The fictional character Xuanzang (玄奘, WG: Hsüan-tsang), a central character of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, is partly modelled after the historical Tang dynasty Buddhist monk of the same name, whose life was the book's inspiration.

For most of Journey to the West, he bears the nickname Sanzang (三藏 San-tsang), a play on words connecting his real name to the "three baskets" of the Pali canon ("sanzang" in Chinese). In some English translations, the nickname is rendered as Tripitaka ("tripitaka" is the original Sanskrit term for "sanzang"), thus losing the pun.

He is also commonly referred to as 唐僧 (tang2 seng1; Monk of Tang), a courtesy name that reflects his relationship with the emperor.