From One Piece to Dragon Ball Z, the most famous names in anime can trace their roots to the journey of Xuanzang to India in the seventh century A.D. Travelling in the footsteps of Fa-Hien, Xuanzang sought the truth about Buddhism and decided to find it in the land of its creation.
His travels inspired the 16th-century Chinese novel, Journey to the West (also known as ‘Monkey’), which is the archetypical novel form for much of modern Asian storytelling. Like Xuanzang, its protagonist traveled to India to find enlightenment from the Buddha. However, in Journey to the West, Sun Wukong (a monkey-king with incredible abilities) physically challenges the Buddha as part of his claim to heaven itself.
Xuanzang had no such intentions. He focused his energies on becoming the best Buddhist scholar that ever lived. His legendary journey to India and return to China made him a renowned figure across Asia. Journey to the West is considered the most popular fiction in China. In contemporary China, it’s said that many still confuse Xuanzang with the famous monkey king.
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