Journey to the West is very interesting - Zhu Bajie and the Big Dipper

Today we will start with Journey to the West to talk about various legends about the Big Dipper.

Journey to the West is a fantasy story written by Wu Chengen, a novelist in China during the Ming Empire. The story tells the story of Tang Xuanzang going to India to collect Buddhist scriptures. In fact, Master Xuanzang is a real person, a monk of the Tang Empire, and he really went to India to copy it. The matter of scriptures and translation of scriptures, but in Journey to the West, there were three more apprentices who traveled with him, namely Sun Wukong, Zhu Wuneng and Sha Wujing. It is a fairy, or a monster, and today we will mention Sun Wukong and Zhu Wuneng, that is, Zhu Bajie.

Sun Wukong was originally a stone-turned monkey, but he became very powerful after learning immortality. He even went to the Tiangong to make a scene, forcing the Jade Emperor to appease him, so he had to reward him with an official, that is, Bi Ma Wen. This Bi Ma Wen is actually the groom who manages the horse, not even the driver, that is to say, the little star next to the Big Dipper.

Of course, Sun Wukong was very upset. He felt that he was the Great Sage of Monkey King. Since Monkey King could only be a small official, he should be the emperor.

Then he kept making a fuss until he was pinned down by the Buddha at the foot of Wuzhi Mountain.

And Tang Sanzang's second apprentice was Zhu Bajie. Zhu Bajie was originally the marshal of Tianpeng in the sky, but he was a general in charge of the Galaxy Navy, but because he molested Chang'e, he was banished to the mortal world. Do you remember that we mentioned in the previous program that the Big Dipper originally represented The seven little pigs?

Yes, although Zhu Bajie is a character in Wu Chengen's novels, it actually has an original model. Just as Sun Wukong was adapted from the monkey god Hanuman in Indian mythology, Zhu Bajie is also a subordinate of Morizhitian in the Buddhist scriptures and is responsible for it. The general driver of the chariot was transformed from Taoist legends.

Marichtian is a Bodhisattva in Buddhist mythology, and the image is a woman riding a group of pigs. These pigs are the Big Dipper. And this image is derived from the more ancient Brahmanism.

And Zhu Bajie is the general who drives the pig cart.

It can only be said that the Big Dipper has been regarded as seven pigs since I don’t know when it started. This is actually a very interesting thing, because in Journey to the West, two Big Dipper stars, the carriage and the pig, are cited at the same time. of legends.

However, this story is not over yet, because there are many followers of Morizhitian Bodhisattva, who later spread to the East, was absorbed by Taoism, and became Doumu Yuanjun. In the Chinese star map, in addition to the Beidou Nandou, there are actually Dongdou, Xidou, and Zhongdou. Zhongdou is also called Yuandou. The mother of these five stars is Doumu Yuanjun! And of course, Dou Mu Yuanjun's mount is a pig.

Speaking of which, the Big Dipper is actually not a horse-drawn carriage, but a pig-drawn carriage! But pig carts don't sound very handsome, and no one should really use pigs to pull carts in history. Pig carts are basically only used in myths and stories.

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The Big Dipper is a good example that can be used as the source of mythology, because he is too conspicuous, and most civilizations have done articles on him, so you can find clues about the evolution of various legends.

This is also very helpful for creators who want to say! If you want to create an ancient legend, this historical evolution can be great material and worth studying.

In addition, Journey to the West just happened to let us see how the virtual and the real interact. After all, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie have become gods that are really worshipped, but regardless of where they copied the original settings, these two characters are obviously fictional. But being regarded as a god, and even going back to the story of an even older era, one can only imagine that there is really no limit to it!