If I were to ask such a question today, I am afraid that many people would think that I have some mental problems.
So the question is: what exactly is Sun Wukong's three dozen white bone essences?
For this question, there is simply no way to call it a problem, they all say three dozen white bone essences, and ask what is the beating? Of course, it is the white bone essence!
But in fact, this matter is really not so simple, Sun Wukong is ostensibly beating the white bone essence, but in fact it is the human heart and human nature, and each one hits the deepest part of the human heart.
The true meaning of these three rods:
The first stick, hitting is hypocrisy;
The second stick, hitting is ignorance;
The third stick is to fight undeserved obsessions and resentments;
The above three points are the deep meaning of this story, and it is also the actual meaning that many people have not seen. In fact, most of the stories and characters in the book are fictional, but at the same time they are not completely nothing, because they have a certain symbolic meaning and a real-life innuendo archetype.
The author of this book will not imagine a story for no reason, nor will he create a character without any basis. Even if those things originate from the imagination of the individual, they also need to be based on the most practical basis as a starting point in order to spread to the imagination space.
Speaking of this, it may be a little far-fetched, so the next step is to start to get back to the truth, analyzing the three sticks of Sun Wukong one by one.
The plot of Sun Wukong's three dozen white bone essences occurred in the 27th time of the original work, when the white bone essence took advantage of Sun Wukong's going out to fast, and became a beautiful young woman, holding a pile of stones and meals made of toads, and ran over to coax Tang Monk and pig eight precepts. At this time, the white bone essence itself means a kind of hypocrisy, and she uses a very beautiful appearance to cover up her ugly and evil heart, as well as the original face that cannot see people.
Moreover, the purpose of Bai Bonejing's trip was clearly to capture Tang Monk for meat, but he showed a kind appearance of understanding, or even sending charcoal in the snow, this situation is not hypocrisy, what is it?
Of course, this is only the most superficial layer of hypocrisy in this story, and it is also the most intuitive embodiment, and under this surface phenomenon, there is actually a layer of more superficial disguise. Because Sun Wukong, who suddenly killed out of the middle of the road, not only broke the elaborate disguise of the white bone spirit with a stick, so that those illusions revealed the most real face, but at the same time he also smashed it, and the hypocrisy that Tang Monk deliberately pretended to be made show his true disposition.
As for the truth and falsity of the Tang monks, we can start from the two major aspects of biology and basic human common sense to explore its truth.
First of all, at that time, Tang Monk would not be more than 30 years old at most, which is the most energetic age for a male man. However, because he had been a monk since he was a child, and later became a highly respected holy monk, because of the existence of the precepts and rules, the Tang monks had always respected the female color and never dared to cross the thunder pond half a step.
That is to say, he has always restrained his instincts with reason, and has strictly restrained himself with identity and discipline. However, at this time, although Tang Monk was able to control his own behavior, he was not necessarily able to control the deepest instinct in his heart. Or he can force himself not to do anything illegal, but he can't curb his liking for women as a man.
Speaking of this, it was already very clear that when Tang Monk saw a beautiful young woman coming to bring himself food, his heart must not be without waves, even if there was no non-divided thought, but the most basic good feeling should still be there. This can be seen from the time when Sun Wukong later humiliated him, for example, there is a passage in the original book:
"Master, I know you, and when you see his countenance, you must have moved your heart." If you have this intention, tell the eight precepts to cut down a few trees, the sand monk to find some grass, I am a carpenter, just build a nest here, you and his round house to become a thing, we all scattered, but it is not a cause? Why trek again, take even more sutras! ”
This remark really poked at the pain in Tang Monk's heart, and Elder Tang was anxious to blush and open his mouth, but he didn't say a word.
It can be seen that before this, Tang Monk had been forcibly disguising himself and forcibly maintaining his composure, knowing that in his heart, like ordinary people, he had a good feeling for the opposite sex, but because of the identity of the holy monk, he could not clearly express it. However, after Sun Wukong's fierce attack, Elder Tang's disguise was finally completely broken, and that hypocrisy could no longer be maintained, completely revealing the truest disposition.
In fact, in life, why do you have to pretend to be so deliberate, did not reach that realm, even if the disguise is good, it will eventually show flaws, but it is better to be the most authentic self, little by little to climb to a higher realm. Because disguise is equivalent to disguise, and disguise is not willing to accept the most true self, how can we make progress on the ground?
Therefore, in the original Journey to the West, when Sun Wukong was in three dozen white bone essences, the first stick first broke everyone's disguise, so that all the truth could no longer be covered up. And this may be the true intention of the author of this book, hoping to use his own way to pierce all the illusions in the world, so that people can see each other clearly, but also see themselves.
Sun Wukong's first blow was not only the first head-on confrontation with the White Bone Spirit, but also a fierce conflict between him and Tang Monk. The other party's disguise was broken by him, the contradiction between the two is naturally inevitable, the two of them have now embarked on two extremes, Sun Wukong's principle is to insist on breaking the hypocrisy, while Tang Monk and Bai Bonejing are still obsessed on the road of disguise.
First of all, bai bone essence, after the previous confrontation, she should have clearly realized that she was not Sun Wukong's opponent at all, and her disguise could not deceive the other party at all. However, she still did not change her nature, and tried to use the same method to approach Tang Monk, which was a kind of deep ignorance, even to the point of being hopelessly ignorant, in order to obtain immediate benefits, she even risked her life, even if she was rich and noble, but it was inevitable to go too far.
Moreover, in the second round of the confrontation, it was not only the White Bone Essence, but also the Tang Monk who was ignorant. He is an ordinary person with mortal eyes, but he always argues with the fire-eyed and golden-eyed Sun Wukong, is it not true that Sun Wukong, who is good at lowering demons and exorcising demons and magical powers, is not as good as an ordinary person in identifying demons and ghosts?
As the saying goes, overconfidence is conceit, and conceited people are often accompanied by ignorance, even if they have a few pounds or two, they can't recognize it, and how can they recognize the reality of the outside world. At this time, it is necessary to have a strong external stimulus to make it recognize itself and recognize reality.
Therefore, Sun Wukong's second stick was just the right first stick, which repelled the ignorant white bone essence, and at the same time hit the depths of Tang Monk's heart, making him feel pain mentally. However, it is precisely because of this that Tang Monk's attitude towards Sun Wukong will be so bad, because the other party has knocked on his heart.
However, although Sun Wukong's stick hit Tang Monk's foolish heart at that moment, he could not really wake it up. It's like a saying that you can never wake up a person who pretends to be asleep. If Tang Monk himself was not willing to reflect, then he would not be able to come out of the realm of ignorance, including the White Bone Essence, who could not realize where he was wrong, and he would not be able to restrain himself from the precipice, and eventually he would inevitably be hit by this third stick.
The rules and measures in life are a very mysterious thing, such as the unwillingness to give up is called persistence, the persistence as always is attachment, and excessive attachment is attachment. Once everything is overdone, it is easy to push yourself into the abyss.
The white bone spirit in "Journey to the West" is an obsessive monster, as the saying goes, after two consecutive defeats, she should know how to properly close and clearly realize the gap between herself and Sun Wukong. However, the attraction of Tang Monk's meat to her was too strong, and as for the point of sacrificing her life and forgetting death, she was willing to take her own life as a bet and make one last risk attempt.
But how strong her desire is, how cruel the reality is. With the lessons of the previous two times, Sun Wukong also learned a lot of wisdom this time, and directly called out the mountain gods and goddesses such as the four-value Gong Cao of the Mountain God Land, so that they could keep an eye on this monster in the dark all the time, and did not give her the chance to escape. This time, he said that he had to reveal the true face of the White Bone Essence, otherwise there would be no way to give Tang Monk an explanation.
The end of this matter is known to everyone, the white bone essence was directly knocked to the ground by Sun Wukong's stick, and even the last trace of the Yuan God could not escape, and it turned into a dry bone. This is the price she pays for attachment, sad and lamentable.
However, although Bai Bonejing ushered in his final end, the grudge between Sun Wukong and Tang Monk did not end there, because this stick completely beat the resentment in Tang Monk's heart. Prior to this, he had given Sun Wukong two serious warnings in a row, not allowing the other party to kill others at will in front of him.
Or it can be said that in Tang Monk's heart, in fact, these mortals who have been transformed into white bone essences have not been regarded as monsters, but have always been lucky, thinking that the young woman at the beginning was a beautiful person with a kind heart, and the later old father-in-law and the old lady were two poor old people. However, he did not expect that Sun Wukong dared to disobey his will again and again, shattering the only trace of luck and goodwill that remained in his heart, leaving only a bloody cruel fact when he turned around.
For such a fact, Tang Monk could not accept it, nor was he willing to accept it, and even resented Sun Wukong because of it, and recited the tight mantra over and over again as a vent. But he did not know that his practice was slowly pushing himself into the abyss.
Because the Road to the West Heaven is a road full of bumps and bumps, if he does not have the protection of Sun Wukong, he can still go a few steps forward. Later, he was transformed into a white tiger by the yellow-robed monster, imprisoned in a dark cage, and almost died under the sword soldiers, all because of the reason for driving away Sun Wukong this time, it was his obsession, and the resentment in his heart that should not be there, and almost buried himself.
Just as the so-called ruler is short, the inch is long, everyone should put down the perfect disguise, accept a real imperfect self, and admit that others are better than themselves in some aspects. At the same time, don't be too attached to those unrealistic beauty, and don't take chances and cling to illusory good feelings.
These truths are the golden rules that Sun Wukong beat with a golden hoop stick, and every stick when the three dozen white bone essences actually fell into the depths of people's hearts, breaking the disguise, breaking the ignorance, and making people see the price of attachment and resentment.
A twisty and bizarre story, a legend with twists and turns, the author of "Journey to the West" uses the characters between Sun Wukong, Bai Bonejing and Tang Monk, as well as the inner changes and subtexts of the three parties, to cleverly allude to a variety of phenomena that exist in reality, and reveal many thought-provoking truths. Our understanding of this story is not only a deep excavation of the book, but also an outward extension of these stories, all the way to the real life.
Life is like a play, drama is like life, watching a story is not simply to try a hilarity, but also to taste the mystery of it. The things of the past life, the master of the aftermath, the white bone essence and the Tang monk in the book are actually our lessons, and Sun Wukong's golden hoop stick is more like a kind of vigilance, always vigilant against you and me, do not repeat the mistakes in the story.
Treat the story as life, compare life to a story, and you will find that there are many things in life that can be followed, because the predecessors have left us too many examples. Those stories are like a beacon in the darkness, guiding our lives at all times.