The Journey to the West

The measure of change the characters have undergone is evident in how well they have learned the lessons needed for their individual illuminations and thus by the status awarded each by the Buddha...

In the novel, Buddha does not give Zhu Bajie the title because he asserts that Bajie has not yet attained victory over his weaknesses. You guarded the holy monk on his journey, but your heart is...

Of the four main protagonists in The Journey to the West, only two might qualify as true “heroes” in the mythic sense. Tripitaka, or Xuanzang, is the monk who sets off to find the sutras in India...

Truth and justice are very important themes in this book. In fact, one could make the argument that they are the central themes of the book. The titular journey can be seen as an archetypal quest...

In The Journey to the West, Chapter 20 begins with the Tang priest encountering trouble on the Yellow Wind Ridge. Sanzang has been traveling with his followers for half a day when they reach the...

After crossing the river, Tripitaka and Pa-chieh feel thirsty. When they see how clear the water of the river is, they both drink some. Soon they both start to feel intense pain in their stomachs....

When Sanzang and his disciples are kindly carried across the River of Heaven to the West bank by the the Ancient Soft-Shelled Turtle, the Turtle asks that Sanzang ask Tathagata Buddha about his...

Zhu Bajie is given the title of Altar Cleanser. This sounds more important than it is, as it simply involves clearing up after Buddhist religious services. In conferring this role upon Zhu,...

Mountains play a crucial role in the Monkey King’s journey to immortality. The Monkey King’s quest for immortality begins on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. This is the mountain on which the...

As one of the four great classics of Chinese literature, The Journey to the West has over 2000 pages chronicling the adventures of the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzan and his companions as they go on a...

The brocade cassock is originally gifted to the Boddhisatva Guanyin by the Buddha. When the Buddha hands the cassock to Guanyin, he tells her that she must present the cassock and a nine-ringed...

The plot of Journey to the West concerns Tang Sanzang's quest to bring Buddhist scriptures from India to China. Early in the narrative, the Emperor Taizong sends the monk Tang Sanzang on a...

Journey to the West is a Chinese novel published in the sixteenth century during the Ming dynasty. The novel is attributed to Wu Cheng’en and is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese...

Zhu Bajie's new title is Altar Cleanser. He is given this title by the Tathagata. Accordingly, Zhu Bajie once served as Marshal Tien Peng, a water god in the River of Heaven. He was an illustrious...

The Journey to the West was written by Wu Chengen. It is largely a collection of stories about Chinese legends and folklore. In part of the book, Xuanzang goes on an expedition in search of the...

Orionis is a star lord who lives in the Luminescent Palace in the heavens. In chapter 55 of the book, Tripitaka is taken by a female scorpion fiend to her place of residence, the Cave of the Lute...

Yuan Chang (whose name can be transcribed from Chinese in several different ways, meaning that he is sometimes called Xuanzang or Hsuan-Tsang) was a seventh-century Chinese monk who made a long...

In The Journey to the West, Buddha, also known as Tathagata, notices a varying morality of characteristics in the Four Continents of the Universe. He sees the people of the Southern Continent as...