Source of this article: Dunhuang Academic Journal, Issue 04, 2018
From: The Confusion of Syracuse
Summary: The constituent elements of Sun Wukong's image, such as the monkey head human body, tight hoops, sticks, and hand-built pergolas, which are defined in the depths of everyone's memory today, come from the Western Xia people and their outstanding creations. In the history of the development of wars and integration with foreign tribes in the past few hundred years, the Western Xia people have reprocessed the myths and legends that entered tibet and even the Qiang people from India and even the Qiang people through cultural exchanges with the Central Plains and the "Poetry of the Classics" in the Central Plains, giving the monkey walkers a heroic national image and retaining the hairstyles, costumes and weapons of the Western Xia people. With the popularity and easternization of the Shuiyue Guanyin paradigm along the Silk Road in the late Western Xia Dynasty along the Silk Road and japan and Korea, the image of Sun Wukong in its Buddhist historical stories has gradually become well known, slowly replacing the image of Sun Wukong, who has no ethnic and cultural background in the southern city from the sea to the Central Plains, and finally became a stereotype in this period and entered the vision of wu Cheng'en of the Ming Dynasty.
1. Academic review
The knowledge of the mythical image of Sun Wukong should be attributed to the publication of the literary work Journey to the West. In this literary work written by Wu Cheng'en in the Ming Dynasty based on anecdotal legends, after passing through the dynasties and through the reading and tasting of different audiences, the image of Sun Wukong has become popular among the people. According to the cognitive and background definition of each era, some visual materials have also appeared and been retained. Its visual impressions such as monkey statues, fire-eyed golden eyes, golden hoop sticks, and hand-built pergolas are supported by text descriptions and become stereotypes. Academic research on the origin of Sun Wukong's image has always focused on the deduction or retrospection of myths and legends and related documentary records, and there is no new trend of revolution. Among its researchers, in modern times, writers, poets, and thinkers are the mainstream; in modern times, more historians have converged. The research results are famous for Lu Xun's "local theory", Hu Shi's "foreign speaking", and Ji Xianlin's "mixed-race theory". There is also a saying of "Buddhist scriptures", which can be the same as "external sayings".
1. Native says
Proposed by Lu Xun. He believes that the image of Sun Wukong should come from the Chinese folklore of huai shui monster Wuzhiqi. When Da Yu ruled Huai Shui, Wu Zhi Qi jumped out of the way, and the wind and thunder were in unison, and the wood and stones were singing. Enraged, Dayu gathered the gods to capture Wuzhi qi, locked him with an iron rope, pierced his nose with a golden bell, and calmed him at the foot of the Huaiyin Army Mountain, and since then the Huaishui has been calm and has been able to merge the rivers and seas. The WuzhiQi and its related records referred to by Lu Xun are derived from the Supplement to the History of the Tang Dynasty:
There were fishermen in Chuzhou, who suddenly fished for ancient iron ropes in Huaizhong and kept them in order to sue the officials. Assassin Li Yang gathered manpower to introduce it. So poor, there are green macaques jumping out of the water and dying. Later, there is a test of the mountains and seas through the clouds: the water beast is good for harm Yu locked under the jun mountain, and its name is wuzhi. ①
To the Song Dynasty, Wuzhiqi is recorded in more detail in the Taiping Guangji:
Vortex water god, nameless Qi, good at dealing with words, distinguishing between the shallow and deep of Jianghuai and the distance of the original. Shaped like an ape, with a shrunken nose and a high forehead, a green body and a white head, golden eyes and snow teeth, a hundred feet of neck extension, a force of nine elephants, a fight and a gallop, a light and sharp, and a smell and vision for a long time. The rules of Yu Zhi cannot be controlled; the ebony that is granted cannot be controlled; the rules of the Zhi Gengchen cannot be controlled; the Rules of the Zhi Gengchen can be controlled. ②
One of the evidences of Lu Xun's adherence to the local theory is that Wu Cheng'en's Sun Wukong has many similarities with Wuzhiqi. For example, Wuzhiqi was finally locked at the foot of Junshan Mountain by Dayu, and Sun Wukong was crushed under the Five Elements Mountain by Rulai Buddha; Wuzhiqi resembled an ape, and Sun Wukong was born as a monkey statue.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, more historians have devoted themselves to the study of the source of Sun Wukong's image. Such as Yan Yunshou, Zhang Chuanzao, Li Shiren and so on. In addition to reaching a consensus on Sun Wukong's native theory, Yan Yunshou, Zhang Chuanzao, Li Shiren, etc. believe that the image of Sun Wukong is "created by Wu Cheng'en on the basis of hundreds of years of folk circulation and myths and legends" ;(3) Gong Weiying, who has long been engaged in the study of Chinese mythology, believes that the source of Sun Wukong's image is more of a national quality, and his source is unified with the ancient legend of Xia Qi, and Xia Qi has a high status in Wu Cheng'en's heart and has a huge impact on his creation, "Xia Qi should be the oldest source of Sun Wukong's image." 。 ④
2. Speaking from the outside
The outside view comes from Hu Shi. Hu Shi said in his writings: "I always suspect that this miraculous monkey is not a domestic product, but an import from India. Perhaps even the myth of Wuzhiqi was imitated by Indian influences... In India's oldest chronicle poem, Ramayana, a Hanuma is found, which can probably be regarded as the back of the Great Sage of Qitian." ⑤
Hu Shi's views have also been supported by a large number of researchers. Along with the broadcast of Buddhist seeds in China, the image of gods in some other religions in India has also entered the Buddhist system and received attention, and hu shi refers to the sacred monkey "Hanuman", which is the protagonist of India's great epic "Ramayana". He is very intelligent, has the ability to overwhelm the mountains and the sea, is good at navigating the clouds and changing his image. He repeatedly rescued Prince Rama with his extraordinary ability, and he himself was the embodiment of wisdom and strength. Although this epic Ramayana is a cultural classic of Brahmanism in India, we will often see various connections between Buddhism and Brahmanism in the Buddhist scriptures, one of the paths through which Buddhist art spreads.
In the Buddhist system, Brahmanism is usually recorded in the literature in the form of a foreign path. The so-called "four phases" of Shakyamuni – zazen meditation, asceticism, demon-lowering, and one of the sayings of descending demons are both the external ways of subduing demons. In the visual image, more examples are preserved. For example, the large-scale "Laodu Fork Bucket Holy Transformation" that we saw in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang after the Tang Dynasty has a detailed depiction of brahmins and other foreign paths. It is not difficult to explain the reason why Hanuman, a Brahmin deity, entered the traditional Chinese culture and was given this magical monkey by Hu Shi to be the back of the Great Sage of Qi Tian. In addition, the rationale for the Buddhist texts should also be based on this, or related to the context in which the Buddhist system was transmitted from India to China.
3. Mixed-race says
The statement that Sun Wukong is a typical example of art influenced by multiculturalism and eclecticism is accepted by most contemporary scholars. In his book "The Preliminary Study of Ramayana", Ji Xianlin believes that the doctrine that is closer to the facts is that the image of Sun Wukong is borrowed from the Ramayana and is contaminated with some unsupported elements. (6) Therefore, in the various characteristics of the Chinese nation's pursuit of human beauty, there are ideals, personalities and abilities of heroic settings, which can finally be presented to the world by Wu Cheng'en, an author with strong national heritage, through "Journey to the West". Sun Wukong's bravery, dignity preservation, positive optimism, and contempt for the personality of the powerful also show that since the Ming Dynasty, people have paid more attention to the pursuit of freedom and the realization of self-worth in life.
Through the above academic review and through the content of the work "Journey to the West" itself, we have come to at least the following two conclusions:
a. The image of Sun Wukong is an ape.
b. Sun Wukong is associated with Buddhism.
2. Raising of the issue
The above two conclusions are the premise for further discussion in this article. Today, through Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West, we know that the image of Sun Wukong has been defined by several important elements such as the monkey head, wearing a tight hoop, holding a stick (golden hoop stick), and holding a pergola, even if only two or three words are mentioned, it will be easy to think of the answer it points to. However, we all know that Wu Cheng'en only made the necessary integration and sorting out of the stories passed down by word of mouth, and he himself was not the initiator of "Journey to the West". So here's the problem. Before the Ming Dynasty, was Sun Wukong the image we see in Journey to the West? Is he still the monkey-headed man who makes sticks? Are the names and heads of the monkey walkers that we know now all formed in Wu Cheng'en's pen? The answer is clearly no.
1. The image of Sun Wukong as seen in the surviving image data
The earliest written record related to the image of Sun Wukong that we see now is the first view of the monkey walker in the second verse of the Tang Dynasty Sanzang Sutra Poetry:
Having passed through a country, at noon one day, when he saw a white-clothed show coming from the east, he waved the monk: "Ten thousand blessings, ten thousand blessings!" Where are the monks now? Don't you go to the Western Heavens to learn the scriptures? The Master clapped his hands together and said, "Poor monks worship the edict, for the sentient beings in the eastern lands there is no Buddhism, it is to learn the scriptures." Xiu Cai said: "Before the monk died, he went to learn the scriptures two times, and the middle road suffered, and if he went, he would die." Mage Cloud: "How do you know?" Xiu Cai said, "I am no one else, I am the eighty-four thousand copper-headed iron-fronted macaque king of the Ziyun Cave of Huaguoshan Mountain." I have come to help the monks to learn the scriptures. This journey of a million, through thirty-six countries, there are many disasters. The Master should know, "If this is the case, the third life will have a fate." All beings in the eastern land have great benefits. "When the call was changed to Monkey Walker." ⑦
The "white-clothed Xiucai" seen above is exactly Sun Wukong in the later Ming Dynasty work "Journey to the West". Although he is the Macaque King of Ziyun Cave in Huaguoshan Mountain, the image of the first sight is only a white-clothed xiucai, and the author has not seen the author's description of his dissimilarity or special annotations. This interesting phenomenon proves that at least after the publication of this book in the Song Dynasty, (8) people's cognition of Sun Wukong is still not a monkey-faced person. In addition, the nickname "Monkey Walker" may be derived from this.
In addition to the written records, if we can see visual materials from the same era, it actually helps us to better understand the maturity of the image of Sun Wukong. Since the 1980s, the monkey walker sculpture from the Kaiyuan Temple near Quanzhou, Fujian Province, has been attracting the attention of researchers. According to the Eight Min Tongzhi:
[Quanzhou] Dakaiyuan Wanshou Zen Temple is outside the Puring Gate. Tang Sheng's three-year county citizen Huang Shouzhong, the garden has Sanglian Rui, because the house is "White Lotus Ruiying Dojo", later named "Lotus Temple", looking for "Xingjiao", and changed to "Longxing", and Kaiyuan changed to "Kaiyuan". Five dynasties [later] Liang Zhenmingzhong, the creation of [Kaiyuan Temple] East and West Ermu Pagoda, [South] Song Baoqing Jiaxi Zhong's two pagodas were destroyed, and later Yi Yi was stoned. ⑩
Figure 1 Monkey Walker Relief, Northeast of the Fourth Floor of the West Tower of Quanzhou Kaiyuan Temple (9)
Kaiyuan Temple has two pagodas, east and west. The East Pagoda is also known as the Zhenguo Pagoda, and the West Pagoda is also known as the Renshou Pagoda. After the Southern Song Dynasty Baoqing destroyed the stone pagoda in the war, from the first year of Shaoding (1228), the west pagoda was transformed into a five-story granite stone pagoda after ten years, and the east pagoda was also rebuilt in the second year of Jiaxi (1238), and after twelve years it was converted into a five-story stone pagoda.
The relief of the Monkey Walker is located on the northeast side of the fourth floor of the West Pagoda of Kaiyuan Temple (Figure 1). According to the dating of the reconstruction, the monkey walker relief should not have been completed earlier than 1238. In fact, the earliest research on the reliefs here should be found in the book "The Twin Pagodas of Zayton" ("The Twin Pagodas of Zayton" published by Harvard University in the United States in 1935 and co-authored by the German scholar P. Demieville and the Swiss scholar Gustav Ecke. It contains detailed photographs of various parts of the Kaiyuan Temple taken in 1926 and the author's initial combing of them. The relief of the monkey walker is described to the effect that a guard with a monkey's head holds a rosary bead around his neck in one hand and a sword in the other hand pointing to the cloud that shines from its front end. He was dressed in a short coat and boots. Tie a gourd around your waist, twist the rosary in your hand, and chant incantations. This is seen as a symbol of positive energy against all disasters, dangers, traumas and diseases. (11)
The above description of the sword, gourd, Buddha beads and other elements, not only completely missing from the Ming Dynasty's "Journey to the West", we also found in the relief of this statue that Sun Wukong is in a different phase, that is, the monkey phase of the human body. And the arm muscles float sideways. In addition, there are some small details such as the waist scroll, the tight hoop, and a relief of a shami on the upper left side of the body, which is also eye-catching. At this time, Sun Wukong was already very different from the monkey walkers of the same era mentioned in the previous literature. The white-clad xiucai in the literature is already a guard carrying a large knife; there is no description of his alien appearance in the literature, and it is already shown here.
Fig. 2 Indian style relief, Quanzhou Kaiyuan Temple (taken from "Quanzhou (Thorn TongGang) Twin Towers - A Study of Late Chinese Buddhist Sculpture")
The east and west pagodas in Quanzhou Kaiyuan Temple are stone pagodas of the Southern Song Dynasty. Quanzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty was an important town on the Maritime Silk Road. Ships entering and leaving the port from here not only traded and traded, but also became responsible for cultural exchanges. The national culture and folk beliefs of India and South Asian countries entered China from Quanzhou and then went deep into the hinterland. Sun Wukong's external origin, the Hanuman monkey from the Indian epic Ramayana, is likely to be known for entering China in this way. The multiple Indian-style reliefs that appear at The Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou can also confirm this conclusion (Figure 2).
So, in other regions of China during the same period, did they accept and apply the image of a monkey walker holding a large knife, hanging a gourd, and twisting Buddha beads in his hand?
Ningbo, which is also a trading port city of the Southern Song Dynasty, has a similar set of themes. This set of subjects comes from the Ningbo Buddhist painting "Five Hundred Arhats" exported from Daitoku-ji Temple in Japan.
The Five Hundred Luohan Tu is a group of Song Dynasty Buddhist paintings exported to Japan from the southern Song Dynasty, north of Quanzhou and another port city of Ningbo. Painted in the form of five arhats per figure, a total of 100 paintings, it was originally collected by Daitoku-ji Temple in Japan. According to the inscription in the painting, the author of this picture is from the hands of two famous painters in the Ningbo area of the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin Tingjue and Zhou Jichang, and the painting time is between the fifth year of Chunxi (1178) and the fifteenth year of Chunxi (1188) of the Southern Song Dynasty. (12) There are 94 extant paintings and 6 dead paintings in the whole map; 82 paintings are in the collection of Dade Temple; 10 and 2 paintings are in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts,Boston and The Freer Gallery of Art in the United States; and the monkey walker to be introduced is from the collection of Dade Temple. As mentioned above, the completion time of the Stone Sculpture of the Monkey Walker in Quanzhou should be no earlier than 1228, and the completion time of the "Five Hundred Luohan Diagram" is 1178-1188, which is slightly earlier than the Stone Sculpture of the Monkey Walker in Quanzhou.
This is the seventy-seventh figure in the order of the Five Hundred Arhats, and is named "Tang Monks Take the Scriptures". (13) In the picture, there are four arhats near the picture located on the waterfront pontoon bridge, three people have stopped at the shore to watch the waterfall, and one person is still following up on the bridge. In the distance, on the waterbank, the smoke is thick, and another person dressed as an arhat rides a white horse, and the brocade saddle and red bell ringer are very conspicuous. Luo Han held the reins on the horse's head and headed in the direction led by a ghost pawn. A monkey statue follows close behind, with only half of his body and side face appearing in the thick clouds, dressed in black, holding a weapon in his left hand, and his handle is visible (Figure 3). Interestingly, there must be five arhats in each figure in the "Five Hundred Arhat Diagrams", and there is no Tang monk in this figure, but there is one less Arhat in the foreground, which is obviously replaced by one of the five Arhats. The monkey walker in the picture has less information, except for the weapon, there is no bead string on his body, and there is no tight hoop ornament on the head, but the decoration of the jewel at the end of the handle of his hand weapon is obviously different from the flat decoration at the end of the knife-like weapon seen in Quanzhou. Based on the shape of this hand alone, it should not be possible to assert whether the weapon is a stick or a large knife (Fig. 4).
Figure 3 "Tang Monks Take the Scriptures", "Five Hundred Arhat Diagrams", 77th figure, Kyoto, Japan, Daitoku-ji Temple Collection (taken from "Sacred Ningbo")
In addition to the coastal port cities of Quanzhou and Ningbo, several sets of image data from the Dunhuang Grottoes in western China give us a completely negative conclusion. Duan Wenjie examined the six existing "Sutra Drawings" in the Dunhuang Grottoes, all of which were painted in the caves of the Western Xia Era in Guazhou. There is one painting each of Cave 2 and Cave 29 of Yulin Cave, and two paintings of Cave 3 of Yulin Cave. There are two paintings in the second cave of the East Thousand Buddha Caves.
Figure 4 Daedeok Monastery Tibetan "Tang Monk Sutra" Figure Walker Holding Hand holding and Quanzhou Kaiyuan Temple Stone Carving Walker Holding Hand (Figure 3 Part, Figure 1 Part)
The Eastern Thousand Buddha Cave at the westernmost point of the Hexi Corridor is about 80 to 90 kilometers away from the county seat of Guazhou, and the grotto is scheduled to be in the Western Xia period. There are 23 existing caves, and nine caves with frescoes and statues are confirmed, distributed in the east and west rocks. The frescoes are the most completely preserved in Cave 2. There are two "Sutra Drawings" in this cave, which are painted in the Water Moon Guanyin Diagram on the north and south walls of the Yongdao Road. In one of the paintings, the Monkey Walker stands in front of a horse and worships Guanyin with Xuanzang. The monkey walker is dressed in a white narrow-sleeved long shirt with a shoulder jacket, a long shirt and the ground, with a split on the side, and a small mouth trousers inside. The most peculiar thing is that the monkey walker's long shirt has a standing collar, which seems to be a fur-trimmed left side; the top of the head is bald, the top is bald, and the hair around it is tied in a braid at the back of the head. Belt leather belt at the waist, to the front of the knee-shaped cloth pocket. No weapons are seen (Figure 5).
Another "Sutra Drawing" in this cave has been so badly damaged that the details of monkey walkers' faces have become unclear. However, the details of the costume of the warrior guardian, the armor in front of him, and the stick he holds in his hand are still there (Figure 6).
Figure 5 "Taking the Scriptures", Yongdao South, Cave 2 of the East Thousand Buddha Caves, Late Western Xia (taken by the author)
Figure 6 "Drawing on the Scriptures", North of Yongdao Road, Cave 2 of the East Thousand Buddha Caves, Late Western Xia (taken by the author)
Yulin Cave is about 70 kilometers south of Guazhou County. The caves are carved into the upright cliffs on both sides of the Nanshan Gorge, and there are a total of 43 upper and lower levels. Thirty-two east cliffs and eleven west cliffs. Its 2nd cave, 3rd cave and 29th cave stages are all designated as the late Western Xia period.
The "Sutra Drawing" of The 2 Caves of Yulin Cave is painted in the lower right corner of the Shuiyue Guanyin Diagram on the north side of the west wall. In the wide land near the water's edge, the walker monkeys look at each other, lead the horses upright, and pray to Guanyin across the water with the monks in front of them. His head hair is droopy, tied in a circle or rope, bald at the top, and he wears a crewneck shirt with straight pants into boots. Strangely enough, he raised his head with one hand, as if to make another gesture of setting up a pergola to look out (Figure 7).
Figure 7 "Drawing on the Scriptures", Late Western Xia (from the Complete Collection of Yulin Grottoes)
Figure 8 "Drawing on the Scriptures", Late Western Xia (collected from the Complete Collection of Yulin Caves)
Figure 9 "Drawing on the Scriptures", late Western Xia, (collected from "Dunhuang Grotto Art Research")
In the Puxian transformation on the south side of the west wall of Cave 3 of Yulin Cave, the "Drawing of the Scriptures" is drawn in the left center of the picture. The Tang monks were in front, followed by the Monkey Walker and the White Horse to pay homage to the Bodhisattva. Xuanzang's head was backlit, his body leaned forward slightly, his hands were folded downwards, and the white horse saddled, and the lotus sutra was enshrined, and the light was greatly illuminated, and the sutra was taken. The monkey walker in the picture stands with his head bowed, his hands folded upwards, and his mind is focused on the bodhisattva incarnation. Its hair is short and hairy, and it should be fearful when praying to Guanyin; the outer shirt is not up to the knee, the inside is seen in the monk's pants, and the foot is pedaling mangshoe. The head did not see the same tight hoop as Quanzhou, or the same ring or rope as the second cave, nor did he see Buddha beads or weapons on his body. But as can be seen from very clear head details, the monkey walker has bald hair on top (Figure 8).
There is another "Sutra Drawing" in Cave 3, and in Duan Wenjie's line drawing we can clearly know that the weapon in the monkey walker's hand is still a stick, and the left hand is raised upwards to the eyebrows, as if to make a hand-built pergola action (Figure 9).
The above groups of "Sutra Drawings" in the Dunhuang Guazhou Grottoes were painted between 1038 and 1227 during the reign of the Western Xia. The monkey walker figure in these murals has several important features summarized below:
a. Monkey head human body.
b. There are long hair comb braids, short hairs, and short hair sagging, and some images can be seen with hair loop ropes.
C. Baldness can be seen on the top of the head.
d. Armed with a weapon as a stick.
e, there is a "hand to build a pergola" action.
Summary: Judging from the comparison of the three images of the monkey walker relief sculpture in The Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou and the monkey walker in the Dunhuang Grottoes mural in Ningbo's "Five Hundred Luohan Diagrams", it is not difficult to know that the monkey walker image of the Dunhuang Grotto mural between 1038 and 1227, which was produced between 1038 and 1227, is the last image to enter the Novel of Wu Cheng'en in the Ming Dynasty. Including the weapons of the Monkey Walker and one of the important symbols represented by its image, the stick, also entered the system.
2. The assumption of the molding time of the image of Sun Wukong
So, why did such a monkey walker appear in the murals of the Western Xia dynasty? Is there anything related to the Monkey Walker and the Western Xia people?
The Kingdom of Western Xia was established by Li Yuanhao in 1038, and in the nearly 190 years before the Yuan Dynasty destroyed Western Xia in 1227, Li Yuanhao tried a series of reforms, including the introduction of writing, clothing, and the implementation of baldness orders. Li Yuanhao once said: "Clothing and fur, animal husbandry, and sexual convenience." (15) The Book of the Later Han Dynasty also contains: "The Qiang people thought it was customary because they were covered with hair." (15) In March of the second year of the Ming Dynasty (1033) before the founding of the Western Xia Dynasty, Li Yuanhao issued a balding decree. The implementation period is only three days, and those who do not follow are killed. (16) The laws of baldness are diverse, and there are strict distinctions between royals and commoners, and the styles are also divided into (short), shawl, bald (light), braid, hair, bun and so on. In the article "Preliminary Investigation of Western Xia Hairstyles", Wu Fengtian made a very detailed combing of the baldness of Western Xia. Among them, there is a description of the meaning of baldness: "The Western Xia Dangxiang people are in the Mongolian Plateau and the Loess Plateau, because of the primitive worship of blue sky and white clouds, the topmost part of the human body is exposed, which is the closest part of the human body to the sky, and there is no obstacle." Directly feel the blue sky and white clouds with your body and skin to show your reverence... Dang Xiang people live on a plateau, with high altitude, unpredictable climate change, and cold and long winters. Hair has a thermal and warm effect, so cutting off hair in such an environment is a concrete embodiment of bravery and strength... Howe is not an exaggeration to say that Western Xia baldness is synonymous with Western Xia people. ”(17)
The three-body provider attendant of Cave 29 of Yulin Cave is the image of the hair (Figure 10). The stone carving of the Western Xia maid of the Tomb of the Party Xiang of Taihe Village in Shenmu County, northern Shaanxi Is also a hair (Figure 11). In addition, a ceramic monkey with hair was unearthed in the Lingwu kiln in Ningxia, and the original collector thought that the phenomenon of not applying color on the top of the head was a defective product and almost gave up the collection, but did not know that it actually reflected the customs of the Western Xia people (Figure 12).
Figure 10 Servants of the Provider, 29 Caves of Yulin Caves, Late Western Xia (collected from the Complete Collection of Yulin Caves)
Figure 11 Party maid, Tomb of Dangxiang in Taihezhai, Shenmu County, Northern Shaanxi (taken from "Cultural Relics of Western Xia")
Figure 12 Ceramic monkey, Ningxia Lingwu kiln unearthed Western Xia cultural relics (collected from "Western Xia Cultural Relics")
The Book of Sui contains:
Party Xiang Qiang, after the three miao also. Its species are Tang Chang and White Wolf, both of which call themselves macaque species. (18)
The hairstyles of all the monkey walkers in the Guazhou Grottoes described in this article belong to the type of hair on the top of the head (Figure 5-1, Figure 7-1, Figure 8-1). In the nearly 190 years since the execution of the balding order, the Western Xia people have written and recorded through the unique culture of the Western Xia, from the initial rejection and blood spatter to the experience of obedience, respect and even promotion of it. Monkey walkers are heroes, warriors, and milestone figures, and they need to be shown in the face of their own people.
Fig. 5-1 (Fig. 5 partial)
Fig. 7-1 (Fig. 7 partial)
Fig. 8-1 (Fig. 8 partial)
Judging from these images in Guazhou, the monkey walkers are not only related to the Western Xia, but also their warriors and national heroes. Thus there are these typical national imprints that we see. The walker holds the stick in his hand, and the source is that it is a daily weapon for the nomadic peoples in the Western Xia and even the Western Regions. (19) The god Vishamuntian in the Khotanese faith, with a long stick in his hand and a trident at the top (Fig. 13); the Uighur people also made the gourd (Fig. 14); the Northeastern people Liao, as well, and interpreted as the world's well-known instrument bone for the honor guard.
Figure 13 Bishamentian, Yulin Cave 25, Five Generations (from the Complete Collection of Yulin Caves)
Fig. 14 Uighur offering, Cave 39 of Yulin Cave, Uighur period (from the Complete Collection of Yulin Caves)
Figure 15 Water Moon Guanyin, Yulin Cave No. 2, Late Western Xia (from the Complete Collection of Yulin Grottoes)
In addition, we also noticed that most of these sutra drawings in Guazhou were drawn in the Guanyin Sutra or the Water Moon Guanyin Chart. The close connection between the Guanyin Sutra and the story of the sutra is due to the fact that Guanyin has always been used in the Buddhist scriptures to rescue the travelers and help the needy. But drawing in the Water Moon Guanyin diagram should be a different matter. The Water Moon Guanyin Diagram of the Western Xia dynasty is a paradigm that appeared specifically and became popular during the Western Xia period. The image of Shuiyue Guanyin not only conforms to the aesthetics of motherhood, but also harmonizes its responsibility to overcome suffering, save sentient beings, and lead past lives with the ruling duties of many female rulers in Western Xia. Therefore, the Western Xia Shuiyue Guanyin not only shows the aesthetic needs, but also embodies the faith through art and the belief of the ruler. The integration of the sutra drawing into the Water Moon Guanyin makes the composition of the Water Moon Guanyin image in the Western Xia Period unique, which is obviously different from other eras, and is another proof that we can put the molding time of Sun Wukong's image (Figure 15).
Coincidentally, in the "Five Hundred Arhat Figures" of the Daitoku-ji Temple in Japan, which is introduced above, in the order 36th, the "Portrait of Worshiping Guanyin", Guanyin is only colored by ink. It is backlit, half-crouched on a rock, contemplating the flowing water in front of it. Guanyin's facial lines are strange and simple, and the elements of the Water Moon Guanyin in the background, such as bamboo, flowers and rocks, are all present in Jiangnan pine and lake stones, which are obviously different from those headdresses in the Western Xia Liucai paradigm, such as beads, light fur belts, breeze and moon, and leisurely and gentle Water Moon Guanyin (Figure 16, Figure 16-1). The appearance of this map proves a phenomenon that the Western Xia Shuiyue Guanyin paradigm did not become popular in the Jiangnan area between 1178 and 1188, that is, in the middle and late period of Western Xia rule. As far as we know, the Water Moon Guanyin, which was introduced to Japan and Korea in the Goryeo era, must pass through Ningbo dong gradually by waterway; and according to the records in the Goryeo monk Yi Tian's "Collected Works of the Great Awakening Guoshi", Yi Tian ended more than a year of entering the Song Dynasty in 1086, collecting more than 3,000 volumes of the Fifty-Five Knowledge Statues and the "Huayan DabuSi Discussion" and other religious collections, so that some of the basic elements of the water moon Guanyin images in the Goryeo era could be stereotyped. (20) Although some documents indicate that the basic style of the existing water moon Guanyin image in the late Goryeo period has appeared in the early Goryeo period, there is no explanation of this style, nor is there any empirical evidence of the image. Among the vast majority of the surviving Water Moon Kannon figures made in the Goryeo period in Korea, there are about 40 water moon Kannon diagrams with a clear date of the late Goryeo period (1271-1392). (21) In these Guanyin diagrams, unique elements that appear in the Western Xia Shuiyue Guanyin paradigm such as strange stones, green bamboo, grottoes, and even good fortune boys in the background abound, constituting the association between the Goryeo Shuiyue Guanyin and the Western Xia paradigm. Therefore, we may infer that these constituent elements of the Late Goryeo Water Moon Guanyin came from the Western Xia Shuiyue Guanyin paradigm; and based on the fact that there was no Western Xia Shuiyue Guanyin paradigm between 1178 and 1188, it may be inferred that its formation and eastern gradual progression can only be after 1188, that is, the late Western Xia rule at the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth century.
Figure 16 "Worship of Guanyin Buddha Statue", Daitoku-ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan (taken from "Sacred Ningbo")
Fig. 16-1 (Fig. 16 partial)
Summary: The Monkey Walker is a national hero created by the Western Xia people based on the long-standing "Poetry of the Scriptures", and its image has a deep Western Xia national imprint, such as hair rings and sticks. The final formation of its image should be in the late reign of the Western Xia Kingdom, that is, the period when the Guanyin paradigm of the Western Xia Shuiyue was formed and gradually advanced.
The constituent elements of Sun Wukong's image, such as the monkey head human body, the tight hoop, the stick, and the hand-built pergola, which are defined in the depths of everyone's memory today, come from the Western Xia people and their outstanding creations. In the history of the development of wars and integration with foreign tribes in the past few hundred years, the Western Xia people have reprocessed the myths and legends that entered tibet and even the Qiang people from India and even the Qiang people through cultural exchanges with the Central Plains and the "Poetry of the Classics" in the Central Plains, giving the monkey walkers a heroic national image and retaining the hairstyles, costumes and weapons of the Western Xia people. These sutra drawings may have been circulated only on a small scale at first, so that the concept of the image of Sun Wukong seen in various places varied greatly for a long time later, such as the mythological and legendary version of Quanzhou entering the Central Plains by waterway. However, with the popularity and eastern progression of the Shuiyue Guanyin paradigm along the Silk Road to the inland and coastal areas along the Silk Road in the late Western Xia Dynasty, the image of Sun Wukong in its Buddhist historical stories has gradually become well known, slowly replacing the image of Sun Wukong who entered the Central Plains by sea in southern cities and has no ethnic and cultural background, and finally became a stereotype during this period and entered the vision of the Ming Dynasty. Wu Cheng'en's material is inextricably linked to the "Poetry of the Scriptures", and the prototype of the monkey walker created by the Western Xia people is even more Chen Chen. Today we see a tight hoop on the top of his head, most likely from the hair ring or hairline of the Western Xia people after the bald hair.
The popular history of the story of "Journey to the West" itself is a history of the integration of the Civilization of the Central Plains with the civilization of ethnic minorities and the civilizations of foreign countries. However, since the beginning of the Western Xia, a steady stream of images of "Taking The Scriptures" has appeared in the inland of the Central Plains, from the Great Buddha Temple in Zhangye, Gansu to the Qinglong Temple in Jishan, Shanxi; from the port city of the Southern Song Dynasty, Ningbo, to the Dade Temple in Japan; from the Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, to the Feilai Peak on the shore of Xizi Lake, pulling the spread of the story of the sutra into a long trajectory. The transmission route of the "Sutra Drawing" has been specially studied by more scholars and experts, and different periods may correspond to different conclusions. However, the image of the monkey walker, for the first time since it was created by the Western Xia people, has a national foundation and has finally been recognized by history.
(1) [Tang] Li Zhao, "Supplement to the History of the Tang Kingdom", volume, Shanghai: Classical Literature Publishing House, 1957, p. 23.
(2) [Song] Li Fang, Taiping Guangji, vol. 467, "Water Tribes Four Water Monsters", Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1961, pp. 3845-3846.
(3) Yan Yunsheng, "Several Problems in the Analysis of Sun Wukong's Image", Anhui Normal University Daily, No. 2, 1979, pp. 63-75.
(4) Gong Weiying, "Sun Wukong and Xia Qi", Academic Monthly, No. 7, 198, p. 80.
(5) Hu Shi, "Examination of the Novel of The Chinese Chapter Hui - Examination of the Journey to the West", Shanghai: Shanghai Bookstore, 1979, pp. 337, 338.
(6) Ji Xianlin, "A Preliminary Study of Ramayana", Beijing: Foreign Literature Publishing House, 1979, p. 138.
(7) Li Shiren and Cai Jinghao's Annotations on the Poetry of the Three Tibetan Classics of the Tang Dynasty, Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1997, p. 3.
(8) The inference of the large number of publications is that the Song periodicals already have "towel box books" and other books that are different from them. See Luo Zhenyu's "Narrative of Luo Zhenyu's School Journal": "... It is urgent to take the school towel box book, although the name is different, but it is actually a book. However, the towel box is divided into upper, middle and lower volumes, and this one, two and three are different ears. Yangzhou: Jiangsu Guangling Ancient Books Printing and Engraving Society, 1998, p. 399. Author's Note.
(9) Figure 1 is taken from "Quanzhou (Thorn Tong Port) Twin Towers - A Study of Late Chinese And Recent Buddhist Sculpture".
(10) [Ming] Huang Zhongzhao, "Eight Fujian Tongzhi (Revised Edition)", Fuzhou: Fujian People's Publishing House, 2006, p. 1160.
(11) Gustav Ecke, P. Demieville, The Twin Pagodas of Zayton, Harvard University Press, 1935, p.35.
(12) [Japanese] Makoto Inoue, "Five Hundred Arhat Diagrams from Daitoku-ji Temple", Catalogue of the 2009 Special Exhibition "Sacred Ningbo" of the Nara National Museum, p. 254.
(13) See Sacred Land ningbo, p. 152, figure 77. The different names of "Tang monks taking the scriptures" and "Xuanzang taking the scriptures" or "taking the scriptures and poems" are not the subject of this article, so the original quotation is used here. Author's Note.
(14) [Yuan] Tuo Tuo et al. "History of the Song Dynasty", vol. 485, "Biography of Xia Guo", Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1977, p. 13993.
(15) [Southern Dynasty Song] Fan Ye, [Tang] Li Xian et al., Book of the Later Han Dynasty, vol. 77, "Biography of the Western Qiang", Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1965, p. 2875.
(16) [Qing] Wu Guangcheng, Gong Shijun and other proofs of the "Western Xia Shushi Proof" volume 11: "In March of the second year of the Ming Dynasty (1033), the baldness order was issued. Yuan Hao wanted to reform the old customs of Silver and Xia, and first balded himself, and then ordered the kingdom to make the subordinates obey this. If you don't follow it for three days, you will let the people kill them. So the people quarreled over their bald hair, and the earlobes were heavily ringed. Lanzhou: Gansu Culture Publishing House, 1995, p. 132.
(17) Wu Fengtian, "A Preliminary Study of The Hair Style of Western Xia", Xixia Studies, Vol. 9, 2013, p. 272.
(18) [Tang] Wei Zheng et al. wrote the Book of Sui, vol. 83, "Biography of dangxiang", Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1973, p. 1845.
(19) [Song] Zeng Gongliang et al. wrote the "Wujing General Summary Of the First Collection", volume 13: "Tribulus terrestris and garlic skulls are two colors, with Tie Ruomu as the head. Trace its meaning, the original is guanidine. The guanyi, the big abdomen, is said to be as large as the guanidine, and the posterity speaks falsely, with the guanidine as the bone and the girdle as the flower. Beijing: Zhonghua Bookstore, 1959, p. 14.
(20) [Han] Yitian's Collected Writings of the Goryeo Dajue Guoshi, vol. 8, Table 4, to the table of begging sins on the borders of his own country: "Fifty-five intellectual statues, Huayan Dabu Si Zhi Zhi and other religions have collected more than 3,000 volumes. He left Mingzhou on the twelfth day of this month, released the ocean on the nineteenth, and has reached the border. Lanzhou: Gansu People's Publishing House, 2007, p. 29.
(21) The Complete Collection of Goryeo Paintings, vols. 1 and 2, Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press, 2017.