A disciple of the legendary Tripitaka, he is a rather wet and miserable character in the novel Journey To The West.

He was once the official in charge of Heavenly banners and ceremonial drapes. One day he accidentally broke the Jade Emperor’s favorite crystal dish. As punishment, he was chucked out of Heaven, transformed into an Earth-bound fish spirit, tormented with flying swords and generally made extremely miserable.

Life wasn’t easy for fish spirits in those days, particularly ones as monstrous and ugly as him. Sandy barely scraped a living in the River of Sands by munching the flesh of the occasional passing peasant. He became morose, philosophical and a frightful pessimist.

A chance to redeem himself came when Guanyin, looking for heroic candidates to assist Tripitaka, persuaded him to become a Buddhist. He embraced the faith and adopted the name Sandy Monk. Then it was adventures all the way to India in the company of Monkey and Pigsy.

Sandy’s special jobs were leading the horse, which he did with much devotion, and fighting demons, which he did with much complaint. When at last the quest was over, he achieved enlightenment and was rewarded the title ‘Golden Bodied Arhat’. He now spends his time in Buddhist Heaven practicing austerities.

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Article last revised on September 25, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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