Buddhism in the Classic Chinese Novel Journey to the West: Teaching Two Episodes
Roberta E. Adams

Notes on Buddhist Elements
The Three Stores (or Baskets) of Mahayana Buddhism

Journey to the West presents Mahayana Buddhism, literally the “Great Vehicle,” rather than Theravada (lit. doctrine of the elders) or “Lesser (or Little) Vehicle” Buddhism. (See http://www.exeas.org/resources/foundations-text-4.html for further information on these two major Buddhist sects.) In Chapter 12, Emperor Taizong holds a grand assembly where Tripitaka preaches. Guanyin reproaches him as follows: “Why are you only talking about the doctrine of the Little Vehicle, monk? . . . That doctrine of the Little Vehicle of yours will never bring the dead to rebirth; it’s only good enough for a vulgar sort of enlightenment. . . . I have the Three Stores of the Buddha’s Law of the Great Vehicle, which can save the dead, deliver from suffering, and ensure that the body will live for ever without coming to harm” (Jenner, 290-91). When Taizong asks about the location of this Law of the Great Vehicle, Guanyin replies, “at Thunder Monastery in the land of India in the West, where our Buddha lives” (Jenner, 291). Taizong then chooses Tripitaka to make the trip to obtain the scriptures, giving him the name Tripitaka (in the Waley and Yu translations; Sanzang in Jenner), meaning the “three stores” or baskets. In Chapter 7, Buddha explains the three stores as follows: “I have one store of the Vinaya, the law, which is about Heaven; one of Sastras, expositions which are concerned with Earth; and one of Sutras, or scriptures, which save ghosts. . . . They are the scriptures for cultivating the truth, and the gate to real goodness” (Jenner, 166). Yu cites a scholar who notes the three baskets can “mean, rather, the three constitutive elements of the human self (spirit, [shen], voice, [sheng], vital energy, [qi])” (34).

Works Cited:

Jenner, W. J. F., trans. Journey to the West. Wu Cheng’en. Intro. Shi Changyu. 4 vols. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2001 (1997-1986).

Yu, Anthony C., trans. and ed. The Journey to the West. 4 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977.