The big struggle hidden in the Westward Journey novel, the monkey is just a pawn of two factions?

We are very happy to see the struggle between gods and demons in Journey to the West, but in fact, there is a line of political struggle hidden in Journey to the West, which runs through the whole story.

The Monkey King is the soul of this dark line and the focus of the struggle between the two factions.

This struggle is a struggle between Buddhism and Taoism. Today we will talk about the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism in The Journey to the West.

The biggest BOSS in Journey to the West is undoubtedly the Tathagata. This Buddhist leader is not only miraculous, but also revered by heaven, earth and man. He has avalokitesvara and countless followers.

However, the Taoist organization is a bit loose. Whether it is the supreme Taoist priest in heaven, the ancestor of immortals, Yuan, or all kinds of immortals in heaven and underground, most of them are fighting in their own way, some are attached to heaven, some dominate one side, and some simply become an outlaw.

In the face of the Monkey King, Taoist immortals of all walks of life were either helpless or beaten out of the water. Even the Taoist emperor was completely humiliated, and even the blast furnace was turned upside down.

The master of Buddhism is totally different from the Monkey King, what's more, Tathagata and Guanyin, the general trend and Manjusri, two gods, can make the Monkey King respectfully. Even any arhat and messenger in the Western Heaven has an extremely high honor, which is a position that Taoist masters have never had.

So, why is there such a sharp contrast between Daomen in The Journey to the West and Buddhism? What is the connection between the two?

To make this clear, we have to start with the Monkey King's master.

The Monkey King's master is a real Bodhi, and whether the real Bodhi is a Taoist or a Buddhist is not fully explained in the novel. It can be seen from relevant records that he may be a secular master of Buddhism and Taoism.

There are not many descriptions of Bodhi in Journey to the West, but judging from the clues, he must know about the dispute between heaven, Buddhism and Taoism, and even participate deeply. It's just a pity that we can't get more effective information, so we can't get the whole picture of the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism from The Journey to the West alone.

The dispute between Buddhism and Taoism in The Journey to the West can actually be found in history.

In the early years, Taoism in China didn't have much theoretical content, mainly based on the Tao Te Ching and others, and developed into a Taoism with some local mysterious colors.

After the introduction of Buddhism, there was a fierce conflict with Daomen. Ancient India paid attention to the theoretical study of religion, so Buddhism won the battle the first time it met the gate. Daomen is obviously not as good as Buddhism in theory. In the Han Dynasty, Daomen maintained its position mainly by official power. After the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Buddhism flourished and the gate valve was rejected. The Sui and Tang Dynasties were the golden age of Buddhism in China.

But even then, the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism has not stopped, and Han Yu once urged Tang Gaozong to ban Buddhism. After the extinction of Buddhism in Tang Wuzong, Buddhism in China suffered an almost devastating blow and never recovered. However, Daomen and Buddhism also merged in the future. The so-called "There is a Tao in the Buddha, and there is a Buddha in the Tao", together with Confucianism, has formed a new idea with strong China characteristics, which is the peak of Wang Chuanshan, Wang Yangming and others.

The Journey to the West, born out of China culture, was influenced by this ideological change. He belittled Daomen and elevated his position to Buddhism.

From this perspective, we dare not understand the source of the author's thoughts.

But this can't fully explain all the details of the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism in The Journey to the West. Next time, we will talk about the Monkey King's role in the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism and the historical origin of Tang Priest.