What is the historical story of the village that built an altar to worship Bajie?

Everyone has basically seen Journey to the West, and the image of Pig Bajie is deeply rooted in people's hearts. Specifically, it is laziness and greed. No one will worship him, but there is such a village in China. People in this village not only worship Pig Bajie, but also claim that their village is Gaolaozhuang in Journey to the West! Is all this true or not? Where the hell is this village?

This village is located in Xizhuang Village, Banqiao, Longyang District, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province. In this village, you can see a temple specially designed for Zhu Bajie. The statue of Pig Bajie in the temple is striking-with a big belly, nine teeth on his shoulders, a monk's hat, a Ma Xie and a blue shirt, it looks simple and honest and imposing. And the golden statue burns incense all the year round.

Due to years of incense, the face of the statue of Pig Bajie in this temple has been smoked to a bronze color. People from ten miles and eight townships come here to burn incense and pray. Most of them prayed to Pig Bajie to protect their families and children from all diseases. It is said to be very effective!

Then why is this village dedicated to a pig with a very negative image? And burn incense all the year round? It's a long story

According to the research of local folklore scholars, the history of building Bajie Temple and worshipping pigs in Xizhuang Village can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. Not only did the prototype of Pig Bajie in The Journey to the West come from here, but Xizhuang Village was also the "Gaolaozhuang" when Pig Bajie was adopted by his wife.

According to the local old man's answer, as early as a dozen generations ago, there was a story about Zhu Bajie, and at that time, Journey to the West had not been written!

The old man said that Gaolaozhuang was the predecessor of Xizhuang Village, and Pig Bajie grew up in Zhanyun Cave in Balang Village (now the cave dwelling of the reclining Buddha Temple, which is 0/.5 km away from Xizhuang Village/kloc-0). As an adult, Pig Bajie took a fancy to Gao Cuilan, the third daughter of a wealthy Gaojia in a neighboring village (Gaolaozhuang, now Xizhuang Village). In order to get close to Gao Cuilan, Pig Bajie often goes to the mountain behind Gaofu to open up wasteland for farming. Whenever Pig Bajie passes by Gao's gate, he always looks for opportunities to chat. The relationship between them has been a long time.

At first, Cuilan's parents thought that Pig Bajie looked like a pig and was ugly, and they disagreed with this marriage. But later, my parents saw that Zhu Bajie was hardworking and kind, and finally agreed. After Gao's adoption, Zhu Bajie and Weaving men and women respected each other as guests.

Because the Gaos practiced Buddhism, Zhu Bajie began to practice at home under their influence. A few years later, Gao's parents died, and Pig Bajie became his other wife, traveling with a traveling monk-I didn't expect him to leave and never come back. Later, the villagers rumored that Pig Bajie met a "monk" and was promoted by the monk.

In order to commemorate the emergence of a "fairy" in the village, the local villagers built a temple to worship his idol. According to local legend, many years later, Gao Cuilan, the wife of Pig Bajie, also died. On the second day after her death, a graceful pink peony suddenly grew in front of Bajie Temple. Until now, this peony still blooms every year. When the flowers bloom, people in Xizhuang Village will come to worship and pray.

So how did this Pig Bajie get written into Journey to the West and become well known?

For this question, the local old people told us that, to be sure, their ancestors had contact with Wu Cheng'en and told him the story of "Pig Eight Rings". Wu Cheng'en's early life was during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, when immigrants from the Central Plains migrated to the Yunnan border on a large scale. It is estimated that this is the time when Wu Cheng'en came into contact with this story. These inferences can be found in local county records and local chronicles.

In this way, almost all China people know that "lazy" Pig Bajie was worshipped by local people for a long time in an unknown small village on the border of China and Yunnan. ...