Originally it was to save people, why did the image of the Fahai upright in "The Legend of the White Snake" collapse in recent years?
Today, Yang Jiaofeng does not talk about the "Yongzheng Dynasty" or the "Daming Dynasty", to tell you about the "Legend of the New White Lady", which has been in the jianghu for 27 years.
"The Legend of the New White Lady" is adapted from the "White Lady Yongzhen Leifeng Pagoda" in Feng Menglong's "Cautionary Tales" of the Ming Dynasty, which is an earlier version of "The Legend of the White Snake". The Fa Hai Zen master recorded here is also a decent master, a high-ranking monk, and is not disliked.
In fact, the legend about the white snake happened in Hangzhou's West Lake, which seems to have nothing to do with the Golden Mountain Temple on the yangtze River, but it is recorded in the "Chronicle of the Golden Mountains":
"The python hole, the side of the right front, is strange and dangerous, and it is four or five meters deep." In the past, the white python devoured people, and pei tou tuo repelled. ”
The Pei Touto recorded here is the Fahai Zen Master, a high-ranking monk who has eliminated harm for the people, and there is a couplet at the Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, which is written like this:
"Suitable for coming from the Yunshui Grotto, the mountains are pleasant, and the sleeves are still wet with the rain of the Wuxia Gorge; even deeper into the sea and the sky, the postal service urges me, and the flat boat takes advantage of the Tide of Zhejiang."
This couplet writes that just came from Sichuan and wanted to go to Hangzhou, it can be seen that at that time, those who took the waterway along the Yangtze River to Hangzhou basically had to stop in Zhenjiang. Xu Xian and Bai Niangzi in "The Legend of the White Snake" once opened a pharmacy in Zhenjiang, and only then did they meet the Fahai Zen Master.
In the original version of "The Legend of the White Snake", Bai Suzhen completely came to harm Xu Xian, and Fahai was to eliminate harm for the people, but with the evolution of time, especially the TV drama version was released, Fahai became an evil monk.
Back to the question, then, as a decent monk, why has his image plummeted in recent years and he has become an evil monk who has been criticized by the people?
The story of the "Legend of the White Snake" is about the southern crossing of Emperor Gaozong of Song, and the so-called Shaoxing period refers to the time when Emperor Gaozong of Song came to power after his southern crossing, which was almost 1131-1162. In fact, this time period, in Lin'an Province (now Hangzhou), in addition to the well-known legend of the "Legend of the White Snake", there is also the legend of "Jigong", which also appeared in this time period, and the two are consistent on the timeline.
Since it is a folk legend, it is bound to promote the elimination of evil and the promotion of good, which is unique to folk tales and can be passed down.
The reason why Fahai is hated by posterity is actually inseparable from the shackles of the background of the times, in the feudal era, Fahai eliminated demons, natural righteousness, and people and snake spirits are doomed to be unable to walk together. Moreover, Bai Suzhen once again completed a flood of water on the Golden Mountain, and overstepped his strength, causing harm to the surrounding people, and was finally suppressed by Fahai under the Leifeng Pagoda.
Until the fall of the Leifeng Pagoda in 1924, the image of Fahai was not so unbearable, until Mr. Lu Xun wrote an article "On the Fall of the Leifeng Pagoda":
"The monk should have only been in charge of chanting the sutra himself, the white snake is self-obsessed with Xu Xian, Xu Xian is marrying a demon, what does it have to do with others?"
In the article, leifeng pagoda is also crowned with a symbol of feudal superstition, and its fall also symbolizes the collapse of feudal etiquette in people's hearts, and Fahai has also become the culprit of destroying the beautiful love in the world.
After that, the legend of the Legend of the White Snake began to take the stage, and the drama in it often portrayed Fahai as a villain.
After the founding of New China, a great man's classmate recalled that the great man once watched a theatrical performance of "The Legend of the White Snake" in Shanghai. The whole process was so engaged that a cigarette was snuffed out before it was finished, and then the whole show was not lit again. When Bai Suzhen and Xu Xiansheng parted from death, he shed tears, and finally broke out when Bai Suzhen was pressed against the Leifeng Pagoda, shot up, and said a very famous sentence.
And the unlucky Fahai, even the actor, did not get the opportunity to shake hands after the show. Xiao Qing gained both hands, Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian got one hand, and only Fahai stood alone to the side.
In 2012, Gong Linna's song "Fahai You Don't Understand Love" became popular all over the country, which also caused many controversies, which gave rise to the "Fahai Incident". This direct targeting of religious leaders has sparked opposition from many Buddhist disciples and led to reflections on where the bottom line of entertainment lies.
Perhaps under the pressure of public opinion, the new version of "The Legend of the New White Lady" in 2019 began to inject more connotations into Fahai:
This time can be said to subvert the image of the old version of Fahai, looking for a small fresh meat Pei Zitian played by Fahai, can be described as young and handsome. Moreover, he spoke well and did things calmly, unlike the old Fahai who was looking for Bai Suzhen to trouble at every turn, but he was full of humanity, and even if he caught Xiao Qing, it was only a punishment for her to copy the scriptures.
This drama successfully introduces the villain character, it is funny to say it, it is a demon that lives in fahai's heart, we call him the heart demon. Having a heart demon is actually not terrible, he can't jump out, as long as he controls his desires, but Fahai has to force out the heart demon.
If he was forced out by himself, he still needed to find a person with a "pure heart", yes, this person was Xu Xian. From this, he was able to set his sights on Xu Xian, in short, after experiencing too many tribulations, Xu Xian was finally brainwashed and said such a sentence that I do not go to hell, who goes to hell, as if he is a high-ranking monk:
"I, the seven-foot boy of Xu Xiantang, am also willing to fend off these thousands of disasters for the people of Lin'an."
So Xu Xian swallowed the small ball containing the heart demon, instantly turning into a demon, and Fahai's response method was very funny, which had something to do with the heart of the naked child:
"Try to field, lead the karmic fire!"
In this way, Fahai's mana was boundless, one hand resisted the attack of Bai Suzhen and Xiao Qing, and the other hand fanned the fire, just like a realization that you do not go to hell, who goes to hell.
Just like the Tang monks in "Journey to the West", in the bhikkhu country, it is clear that one of his hearts can exchange the lives of 1,000 children, but he refuses, and they all cry and cry for Sun Wukong to kneel down for help, and finally drown in Lingyundu. The Buddha still has the enlightenment of cutting flesh and feeding eagles, and worshiping the tiger with his body, but you Tang monks still haven't realized it, just like Fahai in the new drama.
Otherwise, why not burn yourself and burn your own demons?
Ah, it seems to be written off-topic, then Fahai does not understand love, this question, we can not find the answer in the new episodes, or have to find in Zhao Yazhi's version of "The Legend of the New White Lady":
We have to look at the ending first, the ending is that Fahai is actually ranked in the immortal class, is this drama not promoting love and challenging feudalism? How can this Fahai, who has committed many evil deeds and always breaks up people's marriages, become an immortal?
In fact, Fahai is actually a decent person who promotes Bai Suzhen's marriage with Xu Xian, and on the surface, it seems that Fahai wants to exorcise demons, and it is because he has a grudge with Bai Suzhen that he has become a sworn enemy. In fact, the purpose of Fahai was to cultivate immortals, and to cultivate immortals, they had to do decent things, they had to follow the footsteps of the great gods, and complete the tasks given by the immortals, and even this task was not explicitly stated.
So what is this task?
It was Bai Suzhen's promise to Guanyin Bodhisattva and Zhenwu Emperor, and she said that going to see Xu Xian was completely a reward for grace, and after repaying the favor, she would take refuge in the Three Jewels, leaving no distractions, and if she stayed, she was willing to be punished by heaven.
However, Bai Suzhen broke her oath, she was a demon after all before becoming an immortal, and if she was a demon, she could not live with mortals. There are too many such stories of retribution in our folklore, and even Western fairy tale books have too many similar stories.
This kind of story of retribution is often not long-lasting, generally three years, five years, ten years, and will eventually leave.
Fahai is not a fool, he also wants to cultivate immortals, and everywhere he opposes The disciple of Li Shan's old mother, Guanyin Bodhisattva, who has given up three points of Bai Suzhen, and of course he knows the risks. Unlike the new drama to eliminate his own inner demons, the old drama Fahai wants to eliminate the demons of Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian.
This was exposed when Bai Suzhen was about to be escorted into the Leifeng Pagoda:
"I don't want to be a fairy, I just want to be human." I want our home. ”
Bai Suzhen said it well, but this wish is not easy to talk about, if you don't become a immortal, you can't be a person, become a fairy, and only then do you have a glimmer of hope to live with Xu Xian.
So Fahai's reply is:
"Do not deviate from the scriptures, do not cling to the red dust, but only the merit is perfect, and nature soars in the day."
In fact, not only Does Fahai know this, bai suzhen certainly knows it, and even Xiaoqing clearly sang in front of Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian:
"You want to marry her for the second time, unless you have to change the Dao Liexian Class."
If Fahai didn't do it right, why didn't the Guanyin Bodhisattva, who often appeared to help Bai Suzhen, come to the rescue? On the contrary, it was Fahai's behavior, which won the heart of a bodhisattva, which was not harming Bai Suzhen at all, but precisely eliminating her sins and eliminating her distractions:
"This is not a prison, this is cultivation."
Only by getting rid of Bai Suzhen's inner demons can she be promoted to immortality and fulfill the promises she has already made, and Xu Xian, who is also deeply trapped in her inner demons, cannot extricate herself:
In the play, Black and White Impermanence once said a sentence, which probably means that if a person can be reincarnated in the tenth lifetime and be a good person, then he can ascend to immortality after death.
Xu Xian had been practicing for twenty lifetimes, and he was a good person in all his lifetimes, so why didn't he become an immortal?
In the final analysis, it is still because his mortal heart is too heavy, that is, the shackles of dust thoughts, only by cutting off his friendship with Bai Suzhen and breaking this mortal emotion can he not waste money on the good people in this life and become immortals.
Even knowing that Xu Xian hated himself, Fahai still regarded him as his favorite disciple, taught him by hand, and spent twenty years to complete Xu Xian's self-redemption.
In the end, Xu Xian, Bai Suzhen, and Fahai were all ranked in the Xianban and completed the class leap. Without Fahai's insistence, Xu Xian would still be a mortal, while Bai Suzhen would have suffered heavenly punishment for breaking his oath, and it would not be as simple as closing the Leifeng Pagoda.
Don't think that being imprisoned in Leifeng Pagoda is a punishment, it is precisely a kind of alternative protection of Bai Suzhen by Fahai, and an insistence on maintaining the faith in his heart.
How can he not understand love, the most understanding of love in the whole play is him!
My name is Yang Jiaofeng, more wonderful please pay attention!