"In order to eliminate karmic obstacles, fall into the dust, and enlighten the longitude of the world. Wear the moon and the stars to take on the mission, and sleep in the frost and lie down to keep the original intention. Demons and monsters threaten to be fake, and beautiful women draw skins to try the truth. The game ended with a lot of calamities, and it was reborn again. - "Seven Laws: Journey to the West"
"Journey to the West" is one of the four famous novels in mainland China, and it is also a famous book with the widest audience and the largest number of readers.
Compared with other novels, each of the four famous novels contains many philosophies.
Taking "Journey to the West" as an example, at first glance, I only thought it was a fantasy story of gods and demons, but as long as you read it carefully, you can understand many truths about how to behave in the world.
In addition, it is full of religious elements of Buddhism and Taoism, which can also make people understand these two religions better.
There are many points in "Journey to the West" that are thought-provoking, and the most direct is the names of Tang Seng's three apprentices.
You only need to read their names together to discover a secret hidden by Wu Chengen in "Journey to the West".
01 Hongmeng initially opened up the original surname, breaking the stubborn Wukong
Sun Wukong can be said to be one of the most important characters in "Journey to the West".
To a certain extent, the entire "Journey to the West" revolves around the role of Monkey King.
From the beginning, he was born from the sacred stone, without friends and friends, to later desperately won the recognition of the monkeys in Huaguo Mountain, and then to learn from the monkeys and monkeys in order to protect the monkeys and grandchildren of Huaguo Mountain.
This series of actions is proving Sun Wukong's obsession.
After that, whether he made trouble in the Heavenly Palace, or proclaimed himself the Monkey King, etc., he also expressed Sun Wukong's desire to be recognized and attention.
I still remember that when he apprenticed to Bodhi Ancestor, the other brothers and sisters were not friendly to him, and even despised him, but only Bodhi Ancestor showed him the kindness of an elder.
That warmth makes Sun Wukong, who has never felt what "care" is, cherish it extraordinarily.
It also made him recognize this master from the bottom of his heart.
In most versions of "Journey to the West", Sun Wukong is the embodiment of justice, and he is strong and capable of eliminating evil.
But in the original version of "Journey to the West", this "hairy-faced thunder-mouthed" monk has an extremely murderous side.
did not follow Tang Seng to the west, as one of the demon kings, there were countless demons and monsters who died under Sun Wukong.
When traveling west, he was even more decisive along the way, as long as it was a monster, he would not be stingy to wave the golden hoop stick in his hand, and he was also used to directly "headshot".
For Master Tang Seng, he was also full of murderous intentions at first, especially whenever he finally killed the monster, Tang Seng had to repent to the monster's corpse and shirk the responsibility.
He despised Tang Seng even more and became even more angry with the "cowardly" monk.
Sun Wukong has a fiery personality, is proud, and has no one in his eyes, except for his master Bodhi Ancestor, even the Buddha and the Jade Emperor, he doesn't pay attention to it.
His body is dealing with the "anger" in the three criticisms of Buddhism.
And the ancestor of Bodhi named him Wukong at the beginning, hoping that he could realize the artistic conception of "emptiness" in Buddhism and let go of arrogance and obsession.
In "Journey to the West", the four Tang monks and apprentices retrieved the true scriptures, and Sun Wukong was named "Fighting to Defeat the Buddha".
He was shrouded in Buddha light, but his eyes were much calmer, and he no longer had the fierce and ruthless color he had at the beginning.
02 was originally a marshal of the heavenly court, but he was mistakenly reincarnated as a mortal and became a pig
When it comes to Zhu Bajie, this is definitely an impressive character in "Journey to the West".
His background is also extraordinary, he was the Marshal of Tianpeng who was in charge of the 100,000 naval army in Heavenly Court, and he was also the real power general of the first echelon of Heavenly Court in terms of seniority.
It stands to reason that such a high-ranking immortal family has long been pure and does not have some of the shortcomings of secular mortals, but he is not.
In addition to being lazy and lazy, the biggest point of Zhu Bajie is that he is lustful.
He was almost killed by the Jade Emperor for molesting Chang'e after drinking.
Fortunately, the immortals interceded for him to escape the catastrophe. Immortal sins can be avoided, but living sins cannot be escaped.
The Jade Emperor punished him for going down to the mortal world, but he mistakenly cast a pig fetus and gave birth to an ugly-looking wild boar essence.
He was used to being a powerful man in the heavenly court, and he didn't change his past temperament after he went down to earth.
Relying on his superb spells, he is the one who is in trouble, and he has to marry Gao Cuilian without changing his lust.
On the westbound road, Zhu Bajie can also be lazy.
The strength is not comparable to Sun Wukong, but he has always played the role of a "coward", it is rare to see him take the initiative to contribute, and he thinks about breaking up at every turn.
Guanyin Master named him Wu Neng, "Neng" corresponds to "so" in Buddhism, which refers to being able to become enlightened, which is a kind of perception of cultivating the mind.
And Tang Seng called him the Eight Precepts, which also means that he hopes that she will quit all kinds of shortcomings in her body as soon as possible and be able to realize the Buddha's heart.
03 The killing is too heavy, and I hope to be able to realize it
The name Sha Wujing was also given by Guanyin.
On the westward journey, he was a hard-working, uncontentious figure, but before the westward journey, he was a ruthless character who fed on people.
Not to mention anything else, just the first nine incarnations of Tang Seng were eaten by him.
Before he descended to earth, he was the general of the heavenly court, although he was not a high-ranking official and eunuch, but he was also regarded as a close minister of the Jade Emperor.
Because he broke the glass cup and was demoted to the mortal, he also suffered from ten thousand arrows piercing his heart.
Just because of a lamp, let this former general with infinite glory be punished like this, how can he not have resentment in his heart.
After descending to earth, he lost his former divinity and became a great demon on the one side of the disaster.
And for the resentment in his heart, he created a lot of killings.
After worshipping Tang Seng as a teacher, Sha Wujing restrained his resentment and fierceness, and looked like an honest person all day long.
The reason why Guanyin gave him the name Wujing was that he hoped that he would be able to eliminate his resentment, anger, put away his murderous heart, and achieve purity of heart, soul, and thought.
summary
There is a saying: "Enlightenment and transformation is emptiness, enlightenment and action are energy, and enlightenment and acquiescence are purity." ”
Wukong, Wuneng, and Wujing are the three realms of Buddhism's self-cultivation and self-cultivation, and they are also three steps.
Wu Chengen hid the names of Tang Seng's three apprentices in it, and then added the name Tang Sanzang, that is, Sanzang, as a hint.
It is to tell the world that the Buddhist method of cultivating the mind is also to persuade the world to collect and purify the heart.
And this itself is also Wu Chengen, the secret of mind cultivation.