| Zhu Bajie | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Other Names |
Zhu Wuneng, Monk Pig, Pig, Piggy, or Pigsy |
|
First Appearance |
Journey to the West |
|
Created by |
Wu Cheng'en |
Origin[]
Zhu Bajie also named Zhu Wuneng, is one of the three helpers of the Tripiṭaka along with Sun Wukong and Sha Wujing. He is a major character of the 16th century novel Journey to the West. In many English versions of the story, Zhu Bajie is called "Monk Pig", "Pig", "Piggy", or "Pigsy".
Zhu Bajie looks like a terrible humanoid-pig monster, part human and part pig, who often gets himself and his companions into trouble through his laziness, gluttony, and propensity for lusting after pretty women. He is jealous of Sun Wukong and always tries to bring him down.
Zhu Bajie originally held the title of Tiānpéng Yuánshuài, commander-in-chief of 80,000 Celestial sailors. However, he was later banished for misbehavior. At a party organized for all the significant figures in Heaven, Bajie saw the goddess of the Moon for the first time and was captivated by her beauty. Following a drunken attempt to seduce her, she reported this to the Jade Emperor and thus he was banished to Earth. In popular retellings, Zhu Bajie was sentenced to a thousand lives where each life would end in a love tragedy. In some retellings of the story, his banishment is linked to Sun Wukong's downfall. In any case, he was exiled from Heaven and sent to be reincarnated on Earth, where by mishap he fell into a pig well and was reborn as a man-eating pig-monster known as Zhū Gāngliè.
In the earlier portions of Journey to the West, Wukong and Tang Sanzang come to Gao village and find that a daughter of the village elder had been kidnapped and the abductor left a note demanding marriage. In some versions of the story Bajie has convinced the elder to allow him to marry the daughter based on his ability to do large amounts of hard work due to his prodigious strength. The elder recants when he discovers that, although Zhu Bajie manages to do quite a lot of work in the fields, he manages to eat so much that the farm is losing money anyway. After some investigations, Wukong found out that Bajie was the "villain" behind this. He fought with Wukong, who learns after beating him that he has also been recruited by Guanyin to join their pilgrimage and make atonements for his past sins.
At the end of the novel, most of Bajie's fellow pilgrims achieve enlightenment and become arhats, but he does not; although much improved, he is still too much a creature of his base desires. He is instead rewarded for his part in the pilgrimage's success with a job as "Cleanser of the Altars" and all the leftovers he can eat. However, his actual rank in relation to the others is unclear, but possibly the lowest.
Notes[]
- Journey to the West inspired Akira Toriyama to create the manga series Dragon Ball; the character of Oolong is inspired by Zhu Bajie.