Introduction to Sun Wukong

Dharma Name Walker is the great disciple of Monk Tang.

It will change seventy-two times and soar into the clouds. A pair of fiery eyes can see through the disguised tricks of monsters and monsters; a somersault can turn a hundred and eighty thousand miles; the weapon he uses is the Ruyi Golden Cudgel, which can be large or small, and can be changed at will, from an embroidery needle to a large one that can stand up to the sky and the earth.

He occupied the Huaguo Mountain as the king, claimed to be the Monkey King, disrupted the Queen Mother’s Peach Festival, stole the Supreme Laojun’s elixir of immortality, defeated the 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals in the Heavenly Palace, and then committed suicide. He fought against Tathagata Buddha regardless of his own strength and was trapped under the Five Elements Mountain for more than five hundred years.

Later, with the enlightenment of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, he protected Tang Monk from the West to obtain the scriptures, defeated the White Bone Demon three times, subdued the Red Boy, extinguished the Flame Mountain, subdued demons and fought demons along the way, and after ninety-nine and eighty-one difficulties, he finally retrieved the scriptures. Be successful. He hates evil as much as he hates it, is not afraid of difficulties, is perseverant, brave and fearless. After learning the scriptures, he was named the Buddha of Fighting and Victory.

"Journey to the West" is a popular classic in my country. The main reason why she has been popular for a long time is that the protagonist Sun Wukong created by Wu Cheng'en is a "lively, witty, optimistic, fighting spirit and infinite ability character. It embodies the people's struggle against feudal forces and nature. Wisdom and strength in struggle.” Where is the hometown of Sun Wukong? Some people will say that the first chapter of "Journey to the West" has given a detailed explanation, "It is on the border of the small country of Aolai in the east of Dongsheng Divine Continent in Haidong. There is a Huaguo Mountain. There is an immortal stone on the mountain, and the stone product is The egg turned into a stone monkey when it saw the wind, and worshiped everywhere, with golden light in its eyes, shooting into Dou Mansion. "At first, the Jade Emperor didn't mind, thinking that "the things below were born from the essence of heaven and earth, and it was nothing special." Later, he thought. They made a big fuss in the Heavenly Palace and disturbed the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Court. The Jade Emperor ordered the heavenly kings Li Jing and Nezha, the kings of the pagoda, to lead 100,000 heavenly soldiers and lay down a dragnet to encircle and suppress them. But it can't help it, its hometown is in Huaguoshan.

Sun Wukong is a natural "spiritual monkey" created by Wu Chengen. Who is its prototype? This involves the issue of its place of origin, that is, its hometown. The literary world had two heated discussions about this in the 1930s and 1950s. Based on the image of Wuzhiqi in "Taiping Guangji" (Wuzhiqi, the Huaiwo Water God, looks like an ape, has golden eyes and white teeth, is very strong, runs quickly, and is good at jumping), he believes that the image of Sun Wukong is related to Wuzhiqi. It should have been born in China. Hu Shi based on the ancient Indian chronicle poem "The Story of Rama" (now translated as "Ramayana"), there is a general of the monkey country named Haroman. He can fly in the air and can jump from India to Ceylon in one fell swoop. (today's Sri Lanka), was once swallowed into the belly of the old female monster, but after transformation, it emerged from the old female monster's ears. He believes that Sun Wukong’s hometown is in India. Later, Zheng Zhenduo, Lin Peiyuan, Chen Yinke and others all believed that Sun Wukong was the "monkey" of India. That is, its hometown is in India. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, this issue once again aroused interest in the academic community, and three views were formed during the discussion. One view is that the image of Sun Wukong evolved from Haroman, and Sun Wukong is a "foreign monkey". The second view is that the image of Sun Wukong contains elements of both Wuzhiqi and Haroman. He is a "hybrid monkey" from China and India. The third view is that the Sun Wukong created by Wu Cheng'en is compatible with four myths and legends. One is the son of Dayu who was born from a stone, the other is the ape-shaped Wuzhi Qi, and the third is the bronze-headed and iron-breasted Chi You brothers who fought with the Yellow Emperor. The fourth is Xingtian, the hero who fights against the Emperor of Heaven. Liu Yuchen discussed that when Wu Chengen wrote "Journey to the West", the story of Haroman had not yet spread to China. Therefore, Sun Wukong is a Chinese monkey and his hometown is in China.

For many years, there has been a legend among the people. Wu Chengen wrote "Journey to the West" and conducted a detailed field trip to Huaguo Mountain. However, when he wrote about the character Sun Wukong, he didn't have much plot in mind, and there were many storylines. It was difficult to write, and even if he did write, he seemed weak and couldn't write for a while. As the Spring Festival was approaching, he simply put aside his writing, left Huaguo Mountain, and returned to his hometown of Huai'an (now Chuzhou) to celebrate the New Year.

On New Year's Eve, he and his neighbor's old man stayed up together and chatted. The old man knew that he liked to listen to stories, so he told them one story after another. He told the story of Dayu controlling the floods and capturing the water demon Wuzhi Qi. Wuzhi Qi (folk) Also called the Jellyfish Queen), she has a face like a macaque, a broad forehead, a short nose, golden eyes, and white teeth. She is extremely strong, can run very fast, is good at jumping, and can turn thousands of miles with one somersault. With one picture, the whole place was filled with floods that could be vomited, and many villages and crops were submerged, and countless people were drowned. Dayu hated this water monster and invited the god Gengchen to catch it. He was locked in an octagonal sulfur glass well at the foot of Turtle Mountain at the mouth of the Huaihe River into Hongze Lake. After hearing this story, Wu Cheng'en suddenly became enlightened and thought that if Wuzhiqi, a water monster, could have such a great ability, Sun Wukong could certainly have greater abilities than it, so he entered "Sheyangzhen" (his home in Huai'an) and started to live with Qi Qi. He wrote his famous work "Journey to the West", using Wuzhiqi as the prototype to create a "stone monkey" who is witty, brave and supernatural. The story of Dayu controlling the floods and capturing the water monster Wuzhiqi is also recorded in Linhuai County, Sizhou, Volume 16 of "Taiping Huanyu Ji", "Yu controlled the floods until he reached Tongbai three times, and was named Riwuzhiqi by the Huaiwo Water God. He was good at dealing with it. The words distinguish the shallowness and depth of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, and the distance between the original sun and the sun. It looks like a macaque, with a shrunken nose and a high forehead, a green body and a white head, golden eyes and snowy teeth, a neck stretched a hundred feet, leaping like nine elephants, fighting and leaping, running swiftly and swiftly. , what people regard as small can be long-lasting. Yu taught the child law, but the child law cannot be controlled. He gave it to birds and trees, and the birds and trees in the fields can be controlled. He gave him Geng Chen, and Geng Chen can control them. The demons and stone monsters rushed to the jungle for thousands of miles. Gengchen chased them with a halberd, then tied a big rope around their necks, pierced their noses with golden bells, and moved to Siyin in Huaihe. They were locked at the feet of Guishan, and the Huaihe River flowed into the sea. "

Guishan is located at the throat where the Huaihe River flows into Hongze Lake. It faces water on three sides and looks like a giant turtle crawling in the Huaihe River. Yang Wanli, a poet of the Song Dynasty, said in "Guishan Pagoda" that "Guishan alone comes out and suppresses the Huaihe River". In ancient times, this small land included Wei Wucheng, Xiangwang City, Xiaoer City, Huaidu Temple, Anhuai Temple, etc. There were many cities, numerous temples, large scales and prosperous incense. Su Shi and others wrote: "The wooden fish call guests and vibrate the forest", "The sound of the bell falls far away among the blue clouds". From the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, this place has always been a gathering place for humanities and a place of worship for monks. Zhiqi Well is right in front of Huaidu Temple, and the remains of this well are still there. It is said that Emperor Qianlong came to Guishan to see the water monster and was frightened out of his wits. Wu Cheng'en was deeply impressed by the story of Dayu catching Wuzhi Qi. According to "Shanyang Yiwenzhi", his poems are recorded in "Song of Ruilong": "Recalling yesterday that the water was rising to the extreme, the mausoleum of Guo Xiang was boundless. All clouds are dragons The roaring waves are so powerful that human beings have no way to kill them... In the past, the god Yu governed the nine provinces, and his achievements in Yuan Gui moved the world. "Many storylines in "Journey to the West" are based on Yu's control of floods and the legends derived from them. , such as Sun Wukong causing trouble in the heaven, the Jade Emperor first ordered Li Jing, the king of the tower, and his third son Nezha to lead one hundred thousand heavenly soldiers to capture the "monkey", but failed, and then invited Erlang Zhen from Guanzhou Guanjiangkou. You, you can't help but wait for him. Houmi Guanshiyin, Laojun and other gods participated in the encirclement and suppression, and his heavenly spirit was smashed by Laojun's gold steel. It fell down, and was then lifted up and placed in Laojun's Bagua furnace for refinement. After seventy-seven and forty-nine days, Sun Wukong developed his fiery eyes and golden eyes. When the furnace lid was slightly opened, he ran away again. Finally, "The Jade Emperor specially asked Tathagata to save him." Sun Wukong was crushed by Tathagata Buddha under the "Five Elements Mountain". . This is the same as Dayu's capture of Wuzhi Qi, which also took three times to capture; another example is that Erlang Zhenjun, in the myths and legends of Dujiangyan, is also a hero who catches water monsters; another example is when Tang Monk and his disciples arrived at Xiaoleiyin Temple , was caught by the yellow-browed monster, and after Sun Wukong escaped, Wu Chengen still did not forget to "arrange" for Sun Wukong to go to "Xuyi Mountain Wicheng City in Nanfangbuzhou" to invite "Prince Zhang, who had subdued the Jellyfish Queen in the past" to catch the monster. In ancient times, Guishan once belonged to Xuyi County. Looking at Xuyi Mountain again: "It is close to Jianglu in the south and Huai River in the north. It is connected to Haiqiao in the east and Fengfu in the west. There are majestic buildings on the top of the mountain, and there are gushing springs in the valley. . There are strange rocks, beautiful pines, Ruiyan Temple, Dongyue Temple, Guishan Temple, Zhongyun Yanchong Bihan; there are also Glass Spring, Wangta Valley, Baxiantai, and Xingyuan Garden. The mountains and trees reflect the city, the white clouds spread across the sky, and the birds still sing when they are tired. It is said that the scenery here is very beautiful and beautiful." (Chapter 60 of "Journey to the West") In Wu Chengen's writing, the first mountain in Xuyi is Penglai Wonderland. In the second chapter of "Journey to the West", the weapon Sun Wukong borrowed from the Old Dragon King was the "Ruyi Golden Cudgel", which is the "Sacred Iron". It turns out that "it was an iron stator that determined the depth of the river and the sea when Dayu was controlling the floods. It was a piece of magical iron." The weapons used by Sun Wukong were also closely related to Dayu's flood control.

"The many characters and storylines written in "Journey to the West" that come from literary fantasy are still inseparable from reality. They are the author's knowledge of social reality and his feelings and understanding of social life as the basis for creation." (Preface to the 1955 edition of "Journey to the West"). Judging from many plots in the book, Wuzhi Qidang is the prototype of Sun Wukong, so there is no doubt that Sun Wukong's hometown is in China, at Guishan on the bank of Hongze Lake in Huai'an.

When Cheng En wrote the novel, there was probably no such thing as balance, so everyone was very curious about Sun Wukong's true strength. Why was he invincible when he was making trouble in the Heavenly Palace, but was tortured by novice-level monsters on the way to seek Buddhist scriptures? I think this is explainable.

First of all, we need to figure out the attribute types of various gods:

Sun Wukong is undoubtedly a powerful melee fighter. His equipment is a super heavyweight hand-to-hand weapon (golden cudgel), and his body is an immortal body similar to "nothing". Fighting with him in close combat is undoubtedly courting death. Sun has many spells, but they are all auxiliary. I have only seen him use the golden hoop to hammer people, but never seen him use spells to directly attack the enemy, right? Therefore, the definition of Sun Wukong should be: a magic warrior. Outstanding representatives of such characters include: Yang Jian, Bull Demon King, and Dapeng. Alas, why are they all half-orcs?

Taoist gods from all walks of life, mostly humans, are all rookies who rely on treasures. Although the treasure is powerful, the user does not like fighting due to self-cultivation and lacks combat experience, so he cannot use it effectively. Immortal Zhenyuan is considered a master in combat and has rich experience. His "World in Sleeves" is most likely a treasure hidden in his sleeves. It is used suddenly, so Sun Wukong will be attacked. Nezha is a special case. He is a hand-to-hand fighter armed with treasures. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with magic, and it's poor in melee combat. It's a failure among the new weapons developed in the fairy world. It's okay to deal with miscellaneous soldiers, but useless against real masters.

The Buddhas of Buddhism are all masters of magic. Tathagata is undoubtedly the master of space magic (hand-to-hand combat may not necessarily be a match for monkeys, so he came up with the idea of ??making a bet to make Sun unable to fly out of his palm. He can move a mountain to crush people, and when he sees that the mountain cannot hold him down, he adds A talisman of gravity magic serves as a seal). Guanyin is a typical priest with no attack power, but has the ability to strengthen and heal to the level of a master. Buddhism lacks talents for physical combat, so it will take 500 years to recruit monkeys in every possible way, regardless of the monkeys' many disrespects to the leaders (including peeing on the leaders). Talents are hard to find! In fact, the final plan to complete Journey to the West is to recruit Monkey - a genius warrior with super close combat power! ! (Tang Monk? It’s just a cover to deceive the Heavenly Intelligence Network, and Tang Monk himself is probably an undercover agent secretly sent by the Buddha to guide Sun Wukong to surrender.

Many places in the novel can be used Seeing the efforts made by all parties to actively win over Sun Wukong, Bajie may be an undercover agent sent by the Taoist Immortal Realm, and Sha Monk is an undercover agent sent by Nantianmen... It's scary!) When Sun Guishun arrives, there is no need. Taboo Tiangong's huge melee combat power supported a small army with overwhelming magical advantage to capture Nantianmen and dominate the Chinese heaven! Hahahaha...

Battle case analysis:

When a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals were encircling and suppressing them, Sun Wukong attacked alone, and he had no scruples on the enemy battlefield, giving full play to his close combat capabilities and With the advantage of super mobility, they adopt the guerrilla tactics of "fight if they can be beaten, and run if they can't be beaten", and make sneak attacks at the right time to make them a terrorist. After coming out of the alchemy furnace, he transformed into a berserker due to inhuman torture (it took him seventy-seven forty-nine days!), and went on a rampage in the heavenly palace. He fought bloody street battles with many heavenly soldiers and generals, using powerful magic and treasures. They were unable to use it, taking its advantage of strong melee combat ability to the extreme, causing panic in the heavens. (Imagine a group of special forces-level terrorists escaping into Beijing. Heavy weapons cannot be used in the city, and they can only be encircled and suppressed by armed police and light weapons. Try to recall the escape process of the three kidnapper bosses in the Bai Xiaoyan case.) The scene is of course like this Invincible. It can be said that Sun Wukong's super strength must be fully exerted under certain conditions to be so powerful.