[Answer] What Is the Significance of the Eighty-One Tribulations in Journey to the West? Would It Be Better Without Them?

[Answer] What Is the Significance of the Eighty-One Tribulations in Journey to the West? Would It Be Better Without Them?

Only scriptures obtained through tribulations will be truly treasured. If the Bodhisattva had come to the Great Tang and simply distributed them directly, the true scriptures would inevitably have seemed less precious. In that sense, this was the Tathagata’s marketing strategy.

But the Tathagata failed to realize that suffering is meaningful only to Tang Sanzang and his disciples. For the hundreds of thousands of residents of Chang’an, those ten-odd years meant nothing at all; they had no real conception of what happened. Even the Tang Emperor could not truly understand the twists and hardships of the pilgrimage. As for the royal house and common people after his time, they would be even less capable of grasping the true meaning of the scriptures.

Thus, all sentient beings suffer. Even if the true scriptures are brought back, they still cannot deliver the masses from the sea of suffering. And besides, what was obtained in exchange for the purple-gold alms bowl—was it really the true scripture after all?