寓意解讀是中國傳統文人學士研治小說的重要方法，然而自20世紀現代中國學術興起後，這種解讀方法面臨前所未有的挑戰。胡適大力批評過去數百年來的評點家「把一部《西遊記》罩上了儒、釋、道三教的袍子」的讀法，認為《西遊記》的研究範圍應限制在以文獻版本為基礎的作者考證和故事源流一類問題之內。與作者、版本等實證研究相比，寓意解讀不免言人人殊，難以判分高下，因而亦逐漸退出嚴肅的學術舞台。然而必須注意的是，寓意解讀並沒有因此而完全中斷，而是隱約地滲進現代學者有關《西遊記》的主題研究之內，成為證立論點的重要手段。面對各種分歧的寓意解讀，我們既不接受文本只有唯一一種正解，亦不相信文本可以毫無限制地任意解釋，因而試圖建立評量寓意的準則，希望以理性的方式說明不同解讀的合理程度。為了令討論的焦點更為明晰，文章先從《西遊記》五聖的象徵意義入手，回顧過去各種寓意解讀及其與《西遊記》主題的關係，繼而引入評估效度的理論框架，分析及比較各種說法的有效程度。文章雖然亦會嘗試展示較為完整和合理的解讀，但其最終目的並不是要提出正解，而是要建立共同討論的平台，提升寓意解讀的說服力。

The approach of allegorical interpretation was widely used by Chinese traditional scholars in novel studies. However, since the rise of modern Chinese scholarship in the beginning of the 20th century, the long prevailing allegoresis approach was unprecedentedly faced with challenges and queries. Hu Shi strongly criticized the research approach of 'covering ＂the Journey to the West＂ with a robe of Confucian, Buddhist or Taoist', and advocated to confine the studies of this masterpiece exclusively to the field of textual researches, such as evidential studies on the authors or textual sources of stories, etc. In comparison with the positivistic research of authorship and bibliology, allegorical interpretations are inarguably full of controversy and difficult to judge which of them is a better one. They are thus soon driven out of the mainstream of academic realm. That being said, it is worthy to note that allegoresis has never been suspended entirely, as this approach is tacitly adopted by some modern scholars who consider allegorical interpretations important evidence in the studies of the main theme of the novel. We do not believe any kind of monism claiming that there is only one single correct interpretation of literary work, nor any kind of hermeneutical anarchism suggesting that all interpretations are equally true. In view of the pluralistic interpretations about the novel, we attempt to articulate some criteria of evaluation which can reasonably assess the appropriateness of different explanations. To sharpen the focus of discussion, this article will first give an overview of some major allegoresis studies in the past, with a concentration in the five sages and their relationship with the main theme of ＂the Journey to the West＂. A theoretical framework will also be introduced for evaluating the validity of different interpretations afterwards. Though a relatively comprehensive and reasonable interpretation will be provided at the end, the ultimate goal of the author is solely to construct a common platform for academic dialogue, in the hope of enhancing the accountability of allegoresis.