Chapter 2: Xiyouji and its Translations
2.1 Xuanzang, Wu Cheng’en, and Xiyouji
In 629AD, a 28-year-old Buddhist monk named Xuanzang (602-664AD) set off on his pilgrimage from China to Tianzhu 天竺, or what is now India, which would last sixteen years. He started off from the Tang Capital of Chang’an 長安, or modern-day Xian, traveled through Gansu and the oasis cities around the Taklamakan Desert, deep into Central Asia, and then through what is now Afghanistan to India. Xuanzang spent many years in India, traveling from one kingdom to another, learning to read and write Sanskrit, collecting various Buddhist scriptures, and hoping to bring back to China what could unify some of the disagreements in the Buddhist belief.
Xuanzang finally returned to Chang’an in 645AD, and with him he transported back hundreds of Buddhist scriptures, which he started translating without any delay.
According to Dan Lusthaus, author of Buddhist Phenomenology (London: Curzon Press, 2000), Xuanzang translated 74 volumes of Buddhist sutras, which equaled to a total of 1,338 fascicles. Lusthaus also comments that a survey of Xuanzang’s prolific translations demonstrates that he was anything but a narrow sectarian and that his translations covered the gamut of Buddhist literature.
Apart from his remarkable achievements in translating Buddhist scrolls,
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Xuanzang dictated a detailed geographical description of the lands he had passed through on his journey, with specific references on the local residents, their languages as well as their beliefs. The book is called Xiyuji 西域記 in Chinese or
Record of the Western Regions in English, which was and still is the longest and most
comprehensive account of the countries in Central and South Asia in the early 7th century. In the 1850s, Xiyuji was translated into French by Stanislas Julien and was published commercially in small booklets and had a large readership (Chang, p.254).
While the main purpose of Xuanzang’s journey was to obtain Buddhist books and receive Buddhist instruction in India, he ended up achieving much more by preserving the political and social aspects of the lands he visited. In the early twentieth century, Record of the Western Regions became a valuable guidebook to many of the so-called “foreign devils on the silk road” who used it as an accurate map to locate long lost cities and sites buried under the sand dunes of the
Taklamakan Desert. Some archaeologists and adventurers even used the information in the book to gain advantage in their favor. A well-known example of this is Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943), who successfully convinced the curator of the secret library of Dunhuang that Xuanzang was his patron saint and that the large quantities of thousand-year-old manuscripts within the library’s possession be handed to him for further studies.
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Xuanzang’s successful feat was of immense inspiration to the entire nation, upon his return he was warmly welcomed by the residents of Chang’an, as well as government officials, and even the emperor himself. Although Xuanzang enjoyed great respect from emperor Tang Taizong 唐太宗 and the succeeding emperor Tang Gaozong 唐高宗, distinguished Buddhist leaders and monks from all sects
throughout the nation, and of course the general public, he was dissatisfied with his lack of freedom after returning to China. He dedicated the last two decades of his life to translating Buddhist scriptures, which was his only consolation, first at Hongfu Temple 宏福寺 and later he relocated to Dayan Ta 大雁塔, all the while forced to stay in Chang’an. His petitions, first to Tang Taizong and again to Tang Gaozong, to reside in the Shaolin Temple near his birthplace were both denied.
According to author Qingyun Ma 馬慶雲, there are three main reasons behind restricting Xuanzang’s whereabouts and preventing him from living in the Shaolin Temple. First of all, Xuanzang had left China illegally without an official approval from the government which reflected their fear of Xuanzang’s possible success in
completing the long journey. Secondly, emperor Taizong relied heavily on Xuanzang’s knowledge of the lands in Central Asia, which was a valuable asset in diplomacy, especially when Tang Taizong had been planning on going into war with the Turks.
And most importantly, the last thing emperor Taizong hoped to see was the
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unification of all Buddhist sects in China, a force so powerful that could threaten the the ruling class of Tang Dynasty just as it had helped overthrow the Sui Dynasty before. Xuanzang’s success in journeying to India and retrieving sacred books won him so much fame throughout China that he had to entertain visitors from all over the country on a daily basis, month after month. However, it was exactly this unceasing fame that caused him to be “detained” in Chang’an.
Despite suffering from politics, Xuanzang remained an inspiration for centuries to come and he would not have known that his amazing journey and endeavor would greatly inspire a fellow victim of politics nearly a thousand years later—a talented writer and poet from the Ming Dynasty, Wu Cheng’en (1501-1582). Wu did not become an official until he was in his middle age, but before long, he grew tired of the political environment, corruption, and false accusations against him so he resigned from office. The last two decades of his life he spent as a near recluse, enjoying the friendship of less than a handful of contemporary poets and writers, and maintaining a meager living by selling his writings. Despite the hardships Wu Cheng-En underwent, his achievements in the world of literature are well-recognized.
According to Wen Tao, Wu’s poems can be compared to those of Li Po, his verse to those of Sung Dynasty writer Qin Guan 秦觀, and his prose has a similar style to those of famous Sung Dynasty scholar Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修. Since Wu’s talents are
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held in such high esteem, it is most unfortunate that few of his works but a small number of poems and prose have been retained due to his living in poverty and his lack of descendent.
Wu Cheng’en is best known for being the author of Xiyouji, which was in actuality published anonymously in 1592, and for well over three centuries the authorship of the novel remained a mystery. Wu is speculated to have published the novel in anonymity for fear of the social pressure at his time when the literary mainstream was to take to heart and mimic the classical literature of Han and Tang dynasties. As Xiyouji was written in a vernacular tongue that was deemed by many as
“vulgar” language, Wu Cheng’en had no intention to take the ill reputation and harsh criticism when he was still alive. Although Wu did not refer to Xiyouji in any of his other writings, the people of his home town did attribute the novel to him early on in a 1625 gazetteer 淮安府志, a form of local history that unfortunately attracted little attention.
As of early 20th century, the mystery of Xiyouji’s authorship started to unfold.
Nowadays, it is generally believed that Wu Cheng’en is the actual author of Xiyouji on the basis of the conclusion Hu Shih and Lu Xun drew from their textual analysis and research on such Qing Dynasty literature as Wu Yujin’s 山陽志遺, Ruan Kuisheng’s 茶 餘客話, and Ding Yan’s 石亭記事續篇. On the other hand, a few skeptical scholars
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have argued otherwise and pointed out such issues, for example, that the dialect implemented in Xiyouji is different from the Huaian dialect that Wu Cheng’en would speak and that the styles of the texts in verse in Xiyouji contrast his other works.
Anthony C. Yu, one of the translators of Xiyouji, offered his perspective on this topic in his book 余國藩西遊記論集 in favor that Wu Cheng’en is the “most probable”
author of Xiyouji. Because in the preface of his book Yu Ding Zhi 禹鼎志 Wu declares his predilection for the marvelous, the exotic, and the supramundane in literature (Yu, p.77) which matches perfectly the theme of Xiyouji. W.J.F. Jenner, another translator of Xiyouji, points out that in what proportion the novel was created and in what proportion it was compiled and edited by Wu Cheng’en remains unknown. Arthur Waley, also a translator of Xiyouji, concurs that much of the legend behind Xiyouji long existed in folk tales and on stage (Waley, preface). While the disagreement on
Xiyouji’s authentic authorship may ensue, it is hardly the best interest of this
research to involve in the argument as such topic should be left for further discussion by more capable researchers with further evidence. As such, for the purpose of this research, that Wu Cheng’en is the author of Xiyouji is taken as an established fact.
Daniel Kane, professor at National University of Australia claims that it is widely believed that by naming his novel Xiyouji, Wu Cheng’en meant to pay tribute to Xuanzang’s Xiyuji (Kane, p.viii). Wu’s Xiyouji built upon the concept of Xuanzang’s
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journey to India and combined a vast compilation of popular legends and folk tales that had been passed down through many generations. According to Hu Hsih in the introduction to Arthur Waley’s Monkey, the story of Xiyouji was originally in one
hundred chapters which may be roughly divided into three main parts:
Part I. The story of the Monkey: chapters 1-7
Part II. The story of Xuanzang and the origin of the mission to India: chapters 8-12 Part III. The Pilgrimage to India: chapters 13-100
Besides the main characters of Xuanzang and his three disciples, the novel hosts a wealth of Buddhist and Taoist deities, monsters and demons that are transformed from wild animals, objects and weapons with magical powers, humorous stories, witty dialogues, fierce battle scenes, well-thought-out poems, idiomatic expressions, and much more.
The morals are not only to emphasize repentance, friendship, loyalty, and persistence, but also to encourage overcoming the demons that come both from the outside and emerge from within one’s own mind. Xiyouji is a story which values repentance of previous sins, Sun Wukong 孫悟空 violated the heavenly rules, Zhu Bajie 豬八戒 harassed the Goddess of the Moon, and Sha Wujing 沙悟淨 dropped and broke a crystal cup of jade, which caused the three to receive their own
punishments. However, they were later offered opportunities to repent and make up for their wrongdoings. The fact that each of the main characters have their own flaws
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and weaknesses helps the readers identify more with the story.
Whereas some scholars hold the opinion that Xiyouji is an allegory with hidden political messages, others dismiss the idea. Hu Shih claims that Monkey is simply a book of good humor, profound nonsense, good-natured satire and delightful entertainment (Waley, preface). Prof. Shi Changyu approves of the viewpoint by further noting that humor is a major characteristic of the style of Xiyouji (Jenner, p.45).
There also exists an interesting distinction between what the Asian and Western cultures perceive as the main character of the story. In Asia, Xuanzang’s faith and persistence as well as being the master of the fellowship per se win him much respect. In the west, on the contrary, Sun Wukong’s unique personality and
extraordinary abilities transform him into the hero of the story. The following book review of David Kherdian’s Monkey—A Journey to the West on amazon.com places Sun Wukong the Monkey in the center of attention:
Part spiritual pilgrimage, part historical epic, the folk novelJourney to the West, which came to be known asMonkey, is the most popular classic of Asian literature.
Originally written in the sixteenth century, it is the story of the adventures of the rogue-trickster Monkey and his encounters with a bizarre cast of characters as he travels to India with the Buddhist pilgrim Tripitaka in search of sacred scriptures.
Xiyouji has been published so widely and enjoyed such a vast readership that it
is crowned one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature. An array of21
imitations, adaptations, and retelling of the stories in the novel have been and still are being recreated in the forms of literature, children’s books, movies, TV series, Japanese anime, games, and so on. Just like the Sun Wukong’s magical powers of 72 transformations, the novel itself has taken on numerous shapes and forms.