Monkey,,,Wu Chen en...Translated by Authur Waley

Journey To the West was written by Wu Chen-en, and is considered to be one of the four great classic novels written during the Ming Dynasty (c. 1500-1582). Wu Chen-en was an elder statesman who witnessed a lot in his life, both good and bad, yet ultimately came away with great faith in human nature to face hardships and survive with good humor and compassion. The story has many layers of meaning and may be read on many different levels such as; a quest and an adventure, a fantasy, a personal search (on the Monkey’s part) for self-cultivation, or a political/social satire. The story is a pseudo-historical account of a monk (Xuanzang) who went to India in the 7th century to seek Buddhist scriptures to bring back to China. The principle story consists of eighty-one calamities suffered by (Monkey) and his guardians (Tripitaka and Sandy, who are monks, and Pigsy, a pig).
During World War II, Arthur Waley translated and published about a third of Journey to the West, calling it simply Monkey; it was very popular with the general public. The stories of Monkey are so popular in China today that they have become part of the repertoire of the Chinese Opera, TV series, and comic books. Korean and Japanese children also know the Monkey story:“There was a rock that since the creation of the world had been worked upon by the pure essences of heaven and the fine savors of earth the vigor of sunshine and the grace of moonlight till at last it became magically pregnant and one day split open giving birth to a stone egg about as big as a playing ball. Fructified by the wind it developed into a stone monkey, complete with every organ and limb.”