Last updated: 04-04-2022
Modern media occasionally depicts Sun Wukong with children. Examples include the book series The Monkey King’s Daughter (2009-2011) and the DC Comics character the Monkey Prince (first appearing in 2021). The anime High School DxD (2012) even features a descendent some generations removed called Bikou. But the idea of the Great Sage having children goes back centuries. Two late-Ming novels influenced by the original Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592) reference multiple offspring. In this article, I will highlight these children and discuss their connection to Buddhism and Asian astrology.
Those interested in this subject may fancy learning about Sun’s brothers and sisters.
1. King Pāramitā – A Supplement to the Journey to the West (Xiyoubu, 西遊補, 1640)
This novel is set between the end of chapter 61 and the beginning of chapter 62 of the original. It follows the Monkey King as he travels time seeking a magic weapon, while also striving to unmask the identity of a mysterious foreign king who has persuaded Tripitaka to give up the quest to India. The first reference to Sun’s children appears in chapter 13 when actors in a royal play describe an alternate timeline where our hero settled down: “His wife is so beautiful, his five sons so dashing. He started out as a monk, but came to such a good end! Such a very good end!” (Dong, Lin, & Schulz, 2000, p. 114). Later, in chapter 15, Monkey meets one of these sons on the battlefield. “King Pāramitā” (Boluomi wang, 波羅蜜王) (fig. 1) is portrayed as a sword-wielding general capable of fighting Sun for several rounds. Pāramitā goes on to recount his family history, revealing that, although he’s never met his father, he’s the son of the Great Sage and Princess Iron Fan (Tie shan gongzhu, 鐵扇公主) (Dong, Lin, & Schulz, 2000, pp. 123-124). In addition, he suggests that he was conceived during an event from chapter 59 of the original:
[Sun Wukong] changed into a tiny insect and entered my mother’s belly. He stayed there a while and caused her no end of agony. When my mother could no longer bear the pain, she had no choice but to give the Banana-leaf Fan to my father, Monkey [1] … In the fifth month of the next year, my mother suddenly gave birth to me, King Pāramitā. Day by day I grew older and more intelligent. If you think about it, since my uncle [the Bull Demon King] and mother had never been together, [2] and I was born after my father, Monkey, had been inside my mother’s belly, the fact that I am his direct descendant is beyond dispute (Dong, Lin, & Schulz, 2000, p. 124).
Fig. 1 – King Pāramitā leaps into battle (larger version). Detail from a modern manhua. Image found here.
1.2. Links to Buddhism
The translators of A Supplement to the Journey to the West explain King Pāramitā’s name serves as a pun:
In the Chinese transliteration for Pāramitā, the character used to render the syllable “mi” [蜜] has the intrinsic meaning of “honey,” while the character t’ang [唐] in T’ang dynasty is homophonous with the character meaning “sugar” [糖]. King Pāramitā is punning on these associations (Dong, Lin, & Schulz, 2000, p. 123 n. 2). [3]
However, the name also has deep connections with Buddhism. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism defines the Sanskrit term Pāramitā (“perfection”) as “a virtue or quality developed and practiced by a Bodhisattva on the path to becoming a buddha” (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, p. 624). Various traditions recognize six to ten perfections, with the latter including the former six plus an additional four. The Mahayana perfections, for example, include giving, morality, patience, effort, concentration, wisdom, method, vow, power, and knowledge. Bodhisattvas are believed to master these virtues in the listed order, compounding spiritual wisdom and merit over the course of their journey towards Buddhahood (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, p. 624).
2. Jidu, Luohou, and Yuebei Xing – Journey to the South (Nanyouji, 南遊記, 17th-century)
The novel follows Manjusri‘s (Miao Jixiang, 妙吉祥) exile from the Western Paradise through several mischievous reincarnations. [5] As the rogue immortal Huaguang (華光), he works to end his mother’s demonic lust for flesh by procuring an immortal peach in chapter 17. He does this by transforming into Sun Wukong and stealing the magic fruit from heaven. The real Monkey King is subsequently accused of his double’s misdeeds, much like the Six-Eared Macaque episode of the original novel. The Jade Emperor threatens to remand him to the Buddha for punishment but is convinced to give Sun a month-long reprieve to find the true culprit.
Monkey returns to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, and it is here, among his people, that the story mentions three children, including sons Jidu (奇都, “Ketu”) and Luohou (羅猴, “Rahu”) and daughter Yuebei Xing (月孛星, “Moon Comet Star”). [4] Sun eventually seeks out Guanyin, who reveals the troublemaker is none other than Huaguang. Returning home once more, Monkey’s news prompts his daughter to volunteer to battle the impostor. But her tribe simply pokes fun at her monstrous appearance. Yuebei Xing is said to have a crooked head with huge eyes and a broad mouth, coarse hands, a wide waist, and long legs with thunderous steps.
Sun travels with his daughter to Huaguang’s home of Mt. Lilou (Lilou shan, 離婁山) to provoke battle by chastising him for stealing the immortal peaches. Monkey strikes at him with his magic staff, causing Huaguang to deploy his heavenly treasure, a golden, triangular brick (sanjiao jinzhuan, 三角金磚). But Sun responds by creating untold numbers of clone monkeys that not only confiscate the weapon but also overwhelm the immortal. Huaguang is seemingly defeated at this point; however, he manages to deploy one last treasure, the Fire Elixir (Huodan, 火丹). This weapon engulfs the Great Sage in heavenly flame (akin to the Red Boy episode), causing him to flee to the Eastern Sea. Yuebei Xing then calls Huaguang’s name while holding her own magic treasure, a skull (kulou tou, 骷髏頭). The immortal is immediately stricken with a headache and stumbles back to his cave in a daze. Her weapon is said to be quite dangerous; anyone whose name is called will die within three days.
Huanguang’s religious teacher, the Flame King Buddha of Light (Huoyan wang guangfo, 火炎王光佛), then intervenes in order to sooth the situation between his disciple and the Great Sage. He promises to bring the rogue immortal to justice on the condition that Yuebei Xing withdraws her deadly magic. In the end, all parties are pardoned by the Jade Emperor, and Huaguang and Monkey become bond brothers (Yu, n.d.).
2.1. Links to Asian Astrology
All three of Sun’s children are named after planetary bodies associated with the moon in Asian astrology. [6] His sons Jidu and Luohou are respectively named after Ketu (Jidu, 奇都) and Rahu (Luohou, 羅睺), two of the “Nine Planets” (Sk: Navagraha; Ch: Jiuyao, 九曜, “Nine Luminaries”) from Hindu astrology. [7] These two shadowy planetary deities represent the respective southern (descending) and northern (ascending) lunar nodes, or points where the moon crosses the earth’s orbit around the sun. As such, the pair are associated with eclipses, and sources sometimes depict them as the head (Rahu) and tail (Ketu) of a great eclipse serpent. Other interpretations include Rahu as a disembodied head and Ketu as the torso, or Ketu as a comet or emerging from a cloud of smoke (Gansten, 2009, p. 652-653; Kotyk, 2017, pp. 59-60).
Before continuing, there are two interesting things to note: 1) Sun Wukong singlehandedly battles and defeats the Nine Planets in chapter five of the original novel (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 170-172). But the Ketu and Rahu in this group should be considered distinct from his sons; and 2) one of the original Chinese characters for Rahu (Luohou, 羅睺) was changed in Journey to the South to play on Luohou’s (羅猴) primate origins by using the homophonous word for “monkey” (hou, 猴).
All information about Yuebei xing has been moved to a new article.
Yuebei xing, Daughter of the Monkey King
3. Honorable Mention: Sun Luzhen – Later Journey to the West (Hou Xiyouji, 後西遊記, 17th-century)
The novel is set two hundred years after the original and follows the adventures of Sun Wukong’s spiritual descendant Sun Luzhen (孫履真, “Monkey who Walks Reality”) (fig. 2). He too learns the secrets of immortality and causes havoc in heaven, before being tasked to protect the historical monk Dadian (大顛, 732-824) on a similar journey to India. The two are accompanied by the son of Zhu Bajie, Zhu Yijie (豬一戒), and the disciple of Sha Wujing, Sha Zhihe (沙致和). I did not include Luzhen in the main list as he is born from a stone in the same fashion as the original Monkey King (see Liu, 1994).
Fig. 2 – “Small Sage Sun’s Havoc in the Heavenly Palace” (larger version). The cover to a modern manhua. Image found here.
4. Conclusion
The Monkey King has a total of eight children shared between two 17th-century novels, but only four are mentioned by name, and only two of these actually have parts in the respective stories. King Pāramitā is one of the Great Sage’s five sons born to Princess Iron Fan in A Supplement to the Journey to the West. He is portrayed as a handsome, sword-wielding general whom Sun faces on the battlefield. His name references the Pāramitās (“perfections”), or the wisdom and merit-building virtues that Bodhisattvas master in their quest for Buddhahood. Monkey has three children in Journey to the South, including sons Jidu and Luohou and daughter Yuebei Xing. The latter is depicted as a grotesque monster with a magic skull weapon cable of harming even celestials. She uses it to defeat the rogue immortal Huaguang. Jidu and Luohou are respectively named after the lunar nodes Ketu and Rahu, two of the Nine Planets from Hindu astrology. Yuebei is named after a shadowy planet representing the lunar apogee, which counts among the Eleven Luminaries of East Asian astrology. Ancient Xixia art sometimes depicts them as a woman or man bearing a sword and a severed head. The feminine iconography appears holding a skull in an earlier novel from the 16th-century. This likely influenced Monkey’s daughter in Journey to the South.
An honorable mention is Sun Luzhen from Later Journey to the West. He is a stone-bone monkey who follows in his spiritual ancestors footsteps by attaining immortality, causing havoc in heaven, and later protecting a holy monk on the journey to India.
Update: 04-04-22
Back in November 2021, I made a post on twitter about a Rahu amulet that a collector friend of my was selling (and later sold). The deity is generally portrayed as a sharp-toothed, giant-mouthed monster devouring the moon. This piece is carved in a similar manner but Rahu is instead patterned after Thai depictions of Hanuman (fig. 3). I imagine his association with the monkey god is based on the latter’s attempt to eat the sun in his youth.
Fig. 3 – The front of the Hanuman-like Rahu amulet (larger version).
Notes:
1) See Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 129.
2) This statement of course overlooks the conception and birth of the couple’s son Red Boy (Hong haier, 紅孩兒). But King Paramita might be referring to the Bull Demon King’s long absence while living with his mistress.
3) This pun plays out in chapter 14 of Journey to the West when an old patron remarks on Monkey’s monstrous appearance:
“Though you [Tripitaka] may be a Tang man,” the old man said, “that nasty character is certainly no Tang man!” “Old fellow!” cried Wukong in a loud voice, “you really can’t see, can you? The Tang man is my master, and I am his disciple. Of course, I’m no sugar man or honey man! I am the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven!” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 312).
Thank you to Irwen Wong for reminding me of this passage.
4) I’m indebted to Jose Loayza for bringing this to my attention.
5) To my knowledge, the only English translation available is this amateur version by Panying Zhao. Thank you to Ronni Pinsler for bringing it to my attention.
6) Thank you to Dr. Jeffrey Kotyk for confirming the astrological connection.
7) Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu, and Ketu (Gansten, 2009).
8) These include the aforementioned Nine Planets (see note #6 above), Yuebei, and another shadowy planet called Ziqi (紫氣/紫炁; “Purple Mist”) (Hart, 2010, p. 145 n. 43; Kotyk, 2017, p. 60). Engravings of the Eleven Luminaries appear on Zhu Bajie’s battle rake (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 382). See also note #10 on the linked article.
Sources:
Dong, Y., Lin, S. F., & Schulz, L. J. (2000). The Tower of Myriad Mirrors: A Supplement to Journey to the West. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan.
Gansten, M. (2009). Navagrahas. In K. A. Jacobsen (Ed.), Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Vol. 1) (pp. 647-653). Leiden: Brill.
Hart, R. (2010). The Chinese Roots of Linear Algebra. United States: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Kotyk, J. (2017). Astrological Iconography of Planetary Deities in Tang China. Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies, 30, 33-88), Retrieved from https://chinesebuddhiststudies.org/previous_issues/jcbs3002_Kotyk(33-88)_e.pdf
Liu, X. (1994). The Odyssey of the Buddhist Mind: The Allegory of the Later Journey to the West. Lanham, Md: University Press of America.
Buswell, R., & Lopez, D. (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press.
Wu, C., & Yu, A. C. (2012). The Journey to the West (Vol. 1-4). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
Yu, X. (n.d.). Nanyouji: Huaguang sanxia Fengdu [Journey to the South: Huaguang goes to the Underworld Three Times]. Retrieved from https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=506975&remap=gb#%E5%8D%8E%E5%85%89%E4%B8%89%E4%B8%8B%E9%85%86%E9%83%BD