Literature丨Qiao Jiangming
Classic literary and artistic works all come from life, but are higher than life. The prototype of Sun Wukong has the shadow of Wu Chengen, the author of "Journey to the West" everywhere.
Monkey Sun is not so much that he jumped out of the cracks in the rocks, as it is that he jumped out of the lonely and poor plight of Mr. Wu. Sun Wukong was born from a natural spiritual stone. At first glance, he has a great background: he takes heaven and earth as his parents, absorbs the essence of the sun and the moon, and is full of legend. But upon closer inspection, this so-called taking heaven and earth as parents is nothing more than being helpless.
Looking back at Wu Chengen's background, it is said that his ancestors once served as officials, but later declined and had no choice but to engage in business. During the Ming Dynasty, the status of merchants among "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce" was very low. According to relevant scholars' research, the Wu family was not a big businessman, but probably engaged in small workshops such as blacksmithing and cooking in Hexia. From this point of view, after the Wu family had no opportunity to be an official, they had no land and no skills, so they had to work as a small businessman. Wu Chengen's father, Wu Rui, was a small businessman. Although he was open-minded and optimistic, he suffered a lot of extortion from government subordinates throughout his life. In this way, Wu Rui, who was optimistic but often frustrated, married Zhang's daughter after giving birth to a daughter, and gave birth to Wu Cheng'en in middle age. This year was 1500.
Young Wu Chengen grew up in a group of small traders. Since his ancestors were officials, Wu Rui asked Wu Chengen to read and read since he was a child. When he was free, Wu Rui took him to visit mountains and rivers and sightseeing. Tell him the history and interesting stories about famous places in Jiangsu. As the only son of the Wu family, Wu Rui gave all his love and hope of changing his destiny to Wu Cheng'en. But this still cannot change the fact that Wu Chengen has no backer. If today's society pays attention to fighting for his father, in ancient society, people had to rely on the strength of their family for their life.
Obviously, in terms of their origins, both Wu Chengen and Sun Wukong jumped out of the cracks in the rocks. They had no backers and no money to make a living. If they wanted to get ahead, they could only rely on their own hard work.
Throughout Wu Chengen's life, he was like a lone hero who spent 50 years of hard work to become an official and used a prison to see through the world. If a person has an innate mission, Wu Chengen's family mission is to become an official and change the fate of the family. Wu Chengen has felt oppression from the outside world since he was a child, and has a strong desire to change his destiny.
When I watched "Journey to the West" before, I never understood how a monkey jumping out of a stone could have such courage to seek immortality and visit the Tao. In the process of studying, Sun Wukong suffered unimaginable hardships. Think of Sun Wukong. When he was in Huaguo Mountain, he dared to risk his life and bravely braved the Water Curtain Cave. With a raft and a bamboo pole, he dared to cross the ocean to Nanfanbuzhou, a land beyond the world. Learn people’s etiquette and their words. It’s not written in the book, but if you think about it as a monkey outside the country, trekking alone through mountains and seas, the risk and loneliness must be unbearable.
Sun Wukong’s courage to move forward comes less from his desire for immortality than from his hard work to change the fate of the hozen. Wu Chengen, the merchant's son, was particularly diligent and talented when he was a teenager. He read ten lines at a time, and recited the words from his glance. He was excellent at painting, calligraphy, and composing lyrics and music. Wu Cheng'en, who was born in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, became famous in his hometown for his literary talents very early and was appreciated by the officials, celebrities and country gentry at that time. He thought that going to take the imperial examination would be as easy as bending down to pick up a piece of firewood. Zhu Yingdeng, a very prestigious celebrity at that time, said that Wu Chengen could read all the books in the world, and gave half of his private collection of books to Wu Chengen.
At this time, Wu Chengen was very much like Sun Wukong after causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace. The title of "Monkey King" attracted the attention of the Bull Demon King, the Jiao Demon King, the Peng Demon King, the Lion and Camel King, the Macaque King and the Tamarin King. When he takes the initiative to make friends with him, he will become sworn friends with Jinlan. Presumably Wu Chengen must have thought that he was a figure at this time.
However, this is just Wu Chengen's own imagination. Just like in the Heavenly Palace, no one will regard the "Monkey King" as a human being. Pantao will invite all the immortals, but there will be no Sun Wukong. However, blows came one after another. Without strong official support and no money to manage, the talented Wu Chengen took the imperial examination for decades. It was not until he was 44 years old that he became a Gongsheng student and waited for an official position in Beijing.
Because he was lonely and helpless, Wu Chengen waited for another six or seven years before he finally became a minor official in Xinye County. Wu Cheng'en was very honest in his official duties. He rectified the local area, promoted Confucianism, and built water conservancy. He could be said to be a good official who benefited the local area. Although Wu Chengen became an official, he was an unworthy official. Wu Chengen became an official and seemed to have entered the upper class society. However, Wu Chengen, who took the world as his own responsibility, did not understand the "hidden rules" of the upper class at all.
After Wu Chengen was transferred to Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, his superiors, subordinates, and colleagues couldn't stand it because he was too honest, so they joined forces to exclude him and put Wu Chengen in jail. Although Wu Chengen was rehabilitated and released from prison a few years later, Wu Chengen had seen through the essence of the feudal system. After being released from prison, Wu Chengen faced two choices: to be an official, he had to abandon the righteousness of serving the country and the people; to persist in his ideals, he had to give up his lifelong ideals.
Wu Chengen chose the second way out. In his later years, Wu Chengen made a living by selling literature and was impoverished. However, it was also during this period that Wu Cheng'en completed the great novel "Journey to the West", which allowed a monkey to cause havoc in his spiritual world and turned the feudal bureaucracy upside down. He wrote the darkness he saw in officialdom into the book.
In 1582, 82-year-old Wu Chengen died in poverty. Perhaps the nine-nine-nine-eighty-one difficulties that Sun Wukong experienced cannot fully describe the difficulties that Wu Chengen experienced in his eighty-two years. He devoted his whole life to writing "Journey to the West" with great care. And this classic mythology that has been circulating for a long time is influencing generations of people.
This was enough to comfort him for his unsatisfactory life. Wu Chengen told the world in another form that he had finally achieved the true fruition.