In the work "Journey to the West", Wu Chengen focuses on the scene of the four masters and apprentices learning scriptures in the west, mainly inclined to Buddhism. But in fact, there is a character we should not evaluate lightly, he is the Jade Emperor as a representative of the Heavenly Court.
As the supreme leader of the Taoist sect in the Heavenly Court, the author Wu Chengen inadvertently exposed his true thoughts in the process of creating art for the Jade Emperor.
The Jade Emperor was merciful
As we mentioned in the previous article, when the author created the Heavenly Court School represented by the Jade Emperor, it was more to allude to the Jiajing Emperor who was obsessed with Taoist immortal cultivation during the Jiajing period.
As a literary work, it is largely a true portrayal of the author's inner thoughts. Therefore, in the process of ruthlessly shaping the Jade Emperor, Wu Chengen largely pinned his political expectations on an ideal monarch.
Although the Jade Emperor was a representative of the Heavenly Court faction, compared to the Lin faction of Buddhism, they were Taoist scholars who advocated pure beauty and inaction. Despite this, we find from this work "Journey to the West" that the main idea advocated by the author is two words, compassion.
There is no doubt that in Wu Chengen's works, the Jade Emperor is a compassionate person. And this point was mentioned at the beginning of the work "Journey to the West", when Sun Wukong jumped out of the stone, clairvoyant Shunfeng found that this monkey jumped out of the stone to disturb the order of heaven.
So these two people reported to the Yuhua Emperor, and the Jade Emperor did not become angry and surrendered the guilt as they imagined, but said that it was not easy for such a natural stone monkey to grow up as a creature in the world, so they didn't care about him.
The original text of the book reads:
The second general Guo was ordered to go out, to see the truth, to listen to the clear, to report back in a moment: "The place where the ministers are ordered to observe and listen to the golden light is the boundary of the small country of Dongsheng Shenzhou Haidong Aolai, there is a flower and fruit mountain, there is a fairy stone on the mountain, the stone lays an egg, and the weathered stone monkey is seen, and the Quartet is worshiped there, and the golden light is carried by the eyes, and the Doufu is shot." Now that you are taking bait and water food, the golden light will be latent in life. The Jade Emperor gave mercy and said: "The things below are born of the essence of heaven and earth, and they are not different. ”
Clairvoyant and Shunfeng Er thought that the birth of Sun Wukong had alarmed the order of heaven and earth, but the Jade Emperor thought that Sun Wukong, a stone monkey, was made up of the essence of heaven and earth, and it was not easy for living beings to be investigated. At this time, Sun Wukong had not yet worshiped Patriarch Bodhi as his teacher, and he had not yet learned the ability to penetrate the heavens and the earth.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Jade Emperor, this is just an insignificant little person. Therefore, we see that the reason why the Jade Emperor was able to become the head of the gods in the heavenly realm was not only because he had gone through many tribulations, but also because he had such a broad mind and was respected by everyone.
The Emperor of Heaven who repays grievances with virtue
The Jade Emperor is not only merciful in "Journey to the West", but also extraordinarily generous, repaying grievances with virtue.
Sun Wukong made trouble in the Heavenly Palace, established himself as the king, and was known as the Monkey King. The name Monkey King itself is extremely disrespectful to Heavenly Court. But that's it, the Jade Emperor sent heavenly soldiers to suppress Sun Wukong, and Sun Wukong escaped many times until he was selected as one of the members of the Western Heaven to learn scriptures, when Sun Wukong went to Tiantian again to seek rescue, the Jade Emperor did not suppress it, but for Sun Wukong, it showed more of a kind of love for the younger generation.
As for why the Jade Emperor was particularly friendly to Sun Wukong later, some analysts believe that it is because Sun Monkey has transformed himself into a great apprentice who protects Tang Seng Xitian to learn scriptures. At this time, what it represents is not only a demon with superior ability, but more of a spokesperson of the Western Leiyin Temple.
As the saying goes, if you don't look at the face of the monk and look at the face of the Buddha, even if you have some opinions about Sun Wukong, you have to take into account that he represents the entire West, so there is no need for the Jade Emperor to correct it with very severe punishment.
Despite this, we can still find in "Journey to the West" that in addition to Sun Wukong, including Marshal Tianpeng of the wine drama Chang'e, the general of the rolling shutter who accidentally broke the glass cup, and the Erlang Xiansheng Zhenjun of Guanjiangkou, etc., the Jade Emperor showed extraordinary patience and tolerance in the face of these people's problems.
Therefore, those who have achieved great careers in ancient and modern times not only have supernatural talents, but also have perseverance.