#Xuan Zang

[dragalialife]

#425: A Heartpounding Chase

[the-monkey-ruler]

Back in Ming dynasty, were all characters given some kind of backstory or is that a JTTW thing?

If you mean all the characters in the novel then yes most of the gods and even several demons were already established in Buddhist lore and Chinese folklore long before the novel and they make more cameo appearances within the books. Not all the demons were created before the book but there are certainly inspiration from real mythos in their creation. I do a little backstory for the demons here if you wanna check it out.

As for the main five that is a bit more tricky. Sanzang of course if based on Xuanzang the real-life Tang Monk.

The earliest mentions of Sun Wukong are from The Story of How Tripitaka of the Great Tang Procures the Scriptures in late-13th-century CE so that would be right in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. But of course, you could consider how Wukong is inspired by both Hanuman who rose around the second millennium CE and Wuzhiqi whose tale is around the Tang and Song Dynasty. Different monkeys for sure but he is inspired by these legends in his final creation.

Bajie was really made in the Zaju play early Ming dynasty (14 to 15th-century) where he was shown to be a demon in a similar form and part of the group. However, I had read that his inspiration go as far back as the Jin Dynasty. They say his origin may lie with the story "猪臂金铃" by Gan Bao in Jin Dynasty. Or that he was inspired by He Bo Feng Yi, because the prototype of Feng Yi is a pig. Wu Zimu's "Meng Liang Lu" mentioned that "Tianpeng" was originally a Taoist fairy official. Some people also think that the prototype of Zhu Bajie comes from Indian Buddhist scriptures, as Chen Yinke said. There is a portrait of "Pig Head Bodhisattva" in the Thousand Buddha Caves in Kizil, Xinjiang, excavated in the early Tang Dynasty. He is called "Marizhitian" in Buddhist scriptures.

As for Wujing he was actaully written in Xuanzang's historical biography from the 7th-century as a complacent water spirit. He was an established character even before Bajie and Wukong but receives the least amount of attention sadly enough. Some scholars believe that he might have been inspired from the image of the deep sand god of Esoteric Buddhism from "The Poetry of the Tripitaka of the Tang Dynasty" as Shensha. Shensha God exists as an authentic Buddhist god however, in the scriptures translated by Zhu Tanwulan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Shensha and Fuqiu existed as evil spirits, rather than Dharma protectors.

As for Bailong he was created for the novel itself but there is a long history of how heavenly horses and even dragons were before his creation. In the Zaju play Bailong was actually a Fire Dragon Horse. I have to thank @ryin-silverfish for this information that according to 西游故事跨文本研究 Bailong's origin could be traced to a tale about an actual horse in the aforementioned biography of Xuanzang. The unnamed skinny old horse was gifted to Xuanzang by an elderly foreign man, who was an experienced traveler of the western roads. Later, when Xuanzang had lost his way in the desert and was about to die of thirst, the horse took a different road of its own accord and saved the day by bringing him to an oasis. Because the said horse was red in color and why the Dragon Horse was often called a Fire Dragon Horse in later Baojuan and Zaju plays, and this was changed to white because of the keystone imagery in the legends of Buddhism's spread to China "white horse carrying the scriptures" (白马驮经).

Hope that helps!

[thistransient]

日月潭玄奘寺

[trickster-whim]

My Bird Cube/Niao Fang Xuan Zang head got here a couple days back, and I'm so excited! As soon as I saw this head (I think on Dollection; that's where I ended up buying him), I was in love. One thing I love about bjds is the diversity of sculpts; if you want conventionally, magazine attractive, you can find a ton, but there are also a lot of less-common faces you can find, such as people with pretty realistic damage to their faces. I just gotta say, Xuan Zang is just stunningly beautiful.

Of course, just around the time I saw him, I was writing some of my hundreds of DA ocs, including one who has facial scars like this, and I am weak. So I snapped him up immediately to make into Gethon, ex-soldier and current tea-salesman, and waited very impatiently for him to ship.

I wish I had more free cash to get more of these heads because come on. I debated making him a Fallout ghoul because I have no end of ocs, but I already have a few Fallout bjds, and I like Gethon. I'm rambling.

I have a couple 1/3 bjd bodies, and the first one I tried was a 5stardoll Large Boy (I bought it secondhand on resin marketplace, and I don't remember all the deets lol). It's a bit too big, but I kinda like it, aesthetically. It does weigh a million tons though, so when I saw that there was a Doll in Mind Arno on eBay with papers, I bid on that. Currently, my Xuan Zang is mostly-painted (not super well...) on the DiM body, which looks too small because now I'm used to the 5SD. He's also wearing a cut-up Taeyang Cowardly Lion wig, but I don't have a lot of clothes in this size, so I'm going to have to make something. At some point.

I just love this sculpt <3

[staydandy]

Adventure Behind the Bronze Door (2024) - 藏海花 - Whump List

List by StayDandy Synopsis : Five years after Wu Xie's last adventure his peaceful life is interrupted again. Wu Xie and Wang Pangzi set off on an journey to the snowy mountains to uncover the mystery behind Zhang Qiling's origins. Along the way Wu Xie realizes that the path of clues he's been following was not accidental but it was planned by someone. Wu Xie and Pangzi find out more about Zhang Qi Ling's background, but they get caught up in a conspiracy unlike anything they've ever encountered. (MDL) AKA : Tibetan Sea Flower

Whumpees : Wu Xie played by Edward Zhang (top left) • Zhang Qi Ling played by Zhang Kang Le (top right) • Wang Pang Zi played by Chen Ming Hao (bottom far right) • Young Wu Xie played by Xu Zhen Xuan (not pictured)

Country : 🇨🇳 China Genres : Action, Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Bromance

Notes : This is a Full Whump List • Adapted from the novel "Zang Hai Hua" (藏海花) by Kennedy Xu (南派三叔) • Chen Ming Hao is another great Pangzi! First seen (as far as release date goes) in Tomb of the Sea, and they don't recast him and use the same actor for the rest of the Lost Tomb shows (the 2 Reunions, and Bronze Door) • My favorite episodes are pink • Suggested watch order of series (not including movies & spin-offs) : – 1. Mystic Nine (2016) – 2. The Lost Tomb (2015) – 3. The Lost Tomb 2: Wrath of the Sea (2019) – 4. The Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note (2021) – 5. The Lost Tomb 3: Ultimate Note (2020) >> 6. Adventure Behind the Bronze Door (2024) – 7. Tomb of the Sea (2018) – 8. Reunion: Sound of the Providence (2020) – 9. Reunion: Sound of the Providence 2 (2020)

Related Lists : The Lost Tomb (2015) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 2: Wrath of the Sea (2019) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 2: Explore With the Note (2021) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 3: Ultimate Note (2020) - Full List

Episodes on List : 21 Total Episodes : 32

*Spoilers below*

01 : [memory/dream] Zhang Qi Ling fight … bleeding, unconscious, (young) Wu Xie hallucinating … [present] wakes from nightmare … [flashback] knocked out

03 : [flashback] Zhang Qi Ling tied up

04 : [present] Wu Xie doppelganger hit with slingshot stone.. both Wu Xie's tied up.. doppelganger hit again.. back of Wu Xie's neck cut, passes out

05 : … continued from previous ep. ... Revealed not cut, just tricked into thinking so with local anesthetic … shoulder squeezed … (@ 21:43 I seriously love the friendship of these 2 😆) … Wang Pang Zi head grazed by a bullet, bleeding and knocked dizzy for a moment

06 : Wu Xie's hand bit by insects, cuts his own hand, Pang Zi attacked & bit by the insects .. Wu Xie unsteady, Pang Zi dizzy from insect poison.. Wu Xie & Pang Zi freezing, Wu Xie shivering, Pang Zi passes out … revealed that Wu Xie & Pang Zi were stuck in an hallucination that entire time

09 : [past] Zhang Qi Ling cuts his hand … [present] Pang Zi drunk (pretending) … hallucinating (semi-comedic)

10 : [past] Zhang Qi Ling drinks a poison, passes out, entombed alive … pain

13 : [present] Wu Xie's vision blurs

14 : Pang Zi's arm grazed by bullet.. Wu Xie's finger cut by a wire.. Wu Xie & Pang Zi briefly knocked out … Wu Xie falls into a crevasse, briefly knocked out

15 : Knocked out by an explosion (not really shown), wakes in hospital, bandaged, unsteady, confused, rips out IV.. Pang Zi hospitalized, oxygen mask, comatose … revealed to all be Wu Xie's hallucination (starting from the attack/explosion)

16 : Wu Xie & Pang Zi hallucinate

17 : Wu Xie stabbed, collapses.. knocked out … stumbling around, still wounded, bandaging himself … despair, banging his head on the floor … stumbling around, holding his wound

18 : Limping, hallucinating, passes out.. stumbling.. passed out … Pang Zi tied up … Wu Xie (masked as Zhang Qi Ling) knocked to the ground, blown back by an explosion

19 : Coughing from corrosive gas, lying about current state, collapses from compound wounds, stumbling & unsteady, collapses, tossed & knocked out briefly by an explosion.. helped to walk.. collapses, coughing, passes out … (@ 17:23 legit made me cry) … wakes, coughing

21 : (near end) Hallucinating

24 : Cuts his own hand, forces his hand to bleed until he passes out.. wakes with his hand bandaged, Pang Zi's hand also bandaged after cutting it (not shown) … Wu Xie tied up, leg cut.. bandaged.. choked, blown back by an explosion

25 : Hits himself in the face with a rock to knock out a tooth (semi-comedic) … arm dislocated.. nearly falls down a crevasse, blown back by an explosion … arm set.. Wu Xie & Pang Zi fall down a crevasse

26 : Wu Xie in a fight.. scratched by monster & bleeding (faking)

27 : Blown back by an explosion

28 : Giant explosion, Wu Xie & Pang Zi injured (kinda hard to tell what's going on).. Wu Xie wakes, Pang Zi bandaged; neck brace & broken leg

29 : Injured by an explosion

[jaudolls]

A much anticipated arrival today! It's a Xuan Zang head from Birdcube. I'd fallen in love seeing pictures even before the preorder, and I'm so glad my partner was able to snatch one for me!

It is such a beautiful sculpt, I'm really in love🥰

I'm not fully sure how to customise him yet, but i do have a precise character in mind (just... One for whom I don't really have a precise design yet, aside from the scarred face)

More photos under cut, including closeup + trying it on various body I have at home

Head alone / with its mask

Body 1: Peakswood 68cm body, normal resin. Not the best colour match, and I'm not fond of how wide the shoulders look

Body 2: resinsoul Yang 70cm body, normal resin. The match is a little off (resinsoul is paler) but it doesn't look bad.

Body 3: telesthesia 69cm female body, normal pink. The colour match is near perfect. The overall look isn't bad I'd say (I'd have put the head on a female body if my initial plan didn't work, so I had to try this)

Body 4: telesthesia 68cm old male body, normal pink. Again, near perfect color match. The proportions are also very good I think. If I weren't determined to be a little weirdo about this, it's the body I'd pick (especially since very few bodies in that scale appeal to me personally)

Body 5: resinsoul Cen 60cm body in tan. And listen. Obviously the resin isn't the right color here. And the head's hole is too big for the neck so I had to put some silicone rings to make this work. But this is probably the body I'll order (in the right color)

Definitely not the body I'd recommend for this head, but I am an idiot and while I'd have compromised if it really didn't work, I also really want this man to be the same size as his boyfriend, who is a resinsoul Qian

[ryin-silverfish]

Chapter 18: What a Swine!

-A few pages into the chapter, and I found the first hook to go on a giant tangent: according to Gao Cai, Gao Village is located in the Kingdom of Qoco. I have no idea why Yu translated it as such, since the original Chinese name——Wusi Zang(乌斯藏, a transliteration of dbus gtsang) sounds nothing like that, but in short, it's the Ming dynasty name for Tibet.

-However, a quick glance at this map would show you that the real Xuanzang didn't cross Tibet during his journey; rather, he went the long way around the Himalayas, travelling on the Central Asian Silk Road. In the Ming dynasty, if you wanna go to India, you could actually take the route through the Himalayas and Nepal, but it wasn't there in the Tang dynasty (because there were a couple of hostile kingdoms in the way; Tuyuhun, Tubo, etc.)

-Sidenote, I absolutely love how JTTW '86 adapted this chapter, with SWK getting his flirt on and the legendary "Pigsy Carrying His Bride" sequence that had made its way into many subsequence adaptations.

-JTTW Research had written pretty comprehensively about Pigsy's origins, from the Daoist deity Marshal Canopy to his ties with Marici, an import deity with a boar mount who's also associated with the Dipper Constellation. As such, I only had one tidbit to add about possible inspirations for his character in folklore that predated the above.

-The earliest tale about a lusty pig demon could be found in the Tang dynasty Xuan Guai Lu(玄怪录). Guo Yuanzhen, a historical general during the reign of Gaozong and Wu Zetian, came across a mansion in his youth during travel. The whole place was lavishly decorated, as if preparing for a wedding banquet, but eeriely empty save for one crying woman.

-Turned out, she was the unwitting soon-to-be bride of a god called "General Wu"(乌将军), who demanded a beauty as his wife every year from the locals, and because they would pay a hefty sum to "buy" said bride, her own father sold her out to be this year's sacrifice. Furious, Guo disguised himself as a guest, pretended to offer General Wu some venison, then cut off his hand with the meat knife.

-Wounded, the General fled, and his severed limb turned into a pig's hoof once the sun came out. Soon, the bride's family and village elders came to the manor, ready to collect her body for the funeral, and were so freaked out by what Guo did that they were ready to sacrifice him to General Wu too, since the "god" was known to summon storm and hails whenever he didn't get his bride.

-Guo scolded them for being so damn guillible because no real gods would demand human sacrifices or, y'know, have pig hooves as hands, before gathering the young men of the villages and following the trail of blood to the pig demon's abode, where they proceeded to smoke it out and kill it with an assortment of arrows and farming tools.

-The woman, after calling out her terrible parents, pledged herself to Guo and became one of his wives, and all was well.

-Honestly, Pigsy's evolution from his folklore origins to JTTW Zaju to JTTW novel seemed to be one in which he became increasingly sympathetic; from basically being a more lusty version of Guanyin's goldfish, to an opportunistic kidnapper who took advantage of a pair of star-crossed lovers' family feud, to an ex-deity turned reformed demon who kinda got screwed over by his in-laws.

-Final note: Pigsy bragged that even if they could get the "Monster-Routing Patriarch" to come down from the Nine Heaven and exorcise him, he could still claim to be an old buddy of the guy. Which…wasn't wrong, considering that "Monster-Routing Patriarch" was the title of Emperor Zhenwu, Lord of the North, who was worshipped alongside Marshal Canopy as one of the Four Saints of the North Pole.

@journeythroughjourneytothewest

[jttwaudiodrama]

Tracing the origin of the monk, the monkey and a horse

To give you an idea of how multi-sourced the story of Journey to the West is, this is a Dun Huang cave painting from the Western Xia Regime (A.D.1038-1227) featuring one of the earliest depictions of Xuan Zang heading west accompanied by a monkey-esque creature and a horse.

Check the link below to see the painting in the actual cave:

It is on the upper left edge of the wall that is left to the entrance of the cave.

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[feng-huli]

Blood of Youth Eunuch Tree

I wasn’t sure whether Zang Ming is a eunuch, so I didn’t include him. There is a eunuch in the novel that has a similar role to him when traveling with Prince Bai, and I’m pretty sure Zang Ming in the show is an amalgamation of that eunuch and another character. So… fifty-fifty chance, I suppose.

As for Long Xie, I had figured that he was a eunuch before reading the novel, so I was seriously confused when I read that he had a mustache. However, it not only turned out to be a fake mustache, but also that he’s kinda secretly Jin Xuan’s student.

Also, I have no idea where he would fit on my tree, but if I remember correctly, the guy driving the freshly-exiled Xiao Se’s carriage is actually Xiao Se’s companion eunuch. He wasn’t given a name, at least that I could recall. Amusingly, Bo Yong wished to be Xiao Se’s new companion eunuch, but was kinda left hanging on an answer.

Zhuo Luo and Zhuo Sen are novel-only characters, directors of Records and Sword respectively. Given how Zhuo Xin is sort of in charge of them after Zhuo Qing died, I figured that perhaps Zhuo Xin is the second oldest.

It is mentioned in the novel that Jin Yu was the disciple of the previous eunuch of Records. I’m guessing that means both Zhuo Luo and Zhuo Qing are his masters, since he definitely calls Zhuo Qing shifu, and it also makes sense that he would receive specialized training from Zhuo Luo.

By that logic, Zhuo Sen might be one of Jin Wei’s masters, but I have less evidence of that.

The novel is weirdly silent about the Eunuch of Incense before Jin Xian. I wonder if he died early. The novel already makes a big point about how much responsibility Jin Xian has taken up (with even more duties than is typical for his position), so him having to take his role sooner than the rest would be consistent with that. The streaks of white in his hair could certainly be due to prolonged stress.

[toyherb-42]

Xuan Zang from Dragalia Lost My fave un-optimal babe 😿

[a-chuffed-floating-panda]

Heart sutra (mostly through work notes, red pine and to see what I’ve retained)

NOTE: This is more of a what ‘information is retained post’ (I’ve only read red pines commentary, I’ve ordered Kanzuaki Tanahashi’s book on it as well, but it hasn’t arrived yet.)

I am at a certain point that this is all I think about while I’m at work. I’m a good worker, more often that not, way ahead of schedule on days I work, but then there is this. With no one in the shop, I have a video on low and take notes and end up so engrossed in it that I’m either on schedule or a little behind it😅 this will be a what I retained from reading the commentary, what I understand post, (no deep analysis, I’m not that knowledgeable nor do I feel confident in doing so yet)

Background of the sutra:

So, before the composition of the heart sutra there was the school of the Sarvastivada, who split from the Sthavira nikāya, an ancestor to the Theravada, because of disagreement in doctrinal viewpoint.

The Sarvastivada held to the belief that yes, things were constantly moving and impermanent, there was a fundamental belief that the five skandhas held a permanent essence. [Skandhas: form, sensation, perception, memory, consciousness]

The skandhas, among with other terms the scholars then tried to define after the Buddhas nirvana, were described in the abhidharma as a type/group of dharma’s. In the technical sense. Comparable to atoms.

The abhidharma are a collection of texts and was the result of the scholar monks attempts, after the Buddhas Nirvana, to collect the teachings to have them all in one place, and define the terms he used in his sermons, to then analyse them, categorise them and redefine them to make it easier and more digestible for people to understand. Instead of looking at multiple sutras to learn something, you just look at the abhidharma.

[unimportant side note, I learned that Vasubandhu was a monk of this school before he converted to Mahayana while trying to understand what Abhidharma was]

They believed that the essence of a dharma persisted through time and remained unchanged and permanent. So while they were familiar with the teaching of emptiness, they didn’t believe that the dharma’s, these fundamental beliefs, were completely empty. (S.88)

But then, the teaching of emptiness and texts like the heart sutra began circulating around 400-500 years after the Buddhas nirvana and became more prominent.

No one knows who composed this sutra, other than that they were knowledgeable in the teaching of emptiness. When it was composed is also highly disputed. Some believe that it was translated from Sanskrit, some believe it came with Xuan-zang when he arrived in India where it then was translated into Sanskrit and translated back into Chinese.

Red pine in his commentary believes that it came from China first, translated into Sanskrit and translated back into Chinese from Sanskrit

The earliest appearance of it was a Chinese translation by a monk named Zhi Qian somewhere between 200 and 250 in the common era. (S.18-19) It was then followed by a second version by Kumarajiva another 200 years later. Zhi Qian’s translation of the heart sutra was listed as missing as early as 519 of the common era.

So it’s a very disputed text, and also very mysterious in a way. No one knows who composed it and they don’t know when.

I think I can move onto the sutra now:)

Heart sutra:

This sutra is the shortest and one of the most famous texts in the Mahayana branch of Buddhism. It’s also a Prajna text/wisdom text, and a summary of a summary, as Venerable Guang cheng described in his very first lecture. The heart sutra is a summary of the diamond sutra and the diamond sutra is a summary of the prajnaparamita. It’s a short text, but it’s also profound and compressed text with a lot of information and holds a lot of wisdom that’s difficult to even comprehend at the first reading.

Red pine argues that the heart sutra and the prajna genre as a whole, were composed to argue the wrongs of the Sarvastivada abhidharma

The sutra begins with a bit of a bang, with Avalokiteshvara explaining the perfection of wisdom, prajnaparamita, to the Buddhas right hand disciple who was well known for his wisdom, Shariputra. Up to this point, it had been a common belief that the skandhas held a essence, or a svabhava which means ‘own being’ or ‘self existence.’

To that, Avalokiteshvara says “Nuh uh,” and proceeds to ‘school’ Shariputra for something he was known and trusted for. Here, the smartest disciple of the Buddha is ignorant on something he was so well known for. He has plenty of wisdom, but lacks the perfection wisdom.

Shariputra is regarded as the father of the Abhidharma a bit loosely, since as the most trusted and wiser disciple of the Buddha, he was one of the first who tried to collect and write down the teachings of the Buddha. The sutra attacks the notion of this Abhidharma right at the start based on what Avalokiteshvara saw.

That the 5 skandhas are empty.

Then attacked what it taught, more so what Shariputra taught- because not once is the Buddha mentioned in this sutra- and denies it. The rest of the sutra take this denial and shows the consequences based off what he saw.

Red pine believes that Avalokiteshvara here, is the Buddhas mother Maya, as an incarnation of him. First reborn as Santushita as a deva on Mount Sumeru, and then incarnated as Avalokiteshvara because who else could question Shariputra’s understanding of the Abhidharma other than the Buddhas mother? (S.10-15)

The Buddha performed a ritual at Rajgir and ascended to Mount Sumeru where he subsequently taught the Abhidharma to Santushita for three months during the monsoon season, coming back to earth and giving summaries of what he taught to Shariputra. So the Buddha only taught one disciple the entirety of the Abhidharma.

“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, emptiness is not separate from form, form is not separate from emptiness, whatever form is emptiness, whatever is emptiness is form.”- Extremely paradox, very frustrating, and the most famous passage of the text.

This passage tries to push us away from the earlier teachings and towards the teachings of emptiness. At least that’s what I get from reading from the commentators Red pine cites and the other early commentator quotes I’ve heard in videos. Here is also where it becomes a bit Hinayana vs Mahayana and what their definition of Nirvana is.

When it comes to form is emptiness, there is Prashastrasena commentary that I got from a Dharma Doug video, is supposed to be an anecdote of clinging to samsara through clinging to form because form is nothing more than emptiness, and that we shouldn’t do this. But the tone changes when it comes to emptiness is form, he says that it’s akin to an antidote to falling into the extreme of nirvana for the sravakas.

Sravaka then meaning the disciples of the Buddha, the Sarvastivada being the popular school at the time, and their Abhidharma. Shariputra before this sutra, also being one of them.

Sravaka is also a part of the Hinayana, which is a bit of a derogatory term used by those in the Mahayana to represent what they saw as a lesser path.

Many of the commentators have this certain tone when it comes to explaining emptiness is form. That it’s something that those of the Hinayana can’t grasp properly or it’s something destroys their viewpoint.

They are also kind of right because the sutra destroys the old dharma of the Sarvastivada’s. The one that Shariputra was the most known to teach, and from what he tried to put together from the summaries the Buddha gave him each day he descended to earth from Mount Sumeru, he got something fundamentally wrong.

It was thought that once you achieved nirvana as a Hinayana, you cannot have a role or affect the world in any way after your death. But you could have a role and affect the world after your death as a Mahayana through emptiness.

I still don’t feel that confident with my understanding of this, but that’s how I understood it.

There is another self contradiction in this sutra when Avalokiteshvara then says to Shariputra, “Therefore Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form”

As Nagarjuna would say, emptiness is itself emptiness. Nothing exists in emptiness, no path, nothing to gain, to attain. Now how I’ve understood it, nothing with self essence exits in emptiness, like what the Prasangika Mashyamaka’s would say.

There is no self existent path.

There is a path without self existence, but this isn’t stated explicitly in the sutra. What the sutra says is that this simply doesn’t exist in emptiness.

The sutra itself is also very ‘Nagarjuna’ now that I think about it. What I mean is that, like what he did, this sutra tries to uproot and redefine the teachings that has been misunderstood. The sutra makes the old dharma collapse, Avalokiteshvara explains what they have misunderstood, “No, the skandhas are empty,” redefines it and then corrects it.

There is also the prajnaparamita, where instead of taking refuge in the four noble truths or eight fold path, they instead take refuge in the prajnaparamita and achieve enlightenment through this and not nirvana.

“Buddhas become Buddhas by taking refuge in the prajnaparamita and by not attaining nirvana.” (S.140-141)

At the end, there is finally the mantra “Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate bodhi svaha.” I love some of the translations of this mantra, but the closest I’ve understood it to be, is something akin to nianfo or the mani mantra. Something that is unexplainable, but true, to chant to call upon and end suffering.

The last part is probably extremely simplified, but it’s what my simple mind can draw conclusions to and understand at the moment.

Now that I’ve gotten all this out, hopefully I can begin thinking about something else while I’m at work:)

[My copy of red pines heart sutra and commentary + my work notes:) green paper clip has four papers written on both sides, while the other one has three papers where two papers are written on both sides. I have tried to proof read, but things do escape me]

[dragalialife]

#248: Xuan Zang's Handy Horns

[the-monkey-ruler]

Xuan Zang (2016) 大唐玄奘

Director: Huo Jianqi

Screenwriter: Zou Jingzhi

Screenwriter: Zou Jingzhi Starring: Huang Xiaoming / Xu Zheng / Pu Bajia / Luo Jin / Tang Zhenye / Jin Rong / Tan Kai / Jiang Chao / Zhao Liang / Che Xiao / Lou Jiayue / Zhao Wenxuan

Genre: History

Country/Region of Production: Mainland China

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Date: 2016-04-29 (Mainland China)

Duration: 120 minutes

IMDb: tt5684550

Type: Crossover

Summary:

The film tells the legendary story of Xuanzang, an eminent monk of the Tang Dynasty who went to Tianzhu to learn Buddhist scriptures for 17 years despite difficulties and obstacles. In the Tang Dynasty, the young master Xuanzang (played by Huang Xiaoming) risked his life to sneak out of the country in order to seek the true meaning of Buddhism. He encountered difficulties and obstacles along the way, whether they be natural or man-made while also winning over the suffering of the people. Besieged by officers and soldiers, betrayed by his disciples, buried in the sea of sand, cut off from water and food, Master Xuanzang devoted himself to seeking the Dharma, and finally arrived in India. Carrying forward good thoughts and meditating on Buddhism in India, when he return home from the debate at the Uncovered Assembly, he was already an old man over fifty years old.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanzang_(film)

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulDzLjz0wdw&t=357s&ab_channel=%E6%8D%B7%E6%88%90%E5%8D%8E%E8%A7%86%E2%80%94%E5%8D%8E%E8%AF%AD%E7%94%B5%E5%BD%B1

[gleaningsinbuddhafields]

The Journeys of Xuanzang, part one: Desert Monasteries

In the prologue, we introduced the Buddhist monk Xuan-zang and explored the world of Tang-dynasty China. Xuan-zang left this world behind, contravening imperial decree about leaving the country without a permit, to pursue Buddhist teachings in India. However, once he left the Yumen Pass, he immediately ran into a major issue: the Gobi Desert.

[mybeingthere]

A head full of tousled and flame-like hair;

A pair of bright, round eyes which shone like lamps;

An indigo face, neither black nor green;

An old dragon's voice like thunderclap or drum.

He wore a cape of light yellow goose down.

Two strands of white reeds tied around his waist.

Beneath his chin nine skulls were strung and hung;

His hands held an awesome priestly staff..

14th century Kamakura painting of "Xuan Zang".

[mycatwantstoeatpins]

Blood of Youth recap - episode 14

Xiao Se asks Lei Wujie what he considers a hometown. Lei Wujie says it's a place you’re destined to return to and Xiao Se says Tianqi City is his hometown.

Xiao Se asks Sikong Changfeng if he thinks he should return to Tianqi City; he says yes, but that he won’t try to persuade him. He asks what Xiao Se thinks of Qianluo.

Xiao Se speaks to Wuxin in a dream, saying he’s troubled but doesn’t have any doubts.

Sikong Changfeng tells Lord Bai he supported Lord Langya two decades ago, not Lord Bai’s father, and he will support Xiao Se.

Xiao Se rejects the decree since no one else will fight for his uncle Langya and dares Lord Bai to kill him. Qianluo defends him against Zang Ming but Xiao Se is stabbed.

Lord Bai tells Zang Ming he already knew Xiao Se would reject the decree.

Lord Bai leaves Xueyue City and Shao Han sends him a message saying to proceed with the plan and go to Wushuang City.

Wuxin has a visitor (the man from the dungeon?) - Xiao Yu (Lord Chi), the seventh son of Emperor Mingde - who comes with Minghou and Yueji. Xiao Yu’s mother was Yi Wenjun (Consort Xuan) so he’s Ye Anshi’s half-brother. Luo Qingyang, the Lone Sword Deity and City Lord of Muliang City, was also in love with Yi Wenjun.

Wuxin says there’s no kinship between them but the idea of ruling the world by making Xiao Yu emperor is interesting. Xiao Yu asks Wuxin to stop or kill Xiao Chuhe. Wuxin says Xiao Se must not die.

Sikong Changfeng tells Tang Lian to escort Ye Ruoyi to the Tang clan for treatment. Xiao Se says he’ll go with Lei Wujie to a tournament at Lei Fortress.

Lord Bai meets Wushuang.

Qianluo meets Xiao Se on the roof, where he’s drinking. He tells her about Tianqi City.

Sikong Changfeng warns Xiao Se he’ll be in danger when he leaves Xueyue for the tournament.

Sikong Changfeng tells Li Hanyi Xie Xuan will also be at the tournament.

In Wushuang City, Wushuang tells Song Yanhui and Lei Yuzhen that Lord Bai learned his breathing technique from Jinyu and sword from Yan Zhantian.

Lei Wujie tells Xiao Se they’re going to Wangcheng Mountain to try to reunite his sister and Zhao Yuzhen.

Zhao Yuzhen tells Li Fansong Xiao Se tried to charge him 800,000 taels for the destruction of Dengtian Tower and asks if Li Fansong saw Li Hanyi in Xueyue.