Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong (; also surn vukorn), the Monkey King, is perhaps the most famous and beloved fictional character in all of classical Chinese literature and is the main character in Journey to the West; although he is often borrowed and inserted into various other forms of literature and media, such as the character of "Goku" in the popular anime series "Dragon Ball", and Goku in "Saiyuki". A magician, priest, ruler, sage, and warrior in the shape of a monkey, he is the mischievous protagonist of Journey to the West, based on popular tales dating back to the Tang dynasty. The novel narrates his adventures from birth, in particular how he accompanied the monk Xuanzang, also known as Sanzang (the one who fetched the scrolls), Tangseng (Priest from Tang) and Tripitaka (three baskets, in reference to the three baskets he carried when he returned), to retrieve Buddhist sutras from India. Some scholars believe he is based upon the legend of Hanuman, the Indian monkey hero from the ancient Ramayana epic.

Names and titles

(listed in the order that he first acquired them)

Měihóu Wáng (美猴王): Meaning "Handsome Monkey King".
His name Sūn (孫) is based on the Chinese word (Hóu sūn, 猢猻) which means monkey.
Mùhōng (悟空): Meaning "aware of emptiness". The name given to him by his first master, Subodhi.
Bimawen (弼馬溫): The title of the keeper of the Heavenly Horses, a punning of pimawen (辟馬瘟; lit. "removing the horses' plague"). A monkey was often put in a stable as people believe its presence can prevent the horses from catching illness. Sun Wukong was given this position by the Jade Emperor after his first intrusion into Heaven. After discovering it was one of the lowest titles in Heaven, he became angry and quit the job.
Qitiān Dasheng (齊天大聖): Meaning "great sage equal of Heaven". Sun Wukong demanded this title from the Jade Emperor and was eventually granted it.
Xingzhe (行者): Meaning "traveller", a common name for a travelling monk in the old days. The name given to him by Xuan Zang.

In addition to the names used in the novel, the Monkey King has other names in various parts of China:

Gou De Tien (猴齊天) in Taiwanese
Ma Lau Jing (馬騮精) in Cantonese : Meaning "Monkey Deity"

Political

During Chairman Mao's reign in China, he consistently used Sōng Wǔ Kōng as a role model. "Chairman Mao often talked about the good example of the Monkey King, citing “his fearlessness in thinking, doing work, striving for the objective and extricating China from poverty”". ^*

Powers and abilities

Legends tell that Wukong was born out of a stone and through learning from his master he was able to master an array of amazing abilities and powers. He knows 72 "earthly methods of transformations", twice that of Zhu Bajie who has 36 "heavenly methods of transformations", the pig that also accompanies and protects Sanzang, known in the text as Wukong's "shidi", or "junior fellow disciple". These transformations apparently cover every possible form of existence, since many times he transforms into specific people. At times he is shown to transform his hair into objects or even people to serve as decoys, or make copies of himself, for example.

Wukong began as a monkey born of a stone, and was extraordinarily brave and strong among the group of monkeys with which he lived. Having jumped through the waterfall on their home, The Mountain of Flowers and Fruits or Ao Guo Lai, and discovered the Water-Curtain Cave, he was recognized as the "Monkey King" for his feat. When celebrating, he soon realized that he was still a normal monkey and was saddened by the thought of mortality. Determined to find immortal beings and learn their ways, he traveled for a long time, finally finding the Patriarch Subodhi and becoming his disciple. The Patriarch rejected him at first, but Monkey's determination, and eventually his intelligence, impressed him. It was from him that the monkey received the name Sun Wukong (Wukong meaning "aware of emptiness"). Under the Patriarch's teaching and training, he acquires the powers of immortality, shape-changing ability, cloud travel skills including a technique called the "Somersault Cloud", where one can fly one hundred and eight thousand miles^† in a single flip.

The Patriarch, who by the time they parted ways was certain Wukong would get himself into trouble, made him promise never to tell anyone who had been his teacher.

He eventually obtains a handy "as-you-will golden banded cudgel or staff" known as ruyi which he can turn into a needle and keep inside his ear but can brandish and resize it at will to be 20 feet long or the "width of a rice bowl" and subdue demons. The cudgel was originally the "Pillar holding down the sea" which Wukong swindled from the under-sea palace of the East Sea dragon king (who under-estimated Wukong and bet him he couldn't pick it up). It weighs 13850 kilograms, and can multiply, transform, and act intelligently. The monkey king also forced the dragon king to give him other magical gifts, including his golden chainmail, phoenix feather cap, and cloud walking boots.

Sun Wukong's indestructibility is due to several reasons. Even his birth as a rock signifies some form of initial immortality, and later he eats most of the contents of the peach gardens of the Queen mother of the west. Then, he eats immortal food, which also gives one immortality, and then in a drunken haze devours 5 jars of golden immortality pills. He was also heated in the 8 trigrams furnace, which gave him the ability to see through any disguise. Most notably he cleared his name, and the names of his subjects from the Register of the Dead in hell, in order to ensure his immortality.

As a punishment of the above acts the gods attempted to destroy him by burning him in the 8 trigrams furnace. He escaped the fate by hiding in the Ground trigram where there was no fire, only wind. The smoke blew onto his eyeballs granted him the ability to discern monsters in disguise with his eyes.

^†The phrase "one hundred and eight thousand miles" is a popular idiom among Asians, often to describe something that is ridiculously exaggerated or far-fetched.

Making trouble in Heaven

Hoping that a promotion and a title would make him more manageable, the Jade Emperor invited Sun Wukong to the Heavenly Kingdom. However, this proved to be in vain. After the Jade Emperor excluded him from a royal banquet, in an act of rebellion Sun Wukong ate the Empress's Peaches of Immortality and Lord Laozi's Pills of Indestructibility. He later felt guilty about this, but only slightly so, and continued to be a headache for everybody in Heaven. Finally, the heavenly authorities had no choice but to attempt to subdue him.

He fought and defeated the Army of Heaven's 100,000 soldiers, then went on to defeat the Four Heavenly Kings, Erlang Shen, and Nezha. Eventually, thanks to the heavenly forces' effort and teamwork, including the contributions of many famous deities, Sun Wukong was finally captured. When several more mundane execution attempts failed, Wukong was stuffed into Lord Laozi's eight-way trigem cauldron to be distilled into an elixir by the cauldron's sacred flames, which were thought to be hot enough to consume him. After 49 days of cooking, however, the cauldron exploded and out jumped Sun Wukong, stronger than ever and possessed of the ability to "see" evil in any form through his "Huo Yan Jin Jing," or Golden Fiery Eyes.

With all their other options exhausted, the Jade Emperor and the authorities of Heaven finally appealed to the Buddha himself, who arrived in an instant from his temple in the West. The Buddha bet Sun Wukong that he could not jump out of his palm. Wukong, knowing that he could cover one hundred and eight thousand miles in a single bound, smugly agreed. He took a great leap and landed in a desolate section of Heaven. Nothing was visible except five pillars, and Wukong surmised that he had reached the ends of Heaven. To prove he'd been there, he wrote "The Great Sage Equal of Heaven was here" on the middle pillar , and marked the space between the first and second with his urine. Afterwards, he leapt back and landed in Buddha's palm. Smiling, Buddha asked him to turn around. Wukong looked back and saw that the "pillar" on which he had written was actually Buddha's finger. Wukong had lost the bet. Immediately, he tried to escape, but Buddha turned over his palm and pinned the Monkey King under a mountain. There he remained imprisoned for five centuries until he offered to serve Tangseng/Xuanzhang, the Tang Priest, who was destined to make the journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures for China. The bodhisattva Guanyin helped the priest by giving him a magical headband which he tricked the Monkey King into wearing. With a special chant, Sanzang was able to tighten the band and cause the Monkey King unbearable pain, which he would do whenever Wukong disobeyed or displeased him. Under Sanzang's supervision, the Monkey King was allowed to journey to the West. Upon their arrival, Wukong became a Buddha along with Sanzang, Wujing and the dragon prince.

As a disciple to Sanzang

For the rest of the epic Sun Wukong faithfully helps Sanzang the Tang High Priest on his journey to the West (India). They are joined by Pig (Zhu Bajie) and Sand Monk (Sha Hesang/Sha Wujing), both of whom are ordered to accompany the priest to atone for their crimes. The priest's horse is also a supernatural entity, a dragon god who has been defeated by Sun Wukong and tamed by Guanyin. However, the other characters are unaware of this fact. Due to a legend that the Tang priest is so pure that whoever eats him will become immortal, the safety of Sanzang is constantly threatened by supernatural beings. The group encounters one conflict after another, and learns many Buddhist lessons in the process, before returning safely to the Tang Empire with the treasure of the Buddhist scripture.

Celebrations and Festivals

The Sun Wu Kong festival is celebrated on the 16th day of the 8th Lunar Month on the Chinese Calendar. Festivals feature recreations of his ordeals such as walking on a bed of coals and climbing a ladder of knives.

In Hong Kong it is celebrated at the Buddhist Temple in Sau Mau Ping which has a shrine to Sun Wukong.

Miscellaneous

In spite of its popularity (or perhaps because of it) legends regarding Sun Wukong have changed with the ebb and flow that is Chinese culture. The tale with Buddha and the "Pillars" is a prime example and did not appear until the Han Dynasty when Buddhism was first introduced to China. Various legends concerning Sun Wukong on the other hand date back to before written Chinese history, changing to adapt to the most popular Chinese religion of a given era.

Some scholars believe that the character Sun Wukong was partly based on Hanuman, the "monkey god" of Hinduism described in a book by the historical Xuanzang. Sun Wukong became so well-known in China that he was once worshipped by some as a real god.
Sun Wukong is so prominent in Journey to the West that the famous translation by Arthur Waley is entitled Monkey, leading to other versions of Journey to the West also being called Monkey, such as the Japanese television show, Monkey.
The phrase "You burst out from a stone" is one of the most common excuses used by Chinese parents when answering the "where do babies come from" question.

Sun Wukong in modern media.

Son Gokū, the central character in the Japanese manga Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z and anime Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT, is partly based on Sun Wukong (bearing the potiential into transforming into a gorilla, for example). Other parallels can be seen in Gokū's telescoping staff, the "flying Nimbus" (his flying cloud), and Oolong, the shape-changing pig. "Son Gokū" is also the Japanese pronunciation of the original character's name and is used in the Japanese translations of the original story (called "Saiyūki", and sometimes "Seiyūki").
The character Son Gokū in the manga Gensomaden Saiyuki, whose plot is loosely based on *Journey to the West, is partly based on Sun Wukong.
Played a role in the animated and manga series Naruto, as Enkoo: Enma.
Mushra, a character from Shinzo, an anime with many allusions or Journey to the West, bears similarities to Sun Wukong.
"The Ape" by Milo Manara retells the story of the ape - with humor, sexy artwork and political overtones. It ran for several months in issues of Heavy Metal, in the early 80's.
The characters of the anime TV series Love Hina performed a play of a section of the story of Sun Wukong, with the two main characters taking it in turn to play him.
One of the enemies of the anime Read or Dies main characters bears a strong resemblance to the monkey king.
Cogo, a character from the 80´s anime Starzinger, is partly based on Sun Wukong.
Uproar in Heaven or The Monkey King, a Chinese animated film released in 1965, was based on the story of Sun Wukong.
The Monkey King has made an appearance on two episodes of the Jackie Chan Adventures as Jacky Chan's foe.

Sun Wukong appears as the Monkey King in the 1983 movie, Big Bird in China. He helps Big Bird and Little Xiao Foo on their way to find Feng Huang, the phoenix.
Journey to the West, a Chinese 1986 live action series and some other adaptations.
Stephen Chow made two comedy movies, the "A Chinese Odyssey" series, in 1994 that were loosely based on the character.
Son Goku frequently appears in video games. Capcom's Son Son, released in 1984, was one of the first, but it was far from the last. Interpretations of Son Goku can also be found in ADK's World Heroes Perfect (as a hidden character), Saurus' Shin-Oh-Ken, and Capcom's Pocket Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. In the latter game, Son Son was reimagined as a young woman. In Capcom's Mega Man: The Wily Wars, a character based on Son Goku named Buster Rod.G appears in the unlockable game "Wily Tower". Buster Rod.G can also be seen under his profile in Mega Man & Bass's CD Database.
In Kung Fu Chaos, there is a playable character called Monkey, who in the backstory is referred to as a god, and uses a staff as its main weapon.
Sun Wukong is one of Chinese deities that can be summoned for assistance in Sierra city building game Rise of the Middle Kingdom.
The Playstation 2 role-playing game Nocturne features Wu Kong as a playable character.

Sun Wukong's weapon is also shown as the Monkey King Bar or MKB in a Warcraft 3 custom map called Defense of the Ancients. It is one of the most powerful weapons in the game.
The PC mod mini-game of Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne, DOTA Allstars, contains a powerful weapon named the Monkey King Bar, which is available for purchase.
In Halo 2, the BR55 Rifle has the "Monkey King" written on the side in Chinese.

The Microsoft Office XP Multilingual Pack provides a version of the Monkey King as one of its Office Assistants.

Sun Wukong makes an appearance in Mark Salzman's The Laughing Sutra, a modern retelling of Journey to the West.
Sun Wukong was the inspiration for the trickster Monkey character in Laurence Yep's Dragon of the Lost Sea novels; he kept the telescoping staff which he stole from the Dragon King and the epithet "Great Sage to Heaven".
Sun Wukong has been an important reference point for three major American novels in the past few decades: Griever: An American Monkey King in China by Gerald Vizenor, Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book by Maxine Hong Kingston, and Monkey King by Patricia Chao. None of the novels are retellings of the Monkey/Journey story, but instead use the characters from the Chinese tradition to comment on both American and Chinese culture.
A variation on the story of Sun Wukong and the Buddha is told in the final issue of the Vertigo comics series Lucifer written by Mike Carey

Martial Arts

Sun Wukong was the influence of the creation of various Monkey Kung Fu styles.

External links

^* Story of Sun Wukong with manhua
Character Profile: Sun Wu Kong An in-depth character profile of Sun Wu Kong.
Sun Wukong's entry at Godchecker is a tongue-in-cheek take on the Great Sage.
'Journey to the West' Complete untranslated novel.
Introduction to a discussion of the possible foreign origin of Sun WukongThere is also a TV series called Chai Tin Dai Sing Suen Ng Hung

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