Journey to the West 西遊記, the 16th century Chinese novel undoubtedly is a popular literary work. Have been exposed to the adventures of the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang and his disciples as they travelled to India to obtain Buddhist sutras since a kid through comics and movies. It was only recently when watching the old 1986 Chinese TV series that I realised that the actions of the Buddhist characters aren't very Buddhist. The basic Buddhist Five precepts were broken every now and then. Recalling the precepts, Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures., Adinnadana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami I undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not given, Kamesu micchacara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct, Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami I undertake the precept to refrain from incorrect speech, Suramerayamajja pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness; there were instances where the first, second and fifth precepts were broken. When starting on the journey, the monk's disciple Sun Wukong drank to celebrate and there were instances when he killed, lied and stole. The other disciple Zhu Bajie seemed to be forever lusty and would have broken the third precept at any given opportunity and thr monk himself wasn't without flaw. A monk is not supposed to eat after noon but I think he ate whenever he was hungry. Journey to the West by the way, has strong roots in not just Buddhist theology but also in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology, Confucianism and Taoism.
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