Sanzang — The Heart

As the Heart's Nature Is Cultivated, the Great Way Arises.
-- Journey to the West

The quote above is the first line in the book and shows what the book is about. The passions are powerful and we easily attach ourselves to them. Cultivating the heart means freeing ourselves of the passions and cultivating the desire to be present.

Occasions give rise to distractive thoughts,
thoughts to fantasies, fantasies to the passions,
and the passions give entry to the demons.
-- Philokalia, Gregory of Sinai

In one of the adventures, a demon wants to get Sanzang`s heart because it is very pure, to make an elixir that would enable him to live very long. Monkey changes himself into Sanzang and goes to meet the demon.

Taking the knife, the imitation Tang Priest cut the skin of his stomach open with the knife in his right hand. There was a whoosh, and out rolled a whole pile of hearts. The imitation Tang Priest then held up the hearts one by one. They included a loyal red heart, a pure white heart, a yellow heart, an avaricious heart, a fame-hungry heart, a jealous heart, a calculating heart, an over-competitive heart, an ambitious heart, an overbearing heart, a murderous heart, a vicious heart, a frightened heart, a cautious heart, a heretical heart and a heart full of indefinable gloom.
-- Journey to the West

The many hearts symbolize all the different passions we have, many of which are contradictory. Cultivating the heart means cultivating the desire to be present to one`s life, making presence the most important thing in one`s life.

When passions have been cast out one understands the heavenly state.
-- Wang Yangming

The moment one makes effort to be present one has to leave all the other desires and thoughts, one has to leave all other hearts. However, if one sets for oneself the aim to awaken the God within oneself, one will start to see that many parts in one, especially the instinctive center, are not interested in this at all and will resist it. A struggle begins between the part that wants to awaken and the parts that are not interested in it. This struggle is symbolized by war. In all Esoteric writings there are passages about war which all symbolize the struggle between the many I`s in a man, like the Persian image of a battle in a man`s head shows.

There is a war that opens the doors of heaven. Happy the warriors whose fate is to fight such war.
-- Bhagavad-Gita

Your master and you disciples have not yet come to the end of the demons you will have to deal with. That is why every kind of spiritual creature has been coming down to earth. It`s right that you should suffer.
-- Journey to the West

The character Sanzang represents the heart`s desire to be present. The most important thing for him is to reach Vulture Peak (Presence). He is willing to give up everything to achieve this goal.

“When the heart lives,” Sanzang replied, “all kinds of demons come into being; but when it is extinguished,
the demons are extinguished too".
-- Journey to the West

The stillness of meditation gives rise to evil spirits.
-- Journey to the West

When the hearts lives refers to the desire and the effort to be present. When this desire appears and one makes effort to be present, the demons come into being. Demons refer to thoughts and emotions that interfere with this effort. When one tries to be present, the lower self (the demons) will do everything to get rid of this effort, because when the Higher Self is present the lower self can no longer be in control, but has to be passive.

When Sanzang reaches Vulture Peak, he sheds his mortal body.

Gently and strongly the Budhha pushed off the boat, at which a corpse came floating downstream to the horror of the venerable elder. “Don’t be frightened, Master,”,said Monkey. “That’s you”. “It’s you, it’s you”, said Pig.
Friar Sand clapped his hands as he put in too, “It’s you”! The boatman gave a call,
then also put in, too, “It's you! Congratulations! Congratulations!”
-- Journey to the West

Sanzang shedding his mortal body means that the desire and effort to reach presence is no longer needed because one has reached presence.

The Boy Fools with Transformations, Disturbing the Dhyana Heart,
Ape and Horse Return with a Knife; the Mother of Wood Is Empty.

The above quote is the title of one of the chapters, in which a demon boy captures Sanzang, who is called the Dhyana (meditation) heart. Sanzang is captured again and again by demons on his Journey to Vulture Peak. This symbolizes how when we try to be present, another thought enters, we listen to it and the desire to be present disappears.

The splendid evil spirit then conjured up a whirlwind in mid-air and scooped the Tang Priest up in his wind.
-- Journey to the West

I am the demon warrior Indrajit, hard to see. I fight invisibly, hidden by enchantment from your sight. I attack behind the wild winds of evil thought.
-- Ramayana

An evil thought is a thought that takes us away from our effort to be present. A good thought is a thought that reminds us to be present. For example, while one is trying to be present, a thought comes up about a friend who didn`t keep his promise. Instead of letting this 'I' pass by, one listens to it, and completely forgets about the effort to be present. I fight invisibly from your sight, refers to the lower self bringing thoughts unrelated to being present. We start to listen to these thoughts without observing what's happening, invisibly from our sight, and the effort to be present stops. This happens without awareness, in a state of psychological sleep and as a result, the desire to be present disappears. This desire, symbolized by Sanzang, is the most important desire we can have and it must be protected.

The heart must be frequently swept,
The dust of emotions removed,
Lest the Buddha be trapped in the pit.
-- Journey to the West

Sweeping the heart relates to observing when I`s unrelated to our effort to be present come, not listening or attaching ourselves to them, but just letting them go and continuing to be present. However, Sanzang is very naive and is caught by demons again and again, because he can`t see through their disguises. This means that our heart takes interest in these thoughts and doesn`t understand in that moment, that to listen to these thoughts is deadly. The demons take different forms, a lovely young girl or an old woman in need, representing beautiful or urgent thoughts. Therefore, Sanzang cannot reach Vulture Peak alone.

The Buddha of the West lives in the Great Thunder Monastery in the land of India, one hundred and eight thousand miles away from here. You'll never get there, just you and your horse, without a companion or disciple.
-- Journey to the West

This symbolizes that the desire to be present alone is not enough, one needs knowledge and tools to get there, because the demons are very clever.