Only with a sincere heart can we obtain the true scriptures. It takes magic to subdue monsters.
This is a couplet in the former residence of Wu Cheng'en, the author of The Journey to the West, which vividly embodies the spirit of the characters in The Journey to the West: subduing monsters with courage, and sincerely obtaining the true scriptures. The former residence of Wu Cheng'en, a world cultural celebrity, is located at the southernmost tip of Datong Lane under the river in the northwest of Huai 'an City. It consists of Wu Cheng'en's former residence, Wu Cheng'en's life exhibition hall, Monkey King Family Art Museum and Wu Garden.
This couplet was written by Xiao Xianshu, a disciple of Kang Youwei and a famous female calligrapher. The meaning of this couplet has gone far beyond The Journey to the West's original intention. It reveals the true meaning of the world: "It depends on strength to defeat evil and perseverance to succeed".
Extended information:
The Journey to the West is the first romantic chapter-and-verse novel of ancient China. The Journey to the West, a hundred copies of the existing Ming periodicals, has no author's signature. Wu Yu _, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, first proposed that The Journey to the West was written by Wu Cheng'en in Ming Dynasty. This novel is based on the historical event of "Tang priest learning from the scriptures" and deeply depicts the social reality at that time through the author's artistic processing.
The whole book mainly describes the story that the Monkey King met the Tang Priest, Pig Bajie and Friar Sand after he was born and caused havoc in Heaven. He went west to learn from the scriptures, exorcised demons all the way, went through eighty-one difficult, and finally arrived in the Western Heaven to meet the Tathagata Buddha, and finally the five saints came true.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Wu Cheng'en's Former Residence
Baidu Encyclopedia-Journey to the West.