Tang Sanzang

Uncommon card · No. 121925

Tang Sanzang is a fictional Chinese Buddhist monk and pilgrim who is a central character in the 16th-century novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. He is based on the real Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang. His birth surname name was Chen (陳), but having been found in a river as a baby—he was abandoned after birth—he was given the name Jiāng Liú (江流; this 'milk name' literally meaning "River Float", a nod to the fact that he was found in a river). When he first became a monk, his Dharma name is Xuánzàng (玄奘; literally meaning "Great Mystery"). Later, upon swearing brotherhood with the Tang Emperor, he gains the new surname, Tang (唐), and for the pilgrimage, he is called by the new given-name/epithet, Sānzàng (三藏, lit. The "Three Baskets"; referring to the Tripiṭaka), but is also widely known by his courtesy name Tang Seng (唐僧, lit. the "Tang Monk"). The title Sānzàng refers to his mission to seek the Sanzangjing, or the "Three Collections of (Buddhist Great vehicle) Scriptures". In some...

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