The golden cudgel is a treasure that the Monkey King got in the Dragon Palace, and it is the anchor of the East China Sea. People can be as thick as they want, so it is called "Ruyi Golden Hoop". When the Monkey King got this treasure, he put it in his ear when he was free and took it out as his own weapon when he used it. He never left himself, whether he made a scene in heaven or exorcised demons on the way to learn from the scriptures. Wu Cheng'en, the author of The Journey to the West, named this treasure of the Monkey King as "Ruyi Golden Hoop", whether intentionally or unintentionally. According to Freud's psychoanalytic point of view, the psychological symbolic significance of the golden hoop is obvious. It is the symbol of male root, the source of the Monkey King's psychological energy, and the place where the Monkey King Libido is located.
According to Freud, the ID is the most inaccessible but powerful part of personality. Because it is hidden in the unconscious, it is difficult to get close; It is said to be the most powerful, because it is the repository of energy needed for all human spiritual activities. The spiritual energy stored in the id is libido, which is the real motivation behind people's psychological behavior. As a symbol of natural nature-lust, the golden cudgel was able to make a scene in the Dragon Palace and the underworld, defeat the heavenly generals, and later swept the demons in the Western Heaven. However, people's ability to express themselves freely is bound to be unacceptable to society, just like the Monkey King's golden cudgel can't be beaten indiscriminately, so the Monkey King was forced to repent for 500 years.
But if people's sexual desire is not released, people will have anxiety and depression, and the result of long-term depression will lead to psychological distortion. As the Monkey King, there is no doubt that he is extremely active and restless, and his psychological energy also needs a way to be released. Mere suppression is not feasible. Freud believed that the anxiety caused by people's psychological energy can be resolved and channeled through psychological defense mechanism. The main psychological defense mechanisms of human beings are repression, projection, transfer, denial and sublimation. After 500 years of purgatory, the Monkey King converted to Buddhism and became a disciple of monk Tang Yan. However, this does not mean the disappearance of his lust, but it is expressed in the form of sublimation. Sublimation means that the activities originally used to satisfy instinct are replaced by higher cultural purposes, which is manifested as a pursuit of civilization. On the way to learn from the Buddhist scriptures, the Monkey King's golden cudgel was not arbitrary, but aimed at those saboteurs who endangered the world and hindered the great cause of learning from the Buddhist scriptures. Because of the sublimation of his own lust, he finally achieved results and won the title of anti-Buddha.
At the same time, the golden cudgel on the Monkey King's head is the golden cudgel that Tang Priest sent to the Monkey King forever. The golden hoop on the Monkey King's head is reminiscent of aversion therapy in behaviorism psychotherapy. The typical aversion therapy is to tie a rubber band on the patient's arm. If the patient's psychological symptoms appear, such as forcing himself to count, he will pull the rubber band, make himself miserable, distract himself and be punished, so as to control the regeneration of his psychological symptoms. The Monkey King's golden hoop is not that simple, except that it is the carrier of hoop curse. In the psychological sense, it is the symbol of social moral norms and the representative of the Monkey King's personality superego.
As mentioned above, superego is the embodiment of social morality. Acting according to the "moral principle" is always in direct opposition and conflict with the hedonistic id, which makes it unsatisfied. In Journey to the West, it often happens that when the Monkey King takes out the golden hoop that represents the ID and is ready for fun, Master's hoop curse reminds him that the tight hoop makes the Monkey King miserable. From the psychological point of view, this scene vividly shows the struggle between ID and superego of the Monkey King's personality, and this conflict is concentrated in the plot of The Journey to the West's selection of Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon. It is the dream of many people to act according to the wishes of the id and abandon the slavery of the superego. The Monkey King always wants to take this golden cudgel away. After he went to the Western Heaven, his first wish was: "Read a loose hoop spell as soon as possible and untie it. If you smash it, don't teach that bodhisattva to play tricks on others. " This shows that the Monkey King hates it. However, just as the Tang Priest used iron rings less and less with the pace of going west, the Monkey King's behavior became more and more in line with the social norms at that time, and his behavior, which was originally controlled by many external iron rings, gradually became a kind of consciousness. When Wukong asked the master to take off the golden cudgel in the Western Heaven, the golden cudgel on his head had naturally disappeared, but Wukong was unaware of it. This also shows that the requirements of social ethics for him have reached a kind of self-discipline from heteronomy. The Monkey King has matured into a hero recognized by the society, whether he likes it or not.
The Influence of Tang Priest and Guanyin on the Growth of the Monkey King
According to The Journey to the West's book, the Monkey King was a natural stone monkey. Tang Priest is the reincarnation of Golden Cicada, who became a monk. Guanyin is the Lingshan Bodhisattva in the West. The relationship between the three is clearly stated in the book. Guanyin is the initiator and convener of Buddhist scriptures, Tang Priest is the faithful executor of Buddhist scriptures, and the Monkey King is the great apprentice to protect Tang Priest. However, the influence of Tang Priest and Guanyin on the Monkey King's personality growth is not so simple.
As far as Tang Priest is concerned, the Monkey King's personality is out of tune with him, so it is reasonable to say that the Monkey King will not like Tang Priest's personality. In the book, the Monkey King's dissatisfaction and resistance to Tang Priest often occur. They seem to be natural enemies, and psychological struggles and conflicts are constantly emerging. When Tang Priest nagged him not to kill, he often laughed at Tang Priest's flesh-and-blood fetus, which was not serious. This conflict is also reflected in Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon. The Monkey King was full of resistance to Tang Priest's teachings, but he often had to compromise in the resistance. In this contradictory oscillation, the Monkey King's personality gradually matured. Psychologically, the relationship between the Monkey King and Tang Priest is more like father and son than mentoring. When Master first became a disciple of Tang Priest, he coaxed the Monkey King to put a golden hoop on his head, which had a very strong psychological symbolic significance, that is, it would put the Monkey King under the social and moral norms. Although the Monkey King obviously felt the bondage of this norm to his freedom, just like a child who was told by his father what he couldn't do from now on and what society didn't allow, he felt uncomfortable, but he had to accept all this in order to grow up. In the days when we just accepted social ethics, individuals were unhappy, just like the Monkey King who just put on a golden hoop. However, when the individual has accepted this norm and made it the norm of his own actions, he will be grateful to the person who brought it to him. Just like the relationship between the Monkey King and Tang Priest, it started in the conflict, but by the time the Monkey King became a Buddha, their relationship was already very close, similar to our relationship with our father.
Guanyin Bodhisattva is also an important figure in the process of the Monkey King's growth. It can be said that her influence on the Monkey King surpassed that of Tang Priest to some extent. It was she who recommended Erlang God to arrest him when he was making a scene in the Monkey King. It's also her who can't help sighing when she sees the Monkey King under the Five Elements Mountain. It was she who gave Wukong a chance to atone for his sins and display his talents when he was in the Tang Priest's Buddhist paradise. It was she who helped the Monkey King through one difficulty after another on the way to learn from the scriptures, and finally made him among the immortals. It is not difficult to see from the book of Journey to the West that avalokitesvara is most concerned about the growth of the Monkey King, and avalokitesvara is also the greatest help to the growth of the Monkey King. Here, Guanyin Bodhisattva is not like a fairy with a pure heart, but more like a mother who cares about the growth of her children. The Monkey King's dependence on Guanyin is not only operational, but also psychological. For example, in the fifty-seventh session of The Journey to the West, the Monkey King suffered another setback on his way to learn Buddhist scriptures, so he went to Guanyin Bodhisattva. When Monkey saw the Bodhisattva, he fell down and worshipped, unable to stop crying. The Bodhisattva taught Mu Cha and Shancai to help him up and said, "Wukong, there is something sad. It was clearly agreed, don't cry, don't cry, I will help you suffer. "... From this conversation, we can't feel the elegant demeanor of the Monkey King who caused havoc in heaven. More like a scene where a wronged child cries to his mother. Some people say that the relationship between Guanyin and Wukong is like a couple, but it is not. They should be more like mother and son.
Finally, to say a superfluous word, although psychologically, the relationship between Tang Yan and Wukong is like a father and son, and the relationship between Guanyin and Wukong is like a mother and son, the author does not want to say that their relationship is like a family. Indeed, comparing the relationship between Tang Priest and Guanyin to husband and wife is a bit out of place.