Journey to the West: Epic Adventure in Search of Buddha's Sacred Scriptures - Essay Sample

Introduction

“ The Journey to the West ” is a Chinese novel published by Wu Cheng`en in the 16th century, during the Ming dynasty, the tale based on adventure, the spiritual foundation and also satire, and it starts when a monk sets foot to go to India in search of the sacred scriptures that belonged to the people who worshipped Buddha and bring it back. He travels for a decade or more, and he is accompanied by four supernatural helpers who include the hog, monkey king, monster, and dragon. On his way, the Buddhist encounters many difficulties that include endless fighting with ogres and demons. The Buddhist's companions possess powerful magical abilities that help him fight off the demons and protect him in the endless sacred mission to retrieve the Buddhist scripture, the monkey who seems to be the strongest and possess mighty powers can also change himself into many mystical beings and protect the Buddhist. The monkey king whom acquires supernatural powers through the novel and protects the Buddhists from different encounters. They travel through dangerous encounters, raging forests, and mountains that rage with fire. They come across demons and unfriendly dragons that tried to savage them through their journey, but they managed to escape the ordeal. Wu Cheng`en is a well-respected Chinese author because the author emphasizes the Buddhist ideology to generate a taste of spiritual enlightenment among the Chinese people through the use of supernatural characters, Buddhist ideologies, and humorous satire of Chinese administration.

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Background Information

The novel, based on historical events, focusses on how the monk decides to travel to China due to the poor translations of the Buddhist scriptures. Back in the days, and the writer used the novel to showcase the moments of the journey as evidenced in the story when the monk sets journey to the west and accompanied with three companions which include: The monkey king is portrayed as the `saved by grace type' since he has mischievous traits but set to guard the Buddhist in order to replenish his ways (Wang et al., 2020). The Buddhist represents courage, loyalty, and wisdom throughout the story, and is described as good-hearted and spiritual since the story based on the old century and Ming dynasty where the Buddhist is sent on a holy mission to retrieve the Holy Buddhist scriptures that are to be used with the Chinese people to bring them closer to their Deity whom they mostly refer to him as the Buddha (Qu, 2016). The monkey king seems sturdy since he has powerful magic and can transform himself into many creatures and that the hairs in his body can change into many creatures or a group of warriors.

Discussion

The author uses the book to emphasize on human weakness and their hunger to redeem themselves in the spiritual world and also seek forgiveness and evidenced when Buddha decides to imprison the Monkey king due to pride and arrogance. The Buddha finally decides to release him but does not forgive him at that point. He is sent to accompany and protect the Buddhist and sent on a journey with him to retrieve the Holy Buddhist scriptures that the china people will use it as a guide. The Buddha decides to forgive him because of his good deeds, and also he uses his supernatural powers for an excellent course, the Buddha finally makes him a god-like him since he has accomplished his mission and the journey was his way to seek redemption before the eyes of Buddha. The writer's quotes also reveal the truth behind the redemption of the monkey king, According to Wu Cheng'en (2015) "With passions stilled and one's nature firm, all destinies are in harmony; When the full moon of contemplation is reached, you will be pure." (p.200). The obstacles that monkey king fights, which include the dragons and the monsters, show us the wrongdoings prevent one from gaining spiritual health and also spiritual power that will enable one to fight the horrible ordeals in this life and the other.

The author also uses Buddhism to represents the truth. Which is also a way of the Chinese people, the monk traveled for a decade to different Buddhist holy places and learning more about the Buddhist way of life, which the Chinese people use and symbolized throughout the story and brought about when the Buddhist and his companions travel to seek the scriptures that genuinely represent the truth. The scriptures also contain holy teachings based on the Buddhist's faith and his seeking out for the scriptures in order to enlighten his faith, and the journey seems to be faith-based, even though he encounters a lot of dangerous ordeals he does not give up, believes he will go to paradise after completing his quest (Qu, 2016,). He was sent on a mission to retrieve the essential Buddhist truths inscribed inside the scriptures; the mission was granted to him by the other deities. At the end of the story, the monkey king and the Buddhists are taken to paradise and made to be higher deities. The truth about Buddhism religion is stressed out in the story when the Buddhist and the monkey king, has high power and also are turned into one of the Buddha because they succeeded in their mission and had done great good deeds.

The author uses Hsuan Tsang to overcome his differences, and the Buddhist undertakes the journey to retrieve the spiritual scriptures from India to China, even though a ferryman killed his father. Later his mother dumped him next to a river, and he later ascertains the truth about his parents and his father is, later on, returned to him by the god of the river, despite the hardships he goes through, he decides to seek grace and undertake the journey to retrieve the scriptures (Ji, 2016, ) . He faces a lot of terrible ordeals, but he overcomes them through strength, wisdom, and bravery because he knows that he will receive the most exceptional favors of all times and that Buddha will always favor him and grant him his wishes and desires (Ch'êng-ên, 2007). The writer also believed that despite one's differences and wrongdoings, one could replenish his soul and clear his thoughts. It would make him seek the right ways.

Conclusion

The writer uses Monkey king to represent corruption and the sins that the human commit only daily basis, whereby the monkey goes to the journey with the Buddhist and after going through the terrible ordeal can gain his powers on which he uses it for the good deeds, he also symbolizes the Buddhist mind which through the journey, can replenish his soul. Then the writer tries to show that the art of forgiveness, to one despite his or her terrible ordeals, can be achieved. The writer also uses the Buddha as a god to bring about mercy and forgiveness among the humans and that they should seek his ways in order to replenish their sinful ways. The writer uses the Buddhism religion, in the mission to seek holy scriptures for the benefit of the Chinese people, and by doing so, it will help replenish the souls of the Chinese people. The writer also tries to bring about the notion of redemption to make one seek forgiveness in order to be respected and receive an eternal award. The scriptures that the Monkey King and the Buddhists are pursuing represents faith, and they believe to be true. The writer also tries to bring out that one's differences cannot make someone do the wrong ordeals or not seek the right ways. One has to be courageous and have faith in everything they are doing, the long Buddhist journey can represent one's daily life, and it means that we must stay strong in every suffering that we go through, and by doing so, it will harden ourselves and help us in the future. Furthermore, in spite the fact of the sufferings we should also seek help from the Highest Deity since he is the one who helps us endure every problems and life issues we go through, the trust we have in Him will help us overcome all troubles and suffering.

References

Ch'êng-ên, W. (2007). Monkey: Folk novel of China. Grove/Atlantic.

Ji, H. (2016). A comparative study of two major English translations of the journey to the west: Monkey and the monkey and the monk. Journal of Chinese Humanities, 2(1), 77-97. https://doi.org/10.1163/23521341-12340027

Qu, J. (2016). The tragedy implication in the religious thoughts for journey to the West. Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Humanities and Social Science. https://doi.org/10.2991/hss-26.2016.70

Wang, F. (., Humblé, P., & Chen, J. (2020). Towards a socio-cultural account of literary Canon's retranslation and reinterpretation: The case of the journey to the West. Critical Arts, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2020.1753796