Journey to the West (a.k.a. Monkey)

[Lady Wu]

I think this book deserves its own thread.

Sun Wukong= Goku (made popular by Dragonball), Monkey king, Great Sage Equalling heavan
Zhu Bajie= Pig
Sha Wujing= Friar Sand
Tang Sheng= Xuanzang, Sanzang

Pretty simplistic when translated English. I'm using the translation used from W.J.F Jenner's translation of Journey to the West, the foreign languages press edition

Thanks!

One question: If Tripitaka/Sanzang is supposed to be the reincarnation of The Buddha's second disciple, why is he always so clueless? You'd think he would at least be able to tell a monster from a good guy (well, then there won't be anymore story, there's that). I find it equally amazing that after 14 years on the road, he's still fair of complexion, and plump and good to eat.

I think I love the book til the very end. It's a bit ironic that Monkey got to be a buddha along with Sanzang. What happened to the "Great Sage Equaling Heaven" who would go beat the crap out of everyone in Heaven and Hell, and who would rather enjoy life in his simple waterfall cave than bow to the Jade Emperor of Heaven?

I also wished that Friar Sand got more lines.

[Mike]

Never read it, but I now the storyline pretty well...

One question: If Tripitaka/Sanzang is supposed to be the reincarnation of The Buddha's second disciple, why is he always so clueless? You'd think he would at least be able to tell a monster from a good guy (well, then there won't be anymore story, there's that). I find it equally amazing that after 14 years on the road, he's still fair of complexion, and plump and good to eat.

Maybe Buddha is testing Wukong?? ...and I also never understood the reason for trying to eat Sanzang. I mean...he's buddhist and he's journeyed across China...Talk about stringy meat!!

[Ranbir]

Yes! Yes! Its own thread! *hugs Flo*

One question: If Tripitaka/Sanzang is supposed to be the reincarnation of The Buddha's second disciple, why is he always so clueless? You'd think he would at least be able to tell a monster from a good guy (well, then there won't be anymore story, there's that). I find it equally amazing that after 14 years on the road, he's still fair of complexion, and plump and good to eat.

He was well fed, and not to mention he has a special body. He's just niave and so trusting.

I think I love the book til the very end. It's a bit ironic that Monkey got to be a buddha along with Sanzang. What happened to the "Great Sage Equaling Heaven" who would go beat the crap out of everyone in Heaven and Hell, and who would rather enjoy life in his simple waterfall cave than bow to the Jade Emperor of Heaven?

What happened to the Sage? He got slammed under a mountain for hundreds of years! It wasn't a simple waterfall cave. On that mountain, he was King!

[Six_and_Up]

One question: If Tripitaka/Sanzang is supposed to be the reincarnation of The Buddha's second disciple, why is he always so clueless? You'd think he would at least be able to tell a monster from a good guy (well, then there won't be anymore story, there's that). I find it equally amazing that after 14 years on the road, he's still fair of complexion, and plump and good to eat.

One theory I heard was that the author of Journey to the West used Sanzang to poke fun at some of the unpractical elements of Buddhism. Sanzang is a reincarnation of Buddha's disciple, but i think its only known to the immortals and Buddha's.

I to also found it amazing that monkey became a buddha in the end. He did promise to his monkeys that he would return to the island of flowers and fruit after he finished his task of protecting Sanzang (he makes it after he kills the white bone demon and is banished for a while back to the island of flowers and fruit)

[Lady Wu]

Maybe Buddha is testing Wukong?? ...and I also never understood the reason for trying to eat Sanzang. I mean...he's buddhist and he's journeyed across China...Talk about stringy meat!!

Well, everyone's reason is that since he's a virgin who's meditated and stuff since birth (and an immortal reincarnated to boot), he must have some magical stuff in him that gives his eater immortal life. That's also why every female monster they came across wanted to have sex with him. An interesting point to note is that the majority of the monsters were reincarnates of some person or some beast from the heavens, and more than once it's pointed out that these entities reincarnate as monsters partly to fulfill the fate of Sanzang. I.e., the Buddha and the Guanyin Bodhisattva must have had a hand in that. I.e., either one of them must be the originator of the rumour about the edibility of Sanzang (otherwise, how would the monsters know)?

What happened to the Sage? He got slammed under a mountain for hundreds of years! It wasn't a simple waterfall cave. On that mountain, he was King!

I know I know, it's just that being a buddha seems contradictory to his carefree nature. I'd be a lot happier if he ends up ditching the Buddhas and going back East to hang out with his fellow monkeys.

One theory I heard was that the author of Journey to the West used Sanzang to poke fun at some of the unpractical elements of Buddhism. Sanzang is a reincarnation of Buddha's disciple, but i think its only known to the immortals and Buddha's.

I've heard the theory that the character of Sanzang was created to poke fun at people who're always trying to be too good (I don't know if it's about Buddhism in particular, though). Sanzang has a lot of good intentions, is good-looking, polite, educated, compassionate, but utterly useless in real life (Sanzang: "Let me go beg for food this time." Monkey: "Nooo! I want a break from monsters today!").

Pig is also a very successful caricature. Actually, I laughed out loud at some points because Pig resembles me in so many ways. You gotta wonder what kind of moron the Jade Emperor is to make Pig a commander in heaven.

What's everyone's favourite monster?

[Six_and_Up]

I think Pig's abilities are downplayed in the novel. If memory serves me correctly he knows the 36 transformations right?

Anyhow my favourite monsters are:

The bull king demon: Wukong's oath brother and one of the few people able to control the Iron Fan.

Red boy (bull king's son): One of the few able to completely beat Wukong without the help of magical items.

Theres also the trio of demons consisting of a lion, a elephant and a eagle.

How many people have seen CCTV's production of Journey to the West?

[Lady Wu]

I think Pig's abilities are downplayed in the novel. If memory serves me correctly he knows the 36 transformations right?

Yeah, though it seems that he can't transform into anything small. He can turn into a fat dark-skinned monk or a giant pig, but needed Monkey's help to transform into a little girl.

I think he made a total of only 2 kills in the novel (compared to Monkey's 60 gazillion; poor Friar Sand gets none).

Theres also the trio of demons consisting of a lion, a elephant and a eagle.

They are my favourite! They are so cute! I liked the scene where Lion (I think it's the lion) swallowed Monkey, and Monkey scared him by saying that he'd got a foldable wok with him, and would make chop suey out of Lion's innards. The trio took him for real and freaked out. The trio are also the only monsters who knew that Monkey could transform into a fly (they told their subordinates to "Beware of Sun Wukong! He can transform into a fly!"). I dunno, those are the monsters that crack me up the most. It's also cool that they took some of the most big-name buddhas to deal with.

No, I haven't seen CCTV's production. How's it?

[Ranbir]

Woah...I have CCTV! (Sky Digital) When is it on?
I want to get all the DVDs of Monkey, I must collect everything related to the novel!

I like Erlong, didn't he kick Wukong's ass?

But I'm a fan of Wukong mainly, I can't help it, he's just so...awesome.

It's been a while since I read the novel, but there was one monster that captured Wukong in some tube right? He was required to use one of the special hairs that the Guanyin provided him with, which monster was that again?

[Lady Wu]

I think the gourd thing belonged to the lion? (I think at this point I'm associating all cool things to the Lion/Elephant/Eagle trio.)

Erlong is pretty cool. He's my favourite character in Making of the Deities. He's got 3 eyes and kicks all-round ass. And he's got the best pet in Chinese literature.

[Six_and_Up]

Well CCTV made two tv series of Journey to the West, one in 1989 and the other in 1998 (sort of to celebrate the success of the first, since it starred the same actors and finished off the episodes of the story that the first did not tell). Being born only a couple of years before the release the first tv series I used to watch it growing up as a child. My parents had recorded the whole thing on tape so I used to watch it over and over. Being a fan of Wukong I used to repeatedly watch the havoc in heavan episode, stopping right before Buddha came (wat can i say, i was a five year old and i didn't like watching Wukong lose).

K enough of my ranting, back onto the tv series. The actor who played Sun Wukong is probably hands down the best actor for Wukong there is, apparently his whole family line specialised playing Wukong in chinese opera. Both series should be availible for DVD and VCD. The series uses some really basic special effects that seem dated now, but the overall tv series is still good.

I think the gourd thing belonged to the lion? (I think at this point I'm associating all cool things to the Lion/Elephant/Eagle trio.)

The gourd belonged to the two servant boys of Lao Tzu who escaped from heaven and took up demon form on earth. I remember that part of the story fondly because Wukong tells Pig to scout ahead and being Pig he just finds a place to sleep and makes up a story to give to Wukong. Instead Wukong has been spying on him all along and foiled Pig's plan.