The Temptation of St. Pigsy, final paper

Cacophonous Interpretations of the

Buddhism is one of the prominent and influential religions and philosophies of the world. A basic tenet of Buddhism is that worldly desires and possessions cause all suffering. To absolve one’s self of necessities beyond basic human survival is one of the many plateaus that Buddhists strive to achieve. Furthermore, Buddhists free themselves from temptation via seclusion from society and attempt to allow nature to support them. They believe that Nirvana, the ascension to heaven, can be achieved by freeing oneself of earthly desires.

A young prince named Siddartha, who grew up rich and happy, founded the religion. One day during his travels, he saw three things that immensely impressed him, to the point of changing his whole life: a cadaver, a baby being born and a beggar. Through this experience he concluded that human suffering is caused by the desire to possess; that the sacredness of human life was tarnished by material wants, and by possessions that could so easily be taken away from their owner.

The beggar was poor because the rich did not provide him with the basic necessities or because he spent his time doing things that prevented him from supporting himself. The cadaver’s death could have been prevented depending on the cause of death in many different ways, and the infant, being brought into the world, was to have a life of poverty due to the fact that his mother and father gave in to the natural, worldly desire of sexual intercourse.

Throughout history, many works of literature have been written about these notions. Saint Pigsey, the main character in Wu Ch’eng-en’s “The Temptation of Saint Pigsy,” is a demonstration of the difficulties encountered on the road to the achievement of Buddhist Salvation.

Pigsy is a disciple of the Buddhist master Tripitaka. Tripitaka, Pigsy and two other disciples, Monkey and Sandy, were on their way to the West. Pigsy still has worldly desires: he is carrying a large baggage which contains possessions which he deems necessary for his comfort, but bitterly complaining because of its weight, and seeks to stop at a comfortable estate to sleep. Any person who is new to a religion experiences temptations to break its rules. This was one of those times for Pigsy and he insisted that the group stop there. Monkey and the others come along but proclaim that nature is their home and that the house is a symbol of human desire.