This week we meet one of the least mentioned members of our party, Xuanzang’s horse. I think it’s easy to forget that he’s no ordinary horse even though Guanyin herself…
西遊記 Journey to the West
This week, Tripitaka, aka Xuanzang, and Monkey King, newly named Sun Pilgrim, meet for the first time. Wukong gets all the gear that you typically see him depicted wearing in…
In this chapter, Xuanzang (aka Tripitaka) begins his journey and almost immediately loses nearly everything. His servants are devoured by monsters when he stumbles on their front door, and then…
This week sees the emperor, Tang Taizong, attempt to keep good on all the promises he made while in the underworld. Like the farming couple who stockpiled rooms full of…
In addition to revealing what the inner workings of the Chinese Buddhist afterlife look like, this episode also plays out like a particularly vivid nightmare for one of China’s greatest…
There’s an ancient Chinese poetry battle going down between the fisherman and woodman, where both men try to prove they’ve got the better life through lyrics. Which life would you…
We had a really great time sitting down with Jim McClanahan whose blog, Journey to the West Research is a wealth of information on all things Monkey King and his…
The chapter opens on the capital of the Tang Dynasty, under the reign of emperor Taizong. Now, this is no ordinary emperor, but one of the most renowned in Chinese…
If you thought our pronunciations were bad before, wait until you get to this chapter. It’s funky words all over the place! This chapter opens with a poem about enlightenment.…
This chapter starts with a public execution and ends with a banquet. While the two might seem distasteful when combined for modern sensibilities, ancient peoples didn’t feel this way. Ancient…