New Journeys to the West
St . Paul ' s Convent School , Javelera , Villanueva Roberta Kay - 14
1400 years ago , I witnessed the most magnificent event . As a time traveller , I have seen a lot of events . One of the most remarkable ones is the one I like to call “ The Journey to the West ”.
I changed forms in different periods to suit the environment back then . In this period , I am an old monk named Chen , who has been serving the monastery for 30 years .
I was eating breakfast at the time when one of the waitresses , Biyu , screamed out the name of her son , Xuanzang . He was a young monk , planning to venture out on his own from China to India . Of course , his mother said no .
“ Do you know how dangerous that is ? What if you starve on your way there ? What if you get killed ? You ’ re only 22 years old ! Why would you decide to do that ?” His mother panicked while I chuckled . Mothers will always be mothers . He sighed , “ Mother , the monastery wanted to send me there to study other religions as well , so that I will be more exposed to understanding other people and to finding peace between battling religions .”
“ Oh dear , no ,” his mother shook her head . “ There will never be peace .” But Xuanzang disagreed . “ Mother , there is peace in everything .” She started to panic even more , knowing she wouldn ’ t be able to convince him into not going . “ I will go and talk to Master Da Cheng ,” her son said calmly . “ So that I may seek advice for this journey .”
I followed him back to the monastery as I remembered I would have a meditation session with the new students . He turned around suddenly and bowed deeply . “ Young one , I know you are anxious about this journey . Come , I will accompany you to Master Da Cheng , and propose to go with you ,” I suggested .
We went to the monastery and went straight to Master Da Cheng ’ s quarter . I knocked slightly on the door before entering . “ Good afternoon , Master Da Cheng ,” both Xuanzang and I bowed deeply , he bowed in return . “ I would like to propose to go with Chen on his trip to India for his studies ,” I explained . “ His mother is worried for his well-being .”
“ Of course ,” he chuckled . “ Go at once with the boy ,” he smiled . Xuanzang and I bowed deeply before going to our own quarter to pray and pack before leaving that day . “ May you both have peace and learn more on this journey to the West ,” said Master Da Cheung . All three of us bowed as a sign of respect and left for our journey .
He sprinted to his mother ’ s workplace before we left , where he was greeted with a hug and a few tears . “ Be careful my son ,” she whispered to him , crying . “ Thank you Master Chen ,” she clasped hands as a sign of thanks before seeing us off .
We got on some horses and placed our baggage in the wagon behind us . We started off our journey with praying Duo Luo Pu Sa , the Buddhist goddess of liberation and success , for guidance on this trip and success in India . “ Caishen , I also pray to you that my mother will prosper in her work ,” I heard Xuanzang mutter .
Days into the journey , we went along the path to India safely until we discovered that one day , one third of our remaining food was missing . “ Master Chen , I do not remember eating almost half of our packed meals ,” he told me . I agreed with him . Then suddenly , we saw a monkey with its own wagon , carrying that portion of our food . “ Hey !” Xuanzang yelled . “ That ’ s our food !” He got off his horse and ran after the Monkey at a lightning speed .
Then , I heard a man ’ s voice call out . “ Hanuman ! Give the food back to the poor boy !” I only noticed then that the Monkey was blue and then I suddenly felt the wagon get heavy . It was like something jumped on it .