Hinduism: Details about 'Sun Wukong'
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Sun Wukong (Traditional Chinese: 孫悟空; Simplified Chinese: 孙悟空; Hanyu Pinyin: Sūn Wùkōng; Wade-Giles: Sun Wu-k'ung; also surn vukorn), the Monkey King, is perhaps the most famous and beloved fictional character in all of classical Chinese literature and the main character in Journey to the West. A magician, priest, ruler, sage, and warrior in the shape of a monkey, he is the mischievous protagonist of Journey to the West, based on popular tales dating back to the Tang dynasty. The novel narrates his adventures from birth, in particular how he accompanied the monk Xuanzang, also known as Sanzang or Tangseng, to retrieve Buddhist sutras from India. Some scholars believe he is based upon the legend of Hanuman, the Indian monkey hero from the ancient Ramayana epic.
Names and titles(listed in the order that he first acquired them)
In addition to the names used in the novel, the Monkey King has other names in various parts of China:
PoliticalDuring Chairman Mao's reign in China, he consistently used Sōng Wǔ Kōng as an example of how people can be. "Chairman Mao often talked about the good example of the Monkey King, citing “his fearlessness in thinking, doing work, striving for the objective and extricating China from poverty”". ] Powers and abilitiesLegends tell that Wukong was born out of a stone and through his many adventures he was able to master an array of amazing abilities and powers. He knows 72 transformations, double that of Zhu Bajie, the pig that also accompanies and protects Sanzang, known in the text as Wukong's "shidi", or "junior fellow disciple". These transformations apparently cover every possible form of existence, since many times he transforms into specific people. These transformations also constitute the transformation of things other than himself, usually with the hairs covering his body. Wukong began as a monkey born of a stone, and was extraordinarily brave and strong among the group of monkeys with which he lived. Having jumped through the waterfall on their home, The Mountain of Flowers and Fruits, and discovered the Water-Curtain Cave, he was recognized as the "Monkey King" for his feat. When celebrating, he soon realized that he was still a normal monkey and was saddened by the thought of mortality. Determined to find immortal beings and learn their ways, he traveled for a long time, finally finding the Patriarch Subodhi and becoming his disciple. The Patriarch rejected him at first, but Monkey's determination, and eventually his intelligence, impressed him. It was from him that the monkey received the name Sun Wukong (Wukong meaning "aware of emptiness"). Under the Patriarch's teaching and training, he acquires the powers of immortality, shape-changing ability, cloud travel skills including a technique called the "Somersault Cloud", where one can fly one hundred and eight thousand miles† in a single flip. He eventually obtains a handy "as-you-will resizeable cudgel or staff" which he can turn into a needle and keep inside his ear but can brandish and resize it at will to the "width of a rice bowl" and subdue demons. The cudgel was originally the "Pillar holding down the sea" which Wukong swindled from the under-sea palace of the East Sea dragon king (who under-estimated Wukong and bet him he couldn't pick it up). It weighs roughly 10 tons, and can multiply, transform, and act intelligently. The monkey king also forced the dragon king to give him other magical gifts, including his golden armour. †The phrase "one hundred and eight thousand miles" is a popular idiom among Asians. It is used to describe something that is ridiculously exaggerated or incorrect. Sun Wukong's indestructibility is from many causes. Even his birth as a rock signifies some form of initial immortality, and later he eats a lot of the contents of the peach gardens of the Queen mother of the west. Then, he eats much immortal food, which also gives one immortality, and then in a drunken haze ate 3 jars of golden immortality pills. He was also strengthened after being heated in the 8 trigram furnace, which accounts for much of his steel-hard body. The most notable is the fact that he cleared his name from the book of judgements in hell, so he can't die. The Patriarch, who by the time they parted ways was certain Wukong would get himself into trouble, made him promise never to tell anyone who had been his teacher. Making trouble in HeavenHe was invited to the Heavenly Kingdom by the Jade Emperor in the hopes that a promotion and title would make him a little more manageable. However, he proved to be an incorrigible monkey. After the Jade Emperor refused to invite him to a royal banquet, he gratuitously ate the Empress's Peaches of Immortality and Lord Laozi's Pills of Indestructibility. Feeling guilty, but not that guilty, he became the biggest headache for everybody in heaven. Finally, the heavenly authorities had no choice but to attempt to subdue him. He fought and defeated the Army of Heaven of 100,000 strong, Four Heavenly Kings, Erlang Shen, and Nezha successively. Eventually, by the great effort and teamwork by the heavenly forces, including many famous deities, he was finally captured. After several more mundane execution attempts failed, Wukong was stuffed into Lord Laozi's eight-way trigem cauldron to be distilled into an elixir. The cauldron's sacred flames were hot enough to consume him. After a good long cook (said to be 49 days), the cauldron exploded and out jumped the Wukong stronger and more refined (he was born of rock). He then had the ability to 'see' evil through what is called Huo Yan JingJing (Golden Fiery Eyes) no matter its form. All options exhausted, they finally appealed to Buddha himself, who arrived in an instant from his temple in the West. The Buddha bet with Sun Wukong that he could not fly out of his palm. Wukong, knowing that in one flip he can cover one-hundred and eight thousand miles, was over-confident of his own ability and agreed. He took a great leap and landed in a desolate section of heaven. There were nothing but five pillars visible. Wukong surmised that he had reached the ends of heaven. As proof that he was there, he wrote the words "the great sage equal of Heaven was here" and urinated on the middle pillar. Afterwards, he leapt back and landed in Buddha's palm. Smiling, Buddha asked him to turn around. He looked back and saw that the "pillar" on which he made the marking earlier was Buddha's finger. Wukong had lost the bet. Immediately, he tried to escape, but Buddha turned over his palm and had the Monkey immovable under a mountain. There he remained imprisoned for five centuries until he offered to serve Tangseng/Xuanzhang, the Tang Priest, who was destined to make the journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures for China. The bodhisattva Guanyin helped the priest by giving him a magical headband which he tricked the Monkey King into wearing. With a special chant Sanzang is able to tighten the band until the Monkey King cannot bear the pain. Sanzang tightens the band on Wukong's head whenever he disobeys or displeases Sanzang, though he is usually mistaken. With Wukong safely under control, the monkey is now allowed to journey to the West. When the group made it to the West Wukong became a Buddha along with Sanzang, Wujing and the dragon prince. As a disciple to XuanzangFor the rest of the epic Sun Wukong, indeed in actual faithfully helps the Tang High Priest or Xuanzang on his journey to the west (India) to acquire the truth of Buddhism. They are joined by Pig (Zhu Bajie) and Sand Monk ( Sha Hesang/Sha Wujing), both of whom had been told to join the Tang High priest in order to repay for their crimes. The priest's horse is also a supernatural entity, a dragon god who is also tamed by Guanyin after being defeated by Sun Wukong. However, the other characters are unaware of this fact. The safety of the Tang High priest is constantly threatened by supernatural beings. This is because it is said that whoever eats the meat of the Tang priest, considered the purest meat, will live forever. The group gets into many conflicts and must learn many Buddhist lessons before they return safely to the Tang empire with the treasure of the Buddhist scripture. Celebrations and FestivalsThe Sun Wu Kong festival is celebrated on the 16th day of the 8th Lunar Month on the Chinese Calendar. Festivals feature recreations of his ordeals such as walking on a bed of coals and climbing a ladder of knives. In Hong Kong it is celebrated at the Buddhist Temple in Sau Mau Ping which has a shrine to Sun Wukong. MiscellaneousIn spite of its popularity (or perhaps because of it) legends regarding Sun Wukong have changed with the ebb and flow that is Chinese culture. The tale with Buddha and the "Pillars" is a prime example and did not appear until the Han Dynasty when Buddhism was first introduced to China. Various legends concerning Sun Wukong on the other hand date back to before written Chinese history, changing to adapt to the most popular Chinese religion of a given era.
손오공 孫悟空 ซุน หงอคง Tôn Ngộ Không 孙悟空
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