Tag Xiyouji

Why I Don’t Do Powerscaling for Sun Wukong

Jim R. McClanahan 1 Comment

I am known in one small corner of the internet for being knowledgeable on the characters and events of the Chinese classic Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592, “JTTW” hereafter). As such, I receive a lot of questions across social media, but the single most frequent query put to me is: “Where do you scale Sun Wukong?” Comparing the power of mythic or fictional characters is a highly popular subject called “powerscaling” (a.k.a. “power scaling” and “power-scaling”).

This usually involves taking “scans,” or examples of feats from the respective literature, and using complicated physics to calculate not only a character’s power (e.g. strength and speed) but also their cosmic rank (e.g. any level inside or outside of a universe or multiverse). The higher up the chain a character sits, the more physical power they have, such as the ability to manipulate or destroy things broadly ranging from a car, a building, a city, a mountain, or a whole planet to a star/solar system, a galaxy/galaxy cluster, or even a universe/multiverse and beyond; and higher ranks can transcend “physicality,” with characters having such command over time and space that they can erase a given enemy or universe (and everything in between) from existence.

Having written the above, I dislike and do not participate in powerscaling for a number of reasons. But instead of typing the same thing over and over again, I’ve decided to create a standard response that I can just link to whenever I’m asked the aforementioned question.

My Response

No matter how precisely someone quotes from canon or calculates equations, anything written is going to be incorrect for one reason: a divine figure or philosophical concept removed from its original religio-mythological context and forced through the screen of a modern scientific worldview is no longer that thing. It’s an artificial construct that defies accurate measurement.

For example, among his many powers and skills, Sun Wukong is famous for his ability to travel 108,000 li (33,554 mi / 54,000 km) in a single leap of his somersault cloud. Powerscalers will naturally want to quantify this by somehow calculating a real world speed, but they are forgetting—or are not aware of—two key details: 1) The feat is actually an allegory for instant Buddhist enlightenment (see section III here); and 2) JTTW doesn’t happen in our own universe; it happens in a realm based on the Buddhist disc world system (see here). How then are any calculations going to be correct if allegorical feats happening in a specific religious cosmos are forced to fit the structure and scientific laws of our universe?

I’m ok with quantifying feats for small scale, personal use, like for figuring out the dynamics of a fanfiction. But I draw the line when entire websites and/or online communities are dedicated to pitting religious figures against one another or (worse) against fictional characters to see who is the strongest, fastest, deadliest, etc. And then wiki articles are written and presented to the world like the contents are gospel. The very idea of pitting pantheon against pantheon or a pantheon against a modern franchise is offensive, even to a non-religious person like myself.

Also, even if we disregard the religio-mythological nature of Sun Wukong, how is it fair to pit him against modern fictional characters that have benefited from building upon thousands of years of world mythology, as well as have enjoyed decades of iterations? There is only one Monkey King (from the standard modern version of JTTW), while Superman, for instance, has benefited from nearly 90 years of innovation and power increases.

Powerscalers need to remember that the 1592 edition of JTTW was published almost 435 years ago, with a story cycle going back further to roughly the 11th-century. It wasn’t written like modern Shonen comics or video games, where franchises try to one up the other by creating characters that are more and more powerful. The novel is basically a cultural encyclopedia of Chinese history, religion, myth, and folklore, with some fanfiction thrown in. And it’s important to recognize that the story itself serves as an allegory for the journey towards Buddhist enlightenment. Therefore, any of the feats performed by the Monkey King, especially during the pilgrimage, should be read as a service furthering that goal, not as an action requiring measurement.

Origin of the White Turtle River Crossing Accident From Journey to the West Chapters 98 and 99

Jim R. McClanahan Leave a comment

Last updated: 09-05-2025

Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592; “JTTW” hereafter) chapter 98 sees the pilgrims sent back to China on a cloud to hasten the completion of their mission and subsequent return to paradise. However, shortly after their departure, Guanyin realizes in chapter 99 that Tripitaka has only experienced a total of 80 tribulations during his life, which is just shy of the perfect, sacred number (9 x 9 = 81). Therefore, she orders the eight Dharma guardians piloting the cloud to prematurely drop them off somewhere before reaching their stated destination. Sha Wujing reasons that this was done because they are going too fast (Wu & Yu, vol. 4, pp. 357-361).

The companions find that they have been deposited along the western bank of the “Heaven-Reaching River” (Tongtian he, 通天河), the same body of water where a giant, white turtle-spirit (baiyuan, 白黿) had ferried them across in chapter 49 (fig. 1). This same reptile appears and offers to carry them to the eastern bank (i.e. in the direction of China), but when he learns that the clerics had failed to keep their promise to ask the Buddha when the turtle’s long years of cultivation would result in him achieving human form (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 359), the angry spirit dives into the water, dunking the clerics, the dragon horse, and the hard-won scriptures. Thus, the 81st tribulation is achieved (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, pp. 362-363).

Fig. 1 – A statue of the pilgrims crossing the Heaven-Reaching River on the back of the giant river turtle (larger version). The reptile is presented here as a dragon-turtle. Statue in the author’s personal collection.

This episode is likely based on a historical accident that resulted in the real Xuanzang (玄奘, 602–664) (on whom Tripitaka is based) losing 50 scriptures to the drink. I first learned about the real world event from Brose (2021) and made the connection to JTTW chapters 98 and 99 on my own. Here’s a twitter post from 2022 attesting to that. But when I recently revisited the idea for a possible article, a cursory search didn’t turn up much information about the accident in Xuanzang’s historical travelogue, A Biography of the Tripitaka Master of the Great Ci’en Monastery (Datang Daci’en si Sanzang Fashi Zhuan, 大唐大慈恩寺三藏法師傳, 7th-century; T2053; “A Biography” hereafter). Luckily, I found the answer in Brose (2023), where he states: “Xuanzang does not recount the accident in his Record; he mentions it only briefly in the letters he later wrote to monks in India requesting copies of the lost texts” (p. 147). The provided citations led me to the correct sections of A Biography.

The end of one letter presented in scroll seven (of ten) reads:

[…] Of the scriptures and commentaries that I have brought back, I have already translated the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra and other long and short texts, making a total of over thirty works. The translation of the Abhidharmakośa Śāstra and the Abhidharmanyāyānusāra Śāstra is not yet completed, but it will be finished this year. The reigning Emperor of the Great Tang Empire is enjoying every felicity, with peace prevailing throughout his land. With the compassion of a Cakravartin King, he has spread the edification of the Buddha, composed a preface with his Divine Pen to all the Chinese translations of the scriptures and commentaries, and also ordered the authorities to copy them for circulation in the country. Thus even neighboring states also follow and study them. Although we are now at the end of the Image Period, the brilliance of the Dharma is still as genial and as glorious as when it was taught in the Jetavana Garden in Śrāvastī. I hope you will take note of the above information. When I was crossing the Indus [on my way back home], I lost a pack of scriptures (emphasis added). I am now sending you herewith a list of the lost texts, of which I request that you send me new copies by some convenient messenger (Huili & Shi, 1995, pp. 232-233).

玄奘所將經論，已翻《瑜伽師地論》等大小三十餘部，其《俱舍》、《順正理》，見譯未周，今年必了。即日大唐天子聖躬萬福，率土安寧，以輪王之慈，敷法王之化，所出經論，並蒙神筆製序，令所司抄寫，國內流行，爰至隣邦亦俱遵習。雖居像運之末，而法教光華，邕邕穆穆，亦不異室羅筏誓多林之化也，伏願照知。又前渡信渡河失經一馱，今錄名如後，有信請為附來。(source)

This is admittedly anticlimactic, but a fuller, more exciting version of the event appears in scroll five:

After travelling for more than twenty days, he reached the country of Takṣaśilā and revisited the place where King Candraprabha had sacrificed his head a thousand times in his previous lives. Fifty yojanas to the northeast of this country was the country of Kaśmīra. The king sent an envoy to invite the Master [i.e. Xuanzang]; but as he was riding on an elephant and had luggage with him, he was unable to go. After staying there for seven days, he proceeded northwest again for three days and reached the great Sindhu [i.e. Indus] River, which was five or six li broad. His scriptures and images were loaded in a boat with his companions to sail across the river, while the Master waded through the river on his elephant [fig. 2]. He had appointed a man in the boat to take care of the scriptures and some seeds of different kinds of rare Indian flowers. When the boat sailed to midstream, a turbulent gale suddenly arose. The waves tossed the boat and almost overturned it. The man who was asked to look after the scriptures was so frightened that he fell overboard, but was rescued by the other passengers. Fifty bundles of scriptures and flower seeds were lost, while his other property narrowly escaped damage.

At that time the king of Kapiśā who was already in the city of Uḍakhāṇḍa heard that the Master was arriving and went personally to the riverside to greet him. He inquired, “I heard that you lost your scriptures in the river. Did you bring any seeds of Indian flowers and fruits with you?” “Yes, I did,” was the reply. The king said, “That was the cause of the gale that stirred up the waves and almost overturned your boat. Since ancient times, those who brought flower seeds to cross this river have always had the same trouble.” Then he returned to the city with the Master, who lodged in a monastery for more than fifty days. As he had lost some of his scriptures, he sent a man to the country of Udyāna to copy the Tripiṭaka of the Kāśyapīya school (Huili & Shi, 1995, pp. 156-157).

如是二十餘日行，至呾叉尸羅國，重禮月光王捨千頭處。國東北五十踰繕那即迦濕彌羅國，其王遣使迎請，法師為象行輜重不果去。停七日，又西北行三日至信度大河，河廣五六里，經像及同侶人並坐船而進，法師乘象涉渡。時遣一人在船看守經及印度諸異花種，將至中流，忽然風波亂起，搖動船舫，數將覆沒，守經者惶懼墮水，眾人共救得出，遂失五十夾經本及花果種等，自餘僅得保全。

時迦畢試王先在烏鐸迦漢茶城，聞法師至，躬到河側奉迎，問曰：「承師河中失經，師不將印度花果種來？」答曰：「將來。」王曰：「鼓浪傾船，事由於此。自昔以來，欲將花種渡者，並然。」因共法師還城，寄一寺停五十餘日，為失經本，更遣人往烏長那國抄寫迦葉臂耶部三藏。(Source)

And lastly, scroll two associates the Indus River with greedy dragon-spirits that capsize boats in order to gain the treasures therein:

From the city of Uḍakhāṇḍa, the Master crossed the Indus to the south. The river was three or four li wide, and the water was very clear and flowed rapidly. Many venomous dragons and evil animals dwelt in it. Anyone crossing the river with Indian precious gems, rare flowers, or relic bones would often have his boat overturned (Huili & Shi, 1995, p. 60).

自烏鐸迦漢茶城南渡信渡河，河廣三四里，流極清急，毒龍惡獸多窟其中，有持印度奇寶名花及舍利渡者，船輒覆沒。(source)

Connecting the three passages presents a complete picture of the event: Xuanzang and his servants attempted to cross the Indus River with precious scriptures and the seeds of rare Indian flowers, but one or more river dragons called up a powerful wind that capsized the boat carrying his treasures just so it/they could get their scaly mitts on them. This/these beast(s) and their crime eventually made it into the 1592 JTTW in the form of the giant white turtle-spirit and his grudge against the scripture-seekers.

Fig. 2 – Xuanzang riding an elephant (larger version). From a lianhuanhua pocket comic about the monk’s travels. Image found here.

Update: 09-05-25

Maria Josey, a friend of the blog, told me that she saw a statue of the pilgrims riding the turtle in a temple from Phuket, Thailand (fig. 3). She explains:

This story featured heavily in the chosen design of the temple grounds … [T]he monument is quite high up, on a mound, then a huge boulder. Cannot have been easy to build, I imagine, but it must have meant a lot to whoever did make it.

Fig. 3 – The statue (larger version). This photo was taken “a few years ago.” Copyright Maria Josey. Used with permission.

Sources:

Brose, B. (2021). Xuanzang: China’s Legendary Pilgrim and Translator. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Brose, B. (2023). Embodying Xuanzang: The Postmortem Travels of a Buddhist Pilgrim. United States: University of Hawaii Press.

Huili, & Shi, Y. (1995). A Biography of the Tripitaka Master of the Great Ci’en Monastery of the Great Tang Dynasty (R. Li, Trans.). Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. Retrieved from https://www.bdkamerica.org/product/a-biography-of-the-tripitaka-master-of-the-great-cien-monastery/.

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

Archive #52 – PDFs of the Three Kingdoms Foreign Language Press English Translation (Vols. 1-4)

Jim R. McClanahan Leave a comment

Note: My blog is not monetized, so I am not making any money from this post. My hope is that the PDF will make this legendary story more accessible to a wider audience. If you enjoyed the digital version, please, please, please support the official release.

Last updated: 04-06-2026

Here I present a PDF of the Foreign Language Press four-volume boxed set of Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi, 三國演義; lit: “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”; fig. 1) translated by Dr. Moss Roberts. Credited to Luo Guanzhong, this 14th-century Chinese military romance follows the rise to power and careers of sworn brothers Liu Bei/Xuande (劉備/玄德), Guan Yu (關羽), and Zhang Fei (張飛) amid the turmoil of the falling Han Dynasty (202 BCE–9 CE, 25–220 CE) and the rising Three Kingdoms (220–280 CE). The tale contains an astounding 1,000 characters, some historical and some fictional. They range from scheming eunuchs and corrupt government officials to powerful warriors and competing warlords vying for power. 

I’m archiving this book because it has influenced certain aspects of JTTW. For example, while searching the Southern Jambudvipa Continent (China) for a divine master in JTTW chapter one, Sun Wukong is drawn to a woodcutter because he sings a song full of Daoist imagery taught to him by an immortal. The woodcutter subsequently directs Monkey to the abode of a Buddho-Daoist sage. This was likely influenced by the similar way in which Liu Bei comes to find the Daoist strategist Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮) in Three Kingdoms chapter 37. My thanks to Irwen Wong over at the Journey to the West Library blog for bringing this to my attention. He plans to write an article listing at least ten JTTW concepts drawn from Three Kingdoms. I’ll link it here when published online.

This PDF will complement the translations that I’ve previously archived. These include the Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592) story cycle (here and here), the four-volume 2000 Library of Chinese Classics Chinese-English bilingual edition of Creation of the Gods (Fengshen yanyi, 封神演義, c. 1620 CE), and a fan translation of Journey to the South (Nanyouji, 南遊記, c. 1570s-1580s).

Archive Link:

Click to access Romance-of-the-Three-Kingdoms-Trans.-Moss-Roberts.pdf

Fig. 1 – The four covers of the boxed set edition (larger version). Image found here.

Update: 04-06-26

I have archived a translation of the 100-chapter Foreign Language Press four-volume boxed set of Outlaws of the Marsh (a.k.a. Water Margin, Shuihu zhuan, 水滸傳, c. 1400).

Archive #53 – PDFs of Outlaws of the Marsh (a.k.a. Water Margin) Foreign Language Press English Translation (Vols. 1-4)

Citation:

Luo, G. & Roberts, M. (2001). Three Kingdoms (Vols. 1-4). Beijing: Foreign Language Press. (Original work published 1995)

Archive #51 – Animating Sun Wukong: Shanghai Animation Film Studio’s Havoc in Heaven and Symbolic Transformation on the Eve of the Cultural Revolution

Jim R. McClanahan Leave a comment

I was on ProQuest Dissertation Express the other day and noticed a recent Master’s thesis by Jackson R. Ayers called Animating Sun Wukong: Shanghai Animation Film Studio’s Havoc in Heaven and Symbolic Transformation on the Eve of the Cultural Revolution (2022). It describes the cultural and political context behind the creation of the beloved animated film Havoc in Heaven (Danao Tiangong, 大闹天宫, 1961/1964; a.k.a. “Uproar in Heaven”; video 1), which premiered on the heels of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). This is an important subject not only because I love the movie, but also because I’ve previously archived a book chapter about the coopting of a famous Journey to the West (Xiyouji, 西遊記, 1592) episode for propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Therefore, I have decided to archive the thesis to add to my coverage of 20th-century representations of the Monkey King and his companions.

Video 1 – The movie Havoc in Heaven on YouTube.

Abstract:

This paper attempts to deconstruct the complex intersection of Maoist-era propaganda and Chinese folk-art traditions in the years before China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) by interrogating the symbolic transformation of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, into a hero who justified rebellious action. Specifically, this research analyzes director Wan Laiming’s 1964 film, Havoc in Heaven (Danao Tiangong 大闹天宫), China’s first domestic feature-length animated film. Employing Wan’s memoir and documents from other animators at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio (SAFS), this framework establishes artists as the unit of analysis to study symbolic change between Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propagandistic guidance and the Chinese people. This approach emphasizes the agency and mediating role artists possess when producing art as propaganda. Developing on approaches employed by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney and Alexander Bukh in their research on nationalism, this research encompasses both the narrative content of Havoc in Heaven and the perspectives of SAFS animators towards their work. It argues that a lack of direct party intervention during production and the unexplored frontier of animated film created permissive and productive conditions in which Ohnuki-Tierney’s concept of meconnaissance flourished. Furthermore, Wan and his team reveal that the primary operating principle at SAFS was the development of a nationalized Chinese animation style, founded in traditional folk-arts, and directed towards children’s education, not the fulfillment of Party objectives.

Archive Link:

Click to access Animating-Sun-Wukong-Shanghai-Animation-Film-Studios-Havoc-in-Heaven-and-Symbolic-Transformation-on-the-Eve-of-the-Cultural-Revolution.pdf

Thanks:

The dissertation was originally found on Scholarspace, so thank you to them for making it freely available.