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In "Journey to the West", the level of Sun Wukong has been extremely controversial.
Pleiades Star Official and Emperor Donghua wanted to "take the initiative to salute and invite him in to serve tea" when they saw him, but Fortune, Lushou and Samsung saw him and ridiculed him as "Taiyi Sanshu who has not entered the true stream" . Why is there such a big contrast between
? So in our country's traditional immortal hierarchy, which "rank" does Sun Wukong belong to?
Taiyi Golden Immortal Sun Wukong
In fact, the reason for this contrast is very simple, that is, Sun Wukong's cultivation does not match his status.
From the perspective of cultivation, he is the extremely powerful "Taiyi Golden Immortal above Hunyuan Yiqi", ranking at the top of Taiyi Immortal, and the status of Taiyi Immortal in Heaven is directly towards Three Pure Ones and Four Emperors is closer.
Regarding this point, in Chapter 5 of Journey to the West, there is a clear record in the banquet list for the Peach Banquet,
"The three Qing Dynasties, the Four Emperors, Taiyi Celestial Immortals and others are on the upper eight caves, the Jade Emperor and the Haiyue gods on the middle eight caves, The leader of the Netherworld Cult of Xiaba Cave inscribes the earthly immortal..."
This explains why Sun Wukong went to the underworld, robbed the East China Sea, made trouble in the Heavenly Palace, surrendered and rebelled again, but the attitude of the Heavenly Palace towards him was always to win over him, because of his strength Too strong.
This also explains why Taibaijinxing and Growth Heavenly King "hurriedly saluted" after seeing him, and Yingzhou Jiulao and Donghua Emperor went to "drink tea juice together" after seeing him, because the strong are easier to obtain. respect.
But cultivation alone is of no use. Sun Wukong’s status among the immortals is actually not high.
Firstly, it is because he is from an ordinary background and has poor foundation. Secondly, because his character is too low and he is not in the real stream.
The roots of the immortals in heaven can be roughly divided into two categories. One is the orthodox "Daluo Immortal" who has been passed down to the Three Qing Dynasties, and the other is the "Taiyi Immortal" who practices heretical practices.
Although Sun Wukong studied under Patriarch Bodhi , strictly speaking, he can also be classified into the ranks of Da Luo , but just before he started teaching, Patriarch Bodhi warned him not to say his name in the future.
Therefore, in the eyes of the immortals in the sky, Sun Wukong is a "wild man" who has cultivated on his own. Although he is powerful, he is not orthodox after all, so the three stars of Fortune, Luxu and Longevity will say,
"Then Zhen Yuanzi is the ancestor of the earthly immortals, and we are the sect of the immortals. Although you have obtained the immortals, you are still Taiyi Sanshu and have not entered the true stream. "
In sharp contrast to Sun Wukong, Marshal Tianpeng, who studied under the Sanqing Dynasty, is also the master. It is Zhubajie .
In Chapter 19 of Journey to the West, he once recalled the process of his becoming an immortal, saying that "the immortals came to greet them, and the Jade Emperor held a banquet for all the immortals." This shows how important a good foundation is. .
In addition, although " Monkey King " sounds glamorous, it is actually an empty title that does not enter the grade. Sun Wukong's real title is still the unappreciated " Bima Wen ". The grade of the position
is very low, even to the point of not being in the mainstream.
Sun Wukong once asked others what the official title of Bi Ma Wen was. Others replied,
"If you have no moral character, you can only be called an unqualified person. He is the lowest and smallest official, and you can only watch horses with him."
It was precisely because his position was too low and he felt that he had been humiliated that Sun Wukong rebelled against the Heavenly Court, and eventually came to be known as " causing trouble in the Heavenly Palace ".
However, Sun Wukong did not always have no level. After successfully protecting Tang Monk and arriving in the West, he was awarded the title " Fighting to Defeat the Buddha ", which can be regarded as a real leap in level.
Journey to the West: Five Immortals
Of course, even before becoming a Buddha, Sun Wukong should not be underestimated, because as we have mentioned before, he is the first among the five immortals, a heavenly immortal.
What are the five levels of immortals? What is the concept of immortality?
Regarding these issues, there is a clear record in Chapter 58 of Journey to the West,
"There are five immortals within the Zhoutian, which are the gods, humans and ghosts of heaven and earth."
As the names suggest, the names of these five kinds of immortals are called heavenly immortals, earthly immortals, and divine immortals. , human immortals and ghost immortals .
In the conversations between Ksitigarbha , Bodhisattva and Tathagata, the status of earthly immortals seems to be higher than that of gods, but in fact this is not the case. The real order is actually "gods, gods, earth, humans and ghosts" .
The best proof is that when Pantao Club hosted a banquet for the immortals, they put the names of the gods in front of the earthly immortals. As gods, the Three Stars of Fortune, Luxury and Shou also had this arrogance when mentioning the ancestors of the earthly immortals. meaning.
As for the so-called "celestial beings", they range from the Three Qing Dynasties and the Four Emperors to Bima Wen. Therefore, there are high and low distinctions according to grade, but in essence they are all immortals.
In this way, we can understand why Heaven would use the position of Bima Wen to recruit Sun Wukong. This is not a humiliation, but in their view, it is already great to be among the immortals.
Below the heavenly immortals are the immortals, which refer to those immortals who do not serve in heaven but live on the earth. Typical representatives are the three stars of Fortune, Luxury and Longevity we mentioned earlier, and the Emperor of Donghua, etc.
Following the gods are the earthly immortals. The typical representative is Zhen Yuanzi, the ancestor of the earthly immortals we mentioned above.
Those who can be called "ancestors" are not simple characters. Zhen Yuanzi is senior, powerful, and has a wide social circle.
Not only were the Three Pure Ones and Four Emperors his friends, but even Sun Wukong was suppressed by him.
is such an "ancestor of earthly immortals". On the door of his residence, Wuzhuangguan, there are the words "Fairy Mansion" hanging on it, which vaguely means that he compares himself to an immortal.
It can be seen from this that the level of earthly immortals is really lower than that of gods. After all, the ancestors of earthly immortals want to get closer to gods.
As for the human immortals and ghost immortals further down, they are actually "unqualified" in the true sense. The former are still mortal bodies, but some people have longer life spans.
For example, the Elder Jinchi of Guanyin Temple , for example, the 9 Buddhist monks who were eaten by Sha Monk .
These people have some supernatural powers, but compared with the heavenly immortals and earthly immortals, they are worlds apart.
As for the ghosts and immortals, it is even worse. To put it bluntly, there are some ghosts and monsters who are recognized for their Taoism, such as the land of mountain gods and so on.
In Journey to the West, these characters cannot even defeat ordinary monsters, and are often threatened and coerced by them. This shows how ordinary they are.
You may be wondering, how could the legendary "immortal" be so bad?
In fact, this is caused by the unique settings about cultivating immortality in Journey to the West. Here, Taibai Jinxing once told the Jade Emperor,
"Anyone with nine orifices in the Three Realms of the Holy Saint can cultivate immortality."
What's even more outrageous is that it's not that you have to achieve something to be called an "immortal", but that anyone who has embarked on this path is considered. The threshold is low and it is easy to obtain the title, so the quality is naturally uneven.
Sun Wukong's overall level
Although there are many immortals, it can be said that very few can reach the level of Sun Wukong. Except for a few immortals such as Fu Lu Shou, most immortals still treat Sun Wukong with respect.
This "respect" even surpasses that of Zhu Bajie, who is from an orthodox background.
When Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie went to heaven together to ask for help, they happened to meet the Pleiades star official.
Zhu Bajie covered his mouth and said with a smile, "Forgive me, I'm sick, so I can't salute."
Sun Wukong, on the other hand, just stood there calmly.
After seeing Sun Wukong, the Pleiades Star Officer quickly arranged his clothes and took the initiative to salute. The huge gap between the front and back was obvious at a glance.
This gap is even more obvious when it comes to the great emperors. When Zhu Bajie meets these people, he must practice etiquette honestly, but Sun Wukong is different.
As long as he stands outside the palace, the emperor all his subordinates will take the initiative to go out to greet him. Even the emperor will have to go down to the palace in person.
This shows how high the status of Sun Wukong is.
In his own words,
"The Jade Emperor recognizes me, the king of heaven follows me, the twenty-eight stars constellate me, the nine obsidian star officials are afraid of me, the gods of prefectures and counties kneel to me, the gods of Dongyue and heaven are afraid of me, the kings of hell have been with me for ten generations As a servant, the five rampant gods have been with me "
"No matter the three realms, five divisions, or the rulers of the ten directions, they are all familiar with me."
Although there is a bit of boasting here, judging from many descriptions in Journey to the West, it is indeed true. His status in front of the immortals in heaven is obvious to all.
In addition, as we mentioned before, Sun Wukong is the Taiyi Golden Immortal above Hunyuan Yiqi.
What is " mixed "? It is a state where the two and five are condensed but not illuminated, and the yin and yang and the five elements are not yet separated. It is the ultimate pursued by the immortals in Journey to the West.
Sun Wukong can reach this level, and the level is actually not important anymore.
Furthermore, although the title of Monkey King is empty, in terms of status, it is extremely high after all.
Except for a very small number of immortals, the rest of the immortals often call Sun Wukong "Great Sage" when facing him, and are naturally half a head shorter than him. This shows his influence in the Taoist immortal system.
Later, after he became a Buddha, although he broke away from the Taoist immortal system and entered the Buddhist system, fighting and defeating the Buddha was still at the level of the Buddha, and strictly speaking, the two Buddhas are equal.
At this time, it would be even more pointless to talk to him about his rank. On the contrary, Zhu Bajie was granted the title of Purifying Altar Messenger, and it was obvious at a glance who was higher and who was lower.
The difference in strength between Zhu Bajie and Sun Wukong is even more obvious in Kui Mulang , an immortal who is one of the 28 constellations.
When Sun Wukong made a big fuss in the sky, he beat Kuimu Lang and fled in embarrassment, leaving a deep psychological shadow on Kuimu Lang. Anyway, it was Zhu Bajie and was no match for Kuimu Lang.
From the early stage, Sun Wukong's strength is the highest in the heaven. There are some who can fight with him, but very few who can defeat him. However, from the later stage, Sun Wukong often asks for help because of some minor characters.
What's going on? Has Sun Wukong's strength declined after being suppressed for 500 years?
The Mystery of Sun Wukong’s Strength
In fact, it is untenable to say that Sun Wukong’s strength declined after being suppressed. In the original text of Journey to the West, there was a relevant description of his strength after being rescued.
"The great sage somersaulted with clouds all the way to the netherworld, and crashed into the Senluo Palace. The ten generations of Yamas were so shocked that they held their hands to receive him, and the five ghost judges kowtowed to greet him."
"It was a waste of time for the demons in the city to become evil, but the ghosts under the bridge were reincarnated. It was the divine light that shone like heaven's forgiveness, and the dark and secret places were illuminated."
You must know that one of the original intentions of Sun Wukong and others in seeking scriptures is to save the souls of the wronged, and Ksitigarbha King Bodhisattva has even made a great wish, "Until hell is empty, I vow not to become a Buddha."
Sun Wukong traveled all the way and inadvertently saved countless ghosts. This shows that his strength is still very strong. His title of Monkey King has never been taken away from him, which is the best proof.
What's even more rare is that he has amazing talent. According to the description in Journey to the West, Sun Wukong didn't learn skills in Fangcun Mountain for a long time. He had been doing odd jobs before and only used the last time to learn a skill.
Then why was Sun Wukong so difficult on the way to learn the scriptures? From Journey to the West, there are only three reasons.
First, traveling to the west to learn scriptures is a training for Tang Monk and his disciples, and Sun Wukong has many skills locked up.
When crossing the Liusha River , Sun Wukong said something like this,
"Like this poison-throwing monster, it uses photography techniques to get the limelight, but it only moves on the spot and cannot be carried away in the air. "
"In that case, Lao Sun will also know how to do it. There is also the invisibility method and the shrinking method. Lao Sun knows everything about it, but the master has to go through foreign lands and cannot escape the sea of suffering, so it is difficult to do it."
It is obvious that for the sake of In order to let Tang Seng get enough training, and in order to make the Eighty-one Difficulties have their due effect, Sun Wukong deliberately cooperated.
If not, he could have taken Tang Monk and flew to Lingshan .
So it’s not that you can’t beat it, it’s that you can’t beat it and you have to “co-star”.
Second, at the beginning of learning the scriptures, Guanyin clearly said that you can ask for help, and Sun Wukong himself had a similar philosophy.
Faced with various monsters along the way, Sun Wukong did not think about blindly killing them. Instead, he believed that these monsters each have their own destination.
"If it is a demon, it will be solved by the Jade Emperor. If it is the Jade Emperor, The earth demons are solved in the underworld, those in the west return to Buddhism, those in the east return to saints, those in the north return to Xuanwu, and those in the south return to fire virtue, each has its own direction. "
Since those monsters all have origins, then Sun Wukong naturally cannot show off blindly. Yes, in order to satisfy all parties, Sun Wukong spared the lives of many monsters.
Thirdly, with the unintentional versus the intentional, Sun Wukong fought very hard in every battle.
In order to obtain sufficient training results, the road to obtain the monsters is not easy. There is a green cow under the seat of Laozi and a big roc beside the Buddha.
even has characters such as Sun Wukong's sworn brother, Bull Demon King , who are not easy to get along with.
These monsters have taken advantage of the geographical advantages early and are waiting for work, so they will naturally take advantage of them in a fight.
What's more, many of them carry their master's magical weapons, so it will naturally be more difficult for Sun Wukong to fight.
In general, the difficulties Sun Wukong encountered on the way to learn the scriptures came more from the force of the situation than from his own lack of strength.
Moreover, even under heavy restraint, those monsters can only contain Sun Wukong, but they still can't do anything to him. How is this similar to the time when Sun Wukong made a big fuss in the sky?
Therefore, we say that the difference in strength between Sun Wukong before and after 500 years is actually not big, but the difference in grade is more. After
successfully learned from the experience, he jumped from the bottom of the first-class immortal to the forefront of the first-class immortal, and his status was also certified.
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