Unconventional buddhas: wisdom, madness, monkeys and saints

Abstract

This essay examines the philosophical, metaphysical and symbolical tissue of the initiatory structures present in the novel Journey to the West and the manga Shaman King in a creative way. In these creations, the archetypes of the Daoist and Buddhist sage are examined through the development of these traditions and the staging of madness as a highest form of wisdom. The notions of officialdom, the sacred and the profane are problematized through the notion of animality and the figure of the Shaman. Welcome to the realm of the Unconventional Buddhas!