Who is the author of The Journey to the West?

The mystery of The Journey to the West's author

Wang initiated the theory.

After the novel The Journey to the West became popular in the Ming Dynasty, all versions did not have the author's name. There is inevitably speculation in the society, but after entering the Qing Dynasty, it is widely rumored that the author is Qiu Chuji, and some scholars in the Qing Dynasty almost agree with this statement. Where did this come from? It was not until the early 1930s that Sun's Bibliography of Tokyo Novels was put forward: it was initiated by Wang in Qing Dynasty. Among Wang The Journey to the West's biographies of Qiu Chuji, he said that Qiu Chuji "has Panxi Collection, Ming Dow Collection and Journey to the West". Attached to Yuan Yuji's original preface, it is recorded that Taoist Ziqiong asked him to preface The Journey to the West and said that this book was written by Qiu Chuji. After reading it, Yu Ji realized that it was carrying Xuanzang's scriptures; At the same time, Qiu Chuji's writing intention is often analyzed in The Journey to the West's comments. So eloquent, Zuo Qiu's The Journey to the West theory made the Qing people agree.

This journey to the west is not another journey to the west.

However, Zuo Qiu in The Journey to the West said it was really a mistake! Originally related to Qiu Chuji, it was another book with the same name, the full name of Changchun Real Journey to the West. Qiu Chuji was ordered by Yuan Taizu to take his disciples Li Zhichang and others 18 to the western regions. Later, Li Zhichang wrote "Changchun Real Journey to the West" in two volumes with tens of thousands of words, which recorded what his teacher saw and heard on the Journey to the West, questions and answers between master and apprentice, and chanting on the way. Tao Lu's Record of Dropping out of Farming at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, among which The Taoist of Changchun has been published in Zanxi Collection, Ming Dow Collection, The Journey to the West, Fengyun Qinglu, Qizhen Ji and other three books mentioned later, are actually not written by Qiu Chuqi, so there are many side notes. Some people think that the author of this The Journey to the West is also Qiu Chuji. Later, he equated this The Journey to the West with the novel The Journey to the West.

New discoveries in Ming and Zhen literary circles

However, Wang first advocated the theory in The Journey to the West, saying that although the arrangement was very organized, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, some people expressed doubts: First, it was said that The Journey to the West's novel was written in the Ming Dynasty, and Qiu Chuji was the last generation of the Southern Song Dynasty. You don't say! Secondly, there are many Huai 'an dialects in The Journey to the West, and Qiu Chuji lived in North China all his life. The king's theory was thus shaken. Later, Lu Xun, Hu Shi and others studied the history of China's ancient novels. According to predecessors' theories and records of Huai 'an Prefecture in Ming Dynasty, it is speculated that the author of the novel The Journey to the West is Wu Cheng'en, a native of Huai 'an. This is a great discovery in the history of fiction. Since then, Wu Cheng'en's name has been put on the new The Journey to the West, which is the final conclusion.

Get to the bottom of it and turn over the verdict again

However, Wu Cheng'en's writing Journey to the West also has some doubts. First, Wu Cheng'en's poems and his literary friends did not mention writing The Journey to the West; Second, although the Annals of Huai 'an County was published in Wu Cheng'en and written by The Journey to the West, it did not explain whether it was a romance or an official history. It is usually said that the official history of the romance is not included in the local chronicles; Thirdly, Wu Cheng'en's works and The Journey to the West were once included in the geographical category in the bibliography of Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, once upon a time, on the one hand, some commentators put forward the theory that The Journey to the West is another novel, which was still said by Qiu's disciples and later generations; On the other hand, some critics think that The Journey to the West was not written by Wu Cheng'en.

According to The Journey to the West's records, there are many Taoist contents and poems. Moreover, Journey to the West has undergone a long-term evolution and was finally processed and stereotyped by literati. It cannot be absolutely ruled out that some Taoists participated in the revision. On the other hand, those who are skeptical about Wu Zhu's theory have only touched the key point, lacking evidence, and have not proposed others to replace Wu Cheng'en. Now, it seems unlikely to return to Zuo Qiu's theory; It is also difficult to control denying Wu Zhu's theory.

Everyone knows that the author of Journey to the West is Wu Cheng'en, which seems to be no longer a problem. But in the academic field, common sense is often incorrect. The Journey to the West was written by Wu Cheng'en, which was verified by Mr. Hu Shi at the beginning of last century. Later it was widely accepted. The reason why Mr. Hu Shi made mistakes in textual research was because the information he saw at that time was limited, and Mr. Hu Shi was preconceived and avoided some unfavorable evidence. Before Mr. Hu Shi's textual research, many people thought that The Journey to the West was written by Qiu Chuji, because Qiu Chuji had traveled west to see Genghis Khan. His disciple, Li Zhichang, once wrote a book, Changchun Real Journey to the West, which is called The Journey to the West for short. Gradually, people confuse Changchun's Journey to the West with the novel The Journey to the West, and think that Qiu Chuji is the author of the novel The Journey to the West. Mr. Hu Shi clarified this issue and thought that Qiu Chuji was not the author of The Journey to the West. It should be said that this is the credit of Mr. Hu Shi, but Mr. Hu Shi immediately went into another wrong path and rashly awarded the copyright of the novel The Journey to the West to Wu Cheng'en. His basis is only a few words in Huai 'an Fu Zhi: "Wu Cheng'en, Sheyang Collection, four volumes, volume □; Preface to Chunqiu Zhuan; Journey to the West. " Is this The Journey to the West in Wu Cheng'en a book or an article? To say the least, if it is a book, what is it? Is it a geography book or a novel? Mr. Hu Shi can't even prove this. In fact, The Journey to the West in Wu Cheng'en is a geography book. In the Bibliography of Qian Qingtang in the early Qing Dynasty, it was included in the category of history department and geography. It seems that if you want to find out the author of The Journey to the West, you have to find another piece of evidence. Some people want to use Huai 'an dialect to prove Wu Cheng'en's copyright, but today many scholars have found dialects from other places in books.

In my opinion, to find out the author of a book, we must start with the source of the book's version, in other words, we must find out where the book originally came from.

The earliest version of The Journey to the West is The Journey to the West carved by Shidetang in Jinling (now Nanjing), which was carved in the 20th year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (1592). So where did this version come from? Surprisingly, the source of this version turned out to be Zhou Palace in Kaifeng.

After Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, he enfeoffed all the scholars, and the fifth son Zhu (Jia Su beside Muzi) enfeoffed Kaifeng as the first generation of Zhou kings. Later, Zhou Wang was handed down from generation to generation, consistent with the Ming Dynasty. The site of Zhou Dynasty is located in present-day Long Ting.

The Shadow of One, which flourished in Sri Lanka in the Ming Dynasty, introduces in detail the relationship between Kaifeng Zhou and the earliest version of The Journey to the West, which is a rare historical material:

"When I was a child, I watched the Journey to the West, watched the Qingfeng-xiangguang fracture Tang Priest encounter a demon, and the kapok monk talked about poetry. I knew it was the pen of later generations and erased it. Ten years later, Zhou Rushan said,' This manuscript was first published in Zhou Di. When it was received, it was ordered less than 100, so it was added once. If you doubt it, is it right? The Journey to the West, the author of Beggars' Sect, is of great significance. Every topic will be pointed out, that is, the language in the middle is also related to the true religion of life, and will never cause unusual influence ... "

Thus, The Journey to the West's manuscript comes from the week of Kaifeng. But the early version of The Journey to the West that we see now comes from Nanjing. What happened? It turns out that the mystery lies in Zhou Rushan. Zhou Rushan is not only a bookseller, but also a girder (Kaifeng) person. Zhou Rushan published and engraved the novel "Beautiful Village" and has a bookstore in Jiangnan. In this way, we have made clear the initial spreading process of The Journey to the West: first, it was spread in Kaifeng by Zhou, and then Zhou Rushan, a Kaifeng native, took his books to Jiangnan for publication and engraving. Therefore, Mr. Wu Shengxi, a research expert in The Journey to the West, believes that "Journey to the West in Kaifeng Week" is the earliest manuscript of The Journey to the West.

In The Journey to the West, we can see that there is a preface signed by Chen, which is very important for us to study the author of The Journey to the West:

"I don't know who wrote The Journey to the West's book, or the kingdom of the Yellow River Hou Wang today, or the followers of the Eight Kings, or the captives."

I don't know who wrote The Journey to the West's book. Some people say it's from a vassal's palace, some say it's a palace attendant, and some say it's the vassal himself.

In the past, people didn't pay much attention to this important information, otherwise it wouldn't have come to the wrong conclusion that The Journey to the West was written by Wu Cheng'en. Later, some people paid attention to it, but thought that this vassal palace was Lu Palace. According to experts' research, The Journey to the West published by Lu is a "Journey to the West by Changchun Reality", so this vassal mansion can only be located in Kaifeng. Because the materials quoted above show that The Journey to the West of Zhou is a little different from The Journey to the West now, but it is really a novel The Journey to the West. And the author of The Journey to the West, be vividly portrayed.

So, is the author of The Journey to the West an aide to Wang Fuzhou or Zhou Wang himself?

We know that Journey to the West mocked Emperor Jiajing who believed in Taoism, and the earliest edition of Journey to the West that we saw was carved in the 20th year of Wanli. So I can only find The Journey to the West's author in Jiajing Wanli period. The Journey to the West lived in Jiajing and Wanli years, which was related to Zhougong in Kaifeng. With these two premises, our exploration will have a general direction.

In the book Journey to the West, Emperor Jiajing's belief in Taoism was repeatedly satirized, and there were Taoist priests who were transformed from goblins around him. As an assistant, you don't have the guts What about Zhou Wang himself? There were five generations of Zhou who lived in Jiajing and Wanli, namely Zhou Mu, Zhou Zhuangchao (with the word "Jiagang" beside it), Zhou Zailing, Zhou Duan Wang Susong and the last Zhou. These five generations of Zhou kings seem to be mediocre, unlike their ancestors? Zhou Xianwang Zhu Youdun is so studious and literate. We know that The Journey to the West's book is extensive and profound. The author not only studies Buddhism and Taoism, but also has profound attainments in history and the Book of Changes. As the author of The Journey to the West, he must be a master of Confucianism. This person should not only live in Jiajing and Wanli years, but also be a well-read person, and he and Zhou should also be related. Who is this man? This man is Zhu Mu, who was born in the sixth year of Ming Zheng De (15 1 1) and died in the eighth year of Ming Wanli (1580) at the age of 70. Jia Kuang (beside Muzi) is a descendant of Huo Zi, the eighth son of the first generation of Zhu Su (beside Muzi), and the deputy commander of the attack town. Zhu Mu has been a studious boy since he was a child. At the age of 25, he studied the Five Classics, especially the Book of Changes and the Spring and Autumn Annals. Someone was unconvinced by him, talked with him about the Book of Changes, and finally left in amazement.

It should be pointed out that The Journey to the West researchers have always believed that The Journey to the West is related to the Book of Changes, and some versions are simply called Yi Tong's Journey to the West. In the thirty-seventh chapter of The Journey to the West, the author praised Prince Wuji and said, "Since ancient times, the Book of Changes has been extremely mysterious, which has wiped out all good and bad luck in the world. Let people know what to avoid. " We didn't understand this before, but now that we know that Zhu Mu is proficient in the Book of Changes, we suddenly understand it. Zhu Mu is the author of Five Classics, Textual Research Biography, Rhyme, Annals of Henan Province and Records of Kaifeng County. The word Zhu Mu (with a slap beside the wooden character) is Guan Fu, and his name is Mr. Xiting.

Journey to the West once wrote the story of Emperor Taizong wandering in hell, and then described the origin of Suoguo Temple in Kaifeng. To tell the truth, this story has little to do with Journey to the West itself, and the origin of Suoguo Temple is even more far-fetched in the story. Only by understanding that The Journey to the West wrote this story for Zhu Mu, a native of Kaifeng, can we understand why there is this story.

Only a "fairy couple" like Zhu Mu can write the story of the Monkey King's havoc in Heaven. The Monkey King is a "born stone monkey", and God certainly won't give birth to it. This nature can only be understood as being born by the son of heaven. Zhu Mu is Zhou Wang, actually a direct descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang. Especially Zhou's mother (Jia Su) is, which makes them proud. Only people like them, who are only a stone's throw away from the throne, will have a "rebellious heart" and the idea that "the emperor will take turns to sit next year and come to my house". In fact, like the Monkey King, the first generation of Zhu (Jia Su) kept thinking about rebellion. The prince established by Zhu Yuanzhang died young. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the emperor's grandson succeeded to the throne, which was for Jianwen Emperor. When Zhu Yuanzhang's sons saw their nephew become emperor, they were not convinced and secretly coveted. Zhu "has different ideas" and was condemned by his son. Emperor Li Jinglong suddenly surrounded Zhou and exiled Zhu (Jia Su next to Woodenhead) to Yunnan. When overthrown by Zhu's younger brother, Zhu was rehabilitated, but he did not give up rebellion. In the 18th year of Yongle (1420), "If there is a complaint (adding Su beside the wooden word), the emperor will try it. Call me to Beijing in February next year to show my farewell, and (add Su beside the wooden word) nod my head to thank my death. " This is the same as the Monkey King's repeated rebellion. The author suspects that the experience of learning from the scriptures in the book is Zhou Wang's exile in Yunnan. As described in the book, Tang Priest and his disciples often encounter wooded mountains and rivers on their way. Only by going southwest from the Central Plains can they have this scene. They have also experienced other countries and share the same language and surname with China. These countries are not western countries, but only vassal countries of the Ming Dynasty.

There are not many good emperors in Journey to the West, but there is a wise king, King Yuhua. This king is "the imperial clan of Emperor Tianzhu" and "dedicated to Buddhism and Taoism and won the love of the people", which can only be understood as Zhou's self-declaration.

The Journey to the West satirized Taoism because Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty was addicted to Taoism. A Zhu Qin Rentian, a descendant of Zhou Wang with Zhu Mu, once wrote directly to Emperor Jiajing, accusing him of "being immortal, fasting repeatedly and performing frequently. After a few years, courtiers were neglected for a long time, so they hired non-citizens, then bribed the people, and the punishment was reversed, and competition became common ... ".

Zhu is the lieutenant of Zhenguo. He and (plus the word "sword") are of the same clan and are also a "level". It is impossible for them not to communicate. Zhu Qin's ironing thought basically represented the thoughts of Zhou Fan imperial clan at that time.

There are many Kaifeng dialects in The Journey to the West, which can also prove that this book was written by Kaifeng people. For example, the 26th time, Bajie said, "I am trying to heal the tree, but I still care about you. I just want to get out of the way." "Zhezhe" means "pointing" and "counting". At the same time, "cabinet gas" means "teasing" and "sulking" In addition, the dialects of Nianba, Diligence, Honesty, Drilling Sickness, and Stabbing are all Kaifeng dialects.

Respondents: starseasky- Magician Level 4 3- 1 13: 10.

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