Jin Shengsi, a literary critic in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, commented on Wukong: "Whenever "Journey to the West" can't be obtained, it is Nanhai Guanyin who saves it. The disapproval in the tone is still felt after more than 300 years of time and space.
In many cases, Wukong himself can obviously "get it", and he will also go to Guanyin or other great gods. This is by no means Wukong's incompetence, but out of a higher level of wisdom than being independent and not asking for anything.
Everyone knows that if people get along with each other only blindly taking, or unilaterally "receiving", of course, it is not good, but what ordinary people often don't know is that it is not very good to ask for everything, or even just blindly give. "Giving" and "receiving" are often unified, to paraphrase the words in the Heart Sutra, that is, "giving is receiving, receiving is giving", in many cases, putting down one's body to ask for help, accepting the other party's giving, and even taking the initiative to ask the other party for it, is a higher level of giving.
Of course, this kind of advanced wisdom is not possessed by Wukong at the beginning, but gradually comprehended as he progresses through life.
The word "help" is not found in Goku's earliest personality dictionary. Ever since he left Patriarch Subodhi, the code of conduct that guides Wukong is the so-called "the strong are respected". Under the guidance of this philosophy of life, even if he lacks something, he is asking for it based on his own strength, rather than asking for help by lowering his stature. A typical example is to go to the Dragon Palace of the East China Sea to ask for weapons.
Wukong's personality began to change after five hundred years of reflection after his defeat to Rulai and being suppressed at the foot of the Five Elements Mountain.
On that day, Guanyin accepted the entrustment of Rulai, took the wooden fork to Dongtu to visit the scriptures, passed by the Five Elements Mountain, and saw the pressure post of Rulai on the top of the mountain, so he talked about the past when Wukong made trouble in the Heavenly Palace and was finally suppressed by Rulai. Wukong heard the discussion and shouted at the foot of the mountain, drawing Guanyin and the wooden fork over. When Guanyin Bodhisattva saw Wukong, the first thing he said was: "The surname Sun, do you recognize me?" All Chinese can hear the extremely strong tone in this question. Wukong's answer was: "Why don't I recognize you? Hello, it's the Nanhai Putuo Luojia Mountain, the Great Compassion, the Great Compassion, the Nanwu Guanyin Bodhisattva." The humility in the answer is beyond words. And when Guanyin Bodhisattva said, "You have a deep karma of sin, save you, I am afraid that you will have another disaster, but it will not be beautiful", Wukong's answer was: "I have repented." May great compassion show you the way, and I would like to practice. ”
In all these conversations, we can feel Goku's softness. Why did Wukong change like this? Of course, it was because he suffered a big loss from Rulai. This big loss tells Goku that he is not as invincible as he imagined. In this way, his philosophy of "respecting the strong" cannot be implemented. In Wukong's concept, there is the concept of "serving softness".
When he really embarked on the road of escorting Tang Seng to learn the scriptures, experienced many demons, and understood the truth of "the strong have their own strong hands", Wukong's way of looking at the world has changed a lot. So it is very normal for Wukong to ask others for help when he encounters something later.
However, Wukong's help from people cannot be generalized. There are some situations in which they are simply out of helplessness that there is nothing to be done, such as the great drought of Fengxian County that he encountered in Tongtian River.
Of course, Wukong's maturity is not only manifested in his understanding that everyone has problems that he can't solve by himself, so he doesn't have to carry all the problems by himself, but also in his various performances after asking for help.
Take Tongtian River and Fengxian County as examples. On the Tongtian River, when Guanyin Bodhisattva surrendered the King of Inspiration, Wukong asked Guanyin Bodhisattva to stand in the air, so that the people of Chenjiazhuang could come to see the Bodhisattva's golden face. The Bodhisattva agreed. For example, when the four departments of wind and clouds, thunder and lightning were ordered by the Jade Emperor to go to Fengxian County to rain, Wukong did not let the immortals return to the heavenly palace immediately, but let them stand in the clouds, remove the clouds and mist, and show their true bodies, and only let them go back after about half an hour.
Why did Wukong let the four gods of Guanyin Bodhisattva and the four gods of wind, rain, thunder and lightning stay in the air? The reason is very simple, first, to give enough face to these gods who came to help, and second, he asked mortals to draw these gods and worship them at home, and worship them at four o'clock.
Wukong repaid these gods, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas after asking for something, which is actually what Confucius said, "Hui is enough to make people".
But there is also a kind of help, that is, Wukong can solve the problem by himself, but he still chooses to ask for help. And it is this kind of help that embodies the wisdom of higher interpersonal communication.
For example, the nine-headed bird encountered in the country of the festival. The nine-headed bird or the nine-headed insect is the son-in-law of the old dragon of Bibotan, who stole the relics of the national treasure of the sacrificial country, and as a result, the monks of the whole temple carried the black cauldron for him. Wukong fought for the monk, and took Bajie to Bibo Lake to catch the monster, Wukong fought with the nine-headed insect, and Bajie helped, and the nine-headed insect showed its original form - a vicious nine-headed bird, biting Bajie in one bite. Wukong infiltrated the Dragon Palace, killed the old dragon, rescued Bajie, and was discussing how to deal with the nine-headed insect next, when he happened to run into Erlang God and his six Meishan brothers who were hunting and passing by. Wukong immediately asked Bajie to make an appointment with Erlang God and ask for help. Erlang God readily agreed. That night, Wukong and Erlang God had a hearty drink, and the next morning, the soldiers joined forces and went to Bibo Lake to collect demons. The son and grandson of the old dragon were successively killed by Bajie and others, and the nine-headed insect showed its original form, stretched out a head to bite the Erlang God, and was bitten off by the thin dog of the Erlang God, and the nine-headed insect fled with the remaining eight heads in pain.
Why did Wukong ask Erlang God to help? Let's listen to Wukong's own explanation: "Bajie, that's my Seven Holy Brothers, so it's better to keep them and help me fight." If you succeed, it's a big opportunity. What is this "big opportunity"? In fact, it is very simple, it is an opportunity to get rid of the previous suspicions and establish a relationship with Erlang God.
Knowing this, let's look at Wukong's various performances before and after meeting with Erlang God in this time, such as asking Bajie to report first, and waiting for Erlang God to invite him before meeting him, and when he fought with the old dragon family, he just fought with Bajie and handed over the main enemy Nine-headed Worm to Erlang God to deal with, etc., we can see Wukong's thoughts. Looking at Wukong's gentle diplomatic language when he talked to Erlang God, we have to say that Wukong, who has experienced the "True and False Monkey King" incident, has really changed his temperament significantly.
Source: "Reader", "Reading Times" Issue 01, 2024
Author: Han Tianlu
Editor: Wu Xicheng
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