![]() ![]() Of all the pilgrims, he is the most prone to vice and least able to overcome his nature. Of the hundreds of chapters, many prominently feature or are caused by Bajie eating/drinking something he shouldn’t, sleeping or gambling during an important task, or lusting after women, no small portion of which turn out to be demons. When Sanzang and Sun Wukong do encounter Bajie, it is at the bequest of his new “father-in-law” desperately seeking someone to exorcise the demon who has moved into his house and eaten all his food. Bajie agrees to wait for Sanzang, but ends up getting distracted by an opportunity to marry into a rich family. After terrorizing local villages and even eating people, he is eventually approached by the Bodhisattva and major plot device of the adventure Guanyin, who offers Bajie a path to redemption by helping the monk Sanzang on his pilgrimage. Whether by mishap or karma, his soul gets lost in a pig farm and he is reborn as a fearsome pig monster. For this behavior he is punished to live a mortal life, or lives, on earth. During one of the Jade Emperor’s parties he becomes drunk and aggressively attempts to seduce Chang’e, the moon goddess. Though a fearsome war god, he is defined by his poor lack of self-control. He is described as a giant with multiple arms, long hair, and three or four eyes. As a Marshal he commanded thousands of soldiers and was associated with the Big Dipper constellation. ![]() Tianpeng was an important member of the heavenly army, serving directly under the Emperor of the North Star, one of the four sovereigns directly below the Jade Emperor himself. The author of the epic, Wu Cheng’en, did not invent this figure but used an actual Tao divinity for the role. ![]()
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