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Is Hanuman the Indian monkey really the prototype of Sun Wukong?

Hu Shi believed that the prototype of the Monkey King Monkey King in “Journey to the West” was taken from Hanuman. He said: “I always suspect that this powerful monkey is not a domestic product, but an imported one from India. Maybe even the myth of Wuzhiqi. It was also imitated with Indian influence.”

He also said, “According to the guidance of Dr. Gang Hetai, I found a Hanuman in India’s oldest memoir poem “The Legend of Rama”, which can probably be regarded as the back of Monkey King.” Legend has it that in China, the plot of the “Ranga City War” recorded in “Ramayana” was adapted into the story of “Journey to the West” about Sun Wukong’s havoc in the Heavenly Palace. Both Chen Yinke and Ji Xianlin agreed with this statement.

In the article “Journey to the West” and “Ramayan Book”, Wu Xiaoling raised objections to the theory that Sun Wukong was influenced by Hanuman.

Many Buddhist scriptures have records of the monkeys, such as: “The Book of Wise and Foolish” Volume 12, and also published “Misha Sai Lv” Volume 10, “Sangha’s Regulations” Volume 29, “The Five Hundred Disciples of the Buddha Self-talk through”.

“The History of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty”, Volume 4, “The Relics of Mihou Offering Secrets and Sakyamuni” contains: “When the Tathagata walked here in the past, there were Mihou holding honey to worship Buddha, the Buddha made the water peaceful, and the general public. Mihou was happy. Jump, fall into a pit and die; take advantage of this blessing, gain life and harmony, and become an arahant.”

Character Comparison

However, some people arbitrarily assert that Hanuman, like Sun Wukong, despised the authority of the gods without further research. It is a symbol of evil, and it does not belong to the gods. It is the same as the Chinese demons and ghosts. How can it be said that Hanuman despised authority.

He detained the sun god to save Rama’s younger brother. Rama is the incarnation of Vishnu among the three major gods in India. His status is particularly high. Vishnu’s status in India is similar to that of China’s Jade Emperor. Hanuman is a last resort. After imprisoning the sun god, Hanuman faithfully apologized to the sun god. If this is replaced by Sun Wukong, will he apologize to the gods? Not so.

Hanuman respects the three gods very much and dares not talk nonsense. In order to swear his loyalty to Vishnu (Rama), he tore his chest to show his loyalty. This action is used in many statues of Hanuman in India. can be seen.

Hanuman was born with great respect for the gods and obeyed the authority of the gods; while Sun Wukong was rebellious in his bones and always despised the authority of the gods.

Hanuman is a propaganda symbol of Hinduism, which pays attention to class status, that is, obedience to Brahmanism. On the other hand, Sun Wukong carries the ideas of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism and the fighting spirit in his bones. He pursues freedom and does not pay attention to obedience.

Image comparison

Hanuman has a very important weapon, which is his long tail. His tail is equivalent to the golden cudgel of Sun Wukong. He has made great achievements in his adventures. Hanuman’s tail has become one of his symbols .

As for Sun Wukong, it is not difficult to find that the early version of Sun Wukong has no tail at all . In Journey to the West, Wu Chengen added it to him, and it was only mentioned three times. But these three times, his tail has become a burden, which makes Sun Wukong always unlucky. .

It can be seen that the group Sun Wukong is not the same group as Hanuman. Sun Wukong first belonged to the class of apes and had no tail at all, while Hanuman was a long-tailed monkey .

The weapons of the two of them are also different. Hanuman’s weapon was a trident at first, and later it was changed to a tiger-headed Ruyi stick (this was translated by Mr. Ji Xianlin). I don’t know why Hanuman used a stick. This is clearly a big copper hammer.

Is a copper hammer a stick? Not the same at all.

Conclusion analysis

Several masters of the Republic of China studied Sun Wukong from “Journey to the West”. In fact, the earliest creator of Sun Wukong was Yang Jingxian of the Yuan Dynasty. Many of Wu Chengen’s “Journey to the West” were created on the basis of Yang Jingxian. If the story of Hanuman Introduced to China, then the Sun Wukong written by Yang Jingxian should have similarities, but there are no similarities.

Pursuing the truth of the legend
Out of respect for the identity of the master of the Republic of China, many people still arbitrarily assert that Sun Wukong originated from Hanuman without further research. In fact, most people do not even understand the basic relationship between Buddhism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism. Among the many Buddhist stories spread in China, although some characters from Brahmanism are selectively introduced, there is no trace of the monkey god Haruman.

In the history of China, Buddhism had a strong folk influence, but the influence of Brahmanism and Hinduism was almost zero. Buddhist monks had absolutely no reason or motivation to promote Hindu gods, so just because they all originated in India, it is a rash judgment. Numan came to China through Buddhism, which is as unreasonable as asserting that Jupiter, the chief god of ancient Rome, was spread to America by missionaries of Roman state Christianity.

To put it back 10,000 steps, wherever human beings pass by, traces are bound to be left. If the legend of Hanuman had been circulated in China before Wu Chengen wrote Journey to the West, then in the evolution of folklore in various places, the temples of eminent monks have become popular. There should be records in the discussion of the law, and there are various stories of demon monkeys and god monkeys. In the absence of such evidence, it is not convincing to assert what the ancients were based on what later generations heard of Hindu legends. .

This is different from blatantly tampering with the origin of Chinese civilization and trying to prove that “Chinese civilization is from the west”, and historical nihilism should be resolutely resisted and overcome.

In recent years, the trend of historical nihilism has increasingly used the “flag” of academic research to spread erroneous views and affect social cognition, which is concealed and deceptive to a certain extent.

Hanuman said it was one of them. National nihilism is undesirable.

From the current point of view, the prototype of Sun Wukong is not Hanuman at all, and the prototype of Sun Wukong comes from mainland China.