The Monkey King or ‘Why It’s Alright If We Never Achieve Perfection’
The Monkey King is not just a Chinese mythological figure but now a universal hero beloved from Manga to Netflix. Just how much we understand the Monkey King, however, is another matter entirely.
Climbing down from the rafters of The Library Of Lost Things, covered in fur and smelling of stolen peaches, is the 16th century novel The Journey To The West, the story of The Monkey King … though it’s not really his story at all.
The Story Of The Monkey King
In a place in the universe where the Heavens and the Earth are in perfect balance, there was a rock. This rock absorbed the essence of the Five Elements that make up the Universe and, after a few centuries of basking in the Universe’s glow, out popped a stone monkey with flashing golden eyes.
This monkey soon grew hair, learned to leap great caverns and scale mountains of untold heights. But these kinds of abilities can only keep a young monkey occupied for so long, soon he wanted to join the rest of the animals in the wider world. Naturally, he felt most at home amongst the other monkeys of the world but it was when they discovered their first waterfall that the monkey with the glowing eyes understood he was different.
All the monkeys stood by the cascading waters with their mouths agape. They chattered and yelped, decrying the mysterious horror before them. Until the monkey with the glowing eyes decided he would jump through the waterfall to see what was on the other side. The other monkeys watched in horror … and then the monkey with the glowing eyes leapt out again.
He told them that there was a great cavern behind the water and a house they could use for their home. A ‘Palace’, even if it was just made of a rough stone house. The daring monkey saw how he stood out from his kin, how his bravery surpassed theirs as much as - in his opinion - his handsomeness did too. So, he gave himself the name The Monkey King and he and the other monkeys lived behind the waterfall for several hundred years in peace and tranquillity.
One day, shaking off the ennui of bliss and tranquillity, The Monkey King had a surging fear of death and reincarnation into another being who will not recognise his own kin. He understood that his super-monkey abilities and the veneration he received from his kin did not matter while he was still mortal. There was a deep sense of emptiness in his heart that he simply could not shake. The other monkeys tried to comfort him by telling him that this was a natural and unavoidable process but The Monkey King wanted to hear none of that, so he left his kingdom in search of immortality.
The first people he found were more concerned with acquiring riches than immortality, so he quickly dismissed them and went further west. In this land, the humans were also mostly concerned with wealth but he did meet one woodcutter who told him of a man named Patriarch Subhodi who gave lectures on a Holy Terrace nearby.
The Monkey King studied under Patriarch Subhodi for many years but he was endlessly dull and The Monkey King had to swing from the rafters just to stay awake through the lectures. Eventually, Subhodi relented and agreed to teach The Monkey King the first stages of immortality. He also gave The Monkey King the name Sun Wukong, which means ‘Aware of Vacuity’. The Monkey King didn’t understand the name at first and, since he was kicked out of Subhodi’s school for showing off, he never had the chance to ask.
Sun Wukong went back home where he discovered his kin huddled outside the waterfall. They told him that the Havoc Demon had entered their domain and claimed it for himself. So, Sun Wukong jumped through the waterfall again and challenged the Havoc Demon to a fight. The demon was as amazed as he was enraged and he ran at Sun Wukong wielding his enormous magical sword. Sun Wukong didn’t hesitate. He plucked a few hairs from his chest, chewed them quickly and spat them at the Demon. When the hairs made impact, they transformed into a hoard of tiny monkeys that bit and scratched the demon incessantly beneath his armour. Rolling on the floor, the Demon dropped his sword, which The Monkey King picked up and sent straight through the Demon’s skull.
Sun Wukong, glowing with his own self-esteem, decided that he should not be just The Monkey King but should hold the title of King of All Animals. In such a role, he felt no shame in travelling to the East, to meet The Dragon King. He wanted to meet The Dragon King because he had heard that this king possessed many treasures and, from one king to another, the Havoc Demon’s sword was a bit cumbersome for Sun Wukong and he wanted to swap it for something more manageable.
When The Dragon King heard what this uppity little monkey wanted he agreed immediately, telling Sun Wukong that all he had to do was swim to the depths of the Eastern Sea where he kept all of his treasures. What The Dragon King didn’t expect to see was Sun Wukong utilising the magic he had learned from Subhodi and breathing underwater all the way down to the dragon’s lair. Unable to go back on his promise to exchange Sun Wukong’s weapon for one of his own, The Dragon King left his kingdom beside himself with fury and indignation.
The Dragon King flew to heaven and demanded an audience with the Jade Emperor. Outraged at this monkey’s audacity, the Dragon King told the Jade Emperor that Sun Wukong had to be stopped. He was even calling himself ‘The King Of All Animals’! The Jade Emperor agreed that something had to be done about this upstart monkey but he wasn’t as infuriated as the Dragon King. So, he told the dragon that he would offer Sun Wukong a role in heaven. Seeing as the monkey was obsessed with immortality and claimed to be king of the animals he would put him in charge of all horses there.
When Sun Wukong received the offer he was delighted. He bid farewell to his kin and told them that his greatest hopes had come true and he was to take his seat in heaven. He left, riding on a cloud. But before the monkey’s could even finish grieving their loss, he returned on the same cloud as before, drunk, and still holding a bottle of wine.
They asked what happened, how he could have got drunk so quickly. He told them that time moves differently in heaven. He said that he had spent two weeks in heaven being a ‘glorified stable boy’ before he gave up, got drunk and burned down Lao Tsu’s house on the way out. Still annoyed at his mistreatment, Sun Wukong decided that he would punish everyone in Heaven. So he mustered an army and declared war on Heaven itself.
This went about as well as you can imagine.
One failed attack, one decimated army, and one defiant last stand of one monkey against the forces of Heaven later, The Monkey King, found himself imprisoned beneath the earth until a young monk would come along to whom he could be a humble servant.
The Humbled Monkey
This is just the first part of The Journey To The West and, although Sun Wukong is certainly the most beloved and best remembered of the characters in the book, he is not the protagonist. That honour goes to the monk mentioned at the end of our retelling. This monk, Tripitaka, is based on a real 7th century monk called Xuanzang who wanted to travel to India to bring back better translations of Buddhist scriptures at the time. Tripitaka has a similar desire to travel ‘West’ in search of holy scriptures but his adventures turned out a little differently to that of his real-life inspiration.
Tripitaka led a band of mythical beings that included an anthropomorphic pig, a general of Heaven, a dragon-turned-steed upon whom he rode and one loud-mouthed and violent monkey with golden eyes. Throughout the story, Sun Wukong uses his superior fighting skills to get Tripitaka out of deadly harm but, every time he does so, Tripitaka punishes him for not following the pacifist way of an ideal Buddhist monk.
This might strike some readers as a little hypocritical but we have to remember that all the characters in the story serve a purpose. Tripitaka plays the role of said ‘ideal Buddhist monk’ on a holy pilgrimage. One role Sun Wukong plays is that of Tripitaka’s protector but I think there’s another purpose at the heart of this strange and funny character.
As Chinese author and translator Lin Yutang said, “Monkey was clever, but also conceited; he had enough magic to push his way into Heaven, but not the sanity and balance and temperance of spirit to live peacefully there.”
This is true throughout the whole story. Look back to when he first jumped through the waterfall to make a palace for his kin. He had no idea if he would find something great or be crushed against rocks. There is always a fine line between stupidity and genius and Sun Wukong dances along that line for 100 chapters.
What’s particularly telling about Sun Wukong, however, is the name Subhodi gave him: aware of vacuity. He mastered physical capabilities early on, then he became The Monkey King, then he felt that this wasn’t enough and he would have to become immortal. At each stage, Sun Wukong is perfectly aware of what he’s missing. He identifies his vacuity and then he makes reckless strides towards achieving what he lacks. For all his bluster, his mistakes and his arrogance, he is probably the most human character in the entire book.
The Individual In Disguise
Tripitaka wanders through the world in pure innocence and, as such, is at the mercy of countless bandits, demons and monsters. Sun Wukong is playful but also unwilling to ‘turn the other cheek’, as it were.
One scholar said that Sun Wukong’s brave fighting, longing for freedom, and his dedication to defeat the devils are, “the reflection of character and essence of (the) beauty of human’s conquering nature and fighting for liberation. Because Monkey King represents the oppressed poor and hardworking people’s hopes to get rid of darkness and evil as well as to embrace a bright and happy life, Monkey King becomes a well-known hero, which is also the root cause of the successful dissemination of Journey to the West in hundreds of years.”
The fact that Sun Wukong is infallible, funny, deeply flawed and incredibly clever is the reason why he has become a universal hero. He is obviously a product of ancient Chinese culture but he speaks to what it is to be human. By which I mean, he touches us because he is us at his core.
The Monkey King straddles the worlds of the divine and the mortal and for that reason we can both admire him and feel a strange kinship with him. On our best days we can say that we’re not as conceited as he is and on our worst days we can look at him and his fallibility makes our own mistakes more palatable. After all, if this conceited little monkey can achieve something as revered and holy as immortality then maybe - just a modicum of maybe - we might not be hopeless after all.
The fact that Sun Wukong learns magic and then uses a part of himself to defeat the Havoc Demon, that he learns a warrior’s skills and then defies Heaven itself, is a clear indication that he has the potential for greatness, even if he can’t match the sanctity and perfection of an ‘ideal Buddhist monk’. He serves his purpose in the story as those of us for whom ‘sanctity’ is as far-off a dream as immortality, serve our purpose in life. Monkey isn’t expected to become an ‘ideal Buddhist monk’ he’s only expected to calm his ego a little and maybe learn from both his mistakes and his successes.
There’s one last thing that I find particularly hopeful about The Monkey King’s role in the world and that comes from the Chinese Academy of Science’s Dark Matter Particle Explorer, or DAMPE. The DAMPE is a space telescope with the principle function of helping scientists search for and understand that most mysterious substance Dark Matter. It looks into the void and helps us to understand something we only have a theoretical understanding of but which appears to be at the very foundation of how our universe functions. It is a tangible embodiment of humanity’s desire to understand the vacuity inherent in the cosmos and, of course, it is nicknamed Wukong.