The classic Chinese masterpiece "Journey to the West" is a well-known classic, which tells the magnificent epic of four Tang monks and apprentices who went to the west to learn scriptures through 9981 difficulties. During this journey, Tang Seng's three apprentices, Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk, became his right-hand men.
However, these three apprentices had a common characteristic, that is, they had all made mistakes in the Heavenly Court, and they were all people with criminal records. So, why did Guanyin Bodhisattva arrange for these three people with criminal records to protect Tang Seng?Aren't you afraid that they will kill Tang Seng halfway?Or is it because they have great powers and abilities?
In fact, we only need to analyze the names of these three apprentices to find the answer.
Zhu Bajie
Zhu Bajie, the former Marshal of Tianpeng, commanded 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals in the Heavenly Court, and his future was immeasurable, and he was once favored by everyone. However, his fortunes were reversed by a blunder of lust. At a banquet convened by the Jade Emperor, he was drunk and hazy, greedy, offended the beautiful Chang'e, and since then he has lost the brilliance of the fairy world and has been demoted to the mortal world.
During the journey of reincarnation, Zhu Bajie unfortunately reincarnated in the wrong fetus and turned into an ugly pig. He gave up on himself, became the king of the mountain, and became a monster. However, his fate did not end there. Under the enlightenment of Guanyin Bodhisattva, he learned that he would wait for the arrival of Tang Seng in Gao Laozhuang and go to the West Heaven to learn scriptures together.
On the way to learn from the scriptures, Zhu Bajie often retreated because of difficulties. He often clamored to go back to Gao Laozhuang and live a comfortable life. However, whenever he meets a beautiful leprechaun, he is always the first to be fooled.
These fully reflect the greed of Zhu Bajie.
In order to help Zhu Bajie overcome his inner greed, Tang Seng named him Zhu Wuneng, hoping that he could understand the harm of greed and quit his inner desires. After going through countless tribulations, Zhu Bajie finally restrained his greed and was successfully named the messenger of the Pure Altar, and his merits were complete.
Monkey King
And Sun Wukong, he was originally a wild monkey who advocated freedom and was unfettered. Under his leadership, a group of little monkeys formed a tribe that ruled the mountains. They live happily in the mountains and enjoy the beauty of nature. However, Sun Wukong was not satisfied with this, he longed for eternal life, so he traveled thousands of miles to learn art.
After a lot of hard work, Sun Wukong has learned a strong skill, which is thorough and omnipotent. He is invincible, no one can surrender, and he stirs up chaos in the world. He not only made trouble in the Dragon Palace of the East China Sea and snatched the golden hoop stick, but also staged a drama that shook the Heavenly Palace, making the entire heaven and earth unpeaceful.
So, why did Sun Wukong make trouble in the Heavenly Palace?Actually, this is what Buddhism calls anger, that is, anger. Sun Wukong secretly ate peaches and elixirs, which was a violation of the rules of heaven, and it was natural to be punished. However, instead of being unrepentant, he is aggressive by nature, and when something unsatisfactory happens, he will get angry and turn the world upside down. He relied on his own ability to make waves in the heavenly court.
And on the way to learn the scriptures later, Sun Wukong was also lawless at the beginning, did not listen to Tang Seng's words, and killed the robbers as soon as he set off. If it weren't for the restraint of the tight spell, I don't know how many Lou Zi he would have stabbed. The Bodhisattva named him Wukong, and also hoped that he would quit hatred. Emptiness is a state of Buddhism, and only when we comprehend emptiness can we stop our minds and stop being angry because of disgust.
After experiencing the ninety-nine eighty-one difficulties, Sun Wukong gradually comprehended the mystery of emptiness, quit hatred, and became the later fighting Buddha.
Sha Wujing
Sha Wujing, a character who is often overlooked in "Journey to the West", is now jokingly called "the most nonexistent apprentice" by netizens. His words are always the same: "The master was captured by a monster." And, "Brother is right. These two sentences seem to have become his label, which is hard to forget.
However, Sha Wujing's past hides a tragedy. He was originally a martial god in the heavenly court, named "Rolling Curtain General", but he was punished by the Jade Emperor to the quicksand river because he broke the glass cup at the Yaochi banquet. Here, he became a monster, full of resentment and resentment towards the heavenly court. He has a necklace of nine skulls on his chest, and some people say that this is the ninth reincarnation of Tang Seng. His stubbornness and stubbornness correspond to the "poison of obsession", one of the "three poisons" mentioned in Buddhism.
Tang Seng named him "Wujing" in the hope that he could comprehend the essence of self-purity from the bottom of his heart. On the way to learn scriptures in the west, although Sha Wujing chose to protect himself most of the time and not easily cause trouble, his heart has always been in pursuit of liberation and redemption.
After the success of learning scriptures in the Western Heavens, Sha Wujing was named the Golden Arhat Bodhisattva, and since then he has been out of the state of stupidity and has begun a wise journey.
Sun Wukong, Zhu Wuneng, and Sha Wujing, the combination of these three names cleverly depicts the three poisons in Buddhism - hatred, greed, and ignorance. The three of them are typical representatives of all sentient beings in front of the three poisons.
Sun Wukong, even though he has seventy-two changes and a supernatural power of 108,000 miles, is often trapped by hatred. He is irritable, impatient, and will lash out at the slightest misconduct, showing a kind of anger in human nature.
Pig Wu Neng, he is greedy and loves money and beauty. Despite his great powers, he is often driven by greed to do things that are contrary to morality. His greed and selfish behavior fully demonstrate the greed in human nature.
Sha Wujing, who was once a monster of the quicksand river, clings to the hatred and pain of the past. His heart was full of obsession and he couldn't extricate himself. However, in the process of following Tang Seng Xitian to learn scriptures, he experienced countless tribulations and tests, gradually let go of the obsession in his heart, and showed the obsession in human nature.
The Buddha said: Disasters and sufferings all originate from the three poisons. This sentence is vividly embodied in the three of them. Through the practice of 9981 difficulties, from the initial three poisons of anger, greed, and ignorance, to the final path to Buddhahood, it is actually the process of abstaining from the three poisons that Buddhism often says.
And what about ourselves?In our daily lives, do we also make the mistakes of hatred, greed, and ignorance?If we can practice as hard as they did and overcome these three poisons, then we too can achieve self-salvation and spiritual sublimation.