Tang Sanzang

**Tang Sanzang (唐三藏)**, also known as the **Great Monk**, is a legendary character from The Daily Life of the Immortal King.

## Summary

He was a Buddhist monk and is the ancestor of the entire Tang family, one of the most powerful in the city of Songhai, Huaxiu.

He is the reincarnation of Jin Chanzi, Buddha's second disciple.

## appearance

On the journey west he was described as an attractive young man.

His appearance in chinese representations usually include him dressed in a kasaya robe, wearing a buddhist crown (an Ushnisha or a Black Crown), and wielding the khakkhara staff.

## Personality

In "The Journey West " he was described as a kind person. Compassionate, and determined, but sometimes comes off as pedantic and indiscriminate.

He have a strong belief that you will not give up until you reach your goal or finally reach the right outcome. The enlightenment that Tang believe is that "There is nothing difficult in the world, as long as there is a heart."

As a master, he places strict requirements on his apprentices and often teaches them to "be compassionate".

It also demonstrated to have a cowardly side. Since he had no power to recognize through transformations he will scold severely when see the Monkey King killing an " innocent person".

He is a man of firm faith and a kind heart, but he only believes in what he sees or hears and therefore does not believe in Monkey King when he killed monsters and demons disguised as innocent people.

## Story

He was a posthumous child. Due to his parents' tragic and bizarre experience, he grew up in a temple since he was a child.

He became a monk in the jinshan temple at age 18, and finally moved to a famous temple in the capital to settle down and practice. Tang Seng is diligent, eager to learn, and has a high level of understanding, standing out among the monks of the temple.

Later, he was secretly selected by the Tathagata Buddha to go to the west ( India ) to learn the scriptures, and he was given three treasures, namely, cassock, nine-ringed pewter rod, and tight-hooped mantra. Tang Seng have extremely high attainments in Buddhist scriptures.

Tang Sanzang is powerless to defend himself and his two escorts are killed during his first encounter with demons after his departure from Chang'an. Guanyin helps him find a more powerful escort, and he chooses 3 supernatural creatures that somehow were punished for their sins ( Monkey King, Zhu Bajie, Monk Sha and Bailongma ).

He encounters eighty-one difficulties as he travels west to learn buddhist scriptures, and he never changes his mind. During his journey he had disagreements with his ideology and way of thinking with Sun Wukong, the first time was when Sun Wukong beating the bone spirit to death, Tang couldn't recognize the monster with the naked eye so he scolded Wukong. The second time was on the westward path, Wukong killed a thief, Tang got very angry with him for hurting living beings and blamed Wukong, Wukong was dissatisfied. Throughout his journey, several monsters and demons tried to capture him and eat his flesh, once the demons believed they would get eternal life if they ate his flesh because he was a reincarnation of a very powerful being, but his disciples helped him in the escort.

Upon returning home, he gained enormous prestige, which was later used by his descendants to become a strong family in Huaxiu.

## Relations

Monkey King: Had a deep misunderstanding with him, thinking that he was violent and killing innocent people indiscriminately. He usually scolded him and made pacifist quotes to try to get him to change his worldview and behavior.

## Trivia

-He was most likely referenced by Lin Xiaoyu when she mentioned that in the past demons tricked people by disguising themselves.
-He is the opposite reflection of his descendant Tang Jingze, who is assertive, arrogant and narcissistic, and unlike himself, Tang Jingze’s not gullible and doesn’t believe what he sees blindly.