I’ve previously mentioned that the Monkey King has six layers of immortality in Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592; “JTTW” hereafter). The third layer is achieved in chapter five when he eats untold numbers of 9,000-year-old immortal peaches (pantao, 蟠桃) while serving as the temporary custodian of the Queen Mother of the West‘s immortal peach garden (fig. 1). Each of these is said to “make a man’s age equal to that of Heaven and Earth, the sun and the moon” (人吃了與天地齊壽，日月同庚。) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 161). This naturally bestows our hero with supreme longevity (but not complete immortality). In this article, I would like to explore the origins of this episode. I suggest that it is based on the theft of divine fruit by a Han-era trickster, as well as by a magic white ape from Song-era religious literature.  

Fig. 1 – Sun Wukong eating immortal peaches (larger version). This is a screenshot from episode 9 of the Little Fox Journey to the West series on YouTube.

1. Literature and mythology

1.2. Literary episode (ch. 4 to 5)

After winning his battle with heaven, Monkey is granted the empty title “Great Sage Equaling Heaven” (Qitian dasheng, 齊天大聖) and given a position in the celestial realm with no official rank, salary, or duty. He spends this time freely traveling the universe and making friends with all sorts of primordial, stellar, and cardinal gods. But his idleness catches the eye of an immortal who reports to the throne the possible negative repercussions of Sun Wukong having too much free time. In response, the Jade Emperor tasks Monkey with temporarily watching over the immortal peach garden, warning him to take the position seriously. Sun immediately performs an inspection of the garden, learning from an underling that of the 3,600 total trees, three groups of immortal peaches respectively ripen every 3,000, 6,000, and 9,000 years.

This new position takes up his time, ending his visits with deities across the cosmos. But one day, he feigns tiredness just so his attendants will leave him alone long enough to strip out off his official clothing and climb trees to eat his fill of fruit. He uses this ruse several times to sate his hunger. However, his theft is soon discovered when the Queen Mother sends seven immortal maidens to procure fruit for her famous Grand Banquet of Immortal Peaches (Pantao shenghui, 蟠桃勝會). Upon their arrival, Monkey is nowhere to be found (having shrunken to miniature size and fallen asleep in the trees), so the underlings allow the maidens into the garden to fulfill their duty. It is there where they discover that most of the oldest peaches have been eaten, and in the process of picking leftovers, a maiden disturbs Sun’s slumber when she pulls down and lets go of the branch that he is sleeping on. Thus awakened, Monkey resumes his normal size and threatens the maidens with his iron staff. But his anger quickly subsides when he learns about the forthcoming banquet and the high-ranking Buddho-Daoist gods that have attended in the past. Being egotistical, Sun inquires as to whether or not he is the guest of honor this year, but when the maidens reveal that they don’t yet know the guest list, he freezes them in place with fixing magic and heads to the banquet hall to find out for himself (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 157-164).

1.2. Connection to world mythology

This episode is part of a set of closely-related motifs from world mythology. Thompson’s Motif-Index lists the following:

A153.1. Theft of ambrosia. Food of the gods stolen. — Hindu: Keith 139; Persian: Carnoy 283.

[…]

A153.2. Magic food gives immortality to gods. Irish: MacCulloch Celtic 54; India: Thompson-Balys.

D1346.3. Food of immortality.

A153.3. Banquets of the gods. Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 23; India: Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Werner 137. — So. Am. Indian (Chiriguano): Métraux RMLP XXXIII 178 (source).

In our case, “ambrosia,” “food of the gods,” “magic food,” and “food of immortality” all refer to immortal peaches.

2. History

To my knowledge, one of the oldest sources associating Monkey with the theft of immortal peaches is The Story of How Tripitaka of the Great Tang Procures the Scriptures (Da Tang Sanzang qujing shihua, 大唐三藏取經詩話, c. late-13th-century), the earliest known printed edition of the JTTW story cycle. Chapter 11 sees the pilgrims enter the domain of the Queen Mother during their quest to India. The monk Tripitaka asks Sun’s antecedent, the “Monkey Pilgrim” (Hou xingzhe, 猴行者), to steal some immortal peaches to quench his thirst, but the latter refuses:

Because I stole ten peaches to eat when I was eight hundred years old, I was captured by the Queen Mother and given eight hundred blows on my left side and three thousand blows on the right with an iron cudgel. Then I was exiled to the Purple Cloud Grotto on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits. Even today my sides hurt and now I definitely don’t dare to steal any more peaches!” (Wivell, 1994, p. 1195).

猴行者曰：「我因八百歲時，偷吃十顆，被王母捉下，左肋判八百，右肋判三千鐵棒，配在花果山紫雲洞。至今肋下尚痛。我今定是不敢偷吃也。」

3. Origins

There are at least two sources that I believe contributed to the peach-stealing episode from JTTW.

3.1. Dongfang Shuo

The first is a story cycle which involves the trickster Dongfang Shuo (東方朔, c. 160–93 BCE) (fig. 2) stealing peaches from the Queen Mother’s garden. The tale appears as early as the Precedents of Wu of Han (Hanwu gushi, 漢武故事), a circa 3rd-century collection of fictionalized stories about Emperor Wu of Han. It records that, after the Emperor was gifted a supernaturally small dwarf, Dongfang claimed it to be a nature spirit of sorts. However:

The dwarf did not reply but pointed at Dongfang Shuo and told the Emperor, “The Queen Mother grows peaches in her Eastern Garden which ripen once every three thousand years. This boy is no good—he’s already stolen the peaches three times! Consequently he fell out of the Queen Mother’s favor, and for this reason he was banished here.” 

The Emperor was quite startled, for he began to understand that Dongfang Shuo was not a man of this world (Smith, 1992, pp. 408-409).

短人不對，因指朔謂上曰：「王母種桃，三千年一作子，此兒不良，已三過偷之矣，遂失王母意，故被謫來此。」上大驚，始知朔非世中人。

[…] 

[During a planned meeting between the Emperor and the Queen Mother] Dongfang Shuo peeked at [her] through the Red Bird Window. Spotting him, she pointed and turned to the Emperor saying, “This boy is fond of mischief. He’s rude and undependable. Three times have the peaches of immortality ripened, and three times he has stolen them. Long ago I banished him and forbade him to return to heaven, thus he has lingered here. Nevertheless his original heart is not evil, and soon he will be able to return. Do treat him well” (Smith, 1992, pp. 416-417).

東方朔於朱鳥牖中窺母，母謂帝曰：「此兒好作罪過，疏妄無賴，久被斥退，不得還天；然原心無惡，尋當得還。帝善遇之。」

[On the day that a celestial envoy presented the emperor with three immortal peaches], Dongfang Shuo died. The Emperor, who had his doubts, asked the envoy about it.

“Dongfang Shuo is the vital essence of the Wood Emperor, who became the planet Jupiter,” she said. “He came down and roamed among men to observe what is below heaven. He is not Your Majesty’s subject.” 

The Emperor gave him a magnificent funeral (Smith, 1992, p. 418).

使至之日，東方朔死。上疑之，問使者。曰：「朔是木帝精為歲星，下游人中，以觀天下，非陛下臣也。」上厚葬之。

Here are some important elements to remember: 

1. Jupiter-Dongfang Shuo steals peaches from the Queen Mother’s garden.
2. The planet thrice steals peaches that ripen every 3,000 years.
3. The thieving celestial is banished from heaven. 

Dongfang’s story is so famous that he even makes an appearance in JTTW. After being introduced as a disciple of the Grand Thearch (Dijun, 帝君) in chapter 26 (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 7-8), he and Monkey share a brief exchange in which they ridicule each other’s criminal past:

When Pilgrim saw him, he laughed and said, “So, this little crook is here! But there’s no peach at the Grand Thearch’s place for you to steal and eat.” Dongfang Shuo bowed to him and replied, “Old burglar! Why did you come? There’s no divine elixir at my master’s place for you to steal and eat” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, p. 8). [1]

行者見了，笑道：「這個小賊在這裡哩。帝君處沒有桃子你偷吃！」東方朔朝上進禮，答道：「老賊，你來這裡怎的？我師父沒有仙丹你偷吃。」

Irwen Wong of the Journey to the West Library blog has suggested to me that within the novel’s universe, Jupiter-Dongfang Shuo was the previous caretaker of the immortal peach garden. His exile from heaven and rebirth on earth would have vacated the post, leaving it open for Monkey to later take over. This would mean that heaven doesn’t have a good track record with choosing peach garden caretakers.

Fig. 2 – A Ming-era painting of Dongfang Shuo stealing peaches (larger version). Image courtesy of the MET on Wikimedia Commons.

3.2. Sun Bin and White Ape

The second is a story cycle involving the Warring States military strategist Sun Bin (孫臏, d. 316 BCE) (fig. 3) protecting an earthly fruit garden from a magic white ape (baiyuan, 白猿; a.k.a. “gibbon“). The tale appears as early as the Scripture of the Most High Luminous Mirror of the Six Ren Tallying with Yin (Taishang liuren mingjian fuyin jing, 太上六壬明鑑符陰經) (a.k.a., Ape Book, Yuanshu, 猿書), a Northern Song-era work related to the Daoist doctrine of the Three Sovereigns (Steavu, 2019, p. 195). But instead of peaches, the scripture just says “fruit” (guo, 菓). However, I imagine the produce is something special like immortal peaches as Sun guards them with a weapon. A rough translation follows (I have skipped over some of the more esoteric parts that escape me):

[Master Ghost Valley] saw that the fruit had ripened, so he commanded Sun to watch over it. One night a person jumped the wall into the nine gardens and took some of the fruit. But Sun was hiding with a sword and caught the culprit, a white ape. The primate said: “Don’t hurt me! I share the same age as heaven and earth and have lived as long as the sun and moon! I have mysterious texts (xuanwen, 玄文)! Wait for me the next day and I will give them to you.” The white ape then transformed into white light and left. Sun waited the following day. Suddenly, he saw the white ape fly from the northwest. He was given one scroll of mysterious texts. The primate again transformed into white light and headed towards the southeast. Sun then returned to his room to inspect the text. He didn’t know the name but saw that it was divided into three volumes: initial, middle, and final. He named it after the white ape (Taishang liuren, n.d.).

師因園看菓成實，令臏看之。夜忽有一人，踰垣而九園中，盜菓子食之。臏乃潛身，持刀欲補之，乃是白猿也。拿住，忽言曰：汝勿傷吾身，我與天地同生，日月並長，瘍無道炁，結化成形。吾有玄文，汝來日於此處候吾，我傳與汝。臏乃長跪而退，其猿乃化白光而去。至次日，臏乃依期而伺之。忽見白猿自西北乘空而來，授臏玄文一卷。隨時化白光，東南而去。臏將其文而歸，本宿房中點檢，一曰六甲天厭一卷，一日六丁天厭一卷。遺其頭尾，不知是何名目，分上一中下三卷，因日指其白猿為名也。

Here are some important elements to remember:  

1. Sun Bin looks after a special fruit-bearing garden.
2. A magic primate steals the fruit.
3. The primate has divine longevity and the ability to fly and change its shape.

It’s important to note that the aforementioned fruit was eventually called immortal peaches in later iterations of the story cycle. [2]

Fig. 3 – A Ming-era painting of Sun Bin (larger version). Image found on Wikimedia Commons.

4. Putting it all together

I believe that the two story cycles influenced JTTW in at least five ways: 1) Jupiter-Dongfang Shuo and the white ape stealing special fruit connects said produce with the Queen Mother’s immortal peaches; 2) the fruit being stolen by a white ape with divine longevity and the ability to fly and change its shape helps connect Sun Wukong, a fellow magical primate, to the theft of special produce/immortal peaches; 3) Jupiter-Dongfang Shuo thrice stealing peaches that ripen every 3,000 years may have influenced the three kinds of peaches in the Queen Mother’s garden that respectively ripen every 3,000, 6,000, and 9,000 years; 4) Sun Bin looking after a special fruit-bearing garden on earth may have influenced Monkey’s position as the caretaker of the immortal peach garden in heaven. After all, both of their surnames is Sun (孫) (Sun Bin vs Sun Wukong); and 5) Jupiter-Dongfang Shuo being exiled from heaven for stealing the peaches feeds into Monkey’s theft and subsequent actions that ultimately lead to the Buddha banishing him to earth and imprisoning him under Five Elements Mountain.

Notes:

1) Thank you to Irwen Wong for reminding me of this. 

2) For example, The Battle of Wits between Sun and Pang (Sun Pang douzhi yanyi, 孫龐鬥智演義, 1636; a.k.a. The Former and Latter Annals of the Seven Kingdoms, Qianhou qiguo zhi, 前後七國志) uses the term xiantao (仙桃; lit: “immortal peaches”) (Taishang liuren, n.d.).

Sources:

Smith, T. E. (1992). Ritual and the Shaping of Narrative: The Legend of the Han Emperor Wu (Vols. 1-2) (UMI No. 9303824) [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Michigan]. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.

Steavu, D. (2019). The Writ of the Three Sovereigns: From Local Lore to Institutional Daoism. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Taishang liuren mingjian fuyin jing juan yi (n.d.). [Book of the Most High Luminous Mirror of the Six Ren Tallying with Yin: First Scroll]. Retrieved from https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=465883#p3

Wivell, C.S. (1994). The Story of How the Monk Tripitaka of the Great Country of T’ang Brought Back the Sūtras. In V. Mair (Ed.), The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (pp. 1181-1207). New York: Columbia University Press.

Wu, C., & Yu, A. C. (2012). The Journey to the West (Vols. 1-4) (Rev. ed.). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.