The Tragic Life of the White Bone Demon: Gambling his own life for an uncertain possibility

For an uncertain possibility, she is willing to use her life as a bet in exchange for the chance of immortality. However, as everyone knows, this approach itself has a big misunderstanding, and it is also doomed to the ultimate tragedy.

There are too many doubts and many unknown factors hidden in this story. For example, is it true that eating the meat of Tang Monk can lead to immortality? Is she sure she can catch Tang Seng? Is this a piece of pie or a trap?

However, the White Bone Demon did not consider these problems. Instead, like a moth to a flame, he pounced on Tang Seng and his disciples without hesitation. Behind this behavior is not only impulse and greed, but also a lack of self-confidence. This is also the main reason for her destruction.

Tang Seng was originally a passer-by on the Xitian Road, but in her eyes, he regarded him as the elixir that could make him immortal, which led to a life-and-death struggle. But fundamentally speaking, the risks of doing so have long outweighed the rewards. Although she had the courage to make a desperate move, she used her courage in the wrong place.

There is a saying in "History of the Song Dynasty: Biography of Kou Zhun": "A scholar who wants to lose all his money will spend all his money, which is called a desperate bet." But according to the situation of the White Bone Demon, there does not seem to be such a situation. necessary. Because there is almost no chance of success in this matter, her adventure can only turn into a tragedy.

When Tang Monk and his disciples came to Baiguling, the Baigujing who had been hiding in the dark once said to himself:

However, is there any trace of such a statement? Woolen cloth? In the original work of "Journey to the West", Zhen Yuanzi mentioned that Tang Monk was the reincarnation of Jin Chanzi, but no immortal ever said that the other party's flesh could make people immortal. As for the White Bone Demon, it was just hearsay. The so-called "family" had no idea who she was. Until she was beaten to death by Sun Wukong in the end, no one was seen standing up to help her.

In other words, there is no solid and credible basis for the statement about Tang Monk Meat. However, in this situation that could not be verified, she firmly believed in it and wanted to catch the other person and realize her dream of immortality. Such behavior is like a gambler's mentality. He has too many illusions about reality and always thinks that pie-in-the-sky things will fall on him.

However, all matters of "seeking wealth and wealth through risk" will involve huge risks, and this matter is naturally no exception, and the risks and rewards are not directly proportional. Because her strength is simply not enough to deal with Tang Seng's three apprentices, or even defeat any of them. This point was made very clear in Chapter 27 of the original work "Journey to the West". When facing Zhu Bajie and Sha Seng, he did not dare to approach easily, let alone use force to capture Tang Seng. In the end, he could only settle for the next best thing and turn into a woman, confuse the other person by pretending to be kind, and then look for opportunities to strike.

With such an obvious difference in strength, what she did was undoubtedly risking her own life, exchanging a glimmer of possibility of immortality at the cost of eternal disaster. But the possibility of this is too slim. Even if she can deceive Zhu Bajie and Tang Seng with disguise, Sun Wukong is not so easy to deceive. And once the two sides fight, the White Bone Demon's chance of winning will definitely be zero.

Moreover, even if you can eat Tang Monk, you may not be able to achieve immortality. After all, the authenticity of this statement has yet to be verified. So when the two uncertain factors are added together, what is the remaining possibility of her success?

The white-bone spirit who seems to be good at calculation has actually not figured out the actual situation, let alone his own life. The so-called immortality does have a huge appeal, but compared with one's own life, the latter is obviously more important. After all, survival is the first factor in life. If you lose your life, then how can you talk about immortality?

To pursue an unrealistic goal and risk your most precious life is a very confusing calculation. What's more, she is not at the end of her rope at this moment. She doesn't have to eat Tang Monk's meat. She is not desperate at all and does not need to fight to the death.

But she just let herself go to an extreme and set her sights on Tang Monk and his disciples who went to the West to learn Buddhist scriptures. This kind of ideological misunderstanding not only caused a series of troubles to the other party, but also directly ruined her entire life.

A literati from the Yuan Dynasty once wrote in a poem "Magnolia Slowness": "When you are poor, you are stubborn and stubborn, and you recognize that your voice and appearance are illusory, so you stay." This sentence is so appropriate for the White Bone Demon. She is obsessed with illusions and refuses to extricate herself. Her illusory fantasies are about to destroy her life.

In the world of "Journey to the West", immortality is not an unattainable goal. For example, Sun Wukong traveled across the ocean and traveled around all continents in order to seek the magic of immortality and transcend the cycle of life and death. And he finally succeeded in reaching this state under the guidance of Patriarch Bodhi and his own unremitting efforts.

In addition, there are Zhu Bajie, Sha Seng and others, who also successfully achieved the leap from mortal to immortal through their continuous practice. Just like Sha Monk said when he introduced himself: "I carry my mantle with me all the year round, and I can't let go of my mind every day." It can be seen that immortality in "Journey to the West" requires enough patience and perseverance. After a long period of polishing and Only through practice can you achieve the state.

However, the White Bone Demon did the opposite, hoping to achieve this goal by eating Tang Monk's meat. He dreamed that he could reach the sky in one step and complete hundreds or even thousands of years in just one day and one night. distance. That is to say, although she is pursuing the same goal as others, she is not willing to take the same path as others. She always wants to find a shortcut to realize her dream.

In order to achieve this goal, she risked her life again and again, disguised herself under the eyes of Sun Wukong, and tried to capture Tang Seng. The moment she made this decision, she was actually pushing herself to the edge of a cliff, wandering on the edge of life and death.

Although she had a chance to escape in the first two fights, it was just a fluke after all. She should be very clear about how disparate the strength gap between herself and Sun Wukong is. But even so, she still refused to look back and wanted to have a final contest with the other party.

This mentality of not giving up until the goal is achieved, although it reflects her determination and courage invisibly, it is just that she failed to use it in the right place. As the story of the opposite direction goes, when a person goes in the wrong direction, the more he persists, the more wrong he becomes.

What she insists on has already deviated from the right direction. There is no point in making the final struggle. On the contrary, it will destroy herself. Because if people want to achieve something, they can only rely on their own unremitting efforts. Only moving forward in a down-to-earth manner is the most secure and practical way. Those who are bent on finding shortcuts will eventually pay the price for their wrong thinking.

As a human being, you cannot place your hopes on others. Those shortcuts that look very attractive will turn into detours in the end, and may even be a dead end. On the road of life, any ideological deviation will affect the direction of progress. Therefore, the most important thing in life is to persist, stick to your inner beliefs, and stick to the right direction. However, if you want to prevent yourself from wavering, you first need to maintain strong self-confidence, but the White Bone Demon in "Journey to the West" obviously lacks this.

When Tang Seng’s master and apprentice were about to leave the White Bone Ridge, the White Bone Demon once had such an inner monologue:

It can be seen that she is determined to get Tang Seng’s meat, and she is completely prepared for failure. Cheng Ren's determination never thought of giving up. Because the legend of immortality has always been deeply attracted to her mind, making her unwilling to miss such a God-given opportunity.

But she pinned her hope of immortality on Tang Seng. Is this really the right thing to do? The answer is of course no. I remember that Sun Wukong dared to cross the vast oceans and go deep into famous mountains and rivers to pursue his dream of immortality even though he didn't know any magical powers or spells.

As a successful monster in cultivation, the White Bone Demon's basic conditions are even better than those of Sun Wukong back then. She can rely on legitimate channels to seek immortality and visit the Tao, or she can devote herself to cultivation and work hard towards the goal of immortality. This method is undoubtedly the safest path, at least there is no need to bear the risk of death like now.

But she did not choose to move forward step by step. Instead, she decided her future destiny in a gambler's way. Although such behavior may seem brave, it actually shows a lack of self-confidence. Because only people who don't believe in themselves will take such risky measures.

It is a very irresponsible behavior to bet on one's life and future. It is precisely because she does not believe that she can create a future that she risks her life in exchange for a glimmer of uncertainty. A truly confident person would never do such a ridiculous thing.

As stated in an article in "Mencius: Wholeheartedness":

Although Sun Wukong experienced dangers and hardships when he first sought immortality and visited the Tao, he always followed the right path. Be worthy of your own pursuit of life. This is what Mencius called "right livelihood" and is a manifestation of strong self-confidence. But White Bone Demon is just the opposite of him, completely deviating from the right path and going to extremes.

But in the final analysis, it is because she does not have as strong self-confidence as Sun Wukong. The more important she regarded Tang Seng, the more it proved that she had no confidence in the goal of immortality. If you can fully believe in your own abilities, why risk your life to catch Tang Seng? How did it end up like this in the end?

In fact, her tragedy cannot be blamed on others. If she takes a different path, she will inevitably have different results. Since she chose a shortcut full of danger, it also meant that she had to take unpredictable risks, but her risk was not worth it.

For an uncertain possibility, he gambled his own life. This is the tragic life of the Bone Demon. She was too obsessed with the pursuit of immortality, but at the same time she lacked enough self-confidence, which ultimately led her to go astray and completely ruined her life.

As we read this story, we should reflect on ourselves. Have we ever faced the same situation? In life, you must not lose yourself due to pursuit. You must always believe that you have the ability to realize your dreams. Don't stand under a dangerous wall like the white-bone spirit in "Journey to the West".

Dreams and pursuits are a very beautiful belief and a guiding light in life. But while we are pursuing it, we must also treat ourselves correctly and correct our attitude towards life. In this life, we can pursue our dreams without fear of any danger or hardship, but we cannot have the wrong idea of ??"finding wealth through danger".

These are two completely different concepts and they must not be confused. Danger and difficulty are hardships that must be endured on the road of life, but this does not mean that you can face those risks with a gambler's mentality. Only after understanding this can you continue to follow the right path and pursue your dreams.