Ethan Block

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Zhang, Jing

Area of Concentration

Chinese Language and Literature

Abstract

Known as one of the four Chinese Masterworks, the novel Journey to the West has been widely discussed by classic and modern literati since its Publication in the 16th century. The novel, which tells a fictionalized version of the historic monk Xuanzang's journey to India to retrieve Buddhist texts, contains a synthesis of Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist ideologies within its main story; inciting debate on the story's "true meaning". While the novel is based on the Monk's journey, its true focus is on another character, The Monkey King: Sun Wukong. A monkey who sought immortality and has rebelled against heaven, he travels with Xuanzang and two other monks in order to retrieve the Buddhist sutras. The nature of this journey is not only to bring back these texts, but it is also one of growth and self-cultivation for the Monkey King. From his rebellious beginnings as "The Great Sage Equal to Heaven" to a self-cultivated gentleman, this thesis utilizes elements of Confucian morality in the novel and examines Monkey's growth along a Confucian path that particularly demonstrates the late Ming intellectuals' promotion of zhen (sincerity) and qing (emotion/sentiment).

Download

Share

COinS