Before Xuanzang could explain, the Future Buddha spoke up first, preempting him: "The primordial deity Pangu transformed into the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, and all living beings. Pangu is equivalent to the Great Dao, or rather, the Great Dao manifested into everything. Everything is an embodiment of the Great Dao, and Buddha naturally exists within all of this; thus, Buddha is fundamentally the Dao. Stones are the Dao, water droplets are the Dao, vegetation is the Dao, ants are the Dao, humans are the Dao, Daoism is also the Dao, and everything is the Dao."
"In the Daoist tradition, the heart corresponds to fire, and the image of the heart is precisely a restless, scampering monkey—a fiery, impatient fire monkey. The purpose of cultivating the heart is to reach a state of 'Emptiness', which is why Patriarch Bodhi named the Victorious Fighting Buddha Wukong—to compel him to cultivate his state of mind and rein in the innate nature of the heart ape."
Xuanzang continued, "The *Vimalakirti Sutra*, in the Chapter on the Buddha of Fragrant Virtues, states: 'For those difficult to transform, whose minds are like monkeys, various methods are used to control and tame them.' Wukong being called the heart-ape stems from this Buddhist concept. Because he was difficult to tame, he was fitted with the tightening headband, returned to Flower-Fruit Mountain several times, and gave rise to the mystery of the true and false Monkey Kings."
Chapter 5686