Session 26: The Dragon King is Beheaded for Violating the Heavenly Law
- liz zhang
- May 5
- 2 min read
In this session, we explore one of the most dramatic episodes in Journey to the West. The Dragon King is beheaded by Minister Wei Zheng—not in the waking world, but in a dream—while Wei Zheng is physically present, playing a game of Go with Emperor Taizong. Despite the Emperor's attempt to save the Dragon King, the beheading still occurs in the dream realm. Afterward, the Dragon King's ghost haunts the Emperor, blaming him for failing to intervene. As the Emperor falls gravely ill, Minister Wei Zheng prepares a letter for him to take into the underworld, addressed to the official in charge of the Register of Life and Death, in a final effort to preserve the Emperor’s life.
Key Questions for contemplation:
Q1: Let’s practice round-robin storytelling to recall the key events involving the Dragon King, Emperor Taizong, Minister Wei Zheng and the two Generals who guard the palace doors.
Was bodily in your presence,
But far away in my dream.
I was bodily in your presence reaching the end of a game.
When I shut my eyes and felt drowsy;
I went far away in my dream, riding a magic cloud,
Bursting with energy.
That dragon was on the Dragon−slicing Scaffold
Where he had been tied by the officers and soldiers of Heaven.
Then your minister said,
'You have broken the laws of Heaven,
And deserve the death penalty.
I bear a heavenly mandate
To behead you.'
Q2: How do you interpret the fact that Wei Zheng beheaded the Dragon King in his dream?
Why was the execution carried out despite the Emperor’s consent and sincere effort to save the Dragon King?
Q3: What happened during the night when the two generals guarded the palace gates?
How did their painted portraits later come to provide the same protection?
Q4: What advice did Minister Wei Zheng give to Emperor Taizong when the Emperor was gravely ill?
How did the Emperor respond?
Q5: How do you understand the interaction between the material and immaterial realms in this chapter?
What does this say about cosmic order, and the unseen workings behind worldly events?
I am Chuan, living in Prague of Czech Republic.
“In every true searcher of nature there is a kind of religious reverence“ People who truly understanding nature would never arrogantly believe that they can fully control it.
Emperor Taizong of Tang, as the sovereign ruler of the human world, viewed Wei Zheng as his subject. Confident in his own authority, he believed he could intervene in matters of life and death by command, and persuade Wei Zheng to spare the Dragon King's life. Yet what he lacked was a true understanding of "heaven’s mandate."
He failed to realize that the Dragon King had violated the heavenly laws, and that Heaven had entrusted Wei Zheng with the mission to execute him.…