Monkey King

Depiction of the Forbidden Temple's Sun Wukong as depicted in a scene in a Peking opera

According to Journey to the West, the Monkey King is born from a magic stone that sits atop the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. This stone is no ordinary stone, however, because it receives the nurture of heaven (yang), which possesses a positive nature, and earth (yin), 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, it turns into a stone monkey that can already crawl and walk. This origin is likely an allusion to the Hindu Monkey-God, Hanuman, whose father was the Wind God. 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 befriends various animals and joins a group of other 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.

He 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. Sun Wukong 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 wouldn't last. When one of his older monkey friends dies, the Monkey King is very upset. He decides to strive out of his island on a self made raft, in search of an Immortal to teach him knowledge and how to beat death.

He comes shore to an island and wanders around. Humans see him and flee, uncertain of his monkey humanoid 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 he was taught it by an Immortal who resides in the forest.

The Monkey King comes to the entrance of a temple of which resides a magical taoist martial named Subhuti, who initially refuses to let him in. The Monkey King waits outside the entrance for many months, refusing to leave. Subhuti is impressed with his persistence and allows the Monkey King to enter. Subhuti accepts the Monkey King as a student, teaching him all advanced taoist practices including the way of Immortality, telling Sun Wukong it was his destiny to know. Subhuti later advises Sun Wukong never to needlessly show off his skills, for to do may encourage others to ask him to teach them. He counsels that if you do teach them, they may go on to cause trouble, and if you don't teach them, they will resent you for it. He then forbids the Monkey King from ever revealing who taught him, and loyal Sun Wukong promises never to reveal who his Master was. With that Sun Wukong awakes back in the forest, realizing all the years of teaching had taken place in some form of compressed time trance. Later, whenever Sun Wukong is asked about his powers and skills, he gives an honest answer when saying that he learned it all in his dreams.

The Monkey King establishes himself as a powerful and influential demon. On hearing that Dragon Kings possess many treasures, and in search of a weapon, he travels to the oceans and finds the palace of a Dragon King. At the entrance Sun Wukong asks for an introduction, but the Dragon King Ao Guang tells his guards to turn him away. Sun Wukong barges in anyway, insisting the Dragon King must be confused to turn away a fellow King, and brushes off protests from the guards. Inside he introduces himself and encourages the Dragon King to bestow him a weapon. Quickly realizing Sun Wukong is quite formidable with strength and powers, the Dragon King feigns willingness and hospitality, ordering his underlings to bring out weapon after weapon. Sun Wukong tests each weapon, but none are robust enough for the Monkey King who expresses his displeasure at the situation. Sun Wukong then acquires the Golden-banded staff Ruyi Jingu Bang/Ding Hai Shen Zhen (如意金箍棒/定海神针), the stabilizer of the Four Seas and a treasure of Ao Guang, the dragon-king of the Eastern Seas. 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 7960 kg. 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 and obtains a golden chain mail shirt (鎖子黃金甲), a phoenix-feather cap (鳳翅紫金冠 Fèngchìzǐjinguān), and cloud-walking boots (藕絲步雲履 Ǒusībùyúnlǚ). The phoenix-feather cap was one of the treasures of the dragon kings, a circlet of red gold adorned with phoenix feathers. Traditionally it is depicted as a metal circlet with two striped feathers attached to the front, presumably the signature plumage of the Fenghuang or Chinese phoenix. Sun Wukong thanks the Dragon King and leaves happy.

Upon his return to the mountain, he 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 with the Bull Demon King (牛魔王), the Saurian Demon King (蛟魔王), the Single-horned Demon King (单角魔王), the Roc Demon King (鵬魔王), the Lion Spirit King (獅狔王), the Macaque Spirit King (獼猴王) and the Snub-nosed monkey Spirit King (禺狨王).[9][Note 1]

The Monkey King, now sentenced to death for extorting a Dragon King, 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 Dragon Kings and the Kings of Hell report him once again to the Jade Emperor.[4]

Hoping that a promotion and a rank amongst the gods will make him more manageable, the Jade Emperor invites the Monkey King to Heaven. The Monkey King believes he is receiving an honorable place as one of the gods as he is told he will be made 'Protector of the Horses' (a fancy term the Heavens coined for a stable-boy) the lowest job in heaven. When he discovers the importance of status in Heaven, and how he has been given the lowest position, the Monkey King sets the Cloud Horses free from the stable, then returns to his own kingdom and proclaims himself The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal.

The Heavens are reluctantly forced to recognize his title, after Gold Star advises the highly offended Jade Emperor against rushing into military action to kill the 'brash, rude and imprudent' monkey, counselling that resorting to force to subdue to monkey would be good if they succeed, but asks to consider if they fail, which would harm the reputation of Heaven. Gold Star advises the Jade Emperor formally recognize Sun Wukong's title, knowing that it will greatly please the Monkey King, but to simply consider him as a pet, bringing him back to Heaven and so ensuring he causes no trouble on earth. The Jade Emperor agrees after Gold Star laughs that in reality the fanciful title is meaningless and is more of a revealing joke about Sun Wukong's own over confidence and ignorance to the important wider works of Heaven.

Sun Wukong is suspicious of a trap, but is happy Gold Star presents him with the official papers and addresses him as Great Sage Equal of Heaven. Gold Star tells Sun Wukong he is to be promoted to a far more important position as 'Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden' which peach loving Sun Wukong accepts.

Later, when seven heavenly maidens are sent by the Queen Mother to pluck peaches for the Royal Banquet, Sun Wukong discovers every important god and goddess has been invited to the Royal Banquet, but that he is excluded from invitation. When he tells them he is Great Sage Equal of Heaven, the maidens giggle, telling him that everyone in Heaven knows that it is simply a title and he is just an immortal who takes care of the peach garden. Sun Wukong's indignation then turns to open defiance.

The Monkey King goes to see the preparations for the Royal Banquet, tries some of the fine foods and then consumes some of the royal wine. In something of a tipsy state, and while all the important god and goddesses are on their way to the Royal Banquet, the Monkey King roams Heaven. He reaches high levels the authorities of Heaven leave unguarded, for they can only be accessed by high level immortals with the very highest levels of pure spirituality, something that they never associated the Monkey King with. On realizing he's at Dou Shuai Palace at the top of the 33 layers, Sun Wukong steals and consumes Laozi's pills of longevity, Xi Wangmu's Peaches of immortality, takes the remainder of the Jade Emperor's royal wine, then escapes back to his kingdom in preparation for his rebellion. The Jade Emperor refuses to accept Gold Star's counsel to find another peaceful way to deal with Sun Wukong, and orders his forces to mobilize.

Laughing almost continuously, fully enjoying himself, with a combination of martial prowess, guile and quick witted creative responses to counter many different types of powerful Heavenly weapons used against him, the Monkey King later single-handedly defeats the Army of Heaven's 100,000 celestial warriors, all 28 constellations, all four heavenly kings, Nezha, and proves himself equal to the best of Heaven's generals, Erlang Shen.

Eventually, through the teamwork of Taoist and Buddhist forces, including the efforts from some of the greatest deities, and then finally by the Bodhisattva of mercy, Guanyin, Sun Wukong is captured. After several failed attempts at execution, Sun Wukong is locked into Laozi's eight-way trigram Crucible to be distilled into an elixir (so that Laozi could regain his pills of longevity) by samadhi fires.

After 49 days, however, when the cauldron is opened, the Monkey King jumps out, having survived by hiding in a corner marked by the wind trigram in which there was no fire. Additionally the heat from the samadhi fires reinforces the Monkey King's bodily frame, making him stronger than ever before, and impervious to damage. The heat also gives him a new ability; the Monkey King is now able to recognize evil with huǒyǎn-jīnjīng (火眼金睛) (lit. "golden-gaze fiery-eyes"). Sun Wukong proceeds to destroy the crucible and makes his way to Heaven's main chamber, to confront the Jade Emperor and his senior advisers.

The Jade Emperor and the authorities of Heaven appeal to the Buddha, who arrives from his temple in the West. On listening to Sun Wukong make a case that he should be the new Jade Emperor, Buddha bets that the Monkey King cannot escape from Buddha's palm. The Monkey King smugly accepts the bet. He leaps and flies to the end of the world. Seeing nothing there but five pillars, the Monkey King believes that he has reached the ends of universe. To prove his trail, he marks a pillar with a phrase declaring himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven (and in some versions, urinates on a pillar ). He then leaps back and returns to Buddha's palm to claim his victory in winning the bet. Sun Wukong is then very surprised to then find that the five "pillars" he found are merely fingers of the Buddha's hand, finding it impossible to believe. When the Monkey King tries to escape the palm, Buddha turns his hand and brings down a rockfall, sending Sun Wukong hurtling back down to earth. The rocks form a mountain on top of Sun Wukong. Before the Monkey King can lift it off, the Buddha seals him there using a paper talisman bearing the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum in gold letters. The Monkey King remains imprisoned for five hundred years to 'learn patience' with only his head and arms protruding from the base of the mountain. The Buddha arranges 2 earth spirits to feed the Monkey King fruit when he is hungry, and spring water when he is thirsty. [4]

Sun Wukong with Tang Sanzang

Sun Wukong fighting a wind demon

Five hundred years later, the Bodhisattva Guanyin searches for disciples to protect a pilgrim on a journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist sutras. In the hearing of this, the Monkey King offers to serve the pilgrim, Tang Sanzang, a monk of the Tang dynasty, in exchange for his freedom after the pilgrimage is complete. Understanding Sun Wukong will be difficult to control, Guanyin gives Tang Sanzang a gift from the Buddha: a magical circlet which, once the Monkey King is tricked into putting it on, can never be removed. When Tang Sanzang chants a certain sutra, the band will tighten and cause an unbearable headache. To be fair, Guanyin gives the Monkey King three special hairs, only to be used in dire emergencies. Under Tang Sanzang's supervision, the Monkey King is allowed to journey to the West.

Throughout the novel, the Monkey King faithfully helps Tang Sanzang on his journey to India. They are joined by "Pigsy" (猪八戒 Zhu Bajie) and "Sandy" (沙悟浄 Sha Wujing), both of whom accompany the priest to atone for their previous crimes. Tang Sanzang's safety is constantly under threat from demons and other supernatural beings, as well as bandits. It is believed that by eating Tang Sanzang's flesh, one will obtain immortality and great power. The Monkey King often acts as his bodyguard to combat these threats. The group encounters a series of eighty-one tribulations before accomplishing their mission and returning safely to China. During the journey, the Monkey King learns about virtues and learns the teachings of Buddhism. There, the Monkey King is granted Buddhahood, becoming the "Victorious Fighting Buddha" (Dòu-zhànshèng-fó (鬥戰勝佛)), for his service and strength.[4]

After feeling down about the future and death, Wukong sets out to find the immortal Taoist sage Subhuti to learn how to be immortal. There, Wukong learns spells to grasp all five elements and cultivate the way of immortality, as well as the 72 Earthly transformations. After seven years of training with the sage, Wukong gains immortality. It is noted that, technically, the Court of Heaven does not approve of this method of immortality.[10]

In the middle of the night, Wukong's soul is tied up and dragged to the World of Darkness. He is informed there that his life in the human world has come to an end. In anger, Wukong fights his way through the World of Darkness to complain to "The Ten Kings", who are the judges of the dead. The Ten Kings try to address the complaint and calm Wukong by saying many people in the world have the same name and the fetchers of the dead may have gotten the wrong name. Wukong demands to see the register of life and death, then scribbles out his name, thus making him untouchable by the fetchers of death. It is because Wukong has learned magic/magical arts as a disciple to Subhuti that he can scare and demand the book of mortals from the Ten Kings and remove his name, thus making him even more immortal. After this incident, the Ten Kings complain to the Jade Emperor.[10]

Soon after the Ten Kings complain to the Jade Emperor, the Court of Heaven appoints Sun Wukong as "Keeper of the Heavenly Horses," which is a fancy name for a stable boy. Angered by this, Wukong rebels and the Havoc in Heaven begins. During the Havoc in Heaven, Wukong is assigned to be the "Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden". The peach garden include three types of peaches, all of which grant over 3,000 years of life if only one is consumed. The first type blooms every three thousand years; anyone who eats it will become immortal, and their body will become both light and strong. The second type blooms every six thousand years; anyone who eats it will be able to fly and enjoy eternal youth. The third type blooms every nine thousand years; anyone who eats it will become "eternal as heaven and earth, as long-lived as the sun and moon". While serving as the guardian, Wukong does not hesitate to eat the peaches, thus granting him immortality and the abilities that come with the peaches. If Wukong had not been appointed as the Guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden, he would not have eaten the Peaches of Immortality and gained another level of immortality.[10]

Because of Wukong's rebellious antics following his immortality after being a disciple to Subhuti and removing his name to the book of mortals, Wukong is not considered as an important celestial deity and is thus not invited to the Queen Mother of the West's royal banquet. After finding out that the Queen Mother of the West has not invited him to the royal banquet, which every other important deity was invited to, Wukong impersonates one of the deities that was invited and shows up early to see the deal with the banquet. He immediately gets distracted by the aroma of the wine and decides to steal and drink it. The heavenly wine also happens to have the ability to turn anyone who drinks it to an immortal.[10]

While drunk from the heavenly wine from the royal banquet, Wukong stumbles into Laozi's alchemy lab, where he finds Laozi's pills of longevity, known as "The Immortals' Greatest Treasure." Filled with curiosity about the pills, Wukong eats a gourd of them. Those who eat the pills will become immortal. If Wukong had not been drunk from the heavenly wine, he would not have stumbled into Laozi's alchemy lab and eaten the pills of longevity.[10]

Following Wukong's three cause-and-effect methods of immortality during his time in heaven, he escapes back to his home at the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. The Court of Heaven finds out what Wukong has done and a battle to capture Wukong ensues. Due to the five levels of immortality Wukong has achieved, his body has become nearly invincible and thus survives the multiple execution attempts by heaven. In the notable last execution, Wukong has placed inside Laozi's furnace in hopes that he will be distilled into the pills of the immortality elixir. Wukong survives 49 days of the samadhi fire in Laozi's furnace and gains the ability to recognize evil. In desperation, the court of heaven seeks help from Buddha, who finally imprisons Wukong under a mountain. Wukong's immortality and abilities ultimately come into use after Guanyin suggest him to be a disciple to Tang Sanzang in the Journey to the West. There, he protects Sanzang from the evil demons who try to eat Sanzang to gain immortality. Wukong's immortality protects him from the various ways the demons try to kill him, such as beheading, disemboweling, poisoning, boiling oil, and so on, none of which kill Wukong.[10] Sometime during the journey, Wukong and his companions obtain Man-fruit (人參果), a fruit even rarer and more powerful than the Peaches of Immortality, as only 30 of them will grow off one particular tree only found on the Longevity Mountain (萬壽山) every 10,000 years. While one smell can grant 360 years of life, consuming one will grant another 47,000 years of life.