If Tripitaka were to die during Journey to the West, in your opinion, what would happen?
Would he remain dead and reincarnated or be revived? Would they have to restart the cycle again? Through what means do they go through to get the monk and recover the Scriptures? Sorry if this turned out to be a barrage speculative questions😅 I had done no prior research (I will though!) and wanted to hear your take on it
Btw, I love the extensive research that you have compiled to make such informative articles!! they make excellent references and there's literally a well-written article for just about everything. it's nice to read something that was done with so much passion overall
Thank you for the kind words. The novel is my passion. Now onto your questions.
Not counting the Ginseng Fruit that gives Tripitaka a nigh-immortal, steel-like body, Guanyin or even the Buddha himself would prevent the monk from being killed. However, for the sake of argument, there are a number of ways to bring him back, but the methods used depend on the state of his body. For example, if his vessel is destroyed, his disciples could mimic this trick:
Ch. 11 - The soul of a Tang official's long-dead wife is given new life in the form of a recently dead princess. The soul is wed with the new vessel at the request of underworld officials.
The pilgrims would just need to find him a newly deceased body. But if his form is whole enough, there are a few methods:
Ch. 9 - Tripitaka's deceased father, who had been murdered by bandits and thrown into a river, is brought back to life by simply reuniting soul with body. His vessel was preserved with a magic pearl and, along with his self-aware spirit, kept in the undersea dragon kingdom. The Dragon King orders that the two halves be reunited some 18 years later.
Ch. 39 - Monkey brings a foreign king, who had drowned in a well, back to life by placing a magic pill (bestowed by Laozi) into his mouth and blowing the primate's immortal breath into his lungs.
Ch. 97 - Wukong goes to the underworld and asks permission from Boddhisatva Ksitigarbha to take the soul of a recently murdered foreign householder back to earth. He then reunites soul with vessel.
These are the only methods that come to mind. I hope this helps.
Edit: According to the novel, uniting the spirit with the old or newly deceased body apparently heals whatever was originally wrong with the vessel. But Monkey could also heal any damage with his immortal breath provided that Tripitaka's body doesn't have huge chunks missing.
I have expanded this ask into an article for my research blog. Part of the introduction reads:
The novel presents two main modes of revivification: 1) forcing the soul into the original or new body; and 2) causing the spirit to reform within the old vessel using a magic pill and rescue breathing. The first method requires underworld authorization, while the second does not. An interesting side effect of (re)introducing a soul into a whole body is that the original injuries appear to heal, allowing the person to live once more.
Tumblr user @predictablemess recently asked me the following question: If [Tripitaka (Sanzang, 三藏; fig. 1), Sun Wukong’s master,] were to di
A demon guard steals a woman's spirit and replaces it with another, thus allowing the latter to live again. These are two graffitied woodblock prints from The Illustrated Journey to the West (Ehon Saiyuki, 繪本西遊記, 1835), the first complete Japanese translation of the novel.
