Zhu Bajie

The fierce and murderous ogre;
Huian, imposing and able.
The iron staff could pulverize the heart;
The rake struck at the face.
The dust thrown up darkened Heaven and Earth;
The flying sand and stones startled gods and ghouls.
The nine−toothed rake
Gleamed and flashed
As its pair of rings resounded;
The lone staff
Was ominously black
As it whirled in its owner's hands.
One was the heir of a Heavenly King,
One defended the Law on Potaraka Island.
The other was an evil fiend in a mountain cave.
In their battle for mastery,
None knew who the winner would be.

In another passage, Pig tells of his legendary rake while battling against Sun Wukong:

This was refined from divine ice−iron,
Polished till it gleamed dazzling white,
Hammered by Lord Lao Zi himself,
While Ying Huo fed the fire with coal−dust.
The Five Emperors of the Five Regions applied their minds to it,
The Six Dings and Six jias went to great efforts.
They made nine teeth of jade,
Cast a pair of golden rings to hang beneath them,
Decorated the body with the Six Bright Shiners and the Five planets,
Designed it in accordance with the Four Seasons and the Eight Divisions.
The length of top and bottom match Heaven and Earth.
Positive and Negative were to left and right, dividing the sun and moon.
The Six Divine Generals of the Oracular Lines are there, following the Heavenly Code;
The constellations of the Eight Trigrams are set out in order.
It was named the Supremely Precious Gold−imbued Rake,
And served to guard the gates of the Jade Emperor's palace.
As I had become a great Immortal,
I now enjoyed eternal life,
And was commissioned as Marshal Tian Peng,

With this rake to mark my imperial office.
When I raise it, fire and light stream forth;
When I lower it, a snowy blizzard blows.
It terrifies the Heavenly Generals,
And makes the King of Hell too quake with fear.
There is no other weapon matching it on Earth,
Nor iron to rival it throughout the world.
It changes into anything I like,
And leaps about whenever I say the spell.
For many a year I've carried it around,
Keeping it with me every single day.
I will not put it down even to eat,
Nor do I when I sleep at night.
I took it with me to the Peach Banquet,
And carried it into the celestial court.
When I sinned my sin in drunken pride,
I used it to force compliance with my evil will.
When Heaven sent me down to the mortal dust,
I committed all kinds of wickedness down here.
I used to devour people in this cave,
Until I fell in love and married in Gao Village.
This rake has plunged beneath the sea to stir up dragons,
And climbed high mountains to smash up tigers' dens.
No other blade is worth a mention
Besides my rake, the sharpest weapon ever.
To win a fight with it requires no effort;

Of course it always brings me glory.
Even if you have an iron brain in a brazen head and a body of steel,
This rake will scatter your souls and send your spirit flying.

During their journey, he atrociously kills many demons with his rake, usually with nine blood-spurting holes in their head.

Zhu Bajie
15th-century depiction of Zhu Bajie

Merits

Respectful

Despite his previous identity as a great marshal who was in charge of 80,000 celestial marines, he always claims Sun Wukong as "brother" with awe and respect while Sun has conflicts with him and often makes fun of him all the way. Of course, another reason for it is he already knows Sun's reputation of being a great fighter in his preexistence.

Soft-hearted

During the journey, many demons change their appearances into children and beautiful women, pretending to be in trouble to confuse them with the intention of eating their master Tang Sanzang. However, though Sun Wukong is capable of detecting demons, Zhu Bajie always manages to persuade his brother to release them rather than capturing or killing them, although his kindness often causes trouble and leads to disaster.

Optimistic

Caricature statues of Zhu Bajie & Sha Wujing on the streets of Lianyungang

Though he is constantly captured by numerous demons throughout the journey, he still behaves normally; even when he is about to be eaten, he does not seem to be anxious compared to his other two mates. This is also related to his background as a marshal in preexistence; rich experience in coping with various incidents makes his emotions fluctuate less. In some readings of this book, it is said that Zhu Bajie deliberately does not use his real power on the journey as he knows every time Monkey King would come and save them all. Even if not, other deities would come and help them.

Demerits

Gluttony

In one part of the book, Zhu Bajie obtains a watermelon and splits it into four pieces to share with his colleagues equally. When he finds watermelon too delicious after finishing his own slice, he finds excuses to eat each piece one by one until he finishes the whole watermelon. He has a big appetite, which is fairly visible in many parts of the story.

Laziness

Zhu Bajie is given to laziness. He seemingly never cares about their troubles and works, and always finds excuses to procrastinate their expedition. Every time the four of them arrive in another country, the local people always welcome them with food and accommodation because they come from the Great Tang Empire, which was both culturally and economically influential to all the surrounding areas at that time. ^[3] Zhu Bajie hence tends to find excuses to persuade his master to stay several more days for better abodes and food due to his greediness.

Lust

When he was a marshal in heaven, he dallied with Chang'e, which was the reason for his banishment. After his reincarnation he drools everytime he meets beauties. Because of his lust the group often sinks into various troubles and even disasters.

All in all, he was given a name that means "eight resistances", which reminded him to resist temptations of the flesh, including lust, laziness, gluttony, and avarice.

See also

• List of media adaptations of Journey to the West

References

Notes

1. (Chinese: 豬八戒; pinyin: Zhū Bājiè; Wade–Giles: Chu¹ Pa¹-chieh⁴)
2. (he has two Buddhist Dharma names, one, "Wuneng" (悟能) given to him by the bodhisattva, Guanyin, and one, "Bajie" (八戒) given to him by Tang Sanzang/Tripiṭaka)

Citations

1. Brose, Benjamin (1 October 2018). "The Pig and the Prostitute: The Cult of Zhu Bajie in Modern Taiwan". Journal of Chinese Religions. 46 (2): 167–196. doi:10.1080/0737769X.2018.1507091. S2CID   171854226 . Retrieved 16 September 2022.
2. Von Glahn, Richard. The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004, p. 121
3. Introduction to the Tang Empire Archived August 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine