There was a very special custom in ancient China - the continuation of the book. After a book became popular, some people continued. The purpose of the continuation is different: some commercial flavor is very strong, to borrow a name to hitch a ride, most of these kinds of sequels are invited by the owner of the bookstore, some are simply the beginning of the literary master himself; some of the continuation books are because of the reading into the fascination, hate the original book author said not deep, said that it is not better to write painfully and happily; then is the intention to fight with the original book, the talent must be used in the opposite way... And so on. The books that have been renewed are also various and varied.
For example, after the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there are sequels "Anti-Three Kingdoms Romance"; "Water Margin" has "Water Margin", "Lang Kouzhi"; "Dream of the Red Chamber" has the most sequels, "Red Chamber Dream", "Red Chamber Dream", "Red Chamber Ghost Dream" and so on, there are more than 20 kinds.
There is also a sequel to Journey to the West. As far as we know, there are three types of direct continuations.
The first is "Journey to the West"
It was already on the market around the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. Some people say that it is also the work of Wu Cheng'en, but it does not seem like it. "Later Journey to the West" is completely modeled on "Journey to the West" in style, but the characters and plot are different. The main plot is that since Sun Wukong left Huaguo Mountain to assist the Tang monks to obtain the right results, the large and small apes left behind only played in the mountains every day. Suddenly, the big fairy stone on the top of the mountain cracked another crack, giving birth to a small stone monkey. After the little stone monkey learned that he was a descendant of Sun Dasheng's concubine, he had the idea of cultivating immortals in his heart, and named him Sun Luzhen, known as Qi Tianxiaosheng. Later, he was taught by Sun Dasheng, cultivated seventy-two changes, made trouble in the Heavenly Palace and The Earth Palace, and descended to the Dragon King of the Four Seas, just like the Great Sage of that year, he did not obey discipline. It wasn't until the Great Sage came forward that he was confused and didn't live in peace, and he practiced in the cave with peace of mind. However, when Tang Monk learned of this, he couldn't help but exclaim: Self-retrieving the True Scriptures should be transformed into everyone, so why did he give birth to such a stubborn stone? So he pulled Sun Wukong and disguised himself as a scabies Daoist, still known as a master and apprentice, and checked the situation of the True Scriptures in chang'an in the nether realm. Who knows, only after they returned from seeking the true scriptures, people believed in buddhism and there were temples and monasteries everywhere, but although the incense was thick, they looked down on benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, and happiness, and only wanted to live in the next life, and they were not greedy or angry. Tang Monk couldn't help but sigh, "Now that good karma has become evil deeds, is it my original intention to pass on the sutras?" So he and Goku went up to the Spirit Mountain to ask the Buddha for help. Rulai explains: My true scriptures, which are subtle in righteousness, will be truly understood, and only then will they be enlightened. Unfortunately, when you first came to collect the scriptures, you did not have time to pass on the true understanding to Ru together, so that there was a true scripture in the eastern land but no true understanding, so that it was falsely spread and gradually distorted. So he ordered Tang Monk to go to the Eastern Lands to find a good believer, and told him to imitate the story of that year, go through thousands of mountains and rivers, and then go to the Western Heavens to find an explanation.
Tang Monk and Great Sage were looking for a Daoist monk in the Eastern Lands, named Da Qiang, known as Tang Ban Wei , who was willing to go to the Western Heavens to get the true solution. The Great Sage then summoned Sun Xiaosheng from Huaguo Mountain, gave him the nickname Xiao Xing, and ordered his entourage Tang Banwei to accompany him to the Western Heavens. Later, on the way, he received the Eight Precepts of the Pig and the Pig Shou Humble, and gave him the number pig one precept. He also subdued Zhen Shami in the place where the sand monks were doing evil in the past, and gave him the name Sha Zhihe, who were also four masters and apprentices, and marched to the Western Heavens together. Along the way, there are few demons and monsters, trekking through mountains and waters, but in the end there is no danger. A few years later, he went to the Western Spirit Mountain, obtained the Thirty-five True Solutions, and brought them back to the Eastern Soil. After returning to Chang'an, Tang Banwei preached the True Scriptures with true interpretation, and finally returned the Eastern Lands to Bliss. And Tang Banwei's master and apprentice also achieved the right results: Tang Banwei sought to be unique in his heart, did not have time to do other things, was always clean and pure, and was promoted to a Pure and Happy Buddha; Sun Luzhen made meritorious contributions to eliminating strange things, had a special ancestral style, and was promoted to Xiaodou to defeat the Buddha; Pig Shou Humble had the merits of his father and was also promoted to a messenger of the pure altar; Sha Zhihe made meritorious contributions on behalf of the teacher, and also proved the golden body of the fruit.
We know that "Journey to the West" is known for its fantasy, and it is not easy to turn out any new things from its frame. The literary style of this "Later Journey to the West" is inferior to that of "Journey to the West", and the character image is far less vivid than that of the Tang monks and disciples, but it is very distinct in the theme. It criticizes the practice of being too much buddhist and neglecting Confucianism, and believes that the consequences of this are also worrying, and the critical spirit shown in this is not necessarily deeper than that of "Journey to the West", but it is more straightforward.
The second is "Continuing journey to the West"
It also appeared around the late Ming Dynasty, no later than the middle of the Kangxi Dynasty. The story originated in the "Journey to the West" writing that tang monks and disciples went to the western heavens to learn the scriptures, step by step is a disaster, everywhere is difficult, but the return journey is still smooth, there is only one difficulty. "Continued Journey to the West" is ingenious, starting from the return trip, and adds many waves.
It is said that the four Tang monks and disciples went to the Western Buddha's land on this day, and they were worshiped by the monks and enlightened their intentions. Rulai Nai Qi Jinkou asked Xuanzang and other Ben He Xin to come and learn the scriptures, and the four masters and apprentices answered one by one. For example, "The Three Tibetan Books 'Sincerity', the Eight Precepts 'Honest Heart', and the Sha Monk's 'Respectful Heart' are all obtained in conjunction with the True Manager." Only Goku's 'machine change of heart' is inconsistent with the Wujing, and it is difficult to obtain the true scriptures. Goku listened, scratched his ears and scratched his cheeks, and rolled and said, "Disciple's machine changes his mind, but he is not a treacherous heart, a thief's heart, or an evil heart..." Rulai sat with his eyes closed, only to not hear it, until Goku finished speaking, he sighed: "The machine is born, only afraid that it will be difficult for me to get rid of myself, and I want to involve others." "Summoning the Hercules King, he confiscated the weapons of the Eight Precepts, Goku, and the Sand Monk, and only gave them two Zen staffs to pick the scriptures and go on the road.
After the four masters and apprentices left, Rulai said to the bodhisattvas, "Tang Xuanzang is not afraid of thousands of mountains and rivers, and it is not easy to retrieve the true scriptures after going through three ways and eight difficulties. However, I am afraid that there are still impure demons blocking the road on the way back, and it is difficult to reach the eastern land. I don't know who among them is willing to be convenient, protect the true scriptures, and achieve merit? "Only to see the monks come to the other side of the class, willing to share the true scriptures with the spirit of the void."
However, it was said that the four xuanzang masters and apprentices went on the road, but still found the way to come. I thought that there was no obstacle along the way, but I didn't expect that the demons were not complete, as long as the four masters and apprentices tried to save energy, there were demons appearing.
On the way, goku's mind gradually disappeared, and the road was naturally unimpeded. Finally arrived in Dongtu and met Emperor Taizong. Each one has proved the right result, and the other and the spirit and the void also surrender to rulai.
This "Continued Journey to the West" is novel, and the paper is neither as good as "Journey to the West" nor as good as "Post-Journey to the West", but it also reflects a kind of understanding, that is, the author believes that Wu Cheng'en has not yet clearly explained the principle of "the heart gives birth to all kinds of demons, and the heart destroys all kinds of demons", and Goku is still suspected of being strong and victorious, which is inconsistent with the purpose of Buddhist practice, and should still go through many hardships. In fact, this author is really painting snakes and adding feet, and "Journey to the West" borrows the scriptures as an excuse and does not really write about Buddhist practices.
The third kind of "Journey to the West Supplement"
It is the most influential one in the sequel to Journey to the West, and Lu Xun has a high evaluation of its literary style, saying that "it is not the dare to hope for simultaneous authorship". The author's surname Dong Ming said, the character Ruofu, a native of Wucheng, Zhejiang, lived in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Dong said that he was ten years old and could write and was quite talented, but when he was more than twenty years old, it was the change of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and Dong said that he was desperate to enter the world, and soon became a monk, and the French number was south. "Journey to the West" is a work by Dong Shuo who was about twenty years old, which should still be considered the end of the Ming Dynasty, but Dong Said has seen that the Ming Dynasty is weak and hopeless, so he uses the story of "Journey to the West" to try his best to satirize the corruption of Ming Politics.
"Journey to the West" was written from the Tang monks and disciples crossing the Flame Mountain, saying that Wukong Huazhai jumped in the air, overlooked a big city, and wrote on the flag "Tang New Heavenly Son Taizong Thirty-eight Generations Sun Zhongxing Emperor" number, the walker was shocked, thinking that it was a mistake to walk back to the East, and then think about it carefully, it is estimated that it is a demon again, so it becomes a pink butterfly and flies into the city to investigate. Only to see an old palace person sprinkling and sweeping, while talking to himself, nothing more than the affair in the palace, and then qin shi huang, Xiang Yu, Yu Ji, Qin Juniper and other characters appeared one by one.
It can be seen that the story of "Journey to the West" is relatively far away from taking the scriptures, but it is only a borrowing of the topic to play, scolding the incompetence of Xiang Yu's generation and the shamelessness of Qin Jun's generation.
Overseas, "Journey to the West" is a little famous. Many scholars believe that its aesthetic concept is very different from the tradition of Chinese novels. The artistic representations of the transcendence of the concept of time and space, such as the transcendence of the concept of time and the flow of thinking consciousness, are very similar to the stream-of-consciousness novels that appeared in the twentieth century and became popular. Some people even say that the birthplace of stream-of-consciousness fiction is in China, more than three hundred years ago.
(Excerpted from: Cai Tieying, Journey to the West, Past and Present Lives, Xinhua Publishing House)