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Is there really a person named Sun Wukong in Chinese history?

Who is the real prototype of Sun Wukong?

Cai Tieying

As the Monkey King Sun Wukong has become a popular candidate for the mascot of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, there have been more topics about Sun Wukong in the media.

Recently, some people have mentioned old stories again, saying that there is an early mural of Tang Monk in Shanxi, with a hairy monkey walker on it, so Sun Wukong should have been born in Shanxi; some people also say that there was a man who had a relationship with Xuan. Shi Pantuo, a Gansu native who has some connections with Master Zang in his study of scriptures, is the prototype of Sun Wukong, and Sun Wukong should be from Gansu. Others claim that a god named Monkey King and a large family of his brothers and sisters were discovered in Fujian, saying that "Journey to the West" The Sun Wukong in the movie is based on the local folk god in Fujian, so Sun Wukong's ancestral home is in Fujian...

Who is really qualified to be the prototype of Sun Wukong?

It took a thousand years to mature

Tang Monk’s Buddhist scripture study is a real event in history, which happened in 629 AD (the third year of Zhenguan, the third year of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin’s reign).

In order to explore the true essence of Buddhism, the monks with the common name Chen Guangrui and the Buddhist name Xuanzang risked their lives and violated the imperial regulations prohibiting people from traveling westward without permission, and smuggled out of Liangzhou (now Wuwei, Gansu). He traveled to more than 130 countries in India, studied hard for 17 years and returned home with great honor.

After Xuanzang returned to China, he received great worship, and magical stories about Xuanzang's Buddhist scriptures also appeared one after another.

The earliest scripture-seeking stories are all related to Xuanzang’s arduous journey in the Western Regions, such as the Flame Mountain, the Deep Sand God, the Golden-haired Rat, Chechi Kingdom, etc. The story of the Flame Mountain that everyone is familiar with is the most typical, " It is said in "Journey to the West" that there are eight hundred miles of flaming mountains in the west, and fireworks are everywhere. In fact, this is a description of the spontaneous combustion fires in Xinjiang's coalfields that have been burning since ancient times.

About 1,100 years ago (the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period), in the Dunhuang area, a transportation hub on the Silk Road and the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures, there were many stories about Tang Monk’s Buddhist scriptures, especially in monasteries. These stories have been used as promotional materials and compiled into a textbook called "The Poems of the Tripitaka of the Tang Dynasty", which mentions for the first time a "sage in white" costume, the Monkey Walker, the right-hand assistant of the Tang Monk in his search for scriptures - of course this This is the original Monkey King.

Later, about 900-1000 years ago (Song and Jin dynasties), the story about Tang Monk’s Buddhist scriptures gradually entered the Central Plains with the spread of Buddhism, and was absorbed by the local culture in Shanxi and became a local An important theme in early drama.

At this time, the Monkey Walker is called Sun Wukong for the first time, and his brothers Zhu Bajie and Monk Sha also appear in the story.

In the Yuan Dynasty, that is, about 700 years ago, a man named Yang Jingxian compiled the drama "Journey to the West" (this was the first time it was named "Journey to the West"). The story here It not only inherits the original form of Buddhism, but also incorporates the content of Taoism. Specifically, it combines the Chinese native Monkey King Monkey King and the Monkey King Monkey from the original Buddhist scripture story to create a new image "Monkey Monkey King Monkey King". The Great Sage Sun Wukong".

Finally, Wu Chengen completed the creation of the image of the Monkey King Sun Wukong in the novel "Journey to the West".