Sha Wujing

Sha Wujing
Sha Wujing in Xiyou yuanzhi (西遊原旨), published 1819.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shā Wùjìng Wade–Giles Sha1 Wu4-ching4 Gan Romanization Sa Ng Chhìn Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Saa1 Ng6 Zing6
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	Sa Ngộ Tịnh, Sa Ngộ Tĩnh or Sa Tăng ("Monk Sha")
Thai name
Thai	ซัวเจ๋ง
RTGS	Sua Cheng (from a Teochew pronunciation of 沙僧 "Monk Sha")
Korean name
Hangul	사오정
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Sa Ojeong
Japanese name
Hiragana	さ ごじょう
Kyūjitai
Shinjitai
Transcriptions Romanization Sa Gojō

Shā Wùjìng is one of the three disciples of the Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang. He appears as a character in the novel Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng'en in the Ming dynasty, although versions of his character predate the Ming novel. In the novels, his background is the least developed of the pilgrims and he contributes the least to their efforts. He is called Sand or Sandy and is known as a "water buffalo" for his seemingly less developed intelligence in many English versions of the story.

His Buddhist name "Sha Wujing", given by Bodhisattva Guanyin, means "sand aware of purity". His name is rendered in Korean as Sa Oh Jeong, into Japanese as Sa Gojō, into Sino-Vietnamese as Sa Ngộ Tịnh.

He is also known as "Monk Sha", Shā Sēng 沙僧 (literary Chinese: Sa Tăng in Sino-Vietnamese and Sua Cheng in Thai), or Sha Heshang 沙和尚 (colloquial Chinese).

Like Zhu Bajie, Wujing was originally a general in Heaven, more specifically a Curtain-Lifting General (卷帘大将 juǎnlián dàjiàng). In a fit of rage, he destroyed a valuable vase. Other sources mention that he did this unintentionally, and in the Journey to the West series, it was an accident. Nevertheless, he was punished by the Jade Emperor, who had him struck 800 times with a rod and exiled to earth, where he was to be reincarnated as a terrible man-eating sand demon. There, he lived in the Liúshā-hé (流沙河, Lưu Sa Hà in Han-Vietnamese, "flowing-sand river", or "quicksand-river", modern name Kaidu River). As a punishment, every day, seven flying swords sent from heaven would stab him in the chest before flying off. As a result, he had to live in the river to avoid the punishment.