Buddhism's Supremacy in Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en
This paper examines how Wu Cheng'en's classic Chinese novel Journey to the West presents Buddhism as superior to Taoism and Confucianism within Chinese society. Drawing on the novel's major characters—Monkey King (Sun Wukong) and the monk Tripitaka (Xuanzang)—the paper analyzes how religious symbolism, narrative structure, and allegorical elements consistently elevate Buddhist beliefs above Taoist and Confucian ones. The paper also explores the historical background of Xuanzang's real pilgrimage, the two Buddhist views of Enlightenment (gradual and sudden), and the broader context of how three major religions have coexisted and competed in Chinese culture.
- Introduction: Three Religions and One Classic Novel: Three Chinese religions and Buddhism's claim to superiority
- The Historical Monk and the Classic Novel: Xuanzang's real pilgrimage and the novel's origins
- Monkey King and the Superiority of Buddhism over Taoism: Monkey King's story illustrates Buddhism overpowering Taoism
- Tripitaka and Buddhist Leadership on the Pilgrimage: Tripitaka represents Buddhist leadership and moral endurance
- Buddhism, Taoism, and the Path to Enlightenment: How Buddhism is presented as a deeper spiritual path
- Gradual and Sudden Enlightenment in Buddhist Thought: Blank scrolls symbolize sudden versus gradual Enlightenment
- Conclusion: Buddhism as the Supreme Religion in Journey to the West: Buddhism consistently prevails as the novel's supreme religion
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper uses specific textual evidence from Journey to the West, including direct quotations and chapter references, to support its central argument about Buddhist superiority.
- It contextualizes the literary analysis within the broader history of Chinese religion, giving readers the cultural framework needed to understand the novel's significance.
- The paper draws on both primary and secondary sources, including scholarly commentary by Qiancheng Li, to ground its interpretations in academic discourse.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates thematic literary analysis: it identifies a recurring ideological theme (Buddhism as the superior religion) and traces that theme systematically through character construction, plot events, and symbolic numerology. By connecting the fictional narrative to real historical and religious contexts, the paper moves beyond plot summary to interpret the novel's deeper cultural meaning.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a broad introduction to China's three major religions and narrows to its thesis about Buddhism's supremacy in Journey to the West. It then provides historical background on the real monk Xuanzang and the novel's Ming Dynasty origins. The core analytical sections examine Monkey King and Tripitaka as vehicles for Buddhist ideology, followed by a discussion of Taoist versus Buddhist paths to Enlightenment. A focused section addresses the gradual versus sudden Enlightenment debate. The conclusion synthesizes all threads and reaffirms the novel's function as a Buddhist allegory.
Introduction: Three Religions and One Classic Novel
There are three major religions that have established themselves in China: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Of the three, only Buddhism is not indigenous to China. Buddhism found its way to China along the Silk Road, brought by missionaries from India. For centuries, the three religions have coexisted, with many Chinese adopting elements of each in their daily lives. Whatever similarities or symbiotic elements each contains, the three religions have also competed with one another for prominence and prestige within Chinese society. At different times each has been the dominant religion, fully supported by the Imperial Court; however, Buddhism, since its incorporation into Chinese society, has viewed itself as the superior religion.
While most Buddhists are completely comfortable with the idea of other religious ideals in society, and even embrace certain aspects of them, they still feel that Buddhism is superior. One piece of Chinese literature, generally accepted as one of the four great classic novels in Chinese history, is Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West. It is the fictionalized story of a real monk who traveled to India to learn about Buddhism and collect sacred Buddhist scriptures. Although the novel is intermixed with tales of mythology, adventure, magic, and the supernatural, one theme that permeates the story is the superiority of Buddhism within Chinese society. China may be home to three great religions, but, according to Wu Cheng'en, only Buddhism is the best.
The Historical Monk and the Classic Novel
Journey to the West is based on a real journey to India taken by a Chinese Buddhist monk in the early 7th century. The monk's name was Xuanzang, and his true story acts as the basis for Wu Cheng'en's fictional account, written some thousand years after the actual events. It is said that in the year 629, Xuanzang had a dream in which he was told to make a pilgrimage to India in order to learn about Buddhism and obtain sacred Buddhist texts. In a journey that lasted some 17 years, Xuanzang traveled to India, stayed for many years, and returned to China with more than a thousand sacred texts, which he spent the rest of his life translating. He is also credited with authoring the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, a vivid account of the social aspects of the many different lands he visited.
It is generally said that there are four great classic novels in Chinese literature: Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Journey to the West. It was during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 A.D.) that Journey to the West was written by the 16th-century author Wu Cheng'en, and it contains a highly fictionalized account of Xuanzang's pilgrimage to India. This account not only follows the journey of Xuanzang, called Tripitaka in the story, but also three magical companions: Sun Wukong (also called Monkey King), Zhu Bajie (also called Monk Pig, or Pigsy), and Sha Wujing (also called Friar Sandy). Together these four undertake a long and arduous journey on which they are constantly interrupted, attacked, waylaid, or forced into tangential excursions. After a great many adventures, the four arrive in India, retrieve the sacred texts, and return to China to receive many heavenly rewards. While this tale is based upon a real religious pilgrimage, Wu Cheng'en interweaves the original story with so much mythology, religious imagery, and magic that Journey to the West is transformed into a great piece of dramatic fiction.
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