In 643 AD, Xuanzang(Tripitaka) bid farewell to King Harsha Vardhana and began his journey back to China.
Yet even within India’s borders, disaster struck. While crossing the Indus River on his return route, a fierce wind capsized Xuanzang’s boat, plunging all the Buddhist sutras into the water. Part of the sacred texts was lost, forcing Xuanzang to painstakingly recopy them by hand during the remainder of his journey.
This real-life incident inspired a pivotal episode in Journey to the West.
In the novel, as Tang Monk and his disciples soared on clouds, Avalokitesvara (Guanyin Bodhisattva) realized they had endured only 80 of the required 81 calamities.
After the Bodhisattva had read through the entire registry of ordeals, she said hurriedly, “Within our gate of Buddhism, nine times nine is the crucial means by which one returns to perfection. The sage monk has undergone eighty ordeals. Because one ordeal, therefore, is still lacking, the sacred number is not yet complete.”
— Journey to the West, Chapter 99
To fulfill the final trial, she summoned a fierce wind to hurl them from the sky. The giant tortoise carrying them then betrayed them, dumping both the pilgrims and the sutras into a river. Though most scriptures were later salvaged, a few pages were lost—echoing Xuanzang’s historical ordeal.
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