Zhihu saw such a question: Why is there no Guan Gong in Journey to the West (that is, Guan Yu in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Guan Yu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that we are familiar with)?
In the description of the problem, the subject said this: In order to attract audiences, a novel like Journey to the West has gained a lot of popularity, such as Wang Lingguan, who was admired by people at that time. Guan Gong is such a popular person, why don't you rub off on Guan Gong's popularity? Guan Gong can help Sun Wukong subdue other monsters, or Guan Gong's red rabbit horse is a demon in the lower realm.
It is true that Guan Yu is very famous, from the Three Kingdoms period to the present, Guan Yu is very famous, there are many people who worship him, and almost all walks of life are worshipping Guan Gong.
How famous is Guan Yu? Let's put it this way, the three schools of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism worship Guan Yu very much, and constantly deify Guan Yu, and absorb Guan Yu into their own immortal spectrum. It can be said that Guan Yu is one of the few cattle people who "respect the three religions". In the land of China and even overseas, Guan Yu has the largest number of temples among all immortals.
In Taoist beliefs, Guan Yu is revered as "the Great Emperor of the Three Realms, the Great Emperor of the Demon Empire, the Heavenly Emperor of the Heavenly Throne, the Emperor of the Heavenly Realm, the Emperor of the Three Realms In the Buddhist faith, Guan Yu is revered as "Garan Bodhisattva", "Buddha of the Protector of the Ming King", "Ancient Buddha of Gaitian", etc.; In Confucian beliefs, Guan Yu and Confucius are called the "two saints of civil and military", and he has always been a "martial saint".
In addition, in folk beliefs, the people also respect Guan Yu as the god of war, the god of commerce, the god of wealth, the god of culture and education, the god of agriculture and other gods. Looking at it this way, officials are simply "almighty gods" and "gods of gods" who are all gods in one.
However, knowing that the subject is wrong, there is actually about Yu in Journey to the West, although the number of times is very small, but the author mentions it at least three times. It's just that Journey to the West wants to highlight Sun Wukong, so Guan Yu is not so powerful. Not only is it powerful, but even its status and force are a little embarrassing.
First of all, there is Guan Yu in Journey to the West
There are many immortals in Journey to the West, some immortals are introduced in detail, some immortals are not introduced in detail, and some immortals are not even full of names, but they are just put together with other immortals. Guan Yu, that's it.
For example, in the sixteenth episode, in order to get Tang Seng's brocade robe, Elder Jinchi set fire to the temple. After Sun Wukong saw through it, he planned to ask the Guangmu Heavenly King to borrow a fire cover.
A good walker, jumped into the Nantian Gate with a somersault, bluffed Pang Liu Gou bowed down, Ma Zhaowen controlled his back, and said: "Oh no!" Oh no! The master of the troubled heavenly palace is here again! The walker shook his hand and said, "The rank is not polite and frightening, I have come to find the Wide-eyed Heavenly King." ”
Note that there are eight immortals here, namely "Pang Liu Gou Bi, Ma Zhao Wenguan".
Pang Liu Gou Bi belongs to Thor. It is recorded in the Taoist classic "Dao Fa Hui Yuan" that there are many thunder gods who are responsible for the clouds and rain, thunderbolts and lightning, including Pang Ling, the god of the Bagua Cave and the deputy general of the Heavenly Soul of the Bagua Cave, Liu Tong, the deputy general of the God of the Bagua Cave, Gou Liuji, the god of the Shangqing Divine Sun and the Thunder God of the Shangqing Dynasty, Bi Zongyuan, the god of the Shangqing Shenhua Yin Thunder God, and Deng Bowen, the great god of the Thunder Commander, Xin Hanchen, the silver tooth dazzling of the thunder and fierce officials, Zhang Yuanbo, the messenger of the Thunder Feijie Retribution, and Tao Gongji, the great god of the Thunder and Flying Fire Palm Order.
Among these thunder gods, Deng Bowen, Xin Hanchen, Zhang Yuanbo and Tao Gongji, the four thunder gods, are collectively called "Deng Xin Zhang Tao". This person also appeared in Journey to the West. For example, in the fourth Journey to the West, Wukong went to heaven for the first time to be an official, and as soon as he arrived at Nantianmen, he was stopped by someone.
(Wukong) was about to collect the clouds and move forward, and was led by the Growth Heavenly King Pang Liu Goubi, Deng Xin and Zhang Tao, all the way to the sky, guns, swords and halberds, blocking the gate of heaven and refusing to let it in.
Shen Tian Soul Zheng General Pang Ling, Shen Tian Soul Deputy General Liu Tong, Yang Thunder God Jun Gou Liuji, Yin Thunder God Jun Bi Zongyuan four people, collectively known as "Pang Liu Gou Bi". In both of the above quotes, they are present.
And "Ma Zhao Wenguan" is the four protector immortals of Taoism, and they are collectively known as the four marshals and the four marshals.
Ma is Ma Lingyao, also known as Lingguan Marshal Ma, Three-Eyed Lingguang, Huaguang Heavenly King, Ma Tianjun, etc. It is recorded in the "Biography of the Emperor Huaguang Lost the King of the Five Manifest Lingguan" that Ma Lingguan is good at using fire, and he has a gold brick fire pill hidden on his body, and he can use fire to subdue demons and subdue demons at any time, so later the people regarded him as the "God of Fire".
Zhao is Zhao Gongming, a native of the Qin Dynasty, who obtained the Tao in Zhongnan Mountain, also known as Zhao Xuantan, Black Tiger Xuantan, its image is relatively rough and mighty, with a black face and a thick beard, wearing an iron crown, holding an iron whip, and straddling the black tiger. He can control the lightning with thunder, eliminate plague and disaster, preside over justice, and is also the god of wealth believed in by Taoism.
Wen is Wen Qiong, it is said that he is a native of Wenzhou, Zhejiang, the word Yongqing, when his mother was pregnant with him, he dreamed that the fire spirit entered his belly and gave birth to Wen Qiong. Wen Qiong has a red face, a helmet and armor, and is extremely brave, responsible for driving away evil spirits and subduing demons.
Guan is Guan Yu, that is, Guan Yunchang, Guan Gong, and Guan Shengdijun. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he was one of the most important generals under Liu Bei, and after his death, he was gradually enshrined as an immortal, and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were respected together.
Therefore, it can be known from this that Guan Yu in Journey to the West, he, Ma Lingyao, Zhao Gongming, and Wen Qiong are all Taoist protectors and generalissimos.
It's just that in Journey to the West, Guan Yu, Ma Lingyao, Zhao Gongming, and Wen Qiong are all subordinates of the Guangmu Heavenly King. Including the aforementioned Pang Liu Goubi, Deng Xin and Zhang Tao, they are also subordinates of the Guangmu Heavenly King.
In the fifty-first chapter of Journey to the West, the author wrote about Guan Yu again, but he was still under the command of the Guangmu Heavenly King, together with Ma Lingyao, Zhao Gongming, and Wen Qiong, guarding the Nantianmen.
The walker said: "I have something to see the Jade Emperor, what are you doing here?" "Guangmu Dao: Today's turn should be to inspect the South Heavenly Gate." Before he said that, he saw the four generalissimos of Zhao Wenguan and said, "Great Sage, you are not welcome, please wait for tea." ”
The dignified Guan Yuguan Holy Emperor, after becoming an immortal, he was actually just guarding the South Heavenly Gate in the Heavenly Court? Is Sun Wukong so submissive? This sounds unacceptable.
In fact, it is not necessary, in order to highlight Sun Wukong, the author's setting of the status of many immortals is not as high as people in the world imagine.
For example, Zhao Gongming, the Four Heavenly Kings, etc., and Ma Lingyao, the Emperor of Huaguang, are all just guarding the South Heavenly Gate. However, after all, they are Taoist protectors and generalissimos, so they cannot be understood as "guarding the gate" and "a security guard". Zhu Bajie is also one of the marshals, and he can have 80,000 sailors, and Guan Yu is also a generalissimo and a Taoist protector, so naturally he will not be bad.
In other words: it's not that Guan Yu and others have a low status in Heavenly Court, it's that there are too many immortals in Heavenly Court, and Sun Wukong's status and combat effectiveness are also very high, so they are responsible for guarding Nantianmen, and they are also polite to Sun Wukong.
Secondly, Guan Yu and Sun Wukong fought each other
Speaking of which, you may not believe it, Guan Yu also fought with Wukong, but Guan Yu did not single out Sun Wukong, he was not so strong.
In the fifty-eighth episode of Journey to the West, Sun Wukong and the six-eared macaque had a hard fight, and the two begged the gods and immortals everywhere, trying to distinguish the true from the false. However, Guanyin Bodhisattva was difficult to distinguish, so the two fought to the sky again, hoping that the gods and immortals would help.
As soon as they arrived at Nantianmen, the two were stopped.
The two of them tugged and pulled, shouting and fighting, and went to the outside of the Nantian Gate, panicking that the wide-eyed heavenly king handsome horse Zhao Wenguan The four heavenly generals, and the gods of the gate, each made a weapon to block it: "Go there!" Is this a place of strife? ”
Coincidentally, it's the Wide-eyed Heavenly King on duty again. As soon as he saw the two Monkey Kings coming, the Wide-eyed Heavenly King, Ma Lingyao, Zhao Gongming, Wen Qiong, Guan Yu, and the gods and goddesses all took out weapons to stop them.
Guan Yu appears in the comic strip
It's just that one Monkey King's martial arts are high enough, let alone two Monkey Kings? Therefore, although these people stopped them, they still couldn't stop the two Monkey Kings.
When the gods looked at it for a long time, they couldn't distinguish it, and the two of them shouted: "You can't recognize it, get out of the way, and wait for us to go to see the Jade Emperor!" The gods couldn't resist it, let go of the gate of heaven, and went to the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.
Judging from "the gods took out weapons to block" and "the gods couldn't resist it", this time the big and small immortals of Nantianmen participated in preventing Sun Wukong from entering, and the two sides were fighting. And Guan Yu, as one of the four generalissimos, is naturally among them. It can be seen that Guan Yu has fought with Sun Wukong.
In addition, when Heavenly Court conquered Huaguo Mountain before, the Four Heavenly Kings all participated in the war.
The Jade Emperor was annoyed. That is, the four heavenly kings, in cooperation with Li Tianwang and Prince Nezha, point to the twenty-eight sutras, the nine Yao Xingguan, the twelve yuanchen, the five directions to reveal the truth, the four values of the Gong Cao, the east and west star dou, the north and south two gods, the five mountains and four blasphemy, and the universal stars, a total of 100,000 heavenly soldiers, set up 18 heavenly nets in the lower realm, go to Huaguo Mountain to besiege, and will capture and deal with it.
And the four generalissimos of Ma Zhao Wenguan are all protectors of Taoism, and they are all fierce generals. From this, we have reason to believe that when the Four Heavenly Kings fight against Sun Wukong, they will take the four generalissimos with them. Therefore, it can also be seen here that Guan Yu and Sun Wukong fought, but they didn't win.
Of course, none of the versions of the Journey to the West film and television dramas have filmed Guan Yu, but in some comic books, Guan Yu is not filmed.