New Journey
HKUGA College , Dam , Minh Han -14
M any of us have been raised on this tale of an impulsive stone monkey who overpowers Taoist deities , a lethargic and gluttonous pig demon , an overly obedient sand demon and a dragon who turned into a horse aid an extremely compassionate Buddhist monk on a mission to retrieve the Buddha ’ s three heavenly scrolls called the Tripitaka and bring them back to China for preaching . I mean , he ’ s the Buddha , he could have just brought them to China by himself ! The whole novel is a hundred chapters long probably just because someone was just too busy doing nothing . However , if this mythical story took place in the modern world , the five characters would have been in a lot more trouble .
Xuanzang , or Tripitaka in English ( if you ’ re confused , he was renamed after the heavenly scrolls when he was chosen for the quest ), was a monk in a Buddhist temple during the late-Sui and early-Tang dynasty . According to the novel , he was a relative of the Emperor who was abandoned by his mother . At the same time , he was the incarnation of a disciple of the Buddha called the Golden Cicada . Tripitaka , being a devout Buddhist , was sent by the Buddha to retrieve the said heavenly scrolls . He was also informed that four protectors would guide him on his way .
The first was a dragon prince who was sentenced to death for burning down his father ’ s palace . If he were human and living right now , I ’ m pretty sure the situation would have been far worse . Instead of setting the house on fire , consider the fire as a family argument . The family members would bicker with each other like kindergarten children , the dragon prince might magnify the entire incident and numerous lawsuits would come charging in their way . Literally . It would be really hard for the Bodhisattva Guan Yin to save the dragon prince from the court cases to come .
The second was Sun Wukong , or Monkey for short . We have all come to know about the mischievous monkey who called himself the Great Sage Equal of Heaven . His incomparable strength , his endless transformations and his trickery can even force the Jade Emperor to seek help from the Buddha by himself . However , if he were living in the 21st century , he would have been somewhat like a leader of the triads , leading his army of men while taking down the government . With his great wit , capturing him would be next to impossible . He would also be way too satisfied with his life to ever imagine being on a pilgrimage , and accompanying some monk who recites lullaby-like mantras would be out of the question .
The third protector is Zhu Wuneng , or Pigsy for short . Nope , I did not make this name up . As known from the name , he is a pig , just an exceptionally voracious and indolent one . However , he used to be a General of the heavens who was kicked out of Heaven and accidentally incarnated into a piglet ( probably because of the Jade Emperor ’ s horrible motor skills ) for flirting with the moon goddess . To sum him up , he ’ s a womanising pig . He would have been tangled in way more issues than hunger if he were existing at this moment , he could be sued for sexual harassment . The moon goddess Chang ’ e could always send him to jail for flirting with her if what he said was slightly improper ( cough cough ), and he would stand no chance against the lawyers .
The fourth and final protector is Sha Wujing , or Sandy . Once a deity like Pigsy , he was banished to the mortal world just for breaking a simple ol ’ vase . He became a man-eating sand demon and lived in a river of flowing sand . How did he even deserve that punishment ? At least he ’ s not a cannibal , since he isn ’ t human , yet he ’ d be living a mediocre life consisting of a diet of lungs , eyeballs and bone marrow . Not bad for covering his guilt , if he had any .
See , it would have been next to impossible to gather the group together if they were alive right now . Even if they did get together under circumstances beyond the bounds of possibility , it wouldn ’ t be the ubiquitous demons that they face that would perturb them .
Firstly , going on religious missions is difficult nowadays . The religions that have emerged after the Tang dynasty in China are numerous , not to mention that many people are now strictly atheist . I ’ m not saying it ’ s “ a horrendous act against God ( or gods )” to have no religion , but science and technology has caused the world to have their views on things mainly based on reasoning , putting older beliefs in a tight spot . This would make preaching so much harder and Tripitaka would certainly reach the conclusion that it ’ s better to let his hair grow out .
Secondly , most of the places they have gone to in the novel are now very different . According to historical records , Tripitaka was in modern day Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan , Afghanistan and the Indian