On The Way Of Narration And The Religious Implications Of The “Eighty-one Ordeals” In The Journey To The West

The “eighty-one ordeals”, comes from the Journey to the West, refers to the hardships the protagonist Tang Priest bear after his born and whose plot mainly includes fare ware to the Tang Dynasty, setting foot on the way to the West, taking apprentice, facing all sorts of difficulties, getting to the Lingjiu Mountain of India, and finally Bringing Back the Scriptures. On the way to the West, there are doubt and suspicion between them, and there are attracts of the ogre and the helps of god and Buddha.The various characters are brought to life in the twisted road to the West and the fantastic adventures they pursuing in the “Eighty-one ordeals”, which make up the solid core of the novel.As for analysts have not yet agreed on what religious meanings Wu Chent’en wants to convey from the “Eighty-one ordeals”, this essay tries to trace roots and classify carefully to explore its meaning and its religion culture beyond lies on the basis of deep reading for the test.The essay contains six parts: The introductory chapter briefly introduces the “Eighty-one ordeals” and analyses present state of the research. Chapter one traces the historical, literal, and religious origin of the “Eighty-one ordeals”, and assumes that it is not originated from Wu Chent’en. The second chapter firstly delimitate s and classifies the stories of the “Eighty-one ordeals”. The delimitation mainly focused on the relationship between “ordeal” and “story”; the classification is made from this three aspects: the implementer, the victim, and the one who helps. This is the base of the religious meaning exploring at last. The third chapter mainly analyzes the way of narration of the stories of the “Eighty-one ordeals”, which contains the stylization narrative structure, the alienation of god, and the writing technique of novel. The forth chapter explores the religious of the “Eighty-one ordeals” from the aspects of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism and also with witchcraft, which makes the Journey to the West different. It contains religion but go beyond it in culture. The last chapter is epilogue which summarizes the culture implications and theme of the essay. This essay explores the origin, the classification, and the way of narration of the “Eighty-one ordeals” in the Journey to the West. It also gives a detailed analysis of the Religious Implications.