What happened when Kevin·Z cut the dragon in The Journey to the West? Wei Zhi, why can mortals cut dragons?

Wei Zhi in history was a very important official in the Li Shimin period. At first, he was directed by Li to give him advice, but after Li's death, he naturally became a confidant. But there is such a plot in Journey to the West, "Kevin·Z beheaded the dragon", which sounds very mythical. But Wei Zhi is only a mortal after all, and Journey to the West didn't set the background identity of ghosts and gods for him, so why can Wei Zhi cut the dragon?

There is a classic plot in The Journey to the West, that is, when Emperor Taizong was playing chess with Wei CuO, Wei CuO went to the Longting in his sleep and killed the King of Jinghe who was punished. It is difficult to study the allusion of Gu Wei's slaying the dragon, but it is certain that similar texts appeared before Wu Cheng'en wrote The Journey to the West. In addition, before Wu Cheng'en, there was an ancient version of The Journey to the West, and the relevant plots were not only included in Yongle Dadian, but also the rudiments of the Monkey King, Pig Bajie and Friar Sand in some opera works in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties.

19 15, Mr. Luo Zhenyu and Mr. Wang Guowei borrowed a copy of Tang Sanzang's Poems from General San Pu. At the end of the book, there are six words "Zhong Wa Zhang Zi Jia Yin". According to Wang Guowei's textual research, "Zhongwazi" is the street name of Lin 'an House in Song Dynasty, and this book is presumed to be "Tan" in Southern Song Dynasty. It is particularly noteworthy that the chapters of the Three Monks in the Tang Dynasty are similar to those of The Journey to the West.

The Journey to the West, the earliest ancient book that recorded the plot of "Wei Gu beheading a dragon", probably appeared before the Ming Dynasty. For example, in the volume 13 139 of Yongle Dadian in the sixth year of Yongle in the early Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1408), there was a plot of "dreaming of many rivers and dragons". As Yongle Dadian is an official collection of documents, it adopts an eclectic approach and does not modify the contents of ancient books. It can be inferred that the story of Wei Gu's dragon slaying was not initiated by Wu Cheng'en, but appeared in ancient The Journey to the West.

According to Mr. Hu Shi's inference, like Qin He, the story of King Jinghe's crime was also found in the novels of the Tang Dynasty:

"On April 18th, Tai Ping Guang Ji quoted" Continued Hanging Strange Records "and told Li Jing that he had traveled on behalf of the Dragon King, and it rained 20 feet by mistake, which caused the Dragon King and his mother to be condemned by heaven." -Hu Shi: "The Journey to the West textual research.

Myths and legends will never remain unchanged, but will be processed and interpreted by future generations with the evolution of the times. The story of Li Jing's dragon king walking in the rain in Tai Ping Guang Ji will naturally produce different versions. As far as this issue is concerned, in the study of Dunhuang studies, an article published by British scholar Stan in Oriental Magazine is particularly worthy of attention:

Excerpt from Hu Shi: Textual Research

This passage is taken from the remnants of Tang Dynasty vernacular novels seen in Dunhuang. Although this is only a remnant, it involves the plot of Emperor Taizong's going to hades, and it is obviously a reading close to mystery novels. Therefore, Mr. Hu Shi once inferred: "Wei Yi's" Cutting the Dragon "and its" Introduction Book "and Cui Panguan's story are also damaged."

Wu Cheng'en and The Journey to the West have a wide range of materials, including Xuanzang's story of learning from Buddhist scriptures, Tang Sanzang's poems of learning from Buddhist scriptures in Song and Yuan Dynasties, Tang Sanzang's learning from Buddhist scriptures in Jin and Yuan Dynasties, and Huayan Sutra. Of course, as a master, Wu Cheng'en naturally added a lot of his own imagination to make the whole The Journey to the West more vivid. What is certain, however, is that Wei Gu's story of killing dragons is by no means the first of Wu Cheng'en's.

There is no doubt that Wei Gu, as an ordinary person, will never be qualified to cut the dragon. The story was originally fictional. But why did the ancients invent such a story? Why does this story appear in The Journey to the West?

This involves the confluence of the three religions in ancient China and the secularization of Taoism.

China culture is very tolerant. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced into China, and gradually moved towards a development path different from Indian Buddhism. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, Confucianism and Taoism, which were born and raised in China, influenced each other in the debate and confrontation with Buddhism, and the trend of integration of the three religions gradually appeared. In the development of Taoism, apart from advocating alchemy and self-cultivation, there is also a trend of secularization, advocating evil among the people, punishing evil spirits and establishing a fairy system. The archetypes of these immortals include immortals from Buddhism, historical figures, and some immortals directly taken from fairy tales or simply fabricated.

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, some strange novels absorbed and influenced the confluence of the three religions and the secularization of Taoism. For example, Tai Ping Guang Ji mentioned above and Li Jing's Rain on behalf of the Dragon King make the name of the Tang Dynasty immortal. Similarly, as the most famous courtier in the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, Wei Yan surpassed ordinary people and was qualified to "dream off the dragon".

It may be a long process from the punishment of the dragon king in strange novels to the interpretation of Wei Yi's killing the dragon. But what is certain is that this story was absorbed and interpreted in the later version of The Journey to the West, and was continued by Wu Cheng'en in the Ming Dynasty, thus becoming a particularly noteworthy plot in the book. It can be said that The Journey to the West itself is a classic novel reflecting the confluence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and the story takes place during the reign of Emperor Taizong. Therefore, it is normal to emphasize that the dragon was cut by Wei Ba.

In present-day The Journey to the West, Wei Gu beheaded the dragon. The background is that during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, King Jinghe made a bet with fortune teller Yuan Shoucheng. In order to win, the Dragon King changed the rainfall time and points:

"When I arrived, it thundered at noon and stopped when it rained, but it was only three feet and forty. I'll change him for an hour, hit him at three inches and eight o'clock, and divide my forces after the rain "-the ninth journey to the West"

As a result, as soon as the dragon king was proud, he made a big disaster. The book said that Yuan Shoucheng was Yuan Tiangang's uncle, and he knew that the Dragon King was in great trouble. He also pointed out that Cao Guan Weiyi was in power at that time and asked the Dragon King to ask Emperor Taizong.

As a result, after Emperor Taizong promised the Dragon King, he deliberately pulled Wei Yi to play chess and refused to let Wei Yi supervise the beheading. Disembarking, he took a nap and killed King Jinghe in his dream, while Qin and others brought a faucet to meet Taizong, saying that it was a faucet falling from the sky. At this point, Wei Yi explained the reason:

"Master, I am in front of you, dreaming of your majesty-I am in front of you, I am sleepy; Dream away from your majesty by Ruiyun, full of energy. The dragon, on the dragon chopping platform, was bound by the heavenly soldiers. The priest said,' If you break the dogma, you will die. I was ordered by heaven to cut off the rest of your life. "Long Wen Ai, I shake its spirit. The dragon hears sorrow, and the claws and scales are willing to die; I am full of energy and my clothes are improving. Wearing a knife has gone too far, so the faucet has failed. " -the tenth journey to the west.

Wei Ba beheaded the King of Jinghe and revealed several key figures: the Jade Emperor Dragon King, Emperor Taizong, Emperor Wei Ba, military commander Qin Qiong, counselor Xu Maogong and Yuan Shoucheng. From then on, it leads to the plot that the Dragon King dragged Emperor Taizong to the underworld to find the underworld. It can be said that heaven, earth, people, ghosts and gods meet in one place, which is full of fun.

However, as a classic, the structure and specific plot of the book have become the object of modern people's research. The research on the dragon slaying in Wei Gu, The Journey to the West has long been a "brain-opening". For example, Miyoko Nakano, a Japanese scholar, wrote "visit" in the book "The World of Tactics". The author even linked "dragon-cutting" with Taoist "Nvdan", and analyzed that "Wei Yi's dragon-cutting" in The Journey to the West was "never dragon-cutting", paving the way for the birth of Xuanzang. Of course, although Miyoko Nakano quoted many classics of Chinese and Japanese scholars on Taoist studies, his views are obviously more peculiar than Wu Cheng'en's writing style.

In a word, the myth of Wei Gu killing dragons can be traced back to the late Tang Dynasty. Pei Wei, who was originally a courtier in the Tang Dynasty, was endowed with extraordinary ability in the secular movement of Taoism, so that he beheaded the dragon king who violated the dogma in his dream in the game with Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. This story was later included in The Journey to the West, became a classic plot in the book, and was processed and interpreted again for the Ming and Qing operas, becoming a well-known story.