"Journey To the West" (Chinese pinyin: "Xi You Ji") is one of the four great classic Chinese literature masterpieces. The book was written by Wu Cheng-en (1500-1582) of Ming Dynasty.
"Journey To the West" is a thick book of 100 episodes, but it is the kind of book you do not want to put down as soon as you start to read. It is a wonderful book for many reasons.
· It is a book of extremely high literary value. It is written in very beautiful language and is full of poems.
· It is a book of very attractive fairy tales with all the amazing plots about the Buddha, deities, supernormal abilities, monsters and devils. For westerners, it is like an oriental version of ancient Greek fairy tales. Children and school students definitely will like it.
· This book carries the a lot of information about traditional Chinese culture.
·It talks about the real meaning of human life, about how to improve oneself and cultivate into Buddha hood etc.
The novel tells the trip of Tang Monk and his three disciples going to India to fetch the Buddhism scriptures. During the journey, Tang Monk and his disciples experienced 81 tribulations.
However, nothing could influence Tang Monk's determination to go to the west and fetch the true scriptures. With the protection and help from divine beings, they overcame all the difficulties and interferences and finally reached India.
This story was a real event that happened in China's history. In 629 A.D. of Tang Dynasty, a young monk Xuan Zang ( pronounced as "Sheeuan Zang") went from capital city Chang An to India to study Buddhism. He returned to Chang An city in 645 A.D. taking back hundreds of books of Buddhism scriptures.
This book is also a full account of the cultivation process of the Tang Monk as well as his companions. Cultivation practice (or Xiu Lian in Chinese) is an essential part of Chinese culture. A big number of stories left from Chinese Buddhism and Taoism are about how to become divine beings through practicing cultivation. In this book, the Tang Monk and the Monkey King succeeded in their cultivation and became Buddha in the last episode. In modern words, to practice cultivation is to improve one's mind and body.
