Wukong entered the Great Thunderclap Temple, saw Tathagata, and cried out bitterly, "Buddha, your Buddhist Dharma doesn't work! You've made me suffer terribly!"
Tathagata Buddha said, "Wukong, when has my Buddhist Dharma ever failed?"
Wukong said, "I've suffered beyond words on this journey. How many trials have I endured? Now we've encountered a band of robbers who opened a Homecoming Inn along the main road, killing passing travelers and even trying to steal my master's Kasaya.
"I meant to get rid of them, but my master urged me to stop, saying that compassion must be the foundation of a monk's conduct. Only then did I spare their lives. Who would have thought these villains would commit every manner of evil? My master kindly urged them to do good, yet they kept returning to their wicked ways. They truly deserved to die.
"But my master was kindhearted and wouldn't harm their lives, so I used the Śarīra you bestowed on me to turn them toward goodness. Who knew that even the Śarīra you gave me couldn't reform them? Those villains kept doing evil.
"I couldn't stand watching it any longer and killed one of them. Now a rift has opened between master and disciple. What am I to do? Isn't this a failure of Buddhist Dharma? Otherwise, why couldn't they reform evil men? Or did you deliberately arrange a trial to test us, Buddha?"
Tathagata Buddha heard this and smiled. "Wukong, wasn't that Holy Buddha Sarira given to you to refine and absorb? Why do you still have it?"
At this, Wukong immediately became meek and said with an ingratiating smile:
"Well... your disciple has been frightened by poverty, hasn't he? I thought I'd keep something of value on hand, so I couldn't bear to refine it."
Tathagata Buddha did not