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The Monkey King's Historical Prototype
Text: Lu Xun (authorized by the original author)

Among the many Buddhas in Buddhism, three are the most distinguished. They are the ancient Buddha who used to burn lanterns, the present Buddha Sakyamuni (the Tathagata in Journey to the West) and the future Buddha Maitreya.

In history, Xuanzang was smuggled because of official disapproval (so he was often wanted). When he came to Guazhou on the border, he saw a temple dedicated to Maitreya. Xuanzang went to worship Buddha very devoutly a few days ago, hoping Maitreya would help.

During Xuanzang's worship of Buddha, Dharma, a monk in the temple, dreamed at night that a very white (small fresh meat) Han monk was sitting on the lotus and flying all the way west.

The next day after waking up, the mage could no longer sit still. He knew it was a hint from the Buddha that he had to do something. There are not many temples in Guazhou, so it is very easy for a mage to find a new Han monk. When he met Master Xuanzang, Dharma was very excited, because he found that Xuanzang's appearance was the man he had seen in his dream.

Master Dharma reported to Xuanzang excitedly what he had seen and heard in his dream. Although Xuanzang was very excited inside, he pretended to be calm on the surface. Master Xuanzang began to choose some of them to teach civilized people more than 1000 years before the birth of systematic materialism theory.

Xuanzang calmly told Dharma that dreams are born from the heart, and what he saw in the dream is illusory, so don't say it again.

Seeing off Dharma Master with a black line on his face, Xuanzang was secretly pleased. He knew that Maitreya appeared. In order to express his gratitude to Maitreya, Xuanzang once again came to the Buddha statue and began a new round of pious prayers.

This time, Maitreya Buddha was moved by Xuanzang's piety and really began to appear. When Xuanzang prayed devoutly, Maitreya sent him a semi-final meeting. Seeing that Xuanzang was worshipping Buddha, the man took the initiative to go forward and walked around Xuanzang three times. To be clear, this semi-final of the conference is not a mental illness, and I like to revolve around others. This behavior is unique to India, and it is also the most respectful etiquette for the three treasures (Buddha, Dharma and Monk).

After talking, Xuanzang learned that the name of the conference semifinals was Shi Hu Tuo, and the reason why he turned around himself three times as soon as he came up was actually because Shi Hu Tuo was also a devout Buddhist. He hoped that Xuanzang could be ordained for himself and make him a Buddhist layman.

It is also wonderful to go out alone and have an apprentice to serve you. After Shi became a monk, he ran out of the temple happily and came back soon. Shi brought back many cakes and fruits to support Master Xuanzang.

Xuanzang was very pleased to see that Shi Hu Tuo was very respectful and devoted to goodness. He explained his journey to the west to Shi Hu directly.

I have to say that Xuanzang's behavior is very risky. For a person who has just known each other for a few hours, frankly speaking such a confidential incident, if Shi Shutuo is not a reliable person, then Xuanzang is likely to be with the Buddha at once.

You know, the government of the Tang Dynasty was very strict with stowaways. Once caught, it would be a capital crime, and even those who helped stowaways would be punished in the same way.

Shi Shutuo was very moved by Master's wishes and immediately promised Xuanzang to escort him across the Five Peaks.

It is worth mentioning that some researchers say that the historical prototype of the Monkey King, the hero of Wu Cheng'en's famous The Journey to the West in the Ming Dynasty, is Shi Tuo. Their reason is that Hu people's thick hair looks more like monkeys. This is not the main reason, but the main basis for the researchers to come up with this conclusion is that Slintow's later performance in real history is very similar to that of the Monkey King. Of course, this is another story.