16 Introduction of Pigsy

Travelling companions Tripitaka and Monkey arrive at Kao Farm, where they learn a hog-faced monster has forcibly married and locked away the owner’s youngest daughter, Blue Orchid. Monkey rescues the terrified girl and quickly shapeshifts into her likeness to await the creature’s return. Tricking the monster into revealing his identity as Pigsy, Monkey exposes his true self. Terrified, Pigsy flees, and Monkey immediately sets off in relentless pursuit. Pigsy represents the trap of base desires, lust, and greed—his monstrous, hog-like transformation and insatiable appetite symbolising untamed physical attachments. Monkey represents the monkey-mind (xinmo), the restless but clever intellect that must use sharp awareness and wisdom to expose these delusions. The exorcism is a metaphor for the inner spiritual struggle to conquer self-delusion on the path to enlightenment.