What Does the Birth, Death and Revival of the Ginseng Fruit Tree Enlighten Humans

Nantai

Wukong’s overturning and reviving of the Ginseng Fruit Tree also serves as a revelation of the Dharma.

 

Sun Wukong stole the ginseng fruits and was insulted and berated by Qingfeng and Mingyue. Enraged, he pushed down the sacred tree. Does this imply Wukong lacked spiritual cultivation? Not at all—it is yet another symbolic revelation of the Dharma. All plots in *Journey to the West* embody the profound truths of Buddhism.

 

The "ginseng fruits" symbolize the outflow of mortal consciousness. When Wukong topples the tree, it signifies that the practitioner has blocked the consciousness from flowing toward worldly mortal desires, putting an end to such mortal outflow. In terms of the essential Dharma, it means the seventh consciousness, which constantly runs about transmitting karmic messages, ceases its restless wandering. The practitioner cuts off its path of outflow into the mundane world. Thus, the seventh consciousness can only turn inward. To transcend mortality and attain sainthood, practitioners must swim against the current, guiding the seventh consciousness to merge with the eighth consciousness, and the "ginseng fruit" transforms into the "Herb Restoring Elixir".

Viewed merely as a tale, this is a misdeed of Sun Wukong. But interpreted through the Dharma, it represents the correct path of cultivation. Followers of the Lesser Vehicle Dharma regard the seventh consciousness as the ultimate destination, while practitioners of the Mahayana Dharma abandon attachment to the seventh consciousness, letting it yield authority to the eighth consciousness. This is the "death" of the sacred tree. Yet note: the tree dies in appearance but not in essence; in the Dharma, the seventh consciousness is set aside rather than annihilated.

 

Later, Bodhisattva Guanyin appeared and revived the tree with sweet dew, proving the tree was seemingly dead yet inherently living. What is sweet dew? The Chinese character for dew is composed of the symbols for "rain" and "path". Rain belongs to heaven, and path belongs to earth, so dew embodies the harmony of heaven and earth. Heaven represents yang and earth represents yin, hence dew is also the unity of yin and yang. Delving deeper, sweet dew is the true mind, the original essence before the separation of chaos and the primordial universe. When distinctions arise, there is emptiness and non-emptiness; when all discrimination ceases, emptiness and non-emptiness are non-dual. This is why sweet dew can revitalize all living things in the world.

 

Therefore, Sun Wukong’s first overturning of the tree symbolizes that the practitioner transcends birth and death and attains sagehood (yet this is not ultimate enlightenment, only partial realization of Buddhahood, the state of great Bodhisattvas in the differentiated teachings). However, Bodhisattvas benefit not only themselves but also all sentient beings. They must descend from sainthood into the mortal world to liberate living beings—this is the eternal vow of Bodhisattva Guanyin. Only those who can transcend mortality to attain holiness and manifest from holiness to deliver others, accomplishing self-benefit and altruism, can achieve perfect fruition. This explains why Guanyin revived the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

 

In this process, the Buddha (Guanyin is an ancient primordial Buddha) liberates two kinds of beings. Without the guidance of the Buddha, worldly beings drift unilaterally into mortal bondage, and cultivators retreat unilaterally into solitary sainthood. With the Buddha’s teachings, mundane beings gain the capacity to cultivate toward enlightenment, and saintly cultivators acquire the merit to descend and deliver others. Both mortals and saints attain dual merits, embarking on the path of awakening: self-awakening, awakening others, and the perfect fulfillment of awakening and practice.

 

This is the profound Buddhist doctrine embodied by the death and rebirth of the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

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