What is the name of Patriarch Bodhi in Journey to the West?
In "Journey to the West", the Monkey King developed his Taoist heart and determined to live forever, so he traveled across the ocean to seek immortality and visit Taoism. On Fangcun Mountain in Lingtai, he accidentally received advice from a woodcutter and found the legendary Patriarch Bodhi. In the Sanxing Cave of the Setting Moon, he got his wish and worshiped Bodhi as his teacher. After some inquiries, the Patriarch liked the Monkey King very much and named him Sun Wukong.
The origin of the name
Bodhi Patriarch named the Monkey King Sun Wukong. In the eighth chapter of "Journey to the West", Guanyin persuaded the water monster in the Liusha River: "Bodhisattva Fang and Tamo After receiving the ordination, he named Sha as his surname, so he named him Sha. Then, Guanyin persuaded the pig demon who descended from Yunzhan Cave: "The Bodhisattva then took the ordination with him and named him Sha Wujing." , gave him the surname Zhu; gave him a Dharma name, and called him Zhu Wuneng. "Coincidentally, Sun Wukong, Zhu Wuneng and Sha Wujing later converted to Buddhism and became disciples of Tang Sanzang. Patriarch Bodhi was named first, and Guanyin Bodhisattva was named later. This shows that the name of Wukong and Buddhism are of the same origin. In this case, the identity of Patriarch Bodhi has a great relationship with Buddhism.
Some people say that Bodhi is the Tathagata. In the thirty-fourth chapter of "Journey to the West", in order to save Tang Monk, Sun Wukong once transformed into a little demon and went to trick the nine-tailed fox into giving him a golden rope. He said to himself: "I have been a hero for others and only worshiped three people." "I worshiped Buddha in the West; I worshiped Guanyin in the South China Sea; Master Liangjie Mountain saved me, and I worshiped him four times." Before that, he had worshiped Patriarch Bodhi, but not Tathagata Buddha. Therefore, some people think that Bodhi and Tathagata are the same. Same person.
However, if Tathagata is Bodhi, then Wukong is his disciple, and he and Jin Chanzi before Tang Monk reincarnated are brothers. Later, Wukong worshiped Tang Monk as his teacher. This generation was a bit chaotic. Ethically, such a question may not be justified, and Wu Chengen would never make such a low-level mistake. In fact, Wu Cheng'en was deeply influenced by Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind. He took the Tathagata's great disciple Subhuti as his prototype, integrated the concept of the unity of the three religions, and created Patriarch Bodhi, whose mind has no external objects. Although Patriarch Bodhi has made artistic innovations, his flesh-and-blood connection with Buddhism cannot be severed. This means that Wukong will eventually abandon Taoism, return to Buddhism, and achieve the status of Buddha.