What is a golden hoop stick?
Since the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Journey to the West has been interpreted as a book of preaching in which the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are integrated, and although the interpretations of various schools have their own biases, they do not deny that there are principles and methods of the cultivation of the three religions hidden in it. To borrow the terminology of Western literary theory, this novel with myths and legends as the subject should be classified as "allegory". The peculiarity of irony is correspondence. C. Holman Hugh Holman's Handbook of Literature defines satire as " an extended metaphor in which the objects, characters, and actions in a narrative (prose or rhyme) are equated with meaning outside the narrative itself." In this way, it represents one thing in the form of a disguise of another—in the form of abstract meaning in concrete images. Characters are usually personified by abstract qualities, and actions and scenes represent the relationship between these abstract qualities. That is to say, there are at least two layers of satirical works, one is the superficial article, and the other is the meaning behind it. Therefore, those who are partial to the Buddha say that Wukong, the Eight Precepts, and the Sand Monk represent anger, greed, and delusion; those who are partial to the Tao say that they represent gold and water, wood fire, true earth, and so on. As for other characters and artifacts, naturally there are corresponding origins. Here, I will only try to test the origin of the golden hoop stick.
The third time in the Journey to the West, "All the seas and thousands of mountains are arched, and the nine ghosts and ten categories are all removed" writes: Monkey King Sun Wukong asked the East Sea Dragon King Ao Guang for weapons, and finally got a "treasure", "The original two ends were two golden hoops, and a section of black iron in the middle; next to the hoops there was a line engraved into a line, called 'Ruyi golden hoop stick, weighing 13,500 pounds'". According to the Dragon King, "That was a stator in the depth of the Dingjiang River and the Sea when Dayu ruled the waters", and it was "a piece of divine treasure iron at the bottom of the Tianhe River".
Illustration of Journey to the West
According to the Dao (Immortal) Neidan Technique, the human body is a small universe, corresponding to the large universe of heaven and earth. The top of the head should be the peak of the mountain, and the perineum is also known as the bottom of the sea. The perineum depicted in the "Infinite Inner Scripture Map" that has been handed down is a wave. Legend has it that Yang's Taijiquan, which is not unrelated to Taoist kung fu, has a "needle under the sea", and its use is to strike at the perineum of the person. The name of Taijiquan was passed down by word of mouth, not in writing, and was gradually fixed after being polished by the literati. However, in the past, many people who practiced martial arts had no culture, and the general shallow literati were not familiar with martial arts, coupled with dialect phonology, so there were many false rumors. For example, "lazy tie clothes" or "bird tail" (cover "lazy tie clothes" or "lazy knot clothes", and then falsely changed to "lan cut tail [pronounced yǐ]" and "pick up the bird tail"; "more chicken independence" or "golden rooster independence"; "white goose wings" or "white crane bright wings"; "six seals and four closed" or "like sealing"; "single whip" or "Dan change"; "head pushing mountain" or "leopard tiger returning to the mountain"; "upside down monkey" or "inverted curl humerus", etc. As for the "needle under the sea", there is another person called "pearl under the sea", which is a metaphor for the testicles with "pearls", and the usage is to grab or beat. It is also desirable to explain the former usage as probing fingers like needles and stabbing the opponent's lower abdomen. Nothing is true. The correct name should be "Haixiazhen", that is, the classic "Journey to the West" ("Journey to the West" was written in the late Ming Dynasty, Yang's Taijiquan was founded in the late Qing Dynasty, and chen taijiquan and Wu's taijiquan, which preceded and were also in Yang's taijiquan, did not have such a name). This "treasure" is not a pearl, but a "treasure" of "divine treasure", which means "magical treasure". This treasure is nothing else, the so-called Ruyi Golden Hoop Stick; but it is not used as a weapon to attack, but as an object of attack. Of course, the golden hoop stick is only an image in the satirical work, its real reference, or what the prototype is, at this point, the author does not point out, the reader should already understand it.
Yang's Taijiquan 'Needle under the sea"
Yang Ruquan's "Anthology of Funny Poems" recorded Du Boyuan's "Untitled Endowment", which is specially written for that sentence:
There are things: can stretch and flex, can be soft and rigid. The body rules are dynamic, and the degree is short and long. Transform the heavens and the earth, and the function is yin and yang. Its provenance is also not timely, and its advance and retreat are also no way. If you use it, you can do it, and if you give it up, you can hide it. If he teaches Him to hear the wind, he will stand cowardly; if he is angry, he will be strong though he is weak. Zhuge went out on a campaign, and the brilliant strategy decided seven captures and seven verticals; Kong Men taught, and his heart broke one by one. ...... When it is approaching the front: high and forward, it is brave to line up; the long go is alone, the short soldiers are connected; the angry horses gallop, the torrent is choked; the wind and clouds are thin, and the sun and the moon are dimmed. The battle is fierce, and the conflict is fierce. Learning from Wen Gong's white deeds, Si Cheng's deeds are unspeakable; following wu Mu's arguments on soldiers, after all, it is difficult to say. Defeated by the White Emperor, the lord of the people once folded the armored soldiers; drank the Yellow Dragon bitterly, and the general wanted to pound the nest. The SuMei team is the dominant, and the Girl Scout Army is Yu Yan Dayue.
Isn't this object the virtue of the golden hoop stick? As for Example, Chen Shibin's "Journey to the West" and Liu Yiming's "Journey to the West", etc., believe that this thing is what "the legend of the saints, the main purpose of the persistence", "the essence of one grasp, one god and two transformations" Yunyun, is it not as funny as listening to jokes as serious. In fact, Journey to the West is one of the few classical novels in mainland China with humorous elements.
Or ask: Why are all kinds of demons and ghosts afraid of golden hoop sticks? Answer: The golden hoop stick was originally a sharp weapon for exorcising demons. The Buddhists believe that the so-called demons are all illusions of desires in people's hearts, so as soon as the golden hoop stick comes out, they immediately decide to be troubled and subdue the desires. This is reminiscent of The Renaissance literature of Europe at about the same time, where the novel is equally humanistic and "carnival" in nature.
For example, the French Rabelais's "Legend of the Giants" describes the giant's words are huge and friendless, even wrapped around the waist, can also be used as a weapon, and soaking urine can drown hundreds of enemies. In "Journey to the West", most of the demons are hiding in the cave house, and the golden hoop stick often breaks the mountain gate and destroys the demons. In Bougachu's Decameron, there is a scene in which a Catholic monk calls himself a "devil" and tricks the girl into saying that she needs to be beaten into her "hell." Probably because at that time, only China and parts of Europe were the most advanced in the world, and they all had the germ of early capitalism, and people's personality and ideas were unprecedentedly liberated, so imagination and creativity exploded. It seems that it is not as Lu Xun said, only "the imagination of Chinese is prone to leaps at this level." The difference is that Europeans see only the secular hedonistic or humanistic layer, while Chinese have a deeper philosophical reflection that the satisfaction of worldly desires is only temporary, and that the ultimate liberation lies in denying or overcoming them. This is also the "additive" principle of the Buddhist double practice, that is, by making people tired and tired, they will abandon evil and turn to good, and finally achieve true liberation. A similar idea is expressed in the poem "Pulley" by the English poet George Herbert. Greed, anger, and delusion are the original parts of human nature, which cannot be eliminated or suppressed, and the best way is to transform, that is, to transform the pursuit of material interests into the pursuit of truth and wisdom, greed into a refined mind, hatred into a demonic heart, and so on. Freud's theory that "Libido" was transformed into creativity coincided with this.
Morality is hard to tell
Morality is hard to talk about, hard to lobby. Han Feizi once wrote "Speaking Difficult", which is extremely difficult to persuade. I think that the difficulty of lobbying can be said, but the difficulty of talking about morality cannot be said. To speak morally, we must have great courage, and we must always be ready to accept the challenge of others treating others in their own way. The Christian Bible, Chapter 8, Verses 3 through 11 of the New Testament John tells this story:
The scribes and Pharisees came with a woman who had been taken during adultery and told her to stand in the midst. Then he said to Jesus, "Master, this woman was taken at the time of adultery. Moses legally commanded us to stone such a woman. What do you say you should do with her? When they said this, they tempted Jesus to receive the handle of his accusations. But Jesus bent down and drew words on the ground with his fingers. They kept asking him, and Jesus straightened up and said to them, "Whoever among you is sinless can beat her with a stone first." So he bent down again and drew words on the ground with his fingers. When they heard this, they went out one by one, from old to young. Jesus was the only one left, and the woman was still standing in the midst. Then Jesus stood up straight and said to her, "Woman, where are those people?" Has no one condemned you? She said, "Lord, no. Jesus said, "Nor will I condemn you." Go ahead and never sin again. ”
Instead of answering the questions of the scribes and Pharisees head-on, Jesus avoided the truth and counterbalanced the questions by proposing new propositions to counter-examine them. This is logically called the "method of killing", which is a logical fallacy. However, in practical applications, it is effective.
Chinese said, "No one is a sage, and no one can be blameless." Similarly, Westerners say, "It is human nature to make mistakes" (Errare humanum est). In the above story, Jesus also played a trick and did not say whether he was guilty or not. But logically, it seems that Jesus as a human being could not be sinless either. Of course, being divine is another matter. The Wise Jews (Jesus is the Jews) attributed all authority to God, saying that God had made laws such as the Ten Commandments for mankind, so as to avoid the danger of being beaten upside down in moral judgment.
Morality lies in self-discipline, self-discipline lies in self-awareness, self-consciousness lies in self-examination, and self-examination lies in honesty and self-deception. People who are good at self-examination will naturally be strict with themselves and lenient with others. To discipline oneself merely to avoid being blamed is to be nearly false. However, should it be "each sweeps the snow in front of the door by himself, and the frost on the tiles of others"? If we can all be like Yang Zhu, everyone can be alone, it is also an ideal world. But man is a social animal and cannot survive in isolation. The correct attitude should be to go straight, be honest with yourself and others, be strict with yourself and not be afraid to blame others, and those who are accused should also have the courage to admit their mistakes, rather than contradict each other.