This is a story about “compassion.” Master Sanzang firmly believes he has found the only path to paradise: purification. Demons are no demons, humans are no humans; all who block the way are obstacles, and all who lack faith are dust. Wherever his brocade kasaya passes, flesh becomes incense and bones become an altar. He walks along a lotus path paved with corpses toward the pure land he believes in. There is no Great Sage wreaking havoc, no heavenly soldiers blocking his way. There is only his merciful smile, as he softly chants amid an endless, blood-red dusk: “Namo Amitabha… Almost there. Soon, everything will be clean.”
