More than 500 years before the Tang Dynasty, a mischievous monkey came into being from the huge rocks of the mountains at the sea side.
The legend continues that this monkey made friends with other monkeys and they spent their time happily in a cave behind a waterfall - The Waterfall Cave 水帘洞 in the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, 花果山.
One day, their happy days was punctuated by the death of one of the monkeys and this upset and ruffle the monkey born from the rocks. The monkey born of the rocks was sadden and left the mountains in search of immortality.
He wanted to learn Tao that would give him immortality. He was taken in for training by a great Taoist priest at monastery who taught him the seventy two arts of transformation. However, the monkey was mischievous and was soon chased out of the monastery for sheer disobedience.
Incidentally, isn't this is somewhat similar and parallel to the life of Ji Gong in his last life as man and is a reason why he gets along well as fellow immortals with Ji Gong.
The monkey then had to return to his waterfall garden cave. He showed off his skills to his monkey friends and they were awed by him. He was simply great and awesome and they crowned him The Monkey King.
One day in one of his trip outside the Waterfall Cave, he paid a visit to the Dragon King at the sea beside the mountains where The Waterfall Cave was located. He somehow ended up stealing the King's great treasure known as the Golden Rod and wrecked the Dragon Palace.
When King Yama, Yan Luo Wang, the God of Hell tried to capture him to discipline him, Sun Wukong as he was known as, wrecked havoc in Hell too and destroyed the Books of the Dead. The book contains the details of when and which person is to die.
Both the enraged Dragon King and King Yama reported the atrocity of Sun Wukong to the Heavenly King, the Jade Emperor and they petitioned for the arrest of the Monkey King by the celestial army.
Thus, the Heavenly soldiers were sent to capture Sun Wukong but it was to no avail. A long battle followed and when Sun Wukong was finally arrested and brought to the heavenly court, he tore the Heavenly Palace apart and self-declared himself Great Sage Equal to Heaven 齐天大圣, effectively wanting to take over the heavenly court.
This required the service of Buddha who arrived at this juncture to help The Jade Emperor. He tricked and imprisoned the insolent Monkey God under the Five Finger Mountain 五指山 so as to bring peace to Heaven. This mountain symbolizes that no one can escape the hand grip of the Buddha - not even Monkey God.
500 years later, the Tang Emperor of Imperial China commission his sworn brother, Tripitaka, a Buddhist monk to bring back Buddhist scriptures from India. On his way, he encountered the Monkey God at the Five Finger Mountain 五指山 .
It was said that this was predestined and monkey was told by the Buddha to meditate and await the coming of his savior Tripitaka. The monk removed the seal on the mountain to free him, named him Sun Wukong 孙悟空 and Sun Wukong became the 1st of Tripitaka's 3 disciples to protect him from demons and spirits on his epic Journey to the West.
Sun Wukong 孙悟空 wears tiger skin clothes made by Tripitaka. He wields The Golden Rod. The Golden Rod Sun Wukong could sort of shapeshift, changing to be as small as the size of a needle so the Monkey King could keep it in his ear or as big as the Heavens so he could stir the oceans with it. It is dominating and awesome.
The legend of Monkey God captivates the imagination of men. It may be a legend and a story but it still captures the imagination and hearts of men.
It is very much more believable than the simple story of the Genesis in the Christian Bible and like the story and legend of the Genesis, it is meant to teach men what cannot be taught without putting it in story.
In the case of Monkey God, the story tells us about the nature of life, men and how Monkey God came to be enlightened and be a saint in his own right.
It tells us about the limitations of Heaven and that Buddha is higher in spiritual hierarchy than God and his heavenly court and army.
It also tells us that mere threat and command even by Heaven will not work and that magical and psychic attainment do not mean better state of enlightenment as shown by the story of Monkey God.
There is also need for the soft approach like that of the Buddha to change people for the better. Often this will not work immediately and takes time for the individual to learn.
Men must learn from life and the doctrine that life will teach men - mere holy texts alone will not work. Monkey God took centuries to learn and all of us may even take longer to cultivate more goodness and purity.
Even the Taoist master could only teach Monkey God magical tricks but not better enlightened state of mind. Buddha can guide but even Monkey God too must learn from meditation and centuries of mind cultivation.
There is no such child like fantasy of believe and presto we will be saved. That is perhaps a gimmick and sort of sales tactics of some overzealous men. They may even bring in element of fear and guilt but how useful would these be?
The above pointers are the lessons from the captivating legend of the Monkey God. There is doctrine in the story or call it a legend if we want to. It is as believable if not more so than the Genesis legend of Adam and Eve.
Both the enraged Dragon King and King Yama reported the atrocity of Sun Wukong to the Heavenly King, the Jade Emperor and they petitioned for the arrest of the Monkey King by the celestial army.
Thus, the Heavenly soldiers were sent to capture Sun Wukong but it was to no avail. A long battle followed and when Sun Wukong was finally arrested and brought to the heavenly court, he tore the Heavenly Palace apart and self-declared himself Great Sage Equal to Heaven 齐天大圣, effectively wanting to take over the heavenly court.
This required the service of Buddha who arrived at this juncture to help The Jade Emperor. He tricked and imprisoned the insolent Monkey God under the Five Finger Mountain 五指山 so as to bring peace to Heaven. This mountain symbolizes that no one can escape the hand grip of the Buddha - not even Monkey God.
500 years later, the Tang Emperor of Imperial China commission his sworn brother, Tripitaka, a Buddhist monk to bring back Buddhist scriptures from India. On his way, he encountered the Monkey God at the Five Finger Mountain 五指山 .
It was said that this was predestined and monkey was told by the Buddha to meditate and await the coming of his savior Tripitaka. The monk removed the seal on the mountain to free him, named him Sun Wukong 孙悟空 and Sun Wukong became the 1st of Tripitaka's 3 disciples to protect him from demons and spirits on his epic Journey to the West.
Sun Wukong 孙悟空 wears tiger skin clothes made by Tripitaka. He wields The Golden Rod. The Golden Rod Sun Wukong could sort of shapeshift, changing to be as small as the size of a needle so the Monkey King could keep it in his ear or as big as the Heavens so he could stir the oceans with it. It is dominating and awesome.
The legend of Monkey God captivates the imagination of men. It may be a legend and a story but it still captures the imagination and hearts of men.
It is very much more believable than the simple story of the Genesis in the Christian Bible and like the story and legend of the Genesis, it is meant to teach men what cannot be taught without putting it in story.
In the case of Monkey God, the story tells us about the nature of life, men and how Monkey God came to be enlightened and be a saint in his own right.
It tells us about the limitations of Heaven and that Buddha is higher in spiritual hierarchy than God and his heavenly court and army.
It also tells us that mere threat and command even by Heaven will not work and that magical and psychic attainment do not mean better state of enlightenment as shown by the story of Monkey God.
There is also need for the soft approach like that of the Buddha to change people for the better. Often this will not work immediately and takes time for the individual to learn.
Men must learn from life and the doctrine that life will teach men - mere holy texts alone will not work. Monkey God took centuries to learn and all of us may even take longer to cultivate more goodness and purity.
Even the Taoist master could only teach Monkey God magical tricks but not better enlightened state of mind. Buddha can guide but even Monkey God too must learn from meditation and centuries of mind cultivation.
There is no such child like fantasy of believe and presto we will be saved. That is perhaps a gimmick and sort of sales tactics of some overzealous men. They may even bring in element of fear and guilt but how useful would these be?
The above pointers are the lessons from the captivating legend of the Monkey God. There is doctrine in the story or call it a legend if we want to. It is as believable if not more so than the Genesis legend of Adam and Eve.
But it is because the Genesis legend is simpler that it can capture the world and isn't it true that the far from believable may be near and acceptable to the masses though not by science and philosophy. The far may be near to the hearts of men and the near far.
What is too simple and far from scientific truth and philosophy may be nearer to the hearts of men than what is scientific and philosophical - or at least not yet counter to scientific and philosophical rationale. The far may be near and the near far. Didn't Lord Bo Tien say so? Did he?
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| Lord Bo Tien |
Rock/stone Monkey, 石猴
Handsome Monkey King, 美猴王
Great Sage Equal to Heaven, 齐天大圣
Sun Wukong, 孫悟空(Traditional Chinese)
Sun Wukong, 孙悟空(Simplified Chinese)
Sun the ascetic, 孙行者
Sun the Buddha, 斗战胜佛
Great Sage Buddha, 大圣佛
Great Sage Buddha, 大圣佛祖
