Journey to the West: Beginning with the Apprenticeship of Bodhi Patriarch

Chapter 5: The Monkey Heart, the Irrational Horse, the Golden Man, the Wood Woman, and the Yellow Woman
The ancestor said: "Human beings are born with three spirits, namely the primordial spirit, the consciousness spirit, and the desire spirit. To achieve the great way, the consciousness spirit and the desire spirit are obstacles. The consciousness spirit makes you have a myriad of thoughts and unable to sleep, while the desire spirit makes you upset and restless."

"It is difficult to eliminate the conscious mind and the desire mind. If a person wants to achieve the great way, he must first eliminate the conscious mind, eliminate the desire mind, and clarify the primordial mind."

"The people of Jambudvīpa are greedy for power and do not cultivate their primordial spirit."

"Tong'er, you need to ask five people for help, so that you can have a chance to achieve the Great Dao. Otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve the Great Dao, and you will die sooner or later!"

The Patriarch's tone was stern, half worried and half solemn.

Jiang Yuan was horrified when he heard this.

He had seen this statement in a dream.

People are born with three spirits: the primordial spirit, the conscious spirit, and the desire spirit.

The primordial spirit is the real me, representing the purest and most innocent self. It has no thoughts or distractions and resides in the palace of the primordial spirit.

The conscious mind is the voice of the heart and it often speaks in the heart. When you have a myriad of thoughts, it is the conscious mind that is at work. The conscious mind likes to influence people's thoughts, making them hesitant and indecisive.

The God of Desire is in charge of all kinds of desires. When a person wants to work hard, the God of Desire will cause trouble, making him think of all kinds of entertainment and making him relax. Those who keep the precepts should be most wary of the God of Desire, as the God of Desire is the easiest way to make people break the precepts.

He knows the three gods of man.

But what does it mean to ask five people for help?
Jiang Yuan asked: "Master, which five people did you invite?"

The ancestor said: "The Monkey Heart, the Horse of Will, the Golden Man, the Wood Woman, and the Yellow Woman! Only with the protection of these five people, can your original spirit, boy, eliminate the consciousness spirit, destroy the desire spirit, and practice the golden elixir path!"

Jiang Yuan was thoughtful after hearing this, and then asked: "Master, where can we find the five people?"

The master smiled without saying anything and pointed at Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan was puzzled.

The master smiled and said, "Take your time to think about it, boy. If you can get one of the five to support you, you can enter the Tao!"

"Go, go!"

After saying this, the master waved his sleeves and let him go back.

Jiang Yuan had no choice but to leave the master's quiet room.

The master watched Jiang Yuan leave and murmured to himself, "This is the secret of the Tao. If you can comprehend it, I will teach you the way of the golden elixir."

"If you can't comprehend it, I will teach you a side door, you troublesome boy."

The master shook his head and smiled, pretending to close his eyes and concentrating his breath.

……

Return to the quiet room.

Jiang Yuan sat cross-legged on a cushion, meditating quietly and pondering what the master had said.

The master ordered him to find five people to protect him, namely the Monkey King, the Will Horse, the Golden Man, the Wooden Woman, and the Yellow Woman.

Are these five people really human?

No.

The master’s final finger lies with him.

These five people are not real people. The five people can be him, and he can also be five people.

Jiang Yuan has an extraordinary level of comprehension and he can comprehend the principles.

However, he could not figure out who these five people were.

According to the ancestors, people are born with three gods accompanying them.

Where did these five people come from?

Where else.

How did he gain the support of five persons?

The primordial spirit, the desire spirit and the conscious spirit are hostile to each other. Only when five people help the primordial spirit can they defeat the desire spirit and the conscious spirit.

"A restless mind" often refers to a state of restlessness, like a wild horse or a mountain monkey, which is difficult to control.

Where can I find this?

Jiang Yuan frowned and thought for a long time, but could not figure it out.

I sat there for an unknown amount of time.

Jiang Yuan remained motionless, studying diligently, like a clay statue. He neither ate nor drank, neither happy nor angry. He just sat there, comprehending the world until the end of time and the seas dried up and the rocks crumbled.

……

I don't know where time goes, I don't know the eight festivals and four seasons. Jiang Yuan is restless, like fishing for the moon in the water, with inspiration jumping in front of his eyes, but he can't catch it and make no progress.

He was in a dilemma.

Boom! ! !
The sound of bells and drums rang out in Jiang Yuan's mind, as if a huge force was pulling him out.

He opened his eyes as if awakened from a dream, and saw a quiet room. Who would have thought that the room was really filled with 'fine dust everywhere that confuses the eyes, and coarse ashes filled the valley like rolling sesame seeds'.

How could this happen?
He sweeps the dust every day, so how could the room be so dirty?

Jiang Yuan stood up from the cushion, his robe fluttering and the dust settling to the ground. He took a step forward and heard faint laughter and the sound of chess outside the room, so he pushed the door open and went out.

Outside the quiet room, the east was bright and a sound came from outside the cave.

Jiang Yuan turned around and saw that the door of the master's meditation room was wide open, so he thought that the master was outside.

He walked quickly out of the cave.

When he got closer, he saw a stone table outside the cave. The master was sitting on the east side, and an old man was sitting opposite him.

The old man was wearing purple clothes, had white hair and a youthful face, was energetic and had a amiable look.

The two of them set up a chess game in front of a stone table and were playing chess fiercely.

"Tong'er, after three years of meditation, have you awakened?"

When the master saw Jiang Yuan coming out, he asked with a smile.

Jiang Yuan was shocked when he heard this. Three years had passed in the blink of an eye. He was extremely surprised and asked, "Master, I have been meditating for three years?"

The master nodded and said, "Not wrong, today is exactly three years."

Jiang Yuan thought to himself that time really flies, and he didn't even notice the passage of time.

He once knew a strange story in his dream. It was about a woodcutter who was cutting wood on the mountain and watching immortals playing chess. He didn't expect that during the game, the sea and the earth below the mountain had changed dramatically, buildings had risen and fallen, and a hundred years had passed. Everything and people were no longer the same.

When he began to comprehend, he found that he was very similar to the strange woodcutter.

Three years seemed like a moment to him.

"Bodhi, you are an interesting disciple."

The old man with white hair and a youthful face laughed out loud, holding two chess pieces in his hands with great interest.

Jiang Yuan looked over and didn't recognize the old man, but seeing that he was acquainted with the founder, he must be an old immortal, so he greeted him.

The master smiled and said, "This is my friend. You can call him Mr. Boyang."

Jiang Yuan was shocked again. How could he not know the name Boyang? In his dream, he heard that there was a strange man who wrote the "Tao Te Ching", which was famous for centuries. The strange man was Laozi, whose surname was Li, name was Dan, and courtesy name was Boyang. He lived in the Spring and Autumn Period.

This Boyang must be Laozi.

But this was the Western Zhou Dynasty.

unless……

This Laozi is Taishang Laojun!

Only Taishang Laojun can enjoy immortality.

This is "Journey to the West", and it doesn't seem surprising that Laozi is Taishang Laojun.

His master is Bodhi Patriarch, so it makes sense that he knows Laozi.

Jiang Yuan did not panic, as his master was not necessarily weaker than Taishang Laojun.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan bowed again and said, "Guangxin greets Mr. Boyang."

Guangxin is his Buddhist name.

Laozi smiled and said, "Get up, he is a smart man. It is rare to find such a smart person among the people of the Southern Continent."

The master said, "Does my child catch your eye?"

Laozi nodded and said, "Of course he can enter. Guangxin is the most difficult to enter the Tao. Why don't you enlighten him, Bodhi, and let the consciousness blind his mind and the desire cover his eyes?"

The god of consciousness has blinded my mind, and the god of desire has covered my eyes?
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan suddenly understood. He had been meditating for three years but could not find the key. He only felt that there was a flash of light in his mind, like a fish swimming around, which he could not see. So this was the reason.

He wanted to understand where the 'five persons' were so that he could ask them to protect him in dealing with the consciousness spirit and the desire spirit.

These two gods should stop him to prevent him from seeing the 'five persons'.

So that was the case. He thought his hard work was in vain and that his three years of hard work would be wasted...

(End of this chapter)