Monkey
Journey to the
West
By Wu Che'engEn
(kind’a)
Photograph of painting depicting a scene from the Chinese
classic Journey to the West. The painting shows the four heroes
of the story, left to right: Sun Wukong, Xuanzang, Zhu
Wuneng, and Sha Wujing. The painting is a decoration on the
Long Corridor in the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. The
photograph was taken by Rolf Müller on April 17, 2005. Wiki
Not originally by Wu Ch-Eng-en
• The novel or prose romance Monkey (properly,
"Journey to the West," Hsi-yu chi) was not the
work of a single person.
• First published in 1592, it represents a
cumulative retelling and elaboration of
materials that evolved over many centuries.
• Yet the final form of these stories in a vast,
sprawling novel of one hundred chapters, often
attributed to Wu Ch'eng-en, transformed the
traditional material into a work of genius.
• For over three centuries most
of China remained unaware of
its authorship, although the
people of his hometown
attributed the novel to him
early on.
• Several scholars' textual
analysis and research of Qing
Dynasty records suggests that
he may have been the author,
and a 1625 gazetteer from
Wu's hometown claims him as
the author.
A page from the earliest
known edition of Journey to
the West, in woodblock print.
An early illustrated edition of Journey to the West
Only a Part of this Huge Work Is Included
• Our text is from an abridged version
of thirty chapters out of the original
one hundred, but Waley's gifts as a
translator and the nature of his
abridgement make this version a
delight to read.
• In addition to Waley's abridgement,
there is a complete and accurate fourvolume translation of the novel by
Anthony Yu, Journey to the West
(1977—83), with a long introduction.
What is it?
• It has long been debated whether Monkey is a
work of exuberant play, celebrating Monkey's
free spirit and turbulent ingenuity, or a serious
allegory of Monkey and Tripitaka's journey
toward Buddhist enlightenment.
• The novel is certainly something of both. An
argument can be made, from a Buddhist point
of view, that Tripitaka, however inept and
timorous, is the novel's true hero.
• But for most readers, Chinese and Western,
Monkey's splendid vitality and boundless
humor remain the center of interest.
• Monkey's guardianship over Tripitaka is
seconded by the ever-hungry and lustful Pigsy,
who becomes increasingly unsympathetic as
the journey progresses.
• Tripitaka's third disciple and protector is the
gentle dragon Sandy, a former marshal of the
hosts of Heaven who was sent to the bottom of
a river to expiate the sin of having broken the
Jade Emperor's (a Taoist divinity) crystal cup.
Setting
• Above the four travelers is a
divine machinery built of a
synthesis of benign
boddhisattvas (potential
buddhas who linger in this
world to help suffering
humanity) and a Taoist
pantheon of unruly and
sometimes dangerous deities.
• On the earthly plane the pilgrims move
through a landscape of strange kingdoms and
monsters, stopping sometimes to help those in
need or to protect themselves from harm.
• Some of the earthly monsters belong to the
places where the pilgrims find them, but many
of the demons and temptresses that the
travelers encounter either are exiles and
escapees from the heavenly realm or are sent
on purpose to test the pilgrims.
Tripitaka
• Surrounded by three guardian
disciples whose characters at the
very least verge on the allegorical,
Tripitaka is not only human but
all too human.
• He is easily frightened, sometimes
petulant, and never knows what to
do.
• He is not so much driven on the
pilgrimage by determined resolve
as merely carried along by it.
TV Series
Monkey Project
• Yet he alone is the character destined for full
buddhahood at the end, and his apparent lack of
concern for the quest and for his disciples has been
interpreted as the true manifestation of Buddhist
detachment.
• Although Monkey grows increasingly devoted to his
master through the course of the novel, Tripitaka
never fully trusts him, however much he depends on
him; and if there is a difficult Buddhist lesson in the
novel, it is to grasp how Tripitaka, the ordinary man
as saint, can be the novel's true hero.
• He is the empty center of the group, kept alive and
carried forward by his more powerful and active
disciples. The pilgrimage would not exist except
for him.
Monkey
• Both Monkey and later Pigsy are
creatures of desire, though the
nature of their desires differs
greatly.
• Monkey, who had once lived an
idyllic life with his monkey
subjects in Water Curtain Cave, is,
in the novel's early chapters, driven
by a hunger for knowledge and
immortality to search through the
earth and the heavens.
• In the first stage of his existence,
Monkey's hunger of the mind is
never perfectly directed; it is a
turbulence of spirit that always
leads to mischief and an urge to
create chaos.
• He acquires skills and magic
tools that make him more
powerful, but since he uses them
unwisely, they only lead him to
ever more outrageous escapades.
. .at last Monkey is given a
chance to redeem himself by
guarding Tripitaka on his
pilgrimage to India.
• During the course of the pilgrimage, Monkey
becomes increasingly bound both to his master
and to the quest itself, without ever losing his
energy and humor.
• Despite occasional outbursts of his former
mischief making, the quest becomes for Monkey
a structured series of challenges by which he can
focus and discipline his rambunctious intellect.
• The journey is driven forward by Monkey alone,
with Tripitaka ever willing to give up in despair
and Pigsy always ready to be seduced or return
to his wife.
• Monkey understands the world with a comic
detachment that is in some ways akin to
Buddhist detachment, and this detachment
makes him always more resourceful and often
wiser than Tripitaka.
• Yet in his fierce energy and sheer joy in the use
of his mind, Monkey falls short of the
Buddhist ideal of true tranquility, while
remaining the hero for unenlightened mortals.
Chapter One
• The Beginnings of Monkey
• The indulgence of the Jade King
• How Monkey Discovered the Stone City and
Becomes the “Handsome Monkey King”
– , "Gentlemen! 'With one whose word cannot be trusted
there is nothing to be done!‘ Confucius's Analects
11.22
• Rules for several hundred years
• Yama the King of Death
• Only three exceptions:
– Buddhas (Buddhism), Immortals (Taoism), and Sages
(Confucianism)
• On a raft he travels to the borders of the
Southern World. . .to the northwestern bank,
which is indeed the frontier of the Southern
World.
– Acts like a Monkey
– Learns about clothing
– Learns how humans can live for nothing but
money and gain.
• Monkey floated on over the Western Ocean till
he came to the Western Continent, where he
went ashore, and when he had looked about for
some time, he suddenly saw a very high and
beautiful mountain
I hatch no plot, I scheme no scheme;
Fame and shame are one to me,
A simple life prolongs my days.
Those I meet upon my way
Are Immortals, one and all,
Who from their quiet seats expound
The Scriptures of the Yellow Court.
"We shall have to see about giving you a school-name,"
said the Patriarch. "We have twelve words that we use
in these names, according to the grade of the pupil. You
are in the tenth grade."
They are. . .
• Wide,
• Big,
• Wise,
• Clever,
• True,
• Conforming,
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nature,
Ocean,
Lively,
Aware,
Perfect and
Illumined.
Aware must come in your name. How about Aware-of-Vacuity?"
"Splendid!" said Monkey, laughing. "From now onwards let me be called Awareof-Vacuity.“ So that was his name in religion. And if you do not know whether
in the end, equipped with this name, he managed to obtain enlightenment or not,
listen while it is explained to you in the next chapter.
Chapters II-XIII (And Beyound)
• Monkey’s acquisition of magical powers
• His disruption of Heaven and impresonment.
• Tripika’s commission from the T’ang emperor
to go to India in search of scriptures.
• After many adventures they do evetually get to
India and in the last chapters they are
magically whisked back to China and
rewarded for their hard work.
• Pigsey, over his loud objections, becoms the
hanitor of the alters.
Chapter XIV
• 500 Years later!
• Tripitaka has his mission
and he and a hunter find
the stone casket with (the
stone) Monkey sealed in.
• The attack of the Tiger
• The visit with the old man
(confirms Monkey’s age)
• The attack of the (stupid)
thieves
“The Great Sage
Equal of Heaven."
Notice how often
Monkey is addressed
as “Dear Monkey.”
• Monkey is rebuked for killing
those ruffians. runs off in a huff.
• The Bodhisattva
• The Dragon King of the East – gets
a cup of tea and a good talking to.
• Holy Man tricks the trickster – the
coat and cap (when a spell is said
the cup squeezes the head).
• “I’ll go and teach the Bodhisattva a
lesson!” “But might she not be
able to do worse since she was the
one who gave me this cap?”
“Ummm, good point.”
Chapter XV
• Eagle Grief Stream
• Monkey and Tripitaka attacked by the dragon
who eats their horse.
• Petulant Tripitaka – now what will I do without
the horse? (Never mind that Monkey just saved
his life!)
• Dragon has a past having barely escaped
Heavenly judgment.
• “Om!” summons the local deities. “Come on out
so I can beat you and relieve my fury!” We had no
idea that you were free.
• Son of the Dragon
King of the Western
Ocean
• They need an
extraordinary mount
to get to India
• Monkey is fonder of
his own powers than
mentioning his
connection with the
higher task.
• The gift of hairs
Chapter XVI
• Pigsey and Monkey
• Old Mr. Kao’s Farm
• Unfair to Pigsey although he has made a real
nuisance of himself.
Final Points
Who is the hero of Into the West?
Is the hero of Into the West?
• The original story favored Tripitaka who eventually
succeeds in completing the task of bringing the
scriptures from India.
• Moderns (and many contemporizes) prefer Monkey
who is alive and active (and also very funny), who
begins a journey like Gilgamesh to deal with the
ancient question of what to do with the coming of
death?
• Some have seen Tripitaka, Monkey, Sandy, and Pigsy
as all combining into the hero of the story, representing
in metaphor the nature of any individual seeking true
enlightenment.