This paper is an exploration of the theme of pilgrimage in the following three works: Gandvyūha, Journey to the West and The Life of Marpa the Translator.
Through an examination of the narrative structure of the texts, I derive a pattern which is consistent throughout these three Mahāyāna works. This pattern is then compared to the Mahāyāna doctrine of Two Truths, which is shown to be expressed by the literary pilgrimage. Finally, by exploring the ways in which these texts ‘work’ on the reader—both by seeing the protagonist go through the stages of Buddhist practice and through the reader's interaction with the text—I show how reading these stories can act as a transformative Buddhist practice.
