In Journey to the West, the six-eared macaque pretends to be Sun Wukong. Was he ordered by others?

Watching "Journey to the West", "The True and False Wukong" is one of the most exciting scenes, whether it is the original work, TV series, or various adapted movies. Since childhood, the interpretations in various works that we have seen basically end up with the "six-eared macaque" pretending to be Sun Wukong dead, and the "Lingming Stone Monkey"'s real version of Sun Wukong winning. Later, he obtained the true scripture and became a battle to defeat the Buddha. .

However, in recent years, another theory has emerged: the one who was beaten to death was the real Sun Wukong, and the one who went to the Western Heaven to obtain the scriptures was the six-eared macaque arranged by Tathagata. Moreover, there are many supporters of this view, and it has even gradually become the mainstream view.

Let’s first take a look at what kind of monkeys Sun Wukong and Six-eared Macaque are, and why do they look exactly the same? Chapter 58: "It is difficult to cultivate true annihilation if two minds disrupt the universe." The true and false Wukong ran around the world, but could not tell who was true and who was false, so they came to Tathagata together, and Tathagata said There are five immortals, five insects, and four monkeys in the Zhoutian. What do these four monkeys refer to? ——

The Tathagata said: "The first is the clever stone monkey, which understands changes, knows the time of the sky, knows the geographical advantages, and can move the stars to change the battle. The second is the red horse monkey, who knows the yin and yang, understands people and affairs, and is good at going in and out. , to avoid death and prolong life. The third is the monkey with arms and legs, holding the sun and the moon, shrinking from thousands of mountains, distinguishing between good and bad, and understanding the universe. The fourth is the six-eared macaque, which is good at listening to sounds, can understand, know the front and back, and everything is clear. These four monkeys do not belong to the ten categories, nor do they have the name of two realms. I think that Wukong is a six-eared macaque. If this monkey stands alone, it can understand things thousands of miles away, and even ordinary people can understand it. Therefore, the person who is good at listening to sounds, can understand things, know the front and back, and understand all things. He has the same image and sound as the true Wukong, and he is also a six-eared macaque."

Buddha explains here why the false Wukong is a six-eared macaque. , why he is exactly the same as the real Wukong, and what abilities he has. However, there are indeed contradictions in these statements. For example, when talking about the characteristics of the six-eared macaque, it is said that it is good at listening to sounds, able to detect things, know the front and back, and everything is clear. To put it bluntly, it means being able to know the past and the future, which is equivalent to being able to tell fortunes. Is that true?

Let’s take a look at the fifty-seventh chapter, "The True Monk Luojiashan Complains to the Fake Monkey King from Shuiliandong Transcript". The fake Wukong beat Master Tang and took away his luggage. Monk Sha went to Huayuan alone. Guoshan asked for something, and after traveling for three days and nights, he reached the Eastern Sea. Looking closer, it turns out that Sun Xingzhe is sitting on the stone platform, holding a piece of paper with both hands, and reading Tang Monk's customs clearance document loudly, and he recited it over and over again:

Sha Monk Hearing that it was a customs clearance document, he couldn't help but stepped closer and shouted loudly: "Senior brother, how do you recite the master's customs document?" The traveler raised his head quickly when he heard the words, not recognizing it as Sha Monk, and shouted: "Bring it, bring it !" All the monkeys gathered around, dragged Sha Monk closer, and shouted: "Who are you, dare to approach my fairy cave?" Seeing that Sha Monk changed his face, he refused. After recognizing each other, I had to say: Senior brother, if you don't hate the master, but still remember the grace of liberation in the past, you and your younger brother will bring your luggage back to the master, and go to the west to achieve this positive result. If the resentment is deep and you are unwilling to go with me, I will definitely give the burden to my brother. My brother is in the mountains and enjoys the evening view of mulberry trees. I sincerely want to get the best of both worlds.

When the fake Sun Wukong heard it: Haha, what a joke! I beat Tang Monk and snatched my luggage, not because I don't want to go to the West, nor because I love living here. Now that I have read the ultimatum thoroughly, I myself went to the West to pray to Buddha and seek scriptures, and sent them to the East. I succeeded alone and taught the people of Nanfangbuzhou to make me their ancestor, and my name will be passed down to generations.

Dragon monk also laughed: Who doesn’t know that Monk Tang’s study of Buddhist scriptures is not the same as Sun Xingzhe’s theory of Buddhist scriptures.

Fake Wukong said: "Xian brother, you are originally ignorant, but you know one but not the other. Forgive me for saying that you have Tang Seng to protect you, but I don't have Tang Seng? I will choose another one here. The true monk is here, and Lao Sun is here to support him. Why not? He has chosen to get up tomorrow. If you don’t believe it, wait until I invite you to come and see.” He ran in, led out a white horse, and invited out Tang Sanzang, followed by Bajie, carrying luggage, and Sha Monk, holding a tin staff.

Okay, such a copycat Buddhist scripture-seeking team made Sha Monk so angry that he turned even greener. With a wave of his demon-subduing staff, the fake Sha Monk was killed. It turned out to be a monkey spirit.

The question arises here: If the fake Wukong is a six-eared macaque and knows the past and the future, how can he not know Sha Seng? Since he didn't know Sha Monk, how did he create a fake Buddhist scripture-seeking team before Sha Monk arrived? Mr. Wu is really old and can’t remember clearly? Or there is another possibility: this matter was arranged by others, and the fake Wukong was just a participant, and he didn't have time to see the improvement of the Buddhist team. So, I don’t know what Sha Seng looks like.

What exactly is going on? Let's continue looking down.

The real Sun Wukong was expelled from his master again because he killed a robber. Heartbroken, he went to Luojia Mountain where Guanyin Bodhisattva lives in the South China Sea. Chapter 57: "The True Monkey King Complains to Luojia Mountain "Monkey King Shuiliandong Transcript", after the Bodhisattva heard the whole story, he educated Wukong:

The Bodhisattva said: "Tang Sanzang was ordered to go to the West, and he was determined to be a good monk, and he would never harm his life. . It seems that you have infinite magical powers, so why bother to kill many grass bandits! Although the grass bandits are bad, they are human beings and should not be killed, unlike those monsters, ghosts and demons. The killing of these bandits is your merit. Death is still due to your unkindness. But Qu Tui San naturally saved your master. According to my opinion, it is still your unkindness." When Wukong heard this, he became coquettish and pretentious with the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva has to take off the tight bandage, otherwise he will go to the West to find the Buddha to get it. He might as well go back to the Water Curtain Cave and become the Monkey King. He was angry when he heard it. It's not like he never went back, and he came back later. As for why Sun Wukong came back after leaving the scripture-seeking team before, we can talk about it in detail another day.

The Bodhisattva said: "You stay here, and I will look at the auspiciousness and darkness with you." The traveler said: "There is no need to look, it is just so ominous." The Bodhisattva said: "I don't look at you, look at Tang Monk "The good Bodhisattva, sitting on the lotus platform, transporting his mind to the three realms, looking far across the universe with his wise eyes, suddenly said: "Wukong, your master is in trouble for a moment, and he will come to find you soon. . You just stay here until I tell Monk Tang that he will go with you to obtain the scriptures and achieve enlightenment."

The Bodhisattva knew that Master Tang was about to face danger, but she did not let Wukong. He hurried to save the master, but left Wukong behind. Why is this? It's very unreasonable. Shouldn't we stop it quickly before it happens? Does the Bodhisattva want it to happen and want to stop the monkey from going to stop it? This approach is clearly to provide fake Sun Wukong with time to commit crimes.

Then Sha Monk, who went to Huaguo Mountain to ask Wukong for his luggage, went to Luojia Mountain to complain to the Bodhisattva.

The Bodhisattva said: "Wu Jing, don't rely on others. Wukong has been here for four days, and I have never let him go back. Does he have any intention of inviting another Tang Monk to go and get the scriptures himself?" Sha Monk said "How can you dare to deceive me when you see Sun Xingzhe in Shuilian Cave now?" The Bodhisattva said: "In that case, don't be anxious. Ask Wukong to go to Huaguo Mountain with you to have a look. It's true that it's hard to eliminate, but it's false that's easy to eliminate. , you will see for yourself when you get there.”

This sentence has a profound meaning: truth is difficult to destroy, falsehood is easy to eliminate. What was the result? Chapter 58: "It is difficult to cultivate true annihilation if two minds disrupt the universe." The traveler and Sha Monk said goodbye to the Bodhisattva, raised two auspicious lights, left the South China Sea, and went straight to the Huaguo Mountain. As a result, they saw a Monkey Sun, who looked exactly like me:

The great sage was furious, threw away Monk Sha, stepped forward with an iron rod and cursed: "What a monster you are, how dare you change my appearance, how dare you take advantage of me." My children and grandchildren are good at living in my fairy cave and doing this kind of blessing!"

Once the two monkeys meet, they are inseparable - two sticks, two monkeys! Jing, this confrontation is really not a light one. Everyone must protect Tang Yu's younger brother, and each perform his meritorious deeds to establish a heroic reputation. The real monkey is really a disciple of Samana, and the fake monster pretends to be a Buddhist disciple. Gai is a magical power with many changes, neither true nor false. One is the Hunyuan Yiqi Qi Tiansheng, and the other is the goblin who has been practicing for a long time. This is the Ruyi Golden Cudgel, and that is the Suixin Iron Soldier. There is no victory or defeat in blocking the enemy with barriers, and there is no victory or defeat in resisting the enemy with support. The previous fight took place outside the cave, but after a while the fight broke out in mid-air.

Recall what the Bodhisattva said: True is difficult to destroy, false is easy to eliminate. You will know where you are. The two great sages really couldn't tell the difference between them, and they couldn't tell the truth from the lies, so they went to heaven and earth to find people to help.

From Luojia Mountain to Nantianmen and then to the Lingxiao Palace, the Jade Emperor couldn't tell the difference, so he asked Li Tianwang to take out the demon mirror:

The Tianwang then took the mirror to look at it, and asked the Jade Emperor to watch with the gods. In the mirror are the shadows of two Sun Wukongs, their golden hoops and clothes intact. The Jade Emperor couldn't tell the difference and drove him out of the palace. The great sage sneered, and the traveler also laughed with joy, wiped his head and neck, went out of the Tianmen again, fell to the west road and said: "You and I are going to see the master, you and I are going to see the master!"

Tang The master couldn't tell the difference either. After reciting the tightening mantra, both monkeys felt the same pain. Finally, I came to Senluo Hall to check the book of life and death. Monkeys are really forgetful. Whoever altered the book of life and death back then is now looking at it again. It’s too late!

Why did Di hear it but didn’t dare to say it? Some people think that this is because the six-eared macaque was arranged by Buddha, so Di Ting dare not say anything. This is a bit far-fetched. Because Di Ting can only tell what the strange thing is, but I'm afraid it's difficult to know the high-level personnel arrangements. If Tathagata arranged for a monkey to pretend to be Wukong, would he tell Di Ting in advance? Unreasonable, the reason why Di Ting feels afraid to speak out is probably exactly what he said: This monster is the same as Sun Dasheng, so he is afraid. I'm afraid that when Sun Houhou made a big fuss in the Netherworld, it also left a psychological shadow on Di Ting, so he didn't say anything about it.

So, the two monkeys went to find Tathagata together. The Tathagata talked about their differences and origins in a serious manner, which is the scene we mentioned at the beginning. However, the question arises again: As a monkey that can know the past and the future, the six-eared macaque already knows that seeking Tathagata means death, so why should he go? So, some people said that it was not him who died, but Sun Wukong? Is that really the case?

This statement is of course untenable. The truth is not that simple! Let’s listen to the breakdown next time!