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Xuanzang's journey along the Silk Road, and the legends that grew up around it, inspired the Ming novel Journey to the West, one of the great classics of Chinese literature. The fictional counterpart Tang Sanzang is the reincarnation of the Golden Cicada, a disciple of Gautama Buddha, and is protected on his journey by four powerful disciples.
Journey to the West, foremost Chinese comic novel, written by Wu Cheng’en, a novelist and poet of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The novel is based on the actual 7th-century pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (602–664) to India in search of sacred texts.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The novel Journey to the West was based on historical events. Xuanzang (602–664) was a monk at Jingtu Temple in late- Sui dynasty and early- Tang dynasty Chang'an . Motivated by seeking better translations of Buddhist scripture at the time, Xuanzang left Chang'an in 629, in defiance of Emperor Taizong of Tang 's ban on travel.
- 西遊記
- Wu Cheng'en
- c. 1592 (print)
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On his journey he traveled north of the Takla Makan Desert, passing through such oasis centres as Turfan, Karashar, Kucha, Tashkent, and Samarkand, then beyond the Iron Gates into Bactria, across the Hindu Kush (mountains) into Kapisha, Gandhara, and Kashmir in northwest India.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Painted decoration in the Long Corridor at the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. Tang Sanzang is a Buddhist monk and pilgrim who is a central character in the 16th century novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. Tang Sanzang is based on the historical Tang dynasty monk Xuanzang .
Journey to the West is a fictionalized account of the legends surrounding the 16-year pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuánzàng (602–664) to India during the Táng dynasty, to obtain Buddhist religious texts (sutras). Xuánzàng reached India after experiencing innumerable trials and hardships.
Xuanzang subsequently became a main character in the great Chinese epic Journey to the West. In 629 C.E., a Chinese Buddhist monk named Xuanzang wanted to go west to India to learn more about Buddhism, but at the time, the emperor had forbidden travel outside China.
