Also known as SUN-WUKONG, SUN-WU-KONG, SUN-WU-K'UNG, SUN-HOU-ZI,
SUN-HOU-TZE, PI-MA-WEN
MONKEY: The infamous irrepressible Monkey King, Trickster God, and
Great Sage Equal Of Heaven.
Star of stage, screen and scroll, MONKEY is the true hero of
Journey To The West (Xiyou Ji) the amazing novel of frivolity and
profundity written by Wu Cheng'en in the Sixteenth Century. (It's
one of China's Four Great Novels, and we highly recommend it to
anyone seeking enlightenment or entertainment.)
From the beginning of time, a certain rock on the Mountain of Fruit
and Flowers had been soaking up the goodness of nature and QI
energy. One day this pregnant rock released a stone egg, and from
it hatched a Stone Ape, who solemnly bowed to the Four Corners of
the Earth then jumped off to have fun.
This was MONKEY. He was high-spirited, egotistical and full of
mischievous pranks. He was soon having a wonderful time as King of
the Apes. But a niggling worry began to gnaw at him one which
would change his life. The Monkey King feared Death.
To find immortality, MONKEY became the disciple of Father Subodhi,
a rather dour DAOist sage. The sage, unimpressed with his simian
tricks, gave the Monkey King a new title: 'Disciple Aware of
Emptiness'. MONKEY was very pleased with this epithet, not
realising it referred to the vacuum in his head.
But after much haggling, Father Subodhi uttered the words of
Illumination, explained the process of Cloud-Flying and also
revealed the secret of the Seventy-Two Transformations. Which,
thought MONKEY, was extremely good value for money.
Returning home to his monkey subjects, he discovered they were
under seige by a fearsome monster. Magic tricks were no good what
he needed was a weapon. So he whizzed off to the Dragon King
AO-KUANG and cajoled his way into the Treasury. There he found the
great Magic Wishing Staff, a huge rod of black iron which Heaven
had used to flatten the bed of the Milky Way. It weighed 13,000
pounds but could expand to fill the Universe or shrink to the size
of a needle. MONKEY was delighted with this Weapon of Mass
Destruction and used it to bludgeon many a demon thereafter.
It wasn't long before reports of MONKEY's tricks started to reach
the austere ears of the JADE-EMPEROR. First the DRAGON-KINGS
complained of rudeness and theft. Then YEN-LO-WANG, the God of
Death, lodged a formal protest. "That intolerable ape has just
vandalised my filing system and made monkeys immortal. What are you
going to do about it?"
Not wishing to shed needless karma, the JADE-EMPEROR invited MONKEY
to Heaven and gave him a job. Without pay, of course. This plan to
keep the peace was amazingly successful for an entire day. Then
MONKEY discovered that his post as Keeper of the Heavenly Stables
was so lowly, even the horse manure ranked higher than him.
Insulted beyond belief, MONKEY ran amok, burst into the
JADE-EMPEROR's court and dared to threaten his august person. The
Ruler of the Universe sighed, consulted his advisors and bestowed a
new title upon him: Great Sage, Equal Of Heaven. "That's much
better," said MONKEY, impressed.
But by his very nature the Great Sage was irrepressibly naughty. He
just couldn't help it. He gobbled up LAO-ZI's Longevity Pills,
stuffed his face with the precious Peaches of Immortality,
gatecrashed official parties and made insulting gestures to all and
sundry. Finally he left Heaven in disgust, claiming it wasn't good
enough for him.
Now the JADE-EMPEROR finally lost his esteemed cool. He sent the
Heavenly army to obliterate MONKEY once and for all. Nothing could
withstand this mighty force... But the Great Stone Ape immortal,
spiritually illumined and filled with Heavenly essences was not
only indestructable but also pretty handy in a fight. The forces of
Heaven made an embarrassing display and slunk off in defeat. There
was nothing for it the Ruler of Heaven called for BUDDHA.
Now BUDDHA, in his infinite wisdom, knew better than to subdue
MONKEY by force. Instead he offered him a wager. "If you're so
clever, jump off the palm of my hand. If you can do that, I'll take
the Emperor in as a lodger and give Heaven to you. But if you
can't, I'll expect a full apology and penance."
The Monkey King laughed to himself. He could travel thousands of
miles in a single leap. The bet was on. BUDDHA stretched out his
hand and MONKEY jumped...
Several thousand miles later, the Great Sage landed in a desolate
plain with great columns reaching up the sky. "These must be the
Five Pillars of Wisdom at the end of the Universe", he thought.
"That BUDDHA is just plain stupid to make such a silly bet." And,
to show his disrespect, he pissed all over the nearest pillar and
jumped back to claim his reward.
"Is the Emperor packing his bags yet?" asked MONKEY as he landed.
The Holy One raised a sublime eyebrow. "I don't know why you're
grinning," he said, "you've been on my palm the whole time. Look."
An astonished MONKEY rubbed his eyes and stared at the five
familiar-looking pink pillars of BUDDHA's hand. Then he smelt the
stench of monkey pee and trembled. The next thing he knew, he was
lying on the ground with a mountain on top of him.
And there he stayed for five hundred long years, being fed molten
copper and iron pills by an attendent demon while the moss grew in
his ears. By the time GUAN-YIN came along, the Great Sage Equal of
Heaven was a thoroughly humble creature.
As told in Journey To The West, GUAN-YIN enlisted MONKEY as chief
disciple of the young Buddhist monk TRIPITAKA. Together with SANDY
and PIGSY, he protected the boy on his quest to India, battling
demons and righting wrongs along the way. His natural monkey
trickery now had a holy purpose which he unleashed with much
enthusiasm and his uncontrollable ego was kept firmly in place by
a little device of GUAN-YIN's devising: a head-band made of
gold.
The unsuspecting Great Sage was not prepared for the terrible
torture of the Headache Sutra! Whenever MONKEY misbehaved,
TRIPITAKA recited the Sutra and the golden fillet squeezed until
his very eyeballs felt like bursting. Try as he might, he could not
remove it. There was no defense except submission, and pretty soon
MONKEY was the most humble disciple the world has ever known.
Usually.
After many many many many adventures, the travellers fulfilled
their quest. MONKEY was rewarded for all his efforts with the title
'Buddha Victorious Against Disaster' and finally made his peace
with Heaven. We don't know what the Great Sage gets up to nowadays,
but presumably he keeps himself occupied.
VITAL STATISTIX
Area or people: n/a
Location : China
Gender : Male
Category : Deity
Pronunciation : Soon Woo Korng
Alternative names : SUN-WUKONG, SUN-WU-KONG, SUN-WU-K'UNG,
SUN-HOU-ZI, SUN-HOU-TZE, PI-MA-WEN
Attributes : Coming soon
Mystic number : 7547 (a)
