Becoming a Saint by Leisure Reading: 23 things that must be said about Journey to the West


Well, yes, I will write Journey to the West soon.

Actually, I am also looking forward to writing it, but I really want to write it. Bawan feels that it is necessary to open a single chapter to talk about it.

Because "Journey to the West" is really popular, and there are many literary and film works derived from it, and in recent years, various marketing accounts have been doing various interpretations of "Journey to the West", Some of them are justified, and some are completely contrived, so it is inevitable that there will be a situation of "there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people".

Therefore, Bawan felt that it was necessary to share his thinking with the judges, so that if there were any differences in the opinions written, it would make you unable to understand, and you would feel like you were sitting on pins and needles, or because Some points of view have caused disputes among you.

piece and love.

I hope everyone can be happy, except for being affected by my broken chapters.

Okay, let's get down to business.

First of all, Bawan would like to declare that the template of "Journey to the West" in this book is the original work of "Journey to the West", not various TV series versions, nor some storytelling versions mixed with private goods. The world view is based on the original work. Many readers mentioned that the world view of "Journey to the West" written by the famous screenwriter Qian Yanqiu will not be adopted. As for those who tell me "The Legend of Wukong" and "A Chinese Journey to the West", please stop Acting cute.

Of course, the original work is only a material template for Bawan, and Bawan will make some rewrites based on the original content, but the length and range will not be very large, so as not to affect the audience's understanding of "Journey to the West" itself perception is the premise. For example, in the part of "Naughty Girl", Bawan will adopt the idea of ​​​​the CCTV drama version, and write Tang Seng's emotion in "Mandarin Duck, Double Duck and Butterfly", instead of the idea of ​​a steel scumbag in the original work.

Then, it is about the legitimacy of the book "Journey to the West" in the world of idle books.

I saw in the backstage, including in the book friend group, many masters mentioned that "Journey to the West" is a banned book, especially when Sun Wukong shouted the phrase "The emperor takes turns to do it, and come to my house next year". Is it irrational to exist?

Well, Bawan has consulted some materials, and the most widely circulated statement should be from "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty", but there is no historical data to support this statement. On the contrary, in the "Encyclopedia of Forbidden and Destroyed Ancient China" written by Professor Li Shiren of Shanghai Normal University, it included books that were banned by official orders according to historical records. As of 1911, there were 92 books in total, and "Journey to the West" was not included.

Since we are talking about this, Bawan can choose some banned book titles at will and show them to the masters.

"Meat Pu Tuan", "Lamp Grass, Monk", "Amorous History of Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty", "National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance", "Waiting History of Female Immortals"...

"Jin Ping Mei", "The Complete Biography of Yue Yue", "A Dream of Red Mansions", "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties"... Yes, you read that right, these books have also been banned, especially "Jin Ping Mei", saying that he It's not that the banned book is from the same source as "Journey to the West" is a banned book. This is a rumor, not cold knowledge.

After clarifying this question, we can answer the question raised by some readers, about the legitimacy of "Journey to the West" in the world of idle books.

80,000 people thought it was impossible.

Whether it is Monkey King's rebelliousness in the early stage or the insinuation of the content of the later articles, in the world of idle books where Confucian culture is highly developed and the imperial power is lower than the sacred power, it will only be worse than the era when "Journey to the West" appeared in reality. Tolerance, greater generosity, coupled with Chen Luo's identity, and the existence of such a power in the book as Yaozu, are actually easier to accept, and the impact is far less intense than reality.

Of course, there is another key reason, which will be elaborated in the next question.

Okay, the next point is the biggest point of contention, which Bawan has been chasing after since the moment he wrote his profile.

Does "Journey to the West" honor Buddha and demote Tao, or respect Tao and demote Buddha?

This is a very interesting question, because no matter where you stand, you seem to be able to find many examples to prove your point of view, and the marketing account is almost overwhelmed by this debate.

Then, Bawan found a different voice in some corners of the debate, that is, "Journey to the West" is actually about Confucianism, or the integration of the three religions.

Similarly, many examples in the book were also taken out.

However, from my personal point of view, I don't quite agree with the above statements. Instead, I saw a relatively "minority" statement, which won my heart. (The niche is due to the lack of seeing, maybe this is an authoritative point of view, this 80,000 did not go to verify it)

That is: Is "Journey to the West" written about Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, or the integration of the three religions, but public opinion.

Because in the eyes of the common people, the emperor is the greatest, so in the heavenly court, the Jade Emperor is the one who speaks, and even the Taishang Laojun and the Tathagata Buddha have to obey their orders.

Because in the eyes of ordinary people, Avalokitesvara has the greatest reputation, so Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva has always been running back and forth in the matter of learning scriptures from the west.

Because in the eyes of the common people, the King of Hades is also under the control of the Heavenly Court, so the book of life and death was torn up by the monkey, and the King of Hades will go to heaven to sue.

Looking at it from this perspective, maybe some of the settings in Journey to the West that seem to be inconsistent suddenly become reasonable.

Masters, when evaluating a literary work, we must look at it in light of the history of its birth. When we read "Journey to the West" now, we read various metaphors, allusions, and various understandings. Let's not discuss whether these understandings are right or not. Put "Journey to the West" in the era when it was born, it is a book best seller!

It is precisely to show that he is a bestseller, so 80,000 must prove that he is not a banned book from the very beginning. On the contrary, Journey to the West was still the fire book at that time. How hot is it? There has been a trend.

That is Journey to the East, Journey to the South, Journey to the North, and even "Fengshen Yanyi" has many shadows of Journey to the West.

Then let's talk about respecting the Buddha and belittling the Dao or respecting the Dao and belittling the Buddha.

In my understanding, when Wu Chengen (some people say that Wu Chengen is not the author, this is generally accepted) when he wrote this book, he never thought of provoking Buddha and Taoism in the past.

For example, Tao, is the Tao in the book really Taoism?

The highest **** of Taoism, the Three Purities and the Four Imperials, only the Taishang Laojun appeared in the Three Purities; in the Four Imperials, there is only one supreme Jade Emperor left, and the others are not written at all.

Let’s talk about Buddha, Journey to the West seems to be the same thing, it talks about the great prosperity of Buddhism, but in it, the closer you are to the west, the more demons, Ananda Kassapa asked for bribes, and the yellow-browed boy pretended to be Buddha. It is not easy to blacken Buddhism.

But if you look at the content carefully, in the original book, when Taishang Laojun used King Kong to attack Sun Wukong, he once said, "It was a great loss to him to pass the Hanguan and turn Hu into a Buddha." That is to say, in the world view of Journey to the West , that Buddhism was founded by Taishang Laojun.

The saying of "turning Hu into a Buddha" was actually made up by Buddhism itself in order to find a big tree during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. But by the time of the Ming Dynasty, Buddhist disciples had long denied this statement.

As a result, in Journey to the West, it was written in a grand manner. Isn't this paganism?

You know, it was the Ming Dynasty. Especially "Journey to the West" was written during the Jiajing period, Taoism was the state religion, and even Emperor Jiajing practiced alchemy all day long (there are many examples in Journey to the West that the king believed in Taoism and harmed the country), if you really feel offended, don't say Killing the author and banning a book is easy and enjoyable.

There is also Buddhism, which was also prosperous in the Ming Dynasty. Students who are interested can check the engraving of Buddhist scriptures in the Ming Dynasty, and you can see it. In particular, Buddhism was very much believed by the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, so if they really felt offended, they would not attack lightly.

But it happens that Buddhism and Taoism don't make sense. You must know that the earliest extant version of Journey to the West is Shidetangfang's block edition "Journey to the West in Newly Engraved Official Banner Big Characters", which was officially published!

Why?

From Bawan's point of view, Wu Cheng'en just used the cover of Buddhism to explain things, and did not touch his core teachings at all.

Just dawdling around the perimeter, not going in!

It's just a bestseller, whoever takes it seriously will lose.

In addition, it was said that the imperial court did not care about the content in the book, so it can only be said that the imperial court did not take it seriously.

Anyway, it is for the common people to see, so please enjoy the picture.

It's like someone pretending to be the emperor on the stage, there's no point in arresting him.

To sum up, the standpoint of "Journey to the West" is actually the common people's point of view. s answer.

Of course, if Journey to the West can become a classic, it must be successful in terms of content, and there are many metaphors in it. But Bawan does not advocate misinterpretation. For example, Bawan has seen someone deduce that Honghaier is the son of the Taishang Laojun, and that behind Journey to the West is the immortal conspiracy of immortals and Buddhas, etc. To be honest, it is very good-looking, but the author Don't necessarily know.

According to historical records, at the age of 30, Wu Chengen failed the imperial examination and began to write Journey to the West; but suddenly he won, and then ran to become an official, and the highest became a county magistrate. , began to continue writing and revising Journey to the West. In terms of time, he experienced the Ming Dynasty and even the entire history of China with the highest IQ and the most power. Teacher Liu Heping's "Da Ming Dynasty 1566" explains everything.

It is impossible for Wu Chengen to walk out of such a court situation without allusion in the content of Wu Chengen's pen. If Havoc in Heaven was the first half of Wu Chengen's life, then the way to learn from the scriptures is the second half of his life. The game between Buddhism and Taoism in the book may refer to the period of history he personally experienced. Perhaps the Buddhism in the book is Zhang Juzheng, who wants to save sentient beings, but the New Deal has made life difficult for the people~IndoMTL.com~ But he brought the hope of the Tripitaka.

It’s a bit far away. Going back to the idle book, there will be various interpretations of the characters in Journey to the West, but they are all based on the world view in the book, so there is no need to insist on some marketing account views or big V views. To the benchmark.

Well, one more thing, the following "Feng Shen Yan Yi" is also the same, there is no need to use the prehistoric worldview to force it.

Okay, that's all for now. What impact will "Journey to the West" have on the world after its publication? In what form will Sun Wukong, the greatest sage of all ages, appear? How to arrange the Buddhist gates of the Western Regions and the ancient Buddhist gates? Did Chen Luo write this book first or Bai Ze first?

Everything is in "I Become a Saint with Idle Books".

Thank you for your support.

Ps one more sentence: Someone mentioned those famous songs of Journey to the West, and 80,000 will make good arrangements. Here I want to push Mr. Xu Jingqing again for my friends. No one can not know him!

Purple Pen Literature

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