Sun Wukong is a literary character: the Monkey King, known from Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Sun Wukong is a famous character in Chinese literature. He is known from a novel by Wu Cheng'en. It is one of the most famous archetypes in Eastern mythology. He became popular after the publication of the novel "Journey to the West". In China, there were several literary sources describing the campaign of the monk Xuanzang to India. But this particular book is still considered a masterpiece of Chinese literature.

Character names

Interestingly, Sun Wukong is not the only name of this character. He received it from his very first teacher, whose name was Syuputi. In literal translation, "Wukong" means "knowing the void", and he began to bear the surname Sun, like all those who lived on the Mountain of Monkey Fruits and Flowers.

Sun Wukong also had a second teacher who gave him the monastic name Xingzhe, which means "traveler". This was the traditional name given to many itinerant monks.

This character also has many nicknames, which are also used in literary sources. This is the Stone Monkey, the Beautiful Monkey King, Bimawen, that is, the groom, the Great Sage.

Character biography

Sun Wukong is a character,which is a stone monkey, born from a magical cobblestone. This episode reminds many researchers of the birth of God Mithra in Mithraism.

His story begins with the fact that the monkeys surrounding Sun Wukong once decided to find out where the mountain stream flowing nearby begins. As a result, they discovered a beautiful waterfall.

The monkeys decided that whoever gets through it and comes back safe and sound will be their ruler. It was Sun Wukong who volunteered first. Behind the waterfall, he found the Cave of the Water Curtain and thus became king.

In Search of Immortality

He began to live happily, but he was still worried about one fact. Namely, that sooner or later he will grow old and die. Then he decided to go in search of a teacher who would help him master immortality.

He found a mentor in Taoism. He taught him to fly on the clouds, as well as a variety of magical actions. When the hero of our article returned to his subjects, he went to the Sea Dragon to beg for some kind of weapon for himself. All the weapons that seemed normal to him became too light in his hands. The Dragon then gave him the Jingubang, a staff that had once pacified the waters. As soon as the Monkey King took possession of the staff, he immediately began to use this weapon against the Dragon brothers, forcing them to give up their proper clothes.

Death of the king

Despite all the tricks, death still overtook Sun Wukong, whose brief biographyprovided in this article. The cause of his death was banal alcohol poisoning. He was immediately followed by a servant of the Chinese ruler of the realm of the dead, whose name is Yanluo.

The judges of hell, to whom Sun Wukong was brought, began to claim that there had been some kind of mistake. The king made a terrible scandal and forced him to cross out his name from the book of the dead. He also excluded the names of his subjects from there, so that they could always serve him.

So, most of the monkeys that lived in those places gained immortality without knowing it themselves. But all this did not pass without a trace for the king. Both his actions in the Sea Dragon Cave and the scandal in the underworld led many to complain to the Jade Emperor. However, he did not punish him, but instead took him to heaven with him and made him a simple groom.

Sun Wukong was not satisfied with such a low position, so he showed self-will and returned to earth. After that, the subjects became even more convinced of his omnipotence and dubbed him the Great Sage, who is equal to Heaven. The Jade Emperor, dissatisfied with the fact that Sun Wukong quit his job, sent a whole army against him. But the army could not cope with him. Only then did the emperor recognize his title and give him an honorary, albeit formal, position. Assigned to guard the peach orchard.

Serving as a security guard

The guard from him also turned out to be useless. Instead of saving the peaches, he started stealing them. And when I found out that the emperor was richthe feast, to which he was not invited, became very angry. He made his way to the premises of the palace, where the guests were supposed to feast, while no one came. And he ate everything that was prepared for this evening. Including the elixir of immortality.

This act led to the fact that the troops of the Heavenly Emperor were again sent against Sun Wukong, who this time managed to capture him. But due to the fact that he drank too much of the elixir of immortality, he could not be executed. He became simply invulnerable. The subjects of the emperor even tried to smelt the elixir from the body of Sun Wukong, but this plan also failed. Moreover, he managed to escape from the furnace and arrange a large-scale brawl. The Buddha himself came out to pacify him, who calmed Sun Wukong only after he imprisoned him under the mountain of the Five Elements.

Free the King

The hero of our article spent half a millennium in prison. Only after that he was ordered to be released into the wild by the goddess Guanyin, who always advocated the salvation and help of everyone around.

He was released by a monk named Xuanzang, who at that very time went to the Buddha for sacred scriptures. Sun Wukong was so grateful for his release that he agreed to become Xuanzang's disciple and pledged to take him under his protection throughout the journey.

When they were attacked by robbers, the brave hero of our article killed them in a fight, which caused the monk's displeasure. Sun Wukong was also unhappy with the fact that he was scolded for the work that he undertook to do. After this quarrel, he lefthis teacher, but soon repented and returned back.

The end of the journey

Then, the cunning Xuanzang forced him to put on the hoop that Guanyin handed over. From now on, every time a monk began to read a mantra, the hoop would shrink, causing a severe headache in the hero of our article. He mainly used this hoop to prevent the Monkey King from killing evil spirits. Despite this, Sun Wukong continued to faithfully serve the monk and protected him from all troubles and hardships throughout the journey.

At the end of the journey, Sun Wukong finally received his well-deserved reward. The Buddha of the Western Paradise appointed him the All-Conquering Buddha. From now on, the biography of the hero of our article becomes unknown to mere mortals. Only one fact became public knowledge. In the work "Lotus Lamp" it was stated that he somehow began to teach the boy who opposed the god Erlan, who was called the greatest warrior of heaven, in order to rescue his mother from imprisonment.

Images of the hero in art

The image of Sun Wukong in the cinema was often used by various directors. The most famous Chinese cartoon. It came out in the 60s under the title "Sun Wukong: Trouble in the Heavenly Halls". It was a classic adaptation of the famous Chinese picaresque novel. The cartoon was full-length, it ran for 1 hour and 41 minutes.

Also known is Rob Minkoff's fantasy thriller "The Forbidden Kingdom", which was filmed jointly by the US and China in 2008. Starring Jackie ChanMichael Angarano and Jet Li.

The image of Sun Wukong is often used in computer games. In Leaque of Legends, Dota 2, Supreme Commander, Warframe, Paragon, "Gods of the Arena", he is a playable character that goes by one of his own names.

Participates in Heroes of the Storm as a legendary skin for the key hero Samuro, in Dragon Knight and Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom is one of the auxiliary heroes.

Rogue Romance

But initially the hero of our article became popular thanks to the novel "Journey to the West" by Wu Cheng'en. It is one of four classic novels written in Chinese as well. The book was first published in the 1590s. Initially, the name of the author was unknown; it was not indicated on the book. Only in the 20th century was it possible to establish that he was Wu Cheng'en. This is a Chinese writer who lived during the Ming Dynasty. He is considered one of the founders of the genre of fantastic prose.

Journey to the West is a satirical and fantasy novel with one hundred chapters. It details the journey of a monk named Xuanzang to India for Buddhist sutras. He is heading along the Silk Road.

It is interesting that the key actor is not Xuanzang himself, but his companion named Sun Wukong. It is around him that the main action is built, while the monk often plays an auxiliary and rather passive role.

On the road, they have a lot of fellow travelers - a funny and clumsy half-pig, half-man named Zhu Bajie,a white horse dragon who was a prince once upon a time, another monk named Sha Sen.

The structure of the book consists of a chain of entertaining and interconnected episodes. They show a clear Buddhist allegory. All this is layered on the canvas of the classic picaresque novel, which was very popular in European countries around the same time.

At the same time, the work itself is very complexly structured. For example, its historical basis is overgrown with fantastic adventures that happen to the heroes, and the folklore narrative principle is skillfully combined with the author's rich language. It is especially worth highlighting the folk language, which on the pages of this work is combined with a high literary style. At the same time, prose is interspersed with all kinds of poetic inserts and lyrical digressions.