MDDM ch.67: "Yet, does it live" (657.13)

[Doug Millison]

Mr T:
> My point is that Dixon never wavers on matters of
> the spirit. 

I guess so, although while his spirit is willing his
flesh is often weak -- a human condition.

In this respect, Dixon is like the Pig character of
the Chinese classic, Journey to the West (Xi You Ji,
in the pinyin romanization form), that M&D alludes to,
while Mason often resembles the rather dour and
repressed and withdrawn Buddhist monk, Xuan Zang, 
that Pig (along with the Monkey King and the
Blue-faced Monk)accompanies on his trip to get the
Buddhist scriptures in India and bring them back to
Chang'an (present-day Xian). 

the best translation, imo:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226971503/qid=1028570740/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-3490046-3731902

see also:
http://www.china-on-site.com/literatu/classic/west/
http://www.china-on-site.com/literatu/classic/west/001.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/6142/
http://community.animearchive.org/headlines.html?_id=142
http://www.bartlett-sloan.net/Journey.htm

http://www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/journey.html
picture:  "Pigsy succumbs to earthly temptations by
accepting food, while Xuanzang, unmoved, and Monkey
look on. From Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en,
woodblock book, Chinese, 18th century "

More generally, Mason and Dixon do seem to flip-flop
and take each other's positions from time to time in
many respects.  Even spiritually/religiously I think
M&D often blurs the Line between the two.

=====
<www.pynchonoid.blogspot.com>

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