There is absolute crapton of more or less loose intepretations of that story in east Asian popculture, even seemingly unrelated works can suddenly pop one or a lot of it.
I was absolutely amazed that the original monk existed and he secretly came to Nalanda to study buddhism and then he was grandly welcomed by the Chinese emperor. Well, I hope the monkey King story was taken up by Chinese scholars to spice things up 🤣, I mean who wouldn't love magic and wonders.
There is absolute crapton of more or less loose intepretations of that story in east Asian popculture, even seemingly unrelated works can suddenly pop one or a lot of it.
I was absolutely amazed that the original monk existed and he secretly came to Nalanda to study buddhism and then he was grandly welcomed by the Chinese emperor. Well, I hope the monkey King story was taken up by Chinese scholars to spice things up 🤣, I mean who wouldn't love magic and wonders.
Journey to the West is considered one of the 4 classic Chinese novels and is probably most popular of them for centuries already.