Do you know how many apprentices there are under the Bodhi Patriarch, and why did Sun Wukong never meet his own brothers on the way to learn the scriptures?
Regarding these two issues, in fact, it has already been explained in the original book, when Sun Wukong first arrived at Lingtai Fangcun Mountain, the woodcutter under the mountain told him, "There is a god in that cave, named Su Bodhi Patriarch, and there are countless apprentices of that patriarch, and there are still thirty or forty people practicing with him."
This roughly means that there are currently thirty or forty students enrolled in Bodhi College, and there are countless former graduates, and it is not difficult to find out the number of previous graduates
When the Bodhi Patriarch named Wukong, he said, "There are 12 characters in my door, and the names are assigned, which are 'Guang, Da, Zhi, Hui, Zhen, Ru, Xing, Hai, Ying, Wu, Yuan, Jue' 12 characters, ranking you up, and you are the tenth generation of disciples."
That is to say, Sun Wukong is a student of the Bodhi Patriarch's Wuzi department, because the Western Buddha Lao Dharma name is Rulai, so some people say that Rulai is the apprentice of the Bodhi Patriarch's "Ru" character department, this statement is right or wrong, we will not discuss it for the time being
But it can be seen from this that before Sun Wukong, Bodhi Patriarch had at least accepted 9 disciples, and now these thirty or forty people under the door should be the same as Wukong, and they all belong to the Wuzi generation, that is to say, the apprentices of Bodhi Patriarch are about 30 people, so before Sun Wukong, there should be about 300 senior brothers who graduated from Bodhi Academy, and if the 12 disciples are full, the total number should be more than 400
Since there are so many brothers in the same sect, why didn't Sun Wukong meet any of them on the way to learn the scriptures
According to the clues in the original book, these people have roughly the following three endings
You must know that the reason why Sun Wukong ignored the difficulties and obstacles and went overseas from Dongsheng Shenzhou to Xiniuhe Continent to study, is to be immortal, but the result is that after Wukong worshiped under the Bodhi Patriarch, he didn't learn any skills, but first worked as a handyman for six or seven years to carry water and chop wood, repair houses and farm land, which is likely to be a test set up by Bodhi Patriarch for new disciples
Therefore, many people can't stand the long-term boring life of dry labor, so they give up halfway and go down the mountain in advance, because they haven't learned any skills, they are still mortals, and it is impossible to meet Sun Wukong more than 500 years later, which is one of them
The second ending is that those who have survived the 7-year miscellaneous inspection period thought that they could learn the real skills, but as a result, the Bodhi Patriarch took out "speaking, learning, teasing, and singing" without sincerity, ah no, it was "art, flow, stillness, and movement" The four basic courses allow the disciples to choose any one to practice, but compared to the method of immortality, these four courses are equivalent to beauty salons, electric welding cooks, excavators and other means of making a living, although compared to those students who have not survived the 7-year inspection period, it is already good, but these can only be a skill, and cannot be ranked in the immortal class
In addition, after seeing that Sun Wukong was not interested in these four courses and was beaten by the master, many people either chose a random major and started to learn Xi, or felt that the teacher was too fierce and they didn't want to learn these, so they took a primary school diploma from Bodhi College and graduated hastily
Even those who survived to the end, few of them could understand the puzzle of the patriarch's "hit Wukong three times and leave with his back" and the courage to go to the master to open a small stove in the middle of the night, so except for people like Wukong, who are bold, ambitious and smart, most of the brothers and sisters are stuck in this level, and naturally they can't meet Wukong 500 years later
Reason three
After Sun Wukong passed the tests of the Bodhi Patriarch, he finally learned the great immortal recipe that can live forever, but after three years, Wukong, who thought that he had achieved great achievements and could live with heaven and earth from now on, was told by the Bodhi Patriarch that in the future, he would have to guard against the thunder once every 500 years
This level is the most difficult, therefore, those brothers and sisters who have practiced the Great Heavenly Immortal Recipe like Wukong are likely to have not even avoided the first calamity, and were killed by the heavenly thunder, and there are very few who can survive the three calamities in a row
After so many tribulations, those who survived by luck in the end will inevitably act in a low-key manner and concentrate on cultivation after that, for fear that their previous achievements will be abandoned and their bodies will be wiped out, plus after Sun Wukong was driven down the mountain by Bodhi Patriarch, he made a big fuss in the Heavenly Palace and offended the Jade Emperor, so it is too late for these brothers to clear up their relationship with Wukong, how can they take the initiative to show up and recognize this guy who is causing trouble
Therefore, although there are many disciples under the Bodhi Patriarch, most of them have been eliminated by the test set by the patriarch and the three heavenly tribulations, and they will not see Sun Wukong on the road to learn the scriptures 500 years later