Whose is Master Friar Sand? This problem has been bothering me for a long time. One day I chatted with my wife and answered, "Why not Tang Priest?" Um ... right! Friar Sand's master is the Tang Priest, but I asked EX, who was his former master? Who is his teacher? On this issue, Wu Cheng'en left some clues in the original work, but he didn't explain them, which led to speculation by later generations. There are different opinions, such as Zhenyuan Daxian, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Donghua Emperor and Taishang Laojun. Today, I will also open a brain hole and guess from the information known in the original work, who might be Friar Sand's teacher?
1. What are the characteristics of Friar Sand's master?
Back to the 22nd and 94th, Friar Sand said his resume. Among them, the twenty-second confession poem is comprehensive and informative, with 365 words in full text. The first half mainly talks about my background and experience as a teacher. The original text is like this:
I have been proud since I was a child, and Wan Li once wandered.
Heroes are famous all over the world, and heroes are like people.
All the countries in Kyushu, Ren Woxing, came from all corners of the country.
They are all wandering around the world because of learning Tao, just to find a teacher to travel in the wilderness.
I keep my cloak with me all the year round, and I can't put it down every day.
I walked dozens of times along the ground and wandered around for more than a hundred times.
So, we have to meet real people, the golden light of the scattered avenue.
Take the child away first, and then release Jiang Mumu Gong Jin.
Tang Mingzhi's kidney water flows into Huachi, and the qi in the building flows into his heart.
After three thousand years of hard work, I am full of worship and dedication.
He said that he had learned a skill since he was a child, traveled all over the world and made a name for himself. He has been able to achieve the goal of Ren Woxing in the world, and the four seas collided with me. Later, in order to jump out of samsara and escape from life and death, he traveled around the world many times and asked the teacher to learn Tao, which showed that he had a certain foundation before meeting Master, which was much more powerful than asking the teacher to learn Tao before Wukong. Later, I finally met a real person and taught him some methods of cultivation. After painstaking cultivation, I finally became an immortal. It can be inferred from this information that the real person that Friar Sand met should at least have the following two characteristics:
First, this real person has no fixed Dojo. Because if you are an immortal with a fixed Dojo and a large number of disciples, such as Master Su Bodhi and the great immortal Zhenyuan, and Friar Sand has the ability to "row for ten miles" and "wander for more than a hundred miles", why not go directly to the Dojo of these immortals to worship the master?
Second, this real person is a Taoist immortal. The real person originally means Taoism, "The baby marries first, and the mother lets it go later." These cultivation methods are similar to what Pig Bajie said: "Kidney water flows into Huachi once a week to warm the abdomen. Babies and girls are yin and yang, and lead and mercury match, so some people say that their owners should be the same person, but their ancestors are the same person, which is not true, because these are Taoist cultivation methods, and "babies and girls" are alchemical terms.
2. Who is Friar Sand's master?
No Taoist immortal has a fixed Dojo and likes to travel around. I can only think of barefoot immortals, so I guess Friar Sand's teacher is barefoot immortals.
Later, Friar Sand accidentally broke the jade glass, and the Jade Emperor wanted to kill him. It was the barefoot fairy who asked for his love, which was a bit abrupt. Isn't intercession the patent of good people, Taibai Venus? He interceded for the Monkey King twice to save Huaguoshan in from the mire, and also interceded for Pig Bajie to avoid capital punishment. Besides, Friar Sand is a general of shutter. He has been in heaven for many years. With so many colleagues, there is no good friend to intercede for him? Why do you need barefoot fairies to beg?
Let's look at the identity of the barefoot fairy. Being invited to the Flat Peach Club, on an equal footing with the "Four Celestial Teachers", shows high status and prestige. Isn't it because you like freedom, don't want to be an official, and don't want to participate in public affairs? Why did you plead for Friar Sand this time? But if they had a mentoring relationship before, mediation is meaningful.
And Friar Sand behaves a bit like a barefoot fairy. The Bodhisattva touched him across the Liusha River, and the book described him as "black-faced and unlucky; Not long, not short, and barefoot. "Ha ha, a little far-fetched, but there are not many monsters like him who like barefoot.
3. Why does Friar Sand never say Master's name?
If the barefoot fairy is really Friar Sand's teacher, why doesn't Friar Sand ever explain it? I guess there may be several reasons:
First, there is no principle. The barefoot fairy is used to idleness and likes to go it alone. Taking an apprentice is not in line with his principles. Therefore, although the barefoot daxian pointed out Friar Sand, he didn't let him learn from his disciples because he was in charge of leading them. Friar Sand has a certain foundation. Under the guidance of the barefoot immortal, he "diverted the golden light of the avenue", just like opening the second vein of Ren Du, and with his diligent practice, he finally got the soaring of Tao.
The second is against the original intention. After Friar Sand learned Taoism, he wanted to be an official in heaven, but barefoot fairy disagreed, because it violated Friar Sand's original intention of learning Taoism only to get rid of reincarnation and his original intention of teaching barefoot fairy, so their friendship boat turned upside down and they agreed not to mention it again.
Third, it is a disgrace to our teachers. After being demoted to Liusha River, Friar Sand's social status plummeted, and he was pierced by flying swords more than a hundred times every day, and he was forced to become a monster, killing countless people and committing numerous crimes. If you say Master's name again, wouldn't it be a disgrace to your master! Therefore, I can only say that I met a real person and it was settled in one sentence.
But when the Jade Emperor wanted to kill Friar Sand, barefoot fairy was still thinking about the relationship between teacher and disciple, and didn't want this only disciple to die in vain, so he made love to the Jade Emperor.