On the Road —— Preface to The Story of Wukong

Wukong's language is almost hippie, but I like this preface best after reading it. I am probably old, lacking the arrogant and rebellious spirit I want to express in the book, and lacking a lot of affectation and emotions, and I prefer something gentle.

Wukong in the book is a protester who pursues freedom. "I want this day, I can't cover my eyes. I want this place. I can't bury my heart. I want all sentient beings to understand what I mean, and I want all Buddhas to be destroyed! "

But in the end, it turns out that the westward journey is just a "false happiness that I can't get rid of."

When this book was first published, it broke through many people's inherent understanding of westward journey and attracted readers to interpret it from all angles of society, philosophy and life. "Braving the Wind and Waves" said: "Everyone is a nobody, don't talk big." So, please understand the meaning of the book by yourself.

Inner feelings are much more important than those principles.

Maturity is a tolerant thing. When you become an accomplice, you will understand it.

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original text

When I was very young, because I was an only child, after my parents went to work, I played building blocks at home alone. Then I invented a game, riding a children's tricycle, the wheels were stained with water, and kept turning in the living room, and then I was very happy to watch the trajectory I drew.

? Maybe everyone's childhood experience will secretly affect our life. Now I always have a feeling that the world actually looks very big, but in fact you can't go anywhere, you can only keep spinning in this limited space of several square meters. You think you've gone a long way, and the odometer is tens of thousands of kilometers, but in fact you're just beating around the bush.

So I have always had an impulse to break through something and escape something, and this feeling has been growing with my life. I think everyone is the same. We think the world is getting smaller and smaller, but that's actually because we are growing. You always think that there is a beautiful new world in the distance, just waiting ahead and running like hell, but maybe some people really find that world, and some people find it all an illusion.

I have been thinking about what people want to pursue in life, fame and fortune. After all this? When you are old and look back on your life, will you regret it? It seems that no matter how hard you pursue it, there are always some things you have to give up, some things you can only miss, and some things you dream of. We are always calculating the success and failure, weighing the gains and losses, but no one can find the right answer.

The year I wrote the story of Wukong was the Spring Festival in 2000. CCTV began to broadcast a new version of The Journey to the West. I was looking forward to it, but I was disappointed at first sight, because the old version of Journey to the West can still impress me. After 500 years of vicissitudes, when the theme song was sung, I suddenly burst into tears. I still remember the lyrics: "Even if wildfire burns, even if it is covered with frost, it is still an unchanging ambition and an enduring belief."

This lyric is so good that it directly affects my outlook on life. Some people say that Wukong's story subverts the westward journey. Actually, I don't think it's subversive at all. I think what I wrote is the most authentic westward journey. Westward Journey is a very tragic story, a story about a group of people trying to find lost ideals on the road, rather than the mediocre story of playing monsters and telling jokes in some of our adapted works.

That's it. I can't stand traveling to the west. All I can do is hit the monster, hit the monster and hit your sister. The theme of Westward Journey is not to fight monsters at all. There are only two kinds of monsters: one is the brother who fights with the Monkey King, like Niu Wangmo. The Monkey King had to kill all his sworn brothers who fought alongside him in those years before he could become a Buddha. I think this is the greatest tragedy; The other is arranged by the gods, either this mount or that pet. This is disgusting. I want to arrange for eighty-one to kill you while sending people to the West. So the whole journey to the west is a tragedy and a conspiracy. No matter what you do, you will die. You don't obey god, don't go west, and kill you; If you go to the Western Heaven, it's hard for you. It's arranged by heaven, or it will kill you.

Finally, when you get to the Western Heaven, you think you have succeeded. Finally, I gave you a copy, which is still fake. It's all white paper You get it back, give you a gift, and give it to you in words. Do you think this is true? Is it true?/You don't say. In fact, it is still fake, because there is nothing, where is the dust? The so-called Tao Tao, we say that other people's answers are not your answers. If someone wants to instill answers into you, it will not make you smart, but more likely make you stupid.

The last four people became Buddhas. What happened after they became buddhas? No, it's nothing. The four people who lived once had flesh and blood, feelings and dreams. Once they became Buddhas, they completely disappeared from this world. What is Buddha? Buddha is nothing, nothing, nothing, no feelings, no desires, no thoughts. When you give it up, you won't suffer. But the question is, what is left after giving up these things? Nothing, just dead. Therefore, to become a Buddha is to die, to go to the west is to die, and the westward journey is an elaborate murder and suicide.

That's why I wrote The Story of Wukong. Everything in The Journey to the West is obscure, but I write straight. The journey to the west in my mind is the road of people. Everyone has his own westward journey, and we are all traveling westward. When we get to the Western Heaven, everyone will be nothing, and we will go back to the original place. Everyone will inevitably run to that destination. You have no choice, no way back. What shall we do? Only on this road can you walk as brilliantly as possible, hold your head high, experience more, think more and see more, and do what you want to do. Finally, you can say that I have been to this world, loved and beaten, and have no regrets.

I'm glad we still have a long way to go, a long way to go. I once wrote a sentence: the most valuable moment in life is not the final success, but the time when I am full of expectation and anxiety about the future.

It is very happy to have a future. I am willing to witness the future with you and the road we have traveled. Success or failure is not the most important thing. Because when you pursue your ideal, you will understand that you probably won't succeed. Most importantly, when you know this, do you still want to pursue it?

I had no answers. I don't need an answer.

Finally, quote the lyrics of one of my favorite songs:

If the loss is bitter, are you afraid to pay?

If falling is bitter, do you still want happiness?

If confusion is bitter, should it start or end?

If the pursuit is bitter, is it strong or stubborn?

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