Zhu Bajie

Zhu Bajie (Chinese: 豬⼋戒; pinyin: Zhū

Bājiè; Wade–Giles: Chu1 Pa1-chieh4), also
named Zhu Wuneng, is one of the three
helpers of Tang Sanzang and a major
character of the 16th century novel
Journey to the West. Zhu means "swine"
and Bajie means "eight precepts".
Buddhist scholars consider that both
expressions are related to "Śīla pāramitā".
In many English versions of the story, Zhu
Bajie is called "Monk Pig", "Pig", "Piggy", or
"Pigsy".
 Zhu Bajie

Zhu Bajie

Chinese name

Traditional Chinese 豬⼋戒

Simplified Chinese 猪⼋戒

Transcriptions

Standard Mandarin

Hanyu Pinyin Zhū Bājiè

Wade–Giles Chu1 Pa1-chieh4

Gan

Romanization Chu Pat Kāi

Yue: Cantonese
Zhu Wuneng
Jyutping Zyu1 Baat3 Gaai3
Traditional Chinese 豬悟能

Southern Min
Simplified Chinese 猪悟能

Hokkien POJ Tu Pat-kài

Transcriptions

Standard Mandarin
Vietnamese name
Hanyu Pinyin Zhū Wùnéng
Vietnamese Tr ư Bát Giới
1 4 2
Wade–Giles Chu Wu -neng
Hán-Nôm 豬⼋戒
Yue: Cantonese
Thai name
Jyutping Zyu1 Ng6 Nang4
Thai ตอโปª ยกาย

RTGS Tue Poikai (from

Teochew "Tu poih-kài")

Korean name

Hangul 저팔계

Hanja 豬⼋戒

Transcriptions

Revised Romanization Jeo Palgye

 Japanese name
Kanji 猪⼋戒

Hiragana ちょ はっかい

Transcriptions

Romanization Cho Hakkai

Khmer name

Khmer ជូ ៉ េច

Zhu Bajie is a complex and developed

character in the novel. He looks like a
terrible humanoid-pig monster, part human
and part pig (reminiscent of Jimmy
Squarefoot from Manx folklore), who often
gets himself and his companions into
trouble through his laziness, gluttony, and
propensity for lusting after pretty women.
He is jealous of Sun Wukong and always
tries to bring him down.[1]

His Buddhist name "Zhu Wuneng", given by

Bodhisattva Guanyin, means "pig
(reincarnated) who is aware of ability" or
"pig who rises to power", a reference to the
fact that he values himself so much as to
forget his own grisly appearance. Tang
Sanzang gave him the nickname Bājiè
which means "eight restraints" or "eight
commandments" to remind him of his
Buddhist diet.
In the original Chinese novel, he is often
called dāizi (呆⼦), meaning "idiot". Sun
Wukong, Tang Sanzang, and even the
author consistently refers to him as "the
idiot" over the course of the story.
Bodhisattvas and other heavenly beings
usually refer to him as "Heavenly
Tumbleweed", his former name when
he was a heavenly marshal.

In modern times, Zhu Bajie is seen as a

patron deity of masseuses, hostesses, and
prostitutes within Taiwan and other parts
of East Asia.[2]

Character
Zhu Bajie originally held the title of
Tiānpéng Yuánshuài (天篷元帅; lit. "Marshal
Canopy"), commander-in-chief of 80,000
Celestial sailors. However, he was later
banished for misbehavior. At a party
organized for all the significant figures in
Heaven, Bajie saw the goddess of the
Moon for the first time and was captivated
by her beauty. Following a drunken
attempt to seduce her, she reported this
to the Jade Emperor and thus he was
banished to Earth. In popular retellings,
Zhu Bajie was sentenced to a thousand
lives where each life would end in a love
tragedy. In some retellings of the story, his
banishment is linked to Sun Wukong's
downfall. In any case, he was exiled from
Heaven and sent to be reincarnated on
Earth, where by mishap he fell into a pig
well and was reborn as a man-eating pig-
monster known as Zhū Gāngliè (猪刚鬛 the
"strong-maned pig").

In the earlier portions of Journey to the

West, Wukong and Tang Sanzang come
to Gao village and find that a daughter of
the village elder had been kidnapped and
the abductor left a note demanding
marriage. In some versions of the story
Bajie has convinced the elder to allow him
to marry the daughter based on his ability
to do large amounts of hard work due to
his
prodigious strength. The elder recants
when he discovers that, although Zhu Bajie
manages to do quite a lot of work in the
fields, he manages to eat so much that the
farm is losing money anyway. After some
investigations, Wukong found out that
Bajie was the "villain" behind this. He
fought with Wukong, who learns after
beating him that he has also been
recruited by Guanyin to join their
pilgrimage and make atonements for his
past sins.

At the end of the novel, most of Bajie's

fellow pilgrims achieve enlightenment
and become arhats, but he does not;
although
much improved, he is still too much a
creature of his base desires. He is instead
rewarded for his part in the pilgrimage's
success with a job as "Cleanser of the
Altars" (Chinese: 淨壇使者; pinyin: Jingtan
Shizhe) and all the leftovers he can eat.
However, his actual rank in relation to
the others is unclear, but possibly the
lowest.

Pre-existence
In traditional Chinese Taoism, there is a
divine goddess named Doumu Yuanjun (⽃
姆元君) who was acclaimed as the mother
of all the constellations, even the Emperor
Zi-Wei is her son. She has four faces
while
one of them is akin to a pig's face.
Tiānpéng Yuánshuài (天篷元帅; lit.
"Marshal Heavenly Mugwort") is one of her
most significant understrappers, which is
the head general of the North Pole.[3]

天篷元帥 (Tian Peng Yuan Shuai)

According to the depiction in the chapter
217 of 《道法会元》, a biography of
Taoism and Chinese mythical stories
compiled in Ming Dynasty; Tiānpéng
Yuánshuài was a blazing powerful marshal
in the North Pole. A phrase depicts his
appearance as:

He was scarily imposing with three heads

and six arms, red hair, red armor all over;
Holding a magic seal, an axe, a firm rope in
left hands and a convulsion bell, a
symbolic artifact of constellations and a
long sword in right. He leads 360,000
warriors; travels along with scary and dark
gas, in which there is a five-colored cloud.
Numerous deities with great
respect always greet his arrivals.

Under his reign, there are a mass of strong

myrmidons, with a piece of description
withdrawn from ancient books and
records of Taoism, three of the most
outstanding ones are:

1. "Mahatma of heaven": with height

of over a hundred feet, wearing a
light- colored gown, disheveled long
hair, could create incantatory power
with his fingers, holding a sharp
sword in his right hand.
 2. "The Great General of mixed
pneuma": Wearing a high crest
and golden corselet the whole
body, equipped by a bow, an
arrow, and a halberd.

3. "Four-eyed thunder marshal": Aged,

with four eyes and a walks with a
crutch. Accompanied by two august
emissaries.

Also, there are 36 generals and a group of

Divine warriors under his dominion;
anyhow, as is depicted in myth of Chinese
Taoism, he is the commander of a huge
deity system in the Northern Pole, in which
a great number of valiant deity generals
and warriors who all controlled by the
Emperor Zi-Wei.

Nevertheless, Zhu Bajie was possibly

influenced by Varaha, an avatar of the
Hindu god Vishnu, whose name means
"boar" in sanskrit, which is named after his
form of a boar.

The golden statues at the Rua Yai City Pillar Shrine in Suphan Buri, Thailand

In the novel, after he is punished and

becomes Zhu Bajie, there is an obvious
recession in both his confidence and
power which makes him less militant and
lazier as we can find in many parts in the
original passage. However, with the
remains of power he used to have in his
preexistence, he is still capable of fighting
against most of the devils appear in their
way of journey and in this regard, Sun
Wukong always prefers to bring him
together when having battles with enemies
although they have intermittent personal
conflicts all the way.

Nine-toothed rake
Zhu Bajie slaying demons with his rake

The nine-toothed rake (simplified Chinese:

九⻮钉耙; traditional Chinese: 九⿒釘耙;
pinyin: jiǔchǐdīngpá; Wade–Giles: Chiu2-
ch‘ih3 Ting1-p‘a2; lit. 'Nine-Tooth Spike- Rake')
is the primary weapon of Zhu Bajie. This
phrase depicts the first point in which
Bajie's legendary nine-toothed rake had
been used:
The fierce and murderous ogre;
Huian, imposing and able.
The iron staff could pulverize
the heart;
The rake struck at the face.
The dust thrown up darkened
Heaven and Earth;
The fiying sand and stones
startled gods and ghouls.
The nine−toothed rake
Gleamed and fiashed
As its pair of rings resounded;
The lone staff
Was ominously black
 As it whirled in its owner's
hands.
One was the heir of a Heavenly
King,
One defended the Law on
Potaraka Island.
The other was an evil fiend in a
mountain cave.
In their battle for mastery, None
knew who the winner would be.

In another passage, Pig tells of his

legendary rake while battling against Sun
Wukong:

This was refined from divine

ice−iron,
Polished till it gleamed dazzling
white,
Hammered by Lord Lao Zi
himself,
While Ying Huo fed the fire with
coal−dust.
The Five Emperors of the Five
Regions applied their minds to it,
The Six Dings and Six jias went
to great efforts.
They made nine teeth of jade,
Cast a pair of golden rings to
hang beneath them,
Decorated the body with the Six
Bright Shiners and the Five
planets,
Designed it in accordance with
the Four Seasons and the Eight
Divisions.
The length of top and bottom
match Heaven and Earth.
Positive and Negative were to
left and right, dividing the sun
and moon.
The Six Divine Generals of the
Oracular Lines are there,
following the Heavenly Code;
The constellations of the Eight
Trigrams are set out in order.
It was named the Supremely
Precious Gold−imbued Rake,
And served to guard the gates of
the Jade Emperor's palace.
As I had become a great
Immortal,
I now enjoyed eternal life,
And was commissioned as
Marshal Tian Peng,

With this rake to mark my

imperial office.
When I raise it, fire and light
stream forth;
When I lower it, a snowy
blizzard blows.
It terrifies the Heavenly
Generals,
And makes the King of Hell too
quake with fear.
There is no other weapon
matching it on Earth,
Nor iron to rival it throughout
the world.
It changes into anything I like,
And leaps about whenever I say
the spell.
For many a year I've carried it
around,
Keeping it with me every single
day.
I will not put it down even to
eat,
Nor do I when I sleep at night.
I took it with me to the Peach
Banquet,
And carried it into the celestial
court.
When I sinned my sin in
drunken pride,
I used it to force compliance
with my evil will.
When Heaven sent me down to
the mortal dust,
I committed all kinds of
wickedness down here.
I used to devour people in this
cave,
Until I fell in love and married in
Gao Village.
This rake has plunged beneath
the sea to stir up dragons,
And climbed high mountains to
smash up tigers' dens.
No other blade is worth a
mention
Besides my rake, the sharpest
weapon ever.
To win a fight with it requires no
effort;

Of course it always brings me

glory.
Even if you have an iron brain in
 a brazen head and a body of
steel,
This rake will scatter your souls and
send your spirit fiying.

During their journey, he atrociously kills

many demons with his rake, usually
with nine blood-spurting holes in their
head.

Personality

Merits

Respectful
Despite his previous identity as a great
marshal who was in charge of 80,000
celestial marines, he always claims Sun
Wukong as "brother" with awe and respect
while Sun has conflicts with him and often
makes fun of him all the way. Of course,
another reason for it is he already knows
Sun's reputation of being a great fighter in
his preexistence.

Soft-hearted

During the journey, many demons change

their appearances into children and
beautiful women, pretending to be in
trouble to confuse them with the intention
of eating their master Tang Sanzang.
However, though Sun Wukong is
capable of detecting demons, Zhu Bajie
always manages to persuade his brother
to release them rather than capturing or
killing them, although his kindness often
causes trouble and leads to disaster.

Optimistic

Cartoons of Zhu Bajie & Sha Wujing on the streets of Lianyungang

Though he is constantly captured by
numerous demons throughout the journey,
he still behaves normally; even when he is
about to be eaten, he does not seem to be
anxious compared to his other two mates.
This is also related to his background as a
marshal in preexistence; rich experience in
coping with various incidents makes his
emotions fluctuate less. In some readings
of this book, it is said that Zhu Bajie
deliberately does not use his real power
on the journey as he knows every time
Monkey King would come and save them
all. Even if not, other deities would come
and help them.
Demerits

Gluttony

As the proverb goes, eating is the most

important thing in daily lives. Zhu Bajie in
this regard is the best of the best. For
example, in one part of the book, he
obtains a watermelon and splits it into four
pieces to share with his colleagues
equally. When he finds watermelon too
delicious after finishing his own slice, he
finds excuses to eat each piece one by one
until he finishes the whole watermelon. He
has a big appetite, which is fairly visible in
many parts of the story.
Laziness

Zhu Bajie is given to laziness. He

seemingly never cares about their troubles
and works, and always finds excuses to
procrastinate their expedition. Every time
the four of them arrive in another country,
the local people always welcome them
with food and accommodation because
they come from the Great Tang Empire,
which was both culturally and
economically influential to all the
surrounding areas at that time.[4] Zhu Bajie
hence tends to find excuses to persuade
his master to stay several more days for
better abodes and food due to his
greediness.

Lust

When he was a marshal in heaven, he

dallied with Chang'e, which was the
reason for his banishment. After his
reincarnation he drools everytime he
meets beauties.
Because of his lust the group often sinks
into various troubles and even disasters.

All in all, he was given a name that means

"eight resistances", which reminded him to
resist temptations of the flesh, including
lust, laziness, gluttony, and avarice.
See also
List of media adaptations of Journey
to the West

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zhu Bajie.

1. "Zhu Bajie, Zhu Wuneng" (https://www.

nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_
Customs/Zhu_Bajie.htm) . Nations
Online. Retrieved 4 April 2020.

2. Brose, Benjamin (1 October 2018).

"The Pig and the Prostitute: The Cult of
Zhu Bajie in Modern Taiwan" (https://w
ww.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/
 0737769X.2018.1507091) . Journal of
Chinese Religions. 46 (2): 167–196.
doi:10.1080/0737769X.2018.1507091
(https://doi.org/10.1080%2F0737769
X.2018.1507091) . S2CID 171854226
(https://api.semanticscholar.org/Corp
usID:171854226) . Retrieved
16 September 2022.

3. Von Glahn, Richard. The Sinister Way:

The Divine and the Demonic in
Chinese Religious Culture. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2004, p.
121

4. Introduction to the Tang Empire (htt

p://afe.easia.columbia.edu/webcours
 e/key_points/kp_4.htm) Archived (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/201208020
22436/http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/
webcourse/key_points/kp_4.htm)
August 2, 2012, at the Wayback
Machine

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