The charm of the book "Journey to the West" is concentrated in the strong symbolic meaning, just as Lu Decai said in the preface to "Journey to the West": The journey to the west is about the gods, ghosts and demons, and the metaphor is the human world.
Among them, "true and false Sun Wukong" should be the most controversial plot of "Journey to the West", and even derived a lot of conspiracy theories, such as some readers believe that it is Sun Wukong who was killed, and it is the six-eared macaque who stayed behind to protect the Tang monk Xitian, if you ask for evidence, you will say that since this storm, Sun Wukong's temperament has changed greatly, and tang monks no longer have contradictions, so it can be seen that it must be a replacement.
Some readers also believe that the six-eared macaque was deliberately arranged by Sun Wukong in order to negotiate with the Buddha and make a promise for him to "protect the tang monks and sit on the lotus platform".
The pretender seizes the baggage
All these things, and so on, gradually fell into the realm of rumors in the city, far from the main theme of "Journey to the West".
Savoring the original "Journey to the West", the fifty-sixth to fifty-eighth times, from "God's Madness of Cao Kou" to "Two Hearts Disturbing the Great Qiankun", Wu Cheng'en actually divided the "true and false Sun Wukong" into two layers to discuss.
Standing at the level of the storyline, Sun Wukong and the six-eared macaque are undoubtedly two independent and opposing individuals, in order to make the reader clear about this, he can be described as painstaking, such as the six-eared macaque to stun the Tang monk, snatching the luggage section, the original book is written like this:
The walker said, "You can't go to the West Heaven without me." Sanzang said, "You can't go, don't do your business!" Throw a around, just pester me to do even more! The practitioner changed his face, became angry, and cursed the elder, saying, "You cruel bald man, you are very mean to me!" "He grabbed the iron rod, threw away the magnetic cup, and looked at the elder's back, and the elder fainted on the ground, unable to speak. - Fifty-seventh time
Careful readers will find that Wu Cheng'en makes a difference when dealing with the real and false Sun Wukong titles.
God cursed the grass
If it is the real Sun Wukong, his title is "Sun Wukong", "Great Sage", "This Walker", and the fake one is called "That Walker", and even ends up in Lei Yin Temple, directly calling the fake walker "That Macaque".
Therefore, when it comes to the story level, Sun Wukong is Sun Wukong, and the six-eared macaque is a six-eared macaque, and the two cannot be confused, which is the story of the real and false Sun Wukong and the source of plot development.
The great thing about Wu Cheng'en's writing is that he further incorporates the factor of Zen enlightenment on the basis of the story level, which is also the core reason why the "true and false Sun Wukong" has been controversial.
The Monk of Lokga Mountain lodged a complaint
The appearance of the word "six ears" in "Journey to the West" was not first selected in the "true and false Sun Wukong" section, but in the second time, Sun Wukong was punished by the Bodhi Ancestor's precepts, but guessed the mystery of the Ancestor, and came in from the back door at three o'clock to find the Master to learn skills, during which there was a dialogue between the Bodhi Ancestor and Sun Wukong:
When the ancestor heard this, he was very happy and secretly wondered, "This house is indeed a heaven and earth creature." Otherwise, why break the mystery of my plate? Goku said, "There are no six ears here, only one disciple." I hope that Master will be merciful and pass on the way of eternal life to me, and never forget the grace! --The second time
That is to say, the word "six ears" first came from the mouth of Sun Wukong himself. What Sun Wukong means here is that there is no third pair of ears except for himself and his master, and rulai finally breaks the identity of the fake Goku as a six-eared macaque, which is also telling Sun Wukong that the six ears are not someone else, it is you.
It is difficult to distinguish between true and false
For this reason, there are many foreshadowings in the book, such as when the true and false Goku hit the Lei Yin Temple, Rulai said to the crowd: Ru and others are one heart, and watch the two hearts compete to come.
Li Zhuowu (or Ye Tian) notes the word "eye" here. Readers are reminded to appreciate the meaning behind this statement and not to treat it as a gossip.
Then there was the true and false Goku everywhere to distinguish the true and false, successively to the Luojia Mountain, the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, and the Senluo Treasure Hall, but whether it was the tightening curse, the mirror of the demon, or the book of life and death, there was no problem. Guanyin even played a little clever, letting the wooden fork and the good fortune hold down the two practitioners respectively, secretly chanting the tightening mantra, but still could not distinguish between true and false.
The six-eared macaque appears
Therefore, from the point of view of enlightenment, both practitioners are true, but one is good and the other is evil, and the so-called six-eared macaque is the embodiment of Sun Wukong's two hearts, so the fifty-eighth chapter is called "Two Hearts Disturbing the Great Qiankun".
"True and false practitioners" is a key step in Sun Wukong's self-cultivation, he must go from evil to good (the words of the Tang monks), from two hearts to one heart, in order to become a true Buddha, so it is said: one heart can do everything, two hearts can not do one thing!
The six-eared macaque is the evil side of Sun Wukong, Wu Cheng'en divides him and Sun Wukong into two separate individuals, good and evil are separated, both independent and opposite, and the six-eared macaque who stands on the "evil" side has done a lot of bad things.
Master and apprentice four color drawings
For example, sha wujing came to Huaguo mountain to retrieve his luggage, met Sha Wujing, who was disguised as a monkey spirit, and the two fought each other, and finally the monkey spirit was killed, and after the six-eared macaque monkey personally took the sand monk away, how did he treat the dead monkey spirit? The original book reads:
The walker saw that the sand monk had killed a monkey spirit and forced the sand monk away, and he did not come after him. The Huidong sect dragged the dead demon corpse aside, peeled the skin, took the meat and fried it, and ate coconut wine, wine, and the monkeys. Choose another monkey that will change, and also change a sand monk, from the Protestant Tao, to go to the West without mentioning. - Fifty-seventh time
This is the most alarming plot in "Journey to the West", in the face of their own kind, the six-eared macaque monkey has no pity, but eats it as food.
Including later, it was obvious that the six-eared macaque monkey knocked Tang Monk unconscious and snatched the luggage, but he mixed with the real Wukong, never mentioned his own deeds, and pretended to be everywhere for people to distinguish between true and false, and his words and deeds revealed cunning and viciousness everywhere.
Guanyin dissolves the division between master and disciple
Before participating in the task of learning the scriptures from the Western Heavens, Sun Wukong and the six-eared macaque were a community of good and evil, so many of his behaviors seemed contradictory.
For example, in the twenty-eighth "Huaguo Mountain Group Demon Gathering Righteousness", because of three dozen white bone essences, Sun Wukong was taken away by the Tang monks, and before leaving, he tearfully bid farewell to the master, showing the glory of monkey nature;
But after returning to Huaguo Mountain, in order to repay the hatred in his heart, he blew up a demon wind, killing thousands of hunters, and pushing all the remains into the abyss, Wu Cheng'en wrote a poem sighing: The corpse is lightly powder lying on the mountain field, and the red lady's home is hoping!
If Sun Wukong wants to become a Buddha, he must clear his evil side, that is, to eliminate the six-eared macaque, which is the internal logic of the "true and false walker", including rulai trapping the six-eared macaque under the bowl, and finally Sun Wukong himself with a stick to kill it, this process must be done by Sun Wukong himself, because the inner demons will eventually be eliminated by himself.
Taking the sutras from the four masses will eventually lead to positive results
For Sun Wukong, the six-eared macaque is his most difficult one, other yokai on the westbound road, he can find Guanyin, Tianting, Rulai and various immortal friends to help, but only the six-eared macaque, no one can help him, he must do it himself.
As for the "true and false walker", Sun Wukong became honest, and there were few contradictions and conflicts with Tang Monk, this is because the evil thoughts have been eliminated, Sun Wukong is no longer the self who added good and evil before, if you think that it is Sun Wukong who killed sun Wukong, what is left is the six-eared macaque, which can only be interpreted by the city and laughed.
Text/Horse guest
Please do not reprint without authorization, the quotations in this article are from the "Journey to the West" Li Zhuowu criticism, the picture comes from the qing famous painted book "Journey to the West".