Is Sun Wukong FTM Trans?

Note #1: Unless cited here, all information is cited in the respective linked articles below.

Note #2: Please see the 05-19-23 update for an important message.

Last updated: 09-27-2023

Warning: This article contains adult language and content.

The notion that Sun Wukong (孫悟空) is transgender (fig. 1) became popular on English-speaking social media sometime around 2022. The central idea appears to be that the Monkey King, or I should say “Monkey Queen,” was originally born a cis-woman but magically changes to a trans-man sometime after learning the art of transformation. Whether this is true or not has two possible answers:

1) If you or a loved one are trans, identify with Monkey’s ability to transform his body, and choose to personally interpret the character or portions of his story as an allegory for transness, then yes Sun Wukong is trans. 

2) Historically and canonically speaking? No.

In this article, I will present common arguments (A) in favor of a trans Monkey King that I’ve seen on social media. I will also introduce counterarguments (CA) supported by historical oral, published, and pictorial evidence that calls any claims of canonical proof into question. If I don’t have a particular counterargument in mind, I will simply post a comment (C).

Before continuing, I want to expressly state that this piece was written for two kinds of people: 1) Those who might openly claim that Sun Wukong is canonically trans; and 2) Those who don’t know enough about the character’s history or JTTW in general and might be swayed by seemingly knowledgeable online comments. It does not pertain to those who already personally interpret Monkey as trans and/or don’t care about canon because they were first exposed to him via movies, TV shows, video games, comic books, etc.

General readers will certainly find this article interesting as it features a lot of lesser-known historical information about the simian immortal.

Fig. 1 – An accurate Sun Wukong standing in front of the trans flag (larger version). The base drawing is by my friend Alexandre Palheta Coelho (instagram and deviantart). It was originally posted on this article.

1. An Important Statement

If someone claims that the Monkey King appearing in the 1592 edition of JTTW is canonically FTM trans, or they state the novel hints that he is without openly admitting that this is their own personal interpretation, that person, whether they realize it or not, is not telling you the whole truth. I don’t think they are doing this maliciously, though. It’s perfectly natural for people to want to see some of themselves in their favorite heroes. After all, who wouldn’t want to be an immortal rage wizard who can fly around the cosmos, transform into anything, lift mountains, and beat up gods and devils? I can see how it might be attractive to a trans youth to have the power to push back against authorities that wrongly vilify and strip them of their human rights. So, in that sense, I think I understand why the idea of a trans Sun Wukong is so popular. But having said that, I should highlight that anyone who goes beyond an allegorical reading of the novel by touting the reality of Monkey’s transness is either unaware of the character’s historical development or is willfully ignoring it.

2. Arguments and Counterarguments

2.1. Gender Neutral Terms 

A: ta (他; commonly “him”) and wang (王, commonly “king”) [1] are historically “gender neutral terms” and therefore can be used to refer to Sun Wukong as a cis-woman.

C: These are indeed gender neutral terms in dynastic material. Here are two examples from the 1592 JTTW: 1) Wang (王) appears in the royal title of the “Queen Mother” (Wangmu niangniang, 王母娘娘), the high-ranking Daoist goddess who owns the immortal peach groves; and 2) Ta (他) is used to refer to the female Bodhisattva Guanyin (觀音). Part of a descriptive poem in chapter eight reads: “She is the merciful lord of the Potalaka Mountain” (Ta shi Luojiashan shang Cibei zhu, 是落伽山上慈悲主) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 206).

However, the gender neutral status of these terms do not by themselves constitute evidence that the Monkey King is a cis-woman.

2.2. Matriarchal Primate Society

A: Real world monkey troupes are matriarchal, so it would make more sense for Sun Wukong to be a cis-woman.

CA: Real world biological concepts don’t mesh well with religious mythology. For example, Monkey is born from stone, and he later attains his authority through a test of bravery by jumping through a waterfall. So where does the primate matriarchy fit into this? Also, in chapter 11 of the 13th-century oral version of JTTW (see here and here), Sun’s antecedent, the “Monkey Pilgrim” (Hou xingzhe, 猴行者), explains that, prior to becoming the primate monarch, he had been exiled to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit in the distant past for stealing immortal peaches from the Queen Mother’s heavenly garden (Wivell, 1994, p. 1195). It’s important to note that the tale presents him as a supremely ancient immortal, one who has seen the Yellow River dry up nine times (Wivell, 1994, pp. 1182-1183). So, it’s not a stretch to suggest that his position as the Monkey King is related to his divinity. So I ask again: Where does the primate matriarchy fit into this?

Most importantly, mythic stories about male monkey monarchs do exist. Two such characters are Vali/Bali (Sk: वाली) and Sugrīva (Sk: सुग्रीव) from the Hindu epic Rāmāyaṇa (Sk: रामायणम्, c. 5th-century BCE). Another is the Mahākapi (Sk: महाकपि; lit: “Great Monkey,” c. 2nd-century BCE), an Indian Buddhist jataka tale about the Buddha’s past life as a king of monkeys. One 2,000-year-old carving even depicts him with testicles (fig. 2). These few examples alone challenge the idea that monkey troupes have to be matriarchal in a mythic setting.

In fact, I suggest in this article that the Mahākapi tale influenced the 13th-century oral JTTW in several ways: 1) The Great Monkey is described as the chief of his tribe, and one 3rd-century Chinese version of the story even refers to him as the “Monkey King” (Mihou wang, 獼猴王). This is a likely source for the Monkey Pilgrim’s position as the primate monarch; 2) The Great Monkey leads 80,000 monkeys. The 3rd-century Chinese version changes this number to 500 (wubai, 五百), while the later Monkey Pilgrim leads 84,000 (bawan siqian, 八萬四千). But all three numbers are used in Buddhism to refer to large numbers of things. In the case of the respective Indian and Chinese versions, the 80,000/500 monkeys are said to be the past lives of Buddhist monks. But most importantly, the Chinese term for 80,000 (bawan, 八萬) is considered shorthand for 84,000 (bawan siqian, 八萬四千), showing a possible connection between the numbers of monkeys in the Indian original and the 13th-century oral JTTW; 3) The Great Monkey and his tribe live in or around a mountainous, fruit-bearing tree. This could be one of several sources for the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit (see note #4 below for another); and 4) The 3rd-century Chinese version sees the Great Monkey steal from the imperial fruit garden of a human monarch. This could be one of several sources for the Monkey Pilgrim stealing immortal peaches from the Queen Mother’s heavenly garden.

See this article for the many parallels shared between the 1592 Sun Wukong and the historical Buddha.

Fig. 2 – The “Great Monkey” carving from the western torana at Sanchi (c. 1st-century BCE/CE) (larger version). He is the uppermost yellow figure reaching for the green tree. Take note of his testicles. The colored and labeled elements are used in my article to describe this “continuous narrative” scene.

2.3. Feminine Title

A: Sun Wukong calls himself the “Handsome Monkey King” (Meihou wang, 美猴王), but the character for handsome, “mei (美),” traditionally means “beautiful.” So, it would make more sense for Monkey to call themself beautiful if they were a cis-woman.

CA: I think that there is a much better explanation. Recall that the 1592 JTTW depicts our hero as an ugly creature. For instance, part of a descriptive poem in chapter 44 reads:

A bumpy brow, and golden eyes flashing;
A round head and a hairy face jowl-less;
Gaping teeth, pointed mouth, a character most sly;
He looks more strange than thunder god
[…] (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, p. 276).

磕額金睛晃亮,圓頭毛臉無腮。咨牙尖嘴性情乖。貌比雷公古怪。

In fact, Sun’s association with being ugly goes back centuries. For example, writing in the 1250s, the Song-era poet Liu Kezhuang (劉克莊, 1187-1269) used Monkey as a metaphor to describe his own failing appearance:

A back bent like a water-buffalo in the Zi stream,
Hair as white as the silk thread issued by the “ice silkworms”,
A face even uglier than Hou xingzhe [“Monkey Pilgrim”] (emphasis added),
Verse more scanty than even He Heshi (Dudbridge, 1970, p. 46).

背傴水牛泅磵髪白氷蠶吐絲貌醜似猴行者詩痩於鶴何師

Therefore, the primate monarch definitely is not “handsome” or “beautiful.”

I suggest instead that Sun refers to himself as mei (美) because of his egotistical personality. He is after all an allegory for the Monkey Mind. This same overinflated sense of self leads him to later challenge the primacy of the Jade Emperor (Yuhuang dadi, 玉皇大帝). Monkey’s self-conceit is best illustrated by the rebellious poem that he recites to the Buddha in chapter seven. The latter part reads:

[…]
In Divine Mists Hall none should long reside,
For king may follow king in the reign of man.
If might is honor, let them yield to me.
He only is hero who dares to fight and win!”(Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 193).

[…]
靈霄寶殿非他久,歷代人王有分傳。
強者為尊該讓我,英雄只此敢爭先。

See the 08-09-2023 and 09-27-23 updates below for another reason why he might have been called Meihou wang (美猴王).

2.4. Etymology of Surname

A: In chapter one, the Patriarch Subodhi (Puti zushi, 菩提祖師) relies on Monkey’s appearance to derive a surname for them. Some of the etymology mentions feminine concepts, adding support to the idea that Sun Wukong was originally a cis-woman:

The Patriarch laughed and said, “Though your features are not the most attractive, you do resemble a pignolia-eating monkey (husun [猢猻]). This gives me the idea of taking a surname for you from your appearance. I intended to call you by the name Hu [猢]. If I drop the animal radical [犭] from this word, what’s left is a compound made up of the two characters, gu [古] and yue [月]. Gu means aged and yue [“moon”] denotes feminine yin energy [陰], but aged yin cannot reproduce (emphasis added). Therefore, it is better to give you the surname of Sun [猻]. If I drop the animal radical from this word, what we have left is the compound of zi [子] and xi [系]. Zi means a boy and xi means a baby, and that name exactly accords with the fundamental Doctrine of the Baby Boy. So your surname will be ‘Sun’” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 115).

祖師笑道:「你身軀雖是鄙陋,卻像個食松果的猢猻。我與你就身上取個姓氏,意思教你姓『猢』。猢字去了個獸傍,乃是個古月。古者,老也;月者,陰也。老陰不能化育,教你姓『猻』倒好。猻字去了獸傍,乃是個子系。子者,兒男也;系者,嬰細也,正合嬰兒之本論。教你姓『孫』罷。」

CA: Our hero’s association with the surname Sun predates the 1592 JTTW by centuries, appearing as early as an early-Ming JTTW zaju play. Therefore, Subodhi’s etymological breakdown is just an excuse to change husun (猢猻), one of the historical terms for the macaque, into Sun. It’s also an excuse to tie the surname to historical Daoist longevity practices.

Also, Sun has been used since at least the Tang Dynasty (618-907) as a surname for monkeys associated with Buddhist monks. According to the Tang poet Li Shen (李紳, d. 846):

There are many monkeys in the [Lingyin and Tianzhu] monasteries. They are called the Sun group (or the group of Sun, “Sun tuan” [孫團]). They have been reared there for a long time (Shahar, 1992, pp. 202-203).

2.5. Stable Monkeys

A: It was a common historical practice to place female monkeys in horse stables because their menstruation was believed to ward off equine sickness (see my past article for a source). Hence, Sun’s time as the heavenly stable master supports the idea that he was originally a cis-woman.

CA: Just because something influenced a character in a story doesn’t mean that thing and all of its traits become the character. That’s like saying Son Goku is Superman just because Dragon Ball Z-era Akira Toriyama borrowed the “alien sent to earth” element from the Man of Steel’s mythos. But that isn’t the case since each character and their respective stories have definable differences. And it’s the same for the female stable monkeys and Sun Wukong.

After becoming the Bimawen (弼馬溫) (fig. 3), Sun dotingly cares for nearly 1,000 horses day and night, making sure that they are all well-fed, exercised, and rested. At no point does the 1592 JTTW even hint that their health is in any way tied to menstruation. But having said that, I suggest the reason that Monkey gets so upset when people call him Bimawen, what Yu (Wu & Yu, 2012) translates as “BanHorsePlague” (vol. 1, p. 354), is because it references the homophonous term for the historical practice, Bimawen (避馬瘟, lit: “avoid the horse plague”). Surprisingly, the latter phrase does not appear in the novel.

Fig. 3 – A 2014 stamp featuring a scene from the classic 1960s animation Havoc in Heaven in which Sun Wukong serves as the Bimawen (larger version). Image found here.

3. Final Counterarguments

3.1. Historical Male Depictions

I don’t know of any historical oral, published, or pictorial sources that portray or describe Sun as a cis-woman in their regular form. To my knowledge, he has always been depicted as a cis-man.

I won’t pretend to know the full extent of our hero’s history. But I always strive to learn more about the subject. Just look at the following as a brief survey.

3.1A. Art

The earliest art depicting the aforementioned Monkey Pilgrim shows him as either a simian cleric or soldier accompanying the monk Tripitaka. But I think the best example to present for this discussion is the 13th-century Kaiyuan Temple stone pagoda carving (fig. 4), which portrays him as a muscular, sword-wielding protector deity.

Fig. 4 – The Kaiyuan Temple stone pagoda carving of the Monkey Pilgrim (1237) (larger version).

3.1B. Oral literature

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), the aforementioned 13th-century oral version of JTTW, first introduces the Monkey Pilgrim as a “scholar dressed in a white robe” (Baiyi xiucai, 白衣秀才) (Wivell, 1994, p. 1182). The word translated here as scholar, “xiucai (秀才; lit: “cultivated talent”), was “[f]rom antiquity a categorical rubric under which talented men were nominated to be considered for official appointments” (Hucker, 1985, p. 284). During the Song dynasty (960-1279), when this tale was first recorded, the xiucai was an informal term for candidates of the metropolitan-level exams (Hucker, 1985, p. 284). That is to say they were educated commoners who had yet to receive an official office. Dudbridge (1970) suggests that disguising oneself as a traveling, white-robed scholar would have then “conferr[ed] anonymity on the wearer” (p. 32). [2] This means that Monkey is likely using the disguise to walk among mortals without them realizing his divine nature.

Dudbridge (1970) also notes that this disguise was used by male characters in later published media (p. 32 n. 1). These examples instead use “xiushi” (秀士; lit: “cultivated scholar”). For instance, in chapter 81 of the Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan, 水滸傳, c. 1400), a literary version of Song Emperor Huizong (宋徽宗) dresses this way in order to meet in secret with his favorite sex worker: 

Accompanied by a young eunuch, the sovereign arrived through the secret tunnel at the rear door of the courtesan’s house. He was dressed in the white garb of a scholar (emphasis added) (Shi & Luo, 1993/2021b, p.1715).

只見道君皇帝引着一個小黃門,扮做白衣秀士,從地道中逕到李師師家後門來。(Shi & Luo, 1975/2021b, p. 1104)

The male disguise even carried over into the 1592 JTTW. For example, in chapter ten, the Dragon King of the Jing River (Jinghe Longwang, 涇河龍王) takes on such a form to investigate a fortune teller with dangerously accurate predictions that threaten the fish of his kingdom: 

[H]e abandoned his sword and dismissed the clouds and the rains. Reaching the river bank, he shook his body and changed into a white-robed scholar (emphasis added) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 239).

龍王 … 遂棄寶劍,也不興雲雨,出岸上,搖身一變,變作一個白衣秀士)

3.1C. Zaju play

The early-Ming Journey to the West zaju play (Xiyou ji zaju, 西遊記雜劇) contains many familiar episodes that would come to appear in the 1592 JTTW. [3] But despite these parallels, there are many interesting differences. For example, in act nine (of 24), Sun Wukong is said to be the brother of several divine siblings:

We are five brothers and sisters: my older sister is the Venerable Mother of Mount Li, my younger sister is the Holy Mother Wuzhiqi, my older brother is the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, I myself am the Great Sage Reaching Heaven (emphasis added), and my younger brother is the Third Son Shuashua (based on Dudbridge, 1970, p. 110).

小聖弟兄、姊妹五人,大姊驪山老母,二妹巫枝祗聖母,大兄齊天大聖,小聖通天大聖,三弟耍耍三郎。

(That’s right! The play refers to Monkey as the “Great Sage Reaching Heaven” instead of “… Equaling Heaven.”)

He also has a wife, a princess whom he had kidnapped from the “Country of the Golden Cauldron” (Jinding guo, 金鼎國) (Ning, 1986, pp. 63-66). This portion of the play draws directly from a genre of Han to Song-era tales in which magic apes kidnap young maidens in order to rape and impregnate them. [4]

The most apparent differences are the addition of bawdy elements like sex, cursing, and dirty jokes by the author, the 15th-century Mongol playwright Yang Jingxian (杨景賢). For instance, act 18 sees the pilgrims travel through the famous Woman Kingdom, where Sun, Zhu, and Sha all fall prey to temptations of the flesh. But whereas the latter two are successful in their sexual ventures, poor Monkey is struck by a bout of erectile dysfunction caused by the painful constricting of his headband:

Master, listen and I’ll tell you. There I was pinned down by a woman. My lustful nature was about to come forth, when suddenly the iron hoop on my head tightened, and the joints and bones up and down my whole body began to ache. The throbbing conjured up a bunch of vegetable names in my brain.

My head hurt so my hair stood up like radish-tops, my face turned as green as smartweed sprouts, my sweat beaded up like the moisture on an eggplant soaked in sauce, and my cock fell as limp as a salted cucumber (emphasis added). When she saw me looking for all the world like chives sizzling in hot oil, she came around, suppressed her itch and set me free (Ning, 1986, pp. 138-139).

聽行者告訴一遍:小行被一個婆娘按倒,凡心卻待起。不想頭上金箍兒緊將起來,渾身上下骨節疼痛,疼出幾般兒蔬菜名來:頭疼得髮蓬如韭菜,面色青似蓼牙,汗珠一似醬透的茄子,雞巴一似醃軟的黃瓜。他見我恰似燒蔥,恰甫能忍住了胡麻。他放了我

(Notice that ta (他) is used in the quote above to refer to the girl. Refer back to section 2.1 for a reminder of the significance.)

Later in act 19, Monkey attempts to seduce Princess Iron Fan (Tieshan gongzhu, 鐵扇公主) in order to gain access to her magic Banana leaf fan. Sun does this by reciting a poem in which he makes a veiled allusion to his penis being the right size for her vagina:

The disciple’s not too shallow,
the woman’s not too deep (emphasis added).
You and I, let’s each put forth an item,
and make a little demon
(Ning, 1986, p. 141).

弟子不淺,娘子不深。我與你大家各出一件,湊成一對妖精。

When this plan fails and the Princess threatens him with her sword, Sun angrily explains that the supernatural durability of his body and penis renders him impervious to physical harm:

Why this lowdown wench has no manners at all! I am the Lord of the Crimson Cloud Cavern, the Great Sage [Reaching Heaven]! I plundered Laozi’s gold Pill of Immortality, and have endured so many alchemical transformations that my muscles are brass, my bones iron, my eyes fire, my pupils gold, my asshole lead and my prick is pewter. Why should I fear a steel [sword] slicing off my pizzle? (emphasis added) (Ning, 1986, p. 142).

這賊賤人好無禮。我是紫雲羅洞主,通天大聖。我盜了老子金丹,煉得銅筋鐵骨,火眼金睛,金俞石屁眼,擺錫雞巴。我怕甚剛刀剁下我鳥來?

I want to highlight that this play did not influence the story cycle; it only reflects characters and episodes that were common to the cycle at that time. The bawdy elements were solely added to spice up the tale, making it more entertaining for zaju audiences. Therefore, this sex-crazed, dirty-mouthed version of the Monkey King should be considered a separate entity from his counterpart in the 1592 JTTW. However, I have included him here because the play clearly establishes that the character is a cis-man.

3.1D. Other Published Literature

A Supplement to the Journey to the West (Xiyoubu, 西遊補, 1640) is an unofficial sequel to the 1592 JTTW with a trippy, time-jumping story that mentions Sun Wukong fathering children with a woman. The first reference to his offspring appears in chapter 13 when actors in a royal play describe an alternate timeline where our hero had 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).

你看他的夫人這等標致,五個兒子這等風華。當初也是個和尚出身,後來好結局,好結局!

Later, in chapter 15, Monkey meets one of these sons, King Pāramitā (Boluomi wang, 波羅蜜王), on the battlefield. This general recounts his family history to the stranger, revealing that, although he’s never met his father (jiafu, 家父), he’s the son of the Great Sage and the Rakshasi (Luocha nu, 羅剎女), Princess Iron Fan (Dong, Lin, & Schulz, 2000, pp. 123-124). In addition, he suggests that he was conceived during an event from chapter 59 of the original novel: 

[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. [5] When my father, Monkey, got the Banana-leaf Fan, he cooled the inferno at Flaming Mountain and left. 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, 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).

後來又變作小蟲兒鑽入家母腹中,住了半日,無限攪炒。當時家母認痛不過,只得將芭蕉扇遞與家父行者。家父行者得了芭蕉扇,扇涼了火焰山,竟自去了。到明年五月,家母忽然產下我蜜王。我一日長大一日,智慧越高。想將起來,家伯與家母從來不合,惟家父行者曾走到家母腹中一番,便生了我,其為家父行者之嫡系正派,不言而可知也。」

The novel doesn’t elaborate on how the other four sons are conceived. But in the case of Pāramitā, Sun’s presence in Iron Fan’s stomach acts as sperm fertilizing an egg.

Anyways, it should be evident from the examples presented above that the Monkey King was portrayed or described in his regular form as a cis-man throughout the long course of his character development.

This by itself should put the idea of a canonically trans Sun Wukong to rest, but there is one more counterargument that I think is even stronger.

3.2. Spiritual Gender Transitions in Buddhism

Buddhist literature actually includes instances of girls or women transforming into men upon enlightenment or rebirth. [6] The former is best exemplified by the “Dragon Girl” (Longnu, 龍女) from chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra (Miaofa lianhua jing, 妙法蓮華經; a.k.a. Fahua jing, 法華經, c. 3rd-century) (fig. 5), a work mentioned in the 1592 JTTW six times. She is first introduced to an assembly of Buddhist deities as the eight-year old daughter of the Dragon King Sāgara (Suojieluo longwang, 娑竭羅龍王) and one of an unfathomable number of dragonfolk enlightened by the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī’s (Wenshu shili, 文殊師利) lessons on the Lotus Sutra. Her teacher describes her as a great student prodigy with a deep knowledge of Buddhist Law, as well as having many advanced spiritual achievements. But this upsets some among the assembly because the notion of a young girl approaching Buddhahood so quickly flies in the face of convention, which normally calls for untold aeons of severe austerities before one can achieve awakening. Her accomplishments are called into question at first, but everyone is appeased when she offers a priceless jewel to the Buddha, and he quickly accepts it as a symbolic gesture. Then:

The girl said [to the assembly], “Employ your supernatural powers and watch me attain Buddhahood. It will be even quicker than that!” 

At that time the members of the assembly all saw the dragon girl in the space of an instant change into a man (emphasis added) and carry out all the practices of a bodhisattva, immediately proceeding to the spotless World of the south, taking a seat on a jeweled lotus, and attaining impartial and correct enlightenment. With the thirty-two features and the eighty characteristics [of a Buddha], he expounded the wonderful Law for all living beings everywhere in the ten directions (Watson, 1993, p. 188). [7]

女言:「以汝神力,觀我成佛,復速於此。」

當時眾會,皆見龍女忽然之間變成男子,具菩薩行,即往南方無垢世界,坐寶蓮華,成等正覺,三十二相、八十種好,普為十方一切眾生演說妙法。

This kind of spiritual gender transition was certainly known to the host of historical oral storytellers [8] and author-compilers who contributed to the formation of the novel due to their vast shared knowledge of Buddhist and Daoist religion and lore.

Therefore, if the Sun Wukong from the 1592 JTTW was originally intended to be trans, he would have been OPENLY portrayed as such, without the need for subtle hints, due to scriptural precedent. And the fact that he wasn’t makes this what I consider to be the most damning argument against a canonically trans Sun Wukong.

Fig. 5 – A frontispiece to a Song-era edition of the Lotus Sutra (larger version). Image found here.

4. Final Thoughts

I hope that anyone unfamiliar with the Monkey King’s history can now make an informed judgement about online comments making claims about his gender.

And for those who still might want to go beyond an allegorical reading of the novel, you need to answer two questions:

  1. Why did the 1592 JTTW hint that Sun Wukong is FTM trans despite him being depicted as a cis-man for centuries?
  2. Why were said hints used in place of scriptural examples of spiritual gender transition?

Answering these questions will require evidence, not an interpretation. I’m honestly not sure what that evidence would be since the evidence against it is so overwhelming. 

I would be willing to accept the “possibility” of a trans Sun Wukong, though, if anyone can find an analysis of the character by a pre-20th-century Chinese literary critic expounding the same view. Please do not misinterpret this as me saying that there were no trans people prior to the 20th-century. I’m sure there have been many throughout history, and I’m sure the terms applied to or used by them in the past were wildly different from the ones used today. But without some kind of historical support, the reality of a canonically trans Monkey King, beyond a personal interpretation, is nothing more than a wish. 


Update: 05-19-2023

It’s recently come to my attention that this article has upset some people, namely those who are aware of the Monkey King’s worship and those who disagree with the concept of transgender people. The first group needs to understand that, while a religious figure, Sun Wukong is far more widely known around the world as a literary figure. And since people primarily view him as a fictional character—one who is in the public domain, in fact—they are free to interpret the simian immortal however they see fit. This means that both the Monkey God and the literary Monkey King should be viewed as two separate entities.

For the second group, the trans identity is outside my area of research and personal experience. Therefore, I can’t really say anything about the subject that would affect your point of view. My advice would be to ignore political pundits and instead start a dialogue with someone in the trans community to understand their thoughts, feelings, and motivations.

I’ve also learned that my article has apparently been weaponized by some on discord in an attempt to invalidate the views of trans individuals who identify with Sun Wukong. I don’t like that my work is being used to harass people. I want to make it clear that this article was not written to attack the trans community. It was solely made to place Monkey in his correct historical context. My first concern as a student of JTTW is that the history of the novel and its characters are presented accurately. But I am fully aware that perceptions of popular characters can and do evolve over time. That’s why I mentioned in the opening that viewing Sun as trans is perfectly fine as long as it’s clear that this is a personal interpretation. So, if you are a trans person and some troll presents my article as proof that your personal allegory is wrong, please have the confidence to tell them, “off you fuck.”


Update: 05-27-23

I found this lovely drawing of the Dragon Girl online (fig. 6). The image depicts her at the moment when she hands the Buddha the priceless jewel, just prior to transforming into a man.

Fig. 6 – A drawing of the Dragon Girl and the priceless jewel (larger version). Image found here.


Update: 08-09-23

It just occurred to me that another reason why Sun Wukong might be called Meihou wang (美猴王), or “Handsome or Beautiful Monkey King,” is because it’s a pun on mihou (獼猴), another word for macaque. The 1592 JTTW already includes a separate character named Mihou wang (獼猴王) in chapters three, four, and 41. And most importantly, even the Buddha’s past life as a king of monkeys is called Mihou wang (獼猴王). See the article below for more info.

The Female Monkey King: A Brief Study of the Term Mihou (獼猴) in Journey to the West


Update: 09-27-23

It just dawned on me that Sun Wukong’s precursor, the Monkey Pilgrim” from the 13th-century JTTW, is also called Mihou wang (獼猴王). Chapter two refers to him as Huaguo shan ziyun dong bawan siqian tongtou tie’e Mihou wang (花果山紫雲洞八萬四千銅頭鐵額獼猴王, the “Bronze-Headed, Iron-Browed King of the Eighty-Four Thousand Monkeys of the Purple Cloud Grotto on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits”) (Wivell, 1994, p. 1182).

This might lend support to the suggestion in my 08-09-23 update above.

Notes:

1) One of the suggested earliest meanings for wang (王) is “big man,” and it was used as a title by the tribal chieftains that would evolve into Chinese emperors (Qi, 1991).  

2) Yes, I am aware that Dudbridge (1970) also associates white robes with female demons (p. 32 n. 3). However, the Monkey Pilgrim is expressly associated with the white clothing of the historically male xiucai scholar candidates.

3) These similar episodes include the reincarnation of a heavenly being as Tripitaka, the murder of his father, Sun Wukong stealing immortal peaches from heaven and eventually being imprisoned under a mountain, his punishment with the restricting headband, the subjugation of Zhu Bajie (here and here) and Sha Wujing, the addition of a royal dragon-turned-white horse, the ordeal at Fire Mountain, the Country of Women, etc. This shows that the centuries-old story cycle was starting to become standardized by the 14th or 15th-century.

4) One example is “A Supplement to Jiang Zong’s Biography of a White Ape” (Bu Jiang Zong Baiyuan Zhuan, 補江總白猿傳, c. late-7th-century). In the story, a general’s young wife is kidnapped by a mysterious force, but he and his soldiers later find her living among a large harem of women in a mountain paradise. They tell the commander that their captor is a magic white ape who uses them night after night to fuel his Daoist sexual alchemy. The women also warn him and his men that they are no match for the beast’s great power, so the captives devise a plan that eventually leads to the primate’s death. In the end, the general learns that his wife is pregnant with the spirit’s child. 

What’s interesting for the purposes of this blog is that the titular white ape shares many surprising parallels with the Sun Wukong from the 1592 JTTW. Both: 

  • Are supernatural primates possessed of human speech. 
  • Are one thousand-year-old practitioners of longevity arts. 
  • Are masters of Daoist magic with the ability to fly and change their appearance. 
  • Are warriors capable of single-handedly defeating an army. 
  • Have a fondness for armed martial arts. 
  • Have an iron-hard, nigh-invulnerable body immune to most efforts to harm them. 
  • Have eyes that flash like lightning. 
  • Live in verdant mountain paradises (like the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit). 
  • Reside in caves with stone furniture (like the Water Curtain Cave). 

5) See Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 129.

6) An example of the latter appears in Chapter 23 of the Lotus Sutra. Women are promised a male rebirth in paradise for having heard and practiced the scripture (Watson, 1993, pp. 287-288).

7) For the Dragon Girl’s story, see Watson, 1993, pp. 187-189.

8) The Lotus Sutra, which contains the story of the Dragon Girl, is given prominence in the 13th-century oral JTTW. It is painted as an important scripture, one even hailed in heaven. Chapter three sees the monk Tripitaka (referred to here by his historical name Xuanzang) give a detailed lecture on the sacred text:

The arhats said: “We thank the Master for coming to the [heavenly] palace today. Does the master excel in explaining sutras?” Xuanzang replied: “If it is a sutra, I can explain it. If it is not, I do not.” “Can you explain the Lotus Sutra?” the arhat asked. Xuanzang replied: “That’s easy.” (emphasis added)

Thereupon the five hundred arhats, the [king of heaven] Mahabrahma Devaraja, and in all a company of over a thousand gathered to listen to the sutra. Xuanzang recited flawlessly without pausing for breath. Like pouring water from a vase, he clarified the obscurities of the text (emphasis added). Everyone praised his marvelous delivery (Wivell, 1994, p. 1184).

羅漢問曰:「今日謝師入宮。師善講經否?」玄奘曰:「是經講得,無經不講。」羅漢曰:「會講《法華經》否?」玄奘:「此是小事。」當時五百尊者、大梵王,一千餘人,咸集聽經。玄奘一氣講說,如瓶注水,大開玄妙。眾皆稱贊不可思議。

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.

Dudbridge, G. (1970). The Hsi-yu chi: A Study of Antecedents to the Sixteenth-Century Chinese Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hucker, C. O. (1985). A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China. Taipei: SMC Publishing Inc.

Ning, C. Y. (1986). Comic Elements in the Xiyouji Zaju (UMI No. 8612591) [Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

Qi, W. (1991). An Inquiry into the Original Meaning of the Chinese Character for King (wang). Chinese Studies in History, 25(2), 3-16, DOI: 10.2753/CSH0009-463325023

Shahar, M. (1992). The Lingyin Si Monkey Disciples and The Origins of Sun Wukong. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 52(1), 193-224. https://doi.org/10.2307/2719331

Shi, N., & Luo, G. (2021a). Shuihu zhuan (shang, zhong, xia) [Tale of the Water Margin (Vols. 1-3)]. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe. (Original work published 1975)

Shi, N., & Luo, G. (2021b). Outlaws of the Marsh (Vols. 1-4) (S. Shapiro, Trans.). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. (Original work published 1993)

Watson, B. (Trans.) (1993). The Lotus Sutra. New York: Columbia University Press.

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.

Interesting Facts about the Monkey King

Last updated: 08-28-2022

I recently posted a list of facts about Sun Wukong (孫悟空) to reddit. I am presenting an elongated version of it here, which serves as a summation of everything that I’ve learned over the years. It is by no means comprehensive. I’ll add more facts in the future as I learn of them. Enjoy.

Current count: 108

  1. He was likely influenced by the Hindu monkey god Hanuman (Ch: Ha nu man, 哈奴曼) in different waves, one possibly from the north (via Tibet) and another from the south (via Southeast Asia). But the parallels are most apparent from the standard 1592 edition of JTTW, suggesting that the author-compiler had access to some form of the Indian epic Rāmāyana (7th-c. BCE to 3rd-c. CE). The novel even includes material from the epic Mahābhārata (4th-c. BCE to 4th-c. CE).
  2. In my opinion, however, the greatest influence on his 1592 persona is a white ape antagonist from a Tang-era story. Similarities include: 1) both are supernatural primates possessed of human speech; 2) one thousand-year-old practitioners of longevity arts; 3) masters of Daoist magic with the ability to fly and change their appearance; 4) warriors capable of single-handedly defeating an army; 5) have a fondness for armed martial arts; 6) have an iron-hard, nigh-invulnerable body immune to most efforts to harm them; 7) have eyes that flash like lightning; 8) live in verdant mountain paradises (like Flower Fruit Mountain); and 9) reside in caves with stone furniture (like the Water Curtain Cave).
  3. He has the second longest association with the JTTW story cycle, appearing as the “Monkey Pilgrim” (Hou xingzhe, 猴行者) circa 1000 (or before). Sha Wujing’s earliest antecedent appeared during the 8th-century, while Zhu Bajie didn’t appear until the 14th-century.
  4. The oldest published mention of the Monkey Pilgrim is a eulogy appearing in a tale from Zhang Shinan’s (張世南) Memoirs of a Traveling Official (Youhuan jiwen, 遊宦紀聞, 13th-century). One scholar dates the story to around 1127.
  5. The oldest depictions of this character (late-11th to late-13th-century) appear in Buddhist cave art along the Silk Road in Northern China. He is almost always portrayed in a scene worshiping the Bodhisattva Guanyin.
  6. A 13th-century version of JTTW describes the Monkey Pilgrim as a white-clad scholar who is an ancient immortal from the very beginning of the tale. He was beaten with an iron rod as a young immortal after he stole magic peaches and was subsequently banished to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. He actively searches out the monk to protect him as the cleric’s two previous incarnations were eaten by a monster (Sha Wujing’s antecedent) in the past.

  7. This immortal fights with two staves (at different times), a golden-ringed monk’s staff and an iron staff (both borrowed from heaven). The monk’s staff can create destructive blasts of light, as well as transform into titanic creatures, including a club-wielding yaksha and an iron dragon. The iron staff isn’t shown to have any special powers. These weapons were later combined by storytellers, the rings from the former being added to the ends of the latter.

  8. He is called the “Monkey King” (Houwang, 猴王) as far back as the 13th-century version. This position is likely based on a jataka tale about the Buddha’s past life as a king of monkeys.
  9. The immortal is bestowed the title “Great Sage Steel Muscles and Iron Bones” (Gangjin tiegu dasheng, 鋼筋鐵骨大聖) at the end of the story by Tang Taizong.
  10. This immortal was heavily influenced by the Buddhist Saint Mulian (目連; Sk: Maudgalyayana).
  11. He was popular even in Korea and appeared in a set of carvings from a 14th-century stone pagoda.
  12. The earliest mention of the name “Sun Wukong” that I’m aware of appears in an early-15th-century zaju play. It depicts the character as a sex-crazed maniac who kidnaps a princess to be his wife, tries to seduce Princess Iron Fan, and later gets erectile disfunction when his golden headband tightens while trying to have sex with a young maiden in the Kingdom of Women.
  13. The dharma name “Wukong” (悟空) was likely influenced by a historical monk of that name who traveled to India during the 8th-century. The name means “Awakened to Emptiness”, thus referencing Buddhist enlightenment. I think the corresponding Sanskrit name would be something like “Bodhiśūnyatā” (but don’t quote me on this).

  14. The surname “Sun” (孫) means “grandson” but is an open reference to husun (猢猻, lit: “grandson of the barbarian”), the Chinese word for “macaque“. It was also a popular surname for supernatural primates in stories associated with the Lingyin Temple (靈隱寺), which also likely influenced the Monkey King.

  15. The 1592 edition of the novel associates the components of Sun (孫 = zi, 子 & xi, 系) (ch. 1 – see section 4.2 here) with the formation of a “holy embryo” (shengtai, 聖胎), an immortal spirit that lives on after the adherent dies.

  16. So taking all of the Buddhist and Daoist references into account, another translation for Sun Wukong would be “Immortal Awakened to Enlightenment”. This is a reference to the Buddho-Daoist philosophy of Zhang Boduan (張伯端, mid- to late-980s-1082), who believed that in order to become a true transcendent (xian, 仙), one had to achieve both the Daoist elixir of immortality and Buddha-nature (i.e. Buddhahood).

  17. The aforementioned zaju play calls him the “Great Sage Reaching Heaven” (Tongtian dasheng, 通天大聖).

  18. Said play also states that he has two sisters and two brothers. The sisters are respectively named the “Venerable Mother of Mount Li” (Lishan laomu, 驪山老母) and “Holy Mother Wuzhiqi” (Wuzhiqi shengmu, 巫支祇聖母). His older brother is called “Great Sage Equaling Heaven” (Qitian dasheng, 齊天大聖) and the younger the “Third Son Shuashua” (Shuashua sanlang, 耍耍三郎).

  19. His story in the 1592 version takes place not in our world but in one modeled after ancient Hindo-Buddhist cosmic geography, which features four island-like continents floating in a great ocean around the four respective faces of a cosmic mountain. And yet the novel was published during a time coinciding with the late Renaissance period in Europe, precisely 49 years after Copernicus suggested that the Earth orbits the sun.
  20. His home, the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit (Huaguo shan, 花果山), is located near the easternmost continent, while China is associated with the southernmost continent. This means that Monkey, within the novel, is not Chinese!
  21. He has had past lives (see the 11-24-20 update here).
  22. He’s not the only figure from world myth born from stone. In fact, “Birth from rock” (T544.1) is a mythic category appearing in Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk-Literature.

  23. While his stone birth (ch. 1) is likely based on that of Yu the Great (Dayu, 大禹), a legendary King of the Xia dynasty (more on this below), it may ultimately be linked to Tibetan stories of stone-born monkey deities.
  24. He was likely born during the late-Zhou Dynasty (circa 1046-256 BCE).
  25. He serves as a physical manifestation of the “Mind Monkey” (xinyuan, 心猿), a Buddho-Daoist philosophy denoting the disquieted thoughts that keep Man trapped in the illusory world of Saṃsāra (see the material below figure three here). This phrase is also surprisingly associated with sexual desire.
  26. Despite the association above, Monkey shows no interest in sex throughout the entire novel. This may be a response to the highly sexualized Sun Wukong from the zaju play.
  27. The novel also gives him the alchemical title “Squire of Metal/Gold” (Jingong, 金公), a possible “anagrammatic reading of the Chinese graph for lead or qian 鉛, which may be broken up into the two graphs of jin and gong” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 532 n. 3). Lead is an ingredient in external alchemy (see the material after figure two here). The title might also be referring to the earthly branch shen (申), which is associated with both metal and monkeys (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 532 n. 3).
  28. The overall arc of his birth and early life were likely based on that of the historical Buddha to make his tale more familiar to readers. Similarities include: A) supernatural births that split open their respective mothers (Queen Maya vs stone egg); B) producing a radiant splendor in all directions upon their birth; C) being talented students that quickly master concepts taught to them; D) early lives as royals (Indian prince vs king of monkeys); E) shock at the impermanence of life; F) questing for a spiritual solution to said impermanence; and G) finding said solution via spiritual practices (Indic meditation vs Daoist elixir arts).

  29. His “Water Curtain Cave” (Shuilian dong, 水簾洞), the grotto-heaven where he and his people live in the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, is associated with a different immortal in older religious literature. For instance, the Song-era text Master Ghost Valley’s Numinous Writ of the Essence of Heaven (Guigu zi tiansui lingwen鬼谷子天隨靈文) calls the titular character the “Master of the Waterfall Cave” (Shuilian dong zhu, 水濂洞主). In this case, the source uses a different lian (濂) in place of the lian (簾) associated with Monkey’s cave. But they both mean the same thing: a waterfall hiding a cave mouth (see the 12-11-21 update here). One 17th-century novel influenced by JTTW states that Master Ghost Valley lives in the Water Curtain Cave (Shuilian dong, 水簾洞; i.e. the same as Monkey’s home) with his student, the Warring States strategist Sun Bin (孫臏, d. 316 BCE). This means that two characters surnamed Sun (孫) live there in Chinese literature (see section II here).
  30. Despite modern media portraying him as an adult-sized humanoid character that is sometimes handsome and/or very muscular, the 1592 version describes him as an ugly, bald, and skinny Rhesus macaque that is less than four feet tall. This means that one of the most powerful warriors in the Buddho-Daoist cosmos is the size of a child.
  31. While commonly portrayed as a Daoist immortal, his first master, the Patriarch Subodhi (Xuputi zushi, 須菩提祖師) (ch. 1 & 2), is shown to live in India and have a strong connection to Buddhism, possibly even being a Bodhisattva.
  32. The breathing and energy circulation methods that Monkey uses to achieve immortality (ch. 2) are based on real Daoist elixir practices.
  33. The actual name for his famous 72 Transformations is “Multitude of Terrestrial Killers” (Disha shu, 地煞數), which is based on a popular set of malevolent stellar gods.
  34. This skill not only allows Monkey to transform into whatever he wants but also gives him a store of extra heads and possibly even extra lives like a video game (see section 4.4 # 3 here).
  35. He specifically learns the 72 Transformations (ch. 3) in order to hide from a trio of elemental calamities sent by heaven to punish cultivators for defying their fate and achieving immortality. This is the origin of the “Heavenly Tribulation” (tianjie, 天劫; zhongjie, 重劫) trope from modern Xianxia literature.
  36. But, surprisingly, he is not a true immortal, just long-lived and really hard to kill. The novel refers to him as a “bogus immortal” (yaoxian, 妖仙). This references Zhang Boduan’s aforementioned philosophy where one must obtain both the Daoist elixir (which Monkey did) and Buddha-Nature (which he hadn’t yet achieved) in order to be a true transcendent.
  37. While training under Subodhi (ch. 3), he expressly passes on learning the bureaucratic-style magic rites normally used by earthly priests to request something from heaven because the skills involved won’t result in eternal life. Instead, after achieving immortality, Monkey just commands the gods to do his bidding (see section II here).
  38. He can grow 100,000 feet (30,480 m) tall (ch. 1, 6, 61, and 97). This skill is called the “Method of Modeling Heaven on Earth” (Fatian xiangdi, 法天像地), and it is related to ancient Pre-Qin and Han concepts of astral-geography later used in the construction of imperial Chinese cities.
  39. His magic “immortal breath” (xianqi, 仙氣) can transform his hairs, his staff, and objects not in direct contact with his body into anything he desires. It can also change disembodied souls into “ether” for ease of transport, and evidence suggests that it can even grant some form of immortality.
  40. Monkey has 84,000 hairs on his body, and he can transform them into hundreds of thousands, millions, and even billions of hair clones (see the 03-19-22 update here).
  41. The novel only mentions him learning martial arts in passing (ch. 67 – see section 4.5 here), but one episode (ch. 51) features a battle between Monkey and a demon king in which they use a host of real world fighting techniques that are still known and practiced today.
  42. His favorite style of boxing is “Short Fist” (duanquan, 短拳) (see the 05-02-18 update here).
  43. His skill with the staff is so great that the novel compares it to techniques from two manuals listed among the Seven Military Classics of China (see the 08-07-18 update here).
  44. The bureaucratic mix-up that resulted in his soul being dragged to hell (ch. 3) is based on “mistaken summons” to the underworld and “return-from-death” narratives present in early Chinese “miraculous tales” (Zhiguai xiaoshuo, 志怪小説) (Campany, 1990).
  45. When he looks at his entry in the ledgers of hell, he learns that: 1) his soul number is “1,350”; 2) his real name is “Heaven-Born Stone Monkey” (Tianchan shihou, 天產石猴); and 3) he was fated to have a “good end” at the ripe old age of 342. This refers to a person’s pre-allotted lifespan (ming, 命) (Campany, 2005; Campany & Ge, 2002, pp. 47-52).
  46. The distance that his cloud-somersault can travel, 108,000 li (33,554 mi / 54,000 km), is based on a metaphor for instantaneous enlightenment. It comes from the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Chan Patriarch Huineng (惠能). The Chan Master explains that the common trope of the Buddha’s paradise being separated from the world of man by 108,000 li is based on a combination of the “Ten Evils” (Shi’e, 十惡) and “Eight Wrongs” (Baxie, 八邪) of Buddhism. Those who rid themselves of these spiritual flaws will achieve enlightenment and thus arrive instantly at the Buddha’s paradise.
  47. The initial depiction of his magic staff as a great iron pillar kept in the dragon kingdom treasury (ch. 3) is based on a metal column that the immortal Xu Xun (許遜) chained a demonic dragon to and then imprisoned in the aquatic realm in Chinese mythology.
  48. It’s a common misconception that his staff weighed down the Milky Way galaxy. This is based on a mistranslation. The W. J. F. Jenner edition claims that the weapon anchored said star cluster. However, the original Chinese states that it was used as a means to measure and set the depths of the Heavenly River (Tianhe, 天河; a.k.a. Milky Way).

  49. The weight of his staff is likely an embellishment on the weight of a heavy stone block lifted by the bandit-hero Wu Song (武松) in the Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan, 水滸傳, c. 1400). This episode and the JTTW episode where Monkey acquires his staff both involve a hero (Wu Song vs Sun Wukong) asking someone (a friend vs the Dragon King) to take them to a seemingly immovable object (stone block vs iron pillar). They then adjust their clothing before lifting the object with ease. Most importantly, the Chinese characters for the respective weights are visually similar. Sun’s staff is 13,500 catties (yiwan sanqian wubai jin, 一萬三千五百斤; 17,5560 lbs. / 7965.08 kg), while the stone block is 300 to 500 catties (sanwubai jin, 三五百斤; 390-650 lbs. / 177-295 kg). The characters in bold indicate the similarities between the two weights, where as those in red indicate the embellishments: 一萬五百斤.

  50. He singlehandedly defeats the “Nine Planets” (Sk: Navagraha; Ch: Jiuyao, 九曜, “Nine Luminaries”), personifications of the sun and planets from Hindu astrology (Gansten, 2009), during his rebellion (ch. 4) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 170-172).
  51. His time as the Bimawen (弼馬溫, “To assist horse temperament”), a minor post overseeing the heavenly horse stables (ch. 4), is based on an ancient Chinese practice of placing monkeys in horse stables to ward off equine sicknesses. The belief was that the menstrual blood of female monkeys mixed with horse food somehow guarded against diseases. This is hilarious as the position links Sun Wukong to menstruation!

  52. His title “Great Sage Equaling Heaven” (Qitian dasheng, 齊天大聖) (ch. 4) was actually borrowed from the “Eastern Marchmount” (Dongyue, 東嶽; a.k.a. “Eastern Peak”), the god of Mt. Tai. This suggests that the older brother from the aforementioned zaju play is really the Eastern Marchmount.
  53. His time as the Guardian of the Immortal Peach Groves (ch. 5) is likely based on a Song-era Daoist scripture in which the aforementioned Sun Bin is tasked by his teacher, Master Ghost Valley, with protecting a tree laden with special fruit. He later captures a magic white ape stealing said produce (see section III here). The simian thief saves his life by offering Sun a set of secret religious texts. Both stories include: 1) a character surnamed Sun (孫) protecting special fruit (Sun Bin vs Sun Wukong); and 2) supernatural primates that steal and eat the fruit. Therefore, Monkey’s 1592 persona serves as both the guard and the thief!
  54. The elixir pills that he drunkenly eats in Laozi’s laboratory (ch. 5) likely influenced the senzu beans from the world famous Dragon Ball (Jp: Doragon Bōru,ドラゴンボール; Ch: Qilongzhu, 七龍珠) franchise.
  55. His conflict with Erlang (ch. 6) can be traced to ancient Han-era funerary rituals, and their battle of magic transformations shares parallels with ancient Greek tales and can ultimately be traced to even older stories from the Near East.
  56. His time in Laozi‘s furnace (ch. 7) is based on an episode from the aforementioned 13th-century version of JTTW. It may also be connected to a story of Laozi magically surviving a foreign king’s attempt to boil him in a cauldron.
  57. He is shown to be weak against spiritual fire and smoke (see the 06-28-22 update here).
  58. Smoke from the furnace irritates his eyes, giving him his famous “Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils” (Huoyan jinjing, 火眼金睛). The former is likely based on the “actual red-rimmed eyes of [the Rhesus macaque]” (Burton, 2005, p. 148). The latter is likely based on the golden pupils of macaques (see section 2.1 here).
  59. The message that he leaves on the Buddha’s finger (ch. 7) is a popular form of graffiti in East Asia.
  60. His time under Five Elements Mountain (Wuxing shan, 五行山) (ch. 7) is based on stories of the aforementioned Wuzhiqi (無支奇/巫支祇) being imprisoned under a mountain by Yu the Great.
  61. He was pressed under the mountain during the late-Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220CE – see section II here).
  62. A religious precious scroll predating the 1592 edition states that Erlang instead traps Monkey beneath Mount Tai, and the aforementioned 15th-century zaju play states it was Guanyin and the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit.
  63. This punishment links him to a broader list of mythic baddies imprisoned in earth, including Lucifer, Loki, and the Titans of Tartarus. I plan to write a later article about “earth prisons” in world myth.
  64. One scholar suggests that being trapped under Five Elements Mountain is a symbolic death (remember that Monkey claims to be free of the Five Elements after attaining immortality), meaning that the hellish diet is his karmic punishment in the afterlife, and his later release is a symbolic reincarnation.
  65. Monkey’s mountain imprisonment was only part of his punishment. The other half was a hellish diet of hot iron pellets and molten copper, punishments straight from Buddhist canon.
  66. His golden headband (ch. 13) has three influences: 1) a historical ritual circlet worn as a physical reminder of right speech and action by Esoteric Buddhist yogins in ancient India; 2) adornments, likely based on stylized lingzhi mushrooms, worn by Daoist protector deities; and 3) an Iranic triple-crescent crown.
  67. The oldest depiction of Monkey with his headband that I know of appears in a late-Xixia (late-12th to early-13th-century) Buddhist cave grotto in Northwestern China.
  68. The earliest depiction of his double “curlicue-style” headband that I’m aware of is a 13th-century stone carving in Fujian.
  69. The secret spell that tightens his headband is likely the Akshobhya Buddha mantra.
  70. Along with the headband, his tiger skin kilt (ch. 13) can be traced to a list of ritual items prescribed for worshiping wrathful protector deities in Esoteric Indian Buddhism. These same ritual items came to be worn by the very protector deities that the yogins revered. This explains why some deities in Chinese folk religion (including Sun Wukong) are portrayed with the golden headband and tiger skin.

  71. Modern artists sometimes depict him with two long feathers protruding from the front of his golden headband, giving him the appearance of an insect. But the feathers (lingzi, 翎子) are actually associated with a different headdress called the “Purple Gold Cap” (zijin guan, 紫金冠), which is worn on top of the head. It was a military headdress later associated with heroes in Chinese opera (see section 2.2 here).
  72. Monkey is also shown to be weaker in water. For instance, he enlists Zhu Bajie to combat the water demon who turns out to be Sha Wujing (ch. 22) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. pp. 422-423).
  73. The baby-shaped fruit that he eats (ch. 24) comes from a tree based on Indo-Persian lore.
  74. He claims to have eaten people when he was a monster in his youth (ch. 27) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 2, p. 20).
  75. His greatest feat of strength is carrying two mountains while running at meteoric speeds (ch. 33). One is the axis mundi of the Hindo-Buddhist cosmos, while the other is the place from which (according to legend) Buddhism spread upon entering China. This episode is based on an older tale in which Erlang does the lifting.
  76. His doppelganger, the Six-Eared Macaque (ch. 56-58), is actually an aspect of his troubled mind. Once he kills him, Monkey takes one step closer to Buddhahood.
  77. He fights and is defeated by an ancient bird demon who is a spiritual uncle of the Buddha (ch. 77). This monster is based on the Hindu bird god Garuda.
  78. He and his religious brothers take human disciples in India (ch. 88), and Monkey later performs an arcane ritual in which he grants them superhuman strength (and possibly some form of immortality).
  79. His title, “Victorious Fighting Buddha” (Douzhan sheng fo, 鬥戰勝佛) (ch. 100), is based on a real world deity numbering among the “Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas“.
  80. The novel ranks him higher than Guanyin after his ascension (see the third quote here).
  81. As an enlightened Buddha, Monkey is eligible for his own “Buddha-Field” (Sk: Buddhakṣetra; Ch: Focha, 佛刹), essentially his own universe in which he will lead the inhabitants to enlightenment (Buswell & Lopez, 2014, p. 153).
  82. Despite his association with the Victorious Fighting Buddha, he is primarily worshiped as the Great Sage Equaling Heaven in East and Southeast Asian Chinese folk religion.
  83. Fighters of the Boxer Rebellion (Yihetuan yundong, 義和團運動, 1899-1901) believed that they could channel the Monkey King to gain his great combat skills.
  84. Modern ritual specialists known as “spirit-mediums” (Hokkien: Tangki, 童乩; Ch: Jitong, 乩童; lit: “Divining Child”) also channel the Great Sage, allowing his worshipers to have direct access to the divine. While they may use a staff to enhance the theater of their performance, the weapon surprisingly doesn’t serve a ritual function. They instead use a set of bladed or spiked weapons to draw blood intended to create evil-warding paper talismans (see the material below figure six here).
  85. Chinese folk religion recognizes more than one Great Sage, usually between three and five individuals.
  86. Monkey’s faith started in Fujian province, China and spread via boat to other countries within the Chinese diaspora. When he first started being worshiped is unknown. The first concrete references to his worship come from the 17th-century (see section III here). But the aforementioned 13th-century stone carving depicts him as a wrathful guardian, alongside other protector deities, Bodhisattvas, patriarchs, and eminent monks. This suggests that he might have been revered at an earlier time.
  87. He was even worshiped in 19th-century America!
  88. The iconic pose where he shades his eyes to search the horizon is likely based on a common motif associated with Chinese sea gods.
  89. He has a number of religious birthdays, one of which is the 16th day of the 8th lunar month (the day after the Mid Autumn Festival).
  90. There is a style of Chinese boxing named after him, “Great Sage Boxing” (Cantonese: Taishing kyun; Mandarin: Dasheng quan, 大聖拳). Another closely associated style is “Great Sage Axe Boxing” (Can: Taishing pek kwar kyun; Man: Dasheng pigua quan, 劈掛拳). These arts also have staff styles associated with the Monkey King.
  91. His time in Laozi’s furnace and ability to grow 100,000 feet tall influenced a Shaolin Monastery myth related to the founding of their famous staff fighting method. The story describes how a lowly kitchen worker jumped into an oven and remerged as a staff-wielding titan to battle mountain brigands attacking the monastery (see section 3 here).
  92. Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, was a fan of the Monkey King, even associating himself with the character in his poetry. Also, a CCP propaganda play of the 1960s associates the scripture pilgrims with members of the Communist Party, with Monkey referencing Mao.
  93. He shares several connections with Yu the Great (here and here). These include: A) both have stone births; B) Monkey’s staff was originally used by Yu as a drill and as a ruler to set the depths of the fabled world flood; C) Sun’s demonic sister Wuzhiqi was conquered by Yu in some stories; and D) both are legendary hero-kings.
  94. He shares a number of similarities with Wu Song. These include: A) both are reformed supernatural spirits originally trapped under the pressing weight of a mountain; B) slayers of tigers; C) Buddhist monks nicknamed “Pilgrim” (xingzhe, 行者), a title noting junior and traveling monks, as well as untrained riffraff that became clerics to avoid trouble with the law or taxes and military service (Wu Song is the latter and Monkey the former); D) martial arts monks who fight with staves; E) have moralistic golden headbands; and F) weapons made from bin steel (bin tie, 鑌鐵) (Wu Song’s Buddhist sabers vs Monkey’s magic staff).

  95. He shares a surprising number of similarities with the Greek hero Heracles (a.k.a. Hercules). These include: A) supernatural births via masculine heavenly forces (son of Zeus vs the stone seeded by heaven); B) quick to anger; C) big cat skins (Nemean lion vs mountain tiger); D) fight with blunt weapons (olive wood club vs magic iron staff); E) great strength; F) knocked out by a god during a fit of rage (Athena with a rock vs Laozi and his Diamond-Cutter bracelet); G) given punishment to atone for past transgressions (12 labors for killing family vs protecting the monk for rebelling against heaven); H) constantly helped by goddesses (Athena vs Guanyin); I) similar enemies (there’s a long list); tamer of supernatural horses (Mares of Diomedes vs Heavenly Horses); J) travel to lands peopled by women (Amazons vs Kingdom of Women); K) theft of fruit from the gardens of queenly goddesses (Hera’s golden apples of the Hesperides vs the Queen Mother’s immortal peaches); L) travel to the underworld; M) take part in a heavenly war (Gigantomachy vs rebellion in heaven); N) become gods at the end of their stories (god of heroes and strength vs Victorious Fighting Buddha); and O) worshiped in the real world (Greece and Rome vs East and Southeast Asia).

  96. He time travels to different points in Chinese history in an unofficial 17th-century sequel to JTTW.
  97. He has a total of eight children between two 17th-century novels. He has five sons in A Supplement to the Journey to the West (Xiyoubu, 西遊補, 1640), but only one of them is mentioned by name. “King Pāramitā” (Boluomi wang, 波羅蜜王) is portrayed as a sword-wielding general capable of fighting Sun for several rounds. His name is based on a set of virtues learned by Bodhisattvas on their path to Buddhahood. In Journey to the South (Nanyouji, 南遊記) he has two sons named “Jidu” (奇都) and “Luohou” (羅猴), who respectively represent the lunar eclipse demons Ketu and Rahu from Indian astrology. He also has a giant, monstrous daughter, “Yuebei Xing” (月孛星, “Moon Comet Star”), who is named after a shadowy planet representing the lunar apogee (or the furthest spot in the moon’s orbit) in East Asian astrology. Only the daughter plays a part in the story. She uses a magic skull, which can kill immortals three days after their name is called.

  98. He influenced the manga/anime hero Son Goku (a Japanese transliteration of 孫悟空) from the Dragon Ball Franchise.
  99. He almost appeared in an Indiana Jones movie!
  100. He has appeared in both Marvel and DC comic book series.
  101. The world’s tallest statue of Monkey is 40 ft (12.192 m) tall and resides at the Broga Sak Dato Temple (武來岸玉封石哪督廟) in Malaysia.
  102. He is the mascot of several entities in Taiwan, including the HCT delivery company, the Hang Yuan FC football team, and the Taipei Water Department.
  103. He has appeared in nearly 65 video games.
  104. He is the namesake for a Chinese satellite designed to search for dark matter.
  105. He is the namesake of a fossa on Pluto. This plays on his association with the underworld.
  106. He is the namesake of the Wukongopterus (Wukong yilong shu, 悟空翼龍屬), a genus of Chinese pterosaur.

  107. He is the namesake of Syntelia sunwukong, a Synteliid beetle from mid-Cretaceous Burma.
  108. A Covid-19 lab in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China adopted the name “Fire Eyes” (Huoyan, 火眼) in honor of Monkey’s ability to discern evil spirits.

Sources:

Burton, F. D. (2005). Monkey King in China: Basis for a Conservation Policy? In A. Fuentes & L. D. Wolfe (Eds.), Primates Face to Face: Conservation Implications of Human-Nonhuman Primate Interconnections (pp. 137-162). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Buswell, R. E., & Lopez, D. S. (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. N: Princeton University Press.

Campany, R. F. (1990). Return-from-Death Narratives in Early Medieval China. Journal of Chinese Religions, 18, pp. 91-125.

Campany, R. F., & Ge, H. (2002). To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study of Ge Hong’s Traditions of Divine Transcendents. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Campany, R. F. (2005). Living off the Books: Fifty Ways to Dodge Ming in Early Medieval China. In C. Lupke (Ed.), The Magnitude of Ming: Command, Allotment, and Fate in Chinese Culture (pp. 129-150), University of Hawaii Press.

Gansten, M. (2009). Navagrahas. In K. A. Jacobsen (Ed.), Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Vol. 1) (pp. 647-653). Leiden: Brill.

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

Archive #33 – The Hsi-yu chi: A Study of Antecedents to the Sixteenth-Century Chinese Novel (1970)

Dr. Glen Dudbridge (1938-2017), a British sinologist, was a giant in the field of Journey to the West Studies. His book The Hsi-yu chi: A Study of Antecedents to the Sixteenth-Century Chinese Novel (1970) is the best treatise on the history of this world famous story cycle. It stresses the oral storytelling origin of the tale, including a 13th-century storytelling prompt; 13th-century poetic allusions to the story; a 13th-century stone carving of Monkey in Quanzhou; fragments of the story in the Korean Pak t’ongsa ŏnhae (14th-c.) and Chinese Yongle Encyclopedia (early 15th-c.); mentions of the journey in a 16th-century baojuanWuzhiqi and white ape tales and how they may relate to the origin of Sun Wukong; Yuan-Ming Zaju plays about Erlang and Monkey; and it also includes translations and synopses of key texts in the appendixes.

Book Description:

A study of the early versions of the classic Chinese novel known to readers in English as Monkey. Dr Dudbridge examines a long tradition of earlier versions in narrative and dramatic form through which the great episodic cycle slowly took shape. The two main fields of interest are popular culture and folklore and the development of Chinese vernacular literature. Dr Dudbridge provides a very thorough survey of present knowledge about the whole topic and discusses critically a good deal of theorising about it. This is a study for experts. It uses Chinese characters, both in text pages and in the bibliography, which is very extensive. The plates reproduce paintings, carvings and sections of text relevant to the tradition.

Archive link:

Click to access The-Hsi-yu-chi-A-Study-of-Antecedents-to-the-Sixteenth-Century-Chinese-Novel-1970.pdf

Disclaimer:

This has been posted for educational purposes. No malicious copyright infringement is intended. If you liked the digital version, please support the official release.

Citation:

Dudbridge, G. (1970). The Hsi-yu chi: A Study of Antecedents to the Sixteenth-Century Chinese Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Archive #1 – The Early-Ming Journey to the West Zaju Play

Note: Go to the 11-18-21 and 11-21-21 updates for PDFs of two scholarly studies of the zaju play.

Last updated: 09-06-2023

I have previously discussed the 13th-century precursor to Journey to the West called The Story of How Tripitaka of the Great Tang Procures the Scriptures. This 17-chapter storytelling prompt differs greatly from the final version. However, a little known precursor, the early-Ming Journey to the West zaju play (Xiyou ji zaju, 西遊記雜劇), contains many familiar episodes, including the reincarnation of a heavenly being as Tripitaka, the murder of his father, Monkey stealing immortal peaches from heaven and eventually being imprisoned under a mountain, his punishment with the restricting headband, the subjugation of Zhu Bajie (here and here) and Sha Wujing, the addition of a royal dragon-turned-white horse, the ordeal at Fire Mountain, the Country of Women, etc. It is also one of the earliest sources to call the monkey character “Sun Wukong” (孫悟空). [1] This shows that the centuries-old story cycle was starting to become standardized by the 14th or 15th-century.

But despite the many similarities to the 1592 novel, there are several subtle and very interesting differences. For instance, Sun is trapped under his home of Flower Fruit Mountain by Guanyin, instead of being banished to Five Elements Mountain by the Buddha 600 years prior. In addition, although Red Boy and Princess Iron Fan appear in the play, they are not depicted as mother and son. The demon child is instead the offspring of the monstress Hariti. These are just a few of many deviations.

Early 20th-century scholarship ascribes the play to Yang Jingxian (杨景賢), a 15th-century mongol playwright who served as a minor official to his sister’s husband, the Military Judge Yang (from whom he took his pen surname). Records indicate Yang was fond of music, practical jokes, visiting pleasure quarters, and, of course, writing zaju plays (Ning, 1986, pp. 6-7). This explains the rowdy and often saucy nature of the story, which is replete with cursing, sexual innuendo, [2] and many beautiful, seductive women. Ning (1986) suggests Yang uses sexualized women as a detriment to the celibate Tripitaka to not only elicit laughter from the male audience, but also to make fun of Buddhism while elevating his own Confucian worldview (p. 81).

Women play a large role in the production, appearing in 13 of the 24 acts. Female characters are abducted in four different parts (Xuanzang’s mother in acts one to four; Monkey’s wife in act 10; the daughter of the Liu family in act 11; and Pigsy’s wife in acts 13 to 16), while women make up the three main obstacles (Hariti in act 12; the Queen of the Land of Women in act 17; and Princess Iron Fan in acts 18 to 20) (fig. 1).

zaju-acts-list.jpg

Fig. 1 – A synopsis diagram of the Journey to the West zaju play (from Ning, 1986, p. 9) (larger version).

Below I present the play’s summary as laid out by Dudbridge (1970).

Scene 1: Disaster encountered on a journey to office

The Bodhisattva Guanyin introduces the action: a mortal is required to collect scriptures for the benefit of China; for this purpose the Arhat Vairocana is to become incarnate as the son of Chen Guangrui [陳光蕊] in Hongnong xian [弘農縣] of Haizhou [海州]. Chen Guangrui is to suffer an eighteen-year-long ‘disaster in water’. The Dragon King has been instructed to protect him.

Chen Guangrui, on his journey to office, has reached the Inn of a Hundred Flowers: he has restored life to a fish which, when he bought it, blinked at him. Preparing to continue the journey to Hongzhou [洪州], the servant Wang An [王安] looks for a boatman. The singer in this act is Chen’s wife who, being eight months pregnant, is full of anxieties about the journey. In the event Liu Hong [劉洪], recruited as their boatman, murders first Wang An, then Chen himself; he agrees to spare the wife and her unborn child on condition that she accepts him in Chen Guangrui’s place—as her husband and the prefect of Hongzhou. She has him agree in turn to a three-year delay—a gesture of filial piety on the part of her as yet unborn son.

Scene 2: The mother forced, the child cast out

The Dragon of the Southern Seas explains that in compliance with Guanyin’s direction and in gratitude for Chen Guangrui’s action in saving his life (in the form of a fish at the Inn of a Hundred Flowers), he is holding the murdered Chen secure in his Crystal Palace until the eighteen years are up.

Liu Hong enters and declares his intention of ridding himself of the newly born child who constitutes a threat to his security in office.

The Dragon reappears briefly to ensure protection for the incarnate Vairocana who is to suffer hardship on the river.

The wife—again the singer—completes the scene alone. She has been compelled by Liu Hong to cast her month-old son into the river, and now performs the deed carefully, putting the child into a watertight box, together with two gold clasps and an explanatory note written in her own blood.

Scene 3: Jiangliu [江流] recognizes his mother

The Dragon orders the Arhat to be transported to the island monastery Jinshansi [金山寺, Gold Mountain Monastery].

A fisherman finds the box and takes it off to the Abbot.

The Chan Master Danxia [丹霞] receives it, inspects the contents and resolves to raise the child [whom he names Jiangliu, Flowing River] and preserve the letter with all the details of its history.

Liu Hong here makes a brief appearance, alluding to his present quite life and sense of security.

The passage of eighteen years is assumed: the Chan career of the abandoned child, whom he has brought up as a novice monk and named Xuanzang [玄奘]. He now sends him on a mission of revenge, first explaining the details of his background.

The mother is discovered in a state of anxiety: again she is the singer. Xuanzang enters, there is an extended recognition scene. They arrange for him to return provisionally to Jinshansi. 

Scene 4: The bandit is taken, revenge is wrought

Yu Shinan [虞世南] has now, in the year Zhenguan [貞觀] 21 [647/648 CE], been appointed Prefect of Hongzhou. His first official case is an appeal delivered by the Abbot Danxia and Xuanzang, calling for action against Liu Hong. Men are sent secretly to arrest him.

The dissipated Liu Hong is giving orders to his wife, who is again the singer. Official guards enter and arrest Liu; he makes a full confession. Yu Shinan sentences him to immolation on the shore of the river in expiation of Chen’s death. As the sacrificial verses are pronounced Chen’s body is borne out of the water by the Dragon King’s attendants. There is a final explanation.

Guanyin appears on high: she summons Xuanzang to the capital, first to pray for rain to break a great drought there, and further to fetch 5,048 rolls of Mahāyāna scriptures from the West.

The wife sums up the whole action in her closing songs.

Scene 5: An Imperial send-off for the westward journey

Yu Shinan narrates how he presented Xuanzang at court: the prayers for rain were successful, Xuanzang was honoured with the title Tripitaka [三藏] and invested with a golden kaṣāya and a nine-ringed Chan staff. His parents also received honours.

Now, in official mark of his departure for the West, Qin Shubao [秦叔寶] and Fang Xuanling [房玄齡] representing officials civil and military, enter to greet him. Xuanzang is ushered on. The official party is headed by the aged Yuchi Gong [尉遲恭], the singer in this act. He sustains a dialogue, partly in song, with Xuanzang, leading finally to a request for a Buddhist name. Xuanzang names him Baolin [寶林, Treasure Forest].

The pine-twig is planted which will point east when Xuanzang returns. Finally, he gives spiritual counsel to members of the crowd.

Scene 6: A village woman tells the tale

In a village outside Chang’an some local characters return from watching the spectacle of Tripitaka’s departure. The singer is a woman nicknamed Panguer [胖姑兒]. Her songs describe the scene from the crowd’s point of view. There is a good deal of observation of various side-shows and theatrical performances.

Scene 7: Moksha sells a horse

The Fiery Dragon of the Southern Sea is being led to execution for the offence of ‘causing insufficient and delayed rainfall’. His appeals succeed in enlisting the help of Guanyin, who persuades the Jade Emperor to have him changed into a white horse for the transport of Tripitaka and the scriptures.

Tripitaka is discovered at a wayside halt, troubled by the lack of a horse.

Moksha [木叉], disciple of Guanyin and the singer in this act, comes to offer him the white dragon-horse. His songs extol the horse’s qualities. Finally he uncovers the design, reveals the dragon in its original form, and ends the scene with allusions to the coming recruitment of Sun Wukong on Huaguo shan [花果山, Flower Fruit Mountain] (fig. 2) (Dudbridge, 1970, pp. 193-195).

106_125336_1 - small

Fig. 2 – A depiction of Huaguo shan from a modern videogame (larger version).

Scene 8: Huaguang serves as protector

Guanyin first announces a list of ten celestial protectors for Tripitaka on his journey. The Heavenly King Huaguang [華光天王], sixth on the list, is the last to sign on: he enters and for the rest of the scene sings on this theme of protection, pausing only to receive Guanyin’s greeting. In the last song there is a further allusion to Huaguo shan.

Scene 9: The Holy Buddha defeats Sun

Sun Xingzhe [孫行者, Pilgrim Sun] now appears: after an initial poem vaunting his celestial birth, his ubiquity and power, he lists out the members of his ape family, alludes to his career of misdeeds and his wife, the abducted Princess of Jinding guo [金鼎國, the Golden Cauldron Country].

Devaraja Li appears, with orders to recover the possessions stolen by Sun from the Queen Mother of the West. He issues orders to his son Nezha, who enters with troops upon orders from the Jade Emperor to capture Sun Xingzhe in his home Ziyun luo dong [紫雲羅洞, Purple Cloud Cave] on Huaguo shan.

The princess-wife now enters (the singer in this act) and tells in song the story of her abduction and the life on this mountain. She is joined by Sun and they prepare to feast.

The celestial troops surround them, Sun’s animal guards flee and Sun himself escapes. Devaraja Li ‘combs the hills’ and meanwhile finds the princess, who now sings through the remainder of her suite of songs until it is decided to give her escort back to her home.

Sun Xingzhe eludes the forces of Nezha and is captured only by intervention by Guanyin, who has him imprisoned beneath Huaguo shan to await the arrival of Tripitaka, his future master.

Scene 10: Sun is caught, the charm rehearsed

The singer is a Mountain Spirit guarding Sun beneath Huaguoshan: He opens the act with songs about his own permanence and his present duties.

Tripitaka comes seeking hospitality. The Spirit responds with a sung discourse which is interrupted by the shout of Sun Xingzhe eager to be delivered. Tripitaka releases him, and Sun’s immediate reaction is to seek to eat him and escape. Guanyin intervenes to curb his nature will disciplines in the shape of an iron hoop [Tiejie, 鐵戒, Iron prohibition ring], a cassock and a sword. She gives him the name Sun Xingzhe.

To Tripitaka she teaches the spell that works the binding hoop on Sun’s head, and they successfully prove it.

The Spirit adds (in speech) a warning about the demon of Liusha [he 流沙河, Flowing Sands River] and they again set out.

Scene 11: Xingzhe expels a demon

The Spirit of Liusha he, characterized as a monk adorned with human skulls, announces that he has devoured nine incarnations of Tripitaka (nine skulls represent them), towards the total of a hundred holy men he must eat in order to gain supremacy.

Sun Xingzhe enters and is attacked by this Sha Heshang [沙和尚, Sha Monk]. Sun vanquishes him (fig. 3) , and he is recruited for Tripitaka’s band of pilgrims.

A new demon named Yin’e jiangjun [銀額將軍, Silver-browed General] enters, inhabitant of the impregnable Huangfeng shan [黃風山, Yellow Wind Mountain]. He has abducted the daughter from a nearby Liu family.

The father Liu is the singer in this act: he explains his plight to Tripitaka and the party of pilgrims. They fight and kill the demon, and restore the girl to her home. As they set out again, Liu gratefully awaits their return from the West (Dudbridge, 1970, pp. 195-196).

Wanfu (44) - small

Fig. 3 – A stone relief carving of Monkey fighting Sandy (from Wanfu Temple, Tainan, Taiwan) (larger version).

Scene 12: Gui mu  is converted [Guiyi, 皈依, Take refuge (in the Buddha)]

The pilgrims are now approached by the Red Boy [Hong hai’er, 紅孩兒] feigning tears. Sun Xingzhe, against his own better judgement, is made to carry the child, cannot sustain the intolerable weight and tosses him into a mountain torrent.

Sha Heshang at once reports that the child has borne away their Master. They go off to appeal to Guanyin; she in turn takes the case to the Buddha, who now appears in company with the Bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī [Wenshu, 文殊] and Samantabhadra [Puxian, 普賢]. He explains that this is the son, named Ainu’er [愛奴兒], of Guizi mu (鬼子母, Hariti) (fig. 4). Four guardians have been sent to capture him with the help of the Buddha’s own alms bowl. The bowl is now brought in, with the Red Boy confined beneath it. The pilgrims return to rejoin their Master.

The mother Guizi mu enters to sing vindictive songs about this action. The Buddha defends himself from her attacks; she attempts to have the bowl lifted clear; finally she is overcome by Nezha. Tripitaka is freed and himself offers her alternative sentences: she chooses to embrace Buddhism (Dudbridge, 1970, pp. 196-197).

The_Buddhist_Goddess_Hariti_with_Children - Small

Fig. 4 – A 1st-cent. BCE Gandharan statue of Hariti (Guizi mu) with children (larger version).

Scene 13: A pig-demon deludes with magic

Zhu Bajie [豬八戒] enters, announces his background, past history and present home (Heifeng dong [黑風洞, Blackwind cave]) and describes a plan by which he means to substitute himself for the young man Chu Lang [朱郎], the bridegroom to whom a young local girl is promised and for whom she waits nightly. (Her father Peigong [裴公], we learn, is disposed to retract the agreed match for financial reasons.)

The girl, with her attendant, expects a visit from young Chu the same night. She (the singer in this act) goes through the actions of burning incense as she waits for him. Zhu Bajie enters, carries on a burlesque lovers’ dialogue with her and prevails on her to elope with him.

The pilgrims appear briefly on the stage, preparing to seek lodging near the frontier of Huolun [火輪] Jinding guo.

Scene 14: Haitang [海棠] sends on news

The girl, again the singer, is now in Zhu Bajie’s mountain home, has discovered the deception and despairs of seeing her home again; she is obliged to entertain the debauched Zhu Bajie, who agrees however to let her visit home.

Sun Xingzhe enters, overhears their conversation and at once attacks Zhu. He offers to carry a verbal message for the girl. She trusts him with this and warns him that her family and the Zhu’s are already disputing the case.

Scene 15: They take the daughter back to Pei

The heads of the Zhu and Pei families argue out their marriage contract and its alleged violation and are stopped from going to court only by the arrival of Tripitaka and his party. Sun Xingzhe produces the message in the form of a little song.

To determine what demon this abductor is they summon up the local guardian spirit (tudi [土地]), who reports that he takes the form of a pig. Sun Xingzhe at once sets out to attack.

The Pei girl sings a series of heartbroken songs. Sun Xingzhe comes and offers to take her home: she now sings gratitude, against some jeering comment from Sun. They leave.

Tripitaka, with the two family heads, await them and welcome back the daughter. She reveals that Zhu fears only the hunting dogs of Erlang [二郎]. The family affairs are now resolved.

Zhu Bajie decides to follow her home. Sun Xingzhe arranges to take her place in the bridal chamber where Zhu expects to find her. They fight: Zhu escapes, taking with him the Master Tripitaka. Erlang must now be called in.

Scene 16: The hunting hounds catch the pig

Erlang, the singer in this act, begins with a series of truculent and threatening songs, then demands Zhu’s surrender to Buddhism. Zhu fights first with Sun Xingzhe, who has entered with Erlang; then the dogs are put on him and finally seize him. Tripitaka is released and instantly urges mercy. Zhu accepts the Buddhist faith.

Erlang’s closing song alludes to the coming perils of the Land of Women and Huoyan shan [火焰山, Flaming Mountain].

Scene 17: The Queen forces a marriage

The pilgrims arrive in the Land of Women.

The Queen enters alone (she is the singer), describes her situation and her longing for a husband, and declares an intention to detain Tripitaka for this purpose.

The pilgrims again enter, warned of their danger in a recent dream granted by one of their guardians—Weituo zuntian [韋馱尊天, Skanda]. The Queen seeks to tempt Tripitaka with wine, then embraces him and finally bears him off to the rear of the Palace. Other women do the same with the three disciples.

The Queen and Tripitaka re-enter, and she continues to sing her entreaties until Wei-t’o tsun-t’ien appears and drives her back. Sun Hsing-che is summoned and Weituo, giving him a brief allocution, retires.

Sun confesses that his own near lapse was forestalled only by the tightening of the hoop upon his brow. He now ends the scene by singing a suggestive ditty to the tune Jishengcao [寄賸草].

Scene 18: They lose the way and ask it of an Immortal

The pilgrims require guidance.

A Taoist in the mountains sings a set of literary verses on the Four Vices. When the pilgrims come and ask the way of him he at once gives details of the nearby Huoyan shan and the female demon Tieshan gongzhu [鐵扇公主, Princess Iron Fan] whose Iron Fan alone is able to put out the flames on the fiery mountain. With more songs, of a warning nature, the Taoist leaves them.

The pilgrims reach the mountain, Sun Xingzhe undertakes to borrow the fan. From the mountain spirit he ascertains that Tieshan gongzhu is unmarried and accessible to offers of marriage. He resolves to approach her.

Scene 19: The Iron Fan and its evil power

Tieshan gongzhu (the singer) enters and introduces herself, giving her background, members of her family.

Sun Xingzhe arrives with his request to borrow the fan; she dislikes his insolence and refuses. They threaten one another, then fight (fig. 5) until she waves him off with the fan and Sun Xingzhe somersaults off the stage.

Sun Xingzhe, in the closing remarks of the scene, prepares to retaliate by seeking the assistance of Guanyin (Dudbridge, 1970, pp. 197-199).

3c9178d29e3a119cd3b65cca56d9a6ca--chinese-mythology-monkey-king

Fig. 5 – A postcard depicting Monkey’s battle with Princess Iron Fan (larger version).

Scene 20: The Water Department quenches the fire

Guanyin enters and decides to employ the masters of Thunder, Lightning, Wind and Rain, with all the attendant spirits of the celestial Water Department, to ensure Tripitaka’s safe passage across Huoyan shan.

These characters now enter and introduce themselves. The singer is Mother-Lightning [Dianmu, 電母], and her first series of songs is purely descriptive.

Tripitaka enters to offer brief thanks, and the scene ends with more songs as the spirits escort the party of pilgrims over the burning mountain. The last song predicts the imminent end of their pilgrimage.

Scene 21: The Poor Woman conveys intuitive certainty [Xinyin, 心印]

The party has arrived in India and prepares to advance to the Vulture Peak—Lingjiu shan [靈鷲山]. Sun Xingzhe is sent on ahead to look for food.

The Poor Woman enters and introduces herself as one whose trade is selling cakes and who, without presuming to enter the Buddha’s own province, has attained to great spiritual accomplishments. (She is the singer here.)

Sun Xingzhe appears to announce his mission, and they quickly engage in a sophistical dialogue on the term xin [心, heart/mind] in the ‘Diamond Sūtra‘. It becomes a burlesque in which Sun is ridiculed. Tripitaka enters and sustains a more competent discussion. He asks some plain questions about the Buddhist paradise, and the Poor Woman then urges them on.

Scene 22: They present themselves before the Buddha and collect the scriptures

The Mountain Spirit of the Vulture Peak introduces the situation: the pilgrims are about to be received into the Western Paradise; the householder Jigudu [給孤獨] (Sanskrit: Anāthapindada) is to escort them. He enters, the singer in this act. He introduces Tripitaka to heaven, answers his questions and announces the entry of the Buddha.

The Buddha appears in the form of an image (Buddha leaving the mountains) ‘represented’ [ban, 扮] by the monks Hanshan [寒山] and Shide [拾得] (fig. 6). He decrees that the three animal disciples may not return to the East; four of his own disciples will escort Tripitaka on the return journey. Tripitaka is led off to receive the scriptures.

The character Daquan [大權] is responsible for their issue. All assist in loading them on to the horse, who alone is to return East with Tripitaka and the disciples of the Buddha.

The three disciples in turn offer their final remarks and yield up their mortal lives. Tripitaka remembers each of them in a spoken soliloquy before he sets out on his return journey (Dudbridge, 1970, pp. 199-200).

pacskolat3 - Small

Fig. 6 – An ink rubbing of a 19th-century stone stele depicting Hanshan and Shide, from Hanshan Temple in Suzhou (larger version).

Scene 23: Escorted back to the Eastern Land

The first of the four Buddhist disciples, Chengji [成基], is the singer. The opening of the scene consists solely of his songs on the implications of the journey; he pauses only to reveal that the trials on the westward journey were contrived by the Buddha.

In Chang’an the pine-twig has been seen to turn eastward, and a crowd has come out to welcome Tripitaka’s return. Yuchi [Gong] again appears to receive him.

Chengji’s final song gives warning that the scriptures must be presented the following morning before the Emperor.

Scene 24: Tripitaka appears before the Buddha [Chaoyuan, 朝元]

The Sākyamuni Buddha enters and gives orders for Tripitaka to be led back to the Vulture Peak to meet his final spiritual goal.

The Winged Immortal who receives these orders is the singer. He escorts Tripitaka before the Buddha, whose closing remarks, as well as the Spirit’s last songs, invoke conventional benedictions upon the Imperial house (Dudbridge, 1970, p. 200). [3]


Update: 11-18-21

I’ve decided to upload a PDF of Ning’s (1986) Comic Elements in the Xiyouji Zaju, which is cited above.

PDF File


Update: 11-21-21

Here is an earlier analysis of the play by Howard Goldblatt (1973). He notes evidence points to the play largely being a product of the Ming (e.g. a higher number of acts, singers, and musical scales) and not the Yuan as was assumed at the time. However, he states the play was likely a patchwork of Yuan material, a scene by the playwright Yang in the early Ming, and copious later material borrowed from the standard 1592 edition of the novel. Despite all of this, Goldblatt (1973) suggests the play’s “stylistic unity” points to a single author compiling everything into its present form.

PDF File

https://journeytothewestresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/the-hsi-yu-chi-play.pdf


Update: 09-06-23

As noted in the summary above, the Buddha captures Hariti’s son, Red Boy (Honghai’er紅孩兒; a.k.a. Ainu’er愛奴兒), in his alms bowl in act 12. This is based on a common story cycle from Buddhist canon in which the Enlightened one hides the demoness’ youngest son in his alms bowl in an attempt to stop her from eating human children. For instance, the Samyuktavastu (Ch: Genbenshuo yiqie youbu binaye zashi根本說一切有部毘奈耶雜事; T24, no. 1451) states that he hides the boy under the bowl like Six Ears:

The next day at first light, the Buddha having taken his robe and his bowl, entered into the city in order to seek his food. Having begged following the order of the houses, he came back to the place where he lived and took his meal; after which he went to the residence of the yaksini Hariti [Helidi, 訶利底]. At that moment, the yaksini had gone out and was not at her home but the smallest of her sons, Priyankara [Ai’er, 愛兒] remained at the house. The Bhagavat concealed him under his almsbowl [bo, 鉢] and because of his power (as a) Tathagatha the older brothers could not see their youngest brother and the youngest brother could not see the older ones (Rowan, 2002, p. 142). [16] 

至明清旦,佛即著衣持鉢入城乞食,次第乞已還至本處,飯食訖即往訶利底藥叉住處。時藥叉女出行不在,小子愛兒留在家內,世尊即以鉢覆其上。如來威力令兄不見弟、弟見諸兄。

(Yes, the name Ai’er likely influenced Red Boy’s name Ainu’er.)

The Scripture on the Storehouse of Sundry Treasures (Za baozang jing雜寶藏經; T4, no. 203, mid-5th-century CE) says that he hides the boy at the bottom. This version is not long, so I will transcribe it in full: 

Hariti [Ch: Guizimu, 鬼子母; lit: “Mother of Ghosts”] was the wife of the demon king Pancika. She had ten thousand sons who all had the strength of fine athletes. The youngest one was called Pingala [Binjialuo, 嬪伽羅]. This demon mother was inhuman and cruel. She killed people’s sons to eat them. People suffered because of her. They appealed to the World-honored One. The World-honored One then took her son Pingala and put him at the bottom of his bowl [bo, 鉢]. Hariti looked everywhere in the world for him for seven days, but she did not find him. She was sorrowful and sad. When she heard others say, “It is said that the Buddha, the World-honored One, is omniscient,” she went to the Buddha and asked him where her son was.

The Buddha then answered, “You have ten thousand sons. You have lost only one son. Why do you search for him, suffering and sad? People in the world may have one son, or they may have several sons, but you kill them.’’ Hariti said to the Buddha, “If I can find Pingala now, I shall never kill anyone’s son any more.” So the Buddha let Hariti see Pingala in his bowl. She exerted her supernatural strength, but she could not pull him out. She implored the Buddha, and the Buddha said, “If you can accept the three refuges and the five precepts now, and never in your life kill any more, I shall return your son.” Hariti did as the Buddha told her to, and she accepted the three refuges and the five precepts. After she had accepted them, he returned her son.

The Buddha said, “Keep the precepts well! In the time of Buddha Kasyapa you were the seventh, the youngest daughter of King Jieni. You performed acts of great merit, but because you did not keep the precepts you have received the body of a demon” (based on Tanyao, Kikkaya, & Liu, 1994, pp. 220-221).

鬼子母者,是老鬼神王般闍迦妻,有子一萬,皆有大力士之力。其最小子,字嬪伽羅,此鬼子母兇妖暴虐,殺人兒子,以自噉食。人民患之,仰告世尊。世尊爾時,即取其子嬪伽羅,盛著鉢底。時鬼子母,周遍天下,七日之中,推求不得,愁憂懊惱,傳聞他言,云佛世尊,有一切智。即至佛所,問兒所在。時佛答言:「汝有萬子,唯失一子,何故苦惱愁憂而推覓耶?世間人民,或有一子,或五三子,而汝殺害。」鬼子母白佛言:「我今若得嬪伽羅者,終更不殺世人之子。」佛即使鬼子母見嬪伽羅在於鉢下,盡其神力,不能得取,還求於佛。佛言:「汝今若能受三歸五戒,盡壽不殺,當還汝子。」鬼子母即如佛勅,受於三歸及以五戒。受持已訖,即還其子。佛言:「汝好持戒,汝是迦葉佛時,羯膩王第[11]七小女,大作功德,以不持戒故,受是鬼形。」

Hariti’s inability to free the child was later exaggerated in a detail from a mid-Qing dynasty hell scroll. It depicts a host of demons using a makeshift wooden pulley to no avail (fig. 7 & 8).

Fig. 7 – A detail of the demon horde trying to free Pingala (larger version). Fig. 8 – A detail of the detail (larger version). I love the transparent bowl. Images from the Maidstone Museum.

The immovable quality of the Buddha’s alms bowl (or anything inside like Six Ears and Red Boy) is likely related to a story told by the pilgrim Faxian (法顯, 337 – c. 422 CE):

Buddha’s alms-bowl [bo, 缽] is in this country [of Peshawar]. Formerly, a king of Yuezhi raised a large force and invaded this country, wishing to carry the [Buddha’s] bowl away. Having subdued the kingdom, as he and his captains were sincere believers in the Law of Buddha, and wished to carry off the bowl, they proceeded to present their offerings on a great scale. When they had done so to the Three Treasures, he made a large elephant be grandly caparisoned, and placed the bowl upon it. But the elephant knelt down on the ground, and was unable to go forward. Again he caused a four-wheeled wagon to be prepared in which the bowl was put to be conveyed away. Eight elephants were then yoked to it, and dragged it with their united strength; but neither were they able to go forward. The king knew that the time for an association between himself and the bowl had not yet arrived, and was sad and deeply ashamed of himself. Forthwith he built a tope at the place and a monastery, and left a guard to watch (the bowl), making all sorts of contributions (based on Faxian & Legge, 1886/1965, pp. 34-35). 

佛缽即在此國。昔月氏王大興兵眾。來伐此國欲取佛缽。既伏此國已。月氏王篤信佛法。欲持缽去。故興供養。供養三寶畢。乃挍飾大象置缽其上。象便伏地不能得前。更作四輪車載缽。八象共牽復不能進。

王知與缽緣未至。深自愧歎即於此處起塔及僧伽藍。并留鎮守種種供養。

Disclaimer:

These have been uploaded for educational purposes. No malicious copyright infringement is intended. Please support the official release.

Notes:

1) He is called the “Monkey Pilgrim” (Hou xingzhe, 孫行者) in the aforementioned 13th-century storytelling prompt.

2) A good example of this appears in act 19 when Monkey tries to seduce Princess Iron Fan with a saucy poem: “The disciple’s not too shallow / the woman’s not too deep. / You and I, let’s each put forth an item, / and make a little demon” (Ning, 1986, p. 141).

3) Source altered slightly. The Wade-Giles was changed to pinyin. The Chinese characters presented in the footnotes were placed into the summary.

Source:

Dudbridge, G. (1970). The Hsi-yu chi: A Study of Antecedents to the Sixteenth-Century Chinese Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Faxian, & Legge, J. (1965). A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fâ-Hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline. New York: Dover Publications. (Original work published 1886)

Goldblatt, H. (1973). The Hsi-yu chi Play: A Critical Look at its Discovery, Authorship, and Content. Asian Pacific Quarterly of Cultural and Social Affairs, 5(1), pp. 31-46.

Ning, C. Y. (1986). Comic Elements in the Xiyouji Zaju (UMI No. 8612591) [Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

Peri, N. (1917). Hârîtî, la Mère-de-démons [Hariti, The Mother of Demons]. Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 17, 1-102. Retrieved from https://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1917_num_17_1_5319.

Rowan, J. G. (2002). Danger and Devotion: Hariti, Mother of Demons in the Stories and Stones of Gandhara: A History and Catalogue of Images [Master’s thesis, University of Oregon] CORE. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/36687517.pdf