Anyone who has read the journey to the West knows that the journey to the west is a “novel that respects Buddha and deviates from Taoism”. In the journey to the west, Buddha is held high, but Taoism is ignored and even trampled. Why it should be written in this way may be closely related to the era in which the author lives.
Wu Chengen mainly lived in Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli years in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. During this period, Emperor Jiajing of emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty and his son emperor Longqing of emperor muzong of the Ming Dynasty were all extremely religious. Even emperor Jiajing of emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty gave himself the title of emperor Wanshou.
According to historical records, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor selected as many as 1000 palace maids among the people. Because of excessive indulgence, Jiajing’s body became thinner and thinner. But emperor Jiajing’s title of “emperor of longevity” is not for nothing. Since he is the emperor, there will always be one or two people behind him who will refine miraculous medicines for him. This will talk about the two most beloved Taoists in Jiajing, one is Shao Yuanjie and the other is Tao Zhongwen.
The main task of these two Taoist priests is to pray for the world and deal with disasters. In fact, they are refining pills for the emperor, and the most refined pills are Chinese medicine for the emperor. Emperor Jiajing took the “Fang traditional Chinese medicine” refined for him by Taoist priests to “vent” inhumanely to the palace maids, and countless palace maids were tortured to death. The painful palace ladies could not bear it any longer and began to resist. They rallied around Yang Jinying and others and almost strangled emperor Jiajing while he was sleeping. But it didn’t succeed, because this year was the renyin year of the lunar calendar, that is, the 21st year of Jiajing (1542), which was called the renyin palace change in history.
After the change of renyin palace, Emperor Jiajing intensified his efforts. He granted Shao Yuanjie, a Taoist priest, as the Minister of rites, a grade of official clothes, and Tao Zhongwen as the Minister of rites. He specially granted Shaobao and a grade of salary. Emperor Jiajing, in order to grow old and indulge in pleasure, gave great rewards to the Taoists. The Taoists could be described as “one person gets the word, and chickens and dogs rise to heaven”. The Ming Dynasty became the world of Taoists.
Because of the emperor’s worship, these Taoists also do whatever they like in ordinary days. The people’s grievances against Taoists and blind monarchs have long been boiling and filled with grievances.
In the novel, there are a lot of similarities between King Chechi and Emperor Jiaqing. In combination with Wu Chengen’s contemporary life background and the writing style of journey to the west, the prototype of King Chechi is likely to be emperor Jiaqing. Disclaimer: the above content originates from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author. If your original copyright is infringed, please inform us, and we will delete the relevant content as soon as possible.