Week 7 Story: What is a Monkey to a Man

 

The Monkey King
Source: niwakame on Weibo

Title: The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung
Author: Wilhelm
Link: Here

Monkey -- he is born touched by chaos and the sky, blessed by the elements. Despite those gifts Wukong remains, at the very heart of him, an animal. And what is a monkey to a man? He is king over his pack of animals, but soon that isn't enough. And Wukong searches for more, always more. Never satiated, he travels to new lands. Hot desert sand catches in his fur, and feather light snow melts on his tongue as he moves over oceans and continents dressed in man's clothing. Days turn to months, months to years until he finds Patriarch Subhuti. It takes even more time for Wukong to convince the patriarch to take him on as his disciple, but the monkey manages through sheer stubbornness, unwavering will, and his clever, clever mind.

Man -- under Subhuti the monkey finally turns into a human. Or at least holds the power to take the shape of one, with a pretty face and hairless limbs. Time loses it's hold on him, and he learns to travel through the clouds. But with these newfound abilities Wukong grows vain. The skies themselves aren't enough, and he leaves Subhuti to wreck havoc among the lesser gods.

Deity --  Wukong learns to take what he wants through trickery. Treasures from under the ocean. A golden chain mail and a staff that stretches, reaches the heavens. His power grows, and in a bid to tame him the Jade Emperor invites the monkey to his heavenly kingdom. But there he proves a nuisance. Wukong's appetite nearly empties the branches holding the peaches of immortality, and as he licks his fingers clean of the sticky nectar there's a prickle of remorse, but not enough to tame his behavior. Lao Tzu’s pills of immortality are swallowed down as well. He is deemed an inconvenience. The Great Sage Equal to Heaven -- Wukong names himself. The Jade Emperor is helpless in controlling his behavior, and it is the Buddha who finally subjugates Wukong. Trapped beneath a mountain for five centuries, Wukong is finally freed by a monk. He finally sees the sun again, feels it on his skin, but not as a free creature. He is a slave. The headband wrapped around his head causes him unbearable pain if he steps out of line. The great deity is collared, and falls in step with a man to find penance on a long journey to the West.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

 "The Monkey King" is a very popular story in Asia, and there's many versions of it in media. It follows the mystical birth of Sun Wukong, a monkey, from a rock imbued with magic from heaven and earth, and the sun and moon. He's a powerful creature, but unfortunately is also very prideful, boastful, and mischievous. All of these wouldn't be a cause for concern if he was just a regular monkey, but he has the cleverness and power to defeat and defy the gods. Buddha eventually is the only one who manages to trap him for centuries, until he's finally freed to embark on a journey with the monk Xuanzang to retrieve sacred Buddhist texts. His journey with the monk is the story called "The Journey to the West," considered one of the "Four Great Classical Novels" of Chinese literature. There's lots of layers to the tale, but I wanted to consolidate Sun Wukong's beginnings and his motivations in this short summary.