I recently read an interesting review of The Monkey and the Monk (Univ Chicago Press, 2006) and found a copy in our library system. The book is an abridgement (to 500 pages!) of the 16th century Ming dynasty novel Journey to the West.

It is regarded as one of the great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the most popular literary work in East Asia. It was widely known in English-speaking countries through the British scholar Arthur Waley’s 1942 abridged translation Monkey. It is a progenitor to the Xianxia literary genre that combines martial arts with high fantasy in Ancient China.

The novel is a fictionalized and fantastic account of the pilgrimage of the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who went on a 19-year journey to India in the 7th century AD to seek out and collect Buddhist scriptures...

Journey to the West has strong roots in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoist and Buddhist folklore, and the pantheon of Taoist immortals and Buddhist bodhisattvas are still reflective of certain Chinese religious attitudes today, while being the inspiration of many modern manhwa, manhua, manga and anime series. Enduringly popular, the novel is simultaneously a comic adventure, a satire of Chinese bureaucracy, a source of spiritual reflection, and a rich allegory.

I have no doubt that this book would be an interesting read, but at my age the requisite time commitment becomes a formidable obstacle, and I’ve reluctantly turned the book back in.

But I do want to save (and share) the opening two pages:

And I’ll retype some passages from the scans to make the keywords searchable:

"Before Chaos divided, Heaven tangled with Earth;

Formless and void - this, no human had seen.

But when Pa Gu broke up the nebula,

Clearing began, the turbid parted from the pure.

Humaneness supreme enfolding every life

Enlightens all things that they become good..."

The text then makes mention of "cyclic time" - a fascinating concept offering echoes of perhaps the Mayan worldview? Also that "in the order of Heaven and Earth, a single period consisted of 129,600 years."

I am fascinated by "origin stories" that peoples have created to explain the existence of the cosmos, earth, and humans. In this classic oriental tale...

"At the end of the epoch of Xu, Heaven and Earth were obscure and all things were indistinct. With the passing of 5,400 years, the beginning of Hai was the epoch of darkness. This moment was named Chaos, because there were neither human beings nor the two spheres.."

Then the creation process continues. The firmament acquires a foundation, then "the light rose up to form the sun, the moon, the stars, and the Heavenly bodies." The earth becomes more firm, and "during the Yin epoch humans, beasts, and fowls came into being..." Then the world is divided into four great continents...

To me this is fascinating stuff. I am immediately reminded of the Babylonian concepts of the great depths of time and of course of the Mesoamerican Long Count.