The following translation was catalyzed by an initial comparison of Wu Cheng-En’s [吴承恩] book the 《 Journey to the West》with the Chinese source text by Qiu Chu Ji [丘处机]. The author felt that some layers and nuances of meaning may have been lost in Wu Cheng-En’s interpretation and a new version would be warranted:
诸神遭毒手弥勒缚妖魔
All the Spirits Encounter Vicious Attacks—
The Maitreya Binds the Monsters and Demons
‘上帝祖师，乃净乐国王与善胜皇后梦吞日光，觉而有孕，怀胎一十四个月，于开皇元年甲辰之岁三月初一日午时降诞于王宫。那爷爷——幼而勇猛，长而神灵。不统王位，惟务修行。父母难禁，弃舍皇宫。参玄入定，在此山中。功完行满，白日飞升。玉皇敕号，真武之名。玄虚上应，龟蛇合形。周天六合，皆称万灵。无幽不察，无显不成。劫终劫始，剪伐魔精.’
“The Supreme Sovereign Ancestral Master: Thereupon King Clear-Joy and Queen Benevolent-Triumph dreamt about swallowing the light of the sun. [It was] perceived and pregnancy ensued, carrying the unborn child in the bosom for fourteen months, until on the first day of the third lunar month at Wu-time of the first year Jia Chen of the Kai Huang reign period he descended and was born into the king’s palace. That master and deity—— [When] he was young, he was courageous and fierce, [when] grown up he was a Spirit Divinity. He did not unify with the seat of a king and was only engaged in the cultivation of his conduct [and the practice of Daoism]. It was hard for father and mother to endure, [as] he abandoned and gave up on the imperial palace. He partook in the Mysterious and entered Stabilization, surviving and passing his existence amidst these mountains. His Gong was completed and his practice consummate, [thus] in broad daylight he ascended skywards. The Jade Emperor decreed an appellation, the title of True Warrior. Responding and resonating above to the Mysterious Void the turtle and snake united their shapes. The Heavenly orbits and the Six Unifications [Harmonies] all praised the Ten Thousand Divinities; without any remoteness not being inspected and observed [by him], [and] without any manifestation or revelation not being formed and completed [by him]. Aeonic disasters end [and] aeonic disasters start anew, [while he] wipes out and cuts down demonic Essences.”
– Excerpt from chapter 66-
