Was the Monkey King in The Journey to the West created by Wu Cheng'en or adapted from history?

Was the Monkey King in The Journey to the West created by Wu Cheng'en or adapted from history?

The Journey to the West, one of Four Great Classical Novels, is a novel written by Wu Cheng'en in Ming Dynasty based on the real experience of Xuanzang, a monk in Tang Dynasty. The Tang Priest in the novel is Xuanzang, so is the Monkey King in the novel created by Wu Cheng'en or is it based on history?

A mural of more than 900 years ago in Dongqianfo Cave, Guazhou County, Gansu Province gives the answer.

In Dongqianfo Cave, Guazhou County, Jiuquan City, Gansu Province, China, there is a mural more than 900 years ago, depicting the image of Xuanzang's master and apprentice, which has become the earliest known "Xuanzang Learning Map".

Buddhist scriptures in the East Thousand Buddha Cave

Guazhou County, located at the western end of Hexi Corridor, is a transportation hub and an important commercial port on the ancient Silk Road. The world-famous Dunhuang Cave Group is located here. East Thousand Buddha Cave and Yulin Cave are important parts of it.

There are 23 caves in the East Thousand Buddha Cave, which are famous for their rich and exquisite cave murals. Among them, the two caves dug in Xixia period are the largest, which are called "the second cave in Xixia" by experts. Here, experts found six Xixia murals recording the Buddhist scriptures of Xuanzang, a monk in the Tang Dynasty. The earliest one was in hole 2.

On the east and west walls of the tunnel behind Cave 2, there is a painted Shuiyue Guanyin, which is a masterpiece with exquisite skills. More importantly, this mural shows the earliest known Map of Xuanzang in the history of China, which shows the picture of Xuanzang's devotion to Guanyin when he went west to seek the Dharma.

"Shuiyue Guanyin" is one of the Buddhist thirty-three guanyin. The main body of the mural is Guanyin, who sits calmly and is surrounded by colorful clouds. In the lower right corner of the picture is Xuanzang and his disciples. Xuanzang's face was plump, he was dressed in cassock, and his hands were folded in front of Guanyin, quiet and pious; Monkey-faced apprentice, holding a horse and building a arbor by hand, looked at Guanyin curiously, and his naughty expression jumped from the wall. Although the image of Guanyin occupies a large part of the whole painting, there are relatively few images of Tang Priest and his disciples, but judging from the details of the characters' clothes and the lack of packages and wooden boxes with scriptures on horseback, the murals depict the scene of Xuanzang on his way to learn from the scriptures.

To sum up, there is a historical basis for the Monkey King to be Wu Cheng'en in Journey to the West.