Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

There is no doubt that Wu Chengen's design of using the mantra of calming the mind to subdue the monkey Wukong has its symbolic meaning. Calming the mind is the only way to cultivate the mind, so the monkey must wear that hoop in order to do what he wants.

But inside the book, when the monkey heart is no longer an abstract concept but a living monkey, the tight hoop reveals its inexplicably cruel side.

"Xuanzang, are you going to deceive me?" Wen Jiao's voice tightened.

This heart refers to both Wukong and Xuanzang himself. Buddhism does not tell lies, and it is impossible for Xuanzang not to lie if he wants to trick Wukong into wearing the flower hat with a tight hoop.

Xuanzang said, "I originally thought that since Wukong is so savage, if I want him to obey my teachings, what can I do even if he is lying?"

Wen Jiao's heart tightened, and he continued, "After hearing what my mother said, I felt very ashamed. It was because I failed to control the six thieves that caused the disaster, which led to Wukong's killing. How could I blame him? It's just a gift from the Bodhisattva, and it's not easy to throw it away. Maybe I should hide it."

"You have to hide it well. I heard that Wukong loves brightly colored things. If you are seen by mistake, it will be troublesome if you insist on wearing it." Wen Jiao reminded.

Who would have thought that the most important reason why the monkey wore the golden hoop was not because of Tang Seng’s deception, but because he thought the hat looked good.

The Monkey King loves to be coquettish. What a simple and unpretentious reason.

If Wen Jiao had gone through so much trouble to persuade Xuanzang, and then Wukong put on the hat himself because he thought it looked good, she would be so angry that she would vomit blood.

Xuanzang was in a dilemma. Of course, he couldn't hide it in his luggage. All his luggage was managed by Wukong. What if he found it? Wear it himself? Not to mention that the fancy hat didn't match his style. Wouldn't it be easier for the monkey to see it if he wore it on his head?

He thought for a while and said, "Mother, would it be convenient for you to come over and keep this hat for me?"

Wen Jiao had never thought that this would be the solution, so she readily agreed. After asking the name of the place where he was, she immediately flew there. Half an hour later, she was quietly standing in the courtyard of the house where Xuanzang was staying.

As soon as they met, Xuanzang didn't have time to talk much, and handed her a fancy hat in the dark. Wen Jiao took a quick glance and saw that the hat was colorful at first glance, and then looked at it carefully, the golden light was so bright that it was almost as bright as the sun, it was indeed a treasure of Buddhism.

Wen Jiao took it in her hand and used her true Qi to probe it. The hat immediately turned into a golden hoop, one of the three hoops given to Guanyin by the Buddha. Just as she was about to take a closer look, she suddenly heard a sound in the yard and quickly shrunk the hoop into her sleeve. Sure enough, the next moment she heard Wukong push the door open and come in: "Master, I, Sun, am here to apologize to you. Uh, are you here too, Master?"

Wen Jiao turned around and looked at him with a smile: "I heard that my child was taken away by his own apprentice and had to stay at the donor's house. He sighed and groaned, and cried at the moon. It's such a rare unlucky look, and as a mother, I naturally have to come and admire it."

Her movements were so fast that Xuanzang didn't know she had already put the tight hoop away. Her voice was so tense that it was about to break: "Wukong, why did you come back at this time!"

Xuanzang had a guilty conscience, thinking that Wukong had just come back at this time and caught him hiding the golden hoop. But Wukong, who was unaware of the situation, thought that he was blaming him for leaving him alone for so long. He blushed and scratched his head in embarrassment, saying, "I lost my mind for a moment and argued with my master. I was so angry that I wanted to go out for a walk and relax before coming back. When I passed by the Dragon Palace in the East China Sea, I remembered that the Dragon King was an old acquaintance, so I went over to chat with him. I didn't expect that the old Dragon King treated me warmly, which delayed my return."

What Wukong didn't say was that in his rage, he wanted to return to the Flower-Fruit Mountain and completely abandon the confused old monk. However, he was persuaded by the old Dragon King with a talk of righteousness, and he felt regretful and decided to come back to continue to protect Tang Seng in his journey to obtain the scriptures.

Xuanzang's voice was a little trembling: "You...didn't you see anything?"

Wukong was a little confused: "See? The East Sea is vast and everything is the same as before. Other than that, it's nothing more than some high and low scenes. There's nothing to tell Master."

Wen Jiao finally understood what Xuanzang was worried about. She chuckled, took out a night-shining pearl and placed it on the tattered wooden table. The clear light instantly illuminated the room. Xuanzang then saw that his mother's hand was empty and knew that she had put away the tight hoop. A huge stone in his chest fell to the ground, and he had time to complain about Wen Jiao's joke just now: "How can a child sigh and shed tears while looking at the moon?"

"If there is no, then there is no, why are you being so mean to me?" Wen Jiao said in an exaggerated tone, pulling Xuanzang's sleeve and pointing at him with her other hand, smiling as she looked at Wukong, "Great Sage, my child has been in the Buddhist sect since he was young, and his heart is so kind that it is beyond words. Naturally, he is also very soft-hearted. He has never seen many of the schemes of intrigues, the evil hearts, and the tricks of demons and monsters. He doesn't know the pros and cons of them, so he can't help but weigh them with his knowledge as a monk since he was young. This is his shortcoming, and the Great Sage needs to explain it to him in detail so that he can understand."

To put it bluntly, in this argument between the two, Xuanzang was not grateful for being rescued and scolded Wukong, which was Xuanzang's fault; Wukong was angry and wanted to leave, leaving Xuanzang, who had little ability to protect himself, behind, which violated the oath he made in front of the Bodhisattva to protect Tang Monk to obtain the scriptures, which was Wukong's fault. Since Wen Jiao had tactfully criticized herself on behalf of Xuanzang for being "ignorant and ignorant of the benefits and disadvantages", she had taken the initiative to lower her head and extended the olive branch, so it would depend on how Wukong would respond next.

As expected, Wukong took the opportunity to back off and apologized, "I was also wrong. I left Master alone. If anything happened, I would not be able to bring back a whole Tang Monk even if I put myself back at the foot of the Five Elements Mountain."

Xuanzang already felt guilty, and seeing that Wukong was the one who took the initiative to apologize, his face immediately turned red, "I was so confused. If I had known that the six thieves were such evil people who would never change, I should have sent them directly to the government for questioning."

Wukong was very dissatisfied with his hesitation in this matter: "Master, what are you talking about? It would be a pity to kill such a wicked person. It would be a disaster if he was kept alive."

Xuanzang immediately started to argue again: "Six lives, how can you just casually decide their fate with a simple statement that keeping them alive would only bring disaster?"

Wukong was so stunned by him that he gritted his teeth: "Stop, stop, stop, I have nothing to say to you, an old monk!"

When Xuanzang saw his look, he got angry and insisted on arguing with him about everything, which made Wukong even more angry.

Two people with completely different opinions cannot coexist peacefully unless one of them has absolute authority. Originally, this authority should be established by Tang Seng's tight hoop, but at the moment, the key prop, the tight hoop, is still in Wen Jiao's sleeve. Seeing that the two of them were talking and talking to each other, Wen Jiao could only cough twice and take the initiative to stand up and say, "Would you two like to listen to me?"