Sun Wukong
Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. Five hundred years later, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang riding on the White Dragon Horse and two other disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Heshang, on a journey to obtain Buddhist sutras, known as the West or Western Paradise, where Buddha and his followers dwell.
Sun Wukong possesses many abilities. He has supernatural strength and is able to support the weight of two heavy mountains on his shoulders while running "with the speed of a meteor". He is extremely fast, able to travel 108,000 li in one somersault. He has vast memorization skills and can remember every monkey ever born. As king of the monkeys, it is his duty to keep track of and protect every monkey. Sun Wukong acquires the 72 Earthly Transformations, which allow him to access 72 unique powers, including the ability to transform into animals and objects. He is a skilled fighter, capable of defeating the best warriors of heaven. His hair has magical properties, capable of making copies of himself or transforming into various weapons, animals and other things. He has partial weather manipulation skills, can freeze people in place, and can become invisible.
The supernatural abilities displayed by Wukong and some other characters were widely thought of as "magic powers" by readers at the time of Journey to the West
History
As one of the most enduring Chinese literary characters, Wukong has a varied and highly debated background and colorful cultural history. His inspiration might have come from an amalgam of influences, generally relating to religious concepts.One source for inspiration came from differing ways gibbons were venerated during the Chinese Chu kingdom, and various legends about gibbons and monkeys in Chu and its successors. These legends and religious practices, alongside doctrine from Taoist organizations that reinforced them and combined elements from all five kinds of traditional religious Taoism gave rise to stories and art motifs during the Han dynasty, eventually contributing to the Sun Wukong figure.
Some believe the association with Xuanzang is based on the first disciple of Xuanzang,. Hu Shih first suggested that Wu Cheng'en may have been influenced by the Hindu deity Hanuman from the Ramayana in his depictions of the Monkey King. The Ramayana was first translated into Chinese in the 20th century, 500 years after Journey to the West was written, by Mi Wenkai, Sun Yong and Ji Xianlin. Although Ji Xianlin speculated that some related stories might have circulated in China before that, he also acknowledged that most scholars, including Lu Xun, believe the Ramayana had not been translated into Chinese or was accessible to Wu Cheng'en prior to the writing of Journey to the West. Instead, Lu Xun suggested the 9th-century Chinese deity Wuzhiqi, who appears as a sibling of Sun Wukong in older Yuan dynasty stories, as the inspiration. Anthony C. Yu writes in his unabridged translation of Journey to the West that Wuzhiqi "has provided many scholars with a prototype of Sun Wukong" and that the author of Journey himself had "certainly" read of Wuzhiqi. Sun Wukong may have also been influenced by local folk religion from Fuzhou province, where monkey gods were worshipped long before the novel. This included the three Monkey Saints of Lin Shui Palace. Once fiends, they were subdued by the goddess Chen Jinggu, the Empress Lin Shui. The three were Dan Xia Da Sheng, the Red Face Monkey Sage, Tong Tian Da Sheng, the Black Face Monkey Sage, and Shuang Shuang San Sheng, the White Face Monkey Sage. The two traditional mainstream religions practiced in Fuzhou are Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism. Traditionally, many people practice both religions simultaneously. However, the roots of local religion dated back many years before the institutionalization of these traditions.
Sun Wukong's religious status in Buddhism is often denied by Buddhist monks both Chinese and non-Chinese alike, but is very welcomed by the general public, spreading its name around the world and establishing itself as a cultural icon.
Background
Birth and early life
According to Journey to the West, Sun Wukong is born from a strong magic stone that sits atop the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. The stone is said to receive the nurture of heaven, which possesses a positive nature, and earth, which possesses a negative nature, and thus is able to produce living beings, according to Taoist philosophies. The stone develops a magic womb, which bursts open one day to produce a stone egg about the size of a ball.When the wind blows on the egg, the egg becomes the stone monkey. As his eyes move, two beams of golden light shoot toward the Jade palace and startle the Jade Emperor. When he sees the light he orders two of his officers to investigate. They report the stone monkey, and that the light is dying down as the monkey eats and drinks. The Jade Emperor believes him to be nothing special.
On the mountain, the monkey joins a group of other wild monkeys. After playing, the monkeys regularly bathe in a stream. One day, they decide to seek the source of the stream and climb the mountain to a waterfall. They declare that whoever goes through the waterfall, finds the stream's source, and comes out again will become their king. The stone monkey volunteers and jumps into the waterfall.
The stone monkey finds a large iron bridge over rushing water, across which is a cave. He persuades the other monkeys to jump in also, and they make it into their home. He then reminds them of their prior declaration, so they declare him their king. He takes the throne and calls himself Handsome Monkey King. This happiness does not last. When one of his older monkey friends dies, the Monkey King is very upset. He decides to strike out from his island on a self-made raft, in search of an Immortal to teach him how to beat death.
He comes ashore and wanders around. Humans see him and flee, uncertain of his ape-like appearance. He takes some clothes that were left out to dry and continues on foot. His face hidden by a hood, he travels through towns and sees many examples of human degeneracy and vice. He continues on and into a forest. The Monkey King hears a woodcutter singing an interesting song, and when questioning the woodcutter about the origin he learns it was taught to the woodcutter by an Immortal who resides in the forest.
The Monkey King comes to the entrance of a temple in which a magical Taoist martial artist named Puti Zushi resides. Puti Zushi initially refuses to let him in, but the Monkey King refuses to leave and waits outside the entrance for months. Puti Zushi is impressed by the Monkey King's persistence and allows him to enter. He accepts the Monkey King as a student, giving him his religious name, "Sun Wukong", and teaches him many advanced Taoist practices, including the Way of Immortality.
He later advises Sun Wukong never to needlessly show off his skills, because others might ask him to teach them, and if he does teach them, they may go on to cause trouble, but if he doesn't teach them, they will resent him for it. He then forbids Sun Wukong from ever revealing who it was that taught him, and the loyal Monkey King promises never to reveal the identity of his Master. Later, whenever Sun Wukong is asked about his powers and skills, he honestly replies that he learned everything in his dreams. Throughout the rest of the book, however, Sun Wukong is, repeatedly, referred to as a member of the "Monad Sect".
After the Monkey King returns home, he learns that a demon called the Demon King of Confusion is kidnapping the monkeys of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit to use as slaves. He subsequently kills the demon and his minions, saving the kidnapped monkeys. He also brings the entire weapon storage of a nearby country for his subjects but is unable to find a weapon fit for himself. Upon hearing that Dragon Kings possess many treasures, he travels the oceans and finds the palace of a Dragon King.
At the entrance, Sun Wukong asks for an introduction, but Dragon King Ao Guang tells his guards to turn him away. Sun Wukong barges in anyway, brushing off protests from the guards, insisting the Dragon King must be confused to turn away a fellow king. Inside, he introduces himself and encourages the Dragon King to give him a weapon. Quickly realizing Sun Wukong is quite formidable, the Dragon King feigns willingness and hospitality, ordering his underlings to bring out weapon after weapon, starting from basic spears and swords but quickly escalating to genuine treasures. Sun Wukong tests each weapon, but none are robust enough for the Monkey King, who is unhappy with the situation.
Sun Wukong then acquires the golden-banded staff Ruyi Jingu Bang/Ding Hai Shen Zhen, the stabilizer of the Four Seas and a treasure of Ao Guang. The Monkey King is the only creature strong enough to wield the staff-like weapon and there is an instant affinity between them. The golden-banded staff can change its size, elongate, fly, and attack opponents according to its master's will. It weighs 13,500 jīn or 7960kg. When not wielding the weapon, the Monkey King shrinks it down to the size of a sewing needle and stores it in his ear.
In addition to taking the magical staff, the Monkey King encourages the Dragon King to gift him attire fit for a King. The Dragon King calls upon the Dragon Kings for assistance, and they arrive and give Sun Wukong a golden chain mail shirt, a phoenix-feather cap, and cloud-walking boots. Sun Wukong thanks the Dragon Kings and leaves happy.
Upon his return to the mountain, Wukong demonstrates the new weapon to his monkey tribe and draws the attention of other beastly powers, who seek to ally with him. He forms a fraternity, the Seven Sages, with the Bull Demon King, the Saurian Demon King, the Roc Demon King, the Lion Spirit King, the Macaque Spirit King, and the snub-nosed monkey Spirit King.
The Monkey King, now sentenced to death for extorting the Dragon Kings, then defies Hell's attempt to collect his soul. He wipes his name out of the Book of Life and Death, a collection of books claimed to have every name of every mortal alive and the ability to manipulate lifespan, along with the names of all monkeys known to him. The kings of the Diyu report him to the Jade Emperor. The heavenly army uses everything, even trying to erase him from existence altogether, but ultimately fails.