Zhen Yuanzi and Sun Wukong bow down, are they sincere, or are they acting on the spot?
Some people believe that Zhen Yuanzi is completely acting on the spot, and the real purpose of his worship with Sun Wukong is to climb the high branches of the Buddhist group.
This statement seems to have some truth at first glance, but it is actually not in line with the original book.
In the twenty-fourth chapter of the original work, I learned that the scripture-learning team was about to arrive at Wuzhuang Temple, and Zhen Yuanzi entrusted his disciples Qingfeng and Mingyue to entertain him. Qingfeng and Mingyue were puzzled, saying that the Tao is different and does not conspire with each other, Tang monks and apprentices are Buddhists, and we are Taoist children, why should we entertain them?
Zhen Yuanzi told Qingfeng and Mingyue that Tang Seng was an old man with him, and five hundred years ago, he participated in the Buddhist Orchid Bon Festival, and Tang Seng who was the second disciple of Rulai, Jin Chanzi, once offered him tea.
Since Zhen Yuanzi can participate in the Orchid Bon Festival, and he can also let the second disciple of Rulai offer tea to him, it can be seen that he has a great friendship with Rulai, in this case, why did he bother to climb the high branches of the Buddhist group by swearing to Sun Wukong?
According to the plot of the original book, Zhen Yuanzi and Sun Wukong should be sincere.
In the twenty-seventh chapter of the original work, after Zhen Yuanzi and Sun Wukong worshipped, the book wrote, "That Zhen Yuanzi and the walker became brothers, the two were in love, and they refused to let go, and arranged to be treated, and lived for five or six days in a row", if he didn't really treat Sun Wukong as a brother, how could Zhen Yuanzi keep him for five or six days?
Since Zhen Yuanzi and Sun Wukong are sincerely worshipped, then the problem also arises, Sun Wukong encountered difficulties on the way to learn the scriptures, and always asked the immortals all over the world for help, but he did not ask Zhen Yuanzi for help once, why is this?
Is it because Zhen Yuanzi is not strong enough to help? The answer is obviously no.
In the twenty-fifth chapter of the original work, Sun Wukong knocked down the ginseng fruit tree, Zhen Yuanzi asked him to apologize, but Sun Wukong refused to listen, and the two sides broke out in an armed conflict.
Sun Wukong raised the golden hoop stick and hit, Zhen Yuanzi counterattacked with a whisk, and fought for two or three rounds, regardless of victory or defeat. Seeing this, Zhen Yuanzi used a trick to fly into the air, "fight against the wind in the clouds, brush the ground", but in a moment, the entire scripture-learning team, including Sun Wukong, was captured.
It can be seen that Zhen Yuanzi's mana cultivation is far above Sun Wukong. If Sun Wukong asks him for help, he can easily help Sun Wukong solve all the difficulties on the way to learn the scriptures.
But Sun Wukong did not ask Zhen Yuanzi for help because he discovered a secret, which we can see from the words of Guanyin Bodhisattva to him after he knocked down the ginseng fruit tree.
After Zhen Yuan Zisheng captured the scripture team, he threatened Sun Wukong to save the ginseng fruit tree, Sun Wukong had no choice but to ask for help from the immortals all over the world, and came to the South China Sea to ask Guanyin Bodhisattva for help.
Guanyin Bodhisattva seems to have been waiting for Sun Wukong for a long time, and when he saw Sun Wukong, he accidentally slipped his mouth and said: "There is a Wuzhuang Temple in Wanshou Mountain, and there is a Zhenyuan Daxian in the view, have you ever met him?"
Guanyin Bodhisattva actually asked Sun Wukong if he had met Zhen Yuanzi, which shows that he had long expected the difficulty of Wuzhuang Temple. But why could she have predicted what would happen in Wuzhuang Temple? As a bodhisattva, Guanyin can pinch and calculate, and it is not surprising that she expects things in the mortal world, but Wuzhuang Temple is the territory of Zhen Yuanzi. How could the territory of the Earth Immortal Ancestor be so easy to peep into?
The truth is likely to be that the Wuzhuang view is difficult, which was originally planned by Guanyin Bodhisattva and Zhen Yuanzi to test the scripture learning team. It is precisely because of this that Zhen Yuanzi knew that there were four masters and apprentices, but only took two ginseng fruit trees to entertain guests, the purpose was to intensify the conflict and promote the development of the script.
This is not difficult to understand, why Sun Wukong never asked Zhen Yuanzi for help, since Zhen Yuanzi had planned to test the scripture learning team with Guanyin, it shows that he and Guanyin Bodhisattva are in the same group, and he is also the chief examiner of the great cause of learning scriptures, and Sun Wukong, as a candidate, of course, cannot ask the examiner for help when encountering difficulties. What do you think?