Old Monkey's Cares and Concerns

The story goes that after trekking 108,000 leagues west to fetch the Buddhist scriptures, subduing monsters and demons on the way, Monkey escaped the wheel of transformation, was granted the title "Buddhist Victorious in Strife," and resided in peace and happiness in the Pure Land of the West. . . for a thousand years.

After a thousand years, old Monkey began to get a little restless, even in heaven. What's more, every holiday and every Chinese New Year's down in the human world below, the Great Sage's temples were filled with incense and offerings, while door pictures, paper cuttings, flower wreaths, hand puppets, and molded dough figures . . . all displayed old Monkey's form and features!

Always sedulous of his fame and reputation, Monkey promptly turned a cloud somersault and descended to earth to see how his image was getting along.

If the story is true, Monkey would find cause for satisfaction in more areas than just holidays and folk figurines. In fact, this beloved character from the 15thcentury novel Journey to the West appears in movies, Peking operas, puppet plays, comic strips, and cartoons all over the Chinese world. He was the mascot of the 1986 Taipei Marathon and the 1986 Taiwan Games, and in Japan, besides being the subject of a weekly television show, has a famous brand of rice wine named after him. Two of Taiwan's three television networks have serials about him in the works. And most recently, he turned up in front-page newspaper ads promoting a "Chinese-style" hamburger, exclaiming with a grin, "Sorry, McDonald's!"

The Great Sage would certainly be delighted at all the publicity. But upon further reflection, it might occur to him--all his current fame stems from his "uproar in the Heavenly Palace." How many people know about his prior and subsequent career? What's the rest of the story?

According to Wu Chung-en's Journey to the West, Monkey was born from a magical rock on the Mountain of Fruits and Flowers on an island in the Eastern Sea, where the other monkeys declared him the Handsome Monkey King. But one day, in the midst of feasting and revelry, he suddenly thought of the inevitability of death and decided to go in search of Taoist saints to learn the secret of immortality.

Monkey journeyed to the Patriarch Subodhi, who gave him his Buddhist name of Sun Wu-k'ung. (Sun is a pun on the word "monkey"; wu-k'ung means "aware of vacuity.") There he learned the art of 72 transformations and how to perform a 108,000-league cloud somersault. Unfortunately, one day Subodhi caught him showing off in front of his fellow students by turning himself into a pine-tree, and the patriarch expelled him from his hermitage, predicting that "he was sure to get in trouble some day."

Indeed, Monkey displayed a fiery temperament as soon as he got home: rushing off to best the Demon of Havoc, stealing weapons from the city of Ao-lai for his monkey soldiers, extorting a magical "as-you-like-it" golden-tipped cudgel from the Dragon King's palace, and crossing out the names of himself and his fellow monkeys from the Records of Life and Death in the underworld.

When the Celestial Jade Emperor heard about this, he decided to try to reform the refractory monkey by granting him the title of pi-ma-wen of the Heavenly Stables. Monkey worked hard at his new post, grooming the heavenly horses, but when he found out that his position was actually a very lowly one, he Stormed back to the Mountain of Fruits and Flowers in a rage and declared himself the "Great Sage, Equal to Heaven."

When Monkey defeated the celestial troops sent to subdue him, the Jade Emperor decided, on the advice of the Spirit of the Planet Venus, to allow him the title "Great Sage" and appoint him caretaker of the Celestial Peach Garden. Only there, Monkey turned out to behave even more outrageously than he had before. Having glutted himself on the celestial peaches, which ripen just once every 9,000 years, he got drunk on the Queen Mother's wine and gobbled up Lao Tzu's precious elixir pills as though they were fried beans. When he realized the trouble he was in for, he somersaulted back to Flower-Fruit Mountain and barricaded the gates.

The story of his "uproar in the Heavenly Palace" has given Monkey the reputation of a rebel. But that story actually makes up just the first seven chapters of the 100-chapter novel. If Monkey is a rebel, what are we to make of his subsequent submission to the Buddha, obedience to Kuan Yin, and guardianship of the priest Hsuan Tsang on his quest to India to fetch the scriptures?

Critics' opinions have been varied. Taoists, Buddhists, and Confucianists have all claimed the novel as a religious allegory. The noted scholar Hu Shih held that it is "simply a book of good humor, profound nonsense. . . and delightful entertainment." While Taiwan University's Chang Chien-erh sees the story as a Bildungsroman of personal development: starting out as a "stone monkey" on Fruit and Flower Mountain, Monkey acquires human traits and manners from his teacher Subodhi, goes through a rebellious period of adolescence when he "stirs up heaven," and enters the real world of adult responsibility only after he repents and undertakes to protect Hsuan Tsang on his quest.

Monkey's powers are considerable, but so are those of the foes that the pilgrims face in their 81 trials along the way. To defeat them, Monkey must often seek the assistance of Kuan Yin or the Buddha himself, whereby he comes to better understand himself and his limitations.

Monkey's energetic, ambitious, and excitable temperament causes him numerous difficulties, and he often quarrels with Pigsy or talks back to the master and storms off in a huff. But his loyalty always wins out in the end, his constant words of encouragement to the cowardly Hsuan Tsang keep the quest going forward, and his courage and resourcefulness save the party from many a precarious predicament.

Passing through all the 81 trials, Monkey comes to "realize the vacuity" of fame and strife and, with the completion of the quest, achieves immortality and buddhahood.

Today on Taiwan over ten temples are dedicated the Great Sage, where he is offered fruit and vegetables and asked to cure ailments and diseases. Parents in the southern city of Tainan take overly active children to his temple there in hopes that he will help the children pass smoothly through their rebellious stage.

Can old Monkey really cure diseases? In his early days, when he went off in search of the secret of immortality, he noted that "everywhere man pursues fame and gain; none gives a thought to preserving his life."

Don't we suffer from the same sickness today? Only, where should we go now to seek sages and saints? Old Monkey scratches his cheeks and knits his brow.

The words an old woodcutter once told him when he asked the way to the immortals still linger in his ears: "Not far, not far. In this mountain is the Cave of the Slanted Moon and the Three Stars. In that cave dwells a fairy immortal. . . ."

The slanted moon and the three stars depict the Chinese character for heart. It's not far, if only you try to seek it.

These words said, old Monkey picks up his cudgel, turns a cloud somersault, and soars back to the Pure Land of the Western Paradise.

[Picture Caption]

A traditional New Year's picture of "The Buddha Victorious in Strife." (courtesy of CCPD)

The Great Sage ascended to heaven, while his fellows were left behind.

Twisted dough figures depict the four pilgrims to the West. From the left: Sandy, Hsuan Tsang, Monkey, and Pigsy.

Monkey wes the mascot of the 1986 Taipei International Marathon.

A gilded Monkey enshrined in his "Great Sage" temple.

Golden-tipped cudgel in hand, Monkey is a favorite with children.

The Chinese opera episode "The Theft of the Peaches and Elixir." (courtesy of Sun Yuan-pin)

"Sorry, McDonald's!" A Chinese-style hamburger chain uses Monkey as its logo.

Monkey appears all over Japan in this liquor advertisement. (courtesy of Ts'ai Chih-chung)

Monkey stealing the peaches of immortality from a shadow puppet play.

Sun Wu-k'ung as drawn by a popular contemporary cartoonist.

The Great Sage ascended to heaven, while his fellows were left behind.

Twisted dough figures depict the four pilgrims to the West. From the left: Sandy, Hsuan Tsang, Monkey, and Pigsy.

A gilded Monkey enshrined in his "Great Sage" temple.

Monkey wes the mascot of the 1986 Taipei International Marathon.