Why does the Queen Mother hold a peach feast regularly? But not for dinner and entertainment, it is related to the survival of the immortals.
It turned out that the gods and immortals in the Journey to the West world also had a long lifespan, but they were far longer than mortals, and only a few top gods could really achieve immortality and immortality. Most immortals, like mortals, will fall into reincarnation as soon as their yangshou arrives.
Are the immortals willing to fall into reincarnation? Of course not. Therefore, the Queen Mother and Lady Niangniang regularly held peach feasts.
What is the most important event of the Peach Feast? Eat peaches, of course. Peach has the effect of prolonging life, according to the land master of peach orchard:
There are a total of 3,600 peach trees in the peach orchard, the front 1,200 trees, 3,000 years a ripe, people eat into the immortal Tao, the body fitness is light; the middle 1,200 plants, 6,000 years a ripe, people eat Xiaju soaring, immortality; the back 1,200 plants, 9,000 years a ripe, people eat and live together with the heavens and the earth.
The peaches served at the peach feast should be mainly ripe for three thousand years and one ripe for six thousand years, why?
First of all, the number of nine thousand years of ripening is too small, after all, its growth cycle is too long;
Secondly, the effect of nine thousand years of cooking is too great, once you eat one, you can live with the sky. Just think, if the gods and immortals all live in unison with the heavens, is there still a need to continue to hold the peach feast? If the immortals no longer depended on the peach, what else would the Queen Mother rely on to order the immortals?
Since the peach feast is a grand event of great significance, every time a peach feast is held, the Queen Mother will invite the gods of the three realms with heads and faces to attend the meeting, just like a large group holding a grand event, often inviting well-known people as guests.
As the head of the Lingshan Group, Rulai was obviously the object of the invitation of the Queen Mother. In fact, the Queen Mother's Mother's mother and mother invited Rulai to hold a peach feast, and Rulai also gave face every time, but there was only one exception, Rulai obviously received an invitation from the Queen Mother's mother, but did not participate.
This time it was the peach feast that Sun Wukong made a big fuss in the Heavenly Palace. Why didn't Rulai participate in the peach feast in the Heavenly Palace?
At that peach feast, Sun Wukong was furious because he was not in the list of feasts, and he made a big fuss in the Heavenly Palace and defeated 100,000 Heavenly Soldiers, so the Jade Emperor sent someone to Lingshan to save the car. Just imagine, if Rulai had participated in the Peach Feast, he should have been in the Heavenly Garden at that time, and the Jade Emperor would have sent someone to lingshan to announce his rescue?
So, why did Rulai participate in every peach feast, but did not go to the Heavenly Palace that time?
There is a very interesting view, the peach feast in the Heavenly Palace, a big thing happened in The Spirit Mountain. This major event not only caused Rulai not to participate in the peach feast, but also affected the fate of Sun Wukong.
We know that the Tang monk was originally the second disciple of Rulai, The Golden Cicada, who was demoted to the mortal world by Rulai five hundred years ago because he despised the Dharma. Five hundred years ago, it was the time when the peach feast was held in the Haunting Heavenly Palace, so some people believe that when the peach feast was held, it was when the golden cicadas were slowing down the Dharma, and rulai summoned the gods and Buddhas of lingshan to announce their disposition of him, so they delayed participating in the peach feast. According to the seventh time in the original work, when the envoys of the Jade Emperor arrived at Lingshan, the gods and Buddhas of Lingshan did gather together.
After dealing with the golden cicada, rulai learned that Sun Wukong was making a big fuss in the Heavenly Palace, and a grand strategy suddenly popped up in his mind, which was to learn from the great cause.
Therefore, Rulai was ordered to suppress Sun Wukong, but did not execute him, but only crushed him under the Five Elements Mountain and sentenced him to five hundred years in prison, the purpose of which was precisely to temper Sun Wukong's temperament so that he could escort the Tang monk Xitian to learn the scriptures. What do you think?