Xuanzang (fictional character)
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Template:Seealso The fictional character Xuanzang (玄奘, WG: Hsüan-tsang), a central character of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, is partly modelled after the historical Tang dynasty Buddhist monk of the same name, whose life was the book's inspiration; the real Xuanzang made a perilous journey on foot from China to India (and back again)to obtain Buddhist Sutras.
In the story, he is constantly terrorized by monsters and demons, because of a legend that stated that immortality could be obtained by dining on his flesh. While he is a pacifist, who has no fighting ability of his own, he is flanked by his three powerful disciples Sūn Wùkōng, Zhū Bājiè, and Shā Wùjìng, themselves "monsters" who have vowed to protect him on his journey in order to atone for their sins in Heaven; while the heavenly origins of Sūn Wùkōng are up for debate, both Zhū Bājiè and Shā Wùjìng (and even the White Horse on which Xuanzang rides) were once minor deities in Heaven who were cast to earth for their wrongdoings.
For most of Journey to the West, he bears the nickname Sānzàng (三藏 San-tsang), a play on words connecting his real name to the "three baskets" of the Pali canon ("sānzàng" in Chinese). In some English translations, the nickname is rendered as Tripitaka ("tripitaka" is the original Sanskrit term for "sanzang"), thus losing the pun. He is also commonly referred to as Tángsēng (唐僧; Monk of Tang), a courtesy name that reflects his relationship with the emperor.
In recent years, a mural on the wall of a mountain pass on the way to the China/India border was discovered that is purported to show the real Xuanzang flanked by a small hairy man that some scholars have theorized might have been the insipration for the character of the Monkey King.
Xuanzang is occasionally mistaken for Ksitigarbha, a bodhisattva, due the fact that Ksitigarbha is often portrayed with the robes and staff of a monk.