Chapter One: The divine root conceives and the spring breaks forth; As the heart’s nature is cultivated, the Great Way arises.
This principle of the idea, energy, and form levels was not invented by Buddhism nor by Taoism; rather it has an independent existence in this world. When writing Journey to the West, the author did not mention these three levels, but the idea, energy, and form levels are implicitly contained in the book.
We have talked about idea as concept; concepts will produce energy and energy will produce material. This is an extension of the principle of Conservation of Energy. Coming into existence is different from evolving. Coming into existence is creating something from nothing; or embodying an idea. Evolving is changing one form into another. Originally there is a form, and it is merely modified. For example, if you have a bicycle but don’t know how to ride it, you can add a third wheel to make a tricycle. In this case, the form and function have changed, but it remains a mechanical means of transportation – this is an example of transformation.
By contrast, the procedure of “coming into existence” is quite different, as it changes ideas into materials. Originally, there is nothing. Just as in the beginning there was no God in this world, but where did God come from? God results from the procedure of idea, energy, and then material. As we said, Sun Wukong does not exist in this world; the last result of his material manifestation is a stone monkey. But this stone monkey is created from idea, he is also a form, but this form exists on God’s level, invisible to humans. This is why on the human level, one cannot find the existence of Sun Wukong in history books, but you do find the Tang monk getting the sutras in history. But, does Sun Wukong follow the Tang monk? In history, it is said that there is only one person - the Tang monk - there is no Sun Wukong . Why? Because he is on God’s level and we cannot see on this level. But the Tang monk couldn’t get the sutras without the divine Sun Wukong’s help. In sum, we said Sun Wukong is formless viewed from the human level; although there is no Sun Wukong in history, he did exist.
But, why does history talk about the Tang monk, where did this Tang monk’s physical body come from? He was born from parents, no matter that he was orphaned, and no matter how distinguished and how smart, he was still born from humans and lived on the level of human beings.
Why do we say that this evolution is not Darwin’s evolution? Because Darwin’s evolution is on the form level and nobody has seen a monkey transform to a human. No monkey has ever transformed to a human. And nobody has seen any animal transformed to a monkey. How can this possibly be evolution? But if this is not evolution, where did humans come from? Of course, humans are born from parents, but we do not have any way of saying where the first pair of humans came from. We can only say that Adam and Eve were made by God. It may be true that Adam and Eve were made by God, but how could God make them? It is from the idea to energy to material process. Before they were created, they were on a different level.
They started from a form, and then on the material level they evolved. Today, we see this evolution in the Tang monk. In fact, Tang Sanzang is the evolution of Sun Wukong to a physical body. Therefore we say all this is Tang Sanzang. If you want to see Sun Wukong, you must look at Tang Sanzang. Because you cannot see Sun Wukong since he is idea and energy. This explains why in the human world there is only Tang Sanzang.
How can one Tang monk have such endurance as to travel from China to the West to get the sutras? You may say that he managed it because he had a strong will. Similarly, Columbus discovered the New World. At the outset, everybody opposed his journey, but because of his strong will he managed to find enough financing for his voyage. Therefore, his body was only one part of Columbus. This is only one example of a person with determination, confidence, and superior ability. These do not describe his physical body, which is not different from that of ordinary people. For example, while Tang Sanzang had an ordinary body, he also had Sun Wukong, Zhu Bhajie, Sha Wujing, and the dragon horse helping him. All these assisting powers are in his physical body. So we can summarize by saying that you don’t see anything remarkable on the physical level, but only on the spiritual level.
Therefore we are saying that evolution means those ideas and energy in his physical body transform to Sun Wukong, Zhu Bhajie, Sha Wujing and the dragon horse. All this is on an invisible level. But on the visible level, Tang Sanzang is apparent. Evolution is correct. But we cannot see it on the form level. So animals can not transform to humans, and in particular monkeys didn’t transform to humans. The only evolution is that a monkey’s mind transforms to a human’s mind and then human form follows.
In this world, humans didn’t come first but human minds appeared and then human bodies. This human form is what scientists discuss today when they talk about the origin of humans. There is a large possibility that humans came from another planet. Perhaps aliens made us and put us here to reproduce and left us alone. But when we give birth in the beginning there is only the physical body; where does the human mind come from? When did spirits enter the body and the body become alive? Later, I will clarify the relationship between Tan Sanzang and Sun Wukong and everybody will understand why a person cultivating Tao will have more sensitivity. Many things go through our physical body to let us understand many ideas.
In addition, if there had been no Tang Sanzang, then there would have been no need to get the sutras. What does this sentence mean? If we put Tang Sanzang equal to all the creatures in the world, we should keep in mind that Buddha said “If there were no creatures, there would be no Buddha.” Why did Buddha come to the human world? It was for all creatures. Why did Tang Sanzang want to get the sutras? Because he wanted to cultivate Tao, therefore there were some sutras for him to get. If there had been no Tang Sanzang, it would not have been necessary to get the sutras. Because Tang Sanzang wanted to get the sutras, so all the creatures related to the Tang monk’s true self wanted to follow him. And one of the parts of the true self was named Sun Wukong. And we all know, during the time that Sun Wukong annoyed heaven and tried to destroy the heavenly palace, the Tang Monk had not even been born. Then, when was the Tang monk born? It was when Sun Wukong was buried under Five Elements Mountain. Because he was buried by the mountain, his mind was blocked by Ying Yang five elements. But how to explore this? It is only through transformation to a form that the problem can be solved. Thus, he was reborn.
We have all heard the ancient “Legend of the White Snake.” The white snake was pressed under Le-fen Tower, but why during the time she was pressed under the tower, could the white snake still make trouble? That is because it was the heart that was pressed under the tower; her sprit could not go out. But what stopped her was dharma. This dharma could block her mind, but when she transformed into human form, the tower could not block her. Everyone has probably watched some movie in which a ghost or spirit wanted to enter to a room, but there is a Guan Gong Emperor Guardian picture. Guan Gong projects a bright light shooting directly at the ghost or spirit, and the ghost has to run away, right? But if there is a human that wants to enter the room, then the ghost or spirit can go into the human’s body and enter the room. This time, when the ghost passes Guan Gong Emperor’s picture, even if there is still a bright light, he has no problem to enter the room. This is because he has a physical body, and human physical bodies are not afraid of Guan Gong Guardian. The spirits are afraid of Guan Gong, because spirits can be blocked by dharma, but beings with form cannot be so blocked.
Likewise, when Sun Wukong was pressed under the Five Elements Mountain, his spirit was blocked by dharma, therefore he arranged for part of his spirit to be reborn. Then, his spirit was reborn partially as the Tang Monk’s physical body. After the physical body was born, Sun Wukong’s spirit united with it and it didn’t need to be afraid. Why can only the Tang Monk save Sun Wukong? This is the reason. There are so many Buddhas and fairies. If we take as an example Guan Yin Bodhisattva, why doesn’t she just tear off the charm, and let the monkey out? Why can only the Tang monk do this? We look at the Tang monk and only see a monk with a physical body, who cannot do anything special, but can save Sun Wukong from the Five Elements Mountain - this is the idea behind this situation.
Because Sun Wukong was pinned beneath the mountain, therefore he can help be reborn as the physical body of the Tang Monk. Then, we might ask, is it the Tang monk who wants to get the sutras or is it Sun Wukong? Because Sun Wukong wants to get the sutras, does the Tang monk have to get the sutras? Actually we can say it is the Tang Monk, but we can also say it is Sun Wukong because they are the same. Because they want to get the sutras, so there is a Journey to the West.
Because Sun Wukong was pinned beneath the mountain, therefore he can help be reborn as the physical body of the Tang Monk. Then, we might ask, is it the Tang monk who wants to get the sutras or is it Sun Wukong? Because Sun Wukong wants to get the sutras, does the Tang monk have to get the sutras? Actually we can say it is the Tang Monk, but we can also say it is Sun Wukong because they are the same. Because they want to get the sutras, so there is a Journey to the West.
If we talk about the relationship between the physical body and the spirit, then Sun Wukong can be said to be like a soul, and the Tang monk like a physical body. But this body is different from an ordinary body. Where is the difference? Because this physical body is an original spirit, also called the original true self, therefore, he is on the highest level. We usually say the original spirit or original true self is on the highest level, but we find that Tang Sanzang is most incapable. He cannot do anything. We all hope our original true self can one day unite with us; why should this union benefit us? It doesn’t mean we will have endless magic powers. It means the original true self is united with the soul, which is equivalent to when the Tang monk finds Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing and thus becomes powerful and magical. It wasn’t Sun Wukong who found the Tang Monk, thus making him powerful. This part everybody should understand.
Sun Wukong was originally potent, but when he was with the Tang monk his power was restricted. So, it is not the original spirit or the original true self that is magnificent; it is not powerful in its own right. But original spirits have faith, namely faith in Buddha. You can see that when Zhu Bajie had problems, he immediately said he is going to leave the group and thus break up the partnership, and when Sun Wukong became furious, he said he was going to go back to the Flower and Fruit Mountain. Only the Tang monk said, even if you guys don’t follow me, I still want to go to the western world to obtain the sutras. Therefore, as you can see, he has strong faith in Buddha and confidence abut attaining the sutras; he was been chosen or assigned by heaven this destiny.
It is the Tang monk that has been chosen to get the sutras; the others do not have this destiny and are only following in his steps. The followers have enough energy but they have not been assigned the heavenly destiny. This Tang monk has been chosen, but lacks ability. Now, Zhu Bajie represents a person’s bodily desires - the need to sleep, the need to eat, and other habits are examples of the desires of the body. Sun Wukong represents the soul, and of course using spirit, soul and bodily desire is not sufficient to describe Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing, and the dragon horse. But we can use “mind,” “want,” “dutifulness,” and “thought.”
This means Sun Wukong is mind and indeed he is called “mind-ape,” just as the dragon horse is called “thought-horse.” (In Chinese, this phrase “mind ape and thought horse” means overly analytical and indecisive.) Sha Wujing is the symbol of dutifulness, normally he has very few words, he is only quiet and follows and supports what the physical body and original true self wants to do. He is the personification of dutifulness without ego, although he was not chosen for a heavenly destiny. But, he just follows along and does anything that the person with the heavenly destiny wants him to do. So, why is Sha Wujing also called sand monk? Sand is soil or earth; among the five elements this is heart. Although Sha Wujing is not original true self, yet he has confidence, and this confidence leads to will. Because he has a strong will, so he can be consistent in pursuit of things.
In addition, one characteristic of soil is that it is a mixture, and so it has a communication function. When Zhu Bajie argues with the Tang monk, or Sun Wukong fights with Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing will come to negotiate and give advice. Because sand is a mixture, if any disciples have problems, he can stand in the middle to mediate, develop a synthesis, and be a peace maker. Zhu Bajie represents the physical body. Why is Zhu Bajie essential? Because if there is no Zhu Bajie, there is no creature, and if there no creature, there is no burden; if we don’t have a burden, it is very easy to go to the western world to get the sutras; flying on a cloud can directly get there. Therefore, a Buddha in practicing and doing Tao’s affairs is merciful towards all creatures; this is the so-called Bodhisattva’s mind.
Today, why is the Tang monk so respected? Because he was a Bodhisattva then cultivated himself to be a Buddha. After he received the sutras, he was assigned to be a Buddha. Why he can be named as Buddha? Because he was cultivating the Buddha path. Here, people with affinity to you on a spiritual level from a previous life are represented by these few disciples. There were three disciples in human form, and one in the form of a horse. Of these four, Zhu Bajie is very lazy and greedy. But the Tang monk never gave up on him. In one way, he always wanted Sun Wukong to go away back to his Flower and Fruit Mountain, and sometimes he asked Sun Wukong to leave. But he never asked Zhu Bajie to go away; this is a mercy to all creatures.
Because the Tang monk preferred not to have magic powers, but wanted to bring with him all creatures, therefore, Zhu Bajie represents the creature part, and also represents a duty of the Tang monk, the duty of Buddha towards all creatures. Zhu Bajie seems useless. If we say yes, he has another function, that function could exist on another level; on this other level, his function is to provide energy. Why when Buddha is cultivating Tao are all the creatures needed? The answer is that they can provide energy; although all the creatures seem powerless and useless they can provide Buddha with energy. Zhu Bajie’s fat body can be the supplier of energ y, therefore, he was called Wu Nung [In Chinese, Wu means enlightenment and Nung means energy]. But why was Sha Wujing called Wu-Jing? Because he is symbol of dutifulness, will should be as pure as possible, and Jing means clean, without the necessity to think too much. In other words, there are not three hearts and two minds [a Chinese expression for indecisiveness], only one mind. The only thought is to go to the western world to get the sutras; therefore the combined ability of these few disciples can fulfill this mission.