ENG
On stone peaks, a divine birth is found,
Yet its two minds keep wisdom bound.
To shake the sky and earth seems light,
But only with schemes known, does fortune take flight.
In Mount Huaguo, after the birth of the Sage Stone Monkey, the remaining celestial stone continued to absorb the essence of the sun and moon for a thousand years. Through self-cultivation, it eventually transformed into a yaoguai as large as a mountain.
This celestial stone originally possessed boundless divine power. However, not long after its transformation, someone planted a fleshy Buddha head on it. Since the emergence of this fleshy Buddha head, it had constantly absorbed the Will from the celestial stone's body.
The celestial stone's spirit grew weary and had to burrow into the ground, absorbing the pure essence of the earth to replenish itself. Over time, it drained the surrounding mountains of their Will, causing flowers to wither, leaves to fall, and all living beings to perish.
Meanwhile, the fleshy Buddha head, nourished by the celestial stone, almost became the master of the stone body. Fully energized, it began to develop the Skandha of Consciousness within. If it were to complete the other four Skandhas, who knows how atrocious this celestial stone guai would become.
Alas, this celestial stone, nurtured by the universe, ended up serving as a mere vessel for the parasitic fleshy Buddha head. Perhaps this is what people often refer to as fate and destiny.
After the Sage Stone Monkey was born on Mount Huaguo, another celestial stone nearby kept soaking up the sun and moon’s essence for a thousand years. That long cultivation turned this remaining stone into a giant yaoguai, a monster as large as a mountain. The poem hints at two minds keeping wisdom bound, which foreshadows the split nature of what happens next.
Originally the celestial stone had enormous, divine power. But not long after it became a yaoguai, someone attached a fleshy Buddha head to it. That head was not just decoration: it fed on the stone, constantly absorbing the stone’s Will and life force.
The stone’s spirit grew weak from the head’s parasitism, so it burrowed into the ground to take in the pure essence of the earth and try to recover. While doing that, the stone drained the surrounding land of Will; flowers withered, leaves fell, and all living things nearby died because the stone was pulling life out of the mountains and soil to sustain itself.
As the stone weakened and the head grew stronger, the fleshy Buddha head nearly became the master of the stone’s body. It developed the Skandha of Consciousness inside itself, which is one of the five mental aggregates that make up a sentient mind. The text warns that if the head finished forming the other four Skandhas, the combination would become truly dreadful.
In the end, a celestial stone that was nurtured by the universe became little more than a vessel for a parasitic Buddha head. The closing line calls this outcome fate or destiny: a powerful, divine thing twisted into a servant for something that saps it, and raw power alone wasn’t enough to prevent that corruption. The earlier poem line about shaking sky and earth seeming light but needing schemes to make fortune fly underscores that raw might without the right plan or protection can be undone.