Three Kingdoms Romance

“Nothing in this world is difficult, but thinking makes it seem so. Where there is true will, there is always a way.”

                                                                 Journey to the West

Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It was written by Wu Cheng'en in the 16th century during the Ming Dynasty. In English-speaking countries, the tale is also often known simply as Monkey. This was one title used for a popular, abridged translation by Arthur Waley. The Waley translation has also been published as Adventures of the Monkey God, Monkey: Folk Novel of China, and The Adventures of Monkey, and in a further abridged version for children, Dear Monkey.

The four protagonists of the story, from left to right: Sun Wukong, Tang Sanzang, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing.
The novel is a fictionalised account of the legendary pilgrimage to India of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, and loosely based its source from the historic text Great Tang Records on the Western Regions and traditional folk tales. The monk travelled to the "Western Regions" during the Tang Dynasty, to obtain sacred texts. The bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, on instruction from the Buddha, gives this task to the monk and his three protectors in the form of disciples namely Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing together with a dragon prince who acts as Xuanzang's steed, a white horse. These four characters have agreed to help Xuanzang as an atonement for past sins.

Journey to the West has a strong background in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and value systems; the pantheon of Taoist immortals and Buddhist bodhisattvas is still reflective of some Chinese religious beliefs today. Enduringly popular, the tale is at once an adventure story, a spring of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeying toward India represents individuals journeying towards enlightenment.

This ePub contains:

"Early works:

Apology
Crito
Charmides
Euthyphro
First Alcibiades 
Greater Hippias
Lesser Hippias
Ion
Laches
Lysis

Middle works:

Cratylus
Euthydemus
Gorgias
Menexenus
Meno
Phaedo
Protagoras
Symposium
Republic
Phaedrus
Parmenides
Theaetetus

Late works:

Timaeus
Critias
Sophist
Statesman
Philebus
Laws

Pseudonymous works (traditionally attributed to Plato, but considered by virtually all modern authorities not to have been written by him):

Epinomis
Second Alcibiades
Hipparcus
Rival Lovers
Theages
Cleitophon
Minos
Demoducus
Axiochus
On Justice
On Virtue
Sisyphus
Eryxias
Halcyon
Letters

Plato (pron.: /ˈpleɪtoʊ/; Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn, "broad"; 428/427 BC – 348/347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece. He was also a mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. In the words of A. N. Whitehead:
The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them.
Plato's sophistication as a writer is evident in his Socratic dialogues; thirty-six dialogues and thirteen letters have been ascribed to him. Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts. Plato's dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects, including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric, and mathematics. Plato is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy.