Master Bodhi is definitely the most mysterious immortal in the Journey to the West. The fans of the journey to the West have been arguing until now.
- After ten years, the monkey king finally found Master Bodhi. Master Bodhi warmly welcomed him into the cave and named him. However, for seven years, he didn’t teach him any skills, but asked him to cook and cut firewood every day.
- Sun Wukong stole peaches from Rotten Peach Mountain for seven years, until then Master Bodhi began to teach him skills. And he chose to teach four skills that had nothing to do with immortality.
- Monkey King finally broke the mystery in his plate and learned the art of immortality, but he was told to prevent three disasters.
- It was not easy for Sun Wukong to learn 72 changes and somersault clouds, but because he changed into a pine tree, Wukong was resolutely driven down the mountain by Master Bodhi.
- When he left, he warned the monkey king not to mention his name, otherwise he would demote his soul to nine dark lands. However, the monkey king mentioned his name four times on the way to get scriptures, but nothing bad ever happened.
- When Wukong was learning skills in the Bodhi cave, Master Bodhi told Sun Wukong that he has twelve generation disciples in the world. However, after Sun Wukong left the mountain, he didn’t meet any.
- Sun Wukong learned the art of immortality, but soon after returning to Huaguo Mountain, he was seduced by the king of hell, and his life expectancy was prominently written in the book of life and death.
The most strange thing is that the Tathagata does not know the existence of an immortal as powerful as Master Bodhi. In the eighth chapter of Journey to the West, when he gave a lecture to all his disciples, he told you this: Although I am not in the super purity level, I am not greedy and do not kill.
How can it not be called super purity with Master Bodhi’s cultivation level? Tathagata really doesn’t know him?
Because of the mysteries mentioned above, there has been a lot of controversies about who Master Bodhi is.
Some say Master Bodhi is the illusion of Tathagata, some say he is the illusion of Lord Lao Zi , and some say he is the illusion of Guanyin. Actually, it’s all wrong.
First of all, the Bodhi cave is located in the Lingtai square inch mountain. Lingtai refers to the heart, and a square inch of land also refers to the heart.
Secondly, the Bodhi cave is also called the oblique moon three heart hole. The oblique moon three heart is a way about how to write “heart” in Chinese character.
In the third place, the name of Bodhi, in Buddhism, means to open great wisdom.
The three points above proves that Master Bodhi is actually Sun Wukong’s teacher in his heart. The monkey king made up his Master Bodhi during deep meditation.
In this regard, some people may still have doubts. There is another evidence in the original book, which further proves this. In the second episode of the original book, there are several poems describing Master Bodhi:
Great Awaken Golden Immortal has no dirty posture. The Western Nice Appearance Bodhi has the same life and solemn body with heaven. A master with pure heart.
So, Master Pure Heart is another title of Master Bodhi. This is a hint from the author of Journey to the West.
In buddhism, understanding the original mind and seeing the nature of immortality is a realm of Zen enlightenment. Generally speaking, it is to see your nature with a heart.
Pure heart means sincerity. Whose sincerity? Monkey King’s!
Master Bodhi refers to the teacher who opens great wisdom. Master Pure Heart refers to a mentor who understands his heart. The broken bridge of the mystery in the footwall set by Master Bodhi comes from the stories of the fifth ancestor passing on scriptures to the sixth ancestor in Zen. Everything shows that Master Bodhi is the teacher of Sun Wukong in Sun Wukong’s own heart (deep meditation).
This is also the reason why Sun Wukong can’t see other disciples after leaving the mountain, and no one else has ever seen or known Master Bodhi.
