The Monkey King is one of the main characters in the novel The Journey to the West. Also known as Monkey, he is the self-styled Monkey King and Monkey King of Huaguoshan. He used to be a celestial official, Bi Marvin, and was also called the Monkey King by the Jade Emperor. After studying the scriptures, he was given anti-Buddha by the Tathagata Buddha.

The Monkey King was born by a monkey jumping out of a stone and a natural stone. He absorbed the essence of the sun and the moon and learned magic, spells and martial arts. He accompanied Tang Sanzang to the Western Heaven to learn Buddhist scriptures, and cut off demons along the way. Some people in China regard it as a kind of god worship.

The Monkey King is smart, naughty, lively, loyal and hateful. Become the embodiment of wit and courage in the East Asian Chinese character cultural circle. It represents the feeling and pursuit of goodness, justice, injustice and freedom in human nature.

Life and experience

According to the original description of The Journey to the West, one of the four fantastic books in China, the Monkey King is a stone monkey born when the lingshi of Huaguo Mountain in Ole, Dongsheng Shenzhou burst into the wind. It is a fairy stone that absorbs the qi of heaven and earth. In Guo Huashan, the mountain is king for 3500 years (The Journey to the West mentioned in the third chapter that the Monkey King should live for 342 years in the book of life and death).

Later, in order to find a way to live forever, after 1989, I went to visit Bodhi's ancestor in Sanxingdong, Fangcun Mountain and Xieyue in Lingtai, Niuhezhou, and learned about the earth demon and the bucket cloud. For the first time, I took Sun as my surname and named him Wukong.

Later, in order to find weapons, the Monkey King made a scene in the Dragon Palace, and finally found the golden cudgel of the East China Sea Dragon King Tianhe Dinghai? Aoshun, the dragon king of Beihai, gave a pair of lotus root silk walking shoes, Aorun, the dragon king of Xihai, gave a pair of gold nails with locks, and Aoqin, the dragon king of Nanhai, gave a purple crown with phoenix wings. Because of his death, he made a scene in the underworld, scaring Ten Temple Yan and Niu Tau Ma to hide in Tibet, modifying the book of life and death and returning to the world.

Later, the Monkey King was embraced by heaven for the first time and was named Bi Marvin. Being bullied for being an official, he rebelled and descended to the world, claiming to be the Great Sage of Monkey, and defeated Prince Nezha. Later, he was wooed by heaven for the second time and stole flat peaches, royal wine and elixir.

The Jade Emperor could not subdue 100,000 heavenly soldiers, but he was captured by Erlang Shenjun, Yang Jian, Jia Meishan Six Monsters and Taishang Laojun, and none of them was injured by lightning. He was sealed in the gossip furnace for forty-nine days, and he was trained to be very picky. The Journey to the West mentioned for the seventh time that the Monkey King's noumenon was actually "a bright Manizu".

After he came out, he continued to make a scene in the Heavenly Palace, and was crushed by the Tathagata Buddha under the Five Elements Mountain for 500 years (there is a mantra on the mountain).

Five hundred years later, the Tang Priest went to the West to learn Buddhist scriptures, passed by Wuxing Mountain, broke the spell, saved the Monkey King and took him as an apprentice. Go to the west to learn from the scriptures. On the way to learn the scriptures, the Monkey King exorcised demons and made outstanding achievements. However, he was misunderstood by Tang Priest and his disciples several times, punished by a spell, and dismissed twice. After eighty-one difficulties, it was finally successful. The four of them went to the Buddhist Temple in the Western Heaven and got the Buddhist scriptures of Sanzang. The Monkey King's success was called "Fighting Buddha".

Extended data:

name

Stone monkey: Because the Monkey King was born from a stone, at the beginning of the story, the gods in the sky often called him a stone monkey.

Monkey King: When the Monkey King was born, he led a group of monkeys into water curtain cave and became the Monkey King, so he called himself Monkey King.

The Monkey King: The name was given by Bodhi. In fact, the name Wukong was originally borrowed from the name of a famous monk who explained Wukong in the Tang Dynasty.

Bi: When Heaven first recruited people, this official position was sealed. His duty is to raise and take care of the jade emperor's mount.

Monkey King: After receiving Bi's title, the Monkey King left heaven out of his own feelings and returned to Huaguoshan to call himself Monkey King. Later, heaven recognized this title, and the immortals all honored the Monkey King as the Great Sage.

The Monkey King: The Tang Priest named it. In The Journey to the West, it is also called "monkey" by the Monkey King.

Fighting Buddha: the Monkey King was awarded the title of Buddha by the Buddha after the Western Classics, which can be said to praise the Monkey King's invincible achievements in guarding Tang Priest's scriptures.

Gold and: In The Journey to the West's book, the five elements correspond to five Tang Sanzang (including white), among which the Monkey King corresponds to gold, also known as "Going to the porch to see the false and true" in the thirty-eighth chapter; Back to the forty-seventh "Jin Mu stabbed to save the child"; Back to the 86th time, "Jiang Mumu cheered for monsters, and Gong Jin cast spells to destroy evil spirits"; Back to the 89th "Jin Mu pictures make leopard head mountain".

Heart ape: For example, the 85th time "Heart ape is jealous of Jiang Mumu"; Back to the 88th session, "I am eager to learn from others".

Cultural influence

The Monkey King's literary modeling also reflects many ancient philosophical thoughts of China. Modern scholars generally believe that the image of the Monkey King represents the scene when people were eager to resist the cruel court but unable to change the reality. At the same time, the Monkey King is also a representative who tries to transcend the natural order. His name is interpreted by many religious scholars as "empty" because of "enlightenment". It reflects the emptiness and nothingness in the real order, the pursuit of the new order and the concept of freedom.

The Monkey King's overall artistic image is broad and profound, which is unique in China's ancient literature.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-the Monkey King