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Journey to the West is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels and the pinnacle of fantasy fiction. Following Tang Sanzang and his disciples on their westward pilgrimage to fetch the scriptures and through the eighty-one trials, it uses Sun Wukong's subduing of demons and the growth of the four pilgrims to create a long and extraordinary novel that blends myth, satire and the allegory of cultivation — both a lively demon-quelling adventure and a journey of self-cultivation in which 'the mind-monkey and the will-horse are ultimately brought to the right path'.
It is generally believed that Journey to the West was written in the Ming dynasty, with the author usually credited as Wu Cheng'en (c. 1500–1582). Its story has a long history, evolving from the historical journey of the Tang dynasty monk Xuanzang to seek scriptures in the West, through the Song dynasty's The Poetry Tale of the Journey to the West of the Great Tang Sanzang, and then through Yuan dynasty drama and story-telling texts on the Journey to the West, before finally taking shape in the Ming dynasty as a one-hundred-chapter novel. The earliest extant complete edition is the Jinling Shidetang edition from the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty ('Newly engraved, illustrated, official-board large-character Journey to the West'), comprising one hundred chapters.
This section's chapter titles follow the standard edition (People's Literature Publishing House edition, Shidetang system). The passage 'Chen Guangrui goes to take office and meets disaster' is an appendix added in a Qing-dynasty edited version; the Shidetang system does not count it as Chapter Nine, so Chapter Nine in this table is 'Yuan Shoucheng's marvellous calculations, without self-interest; the Old Dragon King foolishly violates the Heavenly Law'. Once the full text has been imported, the reading page will use the original text of the imported version as the reference.
On Flower-Fruit Mountain, a stone monkey was born from a magical stone, learnt seventy-two transformations and the somersault cloud, and was pressed under Five-Element Mountain by Tathāgata for causing havoc in Heaven for five hundred years. Meanwhile, Tathāgata created the Tripiṭaka scriptures and intended them to be passed to the Eastern Lands, dispatching Guanyin to seek the scripture pilgrim. Because of the Jing River Dragon King case, Emperor Taizong of Tang fell ill and visited the underworld; after returning to life, he held a Water-Land Assembly. Xuanzang received the order to travel west — one "myth" (Wukong's chaos in Heaven) and one "reality" (the Tang Emperor's wish for the scriptures) converged beneath Five-Element Mountain, and the long road to the scriptures thus began.
The book can roughly be divided into three sections:
1. Havoc in Heaven (Chapters 1–7) — the stone monkey's birth, learning the arts, taking treasure from the Dragon Palace, and wreaking havoc in Heaven, until he is pressed beneath Five-Elements Mountain by the Buddha, shaping Sun Wukong as a rebellious and vivid hero.
2. The origins of the pilgrimage and the gathering of the sworn brotherhood (Chapters 8–22) — Guanyin searches for the chosen one, the Tang Emperor visits the underworld, Xuanzang leaves the frontier, and along the way Sun Wukong, White Dragon Horse, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing are recruited, until the five members of the pilgrimage team are assembled.
3. The Eighty-One Trials (Chapters 23–100) — the master and disciples journey west, enduring the White Bone Demon three times, Red Boy, the Kingdom of Chechi, Flaming Mountains, the true and false Monkey Kings, Lion-Camel Ridge, and a series of other ordeals, finally reaching Spirit Mountain and obtaining the true scriptures.
The master and disciple reached Spirit Mountain, shed their mortal bodies at Lingyun Ferry, paid homage to the Tathagata and obtained the scripture in written form. On the return journey, the old giant turtle at the Tongtian River sank the scriptures, completing the final ordeal, and the eighty-one ordeals were thus fulfilled. After the true scriptures were delivered back to the Eastern Lands, the Eight Vajras led the five pilgrims back to Spirit Mountain for their investiture: Tang Sanzang became Brahma Heaven Merit Buddha, Sun Wukong became Victorious Fighting Buddha, Zhu Bajie became the Pure Altar Envoy, Sha Wujing became Golden Body Arhat, and the White Dragon Horse became the Eight Departments Heavenly Dragon. The quest for the scriptures was accomplished, and the Five Saints attained true fruition.
Journey to the West is outwardly a fantasy adventure of subduing demons, yet it carries multiple layers of meaning: using 'mind-monkey' (Wukong) and 'will-horse' (the White Dragon Horse) as metaphors, it depicts a cultivation journey of gathering the mind and overcoming desire; it also offers a sharp satire of worldly power, greed and hypocrisy through the various kingdoms and demons encountered along the pilgrimage.
For readers encountering it for the first time, it can be approached from three angles: as a fantastical adventure classic full of imagination, as a coming-of-age story that turns the four pilgrims into vivid character types, and as a spiritual allegory about 'seeing one's true nature and illuminating the mind'. It is recommended to begin with Chapters 1 to 7, the havoc in Heaven, to get to know Wukong, and then read the pilgrimage route chapter by chapter in sequence.