Zhizhujing

The most detailed account of spider demons appears in Chapters 72 and 73 of the 16th-century novel Journey to the West. In this episode, a group of seven spider demons resides in the Pansi Cave [zh] (盘丝洞; lit. 'Coiled Silk Cave'). The spirits are portrayed as seductive women who have cultivated spiritual powers for a thousand years. Their primary objective is to capture the monk Tang Sanzang, whose flesh is believed to grant immortality to demons. They succeed in abducting him and prepare to cook him when his disciple, Sun Wukong, locates their hiding place.^[2]

The spider demons' main weapon is a powerful silk spun from their navels, which they use to entrap their victims. In their initial confrontation, the silk proves strong enough to bind even Sun Wukong, although he ultimately escapes. Later, the group of disciples encounters the spirits bathing in a mountain spring. Zhu Bajie, deceived by their beauty, approaches them and is captured. The spider spirits eventually seek refuge in a nearby temple overseen by their elder brother, Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord (百眼魔君) who is later revealed to be a giant centipede spirit. With assistance from a bodhisattva, Pilanpo, Sun Wukong defeats both the centipede and the spider demons. In the original narrative, the spider spirits are killed and revert to their true arachnid forms upon death.^[2]

According to some Buddhist scholars, the seven spider demons in Journey to the West are interpreted as symbolic representations of the "seven emotions and six desires" (七情六欲) that obstruct spiritual cultivation. These emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire—along with the sensory cravings of the human body, are viewed as sources of delusion and attachment in Buddhist philosophy. Tang Sanzang’s entrapment by the spider demons is seen as an allegory for the struggles of the flesh and mind that a spiritual practitioner must overcome in pursuit of enlightenment.^[3]

The story of the spider demons in Pansi Cave is one of the most frequently adapted episodes from Journey to the West. The 1927 silent film The Cave of the Silken Web, directed by Dan Duyu, is considered China's first fantasy film and features spider demons as the central antagonists.^[4] For decades, the film was thought lost until a copy was rediscovered in Norway in 2011.^[5] The tale was later adapted by Shaw Brothers Studio in their 1967 film The Cave of the Silken Web, which offered a more elaborate and visually stylized portrayal of the spider spirits.^[6]

The spider sisters are also featured in the highly anticipated video game Black Myth: Wukong. In this take one of the original spider sisters named Violet Spider is revealed to have been a former Courtier of the Celestial Court, who was in love with Zhu Bajie, back when he was Marshal Tianpeng. They reunited when she became a spider guai and Tianpeng had become Zhu Bajie. Zhu Bajie and Violet Spider fell in love and because of that Zhu Bajie spares her life in secret. However, Zhu Bajie had to leave Violet Spider leaving her resentful, heartbroken and obsessed with him. Violet Spider would go on to have eight daughters with the youngest being Zhu Bajie's. The Celestial Court keeps her and her daughters trapped in Webbed Hollow. Eventually, Zhu Bajie returns to Webbed Hollow with the Destined One seeking the fourth Relic of Wukong, the Envious Tongue. Their the Second Sister vexes Zhu Bajie with a pin to make him compliant with marrying Violet Spider. The Fourth Sister acts as an ally to the Destined One helping them at various points, and is seeking to be free of the talismans binding her family in Webbed Hollow. In the climax it is revealed Violet Spider has the fourth Relic, which her old ally the Hundred Eyed Daoist takes from her as he absorbs her into him. This leads to a fight where Violet Spider's daughters, and the Destined One both fight him. In the end the Hundred Eyed Daoist is killed, but so is Violet Spider who once more laments that Zhu Bajie still chose Wukong over her.