The Bull Demon King is definitely the most unlucky youkai in the Westward Journey World.
In the Journey to the West world, the yokai are picked up by the sutra collection team or the immortals, and there are usually two situations, one is to covet the meat of the Tang monks, and the other is not to covet the meat of the Tang monks, but is the enemy of the team of the sutra, such as the three demons of the Che Chi Kingdom.
But the Bull Demon King was completely unrelated to either of these circumstances. He never had any evil thoughts about Tang Monk from beginning to end, nor did he ever think of making it difficult for the sutra team, nor did he even want to see the sutra team, because Sun Wukong asked Guanyin Bodhisattva to surrender to the red child, and the Bull Demon King had already decided to cut off his robe and break the righteousness with him.
His only "fault" was his refusal to give the banana fan to the sutra team.
But why does the Bull Demon King have to borrow a banana fan?
The banana fan is the heirloom of the Bull Devil King, which belongs to the private property of the Bull Devil King, and the private property is sacred and inviolable. Whether the Bull Devil King borrows or not borrows is completely his personal freedom, but it is Sun Wukong who forced the Bull Devil King to borrow, which is somewhat inappropriate.
But because of this so-called fault alone, the Bull Demon King was violently suppressed, wasn't it bad luck enough?
The scene of the Bull Demon King being suppressed was also very rare in the Journey to the West world, and he could be said to be the only youkai in the Journey to the West world that was jointly encircled and suppressed by the Heavenly Court and the Spirit Mountain.
In the sixty-first time of the original work, the Heavenly Court sent Li Jing, the Heavenly King of Tota, and Nezha, the Great God of the Three Taiwan Seas, to suppress the Bull Demon King, and Nezha told Sun Wukong: "The foolish father and son saw the Buddha Rulai yesterday, and sent a message to the Jade Emperor, and the Jade Emperor passed on the will, and sent my father to lead the people to help." ”
The gods of the Celestial Court were invited to fight by Rulai. Since he invited the gods of the Heavenly Court to fight, the Lingshan Group naturally could not help but contribute, so he sent the four great Kongo, the Golden Head Revelation, the Liujia Liuding and other gods to fight.
Although the Bull Demon King was powerful in mana, he was besieged by many famous gods, how could he escape? In the end, he was surrendered by Nezha and escorted to Lingshan.
However, although Rulai mobilized the crowd to subdue the Bull Demon King, after the Bull Demon King was escorted to the Spirit Mountain, he did not punish him, at least not in the original work.
On the contrary, the sixty-first time in the original work mentions, "The practice of Narasha's hidden surname was later also achieved by the right results, and it was known through the ages in Tibet." The Cow Devil King's wife, Princess Tiefan, was the "initiator" who refused to borrow the banana fan, and in the end she also achieved the right results, and it is not surprising that the Bull Devil King was not punished.
Then, why did Rulai Xingshi mobilize the crowd to capture the Bull Demon King, but did not punish him?
There is a view that Rulai and the Bull Demon King have a lot of connections, and if we know who the Master of the Bull Demon King is, we can see at a glance.
The Bull Demon King may have been in the same door as Sun Wukong and was also a disciple of Bodhi Grandmaster. Because the Bull Demon King, like Sun Wukong, also mastered the seventy-two changes, and sun wukong's seventy-two changes were taught by Bodhidharma.
But what does this have to do with not punishing the Bull Demon King?
If we regard the fengshen as a prequel to the journey to the west, it is not difficult to find that the Bodhi Master may also be the master of Rulai.
As we have analyzed in previous articles, the true identity of Bodhi Guru may be the master of the Tongtian Sect, because the two have too many similarities, such as both uphold the concept of receiving disciples without class, and both like to read the Taoist classic "Huang Ting Jing". According to the setting of the fengshen god, Rulai's predecessor was the Duobao Daoist, and the Duobao Daoist was the eldest disciple of the Tongtian Sect Lord.
Since both Rulai and the Bull Demon King had inherited bodhi ancestors, the Bull Demon King was Rulai's little disciple, and Rulai would certainly not punish him.
The reason why Rulai mobilized the crowd to arrest the Bull Demon King may be that at the behest of The Bodhi Ancestor, he was taken to the Spirit Mountain and guided him to the right path, and he was no longer a demon in the netherworld.