《西游记》挑担人考辨

Who Is the Baggage Carrier in A Journey to the West?

以《西游记》文本为事实论据,以佛教唯识宗为理论论据,以"金色猪"为八戒原型论据,以八戒曾经是唐僧的小徒弟为《西游记》成书依据,从这四个方面详细论证了《西游记》挑担人是八戒。最后在厘清是八戒挑担的情况下,还描写了沙僧挑担的疑惑:八戒另有重任在身,担子不得不由沙僧代挑;八戒喜好偷懒,又加上"远路无轻担",沙僧自然伸手援助。这也是沙僧作为唯识宗末那识"传导输送"功能的需要,即"和稀泥""和事老"角色的需要。

This paper proves that the baggage carrier in A Journey to the West is the pig demon Zhu Bajie on the basis of close textual analysis, relevant theories in Buddhism and Bajie＇s prototype and his past ex- perience as Xuanzang, the Buddhist monk＇s disciple. It proceeds to explain the reasons why descriptions are made in the novel on the scenes where the river demon Sha Yujing carries the baggage. It holds that this can be attributed to two reasons. One is that Bajie＇s main task is to protect his master, and the other is that he is a little bit lazy. Therefore, Sha has to take his place when it is necessary. Such an explanation accords with Sha＇s character as a Buddhist message sender and a fence-straddler.