Journey to the West

To most of the Chinese, the book "Journey to the West" (西游记) is a well known story. It is a commonly read classical title appealing to both the young and the old. You can easily find it as story book in bookstores (including the comics) , as part of the textbooks in school and seen on movies.

The storyline is about how a group of four main characters coming together and going to the "west" to obtain the Sutra. Out of the four characters, the Monkey King is the limelight. It has the superpower to protect the group especially the Master Monk as well as fighting and winning over many devils in the journey.

Though I am one of the many who has read about the story since young, the recent read of a related book interested me very much as well. It is not a story book but a recount of the life of the actual Master Monk, Xuanzang (玄奘), in his pursue of obtaining the Sutra from the “west”. The “west” refers to the old India, located at the west of China kingdom.

The author is Mr Qian Wenzhong (钱文忠), a young History Professor from the Fudan University, China. Based on historical records and other researches, the author recounts the life, happenings and contributions of Xuanzang during the early years of the Tang Dynasty about 1,300 years ago. The author has written the subject pretty well in terms of its coverage, the flow of the presentation and able to make it a very engaging.

Xuanzang was very determined to go to the old India to obtain the Sutra and he actually risking his life by sneaking out of the country (ie the Tang’s kingdom) to the west. Luckily he met many good people whom were supportive of his endeavor and touched by his courage. Prior to his departure, he prepared for it for a few years by learning the Sanskrit language (梵文) and training himself up physically. In the journey, Xuanzang also experienced many death and life happenings such as crossing the Gobi Desert alone with no water for 4 to 5 days. He nearly dies. Xuanzang traveled 10,000 miles and took him 17 years to fulfill his dream. The Tang Dynasty’s emperor welcomed him warmly when he finally returned to China and encouraged Xuanzang to write it down as reference.

Though Xuanzang is not the first and the only person to visit the old India, he had made a few great contributions:

（1）To promote the teaching of Buddhism by bringing back many Sutra from the old India and translating these works into Chinese;
（2） An excellent scholar willing to share his knowledge with his fellow students;
（3） His own account of the journey had facilitated the record of the old India’s history and given researchers a good rich information of the old India then and
（4）Established and structured the work of translation

I have enjoyed reading it very much and finished the two books in less than three weeks, at times till 1am.