Month October 2021

The Monkey King’s Children

Jim R. McClanahan 3 Comments

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

Watch Your Step: The Influence of Journey to the West on the “Ashiarai Yashiki” Yokai Story of Edo-Period Japan

Jim R. McClanahan 2 Comments

Last updated: 04-09-2023

The Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592) story cycle has been popular in East Asia for nearly a millennium. Written and pictorial evidence points to it emerging in China by at least the 11th-century. Tales of the Tang Monk and his animal companions were well-regarded in Korea by at least the 14th-century (see here and here). I’m not sure when the story first arrived in Japan, but it received piecemeal translations starting in the 18th-century, and the first complete version was finished by 1835. [1] According to Shi (as cited in Chien, 2017), these translations “had a tremendous impact of spreading the story of Xuanzang far and wide in Japan” (p. 22).

Journey to the West came to influence all sorts of Japanese media (one example). In this article, I would like to focus on a lesser known Edo-period folktale from the Seven Wonders of Honjo (Honjo Nanafushigi, 本所七不思議) [2] called the “Foot Washing Manor” (Ashiarai Yashiki, 足洗邸; あしあらいやしき). 

1. The “Foot Washing Manor”

The story tells of a filthy, titanic foot that plagues a samurai night after night. Matthew Meyer kindly gave me permission to reproduce his version of the story, as seen on his website yokai.com:

Long ago lived a hatamoto (a high-ranking samurai) named Aji no Kyūnosuke. One night at his manor in Honjo, a loud, booming voice was heard heard. It echoed like thunder:

“WAAASH MYYY FOOOOOOT!”

Just then there was a splintering crack, and the ceiling tore open. An enormous foot descended into the mansion. The foot was covered in thick, bristly hair, and it was filthy. The terrified servants scrambled to gather buckets, water, and rags. They washed the foot until it was thoroughly clean. Afterwards, the giant foot ascended up through the roof and disappeared.

The following night, and every night thereafter, the same thing occurred. A booming voice would demand its foot be washed. A giant foot would crash through the roof. And the dutiful servants would wash it clean.

A few nights of this was all that Aji no Kyūnosuke could take. He ordered his servants not to wash the foot anymore. That night, the foot crashed through the ceiling and demanded to be washed as usual. When it was ignored, it thrashed around violently, destroying vast swaths of the mansion’s roof in the process.

Kyūnosuke complained to his friends about the nightly visitor and the destruction it was causing. They were very interested. One of them wanted to witness the event so badly that he offered to swap mansions with Kyūnosuke, and Kyūnosuke quickly agreed. However, after his friend moved in, the giant foot never appeared again (Meyer, n.d.).

This story shares many parallels with an event from chapter 97 of Journey to the West.

Fig. 1 – “The Foot Washing Mansion” (足洗邸) by Utagawa Kuniteru (larger version).

2. The Monkey King’s Giant Foot

For context, the four monks are framed for the theft and murder of a rich layman who had originally hosted them for a month in the Bronze Estrade Prefecture (Tongtai fu, 銅臺府) of India. Sun Wukong captures the real perpetrators but is forced to release the bandits for fear that Tripitaka will chant the band-tightening spell for killing them. However, imperial troops later capture the monks with the stolen items, making them look guilty. After allowing Tripitaka to be tortured (fulfilling one of the 81 predestined tribulations), Monkey escapes from the prison at night to affect his master’s release.

First, he imitates the voice of the slain layman at his wake and threatens heavenly retribution if his widow, the person who framed the monks, doesn’t recant her false claims. Second, he imitates the voice of the deceased uncle of the city magistrate who had imprisoned them and again threatens heavenly retribution if the official doesn’t reexamine the case. And third, at dawn he appears as a giant, disembodied foot (fig. 2) before the district-level magistrates and threatens to stomp the city and surrounding area into oblivion as heavenly retribution if they don’t put pressure on their superior to free his master:

Pilgrim flew out of the hall, and he found that it was beginning to grow light in the east. By the time he reached the Numinous Earth District [Di ling xian, 地靈縣], he saw that the district magistrate had already seated himself in the official hall. “If a midge speaks,” thought Pilgrim to himself, “and someone sees it, my identity may be revealed. That’s no good.” He changed, therefore, into the huge magic body [da fa shen, 大法身]: from midair he lowered a giant foot, [3] which completely filled the district hall. “Hear me, you officials,” he cried, “I’m the Wandering Spirit [Langdang youshen, 浪蕩遊神] sent by the Jade Emperor. I charge you that a son of Buddha has been wrongfully beaten in the jail of your prefecture, thus greatly disturbing the peace of the deities in the Three Regions. I am told to impart this message to you, that you should give him an early release. If there is any delay, my other foot will descend. It will first kick to death all the district officials of this prefecture. Then it will stamp to death the entire population of the region. Your cities finally will be trodden into dust and ashes!”

All the officials of the district were so terrified that they knelt down together to kowtow and worship, saying, “Let the noble sage withdraw his presence. We will go into the prefecture at once and report this to the magistrate. The prisoner will be released immediately. We beg you not to move your foot, for it will frighten these humble officials to death.” Only then did Pilgrim retrieve his magic body. Changing once more into a midge, he flew back inside the jail through the crack between the roof tiles and crawled back to sleep in the rack (Wu & Yu, 2012, p. 335-336).

行者又飛出來看時，東方早已發白。及飛到地靈縣，又見那合縣官卻都在堂上。他思道：「蜢蟲兒說話，被人看見，露出馬腳來不好。」他就半空中改了個大法身，從空裡伸下一隻腳來，把個縣堂屣滿。口中叫道：「眾官聽著：我乃玉帝差來的浪蕩遊神，說你這府監裡屈打了取經的佛子，驚動三界諸神不安，教我傳說，趁早放他；若有差池，教我再來一腳，先踢死合府縣官，後屣死四境居民，把城池都踏為灰燼。」概縣官吏人等慌得一齊跪倒，磕頭禮拜道：「上聖請回。我們如今進府，稟上府尊，即教放出。千萬莫動腳，驚諕死下官。」行者才收了法身，仍變做個蜢蟲兒，從監房瓦縫兒飛入，依舊鑽在轄床中間睡著。

Fig. 2 – A modern manhua depicting Monkey’s giant foot confronting the district-level magistrates (larger version). Comic found here. While the image shows Sun wearing shoes, the original Chinese doesn’t say whether are not his foot is covered.

3. Comparison

Both stories involve a single, giant foot threatening high-ranking members of society within the confines of their living or working quarters. The former is a samurai, while the latter are district-level magistrates. The threat involves death and the destruction of property. Danger looms over the Samurai’s household as the monstrous foot demands cleaning, and when its wants are ignored, it destroys part of the building in a fit of rage. Monkey, on the other hand, threatens to stomp everything (people and buildings) into oblivion if his demands for Tripitaka’s emancipation are not met. Also, the Japanese tale refers to the foot being “covered in thick, bristly hair” (Meyer, n.d.). This may be a reference to a furry monkey’s foot.

Now, someone might question what foot washing and release from prison have to do with each other. The two don’t appear to be related at all. But Meyer (n.d.) explains:

“[W]ashing your feet” is also a Japanese idiom for rehabilitating a criminal. A culprit whose ‘feet have been washed’ can be said to have paid his debt to society.

This is indeed an actual ceremony performed by criminals wishing to cleanse themselves of their negative past and reenter society (Clark, 1994, pp. 122-123). Therefore, both concepts are intimately related. Someone released from prison can be said to be rehabilitated, and this again is symbolized by said foot washing ceremony. Therefore, the monster in the Japanese tale is likely demanding that the Samurai do his part to help release or pardon a prisoner just like the Journey to the West episode.

Update: 04-09-23

The final act of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (Xiyou: Jiangmo pian, 西遊·降魔篇, 2013) includes a trio of demon hunters looking to defeat the Monkey King. One is a seemingly crippled old man who hobbles around on a crutch because of an underdeveloped right leg. But when the time comes, he uses qi energy to grow the appendage to giant proportions, calling it his “Heaven-Destroying Foot” (Tiancan jiao, 天殘脚). 

This character’s look and skill were copied directly from an HK martial arts film from 1965 commonly known in English as The Furious Buddha’s Palm (Rulai shenzhang nusui wanjian men, 如來神掌怒碎萬劍門; lit: “The Buddha Spirit Palm Shatters the 10,000 Sword Sect”). During the final battle, the main villain “Iron-Faced Asura” (Tiemian xiuluo, 鐵面修羅, played by Shih Kien) uses the same method to produce a giant foot. But what’s interesting for my purposes is that it appears to be covered in coarse hair like a primate (fig. 3).

A single, giant, destructive foot covered in hair sounds familiar doesn’t it? I wonder if this martial skill was influenced by the JTTW episode. This connection was first suggested to me by Jose Loayza (Twitter). A big thank you to him.

Note: A few hours after adding this update, it dawned on me that the “Buddha Spirit Palm” (Rulai shenzhang, 如來神掌) technique is used at the end of the film to combat the giant, monkey-like foot. This of course brings to mind the episode in JTTW when the Buddha defeats Sun Wukong with his palm by transforming it into Five Elements Mountain.)

Fig. 3 – A movie still of the Iron-Faced Asura summoning his hairy “Heaven-Destroying Foot” (larger version). Image found here.

Notes:

1) The 18th-century translator Nishida Korenori (西田維則, d. 1765; penname: Kuchiki sanjin, 口木山人) began publishing Japanese translations of stories from Journey to the West in 1758, ultimately publishing a total of 26 chapters before his death. Others picked up where he left off, including Ishimaro Sanjin (石麻呂山人) (ch. 27-39 and later 40-47), Ogata Teisai (尾方貞斎) (ch. 48-53), and Gakutei Kyuzan 岳亭丘山 (ch. 54-65). This incomplete version, known as The Popular Journey to the West (Tsuzoku saiyuki, 通俗西遊記, 1758-1831) was published in five instalments over 31 volumes. The first complete version of the novel, The Illustrated Journey to the West (Ehon Saiyuki, 繪本西遊記), was published a few years later in 1835 (Tanaka, 1988, as cited in Chien, 2017, p. 21). 

2) This page notes Honjo is “modern day Sumida ward in Tokyo”.

3) Yu (Wu & Yu, 2012) translates this as “leg” (p. 335), but the original Chinese says “foot” (jiao, 腳). I’ve corrected this throughout the quote.

Sources:

Chien, P. (2017). A Journey to the Translation of Verse in the Five English Versions of Xiyouji [Unpublished Master’s dissertation]. National Taiwan Normal University. Retrieved from http://rportal.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/bitstream/20.500.12235/95894/1/060025002l01.pdf

Clark, S. (1994). Japan, a View from the Bath. Germany: University of Hawaii Press.

Meyer, M. (n.d.). Ashiarai yashiki. Yokai.com. Retrieved October 16, 2021, from https://yokai.com/ashiaraiyashiki/.

Wu, C., & Yu, A. C. (2012). The Journey to the West (Vol. 4) (Rev. ed.). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.