"Journey to the West" makes it clear that whether it is a god or a demon, it is necessary to cultivate and refine qi, reconcile dragons and tigers, and catch obstacles to prolong life.
According to the book, there are not many ways to extend lifespan, and two of them have such an effect, one is a peach, and the other is ginseng fruit.
The suffering of the six reincarnations
Peach In the peach orchard in the sky, demons and ghosts, and even ordinary gods and immortals don't think about it.
And the ginseng fruit is in the human world, smell it can live 360 years old, eat one, you can live for 47,000 years.
However, the great immortal who guards the ginseng fruit is not easy to mess with, and is the ancestor of the earth immortals, so it is more difficult for others to smell it than to ascend to the heavens.
When the Tang monks and apprentices came to the Wuzhuang Temple, the Great Immortal asked the boy to beat two for the Tang monk to eat, but because the fruit looked too much like a baby, the Tang monk was afraid to eat it, and the fruit was eaten by the two boys.
All this did not hide from the eyes of the eight precepts, he instigated the master brother to steal the fruit, in fact, the eight precepts are not hungry, mainly the effect of ginseng fruit is too tempting.
As we all know, the first of the six reincarnations is the Tenjin Way, followed by the Shura, the Beast, etc., in other words, let alone people, even the gods and immortals will enter the six reincarnations.
In fact, the gods are fine, as long as they behave well, they will have the opportunity to eat peaches that can prolong their lives on the birthday of the Queen Mother on March 3 every year.
And those demons can't do it, they can't go in the heavens, and the ginseng fruit is watched by Zhen Yuan Daxian again, so when Tang Monk appears, these demons will be almost crazy and must be caught.
At the same time, the four masters and apprentices of the Western Heavens, except for Sun Wukong, who could live forever because he ate a lot of peaches, the others had to endure the suffering of reincarnation.
The Secrets of the Eight Precepts
But as mentioned earlier, ginseng fruit can prolong life, after the four masters and apprentices came to the Wuzhuang Temple, the eight precepts learned that the ginseng fruit was in the view, naturally could not let go of this opportunity, which tricked the monkey to steal.
The difference is that after the fruit is brought back, the monkey and the sand monk both chew and taste it slowly, while the eight precepts are swallowed directly.
You know, the Eight Commandments of the Pig is a former canopy marshal, and he has also had the honor of participating in the peach festival and eating peaches that can increase life. Speaking of which, the Eight Precepts are also people who have seen the great world, why are they so eager to face the ginseng fruit that they have to swallow it in one bite?
In fact, it is not because the Eight Precepts are in a hurry to eat, but because he knows the secret of the efficacy of ginseng fruit.
According to the book, the reason why the ginseng fruit and peach are beneficial to life is because the two different fruits are condensed from the heaven and earth aura, so how to eat it to fully absorb the effect is very exquisite.
The first is to eat it immediately after taking it off, otherwise the aura will gradually dissipate and the effect will be reduced.
The second is to swallow the whole thing, not to chew slowly. The reason is very simple, after biting the reiki dissipates faster, just like swallowing the elixir, the elixir is swallowed in order to ensure that the aura does not lose from the mouth, and the same is true for ginseng fruit.
Therefore, after the eight precepts get the fruit, they directly swallow it.
But if this is the case, why don't monkeys and sand monks swallow?
Ginseng fruit in the Book of Differences
Monkeys are a true temperament, and when they ate peaches, they also ate one bite and threw one. At the same time, he had not officially participated in the Peach Festival, and his relationship with other gods and immortals was also very poor, otherwise he would not have been bullied by the pawn god, so he did not know the secrets.
As for Sha Zeng, he was only a general, and when the peach was held, he had to hold a glass cup for the Jade Emperor, and he was not qualified to eat the peach, nor did he have the opportunity to communicate with the Immortals, so naturally he did not know the secrets.
Among the brothers, only the Eight Precepts had been the Marshal of the Canopy, had a wide range of contacts, and had also participated in the Peach Festival, so he knew the secrets in it, so he swallowed it in one bite and retained the full effect of the fruit.
Some people here may argue that the Eight Precepts are swallowed because of gluttony, and there are no such twists and turns.
In fact, the bridge section of the ginseng fruit in "Journey to the West" should be that the author borrowed the records in the "Narrative of Differences" of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
The Book of Narratives contains:
"There are always children on the branches, six or seven inches long, and when they see everyone laughing, they move their hands and feet, and their heads are on the branches." So that if you pluck a branch, the child will die."
It would be even more exaggerated according to the Book of Narration, as soon as the fruit was plucked, the child would die and lose all vitality.
The mother tree is the only source of energy for the fruit, when the fruit falls from the mother tree, while losing energy, it is also rapidly losing energy, so there will be a situation of "picking a branch, the child will die".
Different from ordinary fruits, the foreign fruit is the condensation of heaven and earth aura, which contains a kind of condensation of life force, and only one bite can retain the full effect, otherwise every bite, the aura will lose a point, and the effect will naturally be greatly reduced.
As for why the Eight Precepts did not tell this secret to the brothers, perhaps it was because he was too eager to eat his own fruit and did not care. But after eating, he was afraid of being scolded by Goku for saying it, so he simply didn't say it.
Of course, the joy of studying literary fiction lies in delving into and digging into the hidden dark lines that may exist in them, just as many people think that bodhi in journey to the west is actually the Buddha of Rulai, and the golden hoop stick is not good without the nine-tooth nail rake, and so on.
While the results of the research may not necessarily be correct, they are interesting. And this is also the charm of "Journey to the West".
References: Journey to the West, Narrative of Differences