<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > wen /Qing Xia Temple shovel historian</h1>
In "Journey to the West", there is a magical "universe", and the protagonists of the story go to heaven, into the earth, into the mountains, and into the sea through the different time and space of this "universe".
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, Chaos Opening - The Origin of the Universe in Journey to the West</h1>
Chaos is not divided into heaven and earth, and the vastness is invisible. Since Pangu broke the Hongmeng, opened up from Zi Qing turbid discernment. —— The beginning of Journey to the West
This is a quote from the traditional Chinese myth "Pangu opened the world", as the "Journey to the West" its own theory of cosmic origin. In the traditional Chinese theory of the origin of the universe, the universe has a origin, which is a created view and is the mainstream of the ancient theory of cosmic evolution. This view holds that before the formation of heaven and earth, the universe was in a chaotic state, and in the chaotic state, the formation of yin and yang and yin and yang, led to the end of the chaotic state of the universe, and from then on, the "turbid heterotopia" was formed, and the universe entered the stage of orderly evolution.
The reason for the creation of the universe from a chaotic state to a clear and clear state can be the effect of natural factors such as yin and yang, or the power from God. The legend of "Pangu Open Heaven and Earth" expresses the latter. As a magic novel, "Journey to the West" introduces the mythological character Pangu as a driving force for the evolution of the universe, which is naturally needed for the development of its storyline.
In Journey to the West, whether it is a god or a demon, the size of its mana depends on the length of its cultivation time, so it is necessary to stipulate a starting point for the universe, and the closer it is to the starting point, the stronger its mana. And this beginning is the beginning of the universe.
Pangu said in a groundbreaking manner
This theory is used in many places in the Journey to the West to explain the formation of various gods and demons. For example, the first time we talked about the conception of Sun Wukong, the reason why a stone monkey could be bred on Huaguo Mountain was because "since the opening of the cover, every time it has been innocently shown, the sun is fine and the moon is gorgeous, and the feeling is long, so it has the meaning of spiritual communication."
For example, the seventy-seventh time Rulai explained the origin of the Roc Bird Monster for Sun Wukong, and here the traditional cosmic origin theory is fully used to explain why Rulai can subdue the Roc Bird. Because the birth cultivation time of the Roc Bird is after the intersection of heaven and earth and the birth of all things, for example, it is late to come, so rulai's mana is stronger than that of the Roc Bird.
Not only is the formation of the demon related to the size of its mana and the formation and evolution of the universe, even ordinary items, as long as they are hooked up with the formation of chaos to open up the world, they also have special powers. For example, the ginseng fruit of the Wuzhuang Temple of Wanshou Mountain is the spiritual object at the beginning of the chaos; there are also similar examples such as the "purple gold red gourd" of the Silver Horn King of Pingding Mountain, the "banana fan" of the Iron Fan Princess of the Flame Mountain, and so on.
In general, "Journey to the West" tells the origin and evolution of the universe, which is the need for its plot development. The theory of the origin of the universe mentioned in "Journey to the West" does not go beyond the traditional Chinese theory of the origin of the universe.
Stone monkeys on Huaguo Mountain
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, heaven and earth - the cosmic structure model of Journey to the West</h1>
The protagonist of the story of "Journey to the West" covers all levels of gods, Buddhas, demons, ghosts, and ghosts, and the protagonists of different levels exist in different time and space of the universe, and the story of "Journey to the West" is accompanied by the protagonists traveling through the universe and time and space. As the place where the protagonists of the novel live and move, how to build a model of the structure of the universe can provide a place for the protagonists of all kinds, and provide a way for the protagonists to travel through time and space, which is of great significance to "Journey to the West".
The parallel cosmic structure of "the sky is above and the earth is below"
When describing the process of cosmic creation in the second time in "Journey to the West", it talks about the creation of heaven and earth: light and clear, and the sky is open, and the earth is condensed. One "ascending" and one "condensing down" vividly depict the creation process of heaven and earth, and accurately present the basic structure of the universe above the heavens and below.
It is not surprising that Journey to the West takes the parallel cosmic structure of "the sky is above and the earth is below" as the basis for its cosmic structure model. On the one hand, the cosmic structure of "heaven is above, the earth is below" is consistent with the cosmic structure in traditional Chinese mythology, and in the traditional Chinese mythological system, whether it is pangu opening up the world and the myth of Nüwa supplementing the heavens, it is produced on the basis of the cosmic model of heaven and earth, and "Journey to the West", which is rooted in traditional Chinese mythology and religious soil, is no exception.
On the other hand, "Journey to the West" runs through the theme of the "Sutra Taking" event, making "Journey to the West" closely related to Buddhism, and the basic structure of the Buddhist cosmic system is also the structure of "heaven is above and earth is below". The structure of the universe in the heavens and the earth in "Journey to the West" is basically consistent with the traditional Gaitian saying that "the heavens are like a gaisha, and the earth is covered" The structure of the parallel heavens and earth in the upper and lower heavens and the earth is basically the same.
The structure of the universe in the heavens and the earth in "Journey to the West" is basically consistent with the traditional Gaitian saying that "the heavens are like a gaisha, and the earth is covered" The structure of the parallel heavens and earth in the upper and lower heavens and the earth is basically the same
There are "pillars of heaven" and "gates of heaven" between heaven and earth
"Journey to the West" draws on the parallel cosmic structure of Gaitian's saying that "the sky is above and the earth is below", but instead of copying the cosmic structure model of the "Gaitian theory", it instead absorbs the content of traditional Chinese mythology and primitive religion, believing that heaven and earth are connected, and "heaven and earth" are the channels through which heaven and earth are connected. In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong and the Eight Precepts of the Pig agree that there is a "pillar of heaven" between heaven and earth, or a mountain like Kunlun Mountain as a support connection.
In addition, "Journey to the West" not only accepts the concept of "Heavenly Pillar", but also further extends the concept of "Heavenly Gate", which not only has the "South Heavenly Gate" as the entrance to Heaven, but also the "Heavenly Gate" in Wutai Mountain, Putuo Mountain, Wudang Mountain, Emei Mountain and other mountains, and these "Heavenly Gates" and "Heavenly Pillars" obviously exist as channels for the communication between heaven and earth.
There are "Pillars of Heaven" and "Heaven's Gate" as channels between heaven and earth, which is necessary for the story of "Journey to the West" to unfold, with the help of these "Pillars of Heaven" and "Heaven's Gate", the protagonists of the novel have to enter the heavens and the earth and travel through time and space, and it is difficult to unfold the storyline of "Journey to the West" without these channels.
Kunlun Mountain
The further division of heaven and earth
In the cosmic structure of "Heaven and Earth", "Journey to the West" introduces the Buddhist concept of hell, so that "earth" is divided into two parts: the above-earth world (Yangji) and the underground world (Yinji), thus constructing the cosmic structure mode of "heaven-earth-hell". On the basis of the "heaven-earth-hell" model of the structure of the universe, the heavens are divided into 33 layers (Shangqing Heaven, Renunciation Heaven, etc.); the earthly world is divided into four continents and four seas; and the hell is divided into 18 layers.
It is certain that Journey to the West draws on certain concepts in the Buddhist cosmic system and further divides heaven and earth, not only because the "sutra" taken from the story of "Journey to the West" itself is a Buddhist scripture, but also because the prototype of sun wukong, the core character of Journey to the West, was also born in Indian Buddhist culture.
However, while the Journey to the West absorbed the Buddhist cosmology, it also greatly modified it. In order to unify the gods in the traditional Taoist immortal system and the Buddhas and ghosts in the Buddhist immortal system in the same cosmic system, it is necessary to transform the Buddhist cosmic system and construct a new cosmic structure model, so that the Buddhist Taoist immortal system can coexist in this cosmic structure model, and the setting of the 33 heavens and the 18th layer of hell is transformed out of this need.
It should be emphasized that the model of the structure of the universe constructed in "Journey to the West", whether it directly absorbs some content in the Buddhist universe system or modifies the Buddhist universe system, is aimed at constructing a model of the structure of the universe that is more conducive to the development of the storyline of the novel. The starting point of the construction of the cosmic structure model of "Journey to the West" is that through the construction of the cosmic structure model, the huge and complex protagonist groups of the novel can be placed in different time and space of the same cosmic system, and then meet the needs of the various protagonists in the story of "Journey to the West" for the activity place, and also create conditions for the development of the story.
Hell is divided into 18 levels
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, reincarnation is immortal - the concept of time in Journey to the West</h1>
There are three special features of the concept of time in the "Journey to the West" cosmic system: one is that there are two ways of time flow in "Journey to the West", that is, "one day in the sky and one year in the netherworld"; second, "Journey to the West" takes "yuan" or "robbery" as an important unit of time measurement, and creatively equates "one yuan" with the Buddhist "one disaster", and fixes the length of time of one yuan (robbery) to 129600 years; third, the time in "Journey to the West" is infinitely reincarnated.
Two ways of passing time – "One day in the sky, one year in the netherworld"
"One day in the heavens, one year in the netherworld", the time in the heavens passes one day, and the time in the netherworld passes by one year, which indicates that there are two ways of time passing in the three realms. This view is repeatedly emphasized by the monkeys on the earth, the Jade Emperor in the sky, the Buddha in the West, the Taoist Yuanshi Tianzun, and the Taibai Venus in the heavens, and has become a presupposition axiom in journey to the West that seems to be well known.
It should be pointed out that the reason why there are two ways of time passage in the "Journey to the West" cosmic system is inseparable from the characteristics of the "Journey to the West" divine and demonic novels, "one day in the sky, one year in the netherworld", in order to make a clearer distinction between the "celestial realm" where the gods and immortals are located and the "netherworld" where the human ghosts are located from the perspective of time, highlighting the superiority of the "celestial realm" over the "netherworld", and also providing another motivation for the protagonists of the story to pursue immortality and become Buddhas.
An important unit of measurement of time – "meta" or "robbery"
In "Journey to the West", "one yuan" is equivalent to "one disaster", and the length of time represented by "one yuan" or "one disaster" is 129600 years old, that is, 1 robbery = 1 yuan = 129600 years old = 1 reincarnation. This is consistent with the Buddhist concept of "robbery," but the length of time is very different.
In Buddhism, "a great catastrophe includes the four parts of becoming, dwelling, bad, and emptiness", and the total number of years of a great catastrophe is 1276648000 years, and to experience a great catastrophe is to experience a reincarnation. It can be seen from this that Journey to the West only borrows the Buddhist concept of "robbery" and does not borrow its actual length of time.
Taking "robbery" as an important unit of time measurement is a feature of the time concept of "Journey to the West", in "Journey to the West", whether it is a god or a demon, the size of its mana depends on the length of its cultivation time, and the length of cultivation time is measured by the number of years of robbery, so to place the complex god and demon system in "Journey to the West" in the same universe, it is necessary to take "yuan" or "robbery" as the time measurement unit, and unify the gods, Buddhas, ghosts and monsters in "Journey to the West" with the number of calendar "robberies" as the standard in the same time system.
1 robbery = 1 yuan = 129600 years old = 1 reincarnation
Infinite reincarnation of time
Many chapters of "Journey to the West" mention reincarnation and doom, such as the seventy-seventh time in "Journey to the West" that "escaped reincarnation, not born and did not perish"; the third time it talked about Sun Wukong making a big fuss in the Senluo Temple, and all the names of the monkey genus were drawn from the book of life and death, "resulting in the monkey genus being unrestrained, the macaque animals living long, the silent reincarnation, each without birth and death" and so on. These descriptions clearly embody the concept of infinite time in Journey to the West, which in turn is composed of one reincarnation after another.
The core characters of "Journey to the West" are the five sanzang masters and apprentices (including the white dragon horse), who form a common goal of becoming a Buddha and thus transcending reincarnation, and the demons and ghosts they encounter on the way to the sutra also want to eat the meat of Tang monks, beyond reincarnation, and become immortals into Buddhas. The protagonists hope to "escape reincarnation, not to be born and not to perish" by cultivating immortals to become Buddhas, a theme that first requires that the time in Journey to the West is infinite time, and the event of "taking the sutra" itself requires the introduction of the Buddhist concept of reincarnation.
Therefore, the establishment of the time system of infinite reincarnation in "Journey to the West" is required by the theme of "taking the scriptures", without the time of infinite reincarnation, the need to become an immortal and become a Buddha so as to "escape the cycle of reincarnation, not to be born and not to perish" cannot be established, which loses the driving force of "taking the scriptures", the "taking the scriptures" team cannot be formed, and the demons and ghosts on the road of "taking the scriptures" cannot be assembled.
All the demons and ghosts encountered on the way to the sutra want to eat the meat of the Tang monks, transcend reincarnation, and become immortals and become Buddhas
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > four or five limited parties – the concept of space in Journey to the West</h1>
The cosmic space in "Journey to the West" is a limited space, for the magic novel, in the limited universe space, it can be more clearly divided into the god and demon world and the inhabited world, people yearn to pursue the fairyland where the gods and Buddhas live, fear to escape from the hell world of demons and ghosts, in the process of pursuit and escape, the story of the magic novel can be produced, so the limited universe space is the common feature of the god and demon novel.
Finite cosmic space
The space depicted in Journey to the West is a finite cosmic space, and there are many descriptions of this space in the novel, whether vertically or horizontally, this cosmic space is a finite space. This setting is more convenient for the storyline of "Journey to the West" to unfold, as a divine and demonic novel, only in a limited space, the dwelling place of the gods, Buddhas, demons and ghosts can be clearly divided, which cannot be achieved in the infinite space.
"Five squares" in horizontal space
The universe in "Journey to the West" has five directions in the horizontal space, the five directions are east, west, south and north, and the "Journey to the West" talks about "five parties revealing the truth" and "five parties and five elders", and the five parties will refer to the gods in the five directions.
On the issue of spatial orientation, "Journey to the West" uses the traditional Chinese concept of five directions, but does not directly adopt the concept of the four main directions of Indian Buddhism "east, west, south and north", not only because the concept of "zhong" has important significance in traditional Chinese Confucian culture, but also because "Journey to the West" needs to be combined with the two immortal systems of Buddhism and Taoism, without the concept of five parties, the "central yellow pole yellow horn immortal" cannot be arranged.
Conclusion: As a magic novel, the cosmic system constructed in Journey to the West is basically self-consistent, although there are also some contradictions in this cosmic system, such as the contradiction between the finiteness and infinity of the universe, the contradiction between the finiteness of time and the infinity, and so on. However, the cosmic system constructed by "Journey to the West" is to serve the development of the storyline of "Journey to the West" and to be able to integrate the gods and demons of the two families of Buddhism and Taoism into the same cosmic system. Therefore, the construction of the cosmic system plays an extremely important role in "Journey to the West".
The cosmic system constructed by Journey to the West serves the development of the storyline of Journey to the West
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