Journey to the West Quotes

“I was born with a laughing face!”

“When man has a virtuous thought,
Heaven will grant him support.”

“The lesson of all scriptures concerns only the cultivation of the mind.”

“"Nothing in the world is difficult," said the Patriarch; "only the mind makes it so."”

“Seek not afar for Buddha on Spirit Mount;
Mount Spirit lives only inside your mind.”

“Treasure a handful of dirt from your home,
But love not ten thousand taels of foreign gold.”

“When the mind is pure, it shines forth as a solitary lamp, and when the mind is secure, the entire phenomenal world becomes clarified.”

“"Can this sort of practice lead to immortality?" asked Wukong. "Impossible! Impossible!" said the Patriarch. "I won't learn it then," Wukong said.”

“To serve the ruler or to serve one's parents follows the same principle. You live by the kindness of your parents, and I do by the kindness of my ruler.”

“So then, instead of holding on to the Biblical view that we are made in the image of God, we come to realize that we are made in the image of the monkey.”

“山高自有客行路，水深自有渡船人。
• The tall mountains will have their passageways;
The deep waters will have their ferry boats.”

“灵根育孕源流出，心性修持大道生。
• The divine root conceives, its source revealed;
Mind and nature nurtured, the Great Dao is born.”

“日映岚光轻锁翠，雨收黛色冷含青。
• The sun's beams lightly enclose the azure mist;
In darkening rain, the mount's color turns cool and green.”

“What good is it to take back a wordless, empty volume like this? How could I possibly face the Tang emperor? The crime of mocking one's ruler is greater than one punishable by execution!”

“This Monkey, which is an image of ourselves, is an extremely lovable creature, in spite of his conceit and his mischief. So should we, too, be able to love humanity in spite of all its weaknesses and shortcomings.”

“心生，种种魔生；心灭，种种魔灭。
• When the mind is active all kinds of māra [demons] come into existence; when the mind is extinguished, all kinds of māra will be extinguished.”

“人心生一念，天地悉皆知。善恶若无报，乾坤必有私。
• One wish born in the heart of man
Is known throughout Heaven and Earth.
If vice or virtue lacks reward,
Unjust must be the universe.”

“"The Stone Monkey", from Herbert Giles's Chinese Fairy Tales, at Wikisource”

“These blank texts are actually true, wordless scriptures, and they are just as good as those with words. However, those creatures in your Land of the East are so foolish and unenlightened that I have no choice but to impart to you now the texts with words.”

“Monkey is unique in its combination of beauty with absurdity, of profundity with nonsense. Folk-lore, allegory, religion, history, anti-bureaucratic satire and pure poetry—such are the singularly diverse elements out of which the book is compounded.”