论文总字数：25107字

摘 要

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Different Historical Background of Chinese and English Religions

2.1. English Reformation and Puritanism Campaign

2.2. The Convergence of Three Religions

2.3. The Two Authors’ Experiences

3. A Comparative Analysis on the Religious Elements of the Two Books

3.1 The Narrative Mode With Strong Religious Content

3.2 The Extensive Use of Religious Terms and References

3.3 The Archetype of Characters in Religious Books

4. Major Findings of and Significance in the Comparative Study 11

4.1 Medium of Broadcasting Literature and Culture 11

4.2 Cross-cultural Studies 11

5. Conclusion 12

Acknowledgements

I would like to take this opportunity to thank to lots of people who give me some advice and encouragement. Without their support, I couldn’t finish this thesis.

First and foremost, my deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor Mrs. Zhang Zhifang, for her patient guidance and constructive suggestions. During the process of writing the paper, she gave me enlightening advice and provided some significant materials, which contributes to my research. She carefully revised my thesis and optimized its structure, content and grammar. When I was confused about the content of my thesis, she helped me look up information and materials and gave me some inspiration to continue my research. Without her generous support, it’s impossible for me to accomplish this paper.

Furthermore, I am greatly indebted to my classmates and friends who give me spiritual support and help me to build up confidence. When I was frustrated to continue my research, they always share their ideas and experience about writing a paper, which encourages me to write it down.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents who always take care of me, especially during the process of writing thesis. They always give strong backing to me, which deserve my deepest respect and gratitude.

摘要

在世界文学史的发展进程中，不论西方文学，无一不反映着当时的社会现状和宗教内涵。作为中西方理想主义文学的经典杰出代表作品，约翰·班杨的《天路历程》和吴承恩的《西游记》虽然创作于不同的社会历史背景和宗教色彩大环境之下，但是在宗教元素方面有异曲同工之妙。本文就此展开研究，着重于比较两者的宗教叙事模式、原型和宗教术语的应用方面的问题，最后阐述此研究对社会以及跨文化交流的影响。

关键词：《天路历程》；《西游记》；宗教元素；跨文化研究

Abstract

Throughout the history of world literature, all works no matter Chinese or western literature reflect the social conditions and religious connotation of that period. As one of the most representative works of religious realism in the histories of English and Chinese religious literature, and sharing many similarities in narrative mode, themes, subject matters, and the idea of redemption and atonement, The Pilgrim’s Progress and Journey to the West are worth comparing and studying. This paper make a comparative study on religious elements of the two works and analyze the influence exercised on the society and cross-cultural communication.

Key words: The Pilgrim’s Progress; Journey to the West; religious elements; cross-cultural studies

1.Introduction

Arising from different living environment, lifestyles, historical traditions, national beliefs and aesthetic thinking, distinguished national characteristics in the culture has been shaped. Thus, there is no doubt that different nations has its special and typical culture. However, people behave similarly in thoughts, emotions, actions and many other aspects, which is a reflection that similar culture exists in different nations. As the most important part of culture, literature works obviously share many similarities in a lot of aspects as well, including the religious elements.

This paper is mainly about the comparative study on the religious elements of The Pilgrims Progress and Journey to the West. The comparative study is mainly stressed. According to Qian Zhongshu (2004: 24), “ it is not only possible, but also valuable to conduct a parallel study between Chinese and western literature works beyond the scope of the effective connection. Meanwhile, based on different cultural backgrounds, the conclusion draw from the comparative thought is meaningful generally.”

Comparative literature studies puts emphasis on inter-communities of literature in different spaces without the restriction of times, nations and languages. Meanwhile, resulting from the similar development of social history, it gives rise to the same taste for one thing on the basis of the same ideology, aesthetic experience, and artistic thought. Therefore, in order to make the paper more convincing, comparative literature study has been adopted.

John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress is reckoned as one of the most famous popular and the most ingenious work in the western christian countries while Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng’en enjoys the reputation of the most famous work associated with historical backgrounds and full of religious elements. The Pilgrim’s Progress was finished in 17th century in England while Wu Cheng’en wrote Journey to the West in the Ming Dynasty, about the mid of 16th century. Although there exists many differences in long distance and time scope, the two literature works are like the mirror of that time when the society messed up with turbulent situations and ideological violent changes. According to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1979:29), “ in terms of types of art, the way of composing and manifestation mode of different nations are always mixed up, which results in the situation that you can find a typical thought of one nation maybe exist in another nation several years ago.”

When taking all analysis mentioned above into consideration, the comparative literature study is the most suitable way of analysis to compare the religious elements of the two works.

However, nowadays more emphasis has been put on the similarities between the two novels, especially the religious writing method. In turn, some details of the process of the salvation has been neglected. Because of this, this essay will play more stress on the approach to salvation, the way of defeating devils, and other relevant details. It is the detail that gives the fullest expression to the differences between the two novels, and then this study will show its significance.

2.Different Historical Background of China and English Religious

2.1. English Reformation and Puritanism Campaign

The English Reformation was a series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church. Many factors contributed to the process, including increased circulation of the Bible, the transmission of new knowledge and ideas among scholars the upper and middle classes and readers in general, which emphasize several new doctrines: salvation through faith alone (not works or indulgences) , The Bible as the source of all religious truth, small role for clergy and no pope, no saints (not mentioned in the Bible). John Bunyan applied them in The Pilgrim’s Progress, such as Christian getting spiritual salvation alone, reaching The Celestial City with the belief of God and so on. As a result, English Reformation plays a very important role in the composing of The Pilgrim’s Progress.

On the other hand, the Puritans were a group of English-speaking Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritans thought that the English Reformation had not gone far enough. They also did not agree with some of the things the Church of England did. A Puritan was any person who tried to become more pure through worship and doctrine. The Puritans' way of life and set of beliefs were called Puritanism. The most important parts of Puritanism were piety (obeying religious rules), dressing simply, and living a modest life. One of the Puritans' most important beliefs was that every person needed to understand the Bible in his own way. (This belief is shared among most Protestants.) All of them were devoted to the Bible and to being morally pure. Meanwhile, John Bunyan got along well with Puritans, so he is exposed to the thought of Puritanism. Under this circumstance, his literature works were written in religious style on the basis of the Bible, including The Pilgrim’s Progress.

2.2. The Convergence of Three Religions in China

The convergence of three religions refers to the blend of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. They constitute the essence of the traditional Chinese culture. The relationship among the three has been marked by both contention and complementation in history. In The Ming Dynasty, in order to build a harmonious society, to assert the authority’s dominance, and to make a balance between different doctrines or religions, not only the authority, but also the people pushed the convergence of three religions. Therefore, many works came out in this situation and the most famous one is Journey to the West, which convey the author’s thought of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism in detail. According to Mao Xiaoyang(Mao, 2000:22), “Wu Cheng’en support the idea of finding one’s true self and see your heart directly”. In his opinion, one should achieve the state of being satisfied without fame, money and love. This understanding has been beyond the thought of Confucianism. In another word, this is a combination of three religions. From the view of Lu Xun(Wangamp;Tian, 2006:43), “In China, a cultural of moderation is applied everywhere, including the convergence of three religions ”. Because of the turbulence of The Ming Dynasty, the authority had to adopt another moderation of three religions to ease people’s rebellious spirit. Thus, Wu Cheng’en mainly used ancient naive materialism on the basis of convergence of three religions.

2.3. The Two Authors’ Experiences

John Bunyan was born into a tinker's family in 1628. He was sent to school for a short time, but he was soon busy in his father's shop, "where amid the glowing pots and the fire and smoke of his little forge, he saw the vivid pictures of hell and the devils which haunted him all his life" (Wu, 1988:150). After years of such spiritual conflicts, he finally became a steadfast nonconformist preacher. His influential preaching astonished and enraged the authorities and then upon his refusal to leave off preaching, the justice committed him to Bedford jail, where he lay for nearly thirteen years. And it was here, in this den, he wrote the wonderful The Pilgrim's Progress. In this allegory, Christian and his company progress on a spiritual pilgrimage according to the instructions in the Bible. Despite their occasional diversions, they always hold to the Divine truth. Therefore all of them get an access to the world of eternal blessing, honor, glory and power.

On the other hand, Wu Cheng'en was born in Lianshui, Jiangsu Province, and later moved to nearby Huaian. He took the imperial examinations several times in attempt to become a mandarin, or imperial official, but failed, and did not gain entry into the imperial university in Nanjing until middle age. Finally, he became an accomplished writer, producing both poetry and prose. Wu wrote Journey to the West to convey his dissatisfaction with the political climate of the time and with the corruption of the world, and he spent much of his life as a hermit.

Comparing the two author’s experiences, we can find some similarities between them, such as the turbulent situation, tough life and high morale. Because of this, they show similar affections in this two literature works.

3.A Comparative Analyisis on the Religious Elemennts of Pilgrim’s Progress and Jouney to the West

3.1 The Narrative Mode With Strong Religious Content

U-shaped structure has been used in both literature works, which is considered as a typical archetypal structure of the Bible. “U-shaped plot” is a kind of typical model of plot: paradise-committing the original sin- suffering- repentance- salvation. The Bible tells that God created human being and paradise, but human being is against God, commits the original sin and results in the lose of life and water and the corruption of the relationship between human being and God. After all kind of sufferings, human being ultimately finds themselves in the Revelation by repeating to God and receiving forgiveness from God.

This gives us a narrative structure that is roughly U-shaped, the apostasy being followed by a decent into disaster and bondage, which in return is followed bu repentance，then by a rise through deliverance to a point more or less on the level from which the descent began. The U-shaped pattern, approximate as it is, rescue in literature as the standard shape of comedy... the entire Bible, viewed as a “divine comedy, ” is contained within a U-shaped story of this sort.”(Frye,1982:169)

That is to say Bible can be regarded as a great comedy composed with a series of tragedies, there are many small U-shaped structures in a big U-shaped structure. The Pilgrim’s Progress and Journey to the West are the two typical literature works.

In The Pilgrim’s Progress, the leading character, Christian is in the same kind of condition before he leaves from the City of Destruction for the Celestial City. The City of Destruction symbolizes the world, here world contains a moral connotation, it refers to all that is hostile to God, all that is rebellious, and all defies what is God doing, and believers are usually admonished not to love the world. In the Book of the first John in the New Testament, the world also reaffirmed as “Do not love the world or the things in the world- the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the prides in riches- comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.” While all the people in the world are in sin, including Christian, so he was determined to get spiritual salvation. There is also a mark, when Christian is groaning under the weary burden, he is deliverance from the ruler of sin that is his deliverance of burden under the Cross. Then, in the course of Christian’s pilgrimage, Christian confronts temptations,difficulties and perils over and over again when he gets the true meaning of repentance. His spiritual life is full of ups an downs and finally he gets the spiritual salvation. This is the U-shaped plot.

Similar to The Pilgrim’s Progress, the five main character in Journey to the West have almost the same experience with Christian. The process of Xuan Zang to the west can also be considered as the journey of spiritual salvation. This legendary novel used historical records from Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang and folktales for reference. Before going on a pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures, they all live happy lives when Guanyin enlightens them to accomplish a mission of salvation. At last, they reach India, realize their value and become immortal. Firstly, before going to the west, they all go through sins. For example, the Monkey King is held down on Wuzhi Mountain. Then, he suffers a lot when helping Tang Monk reach India and realize the true meaning of repentance at the same time. Throughout so many difficulties, they get the final spiritual salvation. This plot is also accordance with sin- suffering- repentance- salvation, so it is a U-shaped plot.

3.2 The Extensive Use of Religious Terms and References

Religion is a bridge to ancient times. For example, there are many religious terms and literary quotations in The Pilgrim’s Progress and Journey to the West. Thus, we can make a thorough inquiry in the culture of ancient times by studying these two literature works. Then, the following is about the religious terms they quoted.

For one thing, John Bunyan spent a dozen years in prison when his only spiritual support is the Bible. From this , there is no doubt that The Pilgrim’s Progress frequently used religious terms and references of the Bible. According to the analysis of Li Zixiu, “Just in the first part of The Pilgrim’s Progress, Direct quotations is more than 200 excluding the repeated uses. Among these quotations, they cover 17 volumes of 39 in The Old Testament and 22 volumes of 27 in The New Testament. ” (Li, 1998:42). For instance, The Valley of the Shadow of Death which frightened Christian to death derives from the Bible:”Let the darkness and shadow of death stain it...and the shadow of death , without any order, and where the light is darkness”. Obviously, John Bunyan can freely master the religious terms and intentions since he was familiar with the Bible.

Meanwhile, similar to The Pilgrim’s Progress, there are also many quotations in Journey to the West. The literature work quoted the Buddhist classics-Altar Scripture many times. For instance, when bodhi hit the Monkey King’s head for three times, the Monkey King suddenly thought that he should go to find bodhi in the middle of the night. This plot resembles the description in Altar Scripture.

Owing to the quotation from classical literature. The pilgrim’s Progress and Journey to the West enjoy the reputation of the most outstanding religious literature works in Chinese and western culture. Therefore, the importance of quotation can not be neglected.

3.3 The Archetype of Characters in Religious Books

In Christianity, saint refers to a person set apart because of his or her special relationship with God . The word also has a casual use which refers to all the people of God in a general way. To be a saint is to separate one's self from evil and to dedicate one's self to the service of God. The term saint also includes those persons who have died and have gone to be with God in the place of reward created for all who believe in Jesus as Lord. According to Frye's archetypal theory, many characters in The Pilgrim's Progress are the archetypal images of saints in the Bible. Bunyan's intention lies in conveying Christian doctrine, that is a man should become not only a simple saver but also a saint. So in a certain degree, the leading character, Christian adopts the archetypal image of Saint Job, while his companion, Faithful is the archetype of Saint Stephen. Job is a very important character in the book of Job in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible. Job is an upright, healthy, wise man, who has a large family, huge flocks, many servants and a huge estate. He is the model of righteousness and honor in his day. In Hong Ke’s opinion, similar to Christianity, Christian goes on a pilgrimage in that they believe God will forgive their sins and reward their sufferings (Hong, 2012:33).

However, in Journey to the West, we can define the archetype of characters in two ways. Good and evil is the first standard of classification. For example, Tang Monk represent the good who takes care of every living creature while demons and ghosts he confronts on the journey to the west is the symbol of Chinese feudal forces, which resembles a mirror of the evil reality. Similar to Christian, Tang Monk is able to resist all kinds of temptation despite disturbance of fame and money. On the other hand, sila, samadhi and panna is another standard. Wu wrote this because awareness is the most important thing: it leads us to have sila, samadhi, panna. In terms of Buddhism, if the story of the journey is considered as the process of practice, then The Monkey King, Pig, Sha Wuching are respectively the embodiment of sila, samadhi and panna. In general, sila, samadhi and panna are the most important thought no matter they are in Original Buddhism, Hinayana Buddhism, or Mahayana Buddhism.

Taking all these analysis into consideration, we can find that Tang Monk and The Monkey King are similar to Christian, who play a good role to beat the evil.

4.Major Findings of and Significance in the Comparative Study.

4.1 Medium of Broadcasting Literature and Culture

The broadcasting of literature and cultural is bound to rely on the different kinds of medium, such as the war, businessmen, migration and so on. Among these kinds of medium, religion is particularly important, whose influence can reflect in two ways: one is the cohesion of one cultural system; the other one is the “chemical combination” in cross-cultural studies. This paper puts emphasis on the “chemical combination”. For instance, from The Tang Dynasty to The Ming Dynasty, Christianity was slowly reintegrated into China and we can see some similarities of thought in religious elements in literature works. It is the similarities that provide the convenience for people nowadays to research. Thus, comparing The Pilgrim’s Progress and Journey to the West, we can find not only in the themes, but also in the narrative mode, they share many similarities, which remind us to pay attention to their similar backgrounds.

4.2 Cross-cultural Studies

Religion is considered as a tool that helps to integrate Chinese or western literature works, which provide much convenience for us to make cross-cultural studies. In western countries, Christianity not only influence the composing of literature works, but also helps make the integration of different doctrines and ideas of literature and culture. Although there exist different languages in Europe, arising from the constructive and integrative force of Christianity, western literature works shares many similarities in themes, personalities of characters, destiny of characters and spiritual problems. The situation is the same as in China. The convergence of three religions is the main ideological trend in China. Thus, Journey to the West is a reflection of the convergence of three religions while The Pilgrim’s Progress is a mirror of the Bible and Christianity. Under this circumstance, we can first research on the true meaning of religion, and then probe into Chinese and western literature works, which clearly shows the importance of religious literature works.

5.Conclusion

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