Путешествие на Запад. Том 4

The Journey to the West #4

by Wu Cheng'en

Написанный У Чэн-энем (1500–1582) около 1570 г. роман «Путешествие на Запад» стал началом жанра фантастической или героико-фантастической эпопеи. Повествование о похождениях Сунь У-куна — царя обезьян — стало одним из любимейших в Китае и одним из самых известных за рубежом.

Роман У Чэн-эня «Путешествие на Запад» основывается на народных легендах о путешествии монаха Сюань-цзана в Индию (VII в.). Постепенно сюжет обрастал дополнительными подробностями, становясь все больше похожим на волшебную сказку — появлялись дополнительные сюжеты, не связанные с основной темой, новые персонажи. У монаха появляются «волшебные помощники» — царь обезьян Сунь У-кун, сосланный на землю за устроенный им переполох в Небесном дворце, и свинья Чжу Ба-цзе, также сосланный с небес за провинности. Сунь У-кун — персонаж героический, Чжу Ба-цзе — комический. Вместе с монахом Сюань-цзаном они образуют весьма интересную группу, очень по-разному реагирующих на действительность.

В романе У Чэн-эня вслед за народными легендами персонаж Сунь У-куна выходит на передний план, именно он побеждает врагов, пока монах Сюань-цзан рассуждает о всеобщей добродетели и непротивлению злу. Именно Сунь У-кун стал одним из любимейших героев китайской литературы, символом жизненной силы и бунтарства.

Роман трактуется и как буддийское наставление, и как символическое отражение народной борьбы, и как волшебная сказка, и как роман о поисках истины. Так или иначе, роман является знаковым для китайской литературы и культуры в целом.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Fantasy, China, Mythology, Chinese Literature, Literature

536 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 1592

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Wu Cheng'en (simplified Chinese: 吴承恩; traditional Chinese: 吳承恩; pinyin: Wú Chéng'ēn, ca. 1505–1580 or 1500–1582, courtesy name Ruzhong (汝忠), pen name "Sheyang Hermit," was a Chinese novelist and poet of the Ming Dynasty, best known for being the probable author of one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, Journey to the West, also called Monkey.

Reviews

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ending that was to be expected, but a pretty satisfying one nonetheless.


The monk’s journey can be interpreted as a story about mankind’s long path to spiritual self-perfection. Now the monk himself doesn’t actually change throughout this journey. He is already humble and someone the gods look favorably to. It can be said he had nearly reached spiritual self-perfection at the start of the story. But he wasn’t there yet. And it can also be said that he could never have finished his journey successfully if it wasn’t for his imperfect disciples. It’s a silly little detail compared to the scope of this epic adventure. But it’s this detail that stands out most to me, in the end.


The one who truly demonstrates the way to spiritual self-perfection from start to finish is actually the character of the monkey king. The monkey king takes a long time to get there, but eventually he becomes open-minded enough for the spiritual lessons to sink in. He’s still himself at the end, as he continues to be a cheeky little monkey. But he’s also learned the importance of helping others and following the rules.


The monkey king and his fellow disciples embody the average person on the path of self-discovery and enlightenment. They are flawed and imperfect. But no matter your past, no matter how flawed you think you are and no matter how old you are, it’s never too late to learn something new, to improve yourself or start your journey towards spiritual self-perfection.

[Mary Soon Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have reached, with sadness, the end of my journey through the four-volume, four-hundred-year-old Chinese classic, "The Journey to the West." I plodded through the lengthy but valuable introduction by the translator, Anthony C. Yu, then set off through the hundred fantastical chapters of the story.

It is not a journey for those who like their fiction in small doses. Nor does it fit the mold of most of the fantasy that I love. True, there are dragons and monsters and mythic battles, but of the two main characters, one is an ugly, ultra-violent, supernatural monkey, and the other is a timorous, puritanical monk. Moreover, the narration is less immersed in the characters' viewpoints than I usually prefer, partly because it frequently breaks into poetry. Perhaps the biggest departure from typical fantasy tomes is that the book is largely episodic. It journeys westward without much of a dramatic arc. While individual episodes have their battles and resolutions, the characters and the situation change slowly, sometimes imperceptibly.

Any or all of the above might have deterred me. Had I been in a more cantankerous mood, perhaps they would have done so. Yet they did not. By and large, I liked the digressions into poetry. I accepted the cowardice of one character, the violence of the other, the less-than-immersive narration, the episodic quality more common to television series than to novels. I liked the lightness of tone, the sense of fun. Most of all, I grew fond of the characters, as I think the author was fond of them. I wanted to spend time in their company, and am left now, at the end of the long journey, missing them.

[Amy H. Sturgis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four volumes, many hundreds of juicy (and extremely helpful) endnotes, and 1,800+ pages later, and I have finished the 16th-century The Journey to the West, one of the great masterpieces of Chinese literature. What a ride! Enlightening, endearing, entertaining, and entirely unforgettable.

I hope to put together a proper review soon!

[Emily M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why so long a gap to this review, when I tore through the first three volumes? Honestly, it was because I didn’t want the story to end! Then when I did get to it…well, this volume, while still good, wasn’t quite as engaging as the others.

I think it might be because the pilgrim squad has more interactions with humans as they enter “India” (which is basically just China, because all civilized countries have to function like China, according to the author). There also naturally has to be a certain amount of talking about the scriptures they are picking up and enlightenment (though not as much as you’d think!). And that’s just not as entertaining as the constant giant-kaiju-battle, m-preg river and abortion cave, getting-involved-in-demon-love-triangle BS that went on earlier. Although we DO start the volume with Monkey just chilling in a demon’s belly while the demon freaks out about what he’s gonna do in there…which is particularly funny in light of some recent ‘One Piece’ spoilers I’ve heard, because it once again indicates that (for all people are calling him “super saiyan Bugs Bunny”) the Monkey D. Luffy apple does not fall far from the tree!

However, there are still a lot of funny moments. Some of my favorites:
“Sha Monk said ‘O Elder Brother! The monster-spirits couldn’t wait to steam Master. He was eaten alive!’ When the Great Sage heard that the words of both his brothers were the same, he felt as if a knife had run through his heart”
Monkey: That dang Buddha! Too lazy to deliver his own scriptures, and look what happens! I’m gonna go complain…

Monkey spotting counterfeit human heads: "'Idiot', said Pilgrim, 'why don't you try to determine whether this is a real human head before you start weeping?...If you threw down a real human head...it would fall on the ground with a dull thud, whereas a false head would make a loud rattle'...The little fiend...shook all over as he ran back to report...'Pilgrim Sun happens to be an antique dealer who knows his stuff!'"

Tripitaka: (Gets hit by golden ball that means he’s supposed to marry a princess) Nooo!
Monkey: You guys won’t believe what just happened. It’s hilarious
Pigsy: Dang it, it should have been me!!
Sandy: Please. “A letter of annulment sent overnight wouldn’t be fast enough”
Pigsy: “I may be ugly, but my person still exudes a certain flavor! ”

Tripitaka acting JUST as scared of pretty girls as he is of monsters wanting to stir-fry him: “Tripitaka was so startled that he scrambled up and caught hold of Pilgrim. Teeth grinding audibly, he said, ‘Are you all abandoning me?’ Squeezing Tripitaka’s palm…Pilgrim winked at him and said, ‘Relax and enjoy your union here. When we’ve acquired the scriptures, we’ll return to see you.’ The elder…refused to let go.”

The pilgrim crew getting accused of robbing a house and murdering the patriarch, and Monkey just having WAY too much fun getting them out of it: Impersonating ghosts and gods and finally just RAISING THE DEAD (because the gods of hell are scared of him, and he can)

And even at the very end: "'They have all become Buddhas!' shouted [Pigsy]. 'Why am I alone made Janitor of the Altars?' 'Because you are still talkative and lazy,' replied [Buddha], 'and you retain an enormous appetite....Whenever there are Buddhist services, you will be asked to clear the altars...How could it be bad?'"
Translation: Simmer down. It means you get to eat the offerings!

Overall, I would highly recommend this series to anyone who A) thinks classics are boring or B) wants to see the 400-year-old roots of their favorite shonen adventure anime. Because that is more or less what this feels like – there’s even “tune in next week to find out…” at the ends of the chapters and the occasional recap episode! At the same time, if you are reading the footnotes of Anthony Yu’s excellent translation, you will learn a TON about history and Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian beliefs.

[Wreade1872 · Rating 2 out of 5]

As your disciples we are like your sons. There's another saying that goes
A son does not have to shit silver or gold;
As long as he can do what's needed he'll be fine.

So this is not appreciably worse than the previous volumes but it doesn't really have any standout incidents. As such the repetitiveness got to me more than in the other parts so i deducted a star.

It does have a proper ending which is nice. It seems like it had more descriptive poetry than before but i may have imagined that.

Overall this is a pretty good box set. Its very much 4 or 5 seasons of a monster of the week show in book form. Glad to get through it.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've finally finished the last volume and all 1878 pages of this particular edition of The Journey to the West. In total, it took me from May 11 to July 20, or a little over two months, to read through these, which, if one assumes my 100 page day commitment held steady enough, means I devoted roughly a little more than a quarter of my reading time on a 16th century adventure story that is as vital to a side of the world that I have never known as Shakespeare is to mine. The second and third volumes certainly paled in comparison to the beginning and end, and I wish I had had far more of the sort of translator's commentary that I was granted only a mere ten or so pages of at the very end, but for a first try, I am proud of my achievement and probably even learned a bit during the effort. While I doubt I'll ever reread it, I am open to reading texts that comment, analyze, or contextualize it in any fashion, as a work this long lived and this rich in cultural influence is always worthy of notice.

As I had expected while midway through the third volume, the fourth volume was much less monotonous than the broad segment of adventures that had come before, almost but not quite matching up to the introductory chapters in terms of holistic overview, originality in narration, and character development. The closing afterword, which confirmed many of my feelings of repetition and broader cultural community (the mention of a diabolical Ming emperor under the influence of insidious Taoists is intriguing, to say the least) was a welcome acknowledgement of much of my thought processes while making my way through the tomes. The most interesting tidbit I carried away was the heavy influence theatrical performances had on the text, which made sense of how reading through the narratives felt for the most part like reading scripts, albeit very descriptive and poetic ones, of a long running action/adventure TV series. Of the real life Xuanzang I had already heard, and it was good to confirm that this rather pathetic characterization of his in the narrative had more to do with the need for narratological dynamic with Monkey and Pig than any weakness of his real life historical counterpart. I was also gratified to have picked up on the fact that the driving character conflict, as well as the character drive itself, centered around Sun Wukong, and I can begin to imagine how children in China and other countries where JttW has traversed are caught up with being like the Monkey King in his many media incarnations. It wasn't my childhood, but cultural awareness is the good of the world turning 'round, and a little bit can go a long way under the right circumstances.

I'm not sure when I'm going to pick up my next multivolume project. There are a number of works I have on hand that I could commit to, but I feel I need to try out the balance between school and work before I keep my hobbies to as stringent a pace as I have been at the moment. It's good, though, to keep myself well oiled, as long term reading allows long term thinking and long term planning, and if I know one thing about adulthood, it's that patience is necessary, one arduous life changing effort at a time. JttW has some of that, if in a more simplistic form than my own experiences, and I can only hope that the 1800 page long assurance of ultimate success has rubbed off on my own endeavors. For now, though, I leave my volume set to others. I have other worlds ahead.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

And off to more episodic adventure. People want to marry the monk, people want to eat the monk and so prolong their lives, a king forces his subjects to raise their sons in goose coops so he can eat their hearts, a princess is thrown into wilderness by a monster who takes her place, and more.

There's no particular reason to cut off the adventures when they do -- but they do.

I look back. I remember particularly how, in the opening, freeing women from the palace and arranging marriages for them is one of the acts of generosity the king performs to celebrate, how many people talk of having only daughters and so taking a son-in-law rather than marrying off a daughter, and the time when they hear the sad story of a pair of brothers who each have one child -- one a son and one a daughter -- who has now been chosen for the yearly sacrifice of a virgin girl and a virgin boy, and how Monkey's first suggestion is that a virgin girl and a virgin boy are easy to buy.

[Robert Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE JOURNEY TO THE WEST, THE CHINESE WIZARD OF OZ, THREE MUSKETEERS, DON QUIXOTE AND PILGRIM'S PROGRESS----FROM THE WORLD LITERATURE FORUM RECOMMENDED CLASSICS AND MASTERPIECES SERIES VIA GOODREADS—-ROBERT SHEPPARD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

"The Journey to the West" (西遊記, Xi You Ji) is perhaps the most beloved book in China. It is once a great action, travel and adventure story, a mythic and phantasmagorical Odyssey and Quest, an epic of Buddhist pilgrimage and devotion, a comic classic, a tale of brotherhood and loyalty in the Musketeers tradition and a humanist allegory of the striving of disparate dimenbsions of the human condition, the organic-physical, the imaginative-intellectual, the quotidian-realistic and the aspirational-spiritual, towards human wholeness and unity. It is one of the four great classical novels of Chinese Literature, alongside the Dream of the Red Chamber, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Water Margin, and is beloved in popular culture across East Asia outside of China, being the object of films, television, cartoons, video games and graphic novels from Japan to India.

The Journey to the West, in broad outline, tells the story of the long,arduous and dangerous pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, or Tripitaka of Tang Dynasty of China across the wastes and mountain barriers of Central Asia to obtain and translate the sacred scriptures of Buddhism (sutras) from India and bring them to enlighten the people of China and East Asia. This High Quest and Pilgrimage is joined by an extraordinary league of heroes, without whose aid the monk's mission would be doomed: The magical-mischievous Monkey-King Sun Wukong, the physically awesome and insatiable "Eight Precepts Pig" Zhu Bajie or Pigsy, the gritty and down-to-earth monk Sandy or Sha Wujing and the monk's faithful White Horse, Yujing, all recruited by Guanyin, the "Buddhist Virgin Mary" helping maternal spirit who overwatches them through their many trials and adventures. Together, this band of diverse heroes must overcome the perils of the arduous journey across the Himalayas, especially the demons, beasts and devils en route that wish to defeat their mission of bringing enlightenment to the peoples of China and the world. The most engaging and dominant of these questing heroes however, is the sly, mischievous and magically super-empowered Monkey-King Sun Wukong, who has become the immortal beloved central figure of the classic, such that many translations, such as Arthur Waley's early edition, was simply entitled: “Monkey."

From our Western experience, then, how can we get an initial handle on and approach The Journey to the West? One of the first notional points of contact is to compare its characters with the group dynamics of the band of journeying fellows of Yellow Brick Road: the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion alongside Dorothy in Frank Baum's fantasy classic "The Wizard of Oz." Both classics of fantasy are beloved by children across the world. In the Wizard of Oz the Tin Man lacks a heart, the Scarecrow lacks a brain and the Cowardly Lion lacks courage, while Dorothy, although endowed with each in an immature form must grow and mature in each direction. In the Journey to the West, in contrast, each character is overindowed in one dimension----The Monkey-King has immensely precocious powers of intelligence and cunning, yet lacks the discipline, spiritual wisdom and maturity to make his intelligence and pluck more than a nuisance; Pigsy has immense physical strength accompanied by gargantuan appetites, both culinary and sexual, yet lacks the intelligence, self-control and either human or spiritual inslight to turn his lust for life towards a love and service of life; Sandy is practical, down to earth and even tempered, yet lacks the inspiration of either intelligence and imagination, carnal appetite or spiritual aspiration to make his life meaningful; Xuanzang the Tang Monk, has spirituality and humanity, yet they, like Dorothy are powerless and helpless in their brave new world, unable to cope with challenge unless aided by outside powers.

The key point is that the four together, either as a group or as symbolic representatives of the internal "organs of human potential" of any human personality, may unite to constitute human wholeness and the capacity for transcendent growth and sustainability. We see other echoes of complementarity in other familiar works of our classical heritage: Don Quixote is a paragon of nobility and the spirituality of knightly aspiration, yet lacks any grasp of the real world or the perspective of reason that would make him more than a charicature of his aspirations; Sancho Panza, has the peasant's down-to-earth practicality and resourcefulness, yet lacks the aspirational nobility of soul and spirituality that would make his life meaningful. Together, however, they can aspire to whole human personality and potential.

In the Three Musketeers saga of Dumas, Porthos, like Pigsy and Rabelais' Gargantuan * Pantagruel, is endowed with gigantic physical strength and appetite for life, Athos has a keen sense of honor and glory, Aramis has a religious and spiritual calling and the young D'Artagnan, like Dorothy has innate courage, uprightness, pluck and intelligence, but only in an immature and weak state that must benefit from greater experience, insight and growth to be capable of dealing with the challenges,complexity and evils of the real world. It is again, only working together that they may in full complementarity grow to human wholeness and the human potential for stregnth in life and capacity for positive transcendence. We could even find the same dynamics in the comic trio, the Three Stooges, with the physical excesses of Curly Joe, the practical worldliness of Larry and the overly sadistically over-repressive Moe, who yet still exhibits some fortitude and leadership potential. Though mere buffoons, they show the power to complement each other to grow towards greater wholeness of spirit, a potential fusion of a charicatured outline of Freud's id, ego and superego, that ultimately evokes our deeper affection. Similarly in the Chinese traditional spiritual cosmology, neither the female nor the male principle in isolation, the Yin and the Yang, can attain the wholeness and sustainability in life but by creative and fruitful interfusion with the other.


In Volume I of this edition of the "Journey to the West" our story begins with an account of the origins and precocius life of that miraculous and beloved being, Sun Wukong, the Monkey-King. The Monkey-King is in effect half-human and half-simian, miraculously born from a stone nourished by the Five Elements, and like all homo sapiens chagrinned at the dilemma of his finding himself betwixt and between----too endowed with the intelligence and imaginative energies of the gods to be a mere animal, yet too flawed and immature in their development to take a fruitful place in the divine order of things. Sun Wukong thus quickly rises to become the King of the Monkeys by virtue of his innate abilities, yet leaves his kingdom behind to embark on a quest in search of enhanced powers and immortality. In doing so he studies with a Taoist Grand Master, or Patriarch who gives to him from his esoteric lore immense magical powers and abilities. Under the Taoist (Daoist) Sage he learns the Proteus-like shape-shifting power of "The 72 Transformations," the Secret of Immortality, invincible powers of combat through advanced Taoist Kung Fu and Martial Arts and the abiility of "Cloud-Hopping" which enables him in a single somersault to traverse one-hundred and eight thousand miles flying through the sky! He acquires a special weapon, an iron rod which is infinitely expandable and contractible, varying at his will from a chopstick carried behind his ear to an immense clubbing staff capable of subdoing giants and demons. He is the Great Sage's most adept student, finally attaining the status of Qitian Dasheng (齐天大圣)or "Great Sage Equal to Heaven." Yet for all these precocious powers, Sun Wukong remains an immature adolescent given to mischievous monkey-shines and without wisdom or enlightenment. Thus, the Taoist Patriarch, tired of his disorderly shenanigans, in the end banishes Wukong from the monestery telling he must seek his destiny elsewhere.

Sun Wukong then journeys to the Celestial Court of the Emperor of Heaven. But to his immense irritation he is only appointed as a menial in the heirarchy of heaven. Thereupon ensues one of the most famous episodes of the novel "Making Havoc in Heaven" in which Sun Wukong rebels, steals the Divine Nectar and Peaches of Heaven and sets himself at war with all of the divine forces of the Celestial Order who attempt but fail to apprehend and control him. But much to the Emperor of Heaven's chagrin, they are unable to control the Monkey-King's unprecedented magical powers and he remains at mischief. Here the Monkey-King joins in the Archetype of the Rebel Against the Gods, and the Trickster, in common with others of the Western heritage such as Prometheus and Milton's Satan. Like Prometheus he has misappropriated divine powers and prerogatives, such as invincibility and immortality. Prometheus, hero of Aeschulus'and Shelley's dramas "Prometheus Bound" and "Prometheus Unbound" is also a prodigy of intelligence and creative ability, a Titan who had aided Zeus in his own celestial Civil-War against Chronos and the old celestial order to become the King of the Greek gods, then audaciously misappropriated the power of fire and conferred it as a benefactor on man, also having had the hubris, emulating the God of Genesis, to create man from clay and endow life upon him, for which transgresions he was condemned to have his liver torn out daily by an eagle on a rock in Hades. Milton's Satan also rebelled against the divine order, but in his case by refusing to serve man, God's beloved creation, and enviously attempting to supplant Him in heaven. Sun Wukong also demands that he should replace the Emperor of Heaven as ruler of the heavenly order, resolving to war against him until he resigned. Nonetheless, the Monkey-King has none of Satan's propensity for pure Evil, but is rather compelled by his innocent adolescent pride and exuberance, egotism and native mischievousness.

His punishment thus, as a juvenile offender is commensurately less. Order is resatored when the Emperor of Heaven enlists an even higher authority and power in the Chinese pantheon, Buddha. Buddha intercedes in the celestial war by calling a parley with the Monkey-King, seeking to convince him or the error of his ways, proving to him the much higher merits of the Emperor to claim the Throne of Heaven. To resolve the impasse he proposes a wager to test Sun Wukong's powers. He extends his divine hand and bets the Monkey-King that with all his "Cloud-Hopping" magic he cannot even travel far enough to leave the palm of his hand, with the Throne of Heaven as the high stakes. Sun Wukong accepts the wager, confident he can travel to the ends of the Earth in a single somersault. He sets off flying through the sky until he comes to the end of the world where appear five pillars. To preserve the evidence of his feat he has the audacity to piss on the base of the central pillar and inscribe a graffiti: "The Great Sage Sun Wukong, Equal of Heaven, was here." Returning to Buddha he demands the throne. Buddha extends his hand and shows that the Monkey-King had never left its limits,showing how the graffiti was but inscribed on his middle finger and cursing the smell of the monkey-piss he had left between his fingers! Realizing his delusions of grandeur and his own smallness, Sun Wukong accepts defeat and departs. Later he is further punished for additional transgressions by having an iron band placed around his forehead and is sealed by Buddha beneath a great mountain for 500 years to contemplate his wrongdoing. It is at this point that Sun Wukong joins the Tang monk Xuanzang, as Guanyin, the "Buddhist Virgin Mary" in her mercy, arranges his release from confinement on condition that he do penance for his past errors by guiding and protecting Xuanzang on his mission to India to obtain the holy scriptures.

Each of the Pilgrim brothers also is recruited to perform the pilgrimage and quest an Act of Penance through guiding and protecting the Holy Monk Xuanzang on his holy mission to India. Pigsy, or Zhu Bajie, was formally the Commander of the Heavenly Naval Forces, but was banished to mortal life for his transgression in attempting to seduce the Moon Goddess, Chang'e. A reliable fighter, he is characterised by his insatiable appetites for food and sex, and is constantly looking for a way out of his duties, which causes significant conflict with Sun Wukong. Sandy, or Sha Wujing, was formerly a Celestial Court retainer, but was banished to mortal life for breaking a priceless crystal goblet of the Queen Mother of the West. He is a quiet but generally dependable character, who serves as the "straight man" foil to the comic relief of Sun and Zhu. The White Horse was formerly a Prince, who was sentenced to death for setting fire to his father's great pearl, but saved by the mercy of Guanyin.

The bulk of the novel is then the account of innumerable adventures of the pilgrim brothers, the Monkey-King, Pigsy, Sandy, Xuanzang and the White Horse on the high road to India. Each chapter or episode is generally a formulaic set-scene in which some shape-shifting demons, beasts or other opponents of the Pilgrims attempt to capture the Tang Monk. As devouring the Tang Monk can bring the demons immortality, they often seek to capture and eat him. His rescuer is generally the magically gifted Sun Wukong. The encounters are often grusome or action-packed with combat and Kung Fu, and many times humorous, as some demon-monster shape-shifts into the form of a beautiful seductress to entice the Tang Monk or Pigsy as part of their nefarious plot. It is generally the Monkey-King who sees through such disguises and adopts some hilarious counterstrategy. The episodes are always lively and entertaining, but as the novel progresses interest can flag as the formulaic situations repeat themselves. The repetition often comes from the original oral storytelling tradition of the saga, but also because Xuanzang must undergo the "81 Tribulations" which are requisite before one may attain Buddhahood.

At the end of the saga after fourteen years the Pilgrims successfully return to the Tang Court in China and establish a monestery for translating and publishing the holy sutras. Xuanzang and Sun Wukong attain Buddhahood, and Sandy becomes an Arhat, while the White Horse is delivered from his sentence. Pigsy, Zhu Bajie, because even his good deeds have always been tainted by his ulterior motives of greed and sexual desire, fails to attain the high state of his brothers, but is made an altar cleaner, priviliged to eat the leftover offerings at the temple.

The story of the Journey to the West is based on historical fact, albeit with considerable fantastic embellishment. In actual history the monk Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty (596-664 AD) did in fact journey to India to obtain sutras, the Buddhist holy scripture, to translate them into Chinese, publish and popularize them. The Chinese invention of printing was most probably an evolution from the previous Buddhist woodblock printing of India, associated with the spread of Buddhism in China, and the historical Xuanzang made a considerable contribution to the spread of literacy and printing in Chinese civilization. Like many other works such as the Faust tales and the Iliad and Odyssey, for centuries they were the subject of oral storytelers before being rendered in classical written form. It is thought that Wu Cheng'en the probable author of the classic novel in 1592, thus a contemporary of Shakespeare and Cervantes, adapted these rough oral tales passed on by professional storytellers into a consummately crafted novel. The star character, the Monkey-King, was based on the character Hanuman, the Monkey-King magician of the Indian classic, The Ramayana, of Valmiki, which probably circulated in the oral tales of itinerant storytellers into China, but which Wu Cheng'sn crafted into a magnificantly original creation. Although a Buddhist classic, the Journey to the West is largely free of religious didacticism and presents itself a a vivid and exciting narrative of adventure and fantasy.

The Journey to the West influenced the composition of my own latest work Spiritus Mundi, the contemporary and futurist epic of the modern world in several ways. First, in Book II, Spiritus Mundi, The Romance which is more mythically oriented, The Monkey-King appears as a character in aid of the Quest of the social activist heroes to save the world from WWIII by acquisition of the Sylmaril Crystal. Sun Wukong thus joins Goethe and the African God-Hero Ogun as counselors and aiders of the Quest on the journey through the Center of The Earth and their visit to the Temple of the Mothers on the Island of Omphalos where they may access the Cosmic Wormhole through Einsteinian Space-Time to visit the Council of the Immortals at the Black Hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Spiritus Mundi also shares the universal Archetype of the Quest with the Journey to the West, along with other works such as the Epic of Gilgmesh, The Divine Comedy of Dante, The Ramayana of Valmiki and the Aeneid of Vergil, as well as modern fantasy epics such as the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. It thus addresses the powerful forces of the universal Collective Unconscious transcending and uniting all human cultures and civilizations as delineated by the famous spiritual psychologist C.G.Jung and other literary and cultural critics such as Joseph Campbell in his work "The Hero With a Thousand Faces."

In conclusion, I would highly recommend that you take a look at The Journey to the West by Wu Chengen, as it is a work absolutely central to Chinese culture and to that of Southeast Asia. No educated person can live in and undersand the modern world, especially with the rise of China and Asia, without having some basic familiarity with this foundational Classic of Chinese and Asian culture. I also invite you to explore its themes and characters shared in the modern contemporary and futurist epic Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard.


For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:


For Discussions on World Literature and Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: http://worldliteratureandliterarycrit...





Robert Sheppard


Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author’s Blog: http://robertalexandersheppard.wordpr...
Spiritus Mundi on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I: http://www.amazon.com/Spiritus-Mundi-...
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGM8BZG


Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved

[Timons Esaias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Late in 2017 I became aware of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature, and that I had read only one of them. I set myself the task of reading the other three, and this volume brings me to the end of a journey I began in February of 2018 with Water Margin and then Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It has been a fascinating study in the nature of oral storytelling (these were all written to be performed, really) in China. All the way I was comparing and contrasting to the European traditions I already knew, and to the Mahabharata and the Amir Hamza of South Asia and Persia.

The first two of the three were tediously repetitive, to be honest, though interesting. The nihilism which has been picked up and continued by modern manga traditions, and then by the Marvel Universe, is prominent in those. I had been told that Journey to the West would be the best of the three, and that turned out to be the case. Historically and philosophically it's [expletive suppressed], which always tends to undermine my respect for a work. In this case it purports to tell the story of Xuanzang's journey to India to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures which he brought back to China; a Buddhist mission. In this story he crosses a Fantasy landscape of more than 100,000 miles (four times the circumference of the Earth as it has been passed down to us) and collects Buddhist scriptures as part of a Three-Religion fusion mission. So, yeah, basically the opposite of the truth.

And the structure is set up to be just as repetitive as the earlier books: the team approaches a very tall mountain that they can't go around; the mountain is the home of terrible demons; Tripitaka (Xuanzang) is gulled or kidnapped by the demon, and prepared to be eaten for lunch; and Pilgrim (who is clearly derived from Hanuman) saves the day. Eventually. He usually has to go to Heaven or the South Sea for reinforcements. Once or twice a river or ocean is substituted for the mountain, but it's still the same idea.

The central theme is the threat of cannibalism, or at least of the eating of humans and other Buddhist creatures by demons.

Somehow, though, these elements are varied just enough to maintain interest -- at least if one reads at no more than a chapter a day, which was my procedure. There's a bit of comedy, a good deal of action, and more details than the other Classics. It kept my interest. I was amused.

Now the purpose of the book eludes me, and I intend to read some secondary literature to see what others make of it. The notes and Introduction indicate that this is carefully constructed symbolically, especially with reference to Chinese alchemical practices, and the various religious and philosophical schools. But on the surface it seems to be a satire of all the Three religions and their philosophical disciplines.

Ah, well. If you're going to read only one of the Four Great Classic Novels, it should be the more modern (18th century) The Dream of the Red Chamber. But if you're going for two, this is the second.

[Alanus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the last leg of the journey as I did the first. Our four travellers encounter more demons who want to devour the Tang Priest or to force his hand in marriage. Monkey usually saves the day as he does for most of the book. Rather than than smashing his way through all his foes, I liked how he learned to ask for help when needed; certain demons escaped from the Moon or from the cages of their masters, so only the masters could subdue those demons. I found the vivid imagery of the poems contained in volume four as consistent as the other three. When describing the hall of the Buddha in Mr. Kou's household, "the hall was filled with a brocade of flowers// all around was gold and many colours." The translator also did a great job keeping the journey exciting despite the repetitive plot structure. Nonetheless, nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment when you finally read to the part where they reach Western Heaven and receive the scriptures. The journey for Sanzang was fourteen years in the making, my journey to finish this only took three. The story from my childhood is now complete.

[Andrew Weitzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A monkey spirit becomes a Taoist master of such caliber that he terrifies even the gods, forcing the Buddha put him in his place. To atone for his sins, he is recruited to protect a whiny priest sent to India by his resurrected king to fetch scriptures capable of freeing some abandoned ghosts in the underworld. The two then meet up with a pig monster whose appetite for food is matched only for his appetite for sex, and an intimidating river demon who ends up being the only sensible member of the group. What follows is 100 chapters of bizarre insanity, and it's awesome. 5 out of 5; would read again

[Chloé · Rating 4 out of 5]

!Attention, cette critique évoque l’œuvre entière, ce qui inclue donc les tomes 1, 2 et 3!

J'avais déjà lu ce livre auparavant, mais j'ai découvert que la version que je possédais à l'époque était une traduction tronquée. N'ayant de toute façon que peu de souvenirs de cette histoire, j'ai donc décidé de la relire, choisissant cette fois une traduction plutôt acclamée, car complète et agrémentée de notes explicatives.

Journey to the West raconte de façon romancée et fantastique le voyage historique du moine Xuanzang en Inde afin de récupérer les textes sacrés du bouddhisme. Surnommé Tripitaka dans le livre, ce moine effectue sa route en compagnie de trois monstres, devenus ses disciples suite à leur conversion à la religion par la Bodhisattva Guanyin.
Le premier, appelé Sun Wukong, est un singe qui a développé des pouvoirs tellement incroyables qu'il est célèbre pour avoir causé de nombreux dégâts au Ciel. Le deuxième, appelé Zhu Wuneng, est un cochon très enclin à la gourmandise et la luxure. Le troisième, appelé Sha Wujing, est un démon des sables toujours prêt à aider ses frères au combat. On peut noter aussi la présence d'un dragon ayant pris l'apparence d'un cheval pour transporter Tripitaka.
Le chemin vers les sutras étant long, le groupe subit donc de nombreuses attaques de monstres, chaque péripétie étant bien entendu une épreuve destinée à juger leur valeur.

Journey to the West est une œuvre plutôt conséquente, mais qui demeure néanmoins captivante. En tant qu'Occidentale, le récit s'avère très dépaysant, présentant une autre culture ainsi qu'une autre époque. Pour cela, les notes ont été d'une très grande utilité, car le texte est truffé de références à la mythologie et au folklore chinois. De même, la narration est très souvent interrompue par des poèmes, ce qui donne un petit aspect chanson de geste au récit. Toutefois, ces vers nous sont souvent signalés comme étant écrits sur des airs classiques chinois. Des éléments qui confèrent une atmosphère très particulière et fascinante à ce livre.

Toutefois, là où Journey to the West s'illustre, c'est dans son humour. Autant certaines aventures se classent dans un style épique, tombant parfois même dans le dramatique pour mieux accrocher l'attention du lecteur, autant la majorité des aventures donnent dans le comique, qu'il soit burlesque ou absurde. Il est très amusant de constater que certains passages ne détonneraient pas dans un épisode de Looney Tunes, alors que le texte date du XVIe siècle. Il est par ailleurs inutile de cacher que le groupe que l'on suit est très disparate, ce qui donne lieu à des petites querelles, mais également à des situations qui auraient pu être évitées si le dialogue sensé avait été choisi au lieu de l'impulsivité. Résultat, on se retrouve souvent à rire aux éclats au cours d'un chapitre.

Ces deux points permettent grandement de parer le plus gros défaut du livre, à savoir la répétitivité. Journey to the West est composé de cent chapitres, et pour respecter un nombre parfait, le groupe doit subir quatre-vingt-une épreuves. De ce fait, il semblerait qu'il était difficile de redoubler d'originalité sur la nature des embûches. De nombreuses aventures ont donc un schéma classique : Tripitaka se fait enlever par des monstres, ses disciples parviennent à le sauver, mais si la difficulté est trop importante, alors Sun Wukong se rend auprès d'une divinité afin de lui demander son aide. Heureusement donc que le récit parvient à rester divertissant, car cette redondance peut en rebuter plus d'un.

Finalement, Journey to the West est un monument de la littérature chinoise qui vaut le coup d'être lu. Malgré sa répétitivité, l’œuvre parvient à rester engageante jusqu'à la fin, et c'est un plaisir de s'immerger dans ce pan de culture.
Concernant la traduction, je me suis tournée vers cette version anglaise d'Anthony C. Yu que je recommande sans hésiter. En revanche, pour toute personne désirant tenter l'expérience en français, je conseillerais la traduction d'André Lévy. Elle n'est disponible malheureusement qu'en Pléiade, mais après quelques recherches, il semblerait que ce soit la seule version française complète et fidèle au texte d'origine.

[Shane Bocchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The epic journey ends.
Journey to the West is a fantasy tale about a Chinese monk and his 3 disciples on a quest to India to retrieve the sacred Buddhist scriptures and bring them to China to essentially save the land and people from falling into sin. Written in the 16th century and considered one the greatest Chinese novels ever written, it is all about Buddhism and how to attain enlightenment. There is so much Chinese mythology throughout that it can be overwhelming. There are also a lot of poems. Beautiful, eloquent poems, but A LOT of them. I’m not gonna lie, I skimmed them. Most of them.
Journey to The West is a fantasy story. I read snippets of it in college and fell in love with it and learned it was the main inspiration for Dragonball Z, which made it even more fascinating. The main reason I enjoy it is because of the basic element of the four heroes traversing the land and running into demons and situations that they must over come. It can be very funny as well as deep and meaningful. There is a lot to unpack and I certainly don’t understand even half of it, but I enjoyed the journey and the company of the characters.

[Sohail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have finally finished reading this massive book. Since I was reading it for scholarly reasons, I chose to read the unabridged version, but I don't recommend it to people who want to read it for personal reasons. Because a great number of its adventures are redundant, you'regoing to be bored. Pick a good abridged version of it instead.

[James Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

And it was a "journey," the second longest I've taken but I am very glad to have read it. Despite a lot of repetition this epic of Chinese literature held my interest through all four volumes and I think I learned a lot.

[Eskil]

Wow! Finalement!

[Jefferson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Comedic, Poetic, Fantastic, Allegorical, and Earthy Epic Journey of Thousands of Miles, Fourteen Years, and a Hundred Chapters

What a LONG journey—over half a year—I just finished, reading Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West! It’s a hundred-chapter, allegorical, comedic, poetic, episodic, epic historical fantasy adventure quest novel set in the 7th century (Tang Dynasty) and written circa 1592 (Ming Dynasty), It’s one of China’s foundational novels: most Chinese people have read at least abridged versions of it or watched TV adaptations of it and regularly allude to the characters.

Inspired by the famous pilgrimage of Xuanzang (596-664), a monk who traveled from China to India to get Buddhist scriptures, the novel starts with the supreme trickster troublemaker Sun Wukong (AKA Monkey, Pilgrim, or Great Sage) being born from a stone, ruling the monkeys of his edenic Flower-Fruit Mountain, getting bored, learning magical transformations and transportations, becoming invulnerable, and then wreaking havoc in heaven, until he’s finally captured and imprisoned for 500 years, until the monk Xuanzang (AKA Tripitaka) happens by.

The Tang Emperor has sent the monk on a journey of thousands of miles (taking fourteen years) to India to Thunderclap Monastery atop Spirit Mountain to receive from Buddha the holy scriptures to bring back to China “for the cultivation of immortality and the gate to ultimate virtue” and to “redeem lost souls in darkness.” Tripitaka has been reincarnated ten times, becoming ever purer each time, but he’s unworldly, so to aid him on the dangerous road, the Boddhisattva Guanyin gives him a mount (a dragon in the form of a horse) and three semi-divine disciples: Monkey, the greedy and lazy Eight Rules (AKA Hog or Idiot), and the stolid Sha Monk. The trio agree to go so they can gain merit by killing demons (“deviates”) and attain transcendance (“the right fruit”).

Tripitaka and his companions travel to a series of wild mountains, sinful cities, haunted temples, corrupt monasteries, and helpful farmhouses, working steadily west through seasons and years, overcoming dangerous obstacles like bandits, wild animals, demons, and spirits, the male fiends wanting to eat Tripitaka’s flesh to become immortal, the female ones wanting to sleep with him to become immortal (via his hitherto unspent Yin!). Other conflicts involve Tripitaka being too quick to crush Monkey’s head with a good behavior head band, Eight Rules trying to quit the quest, and envious monks coveting Tripitaka’s holy gear.

The adventures are not SO suspenseful, because of course the companions will eventually escape every trap and cooking pot, but it is entertaining to see what pitfalls they pitch into or what outre enemies they encounter or what measures Monkey takes to free them, like when Tripitaka and Idiot are impregnated, or when Monkey is opposed by an ersatz Monkey, or when he gets himself swallowed to cause a monster indigestion. Monkey is not always able to defeat enemies by battle, but must often spy in insect form or visit heaven to get intel or support.

Here are eight things that impressed me in Journey to the West:

1. Poetry: The writer often abandons prose for flights of poesy, from couplet proverbs (e.g., “Do not judge a man by his face,/ Nor measure the sea by a vase,” or “Virtue is fundamental;/ Riches are accidental”) to lengthy lyrics describing mountains, gardens, seasons, creatures, temples, battles, and so on, occasionally rhyming, often recalling the tune of famous traditional Chinese songs. When I tired of the many repetitive plot elements and unnecessary situation summaries, the rich poetry perked me up with pleasure. Like this:

At once he changed into a little firefly, truly quick and agile. Look at him!
Wings stretched he soars like a comet.
Grasses decayed become butterflies.

And this:

A battle that was something like
An iron brush scraping a copper pan:
Each party’s tough and hard.

2. Description: Much of the poetry is descriptive, but there are also many vivid and imaginative prose descriptions of charming transformations, restful nights, vegetarian feasts, lush gardens, rich summers, terrifying fiends, cataclysmic storms, paradisical gardens, a mountain of corpses with trees strung with silvery human tendons, and more.

3. Allegory: From the chapter titles (e.g., “Nature follows confused feelings through lust and desire; Faint spirit and moved mind meet a demon chief”) to the chapter-ending plot reminders (e.g., “We were telling you about Tripitaka and his disciples, who broke through the web of desires and leaped clear of the stronghold of passions”), the novel is allegorical. It’s really a journey through life to learn how to purge desires, to abandon worldly things to attain enlightenment, to mindfully exercise the power of mindlessness. Monkey is really “Mind Monkey.”

4. Earthiness: Along with the transcendental philosophies and sublime descriptions, there are farts: “As the common folks say, ‘Even a fart is additional air!’” And pissing, crapping one’s pants in fear, a fatal kick to the groin, and bawdy play.

5. Humor: Coarse slapstick, ironic situations, puns, jokes, and insults. It’s very funny!

6. Chinese Culture: LOTS of traditional culture details enrich the novel, about Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism of course, but also about the hours of day/night (the hour of the serpent, etc.), drinking games played with the fingers, bad and good rulers, martial arts moves (e.g., “he used both hands to make with his staff the Scarlet Phoenix Facing the Sun and the Hungry Tiger Leaping on its Prey”), food and drink, historical beauties and generals, scenic landscapes, and more. Demons debate how to cook Tripitaka: boil, steam, salt, cure, or finely dice and “pan-fry him with star anise and Sichuan pepper.” A demoness laments failing to marry Tripitaka: “We were going to have our ankles tied with red string!” Also the conversational Chinese tendency to repeat phrases, like “Marvelous! Marvelous! Marvelous!” or “That’s too hard! That’s too hard!” And historical and literary references, like “Birds chatter with the sharp tongue of Jizi,” a famous military strategist.

7. Monkey: Sun Wukong is a splendid trickster hero: cocky, humorous, passionate, compassionate, resourceful, magical, protean, potent, observant. The mischievous Monkey, possessed of “extraordinary intelligence and abilities” and hideous mien (“Look at your skeleton face, flattened brow, collapsed nose, jutting jowl, and hairy eyes”), and Tripitaka—handsome, gullible, gormless, puritanical, whining, and cowardly—are a great odd couple.

8. The narrator: He’s quite involved in the story, often saying things like, “’How was he dressed?’ you ask.” Or “Dear fiend! He leaped up at once and put on his armor.”

People interested in traditional Chinese culture, world literature, fantastic stories, and rich poetry should read the novel.

I read Anthony C. Yu’s four-volume unabridged translation from 1977-1983 (revised 2012) with his LONG scholarly Introduction (covering the novel’s Historical and Literary Antecedents, Text and Authorship, Poetry, Allegory, Monkey, etc.), and extensive notes explaining language puns lost in English translation, historical and literary references, culture points, Taoist symbols, Buddhist jargon, and more. I am glad NOT to have read W.J.F Jenner’s unabridged translation without notes.

[ProfX · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It's not the destination, it's the journey."

Even a journey of 108,000 miles must come to end. Tripitaka Tang, Sun Wukong, Zhu Eight Rules, and Sha Monk finally reach the Western Heaven and acquire the scriptures they have sought for so long.

Any ending to a 1,500+ page story is likely to underwhelm because the buildup involved can never match the expectations of the reader. Yet the ending to this story, while in a sense anticlimactic, feels wonderfully fitting. By the end we have watched these characters for so long they feel like old friends, and the changes they have undergone (or lack thereof, Eight Rules!) can truly be seen here.

With no one is this more apparent than with the story's main protagonist, Sun Wukong. It's hard to believe that the Wukong that reached Thunderclap Mountain is the same fiend that wrought such havoc in the world and heaven itself at the beginning of the story, but if you have seen all he's done you will have noticed the subtle changes that have taken place in him over the years of his journey. He slowly shed his former self and became someone entirely new. Just as we all can shed the evil in our hearts if we strive enough and are willing to endure enough suffering.

Reaching the end of the Journey to the West was a bittersweet experience. It took so long to reach the end that at times I felt like Tripitaka Tang himself; it was easy to feel like the ending would never come and the journey would go on forever. While I was overjoyed to see our band of heroes finally achieve their goal and help rejuvenate the world and receive their just rewards, I must say I am saddened to see Tripitaka and Wukong shed this mortal coil and achieve Buddhahood, for it means saying goodbye forever.

The long journey is over. It had its ups and downs, some moments were more exciting or satisfying than others, it got frustrating at times, yet the experience is much more than the sum of its parts. The ending was satisfying and beautiful, but it's the journey that I will take with me for the rest of my life.

[Indra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Está chistoso que el 60% de las desgracias que enfrentan los personajes son culpa de descuidos y metidas de pata de seres divinos, y el Buda es un castor latoso. Entendí algo del mensaje metafórico del libro (seguramente entendería más si fuera budista o china, pero leí análisis y ensayos y me sirvieron) y aprendí mucho sobre la filosofía budista china. El personaje de Sun Wukong es muy muy bueno y me divirtió mucho.
Me llamó mucho la atención que cada país distante al que llegan sigue las mismas costumbres de China y hasta hablan la misma lengua. La naturaleza, los animales, también son ya conocidos, mientras que en textos de exploradores occidentales hablan más de criaturas fantásticas o desconocidas.
En el libro también mencionan a cada rato honores y elogios a China como una nación superior. Está curioso, pero comprensible, conociendo la historia china.

Hay muchas quejas de que es un libro repetitivo, pero esto pasa mucho menos en la segunda mitad (más o menos) e incluso cambia un poquito el estilo de las descripciones. Los encuentros también son diferentes y la Bodhisattva Guanyin no aparece tanto. También Sanzang deja de favorecer a Bajie y estoy segura que eso tiene que ver con el sentido metafórico de la historia. En realidad esta última cuarta parte del libro no me pareció tediosa. Sería interesante escribir sobre el papel de las mujeres en el libro, porque definitivamente no les va bien, por lo general. También me gusta mucho el peek que da la obra hacia la sociedad y mentalidad china, y la parte de la burocracia en las esferas divinas y demoníacas es graciosísima. Hay una parte que me gusta mucho porque describe a Sun Wukong intimidarse al ver una ciudad de demonios, pero se asusta precisamente porque está muy bien organizada y hay un sistema de mensajería eficiente ("deer carrying messages", etc.).

La mejor noticia es que completé uno de los clásicos chinos. 1 down, 3 to go!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remarkable: The episodes keep growing more perilous, the dangers more serious, and the solutions more astonishing as we go, peaking at the end. It's a slow and subtle build, but to me, entirely satisfying. The gender material remains problematic, palatable by virtue of its profound and surely self-conscious silliness. Everything else is just wonderful, especially once you've gotten into the rhythm and figured out how much you want to absorb at once.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the end of the epic journey draws near, the stakes get ever so slightly higher for Sanzang and the three monks. Granted, there's still a fair share of monster-of-the-week adventures, but the increased proximity to Vulture Peak and the Buddha, and the crossover into India, make for new situations and more unusual plots. The final sequence is alternately hilarious, thrilling and anticlimactic, but what wouldn't be a little bit of a letdown after a journey of 45oo pages?

[Travis Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The entire story ebbs and flows with moments of high enjoyability, but sadly until a more nuanced and explained translation arises, it will be hard for non-Chinese speaking audiences to truly appreciate the scope of this work.

[Marjo · Rating 2 out of 5]

It does get repetitive as it goes on. I strongly suspect that one isn't meant to read this book in big bursts, or if one has the ability to recall what happened in previous chapters. Oh, well. At least I can say I read it.

[Leslie (updates on SG) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whew, I am done!

[Marcos Augusto · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review of the entire work is in volume 1, please check it out!

[Pedro Pascoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epic end to an epic quadrilogy of books.

I hold The journey to the West and the Arthurian Tales as exemplars of inner journeys as much as outer journeys, and the quest to a perfection of the soul, dressed up as a quest. Boorman's Excalibur, and the Japanese tv show Monkey made sure I was exposed to both early on, and for a fair deal of my reading (and watching) life, I have been pursuing both bodies of work. Monkey was glorious, riotous tv, frustrating only in that we didn't get to see the conclusion of the show. Reading Waley's abridged translation scratched that itch, and it is a delight to read, but also frustrating in that it chose to more or less fully translate only chosen chapters from the original work.

Enter Anthony Wu, who has translated Journey to the West in its entirety, back by copious notes in the appendix and a daunting introduction that tests the mettle and determination of any reader.

Many things become apparent after the Journey begins in earnest. There is a formula that is repeated for the majority of the episodes that face Tripitaka and his 3 monks. In a mountain there is a cave containing a demon with a weapon that defines their character. They either want to eat or marry Tripitaka, Monkey fights a number of rounds with the demon, often summoning help from the pantheon of Buddhist and/or Daoist entities and/or the local spirits who give up the weakness of the demon. Wash, rinse, repeat. Only towards the end-ish of the story do we start to encounter different situations which were more refreshing to read, becoming less monster-of-the-month and more charitable acts to help others along the way, sometimes with monsters, because Sun Wukong still needs something to bash.

Another thing that becomes apparent moreso via the appendix, and that is how much of an alchemical allegory this story is. It takes a bit of attention throughout the four volumes of this rich story to read of the development of Sun Wukong (Monkey) from out-of-control wrecker at the start to humble monk by the finish. There were a number of classic Monkey episodes based directly from chapters in the four volume epic, and it was satisfying to read them in a translated original form. There were also a number of episodes that seem to be inventions of the tv series that stood out as great additions to the tradition that is Journey to the West.

I was a bit concerned while reading the aforementioned introduction that the story itself would be quite a dry translation. I was fortunately proved quite wrong in that regard. There was certainly a density with this story, and Anthony Wu certainly had his work cut out to draw out everything (at least I trust that he did) from the original story in this translation, while still making it readable. By all accounts, this is already regarded as the definitive English translation of Journey to the West, and deservedly so.

For all that, I'm still keen to, at some stage, dive back into the abridged Waley translation. While I don't remember a whole lot from that read years ago, I do remember being affected by a particular moment towards the end of the story that for me was captured better by the Waley abridgement than the Wu translation here. The Wu translation does a better job of explaining why the scene makes sense in the context of the whole story, but the Waley version struck a deep chord in me that demands a reread from me.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

More monsters, demons, and fiends appear in volume four of the Chinese literary epic, which includes the last twenty five chapters. Here, Xuanzang (aka the Tang Monk, Elder, the Master) completes his seventh century journey from China to India in order to meet the Buddha and acquire the written scriptures to take back with him to the Tang court. The focus shifts back onto the Tang Monk in this volume, whereas the early ones had mostly retold the account of the Tang Monk's disciple, Pilgrim Sun (aka Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, Old Monkey), who is continually tasked with rescuing Elder from his gullible inability to determine friends from foes. Two other disciples back up Pilgrim, Zhu Wuneng (aka Eight Rules, Idiot) and Sha Wujeng (aka the Sha Monk). Along with them, the White Dragon Horse carries their loads and packs.

The story overall is largely the one of this band coming together in order to make merit, resist temptations, and acquire the Way of true Buddhist religiosity. Despite their fractured arguments and fighting throughout much of the journey, by tale's end, they have come together in mutual respect and spiritual worthiness. Indeed, the Great Buddha elevates both the Tang Monk and Monkey King themselves to the rank of Buddha, while giving promotions to Eight Rules, the Sha Monk, and the White Dragon Horse. All are made immortal.

Published in its current form in 1592, after being based on Chinese folk tales, Journey to the West leads me to compare it to the first great novel published in the West some twelve years later, Don Quixote. You cannot help but see a contrast in these contemporaneous works. Both, of course, are structured episodically. Both contain elements of comedic relief, Eight Rules and Sancho Panza. And both examine their social institutions in a sometimes critical way. But Don Quixote takes a tragic turn in its revelations about the role of honor, duty, and respectability in early seventeenth century Spain. Don Quixote's death comes at the end when he cannot manage yet another sally and dies in bed. It bespeaks the metaphorical death of imagination as well. Journey, however, ends triumphantly for all. The spread of Buddhism reinforced in China and the monks and disciples who achieved the task rewarded for their tenacity and ability to resist the temptations of gold, sex, power, and sloth. All but Eight Rules, that is, who at the end still abides with his weakness, gluttony, which explains his failure to be elevated to a Buddha along with Elder and the Monkey King. Two different visions for two different societies. Individual guilt redeemed at the cost of mortality in Quixote. Collective triumph accompanied by individual immortality in Journey.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In the mountain valley there were two female monster-spirits bailing water from a well. I called them once and they beat me several times with poles."
"What did you call them?" asked Pilgrim.
"I called them monstrous fiends," answered Eight Rules.
"That," said Pilgrim, chuckling, "was too small a beating."

This is the final volume of Journey to the West, and I'm still processing all the insanity so I shall attempt to summarize it. (Can you really spoil a 500 year book? I'll spoil tag just in case.)

We begin with the Monkey King swallowed by a lion demon. This is neither the first nor last time in the book someone makes this mistake with Sun Wukong, and after several chapters of prolonged fighting and indigestion, the divine road trip resumes. We then reach chapter 78, which starts one of my favorite stories in this volume when Sun Wukong acts like a hero to save 1,111 caged children from the machinations of a demon who got the local king addicted to sex. It took thousands of miles, but the Monkey King is showing character development.

Tripitaka gets abducted several more times, forcing the Monkey King to devise many plots including: cutting out his own heart, crashing two weddings, shaving an entire palace bald, and returning a man from the dead. Eventually they reach India, Tripitaka falls into a river and becomes immortal, and the group finally gets the scrolls. Unfortunately, this is only chapter 98 and fate (or more importantly, the author) planned for 100 chapters.

"Within our gate of Buddhism, nine times nine is the crucial means by which one returns to perfection. The sage monk has undergone eighty ordeals. Because one ordeal, therefore, is still lacking, the sacred number is not yet complete."
At once she [the Bodhisattva] gave this order to one of the Guardians: "Catch the Vajra Guardians and create one more ordeal."

After surviving the final ordeal, the five travellers are rewarded by the Buddha for their devotion and join the Buddhist pantheon.

Journey to the West is one of classical China's four great novels. Although the various philosophies and cultural nuances escaped me, it is a memorable experience and I had a lot of fun.

[Karla Baldeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review on Spanish.

Qué viajecito de catorce años me he dado junto al monje Tripitaka, Sun Wukong, Bajie y Sha Seng.
El caballito dragón Yulong también hizo lo suyo en ciertos capítulos, a que sí. Dragoncito para inspirarme más ternura, menos mal que a él no amenazaban a comérselo a cada rato como a sus compañeros.
Y entre que Sun Wukong hacía llorar a Tripitaka, Bajie intrigaba para comer de la peor manera, qué mal me cayó el cerdito este, menos mal que al final no lo hicieron Buda, ja, y Tripitaka era raptado cada cuanto para comerlo o casarlo (dependía del sexo del demonio la mera verdad) se fueron pasando las páginas una tras otra sin apenas sentirlo.
Pero me he demorado en leer los cuatro tomos casi todo el mes, así que corta la historia no ha estado. La recomiendo para leerla a capítulo por noche con los niños, al puro estilo de Las mil y una noche. Realmente el mono travieso es bastante entretenido.
Me he vuelto fan del príncipe niño Nata y cada que aparecía en un capítulo me daba emoción. Príncipe que quería matar a su padre originalmente, quién no, si era un tipejo aprovechado, pero que gracias a que sellaron sus recuerdos se presta a combatir cuando se lo manda el emperador de jade. Y en las batallas contra y al lado de Sun Wukong era lo máximo. Yo hubiera querido que al final tuvieran una última batalla o que al menos el maestro sabio se lo hubiera llevado aparte para entrenarlo o algo, pero bueno, después de cien capítulos la historia se hacía muy larga si lo incluían. A ver si algún iluminado del cielo se escribe la secuela porque yo la leería.

Video reseña:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CUNfct1F...

[Zac Muncy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Monumental Translation of a Timeless Epic

Anthony C. Yu’s Journey to the West is nothing short of a literary triumph. This masterful four-volume translation brings one of China’s greatest classical novels to life with both scholarly rigor and engaging readability. Yu achieves the near-impossible: he remains faithful to the original 16th-century text while making it accessible and compelling for a modern English-speaking audience.

What sets Yu’s translation apart is not just the accuracy of his rendering, but the cultural and religious depth he brings to the work. He expertly navigates the novel’s rich tapestry of Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian ideas—concepts that are essential to understanding the text—without overwhelming the reader. His extensive footnotes and introductions provide invaluable context, yet never distract from the narrative itself.

From the mischievous brilliance of Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) to the spiritual journey of the monk Xuanzang and his eclectic band of disciples, the story unfolds with wit, adventure, and philosophical reflection. Yu preserves the lyrical quality of the original poems and the comic tone of the prose, making the reading experience both thought-provoking and entertaining.

Whether you’re a student of Chinese literature, a mythology enthusiast, or simply looking for an unforgettable reading experience, Yu’s Journey to the West is a must-have. It’s a work to be savored slowly, studied deeply, and returned to often.

An essential addition to any serious literary collection.