The Little Thunder Temple

The Yellow-Brow Demon

A demon posing as Buddha traps the pilgrims until Maitreya reclaims his sack and demon.

The Yellow-Brow Great King builds a counterfeit Thunderclap Monastery and poses as the Buddha to lure Tang Sanzang into worship, meaning to seize the pilgrims and finish the journey himself. Sun Wukong is trapped in the demon’s golden cymbals and must be rescued by his fellows; when heaven’s hosts arrive, the demon’s human sack swallows them all. Maitreya Buddha at last descends disguised as a melon farmer, tricks the demon into eating a melon and reclaims his own runaway servant, his sack and his treasures — leaving the false temple empty and the road west open again.