李卓吾先生批評西遊記 (Journey to the West), Vol. 1

...are not mere groundless waves raised in a flat landscape. They are derived from the lines, from within the words and outside the words, from before the sentences and after the sentences of the original text. Since they can make one clutch their belly in laughter, and simultaneously make one focus the heart, calling them the "True Words of the Great Treasury" an allusion to Buddhist sutras is not inappropriate. If so, how can these jests not be serious discourse? Whether they are viewed as jests or as serious discourse depends entirely on the vision of the reader.