Tearing Off the Mask

The so-called "Gaia consciousness" could be simply understood like this: suppose the Earth, or even the universe, was a gigantic living organism. Such a lifeform would naturally possess a vast mind, a vast consciousness. "Gaia" was the earth goddess in Greek mythology, the mother of the gods, a lofty and revered deity among all divine beings. Thus, the consciousness of this hypothetical lifeform known as the land, the Earth, or the universe was defined as "Gaia consciousness"! Although the academy offered mythology-related courses, its explanations of "Gaia consciousness" were quite limited. Even the teachers could not give any concrete account of it.

On the surface, Sun Wukong's origin was that he was a character from Journey to the West. He had neither father nor mother, born after a spiritual-root immortal stone gestated for countless years. He was the Intelligent Stone Monkey among the Four Monkeys of Chaos. Later, Sun Wukong caused the great uproar known as "Overturning Heaven" and was suppressed beneath Five Finger Mountain by the Tathagata Buddha. After being enlightened by the Tang Monk—distinct from Chen Xuanzang—he followed him west to obtain the scriptures. In the end, he attained enlightenment and became the "Victorious Fighting Buddha." According to Master Wu's setting, however, the Four Monkeys of Chaos "did not belong to any of the ten categories of living beings," transcending the Three Realms and existing beyond the Five Elements. This sort of setting—where something clearly existed, yet was insisted not to exist—seemed suspicious no matter how one looked at it. Moreover, Sun Wukong had cultivated for only a short time, yet he had been able to turn the Heavenly Court upside down. Without some special reason, wasn't that far too overpowered? Others cultivated for thousands, even tens of thousands of years before ascending to immortality, while you, a