28 The Boat and the Scrolls


high-definition creative commons posters depicting The Boat and the Scrolls from The Journey to the West, together with further information.

Tripitaka and his disciples reach the Holy Mountain, where Tripitaka sheds his mortal body in a bottomless boat. At Buddha’s temple, they initially receive blank scriptures because they refuse to pay a commission to his disciples Ananda and Kasyapa. After trading Tripitaka’s golden begging bowl as payment, they receive 5,048 written scrolls. Finally, Buddha’s guardians carry them back to China on a magic cloud to complete their long quest successfully.

This episode views shedding the earthly body in the bottomless boat as crossing to the Further Shore of transcendent wisdom, free from the corruption of the senses. Buddha’s explanation that the blank scrolls are the true scriptures represents ultimate truth beyond words. Finally, surrendering the Emperor’s golden begging bowl represents releasing the final worldly attachment to receive the sacred texts.

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