How many years have you studied on the journey to the west?

It takes fourteen years in The Journey to the West.

For the hundredth time, The Journey to the West explained "How many years did Tang Priest learn from the scriptures". In this story, the Tang Priest and his disciples came back with the scriptures. Above the main hall, Emperor Taizong asked Tang Priest what The Journey to the West learned from the scriptures, and Tang Priest answered truthfully.

He said: He only remembers that the Bodhisattva said that the Buddhist scriptures were as far as 108,000 miles. I didn't count on the way to learn from the scriptures, only that I experienced fourteen cold and hot summers on the way to learn from the scriptures. On the way, I also met several countries, all of which have printed letters, which can be used as proof.

Later, the Tang Priest asked the Monkey King to pass the customs clearance documents to Emperor Taizong. Emperor Taizong looked at it, and the date of departure in the official script was thirteen years of Zhenguan, and now the date of Tang Priest's return is twenty-seven years of Zhenguan. This also explains how many years Tang Priest studied Buddhist scriptures in Qing Dynasty.

In the official history, a * * * took seventeen years:

In fact, the Tang Priest has a prototype in the official history, that is, Tang Xuanzang in the Tang Dynasty. In the first year of Zhenguan (A.D. 627), Tang Xuanzang wanted to go west to seek the Dharma, but Emperor Taizong did not allow it, so Tang Xuanzang made up his mind to go there privately.

In 643 AD, Xuanzang set off for China with great honor and brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures. In the 19th year of Zhenguan (645), Xuanzang arrived in Chang 'an. On February 22nd, on the first day of February, Emperor Taizong met him in a Luan Hall in Wei Zi, Luoyang. These contents are recorded in detail in The biography of Master Sanzang.

According to these calculations, from 627 AD to 645 AD, how many years did it take * * *, which happened to be the first month when I returned to Chang 'an, so it should be in the range of 17 to 18, but historical records all say 17, so the default is 17.