Reading Club: Journey to the West

As the pilgrims continue their journey westward, they arrive at a Taoist temple at nightfall. Tang Sanzang, choosing to seek lodging himself, is unexpectedly met with rejection and harsh judgment. The temple’s abbot, judging by appearance alone, dismisses him as a mere wandering monk, unworthy of respect or shelter. Behind this reaction lies a past experience: The abbot had once shown kindness to a group of monks, only to be repaid with misconduct and trouble. Now, that past has shaped his present judgment.

🌱 Session Focus:
In this session, we explore:

• How past experiences shape prejudice and stereotypes
• How the genuine is often mistaken because of the false
• And how we ourselves may unknowingly judge others through inherited impressions

Key Questions for contemplation:

"But why is the journey to the Western Heaven so hard, disciple?" asked Sanzang. "As I recall I have been through four or five years of springs, summers, autumns and winters since leaving the city of Chang'an. Why haven't I got there yet?"
The question made Monkey chuckle: "It's early yet. We're not even out of the front door."
"Stop lying, brother," said Pig. "There's no such front door on earth.”
"But we're still wandering around in the hall," said Monkey.
"Don't try to intimidate us by talking so big," said Friar Sand. "There couldn't possibly be a hall as large as this: there's nowhere you could buy roof−beams big enough."
"If you look at it my way, brother," said Monkey, "the blue sky is the roof tiles, the sun and the moon are the windows, and the Four Mountains and Five Peaks are the pillars and beams. Heaven and earth are just like a big hall."
Q1: The question “How far are we from the West?” appears again and again.

• How do you understand Sun Wukong’s response that “we are not even out of the front door”?
• What might the “front door” symbolize?
• And what about his remark that “we are still wandering in the hall”?
• What does the “hall” represent?
• What does this reveal about Wukong’s realm-of-mind and understanding of the journey?

"Master," asked Monkey, "what monastery is this?"
"It's most unreasonable to ask that," Sanzang replied, "when my horse has only this moment stopped and I haven't even had the time to take my foot out of the stirrup.”
"But you've been a monk since childhood, venerable sir," said Monkey. "You were taught Confucian books before you studied the sutras and the dharma. You're very widely educated and on top of that you've been shown great kindness by the Tang Emperor. So how come you can't read those great big letters over the gate?"
"You stupid macaque," cursed the venerable elder, "you don't know what you're talking about. I was urging my horse Westwards and had the sun in my eyes. Besides, the letters are hidden by the dust. That's why I didn't see them.”
Q2: What do you observe in the interaction between Wukong and Sanzang in this exchange?
Is there tension, humor, or subtle correction?
What does this reveal about their evolving relationship?

Monkey asked the master which of them was to go into the monastery to ask for lodging.
"I will," said Sanzang. "You are all so ugly, coarsely spoken, abrasive and overbearing that you might give the monks here such a fright that they refused to shelter us. That would be no good."
"In that case, Master," replied Monkey, "enough said. Please go in."
Q3: When Sanzang insists on going alone, he describes his disciples as “ugly, abrasive, and overbearing.”

• What do you observe in Sanzang’s perception of his own disciples?
• Is this practicality, bias, or attachment to form?
• How might this reflect his own limitations at this stage?

Sanzang, who was leaning against the gateway, was bareheaded and wearing a monastic habit made of twenty−five strips of cloth and a pair of dirty, water−stained Bodhidharma sandals. At the sight of him the abbot said to the lay brother, "Don't you realize that I hold high office in this monastery and only receive the gentry who come from town to burn incense here? How could you be so empty−headed as to ask me to receive a monk like that? Just look at his face. You can see he isn't honest. He's probably a wandering mendicant monk asking for lodging here because it's late. Our lodgings are not to be disturbed by the likes of him. He can spend the night squatting under the eaves. Why tell me about him?" With that he turned and walked away.
Q4: What do you read in the abbot’s words and behavior toward Sanzang?
What assumptions is he making?
What social realities does this scene reflect and how do they appear in our modern world?

The Master walked in through the gate to the abbot's lodgings, where he saw the abbot sitting with his outer clothes off and seething with fury. Sanzang did not know from the pile of paper on his table whether he was reading scripture or writing out Buddhist pardons for somebody.
Not venturing to go any further in, Sanzang stood in the courtyard, bowed, and called aloud, "My lord abbot, your disciple pays his respects."
The monk, apparently very irritated that he had come in, barely acknowledged his greeting and asked, "Where are you from?”
Q5: Sanzang, who has often been received with honor, now humbles himself and endures disrespect for a night’s lodging.

• Why does he choose to respond this way?
• What does this moment reveal about true humility?

The abbot replied, "There's an old saying that goes,
When the tiger came to town,
Every household shut its door.
Although he'd bitten no one yet,
Tiger's name was bad before."
"What do you mean, 'Tiger's name was bad before?'" asked Sanzang.
"Some years ago," the other replied, "a group of itinerant monks came and sat down at our gates. Seeing how wretched they were−−their clothes all torn, barefoot and bareheaded−−I was sorry for them being so ragged. So I asked them into my quarters, gave them the best places to sit, provided them with a meal, lent each of them an old habit, and let them stay for a few days. Little did I imagine that the free food and the free clothing would put all thought of leaving out of their minds. They stayed for seven or eight years. Staying wasn't so bad, but it was all the terrible things they did.”
Q6: How do you understand his reasoning?
How is a genuine practitioner like Sanzang tarnished by the actions of false ones?
Can you think of similar situations in real life?
How would you act when falling into the same pattern of judgment?