was because he'd learned a lesson from a twelve-year-old boy that he hadn't been able to understand, despite living for who knew how many years. "Your dad... he's an incredible man."

"Yeah." Goten nodded earnestly. "He is."

Zhi Zun Bao finished his bun, stood up, and brushed the dust off his rear. He took a couple of steps, then stopped without looking back. "Thanks."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"Thank you... for helping me understand why I reincarnated into this world."

Zhi Zun Bao left.

Goten sat beneath the tree and stuffed the remaining half of his bun into his mouth. As he chewed, the corners of his lips curled up.

Since arriving in this world, he'd never really thought about it, but in that moment, he suddenly felt that maybe he hadn't come here just to learn Immortal Arts and go home.

Maybe he'd come here to show the people on this mountain another way to live.

That night, when Goten returned to his room, he found a pot of tea and a note on the table.

The writing on the note was vigorous and firm: "Tomorrow I'll teach you the real Object Manipulation Art. Go to bed early. —Bodhi"

He picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup. He took a sip. It wasn't scalding. The temperature was just right.

Patriarch Bodhi had calculated when he would return. That unspoken, unhurried trust felt weightier to Goten than any words of encouragement.

He lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Today, he had made a rock bigger than his head float three feet into the air.

It was the first Immortal Art he had learned. It wasn't for fighting; it was for communicating with the world.

He closed his eyes. Tomorrow, he would learn the real Object Manipulation Art. It wasn't about making a rock float. It was about making a teapot pour tea by itself.

And then... he would be one step closer to the Star Gate.

But he didn't know that learning the Object Manipulation Art would only mark the beginning of his true cultivation...