Journey to the West is a household name in China and even some parts of Asia, among which the Monkey King, Tang Priest, Pig Bajie, Friar Sand and other characters and stories such as "Making a scene in Heaven" and "Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon" are particularly familiar. For hundreds of years, The Journey to the West has been adapted into various local operas, as well as various versions of movies, TV series, cartoons and cartoons. In Japan and other Asian countries, there are also literary and artistic works with the Monkey King as the theme, with many styles and an amazing number. The author of The Journey to the West is generally regarded as Wu Cheng'en of the Ming Dynasty. It is generally believed that The Journey to the West is the creative result of the combination of anonymous folk writers and literati writers.
Journey to the West mainly describes the Monkey King's story of protecting Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures in the West and going through 81 difficulties. It was made into a TV series by many film and television companies.
Brief introduction of the author
Wu Cheng'en, like a Chinese character, was born in Yangshan, Huai 'an Prefecture (now Huai 'an City, Jiangsu Province). Born in the 13th year of Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty to the early year of Zheng Dechu (1500— 15 10), died in the 10th year of Wanli (1582). Wu Cheng'en's great-grandfather and grandfather were both scholars, and both served as lecturers and lecturers in county schools. But in his father's generation, due to his poor family, the Xu family became redundant. "So he attacked the Xu family and became the boss" and became a small businessman. Nevertheless, the Wu family has not lost the tradition of reading. It is said that although his father Wu Rui is a businessman, he is not only decent, but also good at reading and talking about current affairs, which naturally has a great influence on Wu Cheng'en. Wu Cheng'en was very clever since he was a child, and he entered school very early. He was very successful as a teenager and was famous in his village. Volume 16 of The Apocalypse of Huai 'an Prefecture said that Wu Cheng'en was "quick and wise, and learned a lot of books, whether poetry or prose." However, Wu Cheng'en, as an adult, encountered many setbacks on the road to the imperial examination. He didn't make up for one-year-old Gong Sheng until he was in his forties. In his fifties, he worked as a county magistrate in Changxing, Zhejiang Province, and later as a king's residence, Jishan. This is a sinecure, with the same level as the county magistrate.
Wu Cheng'en created The Journey to the West after middle age, or was considered to have done it in his later years. The exact time cannot be determined. Besides The Journey to the West, he also wrote long poems "Song of Jiro Seeking Mountains" and "In Zhi Ding". Sheyang Survival Draft consists of four volumes, including one volume of poetry and three volumes of prose, which were edited by Du Qiu after Wu Cheng'en's death.
Writing background
It is a true story in history that Tang Priest learned the scriptures. About 1300 years ago, in the first year of Zhenguan of Emperor Taizong (627), Xuanzang, a 25-year-old young monk, left the capital Chang 'an and went to Tianzhu (India) to study alone. After his departure from Chang 'an, he passed through Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. When I was in Gao Changguo, the residents there worshipped Buddhism very much. The king was very happy to see that they were monks in the Tang Dynasty. He is willing to make them state-protected wizards, plus 120 gold and 1000 horses. Disciple wavered and finally stayed in Gao Changguo, while Xuanzang sneaked out and fled to the west. But was stopped by Gao Changguo soldiers. I didn't expect them to escort Xuanzang Xi to learn the scriptures. The soldier gave Xuanzang a white horse and some documents. Xuanzang is very grateful. He made several obeisances to the palace and then rode to the west.
Xuanzang finally arrived in India after difficulties and obstacles. He studied there for more than two years and gave a speech at a large-scale debate on Buddhist classics, which was well received. In the 19th year of Zhenguan (645), Xuanzang returned to Chang 'an and brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures. He traveled to Wan Li in 19 before and after this Buddhist pilgrimage, which was a legendary Long March and made a sensation.
Later, Xuanzang dictated what he had learned about his journey to the West, which was compiled by his disciples into a 12 volume of "Records of the Western Regions of Datang". But this book is mainly about the history, geography and transportation of countries seen on the road, and there is no story. As for "Datang The biography of Master Sanzang" written by his disciples Huihe and Yan Cong, it adds a lot of myths to Xuanzang's experience. Since then, the story of Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures has been widely circulated among the people. There were poems by three monks in the Tang Dynasty in the Southern Song Dynasty, Tang Sanzang and Pan in the Jin Dynasty, Tang Sanzang's "Learning from the Western Heaven" in Wu Changling, and "Great Sage" in the Fifth Ming Dynasty, all of which laid the foundation for The Journey to the West's creation.
It is also on the basis of folklore, scripts and operas that Wu Cheng'en completed this great literary masterpiece that the Chinese nation is proud of through hard re-creation.
Literature and various values
Among China's classical novels, The Journey to the West's content is the most complicated. It combines the thoughts and contents of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, which not only allows the immortals of Buddhism and Taoism to perform at the same time, but also injects the human feelings of the real society into the world of gods and buddhas, and sometimes inserts a few words of Confucian wisdom like a schoolbag, which is harmonious and interesting. This feature has undoubtedly won the interest of readers of all cultural levels.
The appearance of The Journey to the West opened up a new category of ghost novels, and the ingenious combination of well-meaning ridicule, bitter satire and serious criticism in the book directly influenced the development of satirical novels. The Journey to the West is the pinnacle of ancient romantic novels and the representative work of romanticism in the history of world literature.
The Journey to the West's book, from beginning to end, is sincere and honest, and he will be an official if he studies well. There is not a word about the prostitution of the immortal Buddha. Or what book is Journey to the West? Yue is really a wonderful work, a wonderful work.
-Zhang Shushen, a scholar in Qing Dynasty
Wu Cheng'en's humorous story and The Journey to the West are rich in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. It is a mythical work with the significance of resisting feudal rule. Wu Cheng'en is good at making jokes. He told me that the joys and sorrows of monsters are close to human feelings, so everyone likes to watch them.
-Lu Xun
The imagination of Journey to the West is novel and superb, which can be said to have reached its peak. The characters of the main characters are also very distinctive, with the widest readers, both young and old in Xian Yi. This book has few side effects, and it is an inspiring book. It never loses heart and perseveres in achieving its goals.
-Professor Peking University Bai
Not reading Journey to the West is like not reading Tolstoy or Dostoevsky's novels. It's bold of such people to talk about novel theory.
-Edenburg, French contemporary comparative writer
The story descriptions in The Journey to the West's whole book are full of humor, which gives readers great interest.
-Encyclopedia de France
A seemingly harmonious ghost novel.
Among China's classic novels, The Journey to the West is the most complicated one. It combines the words of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. In order to make a more accurate and rational analysis of such a ghost novel, it is necessary to first investigate its writing process and the evolution of Tang priest's story of learning from the scriptures as the main plot of the novel. Because, from this, we can clearly see how this story, which originally preached Buddhism, added the content of Taoism, and became a novel with literary charm and interest, as well as its own artistic characteristics formed by contradictions.
Among China's ancient novels, The Journey to the West is a masterpiece with first-class ideology and artistry. It is also the masterpiece of ghost novels, one of the important schools of novels in Ming Dynasty. Its position in ghost novels is equivalent to Romance of the Three Kingdoms in historical novels.
Ghost novels usually consist of two parts. Some of them are called Biography of Birth, and some of them are called Biography of Spirit or Biography of Demonization. The structure of Journey to the West is the same. Its first seven chapters introduce the origin of the Monkey King; The remaining 93 chapters are the main part of the book, which tells the story of Tang Priest and the Monkey King's disciples exorcising demons and learning from the West.
The story of the Monkey King's birth and havoc in Heaven has successfully created a witty and strong image of the Monkey King. He has a strong rebellious character, despises the corrupt and incompetent ruler of the Heavenly Palace, and shouts the slogan "The emperors take turns to do it and come to my house next year". As someone said, "If there were not too many large-scale peasant uprisings and peasant wars that violently attacked the feudal dynasty in history, the plot of causing havoc in Heaven would not be as bold as imagined, and the Monkey King's image as a rebel would not be so dazzling."
The story of Buddhist scriptures in the Western Heaven shows two major themes in the novels of ghosts and gods: seeking and pursuing, slaying demons and subduing demons. The Journey to the West skillfully linked and combined the two. It tells people that in order to find, pursue and achieve beautiful ideals and goals, and to accomplish great undertakings, there are bound to be more or less, big or small, all kinds of difficulties and setbacks, and we must stubbornly overcome these difficulties and overcome these setbacks.
main content
1. executive summary
The writing time was in the middle of Ming dynasty, when the social economy was prosperous, but the politics was deteriorating and the people's lives were difficult. The author criticizes this unreasonable phenomenon through stories. * * * One hundred times, more than 600,000 words. Every time, the title is displayed in a neat and double way. The story tells that Tang Sanchong and his disciples the Monkey King, Zhu Bajie, Friar Sand and Baimalong experienced 8 1 hardships. The process of going to the Western Heaven to learn Buddhist scriptures is divided into three parts: the first part (one to seven times) introduces the Monkey King's magical power; The second part (eight to twelve chapters) tells the reason why Sanzang studied Buddhist scriptures; The third part (13 to 100 times) tells the main story of the whole book. Wukong and others put down demons, and Anda retrieved the true scriptures from the Western Heaven.
2. The main characters
Tang Priest:
The Tang Priest in the novel is a fictional character, which is different from Master Xuanzang, the real figure in history. The Tang priest in the novel, usually surnamed Chen and nicknamed, was originally reincarnated by the second disciple of the Buddha, Jin. He is a posthumous child. Because of his parents' tragic and bizarre experiences, he grew up in a temple after becoming a monk, became a monk in a biochemical temple, and finally moved to a famous temple in Beijing to settle down and practice. Tang Priest is studious and highly savvy, and stands out among the monks in the temple. Finally, he was selected by the emperor of the Tang Dynasty and went to the Western Heaven to learn from the scriptures. On the way to learn Buddhist scriptures, the Tang Priest successively surrendered three disciples, the Monkey King, Pig Bajie and Friar Sand.