Wu K'ung, who is a disciple of the Tang Monk. Hsuan Tsangs other disciples are Chu Wu Neng, who is pig-man and Sha Wu Ching.

             who is a water demon. .

             Most scholars agree that The Journey To The West can be divided into these four systematic parts. (In chronological order,) one, the birth of the Sun Wu K'ung, his attainment of magical abilities, his crimes in Heaven and his subdual by Tathagata Buddha. Two, Hsuan Tsang's family background, his birth and his commitment in Journeying to India to obtain Buddhist Scriptures. Three, the.

             actual journey, where Hsuan Tsang adopts first Wu K'ung as a disciple, then adopts the other two later on. This third part is the longest in the book and is full of episodes where the pilgrims encounter people harassed by demons and then practicing exorcism to subdue the demons. Four, the arrival to Tathagata's monastery in India, the obtaining of Buddhist Scriptures and the promoting of.

             the pilgrims. .

             When one takes a first glance at the book, it seems to be a text of great depth and philosophical meaning. The fact that very little profundity is found in the book is what I think drives scholars to make their observations. The book is very straight forward and littered with short poetry verses throughout. We are soon introduced to the main character, the monkey who is born from the embryo of a rock. The book describes the rock as having nine perforations and eight holes to correspond with the nine palaces of heaven and the eight trigrams. I could find absolutely no reason why the rock would have to have markings which correspond with divine symbols and I am sure that the author meant nothing by writing that they do, but apparently, many scholars have written long and tedious essays relating to just the description of the rock. I believe that the author simply wanted to see people ponder over his work and.

             eventually tell them all that it was complete nonsense.