Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s3.t4.8

v2.c10.s3.t4.8

By way of characters, it has four protagonists, all Buddhists. Xuanzang is an authentic historic figure. The origin of the image of Sun Wukong has been disputed. Someone tends to attribute it to Hanuman in the Indian epic *Ramayana*, while others think him as nothing but a China-specific product. His image might not have come out of Hanuman directly, but must have been influenced by monkey tales in Buddhist texts. Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, as scholars have demonstrated, also evolve from Buddhist stories. There are figures borrowed from Buddhist scriptures, for example, Buddha and Bodhisattva, Subhuti who is a disciple of the Buddha but in the book becomes an immortal Daoist, and the Pagoda-wielding Heavenly King and Nezha, who should have been Vaisramana and his son etc.