三蔵法師、孫悟空猪八戒の相互関係

The most important roles in the story are played by the heart — the desire to be present, symbolized by Sanzang — and the mind, ruling faculty or steward, the knowledge and skills of Monkey. Pig also plays an important role because he symbolizes the instinctive centre. The instinctive centre is not really interested in presence, it is always looking out for its own interests and tries to find ways to quit the journey to the present. Pig is basically interested in food, sleep and women. He constantly clashes with Monkey and tries to make Monkey look bad in Sanzangs eyes.

かくて、この化けものね、陰風をとめるや、山凹地でからだをひと揺すりしたものです。 それで、月が花にも見まがう美女に変身したのでした。左手には青い素焼の壷，右手には録いろの磁器の瓶をぶらさけ、西から東に向かって走ってくると、三藏のほうにやってまいりました。 "Where are you going, Bodhisattva," he said,"and what's that you're holding?" Although she was obviously an evil fiend he could not realize it. “Venerable sir,” the girl replied at once, "this blue pot is full of tasty rice, and the green jar contains fried wheat-balls." 行者道 ：“ ，你面前这个女子，莫当做个好人。他是个妖精，要来骗你哩,掣铁棒，望妖精劈脸一下。那怪物有些手段，使个解尸法，见行者棍子来时，他却抖擞精神，预先走了，把一个假尸首打死在地下。唬得个长老战战兢兢，口中作念道：“这猴着然无礼！屡劝不从，无故伤人性命！”行者道：“师父莫怪，你且来看看这罐子里是甚东西。”沙僧搀着长老，近前看时，那里是甚香米饭，却是一罐子拖尾巴的长蛆；也不是面筋，却是几个青蛙、癞虾蟆，满地乱跳。长老才有三分儿信了，怎禁猪八戒气不忿，在旁漏八分儿唆嘴道 ：“师父，说起这个女子，他是此间农妇，因为送饭下田，路遇我等，却怎么栽他是个妖怪？哥哥的棍重，走将来试手打他一下，不期就打杀了！怕你念什么《紧箍儿咒》，故意的使个障眼法儿，变做这等样东西，演幌你眼，使不念咒哩 。” 三藏自此一言，就是晦气到了，果然信那呆子撺唆，手中捻诀，口里念咒，行者就叫 ：“头疼，头疼，莫念，莫念！有话便说 。”
-- 西游记

Monkey, the steward, is doing it’s job of protecting the desire to be present, but Pig, the instinctive centre, intentionally creates trouble for monkey, with the aim of sabotaging the journey. The instinctive centre prefers a comfortable live, to a journey with much suffering and hardship.

The statue on the left, from the Strassbourg cathedral shows the tempter. It symbolizes the same idea as conveyed in the story. The lower self is offering some interesting `I`s, symbolized by the apple, and by the blue earthware pot and the green pocelain pot in the Journey to the West, to take one away from the effort to be present. The reptiles on the back of the tempter, and in the demon's pot, symbolize that the lower self is behind the trick.

那唐僧在马上，又唬得战战兢兢，口不能言。八戒在旁边又笑道 ：“好行者！风发了！只行了半日路，倒打死三个人 ！” 唐僧正要念咒，行者急到马前，叫道 ：“师父，莫念，莫念！你且来看看他的模样 。”却是一堆粉骷髅在那里。唐僧大惊道：“悟空，这个人才死了，怎么就化作一堆骷髅？”行者道 ：“他是个潜灵作怪的僵尸，在此迷人败本，被我打杀，他就现了本相。他那脊梁上有一行字，叫做白骨夫人 。”唐僧闻说，倒也信了。怎禁那八戒旁边唆嘴道 ：“师父，他的手重棍凶，把人打死，只怕你念那话儿，故意变化这个模样，掩你的眼目哩！”唐僧果然耳软，又信了他，随复念起。行者禁不得疼痛，跪于路旁，只叫 ：“莫念，莫念！有话快说了罢 ！
-- 西游记

Sanzang represents a cultivated heart, completely dedicated to being present. However, he is also very naïve and soft-hearted and can`t see through the disguise of the demons. Justice is very important for him, and because he can`t see the truth and can only act from what he understands, he is often discontented with Monkey, because Monkey seemingly does something unjust. The inner meaning of this is, that when we make efforts to be present, we have to let go of all our worries, even if they concern things that we feel are unjust, because the lower self will send out very clever thoughts to make us more interested in these thoughts than in being present. Justice doesn`t exist on the level of every day life, it only exists on a higher level. To awaken, one needs to learn to accept all the friction in one`s life and use it, transform it into presence. When one is successful the friction one experienced becomes unimportant, one simply becomes grateful for experiencing the miracle of being present to one`s life. Sanzang doesn`t want awakening to be a war, but it is. However, through experience he learns to trust Monkey more and more, and also learns to see Pig for what he is.

天の扉を開くための戦争がある。そのような戦争を戦う
運命に生まれた戦士は幸いである。
-- バガヴァッドギーター

The skeleton in the Tarot death card symbolizes the lower self, similar to the demon corpse in the Journey to the West.