What is the spell of the "Tight Hoop Curse"?

If there is a turning point in "Journey to the West" where the four masters and apprentices can work together to learn the scriptures, it must be from the moment Goku puts on the tight hoop.

However, the tight hoop needs to be driven by a mantra, so the bodhisattva passes the tight hoop mantra that drives the tight hoop to the Tang monk, and from then on Goku can only obey and paste, escorting the Tang monk to learn the scriptures.

Without the golden hoop, there is no journey to the west

The combination of four masters and apprentices in "Journey to the West" gives people a kind of family-like warmth. Tang Monk, like a parent, led a few mischievous children towards the goal of life.

However, the combination of Tang monks and disciples is a temporary patchwork, so the personalities of the four people are very different, some are upright, some are good at eating and lazy, and some are very assertive.

Take the Eight Precepts, for example, he is lazy and lazy, and he is very, and from time to time he always argues with the group, and he seems to be irresponsible.

But Because of his upright personality, Goku has his own set of concepts, has his own opinions, and will not be easily seduced by others, so in the early days, because of his different ideas from Tang Monk, he always provoked Tang Monk to read a tight curse to punish him as a disobedient child.

Every time Tang Monk chanted the tightening mantra, Goku rolled on the ground while begging for forgiveness, like when we were children and were spanked by our parents for making mistakes.

And the monkey wears a hoop in the fourteenth episode of Journey to the West. Because Goku was disobedient and the Tang monk could not surrender, the bodhisattva gave the Tang monk a tight hoop, plus a set of tricks to subdue the untamed monkey. After that, as long as the monkey made a mistake, the Tang monk would recite the mantra, and the golden hoop would automatically tighten, making the monkey suffer a lot.

After that, the monkey had to obediently obey and helped the Tang monk complete the mission of learning the scriptures.

It can be said that the tightening mantra is the turning point of the whole story, and it is precisely with the tightening mantra that the Western Heavenly Scriptures can officially begin.

Since the tightening spell is so powerful, is there a way to break it?

Looking through the whole book, I didn't seem to find an answer to this point, but the mysterious tightening spell was written out, and there were only 6 characters translated into Chinese characters.

"Golden Forbidden", three hoops

In fact, the hoop is one of a set of hoops, a full set of three, namely the golden hoop, the tight hoop and the tight hoop, which is the treasure given by the Buddha to the bodhisattva.

As for why Goku wears a tight hoop instead of the other two, this is mainly because the use of the three hoops is different and the recipe is different.

According to the book "Tang Monks Take the Sutra Recitation Treasure Scroll", the three hoops correspond to the three poisons of Buddhism's "greed and anger", and Goku, because of his temper and disobedience to discipline, corresponds to "anger", so he carries the second hoop, that is, the tight hoop.

Since Goku has committed "anger", it is necessary to meditate, so the tightening mantra is also called "Reassuring The True Word", so as to suppress Goku's violent temper, hone Goku's mental nature, and make him a qualified sutra reader.

However, unlike the golden hoop and the forbidden hoop, the other two hoops can be worn on someone else's head just by chanting the incantation and throwing it out. This is the case when we see the bodhisattva receiving the black bear essence and the red child.

Forbidden hoops can be worn, and those who need to wear them bring them with them, so the bodhisattva changes into an old woman, passes the hoops and incantations to the Tang monks, and asks the Tang monks to give them to the monkeys.

The monkey did not know what to do, and happily put it on his head. But the tight hoop saw the flesh take root, and it could no longer be plucked. Tightening his head, combined with the spell, although it made Goku miserable every time, it did make Goku become much more docile.

However, in the original work of "Journey to the West", the mantra of tightening the hoop is not elaborated, and it was not revealed until the publication of the Qing Dynasty's "Journey to the West Sermon Book".

Tighten the mantra, translate it into 6 words

According to the Journey to the West Sermon, the mantra is actually the Buddhist "six-character mantra," which translates from Sanskrit to the six words of "唵, 嘛, 唰, 叭, 哞,吽."

Is it very familiar, this is obviously the six golden incantations that the Buddha attached to the mountain when he pressed Goku under the Five Elements Mountain.

As for the pronunciation of these six words, the corresponding ones are: ōng, mā, nī, bēi, mēi, hòng.

Don't say that it is confusing to read, it is also sounding, and the more you listen to it, the more confused you are.

But this is secondary, mainly because these six words are difficult to understand and involve a lot of Buddhist knowledge, so I will not explain too much here.

As for why the mantra can drive the tight hoop, according to the book, the mantra itself has the effect of purifying the mind, and the pain caused by the tightening of the hoop can make Goku feel the meaning of the mantra in the pain, so as to achieve the purpose of understanding the error.

Although it is not possible to solve the problem at once, as long as Goku makes a big mistake, he will chant the spell, and after a few times, the effect will be revealed.

From the performance of Wukong in the book, it can also be confirmed that in the middle and late stages of the sutra, the Tang monks almost did not repeat the tight hoop mantra, and Wukong also changed the problem of irritability in the past, and consulted with the master on everything.

Summary, Journey to the West Spirit

Although many people today consider the curse to be a deception and a constraint on freedom, it has gradually become a pejorative meaning. But this is only a one-sided interpretation of the tight hoop spell, in fact, "Journey to the West" has too many places worth learning and studying.

Tang Monk's original intention, Wukong's evil like vengeance, the eight precepts of the thick and simple, the sand monk's hard work and resentment, the white dragon horse's obscurity, and the simple story of taking the scriptures, will show the hundreds of things in the world.

At the same time, the four masters and apprentices are like a family, and the Tang monks are like parents, working hard with their four children to their dreams.

This is also the charm of "Journey to the West", which seems to tell the story of the Western Heavenly Scriptures and the slaying of demons, but it is actually a warm family drama, and the love between master and apprentice is like family affection, which always warms people's hearts.

As for the tight hoop spell, although it is suspected of deception and restricting freedom, why not wear it for others, but only for Goku? In fact, this is also worth thinking about.

References: Journey to the West, Journey to the West