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; the real Xuanzang made a perilous journey on foot from China to India (and back again)to obtain Buddhist Sutras. The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... 18th century Chinese illustration of a scene from Journey to the West The four heros of the story, left to right: Sun Wukong, Xuanzang, Zhu Wuneng, and Sha Wujing. ... The Tang Dynasty (唐朝 pinyin: tángcháo) (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907) followed the Sui Dynasty and preceded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... Xuanzang, Dunhuang cave, 9th century. ...

In the story, he is constantly terrorized by monsters and demons, because of a legend that stated that immortality could be obtained by dining on his flesh. While he is a pacifist, who has no fighting ability of his own, he is flanked by his three powerful disciples Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing, themselves "monsters" who have vowed to protect him on his journey in order to atone for their sins in Heaven; while the heavenly origins of Sun Wukong are up for debate, both Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing (and even the White Horse on which Xuansang rides) were once minor deities in Heaven who were cast to earth for their wrongdoings. A modern image of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. ... Zhu Bajie (豬八戒 WG: Chu Pa-chieh aka 豬悟能 Zhu Wuneng or Chu Wu-neng) is one of the three helpers of Xuanzang in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. ... Sha Wujing (沙悟凈 WG: Sha Wu-ching) is one of the three helpers of Xuanzang in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. ...

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 Tángsēng (唐僧; Monk of Tang), a courtesy name that reflects his relationship with the emperor. Standard edition of the Thai Pali Canon The Pali Canon is one the earliest existing scripture collections of the Buddhist tradition. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Tripitaka (Sanskrit, lit. ... The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ...

In recent years, a mural on the wall of a mountain pass on the way to the China/India border was discovered that is purported to show the real Xuanzang flanked by a small hairy man that some scholars have theorized might have been the insipration for the character of the Monkey King.

Xuanzang is occasionally mistaken for Ksitigarbha, a bodhisattva, due the fact that Ksitigarbha is often portrayed with the robes and staff of a monk. Red-bibbed Jizo statues in Nikko Ksitigarbha, often known in its Japanese name Jizō (地蔵) or Chinese name Dizang (地藏 Dìzàng), is a popular Mahayana Buddhist Bodhisattva, usually depicted as a monk. ... Prince Siddhartha Gautama as a bodhisattva, before becoming a Buddha. ...