Abstract This thesis aims to study religious tinge in Journey to the west from the fairy-tale language characteristic.

As a fairy-tale novel, the language in Journey to the west is full of fairy-tale color. Wu Chengen uses a humorous method to state his whole attitude towards that time and to reflect religious tinge of Ming dynasty. As a confucianist, his Confucianism thoughts must leave some trail in his work and he maintains feudalism ethics morals in his work. At the same time, the thoughts of Wu Chengen are complex, and this is reflected by his complicated religious thoughts. In Journey to the west, we can notice that Wu Chengen criticizes Taoism and satires Buddhism.53210

Keywords: Journey to the west; fairy-tale; language characteristic; religious tinge    

摘要本文旨在通过西游记中的童话语言研究西游记中所反映出的宗教色彩。西游记作为一部童话小说，其语言是充满童话色彩的，吴承恩采用诙谐幽默的笔调阐述他对那个时代宗教的总体看法，反映明代的宗教特色。吴承恩作为一个正统的儒家弟子，他的儒家思想自然会在其作品中留下印迹，这主要体现为对封建伦理道德的维护。同时，吴承恩的思想也是复杂的，这主要体现为宗教思想上的复杂关系。通过西游记中的童话语言研究，我们可以发现，吴承恩对道教神灵世界的攻讦，同时对佛教也免不了进行一番讽刺。

毕业论文关键词：西游记；童话性；语言特色；宗教色彩

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature review 2

2.1 Languages characteristics in Journey to the west 2

2.2 Religious tinge in Journey to the west 3

3. Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism from the fairy-tale language characteristics in Journey to the west 6

3.1 The Buddhism reflected in Journey to the west 6

3.2 The Taoist characteristics reflected in Journey to the west 9

3.3 Confucianism reflected in Journey to the west 11

4. Reasons analysis 13

4.1 Historical background 13

4.2 The author’s psychology and emotion 14

5. Conclusion 16

Works Cited 18

 1. Introduction

Written by Wu Chengen of Ming dynasty, Journey to the west is one of four Chinese great classical novels, telling about a story of adventure. Till now, many researches about Journey to the west have been published, and these researches give us great help to understand Journey to the west. Researches about the work cover many aspects. For example, Lu xun and Hu shi focus on the problem of the source of Sun wukong, and many other scholars, such as Yuan yulin, make great efforts on Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in the work. However, among these studies, few people analyze the religious tinge from the fairy-tale language characteristics. They do not connect language characteristic to the religions in the work. They do not see the elements in the work as a whole. 

As a fairy-tale novel, the language of the work is full of fairy-tale characteristic. Wu Chengen uses a humorous method to state his whole attitude towards that time and reflect religious tinge of Ming dynasty. As a confucianist, his Confucianism thoughts must leave some trail in his work and he maintained feudalism ethics morals in his work. At the same time, the thoughts of Wu Chengen are complex, and this is reflected by his complicated religious thoughts. In Journey to the west, we can notice that Wu Chengen criticizes Taoism and satires Buddhism.