凌云渡与无字真经：〈西游记〉第九十八回的佛禅寓意
凌云渡与无字真经：〈西游记〉第九十八回的佛禅寓意
《西游记》第九十八回的回目为：
猿熟马驯方脱壳，功成行满见真如。
表面上，这只是唐僧师徒历经九九八十一难、终抵西天的最后一程；但从佛教尤其是禅宗所强调的心性、破执与见性的角度来看，这一回却是全书最富象征意味的篇章。前九十七回所经历的妖魔、争斗与磨难，至此骤然升华，转换成一场关于渡越、脱壳、旧我之死与见证真如的精神寓言。
本回包含两个彼此呼应的核心场景：前半写凌云渡，解决“人如何渡”的问题；后半写无字与有字真经，探讨“法究竟是什么”的问题。二者交织，方构成回目所言的“功成行满，见真如”。
一、凌云渡：三重渡越意象的辩证
唐僧师徒来到灵山脚下，先经过玉真观。临别时，金顶大仙欲送行，孙悟空表示认得路，可自行前往。大仙却道：
“你认得的是云路。圣僧还未登云路，当从本路而行。”
此语首先界定了悟空与唐僧的能力边界：悟空可驾云而行，唐僧则必须沿凡人可行之“本路”前往。随后，师徒前行至凌云渡，面对宽约八九里的汹涌急流，悟空指着一座桥说：
“要从那桥上行过去，方成正果哩。”
走近方知，所谓大桥仅是一根独木。悟空轻盈跃过，唐僧、八戒与沙僧却望而生畏。悟空严正指出：
“必须从此桥上走过，方可成佛。”
然而，文本在此处发生了奇妙的转折。唐僧并未走上独木桥，河中却驶来一只无底船。悟空认出撑船者正是接引佛祖。佛祖自称此船“无底”，却能“有浪有风还自稳”。唐僧最终登船，安然渡河。
“云路、本路、独木桥与无底船”并非简单的并列，而构成一重辩证：云路被拒绝于唐僧（他不能走），本路被要求于唐僧（他必须走），独木桥被命令却未被行走，最终由无底船完成替代性的接引。这一连串的拒绝、要求、命令与替代，使叙事从现实道路瞬间跃入寓言世界，也为后文“自力”与“他力”的张力埋下伏笔。
二、取经队伍：一个人的身心宇宙
依《西游记》传统的象征体系，取经团队不仅是叙事实体，更可被视作一个修行者的内在宇宙：
· 唐僧：修行主体，代表立志前行、不断求索的“人”。
· 孙悟空：“心猿”，象征活跃、敏锐却易躁动的心念。
· 猪八戒：与食欲、情欲及感官牵引相连，代表真实的人性欲望。
· 沙僧：象征忍耐、持守与持续前行的承载之力。
· 白龙马：对应“意马”，象征人的意念、志向与精神趋向。
在寓言层面，取经之路具有双重意义：它既是穿越山河险阻的外在旅程，更是修行者不断调伏心念、节制欲望、整合内在力量的精神淬炼。
三、“猿熟马驯”：调伏而非消灭
回目中的“猿”与“马”，直指传统文化中“心猿意马”的隐喻。“猿熟马驯”即意味着：心猿渐定，意马渐驯。
关键在于“熟”与“驯”，而非“消灭”。大乘佛教的修行，并非将心念化为死灰，亦非彻底抹杀自然欲望。真正被降伏的，是心的散乱、意的奔驰，以及欲望对主体的奴役。
悟空一路降妖，即是“降伏心猿”；白龙马始终驮负唐僧，即是“意马受驯”。八戒的贪嗔痴保留了人性的真实底色，证明修行不是剥离人性，而是不让其成为主宰；沙僧的沉默承担，则确保了队伍的行稳致远。至此，心不散乱，意不奔驰，身心方能真正接近“脱壳”的临界点。
四、云路与本路：个人承担与外在接引的张力
金顶大仙对“云路”与“本路”的区分，揭示了一个深刻的修行法则：他人可助你排障，却不能替你完成修行。
悟空可降妖救命，却无法代唐僧跨越最后的生死之河。唐僧必须亲自走自己的“本路”。然而，这并不意味着修行是纯粹的“自力”苦行。在凌云渡，唐僧未走独木桥，而是登上了接引佛祖的无底船。他必须亲自上船、亲历渡越、亲见水中的“自己”，但承载他过河的，却是外来的佛法之舟。这展现了修行中微妙的辩证法：修行必须由自己承担，但修行的圆满未必仅凭一己之力。
若置于晚明佛教禅净合流的思想背景下，此处的“独木桥”与“无底船”可被视为一种富有启发性的互文：前者呈现了自力见性的严峻，后者则彰显了他力接引的慈悲。撑船者名为“接引佛祖”——“接引”本身即是净土传统中对阿弥陀佛的尊称，这使无底船的他力意涵获得了更具体的宗派呼应。小说虽未明确进行宗派判教，但这种张力本身，已深刻契合了明代佛教的圆融特质。
五、独木桥：修行道路的极限化呈现
“渡”是佛教核心意象，喻指从烦恼此岸至觉悟彼岸。凌云渡的独木桥，将修行的艰难推向了极致。
悟空能过，因其心猿已熟、神通已具；唐僧难行，则昭示凡夫仅凭自力跨越生死之险的极限。这里需注意：独木桥并非“错误”的道路，而是心猿已熟者的道路。对悟空而言，桥是可行的；对尚在调伏过程中的唐僧而言，桥仍是不可行的。桥的“正确”与“不可行”并不矛盾——它恰恰说明，同一修行路径对不同阶段的修行者呈现为不同的可能性。
尤为值得注意的是文本的张力：悟空明言“必须从此桥上走过，方可成佛”，但唐僧最终并未走桥，而是乘船渡河。小说并未强行弥合这一矛盾，而是借此形成一种深刻的隐喻张力：
· 桥，显示了修行的艰难、纪律与个人承担的不可替代，是心猿已熟者的理想路径；
· 船，显示了最终渡越所需的佛法承载与慈悲接引，是仍在调伏中的修行者的实际舟筏。
二者并非非此即彼，而是共同构成了圆满的渡越条件。
六、无底船与水中死尸：脱壳与“无住”的联想
无底船是全书最具神异色彩的意象。常理中无底之船必沉，此船却“有浪有风还自稳”。接引佛祖所唱船歌云：
“六尘不染能归一，万劫安然自在行。”
在佛教传统中，舟筏常喻佛法。若进一步作禅意联想，“无底”可启发我们对“无住”的思考。“无住”并非虚无，而是不执著于任何固定的实体——包括自我、观念与功德。要渡过生死之河，恰恰需要放下那个一直以为必须紧紧抓住的“底”。
需严谨界定的是：“无底”并非佛教教义中“无住”的严格对应，而是一种极具诗意的文学象征。然而，二者在结构上确有相似：无底之船之所以能渡，正因其不依一固定之底；无住之心之所以能生，正因其不依一固定之住。这一结构上的类比，使“无底”成为“无住”的文学转写，而非教义的直接移植。它表明：唐僧必须自己上船（信愿与承担），但船非其所造（佛法接引）。
此时，最震撼的一幕降临。唐僧见水中漂下一具死尸，悟空、八戒、沙僧乃至撑船者皆言：“那是你。”这并非肉体的死亡，而是“脱壳”的具象化。渡河后的诗文印证了这一点：
“脱却胎胞骨肉身，相亲相爱是元神。今朝行满方成佛，洗净当年六六尘。”
（“六六尘”即“六根”对“六尘”所生之染污，泛指一切感官与对象交织而成的烦恼。）水中的尸体，象征着唐僧旧有生命状态与凡俗自我认同的终结。需审慎的是，这不宜被简单等同于佛教严格意义上的“无我”（即否定实体性自我），而应理解为：旧有的凡躯与执念被留在了此岸，修行者完成了生命状态的升华。
诗中“相亲相爱是元神”一句尤可玩味：“元神”是道教术语，而“相亲相爱”暗示脱壳之后并非一片空无，而是某种整合与和解。这既呼应了佛道融合的思想底色，也说明“旧我之死”所留下的，并非虚无，而是一个被转化、被整合的新生命。《西游记》常借用道教语汇而不因此成为道教文本，这种混融本身正是其文学方法的一部分。
七、“脱壳”的跨宗教回响：佛道思想的交织
“脱壳”一词，亦折射出《西游记》作为明代神魔小说的复杂思想底色。
从佛教视角看，它是脱离凡俗、洗净尘染的解脱；但从中国传统宗教视角看，“水中留尸，真身渡岸”极易让人联想到道教的“尸解”观念（即留下形骸，真神飞升）。若再放宽视野，“脱壳”在道教仙传、佛教往生叙事与民间灵魂出窍故事中均有回响，其语义场本身就具有高度的跨宗教流动性。
与其强行将其归为纯粹的佛教或道教教义，不如说：这一幕生动体现了明代思想文化环境中，佛、道及民间神仙观念彼此借用、交融互渗的特质。《西游记》的宗教象征，正是在这种多元传统的化合中，生成了其独特的文学魅力。
八、无字与有字真经：离言而不离文字
若故事止于凌云渡，“见真如”或仅被理解为肉身的超越。但后半部关于真经的波折，将探讨引向了更深的维度：法究竟是什么？
因未给“人事”，阿傩、伽叶传下无字经。悟空识破后返回雷音寺，如来却道：
“白本者，乃无字真经，倒也是好的。”
紧接着又言：
“经不可轻传，亦不可以空取。”
最终，唐僧以紫金钵盂换取了有字真经。此段与“见真如”形成绝妙呼应。禅宗虽强调“言语道断，心行处灭”，真理不可被文字完全包办；但若彻底抛弃文字，愚迷众生又将如何得度？
值得注意的是，点破无字经的燃灯古佛，是过去佛，曾为释迦牟尼授记。由过去佛来揭示现在佛所传之经的“无字”真相，本身即含一层深意：法的真谛超越任何一尊佛的言教，甚至需要跨越时间维度的智慧来校正。这为“不即文字，不离文字”的中道增添了历史纵深。
小说的答案是圆融的：不执著于文字，却也不离开文字。无字经象征超越语言的实相，有字经则是度化众生的方便法门。二者并非真假对立，而是真理本体与教化方便的不同层次。见真如，不是拿到一部经书，而是领悟这种“不即不离”的中道智慧。
九、“人事”与紫金钵盂：破执考验与现实讽刺
阿傩、伽叶索要“人事”的情节，为神圣的取经之旅注入了强烈的世俗色彩。如来以舍卫国赵长者诵经收三斗三升米粒黄金为例，辩称“经不可轻传”。
此情节具有多重解读空间：
其一，破执的终极考验。唐僧最终交出化缘用的紫金钵盂，象征着对最后一丝“物执”与“法执”的彻底松脱。连修行者的身份象征亦须放下，方得圆满。尤可注意者，此钵盂乃唐太宗于第十二回所赐，是唐僧“御弟圣僧”身份的物化象征。交出钵盂，不仅是放下“物执”，更是放下整个取经使命所依附的世俗身份——旧我之死，至此方彻底完成。
其二，世俗逻辑的深刻讽刺。即便在至高无上的雷音寺，宗教神圣性依然未能完全豁免于现实的人情交换与利益逻辑。这可以被解读为“宗教理想与现实人情之间永恒矛盾”的文学表达，彰显《西游记》穿透神魔表象的现实主义锋芒。
其三，知识传播与物质交换的隐喻。“经不可轻传，亦不可以空取”揭示了一种复杂的观念：法的传授既不能沦为商品交易，也不能被想象为毫无承担的白得。这一张力，至今仍是宗教传播与知识传递中的核心难题。
禅意与世情在此交织，正是《西游记》的复杂处。若只作社会讽刺读，会遮蔽其破执意味；若只作禅机读，又会忽略其现实锋芒。
十、结语：西天不在别处
第九十八回的核心，并非地理意义上的抵达，而是“人”与“法”的双重完成。
凌云渡写“人”的转化：独木桥彰显修行的艰难与自力的极限，无底船昭示佛法的承载与他力的接引。唐僧在水中看见自己的尸体，意味着旧我已被剥离；“猿熟马驯方脱壳”，正是心念调伏、欲望节制、执念放下的生命升华。
无字经写“法”的方便：真如不可被文字限定，故有无字；众生需教化，故必有有字。取得真经并非终点，而是学会不执著于任何固定形式（包括经文本身）的起点。
《西游记》借神魔之壳，写尽人性之真。外在的妖魔终是表象，真正需要降伏的，始终是内在的心猿意马。真正的“渡”，不是从东土走到西天，而是从执著走向放下，从散乱走向调伏。
因此，西天不在别处。它存在于那个放下旧我、放下执著，甚至不执著于“放下”本身的瞬间——在“功成行满，见真如”的当下。而这“不执著于放下本身”，正是前文无字与有字、桥与船、自力与他力层层展开后所指向的中道：不即一法，不离一法，方为真如。
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Aided by The author thanks ChatGPT, Qwen, DeepSeek and Grok
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English translation by ChatGPT
Lingyun Crossing and the Wordless Scriptures: Buddhist and Chan Meanings in Chapter 98 of Journey to the West
The title of Chapter 98 of Journey to the West is:
“When the Monkey Is Mature and the Horse Is Tamed, the Shell Can Finally Be Shed; When the Deeds Are Complete and the Journey Fulfilled, One Sees Suchness.”
On the surface, this is simply the final stage of Tang Sanzang and his disciples’ journey, after enduring eighty-one trials and finally reaching the Western Heaven. Yet from the perspective of Buddhism—especially the Chan emphasis on mind-nature, breaking attachment, and seeing one’s true nature—this chapter is one of the most symbolically rich passages in the entire novel. The demons, conflicts, and hardships of the preceding ninety-seven chapters suddenly rise to another level, becoming a spiritual allegory about crossing over, shedding the shell, the death of the old self, and the apprehension of Suchness.
The chapter contains two mutually resonant central scenes. The first half depicts the Lingyun Crossing and addresses the question, “How does a person cross?” The second concerns the wordless and written scriptures and asks, “What, ultimately, is the Dharma?” Only when the two are woven together does the chapter arrive at what its title calls the fulfillment of the journey and the seeing of Suchness.
I. Lingyun Crossing: The Dialectic of Three Images of Crossing
When Tang Sanzang and his disciples arrive at the foot of Spirit Mountain, they first pass through Jade Truth Monastery. As they are about to leave, the Golden Summit Immortal offers to see them on their way. Sun Wukong says that he knows the route and can go there by himself. But the immortal tells him:
?“The route you know is the cloud route. The holy monk has not yet ascended the cloud route; he must proceed by the ordinary road.”?
The words first establish a boundary between Wukong and Tang Sanzang: Wukong can travel through the clouds, whereas Tang Sanzang must follow the “ordinary road,” the road accessible to an ordinary human being. The pilgrims then continue to Lingyun Crossing, where they encounter a turbulent river said to be eight or nine li wide. Wukong points to a bridge and says:
?“You must cross by that bridge before you can attain the true fruit.”?
Only when they approach does it become clear that the supposed bridge is merely a single log. Wukong lightly leaps across it, while Tang Sanzang, Bajie, and Sha Seng are filled with apprehension. Wukong insists:
?“You must cross this bridge before you can become a Buddha.”?
Yet here the text takes a remarkable turn. Tang Sanzang does not step onto the single-log bridge. Instead, a bottomless boat comes sailing along the river. Wukong recognizes its boatman as the Buddha of Reception and Guidance. The Buddha describes the boat as “bottomless,” yet says that it remains steady even when there are waves and wind. Tang Sanzang finally boards the boat and crosses the river safely.
“Cloud route, ordinary road, single-log bridge, and bottomless boat” are not simply a series of parallel images. Together they form a dialectical structure: the cloud route is denied to Tang Sanzang because he cannot take it; the ordinary road is required of him because he must take it; the single-log bridge is declared necessary but is never actually crossed; finally, the bottomless boat provides an alternative form of guidance across the river. This sequence of rejection, requirement, command, and substitution suddenly lifts the narrative from a physical journey into the realm of allegory, while preparing the ground for the tension between “self-power” and “other-power” that follows.
II. The Pilgrimage Party: A Human Inner Universe
According to the traditional symbolic reading of Journey to the West, the pilgrimage party is not merely a group of narrative characters. It can also be understood as the inner universe of a practitioner:
- Tang Sanzang: the spiritual subject, representing the human being who resolves to move forward and continually seeks.
- Sun Wukong: the “mind-monkey,” symbolizing the active and perceptive but easily agitated movements of the mind.
- Zhu Bajie: associated with appetite, sexual desire, and sensory attraction, representing genuine human desire.
- Sha Seng: symbolizing patience, perseverance, steadfastness, and the strength that carries the journey forward.
- The White Dragon Horse: corresponding to the “intention-horse,” symbolizing human thoughts, aspirations, and spiritual direction.
At the allegorical level, the pilgrimage therefore has a double meaning. It is both an external journey through mountains, rivers, and dangers, and an inner process in which the practitioner continually disciplines the mind, restrains desire, and integrates the forces within.
III. “The Monkey Is Mature and the Horse Is Tamed”: Discipline Rather Than Destruction
The “monkey” and “horse” in the chapter title directly evoke the traditional metaphor of the “mind-monkey and intention-horse.” “The monkey is mature and the horse is tamed” therefore means that the mind-monkey has gradually become settled and the intention-horse gradually brought under control.
The key words are “mature” and “tamed,” not “destroyed.” Buddhist cultivation, particularly in the Mahayana tradition, does not mean turning the mind into dead ashes, nor does it mean completely erasing natural desire. What is subdued is the mind’s scattered movement, the restless rushing of intention, and the enslavement of the subject by desire.
Wukong’s continual subjugation of demons is therefore the “taming of the mind-monkey”; the White Dragon Horse’s constant carrying of Tang Sanzang represents the “taming of the intention-horse.” Bajie’s greed, anger, and delusion preserve the authentic human texture of his character, showing that spiritual cultivation does not mean stripping away humanity, but preventing human impulses from becoming the master. Sha Seng’s quiet endurance ensures that the group can continue steadily toward its destination. Only when the mind is no longer scattered and intention is no longer running wild can body and mind approach the threshold of “shedding the shell.”
IV. The Cloud Route and the Ordinary Road: The Tension Between Personal Responsibility and External Guidance
The Golden Summit Immortal’s distinction between the “cloud route” and the “ordinary road” reveals an important principle of spiritual cultivation: others may help remove obstacles for you, but they cannot perform your cultivation on your behalf.
Wukong can defeat demons and save Tang Sanzang’s life, but he cannot cross the final river of life and death in his place. Tang Sanzang must personally walk his own “ordinary road.” Yet this does not mean that cultivation is purely an exercise of “self-power.” At Lingyun Crossing, Tang Sanzang does not walk across the single-log bridge. Instead, he boards the bottomless boat of the Buddha of Reception and Guidance. He must personally board the boat, experience the crossing, and see his own “self” in the water; yet the vessel that carries him across the river is an external boat of the Dharma. This reveals a subtle dialectic within spiritual cultivation: the practice must be undertaken by oneself, but its completion need not depend solely on one’s own power.
Placed against the intellectual background of the convergence of Chan and Pure Land Buddhism in the late Ming period, the “single-log bridge” and the “bottomless boat” can be read as an illuminating intertextual pairing. The former presents the severity of self-powered realization; the latter embodies the compassion of being received and guided by other-power. The boatman is called the “Buddha of Reception and Guidance”—and “reception and guidance” is itself a traditional Pure Land epithet associated with Amitabha Buddha. This gives the other-power meaning of the bottomless boat a more specific sectarian resonance. Although the novel does not explicitly engage in sectarian doctrinal classification, this tension itself fits deeply with the integrative character of Buddhism in the Ming period.
V. The Single-Log Bridge: Spiritual Practice Taken to Its Extreme
“Crossing” is a central Buddhist image, referring metaphorically to the passage from the shore of suffering and affliction to the shore of awakening. The single-log bridge at Lingyun Crossing pushes the difficulty of spiritual practice to an extreme.
Wukong can cross because his mind-monkey has matured and he possesses supernatural powers; Tang Sanzang struggles to cross, revealing the limits of an ordinary person attempting to cross the dangers of life and death through self-power alone. Here, however, one point requires attention: the single-log bridge is not a “wrong” path, but the path of one whose mind-monkey has already been brought under control. For Wukong, the bridge is passable; for Tang Sanzang, who is still undergoing discipline and transformation, it remains impassable. The bridge’s being “right” and its being “impossible” are not contradictory. Rather, they suggest that the same path of spiritual cultivation presents different possibilities to practitioners at different stages.
What is particularly striking is the tension within the text itself. Wukong explicitly says, “You must cross this bridge before you can become a Buddha,” yet Tang Sanzang ultimately does not cross the bridge. Instead, he crosses by boat. The novel does not forcibly resolve this contradiction. Rather, it turns it into a profound symbolic tension:
- The bridge displays the difficulty, discipline, and irreducible personal responsibility of spiritual cultivation. It is the ideal path for one whose mind-monkey has been brought under control.
- The boat displays the support of the Dharma and the compassionate guidance required for the final crossing. It is the actual vessel available to a practitioner who is still undergoing transformation.
The two are not mutually exclusive. Together they constitute the conditions for a complete crossing.
VI. The Bottomless Boat and the Corpse in the Water: Shedding the Shell and the Idea of “Non-Abiding”
The bottomless boat is one of the most extraordinary images in the entire novel. According to ordinary logic, a boat without a bottom should sink. Yet this boat remains steady even amid waves and wind. The boatman, the Buddha of Reception and Guidance, sings:
?“Untouched by the six dusts, it returns to oneness;
Through ten thousand kalpas it moves in peace and freedom.”?
In Buddhist tradition, a boat or raft often serves as a metaphor for the Dharma. If we take the image one step further in a Chan-oriented direction, “bottomless” can invite reflection on the Buddhist idea of “non-abiding.” “Non-abiding” does not mean nothingness. It means not becoming attached to any fixed entity—including the self, ideas, or merit. To cross the river of life and death, one must precisely let go of the “bottom” that one has always believed one must hold on to.
It is important to define this carefully: “bottomless” is not a strict doctrinal equivalent of the Buddhist concept of “non-abiding.” It is a highly poetic literary symbol. Yet structurally the two do bear a resemblance: the bottomless boat can cross precisely because it does not depend upon a fixed bottom; the mind of non-abiding can arise precisely because it does not depend upon a fixed place of attachment. This structural analogy allows “bottomless” to function as a literary transformation of “non-abiding,” rather than a direct transplantation of doctrine. It suggests that Tang Sanzang must board the boat himself—an act of faith, aspiration, and personal responsibility—but the boat itself is not something he has built. It represents the support of the Dharma.
At this moment, the most startling scene occurs. Tang Sanzang sees a corpse floating down the river. Wukong, Bajie, Sha Seng, and even the boatman all say:
?“That is you.”?
This is not literal physical death, but a concrete embodiment of “shedding the shell.” The poem after the crossing confirms the point:
?“Having shed the flesh-and-bone body born from the womb,
What remains in intimacy and harmony is the original spirit.
Only today, with the journey fulfilled, does one become a Buddha;
The sixfold dust of former days has been washed away.”?
(“Sixfold dust” is here understood as the defilements arising between the six sense faculties and the six sense objects, broadly referring to the troubles produced through the interaction of the senses and their objects.) The corpse in the water therefore symbolizes the end of Tang Sanzang’s former state of life and his ordinary worldly self-identification. Yet this should not simply be equated with the strict Buddhist doctrine of “no-self,” that is, the denial of an independently existing self. Rather, it can be understood as the old mortal body and its attachments being left on the other side, while the practitioner completes a transformation of his mode of existence.
The line “what remains in intimacy and harmony is the original spirit” is especially intriguing. “Original spirit” (yuanshen) is a Daoist term, while “intimacy and harmony” suggests that after the shell is shed there is not simply a void, but some form of integration and reconciliation. This both echoes the interweaving of Buddhist and Daoist thought and indicates that what remains after the “death of the old self” is not nothingness, but a transformed and integrated form of life. Journey to the West frequently borrows Daoist terminology without thereby becoming a Daoist text. This very blending is part of its literary method.
VII. The Cross-Religious Echo of “Shedding the Shell”: The Interweaving of Buddhist and Daoist Thought
The phrase “shedding the shell” also reflects the complex intellectual background of Journey to the West as a Ming-dynasty religious fantasy novel.
From a Buddhist perspective, it represents liberation from the ordinary world and the cleansing of worldly defilements. Yet from the perspective of traditional Chinese religion, the image of “leaving the corpse in the water while the true body crosses to the other shore” readily evokes the Daoist concept of shijie (corpse liberation)—the idea that the physical remains are left behind while the true spirit ascends. If we broaden the perspective further, “shedding the shell” also resonates with Daoist tales of immortals, Buddhist narratives of rebirth in the Pure Land, and popular stories of the soul leaving the body. The semantic field of the expression is therefore highly fluid across religious traditions.
Rather than forcing the episode into a purely Buddhist or purely Daoist doctrinal category, it is more useful to say that this scene vividly embodies a characteristic of the Ming intellectual and cultural environment: Buddhist, Daoist, and popular beliefs about immortals borrowed from and blended with one another. The religious symbolism of Journey to the West derives much of its distinctive literary power from precisely this fusion of multiple traditions.
VIII. The Wordless and Written Scriptures: Beyond Words, Yet Not Apart from Words
If the story ended at Lingyun Crossing, “seeing Suchness” might be understood merely as the transcendence of the physical body. But the complications surrounding the scriptures in the second half of the chapter take the question to a deeper level: What, ultimately, is the Dharma?
Because they had not been given the required “courtesy gift,” Ananda and Kasyapa initially handed down scriptures without any written words. Wukong sees through the deception and returns to the Thunderclap Monastery, but the Tathagata says:
?“The blank volumes are the wordless true scriptures. They are good enough, too.”?
He immediately adds:
?“The scriptures must not be transmitted lightly, nor may they be taken for nothing.”?
In the end, Tang Sanzang exchanges the purple-gold alms bowl for the written scriptures. This episode forms a remarkable echo of “seeing Suchness.” Although Chan emphasizes that ultimate truth cannot be completely contained by language, if written words were abandoned altogether, how could deluded and ignorant beings be guided toward liberation?
It is worth noting that the Ancient Buddha Dipamkara, who exposes the wordless scriptures, is a Buddha of the past who, according to Buddhist tradition, predicted the Buddhahood of Shakyamuni. The fact that a Buddha of the past reveals the wordless nature of the scriptures transmitted by the Buddha of the present itself suggests another layer of meaning: the ultimate truth of the Dharma transcends the teachings of any particular Buddha and may even require wisdom across historical time to correct its transmission. This gives additional historical depth to the middle way of being “neither identical with words nor separate from words.”
The novel’s answer is integrative: one should not become attached to words, yet neither should one abandon words. The wordless scriptures symbolize reality beyond language; the written scriptures are skillful means for teaching and guiding sentient beings. They are not simply true versus false, but represent different levels—the reality of truth itself and the expedient means through which it is communicated. Seeing Suchness does not mean merely obtaining a book of scriptures. It means understanding this middle way of being neither attached to nor separated from expression.
IX. “Courtesy Gifts” and the Purple-Gold Alms Bowl: A Test of Attachment and a Satire of Reality
The episode in which Ananda and Kasyapa demand a “courtesy gift” injects a strong worldly quality into the sacred pilgrimage. The Tathagata cites the example of Zhao, a wealthy elder in Shravasti, who recited scriptures and received three dou and three sheng of grain-sized gold, using this to explain why “the scriptures must not be transmitted lightly.”
This episode allows for several interpretations.
First, it is the ultimate test of attachment. Tang Sanzang eventually gives up the purple-gold alms bowl that he has used when begging for food. It symbolizes the complete loosening of the final traces of “attachment to things” and “attachment to the Dharma.” Even the symbolic identity of the practitioner must be relinquished before fulfillment can be achieved. It is particularly noteworthy that the alms bowl was bestowed by Emperor Taizong in Chapter 12 and functions as a material symbol of Tang Sanzang’s identity as the emperor’s “holy brother.” Giving it away therefore means not only abandoning attachment to an object, but also relinquishing the worldly identity upon which the entire pilgrimage mission has depended—the death of the old self is finally complete.
Second, it is a profound satire of worldly logic. Even in the supreme Thunderclap Monastery, the sacred character of religion is not entirely exempt from the realities of human exchange and material interests. This can be read as a literary expression of the enduring tension between religious ideals and worldly human relationships, demonstrating Journey to the West’s realistic power to penetrate the surface of its supernatural world.
Third, it is a metaphor for the relationship between knowledge and material exchange. “The scriptures must not be transmitted lightly, nor may they be taken for nothing” expresses a complicated idea: the transmission of the Dharma cannot simply become a commercial transaction, but neither can it be imagined as something that can be obtained entirely without cost or responsibility. This tension remains a fundamental problem in the transmission of religion and knowledge even today.
Here, Chan insight and worldly reality are intertwined, and this is precisely what makes Journey to the West so complex. To read the scene only as social satire would obscure its meaning as a test of attachment; to read it only as a Chan riddle would overlook its sharp realism.
X. Conclusion: The Western Heaven Is Not Somewhere Else
The core of Chapter 98 is not geographical arrival, but the completion of both the “person” and the “Dharma.”
Lingyun Crossing describes the transformation of the “person”: the single-log bridge reveals the difficulty of spiritual cultivation and the limits of self-power, while the bottomless boat reveals the support of the Dharma and the compassion of other-power. Tang Sanzang sees his own corpse in the water, signifying that the old self has been stripped away. “When the monkey is mature and the horse is tamed, the shell can finally be shed”: this is the transformation of life through the disciplining of the mind, the restraint of desire, and the release of attachment.
The wordless scriptures describe the expedient dimension of the “Dharma”: Suchness cannot be confined by words, hence the wordless scriptures; sentient beings need to be taught, hence written scriptures are necessary. Obtaining the scriptures is therefore not the final destination. It is the beginning of learning not to become attached to any fixed form—including the scriptures themselves.
Journey to the West uses the shell of demons and supernatural beings to write about the truth of human nature. The external demons are ultimately only appearances. What truly needs to be subdued is always the inner mind-monkey and intention-horse. True “crossing” is not the journey from the Eastern Land to the Western Heaven, but the movement from attachment toward letting go, and from mental disorder toward discipline.
The Western Heaven, therefore, is not somewhere else. It exists in that moment when one lets go of the old self, lets go of attachment, and even refuses to become attached to the act of “letting go” itself—in the very moment when the journey is complete and Suchness is seen. And this refusal to become attached even to letting go is precisely the middle way toward which the preceding layers of wordless and written scriptures, bridge and boat, self-power and other-power have been pointing: neither identical with any single Dharma nor separate from any Dharma—that is Suchness.
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Aided by The author thanks ChatGPT, Qwen, DeepSeek and Grok