Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Written by Wu Cheng'en in the Ming Dynasty (16th century), it tells the story of the pilgrimage of the monk Tang Sanzang to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures.
Along the way, he is accompanied by three disciples: the irreverent Monkey King Sun Wukong, the lazy pig demon Zhu Bajie, and the devoted sand monk Sha Wujing. Together they face demons, dragons, and gods in a tale that blends adventure, comedy, and spiritual enlightenment.
The story begins with the birth of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. Born from a stone atop the Flower-Fruit Mountain, he gains supernatural powers through Taoist cultivation. After establishing himself as king of the monkeys, he seeks immortality to escape death.
He travels to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits to study under the Patriarch Subodhi, who teaches him the Seventy-Two Transformations and the Cloud-Striding Art. With these powers, he returns to his kingdom and begins to disturb the gods and demons of the underworld.
When the Jade Emperor learns of this troublemaker, he invites the Monkey King to Heaven as a stable attendant. But Sun Wukong, feeling underappreciated, returns to his mountain and declares himself "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven."
The gods are sent to capture him, but he defeats them all. Impressed by his abilities, the Jade Emperor finally appoints him as "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven" — a prestigious but essentially nominal title. However, Sun Wukong grows bored and eventually leaves Heaven once more.
When the蟠桃盛会 (Peach Banquet) is announced, Sun Wukong disguises himself and infiltrates the banquet, where he eats the peaches, drinks the immortality wine, and steals the golden circlet — the only relic that can control him.
Furious, the Jade Emperor sends the entire army of Heaven against him. Even Erlang Shen and the Heavenly armies cannot defeat the Monkey King. In the end, the Buddha himself intervenes, trapping Sun Wukong under a mountain for five hundred years.
Here he remains until the Bodhisattva Guanyin passes by and tells him he will be freed to protect the monk Tang Sanzang on a pilgrimage to the West. Thus begins the great journey.
This text uses Arthur Waley's 1942 translation, which was the first complete English translation and remains the most widely read. While later translations are more faithful to the original Chinese, Waley's version captures the spirit and adventure of the original.