本文透過朝聖行的概念，比較閱讀《大方廣佛華嚴經》中的《入法界品》、《大唐三藏取經詩話》、以及以長篇雜劇為形式的《楊東來先生批評西遊記》。筆者首先析論《入法界品》作為佛經中求法行理想原型的特質；繼之比較、討論《大唐三藏取經詩話》與《楊東來先生批評西遊記》所呈現玄奘取經行的理想性，與佛經中的原型之間的異同與轉變。本文關注的中心問題為：玄奘取經作為中國文學中一個重要主題，《詩話》和《雜劇》如何以各自的方式想像此一旅程？朝聖行終點的出塵氛圍以及此行的神聖意義，如何透過語言文字呈現？尤其從表演藝術的角度來看，玄奘取經行的終點既為西天佛國，其中佛境的完美，取經人內在的淨化提升，取經行完成時刻的圓滿秩序，在舞台上如何搬演表現？藉由回答這些問題，本文企圖開展閱讀《詩話》和《雜劇》的可能角度，立論：除了可供從「發展史」的角度解釋小說《西遊記》最後的成功，這兩部文本還可以被放在中國宗教旅行想像書寫的脈絡中，讓我們藉此檢視，歷史上玄奘取經一事，進入文學虛構之域，在不同歷史時空中分殊的呈現以及關懷重點的轉移。

From the perspective of pilgrimage literature, this essay examines three main texts: 1) The Book of Entry into the Dharma Realm (Rufajie pin, Gandavyuhasutra), which forms the last book of The Flower Ornament Sutra (Huayan jing, Avatamsake Sūtra); 2) The Prosimetrical Story of Tripitaka of the Great Tang Acquiring the Sutras (Da Tang Sanzang qujing shihua); and 3) The Journey to the West with Mr. Yang Donglai’s Commentary (Yang Donglai xiansheng piping xiyou ji) in the dramatic form of zaju. It addresses the following questions: How does each of the three texts convey the sense of divinity and perfection, which culminates at the end of the pilgrimage when the pilgrims reach the sacred destination? How do the dimensions of religious doctrines, aesthetic, and rhetoric work together in these texts to re-present the ideal Buddha land and the pilgrims’ spiritual transformation? How do the storyteller and the playwright respectively imagine, design, and perform Xuanzang’s scripture-seeking journey, a lasting subject in Chinese literature since it first took place in the seventh century? By analyzing the complex interactions between religious philosophy and literary rhetoric, this essay suggests a fruitful alternative to reading Buddhist sutras as hard philosophical treatises, and to reading The Prosimetrical Story of Tripitaka of the Great Tang Acquiring the Sutra and The Journey to the West with Mr. Yang Donglai’s Commentary as mere source materials that explain the formation of the far better-known sixteenth-century Chinese novel The Journey to the West (Xiyou ji).