Journey to the West - Research Paper Example

?Journey to the west Journey to the west Introduction The novel, journey to the west, is a fictionalized tale of the pilgrimage reallife of the Buddhist monk called Xuan Zang and the journey he made to India. This is during the Tang dynasty to acquire Buddhist religious texts. From the introduction of this novel, Buddha surveys the land but what he only sees is sin, greed, hedonism and violence. He therefore instructs a Bodhisattva called Guan Yin to look for somebody who is holly and worthy for the duty of traveling to India. The aim of going to India is to come back with the Buddha’s sutras meant for translation into Chinese. Guan Yin goes on searching Tang dynasty china and gets Xuan Zang. He also found three others who were willing to assist Xuan Zang so as to atone for their sins and those of a dragon prince known as Yu-Lung. Yu-Lung appears in the form of a white horse. Women and religion The novel brings to our attention the existence of Guan Yin, a Chinese goddess who among other things synthesizes Buddhist, Confucian, Daoist and the Chinese indigenous shamanic elements. According to the novel China was first introduced to Buddhism in the era of Han dynasty. First Guan Yin appeared as a male (avalokiteshvara) as a monk with mustache though thin (Yu, 1984). After some years Guan Yin transformed into a woman. She became a very famous feminine Guan Yin in the whole of China. Among other reasons Guan Yin gained her popularity from spiritual or religious reasons. From all Buddhist deities who were imported, Guan Yin was the sole gainer of genuine Chinese figure. Guan Yin, the Chinese goddess, assisted in the removal of women’s supposed pollution that related to reproduction. This was contrary to the ancient Confucian thoughts about women who were seen as inferior and polluted. According to “Journey to the West”, the Chinese Buddhists, bodhisattvas and Buddha did not only exist in the spiritual world. They were not taken as the pictures on alters or statues in the temple. The Buddhists deities are regarded universal and are “present” in the daily lives of common people and put emphasize on individual salvation. Guan Yin being physical is the first Chinese deity to have left heaven and appeared with saving during crisis (Kristeva, 2000) Women can perform miracles; this is evident from the accounts of Guan Yin miracles and divine powers. Women are seen participating in various religious ceremonies. This can be cited from nuns’ participation in singing “praising incense,” in the temple during the pilgrimage festivals in China. Women too can be seen as religious as they participate in prayers during the pilgrimage festivals. During the pilgrimage festivals it is said that people could call out the name of Guan Yin and immediately their prayers could be answered. Guan Yin being a woman shows that women can be senior religious leaders and perform miracles just as male religious leaders do today. In the novel, Guan Yin plays an important role in the tale. She is first sent to China by Buddha to get a suitable messenger who could come and get Dharma. She picks Monkey, which is a symbol of ego, who struggles his way out with several monsters or shadow beasts. The Journey to the West is a trip from China to India aimed at getting Dharma in sutras back to China. This is also called “Tripitaka” a monk’s honorary title (Yu, 1984). Guan Yin appears gracious and converts every one- pigsy, sandy and dragon. She forgives their sins and promises them to behave and help them along the journey. This episode displays women as people who can easily forgive and convert others to their religion. If Guan Yin managed to convert pigsy, sandy and dragon to be her disciples, then it shows that she had power to convince. Basing on the characters and backgrounds of the three it was not an easy task to make disciples out of the three. Guan Yin tries to tame the balance for the traditional role of women. Women were taken as subservient and their relegation to an impure task in life because of their reproductive function. Women were then advised that they could only escape hell by being born again as a man. The women were then to detest their bodies. Guan Yin stands up boldly to end this repression. In the novel, those women who rebelled against women’s subordinate position in families as demanded by Confucian filial piety, by even seeking to be nuns, had to sacrifice their own flesh for the sake of their family members (Yu, 1984). She is seen as a savior to Buddhist because she tries to put an end to these acts of women repression. This shows that women had no choice of their own in religious matters. The decisions they made were to be subordinate. They were to follow the way of the male counter parts. Those who wanted to be nuns could not because the Confucian faith did not subscribe to such. As such they had to give in to the faith of their male family members. Self sacrifice with a slice of flesh was very common with ancient China. This saw girls sacrifice their flesh for the sake of their parents. Guan’s actions are a symbol of women religious liberation. This therefore shows that women now have right to make a choice on which faith to follow. Yin being a symbol of women in the novel is seen as a positive cosmic force regarding women according to Daoism. Confucian suppresses women and sees them as polluted (Cheng’en, 2009). They prefer a son carrying on a family name both social and spiritual as compared to girls. This is contrary to Yin as she advocates for the balance between men and women. Such forces as displayed by Yin have brought to recognition of women in both social and religious gatherings. Women can now take on the roles or name of family and carry it on. In male dominated Han dynasty, the rulers and their official heavenly gods sidelined the goddesses and subordinate women. Despite the women’s influential roles in the ancient traditions like the queens mother of the west and in Daoism, their needs were unmet. These needs were filled by Guan Yin. Yin advocated for a fair representation and participation of women together with their female counter parts. She wanted women to hold key or roles in the religious field. She wishes all things be as illustrated by Daoism which depicts a daoist goddess who refuses to get married and develops her spirituality to the position of influencing nature (McElwain, 2002). She uses her power to rescue her father and brothers. Religiously she is opposed to the fact of women being subordinates and being sidelined by the men. Taking the case of queen mother of the west and the daoist goddess women religiously are depicted as being compassionate and loving. They have a caring universal heart. Like the daoist goddess secured her brothers and father without restricting herself to gender is the same way religious women behave. This is contrary to the men illustrated as seeing women to be their subordinates even in religious matters. Guan Yin, a feminine symbol in novel, met the personal and much inclusive needs of both men and women of all classes. Goddesses could not give an assurance to political empowerment even though they were religious leaders. This was a duty of the gods (men). Providing comfort, spiritual guidance, amelioration of patriarchal authority are the roles that were preserved for goddesses (Morton, et al. 2004). These statements shows that women before could only perform support roles and those that were very powerful. Thus in religious gathering, matters with the authority of the land was attended on by the gods. This continues to show that women had been given the second place in the society including the religion. Guan Yin comes with advocacy of balance between the gods and goddesses. It can also illustrate that women are better placed with some roles such as guidance and offering comfort. It is naturally true that women can offer such services but it should be assumed that those are the only duties they can perform. Such roles should only be viewed as preferences and not as subjective roles in that everywhere goddesses are the ones guiding and or comforting individuals. The women were freed from the ancient oppression by the Maoist revolution. Guan Yin being a symbol of women in the novel is seen as kind and merciful. It is true that women religious women tend to more kind and merciful than men. Such positive characters made Chinese spirituality to spread across Asia. Women now have access to divine power. This empowerment has made women to enhance religion than even male. This is because they feel proud (ego strength) and therefore they can spread the word without fear of intimidation (Yu, 1984). Women as represented by Guan are now free from shadow projections. Women being seen as polluted is over and therefore can hold any position in the religious field. As opposed to the former where their perceived nature of being polluted barred them from holding major responsibilities is now over. Earlier, women were not allowed to stand on alters as they were perceived as polluted. Women in the novel stand the highest chance to convert many people into their religion. With the characteristics of kindness, and having a soft heart, a heart to forgive can move crowds. Just like Guan converted his three disciples is the same way women are viewed (McElwain, 2002). They can squeeze water from a stone because they have the power to listen and understand others. Being concerned for others also makes women more religious than male counterparts. In the novel, queen mother of heaven, women with religious powers do not act physically. Just like queens’ mother of heaven called Buddha up to deal with Monkey who had stormed into her territory is the same way women will deal with issues. This is contrary to the male counterparts who will not have the patience to watch things go wrong in their presence. They otherwise will go physical. Patience is the virtue that women posses that is very vital in religious matters. Some women believe that they can become religious or their spirituality can be improved by association. Like the white skeleton demon who thinks that by eating Tripika’s flesh can achieve immortality is the same way some women fear taking up religious roles and try to be close to the people who are very spiritual like their husbands (Morton, et al. 2004). The women therefore have to take up the roles instead take up religious roles by the horns. Like the spider woman, some women pretend to be holy or spiritually good but they try to seduce those in the congregation. If the other party is not strong enough he or she ends up a victim. The women will traverse all places like a spider trying to attract others. Women in religion therefore have to avoid going as a parasites. Just like the women in “Journey to the West”, there are similar religious believes and practices that were expected from the Chinese women. For instance, In Shun-te, older girls were fond of visiting religious establishments and temples. They also attended theatrical performances in the village. The women from His-ch’iao showed their independence by attending to the theatrical performances in masses (Morton, et al. 2004). The theatrical performances were associated with several religious festivals. In their religious believes, men and women were held equal before their gods. In addition one of the sects was held responsible by women. Conclusion In conclusion, women have been associated with religious stereotypes in China. This is depicted in “Journey to the West” which elucidates tales, superstitions and popular beliefs among the Chinese. The book has centered on the three religious themes of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Thus, this is a supernatural novel which features gods in the form of women threaten the supremacy. References Cheng’en, W. (2009). Monkey-journey to the west. Shanghai, S: monkey king. Kristeva, J. (2000). About Chinese women. Shanghai, S: Marion Boyars publishers. McElwain, C. (2002). The monkey king (the Journey West). New York, NY: University of Chicago. Morton, S et al. (2004). China: Its history and culture. Cambridge, C: McGraw-Hill. Yu, A. (1984). The Journey to the West, volume 4. New York, NY: university of Chicago press. Read More