text:
Category Tripitaka
January 15, 2023 January 17, 2023 Jim R. McClanahan Leave a comment
Someone on Tumblr recently asked me if I knew how many monsters, spirits, and humans that Sun Wukong kills throughout Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592). But since he's a "hyper murder monkey" (fig. 1), this is impossible to quantify without an overly extensive survey of the book. However, the task becomes far more manageable if narrowed down to just humans. I know of at least seven instances in chapters 14, 27, 28, 44, 46, and 56. Although I can't give an exact count, the number slain is over 1,030!
This study is by no means exhaustive. I've surely missed a few examples in the latter half of the book. But I'll update this piece in the future if anything else pops up.
Fig. 1 – The story of the hyper murder monkey by @FlorkOfCows (larger version).
I. Chapter 14
Six robbers
The first instance happens when Sun and his master are accosted by six robbers shortly after the immortal is released from under Five Elements Mountain:
Master and disciple had traveled for some time when suddenly six men jumped out from the side of the road with much clamor, all holding long spears and short swords, sharp blades and strong bows. "Stop, monk!" they cried. "Leave your horse and drop your bag at once, and we'll let you pass on alive!" Tripitaka was so terrified that his soul left him and his spirit fled; he fell from his horse, unable to utter a word. But Pilgrim lifted him up, saying, "Don't be alarmed, Master. It's nothing really, just some people coming to give us clothes and a travel allowance!" "Wukong," said Tripitaka, "you must be a little hard of hearing! They told us to leave our bag and our horse, and you want to ask them for clothes and a travel allowance?" "You just stay here and watch our belongings," said Pilgrim, "and let old Monkey confront them. We'll see what happens." Tripitaka said, "Even a good punch is no match for a pair of fists, and two fists can't cope with four hands! There are six big fellows over there, and you are such a tiny person. How can you have the nerve to confront them?"
As he always had been audacious, Pilgrim did not wait for further discussion. He walked forward with arms folded and saluted the six men, saying, "Sirs, for what reason are you blocking the path of this poor monk?" "We are kings of the highway," said the men, "philanthropic mountain lords. Our fame has long been known, though you seem to be ignorant of it. Leave your belongings at once, and you will be allowed to pass. If you but utter half a no, you'll be chopped to pieces!" "I have been also a great hereditary king and a mountain lord for centuries," said Pilgrim, "but I have yet to learn of your illustrious names." "So you really don't know!" one of them said. "Let's tell you then: one of us is named Eye That Sees and Delights; another, Ear That Hears and Rages; another Nose That Smells and Loves; another, Tongue That Tastes and Desires; another, Mind That Perceives and Covets; and another, Body That Bears and Suffers." "You are nothing but six hairy brigands," said Wukong laughing, "who have failed to recognize in me a person who has left the family, your proper master. How dare you bar my way? Bring out the treasures you have stolen so that you and I can divide them into seven portions. I'll spare you then!" Hearing this, the robbers all reacted with rage and amusement, covetousness and fear, desire and anxiety. They rushed forward crying, "You reckless monk! You haven't a thing to offer us, and yet you want us to share our loot with you!" Wielding spears and swords, they surrounded Pilgrim and hacked away at his head seventy or eighty times. Pilgrim stood in their midst and behaved as if nothing were happening.
What a monk!" said one of the robbers. "He really does have a hard head!" "Passably so!" said Pilgrim, laughing. "But your hands must be getting tired from all that exercise; it's about time for old Monkey to take out his needle for a little entertainment." "This monk must be an acupuncture man in disguise," said the robber. "We're not sick! What's all this about using a needle?" Pilgrim reached into his ear and took out a tiny embroidery needle; one wave of it in the wind and it became an iron rod with the thickness of a rice bowl. He held it in his hands, saying, "Don't run! Let old Monkey try his hand on you with this rod!" The six robbers fled in all directions, but with great strides he caught up with them and rounded all of them up. He beat every one of them to death, stripped them of their clothes, and seized their valuables. Then Pilgrim came back smiling broadly and said, "You may proceed now, Master. Those robbers have been exterminated by old Monkey" (Wu & Yu, vol. 1, pp 314-315).
This ends with Tripitaka becoming angry and exiling Monkey. The cleric later welcomes him back, only to rein in his disciple's unruly behavior with the heaven-sent golden headband (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 315-317 and 318-320). This becomes a reoccurring theme (see below).
The six murders (fig. 2) are allegories for defeating the desires of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, mind, and body that hinder one's spiritual progression. [1] This is explained by Monkey in chapter 43 (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, p. 254).
Fig. 2 – A woodblock print depicting Sun killing the six bandits (larger version). It comes from The Illustrated Journey to the West (Ehon Saiyuki, 繪本西遊記), a 19th-century Japanese translation.
II. Chapter 27
The second is alluded to during the White Bone Spirit episode. In her attempts to eat the monk, the wily skeleton demon takes on the guises of a beautiful girl, her elderly mother, and her elderly father in turn. But each time Sun attacks her with his staff, she leaves a fake corpse in her wake, [2] making it seem like the immortal has murdered yet another person. This naturally upsets Tripitaka, but Monkey explains that evil spirits commonly disguise themselves as something welcoming in order to catch and eat humans. He uses himself as an example, claiming to have done the same as a young monster:
"Master," said Pilgrim with a laugh, "how could you know about this? When I was a monster back at the Water-Curtain Cave, I would act like this if I wanted to eat human flesh. I would change myself into gold or silver, a lonely building, a harmless drunk, or a beautiful woman. Anyone feebleminded enough to be attracted by me I would lure back to the cave. There I would enjoy him as I pleased, by steaming or boiling. If I couldn't finish him off in one meal, I would dry the leftovers in the sun to keep for rainy days. Master, if I had returned a little later, you would have fallen into her trap and been harmed by her." That Tang Monk, however, simply refused to believe these words; he kept saying instead that the woman was a good person (Wu & Yu, vol. 2, p. 20).
In the end, the cleric isn't convinced that Sun didn't kill an entire family, and so he punishes him with the band-tightening spell before once again banishing him from the group (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 26-28).
I know some online commentators believe that Monkey lies here about eating people. I'll leave it up to the reader to make their own decision. But even if his claims are true, there is no way of quantifying the number eaten.
III. Chapter 28
1,000-plus hunters
The third happens shortly after Sun's exile. Upon returning to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, he learns that more than half of his 47,000 monkey subjects had been killed centuries ago in a great fire set by Erlang, and then half of the survivors later fled elsewhere due to a lack of food. In addition, half of those who remained were killed and eaten or captured for entertainment by a band of over 1,000 human hunters who recently came to inhabit the mountain. Hearing this greatly enrages the Monkey King. He thereafter instructs his subjects to gather piles of small rocks for a magical wind attack (Wu & Yu, vol. 2, pp. 31-32):
Making the magic sign with his fingers and reciting a spell, he drew in a breath facing the southwest and blew it out. At once a violent wind arose. Marvelous wind!
It threw up dust and scattered dirt;
It toppled trees and cut down forests.
The ocean waves rose like mountains;
They crashed fold upon fold on the shore.
The cosmos grew dim and darkened;
The sun and the moon lost their light.
The pine trees, once shaken, roared like tigers;
The bamboos, hit abruptly, sang like dragons.
All Heaven's pores let loose their angry breaths
As rocks and sand flew, hurting one and all.
The Great Sage called up this mighty wind that blew up and scattered those rock pieces in every direction. Pity those thousand-odd (qianyu, 千餘) hunters and horses! This was what happened to every one of them:
The rocks broke their dark heads to pieces;
Flying sand hurt all the winged horses.
Lords and nobles confounded before the peak,
Blood stained like cinnabar the earth.
Fathers and sons could not go home.
Could fine men to their houses return?
Corpses fell to the dust and lay on the mountain,
While rouged ladies at home waited.
The poem says:
Men killed, horses dead—how could they go home?
Lost, lonely souls floundered like tangled hemp.
Pity those strong and virile fighting men,
Whose blood, both good and bad, did stain the sand!
Lowering the direction of his cloud, the Great Sage clapped his hands and roared with laughter, saying, "Lucky! Lucky! Since I made submission to the Tang Monk and became a priest, he has been giving me this advice:
'Do good a thousand days,
But the good is still insufficient;
Do evil for one day,
And that evil is already excessive.'
Some truth indeed! When I followed him and killed a few monsters, he would blame me for perpetrating violence. Today I came home and it was the merest trifle to finish off all these hunters."
He then shouted, "Little ones, come out!" When those monkeys saw that the violent wind had passed and heard the Great Sage calling, they all jumped out. "Go down to the south side of the mountain," said the Great Sage, "and strip the dead hunters of their clothes. Bring them back home, wash away the bloodstains, and you all can wear them to ward off the cold. The corpses you can push into the deep mountain lake over there. Pull back here also the horses that are killed; their hides can be used to make boots, and their meat can be cured for us to enjoy slowly. Gather up the bows and arrows, the swords and spears, and you can use them for military drills again. And finally, bring me those banners of miscellaneous colors; I have use for them" (Wu & Yu, vol. 2, pp 33-34).
This is by far the largest number of humans killed in one go by the hyper murder monkey.
IV. Chapter 44
Two Daoists
The fourth happens shortly after the pilgrims arrive in the Cart-Slow Kingdom. Sun is appalled to learn that three self-proclaimed immortals have convinced the region's monarch to not only destroy all Buddhist institutions but also to enslave the clerics to the Daoists. His initial response is to play a joke on two cocky Daoist overseers by convincing them (under the guise of an aged coreligionist) that he has a relative among the 500 monks who should be set free. But when they ask which one, our hero claims all of them to be his kin (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 269-275):
The Daoists said, "You must be a little crazy, for all at once you are babbling! These monks happen to be gifts from the king. If we want to release even one or two of them, we will have to go first before our masters to report that they are ill. Then, we have to submit a death certificate before we can consider the matter closed. How could you ask us to release them all? Nonsense! Nonsense! Why, not to speak of the fact that we would be left without servants in our household, but even the court might be offended. The king might send some officials to look into the work here or he himself might come to investigate. How could we dare let them go?" "You won't release them?" said Pilgrim. "No, we won't!" said the Daoists. Pilgrim asked them three times and his anger flared up. Whipping out his iron rod from his ear, he squeezed it once in the wind and it had the thickness of a rice bowl. He tested it with his hand before slamming it down on the Daoists' heads. How pitiful! This one blow made
Their heads crack, their blood squirts, their bodies sink low;
Their skin split, their necks snap, their brains outflow! (Wu & Yu, vol. 2, p. 275).
V. Chapter 46
One civil official
The fifth happens during a magical contest of torture against one of the three supposed immortals. Monkey easily survives a bath in boiling oil but fakes his death in order to play a trick on Zhu Bajie. The officer in charge of the execution reports the development to the monarch, leading Tripitaka to eulogize and present offerings to his disciple's spirit. But once Zhu hijacks the proceedings by calling Sun a Bimawen, [3] our hero erupts from the caldron to chastise his religious brother. Fearing possible punishment for seemingly lying to the king, the aforementioned official claims the primate is instead a ghost (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, pp. 310-312):
Maddened by what he heard, Pilgrim leaped out of the cauldron, dried himself from the oil, and threw on his clothes. Dragging that officer over, he whipped out his iron rod and one blow on the head reduced him to a meat patty. "What ghost is this who's manifesting itself?" he huffed (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 312-313).
VI. Chapter 56 – Part 1
Two bandit chiefs
The last two instances that I know of take place shortly after the scorpion spirit episode. The sixth follows a similar pattern to chapter 14: Tripitaka is confronted by bandits → He gets scared and falls off the horse → The bandits demand money and the horse → Sun intervenes → His banter enrages them and they hit and stab at his adamantine pate to no avail → They comment on his hard head → Monkey pulls out his iron staff, referring to it as a needle → The bandits infer that he works in a certain profession and claim to have no use for the needle → He enlarges the weapon and eventually beats them to death. [4] The only difference here is that Sun first challenges the men to lift his staff:
… Sticking the rod into the ground, Pilgrim said to them, "If any of you can pick it up, it's yours." The two bandit chiefs at once went forward to try to grab it, but alas, it was as if dragonflies were attempting to shake a stone pillar. They could not even budge it half a whit! This rod, you see, happened to be the compliant golden-hooped rod, which tipped the scale in Heaven at thirteen thousand, five hundred [catties]. How could those bandits have knowledge of this? The Great Sage walked forward and picked up the rod with no effort at all. Assuming the style of the Python Rearing its Body, he pointed at the bandits and said, "Your luck's running out, for you have met old Monkey!" One of the bandit chiefs approached him and gave him another fifty or sixty blows. "Your hands must be getting tired!" chuckled Pilgrim. "Let old Monkey give you one stroke of the rod. I won't do it for real either!" Look at him! One wave of the rod and it grew to about seventy feet, its circumference almost as big as a well. He banged it on the bandit, and he at once fell to the ground: his lips hugging the earth, he could not make another sound.
The other bandit chiefs shouted, "This baldy is so audacious! He has no travel money, but he has killed one of us instead!" "Don't fret! Don't fret!" said Pilgrim, laughing. "I'll hit every one of you, just to make sure that all of you will be wiped out!" With another bang he beat to death the other bandit chief Those small thieves were so terrified that they abandoned their weapons and fled for their lives in all directions (Wu & Yu, vol. 3, pp. 80-81).
VII. Chapter 56 – Part 2
One unfilial son
twenty-ish bandits
The seventh happens sometime after one of the surviving bandits, the son of an elderly couple surnamed Yang (楊), discovers that his parents are feeding and sheltering the pilgrims for the night. He and his brothers-in-arms make plans to attack the monks after eating dinner and sharpening their weapons, but old Mr. Yang alerts them, giving Tripitaka and his disciples ample time to escape:
Every bandit was darting forward like an arrow, and by sunrise, they caught sight of the Tang Monk. When the elder heard shouts behind him, he turned to look and discovered a band of some thirty men rushing toward him, all armed with knives and spears. "Oh, disciples," he cried, "the brigand troops are catching up with us. What shall we do?" "Relax, relax!" said Pilgrim. "Old Monkey will go finish them off!" "Wukong," said Tripitaka as he stopped his horse, "you must not hurt these people. Just frighten them away." Unwilling, of course, to listen to his master, Pilgrim turned quickly to face his pursuers, saying, "Where are you going, sirs?" "You nasty baldie!" cried the thieves. "Give us back the lives of our great kings!"
As they encircled Pilgrim, the bandits lifted their spears and knives to stab and hack away madly. The Great Sage gave one wave of his rod and it had the thickness of a bowl; with it, he fought until those bandits dropped like stars and dispersed like clouds. Those he bumped into died at once, those he caught hold of perished immediately, those he tapped had their bones broken, and those he brushed against had their skins torn. The few smart ones managed to escape, but the rest of the dumb ones all went to see King Yama!
When Tripitaka saw that many men had fallen, he was so aghast that he turned and galloped toward the West, with Zhu Eight Rules and Sha Monk hard on the horse's heels. Pilgrim pulled over one of the wounded bandits and asked, "Which is the son of old Yang?" "Father," groaned the thief, "the one in yellow." Pilgrim went forward to pick up a knife and beheaded the one in yellow. Holding the bloody head in his hand, he retrieved his iron rod and, in great strides, caught up with the Tang Monk. As he arrived before the horse, he raised the head and said, "Master, this is the rebellious son of old Yang, and he's been beheaded by old Monkey." [fig. 3] Paling with fright, Tripitaka fell down from the horse, crying, "Wretched ape! You've scared me to death! Take it away! Take it away!" Eight Rules went forward and kicked the head to the side of the road, where he used the muckrake to bury it (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, pp. 88-89).
The quote is clear that not all 30 bandits are killed. Apart from Yang the bandit, I think 20(-ish) is a conservative estimate based on the wording.
And just like chapters 14 and 27, this episode ends with Tripitaka punishing his disciple with the band-tightening spell before exiling him from the group (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 89-90).
Fig. 3 – Monkey presenting the head of Yang the bandit to his master. This screenshot comes from episode 10 of OSP's retelling of Journey to the West (larger version).
VIII. Conclusion
To my knowledge, the Monkey King kills over 1,030 humans in Journey to the West. This includes six allegorical robbers in chapter 14, an unknown amount alluded to in chapter 27, over 1,000 hunters in chapter 28, two Daoists in chapter 44, one civil official in chapter 46, and two bandits chiefs, one unfilial son, and maybe 20-ish bandits in chapter 56. I may have missed a few instances in the latter half of the novel, so please don't look at the above total as complete.
I previously mentioned an instance in chapter 27 where Monkey admits to eating humans in his youth, something that some online commentators believe to be a fib. Well, a Tumblr user, who goes by both @abitfiendish and @localcactushugger, reminded me that dialogue in chapter 39 further calls this into question.
After a pill of immortal elixir fails to revive a long-dead king, Tripitaka suggests mouth-to-mouth necessitation is needed to complete the resurrection process. Sun is ultimately chosen for this job since he had apparently never eaten meat:
Eight Rules walked forward and was about to do this when he was stopped by Tripitaka. "You can't do it," he said. "Wukong still should take over." That elder indeed had presence of mind, for Zhu Eight Rules, you see, had been a cannibal since his youth, and his breath was unclean. Pilgrim, on the other hand, had practiced self-cultivation since his birth, the food sustaining him being various fruits and nuts, and thus his breath was pure. The Great Sage, therefore, went forward and clamped his thundergod beak to the lips of the king: a mighty breath was blown through his throat … (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 195-196).
But it should be remembered that Journey to the West is crammed full of inconsistencies (likely born from the novel coalescing from different oral tales). For example, this chapter shows that all it takes to revive a dead person is an elixir pill and mouth-to-mouth. However, in chapter 97, Monkey has to physically retrieve the soul of a recently deceased householder from the underworld in order to resurrect him (see the material below figure 3 here).
Again, I'll leave it up to the reader to make their own decision.
1) Things that arouse the eyes (sights), ears (sounds), nose (smells), tongue (tastes), and mind and body (wants and desires).
2) This is related to an ancient Daoist concept called "Release by means of a corpse" (Shijie, 尸解). Stories as far back as the Han describe immortals leaving behind a fake corpse (sometimes a magically disguised object) while they ascended in secret to heaven (Kirkland, 2008).
3) This plays on the homophonous relationship between Bimawen (避馬瘟, lit: "avoid the horse plague"), an ancient belief that female monkeys placed in horse stables could ward off equine sickness, and Bimawen (弼馬溫, "To assist horse temperament"), Sun's former station as keeper of the heavenly horses (see here).
See Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, pp. 78-81.
Kirkland, R. (2008). Shijie In F. Pregadio (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Taoism (Vol. 2) (pp. 896-897). London [u.a.: Routledge].
Wu, C., & Yu, A. C. (2012). The Journey to the West (Vols. 1-4). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
December 24, 2022 Jim R. McClanahan 3 Comments
From time to time I like to post a fun blog not directly related to (though sometimes informed by) my research. Regular articles will resume after this entry.
Anyone who has read my blog will know that I'm an avid fan of researching the history and influences of Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592). But as an artist, I am also a fan of JTTW-related artwork. There are so many talented people in the world who post their traditional and original designs and comics online, so I've decided to feature some of them on my blog. My hope is that such posts will expose this art to a wider audience interested in JTTW, while also documenting modern day perceptions and depictions of the novel and its characters.
Our next artist is NinjaHaku21, who goes by @NinjaHaku21_Art on both Twitter and Instagram and @NinjaHaku21Art on Tumblr. They also have a Patreon and an Etsy store. They were kind enough to answer some interview questions, as well as allow permission to display a few of their pieces.
I. Q & A
1) Can you tell me a little about yourself?
Hi there! I go by Ninja, and I am a freelance artist! I recently just started my freelancing career this year, and work on a few indie comics along with thumbnails for youtube!
2) Are you self-taught or did you go to art school?
I am self taught! I always wanted to go to art school, but life had other plans in mind!
3) What are your main sources of artistic inspiration?
While growing up, comics for sure! Was a huge fan of sonic comics, and now, it's a mix of that and other media!
4) How did you learn about Journey to the West?
I learned about the Journey To The West after watching the show LEGO Monkie Kid! My friends and I have seen clips of it on twitter, and so we binged the entire series up to date. I was so interested in the characters and the world, I had to look up more. I then discovered the novel and was hooked. I am still looking into more movies to see their take on the novel!
5) Who is your favorite character?
Sun Wukong! He grows so much throughout the story and faces so many challenges. It's hard not to love this murderous Monkey King who seeks redemption.
6) Do you have a favorite episode from the novel?
That's a tough one! I think my favorites have to be the Six- Eared Macaque, the battle with Red Boy, and the Immortals of Tiger, Elk, and Antelope Power!
7) Does the novel have a special meaning to you?
To me, seeing what the characters have acted before in the past and seeing them grow and learn makes me happy. It helps me remember that even though you may have done some awful stuff in the past, you can still make a difference and grow from it.
8) Can you tell me about any ongoing JTTW-related projects?
Currently I am working on my own designs of the characters for fun! Making illustrations about my versions of them, and making some merch of the designs for my shop!
II. Art and Thought Process
Note: Click each image to enlarge it.
1. Ever since I started reading Journey To The West and watching movies with the Monkey King or anything JTTW-related, I wanted to create my own take of the characters. With this piece, I was seeing how my designs would look with all of them together! I had rough sketched out some draft looks that got inspired by different pieces of them from either shows, movies, or ancient drawings of them, then fit in what I liked most and created this piece! I wanted to have them express their own personality through the look, and I am quite proud of the final results! I imagined some unlucky villager getting a visit from these "ugly demons" and their Master asking for a place to visit.
2. With this piece, I wanted to capture a fun moment on their journey to the west. These guys have to deal with so much while trying to protect their master, so I figured giving them a nice snow day would be a fun thing to draw!
3. The Six-Eared Macaque. Definitely one of my favorite characters from the stories. I wanted to show him off along with the opera mask, kind of symbolizing him transforming into Wukong to trick his companions.
4. I wanted to put these three pieces together, showing how Sun Wukong acts around his companions and Master.
I know for sure Wukong and Zhu Bajie argued a lot, and I haven't seen any issues between Sha Wujing and Wukong (still reading and learning) and figured they'd have some nice conversations. And of course, Wukong protects his master from a group of hungry demons or bandits!
5. Now this one I did decide on having some fun on creating my own version of a "spider queen" (I know there wasn't a queen in the story, but it was still fun)! I based this loosely around the chapter with the spider sisters, making the eldest one the queen. I had a fun time drawing this out, making the eldest have a thing for Wukong, haha!
(Jim here. This reminds me of the Scorpion Spirit having a thing for Tripitaka.)
6. In this piece here, I wanted to have my design of Nezha interacting with Wukong. I based Nezha's design on a few different inspirations (some being from the Monkie Kid series and ancient art of the deity), and descriptions from the story. I also wanted to add in a dragon tattoo, sort of as a remembrance of what Nezha had done in the past. But this picture was to show the type of relationship these two have. Nezha would definitely feel a bit salty of losing to Wukong all those years ago!
October 4, 2022 January 29, 2023 Jim R. McClanahan 2 Comments
I was recently asked about the existence of a realistic retelling of Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592) that follows the adventures of the historical monk Xuanzang (玄奘, 602-664). To my knowledge, it doesn't exist, but this is something I've thought about to some extent. In this article, I would like to discuss what a realistic journey might be like.
1. Literature vs History
There are some important distinctions that first need to be made between the literary and historical stories before we can speculate about our version.
1.1. Literature
The story is set in a syncretic Buddho-Daoist universe modeled on Hindo-Buddhist cosmic geography. This flat world-disc features four cardinal continents (of various shapes) floating in a great ocean around the four faces of Mt. Sumeru (see section 1, #1 here). The Daoist heaven sits atop this mountain, taking the place of the "Heaven of the Thirty-Three" from the original Buddhist structure. China is located in the Southernmost continent (the original structure, however, associated this with India). India and the Buddha's paradise are moved to the Westernmost continent (since it is West of China in OUR world).
The literary Xuanzang (fig. 1) is the final reincarnation of "Master Golden Cicada" (Jinchan zi, 金蟬子), the fictional second disciple of the Buddha who was exiled to China for ten lifetimes as punishment for being inattentive during a heavenly lecture.
His father, Prefect Chen (陳), is murdered by a bandit, who takes his government post and pregnant wife for his own. Chen's son is born in Jiangzhou (Jiangxi) sometime after, forcing his mother to float the baby down the river in a basket (à la Moses) in order to save his life. He is found and raised by the old abbot of a Buddhist temple. Eighteen years later, after receiving his ordination, the monk Xuanzang is reunited with his mother and magically-revived father, and the bandit-turned-official is arrested and executed (ch. 9).
He leaves China in 640 with the blessing of the Tang emperor (ch. 13) and returns in 654 (ch. 100). [1]
The expressed purpose of his mission is to obtain the correct scriptures needed to perform a grand mass to release untold souls from suffering in hell (see note #1 here).
He is portrayed as a proponent of the Chan (禪; Sk: Dhyāna) school of Buddhism.
Xuanzang is an extremely whiny character modeled after a Confucian official who is blindly loyal to the throne, extolls virtues of propriety, and complains about everything. He is depicted as having an encyclopedic knowledge of Buddhist scripture, but he doesn't always understand the underlying meaning, something that Monkey sometimes explains to him (see note #8 here).
He initially leaves with a few human disciples, who are eventually eaten (ch. 13), and takes on the monstrous disciples Sun Wukong (ch. 13), Zhu Bajie (ch. 19), and Sha Wujing (ch. 22) along the way.
These latter disciples aren't "Chinese". They come from different countries among said continents. For example, Monkey's Flower Fruit Mountain is an island located to the east of the Easternmost continent (refer back to here).
Xuanzang spends all of his time traveling or trying to escape from a monster or spirit who has kidnapped him. No time is spent studying languages or scripture.
All of the kingdoms encountered conveniently speak (and to some extent dress) like the Chinese.
The group receives the scriptures directly from the Buddha in the Western Paradise of India and are magically transported back to China.
After performing the grand mass, Xuanzang and his disciples are magically returned to the Western Paradise, where they receive an elevation in spiritual rank (ch. 100) (Wu & Yu, 2012).
Fig. 1 – A print of the literary Xuanzang from a Qing-era edition of Journey to the West (larger version). Originally found on Wikimedia Commons. Fig. 2 – An anonymous 14th-century Japanese painting of the historical Xuanzang on the road to India (larger version). Originally found on Wikipedia.
1.2. History
The real Xuanzang (fig. 2) obviously existed in OUR world, the Earth.
He was born in Luoyang (Henan) to the aristocratic Chen (陳) family, the youngest of four boys.
He followed in his oldest brothers footsteps by becoming a monk at eleven, receiving full ordination at twenty.
He left China illegally in 629 and returned a celebrity in 645.
The expressed purpose of his mission was to obtain scriptures that resolved contradictions in and expanded the corpus of the Chinese Buddhist canon.
He initially traveled by himself within China, but later joined caravans in Central Asia and India, even having his own royal escorts at different times.
He was exposed to different cultures, languages, and religions, the latter including Zoroastrianism and Vedism (early Hinduism).
He was a proponent of the Yogācāra (Sk: "Yoga practice"; Ch: Weishi zong, 唯識宗, "Consciousness Only") school of Buddhism.
He was super brave and intelligent, with an encyclopedic knowledge of Buddhist and even Vedic literature. Apart from Buddhist schooling in his youth, much of this knowledge was gained during prolonged study abroad.
He faced many problems on the trip back to China, even losing some of his hard-won scriptures in a fording accident.
Xuanzang returned home with hundreds of scriptures, over one hundred Buddha relics, and tens of statues. He spent the remainder of his life translating texts, while also battling his celebrity. He died at the age of 61 (Brose, 2021).
2. Speculation
This is not meant to be exhaustive since trying to adapt every character and event from the novel would make it much too long. The point is to give the reader a basic understanding of what Xuanzang's historical journey was like.
Everything prior to his birth would be nearly the same, including the monk's previous incarnations and Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing's respective early lives and punishments. But since the story will take place on Earth, the location of literary events will have to be placed in a real world context. For example, Monkey would have to be born on an island east of China. Japan is certainly an interesting option, with Mt. Fuji (Fujisan, 富士山) being a good candidate for his birthplace. Taiwan's Mt. Jade (Yushan, 玉山) is another. This would REALLY piss off the PRC. Fun fact: Taiwan is known for its "Rock Macaques" (fig. 3). This is a fitting name considering that Sun is born from stone.
Fig. 3 – A Taiwanese Rock Macaque (larger version). Originally found here.
Placing Monkey's past in a real world context opens the door to interesting possibilities in this adaptation. The novel describes him studying Buddho-Daoist arts under the Patriarch Subodhi in the Westernmost continent (i.e. India). But since Daoism didn't exist in ancient India, he would have likely learned Hindo-Buddhist spiritual cultivation techniques and philosophy, thereby becoming a competent (albeit short-tempered and naughty) rishi. Therefore, he would know how to read and speak the Pali/Sanskrit language of the different Buddhist and Vedic texts that Xuanzang would come to study. One implication is that Sun would be able to help his master if any language or philosophical barriers popped up. This means that his assistance would indirectly contribute to Xuanzang's later translation of Buddhist scriptures in China!
2.1. Traveling to and Life in India
Xuanzang's initial request to leave China was denied by the Tang court of Emperor Taizong. Undeterred, the monk traveled in secret towards the northwestern reaches of the empire in 629, eventually learning from a sympathetic official that he was to be arrested if caught (Brose, 2021, p. 16). He would likely have come across Monkey just prior to leaving China. Remember that chapter 13 also refers to Five Elements Mountain as the "Mountain of Two Frontiers" (Liangjie shan, 兩界山), the eastern half belonging to the Middle Kingdom and the western half belonging to Turkic peoples (Dada, 韃靼; a.k.a. "Tartars") (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 305). The Heavenly Mountain (Tianshan, 天山) (fig. 4) would therefore be a good spot for the trickster god's earth prison as it stretches from Northwestern China into Central Asia.
Communication between master and disciple wouldn't be an issue since Monkey would have likely picked up some Chinese during his early life and rebellion. The other disciples would be added at different spots along the route through Central Asia (see 10-10-22 update below). But since Zhu and Sha have memories of their previous lives, they too would likely know Chinese.
Fig. 4 – The Heavenly Mountains (larger version). Originally found on Wikipedia.
Xuanzang's Central Asian route took him through Sūyāb (Kyrgyzstan), Samarkand (Uzbekistan), the Kunduz River valley (Afghanistan), and then Balkh (Afghanistan). Here, the monk stopped for a month to study Sanskrit literature under Prajñākara, before both of them left to cross the Hindu Kush Mountains. After Bamiyan (Afghanistan), both of them attended the required three-month "Rainy Retreat" at a Buddhist monastery in Kapisā (Afghanistan). This was a time of intense study (Brose, 2021, pp. 23-28). Xuanzang likely attended the three-month retreat every year of his journey, making this aspect of the historical story a major divergence from the novel. This means that, unless the various monsters or spirits tried attacking him in monasteries, his disciples would only see action during the time (days or weeks) that it took the group to travel to a new location.
Since the story is set in the real world, Daoism's influence would fade as the group traveled westward. This then begs the question: If Sun Wukong requires divine assistance to help identify or defeat a powerful foe in, say, Central Asia, would he zip back to the Daoist heaven in China, or would he simply consult the local foreign gods and spirits? The former possibility would allow us to stick closer to the novel, but the latter would be far more interesting. The Iranic, Judeo-Christian, or Greek gods in that area might be willing to help thanks to the Buddha's request. I could see this leading to some comical inter-faith drama:
Foreign god: "Monkey Man, you have no power over us in this region!"
Sun Wukong: "Oh, really? Let me introduce you to my two friends [holds up fists], RIGHT and LEFT!"
But this might make the story a little too complex. And since Buddhism was present throughout Central Asia at one point or another, it would make more sense for Monkey to call on Buddhist deities for help. Either way, the story would have to be changed to accommodate gods and spirits outside of Daoism.
Prajñākara stayed in Kapisā, while Xuanzang headed for northern India. His travels took him through Nagarahāra (Afghanistan), Gandhāra (Afghanistan/Pakistan), the Swat Valley (Pakistan), Taxila (Pakistan), and Kashmir (India). He studied in the latter city for two years, while a team of twenty royally-appointed scribes copied extensive scriptures for him. For the next three years after this, he traveled through Cīnabhukti, Jālandhara, Śrughna, Matipura, and Kānyakubja, staying for a month or as long as a year in certain places to study with specialists in Buddhist and Vedic literature. Xuanzang later sailed down the Ganges River, where, according to legend, his priceless collection of Buddhist scriptures and imagery attracted the attention of Hindu pirates. When captured, he sunk into deep meditation while awaiting a sacrificial death by fire, but a strong, supernatural wind began throwing the world into chaos. Thinking that the attempted murder of the monk displeased their goddess Durga, the pirates begged for his forgiveness (Brose, 2021, pp. 30-35). This seems like a perfect demonstration of Sun Wukong's powers. He would use this trick in place of outright murdering the bandits in order to avoid punishment via the golden headband.
Xuanzang traveled through areas of India where Buddhist institutions once flourished but had fallen into decay, some places being taken over by Hindu and Jain ascetics who practiced extreme forms of austerities. During this time, he also went about visiting all of the famous locations associated with the historical Buddha's life but was dismayed to see some of those in ruins and/or abandoned. These included the garden where the Enlightened one was born (Lumbini, Nepal) (fig. 5), his father's palace (Kapilavastu), where he lived as an adult (Jetavana), and the forest where he died (Kuśinagara). Xuanzang took the declining state of Indian Buddhism as proof that his time was the Latter Day of the Dharma (Brose, 2021, pp. 30-32 and 35-38). This surely strengthened his resolve to learn all he could and take back as many scriptures as possible to China in order to ensure that the religion continued to thrive there. His monstrous disciples would be the ones to tote this huge collection in place of human laborers.
Fig. 5 – A 2nd to 3rd-century Gandharan stone carving depicting the Buddha's birth from his mother's side in Lumbini (larger version). Originally found on Wikipedia.
The idea of monsters and spirits attacking the monk while he visits these once flourishing but now dilapidated Buddhist sites is somewhat comical. I think that the evil would live in the various ruins or in the forests and hills around said locations. This would mean that demonic mountain strongholds from the novel would be a rarity in this retelling.
Thankfully, though, Xuanzang was able to visit two places associated with the Buddha's life that still flourished, namely the park where he gave his first sermon (Sarnath) and the area where he achieved enlightenment (Bodh Gayā). The monk was later invited to a grand Buddhist complex in Nālandā, where he became a disciple of Śīlabhadra, a learned master of the Yogācāra school. He studied in Nālandā for five years, receiving a special status that freed him from community duties so he could focus on his studies (Brose, 2021, pp. 37-45). After a failed trip to Sri Lanka, Xuanzang traveled around southern India and eventually studied for two years in Parvata. After returning to Nālandā and learning from various local masters for a few months, he studied for two years with Jayasena, a very knowledgeable lay disciple of Śīlabhadra (Brose, 2021, pp. 50-53).
The total of Xuanzang's time spent studying in Nālandā and Parvata alone adds up to an astounding nine years. That is an awfully long time for Sun, Zhu, and Sha to see no action. Perhaps they too would live the life of monks and possibly resume their spiritual cultivation in order to better themselves. They could even help teach the clerics at the various institutions how to protect themselves, much like the famous Shaolin Monks (fig. 6). This might replace the episode in chapter 88 in which Monkey and his religious brothers accept three Indian princes as students. Sun could instead give a chosen cadre of monks super strength and divine longevity in a similar fashion.
Fig. 6 – A group of Shaolin monks practicing martial arts (larger version). Originally found here.
Xuanzang's final year in India was apparently an eventful one. Apart from saving Nālandā from destruction by accepting a tyrannical king's invitation to visit, he evidently took part in a number of life or death religious debates against Brahmins and Mainstream Buddhists. However, there is no evidence that the grandest of these ever took place. It might even be a later embellishment by Xuanzang's disciple (Brose, 2021, pp. 53-60). Therefore, I think it should be left out of the retelling.
2.2. Return to and Life in China
I'm going to skip over the events just prior to Xuanzang leaving India, as well as the various trials and tribulations that he faced along the road to China. His disciples would certainly continue protecting him from any evil that still wished to capture the monk. This means that the various episodes could be spread out to the return journey as well.
Instead, I'd like to briefly discuss Xuanzang's life after returning to the Middle Kingdom. Despite his illegal departure, the monk was welcomed home in 645 with open arms and became an instant celebrity. Emperor Taizong shortly thereafter asked him to compose an account of his travels, [2] the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (Datang xiyou ji, 大唐西域記), which was finished in 646. The year before, he and a team of experts from all around the empire began translating the scriptures, but fame, official duties, and later unwanted changes to group members by the proceeding Emperor Gaozong hindered the project over the years. The monk was expected to entertain aristocratic guests and donors, and he often traveled to perform the ordination of hundreds of monks at newly built monasteries. This took a toll on his body, which was apparently plagued by a chronic illness that affected his heart and bones. Wishing to escape his celebrity and return to more steady translation work, he requested and failed many times over the years to be relocated to more remote institutions. Instead, he was forced to stick close to the Tang capital, where, years later, he was lucky to escape political upheaval in the court that saw some of his official friends exiled or even executed. Apart from this, Xuanzang was forced to defend himself against critiques on two fronts. On one side were Daoists who disliked his fame and railed against the foreign nature of Buddhism (Daoism was after all the state religion at that time). And on the other, some Buddhists heavily criticized his translation method, as well as his Yogācāra philosophy, which differed from other Mahāyāna teachings. At the end of his life, the poor monk injured his leg in an accident and was bedridden for two months before dying at the age of 61 in 664. His death was apparently followed by miraculous lights in the sky. [3]
Now, I can already hear some of my readers asking: What happened to his disciples? Does everyone still achieve an elevation in spiritual rank? Monkey and his religious brothers would have left by this time. Whereas the pilgrim's meet the Buddha face to face in India at the end of the novel, he would instead manifest before them (or at least jointly in their dreams) after they successfully transported the scriptures to China. This is when he would offer them their respective promotions, Monkey becoming a Buddha, Sha Wujing an arhat, and Zhu an altar cleaner. They would thereafter leave to enjoy their divine lives in the Western Paradise. However, I think Xuanzang would postpone his enlightenment until he finished translating the scriptures. Monkey might even visit his former master in his dreams and encourage him to continue his work even when he is old and sick. The many hardships that the monk faces towards the end of his life would therefore make his final ascension all the more bittersweet.
I'm interested to hear reader's ideas on where they might insert famous episodes into this more realistic setting. Please let me know in the comments below or in an email (see the "contact" button above).
It turns out that Sha Wujing would be the first disciple recruited on the road to India in our more realistic retelling. As I show in this article, his antecedent appears in various retellings of Xuanzang's journey as a stern, encouraging spirit or even a heaven-sent protector.
The monk's embellished biography notes that, while traveling west of the Jade Gate, he chose to bypass various watchtowers on his illegal journey by trekking though the 800 li Gashun Gobi desert (Mohe yanqi, 莫賀延磧). But after only 100 li, Xuanzang lost his surplus of water when the heavy bag slipped from his hands. He went without drink for four days, all the while chanting the name of Avalokiteśvara (i.e. Guanyin) for deliverance, as well as the Heart Sutra to keep demons at bay (Huili & Li, 1995, pp. 26-27). On the early morning of the fifth day, a divine mist lulled him to sleep, where
[He] dreamed that he saw a giant deity several tens of feet tall, holding a [halberd] in his hands. [4] The deity said to him, "Why are you sleeping here instead of forging ahead?" (Huili & Li, 1995, p. 28).
即於睡中夢一大神長數丈,執戟麾曰:「何不強行,而更臥也!」
After waking up and mounting his horse, it veered in a different direction than Xuanzang intended and arrived at a much needed oasis, which was apparently provided by the bodhisattva (Huili & Li, 1995, p. 28).
However, a Tang-era Japanese source appearing in a work of the 11th-century states that the "Spirit of the Deep Sands" (Shensha shen, 深沙神) physically interacted with Xuanzang, calling himself the monk's "guardian spirit" and even providing him with food and water (Dudbridge, 1970, p. 19). The same source also states that he had previously appeared before the earlier monk Faxian (法顯, 337-422) in a ghastly, demonic form (fig. 7):
I am manifested in an aspect of fury. My head is like a crimson bowl. My two hands are like the nets of heaven and earth. From my neck hang the heads of seven demons. About my limbs are eight serpents, and two demon heads seem to engulf my (nether-) limbs…(Dudbridge, 1970, p. 20).
Fig. 7 – A 13th or 14th-century Japanese carving of the Spirit of the Deep Sands (larger version).
The spirit's great height influenced Sha's whopping twelve Chinese foot (zhang er, 丈二; 12.6 feet / 3.84 m) frame (Wu & Yu 2012, vol. 2, p. 51), his necklace of heads was the model for our hero's necklace of skulls (Wu & Yu 2012, vol. 1, p. 230), and the "Moving Sands" (Liusha, 流沙) of his harsh desert home served as the basis for Wujing's "Flowing-Sands River" (Liusha he, 流沙河) (Wu & Yu 2012, vol. 1, p. 421).
I would like to combine details from the Chinese and Japanese sources, making the Spirit of the Deep Sands a physical being, and instead of the pearly thread-wrapped wooden staff wielded by Sha in the novel (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 428), the deity would use the aforementioned halberd. I'd also borrow from the novel, having him exiled to earth for an offense in heaven, but in place of the Flowing-Sands River, be banished to the desert to await the coming of Xuanzang (Wu & Yu 2012, vol. 1, p. 210).
Another interesting change that just occurred to me would be to completely reverse the order of Xuanzang's disciples. Even though the literary monk happens upon them in the order of Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing, Guanyin first recruits them in the order of Sha, Zhu, and Sun (Wu & Yu 2012, vol. 1, pp. 207-216). Making Monkey the lowest-ranking, yet most powerful religious brother would lead to some funny situations. Sha and Zhu might try to order him around at first, but they would soon learn not to test the powerful monkey rishi's patience. I can see them begging him to intervene when they can't defeat a given evil.
Perhaps Zhu would be recruited in Central Asia, while Monkey might be discovered under a mountain closer to India. What say you?
Journey to the West characterizes the Buddha as having a corporeal form. This is revealed in chapter 55 when a Scorpion Spirit (Xiezi jing, 蝎子精) stings and hurts him:
Once upon a time she [the scorpion] happened to be listening to a lecture in the Thunderclap Monastery. When Tathagata saw her, he wanted to push her away with his hand, but she turned around and gave the left thumb of the Buddha a stab. Even Tathagata found the pain unbearable! (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 72).
他前者在雷音寺聽佛談經,如來見了,不合用手推他一把,他就轉過鉤子,把如來左手中拇指上扎了一下。如來也疼難禁 …
I take this to mean that the Scorpion Spirit was imbued with "dharma power" (fali, 法力) while listening to the Enlightened One's lectures. This makes sense as Campany (1985) explains that this is the penultimate power in the novel's Buddho-Daoist universe.
(Baring a discrepancy in chapter six, [5] the Scorpion Spirit is the only figure in all of Journey to the West shown capable of piercing the Monkey King's adamantine hide (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 65). She does so with her "horse-felling poison stake" (daoma du zhuang, 倒馬毒樁), which is actually her stinger (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 72).)
Since this article focuses on a real world journey set over a 1,000 years after the Enlightened One's death, I would like to suggest that similar exposure to the spiritual power of the Buddha might give other demons or spirits a similar boost. In this case, the items granting this power would be relics associated with Shakyamuni.
Strong (2004) notes that there are three main types of Buddha relics: 1) those of the body left over from his cremation (hair, teeth, nails, bones, and Śarīra beads); 2) those that he used (walking staff, alms bowl, robes, etc.); and 3) those that he taught (i.e. lessons from scripture) (p. 8). I think the first and second categories would be perfect for our story, especially the Śarīra (Sheli/zi, 舍利/子). These pearl-like beads were associated with the wish-fulfilling Cintāmaṇi (Ruyi baozhu, 如意寶組) jewel in East Asia (Strong, 2004, p. 10), so I could see them granting spirits power. [6]
Evil forces might sneak into monasteries to retrieve such items in a bid to gain extra power in order to fuel their nefarious machinations, assert their will on the surrounding populous, and/or to defeat Monkey and his religious brothers, thereby allowing them to gain immortality by eating the Tang Monk. Protecting the relics would, therefore, be one reason to keep the demon disciples busy during Xuanzang's long years of study.
It turns out that Journey to the West has śarīra beads. In fact, they are mentioned at least 18 times throughout the novel. One example is a treasure belonging to the Yellow-Robed Demon (Huangpao guai, 黃袍怪). Chapter 31 reads:
Leading Pilgrim [Sun Wukong], the fiend [Yellow Robe] took his companion into the murky depth of the cave before spitting out from his mouth a treasure having the size of a chicken egg. It was a śarīra [shelizi, 舍利子] of exquisite internal elixir. Secretly delighted, Pilgrim said to himself, "Marvelous thing! It's unknown how many sedentary exercises had been performed, how many years of trials and sufferings had elapsed, how many times the union of male and female forces had taken place before this śarīra of internal elixir was formed. What great affinity it has today that it should encounter old Monkey!" (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 80-81). [7]
那怪攜著行者,一直行到洞裡深遠密閉之處。卻從口中吐出一件寶貝,有雞子大小,是一顆舍利子玲瓏內丹。行者心中暗喜道:「好東西耶。這件物不知打了多少坐工,煉了幾年磨難,配了幾轉雌雄,煉成這顆內丹舍利。今日大有緣法,遇著老孫。」
As can be seen, Yellow Robe's śarīra is portrayed as the hard-won product of spiritual cultivation. This agrees with Strong's (2004) statement that Buddhists believed such beads were "brought on not only by the fire of cremation but also by the perfections of the saint (in this case the Buddha) (emphasis added) whose body they re-present" (p. 12).
But in our realistic retelling, Yellow Robes could have stolen the treasure from a monastery or stupa.
I mentioned in the original post that Sun Wukong would study Hindo-Buddhist arts and become a talented rishi. The Saṃyutta Nikāya notes that such cultivators develop a host of supernatural powers once they master the four mental qualities (Pali: Iddhipāda):
Multiplying the body
Vanishing and reappearing
Passing through solid objects (walls, ramparts, mountains, etc.)
Diving into the earth like water
Walking on water like earth
Traveling through space
Touching the sun and moon
Hearing all sounds, both human and divine
Knowing the minds of others
Having memories of all of one's past lives
Knowing the future rebirths (and their causes) of all beings
Liberation from the filth of the world through supreme wisdom (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1727-1728)
Monkey already exhibits several of these powers in the original narrative.
Here's another example of the śarīra beads appearing in Journey to the West. Chapter 62 reads:
This all came about because our All Saints Old Dragon once gave birth to a daughter by the name of Princess All Saints, who was blessed with the loveliest features and the most extraordinary talents. She took in a husband by the name of Nine-Heads, who also had vast magic powers. Year before last, he came here with the Dragon King and, exerting great divine strength, sent down a rainstorm of blood to have the treasure pagoda defiled. Then he stole the sarira Buddhist treasure from the building. Thereafter the princess also went up to the great Heaven where she stole the nine-leaved agaric, which the Lady Queen Mother planted before the Hall of Divine Mists. The plant and the Buddhist treasure are both kept now at the bottom of the lagoon, lighting up the place with their golden beams and colored hues night and day (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 172).
因我萬聖老龍生了一個女兒,就喚做萬聖公主。那公主花容月貌,有二十分人才。招得一個駙馬,喚做九頭駙馬,神通廣大。前年與龍王來此,顯大法力,下了一陣血雨,污了寶塔,偷了塔中的舍利子佛寶。公主又去大羅天上,靈霄殿前,偷了王母娘娘的九葉靈芝草,養在那潭底下,金光霞彩,晝夜光明。
This supports the idea of evil attacking monasteries, and raining down blood would be one method of deconsecrating said locations.
1) The novel adds four more fictional years to a historical reign period (see section 1 here).
2) The Emperor's true purpose in asking for the travelogue was to gain information pertinent to military campaigns against Turkic forces west of China (Brose, 2021, pp. 75-76).
3) See chapter 3 in Brose (2021).
4) The translation also included "and a flag" (Huili & Li, 1995, p. 28), but the Chinese version I have access to does not mention a flag. I have therefore left it out.
5) Chapter six reads: "They bound him with ropes and punctured his breastbone with a knife, so that he could transform no further" (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 186). But this is not stated or implied to be a form of physical punishment. It serves only to keep Monkey in his base form. The blade is mentioned again in chapter seven: "Arriving at the Tushita Palace, Laozi loosened the ropes on the Great Sage, pulled out the weapon from his breastbone, and pushed him into the Brazier of Eight Trigrams" (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 189).
6) I guess the beads would be swallowed or kept close to the body. Their holy power would surely kill lesser devils but empower cultivator-demon kings.
7) Source altered slightly. I've made it more accurate.
Bodhi, B. (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya; Translated from the Pāli by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Brose, B. (2021). Xuanzang: China's Legendary Pilgrim and Translator. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Campany, R. (1985). Demons, Gods, and Pilgrims: The Demonology of the Hsi-yu Chi. Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews (CLEAR), 7(1/2), 95-115. doi:10.2307/495195
Huili, & Li, R. (1995). A Biography of the Tripiṭaka Master of the Great Ci'en Monastery of the Great Tang Dynasty. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist translation and research.
Strong, J. S. (2004). Relics of the Buddha. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
September 9, 2022 September 9, 2022 Jim R. McClanahan Leave a comment
I've previously written an article describing The Story of How Tripitaka of the Great Tang Procures the Scriptures (Da Tang Sanzang qujing shihua, 大唐三藏取經詩話, c. late-13th-century), a seventeen chapter novelette that likely served as a prompt for oral storytellers. It is the oldest printed version of the Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記) story cycle. Here, I would like to present an English translation of this tale by Charles S. Wivell (1994).
Archive link:
The Story of How the Monk Tripitaka of the Great Country of T'ang Brought back the Sutras
Detail of Tripitaka and the Monkey Pilgrim from a late-Xixia Yulin Cave no. 3 mural (larger version). See here for more ancient depictions of Sun Wukong and his master.
This has been posted for educational purposes. No malicious copyright infringement is intended. If you liked the digital version, please support the official release.
Wivell, C.S. (1994). The Story of How the Monk Tripitaka of the Great Country of T'ang Brought Back the Sūtras. In V. Mair (Ed.), The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (pp. 1181-1207). New York: Columbia University Press.
August 4, 2022 September 4, 2022 Jim R. McClanahan Leave a comment
I recently posted a list of facts about Sun Wukong (孫悟空) to reddit. I am presenting an elongated version of it here, which serves as a summation of everything that I've learned over the years. It is by no means comprehensive. I'll add more facts in the future as I learn of them. Enjoy.
Current count: 108
He was likely influenced by the Hindu monkey god Hanuman (Ch: Ha nu man, 哈奴曼) in different waves, one possibly from the north (via Tibet) and another from the south (via Southeast Asia). But the parallels are most apparent from the standard 1592 edition of JTTW, suggesting that the author-compiler had access to some form of the Indian epic Rāmāyana (7th-c. BCE to 3rd-c. CE). The novel even includes material from the epic Mahābhārata (4th-c. BCE to 4th-c. CE).
In my opinion, however, the greatest influence on his 1592 persona is a white ape antagonist from a Tang-era story. Similarities include: 1) both are supernatural primates possessed of human speech; 2) one thousand-year-old practitioners of longevity arts; 3) masters of Daoist magic with the ability to fly and change their appearance; 4) warriors capable of single-handedly defeating an army; 5) have a fondness for armed martial arts; 6) have an iron-hard, nigh-invulnerable body immune to most efforts to harm them; 7) have eyes that flash like lightning; 8) live in verdant mountain paradises (like Flower Fruit Mountain); and 9) reside in caves with stone furniture (like the Water Curtain Cave).
He has the second longest association with the JTTW story cycle, appearing as the "Monkey Pilgrim" (Hou xingzhe, 猴行者) circa 1000 (or before). Sha Wujing's earliest antecedent appeared during the 8th-century, while Zhu Bajie didn't appear until the 14th-century.
The oldest published mention of the Monkey Pilgrim is a eulogy appearing in a tale from Zhang Shinan's (張世南) Memoirs of a Traveling Official (Youhuan jiwen, 遊宦紀聞, 13th-century). One scholar dates the story to around 1127.
The oldest depictions of this character (late-11th to late-13th-century) appear in Buddhist cave art along the Silk Road in Northern China. He is almost always portrayed in a scene worshiping the Bodhisattva Guanyin.
A 13th-century version of JTTW describes the Monkey Pilgrim as a white-clad scholar who is an ancient immortal from the very beginning of the tale. He was beaten with an iron rod as a young immortal after he stole magic peaches and was subsequently banished to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. He actively searches out the monk to protect him as the cleric's two previous incarnations were eaten by a monster (Sha Wujing's antecedent) in the past.
This immortal fights with two staves (at different times), a golden-ringed monk's staff and an iron staff (both borrowed from heaven). The monk's staff can create destructive blasts of light, as well as transform into titanic creatures, including a club-wielding yaksha and an iron dragon. The iron staff isn't shown to have any special powers. These weapons were later combined by storytellers, the rings from the former being added to the ends of the latter.
He is called the "Monkey King" (Houwang, 猴王) as far back as the 13th-century version. This position is likely based on a jataka tale about the Buddha's past life as a king of monkeys.
The immortal is bestowed the title "Great Sage Steel Muscles and Iron Bones" (Gangjin tiegu dasheng, 鋼筋鐵骨大聖) at the end of the story by Tang Taizong.
This immortal was heavily influenced by the Buddhist Saint Mulian (目連; Sk: Maudgalyayana).
He was popular even in Korea and appeared in a set of carvings from a 14th-century stone pagoda.
The earliest mention of the name "Sun Wukong" that I'm aware of appears in an early-15th-century zaju play. It depicts the character as a sex-crazed maniac who kidnaps a princess to be his wife, tries to seduce Princess Iron Fan, and later gets erectile disfunction when his golden headband tightens while trying to have sex with a young maiden in the Kingdom of Women.
The dharma name "Wukong" (悟空) was likely influenced by a historical monk of that name who traveled to India during the 8th-century. The name means "Awakened to Emptiness", thus referencing Buddhist enlightenment. I think the corresponding Sanskrit name would be something like "Bodhiśūnyatā" (but don't quote me on this).
The surname "Sun" (孫) means "grandson" but is an open reference to husun (猢猻, lit: "grandson of the barbarian"), the Chinese word for "macaque". It was also a popular surname for supernatural primates in stories associated with the Lingyin Temple (靈隱寺), which also likely influenced the Monkey King.
The 1592 edition of the novel associates the components of Sun (孫 = zi, 子 & xi, 系) (ch. 1 – see section 4.2 here) with the formation of a "holy embryo" (shengtai, 聖胎), an immortal spirit that lives on after the adherent dies.
So taking all of the Buddhist and Daoist references into account, another translation for Sun Wukong would be "Immortal Awakened to Enlightenment". This is a reference to the Buddho-Daoist philosophy of Zhang Boduan (張伯端, mid- to late-980s-1082), who believed that in order to become a true transcendent (xian, 仙), one had to achieve both the Daoist elixir of immortality and Buddha-nature (i.e. Buddhahood).
The aforementioned zaju play calls him the "Great Sage Reaching Heaven" (Tongtian dasheng, 通天大聖).
Said play also states that he has two sisters and two brothers. The sisters are respectively named the "Venerable Mother of Mount Li" (Lishan laomu, 驪山老母) and "Holy Mother Wuzhiqi" (Wuzhiqi shengmu, 巫支祇聖母). His older brother is called "Great Sage Equaling Heaven" (Qitian dasheng, 齊天大聖) and the younger the "Third Son Shuashua" (Shuashua sanlang, 耍耍三郎).
His story in the 1592 version takes place not in our world but in one modeled after ancient Hindo-Buddhist cosmic geography, which features four island-like continents floating in a great ocean around the four respective faces of a cosmic mountain. And yet the novel was published during a time coinciding with the late Renaissance period in Europe, precisely 49 years after Copernicus suggested that the Earth orbits the sun.
His home, the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit (Huaguo shan, 花果山), is located near the easternmost continent, while China is associated with the southernmost continent. This means that Monkey, within the novel, is not Chinese!
He has had past lives (see the 11-24-20 update here).
He's not the only figure from world myth born from stone. In fact, "Birth from rock" (T544.1) is a mythic category appearing in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature.
While his stone birth (ch. 1) is likely based on that of Yu the Great (Dayu, 大禹), a legendary King of the Xia dynasty (more on this below), it may ultimately be linked to Tibetan stories of stone-born monkey deities.
He was likely born during the late-Zhou Dynasty (circa 1046-256 BCE).
He serves as a physical manifestation of the "Mind Monkey" (xinyuan, 心猿), a Buddho-Daoist philosophy denoting the disquieted thoughts that keep Man trapped in the illusory world of Saṃsāra (see the material below figure three here). This phrase is also surprisingly associated with sexual desire.
Despite the association above, Monkey shows no interest in sex throughout the entire novel. This may be a response to the highly sexualized Sun Wukong from the zaju play.
The novel also gives him the alchemical title "Squire of Metal/Gold" (Jingong, 金公), a possible "anagrammatic reading of the Chinese graph for lead or qian 鉛, which may be broken up into the two graphs of jin and gong" (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 532 n. 3). Lead is an ingredient in external alchemy (see the material after figure two here). The title might also be referring to the earthly branch shen (申), which is associated with both metal and monkeys (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 532 n. 3).
The overall arc of his birth and early life were likely based on that of the historical Buddha to make his tale more familiar to readers. Similarities include: A) supernatural births that split open their respective mothers (Queen Maya vs stone egg); B) producing a radiant splendor in all directions upon their birth; C) being talented students that quickly master concepts taught to them; D) early lives as royals (Indian prince vs king of monkeys); E) shock at the impermanence of life; F) questing for a spiritual solution to said impermanence; and G) finding said solution via spiritual practices (Indic meditation vs Daoist elixir arts).
His "Water Curtain Cave" (Shuilian dong, 水簾洞), the grotto-heaven where he and his people live in the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, is associated with a different immortal in older religious literature. For instance, the Song-era text Master Ghost Valley's Numinous Writ of the Essence of Heaven (Guigu zi tiansui lingwen, 鬼谷子天隨靈文) calls the titular character the "Master of the Waterfall Cave" (Shuilian dong zhu, 水濂洞主). In this case, the source uses a different lian (濂) in place of the lian (簾) associated with Monkey's cave. But they both mean the same thing: a waterfall hiding a cave mouth (see the 12-11-21 update here). One 17th-century novel influenced by JTTW states that Master Ghost Valley lives in the Water Curtain Cave (Shuilian dong, 水簾洞; i.e. the same as Monkey's home) with his student, the Warring States strategist Sun Bin (孫臏, d. 316 BCE). This means that two characters surnamed Sun (孫) live there in Chinese literature (see section II here).
Despite modern media portraying him as an adult-sized humanoid character that is sometimes handsome and/or very muscular, the 1592 version describes him as an ugly, bald, and skinny Rhesus macaque that is less than four feet tall. This means that one of the most powerful warriors in the Buddho-Daoist cosmos is the size of a child.
While commonly portrayed as a Daoist immortal, his first master, the Patriarch Subodhi (Xuputi zushi, 須菩提祖師) (ch. 1 & 2), is shown to live in India and have a strong connection to Buddhism, possibly even being a Bodhisattva.
The breathing and energy circulation methods that Monkey uses to achieve immortality (ch. 2) are based on real Daoist elixir practices.
The actual name for his famous 72 Transformations is "Multitude of Terrestrial Killers" (Disha shu, 地煞數), which is based on a popular set of malevolent stellar gods.
This skill not only allows Monkey to transform into whatever he wants but also gives him a store of extra heads and possibly even extra lives like a video game (see section 4.4 # 3 here).
He specifically learns the 72 Transformations (ch. 3) in order to hide from a trio of elemental calamities sent by heaven to punish cultivators for defying their fate and achieving immortality. This is the origin of the "Heavenly Tribulation" (tianjie, 天劫; zhongjie, 重劫) trope from modern Xianxia literature.
But, surprisingly, he is not a true immortal, just long-lived and really hard to kill. The novel refers to him as a "bogus immortal" (yaoxian, 妖仙). This references Zhang Boduan's aforementioned philosophy where one must obtain both the Daoist elixir (which Monkey did) and Buddha-Nature (which he hadn't yet achieved) in order to be a true transcendent.
While training under Subodhi (ch. 3), he expressly passes on learning the bureaucratic-style magic rites normally used by earthly priests to request something from heaven because the skills involved won't result in eternal life. Instead, after achieving immortality, Monkey just commands the gods to do his bidding (see section II here).
He can grow 100,000 feet (30,480 m) tall (ch. 1, 6, 61, and 97). This skill is called the "Method of Modeling Heaven on Earth" (Fatian xiangdi, 法天像地), and it is related to ancient Pre-Qin and Han concepts of astral-geography later used in the construction of imperial Chinese cities.
His magic "immortal breath" (xianqi, 仙氣) can transform his hairs, his staff, and objects not in direct contact with his body into anything he desires. It can also change disembodied souls into "ether" for ease of transport, and evidence suggests that it can even grant some form of immortality.
Monkey has 84,000 hairs on his body, and he can transform them into hundreds of thousands, millions, and even billions of hair clones (see the 03-19-22 update here).
The novel only mentions him learning martial arts in passing (ch. 67 – see section 4.5 here), but one episode (ch. 51) features a battle between Monkey and a demon king in which they use a host of real world fighting techniques that are still known and practiced today.
His favorite style of boxing is "Short Fist" (duanquan, 短拳) (see the 05-02-18 update here).
His skill with the staff is so great that the novel compares it to techniques from two manuals listed among the Seven Military Classics of China (see the 08-07-18 update here).
The bureaucratic mix-up that resulted in his soul being dragged to hell (ch. 3) is based on "mistaken summons" to the underworld and "return-from-death" narratives present in early Chinese "miraculous tales" (Zhiguai xiaoshuo, 志怪小説) (Campany, 1990).
When he looks at his entry in the ledgers of hell, he learns that: 1) his soul number is "1,350"; 2) his real name is "Heaven-Born Stone Monkey" (Tianchan shihou, 天產石猴); and 3) he was fated to have a "good end" at the ripe old age of 342. This refers to a person's pre-allotted lifespan (ming, 命) (Campany, 2005; Campany & Ge, 2002, pp. 47-52).
The distance that his cloud-somersault can travel, 108,000 li (33,554 mi / 54,000 km), is based on a metaphor for instantaneous enlightenment. It comes from the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Chan Patriarch Huineng (惠能). The Chan Master explains that the common trope of the Buddha's paradise being separated from the world of man by 108,000 li is based on a combination of the "Ten Evils" (Shi'e, 十惡) and "Eight Wrongs" (Baxie, 八邪) of Buddhism. Those who rid themselves of these spiritual flaws will achieve enlightenment and thus arrive instantly at the Buddha's paradise.
The initial depiction of his magic staff as a great iron pillar kept in the dragon kingdom treasury (ch. 3) is based on a metal column that the immortal Xu Xun (許遜) chained a demonic dragon to and then imprisoned in the aquatic realm in Chinese mythology.
It's a common misconception that his staff weighed down the Milky Way galaxy. This is based on a mistranslation. The W. J. F. Jenner edition claims that the weapon anchored said star cluster. However, the original Chinese states that it was used as a means to measure and set the depths of the Heavenly River (Tianhe, 天河; a.k.a. Milky Way).
The weight of his staff is likely an embellishment on the weight of a heavy stone block lifted by the bandit-hero Wu Song (武松) in the Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan, 水滸傳, c. 1400). This episode and the JTTW episode where Monkey acquires his staff both involve a hero (Wu Song vs Sun Wukong) asking someone (a friend vs the Dragon King) to take them to a seemingly immovable object (stone block vs iron pillar). They then adjust their clothing before lifting the object with ease. Most importantly, the Chinese characters for the respective weights are visually similar. Sun's staff is 13,500 catties (yiwan sanqian wubai jin, 一萬三千五百斤; 17,5560 lbs. / 7965.08 kg), while the stone block is 300 to 500 catties (sanwubai jin, 三五百斤; 390-650 lbs. / 177-295 kg). The characters in bold indicate the similarities between the two weights, where as those in red indicate the embellishments: 一萬三千五百斤.
He singlehandedly defeats the "Nine Planets" (Sk: Navagraha; Ch: Jiuyao, 九曜, "Nine Luminaries"), personifications of the sun and planets from Hindu astrology (Gansten, 2009), during his rebellion (ch. 4) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 170-172).
His time as the Bimawen (弼馬溫, "To assist horse temperament"), a minor post overseeing the heavenly horse stables (ch. 4), is based on an ancient Chinese practice of placing monkeys in horse stables to ward off equine sicknesses. The belief was that the menstrual blood of female monkeys mixed with horse food somehow guarded against diseases. This is hilarious as the position links Sun Wukong to menstruation!
His title "Great Sage Equaling Heaven" (Qitian dasheng, 齊天大聖) (ch. 4) was actually borrowed from the "Eastern Marchmount" (Dongyue, 東嶽; a.k.a. "Eastern Peak"), the god of Mt. Tai. This suggests that the older brother from the aforementioned zaju play is really the Eastern Marchmount.
His time as the Guardian of the Immortal Peach Groves (ch. 5) is likely based on a Song-era Daoist scripture in which the aforementioned Sun Bin is tasked by his teacher, Master Ghost Valley, with protecting a tree laden with special fruit. He later captures a magic white ape stealing said produce (see section III here). The simian thief saves his life by offering Sun a set of secret religious texts. Both stories include: 1) a character surnamed Sun (孫) protecting special fruit (Sun Bin vs Sun Wukong); and 2) supernatural primates that steal and eat the fruit. Therefore, Monkey's 1592 persona serves as both the guard and the thief!
The elixir pills that he drunkenly eats in Laozi's laboratory (ch. 5) likely influenced the senzu beans from the world famous Dragon Ball (Jp: Doragon Bōru,ドラゴンボール; Ch: Qilongzhu, 七龍珠) franchise.
His conflict with Erlang (ch. 6) can be traced to ancient Han-era funerary rituals, and their battle of magic transformations shares parallels with ancient Greek tales and can ultimately be traced to even older stories from the Near East.
His time in Laozi's furnace (ch. 7) is based on an episode from the aforementioned 13th-century version of JTTW. It may also be connected to a story of Laozi magically surviving a foreign king's attempt to boil him in a cauldron.
He is shown to be weak against spiritual fire and smoke (see the 06-28-22 update here).
Smoke from the furnace irritates his eyes, giving him his famous "Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils" (Huoyan jinjing, 火眼金睛). The former is likely based on the "actual red-rimmed eyes of [the Rhesus macaque]" (Burton, 2005, p. 148). The latter is likely based on the golden pupils of macaques (see section 2.1 here).
The message that he leaves on the Buddha's finger (ch. 7) is a popular form of graffiti in East Asia.
His time under Five Elements Mountain (Wuxing shan, 五行山) (ch. 7) is based on stories of the aforementioned Wuzhiqi (無支奇/巫支祇) being imprisoned under a mountain by Yu the Great.
He was pressed under the mountain during the late-Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220CE – see section II here).
A religious precious scroll predating the 1592 edition states that Erlang instead traps Monkey beneath Mount Tai, and the aforementioned 15th-century zaju play states it was Guanyin and the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit.
This punishment links him to a broader list of mythic baddies imprisoned in earth, including Lucifer, Loki, and the Titans of Tartarus. I plan to write a later article about "earth prisons" in world myth.
One scholar suggests that being trapped under Five Elements Mountain is a symbolic death (remember that Monkey claims to be free of the Five Elements after attaining immortality), meaning that the hellish diet is his karmic punishment in the afterlife, and his later release is a symbolic reincarnation.
Monkey's mountain imprisonment was only part of his punishment. The other half was a hellish diet of hot iron pellets and molten copper, punishments straight from Buddhist canon.
His golden headband (ch. 13) has three influences: 1) a historical ritual circlet worn as a physical reminder of right speech and action by Esoteric Buddhist yogins in ancient India; 2) adornments, likely based on stylized lingzhi mushrooms, worn by Daoist protector deities; and 3) an Iranic triple-crescent crown.
The oldest depiction of Monkey with his headband that I know of appears in a late-Xixia (late-12th to early-13th-century) Buddhist cave grotto in Northwestern China.
The earliest depiction of his double "curlicue-style" headband that I'm aware of is a 13th-century stone carving in Fujian.
The secret spell that tightens his headband is likely the Akshobhya Buddha mantra.
Along with the headband, his tiger skin kilt (ch. 13) can be traced to a list of ritual items prescribed for worshiping wrathful protector deities in Esoteric Indian Buddhism. These same ritual items came to be worn by the very protector deities that the yogins revered. This explains why some deities in Chinese folk religion (including Sun Wukong) are portrayed with the golden headband and tiger skin.
Modern artists sometimes depict him with two long feathers protruding from the front of his golden headband, giving him the appearance of an insect. But the feathers (lingzi, 翎子) are actually associated with a different headdress called the "Purple Gold Cap" (zijin guan, 紫金冠), which is worn on top of the head. It was a military headdress later associated with heroes in Chinese opera (see section 2.2 here).
Monkey is also shown to be weaker in water. For instance, he enlists Zhu Bajie to combat the water demon who turns out to be Sha Wujing (ch. 22) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. pp. 422-423).
The baby-shaped fruit that he eats (ch. 24) comes from a tree based on Indo-Persian lore.
He claims to have eaten people when he was a monster in his youth (ch. 27) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, p. 20).
His greatest feat of strength is carrying two mountains while running at meteoric speeds (ch. 33). One is the axis mundi of the Hindo-Buddhist cosmos, while the other is the place from which (according to legend) Buddhism spread upon entering China. This episode is based on an older tale in which Erlang does the lifting.
His doppelganger, the Six-Eared Macaque (ch. 56-58), is actually an aspect of his troubled mind. Once he kills him, Monkey takes one step closer to Buddhahood.
He fights and is defeated by an ancient bird demon who is a spiritual uncle of the Buddha (ch. 77). This monster is based on the Hindu bird god Garuda.
He and his religious brothers take human disciples in India (ch. 88), and Monkey later performs an arcane ritual in which he grants them superhuman strength (and possibly some form of immortality).
His title, "Victorious Fighting Buddha" (Douzhan sheng fo, 鬥戰勝佛) (ch. 100), is based on a real world deity numbering among the "Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas".
The novel ranks him higher than Guanyin after his ascension (see the third quote here).
As an enlightened Buddha, Monkey is eligible for his own "Buddha-Field" (Sk: Buddhakṣetra; Ch: Focha, 佛刹), essentially his own universe in which he will lead the inhabitants to enlightenment (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, p. 153).
Despite his association with the Victorious Fighting Buddha, he is primarily worshiped as the Great Sage Equaling Heaven in East and Southeast Asian Chinese folk religion.
Fighters of the Boxer Rebellion (Yihetuan yundong, 義和團運動, 1899-1901) believed that they could channel the Monkey King to gain his great combat skills.
Modern ritual specialists known as "spirit-mediums" (Hokkien: Tangki, 童乩; Ch: Jitong, 乩童; lit: "Divining Child") also channel the Great Sage, allowing his worshipers to have direct access to the divine. While they may use a staff to enhance the theater of their performance, the weapon surprisingly doesn't serve a ritual function. They instead use a set of bladed or spiked weapons to draw blood intended to create evil-warding paper talismans (see the material below figure six here).
Chinese folk religion recognizes more than one Great Sage, usually between three and five individuals.
Monkey's faith started in Fujian province, China and spread via boat to other countries within the Chinese diaspora. When he first started being worshiped is unknown. The first concrete references to his worship come from the 17th-century (see section III here). But the aforementioned 13th-century stone carving depicts him as a wrathful guardian, alongside other protector deities, Bodhisattvas, patriarchs, and eminent monks. This suggests that he might have been revered at an earlier time.
He was even worshiped in 19th-century America!
The iconic pose where he shades his eyes to search the horizon is likely based on a common motif associated with Chinese sea gods.
He has a number of religious birthdays, one of which is the 16th day of the 8th lunar month (the day after the Mid Autumn Festival).
There is a style of Chinese boxing named after him, "Great Sage Boxing" (Cantonese: Taishing kyun; Mandarin: Dasheng quan, 大聖拳). Another closely associated style is "Great Sage Axe Boxing" (Can: Taishing pek kwar kyun; Man: Dasheng pigua quan, 劈掛拳). These arts also have staff styles associated with the Monkey King.
His time in Laozi's furnace and ability to grow 100,000 feet tall influenced a Shaolin Monastery myth related to the founding of their famous staff fighting method. The story describes how a lowly kitchen worker jumped into an oven and remerged as a staff-wielding titan to battle mountain brigands attacking the monastery (see section 3 here).
Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, was a fan of the Monkey King, even associating himself with the character in his poetry. Also, a CCP propaganda play of the 1960s associates the scripture pilgrims with members of the Communist Party, with Monkey referencing Mao.
He shares several connections with Yu the Great (here and here). These include: A) both have stone births; B) Monkey's staff was originally used by Yu as a drill and as a ruler to set the depths of the fabled world flood; C) Sun's demonic sister Wuzhiqi was conquered by Yu in some stories; and D) both are legendary hero-kings.
He shares a number of similarities with Wu Song. These include: A) both are reformed supernatural spirits originally trapped under the pressing weight of a mountain; B) slayers of tigers; C) Buddhist monks nicknamed "Pilgrim" (xingzhe, 行者), a title noting junior and traveling monks, as well as untrained riffraff that became clerics to avoid trouble with the law or taxes and military service (Wu Song is the latter and Monkey the former); D) martial arts monks who fight with staves; E) have moralistic golden headbands; and F) weapons made from bin steel (bin tie, 鑌鐵) (Wu Song's Buddhist sabers vs Monkey's magic staff).
He shares a surprising number of similarities with the Greek hero Heracles (a.k.a. Hercules). These include: A) supernatural births via masculine heavenly forces (son of Zeus vs the stone seeded by heaven); B) quick to anger; C) big cat skins (Nemean lion vs mountain tiger); D) fight with blunt weapons (olive wood club vs magic iron staff); E) great strength; F) knocked out by a god during a fit of rage (Athena with a rock vs Laozi and his Diamond-Cutter bracelet); G) given punishment to atone for past transgressions (12 labors for killing family vs protecting the monk for rebelling against heaven); H) constantly helped by goddesses (Athena vs Guanyin); I) similar enemies (there's a long list); tamer of supernatural horses (Mares of Diomedes vs Heavenly Horses); J) travel to lands peopled by women (Amazons vs Kingdom of Women); K) theft of fruit from the gardens of queenly goddesses (Hera's golden apples of the Hesperides vs the Queen Mother's immortal peaches); L) travel to the underworld; M) take part in a heavenly war (Gigantomachy vs rebellion in heaven); N) become gods at the end of their stories (god of heroes and strength vs Victorious Fighting Buddha); and O) worshiped in the real world (Greece and Rome vs East and Southeast Asia).
He time travels to different points in Chinese history in an unofficial 17th-century sequel to JTTW.
He has a total of eight children between two 17th-century novels. He has five sons in A Supplement to the Journey to the West (Xiyoubu, 西遊補, 1640), but only one of them is mentioned by name. "King Pāramitā" (Boluomi wang, 波羅蜜王) is portrayed as a sword-wielding general capable of fighting Sun for several rounds. His name is based on a set of virtues learned by Bodhisattvas on their path to Buddhahood. In Journey to the South (Nanyouji, 南遊記) he has two sons named "Jidu" (奇都) and "Luohou" (羅猴), who respectively represent the lunar eclipse demons Ketu and Rahu from Indian astrology. He also has a giant, monstrous daughter, "Yuebei Xing" (月孛星, "Moon Comet Star"), who is named after a shadowy planet representing the lunar apogee (or the furthest spot in the moon's orbit) in East Asian astrology. Only the daughter plays a part in the story. She uses a magic skull, which can kill immortals three days after their name is called.
He influenced the manga/anime hero Son Goku (a Japanese transliteration of 孫悟空) from the Dragon Ball Franchise.
He almost appeared in an Indiana Jones movie!
He has appeared in both Marvel and DC comic book series.
The world's tallest statue of Monkey is 40 ft (12.192 m) tall and resides at the Broga Sak Dato Temple (武來岸玉封石哪督廟) in Malaysia.
He is the mascot of several entities in Taiwan, including the HCT delivery company, the Hang Yuan FC football team, and the Taipei Water Department.
He has appeared in nearly 65 video games.
He is the namesake for a Chinese satellite designed to search for dark matter.
He is the namesake of a fossa on Pluto. This plays on his association with the underworld.
He is the namesake of the Wukongopterus (Wukong yilong shu, 悟空翼龍屬), a genus of Chinese pterosaur.
He is the namesake of Syntelia sunwukong, a Synteliid beetle from mid-Cretaceous Burma.
A Covid-19 lab in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China adopted the name "Fire Eyes" (Huoyan, 火眼) in honor of Monkey's ability to discern evil spirits.
Burton, F. D. (2005). Monkey King in China: Basis for a Conservation Policy? In A. Fuentes & L. D. Wolfe (Eds.), Primates Face to Face: Conservation Implications of Human-Nonhuman Primate Interconnections (pp. 137-162). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Buswell, R. E., & Lopez, D. S. (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. N: Princeton University Press.
Campany, R. F. (1990). Return-from-Death Narratives in Early Medieval China. Journal of Chinese Religions, 18, pp. 91-125.
Campany, R. F., & Ge, H. (2002). To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study of Ge Hong's Traditions of Divine Transcendents. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Campany, R. F. (2005). Living off the Books: Fifty Ways to Dodge Ming in Early Medieval China. In C. Lupke (Ed.), The Magnitude of Ming: Command, Allotment, and Fate in Chinese Culture (pp. 129-150), University of Hawaii Press.
Contact / Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Wilson.


text:
Buzzer-beater stuns Pelham
Updated: 03/08/2019 06:35:28 AM EST
PELHAM, N.H. -- A buzzer-beater sank the Pelham High boys basketball team during a 46-45 loss to Hollis-Brookline during a NHIAA Division 2 first-round game Wednesday.
Fourth-seeded Pelham was up five with 30 seconds to go but could not close the game at the free throw line. The Pythons were led by Derek Crowley with 16 points and a solid all-around game from senior Cam Loring, who chipped in with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


and a short walk to the base private beach.
We have camped here before and really like this campground. Mayport is situated at the tip end of the St. John's river where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. Sea ships passing by to start their journey over the ocean.
After a trip to the VA hospital, where Leroy had an appointment, we spent the afternoon at Walter Jones Historical Park in the Mandarin neighborhood in Jacksonville. Unfortunately the buildings were closed that day.
In the southern states you see many trees with spanish moss, draped over trees and swaying in the breeze.
To learn more about this plant click here.
On April 1, 1864 steamboat Maple Leaf was sunk by a Confederate torpedo in the St. Johns River just off Mandarin Point.
St. Joseph's Mission Schoolhouse for African-American Children, built in 1898.
Leaving through the back gate of Mayport Naval Station, that road takes you to the St. John's River Ferry and this ferry takes you to Ft. George Island.
Here we visited Kingsley Plantation, which is located along the Fort George River on Fort George Island. It is the site of a former estate in Jacksonville, Florida, that was named for an early owner, Zephaniah Kingsley, who moved there in 1814 and spent 25 years there with his wife from Senegal. She was purchased by Kingsley as a slave. She later participated in plantation management, acquiring her own land and slaves when freed by Kingsley in 1811.
Driving back to the main road on the scenic, narrow (and sometimes bumpy), 2 miles dirt road.
We stopped at Singleton's Seafood Shack for dinner, which is next to the ferry.
View from the deck at Singleton's.
Every Saturday there is the Riverside Arts Market in downtown Jacksonville..
..under the Fuller Warren Bridge.
We then walked along the St. John's river to Jacksonville Landing, which is a festival market place but there were no activities going on that day.
We had lunch at Hooters, a place I would never go but since their terrace was facing the river we ended up here.
Later we walked back to the Arts market which was closed in the meantime. The bridge is in the distance on the left.
The next day was Easter and when I woke up and got out of the tent, I noticed that the Easter bunny had left us these two Easter eggs on the picknick table.
Took it easy that day and got everything ready for the drive back to SC.
We ate at Singleton's Fish Shack again.
View from the deck. The ferry passing by.
This cardinal kept us company in the tent area.
Our departing day. A week is too short.
Saying goodbye to our sweet tent neighbors Lynn and Dave.
In Hartsville SC we stayed in an airbnb from Martha. She was also an excellent host and we loved staying with her too.
Celebrating Earth Day at Kalmia Gardens which was a short walk from Martha's house.
Some fascinating critters where there to see.
Promoting the Yoga and Healing Arts Festival , for October 22, 2017 in Hartsville.
The big event this day was the Duck Cup Race fundraiser. Duck numbers were for sale for $5 .
Then it was time to relax and listen to the music of Lucia and Levi Byrd.
Sculpture of leaves called "Southern Magnolia" by Larry Merriman.
It's a year's worth of leaves from a 50 foot tall Southern Magnolia tree.
Our last Sunday in SC we had dinner at Hibachi Grill in Florence.
On the day we left Martha's airbnb, we bought 2 pieces of carrot cake she had baked at the restaurant she was working. We got two very big pieces. it was yummy.
C 17 with only Red Cross equipment as cargo so lots of space for us.
Arrived in Ramstein safe and sound.


A small, French copper preserve pan. This piece is made from a substantial gauge of copper and it dates from c.1890. It has the typical French shape of brass handles to either side and it is in excellent condition. The height quoted above includes the handles but the depth of the pan is 12.5cm. (5in).


[A]t the moment, professors' incentives in choosing textbooks are in some ways more distorted than doctors' incentives in choosing drugs. You see, I earn a $10.30 royalty on every copy of my textbook that a student buys. Instead of just trying to get the best book for my class (and to do so I should weigh both quality and price), I might also consider assigning my own book and increasing my profit.
This is a self-dealing transaction, which would be presumptively illegal if professors owed a fiduciary duty to students. Some professors realize this and donate to charity the royalties they earn when they assign students their own books.
So this year, I am going to do something different. I will give $11 to each of my contracts students who buys my book. That way, we will all know that I assigned the book for the right reason.
In his blog post, Ayres encourages students to ask their professors for a refund of royalties if they assign their own textbook. Upon reading that suggestion, I knew that some students would take Ayres up on that proposition. I immediately wondered how other professors would take the suggestion that they should refund their royalties.
Lucky for me, I didn't have to wait long to find out.
This has caused me trouble: one of my students read it and asked why I don't do that as well for my little book, Economics Is Everywhere. I have done this before, when I assigned my labor economics text to a class of 35 students, but not in her class.
The reason I don't now, I told her, is transactions costs. With 550 freshmen, there is no way to determine which students have bought the book or to hand out the money efficiently. Instead, I make a donation to the university about equal to the royalties earned from my class. My guilt is assuaged and my very scarce lecture time is not disrupted. But if the transactions costs (and my class) were smaller, giving the money back to the students would be a Pareto improvement: the students would be better off.
That's one perspective, but I have a different reason to be skeptical of Ayres' point: it tackles the wrong problem. The chief problem with textbooks is not that professors exploit a captive audience by writing subpar textbooks and then assigning them for massive profits. It is that professors are not sensitive to the full price that students pay for their textbooks.
I discuss this point elsewhere (here and here). Textbooks are expensive mainly because of the review/marketing/beautification process. Professors are insulated from costs of textbooks, and textbook companies want it that way.
In fact, textbook companies offer attractive incentives for professors to adopt a particular textbook. In a hybrid of marketing and review, they pay professors to review things like the table of contents and the preface (never the entire book). Afterwards, professors are asked if they would consider adopting the textbook for their own class, among other questions.
Moreover, textbook companies send professors piles of trial copies of textbooks. In my one year as an adjunct professor, I received more than 10 trial copies of textbooks. I didn't read them. The books just collected dust in my office until a second-hand bookseller knocked on my door, and bought them at a deep discount.
If only one year fetched me 10 textbooks, I imagine that Ayres has a similar second-hand market available to him. If so, shouldn't he refund a share of those profits to his students? Similar marketing efforts contribute to the cost of his own textbook. And, that's a significant fraction of his textbook price.
For example, Ayres' textbook costs $159.00 at retail price (currently on sale for $133.56 at Amazon). Ayres is happy to forgo his $11 share of that final price. Notice that even if the book has a production cost of $30, the middlemen more than triple the final cost of the textbook (from $41 to $133.56).
In short, I'm not impressed by Ayres' gesture to refund his royalty. That's because there are better options for his students.
If I were a student of his, I would be much happier if he took a $15 royalty, and used the extra compensation to pursue less expensive publishing options. On another note, I'd be much more impressed if Ayres presented me with a free (or very inexpensive) set of notes specifically tailored to the class. In addition to this, he could recommend his book as an optional reference, or perhaps, recommend his top three favorites.
A small way to make professors more sensitive about the price of the books they are assigning is to think about the royalties they are generating for themselves.
A big way to make professors more sensitive about the price of books they are assigning is to try self-publishing. It's not that hard, your royalty can go up, and you can offer your book at a lower price... to your students and the world.