This is the first and second chapter of "Journey to the West". It describes the natural product of Huaguo Mountain: a stone monkey. Because he discovered the Water Curtain Cave, he was crowned king by the monkeys and created the Huaguo Mountain Paradise. , and in order to seek immortality, he traveled far away to study Taoism. After completing his studies, he returned and reorganized Huaguo Mountain. According to legend, there is a mountain of flowers and fruits in the sea of ????the Aolai Kingdom of Dongsheng Shenzhou, which is "the ancestral vein of the ten continents and the dragon of the three islands." There is a fairy stone on the mountain. The meaning of psychic. One day, a stone monkey burst out of the immortal cell, "with two golden lights in its eyes, shooting into Dou Mansion", which alarmed the Jade Emperor. The stone monkey immediately learned to walk, jump, and forage for food; "it was with wolves and insects as companions, tigers and leopards as a group, deer as friends, and macaques as relatives"; it also played freely with the group of monkeys in the green mountains and green waters. One day, he traced the source of the stream with a group of monkeys and found a waterfall and spring. He took the lead in jumping in and found the peaceful home of "the blessed land of Huaguo Mountain and the water curtain cave". He was elected as the king by the group of monkeys and was called "Beauty". Monkey King". Therefore, the Monkey King led the group of monkeys to "visit the Flower and Fruit Mountain in the morning and stay in the Water Curtain Cave in the evening, and sympathize with each other." A free and happy life. Three to five hundred years later, one day, the Monkey King was worried about the death of his old general and cried in sorrow, so he followed the advice of an ape and decided to "learn a way to live forever" and traveled across the oceans and seas to visit the gods. To Hezhou, Xiniu, at Xieyue Sanxing Cave in Fangcun Mountain, Lingtai, he visited Patriarch Bodhi and worshiped him as his teacher. He was named Sun Wukong and learned the "Somersault Cloud", the seventy-two transformations and the way to immortality. One day, Wukong showed off his magical powers in front of the public, changing pine trees, which violated the rules of the sect and was expelled by the ancestor. When Sun Wukong returned to Huaguo Mountain, the apes lamented that their home was occupied by the demon king. The monkey king was furious and used magic to kill the demon king, destroy the demons, and take back Huaguo Mountain. The monkeys reunited and paid homage to the Monkey King, with great joy. As a romantic mythological novel, "Journey to the West" has an extraordinary beginning, showing the rich romanticism of mythological novels. You see, this article describes the birth of Sun Wukong right from the beginning: on the Huaguo Mountain in the Aolai Kingdom of Dongsheng Shenzhou, which is "the ancestor of ten continents and the dragon of three islands", there is a strange The Immortal Stone: "The stone is three feet, six feet and five inches high, with a circle of two feet and four feet. It is three feet, six feet and five inches high, according to the circumference of 365 degrees; it is two feet and four feet in circumference, according to the twenty-fourth day of the political calendar. Qi. There are nine orifices and eight holes on it. According to the Nine Palaces and Eight Diagrams, the Immortal Stone has been receiving the essence of the sun and the moon for a long time since its creation. It burst open and produced a stone egg, which was as big as a ball. When exposed to the wind, it transformed into a stone monkey with all five senses and limbs." The height, circumference and number of holes of this fairy stone are consistent with the numbers of the celestial circle, solar terms and palace hexagrams, giving people a mysterious and mysterious feeling. The fairy stone is also placed on the Huaguo Mountain with profound "ancestral veins to the dragon". and the ancient times when the world was created, giving people a profound and vast feeling of the beginning of heaven and earth, the beginning of chaos, and the ancient wilderness; and then attributed the birth of immortal cells to the strange and wonderful feeling of heaven and earth. As a result, the monkey Sun Wukong burst out of the fairy stone as if he had been pregnant for ten months and gave birth in one day. The life bursting out of the stone was truly earth-shattering and miraculous. This ancient miracle gave the image of Sun Wukong an extremely strong mythical color from the very beginning. In fact, the origin of Sun Wukong's "natural stone monkey" is indeed in line with ancient mythology, and is the "barbaric legacy" of the original spiritual stone worship. "Han Shu·Wudi Ji" Yan Shigu's ancient annotation quoted "Huainanzi" as follows: "Yu governed Hongshui, connected Tianyuan Mountain, and turned into a bear. He called Tushan and said: 'If you want to pay, you will come when you hear the sound of drums.' Yu Jumping on the stone, he accidentally hit the drum. When Tu Shan went there, he saw Yu Fang as a bear and left in shame. When he reached the foot of Songgao Mountain, he turned into a stone. Yu said, "Return to my son!" The right side of the stone is broken to create enlightenment, transforming things and channeling spirits, which is obviously a reflection of the worship of ancient spiritual stones. As a "barbaric legacy" of this primitive belief, the description of the "natural stone monkey" in the opening chapter of "Journey to the West" absorbs the core of this ancient myth and adds it to the story, thereby creating a more magical and magical world. , wonderful and moving mythical realm. The mythological novel "Journey to the West" has strong mythological elements and strong mythological color. Its foundation is the extensive absorption and re-creation of mythological materials, and "Natural Stone Monkey" is precisely the mythological material borrowed from "Journey to the West" The first outstanding use case produced an ingenious artistic effect that killed two birds with one stone: it not only created the romantic, ethereal and fantastic mythological realm of the work, but also highlighted the deep connection between "Journey to the West" and ancient mythology.
Sun Wukong not only has an extraordinary life experience as a "natural stone monkey", but also showed extraordinary fighting prowess as soon as he was born. The author deliberately depicts Sun Wukong's dazzling eyes: "Two golden lights shot into Doufu", which even alarmed the Jade Emperor of the Heavenly Palace, thus vividly and vividly showing Sun Wukong's potential for the theocratic rule of the Heavenly Court headed by the Jade Emperor. The challenges and threats laid the groundwork for the subsequent uprising in Heaven and the rebellious spirit of his rebellious character. Huaguo Mountain is the birthplace of Sun Wukong and the typical environment where the Monkey King survives, develops and activities. The author then describes how Sun Wukong led a group of monkeys to create the Huaguo Mountain Paradise, and emphatically expressed and enthusiastically praised Huaguo Mountain as an ideal kingdom and paradise. Sun Wukong was the first to bravely cross the waterfall and find Shuiliandong, the "cave paradise". He showed his superior ability and said to the monkeys: "Everyone, you are the only ones who have no faith and don't know what they can do." If you have the ability to get in and out without harming your body, I will worship him as a king. Now I come in and go out, go out and come in again, and I have found this cave to sleep peacefully with you, and everyone enjoys the blessing of starting a family. Why don't you worship me as king?" He said that all the monkeys bowed down and worshiped him, calling him the "Monkey King", and then assigned monarchs, ministers and envoys. The "citizens" of the Huaguoshan Kingdom follow the principle of justice that the strong is respected and the capable is king. Not only that, the "monarchs and ministers" also live in equality, harmony and friendship: on weekdays, the Monkey King leads the monkeys to "visit the Huaguo Mountain in the morning and stay in the Water Curtain Cave in the evening, sharing sympathy and sympathy" and "happy gatherings every day". They gathered together in the "fairy mountain blessed land, ancient cave and divine continent", "not bound by the unicorn, not bound by the phoenix, nor bound by the throne of the world", and lived a free and unfettered happy life. Look at them, one by one, "jumping up trees and climbing branches, picking flowers and looking for fruits;... letting them be stubborn under the green pine forest, and washing themselves by the green water stream", they feel so carefree and at ease. Such a pure, beautiful and ideal kingdom and paradise is obviously in sharp contrast to the orderly and hierarchical theocratic world of Tiangong, and it also more strongly reflects the darkness and filth of the post-feudal society in the mid-Ming Dynasty where the author Wu Chengen lived. It is precisely because Huaguo Mountain is the ideal kingdom and paradise in the author's mind that the author wields a romantic artistic brush to depict the scenery of Huaguo Mountain so poetically and beautifully. Look at the Huaguo Mountain that "stands from the clear water and is formed by the Hongmeng": "powerful to control the vast ocean, Weining Yaohai", "red cliffs with strange rocks, cut walls and strange peaks", "colorful phoenixes singing twice", " "The unicorn lies alone", "I hear the crow of the golden pheasant at the top of the mountain, every time a dragon appears in the cave. There are longevity deer and fairy foxes in the forest, and there are strange flowers on the trees, and the green pines and cypresses are always bearing fruits." , The bamboos in the repair place leave clouds. "It is the place where hundreds of rivers meet, and the roots of the earth are unmovable." In front of the water curtain cave: "A white rainbow rises, the sea breeze blows constantly, and the moon shines on the river." . The air-conditioning divides the green hills, and the lingering water flows through the waterfall, which is like a hanging curtain. "The green moss is piled with blue, and the white clouds and jade are floating on it." "The dragon beads hanging in the milk cave are lingering on the ground, and the ground is full of strange flowers." "The mist always shines, and the auspiciousness is evaporated every time. The pines and bamboos show off every year, and the strange flowers are new every day." Here, strange peaks and rocks, exotic animals and rare birds, fairy flowers, Yao grass, and waterfalls and haze all flow out from the author's pen in brilliant colors, forming a complete picture of a radiant and wonderful mythical environment that makes readers It is pleasing to the eye and captivating to the heart. In this article, Sun Wukong's aggressive spirit of pursuing unlimited freedom also left a very deep impression on readers. Sun Wukong led a group of monkeys to live a free and uninhibited life in the Huaguo Mountain, "not subject to the laws of humans and kings, and not afraid of the majesty of animals." It can be said that he has gained "absolute freedom" in social relationships, but he is not satisfied with this and is not happy. Sijin. He also wants to obtain "absolute freedom" beyond the limitations of natural laws: to travel the universe in space and gallop freely; to be immortal in time and live as long as the world. Therefore, he would suddenly have whims, seek trouble for himself, and even be happy and sad: "One day, during a wedding banquet with a group of monkeys, he suddenly became worried and shed tears." It turned out that he was "foresighted" about the threat of death, "The king of hell is secretly in charge of me. Once he dies, he will not be reborn in the world in vain, and he will not be able to stay in the heavens and humans for a long time." In order to "escape reincarnation, immortality" and become an eternal existence that "lives as long as the heaven, earth, mountains and rivers", Sun Wukong resolutely traveled across the ocean, traveled to the ends of the world, and visited the immortal ways everywhere. He became a disciple of Patriarch Bodhi, studied Taoism eagerly, and tried his best to "fish and touch" in as many places as possible. Finally, he learned the seventy-two transformations and the "somersault cloud" of hundreds of thousands of miles, and achieved "the true result of living as long as heaven" . Sun Wukong's valuable and enterprising spirit of never being satisfied and never-ending in pursuit of unlimited freedom has given people useful enlightenment and great encouragement.
This spirit will continue to be maintained and carried forward throughout Sun Wukong's future life.