Author: Zhu Qingtong Jian
Wu Cheng'en is an "angry youth", no less than today's "intellectual youth". He has been cursing, so Journey to the West is a social documentary novel.
Wu Cheng'en is also a wise man, smarter than Luo Guanzhong, Shi Naian and Cao Xueqin, and he is very strategic in scolding. Therefore, The Journey to the West has been safely passed down to this day, and is often regarded as a fairy tale, or "deciphered" as Buddhism and Taoism metaphysics (Bo Shaoye deciphered Journey to the West).
Wu Cheng'en (about 1500—— about 1582, late Ming Dynasty) was born in Yin Shan (now Huai 'an, Jiangsu).
In the 23rd year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1544), he began to pay tribute to students at the age of 45. He had no intention of going into politics, but under the persuasion of his mother Xu and the guidance of his friends, he went to Beijing as a candidate. It was not until forty-five years of Jiajing that he was appointed as Changxing County Cheng. Work closely with Gui Youguang, the magistrate of a county, and encourage each other by making a determined effort to "repair Wang Zhidao first" and "regret for a long time, be a servant to dust". They are all people-oriented and don't cater to the chief executive. Qi Xin made concerted efforts to reform the shortcomings and refresh the county government. Out of courtesy, he was in charge of grain collection. In order to change the uneven situation of grain collection, he promulgated the Notice of Editing and Examining in Changxing County, stipulating that the burden of grain service should be shared according to the size of farmers. "Wang" was so grateful that his family gnashed their teeth.
In the winter and spring of the Qing Dynasty (1567), Gui Youguang went to Beijing to make a pilgrimage to Mu Zong, and his boss appointed an official as the magistrate temporarily. At the time of the spring levy, the Indian official accepted bribes, colluded with Li Tian, a big family who was detained in criminal detention, and changed the laws enacted by Guangxi and Wu, making it difficult to levy spring grain. The evil officials of large families in the county took the opportunity to make an attack and reported it upwards, and the officials of the department were arrested and brought to justice; Grace, who was in charge of tax collection and grain collection, was also implicated and jailed. After Xu Zhonghang, a close friend, learned about it, he was rescued in many ways before he was released.
In the late Ming Dynasty, the national situation turned from prosperity to decline, eunuchs were in power for a long time, and social contradictions intensified. The peasant war represented by Li Zicheng and the anti-Ming war in northern Nurhachi expanded rapidly. Wu Cheng'en, born in this period, is experiencing all the social contradictions brought about by the turmoil: corruption in official management, economic depression and poor people's livelihood. Wu Cheng'en, an honest man, had hoped to be a generation of honest officials through personal efforts, but he ended up in prison. Journey to the West was born under this background.
Wu Cheng'en wanted to be an honest official and improve his official style by himself, but he was defeated by the official style.
Therefore, Wu Cheng'en is not Luo Guanzhong, and he did not write the ambition of the overlord who devours heaven and earth;
Therefore, Wu Cheng'en is not Cao Xueqin, he did not complain about the decline of very rich families;
Therefore, Wu Cheng'en is not Shi Naian, but a soldier. How can he write from the standpoint of a thief?
Therefore, Wu Cheng'en wrote "The Way of Being an Official", besides being an official, he also had personal experiences, ambitions and dreams beyond personal ambitions.
About official management
Monsters are the most in the Journey to the West, accounting for more than half of Xuanzang's eighty-one difficulties. They either plunder or cheat, which is countless. But it doesn't count. Wu Cheng'en just wants to secretly send a message: Don't readers find it? Monsters have backgrounds!
Think carefully, most of the goblins in Journey to the West are the pets of immortals, bodhisattvas and Buddhists, and the lower bound is the victim. For example, the green cow of the old gentleman in Taishang, the golden hair of the Guanyin Master, the weasel of the Bodhisattva Ji Ling's family, and the white mouse in front of the Tathagata throne are countless. But in the end, they were all taken back by their owners to "strictly discipline". If you're killed, you're not killed. You're cured and you're gone. Although the Monkey King has the ability to reach the sky, he wants to kill the monster and then hurry up. But as long as the monster is on it, the stone monkey is helpless. Have you noticed that Master Guanyin said "Let it go" to Wukong when he took back the golden hair bottle, and the Monkey King nodded. But Wu Cheng'en couldn't get the nod. Although he can't refer to it, he can't help it, so he depicts Bai, a "self-employed monster" who has left a lasting stigma.
As far as I can remember, Bai is one of the few wild monsters who grew up on their own and worked hard on their own, except those slaves who were "extras". Miss Bai tried her best to change her mind for the simple goal of "eating Tang Priest and living forever", and almost succeeded. And the Monkey King is also fighting to the end, without mercy. Finally, Miss Bai died, but the monkey didn't end up as a hero. He was not only cursed by Xuanzang, but also forced to sever the relationship between master and apprentice and return to Huaguoshan. The battle was very bitter.
Because of "no beginning", the Monkey King fought this battle thoroughly, and no one in this battle always jumped out to beg for mercy. It is precisely because "there is no beginning" that the practice of a big fairy coming to "help" Wukong is not repeated. Only the monkey himself has fought and struggled personally from beginning to end. Hidden in this battle, it is estimated that Wu Cheng'en's rare real, clean and extremely hard victory experience during his official period. What Wu Cheng'en never expected was that humble Bai almost became the "number one" of all kinds of monsters, and the stigma took root through the ages.
In fact, there are more than 10 million monsters who want to eat Tang monk's meat, and there are more than 10 thousand monsters who eat people. The sin of being white is no heavier than that of other goblins. If it should be killed, Bai is really not in the forefront. Actually, don't say monster. Even Mok Ye Jia and Ananda, two so-called venerable gods beside the Tathagata, demanded bribes when they presented the Salvation Sutra to Xuanzang. Otherwise, they will give you a fake. This is simply a conspiracy from the superstructure, worse than ordinary monsters, but the result was wiped out by a word from the Tathagata. So the fundamental problem is that Mr. Bai has cultivated to this point. She didn't join any demon fairy Association, had no backer or even friends. She worked alone and finally landed in this field. After the downfall of the Gang of Four, the angry people in China listed Jiang Qing, the demon queen, as a "fine bone" and asked Guo Moruo, a literary speculator, to write lyrics with Hebei Bangzi.
It seems that people are easy to forget and kind since ancient times. Demons with backgrounds, no matter what evil they do, will be spared as long as they are "taken away" by the above. And those who let it go naturally become rats wandering in the streets, and everyone will not let it go.
Alas, white! Oh, it hurts! Fu Wei is still very interesting.
About personal experience
The Monkey King can be said to have integrated Wu Cheng'en's artistic metaphor about himself. He is as clever and talented as a stone monkey. As an adult, I have no intention of officialdom. I am very comfortable, just like a monkey living alone in Guo Hua, calling friends and having fun. Later, "I was persuaded by my mother Xu and my good friends to go to Beijing as a candidate", just like the monkey was instructed by Guanyin to protect Tang Xuanzang. Many other ups and downs in the novel are also integrated into Wu Cheng'en's officialdom experience and view of the world from time to time. As for the most well-known story, it is quoted from folklore and Wu Cheng'en's personal adaptation. After all, it is a novel, which needs to be more story-telling and interesting.
About personal ambitions and ideals
The Journey to the West constantly embodies Wu Cheng'en's official career and ideals, and strives to establish personal political factions, even hard to influence his opponents (Zhu and Sha Wujing) to protect Wang Dao (Tang Xuanzang) from going to the West. However, in the last days, Wang Dao failed to live up to expectations, and could only fantasize about escorting Xuanzang in the novel to correct the fruit.
As for Tang Xuanzang's description: integrity, generosity, kindness, destiny takes a hand's success, and eternal existence, Wu Cheng'en, as an intellectual at that time, had fantasies about kingship and imperial power, and also pinned his personal political ideals. The defects of kingship and imperial power are also integrated into the Tang Priest's character: cowardice, incompetence and black and white.
As for the name of the monkey, Wu Cheng'en finally adopted the word "Wukong". On the one hand, novels are just novels. The Monkey King can go to heaven and earth, dare to do and scold, and even dare to give directions to the Tathagata, but in the end it is empty; On the other hand, I spent too much time in vain, and my loyalty and struggle did not bring better results, expressing my loss to the Ming regime, the world and life.