Wu Cheng'en · 1592 · overland

The great Ming novel of pilgrimage. The monk Tripitaka and his disciples - Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy - travel from Tang China along the Silk Road to India for the Buddhist scriptures, surviving eighty-one ordeals. Traced here on the real pilgrim road of Xuanzang, the journey on which the tale was built.

1. 1
   Chang'an (Xi'an)

   The monk Tripitaka leaves the Tang capital, sent by the Emperor to fetch the holy scriptures from the West.

2. 2
   Hexi Corridor (Liangzhou)

   Into the western marches - and the mountain where Monkey, pinned five hundred years, becomes his first disciple.

3. 3
   Dunhuang & the Jade Gate

   The last outpost of Tang China; beyond the Jade Gate lie the deserts of the Western Regions.

4. 4
   The Flaming Mountains (Turpan)

   The blazing Flaming Mountains, whose fires yield only to Princess Iron Fan's magic fan.

5. 5
   Kucha

   A great Buddhist oasis-kingdom on the rim of the Taklamakan sands.

6. 6
   Kashgar

   The western gate of the desert, where the caravan roads gather beneath the Pamirs.

7. 7
   Balkh (Bactria)

   Over the high Pamirs to ancient Bactria, a long-settled seat of the Dharma.

8. 8
   Bamiyan

   The cliffs of Bamiyan, where colossal Buddhas stood carved into the rock.

9. 9
   Taxila (Gandhara)

   Through the passes into Gandhara, cradle of Buddhist art and learning.

10. 10
    Sarnath (Varanasi)

    Down to the Ganges plain, near where the Buddha first turned the Wheel of the Law.

11. 11
    Vulture Peak (Rajgir)

    Spirit Mountain at last - the Thunderclap Monastery, where the Buddha grants the true scriptures.